A Child's Thoughts on a Playground

Eenie meenie miney moe

Catch a tiger by his toe

If he hollers, let him go

Eenie meenie miney moe

My mother told me 

To pick the very best one

And you are

Wait. No. Not him. I can't choose him. I like him. If I pick him, he'll never want to talk to me or play with me again, and how are we supposed to get married and have seven children if we never speak again? 

Not

Wait. I can't pick her, either. She's fun and cool and popular, and if we stay friends maybe I'll get more friends too. Look at her, smiling at me. I can't do that to her. 

NOT

Wait. I can't pick her. She's my best friend. We've played this game every day since kindergarten. But there isn't anyone else I can pick. I can't knock myself out. 

It. 

"You're out!"

"But it's not fair, she cheated! He's supposed to be out!"

"But it landed on you, you have to go leave."

"It's not fair! I want a rematch!"

"The rules say no."

"Fine!"

Don't cry. I'm sorry. But... I couldn't knock them out. You understand, right? 

"Come on. She's just being a whiny brat. She'll get over it. You're better off without her. Let's go play!"

"Um... okay."

Videos and Birthdays

In all reality, I actually made this video almost two months ago, for my friend Daryl's birthday. It seemed fitting at the time.

I mean, after all, she was the one who got me to actually listen to One Direction. She did that by sitting me down and making me watch the Kiss You music video. I watched it and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to give the rest of it a try and the rest is pretty much history. This video was my way of saying thank you and also sharing a part of what I could give her, which isn't much.

I don't usually get my friends things for their birthday. If they're lucky, or Facebook reminds me, I'll acknowledge their birthday and say nice things and give them extra hugs. But not usually. I just don't feel like I have a lot to give, and if I'm going to give something, I want it to be super nice and something they'll actually enjoy.

I'm not very good at many things. I'm not even particularly good at making music videos (as I'm sure you can see) but it is something that I can do and I can do with some small measure of skill. It's something I can create that I can share easily and that came easily as her birthday was approaching. So I decided to do that for her, and it was a bumpy road to get there.

First we had a time crunch for filming, because I wanted the filming to be done with a week left to edit before her birthday, so I would be sure to have time to get it done with finals and two papers I was also writing for my classes.

Then I had to round up our friends and convince them that they really wanted to do this for Daryl. And for me. As our friend Matt put it, "If you had told us beforehand that we were doing a One Direction music video, we wouldn't have come out here to do it. But it was very skilled, waiting till we were already here to tell us what kind of birthday video we were making for Daryl." (In all actuality, I thought I had disclosed everything beforehand, and had forgotten to mention that this great video project I wanted to do for Daryl's birthday and before everyone left the island was also a One Direction music video. But hey, it worked out).

Then I had camera issues, what with trying to check one out, and then discovering I had no way to make that camera actually work, to ending up working with my crappy camera that I had wanted to avoid working with in the first place because that was the last thing we had that would make a good video.

But, it all worked out, in what still feels like divine intervention. I also got the editing done quickly, taking just a Sunday afternoon when I thought it would take at least two days.

Perhaps the waiting was the most painful for me, having not planned on having to wait before uploading the video, and with four days left to spare. So I ended up uploading it a day early, and we all enjoyed it.

So here is my video, and do enjoy it.

Or not. I totally won't blame you.

One Way or Another

Sometimes I hear stories about couples that get together while at various college campuses.

Sometimes I'm reminded just how thin and fragile the line between creepy and romantic is. Literally, that line is determined by your predisposition to the person making the creepy/romantic overtures is.

Sometimes I'm walking down the street, and this song comes on, and I'm struck by how much the catchiness and key change distract me from how, if this were the wrong guy, I would be so creeped out.

Okay, lets be real, there are some parts that are just creepy no matter who is singing this to me.

One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha, 
One way or another, I'm gonna win ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha,
One way or another, I'm gonna see ya, I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya,
One day, maybe next week, I'm gonna meet ya, I'm gonna meet ya...

I will drive past your house
And if the lights are all out
I'll see who's around...

Let's go!

One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha
One way or another, I'm gonna win ya, I'll getcha, I'll getcha,
One way or another, I'm gonna see ya, I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya,
One day, maybe next week, I'm gonna meet ya, I'll meet ya

And if the lights are all out 
I'll follow your bus downtown
See who's hanging out...

One, two, three, four

(obligatory na na na na na's) (because really can we have a song without them?) (haha nope)

I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
Yeah, teenage kicks right through the night

I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
Yeah, teenage kicks all through the night

One way or another, I'm gonna see ya, I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One way or another, I'm gonna win ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha...

One way or another

Okay guys, like, seriously. Casual reminder that this song is really old and really creepy and catchy with a cool beat and a key change but yeah. Such a thin line.

"I hope your harp isn't jealous"

So I was in my costuming class, casually sewing a bonnet for the upcoming Huck Finn play, when I got a message from a friend of mine.

"How's your harp doing?"

This being the same wonderful friend that helped me build my harp, I was sort of confused and suspicious and wondering what she had going on in asking me this.

Mostly did she imply that I might be possibly ignoring my harp because I got a guitar as an early birthday present?

Which she was, when I replied that it was fine, and she replied that she hoped my harp wasn't getting jealous.

And I do see her point. At this point in my life, I sing, I play the piano, I play the harp, and now I play the guitar (I should add that I'm still not really good at those last two, so don't expect something fabulous, unlike with the piano and singing, which I have been doing for longer).

And I have been loving my guitar to death lately.

Which might be causing some undue jealousy in my harp. Actually, not completely undue jealously.

Confession: I have been ignoring my harp a little bit recently.

After it was finished, I would usually make an effort to play it a couple times a week, and if I didn't manage that, I would at least make sure it was tuned.

But then one Sunday (prime harp playing time) I was busy and I really didn't want to bother tuning it, because that is time consuming (not really but it feels like it) and I was tired. So I didn't, and then I kept not doing it for a couple weeks because it was finals time and I was busy and tired.

Then I went to Utah and got my guitar. I got very excited and immediately started playing it and learning it and shredding the tips of my fingers and such.

So then I get home, with an old, beat-up guitar, and my harp is sitting in my closet, radiating waves of disapproval. I kid you not.

"You haven't had the time to even tune me recently and then you go off for a week and come back with him???"

And yes, my guitar is a he. My harp is a she. They are both my babies, and apparently very jealous of each other, hence why I keep them in opposite corners of my room.

And after a few days I did get around to tuning and playing my harp again. I try to make sure I do give some both time (not necessarily equal time, but both of them do get time).

And the piano?

She always gets my time. She probably honestly gets more time then both of them combined because it's not like playing the piano gives me callouses or hurts or anything so I can pretty much keep going as long as I have songs to play. And I almost always have songs to play.

So if any of my children are going to get jealous of another, it should be my baby boy and girl getting jealous of their older sister.

Storytime! The Toe-Licking Lamb

Gather around, and let me tell you a story from ages past, one that has been passed down my family for generations and is cherished beyond all others.

And by ages past I mean it happened last year, by passed down in my family I mean I think my dad made a Facebook post about it when it happened, and by cherished beyond all others I mean it never fails to either make people laugh or weird them out when they hear it.

So let's go.

It was about a year and one month ago when I left the island of Oahu for the first time since moving here, and it was a grand occasion. My We The People team had made it past states and we were off to DC to compete in the Nationals.

But we would not only be debating and discussing constitutional topics in front of judges, we would also get to be tourists. Part of our touristy experience (other than feeling cold because we were from Hawaii, and as people kept putting it, it was "unseasonably chilly") was a trip to Mount Vernon where we could marvel at George Washington's house and lands and the beautiful river whose name I don't remember, but it was really pretty.

Also, there were lambs living there, as part of the farm. Cute and adorable, sitting behind a fence with their sheep parents, the lambs didn't fail to inspire "aw's" and little other noises of girly happiness when faced with a cute creature.

Then one of the little lambs decided it would exercise its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and jumped the fence. Once over the fence, it didn't run away, it merely stood there, as if it were to seek entertainment from us. My dear friend Josi and I were smitten, and went to go look and maybe even play with it without a fence in our way.

The lamb allowed us to get close, and received our affection in what I suppose is the normal fashion for lambs. As in not really doing much.

But then, a little later, as we had wandered down the fence line, leaving the lamb to the mercy of some little children who were also smitten with the adorable little beast, I was startled to feel something. It felt strange, like nothing I had ever felt before in my life, and I won't seek to describe it here, partly because I don't really remember, and also because what I do remember is really weird and I don't have the words to describe it. It was weird.

I looked down to figure out what the heck was going on with my toes (for some reason I had the thought that maybe they had just gone completely numb from the "unseasonably chilly" weather - it was really cold) and I discovered that the little lamb was LICKING my TOES.

That's right. Standing in Mount Vernon, celebrating the life of George Washington, and a lamb decides it would be great to lick my toes.

I did what any sane human being would do and shrieked, moving away from the lamb while my father and Josi and her father laughed. I moved a little further away, blushing furiously (looking back, it's a lot more funny now that I'm not actually being laughed at, but with) and tried to stay away from the lamb.

But the lamb wouldn't have it, and moved to lick my toes again, determined to taste me? I don't really know what that lamb wanted, but it really liked my toes. This went on for a good five minutes until the lamb got bored and hopped back inside the fence.

We finished looking around Mount Vernon, and slowly made our way back to the bus, telling our story to people, and getting a general good laugh out of it, although we were also faced with a good deal of confusion, none of which has been cleared up in the year and a month since this incident. 

I don't think I will ever fully understand what was happening that day. All I know is that a little lamb hopped a fence and decided to lick my toes, and then decided to hop back behind the fence. And it wasn't a bad thing, and it wasn't a good thing, but it just happened, and life went on.

Whatever that means. There was a lamb licking my toes.

Women's conference.

So, I've been spending the past week trying to recover and become a functioning human being after going on a whirlwind trip to Utah with my mother and seeing Brittany and my aunts and grandmother and going to Women's Conference.

So you can all have some pictures now.

Me and mom about to fly out of Honolulu.

 A picture I took from the plane while flying over California, just as the sun was starting to rise. (Yeah, we did fly all night. Guess who didn't get sleep)

 Me and Brittany finally meeting up after two years of not seeing each other. 

Then we found a statue of a pig.

The pig is apparently named Petunia.

So then we had to pose beside the pig.

Yep.

My mom while we ate some delicious Belgian waffles and fries.

Then we went to my aunt's house, where I got a guitar for an early birthday present. Also yeah, me and Brit take wonderful pictures together.

The next day was Women's Conference. The Marriot Center is huge. HUGE. 

Name tag!

A panorama view of beautiful Utah.

For lunch, me and Brittany absolutely had to try Irish tacos. And they were glorious.

Then we went to the BYU bookstore, where we died because of all the books and then a llama puppet. (What bookstore has a llama puppet?)

So, naturally, more posing.

Don't mind me. I just have a llama puppet in my hand.

I don't know what the llama thought he was doing there. He looks like he wants to lick me. Wouldn't be the first time a farm animal has licked me.

Then there was a donkey puppet. To quote Brittany: "Oh, look, they're frien- Oh, wow, that's more than friends." I still can't get over her face. Apparently we also scared the family that was behind me while I took the picture. 

BYU Creamery mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum. 

At a Hobby Lobby. Mustaches, crowns, and giant keys.

Then we found a carousel? So, of course, we had to go for a ride on that.

Mom joined us.

"Look, ma, no hands!"

I don't know what's going on there.

Or there. What were we doing?

Bunny ears???

Then this face.

 The next day we went to look around the library on campus. It's big. And we didn't even see all of it. 

That night we also went to see Hello Dolly.

We can take some good pictures together, right?

Still all right. 

Wait, no, Carina, don't try to be funny and make Brittany smile.

Where did that hand come from?

Brittany, what is your face?

WHAT IS MY FACE?

Does your facial expression change at all? 

Wow, I look really blonde.

Oh, wait. I am really blonde. Also probably shouldn't talk while taking pictures.

Is it too much to ask both of us to take a good picture?

Apparently so. 

This is Brittany, the last day at the airport, refusing to show her face. Like I don't own her soul already. 

So that was pretty much Women's Conference! We did do some other things, like go to classes and stuff, and it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to see lots of people and enjoy a little vacation. 

At the airport

So I'm currently sitting in LAX, killing time during this layover. The past few days have been pretty awesome. And by awesome I mean fabulous, which also pretty much equals awesome so I don't know why this sentence even exists.

I'm also very tired. It's been an intense and busy couple days, that really just started with a 9? hour plane flight to the mainland, ruining my sleeping patterns, then a time change and then just being super busy so yeah. I keep falling asleep during quiet moments. Unless, of course, I've reached a point where sleep just isn't a thing, in which case I don't fall asleep.

So I'll give you guys a rundown of my trip later, resplendent with photos and stories and fun things, once I recover and find time to write these.


In the meantime, enjoy this post, where I sit in an airport feeling like an itinerant musician and the gift of an out-of-context picture.