Friday, June 11, 2010

Weekend Update

And so the countdown for EFY begins.
My schedule is a little sporadic, and I won't be working all four sessions at once. But my first session is almost a week away! Yikes!
Things I still need to do:

-purchase more church clothes
-plan out devotionals
-learn the dances
-work my bum off at my other jobs so i'll be able to take the time off

Speaking of my other jobs, I thought interested readers might be curious to know that I did in fact make my trek to Ensign Peak. It was everything I hoped and dreamed. The day dawned sunny and bright with a few white puffy clouds in the sky. Ali, Maren and I drove up, got a little lost on the way, due to faulty street labeling (tsk tsk Salt Lake). And then we proceeded to totally conquer that Peak! The hike only takes about 20 minutes. It was a little disappointing to make it to the top and see all of the markers defaced. But the day was perfect for hiking, cool and breezy, the scenery bursting with bright green color.


We could see the whole city to the south, and the Great Salt Lake to the West. It was a glorious day indeed.

After, being famished as we were, the three of us decided to lunch at Zupa's. A place I had never been before.

And since we were already in Salt Lake, we decided to see the sites. I had never been inside the Church History Library. The building is newly remodeled, so we jumped on a tour with an old couple from Roy. Since it was close to closing time, the tour really only consisted of a short video. Which did in fact make me tear up a little. It was all the preservation of our journals; each book in the library isn't just a book. Each book in the library is a person's story; their life compacted into simple sentences, words, and phrases. Libraries mean so much more to me than dusty old books. Whenever I pick up a new book, it's like an undiscovered treasure. The spine will crack as I open and flip through brittle pages. But the book is not dead; it seems to have a soul, to breathe life again as I open it up for the first time.

I want to work in libraries for the rest of my life. Or museums. I think the trip inspired me to double major. It will only be a few more credits, and completely worth it I think to just go ahead and get an art history and curatorial studies degree along with my Humanities degree.

Here are some parting words from my dear friend C.S. Lewis to sum up the way I feel about books:

"Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into subindividuality.
But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like a night sky in the greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do."

Well, off to work again. 22 pages done of the article. I meet with my boss on Monday!

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