THE COMMENTARY

Just Your Average Bookworm

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

I will have a library like this one day :)

Today I had the great privilege of listening to a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Carson of the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He is amazing! He has performed several groundbreaking surgeries in his career and has changed medicine in countless ways. I decided to take off work to go to his lecture in the glorious Marriott Center. I was bubbling with excitement as I looked forward to some good old medical talk, but I got a completely different lecture. However, I was not the least bit disappointed. (Aside from President Monson's devotionals, this one has to be my favorite). Dr. Carson spent an hour talking about what we could do as a nation to return the basics and those things that made America great. He gave some wonderful insight, but there was one point that stood out to me. Dr. Carson was talking about his upbringing in a low income family in Detroit. He was the anchor of his class, consistently scoring the lowest on exams while in elementary school. His mother, not wanting her children to be limited in any manner, implemented her own homework in their household. Both Dr. Carson and his brother were required to read 2-3 books a week from the local library. This changed the entire outcome of Dr. Carson's life. He suddenly went from being the anchor to the curve breaking. Wanting to know more about this remarkable man, I naturally consulted Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge. Dr. Carson later graduated with honors, attended Yale, and completed his medical training back in Michigan. As I was reading this I realized something: reading changes things. By simply reading a few books a week, Dr. Carson changed the entire course of his life. This is amazing!! Thus, I have decided to embrace my inner bookworm from now on (not that I didn't before) :) Reading is cool! I love that I can pick up a book and escape the frozen tundra of Provo and arrive (for free) on the tropical shores of the south Pacific. I can travel back in time and entire the wonderful world of Harry Potter, all without leaving the comfort of my warm toasty bed. Books are without a doubt the best invention this world has ever seen! So, in honor of a wonderful Tuesday, here's a list of the best books ever written...that I've read:

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (I never go on a trip without my pocket-sized edition)
Harry Potter 1-7, JK Rowling
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen (whether or not it's real, it's a great read)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, JR Tolkien
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
Contagion, Michael Crichton
A Walk to Remember, Nicholas Sparks
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Outliers, Malcom Gladwell
The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss
All of the Ramona books, Beverly Clearly
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis (not quite finished but it will clearly make the list)
Gethsemane, Andrew Skinner
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (one of the best!)
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

I love love love to read! It is one of life's simple pleasures. I am extremely grateful that my mama read to me as a young child and started this great romance between myself and books. It has been a love affair for the ages :) Next on the list? The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee :) Happy reading all!

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A Crayola Kinda Life

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Have you ever had one of those super awkward days where all of your clothes are the exact same color? Welcome to my Tuesday :) I am currently serving as a council member on the BYU/SA Student Advisory Council aka student government. We wear these delightful blue polos every Tuesday. Two Tuesday ago I decided that I didn't want to wear my khakis all day (a requirement for work) so I just picked a pair of jeans and threw them in backpack. Upon changing after work, however, I found that I had made a major fashion faux pas....my jeans were the exact same color as my polo. They may have even been in the same batch of dye. I was basically a walking navy blue Crayola crayon. I called Mama for sympathy and she just laughed :) So I spent the remainder of my day shamelessly endorsing Crayola. I could have changed back into my khakis and averted any further embarrassment (someone thought I was wearing scrubs and others just laughed), but how many people have the opportunity to live a day in the life of a crayon?

PS Pics to follow :)

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Happy Sabbath!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

In honor of Valentine's Day this past week, I thought I would share one of my

favorite Mormon Messages :) Happy Sabbath!

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Crazy Little Thing Called LOVE

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Have you ever seen the movie Moulin Rouge! ? It's soooooo good :) In one of the songs, the ever charming and dashing Christian proclaims, 'Love is a many splendid thing! Love lifts us up where we belong...All you need is LOVE!' I must say that he makes a very good case :) But love is more than just a candle-lit dinner or a romantic stroll on the beach or through the soft lit streets of Paris (take your pick :) ). So this is what I think love is....

when your bestie paints your nails for you because you don't want to but they are in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint
when Mama sends you a package just because she misses you
when your aunt sends you Reese's Pieces while you're in Israel because you love them so much and they don't sell them there
when your baby sister lets you borrow her clothes when you get home from college because everything you own is in the washing machine :)
when your roommate brings your a red velvet cupcake from the Cocoa Bean!
when a friend meets you every...well most mornings to go to the gym
when your aunt brings you blueberries because she knows that you love them more than anything on this green earth
when your visiting teacher brings a delightful treat for the Chinese New Year
when your roommates don't make fun of your excessive dancing
when your dad makes you pazole every time you come home from school because it's your favorite
when Mama lets you drive her car anytime you want because you miss driving at school
when your bestie g-chats with you even though you're at work and she's in class

Love love love my life!

Here's the video from Moulin Rouge! for all you romantics :)

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One Happy Story

Monday, February 13, 2012

So I work at BYU Independent Study. I mostly just answer phones and send faxes, which doesn't sound super glamorous, but in truth, I change lives. Sure, somedays I don't alter the course of someone's life, but other days, I do just that. One Tuesday I arrived at work after a long lecture about killer bacteria and found myself on the phone with a young man in a terrible dilemma. He wanted to take a lovely girl to a dance, I think it was prom. Unfortunately he did not attend to her school and needed to prove to her principal that he was enrolled in school. His fate seemed sealed, hopeless. However, it was this young man's lucky day. With a quick trip to the fax machine I sent a letter and saved this knight in shining armor's prom! So next time you think that faxes and phones are nothing more than modes of communication, just remember that they can save prom :)

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A Ray of Sunshine

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I was blog stalking a friend of mine the other day and decided to steal her idea for post :) (And you guys thought I was so original, haha) I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but school, work, church, and everything else has been crazy, so what better time to post than during chem class? :) Like said friend, I'm compiling a list of my favorite youtube videos. Like all other lists on my blog, this list could be sooooooo much long! Enjoy :)