I've got that Student Feeling

Its like a big, bulky hand-knit cloaky-shawl made of ugly, scratchy, thick maroony wool with rocks knit into the ends. It is draped over your shoulders and tied around your neck, and never, ever comes off until you switch that tassel on your pagan, boxy hat at graduation. What is it? It is that student feeling.

As a student, no matter what you do, there is always another assignment, a paper you could have proof read one more time, a professor you could've met with. There is always and incessantly something you could or should be doing. You take a break but the exams sit on your desk ungraded. You go to the gym and the cursor blinks at you from the empty body of your paper. 5 o'clock loses all the significance it had during your working days. There is no 5 o'clock in the student world.

Of course the student life has its perks. Days with classes that start late, flexible scheduling, and so forth. But despite all that there is a level of stress that comes and sits on your shoulders for the duration that is difficult. I spent the first month or so of my program here doing pretty well. I felt like I had things under control and that I was a pretty darn good student. But sometime in the last few weeks, someone snuck up on me and wrapped that pernicious cloak ever so silently around my neck and shoulders, and I'm pretty sure they've been slipping in extra rocks ever since.

Hello Kitty Vader

There are no words. Thanks Heather for sharing!

Thoughts on Politics from N. Eldon Tanner

My Institute teacher gave us this selection from a talk given by N. Eldon Tanner in 1972. It seems just as applicable today as it must have been in that election year. I wanted to share it with you.

This being election year, there will be much campaigning; we will hear and argue the pros and cons of many questions; we will have strong opposing views. Each must try to understand the questions and then stand firm by his convictions. But let us determine now that in the heat of the campaign we will not indulge in the vituperative talk of personalities that we so often hear. We must not rail against our brother and accuse him of lying and cheating or being dishonest or immoral.


Let us stand on principle—high principle. Also, it is most important that all of us, including our politicians, strive to live so that our actions will be above reproach and criticism.


We never gain anything or improve our own character by trying to tear down another. We have seen close friendships destroyed through words spoken and accusations made in the heat of a campaign. Tirades against men in office or against one’s opponent tend to cause our youth and others to lose faith in the individual and others in government and often even our form of government itself.


N. Eldon Tanner, “Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged,” Ensign, July 1972, 34

Happy Sweetest Day!

Today, the third Saturday in October, is Sweetest Day. I had actually never heard of this holiday, but it is marked on the calendar I currently have by my computer. This calendar, apparently was meant for those in the Great Lakes region, where Sweetest Day is the most popular.

Considered by many to be a holiday made up to sell cards and candy, Sweetest Day started in the early 1920's. According to a Cleveland Newspaper of 1921 the first Sweetest Day involved 12 confectioners in the area coming up with the idea and then distributing 20,000 boxes of candy to "newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor" in Cleveland. It was hoped that Sweetest Day would become a nationwide holiday on par with Valentine's and Mother's Day. This hope was never realised.

So, whether you are in the Great Lakes area, or not, Happy Sweetest Day to you. And remember, its never too late to send me candy and cards! ;)

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

I just ran into this fun blog today. The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. It isn't just for grammar geeks either, which is good, because I never became one, despite my efforts and years as a Writing Fellow. This blog showcases interesting signs and other places where people have put in unnecessary quotation marks, which makes the signs very funny if you read them as they are written. For example, if you were asking your coworker where another coworker was and he said, while making the universal quotation mark sign (see above), "Mark is 'sick' today", you would know that Mark is really fishing. In the same manner, some people incorrectly use quotation marks trying to give emphasis to a word, but if you read for their "real" meaning things get good. :)

Here is are a couple of examples from the blog with the captions to whet your appetite:

So, wait, are they not American and proud of it? Maybe they gamed immigration somehow. I'd be proud of that.

It's like someone wrote this especially for the "blog". I can't think of any other explanation. And what's the deal with the (SAFETY)?

Riparian Institute

Last Sunday I decided to go check out the Riparian Institute in Gilbert. I was one happy girl upon discovering this lovely haven for wildlife. Full of walking trails around small ponds it is a haven for birds. Once upon a time I was quite a bird watcher, and I can still identify a good number of birds. I was especially excited to get a birding list of the area listing which birds are in the area when, and how abundantly. My greatest disappointment was the realisation that my trusty binocs are somewhere at home in Utah-- a problem I hope to remedy as soon as possible!!! Located next to a public library, this local find is sure to be a treasure to my stay in the Phoenix area. If I don't ever make real friends, I can always become a hermity old bird watching academic! ;)

(For anyone interested, I saw Great Egrets (pictured here), Black legged stilts, Canadian Geese, Ruddy Ducks, Northern Pintail, Killdeer, and Plover among others!)

Dating Advice: There are Alot of Fish in the Sea

217 Finicky Fish by Elise Stella

Available as a T-shirt at Threadless.com

Cute Monkey waiters in Japan

Check out these monkey waiters!!!

Monkey, could I get the check please?

Japan has done it again! They have produced another fabulous and blog-worthy story. Heather found it and I share it with you. It made me happy.

At the the Kayabukiya tavern, north of Tokyo, if you are lucky, you may be waited on by either Yat-chan or Fuku-chan, both of whom are macaques.

Kaoru Otsuka, the owner of the tavern kept the monkeys as pets, but they began imitating the waiters, so he put them to work! He has three baby monkeys that he plans to train up as waiters as well.

No need to worry, "the monkeys work in shifts of up to two hours a day due to Japanese animal rights regulations". These guys aren't over worked! (article)

Don't think you are going to get away at the Kayabukiya tavern without tipping though-- you need to give Yat and Fuku the gift of a soy bean for their service! (According to custom however, human waiters are not tipped in Japan, lest you get confused on your visit!)

Food Storage

Well, it may have taken the threat of economic crisis-- but I've finally started collecting food storage. Actually, one of the real reasons I never stored food before was more because I figured in the case of an emergency I could walk to my mom's house, and she has a great supply of food in the basement. After moving to Phoenix that plan kind of had to be nixed. So, I've started my own supply. And you should too! (Because I might not share with you if times get hard! ;) )

I looked up some basic food storage ideas on the internet to get started.

I found this link to a Food Storage Calculator. It was handy in getting an idea of what one person really needs for a year. But before I went out and bought 2 lbs of mayo and 25 lbs of corn meal, I decided to start slowly (lest I get overwhelmed) and I went to the LDS Church's Provident Living website. I'm starting with a 3 month supply as suggested and working up from there.

I bought a good supply of foods that I can cycle into daily use. I plan to add to the supply as time goes on, but I felt good about my little effort to start. I have alot of beans, rice and peanut butter, dried milk, tuna and brownie mix (an essential in order to keep morale up in times of crisis!). I also found water in gallon jugs to be quite affordable. Clorox was also added to my household items in case I need to purify water at some point. The Red Cross had good tips on storing water.

Now I'd love to hear your food storage tips! What tricks have you found? What are the best ideas for single people? Is there a good book I can get, websites I can go to? I know you guys have the answers! Please leave a comment on this very important topic!!!

DIY: Wall Hangings

Watch out Trading Spaces, here I come!

I just made some sweet wall hanging to go with my bedroom decor (that, you may have guessed, I got on sale at Target). I made these cute hangings from bamboo place mats, small vases, flowers and wire. I lined the vase up in the center of the mat, and then threaded a length of wire through the mat twice around the vase at the top and bottom.I then pulled the wire taut and wrapped the wire around itself a few times.

If you had the time and resources you could even put water in the vases and use real flowers. I opted for fake ones though.

To hang I just put nails through at each corner.

Memoirs of a Geisha

For everyone who is tired of me telling them that certain commonly held beliefs about history are wrong, you can just go ahead and skip this post, because that is just what I am about to do.

I can't help it. I really can't.

I finally watched Memoirs of a Geisha tonight. Ever since the book came out, I've avoided this particular story. (Here comes the history lesson). My main problem: Geisha were not prostitutes. There was a completely different class of women (known as oiran) who were owned by houses of prostitution, who engaged in this practice. Geisha on the other hand were trained as entertainers. They would sing, play the shamisen, dance, and make tea and so forth.

Additionally, there was no ceremony (mizuage) where an apprentice geisha sold her virginity in order to become a "true" geisha. Mizuage was simply a coming of age ceremony for a geisha.

Arnold Golden, author of Memoirs, got a great deal of his information for his book by interviewing a former and very famous geisha named Mineko Iwasaki. When he announced this and confused his book's version of the coming out ceremony with Ms. Iwasaki's true life story, a lawsuit for defamation quickly (and in my opinion appropriately) followed. It was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Iwasaki has subsequently authored her autobiography, Geisha, A Life (Or Geisha of Gion in the UK). I have a feeling that this book, written by a former geisha might be slightly more reliable than a work of fiction written by an American man about being a geisha.

An interesting interview with Mineko Iwasaki can be found here.

For the record, I did think Memoirs was a beautiful movie--the locations and alot of the angles used were wonderuful.