celebrations

i'm thinking of selling my salsa to people.

Would any of you buy it?

Also, does anyone know where I can buy containers of this variety? k thx.

your questions will be answered

I can't believe it's July first. Ten months ago this Thursday I returned from China and became a Salt Lake City resident.

On top of that, it never fails to take me by surprise when I think or say that I graduated from college a little over two years ago.

I like to think I've made a lot of progress in my life since then, as in, I've experienced a lot of new things, people, and places. I've also figured out more about who I am and who I want to be. Not that I'm all the way there yet, or anything. Are any of us ever all the way there?

hopping freight trains

If we wait for the moment when everything,

absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.

-Ivan Turgenev

The thing, of course, is to make yourself alive.

Most people remain all their lives in a stupor.

-Sherwood Anderson

I've always wanted to hop a freight train.

I now know how to, after this.

Photo here

utah arts festival

I always make this face when the clouds are about to storm all over me.

MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker (feat. John Legend)

Set in a run-down Los Angeles 99 cent-type store, this video is a stylish visual story about two young lovers who find a moment of transcendence amidst the decay and commerce.

This video is stunning.

MSTRKRFT – Featuring John Legend from vincent haycock on Vimeo.

moleskine print ads

Art Director: Nick Wilde

Copywriter: Harry Truong

I enjoy these very much.

If you ever want to go on a humanitarian expedition...

I recommend Ascend Alliance, and I've just added an image link to their site on my sidebar. They take multiple expeditions every year to Peru, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Mozambique. This company is based in Salt Lake City, but they have employees from each country working at the headquarters in those countries.

Ascend also offers internships/fellowships in all of the previously mentioned countries.

My family and I went on expeditions with Ascend to Ecuador twice (here and here) and just recently to Ethiopia (here). I love traveling anywhere, but experiencing a country while participating in a humanitarian effort lends a deeper perspective to any area and people than simply sightseeing would (but yes, I think sightseeing trips are also great).

residential parking

I live in a house with three—sometimes five—roommates, depending on the day. Six people makes for a lot of cars. We have a long driveway, so that's great, but it's only wide enough for one car. Many in my house resort to parking on the street, which you'd think would be a non-issue since I live in a residential neighborhood, but it is. My neighbors are very protective of their curb space. One is even protective of the curb space that is not in front of his house. Several of these neighbors have come to our house to voice their disapproval at whoever happens to open the door, and by door I am referring to either front or back door, because when a neighbor does not answer their front door one must obviously open the gate to the back door and pound relentlessly until they are no longer ignored.

Aren't residential streets fair game? People do not own the curb space in front of their houses. My roommates and I have talked about chalking parking stalls on the streets. Maybe that would help.

I feel I must somehow remedy the "neighbors hating us" situation, but I'm not sure how. Cookies? Slip 'n' Slide parties? Doorbell ditching?

improvement

I made it halfway across the slackline this evening. Cheers.

from the pridelands

Some videos of animals in Kenya.

If you're only going to watch one, then I recommend the top one with the lion cubs.

Strange how a single conversation can change you. Or maybe it only seems that way in retrospect. A year passes and you know you feel differently, but you're not sure what or why or how, so your mind casts back for something that might give that difference shape: a word, a glance, a touch.

-Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father

text from my mom. help!

I'm signing up for Facebook, can I add you? If you don't want to I understand.

How does one deal with being Facebook friends with a parent?

the masai mara

After our humanitarian expedition in Ethiopia

most of the group flew to Nairobi, Kenya

and then to the Masai Mara park reserve for safari time.

I couldn't help but think to myself each day I was in Kenya,

"God must really love Africa,

because He gave it all of this beauty

and all of these amazing creatures."

doxycycline

I definitely still have more Africa photos to post. They'll be coming.

But first I would like to say that I love that my malaria medication, which I have to continue to take for about four more weeks, gives me crazy vivid dreams. Usually I don't get enough hours of sleep to remember my dreams, but ever since I've been taking these pills I have multiple dreams every night.

It's so weird and awesome.

the coolest tree in the world

Our train of five Land Cruisers drove past this tree each day to the village.

On the last day I finally got a photo with it.

Notice the branches reaching all the way to the camera in the first photo.

Who knows what kind of tree this is?

I will reward you with my salsa if you can tell me.

what ascend alliance did in ethiopia

Ran a medical clinic consisting of:

One American doctor, one Ethiopian doctor, two Ethiopian nurses

Did you know Ethiopia has only one doctor per 100,000 people?

I didn't either until Wikipedia told me.

Handed out clothing

Handed out shoes

Registered people to see the doctor

Crowd controlled

Taught very, very, very, VERY, basic hygiene and finance classes

Gave goats to orphans

Put up privacy walls in front of the latrines in the schoolyard

Dug more latrines at the community center

Painted the school

Painted an inspirational mural (my mother did this)

broken social scene - anthems for a seventeen-year-old girl

how to have attitude in amharic

Temesgen liked to teach me how to talk with an attitude in Amharic.

Also, I don't have QuickTime Pro and don't know another way to rotate these videos.
So please rotate your head.

our ethiopian translators

Several people have asked me what my favorite part of Africa was.

It was definitely getting to know and making friends with our translators.

These guys all speak Amharic (official language in Ethiopia),

Oromifa (the language people speak in the village we went to),

and English—some of them speak even more than that.

[What kind of place is America, where most people only speak one language?]

Most of the translators are LDS and are preparing to serve missions.

They were all so friendly and so adorable. I miss them.

Eshetu, a boy from the village, and me

Working in the medical clinic with Tamrat

Gideon and me in the teaching tent

Temesgen trying to draw me

Tamrat (aka Tammy (pronounced "Tommy")) and me under the orange tent

Gideon, me, Eshetu

Demelash and Abiyu painting the school

Same name: Beka and Becca

Demelash fell in love with my 17-year-old sister.

Seriously, in love.

At one point he said to me, "She is my heart, my soul."

He also told me she's the most-beautiful sister.

Thank you, Demelash.

Elshaday (aka Elshie) being gangsta

Tamrat, Demelash, me, and Eshetu on our last day in the village

Eshetu playing "waterfall"