Extra-Strength Credit

I am currently sitting in my infant development class, and my professor just introduced an extra credit opportunity to us. It's for ten points, which isn't that much (there are 430 points total in the class), but it could make the difference between letter grades (like between an E [BYU doesn't like the letter F] and a D). Pass-fail, right? (Not that I'm anywhere near that line...) Sounds simple. Do the extra credit, get ten points.

By now I'm sure you're all wondering what exactly this extra credit opportunity entails (or maybe not. Maybe you don't care. Well, you should). My professor decided to take a leaf out of a University of Utah professor's book (difference: the Utah professor requires this. My BYU professor is giving us extra points for doing it. Utah sucks). Well, what we have to do is spend four hours pretending we're a six-month-old baby. Yeah. Yeah. We have to crawl around on all fours, have difficulty sitting up without support, and put foreign objects in our mouths (okay, maybe not the last one). Also, we have to limit our communication to babbling. And then we have to write a summary of our experience. My professor says that the purpose of this exercise is "to re-experience life again before upward mobility and better understand the dramatic transition that between crawling and walking." My personal opinion is that that may be a secondary purpose, but the primary one is for him to get his students to look like idiots. Professors can do that in my major.

I'll probably do it. I mean, four hours is a long time, but we're allowed to break it up into two segments, and he did say we were allowed to take a nap while we did it (not for the whole time). And this could come in handy in nine months or more from now (read: I'm not pregnant) when we have a kid. My professor said this was the best way to see how you need to baby-proof a place - being on their level and all.

I'll just have to do it when Lewis isn't around...yeah.

Halloweeny

As Halloween is fast approaching, it's time to consider that all-important question: what should I been? Here are a few things I've considered:

1. A Trophy Wife. I thought this one might be funny, but a little hard to pull off. There's just not a good description out there of what a trophy wife is supposed to look like. A matching track suit with overdone make-up and hair? A fancy evening gown with jeweled and painted nails? I don't know if people would get it. Plus, I was a Stepford Wife for a costume party a few years ago, and heaven forbid I be unoriginal. Did you ever notice that cougars (not the variety found at BYU) and trophy wives tend to be very similar, except their end goals are different?

2. Sarah Palin. I already have the glasses. All I'd need is a swank business suit and a beehive, and I need to wink a lot and talk in an Alaskan (or whatever) accent.

3. A Hippy. My sister did give me a shirt with a peace sign on it for my birthday.

That's all I've come up with so far. I don't know if any of them will be quite good enough. If you have any ideas for a costume, or if you can think of any ideas or improvements for the above, please to let me know.

Tagged? What Does That Mean?

Apparently, I was tagged by my dear friend Laura. I'm not entirely sure what that means. I think I'm supposed to fill out the same questionnaire she did and then tag some more people at the end. I wasn't going to participate, but since I have an article summary I'd rather put off til later, I might as well. Most of these I don't know the answers to, but I will dutifully fill them out anyway, while changing the questions to fit what I want to write.

The 8 Things Tag...in no particular order.

8 TV shows I love to watch OR shows I have watched occasionally
1. The Office
2. Law and Order
3. CSI
4. The Amazing Race
5. House
6. Looney Toons (if it was still on)
7. Animaniacs (if it was still on)
8. SportsCenter

8 favorite Restaurants OR restaurants I remember eating at somewhat recently
1. Ottavio's
2. Cafe Rio
3. Zupa's
4. Joe Vera's
5. Red Robin
6. Shoots
7. Winger's
8. Pizza Hut (we had that just last night! But it was delivered...does that count? Remember when Pizza Hut was a sit-down restaurant too?)

8 things that happened today OR probably will at some point
1. Got up two hours earlier than usual (for a Tuesday)
2. Observed one of the BYU preschool classes
3. Dozed of in my marital relations class
4. Wished that class was actually about maritime relations
5. Hung out with Lewis for a little bit and talked sports
6. Went to work
7. Do the laundry
8. Go to the DMV

8 things that I look forward to
1. Going grocery shopping (sort of...we need more food, so...)
2. Getting a new hoodie for $10
3. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving
5. The Christmas season
6. Christmas
7. My dad coming to visit
8. The Egyptian souvenirs my mother had better bring me cause I'm so freaking jealous she's there right now

8 things on my wish list
1. Beat Lewis at Mario Kart by hitting him with a red shell right before he crosses the finish line
2. A butter dish and more hot pads
3. An awesome Halloween costume
4. Some nice sweaters. I have none, and it's time to stop wearing t-shirts and short-sleeved blouses to church
5. To be on the Amazing Race
6. And/or Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader
7. To get into grad school
8. To scare Lewis...again.

8 people I tag OR 8 people I know have at some point come across my thingy and have probably not already been tagged
1. Lewis
2. Jennifer
3. Mary
4. Paul
5. Cassie (PS, where did your thingy go?)
6. Andrew and/or Ben. Neither of them has thingyed recently, though.
7. Um...Mom? You'd have to start one...but that's okay.
8. Joseph. He should start one too.

Fall Has Flung

Today has been the first truly cold day of the season. I mean that in the sense that when I got out of class today at eleven, putting my sweater back on was necessary - nay, vital (I shouldn't complain. My boss just called from Idaho, and it's below freezing there. In October). There have been mornings that have been quite chilly, but by midday the sun is out and warming up the world. Today, this was not the case. It got me thinking (somehow) about the vast variety of words associated with cold weather, and how some of them are quite pleasant to say or hear. And some are not so great. Let's discuss.

1. Brisk. For some reason, words with that ess sound in the middle always seem to sound better with a good hard "kuh" right at the end. Bris? Lame. Tsk is another example. Only words with ess sound qualify for this level of satisfaction. Mink is a crappy word.

2. Crisp. Maybe I just like the pairing of kuhs and esses. Or maybe that pairing is just the right kind to describe cold weather. However, while I like this word in the context of weather, I'm not its biggest fan when we're talking about snack foods. As you may or may not know, those crazy British cats use this word when referring to potato chips. It sucks. They seem to be under the impression that chips are French fries. I know the French are lame and all (goodness knows we Americans even tried to switch them to freedom fries, but that never quite caught on), but let's look past that and call French fries by their proper name. They are not chips. And chips are chips, not crisps.

3. Nippy. Now we are into the realm of cold words Alyssa does not like so much. Nippy reminds me of either boobs or little dogs nipping at my ankles. Seeing as I am not so well-endowed and I don't like dogs, big or small, these are not good associations for me. Nippy is out.

4. Chilly. I take the opposite view on chilly as I do with crisp. Chilly is fine when you actually mean chili, a delicious concoction that can include (but is not limited to) bean, beef, and peppers. How did something so warm become a homophone of something so cold? I don't approve.

Other synonyms include biting, cutting, and sharp. I have no opinion on these words. That could be because they are just not used that much. I mean, seriously...when's the last time you said something along the lines of, "Boy-oh-boy, it sure is sharp out there today! Better wear some mittens!" Don't remember? That's because you never have. Although I bet Lewis will say that sometime soon just to prove me wrong.

On an unrelated note, I went to the vending machine to get a snack today, and I picked a Peanut Butter Twix. Now normally, if I'm in the mood for peanut butter I try to stay in the Reese's family with either a Peanut Butter Cup or a Fast Break, but I saw that someone had tried to purchase a Peanut Butter Twix and it got stuck, so if I was to select that particular candy bar, I'd get two for the price of one. Heck yes, says I. Sucks for whoever tried to get a Peanut Butter Twix before me. Buyer beware.