Who Needs The Force When They've Got BandAids?

So yesterday, I helped my aunt prep for a shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Carolyn. We had a blast. But it was a TON of work- cooking and cleaning from 10am until the party, at 6:30. And even though there were a lot of laughs in that period, there were also a couple moments of intense frustration. Like when I jammed my finger in the turntable, and it started to bleed. Really? Why? So I winced and huffed my pain and frustration, and asked my aunt where the bandaids were. She directed me to the bathroom drawer, where I found these:

Awesome right? Next thing you know, I'm wearing this guy on my poor, cut finger:

Can't you just hear the hum of the lightsaber?

Any frustration that had been there was gone. Every time I looked down at my hands, Obi-Wan was there, defending my finger against The Dark Side. How could I be grumpy with space hero winking up at me all the time? I think I'm gonna go buy my own box...

Finals

Hey, friends!

So, it's study time here at the University. Finals! Yay! So, because I should be studying instead of blogging, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. But here's a good video about studying.

Ok, so I know its a BYU ad, but the commercial it's funny. Not everything from down south is so bad, right?

To those of you who are prepping for finals, good luck. For those of you who aren't, enjoy the freedom you have...

You Want to Play This Game...

Hey guys! So, I’m taking a Writing in New Media course this semester, and for our latest assignment we got to design our own video game. Pretty awesome, right? Anyway, so it doesn’t have any awesome graphics or anything, but if you want something to eat up five minutes of your time, it’s kind of fun to tinker with. Here’s the link to the webpage of my game:

http://fs.finearts.utah.edu/~rjensen/Project2/index.html

Go on, play it. You know you want to.

Thanksgiving

“There’s more to Thanksgiving than Potatoes.” –Rachael Jensen

Okay, so I know I’m late, and Thanksgiving happened 5 days ago, but I’m jumping on the bandwagon and making a gratitude list in honor of good ‘ol Turkey Day. Don’t roll your eyes at me- I know its overdone, but really, when’s the last time you made a list of things you’re grateful for? You should make one. You’ll feel better after, trust me. Anyway, here’s mine:

-Cousins!!!

Making Thanksgiving weekend awesome since… pretty much forever. The little ones play games with you, the older ones give you dating advice (is it wanted? Umm… cough cough), and all of them love ya despite that time you crashed their dirt bike.
Here are a few of my awesome cousins. Aren't they just adorable? And growin' up so fast. :)

-Awesome Music

Because music expresses humanity in ways that my meager vocabulary fails to do. And it takes road trips from unbearable to uber-relaxing. Here’s one of the songs I've been jamming to recently:

Sara Bareilles. Love her. And that end scene, where she's jammin' in her boots in her own little world? That would totally be me.

-Road Trips!

The destination is important of course, but getting there is half the fun. Especially if you stop once in a while to explore cool stuff, like old trails and ghost towns and the occasional ice cream shop.

-Stars

If you’re going to wish on something, it might as well be something as epic as a massive, glowing ball of plasma burning billions of trillions of miles away. And they're beautiful.

-Faith

Sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps you going. I’d be lost without it.

-High School Buddies

Especially the ones that you can still talk to forever about anything, even though you haven’t seen them in years. Good things like that should never change.

-Hot Cocoa

Chocolate’s good. In steaming, liquid form? Downright blissful.

-Hugs

I mean the real, genuine, heartfelt ones, given spur-of-the-moment. The sincerity of them surprises you at first, and then you just feel all warm and fuzzy. They're the best.

-Finding Awesome Parking Spots

Because its the little things that make life fabulous.

-Things that Make Me Laugh

Life is so much more enjoyable when you can laugh at yourself. Of course, funny youtube videos work too. Like this one:

Well, that's a starter list, any way. So Happy (late) Thanksgiving! Here's to leftover turkey and pumpkin pie! What about you guys? What are you grateful for?

Making Hugs Un-Awkward

Recently, my friends and I were discussing hugs, and, more specifically, how awkward they can be. If you never experienced an awkward hug, it’s either because you’ve been blessed with amazingly good luck or because you never went to middle school. Everything about middle school is a recipe for awkward hugs- with all those young teenage boys and girls trying to flirt with each other but not sure how, awkwardness is bound to ensue. The best one I ever experienced? A good friend came in for a hug and missed. He was hugging MY ARM. Yep. And he didn’t correct it or even LOOK embarrassed. Just hugged my arm and went along his merry way. But I guess I should be easier on the kid. I mean, it was only eighth grade for crying out loud, and heaven knows teens have enough to worry about without stressing over hugs. But still, my arm? That’s just… well… awkward.

Yes, middle school, at least for me, was full of awkward hugs. Sadly, they don’t stop after middle school. There will always be the times you feel socially pressured to hug someone you don’t know that well (family reunions, anyone?), or even just don’t like. And of course, there will always be hug bloopers, where the huggers hit each other in the face or snag jewelry on the others clothing. Or as a couple of my guy friends joked, hugging other guys can be weird sometimes. I won't expound on that because being a girl, I don’t have the experience to relate. However, one of my good buddies showed me an awesome clip that helped him to clear up his hug confusion:

Well there you have it! How to give the perfect man hug. Actually, some of those tips could totally apply to all hugs in general, not just guy hugs. Sweet! I wish someone would've shown this to my buddy in the eighth grade. Maybe it would have saved him the fate of being the inspiration for this cautionary hug tale. I quote the adage, "It's only awkward if you make it awkward." Well, he made it awkward. I still laugh about it.

Car Dance Party!

I’m driving in the car when the song comes on.

“Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame…” Bon Jovi’s voice ricochets from my car speakers. “Darlin’ you give love a bad name.”

What follows is a car jam session as all jam sessions should be- windows rolled down, volume cranked up, and the wind making chaos of my hair. It's the kind of jam sesh that causes the older lady in the car next to me to roll her eyes, and makes high school kids I pass by to start making fun of my dance moves. But I don't care. Right now, the song is all that matters. Everything else- the stresses of homework, the thoughts of dinner, the worries of work, can all wait- because music is just that awesome.

Don't let the sparkly pants and frizzy hair throw you off- the song is fantastic.

Apparently I'm not the only one who dances in my car.

Are you jealous of car dancing yet? Perhaps you'd like to learn how. Lucky for us, Boris and Juri can show us the moves:

See? They even car jam in Moscow! I'm not that weird, right? Right?

Okay, so maybe car jamming may not be your thing. But everybody's got a song that makes them wanna dance, or at least tap their feet a little bit. What's yours? I'd love to hear from you!

This epic jam is made possible by good friend Wendy True, who introduced me to Bon Jovi in high school and, in so doing, opened up the fantastic world of 80’s rock jam sessions. This one’s for you, Wendy, who for all your sweetness can rock out with the best of them.

PS- So for my writing class I got to write/design/publish a website. How cool is that? Click HERE to check it out.

Happy Halloween! - Awesome Movie Clips

We now interrupt the regularly scheduled friend-quotes to bring you some of my favorite clips and quotes of Halloween. :)

We'll start things off with Michael Jackson's Thriller. The first time I saw this one I was when my good friend Wendy brought this movie over to my house for all our buddies to watch. It was epic then, and gets better every time I watch it. I love the awesome 80's special effects. And nobody beats MJ. Nobody.




Next, who celebrates Halloween better than the residents of Halloweentown? This video features a light show to the song "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Honestly, the movie itself isn't my favorite- the whole twisted turn on Christmas freaks me out just a bit too much. But the music is genius. And this light show is fantastic.




And last but not least, what good is Halloween without Charlie Brown and his awesome gang? It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is, in my opinion, an American classic. Almost every little kid in the US watches this at least once in their young lives, rooting along with Linus as he waits for the Great Pumpkin. My favorite part of this clip? Linus' smooth deposit of his letter into the mailbox. Way to show Lucy what's what, Linus.



So yep, those a few of my faves. What about you guys out there reading this? Have any Halloween favorites or memories you'd like to share? I would love to hear from you! And have a Happy Halloween!

How Harry Potter Should Have Ended

So my friends and family say some pretty funny things. As much as we hate to admit it, though, half the time we laugh more not at the witty things we come up with on our own, but at the witty things we quote. This clip is what my buddies and I have been quoting and laughing about for a while now (warning, it's really only funny if you've seen the last Harry Potter movie).

Lest We Forget...

Some sayings are life-changing. Winston Churchill rocked the world with “Never give up.” Mahatma Ghandi is still making waves with “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And Parker Summers inspired everyone who heard him utter the sacred words, “This feeling some call panic? I call it productivity.” Because of Parker’s wisdom, countless college students mired in the depths of procrastination take courage and press on, completing the essay, the project, the presentation an hour before due, sometimes after staying up through the night to complete it. Parker Summers, I salute you. Good luck on the mish.

Headless Wha...?

I have some crazy friends. I also have some crazy family members, who, lucky for me, I also consider my buddies. One such person is my little sister Miriam, aka Mim. Mim is loving, goofy, has a flair for the dramatic (what 12-year-old doesn’t?), and is always good at making the rest of us laugh. When I went home last weekend to visit the fam, Mim was super excited to show me her new bedspread in her room. I went with her to check it out. I admired the pretty colors, then we settled down to hang out for a bit.

“Becca, do you know who makes me happy whenever I’m sad?” Miriam asked me from her spot on the floor.

“Who is that, Mim?”

“Veronica!”

With that she swung a detached Barbie head at me, her dark hair streaming behind her.

“She’s a shrunken head!” Miriam burst into laughter.

I picked up the Barbie head, and looked at Miriam, my surprise halting my laughter for the moment.

“Miriam…” I began to laugh, the hilarity of the situation breaking through my shock. The more I thought about it, the funnier it was. Heck, I’m laughing writing this.

“Where did you… Why…” I gasped for air. “Why is she just a head?”

“Her body’s over here, I can put the head back on when I want to,” Mim replied, still laughing.

Miriam and I laughed over this for the next fifteen minutes. I’m still laughing now. How does my little sister even know what a shrunken head is? And the fact that she has a headless Barbie is a bit disconcerting... Maybe I should be concerned. However she came about the headless Barbie, it was hilarious. I'm intrigued about THAT story. That, however, will have to wait until our next adventure. Here's to you, Mim.

Peace Out, Cub Scout!

It’s about time I had a post dedicated to my good friend Avery. Of all my friends, she ranks among the top for saying the loopiest things, and hardly any of it is ever on purpose. My favorite (and most memorable) quote from her:

“At my house we had this spoon, and we called it bent spoon, because it was bent.”

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

My Real-Life "Sparkly Moment"

So today, I had what I like to call a “sparkly moment.” What is that, you ask? A sparkly moment is one of those that don’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s good enough for a movie. You know, like one of those scenes where the feel-good music is playing, the guy gets the girl, and everyone is laughing, sometimes in slow motion. You can find the majority of them in romantic comedies, super hero love scenes, and in pretty much any scene with Amy Adams (Enchanted, anyone?).

Movies are practically spilling over with these sparkly moments. As often as we see them in cinema, you would think we would see them often in our everyday lives. How disappointing, then, to leave the theatre and return to the commonplace world of school, work, homework (more school), and all-around stress. Heck, in real life, I’m lucky to make it out of the house with a bowl of Fruit Loops, let alone make it through the day with some amazingly happy slow-motion moment.

Which is why today was so amazing. Let me start from the beginning:

Some people hate their jobs. While my job can get a little slow at times, I am one of the lucky ones. I love my job, primarily because of the awesome people I get to interact with on a daily basis. You see, I work as a receptionist at a senior living community. Can anyone say awesome elderly people? HECK YES!!! I love them, I really do.

Well, one of the residents there, I’ll call him Charles, is especially awesome. He is always coming up to me and asking me the usual receptionist questions (“What time is dinner?” “Did I miss the scenic bus ride?” “Will you go out with me?” just kidding…). I get a lot of repeat questions, because he is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s- loathe that disease- but I love him anyway. Today he was hanging around my desk as usual, when a man came past the desk, dressed in black slacks and a blue collared shirt; Charles mistook him for the bus driver.

“Excuse me, sir,” asked Charles, “Is the bus leaving now? Can I go on it?”

The man in blue looked pleasantly confused. In Charles’ defense, the outfit totally could’ve passed as a uniform.

“Charles,” I said over my desk, “He’s just here to visit; the bus doesn’t leave for another two hours. But your name is on the list, so you won’t miss it.”

He didn’t appear to hear what I said, and was now gripping Blue’s arm in a friendly, “please escort me out to the bus” way. I walked over to talk to him.

“Charles, the bus doesn’t leave for another two hours,” I repeated. “This man is just visiting.”

“He’s not the bus driver?”

“No.”

“He sure is a nice guy, though. I like him.”

“Yes, I do too.”

(To Blue)”Hey, you’re sure nice. You should be in a movie or something. Can you sing?” Blue chuckled a bit.

“Say…something like ‘Old Man River?’” From there, Charles began to sing the lines to “Old Man River.” Best song ever (look it up here, watch until 3:36). But it gets better.

Cue totally spontaneous sparkly moment: As he sang, Charles took my hands and began to dance a small waltz with me, there in the lobby. Blue stood and watched, smiling, while I hummed along. Charles’ voice was actually quite good. There I was, waltzing with an absolutely charming man, who was singing one of my favorite songs of all time to me, without care of who was watching. It was fabulous. It ended all too soon. Charles finished his song, the man in blue left, and I returned to my seat behind the desk. But the grin I wore didn’t leave. Charles did something totally crazy- he made movie magic a reality, a ray of sunshine in my otherwise commonplace day. Now that’s a friend.

The Intro

Welcome, dear reader, to my blog. Let me give you a quick orientation to this awesome and marvelous place:

This is my blog. (Oooooo…)

This is my first entry. (Aaaaaaah…)

Yes, it is pretty cool, isn’t it? To the right, you can read all about me in my profile. Yes? You in the back? No, I don’t really wear glasses like that. Thanks, I like them too.

And if you’ll direct your gaze to the top, you will see the title, something about my crazy friends… yep. They’re pretty cool. You’re sure to hear a lot about them, or rather, from them even, as I’ll be quoting their noteworthy words in the weeks to come. Words like, “Ba-nah-na,” or “Lookin’ for a nerd on a bike,” or my all-time favorite, “Life is so much easier when you’re not stupid” (compliments of grandpa). But I’m getting ahead of myself. Mustn’t give away the stories, must I? For now, you’ll just have to wait and see what I put up here. Who knows, you may even find yourself in one of my posts… bwahaha.