Yesterday after my swim, I decided to sit in the steam room for a few minutes. I walked in and it was all steamy. I was excited. I like to sit in saunas and steam rooms. I actually really like sweating. And I like breathing that air.
But I didn't sweat. I didn't even feel hot.
I was confused--isn't this place full of steam? Shouldn't it be hotter?
And then I realized something:
Hong Kong was hotter and more humid than that steam room.
And I was sad. Visible steam does not equal hot steam.
Next time I need to sweat and sweat and sweat by just sitting on a park bench, I will have to go back to Hong Kong and sit on a park bench, fan myself like crazy, and drink like five bottles of water in a day.
The condensation on the camera lens when I opened it up to take a picture. HUMID.
The hottest day of my entire life. This was before we discovered the power of fans.
The second hottest day of my entire life. Thank heaven for the amazing invention called fans.
Sweating it up on Lion's Rock. Oh yeah.
The coolest day temperature-wise we had in Hong Kong. Even though it was relatively "cool", we still NEEDED to keep cooler-ish by this point--enter the umbrellas and fans. Finally, I understood Chinese culture to a greater extent. Before they were beautiful and art pieces, they were practical so people wouldn't die.
So go to your local sauna/steam room and tell me what you think. Or even better, go to Hong Kong and take me and Andrew with you.
In February 2006, I asked my neighbor Nate to the Sadie Hawkins dance at Davis High School. I think I sent him fortune cookies that had my name in them or something, saying "I would be so fortunate if you went to the dance with me!"
He answered me back, "Of all the fish in the sea, I'm so glad you picked me." And then he gave me four comet goldfish, most commonly known as feeder fish. One was dead by the time I got home from wherever I was (maybe school?) and I named the other three Henry VIII, Cleopatra, and Mark Twain. I named Henry VIII thusly because he had a dark spot that looked like a beard and Mark Twain thusly because he had a dark spot that looked like a mustache. Cleopatra and Henry VIII died in a few days, and I fully expected Mark Twain to go any day.
But he was a survivor. He continued to live.
I noticed his "mustache" was getting better. My mom had some fish medicine to help with ulcers and infections, so I put it in his tank. And he lived. His "mustache" went away and he lived.
After my freshman year, he got a new friend named Squishy. In 2007 they moved up to college with me. Mark Twain and Squishy were inseparable--mostly because they lived together in a small tank.
Here they are in their clean tank--be shocked and amazed. I really did try to keep it clean. Mark Twain is above Squishy. Mark Twain was also bigger, had a more flowing tail and fins, and was a more yellow gold color than Squishy.
And he lived with Squishy for many more years. Sometimes in a clean tank, but when I put them in the windowsill (where I like it the most) it got covered in algae.
Mark Twain on the left, Squishy on the right. This was after their sucker fish friend Zorro died and I went on vacation for a week.
Sometimes I just like to take pictures of my pets. And since these are the only pictures of Mark Twain and Squishy that I actually knew where they were saved, you will just have to look at the nasty fish tank (which I promptly cleaned--the pictures were also to document its green algae).
"Hey, you should feed us." Squishy to the left, Mark Twain on the right. They are little pig fish and love to snarf food.
I was always amazed that they had lived so long. My Mom even started calling them her "grandfishes."
Mark Twain swimming around.
And then on Tuesday, when I had the flu, I hear a fish splashing around. Andrew said, "Mark Twain is freaking out." I shrugged and fell asleep. After I threw up and did other things one does when they are sick, I checked the tank and saw Mark Twain on his side and the bottom. He was just breathing slowly. "Oh no!" I said, "I think Mark Twain is going to kick the bucket." And by bedtime he was gone. And I said a nice eulogy, flushed him down the freshly cleaned toilet, and didn't let Andrew poop for a few minutes to give Mark Twain's body time to find a final resting place.
Mark Twain in the back and Squishy in the front, checking out the view of the windowsill.
Good bye, Mark Twain. You were a good fish. You lived a long and happy life (I think it was happy). I'm sorry you hurt yourself and died from your injuries. You had the longest life of any cheap goldfish I have ever heard of. Rest in peace in the sewer.
I had never heard of these pieces of legislation, The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), until today, when I hopped onto Google.com and found this:
I'd never heard of either of these pieces of legislation. I did a little bit of research and, it seemed to me, that people were freaking out way too much. The legislation seems valid and helpful, but I can see how it could spiral out of control. For my job, I cite things and the issue seems like a concern with appropriate citations, honoring copyright law, and giving credit where it is due. But, we are Americans and Americans don't like anyone to infringe on our rights. People are concerned that it will result in massive internet censorship, limiting free speech, and will hurt the economy. Therefore, several websites, such as Wikipedia, are protesting by having internet blackouts so no one can see their content, supposedly giving us a taste of what the U.S. will be like when everything on the internet is censored.
Once again, for my job, I cite lots of information and I check the citations of others. While searching for a book, Report On Indians Taxed and Indians not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska) at the Eleventh Census, 1890 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1894), I found an online archive that had it available. I clicked on it and found this:
Anyway, not happy. Thanks for helping me NOT do my job.
---Side note: This protest does not influence Congress in any way. It only frustrates their interns who are trying to find information for their Senators or Representatives. It also influences normal people, which I suppose gives the movement more support from people unhappy that they couldn't use Wikipedia to finish their report.
I don't think the legislation will pass. There is a lot of grassroots animosity toward it, plus President Obama has said that he will not support it. Censorship is stupid and keeps people from being informed*, but there are a lot of problems with illegally downloaded music, websites that stream TV shows without the copyright, and so on. These are dishonest and people should really evaluate their actions on the internet.
I had a friend on Facebook make a good point: Everyone is upset about this sort of censorship, but what should really be censored and what should Congress really put their feet down on? Pornography. It is already illegal and is very damaging. Some things, such as pornography, should be removed and censored from the internet.
For goodness sake people, try to be honest and live in a moral way. We wouldn't have these problems and huge fears about the government taking over our lives if people would just treat others the way they want to be treated.
So I still don't know where I stand on the issue. Since I've only known about if for one day, I can't say that my opinion is educated. And I would guess that most of the people posting things like this on Facebook are not very informed about the issue either. This goes right into my issue with people going along with "cool" and "conscious" companies such as Google or Toms (I read a great critique of Toms yesterday, see this article) because they think they are doing the right thing. Going along with companies is no different from going right along with the government if you are uninformed.
I'm not saying that I support SOPA or PIPA. As my experience shows, I was directly influenced by this psuedo "censoring" on the internet. I'm not saying that I oppose the potential legislation. I'm just saying that there are problems with the way people use and abuse information available on the internet.
As SOPA's name states, stopping online piracy would be a good thing. Censoring pornography would also be a good thing. Limiting free speech would not be such a good thing. People stopping to think about an issue before they brainlessly post on Facebook would be a great thing.
*Censorship sucks because some of the best books I have read are formerly banned/censored books, such as Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
Not my grandparents, but Andrew's. They are going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are going the Alpine Mission, which is Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and they will be working with young adults. Sounds like a fun mission to me. You can read about their adventures at their blog, which they haven't posted on yet.
All ten of the kids were there, so they had to get a family picture. Here is the chaos of such an event:
So many people....
And I played with my boyfriend, Micheal. He is Andrew's cousins and he remembered me from Thanksgiving. He kept snuggling up with me. What a sweetheart!
The people not in the picture--also known as the in-laws and the grandchildren.
Walking with Micheal. It was like 57 degrees F outside. I could not believe this January weather!
Cousin time! Little Micheal with little Lydia. They were both wearing purple and so matching. How precious.
Elise is going to become a nurse and needed to practice taking fifty people's blood pressures. Good thing she went to this party where there were fifty people. Oh man. And here, Wesley is dying since he is getting his blood pressure taken.
Family gathering pictures... Uncle Hans with his daughter Lydia, Andrew, and Uncle Eric's tummy.
Heidi, my mother-in-law with Lydia. Cute!
Micheal with Grandma. You know, leis are really amazing things.
All the cousins loved Lydia. She is a novelty since she came all the way from Virginia!
And Hans had this cool hat. So of course, we had to try it out. I think I'll try to crochet one...
"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day!"
And then Elise had to practice shaving people. But I wondered, do CNAs usually shave people's faces or do they shave people's butts?
It was a crazy and loud day with a ton of people, but I had a good time. It was nice to see so many people, especially the aunt and uncles that live far away!
I love Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon. We went with Andrew's family and it was fun but there were so many people. I got grumpy a lot. There are a lot of pictures so here are just a few highlights of our California trip.
The Norco Audio Family History Tour
Heidi grew up in Norco, CA, and we stopped by. This is a crazy place.
First off, they don't have sidewalks. They have horse trails. WHAT THE WHAT? Maybe in Wyoming, but not what I was expecting for southern California.
Some girl on a horse in a city in southern California.
Then we stopped at the Norco cemetery to find Heidi's grandparents' grave. We found it! It was a miracle because she had never been there.
Hannah, Heidi, and Wesley at the grave.
That was cool to be there. Heidi thanked me for suggesting it, since she had never been and being there brought her a lot of peace.
The First Disney Day
Christmas at Disneyland, where the wreaths are all Mickey-shaped and the castle has snow on it (I know, snow in Anaheim? But by now, we know that Southern California is not what you expect--snow, horses, what's next?).
Love it.
We wore a lot of 3-D glasses. They kind of give me a headache.
The Family sans me (taking the picture) and Maren (on an airplane)
And no family vacation would be complete without a picture of me coming out of the bathroom!
We rode Splash Mountain. It was great. Maren is there in the front. She and Wes are engaged now and they are so disgusting.
Our Wild Ride.
This is how Andrew feels whenever I drive. ;)
Andrew and I in front of the castle at night. How romantic.
The Day We Only Went to California Adventure
Wes and Maren about to go off a huge waterfall on Grizzly Rapids.
Andrew and some light bike from Tron.
Not a lot of pictures from that day. Oh well. I traumatized Hannah by making her go on Screamin' with me. I forgot to tell her that it blasts you off. Oops.
The Day We Went to Disneyland in the Morning and the Evening But Mostly Went to Los Angeles
Wesley and Andrew cleaning their ears. What a good brother activity.
I had never been to L.A., so it was pretty exciting.
A clear day for L.A., right?
Gas costs $5 here where it costs $3 in Utah.
And we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, but we didn't get out and walk around.
I like the palm trees. That is a pretty good picture taken from the back of a Honda Pilot, if I do say so myself.
And then we went to Santa Monica beach and we had many marvelous adventures.
Like this dog in a tree. The owner was completely chill. His dog is awesome.
And we went down to the beach and it was just lovely. I kept thinking of the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do", where she says she wants to have fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
We also had another unusual sighting:
Glenn took off his shoes. Apparently this is an anomaly.
Jumping picture--me, Hannah, Elise, Maren. I didn't get the memo that we were making L shapes out of our arms.
The Day We Were the Dorky Family Wearing Matching Disney Shirts
An epic moment occurred when I became famous for screaming so loudly on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I am awesome. This guy said I was amazing and he recognized me later on, too.
And I pulled the sword out with my pinky finger.
Family picture time! You get a sneak peek at the Christmas card. Lucky you.
Aren't we cute? I like how Wes and Maren are freakishly tall in the back.
We went on Star Tours and...
I was the rebel spy and Yoda said I was vital to the rebel cause! It made my life.
Also, Andrew was a good big brother and got Hannah to ride Space Mountain--and she liked it! She even has her arms up and has a big smile on her face. Yay!
From back to front: me, Hannah, Andrew, Elise, Bryanna.
We didn't take a picture, but WE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF THE LOG!!! Oh yeah, we broke the family record. I'm pretty done with Splash Mountain for a little while.
The Last Disney Day and The Most Crowded One Wherein I Had A Headache.
New Years Eve was the worst day to go to Disneyland. it was way too crowded and I was grumpy. I had a headache and that was not a good thing. It was Elise's birthday, too.
I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. We had to watch "Captain E.O." to please Glenn. Weird. So weird.
And we went on Space Mountain again!
Funny Space Mountain picture. Elise is a super hero, Hannah is pumped, Andrew is screaming and I am plugging my ears (I had a headache, remember) which is opposite of how it usually is, and Wesley is proposing to Maren (I love how she looks like she's saying, "Oh my gosh, why is it you?"
Also, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. Awesome. It was fun. And then I went to sleep and woke up when the huge fireworks show shook the hotel.
Then We Drove Home on New Years Day and There Was No One On The Freeway
We went in for an ultrasound! It was due to health concerns about Andrew's kidneys and potential problems in there. I took pictures, of course.
Andrew and our funny ultrasound tech. We told him that we were tired of people asking us about babies, so we were pretending this was a baby. He was all for that.
What a cute little kidney.
"It is a little too early to tell the gender!"
I was evil and posted the picture on facebook, wondering how many people would simply see an ultrasound and assume I was having a baby. I was really surprised by the number of people who did so! Anyway, I'm not pregnant and there was nothing wrong with Andrew's kidney, so the mystery continues.
