Offensive?

Our ward is having a Nerd Night this week, and we are supposed to dress nerdy. I don't have nerdish clothes anymore... but I wanted to do something to dress up. So, I ordered a pair of fake "fashion glasses" to wear.

Shauna says it is offensive to glasses-wearers for me to wear fake glasses to nerd night. I think it's just sorta funny... I mean, I am a big supporter of glasses! My dad is an eye doctor after all, and I've worked as an optometric technician every summer since 2005.

In the future I can use these for a legit Clarkette Kent costume... or just to look smarter on occasion.

Blond Moment

So it looks like I am a blond again! Accidentally... again. When will I learn? Haha.

For a little self Valentine's Day gift, I scheduled a hair appointment this morning to get it cut and highlighted. I've been working on moving back to my natural color, having the stylist put in more low lights each time to cover up all the blond, but this time all I said was that I wanted the new highlights to be about the same as what I had already. The stylist agreed. But when she took out the foils, the first words out of her mouth were "Wow, your hair lightens fast!" In the studio, I didn't realize how blond I really was, but when I came home and saw myself in the mirror, I realized this was a much bigger change that I'd been anticipating.

Right now, I can't decide whether or not I like it. I remember when this happened to me before (last summer) I was horrified at first but then I learned to really like it. So... I think I will probably keep it for now... but we'll see. I'm going to see if I like it any better tomorrow when I style it myself.

Pictures:

Oh yeah, and I got bangs too. :) We switched my part to the other side of my head and cut swoop bangs. What do you think?

Emerging from the Cave

I've spent the last three days focused solely on my thesis revisions. It's been a blessing-things opened up so that is all I had to worry about. For the first time I can remember, I didn't need to do any research for my professor (we are waiting to hear back from the IRB on his latest study) and my class assignments aren't due until Tuesday, so I didn't need to worry about those yet. The first couple days were great. It was actually very relaxing to be able to focus on my thesis and not have to worry about anything else. But this last day has been really tough for some reason. I guess I've just been a little stressed out about getting the thesis back to my committee in a timely manner. It is finished though! I sent them the latest round of revisions 5 minutes ago. I will be very surprised if they don't ask me to do another round or two of revisions just to get things right, but I think we are getting very close. :) And I have until February 17 to get everything polished up for their satisfaction (that's the last day we can talk to the secretary about scheduling a defense), so I think I am in good shape. Graduation, here I come!

UPDATE: Ha, well, my professors just got back to me to say I am okayed to schedule! :) The secretary is out of her office by now, but I sent her an email, and on Monday we should get things set up. Thesis defenses have to be scheduled at least two weeks in advance, so the soonest it could happen would be February 20. It all depends on when my professors are available. But this is good news! :) The last possible day to defend is March 2, so this puts me a bit ahead of schedule. That's good, because basically everyone passes their thesis defense pending revisions, which means I'll be back to revising as soon as the defense is over, and I have to get it all turned finalized and turned in around mid-March sometime. This means I should hopefully have the time to do all of that... provided I pass my defense! I am starting to get a little nervous about that.

Words

I have always loved words.


I decided when I was three years old that I wanted to be a writer. I knew that only grown-up people could be writers though, so I was going to have to wait until I grew up. I waited and waited all day long, and by the time my father got home from work, I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't even know how to write my name yet, but I dictated my very first book to my mom that evening. It was about Barkley from Sesame Street. I drew pictures to illustrate it. Since Barkley was too hard for me to draw, I always made him a tiny little dot in the distance.


My love language is called words of affirmation. For those not familiar with the concept of Love Languages, it is basically the idea that we each have a particular favorite way in which to receive love. For some, they feel most loved when they receive a gift, or when a loved one spends quality time with them. Some feel most loved through service, others through touch. And then there are those like me who benefit most from words. Oh, I can feel love through the other love languages, but for me there is nothing more powerful than being told "I love you." I would choose a heartfelt note over a gift any day. Words are life to me. Kind words are never forgotten, and harsh words crush me more than most.


I've noticed that words play a powerful role in how God speaks to me, as well. Of course He knows my love language. :) We all know that reading the scriptures brings us closer to God, but I find that I often feel His love in words of truth I stumble across in fiction books or in song lyrics. When I am upset, I find that He often brings words from literature or music into my mind, to bring me the comfort that I need.


Words are power. One of the apostles in my Church, Elder M. Russell Ballard, has said that "There is truth in the old adage that 'the pen is mightier than the sword.' In many cases, it is with words that you will accomplish the great things that you will now set out to do."I think that this is true for all of us. 

Fortune Cookies

Fortune cookies never lie, right? They always come true? :)

Ha, well, no, but dang it! There IS something exciting/comforting in that random slip of paper you find inside. Here's hoping there's some truth in these fortunes. :)

Something to remember...

next time I start stressing out about what's going to happen to me after graduation:
"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."-Arnold Bennett

Everything's amazing and nobody's happy

We live in an amazing time.

We're not peasants out in the field anymore, just trying to get by. We live in beautiful homes, we have plenty of food, we have multiple pairs of shoes and plenty of warm clothes. We don't have to depend on a fire to heat our homes in the winter. We have access to running water (even hot water!). Since our basic needs are taken care of, we can develop our time to educating ourselves and building careers in fields nobody dreamed of a few generations ago. The technologies available to us would be perceived as miracles by the people of the past. We have instant communication 24/7 from nearly every place in the world. We have access to the internet that connects us with essentially all the knowledge in the world. We can flip on a TV and watch an event that's going on on the other side of the planet. If we want to travel to the other side of the planet, we can climb aboard a flying machine and get there in a day's time. The possibilities today are truly limitless! What do our ancestors think as they watch the amazing opportunities we are blessed with?

And yet, has all this prosperity and technology made us happier? No. Granted, there are still problems in the world, not everything is sunshine and roses. But how often do we get caught up in "first world problems" and forget to look around and be grateful for all the things that we do have? We are living the dream! Let's not forget that.