What a weekend!

Since we bought our car, we knew that our clutch would soon need to be replaced. It caught really late (if you know what that means) and needed a lot of gas to start up. Plus, as far as we knew, it had never been replaced and it had 82k on it.
We were going to the temple on Saturday (the 20th) with our friends, the Messicks. This temple:


















When we were getting nearby, we hit a little bit of traffic. Stupid LA. Well, since I had to slow down, I had to down-shift...and the car didn't like that. See, when the clutch goes out, driving at high gears isn't too bad, but at low gears (and stop and go) it revs a lot and the clutch doesn't catch until waaaayyy later. Well, I knew the clutch went out. I told them that we could still make it back home as long as I could get up to 65. We got to the temple and went in on one side and the gate was closed...and we were faced with a huge hill!! The car could barely make it up in 1st. That's bad. We had to go all the way around the block to get to the other side of the temple and the car was not working. To get through the other gate there was another hill (of course, temples are always on hills!!) and Billy, Jason, and Nicole all had to get out and push our poor little Corolla up the hill. We parked and were about to go in the temple. It was around 3:30pm.
Billy then thought that we should take care of this now, since later it will be later and might not be able to happen. We made lots of calls to AAA. We got a tow truck to bring our little car and Billy and I to a repair shop less than a mile away. We were pretty sure that late in the day our car wouldn't be done by the end of the day, so we looked at some rental car places that were all CLOSED.
Nicole and Jason stayed at the temple and just chilled. I felt a little bad, but they didn't complain and we had bigger problems. We got the car to Pep Boys and got them to take it. Then we had to call a cab to LAX airport because their rental car places were the only ones still open. Cab rides suck and they're expensive.
We got to Enterprise rental where Billy had already made a reservation. That was quick. We got ourselves a sweet car (not really). It's a Chevy Impala that someone has definitely smoked in. We took the car back to the temple. On our way there, Billy and I were talking. At first we were a little miffed. Here we are doing something good--going to the temple--and our car breaks down! Becomes un-driveable. Then we thought of some other things:

1. Our car broke when we were basically at our destination. Not somewhere in the middle. We were already there and could deal with it in a comfortable place.
2. We were able to take care of everything within 2 hours.
3. The car broke on the weekend and NOT while I was driving to my first day of work on Monday. That would not have made a great impression.
4. We broke down in a city where there WERE places open that late on a Saturday (and Sunday, Pep Boys is still open on Sunday). Santa Barbara might not even have that.
5. While the car was not driveable by the time we parked at the temple, Billy, Jason, and I all have AAA, the car got towed for free. The dude couldn't even back the car out of the parking spot. We had to push it.
6. More things

We began to think that we were actually really lucky. Lucky in spite of it all. Also, we were still able to go to the temple. Initially, I just felt like going home. I was tired, we had been running around everywhere. Then I remembered that we came to LA to go to the temple. If we didn't go to the temple, it would mean that we came to LA to break our car. Plus, we all needed a little de-stressing. Not to mention I was wearing heels the whole time and was looking forward to more comfortable shoes/slippers. We went to the temple.
We got out of our session at almost 9pm. Jason and Nicole offered--no, more like told us that they were buying us dinner. We found a Red Robin on the way home and all had good but very greasy food and felt better/really full. We got home from our temple trip at midnight, exhausted.

The next day at around 11 the guy from the repair shop called us and said our car would be ready at 5. Cool. We went to church, stayed for sacrament meeting, and then left. I got my friend Nicole to sub for my class in Primary. It was super awesome of her. We drove the rental back to LA to the repair shop, paid way too much for our car, and then caravan-ed over to Enterprise.
Let me tell you, driving this car is like driving a new car. The clutch is so springy and full of life! Our car doesn't seem as gutless anymore and it's super zippy. We dropped off the rental with more than enough time to spare--our car was actually done earlier than the guy said it would! Then we drove home and got home at about 7:30pm. It's been quite a ride, but I'm really glad that I have my car for my first day of work. A couple of my first paychecks are going to be paying for this adventure, but it all worked out and we were actually quite lucky in some ways. I am happy that Billy and I could handle it so well and that we had the Messicks to help us out in more than a couple of ways.

The Moroni Awards

Well, I was really gearing up all week for this awesome activity we were invited to. It was for the YSA ward (El Camino Ward) but we were invited (everyone knows us from Institute). So people or groups of people make a video (it was supposed to be about 3 minutes long each) to enter. Of course it has to have church standards--not hard. Also, everyone dressed formally--like movie stars!! The plan was that you walk in on the red carpet/butcher paper and our own personal paparazzi (a student of Brooks College--photography school--from the ward) took your picture. People would mingle, then gourmet food would be served. Then we would show the movies, like a film festival. There were a good number of videos, like around 15. Then they planned on having some time for dancing and then they would present the awards.
A couple of things didn't work out. It was a great activity nonetheless. Here's what happened.
Our friend Thomas is the activities chair and he was heading up the whole thing. Great idea Thomas!
Thomas was planning on getting little Moroni statues for the awards. He found some on this new website for an ok price and bought a bunch of them. Well, this business owner didn't seem to be giving very much attention to his online store. It seemed like he was running this online business after his day job. There was some messes, the guy was like, hey I overcharged you for shipping! I'll throw in some extra Moroni's! Ok, fine. Except Thomas paid for 3 day shipping--he wasn't overcharged (I think this is how the story goes). So Thomas emails him or something and the guy responds "Oh don't worry, they'll be there by Saturday when you need them"
Except the activity was yesterday (Friday). Thomas said well hey I wanted them by Thursday. The guy offers a refund and Thomas holds off and says that we'll wait to see if they come on Friday. They don't.
Thomas later told me that the guy had never sent the order form to the warehouse. They weren't on their way at all. Thomas will be getting a refund and hopefully a really nice apology. They used certificates instead, it was great.
Our friend Jason goes to culinary school and he's a great chef. He was told he needed to make gourmet food for 75 people. Overcounting, but they wanted to be safe. I took Jason to Costco and bought a LOT of food for the activity and we brought it back to our house--we are house-sitting and the refrigerator had some room. So then the next day (Friday, the day of the activity) Jason forgot that he had to work. He worked and he was over our house by 4PM and the activity started at 7PM. I told him I would help. We worked on so many things, the kitchen was full of huge dishes full of chicken and little tiny breads and such. Billy helped--he cut goat cheese and he hates getting near cheese, what a trooper! It was just the 3 of us. At 6:45 we called Thomas and said he needed to re-schedule the program so that they ate a little later--not 7:15. We had to cut the seared scallops from the meal. We had to cut some edges, it was crazy in the kitchen. Then we loaded it all up into our cars and drove to the stake center and we still weren't done when we got there. A bunch of people showed up and we were all putting the last bits on the appetizers. Then we could finally serve those but we still had to finish cooking the chicken. It was all so ridiculous, there were a bunch of vegetarians that Jason was going to make some ravioli for but the stove didn't get hot enough to boil water hardly. The food was delicious, I wish we could have had it as he intended it, but he didn't have time. Luckily we were able to help him. We were working in the kitchen putting together the food through all the movies until the last 2 or 3. They played ours second to last. It was amazing.

We made our movie the night before. We started at about 6:30 or 7 and submitted it to Thomas on the internet around 1:30 or 2AM. Billy had a lot of homework to do, and so he couldn't be in it. We were all bummed about that, but he was still involved because Billy and I came up with the concept of the movie. It starred me, Nick, and Jason. It's called "Science Fiction with real SCIENCE!!!" It's really good, you should check it out, especially since IT WON BEST PICTURE

in our acceptance speech, Jason thanked the 80's, Nick said, "Well, come on, we pretty much know we're the best", I thanked our gaffer, Billy (I listed him as a gaffer since he couldn't be in it, he gaffed the crap out of our film), and Billy thanked Sean Penn. I think maybe 8 people in the whole audience got Billy's joke.
It was a really fun night and it ended with an after-party (a small one) at our house. All we did was watch our movie, some funny hulu clips from SNL or something, and then we watched "Waking Ned Divine." Once the hot tub was hot, nearly everyone went home and only 2 people came in the hot tub with us. Oh well. The kitchen is all cleaned up, it's like it never happened! What a great night.

Here's our video: http://vimeo.com/4898836
Peace!

7 Classic Disney movies that taught us terrible lessons

http://www.cracked.com/article_16905_p2.html
Very funny

our list

Billy and I have talked about this for a while and I think it's about time we forge a tentative list. We were talking about things that feel so good, they're almost orgasmic. Here it is:

• Putting a Q-tip far enough into your ear canal and twisting it around a little
• Rubbing your bare feet against rough carpet for a long time
• When other people scratch your skull
• When you drink a bunch of soda/bubbly stuff and your bending over so your stomach is kind of crunched up and then you let out a huge burp
• the morning dump. or after-mexican food dump.
• Shower head spraying the back of your neck/head
• Morning stretches and yawns that crack your back
  
• Drinking hot chocolate and you can feel the warm going all the way down

That's what we have so far. Our friend Thomas helped for some of them, and feel free to add to the list!

well it's finals week again

I have to tell you, our apartment is its cleanest during finals week. Instead of studying, I find out things that I have to do that definitely take priority over my grades (which is my full-time job, basically).
So Billy went to San Jose a couple of days after Thanksgiving for a funeral. All of that is posted up on his blog, Schulk Hogan's Heroes. While he was gone, I didn't have a car, but I walked down to K-Mart (which I hate, but it's close. I always feel like I've hit rock bottom when I walk in there, because it's a particularly gross one) and got some Christmas stuff like lights, cheap stockings, and a garland. I had already gotten a small 3' tree and made some awesome ornaments. Anyway, I decorated the place for Christmas while he was gone, even though I didn't really have time to do it. He was surprised because I also cleaned up our house which was destroyed. It looks so good! I was really happy to do it, and I'm getting into the Christmas music, too. I put some of that on and it was all ready for when he came in the house on Wednesday night. We enjoyed it for a little bit together, talking about his trip, and then we both had to get a LOT of work done.
As for school, finals week is this next week. I have already taken two of my finals. One was for Beginning Ballet (no problems there) and the other was for my Biochemistry lab class. I feel like this entire quarter that I was struggling in all of my classes just enough because all of my time went into this one. Then we took the final early (which was hard!! of course) and now it's over. Wow. Except that I have two more quarters because it's a one year sequence but I can't believe how hard I have worked and how much I have learned about biochemistry laboratory techniques and their background. It's pretty ridiculous. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty smart about it, especially since I was in the top 4 of the class somewhere. The class average was a 55%, and I had a 57 without one lab grade and the final counted into my total score. That means that my score will go up a lot while the class average will go up maybe a couple of points. Yay! I'm so shocked. Now I just have to worry about passing my other classes, which I actually do have to worry about. Like I said I've been struggling all quarter.

Some crazy stuff happens around school a lot, but I never have a camera and I don't have time to update this enough so I forget. I'll try to do it a couple times a week once school starts, but it's ending this week. Oh well.
Well, we are going to be doing some exciting things soon! Our ward Christmas program is December 21 so we have to stay in town at least that long because Billy plays piano for the choir, and I'm in the choir along with a women's trio number for the program. That said, we'll have over a week of no school to fill in Santa Barbara. We are going to do things that we've always wanted to do!! We've heard that the Christmas lights on some of the houses here are super ridiculous so we're going to drive around and look for some monsters. Maybe I'll take pictures and maybe I'll post them. Who knows?
Also we're going to go shopping for Christmas presents for each other/me. I basically need clothes so we're going to shop together and that's what Billy's gift to me will be--letting me buy things for myself! I like that idea!!
Also, about 30-40 minutes north of us is a little town called Solvang. It's a Danish village. Like literally. The architecture looks all Danish and cute and I've been really wanting to go there for a night or something and walk around downtown and stuff. Well we're going!! We're staying at a nice hotel mid-week so it's cheaper and we're going to walk down Copenhagen street. One thing we are DEFINITELY going to see in Solvang is a little Danish bakery. Not only are Danish goods delicious, but every Christmas the baker makes a 8'x10'x11' gingerbread house. That's right, that's about as big as our tiny bedroom :P I'm SO excited to see the gingerbread, it's almost worth the entire trip and we'll get to spend a cute little weekend together in a cute little town AND our hotel room has a fireplace!! How cool is that?! Other than those things, we'll just hang around a lot for that week before we go up to San Jose for Christmas. I'm excited about all of our plans. You'd think that because I basically spend every day with Billy, that maybe I'd want a change of scene or something. Well, not just because I love him do I want this, but during the everyday times that I hang around Billy we're stressed out a lot from school and we just do different homework together. We have a lot of fun, but we both like to go do things together outside of our little apartment. We're in here so much doing work and coming outside to somewhere different feels like a vacation! Anyway, I'm glad I updated and I'll try to do it more (after finals!) and good luck to everyone else in finals and other preparations for Christmas and the end of the year!! :)

Indecision 2008

You know, I am not sad or scared that people Baracked the vote. I saw it coming anyway, and quite honestly I don't think that he will "screw everything up." Billy has looked into him cutting out all of the election falsehoods and he seems pretty good. His tax plan isn't going to ruin your life, he's not an Islamic extremist or a communist. I think the country does need change, and maybe this will be a good thing. I do hope that congress isn't filibuster-proof, so those last 4 seats need to be divided or made red. In any case, Barack Obama isn't going to ruin this country. Hey, he will probably do some good! And we'll get to tell our kids we remember the first black president. Good for America. I really wasn't sure if we were ready for it, I hope we are.

Regarding the California Propositions, I feel pretty good. Proposition 8 passed by a pretty good margin. It was a tough decision for California to make. I can definitely understand the opposition. That is, taking away civil rights from a group of people. Also the opposition argued separation of church and state. The problem is, this proposition violated that as it is. Today in this country, we see marriage as a legal institution and also a religious institution. The problem is, which is it? Of course we want to keep it a religious institutions because there are many religions that hold marriage sacred and have specific rituals or what-have-you that are performed according to their faith and belief. However, there are also people that choose not to have any religious presence at their wedding, and so for them it is a legal institution. Also, we need our religious marriages to be recognized by the state, so they have legal aspects to them. The point is, we were already conflicted. There wasn't too much separation of church and state, because they HAD to mesh together for marriages.
For those that say Proposition 8 takes away "basic human rights," I think I just have fundamental beliefs that disagree. I don't see marriage as a human right. Isn't marriage something that was created? I mean, basic human rights would be the right to live and be free. I suppose you could argue pursuit of happiness. I can't really counter that, because I don't think marriage is a "basic" human right. I do think it is a wonderful blessing which anyone should take part in. Of course, there are restrictions like don't marry your brother, a cow, or more than one person. These restrictions are put in place to define marriage a certain way. Marriage has been between a man and woman for thousands of years. It has stayed that way not just because of tradition but because it has worked. With same-gender marriage, this widely time-tested ideal that was marriage was violated. I am not against gays. I have gay friends. But I do believe that marriage, as a word and an idea, is between a man and woman. I think that gay couples should have the same rights and priveleges. The very same. I think that is not called marriage. Marriages between man and woman versus marriages between same-gender couples involve different types of people and should be labeled as different. In fact, civil unions give the same legal rights as marriage does. Many opponents of proposition 8 say that this is not true, but it is. Now, there are some problems as to when the couple wants hospital visits or make decisions for their partner. I'm not sure about this, I think it is unclear. But I think that they could be fighting that issue.
I don't think that Proposition 8, if it did not pass, would have totally taken away religious freedoms. I do think that some would be compromised. There are some lawsuits already against church ministers, wedding photographers, caterers, and many involved in the wedding and marriage industry that will probably be dropped now that Proposition 8 passed. Those people do not want to serve under an ideal that they don't accept. I respect that. I think others should. Churches would probably not lose their tax-exempt status due to our California Constitution--we have things that protect us from that. Let's think of it this way: Pick a religion. Any Judeo-Christian religion will do. Let's say that you truly with all of your heart believe that religion is true. You believe the doctrine, it is sound to you and you get comfort and meaning from your life because you understand more about life and God because of this religion. If you do truly believe in this religion, which (all Judeo-Christian religions) says that homosexuality is a sin, then you cannot condone that. You know with all of your heart that this religion is true, and that homosexuality is a sin. I feel like many agnostic/athiest/whatever believing people are not thinking of this. I cannot condone homosexuality because of my religious belief that I know to be true. I know it. I feel sad about that, but I feel like my feelings and my belief was not being addressed or taken into account. It's hurtful being called a bigot or intolerant when I am not being tolerated. I think today we are over-tolerant over many things, but why are religious people always to blame? Maybe I'm feeling some heat living in California, but if tolerance is the theme of this century (which it's looking more and more like this is the case) then I want some. Maybe faith isn't something you can understand, but I have it.
I am happy about Proposition 8 passing. I do not want to discriminate, I want gay couples to have all the same rights and priveleges that I do as a married person. I hope they do.

I would also like to point out that more people voted to give farm animals more room than to vote to give more money to children's hospitals. Great job, bleeding-heart animal freaks from California. I don't know how Prop 2 will affect very much, but I hope it doesn't cripple our egg industry because eggs are a big deal in California. This makes me sound like I'm heartless, and to make a half joke/half truth, would you give more room to prisoners on death row?

Prop 1A I voted no on, just because I feel that now isn't a good time. I do think it's a cool idea and I hope it pans out without the costs going up more than what we voted for. It is a pretty cool design, and I hope to take advantage of it.

Prop 4 I voted yes on, and it didn't pass. I didn't think it would, in reality. I don't think it will send pregnant teens into dark alleys with coat hangers. I think it would slow down sexual crimes because there would be a larger, more real consequence. In fact, in states that passed similar measures, this was the case. Oh well, people love women's choice. You know, the choice came before the abortion. The choice came when they had sex. There are consequences to that, as we've all learned. STD's and pregnancy, which can all prevented against. Grow up.

I'm actually surprised that so many measures passed (especially when I voted no on most of them). I won't go through them all, because they weren't controversial :P But I am overall happy with the election and I hope that Barack Obama proves to be a great president like so many already believe he will. Bring it.

You can't beat this

So I was looking around for pumpkin stencils which I have never really used (correctly). Billy put me up to a challenge, and I OWNED IT.






There is no pumpkin geekier than mine. In fact, I looked at that pumpkin and said, "That pumpkin could be more....sonic."