So, Saturday was a lovely day. Megan had a few errands to run and asked if I would like to accompany her. I said yes, especially since I had to go get "New Moon" on DVD. We ended up having a blast walking around the mall and eating In'n'Out and watching "New Moon" and "Mamma Mia" and just being girly. So here are a few pictures that came out of the day.
Leaving the mall!
Too funny to not take a picture of!
Megan and In'n'Out. Thank you for building one here!!
Look how cute she is waiting for her food.
Yessssss!
This is a little bit of Heaven!
It looks like I'm trying to shove the whole thing in my mouth . . . I'm not. Just taking a bite.
Megan caught a pic of me running and dancing in the parking lot.
Helping Megan find some new jeans!
Driving. It was such a beautiful day!
Cupcakes!!!
Girls' day!
Megan enjoying her cupcake: raspberry chocolate cheesecake!
Watching "New Moon"
So, just a tad bit of craziness. Next up should be pics from my trip to Cali :) Love ya all!
I just finished this book. Literally. Three minutes ago. I had to come share my thoughts. This book was superb. I haven't been reading much, but what a way to get back into it.
The story is about Jacob Jankowski, a ninety or ninety-three year old man. He is living in a rest home, reflecting on his days with the circus to get through what his life has now become.
So, the story is obviously focused on his time with the circus. At first, I was hesitant. It was recommended to me by a friend and after listening to her rant and rave about it, I gave in. I read the first few chapters one night, but couldn't focus enough, so I gave up. But I took it with me on my trip to California. I think I read a few more chapters on the plane out there simply to take up time. They were good, but I still wasn't seeing what was so great about it.
It wasn't until I was sitting in the airport to go back to Utah that I really got into it. I started reading to take my mind off the sadness of going back and I was hooked. I didn't even bother putting it back in my backpack when I got on the plane. I was devouring it and I couldn't put it down. It's been that way all week. I read every free second I had because I just had to know what happened.
This story is gritty and real. It doesn't focus so much on the circus as it does on Jacob's experiences. I laughed, I gasped, I cried. If you haven't read it, you need to. The author researched everything so you can be guaranteed that you're getting the most authentic experience you can. I was captured by Jacob and the way he saw his world and learned to work for himself. It doesn't shy away from uncomfortable topics. You've got to read this. It is wonderful.
And I hear they're making a movie out of it with Reese Witherspoon!
*Sorry this is a bit late. I forgot to post it last night.
Welcome to Topic Tuesday! Today, Claudia, Megan and I are going to share our ten guilty pleasures . . . if we can come up with ten.
1) Slurpees - Yes, this is a BIG guilty pleasure of mine. Anyone that hangs out with me can testify to this. I admit to having saved loose change so I could go get one. I know they're not good for me, but they're just so darn good! *side note: The guy at 7-11 and I are buddies. We always talk when I come in. Pretty sad huh?
2) Books - Or maybe I should say buying books. I spend too much money on them. Everyone always says I should just go to the library. But it's not the same.
3) Chicken nuggets - Yeah, extremely bad for you. But at least they taste yummy while clogging your arteries!
4) People Watching - Yes, I admit to watching people and making comments. Mostly on what they're wearing. Probably not the best habit, but I still do it.
5) Daydreaming - If you're trying to get my attention and I'm not answering, this is probably what I'm doing. And it's always on tons of different subjects. Shoes, Edward, Robert Pattinson, stories I want to write, where I'd go on vacation, etc.
6) Diet Coke with Lemon/Lime - One of the best drinks ever!! I haven't had one in almost two months (this plasma thing kinda prohibits them) but it is still one of my guilty pleasures.
7) Shoes - I. Love. Shoes. People can say you don't need that many pairs, but you can never have too many shoes!!
8) In'n'Out Burger - I can't ever resist In'n'Out. I could seriously eat it several days in a row and have before. It's like a drug. I can't stay away!!! I'm still trying to figure out if one being built here in Orem is a good thing or a bad thing.
9) Slurpees - Oh wait . . . I said that already.
10) Panties - Yes, it's true. I love Victoria's Secret panties. No one's ever going to see them, but dang. They're a definite guilty pleasure :)
Last semester I had to write a creative essay in my Creative Writing class. I had never known you could write a creative essay so the assignment was extremely frustrating. Not to mention, it was my workshop assignment I had to pass out for the entire class to read and critique! I really had no idea what to write about or how to do it, so I wrote this in an hour the night before.
Thankfully, the class loved it and my teacher told me it was the best one anyone in the class had written!!
So, here's my essay for everyone to read. I'm sure it could use some tightening and revising, but I can't bear to mess with it. Let me know what you think!
~Sydney
Moments of Gold
My dad and I have always had a strange relationship. It is strong and loving and has survived even my angst filled teenage years without a scratch. Our relationship puzzles my mother, the only other person closest to us both. Sometimes, it even puzzles me, and I’m an active participant. Maybe it’s the fact that our bond is based on the one thing that has the ability to get under my skin every time I encounter it.
Silence.
I’ve always found silence to be a rather oppressive sound. When I am alone, I cannot concentrate on anything without some sort of background noise. As I write or read or clean or cook or study, there is constantly a low hum of noise around me. The television may be turned on to a random channel and the volume set low. More often than not, my iPod is tucked securely in my pocket, the wire of the headphones stretching up toward my left ear like some misplaced vein where the earbud is nestled into my ear canal like a parasite. However, this parasite is far from unwelcome. The small electronic is like a lifeline for my sanity to cling to when I spend my time alone in otherwise smothering nothingness.
The fact that my father-daughter relationship is based on and strengthened by something that I go to great lengths to avoid stuns me, even now as I write this essay. Yet, even as I think this, a memory pops into my head.
My dad shifts into a more comfortable position, causing the entire bed to shake. My attention is torn from the book I had been lost in as I look up at him with a frown. He ignores me, his nose buried in his own book. We are both stretched in odd positions across his bed as we appreciate the rare moment we get to spend together, just the two of us. My head tilts to the side of its own accord as I realize belatedly that silence blankets us. I use my lips to make a popping noise as I wonder why it took me so long to notice. My dad looks at me out of the corner of his eye, his arched eyebrow asking why I would dare to interrupt his precious moments of silence. Sufficiently scolded, I turn back to my book and the light goes on in my brain.
My dad and I have never been ones for words. Even so, it really isn’t as quiet as I first perceived it to be. Every so often, paper rustles as we turn our pages. My dad’s breathing is quiet, but still reassuringly there and in sync with mine. The bed squeaks slightly each time we move. My own heartbeat pounds in my ears.
“Dad,” I whisper, “Do you hear anything?”
He sighs and flips a page. “Just you.”
I chuckle to myself and settle back in to read, comforted that it really isn’t silent.
Anthony Pitts, a musician and composer, suggests that “true absolute silence is virtually unattainable.” He was not far off in his statement. My perceived silence is filled with sounds of life. The world is much the same. Emptying your mind at night does not stop the noise of the world around you. Yoga, despite its claims to be calming in its quietness, is filled with an instructor’s voice to guide you through. “Silent” vacation spots generally have wildlife and natural sounds erupting all over. The fact that pure silence cannot be obtained suggests the unnaturalness of living in a silent world. It is simply not possible.
Science has also shown the effects of what humans perceive as silence on the mind. Animals who were subjected to a life lacking any noise showed aggression and behavioral changes. The term “sensory deprivation” comes strongly into play with silence. Living beings were not meant to live without noise in their lives.
After observing these facts, I find myself comforted. Maybe I’m not so crazy to want background noise. In movies, novels, and any other form of entertainment, a crushing silence is usually a warning sign of bad things to come. Silence never bodes well for those fictional characters. They stand alone, calling out in fear the name of a friend or perhaps demanding to know what lies in wait behind the silence. I definitely do not want to be the doomed heroine.
My dad is next to me once again. This time, we are cleaning up our dinner mess. It is far from silent in the kitchen. Plates clang against granite, water rushes out of the faucet. I smile to myself as I listen to our footsteps move around each other. I had so wrongly believed those natural noises meant nothing. It isn’t silence that binds my father and I together so strongly. It’s the sound of our lives that put us at ease. We bond over the mere sound of living.
“What are you smiling at over there?” my dad asks.
“Oh, nothing,” I say with an even bigger smile.
He laughs. Then, we’re back to cleaning. The sounds of our breathing and movement fill the air around us. Just like that, we both fall back into our comfort zone. I can’t help thinking that if this is really what silence is, then I don’t mind it. I’ll take those golden moments with my father over background noise any day.
Welcome to Topic Tuesday!! Okay, for those of you who don't know what that is (which is all of you), my friends Megan and Claudia and I all pick a topic together. Then we each blog about it without talking to each other. The point? To see what three different people think about the same subject!
And for fun of course.
So, after you're done reading mine, you can click on Claud & Megan's names above to go to their blogs and see what they wrote.
Today's topic, in case you couldn't already tell, is "You Are Here." Well, where is "here" and why am I . . . "here?"
When I first thought of this, the weirdest thing came to mind. I remember back in my sophomore year of high school, we got this paper that was supposed to help prepare us for college. It looked like a LIFE game board, complete with weird cartoon drawings. Each square was a class you needed to take or a test or whatever other requirements you had to meet to be what California deems an acceptable college applicant. Of course, being my mature 14-year-old self, I laughed and threw it away. My reasoning? I was going to BYU and not one of the UC schools. I didn't need it.
Boy, do I wish I had one of those now.
Not for college. Obviously I made it. I wish I had one for life. One that showed me what step came next and what path I was supposed to be taking. But then again . . .
Wouldn't it be suffocating to have a set path and every step laid out for you?
I'm getting off topic.
So, where is "here?
"Here" is straddling what my life was and what it is becoming. One foot is in my childhood days where I am still living with my parents and my biggest cares are having college-worthy grades, having money for the weekend, or which friends were fighting. The other foot is in my college days, trying to pull me forward. Now I'm worried about money to survive, picking the right classes, and trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.
"Here" is a transitioning period.
I'm sorting my life out, figuring out what I want. I'm building, organizing, enjoying, fighting through it. Where do I go? Well, I'm figuring that out too. I've got at least two more years to do it.
For now, this is my circle. I decide whether to break it and let people in or to keep it closed and protect what I have.
Hi! I'm Sydney. I'm a college student, currently attending BYU. I am an English major, Editing minor. My hope is to work as an editor in a publishing company and eventually write. I love my family and hate being so far away from them. I love reading and writing and this is a place for me to share the random thoughts in my head!
