Saturday in the Park, I think it was the... 24th of March

I grew up listening to the band Chicago. I loved belting along as loud as i could- "if you see me walking by and the tears are in my eyes, look away baby look away" I think I did a pretty good rendition. Im sure part of my love of the band was attributed to the fact that I grew up in Chicago. The song of theirs that runs through my head on a semi-regular basis is Saturday in the Park. Especially if it is Saturday and I go to a park (makes sense.)

enjoy.

Last night I had fallen asleep on our big couch upstairs. I love those couches...lots. We have found that our loft gets a perfect breeze if you open up both of the windows, meaning I could cuddle up with blankets and not get hot. perfection. what was weird was that I woke up cuddled up with blankets on the small couch. I have no recollection of switching couches. My list of things I do in my sleep in getting quite long now. Sleep talking, sleep diving, and now sleep walking. Oh brother.

The afternoon was filled with "Love's Labors Lost," BYU's production of a Shakespearean Comedy. It was perfect. The play was set during WWII, and was full of energy. I LOVED it. They mixed some swing in which made my life happy- and made me miss Bill. During intermission they invited people to come on stage and dance to the live band. We sat and talked, but I couldnt help remember my Senior year of high school when we had gone to the Swingsingers show. They sang "Unforgettable" and invited everyone up to dance. No one moved. My dad grabbed my hand and we went up. We danced- and it was perfect.

family dance party at Becca's wedding.

dancing with the old man. it might be what I look forward to most at my own someday wedding.

It's funny how it is something so small but means the world to me. I was dating a guy a little while back and we went to a wedding reception where there was dancing. We didn't dance. That night we talked- I realized the things I would have to give up if we got married. Growing up dancing in the kitchen with my dad, and dancing with another boy I dated has made that something I look for. It was hard for me to think that I we were to get married that wouldn't be a part of our life. We talked, and he was perfect and said that it wasn't something I would have to give up- that he would dance with me.  As I was sitting there, on a date, I couldn't help but think about what I value in dating. What are the important characteristics? Do I NEED someone who will dance with me while cleaning up from dinner, or just someone who loves me? I think there are thing that are critical but other things that are just preferences- the really questions is how picky can you be, and what constitutes settling.

Tangent over. the play was great though. Full of comical moments. good times.

The rest of the night was planned to be spent at the Real Salt Lake Game with our Pass of all Passes, but plans changed. We decided we just wanted a relaxing night in Provo full of frozen yogurt, food from the hospital (a foot long corndog is only $1.75... amazing!), and a bike ride- followed of course with a movie and hot chocolate. Did the night go according to plan? no sir.

i cleaned and talked to the lovely becca, then we found out we had two free ice cream opportunities so scratch fro yo. then it was off to the hospital for din din but i was still stuffed from dateness. so al got food and it was off to a park. the best park in provo. it has a river with a bridge (perfect for pooh sticks) and a playground with swing, and pavilions, and a forest with trails, AND a pond with ducks! perfection.

look at that corndog... so so soooooo good.

i am so excited for spring/summer 

squeeze drinks...soo good.

Alison's lotion exploded in her purse. no bueno seniorita.

the night was finished off with a birthday party. make that two birthday parties. and then getting served Ice Cream because the boys thought we had General Relief Society Meeting. we didnt- but they still gave us ice cream. by this time we were feeling sickly full of sugar so it was home to watch Madagascar 2.

while things didn't go as planned it was a perfect, relaxing night.

positive versus negative duty

day two.

Today is positive and negative duties. have you ever thought about the word duty. for some reason i think it is an extremely funny word. yes, im five.

so what are positive and negative duties you ask?

a positive duty is when you act to preserve life. a negative duty is when you refuse to act to preserve life.

examples to think about (i might be stealing some of these from my SFL 480 class):

1. you are a doctor in the outback (Australian style). 5 hikers come in to your clinic. All five are suffering from hikinonia (a made up disease caught while hiking). You only have four CCs of sleepicillin (a drug that will cure them). One hiker is suffering a severe case, the guess is he is the one who caught it first and infected the others. He requires four CCs to survive. However, the other four only need one. do you save the one or the four?

2. you are a sheriff (much like in the game bang- which I played on Saturday...and sunday and loved it). you are holding a prisoner who is awaiting his pending trial, where he will most likely be sentenced to death. A mob comes to the jail and tells you that they hate him and want to kill him. All you have to do is take a longer lunch break. If you don't they will kill four civilians. What do you do?

3. You are a doctor and you have four patience all needing different organs (liver, heart, kidney, and lung). A man comes in who is a perfect match for all four organs. He tells you he would like to donate them. He is in good health, and is not likely to die any time soon. Do you take his organs, killing him and saving the four?

why is the answer different from one and three? well folks its because of duty. in scenario one you are deciding between positive and positive duty. In that case utilitarianism comes into play (doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people). But in scenario three you are choosing between positive and negative duty. Side note: negative duty almost always trumps positive duty.

personal application.

yesterday I was driving to my integrity and personal character class. I was coming up to a stop light on campus that is used to allow people to cross the street. The light was green, but I had been slowing down trying to figure out where I was going. As I slowed, people started inching their way into the road- and then crossing. Perplex faces looked both ways as the light was still green. I had been shag-hied. I had a funny non-verbal with a guy on the side of the road. he looked at me- and then at the people in front of my car with a quizzical look. I shrugged my shoulders and told him to cross. The light turned yellow, and then red, as I waited for the pedestrians to cross.

now how does this situation have to do with positive duty. well I was honoring my positive duty when I stopped my car so I wouldn't hit a pedestrian. I then was honoring my negative duty as I refused to go even though the light was green because there were people in front of me.

make any sense?

random tidbits of the day.

happy pi(e) day. I hope it was enjoyable and filled with pie. Some friends in my ward threw a pie party- which was quite delicious.

i went running again today. im starting to love it again. today it was a run to Matt and Keri's from my apartment. I decided to run sans music and loved just being out there me and the road. I found back roads, and kept myself entertained by trying to figure out the best route. The sun was shining- there was a slight breeze. it was perfect. what was not perfect was the fact that my sweat was burning my face because of my extremely dry skin. luckily, keri is a doll and gave me some extra strength lotion. fingers crossed it will help. she was also a doll and drove me to class after my 6.5 mile run. she is the bestest.

after class a friend who is an RA at Heleman Halls took me to the Cannon Center. Best thing ever. I relived my freshman days as I grabbed my tray and looked out the options. However, nothing looked appetizing. It might have been the fact I had just run and grease sounded disgusting- but the endless buffet was wasted on me. better luck next time.

knowing people pays off. yesterday I got a text from a friend saying they had two free tickets to see xanadu at the hale center theater. I couldn't say no. So Cecily and I jumped in the car and went and chuckled our way through the show. It wasn't what I was expecting- very glittery and flamboyant- but it was full of life and energy. Brittany (a girl in my ward, and marrying Jason) was amazing. I was proud to know her. The show was only and hour and a half with no intermission which was perfect because it meant we could get back for the pie party. It was so fun to go to a show again. It reminded me of being in London going to a show every other night.

random tidbits of life.

On saturday we had a clothes swap. aka bring clothes you dont want any more and other people can take them. it was grand. I followed that with a test- and then an afternoon playing with ethan. The little guy is adorable- and super shy around strangers. My roommates bribed him with gummy bears and army men and he opened up in no time. we topped it off playing at the park with cooper and joy. i could have played at that park forever. the night ended with a very funny, very awkward, blind date. oh the joys of dating.

*pictures to come*

sunday was a perfect day. literally. church was wonderful, and we had sunday school outside. The weather was gorgeous. No complaints. A group of us played ticket to ride after church. we had two games going- i played with cooper and winston. probably the funniest boys I know- trash talk was exchanged. And i am proud to say I did not let the hall family name down, and won.

on monday we had FHE down in payson. we went and visited an old couple who had just gotten home from their mission. It was both of their second marriages (due to death and divorce) and they were absolutely adorable. They had only been married six years but if you did know you would have guessed 30. They were so in love, and acted just like teenagers. I loved listening to their stories and could have stayed all night.

sorry for the novel. but you made it through.