Nihonmatsuri festival Salt Lake City

After a morning of babysitting Adam and I went up to Salt Lake City for their Nihonmatsuri festival! A Japanese culture festival. There was lots of food and cosplayers (my favorites were Taft and the friend from Persona 4). We also checked out the new creek city center thing and ate some complicated food at the Tin Angel cafe. 

I've been doing a lot more writing these last two weeks! I wrote a successful article on the video game Journey on Nightmare Mode, a place that publishes some writing I admire. With twitter I feel like I'm seeing more news before it hits the major outlets, which is an accomplishment (figuring out who to follow, etc, although Twitter makes it pretty easy). I've also been tutoring a friend in writing! I've felt pretty busy, which I think is a good thing. Okay, now you can just look at this pictures. 

this nigiri had delicious umeboshi in it, and it smiled at me

there was some awesome flower arranging

cool fountain! I feel like such a suburbs girl being so impressed with urban art

this is just cute

JUST SITTING AT HOME ALL DAY, DOING NOTHING

I was babysitting again, and we met a lady from my ward, who asked if I was "just home all day." I was like "I freelance a little but yeah I have a lot of free time." And it makes me feel a little guilty and useless, I guess, to admit that. I don't particularly like cleaning, and even on days I clean a lot, it takes less than an hour. I like cooking a little better but unless I'm making something complicated that doesn't take very long either. I guess I sometimes feel guilty about having free time, and especially today I feel that way.

I want to take Japanese 201 in the fall, but I found out that if I take it from BYU I have to be admitted as a post-bacc student (oh yeah, and parking is a nightmare, I wonder if I could drive to a bus stop somewhere). Maybe I could take a Japanese class from UVU? I saw an interesting job as an instructional designer that would have preferred me to have a master's. I know I'm forgetting my my dislike of how typical classes are set up and weirdly rely on grade motivations and strange assignments. Maybe I should look for a tutor instead of taking a class, or try to host a Japanese exchange student. I just want to do something that will make me awesome.

I guess today is one of those days where I feel like maybe I should look for a job to have something to keep me busy. I'm not disciplined enough to be consistent about volunteering (I find shelving books hard on my back and frankly, boring. Don't really have an excuse about indexing.). I feel like a leech on society, consuming things and not really creating anything in return. I don't usually feel this way, but today is just one of those days. Looking back on this post, it appears I am a guessing kind of person.

Longboarding down the Spanish Fork river trail

RIVER, RIVER IN THE DESERT

I picked up longboarding last week. Today I went for a lovely ride down the river. Biking is a lot like driving, and longboarding is more like "thrills and pushes*." Either you're going downhill and it's pleasant/exciting, or you're going uphill and working it. And it's completely deflating to come to a complete stop.

I'm so punk (not rlly). Also the sun is in my eyes.

I love it. I can look over to the river and pretend that I'm surfing. I practiced pumping with my left foot (I'm right-footed). I tried going down a huge and short hill and jumped off because I lost control (not as scary as it sounds. You simply move your feet from the board to the pavement and voila, you're not moving anywhere). I crouched down on my longboard, and at about 3 mph, I touched the pavement. It felt good.

the Spanish Fork river trail. It's nice for a beginner longboarder because all the inclines are really gradual. Sad because it's mostly uphill all the way back.

Yes, I live next to farms!

*I have to push off with my foot a lot but there is something called pumping that I think eliminates the need for this? I think it's basically wiggling a lot to build up momentum, and I can't really figure it out yet.

pinto beans, chicken, spinach, egg, and cheese? YES. Oh, I forgot salsa. Better than it looks.