All Grown Up and Going to China!

Remember in Mulan when Mushu says, "My little baby is all grown up and saving China"? Well, I don't know that I will be saving the country, but I am going there! In just 44 days I will be flying off to China for 2 months. I will be taking a Performance Measurements class that is a part of my masters program and I am all at once excited and scared to death. Well, maybe not scared to death, but I am certainly nervous. I am mostly nervous about the class and getting along with my classmates. Many of them are halfway through or finished with their degree and that makes me feel VERY green. Traveling makes me only a little bit nervous. I love adventure and I love to see the world. I can't believe that I have had the incredible experiences that I have, especially when I was thinking that visiting the east coast was my impossible dream. Now I have seen the world and am so excited to see more of it. Adventure is a wonderful thing!

Dr Who

My roommate Queen Kate is current dating an incredible boy. We like to call him RDS. RDS is fun and witty and he watches Dr. Who. Did I mention that he watches Dr. Who? Who watches Dr. Who?! I remember watching Dr. Who with my family when I was little. I remember Tom Baker(pictured below)the most. I also remember Peter Davison, but just a little bit. We loved the show and I still get a very excited feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I hear the theme music.



Dr. Who recently came back into my life when I met my friend Nan. Nan is pretty much everything I wish I could be. She is cool and artsy and well versed in all things BBC. Hence, she watches Dr. Who. (When I discovered this, I knew we were meant to be friends) David Tennant is her Doctor of choice.

So, what this all comes down to is that last night RDS came over with the newest episode of Dr. Who in tow. It just aired in Britain on Saturday night and features the new doctor. The new doctor. He is acceptable. But he is no David Tennant.




As I watched Dr. Who sans David Tennant, I realized just how much I love David Tennant. I guess that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. Have I mentioned that I love David Tennant? Mostly, I decided that I probably shouldn't love some one so much when I have never actually met him and I know for a fact that said person spent time dating Kylie Minogue. You just can't trust that at all. Oh, well.

Musings on Today

The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain, but the snow in Utah is out of control. It is April for heavens sake.

Returning a video to the redbox machine at Walmart would be much easier if I had a husband who would stay in the car so I wouldn't have to park it and turn it off just to pop inside and return the video.

Women used to wear dresses all the time and they looked super classy.

I would rather eat a cupcake than a salad. Unless it is a very good salad.

Flavored water is much easier to drink lots of than normal water.

Gaycation = No, GRAD SCHOOL = YES!

So, Thailand is off. All weekend I had an uncomfortable feeling about the trip. When I told my family about going, when I researched things to do on the internet, and when I told my boss that I would need a week off, I didn't feel like things would work out. Every time that I told someone about it I had a really hard time getting excited. It seemed so strange! Who doesn't get excited about a free trip to Thailand?! The plane ticket was purchased on Sunday and upgraded on Monday. How could it not work out? And yet, I still had that uncomfortable feeling. I talked to my sister about it and finally said out loud that I felt like maybe I shouldn't go. Then I knew, that uncomfortable feeling had been the spirit. Oh well, it looks like I will be going to Asia soon anyway because...I got accepted to grad school! They only accepted about a third of the applicants (usually they take half), so I pretty much feel like a rock star! I will start the program with a six week course in China this summer and then I will begin full-time in the fall at BYU. I am a lot excited and a lot scared to death. I am going to quit my job, leave my comfort zone, take out zillions of dollars in student loans, and I am going to conquer grad school. I am going to be the first kid in my family to go and I can't wait! I did it!

One Night in Bangkok...

I am going on a gaycaiton. Yup, in two short weeks I am going to be on my way to stay at a gay resort in Bangkok with my Dad and his partner. I love them both and am thrilled at the prospect of vacationing with them in Thailand. However, I am a little bit apprehensive about the resort. After all, it isn't everyday that your average, good Mormon girl goes to Thailand to stay at a hotel for gay men. It isn't that I think they will be crazies, or that they are degenerate people. I know better than to blanket judge an entire population. I think I am just a bit worried that I will be exposed to some business that I would be better off not seeing, that I would somehow find myself in the midst of raucous immoral behavior. I prefer to think otherwise. I am leaning toward the safer side of the situation. I am guessing that, like most other hotels, people will keep to themselves, (excepting possible poolside antics or awkward meal conversations.) and I should be left to enjoy Thailand in peace. Overall I am expecting an Elephant ride, ornate temples, lots of Thai food, and affectionately interested gay men who are wondering what a single twenty-something girl is doing at their resort.  I am looking forward to it!

Waxing Brilliant

I went for a walk with my roomie today. We like to pretend that Spring is here, and so we walked in the sunshine until our ears froze and we could no longer sustain the fantasy of Spring. We waxed brilliant as we talked about some of life's challenges and how our approach to them can change their nature entirely. We talked mostly about attitude and complaining. Here I will tell you that HRH is pretty much brilliant. Besides being a therapist and roommate-extraordinaire, she is on a quest for self-mastery. (Personally, I prefer to sweep my weaknesses under the carpet and pretend that they don't exist.) HRH however, is facing the world head on and making an honest effort to constantly improve herself. Her two nemeses as of late are sugar and complaining. She is taking them both on valiantly. I don't agree at all with abstinence from sugar. It makes me a horrid and disagreeable person. Hence, said abstinence should never be attempted for long periods of time. Complaining, however, would be a worthy adversary. I am a first rate complainer. I can complain, criticize about anything. The best part is, that I am very good about rationalizing my complaining away, so I never have to feel bad about it. However, the more I talked to Megan, the more I realized just how much of a negative impact my complaining is probably having on me. Seriously. Why do I complain? a. I haven't gotten my way b. someone has something that I want c. to support someone else by taking sides d. to show how much better I am than the stupid people I am complaining about. Ouch. Complaining is a very "me" focused activity. Although I believe I am awfully funny and witty when I complain, it brings a negativity that I would rather not have around. So here I go. I am going to try to curb my complaining. What are you trying to leave behind? How is it going?

SMS (Surviving Mormon Single)

I am 27 years old. Single. White. Female. Emphasis on the single. Being an "older", single, Mormon girl living in Provo, UT is not always the easiest thing in the world. This is a very paradoxical place to be. In Utah County we have over 50, 000 college students. You can subtract the ones who are already married and the ones who are not LDS and then add the singles who are not currently in school and you still have several tens of thousands of Mormon single kids running around in one very small geographical area. You would think that single LDS kids + thousand of eligible eternal companions would = a frenzy of dating, but it doesn't. Somehow the overwhelming number of us has paralyzed the dating world.

Living in this world of dating paralysis (that is heightened for the average post-grad girl) is all at once tragic and entertaining. I don't know that I am necessarily a pro at surviving Mormon single, but I certainly have a lot of adventures attempting it. So, I decided to start this blog. I figure it might be nice to let all of you "old" singles out there know that you are not alone in trying to navigate this crazy single world.

Welcome, and happy reading.