"He's making a list,

Checking it twice, Gonna find out who's naughty & nice.." - if you need a reference, then you have some serious issues...

Lists can be nifty, eh? Often, it's much better to use a list than to write out an entire...um, paragraph thingy to describe something. Plus, when things are put into list form, it's much easier to check things off, feel a sense of accomplishment, or glance by quickly to see what needs to be done.
I don't make lists often.
The hard thing about lists is that I never know how much room I'll need-- I often follow the pattern of the Mouse in the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, where one thing leads to another, & you never know what you want until you're partway through your first task... Then, on random occasions, I'll see a list that someone else has made & it will inspire me to make one of my own. Case in point: This past September or so, I saw my roommate's "Bucket List". For those of you who are unaware (including myself at the time), a bucket list is a ... list... of things that one wants to accomplish before they die or become too old to do stuff. It was neat, & I could see how that would help to make fun goals in life, other than the usual stuff. Anyway, I decided to make my own. & here it is:

Cosas Para Hacer (antes de morir...)
Amanda Jane Bowen (age 23.5)
written during Fall semester 2009 @ BYU
(& in no particular order)

1. Go to a shark aquarium
2. Have roommate pictures
3. Learn how to surf
4. Visit a planetarium
5. Go to a Green Bay Packers game
6. Hug a redwood tree
7. Get my picture taken with the President
8. Become an aunt
9. Go to the Timp caves
10. Paint a portrait of someone in my family
11. Have pizza delivered to my classroom
12. Ride on the London Underground
13. Go to all of the women's restrooms on campus
14. Make a scrapbook
15. Go to a professional soccer game
16. See a performance in the Disney Concert Hall
17. Kiss someone I love during the Bellagio water show
18. Go to an opera
19. Attend a midnight release party, completely decked out
20. Become a mom
21. Take a shower in the women's bathroom of the 11th floor of the SWKT
22. Go hang gliding
23. Have a pet bunny
24. Ride in a small personal/non-commercial plane
25. Paint a mural on a bedroom wall
26. Learn German
27. Play trombone off the top of a mountain
28. Make a music video
29. Spend a weekend getting to know the "in-laws" better
30. See the lights on Temple Square
31. Go to grad school
32. See a musical on Broadway
33. Watch the Clippers play (live)
34. Pet a tiger
35. Go camping in a National Park
36. Build a snowman
37. See All of the Smithsonian (that's available to the public)
38. Dress up like a princess for a fancy ball
39. Have a picnic in the middle of a random field
40. Go to a hockey game
41. Stand at the top of a lighthouse
42. Sing jazz atop a piano while in a sexy dress
43. See every museum that's part of campus
44. Welcome a missionary home in the airport
45. Get a puppy!
46. Visit all 50 states (if I'm ever exceedingly wealthy, then in alphabetical order)

& there you have it. I've only done a few of these-- #'s 11, 15, & 21. I'm super close to checking off #14, & 13 is waiting for me to just go & do it. As well as 43. & some of these are contingent upon someone else doing something, & while I can't control the agency of others, I really want them to happen. So, if you want to help me on my quest to perform/accomplish/experience any of these things, let me know. It's gonna be fun.

"He got off! He got off! He got off!"

- Fred, George, & Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (right after Harry was dismissed from his bogus misuse of magic trial)

I got in! I GOT IN! I GOT IN!!!!!!!

::Breathe:: So, I was super nervous when I checked my professional email account & saw that the Grad Studies at BYU had made its decision, but I'd have to log in to another site to see it. I even said a little prayer to be at peace with the university's decision & know what to do from there.... take strength in my new course. I have been on edge all month as I've been waiting to hear back from them. But now..... Hallelujah! I get to go to grad school, like I've wanted to since I was a little girl. Granted, when I was really little I always figured my graduate education would be in medical school where I would become a veterinarian, but in a way working with public policy is fairly close to that... & not just in the joking way, but in the sense that you're working towards healing the nation through politics & policy, & of course, economics. I'm rather excited, as it means I know where I'll be for the next two years, & I have a much better look at what I'll be doing with the rest of my life. This is mega-huge, so big that I can't even seem to write in my typical fashion....

Seeing that accepted thingy in the window of my computer box really made me giddy. I want to do something fun right now. If it weren't for the fact that running for recreation makes no sense to me, I'd be out doing a marathon right now! Okay, maybe not. But if I had a trampoline I'd be jumping super high. Come to think of it, there's a park behind my house with swings; I think I can celebrate by swinging enthusiastically for a half hour. But probably not that long-- this *is* Utah, & you can't be too sure about when a nice, partly cloudy day will turn into a snowstorm... Eeeeee, I'm so happy!