The Name Game

“How do you feel about the name Milton?”

“Do you hate that kid?” Chris replied.

“Maybe I would,” I retorted.

“Then Milton would be a great name.”

Any time I suggest a name to Chris, this is pretty much how the conversation goes. I tend to like old-fashioned names, like Wilford or Madge. Or names that have literary significance, like Seymour (from J.D. Salinger’s Glass family) or Finnegan (James Joyce). Or ones that do both, like Ezra (Pound) or Virginia (Woolf).

But then Chris likes really boring names. Like Peter or Jane.

For now, it’s a fun game. But I have the feeling that some day my husband is going to pay off some doctor to put me under long enough to change the kid’s name to something more innocuous than Ernest. You know, like pretty much any name out there.

Nonetheless, there are a few names we’ve managed to agree on. Here they are:

Male:
Seth
Liam
Peter

Female:
Leila
Jean
Kalina (Lina for short)

Also, this is tangential, but what is up with parents giving their kids long names with the intention of shortening them? If you want a kid called Cal, name him Cal, not freaking Callahan. Want an Emmy? How’s about just naming your daughter Emmy instead of Emeline?

Now, if it’s a family name and then you shorten it or something like that, that’s fine. Whatever. But the rest of you parents, cut it out.

Don’t burden your kid with the name Gertrude if she’s just gonna end up being Trudy. In fact, don’t name her Gertrude at all. Even I can agree that that’s cruel.

Understanding identity & feminity

Recently, I found the April issue of the New Era (the magazine written and printed by the Church for teenagers)in the student newspaper office. It was a special edition, all about "Dating for Beginners," and it was full of some really amusing things (the whole issue can be found here).

There was a lot that I felt was good advice; overall this was a great introduction for young people to dating. I remember having a lot of questions when I was younger that the magazine addressed.

Another section addressed to the young women. The Young Women's Presidency gave dating advice, most of which were good things like "Be Physically Fit," and "Improve your social skills."

But one bullet of advice really bothered me. It read, "Behave like a daughter of God. Do not be forward, loud, brash, or suggestive. You may have seen this kind of behavior in movies, but it is not fitting for a young woman who understands her identity as a daughter of God."

Hmmm, I thought. I am definitely all those things.

Forward? Check.

I've definitely asked guys on dates. I've told others that they needed to take me on a date.

Loud? Check.

Ironically, I was loudly reading excerpts from the New Era in my hand just moments before. I seem to be missing the volume-control built in to most humans.

Brash? Check.

I'll admit it — I'm irreverent. I try not to be rude, but the truth is, life is too funny and absurd and ridiculous to be polite and soft-spoken all the time.

And suggestive? Check.

Not sexually suggestive, silly. Is that really all you can think about?

But, I suggest things all the time. Just today I suggested that the trash be taken out, because something smelled like rotting, snot-covered, fetid pig vomit.

Not to get graphic or anything.

Also, I would suggest that maybe it would be better to encourage young women to be genuine and unique. To love who they are, even if that is brash and loud. To be willing to take responsibility for their life and get what they want—even if it means being forward, or being intimidating and not getting asked out.

I suggest that it is great to be brash and loud. Being forward and going for what I want doesn't mean that I misunderstand my role as a woman — it just means that I'm not afraid to make things happen. My strong personality is what makes me powerful, and I'm not afraid to be so. I know that I was created loud and forward for a reason, in the same way so many are timid or shy. They are just different ways to do the same thing; to share my beliefs, to be bold, to be forward in what I feel passionate about.

So, go ahead girls: get loud. Be brash. Go forward. Make suggestions. Because you're powerful, and it is this boldness that will enable you to make a positive change in the world.

Why I Win at Life

1) MINESWEEPER MASTERY

Oh yes. This proof of my awesomeness is so indubitable, I had to post it. Of course.

2) Cute Orchestra Guy (who shall henceforth be referred to as "Jake") asked me out last Friday. We hung out Saturday-Monday, and in the words of my roommate Jennifer, he is "sweet on me."
Which definitely qualifies as a win at life.

3) My article made the first page of the school pape.

4) I've started training for a half-marathon coming up in June! How legitimate is that?

5) I made some pretty amazing brownies this past Friday. So chocolatey.

6) My dorm room actually looks so cute (if a little messy).


And these aren't even all the reasons why!

They are just the most obvious ones.

Some Nitty-Gritty Details.

In my previous post, I discussed the challenges and blessings that have come with being back up at school.
But, apparently, you guys (Janelle) didn't want to hear vague statements or sweeping generalizations.
No, you wanted details. The juicier, the better.

So, seeing that I am such a people pleaser, I decided to oblige. Following are some details about my life up here in Rexburg.

Weather:
It is pretty darn cold, but there is not nearly as much snow as there was last year. It's only snowed a couple times since I've been up here. I am kind of glad about this, but come on. This "all or nothing" business is a bit extreme. Plus, the Idahoans need the moisture!
Also, the snow melts and makes a lot of ice. Good for shoe skating.

Classes:
-I love my British Literature teacher. He is very entertaining, and has fun being in class. He has gone off on several amusing tangents, including a long story about why his dog got itself impregnated, and it is the worse dog in the world, among other things. We also had a lengthy discussion another class period about whether his shirt was pink or just "light red" (it was totally pink).
-My Spanish class is going really well! I currently have a 99.48%, so go me! The teacher I have now I also had for Spanish 101, and she is a great, and her teaching style really works for me.
-Orchestra is great; we are playing the IV Movement of Dvorak's Symphony no. 9 New World. I swear, I didn't know it was possible to actually record that kind of majesty, but it is. Give it a listen.
-My Music Appreciation class is fun, as well. My teacher is pretty laid back, and hey, I get to listen to a bunch of music, go to live concerts on campus, and get credit for it all. Hello, awesome!
-My Book of Mormon class is also really good (aren't religion classes always good, though?). One of our first assignments was to write a paper outlining one area of our lives that we wanted to improve on. I chose selflessness; I would really like to experience having more of that ultimate Christ-like quality.

Roommates/Apartment Life:
I am really loving my apartment! It was a bit quiet at first, and us roomies didn't interact a lot at first, but it has really warmed up and we have a lot of fun together.
-Last night: OH THE DRAMZ. Kirsti and Deborah (they were good friends, and now share a room) got in a fight! Kirsti was joking around, pushing Deb's buttons, but then Deb actually got upset and threw a loaf of bread at Kirsti, who threw it right back and followed it up with a bottle of cranberry juice (which consequently exploded all over the floor). It was INTENSE. AND CRAZY.
And pretty hilarious, really.
They made up later, as well, so it was all good.
-Kirsti and I have been working out together! We've gone to a step class a few times, and which are actually a lot of fun! Kirsti is from Texas, and LOVES animals. She watches Animal Planet all the time, and says at least once a day how much she misses her dog. She is pretty fun, but also a pretty focused person.
-Deborah cut my hair, and it actually looks SO FLY. It is now shorter in the back, and longer in the front. I'll take a pic and post it soon. So, yes, Deb does hair, and is in school for Auto Mechanics. She is from South Carolina is totally a country girl. She's sweet and nice.
-Paris has her room to herself (since Tess ended up not coming up). She is SO nice, and is pretty quiet. She is totally fun to hang out with though, because she laughs at me and thinks I'm funny. She is trying to get into the Nursing Program here right now.
-Jennifer is my roommate, and she is totally cool. She is tall (6'2"), and half Native-American, half Honduran. She is also a direct descendant of Sittin Bull. Cool, right? She has the biggest heart, and we have a lot of fun together. She makes a honking noise when she blows her nose and it is amazing!

What's New:
- I am writing for the school newspaper now! It is called the Scroll, and I had thought about getting involved in it, but was afraid I wasn't qualified or it would be too hard. It was funny, though, the subject kept popping up from different people. For example, I met this guy and we were introducing ourselves (his name was Russell), and almost right away he asked if I was interested in getting involved in any school publications (he does a lot of advertisment stuff with the school). I told him I was, and just had to laugh on the inside, wondering how he could have known! He encouraged me to go talk to someone in the i-Comm office, so I did, and voila. I was writing for the Scroll! It was almost disappointingly easy.
In any case, I wrote my first article and turned it in yesterday. I will post a link when it goes up on the paper's website.
-I have this totally obnoxious and ridiculous crush on a guy in Orchestra. He plays the bass, and he is so. good. looking. Seriously, I forgot what it was to be this attracted to someone. He is either a 1-2 or a 2-1, I think, and has the squinty eyes a la Robert Ashworth.
Yesterday I was helping put chairs away after class. He was standing next to the stack of chairs and offered to put up the two I was carrying. My heart dropped down to sphincter, I'm pretty sure. I let him, and that probably would have been that, but I somehow (thanks to a pep talk on Sunday by Ashley, centered around putting myself out there more) got up the courage to introduce myself. His name is Jacob, and he was even thoughtful enough to clarify whether my name is spelled with an "A" (which, as you know, it is not).
It was a small victory--but a victory nonetheless!--and I walked away grinning from ear to ear.

transitioning...

It has been a whole official week since the beginning of classes, and I must say that I am enjoying my time here at BYU-Idaho. Which is a relief. While I was constantly looking forward to being up here again the entire time I was in Las Vegas, I was still nervous.
Would me roommate be a "Me-Monster"?
What if my workload was crazy hard?
Would I get a lot of chances to meet new people?
What if the people I already knew didn't want to talk to me?
What if the testing center wouldn't let me in because of my crazy red hair?
What if my crazy red hair scared off potential dates?

I felt overwhelmed my first couple of days, which I realize is normal, but that doesn't make it any better to experience. (It actually peeves me when I am discouraged or frustrated and people tell me it's "normal" to feel that way. How exactly is that supposed to make me feel better? But I digress). I have also felt oddly anxious about most everything; usually I am pretty easy-going, and get things done as they come, make friends and meet people as I go. So feeling anxious or worried about anything really isn't my style. I am particularly concerned about falling behind in school. I guess this does cause me to be more motivated to get work done, i is not very enjoyable. I much prefer being motivated by pretty much anything, rather than fear. I'm kind of missing my old, leave-it-until-later, pull-it-together-at-the-last-minute self.
It's kind of hard not to feel isolated, as well, when you are living with four perfect strangers, your family and friends are ten hours away, and even if you wanted to talk to them you couldn't because you forgot your phone charger, and sadly enough, your phone does not run off of chewed up fingernails. I rely so much on my family, it can feel very hard to be apart from them for any amount of time.
So, in summary, I was kind of thrilled to be here, but my excitement was more a vague haze I could feel floating around on the other side of anxiety, loneliness, and something close to panic.

Still, even though transition are most always awkward, this one has been relatively smooth. While being up here isn't quite how I pictured or would have liked, I have noticed that I have many moments of clarity and joy. I feel more vivacious, and I have moments in which I truly relish life. Taking the time to notice the little, simple things; that is where the joy lies. When I take time to be grateful for:

-the sound of snow crunching beneath my feet,
-the smell of my vanilla lotion,
-being silly and having my roommates laugh along with me,
-the feel of my body, and how strong and good it is,
-tasting the health and flavor of food I cook for myself,
-the way that fog makes the world look peaceful and subdued.

...That is when I can feel and hear most clearly all the many ways Heavenly Father is telling me He loves me.
And I could never count them all.

So, hello again!
I have some things to share.
Firstly, I got my hair cut! I actually got it cut a while back, probably 3.5 weeks ago. It is rather short! And somewhat faux-hawkish.
I think it looks quite fabulous, even though i will probably need to get it cut again soon. All the upkeep of short hair! Also, I think I will go shorter in the back--it is starting to look a bit mullet-ish these days. Still rocking it though.

Secondly! I made my Halloween costume. I was Tinkerbell, and I must say it turned out really cute! I made everything but my dress--which I borrowed from Tess. She got it at Forever 21, I'm pretty sure.

For my hair, I stuck in bits of irridescent cellophane and ivy leaves using elastics and bobby pins. I also sprayed it with glitter (yay!).

My wings I made, using 6 wire coat hangers and irridescent cellophane. I used a hot glue gun to glue the cellophane onto the hangers, and then used the gun and yarn to put all 4 of the wings together. They were awesome but kind of big--it was somewhat difficult to get around in them!

My belt is made of braided cellophane and leaves.

The dress was a little short (scandal!), so I devised this under-slip thing to modest-ify it. I cut up an old skirt I had around that I don't wear, so that only the under layer was still there (I didn't want to ruin a cute slip, and also it already had some cute green tulle sewn to the bottom of it). A lot of white was still showing and it looked odd, so I stapled some strips of cellophane to it and walla! Perfected!


I was also going to sew some cool slippers/shoes to wear, but I only finished one---it took a long time to make! Also, pulling yarn through was hard on the my li'l fingertips. Still, the one show was cool so I'm including a pic. My plan is to finish the other and then maybe I or someone I know can sport my awesome costume next year.

These puppies was constructed with stiff felt for the soles, cut in a foot-esque shape with a pointed toe, and with softer felt for the tops. I sewed it using yarn and a yarn needle.

Majorly! Awesome news! Jinny set a date to get baptised!! It will be on November 29th, three weeks from this Saturday. I am so excited for her. It's been so cool to see the joy the gospel is bringing to her, and it brings me joy seeing how happy she is.

Referral(ly): check out Threadbangers.com! It is a totally cool DIY site that I found while surfing the web for ideas on how to spiff up my dorm room when I head back to school. It has video episodes on how to do TONS of diy stuff, especially fashion and modifying clothing. I'm pretty much in love with it!

I have more to say, but I'll find time later this week.
Much love!
elyssa J.

a wonderful weekend.

It really was a great weekend, filled with some of my favorite things.

There was my Dad's homemade salsa, and breakfast burritos to enjoy it on.

I listened to the living prophet speak in General Conference.

I got to hang out with my amazing family.

We were spiritually uplifted together.

We laughed together.

Watched Dirty Jobs together.

I have an interview with the woman who (helped) cater Ashley's wedding reception.

I am rested, rejuvenated, and ready to go!

So, watch out, world!

The Ultimate Dare

This past weekend was so amazing. I drove down to California and spent the weekend with Tess. I love that girl! She is a true friend, even if it is impossible for us to share a bed (apparently I kick/touch/take over when I'm sleeping...excessively).

In any case, I got lots of sun and tons of beach time. We even rode seadoos; Tess was wowed by my amazing seadoo-ing skills (and with good reason ;] ). We even chatted up a good number of fellas, rode a roller coaster. Serenaded random people on the beach (on the uke of course), and have an all-around good time. I love hanging out with Tess because she makes it hard to take the world (or myself) too seriously.

Her mission over the weekend was to get me to do/say silly, random, outrageous things--and I did. Half because it was her birthday and i couldn't begrudge her a birthday-dare or two, and half because it really was fun.

For instance, we were shopping and we walked past the Abercrombie and Fitch store. I stopped in my tracks, staring at this huge, blown up picture of a man's naked torso, with pants pulled dangerously low. We of course giggled at it--it was completely absurd. We both agreed that those pants were just scary-low. Too-much-information-low. Seriously scandalous. And then: the dare came. Go into the shop, and closely and conspicuously inspect the photo. In a squint-your-eyes, bend-closer-to-see, put-hand-to-face-in-thoughtful-gesture-type manner. And of course, I did, and got several odd looks from patrons and employees alike.
I was sure at the time that I was making some awesome statement, but the exact intended message of that action escapes me at the moment.

Another example: Monday night we went out to P.F. Chang's, just the two of us, for dinner, and made up this whole elaborate scheme to get the entire restaurant to sing her hapy birthday. It didn't work too well; it ended up just being two waiters and my lungs at full power that sang to her. It was still sufficiently humiliating, and thus a success, nonetheless. I'm sure we convinced several of the tables around use that we were pretty intoxicated--despite the fact that all we'd had was water (and of course, neither of us drinks). Alas, our strange, crazy, obnoxious behavior does not even have that explanation (excuse?) !


In any case, I love being aroud Tess, because she's one of those friends who insists on me always being honest, being myself. It's like this unspoken challenge, the ultimate dare: "Be true to you!" Around her, I am reminded that what others think of me and how they perceive me really isn't a big deal, and that I actually can't even control that. Even if everyone on the planet thought I was crazy, or homicidal, or lazy/untrustworthy/etc., it wouldn't matter; I would still be OK. It's none of my business what people think of me.
And Tess reminds me of this, reminds me of my business. It is my job is to just live my life in such a way that brings me joy, and allows me to think well of myself and feel good about who I am. And really, if I do that, who can fault me for it?

So, it's been well over a month since I posted, so I thought it was about time.
My birthday was yesterday! It was a pretty chill day, but fun. Thanks to everyone who called or sent me a card! That meant a lot to me.
I had a class that went from 6:00-8:45, but afterwards I made Texas sheet cake and had people over to eat it. I can't make it as well as Ashley can, but it was still good--definitely edible! Drew also came over, and he sang me the "Happy Birthday" song from Norway (where he went on his mission). It was pretty awesome; he even translated it for me.
Drew and I are still dating, but still taking it slow. It's hard to find time to hang out since I've been crazy busy and had tons of school work.
Um, what else? Apparently I inspired Tess to learn to the ukulele, and her and I have been jamming lately--her on the uke, me on the cello. It's pretty hilarious/awesome. There is a ward talent show next week and we are planning to perform "Modern Girl" by Sleater-Kinney (which I doubt any of you have heard :D). We are dorks, though, and since I have a microphone, we made a recording of us playing/singing. I uploaded the recording below (it will just be audio--no picture). It's pretty soft so turn up your speakers.


Other exciting things: I rearranged my bedroom so that my desk is in my closet. Now I can fit my matress on the floor underneath my loft bed! That is exciting; the room has a much nicer feel to it. Also, I don't realy like sleeping so far off the floor. It's kind of weird.
Classes have been going well, although I still feel behind. I think that is probably just how this semester's going to go, though. But, I will be out of school five weeks from today! July 18th! So it will all be over too soon; I can hang on a little longer.
Well, Tess and I are probably going to go to Idaho Falls tonight for a B-Day celebration. We will probably have dinner and maybe shop or see the Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton! sigh).
I love you all!

Elyssa Jean

80's Night!

After FHE we had a movie night. I think we are going to make a tradition of it (although we might move it to another night). Last week we watched Hook and dressed as pirates--it was awesome! I wish I had pics of Tess and I as pirates, but alas, I do not.

Still, I have pitchas of this week! It was 80's night, and we watched Footloose (which is actually a pretty heinous movie--but entertaining). I was so amused at all the scandalized reactions at the locker room scene (there are a few nakey man-buttocks in it).

From left to right: Erin, Alisa (both roomies), Tess, and me! Aren't my feathered bangs just fabuloso?

Erin and me. I don't know what I am doing with my hand... haha.

Tess and I are about as fly as it gets.

We totally should have been eighties chicks. We would have ROCKED that decade!

Ok sooo some peeps I don't quite know in this one...the most important one to point out though is DUDE IN THE YELLOW SWEATER who would be Drew. Party!And another of him. Because I can? And also because I want you guys to see that he really is cute. And just FYI, the yellow sweater and glasses are also for 80's night.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elyssa Jean