The Dentist

Welcome to finals, and yes I do have three finals tomorrow but instead am choosing to blog. On Thursday night I was entering a deep, philosophical conversation with k. when I realized that there was something hard in my mouth. I thought it was weird considering I wasn’t eating so I proceeded to remove a bit of tooth….apparently my right front tooth chipped. Isn’t that weird? How you ask? Well, I was defending a poor, helpless BYU student and a crazed boy hit me in the face. Just kidding, I have no idea how it happened.

So what do I do? I call the dentist and silly me I should have known dentists don’t work on Friday. Why would they? Clearly people don’t have dental emergencies on Friday, nor do they want to get their teeth cleaned on a Friday. Didn’t you get the memo that the world basically shuts down on Fridays. That’s the most logical explanation I can figure.

Right now you’re probably thinking they have the life right? No work on Fridays, a great paying job….but, apparently dentists' odds of suicide "are 6.64 times greater than the rest of the working age population," writes researcher Steven Stack. My next logical question is why if you get to have a three day weekend is the suicide rate higher. Clearly they need to talk to me and I can help them understand what important and thrilling things they can be doing on their extra-day of the weekend that everyone covets.

Anyway, I have to go in next week to get my tooth looked at, assuming I can get in. They're saying something about shaving the bottom of my tooth....not going to happen. I will not have shorter front teeth-it is not an option. They will have to figure something else out. And to all the many dentists reading my blog, I would appreciate a Friday appointment when I have a chip on my front tooth.

**also, I’m aware of the monotony in dentistry which claims to be the reason for the increase in suicides….so we should spice it up with some Sasha Fierce on the radio

Reading

Turning of pages,
Trying to leave the thoughts of today
Gasping and leaning while
Physically urging and proving the intent of
Attempting to enter the world of thoughts
Of a different life, different world, different person
Turning of pages.

*this poem is ideally supposed to make you feel rushed like you're trying to finish a book...it probably does not do that if i have to say it; ideally it should do it with out being explained. oh well.

ho ho ho there's no snow

Welcome to December 5th

Think about what the words December 5th mean. My perfect image of an ideal December 5th is a crisp layer of snow covering the imperfections of Provo’s desert, with a feel of an approaching holiday, a season full of good smells, warm clothes, great conversations and good books. This picture is horribly inaccurate to what is currently happening in Provo. Somehow, and in someway, global warming came immediately and we have no snow and consequently little Christmas cheer. It’s an uncomfortable feel; the lack of consistency and continuity expected in a reliable weather pattern. I feel an internal anxiety that something is not right. I am not saying that the lack of snow is a sign of the worlds end, the lack of snow creates a tight, uncomfortable sense of anxiety within me.

Clearly I’m to attached to winter in an odd way, but I will wait and in the mean time I’ll listen to Sarah Mclachlan’s “Wintersong” or "Songs for a Winters Night."

I hope the blogging world will accept me back

And so it begins…

After a long break from the blogging world I have decided to return. Why you ask? Well, it’s simple enough. Peer pressure. I have been reading people’s blogs, and in return people have gotten mad that I don’t blog anymore. I’m scawed of them so I will blog. Without further ado, and back by popular demand I have chosen to re-enlist myself in the blogging world.

Side note: Blogs are interesting little things because it’s sometimes the Mormon way of saying “look, I’m crafty..i have a blog”. This is not me. I am not crafty and I am not looking for things to try to re-invent my artistic self (I lack an ‘artistic self’...hence the reason i stole my background from a free internet site).

Oxford, Stourhead, and Tower of London

Welcome to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. This picture is of Oxford’s Christ College where the great hall was used for the HP movies. It was fun to be at Oxford because the students were in the middle of finals and their entire grade depends on one test so you could feel the pressure in the air. Ironically, two days later I had an English finals which the entire grade was dependent on one test but I wasn’t stressing-there could possibly be a correlation between this and my denial letter from Oxford. The students were dressed in the mandatory testing clothes which were small black caps and silly hats. Also while at Oxford I was able to go the pub called “The Eagle and Child” which is where Tolkien and CS Lewis would sit and talk about book ideas. My friend ate in the rabbit room where the authors would routinely sit. It was cool.





This picture of my friends and I was taken at Stourhead. Stourhead was so gorgeous!. The gardens there were amazing! This is where scenes from Pride and Prejudice (the most recent film with Kira Knightly) were taken. There was also a wedding going on so we waited for the bride to see her dress. It was very anti-climatic because she came out in a limo in a burgundy Alyssa’s bridal type prom dress. Note to all friends getting married soon…which is a surprising bunch. Choose white or cream.






Here my friends and I are together with a beefeater at the tower of London. The tour was fun, but very touristy. While there we saw the crown jewels-which in my opinion are not as cool as the stone of scone displayed by the Scottish crown jewels.

Paris...in ten hours

Is it possible to do Paris in a day? Yes! To explain my adventure I will simply submit my itinerary.

3:00 am Wake Up!
4:00 am Catch a bus to the tube station.
8:00 am Arrive in Paris.
10:00 am Visit the Notre Dame.
10:15 am Go to the most eclectic and cute bookstore ever. Amazing!
11:00 am Stop for a cheese and ham sandwich from a vendor. So good!
11:15 am Quickly see the Louvre and watch the hordes of people looking at Mona.
1:15 pm Start down the Champs Elysses.
2:00 pm Stop for a lemon pastry. So good!
3:00 pm Stumble upon the Arc d’triumph.
4:00 pm Head over to the Eiffel Tower.
5:00 pm Watch the gypsies at the tower and eat the most amazing ice cream ever.
6:00 pm Go shopping and drink Orangina out of the glass bottles.
6:16 pm Stop at a vendor and get the most delicious banana nutella crepe
7:00 pm See the Moulon Rouge (disgusting and so not my idea.)
8:00 pm Go back to the bus station and leave to go home.

Paris=Food=Happiness

Stratford

Sorry for the delayed pictures. Due to my limited time here I only have a brief amount of time to post. We went to Stratford where Shakespeare lived. We saw his birthplace, and the entire city is a shrine to him. We also stayed at a very cute bed and breakfast which is pictured above, and we had our first complete English breakfast complete with tomatoes and mushrooms. We then went to a museum on Harry Potter called the Creaky Cauldron. It was anti-climatic because it wasn’t a portal to the wizarding world, but it was still fun. I was sorted into slytherin so watch out! We also went to Warwick Castle and saw jousting, trebuchet, and a bird show. Think Disneyland gone castle. There I saw an old high school buddy David Moon. It was a small world.

Cambridge

This week we went to Cambridge and experienced one of the most well known schools in the world. It was so interesting to see how their campus is set up. It is all very spread out and the colleges within the university have a lot of autonomy and pride. The college lines the Cam river, and so we-like most Cambridge students-went punting along the river. It was so much fun. I was thinking of dad the entire time. Also, happy birthday dad! I’m glad you were born.

Soccer...oh wait-FOOTBALL

Last night we went to the FA international game of USA and England. The game was at Wimbley stadium which is huge, and the fans were wearing tons of red. There were about 71, 322 people in attendance and the crowd was a lot quieter and more respectful then at byu (something I did not expect). I really loved the game and consider this one of my favorite things here. David Beckham got a golden cap award for playing 100 times against France and Kelly Roland from destiny's child sang the national anthem. The speakers weren't workign so it sounded really bad...just a mean trick from the queen.

Market

There are a lot of open markets in London, and it is not uncommon for my friends and I to go to multiple markets on Saturday. One of my favorites has been borough market. This is a fresh foods market and everything is delicious! We had a biggest grilled cheese sandwich. Also, during the same day as the market the country was having bank holiday and so at the Tate modern there were tons of people playing games (it was the museums theme) and on the of games was fresh veggie chess. I liked the picture and I thought it went well with the food selection from above.

Plays

This week I was able to go to two plays in the theater district. We went to Sound of Music and Into the Hoods. Having only seen half of Sound of Music I was a bit skeptical, but it was amazing. The songs were great, and the stage literally had a large mountain on it. I was very impressed with the sets. At one point we were surrounded by Hitler’s swastikas and I was feeling a bit uncomfortable. It was intense. Into the Hoods is a spoof on Into the Woods. The plot was very lacking in this play, but it was entirely composed of modern rap and hip hop music with amazing breakers. The dancing was incredible and it was so much fun. Leaving the theater was so great, everyone was rocking out to Jackson 5 and dancing. The picture of it is my friends and I trying to be from the ‘hood’…if you couldn’t tell.

*more pictures of sound of music will be coming. I'm waiting to be tagged on facebook b/c tourists tend to be very obnoxious holding up massive amounts of people to take pictures and so i try to make it easier by only having 5 cameras from utahns instead of six.

Temple Trip

We went to the London temple today to do baptisms for the dead. It was really fun; I absolutely love the temple. We left at nine and got back at a little after four…it’s amazing the sacrifices people go through to go to the temple and church. Having had the luxury of being two seconds from church and 3 minutes from a temple it has been a shock to travel. The temple was simple, and interestingly seems to be more concerned with rules then the Provo temple. For example, in London nail polish was not ok…at all. Provo doesn’t care. I felt like a bit of a heretic taking off my brilliant red nail polish. We had to take a taxi there and I felt like we were going to get in an accident because they drive on the wrong side of the road. I was a wee bit scared.

Hampton Court

This week we went to Hampton Court. If I were to try to write the history of this palace down…it would be 18,000 pages long (roughly). Seriously, everything has happened here. Some of the key points are that James the first (formally James the 6th of Scotland) lived here, along with the famous Henry the VIII. Henry is known for murdering his wives when they would have sons….a typical story in aristocratic trends. The palace rooms were very impressive, lots of gold and fine things. Tons of ceiling murals. It’s amazing how high maintenance the royalty was. They through about three rooms everyday in order to get ready. Also, the kitchens would cook for over 400 people when there were large gatherings. That’s a party. The gardens were enormous and so very pretty! We also successfully completed a English maze (see Harry Potter 5).

Note: The court is rumored to be haunted with the spirits of the murdered wives.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM! It was so fun to talk to you...i hope you had fun at the zoo. Sorry i couldn't be there. (yes..i'm am writing this on the assumption that someone will read it aloud to him-i'm fully aware he can't read.)

Hello

While I have been away, lots has happened-so considering the difficulty in calling people from London I will post them to the individuals.

• Happy Mothers Day! Mom, you are amazing and great! I couldn’t ask for a better mother.
• Happy Birthday! Matt, way to be born. I love you and wish we could go bowling more often. Move back to utah….asap! Also, congrats on finishing your first year of law school.
• Happy Birthday! Lindsay and Madison you girls are so sweet and amazing. I love watching the blog and wish I could be there with you. I’ll see you soon!
• Also, my little niece Mariee Morgan Orme was born to Nick and Cassi. To my Minnesotan friends: I love you guys and wish I could be there with you. I send my love and continue to pray for you.

Later, we went to the castle where we witnessed the changing of the guards and toured the historic landmark, seeing where James the first (aka James the 6th of England) was born. Scotland’s national flower is the thistle…I bought an authentic Scottish tartan scarf there. The name made me laugh. Also, we ate haggis….which is disgusting.

hag·gis
–noun Chiefly Scot.
a traditional pudding made of the heart, liver, etc., of a sheep or calf, minced with suet and oatmeal, seasoned, and boiled in the stomach of the animal

Edinburgh and York

This week we went on an extended trip to Scotland. We stayed in the capitol which is Edinburgh. It was really fun! We got up at 5 and went on a train. I absolutely adore train rides. Pictured here are Paige, Erica, and I having a party on the train. When we got into Scotland we found our hostel and then went rambling on the highlands of Scotland. We climbed Sir Arthur’s Seat where I listened to William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson) speech given in braveheart. I felt like a true Scotsman!

Les Miserables

We went to Les Mis as a group of friends and went to get the discount tickets. Notice, that discount entails the very very back row of the theater…but surprisingly we were able to see everything great. Les Mis continues to be one of my favorite plays, and the actors in London only cemented its ranking as one of my top 3 plays. * In the picture by the sign the girls and I were revolutionaries. Sad when I have to explain my brilliant picture ideas.

Beachy Head

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Here we are at Beachy Head. This is considered part of the seven sisters, which are seven branches of the coast that have huge, white, chalky cliffs. It is awe inspiring. Apparently, the jagged, 500 foot drop can be blamed on the continent of Africa running into Europe. It has a suicide rate of 20 people a year, so a bit scary. Also, notice the intense wind. The horizon was really cool because there was a bit of haze and it melted into the ocean..it was very cool.

I remember reading this poem last year and wanting to go actually see the white cliffs....so here it is.

The White Cliffs

I
I have loved England, dearly and deeply,
Since that first morning, shining and pure,
The white cliffs of Dover I saw rising steeply
Out of the sea that once made her secure.
I had no thought then of husband or lover,
I was a traveller, the guest of a week;
Yet when they pointed 'the white cliffs of Dover',
Startled I found there were tears on my cheek.
I have loved England, and still as a stranger,
Here is my home and I still am alone.
Now in her hour of trial and danger,
Only the English are really her own.

by: Alice Miller