What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was in my second year of law school. I was managing a BYU student housing complex with 80 students in it, and working as an assistant to a professor whose passion was religious liberty. I got very involved in a conference dealing with religious liberty, in which I got to meet a bunch of very high mucky-mucks, such as a Supreme Court Justice from Portugal, a South African intellectual who was instrumental in ending apartheid, and a law professor from Kazakhstan who flirted with me (I still have the bracelet he gave me).
5 things on my "to-do" list today :
1-Visit with a friend who came over
2- Drop off cards to the ladies I visit teach since we didn't visit them this month
3- Load of laundry
4- Eat
5- Spend lots of time outdoors with Mr. Boo
(Does anyone else write to-do lists backwards? These are five things I did today. I didn't have them on any kind of a list in advance.)
5 Snacks that I enjoy:
1- Bread and jam
2- Cold cereal
3- York peppermint patties (must be name brand)
4- Dove dark chocolate (must be Dove)
5- Chocolate milk
3 bad habits:
1- I dunno. Ask Dirk. I'm sure I've got some, but I'm so used to them I don't notice them anymore.
Places I've lived:
1-Utah - all over the Wasatch Front
2-Connecticut
3-Wyoming
5 Jobs I've had:
1- Attorney
2- Newspaper stringer
3- Research assistant
4- Apartment manager
5- MTC teacher
5 Things people don't know about me:
1. I'm sick and tired of special effects in movies. I want to see shows that are good stories about believable characters. I don't care if the CGI team can blow up a building and crash a car with maximum flames and multiple camera angles.
2. I have depression. I'm off meds, and mostly stable, but I have a few quirks. For example, noise and crowds will frequently set me off, which makes me seem somewhat anti-social at family parties. I love the people; I can't handle everyone all together at once unless I'm having a really good day. Dirk has learned to recognize the expression I get when he's got 20 minutes to get me out of there before I start to cry. He didn't make it at the Porter farewell party, but I managed to hide before bursting into tears, and afterwards everyone thought it was because I was worried about Dirk. Mmmm, no. It was just too much noise and too many people. I have the same reaction in the mall at Christmas time.
3. I think taxes are really interesting. I have nifty monologues about why the death tax is a good thing, why a flat tax just can't work, and how stupid it would be to try and replace the income tax with a national sales tax. Sadly, not many people want to hear my monologues. Sigh. But every so often, someone does question why the Church can run on 10% tithing, and the government can't just impose a 10% flat tax, and so I get to tell them all the differences between taxes and tithing. That makes me happy. Probably makes the person wish they'd never brought it up, though.
4. I have really good hearing. I hear a lot better than Dirk does (based on a website test we took). This means I always want to turn down the radio and the tv. I have yet to find an advantage to excellent hearing.
5. I have memorized several entire books, such as "Jamberry", "Sheep in a Jeep", "The Belly Button Book" and several other important childhood classics.
8 comments:
I learned a lot more about my favorite Lehi sister in law! So taxes...wanna do ours? ;)
So I have lots of comments...here goes.
Are you allowed to say which professor that was involved in religious liberty you worked for?
I frequently write lists backwards...how else are you going to feel like you've accomplished something when you didn't have plans for the day to start with?
I may just have one of your favorite snacks leftover from Heather's shower tomorrow...
Oh yeah, what apartment complex did you manage? How'd that go for you?
Special effects: dito
Your depression, I already knew about that, but that is sweet that Dirk knows when its time to get you out of there...such a good husband.
taxes...maybe if I'm brave I'll ask you about flat taxes and tithing...maybe.
Good hearing and parenthood are bad things...how are we supposed to get sleep with good hearing. UGH.
Belly button book...I think Boo has that one memorized too. I've got "Peekaboo" memorized.
oh yeah and is dirk jealous of your bracelet from mr. Kazakhstan?
Ha Jamie! I like talking about taxes. I don't like doing taxes. We use Turbo Tax, and Dirk did them this year before he left. Woohoo!
Kecia, I worked for Prof Cole Durham. The website for his International Law and Religion center is at http://www.iclrs.org/ if you're curious. I figure someday I'll go volunteer, but not until munchkins are bigger.
I managed Alpine Apts, and I did a good job but I hated it. I'll never handle rental property again. Many kudos to you and Glenn for being landlords. I can't do that.
We had Boo in our bedroom for all of three days before we moved him into the other room so I could get some sleep. Every time he took a deep breath, I woke up.
It was nice to learn so much about you! Thank you for trusting us enough to share about your depression. My Caleb is like you in regards to noisy places...although he doesn't cry, he just gets really frustrated. If there is a lot going on, he will just lose control and go bonkers. If its just at home and I turn on the blender or the vacuum or hair dryer, he will just put his hands over his ears and scream at the top of his lungs, begging me to turn it off. (although he has gotten better with the vacuum since I let him help vacuuming)
Ira is similar, he has sensitive hearing...he hears stuff that no one can, it blows me away sometimes. He says it makes it hard for him to think when there is so much background noise. He has a hard time with family parties as well because of this. He says it feels like he is losing his mind in these situations and its all he can do to stay there. I guess I should be a better wife and notice when he is getting stressed, but I don't usually, because I am opposite, I just can tune everything out.
This whole blog has been so fascinating...I want to know when you lived in Wyoming - how old were you and how long did you live there.
I learned more about you than I ever knew - and I can totally see Dirk being aware of your needs and watching out for you. I always knew he would make a fantastic husband one day.
Mauri, I think Benji has a hard time in big noisy situations too. A couple of times we've left parties because he was losing it, and he's calmed right down as soon as we got in the car and been Mr. Contentedness at home. Those are mostly Porter parties. Porter parties are many decibels louder than Willden parties. I love my family; I am glad they don't get offended when I say, "I'm leaving now bye no I don't want to eat first." It was so odd that noise and chaos didn't bother me at all when I was on meds. I wouldn't have thought that was related to depression.
I figured I should let people know about my quirk because I think I'm going to be a bit weird for the first few months after Boofer is born. I might not show up at family parties until June, although I will be happy to see people in smaller groups. I don't want anyone to think I don't love and appreciate all the support. I just might need it in smaller doses for a while, especially since I don't have Dirk to help keep me on an even keel. He is so good for me.
I've got the same problem Ira does with background noise, Mauri. I can't think if the tv or radio is on - I even have a hard time talking on the phone if the tv or radio is on. I dislike the radio in the car, although I'm adjusting to that one since Benji likes it so much. I put on classical every so often - that has less background noise in it than the radio does.
Susan, I only lived in WY for one summer when I worked at the Teton Boy Scout base in 1990. I was a cook for the camp. That could have been on the "did you know" list! I was an Explorer scout for a summer, and canoed over 200 miles on the Snake River. That was the only summer in my life when I managed to get a tan.
Its amazing to think someone else's family parties could be louder and/or noiser than the Willden gang!
I know that Jeff's wife Teresa struggles with our wild parties! Thank heavens summer is coming and we can at least move it all outside!
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