25

I started a new blog. I got tired of this one and needed a fresh start. I might still update this one. I haven't decided if I'm completely scrapping it or not.

I would kill for a pizza

For the past year, I've been having some minor digestion issues that I finally asked the doctor just before my insurance ran out thanks to turning 25. After running a few tests, everything was declared "normal"--no food allergies, no intolerances other than the horrible lactose intolerance that began this whole food battle, no parasites, no nothing. So if everything is so "normal," why isn't everything normal?

So now that I have no insurance, I've taken things into my own hands. Thanks to Google, I discovered an absurdly comprehensive elimination diet, which allows me to eat nothing but fish and rabbit food for a month before I begin adding human food back into my diet. This is what I've been eating since Saturday:

The white lump is fish, and the green lump is avocado.

It's not all bad. I like fruits and veggies and fish, and I like that I haven't felt sick every time I eat, and there's a chance that I might lose my love handles this month, but I could really go for a nice juicy burger and a butt load of fries. I seriously think I'm going through grease withdrawals.

According to the doctor who invented this diet, I could potentially become less sensitive to certain foods by the time I figure out what it is I'm sensitive to, so I'm hoping, while keeping my feet securely planted on solid ground, that by the end of the month my digestive system will just reset itself, and I'll be able to eat again. And if that's the case, I'm eating an entire pizza by myself to celebrate.

I Dyed My Hair

My hair used to look like this:

Now it looks like this:

I wanted it to be this color:



I'm thinking about trying for the Fine Frenzy red again and getting my hair cut like this:

or like this:



I'm kind of leaning toward the bottom picture with the bangs from the top picture. But maybe I should go without bangs for a while since I always let them grow out anyway. What do you think?

So... It's Been a While

I have a confession: sometimes I don't update my blog because my life is boring. Maybe boring isn't the right term, but my life is, nonetheless, completely average. And I'm not very creative, so while some of you are writing vibrantly witty blog posts, making the most ordinary thoughts or activities amusing to any casual reader, I suffer from chronic writer's block, which explains why I no longer want to write for a living. I still enjoy writing, but I just can't do it all the time. I have to wait for inspiration to burrow its way through all my mind's clutter, and if I have constant deadlines all up in my grill, I can't really afford to be patient with myself.

But what about the bachelor's I just earned in professional writing? Well, I decided before I graduated that I wanted to be an editor anyway, not a writer. And editing is still a possibility. There's just not much demand for entry-level editors right now. But some of you might remember when I was a health science major. Despite my ridiculous diet of Cup O' Noodles, Chinese take-out, and whatever confectioner's delight was currently in my apartment, I was working toward a career in nutrition. Well, I'm not going to be a nutritionist, but I am going back to my health science roots.

A couple weeks ago, I was on Facebook and saw an ad that said "Become an ultrasound technician," and I was like, "ok." I didn't click on the ad because bad things happen when you click on Facebook ads, but I did my own research, found a program nearby, and decided that I really wanted to do this.

This career change was a recent decision, so I'm rushing and struggling to communicate with Everett Community College so I can start taking classes in the fall. I've applied, but I can't get anyone to answer my e-mails or phone calls, so the whole thing is still kind of iffy. At the same time, I'm really depending on starting ASAP. I need to finish my pre-reqs by the end of winter so I can apply for the diagnostic ultrasound technology program at Bellevue College. If I don't finish my pre-reqs by winter, I may be doomed to wait another year to start the program, and that is just unacceptable. I'm turning 25 in a few weeks, and I need to get out of Marysville once and for all and get on with my life.

So if all goes according to plan, which I'm determined it will, I will be an ultrasound technician in a couple years, and I am so excited about it. I feel like I've finally decided what I want to be when I grow up and I feel as giddy as my childhood self who wished she could grow up to be a dolphin.

The Big Yellow One Is the Sun

I've been home for almost two months now. Since that time, it has been raining nearly nonstop. My favorite was last Wednesday. When I left work, it looked like we were actually going to have some decent weather for a change. And by that I mean there were a few breaks in the clouds, and could tell the sky was still blue. But before I made it home, it started pouring. Really pouring. Streets in Marysville were flooded up to the doors on pick up trucks. I drove up the hill toward my house and watched people taking pictures from under umbrellas, which is significant because Seattleites never use umbrellas. Water was geysering out of the street drains, transforming our hill into a river.

 Here are a few pictures I stole from a friend's Facebook. I'm sure he won't mind. This was after things had let up a little.

Saturday was perfect. I didn't have to work, the sun was out, and it was 74 degrees. I ate my lunch on the deck and sat outside for hours with my laptop, intending to apply for jobs, but the loveliness of the day was much to distracting. I knew I was going to get burned, but I didn't care because it had seemed like ages since I had seen the sun. I could deal with the burn. Plus, I really like aloe vera's cooling effect on my hot skin. The unfortunate part is that I sat on one side of the table the entire time I was outside. My left side got a lot more sun then my right side.

Sunday was cloudy again. My cherry arm is the only evidence that the sun showed its face in Marysville.

Dear Sun,

Please come back. I'm miserable without you, and I'll be needing to even out my skin tone once this turns into a tan.

Love,

Megan

Why I Don't Dance

I just can't show up people like this:



Wait! Wait! Wait! Here's another one that involves wigs. I think my favorite part is the end, starting around 3:10. This guy rocks.

Midgets

Why does TLC have so many midget shows? Midget documentaries are boring. They do everything average-sized people do; they just need a ladder to do it.

If it's not the little people, it's the big families. They have the Duggers, who should really consider a vasectomy. What are they up to now? 19? But then there are all these shows about multiple-birth families. You'd think TLC would have learned their lesson with Jon and Kate, but now it's Table for Twelve, starring the Hayes family with their two sets of twins and a set of sextuplets. Let's hope show biz doesn't get to them, but if it does get to them in the same way it got to Jon and Kate, at least TLC could have one last special where the Hayeses spill their guts about the destruction of their once happy lives.

Who would ever want a camera crew following them around 24/7?

Silly people.

The Mysterious Odor

Making myself comfortable on my bed, I unwrapped my bandage, revealing my iodine-stained arm. I had donated plasma over three hours earlier, and the hole still bled a little, but that's typical. I think when I pull off the gauze, all the dried blood gets pulled up with it, reopening the wound. Either that or I'm a hemophiliac. While I dabbed the drop of blood, and contemplated what item to check off my to do list first, I smelled a faint unpleasant odor. I held my arm up to my nose and inhaled. It smelled like iodine. That wasn't it. Oh, well. I ignored both the smell and my homework and checked my Facebook for the third time today. Derek Lemmon commented on my photo. I smelled my arm again. Iodine. I looked down at my legs crossed under me. I leaned over till my nose nearly touched my right foot. Mystery solved.

Barack Does Whatever He Likes

I found this on YouTube today, and I thought it was hilarious. Maybe it's because it makes fun of Obama, or maybe it's because I like the original song so much and have a little dance to go along with it. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Beginning of the End: A New Way of Life

Today is the first day of my last semester at BYU-Idaho, and I feel great. I'm ashamed to admit I was feeling rather pessimistic about coming back to school after Christmas, but now that I'm here, I'm actually looking forward to it. I've set some new goals for the year, and (thanks to Natalie) I'm calling them my "New Way of Life." I have some significant changes I want to make that will hopefully contribute a healthier, happier me.

I began the day feeling proud of myself for sticking to my "New Way of Life" schedule. I actually woke up at seven o'clock and went to the gym before class today. I'll pause now to give myself a pat on the back.

...

My first class was Rhetorical Studies, which sounds like it's going to be a lot like Advanced Research and Literary Analysis, except I'll be creating a magazine instead of a literary journal, and my articles get to be a lot shorter. I sat in quiet contentment as the rest of the class squirmed in their seats and asked nervous questions. "I totally got this," I thought to myself. "One research paper and seven 500 word articles? Piece of cake after last semester."

There's no way it can be more difficult anyway.

Last night, I got an email about i-Comm, a practicum program that offers "real world" experience for people interested in Broadcasting, Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, etc. The email specifically mentioned copy editors, and since I'm considering an editing career, I thought I'd check out the class today. So now I'm officially an i-Comm copy editor for The Scroll, and I'm actually pretty excited for it. I only have to put in three to five hours of work per week besides class time, and I can do it whenever I have the time. Tomorrow I'm going to the i-Comm office to be trained. I can also write articles for The Scroll, which I think I will, mostly so I can say I've been published on my resume, but also just for the heck of it. I might as well try it out while I can. I kind of wish I would have known about this sooner. Oh, well. I'm doing it now!

Look at me! I'm on my way to success!

Hello, New Year. Nice to Meet You.

I have a few things on my mind right now, and I'm not sure why I'm about to post them on the internet. Sometimes I'm not even sure why I have a blog at all. I'm generally a pretty private person and keep a lot of things to myself. Anyway, here's a look inside my very cluttered mind. Enjoy.

• I don't want to go back to school on Monday. I know Laura would tell me to be positive and make it a great semester, and I'll see what I can do, but I don't want to face the winter or my classes. Three 400 level Writing classes? What have I done to myself? The good new is all my classes are either in the Smith or the Spori. No more hiking to the Hinckley and Ricks Buildings for me!
• I want to combat the media's influence on young women. I want to help girls feel powerful and achieve great things. I'm looking into different programs and trying to find a way to get involved.
• My little dog leaped halfway across the table and nearly ate my face today. I screamed. It was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
• I wish I would have gotten involved in more extracurricular activities.
• I don't like feeling left behind.
• Starting the first day of the semester, I'm going to be a healthier person. I'm not going to eat junk food all the time, and I'm going to create an exercise schedule and stick to it. I want to be like my grandpa--still running around and beating my grandkids at ping pong when I'm 74,
• I kind of have a little bit of a crush. It kind of took me by surprise, actually. He doesn't know, and it will probably stay that way because I'm still 14 when it comes to guys.
• I really want to get a dalmatian, but I have to wait until I have a place for it and time to take care of it.
• Skidmark, my golden brown '87 Honda Accord, is gone. I'm excited to go car shopping in the summer!
• I think I would rather move to San Francisco than get a church magazine internship, but I'm still planning on applying.
• I'm going to be 25 this year. Nigga what?
• I don't feel like sleeping right now.

Chucky Versus Supermodelquins

Does anyone else hate the Old Navy mannequin commercials? In case you need a refresher:



These commercials creep me out! Isn't a mannequin essentially a life-size doll? And when you think of creepy dolls, who comes to mind? Chucky, anyone? Not that I've ever seen Child's Play, but seeing his face was enough to scar me for life.

http://www.kollectablekaos.com.au/images/14in-Bride-of-chucky.jpg

Not that when I see one of these commercials, I automatically think of Chucky, but I think that's why they creep me out. But even if I didn't find them creepy, I would still find them obnoxious.

Anyway, I finally decided I had had enough of these talking mannequins, so last night I decided to send Old Navy a quick email, which read:

I just wanted to tell you that the Old Navy mannequin commercials are creepy and diminish any desire I have to shop there. Thought you should know.


I got a reply today:


Dear oldnavy.com Customer,

Thank you for sharing your concerns with us regarding our Supermodelquins advertising campaign.  We take feedback like yours very seriously and were so sorry to hear that you found this campaign to be objectionable.

Old Navy advertisements are intended to reflect a shopping experience that is fun for the whole family and we apologize if you found our ads to be offensive in any way.

We've shared your comments with the Old Navy marketing team and our advertising agency so they can be taken into consideration when developing future advertising campaigns.

Again, thanks for bringing your concerns to our attention.  We hope you will continue to let us know how we are doing.

Sincerely,

Linda
Customer Service Consultant


Haha! It feels good to know that my opinion counts, and that I can save the world by tearing down one bad commercial at a time! I think I'm going to start speaking my mind more often. 

By the way, if you are interested in purchasing your very own collectible Chucky, click on the link below his picture.

Guns in the Library

I'm on the second floor--the quiet floor--of the library, and there's this guy sitting two desks down from me playing some sort of war game on his laptop. He has it turned up loud enough so I can hear it through his headphones. Thank you for making me a part of this.

I'm working on my ten-page research paper. Wish me luck!

Peace.

Organized Stupidity

I know I said I wasn't going to post everyday anymore, but so far I can't seem to stop.

I just wanted to take a moment to express my distaste for group projects. I was part of a really lame group presentation today in my Family Interactions class. I tried to tell them our class activity wouldn't work, but people don't seem to hear me in these groups! I'm also in a group for my Religion and Society class, and we have to write a ten page paper to go along with our presentation. There are five of us, so it would make sense to break the paper into sections and have each person write two pages, right? Well, one girl agreed with this suggestion, but the self-designated voice of the group insisted on writing the paper journal entry style, and she and another girl were going to write it. The rest of us had our own assignments--they asked me to edit the video we were going to make in the next couple days. After we filmed it, the same girl who was so adamant about how we wrote this paper, decided she wanted to edit the video. When I asked her what she wanted me to do instead, she said she and the other writer would send me what they had written, and I could finish off the paper. Well, I got their email today--they sent me a little over a page. I am in the middle of writing a ten-page research paper for an English class, which means it actually needs to be good. Do they honestly expect me to write nine pages on my own before Tuesday? Fat chance: that's all I have to say.

P.S. Now this guy in yet another group failed to post his edit online by midnight, so now the whole group suffers. Way too much group work for one semester! Curse you, BYU-I Learning Model!

I Just Found the Weirdest Video

I went on YouTube for a specific purpose that I am too exhausted to recall. Instead I clicked on this weird-looking video.



Back to homework...

Hooray, December!

Well, I made it through National Blog Posting Month, so now I don't have to worry about posting every day anymore, which is fine because most of my posts probably went unread anyway. And I didn't win any of the prizes, so I will probably never do that again. I'm not creative enough to post daily. Mostly, I just had to finish it because I started it.  Goodbye, NaBloPoMo! Goodbye forever!

I started Weight Watchers yesterday. I know I'm not fat. My roommate Natalie is doing it, and I have this terrible habit of eating everything in sight while I'm procrastinating homework. I'm hoping Weight Watchers will help me control my appetite enough so I can make it through a year of school without gaining weight. If you don't know how it works, it actually makes a lot of sense. Everything you eat is assigned a number of points based on its calorie, fiber, and fat content. You are alloted a certain amount of points each day. So you can eat what ever you want as long as you don't go over your points. And whatever points you don't use during the week, you can use to reward yourself with a tasty treat on the weekend. I realize it's only been a couple days, but I like that I don't feel like I'm making a huge change. I think I am just more conscious of portion sizes. For instance, I eat a normal serving of mac and cheese rather than devour half the box. Also, since I've committed myself, I don't crave an entire pan of brownies, which happens more often than you would think. It's funny how it just took a few numbers to help me control my appetite.

By the way, most of you said you would not date someone with baby hands. You're all shallow, and so am I.

Now to finish that ten-page research paper...

Yup

So my dating life is so pathetic that my home teacher is magnifying his calling by helping me get a date. He talked to this guy--we'll call him Chuck--and told him he should ask me out. That was two or three weeks ago. About an hour ago, I was taking the trash out to the dumpster and my home teacher came sliding on the ice toward me, and took over my chore. What a gentleman! He stopped to talk for a little while, and who should come sliding toward us next but Chuck! He stayed for a about a minute before he went off to his apartment. Then my home teacher said, "Oh, sorry! Was I interfering with flirting time?" Pah! I just laughed at him

I was supposed to do something with a friend while I was down in Utah. We talked on Wednesday and planned to do something on Friday. Friday came, and I got a text from him in the afternoon saying he didn't realize his family had so much going on that day, but he asked if he could call me later. I told him yes and asked if he still wanted to do something later or if he was busy all day. I'm still waiting for a reply.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

I'm back in Rexburg, and I'm already freaking out. I need to get started on homework! Also, I'm afraid of throwing up because I was around sick people all week, and Danielle was puking all night Friday. Dangit. I always get sick during finals.

I had a great time in Utah, though. Here are some pics:

Ryan slid through the chair feet first and then realized he couldn't pull his head through.

On Friday, we went to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.

Brianna got cold and had to wear Grandpa's shirt. She put it on and yelled, "I'm ugly!" And then she would only wear when we were in dark areas. The second she thought she was being noticed, the old man shirt came off.

This could be me in a couple days.

I went for walks with my grandpa, and this is what we saw. Utah feels much warmer than Idaho.

We went and saw the christmas lights on temple square last night! I'll post more pics when i get back to my computer in rexburg.

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This is the first time my cousin Ian hasn't cried when i've held him! Hooray!

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