Twilight (For Melanie)

Dear Melanie (and anyone else who would like to read this),
I don't quite know how I feel about Twilight. For several years now I have been avoiding reading it purely because everyone else HAS read it. I don't know why I sometimes like to have distinction because of things I do not do, but that is just how I am. Anyway, you raved about it and told me that I should read it. I have begun, I am about half way through. Let me tell you what I think of it: It is interesting, it is easy and entertaining, but it doesn't really make any sense. Now of course things don't have to make sense for them to be enjoyable (I for one love Star Wars....wait, if you consider the role of the Force, it DOES make sense....), but when it comes to loveyness, it had better make at least some sense or I cannot see past the practicality (or lack of practicality) to the enjoyable mushiness on the other side. Edward and Bella's relationship is not very impressive to me, they do not have a good foundation for all the smooching they do, haha. Okay, I know there was that one chapter where Edward asked Bella every question on the face of the planet to get to know her...but that only took a day or two. Real love takes longer, I'm quite sure. Don't be offended Mel, it is okay because it is just a story, just don't go looking for some boy with glittering skin that thinks you smell so good he wants to drink your blood....
But keep enjoying that poster (the-most-amazing-birthday-present-ever) and the books and just don't get too crazy or start thinking that pale beautiful people must all be vampires. Oh, and you promised that if I read Twilight you would read Dracula! Now that is an amazing book, get to it!

Okay, it's not like it has been over a month or anything since I last posted... Alright so school has been busy, things have been happening, I've been ignoring my blog. But now, what with Jana starting the Hardman Gallery blog, I have been re-encouraged to keep up my own blog. So I shall post about something...think, think think... Oh, I know! The cleaning check saga...
So once upon a time there was a young girl who slaved away all day going to work and school. She lived in a modest little apartment with 5 lovely roommates. One day there appeared on their counter a cleaning check packet. The young girl decided she would pick an assignment and get to work on right away. She decided to choose to do one of the bathrooms because she felt like it would be soothing to get on her hands and knees and scrub something. So she did her best with her limited supplies, including and limited to paper towels and windex.....
The young girl then left for the weekend to visit her family in a far away land. Upon her return she discovered that the mistress of the cleaning checks had issued her the worst thing imaginable: a "fail". The young girl was devastated and confused. What had she done wrong? She felt she had done her duty rather well with only paper towels and windex. However she respected the authority of her superiors and decided with fierce determination that failure was not acceptable, and she would not fail again. She woke up early one morning and trekked to the local market place to buy proper cleaning supplies. She worked all morning vigorously, hoping that it would be enough. She then left her apartment to attend to her other duties. Upon her return she discovered that the mistress of cleaning checks had again visited, and issued her....a "pass"! The young girl was ecstatic! The mistress had even said that the young girl's performance was "fabulous". And thus we see that one should always do one's duty the best of his or her ability the FIRST time.

The Start of a New Season

I apologize to any of my loyal readers (haha), things have been so very busy that I haven't had time to write. My time is constantly claimed, from Monday morning to Friday Afternoon, but it is a good productive sort of business. I began Fall 2008 a few weeks ago and it has been really good. Here is my list of classes:
1. Hebrew 201 (crazy 2nd level Hebrew....I'm still not sure why I'm learning Hebrew other than the fact that it helps with my GE's, not many other people do it, and I have a Hebrew Selections from the Book of Mormon that I want to read better).
2. Doctrine & Covenants, 1st half. This is an amazing class! Brother Dorius (he is on the high council with dad) is a wonderful teacher.
3. Family History. Um, Dear Jana and Bonnie, I am catching the bug! I am seriously considering changing my minor from Family Life to Family History. Would this be okay with you oh-so-genius family history majors?
4. Physics. This is a really fun special section for pre-Elementary Ed majors. We do fun experiments and talk about how we can teach the concepts to kids.
5. Strengthening Marriage and Family. This is a great class taught by brother Nelson (in our ward) based on the principles of the Family Proclamation.
Okay those are my classes. Other than going to class all the time I work part-time at the BYU Evening Classes office. Some things I am liking doing right now: Writing to missionaries (one in particular, but I love writing to them all), volunteering at the MTC for Teaching Appointments, visiting my family, doing random things with roommates, and watching Stargate.
Well, that is my life right now. It is a lot of work, but it makes time go by more quickly and that is something I LOVE right now. Okay, I hope you all are well!

Okay, so I've kind of been afraid to actually invite people to read this blog. I don't really think I have too much that is exciting for you to read. Melanie has been my one invited person but I think I'll take the plunge and invite the rest of the fam, and perhaps a few friends too. Living in a BYU apartment for 2 days has been interesting-already people have been surprised that I don't have that amazing facebook account. Anyway, here is my means of staying connected to those I love most. Oh, and here is a picture of Captain Moroni to give you courage :).

A Spanner in the Works

So I work at the BYU Evening Classes Office and we get all sorts of interesting people applying for night school. The most interesting (in my opinion) are the international students that come in. When I can understand what language they are speaking, they are most fun to talk to. I had this jolly chap from Australia call in the other day and ask about the application process. After I told him about it I guess he found it favorable because he said "Champion!" and told me he'd start applying right away. Champion!? I think we definitely need to start saying this. I received an email from this same Aussie student asking a few questions about this and that. He told me that he wanted to apply to BYU because his school in Australia has "thrown me a spanner in the works". ....what? I had to look up what that meant and here is what I found:

"Put a spanner in the works"

Meaning: Deliberately causing mayhem.

Origin: 'Put (or throw) a spanner in the works' refers to the calamitous effects of throwing a spanner into the gears and pistons of an engine. It's safe to say that the phrase was rarely called on to describe an actual event and is likely to have been coined for its imagery.

The first record of it in print is in P.G. Wodehouse's Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934: "He should have had sense enough to see that he was throwing a spanner into the works."
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings

What a great phrase!

My Blog Dealy

After starting a blog for the Wonderful Hardman Family, I've decided it might be a fun idea to have a blog just for me. Hopefully, once I am far away at school, this blog can help us stay in touch and updated about things. In any case, it is fun to express thoughts, share pictures, and more. And so here it is, here we go, a blog for Bethany....