Snow Days

Can I just say that I absolutely hate the snow? Walking to campus to go to work and take my finals was miserable. Whether or not I was wearing a hood made no difference; snow still got under there somehow. No matter how hard I tried not to slip, I still nearly killed myself several times.
But, I guess, there is actually one thing snow is good for: sledding! During finals week, one of our friends from our ward invited us to go garbage bag sledding at Rock Canyon Park. It was actually a lot of fun, even though this kind of "sledding" makes you completely soaked.


We also had fun building a snow fort. My roommate Caitlin has made a bucket list and building a snow fort was one of the things she wanted to do before she dies. We didn't really make a good one because we had to get back to our apartments to study for our finals. We're going to wait until the next big snowfall to make an incredible one.

So that's the one good thing about snow. Otherwise, I'm not much a fan.

It's Finals Week

While this next week is bound to be a stressful one, I'm so happy that the semester is almost over! After this week, I never have to take calculus again! Miraculously, this semester just flew by. I still have to pull off some good scores on my finals in order to get a good grade in the class, but knowing that the end is near just makes me so happy!
Since my roommate Shauntelle is getting married next week, we decided to have a Girl's Night last night. We reserved the University Villa lounge and watched a Christmas movie. It was fun to sit and eat finger food and drink Martinelli's with everyone!


We also put up Christmas decorations a couple weeks ago. We have Christmas lights that go along the ceiling in our living room. I hope we leave those up all year round. I also put out the manger scene that Mom made.


I can't wait for Christmas break!

Halloween!

The last few weeks haven't been too exciting. I got sick a couple weeks ago with a really bad head cold and it's just starting to wear off. School is still in full-swing. I'm doing homework all the time but so are my roommates so at least I don't feel like I'm missing out on a lot. Next semester I am not taking 16 credits and working four hours a day.
But since yesterday was Halloween, all of us decided we needed a break, no matter how much homework we had. My roommate Caitlin got us tickets to go see a silent movie in the HFAC. I've never been to a silent movie before and I had no idea if it was going to be fun or not. So we went to the HFAC last night and watched the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera.
The person who played the phantom is Lon Chaney, who was called the Man of a Thousand Faces. In this particular film, he used wire to make his eyes bulge and to keep them wide open. He used fish hooks to to keep his nostrils big and flared. It was an interesting experience. There was a live organist. He gave the background on the movie and invited us to make the necessary "ooohs" and "aaahhs" while the movie was playing. Silent movies were never silent. The audience is supposed to be a part of the soundtrack.
It was a lot of fun and I recommend the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera to anyone who wishes to have a good Halloween next year.

I'm Still Breathing

So I just thought I'd update my blog while my internet actually works. Most of the time it doesn't which is pretty bothersome, but that's the way it goes. So yes, I'm still alive. Things are going okay for me here at BYU. My job is not fun but it's going well. It's custodial so I don't really have to think for four hours out of the day which is pretty nice since the rest of the day there is just way too much information swimming in my head. I have lots of homework and very little time to do it, but I'm surviving. I actually really like my classes despite the homework load. My favorite is probably my World Civilization from 1500 class. It's just so interesting! Women's Chorus is a lot of fun. We had a concert last night and we have another one tonight. We're singing a bunch of Disney princess songs this year!
I'm also a member of the Enrichment Committee in Relief Society in my new ward. I get to go to the Relief Society Broadcast in Salt Lake tomorrow. It'll be nice to have a break from school for a little bit. So funny story: My roommate Caitlin and I sang How Great Thou Art in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. While we were singing, this fly started buzzing around our heads. It hit Caitlin several times in the face. I was trying not to laugh for so long. Then the fly flew into her mouth while she was holding a long note. We laughed through the entire chorus of the 3rd verse. Luckily, the congregation laughed with us and the fly also attacked the bishop while he was giving his talk so we didn't feel too bad. It was pretty classic!
Anyway, I'd better get to class. I hope everyone's doing well!

Back at BYU!

Mom and I drove back to Utah this last Friday. We stayed at Brigitte's and Tyler's on Friday night and got to see cute little Logan! It was nice to hang out with them for a while. On Saturday, Mom and I drove from American Fork to Provo. Two of my roommates had already moved in to our apartment and it was great to see them again. We moved in all my stuff which took a couple hours and I think my room turned out okay. There isn't as much storage space in University Villa as there was in Heritage but we managed to squeeze it all in somehow. What do you think?
So I had a job interview today for a custodial job in the JKB and I got the job! I'll be able to pay my bills! Whoohoo! I'm sure Mom and Dad will be happy! Now I just can't wait until school starts and the rest of my roommates get here!

Go Team USA!

I've been watching the Olympics all day today. It was fun watching the opening ceremony last night, knowing that I am acquainted with some of the people who came out with the rest of the American athletes. My cousin Lindsey Anderson is participating in the steeplechase competition which is exciting enough, but then I found out that Jillian Penner, who I sat next to in my high school Psychology class and did group projects with, is on the US synchronized swimming team! So, for me, the 2008 Olympic games have been the most exciting ones so far! Go USA!

Southern California Trip!

Mom, Dad, and I were able to go down to Southern California this weekend to visit Shelley, Steve, Mariah, Lisa, and Kiel. It was great to see everybody again. We went out to dinner in Manhattan Beach where Kiel lives. My cousin Amy and her son Curtis came too and it was a lot of fun to hang out and catch up with everyone. That night, we drove to Yucaipa to stay at Shelley and Steve's house. Little Mariah captured everybody's attention as usual. She is too cute! It's crazy how fast the time has flown. She's almost a year old now!

Here she is just a few short months ago.
And here she is now!

It's Finally Done!

So I've been working on a quilt for the past three years. I probably could have finished the whole thing in one summer but I was lazy and I have a talent for stretching things out as long as possible. But guess what! It's finally done! I finished the last square just the other day and Mom and I were finally able to piece the whole thing together. So with my mediocre painting skills and Mom's amazing sewing skills, the quilt has been completed. Not too shabby, eh?

Summer of Good Movies

Has anyone else thought that this summer has been a great one for movies? Here are my reviews of the movies I've seen this summer:




The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

While there were some parts in the movie that I think they tried a little too hard to be funny, the good things ended up outweighing the bad. Good movie and, of course, great music!






Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Cheesiness is to be expected in any movie that George Lucas has a hand in and this movie is no exception. However, the movie kept me entertained so I didn't go home disappointed. The story line is interesting and I thought it was just as good as the old ones. Dad, of course, disagrees.







Kung Fu Panda

I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan of this movie. While the little kids surrounding us in the theater were laughing out loud, I found myself laughing maybe once or twice. It's a cute movie and worth seeing once though.







The Incredible Hulk

I wasn't as excited about this movie as I was about the other movies based on comic books that have come out this summer, but I did like the movie. And from the way the movie ended, it looks like we'll be seeing more of him in the future, perhaps with a few more superheroes at his side ; ) .






Iron Man

When this movie came out, I was really only familiar with Superman, Spiderman, and Batman. They're the ones that everyone knows about, so I didn't expect this movie to become one of my favorite movies. I liked this movie so much, I saw it twice! Great movie!






Wall-E

I like Pixar movies. They are pretty much the only animated Disney movies now days that aren't dripping with cheese. But I do have to say that this was probably my least favorite of all the Pixar movies. I like the song from Hello Dolly but I heard it way too many times throughout the movie. But it's cute and worth seeing.






Journey to the Center of the Earth

This movie is definitely not my favorite one of the summer. There was some cheesy acting (after all, it's Brendan Fraser) but it's entertaining, has some cool special effects, and presents some unbelievable but interesting views on what the center of the earth is like.







The Dark Knight

This movie is amazing! Heath Ledger did a fantastic job playing the Joker. Even though it's not a particularly happy movie, I really liked the storyline and the development of the characters. Hands down, this is the best movie of the summer.

The Forefront of Weirdness

When I was in my Book of Mormon class at BYU, one of my seemingly ignorant classmates made a comment about California. He said, essentially, that Californians are all a bunch of quacks and that their strange ideas will be the downfall of this country. My professor said, "Isn't it interesting that California is always labeled as the forefront of weirdness?" Well, at the time I was a little offended. California is my home after all. But after my recent day trip to San Francisco, I can easily see why some people may come up with such a stereotype. Now, don't get me wrong. San Francisco is an amazing place.

There are amazing engineering feats!

Barrels full of salt-water taffy!

Cute marine wildlife!

But, I have to admit, that some weird stuff happens too. We ran into a man dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow on the street who lit a basket on fire that contained his daughter, who he later removed from the basket unscathed. Another man was making up rhymes about all the people that walked by him. When I walked by, he said, "Hey you in the polka-dot! Go jump in a pot!" But that wasn't the worst part.

There was evil a-brewin'!

And Hannah found herself changing shape! She's not shaped like that in any other city!

Well, even if it is a little strange, I had a good time in good ol' San Fran! What's life without a few peculiarities?

Work Stress

So I'm at work right now. Normally, all I have to do is a little bit of filing, some scanning, and A LOT of email sorting, but the last couple days have been different. Since Melodie is gone on vacation, I think Frank thinks that I'm supposed to be taking over all of her responsibilities. He asked me to fiddle around with a couple documents and do whatever I thought was "necessary and proper" to them so that the forms would work with the current situation. How the heck am I supposed to know what is necessary and proper? I only started working here a week ago and I know absolutely nothing about accounting. I thought I was hired for easy jobs so that all I had to do was be blindly obedient to Melodie. You know, be willing to file and scan without having to know any details about what I was filing and scanning. So I was stressed for about ten minutes, staring at this document on the computer screen that I was supposed to be changing, sweat gathering in my palms. Finally, I got up the courage to go tell Frank that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and he just said, "Oh, that's okay. It was a stretch anyway. I just wanted to give you a shot at it." Relieved, I walked back to my cubicle and looked at the terrifying document, hopefully for the last time. I just hope Frank doesn't feel the need to give me any more opportunities to progress in the accounting world. That's a land in which I have no wish to travel.

A Year of Firsts

So with all this time to relax this summer, I've been thinking (rare occurrence, I know) about all the things I've done in the past year and I realized that this has been a year of firsts. So here are some things I did for the first time in the past year:

• Stole couch cushions (with every intention of giving them back, I assure you)
• Looked in the mirror and wished I hadn't worked out the week before
• Made a snowman (or a snow-woman in this case). We made the Venus De Milo.
• Rode in a convertible with the top down.
• Lit a match. I'd only done it the extremely old-fashioned way before.
  
• Participated in a human pyramid.
  
• Ate at Ihop. While the trip was fun, I've had better pancakes.

Well, I've accomplished a lot this year as you can see. (Haha!)

Becoming a Blogger

So I'm starting to feel guilty about the fact that I don't email too much anymore. I know my siblings probably miss reading those now long-gone paragraphs of pure genius that I used to send them every week, so I thought that maybe I should just start up again here in a blog. So if anyone should wish to explore the fabulous contemplations of Celia Christensen, start by occasionally perusing this blog and, perhaps, some enlightenment will come your way. (In other words, if you fancy reading about the seemingly insignificant happenings of a 19-year-old's life, feel free to read this.) Enjoy!