Remember that 1970's LDS film "The Mailbox"? I remember as a kid they used to show it in the baptistry waiting room at the Idaho Falls Temple...over and over again. That and Johnny Lingo. Maybe they still show it even now. I kind of hope not...it's just so sad. I never have quite figured out what the point of that movie is except to make me cry. Well, and I guess to help us all remember to write to old ladies.
Anyway, I don't know why (because my mom isn't that old or lonely or anything) but every time we come home and she checks the mail (or email) and the mailbox (inbox) is empty, she makes the saddest face (see picture above), and in my mind I instantly see some old lady wearing fuzzy snow boots shuffling down a snow covered lane to check her empty mailbox. And then I feel sad all over again.
So will someone (like my brothers and various other blog leeches) please write my mom a freaking letter, or email, or at least leave a comment on her blog? Her mail-linked depression and neediness is driving me a little bit crazy!
Sincerely, Becca
Once again and as usual I'm behind in blogland. But then so are all of you too. A lot of you have been slacking lately on blogging, so I guess I don't need to apologize to anyone.
Apparently I say "I'm sorry" a lot. My book club friends recently pointed this out to me. They told me that I shouldn't say "I'm sorry" so much because most of the time I really don't have anything I need to be sorry about. They're right, but saying "I'm sorry" must be so subconscious for me because just minutes after that conversation about apologizing too much I said, without thinking, "Well, I'm sorry but I am NOT apologizing!" I guess I need to work on not saying I'm sorry a bit more.
So, I'm not sorry that I'm just getting to blogging my Dominican Republic pictures because at least I'm doing it for me, for my blog readers, blog leeches, and my non-existent posterity. So there.
My friend and past roommate, Yvette, invited me and the rest of our book club to spend the week at her parents' time share in the Dominican Republic in January. Hmm, a free place to stay on a tropical island during a dark, long, bleak winter week?...well, that's a no brainer. I think I bought my ticket within hours of her invitation.
Only 5 of the 7 of our book club were able to come, which may have actually been a good thing since we were sneaking 5 into a room meant for no more than 3 people. Seven might have been a bit of a stretch even for my superb sneaking-extra-people-into-hotel-rooms skills.
Anyway, we had a super awesome trip and here are some pictures to prove it. Oh, and lots of people have asked me if things in the DR were affected because of the earthquake in Haiti three days before our trip to the DR. As far as I could tell nothing was really unusual in the parts of the DR where we were except that the aquifer where we were staying in Puerto Plata got messed up with the earthquake and the water level dropped a bunch and we only had running water in our hotel for certain hours during the day, but it didn't end up being too big of a deal.
Other than that things seemed pretty normal. It was a little weird relaxing on vacation when on the other side of the island people were suffering so much. We tried to volunteer to help package or take aid to Haiti but, at least in the part of DR where we were, they weren't really organized for volunteers just yet. And we looked into crossing over the border but the border control was really tight to prevent all the Haitians from fleeing to the DR so it was a pretty big mess and we would have probably just been more in the way than help, so we just vacationed instead of saving people and stuff. At least we did try to find a way to help before we ordered virgin Pina Coladas and sat on the beach.
A pretty view of Samana where we went whale watching
Bacardi Island...gorgeous!
A view of Mount Isabel, I think...
Our little group of five...Yvette, Hailey, me, Brooke, and Marissa. I met all these girls this summer in Africa. We make a good travel team since we've all traveled quite a bit and know what it takes to be a good traveler. It was a really fun group and we (or at least I) had a great time.
Here we are at church. It is always fun to go to church in other countries and meet the members. Plus, you get bonus points for going to church while on vacation that you can store up for later.
We saw these cute little girls downtown on Sunday afternoon. I think they had just attended Mass or something. We just loved how they were strutting around in their heels.
Just a super awesome picture Hailey took in the plaza
In the plaza with Lonny, our friend we met at church, who showed us around the town for the rest of the day.
Yvette's birthday dinner at Cabarate after a day at the beach.
Sosua, our favorite beach
Sosua Beach
A picture of Isabella where Columbus had a permanent settlement where he and a bunch of other Europeans lived until Malaria struck and killed a bunch of them to revenge the Indians, or something like that.
We found, after the first day in the Puerto Plata, that we could either take ridiculously overpriced taxis (since we were in a touristy area) or we could pay like 25 cents each and hitch a ride in these local transport vans. We saved a lot of money taking local transport and had way more fun too. There's just nothing like having 24 sweaty people (yes, we counted) crammed into a van meant for 10.
A few times when we flagged down a van we'd look inside and think that there wasn't room for the 5 of us and that we should wait for the next van to pass...but then all the other passengers would start scrunching and would encourage us to get in. Everyone was so nice an friendly. At one point Marissa and I were sitting in the area behind one of the rows of seats right over the engine and Yvette was sitting on some lady's lap. It was a great adventure.
One of the times we went to Sosua we had the van to ourselves and I think we payed the driver maybe 10 bucks or something to take the five of us to a beach about 30 minutes away. We overheard him bragging to his buddy about how much he was charging us...I think he thought he was ripping us off. Haaaaaaaa we didn't even care. Two bucks each to get to a beach 30 minutes away?...steal of a deal as far as we were concerned. I'm glad that "ripping us off" made his day though.
Another picture of Sosua Beach
Anyway, we had a great trip. We spent all day at the beach and nights crammed in our hotel room watching movies and talking. Our week in the DR was the best book club activity ever!
Oh, and somehow I came out of our week of beach bumming with a sunburn on my upper lip, and only my upper lip. I don't know how I managed to do that, but it looked more like a nair disaster than a sunburn since it was just in that one spot. I kept having to apply face lotion to my stache to keep it from peeling all over the place.
I don't know why I post pictures like this of myself, but on the way home I painted on a moisturizer mustache to soothe my burning lip (and to be funny of course). Yvette was nice enough to throw in the bunny ears to really make this picture special. And the greasy face and flat hair was brought to you by the Dominican Republic's tropical climate.
So, one post down, many more to go...
Oh, and does anyone else feel like punching someone in the face every time they do a blog post and blogger double spaces everything and you can't fix it unless you mess with the HTML code? I do.
Look what came in the mail.
Great, now what?
I know, I know...I need to get a job, but I really am enjoying being a Stay At Home Spinster (SAHS) right now.
I wish there was a bigger market for SAHSs because I think I'd make a great one. I wouldn't play Farmville or watch Judge Judy and I wouldn't be like Paris Hilton. I would do humanitarian projects, help old ladies cross the street, plan trips for people (and myself), blog, babysit, help the needy and downtrodden, and maybe even write a book or something.
But, unfortunately, being a SAHS isn't a very realistic occupation for me as I'm not a rich heiress or Powerball winner. So I know that I need to start looking for a job soon, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet. I just need to enjoy freedom from Adam's curse a little longer...take a few more deep breaths of life before I get back into a suffocating career.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind working. I like to be productive and contribute to society blah blah blah, but I just am not interested in a career per se. Most things that pay well enough to support my rock n' roll lifestyle don't interest me. And maybe I shouldn't expect to find something I enjoy to do...maybe I just have to suffer through the next 35 years of life...but, then I read quotes like this one from Henry B. Eyring's dad:
"You ought to find something [for a career] that you love so much that when you don’t have to think about anything, that’s what you think about."
and I get all confused. Because I know what I love to do and what I think about when I don't have to be thinking about anything else, but I don't know how to turn that into a career. How do you turn travel, teaching, and writing into a career?
Anyway, enough about me and all my problems with making life decisions...how are all of you, blog readers and leeches alike?
Sometimes I'm so delusional.
Just today I was thinking about how I might just get rid of my cell phone in a couple of weeks when I leave for South America because my contract is up this month and "I hardly ever use it," I told myself. 'There's really not much point of that 50 dollar phone bill every month when I don't really even talk on the phone very much,' I thought.
A few hours later I got online and noticed that my cell phone bill was about 20 dollars more than normal. What the what the? So I logged on to T-Mobile to look at my bill, thinking that they had accidentally charged me some crazy fee for making calls from the Dominican Republic that I didn't make (as has happened before when I've traveled).
But no, my cell phone bill was higher because I, personally, used 1037 daytime minutes in my last pay period...and during that pay period I was out of the country for a week and didn't use my phone.
How in the world did I talk for over 1000 minutes...not to mention my night and weekend minutes? Who was I talking to? What was I talking about? I guess getting rid of my cell phone might not be the best idea right now...or, maybe I should. Maybe I have a problem...
I had a dream.
Last night.
In my dream I was being fitted for a wig, an afro wig.
And the only thing I thought was, "this is weird, but it sure will help me blend in when I travel in Africa and the Caribbean (and Mississippi)."
Yeah, I bet it would. Ha!
I think I'm a little obsessed with my hair right now because I just got back from the Dominican Republic (more about that later) where the humidity level is much higher than my Utah/Idaho norm.
And as much as I already don't like (and am self conscious) about my hair, it gets much worse in humidity. My self esteem is pretty much inversely proportional to the humidity level...up goes the humidity and down goes the self-esteem. That's why I can never live somewhere very humid. I can visit humid places but I have to get home to a dry climate before my self-esteem hits irreversibly negative levels.
And when I do travel my only hope for decent hair or a decent picture is the 15 minutes after I use my fabulous ghd flat iron, a flat iron I came so close to losing this past week.
So I'm going through airport security this past Saturday as I'm leaving the DR when I hear a lady in front of me shouting, "TRUST ME, I WILL NEVER COME HERE AGAIN!" I looked ahead to see what all the commotion was about and I saw security taking away her flat iron. 'Crap, mine is in my carry-on too', I thought. I always carry on my flat iron just in case I get stuck somewhere on my journey home and need to do my hair. You never know.
Just then I get pulled aside for a baggage check and sure enough they pull out my flat iron too. I decided, from past experience and from seeing the lady in front of me freaking out, that yelling or getting upset wouldn't do me any good. So, I just calmly said to the security guy, "please don't throw away my flat iron, it is a really nice expensive one. Can I check it or mail it to myself or something?"
'Besides,' I thought to myself, 'how am I going to kill anyone on the plane with a flat iron anyway? It's not like there's a place to plug it in and heat it up. And I'm not coordinated enough or strong enough to choke anyone with the cord. I've never been to a country that didn't allow you to carry on flat irons. Ridiculous. This country is retarded. What's the next thing they're going to take away from you before flying...your karate skills? Seriously. Chuck Norris flying with no weapons at all is way more dangerous than me flying with my stupid flat iron.'
But I didn't say any of that...I just though it. And instead I was soooooo calm and nice. And I could tell that he didn't want to have to take it away from me.
So the guy quietly says to me, "Okay, you can check it," as he looks over his shoulders to make sure that none of the other security people or the crazy lady in front of me heard him. So I scoot to the side and begin re-organizing my carry-on to get it ready to check.
I expected the security guy to come show me back through security or make sure that I went back and checked the bag. But when I looked back towards him he was busy with someone else and was looking another way. I took his negligence to mean that he didn't want me to have to check it and maybe wanted me to get away with carrying on my flat iron.
So, I zipped up my bag and took off, and didn't even look behind me. I tried to act natural but I sped right over to passport control. And of course the guy stamping my passport took FOREVER. And he was acting weird and looking around and stuff. I thought any second I was going to be swarmed by security and handcuffed, but unfortunately (for the quality of this story), I was not.
I hurried up to the gate and found a nice little corner where I thought the bad guys (aka security) wouldn't find me. And then it came time to board the plane, and of course, I got pulled aside at the gate for those last minute "random" checks they do when you're flying internationally.
Ahhhh I totally forgot about the possibility of getting checked at the gate. And my flat iron was pretty much right on top. Luckily the guy doing the check wasn't too thorough and somehow I slid past that one.
Then, as I'm sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff, the flight attendant came and asked to see my boarding pass. 'Ahhhhh, how do they know I illegally busted through security?' I thought. But, the plane took off and I didn't get arrested. End of the paranoia.
And guess what? Crazy yelling lady was in the seat right in front of me and was telling her sad tale to the flight attendant of how security "took my flat iron, and they took the flat iron of a girl behind me in line too." Haaaaa, no they didn't lady! My friends and I got he-heeeing over that one as we ducked our heads behind the seats.
Anyway, I'm sure that sneaking a flat iron through security isn't the smartest thing I've done, but I'm glad I did it because:
a) I love that flat iron
b) It is dual voltage and I need it for traveling
c) It was expensive
d) There's no reason why I shouldn't have been able to carry it on in the first place and sneaking it on was a matter of principle.
e) Not knowing whether or not I was going to be arrested was sort of exciting to be honest. I guess my life is boring and I need a little excitement now and then.
I don't know why, but any time I do something a little stupid like this or like when I took a bunch of suckers across the Zambia/Zimbabwe border for some random guy, I always look to the future and think of the book deal and life of luxury and fame that would follow. I never focus on my five years in prison or whatever. I always look for the positive and look toward the future. I guess that's good, right?
But, nothing happened this time, so don't expect to see the book, "The Girl Who Spent Five Years in a Dominican Prison Over a Really Nice Flat Iron," on bookshelves anytime soon.
Back in 2002 I ate at In-N-Out while visiting Southern California because, well, you have to eat at In-N-Out when you're in California. But I couldn't really remember what I thought of the place.
So, now that In-N-Out has finally made it to SLC, I thought I'd try it again.
And let me just tell you, I now know why I couldn't remember what I thought of the place...I couldn't remember because it just isn't that great. It's not horrible, but not great...completely unmemorable.
Here's my review:
The fries are really dry and flavorless. Skip them.
The shakes don't have much flavor and seem to be made of fake ingredients that don't melt like a shake should melt. I only ate about a third of mine and left the rest to melt. It didn't really melt but just turned into foam. It was weird. Yuck.
The hamburgers are okay. Really, they aren't bad for a fast-food hamburger, but they're still fast-food hamburgers.
Anyway, I guess I just don't know what all the hype is about. Because really, I think In-N-Out is called In-N-Out because I wished I could get the food back out, as soon as it went in. Barf.
BUT, in all fairness to California, the home of In-N-Out, and to keep my blog unbiased and fair (as always) I will now do a little review of Idaho too.
Let me start out with an excerpt from the Idaho State Song. And yes, proudly, this all comes from memory.
"And here we have Idaho, winning her way to fame. Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze and romance lies in her name."
Now, first of all, what in the world does the name Idaho have to do with romance? That has always confused me about that song. I don't know about you, but I've never found any romance in Idaho. And fame? What fame? Oh yeah, famous potatoes.
Idaho weakness number 1: The state song is pretty stupid and confusing.
Idaho weakness number 2: Holy crap it is cold! I forgot how much colder Idaho Falls is than Utah until I went home for Christmas. I guess, in all fairness to Idaho, Utah is warmer right now because of a huge cloud of pollution blanketing the whole Wasatch Front...worst air quality in America, but it keeps me warm.
Idaho weakness number 3: Radio stations...are there any worth listening to? So sad. Too bad I don't like country music...there are plenty of country stations.
Idaho weakness number 4: What's with not plowing the roads when it snows? Or at least salting the roads? Seriously. They don't plow soon enough and then the snow gets packed down, which turns to ice, which never melts because it is so cold. What's the deal with that?
Idaho weakness number 5: Seeing people from the past everywhere. I don't really like running into people from the past...that's why it is the past...because it is supposed to be OVER, but everywhere I go in Idaho I run into people from my past. I guess it just drives me crazy because I can't stop off at the grocery store in my exercise clothes like I can in SLC or go a whole day without make-up. Sometimes I like anonymity.
Idaho weakness number 6: Lack of variety in restaurants, which I know is not Idaho's fault but is simply a result of not having a population big enough to support a bunch of awesome restaurants.
Well, that's about it. Other than that Idaho is pretty much perfect to me...garbage burning and all.
And, life in Idaho can give me a good laugh. A couple of weeks ago my brothers and I were talking about the honor roll field trip to North's Chuck Wagon with skating at Starlite Skating and how inevitably some kid would pig out way too much at the delicious and unlimited buffet and then barf on the bus on the way home.
And that got us talking about field trips. Tyler told us that when he was in second grade or something they went on a field trip to the seafood section at Albertson's to see the lobster tank. I could not stop laughing. I just thought Ty's little field trip to the "aquarium" was too funny. Haaaaaaaaaaaaa field trip exhibit by day, dinner by night...poor lobsters and poor kids! Such is life in Idaho!
Another funny thing about Idaho is the major lack of racial diversity. So, a few weeks ago, a quick loan place in Idaho Falls was robbed by three black men. Geniuses. Seriously, if you are black in Idaho Falls you can't do anything wrong because you WILL NOT blend in and WILL NOT get away with it. I mean with a black population of like 17 in Idaho Falls, what were these guys thinking? I guess they ended up being from Oklahoma or something but still guys...rob a store in a less whitely homogeneous city if you want to get away with it. For example, try robbing a store in Mobile, Alabama, not Idaho Falls, Idaho. The sad thing is that I bet all 9 black males in Idaho Falls got turned in as suspects. I can just see some do-gooder old lady calling the police after hearing about the robbery on the nightly news... "I think my neighbor might have robbed the cash store. He's black." Haaaaaaaaaa pretty funny and kind of sad for those innocent few black men in IF.
Anyway, that's all on my little Idaho rant. I do love the place, as I'm sure my regular blog readers know. My mom doesn't think I'll last living in Idaho because I've gotten too used to living in Salt Lake. I guess my hightailing it back to Utah only two weeks after moving to Idaho may be why she thinks that. But, I'm just here for a visit, I promise. I just was SO cold that my knuckles were bleeding, SO in need of friends (and I have none in Idaho...plenty of family and married friends but zero single friends, which is what I really need), and dying to get back to my wonderful gym in Utah.
But, all I need is a good pair of winter gloves, some single friends, and a treadmill and I think I could become a real Idahoan again.
Oh, and one of the best parts about coming back to SLC for a few days?...going to my book club "meeting" and realizing that NONE of us read the book we were supposed to read. The book was Wuthering Heights and I just could not get past about page three of that book, and apparently neither could anyone else. So boring and so hard to follow! Does anybody love that book? Should I give it a second chance?
Anyway, I think I'm in the best book club ever because reading the book is just an excuse to get together once a month for dinner. And, on Friday we're off to the Dominican Republic for a book club excursion. Unfortunately, the little side trip we wanted to do to Haiti probably isn't the best idea right now. Not that it was that great of an idea pre-earthquake, but still...Oh well, maybe another time.
Yay, they (and we) made it...half way. One and a half years down, one and a half years to go. It seems like FOREVER but I hope it will go fast. Way to go mom and dad! I'll let them tell you what they did to celebrate.
I hope the 1330 pounds (yes, I've been keeping track) of stuff I've sent them in the past year and a half has helped them cope and get through the time. They do seem a little more able to deal with the stresses of mission life when they have some American candy in the house. American candy is the best! And it their defense about the 1330 pounds, some of it (maybe a quarter of it) was for the missionaries, and not ALL of it was food.
And maybe by the time they get home I'll be all tough from carrying suitcases in and out of my house, in and out of my car, to UPS, to the airport, and to the houses of people traveling to Brazil. No wonder my back and shoulder hurt!
And speaking of hauling around 50 pound suitcases everywhere I go, Lee gave me a luggage scale for Christmas which is going to be a life saver for me and anyone who has to drive me to the airport. Apparently, according to my brothers, I'm a pain to take to the airport because I never know how much my bags weigh and am always adding stuff at the airport to get them right to 50 pounds. So, now I should be a little less annoying at the airport.
I got a lot of great stuff, like this, for Christmas. I'll never be lonely again. Thank you Kim. And thank you to everyone else for the great gifts and money. I love gifts and money. Unfortunately though I didn't receive a leopard print Snuggie. I guess I'll have to buy that one for myself.
My brothers and Kim and I had a great Christmas all together in Idaho. For some reason I didn't even take one picture. Sad. My mom and dad gave us a wii for Christmas so we spent half our time playing the wii and pretty much the other half of the time eating (lest we actually get fit playing wii fit). Thanks to some great extended family we had invites for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve. Thanks to everyone for thinking of us orphans during this difficult holiday season. We really appreciate being included and thought of.
Anyway, that's my Christmas post. It's not that exciting but now maybe my MOM will be satisfied.
