Glue

i have, for awhile now, prided myself on being the "glue" of the family.
i probably shouldn't use the word 'prided' --rather, it makes me happy to see/do.
i'm the female middle child, which means i'm perfectly apt to be the family glue sticking everybody together.
here's the thing:
when i left home i thought i'd be so happy to get away from the house.  then i found myself extremely homesick with an awful roommate. then i wanted nothing more to be home, with my family.
so, with the miracle that is cell phones, i started my journey to becoming the Mattson Family Glue.

first, after having spent some time with the booths, i realized that when we hang up the phone we needed to end our conversations with "i love you" or "love you, bye."  i secretly implemented this in all my conversations with my family members.  they soon took the hint.  now we don't end a conversation without it. and its weird when we do. phase one: accomplished.

phase two:  i know my brother's password for his route Y account, so whenever we register for classes, i hack his account and look to see what classes he's signed up for.  then i sign up for one of the same ones.  eric & i usually have at least one class together a semester.

phase three: gmail and photoshop.  video chat on gmail is a dream come true--chatting it up with jenna and my lilykins (who yells at the computer for becca <3) is lovely when i can't be there with them. also: i become absolutely necessary for jenna, seeing as she only has photoshop elements and i have the real photoshop. which means i get to do her plentiful photoshop projects for her.

phase four: family history. i took a family history class last  semester and had a great time talking to my mom about it.  i also had the occasion to call my grandparents about it several times, therefore extending my reach as glue to another generation.  i really do love family history, too, and i love hearing any stories my grandparents have to offer.

phase five: facebook friends.  my cousins (all two of them) and my family aren't the best of friends. i added my cousin on facebook and on skype, and we occasionally chat. i couldn't find my second cousins or else i would have done that too--since they're probably who i really consider cousins most of all.

phase six: the bachelor/bachelorette. my aunt cami LOVES the bachelor/bachelorette.  its the only tv she will watch.  i always thought it was dumb...until my roommate wanted to "have" a tv show and she chose that one.  its easily addicting. but the best part is: it gives me a reason to call & talk with my aunt every monday night/whenever we get the chance to see it. i love our chats--we are, in many ways, in the same situation-except she actually has a boyfriend now!  i love talking with her about boys & life!  someday we will travel the world together. (wherever she hasn't already been!)

phase seven: calling daddy. i've been making a concerted effort to call my father--its a lot different than calling my mom (which i do almost daily), and if we get on the topic of school its generally not a fun conversation. but i love him nonetheless.

phase eight, still in progress: bryce.  we were close when i was home, because we were the only two siblings left in the house, but now that i'm gone we don't really speak.  and by close i mean when he bugged me i would hit him, and tell him to go away, etc-basic older sibling-itis. but we would have fun too.  usually when i was driving him somewhere, or something like that. it was nice.  for now, its only usually sunday phone calls.

aaand that accounts for my entire family.
all in all, i love my family.  and i love that i will be with them for eternity.

Fatal Frame

so one night after rehearsal, scott asks me if i'd like to go with him & some friends to play a game.  i thought: board, card, etc.  i said yes.   i was a bit confused when they pulled out the ps2, but i'm still up for it. no big deal.

at this point the lights are still on, people are still chatting, so its still no big deal when they pop in a game called "Fatal Frame."  (i only knew the name from googling it--otherwise i would have been scared by an anonymous video game.)  it doesn't look too bad, whatever, anime figures walking around a haunted mansion, still no big deal.  until the lights go out.  until the first "ghost" appears and starts attacking you.

at this point i may have been screaming, repeatedly, alternately "WHAT IS THAT!?" and "I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"  with perhaps a few "WHY!?"s thrown in.    i mean really, these things aren't pretty.

the worst is that the ghosts don't come very often.  there's almost 10 minutes sometimes of lull wherein you can be given false hope that the ghosts are gone. but i learned after the third crawling-out-from-under-the-porch-ghost to a) don't ever relax b) always be ready to shove the blanket in your mouth to scream and c) never let the blood flow back into scott's arm.  

i was the life of the party, let me tell you. 

by the end, scott had decided he did want feeling in his fingers and just held me and covered my eyes when a ghost came to prevent me from hyperventilating. this tactic proved useful, seeing as i didn't have my inhaler with me. 

why this entertains people is beyond me. 

but, have no fear, my lesson has been learned: keep inhaler handy at all times. 

Who'da thunk?

"Your snort is like an accent. Cute!" --Grant, at the ward ice cream social. (be impressed--i went!)

apparently i have an accent. when i laugh. and then, unattractively, snort.
i've never quite figured the draw, but hey--i'll take what i can get.