30 before 30: Sign up to be a bone marrow donor

Okay, so it isn't quite complete yet because I'm still waiting for the kit and then I'll have to send it back it, but I'm calling it complete. 

I read through all the information on bethematch.org about what it means to be a bone marrow donor and the different methods they use. I also learned that only 1 in 500 people on the registry are ever called to donate, which is surprising, and that you stay in the registry until you're 61. So I could never be called, or I could be called next week or in 5 years. Kind of interesting to think about. 

This is an amazing thing and I really encourage everyone to look into it and consider it. 

30 before 30

So, I know that it's a little cliche or whatever, but I decided to make a list of things I want to do before I turn 30. That gives me 2 1/2 years to complete the list, which I am definitely going to need for some of these items. :) The reason I thought about doing a 30 before 30 list is because there are things that I keep saying I want to do, but I never do them, so I'm giving myself a deadline. And also, I was just starting to feel like I haven't done a lot lately.

I tried to pick a wide variety of items that would improve me spiritually, physically, and mentally, and that would hopefully teach me something. There are also a few things that will hopefully help me get closer to my family.

So here's the list:

Learn to ride a motorcycle
I've wanted to do this for a while, but I'm kind of a scaredy cat. I'm thinking that maybe I can convince my brother to take the class with me.

Finish writing a book
I'm great at starting them, not so great at finishing them.

Go back to England
When I turn 30 it will have been 10 years since I went. This is the next trip I'm going to save up for.

Learn to do my own make-up/hair
To be honest, I just fake it and hope it doesn't look horrible.

See the Northern Lights
Apparently there's a place in Colorado where you can see them in January.

Learn to oil paint
Sis is gonna help with this. :)

Have my first kiss
Yes, I realize how lame it is to be 27 and never been kissed. And I also realize that this is dependent on another person.

Catch fireflies
I have never seen fireflies. We don't have them in Utah. I may have to go visit a friend somewhere.

Have professional pictures taken
Other than school photos, I have never had this done.

Enter something in a contest
Don't know what at this moment, or what contest, but something.

Buy something from Tiffany
They have a whole section of things for under $250. And since I don't think anyone will ever buy me something from Tiffany, I'm gonna give the blue box to myself.

Create a "work of art" by throwing balloons full of paint at a canvas

OH YEAH! This is gonna be freaking awesome. Sis already said that she would do it with me and maybe we can have Kid K (who was once Baby E) help with it.

Change my job situation

Successfully make a soufflé

When I was unemployed, I bought all the stuff to make a chocolate soufflé, but then I chickened out because it seemed too involved. 

Make a video and post it on YouTube

Have a hand-made Christmas

Surprise, family!

Apply to grad school, again

I have three more years before my GRE scores become invalid and I have to take it again.

Get henna

A lot of lists say something about getting a tattoos. I don't want anything permanent, but henna is beautiful.

Buy an awesome costume for comic con

See a ballet

The last (and only, I think) ballet I saw was The Nutcracker when I was pretty young. I don't think I appreciated it.

Climb a tree

My bro just moved into his house and it has some trees that look very climbable.

Get a bull's eye

I've gotten an interest in archery lately, so this will make me go more often.

Finish David Copperfield

I started this 3? years ago. It's time to finish it.

Get a pen pal

I like getting letters. I may adopt a soldier or something. 

Learn more about being a bone marrow donor and sign-up on bethematch.org

Have my dad teach me to turn

My grandpa taught Sis and Bro how to turn wooden bowls on a lathe. I never really wanted to because tools scare me, which I think is the reason why I should.

Attend the temple once a month

I should really be better about this, so I'm giving myself a goal.

Go to my 10 year high school reunion

Next year, guys. It's gonna be weird. Also, I didn't even get invited to my 5 year, so we'll see what happens this time around.

Finish the Book of Mormon

Begin the process of buying a house

This is contingent on finding a different, more stable job. But it's always been part of what I called my "alternate life plan" (which is starting to become just my life plan), which was to first have my own home by the time I was 30. We'll see what happens.

So, there it is! I'm going to print it out and put it somewhere where I can see it everyday to motivate me to do it. I'll keep you updated.

On Being Happy

I know it's been a LONG time since I've written on this blog. With my book review blog, work, and other writing, I haven't been keeping up with this as well as I used to do.

The last month or so has been filled with some really hard things, personally. I've been angrier than I have been in a while, and sadder, too. This has all just added to my stress. So about two weeks ago, I decided to start exercising again.

Those who know me, know that I do not like exercising. Yeah yeah, it's good for you, blah blah blah, but the act of doing it? Nope. I don't like it. But since I decided too start, I've been working out 6 days a week. It's just a little bit, but it's something and I've been lengthening how long each week.

Then something happened this week.

I've worked out everyday after work (just at home with the help of apps and a Wii). Every morning I've been reading my scriptures as I eat breakfast. And on Wednesday I went to the temple after work. Then on Thursday, I realized something. I was getting my breakfast ready and I stopped because something felt different. I took stock of my body and my mind and I realized what it was: I felt good. I felt less stressed and a little happier. And that is a big deal for me. Especially at 6:45 in the morning.

I learned something that I had been hearing all along. If you take care of your physical and spiritual health, your mental health will benefit. Which is why I'm determined to keep exercising, going to church, reading my scriptures, and attending the temple. Because the blessings of them far outweigh any inconvenience I might think they create.

Dear Baby E, This Christmas

Dear Baby E,

You aren't so much a baby anymore--you are almost 18 months! After you and your parents moved to Utah, I've seen you grow and change so much!

Here are a few highlights from our Christmas together:

You were sick the whole time, but there were still moments of sweetness.

You LOVE helping to clean. You actually just love helping. First, you help make dinner. After dinner you want to help wash the dishes. You like to vacuum and sweep. Basically, if someone is doing something, you want to do it too. And you are so quick at learning! I'm not biased or anything, but I'm pretty sure that you're one of the smartest kids around.

Speaking of which, we worked on your animal sounds. You know cow (mmmm) and sheep (aaaa). We also taught you what sharks say (doo do. doo do. doo do doododododododo) and sea turtles (duuude). We're still working on the sea turtles.

Then I taught you how to "touch" like Gr. Grandpa does, and how to fist pump and explode it. It's basically the cutest thing ever.

Except for one. We were playing one time, just you and me. And you picked up your little Hello Kitty bag and walked toward the hall. You stopped part way there and turned and waved. I waved back. Then you came back toward me and gave me a kiss (the first time you had ever given me a kiss!). Then you walked back toward the hall, turned and waved at me again. After I waved, you came back and gave me another kiss before walking all the down the hall to see what Mommy and Grandma were up to. It was probably the highlight of my weekend.

Even when you are grumpy and won't eat or sleep or wake me up before 6 am, I still love you, girl.

Your Auntie

Update: Timing

Timing sucks.

The past couple of years I have felt like I've been on a different clock than everyone else. Like, I'm off Daylight Savings while everyone else is on so I'm always running an hour behind. And then I'm on it when everyone is off, so I'm always an hour ahead (or would it be the other way around?). This isn't always a bad thing, not at all, but it's more strongly felt when it is.

You know all the stuff I've been through the past year--well, up until I just seemed to drop off the face of the planet and never wrote an update. You know about the bad timing that came with applying to grad school, and the bad timing with my previous job. You also know about my good timing when it came to finding a job after only a month of being unemployed--I had been expecting being unemployed for at least three months.

The four months that I've been working have been good timing. I came in at the right time, just when things started to build in the company, and just in time to prove my worth in order to start getting more responsibility and maybe move up.

I moved last month and that was good timing. It's a little cheaper, and in a house, which is nice.

I had bad timing a couple of weeks ago when I rushed out of the house to get to work and ended up getting in a car accident that totaled Perry. It wasn't my fault, and there were no injuries, but one of my first thoughts was that if I hadn't rushed so much, if I had left the house even a few seconds later, I would have gotten to work fine. And I wouldn't have had to deal with all the stress of talking to insurance and getting a new car (and getting things fixed on the new car). I wouldn't have dealt with the physical manifestations of that stress like sore muscles and a clenched jaw. I think for the moment I'm done though--once I get it registered. It started off pretty rocky, but I think Alfie's and mine relationship will get stronger as we go on.

I've had good timing when it comes to Baby E. Sis, Bro-in-law, and Baby E just moved back here, and I've been able to see Baby E's curiosity and her growth. She's a little mimic, and catches on to things so quickly that it seems like she's changing all the time. I'm glad that I get to spend this time with her.

And then there's bad timing when I finally get to the point when I can put myself out there and want to reconnect with someone and try to give it another go, but I missed the opportunity. Or maybe the timing was always off for us. It's hard when someone being happy means losing a friend and a hope.

I know that the way I plan things, or the timing I want to have, doesn't really matter in this huge plan that God has for me. But it's hard to put trust in Him and not just think that I'm the one that's messing everything up. Because I truly believe that if I keep on trying to do all the things I'm supposed to, and if I keep following the good thoughts that come into my head (even if they seem to turn out badly . . .) then God won't forsake me. He would never leave me on my own. His strength is the strength that I need most in my life, especially when I feel my strength leaving me.

There is nothing wrong with my timing being off. It just means that my life is part of this clock of humankind, the clock that really keeps the whole world turning and going.

Highlights from Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

Thursday 4 September marked the first day of the second annual Salt Lake City Comic Con!! And yes, I went, did you even doubt? Even better, Sis, Bro-in-law, and Baby E came too! Thursday was a little bit of a nightmare, logistics wise, but I think by next year they'll have it all sorted out. Also, we learned a little bit about how we should go about the first day next year.

Instead of giving a whole break down of the entire weekend, I'm just going to post some pictures of the highlights and give a little information about them.

Day 2 we dressed up like Pokemon characters (With Sis and Bro-in-law)

A surprise highlight! We just wandered into Vic Mignogna's panel because we wanted to see the person after him. It was awesome and now I've been binge watching anime series! (He's a voice actor.)

Love Alan Tudyk! He's really funny. I got to meet him and get his autograph after.

Add caption

Saturday we started the day by meeting John Barrowman! I like this picture because it makes it seem like I said something really clever, though I'm absolutely certain I didn't.

Stan LEE! Omigosh, he's amazing. Like a grandpa with the coolest stories ever.

Leonard Nimoy on Skype. He's pretty awesome too. There was a girl on the first row who we could see through the camera. She was dressed as a Vulcan, but had very un-Vulcan like reactions. I think everyone was watching to see if she was going to faint or throw up.

Everyone's costumes were amazing. I'm still pretty timid about asking for pictures, and when I do I take them really quickly so they don't turn out that well, but it's just fun to see how creative everyone is. 

I, of course, bought quite a bit of art. There's an artist named Ben Byrd who I discovered at FanX in April and was so excited to see he was there. I got three 4x6 prints from him. (His Etsy shop is down, or I would link to it. :( )

Karen Hallion was there, so of course I had to buy this print:

There are a few more, but I'm a bit too lazy right now to walk into the other room and look up the artists' names. :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I did get the "con crud" last week, and spent a lot of my free time planning my cosplay for next year! Geek problems, right? ;)

New Job, a Week in Review

I'm so tired. What is it about starting something new that makes one exhausted?

I started my new job on Tuesday. Leading up to that day I was starting to have serious doubts about my ability to actually do the job I was hired to do. Does anyone else feel like that before starting a job? That you are going to completely fail? I had to remind myself of several things, including: that I'm a college graduate, I have three and a half years experience in my field, and I'm an intelligent person who can learn new things.

Everything was fine, once I got to work. As it always is. I spent the morning going through company standard operating procedures, then I got to work in the afternoon! The rest of the week has been me continuing on that work and basically settling in. The work is consuming, but to tell the truth, it can be a little boring. The company I work for is an e-learning website, and I've been going through the questions at the end of a computer certification course. There's nothing that makes you feel more stupid than editing something you don't understand. The thing is, you don't necessarily have to understand what you're reading in order to edit, but it's more interesting if you do. I have started picking up what certain words mean, etc., but it's not the most riveting of reads. But it's work, and it's in my field, and who knows, maybe I'll actually learn something.

At first I felt a little bit awkward. There are only four of us on the team, and it seemed strange to suddenly join such a small group of people--I wasn't quite sure how I would fit in. And then it was so quiet! It amazed me that no one took even ten minutes to have a conversation that wasn't about work. It blew my mind that someone could go eight hours, five days a week, and not ever have a conversation. My mind changed today when I had a pretty good conversation with two of my coworkers. I think I'm going to be okay. I guess I'll see in the coming weeks. It's good work, honest work, and I think I'm going to be able to do it just fine.

I just need some sleep first . . .