This is great

I'm glad there are people like this.

Ego-Boost

Melanie tagged me so here's my post on Seven Interesting Things about Me:

1. I served in two missions. I was originally called to Venezuela Maracaibo and was sent to the Texas Ft. Worth Mission to wait for my visa. I ended up staying there for four months serving in an English-speaking singles ward in the college town of Denton. When the time came for me to finally leave for Venezuela, my mission president, along with Missionary Medical, decided that, becuase of anxiety/depression issues I had developed in the field, I wasn't fit to leave the country, or some BS like that. (Yes, I am still bitter about it.) So I was given the choice to stay in Texas as an English-speaking missionary (as I was the last Hermana in the Mission) or I could continue with my Spanish in the Flordia Tampa Mission. I eagerly said goodbye to Texas, though I left behind some great friends, and spent the next year in the beautiful gulf coast of Florida.
2. I've been healed three different times in what I consider to be miraculous ways by priesthood blessings. The first was when I was just an infant. (Correct me if I get it wrong, Mom.) It was a Sunday and my family was at church. Earlier that day, I had had a high fever. All of a sudden, in the middle of Sacrament Meeting, I started to convulse, eyes rolled back and everything. My mom grabbed Dad and Brother Birrell (a good family friend to this day) and they gave me a blessing in the foyer. I stopped immediately and was fine after that. The second happened a week before I was to leave for study abroad in London in the fall of 2001 (where I, too, was a resident of Notting Hill :). I had developed a sudden case of Mono and my doctor warned me that it could make traveling out of the country impossible. My father, again, gave me a blessing and a week later, I was up on my feet and feeling great. I went to England as planned and never experienced any symptoms like fatigue after that. The third time, most recently, was when I found out I was pregnant and just a week later started to bleed. The ob/gyn gave us a 50/50 chance of loosing the baby, but Adam had more faith than that. He and our home teacher gave me a blessing and not too long after that the bleeding stopped and the baby/fetus has been fine since. (Twelve weeks!)
3. I was, at one time, a hard-core X-Files fan. I bought magazines; I clipped newspaper articles; I even went to an X-Files convention in downtown Los Angeles (thanks, Dad!). Much of this, of course, is attributable to my infatuation with David Duchovney. But I couldn't get enough of the show. I would record every episode onto VHS tapes until I had shelves full. For one season premier, I made an X-Files shrine that I proudly showed to the Elders who came for dinner. They must have thought I was such a weirdo. Or a pagan. I would also imagine elaborate plots (before the show used my idea) in which I was abducted by aliens and Mulder had to meet some DeepThroat late at night to exchange me for some precious piece of evidence. When the show switched to Sundays, I still watched it, trekking from my dorm in Helaman to the basement of DT to watch with my friend Sarah and other apostate Philes. Of course, when Duchovney left the show, I lost all interest. And I haven't ever bought the episodes on DVD, though that would be a fun birthday gift...
4. I know the entire Thriller dance. In fact, dancing it at a ward hoe down is what snagged me a husband.
5. I once scared off a gang of gypsies from jumping my friend, Jonathon, on the streets of Paris. All with the sheer force of my voice.
6. I was a finalist for the Hinckley Scholarship at BYU, which is the presidential scholarship they award to 25 freshman girls and 25 freshman boys. They brought 50 of us finalist girls to BYU for a week of torture where I ate bitter herbs, answered endless questions from a panel of college professors, and fell asleep during my first Forum (and subsequently failed the questions on the Diplomat's speech). I didn't get the scholarship, which I accredit to never getting my Young Women's medalion, so I never got to meet President Hinckley. But I made a great friend--the fellow X-Phile in DT.
7. I have a terrible memory. I attribute it to my mild case of epilipsy, but I don't know if that argument holds any water. I'm terrible with short-term stuff like where I put things and what appointments I have and what I told Adam yesterday. But I'm also sadly unable to recall a lot of long-term stuff. I was going to write about my job at Six Flags Magic Mountain but I couldn't remember if I'd worked there one summer or two. I've already lost details of my wedding day and my ex-companion is always mentioning stuff that happened to us on the mission that I don't remember. Pregnancy has, of course, made it worse and I assume that motherhood will just completely annihilate whatever memory I have left. Good argument for keeping a journal, huh?

So that's me. Adam, Lindsay, Sarah K--tag, you're it.

California Dreaming...A few hundred miles north-east, that is...

So the night before last, I had a dream that I was walking down the street and I magically appeared on BYU campus. I remember exactly where I stood--on the sidewalk in front of the Tanner Building and across the street from the JKHB (or what once was the JKHB). The sky was blue but not bright, like the sun had just begun to set. When I realized where I was, tears came to my eyes and I literally got down on my knees and kissed the ground. Pathetic? You be the judge. But it really made me stop and think. And the more I thought, the more I realized I need help. So here's my thoughts. Then you can help.

After lying awake a few moments after the dream ended, I realized that I had kissed the ground partly out of sheer joy that it was CLEAN. For those of you not familiar with either Provo, Utah or Sunset Park, Brooklyn, these hyperlinks will show you what I saw/see on a daily basis. I couldn't describe better than these pictures illustrate the glaring and depressing difference. Walking home from the subway yesterday, (on that same road in the Google Map), I was pondering my sidewalk smooch and I realized that, when I walk around Brooklyn, all I look at is the ground--the dirty, grimy, litter-strewn, tattooed w/ gum ground. Maybe it's the bitter winter wind that keeps my shoulders srunched up and my head down. But maybe not. So I decided to try an experiment: I'd look up. Not just out at the garish storefronts, but UP to the old brick buildings that make up the muted skyline. I really tried to focus. "Hey, I've never noticed that building before." "Are those cell phone towers?" "How on earth did they get graffiti way up there?" It was a nice change.

Later that night, Adam and I listened to a part of the Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting in which Elder Holland, Elder Oaks, Sister Beck, and a few other sister axillary leaders talked about marriage and family. At one point, they were giving advice to newlyweds and I couldn't help but feel my conscience pricked as they talked about obeying the first law given to Adam and Eve: to leave their mother and father and cleave unto each other. Is my pining for Provo a failure to stand by my man? I keep telling myself that we're here for Adam's career which is fundamental to our family's future. But somehow, when I'm looking at the sidewalk, it just doesn't matter. Occasionally, I'll be running by the cemetery near our house and I'll get the faintest whiff of...nature. It almost brings me to tears.

So after all these thoughts (with few pictures, which Adam HATES), I'm asking for your help/comments/advice. Please. Before I loose it completely and run screaming like a madwoman down 4th Avenue. Or kiss the sidewalk.

Munday Everyday

So I came across the work of Oliver Munday. I had seen his work in Typography 28, for a bit of his student work, but his other stuff really inspires me. I love how graphic, thoughtful and simple his work is, yet how powerful it is. He has a great understanding of color and creating interest quickly. Enjoy. www.olivermunday.com

CS3 Magic

I had a training the other day on the new creative suite(more like creative sweet) and was enamored by the photomerge. It automatically aligns the pictures and blends them. Look mom no hands. I had to try it out. I took a very famous spot which I pass every day to work. I am truly blessed.
I also took one while waiting for the train coming back from 3 Guys from Brooklyn.

Smart Vandals

Man, I love this.

MTA: What's up with that?

So besides the fact that everyone especially ignores this sticker, what is up with the the type? The O's are bold and the a or e is leaning. Such a hodgepodge of type for a well branded MTA that is slowly loosing its savor. I mean the metro card is hideous and you see it everywhere discarded on the ground (especially in Brooklyn). Soon the memorable letters even will be all replaced by the digital screen versions. What a shame.