Sing In

This Saturday I went to Messiah, sing in performed by the Utah Symphony, and the Utah Symphony Choir, and Me :) Fortunately, only Bryan could hear me sing. I've never been the best singer. It was so much fun! I truly enjoyed myself. I ended up feeling a great nostalgia for my viola, and wish that I could play again. I miss that. It has been a while since I have even gone to any type of concert. Another New Year's goal: go to more performances. Ultimately, I had to make a decision between going to the Tool concert with Brent, or the Sing In. Many of my friends may now call me an utter nerd for the choice I made, but I have been to Tool before, and I had never been to the Sing In. Oh, and the marvelous work of art behind me is a Dale Chihuly.

Today is so cold! I'm not going to enjoy the snow. I find myself running around much more so that I can just get out of the cold, so maybe it is good for my health. I think I'll stay in all day in my nice, warm bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! It is probably my favorite holiday. I love it because I love food. I love to eat out, but my mom's cooking is phenomenal. She makes deviled eggs, her mashed potatoes and gravy are dreamy, and her green beans are to die for. I went shopping for all of the supplies yesterday, helped prepare the food this morning, and enjoyed the morning with some of my family. Unfortunately, this year I ended up working...not cool. So, I'm sitting incredibly bored here at work. At least I can be grateful that I am making money, and that I actually did get to see my family for a small portion of the day.
It is difficult to really sit down and think about things that you are grateful in life. For me, I always seem to be too busy to actually be optimistic. I think that is one thing that I will probably need to work on for the new year, is being more grateful for what I have. I seem to bicker more than be grateful. And now, see, I am complaining about how much I complain. I think I will list some things that I am grateful for, for the sake of killing time. If this gets too gushy, I apologize in advance.
I am grateful for my family first and foremost. I have an incredible support system, and while they are probably the ones that I complain the most about, they are the ones that I am indeed the most grateful for. Secondly, I couldn't be more blessed with my friends. They are irreplacable, even though I'm not the best friend (I try...). I am grateful for my living situation, especially for the opportunity to be living on my own and independant. I am continuously grateful for the lessons that my parents tought me in life to make me the person that I am now. I am grateful for the opportunity to gain an education. There is nothing I like more than knowing more than everyone else! I am grateful that I have eyes to see art, and for the pleasure that I gain from just simply looking at something (even if it isn't exactly aesthetically pleasing). I am grateful for Weedmox. He never fails to always makes me happy when I am down. I'm glad that I don't live in a country that subjects women to lower positions than men (for the most part...). To live in a country where things are so easily obtained, regardless of what it does to the environment. To not be one of the suffering middle-class that has a very nice house and things, but cannot seem to celebrate Christmas because of financial issues (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7107622.stm). I'm grateful that I'm not quite middle class enough to think that I have to buy things in order to celebrate Christmas. Whoa...! Where'd that come from?! Anyway, Of course there are many, many more things that I am grateful for, but I'd start boring all of my numerous readers out there :)
Happy Thanksgiving!

Power Outage

I’m sitting here in my apartment with no power. Not because I didn’t pay my bill, but because the entire block’s power is out. It seems like this happens a lot on my block, or maybe it has something to do with living downtown and the amount of energy that is used. Thank God I have a good battery on my laptop! I can’t get ready for the day because I need electricity to do that, so I felt the best thing to do was write since I haven’t in a long time.

Today I took my German test. It was basically the final test in the class. I stayed up all night last night cramming for it because I was no where near ready. And now, as I reflect upon the answers that I wrote, I wasn’t exactly ready…well, for the essay question anyway. I usually rock the essays too! Put it into another language, and they are the worst part of the test for me. We were supposed to describe why Turkey wasn’t involved in the European Union. Well, my answer was something to the effect that Turkish people couldn’t gain citizenship in Germany, and that they invaded Austria twice and that is why they couldn’t be part of the EU. I think I added that they were a “bose” (bad) country in there somewhere too. Wow, um, yeah, that was kinda cool. So, we’ll see what kind of grade I pull out of with that one…As for the rest of the test, I think that I did well (hopefully).

It is awesome, even though I don’t rock at German, to see how much I do understand now. I love it, and if I had more dedication energy and time, I would definitely be 10 times the foreign language speaker that I am now. I just hope that I might go back in order to be able to practice and hopefully become fluent. I really don’t think you (as in me) can be really fluent unless you’ve lived there for a period of time.
I am relieved that it is over though, it is amazing how fast the stress releases you when you finish. Now hopefully my electricity will turn back on.