I hate this time of year. It always induces panic, anxiety, and sentimental longing/mourning. Panic and anxiety at the upcoming school year, which, oddly enough, I have been feeling even though I don't even go to school. I feel like I should be looking up class times and purchasing pens and notebooks. Sadly, I don't get to do that. But I don't want to talk about that.
However, all those feelings make me feel like summer is almost over and I start to mourn. Which is such a bummer. I feel like I only have a few days left and any enjoyment that I might get from them is spoiled by the impending doom. But instead of school my doom is cold weather, shorter days and longer nights. It's sad, but it's dark out by 8:15 now, which is normal, but it makes me feel like winter is coming, and when it gets dark I feel like it's time to go to bed so I get sleepy, and I also don't do as much. I'm not looking forward to being relegated to the indoors when there is so much fun to be had outdoors. And I actually wore my sweatpants for the first time yesterday because it was cold. Ewww. And the grass is wet when I go to work in the morning. (Although it still gets up to 95 during the day). I sound like an old lady. I hate it because I feel like I won't feel this way for another 8 months till spring comes again. Another reason I don't like the end of summer is that it's so lame for me. Everyone else will be busy and productive going to school and unavailable. But not me. No back to school excitement, parties, meeting new people, BYU football games, new syllabi, buying books on the first day of school, opening socials, or Add/Drop cards. Nope. I get to do the same stupid thing I've been doing all summer. Go to work. Every. Freaking. Day. Hooray! Anyway, I've been feeling this way since the beginning of August and it's really harshing my summer vibe. So it needs to leave until at least October 15th. . I think one of my problems is that I work inside and don't see the sun all day. So I have a skewed perception of the passing of time/weather. Aaaaaaannnd. I'm only on Harry Potter #5 which is despicable. I ready Harry Potter every summer and it NEVER takes me this long. I don't know who I am anymore. Gheesh Meagan, time to get off that train. Sorry, that was a lot of whining. I'm actually really good at drawing summer time out.
So I would like to make a toast to summer, it's been a good one. Full of bike rides, BBQs, swimming pools, rivers, tanning, climbing trees, stars, fires, road trips, pictures, farmers markets, flowers, babies, hiking, hammocking, reading, mowing, fireworks, baseball, ice cream, classic cars, sandwiches, concerts, cranking it slow, touring de marshall, cherries, canteloupe, bare feet, sandals, Harry Potter, Sharis, camping, volleyball, weddings and just all-around-goodness. L'chaim!
Just last weekend I got a slurpee and saluted summer by watching "The Sandlot," the ultimate summer classic. And then the next day I mowed the lawn, went swimming, went on a bike gang ride where we rode our bikes along the river to an island where we ate sack lunches and then used the mountain bikes to explore the island (and it was quite fun to ride them on the gravel and sand trails), on the way back I biked with no hands for the first time, then I hiked Badger Mountain with some cool people and was able to see the lights of the TC, fireworks from the Dust Devils game, and Will, who is awesome, told us when the International Space Station would be visible, so we found it and watched it fly through the sky (that was pretty cool). So really, I still got a lot left to my summer and I need to calm down. Seriously. This week I am taking two days off of work to hang with Jillian and go to the Josh Groban concert. Holler.
The only, only, things I look forward to about fall: BYU football and pumpkin chocolate chip bread. And I also may have bought myself a cute pair of boots to make myself feel better about the impending cold weather.
Ok, so I need my head examined.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
sytycd
This summer, I've gotten into the show "So You Think You Can Dance." Why didn't anyone tell me about this earlier?!! I love it! There are some exceptional dancers on this show, and I love seeing the variety of styles. It makes me sad to think I've missed 7 seasons of it already. My favorites are Melanie and Sasha. I think it's awesome that the dancers are challenged to do different styles to see if they can grow. Some do a lot better than you think they would, like Marco, who killed on the Samba last week. It amazes me that these b-boys get out there and do contemporary and ballroom. On the flip side, I feel bad when these good dancers get landed with a choreographer who is so out there that they make this weird dance that no one understands what is going on. They try their best, but viewers hate the dance because it's boring or doesn't make sense. It's pretty much as good as ABDC, although, the hiphop and break dancing is not quite at the same level. It makes me wish I had the level of skill these people do, but I'm content just to enjoy watching.
One of my faves was on last week, Sasha and Twitch performed a hiphop style routine about a couple who've lost the romance and she gets fed up and they fall in love again. I think I've watched this twenty times. I mean, its such good dancing.
And this one, from Caitlyn and Mitchell, I just wish they could have danced the whole song. The choreography fit so well with the music and they were both strong dancers. I love it.
One of my faves was on last week, Sasha and Twitch performed a hiphop style routine about a couple who've lost the romance and she gets fed up and they fall in love again. I think I've watched this twenty times. I mean, its such good dancing.
And this one, from Caitlyn and Mitchell, I just wish they could have danced the whole song. The choreography fit so well with the music and they were both strong dancers. I love it.
Monday, July 25, 2011
to my brother, on his first day of rotations
Dear Stephen,
I know you will not be in the ER, but I thought this clip was fitting.
And, as we know, Carter goes on to become a great doctor. You will too!! Good luck!
Love,
Meagan
I know you will not be in the ER, but I thought this clip was fitting.
And, as we know, Carter goes on to become a great doctor. You will too!! Good luck!
Love,
Meagan
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
the narwhal theory
Once in awhile my brain comes up with something good. I've had this in store for awhile now, but debated about writing about this because it is rather insensitive. Also, it probably won't make too much sense. So, at the risk of offending my three male readers, here I go to explain The Narwhal Theory.
I have found lately that sometimes boys are Narwhals. "Meagan, what do you mean by Narwhal?" Yes, it's that strange animal that is a cross between a whale and a unicorn, the whale with a horn on top of it's head. The correlation goes back to that scene in the movie "Elf" where Buddy says good-bye to his North Pole friends. Here's the clip:
So here's the reasoning behind the narwhal-he has a certain glum/melancholy attitude in his voice when he says, "Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad.". This is the same voice that boys get when they are lazy/don't want to do something/too scared to do something/unable to act like a man and get whatever they need done, done. I've heard it multiple times and many times it's coupled with a claim of not knowing how to do something. "I don't know how to plan a party." "I don't know where I want to eat dinner." "Tell me what to do." "Tell me how to dress myself." Ok, not that bad...but seriously, it's sometimes frustrating the degree to which I have to mother some people just to get them to do simple things. I don't know whether it's because they really are that incompetent, or if it's just that they really don't want to/can't make those decisions for themselves. I don't get it. All of these people should be confident adults who are making their own decisions and have somehow made it through these past 20-odd years. And the reason I say it's boys is because I have yet to hear the same kinds of words come from a girls mouth.
I've also been discovering that it means that boys are a lot more sensitive than I once thought. They try and project a manliness, and usually hide whatever is hurting/bothering/annoying them. But now I know that some boys are more sensitive than girls (and by girls I mean myself). Hence the Narwhal comes out. I am really not a sensitive person so I sometimes forget that some people are.
Let it be known, this is not all boys, nor do I hate boys. It's just an observation I have made in learning from experiences that boys are sometimes not as manly and unsensitive as I once perceived them to be. Boys that read my blog, you are probably not one of them. I am not trying to attack you, this is just me making observations on life. It's just a bit of silliness, really.
I have found lately that sometimes boys are Narwhals. "Meagan, what do you mean by Narwhal?" Yes, it's that strange animal that is a cross between a whale and a unicorn, the whale with a horn on top of it's head. The correlation goes back to that scene in the movie "Elf" where Buddy says good-bye to his North Pole friends. Here's the clip:
So here's the reasoning behind the narwhal-he has a certain glum/melancholy attitude in his voice when he says, "Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad.". This is the same voice that boys get when they are lazy/don't want to do something/too scared to do something/unable to act like a man and get whatever they need done, done. I've heard it multiple times and many times it's coupled with a claim of not knowing how to do something. "I don't know how to plan a party." "I don't know where I want to eat dinner." "Tell me what to do." "Tell me how to dress myself." Ok, not that bad...but seriously, it's sometimes frustrating the degree to which I have to mother some people just to get them to do simple things. I don't know whether it's because they really are that incompetent, or if it's just that they really don't want to/can't make those decisions for themselves. I don't get it. All of these people should be confident adults who are making their own decisions and have somehow made it through these past 20-odd years. And the reason I say it's boys is because I have yet to hear the same kinds of words come from a girls mouth.
I've also been discovering that it means that boys are a lot more sensitive than I once thought. They try and project a manliness, and usually hide whatever is hurting/bothering/annoying them. But now I know that some boys are more sensitive than girls (and by girls I mean myself). Hence the Narwhal comes out. I am really not a sensitive person so I sometimes forget that some people are.
Let it be known, this is not all boys, nor do I hate boys. It's just an observation I have made in learning from experiences that boys are sometimes not as manly and unsensitive as I once perceived them to be. Boys that read my blog, you are probably not one of them. I am not trying to attack you, this is just me making observations on life. It's just a bit of silliness, really.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Harry Potter 7.2
The end of an era. Here are my thoughts on the movie. **Spoiler Alert** Don't read if you haven't seen the movie yet. Also, while the movies are great, they will never ever be as good as the books. There is so much more to the story that you miss in the movies. I have made peace with this and accepted it, and now choose to enjoy both.
Movie review:
I think this last installment was just excellent. It was kind of weird the way it started off because besides being a sequel, it’s a continuation of the story from exactly where the 7.1 movie stopped. So they had to briefly recap a few things, but I think they did a good job. This one was definitely more action packed, they got things done rather than had to hide and figure out what to do. I loved the part where they snuck into Gringotts, having Hermione impersonate Bellatrix Lestrange was hilarious. Plus escaping on a dragon!! Epic. It’s sad in the movie because they don’t have time to get into Dumbledore’s past, his messed up sister, how he was buddies with Grindelwald. and how Harry doubts him. I love when they sneak back in to Hogwarts, it was a little sad because they couldn’t have everyone everyone back in the movie; like Oliver Wood, he comes back. But it shows Neville taking leadership and being in charge of their rag tag rebellion. Professor McGonagall is amazing in this movie. OMG, so I don’t think this part is in the book. Snape calls a meeting of all the students and tells them he will punish them if they know anything about Harry Potter. Harry is there all along and has put on a Hogwarts robe to blend in. He steps out, and he and Snape start to duel. But then Professor McGonagall steps in and starts battling Snape. She takes out the Carrow siblings and causes Snape to flee. It’s awesome because you know she’s a powerful witch, but she doesn’t show it too much, plus you think she’s rather old, but everyone in the theater cheered for her when she won. And she even had a great line to say to Harry, “Potter, It’s good to see you.” And then the whole Weasley family shows up to help defend Hogwarts, plus the rest of the Order, so we get to see Tonks and Lupin and Fred and George. I also love when McGonagall enchants the suits of armor to guard the castle and then gushes to Molly Weasley, “I’ve always wanted to do that spell!” Love her. I think the other award for best performance goes to Neville. He really gets over his fears and takes a leadership role. He faces a forest full of werewolves and talks back to Voldemort himself. Plus I kind of like it that Neville gets to kill the snake Nagini. They kind of change how this happened in the movie making it more of a battle than just stabbing the snake, but it’s kind of awesome. I also liked how they portrayed Harry saving Malfoy from the fire in the room of requirement, but it’s kind of an eye-for-an-eye thing, and afterward, Harry has bigger things to worry about than whether Malfoy is good or bad or gets punished or what. I was kind of shocked at Snape’s death scene because they showed Nagini just striking him again and again; Harry, Ron and Hermione are listening outside and you can hear Snape's body being thrown against the window. Kind of graphic. When Harry gets Snapes memories and looks at them, I think it’s a little different in the movie than in the book. I think they could have done a better job showing Snape and Lilly being friends, but they only have so much time in a movie I guess. The movie made me forgive Snape a little more, I still don’t fully believe he was a good person in the end, much less someone worth naming your son after! Also, Voldemort is super creepy whenever he laughs or is really pleased about something. Plus, when he takes Malfory back on his side he kind of gives Malfoy a hug and it’s very disturbing. I even felt bad for Malfoy. One thing I was disappointed with was the scene where Harry finally kills Voldemort. They are flinging spells back and forth at each other and the final spell to finish him off is kind of understated. The whole theater was a little thrown and didn’t realize he was dying for a second. So we didn’t hoot and holler as much as we could have; Voldemort was dead and they should celebrate!! One of my favorite parts was when Bellatrix Lestrange went after Ginny Weasley. Molly Weasley steps in and it’s one of the best lines of the book. I was really hoping they kept it, and they did! Molly stares Bellatrix down and yells, “Not my daughter you ‘b-word’!” We all cheered for her. There’s a sweet moment where after the battle you see Filch trying to sweep up the rubble of the school. It shows he really does love Hogwarts and it also shows that the characters in the movie plan to move on with their lives. I think I liked the final scene in the movie more than the book, the whole 19 years later at the train station. It wasn’t as hokey and too cliche like I thought the book was a little bit. The only thought I had was that it was too bad they couldn’t end the movie the same way the book ends, with the line, “and they lived.” I did get sad when the death eaters started to demolish Hogwarts. And I did tear up a little when they showed Fred Weasley dead, and especially when they showed Tonks and Lupin lying dead next to each other looking like they were trying to hold hands. It wasn’t as emotionally traumatic as it could have been. I think it was more so when I read the books. It was a fantastic movie, and I really appreciate that the director didn’t make all the fight scenes really shaky and choppy, it’s not what we HP fans would’ve wanted. It was a great end piece to a decade long story in the making and I think these last few movies truly represented the books very well. I love the world of Harry Potter and very much enjoyed this last movie. I can’t wait until it comes out on combo pack dvd so I can buy the complete 8 dvd set!!
Movie review:
I think this last installment was just excellent. It was kind of weird the way it started off because besides being a sequel, it’s a continuation of the story from exactly where the 7.1 movie stopped. So they had to briefly recap a few things, but I think they did a good job. This one was definitely more action packed, they got things done rather than had to hide and figure out what to do. I loved the part where they snuck into Gringotts, having Hermione impersonate Bellatrix Lestrange was hilarious. Plus escaping on a dragon!! Epic. It’s sad in the movie because they don’t have time to get into Dumbledore’s past, his messed up sister, how he was buddies with Grindelwald. and how Harry doubts him. I love when they sneak back in to Hogwarts, it was a little sad because they couldn’t have everyone everyone back in the movie; like Oliver Wood, he comes back. But it shows Neville taking leadership and being in charge of their rag tag rebellion. Professor McGonagall is amazing in this movie. OMG, so I don’t think this part is in the book. Snape calls a meeting of all the students and tells them he will punish them if they know anything about Harry Potter. Harry is there all along and has put on a Hogwarts robe to blend in. He steps out, and he and Snape start to duel. But then Professor McGonagall steps in and starts battling Snape. She takes out the Carrow siblings and causes Snape to flee. It’s awesome because you know she’s a powerful witch, but she doesn’t show it too much, plus you think she’s rather old, but everyone in the theater cheered for her when she won. And she even had a great line to say to Harry, “Potter, It’s good to see you.” And then the whole Weasley family shows up to help defend Hogwarts, plus the rest of the Order, so we get to see Tonks and Lupin and Fred and George. I also love when McGonagall enchants the suits of armor to guard the castle and then gushes to Molly Weasley, “I’ve always wanted to do that spell!” Love her. I think the other award for best performance goes to Neville. He really gets over his fears and takes a leadership role. He faces a forest full of werewolves and talks back to Voldemort himself. Plus I kind of like it that Neville gets to kill the snake Nagini. They kind of change how this happened in the movie making it more of a battle than just stabbing the snake, but it’s kind of awesome. I also liked how they portrayed Harry saving Malfoy from the fire in the room of requirement, but it’s kind of an eye-for-an-eye thing, and afterward, Harry has bigger things to worry about than whether Malfoy is good or bad or gets punished or what. I was kind of shocked at Snape’s death scene because they showed Nagini just striking him again and again; Harry, Ron and Hermione are listening outside and you can hear Snape's body being thrown against the window. Kind of graphic. When Harry gets Snapes memories and looks at them, I think it’s a little different in the movie than in the book. I think they could have done a better job showing Snape and Lilly being friends, but they only have so much time in a movie I guess. The movie made me forgive Snape a little more, I still don’t fully believe he was a good person in the end, much less someone worth naming your son after! Also, Voldemort is super creepy whenever he laughs or is really pleased about something. Plus, when he takes Malfory back on his side he kind of gives Malfoy a hug and it’s very disturbing. I even felt bad for Malfoy. One thing I was disappointed with was the scene where Harry finally kills Voldemort. They are flinging spells back and forth at each other and the final spell to finish him off is kind of understated. The whole theater was a little thrown and didn’t realize he was dying for a second. So we didn’t hoot and holler as much as we could have; Voldemort was dead and they should celebrate!! One of my favorite parts was when Bellatrix Lestrange went after Ginny Weasley. Molly Weasley steps in and it’s one of the best lines of the book. I was really hoping they kept it, and they did! Molly stares Bellatrix down and yells, “Not my daughter you ‘b-word’!” We all cheered for her. There’s a sweet moment where after the battle you see Filch trying to sweep up the rubble of the school. It shows he really does love Hogwarts and it also shows that the characters in the movie plan to move on with their lives. I think I liked the final scene in the movie more than the book, the whole 19 years later at the train station. It wasn’t as hokey and too cliche like I thought the book was a little bit. The only thought I had was that it was too bad they couldn’t end the movie the same way the book ends, with the line, “and they lived.” I did get sad when the death eaters started to demolish Hogwarts. And I did tear up a little when they showed Fred Weasley dead, and especially when they showed Tonks and Lupin lying dead next to each other looking like they were trying to hold hands. It wasn’t as emotionally traumatic as it could have been. I think it was more so when I read the books. It was a fantastic movie, and I really appreciate that the director didn’t make all the fight scenes really shaky and choppy, it’s not what we HP fans would’ve wanted. It was a great end piece to a decade long story in the making and I think these last few movies truly represented the books very well. I love the world of Harry Potter and very much enjoyed this last movie. I can’t wait until it comes out on combo pack dvd so I can buy the complete 8 dvd set!!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
birthday
Growing up (and even now) I always wanted a summer birthday. Just so I could not have school on my birthday, and be able to have a pool party outside. Sadly, the 8th of February is not very conducive to these ideas. My birthday is always at the end of winter, when we are all so sick of gray and cold and just want to feel some sunshine on our face. All the holidays are over and there is still two months till spring vacation. The other sad thing I realized was that my birthday comes at the height of flu season. It's rare for me to not be sick on or around my birthday. That is a major bummer. Today I realized a solution to this while looking at a blog of a photographer who was taking about the starkness of winter. Move to the southern hemisphere! Then my birthday will be in the middle of summer and it will be fabulous. (The blog I was looking at was this lady based in New Zeland. I felt sorry for her that her blog posts were labeled July but she was complaining about the cold.) It would be weird to have Christmas and it be warm outside, but I could maybe get used to that. But that means all my peeps would have to move to so they could come to said birthday party. Ok? Ok. I'm thinking Australia.
oh, look, a panda celebrating her birthday!
Monday, July 11, 2011
come join my pitty party
I'm not one for posting vague yet fully exposing statuses on facebook whenever the crap hits the fan in my life...but that doesn't mean I'm above putting it on my blog. (It'smyblogandIsayso). Today was a crap monday. Lots of people called in sick at work, which meant things didn't go as well and that I have to do other job duties on top of my own. Stressful. Also, there was a huge gap in patient care today which somehow left me consulting some woman (I normally don't talk to patients at all) and she was crying and it was stressing me out/I couldn't do anything for her/I kind of got yelled at by my boss.
Aaaaand. I had to take Atticus to the dealership because he got super overfried this weekend. The results-over $1,000.00 in parts and labor. I'm trying to be grateful that I have the money to pay for it, but gheez. If I wasn't living with my parental units I wouldn't have the money at all. I don't make anything at my job but I can save everything. I was just starting to show something in my bank account and now...suckfest 2011.
So now I'm drowning my sorrows in M&Ms and Neil Diamond. Seriously, I love Neil. Lots of his songs are a little folksy, but with that rich deep voice, and the musicality of the songs and how a lot of them start off slow and grow to rockin' at the end. It's good stuff. May it make your day awesome.
and
Aaaaand. I had to take Atticus to the dealership because he got super overfried this weekend. The results-over $1,000.00 in parts and labor. I'm trying to be grateful that I have the money to pay for it, but gheez. If I wasn't living with my parental units I wouldn't have the money at all. I don't make anything at my job but I can save everything. I was just starting to show something in my bank account and now...suckfest 2011.
So now I'm drowning my sorrows in M&Ms and Neil Diamond. Seriously, I love Neil. Lots of his songs are a little folksy, but with that rich deep voice, and the musicality of the songs and how a lot of them start off slow and grow to rockin' at the end. It's good stuff. May it make your day awesome.
and
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