Malaysia, the Adventures of

i figured it was about time to post about the rest of the Malaysia Mattson family adventures! and seriously, they are some adventures. we don't go halfway with vacations. even when dad was real sick he was still going..not very well, but still going. we have to get everything in! humanly possible. well not even that, because i'm sure some of it was wayy too much for the average person. i even had to take a break. a beautiful one, in the morning on the sunny island of mabul. :) so i regret a few things about this trip: that i didnt take good pictures, and that we didnt have our good camera so i was using my crappy 7.1 megapixel camera for all these pictures. well some of them are better and from eric's nicer camera. but here's what i got, people!




the very beginning!! the view of singapore from our hotel room. we arrived at the airport and my mom started asking if we wanted gum; until eric reminded her its against the law. then we get to the hotel room and see its MUCH nicer than what we had in mind...rather amazing. (we dont spend money on the unnecessary things like good hotel rooms.)



first day in singapore, getting on the singaporean subway thingy. (MRT)

these next three are the most ridiculous things i've ever seen. in singapore, they have these signs on the MRT that say to let people off first. this lady looks crazy!

and this guy? HAS AN AFRO. and what is play, play? anyone heard of the game? at least i think its a game. our resident expert couldnt even tell us what play, play was.

He has a mole. and is wearing rainboots. and an afro.

This is singapores .. mascot? a merlion. a mermaid and a lion. i read something about why, but honestly can't remember.

This is arab street. in singapore there are different places where you can find different kinds of communities, and here we find most muslims in singapore. amazing, yes?

also a muslim thing. this is a hair salon, for muslim women who need their hair cut. men can't come in because muslim ladies can' t be seen by a man without a headscarf on.




these are a bunch of hawker stalls we ate at in singapore. pretty cool. there was a stall for just about everything. the food was good, except i accidently got liver because it looked like beef or something..and i gagged on it for a good long time. no liver for me. eric made me eat it. he took my drink away until i swallowed too. what a jerk!

we finally made it to malaysia! after going through customs and getting on an off a bunch of buses, we made it through. we were in johor bahru, and met a bunch of people from eric's mission and went to church...but that was covered in the last post about the people. then we rented a car...and daddy drove. however, there are a few things that malaysia has picked up from the UK...namely driving on the wrong side of the road.

needless to say, i was scared for my life.

we went to KL next..kuala lampur, the capital of malaysia. its a lot like a normal city there. there was a mall right across the street from our hotel, and thats where mom and i bought our muslim dresses we have. but then we went to a canopy walk, which is where we found this lovely huge leaf..i love rainforests.

the canopy walk was a bunch of boards held together by rope. i was a little nervous, but i love heights, and there was something to hang onto, so i was good.

view of KL from the canopy walk

sooo sweaty. the rainforest doubles the humidity, and we had just hiked UP to the canopy.









that same day we went to Batu caves. these statues are Hindu gods. there are a lot of them, and they're crazy. i did the batu caves pictures backwards..sorry. this is at the top of the stairs, the stairs are further down.

batu caves is a lot like the Hindu people making a theme park out of their religion..they have lines and everything so you can go see the shrines. and music playing in the background.

this was on the stairs going up to batu caves. those monkeys werent even scared of us! that was eric acting like a monkey.

the steps were numbered. it was great. 272 steps to get to the caves.

i got some daaaang good pictures of those monkeys, and i'm sooo happy with them..if only i had the good camera. hahah.

that night, we also went to see the twin towers of KL. they're pretty cool. dad thought this up the nose shot would be cool...but i think its just an up the nose shot. it looks like were giants too.

they were impressive.

next day we went to a butterfly museum! i took a lot of fantastic pictures here too..and figured out how to use the macro on my camera pretty nicely.

we also went to an orchid place..but there was a lily and i had to take a picture, becuause its going up in my niece's room now :)

we finally made it to Kuching. (Kuching was my favorite place, ever!!) we went to semengoh and we saw the orangutangs feeding there!

this is the best picture i could get of them. this is when i missed my camera the most.

another place in Kuching was the Sarawak cultural village we went to. i played mancala with an old malay woman. i beat two muslim girls in a game of stick dancing, and i shot a balloon in front of an audience with a blowpipe. great experience.

delicious place. we stopped there during our visit to the cultural village. their lemon chicken? to die for. this is also the starting place for many hikers going on a trek into the rainforest.

traditional iban style clothing. i wore one of these that one of eric's friends from the mission made.

next day in Kuching, we went across the water on a boat to Baku National Park. its a jungle! soo cool. there was a sign on the dock where we got on the boat though, that said "Awas: Life Jackets Must be Worn Beyond this Point." there were none to be seen on the boat. the next thing it said on the sign was "Awas: Danger of Crocodiles." While on the dock, i picked up a little kitten and was petting it, and a lady waves at me and says "You come to Kuching, you take kuching home." kuching means cat. that explained the big golden statues of cats everywhere too.

this sign was fun. naughty monkeys! which they were. we were in Baku national park, and they would come right up to you and steal your food. fast as lightning too! the people who worked at the cafe place had slingshots, but could never hit them.






one of the culprits.







this is about the only picture we have of our time on the lovely island of Mabul. this is where our dive resort was, and probably the loveliest week of the trip. everyone carried our gear for us, and we got to see the wonders of the underwater world while doing non of the work! we saw cuttlefish, (AMAZING) and a pygmy seahorse, and a regular seahorse..at which our dive master was screaming underwater about, becuase he hadnt seen one in three years. there were TONS of seaturtles, tons of sharks. wall dives are my favorite ever, too. there is unlimited amount of water below you and its so trippy! i love it so much. we saw a tornado, a HUGE tornado of barracuda too..man that was amazing. this was at sipidan. one of the wonders of the world. or something like that. haha. this picture is the boys going on a night dive..i should have gone, but i was having a mental overload. or family overload. take your pic. mom and i had a nice night though. i also skipped one of the morning dives, to relax by myself..it was a welcome interruption. it was here that i got so tan, too. (here in utah, i've lost all pigment i gained there. why??) but we did three dives a day, for a week. or five days, actually. but it was lovely. pure loveliness.

we dont have any pictures of Tawau, but we werent there very long. We do have pictures of the rest of the time we spent in Singapore, though. This is at the Japanese bonsai gardens. my dad loves bonsai. almost as much as i love this japanese statue man.

i figured i'd get some family shots in here. eric was having ear problems by this time. his ears just hurt him so bad.







these are all in singapore, the gardens. bryce was sick too by the end. not nearly as bad as dad, but he was.

daddy was the worst of us all, but he smiled for the pictue! he really does love bonsai. he had to go to urgent care when we got back. travelers sickness isnt pretty, people. dont get it. i was actually the only one unscathed from the whole trip.

some pretty bonsai.

happy mom :)

in the gardens we saw a gila monster! he was cool.

a japanese something or other.

another something or other. he was my friend.

our layover was in tokyo, so we went and had a peek at the fish market. the people in there try to run you over with their weird cart things, i swear! probably becuase were white. and that fish head is HUGE, right? crazy.

anyway, thats our trip in a nutshell. or at least the sightseeing portions of it. i love malaysia soo much! i'd rather be there than here. so much. i even like the humidity and weather better than provo. its ridiculous here! i have a special place in my heart for malaysia now. <3 sorry for all the pictures! but it took me forever, you ya'll better appreciate it.

Life is hard?

thats news to me.

i swear no one told me it was going to be this hard. (but my parents say they did.)

i suppose half of it was my fault.

maybe i shouldnt have tried to do everything at once. maybe i should have slowed down, listened to the spirit, and done the major thing right-the first time. maybe i should have gotten on top of things right from the start, and i wouldnt be in the position i am now. maybe i should be looking at things ahead of the due date, not after it passes by. maybe i should have read my chemistry exam closer, and not made 4 stupid mistakes. maybe i should have not looked at the screen to see my biology test score. maybe i shouldnt have taken a job at the insect lab.

but would it be half as fun?

actually, probably more fun. and not so stressful. but whats a few extra pounds? everyone loves that. maybe i'll just stick to the phrase "learning experience." no one likes that. but it suits.

and now, i'm out to get a 3.8 GPA (at least) and get accepted into the nursing program. who would have thought? the animal girl, being a people person? it is strange. but right. it might just kill me though. if not literally, it will almost certainly take its toll on my figure. good thing nurses wear scrubs.

chris.

needless to say, i'm struggling a bit. but with some good music, and some actual sleep, i should get back on my feet here soon.

on the brighter side. my hair's short. i love it. i think i'll cut it even shorter soon. don't cry karina. but if i travel to any foreign country (which is a certainty) it will inexorably be cut off. mercilessly and without regrets.

i'm thinking of spending the summer either in africa (http://www.help-international.com/) with orphans or HIV positive people, or in renton, WA. i'll be the best aunt EVER.

and my baby is adorable. little lily!!

Auntie Becca

At this point i'm dying to get to WA. can you blame me? look at her! my plan is all summer. all summer with my baby niece. Auntie Becca. is that too long a name? but i dont know what else to make it. i refuse becky, so dont even mention it. but i'll be open to others, possibly. any good ones?

ps. i love her face in this picture.

Baby Lily!!!

MY BABY NIECE IS HERE!!! She was born on September 18, 2009 around 7pm WA time. 8lbs 15 oz, 20 inches, perfectly healthy. Minus the fact that she was sunny side up and stuck, and they had to do a C-section. She's beautiful, and mom and her are doing great. Lily Camille Fletcher. All that hair already! She's GORGEOUS!! (she looks like me already!)

Daddy ^

and Mommy ^

Malaysia-People

Malaysia #1-The People. I've decided to split it up in parts since theres absolutely no way i can explain Malaysia in one post..and all the pictures to go with the explanations. I love the people, though. They are so humble, so happy despite having basically nothing. I felt like a rich snob there. I want to do so much to help them now. What I really want is to live like them for a year or so, see how it goes for me. but i suppose that wont happen. these are the people that eric taught and served with while he was on his mission, and he took us to see some of them. but, one thing before you see these pictures : it was hot. soo hot. so were all sweaty and gross. its nasty, but get over it. thats how it goes. oh and these pictures are actually backwards. these are the last people we saw, and the picture at the bottom are the first people we saw. i'll name them as i go. (the name is under the picture)
a note about the people in general: they are small, and dark. my family is big and white. that was almost always a topic of conversation, how big we were. they always wanted to take pictures with us..at least the people at church were always asking if they could have a picture of us. i have no idea what they wanted with it, and it started to irk me, but whatever. i felt a little bit like an elephant at the circus. but i love them still. the people who would pass us in a car-the five of us jammed into a five person car with my father driving on the wrong side of the road- would often point and nudge their neighbors to see too. its just how they are.

Lihot (the woman on the far right holding the baby) and her daughters family.

Migan and us. Migan was adorable..spoke no english, but could understand us pretty well. She just laughed at everything. eric says she's super funny. i laughed even when i didnt know the joke.

Robin and Rhodea's family. They're adorable..the little boy making the peace signs understood some english, and he would try to talk to us so hard..and the mom, Rhodea, right in front of my dad..she was adorable. her english was really good. but mostly they just talk to eric in malay.

Sister Nora (right behind me) and her daughter and husband? i think it was her husband. But sister Nora was the most adorable..although she fed us some green pea soup that was really sweet and rather gross..really gross. but i ate it, all of it. she made a necklace and gave it to me actually. its actually the one my mom is wearing in the picture below us.

This is Iban traditional clothing. or the decorations really, no one just wears that. but the pom poms and everything. the necklaces too. its all intricately beaded-sister Nora's daughter made them i think. i now have the blue and yellow necklace from her-she is so sweet. ps. it was really hot that day.

Missy and Jelawai's family--the girl with her arms around me is Crystilla. She was 18 and had a three year old son, and a baby. she and i got a long well, even though we didnt speak the same language. she would just look up at me and smile when everyone else was talking. i think it was the age thing that made that happen. this was the hottest place yet, though, so its the most unflattering picture of the sweaty white people ever.

Juen and Rosalind's house. they live in flats, i think they're called. like apartment housing. they gave us sprite in wine glass looking things..i think thats like a real treat. it was sweet. Juen told us of his conversion story, and then we talked about the politics of malaysia and US..it was informative.

John and Allan's family. John is the only person in malaysia that i saw smiled in a picture. but he's just like that..always smiling and laughing. he speaks good english, because he works in singapore. Allan (pronounced Ellen) is so sweet. her kids were amazing too. this was the first family we met. and we learned how to eat like malaysians, with a spoon in the right hand and a fork in the right. its actually very effective. the picture right above my head on the wall is a picture of their whole family in white with eric getting baptized.

And thats that. We missed a couple of families when we were taking pictures..we missed Brother Chen's family, and i think one other but i dont want to open my journal to remember again. These people are fantastic! I love malaysia!

gone going, gone.

so i know i've been a blogging retard again. but summer has been so busy and full of fun and work..that i just didnt find time for blogging. i'm sure i'll find ample time when i'm at BYU and i should be doing something else like homework, but for now, i'm obviously way too busy to keep you people posted.
heh. should i be apologizing right here? nahhhh.
so, here's the sitch:
since nauvoo, lifes been great. a lot of working, which is good for my bank account. but not so great for my social life. however, i just quit my job. my last day was July 30th. and there was a pig out in my honor on the 31st. i'm kinda sad. i've had that job since i was 15, almost sixteen. lets see..it was September 26th that i first started volunteering at Sea Gate Veterinary Hospital. and that saturday i turned 16 and went to volunteer there..and apparently they were impressed that i went on my birthday. really its not that big of deal to me..but they were impressed. and so they bought me a cake and tried to surprise me, but just kind of scared the crap out of me. i went out the back to take the trash out, and i walked back inside and all the lights were off. so i just kinda stood there. thinking they all must have left or something. but then they came out of the surgery room with a feeble surprise! and that was it. just a surprise. alice had already given me a cake. so it was rather a pointless surprise. but that is how i got the name sixteen. it has been my nickname ever since, even though i turned seventeen and am now almost eighteen. made no difference to them. i will always and forever be sixteen. dr chang calls me his sweet sixteen. or lucky number 7 cuz 1+6=7. or 16+1, cuz thats really my age now. oh how i will miss them!
in other news. i've been doing a lot of hanging out with brandon hansen and scott skousen and erika juliano :) they've been my besties this summer. so what if they're old? lauren came home a week or two ago, and we've been hanging out. jordan too, i suppose, if you want to count him. but he divorced me ages ago so i can hardly think of him with kindness. david watts gave me a massage that hurt like the dickens. erika and i took a nap on a pool table in the institute, and then i dropped my phone on my face because i couldnt manage to use it above my head. jessica and alex and me and karina went to the circus, and i almost cried for the tigers. nothing should be treated like that, you mongrels. the rest of the stuff was pretty cool. i love elephants. i went paragliding with my aunt cami. she's the best! in total, we went segway-ing, paragliding, to the aquarium, then kayaking, to the zoo, and to a movie. it was a full weekend. and in between i went home because i had only packed for one day and i was supposed to have gone scuba diving on saturday with my family but i didnt because the surf was too big so it got cancelled..but anyway. i came home and met jeff's friends from school and went jacuzzi-ing with them and we went to the beach and we watched a movie..and i really liked one of the girls, terra, so at least i'll have a couple of friends up in utah when i go :) which brings me to my next point..
i'm gone. gone going gone. tomorrow i start my very long 21 hour flight to malaysia-where i think i'll have the experience of a lifetime. were going to see the real culture, not just the resort like culture, and were going to meet the people that eric taught on his mission. were gonna go into the rainforest and see orangutans in a natural preserve. were going to go to sipidan and be in a dive resort for about five days, doing three dives a day at least. its INCREDIBLE. sooo freaking INCREDIBLE. i can't wait. malaysia is one of the top dive spots in the world. needless to say, i'm stoked. then i get back from malaysia on the 24th..and start driving up to utah on the 25th for freshman orientation. so i'm assuming my next post will be sometime in september. a bientot, people. i'll be cut off from the internet and phones in malaysia. this is it. i would say love you all, but its probably a lie. :) have fun without me!

disclaimer:

this blog background

IS NOT PINK.

it just makes sense.

its sunday morning. i'm home alone because my parents and brother have gone to 9oclock church and mine starts at 1. but its an incredible sunday morning. it couldnt be more peaceful. i put on music-my servant joseph. and i can't seem to stop crying.

i love him-joseph smith. he is a prophet of God. and i just can't understand how people can deny it. it just makes sense.

i recently went to nauvoo..and it was amazing. walking where the prophet walked, seeing what he saw..it was the most incredible spiritual experience of a lifetime. the nauvoo pageant was amazing..and i'm sure i cried through 3/4 of it. the story of those early saints never fails to make me cry, and the hardships they faced were incredible. i just hope i can be half as faithful as those men's wives, and half as brave as those men in facing what they did. its just incredible to me. just incredible. to build a temple, use it once, then leave it..and watch it recede in the distance as you pushed your handcart away.. we walked the trail of hope that they did. and saw the temple in the distance as they did when they left their beloved nauvoo. it must have been heartwrenching. its almost too much to bear even now. that temple is amazing. we went in to do baptisms..and its so beautiful. so beautiful. later we went to carthage jail. we saw the bullet hole in the door. the window where joseph smith fell out of. and i cant even describe to you how much i knew that he was a prophet of God. it just makes sense. i dont understand how other people dont feel like they've been punched in the gut when they hear about the saint's trials and what they did for the gospel. its such a humbling experience being out there too...like my trials are nothing compared to these saints, and what have i got to complain about? i'm so freaking blessed its not even funny. i have also found what i can do with my talents. i'm determined to do one of those missions that all the people out there were doing. a performing mission? i dont even know what they're called or how i'll go about it, but i will do it. i've heard all my life that i need to make use of my talents, but singing in sacrament didnt seem like it was cutting it. i'll go sing to all the people in nauvoo about what i know to be true.

it just makes sense.

the Lords University

So i was wearing a shirt that said Brigham Young University on it. well, actually, this one:

and i went to FHE. yes, singles ward FHE. they advertised food, why not go? i made erika come with me and i went to FHE. we actually got a ride with scott, which was probably a bad idea, seeing as both of us wanted to leave almost right after we got there, and scott decided he wanted to go swimming. plus we got blocked in, with people thinking it was okay to double park behind us. anyway. the wall in the backyard of the farrers house is pretty short, and crescent street is right behind it. so i started waving at cars, trying to get them to wave back. i dont remember what i did to deserve such censure, but as i did something, mark walks up behind me and says, "and you go to the Lords University" in a rather condescending tone.

and i was thinking about it. i DO go to the Lords University! or i will, very shortly be going there. i'm in college. i'm going to BYU. since when did i grow up? i know i've been thinking about it lately, but that just kinda hit me all of a sudden at FHE by some random person that i didnt even know his name then..but i'm going to BYU! things are going to change.. BIG TIME.

the craziest night dive everr

So eric & i went night diving last night..by ourselves. all alone. it was such a..idk, rite of passage? i'm a grownup! :) but anyway. incredible, no joke. well first off, we went to laguna beach, a place called crescent bay. and you park in residential areas. and get ready in residential areas. which includes getting on the skin, the wetsuit, the booties, the gloves, setting up the b/c and the octopus and the tank, getting fins and snorkel/mask close by, putting the weight belt on..which all takes about 20-30 mins depending. then you double check everything. then you put everything on. the 22 lbs of weight on a belt, the b/c like a jacket with the tank and octo connected on your back, then carrying your mask and fins down to the water with you. which was a flight of about 50 stairs. i think we were carrying at least, well, 22lbs plus whatever the tank & stuff weighs, which is a lot. i'm gonna guess around 50 lbs. 45 lbs. something like that. but all the while, we were in a residential area..and there was across the street, about three drunk men and one woman on their balcony, and we were their entertainment for the half an hour we were getting ready. one of them yelled at us, called us brother and sister, and marines...then the woman started taking pictures? wtf? but whatever. (how did they know we were brother and sister??)

anyway. after that was fantastic. once we were actually in the water, fabulousss!! we saw a shark right off, a little horned shark. it was a decent size too for a horn shark, about two feet. then we saw a moray eel and eric decided to knife an urchin and cut it open to see if the moray would eat it. but it didnt. then we saw a pretty dang big lobster, and eric caught it. then handed it to me. it was crazy. when i let it go, it flipped away..they swim really strangely. it actually made me laugh underwater. well my flashlight stopped working after a bit, so i just prayed really hard that erics would stay lit. it is a little freaky to be under the water in the dark, i'm not gonna lie. i was a little freaked. and then we saw another horn shark, more morays...i was looking for an octopus but we didnt see one that night. a little disappointing. until along came...something HUGE. neither of us could tell what it was at first. it was about our armspan long, fat, and spotted. at first i thought it was a sea bass or something and those things are FREAKY. but then, after eric jumped back a bit, seeing as it was right close to us about three feet away, we saw that it was a seal. a SEAL.

it looked something like that. spotted. i'm not up on my seal identification but it was spotted & played in our flashlight until we got out of the water practically. that was the last like half of our dive. he would just come in our flashlight and play on the rocks next to us. eric said he was going to eat us. he was pretty scared of the seal. every time it would come he would immediately back paddle away from it. but then would keep his light on it so he knew where it was. it was sooo funny. i loved it. it was kinda scary, and i swear it sucked up most of my oxygen cuz the adrenaline was pumping like crazy, but it was well WELL worth it. most amazing dive ever. i've never ever been that close to a wild marine mammal before, and this was AMAZING. after we got up and out..which was a difficult process seeing as my tank was almost falling out (my fault) and i got knocked over by the waves coming in & had to crawl out on my hands and knees with that much weight on me. FUN STUFF. then climbed up those 50 stairs after kicking in from about a hundred feet out from the shore then crawling in. it was lovely. and i'm sooo super sore right now. but it was a good workout. and i was determined not to give up. i did it! eric was super sweet..i can't believe how thoughtful he is. he really is. i couldnt ask for a better brother. :) then we drove home. & i finally got to be around 1:15am. it was an intense night. and i loved it. YAY FOR SCUBA!!!

Graduation

i know i know..its been like, a week since graduation..and a day. but here are the graduation pictures...which i was SO inclined to take, meaning i hated every second. cuz graduation was kind of a joke, not gonna lie. the seniors were rude to the people talking and then we just walked up and got handed diplomas. there could have been a much simpler way to do that, lemme tell you. all their threats about not walking..well they couldnt keep me from graduating right?? i just wanted the diploma..ahhh well. grad nite made up for it. and i loved grad nite. and i have pictures, but they are still on a little disposable camera in my room. & i'm also gonna blame my lateness on them, cuz i was waiting to post graduation and grad nite together but, it didnt happen that way.

The setup.
I dont know what i was doing in this pic. or where i was. probably just started walking.


The handshake.


The family shot.

KARINA!!

Jeff & I. This was my fave, even though i'm not looking

The neighbors. Sara, Jessica, and Alex. LOVE THEM!

And that concludes the people becca took pictures with for graduation. i'm sure other people were trying, namely nea (sorry!) and others.. oh and i had a pic with brionne but i told her not to show my dad or else he'd take a thousand pictures and that just wasnt a happy thought anymore..and then i booked it out of there. like, seriously booked it. :)

i can't believe i forgot

ERIC CAME HOME! like two weeks ago.

what was i thinking when i posted that last blog? i knew i was missing something. well hes home! he came on June 3rd. he's pretty normal..in everything but appetite. he barely eats anything anymore. mostly just rice...and i think he wants some curry. he's asian now! he has the strangest asian shoes...and he wears skirts sometimes now too like the malaysians. he misses them, i can tell. he loved the language, and the people, and he's super excited to go back too. were going in august.

these are his shoes. they're funky, right?? he wears them all the time too. well, thats him! we actually dont have any recent pictures of him, so if you want others you can go look at the previous post i did of him. :) malaysia, HERE WE COME!

Life

so here's what happened:

after AP tests came the end of the year projects. AP Bio means cat dissections. about a week of skinning, a week and a half of muscle learning and testing, and now the real dissection. its been fun. sort of. i'm not grossed out by most of it. the skinning was pretty nasty but i could handle it. the smell just keeps getting worse though. makes me gag a few times when i walk in but after that its fine. oh well. the insides are the best. definitely.

Her name is Sally.

then in Chemistry we put together a skit/magic show/science fair thing for some 6th and 2nd graders at morris elementary. that was fabulous. 0ur skit was based off of Cinderella.

From Left to Right: Kevin, the prince. Me, Cinderella. I have a bag over my head, yes. Michael Black, as ann evil stepsister named Drucilla. and Holly Smith, evil stepsister #2 named Pricilla. i gotta say, the whole thing was really hilarious. REALLY hilarious. there was even some science involved! :) (cinderella was a scientist who didnt dance at the ball but instead did a science experiment & thats what he fell in love with...you get the picture??)

English project: writing a childrens book. called Rindercella. (i can't get away from the disney these days.) fantastic. then we made a movie of it. even more fantastic. i think its hilarious. and i worked hard on it. with this girl and her kitten (not pictured):

& Neal Rummler, but i dont have a picture of him handy. oh how hilarious that project was! grant rummler helped us a lot too, and i must say i love that kid. sooo funny. all in all, a bit stressful, but we conquered the computer and the lack of sleep and now! we have a fabulous video of our senior year. mrs. cook even asked us for a copy of it. YAY! that means we win.

the end of this project also means : THE END!! of everything. of high school. of seminary. (from which i just graduated from on sunday) of life as i know it, basically. its incredible how much changes are coming my way this year. and its also incredible just how READY i now am for them. i wasnt a month ago, or even two weeks. but now i'm ready. sooo ready.

another thing that happened was

PROM.

i had a great time. jeff&i, devon&arielle. we all went together. & had dinner at the workmans, thanks to sister whitaker! it was fabulous. (seriously. can i get a recipe?) and Lynne's fiance served us. hilarious!

bro workman took many, many pictures. and we all went in Lynne's fantastic red mini coop convertible. to the shark club in costa mesa. there really was a shark there! and the music wasnt half bad at all. i was impressed. afterwards we ended up at devon's house and played the most fantastic game of catch phrase everr! meaning the girls whooped the guys. since they decided it was a good idea to play guys vs. shakespeareans. (is that what it was? can't remember. maybe it was the guys that had the funky name?) but me & arielle kicked butt together! :) all in all, a great night. :D

during and through all of this that has happened, my dear karina coleman decided it would be a good idea to adopt a cat. oliver was his name. freaking adorable. 8 weeks old.

i was his aunt. i went over after school and took him home

with me while karina was at work. he did the most adorable things! i love him. but now he's gone. karina got sick of him, and hated him, and threw him out in the streets. and my mother was too terrible to take him in, so he is abandoned somewhere and probably dead. okay..not really. karina found him a home. but still. thats what it feels like to me. i miss my oliver! i took him to petco, and i got him his collar, and i gave him a bath, and we took naps together, and he kissed my nose, and made weird noises while he ate...freaking adorable. he sat on my shoulder even!

ohh well. i now live a lonely life without him. i'll get over it..sometime in the next twenty years.

well honestly, i think i covered everything big since i posted last. i've been meaning to over and over again, but i was suddenly busy. a preview of coming attractions: GRADUATION!! only a week left. less than a week. next tuesday. THATS IT BABY!

i showered with a mosquitoe eater.

it was rather disturbing, but i wasnt going to go through the whole spider-shindigg again this morning. he flew away eventually. plus he eats those pesky mosquitoes that love to bite me all the time. dumb things. i have no problems squishing those hahah :)
AP TESTS ARE OVERRRR!!!!
thats called fabuloussness right there.
even though the last two felt like i was being beaten over the head with a 2x4 for four hours... i'm just glad they are done with. they dont have anything to do with my future anyway..no GPA change, no college change.. so its over and done with and i'm so happy and carefree right now!
this means school is basically over too. like over..over. i dissect cats in zero period, normal stuff for econ in first, play with all the chemicals i want in second making a magic show for little kids, play with little kids in preschool third, and most likely watch movies and sort of work on a project in fourth. HOW FABULOUS DOES THAT SOUND?! i'm soooo stoked. then i go home at 12:11 to swim at my pool and get tan and fabulous for the summer. ahha. then i go to work in the summer and lose the tan i gained during the end of the school year. oh goodness. so scratch the tan and fabulous..it doesnt work that way. maybe some tan..but mostly tomato-ish and painful. ahh well. whitey tightey isnt a fan of the sun right now.
i am however, a fan of the beach at night and disneyland.. ;) thats all you get.
I SAW EARTH! it was the most fantastic amazing movie i've ever seen, i think. the footage was absolutely incredible. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. i will buy that movie when it comes out and it will be the most amazing thing ever. and i'll watch it over and over again. and dream about the places it was filmed at. breathtaking. and amazing. insert beatufiul adjective here_________.
but anyway, thats how i've been. ;) you??

creeper.

i went to get gas for my car today, right after school. (well i went home first on accident but remembered just as i pulled into my spot at my house; but thats a different story)
i pull into the costco gas station and AMAZING! i pulled right up to a pump and got gas. well i'm doing the whole credit card part pick your gasoline--when i hear this long drawn out belch on the other side of the pump. i kinda laughed..not audibly, or anything. it was just kinda funny. but gross, at the same time. i mean, i may do it too, but i do it when my friends are around to laugh with me. if i'm by myself in public i dont belch like that. thats just weird. so i was laughing, AT them. whoever they were, i couldnt tell.
so then i start actually pumping the gas, standing next to it while my tank fills up. and this fat old man in a hawaiian shirt and sunglasses (looking something like mike's friend sam from burn notice if anyone watches that--and if you dont, you should. new season starts thursday on USA!!!) is pumping his black sleek car with gas...then he turns around and sees me. sick. he puts his hand on the pump and leans agains it, trying to look all cool and looks straight at me and says "Hey, how's it goin?" and smiles that sleazebag smile. i was looking straight at him. and then i ignored his question and looked away. i think i made a disgusted face too. but then i was afraid that he was mafia or something. you know all the crazy thoughts that go through your head when you're alone and some slimeball looks at you.. so i was hurrying my pump up..by fretting and twisting my hands until i could just get the heck out of there. then the receipt took forever to print out.. and then someone was almost blocking my way out of there because they hadnt backed up to the pump correctly (idiots) but i just went through anyway, hoping i wouldnt hit them. that guy really gave me the creeps. who does that? no one talks to each other at gas stations. unless you happen to run into someone you know previously. then its a little "hi" or something. not a creepy old hawaiian tshirt man trying to strike up a real conversation with a seventeen year old high school girl. oh & then i got really paranoid when i saw a black shiny car following me for a while in my rearview mirror..so i just took the scenic route home till i lost the black car. it was just paranoia though..i dont even think it was the same black car. ughhh.. it still bothers me. the look on his face! siiiickk.

WHAT A CREEPER!

Plantar Fasciitis: the Flip-Flop Disease.

It's a painful inflammatory condition of the foot caused by excessive wear to the plantar fascia or plantar aponeurosis that supports the arches of the foot or by biomechanical faults that cause abnormal pronation. The pain usually is felt on the underside of the heel, and is often most intense with the first steps of the day. It is commonly associated with long periods of weight bearing or sudden changes in weight bearing or activity. Jobs that require a lot of walking on hard surfaces, shoes with little or no arch support, a sudden increase in weight and over activity are also associated with the condition.
It is sometimes known as "flip-flop disease" among US podiatrists. The condition often results in a heel spur on the calcaneus, in which case it is the underlying condition, and not the spur itself, which produces the pain.

LOVELY.
the mean doctor lady said to throw away my flip flops. YEAH RIGHT LADY.
but i guess i'll wear shoes for the time being. until it gets better. for a couple of weeks. i guess its a good way to get my mom to buy me new shoes. :)
not that they're cute. they remind me of tasha! her brown tennis. aww
looks like i'll be wearing these for a while. NO MAKING FUN! i miss my sandals already.
the time i could save just wearing sandals!!
okay so thats a little pathetic, but its true. i dont have to find matching socks or anything to wear sandals. ughhhh. oh well.
shoes and socks it is.
:(:(

the strangest drive home

so i was coming home from school today, at 1230, and i saw the most ridiculous things. first there was this man-about a 300 pound man, at the crosswalk of moody and ball. that wouldnt be strange, except for the fact that i'm pretty sure he had NO PANTS ON. he had a button up long white shirt on, that covered most..but there were no pants. no shorts. unless they were booty shorts..but what fat man wears booty shorts?? and i dont think he was wearing shoes either. it was basically a long white shirt and knee high socks. and you could see the socks all the way up to the knee high part. and then some hairy thighs too...what was this man doing wandering the streets?? i dont understand. its a sight burned into my memory that i dont want to have there. blehh.

and THEN, at vetran's park, on denni and ball, there were about twenty muslim ladies playing basketball! now dont get me wrong, i'm not judging, i know and love a lot of these people, but can you imagine them in their head covers and long dresses playing basketball at a public park? it was the strangest scene..and after i had just seen the fat man i was pretty much at my quota of strange images for the day.

needless to say, i watched the road & the road only the rest of the way.

who really needs manners anyway?

i love those days when no one is home but myself during the day.
you turn on music super loud, sing super loud, be totally unmannerly! i was eating some rice on a plate, and i was getting sick and tired of eating it with the fork cuz it wouldnt cooperate! so since no one was home and no one was watching i just picked up the whole plate and started licking the rice up like a dog. i entertained myself too much though, cuz after awhile i started laughing & then choking on it. if no one is home, manners arent needed right? when no one is around, who needs to be polite?
so when im alone at home i like to leave the door open when i go to the bathroom. just for kicks and giggles. & then it feels like a mission. like i'm on a super secret mission but i'm gonna do it with the door open. in plain sight, but not! you know. i know you all have things you do when no one is home. you should comment them!

anyways.

i'm having issues making a decision. (i never have issues making a decision like this, its strange)
freshman academy or no freshman academy?
here is what freshman academy is: i would be doing the life sciences one. (cuz that will be my major, in some way or another.) but you live with the same people who have the same interest (academically) and then you go to all your classes with them as well. so they would be in my pdbio 120 class, my chem 105 class, life sciences seminar, english, and book of mormon, which puts me at 11.5 credits. i'll probably take an exercise class, making it about twelve credits. thats what i'm looking for, fairly easy. but they are pretty hard courses. and i do have to take them if i do freshman academy. so lets make a pros and cons list. yes? great.

PROS:
making friends in my major
easy study groups
professors take special consideration of FA students, especially if its their whole class, they'll meet afterward and such (or so says my sister)
i'll still have winter to plan my own classes
more involvement in school

CONS:
required fall schedule
what if i dont get along with these people?! they are involved in everything i do!
not much free time (?) i'm not exactly sure about that.
too hard for my first semester at BYU? i just want to have fun for awhile..

well tell me what you think..i simply can't make this decision. applications start may 1st..so i should know by then what i'm doing. help me out! i'm desperate here. & it would be much appreciated. ;)

becca: the murderess

i didnt mean to!
well i did think about it before i did it..for a long time

it was out of rage!
no i was actually kinda scared..more sad though

but i still feel terrible about it.
& that one is the truth.



i killed the poor spider in my sink! :(



here's what happened: i'm going to bed last night at two thirty and i need to wash my face, take my pills, brush teeth, etc, bedtime routine. but there is this spider in my sink! and i couldnt bring myself to squash him. there was no way! he just kept moving and i felt so bad for him.. plus he was bigger than the normal squashable spider. but he would try to get out of the sink so hard, then he would get to a certain point and fall backwards because the sink is slick..& i couldnt help but feel sorry for him. so i sat there and watched him for a long while..wondering if he could get out, but there was no way. i watched him build webs in the bottom of the sink too. it was crazy. kinda cool. but more sad. anyway i tried turning the water on, but his webs saved him, and he would just curl up into a ball and then be all sad looking, bobbing on top of the water..so i had to stop that. then i thought i could just share the sink with the spider, right? he doesnt go down the drain, so i'll just do my normal stuff while he's in there. but then i couldnt handle it. i had to watch him the whole time..i couldnt let my guard down while there was a spider around! so then i was trying to think of other ways to kill it cuz i could NOT try to chase that thing around with some toilet paper and squash it in my sink. i dont know what my problem was, i've done it before! i swear i have, and i don't have arachnophobia or anything. i think spiders are pretty cool actually.
so i did something wayy worse than squashing it. and i feel terrible! i sprayed it with 409 and hairspray. bad idea. he kinda started convulsing and then flipped over on his back and just twitched his legs trying to turn over again, but he couldnt even come close to managing it.. then i turned the water again and he finally went down the drain. :( that was like, the worst possible way of murdering a spider wasnt it? gahh. i'm a terrible person. i torture spiders. i turned on the water then made it hot too so i could wash my face...and ensure that he didnt come crawling back out of the drain. even though i poisoned him pretty bad. poor spider. i took a picture of him too, when he was alive. but i'll post that later. its time for a nap now. i'll dream of myself torturing poor innocent spiders just trying to get out of the terrible predicament they got themselves into. :(

ohh karina dear coleman:

does not handle pain well.

but is super funny to watch WHILE on drugs. & how about this for chubby cheekness??she's so loverly, right? ps: thats my shirt, she wasnt in the music man, I WAS. apparently she wore it into surgery. & i think thats either ice cream she's eating or buttered squash. yeah i thought it was gross too.
but we do have fun times at disneyland before this lovely widsom tooth deal went down.
check it outt:

oh just kidding this is at devons. she thought she was cool like that, but really, lets face it...she's plugging her nose! puhh.

oh were so happy to be at disneylandd!! (FYI i'm not wearing makeup, dont be alarmed)

we really like star tours, okay??

ahahaha

so is anyone else creeped out when they come onto my blog and its my eyes staring at them like that??

get over it.

i think its hilarious.
for the time being. i'll get sick of it soon when it starts freaking me out every time i wanna post something. or listen to my music. etc. etc.
:)

ps. dan in real life? fabulously fantastic film. (who noticed the alliteration? i was going for that. ahaha)

post POST script: lifee is gooooooood. real good. like i'm not kidding good. :D

update; for those interested in every detail of my past few weeks.

first of all: its goooooooood.
spring break is here, i feel no pressure whatsoever, and i'm doing whatever the heck i want. which is, at the moment, sitting lazily not going to bed even though it is one oclock at night. and only now am i getting tired.
so conference was great. agreement? yes? all around? thought so. all time favorite talk: jeffrey r. holland on the atonement. tear jerker, definitely. and he's so cute when he gets all choked up like that. old men are just adorable. (especially with their pets, but thats a different story)
and that whole weekend was great...spending a few days in the freezing weather of utah..which i LOVED! the cold was amazing. apparently i'm that kind of gal. but i did appreciate the warmth of the sun when i got home, and took a few moments to sit in the sun & soak it all up.. but who knew that snowflakes were actually snowflake shaped?!?!?!? i thought they were just little round things falling from the sky. but they're actually shaped symmetrically?? since when? i swear this is a new phenomenon. well, who can blame the california girl? i wouldnt know, seeing as thats the first time i've ever been in falling snow. it was beautiful. and i can't wait to get the real deal up at BYU. i'm sooo stoked.
well after conference was over and reality struck again, that week following was just about the worst week ever for stress level at school (so far, senior year.) and i believe only the next two weeks (not including this one) will be as bad, seeing as AP tests are coming up fast, and i'm SO looking forward to getting those over and done with. but yeah, that school week was bad. i did have a bit of a mental breakdown on wednesday morning, but its all good-those never last long, especially with kids in preschool to cheer you up when you walk in the door, and their face lights up and they shout your name-first of all they remember your name, out of (lets see, 25 high schoolers per class, 6 class periods...jeff? just kidding, its 150 right? i did it in my head, so anything goes...) 150 students, then they shout it like they're so glad to see you-which they really are-and they grab your hand and drag you down to sit next to them..its a good feeling. hooray for parker&joey! there are others too, but joey and parks are my favorite, so thats all that needs to be mentioned. well..i love all those boys: parker, joey, isaiah, nathan, joseph, devin, carter, eli, eli k...they're all my buddies. and quite honestly, i probably ONLY like the boys in that class. those girls are little shedevils sometimes.
but with friday things got better. and worse. i was sick as a dog on friday, which was definitely not fun. but it turned out to be a great night. i was worried..but i shouldnt have been. :) mamma mia was definitely fabulous. i LOVED it. the choreography was amazing and the music was (of course) fantastic..who doesnt love a little ABBA?? its catchy and amazing. i could hardly stop myself from singing & dancing...the people around me probably thanked their lucky stars jeff was there to contain most of the outward singing&dancing. ;P
then work on saturday; as usual. it went late though. AW i felt accomplished that day..a yellow lab puppy came in-who wasnt eating. he wasnt eating anything, really, and they have only had this pup for a week. plus its a LABRADOR which means they eat like there ain't gonna be no tomorrow. but he wasnt. so i was in the room with them and the doctor had to leave for a little bit..so i took it upon myself to forcefeed the puppy. he wasnt very happy with that, but that has never mattered to me much in that office.. so i just kept forcefeeding him. i couldnt stand hearing his stomach growl every two seconds like it was doing..it was terrible. so i put the wet food on the roof of his mouth where he had to lick it off and swallow it..until he started eating it himself. it was a long process. but he finally did start eating and he progressed to i/d after that..and he was eating it on his own! it was a good sign, a very good sign..and i felt really good about it.
after that, even though it feels like two separate days to me..i played games with jeff and his grandma & various other people...and its unbelievable how much fun i had. heres some famous quotes of the night:

nancy: "no, THIS is how you barf daintily. in a cup, see? bleh."
diane: "i twod it, then i fourd it." (say it out loud a couple of times, if it doesnt make sense.)
adriana: "you broke my water, jeff."

that last one made me laugh out loud just thinking about it again. best game night EVER. :)
& then easter rolls around. we missed the sunrise service i really wanted to go to, but no matter, i guess. my dad set his alarm for five pm, not five am. so we woke up quite late and i was given about twenty minutes to get ready for church. anyone impressed i was there on time? and did opening exercises in YW???? me too.
i just choked on my own saliva.
but then i went to grandparents house and sat outside for awhile locked out. but i relived my childhood, climbed a few trees that i hadnt in a while, walked their backyard again, noticed that spring is here with a vengence..flowers are just blooming everywhere! looked out at the view, thought about picking the neighbors guacamoles..i mean avacados. does anyone else do that? i always call them guacamoles. its almost embarassing. AVA-CADOS. but then they came and we had a fabulous easter.

and now i'm even boring myself so i'll just stop. this was, honestly, kind of a pity post. its just been so long since my last one that i wanted to post something, but i didnt have anything clever to post...so i just did this. running commentary on my life anyone?? five bucks apiece. better than anything you'll find in that barnes and nobles store. which reminds me, i wanna go there soon...

anxiety PACKING

thank you, aunt cami.
i can't pack for these kinds of trips worth beans. you know, the ones where you're actually supposed to look good? i'm set on camping trips, you know...leave the makeup behind, take a bar of soap and some shampoo a hair tie and enough sweat pants to get you by. but the pretty thing? sucks! i'd much rather go camping. i'm stressing so much about this. and i know its silly. but i can't do anything about it! my back tenses up and it starts to hurt like crazy, and i'm sure there are tons of knots in my shoulders by now. i've been at it for three hours. and the fact that everything doesnt fit in the one suitcase really is starting to piss me off. i've even got two going, carryon & suitcase, with the carryon having my shoes in it. & other random stuff. but its driving me crazy! & my back hurts bad. hopefully i can get over this. and on the plane get some rest.
but three church outfits is crazy. and the shoes? and the fact that i'm from california and its warm and in utah its going to be snow cold and i dont have the right kind of shoes or dresses or anything for that! i have some jackets i've been working on for BYU...i think i might die of cold. as much as i can't wait for it! it could kill me. i'm having mixed feelings about it. i think i want earmuffs. that would be cool, right? like in winnie the pooh. i think that was my favorite episode. when piglet couldnt ice skate. oh and i'm so excited for the ice skating in utah! on an open rink! i'll freeze to death, but it will be real!!!!
but i better go finish packing. it could kill me, but i'll do it. i think i mentioned a lot about dying in this post..drama queen today!
it doesnt help that i have a ton of work to do in every single classs (minus preschool...and only a bit in econ) and absolutely no time to do it. al;ksjviouen;alksdf. AOIDHEW;LAJKSDJFGBAQS.

its almost as bad as the stress of getting all crazy ready for a formal dance:

yup. & thats it.
i'm outtt
in six hours i'll be in utahhhh!!!!! yaya for conference! && MAREN!
boooo for packing.