Just a-walkin' down the street.

Today, I met the man of my dreams.

His name is Jared.

I was on the way to the Testing Center to take a test, and he asked me about my LBJ button.

Good start.

(haha.)

So I told him I like presidents.

He said he liked presidents, too!

What?

He said,

"I was just watching Kennedy's inaugural address, actually.

I just love that stuff.

It feeds my soul.

You know,

'Ask not what your country can do for you,

but what you can do for your country.'

I started crying in the library.

It was so embarrassing.

I teared up just now just talking about it."

I looked at him, and it was true.

There was a glint in his eye!

I mostly walked in silence because I was so dumbfounded.

I've been wondering for a long time where all the other people are in the world who would wear retro campaign buttons on their backpacks.

I think I just found him!

Then he went into the JSB to go to class. And I continued on to the Testing Center.

He told me his name was Jared, and I said I was Rachel, and he said,

"Nice to meet you, Rachel-lover-of-presidents."

Don't worry.

I did a ring check,

and we're clear.

So now, I just need to run into him again somehow, and we'll fall into beautiful, historical love. 

The end.

Life Is Hard.

Sometimes you're Emma;

sometimes you're Harriet.

Disappointment.

I just finished watching "The Blind Side."

It was good.

But I'm really disappointed because Michael and Leigh Anne 

never said,

"I love you."

Mothers and sons love each other--

they just do.

Teaching moments.

Whenever I can,

I take the opportunity to teach boys what

gingham

is.

I have found that generally their knowledge of gingham is limited.

But it's a nice little fabric, see?

Makes you feel like a pioneer.

(=best feeling in the world)

A happy little story.

Once upon a time,

two things that I wanted to have happen

happened

at the same time.

I think it was written in the stars.

The end.

Twenty-One Guns.

Yesterday, I turned 21.

The phrase

one year older and wiser, too.

is actually true in this instance.

This was me two years ago:

-Turning 19.

-Just figuring out how to succeed in college.

-Grasping at straws.

-Longest hair of my life.

-Learning to accept constructive criticism.

-Coming close to being in love.

-Experiencing major self-doubt.

This was me one year ago:

-Turning 20.

-Wearing a diva hat.

-Languishing in timidity.

-Trying to increase in charity.

-Worring about the future.

-Making new friends.

-Staring a blog.

-Experiencing major self-doubt.

This was me yesterday:

-Turning 21.

-Experiencing love to consume my flesh.

-Unsure about the future.

-Relishing in the present.

-Realizing people > school.

-Gaining opportunities at work.

-Experiencing minor self-doubt.

It's not that I'm perfect now,

but I can really see how I've grown in the last 365 days.

I find this comparison illustrative:

My 20th birthday was on Monday night,

and we had FHE at the bishop's house.

Someone told him it was my birthday,

and his wife made cake.

There were a few FHE groups there,

but I only knew my roommates.

Everyone there sang to me,

and it was questionable whether some of the people

would know what name to fill into the song.

On my 21st birthday, I had a party,

and approximately 70 people stopped by.

SEVENTY.

I told my roommate that last year, I only had like 10 friends.

So now I have 7x more friends.

And next year, I'll have 70 x 7 

:)

Just haven't met you yet.

Do you ever have relationships in your head

with people that you see on campus?

I do.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Listen, it's not that weird.

This is how the story goes:

Once upon a time way last year, I took Living Prophets from Lloyd Newell.

There was this guy in my class.

And I found him...

handsome.

The good kind of handsome--the kind that you have to look twice to notice.

I was reminded of him last summer,

when I saw an article in a magazine that made me think of him.

And now this semester,

I

see

him

everywhere.

Crossing campus.

On the sidewalk near my house.

Often when I leave the office around 5 pm,

I see him in the lobby of the building where I work.

Once, I caught him eyeing my Greek textbook.

So now, I usually make longer-than-could-be-attributed-to-happenstance eye contact when I see him.

Sometimes I wonder if he notices.

I wonder if he recognizes me.

He always seems to be looking up when I walk by.

Today, I walked down the hall at about that time,

wondering whether he would be there.

I turned the corner

and he was.

And then I thought seriously about what would happen if I said,

"Hey, this is really weird, but we once had a class together,

and I just find you really handsome."

(And then I went home and facebook stalked him.

He's really clever and interesting, by the way.)

The end.

Life's boring if you're not just a little creepy.

Long words!

I'm glad to be a 90s kid.

When I was little, I somehow learned to say

Slobodan Milosevic.

I guess it was funny to hear a little five-year-old say a name that long.

I remember how weird it was when I later learned who he was.

I had no idea there was a war in Europe going on.

A war in Europe! During my lifetime! 

Neighbors fighting against neighbors,

killing,

destruction,

everything.

Not to mention Africa or the Middle East or any of the other places that have suffered turbulent times in the last twenty years.

In a world that had MTV and cassette tapes,

I just think we should have been able to put wars behind us.

Being from America,

I feel so far removed from war.

Geographically,

temporally.

There was a war affecting millions of people,

and all I knew of it was that that name was fun to say.

I do remember precisely when Princess Diana died.

I was six years old.

I came downstairs one day, and my dad was watching about it on the news.

I think I remember the Clinton impeachment.

I remember the aftermath of the Columbine shootings.

I remember when the internet came out.

It's interesting to live life

and look back and realize that it was history.

But it is waking up and going to bed,

day in and day out,

that eventually fills up the pages of the book.

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.