It was a Beautiful Day

This is me. And music I love. And pictures I've taken. 

The song is Beautiful Day by U2. You can listen to it here on Spotify:

U2 – Beautiful Day

The heart is a bloom

Shoots up through the stony ground

There's no room

No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck

And the reason that you had to care

The traffic is stuck

And you're not movin' anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend

To take you out of this place

Someone you could lend a hand

In return for grace

It's a beautiful day

Sky falls, you feel like

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

You're on the road

But you've got no destination

You're in the mud

In the maze of her imagination

You love this town

Even if that doesn't ring true

You've been all over

And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Teach me now

I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue

See China right in front of you

See the canyons broken by clouds

See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

See the bedouin fires at night

See the oil fields at first light

See the bird with the leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colors came out

(Day!)

It was a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

Beautiful day

Touch me

Take me to that other place

Reach me 

I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now

What you don't know you can feel somehow

What you don't have you don't need it now

Don't need it now

It was a beautiful day

Avengers Fanfiction Sneak Peek

Approximately a month ago, I went to go watch the Avengers for the first time. I was very impressed, and rather thrilled and inspired. In the next week or so, the rest of my friends watched it. We went from being a writer's club to being a group of excitable teenagers fangirling over superheros. And, as girls do, we ended up picking and choosing our own Avenger. 

This gave me inspiration when I was bored one afternoon. I decided to write little scenes, one of us with our Avenger. This grew into a full-blown novel-length fanfiction, written in it's entirety in a month. 

I finally finished the last chapter yesterday, and I thought I would share a little bit of it with you. I'll just say it's in the middle. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. It's still very very rough. 

Chapter 38- Scattered

The Avengers hurried towards the tower, trying to reach Loki and stop the invasion of Shadows. As they got closer, they could see just how many Shadows were flying everywhere. 

"There's so many!" Hannah said. "How do we beat them?" 

One of the Shadows swooped down on Agent Romanoff, and she pulled out her gun, shooting at it. It did no good until it touched her, at which point she was able to shoot it. It dropped to the ground, still. 

"You can't touch them in their shadow form," she said, looking it over. "But it looks like, to be able to attack us, it has to take a physical form. And then we can hit them." 

"Look!" Assistant Director Carlson said, pointing upward. "Loki's up on top of that tower!" 

"Alright then," Captain America said. "That's where we go. Stick close to your partners." 

They took off, each partnership running off towards Loki and the tower. 

Director Fury and Assistant Director Carlson weren't long in the fight before swarms of Shadows overtook them. They fought together, in a rhythm that betrayed the longevity of their partnership more than anything else. 

"Sir!" Rebecca called, shooting a Shadow's head off. "The Shadows are delaying us. The longer it takes for us to reach the tower, the more defensible Loki can make it. We can't siege a tower."

"I'm well aware of that, Rebecca," Director Fury said. "If you have any ideas for getting us there quicker, I'll gladly hear them." 

"We need to get around them," Rebecca said. "If I can draw them off, lead them away, you can get to the tower quicker." 

"I don't think so," Fury said. "I'm not letting you do that. There's no guarantee it would work." 

"Nick," Rebecca said, making eye contact with the Director. "You don't have a choice. We can't spare any more time. I can draw them away from you. I'm the bigger threat. That gives you time to get to Loki and stop him." 

Director Fury sighed and nodded. "What am I going to tell your husband after this is over?" 

Rebecca gave Fury a wry smile. "That we won." She ran off in the opposite direction, drawing Shadows to her like flies to honey. Director Fury turned and began working his way towards the tower. 

Amber and Captain America fought side by side. For some reason, Amber's ice powers had the ability to hurt the Shadows while they weren't in physical form. She froze them easily, and Captain America helped her with any that got past. 

"Amber," he said, dodging a flying Shadow. "We need to get to that tower." 

"I know," she said. "But there happen to be these Shadows in the way." 

"We don't have time to fight through all of them," Steve said. He looked at her. "Do you think you could use your ice to knock them out of the way for a moment? Enough time for us to gain some headway?" 

Amber eyed the distance between them and the tower. "It would take a lot of ice. And I don't think we could do it in one run. But I can try." She focused for a moment, and sprayed two walls of ice, one on either side of them, leading towards the tower. 

"Run!" Steve said, taking her hand. Together they ran towards the tower. After a while, the Shadows got over the walls, and they were back to fighting again. 

Thor and Ashley were a sight to see. They whirled, attacked, and blocked Shadows with relative ease. There were at least two Ashley’s at any given moment. While the illusions couldn't hurt physical people, they were able to hurt the Shadows. 

"Thor!" Ashley called. "I think I can see Loki!" she peered into the sky, were Loki appeared to be carried by two Shadows. 

"We need to reach him," Thor said, looking with her. 

"How are we going to do that?" Ashley asked. "It's not like we can just knock him out of the air."

Thor looked at her. 

"Right," Ashley said. "We can just knock him out of the air." 

"Well, not here," Thor said. "It's too far away. I need to be closer." 

"Then let's work on that, shall we?" Ashley asked, entering once more into the fray, beginning to carve a path towards Loki. 

Talyn, Hannah, Iron Man, and Hulk had banded together, and were fighting their way towards the tower. Despite their powers, and Hannah's and Talyn's ability to get the Shadows while in shadow form, they were beginning to feel overwhelmed by sheer numbers. It seemed like the Shadows never stopped coming. No sooner would they cut one down, then another would take its place. 

"We're not making any forward motion here," Tony said, blasting a Shadow away from him. 

"We need to reach that tower," Hannah said. 

"Maybe not," Talyn said, pointing upwards. "Look who came out." 

Iron Man looked up and saw Loki in the sky. "Well, I'll go-"

"Tony, wait," Hannah said, holding up her hand. "I have a better idea." 

"What?" he asked her. 

"Why don't we bring him down here so we can all fight him? We'd have a better chance of winning then," Hannah said. 

"Ladies first," Tony said, backing off. Hannah closed her eyes for a moment, and her hair began to whip around her face as she summoned a windstorm. 

Carina and Hawkeye were almost to the base of the tower when the wind began to blow. They looked up, and saw Loki fall from the sky in the wind, as though the very air itself had grabbed him and thrown him down. 

"Loki's down," Carina said to herself. 

"Looks like Hannah got him," Hawkeye said. 

"Yeah," Carina said, "But where's Alena?" 

They both turned back towards the tower as an unearthly screech rang out. 

Alena screamed as she looked out the window and saw Loki fall. She stood up without thinking. She had to reach him. She had to find Loki. They weren't going to take him from her again. She wouldn't let them. 

She opened the door and began to run down the steps, trying to reach Loki before the Avengers did. 

Well, there you go! I hope you enjoyed that. If you want to read more, just let me know. 

McAnniversary

Today is exactly my one-year anniversary of my very first ever job- working at McDonalds.

This has been a very interesting job. With several interesting stories involved in almost every aspect of it.
While job hunting last summer, Mom suggested that I apply for McDonalds. This was a while into my search, and everything else I had applied for had either fallen through or was in the process of falling through. When I heard her suggestion, I believe I gave her a look of horror and said something approximating "NO."

To which I found myself the next afternoon filling out an application for McDonalds. Moms are good like that.

To my utter surprise (and slight trepidation) I got a call, and an interview scheduled.

The interview was easier than I thought it would be. Two managers interviewed me, and they managed to put me completely at ease. I started feeling slightly better about working at McDonalds, if I got the job. I would know at least two nice people. And, the way they put it, it wasn't really THAT bad to work at McDonalds.

After some waiting, I got another call. I had gotten the job. By then, I was facing a summer with no work and no money, something I wasn't looking forward to. So I was thrilled to get the job.
Other reactions were... interesting. My mother and immediate family was thrilled as well. My aunt was horrified, convinced I was going to get fat and was serving people food that would kill them. My friends found this as an opportunity to make fun of me and try to use me to get free food. My dad started playing "McDonalds Girl" a lot.

I started work. It was long, hard, hot work, at least at the beginning. Several hours of just working fries, making sure everyone had hot, fresh fries while beginning to learn other skills.

After about a week or so, I got to go to the front, and take orders and do all that stuff you see workers do. Take payment, fetch food. And also, always make sure I am busy. Or at least looking busy. The beginning of my learning people management skills, dealing with angry and dissatisfied customers. And also getting to help nice people. That always made my day.

After a while, I got to work in the drive thru. And it's my favorite place to work. Taking orders, cash, running... it's all super fun. Also fun is wearing a headset that allows me to not only talk to the customers, but also to anyone else wearing a headset. Fun group conversations occur that way.

I've learned a lot during my year here.

I've learned how to do 15 things at once, all while talking to two customers at the same time. (you try taking orders and doing cash all by yourself. it's a workout.)

Idiocy is boundless- there are no limits to the amount of stupidity the human race has, and I feel it is best expressed in a fast food environment. Not all the time, necessarily, but it's also on both sides of the counter. The only other forum for sheer obtuseness that can compete is the Internet.

It's the little things that make people happy.

People don't look at the menu before they order. They don't look at signs that say the bathroom is closed for cleaning, either. Both create just really awkward situations.

Being in a car must create the illusion of privacy- sorry, lady, we can hear you yelling at your children. We can also hear all your phone conversations. You have such juicy secrets, and now the whole store heard them. Well, everyone with a headset.

We do judge you based on what you order. And how you order it. And we also talk about you behind your back. Sometimes in front of you. Leave a good impression- we'll be a lot nicer and more helpful. Be rude or insulting- we'll turn you into a joke.

Tourists are the funniest people ever.

If you don't have a sense of humor, forget working here. You'll die.

Regular customers are the best.

I can work through some pretty intense pain- getting burned by a fresh hot french fry basket (I still have that scar. It's kind of cool.) and more recently, smacking my head on a metal cabinet. (Still have the lump on my head.)

Between me and my co-workers, I think we cover every possible nerddom ever. If I don't know something, almost guaranteed someone I work with will.

McDonalds treats their employees rather nicely. I mean, I even got a nice scholarship from them.

My co-workers are awesome. They are what made me love my job. They are what make me still love my job.

We do have a brand pride. Mention something about Burger King or some other place to us, and we'll just bristle up. I mean, clearly, we are the best.

We agree with almost every single complaint a customer has given us. We made your food wrong? Let us look- ooh, yeah we did. Let us fix that for you. Think the prices are insane? So do we- but there's nothing we can do about it. We know how you feel. We also get tired of incessant whining. Say your piece and be done.

You cannot sound good singing in the box. (Box is slang for the tiny little room we take orders and hand you your food in.)

You can ask for, and get, almost anything on your sandwich or whatever. If we have it, and you want it, and you ask for it, we'll give it to you. People get really creative sometimes.

There's a reason instructions exist.

"People skills" sometimes equals really good lying and acting.

We don't serve "um," "uh," "da kine," "and...," "you know," "whatever," "that thing in the picture," (do you know how many pictures you are looking at?)

Deciphering thick accents and cultural barriers is harder than you think.

I wouldn't trade what I've learned and all my experiences this past year for anything.

Ze Completely Awesome Quote Book by 11 Rather Crazy Writers

Ok, I have to give credit where credit is due. I didn't come up with this all by myself.
Here's how it started.
I'm part of a Writer's Club, where we all meet every week and read stuff that we've written and critique it. Also, we created a little email group, where we can email each other various things.
It was intended to be writerly in nature. It quickly disintegrated into almost everything but. And we email a lot.
Like, seriously. I'm the top poster of all time in the group, and the emails I've sent over the whole time I've been a member has been 3378.
That's a lot.
All of us together have sent out 8714 emails to each other.

After a few months of this, one of my friends decided she was bored enough to go through, read all our emails again, and compile a list of some of the quotable things we've said.

I'm posting part of this list because I don't know if you've noticed, but off to the right, you will see a little column labeled Whimsical Quotes. This is essentially a continuation of that, but not limited to Writer's Club.

Anyway, enjoy some quotes from 11 rather crazy writers.

"Nonexistent words are the best ones."

"Writing or reading stuff that's happy is like cheese."

"Ice cream makes heartbreak bearable."

"Star Wars is not on Earth and Darth Vader is in our army."

"George Lucas isn't really attached to earth."

"Creativity doesn't wait for mouse clicks."

"Let us all eat cake."

"Beware the mustard."

"Angst is better with opera and high notes."

"You cannot say someone is your friend until you have tasted each other's hair."

"Let's just be honest with ourselves and say it's not odd... if you're a writer."

"Focus. Use the force."

"But I can't be a choir of Muppet Babies."

"YOU MUST WATCH IT AGAIN AND STALK HIS EARS."


The Questions Section:

"Anybody have a random lightning bolt I can borrow?"

"And how do you go temporarily insane?"

"Seriously, does anyone have a lightning bolt?"

"Can't they just give me money?"

"How did he get there and why were people jumping around and hugging people?"

"How do you get jellybeans to move like that?"

"Can I go to the psyche ward?"

"Why have we been sent to prison? Is it because I stole your mustache? Because I thought I gave that back."


I Don't Know How Some of These Got In Our Heads:


"That's why he lives on my table, not in the chicken coop."

"And he was kind of disheveled. Like he had just frolicked with a llama. I couldn't tell about his abs though."

"I like him orange..."

"I thought we agreed, sucking souls was a fiery snake."

"Aw, you think I have dramatic creepyness? That makes me happy."

"Sorry for being dead!"

"The Republican primaries scare me."

"Yey! Have a virtual cookie."

"I read books to get away from reality, not to relive it all."

"I will attempt at writing absolute mushiness."

"I didn't know the potion was killing her!"

"He gets attacked by random savages who hit him over the head."

"He was the rockingest sparrow I ever saw. And an amazing catcher."

"Please read that last part in a British accent."

"Everything is an evil plot."

"Send all Evildoers to the Magical Asteroid up in space!"

"It's a weird peace but it's peace."

"All you must know is that I will eat you very soon."

"Well, that sounds good... except for the human part."

"So I wouldn't be very delicious... unless you like crunchy things."

"Actually, I defeated the Goblin with the ultimate power of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. True story."

"Clearly Carina must be the fairy that was upset by Hannah and ate the Rapunzel story."

"When I said I would kill you, I didn't mean literally."

"I love terrorizing random passerbys."

"Yay for llamas!"

"You don't know! She might! Unless you stalk her."

"You would totally anger random fairies, just admit it."

"We'll be blamed for the death of far too many tiny-brained boys!"

"Agh! Stop talking about dying babies!"

"He has majorly huge 10,000 year honed brain powers."

"Whoever gets it right earns three million dollars... metaphorically."

" *inset fangirl squee here* "

"HE'S BRITISH!"

"You gutless flip-flopper."

"Like, they sat in a room and went, wouldn't it be cool if they turned into yarn? So they stuck that in there."

"Hufgh. Don't be obvious, silly."

"I don't have a thing against grandmas... but she is old."

"Hannah routinely trains bear sharks to eat her brothers."

"She can't bite people properly."

"And I don't know why she smashed through a wall thing either."

"Nah, I think he'd be more crazy then eat chicken food."

"I can't believe it, I didn't believe you people and now I'm dying pure awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"AREN'T HIS EARS BEAUTIFUL?"

"AND, THOR'S OVERALL FACE IS VERY BEAUTIFUL, BUT FOR SOME REASON, HIS EARS ARE PERFECT. IT CREEPS ME OUT HOW PERFECT THEY ARE."

"I'M SURE IF I WAS PAYING ATTENTION TO HIS EARS, I WOULD KNOW THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL."

"It would be like the TLC show Say Yes to the Dress with Mrs. Bennet helping pick out wedding dresses and Mr. Bennet making snarky comments in the background. Oh, yes, it would be brilliant."

"All right, so I am trying to name a benign griffin prince."

"It's wondermous."

"I wish I had an elephant or a bumper car... or both!"

"Glow in the dark ninjas!"

"And this has everything to do with the fact I was working french fries."

"I met a guy named Armando last night. It made my day."

"I vote we eliminate cyber bullying with cyber food fights."

"I can donate some squishy papayas."

"It's funny how we are more worried about the lack of sugar than going to jail."


I think that totally pretty much sums us up.

Despite My Efforts...

It appears, despite my efforts to reform my siblings out of their terrible habits of rampaging my room for  candy... I have lost the battle.

Mom was washing my sheets this morning while I was at work, and texted me this picture. Of what under my mattress looked like.

Do you see that!?!? Those are wrappers! Under my mattress! And I didn't eat those! The children rampaged my candy, ate it in my room, and then stuffed the wrappers under MY mattress!

That's not even all the wrappers. There were more.

It appears I need to try harder to reform them. And move my candy. Which I did.

Ha. Ha. Ha. I win.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

A week or so ago, two of my friends and I got inspired and decided we would walk around wearing a sign that says 'life' and give our friends lemons.

This was quite an adventure, with some rather interesting results. People kept giving us strange looks, although some were positively delighted. This, apparently, is what happens when three teenage girls representing life hand you lemons.

"Are these... for me? Really? I'm, I'm... honored, guys, really. I'm going to go make some lemonade right now."

"Ummmmm...... ok. *little nervous giggle* You just want to give me... lemons?"
"Yeah, life sent us."
"Okay then...."

*opens door* "What are you doing here?"
"Hi, we're here representing life, and we'd like to give you some lemons."*hands lemons over*
"Ummm...."
"Oh my gosh, are those lemons?" (random little brother walking in)
"Yeah. Here, have them." *hands lemons to brother*
"YES! I love lemons!"
"I didn't know he loved lemons."
"At least someone appreciates us."
"You guys are insane."
The boy ended up slicing up the lemon and eating it raw. He really does love lemons.

"Ummm... hi."
"Hi, we're here to give your brother lemons."
"He's not here right now."
"Oh. Well, can you take these and tell them life gave them to him?" *hands lemons over*
"Ummm... okay..."
"I'll explain it later."
These lemons got stolen by his mother.

"Hi! We're here to give you some lemons."
"Oh! And, look, you're life. That's... that's cute." *takes the lemons* "Now what?"
"Well, what do you do when life hands you lemons?"
*pauses* "Is this a test?"
"No... we just wanted to see what you would do."
One of these lemons ended up making lemon garlic pork chops for Father's Day. I'd say that was a pretty good use.

"Hi, we're from Life, and we'd like to hand you some lemons."
*loud laughter* "You guys are hilarious."
"We try. Here, enjoy your lemons."
"I'm going to do something really good with these lemons."
The first lemon attempted to make lemon bars, but due to a ingredient mixup, they were rendered inedible. However, the lemon pasta made with the second lemon was apparently quite lovely. People are getting quite creative with their lemons.

"Hi, guys!"
"Hi, we're representing life, and we'd like to hand you some lemons."
"Oh my gosh. You guys are the best.  This is awesome!" *pauses* "But you know, without water and sugar, it's kind of useless."
"That's not our problem."
"Oh! I have something to show you guys!"
She then showed us an Avengers wallet she made with Iron Man colors. Out of duct tape. When life hands you lemons, complain about lack of other ingredients and collectively fangirl over the Avengers.
The lemons were used to make a corn/bean dip thingy.

We then had two lemons left. We went back to our base and made some lemonade. All in all, I'd say it was a successful mission.

How to Properly Steal Food

Due to the relatively recent influx of candy in my room (thanks to all my graduation leis) I have discovered my siblings have this incessant need for sugar. Preferably, sugar easily within their reach and quickly eaten. Therefore, they have been scouring my room (somewhat secretly- they have yet to learn how to search a room without leaving traces) to find the candy. I was sneaky and hid it somewhere other than my usual place. So a few weeks passed, and they had not touched the candy. (If you're wondering why, after a few weeks, I still have candy, well, I had like 3 pounds of candy. Try eating all that in one sitting. You might die.)

Then my baby sister decided to go and play in my room while I was at work. I'm on my break and I get this text from my mother saying "your sister found your stash" and I'm all like NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. But since it was just her in the room and mom discovered her, I didn't worry too much. It's not like the other kids knew about it, right?
Wrong.
My brother soon found it, and that led to the other siblings finding it.

Wrappers littered my room. I found sunflower seeds under my bed. My candy level substantially decreased. And I rediscovered a truth I had long known. My siblings don't know how to steal candy.

I know what you're thinking. "I think they stole her candy pretty well. It's all but gone."
But no. There's more to stealing candy and food than just taking it. That's just rampaging. And personally, I find that rampaging candy is just not classy. If you're going to steal my food, and least be somewhat professional about it. Impress me. If I'm impressed, I won't be nearly so mad when I find you out. If you do it well enough, I might never find you out. These kids have fantastically creative minds. I'm sure they can come up with something.

With this in mind, I have assembled a few basic tips on how to properly steal food/candy.

1) If something is wrapped or otherwise unopened, leave it alone. That's an easy way to get caught quick. People notice radical differences.

2) Likewise, if there are only a few or one of something left, leave it alone. The less there are, the more likely they know how many there were before you took one. Or five. And people definitely notice when something's all gone, and the last time they were there, there was some left. Moderation is key here.

3) Don't leave wrappers or other clues that you were there. Whether it be in the actual room itself, or some other place you think hides your crime well (under the mattress really doesn't work. It's just setting yourself up for failure a lot later. You have to get rid of it somehow.) Throw wrappers away in a community trash can. No one knows who threw stuff in there. And leaving stuff on the floor is asking for something big to happen.

4) If you are caught, have an excuse handy. It doesn't have to be a good excuse. "I saw a unicorn fly in your drawer and I wanted to catch it, but it's trapped in the candy and I have to eat it all to save it," is a lot better than "uuuuummmmm...... hi?" Make the person who caught you laugh. Happy people are more forgiving.

5) Leave some good stuff for the original owner. I personally hate it when my siblings eat all the good candy, leaving me to eat the horrible nasty candy no one wants. Take some of that nasty candy. You'll be doing everyone a favor.

And on that note, have a great day today. I shall be showing this post to my siblings, and suggestively hinting they take notes. If you have any more I might have missed (or just never thought of) feel free to list them in the comments!

The First Whimsy

Well, this is my first blog post! Yey! I suppose I should share a little about myself, or maybe some little whimsy I like.

Well, I'm a college age student getting ready for my first semester at BYU-Hawaii. I love lots of things, from reading to art to music to writing to eating. I have a very large family, and I love them all.

I'm not a very active person as far as sports go, and when I do participate, I inevitably end up finding some way to hilariously fail.

I find that laughing and finding the bright things in life is a far better pastime than mourning over the state of the world today.

This blog will contain lots of things, all whimsies to me. Maybe some whimsies are more serious than others, and some will probably be complete fluff. Life has both, why not my blog?

Well, that's all for now. I hope you will enjoy the Whimsy of My Mind.