Has It Really?

It has! It's been over 2 weeks since I last blogged! Egads!

I can explain. I tried to log on several days while at work, (and I always forget to get on at home) but every time I tried, an error message popped up saying the internet was down or something, even though it clearly wasn't, because all my other websites were running. Anyway, I was afraid blogger had been blocked! But I tried again today and was pleasantly surprised. I have been wanting to talk about my Christmas prank and how beautiful it was!

So a few weeks ago I had someone over in servicing distract my coworker for a few minutes so I could get onto his computer and steal an embarassing picture I saw there the last time I was messing with it. Unfortunately it wasn't there any more, but he did have one that I could use. So, I emailed it to myself to use later. Now, remember how he thinks I am his secretary? Well, he kept asking me to send out Christmas cards for him, so I saw my opportunity. I took the picture of him, added a Santa hat and the leg lamp from A Christmas Story, the words "Merry Christmas from Chris Bangerter" and VOILA! Instant Christmas card. I then proceeded to put a copy of this card on the desks of....everyone on our floor.

This was the night before Christmas Eve. Yeah, I was a little bummed that I had to work on that day, so I thought this would brighten my spirits a little. It really worked. When I walked in that morning, I could hear people talking about A Christmas Story and the lamp and everything; it was really funny. Then when he came in, I heard someone tell him thank you for the card and laughing, and he was saying, "Oh...you're welcome!" and then I heard him laugh and say "Oooohhhh" when he saw it. He came over to his desk and started talking about how it wasn't nice of us to do something like that to him, blah blah, and who was it, etc. I told him he really should have seen it coming. He agreed, and I was much pleased. And for all of you out there who don't believe me, no, I do not like him. If you knew him like I do you would understand. Haha. He told me once that I have to clean up after him because I am a girl. Yeah.

So Christmas was really nice too. Everyone really liked the gifts I got them, so that was good, and I got some awesome stuff too! A really nice set of pans and some new stuff for my kitchen and bathroom! I didn't have time to make the hoodies like I wanted, but I'm going to start on them soon. I did make the bags, and they all liked those. Lisa especially. O_o I was almost weirded out by how much she liked hers. Plus we had yummy Danish rice pudding for breakfast. :D At least I think it was Danish.

I am finally selling my old car, and I decided that with the money I get for it, I am going to buy me some nice bedroom furniture! I'm so excited! I can get the bed, three chests of drawers, (two large, one small) storage unit, and end tables I want from Ikea with money left over to spend on a rug, mirror, or whatever else I want! I'm going to be remodeling the whole room, (it will be two rooms in one) so this is way exciting for me. I'm also registered for school in the spring, and I'm going to get a loan so I can get it all done the rest of the way from there, then transfer to UVU probably to get my bachelor's. It will be very nice this upcoming year, to not think I'm being such a loser and actually getting things done!

I thought I'd have more to write about, but I'm all out of ideas. Everyone have a fun and safe New Year!

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

And that's what I shall do today. I will fill this paper (blogspace) with the breathings of my heart (some quotes, lyrics, exerpts that I like) and why I like them. Others' words help me bring out my own, I guess. :D

I'll start with something I just read in Paradise Lost, spoken by the character of Satan:

"The mind is its own place, and in it self Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."
We all know Satan to speak lies to us, but deception is sometimes not as harsh than the truth can be.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov
To me, being able to SEE has been one of my most cherished gifts. To be able to see through words is a most pleasant alternative.

"There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ah, looks like art is the answer to all our problems! It's also funny to think that most of us want to both evade and link ourselves to the world.

"Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money." ~Ernst Levy
Oh, that this would ever become a reality! I think we would all be able to see the beauty around us and be grateful for it, and gratitude most often leads to happiness; ours as well as others'.

"Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness." ~George Jean Nathan, House of Satan
Mad with its own lovliness! Stability, while being able to be interpreted many ways, has never been what I would consider the most lovely. Flaws and uniqueness are what build character and confidence, in my opinion.

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit softly." ~Theodore Roosevelt
I cannot express how much I adore this man. I think that what he says here is essential to our self-respect and goals for the future. And hilarious.

It was hard to pick one phrase from Thoreau, from whose mouth came some of my favorite sentences ever:

"Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it." ~Henry David Thoreau
The same could be said about so-called lovers of almost anything! If we were all as civil, educated, humble, respectful, artistic, creative, happy as we say we are, imagine the benefits to ourselves and those around us! And what's stopping us from being what we want to be?

"They make no mention of the beauty of decay." ~Tears For Fears, Break It Down Again
I've always enjoyed a lyric that has made me stop and think and say, "Oh, that's very true!" Decay often leads to rebirth, and that is a truly beautiful thing, if not dark. I also enjoy a bit of the dark. :D

"I am a lyrical soul, bound to get carried away." ~Roisin Murphy, Sow Into You
How else could I describe myself? There probably isn't any other way, haha.
"By daily dying I have come to be." ~Theodore Roethke
This was one of my favorite philosophers I learned about in high school. I wondered about what he meant by this phrase, but then I remembered something an artist said once, about giving so much of himself for his art, so that it would come alive, that it seemed he lost his personality. Maybe by giving of ourselves, we find what we really are.

"This is how it works: you're young until you're not. You love until you don't. You try until you can't. You laugh until you cry, you cry until you laugh, and everyone must breathe, until their dying breath." ~Regina Spektor, On The Radio
I love the simplicity of this. It's all true! You do what you can until you can't anymore. But when and why that is, all depends on you.

I wanted to include some lyrics from My Brightest Diamond songs, but they can be kind of dark, and while I like them for their creative construction, I'm afraid people would think I'm grotesque or something. :D I'm not entirely.

While there's plenty more where this came from, I think I've bored you all enough. :D

Who's excited for Christmas, raise your hands!

I Have It

I have what I need to proceed with my Christmas prank. XD

Ah, the splendor and fast-paced season that is Christmas. The time of the year most often spent visiting loved ones, making cookies and candies, decorating, singing, and reminiscing of Christmases past. What I am trying to say, is that I think I'm going to have to buy gifts for my friends and family, instead of making them like I planned, since I am running dangerously low on time. I think I will finish making them and just give them away when they are done. It will be a bit on the spontaneous side I think, but that's become a thing to be expected when it comes to me, so I'm not really worried.

Today I finished my book and passed it on to my coworker. I recommend it. Some of you are probably aware of my infatuation with Mr. Darcy, so the book I was reading, An Assembly Such As This, would be no surprise. It's the Pride & Prejudice story from Mr. Darcy's point of view. Pamela Aidan does a pretty good job of keeping the language in the proper era, as well as keeping with the story, but making it different enough to keep readers familiar with P&P interested. It's a Trilogy, so I'm off for the second book. But in the meantime, I will be reading Paradise Lost.

So I think I would like the Canon 40D digital camera. It's very nice. 10.1 megapixels, tilt correction, dust reduction....phwoar, I want this camera bad. Hopefully I will be able to afford it after the holidays. :D

Love At First Sight?

The Dark Knight comes out on DVD today! I am giddy with joy and excitement. XD But I have to wait until later to go get it because I left my preorder receipt at home. :( But, it will wait for me! I can make myself have patience! I will have to distract myself though, to make the time go by faster. And I will distract myself with solitaire.
About that...my work wants us to cut down on our outside-of-work internet use. Understandable. So I'm reduced to playing solitaire when there's nothing to do and no one to help, to reduce the excess use of bandwidth. It's no big deal, but I can't blog as much. Which is probably all for the better as well.

So I came across this article today while reading the news. Never before have I read something by someone so incredibly misinformed. This article suggests that the Bible does not necessarily revere heterosexual marriages and that it does, in fact, support gay marriages. Besides that statement being utterly ridiculous, it's very plain to see that the writer was either not familiar with the Bible in any way, (and therefore should probably not be writing an article on interpreting it) or has been welcomed into that ever-growing circle of those with the cunning ability to twist anything into what thay want it to represent. I would not base my own beliefs on the words of someone who probably only looked at a few passages that might support their point without searching for further explanation, if the former. If the latter, it is an unfortunate thing that there are many different versions of the Bible, most of which were added to or taken from purely to fit with what early religious groups wanted in their worship and actions, so I can see how someone would be able to misinterpret scripture and/or be able to more easily mold what is said to fit their purposes. It makes me so glad that I have access to the most correct of them all.

The article can be read here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653/page/1

The second page made me laugh (after it made me mad). It is so strange to me that those who do not believe in Christ or God or religion or whatever, refuse to believe in Jesus's divinity or the apostles' greatness until the prospect of them also being HUMAN comes into play - then we hear things like, "If Paul was so spiritual, why didn't he get married?" while I am thinking, "If you are so anti-spiritual, why are you trying to win me in a battle of scripture?" Nowhere in the Bible does it say Paul was never married. (At least not the most correct Bible.) He may not have been married after his conversion, but does that automatically mean he was NEVER married and was going against the church? He couldn't have been divorced or a widower? (Found my proof on LDS.org) Here's another fun exerpt from the article: "Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world..." Sooooo what you are telling me is that you are taking the scriptures seriously and literally in your professional research, but this particular passage does not count? Because it makes the title and purpose of your article a complete lie, making you look like a fool? That makes perfect sense. How honorable.

The author concludes, saying that homosexual partners should be allowed to marry in the same sense that straight couples are, because we are all God's children. That is very true, we are all God's children, and he loves us no matter what, but homosexuality is not of God, and His sacred ordinance of marriage should not and will not be tainted. Are you also saying that we should allow murder, stealing, infidelity and substance abuse, among others? Last I heard, most people as a whole are firmly against those abominations. You can't pick and choose, honey, make up your mind. I stand by what I have always said: If it were ever meant for people to be homosexual, there would not be two specific genders, whether you believe in God or science. It's that simple. Fight it all you want.

Sure, I may not be the nicest of writers, but that's a bit better than baseless, incorrect writers. But still, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

My coworker (who thinks I'm his secretary) hasn't been messing around with me much lately. I think it's because I refused to buy him a bagel last week, because I knew he would never pay me back. He wouldn't. He never keeps his word, everybody knows that, so I have learned my lesson. However, he is still going to get a really nifty Christmas present from me. And by that, I mean a big ol' prank. :D

Went to Temple Square last night. It was loverly, since we had the first snowfall of the season going on. :) I found my soulmate - a Jonathan Rhys-Meyers look-alike! and LDS! (assumedly) - but he vanished too quickly. I was soooooo disappointed. I'm seriously crushed. Wilted. Heartbroken. *sigh* That was as close to love at first sight as I think I will ever get. lol

You'll Never Believe It!!!

I went to see Twilight. That's right. Twiiiiilllliiiiiight. I figured it couldn't be worse than the book - they can't cut any plotlines, (there weren't many to begin with! Bwahaha) so most of the excess romance would be cut, right? Well, yes, that is true. But I still laughed at the cheesiness of the movie. (Sorry guys, I tried!) Many people said that you couldn't really feel how much Bella and Edward were in love, and I do agree with that, and I didn't believe any of the actors really were the people I had read in the book, except Alice, Jacob and Jessica. (Carlisle was NOTHING like I had pictured - I was so devastated!) The sparkling was cheesey, the lines were cheesey, and overall, I thought the movie was cheesey. I don't know if I would feel that way had I not read the book - I probably would have liked it a little better. But all in all, I didn't have high hopes for it, and I was still disappointed. :( What a bummer.

I'm very anxious right now. I'm nearing the end of my book, A Game of Thrones, and I'm going crazy! They killed my favorite character, (I shouldn't be surprised, but I really thought he was going to live!) and he didn't even die nobly! He died in treachery and young, stupid arrogance! I'm so angry, I cannot even begin to express it - only that I'm hoping his family gets their vengeance! My friend told me it ends well (a major cliffhanger, but well just the same) and basically that they get what's coming to them, so I can't wait to get to it!

I'm also registering for some more classes in the spring. I'm so happy - it's been almost a year since I've gone to school and I really miss it. I'm also thinking of getting a job at UPS because they pay for school and have hours that would work with my schedule. Pray that I can find something!

Thanksgiving was good - I didn't get to make the rolls, but I was also in charge of family portraits. It was funny, I was outside for probably about an hour with bare feet, taking pictures, and I didn't even realize until I got inside that my feet were numb. :D What a doofus. But I got some good posing practice, and I think I did a pretty good job. Maybe I'll post some of the pics.

The girls in my family made cookies over the weekend as well! It was so much fun; it invited the Christmas spirit and the cookies were so yummeh! Tierney made the dough all by herself (used the Kitchen Aid and everything!) she's getting really good. I'll post the pictures we were taking for that also. And if I can get some from from my cousin of the Twilight outing. :D

So, I get to decorate a tree! I have had Christmas tree decorations for a few years and this year my parents said we can set up two trees, and I get one for my decorations! I'm so excited! I'll post pictures of that too! Pics all around!