My life is a musical

It is time for a little insight into the mind of Emily:

Some people tell me that it is not normal for one to randomly burst into song and dance throughout the course of one's day. Good thing I don't really care to be "normal" because my life is just that...a musical. Good thing I also have some friends and sisters that share a similar enthusiasm. What better euphoric feeling than when you look over at someone else and immediately start singing the same song that fits the moment just perfectly? Who made it unacceptable to express thoughts and emotions through song in daily life, anyway? Sometimes that's the only way to get through to me. Sometimes I feel it gives a better explanation than words.

Don't you find yourself ever brought back to a memory by a song? Do you ever assign theme songs to experiences in your life? "Is that what you do? so do I" (I even added this playlist thing to my blog so these songs could help get the point across)

Does this take the reality out of life? Absolutely not. In fact, it makes it more real to me. Notice how in movies, the feeling of the scene is amplified by the kind of music playing in the background. Would the triumphant win in a sports movie be as climactic without exciting music building up? Would the romantic moment be as touching without beautiful melodies tugging at your heart? Would the scary events be as frightening without the eerie sounds behind them? Well, this is kind of how my brain works. I have a song running in the background of my mind at all times-granted it sometimes has nothing to do with the situation at hand and sometimes gets stuck on repeat but it is always there. The musical score to my life.

ER

I had an inconvenient visit to the ER today. Sad that I still spent most of the day in the hospital, just not getting paid for it, like I usually do. I had some real intense abdominal pain all night, even passed out in my bathroom. I ended up succumbing and going to the ER this morning, after all the nurses surrounding me in my life (coworker, roommate, boyfriend) and my doctor came to that conclusion. It was a different pain than anything I'd experienced or that fit any certain category. I was constantly reminded of Brian Regan's skit of the ER "say 8, say 8!" and "well, it feels like my insides want to be on the outside"... So it was just lots of testing and waiting and waiting some more. In the meantime, I learned about how I react to different kinds of narcotics, painkillers, contrast dye, IV contrast, etc. All I can say is that Dilaudid is my friend. It turns out, I had an ovarian cyst rupture, combined with the after effects of dehydration (compliments of my recent trip--see post below) that can be extremely painful, especially the first one you have. Well, lesson learned. At least there's not much I can do about it but be aware that's what it is next time. You know, it could have been worse... I am really thankful for all the concerned and attentive nurses in my life.

Turn up the heat!

My ward had a brilliant idea to go to Moab in the middle of July for our annual long weekend trip. No worries...it only turned out to be the hottest weekend of the whole year so far. Oh yeah! Bring on the 110 degrees! We had a blast anyway, taking care to plan many water-involved activities during the day. We hiked up through a river to some pools/little waterfalls surrounded by red rock. Beautiful! I also found out that not many other people have this intense desire to climb up any cool-looking rock I see. Thanks to my friends that indulged me once or twice on the trail.On Saturday, we all went rafting down the Colorado river, which is pretty much just a lazy river with little rapids every once in a great while. We spent more time jumping out of the boat, pulling others off the boats, having waterfights and floating down the river beside the boat than we did actually rowing. Despite my valiant efforts to keep reapplying sunscreen, I ended up with some very burnt shoulders and thighs. I guess that's what I get for not getting out in the sun much until the middle of the summer. Ah well. Good memories with great friends.

Wake Surfing!

I hadn't ever gotten into water sports much, not sure why. I guess I never had many chances or when I did-it wasn't always a pleasant experience. I did have the opportunity to go on the 4th of July in my brother-in-law's brother's new boat (equipped with everything down to little heaters for when you got out of the freezing water).

I gave an honest effort to getting up on the wakeboard but it never happened. All I got was a bunch of goose pimples from the cold, striped bruises on my forearms from the

board and a feeling that my legs were being pulled from their hip sockets. But, I did do a little wake surfing, which was awesome. Here are some pictures of my first wake-surfing adventure.

Golf!

I got my first golf lesson yesterday. I confess, I have never played golf before. (apparently miniature golf doesn't count). It was an eye-opening experience. Since "a certain someone" is practically obsessed with golf, he took it upon himself to start me off on the right foot. We went to a driving range and I practiced with a 9-iron. I think I swung twice the number of times I actually hit a ball. Some only made it 3 feet, others went a good 20 yards I think. I laughed pretty hard every time. I wanted to go past the "forbidden line" to gather all those that didn't quite make it far (gasp) ...I'm still learning about golf etiquette. Then we took some time to practice putting. I was actually not horrible at this, believe it or not. Those of you who have seen me play mini golf would be amazed at how much better I am when there aren't waterfalls, spinning wheels and other plastic toys sticking out in the way. Unfortunately, I probably had more beginners luck than anything, but I think it may have made "someone" jealous. It was pretty fun...I might even go again :)

proud new owner

Guess who is the newest proud owner of a Mac?? That's right. I have been converted. My old compaq laptop was becoming slower than snot-I have several witnesses to testify to that fact. It was time. I've been contemplating it for a while, just waiting for some trigger to send me over the edge into buying one. So far, I am totally impressed, especially as Paul was showing me all the really cool extra things it does! I got the new 13" MacBook Pro.

Here's me playing with the photobooth feature.