Staying Put and Geeking Out

So many of you probably heard the rumor we might be moving to Montana...but turns out we're staying put in Utah.  Tracy did get offered a promotion there - but the offer just wasn't enough to justify leaving, especially since I have a job I like at the Church History Library - at least for the moment.  Though it's been a tough few months trying to manage three jobs I only have two more weeks of teaching and while I'll miss the interaction with students, especially the ones at Salt Lake Community College I'm looking forward to digging into some serious writing time.

Oh, and just so you don't think I'm losing my charming fangirl nature this video with the actor from Arrow had me geeking out...now if we could only convince Henry Cavill to develop X-Ray vision, we'd have it covered.

Stephen Amell Target Practice

Oatmeal, Jeans, and Captain America

So I don't have it in me to actually post anything serious but here's some random stuff from this week:

-Bought ridiculously healthy/fancy instant oatmeal yesterday (organic with blueberries and flax seed) in the vain hope that I might actually eat it for breakfast - this morning I did, and it actually tasted pretty decent.  Surprisingly the flax seed's crunch made me like the texture a lot better.

-Broke down and ordered some clothes online (after looking for jeans in three separate stores, seriously plus size skinny jeans - who thinks this is a good idea?) and I actually liked all three things I ordered when they got here.  And the really good news, the jeans are a little big, I'll have to go down a size if I order them again.

-Tracy and I went and saw the new Captain America movie on Friday night and I LOVED it.  I sort of feel like Captain America and Superman have a similar vibe, so this is not surprising.  There were so many things I liked - but especially the fact that they actually had a female character in a superhero movie who didn't have to be "the girl."  Black Widow is kind of awesome. 

-Oh, and HAPPY EASTER everybody!

New Car - Fun Husband

We bought a new car Saturday and Tracy put a really cute and funny post about it on his blog here.

http://potrazeebee.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-new-car.html

He even included a TARDIS (Doctor Who) reference for me, and in keeping with that the trunk is in fact much bigger on the inside :-) 

I'm just feeling really grateful that we can both drive to work on the same day without one of us having to be nervous that the truck was going to strand us somewhere.   Honestly, though we weren't sorry to get rid of the truck, it did last a miraculously (and I don't use that word lightly here) long time for us. 

I'm going to drive the new car to work tomorrow just because I can :-)

Good Day at Work

Sorry this is a little late, I've been enjoying my Spring Break and the chance to feel a little lazy.

Last Friday I got paid as part of my internship to go to the Church History Symposium sponsored by BYU and the Church History Department.  It was one of those days that made me feel lucky for the education I'd been able to get and the job I now have.

The highlight of my day was listening to President Uchtdorf talk while sitting in the fourth row.  It was so amazing.  My intern buddy Tarienne from North Carolina was sitting next to me and it was the first time she'd ever been in the same room with one of the Quorum of the Twelve or the First Presidency, so it was great to be with someone else who was geeking out over the experience.   He talked about a lot of great things, some of my favorites were him talking about the The Hobbit as an example of exploring and getting out of your comfort zone, and when he talked about his own doubts when he was younger about their ever being a temple in East Germany.

The entire talk is here if anyone's interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rc5GyF5i3Y&app=desktop

The theme of the conference was the Global Church, and one of my favorite presentations talked about how to create Church history papers and exhibits that are more international member focused and less western missionary/leader focused.    The exhibit he used as an example tells a seriously heart wrenching but amazing story about early Saints in Armenia.  If you haven't seen it before I think it's pretty amazing from both a historian and a gospel standpoint.   You can check it out here:

http://history.lds.org/exhibit/1921-lds-armenian-exodus?lang=eng

Writing Buddies and Storytelling (and a little TV ....again)

Today I met with my writing buddies, Pam, who's been my critique partner for awhile, and Jenny, who's a new writing friend. (Yes, Tracy has joked that maybe I'm collecting writing buddies named Jennie/Jenny the way I used to collect best friends named Becky).  They are always great, but today they were particularly helpful with the novel I'm working on.   Pam helped me walk through a scene I was really struggling with (seriously, I think I've spent two hours just staring at my computer screen this week trying to write it) and Jenny is giving me great feedback on my second draft.   It's incredibly helpful to know what doesn't work, and sometimes even more importantly what does.  I also feel like I help them as well, which is great feeling.

It's interesting because earlier today one of my TAs/grad school buddies was asking me about how to improve at writing and also how I managed to do anything other than schoolwork while I was getting my PhD.  I think having a critique partner was a huge part of that.  It gave me permission to work on my writing amidst all that grad school craziness because I had someone to be accountable to on the writing side of things.   I realized how lucky I was to have that - so thanks Pam!
 
I also realized again how much storytelling and words inform my whole personality.  Even my love of history grew out of a love of historical fiction, and even now I see the best history as telling stories that connect people with the past.   I write stories, I watch stories, I read stories, and chances are at any given time when I don't have something else I have to think about I am thinking about a story - or writing one in my head.  I sometimes (major geek public confession here) tell myself stories as I drive by myself as a way of keeping entertained.

I wouldn't know how to function in a world without narrative, both fiction and non-fiction, and it once again makes me grateful for libraries, shelves full of books, and friends, family and a husband who put up with a woman who has lots of imaginary friends running around in her head.


So if you want to be proud of me for writing a blog post about something other than a television show just stop now.

Speaking of emotional reactions to stories.....

I've gotten a whole bunch of people watching Arrow, and last week's episode sucked on so many levels (bad morals, bad storytelling, jerky characters) it made me angry in a very real way.   I was talking with one of my Arrow watching buddies today and we've agreed to give it a couple more episodes to get back on target (silly pun intended) or we're both bailing.  So I just feel the need to issue a pseudo-public apology to all the others I've roped in. 

More TV Ramblings

Can I just say I am love, love, loving the relationship on Castle right now?  It's so awesome to see a television show actually let the couple be together in a quite happy and stable adult relationship.  Yes, yes, I wished they'd just hurry up and get married already (though they are working on it, yippee!!) but really its so nice to see a show demonstrate that love triangles and manufactured drama aren't the only way to go with things.

This adoration may be more than a little enhanced because I find myself comparing Castle to the uneven, angst fest that is  Arrow.   And, ironically, why I find myself writing fanfiction for Arrow and not Castle.  I don't have to write fanfiction for Castle and Beckett because their relationship onscreen is satisfying to my clear storytelling, romance oriented brain.  

 Oh, and if I'm not blogging about my real life,  it's because the new schedule still has me a little overwhelmed and things are just getting more complicated - and who wants to listen to me whine about problems that aren't actually problems like having too many jobs, right? 

So television ramblings will have to do.  

You Know You're an Archives Geek When...

...Tonight on Arrow they had a shootout in the City Archives.  It was the first time I kinda wanted to punch Oliver in his little green face.

(Then at almost the last minute of the show he was cute with Felicity ... so maybe I can let him off with a stern lecture  :-)