Holiday Hassles

So, I will begin this post by mentioning that the title of this post has nothing to do with my up-coming trip home for thanksgiving. Let me take a moment to talk about that:

Monday, I am driving up to Provo, UT after my classes and spending the night with my sister. Tuesday morning My sister, her boyfriend, and I are all heading back to the Northwest. I can't even tell you how excited I am. Each minute that goes by feels like an hour!!! I am excited for food and everything, but I am just more excited to see everybody! I have a huge extended family and I will get to see a lot of them, also I will get to see my mom and little sister who I haven't seen in a few months! As my mom always says though, "You are just going to want to be with Eriiiic". Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am, I plan on it.

Here is where the holiday woes come it- Christmas Break. Many of you have probably seen that video and blog post about the man who had problems with the TSA pat-down and full body scanner. And many of you may be saying that this is all stupid and he should have just done it and blah blah blah. But guess what, this is my blog, and I can say what I want!

Full body scanners just use x-ray to be able to see past your clothes to reveal if there are any objects on your body.



woman on left, back and front of a man on right

 As you can see, the shape of the entire body is revealed. I actually blacked out part of the man, as you can see, because it was just really not appropriate. Effectively, the machines serve as a strip search.
So anyways, both Las Vegas and SEATAC airports (which I am flying out of in December) have added the Full-Body Scanner XRay machines. So instead of getting nervous about the fact that in 5 days, I will be with the coolest, best, cutest, nicest guy in the whole world, I am getting nervous about my full body scan! SeaTac had metal dectectors for a short while when the new machines were released, but they had plans to get rid of them soon. Las Vegas seems to have ditched the metal detectors all together (as of 2009). Awesome.

I already hate flying. Let me make that clear. I am hoping that maybe seeing my family will be a big enough deal that I won't worry so much about the flight itself, but really, I hate it. I have even looked into those classes where they teach you how to not be scared of flying, but the idea behind most of them is "submersion", where you just fly extremely often. Silly psychologists, the more I fly, the more I increase my chances of dying.

Now, in addition to pre-flight jitters, I have to keep hitting up the gym so the creepy TSA guy behind the desk doesn't vomit when I go through. AND even more stressful, I have to working my butt off at the gym at the same time I am working my butt off doing finals :(

I do joke about presenting a "good image", but in all seriousness, I have always believed that each person's body is special, and I think its a big deal to trust and love someone enough to share it with them. I do feel a little bit like I am throwing all that away to go on a stupid flight. Thanks government, for making me hate you.

Why My Life is Awesome.

Like seriously, it is.

I turned in an assignment today. Alright, I know that isn't anything spectacular, but life wasn't always like that!

I am almost completely positive I will have a 4.0 this semester. I have been a little unsure about my astronomy lab because there is this assignment where we have to take pictures of the sunset, and usually my life is too busy for that. However, after doing some math, I think I could still land an A in the class. And if not, a 3.9 isn't too shabby either :)

I found out my Education in Society final is just a group discussion. Best part? Show up for 100%!

My laundry is allll folded and put away. It took forever. I did two hugely oversized loads of laundry yesterday, and I put it all away today!

My room is clean. Yes. That means vacuumed too. I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!

I wore my new snow boots today. Seriously, everyone I passed said I looked cute. How kind :) And Eric, for your information, they were all girls. No one to punch today :P

I made the most delicious sandwich for lunch today. Hearty wheat bread, turkey, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, cucumbers, and onions, all toasted to perfection.

I see everybody in 16 days! And when I think about it, its practically 15. Which is basically 14. And that means two weeks!!!

I got a 98% on an english assignment today. She wrote "good argument" and "great defense" all over the paper. Yeaaa babyyy. Freshman in advanced writing riiiight here :)

I got to talk to my cool boyfriend for quite a bit. Self explanitory :)

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Tomorrow I have institute (talking about Israel and Palestine) and astronomy (Time to learn about Saturn!), and then I am guessing I will relax a little. I will try to take my sunset picture tomorrow, then I can post it and show you guys the beauty :P

Gentlemen's Intermission

In a recent episode of 30 Rock, Liz Lemon's dad decides to take a break from all his responsiblities and act way dumb and creepy. Though I am not a man, nor have I been acting creepy, (not going to deny the dumb...) I HAVE taken a huge break from my blogging "responsibility". Though all of you do not care about this, apparently it is an outlet for my stress, worries, and frustrations, so I don't end up killing people.

So here goes.

I wish it would snow. I do. People here in Utah start to hate the snow because they see it so often. But guys, I just bought the cutest boots. I need it to snow so I can use them. :(

Yesterday night we started watching "The Last Song" where Miley Cyrus plays the classic angsty teenager who is sure her family doesn't love her because parents broke up, but everything is better when she meets a hot, single, rich guy who works at an aquarium and volunteers in his free time. Of course, another bratty teenage girl attempts to break up there 2 hour relationship by talking smack to Miley and Mr. Right. But don't worry, Mr. Right and Miley's relationship is based of a deep friendship that extends far beyond the 5 minutes they talked to each other.

Yesterday, I also made a Giant Chocolate Truffle. Its way delicious.

I am pretty much really wanting to travel abroad right now. I am taking a theology class from the LDS institute that is about world religions, and today we talked a lot about the middle east. I know its like scary, and I would probably get shot, but you know, I have never been fond of living in one place. Actually I pretty much hate it. My ideal life would involve moving every 6 months (however this isn't really condusive to a teaching career....). Unfortunately, because I live in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in the smallest college town ever invented, I have a 1% opportunity of ever doing anything awesome ever again. Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.

I am sounding really cynical today. I apologize. This doesn't make for good reading.

Basically though, I have been spending money like crazy. Seriously. Not as crazy as some people, and at least I have the money to spend, but I really hate it. Makes me feel like a failure :( And its weird, because its not like me going on a shopping spree, its just 10 bucks here, 5 there. And then I was really sick so I had to buy all this medicine. Idk. I just feel like I will never be able to afford rent, a new car, paying off school loans, and eating when I live my life as an old maid in 3 years.

AND on top of all of that, these teaching thing is difficult. I really want to get into some History classes or something cool just so I can be passionate about SOMETHING.

And people here are totally weird. This guy like....was weird today. And I do not like it.

Also, like you guys all know, I am going into Secondary Education. But like. I hate this. Because to do what I think I want to do, I have to work really hard. But then if I change what I want to teach, all of those credits go towards nothing, and I become a semester behind.

I really think I would be good at a lot of things. I would be a good teacher. But I would also be a good buisness person. Or a good cook. Or a nutritionist. Or a decorator. Or heck, I would be darn good at flippin' burgers at McDonalds. So what is the point. I can work hard for 4 years, doing what I thought I loved and then turn out to hate it, or I could go to school for 2 years and make practically the same amount of money elsewhere, or I could just not go to school at all, have enough money to get by, and that'd be the end of it.

I think like school administration would be cool. But guess what, that takes 8 years. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! And I could always go back to school later or something, but then I wont be a young and cool principal. I will be old and annoying like every other principal on earth.

I miss my puppy :(