What's Really Inside a Bludger?

I was hanging out with a few of my long-time friends over the weekend watching various "happy" clips from movies. Fun thing to do, by the way. My friend has several hundred movies and we each chose a few that had happy moments. They could either be funny, romantic, whatever. Then we showed movie clips to each other and just laughed. The ones I chose were: Fellowship of the Ring - the hobbits' drinking song, The Three Amigos - my little buttercup routine, While You Were Sleeping - the random kid falling off his bike, Johnny English - recording of him dancing to ABBA song, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - the explanation of quidditch. Now, with the last one I mentioned, one of my friends reminded me of our explanation of bludgers that we came up with many years ago. If you really sit down and think about it, what makes those killer balls fly around on their own and make that irritated, angry noise? Explanation: There is a little chiuaua inside each and every one. Really. Can't you picture this tiny chiuaua just running around inside it. Every time the ball is set loose it attacks innocent players. It's always doing it's "Aararraraarrrar." When it's hit, it comes back to take its revenge and its irritated growling gets louder. It moves fast and at chaotic angles. It makes sense, right? Check it out for yourselves. Watch the first Harry Potter movie when Wood is explaining quidditch to Harry.

Swinging in the Mountains

I have experienced a new joy that everyone should try. Last week I went with a friend of mine and her parents to their family cabin. Wonderfully relaxing, by the way. Anyways, at the cabin they have these swings. You climb up the hill a little from the cabin and you see these two tall tree trunks with a metal pole connecting the two at the top with about 20 foot chains hanging from them. You attach the swing seats on the lowest link so you have the biggest swing (even though it makes pumping difficult because your feet would hit ground). Now, the trunks are at the edge of a small ledge. So, imagine, if you will, walking up the sloped hillside, launching yourself down and over the ledge and above the downward slope. At the peak of your swing you are about 15-20 above the ground heading straight for a group of trees, and then you are pulled back down and up the hillside. Just always make sure you keep your legs straight if you are on the last link; otherwise, you hit your feet on the ledge and they proceed to drag along the ground. (It happened to me. I cursed my lucky stars for something happening, and they cursed me back by having my feet hit the ledge.) Now, all of this sounds magically blissful, but what is even better is doing it at midnight. My friend and I went out with flashlights to hike up to the swings. We got them all prepared, checked for any wild animals ('cause, you know, who wants to bump into a bear or something while swinging?), and turned off the flashlights. Now, there was no moon shining, only billions, upon billions of stars. This made for a very interesting swing because the sky was brilliant with constellations, planets, shooting stars, the Milky Way, and any and all stars within the vision of mere mortals, and it also made the ground and everything around absolutely pitch black. You couldn't see anything, even after your eyes adjusted, it was a vast nothing. After a few moments of gaping at the awesomeness of the scene, we launched ourselves out into the pit of darkness followed by the glorious wonders of the sky. Almost a scary feeling when you fly out and look down and see nothing when you are 15 or so feet in the air. But, then when you fly out and look up you feel like you are about to join heavens shining above you. The most majestic experience I have ever had. We did it every night we were up there.

If you ever have the chance, go swing in the mountains at midnight. One recommendation though, don't use one of those flashlights that you wear on your head. The moths like to crash into your face.

Awesome Quote

So, one of my students wore a totally awesome shirt last week. I think it is one of my favorite shirt quotes of all time. It said,

"I didn't slap you. I high-fived your face!"

Oh my gosh! I was laughing my head off! It probably made me look even less professional as a teacher, but whatever, I loved it.

Don't Say It Unless You're Sure

So, quickie story here. I needed to drop off an endorsement at the Honor Code Office this last Friday. I wasn't exactly sure where it was at, but I guessed it was in the Wilk. My roommate said she knew exactly where it was and said she would show me. So, I didn't bother to look it up since she "knew." She said it was in the Tanner building. I had my doubts, but she said she was 100% positive because she had just been there earlier this year. I hence told her that if she was wrong, I'd kill her. She said that was fine since she was 100% sure. So, we went. Parking was interesting for two reasons: 1)I had to park illegally since my sticker expired a year ago; 2)We parked in this new parking garage and the dumb thing had no way to get to the Tanner building except by walking out the way you went in. No stairs, nothing. Very poorly designed, in my opinion. My roommate led me to the 5th floor and it was nowhere to be found. We asked around in a few offices, and they all said that it wasn't there. The last one said to check the Wilk. That office happened to be the Accounting Office. A light went on in my roommate's brain, and she realized that at the same time she had gone to the Honor Code Office earlier in the year, she had also gone to the Accounting Office to get her taxes done. We had been parking and searching for about 20 or so minutes (really not that bad), just to find out that my hunch was right to begin with. I was laughing pretty hard, and she was begging me not to kill her. Eventually, we did make it to the Honor Code Office, which was indeed in the Wilk.

So, lesson to be learned, never say 100% unless you are really 100%.

Summer Fun

So, I know I'm running behind in my blogs and such, but whatever. I'm a busy girl. I thought I would just share with you some of my adventures over the summer so far. It's long, but deal. Let me begin with the Scottish Festival. I love this thing! I have gone to it the last 3 years, and each year I discover something new.

This year I watched the Opening March (or something like that). There were hundreds of bagpipers and dozens of drummers. Totally freakin' awesome.

This is my favorite Scottish musical group ever! The Wicked Tinkers. One of my favorite songs is called Wallop a Cat. The title alone makes me laugh.

Oh the Highland Games! There is nothing better than seeing men in kilts throwing incredibly heavy and incredibly awkward things. Oh what men will do to show their masculinity.

Now the 4th of July was an awesome and fun-filled holiday. It began with sleeping in, one of my ultimate favorite past times. Too bad I rarely get a chance to do it. I woke up just in time to go to a sibling bbq. The food was quite yummy and I got to play with adorable nephew, Owen. We enjoy entertaining each other.

And he also, apparently, likes to stick his finger in people's mouths.

My brother was incredibly cheesy. He dressed Owen that morning in matching clothing. Cute though.


Ah, you can't have the 4th of July without fireworks. This is my friend, Diana. She loves fireworks and so does her family. So, I went to their show.


Since the store-bought fireworks don't get very big, I thought it would be cool to get some zoomed-in pictures. The two below are a couple of the ones I took. I think they look pretty funky.



Now, before watching this video, you may want to turn down the volume on your speakers. Diana and her family, mostly Diana, taped 164 (I think) screamers to a piece of plywood and set all the screamers off at once. Now really, what better way to show your patriotism? Once again, I am warning you to turn down the volume before watching the video.

On the 24th, two of my friends and I went to visit my parents in southern Utah. While visiting, we spent quite a bit of time in nature.

Here are my friends, Soonyeun and Mayte standing by a natural bridge just outside of Blanding.

We went to Arches and it was so much fun. I love the look of the red rock. Southern Utah, in my opinion, is the best part of Utah.

Since we were spending so much time out in the sun, I decided to try and even out my tan. I have driver's tan, and I hate that. So, while hiking I would hold my arm out to get more exposure. It really didn't help much. Do you like how my dad is mocking me?


This is a view of Delicate Arch from the view point or whatever it's called. And just some other random pictures below.

Now, the pictures below are of one of my ultimate favorite places, Muley Point (I don't think I'm spelling that right, but whatever. Sorry nature.) You just stand out on the edge and you have this 180 degree view of the goose necks 4,000 feet above them. Absolutely gorgeous.