Watch This

I thought this little video was quite thought-provoking. What am I gonna do about it? Not sure yet. But I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Oh. My. Heck.

What a crazy night of work.

First off, as I was driving to work tonight I got caught in a blizzard. I prayed, and I sang hymns, and I felt inclined to think about what would happen if I slipped off the edge of the highway and died. I pleaded with God to let me stay. And I thought how it would be exciting to see Grandpa Davis if He didn't let me stay. But I figured Grandpa Davis and probably some other people, too, wanted me to stay.

I wasn't sure whether to pull over, keep driving, or turn around and go home. But I was expected at work. And there were other people on the road, too. So I kept driving. When the snow really got bad, I'd already entered the canyon and didn't have cell service anymore. So I plunged onward at 25 miles an hour.

I was half an hour late to work, and my co-worker hadn't arrived yet. When one of the day shift people called her to see if she was okay, she said she had been pulled over by a highway patrolman who told her to turn around and go home. Because there was only one of me, and also because the storm was bad, the two day-shifters had to stay.

It was funny to start out the shift with them. One of them was almost giddy at the thought of sitting and watching a movie on my laptop. A Series of Unfortunate Events and 3 episodes of The Office later, however, they were both out cold. One is sleeping at my end of the hall, and the other is sleeping at the other end. Both are laying flat on their stomachs. I am safely perched on the "sick bed," a sort of futon built into the wall.

"Safely perched." Because a few minutes ago, I thought I saw a mouse in the corner of my eye. I dismissed the idea, because when I first got hired, the program director had hired someone to come "take care of the mouse problem." I had heard them scuttling around in the walls, and outside the windows, but hadn't ever seen one face to face.

But a couple minutes after I thought I had imagined seeing a mouse, I really did see a mouse. It ran out onto the carpet, and stood there, inches from my sleeping co-workers face. I refrained from screaming because I knew if she woke up she would be completely terrorized, and every girl in this place would wake up, too. The little mousey ran under the pillow her head's on, and then retraced its steps and ran away again.

Anyway, I'm happy to be up here on this "sick bed." And I'm happy to be alive. I'm grateful to have Buck the 4-Runner, with four-wheel drive for storms. I'm happy there are only 3 more hours left in this shift. I'm happy that this week is Thanksgiving. I'm happy that today is my third-to-last shift at this place--ever. I'm happy to have had a job.

I'm happy that God lives and the Savior came. I had a realization in the car today that I really haven't done everything I want to, yet. I also realized that no matter when this life ends, Jesus Christ will have to make up for my shortcomings. I felt extremely humbled to imagine my lack of preparedness to meet God, despite my efforts. Yet somehow I felt assured that He would make it okay. I feel so grateful for that today, and wish I could feel this grateful more often without almost dying.

Alma 34, and my roommate, Yo-yo

Verse 27: "Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you." Thus ends the section previously marked in my mind as "the prayer section."

Verse 28 says: "And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need--I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith."

I had never really noticed before that verse 28 is referring to the previous several verses on prayer. Our prayers are essentially ineffective if they aren't followed by action. Our heartfelt prayer for God to bless someone in need ought to be followed by our sincerest efforts to help them ourselves, in whatever way we can.

Anyway, I was reading these verses and picturing my adorable, Chinese roommate, Yo-yo, who, just before I walked out tonight to go to work, remembered, "Oh, Cammie! I have something for you!" She dashed to the kitchen and brought out a container of strawberry Yoplait yogurt. "You need the energy," she said. How cute is that? And then she explained to me that she thought it would be my favorite kind, since she's seen me eating strawberries, and she's also seen me eating yogurt. I love love.

What to do in the middle of the night?

So, I don't generally get a ton of participation from readers. Possibly because I don't have many readers. But if you are a reader, even if I don't know you're a reader, I want you to leave your comment to this post.

I have spent the last 2 months working a graveyard shift at a residential treatment center for adolescent girls. The hardest part about my job is staying up all night. I just put in my two-weeks' notice (Yaaaaay!!!), but I've still got two weeks left.

Here is a list of my nighttime activities, in case you ever wondered.

1. Transcription. I'm typing out all the Aruba tapes (from my research this summer), word for painstaking word. Maybe I should have worked on this more than I did.
2. Studying for the GRE. I could have worked on this more, too. But, I successfully finished the test, so that's cool.
3. Studying my scriptures.
4. Writing in my journal.
5. Writing on Aruba postcards to send to my missionaries from my last MTC district.
6. Composing serious emails to people I really needed to say serious things to.
7. Shopping at Forever21, but refraining from buying since I could have easily wasted a night's work money in one go.
8. Writing lyrics to a song I had already composed the tune to.
9. Watching a bunch of stupid movies and a couple of good ones. I really liked a foreign film called August Evening.
10. Eating. Huge quantities of baby carrots, grapes, and wheat thins.
11. Checking out craigslist: applying for new jobs; browsing the "free" items.
12. Making blog entries.
13. Writing a sample letter of recommendation for a professor, writing my letter of intent, and doing some other graduate school application stuff.
14. Reading: The Alchemist, Clara's War, Serendipity, Corner Shop, and this comedy book called "I Shudder..." until it got too crude for me. But there was a hilarious chapter about this guy's affinity for marshmallow Peeps. He does a pretty good job of describing what makes Peeps the most disgusting food you could ever imagine, and it was really funny. If you read the book, only worry about reading that chapter.
15. Watching almost every single episode of The Office ever made.

My question for you is this:

What would YOU do, if you had to stay awake all night, to keep from sleeping? I will accept movie or book recommendations, or just funny things you have done/would do if forced to stay awake.

Ghetto Phone

I think it'd be awesome if, when using the predictive text option on my phone, I didn't have to flip through dozens of progressively obscure words before eventually having to manually spell out the word I want.

The other day, I wanted to say something about a wart I have on my foot. Yes, that's right, I have a wart. On my foot. Am I such an anomaly? Well, apparently--judging by the fact that I keyed in 9278 and my phone spit out the word "wast." Wast? Old English. Really? Was that really someone's best guess at what someone would be trying to say with that number grouping? I hope that person didn't have a degree in statistics, because I'd say the probability of me wanting to spell "wast" on my phone is pretty low.

Actually, the 'wart' example isn't the best, because unlike my experience with many other words I try to spell, "wast" was the only option spat out by my phone, before it gave up and asked me to spell the word myself. I feel like this whole predictive text thing is a guessing game, and my phone just doesn't have the creative skills, or the determination, or the will to win that is required by this sort of game. I'm pretty sure that if I could challenge my phone to a game of boggle, I would win, hands down. (Okay, I realize the poor thing is just a phone. But still.)

Perhaps the reason I am really bothered is that I felt slightly miffed by the fact that my phone didn't seem to recognize my problem as a legitimate or even somewhat commonplace malady. Maybe that's what this all stems from--my own self-consciousness about the wart on my foot.

Pumpkin Dates

'Tis the season! I went on two separate dates involving pumpkins or pumpkin-like activities this Halloween season. Here's the proof.

Date #1: Who wants to carve another pumpkin when you can carve...something else? Pictured here are Jorge the Banana Squash (note the sombrero, which is fashioned partially from the backside of Jorge's squash body--yes, a graft of sorts), and Chewy (sp?) the Butternut Squash, whose tongue was once the chunk of squash removed to make a mouth-hole. Aren't they cute?



Date #2: We went walking around a neighborhood on Halloween night taking pictures of jack-o-lanterns on porches. Upon returning home, we loaded the pics onto the computer and meticulously reviewed each one to judge which was the best. Once we picked our favorite, we created a certificate, to be presented to the creator of the winning pumpkin, along with a candy bar. Check out some of the top contenders:

Not bad at all.



Pretty good.



A Nativity Scene? Trying to put the real meaning back into...wait.



Hands.



The "SMILE" pumpkin.



But best of all, we decided, was this one. I had to put the flash on, because a lot of the details were lost without it.



Well, the recipient of the contest he didn't even know he had entered did look a little taken-aback to see two college co-eds standing there on his porch, NOT dressed in costume, and clutching a piece of paper. I imagine he thought we wanted to sell him something. "We looked at all the pumpkins in your neighborhood," I said, "and we decided yours is the best. So this is for you," I said, handing over the prize.

"Who is this from--" and then, after a pause of realization, "Oh--from the two of you?"

"Yep."

"Well, thank you!" And in the house he went. What a funny exchange. I sure hope he's proud. Happy Halloween!