Adventure with Me

Well hello there.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted here. I used to think that I was going to be a writer, but sometimes writing honestly bores me. Not the idea of writing, but the writing itself. I’ll get through a paragraph of a new post, all enchanted with a lovely new idea, and then BAM. Boredom. Complete and utter boredom takes over, and then exasperation. I cannot possibly write an entire post, my mind says. I have far too much to do today. You get the idea.
Anyway, since I’ve been away and traveling for months on end I suppose I should update you more on my life. I missed out on a wonderful opportunity to write fascinating blog posts while on my six month long camping trip around the U.S.

The thing is, although everyone else was fascinated with the idea of traveling the U.S. with their family, I for one was completely against it. It’s a fanciful idea, but played out in reality problems inevitably arose. We’re not rich. Let’s clear that notion up right here. We didn’t decide to go traveling because of an abundance of money. There were times when we were stopped at a park and sat in our trailer or played mini golf or went to the pool and ate simple meals because we didn’t have money for gas or fancy food. It wasn’t a vacation, it was life. What was your favorite thing you did? people would ask. I went to the beach. I read book after book because I had the time. Did you go to Disney World while you were in Florida? No, but we went to Down Town Disney and it was-hey! Where are you going? Is that not exciting enough for you?

So I wasn’t as enchanted with the idea, but looking back I realized, who says you have to do the big things otherwise you won’t enjoy yourself? My little brothers and sisters spent hours chasing after lizards that roam around Florida like mosquitoes in Alaska, but much more entertaining. Thunderstorms fascinate me, and if I weren’t so afraid of getting struck by lightning I would have spent much more time out in the rain instead of watching, captivated, behind closed windows. It was the little things that made that trip worthwhile to me. The time driving over the Appalachian Mountains as a serendipitous moment left me breathless when a patch of trees opened up so we could just catch a glimpse of the sunlight glancing down the mountains, across the valley, onto the peak of the next mountain over.

We passed through the intersection of Route 66, ate McDonald’s in a small town called Paris, passed a ramp off the highway that read “Warp Drive”, and went into tiny little boutique shops. We stopped and smelled the flowers, basked in the sunshine, and relaxed.
That’s not to say there weren’t fights. When I said I was against this trip, that’s an understatement. I hated it. Loathed being there. It’s only looking back that I remember some of the things I enjoyed with fond thoughts instead of remembering the pain and anguish. Maybe that’s what my grandparents meant when they said I’d look back on this trip in 20 years and say it was one of the best times of my life. My memories balk at that thought, but maybe I’ll let the good overtake all the bad instead of holding on to pride and grudges.

Now I’m in Ketchikan, Alaska. The lower region of Alaska, by Canada and open ocean. Boy, is it gorgeous here. I am working at a fishing resort as a “kitchen hand”. Glamorous, I know. My responsibilities include baking a ton of cookies (often 400 a day), washing dishes (don’t get me started), stocking the salad bar, sandwich bar, breakfast area, and coffee area (the food doesn’t magically appear there), as well as cleaning tables, sweeping, mopping, washing walls, occasionally helping out the cooks, and waitressing.

It’s a big job.

But I’m slowly starting to love it. Sure, we have long days and I end up exhausted half the time, but the view is worth it and so are the people. I have met some incredible guests. Call me crazy, but chatting with the guests is one of my favorite parts of the job. I’ve had guests that lifted my energy level when I thought I was going to crash and burn.

“I could live for two months off of a good compliment.”- Mark Twain.

So far, I'm taking it one day at a time. Check out some funny and probably incomprehensible snippets of conversation from my stay so far...

Who's the ginger?
Me: What’s Riley’s last name?
JayCee: Riley…Ginger…bottom…

Walking home
JayCee: Don’t worry, I gots street smarts. “Do you wanna ride?” “NO!” “Do you want candy?” “YES!”

Hot chocolate
Me: Ooh that took it to the next level. I put half and half in it.
JayCee: I take mine black

Fries
Me to Renaye: I was eating a fry and Anthony was all, “All ya’ll got fries!” and knocked It out of my hand. Then he brought me a new fry.
Continued: YES I was all “*gapes* That was rude” and he was like “That was rude, ima get you a new fry” and he made some and gave me one. Offered chicken strips, too.

When Anthony found out I'm only 17
Anthony: You’re only 17? Shoot I can’t even talk to you.

Anthony: Don’t even come near me, no *holding out hand* Go away! *mutters* 17…

Anthony: *looking out the window* This is honestly a beautiful view
Me: You’re looking in the wrong direction *mimes frame around face*
Anthony: I can’t, you’re 17.

Anthony: No Sabrina. I can’t even sit next to you. That’s trouble. Trouble with a capital T.

First day without Kirsten
Me to Renaye: The moment you realize you don’t know how to use a plunger and the guys’ bathroom toilet is overflowing…

Men
Renaye: Anywho. Decided I’m the most romantic person ever because when he said something nice I called him creepy.

Intelligence rubbing off on younger siblings
Renaye: I love how Sadie doesn’t know how to read yet, but she says things like, “If I remembered correctly.” And “My personal favorite.”

Will never stop using this line
Renaye: Why is it so hot today
Me: Cuz you forgot to turn yourself off
Renaye: …yes. Thank you for reminding me.

Obscure hymns
JayCee: *black woman voice* Hey, old lady. I know…you have the desire…to sing all the songs that have been neglected in life…but I DON’T CARE.

Youth speaker
Kid giving a talk: I plan on marrying a, like, really righteous woman in the temple.
Kid: If you like candy, so that’s everybody…

Kit Kat gospel principles
KAT: Keep the commandments, Always remember Him, Take upon you His name.

All I asked was what to call the appetizer...
Ron: *describing food in fancy ways*
Ricky: Man I dunno what you’re saying but it sounds good.

Ron
Me to Renaye: Ron dumped water on my shoes, “Now you have to clean that up!”

We're out 
Me: We have a huge problem.
Ron: What?
Me: We’re out of hot chocolate.
Ron: Drink coffee like a grown up!

Ticklish
Me to Renaye: “Uhmyeeeeeeah. Anthony like...half molested me with his hands on my stomach and back…” I don’t think Mason liked that description of being tickled.

Crazy stuff happens in the kitchen at night…
Ricky: *chucking torn bits of bread from a ruined loaf at us* This is communion, some mother effing sacrament crap! We should pray! *takes hat off and bows head* Come on!
Ricky: Hit me with the bread! Hit my head! *gets hit in the head with the loaf* that wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be.

Ricky thinks he's hot
Me to Renaye: There’s a blind corner in the kitchen, and we don't want to run into each other, so we yell “corner” whenever we’re about to go around it, right? If you are carrying knives, you say “knife!” if you’re carrying something hot, you yell “corner hot!”. Well Ricky is always overly enthusiastic about it, and yells it a couple times (just in case we didn’t hear him the first five times), so we know to get out of the way. One time I heard him yelling urgently, “hot hot hot hot HOT” and turned to look at what blistering dish he was carrying around the corner this time, and was surprised to see him walk around the corner empty handed…it was just him.

Ron
Ron: *sprays me with sanitizing spray* you’ve just been sanitized.

Me to Renaye: That awkward moment when Ron stole my phone while in the middle of typing that text, saying, “I’ll give it back when your shifts over” and then looked at the text which currently only said “Ron: *sprays” and is all, “you saying stuff about me?” Then later comes back and catches me typing this up and says, “If you wanna be a scandalous little thing that’s fine” OMG…

Me to Renaye: I was putting the pickle spears into a new container and he came over and was glancing back and forth between the pickle spears and me…I don’t like this…

Over weight baggage 
Tanessa: She layered on clothes. She was like a little mushroom. I mean…marshmallow…

 

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~La vie est belle, Bri~

27 Ways to Get More Stuff Done

So I am back in a Alaska. Yay.

I hurt my ankle the day of my flight and suffered through a six and a half hour flight which ended with my ankle swollen three times it's size and pulsing in pain. Ouch. I know. So I am kind of confined to the couch for the next week. Well, confined to the couch when my mom is paying attention.

I hate sitting around. I have to be DOING something, and Facebook isn't quite cutting it. So I hopped over to Pinterest for a little bit to ease my boredom and found this little gem, an article about productivity. (P.S. The title has a swear word in it, sorry!)

~ Click Here ~

This got me thinking about everything I have to do this year. It's my senior year of high school, and I'm a little behind on what I'm supposed to have accomplished. That's what I get for graduating early. 

Anyway, my most important priorities are studying for the ACT, becoming a dancing beast, and making sure I have all the credits I need to graduate and get into the college of my choice. Oh yeah, and did I mention I'm supposed to apply to colleges? 

Scary.  

Check ya later, gotta go to do grown-uppy stuff. 

~La vie est belle, Bri~

 

Samantha Koenig

Early February I heard that a young women was abducted in Anchorage. I didn't bother to find out her name or her story; it wasn't really important. I felt like I had too many things going on in my life already, and it was so far away that it just slipped my mind.
Today my Facebook feed was covered with statuses about a girl named Samantha Koenig; they said her body was found in the Matanuska Lake. I realized after looking up the story that the girl who'd been abducted was never found. The girl who I'd just dismissed because it wasn't my problem never got back to her family. I got to thinking...why do things like this happen? What could possibly drive somebody to do something so horrible? And finally...why does God let it happen?
You know, I've read lots of books where people are so angry at God for not preventing things like murders, and I always thought how stupid those people were, how silly and naive. But it's not stupid. It's not silly or naive. It's almost a rational reaction.
Who gave that man the right to decide whether Samantha would live or die? What gives him the right to take away someone's life?
God.
God gave us agency, the right to choose. But what happens when someone chooses to do something awful? What happens to the innocent people they hurt?

I decided to do something that my Sunday school teacher has been stressing all year; study, ponder, and pray. I went to lds.org and looked up my question "Why does God let bad things happen?" and came up with these answers from an article written by John Bytheway:

We Know That God Allows Evil to Exist in the World (Moses 7:26–33)


Sometimes our trials are a direct result of someone using their agency to do evil. Often when tragedy strikes, someone will say, “Well, it must have been God’s will.” What exactly is “God’s will”? It seems to me that God’s will is that we choose righteousness over wickedness! However, He also desires that we have a choice in the matter.
In the Pearl of Great Price, Enoch sees a frightening vision. “And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced” (Moses 7:26).
Chains often symbolize bondage in the scriptures, and Enoch sees Satan looking up and laughing at the world in chains. Enoch also sees the Lord, who looks down on the sinful world and weeps. Enoch asks:


“How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (Moses 7:29).
The Lord answers in what I think is one of the saddest passages of scripture:
“Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
“And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood” (Moses 7:32–33).
Clearly, what the Lord desires is that we love one another and choose to obey Him. But some do not. They are “without affection.” Everyone on earth has agency, and sometimes those who misuse it have an impact on many innocent people. This scripture provides evidence that the Lord notices the tragedies on the earth and that He is affected by them.
Many of the bad things that happen are contrary to God’s will. But remember that man’s will is temporary, and ultimately God’s will is what will be done.
There are other questions in all of this, too. How many acts of premeditated evil has God prevented? How many of these tragedies could have been much worse? There is no way we could know. Sometimes we see things on the news and ask, “How could God allow this to happen?” Could it be that one day we’ll discover that God prevented much more than He allowed?
How many times has someone prayed that “we might get home in safety,” and we actually did? How many traffic accidents has He helped you avoid? How many times has He inspired you to do something that saved someone from injury? We will never know in this life.
The plan of happiness allows for agency, and therefore it also allows for evil. There is no flaw in the plan.


...Why did this happen to me? (or, why did this happen to them?)
Everyone on earth has agency, and sometimes those who misuse it have an impact on many innocent people.
How could God allow evil to happen?
Don’t let tragedy define your life.
We may never have all the answers in this life.

The next step is to ponder and pray. I'll be praying for Samantha's family, that they will find peace and understanding. I'll be praying that I find the understanding I am looking for.

~La vie est belle, Bri~

ACBA Christmas Show

This post is going to be a little scatter brained, just to warn you before hand.

Last Saturday I went to see one of my best friends, Helen, perform at the The Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage (the PAC for short). It was a hectic day, trying to make sure I had my ticket (my daddy called in to get it. The silly online site didn't register that the address we typed in did indeed match the credit card number), getting my clothes washed (hey, I didn't have time at home!), shopping for the perfect gift, and getting to the theater on time. In the end, I was dressed in one of my favorite dresses (black strapless with a maroon shirt underneath), and waiting awkwardly in a lobby-like area upstairs where the ticket vendor had directed me.

So, I'm standing there, feeling extremely lonely, hoping Helen could for the love of nature and all things pretty text me back, when I hear somebody call my name. I turn and to my delight, I see MRS. LINDAMOOD!!!!! Yes, I was super excited to see her, and promptly glued myself to her for the rest of the night, except of course during the performance. When I was pointed to my seat, I sat for around 10 minutes before I was informed that I was sitting in the wrong seat, and moved back a row. The family that took my place were hilarious to watch and listen to. Parents and two daughters (one probably 17-19 year old, and one stubborn 5-6 year old). The conversation we had went along these lines:

Dad So, you're coming to the ballet alone?
Me: Yes. I've come to see a friend.
Mom: Oh, is she a dancer?
Me: Yes, she is. *smiles sweetly*
Dad: And whats her name?
Me: Helen Lindamood.
Them: Ooh.
*pause of a couple minutes*
Dad: So, are you a ballet dancer too?
Me: yes, I am.
Mom: Oooh, were you in The Nutcracker?
Me: *rolling eyes inwardly* No, I didn't audition in time.
Them: *sympathetic look*
Me: *smiles and looks back at program*
Little girl: *stubbornly not sitting in front by her sister* Mom I want to dance for flowers!
Mom: You can, but we need to sit down and watch this first,.
Dad: Hey, why don't you go sit by her? *nods toward me* she's a REAL ballet dancer
Little girl: *doubtfully sits down*


It kinda sorta made my day right next to Helen's birthday present.

On with the show! They had guest dancers from a ballet company in Idaho. They did a Pas De Deux, and it was beautiful, but because I didn't have light enough to read my program (and hadn't had enough time anyway), I totally assumed it was Alex Lammon who was dancing....*cough* this IS a compliment, by the way.

(The above picture isn't the Pas De Deux I saw, or even the same dancers, but you get the idea.)

I was delighted when, during the Waltz of the Snowflakes, "real" snow fell onstage. It added a magical touch to the performance, and I could hear people whispering around me "It's snow!" "SNOW!" "Look, snow!". I smirked subtly to myself. Helen did a pas de deux with a guy named Oscar Gonzalez. It was beautiful, despite what she keeps saying, even though I think it's kind of awkward, a 16-year-old dancing with a 40-year-old guy. The Christmas Extravaganza was HILARIOUS. That's all I have to say about that. The Trepak was absolutely amazing as well.

But, what remains my all time favorite though was Drumming Song. That would be Helen's modern/lyrical dance. It was freaking AMAZING. And I looooove it. And I wish I could have recorded it...because it was AMAZING.

~La vie est belle, Bri~

You may live in Alaska if....

Since I live in Alaska, I found this hilarious:

You may live in Alaska...

Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Alaskans:

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Alaska.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Alaska.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Alaska.

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Alaska.

If you know several people who have hit a moose more than once, you may live in Alaska.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you may live in Alaska.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Alaska.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Alaska.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Alaska.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Alaska.

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Alaska.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Alaska.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Alaska.

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Alaska.

If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly', you may live in Alaska.

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to your entire Alaskan friends & others, you definitely live in Alaska..

~La vie est belle, Bri~