La lingua d'italia e bellissimo!

In high school, I didn't take Spanish or French like normal kids. I took Latin. It's generally not a spoken language (but NEVER tell a Latin scholar it's a dead language), so I can't really speak it, but I can read it decently well and if I were Catholic, I could generally understand the Pope. But I'm not Catholic, I'm LDS, so I came to BYU and decided I needed to take a language. So I took Italian for a year. It's still rough, but I'm getting there. Although the class, especially 102, was torture, I'm glad I learned it. One thing I did learn while in Hawaii is that it's SUPER useful to speak another language so you can talk to each other in that language in front of other people. An example: really weird guys from Japan were talking to us. They were UH students. We wanted to leave. So with my broken Italian and my friends' basic Spanish, we were able to communicate that to each other without them knowing. They spoke to each other in Japanese so I don't feel bad at all. I just wish more people knew Italian. I wish I knew Italian, for that matter. Actually, I can get by fairly well conversing in Italian. I'm definitely not blessed with the gift of tongues, that much I know. Before I took Italian, I wanted to learn a Cyrillic and Asian language in addition to the Romantic language, but after the battle with learning Italian, that desire is not so strong. Still, my boyfriend speaks Ukrainian and Russian (he served in the Kiev mission) and his parents are mission pres. of the Russia Yekateringsberg mission (I don't know if I spelled that right at all) so I'd like to learn one of those languages. I'd rather learn Ukrainian, for some reason I like the less common of languages (like choosing to learn Italian, which is only spoken in Italy or Latin, which is only spoken in the Vatican) but with my terrible multi-lingual skills, or lack thereof, who knows.

Tutto io conosco e che io non capisco niente quando un RM d'italia parla velocemente, per esempio la mia professoressa per la classe da cento e due. Mamma mia!

I believe I can fly

This is perhaps one of my proudest moments in my entire life. The summer before I came up to college, I got to throw out the opening pitch to an Angels game. It was Mormon night at the Angels, an annual tradition in Orange County. My mom got a phone call asking if I would be willing to go on the field before the game where they could recognize a few students to represent the Mormon group that was there. I don't know why, but I didn't ask questions; of course I would. My mom (I don't know why they just asked for my mom to relay the message, but whatever) then received another phone call asking if I would be the one to actually throw out the opening pitch. Holy flying Disney angel wings! I have no idea why I was chosen, how my name got suggested, but whatever, when I get a stroke of luck, I take it. Problem: I didn't really know how to throw a ball. I practiced for a few hours, with my Dad and male friends coaching me through it.

Then, the day came. I got to go early to the game and go through a special door. They gave me a hat and the ball. There were a few other kids there too (I think 3 or 4 total) and we got escorted onto the field. The first player I saw was Chone Figgins, one of my absolute favorite players. I was so excited. And Vlad saw us and winked. I was freaking out, it was so cool. And then, the game was beginning, so we lined up around the mound, and I threw the ball to Scot Shields. He then came up to return the ball to me, gave me a side hug, and told me I threw a good strike. I held out the ball and he signed it. I was euphoric. Then the game started, I returned to the Mormons in the nosebleeds, and proceeded to watch the game I had started. So yeah, my claim to fame is that I threw out the opening pitch at an Angels game.

Note: Angels beat the Devils Rays that night. I think that's symbolic, Angels and Devils. Yeah.

To teach is to...

My sophomore year of high school, I had an incredible English teacher, Ms. Ryan. She's the one who suggested I read East of Eden. She would always encourage class discussion and there were some really bright kids that made it funny (they were like Phineas and Gene from A Separate Peace). I loved my freshmen high school Earth Science teacher, Mr. Evans. He wore shirts that said things like "heavy metals" with elements from the periodic table and coined the clever phrase "No zinc in the sink!". But in college, I've had some pretty good teachers too. I loved my Calc 113 teacher, Dr. Johnson. He was this old guy with an English accent. I had an incredible Comparative Politics teacher, Dr. Wade Jacoby, which was so nice after having such a terrible experience in Pl Sc 110. And I've never not liked any of my Geology professors. My top two might be Dr. Ritter and Dr. Christiansen though, thus far. And I had a really good clogging teacher, Rustin Van Katwyk. And of course, Dr. Wood for Chem 105. At BYU-Hawaii, I had a political science teacher from the Cook Islands, Dr. Jon Tiki Jonassen, and he was hilarious. He used to be the foreign affairs minster for CI, as well as the ambassador to New Zealand from Cook Islands, so he had tons of stories. I'm usually pretty accepting of teachers, and usually, the teachers I like are very professional in the classroom, or the intellectual type. Or at least, I don't think I'm smarter than them, as has been the case with a few... When I'm incredulous about something a teacher says, it usually means I want out of the class. The only 2 examples I can think of this though are the two I mentioned yesterday. Sometimes my Italian 102 teacher. And sometimes Brother Merrill, my Book of Mormon teacher, said some... interesting stuff. "All people who are popular are going to Hell. All people who go to parties are going to Hell." And then there was the time he looked straight into my soul in the middle of class. Whoa, that was weird. But he was a good guy.

Dante's inferno has nothing on this

Worst college teacher, easy. Brother Parry (or Perry, I don't even care to know which is right). He was my comparative literature teacher my freshmen year. I had an amazing English teacher in high school who urged me to pursue a major in an English field. I didn't want to; I wanted to do geology. But nonetheless, I figured I could at least take a few classes in English. Brother P killed books. He was incredibly dry and refused to allow opinions. If we didn't agree with his interpretation of Dante, we were definitively wrong. Although I am no feminist by any stretch of the imagination, my high school teacher was, so my analytical eye had been trained to catch those undertones. Bro P. was the opposite, and saw nothing of the sort. Because of our drastic clash of interpretations of literature, I lost my desire to try to impress him with his own regurgitated opinions. The best part of the class was that it was in the basement of the newly-constructed JFSB in one of the spinny rooms, so the chairs were really comfortable and the room could rotate. The soft chairs and dim mood lighting created a fantastic nap atmosphere. And I drew some great pictures. I had two of my best friends in the class with me, as well as some very choice characters from my ward (the topper and the scapegoat) so... although I learned nothing about Bro P's interpretations of The Book of the City of Ladies, Machiavelli's The Prince, Sophocles, etc., it served its purpose as an opportunity for hilarity and catching up on much-needed sleep. Bleh, just thinking about that class leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I also had a really bad TA once, in my Political Science 110 class. She was nuts. But that's another story.

If you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

I'm not too easily embarrassed. That's not to say I don't do embarrassing things, because I certainly do, but I just don't care. I'm reminded of Natasha on America's Next Top Model, the most recent cycle, where she was in the top 2 and during the walk-off, her skirt fell off and she didn't miss a step. That's kind of like my embarrassing moments. Because she handled it so well, Tyra didn't even notice and Twiggy praised her for her professional way of handling it... I do lots of awkward things. Lots. I was a cheerleader in high school and my Senior year, I was captain of my varsity squad. This means I got to be the one on the microphone at football games. Oh boy, whoever made that executive decision made a big mistake. I would say the most ridiculous things, but it never embarrassed me. I just thought it was funny. I'm sure there were plenty of other people who were embarrassed as a result, but oh well. Oh man, the squad that year was so much fun. We were out of control. I was big on stake dances that year too... and I'm sure I should have been embarrassed then too, but it just doesn't phase me when other people are watching me dance. Judge not, you know? I tend to be too loud. I get really into heated political discussions. I'm sarcastic and rude and blunt more than I should be. I'm not afraid to do something because of what other people might think. I'm just not a very reserved person, and that would probably lead to more embarrassing moments, if I cared enough to be embarrassed. But honestly, at the dance, who's more embarrassed: the wall-flower or the person in the middle of the circle?

I did get an A- in Chem 105. That's actually pretty embarrassing, not because it's a bad grade, but because it was an easy class and I should've done better.

Different names for the same thing

I like my names, first, middle and last. One day, I actually will change my name, my last name. It's called marriage. Girls are just lucky that way I guess. In elementary school, whenever we played whatever, I wanted my name to be Amy, so maybe that's the closest I can get to a legit answer of the question. I feel like that desire dates me as growing up in the 80s-90s. Amy was also the name of the original pink Power Ranger, back in the 1st grade. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Sidenote: I think an important question to ask would be favorite professional sports team. It's a big deal. Or what's your claim to fame/coolest thing you've ever done. I think of these two because my answers to both are intimately intertwined, and my team just beat Oakland last night. Still leading AL west. So I'm stoked.

I used to take English classes before college came along...

Admittedly, the last book I read was the 7th Harry Potter book. I loved it; it was fantastic. There was a fabulous review in the NY Times from about 2 or 3 days before it came out that I thought was wonderfully articulate and accurate about how Rowling doesn't try for anything "modern" but instead opts for a more "classic Hollywood ending," reminiscint of an old Hollywood where nothing was left up for speculation that involves serious plot matters. But I'm currently reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenin. I love Russian authors and the story is ab fab. I've found Kitty's plight to be incredibly insightful. How many countless times have I also found myself in the same heartwrenching situation, with multiple suitors begging my attention? Too many, simply too many.

I jest, mostly. But I really do love Russian authors. I read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's August 1914 my freshmen year of high school and it was love. But before Harry Potter 7, I read Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii. As I was living in Hawaii at the time, I found it very appropriate. Twain's another one of those great authors. Unlike me, he's funny-clever. I can respect that. Other authors that I simply adore: John Steinbeck (all-time favorite book is East of Eden), Ernest Hemmingway (esp. The Sun Also Rises), Isabel Allende (who would've thought I'd actually love magical realism?), Amy Tan (I was initially a doubter, but she proved her prowess as a novelist via The Hundred Secret Senses) and definitely Ray Bradbury (surprisingly or not, The Martian Chronicles was fantastic; he's a literary Midas-- everything he writes is gold). I feel somewhat like a horrid rebel/outcast from my gender for not having Jane Austin on the list, but I'll give her another shot some day. The Great Gatsby changed my life, as did The Catcher in the Rye (plus, Holden is just such a cool name), 1984, The Awakening, Brave New World, An Artist of the Floating World. I love Asian authors too, and those really esoteric reads like James Joyce or stream of consciousness style in general. And I read Twilight anyway for good measure and well-roundedness (this was based solely on a roommate recommendation, however).

I get way more into books than I do with any other form of media. Having said that, I have been immensely pleased with the Pirates movies, but perhaps that is a result of my affinity for pirates that can possibly be traced back to a baton (yes, baton) routine from when I was 7 or 8 years old. Regardless, in my entertainment center in my apartment, as I (unfortunately) do not own a TV, the large space is filled with my somewhat feeble attempt at a growing personal library. I'm a self-admitted nerd.