Bear Lake, 23 August 2008

Soul food.

Look how far I've come! I'm not even taking antibiotics anymore. For the first time in over a month, I am not taking antibiotics. How do I feel about this? Very, very good.

But really, this blog post is about much more than my facial improvements:

As is customary for end-of-semester times, I have been broadening my horizons when it comes to restaurants. Somehow, at times like this, there is an excuse to spend a little more money on food. My recent exploits have been very exciting.

First, Pizzeria 712. Excellent, excellent. I would recommend going for lunch, because it's pretty expensive. It's a super-trendy and small pizzeria in Orem, and it's delicious.

I'm pretty sure the waiter thought I was weird taking pictures and all. But oh well. With your meal, they serve hummus with pita bread. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm.

Next, Mama's Southern Plantation Restaurant.

I received a lot of black lovin' here. And it was pretty incredible. It took me back to my Mississippi roots. We walked in and were greeted by a lot of pink, and a black lady sayin', "Make yourselves at home." We ate fried chicken, collard greens, black eyed peas, cornbread, and wow. Then another ample-bosomed (black) lady sitting at a table nearby said, "What'd y'all get?"

My brother replied, "My name is Jon, and this is Amanda."

And then she repeated her question.

Basically, it was a culturally rich experience.

Mama is sort of like a god in these parts, as far as I could gather. According to the back of the menu, entitled "Southern Hospitality in SLC," she is not only the founder of the restaurant, but also the overseer and founder of the Faith Temple Pentecostal Church. "Preaching and cooking go hand in hand for Mrs. Cosby," it says. I felt comforted by the benevolent smile of Mrs. Cosby looking kindly down on me as I devoured my fried chicken and cornbread, hoping that I thought her cookin' was pleasin'. That good old Southern hospitality--straight from the good Lord.

Oh, nails.

Today as I went to purchase the famous (my favorite) white chip macadamia nut cookie from Subway, I was surprised at how many people were on campus because of Education Week. I could tell the lady who sold me the cookies was stressed, because when I asked for chocolate chip (I had to buy three to get my money's worth!), she gave me oatmeal raisin.


On the way back from the CougarEat to the NOC, I noticed a young guy talking rather loudly to a young girl walking beside him. He was talking about how Seven Peaks is the place to meet geeky young men from Utah Valley. And then the girl dropped her Education Week tag. She stopped (the guy was still talking), and looked up at him, then down at the ground, smiled, and said, "My nails!" She laughed a little bit and seemed incapacitated.

Then, the guy picked it up and they resumed their travel.

A Good Day.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday a good day. Because it was.

С днём рождения мне.

Yesterday I tried reading an article in Лиахона, in Russian. It was very slow-going. And depressing. My reading, comprehension, speaking, and all skills related to Russian have definitely diminished in the four months (WHAT?! Four?) since I was in Russian class.

Also, it's my birthday today. And I decided that I don't really like birthdays. Because you get attention from a bunch of people you don't want attention from (namely, my plastic surgeon and Facebook itself), which is embarrassing, and then you don't get attention from the people that you really want to remember you. Now that, my friend, is disappointing.

And I don't remember ever having a real birthday cake with candles. Maybe I have had one, and I am just forgetting. But the thing is, I don't even like cake.

The Dark Knight (Week 3.5)

I recently viewed The Dark Knight for the second time, and I saw a lot of parallels in the movie to my own life.

For one thing, I could really empathize with Harvey Dent. The poor lad. I mean, I almost turned evil when my face was destroyed too.

We could be twins now!



Also, I noticed that Batman attracted the wrath of numerous canines. This also pulled my heart strings. When those Rottweilers went after him, I could almost feel his pain.

In the end, I felt that this next Batman installment was something I could really . . . relate to. And if that is not the mark of a good movie, I don't know what is.

Day 349. Just joking. It's only been 21 days.

Scar-face, oh scar-face. How do you do today?
Good news, though.
The face is healing.
It's even closed up.
So I can immerse it in water.
And not worry.
Too much.
I tried to wakeboard the other day.
The first picture is what I spent most of my time doing.
The second picture is about as close as I got to actually succeeding.
I had a good go, though. About 45 minutes, I tried. And tried. And tried. And tried again.
And sometime, I WILL GET UP.
It just wasn't that day, or today. BUT IT WILL HAPPEN.
And I was a bit sore.

Fearless. (Well, almost.)

I know I blogged boastfully about not being afraid of dogs and all, but I guess I'm more affected than I thought. Today, at my cousins', little Jez freaked me out. She came up and SAT ON MY LAP. And I was like, "What do I do, what do I do?" I wanted documentation to prove that I had conquered, though. I pet her and sat there happily. Contented, even. But then she just decided to leave, and to get her back once I had my camera, I had to PICK HER UP. The last time I tried to pick up a dog, my face was basically masticated. I couldn't quite get over that thought. It's kind of like that whole taste aversion thing, which I thought was a very interesting concept when I took AP Pyschology. You eat pizza, then it makes you sick and you throw up, so every time you eat pizza after that, you get sick. And it's totally a physiological process. Weird, huh?

Oh, and this other picture is just for scar monitoring purposes. Enjoy!

Day 13. Post 100. August 1.

Hello, August. Hello, next 100 posts. Hello, healing. Hello, morning. Hello, future.

It is time to celebrate.