Lazy

I started writing a different blog post but it just wasn't coming together the way I'd hoped. I might salvage it someday, but for now I'll just recycle content from Facebook last month.

Some background: At the beginning of the month, one of my aunts updated her status to something about finding something different to be grateful for every day during December. I did that and by the end had decided it was an interesting enough challenge that I'd continue to find something to be grateful for every day until I forgot. Here's my list:

December

1. I'm grateful for my sisters.
2. I'm grateful that Qiushi hid his textbooks in the barbecue.
3. I'm grateful that Smith's puts cat food and scented candles in the same aisle
4. I'm grateful to be essentially done with grad school applications. I'm grateful to have attended my siblings' piano recital. I'm grateful for my friends; to name only the ones I encountered today, this includes Hailee, Jamie, Tiffany, Drew, Laurel, Sabah, Lisa, Lindsay, Rhiannon, and Steven.
5. I'm grateful for my college ward. Today was the one of a very small number of testimony meetings I actually enjoyed.
6. I'm grateful for a healthy body. I'm also grateful for mountains.
7. I'm grateful for Linkin Park. Today it's the song 'Iridescent,' and no, I don't care how un-Linkin Park-y it sounds.
8. I'm grateful for John Peterson.
9. I'm grateful for bananas and the internet.
10. I'm grateful I have the weekend to study, because I'm not going to feel like doing much next week.
11. Spending the day with modern algebra has reminded me how funny it is to impose the group axioms onto groups of people . . . I'm grateful for algebra.
12. I'm grateful for downtown Ogden.
13. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do research as an undergrad, and interesting research at that. That said, I'm also grateful to be done putting together today's presentation.
14. We caught a few cheaters during a final I proctored today. I'm grateful for a mind which does not require that I cheat to succeed.
15. I'm grateful for things that make me laugh. This includes: RedLetterMedia's Star Wars reviews; the weekly 'Parents Just Don't Understand' column at CollegeHumor; and Britney, who this morning said "I hope my soul-mate isn't at the HC, because this is what 'I don't feel like getting ready but I still want breakfast'-Britney looks like."
16. I'm grateful for my dad, Eric. I'm also grateful for bicycles. I'd feel even more grateful for bicycles if it wasn't stupid finals week. Then my dad and I could go for a bike ride and he could remind me how his now-52-year-old body used to be fast like my 21-year-old body. Happy Birthday, Dad.
17. I'm grateful for all of my cousins. If you are one of my cousins, pat yourself on the back for being awesome.
18. I got home today and found cheese-flavored popcorn on the table. I needed to get the orange powder off my fingers but didn't want to wipe my hands on my black shirt or my white shorts. I'm grateful for the orange tablecloth.
19. I don't want to think of something to be grateful for today. Right now I'm just grateful that things are the way they are.
20. I'm grateful for public transportation.
21. Yesterday my parents noticed some of the outside Christmas lights glowing even though they weren't turned on, so today my dad and I wandered around the front yard with a metal pipe and a digitial multimeter trying to figure out why. We think radio waves are inducing a current in the rain gutter spouts, which in turn is inducing a current in the light strings . . . I'm grateful for physics.
22. I'm grateful for physical therapy, for making my sister less broken. And I'm grateful for this Christmas tree ornament The Bald One made a year or two ago.
23. Dec 23 - I'm grateful for the folks in the ward I grew up in. Special shout-out to Kylee, Mandy, and Scott.
24. I'm grateful for all the wonderful teachers I've had (and not just the ones at school). I thought about listing them all by name but that would take too long. I guess I'll mention Mrs. Taylor because she'll get a kick out of it.
25. I'm grateful for Simon and his 3 keys to happiness: good food; good friends; good family.
26. I'm grateful for the people who have seen me at (or near) my worst and don't completely hate me for it. Obviously this includes my parents, along with Kjersti, Bonnie, and Laurel.
27. I'm grateful for my family's safe passage to Arizona today, as well as yesterday's opportunity to indulge in unbridled hedonism in Las Vegas.
28. Oops, looks like I missed yesterday. If I had posted, I would've been grateful for good books.
29. I'm grateful for pillows.
30. I'm grateful for the conversations which take place at the times they are needed most. I'm also grateful for my Grandpa Mac for showing how true love endures all.
31. I'm grateful that even though I'm spending New Year's in a hotel in Page, Arizona, at least it follows a safe day of travel and we brought "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" along.

January

1. I'm grateful for family traditions.
2. I'm grateful for Nerf guns.
3. I'm grateful for the days where it feels like you got something done, even if it's just a couple gallons of citrus juice and a 1.5-hour Nerf gun fight.
4. I'm grateful for old friends who you can talk to without remembering how long it's been. Today that applies to Kylan and especially Bonnie.
5. I'm grateful for Star Trek. I'm grateful for Sarah and her amazing blog.