Serial, Star Wars and Misc.

Oh Ali! Your dress is so beautiful and you are the most beautiful person inside a most beautiful dress. I think it looks so great on you! And happy two year anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long. Seriously, the attic, the big bean bag, your mission call seems so close but so far away.

Those books sound good. You know, even though Daniel also served in the South I think he would be frustrated with Henrietta's people too. I think you are good in that you take people seriously no matter what. I will put that book on my to read list. Right now I am reading To Have and Have Not. I am not loving Ernest Hemmingway so much anymore. I really liked A Moveable Feast, The Sun Also Rises, and A Farewell to Arms. The books everyone else likes, haha. But this one just seems too rough. It's trying to convey the hard scrabble life of a fisherman in Cuba, but it is too drastic. "What the heck, they just killed his mate?!" "Wait, he doesn’t have an arm anymore?" "Oh man, shot to the stomach, that is rough." I just keep flinching through the whole book. I think I have read the Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury, right? If that's not right, then no, I haven't read the Martian Chronicles.

This week something surprising happened to me. I hung out with another girl for a couple hours kinda spontaneously. That doesn't sound surprising at all now that I am rereading this. I didn't realize that since dating Daniel I stopped going just hanging out with people. This girl, Laura, is in my ward and we decided to get hot chocolate on our way home from campus. And then we just chatted for three hours. Haha. And it felt so weird. Really familiar, because I can totally imagine doing something like that with you, Jordan or Amy, but so unlike what I usually do now. I just didn't realize how much my social life has changed until then. And it was so exciting to have someone who thought I was cool enough to just hang out for a few hours.

Star Wars. Daniel and I finished watching them in chronological order. I love Star Wars. That's all.

Serial. I finished it this weekend. I think Adnan is guilty. What do you think? Also, do all teenagers do drugs and have sex? So it's normal not to blink an eye at that, we just assume everyone does drugs and has sex and then decide whether or not they are a good kid from there up? That was surprising to me. Aaaand I really hope my kids don't do that stuff.

I hope to talk to you later today!

welcome back.

WOW Carla, you have reinvigorated the blog. Good thinking. I like it.

In response to your post, I would like to say: I have not read any of William Burroughs. But Derek did, and he told me about it, and he was enraged. He thought William Burroughs was a freak.

When is your spring break exactly? I think reading all of Harry Potter in Spanish is a brilliant idea. Maybe just start with book 1 for this break.

Wedding planning. . . most of the big stuff is taken care of or being taken care of, so I guess I feel a little less pressure. But yes, I agree that I feel in both camps. OH I don't even think I told you that I got my dress!! I'll send you a picture.

So Derek and I just got back from a trip to Portland and it was lovely. It actually ended up being a really good time to go on  a trip. This week isn't too busy, so I'm not scrambling to catch up or anything. It was very good to see Syd & Penelope. My favorite part of the trip was probably just going to church with them on Sunday and holding PJ the whole time, and then helping Syd make dinner afterward. It made me wish we lived closer together. I still feel like we're very close, and when we get together we don't need to get reacquainted, but then I feel like there are some things I can't ever understand about her life because I'm simply not there. Which makes me sad. But, oh well. I will do my best.

One other fun thing about the trip was that we spent most of the drive listening to audiobooks--The Martian Chronicles and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Have you ever read those? I really liked them both. The latter was very interesting indeed; if you haven't read it, you should, and tell me what you think. Here is the summary:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.

I think Derek was annoyed by it, because he was annoyed by Henrietta's living family members, whom the book spends a lot of time with. They are kind of a mess. But I liked them, because I feel like I know those people. They are very familiar to me.

I will leave you with one last adorable photo from the trip. Oh, and today is the two-year anniversary of me & Derek. That's a loooooooong time.

But you, Carla, will always be the apple of my eye.

Coming back

I decided to start posting on this blog again. I have a few things on my mind today.

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day!

Have you ever heard of William Burroughs? I listened to a little bit of This American Life when they featured another podcast episode that was all about Burroughs. Basically, I was really weirded out. I was wondering if you have read any of his stuff and what you think about it.

I watched a YouTube video on Severus Snape and now I am determined to read Harry Potter from the beginning to the end over my spring break! Possibly in Spanish. But then that would take me much longer than spring break, haha. What does one do with a spring break? It is such a luxury I am not used to. I would love to come visit you, but our airfare budget is pretty tight. My cousin just got engaged, so that is one more trip to Utah we are making this summer.

I would like to hear about your wedding plans. Are they all-consuming, or are you looking around and wondering what the big deal is with wedding planning. I felt in both camps, some things I was so obsessed about and other things I just didn't care.

Today we took a lady in our ward named Connie to the hospital to see her mother and that experience really got me thinking about trials and families and service. I feel so safe and secure and warm in our little apartment in Albany and it shakes me up to hear about family situations like Connie's and how ugly people can be. She talked about how her mother is bipolar how family member physically abused her. Connie's mother is also near death; if she didn't have a procedure to clear her lungs of fluid she could die in the next few days. It sounds like out of Connie's siblings, she is the only one who dealing with her mother's condition because the family doesn't get along. And Connie talked about trying to commit suicide and being in and out of hospitals. My first reaction is that I don't want to get involved. All this stuff makes me sad. Then I'm angry, because I feel like families and lives shouldn't be like that. And then I just get tired of people and how mean. Basically, I want the world to be perfect and I'm mad at how people keep messing it up. I was wondering if you ever felt this way on your mission and what conclusions you have come to?

That's about all the interesting things I have to say. One of these days I will come up with another historical hunk.

Here's a picture of the shore near my apartment. This is incentive to come visit me this summer.