Finals

Some haiku I thought up when I was trying to sleep:
The crossroads of life
Three widely divergent paths
Waiting to be claimed.

It's finals week and everyone is a bit stressed and not quite as...friendly as they normally are. Really everyone's just trying to keep from bashing their head against the wall. Stupid finals. In about 4 days Christmas break will begin and the blood-sucking monkey on my back will curl up and die...bwahahaha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75qqIe9_WTg
NY Times video about the gangs in Pine Ridge

I fought death and lost

So my mom, me, and Emma were taking my grandpa to Idaho Falls to the airport today. We get to just outside Tetonia and see a bunch of cars backed up and people waving oncoming cars to a stop. We look ahead and see a man lying on the road with a few people standing over him. My grandpa pulls the car close and me and my mom run over and after letting people know we were EMTs start in on the good stuff. A lady who lived nearby came over and said she was a nurse. There was also a man there who said he was a doctor, but oh my goodness the poor man didn't know what he was doing. Anyways, apparently the man was testing out a bicycle someone was selling and pulled in front of a RV and they hit him. The driver of the RV was sitting there looking like he wanted to cry, his wife was on the phone with their insurance. My mom gets on the phone and starts talking to the ambulance to let them know what they were coming to. The nurse couldn't get a radial pulse so I try, but his arms were cold and I could barely feel anything, so while the nurse goes over to check the driver of the RV, I check for a pulse in the armpit and get a strong one and clock his pulse at 80bpm and his respiration at 32. Then I check the rest of his body. His legs were broken, his left knee cap dislocated. He had a head laceration that was bleeding and swelling. Blood coming out of the mouth (but no the nose or the ear I could see) but his breathing was deep and labored and his mouth full of spittle and blood. I check his chest and his ribs were pretty much gone. Unresponsive to pain and verbal stimulus and his eyes were constricted and fixed. The doctor on scene kept saying that his breathing was good and that he would be okay, but when I was telling my mom what I was finding so she could report to the ambulance, he'd go behind me and say things like, oh yeah, the legs are broken. Duh! I was also thinking about the other head injury I've seen. The man was saying "Uh-huh" and twiddling his fingers and breathing, but he was so far gone there was no way they could have saved him. This man looked and acted the same way. I knew he wasn't going to make it. Anyways, the fire boys get there with their jump kits and two seconds later the EMTs arrive so they get an adjunt in the mouth and a bag going and get him on the stretcher and headed towards the hospital in no time. There was one EMT who was looking so frazzled she was trying not to cry. Honestly, it was one of the better calls I've seen, so I can't blame her for being freaked. The nurse had talked to everyone in the RV to make sure they weren't shocky or anything and then she tells us where her bathroom is because we had no gloves and blood on our hands. As an EMT it was one of those calls that become a battle story and you pat yourself on the back for handling things like you did. I feel terrible for the people in the RV though. And poor Emma was in the car right next to it watching everything. She said she was okay, but she still looked a little freaked for a while.

They should warn you that when you are trying to get ready to go through the temple it makes you weepy. I keep feeling like I want to cry...

Deep Question

Should patients with a mental health disorder that makes them a threat to society be forced to take their medications? Should patients with a mental health disorder that are not threats to society at the moment but may become a threat in the future be forced to take their medications as sort of a preemptive strike? Or should a patient's right to refuse medical treatment supercede any real or potential threats to the public?

I was waiting in line at the grocery store the other day and in the line next to me was a pretty hispanic lady with a tiny, beautiful baby boy. Her checker looked at the woman and said, "You don't understand English, do you?" Then she gives me this look full of racial undertones. It reminded me of the mid-1800's when starving Irish immigrants flooded the streets of America. In New York City, signs were put up saying "No Irish Need Apply". A political party formed with the goal of getting rid of foreingers. Nowadays people say things like "This is America, speak English." Um, exactly, it's America, a country built on the backs of immigrants. It's all one big cycle. A certain country has a flood of emmigrants that make their way to America and the people who are already here feel threatened and turn into racist bigots. Yes, it's annoying when you have items whose labels are in Spanish instead of English. Yes, it's frustrating when the language barrier pops up and you feel like a fly bashing it's head against a window. But all the annoyance and frustration certainly shows you what kind of a person you are. Do you look at your changing world and try your best to change with it? Or do you turn up your nose and blame your uncomfortable ignorance on the subjects of your ignorance?
Here's another deep question: if you witness a crime or hear someone discussing a crime, should you be legally required to report what you know? Should you be legally required to get involved?

My Last Will and Testament

My name is Kim. I'm not crazy. This is what I want to happen when I die and anything said or written previous to this is now void. First of all, donate any organs I have. I don't want to be buried. I think most of the traditions and practices of burial are rather ridiculous. Cremate me. If I die in Teton Valley, I don't want Scott McKague touching me. I've seen him handle bodies and I was rather peeved. I don't want a viewing or funeral. Have a party with lots of food and music and (should you be a drinker, alcohol). I don't care what happens to my ashes. Scatter them somewhere. As for my belongings, Liz has first dibs to anything relating to France and any travel-oriented things that I'm sure no one else will want. Also, she gets my paint supplies. Anything else I have-you all can duke it out. It will provide me with something to watch. If for whatever reason I have a lot of money, make sure my siblings have enough for school and the rest can go to Kendra to adopt Belen. If you disobey my last wishes, I'll haunt you, don't think I won't. Any land I may have inherited because of the ridiculous allotment laws I leave to the Native American Rights Fund, if that is still within the bounds of the law. There's no executor to this will.
Signed, Kim

Farkleflugger

One of my new favorite movies: The Fall by Tarsem Singh. It's one of those films where you can mute the volume and enjoy the images like a slide show. Every scene is a separate work of art. Sad story, really, and a little blood when people die, but all in all a beautiful film, no matter what the anal-retentive critics or the uncultured public say.

This weekend my mom had a softball tourny in Rigby. If Pocatello is the armpit of Idaho, then Ribgy is the hemorrhoid on the you-know-what. Anyways, instead of sitting at home and enjoying my solitary freedom with a pan of brownies, I got bored and walked down the block to my aunts. Fortunately her abusive, alcoholic husband was gone, so she was in a good mood. (Sorry to be blunt Sierra, but he's a jerk you know.) For lunch today we walked to The Bus, a white school bus transformed into a "restaurant". Everyone has raved about how good it is, so I was disappointed to discover how ordinary it was. After lunch we walked over to a little boutique where I bought a white, diaphanous duster for $15 marked down from $119 and a cute onesie for Makoa.

All of these post Hawaii days have been spent in the same way: babysitting. I enjoy it, most days, and I'm getting paid for it, but it leaves no time whatsoever for socializing with people my own age. Ha! What a laugh! As if there were people my own age to socialize with! I've two friends within an hour's drive, but no car. So this is what it feels like to be a hermit? The upside is I've been able to read a lot of books for fun. One of them being a book of useless information. For example, everyone knows who Amelia Earhart is and how she disappeared over the Pacific, but does anyone remember the copilot/navigator Fred Noonan? And did you know General Santa Anna, of Alamo fame, inspired a New Jersey man to create chewing gum?

I was bored tonight and decided to browse through blogs that have won the Bloggies and I have to say for the most part I was disappointed. There were a few blogs that were worth watching, but for the most part they were really unnoteworthy. Not that mine is any better, but you know what I mean. For example there was a blog post by a girl who was apparently thrilled that her six year old had learned the F word. I can just imagine that kid in school. No doubt he's a hellion.

Sadly I turn a quarter of a century in twenty-four days. No doubt it is time for a quarter life crisis, though I wish I had money to do it properly. What good is a crisis if all it consits of is sitting on the couch eating ice cream and watching countless chick flicks? At the very least I should wallow in misery while taking in a cruise. (Please feel free to donate to this fund.)

Shaybee the Missionary

Hola

Two of my new favorite authors: Walter Moers and Patrick Taylor.

So the fourth of July passed quietly, considering. Kendra and Zack came up to stay and we bought some illegal fireworks. Of course a cop parked right across the street so we had to hold off on the illegals until he left. One of my illegal rockets shot down the street instead of in the air and came close to hitting a truck. Then one of my legal little spinning fountains wigged out and sparks shot across the street right at people. Eventful evening. I've never seen so many cops crawling all over the place. So nice most of the time, but that night it was rather annoying. I've found a great stack of books at the thrift stores in town and since I'm only watching Emma this summer, I have time to read them.

My ward this summer is so far very disappointing. I'm used to the ward in Bozeman, where people were nice and participated in the lessong and actually got up and bore their testimonies on Fast Sunday. This past Sunday we sat there for what seemed like a long time and no one stood, so I thought, "For crying out loud!" and stood and, as usual when bearing my testimony (baring?) I got excited and the words just tumbled out so who knows if I made any sense. Anyways, after I got up all the visitors got up and gave really good testimonies. There were only three people from the ward who stood up. Pretty pathetic really. Whatever. At least the ward has at least one piece of eye candy to look at...

Today's deep thought: Is it okay to steal something that was stolen from you? Is it ethical? For example, say I steal a rather large and expensive radio from you. Is it okay for you to come in without notifying me and steal it back? Would it even be called "stealing" if it was technically yours?

Also, something happened in Hawaii that bears noting: a chicken attack. Anyone who has been to Kauai knows it's overrun with feral chickens. My mom and Sidnee and I were sitting in the car in a pull out watching the ocean and Sidnee threw out some food of some sort to the male, female, and baby chicken. After a while, she closed the door and I fell asleep. Suddenly, there was a crash on my window. My initial thought as I shot awake was that some anti-haole local was trying to rob us, but as I looked up at the window, I saw the stupid female chicken flapping her wings and falling to the ground. We all look at each other like, "Did that chicken just attack the car?" We were so freaked out we didn't get out, we just left. Seriously, have you ever even heard of a chicken attacking a car?

Happy Fourth!

New favorites

My trunk.

My new favorite lotion.

Monopoly

Me and Emma played Monopoly today. We play with Free Parking, where you pay your bills to the center of the board and the first person to land on Free Parking gets all the money in the center. Emma, the little stink, kept landing on it until she had all the money, save my twenty some odd dollars. Half my property was mortgaged and I had no buildings. Emma,on the hand, had two towers on every single piece of property. I was going to start giving her property in lieu of rent, but we finally just ended the game because I kept landing in jail and it all became rather pointless. Just so you know, losing to a nine year old isn't the greatest boost to your esteem.

More Me 'n' Sid

Hawaii

Me and Sid and the only way to travel in Hawaii! In the back of a pickup!

Today's deep thought: After WWII, Japan was forbidden from having a standing army. Is this restriction still necessary?
I bought a trunk, the trunk I've been looking for forever. I'll take a pic and post it.
My new favorite lotion: Boots Body Cream Patchouli and Lavender.

Complaint and another Deep Thought

This particular section of the blog is going to be spent complaining, as I need to gripe about something and this was available. Subject: my mom. She's driving me crazy. She is constantly stressing about the numerous things she has to do, but fails to notice that she's hassled because she has no sense of organization. For example, today she tells me that her home teachers are coming at four, so at 3:55 she suddenly decides that the clothes in the washer need to be taken to Sierra's to be dried (since our dryer isn't working). I look at the clock as she's about to walk out the door and it said 3:59. I tell her the clothes can wait a little while since her HT's are coming over and she replies that it can't wait, it has to be done now. At 3:59. This reminds me of a time when we were younger and she went on a cleaning kick and told us we were going to scrub the house. Instead of starting on the big things, like dishes, clutter, sweeping, the normal things, she starts by shampooing our brushes. Kendra and I told her that was something that could wait until the end, but no, it had to be done immediately. So she spends all this time on trivial little things and then gets all ticked off because she suddenly has no time for the big, important things. Try telling her this and she'll insist that it isn't because of how she's doing things, it's because she has soooo much to do because no one else will do it and on and on and on. Heaven help me if I don't get enough loan money for school because then I'd have to stay here and I think I'd have to choke something. To make everything worse, I have no car, so I can't escape!!!!!
Whew, now that I've gotten all of that off of my chest, may I say that I enjoyed the book entitled The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. I want to read the other books he's written. They're illustrated and are I guess what you would call faery tales, but there were a lot of big words, so I don't know if it would be a children's book. Whatever. It was good.
Here's my deep thoughts for today. I was thinking about all the comments made by non-religious people about how science has proved that Creationism and the whole idea of religion is false and I thought, how do they KNOW? Six hundred years ago they KNEW the earth was flat because the science of the day proved that it was. Two hundred years ago, scientists KNEW that the size of a persons head denoted intelligence because all of the scientific experiments and instruments proved that this was true. Today science says that dinosaurs lived on the earth upteen million years ago and that cavemen lacked the mental capacity to speak or even walk upright and that they were descended from apes. Science has proved this to be true. But who knows, perhaps a handful of years down the road science proves that all of the things we now hold to be true is complete crap? Sure, scientists need to take what they now think to be true and run with it, but don't act as if you have discovered the end-all-be-all and anything to the contrary is merely wishful thinking. Going back to religion, who says religion and science are mutually exclusive? I've heard it said that the laws of nature prove that there is no all-powerful God, but who wrote those laws? Who says that God doesn't obey those laws? The Big Bang Theory is interesting and convincing, but who says that God didn't create the world in this way? The bible merely says that he created the earth, but it doesn't say how. Another big issues is of course, the timeline, but again, who says that when the bible (which is full of figurative and symboic language) says "seven days" that is was speaking figuratively? And who says that just because the materials that make up the earth are millions of years old, that the earth is too. Maybe the earth as it is really is only a few thousand years old, but was built of things much older. Prove me wrong. And even if you do, maybe we'll wait a few years and I'll be proved right. Or, of course, we'll all simply wait for the Second Coming and have our questions answered by the very people who built the earth and the God who made it all possible. But to think about: how much of what we KNOW to be true will be disproved tomorrow?

Just returned from two and a half weeks in Hawaii. Spent all of my time beach hopping and reading a million books. It was wonderful! The girls came over for a few days which was wonderful! It probably didn't mean as much to them since they're all within a few minutes of each other, but I loved it. After they left it was a few more days of sitting on the beach. One the second to last day I (drumroll please) snorkeled! Water scares me but we went to Lydgate and I was determined to do it at least once. Sidnee swam along with me just in case and once I was somewhat okay with sticking my head in the water, we swam out further. I started to get water in my mask and getting a little freaked out so I turned and started to swim for what I thought was shore. I saw a big rock I recognized and kept kicking and a little bit later I saw the rock again and was thinking what the H. apparently I was swimming in a big circle. Sidnee said she tried to swim around to my head but I kept turning and splashing her. I was dead certain I was swimming in a straight line. Whatever. Then on Tuesday we headed for the airport and after a bit of hassle got on the plane to Honolulu. Then we walked to another gate and sat there waiting to board when they got on the intercom and said they had to repair the plane and we had to wait until 11:00 pm (it was 9) to find out if it was going to be fixed in time to fly out. At 11 they tell us that the plane isn't fixed and we have to wait another half hour to find out when we can fly out and then they are going to send buses to take us to a hotel. So we are told we have to fly out the next day at 11 am and we get on buses and go to the Sheraton Princes Kaiulani hotel. The supervisor told us to call United in a couple of hours to find out what do do about our connecting flight but when we call they have no idea what we're talking about. So we get to sleep after 2am and wake up at six to have breakfast before we get on the bus again. Anyways, we do get to fly out of Honolulu and we're lucky enough to have an empty seat near us so we can sleep. When we get to San Francisco, we have to wait in line forever to verify our connecting flights and get a voucher for yet another hotel room. We got to the hotel around 10pm and have to get up at 3am to catch the bus at four. Fortunately our flight to Phoenix was uneventful (and spent sleeping) as was the flight to Boise. So originally we should have had two flights taking maybe twelve hours: Honolulu to San Fran to Boise, but when all was said and done, it took us two days and and extra flight. When we got home Thursday night and I tried to fall asleep, all I saw were airports when I closed my eyes. I love flying, but that was almost enough to make me hate it.

Okay, here's a question I've seen addressed in a book and a Law and Order episode recently. In America, it is legal to donate your organs to someone who needs them, but it is illegal to sell those same organs to someone who needs them. One reason for this is to make sure that the poor get as much of a shot at a healthy life as the rich, which I agree with. However, you are allowed to sell plasma, hair, and other such things, but not a heart, kidney, etc. The interesting question is, it's your body, should you be able to sell parts of your body? Should the government have say over what you can and cannot do to your body?

Politically incorrect tee shirt

A funny bed

Randomonium

Today after my mid-term I am leaving on Spring Break! Finally! Although it's not going to be much of a break because I'll be driving all over Hades, but it will be nice to get out of the city. I think I've caught a cold for the second time in two months. Probably because school has me in a constant state of stress and I get no sleep and NOBODY washes their hands on my floor. What's up with that? Anyways, until next time...

This is a pic of me at Cabela's, right after we dropped Shay off at the MTC. Hey, did you know Aaron Eckhart served a mission for the church?

Other updates

Shay was called to the Mississippi Jackson mission and has been out for almost 4 months. (Poopy missions last so freaking long!) Kendra was married end of November, right before Thanksgiving. His name is Zack Lanier and he's from Colorado.

Brief Update On My Life

Okay, here's a brief update for everyone:
Mid-January I arrived in Bozeman to attend MSU and my first few hours here I was thinking, "What the H am I doing here?" The next day was orientation (retarded) and then two days later classes started. I'm taking Modern Political Theory, Public Administration, Politics of Food and Hunger, and (my favorite) American Indian Policy and Law. I'm doing well in most classes (except for Food and Hunger). I'm trying to get more involved with the Native American stuff, like Talking Circle on Wednesdays, and I love love love it! Native ppl are so awesome!
Every Tuesday and Wednesday night I go to institute in our little building. Wednesday nights is Book of Mormon with Emily (Poulsen) Steadman's mom teaching! She's so good and of course her and Emily are so much alike it's like having Emily there. Kind of weird sometimes, but still awesome! On Tuesdays we study the New Testament with the stake president, President Heap. He's so amazing it's indescribable! I've learned more from him and Sister Poulsen in the past few short weeks than most of my institute and seminary teachers. The ward up here is great, but completely different from Idaho. Everyone is super nice and the ward is tiny so people are closer than the wards at BYUI. Also, since Mormons are very much the minority here, the people who go to church and institute have to have really strong testimonies. No offense to BYUI, but since the Mormons up here aren't surrounded by other Mormons and since most of them are converts, they're a lot stronger in the gospel than so many people I met in Rexburg. Also, up here marriage isn't crammed down your throat at every turn, which I love. Everyone in the ward is about the same age, so there's no "grandma", if you know what I mean. It's very hard to describe how awesome the ward is.
I'm making friends, but not what you'd consider "good" or "best" friends. In fact, I had a realization tonight at dinner. I looked around at all the people I was sitting with and thought about all the people I usually sit with and realized that outside of church, there were only two girls I really talk with, and I see them maybe once a week. So all of my friends are guys, which is weird for me. It makes for interesting meal-time conversations though. They'll all start to check a girl out or talk about what girls are looking for in guys and I'm like, um, hello I'm sitting here. Whatever. To be frank, many times the conversations with my non-member guy friends are much more fun than the conversations I've had and overheard with member girl friends. Go figure.
Anyway, I love it up here and wish I could stay over summer break, but I'm so poor that dirt poor is richer than me. Oh well.

Shaybee

I decided to post a picture of Shay because I miss him. Plus, he looks retarded in this picture but there's nothing he can do about it because he's half way across the country. Ha ha ha!

Pieces

a piece of a day
becomes
a piece of a year
and far is only
pieces of near
a piece of a look
is a piece of a life
and a piece of a lie
is a piece of strife
pieces of dreams
become
pieces of real
just as
pieces of love
are the pieces
that heal
pieces of blood
become
pieces of man
just as
pieces of can't
become
pieces of can
but the most
important piece
of all pieces I see
are the
pieces of you
becoming
pieces of me

from boredom is born art

I procrastinated homework and decided to create three different album covers for three different bands I invented. Here's what I did:

Made it to MSU and love it so far and have much to say, but will have to write it all later, when I have more time.

Great Excitement and Abject Terror

Leaving for Bozeman on Sunday. I was excited until my mom sent a "mom nag" email warning me against "pervs" and thieves and other dark, depressing things. I am now worried.