Idaho: Surprisingly Awesome

My childhood friend Chelsea came to visit me this past weekend so we could live out our long standing tradition of seeing Kelly Clarkson in concert. The craziest part of the plan: the concert was in Boise, Idaho. The craziest part of the weekend: Idaho was surprisingly awesome.

Surprise #1 of Idaho: Speed demons. Idaho welcomed us by cranking up the speed limit to 75MPH. After driving through about 10 minutes of cow fields and pungent farms, we came to the conclusion that Idaho allows you to speed for the relief of your nose. 

Surprise #2 of Idaho: It’s about time. Once Chels and I made it to our hotel in Boise, I suggested getting some dinner because I mentioned it was close to 7pm, to which Chelsea responded it was actually almost 8pm. I stared at her, pointed to my phone clock, then she stared at me, and showed me her phone clock displaying a time one hour later than my phone. After a moment of dumbfoundedness, we realized we had changed time zones. Silly mountain time! 

Surprise #3 of Idaho: Mooooo. Did you know there are more cows than people in Idaho?* The approx. population of the entire state of Idaho is 1,584,985. I’m pretty sure we passed 2 million cows on the way to Idaho. All of Idaho seems like it’s too big to know what to do with itself. For instance, it seemed like Boise was a city built for 500,000 people, but only 100,000 lived in it. 

Overall it was a rockin’ weekend during which Idaho exceeded my very low expectations.  

*Not an official fact. Exaggerated for a good LOL. 

The Bachelor/The Slaughterhouse of Hearts

Alright, alright, I’ll admit it: I watched the bachelor. It began as a family thing. Us Arnolds were all going to watch it and bond over commenting on it. Eventually weeks went by without any of us talking to each other about it, and yet I still found myself glued in front of the television at 8 o’clock on Monday nights. I even managed to suck one of my unnamed-roommates into the weekly routine, which was great because without her there I would’ve just been a crazy person shouting to myself “No, you idiot! She’s a devil woman!” (devil woman as pictured below)

The Bachelor is an absolutely awful show. It is actually shaped to create public heartache and toy with the emotions of real human beings. Plus, even if the two end up fortunate enough to reach engagement in the final episode, it’s nearly impossible to salvage that relationship outside of the show. It’s like making people fall in love in Disneyland for a month, then telling them they can only Skype for the next two months, then allowing them to be together again but in a shark tank of tabloids this time around. Impossible! And yet we as the general population can’t get enough of it. Did you know the show has been going on for 10 years? That’s 16 seasons of more than 400 individuals putting their hearts on the line to be broken on national television. I almost feel like I should give it up the way a vegetarian gives up meat after watching one of those horrific slaughterhouse documentaries. The Slaughterhouse of Hearts...that’s what the show should be called from now on. 

Despite all this ranting, I still rather enjoyed the torment brought to me weekly by ABC, and there’s a good chance I’ll watch another season sometime in the future. It’s like a modern day soap opera. Or crack for your eyes. 

Playing House

This year my roommates & I stepped it up from a four bedroom duplex to a four bedroom house. The differences: a fenced in yard, a neighborhood, and housing issues.   Within the last week we’ve had three high-ceiling kitchen lights go out, a leaky sink, and a mouse in the hizzouse. Granted all of these things could just as easily happen in a rented duplex, but for some reason they seem like a bigger deal when they’re in a bigger space (first world problems, I know). 

When it comes to these kinds of housing situations, sometimes we fix the problem ourselves, sometimes we call someone, and sometimes we let it ride. 

The Mouse: with the mouse problem, we fixed it ourselves (actually all my other roommates, I was out of town). We started sensing there was a mouse problem once bits and pieces of candy and, surprisingly, bananas were missing. So either other roommates were nibbling to steal each others‘ food, or there was a mouse in the house. The latter proved to be true when a trap was set and filled within days. I’m sad to report a mouse was harmed in the process. 

The Sink: we had to call someone to solve the sink problem--we are no plumbers. For some reason our faucet was leaking out the backside onto the countertop as well as underneath the sink into the presumed mouse hole (we think it may have been flooded out..oops). I was super stoked to get a new faucet after Handyman paid us a visit...until I realized our new faucet was a downsize. The old one had a pull out handle/hose thing. Fancy times. Now it’s back to old school attached faucet status (again, first world problems, I know). 

You see? So regular. 

The Lights: we still haven’t done anything about the lights. I like to think of it as perma-mood lighting in the kitchen. So romantic. 

So whether we fix it ourselves, call someone, or let it be with these issues, I consistently feel like I'm just playing house. Maybe the next one will feel more like the real world. 

#Thatawkwardmoment When Incorrect Grammar Became Acceptable

There’s a recent trend taking over the social media world that’s driving the grammarian in me absolutely nuts. The trend is the “That awkward moment...” phrase. It’s used like this: 

If you’re not familiar with standard grammar rules, here’s the problem: That awkward moment when you wave to someone who doesn’t see you is a fragment, meaning it’s not a complete sentence. In order to have a complete sentence you must have a subject, a verb, and an object.  For instance, The dog found a bone is a complete sentence. The dog is the subject, found is the verb, and a bone is the object. In other words, in order to have a complete sentence there must be an action, something must do the action, and something must receive the action. While That awkward moment when you spit on the person you’re talking to has verbs, subjects, and objects, they are not in an acceptable order, nor are there enough of them. A correct way to reorganize the trend would be to say something like “That moment is awkward when people call me Katie,” or “Calling your teacher ‘Mom’ is an awkward moment.” I’m aware that I cannot stop this trend from continually spiraling out of control, but I can bring awareness to the situation in hopes that one of my few readers will think before jumping on the grammatically incorrect bandwagon.