bumma in the summa - oh, wait, I guess it's winter or spring or somethin...

There IS a reason that it took me nearly a week to blog about my excited-ness as described in my last post. Unfortunately it didn't work out quite as nicely as the day after Christmas - where you get to play with all of your new toys. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look here. But that post, however, was a happy post - and it is a seriously no bueno thing to mix not-so-good things with happy things.

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I'm reminded of a Robert Frost quote, "Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length." This is, for the most part, true. But one might wish for the happiness to shrink a few inches if only to last a day longer. Please?

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Let's back track a little bit. Wednesday night we had Mac set up and ready to go, and PC was pushed out of the spotlight into the parent's room.  Frownfully, we still had to deal with the slow with a capital "s" internet, but I could bear with that. I had plans. Back track a little further to the day I left the red white and blue, and I got a new 80 gig iPod for my birthday.  But seeing as I had no iTunes or music to match the iPod until we got MyMac here it was just decoration in my room.  Anyway.  So Wednesday evening I was superstoked to sync.  I was also waysuperstoked to finally (and I repeat - finally) buy Viva la Vida.  (p.s. that album's amazing)

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Most of the evening, (okay, maybe ALL evening) was spent syncing the pod and downloading my long sought after album.  (Yay! Now I just need to see Dark Knight and I'll be totally happy with life!)  I stayed up a little too late, but hey it was a party!  Sooner than later, Thursday rolled around.  And what should happen but to have Mac freeze up mid-search for USA Today.  Oh...kay. 

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Step 1: Attempt to quit.  If application remains in stuck position for over ten minutes, move on to Step 2: Shut off computer.  (So far - normal.  Annoying, but normal.)  Step 3: Wait.  Step 4: Turn on computer again and finally Step 5: Continue running normally.  [ERROR] Wait, step 5?  Where'd you go? Step 5?! Come back!!!

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You get the picture.  Mac didn't like bein' cooped up in a box for five months.  Probably went through some periods of feeling neglected, lonely, depressed, maybe some denial.  The physical strain of booting up was just too much for him after all he's been through.  Sad.

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Long story short (too late!) - Mac visits the shop.  We have an empty office.  My Thursday was really depressing, and to top it off our internet is at least three times slower.  (One of many things preventing me from blogging.)  ZERO BUENO.

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Fast forward to, um, Tuesday.  Mac's slumber party at the shop was WAY past over.  Check up complete.  But whatever drugs they had Mac on couldn't save his brain.  Yep, you guessed it.  Hard drive=fried.  And totally inaccessible.  No pictures.  No documents.  No songs.  Not even that one marble game that Richie liked.  Sadness all around. 

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If I were as excited for my polka dot shoes as I was for Mac to come then maybe the polka dot shoes would be the ones damaged beyond repair.  "When things mean a great deal to you, exciting anticipation just isn't safe." - Dodie Smith.  It just isn't.

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And it didn't make us any happier that Paul Newman died.  :(

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Tune in next time for solutions to the major problemos.  (Sorry, trying to cram only one subject in a blog at a time.  It bothers me.)

{insert adjective}

Take a look at the following picture...

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Ring any bells? Any light bulbs popping above your head? Does this trigger any distant memories of... oh, we'll say, one hundred and forty-two days ago? ...

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No?

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How about these pictures... What do they have in common with the first one?

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Did you figure it out? Maybe this one will help jog your memory...

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Okay. If you haven't figured it out by now then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you're new to this blog. More like new to my life. So just lemme esplain. This is a macintosh. Yes, you've seen one before. This guy belongs in the top five on my BFF list. But as some things go, we had to temporarily part ways since I was, like, leaving the country. This was very hard on both of us. A very emotional time. I mean, we were BFFs. Anyway. We sent my macintosh, (clarification: it's not really my macintosh, so to speak. But we're tight. And I don't think my mom is terribly offended by my expressions of attachment...) along with many other possessions.

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We sent all of that stuff at the beginning of May on PURPOSE... hoping that, by the time we arrived in early July, it would be waiting for us! Or at least coming soon... But due to the many bajillion issues we have had concerning French Visas... (aka it came a week before our departure. Yikes) our arrival was greeted with a notice saying our stuff was in a warehouse in SALT LAKE CITY, and could not progress until clarification on visas blabbity blah blah... So much for being welcomed by balloons or somethin...

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July turned to August, August to September. We decided to just think of it as coming at Christmas, so as A) not to jinx it and B) stop being disappointed. Well guyz, it's Christmas at our house. And there's enough paper and boxes around to prove it.

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Actually, let's just let some of these pictures tell the story.

My dad and the movers, Elvis and Nephi.

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Guyz, I heart movies. And as much as we love our little movie rental place... it just isn't cutting it for us. It'll be good to save 4000 francs every Friday night. My pick-of-the-pile: Sabrina

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For my birthday, my sis Brooke gave me the game wizard for my birthday. Unfortunately, it's not a two player game, and occasionally my mom and I have a few spare "chilling" minutes. As this includes a standard deck of cards we used these for different purposes (aka the 2 of hearts is a lot dirtier than the wizard card)... Let's just say that I will challenge any of you to a game of Crazy 8s or Rummy and I will win! Also featured in this picture are puzzles. Which I like muchos as well. :) Game pick-of-the-pile: Apples to Apples. Puzzle pick of the pile: James C. Christensen's Fairy Tales. Yes!

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This is one of my Grandmother's paintings. So glad to be able to have some of these in our home here.

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Each shoe has a story. And each shoe is something OTHER than my black flip flops that have been worn every day of my life here practically... My star and polka dot shoes are both extremely lucky (just ask Megan - she'll tell you!) and my brown flip flops... just aren't black. And they'll match brown things. We have excited plaid-ness, plus basketball shoes (YAY) and my sparkilified-too-tall-can't-walk-in-formal-dance-heels. Um, like I'll use them here.. but it's nice to know I have them! Pick-of-the-pile: ...gotta be the polka dots. Seriously folks.

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I'm am almost 100% positive that the people of Tahiti believe that the only outfit I own is my run-down pair of blue soccer shorts, a choice between a white or gray t-shirt, and then my brown skirt on Sunday. In all reality, I do have clothes... I just have literally been living out of a suitcase for five months. So I'm quite excited to have something new to wear. Like, really. Pick-of-the-pile: my basketball fleece blanket. I've been sleeping with a sheet since I got here... and while I don't need it for warmth - it IS nice for comfort. :) (Oooh ooh! We also got normal pillows! Very exciting indeed!!)

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Another thing I'm very excited about is getting to know a few more books. When I was a kid, I read all the time. I've read a lot of books in my life but once ninth and tenth grade rolled around I was up until two-thirty doing homework rather than stuck in a good book... Anway we're a book-lovin' family, and what we brought is enough to keep me busy for two years I think. But take a look at the picture in the top right corner of my desk - there are lots of fun treasures to find here. It's like "Where's Waldo." Featured here are deoderant, contact solution, an ACT prep book, Bop it, and my favorite relaxing frog-guy. Anyway. Pick-of-the-pile: The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. Love the movies. Want to read the book.

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Um, yes :) I'm excited about the basketballs especially. Pick-of-the-pile: uh.. the blue and white one? Lol.

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Yes! Ensigns!

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This is the part where I start to wonder why I brought some of the things I did. Like this... elephant... thing... But hey, it's awesome so why not?! I can treasure the random U.S. pennies I find in here...

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This is my tiki man. My friend Chalyse gave him to me up at Girl's camp a couple years back. He is a good tiki man and he knows how to take care of a room. Nothing was ever stolen. This is, of course, good. I think he's excited to be out of a box though, dust can't do too much good for those twenty teeth of his...

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It really seems like just yesterday that Megan and Ben were spending way longer than they wanted to at my house, taking stars off my ceiling and listening to the same songs on the radio while I hyperventilated. We packed up my entire room and they helped me decide what to keep and what to trash, or what to go without.

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These beginning three months have been a pain, but as bad as it was I have learned that I really CAN live without everything. (As long as there's internet access within a five-mile radius.) It's a time I'll always remember, and it's good to stop and think about the blessings we do have. Like air conditioning.

re-for-mat-TING

I can hardly sit still in my chair for longer than five minutes let alone keep the same blog layout for more than a few months. (This is the part where being a vampire ain't so bad eh?) (The sitting still part anyway.) . Large increments of time spent on the computer has been of short supply as of late. So if you have happened to stumble upon my blog while under construction - I apologize. It's always darkest before the dawn. . Well I'm literally just exploding with blog ideas - if I can only have the time to jot them all down. Er, type them all up... (Why is it that you would say "jot them down" and "type them up" and not "jot them up" and "type them down" ??? The latter makes you sound unprofessional. WHY is that?) Anyway. I'm starting to figure out a schedule for myself.. and hopefully that'll give me more time for blogging. . Oh by the way, here's a picture of my friend Denise and me... . More to come. Seriously, folks.

things iLike

1: New Apple products. If anyone gets one of these, tell me your 'pinion! Unfortunately, though, my likeness for the new nano is almost entirely driven by all nine colors together. I

couldn't get just one!

2: Disney movies. As of late: Emperor Kuzko. I just... really like this movie :)

3: The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I know I had a little sidebar guy talking about this, but I seriously am so stoked that the rest of this classic sitcom is coming out on DVD.

4: Sauteed Onions. Most delicious thing. Especially on crepes. Mmmm good :) 5: New Music Tuesday. It's my favorite! Along with every Thursday, when they update the Billboard Hot 100 6: Vacations! Especially ones that last for a full week :) 7: Cheese... especially the little circles that you pull the cool string thing and then the wax comes off and it's like opening presents on Christmas!!! So delicious! 8: Friendly culture. I love how at the beginning of each basketball practice every person walks around to shake hands and greet everyone. The same goes for any similar event. 9: Missionaries singing. Anything. Anywhere. It's just awesome.

10: This cool thing that my dad has here.

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11: Running :)

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12: Calls from home. Or emails. Or when Brooke blogs about getting letters from Tahiti. Actually just whenever Brooke blogs... :P

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13: American music. Whether it's hearing my classmates singing blink-182... or recognizing "boots with the fur" ringtones. I just love it. My knowledge of this subject has actually helped spread my popularity somewhat. It's been pretty cool. I guess my American accent overshadows the fact that I can't sing :)

Following Orders

So apparently my Uncle Mark and my Uncle Dave have formed a campaign for me to start taking more pictures... I am under the strictest obligation to do my part, and respond accordingly. *Bad Lauren* These pictures were taken at a black-sand beach about ten minutes away from our house. In the summer (December that is) the sand is too hot to walk on, but during this extremely freezing weather we're having, it's possible. ;) . .

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gobble.munch.swallow.devour.

This is only the very best pineapple... ever. Taken at a pineapple farm in Moorea A normal dish of Tahitian cuisine featuring iti iti bread, poisson cru, salad rousse, other meats and salads Bananas - from our very own tree! Pineapple farm Fish at the marche . Poe. (Pronounced poi - not like the poet) It's my dad's favorite. Looks disgusting, but it's totally delicious. . An assortment of tropical fruit- also from our yard. Most of which we still don't know what they are. :)

just chillaxin

Here are some pictures of when I when out to dinner with some friends of mine. Tehiva, Tehani and Auura.

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The beat goes on.

So... what the dif?

• I now OWN a Precalculus text book. Sick, I know.
• I am waking up earlier than my father. AND we're going to bed at the same time. This is definitely a night and day difference from the schedule I'm used to in Springville.
• I have my first "ward-calling." I'm the co-pianist in Sacrament meeting. Woot!
• My dad is eating treats now. It's my dad's birthday - and my mother and I couldn't believe that we were asking him what CAKE he wanted. Before this mission, I can't even remember the last time my dad ate something he considered "treatsish."
• We now have a housekeeper. First thoughts: Why the heck are we going to have someone in our house?! We don't need anyone! Second thoughts: Okay... maybe she'll be helpful with dinners and things.. Third thoughts: Jk!!! Totally couldn't live without her!!! What was I thinking?! *smack forehead* Her name is Marguerite and she's a cutie. And boy does she know how to keep a clean house!
• OCD thing #1. My current occupation: family accountant. My organizationness habitness makes me a good candidate for the management of the receiptness. I get to play with numbers and put things in a computer and other itty bitty things like that. It's actually fun. Uh, yeah. Why is it different? Because a) I haven't done it before and b) since when am I spending my time on the computer configuring the family business?
• OCD thing #2. There is no such thing as normal lined paper! Everything is graph paper! Notebooks, notepads, you name it and it's re-tar-ded. My weird tendencies make me want to write in every single square~not a good thing.
• My life: Tahiti=Groundhog Day+The Twilight Zone. (refer below)
• September and Bill Murray. We've reached the two month mark. But it feels nothing like two months. It feels like two days, or two years. I don't know - time doesn't seem to have the same relevance here. Excluding Seminary, nothing really connects the days together. I'm happy to say that I'm not waking up to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" everyday, and while things do seem to repeat themselves - I still somehow figured out it was Labor Day today. But Phil Connors did have the right idea when it came to learning how to ice-sculpt and other neato things like that. February 2 may not be repeating itself, but the similar relationship of time can benefit me in a lot of ways. There may not be a way to learn how to ice sculpt, but there are other cool things besides ice sculpting. Right?
• As for the Twilight Zone... Seriously, I think that Tahiti IS the Twilight Zone. What I used to call "blonde moments" I now call "Rod Serling moments." These happen regularly. Friday feels just the same as Wednesday. It's a strange feeling to have time mean nothing to you.