Indiana Jones... the long-awaited sequel!

You may not want to read this if you haven't seen the movie yet! Just a warning. :-)

I saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on Wednesday at the midnight showing. It was pretty fun going to the first possible showing... the Wynnsong Theater in Provo had three midnight showings! My roommate Christie hadn't seen any of the previous Indiana Jones movies, so I think she thought the whole scene was pretty amusing. Mostly, it was college kids, mixed with a few older and younger people. Also, to my delight, there were a few Indiana Jones hats being worn by the fans :-)

I don't think I've ever been quite this excited for a sequel before... as fun as it has been to see the Harry Potter movies or Narnia or others, it didn't compare. Maybe it's the nearly 20 years that has passed since the last one or the nostalgia associated with growing up on these movies?

Despite my excitement, I had my reservations. "The Last Crusade" is one of my favorite movies, and I was pretty sure trying to come back after that would be like Michael Jordon coming back out of retirement from the NBA. As soon as I heard that they were attempting another movie, I thought, "Stop while you're ahead!" Despite these feelings, however, I was still excited.

Well, I wasn't very impressed, I'm sad to say. Not that I should have been surprised, but I was more disappointed than I hoped I'd be. I've actually been watching "The Last Crusade" as I've been writing this (I got it tonight at Target for $10!) and it's pretty apparent that the "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" doesn't even come close.

The special effects and action sequences were over-the-top. Also, I didn't like the whole "alien" story very much. There didn't seem to be much a clear moral to the story, at least not in the way that "The Last Crusade" had one. Also, It just didn't flow that well... some parts were really slow and too obvious and others I wished had been more developed. Shia LaBeouf did a great job as Indiana's sidekick, though; I was surprised how much I liked him. And, it was pretty cute that Indiana got back together with his original love from "Raiders of the Lost Ark." 

So, I'm glad I saw it, of course, and I'm sure I'll watch it again sometime, but surely I won't be watching it as much as the others. It did get me interested in the other movies again, though, and I can't deny... part of my really wants one of those Indiana Jones hats :-)

Go see it and let me know what you thought--I'm curious!

A few reasons why I love spring...

Need I say more?

BYU Graduation

At the end of April, I walked in the graduation ceremony! I am officially graduating in August, but I decided to walk in April since both of my roommates and many of my friends in my major/minor were walking at the time. I'm glad I did! 

Mom, Dad, and Sam all flew in for the weekend, and we partied it up! We also got together with my aunts and cousins and ate at PF Chang's together (yum--lettuce wraps!) and then they came to my convocation. 

It was a bit anti-climatic to go back to class the next week, but I'm realizing more than ever that I'm almost (finally!) at the end of undergrad. It's been 5 years of school and 7 years total (since I worked for two years). It's exciting to finally see the end in sight.

Mom and I!

With my empty diploma cover! Ha, won't be getting the real thing for a little while still :-)

My roommates--Diana and Kara--also graduated! Diana got her masters and bachelors degree in Accounting and Kara got her bachelors in Public Health. Yay for us!

Dinner with my brother and parents at Ottavio's.

Riding the cougar!

I will be graduating with a B.A. in English Literature and minors in Editing and Psychology. What will I do? Well, I'm hoping to eventually go to grad school in counseling or some sort of human service field. So, I'm planning on working for a year or two while I figure out what type of program to apply to and in order to get more experience and better credentials. I'd like to work either as a research assistant (at a university, preferably) or as an assistant in some sort of clinic (a residential treatment center, perhaps). 

So, I'm looking ahead and beginning to see jobs that I'd like to apply to. As for where I'll be, that's pretty up in the air still. I'm looking heavily at Washington DC. Other possibilities are possibly Utah (there are lots of treatment centers here!), Wisconsin, Arizona, Seattle, Boston, or California. So, basically, I have no idea! But, right now, DC is looking pretty appealing, since I really like the area, my brother is out there, and I have some friends there.

Anyhow, I will keep you posted! In the meantime, I'll be enjoying one last summer as a student at BYU! :-)

War wounds...

Warning: Content below may be disturbing to the weak of stomach.

So, I'm not new to injuries--I've played sports for a long time. But, I haven't had a skinned knee quite like this, perhaps, ever. Our ward has a co-ed intramural soccer team, which I eagerly joined. We play on BYU's turf fields, which for turf, are quite good. But... you CAN'T slide or this (see below) will happen. The bruise on the right knee was already there from playing soccer last Saturday, but the one of the left was all today. 

Notice how the kneecap on the left is about twice the size of the one on the right! Ouch. I was able to finish the game, which was good (although we tied, sad). Anyhow, I think I've learned my lesson--no sliding!

I got some nice comments from the teammates/people watching us though--"Wow, that's sacrifice" or also "Wow, look at your knee! Does that hurt?" 

My response should have been, "As Jack Black says, No you're not hardcore, unless you live hardcore." Haha. I'm not really that hardcore, but I can pretend, right? Too bad living hardcore means having weird-looking knees for a while!

(P.S. Once I cleaned it up, I didn't have a big bandage, so I applied a web of about 10 smaller bandages to cover it. It looked pretty crazy.)

Perhaps this is more than you ever wanted to know. If that is the case, I apologize for grossing you out! :-)

Where I've been

It's been a while since the last post... mainly because my life has been just about the craziest it's ever been! The last month has been a whirlwind of end-of-the-semester stress, graduation ceremonies, family get-togethers, church activities, roommate dates, and other fun things. Both of my roommates and I walked in the April graduation ceremony at BYU! It was all kinds of fun, and I'll have to have a separate post for that with some pictures. Here, though, is a sampling of what I've been up to!


So, my roommates made me a delicious tropical breakfast for a holiday they made up called "Lauren Appreciation Day." Seriously, they are so sweet and fun! I was really stressed there at the end of the semester, and they knew just what would cheer me up/fuel me up in the midst of it all!



Some friends and I went to the Festival of Colors... a yearly spring festival held at the Hari Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, UT. To celebrate spring, people throw colored powder and it was quite the experience! Hard to breath for a bit, since we were in the midst of a shower of powder, so that was a bit scary, but it was also really cool to see tons of people covered in colors.



Kara and I are jumping for joy over graduation! I don't officially graduate till August, and I'm taking classes this spring and summer, but I decided to walk in the ceremony this spring and it was great! I'm almost done with undergrad, finally!


BYU sponsored a "Senior Celebration" night and we benefited with free pizza and ice cream, free bowling, games, a raffle, etc. It was a lot of fun, as you can see :-)

Anyhow, that's a little peek into what I've been doing. I'm starting spring term and I'm taking 2 classes: my final editing class (yahoo!) and The Bible as Literature (my last English class). So far, so good. I'll keep you posted!