High School Reunion 2008

Over the 2nd weekend of October I had my 10 year High School Class Reunion. I went to Seoul American High School in Seoul, South Korea. I had a great time at the reunion. We had it in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel. Then we watched a video a classmate put together. It was great to see old friends. It was like we never left, we just picked up right where we left off. It was great! The next day, for those who were still in Vegas, had lunch at a korean b-b-q just off the strip. Fun!

Air Show and Thunderbirds

I went to an airshow last weekend. It was awesome. I got to see some really cool planes up close and watch the Thunderbirds perform...oh can't forget...met some F-18 pilots! So here are some pictures I took....

I Got Tagged

2nd Tagged Me....here goes nothin'......

3 JOYS!

1. Music
2. Books
3. Kittens and Puppies

3 fEaRs

1. No marriage in the near future
2. Not being able to breath (ie. choking, drowning, suffocating, smotheirng etc.)
3. No laughter

3 Goals

1. Finish school
2. Weight loss
3. Improve Piano Skills

3 Current Obsessions/Collections

1. Celtic Thunder
2. Movies
3. Twilight Series

3 Random SURPRISES!

1. I want to be an author
2. I watch football
3. Like 2nd I like cheese

3 Taggs. Your Turn Guys!

1. 'B'
2. Sunny
3. Angie

Gladys Knight

This past weekend I went to a fireside/testimony meeting given by Gladys Knight and the Saints United Voices. It was a lot of fun. I thought I would never hear gospel music done well that was sung by a mostly white mormon choir. I also had to get used to the guests raising their voices as well to the songs. There were a lot of 'yes!' and hoots and stuff. But it was great. Gladys has a great testimony. I went both nights and they both sent chills down my spine because it was that powerful. If anybody has a chance to go see her and the choir I would suggest that you go.

Journaling

I found this website - LDSjournal.com - and I love it. I haven't been the greatest at journaling. I would start one and be good for a little while and then I would quit. I have years in between entries sometimes. Sometimes things spill out of my head and then my hand cramps because it can't keep up with my brain. So this new website I think will be my kick in the rear to start journaling and to keep it going. No more hand cramps! And they are going to have an option where at the end of the year (or whenever) you can request a hard copy of all your entries in a hard back book. It's kinda cool. You can add pictures and stuff. So, maybe I'll have something to pass down the generations. My life isn't all flashy and stuff but I hope posterity will enjoy it.

TTFN

Personality Test

I took this personality test (via a friends live journal). Do you think it matches?

Here is the link if you want to try for yourself: http://helloquizzy.okcupid.com/tests/the-quick-painless-enneagram-test/

********
Your Enneagram type is SIX (aka "The Loyalist").

"I am affectionate and skeptical"

Questioners are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

Be direct and clear.
Listen to me carefully.
Don't judge me for my anxiety.
Work things through with me.
Reassure me that everything is OK between us.
Laugh and make jokes with me.
Gently push me toward new experiences.
Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a SIX

being committed and faithful to family and friends
being responsible and hardworking
being compassionate toward others
having intellect and wit
being a nonconformist
confronting danger bravely
being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a SIX

the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind
procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself
fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of
exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger
wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right
being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

SIXes as Children Often

are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn
are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger
form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent
look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel
are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

SIXes as Parents

are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty
are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence
worry more than most that their children will get hurt
sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
Harper SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

Book List

I found this on a friends Live Journal and I thought it quite interesting. I wanted to share it. I realized I must be a bookworm when I highlighted 6 right off the bat in the first 10. I wonder how many people have read at least six off this list or who have read more than I have. Who knows?

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read
3) Underline the books you LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion- Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

My Establishment

I had one of these crazy ideas last night. It kept me from getting a good nights sleep, it didn't help that I had to get up at 3:30 to drive my parents to the airport. This idea was one of those things that you had to get down on paper or my mind would go insane trying to keep the gears going. (it successfully kept me up until almost 1:30am).

This idea that randomly came was that if I owned a company or establishment this is what it would probably consist of. This is a totally random thing I don't even know if it would work.

It would be two levels. One ground level and the other like a basement. On the ground level, there would be a station for goodies. Most likely fresh bread/cinnamon buns and cold stuff (ice cream, sorbet, sherbert etc), and an old timey soda fountain. There would also be a section with soft chairs and shelves for books that customers bring in for a book swap type thing. This section is offered for book clubs, poetry readings and the like. A third section would be with checkers/chess tables (you know the ones with the game board printed on top of the tables) and customers would be able to play those games and other games to the customers liking. The establishment will probably have card games available. These table people could also eat at.

The 'basement' would be an open area with chairs and standing tables. There will be a stage at the far end. Event taking place here would be like performance arts (maybe from the local college or something). Also, like a guitars unplugged or music groups could perform. There would probably be a night for game competitions and a night for speed dating and whatever else pleases me and the masses.

This place would be only open Monday to Saturday. No smoking and no alcohol will be permitted.

Well, this crazy idea might not make it beyond this blog but it's out there now. Mabye I might get a good nights sleep tonight!


Brynn Woolf Copyright © 2008

Wowza!

Today I turned 28! Yikes!

I'm that much closer to 30. I'm old. If you asked me 10 years ago about what I thought I would be doing at this point in life, it would be totally different. I was so off! :) But it's all good. I've enjoyed my life so far. I've recently been planning to go to my high school reunion in Vegas. I am so excited! I still feel old, but hey that's all good. I still can't believe it's been 10 years since I graduated high school. It has flown by. I've enjoyed my life so far and hopfully the 10 will be even better. (prince charming has to show up sometime)

Jeff Dunham Blooper

I thought this was hilarious!

Funny Cats

SAHS MASH Play on AFN

I just recently found this randomly, just messing around on youtube. I was in this play my senior year of high school (1997/98). I had a small part, but it was fun. It's like a little time capsule from 10 years ago. The memories!

Shaky Business

This morning I awoke with a start. My bed was shaking and stuff was rattling on my desk making noise. I thought someone had come in and started messing with me. Then I realized no one was in my room and it wasn't stopping. I then started freaking out. A ghost? A prank? Nope. Once I hopped out of bed the room still shook, so it wasn't just my bed. I had just experienced an earthquake! It only lasted a few moments but those were enough. I went downstairs and turned on the news. The earthquake epicenter was about 100 miles away on the Illinois/Indiana border. It was amazing how far it traveled. This was my first earthquake and I hope it is my last.

Happy Leap Day

Have you ever noticed that as kids we made a big deal about leap year and that extra day that we get. But when we grow up that we don't notice it as much or lose track when leap year comes. I think that is a little fascinating. Also fascinating is that those leap year babies only get so few actual birthdays. I wonder what it would feel like to have my birthday on leap day. I would have the excuse of acting childish because I would only be still in single digits when in actuality I would be in double digits! Oh happy day! Since I am not a leap year baby I will have to get over it. Oh well. Happy leap day everyone!

The Giggles

When I get stressed, I mean really stressed, I find that I giggle. Like uncontrollably. It's only happened truly twice in my life where I started and couldn't stop for at least an hour. Today it threatened. I was giving a talk in church and I said something funny, the congregation giggled, then I started giggling back and almost couldn't stop to finish. Then the congregation started giggling more...aagh...it wouldn't stop. Luckily I finished my talk but I couldn't stop smiling through the rest of church. I suggest that when you get the giggles that you just giggle until it all comes out. Hopefully it won't be in front of a lot of people. Thought I would let you know. SMILE!

New Beginnings

Out with the old and in with the new. 2008 already brings something new for me already. Today was my last day on my old job as a circuit trainer and then on Monday I start my new job as a Physical Therapy Tech/Aide at a rehab. center. It's nice to actually have a 'real' job. Not that the old one wasn't but this new one seems to be more concrete and more reliable...more hours, regular/consistent hours (instead of sporatic), probably better pay as well (yay!). It's also nice to get a foot in the door of the career I am in school for currently. It will really look good on the resume. Wish me luck!

New Year Bash 2007

I just had one of the most fun activites for New Year's Eve in a long time. I threw a party at my house and it rocked! I had pool a table and games to play, food, others brought more food and a friend brought his PS2 and Guitar Hero to play. I've never played that game before but I really enjoyed it. When it hit midnight the crowd went wild and we honked our toy horns and clappers for a good five minutes it seemed like and then went back to the pool table and Guitar Hero. What was really exciting was that we all found out that a couple got engaged last night! Yup, good things do come in the new year! Next thing I know it was 2 in the morning and no slowing down. By that point I did have to put a damper on the situation and put a cap on the time. Another hour was good so 3 am came and went and then I crashed. Good times.

Happy New Year!