FHE Talent Show

So Sean and Justin come over for Family Home Evening on the first Monday of every month. I'm trying to get them to come every Monday but they won't do it. Something about having their OWN families to have FHE with. Sure, sure.




I had the great idea this week to do an official family talent show! Although I gave plenty of heads-up about the event, pretty much everyone threw something together last minute. Which was fine, because Sean's and Justin's on-the-spot rendition of "My Girl" was priceless. (I would post the video of it, but it won't let me. Rude.)

Dad showed us a painting he did a few years ago. Nice! And Kylie and I did a song. I played away on Cocoum and she belted it out on those pretty little lungs of hers. And yes, we did a Taylor Swift number. It's really unfair that she has good songs AND good hair.

So after the talent show we played ninja destruction, but this is really the only good picture I got:

Ahh good times. :)

ZuMbA!

Tuesday morning...

I got off the spinning bike, finishing up my last couple of minutes on the workout cycle I was doing. Thirty minutes of hills and inclines-- I was feeling good. My mom walked past me and opened the door that led to the gym, turning around and gesturing for me to follow.

We walked into the gym where 7 or 8 women were standing around, some stretching their legs, others chatting, a couple rolling up their sweatpants.

Well, this should be interesting, I thought as Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" started playing on the stereo. All at once, a short, blonde-haired woman sashayed over to the front of the group. She was wearing purple gym pants and a bright pink t-shirt that had Zumba! written across the front in bright letters.

Her hips never stopped moving as she called for the ladies to get in rows and follow her movements. I looked uncertainly over at my mom, who smiled back encouragingly.

"Just follow her. The movements aren't that hard if you just memorize the routine," she said.

The instructor then began a long series of hip-shaking, grapevine-ing, and arm waving. The other ladies followed suit while I stood there, smirking, and watching. The other Zumba-goers all seemed to be in their 50's and 60's. More power to 'em, but I couldn't help feeling out of place. Not only did everyone look absolutely ridiculous...they were shaking their hips better than I could ever hope to.

But I dove in anyway, trying to mirror the instructor's moves, but somehow always seeming to be off a beat. The Latin music filled the room and obviously inspired the instructor because she suddenly began a complex combination of kicks, twirls and shakes that no one could keep up with. The ladies kept trying, however, and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the slight chaos of it all.

So, I mostly stood there, watching, silently laughing, and thinking about what I was going to eat when I got home...

But oh, I'm definitely going again.

Forget It

So I previously mentioned that I would be posting my columns on this blog which turned out to be a bigger hassle than I wanted to deal with. So if you want to read my stuff, ask me and I'll send ya a copy.
So here I am! Back in good ol' North Carolina. Not quite sure why I'm here, but I figure I'd just go with the flow and see what happens. So far I've got an internship lined up with The Herald Sun (a newspaper in Durham about 10 minutes away) and I may have a job at a chocolate/pastry shop. Fun, no?
So we'll see what happens. I'm also looking to start my mission papers and hopefully be gone somewhere exotic by the end of the summer. Unfortunately, for that plan to work I need money. So...ugh. We'll see. For now, I'm just going to go with it, see what happens, and hope for the best.
Yes the weather's great and I can just rest and relax here at home...but already I miss snowy, busy, crazy, crowded Rexburg. Weird, huh?

On The Sublime

"That which is simultaneously attractive and repulsive." That was the definition my British Lit professor gave me for one little word that sparked my interest: Sublime.

He was talking about nature and the fact that it can be a magnificent wonder and at the same time, an indescribable horror. One second you're gazing up at a mountain full of beauty and majesty, and a second later you're contemplating all the dangers one mountain range can pose. Mud slides, wild animals, hypothermia...you get my drift.

People can be sublime. It's like watching Will Smith in Hancock. You're distracted by his good-looking face and bulging biceps--until you realize just how repulsed you are by his character and, really, the whole movie in general.

A 1988 American Reggae band was named Sublime. Good name for a band. But Reggae music? Mmmm. There it goes again. Simultaneous attraction and repulsion.

The dictionary definition of sublime isn't quite as interesting. Something sublime is thought to be highly noble or excellent. Awe-inspiring or supreme. Like the outside of an Oreo. Yes, the cookie--not the filling--the best part and truly sublime.

To sublime something means to make it higher, nobler, or purer. It's also a chemistry term where something solid is turned into a gas and then as it cools, goes straight back into a solid, skipping the liquid phase.

Now that's sublime. The attraction is there as you think about how amazing the world is in that processes like sublimation can actually work. And then there's that stomach-clenching horror that comes as you realize that you've just admitted to liking something about chemistry.

Lastly, if you sublimate something, you are changing an instinctual desire or impulse that may be publicly unacceptable to make it socially or culturally welcome. For instance, you would sublimate all your impulses to watch Hancock, eat only the frosting from the Oreo, or listen to Reggae music by simply...not doing them.

Oh the complexities of the sublime. There are hundreds of things that could be "simultaneously attractive and repulsive." I guess it's just a matter of personal preference and perspective.

How sublime.

Columns

So my new favorite class this semester is Comm 340. Advanced Media Writing. Who knew Journalism could be so fun? Our current project is all about columns. We are required to write three columns a week for the rest of the semester. So I thought I'd share them here. Enjoy!