Everything They Taught You in Kindergarten is Wrong.

Tonight I have something for you to consider.

Can anyone do anything unselfishly?

At first, you would like to say yes. But many good acts are done because of something you will get in return. You get good camaraderie, tax returns, scholarships, a good feeling, eternal happiness, and so on. I thought about my life and all the things I had done to serve other people. Most of the time it was because I was with my friends, I knew it would benefit me, colleges wanted to see it or I knew God wanted me to help others. Have you ever done anything unselfishly without any invested interest in it? Think about it...

I have my own opinion on this. You form your own ideas though. I'm not going to tell you how to think!

Just for laughs...

Love, AK

I Believe

Premise: Everyone has different things they value. One of the things I prize the most in life is my religion. My church has completely inspired me and I love it with all of my heart. :)

You know those days where everything said at church applies to you? Today was definitely one of those days. I was ready to hear the things the Lord wanted me to, and I received many answers to prayers. After church, two of my roommates and I walked up to the temple and read our scriptures. That was an equally amazing and insightful experience. Because I can't rely on the people back at home, I am really learning how to trust my Heavenly Father. It's really hard deciding that someone knows better then you, and trying to follow all of the Lord's commandments and rules can seem really restricting. However, looking back at how much He helped me through high school, I don't regret any of the things I had to "give up" because of religion. I see the happiness, wholeness and wellness my church has brought into my life. I look at the people I go to church with, my family and friends in the gospel, and they are just as at peace. Life is hard and giving your life to God is harder, but it brings an unmeasured sense of happiness and peace. I don't have to worry about hundreds of issues the world faces because God's commandments protect me. That's a huge paradigm shift right there: to view His laws not as restrictions but as bumpers on a road. I don't however see myself missing out on anything; I see myself happy and completely confident in who I am. I am a daughter of God, and He is my eternal father. He knows where the bumps in the road are better than I do. The feelings I have when I read His word or pray to Him are not artificial. I'm 17 and I already know who I am, where I am going and how to find happiness in this world. And that knowledge is the greatest inspiration one could ever have.

My life goal: "I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?" -Alma 5:16

This is what I believe: mormon.org

HAPPY SUNDAY!! :D

Today I Did Something Irresponsible

Note: If you have high expectations of me, don't read this. You might be disappointed.

When I woke up today, I was crabby. This is the truth straight from the word of AK. I went to a physical science lab which was not emotionally fulfilling, let me tell you. Then I went to my Honors 292 lecture. Basically what happens is people come in and lecture, you take notes and then write a one page paper on the topic. When I got there I was so tired and emotionally drained. (You know these kind of days..) So half way through the lecture, I left. I had taken plenty of notes to get me through the class and I have 100% after 3 papers, so I figured I was good.
I walked out and it was BEAUTIFUL. There were like 20 people curled up in random spots on the Maeser lawn trying to sleep, so I decided to join them. I curled up, used my backpack as a pillow and took a 30 minute nap in the sun. When I woke up, I was in such a good mood. All of my dumb problems involving everything dumb melted away. And then I had the best day ever.
So my inspiration is sometimes, you need to take care of yourself. Prioritize whats important. Today, it was important for me to chill. After my nap, I had an awesome film class, edited a paper like a boss, went to Olive Garden with my roommates, went to a choir concert, celebrated Elle's birthday, tried to do homework, did homework, went underneath an invisibility cloak, and laughed a lot. It was great overall. Sometimes bad days can turn good.

Saturday I have my first college exam. Wish me luck!

Also, my roommate Rachael Davies CAN step in the same river twice. At least.. That's what she tells her humanities class.

Just a Shout Out to my Favorite Superhero of All Time

Today is my mother's 40th birthday. Now she might be really embarrassed that the whole world now knows how old she is. It's not embarrassing Mom, I promise. Also, she looks like she is 27. We went to New York this summer (which was the best week of my entire life, no joke) and 40 people asked us if we were sisters. People don't ask that to a teenager and a woman who looks like she is 40. I rest my case.
I've realized over the last couple of weeks just how much my mom did for me. Everyone says that you realize this when you go to college, but I never quite took those people seriously. Beyond the normal matriarchal duties, she taught me how to read and write and do math before I entered kindergarten. Some people accuse me of being smart because I skipped a grade. I'm really not, it is all in the fact my mom taught me from a young age that education was important.
My mom also gave me my love for music. She started teaching me piano and ever since then, music and I have been inseparable. She taught me how to work, even when I really did not want to learn.
Most of all though, she has been an incredible example of service. She is the mother of seven children and has whole heartily dedicated her life to us, even when it meant putting every aspect of her life on the back burner. We watched this movie in a service class I have and it reminded me completely of her. She has always been that one person to stand up and help others when many people sat and watched. She takes on the impossible, and prays that Heavenly Father will help with the rest.

She is my #1 inspiration. 

I love you, Mom!

Proving that Movement is Impossible..

I would like to start with an apology. My last post had lots of bad grammar and spelling issues. I am sorry! I am not going to go fix it though. So when you see I am in the grove of things rather then the groove of things, well, just go with it. :)

Okay so my inspiration of the day was something really cool that I learned. In ancient Greece, there was this philosopher named Xeno. He created an issue that is now known as Xeno's dillema. *People are just so creative when they name these kind of things..* So imagine you are facing a wall. In order to cross to get to the wall, you would have to go half way first. That makes sense! But in order to get to that half, you would have to walk half of that distance. And in order to get there, you would have to get to half of that distance. It keeps breaking down further but you get the point. Think about it though, if you half to go half the distance before you could move but that would be prevented because you would have to go that half first. So according to Xeno, any movement is impossible. 

Now we know this isn't true. At least all of the sensory information flooding our brain for our whole lives tells us that isn't true. But how can you prove it? 

WELL. There was this guy named Democritus. He discovered a particle which cannot be divided into a half. It is called an atom. Perhaps you have heard of it? Democritus reasoned that because you can't split an atom in half, you would have to move the distance of a whole atom and must go the whole way. And thus, you have conquered Xeno's dilemma. 

Okay, so that's just a lot of talk. The reason why that inspired me is because someone philosophically proved something, and then it was countered with another argument. When you keep studying and searching for answers, you can disprove other things that might have been previously proven true. It gives me hope that world issues, incurable diseases of the body and mind, and philosophy proving that man is evil might someday be reversed. 

Today is the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. Since then, terrorism and fear has racked the world. Perhaps one day they will go the same route of Xeno's dilemma and someone will be able to find a way to reverse the illogicality of the situation. It blows my mind the hatred people have for each other. The world needs a modern day Democritus who will step up to the plate and find a solution that no one has thought of before. Who knows? Maybe it will be you. :)

Just a quick plug to my best friend, Angie Roushar. My blog is dedicated to you. ;) Now go write something!! :)

Some pictures of life over the last couple of weeks :)

Word.

Life Transplant.. NBD.

It's weird how fast you adjust to a whole new life. The transition between high school and college was hard, I'll admit. But once you get here and starting getting in the grove, it's hard to remember you've only been here a few weeks. You learn to cook and go grocery shopping when you no longer have food. You force yourself to do homework when you don't have a mom telling you need to do it. You wake yourself up, go to class at a school that is 16x bigger then your high school. And you do all of that with different friends and teachers then you had just a month ago.
I'm telling you, it's weird. It amazes me just how resilient the brain is. You don't really have a choice to go back home, so you force yourself onward. I do miss home, and I miss it a lot. I miss the dumb things we did in Politics each day, singing in choir. I miss the predictability of church at home; you knew where you were going to sit in Sunday School, what everyone's names were and where to hide when you didn't want your family to find you just quite yet. I miss trying to block out my little brother's screams as I did my homework every night. I miss my family and my friends faces, personalities and how well they knew you.
But even with all of this, you don't have a choice to live in the past. You float, swim, or drown. I'm just starting to float and feel comfortable with my new life. Soon, it will be time to swim to the edge of where  college can put me.
So here is the thing. Don't give up. Keep swimming, even when the tide is against you. At least you aren't in a foreign country with bad guys trying to kill you. And if you are... well why are you reading this? You should be running right now!!!
One more thing; I love Disney movies. A lot. But we had to analyze The Little Mermaid for three minutes in film today. The themes were; If you run away, disobey your parents and sell part of yourself to a witch, a handsome young prince will sweep you off your feet and fall in love with you anyways. Apparently the seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake.
Whatever Disney, I'm perfectly content with my own life thank you very much! I already ran away from home and well I probably stay out later then my parents would care to know. But there is no way I'm selling my voice for some dude. Do you know how many guys are here? Ariel, you got it all wrong. Love your life.

Weak Things Become Strong- And we aren't talking about the impressive size of your biceps. Sorry. :)

I would like to start off today by telling you something important: You can indeed overcook Ramen noodles. 

I did not know this. I just left them cooking while I cooked some chicken. And as a result, they turned to mush. My roomates and I feasted on mushy Ramen stir fry. It was not our most stellar meal, but you live and learn.  

My inspiration of the day is completely unrelated the art of cooking Ramen. Being enrolled in the 2nd largest private university in the world tends to occasionally make you feel small and insignificant. The things you did in high school doesn't really matter other then the fact that they made you who you are. The friend you had in high school are very much part of your life and your personality, but you don't get to see them every day. Your family you've been living with for the last 18 years is 1500 miles away. Some good comes out of the large abundance of people however, In the process of making a whole new set of friends and meeting new people every day, I've realized something important. Every single person has distinct strengths and weaknesses. My personal belief is that God gave each individual person their own unique set of gifts and talents to achieve what He would need them to do. Even if our opinions differ on this, this distinct set of talents each person owns truly makes the world unique. 

I am coming to appreciate my own talents more every day. You should as well. Think about what you are good at and how you can use those to your advantage, as well as how you can use them to help other people. You might also want to consider your weaknesses and how you can make them strong. 

I was reminded at church today of one of my favorite scriptures. It reads, "And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they my be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before m, and have faith in m, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Amen to that, brother. 

I thought this was lovely. Happy Sunday!