Classes I want/need to take to Graduate

I feel like every semester I go through and write all of the classes I need on paper, then I lose said paper. So, I'm writing them here.

English Major:

Need:
5711 Shakespeare
5940 Theories of Gender and Sexuality
A Seminar Course

Electives of Note (need 4):
5040 Studies in Drama
5210 Film Genres
5510 Creative Writing Fiction
5750 19th Century American Lit.
5770 20th Century British Lit.
5780 20th Century American Lit.
5960 Theories of Pop Culture

Theatre Minor:
Script Analysis
Theatre History II
Acting I
Production Lab/Babcock (1 credit)
6 Elective Credits (unless UVU will transfer)

Art History Minor:
2 3000-level courses (only one if UVU will transfer)
2 4000-level courses

General Education and BA requirements:

QA/QS Math Requirement (1-3 courses)
American whatever class
2020 level language course (2010 and 2020 for French)

Change of Taste

10 foods I wouldn't eat 5 years ago that I now love:
Onions
Peppers
Mushrooms
Avocado
Asparagus
Green Beans
Spinach
Vinegar
Broccoli
Sour Creme (it would probably be better if I still didn't like this one)

5 foods I wouldn't eat 10 or 15 years ago that I now love:
Pasta
Mashed Potatoes
Beans
Salsa
Soup/Stew

A Common Humanity

Today I had two very poignant experiences that really highlighted the common humanity that we all share. The first was viewing the play Borderlands by Eric Samuelson at Plan B theater with my boyfriend Frey and my friend Brandon. It was a play that addressed many issues within mormonism, especially "coming out" to others whether it be homosexual or otherwise. It was a very good play and I highly recommend it. There's a copy of the script available in the most recent issue of Sunstone Magazine, and I believe there's going to be a published version available in the next little while.
What impressed me most about the story was how much it emphasized the humanity of each of the characters. While this doesn't seem like all that impressive of a feet, its something that I feel like is seldom achieved in modern storytelling. What I mean is, that there was something about each of the characters that made it so I was able to deeply connect with them no matter how profoundly different they were from myself. This was most evident, I felt, in the character Phyllis. Even though she did some horrible things at the end of the play that I don't know that I would normally be able to forgive, she was presented in a way that made me understand, sympathize with, and even love her. The play reminded me that we are all human, and we all make mistakes and we all have problems, but we are all still beautiful creatures, in spite and because of our faults.
My second experience occured when I was randomly browzing the internet. Somehow I'd ended up on the blog of a friend from highschool, which led me to a blog of a man who I think must have been her brother-in-law or someone else related to her husband. Anyway, despite the distant relation to my kind-of-friend from several years ago, I was reading the blog because it talked about same-sex marriage and how it was an abomination. Being a gay man who wants to get married someday, this concerned me greatly, and quite honestly made me pretty pissed-off. His entire argument claimed to not be hateful and not intolerant, but obviously came from a place of hatred and ignorance. He hadn't sought to understand the lives of homosexuals but was only regurgitating indoctrinated words of hate disguised as love. By the end of the blog post, I hated him, and when I hate someone, I've conditioned myself to look further into their lives. So I kept reading. The next blog addressed abortion, I honestly didn't get through much of it, cause it was somewhat strangely organized, and like me, he seemed to have a lot of mixed opinions on the issue that he didn't really express very well. So, I still hated him. Then I got to the next post. It was a youtube video of a guy doing a one-man cover of a song from one of my favorite video games, and it was beautiful. Despite strongly disagreeing with his views on same-sex marriage, something which directly affects my life and happiness, I now loved this man. It didn't matter anymore that we had conflicting political views, we had something beautiful in common that trancends hatred and lives past the anger caused by one blog rant. Even though he doesn't know I exist, I felt connected to him through the little piece of art that he'd shared online.

5/1/13 Update: I actually have very clear and strong opinions about abortion now.

New Years Resolutions

1. I'm going to start eating better. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go back on the low-carb diet I did earlier this year (I'd probably start Monday) but I'm at least going to start eating healthier foods and less junk.

2. I'm going to excercise for at least an hour 5 days a week.

3. I'm going to write in my journal everyday, never missing more than one consecutive day.

4. I'm going to read the Book of Mormon everyday, never missing more than one consecutive day (I technically started this a month or two ago).

5. In addition to journal writing, I'm going to start doing more writing in general. I used to write poetry and scripts (or rather pieces of scripts) all the time.

6. Actually writing in my blogs from time to time of course.

7. Apply myself in school and get straight A's.

8. Start being more financially responsible. I'm not going to buy as many things that I don't need and I'm going to keep up on my bills and pay off my debt...oh, and save.

Sleeping Beauty...

For about the first 10 years of my life, my favorite movie was Sleeping Beauty, no question about it. To this day, I still love it. It is definitely one of my favorites of the classic Disneys. Being all grown up however, has led me to realize that Sleeping Beauty has some very non-typical character structures for a Disney movie. Have any of you noticed that throughout the majority of the film, the plot does not follow that of the title character or her handsome prince, but of the doings of the three good fairies? Aurora and Philip really only speak within one twenty minute section of the movie, they're in it for quite a bit more, but they for some reason never speak. Aurora never speaks after getting the bad news that she won't be able to see the man she met in the forest again. This does seem odd, but considering for the majority of the rest of the film she's either depressed or asleep, it's not too unbelievable. Philip however doesn't speak after he tells his father that he's going to marry a peasant girl. It is a few minutes later in the film than Aurora, but he actually has quite a few scenes in which the characters around him speak, but he remains silent. Maleficent taunts him with a tale of his possible future, and the fairies talk to him and guide him out of Maleficent's prison to the castle, but the whole time, he doesn't even let out a heroic yell as he rides to his love's side. I've even heard rumors that the prince's odd silence is because the voice actor died halfway through, but a little research on the Internet Movie Database says that he didn't die until about twenty years after the movie was released.
Why the writers didn't give the main characters more lines is unclear, but it obviously wasn't too bad of a move since it took me 19 years and probably around 500 views to notice.
One more thing, Sleeping Beauty and her prince aren't the only characters to stay silent for most of the movie. The Queen has one line in the first five minutes ("and you aren't offended your excellency") and then never speaks again, not even after seeing her daughter for the first time after 16 years.

Diet Pill Scam...AcaiBurned

I recently fell for a diet pill scam (AcaiBurn...just stay away from it) Luckily, it was just a trial offer (the website made it sound like you get a free bottle...really you get 14 days to send the bottle back before they charge you 60 bucks...luckily I convinced them over the phone that I'd put up a pretty big fight if they charged me, seeing as the website clearly states that the first bottle is free).
However, what made this diet pill a scam was not the fact that they charge you for the free trial bottle. No, what made it a scam was the directions that came with it. In a document that came with the bottle, it stated that the pills do not work alone, you do have to put in "some" effort. In order for you to lose a noticeable amount of weight on these pills, you have to do all of the following:

1. Participate in at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise at least 4 times a week.
2. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.
3. Not eat for 3 1/2 hours before bedtime.
4. Walk for at least a half hour every day.
5. Eat Breakfast every day.
6. Never eat until you are full, only eat until you are no longer hungry.
7. Eat bigger meals earlier and lighter meals later.

So basically, the only way to lose weight with this $60 a month product is if you diet and exercise.

Everything Old is New Again...yay for Peter Allen...even though he has nothing to do with this post...

I've found that the more music I get, the less and less I crave new music. I think it's because the more music I have, the less I listen to each individual song, so when I'm in the mood for something new, I just listen to something I haven't listened to for a long time. For instance, earlier today I was thinking about Spring Awakening. Usually, I say it is my favorite musical. But lately, I've been listening to a lot of other things, and have kind of thought of it as not near as great as i used to. Then, just a few minutes ago, I realized that it has been months since I last listened to it, so I figured I'd play through some songs. And I love it all over again. I completely forgot how good it is. It's like new.


Okay, so I just looked at how this blog looks...and it cuts out the right side of the pics...this bugs me...but for some reason, my computer isn't letting me delete or edit the pictures right now...and I know I'm going to be too lazy to try later...so just know that I know that it looks bad.