On Dating

I've come to a realization lately about dating. It sucks. Guys these days seem to expect girls to be forward and out there, and I can't do that. I expect the guy to take a chance and ask, not make me put myself out there (where, let's be honest, I'm far more likely to be rejected than him) just to see if he's even interested! Then there's the whole discrepancy between the speed the world wants your relationship to go, the speed you want it to go, his speed, and your parents' speed. Now, when I had a boyfriend last year, his speed was LUDICROUS SPEED (Don't know what I'm quoting? Watch this movie). No offense to him, I just needed it a lot slower. Like a walk. Or an amble.
Not only do people in the world expect your relationship to go superman fast, they also expect you to do everything. I don't know about most people, but my beliefs and personal feelings about it are this: lust is natural, but love is better. So why try out lust when you can wait for love and never miss anything? Plus, not only does my religion prefer you to be married, it's safer that way in this day and time. At least if you're married, the guy is legally obligated to stick around if you get pregnant, or hurt. It just makes more sense to wait for marriage. On that note, I've decided to include kissing in the "off-limits" category while dating. Then I don't have to worry about when it's okay for him to kiss me or me to kiss him--it's always "no" until I'm at least engaged to him.
Yes, my dating experience is minimal at best (pretty much non-existent if you're feeling mean), but I've learned a lot from watching people around me. For instance, I've learned that without communication, the relationship dies. Also, things need to be spelled out to the point where there is no chance that you misunderstood. At all. Period, exclamation point. I've learned that it's best to go slow. A lot of relationships that go too far too fast end in misery for one or both parties. Take time to get to know the other person around other people before you start seriously dating. If you're good friends, you'll have more to talk about on the date and be more comfortable in the other person's company, whether it's just the two of you or if you're in a group.
Okay, enough of the serious talk. I just want to end with a funny experience in my apartment. One day, my best friend here (she's like my twin, we're so alike in some ways) said, "I wonder what it would've been like if I'd been born a boy." Due to preoccupation, my brain to mouth filter was not on and I replied, "Hmm, I probably would've married you." Several days later, I was looking at my hair in the sunshine and saw that my natural red highlights were coming out. Delighted, I called, "Crystal, my red is showing!" (she has fairly red hair)She replied, "I take it as a sign." I paused. "A sign of what?" "That we were meant to be together." Shortly after that, she put her debit card in my care to get gas for her. I promptly forgot to give it back before I went to Idaho for the better part of a week. Apparently, we're not even meant to be more than 100 miles from one another--that's the second time I took something of hers with me to Idaho.

Here we go again

I got an email from my dad this morning that I'd been expecting, but still...
Chet died Sunday night. And I know we've been expecting it for almost two months and he's been getting ready to go for years, but...He's one of the two grandpas I can really remember. I don't remember a lot about Grandpa Kevin or Oscar because I was so young when they died, and Chet just stepped in. He treated us like family, like we really were his grandkids, even though we're not blood-kin. There are so many times he stepped in to try and help us through, like when he told Grandma to give me money for my Europe trip and they made me work for it. It meant so much more because of that. If they hadn't had me work for that money, I probably would've been like half the other kids on the trip who had the money handed to them and were told, "Go have fun, and bring me back a souvenir."
I don't think people realize how special it is that he just accepted us like that. Some of his kids and grandkids had a really hard time with it, and for him it was like it was as easy as breathing. That doesn't mean we always got along. I remember being almost scared of Chet for quite a while as a kid. But...he was "Grandpa Chet" in my head, even when I just said "Chet" out loud.
It seems kind of surreal, because I'm in Utah and I'm not there. It's almost like I'll get home and there he'll be, sitting in his big easy chair watching football or some random Hallmark Channel movie that I've never even heard of before. But in my head I know that-that won't happen. He's not going to be there, and I'm going to be going to his funeral. A week, and he'll be gone from my life. Yet I feel as if he's right here, telling me that I'm going to be all right, and so is everyone else. It'll just take time. Time I don't have, that I need for other things.
What will Taiya and Amber say if I tell them I didn't write anything on the novel this week because my grandpa died? For some reason I wonder if they'll believe me.
Anyway, as a result, my theme song for the day is "Missing You" from A Very Potter Musical. Without being taken at face value and without listening closely to the words...

Bye Chet. I hope you know that even though I've never said it, I do love you. Look out for Grandma, will you?

Online Bubble Wrap

This is the second website I've found with this, but I think I like this one best. The website is www.virtual-bubblewrap.com and here's a sample.

Cast Your Villain

Okay, this is a contest over at http://www.wordforteens.com (links to the contest).

So the villain that I would love to cast is... *drumroll*  Duke Roger of Conte from the The Song of the Lioness Quartet: Alanna: The First Adventure / In the Hand of the Goddess / The Woman Who Rides Like a Man / Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

Honestly, he's one of my favorite bad  guys, because even after he's out of the picture, he's still tormenting the main character. And then you find out he's somehow in love with her as well as being stark raving mad. Isn't that just awesome? Anyway, the person that I would choose to play him is James Caviezel.

 This picture totally encompasses Roger, I think.

Book Review: My Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions

Well, here's my review like I almost promised.


I have to say, I really liked this book. For one, it's set at college, which is now my station in life, so it's a bit easier to relate to the main character. The only problem is that to me, her meeting of the Really Hot Guy seems improbable. But I might be biased because it didn't happen to me. :D To sum up the story, this book is about a girl who's just starting college. She describes herself as something less than pretty, and can't believe she's at all attractive, partially because of things that happened in high school. So, first day in and she's guy-watching in class. Let's be honest, we all do it, and we all know that feeling of "no, he wouldn't go for me" that sinks in when you see a Really Hot Guy, especially when he's surrounded by Pretty Popular Girls. Yikes, right? Well, this Really Hot Guy seems to take a liking to her, and that's where the story gets interesting and yet annoying at the same time. I couldn't help but root for her while I was calling her an idiot for her low self-esteem. So, the character wasn't great all the time, but over the course of the book I got to see why she was the way she was, and to appreciate the changes that were occurring: she grew in confidence, for the most part, and found things she liked to do, people who cared and were good friends, and she got the chance to make things right. That is why I would recommend this book to any and all romance lovers, particularly the ones that realize that they, too, have Ridiculous Romantic Obsessions. Because, let's be honest, life is so much more fun that way!

Ummmmmm....

Okay, this might scare some people, but I actually drove today. I mean I was literally behind the driver's seat for the first time in my life. It was kind of surreal at first. I mean, last time I drove something with a motor it was a four-wheeler, and I rolled it. Plus, I expected to be really bad and make mistakes, but I actually did pretty good. We did some stuff that'll be on the driving test (which is a ways away, but if I can do it now, imagine me with practice), and the only problems I had were parallel parking and lined parking in front of a side walk. But in my defense, the sidewalk was diagonal to the road. :P
Anyway, I'm also starting college in a few weeks. I'm soooo nervous, but I'm also a little excited. I get like that when I'm moving to a new life-phase. I feel like the girl in the book I'm reading, called My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions. She's not pretty, or anything like that, same as me, but she's also a major fan of romance novels, which really hit it on the nail for me because people who like those books tend to have unrealistic expectations for romantic relationships. Et voila, in the first couple pages, the heroine meets a Really Hot Guy she calls "Adonis". I rest my case. I do feel that the two will end up together, even though she's--I hate to say it--average (like me, for the most part). I'll have to keep you posted on how I feel about the book.

I Heart Monster Giveaway

Okay, so I'd really like a poster or something with Jacob on it, but whatever. I just thought for those of us who like most things Twilight this contest would be... Interesting. Good luck!