Ring in the New: 2009 Goals

1. Start a new family blog. Face it--I've certainly outgrown my domain name. Plus I would really like to get off free service and into some sort of implementation of something more customizable, like Wordpress on our own domain. I'm rather liking the title "Make Way for Geeklings" right now.
   
2. Read at least 25 books. I find myself a more interesting person when I'm reading. And while Google Reader and Google News have somewhat taken the place of actual books and newspapers, I feel more responsible by seeking out in-depth information in a book. So yes, you may gather that the majority of these will be non-fiction, although I rather should start reading some creative non-fiction again so I can be more familiar with my chosen genre.
   
3. Write for 15 minutes a day on my blog. Or future blogs opened. This is both for writing purposes and for keeping in touch with family upon our August move to Seattle.
   
4. Complete 600 pages of journal writing. Most of my published essays came from the 200 pages of journal writing we were assigned on my study abroad. I can't expect quite as big a ratio (100 pages/month) with real life in the way, but I'm going to shoot for the moon and go for half.
5. Complete an essay each month and submit it for publication. Three writing goals may seem rather obsessive, but it seems I have basically three levels of writing going on, so I might as well distinguish them. I like the idea of basing my publication goals on essays out rather than publications completed. There's something to be said for getting yourself out there.
   
6. Run a half-marathon. At some point during my pregnancy, I was delusional enough to commit to my husband that I would do this to get back into a shape other than round. With our afore mentioned jogging-stroller-of-doom (with speakers!), the three Busbys will be running (or riding in baby G's case) in the Bear Lake Half-Marathon in June. Pray for my cardiovascular system.
7. Take more pictures. Both George and I are slackers about recording our life, and though George doesn't care much about having tangible memories of the past, I know I'll want to have them later.
   
8. Complete scrapbooks for college and marriage, or throw away the box of ticket stubs, programs, ribbons, papers, etc. Either I need to commit to doing this project or get rid of it. It's just not worth hauling to Seattle otherwise. I'm not sure which to do yet. Heh heh.

Happy 2009! In celebration, I highly recommend you read the full version of Tennyson's Ring Out, Wild Bells.

2008 Resolution Redux

A review of last year's resolutions:

1. Write for at 15 minutes a day. Well, so much for this. Between being pregnant and having a baby, I've been high on excuses for not writing. However, I started a new writing notebook last week in hopes of getting on track for next year.
   
2. Post on the blog more regularly. Ha ha ha.
   
3. Read at least 25 books. In terms of starting books, I probably came close. But finishing books is another matter.
   
4. Get published. Yup. 3 times.
   
5. Apply to grad school. As of 12:06 pm, FedEx is overnighting it to Seattle. So technically completed this year.
   
6. Find a job. Well, I spent most of this year jobless (unless you count creating life as a job). My temp job in Seattle was alright, but not ideal. There probably won't be a job goal next year, unless I get into grad school and they let me teach little freshmen.
   
7. Do 100% of my visiting teaching. Still at 0%. I have an excuse for 3 months in Seattle where we never made it to the VT/HT lists, but I'm still battling my strange aversion to visiting teaching.
   
8. Keep in better touch with my family. I'll say I did a pretty good job at this. This summer we used more than half of our minutes each month. Impressive for us, let me tell you.
9. Figure out how spices work. I'm doing better at this, but it's an on going project.
   
10. Wake up early, and like it. Right now I'm feeling pretty good about mornings, especially since Baby G started sleeping through the night. Running with our new jogging-stroller-of-doom is also helping mornings be a happier time. (Never thought I'd say that.)

New resolutions tomorrow!

Baby by Numbers: Brief Note of Shock

• 8 - baby's record consecutive sleep hours, which happened on Saturday. (8 hours, 14 minutes to be precise.) I know I said that sleeping through the night would come sooner rather than later, but at 5 weeks? There must be something wrong with this baby he's so good. Maybe he's addicted to sleep? He's also sleeping almost 12 hours total at night. I am so spoiled. Poor second born child. He/she's doomed to hear stories about how great his/her older brother was for the rest of his/her life.
• $14,613.31 - current total of doctor's bills for little G's birth.
• $1,242 - current total we have to pay. Thank goodness for insurance, even the ridiculous student health plan with massive premiums. Of course, this is pending any more bills received.
  

Baby by Numbers: Post-Partum Edition

Last week, Ben pointed out that I haven't updated my blog since the big day, so for those of you who don't know . . .

• 11/7 - date George Edward Busby, Jr. was born. Yup. We went in for the non-stress test at 10:30 am on the 6th and the doctor suggested that we induce labor. Being the impatient people that George and I are, we were thrilled.
• 23 - hours after I was admitted, baby George arrived in the world. It's not as bad as it sounds, since they didn't induce contractions until evening, and with the epidural, I slept through most of it. However . . .
  
• 2 - hours of pushing is not a fun experience. They say it goes faster for subsequent babies. But it was worth it because I have my baby now! He's a total cutie! (See above or facebook for evidence.) Overall, labor was not as bad as it had been hyped to be. (Though without an epidural, I think it would have been much worse.) I'm pretty sure I could do that again. Not for at least a year, but anyways.
  
• 174 - number of diapers we have changed since then. How do I know this? Because of a wonderful little site called Trixie Tracker. Yes, at first glance it may seem a little obsessive to track your baby's every nap, diaper, and bottle, but it's a life saver. Keeping track of all these things has given me a bit of sanity and a project to do through this transition. It also helps me to understand baby G's patterns. For instance, if he falls asleep at 7:30 pm, I can check how much he's eaten today and accurately guess if he's down for the night or if he'll wake up for one more bottle. I feel a lot more in control just for having all these charts and stats. For more baby G stats, you can visit his site, Baby by Numbers.
• 20.4 - ounces of formula consumed by little G per day on average. I was hoping to breastfeed, but the doctors put G on formula supplementation because of jaundice at the hospital, and he never learned how to suck properly. After 2 weeks of trying and being on the verge of an emotional breakdown, we decided to give up and go to bottle feeding. It's sort of disappointing, but on the other hand, it means big G can help with the feeding at night. :D
  
• 14 - approximate number of hours baby G sleeps a day. About 10 of these are at night, which is great. Last night, he slept 7 hours straight and only woke up because I woke up anyway and wanted to feed him before I went back to sleep. Sleeping through the night will probably happen sooner rather than later. It's very considerate of him, though the lack of naps during the day makes it hard to accomplish other things, like . . .
• 29 - days until grad school applications are due at the University of Washington. Yup, I'm applying for next fall. I'm pretty anxious about getting in, which is a new sensation for me. When I was applying for undergrad, I knew I was a shoe-in for a full-ride at BYU, and only applied at other schools to satisfy my dad. It's weird to think about the prospect of getting rejected, though it really won't be the end of the world. I just think it would be nice to get my masters, and teaching freshman English is a good part-time job for a mom. :D But if not, I'm sure little G will keep my plenty busy.
  

Yatta!

Many people expressed doubts that it could be done in time, but I have yet to go into labor and here it is: the Wild Stripes baby blanket in all its glory!


Doing the hand sewing and embroidery was definitely the most difficult part. Now I know why people (women) invented quilting frames. I'm still unsatisfied with the bagginess of some parts of the backing, but since it's my first time I'm cutting myself a break.
I think the colors go pretty well with the baby bumpers my mom bought. So cute and so not pastel.

Disturbing

Every night for the past week, my dreams have ended with me having to kill someone. Not in a war or anything. Usually some serial killer or burglar who I know will kill everyone else if I don't handle them first. Often, they've killed off people I know right before. I have no weapons, so I usually end up strangling them, bashing their head on something, or drowning them (most recently). It's slow and scary and methodical and drawn out. Often times I half wake-up but force the dream to continue because I know it's so important for them to be gone and I need closure.

I don't think we need an expert in dream interpretation to say that this is a little disturbing. Thoughts on what this could mean about my psyche?

Baby By Numbers: Distance and Pain

• 1.3 - miles between our new apartment in Springville and George's family's house. This is nice because we can hop over there when we need things, and when the baby comes they will be close by to help, but bad because . . .
• 8 - miles between our apartment and campus. Yeah, the commute is going to suck, and I confess to being a bit worried about what will happen when I go into labor and have to call George back from campus. :( Ah well.
  
• 2 - Extra Strength Tylenol I have taken today. On Saturday my back started hurting like the devil. The kind of feeling like you've been hunched over too long, only much worse. Ever since, I've been trying to decide which is worse, popping pills or dealing with the pain. Did I mention that both George and I are anti-medication? This doesn't mean I don't want an epidural or anything, just that we don't like taking medicine for everyday pain.
  
• 770 - dollars we spent on dental work for George yesterday: 2 wisdom teeth pulled, 4 cavities filled. About the same time my back pain hit, George's teeth started hurting; I eventually convinced him we had to do something about it, despite not having dental coverage. Hurray for the Discounted Service Plan from BYU--I'm sure it could have cost a lot more. And the dentist we went to had the coolest office I've ever seen: massage chairs and free food! Pregnant lady paradise! But let me tell you, it's not been fun having a pregnant lady with back pain and her husband hopped up on painkillers in the same house. Nobody wants to be responsible. Everyone wants to guilt trip the other person into figuring out what to make for dinner. But to be fair, George has been really great about it. He's actually healing well (meaning no longer on prescription pain meds) and pushing me to keep doing things through the pain, which has helped. Now he's talking about having the wisdom teeth made into earrings for me. (Think again, silly brain.)
• 4 - pounds I gained over the three weeks between my prenatal appointments. No wonder my back is hurting. And all my maternity clothes aren't fitting any more either. I take comfort in the fact that I still weigh about 15 pounds less than I did when I graduated from high school, so obviously my body can handle it. It's just the distribution that's awkward.
• 4 - first names we've narrowed down to. Luke and Lucas are tied for first (I'm still not convinced about Lucus), with Adam and Quincy as runners-up. As for middle names, who knows.
  
• 1 - years George and I will have been married as of Saturday! Come to think of it, George also had dental work the Wednesday before we got married. This better not become a tradition. Anyway, we're headed up to Logan for the weekend to celebrate, to check out the trail for the Top of Utah Marathon George will be running in September, and to get a Bear Lake Raspberry shake that I've been craving all summer.
• 9 - weeks left until my due date! Wow, things are going fast.
  

The Coolest Page on the Web Ever

Go here and search for me.

Now if only they would catalog it so I could coerce people into checking it out.

Baby by Numbers: Beginning of the End

• 2/3 - of the way through my pregnancy on Friday. Third trimester, here we come!
• 1/3 - done with baby Busby's Wild Stripes blanket. And George thought it wouldn't get done in time. I had my doubts about the color substitution, but it looks really nice so far.
• 62 - number of miles I've biked over the past month accompanying George on his long marathon training runs on Saturdays. Don't worry, there's not a lot of physical exertion involved in keeping up with a runner, even an awesome one like my hubby. However, I wish I had some exercise pants with more support for my enlarging maternal tummy. After 3 hours of bumping up and down, little Wilson is very angry.
• 6 - names for baby Busby we brainstormed last week running that start with the letter J: Jack, Jacob, James, Jonathan, Joseph, Jonas. In methodical Busby fashion, we decided it would be most efficient to simply work our way through the alphabet for names we might actually feel comfortable calling our baby. It's very strange to face the prospect of coming up with permanent identification for another human being. Other popular letters include C (Caleb, Christian, Conner, Clayton), G (George, Grant, Gregory, Gabriel), and S (Samuel, Stephen, Saul). Please regard all information as to Wilson's actual name as a rumor pending further confirmation in 3 months. :D
• 2 - times I threw up Saturday. Probably because I ate an entire container of movie popcorn, followed by several Oreos, and an apple. Dang baby won't let me get away with eating junk.
• 1 - cute knitted baby hat a lady in the ward gave to us at the Friday night game night. I love it so much. It made me realize that I'm happy to be having a winter baby. Bundled up babies are so adorable.
• 4 - days left on my temp job and George's internship. Wow, our time in Washington has flown. I'm really excited to go home. Our corporate housing feels like a hotel, right down to the lack of overhead lighting in the living area. (What makes people think that sporadic lamps will be enough? It never works.)
• 1:58 - length of our flight back to Utah. Hopefully I won't feel too sick.

Temporary Name

So I got sick of referring to baby as Baby; therefore I've given it, er, him, a temporary name: Eggar Albert Wilson Busby. I call him Wilson, ala Cast Away: he looks like a volleyball under my shirt and I feel slightly crazy talking to/about him.

Cute little Wilson.

And my yarn for the Wild Stripes blanket arrived today! Yay for having something to do on the bus that won't make me sick.

The Question

Today's the day we find the answer to the question: is it a baby or an exotic South American parasite? The answer will be posted later this evening. Take a guess if you like.

Baby by Numbers

So after having been chastized directly ("So. . . I just noticed the ratio of posts to your blog in the last three years.") and indirectly ("Now I know the big secret. . . . : Real writers write everyday.") by two of the best writers I know, I'm going to try to bring this blog into a comeback. No, for reals this time. At first, I had too little time to blog (honors thesis/finals), but lately I've had too much time to blog. That may not make sense unless you've spent a month alone in a new apartment in a neighborhood you don't know with no car. That's a recipe for ennui if I ever knew one--I couldn't get up the energy to read, much less write to my witty standard. But now that I have a part-time job, things are a lot better. I still only work 4 hours a day and it's temp work, but it's enough to force my brain to come out of hibernation and think about things.

During all that filing and stapling, I've been contemplating a little feature which I hope to make semi-regular on this blog for the next few months--i.e. until the baby arrives. After reading a bunch of websites and magazines on pregnancy, I'm highly bored with the standard pregnancy story. The excitement, the worries, all of that is all pretty much the same. At the same time, I know my friends want to be informed of my pregnancy progress. I've decided these two problems can be reconciled with the writer's favorite tool for adding interest to standard subjects: innovative formatting! And without further ado, I present "Baby by Numbers":

• 245 - bus I ride to work which still sometimes makes me sick, even though the morning sickness has mostly subsided. It doesn't help when the bus driver is a displaced chain-smoking cowboy.
• 5 - days at my temp job before somebody figured out I was pregnant.
• 12 - colors in this "Wild Stripes" baby blanket I want to knit. Baby things that aren't in pastel? Sign me up! I don't know why I'm so against pastel--probably because they wash me out. Unfortunately, a lot of the recommended colors are discontinued. I'm terrified to try to pick out 12 colors that will work together! Help?
• 3-5 - times I wake up each night. It's getting really hard to sleep. Three factors are combining to ruin my sleep: I am getting bigger and therefore more difficult to position, the bed at our corporate housing is uncomfortable (I miss our IKEA bed), and the sheets and blankets refuse to stay put and get all wrinkley. Did I mention that straight sheets and blankets are my OCD obsession? I cannot sleep on things that are wrinkley and slide around.
• 1 - baby blankets I currently own.
• 1 - baby outfits I currently own. I expect these last two in increase dramatically very soon because . . .
• 14 - days until my ultrasound on June 18th! George and I can't wait to find out it it's a boy or a girl; it'll make the whole we're-going-to-have-a-baby thing a lot more real.
• 21 - weeks until baby is due. For those of you who don't speak pregnancy, that'd be 4-5 months. :D

A Landmark

Yesterday was a landmark day in the history of my pregnancy. I was walking through downtown Seattle by the Space Needle with Julie and her 6 month-old baby, Abby. Some lady noticed Abby--there are very few babies in Seattle--and said, "Oh, what a cute baby! How old is she?" Then she looked at me and said, "And it looks like you're expecting too."

A risky statement I probably wouldn't have made as a by-stander, but nonetheless, yay!

Granted, the shirt I was wearing exaggerates the size of my belly, but nonetheless, yay!

Two Powerpoints

I find the contrast between the two powerpoints I'm making today quite humorous. They also illustrate the idiosyncrasy of my education--I pretty much only write about things I'm interested in. To hell if they don't match other people's conceptions of classic English major subjects.



And now to write my 20-page medieval exegesis of T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets." Sigh.

In Which I Have an Announcement to Make

Or rather several. This blog has fallen severely behind on my personal life. Don't worry; classes will be over in 2.5 weeks and then I am done with my undergrad, leaving much more time for the important things in life, like blogging.

On to business, from least important to most:

• I'm playing a very interesting ARG (alternate reality game) in connection with the upcoming summer olympics entitled "The Lost Ring," which is about the suppression of a secret olympic sport and the synchronization of alternate universes. If you're interested in conspiracy theories, weird quantum science fiction, or translating stuff from Esperanto, you should check out the wiki and get involved. If I can find ten other people in the area, maybe we can try playing the lost sport of the olympics--labyrinth running!
• Our car got squashed on St. Patrick's day, all because we decided to get pizza instead of cooking. After picking up the food, George parked in a really nice spot near our complex's parking lot entrance, which is usually great, except that someone in a blasted U-Hall didn't notice the 6' height clearance bar. They plowed into it and knocked one of the supporting beams down on the hood of our car. Of all the lameness! The car still runs, but we'd like to be able to open up the hood again, especially since our car eats oil and needs a refill every few weeks. Alas, it could take a while to be repaired since no one's insurance wants to take responsibility for the accident . . . .
• I won first place in the Vera Hinckley Mayhew essay contest! The winners aren't up on the website yet, but I thought I'd link that in case anyone cared to find out more (especially you future BYU students). First place is $300, which marks the first time I've been paid for writing since 8th grade when a poem I wrote was in the top ten in some Rocky Mountain youth poetry contest--I got $50 dollars. I guess that means that a high school and (almost) college diploma have earned me a 600% pay increase?
• A shortened version of the essay that won said contest is being published in Segullah this summer, so keep an eye out for it. I've also got a book notice coming out in the Journal of Mormon History, but that won't have a byline, so it's not as exciting.
• [UPDATE:] I also won third place in the David O. McKay essay contest. Which makes me a runner-up to the most awesome writer I know: Brooke Larson. Plus publication and money. Am I bragging? Well, I won't put a dollar amount, mostly since I can't find it online anywhere and I haven't gotten an official letter from them yet. :D
  
• I'm having a baby! I'm 9.5 weeks along now, which means that the baby is due on Halloween-ish. I'm really deadly sick right now, which is making it difficult to finish up classwork, but supposedly most morning sickness goes away around week 12-14. I can only pray.

Roll Video Footage

Courtesy of my wonderful friend Marisa, a huge chapter of my life is now available on Google Video. All those whose hugging skills need improvement, weep no more! Witness the Hug Video in all of its tripartite glory:

The Hug Video: World of Contact
From the cheesy National Geographic music to the dictionary hug, this is an instant classic. Who's Joe, you might ask? Joe is the inspiration for the hug video, whose prolific dictionary hug skills led my roommates to offer him hugging lessons. Trust me: some people need them.

Hug Video 1 Bloopers
The birth of Marisa's child and some lovely background shots of me knitting my Quidditch socks.

The Hug Video Part Dos
You may remember that I spent most of finals week winter 2006 editing this video. It's not as crisp as the first one, but we love it none the less. The invalid hug is great.

Someday I'll get around to making our final movie--the Paint Date. 50 bouncy balls, several bottles of paint, and lots of plastic wrap meet a college kitchen.

Back from Hiatus

So, eh, it's been a long time. If my artistic expression weren't above it, I would now insert one of those anime-looking smilie faces with a nervous sweat drop coming off its face. Anyway, I apologize for being gone so long. I've been undergoing a whole bunch of life-altering changes. The ironic part about life-altering changes is that they make great material to write about, but when you are actually going through them, it's very difficult to do so. A synopsis of what has happened since I last blogged (August 1):


The Wedding
I got married. I suppose this is obvious, but I thought I'd include a few obligatory wedding pictures, all courtesy of Marisa's facebook since I don't have the candids from my parents with me and the photographer ones are all watermarked. George and I coming out of the temple. I love my dress (from Bridal Image, my aunt and grandma's bridal store in Bountiful).

My baby brother Josh (8) carrying my veil--the veil's my mom's.

Obligatory reflecting pool pictures. Note the awesome gloves and George's brown tux.

Me smearing George's face with some frosting after my cousin Barb specifically told us not to. :D This is at the reception in our backyard.

And yes, married life is great. But I see no point in writing about it since the single people will just be annoyed and hopefully the married ones already know.

And now I know I definitely disagree with Ben.


No More Double Major
I come back from my honeymoon one week late to the new fall semester at BYU and discover that physical chemistry is not really a chemistry class--it's a physics class in disguise! I passed the math class on which it is based with a C+ last fall. I hate physics with a passion because it's one of the few subjects that I have to work at. I proceed to stress out and have various mental breakdowns about my adequacy. George holds up admirably. I decide to quit the chemistry major and declare a minor instead. I am now trying to pick up the shattered pieces of my identity. Don't worry, I'll get over being a normal single-major-with-minor person like the rest of you. It'll just take time.


BYUAML Presidency
I'm now the president of the student chapter of the Association for Mormon Letters. I've started a BYUAML blog (of course) and a Google calendar to keep track of activities. I really enjoyed my first AML board meeting, and I'm flippin' excited about the Writing Conference on November 10th. Yay! I'm really interested in all the activities we've got going on, so I think it's going to be fun.


Miscellaneous Other

• Working on my Honors thesis project, a collection of 4-5 personal essays on various aspects of being a Mormon woman.
• Taking the LDS lit class and trying to narrow down the subject for my research paper. I'd like to write all twenty of them, but I think one will have to suffice.
  
• Trying to find time to work on more Hugh Nibley stuff. I've been on a hiatus from working for Jack Welch and he probably wonders where I am.
• Learning not to agree to do every project that comes along just because it would be so much fun. I have to have time to see my husband too.

So, I really will try to blog something real tomorrow, and it has to do with either 1 Cor 14 or D&C 93. Or maybe I'll actually post on Blogger of Jared, since I've been a guest blogger since April and written exactly nothing.

A Simple Solution

You are a soon-to-be-married geek couple at BYU who just decided to move your wedding from December 28 to August 30. In your high-speed search for married housing, you:

A) create a spreadsheet from BYU's inadequate family housing search, eliminate entries that are too expensive or too late, then proceed to rank other information such as distance from campus and furnishing, sorting the spreadsheet to your heart's content;
B) make a Google map of the locations of the housing you are considering and color the icons to show which are near and far from campus;
C) write a program to automatically generate emails to the owners on your spreadsheet, letting them know of your interest in the property;
D) all of the above and now you can't stop giggling about how much fun it was.

Duum Dah Dah Dum

So some people on the study abroad guessed this was coming, and my family knew four days before I did (Heather, I may kill you later), but for the rest of you--I'm engaged to become the future Mrs. George Busby.

Now I'm going to go to sleep and hope this isn't a dream.

A Kiss for Abortive Wings

I feel bad about not updating my travel blog recently. I've been typing out things on my USB drive but can't find an internet cafe that allows USB connections. Gah! So, just so you don't all forget about me and because I miss blogging a lot, here's a poem I've been working on.

When we first meet
I see the seams across your back
and wonder whose needle put them there.
In time, I notice you stitch them yourself.
Your needful contortions sucher
gaps between muscle and soul.

I dare not ask about the wounds
for I fear finding them
self-inflicted or inflicting me.
Your eyes are glad for my silence
so I dumbly watch your soundless cries
as we move through the forgiving dark.

But when I bring my hand close
to weigh your burden in my palm,
your wince stings
and cloaks again well-nursed scars.
You ask me to embrace you
but forbid our atoms to touch.

Perhaps if I had light or voice,
you might be able to see. Look:
I don't want you to be happy, only whole.
Stop forcing scabs to bleed hot
and allow the flaws in your clay
to beautifully complete imperfection.

When we last meet,
I see the seams across your back
and learn our wants are not the same.
Still, I lean in to press your lips
and run my hand across
the scars of your abortive wings.