I just read a really interesting article online about passwords. I don’t have much to say about it, except that I’m about to go change all the passwords on all my accounts pretty soon here. This article helped me realize how important a good password is as well as how to pick a great, un-hackable password. Go check it out here.
Archive for July, 2009
A Dream is a Wish
I have had several conversations with several people lately that all come down to about the same thing. Our dreams. What we thought things would be like, or what we would be like, or what we want.
I think we all had ideas when we were young of exactly how things should be when we were grown ups and when you’re in high school and college you are working hard towards those dreams of jobs, family, love, friends, house and home, whatever.
Things just don’t go according to plan. And when you are young, you aren’t always sure of what you are capable of. A lot of us stubbornly hold on to certain ideals, thinking “but this is what I’ve always wanted!” Everything in our environment could be working against that one ideal, but because it’s what we’ve dreamed of since we were very young, we still go towards that dream.
Dreams are good to have. It’s great to have something you want more than anything and is worth working for. It’s so wonderful when you can make your dreams come true and they are no longer dreams. But it just doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes we have to learn when to say “enough is enough”. Sometimes we have to take “second best”. Sometimes we have to look at the kind of people we have become and reevaluate our capabilities and talents. What I thought I could do as a 20 year old, single, childless college student is far different from what I can actually do as a 32 year old married mother with a college degree. I am learning what my limitations are and I am learning how to judge what is best for my family and for me. I had no idea 12 years or 7 years or even 2 years ago what my life would be like at this moment in time, so how could I have made such lofty goals?
I’m not saying to totally give up on your dreams or to not make goals. No, I’m saying that part of being a grown up is knowing what dreams can realistically be achieved, and what dreams need to be tweaked.
Monday Morning
I wasn’t looking forward to today because it is the first day of band camp. I like having Ches around, and knowing he’ll be gone all day every day just isn’t my idea of fun. I woke up this morning and walked downstairs. The kitchen and living room are clean. No clutter, (almost) no dirty dishes, no trash waiting to be taken out. The floors have been vacuumed. The shelves, piano, and pictures have even been dusted.
It didn’t take long. Especially when I had the kids picking up their own toys and books and running them upstairs. I reorganized some books that don’t fit on the bookshelf and I cleaned up the music sitting on the floor next to the piano. Dallin and Parker helped dust (they like the Swiffer Duster. It’s “fun”.) and I did the dishes right after dinner. I never do the dishes right after dinner! I can’t wait to get the carpets cleaned.
I have become more and more anxious the past couple of years, and I can’t stand a ton of clutter. It overwhelms me and suddenly I can’t think, I can’t breathe, I can’t function. So to wake up today and see some sort of organization and neatness… Oh, the calming joy of it all!! It’s a perfect way to start the day. I feel like I can handle the kids and the laundry. I feel like I can accomplish everything on my list this week. I don’t even care that I don’t have a car and am stuck in the house. Now, I’m going back downstairs to bask in cleanliness.
Weasley is Our King!
Went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter last night (this morning??). I’m not going to write anything about it yet because I’m not going to spoil it for anyone. However, I really think this is the best one in the series so far. I can’t wait to discuss it with some of you!! Now, I’m off to try and get some more sleep in. It was a short night, sleep-wise.
Culture Shock
Last night I got to see one of my favorite musicals, Forever Plaid, in movie form. It was a special engagement for the 20th anniversary and was shown in theatres around the US and Canada. After the movie was some live stuff, and it was just great. An old friend of mine went with me, and we had a good time. As we left the theatre, my friend said “You want to go out?” You bet!
It was late, and we were in an unfamiliar area, so we just started walking. Found a place that was open, so we went in.
Now, you all know that I’m LDS (because most of you are also LDS) and so I don’t drink. I don’t normally go to bars. I have been to very few bars in my time. This bar was different from the college sports bars I’ve been to in the past. We walked in, I looked to my left, and saw a mechanical bull.
We were in a country bar.
It was actually a nice place. The country music was really loud, and while I don’t like country music, the live band playing was really good. My friend and I sat at the bar, she drinking a Bloody Mary and I drinking a water, and talked for a long time. It’s good to catch up. After an hour or so we decided to get up and dance. There weren’t a lot of people in the bar, but I think some girls were having a birthday party (the band sang “Happy Birthday” at one point). They all had on matching cowboy hats. They were continuously getting on stage to dance next to the band. They were taking pictures of each other, almost constantly had a drink in their hands, and screamed a lot. They were “Woo Girls“. (If you don’t watch How I Met Your Mother, this comment won’t be nearly as funny.)
The strangest thing for me was watching these girls dance. Like they were trying to be all sexy or something, but instead they just looked like idiots. They’re up on stage, bumping and grinding with each other and trying to with band members (the poor lead guy kept pushing girls off him ever so slightly. Let him play his guitar and sing, girls! Sheesh!!) and the type of dance they were doing does not go with country music. One girls was wearing a cute, mini denim skirt. Well, it was cute when she first got on stage. When she was dancing and the skirt went crooked and then rode up so we could see her underwear? Not so cute anymore. Other girls kept doing these stripper-like moves. And I don’t know what they thought they looked like, but I thought they looked foolish. They looked like privileged yuppies who have had too much to drink and might throw up any second. I’m not kidding.
I was laughing so hard. These Woo Girls were a novelty to me and I could not stop watching them! It not something that I normally am involved in, so it was just so entertaining. Those girls were having fun, but I can’t help but wonder how true this HIMYM clip is.
Ya THINK??
So we were watching “Marley and Me” the other night, and there’s the scene where Jennifer Aniston’s character and Owen Wilson’s character are reading newspapers that they had each written an article for. The are reading each other’s articles. Being the supportive spouses and such. Owen Wilson works for a small paper and his article is really some blurb where the editor cut a bunch of it out and spell the character’s name wrong. Jennifer Aniston works for a large paper and has this huge article about something very important that continues on to another page and covers four columns of text.
Ches says, “That would be so hard, to be married and do the same thing but not have the same results.”
I just looked at him. Yeah. I don’t know how that feels at all.
