Life's Lessons Learned

There are a few things in life that you don't really learn until you have made the mistake of doing it yourself. Maybe some people are smarter than me, but sometimes I have to experience it to figure out that it probably wasn't a good idea.

Example 1: Don't wash your clothes with fabric softener. It will make them feel greasy. I (having not grown up using fabric softener) assumed it was similar to regular detergent and used it to do a load of laundry. What I learned: fabric softener is not the same as detergent.

Example 2: When you are carrying six text books, two cook books, one recipe box and one large oddly shaped book on skyscrapers for three blocks it is ok to let people help you. I told probably seven different people, five of them boys, that I could do it by myself. My arms were on fire by the time I got back to my apartment. I thought it wouldn't be too bad, but it was. I probably would've looked less gay carrying that big stack if I had not tried to do it all at once. What I learned: let boys help you.

Example 3: Another laundry lesson. When you wash your towels for the first time, (like when they are brand new) don't wash them with anyting else. The little fuzzies are still on the towel from when they were made. These fuzzies will wash off the towel and land on everything else in the load making lint rollers become absolutely necessary. This is very, very annoying. What I learned: be careful what you wash and how you wash it. Especially the first time.

Example 4: Don't leave raw meat under your bed for two weeks. It will start to smell. A lot. And it will make the whole house smell bad. I accidentally had meat in a bag I stuck underneath my bed with some other stuff and it ended up staying there for about two weeks. Disgusting. What I learned: Proper storage and containment of meat is necessary.

I will probably never do these things again having done them already so learn from my example and don't try what I did.

What's in a name?

Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (or something like unto that). Well, I like my name. It's nice to be called by it. For example, I work at a ticket office and see many people during the day. The first few days I didn't have a name tag so no one knew my name. But the past two days I have been wearing it and it has been fun. People say "Hi, Meagan" and I enjoy it. Plus my name tag is spelled right because I made a big deal of it getting spelled right when I got hired. If I have to wear it and label myself with it, I want it correct. I read once in "How to win friends and influence people" (yes I read that book) that our name is something we love to hear, a lot. So if you learn someone else's name they will really appreciate it. I am pretty good a learning names, but there is a line that I have to be careful about. You don't want someone to know you know their name if they don't know yours. It might appear creepy. But you can say, "You're Marissa, right?" It shows you know their name but you haven't been thinking about it all day. Anyway, when you know someone's name, use it!

2 more random things

#1 I secretly want to form a dance crew. It will have asians and blacks because they are good dancers. I also need to find someone to teach me how to dance. I only know enough to look really really bad.

#2 In the past year or so I have developed a fear of germs. I didn't use to at all. Last winter I took to opening doors with my sleeve over my hand so I wouldn't have to touch a handle that a million other people have touched. It's weird trying to open things without having a sleeve. I also am very appreciative of all of the Purell hand sanitizer dispensers all around BYU campus. Whenever I see one I get some hand sanitizer and I feel better. I think part of my phobia goes back to the winter where me and my roommates almost died from the flu. It was horrible. Monica seriously almost died. The next winter I got a flu shot, used sanitizer, opened doors with sleeves, took airborne at the slightest hint of a scratchy throat and managed to escape without ever getting sick during winter semester. That is a miracle. I plan on the same strategy this year.

6 random things

1. I have no qualms about eating in class. I will totally pull out my whole lunch and eat it during lecture. I am hungy and cannot wait any longer, especially if I come right from work. I also eat in the computer lab. I feel a little more bad about that. I don't want to ruin the computers.

2. I love getting free stuff. T-shirts, food, pins, pens, anything. And I know the best ways to get it.

3. I am not a list person. I do not get satisfaction out of making a list and crossing things off. More power to the people who do though. I do, however, find it necessary to sometimes make lists of things I need to do just so I won't forget them. But they aren't necessarily "To-Do" lists.

4. I don't like when people shush me or pat me on the head. I guess I don't like feeling like a little child.

5. I go through stages of obsession. When I was younger I went through: tickle me elmo (even though I was too old for it), 'NSYNC, Harry Potter, Orlando Bloom, Mulan and other things. This usually meant buying merchandise associated with the current obsession. I still have my ticke me elmo doll, 'NSYNC concert poster, Harry Potter books 1-7 and trivia game, Mulan beanie babie dolls complete with a talking dog and Mushu. Most recent obsession: The Bejing Olympics.

6. When I was in elementary school, one year for the physical fitness test my PE teacher had me stand on his foot to lift me up to help me do a pull-up. That's the one and only pull-up I've ever done in my life.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-Mormon style

Today was a day of meeting a lot of people and then finding out I had a random connection with them. Not always the "hey I think I had a class with you once."
#1 This girl in my ward, Millie, looks really familiar to me and I look really familiar to her. We went through a whole list of things like where we are from and what classes we have and haven't come up with any reason why we should know each other. The only thing we can think of is that I had Stats 221 the hour after she did with the same teacher. That's it.

#2 Another girl in my ward, Liz, recognized me from MFHD 210 when I took it winter semester 2007. She said she sat behind me and I sat by a blond girl who got engaged. That was Jenna. Weird. I don't recognize her because she sat behind me.

#3 Two girls in my ward, Lisa and Megan, are both from New Hampshire. I asked them if they knew any Carrs and they said they knew Ike and Abby. I told them that they were my cousins. They asked me what side I was related to them on and I told them that their dad and my dad are brothers. They also know a girl from my freshman ward, Gabe Sargeant, she is from the same stake as my cousins.

#4 I went to a girl in my ward's birthday party and she had some people from her freshman ward there. I heard a guy talking about how he was in a Japanese class. I asked him if he served a mission there and he said he served in the Nagoya mission. He ended up going there after Stephen was there but he did know Michael Durney from my freshman ward who also went to Nagoya. I asked which towns he served in and although I don't think he served in any same towns he did serve in neighboring towns as Stephen. He also had President Stevenson as his president for six months like Stephen did. Fun huh?

#5 I told you it gets crazy. A guy in my ward, Keith, and I are pretty sure our dads went to high school together. I asked Keith where he was from and he said Syracuse, New York. I told him that my dad grew up there. He said his dad did too. We found out that they went to the same high school, Henager High, and that they both wrestled. They are about the same age. I called dad to ask him but dad said the name didn't sound familiar to anyone that he knew in high school. But that there was a family he knew when he was twelve that had the same last name. I'll see if Keith can find out anything from his dad. I'm pretty sure they were around each other at one point in their lives. Dad said the family was a little weird. I said his son was a little weird.

I found all of this out today. It was pretty crazy. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, Mormon style.

Beijing Olympics day 10

Here it is:
-Women's water polo team escapes defeat by beating Australia and heading to the final gold medal match.
-Heartbreaker of a 100 meter hurdles, Lolo Jones is ahead but trips over the second to last hurdle, she finishes in 7th, but her teammate from U.S. Dawn Harper won the gold.
-In the 400 meter run Sanya Richards had a big lead after the first 200 but something went wrong and she ended up getting bronze. She said later that her leg had started cramping up.
-Shawn Johnson finally won her gold medal on the balance beam!! Nastia Liukin got silver. We are all very excited that Shawn got a gold to go with her four silvers.
-Jonathan Horton from the U.S. added more difficulty to his high bar routine to pull out a silver medal win. He was probably the reason the U.S. got bronze in team competition. He gave a very solid and exciting routine.
-Henry ( ), son of undocumented mexican immigrants won his weight class in freestyle wrestling at age 21. He was proud to represent the U.S.

BMX is a new sport in this olympics, I hope it is on tomorrow night, it should be exciting.

One broadcaster noted during the day that U.S. women's teams are having huge success in the olympics. Basketball, softball, soccer, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and water polo. I hope they all win the gold!

Beijing Olympics day 9

Another late night, so here are the highlights.
-Misty May and Kerri Walsh are headed to the gold medal final of beach volleyball, 108th straight win.

-American's went 1-2-3 in the 400 meter hurdles, mens. Taylor, Clement, and Jackson.
-China won their fifth gold in men's gymnastics.
-Nastia Liukin got jyped in the uneven bar finals. Her score tied with one of the Chinese girls. The way they break ties is screwy so Nastia ended up with the silver when her routine was the better one.

-Women's softball won again, they totally dominate.

Jennie Finch

-U.S. women won gold in rowing eights with coxwain, and they sung when the national anthem was played.
-Venus and Serena Williams got doubles gold in tennis; after not making it in singles.
-U.S. woman got silver in pole vaulting.
-U.S. woman, Brown Trafton got gold in discus throw.

Stephanie Brown Trafton

At the end of the broadcast Bob Costas apologized for the olympics being on so late into the night. I guess they have been getting a lot of complaints because with the time difference the events are going late into the night and into the morning when they show it on TV. They interviewed some people in NYC about whether they stayed up for the olympics. I guess a lot of people are showing up to work more tired than usual. One girl said she stayed up to see the finals of the gymnastics. NBC offered some tips to help people cope with the late nights.

1. Stay hydrated.
2. Wear sunglasses to cover the red eyes.
3. Tell yourself you only need four hours of sleep.
4. Listen to the same music Michael Phelps does on his iPod.
5. Skip work. Olympics like this only come along once in a lifetime.

Ha ha NBC.