Road Trip

"We're here."

My roommate Kristen woke me up.  I had been snuggled with my pillow and fuzzy autumn leaf blanket in the back seat.  We made it!  Phew.  I had driven most of the way from San Diego to Visalia that night, but after getting lost with terrible directions from the internet and not sleeping well on the trip, I had Jason drive the last bit for me.  It was a precautionary measure so I didn't careen the us and the van off the road into the "methane-y" dairy farms we had been driving through in my yawn imbued stupor.

Giuly blinked several times next to me and stretched.  I looked around.  Outside the grimy van windows I couldn't see a thing.  Jason turned around from the driver's seat.

"Thanks a lot, Becky.  Five minutes of driving, you fall asleep and I hit a wall of fog going 85 miles an hour."

I blinked.

"But no worries.  We're safe.  I only drove for about 45 minutes."

We grabbed our stuff from the back of the van and followed Kristen into Clayton's home.  Clayton had gotten married that day (or should I say previous day since it was currently 2 am) to our now former roommate Heather and his parents had offered us a bed in their home for the next two days while we helped with the reception in Visalia.  We met Kristen at the front door.  She had already gotten her stuff to the bedrooms we would be using that night.  She had been texting Virginia, Clayton's Filipino mom, as we'd traveled.  She must have met Kristen at the door while we were gathering our bags.  We walked through the whitewashed, wrought-iron gate on the porch and into the bonechilling cold house.

"Brrrr. Why is it so cold, Kristen?"

"Virginia apologized because she forgot to turn the heat on.  It is California, they don't usually need the heater."

 San Diego hadn't been the tropical paradise we had envisioned either.  It was chilly and breezy and cold.  The sun wasn't much help because it hid behind the clouds all afternoon during the picture taking at the temple.

Kristen, Giuly and I moved our stuff into a bedroom with two twin beds and a trundle.  We let Jason have the bedroom with one bed.  While attempting to acclimatize to the temperature I looked around the bedroom.  The closet was open and I could see books and luggage stored away.  There were names written on the items and they were NOT Virginia or Randall Lemons, Clayton's parents.  I numbly turned to Kristen.

"Are we sure this is the right house? Did you talk to anyone?"

"No I didn't talk with anyone.  I didn't want to wake anyone up.  Virginia said she left the door unlocked."

"Oh man oh man oh man we're in someone else's house!"

"But this is the right address, right?!?"

"Jason!!! Would you go check the address on the mailbox?"

"Yeah and Virginia said the house is green.  Will you check to see that this is a green house too?"  (In our stupor we forgot how dark and foggy it was outside.) 

While us girls huddled together in the middle of the room in the who-knows-whose-house-it-was, Kristen went over the text messages from Virginia again.

"Jason, she said they put the garage door opener in the mailbox!" she whispered loudly to Jason as he slipped out into the hallway.

Shivering from cold and from the fear of being imprisoned in a state miles from home we waited for the news Jason would bring back.  We listened to any sound that may have come from elsewhere in the house.  No matter what shock we were experiencing, it would still not be a nice surprise for someone to wake up at 2 in the morning finding four young adults trying to squat on your property, actually inside your home.  For the normal noises a house makes the air was eerily quiet.

The front door opened and we all gasped almost silently.  Footsteps came through the hall.

"This is definitely the right address.  The house number is the same and there is a garage door opener remote in the mailbox.  I think we can safely say we're in the right house."

Jason's tone calmed us down.  He was certain.  I slowed my heart with deep breathing exercises and got ready for bed as quick as possible.  We knelt down on the trundle to say a prayer of gratitude (the floor was absolutely too cold).

I drifted to sleep rather quickly considering how much adrenaline had been running through my system in the prior 15 minutes. 

*******************************************************************************

I was awoken by Kristen nudging my left shoulder.

"Turn it off."

There was a sound wafting from the window by my head.  I half sat up, leaning on my elbows and looked back.  Light emanated from the windowsill.  Giuly's cell phone.  I hit the pile of blankets on the bed above me to my right.

"Giuly, your alarm..." I tried to get her attention.  No repsonse.  I blinked some sleep out of my eyes and focused on the bed.  No one was there.  Just a bunch a blankets.

She must be in the bathroom, I thought.  I'll turn it off anyway.

I fell asleep within seconds of silencing the phone.

******************************************************************************************

My left shoulder was prodded again.  This time by Kristen's foot or leg.  She was getting out of bed.  

"Good morning.  Did you sleep well, Kristen?"

Groggily she squinted at me and said something that sounded like "sure."

She took a breath and said, "Virginia said last night she was going to make us breakfast and she just texted me saying she's getting it ready in the kitchen."

Jason knocked on the door and walked in.  "Breakfast?!?"  Wow, men and their love affair with food.  "I'll go see," he offered.

As we dressed Jason went to go see if he could help.  He came back slightly more breathless with wide eyes.

"Guys, no one is here," he paused.  "This is an empty house!"

I jumped up.  "I'm going to look around."

I first walked across the frigid floor to the kitchen.  Light was seeping through the fog and the windows to add a bit of clarity to the house that was so dark and ominous the night before. I peeked around the doorway of the kitchen.  Vacant.  No smell of bacon, or sound of the toaster popping.  Hmmm.  Curious.  I walked back towards the end of the house where we slept.  Back through the front room with an enormous flat panel tv and a drafty wooden floor.  When I reached the hallway I turned further into the house.  Treading carefully, I peeked into the adjoining rooms.  Laundry room.  Linen closet.  Master bedroom, I'm guessing. Yup, master bedroom.  Only it wasn't occupied.  As I stepped into the open room I felt my presence echo off the walls.  It wasn't just not occupied.  It was empty.  The wide open closet doors showed bare shelves and clothing racks.  The master bathroom seemed to be in the middle of repairs.  I walked a bit quicker back to the bedroom to share my discoveries.  As I opened the door, Giuly was saying:

"This is a ghost house.  I didn't want to say it last night but it has the smell of a house that hasn't been lived in for a while."

I confirmed her suspicions with my facts.  We all turned on Kristen.

"Call Virginia now!  If this is the right house, where is she?!"

"Find out what's going on!"

"What is she making for breakfast?"

"Are we sure its a green house?"

"Oh man, we're going to get caught! What are the neighbors thinking right now?!"

Kristen fumbled her phone into her hands and began calling.  Jason went outside to see what color the house was in the meager morning light. I folded up my blankets and tried to organize what I had spread out the night before.  Giuly was working on her bed as well.  I tried to make some conversation with her so I wouldn't be trying to control what Kristen said and asked Virginia in my suspense.

"Your phone went off this morning.  Why did you set an alarm?"

"No it didn't.  It must have been someone else's.  I didn't hear it."

"I had to turn it off.  I guessed you were in the bathroom."

"I didn't use the bathroom this morning."

"But you weren't in bed."

"Yes I was."

"I couldn't see you and when I padded the blankets in my reach you didn't react." Giuly was my room-roommate back in Provo.  We'd shared the same room for over a year.  She would wake to anything and I could sleep through anything.

"Strange.  I must be getting skinnier.  But I didn't hear the alarm.  And you did?"

"Kristen woke me up to turn it off."

"Ghost house..." Giuly whispered.

Kristen hung up and Jason walked in.

"Its definitely green."

"This is the right house.  Virginia didn't tell me that they own several homes.  She's cooking in the home they currently live in. And she said we could come over cuz breakfast is ready."

Several things started to click.

"Now it makes sense why she forgot to turn the heat on.  Its easier to forget to turn the heat on in the whole house when you don't actually live there!"

Kristen nodded, "And last night she told me no one was at the house.  I thought she meant because we were all in San Diego and there were no kids at home or something."

Since we didn't have internet access or a map to find the house Virginia actually lived in, we hung out in the van running the heater while Randall drove over to show us the way.  We blasted the heater trying to get warm.  The sun melted the residual fog away.  Randall turned the corner and we began to follow him.  I turned around and watched the green house grow smaller before we curved around the block.  What a night last night!  And, I slowly realized, we get to sleep in the ghost house again tonight!


Please no ghosts, no prison, and turn the heater on!

Philippine Prison Reform

Solitary, chain gangs, supervised humanitarian work, violence to combat violence.

Byron Garcia knew there had to be a better way to bring about reform.  While watching Shawshank Redemption, a story about an innocent man's time behind bars, he got an idea...

True reform is in the heart and mind.  Music and literature freed the prisoners in Shawshank in a way.

...so what about dancing?

THRILLER

GREGORIAN CHANT

I NEED A HERO

 DANGEROUS

 

I WILL FOLLOW HIM - SISTER ACT

A QUICK DOCUMENTARY OF THE INMATES

Take THAT life of crime!

Harmony sketch app

So I was browsing the web during work and I ran into this cool program.  It blows Windows Paint out of the water with its novelty.  Though perhaps not with its versatility.  (There is no undo button.)

 

For some fun with this free program, go to http://mrdoob.com/120/Harmony . 

Word of the Day - for the geologist in me

gos·san  (gsn, gz-) n. An exposed, oxidized portion of a mineral vein, especially a rust-colored outcrop of iron ore. [Cornish gossen, from gs, blood, from Old Cornish guit.]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gossan

The New Stream Table at BYU!

I love geology!  This is my class working with the new stream table just installed at BYU.  It is the fourth of its kind in the nation to be installed.

Have fun picking out people you know from BYU campus!

Oh and if you ever want to come see the stream table, I have access and can show you around and how it works!  Just let me know.  I'd love an excuse to go play with the big sandbox!

This ain't a fairytale...

There have just been a few events lately (hope you notice the sarcasm there) that help me realize that life isn't perfect and that I can't just allow myself to be a damsel in distress.  I need to stand my ground and face a future where my problems won't be solved by a knight in shining armor and his "white horse" galloping into view.  Although I am a divine princess, that doesn't mean happily ever after is right around the corner or that true love or love at first sight will pop up at what I consider to be the theatrical, most opportune moment.  There is no guarantee that I will be swept off my feet.  I need to learn to say no and to be by myself.  I can be stronger.

White Horse by Taylor Swift

A Little Bit Stronger by Sara Evans

Personality Patterns

I love getting ideas from my co-worker Brittany and her blog and she had a post a while ago that had her personality test results.  It was fascinating and I thought others might be interested in taking the test as well.  Here is the personality test and here is the link to her blog.  The following are my results!  Have fun!

 

 Understanding

You are willing to take the time to find out what's going on with other people, especially if they're in distress. You're a good listener, you don't criticize, and you offer unbiased, respectful, honest advice when it's requested. With a high score on the "understanding" trait, it is likely that you are enthusiastic about charitable work, helping others, and making the world a better place.

You don't feel the need to impose your standards on others or say things that, even though true, cause pain.

Passionate

You are in touch with your emotions, and sometimes you react before you think. The good news: you don't tamp down your feelings. The bad news: you sometimes say or do things that you later wish you could take back.

You do not live your life on an even keel; you do not go for long periods without experiencing some mood swings.

Aesthetic

You appreciate art, beauty, and design; you know that they are not superficial but absolutely crucial to living the good life. You have good taste, and you're proud of it. Those with a high score on the "aesthetic" trait are often employed in literary or artistic professions, enjoy domestic activities — doing things around the house — and are enthusiastic about the arts, reading, and travel.

You don't think it's pretentious to be moved by art and beauty. You're not one of those who believe it doesn't matter what something looks like as long as it does its job.

Organized

You like to think a task through before you embark on it. If it's the slightest bit complicated, you make a list (even if it's only in your mind) and methodically work your way through it. When you have a goal in mind, you're not satisfied until you reach it.

You are not one of those people who ignore the details, and you don't understand how anyone can get anything accomplished without thoughtful planning ahead of time.

Innovative

You come up with a lot of ideas; if one doesn't work out, there's always another waiting in the wings. You often have interesting solutions to difficult problems. You're practically a one-person brainstorming session.

You are less interested changing the world than in dealing with things as they are. Unlike those who spend all their time trying to solve problems, you prefer to zero in on things that work and stick with them.

Creative

You are good at solving problems, coming up with original ideas, and seeing connections between things, connections that most other people miss. People with a high score on the "creative" trait often are employed in such fields as finance and scientific research, and enjoy avant garde and classical music as well as literary fiction and scholarly non-fiction.

You do not shun abstractions and concepts in favor of the concrete and tangible.

Competent

You strive to master everything you undertake. You tend to learn quickly and do not shy away from challenges.

You are not a "que sera sera" type of person, nor do you go easy on yourself when attempting to master a new skill or get a job done.

Astute

You are a quick study. You generally don't need to have things explained to you more than once. When presented with a problem, you will often have an instant understanding of where to look for the solution.

You do not take your sweet time when presented with a new task to complete or problem to solve. You don't avoid assignments that require you to learn new skills.

Intellectual

You are thoughtful, rational, and comfortable in the world of ideas. People find you interesting to talk to. You're the living embodiment of the saying "You learn something new every day." In general, those with a high score on the "intellectual" trait are employed in such fields as teaching and research, and are enthusiastic about reading, foreign films, and classical music.

You do not avoid abstract conversation, experimenting with new ideas, or studying new things. It bores you to stick to the straight and narrow of what you already know.

Original

You are constantly coming up with new ideas. For you, the world as it exists is just a jumping-off place; what's going on inside your mind is often more interesting than what's going on outside.

You don't feel that the road to success is to be a realist and stick to the program; you never stop yourself from coming up with new ideas or telling the world what you're thinking about.

Ballroom Bliss

I DID IT!!!!  I competed in Ballroom at BYU and made it to the semi-finals!  And then to the finals!  And finished with 4th place!!!!

It has been a far off dream of mine to be on the Ballroom Dance Team at BYU and time was always lacking to even pursue the dream.  But this semester I enrolled in Dance 184, Standard Beginning Ballroom.  We had a mock Dancesport event, and my partner and I waltzed our way into 4th place out of 76 couples!  Honestly, I was shocked.  I thought we had been cut by semi-finals, but I just missed our number in the new heat announcement and my partner pulled me out on to the dance floor.  In between heats, my teacher, Chelsie Wilde, would give us pointers about what to improve.  During the heat, I could hear Chelsie and my former roommate, Kim Acerson (also a teacher and member of the BYU Ballroom Tour team for years), cheering for us by name as we passed the teachers and announcer on the floor.  They cheered us into placing!

Not me.  This is Brock, Kim's last partner, in a BYU Ballroom Tour performance with other members of the team.

My first ballroom competition experience was a success.  Cross your fingers for the real Dancesport competition!

Steven is Coming Home!

I'm SO. SUPER. D. DUPER. EXCITED!!!!!  My brother, who I haven't seen in over 2 years and 9 months, is arriving home from serving a mission NEXT WEEK!  The reason for the long period of separation is simple: service for the church.  But remember it was voluntary!  I left to serve a mission in Connecticut in January of 2009 for a period of 18 months, and he left to serve a mission in California for a period of 24 months in October of the same year.  Sniff.  Although I miss him now, he's coming home, and we had great times emailing each other during our mission overlap and talking over the phone with three-way calling with our family on Mother's Day and Christmas.

I'm STOKED!

See the sidebar for information about when and where he is reporting in church.-->

Lars Eggertsen

I have in my possession some journals from the late 1880's. They were written by a man named Lars Eggertsen, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The current owner of them is a man from Monroe, Connecticut. He is Lars' great-grandson. The owner's parents left the Church after they graduated from med school. They moved out to Massachusetts and left the church behind. But family heirlooms were still passed down including these journals. Certain items have been authenticated by the church such as a scrap from one of Joseph Smith's coats. The Church has expressed the desire for possession of several of his items but he does not wish to give them up. I ran into this man while on my mission and he lent us the journals, specifically the ones Lars used while he served his mission in the land of his fathers, Denmark. We had them for over three weeks and we fell in love with them. Last semester I was prompted to ask permission to transcribe them and he heartily gave permission and some advice about how to go about it!






I haven't gotten very far in my transcribing, but the following is a neat passage from the first journal written by Lars' father Simon Peder Eggertsen in Danish about his mission and translated by Lars:



"I was very happy in those days though I had many trials but God blessed me in many ways. On the 23 of April 56 I was very much downcast and a strange spirit whispered to me that I had now spent $300 of my money and still you do not know if Joseph Smith had been visited by angels and had received the priesthood. I prayed very ardently to my God and on the evening between the 3 and 4 of April 56 I had a vision and saw a large temple and many people and Brigham Young the then president and a voice came that it was all true and that the priesthood was restored and I should get ready to go to Zion with the first emigration. I also saw an old man Lars Jensen whom I had traveled with and preached and his hair was now snow white whereas it was red at the time I knew him. I was now so happy that I cannot begin to describe my feelings of joy. On the 4 after I had had breakfast I went over a farm on way to a town to preach feeling so happy that I swung my hat in air and said I was willing to loose every drop of blood for my testimony of the gospel and Joseph Smith. On the 13 of August with Rasmussen we went to Gierslev to bare our testimony to Jens Frericksen whom I after baptized. There were others present and they heard our words and seemed to accept them. At 10 o’clock we had prayers and left. Shomaker Hansen one of the men with several others laid in wait for us and as we come about a 100 yards from the house they bounced* upon us and gave us sevier blows. Blood rushed from me in large streams I had never seen a person so mangled as I was and my companion, even in the war. Nearly all my blood was spilt there were four men that hear (beat?)* us. They left us and my companion. I crawled back to the house of Jens Fredricksen some way and was washed and cared for. I was anointed by myself and Rasmussen and continued to bare testimony of Joseph Smith. In 2 weeks time I was well."

* The red highlighted words are guesses at the word due to handwriting legibility.

Becky's Boo boos

All my life, I've never suffered from a shortage of nicknames. The first one that I received when I was a wee babe was Boo Boo. You know, Yogi and Boo Boo from Jellystone National Park? I don't know how or why my father associated that name with me. At least I wasn't called "bug" like my older brother. He was caught chewing a stinkbug before he could talk. Father dubbed him "bug." My dad was the originator of most of my nicknames, however endearing or dreadful they are. I liked the name Boo Boo until my family was on a roadtrip and we saw a billboard advertising band-aids; "We make boo-boos go bye-bye." That was the beginning of the not-so-endearing nicknames.

BUGEYE - Yes that is right. An eye of a bug. My next to youngest brother had a hard time pronouncing names. He couldn't say Becky. It came out "Bug-eye." Thus a whole new period of my life filled with insect jokes.

BOOBONIC - As in the plague. My father and I were discussing the medieval period and the plague came up. But instead of saying it correctly, bubonic, pronounced byoobahnick, his tongue slipped and boobonic was born! I was named after a deadly sickness that wiped out 1/3 of the European population!

REBECKY - The name that flowed out of Stacy Tovar's mouth during orchestra. She just combined my official and my preferred names.

BECK - a shortened form of my preferred nickname, which Dad would yell down the stairs to get my attention.

BECK, BECK, BECK, BE-GECK! - When Dad got tired of yelling for me. Or I was not too keen on doing something.

BECKAW! - My freshman roommates were too lazy to get out of their beds to come get me. So they quietly called for me as sweetly as they could. When I didn't answer (because I couldn't hear their minute voices) they tapped into their sugar stores from the wild night before and called for me with a screeching crow and I heard it as Beckaw!

DOE-TAH - (British pronunciation of daughter) a name my father endearingly calls me when I'm overly smothering him with affection.

REBACCAH - rhymes with Chewbacca, the sidekick of Han Solo in the Star Wars series. My friend Chelsea was granted the name Chewbacca and I was Rebaccah by our ever so agitated Sunday School classmate AJ in junior high.

BUCKY - A child I babysat couldn't pronounce my name either. But at least he was nicer than calling me the eye of a bug. Those compound eye things are pretty creepy.

By all means these are not the only names I have been graced with, nor will they be the last. There are most definitely going to be more names in the future. But for now, these are them. Some more endearing than others. And they all started with Boo Boo. And you know what my brothers said, "we make Boo Boos go bye-bye!"