I'm safe!

As some of you may know, there was a recent accident on the DC Metro. I am fine and completely safe. Here are some scary photos though.


It makes me never want to stand on a Metro again. 9 people have died so far- 9!


All of this being said, I am completely safe and everyone in my program is also safe. I didn't even know about the crash until I got home and I had several emails from the Washington Post telling me about it.

But this kind of freak accident makes me want to do something strange. My sister, Meredith, went on a cruise when she was in High School with the chorus (correct me if I get this story wrong Meredith). She somehow became afraid that she was going to die on the cruise. So, she decided to write letters to all of the members of her family telling them how much she loves them, maybe giving some advice, and saying good bye. It ended up being a moving experience for her and I believe a few tears were shed.

We all kind of laughed when Meredith told us about it years later. But this Metro accident made me want to do the same thing. But the problem is, I have too many people to write letters to! My family is only one section of the people who need letters. The task is overwhelming and it would take me a long time to write everyone who I would want to say farewell to.

Therefore, I am going to say a few general things right now in case I never get the chance to later. Thanks for everything; you changed my life and me for the better. I love you all and I am so glad I had the privilege of knowing, learning from, crying, and laughing with you. Please stay involved in the Gospel. Thanks for the seemingly insignificant moments only you and I will remember or cherish. It meant the world then and it still does. Good bye and I will see you again.

Sorry that was so cliche... I believe I warned you though.

Can you be too extreme in moderation?

This is a post about a new insight on life... so if you are not interested, just skip it. I won't be offended. I would rather you skip it than read it and be annoyed the whole time.

Since coming to Washington DC, I have discovered that I am a politically moderate person. This means that I am neither a democrat or a republican; on many issues, I understand both sides; my feelings on issues usually are somewhere between the two political parties.

I have claimed for a while that I was moderate, but part of it used to be because I simply was undecided on several issues. But my moderation now is not unclear or resulting from my lack of knowledge on the issues, but because I really am between the two sides.

I am decidedly moderate on many (if not all) political issues.

Often when I describe myself as moderate or independent, people take that to mean "undecided", "uninformed", or "please try to convince me of your party's correctness because I just don't know." But these assumptions are incorrect. I have thought about the issues and I often know where I stand. Just because it is not with either side does not mean I am unclear. Nor does it mean that I do not care. Political Science is my major- it matters to me.

Part of me thinks that being moderate is the right way to go for everyone. Moderates recognize there are rights and wrongs on both sides. They look for the rational behind all sides. They listen to all people and do not vote on party lines, but rather what they actually dis/agree with. Moderation is somewhat synonymous with rationale in my mind.

But I recently have realized this is not be true, at least not for me... I am extreme in my moderation!

What this means: I have a hard time taking any extreme seriously. If someone is extremely conservative or liberal, I often dismiss what they say. If someone says they just love Bill O'Reilly, I roll my eyes. If someone says Randi Rhodes has all of the answers, I chuckle to myself. If they think Obama is a demigod, I begin to tune them out. If they think Obama is Hitler reincarnated, it goes in one ear and out the other. Extreme people lose their credibility with me.

It's horrible. I am doing exactly what I blame the extreme people for doing. I judge them and do not give their argument a fair chance because I assume they have not given any other arguments a chance. Therefore, I am being extreme in my moderation and doing the vey thing I claim to dislike so much.

I do not know if this is making any sense, but from this new insight I have made a new goal:

I am going to be more moderate in my moderation.

Uncharted waters

I can't decide if this blog should literally be an update of what I am doing in DC, or new insights that I have. This confusion has caused me to write nothing on here for a while.

I still cannot decide.

But since updating takes less effort than talking about new insights, I am going to update.

When we first got here, my room was freezing. I went to bed looking like that every night for a while. I put 3 more sheets on my bed. It was really amusing to Andrea, my roommate. I made her take this picture because I look crazy.

I am wearing two shirts, a sweatshirt, leggings, and shorts. I was really cold.

Also, notice our room in the background. Doesn't it look like a church building? I get flashbacks to nursery sometimes.




Here is a group of us in Chinatown. It was not very Chinatowny at all. That sign was the only Chinese thing we could find. We had to search for a Chinese food place to eat. Boston's chinatown is better. It was also kind of lame that all the regular restaurants put their names in chinese to try to fool us into thinking this was the real deal. Seriously. It was not just McDonalds, but all of them. Including Chipotle (a Mexican place).

Once we did find a Chinese food place, it was actually really good. The girl next to me is Sisi. She grew up in China and ordered all of our food in Chinese. I thought it was really cool and probably made it less cool because I was so excited and made a big deal out of it.

During this dinner, we had an interesting conversation about engagement rings and how girls wanted to be proposed to. I realized two things about myself: I know nothing about diamonds and I don't want to. I am just not that type of girl I guess. At one point, I said "But seriously, can anyone tell a difference between the ones you get in Cracker Jack Box and one that's real?" That comment was met with blank stares and shock.

This is Andrea and I next to/below the Jefferson memorial. There is a girl in our ward named Taylor who decided she was going to do "walking firesides" on Sunday nights. She comes up with them on her own. She picks a bunch of interesting or historical sites and learns all about them. She tells the people who come with her everything she has learned and then connects it to the Gospel some way.

On this fireside walk, we went the the Mason memorial, the FDR memorial, and the Jefferson memorial. I learned a bunch of random things about each of the memorials themselves and the men that inspired them.

It was really interesting, but we walked a lot. My feet had big blisters from that night.

Andrea and I in front of George Washington's house in Mt. Vernon. This place was really interesting and I wish we had more time to be there. First of all, that place was beautiful. In back of his house, there is this huge lawn area overlooking the water that is amazing. (Sidenote: I forgot that my family had been to this place until we went to the back of his house and I got flashbacks to rolling down the hill. That is the only thing I remember about going to George Washington's house: the hill.). Second, old George and Martha had some taste. Different rooms had different color themes (my favorite was the green room- everything was green). We got to walk through this house like it was no big deal. Most of the things in the house were originally his and Marthas. Third, there was a sweet museum at the end that we didn't end up being able to stay as long as I would have liked because we only had a couple of hours there. We saw his teeth!

There was a bicentennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth (I think it was his birth... but I am 100% on that). Someone told us President Obama was going to be speaking. So after a tour of the white house that morning, some of us went there and reserved some seating. We thought there was going to be crowds. President Obama did not speak and therefore, no crowds. It was still interesting to hear speakers talk about the legacy of Lincoln and how we still need to improve race relations.

The coolest thing about this celebration was the navy band that played patriotic songs. There was this amazing singer. He got really into all of the songs (including Yankee Doodle Dandy) and it was really beautiful. It was really hot and sunny that day. Almost everyone got burned- but me! How did that happen? I always burn. But somehow I didn't. Honest Abe must have been looking out for me.

Another funny note about this picture: notice the one boy surrounded by girls. He is my friend Erik. It is always him and a group of girls. It's so funny because the guys will often leave the girls because we are taking too long or they want to go play basketball. They ditch us... constantly. But not Erik. What is even funnier is that some of the guys make fun of him for doing this and make him kind of self conscience. But in my opinion, the other guys should learn from Erik. Erik has got it figured out: girls are where the fun is. He even said as much when people asked him why he only hung out with girls. He said something like "Why would I hang out with a bunch of guys when there are girls around?" He's a genius. And not only that, but since he is the usually the only guy, he gets all of the attention and appreciation from all of the girls.

Gentleman, take notes.

Watch out blogging world- here I come!

After much resistance, I have finally consented to starting a blog. I have been very resistant to this for a while now.

Top 7 reasons I resisted starting a blog:

7. Only married people have blogs. I feel like blogging is a right of passage for married life. If single people blog, I have heard a few married people scoff at their style or the stupidity of it. I don't want to seem stupid to married people. I fear their criticism...

6. I have a bias against internet communication. When I was in high school, I had some friends who would chat with each other online all night long. But in person, they were so awkward with each other. They could not figure out how to interact with each other in the real world, only through a computer. Since that experience, I have a bias against communication through internet. I am so worried about people and myself becoming so dependent on technology that we forget how to relate to each other as humans.

5. I do not have a particularly funny writing tone. The best blogs to read are those people who have a particular voice or point of view. I feel like I have either. But more important, a blogger must be funny. Sarcastic, witty, and creative. I am not confident in my ability to do this in written format. In person, I believe I stand a better chance at getting someone to crack a smile or maybe even a chuckle or two. But written word? All bets are off.

4. I am a horrible speller. I mean, it's embarrassing. And, I am very aware that people judge others for their incorrect grammar or misspelled words. I know myself and therefore, I know there are going to be a lot of humiliating mistakes. Hopefully, people will know that I am not dumb, but spelling and bad grammar are a weakness for me.

3. It seems like the "cool" thing to do. I am someone who does not necessarily like to follow the crowd. And right now, it seems like the crowd is definitely blogging. Everyone and their mom (literally for some people) are writing everything about themselves in blogs. Maybe it's the rebel in me or marching to the beat of a different drummer part or maybe the immature teenager seeping out, but part of me did not want to blog because it seemed like everyone else was doing it.

2. Everything I say is on the record. It's permanent. It's quotable. I can't take it back. Well, I can, but it's a little weird. If you are having an argument with someone in person, often times neither person completely makes sense. Or you contradict yourself. Or you end up shifting from one topic to another one completely. But no one really calls you on it because they were there; they did the same thing. But in written word, you can't really do that. You know what I mean.

1. My life is not particularly interesting. I do not have a lot going on. Seriously. I am as boring as they come. Things have picked up a little since I am now in DC, but not a lot is happening. At least, not a lot that I think other people will want to hear about. By not having a blog, people can have this false image of me having a wonderful crazy busy life (which isn't true). By starting a blog, I am openly admitting that I am indeed a loser.

All of that being said, I am starting a blog.

But, to anyone is reading this, be forewarned: I'm just as scared as you are.