So Scary!!!

So, on Friday I was brave.  I mean, really, really brave.  I donated blood for the first time.  Yay!!!  BYU was doing a week long blood drive and every time I walked by it in the Wilk, I felt guilt.  But, I have this bad habit of not always eating and I knew that would make donating blood difficult.  But, on Friday, I had a big breakfast and lunch, got Cathryn to come (which wasn't difficult, she's way braver than me) and went to face my biggest fear!

We had to wait for a really long time.  We signed in at 1.  At 2, we were finally able to go to the cranky finger pricking ladies.  Well, at least mine was cranky.  And she squeezed like 4 drops of blood out before she could use one.  Lame/ouch.  Then after aswering a bazillion questions that reaffirmed that I really am way too sheltered, I went to wait for my turn.  I was so scared!  I put my iPod on my testing center playlist, but even that didn't help...

Finally, they called me up.  The blood guy's name was Edward.  That was so subtly ironic that it helped ease my fears a bit...  Edward kept telling me to call down and that it wouldn't hurt (lies) and that I would be fine.  Then he stuck the world's biggest needle in me.  Then he was like, "Huh, I wonder why there's not blood coming.  I know it's in the vein."  So, he calls over blood lady.  She's like, "Huh, I wonder why there's not blood coming.  I know it's in the vein."  So, they tried to dig under the vein.  Nope.  They tried going above the vein.  Nope.  They tried variations of this for about 5 minutes.  I was freaking out.  Really.  It hurt some, but I was mostly terrified.  I hate the thought of a needle being in me.  I feel a little dumb for slightly losing it in front of many, many strangers. but it was a bad situation.  Just as I was about to ask them to give up and let me go home, the blood started to come.  Yay!  My terror wasn't for naught!  Once it was done, I was supposed to sit down for at least 10 minutes.  Too bad how I was already late for choir (it was 3:10).  So, I sat down for about 45 seconds and left. 

It wasn't a pleasant experience, but I'm glad I did it.  I mean, I don't have a lot of time or money to donate to people, but at least I was able to do this.  I'm starting right now to talk myself into it again.  Maybe I'll build up the courage by the time I'm allowed to again. 

Up With Kids

So, yesterday was my first day as an Up With Kids teacher. I was terrified, but it went okay... Well, only two people showed up to the upper class, but it will be okay I hope... The good news is, every single kid who showed up signed up! So, I guess I did a good job. I was scared, but I think I did a good job of hiding it. It was weird to be up there teaching though. I mean, all the kids looking up at me and doing what I said... Weird. I liked singing the songs with them though. I know how to sing. I'm going to be princessed out by the end of this year though. Besides Enchanted, we're singing a princess set in Women's Chorus. What the heck.

First day of School!

So, yesterday was the beginning of the end for me. I had my last first day of school. It's a strange feeling. I mean, I've been going to school for 16 years. I've had 16 first days of school, 16 sleepless nights, and 16 before school blessings. I'll never quite have that same sensation again. It's strange really. What happens after this? I mean, everybody who knows me (seriously, everybody, even the girl I met in my Judaism class today...) knows that I want a baby more than anything, but when I'm realistic, I have to consider the fact that even though I'll stop taking the birth control relatively soon, that doesn't mean instant pregnancy. It will probably take months, maybe even years. So, what am I going to do in that time of limbo? I mean, I certainly can't sit at home sewing my baby quilt while I wait for a baby to come... But, how will I get a job? I mean, seriously, who's going to hire the girl who will only want to work until Corison comes along (that's not future werf's real name)? So, will I be stuck working at Western Wats even with my college degree? Well, that would suck. So, I don't really know what I'm going to do with my life. I almost think it would be great to just be pregnant nowish and then have the baby come as soon as I'm done with school but my academic conscious (aka Corey) thinks that would be a Bad Idea. He's probably right. Anyway, I know most of that has nothing to do with the first day of school, but it's what this last year is going to bring. I'm kind of scared, but it will all work out.

Help

Dear my many readers,

I have recently become obsessed with the idea of buying an iPod Touch. One of the ones with 8 gigs. I know my little iPod Mini still works great, but I desire an upgrade anyway. Miraculously, even Corey has grown slightly amenable to the idea of my new purchase. So, my friends, I'd like you to either talk me into this or out of this. Thanks!

Love,
Allison

This is pretty sweet

Yesterday I saw a question about chacha.com on the 100 Hour Board. It said that you could get paid to answer questions for people online. I decided to check it out and it's true! All you have to do is pass some easy tests and then they let you be a "Guide" (question answerer). You get paid 20 cents a question after the first month. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to average $12 an hour doing that. You can do it as much or as little as you want any time of the day. It sounds too good to be true, but The Board says it works. Just text any question to 242-242 and see how cool it is. It's free. I think now I can justify buying the iPod touch that I've been dreaming of...

p.s. If anyone decides to do this, please put me down as the person who told you about it :)

So, I'm probably going to join a motorcycle gang

Okay, maybe that's a lie. But I did ride a motorcycle for the first time in my life yesterday! I'd ridden on a moped before in Taiwan, but that doesn't count. At Corey's dad's house yesterday, Corey asked if he could take me on a ride on his dad's motorcycle. I was pretty terrified. First of all, this motorcycle happens to be the exact same year and model of the motorcycle that broke my dad's leg 23 years ago. So, I kept imagining it crushing my legs. And secondly, it's a motorcycle! But, I was really brave and I trust Corey, so we went for a ride. At first, I was closing my eyes and holding Corey as tight as I could, but eventually I got braver. I was never brave when we were turning though. I just freaked out whenever the bike tipped. I shouldn't have been so scared. I mean, I've seen pictures of Corey going off huge jumps on a dirt bike and this couldn't have been harder than that, but I was still scared. Yep. We didn't even go fast because I was scared. Corey says the fastest we went was 45 mph, but it sure felt a lot faster. So, that's my exciting weekend. Oh, and by the way, I'm cool because I married a guy who rides motorcycles. And that's hot.

Scanning, a haiku

I watch my life waste away
Why am I here now
As the scanner sucks my soul dry


p.s. I know this isn't a standard haiku. The rules were mixed up in my head when I wrote it. I thought the rule was 7-5-7, not 5-7-5... But, after it was written, I couldn't change it. Sorry English majors of the world.

Allison Leigh Merrill's Official Breaking Dawn Review

Warning: This review contains spoilers. If you ever plan on reading the book, or Twilight series, don't read this.

So, I finished Breaking Dawn yesterday afternoon. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean I don't have some qualms with it though. The whole thing just seemed way to easy.

First of all, Bella drives me crazy at first. She's so immature and ridiculous. "I don't want a fancy car." "I don't want to get married" "I don't want a wedding dress" "I won't even look in the mirror on my wedding day" "I actually don't want to be a vampire for like a year now because I want to make out with you with human emotions". She'd been bugging him for the past two books to just make her a vampire right away! Seriously, she's annoying.

Then there's the whole baby thing... First of all, it seems very strange to me that vampires don't have blood or tears, but they somehow have sperm. I mean, really. Secondly, I don't like how the zygote becomes a fetus within an hour and the baby is ready to be delivered after about a month. It's a plot device to speed things up because we wouldn't want to bore the teenage girls with a realistic nine-month pregnancy. And then there's the whole baby breaking ribs/Bella drinking human blood to sustain the baby. It's just weird. And like my little sister said, the people who donated the blood to the blood bank that the family "borrowed" from probably weren't planning on their blood being used to sustain one person and her child. And then there's the birth scene with Edward biting open Bella's stomach... That wasn't awkward. No, not at all. But, I have to admit I was kind of happy they had a baby. That's probably because currently a lot of my thoughts are directed towards my own future baby, but it always made me sad in the previous books that if Bella married Edward she couldn't have kids. I just like babies.

So, previously, one of the driving plot lines was Edward vs Jacob. Bella loves both but can only have one. She chooses Edward and Jacob gets all moody. Then the baby is born. Ta da! Jacob imprints on her (crazy werewolf love at first sight thing) and suddenly everyone is happy. Right.

Now, onto the baby. Renesmee. First of all, what was up with Bella's psychic predictions that she was having a boy for sure and then it's a girl? There was not point. And then there's the fact that the baby is maturing like crazy. At first, Bella's all sad because the baby is only going to have a 15 year life. Then at the end we discover the baby will be an immortal while she's in her prime. What a relief. I'd hate to see these characters have to deal with anything like grief.

I think my main problem with the book is that Bella was required to sacrifice nothing. She becomes a vampire. Suddenly, she's gorgeous, talented, and she doesn't even go through the normal horrible first year most vampires go through because she's extra special. She thought she'd have to give up Jacob. Nope. He's perfectly content to hang out and be her friend. She thought she'd lose her family. Nope. Her dad just visits her and decides that he doesn't want to know why she looks weird now. She thought her physical relationship with Edward would be diminished. Nope. It's more powerful and perfect than ever. Really, she lives a charmed life. It's silly.

Then there's the epic battle at the end. It's good vs evil. All the good vampires have come together to fight the evil ruling vampires. The entire second half of the book leads up to this huge climax. People (vampires...) are going to die. It's going to be painful and heart wrenching, but in our heart of hearts we know that despite the losses, the underdog Cullens will prevail. So, the battle scene opens. Then the two sides talk it over. Then Alice shows up and saves everything. One minor character gets killed. And then they all lived happily ever after. Oh, except Bella has a moment of sadness about the killed character. Wow. What a sacrifice for a happily ever after. I can't help but contrast it to the final battle in HP 7. There a lot of good people die. It's a big deal. In the end, everything is okay, but there is also sorrow. That's how battles between good and evil are supposed to go. There's not supposed to be an easy solution.

Anyway, this wasn't a great book, but it was maybe a good one. I think three words sum it up best: Deus ex Machina. But hey, it worked for Euripedes, why shouldn't it work for Stephanie Meyer?

Mawage is what bwings us togethehr...

So, I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately. That's probably because my and Corey's one year anniversary is coming up soon, one of my good friends from high school just got engaged, and I watched Charly last night. Disclaimer: this post may be more ridiculous than you, the reader, care for. Sorry about that.

So, as the typical little Mormon girl I used to be, I thought about marriage a lot. One of my good friends who isn't LDS tells me that she always thought it was weird that as a ten-year-old my goal in life was to get married... As a teenager, I remember scheming in my mind about how to get certain young gentlemen to eventually fall for me and decide to marry me. In my oh so mature mind, I was convinced that once we married, we would be happy because that's the way life works. It didn't bother me that it possibly take years for said gentleman to fall for me because it would be worth it in the end. I just envisioned marriage as getting to be with the boy I had a crush on everyday. I never really thought about anything past the temple ceremony because I didn't even know how I was going to get there in the first place.

Then, on August 24, 2006, my life changed forever. I met Corey. The next night on our first date, we went and saw X-Men 3 at the dollar theater at midnight (right after Corey got off work). We basically talked the whole movie, which is funny because normally we hate people who do that, he held , my hand, and we stayed in the theater talking after the movie was over until they kicked us out. After that, we dated non-stop. I learned how fantastic it is to date someone who'd been interested in me all along. There was no scheming with Casey about elaborate phone calls or me trying to figure out exactly what he wanted his perfect girl to be. He was happy with me exactly the way I was and I never had to pretend in front of him. Pretty soon, we were talking about marriage. I have to admit, I was freaked out. I mean, I was barely 19 and this wasn't a part of my plan at all. After quite a bit of prayer and a great blessing from my dad, I calmed down and started to get excited about marriage. So, as an engaged girl, I envisioned marriage as a sort of ongoing date. I figured we'd never argue because we loved each other so, we'd never have to say goodbye, and there'd be some other great benefits as well... I'd heard that marriage is hard and I'd told myself that I believed it, but I never really did. Maybe for other people, but not for us. We had true love. My life was about to turn into perfect days of bliss, each day better than the last.

So, I got married. It was the best day of my life. Like I said earlier, It's been almost a year now and my ideas about marriage have changed quite a bit. First of all, guess what? Marriage is hard. Really. I think it's hard because life is hard and so taking two separate lives and merging them into one makes life even trickier. No matter how in love two people are, they're not the same person so there will always be differences. Something else I've learned is that that's okay. Even though disagreements aren't fun when they happen, sometimes they're necessary. Also, stressful things happen. People (me...) get sick. Money gets tight (as in $25 is all you have). Jobs go wrong and tests get failed. It's hard to get through those things no matter what, so I can't blame that stress on marriage, but I think some people tend to. But, marriage is so worth it. It's wonderful in different ways than I ever imagined. It's wonderful to have someone who's willing to go to the store at 3 a.m. to buy much needed medicine. It's wonderful to have someone who always wants you to have the last bite of ice cream. It's wonderful to have someone who doesn't even make fun of you for crying during Charly because he realizes that he'd miss you so much if something happened to you. Marriage is about so much more than the romance. It's about planning a life together. It's about making a playful bet for 20 years from now. It's about thinking of our future family and being so excited that my kids will have traits from my favorite person in the world. It's about supporting each other no matter what. It's about forgiveness and looking past faults instead of trying to change them. It's about waking up in the morning and looking across the bed at the person you get to be with forever and feeling incredibly grateful. It's about almost crying every time you see the Bountiful Temple because of the memories. I've been very blessed and can't wait to spend many more years learning about what marriage really is.

Twilight

It's time for a mini rant. The full rant will have to wait. I severely dislike the Twilight series. "But Allison, aren't you currently reading Breaking Dawn? And didn't you harass your dear little sister mercilessly until she finally finished it?" Well, yes, but that's not the point.

So, Twilight... I read the first three books because Rachael asked me to last August. I was bored because Corey was in Kaysville, Cathryn was in Florida, and Melissa was in the rest of the country. Seriously. Anyway, I started the series with high expectations. After all, they were touted as being the "Next Harry Potter", right? Well, I was disappointed. I thought the "romance" was juvenile and drawn out. But, I was okay with that. The books didn't really affect me much after the initial reading. Of course, I read them about two weeks before I was to wed a real man, so I was a tad bit distracted. And maybe Corey isn't as visually stunning, unfailingly patient, or all around perfect as the magnificent Edward, but I'm okay with that. Really.

So, I read the books, got married, and started living real life. Then I went to my Relief Society's book club. We were discussing New Moon. At first I was all scared because I was going to hang out with married women with a whopping month of marital experience under my belt. As soon as the discussion started, all I heard about was how "in love" all these girls were with Edward. I was annoyed that these girls would compare their real live husbands to a fictional character. I figured that maybe that was because I had only been married a month and that after a year I would feel differently. Well, I've been married 50 weeks and 1 day. Guess what? I still think it's ridiculous and unfair. I mean, how can these women expect their husbands to live up to a fictional character? I'm willing to be that every single one of those women would be highly irritated if their husbands constantly moaned that they wished their wives looked like Paris Hilton. I think it's the same thing. Why would the men in this situation be considered pigs while the women are smiled at and indulged?

So, yes, I'm reading the books. I admit, I want to know what happens and what all the hype is about. So, it seems like I'm a hypocrite... :) I don't think so. But, if I ever start asking you why I didn't marry someone like Edward, you should probably slap me :).

p.s. I'm not actually an angry person. Really.

p.p.s. Oh, and this is funny :)

I failed Blogger's intelligence test

Okay, what the heck is up with the letters you have to type in to get a blog? You know, the ones to verify you're human? I understand that they want to avoid spammers or whatever (okay, I don't actually understand, that's just what I've been told), but do they have to make it so dang hard to read? I had to do it three times! That's right, I failed the first two times. When I think of all the unintelligent blogs out there and then realize it took me two tries even start one of my own, it basically shatters my self-esteem. So, this is blogging, eh? I could get used to this.