On Books and People

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

I'm pretty sure everyone has heard this or a version of this at least once before. I've heard it hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. But I never knew how relevant it was to me until just recently.

When my mom said this to me she was generally referring to books. I was silly in that I would never read a book if I didn't like how it presented itself. When I started to ignore what the book appeared to be I discovered new joys, new secrets, more goodness than ever before. So I started looking on the back for an idea on what I would be reading.

But I realized recently the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" applies to people too. However, people are a bit more complex to interpret than books. They don't have a synopses or a summary on the back of their cover. You have to get to know them before you make any judgments.

Unfortunately, I'm really bad at that; I tend to place people in cubbyholes soon after meeting them. And I'm usually wrong. Luckily I move people around, but it's amazing to me how drastic the difference is between my first and final impression.

You'd think that, after this happening regularly, I would learn to withhold immediate judgement. But I haven't. Not yet, anyways. . .

This whole incorrect-judgement thing recently occurred work:

At a call center, we all help to train the new hires. They will be trained for a couple of hours by a specified trainer, and then come out to the call center and participate in what we call y-jacking. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's where the new hire will come out with a headphone set and a separator. They plug into the call center agent and are then able to listen in on the conversation.

Well they had me taking y-jackers early on in my job. And I actually enjoyed having people right next to me to talk to when the phones were slow. There was one person in particular who I adored y-jacking with. He was funny and a bit of a flirt and showed me cool pictures from his mission (in France!). I thought he was perfect.

There was another guy who y-jacked with me later on who drove me nuts. Both of these men y-jacked with me twice. They both did exceptionally well. And I only considered myself friends with one.

Then I left my job for a time to better focus on school and came back to work a few times a month. It was amazing to see the drastic differences in these two people. The one who I had seen perfection in was generally grumpy around me and I was uncomfortable trying to make conversation with him. The one who drove me nuts is the one I go to every time I'm there. He's one of the few who I will talk to (and have a fabulous conversation with) every time I'm in the office.

Isn't that crazy? Maybe this lesson learned will not be quickly forgotten! :P

Brief Thoughts

Last night I dreamed that I got my mission call to some place in Southern Africa. And, apparently, that was the first place that came to mind when I found out I was going on a mission?

I'll be called to where I'm supposed to go. It could be in another country, it could be in a neighbor state. But wherever I go I will be where I'm most needed and where I'll be able to do the most good. I have faith in that.

Also, on a completely random note, if you ever get a couple of hours you need to WATCH THIS MOVIE:

It is SO GOOD! It's not action-packed, full of romance, or bursting with surprising twists and turns. In fact, it's a documentary. But don't disregard its goodness based on its genre. This documentary explores what really makes people happy and describes happiness as a skill. It's amazing :)

It will be well-worth your time.

Christmas Eve

Couldn't have said it better myself. One more sleep! :)

Pause

You'd think that, will all this extra time, I'd find more of it to blog. . . But that's not the case, strangely enough. I think I write so I can escape for a few minutes. With me, I'll find the time to blog right when there's none (i.e., when I have four essays and a wedding all in one night. I'll still find time to write a few paragraphs.)

But when I have a different pace, I relax and forget that I love this. I love it when people read my writings, amateur as they are. It feeds me.

Which is funny. I don't hardly know a lot of the people who find this. But I love that you take a few minutes out of your life to read what I have to say, to look at how I see the world. I love that you'll pause a few moments to stare at a computer screen and read what some girl in Utah has to say. It means the world to me. Truly.

So thank you. You give me a reason to write. It's easier for me to write for other people than it is to write for myself. I hope you keep reading. I'll try to keep things interesting :P

Angels in Our Midst

So not to whine or anything (especially because this was my own fault), but I hated writing essays today (this was supposed to be finished on December 15 but then I got busy). I had four essays due today, and two of them were due before five today. The other two are almost or mostly done, but they aren't due until midnight. I think. He never specified a time. . . Oh. And my cousin's wedding reception is tonight and I get to double as bride's maid and photographer. . . Wish me luck!

Anyways, the one essay that was due before five was my research paper for English. It was supposed to be eight to ten pages (and mine ended up a couple of paragraphs short of eight pages. Hope I don't get too heavily docked for that!). This morning I had four. Four very rough pages. And one of those pages had a picture the size of a paragraph. If I hadn't deleted the picture I may have reached eight pages. . . But anyways.

I never could have gotten that far had it not been for the angels Heavenly Father sent my way. I called my mom at 1:30 in tears because I was so stressed about getting it all done. She got me to calm down to the point where I could actually work.

I sat down to write.

I hadn't been writing for more than ten minutes when someone knocked at the door. I was slightly irritated because I had absolutely no time to entertain any sort of company and almost didn't get the door. But then I thought that it may have been Brittney who locked herself out of the apartment again so I went and opened the door. I was surprised to find my choir president standing outside. He won't be coming back next semester (sad face!) so he was returning a notebook to me.

I was ready to let him go then, but he started talking to me. Eventually, my stress over my essay won out and I invited him in to proof it. He did.

And he stayed the entire afternoon acting as thesaurus and therapy and occasional distraction. He got me through the essay.

And he drove me to campus when I missed the bus, and he stayed with me through all the drama of me finishing my works cited page in the building where I was supposed to turn in my paper and failing to print it out.

Another angel came to my aid, however, and printed my essay off his computer using his money. And he is the reason my essay got turned in before my teacher left the building.

I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank either of them because I doubt I'll ever see my classmate again, and my former choir president is leaving to go on a mission, and so am I, and who knows what will happen?

But I am so thankful for them. They saved my grade. And my scholarship. Heavenly Father answers prayers.

What If. . .

There were no limits?

Where would you go? What would you accomplish with your life? Who would you be?

And what's keeping you from becoming that person you think you could be? Because I know you can become that person. Break from those limits you put up for yourself and start to become your potential self. You'll accomplish great things if you do.

It's Finals Week

Need I say more?

Just one piece of advice to anyone still in high school:

If your teacher is generous and gives you an open-book test, Don't take them up on it!

Seriously. It will inhibit your study skills that you will so desperately need when you reach college. It's not worth it.

So while it may seem like they're throwing you a bone, it is much smarter to study like you mean it. Because, in your world, no test is open-book.

The end.

Christmas Music

These are a couple of my favorite Christmas songs:

Candlelight Carol by John Rutter

Still, Still, Still by Norman Luboff

Click Here

I'll Be Home For Christmas by Huff

Christmas is the best. Have a wonderful Christmas season!

I Feel Like Blogging.

Unfortunately, there isn't any one thing that I could get a long enough blog post out of. So I put three things together. They are all completely unrelated, but it's what I've done for the past few days :)

So I was really stressed this past Thursday. Something about school, church, and boys. And then a wonderful friend dropped these off:

They made me happy. Flowers are actually one of the few gifts I will accept every time with a smile and warm fuzzies.

 These are my socks after the short, three-minute canter from ward prayer to my apartment. I was wearing flats with socks which is super tacky, but I was in a hurry to get out the door. I guess I got my reward for my laziness.

I made these for English and my visiting teachee. I love muddy buddies so much. If you put a bit of salt in the recipe they are divine. You should try it sometime :) 

And now that it's almost eleven o'clock at night. . . I'm going to bed. I need to get enough sleep so I don't get sick like everyone else.

So goodnight. Sorry for yet another useless post!