I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW

I'm so excited!!! He was born this morning at o-dark-thirty (12:14am)!!!

James Gary. Harray!!!

Huzzah for little Jimmy!!!

wow. i haven't written in a while...


... that's all

Have you, or have you not?

I have done the things in red.

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run . 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie or on a TV show 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt. 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee

thanks, Whit, that was fun and kind of enlightening.

the camel faces south

So, i got a 30 day deferral from the plasma center - yes, i'm a little miffed about it - and decided i'd go take pictures of the fantastic clouds that were happening.

Not bad!

I found myself driving around in the posh neighborhoods, up on the bench. All of those roads lead out into the foothills somewhere.

I found this little guy, put the Jimmy in 4 wheel drive, and grinned all the way out of site of the houses.

I didn't drive to the end of it, though i desperately wanted to - Jimmy was at less than a quarter of a tank. I jumped out, ran down the road a ways, and took some pictures. It was SOOOO SOO windy! Ooh, and all i could hear was the wind rushing through the grass. There wasn't too much sagebrush. This is a very good thing. I hate sagebrush.

so, i got my pictures.

But, as i was walking back to Jimmy, i noticed ... something.

see that dark-ish patch of color in the middle? It was lava rocks (igneous, if you will) they're all over the area, sure. But these little guys were hiding out here, pretty much isolated. (of course, i gather from the incredible force of the wind that dirt and debris and been brought in, and the rocks eroded) blah.

it wasn't that far, was it?

i HAD to take a closer look!

i needed to go play on those rocks!


Heh! it took a solid half hour to walk out there. it was not a flat, easy stroll, either. from where i'm standing in this picture, it goes straight down. it was beautiful! The terrain was so variant, and completely awesome!!

here are a few more shots of what it really looked like when i got there:

I climbed all over those rocks :D

(don't worry, mom, i was completely safe at all times)

see, it's not that far to fall any way.

whoa.

I was as a wild child reared by mountain goats.

and there was NO ONE around! i went up the cliff and down the cliff, in and around the columnar joints...

AND

i found a strange little cave. there were lots of little caves, but this one was quite strange.

do you see the honey-comb-y thing in there?

do bees inhabit this cave? did someone just shove a discarded filter into the hole?

at any rate, i did not stick my hand in there.

i'm crazy, but i'm not stupid. and it was cold and windy - couldn't keep my hair out of my face...

HAHA!! there is a line in the movie Gattaca.

...The two brothers would race each other swimming. i'm thinking it was the ocean, but it's been long enough, i'm not positive. ...any way someone asks the kid how he did something super-duper athletically cardiovascularly awesome. he tells them that he never saved any for the way back.

see, the swimming thing. see, his brother would always beat him or something....

but the kid, he gave it all he had. his heart got stronger, blah, blah, blah - he's a stellar astronaut.

um...

Ever climb up a cliff without giving any thought as to how you're going to get down? Ever hiked a trail without knowing where it goes? Ever bounded off across the hills toward a magical rock place without thinking about how far it would be to walk back?

Jimmy is the spec dead center on the horizon.

HAH!! it actually wasn't that bad. totally worth it.

and there was my little friend, when i got back.

and there was my little city.

And the buttes out to the west.

The camel faces south.

new developments

i was talking to a friend of mine. she's living with her parents, too. getting restless, too. has a degree in clothing design, too. wants to move to Salt Lake, too.

you see where this is going?

yeah, me too.

stand by for more information

so, i don't write about day to day things

that would be because i don't do anything. really.
mondays i donate plasma and go to branch FHE
tuesdays i have choralaires rehearsal. sometimes i'm not late.
wednesdays...
thursdays i have choralaires and i donate plasma. sometimes i go to "class" or institute, or just watch movies with my friend, Dawn (we're doing in on wednesday this week!!)
friday... maybe i make sure i'm prepared for sunday lessons... make phone calls...
saturday ... yeah, there again. trying desperately to come up with things to do.
sunday! meetings, church, singing, dinner... loaf. occasional game night.

i have plenty of books to read--i borrowed about 7 from my sister in law about 2 months ago. i have not finished a single one. in my defense, i have picked up two of them, and read significantly.
my bedroom is always in need of being cleaned, i have enough sewing projects to keep me busy for months...
i just don't feel that motivated.

i must be honest with you, i don't feel particularly inspired to be writing, but my last few posts have been far too short and exceptionally lame-ish.

I spent the weekend in Fairfield, Id. My little sister and her husband live out there. They had their primary program and Kiki asked if i would come sing "I am a Child of God" in Chinese. Yipee!!! singing!! chinese!!! YES!!! i'm in, i'm in, i'm in in in innnnnnnnn.
Fairfield is like.... little house on the prairie.
let me enumerate the things to do:
...

i rode Ike's bike around for about a half hour. it took me that long to drive up and down every street, and even head out of town toward Soldier.
Soldier is a township that used to exist.
Don't get me wrong, if you love to hunt, fish, or camp you're living large. Actually, if you don't hunt or fish you have to drive an hour and a half to Jerome for groceries....
i saw the library <shudder>
i happen to know there are computers in there, so i wasn't sure how there was room for books. or computers, actually...

in the picture, where black line 20 and black line 46 make a "t," that's where Fairfield is. Notice the picture represents about 65 square miles, and that Camas county only takes up about half that. if you checked the link, Fairfield is the only city in the county. out of about 900 people living in the county, less than a third of them live in Fairfield. Have a great time, Kiki and Ike!

i am so grateful to live in a town that has a hospital, myriads of grocery stores, a fantastic library--traffic lights! we have restaurants, fast food--we have an historical downtown--law firms, banks, schools (plural), extensive city and county buildings, hotels...

ANd!! we still have the foothills to the east, island park and other wilderness areas to the north and everywhere else--a river runs through it all!!

blessed Idaho Falls! i have no great love for you, but i don't hate you, either. And i'm still moving to Salt Lake just the moment that becomes an option.

If you love star wars
or a capella
or me...
(or indiana jones, in fact)

thank you, Clancy you lifted a load from my day with laughter
a lot of laughter!

a word about my playlists

they are by no means comprehensive or even representative. There are artists and genres that just haven't made it in, yet.

In other words, to judge me by the music here, is to miss the mark.

to ever think you know me, if you've known me less than about three years, is to grossly underestimate me.

i'm not feeling well, and i can't sleep. though i'm feeling much better because i'm remembering to take more allergy/sinus medicine every three or so hours
where's the justice in that?

a vicious vortex of fatigue and illness

i hate it when i stay up too late, and then avoid going to bed because i know that i'm going to have a hard time getting up at a reasonable hour in the proverbial morning.
and i know i'm compounding the problem by not going to bed.
and what's worse is that i know i'm going to stay up late tomorrow as well, because i won't be tired when it's time to be tired.
and it isn't as if i HAVE to get up and go to work or be somewhere...
until Tuesday morning.
and i'm not feeling well, so i'm only making things worse
and i'm STILL avoiding getting to bed!
somebody stop the madness!!