Happy April Fool's Day!

Do you want to know what the joke this year was?

The Weather.  

It was a downpour.  

Which normally I love...but guess who was the fool (as a result of the joke)..

Yep. Me. I'm the fool. I did a 5K...in a downpour.

It was cold, but really fun!

Please note the use of the verb "did" instead of "ran." I ran a little bit...walked more...gasped for air the majority of the time...prayed to make it up hills and to finish...got soaked to the bone...discovered I have arthritic knees---and yet did it all in a downpour, so I feel all hardcore (even though I mostly walked).

Birthday Girl

Today my coworkers surprised me with a lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" and yummy cupcakes. (It was even more of a surprise because its not actually my birthday--I'm taking the day off of work from my birthday, so we celebrated early).  I was even more surprised by how young everyone thought I was. Most people guessed 22, which I was pleased with.  (Not that I feel like being 24 is old, but I feel like sometimes people think I am older because I am tall. Not that height corresponds with age as much as it does during childhood, but I think some people still think this way; and it was nice to have people guess that I was younger than my age).

While I was being tortured, er...sung to, my boss came out of his office.  After the song was finished, he asked if I was now old enough to vote. It was unexpected from him, which made it even funnier.

Usually I hate celebrating my birthday when its not actually my birthday---but today was really fun and its been a great day!

Physical...Physical...I want to get a Physical Examination

It is apparently a tall order to get a physical examination from a qualified medical professional. I've needed to get a physical examination for about a month now...and its been quite the journey.  I don't have a doctor in  Salt Lake; I'm young and healthy and haven't needed to see one.  Upon learning that I needed to have a physical, I sought out a list of healthcare providers that accepted my insurance. I became highly discouraged after calling one doctor's office and finding out that while they are accepting new patients, as listed on their website, they were only accepting new patients who were referred by other patients.  This discouraged me on my hunt for a doctor, and I gave up. After several weeks had passed and I being reminded of why I needed a physical, I resumed my search.

I decided that the weird "only accepting referred patients" rule was probably in an effort to combat drug abuse and patients who are doctor shopping in order to get multiple prescriptions.  So, to prove to the world that I am not a drug abuser, I decided to get a referral. I asked a few people for the names of their doctors.  Even though I had been referred (to a different doctor's office this time), I was informed that to become a patient I had to fill out a health history form, submit it, and then the earliest appointment time for a new patient would be in eight weeks. Eight weeks!  Thank goodness I don't have the flu, or the plague, or my ever recurring sinus infections; or I'd be really out of luck and miserable. I thought that was ridiculous. I am very grateful that I didn't need to see a doctor for a pressing, but non-emergency issue. So much for preventative medicine! I especially loved that I couldn't set up the appointment then and there, but would have to wait to fill out the form--possibly extending my first visit even later.

I was growing beyond frustrated with every attempt to see a doctor. I finally decided that  eight weeks was too long to wait.  Then I did what I should have done in the first place: I called and set up an appointment with the  doctor that I have gone to all throughout my childhood.  He's amazing AND he's not making me wait two months to see him, so even though I no longer live in the same area where he practices, its worth the drive!

This has been such a frustrating experience to even get in to see a doctor, that I can't help but be (more) scared by the shift towards socialized medicine. Waiting times are already absurd (2 months!!!), but those waiting times would jump dramatically if the system were to be bogged down by every hypochondriac or freeloader wanting every wart or scratch or bruise checked on the government's dime.

Happy Valentine's/ St. Patrick's Day!

This was originally supposed to be a Valentine's Day post, but time has been flying past and blogging has not been a priority. Recently I've been crafting more and trying to actually finish all of these projects so that I can blog/ brag about them has proven harder than I anticipated. I am great at starting projects, but about halfway through I lose all motivation. Making holiday-related crafts has helped, because it gives me a nice deadline to finish projects by (the St. Patrick's day craft shown below was finished a little about 11:30 pm last night, otherwise it would have been at least another year before I thought about completing it).

Look what I made:

Valentine's Day Banner:

Valentine's Day Wreath:

Idea found here.

I love argyle!  And I ended up liking this wreath so much I decided to make a shamrock one for St. Patrick's Day:

The wreaths are a little misshapen because I used some foam tubing instead of a wreath form  and it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I got the idea from Pinterest; and it worked well enough, plus was certainly a lot cheaper than a wreath form.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day (and I hope your Valentine's Day was great too!)

Zoo Lights!

Last night I went to Zoo Lights at the Hogle Zoo. It was awesome.  A great Groupon deal was the impetus for this trip to the zoo and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  A lot of the exhibits were closed, but the lights were beautiful, and plentiful and many of them had the illusion of motion. 

This alligator was really cool.  The lights created the illusion that he was snapping. I nicknamed him "Snappy."

Cool rhino.  I really liked the fog in this picture.

Awesome elephant shaped lights. I want some of these for my place!

The big cats were very active!  It was fun to see them out and about and to hear them growling.  

'Hobbes' the Tiger (and yes I named him too.)

Snow Leopard

My roommate Jessica with the snow leopard (it just looks like a soft blanket, unfortunately.  My camera and the photographer **ahem** weren't quite up to par for the task of an action shot.)

Making friends with the gorilla.

Being even friendlier with the gorilla

The Elephant came out for a late-night snack.

The zoo train wasn't running, but this one was cute so I got a picture with me 'in' the caboose.

 I had never been to the zoo's new Rocky Shores exhibit.  It was awesome. I am looking forward to going to the zoo during normal hours and hopefully seeing more animals in the exhibit.

I also fell in love with the soft cuddly bears. They were so cute.

Unfortunately it turns out that there was no ice carving as had been advertised. Despite that disappointment, the Zoo Lights more than made up for that. It was really fun; I already want to go again! 

Awful Aptitudes

You know how some people have very obvious talents like singing or drawing or playing the piano?  Welllll, I was not blessed with such talents. In fact, my talents are so obscure that even I'm not sure what they are; but tonight I recognized not only one, but two!

Unfortunately they tend to make me seem like a creeper.

First of all, not only do I have "a command of thoroughly useless information" but sometimes this useless information is about near-strangers.  The awkwardness of meeting new people often cements into my mind minute details about said person.  Every time I see this person at, oh say, a ward activity, my brain is able to key in on these details.

This would be an awesome talent if I could share it, but I have to use all of my willpower to hold back the ten facts that I know about this person when they start saying that we've never met and ask me what my name is. I have to hide my light under a bushel so that I don't creep people out.

My second talents that I discovered tonight is that I have keen observation skills--and not in a 'outside- your-window-on-a-tree-branch-with-a-pair-of- binoculars' kind of way.  And perhaps even more impressive, not in a Facebook Stalker kind of way either.  I think that this talent is what led me to study psychology and to learn to love classics, because both teach you about the human condition.  I sought to understand that things that I have observed.  This skill though helps me to glean even more information about people (see above for how this would make me seem like even more of a creeper).

Actually I guess I just discovered another talent: keeping my mouth shut and hiding my crazy (except for those rare occasions when I open up and share my inner most thoughts and desires and craziness on the Internet...)

Texting is the Bane of my Existence...

....mostly because there seems to be no etiquette involved.  I got a text at 12:26 AM to inform me of the musical numbers that were to be included in the Sunday program in eight and a half hours. This was obviously vital information that could not wait, so it in no way prompted me to get out of bed and start typing this diatribe.

One of the main reasons that I don't like texting because of the horrible effect that it has had on human interaction.  It would seem odd that someone as anti-social as me would hate the very technology that enables one to have the least amount of contact with other humans, but in a cruel twist of irony, texting has made me miss real face-to-face human contact that actually meant something.  Now most of my interactions with friends occurs via a screen and is so watered down that I'm not even sure if I can count it as a social interaction, because its so superficial.  You win cruel world: I miss interacting with real people.  Honestly it has gotten to the point where when some people text me, its almost physically painful because I view their text as not caring enough to pick up the phone and call (you win again cruel world, I even miss talking on the phone. This does not apply to all people or situations, but oft times lately I have felt this way.)

I also hate it because it is a cop-out. Its a way not to have to face real emotions and real feelings.  Intricate questions that should be asked on a date, for example, have been sent to me via text message.  I don't know how to respond to these questions because A) I'm caught off guard by the question itself and B) the medium through which the question is asked is entirely inappropriate. Also, texting gives individuals false courage to say whatever they feel like saying....the medium distances them from seeing or caring how their words affect their poor recipient/victim.  I haven't seen this particular situation myself, but on a lesser scale I have because unfortunately there is no sarcasm font, and I am sure that the things that I text are not always interpreted correctly---and despite what people think,  THIS:  :) or :( or any other emoticon, does not actually make what one says via text okay.


Its amazing how quickly the technology of  texting took off, but the effects that come from texting have appeared just as rapidly.  Our society is filled with socially inept, and socially immature people---and the really scary part is that the majority of society does not have a problem with it.

There are many more ways in which the technology of texting has become the bane of my existence, but I should probably try to go back to sleep rather than attempt to expound on them right now...but if another even  more incoherent post immediately follows this (or if you hear of my arrest on the news) you'll know that it is due to some moron texting me at a socially inappropriate hour.