harsh realization

Last night it was brought to my attention that i have entered a world which I openly despise. That is right folks: I AM A GAMER. I put in at least 2 hours a day playing a video game, and recently i rarely make it to bed before 3 in the morning. I've ruined my life! No, Dr. Mario has ruined my life.

The Summer Time

Bikerides, Dr. Mario and Prank phone calls. This is what summer 2007 means to me.
I'd like to give a shout out to all those who have made this magic possible, including Gary.
Let's keep rockin' Provo

Who is that person?

Something kind of humorous happened at work today. But before I tell you about it I need you to participate in an activity with me.
If you had to choose one of the things you admire about me, and put it into one word what would it be? You don’t have to tell me your answer. I’m not fishing for compliments here (though if you want to give one I’ll take it). Ok now think of my top 10 best qualities.
All right, so today the Campus Director (my boss) of the school I work at made a list of all of her employees and chose one thing that she greatly admired about each of us and put it into one word. She started with Laura the career service manager and said she admired her commitment, then for Becky, the other career counselor, she chose her sincerity. Now it was my turn, I guess I was kind of expecting all of the usual comments, but much to my surprise she pulled out the paper with my name on it and said "I admire Kaylene’s seriousness."
If this trait showed up on your "top 10" list I would be very interested to know.
It blows my mind that I can work at a place for 9 months and it feels like no one here really knows me at all.
I love that my boss thinks I am serious, my parents will be so proud!

My friends call me...

When I was a kid I always wanted to have a name that just my friends called me. You know, "Hi, my name is Kaylene, but my friends call me Kay." I remember being a small child and trying to get people to call me Kay, it never caught on. I spent most of my youth without a special nickname. My Dad has always called me Kayleners but for some reason I never really felt that counted as an "official" nickname.
Over the last 8 years since coming to Provo I have started to collect nicknames, all of which I love deeply. I love them each for different reasons, probably I just love them because of the people I associate them with. Some of my favorite things I have ever been called are:

• Special K- started by Bobby "Krusty" Gilliam
• "Lady" - a name used solely by Damon Schmidt
• Lenes, Leney, Beans, Beanie- I think this all originated somewhere with Kim, but has become my most popular set of nicknames. Over the years I have been able to say "Hi my name is Kaylene, but my friends call me Leney" and it will stick. Beans and Beany are almost exclusively used by the Choplettes, though Tom does call me Beans. Oh and Erin calls me beanie-butt

Now on to the real point of this blog, I have recently acquired a new nickname, and you might have to use your imagination with this one: Kayeldean! ok when you say it you have to use a nasty southern drawl, holding out the "kayel" part and then ending with a nice solid "dean".
Very few things bring me as much joy as hearing Courtney or Megan say my name in this fashion. I can't help but laugh every time. I especially love it when I get off of work and have 4 voicemails and they are all of someone yelling Kayeldean into the phone and then promptly hanging up.
Thank you, Megan and Courtney for bringing this joy to my life.

New Goals

I have recently decided that my ideal mate would be a 40-year-old male with a 16-18-year-old child. That way I could possibly be a grandmother in the next 2-6 years. Grandma at 28. That would be so ideal.

Blanket Paradise

Truth: I don’t exactly know what true love is. I think the closest I have come to this emotion is the way I feel about my blanket.

Some of you may be thinking this a little extreme, and maybe it is. But, if you knew my blanket you would probably feel the same way.

About 3 years ago, I started the search for the perfect down comforter. I checked most of the regular places: Bed Bath and Beyond, Mervyn's, Target, etc. You name it, and I probably looked there. Everywhere I went I was continually disappointed by the expensive, flat blankets that America had to offer. Eventually my Mom suggested we check out Ikea. What a brilliant idea. Soon after arriving in the bedding section I found it. Big and fluffy, just waiting for me to take it home, so we could start our perfect relationship.

My comforter is about 3x the size of a regular down comforter (maybe even more). Some people have described it as a gigantic pillow. I describe it as heaven. It is so perfect that no other blankets or sheets are required. During the winter it is so large and fluffy that none of the cold could ever make it in. During the summer it is light and airy allowing for airflow to reach all of the necessary places. I can’t imagine sleeping without it. When plausible, I will take it with me on my overnight adventures. It has been with me to the mountains, the river and the Wollenzien’s.

Over the years my love for it has grown to the point of being slightly possessive and a little jealous. I don’t much like it when other people come to my house and see it and decided they want to snuggle up in it. A while ago Becky and Erin were having an S.O. (sleep over) at my place. I left the room for a minute to brush my teeth and when I came back there they were snuggled up in my blanket. I guess the protective mother instinct kicked in or something, but the next thing I know we were in a full wrestling match. The 2 of them against me, I struggled so hard just so I could have my blanket back, safe in my arms where it belongs.

I love it so much that I have even contemplated telling my future husband (whoever he might be) that he will have to get his own blanket. Dave says that would be a huge red flag for any guy, so I am reconsidering.

Last night I had this dream that one of the students at the school I work at borrowed my blanket and put it in the washing machine. When she took it out it was ruined. In my dream I could feel my heart breaking. I was in that panic state where you just don’t know what to do, where the only option is tears. Fortunately, I woke up this morning warm and at peace in the comfort of my blanket. A feeling of relief flooded through my body and soul.

Right now I feel peaceful knowing that in a couple of hours I will be safe, crawling into my bed ready to spend another glorious night with my one true love.

Poems for 2 voices

As the ward talent show approaches every year I find it necessary to think of some insane yet wonderful way to impress the crowds. Because of my lack of talent in most of the performing arts it usually turns out to be something ridiculous, like a lip sync or a mock bell choir. This year I was a little stumped, no good ideas were coming at all. A couple of weeks before the show Lily and I spent a Saturday at the local used bookstore. Upon returning home we began to have a moment of "show and tell" where we each presented the treasures we had found. We each took turns displaying our books and giving reasons for why we had purchased them. Then we came to one of the books I had purchased, A Joyful Noise: Poems for 2 Voices. We decided to try the poems out; as we began it became immediately obvious that this was it. These poems would make the perfect ward talent show performance.
The talent show was a smash. Whitney and I came dressed in full beatnik attire: black turtlenecks, sunglasses, and barrettes. You know, the whole works. We brought stools and our own special lighting. After our act was announced we had the lights turned down, we came on the stage in the dark, sat down our stools and our lamp, sat down and then flipped on the lamp. We adjusted the microphone and then with out any extra talking or introduction we started our poems in unison. We started with "The Waterskeeters," then did "Waterboatman" and our last poem was "The Moth's Serenade." We made it through the set with out cracking a smile, and at the same time keeping our voices and faces as drab and serious as possible. We ended with thanking the crowd for listening to our art, picked up our stools and left. The performance was well accepted, some claimed, it was the best talent show performance they had ever seen. I was pleased that I was able to have another successful ward talent show performance under my belt.
After our debut Whitney and I began to find ourselves in situation after situation where people were requesting, that we do our poetry for them. Since then we have performed for several groups of friends, at a couple parties, a poetry reading, and at Muse Music on a Friday night at the end of a show. We've also had some people wanting to record us, one kid has tried once, but the equipment he was using was borrowed from the school and he couldn’t get the sound to work.
I am shocked at how popular our sideshow has become. I'm wondering if we should start selling our act. Maybe we could do children’s birthday parties or something like that.