80%

Today I LOVE 80%

Like the 80/100 I just got on my last Superheroes Close Reading Paper. Now, a little about these papers- we write four this semester, and we have to make a very narrow controversial argument that any sane person would make and argue. Are teacher is critical in the grading, and there are 5 areas he grades each paper worth 20 points each and it's an all or nothing sort of thing. Luckily, we have a first chance and a second chance- but without fail, I have gotten a 60 on the first chance, and a 70 on the second chance ( the second chance he is always a bit more lenient). I have liked my papers and always feel confident turning them in-

1st, that Superman proves himself to be a more ethical superhero in Superman Birthright than Batman in Batman dark night.

2nd- that Scout Finch is the true Hero in To Kill a Mockingbird. (my least favorite argument and paper actually)

3rd- That Jean Grey proves herself to be a seductive Temptress in X-men (That was supposedly really close to a 100 according to the remarks written on it)

4th- That in Peace Like a River, the miracles that Rueben see's are really a figment of his imagination to make up for the lack of his mother's presence and the lack of use of his lungs. (My favorite argument, personally,and an AMAZING book, by the way, Peace like a River- I highly recommend it.)

So this last paper I got an 80 on- on my first chance, so I am SOOO excited. =]

Because I also have an essay and a test (which is really an essay in disguise) still for this class, so this just made me happy. =]

Also, a month and one day(80% gone) till April the 16th, and I am very excited. =]

And,being 80% done with the school year, a few more weeks till no more Idaho for almost 6 months!

being here for 80 % of the semester, A few more weeks till a break from school

A few more weeks till Mexico. =]

QUOTES

"Know first who you are, then adorn yourself accordingly."
-Epictetus

"Let me say something about that word: miracle. For too long it’s been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely normal. Peeping chicks at Easter time, springs generally, a clean sunrise after an overcast week- a miracle, people say, as if they’ve been educated from greeting cards. I’m sorry, but nope. Such things are worth our notice every day of the week, but to call them miracles evaporates the strength of the word.
Real Miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It’s true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave- now there’s a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of earth. “
“My sister, Swede, who often sees to the nub, offered this: People fear miracles because they fear being changed- though ignoring them will change you also. Swede said another thing, too, and it rand in me like a bell: No miracle happens without a witness. Someone to declare, Here’s what I saw. Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will. “
Rube is afraid of change- so really he is setting miracles.
“The fact is, the miracles that sometimes flowed form my fathers fingertips had few witnesses but me. Yes, enough people saw enough strange things that Dad became the subject of a kind of misspoken folklore in our town, but most ignored the miracles as they ignored Dad himself.
I believe I was preserved, through those twelse airless minutes, in order to be a witness, and as a witness, let me say that a miracle is no cute thing but more like the swing of a sword.”
“If he were here to begin the account, I believe Dad would say what he said to Swede and me on the worst night of all our lives:
We and the world, my children, will always be at war.
Retreat is impossible.
Arm yourselves.”
“Is there a single person on whome I can press belief?
No sir.
All I can do is say, Here’s how it went. Here’s what I saw.
I’ve been there and am going back.
Make of it what you will.”
-Peace like a River, Leif Enger

"Surround yourself with people who you are not."
-Chinese Fortune cookie

"Hakuna Matata"
-Lion King

"Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind, don't matter,
and those who matter- don't mind."
-Dr. Seus

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence"
-H.L. Mencken

Mr. Edward Magorium: [to Molly, about dying] When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.
[pause, walks over to Molly]
Mr. Edward Magorium: I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading... and let the next story begin. And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest "He died."
Molly Mahoney: [starting to sob] I love you.
Mr. Edward Magorium: I love you, too.
[picks Molly up, sighs heavily]
-Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

"Come what may, and LOVE it!"
-Elder Wirthlin

"Find Joy in the Journey"
-Presidnet Monsen

"You have set my life in the course of a beautiful Eternity"
-Joseph Davis

"To Love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides"
-David Viscott

"Someday, this will all be yours..."

I love my daddy.
I have realized lately how amazing he is. Not that I never knew this. But before we has like Spider man- pretty cool, but lately I see he is Superman.
He say's funny things, like telling my sister that if it wasn't for children's hospital he and my mom would take flowers to her grave every year.

He inspires me to write. I love to write. It is my way of expression.

He helped me to stick with my English major.
And each day I LOVE it even more.
Which is funny, I never thought I would- but I am. =]
Don't get me wrong...I still grudge writing research papers, and learning about MLA...
and I know this may sound horrible selfish and arrogant of me...
but I love knowing things other people don't. =]

Like knowing how to write.
I love helping Joe write papers, and knowing I am actually helping because I know what I am doing- for the most part.

It is partly my Superheroes class that has given me also this great fondness. Because it practices what my dad would always say- English is in everything.
And it is.
I still get to study History (which is my minor) and I get to study my mind out and people as I read and analyze. I get to read so many different things, I feel like my mind is growing in every direction.

I love my dad for helping me stick with this.
I love that he uses Bones, that I have this amazing picture of him at Christmas time with a blue scarf around his neck, with a menorah on the table and a cap on his head. My Jewish dad. =]

Deer hunting.
Daddy Daughter Donut Days
Slurpees
Making Circles around round abouts, or riding in the back of his truck around the Culdesac.
Screaming so loud he would stop tickling.
Milkshakes.
Getting to nail things in wood while he was working.
Him playing toys with me on the top of the stairs when I was little.
Tucking me in and out of bed.
Telling me stories about the girl with the Red shoes.
Never drinking milk, and adding Pepper when he lost a bet.
Loosing his wallet and paying us a dollar to find it.

My dad. =]

Trsut your heart, let faith decide

Ok- so I love Disney.
Nothing new really, I think Disney is the worlds version of the Gospel. =] haha.

But whats fun is that I love to relate Disney songs to my life. Like my summers, thanks to my dad, always get a title, such as "Hakunah Mata" or "A whole New World" (Neither given by my dad- but he did start the tradition. =])
But now I am listening to the Tarzan song, "Two Worlds" And it makes me happy.
Two Worlds, one family. =]
40 days. =]

Finding the Irony around every cornor

Joe just said it's ironic that I make fun of him for always using the same password, and now I am having trouble remembering all of my passwords....And on my Birthday....

I am not sure how I feel about Sunday birthdays. I mean, its sort of like having your birthday on Christmas- like, I am already supposed to relax on sunday and relax on my birthday, so I am just cut short one day of relaxing! Hmm....it is a dilemma. But I turned my birthday into a birthweekend, which I think I am just going to have to always due- because it was amazing! =]

I slept in Saturday. I made a couch boat with our two coaches and stayed there for a few hours with Joe, cuddled in a blanket, reading a book and eating breakfast. =] It was fantastic.

And then I went swimming. I really love swimming. like, other than the fact that when you get out of the pool the chlorine feels like it is getting your face ready for a face lift- I love pools. There is just something about being consumed in 300,000 gallons of water that could easily consume your life that makes you feel all happy- because you can float around and go where ever you please! =] And then we drove to Idaho Falls, the happening place to go for every Idahoian, and we bought me stuff! The perfect ending to a perfect day! =]

No actually- it was eating Chinese Food for dinner. And walking around Bed, Bath & Beyond registering for gifts. =] That was pretty darn fantastic!

Sunday, on the other hand- I am not able to sleep in with church being at 8, but I still had an amazing breakfast! GRAPEFRUIT! I LOVE Grapefruit! =]

It is still a great day. =]

It's funny- I try to think what I would be doing without Joe this semester, what it would be like if he wasn't in my kitchen right now making me AMAZING Corn Beef and Cabbage- and it would just be really sad. So I don't think about it anymore! =]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

So this book is the main book I have been reading all semester.
I don't understand 1/4 of it on my own.
But then I go to class and I come out feeling like a genius.

This book tells the process a hero must take- Disney movies (pixar) are great at emphasizing this. Star Wars was based to follow this.

I was going to try and be all creative and put my life in the form of the steps of a hero- but I think I must save that for another day.

But what I was thinking is that the hero goes through a sort of transformation, stepping into 'the belly of the beast' in some sort of sense- (Toy Story, they enter into Sids house. Finding Nemo, Marlin is swallowed by a whale. Or, if you have seen Where the Wild Things are- the kid hidding in the stomach is a great example) and then they are reborn in a sense.
I guess I could relate going into the belly (a nice belly) as marriage- I will come out a new person, wont I?

Marriage is an interesting thing....going away to college is an intersting thing, graduating highschool, being baptized, turning 12, 13, 18, 20....all intersting things. But marraige is the only one who you acutally have to involve someone other than yourself. But in the best way possible

Haha. This all sounds random.

It snowed again today in Rexburg. Oi with the poodles already....

Lovely February

So I have been horrible at this. I havn't updated for forever.

And the sad thing is that I always think of things that I want to share....like the fact that a few weeks ago I was asleep then at like 10:30 pm I got woken up because the apartment diagonally above us caught on fire....that was sort of fun actually...

And my Superheroes class.....this class is so far I very well think is the hardest class I have ever taken. But I love it. So it is odd because, since I love it, it ends up not being super hard...It's just a LOT of reading....writing papers (which is all a duh- I'm an English major... but arguing a controversial topic in literature is hard!), and discuss things in class....its is an AMAZING class though.
So far I have read:
Myths, Legends and Folktales of America
Superman:Birthright
The Last of the Mohicans
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Old Man and the Sea
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
I think its pretty impressive for just one class, and that is just half the semester....oh, and yes, I DID read a comic book. =] Its joy.

It has also begun the upward slope to warmth In Rexburg! Its so nice to see the sun again, and although large puddles of water are highly annoying- its better than ice!

Last weekend my mom flew out to Salt Lake and I spent a nice long weekend with her and my Sister in Salt Lake. I found my wedding dress! I love it and I am so happy! =] It is amazing.

Fridays are just pure joy. Except running around the hinckley building trying to print a paper, and running from one side of the 1st floor to the opposite side of the 3rd floor four times....I am tired, but it has been a great week! So productive! =] Got Joe's wedding band this past ring. I love it. =]