Down and Out Oven

As mentioned previously, I have two new roommates. They're great, and we've already had several adventures. One of which I would like to share with you all. One Saturday, while I was taking a nap, one of my roommates (J) decided to cook dinner for some friends and family. While cooking, she was trying to change the oven from bake to broil. It wasn't switching over, so naturally she pushed the button harder. Turns out she pushed the button so hard that the oven's display caved into the oven. It still worked, it was just inside the oven. Well, she finished preparing the food and people came over and they ate. By this time, I had woken up and entered the kitchen where J confessed it all to me. I laughed and didn't think it was that big of a deal, but she still felt bad. Her brother is a Mr. Fixit and offered his assistance. He pulled it out and had at it with wire to try to get the display to stay back out. While all of this was going on, I was thinking to myself, "You know, we should probably unplug it, and I don't think we should be using wire." Did I say anything? No. I figured her brother had it under control. Then, my other roommate (B) decided to help out. Not the best idea because she moved the wire, not realizing she had moved it to where the live wires were. As soon as they touched, POW! All the electricity went out. Luckily nobody was zapped. We found flashlights and went to the fuse box in the hall, but apparently it wasn't the main box. We search the garage, the crawl space, and outside. We finally found it and got the electricity back on. We went back to the oven and the display was black and fried. Most of us, including myself, found the whole situation to be quite entertaining, but my roommates felt really bad for nuking the oven. They offered to buy a new display and her brother said he would install it. They looked around for the part, but nobody had it and they had to end up special ordering it. By the time we got the part and her brother could get it installed, it had been two weeks. We had survived for two weeks with a microwave and a crockpot. Not the most enjoyable two weeks, but totally worth the story.

Shipwrecking Party

This last Christmas I decided to make an awesome gingerbread creation. Instead of a regular house, I made a shipwrecked pirate ship, complete with giant hole for swag to fall out of. Totally cool beans! Just take a look.

After weeks of display on my dining room table, I decided it was finally time to complete the shipwrecking. So, I had a shipwrecking party. To celebrate, I invited many of my crazy friends, we dressed all piratey, and we went to Pirate Island. While there we had our favorite waiter, who then attacked one of my friends to get her pirate booty.

After our excursion to Pirate Island, we went back to my place and commenced Operation: Shipwreck. We began with Nerf-like guns and balls. Everyone took several shots, and we dented the ship, but no complete destruction.

So, a few of my friends and I decided it would be much more effective to just use our fists.

It was, indeed, much more effective.

The milk was then distributed and the ship was thoroughly enjoyed.

A Not So Normal Use for a Body Pillow

So, in mid-December of last year my roommate moved back to Korea. Very, very sad day. But a few weeks later, two of my other friends, who happen to be sisters, moved in. Now, to prepare for the move I decided to move into the smaller bedroom. I figured it would be much fairer if I let them have the bigger room to share. (Side note: After living in the biggest room you have ever lived in, it's hard to move to a smaller one.) A friend of mine helped me move my stuff to the other room one snowy afternoon. In the process of trying to make everything fit, I needed to measure my bed and the space I wanted to leave for it. Problem: I had no measuring tape. Solution: Use my huge, orange body pillow. As I was measuring my friend was laughing her head off and completely doubting my methods. Result: It fit with about 6 inches to spare. Go me!

Blog Update Overload

So, it's been a while and there are a few experiences to share.

First, computers are funny. My desktop has been acting a little crazy lately. Every time I type the letter "I" at the beginning of a word it automatically capitalizes it. It's like the automatic fix thing for the word "I" went on overtime. So, when typing things I have to add a letter in front of the "I" in order to keep it lower case. For some reason I liked the letter "W." So, interview became winterview, in became win, into became winto, idea became widea, and so on. Now, if this ever happens to you and you follow my example of adding the letter, just be sure you remember to delete the additional letter.

Second, I have now been a witness at a wedding. One of my students was having a small wedding in a chapel and asked me to be a witness. Now, when I say small wedding, I mean it. There were five people there, total. The couple, the bishop, and the two witnesses. It was actually really sweet. There wasn't a big hooplah, just something simple. It was a nice reminder that all the big expensive accessories aren't necessary. And what made the experience even better was that it was all in Chinese. I don't speak a word of it, but witnessed it all the same.

And third, today was our work Christmas party. We did a white elephant gift exchange. I love those things. It's an excuse to give away junk. So, lucky me, I had actually just cleaned my place and had a big ol' pile of stuff to give to DI. I just went through the pile and grabbed a bunch of random stuff. It was a hit. I actually won the prize of best gift given. It was an honor, but I don't think I want it again because as my prize I got the best white elephant gift ever: pickled imported mild Greek golden peperoncini. In short, pickled peppers. The joys of Christmas.

Halloween Dance

So, I really do enjoy planning the dances for the ELC. Yeah, it adds a lot of stress, but it's fun too. For the Halloween dance, in addition to the dance and refreshments, we had a haunted hall, a costume contest, and a special performance by some of the teachers and staff. Check out the pictures below.

We did some special advertising for the dance. Two other teachers and I wore our costumes and announced it to the students in their classes. Our costumes were Queen Narissa, a Ute fan, and the girl from The Ring. The students were totally creeped out by that.

This is a glimpse of the haunted hall. It was darker than the flash implies.

A fortune teller "welcomed" the students.

Medusa surprised them around the corner. (Even though she does look rather friendly here.)

A wraith followed them after they passed.

A zombie startled them on their way out.

Then there was the costume contest. The funniest costume was a monkey. The scariest was a vampire. The best was Beetlejuice.

We did a performance for the students. It was 12 Days of Halloween. It was to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas, but with words more suited for Halloween. The 5th day was five scary spooks. Each time we sang this, one of the "five scary spooks" would kill of a member of the choir until there was finally nobody left. Then all of the dead choir members rose from their fallen state and ran into the crowd of students. Pretty awesome.

Automatic Everything

Everywhere you look there is something that is automatic. You really can't escape it. Just look at some public restrooms: automatic faucets, automatic soap dispensers, automatic paper towel dispensers, etc. So, this weekend was, and still is at the moment, the I-TESOL Conference. It was held on BYU campus this year. Lucky me, I didn't have to travel anywhere. On Friday, after many hours of going to presentations, presenting, having dinner, and listening to a plenary speaker, I had to use the restroom. We had finished the conference in the Wilkenson Center (The Skyroom Restaurant to be precise. After all the hype I've heard about the place I really wasn't that impressed with the food.), and I searched for the nearest restroom and went right on in. I entered a stall, took care of business and looked at the toilet paper dispenser. It was automatic. I was like, "No way." So, I tried it out. I did the little magic wave under the dispenser and tp began rolling out. Let me just say that it was a good thing that no one else was in the bathroom because I started laughing. Really?! An automatic tp dispenser? I mean, I see the point in all the automatic stuff: don't be wasteful. But let's be honest, you gotta have the right amount of tp, especially when it's the really thin stuff they have at all schools. So, what do we do? Just wave our hand under it again. In the end, I honestly don't believe we are saving that much toilet paper. What will people find to make automatic next?

What Once Was Lost, Now Is Found...And Given Away

So, here's a funny story. A friend of mine wanted to borrow my Finding Neverland dvd (wonderful movie, by the way), so I loaned it to her. Usually I check the case to make sure the dvd is in it. This time I didn't. I saw her a week later and asked if she had watched it yet. She said, "Oh yeah. I've been meaning to tell you that the dvd wasn't in the case." And of course, I thought, "What the junk happened to it?" I searched everywhere in my living room and bedroom for it. I asked other friends who usually borrow dvds. It was nowhere. So, I gave up looking for it and just decided to buy a new one. I got it, watched it to make sure it worked, and put my name on it like I usually do when I buy a new dvd. About two weeks later I got home very late after a long day and my roommate came up to me, with her hands behind her back and said, "Don't kill me." I told her I would never and could never do that. She then proceeded to show me her hands which held my missing Finding Neverland dvd. As she was begging for mercy, I just started laughing. I mean, really, knowing my luck I should have known that was going to happen. It turns out that when she first moved in she tried to watch that movie on her TV and dvd player, but her TV was broken. She turned it off and put it all away, but forgot the dvd was still in there. So, a few days later I told this story to a friend of mine. She said she loved that movie, and I asked her if she had it and if not, then if she wanted my copy. She did not have it, and so I gave her my copy. Lesson to be learned: Always check your roommate's dvd player, even if it is shoved in a closet. It may save you $10.