Pumped Up Kicks

You know what can pretty much save a pretty crappy looking day? Pumped up kicks. I don't know what it is about that song, but it puts me in a better mood instantly. Maybe it's the retro backup bass, or the non-musical lyric chanting. But I love it.

Now, as for what's going on in life this week, I've got some great stories. Firstly, I finally finally FINALLY watched the last 2-part movie of the Harry Potter series, and it basically completed my life. So good. And I highly recommend watching it with a Potter enthusiast, such as mi loca compa Dena. It makes the experience all the more fulfilling, especially when she yells every five minutes "Look at how cool Hermione is!!! I just want to BE her!!!" Thank you Dena, definitely a weekend highlight. Secondly, yesterday while peacefully walking to the creamery with a friend, some punk kids threw a snowball at us and hit her backpack. After looking around confused, we finally saw them laughing and pointing accusing fingers at one another. So what do I do? Point a menacing finger at them and yell "REPENT!!!" I could almost see their eyes popping out of their sockets, which is why I had to turn around and walk away briskly to keep from falling over on the cement and bursting into a fit of laughter. A Samuel the Lamanite moment, brought to you by BYU and RM sass. Hahaha. And the last great moment of yesterday occurred at the gym while I was trying to ignore all the obnoxiously vain people flexing their muscles as they stare at their reflections in the mirror. I fortuitously looked over at just the right moment. A guy was sitting on a weight chair when a girl in way-too-tight shorts walked by him and he just stared at her butt as she passed. Of course he didn't know I was watching and judging him until he looked up and saw me. I had to resist the impulse to burst into fits of laughter for the second time that day as he looked away shamefully (which only a Provo guy would be ashamed of really, so props for that one). I just wanted to take a picture of it so I could put it on the gym door with a caption: Be honest boys, the REAL reason you came to the gym today.

The Mormon Modesty Scandal

Oh. My. Goodness. Can I just express to y'all how tired I am of hearing about this? And if you don't know what I'm talking about, feel free to check it out here. But because everyone else and their dog has put in their two cents on the scandal, I might as well throw my pennies in the jar as well. First of all, let me just tell all of you the obvious: BYU is not the real world. Therefore, we cannot expect people at BYU to act like the rest of the world. There. That being said, after seeing post after post on facebook and even being asked my opinion by a blind date, I've decided that I think both parties involved were to blame. I don't care what the fashion world says about her dress being ultra-conservative (which I would argue with anyway), the girl DID in fact sign the honor code and WAS in fact wearing something that has been plastered all over campus as being a dress code violation (seriously? we have to put posters everywhere SPECIFYING what is and isn't modest?). And I don't care if all the strange guys with wandering eyes around the world are going "Yeah, it was all her fault!" men cannot simply use women as the scapegoat for a lack of self-control. Frankly, the bottom line for me is this: if you don't like the BYU Honor Code or the way some students violate or enforce it....then don't go to BYU! Nobody is obligating you to attend a private university, and contrary to popular belief, nobody is forcing you to do what they say. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the fire. There. Opinion voiced.

A Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Model

First of all, sorry for all the blog construction friends, I thought i'd give the blog a face lift...but then I decided too much change gives me a headache, and especially that stupid font. Less is more. So we're sticking with classic from now on k?

Anyways, today was a rather exciting day. Actually, it was kind of a crappy day. Especially when some jerk decided to honk at me because I was walking in the crosswalk and had the right of way when obviously his haste was more important than mine, thus giving him license to shatter my wonderful little dream walk home. Why does that make me so angry? I don't know. But I felt better once I changed Taylor Swift for some good old fashioned angry Bravery. Haha. So. Wow. I veer too much from planned subject matter. No wonder I'm failing my English classes. You'd think after 5 years studying literature you'd be able to carry a logical thought process...but no.

The point: today, while at work, I got to live the Zoolander dream. At least just a little. So I'm sitting at my boring library desk job, like always, typing away and organizing some horrible lost book list and trying to warm my hands up because it's nearly sub-zero temperatures down in our work lair, when all of the sudden, one of our curators briskly opens the reading room door and demands, "Let me see your hands!" With furrowed eyebrows and a slight tremor of terror, I whip my hands out from the keyboard. Now I'm thinking to myself, "Oh no. What is he doing? Searching for evidence? I didn't do anything! I'm innocent!" But before I can ready myself to hire a lawyer, he abruptly changes his tone and says, "Ohhhh. Very nice! That will do!" Well that wasn't really expected. So he tells me he needs help and signals me to follow him into our little seminar room. Turns out that they were shooting some photos for some scholarly presentation with a very old book and needed someone with "supple hands" to hold it open. So basically, my hands are now famous. I, Elyse Marie, am a hand model.... Cool story Hansel.

The Sell-Out

Alright well this post has been bubbling in my brain for the last week or so, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a little scathing. Sorry...except not really.

Have you ever met someone you thought was a complete individual, and because of that you instantly liked them? Well, I have. And no, it's not myself. I'm not an individual. I'm a....well I'm every cliche in the book, which is why I find it so refreshing when I find people that are okay with their strangeness and just stick it to the man. Of course there's a lot of posers out there that pretend like they're individuals when really they're duller than a pencil. Anyways, getting off topic again. My point is, when the individual sells out. And then world turns a little grayer. Usually it happens in the quest to gain another's approval. And it disgusts me. I understand that sometimes we evolve and change and whatever, but there's just a line you shouldn't cross. If someone (especially in a romantic relationship) can't accept your quirks and anomalies, what are you even doing in the relationship? What's the point of molding yourself to someone else's expectations only to find out you lost yourself along the way? I always thought the whole point is to find someone who compliments your quirks...not blend into the scenery. Such a waste of a life.

Indecisive Me

I've come to a decision....about a decision. I have to decide what I'm doing with my future. Every day I'm trudging along trying to imagine what I want to do with my life, and it is driving me insane. It also doesn't help that there are deadlines for most of the options I'm considering within the next week. Pressure. So here's what I'm going to do: make a plan, then make up a back up plan, and then a back up plan for the back up plan....so in the end, something's bound to work out. Right? Yeah, right. So lets just sort out the options shall we?

#1 Stay in Provo through the summer, work for the library and efy, graduate in August, and be a jobless college grad

#1a After graduation apply to BYU-I or U of U for nursing

#1b After graduation apply to teach English in China for the fall

#2 Quickly apply for graduation in June, apply for TeachforAmerica, and sign away my life for two years to go teach underprivileged students anywhere in the U.S.

#3 Postpone graduation until December, apply for the London Center Study Abroad, and work at the library until I leave for London

Suggestions, anyone? Pretty much they all sound good to me, which is why I'm having such indecisive issues. Why can't other people just plan my life out for me? Sigh.