GCTT 2009!

One of my favorite things about my visit to Arizona was my week long stay with my dear old roommate and best buddy Jill.
Jill and I first became roommates when we both moved to Arizona 6 years ago. We didn't meet until the day we moved into our shared bedroom in the Smoke House on Alma School Road (named thus because of the smoke that came in through the vents from our smoking neighbors). We quickly bonded over our shared depression upon leaving Provo and soon became hilarious pals. Jill and I were room roommates for 4 years and not a day passed that didn't involve some sort of hilarious antic. There is something about Jill that inspires true spazziness in me and our week long reunion was full of spaz in epic proportions...

One of my favorite moments occurred the last night that I was there. Jill's roommate Amanda has within her possession the largest candy collection of all time. She has an entire shelf dedicated to treats, yes we too became fast friends or candy soul mates if you will. She has bins full of candy, fruit snacks, soda, salty treats and much more, it was a candy addict's (i.e. me) dream come true. On the final eve of Jill/Angela Fabfest we were sitting around eating haribo gummi bears and I innocently asked Jill which of the gummi bear flavors was her favorite. Fifteen minutes later, with the help of Amanda and her boyfriend Dave, we had assembled the Great Candy Taste Test 2009. The concept was simple: carefully taste each flavor of candy and then list the order of preference. We tested at least five different candy flavors and the results were astonishing! Flavors that I loved, the others hated and vice versa. I would never have thought that taste buds could vary so much. It really made me rethink the abolishment of yellow starbursts, and the wisdom of eating so much candy. Despite cleansing our palate's with milk between each flavor, we all became very ill and I had to abstain from candy for the next few days...
ok...hours...

Here is the documentation for posterity:)

My score sheet


Dave, Amanda, and Jill displaying the GCTT '09 set up


Thanks Jill and Amanda for a truly fun week!

Essay: On My Summer Vacation I...

Welcome back to me! I haven't blogged lately because I have been dabbling in the land of Java, otherwise known as taking a 3 week summer course in Southeast Asian Music. I had to finish my last music history class for my doctorate so I took a month off of teaching and ran off to Phoenix. Although I missed Adam dreadfully, I had so much fun in Arizona!
My class was hilarious! The only 3 week course that was offered was Southeast Asian Music. At first I was kind of disappointed because I didn't think I would learn anything of worth, but it turned out to be totally awesome. My class was mostly about the music of Central Java, an island in Indonesia, and specifically the gamelan. Ah the gamelan...
If you are anything like me you have no idea what a gamelan is, well it is ensemble that is made up of gongs, sarons, kepuls, ketuks, bonangs, pekings, genders, and many more crazy named instruments. Basically its kettle drums, various-sized gongs, and xylophones that you hit with beaters.
My typical class day consisted of one hour of lecture and another hour of me banging around on funny instruments and laughing my head off. It was a blast!
I've included some pictures to give you an idea of the fun!

This is after class was over one day, my teacher is in the middle. He has just finished yelling at me because I was playing the gong standing up. Apparently you are not allowed to play the gong standing in Java, even if your knees are bleeding from kneeling on the carpet...


Here is the illustrious gong, and my new haircut!

Tuwanda!

So Adam and I have taken the big plunge...we have unplugged our cable and DVR box! We decided that we spend WAY too much time watching really stupid shows, so yesterday we took out the cable cord and rearranged out living room furniture so there could be no going back. On tuesday I will call the cable company and cancel everything and we will be a TV free family! Well not totally TV free, we'll still watch movies and the shows we really like on the internet, but our days of laying around watching Frasier are over. So far we've been without cable for 24 hours and its been a little hard, but mostly nice. So far we actually had a conversation while eating dinner, I did almost all of our laundry (miracle of all miracles), and we went to bed at a decent time last night. Its been so nice! I'm sure future days will include feeling isolated from the outside world, and me pulling my hair out for one glimpse of Full House, but for now we are enjoying our major life change!

Question

Does anyone else get a little embarrassed when you are watching a tender show (i.e. baby story or what not to wear) on television and you realize you are half smiling without knowing it? Perhaps I am alone in the world...

cash issues

Lately I've been doing that thing where you pay for groceries with cash to try and stay within a budget. Its worked out nicely so far, except I've noticed something. Whenever the checker gives me my change, I feel an enormous amount of pressure to put it away as fast as possible. The second they hand it to me, they are done with our transaction and are moving on to the next person therefore I loose my right to the little purse platform. It stresses me out, my bills get wadded up, and my coins end up in the bottom of my purse in my mad dash to get out of the way. I used to pay with cash all the time and I don't remember feeling this way. My neat little debit card has spoiled me forever I guess.

Are you there blog gods?...Its me Angela...

Since MTV so nicely commented on my last blog, and Nancy got free Rhodes Rolls for blogging about them, I have now decided that the blog is a very powerful thing. I am going to put this magic power to the test and see what happens...
For many years I have held a little seed of an idea in my head, dreaming of a day when it might come to fruition. I was hoping that those with power would think of it on their own, but they seem to be struggling so I thought I might send out my plea to the blog gods and see what happens. Why does the Starburst corporation, or Mars co., refuse to create a Starburst pack with only pinks in it? Honestly I only know of one person who likes the oranges and yellows, ahem Nancy, everyone else fights over the pinks and reds. If nothing else they should at least get rid of the yellows, honestly they taste like lemon pledge to me and thats not just because my taste buds are still wrecked (tragedy). I've gone so far as to actually just throw them out rather than eat them, and I know I'm not the only one who "randomly" finds the yellow next in line when someone asks for one from my pack. It hurts my heart to waste candy so that is a testament to how much I hate them.
The Starburst people have come close. One summer they had a mystery flavor instead of lemon (it was raspberry if you are wondering) and it was the best summer of my life. Much to my dismay, much like summer love, it ended too soon. The newest creation is the Fave Reds pack, which replaces the oranges and yellows with watermelon and fruit punch. This is close, but we all know that fruit punch is just one notch up from lemon.
So Starburst people and blog gods hear my plea! Make a starburst pack of only delicious pinks! Pinks, reds, and oranges if you must, but I beg of you leave out the yellows!
Sorry Nancy, it must be done...

A List of...

Things I am currently obsessed with:

1. baked potatoes-perhaps I am finally settling into my Idaho surroundings but not likely. More likely it is the sour cream that is catching my fancy.

2. popcorn made in our whirly pop-mmm delicious, I may never go back to microwave popcorn.

3. checking out books from our tiny local library/reading/goodreads-I find myself reading books as fast as possible because I want to put them on my goodreads lists. I have read 5 books since last thursday (yes I am in between semesters and I live in the most boring town in America, if you are wondering why I have copious amounts of time to read). Any good book suggestions are appreciated.

4. The Hills-who isn't obsessed really...

5. Taking the Stage-modern reality version of Fame on MTV

6. Staying up super late-I hate it, but I can't go to sleep early anymore.

7. Finding healthy recipes to make on the internet

8. Laying on the couch instead of actually making said healthy recipes

9. The sun! It is FINALLY starting to warm up a bit here, however it will probably snow tomorrow because I have now jinxed it.