Provo.

This kid today came to the library and distractedly thanked me as I gave him headphones.

He said, "Gracias."

De nada, amigo.

$1.50 for an onion ring, please.

I went to Springville with my roommates today and we stopped for food at some Trolley restaurant. It was like Disneyland.

I ordered a large onion ring, expecting to get heaps and heaps of onion rings that I could share with all, for $7.95.

NO. NOT SO.

I got approximately five puny rings. And then I had to tip, on top of that.

I should have said something, but I dislike confrontation so incredibly much that I will not take a stand for myself.

Amanda, the specialist.

Sometimes in our discussions about Russian grammar, my professor calls on me to enlighten everyone with my "specialized" knowledge about the English language--and explain it in English. And while in my head, I can understand and recognize what a "predicate" is, it's another matter entirely to attempt to explain it. So basically, I feel like an idiot because, really, shouldn't any competent ELang major be able to explain the complexities of English grammar? Well...I haven't taken the grammar class yet, honestly.

But I can tell you the difference between uninterested and disinterested. That's interesting.

2nd post/Library patron rant

Something has amused me today. A kid came in with fines. I wasn't helping him, but I heard the end of his experience at the LRC, which went something like this (we'll use the unspecific terms X--the patron--and Y--the LRC employee):

X: Is there anyway that I can have my account not affected after paying like 5 times or something?
Y: (confusion)
X: It's just that I check stuff out all the time here, so it seems acceptable that things might be late once in a while.

My thoughts toward X:
So basically, you're asking for extended privileges just because you take advantage of the privileges you already have...often. Is that it? Try just bringing the things back on time. I mean, if you come in so often, that shouldn't be too hard, right?



Hahahaha.

Outrageous Mormon Culture.

Folks. This is ridiculous.

I looked at DearElder.com (Alright, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I sometimes use this website to write my friends who are on missions. It's somewhat convenient. But don't confuse this post with a plug for DearElder.com.) and saw a tab for "Dear John letters." It's under Fun Stuff, so I'm not really sure what to believe. Maybe people just submit these things to make fun of it, but sometimes even the mockery is embarrassing, because it's only funny if it's maybe sometimes true.

i.e. "We've never met in person, but we don't need to. We prayed over the phone and we felt the Spirit soooooo strong I think it would be wrong NOT to get married!"

Arrrrrghh.

Miss or Ms?

My blog posts are becoming more frequent. I don't know why this is, but I wonder if I have a subconscious sense that my readership is growing. Someday, my blog is going to be world-famous.

Have you wondered about the difference between Miss or Ms? Apparently the title "Ms." was an outcropping of the feminist movement as a nonspecific term that could apply to either a married or unmarried woman. They are even pronounced differently. Miss is [mis] and Ms is [miz], with a VOICED FRICATIVE at the end. Hm. Never knew.

Oh, and I opened an IRA today. Don't know what that means, quite, but I figure it can't be bad.

casual/causal

Whenever I read the word "causal" or perhaps "causally" I always always always read it "casual," or "casually."
What is wrong with this picture?

What if I was someone else?

Just think about that.

Cross-cultural Facebooking.

The other day, I talked to my host family online (via Google Talk). I told my host dad about how saw some pictures of their family because Emily, the girl who lived with them Fall semester, posted them on Facebook.

My host dad wanted to know how to look at them, and he asked me for my log-in name and password. So I gave it to him, which was funny. I'm trying to imagine my host dad in Russia spending time on my Facebook account...and it makes me laugh. And then, he was asking me about what the "status" part means. So in an effort to try to explain what the status was all about, I wrote on my G-chat status, "...is very excited."

I didn't realize until later that "excited" doesn't really have an equivalent in Russian. What a great example.