Saturday, December 6, 2008

When the time comes to leave again...

random brain excerpts

I just finished reading Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. A mix between Go Ask Alice and a much better--less whiny version of J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye. One of my English professors strongly advised the class not to read the book since there is a good deal of sex, drugs and alcohol use by minors. So with this recommendation and two of my good friends who have exceptional taste in books, music and movies. I picked it up for myself. I suppose I haven't reached the point where I would trade in the general experience of reading such an amazing and thought provoking story just to avoid elements of this world that are all around us. I have a certain degree of admiration for those who refuse to acknowledge that such things are in this world. Perhaps one day my point of view of this world will change and I will refuse to see the world for what it is.

We were discussing in class how in Young Adult Literature the portrayal of parents/guardians are often at extremes. The parents are either absent and glorified, or if they are around they are villains and hated. The main character in this story has a very natural relationship with his parents. He sees how they do their best, and he loves them both a lot - but he also notices when they slip up and make mistakes. For once the story of tragedies and trepidation doesn't end with a suicide or a hopeless trip to an insane asylum. There is growth as the characters learn from their mistakes and begin to improve their lives.


Anyway... I like it.

On a separate note... I have exactly ten days left until I get to fly back to the east coast - to see my family, to see trees (although they'll be leafless and covered in snow). Oh, I get to have my own bedroom! Not that it's really hard sharing with Livie at all. It's just exciting to have more privacy. Cable TV! Old black and white movies

and late night talk shows.


I'm terribly sad to be leaving for four whole months. I'm excited to return to the world where there is diversity and... as weird as it sounds... not so many mormons. It's the best feeling in the world to be surrounded by the Saints -- but you need a break after awhile.

I'm going to miss terribly my roommates from this semester and the great influence they are in my life.





I've felt infinite

Monday, November 3, 2008

Friends = passive?


My roommates and I had a halloween party at our apartment on Friday, it was so much fun!


I then woke up on Saturday with a nasty cold and am still recovering. But I have amazing roommates and friends who are gracious and have been taking great care of me.

All of this leads me to ponder the thought: Is being a friend a passive role or an active one? I see the way that relationships grow and it is usually when two people are actively involved in the other's life. So a few thoughts on the subject are, who are the friends in my life? Am I being enough of a friend to them? Have any changed recently to a lesser status? Why is this? Is it physical distance? Or something else that grows between us and keeps us from feeling that charity and love for each other. I hope I will be able to find those opportunities to serve my friends and continue to build those binds instead of neglecting them and allowing them to become brittle and eventually fall to dust.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Thankful for...

Friends
For those who take the abuse I dish out and still love me
For those who can love me and build me up from 2000 miles away
For those who give me a way home
For those who tell me about their lives
For those who embrace me
For those who let me lay out all of my problems and give me the best possible advice
For those who write words of encouragement and love


Family
For those who are examples
For those who do what they can with what they have
For those who are excited to watch five hour long movies
For those who want only the best for me even when it's hard for them


Teachers
For those who give grace
For those who build up

Heavenly Father

Christ

The constancy of the Holy Ghost

Brigham Young University - Idaho

Opportunities

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sugarlumpkin

Hi. My name is SarahJo. Not Sergio. This is my first blog.

Lately I've been contemplating how much I enjoy the early fall weather. It has this romantic and somewhat melancholy aspect to it. Being here at school, walking around campus and walking around the small, somewhat quiet town that is almost a sweet cliche of what small-town America is, I am overpowered by a familiar emotion that has never had a name. I remember playing with the neighborhood children when I was young and how the leaves on the trees seemed to rustle in a different way during the late summer - early fall days. They were still vibrant green. Full of life. But they were aware of what was coming. They seemed then almost eager for the next stage. Now what I meant by romantic wasn't necessarily the Clark Gable Vivien Leigh romance. But a sweet romance that finds itself in the poetry of Shakespeare's sonnets when he writes of the winter of his life. It's the same romance that fills the night sky on a full moon, it has reached its own pinnacle of beauty and the next day it will not be as beautiful as it is on that night.

I wish I could take a photo that can hold the way the breeze feels on your face, how it moves the leaves and your hair. The waning sunlight through the clouds. I wish fall could last forever.