shifty eyes

You know that moment when someone catches you staring at them and you try to look away a second too late and just end up looking creepy?  That's awkward.

hola!

So I'm writing a huge long paper about the history of Puerto Rico and I come across THIS sugar-beet-working young man from 1940... Ok, yes, he would now be old enough to be my great-great-grandfather, but isn't he handsome?

fun with sisters

texting conversation
me: Did you know that you can't stick your tongue out all the way and breathe fast at the same time?
Sis: What?
me: Stick your tongue out all the way and try to breathe really fast.  It's impossible.
Sis: I think this is a visual experiment because I am breathing just fine.
me: Haha but do you look like a puppy? :)
Sis: Haha I hate you

happyyy!

 
Today I gave my fruit roll-up to a crying toddler.  She and her mom both got quite happy.

awkward

My ex-boyfriend's father just sent me their family's Christmas e-card.  But I'm most sure that the picture is from 2 years ago.  And (also) we stopped dating almost a year ago.

I would include the actual picture, but that's a little too creepy for my taste.

young love

My fortune cookie from yesterday appeared to bring promising luck with the first three words of "Soon" followed by "wedding bells".  But then I got nervous that its promise of wedded bliss pertained not to my own but to "a family member's future," when the most eligible bachelorette in my family (not including the missionary and the pre-missionary and my mom) is my 13-year-old sister.

joy

One can find many interesting things at the local campus bookstore, of which one might snap various photographs with one's cellular phone:

jokes (some people might call you "weird" for sending them this picture)

inspiration (fun=joy)

dogs (what a friendly greeting!)

right! (what is that small image in the center?)

nice pins (dream)

nice astronauts (I like his winner's ribbon)

wanted posters (lost cat)

and owls (hoo).

Cats

I was wondering how many cats were named "Bandit" so I looked it up.  I didn't find the answer, but I did find a list of the 10 most popular cat names on the Friskies website, in an article written by Bobbi, the New Cat Parent, of which there are 2 main categories:

Explorer Top 10
1. Tiger
2. Kitty
3. Smokey*
4. Tigger*
5. Baby
6. Shadow*
7. Oreo*
8. Princess*
9. Midnight
10. Lucky

National Top 10**
1. Lucy
2. Molly
3. Oreo*
4. Kittens
5. Smokey*
6. Princess*
7. Shadow*
8. Tigger*
9. Angel
10. Missy

*Names that made both Top 10 lists
**A survey done by PetFinder.com in 2008


I also found a nice website called Temple of Cats, if you're interested.

My curiosity on bandit-type cats came tonight after I was leaving campus at about 9:00pm.  I daintily walked down a flight of stairs and saw two little cat guys pesking around the lawn with their big fluffy striped tails and their shady eyes.  I realized they were not so much cats as they were raccoons, so I called my little sistery sister to document the moment and also in case they tried to pull a fast one on me.

Em, click on the cat picture for your best present ever.

princesses

From a princess perspective, there are a few things in life that are important to remember:

• It's important for princesses to be princesses.
• It's important for princesses to feel like princesses.
• It's important for princes to realize that princesses are princesses and to treat them as such.
• It's important for princesses to realize that they are princesses and to act like princesses.
• It's important for princesses to realize that other princesses are also princesses, and to treat them like princesses.
• It's important for grown-up princesses to be nice to little princesses as well as big princesses.
• It's important for little princesses to be nice to grown-up princesses as well as other small princesses.
• It's important for princesses to say princess-like things and to do princess-like things.
• It's important to remember that princesses are not princes nor jesters, but that princesses are quite uniquely important because they have princess-type things to do that only princesses can do.

positive emotion

I found this to be most interesting:

"Every time a business in the service industry creates a negative emotion in the mind of a customer or client, that individual will share his dissatisfaction with an average of ten people before the emotion dissipates.

“The same research shows that a person who is impressed with a service will share that positive emotion with an average of only three other people at most. Given this situation it’s obvious why negative news travels faster and farther than positive news," (Chapin, Dwight. Success Unlimited, Dec. 1982, as quoted in ).

I did a google image search for "positive emotion" and was pleasantly surprised :)

foody

Desperation is lightly salted rice cakes covered in peanut butter and jelly.

But then I liked it, and I couldn't decide if it really tasted delicious or if it was just the desperateness of the situation.

I found my answer when I googled my creation and found a picture proving that someone else clearly thinks it's a tasty treat as well.

This deserves a smiley face.

:)

family

Family means don't mess with my sister or I will take you down to Chinatown.

flip-flops, sand and scorpions

watch one of my FAVORITE stories!!!

aaand, my new favorite quote:

"If you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing." -Magneto before he turned bad (X-Men)

magic

Sometimes being a vegan stinks, like when you don't have any good food to eat so you end up with a can of beans and some crackers for dinner.

Just Say No

Today I called a certain gym to ask a question, since they left a flyer about an awesome deal on our front door.  Well, next thing you know, the guy tried to pull a fast one one me: "Can I get your name and phone number?"  To which I replied, "Um, actually no, cuz last time I did that I got a million phone calls about it, so I wanna make a decision before I give you my information."  He was peeved, to put it lightly, but hey! I won't be getting a bunch of phone calls from people I don't actually know who convincingly sound like we've been best friends all our lives, right?  I'm right!

*click on the photo for an extra treat

Blogger

Blogger has taken "creepy" to an all new level.  According to the new stats on my homepage, almost 6,000 people have viewed my blog (ever), including people from the following "most popular" countries:

United States 4,007
United Kingdom 284
Canada 173
Australia 124
Netherlands 80
Russia 70
Romania 66
Germany 65
India 62
Malaysia 50

This Month:

U.S. 314
Romania 27
U.K. 15
Australia 12
Netherlands 10
Canada 9
Singapore 9
Sweden 8
Malaysia 6
Germany 5

This Week?

United States 61
Netherlands 7
Romania 6
India 4
Brazil 3
Denmark 3
United Kingdom 3
Canada 2
Germany 2
Netherlands Antilles 1

And Today:

United States 23
India 2

What! I want to be best friends with these people!  Nothing is cooler than pen pals!

But the cool factor of these countries/numbers doesn't even begin to compare to my sister's blog, emaloochie.blogspot.com, which may or may not make her famous very soon, as evidenced by her growing fan base in the Philippines.

Mawiage

My sister Emily has informed me that my slim options for tying the so-called knot fall between the six brief months of March 2012 (when our sister Jessica gets home from her mission) and September 2012 (when Emily leaves on her mission) or anytime after March 2014 (when Emily gets back and I will be nearing the ripe age of 28).  This post is to show her that I understand my options.  Thank you.

Off to find a boyfriend.

poem!

I'd Rather See A Sermon

Edgar A. Guest

I'd rather see a sermon

than hear one any day;

I'd rather one should walk with me

than merely tell the way.

The eye's a better pupil

and more willing than the ear,

Fine counsel is confusing,

but example's always clear;

And the best of all preachers

are the men who live their creeds,

For to see good put in action

is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it

if you'll let me see it done;

I can watch your hands in action,

but your tongue too fast may run.

And the lecture you deliver

may be very wise and true,

But I'd rather get my lessons

by observing what you do;

For I might misunderstand you

and the high advice you give,

But there's no misunderstanding

how you act and how you live.

I'm 25

Stop asking.

Conquering Fear

For the first time ever, I didn't dash out the door during a fight-or-flight situation, even though I wanted to.  I stayed and talked it out, even though it was hard.  I think I have finally conquered my abnormally strong tendency to run, and I'm super excited about it. :)

not okay

My pregnant friend Nicole asked me to pick up some maternity clothes for her.  The girl at the checkout asked if they were for me. 

feelin sketchy

Is it just me, or is this a highly inappropriate word verification choice for blogger?

Pepper

I would like to dedicate this post to one of my favorite flavors: pepper.

Many great things come in pepper: there's the Dr. variety as well as many seasoned vegetables, for starters.

When I ordered my latest Subway sandwich---the Veggie Delite with extra salt and pepper---the worker breathed in at the wrong second and sneezed awfully close to my food.

But no matter.

Things I Like

Today in church I started a list of Things I Like:

1. People who laugh at their own jokes

I haven't gotten very far on my list, but I will keep thinking of things.

spying

If the world could look at what people I look at on facebook, I would not look at most of the people that I look at.

corn

I just ate some popcorn that tasted like actual corn, and I did not like it!
This is the best picture I could find to express myself.

And this no-roommate business is getting out of hand! As evidenced by the amount of time I spend on the Internet, by myself.

oldies

The fact that I could hang out with a 29-year-old guy the other day and it wasn't weird, is weird.

Optimism

There are pros and cons of being home alone for a week.

CONS:
You have to do ALL the dishes.
You can't say "oh, my roommate must have left this mess!" when anyone comes over.
You might not get any visitors.

You may start talking to yourself.

PROS:
You can pee with the bathroom door open.

:)

After a medium-challenging week, I noticed a small, nice miracle that God placed just for me.  I was going for a walk around the block with a friend when we passed two little kids riding bikes.  The 7-ish-year-old boy hopped off his bike right in front of us and said to me, "You look very pretty!"  I said "thank you!", he said "you're welcome", and we went on our way.  And that nice comment was just what I needed.  Thank you, little friend-boy.

Bird

Today, while I was walking to meet a friend, a small bird started following me about 10 feet above in the air, squawking wildly.  It then proceeded to dive-bomb my head no fewer than 4 times, until I got behind a tree.

being happy

Today, while I was bawling my eyes out after realizing that a close friend had stolen from me once again, I asked myself, "What is the happiness that obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to me?"  Kinda like, "Is what I'm trying to share with the world really worth it?"  Cuz it is a whole lot of work.

Because, let me be honest here, I am seriously trying to live the gospel and I am most definitely trying to help others to see why following Christ's teachings is so important... and yet, even while trying to help a friend to realize these things, I have to learn how to deal with challenges that are presented because of that exact situation.

And then I came to a conclusion:

For me, it [the happiness that obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ brings] is a peace of conscious and confidence that the Atonement of Christ provides me with the ability to repent and grow, and access to His comfort during the process.

...even when this "repentance" and "growing" result from the process of learning to love and forgive and teach someone who has less understanding about certain correct principles than I do.  It still hurts, and I still have to learn how to get over it (hence the "repentance" part).  But I know that in this crazy world I have the rare gift of peace because of my knowledge of and obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  [www.lds.org / www.mormon.org]

So, I realized (once again) that it is worth it, even when it usually seems like more bad things happen exactly when I'm trying to do good things.

common things

Today, as I was riding my bike down a huge hill on the way back from work, where I traveled at the approximate speed of 25 mph--about 3 miles in 7 minutes--thanks to all-green stoplights! a brand-new convertible passed by me and I had a thought:

Riding your bike down a huge hill in the summertime provides exactly the same feeling as driving a brand-new convertible down a huge hill, with about the same amount of effort required and everything!

Also, if someone thinks that I won't notice that one black-striped sock went missing from the dryer 2 weeks ago and one blue-striped sock mysteriously disappeared this week, then he or she is quite mistaken and I will wear the black and blue socks together to show that I will not let my new socks vanish in vain.

feelings

Shock is a hard emotion to deal with, cuz it's just so... unexpected.

I espeak Espanish

"Your vocabulary scores are above average," my advisor told me today.  "Especially for English being your second language."

"Oh, English is actually my first language..." I replied.

"Oh really?" he asked.  "Then why do you have an accent?"

I was personally unaware that I had an accent, but I tried to come up with a way to get him out of that awkward situation.  "Oh, well, I speak Spanish and Portuguese, but I learned them later.  I do teach a Spanish class, though," I suggested.

"Oh, yeah, that must be why your accent is so strong," he said.

new talent

Today I learned that I can make the perfect impression of a ringing phone.  Thank you, Spanishy.

mean nerds

The regular kind of nerds is fine:  high-water pants and mixed patterns don't bother me from afar.  It's the meanness from the mean nerds that drives me crazy.  I am currently in the library listening to a mean nerd bully a regular nerd about something to do with DNA and RNA, blurting out "YOU ARE WRONG!!!" every few minutes whenever he disagrees, whether or not his companion is truly mistaken.  I would love to walk up to the mean one and tell him that he's a bully and no one likes him, and then give the regular nerd a "keep it up!" pat on the back.  I will try to restrain myself.

Babies

In my life, there are certain things that people frequently bring up in conversation:

• my age (24)
• my heritage (grandfather: Puerto Rican)
• my appearance ("Snow White", "Egyptian", and "this girl I know..." are most common)
• my shoe size (10.5, which doesn't actually exist, so 11)
• my duct-taped bumper (ask my sister)
• my name (Casey)

English is a funny language, where girls can have boys' name and boys can have girls' names.  We just like to share around here.  Equality, and stuff.  But I think there have been more comments about my name than about anything else in my life.  Even my friends and my family make jokes all the time.  [Me: You're gonna name your first kid after me, right?  Becky: Of course! ...as long as it's a boy.]  When I was an asthmatic 10-year-old I was put in a hospital room with a boy.  Traumatizing.  Years later, when chatting with a preschooler, he was traumatized: "your name's CASEY?! but that's a BOYS' name!" which my dad likes to bring up to this day.  

But I mean, they might be right... my parents had picked out "Spencer Casey" for their first-born son, who turned out to be me on the actual day of my birth, and I guess they just hadn't prepared for such a scenario.  They say that I chose my name, though, because while they were sitting in the hospital trying to decide what to name me, they said "well, what about Casey?" and I squawked, apparently giving my approval.  (Who listens to babies anyway?)  Not that I'm complaining, though... I think that either I grew into my name or my name grew into me.  

So to all my friends Addison, Alexis, Ashley, Bailey, Blair, Cameron, Casey, Charlie, Courtney, Dakota, Drew, Dylan, Hayden, Jaden, Jadyn, Jaiden, Jaidyn, Jayden, Jamie, Jessie, Jordan, Kendall, Lane, Logan, Micah, Morgan, Parker, Payton, Quinn, Reagan, Reese, Riley, Robin, Rory, Rylee, Sam, Sidney, Skyler, Stacy, Taylor, and our fellow citizens, here's to equal rights or something.  Stand strong.  

Walking Accident

This is a hard one to admit and/or explain because I'm not quite sure how it happened.  I would also like to have a cooler story so that I feel a little less guilty for embellishing when people inquire about my battle wounds.  All I know is that I had 10 minutes to make it to work after an impromptu nap, so I was groggily heading to the parking lot when I realized that I was no longer on my feet.  I think that I thought that I needed to run to my car, but my body decided that it didn't want to do that quite yet.  I think I just went down, I'm not sure.  Is this amnesia?  I'm kidding.  But the firey sensation in both of my scraped knees and my right leg kinda takes me back to middle school...

new movie!

I just found this great movie (free AND online) about Joseph Smith.  You can find it here!

an awkward discovery

pretty sure that the girl sitting next to me in class sketched me right next to her notes...

April 6th!

Today is my favorite date!

1.  We (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) believe that Christ was born on this day.
2.  The Church was established on this day.
3.  The Salt Lake Temple was dedicated on this day.

What better way to celebrate than with an unrelated surf music video in Portuguese?

fish

 

Over half of the world has brown eyes.  The second most common eye color is blue.  One to 2% of the world has green eyes.  Other variations include gray, amber (gold), hazel (brownish-yellow-green) and violet. 

My sister says that mine are the color of rainbow trout.