Coming up for air

Hey readers... sorry I've been slacking on the posting. Here's a quick summary, and I hope to have more detailed and entertaining things to say again soon:

- Wrapping up loose ends at my job and it's making me grumpy.
- New job options are opening and look promising.
- New church calling is more time-consuming than I'd prefer.
- Can check "speed dating" off my list of things to do in my lifetime.
- Hair is now less dramatic and more like me (apologies, my hair dresser... I promise, it's nothing personal).

Since I've failed to provide you anything original to laugh at this time around, try this out for size until I can get back to you.

Harry Carey?

Can you believe I've lived my whole Mormon life without having ever seen Saturday's Warrior until tonight? My verdict: I could have gone a couple more lifetimes without it. The part that I found the most ridiculous (I know, it's hard to pick a favorite) is that of all the things that Jimmy's friends could be using their influence to pressure him about, they've chosen world overpopulation. I certainly know it was a hot topic at my school, so much that alongside the D.A.R.E. and G.R.E.A.T. programs (if you've never heard of the latter, it's because you didn't grow up in Rose Park), there was S.N.O.O.T.: Say No to Opinions about Obscure Topics. Sheesh.

Neither here nor there. First, bowling. I'm bad at it, but was convinced to go last night. Here are some pics. I think of our two games I topped out at near 80.

Second, I spent two and a half hours at a salon yesterday morning having this done to my hair:

Love the cut, don't love the color. I know it doesn't look bad, it just looks unnatural on me. For some reason such obvious and unnatural-looking highlights imply a certain amount of high-maintainance-ness to my personality, which I don't appreciate. Consequently, I will be doing something to remedy the blonde tomorrow. Here's hoping it turns out okay; I'll let you know how it goes.

My Sweet Baboo

Happy Valentines Day. Here's some cookies I made for a service project last night:

Also here's the valentine I'll be giving my co-workers tomorrow. I won't claim it as my original idea; in fact, I stole it from some girls on my mission. But I love the fact that you can slap the band-aid on yourself anywhere and be wearing a valentine all day long!

I know it's the cool thing to hate Valentine's Day if you're single, but I don't really anymore. People are in love, that's great. In truth, it's probably the ONLY day of the year that when I see public displays of affection that I don't want to punch people in the neck.

Rear view.

In my continual picking apart of my own brain I made a new discovery recently. The reason I have a tendency to instigate change in my own life is that the change will be under my own control, on my own time. In the meantime I hope that I'm instigating enough change in my own life that the Heavens will not see it necessary to inflict any unexpected change on me. I don't really like to be caught off guard. Who does, really? Anyway, consequently I'm always keeping an eye out for change that might ambush me, which also probably explains why I overanalyze most anything. And so the blog entry thus far has come full circle.

Lucky for you, that's the only deep thinking I have for you tonight. The rest will be pictures of recent activities...

First, a couple of snowmen my roommate Jenny and I made after shoveling one Sunday afternoon. In the process of making them we really didn't have an agenda, but the final product could be interpreted many ways. Especially if you correctly identify the snowman on the left to actually be a snow-woman, and not a snowman with a rockin' '80's mullet.

On Thursday my roommates and I hosted a Chinese New Year gathering. Two or so years ago I realized mid-day that it was Chinese New Year, and decided at the last minute to go get a Panda Express meal in honor of the day. Later on that evening I also just happened to have rented the movie Serenity, which has some subtle Chinese elements to it, and chuckled at the coincidence. Well, last year I did the same exact thing on purpose, and this year the tradition has followed suit. However, this year I invited quite a few more people to partake in my tradition. It was truly a testament to the fact that all people really need is a place and a time, and they'll gather for the most absurd of reasons. But then again, I didn't get this fortune in my cooking for nothin'...

Lastly, today I picked up bleach trays for my teeth. I had no idea they were going to give me a whole mold of my mouth, and though for most of the day they've freaked me out, the following has made me laugh instead of cringe every time I see them.

Job hunt continues, as does my countdown until I can leave my current one.