You're only as blonde as you feel...

 Dumb blonde… today I am starting to understand the jokes about blondes…

Today I had an experience, one where I would be called “a dumb blond.”  Now that we have that said and established, I will tell you my adventure.

I had an invite to go and be a part of Murray’s production of Hello Dolly. I was completely stoked about the whole situation since I have had the STRONGEST desire to do a show this summer.  I got a hold of the director and he told me that practice was supposed to be at Longview Elementary tonight.  He didn’t give me an address so I looked it up online, and got directions from Google Maps.  When I got off of work I had the feeling to go straight there with my directions and try to at least find the place.

I drove around, tried to follow the directions, and well, long story short, my directions led me astray.  Apparently I found the wrong address online.  Feeling defeated I called up someone in that cast and asked her for an address to the school.  I wasn’t too off.  My car then started chugging.  Less than a mile later my gas light came on.  My thought was, “In my old car I could go awhile without getting gas so I should be fine.” I decided to keep driving.  My car then started to lose momentum and that’s when I started to panic.  I said a quick prayer asking to find a gas station.  I was then on State Street driving and my car started to slow even more.  I then spotted a Seven-11 about a mile in front of me and that was when my car almost came to a stop.  I pulled into the nearest parking lot and my car died right in the middle, almost at a stall. 

My thought was that I could go walk to the gas station, figure something out, but at first I had to get my car out of the middle of the parking lot, so I put it into neutral, went to the back and pushed.  In my mind I felt that I could be able to push my little car by myself into the stall that wasn’t very far in front of me.  My ego was smashed quickly as I realized I couldn’t push it very far as hard as I tried. 

A guy that was pulling out of the parking lot put his car into reverse and asked me if I needed help pushing my car.  Almost in tears I looked up at him and told him yes.  He got out of his car and strolled over.  He was a man about the height and body type of Braddy.  He wore gym shorts and didn’t have any shoes on.  Him and I then pushed the car into the stall and he held it while I put it back into neutral.  He then asked me if I had ran out of gas and I then explained to him about it being a newer car and how I didn’t know that it would have died on me so quickly… I know what you all may be thinking right now… I really did feel and look stupid in front of this kind Samaritan.  He then asked me if he could drive me over to the gas station so I could get gas.  I didn’t hesitate and gratefully got into his car.  When we got to the gas station he told me that I could buy a gas can from them and would be able to feel it up.  He then apologized and told me that he was sorry that he couldn’t help me more because he had to go head off to an appointment.  I humbly thanked him and walked into the gas station.

I sheepishly walked up to the guy at the counter and asked him where the gas cans were.  He pointed them out to me, and I walked over there to pick one up.  I then paid for the can and paid for a gallon of gas.  I went, filled up my gas can, and not knowing what the little spout for the can was, so I put it back in the gas can… I then took a walk of shame across State Street.  I could feel every eye on me as I walked pass the cars that were stopped at the light both directions.  I then walked the almost mile to return to my car.

When I got to my car I opened the cap on my gas tank and then opened my gas can.  That was when I realized that I needed the spout that I put into the gas can.  I went to pull it out, but in the process spilled gas on my hands and on my cell phone.  It then took me a good 20 minutes to figure out how to put the spout on the gas can, when the directions were on the front of the can the whole entire time…

After I filled up my car with the gas can I went to the gas station and filled up the rest of my car. 

Being who I am, whenever I feel just horrible I look for something to give me a quick pick-me-up.  Luckily there was a Roxberry behind the gas station so I got myself a smoothie and went straight home.  By the time I had gas in my car I would have been terribly late to that practice.

I should have just turned around and went home when I couldn’t find the place the first time.  I didn’t get the clue.  Lessons learned, you may ask?

1.       When my gas light comes on in this car, go STRAIGHT to a gas station.

2.       You do NOT put the spout back into the gas can when it is full.

3.       I am NOT as strong as what I may have previously believed.

4.       Next time I get a bogus address, take that as a hint that Heavenly Father doesn’t want you to go participate in that production, for whatever reason it may be

and...  I'm not as good of a navigator as I thought I was and should stick to using my GPS.

Yes, I do have blonde hair.  Yes, I am young.  Did I learn from this experience? Oh yeah.  Will I be able to do things better and not feel/look as stupid? Hahaha, it’s me we’re talking about!  I will know what to do in that situation if it ever arises again.

Gorilla Arms

A couple of months back I was hanging out with one of my good friends and her kids.  One of them then stopped, stroked his hand up my arm and told me that I felt like a gorilla….

My first thought, was “Really?!?” That was the first time I had someone comment on my arm hair.  I just had to laugh and tell him thanks.  I didn’t think much of it until I was in my lab class the next week.  (Last semester I had the awesome opportunity to teach three year olds.) One of the children came up to me, stroked my arm, and told me that I felt like a lion.  Four other kids that were by him came over and stroked my arms and agreed that I definitely felt like a lion.

Out of the mouths of babes… Kids are honest… brutally honest at times.  That was when I accepted the fact that I have more hair on my arms than most individuals.  I told this story to my ma and she told me that is why she shaved hers.. 22 years and I never knew this. Now I know where I got it from.

Whenever I now go over to my friend’s house her same child, without fail, will come and stroke my arms.  I guess it is something that calms him. I don’t know that for certain, but I have come to terms that I have gorilla arms. 

Commitment

I was recently thinking of the old adage that states “men are more likely to flee from commitment than women”

I learned in sociology that men love more quickly than women and women tend to fall out of love faster.  So if it were somewhat having to do with that then I would say that women flee more than men.  I don't think men are afraid of commitment, really.  Some women are weird and get too attached, too fast, and that scares them. It happens the other way around, but not nearly as often, and so women chalk it up to the fact that men are afraid of commitment. If guys can find a good girl that won't scare them, they are the most committed, loyal people I've ever met.  On the flip side, I have met men that are not willing to commit to a relationship, or break off a relationship because of how “serious” it got.  If a man is not ready for marriage, he will flee from a relationship when it gets too serious.  

 In general there is too much bias and men are more likely to say women run from commitment and women are more likely to say men do. From my experience, it's in no way gender based but rather purely individual. There are way too many committed men and women to point fingers at a specific gender.

To help get  more insite into this statement I decided to interview three different people that are at different points in their life:

The first person I interviewed about this topic was a 30-year-old single female.  She agreed with the statement.  She said, “How often do you see men begging their girlfriends to get married? I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but not as often. Society teaches men that perpetual bachelorism and not committing to one woman makes them suave and debonair. Whereas settling down with one woman and being happy with her makes him a pansy.”   

The second person I interviewed was a 42-year-old divorced male. He said that if it is true, he thinks what most men struggle with is not the desire to make a commitment, but rather with where or not the commitment is right for them.   

The third person I interview was a 23-year-old married female.  She said that she thought that commitment is an issue for both men and women in this new age of time. Women want to be big independent super stars. If they can’t find a man who will help them live up to that then they are going to avoid commitment. She also said that she thought that these independent super stars need to give the guys a brake. This can happen both ways.

I now want to know what you think.  Are men more likely to flee from a commitment, or is it women? Or all together, does gender not even matter in this subject?

The Puzzle Pieces of Life

Near the beginning of the year I was working early in the morning at work.  No kids had come yet, and I was super bored.  I decided to look through our cabinet to find something to do.  In there I found this curious gold box.  This hadn’t of been the first time that I had seen this box, so I decided to pull it out.  Sure enough it was a puzzle that had no picture in the box.  I was curious to what the picture was of, so I decided to pull it out and build it.

I had almost got all the edges together when my other coworker got there and she decided to help me build it.  Time came for us to go to our next activity, but all of us, including the kids, wanted to see what the puzzle was a picture of, so we put it on a board and took it with us.  We all at one point in time wanted to give up, but we kept going.  By the end of the day the puzzle still wasn’t done, so my boss let me take it home.

Things felt hopeless and dreary as I tried to finish this puzzle.  I was determined to finish this puzzle so I could see what it was a picture of.  My ma sat down with me and helped me finish it so I could take a picture of it.  Of course it had to be missing two pieces, but I was content to see the picture.

Now you may be wondering why I decided to blog about this experience.  When I tell stories I like to come up with analogies to how it relates to me in my life.  In this case, the puzzle can relate to life.  We were sent here on earth with a plan to return to Heavenly Father (finish the puzzle).  We don’t know all that is going to happen in life, and at times we may want to give up.  We all want to know what the big picture is in life (what we are supposed to do, and what Heavenly Father has in store for us).  Life is a work in progress, and we don’t have all the pieces all the time.  And of course, we can’t do it all alone.  We have people in our life that are there to help us along the way.  In the end, after all that we can do, we have the atonement to come give us the mercy we need to help us finish and be on the right path. 

Actionary man

I need to get better at this whole blogging thing… 

I got the motivation to write another blog post after I read a post from my good friend Larissa talking about reactionary dating.

To sum this up, the post is about how we should date people that will take action, and pursue the relationship with you, creating a partnership, instead of just reacting and saying that they will do things.  I came across this situation this past week but didn't realize it until I read what she said about it.

Honestly, I have really been on a lot of dates in the past three months.  It had gotten to the point where I declared that I didn’t really care about dating, and that I decided to put my efforts into improving in one of my many passions:  Improv.  I honestly looked at this as a good idea, and decided that if someone asked me out on a date, I’d go out with them, but I wouldn’t really pursue the relationship.

A couple of weeks ago I met a guy through some mutual friends. I didn’t really think anything of it, and just thought he was cute. Through the use of the internet he added me as a friend and we did plan a time to go out.  Before our date we talking about relationships and how dating can be difficult.  I shared with him that I would like it if guys at the end of the first date would ask if he could see me again, or if he didn’t think things would work that way.  I think that this is a good way to make it so things wouldn’t be dragged out and the other person knows the intentions of that person.

Our first date really was awesome, and he did share that he wanted to see me again. I was ecstatic, and we planned our next get together.  Throughout the week I would text him every so often and talk to him.  Our second date was great, and I had a great time.  I then continued to text him and talk to him. I then asked him if he wanted to do something last Saturday, so we set a time to do something, and it was great.  I continued to text him and got him to agree to another gathering Tuesday.  Noticing a trend yet? I then tried to plan another thing, but I got the classic, “I’m busy, we’ll have to do next week, I’ll get back to you on it.” At the end of our date Tuesday I told him that he could call me whenever he wanted to. 

 I haven’t texted/called him since our date.  I don’t plan on either.  As my ma would put it, the ball’s in his court.  If he doesn’t call in the coming next week I’ll accept the inevitable that he doesn’t care to continue the relationship.

The question I pose now is, am I being ridiculous in my thinking? Is it wrong of me to have him be the one to put just a little effort in the relationship? Am I being led on?  When did we get to the point where if the other person doesn't talk to you, if means that we should assume that they aren't into you? I'm not gonna put up with this. As Larissa put it, I’m looking for an actionary MAN, not a boy who will react.