Welcome Spring!

I do love spring. Sometimes I give spring a hard time, and sometimes I don't appreciate spring nearly enough. I have such a deep affection for autumn and winter that sometimes spring just gets a hard break in my book. But I really do love spring.

This year, I am planting flowers (which I received here). I planted several last weekend, but the rest have to wait another 6 weeks or so. I had a blast raking up the leaves and gunk from our planter boxes in the front of my apartment. There is something about gardening that has always been somewhat mysterious to me. I've never really serious gardened before--not that I expect to this year. I'll be lucky if ANY of my flowers grow...I can't even keep potted plants alive! But I found the fresh air and the dirt and the leaves immensely satisfying.

I have an annual tradition which dates four years ago now. In the spring of 2006 I was living in the Bell Apartments down in Cedar City. I lived on the second floor, I had a big window in my bedroom that looked out over Cedar. Every night for almost a month, I threw open that window and listened to the soundtrack of Rent. Something about that music...it has incredible nostalgic powers. It gives me a feeling of freedom (end-of-semester, perhaps?) and of endless possibilities.

I think that's really what spring comes down to for me. It's a restart, a refresh. Everything is coming to a close, and to a beginning. There is limitless potential, for the world and for my own life. Spring is when I take a step back, re-evaluate where I'm at and where I'm going. I make exciting plans for the future. I relax and unwind from the stress of winter. I am free.

I really do love spring. I hope to make the most of it this year!

The good news:

• We went tubing at Soldier Hollow last night and it was AWESOME!
• I'm really really really loving "This is War" by 30 Seconds to Mars. It inspires me.
• This week we're going to start the planning meetings for the FSA National Conference again, and I am definitely in need of a good project to keep me busy--which this conference certainly will do.
• We're leaving a week from tomorrow for Washington D.C. to pick up my brother from his mission!

The bad news:

• The internet's not working at my house, so I wasn't able to work on my novel at home. Grr.
• I found out I'm not elligible for Pell Grants because I already have a degree. So frustrating.
• There's a date night this Saturday, but I don't have anybody to go with.
• I want to go on vacation!!!

The Day of Birth

Yes, today is the day. Today I am one year older. They say I'm supposed to be wiser too, but I think that's up for speculation. =)

I had a GREAT weekend, pre-celebration for my birthday. My bestest best friend Melissa came down from Ogden to spend the weekend with me, which I appreciated muchos, because there were many other fun things she could have been doing instead. On Friday night, we partied with our dear Gregorio in anticipation of HIS departure to grad school next week. We had a great time at his house with swimming, homemade ice cream, and Rock Band!

It is a show of how much my Liss loves me, that on Saturday morning she attended my great-grandmother's funeral with me. My grandma lived with my family for 10 years, right during my teenagehood. She was one of my dearest friends, and certainly one of my earliest artistic inspirations. I played Jon Schmidt's "Funeral Hymn" at the service. I saw some relatives I haven't seen in ages. You know what brings family together--weddings and funerals.

But Saturday evening was the real treat, and my birthday present from my parents. The parentals, Liss and I went to Thanksgiving Point for a Jon Schmidt concert! If you're unfamiliar with Jon Schmidt, check out his website. He's my favorite pianist and composer. And he's a HYSTERICAL entertainer. His concert was so enjoyable! And it was celebrating the release of his new album, "Bonus Tracks", which my dear wonderful parents also bought for me at the concert. So much fun music! I loved it.

On Sunday we relaxed. I relax seldom enough that I appreciate every opportunity. We had church, we had dinner, we watched "The Devil Wears Prada", and then we just chilled and chatted. It was great!

Errands (but fun ones) were Monday's agenda. Grocery shopping, gas, a quick but fun visit to Barnes & Noble for a bday gift from MOI, over to Wally World for a pinata to smash at my party tonight, and over to the Thai Village for some yummy curry! I tried the Pumpkin Curry, and actually I REALLY enjoyed it. Tastilicious!

The only bad part of the whole weekend was saying goodbye to my best friend. I struggle! I wish we lived closer together. Alas!

Tonight, it's TKD and then a party at my house with the aforementioned pinata. I'm so excited! Hopefully it's going to be a GREAT birthday, despite my onset of ancientness. =)

Fourth of July recap

I love the Fourth of July. It definitely ranks among my top favorite holidays. It's the only major mid-summer holiday. It's got the fireworks, the barbeques, the watermelon, the swimming, the red white and blue. The Fourth of July is relaxing.

Especially this year. There were a few instances of fireworks prior to the actual Fourth. Friday night I had dinner with my family, then spent the evening with the Page's, and then with some ward-friends. Saturday morning, I slept in, and then read a book in bed until noon. I got up and cleaned my apartment, which actually was wonderful, because it's been getting ridiculous and I love a clean home. At the last possible moment, I made some rice crispie treats. 10 minutes flat, folks. I love rice crispie treats. They are easy, they are quick, they are cheap, and they are delicious.

Then is was off to my date. That's right. He's from my ward, and I like him a lot. =) We went to the Freedom Festival in downtown Provo, which actually was not as exciting as years past. I now have a good judge on his taste in ties, though. We watched a hypnotist show (it wasn't all that great, but it was nevertheless amusing) and had dinner at the fair. We met up with the Pages, and walked from their house to the stadium.

Now for a funny story. So...I had made these rice crispie treats. At the stadium, they weren't allowing any outside food or drink, and there were a bunch of people at the entrance checking bags and retaining everybody's snacks and whatnot. Well, the guard rather quickly found my rice crispies, and told me that I couldn't take them in. We stepped off to the side. I was in distress! Bret just wanted me to give up the rice crispies so we could rejoin my friends. But I stuffed one bag of rice crispies into the bottom of my purse and buried it with other stuff. Then I went back to the same guard. She was busy poking through somebody's purse. I handed her the second bag of rice crispies, and she just waved us through. Triumph! And so me and my date and my contraband rice crispies proceeded into the stadium.

Then it was time for the Stadium of Fire. I've never been before, and I'm not sure this was the best one for a first experience. But still enjoyable! The best part, to be honest, was the little patriotic dancing girls, who did the wave and other things with their flags. There was SheDaisy, which was tolerable, Glenn Beck and his Music-Man-dancer-singer-peeps, which was odd, and the Jonas Brothers, who went on for far too long. At least we didn't actually want to hear them, though. What with the screaming and the girls behind us who sang every word of every song, they were pretty much drowned out. But seriously...the fireworks were worth the whole thing. They were awesome. They were long, loud and beautiful. Oh, and the military fly over was cool too. =)

After the Stadium of Fire, we waded through the masses on our way back to the Pages, where we sat for an hour waiting for traffic to (somewhat) disperse. We hade cheese and BBQ sauce on Ritz crackers. I'd never tried this combination before, but I'm now completely sold. Mm. Then it was homeward bound after a long and well-spent day.

I love the Fourth of July! I still have a good handful of sparklers that need to be set off. Maybe some post-holiday celebration this evening...

What did you do for the Fourth?

Random thoughts on nothing in particular

Last night, my dear mom and I colored my hair (aka she did all the work and I reaped the benefits). Except, I can't really see a difference. In the sun it shines a little brighter, I suppose, but nobody noticed and I'm kind of bummed. Except I don't want to spend another seven bucks and another night of my life to do-over, so I'm just staying with Chocolate Cherry for now.

I'm presently engaged in a Star Trek marathon--the movies, not the TV series. So far we've watched The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan. Definitely preferred the latter over the former. Tonight we will probably be watching Search for Spock. I just have to note that this is the first time I've ever seen these. The only Star Trek movies I've ever seen have been First Contact and Insurrection. Love them both. And so far I'm enjoying these earlier films, if on an entirely different level.

Speaking of which...I'm totally enjoying my Netflix subscription again. I have an on-again, off-again relationship with Netflix, usually about six months at a time for each. I think that in six months, I watch all the movies that I'm interested in, and then I have to build up a new stock of things to be interested in before I start again. Currently I'm alternating the Star Trek marathon with episodes of Heroes. =)

My guitar is good. It has this weird buzz that's been getting worse since I bought it; I need to talk to somebody who knows one end of a guitar from the other who is NOT the people who sold it to me. However, despite this annoyance, I'm really enjoying it so far. Still haven't started lessons, though that's coming soon, but via the internet I've learned a few chords which I have been trying to apply to the easiest songs I can find in the children's songbook. I'm trying to start building calluses, but no noticable difference thus far.

I really really really want to go camping. Like...now. I have such a craving to escape and go to the (relative) wilderness for awhile. Unfortunately, this will be have to be put off for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, it only has to be put off for a couple of weeks, and then I can go!!

That's all. Like I said...nothing in particular.

Guitar triumph!

Behold!


It's an Ibanez Sage series (SGT520VS). Solid spruce top, mahogany back, sides and neck, rosewood bride and fretboard. I tried bunches of different ones the past couple of days, and I found that I was particular to the Ibanez. I tried a couple different Ibanez, several Yamahas, Fenders, Samicks, Washburns, even a Martin today. It was amazing how much difference even I could hear, who have never played guitar before. I'm sure that ear will only get stronger with training. But for the money, I found that I liked the Ibanez. They got good reviews on different websites, I was able to get it for a good price, and it's pretty.

I'm very excited. Now I just have to learn to play it! =)

Playing catch-up

I was talking to a friend today about how busy I am making my life. He said, "That's okay, but just remember balance. That's a problem that you struggle with sometimes."

I wanted to take this opportunity to catch you up on some of the activites I've got going on, as well as those that I'm on the verge of.

Tonight I'm going to Taekwondo, which I'm pretty excited about. I didn't get to go last Thursday like I had planned, which is fine, but I'm glad to go back tonight. I am craving TKD and physical activity (which will play again in a moment) and I've missed the TKD community a great deal. So yay!

Also, I'm hoping that tonight will be the night: I'm going to buy a guitar. This makes me exceptionally nervous along with exceptionally excited. I can't wait to start learning.

Tomorrow I"m going to be playing softball on a city league team I just joined. I haven't played in ages so hopefully I don't look like an utter fool. But I'm excited to get out and play.

On Thursday I'll be up in SLC again for a planning committee meeting for the birthparent section of this summer's Families Supporting Adoption conference.

Friday I may be going to either the zoo or an aquarium, pending my friend Chris stepping up to organize the outing. I'm not going to lie. I really love every single one of my friends, but I get really tired of organizing most of our activities. So this time, Chris is in charge. =)

In the midst of all these things, I have lots of other things to do as well. Volunteer work, my new obsession with adoption blogging, writing a novel (in my new Moleskine notebook), stressing about the upcoming Semifinal announcement for ABNA, preparing to teach Sunday school, and hopefully making some kind of handout for visiting teaching (I've been kind of lax in that aspect of my calling), searching for a LBD to wear to Dixy's wedding, and hopefully maintaining x-number of friendships in the meantime.

Oh, and working 40 hours a week.

So yeah, life is busy. I wouldn't have it any other way. Hopefully I don't explode. And hopefully you know that I still love you!

Life ambitions

I have a life list. Yes. I do. A list of things that I want to accomplish somewhere in my lifetime. (I think I may have discussed this list before). Anyhow, I've been feeling the itch, the last couple of weeks, to tackle something new, and particularly something from this list. I think the trip to Seattle made me see that I CAN accomplish things, that I can make them work in my life and schedule now.

This craving for new challenges has taken shape in two ways. After days of searching for continuing education and community classes (and not finding a whole lot that stirred my interests) I have decided that I am going to take up the guitar. This is one of several musical instruments that I enjoy and would like to learn to play. It is the most accessible, particularly at this point in my life. And so, I'm going to. This comes with all sorts of hurdles I must get over first, but it is now on the day-to-day to-do list, which means it's gonna happens.

Secondly, I'm going back to Taekwondo. This has been a long time in coming. But I'm going to get my sorry lazy butt up and back into the studio. I went tonight for the first time in...well, a really freaking long time. And actually, I had a blast, I feel great, and the endorphins are amazing. So while I know it's going to be hard to motivate myself (as evidenced by the last six months and more) I've made the decision to go back. Just need to follow through.

That's all. What's up in your life?

Behold!

(I would recommend clicking on it and watching in the Facebook window, then you don't have the funny blog background.)

The Roadshow: Part Y

I'm really mad at myself, because I meant to take pictures at rehearsal tonight and I totally spaced it. There was even a great moment where, exhausted, J.T. and I were still up writing song lyrics and arranging a reprise. Oh yes, dear reader, we are ADDING a musical number--ANOTHER musical number--with the performance less than three days away. Oh yes we can! And I totally should have gotten a picture, at least of the musical rehearsals this evening. I am an utter failure as a historian.

Other than that, rehearsals are going fairly well. Tonight was hard, people were tired--I certainly was--and the energy wasn't quite where we wanted it to be. Hopefully tomorrow is better--it had better be, or I'm going to kick some booty, I'll just say that here and now! Then we have Friday night off (Hallelujah!) and then Saturday is the big day. So keep your fingers crossed folks we are counting down the days!

The Roadshow: Part X

I think I've discussed the roadshow here and there, but let me reintroduce you to this madness that has been consuming my brain power for the last month. My stake (a local chapter of my church, a grouping of the smaller wards) is having a roadshow, which is this Saturday evening, and I was asked to take charge of my ward's portion. During December, I wrote the script and lyrics around the theme of service and in the mandated setting of a garage, among other prerequisites. Starting after the new year, I have been dragging various ward members by the scruffs of their necks to get them to practice and learn this mini-musical. Even though I'm a theatre regular and know how the thing goes, I was starting to feel nervous there for awhile. Fortunately, things are finally starting to come together, as I knew they would.

I happen to have a fantastic musical director, who just seemed to appear right when I needed him and possessed of the perfect skill set for the job. I don't think this would have happened without J.T., and I'll say that with a perfect frankness.

It's been a long time since I've been in a directorial role--since taking Directing II in the spring of 2007--two years ago now. (Wow.) It's a totally different mindset than being a stage manager, as I am accustomed to, and it's been a very nice stretch. This is a relaxed setting. It doesn't have to be perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. There are no judges here, of any kind. No grades or reviews hang in the balance. This has been FUN. It's sort of a mockery of theatre, but then, what musical isn't a bit tongue-in-cheek? Tonight I spent half my breath telling the girls to "Keep giggling!!" (the other half was telling them that I couldn't hear or understand them, but that improved as the night wore on.)

God knew I needed this. He knew that I needed to stretch my theatre legs, but not too much. He knew that I needed a chance to get to know more people in my ward. He knew that I needed something to occupy my mind and my time during this period of my life, brief though it is. He knew I needed a goal to work toward, and people to chivvy toward it with me. So yes, it will be a relief to put it behind us, but I don't intend to take much time off afterward--I'm getting used to having church business to keep me busy.

Look for more roadshow updates as we get closer to the big day!

Rock Band

I just immensely enjoy Rock Band. I have no idea why. But after leaving the party tonight, I turned DragonForce up really really loud and had to resist the inclination to drive really really fast. I love music. And I just love Rock Band.

Plight of the Caroler

A short blog about Apartment Christmas:

Basically, my college friends and I have our annual "Apartment Christmas", which started when we all lived together and has continued now even though we don't any more. We don't really have "traditions", so much that the thing is a tradition in and of itself. Sometimes we do Secret Santa (especially our more broke years), sometimes we do White Elephant. This year we did a $5 gift card white elephant. The idea was to get a $5 gift card from somewhere totally random. We ended up with some craft stores, movie theatre--I ended up with a card to Chevron. It was amusing.

During the course of the evening, we went Christmas caroling around my friends' apartment complex. And I do have to say, we sounded pretty good. There are some decent voices amongst this particular group. However, in the entire complex, no one came out to hear us sing. In point of fact, there were several instances when we heard people locking their doors when we came by. !!! What does that say about our world? Keep out the crazy carolers! I mean, of course we sang for our own enjoyment, but it was so sad that no one came out even to smile and wish us a Merry Christmas! It was madly depressing. So we went back to Ellen and Justin's to open presents, to make ourselves feel better and regain the Christmas spirit.

Oh, I also have a few things to say about Amazon wish lists, but this particular discussion will be truncated for sake of time. You see, I find Amazon wish lists to be immensely convenient. No guessing! No worries about disappointing the receiver! They can show you exactly what they want for Christmas. However. You almost always lose the personal touch. And what's more, there are no surprises! I mean honestly, it's such a difficult situation. On the one hand, you want to give them something that you know they want. But on the other, you want to give them something heartfelt, maybe with inside jokes, or something handmade and soul-invested. I don't know, it's a catch-22. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I worry a little about disappointing the recipients of my gifts. Hopefully all the gifts will blur together to make for general-overall contentment.

At any rate, yay for Christmas! And yay for driving home in the snow?

Only one more Sunday before Christmas!

Sundays are seriously becoming my favorite day of the week, which I could never have predicted at any point of my life up until now.

Church today was exciting. Firstly, we're singing/playing Christmas hymns in church, which I love. I just love Christmas, but singing Christmas hymns is definitely one of my favorite parts. I'm going caroling next week at Apartment Christmas, and I'm super excited.

I taught Gospel Doctrine today in Sunday School. It's so nervewracking. I've been nervous all week, but I'll tell you, I started trembling twenty minutes before Sacrament Meeting was over, and didn't stop trembling until halfway through Relief Society. All things considered, I think an angel taught my lesson, because it well so well and I certainly couldn't have done so well. Somehow I made a baby's first steps into a metaphor of the pride cycle on the spot. It worked out pretty well. :)

Actually, I just got back from a second Sacrament Meeting. There's a retirement home in my neighborhood that has a branch in our stake, and the wards rotate preparing their meetings, with the priesthood in charge of blessing and passing the sacrament, and the R.S. in charge of the music. So today I volunteered to play the piano for the meeting. It was cool. I haven't played the piano in a church meeting for a year now, since my last ward in Cedar City, and I realized that I miss it. I love playing the piano, its one of the talents that I am most thankful for because it brings so much joy into my life.

Oh, and a very good number of people signed up for the roadshow! I'm excited to start working on it. My current motto is Simplicity. I think keeping thing simple will save my sanity.

Life is good! Love and Christmasness to you all!

Welcome once again

This is pretty much as close as I'll get to having a Christmas blog. You know, I don't really feel that red and green go together, but in light of the holidays, I will put up with the clashing for a few weeks in order to feel festive.

Also, yes those are snow BEARS, my best friend and I made them last year, in the high school field across from our house in Cedar-town, and it was about an hour before some high school punks came along and destroyed them. I suppose we should have known better. But they wouldn't have fared better in our front yard, and our back yard was far too confining for the spirit of freedom and infinite possibility aspired to by our snow bears.

I suppose that now (or perhaps in two days when it's actually December) it is actually considered appropriate by the majority of people to play Christmas music. I'm fairly certain that none will be found at my workplace, considering how my coworker Cindy feels about anything besides rock and metal. So perhaps I will have to suffice at home. Which means I need more Christmas music!

I do have to admit that I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy the new activities, I enjoy the briskness in the air, and I love snow. I love giving presents (if not so much the trying to figure out what to give people). I also really love Christmas decor--I love Christmas trees especially! I can't wait to put ours up, and I'm pretty stoked to put up a little one on my desk at work.

So, in all, have a wonderful Christmas season, and have some pie. Pie makes the world a better place.

Catharsis

Today has really sucked at work. We lost a HUGE account yesterday, and it was in big part me and my coworker's fault, and we got not only a critical email from the CEO, but also had to go in and have a meeting with him about what we can change and do better in the future. In addition, it's been declared a Stupid People Day. We have one every couple of weeks, when it seems that all of the most concentratedly stupid people decide they all need to call in on the same day and make us miserable.

And so today I find myself drinking Dr. Shasta (which is in no way an acceptable replacement for Dr. Pepper, but is provided by the company for my consumption, so I can't really complain), and listening to my new cathartic treatment: a dose of symphonicky metal with female and other interesting vocalists. ie Nightwish (which happens to be a favorite of my pops), Within Temptation, Evanescence, and even a little bit of DragonForce (the song I really like of theirs being, of course, "Through the Fire and Flames". All the others sound the same.) God bless Pandora!

I'm also trying to work on my novel, but one of my protagonists is putting me through hell, and I don't know what to do with him. So if anybody has any random thoughts concerning my tremulous plotline, I would certainly appreciate them. You wouldn't believe from what I can pull my muse!

Strange new revelation

I like Aerosmith.

My coworker, Cindy, listens to a surprisingly array of music for someone her age, all heavy rock and the like. I keep asking her the names and artists when I hear songs I like, and when a surprisingly number turned out to be Aerosmith songs, I soon after created an Aerosmith station on my Pandora.

After listening to Aerosmith, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the like all day, I can't deny that I'm enjoying the genre. Of course, Pandora throws anything from Queen to Metallica into this mix, but still, I'm finding that my horizons are expanding. :)

Who would've thought?

Work and talk and stuff

I started my new job today. I'm working there in the afternoons this week, while I finish up at my other job, then I'll start full time next week. After my first day, I felt slightly like my brain would explode, but I have the feeling I'll get over it. The people make the job, I suppose, and I definitely like the people there. Hopefully that will make the difference. That and being able to wear whatever I want and listen to whatever music I want in the office. Speaking of which! If you haven't heard, definitely check out Pandora, by the Music Genome Project. It's basically online radio, but without commercials, and you can personalize your own stations to play the kind of music you like. It's way cool, take a look.

In addition to the insurance responsibilities I've been discussing, I'm also on the verge of taking over my own wireless payments--the last vestiges of a time when my parents paid for everything. Alas, adulthood. At any rate, I'm thinking about switching service providers. In talking to friends and coworkers, I've determined that almost nobody is entirely satisfied with their cell phone service, and I can't seem to get any straight opinions on anything. With that in mind, I'm searching out the cheapest plan that appeals to me the most for whatever arbitrary reason I happen to come up with. In that light, I'm seriously considering switching to T-Mobile, unless any major objections come up in the next bit. They're a little cheaper than everybody else, and they fit my needs perfectly. I really like the "MyFaves" plan--since I only talk to three people with any regularity, it makes sense to make those three free minutes, since they're all with different providers. Ergo and so forth. Any thoughts?

Little enjoyments

I bought a copy of "Then Sings My Soul" by the Mormon Tabernacle. I bought a copy for a friend of mine, actually, but I couldn't help by indulge myself also. Now, I'm not one of those goody-Mormons who listens to church music all the time (I shudder at the thought.) But I like some good MoTab now and then. This is a really good album, I'm really enjoying it. I still really like "Called to Serve" also, lots of good, gumption-y songs on that one. While at Deseret Book, I also saw that MoTab has a show tunes album; I almost bought it, but then resisted, as the pocketbook is not endless. Maybe I can get it off Amazon or something. Anyway, yes. MoTab rocks my socks.

PS: I'm totally buying the new Coldplay album with my birthday money--stoked! I hope it's as good as the reviews make out!

Beautiful Sunday

Sometimes I really love being Mormon.

This morning, I was so tired--I didn't go to bed THAT late, but I've spent that last two months or so on a schedule of 2am to bed, 10am to rise, so scaling back to midnight-8am is a challenge, and will have to go back further by next week. Long and short--getting up for church this morning was a challenge.

I got sort of lost driving to church. Last year, a Sister Hodubski drove me to church each Sunday over the summer. I vaguely remembered the way, and I looked on Google Maps, but I still managed to get a bit turned around. However, I just kept going in the right general direction, and I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me find the church. Well, I found Old French Road, and I could remember the way from there, but I was still very thankful when I saw that familiar building on the hill.

I love the church here. It's a different ward this year, since the Erie 2nd Ward now meets at one in the afternoon, and that will probably conflict with my job in a few weeks. But the 1st ward is just as good, and a lot younger. Last year, I saw with grandparents, or couples with kids out to college. The ward this year is mostly young families, with a baby and some toddlers. Its a lot more lively, but still very spiritual. I was greeted by no less than five people before Sunday School started, which is even before the Relief Society nabbed me--I got asked to say the closing prayer almost before they knew my name! So friendly, so outgoing. I admire the members out here, out in the mission field.

Speaking of which--they had four sets of missionaries. Six elders (two of which were Spanish speaking) and two sisters. Isn't that cool? This area isn't that big, but the work goes forward at a rampant pace. I find it thought provoking.

But just in general, it's such a beautiful day. I'm so glad I got up and went to church. It's just these little things that make everything worthwhile. I got to drive through the most beautiful part of Erie this morning on my way to and from church, listening to the Tabernacle Choir in my car. I'm so glad to be here, to be working with these people and the kids to come, to be able to experience what I'm here to do. Oh, and I'm also really glad to have my car. :)

All I can suggest is that you take some time this Sunday to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine (hopefully you have some, wherever you are) and just enjoy what life (and God) have given you. It's an awesome world, and we're meant to enjoy it.