Only in a third world country...

So a week ago i got to spend two weeks in Guatemala with 4 high school teachers from Waldon and about 17 high school kids ranging from freshmen to seniors. I had sooo much fun! The real question is what didnt we do in Guatemala! We did everything from trekking for 3 days and 22 miles, hiking/swimming thru a cave with only a candle stick as your light, hiking up an active valcano and seeing lava, jumping off bridges, tubing down rivers, swimming in crystal blue pools, hiking up mayan temples, and zip lining thru the jungle! I think the kids were hoping to scare me from being a teacher but in all reality, we all became close friends and i have never been more excited to teach high school! It was way sad to see the poverty in Guatemala and lets just say i was very happy to get back to AMERICA! God Bless it! AND the ability to be able to flush toilet paper and to not get sick after every meal you eat!! haha but seriously, I learned to really appreciate what i have in life and am sooo gratefuly for the experiences i have been given through this trip and for my new friends as well. Thanks WALDON for letting me come with you!

"I'm Good!"

After spending all day studying for my Linguistics test, the last one of this wretched finals week, i proceed to head over to the testing center where i wait in line for an hour and a half before i even get my test. But no worries, it was nice and warm and i got a good tan and study session in. Then as i get my test and find a seat, i realize i need a pencil, and WHALLA! there is a perfectly sharped pencil, laying on the floor next to my desk. Then as i go through my test, i realized i suck at bubbling and practically had more erase marks on there then the actual number of bubbles cuz i kept second guessing my self, but no worries, i got an A on the bubble section. Then as i proceed walking to my car, i saw some people play four squares in the parking lot. Life was good for them folks. And as i finally reached home, done with finals, i proceed to turn on the television and there i saw the funniest commercial ever which completed my day with the saying, "I'm Good!" Just click that to watch it!

So what did i learn? Life is great! School is out! and I'M GOOD!!

Queen of Halloween

If you don't know me very well, you might think i am a bit creepy...then again, if you know me you already do think i am creepy. If you didn't notice in my collage of pics of me, i have some halloween costume pics up there. I LOVE HALLOWEEN. I celebrate it when it hits October 1st and its a month long event. Scary movies, scary stories, haunted houses, the works. And even after halloween, you can still find me always up for for a good scare anytime of the year. And if there are any creepy songs, i will like it...Anyone heard of the song "Miss You" by Blink 182? Best love/creepy song ever! The reason why i bring this up is because last saturday, me and my beautfiul friends went and saw CORALINE...you know, the creepy girl movie made by Tim Burton's producers? (Tim Burton has also done Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hallow, ALL which are some of my favs.) I LOVED IT! i have to admit, i wish there was more creepiness in it. I mean it took like freakin over a half an hour to get creepy at all! Well, my friend sara mentioned the Coraline website to me that night and guess what i did for an hour? Yes, i wasted that time (wait, nothing is wasted when you are doing something for the good of creepiness) I usefully spent my time downloading pics of me and adding buttons to my eyes. As i wanted to be creepier with my pics, i started digging up old halloween pictures of myself. It was great fun! The background music of the website was even better...muahahaha...too far?? lol ok. So ya, here's my many pics...Sorry if none of you want to be my friend anymore...but halloween will never leave my side. its a part of me, so accept it!


So what have i learned? Don't ever trust a person who looks like your mom or dad with buttons on their eyes... they are actually very ugly people and will try to sew on buttons over your eyes and trap you forever till you die...maybe even eat you...

WOW...some one sucks at blogging now that its not an assignment

HEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!
K, so now that i don't blog anymore cuz i HAVE too, i realize it's hard for me to get into blogging cuz i WANT too...haha soooo i therefore will try to sum up my life as best as i can and hopefully will be better at blogging from here on out...

FIRST...
I am in this club called Best Buddies at BYU. I am paired up with a person who has down syndrome and basically just hang out with them all the time :) it's been a REALLY good experience for me and i have learned sooo much through hanging out with Nancy. She has taught me love, kindness, and patience, but most importantly, has become one of my closest friends to the point where we can talk and talk. Recently we attended the Best Buddies walk-a-thon where she slept over at my house in ogden so we could get to it early since it was held in Kaysville. Ya, we are hard core..."Put yo stunna shades on..."

SECOND...
I attended the HOLI: Festival of Colors... I have missed this freshman year and last year... I WAS NOT GUNNA MISS IT AGAIN! Even though i was starting to become deathly ill...i HAD to go. And it was sooooo worth it! I got rocked for sure...it was amazing...I did however wanna pass out as soon the clock was striking 7 pm. Not only was i feeling sick but I have been wanting to go pee since the moment we got to that place at 5. I even tried standing in line for like 30 min to get into a freakin portapoty... Didnt work out. SO we left, sick and bladder full and i finally made it back, got to pee, took niquil, and was gunna call it a night but i ended up going out...You might be saying to your self, " Uhh stupid move there." And my answer is yeaaaa...i was sick for about a week after that. hahaha

THIRD...
I was able to attend conference on SAT with my lovely roomates and friends. It was great! AND what was even better is that we got to see our gorgeously beautiful roomate Meagan serving her lil heart out. She is an outstanding missionary. And sunday... can I just say how much I LOVED Elder Holland's talk?? I was absolutely fascinated with his talk and i got some questions answered i have always wanted to know...DONT FORSAKE THE LORD, he has and never will forsake you! (spiritual boost for all ya'lls)

FORTH...
I SHOT GUNS!!! I have to admit, i was waaaay scared going to the shooting range, let alone with our ward..haha...it's only cuz i have an absolute fear of any kind of weapon. Seriously, just seeing an actual weapon, i start shaking a little. I dunno. So i was really nervous holding a gun for the first time and shooting, but turns out! I HAD SO MUCH FUN! I felt kinda cool? haha. The shot gun was my favorite...only cuz it kicked back alot and i actually shot a disc that was flown into the air. Yes, yours truly hit one. Crazy huh? If you would like to see the footage, hit up my facebook or dani's blog. I guess i scream alot. haha Anyways, moral of the story, guns are cool, when Dave Taggart is around...

FIFTH...
Here's just some random things I have liked with in the past few days with my roomate dani now that i am all caught up. 1) I like watching weird shows and listening to a creepy scary story with dani 2) I like running errands with her, especially when i needed to rent three baseball movies and they each had to come from THREE different blockbuster stores 3) I like coming up with a music video to Get Silly with her and then watching what moves she will do to the song, mind you, in a clown suit 3)Figuring out slang in rap songs...and then realizing that it wasn't such a good idea 4) While reading a letter from my best friend in the mission field, dani has her own photo shoot with my camera and lastly 5) when dani reads to me while she is in the bathtub, but it gets better...she was reading in a British accent (literally happened 4 min ago.)

So what have i learned so far from life?? Do service with others, Don't push your body to far, even though it may be worth it, Go to and listen to General Conference cuz the Lord will bless you in some way, Guns are cool, and I am lucky to have a great roomate and friend like dani cuz life is always entertaining with her :)

Be careful of taboos....NOT tatoos...well and tatoos but thats not what i am trying to say

On monday in my Linguistics class, we were learning about all kinds of slang, taboos, epithets and euphemisms. Well, let me give you a little example of each and especially when we hit the epithets...be careful.

• Slang- Everyone one should know what these are. It just a use of casual speech often invented and spread by a close nit social group. For example, I notice I use a different speech when I am around different groups of people. Let's say I am snowboarding...some things a snowboarder might say would be, "Shred the Gnar" "Pow Pow" "SPORE" "Skeeze" and then the typical, "dude" and "sick" hahaha
• Taboos- This is any type of word or activity that is considered inappropriate. I won't go into detail but for example, it's taking anything those scientific names of your reproductive organs and making them into those four letter words, or calling the process of making love into another four letter word....you get the picture...they are bad...don't use them!
• Euphemisms- It's a word or phrase to take and replace a taboo word or avoid reference to certain acts or subjects. For example, it's relacing those curse words with good ol words like "crap" or "dang it" :)
• Racial or National Epithets- Its a taboo that is  degrading towards a race or nationality. I just learned this but have any of you guys said the phrase..."Man, we got gypped!" ? Well, did you know that gypped comes from the word gypsy? So basically, when we say that phrase, we are making fun of gypsies and implying that all of them are thieves and steal...Bet you'll think twice before you say that again!

How Mr. Jackie Robinson was treated when he was first signed

Just to give a bit more detail to the life of the good ol' Mr. Jackie Robinson, I just wanted to put a little bit more emphasis on his character and to tell everyone how he really was and still is a great example of someone who faces trials in life. 

When Jackie was first signed to the Montreal Royals in 1945 and started his sprin

g training in 1946, the team went down to Florida. Many of the cities in which they had to play in was rough. Alot of games were cancelled because teams refused to play a team who had a black player. He received numerous amounts of threatening letters, was segregated from his team in cities they had to stay over night in, and when they finally started playing in the season, he was harassed more then any other player. When he reached the actual major leagues and played for the Dodgers in 1947, while he was fielding, players slid into base and tried to puncture his leg with their spikes. On several occasions he was severely spiked to where his leg was bloody and was knocked to the ground. He also had many balls thrown at his head as well. 

But while this all happened, guess what he did? Jus

t turned the other cheek. He was known for having a short temper, but was some how able to control it and never retaliated in anyway. He always kept a positive attitude and never blamed the whites for anything even though he knew a lot of the violence that was thrown against him was intentional. He conquered adversity every time something was thrown at him. 

Another thing i really admired about him was his love for his wife. He married a gal named Rachel young; before he signed onto the Royals. Their marriage was tried by all the violence and the constant traveling to games. But Rachel NEVER missed a home game, even when they had a son. One time when Jackie had go on the road again, he called her from the train station and said, "I don't want to make this trip with out you, come on down." And of course just packed up everything and went right on down with him. Rachel described their relationship as a very intense pairing, as if they were a part of each other. As Jackie's popularity increased, the ladies were starting to become attracted to him and trying to throw themselves on him. In one instance, he received a letter from a women basically begging him to commit adultery with her and confessed her love for him and said, "I know you are a married man and that you have a son, but you don't have to be an angel." Can you believe this SLUT??? Well guess what Jackie said back..."When i married Mrs. Robinson, i exchanged vows to love and honor, and cherish her for the rest of my life. Honor means just that to me and any sneaking, skulking escapade would destroy the very thing that enables me to hold my head up high." YOU GO JACKIE! 

See, isn't he the best?? I have loved reading about this man. He truly helped destroy the color barrier of baseball, blaze the trail to the civil rights movement, and kept true to himself during all the trials and tribulations he faced. He truly was a great man and a great example of how we should all be. 

He said She Said...

Last week in my linguistics class we had to watch a lecture video entitled, "He said, She Said." I am not gunna lie, it was sooooooo interesting and very entertaining. Basically this women studied the differences in language between boys and girls. Here are some things I learned about our species...

• Women like to do a thing called "trouble talking." For some reason girls, we like to always talk to eachother about our problems, and when we don't have problems, then we bring up other peoples problems. As for men, they really could care less about other peoples problems so if we start to talk about others peoples problems to them, they will most likely zone out or won't know what to say.
  
• Women like to be the same and men like to compete. When women talk about something to eachother, we try to mention things that will make us equal so we can feel accepted. Men on the other hand will always try to one up the next person. When in a relationship, be careful men to try not to always one up your lover. lol
• Women like to take into account other peoples feelings before their own and likes to discuss things while men just say more or less what they feel. For example, you are driving a long and the woman asks the man, "Are you thirsty?" and he says, "No." and thats it. Well then the women gets upset because she is thirsty and wants to pull over but he didn't ask her how she felt. Then the man goes, "Why couldnt you just say you were thirsty?" And it's because women like to take into account every one's feelings and men just answer the question that is asked.

Hope this helps at all to anyone who is trying to understand the opposite sex! haha

Extinction of languages? Is this even important?

Today in my linguistics class we learned about endangered languages. At first i was like, "uhhh ok? and whats soooooo special about keeping languages around that no one knows about?" Well, let me tell you... it is very important. We watched this 20 min video and this guy gave a really cool presentation of all the different languages that are becoming extinct. He talked about many languages aren't even recorded or written down so one they are lost, they are lost forever. And what does a language incorporate you ask? When a language goes down, so does their culture, their technology, and their findings. Findings could include different types of plants and different species that scientists havent even discovered because of the remotness of the places or because of the way these people use the plants and animals. It's crazy learning about all that goes along with a language...if anyone is interested, this video clip lecture is really interesting.

The start of something new...

So! This is my first blogging experience. I had to create a blog for my technology teaching class and have to have five educational posts by this week. So for the next five posts, i shall be discussing something educational and then maybe i will decide to keep blogging after that..



My first educational moment for today will be about....the rise of JACKIE ROBINSON!! WOHOO!!

If you don't know, Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to be signed into the major league in 1946. He crossed the color barrier and many have said it was because of him that got the ball rolling to integrate blacks into society and stop the Jim Crow stupid segregation laws! Even Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged him and praised him for his efforts. From 1890 to 1946, blacks were not allowed to play baseball with whites. They had to have their own league, were payed less, couldn't get the proper conditioning, and played and traveled more. Certain events starting getting the public's opinion on segregation to think more negatively about it. Different sports writer's ofter commented on the fact that blacks were allowed to represent America in the Olympics, play football, be a boxing star lik Joe Loius, fight side by side with whites in WWII and die for our country, but they couldnt play ball?? It was messed up. So thank goodness for Mr. Rickey and wanted to change all of this by looking for the perfect candidate to be the first black baseball player to be integrated into the major leagues. Jackie Robinson was religious, attractive, strong, courageous, great athelte and ball player, and was not afraid of the publics opinion of him. He was the perfect candidate...