Ya Habibi

2010-08-17T04:19:00.002-06:00

Dear Universe,

I'm back. You might say i've been inspired. And you might wonder what has finally inspired me after a year of absense? Homeless men. Also i'm a bit more compulsive this late at night and on this amount of sleep. But mostly it's the beautiful homeless men who just spontaneously sang the entirety of Freddie Mercury's classic, "We are the Champions," passing the melody along one by one as they walked through the hallway where I happened to be. A true movie-moment. I had to document.

Well, goodnight. Maybe I'll be back again soon?

With love,

McKenna

P.S. Obviously, I did not die in Africa.

and isn't it ironic

2009-07-03T09:58:00.001-06:00

I am (safe) in South Africa with no camera. Love you all, will write more when I have time...

I'm getting paid to ramble.

2009-05-27T08:25:00.002-06:00

I leaving for Thailand today. Right now I'm sitting at work, half awake from an almost all-night of various goodbyes, thinking of the piles of stuff, all impossibly claiming me as it's owner, that is piled all over Amber's bed waiting to be sorted and (some) packed. ("You're leaving for Thailand and you scheduled yourself to work all day??" Yes, I did do that. But after hearing that question over and over last night I realized there might be something to the idea of getting off early, and so I called the girl who's name is listed under Brittany in my phone but is actually named Natalie to see if she could take over the afternoon. I don't know why I put it in like that but so far I've always caught myself and remembered her actual name when its time to say hello.)

Anyways. I tried packing yesterday, and I realized that despite my desire to be free from materialistic burdens (and difficult luggage) I have this sneaky desire to bring my "cute" clothes in an effort to impress.........my camera. Yes that little box of (almost magic but) inanimate sensors, chips and who knows what else. Apparently that is how I plan to remember my time in Thailand, and I want to be sure it remembers things prettily. Is that silly? do we all do this? Before all this technology, “place” existed in your head. When you thought about places you had been previously, you thought of your version of that place. The fort in the forest that was miiiiles away from civilization and moms and chores where the trees were huge and most likely haunted at night and above all, were untouched by previous occupants (save the prehistoric peoples who made strange carvings on the trees and probably buried their treasure somewhere in the area). Have you ever gone back or seen a picture of that place and realized that the trees maybe weren't so big and that your mom could probably see you from the kitchen window and that the intricate carvings were made by termites? Do you want to realize that? If you keep your new "reality" far enough away from the ideas in your head I suppose you could probably still tell your kids convincing stories of your magical childhood but if you let these ideas become acquainted with your adult mind you may remember that you once thought there was buried treasure in the area but the desire to dig it up will fade-- the physical may be the same but the place and what it means to you has changed.

But I digress. My point is that cameras take pictures that we know are "reality" and they change the personal influence that our mind inserts into the idea of place. Not only is the fact that I know I will be photographed trying to alter how I will pack for Thailand, but forever when I want to remember my trip I will go back to these snapshots and remember what my camera recorded. There will be no need to burn images into my mind lest I forget, there will be no need to think up lush descriptions of shades of green enveloped in blankets of humidity because I can just show people the pictures and they will see what I saw (or so they think). Right now, I can get on Google Earth and look at satellite pictures of pretty much any place on earth. And maybe this is better. I actually enjoy the accessibility of far-away places like Tajikistan or Antarctica. Maybe this ranting is all just a result of some juvenile desire of mine to live in a world ruled by imagination and adventures into uncharted territory. Maybe I’m just panicking because most versions of “adult” life sound incredibly dull to me and cameras are the traitors that seem to be giving evidence against my dreams. But is the reality that my camera can record really more valuable than the one I instinctively create in my head? Isn’t there something healthy about taking things in as if your mind is the only way you will remember it all and processing every experience in a way that it can’t help but insert something personal?
I am the only one I know who wasn’t overcome with excitement over the fact that “Where the Wild Things Are” has become a movie.

This Saturday's lazy

2009-05-16T16:52:00.003-06:00

Some things that should be recorded:

-Mike's outfit today: horizontal striped shirt, vertical stripes, batman belt, leopard print shoes.

-The text that Kyle sent me: "Hey you left your phone here, I'm going to bed, I put it on the table downstairs."

-"How to Survive a Robot Uprising," the title of a book in Austin's collection.

International Study Programs

2009-05-14T10:40:00.009-06:00

Things I have learned while sitting at the front desk today:

-Zimbabwe has a 94% unemployment rate

-The Sri Lankan government is currently fighting against an ethnic minority group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who want to start an independent state for Tamils on the north and east side of the island. The gov't has currently cornered the opposition into an area about the size of 1 square mile along with 50,000 civilians who are being kept captive by this group and serve as "human shields" for the Tigers. It is being called a man-made humanitarian crisis--the captive people have money, but they just can't get out to get the food, clothes, etc. that they need. Amnesty International estimates that there have been 7,000 civilian deaths since January due to fighting, not to mention deaths due to unsanitary and inhumane living conditions.

-My friend Dave was engaged to a girl who just disappeared one day for no reason he could figure out. She ended up sending him an email eventually saying she never wanted to see or speak to him again, so she isn't dead, but she never explained what happened. Bizarre hey?

-Rigby, ID is supposedly the teen pregnancy capital of the US, and their high school mascot is the Trojans. This information was passed on to me by an Idahoan of a neighboring (rival) town, so I don't know if I believe this but I thought it was a little bit funny nonetheless.

-Fish sauce is made by decomposing fish for seven months

-post-it cubes cost $9.99. I actually knew this before today, but does this seem outrageous to anyone else?

My fig tree's name is Ruby

2009-04-10T09:36:00.005-06:00

It's been awhile...sorry. I've been contemplating this blog post for awhile, and consequently have ended up with nothing at all. Except multiple changes to my blog settings...

So life is good, here are some reasons why:

I'm going to Thailand in three week and a half weeks
I'm going back to South Africa in seven and a half weeks
Trees are green
Books are for reading
Feet are for baring

I have a job

I have a bike

I have a purple phone

Ruby has survived various assassination attempts and has a home for the summer

I haven't lost my new BPA free water bottle yet.

In other news, I was disappointed to find out that the San Diego zoo feeds it's flamingos food coloring to give them their brilliant color.

Quote of the day (week?)

2008-11-24T04:11:00.001-07:00

Ah ah Kaena, I can’t do that. I will poop! –Zaza dear watching a student at the gym half -crouched over as he struggled to lift weights over his head.

This is Auntie

2008-11-24T04:06:00.002-07:00

She comes everyday to clean the clinic,
But sometimes I catch her doing un-cleaning-woman things, like being a lady Or calling her secret lovers on the nurses phone...

Halloween happened here too...

2008-11-24T04:01:00.002-07:00

I was a revolutionary,
B was a stoplight, Eric was a "confused man" (I think he just forgot to pack a costume but he insists it was planned), and Amber was an epidemiologist. with some hair issues.

The Random Fun Club

2008-11-24T03:54:00.003-07:00

I'll explain it's orgination later, but it's purpose is to relieve aching minds and burning eyes of all "researh"-related activities. One of our latest sucesses: Bowling (with the almost cantelope-y fruit that grows on the trees down here)

I won!

More laundry...

2008-11-24T03:53:00.000-07:00

I almost got away with it. I did a load of laundry Friday night, hung it out to dry in the morning heat and had it back down and nicely folded without a drop of moisture to bother it. Curse broken? Not quite…While the afore mentioned clothes were drying I put in my second load of laundry and hung it out to dry shortly afterwards. I was talking to B in her room when I heard evidence of a little black rain cloud overheard and rushed outside to see that yes indeed clouds had magically appeared out of Nothing and dropped their bit all over my clothes.

And it continues…Stubbornness wanted me to leave my clothes out since it would eventually have to stop raining and they were soaked anyways, but I gave into the A and B who were counting on sunshine for the success of their weekend and did not want to see another 3-day-the-world-is-ending-rainstorm like the one that happened last time I did laundry. I removed them to the laundry room to dry on a rope strung across the ceiling and the rain was done 10 minutes later. The next day was sunny again, and most of my clothes had finally managed to dry—all but one sweatshirt that I had borrowed from B. She was doing her laundry that morning so I hung the sweatshirt out with the rest of her clothes hoping that it would dry sooner in the sun and certain that since it wasn’t even my sweatshirt the weather couldn’t have any problem with it. Oh B was not happy with me when her whole line was soaked an hour later…

Family Circus

2008-11-24T03:51:00.003-07:00

Things just sort of happen here in South Africa. Call it a benefit of constantly failing bureaucracy—you can get away with a lot. Me for instance—I showed up at the clinic and without even handing over my letter of recommendation I was soon in my own office, counseling people about HIV/AIDS. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that The Powers That Be of Walter Sisulu University noticed my existence and wondered how I had come to be there? Of course there is the other side—if you do actually get submitted into that constantly failing beurocracy you are bound to first get lost a few times, and then once someone finally remembers your existence even then you will have to wait until all the proper people can be pacified and exhibit some of their power over you. But pardon my tangent, rants about bureaucracy are far besides the point of this post.

Things just sort of happen here, and a few days ago ‘things’ came in the form of a giant red and yellow striped tent plopped down in the field in front out our house. We were kept up all night by the loud circus music for about a week before finally venturing over to the ticket booth to experience it for ourselves. Promising a family circus, we invited Pookie (yes Kate, like your dog that died) and the domestic worker, Sibongile. Oh what a night…there was a midget-clown, and a ring-master, and a contortionist…some dogs, a couple snakes, jokes, laughter...but the star of it all was a 50-something woman appearing throughout the night in about 5 versions of gloriously sequined THONGS. Apparently old-lady butt cheeks are family approved in South Africa. I will try and attach a video of her snake dancing in one of the less-disturbing fringe-thongs…

2008-11-24T03:51:00.001-07:00

So the weather and I have developed a fun tradition—I hang my laundry out on the clothesline, and it rains. Every single time. I thought for sure I would be good today, but then again, most times I am positive that there is no chance of moisture. Tonight I was sneaky, I wasn’t even thinking about my laundry all day and then when I got home I looked up at the blue sky, threw my clothes into the washer and hung them up so quickly I was sure that the weather gods couldn’t have noticed. Oh but they did…and oh how they did…good job sky, you have left your mildewy mark on my wardrobe once again…

Tagged by Danielle

2008-11-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

1. Put your ITunes on shuffle
2. For each questions, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the meme as well as the person you got the note from.
What is your motto? Futures by Jimmy Eat World
What do you friends think of you? New Year by Deathcab for Cutie…hmmm…not sure how I feel about that one.
What do you think about very often? Lesson 33: A: Part 2 Ultimate Arabic Beginniner/Intermediate hahaha that fits a little too well…
What is 2+2? Lesson 17:D Ultimate Arabic Beginniner/Intermediate (its vocabulary…)
What do you think of your best friend? To the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left…Beyonce! (I don’t know the name of the song, sorry..its just track 13 on a mix). Haha which best friend are we talking about here?
What do you think of the person you like? Matchbook Seeks Maniac by Deerhoof. I don’t think I have ever heard this song before now…I kind of like the title am not seeking a maniac though?
What is your life story? Dream Girl, Dave Matthews Band. Aww…not exactly a life story but I like the song
What do you want to be when you grow up? Pantala Naga Pampa, Dave Matthews Band. It’s 40 seconds long. I don’t know what that means…
What do you think of when you see the person you like? The Last Song by The All-American Rejects.
What do your parents think of you? I Want To Be Ready by Ben Harper. Maybe more what my parents hope for me?
What will you dance to at your wedding? Seeing is Believing by Acceptance. Haha not really a good dance song, but that’s a good title for anything relating to a wedding in my future…
What will they play at your funeral? My Romance by Ella Fitzgerald. Oh what an elegant end…I wouldn’t mind this song, although it would be better at the wedding than the funeral I think.
What is your hobby/interest? Drive In, Drive Out--Dave Matthews Band. He is kind of the star of this survey of my life hey?
What is your biggest secret? Das kleine krokodil hahahahaha oh William would get this one…its not really a secret, just more of an inside joke. Although it does feature one of my unmentionable favorite words so I guess it could be a sort of secret?
What do you think of your friends? Get Mine, Get Yours by Christina Aguilara. Okay I’m having fun now hahaha
What’s the worst thing that can happen? Popstars, Rooney. Too true.
How will you die? What’s Left of the Flag by Flogging Molly. “A life once full, now an empty vase, wilt the blossoms on an early grave…” aiiii…I don’t know whether it’s the lyrics that should be significant or the name of the band in this case. Either way, its full of terrible ways for me to die.
What is the one thing you regret? To Be Alone With You, Sufjan Stevens. I don’t?
What makes you laugh? Imma tell, tech n9ne! oh this one is right on…I can't even look at the name without a smile on my face.
What makes you cry? The Smile On Your Face by Allison Krauss. Happy tears?
Will you ever get married? Stairway to Heaven, Led Zepplin. Yeahhh, sounds all nice and promising but here’s the thing though, the copy on my computer is corrupt and only plays the first 30 seconds of this 8 minutes and 3 second song. What does that tell you?
What scares you the most? In The Middle by Sugababes…this was a song on the soundtrack when I worked at Express. I wouldn’t say I am actually scared of working retail for the rest of my life, but I would be scared if it looked like that was going to be my future. Or we could just go with the name and say I am scared of being caught “in the middle.”
Does anyone like you? Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon) by The Mamas & The Papas. I don’t even know where to start with this one.
If you could go back in time, what would you change? Stay Where You Are by Ambulance LTD. Good advice, I don’t like thinking about changing things that have already happened.
What hurts now? When I Take My Sugar To Tea by Frank Sinatra. How about that I can't take my sugar to tea right now?
What will you post this as? Tucanes De Tijuana - El Virus Del Amor. Does that mean I should make this the name of the post?
People I tag:
Ohh everyone who wasn’t already tagged by someone else I know. Just do it, its fun, really.

Did I mention I'm famous?

2008-11-03T07:41:00.001-07:00

Oh and I forgot to mention there were professional photographers taking pictures while we were talking...

A few more random pics...

2008-10-17T01:44:00.005-06:00

Yavela, Zaza, Me, Sister. This was taken on Sister's last day at the clinic.. Before taking this one i took one of just her and she looked at it and said over and over "my face is so beautiful...I am so beautiful!" haha it was really cute. We are going to print out a copy of the picture , laminate it (Yavela's suggestion...I guess thats what you do here...) and then call her to come pick it up.The next two are pictures of Duncan Village that I snapped while on a bus going home. It is part low-income housing and part (mostly) "informal settlements" that is located just outside of town. I don't work there regularly but I do go there every once in a while to volunteer at a daycare center there. The other place I work though, Reestin, looks a lot like this except it is out in the country more so the shacks are mroe spread out.

Zaza, Amber, Me, Zolani, another Sister at the South Africa Oral History Conference. Who is Zolani? A famous man! I was walking through the hallway when he said hello and asked where i was from and then for my number. Now I have been lectured before on not giving out my number to strange men in South Africa (the other time it happened was justified in my opinion because it was in place of telling him my address) so this time i was prepared and when he asked for my number i gave him my email address intsead. While he was entering this information into his phone Zaza, Amber, and Sister came up with the camera squealing and laughing and positioning themselves around us for a picture. "Oh sorry," he said. "They want a picture." Um duh? Why are you apologizing? Someone takes a picture and then they say "Kaena! we have to go back! (we were only there because we had sneaked out of the HIV/AIDS workshop under the pretense that somebody outside urgently needed to talk to me and Amber.) "Oh you know them?" he asked. Again, how slow are you? WHy else would they come take a picture with us? "Yeah i do, sorry we have to go!" He shakes everyone's hands and I'm last and as I'm walking away I say "and what was your name again?" His friend laughs and he seems a little taken aback but tells me and I walk away to the rest of the group who are all still squealing and Amber says "did you know he was famous?" oh no i did not. Apparently he is a famous "praise poet"/national spokesperson. I told my host mom that I met him and she said "oh yes, we usually see him on the T.V."

2008-10-10T02:45:00.001-06:00

I found an internet connection fast enough to upload pictures! ANd its at the clinic where I work so I can hopefully be putting lots of pictures up in the future...below are just some posts and pictures that I had saved on my jump drive.

Regarding your tax dollars...

2008-10-10T02:44:00.000-06:00

I have had the rare opportunity this weekend to partake of US foreign aid (USAID and PEPFAR). I am pleased to inform you that your tax dollars bought a very entertaining last few days in a fancy hotel on the beach with very good catering served every 2 hours.
Ocean air and good food are just some perks on the side though. Also generously included in this 3 day retreat were mind-opening lectures about proper tea-time etiquette, what it means to be a civilized person, the real reason why none of us ladies in the room are losing weight (apparently we are constantly stuffing our faces) and how to correctly blow your nose in public. I’ll admit, the 30 minute debate on whether or not KFC is actually healthy for you was a bit over my head, but besides that the workshop was absolutely fantastic! Like if I could paint you a picture to illustrate it would be full of neon fireworks and lightening. (Does Macbook have something like Microsoft paint?)
And don’t worry, we also talked about HIV and AIDS. I am now qualified to counsel people before they are tested for HIV and to give them results and counsel them afterwards.

2008-10-10T02:43:00.000-06:00

“I’m going to show you ‘round the hoot.”
“The what?”
“The hoot! Hooooooot…”
“Oh, hoot!” I turn to Amber who still has a confused look on her face. “She said she’s going to show us around the hoot,” I say it with confidence—I can’t let on that I’m so uncool I don’t even know what the hoot is!
“Yeah, the hoot. You know, like Snoop Dog’s hoot.”
Ohhh the hood!
I didn’t realize how much of a barrier language could be in a place where almost everyone speaks English. I also didn’t realize how valuable a knowledge of the life and times of “Snoop Dog” (I haven’t had the heart to tell them he changed his name several times since then…) would have been…

2008-10-10T02:42:00.000-06:00

It rained here today, just like it rained in Provo a year ago. I remember because somehow, so far from all my family, it was so comforting to me that at least the sky seemed to understand what was going on and had the courtesy to mourn with me.
I am constantly amazed at the impact that Michelle has had and continues to have on my life. I could list literally hundreds of ways that my life has been shaped by knowing her. “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good…”

Not a banana tree

2008-10-10T02:36:00.003-06:00

Look at this enormous fig tree! Everytime I pass it I think about my little fig tree back in Provo...

hiking the coast...

2008-10-10T02:31:00.002-06:00

The second week I was here a woman from our ward, Sis. Smith, took us on a 2-day backpacking trip along the coast.. It was incrediby windy and the waves were huge! I was pretty sure we were going to be blown into the water...

Beacon Bay

2008-10-10T02:25:00.002-06:00

This is my closet in my room...my shelf is the third down. Behind the boxes on top is where the lizard lives. Bianca, me, and Amber. We all live together with Shirley and Wilbur and their 2 year old grandson Puki.
This is the beach by our house...

No need to leave my room--the wildlife comes to me!

2008-10-02T03:58:00.000-06:00

There is a lizard living in my room. I saw him scamper across the wall last night when I was writing letters. He was about this big:
{________________________________________________________________}

2008-10-02T03:53:00.002-06:00

South Africa is great! I have learned so much while I have been here—I really can’t believe it’s only been two weeks! My big accomplishment was finding a place to volunteer for the next three months where I could also do my research. The other two girls have had a hard time finding a place, but I was extremely lucky to be snatched up by a health clinic on my first day looking! I walked in, explained my research project, and within 5 minutes was shown to an office where I could conduct my interviews. It is located on a university campus about 40 minutes from town and I help out with various office tasks and bribe students with chocolate to come chat with me about health. It’s worked out really well so far and I have learned so many interesting/shocking things from my interviews. The girls who work there have been so incredibly sweet to me and even arranged for me to go to a workshop with them this weekend to become certified in HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing, adherence counseling, and ART administration. I don’t think my certificate will mean anything in the states, but it will be interesting all the same and will allow me to help them out at the clinic while I am here.
I am not able to take many pictures because it is a security risk to have my camera out in most places, but here are some pictures to sum up the last couple of weeks:

Actually the pictures are not uploading...sorry guys...I will try again some other time.

Illicit Behavior

2008-10-02T03:51:00.000-06:00

East London, South Africa...I arrived here a week from last Tuesday and was surprised at how easy the flight was. My first real impression of the country came form the woman from here that I was sitting next to on the plane. She asked if this was my first visit to South Africa and when I responded that it was she said, “It is a beautiful country, but a dangerous one as well. Be careful.” Not the best thing for my nerves…anyways, when I got to Johannesburg, the adventure started. I’m embarrassed to admit that my first actions in this country were illegal…I had gotten my baggage, found the domestic terminal (or rather, followed a man who enthusiastically took my luggage to the domestic terminal) and was standing in line when they weighed it. I was 12 Kilos over the limit. 395 the girl told me, to which I responded “395??!” Please keep in mind that I had just traveled about 24 hours on various airlines, and who knows what time it was or what time zone I was adjusted to at this point, but I was tired. I remembered that Eric had told me Bianca had to pay over $600 for her luggage, and I was thinking that this 395 number was in dollars, hence the outburst. Things were confusing and I didn’t understand what the girl wanted me to do because she didn’t speak very good English and eventually a man dressed in plain clothes came and said in English I could still hardly understand that he would make it so that I didn’t have to pay the 395 in exchange for a favor.

Nowwww here’s where I should have said no thank you and walked away…I don’t actually remember what I said but it was something along the lines of “I don’t have to pay the 395??” and he said “No, I will take care of it, you just pay me 150” and I said “thank you!” and started pulling out my money and he said “NO no no, not here!” and that’s when I realized that I was being illegal…Well I knew I was being illegal before, but remember I was thinking in dollars here and $395 is a lot of money! I suppose the most accurate way to put it is that is when I actually felt illegal. He handed me a fixed sheet with my extra weight waived, and told me to go through and that he would meet me on the other side. I got in line for check in and while I was waiting it occurred to me that they were probably talking about Rand, the South African currency, not American dollars in which case 395 equaled about $50 and 150 equals about $19. Too late to change my mind though…I checked in and when I walked out of the line the man suddenly appeared walking next to me. When we walked behind a column I quickly handed him a wad of rand and he took is said thank you and walked back the other direction. And that was my big illegal introduction to this country.

Hello!

2008-09-27T04:47:00.002-06:00

Dear everyone,

Yes I am alive and well! Sorry I have not written, I don't have as much access to the internet as I thought I would, and when I do I don't get very long and the computers are slow. My plan has been to write blog posts on my laptop at home and then save them on my jump drive and post them when I get the chance to come into town, but my jump drive and I got into a nasty fight and it is currently refusing to let me save things to it despite the fact that it has plenty of room available. I am going to buy a new one. In the meantime, South Africa is beautiful, it looks like Carlsbad, and I am a 30 minute walk from the beach although I have only managed to go there once so far. I am still looking for another place to volunteer, but I did find a clinic that has given me my own office and free reign to interview people. I will write more and post soon!

Love you all!

I took Jack to the park.

2008-09-11T16:44:00.001-06:00

Tagged by Katie P.!

2008-08-11T20:16:00.002-06:00

Here you go:

8 Things I am Passionate About:

1. earth/nature

2. family

3. health

4. peace/love/human rights

5. learning

6. the importance of self-worth? I don't know how to phrase it but if you know me you've probably heard me rant about it at some point or another....

7. books

8. colors

8 Books I Have Read and Enjoyed:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo

2. The Life of Pi

3. The Ramona Quimby series

4. Neither Wolf Nor Dog

5. The Chronicles of Narnia

6. Harry Potter series

7. Where the Wild Things Are

8. The Awakening

8 Words/Phrases I Say Often:

1. wait, what? (I think I'm going deaf...time to get one of those earwax candles!)

2. oh crap!

3. International study programs, this is McKenna

4. are you serious?

5. oh my gosh

6. Are you interested in going abroad?

7. a word I shouldn't say

8. Have you heard of a Field Study before?

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die (In no particular order):

1. Visit Egypt and Jerusalem and be able to communicate with people in Arabic

2. Skinny dip in all 5 oceans

3. Learn how to really take pictures

4. Get a masters or PhD

5. Visit all 6 continents

6. Teach someone something valuable

7. Make cookies with my grandkids

8. Publish something

8 Things I Learned in this Past Year:

1. Anyone can be a good cook if they are following a recipe

2. Nothing is one-dimensional

3. Heaven is a real place

4. The older you get, the more effort you have to put towards making your life successful (at least up to 22)

5. Parakeets have a blue patch above their beak if they are a boy, and a pinkish-brown patch if they are a girl

6. Canceling plane tickets is a bad idea--they may let you re-book it but they may also try to charge you 3 times the going rate to re-book it

7. There are no taxes on text books

8. You have to learn to be happy and relaxed even with 10 billion unfinished tasks hanging above your head

People I Want to Tag:

1. Meggiejane

2. Danielle

3. Kathy

4. Davey B.

5. Lauren

6. Mom

PS

2008-08-10T16:12:00.002-06:00

I finally bought my plane ticket to South Africa! I am leaving Sept. 14th from Bend, Oregon and arriving Sept. 16th in East London, South Africa. 29 hours and 25 minutes on the plane to cover 11,137 miles...

Cambridge

2008-08-10T15:21:00.005-06:00

One of the most beautiful places in the greater Boston area is the Mt. Auburn cemetery. In addition to the amazing landscaping, there's just something still about it--as if you have walked out of time and into a place that is just a place--area disassociated with time. Sometimes time-stopping moments are bad, but sometimes the reason time has stopped is because there is so much beauty it would be impossible to take it in otherwise. Surrounded by the bones of so many (famous or not), it is impossible for the imagination to lie still or for the soul to remain uninspired.

worst secretary ever part 2

2008-07-26T12:37:00.002-06:00

Today I broke the office printer. Apparently taping two things together and then trying to print something on it is a bad idea--ruins the drum.

worst secretary ever

2008-07-09T10:07:00.004-06:00

I just made fun of a meeting to my boss and her/my boss heard me. Yes he is in charge of it, no she wasn't really responding to what I was saying, and no I didn't realize he was behind me (creepy?) for a good 5 minutes.

Who really wants to spend 2 hours talking about health insurance?

Sometimes we make mistakes over and over and over again

2008-06-25T21:44:00.009-06:00

It happened again...I dropped my camera into some wild water. You would think I learned my lesson the first time this happened (this is time #3). Or maybe I just wasn't around large bodies of water. I made a list:

1994--Pink plastic glasses
2005--Camera #1
2007--Frisbee, Cell phone

2008a--Camera #2 (miraculously revived a couple weeks after initial incident), Cell Phone, My life (aka my handbag with planner, keys, NG, etc...)
2008b--Camera #2(yes again--still waiting for the miracle...)

I tried to make a graph that would illustrate the increasing frequency, but apparently my excel skills have disappeared so just imagine a colorful labeled line getting higher and higher. Anyways, I am losing more and more things to water more and more frequently and I am starting to wonder if there is a water god down there somewhere in love with me? Trying to woo me to a life in the depths of the sea? just a thought.

The tragedy in pictures:

This is a picture of my phone diving into Lake Washington last summer. It might appear that I am throwing it in. Really I am not. Just jumping with style. Also, note that Christian's pants are wet from attempting to rescue the frisbee that I sent to a watery grave just moments before.

This is a picture of Austin, me , Rob on the dock after our canoe decided to spice things up.

This is the last picture my camera took before the wild and raging river knocked me over. My camera has not recovered this time.

In other news, I went home for a week to pack and say goodbye. It was more of a goodbye to places, not people, since most of my friends have graduated and moved on to greater things in exciting places. I did see Casey and Noah D. though, and that was fun. I will have to talk about my Boston adventure in another post.

Henry's got some moves

2008-06-13T09:32:00.003-06:00

Okay, soooo I made him say it...it's still cute though.

I haven't been posting because every time I think about the Seattle trip I don't even know where to start! Rob and Austin both did a good job at describing the trip, so I think I'll leave that one to them and move on to my MA trip. (and before I begin that I have to finish this blasted proposal...I thought I'd at least post this video so there's something new up)

food fight

2008-06-05T00:18:00.010-06:00

Our car was almost towed in 10 seconds. How did they know what our excuse was?

How to eat a cheese stick

2008-05-28T15:21:00.009-06:00

He's so good at it.

McKenna Lane, New Zealand

2008-05-22T16:33:00.015-06:00

I can be map-quested.

Hell on my face

2008-05-19T01:52:00.005-06:00

A giant fireball ate my face today. And all the hair on my right arm.

The story isn't as exciting as the aftermath. I was at Kyle's and we were all sitting around talking about how hungry we were and that we should grill some veggies, but no one was actually getting up and starting anything. I got up to get some water and someone said "Hey McKenna, why don't you go start up the grill?" I don't actually remember ever starting up a grill before, but its not really the type of thing you would keep a memory of anyway--I figured it couldn't be too hard, right? Just toss some new charcoal in, douse it in lighter fluid and then throw in a match...

This part worked fine actually. What didn't work was that the grate was crooked, and after shutting the lid I thought, "Oh, I should fix that now because its only going to get hotter and we need it on straight to grill." So I reopened the grill and out jumps Satan's fury in fire, eating all the hair on my right arm as it climbed on towards my face, where it munched on my left eyelashes and managed to save room for half of my right lashes and a handful of hair...I mourned for about 15 minutes while everyone told me it wasn't that bad, and then went home to wash the dead hair remains off and tried to convince myself that it really wasn't that bad.

It was kind of an adventure for my face...it makes for a good story at least. Oh and I almost forgot the most ironic part of the story-- Rob was eaten alive the day before by the very same fireball, or at least a fireball from the very same grill for doing the very same thing to the grill. Unfortunately for me, I was in the kitchen at the time cutting the veggies, thus making me the only one who didn't see (or hear the details of why) it happened.

Ya Habibi

2008-04-10T00:02:00.001-06:00

I have been contemplating this moment for awhile now--the official start of my blog. I figured now was as good a time as ever, you know--12:00 in the library will loads of homework hanging over my head...Somehow I have become immune to the panic that seems logical for my situation. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing.

One of the reasons to panic actually fits in quite nicely with an explanation for my title. "Ya habibi" means "oh my darling" in Arabic, a class that I stopped going to a couple of weeks ago. I chose this title because this is one of my favorite Arabic phrases--fun to say but it also seems has usually been associated with a sort of sigh in my mind, morphing the meaning from a term of endearment to a meaning closer to " oh dear, what am I going to do?" which is quite representative of my life right now.