Hiking the Y

Well yesterday - for the first time - I hiked the Y with Brian, yay!!! I remember calling my sister and she telling him well just don't fall and break your neck! geez thanks Lili!! Well for your information I went there and I did not break my neck haha...Like I was telling Brian it is funny to me how I can dance for eight hours straight but I had to stop like five times to get to the top:s haha I have to work on that. As I was going up - and feeling tired - I was slowly realizing the beautiful view we were gaining. I would always say that's beautiful!...or look that's pretty! and Brian would tell me wait until we get to the top. I remember watching the last part of the trail and just telling myself ok all the way to the top...and Brian telling me yes you can do it haha....he's sweet:) When we finally got to the top I was so amazed by the beauty of the view. I was pretty much speechless by the perfection of God's creation. We can truly see and feel his love when we see the beautiful world he has created for us! The sunset was beautiful because the light rays would get reflected all throughout the lake and the buildings. It was so beautiful! - besides we had Martinelli's which made it even better haha....All of this just made me realize that in a way life is like that. On the way up we will see many pretty things believing that we have seen it all...and that probably that is as pretty as it will get. However, we must go all the way to the top - which is hard - to see the beauty in its fulness. Once you get to the top it is worth it!

Beautiful view!

There's Brian - I kinda missed the sunset in here oh well hehe

There's me - as you can see he actually got the sunset haha and yes I was kinda cold:)

Some thoughts...

As all of you guys know I like being super busy all the time haha....This week has been busy busy but I must say that is has been definitely good! Well for a start this week I started noticing changes since me and Brian started going to the gym almost everyday - well he does I can't Monday and Wednesday. It is amazing how just some extra work out and a healthier diet can help. I remember telling my mom a couple of weeks ago that I felt I was gaining weight:s...I remember Leo telling me: haha told ya! your metabolism changes! It certainly does...So for a total of three weeks I have been working out before going to school - some abs - and then in the afternoon I go to my intense dancing lessons - which I love!! It is amazing to see how that makes a difference. I feel like I have more energy already, I sleep better and I am in better shape! :)

This week - as always - I have been thinking about random stuff. In my art interrelations class - which btw I finished the test...horrible haha - we're analyzing different adaptations from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to movies from Zeffirelli and Robbins. I was re-reading the play this week and I realized that reader-response criticics are so right when they say that no book is the same even when it is read again by the same person. I had read that play in junior high as a hobbie; however, I felt that since I am certainly different from that time, the play was absolutely different for me. I guess I was able to truly catch on the imagery, cosmology and formalism of the text. I was watching Zeffirelli's version of Romeo and Juliet yesterday afternoon while I was taking notes on it. I took a total of almost five pages of only imagery and from the diegetic reality of the movie. I must confess, I was fascinated by the movie and how Zeffirelli - being a Shakespeare expert - was able to catch on the water imagery and so many details and put it into different shots. The soundtrack is beautiful. What is a youth? is the main song that I think describes the plot quite accurately. I find it quite interesting how the play places the antithesis of fate and agency in a way that it ends in tragedy. I would write more of my thoughts concerning this but I believe this will be enough for now.

On the other hand, I have been going to the MTC for almost three weeks now to serve as an spanish speaking investigator. It has been such an awesome experience. Ever since I was little I have always felt that missionaries have a different spirit, a very noble but full of power kind of spirit. I've had missionaries that either know spanish almost perfect or that have just started and can only say two words. Both experiences have been different. My experience with missionaries that know spanish already has been different in the sense that I feel amazed on how the spirit speaks a universal language. It doesn't matter if you're preaching the gospel in your native language or not the spirit is the same. I felt amazed on how this missionaries were able to bear their testimony with me in a language different than their native one and still feel the spirit so strongly - I feel so blessed to be able to be sensitive to these promptings. My experience with missionaries who are still learning how to speak spanish has been quite different. I guess that it has increased my capacity to love people you don't even know. It feels so good to be able to help them and just say: relax, when the time comes the spirit will help you and you will be able to open your mouth and change lives...for now you're doing great! I feel love for the missionaries and their faith to go outside their homes to a strange place and preach the gospel. I admire them so much. I will continue to go as I know that it fortifies my spirit and builds my character.

That is all for today. I feel happy and incredibly blessed...I wouldn't have my life any other way:)

The never-ending test

Well today was an interesting day. I worked most of the day on this take-home test for my art interrelations class which deals mostly with adaptation theories and literary theories. Interesting class indeed. When the teacher - the famous and absolutely amazing teacher Larry H. Peer - gave me the test he looked right into my eyes and said: this is going to be a learning experience for you mrs. Espinosa so try to answer it as soon as possible and don't bother about the details, I will be waiting for your test Tuesday afternoon...remember being a perfectionist means sometimes not being a perfectionist...have a nice evening. I smiled and thanked him, as I was leaving the classroom I noticed that the test was SO LONG! 100 questions! what in the world?! I started reading through them and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to answer any of the questions without reading some books first and getting some others from the library. So I took off to the library and got myself with some pretty good books.

I started answering the test that same day...after two hours I had only gotten to question seven. I felt frustrated. Today after working for five hours on it I'm in question 40. Today I understood what he meant that sometimes being a perfectionist means not being one. I realized that even though I wanted to include all the details it was not possible...the teacher wanted the summary and the clear idea. He just wanted to know that I knew, but most important of all that I had actually read - going blind people! haha.

I love this class and it has made me pondered about so many things. Recently we talked about the theory of Structuralism - not the one from Marx but from Saussure. Structuralists affirm that we see the world through the lenses of language. In other words, the language we speak changes the way we think - individualism vs. collectivism for example. I found this interesting because I can certainly realize the difference in me when I speak English, Spanish or Portuguese. I find it interesting that English and Spanish tend to be more individualistic while Portuguese is more collectivistic. Fascinating ideas. So I'm still trying to get that done. So while I'm working on it the words of my teacher make noise inside my head: forget the details.

A little bit of me

First of all I would like to start posting something about myself . Well all of u guys know me haha u know that I define myself as a sweet & sour combination...pretty accurate may I say. I am a passionate person, and I believe that people can notice that easily. The thing I'm most passionate about is dancing. People always ask me if I get nervous when I'm performing, my answer is always the same: terrified before I get on stage but once I start dancing I forget about everything and I just let myself go, it's the best feeling ever! Another thing that I consider myself passionate about is reading. My literature teacher told me once that I don't read books I eat them!...haha....very true! - I'm going blind because of that btw! It was my dad who got me into the reading habit, I remember the first book he gave me: Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer, he told me to take good care of it...so I did...and I still do...because in short let's just say the book is not with him anymore:) This goes along with my passion for writing. I love to write and I do it at least twice a week. I like just writing random stuff...mostly open essays, and sometimes - when I'm in the mood - some poetry.

Another thing I'm passionate about is food! I love eating and I always appreciate a good meal...like the one I had yesterday, man! that was one huge burger!!! Excellent!:) I am passionate about music, I always take a shower, eat, get ready in the morning, drive and so on with music!...The best band of all times of course The Beatles!! Best song from them? mmm tough call...I'm between "Something," "You've got to hide your love away" or "While my guitar gently weeps"...hard decision, I don't think I will ever decide on that one. I absolutely love the 60's, I often wonder if on another time I lived there because I just love everything about it! That takes me to movies! I'm a movie fan and my favorite movies are - not to surprising - musicals. My favorite movie is "Grease." I've been watching that movie since I was about nine and since then it has been my favorite. Recently I watched Across the Universe which I thought was an amazing movie!

What else can I say that u wouldn't know already? mmm well I have an obvious weakness for blue colors and shades haha weird but true!....Oh yeah I love Friends...I just can't stop watching that show...I own the series haha and believe me I've seen them more than once!...My favorite character? Chandler BY FAR!....although I must say I can relate to Rachel because of her love for shopping and Monica for her OCD tendencies. Oh yeah! I am a perfectionist....sometimes that is a good thing...sometimes not so much. I like things done in the best way possible, and for all u people who have been in a group project with me know exactly what I mean!!

What else? Oh yeah I'm a humanistic person. I love art and my favorite period is Romanticism. I love everything about it: literature, philosophy, psychology and painting - the painting on my the main page is by my favorite painter of all time: JMW Turner ...a hopeless romantic! Lastly - but only because I want to close in the best way possible - is the thing I'm most passionate about: the gospel. I love the way the gospel always applies to everything, every situation, problem, joy and feeling. My favorite book is D&C, probably because I always - and when I say always I mean it - find the answer or counsel I need. I feel strong about so many things but this is definitely the strongest one..and will always be. Oh well I believe this is enough for now, yeah that'll do just fine. A few of you know me pretty well...inside out may I say...so if I'm missing something feel free to say it haha

This is how random I can be haha....and would u look at that? I'm eating! no way! Ice cream yummy!

Starting my new electronic journal

Well here I am feeling ADD at almost 2am in the morning. It seems funny to me how something can get stuck in your head and it won't stop bugging you until you do it haha...so here's my blog...due to popular demand I decided that it would be a good idea to post something that could be interesting - and hopefully useful - for the people that take the time to read this. I'm still trying to get the design the way I want to but I'm afraid it's still going to take some time - that and the fact that I'm finally getting sleepy...so here it is. Hopefully I will have time to write things on a regular basis...so keep checking. Thanks for reading and enjoy my experiences.

ps. Feel free to post any comments..............only if they're good:) jk!