Audio Blogging

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MVOA

My Very Own Apartment.
I finally got the phone call today. I got the apartment I applied for! Yeah!

The kitchen used to be a sun porch, so it has windows all along three walls. And, there's a window in the bedroom and the living room. It's on the top floor, overlooking wonderful trees and a nice neighborhood. In fact, you can see my current apartment. Not because I'm very high, but because it's right across the street! I'm excited.

Time to start scoping for a free furniture!

It Rains in Portland

And it is a happy rain. Not the oppressive "you're state will soon be recognized as the marsh that it is" rain of New Jersey. No. It's a sprinkle, then clear, then a mist, then sunshine, then a downpour, then light. It has been said of Portland, "If you don't like the weather here, just wait five minutes." Fortunately, I LOVE it!

I had to walk to the bank for work yesterday, and it happened to have five minutes of downpour just when I left. At first I thought "Uh, oh" until I was in it - and I became somewhat giddy. Especially when one big glob of water fell behind my glasses and splashed me in the eye. It was sunny for my walk back from the bank.

I do need to get a rain jacket, though. I have zero water resistant attire.

Last night Mvob and I took a mini-trip to go on a mini-hike. We went part way up Multnomah Falls, a place I've been told to go. Mui touristi - but they actually have nice patches, so I'll have to go back and buy one. We only went part way up because it was dark. We went to this little bridge that crosses over the middle of the falls. Ahhh.

We then stopped by New Seasons - my new favorite grocery store, that is right by my house (though I feel a little guilty every time I go there instead of the co-op for something I could at the co-op) - to see if perhaps by chance they carried Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate (my favorite Hot chocolate). They DO! New Seasons carries everything I like that I haven't been able to find elsewhere in town, Sweet Nothings ice cream substitute, the No-Flour sprouted bread I like - AND Stephen's Gourmet! :)

We had hot chocolate floats and watched Horse Feathers, another Marx Brothers movie. Not as good as day at the races, but still good.

Today was YSA temple baptism day. We both went. Mvob's cousin was also there. His cousin is the first of his family that I met, but they haven't really been talking since Mvob and I began dating. It was nice to see them talking again, and joking around. The three of us went out to eat at a Teriaki place afterward. I had Potstickers, though they were called something else in a language I don't understand. "And then my shoes started to squeek. And then the horns kicked in." Sorry if that didn't make any sense to you, random song time struck again. Look up 2nu's "Ponderous" and then you'll get the reference.

Oh yeah, so Mvob's cousin was performing the baptisms, and Mvob was a witness. When I first went in there his cousin said "Sister [insert Mvob's last name here]" jokingly. *hem-ahem*

We may be going to an ice cream social, or hiking and a campfire, or both tonight.

What's in a Day?

So I like to make Sunday a day of rest from the cares of the world - a spiritual recharge day. I love the principle about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. It really works - and its effects last the whole week. In the past, I've often excluded myself from overly social things on Sundays for this purpose - where I'll study a subject and write about it for example.

Last Sunday Mvob wanted to go visit a retirement home, just to visit and cheer people up. He's done it before, with his family and when he worked at one. So we called some, and just couldn't find anywhere that would let us come. So instead we just walked around my neighborhood and ate lunch in the middle rose garden/park before going to church. After church we had dinner with his sisters' and their kids. His sisters' had several movies I haven't seen, and invited us to come back after the fireside/talk to watch one. We said ok.

So, we went to the fireside - and it was very good. So far everything for the day had been perfectly uplifting Sunday stuff. We tried to get a copy of the movie The Phone Call (quite likely an influence for Napoleon Dynamite) to watch, but that fell through. So, at Mvob's sisters afterwards, she had picked out 50 first dates. Although they did edit out much of the crudity for me, it was still certainly not what I enjoy as a Sunday activity. I didn't say anything about it, though. Mvob felt bad right away, though. He apologized for it very kindly. I said, "Well, let's not do it again" in a way that was not "bad us!" but more in a "we learned not to, so let's move on" kind of way. He liked that. We had a good talk about what we each like to do on Sundays. Conclusions were good. Standards are set. We were happy.

At a "Rock" concert

It was once said, "Early to bed, early to rise, and your girl goes out with other guys."
Ahhh. Staying up too late. I've never truly been a big fan, and I'm super tired today. But, wonderfully enough, I got to leave work early tonight.

I was going to go to FHE tonight, but they're watching a movie I already own, so I decided it wouldn't be worth it to drive the 1/2 hour to get there when I'm feeling this tired. The movie, BTW, is the New Pride and Prejudice (the "Latter day comedy"). I must say it is very well done. It's no Napoleon Dynamite, but it's good.

Last Saturday Mvob (I like Mormon Version of Boyfriend - good call, with EM-Vob pronunciation) and I went to see Greg Simpson in concert. My little sister saw him several years ago on a bad date, and we kinda made fun of the idea of Mormon-Christian rock type music. (At least he's not Janice Kapp Perry!!!) But now that I don't actually live IN Utah, it's fun to throw back to the nerdy culture of where I grew up. I like it more when I don't live in it. Greg Simpson actually isn't that bad. I admit I really like some of the songs.

The best parts of the concert were those few people in the audience with no inhibitions... one young guy who had to be the center of attention and yell out things that make people laugh because they're embarrassed by/for him (you knew the kind I'm talking about, he's at every LDS social event) and the guy who was so excited to go on stage and shake a rhythm instrument for a song... overweight, in his mid-forties, excitedly singing along the whole song, and dressed in that short sleeve white button down shirt that only Mormons and Legit Idaho Tupperware salesman wear. (If you haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite YET - I almost apologize for all the references that aren't so funny if you haven't seen the movie, but I don't fully apologize because you should have seen it by now.) Also, it's funny when the musician has to say to his audience, "this is rock music. You need to get up and move!" So everyone stood up and moved a little bit, and stiffly at that (except that one guy, who wiggled around like crazy). When the song was over, they promptly sat back down. Are you guys having a killer time?

Other than Mvob having no rhythm and trying to move to the music with his arm around me, it was a good time. That was even still a good time. I've been spoiled with boys who developed rhythm.