A Thursday tradition

You know what's coming. It was poetry night. Here is my latest newborn poem, written to help me in the mourning process:

Suspicious...

Swine flu? Or Swine fluke
Thought up by some Duke
Feeling bored and having the urge--I am sure--
to instill fear in the hearts of all in the world
and keep Miss Dianey here, which is far
from that fiesta- siesta-filled splendid lugar.
It's far too ironic to be left to fate
that the trip would be canceled with just days to wait.
"That Spanish you learned? Those needles you felt...
We were really just kidding. Oh man, you got dealt!"
I'll let them all laugh and enjoy their cruel jest.
I'll pretend to be bitterly angry at best,
But deep down inside, I'm alright, feelin' fine,
For this disappointment created this rhyme.

For those who haven't yet learned Spanish, you really oughta. It's awesome.
fiesta= party (dancing, food, staying up really late, mariachi bands... just my style)
siesta= nap
lugar= place (Guadalajara. sigh.)

When Josh is famous someday...

... he's going to remember his friend Dianey Franny Face, and he will send her a free trip somewhere in the world because of their friendship. And as a thank you for his gift, Dianey will give him a ride in her hot air balloon wherever he'd like to go. It'll be the funnest thing since... breadboxes were invented.

[You can insert your name where I've written "Josh", if you're planning on being famous someday and your name happens to be something else. :) ]

I'm in a poetry club, and my friend Josh just added a super good poem to the blog. I thought it deserved a little attention.

Click here to read it.

Humor in a triste situation

Suzie emailed this picture to me. Somehow it made me feel a lot better. :) Don't worry... I'll survive. Maybe they'll offer the program for summer term.

It hasn't quite sunk in...

BYU sent me a hate note today:

"Due to the increasing threat of a potential swine flu epidemic, Spring Term international programs in Mexico will be cancelled."

*Sigh*

Probably the most bipolar week of my life

Right now I am feeling...
-Lonely: My best friend left on Wednesday and I won't see her for at least 18 months. There are so many things I'm used to telling her and only her, and there is only so much I can fit in a letter... and I don't get the instant gratification of her listening and talking right back to me.
-Mellow: I just got broken up with and strangely, I don't even mind in the slightest. It's the first time I've ever been on exactly the same page with someone. It all lasted about 5 days.
-Frustrated: I've been looking forward to and preparing for Mexico for months and months, only to receive an email stating that there's a chance the trip will be canceled due to the swine flu. I'm not really sure how I'll react if this life-changing experience gets tossed out the window. Maybe I would toss myself out the window too. (exaggeration: I'm too smart to stoop to suicide. But if the trip gets canceled, you can count on me having a date with Ben and Jerry, and enjoying a little P&P, a.k.a. Pride and Prejudice which, I'll have you know, is really 5 hours long and not 6 as so many people say. Each segment lasts 50 minutes and there are 6 segments. So unless you take breaks in between each one, you'll save that hour. What are you going to do with your extra hour??!??!?!?!?!???!?[Interrobang])
-Scared: If the trip isn't canceled, what if I get the swine flu? And then I'd be quarantined and cut off from all of my friends. :(
-Grateful: My brother just got married, and I love my new sister-in-law.
-Satisfied: I just sang Boston's "More than a Feeling" like the rocker I sometimes am inside. I needed it.
-Proud of myself: I ran two miles today somewhat easily, although I haven't been super consistent lately and assumed I was totally out of shape.
-Blessed: I can see so many ways that Heavenly Father is looking out for me. Someday I'll understand my circumstances, and probably when I'm not feeling a trillion emotions at once. Until then, I need to trust in His wisdom and stay on His path, being faithful even when things are happening that I can't even begin to understand.

Please forgive me for the journal entry type post this time. I just needed to get it all written down.

Robyn was so embarrassed...

when I did this to her in the middle of campus. :D (and I don't know why this is underlined... just play along. Thanks.)

Robyn left me this morning. I went to her house before she left to try on some clothes that she doesn't mind me borrowing for a year and a half. What a good friend! :) I'm sure going to miss her! :(

This ends my post-about-Robyn-every-day trend. I definitely still love and appreciate her a lot, but I'll just send that appreciation through letters to her instead of my blog, since she can't read it here anymore.

Robyn is going to be such an incredible missionary! Y'all should write her. Here's the address.

Bye Robyn!! I'll see you in... 546ish days. But who's counting?

Day #9: Run! It's the fuzz!

In High School, Robyn did the cutest thing ever. I'm not sure if it was something she got from someone else or not, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if she came up with it herself. She would leave really nice notes on people's cars and sign them from the "Smile Police", as if that lucky person were getting a ticket. This ticket naturally caused them to be happy just because Robyn is such a fabulous, infectiously happy friend.

I don't think it's too bold to say that I am always happy around Robyn-ey Wings Brough. And it's not because I'm afraid of being arrested and taken to a brightly colored room where they give you laughing gas, cheesecake, a scholarship, a boyfriend, and tickle you with feathers. It's because Robyn, even when giving tickets and naturally forcing others to smile, is my favorite.

I'm best friends with a cop.

Maybe she'll give me a doughnut. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Estoy famosa... otra vez. :)

My Hepe poem got put into the opinion page of the Daily Universe. If you didn't see it that day, you can check out this link. Woo hoo!

Day #8: Fest of Colors

Once upon a time, Robyn and I went with some boys to a strange place with stranger people doing the strangest things. Out in the middle of the country, with all the space you could hope for, these people grouped together in tight bunches: singing, dancing, chanting, smoking strange substances, and the weirdest part was when they threw packets of colored flour at each other's faces and laughed hysterically. Clouds of yellow, green, and a very potent pink surrounded the people and also the llamas which were coincidentally and randomly nearby. Many of these people (the ones not smoking the strange substances... hopefully) came from the University 20 minutes up the road, and were experiencing their own kind of euphoria just from being in such a strange atmosphere. BYU shirts and sweatshirts were seen everywhere, now sporting red, yellow, purple, and green along with the white and blue. With the same sort of temptation that explains the popularity of NCMOs in Provo, these students just wanted a chance to be crazy and act psycho in their celebration of spring.

Princess Di: age 7

A galloping child
knows nothing of guile
head crowned with golden flowers

Holes in the knees
of hand-me-down jeans
escaping the evil king's powers

She's frightened and still
she sprints down the hill
Eyes wide and breath short with excitement

The horses draw near
but the prince she can hear
to save her, much to her delightment

She climbs up a tree
from there she can see
him slaying the guards all around

The king runs away
Her prince saved the day!
He helps her back down to the ground

But now it gets dark
The forest's a park
Her playtime and daydreams are done

Thanking her friend*
for the fairy tale end
she goes home to sleep with the sun

*This friend (the prince) is intended to be imaginary.

Day #7: Life is a Highway

The only times I have ever broken the law or been tempted to do so, I was influenced by the soon-to-be Sœur Brough. One time, about a million years ago when I was still in High School, I was driving a car full of girls, and we were having a car chase with a car full of boys. We were ahead, naturally, but then we came to a roundabout.

Roundabouts are on my top 15 list of my greatest temptations in all the world. Also on the list are cheesecake and a chance to go swing on swings in the park. So, naturally, I wasn't satisfied until we had gone around and around 5 or 6 times. I guess the guys got dizzy before we did, because they got out of the roundabout before we did, and soon we were chasing them. Anyone who's been in the dating game knows that this just isn't natural. We knew we had to get ahead of them and let them do the chasing. My memory is a little fuzzy due to the euphoria of the evening, but I believe Robyn was in the front seat of that old brown '88ish toyota camary and her suggestion caused me to instantly become either incredibly brave, or stupid. I seem to remember her saying "Pass them!" and pretty soon, I was passing on the right, in a 25 mph zone, going much faster than that in order to do the passing, in a school zone (I just wanted to add that for emphasis... it was late at night, so school wasn't in session, therefore, this point is irrelevant)!!! It was pretty much the craziest driving stunt I've ever stunted in all my life.

I think she also convinced me one time to not stop at a stop sign as well.

Robyn has this sometimes quiet, sometimes excited way of encouraging me to do something crazy and spontaneous. But then, at the same time, she has a sometimes quiet, sometimes excited way of encouraging me to do the right thing in more important matters. Robyn is the best and has always helped to bring out the best in me.

Night #6: "Wow... it's like 2 am." "Let's watch a movie!"

I forgot to post yesterday... and the day before. How embarrassing!

Right now it's almost 1:30 am, and I've just started a movie (Cinderella, in case you were wondering), which makes me think of some good ol' times with Robyn. When Robyn and I were roommates, we used to bring our mattresses out into the front room and watch movies until we fell asleep. Somehow it was always so exciting to do this, even when Robyn would fall asleep within the first fifteen minutes, which was usually the case.

Day #5: An outsider's view of a cute little bird in her natural habitat

Robyn had some pretty sweet New Years and Fourth of July parties at her house, always involving fireworks, food, a promise to go hot-tubbing but never really doing it (at least I never have), immature High School boys, girls wanting to be noticed by the immature High School boys, and the immature High School boys paying much more attention to the other immature High School boys doing stupid things with the fireworks and eating all the food.

I really love going to Robyn's house. Her parents always call me "Dianey Face", hug me, and feed me. Her brother always says something snide, making me feel truly like a little sister. And Robyn always treats me just the same way she always treats me: like her best friend. This is why she lets me hug her parents, eat her food, and say something snide back to her brother.

One thing that I love about Robyn is how she is the same person no matter who she's with. She's so comfortable with who she is, that you can always count on her being herself and not putting on a mask (besides that one masquerade... pretend you hear that drumset noise that comes after a lame joke). A lot of people act like two different people: one around their family and one around their friends. But seeing Robyn in her home shows me that she knows who she is, and we can count on her being her incredible super-cute self all the time.

"Surely death has lost its sting."

I went to one of my favorite places in the whole world today: the cemetery. It was a beautiful day, and I looked forward to getting some pictures, but by the time I got there it was a little too dark for most of them to turn out. How wonderful to be there with the knowledge that Christ lives, and because of Him, we can all live again someday. I love having the truth in my life. It makes me feel such joy.




Here are lyrics of my favorite Easter song.

Day of Tears (Kenneth Cope)
A crown of thorns
A cross to bear
And sorrowing friends
following there

yet --
He speaks through His grief
"Weep not for me."
How can we hold back these tears?

יום עגמה day of sorrow
יום של דמעות day of tears
day of tears

the tearing flesh
the trembling nerves
some now bow in jest
and mock His thirst

and still from His lips
"Father forgive."
How could they slay their Lord?
יום עגמה day of sorrow
יום של דמעות day of tears
day of tears

now asleep
rest in peace, Jesus Lord
with love we come
to wash away where hate hath marred
but can it be?
now we see no grave can hold Thee in
death has an end
Thou lives again!

יום של שמחה day of gladness
יום של דמעות day of tears
יום פלא day of wonder
יום של דמעות day of tears
tears of joy
joy
tears of joy

Day #4: "...make it last forever, friendship never ends..."

I've been to a lot of dances with Robyn over the years. Date dances, stag dances, stake dances, even a masquerade once.

One thing that I love about Robyn is her love for the Spice Girls. It really surprised me the first time she mentioned this to me, because when I was little I thought the Spice Girls were so bad, I'm not really sure why. Maybe they were or maybe I'm just judgmental: there's no way of knowing now because I have too much pride to google them and find out more. The image of Robyn as a little girl, singing along with Baby, Sporty, Thyme and Lemon Pepper just seemed out of place with all this innocence that I assumed defined her.

I recall that she especially loved/s that song: "Now tell me what you want, what you really really want..." I remember one date dance in particular when this song came on and Robyn's enthusiasm made all the girls dance like everyone was watching. And they were, let me tell you.

Not my favorite picture... but... unless I were to scan some hilariously awkward pictures from the High School days, this is all I've got. Hmmmm. Maybe I shall. :)

Day #3: The alliance of two spacially efficient girlies

Once upon eight months, Robyn and I were roommates. To be accurate, I'd have to say we were for twelve months, but this story takes place when we lived in the BC, which we did for eight months precisely. Eight wonderful, memorable months. I really love a lot of things about that apartment complex, but one problematic thing is the three person per room arrangement. The designers of the apartments were just asking for chaos.

In our room, whenever there were two sides of an argument, battle, or war, it would almost always be Robyn and I against our third wonderful but unnamed (for privacy purposes) roommate. Sometimes, if the stars were aligned just right, Robyn and I would be simultaneously super hyper, right when our roommate would be wanting to sleep. Times like these were really really fun.

There is a story I'd like to share at this point, but feel as though my unnamed roommate would be too embarrassed even in her anonymous state. It was an incident dealing with a headlamp... that's all I'm going to say.

I'm sorry if these stories are vague or confusing, and if you feel left out for not understanding. But this is my tribute to Robyn, and I'm confident she knows what I'm talking about.

A poem describing how it feels to go take a test as late as you possibly can without preparing much before hand.

Hepe. Not happy.
Please don't confuse the two.
No trace of mirth is on my face:
I don't know what to choose!

For "A" seems reasonable I s'pose,
But "B" could also be true,
And "C" has words I can't define.
I haven't got a clue.

I tightly squeeze my tired eyes
And hear the clock race on.
No inspiration to my mind.
I stifle my tenth yawn.

Filling in my last best guess,
I race back down the stairs
And give no glance to that crude screen.
It's Hepe, man. Who cares?

Day #2: MLK day deserves to be celebrated in style

Once upon a time (in the month of January and the year 2007 to be precise) we decided to go up to the land where the wind only blew once, and it's still blowing: Rexburg, Idaho. The decision was made partly because we really love our friend Marybeth, and partly because we needed to get out of Provo. We sang along to Wicked, Rascal Flatts, and "Taylor, the Latte Boy" all the way up. We went in the depths of January, and it was so cold, our boogers froze. I'm so glad we had that experience together. Not many people can empathize; but Robyn can.


Road trips are the best with Robyn-ey Wings. You should try it some time.

PS: I know that it seems that I've posted twice today, but the last one was posted in the wee hours of the morning and I'm having it count for yesterday. :)

Day #1

of these two Robyn Brough appreciation weeks.

In two weeks from today (well... yesterday technically I guess... I'm still denying that it's so soon), Robyn will enter the MTC to prepare for a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Paris, France. She's going to be the bestest, cutest little missionary ever! I'm super excited for her to have this experience, jealous of France for their chance to have her, and a little sad for me. But it'll be alright.

These next two weeks, I'm going to post a memory or story of her every day. I hope you enjoy. And if only Robyn ends up reading these, that's okay with me!

The first time I really bonded with Robyn was at Taco Bell our Junior year of High School (2004 I believe). Before that, I had known her and we had mutual friends, but I just thought that we were so different; too different to ever be good friends. She got straight A's, I mean 4.0s for crying out loud, was in tons of honor societies, took AP classes like crazy and just was the most brilliant, perfect girl that could do no wrong. I saw no fault with her (and even now have a hard time finding any), and compared myself to her as being disorganized, messy, irresponsible, chubby and just plain average. How could we possibly have anything in common?

That night, we ate fake Mexican food, and talked, most likely grabbing a few extra straws to see if any boys were thinking about us and then try to flick them and break them (or maybe the straw thing came later... I'm not sure). Somewhere between the taco crunching and straw flicking, we really opened up to each other. I'm sure the base of the conversation was about boys we liked, and not too much has changed over the years. :) I am so grateful for that night at Taco Bell.


Here we are as cute little High Schoolers, in front of my house. We're pretty darn cute, but I'd venture to say we're even cuter now. ;)

Out of the mouth of a babe

John says cute things sometimes. Most times. And sometimes I just have to write them down. Like this time. Right now. I feel like I'm a mom who has special pride in her hilarious kid.

"You're so beautiful to my eyes."
"Be brave, young one."
"You're one of a kind."

One time I was getting a syringe ready just to help push some fluid through a tube that John uses to eat. It's pretty routine... he sees me do it every day. But that day he gave me this shocked face and said "Are you going to kill me?!" Laughter ensued.

Countdown

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This is why I love D.I.

Don't forget your towel...

This has been the busiest semester of my life so far. Maybe it's because I'm working and going to school, but I've done that before, so I'm not sure what the reason is. I'm only taking 15.5 credits and I'm always running around like crazy with so much to do. It's been hard to prioritize. Do I skip a meal here and there? Skip sleep? Skip showers? Neglect friends? Let the grades suffer? How can I possibly do it all? I think it'll be interesting to go straight from this busy crazy semester to Mexico, where (as far as I understand it) life goes at a much slower pace. They take time to enjoy life in each moment, and aren't always focusing on squeezing as much into their schedules as humanly or inhumanly possible.

But until then, I have to survive these next two or three weeks. It's times like these that I wish I had a time machine.

And then this morning when I chose to not skip the shower, I realized that I have one. I've had it all along. Are you sitting down? I'm about to share my most treasured and significant secret.

The shower is a time machine.

Think about it! You get into it, and when you get back out again, 5-20 minutes have gone by. Now, I figure that the special dials that you would expect to see in a time machine are labeled "H" and "C", which are most definitely abbreviations in a foreign or maybe even extra-terrestrial language. The farther you turn the "H" dial, the farther in the future you'll go. I usually turn this dial some, but not all the way. This is why when I leave the bathroom again, I've only gone 10ish minutes into the future and not months or years. I assume the "C" dial takes you into the past, but I wouldn't know... I've never tried it.

You may be skeptical, but hear me out (or read me through, rather). In our culture, the richer you are, the more bathrooms you have in your house. The time machines get fancier, with all kinds of extra features, and even seats for comfort if the journey is long. And with more time machines, more people can experience this phenomenon at the same time. And yet, no one has realized the power of it. We gripe about how things were in the good ol' days, or how we wish we could be graduated, married, and happy with a family and a boat already, but we never think that it could be as simple as taking a shower.

Despite his brilliance, there is one thing that the inventor of this extraordinary machine didn't quite think through. If I ever succeeded in getting into another time dimension, I'd be naked and too embarrassed to get out.

Happy Dishonesty Day!

Wanna make people really mad? Save all your gags for tomorrow. They'll never expect it.

Google always does something funny for April Fools... I thought today's was funny.

CONTEST! Comment and let me know the best April Fools joke that you did/saw/were a victim of today.

Mine (so far) was when my Statistics professor was going through complicated equations really fast, and we were all writing them down, as confused as ever. And then he wrote on the overhead as his conclusion, "April Fools!" He was just so dead-pan about it, it was great!