Some random things to make up for not posting in two months.

So it's June already. Still unemployed. But I'm happier about it. After all, now I get regular payments. Things aren't so bad.

Got a new calling. First counselor in the Relief Society presidency. Which is weird, being a single 30-something in a family ward. But it's going well so far. People keep asking me if I'm overwhelmed or nervous or whatever. It's strange, but I don't worry about the teaching or the responsibilities. I worry about having to get to know all the sisters, learn their names, and learn to love them. I don't like meeting new people. I don't like the pressure of learning names and faces and histories. I'll be going visiting this week. The first time as a member of the presidency. I'm sure I'll be fine.

My parents were away this weekend. That means I'm pet-sitting for them. I don't sleep well here anymore. Well, and having to keep my bedroom door open means one of the cats joins me on the bed. Which wakes me up. And having to sleep in a bed that's not my own and is too small and has a mattress that is not right for me. Last night I slept on the couch. It was a much better sleep, even if I did still wake up the same number of times in the night. I'll be sleeping on the couch again. I was about to try to sleep when I remembered that I forgot to file my unemployment for the week. Can't forget that. Then I decided that I needed to get some of these thoughts out of my brain.

There's some other things. But I think I'll save them for later. Just about guys and postsecret and random musings. Maybe by the next time I get online I'll not need to talk about it. Or maybe I'll surprise you and actually have more to say.

Oh! I bought a new dresser a couple weeks ago. From IKEA. I love that place. And I love my dresser. I put it together while watching the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice. It took the entire length of the movie to finish it. But it's so pretty. I had to completely rearrange the boxes stacked around my room to empty the space for it.

Ok, tired now. Going to go to bed. If I don't see you again, have a great June.

(Wait, now that I think about it, I'll be more motivated to post again if I know that I have readers. Post a comment, let me know you noticed that I'm still around. Thanks.)

A full brain

There are so many things I want to talk about. So many things are circling around in my head that I just want to get them out. But I don't want to talk about some of them because I really want to stop thinking about them.

I want to talk about the new apartment, and how being in a new place physically is helping me try harder to get in a new place mentally and spiritually. Not to mention making me try to organize my life in all the other mundane daily stuff.

I want to revisit and finish the drafts that I have tucked away.

I'm really curious as to how soon I'll get a calling in my new ward. I certainly wouldn't mind doing something musical, but I would really love to teach again. Except I really wouldn't want to teach the youth or in the primary. Whatever, I'll be happy doing what I'm asked to do. Ok, I'll try to be happy in whatever I'm asked to do.

Everyone always says that you can say no to a calling. I've never been in a spot that I felt that I could turn one down. Although there was that one time that I think I was extended a calling in order for me to introduce the fact that I needed to talk to the Bishop before accepting it...

My room is filled with boxes that I have to go through, yet I want to go to my parents' storage and get more. I miss having all my belongings around me.

I need more furniture. Not that I have place for anything right now (due to the plethora of boxes), but once I parse through the boxes I have, there will be lots of empty space.

I want a brownie. And a camera.

Yeah, I don't think this post made much sense either.

Random

So there's lots of things that I want to blog about but they kept getting jumbled or pushed aside. So I'm going to just do a little infodump and we'll see what happens.

1. I really want to blog more, but I talk too much. I ramble on and on and can't tell a coherent story. Or I take too long to write a response or a comment. And then I think and think about what I want to say, but then have run out of time or I forget. Or I keep wanting to edit what I write and have to just walk away from it.


2. I totally wanted to post some Get Fuzzy cartoons from this week, but when it saves the picture it saves as a file type that I can't open. It makes me sad because this last week has been hilarious. Check out the entries for the 13th, 14th, and 15th of this month. Anything that pokes fun at the BoSox I love. And these are clever.


3. I overuse the words "so" and "well". Most times I don't care, but it's starting to bug me.


4. I want to do more tags, but I save them to do another day and then I forget them.


5. I love reading webcomics. Problem is when I find new ones and have to do an archive binge.
6. I get distracted very easily whenever I visit tvtropes. (I just spent a half hour looking for the link for #5, beacuse I kept reading other entries.)


7. The downside of spending so much time on the internet is the very short attention span I now have. I have had up to 6 tabs open and switch back and forth whenever I feel the slightest bit bored.

Heh, so 6 of those 7 things are about the internet. And as I only noticed # 3 because of the blogging, it could be argued that all 7 are about the internet. Totally didn't plan that, as I meant to mention baseball. Oh well, maybe another day.

People are strange

I just don't understand people sometimes.

I was recently surprised by the fact that a person has been mad at me for about a month and yet had done nothing to make me aware of that fact. The person just stayed angry, and everytime I did or said something it would just feed into the anger. I can't apologize or explain or try to change my behavior if I have no idea that I'm offending anyone.

In my daily perusal of the internets, I happened to read some end-of-the-year lists, mostly about movies. Most lists were rather positive and fun and interesting, but one was pointing out humor in movies that weren't intended to be funny. Or bad movies that had moments that were laughable. Now, I'm all for finding the funny whenever and wherever you can, but this list seemed to be rather more mean than I was comfortable with.

Another list was the most horrible person list. That was written by a very angry person. Granted a list about horrible people isn't going to be cheerful, but a lot of the language was bitter and crude. At first I was offended by the author's mocking of my religion, but then the author went ahead and abused the Catholic Church too, so I guess they're an equal-opportunity type religion basher. And that last sentence makes me sound just as bad as that author.

I don't understand. I have my hard days, and my angry days, but I don't really want to dwell on them. I much prefer to laugh, to be in a good mood. I've been trying to be nicer to people, to not take my bad moods out on others. And trying to avoid those things that will encourage me to be in a bad mood. So I really don't want to read an angry diatribe about how awful life is.

I like my life. Grated, it's not what I thought it would be 10 years ago, but really, who can predict exactly what's going to happen. And I've decided to make the best of this life that I have. And while there are some parts of my life right now that are uncomfortable, I'm going to get through them.

Anyway, I guess I'm done with the ramble for now.

Oh wait, there was a reason I started off with someone being mad at me. I have been trying to be nicer and positive, like I said, but sometimes I don't quite succeed. I would really appreciate it if instead of going a month (or more) without talking to me, why don't you just talk to me, let me know if I've hurt you. Thanks.

I'm an artist. Apparently.

I found a link to a personality test. And I took it, because really, why not?

So I am a ISFP.
Introverted (I) 71.43% Extroverted (E) 28.57%
Sensing (S) 58.54% Intuitive (N) 41.46%
Feeling (F) 62.16% Thinking (T) 37.84%
Perceiving (P) 52.5% Judging (J) 47.5%

ISFP - "Artist". Interested in the fine arts. Expression primarily through action or art form. The senses are keener than in other types. 8.8% of total population.

Ok, so maybe. But then I looked at this results page, which has a long list of adjectives, and short lists of favored careers, and disfavored careers. I don't like some of those adjectives. I'll have to take it again sometime, see if things change. It even says that you should take it again. I guess the more you take it, and the more often you get the same result, I guess the more accurate it could be.

So, take the test and tell me what you end up being. And, is it really you?

Beethoven

I woke up this morning in a rather bad mood. There are reasons for the mood, but they're not really important at the moment. But contributing to the mood was the fact that I'm very overdue for a visit to the chiropractor. My hips have a tendancy to go out of place, and that rather messes everything else up. My lower back, my shoulders, and my neck are all tight and sore. My legs are affected also. Money has been tight, so I have just been dealing with it. (I'm going to go this afternoon and get all put back in place. That will feel so wonderful.)

Anyways, so in addition to mental turmoil, I don't physically feel well. Not a good combination for a good day. I know that I need music to help me through the day. I chose Beethoven to listen to first. On my little flash drive is a folder that contains Beethoven's 5th through 9th symphonies. Becasue of a quirk of naming within that folder, the 9th symphony always plays first. That is my most favorite piece of music. I don't have the words to describe the joy that the music brings to me. I don't know how to express how much it moves me and comforts me. Ok, so I just told you some of how I feel about it, but these words can't describe it adequately.

My favorite movement is the last one, the one that gives the symphony the moniker of "Choral". Maybe I'll give you the words later, but for now I'm feeling a little bit emotional about it. Suffice it to say, most of the words are from a poem by Friedrich Schiller called Ode to Joy. It's all about joy. Joy in life, joy in brotherhood, joy in knowing a loving God and Creator is looking down on us.

When I listen to that symphony, and the last movement in particular, it makes me happy. I have fond memories of performing it. The basic melody of it was one of the first little tunes I learned when I first started playing the flute. The music and the chorus and the wonderful majesty of it can always change my mood for the better. When I listened to it this afternoon, my mental turmoil eased and my physical pains didn't seem so bad.

When next you see me holding up my little warning sign that tells you I'm in a bad mood, just take me aside and tell me to go and listen to Beethoven.

Christmas Wish List

There are so many geeky things that I want that I can't afford to buy myself. Maybe one of my friends wants an idea for a gift? Heh, well, I wanted to put this out there, just for fun. (And if I really wanted these things from my friends, I seriously should have posted this list earlier, but in my defense, the first item on the list was only announced yesterday.)

This is the annual ornament offered by the author of one of my favorite webcomics. Only $13.99, and it's only available until the end of the year. Here is where you can go to order it. There are also t-shirts, several of which I do like, but the ornament is the only time-limited thing on there.

This is a cd, compiling the first season of the podcast Writing Excuses. This order page lists all the episodes and bonus features that are on it. I'm not much of a writer, but there are things that as a reader are very interesting to me.

And here is Volume 3 of Schlock Mercenary. There's a bunch of stuff here that I like. Under New Management and The Blackness Between are the 2 volumes I don't have yet. Also in this store is the book Hold on to Your Horses (and the poster), a set of magnets, and other random stuff.

Finally this is one of the offerings from the Sam and Fuzzy store. This is Ninja Showdown, but I also like Conscience Cat, My Skills Are as Varied as They Are Impractical, Cowbell Advisory, and Obtuse Reference. (All shirts are shown in the store link above.)

Let's see, have I forgotten anything? Oh! That's right, one more store.

This is from Brandon Sanderson's store. It's a necklace with a symbol from his book Elantris. It's $49, and comes with several different symbols and colors. I just think they're really pretty. (Info on this is the Silver with Enamel, with the Emerald color background.)

Other stuff in the store include signed hardcover copies of his first books and a couple of random shirts.

Anyways, that's some of the random things I like. Not that I'm expecting any of it, but it was fun to go poke around and find some of this stuff again.

Mosaic

MyKelle had this up, so I thought I would give it a try. Make your own, it's fun!

To make your own:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions:
1. What is your first name? Heather
2. What is your favorite food? steak
3. What high school did you go to? Stamford
4. What is your favorite color? blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? James McAvoy
6. Favorite drink? Pina colada (virgin, of course)
7. Dream vacation? Great Britain
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate (cookies are a perfectly acceptable form of chocolate.)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Wife, mother (I searched under family to find this pic.)
10. What do you love most in life? Music
11. One Word to describe you. Feisty
12. Your flickr name (or your blog name or handle or whatever) Kethry’s Garden (the kitten is named Kethry.)

These are the sources for the pictures: 1. Heather in snow, 2. Lemon-Rosemary Grilled Flat Iron Steak, 3. Stamford Park Waterfall, 4. __IR_Cachoeira__, 5. OUT965669, 6. Piña Colada, 7. Early morning Dunstanburgh, 8. 14th August 2007 / Day 226, 9. Joy of life, 10. Bokeh Melody, 11. Fiesty Redhead, 12. Kitten in the Sun