School: Well my schooling choice has changed again! I'm planning to attend a culinary school and then start a catering business with my best friend. The idea is that every single item on the menu will have a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian option. I'm thinking it will be amazing. :) The biggest decision is where we'll be located. Not sure what demand will be in Bakersfield.

Work: Unemployed. I REALLY need a job. Well...I kind of have a job. I babysit for a lady from church. Three kids: angry, recently diagnosed diabetic 13 year old, diabetic five year old, and a two year old with no words. It can be difficult at times. I'm confident when it comes to caring for the kids, but I still feel kind of weird in the house. I always feel weird in other people's houses though, so it's to be expected. I'd prefer to have an actual job. There are several aspects of the babysitting gig that I find frustrating. Mainly the fact that I very rarely know what's going on. I typically have to plan to be staying two to four hours past what she tells me.

Love Life: Still single. Not really dating. Still pretty much waiting for Jesse to come back so we can see where that goes. He'll be back in May. I keep half jokingly referring to him as my future husband. There's really no guarantee of that. I honestly have no idea what will happen when he's back. I know what I hope will happen though. :) If what I hope happens, I'll be going to the culinary program at UVU instead of one up in Seattle.

Friends: Kimmy, who I've been spending most of my time with, just moved to Virginia to marry her girlfriend and become a navy wife. So now 4 of my 5 best friends have moved out of state. I still have Lisa. I've also got various male friends. There's Ben. He's about to start schooling to be a pastor. We talk a lot of Bible. He has a similar history to me, so we talk about the effects of said history as well. I'm also trying to work out a friendship with Cameron. He and I have a lot of history, so it's a little odd. He's got a girlfriend now. I feel weird about that. I also feel weird the Lisa has a guy that she goes out with on a regular basis. I feel weird being so completely single while all my friends are settling into relationships.

That's pretty much it. I've been watching Dr Who and lots of Star Trek. 9 is still m favorite. DS9 is becoming my favorite, but Picard will always be my favorite captain. That's about the extent of my life. Yep.

Sending Off a Missionary

I just spent a few days with one of my best friends. She leaves for the MTC in 9 days. When I was saying goodbye, I realized that I was going to see her next year. Thanksgiving of next year is the next time I'll see her. It's not that long at all, especially since we usually go a year in between visits anyway. The thing was...I was still SO upset about saying goodbye. It took be a while to figure out why, but I finally did.

I just said goodbye to my Childhood Emily. When she comes back, she will be a different person. Emily as I know her is gone. The next time I see her, she'll be Adult Emily. It's just another door shutting. My childhood is slowly but surely becoming my past. It's another sign that I' growing up. :/ This growing up nonsense is annoying.

Now I'm 20

I am 20. I'm the youngest of my siblings, and I'm no longer a teen. It's weird to consider. I am getting old. I've completed two full decades her on Earth. Although, I suppose it's not weird as the fact that my parents are almost 50 and my oldest sister is almost 30. Ok, those are weirder thoughts. I can understand me getting older, but not them. To me, my siblings will always be in their 20s and my parents will always be in their 40s. Until I get a bit older at least.

So, what did I do for my birthday? I went to Venice Beach and Hollywood. I went to dinner. I went to the movies. I spent time with people I love who love me back. That's how I want to spend the rest of my birthdays. It's my favorite part of having a birthday. Also, the attention (which is why I wore a tiara on my birthday).

Birthdays always get me thinking of how I'll celebrate my children's birthdays (won't have any anytime soon. I don't even have a possible father at the moment, so none of you need worry (Daddy)). I think I want to not just celebrate their birthDAY but their full birthday week. I want them to have a full week of attention and an overdone outpouring of love. Birthdays are special. I've never understood people who don't agree. I think birthdays are right up there with religious holidays. So in my house, birthdays will be just as big a deal. In fact, I'll probably celebrate Christmas as Christ's birthday week. I want it to be a big deal. No chores, dates with mom and dad, favorite meals all week, desserts all week. Now the dates and meals may be limited at times due to finances, but that's what I would love to do.

So...basically...I love birthdays. I think they're incredibly special. Everyone deserves and amazing birthday every single year.

So, what else is going on in my life? Well, I'm job hunting. Ok, I'm about to start job hunting. Soon. I'm single and wanting to stay that way. I'm almost done with this semester at school. I'm spending a ton of time with my friends. I'm really focusing on getting to know myself right now. I'm a very interesting person, you know. I'm doing a lot of writing.

I love writing! Fiction and poems. Occasionally, I'll write an opinion essay. I adore short stories. I love telling a story where the reader has to understand something I didn't say straight out. I think that's what really makes a great story writer. Getting the reader to understand something about a character through their thought process instead of saying it straight out. That's what I like to write.

I have a full length play in the works. The whole plot is worked out in my head (which is highly unusual for me). I have two scenes down on paper. I just need to get the rest of it down. I think it's going to me amazing, mainly because I am amazing.   : )

Another thing I've been doing lately is cooking. I've been making soups, which is pretty normal for me, but I recently graduated to making some pastas. I did this super simple one where I browned some hamburger with a couple cubes of beef bouillon and a tidge of water, added some cooked pasta, frozen veggies, and butter, then just heated it through. It was pretty amazing actually.

So, that's me. That's my life. I love you all (I'm assuming that only my family reads this, lol.)

SCRUFFMUFFIN!!!!!!

This is ScruffMuffin. She is a 1 year old terrier mix. I LOVES HER!!!! :D 

I adopted Miss ScruffMuffin on Friday. I loves her I loves her I loves her!! She is super sweet and friendly. She's already house trained. Although she does very well with a leash, she does not like getting in and out of the car. I'll probably give her a break from car rides tomorrow. Then, on Monday, she has to go to the vet. :( My poor baby!

So far, I've spoiled her rotten. She has two different types of dog food, a new collar, a personalized tag, a chew toy, a tug-of-war rope, a doggy bed (Steve actually bought that one), her own food and water bowls, and her own doggy food. I want to keep buying her things...but I'll restrain myself. Haha, I keep thinking, "Robyn, if you're this bad with a dog, how are you going to be with your own baby?" The answer is: twice as bad. :)

Now for an update. We'll go by category like last time.

School: I am back to being a Liberal Studies Major. I have this coming Spring semester, one or two classes in the summer, and then the Fall semester. Then I will have my AA and be ready to transfer. :D I was surprised when I sat down and realized just how few classes I had left. I almost have a degree!! It's crazy!! After I graduate from the community college, I'll probably go on a mission.

Work: I've been promoted again. I am now Co-Assistant Manager. I'm really hoping to be promoted to Co-Manager soon, but we'll see how that goes. Things just need to work out and settle down. It's a weird situation at work right now. Ugh. But I still love where I work and who I work with. :)

Love Life: Still single. 

Friends: Work, sleep, and church take up a lot of my time. My poor friends are being neglected again. Not that very many of them live in town anyway. 

Anything else I'm missing? Oh, I just saw Les Mis. I was SOOO bored for the majority of it. There were individual scenes that I liked, but as a whole...I did not like it at all. I was never sure what was a song and what was just dialouge. I had no reason to root for the romantic leads. It just....was very eh. But the singing was wonderful. Hugh Jackman and Anne Hatheway were absolutely fantastic. Epony made me cry. I loved Epony. Stupid movie.

So I've been struggling with Nephi. I can't stand him. He's so dry and full of himself. Ugh! But I know that he's prophet and a great man, so I'm working on liking him. I thinking I just need to spend some time in 1 and 2 Nephi and really work on getting to know him.

This article helped a lot. I just kind of skimmed it, but it made some good points. So that's my goal for the next while...along with reading The Miracle of Forgiveness and Jesus the Christ.



Here's something to lighten the mood:

The Book of Lemuel
By Brian Thomas

Chapter 1

Dear Diary,

I, Lemuel, being born of nagging parents, therefore, I have been harassed much of my life; not only by my parents, but by my younger brother Nephi, and my older brother Laman, with whom I get along the best. There! Now maybe my parents will get off my back about keeping a record.

Lem

Chapter Two

Dear Dairy,

Well, Its' finally happened! My father is a lunatic!! He has decided that he feels that we should leave the big city and head out into the wilderness. He hasn't said where. He started talking about leaving after he came home from yelling at people to repent. He said the people threw rocks at him. No kidding! I think one of them must have beaned him on the noggin. When he came home, he went to his tent and laid on his bed for about 12 hours straight. I thought he was in a coma.

Lem

Chapter Three

Dear Diary,

Hi, I'm Lemuel, and I'm dumb.

Dear Diary,

I didn't write that last entry. Laman must have gotten hold of the plates. Sometimes he's a real jerk. I wish there was a way to erase engravings. Maybe a jeweler could fix it. Dad says we have to go back to town and get some brass plates from Uncle Laban. Sure, like Laban's going to say, "Here, have them. Maybe you want my coat, too? You want that I should die from pneumonia, then you'll be happy?" Laban hit me once when we were younger because I spit on him. I'm not going!

Lem

Chapter Four

Dear Diary,

I decided to go to the city after all. We just got back and the walk was murder. Laman was picked to talk to Laban. He went over and talked to him. Then, he got drunk and asked one of Laban's girlfriends out on a date. Laban got mad and beat Laman up pretty good. After that, we went to our old home and got our gold and tried to buy the plates from Laban. His gang chased us away and stole our stuff. Laman was furious! I thought the vein on his forehead would blow up! He and I got sticks and beat up Nephi and Sam until we got tired. Then an angel came and told us to quit hitting them. Boy, Nephi and Sam sure got lucky! Nephi went back to the city and found Laban laying in the street. He was so drunk the Nephi chopped off his head and got the plates. What a trip!

Lem

Chapter Five

Dear Diary, Now Dad wants us to go back to the city and get Ishmael and his family. He probably wants us to marry his daughters... he's got a million kids. I guess I don't mind so much about going back to the city this time; some of Ishs' daughters are pretty good looking even though they don't have much upstairs. Sounds like a pretty good match for me, eh? I'll write more when we get back. Just got back from the city. Ishmael's daughters are better looking than I remembered. But, there's one that's really ugly. She's hangin' on Laman like a bad suit. Nephi's been on our backs the whole time. He keeps telling me to repent. Sheesh! It's not like I'm CAIN or something!

Lem

Chapter Six

Dear Diary,

I've had it out here! I'm not a happy camper! I've had diarrhea for the last two months. I haven't been writing much lately because things have been really hard! Now Dad has this gold-colored ball that he sits and stares at for hours every day. He says it tells him what to do and where to go. If Dad's looking for that kind of information, I can give him a few ideas. Ahh, I'm going to bed!! Mom's pregnant, I think, either that or she's got a tumor. I think she's too old to have a baby.

Lem

Chapter Seven

Dear Diary,

Mom was pregnant! She had a boy, named him Jake. We all have families now and most of us have at least one kid. I have two; Frank and Jesse. They're little terrors, but I guess they'll grow out of it. I know I should write more, but I keep putting it off. I don't know the reason but my wife is getting really buff. I'm worried because she's almost gotten bigger than me. Laman's wife is huge! She's stronger than eight cows. But then, I told Laman he'd have an eight cow wife.

Lem

Chapter Eight

Dear Diary,

Oh Man! Could that be a deli out in the middle of the wilderness? I'm craving some bagels and lox. Maybe some pastrami on rye. Ahh, it's just a mirage. Nephi says Heavenly Father told him to build a boat. Nephi's never even seen a boat. Jerusalem is landlocked! I've never seen more than a glass of water at a time, let alone a whole ocean. And now Nephi thinks he's Noah all of a sudden. Why, he can't even shoot a bow. He broke his last week. We went a day without food because of it. Knowing Nephi, he probably called it a fast. Gotta go.

Lem

Chapter Nine

Dear Diary,

Laman gave me a tattoo. It really hurts. He rubbed salt in it before I could stop him. He said salt makes it feel better. It hurts like the ****ens. Why'd I let him do it? He can talk me into just about anything. I can't believe it's been eight years since we left home, and here we are on a beach with a ship that probably won't even float. Mom had another baby, called him Joe. I can already tell he's going to be trouble.

Lem

Chapter Ten

Dear Diary,

I'm really seasick! We've been having a party here on the ship that Nephi made. The boat worked pretty good. We've been floating around for about two weeks now. We tied up Nephi yesterday because he's such a stiff. He got really mad at Laman and I because we got drunk. It's stormy a lot. If it gets much worse we might sink. Everybody says that Heavenly Father is punishing us with this storm and that we should untie Nephi. Yeah, right! doubt it. But maybe we'll untie him after Family Home Evening.

Lem

Chapter Eleven

Dear Diary,

We've finally landed. I feel like we've been on this tub forever! Good thing Nephi brought all those seeds. There's nothing to eat and it's my turn to go hunting. What if I run into some big animal I've never seen before. Maybe I can con Jake or Joe into going hunting for me. Can you believe it? Nephi is already talking about building a temple. And we haven't even been here for a day! Can't he give this religion thing a rest? Laman has already got ideas about moving out on his own. I think I'll go with him.

Lem

Chapter Twelve

Dear Diary,

Well, Nephi finally did it. He finally got Laman so mad at him that Laman couldn't see straight. They started talking again about who was going to be the leader. Laman thinks he should be the leader, because he's the oldest. But, Nephi thinks he should be the leader because some angel said so. Oh well, it'll be the last fight between them for a while. Nephi and a bunch of the family left a few nights ago to live somewhere else. And they took everything with them. The brass plates, Laban's sword, the gold-colored ball, everything!! Laman's pretty ticked off. I'm glad I stayed with him. Nephi won't know the first thing about living in the wilderness on his own. But since Nephi left, we've all developed a red rash on our skin. We can't seem to get rid of it.

An Update (finally)

Let us see here...what to tell...well, let's go by category.

School: I was originally a Liberal Studies major. I was planning to be an elementary school teacher. I have recently changed my major to Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry. Not 100% sure how I'm going to use it. Medical research? High school teacher? Who knows. We'll see. I'm almost done with my first full year of college. I'm taking two classes this summer (PoliSci and English) and four this fall (Child Development, Biology, Classical Mythology, and Communication). I'll be at the community college for another year or two and then I'll go to the local university for 2 or 3 years and then I'll have my Bachelors. Not totally sure what's going to come after that.

Work: I got a promotion back in February when I transferred to the new store. I also got a raise and an increase in hours. I'm making pretty ok money. I'm saving up for a car. Just a little one. Maybe a Hyundai Accent. Something with pretty good fuel economy and reliability. And cheap. That's the most important part....haha. :)

Love Life: I am single. I was dating Martin for almost 6 months. It was pretty serious but I knew he wasn't the one. It was really rough though. Really really rough. I'm still kinda struggling with it. I'm just really trying to avoid any drama. I tend to create my own drama a lot and I'm working on changing that. I'm planning to stay single for a while. Play the field and whatnot. Enjoy being 19 and single. Yeah. That's the plan. Let's wait and see what actually happens, haha. :)

Friends: My friends were terribly neglected whilst I was dating Martin. So now I'm going to spend lots and lots and lots of time with them. I'm even flying down my bestie Emily to spend the summer with me. I'm really really excited.

So that's it for now. If you have any questions that you desperately need answered, just drop a comment and I'll answer it soon.

Today is an important day!

It is my Grandi's birthday!!! I love you, Grandi!

I will more than likely call my Grandi later today, but in case I for some reason am not able to, I figured I'd better post this. :)