running route

Know what I hate?  Treadmills.  I can't run on them, let alone make them start.  They're really confusing. I mostly dislike them because no matter how fast or long you run, you don't go anywhere.  So unsatisfying. I'm not a natural runner, but when I'm in decent shape I can go on runs that actually get me places.  Running AND moving outdoors > running and NOT moving indoors.

Running can get kind of boring after a few minutes, so look up from the cement sidewalk and pay attention to all the stuff around you.  Believe me, it can be entertaining.

 Some places are more interesting than others, and I'd say running near BYU campus is fairly amusing.  I start my usual run going uphill.  It kind of sucks because from the start I'm already tired. 

The plus?

 This view.

Ok, so I took this picture from my dorm, but it's not like I'm gonna whip out my camera mid-run.

After about the first five minutes of my run today I approached a younger father going on a walk with a stroller.  As I got closer I noticed he had one of those backpack things that hold your kids.  You know, one of these:

The dad didn't have a beard though.


So I guess that wasn't exactly strange, but he was just going on a walk, not hiking.  Then I noticed that he had another toddler sitting on top of the stroller.  I didn't understand why the kid was sitting there, since he could sit in the actual SEAT of the stroller.  Then I took a quick peek in the stroller while I ran past.  I saw ANOTHER kid in the stroller.  That was one determined dad.  Mind you, this was on BYU campus, I wasn't totally surprised.

A couple miles into my run I passed a class of kindergartners that were on a field trip or something.  They were standing outside a construction site  and were all waving and saying hi to the workers.  So cute.

By the last couple miles of my run I was near downtown Provo, so there's lots of things to look at.  I didn't see the homeless man today, but the BYU girls cross country team ran past me.  That was pretty embarrassing.  I was running uphill again and it was near the end of my run, so I wasn't exactly full of energy, and they were probably starting their run and going downhill.  Basically I felt like a fat loser. 

Don't worry, my self confidence was boosted shortly after.  I ran by a bus stop with about four or five guys waiting there.  Either my pasty white legs were really attractive, or they had been deprived of seeing any skin during the winter, because they totally had the eyes for me.  Whatever, I was wearing running shorts, not a bathing suit.

Eh, so nothing amazing happened on my run today, but it was still way better than running in the smelly gym on a treadmill.  Plus, I got an awesome tan line on my thighs. 

Moral of the story:  Treadmills suck.

Modern "Music"

Take a good look at this artwork:

Not sure what you're looking at?  Neither did I.  Later I learned that it's named Descending a Staircase.  Apparently it's a fairly famous piece of modern art, but if you didn't know that, chances are it looked like a mess of yellow.

Modern Art. It'll kill you.

Turns out Modern Music is the same way.  Take a listen.

I'm in a music class right now and we're required to go to 6 classical performances for the semester.  I needed to go to a performance soon, so I went to listen to the New York Piano Trio perform last night. 

Bad decision.

I'd like to think that I have pretty good musical knowledge; at least enough for me to more fully appreciate classical music.  Well, let me tell you something...I DON'T UNDERSTAND MODERN MUSIC.  It's just too weird for me.  It was the longest hour and a half of my life.  Normally if I get bored in a performance I just take a nap, but that wasn't even possible because the music was nowhere close to soothing, just uncomfortable. 

Of course I do recognize the quality of the work and the immense skill required to play music that doesn't even sound like music.  Seriously, most of the time I couldn't find a beat, and the tempo changed ALL THE FREAKIN TIME.  I've played most types of classical music and a little of somewhat modern music, but this stuff was crazy. 

So this is my main beef with modern music.  The reason I listen to music is for enjoyment.  It can be sad or happy, but overall I want it to sound good.  Modern music goes against everything that we enjoy in music.  It also gives off this feeling of, "if you don't like it, it's because you're dumb and musically ignorant." Well, that's probably right, which is why it's lame.  Most people don't have vast musical knowledge so they aren't going to understand or enjoy it.  Back in the day, classical music was the "pop" music.  Chamber music has its name because it was played in the chambers of people's homes.  Going to an opera was like going to a movie.  Sort of...

Now we're in the Modern Era of music and most people don't like it.  At yesterday's concert about one third of the audience left during the intermission.  I guess they didn't enjoy the music very much.  For the record, I sat through the WHOLE thing.  I'm not that rude.

I feel much better now.  Thanks.

homeschooling

I kind of like this whole blogging thing.  When I don't feel like doing homework, I can blog and not feel so guilty.  It's basically like writing in a journal, so I guess there's much worse things I could be wasting my time with.

Right now I'm sitting in the library.  I'm trying to find more sources for my research paper about homeschooling.  Interesting topic right?  If you didn't know, I was home schooled until fourth grade. 

You're probably thinking, "But Kristen, you're so cool and outgoing, there's no way you could've been a lame homeschooler!!"  Well, thank you, but it's true.  I've had plenty of time since fourth grade to adjust myself to the social norms.  So basically I had to conform.  Yes, I am a conformist and if you're normal, so are you.  Can you tell that I'm taking a sociology class?  There's always those exceptions, but I knew a lot of homeschoolers and the majority of us were kind of weird.

Here's the problem: Though I personally believe that homeschooling can affect students socially, I'm arguing that it doesn't in my research paper.  Great.  There's so many pros and cons to homeschooling, I can't form an opinion.  That's why I'm picking the side with the most evidence...

I think I'm indecisive because I'm still not sure if I'm glad that I was homeschooled.  I was able to be taught from my mom in a loving environment, etc.  but I'm also really glad that I stopped at an earlier age and went to school in fourth grade.  My first day/year in public school was interesting to say the least.  Public school is weird, and there's just some things about it that you won't learn anywhere else.  That environment just makes you tough.

Ok, I don't really know where I'm going with this.  I really should be doing more research about homeschooling, not blogging about it. 

So the moral of the story is: do your homework because you can't turn in a blog to your teacher.

wind/snow/genius plan

At this moment I am stranded in the Maeser building.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the BYU, it's basically in the corner of campus out on its own.  That's not why I'm stranded.  I'm stranded because it's snowing and I'm wearing flip flops.  Why am I wearing sandals when it's snowing?  Because earlier today it was 60 freaking degrees. Stupid snow.

This isn't the first time the weather ruined my plans today.  Earlier I went skiing with my good buddy Jacob.  We were pumped because it was a Wednesday and no one would be on the mountain.  We were disappointed to learn that the back mountain was closed because of the wind.  We were annoyed when they closed the top of the mountain.  We were pissed when they closed the WHOLE mountain.  Well maybe not Jacob, but I was.  Stupid wind.

Obviously this beautiful day was last week, not today.  

I'm the hottie in the stripes.  Jacob.  Cody.

Ok, status update.  I am now sitting in my dorm room.  My evil plan worked!  Actually it's not evil at all, it's genius.  Since I didn't want to walk back to my dorm in the snow, I sat on the main floor of the Maeser with my laptop and started to blog.  I didn't blog just to express my anger to everyone via internet, I also blogged to pass time.  I wanted to pass time because I knew my writing professor would be descending the steps right in front of me in the next few minutes.  I was correct. 

This is the scene/dialogue that I hoped would transpire:

"Kristen, what are you still doing here?"
"I'm waiting for the snow to stop before I walk back to the dorms."
"Well let me give you ride!"

Basically, everything went according to plan.  I got a ride home in my professor's car.  The heated seats were a bonus.  Next goal: dinner at her home.  That's when I'll truly be impressed with myself.  Hey, if my plan worked so well today, why is this one any different?

P.S.  I just read this over, and it sounds like I'm a total creeper.  I probably am, but there was a reason why I knew my Writing Professor would be leaving the Maeser Building when she did.  I was there because she was offering extra credit to those who attended an event where winners of this writing contest read their essays aloud.  She was the coordinator for it, so obviously she was there too.  The end.

P.P.S.  I need to clear up another thing because I have a guilty conscious.  I'm not exactly proud of myself for manipulating my professor for a ride, I happen to like and respect her, so I was flattered that she offered to help.  Ok, now I'm done.

VALENTINE

Note: if you are confused with my url address it's Kristen Oda backwards.  Hence, Ado Netsirk.  I wanted to use koda, but it was already taken along with everything else similar.  Apparently there's a famous Japanese chick named Koda Kumi.  Lame.

So on to my second post.

It's a special day.  It's a Monday.  It's 25 days till my birthday.  It's Valentines Day.

I wasn't going to write about this holiday, but how can I not?  I'm at BYU; there's lots of couples around.  There's also LOTS of newlyweds.  Then there's the single people who like to call this day Single Awareness Day.  It's a good name, who the heck is Valentine anyways?

It really doesn't have to be a bad day for single people.  You still get chocolate and there's no commitment.  That really doesn't sound so horrible.

Heck, I even got extra credit today because I gave a valentine to someone I've only met once.  (There's a story behind it, but it's really not worth your time).  It IS worth your time to read it though.

Roses are red

Blue is the sky

If you won't be my Valentine

I'll just eat till I die.

Pretty good yeah?  I thought so too.  That's why I copy and pasted it from a website off of google.

Right now my roommates are picking up a pizza from Legends Grill.  We asked them to make it heart shaped and they said YES!  Sometimes I really love BYU students.  See, you don't need a valentine to be loved.  The pizza makers love us and they've never seen our faces, just heard Meghan's voice on the phone.  They must be desperate.

Scratch that. Tree and Meghan said they were "way cute." 

Happy Valentines Day!

numero uno

Don't be fooled by the title.  I can't really speak spanish, I just thought it made me sound smart.

So this is my first blog I've ever done. I'm scared.  My goal is to get at least 1000000000 followers. It won't be too hard because my life is extremely exciting and strangers WILL care.

This week I've been waking up from really weird dreams.  Or maybe they're all weird, I'm just remembering them.  Either way I get kind of freaked out by them.  For example, last night I had a dream that I was in Jimmer Fredette's house, and something about Justin Bieber.  Ok, that doesn't seem very strange, but it was. 

Problem numero uno: I can never fully remember my dreams, so when I try to tell them they sound really lame.  Like right now.  Problem numero dos: I feel like a creep when I dream about someone.  It's like my sub-conscious is secretly obsessed with this person or something.  So when I dream about someone I tell them.  My philosophy is it's creepier to dream about someone and not tell them.  This can be troublesome if you have multiple dreams about someone, because telling them multiple times is just as weird.  I still tell them though.  I've had at least four dreams about my high school spanish teacher, and I've told her EVERY time.  Darn, I am a creep.

See? I told you my life is exciting.