Sunday Lesson

Yesterday at church I made an origami cube out of the sacrament program and gave it to a little boy who was sitting in front of us. Good move -- he got much more use out of it than we would have. We entertained ourselves with watching him repeatedly flick it across the empty chair next to him, sometimes making it ricochet off of his hand or a hymn book. Every once in a while he would turn to his dad and whisper, "I already made 71 points!" or, "Two times out of four I got holes!" Sometimes I am so jealous of what goes on in kids' minds.

Help Wanted

Josh gave me his iPod Shuffle and I need to update my music library... badly. It hasn't been touched for probably five years or so. The problem is, I hardly ever listen to the radio or anything so I have no idea what kinds of songs and artists are out there these days. I need recommendations... please help!

My favorite albums to listen to are:







Damien Rice -- "O"
Jewel -- "Pieces of You" (Note: I do not like her other CDs.)
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -- "Once" Soundtrack

I like mellow, singer-songwriter styles with acoustic guitar and raw vocals. Cellos and stuff in the background are cool too. Know of anythig out there I would like?

Brains!

Our friends the Christensen's introduced us to trouble.



It's called Plants vs. Zombies and it is incredibly addicting. You have to ward off zombie attacks by planting anti-zombie plants in your front and back yard (and roof!) all the while collecting enough sun to grow your gardens. The zombies attack continuously, eating your plants if you can't kill them fast enough. If the zombies get past your vegetation and into your house, they eat your brains. There is a constant, hilarious chorus of "brains!" and "arrrrgh!" You collect money to buy more cool anti-zombie items from a guy named Crazy Dave. The music is cool and so are the sound effects. To top it all off, the graphics are adorable.



Quite a perfect little package. I highly recommend it. (Unless you have a goal to be productive...)



I adore this little "wall-nut."

A Dry Read

I don't know if any of you are the type of people who will deliberately disobey instructions because you think you know better. Sometimes, I am.

You know those hand dryers in public restrooms? If you, like me, like to study the diagrams, phrases (English, Spanish, and French), and logos on all the dispensers, disposals, and whatnot as you (eh hem) go about your business, you may have noticed that the hand dryers usually include usage instructions. Sometimes the instructions are only listed, but if you're lucky, they're illustrated as well. Or sometimes only illustrated. Always, they will tell you to press the button then rub your hands under the warm air that dispenses. The rubbing your hands part is the part I used to ignore. I thought, I'd rather hold my hands still and separate, thus allowing maximum space around both hands for which the air to blow. Please tell me someone else has had similar thoughts. Um, anyone?

However, using my method, I always had to push the button at least twice to get my hands completely dry, and sometimes still found myself wiping them on my jeans afterward just to be sure. Not only is it kind of a waste of time but nobody wants to touch something public with a wet finger more times than he needs to.

The other day, I made a discovery: to get your hands dryer (drier?) faster, just FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I found myself rubbing my hands together just like I'd so stubbornly refused to do for so long. I dunno, maybe I was in a hurry or something. The air let up and I was about to press the button a second time when I realized my hands were completely dry. To my completely unscientific mind it doesn't make any sense at all but rubbing wet hand against wet hand actually speeds up the drying process. I've tried it every time since then and it's worked great.

Following instructions. What a novel idea.

Short Update: I'm Still Alive

Not that I was ever great at blogging regularly, but I do have an excuse for my most recent prolonged absence. I am living in a void in the universe called Ephraim, UT and wi-fi's are extremely rare to find. OK, so Snow College is really nearby (which is where I am right now as I type this) and they have a free guest connection. But somehow, not being able to blog from home is a drastically impeding my blogging success. If I still have any readers left, I am sorry, but I am still here.

Just a few recent thoughts:

Things I Hate
-The first few seconds of cold water that comes out of the shower head.
-That there are green berries in Cap'n Crunch Berries. They remind me of unripe or sour berries. Seriously, what were they thinking? (But I still love Cap'n Crunch.)
-When people say "lifes" instead of "lives."

Things I Love
-Warm, freshly ground wheat flour.
-Losing tons of weight from being sick (but not the being sick part.)
-The Oxford Dictionary (as contrasted with Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, etc.)
-Babies that smile back at you.
-Sunkist fruit snacks.

Also, we borrowed City of Ember from Redbox expecting it to be a terrible kid's movie, but it was actually pretty decent. If you've read the book (which I haven't) you probably won't like it though. That's the way it rolls, right?

A Gross Accomplishment

If you were to look at the above photographs closely, you would see some things you probably don't want to see.

On second thought, don't look at the above photographs closely.

Yes, those are dead flies and our apartment was strewn with them when we first moved in. They were all over the carpet and windowsills making our new abode look something like a dipteran graveyard. Those of you who know me and know I have a slight aversion to bugs and creepy crawlies of any kind, especially dead ones, will know this was NOT OK.

However, I'd like everyone to know there was an incredible breakthrough. One day, while Josh was at school, I felt suddenly brave and decided to conquer the dead flies once and for all. (I'd tried to vacuum up any that I could but since the vacuum was crappy, there were still a ton of flies in the corners and windowsills.) I armed myself with a trash can and a handful of tissues and went to work. This is possibly the bravest thing I have ever done. The ones on the windowsills were manageable, as all I had to do was make some quick sweeps into the trash can. There wasn't any direct contact with my hand and the carcasses, although close in proximity. Still, I had to hold my breath and think happy thoughts as I did it, and every few seconds I had to run away and take some deep breaths.

The ones in the corners and edges of the carpet, however, were a challenge. It didn't help that the vacuum had pushed most of them deeper into the carpet, and what's worse, some of them were missing body parts. AAAAAAAAAugh!!!! Just the thought of it makes me queasy again. Those who are faint of heart should probably stop reading now.

These required me to pinch their little bodies between my thumb and forefinger guarded only by a tissue in order to quickly toss them into the can. To this day I have no idea how I was able to do it. I was literally crying as I tried to scoop them up, but every time I felt their small mass in between my fingers, my body would spasm like crazy and I would drop them and start screaming.

I think I deserve something for my bravery. Like a really nice vacuum.

Champion Champignons (et Tomates)

People have preferences; I understand that. Some people prefer crunchy peanut butter to creamy. Some people don't like to eat meat. I personally shy away from foods served with eyeballs still attached.


However, I have noticed a disturbing commonality amongst the dislikes of many people I've met in my life. For some reason, a flabbergastingly large number of my acquaintances list mushrooms, or tomatoes, or even both among their "foods to avoid." This is an atrocity. Aside from reasons due to allergies (I am so sorry), I do not understand how a lifetime of fine dining experiences can be enjoyed when one does not like mushrooms and tomatoes. I, personally, have the two listed on my "must have at all times" ingredients list, along with milk and eggs and avocadoes, and use them for nearly every dish I cook. Continuing to live sans these two delectable gifts from heaven is simply unacceptable.

If you are one of those who match this outrageous description, consider the following:

• Imagine a normal hamburger, done the way you like it (medium, rare, etc.) Pretty yummy, huh? Now imagine it with some fresh sliced mushrooms, lightly sauteed in butter or olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground peppercorn lying atop your burger, perhaps with some melted swiss cheese and a dab of horseradish sauce. Vegetarian? Then imagine the perfect stir fry, with crunchy snow peas and water chestnutes and baby corn, perhaps some fried tofu, and then tossed with whole mushrooms lightly browned in sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce. Without the mushrooms, it would just be crunch and not very satisfying.
• Now for the tomatoes. Tomatoes are one of those gems from the earth where, even without adding external flavoring, has a sweet and delicious flavor all of its own. When you bite into one, it both quenches your thirst and satisfies your taste buds all in one while instantly filling your mouth with all natural goodness. Imagine some home grown deep red tomatoes, sliced and decorated with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese... you poke your fork in so that you perfectly skewer one slice of cheese with one slice of tomato and the perfect amount of basil... the perfect bite. Could there be a more perfect flavor combination? I think not.

Merci beau coup.

Marriage and Blogs

Although this blog is not intended to be a journal of my personal life but rather a place to jot down and share observations that I find interesting or entertaining, I feel a short update is in order.

I'd like to inform my loyal readers that I am now married. I'd like to keep the personal information down to a bare minimum but here are few tidbits you may want to know:

• His name is Josh.
• We got married on October 10, 2008.
• Yes, we are very happy.

I realize there are certain stereotypes attached to a blogger who is married as opposed to one who is not, but I'd like to state that I intend to keep the ambience of all future posts the same as that of every post I've written thus far. I do not intend to use words like "hubby" or "preggers," and please do not, by any means, post a link to this blog on your website using the heading "Sayaka & Josh." Josh actually has his own blog here, although he doesn't update it much.

We are still planning on having receptions at the aforescheduled dates (even though we jumped the gun on the wedding part.) We would love to express our gratitude to you personally so please please come. If I know you, you will probably be getting an invitation.

Thank you.

Sam I Am Would Be Proud

One good thing about living in the country is that a lot of people grow their own vegetables. And they usually have a lot of extra, so even those of us who don't grow our own vegetables usually get to acquire a fair share. And, although some crops aren't suited for the desert, one vegetable that does really well is the squash. There are a lot of varieties of squash, but don't ask me what any of their names are. Because I have no idea.

It's exciting to receive random vegetables because you get to try to find ways to cook them. One of my new favorite recipes is squash pie. I mean really, what else can you do with a ton of humongous squash (squashes)? I started making them with my roommate's stash of different yellow squashes, and they all turned out beautifully golden yellow and nutmeggy and delicious. Eventually, the only one left was this huge, dark green, bumpy squash that scared me a little. But I decided it would be fun to make a pie out of it anyway. The inside flesh was a nice white color, but Josh doesn't believe in peeling vegetables, so we pureed it skin and all, which turned into this interesting green color. I've been using this recipe for homemade pumpkin pie and it's been working really well for me (I don't measure anything exactly though.) The result was a lovely green pie that has been our dessert for the last couple of weeks (it really was a HUGE squash, so it made a lot of pie.) I highly recommend doing the same with your stash of squash(es.)

Not an Advertisement. Maybe an Endorsement.

Recently I've friended a handful of adults on Facebook ("adults" meaning people who are around my parents' age.) It seems it's finally acceptable for normal adults to join without feeling completely geeky. Congrats, Facebook people.

I know there are Facebook haters out there and certainly don't condone people who spend their entire existence on the site. But I do have to say that Facebook has proven its worth, at least to me. I'm probably the most terrible person in the world at keeping in touch. Email tag never lasts very long with me and I try to avoid talking on my cell phone if I can get away with it. However, for some reason, ever since I joined Facebook (I think it was around 2004) I've been a lot better at keeping track of people and letting people keep track of me. I think it's because of the lack of commitment it requires. You can jot a five-word message on someone's wall without having to commit to an entire conversation, and whether that person replies back to you or you ever write on their wall again doesn't matter. Even without regularly communicating to anyone you can "keep in touch" with people because you can see their recent pictures and statuses. Some may argue that this marks the deterioration of meaningful human relationships. But really, the way I see it, it's better than nothing, which I think is the inevitable alternative.

Buttons

The other day at a dinner party, a fantastic piece of trivia was brought to my attention. On men's shirts the buttonholes are on the left side, whereas on women's shirts the buttonholes are on the right. I never even knew there was anything different about shirts of the opposite gender besides size and shape. Delightful.

However, my delight was dampened slightly by the fact that apparently I was the only person in the group who didn't know this yet.

If any of you are possessors of similar information that thus far has been hidden from me, please feel free to share.

You're not or You aren't?

This is one of the many random grammatical/linguistic/stylistic questions I ask myself as I write all day at my desk while the computer turns my brain to mush: how do you contract the phrase "you are not?" My vote is "you'rn't." Maybe the countryside is rubbing off on me.

A Minor Rant

A while back fellow blogger Nichole blogged about the rising trend of married couple blogs and how they all have a rapidly increasing list of links to "so-and-so & so-and-so"'s blogs gracing the side of their page (click here). At the time I read it I remember being in mild agreement and thinking, yeah, it probably is really annoying to be the one single name amidst all the ampersanded madness.

I gave no second thought to it until today, when I was going through some of my friends' blogs I recently discovered, and to my surprise, some of them had links to this very blog, sticking my single name in the middle of all the so-and-so & so-and-so's! However, my surprise was not that of disdain, and I found it really doesn't upset me in the least bit.

Because Sayakapella is my blog, and I'm not going to share it with my husband, even when I do get married! He can have his own blog! I bet most of these husbands don't even know there are blogs out there with their names stamped on to seal the married status of the blogger. Husbands, you really should start worrying about the kind of stuff your wives are posting publicly on the internet... I've seen some pretty scary stuff out there I'm positive did not receive your permission before their exploitation.

p.s. Umm... Hatsuho, I'm really not bashing on your blog. You do a good job on it. Seriously. Don't listen to me and keep doing your thing!

Help, I'm Trapped in a World of Big Black Books

Today after work I stopped by the University Bookstore to pick up a few items, one of them being Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn. Yes, I have read all the books in the series so far, but not because I have a thing for hunky cryptozoologic creatures or because I have raging teenage hormones. My sister and I like to consider them to be a form of comic relief amidst the more serious books we read. They're really great-- they don't take any brain power to understand and you can sail through them leisurely while getting some good laughs here and there. One big qualm I have with them is how wordy they are... she could have gotten the same story in a fourth of as many pages without losing any content. But what do I know, she's the one selling books, not me. And by the way, I think it's great that housewives these days are able to produce bestselling novels. Go Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling.

I am not so confident with my reasoning that I will flaunt it in public, however. I started out today by buying some office supplies on the first floor where my cashier girl was reading, wouldn't you know it, Breaking Dawn. Then I went up to the second floor to buy the book, and my cashier up there was also reading Breaking Dawn. I walked through the study area to get out of the building and noticed several other girls immersed in thick, black-jacketed books. At the bus stop, there were two girls sitting on the same bench, both reading said book. I began to feel like I was in some kind of bad nightmare. Needless to say, I did not join those girls by pulling out my own copy while waiting for the bus. Mine stayed safely hidden from view in double-bagged obscurity. At least until I was back in my apartment.

Recess Reincarnation

I'm sorry everyone. I admit it. I'm the worst blogger ever. I hope you will accept my apology and my feeble excuse that I've been busy trying to figure out every aspect of my life. Lame, I know, but true.

I have, however, accumulated several random ideas in the meantime, all of which I hope to blog about in several blog entries to come.

Random idea number one: I had this epiphany during work one day as I was getting my daily vending machine burrito, scarfing it down during my measly 15-minute break, then sitting back down in front of my computer for another several hours. Why the heck are elementary schoolers the only ones who get to have recess after lunch? Why is it that when we grow up, we still eat lunch, but then we go straight back to our desks where all the calories and fat, without any chance to be burned into energy, go straight into our thighs and guts? It doesn't make any sense at all. Who was the idiot who decided that recess is a 12-and-under activity? Give me my four-square and double dutch please!


I think some of America's obesity problem could be solved if we all just decided to reinstate recess into our daily schedules.

p.s. As I was looking for images of the fat people from Wall-E, I noticed there are tons of articles and blog entries about how offensive the movie was. What!? First of all, I thought the fat people were portrayed in a very humorous, loveable way and it was still acknowledged that they are good people. Second of all, when did gluttony become something that needs to be defended? No matter how you look at it, that is not a direction that you want to be headed, so why the offense? Sheesh.

Burruises

I have these really cool bruises down my right side.

I'd like to say that I was fighting a gang of thieves,

or that I ran in front of a car to save a child,

or that I was thrown against the craggy side of a rock during a hurricane.

But the truth is,

I was buying a vending machine burrito and a second burrito looked like it was about to fall so I was slamming my body against the machine to try to get it to fall.

Those hooks have a better grip than you'd think.

Bye Bye Birdie

It was my first experience with death.

There was no shortage of love to be given the poor chick. Dan described in detail the events that led to the adoption of a baby quail by himself and his wife.

"He was left behind by his family. He was lame and couldn't keep up." I decided it would be worth paying a visit after work to see the newest member of their family.

There was the little fuzzball, trembling in his makeshift nest, burdened by the pains of the cruel world around him. So small and fragile.

"His name is Tiger," Dan said affectionately, referring to the dark stripes running down the chick's back. Tiger was clearly in pain but energetically flailing his little wings and legs around. We passed him from hand to hand, stroking tenderly and whispering words of encouragement. Our hearts swelled with hope for the little guy's future. We all thought, optimistically, that love was enough to heal whatever pain he was going through.

I passed him to Dan and without any warning, his little head flopped to one side and his body was still. The three of us didn't want to believe it for a few seconds.

Sometimes, where love can't heal the pain, death will.

Goodbye, Tiger.

apology in lower-case letters

i'm sorry northwest library. it was a book report on mr. cummings and i
was probably just feeling s t r e s s
when i yelled at

you

for sending me the notification(just one of those times
when you think you're so right but you're really just really wrong you understand
)and i don't like to be told i'm wrong even when i am wrong

so that's why i marched up to your customer service desk and reprimanded your book sortingorganizing staff or whatever it is that their position is called and said it must be their fault their negligence overlookingness because i certainly returned all of the e. e. cummings books i borrowed, why wouldn't i return them all together of course i did the one that's missing is really small and skinny it probably
s
l
i
p
p
e
d
through the cracks if they just searched a little more they would find it but it is not my fault so don't even try to charge me don't even t r y to make such an accusation how dare you!

and you said

ok we will waive the fee but if you ever happen to find it go ahead and return it and i could tell you didn't believe me and i was angry you still thought it was

my fault.

well northwest library
...

a few weeks later i was cleaning my room and it was in a hidden corner hahathere it was and who knows how it got there you know (sheepishly) well it must have s l i p p e d through the cracks. and, well, i know you asked me to return it but then you would have known that you were right and you were right ok? but you know how it (pri) is (de) with this kind of thing

i still have it here
7yearslater
and read it sometimes
i think i understood it better back then
when i was a high schooler
that high schooler that yelled at you

no offense

mr. cummings.

Moping for a Moped

I tried really hard to make it clear in my last post that my Emo-ness was just a freak thing and that I was not actually suffering anything close to real depression. However, this did not stop people from speculating and worrying about me and trying to keep me from suicidal thoughts. I guess people love me.

I'll admit it though. There may have been a reason. And it may have had something to do with heartbreak. And the culprit may have been this beauty:

After working my butt off and pinching pennies for so long, my heart was in desperate need of a reward. (Plus I needed a way to get to work.) I looked through hundreds of classified ads, prayed, hungered, researched, and made phone calls. I really wanted one that I could trust. I knew I was long overdue for some lovin'.

I shouldn't have given my heart away so carelessly. Two weeks after we met, he died. (Yes, for those I've already talked to about this, I realize I used to call it a "she." But I realized that only a male could have broken my heart like this.) I found a friend with a truck and we took him to the shop. I had hope. I thought, my love extends $1-$200 more dollars. I sat, waiting for the diagnosis, hoping for the best.

There I was, still all dressed up in my work clothes and high heels, surrounded by grease-covered mechanics and middle-aged motorcyclists, the only female in the room. I was trying to act tough. I wanted everyone to know that I was not to be screwed over. But what was to come was bad news, each sentence stabbing me like a knife. One of the mechanics called me over for the estimate. "The guy who fixed this up didn't take care of this oil leak." Stab. "We not only have to replace the muffler, we have to replace (long list of parts.)" Stab. "This will cost @#$%! dollars to fix." STAB. All the men in the room were listening and my pride was reduced to shreds. "Isn't there any way you could just get it running without doing all that? It doesn't have to be perfect," I tried. "No," came the answer. My heart was reduced to miniscule shards of glass. I nodded in dumb silence as he explained about pistons and shafts and carburetors. It was all useless. I just don't have the money.

I didn't cry though. Not until I was alone. There he still sits, in the basement parking garage, waiting for me pay the price to win him back. I worked so hard for him. A few more months of starvation is probably worth it, I think to myself periodically. But all the sacrifice I already put into him! Will it ever end? Probably not. I will probably buckle and clean out my bank account for him. I'm just a sucker for the good-looking ones.

Melodrama Blah Blah

Sometimes I'm just really emotional.

Right now is one of those times. I saw an Olympics/VISA commercial and started tearing up. I saw twin brothers audition for SYTYCD and started crying and laughing at the same time. I desperately needed someone to hug so I grabbed Herbert from off my bed and curled up with him on the corner of the couch. I saw a delicious-looking piece of pizza in the fridge, decided I wasn't hungry even though the only other thing I've eaten today is another piece of pizza, and decided that was so depressing that I fantasized about anorexia. I sat there and shed more tears as I fabricated depressing scenarios about myself. I sighed in anguish at the wretched state of my life. Then I sighed even louder at the wretched state of the world. Emo? PMS? SAD? Whatever.

I wonder if that pizza's still in the fridge.