Can I just ramble for a little bit?

Today I was thinking about my life. I think about my life a lot, especially since living my life is something I do every day, even if I don't do it well. I guess I'm not super bad at life. But how do you succeed at life? What's success, really?

I turned in my graduation papers today. So have I pretty much won the game?

Oh wait, I thought winning the game was getting married... right... better get on that now.

Hey, am less cynical than I used to be. I think it helps that, if my calculations are correct, I will be the first person from my high school class to earn a bachelor's.

I swear I just got to college. I'm amazed at how many things and people from high school are still relevant. I think it's because so many of my friends are away on missions, so I feel that all those relationships are frozen, even though I know it's not true. People will come home and be weird and different. Things will be changed and I'm sure we'll have this awful realization that we have been changing all along and we didn't realize it.

So I'm usually always tired, right? And I don't like it when people are like "you look tired." Uh thank you? But these week I was legitimately tired. Exhausted. I don't even remember being this tired doing a play and that's saying something. I'm talking tired like my mom calls me 17 times and I don't hear it.

It's my week-long, fall break hangover.

I was also thinking about how organized I used to be. I still use a planner, but I find myself winging it every day.

Spoilers! Speaking of winging it... that's a clue to who I'm going to be for Halloween.

Has this post been enough gray goop for ya'll? Hope so, because I just needed to be rambly today.
But it's a good thing I'm stopping because I think my carpeltunnel/tendonitis is coming back in my hand. Ahh.

-Megan

Turning, turning

It's still autumn and I'm still listening to country music, which is usually a summer sort of thing.

The fall in Utah has been a rich cacophony of color and light. I cleaved unto fall break and now I am back into the thick of school.

Now is the time for turning leaves... I'm finding myself doing that once again. Right now I'm reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

Pumpkin muffins are called for, even if the cute liners stuck to the bottoms. These are "healthy pumpkin muffins." Next week I will make less healthy muffins...

Recipe found here.
Sorry it was so late... I was up until 3 a.m. last night finishing my crossword. For those of you asking, yes, I will post it on my blog so you can all torture yourselves with it.

-Meg

Word Gymnastics

The limited spelling choices in English is wonderful to one who is doing a crossword puzzle. But for one who is constructing a crossword puzzle, it is a most frustrating obstacle.

I am in crossword puzzle class, and for my midterm I have to make one. I'll post it on here after I turn it in on Tuesday. It is hard, and I'm using software to do it. How constructors did it prior to the computer is a mystery to me.

I often wonder how anyone did anything without computers. I know we survived before, but seriously, how did you design a paper, or record music, or write and edit novels? How did people communicate?

Ya I know I sound like a true Generation X here. Sue me.

In other news, I bought two pairs of boot/shoes today, and I'm especially excited about my Merrills (see above). This means hiking and walking in the snow without discomfort! Bring on winter! (But not too fast... )

-Meg

p.s. did you see how many parentheticals were in that last paragraph? Geez louise!

Another wonderful weekend

On Friday I got my iPod back! Miracle of miracles, I tell you. The guy who found it sent me an email that he had it, and I was able to pick it up from him.  

He just said that he had lost stuff before and he would want someone to return it to him.  

Yes, the golden rule works and there are honest people in the world. Hallelujah!

How we celebrated:

And watched "The Village." That is one of my most beloved films.

Saturday was the day of hell, and I mean that literally because the ASU Sun Devils destroyed us. We were happy birthdayed to the ground!

At least the first half was pretty exciting...

Now, for what you were all waiting for!

Muffin Monday!

Recipe here

Except I actually did have caraway seeds, so I used those instead of poppy seeds. And we had lots of chives, so I through some in too. And we didn't have milk because milk day is Monday, so I used half and half instead. 

But ya, they were awesome with our Sunday dinner yesterday.

Happy fall break, everyone! (Well, if you don't have a fall break, just pretend you do.)

-Meg

Sadness...

I now appreciate Steve Jobs' contribution to technology more than ever now that my iPod is gone. It was stolen today.

It was by my own folly and I took it relatively well I think. My iPod's name was Dr. Who.

I hope whoever has my beloved Dr. Who is enjoying my insanely lofty Pocket Frogs level and my mildly accomplished Angry Birds status.

Before he or she sells it on Ebay, I hope they utilize the dictionary app. to fill a crossword puzzle. I hope he or she plays some Scrabble, too.

I bet he or she finds enjoyment in Tetris and Robot Unicorn attack and reads a poem or two from my Poetry App.

And I'm certain that if he or she takes a gander at my music, he or she will be impressed at the variety and oddity of my collection. It is random and beautiful, and it took a long time to build up.

When I get a new one (notice it's WHEN not IF), I'm going to get a bigger one (Dr. Who was only an 8g). That's a plus. 

No one usually reads this blog, but I got an insane amount of traffic from a few sketchy sources. So if you're out there, iPod stealer, know this. That was an object I loved. Treat it well.

And those headphones? They were awesome. Appreciate those awesome headphones.

-Meg

Learning about learning

My teaching class is in the Social Work Building, and every time I enter there, I reminded of the weight of my responsibility.

My class is full of people who speak at least two languages each, not to mention linguistic jargon which is a tongue of its own. We adore language and wear our L2 and L3s like badges on our chests.

But one day soon I'll be teaching people who speak only one and if they're lucky, they'll be literate, too. They probably won't see English as something fun to pick up on the side; mastery of it is necessary to survive in the brutal monolingual United States.

I hate to feel like I'm learning to impose my language on others, because it isn't any better. Everyone thinks they need to speak English to do well in life, and it is sad but true. English is just popular because it was at the right place at the right time.

The best I can do is be at the right place at the right time. I won't be a hero or anything, but knowing that I'll help people gives me motivation.

And I laugh because I still remember myself saying, "I'll never ever be a teacher."

I'm still shamelessly bad at Spanish.

-Meg

Chocolate Blueberry

I need to stop imagining how nice my life would be if I did not have to sleep. But I must fit a few hours in here or there. I would rather be busy than bored, but then there comes a point where hygiene, fitness, and personal relationships begin to fade away and I loose my grasp on them.

I am so glad fall break is at the end of this week...

I need this time to decompress and work on my crossword puzzle!

I don't want to type up the recipe. I just can't do it. It's 1:05 a.m. If you want it, leave a comment and I'll add it. (It's from my book so I have to type it up.)
Come to think of it, I haven't even tried a muffin yet, so I can't review it. You should just be glad I followed through. It was tough.



Sam and I went to Doughnut Falls this past weekend. It's a waterfall that goes through a rock. It's trippy. I had a lot of fun on that hike. The fall leaves were amazing; pictures would just be useless. You have to go there for yourself.
I went to bed at 2 a.m. that night and woke up to run a 5k.
I watched most of general conference and watched my beloved Utes get thrashed.

Well I love you all.

-Meg