predictions for 2009

this is awfully embarrassing. i haven't been to 'the common' since november. i think i've been away because of fear. i was afraid of how long it had been - i had to re-enter and reclaim my blog land and i wasn't sure if i could do that. i think i was also afraid of letting all of my insecurities and uncertainties spill into the posts that i had been contemplating. but, i found a great way to have a neutral comeback, and that is to post things that were written by someone else.

linds johns (short for lindsay johnson) and i had a birthday party last night to celebrate three holidays: Christmas, New Years, and our birthdays, which happen to be on those two holidays. linds was born on Christmas day and i was born on New Years. so, we held a post-holiday party and suggested that our guests write up on a huge board the predictions they had for the year 2009. we told them it could be anything from international to personal predictions, and what we got were a few of each and then a lot about dating and stuff. we shouldn't have predicted that - a party where single college kids are asked to write stuff on a big, public board... it will inevitably turn into a conversation on dating.

i wrote each down verbatim, so if there are grammatical errors, it is due to two possibilities: the original author wrote it that way, or it was written in a foreign language and i couldn't quite decipher the handwriting. (another advantage of putting someone else's writing up on my first blog back - no accountability.) and, the parenthesis are comments that someone else wrote about that prediction.

okay, as i was reading through these, i decided to add a few comments. those you will find in brackets. i couldn't resist. i just couldn't. and i take full accountability for it.

Predictions 2009:

1. The dollar will become stronger than the British pound - which won't be very strong.
2. Love is friendship on Fire! [? - thank you alex.]
   
3. Lindsay will get an A in a class.
4. Trisha will turn into a zombie (and eat yo brains)
5. There will be NO snow in Utah in the winter of 2009
6. Dave Marriott will start a company
7. Miller is going to explode [that's where the party was]
   
8. Russia will become a new super-power
9. The Israeli-Hamas conflict will end in February
10. Alle Morwomen heirateu iue Jahr 2009, auch Trisha!
11. Jana will take up off-road unicycling
12. I will go to the big apple. [this was mine]
    
13. The 787 will fly.
14. Give me money. [this is a demand, not a prediction.]
    
15. Mina genki ni naru [japanese for - "everyone will be happy and healthy"]
    
16. Watashitachi wa chiizu ga tabemashou. Yum! [japanese for "let's all eat cheese."]
    
17. Mitt Romney will be president...Elder's quorum president.
18. Laura will have her 1st slurpee and love it
19. Glen Andersen will get married 2009
20. Obesa cantawit!
21. Chris Newton will finally kiss a girl.
22. Re vera, potas bene.
23. Goff will date a Korean.
24. Jana will give people the best kind of hugs.
25. Julie will meet Bob Ross and convert him (isn't he dead? P.S. this bodes poorly for Julie)
26. Trisha will drink orange juice with pulp and LIKE it!!!
27. Jana will find her zen.
28. I will become rich and then you will all say you're my friends!
29. "I will consume 40 bags of cereal!"
30. Crazy dance moves will be popular - rock on tiny dancer! [this writer may or may not have been witnessing ian shepley's dance moves at the moment s/he wrote this]
    
31. (chart of Ramen Inc. stock going up with an arrow at the bottom of a large increase saying "buy now" and the 'x' axis labeled: The Great Recession)
32. Jana, Thanks for the setup! Jana you stud from your "sister song" we love you! J+C [i set these two cute kids up - James and Christy. yep, i'm a stud.]
    
33. Peter will try (again) and fail (again) to blog more than Jana. :) [okay, but really, i don't blog that much, so i'm pretty sure that you will beat me. i mean, really.]
34. I will own all Apple's stock and die rich. [die? this year? you know that?]
    
35. Ev will come to life. [this may have been intended to say "Eve" but i'm not sure]
    
36. Karahashi shimai wa Jana shimai ga mou sugu kekkon suru to yogen shita deshou? [Japanese for "Sister Karahashi prophesied/predicted that Sister Jana would soon marry, didn't she?]
    
37. I will be awesome! [first prediction on the board that night by my incredibly awesome brother, Dallin. this is an accurate prediction.]
    
38. They will get married [who?]
    
39. I will use a lama's spit to style my hair!! [um...]
    
40. Love is coming for your through the floorboards. [probably alex again]
    
41. Jana will win the state of Delaware in a lawsuit.
42. Jana will fall in love with the hot young law student('s younger brother) three carrels over [written by austin's little brother who said that his grandma talked about me for 4 days.]
    
43. People will make predictions. -[this may have said Aaron, or Anon. I couldn't read it. very insightful]
    
44. Jana and Linds will make someone's day fantastic! [aw...]
    
45. Jana will go on a "hot date" (with Scott Walsh) and never be the same again! [chris newton offered the parenthetical here. he called it "writing on the wall."]
    
46. Derk will get married. Jana too. (Not me) [Derk mentioned how uncanny it was that both of our names were in such a prediction. hmm.....]
    
47. Random dance parties will occur! Bkuz of Anna. [i sure hope so]
    
48. Tah we, fiernno lo?
49. I will stop doing drugs (then Jana will be out of clients) [skinny, i know you wrote this. 1) because it was the closest to the ceiling and you were the tallest there and 2) because i just know.)
50. Someone will invent an autonomous barnacle-crushing robot. - Aaron
51. The wall between you and I... Delenda est!
52. Don't tell my mom! [sorry, this may be out of context, but it's what was on the board...]
    
53. Everything will be fine in 2009!
54. I will leave my job
55. Nerd5 w1ll B3 popul4r! [YEAH!]
    
56. I will get asked out and can't go. :(
57. Blue (Green) will be the new Black (Brown) (someone crossed out blue and black) [we all know that green is the new pink]
    
58. Let's raise to another level! - Niedersmanzer
59. -Vogt- ya glar naia shishka. Shmmoltri muy smeli pup. [there is supposed to be an umlat over the u in pup. i don't think i want to know what this says.]
    
60. Bently Snow will date half the women in this room.
61. Make It Happen - Paul+Lindsay (in a heart shape) = soft hands Marry Me? (absolutely & Linds will start accepting Amy's dares for $1.00) [great story. ask lindsay.]
    
62. Baruka wa kotoshi ni wa to totemo suteki na otoko no ko to kekkon suru shi, kazoerarenai hito zu no kodomo wo umu to yogen shimasu! Ai shiteru yo! [heart] baruka ga daisuki da yo! [Japanese for "i predict that Barker will marry a stylish/good-looking young man this year, and have numberless children! i love ya! ....um, a heart.... i love barker! (or barker is my favorite...)]
    
63. Lindsay will ADMINISTRATE the public MASTERFULLY [i believe it]
    
64. Dave will compete in clogging
65. Linds will be President of the United States of America!
66. Lindsay will get MARRIED!
67. Tyrel Handby will buy a tank off eBay for cheap! - Aaron
68. Jana will get the 4.0 in torts, property, civ pro, con law, contracts, crim law etc. She will be on Law Review and be offered the world's best job. She will fall in love and get married. - Em [okay, em, i said predictions, not fantasies.]
    
69. Choi [some kind of symbol] will marry an American.
70. Snoop Dog will really be a member.
71. Jana will marry Abe N.
72. Orangutano will conquer Burger King. - Aaron
73. "Eetodawkimas" every day, every hr! Happy Birthday Ladies!
74. Someone will graduate - Aaron [what a risk-taker on those predictions, aaron. you sure about this one?]
75. Linds, Jana, and Cath, and Eve will have a joing quadruple wedding Sept. 2009! (Sonner if Bentley has anything to do about it.... (And I will...)) [oh, cam.]
    
76. Chris Brown Rocks!
    
77. Love, baby, love. - Bethany
    
78. The spelling bee wil become and olympic sport. -Aaron.
79. [Something in Arabic.]

i drive a van

everything is going great. i like him, he likes me. he asks me "when can i see you again?" i adore his smile. he is the perfect boy. we're getting to know each other, spending time together, the whole lot. but, i can't quite get rid of this one nagging thought: when should i tell him? i know it's going to come out someday. someday i'll have to 'fess up. i can't keep this a secret forever. someday i'll have to tell him:

"i drive a van."

i'm not sure how he's going to take it. i'm sure i can justify my way out of it, like:

"it's a cool van. it's an astro, so it's built on a very sturdy truck frame and holds not 7, but 8 people! you can off-road that baby and it is great for moving a drum set, skis, bikes, etc. it is also great for service projects and super fun activities with a lot of people. oh, and did i mention road trips?

"i know it's a lot to handle, but come on, don't you like my personality? i mean, i can compensate for this. vans aren't all that bad, really. some people even like me for my van.

"um....*what else, what else?* well, you know, i am just rip-roarin' ready for a family with lots of kids too! yeah, like, i can't wait to have a family and be with children and drive them around, vroom vroom - hahaha..ha... ha.

"well, now you know. i'm sorry i kept it from you so long. i understand if you don't want to go out anymore. no, it's okay, i can't expect you to sacrifice your image for my sake. i understand. i'm just glad we can be honest about this.

"what's that? your sister is moving next week? needs to borrow a van? oh, yeah, sure... no prob. yeah, yeah, i'll just leave the keys under the door mat. no, that's cool. yeah, anytime. okay, well, see ya.... and don't forget to buckle up!"

(maybe i'll get service points for this. i've gotta start a facebook club for van-drivers and find some of my own kind. this is getting ridiculous.)

so, can i just clarify? law school is eating my lunch. someday in a couple of years i may be able to say that i am dominating law school, but that is simply not the case now.

but i love law school. law school makes coffee nervous.

i am the one who doesn't get it, can't speak on her feet, realizes that she's never been good at finishing things, remembers and is reminded that she always wait to the last minute, has a short attention span, regrets her past study habits, realizes that it takes several steps to do anything and she usually only get as far as the first two. oh dear.

but, funny, would you know it, i absolutely love my experience. i don't wish to be anywhere else. i adore law school. the law compels me. the people inspire me. the teachers amaze me. the Lord helps me.

i wish that reading case law was like running. you know, like all that labor of reading five pages would actually amount to something and you didn't have to think about every single thing, you just had to cover ground. in running, you don't have to back-track your path to "make sure you got it"; you just keep going on to one destination. i just read a page and a half and all i thought about was the company at tonight's dinner. sigh. i'm struggling with the focus thing tonight.

but, in case you think case law is always boring, i'll tell you that i just read a case that used the words "Not!" and "party on" in the opinion. it was awesome. another recent case of note by a very put-off judge read the following: "Plaintiff's counsel, apparently laboring under the impression that I am not dealing with a full deck and that my knowledge of diversity requirements is about equal to that of a low-grade moron, chose to disregard the directional signals posted in my memorandum." he goes on to say how counsel "brazenly, discourteously, definantly, arrongantly, insultingly and...rather obtusely threw back into my face the...allegations..." well, anyway, you get the point. and he wanted to make sure that plaintiff's counsel got the point v-e-r-y c-l-e-a-r-l-y.

and they say that legal writing isn't creative.

i learned to understand Cezanne much better and to see truly how he made landscapes when i was hungry

i ate a bagel instead of going out that night. i didn't want to be wasteful and i had already bought a ticket for the show. any monetary sacrifice would have been well-spent in order to see the dancers that night. it was better to watch when i was hungry anyway.

"all the paintings were shapened and clearer and more beautiful if you were belly-empty, hollow-hungry" -- Hemingway

i hadn't realized how hungry i was inside - hungry for beauty, hungry for perspective. even in my average student-dom, i find myself detached from things that i used to love only to discover it on an empty stomach. it's funny, but i seem to discover my ipod every other week and realize a forgotten life i once had. i mean, i used to love that song and now i don't even know where it is. when i am not constantly around certain beauties - such as dance, music, trees - my appreciation for the sight and sound of them is exponentially greater. watching the dancers was no exception. i had fasted for so long to experience the catharsis that i only get when i watch someone dance. it is second only to being the dancer.

i insisted that my friend give me the one balcony ticket - i love to watch the dancers from up there - and i often like to go to concerts alone. i sat on the edge of the row and spent the night shifting my view around the big person in front of me - my eyes bright and hungry. i think i cried three times. the adagio to Samuel Barber's piece... you had to be there. and the dancers' company had a pas de deux to Neil Diamond. seriously. i was moved because i realized i wanted love.

the girl next to me probably thought i was over-the-top. i smiled at the cute and comedic, nodded my head with approval at a clean succession of turns, whispered "wow" when i thought something was really great, and scribbled notes onto my program in the dark.

i noticed the themes that each company brings to the stage - which as far as i can tell, stay constant with each year. the dancers' company brings soul, weight and farce. the ballet company brings showy solos and sadness. the cougarettes bring intensity and synchronized spirituality. the folk dancers, a show-stopper and sincerety.

an hour later in my law school carrell, i closed my eyes to think. the dancers were there, behind my eyelids. i had brought them with me and they were dancing.

i'd be a lot more productive if i didn't have the internet

-Bryan, BYU Student.

I complete relate, Bryan. You are not alone.

eve's surprise

tuesday night in the wilk. i'm walking back from a ward council meeting and i have an umbrella because it had been raining earlier and a sprite because at ward council they had given us pizza and psychologically i couldn't eat the pizza without imagining having soda with it too. so, my psychological pizza weirdness moved me, my legs, my umbrella, and my wallet to the express store in the middle of the cougareat for one of those low cal bottles of sprite.

i had seen my roommate, eve, in the wilk on my way to the meeting. she was studying in memory hall because it was so peaceful. i didn't anticipate seeing her on the way back, but she was still there - the fantastic eve who is everything mutlicultural. no multicultural student gets past her radar so i wasn't surprised to see her with a group of people, from i'm-not-sure-but-probably-international-origin, who had been at the latin dance night. i was delighted to see her. familiarity almost always makes me feel better about the world.

we hugged and chit-chatted. she asked if i was hungry and i said "nah, i just had some pizza. and i've got this." i lifted up my sprite bottle. she asked me humbly (eve always asks humbly) if she could have some. i handed it to her and she put it to her mouth. the next moment, she was giggling and a couple feet from where she commenced drinking, waving her hand in very eve-ish gestures and exclaiming in her musical hawaiin accent, "wow! holy cow, man! i had no idea that was soda! i thought that was water!" i laughed at this, though still a little apprehensive, just in case she was one of those fanatical health people who doesn't drink soda because it will stop your heart or something. but, to my relief, she was rather delighted. and so was i.

that experience was one that simply cannot be re-created. with no foreknowledge that what she was about to drink was a tingling, eye-watering sensation, she dove in like it was water. her response: pure surprise. i mean, she had no inkling - like what you get when your birthday is close and your friends want to take you to someone else's house to help with "homework." eve's experience was of complete, bewildering, delightful, perfect unexpectedness. i wonder how similar Mother Eve's experience was to this. did the fruit taste a million times more awesome than that everyday fruit she'd been eating? considering my role in this situation, i prefer not to push the analogy too far. but i will say:

may we all have some sprite when we think it's water moments todayand often.