Brent Barson Says Funny Things: Final Day of Class

-Is that you or a jawa?
-The Looping Tweens are opening up for The Killers this week.
-Do you know how to get bass frequency on your claps? Put your elbows on the table.

to you.

vote 4 your fave gingerbread house.

becca.

candycane lane worthy.

mindy.

triangles.

rachel.

park city roofing style -ish.

jared.

bell tower.

danny.

not-so-effective bomb shelter. this is what happens to your creativity when you play video games all day.

yearbook.

rachelle.

marshmallow madness.

destruction.

just found out.

Did anyone else know that Keanu Reeves is a quarter Chinese?

Brent Barson Says Funny Things Part II

-Doors are so 100 years ago, Roger.
-Physical humor is always the best. People falling, that's just always gold.
-In Italy they think its rude to have your hands under the table. They think you're going to knife them or something.
-If you can control-click why wouldn't you control-click? What are you–-allergic to control-click?
-I'd like to have a class where you talk only about HDTVs.
-Thanks for not using the word "blind." It offends me.
-Buttons inside of buttons equals death. Satan uses buttons inside of buttons.
-Memorize this. Make it into a rap song if that helps you.
-Roger, your last name is so spicy.
-Is everybody back from break? Oh wait, you never left. That's what I thought.
-I should start threatening you in actionscript.
-Comment out at your own risk.
-Smart guides sound like this when you use them: "Naaaaa!"
-Forget what your football coach said. We do not give 110% in this class.

Things that always make me want to cry:

Hannah's post inspired me to do this. Thanks for allowing me to be lazy and steal other people's ideas.

Somewhere in Between by Lifehouse (Yes, Lifehouse)

Saeglopur by Sigur Ros

Some Ensign articles

Into You Like a Train episode on Grey's Anatomy

Million Dollar Baby

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (book and movie) (when Frodo orders Sam to go home, when Pippin is singing while Faramir rides to his death, and when Sam carries Frodo up Mount Doom)

History of Love by Nicole Krauss

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Hearing/watching Wicked in person

Thinking about Juneau, my dog of 11 years who died last year

late gratefulness

I know this is a few days late. But it's the first chance I got.

Thanksgiving break was great. I met a lot of new people. Ate a lot of new foods. Went to a new city. Learned how to play Mahjongg. Learned a lot of Cantonese (OK maybe not a lot, but some). But best of all I learned more about A-Kit.
_______________

I'm grateful for lds.org, because without it I wouldn't have found a place in Boise to go to church on Sunday.

I'm grateful for time, because with it comes closer relationships with people.

I'm grateful for good friends, because they'll stick with you.

I'm grateful for The Office, because without I wouldn't have so many of the good things that I have in my life right now.

I'm grateful for humor, because it allows you to make connections with people.

I'm grateful for fruit snacks and cell phones. I'm grateful for hot showers.

I'm grateful for snow scrapers, iTunes playlists and for chapstick.

I'm grateful for the desire we have to become better people.

And the winner is...

You may have thought that no one would ever fill an entire 2785 MB Gmail inbox. I thought that too until yesterday when I actually did it.

Things are good.

There's nothing more fulfilling than meaningful converstation.

you may tell 12 people whatever you want...

(stolen from christina)

1. I don't think you know how much I appreciate that you've kept trying after all these years.

2. You have no idea how much you taught me. I appreciate that you cared enough.

3. I'm starting to see that you're proving it to me. I just hope it's for real.

4. I'm sorry. I really am. But sometimes I think it's you who should be the one apologizing.

5. You need to let it go and move on. What happened to the old you? I miss it.

6. If you'd just ask me first, I'd say yes. Just humor me please.

7. I realize that we're both pretending to respect each other, but we both know that isn't true.

8. It's too late. You realized it too late. Also, I don't understand how you can be so dishonest sometimes and feel so OK about that.

9. I really do love you even if you think that I don't. And I'm so sorry for everything I did to make you feel that way.

10. I don't know what happened to make you so sad, and I don't know what I can do to help you.

11. Don't you care about anything or anyone? Because it really seems like you don't.

12. I'm jealous that you're me but maybe just a little better at everything.

hao pengyou (good friends)

Thanks Kenny. I've had your birthday presents in my wallet for almost nine months waiting for the perfect time to use them. It took a lot of meticulous planning. Yesterday I finally whipped them out for a matinee of "The Prestige." Perfect.

Next Halloween = Ash Ketchum

This is the last year I swear!

My dad forwards things to me daily.

Why do parents do this? Is it their way of showing you they're thinking about you? Anyways, here's one of the latest.

a round of applause for...

Today was the first time of the semester that I stayed awake the entire hour of my Monday/Wednesday/Friday astronomy class. And I'll have you know that I tried REALLY hard to several other times but somehow failed.

loving T-144 and adrienne

Campus Life

Luckily I was able to witness the fencing club at their finest in The Terrace during lunch yesterday. What's with the attached-under-the-legs body suit thing?

Also in The Terrace at lunchtime: Poetry Hour. Poetry Hour consisted of one guy speaking the lyrics to Eminem's "Lose Yourself," and another guy saying all the even numbers up to 138 and then counting back down. Stimulating.

I passed a girl talking on her cell phone by the Testing Center. This is what I overheard: "Katie, why are you so mean? I, like, hate you." I just stared at her as we passed. She was dead serious is the sad thing.

Brent Barson says funny things

I have a sketchbook page dedicated to "Brent Quotes" that I update each time I go to my Flash class. Here are some of the finalists thus far.

-Don't you think every teacher should have a tagline? A catch phrase? (about choosing which teacher to take a class from)
-I've never letterpressed a website before.
-Does anyone else have a plastic nutshell they can fit this syllabus into?
-Let me see yo' myspace. Put me in yo' Top 8.
-It's too bad it's not July, because I could tie this into Pioneer Day. (referring to his lecture on self-reliance)
-I'm going to encourage you, nay, command you to use the internet.
-This trailer is the neglected stepchild of the [graphic design] program.
-I'd save this one as "tween spirit." (about our tweening exercise in Flash)
-BYU is like China. In China everyone is short and looks the same.
-Actually that one doesn't have a Mickey Mouse glove. It's just a white hand. The web is so racist. (about the white hand curser on the computer)
-Voy-la. [he really pronounced it that way: "voy-la."] Now you have a pong game.
-Don't you dare paste it on the same layer. I will turn this classroom around if any of you do that.
-Hearken back if you will...
-It's called the "learn 'em-dash' do" method.
-All right. Enough quizzing and popping. (about our pop quiz on the reading)
-Be mindful, young padowans, of where you put your code.
-Yes but the Walmart was closed, and it was a rave!
-How many of you used to make those little flip books? I bet all of us have. If you haven't you're probably a communist.
-I think eveyone should begin a sentence with "why" at least once a day. "Why I can see him just fine!"

belated.

I missed my bloggerversary. September 23 = 12 months of fun-filled blogging.

2 and 0

Back in action.

My stats so far:

1 scrape and bleeding forearm.

1 sore jaw.

1 bruised knee.

1 pair of ripped shorts.

1 sore back.

1 partial pantsing.

1 call of unsportsmanlike conduct.

2 touchdowns.

TONIGHT!!!

"No. Don't do that. I don't want to do that. I want to be MORE than that."
Finally more for me to quote.

fei chang hao!

fang rui qing.

(more or less pronouned fong ray ching)
That's my Chinese name (not the characters, just the text). I can't write the tones on them, because I don't know if that's possible with this text.

Taking Mandarin 101 = good choice.

desperation in colored pencil

Sometimes when I'm in my graphic design class I just play with the Photo Booth program.

I've been on campus since 7:45 this morning. It's now 6:30, and my class is supposed to last until 10 p.m. Yessssssss.

soundtrack for our movie

Cole showed me something like this that he made, and thought I'd try my own version.

Changing Apartments

Moving for me is hell, sweat and tears. Yes tears. Ashley and I parted, and we never really expected that we would cry about that. Yet we did. Then we laughed at the fact that we cried. I had actually started to like sleeping with the window open every night.

I moved into my new apartment over the course of about four or five days. Finally after a few last nights of rooming with Ashley (including two sleepovers on the roof of Middle Cambridge) I decided to give my new place a try. My overall reaction? It's OK. And it will be OK. I always freak out in a new apartment and a new ward, because I don't know anyone yet. But it always gets better. When I'm freaking out I just never remember that part. But really. Why should I be living in an apartment where I don't know the girls when I have so many good friends that I could have lived with? This is my leap of faith. It felt right, but why?

It's funny to me that I waited until two days before my contract was up to buy a new one.
It's funny how putting things up on your walls makes someplace feel like home.
It's funny how I forget how to make friends with girls.
It's funny when your high school boyfriend gets home from his mission and you remember the Drama Summer and can laugh at it.
It's funny how all it takes to make friends out of non-friends is a mutual friend.
It's funny that the BYU Bookstore sells Hallmark cards that say things like, "We go together like beer, and another beer."
Funny that I bought it for Ashley.
It's funny that my two best friends from high school are now married. And none of my best friends at BYU are. ha.
It's funny that my little brother is now in college.
It's funny that I can have so much fun feeding ducks at the park.

Photo of the Summer

My only regret is that I wussed out on the backflip.

whoa.

Who would have guessed that blogs really can be useful? My old pal Levi found me and emailed me, because he googled his name and this recent post came up. I guess we're friends again.

honest

It doesn't matter how many times it happens. It always feels the same. And it will continue to always feel the same.

Without knowing exactly when or how, healing occurs. It does. It always does.

lo extraño

During the second week of May I never thought I would ever say this, but I miss it. So much so that sometimes I almost cry. I miss the energy, the music, the subway even. I miss concerts in the park, the West Village, and eating at Patsy's. I miss Seth's balcony that overlooked the hidden part of 74th street. I miss non-Mormons. I miss Columbia. I miss the gum-stained sidewalks. I miss my friends.

Running on the sidewalks of Provo will never be the same as running through Riverside Park. In Provo I'll never ever get to see Starry Night for free on a Friday night. I never even have to eavesdrop to try to understand Dominican Spanish anymore. I liked trying to understand Dominican Spanish. The view from my front window will never compare to the times at night when I looked out my window of the International House wondering what was on the other side of all of those closed drapes staring back at me and what kinds of people lived there. What do they live for? Who do they love? What do they think about?

So many people and so much life. And I'm no longer there to be a part of it.

Happy Pioneer Day

Last night I participated in the most amazing street firework show EVER. Benton works at TNT Fireworks or something like that, so he had a few huge boxes of fireworks. We let them all off last night on 50 East.

1. waiting for the fuego
2. benton and his toys
3. burned thumb
4. i jump
5. the crowd
6. the after party

Who would it be?

If you could meet someone from your childhood to see what they're doing with their lives or what they look like, who would it be?

Here's my list:
Levi Braithwaite, my third grade crush when I lived in Green Valley, NV. I met him again when I was 17 and my crush came back. He had moved to St. George, and he was a great piano player. I haven't seen him since.

Alissa Vizzo, my first and second grade friend in Ventura, CA. We used to go swimming in her pool and playing Nintendo with her sisters. I think she had magnolia trees in her front yard.

Chantel Swaney, my next-door neighbor and one of my best friends in Ventura. I think we used to get in fights a lot. Once I got stung by a bee on my cheek in her backyard. When I was like thirteen I went back to Ventura to visit, and all through our Sunday School class she was sitting on this boy's lap and cuddling with him.

Samantha Ashton, my friend when I lived in Nevada in third grade. I used to be so jealous of her, because she went by "Sam," and I wanted a boy's name too. Her grandpa was Marvin J. Ashton. We went to The Discovery Zone for her birthday. I watched the Poltergeist movie (the one with the mirrors) at her house and it scared the living daylights out of me. I still get creeped out when I think of the creepy lady with the weird voice.

Jen Odell, she lived down the street from me in Green Valley, NV. Our houses has the same layout, but she got her own room. But we had an actual lawn, and she only had rocks. She was always so sophisticated.

Here I Come

Three days until Germany.

On 7th North

What I Did

Went through five boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats, two jars of strawberry jam and four loaves of bread.
Saw four rats, two mice and one cockroach.
Got lost on the subway three times.
Read four books and got halfway through two more.
Went to five museums, three broadway shows and one ballet.
Played checkers in the park.
Made three i-house friends.
Went to a jazz club.
Walked inside the Statue of Liberty.
Somehow avoided Canal Street, Chinatown and Soho.
Fell in love with the Shake Shack.
Saw tons of Hasidic Jews.
Went to two Major League Baseball games.
Paid $10 and something cents to see movies on four different occasions.
Got sick for longer than a day.
Locked myself out of my room twice.
Shook hands with Gladys Knight.
Explored two university libraries and one city library.
Ate at Chipotle four times.
Bought five McDonalds soft-serve vanilla cones.
Went through four favorite songs.
Received two care packages and one card.
Went to more diners and restaurants than I can count.
Started to hate Times Square.
Didn't ever go to bed before midnight.
Only exercised four times?!
Kind of learned how to balance without holding on in the subway.
Crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.
Went to Coney Island.
Saw two guys dressed in drag.
Saw the AIDS walk.
Watched ten episodes of Arrested Development.
Went to Little Italy twice.
Saw an Alta sticker on a car.
Saw a man carrying a little dog in his backpack.
Went on a day trip to Connecticut.
Realized that parks and balconies are how people survive in the city.
Learned about crosstown busses.
Got a free skateboard from my boss.
Didn't walk through the projects like I'd hoped.
Had frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.
Went to the Belmont Stakes horse races.
Looked out on the city from the top of Rockefeller Center.
Ate at Carnegie Deli.
Saw a crosswalk red hand signal that someone had made to look like it was flipping you off.
Discovered that I like guacamole.
Went to a jazz concert on the summer stage in Central Park.
Decided to buy some heels.
Had more missionary experiences than I had in my whole life.
Ate more pizza in seven weeks than I had in my whole life.
Heard the f-word more in one day than I had in my whole life.
Got to the point where I didn't have to look at my subway map.
Had my bubble of personal space popped several times on the subway by unknown people.
Visited the Scientology building twice.
Saw Tom Cruise.
Snuck onto the i-house roof twice.
Fell in love with Bryant Park.
Definitely saw David Blain in his bubble.
Saw David Blain almost drown in his bubble.
Determined what kind of co-worker I want to be.
Discovered what kind of boss I want to work for.
Started wishing that there were more black and hispanic people in Utah.
Walked through Harlem with one other girl at one in the morning.
Uncharacteristically slept with my windows open.
Laid down flat in an elevator.
Appreciated that New Yorkers are more friendly than everybody says.
Missed a lot of people.
Didn't buy a single souvenir for anyone.
Realized that there are people who can be everything you want.
Made some lifelong friends.

Won't ever forget.

first time

I gave my International House friend a Book of Mormon today.

p.s.

Oh and by the way, if anyone has a copy of "Ten Things I Hate About You" lying around, send it my way. I've had this craving for like three weeks.

Get your Coney dogs here.

Memorial Day was spent in a lovely little place called Coney Island. And by lovely I mean lots of partial nudity. And by little I mean very crowded. It was fun though, especially the circus sideshow where I met a real Oompa Loompa and snuck an illegal picture of the fire lady.

Look at me meeting all these semi-famous people

Email #3 Sent Wednesday, May 17

Hello hello,
I just counted, and I have now been living in NYC for 17 days (23 days, as I post this). I feel like I've done so much more in those past 17 New York Days than I
ever do in 17 Provo Days. Maybe that's what happens when everything stays
open past midnight. I'll just make a list of some of the highlights of
the past week:

When I was in the McDonald's on Times Square on Friday night I met
the main guy from "The Single's Ward" and his brother (the guy in the
movie who wanted to bungee-jump the Volkswagen Beetle off the cliff).
And when I say I met them, I mean I mostly just stood there while some
other girls in our group talked to them.

When I went on the Harbor Cruise, a stake-wide singles activity, on
Saturday night I met the guy from Rancho Cucamunga, CA who played the
blind boy on "Dumb and Dumber." You know, the one who says, "Pretty
bird." When I asked him what other stuff he'd done he told me he was
the voice of Christopher Robin on Winnie the Pooh for like six years.

I accidentally took the subway to Brooklyn by myself. I got off when
I realized I wasn't going the right way. Then I asked some lady where
the train that she was waiting for was going. She said, "Manhattan." I
thought to myself, "Hmm, that must mean I'm not in Manhattan anymore."

Jeff, our Ad Lab Professor/Boss came out to the city on Friday. He'd
been at a conference in D.C. so then came up to visit all the
advertising interns. We all met at the Guggenheim Museum. The show
that was up was all these sculptures by a guy named David Smith. I
love art. But I'm actually not very interested in sculptures, at least
not these ones. They were all wrought iron and weird. Adrienne and I
started to "interpret" what we thought each one was, because that was
the only way it was interesting. After the museum I led the
Advertising Excursion to and Indian Restaurant in the East Village. On
the way we walked down this street and I dubbed "Hot Topic Street."
Every single person on the street wore black and had weird hair and
multiple piercings. All of the stores smelled like incense and were
creepy. One of the shops was called "Freaks." I laughed and wanted to
take a picture but for some reason didn't.

I saw "Tarzan" on Broadway last night and it was AMAZing. I love the
movie, and I loved the musical. I don't even care that the reviews
weren't that good. I was on the front row (we got some student
discount tickets: $20) and the "gorillas" swung out over my head. It
was awesome. Everyone had dreadlocks.

I went to a Yankees game on Monday night. Our faculty advisor got us
all tickets, because we have a little bit of a budget for group
activities. We were in the top tier out past first base. Yankees lost,
but I didn't find that out from watching. I was more interested in the
giant youth group of Dominicans nearby us. That's some crazy Spanish,
and they were really entertaining. I guess I go to baseball games for
the atmosphere more than to actually watch the games. I did get a free
Yankees throw blanket though. So that was cool. I had to sign up for a
free credit card to get my free blanket. My reasoning was, "They'll
send this to my house in Farmington. My mom will get the card in the
mail, and then she'll shred it." Ha. I scammed the scammers and got a
free blanket out of it.

After church on Sunday I went to Julia's (my cousin) apartment for
dinner. Even though her apartment is small, it was still really nice
to be in an actual apartment rather than my practically-uninhabitable
dorm room. She lent me a book she'd just finished that had been
recommended from her mom, my aunt Andrea. The book is called "The
History of Love," a novel by Nicole Krauss. Julia said it was
beautiful. It is. I recommend it to any of you. Julia told me that
somehow Andrea has been getting my weekly emails, and I can only
assume that my mom has been forwarding them to the entire extended
family without my knowledge and/or consent.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the opening reception for
the Student One Show Advertising Exhibition. There were ads by seniors
from all the major ad schools around the country. Some of the stuff
from BYU was there. I took lots of pictures and absorbed the
inspiration.

I think I was officially initiated to New York City. It rains
randomly here sometimes. It was pouring rain when I got off the subway
to walk to work yesterday. I had an umbrella, but it seemed useless
because my shoes ended up soaking wet, my socks were soaked through,
and my pants were soaked up to my knees. I pretty much walked around
the office barefoot most of the day. Always exciting.

Anyways, that's all from me for the week. I hope you all have a lovely day.
Love, Becca

1. Me, Jeff Sheets, Karene on the ground floor of the Guggenheim.
2. Ad interns out for Indian food dinner. I'm trying to do some dumb pose.
3. The Harbor Cruise
4. Me with "Dumb and Dumber" boy! I don't know half the people in this picture.
5. Alicia, Anthony, me at the ball game. It may seem like I wear the
same jacket in all of my pictures. That's because I do. I only brought
two to New York.
6. Seth felt like going all "photographer" with my camera.
7. Derek Jeter up to bat.
8. If you don't roll your pants up when it starts to rain here, you'll
definitely be wet up to your knees.
9. Me at the Student Exhibition of the One Show.