A Letter to Dear Shakespeare

Dear William,

I’ve been taking a class about you this semester. (It’s true. We have a class that solely focuses on you. You’re kind of a big deal. Bien hecho.) My awesome professor, Dr. Christiansen, is basically an expert on you and your works. She’s helped me not only learn more about you, but through your works she’s shown me so much about what you tried to teach the world, and I just wanted to thank you. 

Thank you for using Othello to teach me how stereotypes blind the world and cause unnecessary tragedy.

Thank you for showing me the sad effects evil choices have on individuals’ minds through the story of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. (I really like Macbeth. Good job on that one! :))

Thank you for teaching us the value of tragedy and how it can be a tool to help us become more empathetic and humble, as it did Gloucester, or an excuse to feel sorry for ourselves and turn inward, as happened with Lear. 

Thank you for showing the sadness that comes through pride in Titus Andronicus.

Thank you for exploring human nature and for your ability to so accurately portray it through your characters. Your plays are fascinating! (For the most part. Sometimes I don’t really know what’s going on. But that’s okay, my teacher helps me. :)) It’s always so exciting to see what’s coming next!

To sum it up, thanks for being awesome. I could go on, and I’m sure the rest of the world could go on with me, but I don’t want your head to get too big. (You’re welcome.)

Love,

Anna  

The Fan with your Best Interests at Heart

Let’s Skip to the Good Part . . . or not

Today I was on Pinterest looking at cookie recipes, and I found one that looked delicious! But, then I saw that you had to chill the dough . . . I found a different recipe. This one. I saw the ingredients, but no directions. I decided to make them anyway :). (A reminder for the next time I make cookies: confectioner’s sugar = powdered sugar, not regular sugar. Oops! ;))

So there I was (Ben), making cookies in the kitchen to the tunes of Pandora <3. Let’s Skip to the Good Part by He is We came on, and I thought to myself, “This is just how I feel sometimes!” 

Sometimes I’m impatient. I want what I want to happen, to happen when I want it to happen. (Uhh. Sorry about that sentence.) I get frustrated and angst-y and don’t understand why I’m not getting what I want. This makes me sound like I’m two years old, but it’s true. 

Then I remembered something I thought of after I watched How Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended on YouTube (Don’t watch it.:P). Instead of having the whole story, it just showed Frodo fly over Mount Doom on one of Gandalf’s eagles and drop the ring in. At first it seemed like How it Should Have Ended made a lot of sense. Let's face it. Using the giant eagles from the very beginning would have probably really simplified things, and we would have had ourselves a pamphlet instead of a trilogy. But, as I thought about it more, I realized that getting rid of the ring wasn’t necessarily the point of the story. It was the end objective, but J.R.R. Tolkien had more for us. 

If Frodo had just been carried to Mount Doom he wouldn’t have learned, grown, and become who he became. The same goes for all of the other characters. Aragorn wouldn’t have taken his place as the King of Gondor. Legolas and Gimli wouldn’t have become friends. The struggle of the journey helped the characters reach their full potential and discover things they wouldn't have otherwise.    

I’ve realized that this is how life is for us. We may want to “skip to the good part” but going through the hard things and waiting is part of the good. It’s one of the ways God helps us become more like Him. Achieving the end goal isn’t as sweet if we skip over everything in the middle. The middle is where all of the real good things happen. It’s where we progress and actually become.

Back to the cookies. The dough was kind of soft, but I baked some anyway. They turned out pretty good, but guess what. (You: What?) If you click the picture of the cookies one more time the directions pop up. Who knew, right!?! And do you know what the directions say? “Refrigerate two-hours or overnight.” Ha! Problem solved.

And so, my friends, it looks like the same thing goes for cookies, Lord of the Rings, and life: it’s okay if you don’t get just what you want right when you want it. Sometimes you have to wait and go through a process before you get it. The process may involve something along the lines of gallivanting across Middle-Earth trying to save it, or it may be as simple as chilling in the fridge. Either way, don’t try to skip it! It’s there for a reason! Take a leaf from the book of Treebeard and “don’t be hasty.” Haha! ;) (That pun was for those of you who made it to the end of this long post.) 

Okay. The end. Make it a great week! <3

Feeling 22 and Such

Hello!

So let's just say this has not been a very productive homework weekend. Period. Oops! But it sure has been great! 

Here are some of the things it has included: 

-Being so brave and getting my finger pricked for my blood lab in Physiology! (I was so proud of myself :) )

-Eating tamales! Mmm! Delicious! (Except for the pink dessert one. Definitely not a fan.)

-Watching a little LOTR! 

 Look at that face. (Not the elf.) So good.

-Talking with my wonderful mother and Julie Maughan! I love those women.

-Going on a date with a really nice boy!

-Going to the Provo Library and studying for 20 minutes! Haha! (It closes at six on Saturday nights, for those of you who were wondering :) )

-Going to the BYU Basketball game! 

-Running into one of our missionaries at a gas station! (It took me a little bit, but I remembered his first name! :D)

-Eating frozen yogurt!

-Getting to talk to my brother, Ben!  He’s fantastic. I love Ben. I’m sure you’ll get to read a post about him sometime :). (If you can’t tell by now, I’m just a little bit crazy about my brothers. But hey, if they were your brothers, you’d probably feel the same way.) 

So, I didn’t get all of the things done that I should have, but it was still a wonderful weekend! I think the biggest irony came when I was riding with the Misses M and A to the BYU basketball game and our good friend T Swift came on the radio singing Twenty-Two. “Tonight’s the night when we forget about the deadlines.” How did she know . . . 

 

Jonathan: A Celebration

Let's talk about Jonathan.

Just look at this guy!

 Don't you love him! 

I met Jonathan soon after I was born. As it happens, he's my brother. Jonathan, #5 in the Pike clan; Anna, #8. We go way back. I mean, he even came to my high school graduation. 

Wow. Kind of a big deal right there.

As I'm sure you know, Jonathan's half-birthday is coming up. 

Here's a list of just 10 reasons you** may wish to write him a note or purchase a small little something to let him know you are glad he was born:

**A little disclaimer on that last sentence. These are reasons I'm glad he was born, although I'm sure you could write a list of your own with very little difficulty.

1. Jonathan does crazy things that I would probably never do, but that I wish I would. (*cough,cough* Eiffel tower ;) )

2. He knows how to have a good time and helps others to have fun as well.

3. He takes time for others. He'll drop everything to help someone and never act "put out" by it.

4. Analogy King. 

-Anna: "But Jonathan, sometimes the thing cooking on the back burner smells so good!"

- Jonathan: "Anna, he's not even on the back burner. He's still in the fridge."

5. Jonathan helps me get out of sticky situations :)

6. He takes time to skype with me, even at one in the morning.

7. He's an excellent conversationalist. He's good at having deep conversations about things that really matter.

8. He has impeccable taste in music and movies.

9. RISK.

Bumble. Need I say more?

10. Jonathan is an amazing example of perseverance and faith.

The list could go on, but I think you're getting the idea. 

I will always be grateful for this wonderful brother, friend, mentor, Dorito lover, and fellow SSS member.