Cheap Thrills

Well, before I heard the examples of other people, I would've said I'm the cheapest person I know. But I don't have any really blatant or embarrassingly obvious examples. I just don't tell people I have a car so I don't have to give rides.

Question

How about, what's the last book they've read, or what are they reading now (aside from textbooks, obviously). I think that's a pretty telling question. Or what do they do for fun, like hobbies? Maybe lots of geology majors would say the same thing ("... well, I go hiking. Duh") but not all of us have gone granola. Or hidden talents. Everyone's got a few. I don't know, I tried to think of something really clever but that's just not working out for me. Being clever, that is.

Haircuts: A History

Being a product of the 80s and growing up in that horrible fashion drought from about '89 to '97, there was a point in my Elementary School career where I had the "bird's nest bangs." These are the bangs that are curled and teased out not just to cover the forehead, but to create 360 degrees of hair badness. So somewhat in rebellion but mostly in ignorance, I grew out my bangs and went for the slick-straight middle part. I was blessed with very "fine" (I have a friend who refuses to say her hair is thin, but that it is "fine") hair that is always straight, no matter what I do to it, so this middle part look was really Avril Lavigne-ish. Not the greatest. I chopped off about 10 inches for the first time in my life in maybe the 7th grade. Debatable if it's been that short since. Maybe when I tried layering it for about two years of my life. Now I'm just going for the field camp look -- long, blunt, and braided.

Much too cool for 7th grade

I didn't post a blog for the last question because I honestly couldn't think of anything. I called my mom last night and asked her and she couldn't think of anything either. She said when I was a kid, I was pretty good and usually just read books or did puzzles. I wasn't very destructive.

My favorite cartoon is probably Pepper Ann. When I was younger and it was on Saturday mornings, I didn't have much of an appreciation for it, but by middle school, I realized the subtle genius of it. Granted, I was starting to phase out cartoons anyway, but that show is hilarious. There's a lot of humor that I defintely didn't get when I was younger that made sense when the reruns would play every day when I got home from school before Boy Meets World came on. And that's when I loved it. Spongebob Sqaurepants also has a lot of older humor. I can appreciate that.

I am ichthyophobic

I am absolutely terrified of fish. I had a really traumatizing experience in 5th grade involving trout. My 5th grade teacher, Mr. Bolling, was an avid fly fisher, so we raised trouts from eggs and released them in the wild (but not super wild, as I grew up in Orange County and it doesn't get really wild in the context of freshwater habitats). They were ugly, but whatever, I named one Bob and all's fine. A few weeks after they were released, Mr. Bolling brought in a bunch of dead trout for us to dissect. Were they the very same that we had raised from little eggs? Potentially. But I think what really got me was how disgusting it was. The smell of dead fish lingered in the classroom for weeks; I had to excuse myself multiple times during the dissection. And of course, it being 5th grade, all the very mature little boys were popping out the eyes and running around, pretending to lick them and shoving them in all the girls' faces saying "Mmm, tastes like chicken." Awesome. I was never a fan of fish, but thus was born my ichthyophobia.

In the following years, it has seriously been a source of much embarressment. I don't like eating fish, and I don't like touching fish. Therefore, although I love the ocean and grew up close to the California coast, it would take literally minutes of me mentally coaxing myself to go in the water. I had to tell myself that fish don't swim that shallow. One time I was on Catalina Island and there was a platform out about a hundred feet from the shore with ropes connecting it to land. I convinced myself that the flourishing fish population couldn't swim past the rope so I wouldn't be afraid to swim out and jump off the platform. Even in high school, at the first sight of life in the ocean, whether it be a jellyfish, sandshark, or a just plain ugly regular fish, I would hightail it out of there. Some years are worse than others. When there is a particularly warm current (i.e. El Nino), it attracts TONS of jellyfish. The biggest I've seen them is about a foot in diameter. They're clear white with purple trim (not that they're a window curtain, but kind of). And they scare the crap out of me. Every few years we get something called the "red tide," where there's an abundance of plankton or something and it makes the water look red, but at night when it's dark and the waves crash, they glow fluorescent blue. I think the glowing part is actually their eggs or something. Regardless, it looks super cool, but it's disgusting to swim in.

Last term, I lived in Hawaii. As a severe ichthyophobe, was this a very stupid thing? Yes, definitely. Fortunately, I didn't find out what Hukilau, the local Laie beach, means in Hawaiian til the very end of the term (it's something like, the locals catch loads of fishes here because the water is packed with them). And there were lots of turtles. I love turtles, so that was cool. Once, I went snorkeling at this place called Shark's Cove. It was a harrowing experience. When I get scared, I hyperventilate and flex my calves really hard. I don't know why, it's a fight or flight thing I guess. Anyway, someone should try that sometime, snorkeling while hyperventilating and using more energy to flex calves than swim. I was fine for awhile in the shallow side because it just looked like the old submarine ride at Disneyland (that has apparently been replaced by a new Finding Nemo feature) through my goggles so I convinced myself it was fake. But then my friend wanted us to go over to the deeper side. I almost died. We had to swim THROUGH a school of fish about the size of my hand and larger. The swells were up that day, so between it all, I had to avoid being smashed against the beautifully craggy basalt (although, if I had to go, being with basalt in my last moment would probably be the best way, especially if the other alternative is "swimming with the fishes," figuratively and literally). And my friend kept trying to point out the giant fishes (over a foot long). She even saw a squid, which I think was probably an octopus but I wouldn't know because I told her "No thanks" and when she saw it again I told her I would rather die than see a squid and acknowledge I was swimming with one. Once at Hukilau, we saw some local kids who had captured 2 or 3 octopii (? that would be the spelling in Latin, but I've heard arguments that it's octopuses. What do I know? After 4 years of high school Latin and English, I still couldn't tell you which is right) from the ocean we swim in. Disgusting.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, I have ichthyophobia. That is a fear of fish. And it is not only just fish with fins and tails and bulging eyes, although that is the main type, but also anything disgusting. Like octopuses/ii, and squids (which we had to dissect in the 7th grade; they told us to hold it like an ice cream cone, so I scooted my chair back and watched with one eye closed), jellyfish, and crustaceans in general. Shrimps are so creepy.

I am not, however, afraid of sharks, dolphins, whales, sea lions, otters, sting rays, turtles, etc.
Except for the sting ray that killed Steve Irwin, may he rest in peace.

A real funny joke

Yo' mama so poor, she hangs the toilet paper out to dry!

That's the best one I know.

**note: I did not actually write this post**

Weird food

I'm a super picky eater, so probably weirder than foods I eat are foods I don't eat. I don't like any seafood, beans, tomatoes, pickles, olives, mushrooms, bananas, etc. etc. Apparently that's pretty weird.

Pet peeves

One thing that drives me nuts is when people mispronounce my name. More when I was younger, people would say Tara like car instead of Tara like tare-a. I had teachers in middle school who consistently called me Tarr-a for my entire duration, despite multiple corrections. I don't get it as much in college, maybe because in Utah people are smart enough to realize that Tara rhymes with Sara. Intuitive.

Worst Date

Rather than worst date, I will explain what is maybe my worst "dating experience," as it unfortunately did not end at the date...

I was here last summer, and my ward combined with another ward because they were so small. There were 2 Sunday school teachers, one in my ward and one in the other. The one in my ward and I had been on some dates before, but we both weren't feeling it, and that was fine. Near the end of the term, the other teacher complimented my eyeshadow and then asked for my number in front of the other teacher. I was amused, so I gave it to him. Big mistake. This was before my 210 trip. Post 210, after I thought I was in the clear, he called. Everyone deserves a first date, so I agreed. We went to dinner, which is fine. He gave me some weird compliments like... just staring at me silently and then saying "Wow, you are just so beautiful." I guess that could be sweet but it wasn't, trust me. Afterward, he said he'd rented a movie and asked if we could use my apartment because his roommates were home. Fine, because so were mine and I needed their presence. We made carmel apples and watched the Aubry Hepburn version of Sabrina. This is a pretty harmless date, and because I was not in to it at all, I figured he'd never call back. The night ended with a hesitant side hug. If that were the end of it, it would've just been awkward, but not bad.

However, the next week he called back. I was on my way to a class and expecting a call from another boy, so I answered the phone on impulse. He asked me out for Friday, but I said no. I didn't have a date lined up, but I was planning on it, so I had to keep my evening free. He was a persistant little devil though. He asked me out for a weekday instead. I was in a hurry and needed to get rid of him, so, caught off guard, I agreed and hung up. Again, big mistake. Our second date, again, started with dinner. More weird compliments like "You have amazing hands. I would love to draw them sometime." Then monopoly in the Tanner building. This is the second time I have done this activity on a date. Word of advice: if this is ever on the date agenda, run away. Fast. Monopoly was whatever, but as we were walking back to his truck, he grabbed my hand! Holy heck, that is SO not okay. I was paralyzed, I did not close my hand, and as soon as I regained my senses, I pulled away. We then went to the duck pond south of campus to feed the ducks. Holy moly, I just wanted to go home. I was miserable. I kept my arms folded for the rest of the night. Post duck pond, he finally took me home. I'm pretty sure the night ended without a hug.

Well, it unfortunately doesn't end there. He continued to call and I flat out refused. Multiple times. I told him at first that I was too busy and didn't have time. He left a bottle of PowerAde on my doorstep with a note that said something like "Hope your week is good, even though it's crazy" or something like that. He continued to call, and I continued to be busy. I avoided him when I saw him. I panicked. He creeped me out, and maybe I'm a bad person because of it, but oh well. He sent me a single flower with another card and said something to the same effect of the PowerAde. For FHE that night, my roommates and I burned the card. A little melodramatic, but I was only a Sophomore. I guess you could say I was acting "sophomoric."

Finally, one Sunday he showed up at my apartment. Keeping to the honor code, we just stood in my front room. Half of my roommates were in the kitchen and he didn't ask for privacy. It was a horrible confrontation, at least in my opinion. He said he really enjoyed the time we'd spent together and wanted to keep being able to go out. I said no, I didn't see it happening. I'm a mean person. I explained how busy I was that semester and that I just wasn't seeing anything happening between him and me in the future. He left, and my roommates laughed. It was horribly awkward.

He had graduated, but every now and then I'd see him on campus or walking near the apartment complex where we live. I have literally walked blocks out of my way to avoid running into him. I'm just a terribly awkward person.

On top of it all, he was balding.

Color me crayola.

I'm a big fan of color in general, but I've actually been to the Crayola site before. I used to think I'd go with "tickle me pink" because I like pink and I think it's an accurate reflection of myself. In kindergarten, however, I was a fan of salmon. These days though, I'm liking anything from "purple mountain's majesty" to cerulean. I'm liking the purples and blues these days, but greens are always good, from sea foam to hunter to jungle to forest.

I'm also slightly embarrassed that I knew all those names without going on to the site. But I'm a big fan of crayola.

First loves don't count

This wholy depends on one's interpretation of the word "love" so I'm going to go with a loose one. My first love was books.

But really, in preschool, there was a kid named Dan Perlof. We were going to get married. This is no longer the case. Thank goodness.

My incredibly nerdy past

When I was a freshmen in High School, it was a schoolwide requirement to take an Earth Science class. There was one teacher that everyone didn't like and always did poorly in his class, and of course I had him; most of the kids did. After a year with Mr. Evans, I still loved the subject when everyone else thought rocks were dumb. Well, they're all dumb because rocks are cool. Because I still liked rocks after that class, it was kind of a testament that I was really passionate about the subject, and pretty much from that point on I knew I wanted to major in geology.

Maybe it predates that though. In the 4th grade we watched a really cool video on volcanoes. I remember going to the OC public library and checking out books on Pompeii and stuff afterward and being completely captivated by the subject. And now, eleven years later, I still love volcanoes.

I've always been so amazed by open-majors because I've always known what I would do when I got to college. I can't imagine people studying in a subject they're not passionate about; I think that would just be the most horrible thing. Luckily for me, I love rocks.

Scar story

Ok, I have a few scars, but the stories are like, I looked down at my ankle and it was bleeding during a youth car wash for the Church, and it scarred. Or my cat scratched me under my left eye when I was maybe 2. Or I had chicken pox. Lame. But my most recently acquired scar (which hopefully won't end up scarring) is kind of a funny story. So while I was in Hawaii, there's a popular hike in Laie that a lot of students take, so two of my friends and I decided we needed to go before our trip ended. It had been raining that day, but it always rains in Hawaii so we figured we were good and set out at about 3:30. We were told it takes about 3-4 hours, at the most, so even though it starts getting dark around 7:30, we thought we'd be ending just in time. We set out and at the trailhead, it said it took about 1.5 hours to get to the Falls, where our hike ended. Granted, we're just 3 girls and we might have been going slower than average, but we looked at the time and it was 5:30. We decided to go til 6 or so before turning back to avoid getting caught in the dark. We kept going, and the trail got muddier from the rain earlier that day. At a few points, we were shin-deep in mud. 6 turned into 6:15, then 6:30, and finally, as we noticed the sun was setting, we decided that something was off and we needed to head back. Lo and behold, it got dark just as we got out of the muddy part. But there was still an hour or so left of hiking ahead of us. Although we had no flashlight, I did have the sense to bring a small booklamp about an inch in diameter. By light of the lamp, we managed to get ourselves lost in the middle of a field where the trail abruptly ended. We were lost for maybe an hour or so before finally getting back on the right trail. And there was fog and no moon, so it was very dark. It started raining about 3o seconds after we reached the trailhead, so we walked to food for the 15 minutes or so that it takes in the rain. Anyway, the scar comes in because my shoe rubbed my right ankle raw from being wet and wearing short socks. My friend Allison had both ankles rubbed raw. We were awesomely muddy. And then we ate at Taco Bell. In retrospect, it was really fun. And apparently, we missed the turnoff to the waterfalls and were on our way to summit instead, which is a 3.5 hour hike. So I don't think we're ridiculously slow hikers, and that makes me feel better.

Rocks

My favorite rock is basalt, so anything to do with basalt, I love. While in Hawaii last semester, I bought an olivine necklace (or peridotite, same deal), but that's not really a sample, but it is the "basalt mineral." But while at Shark's Cove, I took a piece of vesicular basalt. I think that's illegal because it's a state beach park, but it's basalt from Hawaii, and I couldn't resist. I have some other basalt too. A lot of it looks similar, because basalt often looks the same, but it's just so cool. I saw some basalt once with lots of olivine and pyroxene phenocrysts and I really liked that, so maybe one day I can have a sample like that one.

It's all relative

Today we learned about tabs and things in Word, and that's really helpful to me.

My family is relatively tame. Maybe I would say my grandpa. He is a nuclear physicist and one time I was helping him with some stuff in his office, answering phone calls and stuff, and both the White House and FBI called for him. He's been to Czechoslovakia before it split, and Russia and the U.S.S.R., which is a dream of mine that will forever be unfulfilled, as the U.S.S.R. no longer exists. He's heavily involved in the Yucca Mountain project, and even though I know very little about it, I know people talk about it all the time and it sounds important. He's written books, and sometimes with geologists. And he just bought a boat. Oh wait, the question was for craziest, not most awesome. Nevermind then.

Once I went to band camp

I learned about column breaks, which is something I have always wanted to know. The page breaks I learned how to use the hard way last Spring and it was really frustrating, so perhaps column breaks should have been intuitive but it wasn't, so I'm glad we discussed it today.

I play the flute. I started in the 4th grade and let it go by the wayside when I became more heavily involved in dance 4 or 5 years later, but in High School I was still asked to play maybe once a year in sacrament. I used to be pretty good in 6th grade or whatever, but these days, probably not so much.

Cars and things

Today I learned that driving to school is not, in fact, faster than walking. I also learned about the importance of having technical writing skills.
This is easy. I would definitely want a Hummer H3. It's the smaller one, so it's like the soccer mom's glorified suburban. I'm certainly no soccer mom, I just really like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And if he can own a fleet of hummers (mostly H2s though), surely I could have one for myself. I actually think it's ridiculous to see young moms driving hummers around suburban Orange County, where I'm from, but I see it all the time and I laugh. I'd actually maybe want a lighter blue BMW convertible, but not in Utah where it snows. Audi makes a nice one too.