Lists about Lists...of Lists

I made a few lists. In my head. And listed the things I liked about the things on each list. (Feel Inception-ed yet?) But why stop there? So I made a list. Of all of my lists. I guess pulling staples out of 300 page files for 8 hours a day, getting ready to leave in 6 weeks for the best 18 months of my life will do that to you.

List 1: Things to do before I leave

Items here include a number of books to read (Harry Potter.....), a few movies (Harry Potter.....), people to see (Harry....i mean...uhhh....friends?), things to buy (warm clothes), food to eat (let's hear it for the green corn tamales!), and freedoms to enjoy (constant sunshine)

List 2: Good music to listen to while performing mundane tasks ANYTIME

Samples I suggest are Lost by Gorilla Zoe (preferably find a pair of Dr. Dre Beats for this one), The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel, Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (who doesn't love whistling), and Electrify by Mutemath. No, I'm not by any means a music snob, nor will I ever pretend to be one. These are just ones I really liked. No judging.

List 3: Potential Halloween costumes

Boy Scout, Power Ranger, Missionary (jk jk), Jehovah's Witness (JK JK), Mario+Luigi or Thing 1 and Thing 2 or both-maybe even at the same time (you know who you are, this needs to happen)

List 4: Books to read! (In no particular order)

Harry Potter (heard of it? No? Oh...), The Hunger Games, The Infinite Atonement, The Help, Blink, The Book of Mormon. I'm open to suggestions, though time is running short.

List 5: Places to go hiking someday or again

Mt. Nebo, Zion's, Moab, Grand Canyon, Havasupai, a fourteener in Colorado, Sabino Canyon, Mt. Ranier

List 6: Lists that are relatively small but still important to me:

People who inspire me, what I still need to learn, what I have learned so far, life options, favorite family memories, the times people forgave me

List 7: Things to say to people while I have the chance

Because even though 18 months really isn't that long in the scheme of things, you never know how things will change. I want to say things because I know how things are now, I want to say them face to face, not in a letter or an email, and I don't want to hold it in and have it be too late. There's something about looking someone in the eyes and telling them that surpasses any other form of communication. Take that, Facebook. I'm glad I get the chance to have something significant like this come up otherwise I don't think I would be able to tell people the things I've been meaning to. No examples here, you'll just have to wait and find out.

First. Post. Ever. Woooo.

Yay for blogs! Actually, I’m still pretty reluctant about it, but ever since I thought of the name “The Skinny” I figured I had to make a blog and call it that, cause I thought it was funny. So this is mostly going to be a mission update blog but maybe when I get back I’ll feel more inclined to keep updating it….? I don’t know, we’ll see. Anyways, I was called to serve in the Tacoma, Washington mission. It includes everything from the City of Tacoma directly south (Puyallup is not included for anyone who is wondering…) and west, plus the western half of Puget Sound, all the way to the coast. You know what that means? Great scenery!! I can already tell I’m going to want to go back very soon and very often. Seriously though, I’m getting really excited to go. I’m a little worried about the rain and lack of sunshine but I should be fine. I’ll just dream of Arizona weather the whole time. I did a little research on Tacoma and here are some things I thought were cool and maybe you will think so too.

So far:

· Stadium High School, located in Tacoma, was featured in the movie 10 Thing I Hate About You

· Olympic National Park in its entirety is located in the Tacoma mission, also home to the only rainforest in the United States

· Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma

· Things you are not allowed by law to buy on Sundays: mattresses, televisions, meat

· La Push is the western-most town in the contiguous United States (also home of the werewolves)

· Forks, WA. Great.

· The world’s first soft serve ice cream was at a Dairy Queen in Olympia. Thank you!

· Tacoma’s nickname is “City of Destiny.” Perfect.

Well, that’s all I got for now. I’ll probably post something up here again before I leave if I don’t forget.