Out of Business

The Hollywood Video in Rexburg is going out of business.
The Blockbuster went out of business a little over a year ago.

Actually, all around Rexburg there are empty buildings that have old, fading signs from their previous businesses peeling on them.

This I believe is because the community of Rexburg is too small to support so many businesses, and the other half of the population of Rexburg, the students, are too poor to support the businesses either.

However, we're not any more poor than college students in any other college town. So what I'm wondering is...why don't students in Rexburg ever spend money? Or what are they spending it on?

Granted, plain old groceries here are more expensive than they are in Utah at least, so that might be part of the problem. Another problem is gas is also more expensive here, and we tend to use it. We use it because there is one thing that students in Rexburg will spend money on: dates.

It is a common conception that if you want your date to be impressive or worthwhile, you have to drive half an hour to Idaho Falls and have your date there. Let's be honest, I enjoy the occasional date in Idaho Falls. I've ever heard of people who drive down to Salt Lake for dates (usually to propose :P).

What's funny about this is we have at least two concerts plus dances every week here, that are almost always less than $5/ticket. People complain that is too expensive, so instead they use that much in gas, (probably more) going to Idaho Falls, to the Texas Roadhouse then to the Idaho Museum of History (well, that at least would be my ideal date in Idaho Falls). Which costs probably $50 total. When a date in Rexburg would probably cost $20.

It must be the charm of escaping from Rexburg for one night...I'm not sure.

All I know is that I'm sick of passing empty buildings wherever I walk, and knowing that there is that many more unemployed people wandering around Rexburg competing with me for jobs.

The plus side is I will probably acquire a few more movies for very cheap today. :)

Jill's Fault

I've never done one of these on a blog before, so here it is.

4 TV Shows I like to watch:
1. The Office
2. The Olympics
3. American Idol
4. NCIS? Honestly don't watch anything but the Office.

4 things I'm passionate about:
1. Cheese
2. Muse
3. "unimportant things" as one friend told me
4. Being better, helping others be better

4 words or phrases I say often:
1. Seriously
2. Honestly
3. Ridiculously
4. Basically

4 things I have learned from the past:
1. one inch really is a mile
2. you don't have to keep everything you love with you to keep loving it
3. let it go...you don't need it
4. There is a purpose in suffering

4 places I would love to go:
1. New York
2. Germany
3. Sweden
4. Switzerland

4 things I did yesterday:
1. Went to class
2. applied for jobs
3. watched HP2
4. scrapbooked

4 things I am looking forward to this year:
1. NULC
2. Muse Concert
3. Graduating
4. Getting a real job, having a real life, maybe?

4 things I love about winter:
1. clean snow
2. sledding
3. being in Rexburg and knowing that I'm in pretty much the coldest place on earth
4. not being hot

4 things on my wish list: (AKA my Birthday is next week)
1. Lord of the Rings Extended DVDs (movies are always at the top...)
2. Anne of Green Gables on DVD
3. a career
4. to sell my screenplay!

4 people I tag:
1. Brynn
2. Stephanie
3. Alyssa
4. Camilla (I don't know who reads my blog, really)

I know I text, but I can still hate it.

I just want to say that this is officially my biggest pet peeve:
People who can only talk about their personal thoughts and feelings over texting (or Facebook messaging) and can't hold a conversation longer than three sentences in person.

A friend of mine who is on a mission really wanted me to get to know his best friend from home, so we started talking over Facebook and eventually started texting (I trusted the missionary that he wouldn't introduce me to a creeper, plus I'm also friends with the missionary's sister who is also very very close to this kid). This past weekend, he came to Rexburg to hang out with the sister and me.

He got here at about 9 a.m. on Saturday, but the sister is going to Paul Mitchell Hair Academy and has school from 9-5 on Saturdays. So I had to spend all that time with him, without ever having met him before.

I didn't think it was going to be a big deal; we had had interesting enough conversations already, what would be the difference?

I spent 8 hours talking to myself in his presence, minus the 90ish minutes I spent donating plasma while he ran some errands.

When we finally were able to hang out with the sister, he still never talked while I was present. If I left, then came back, he'd stop cold in the middle of their conversation.


However, the moment he left Rexburg, he began texting me as though we were close friends.


This is a social illness. And it is unacceptable.


The following are acceptable reasons to text:

• Clarifying meeting time/circumstances with someone
• Announcing a party/reminding of a party
• A quick check in with someone, hopefully accompanied by the promise of a future phone call/letter/visit
• Something reminded you of someone and you want to tell them before you forget
• You're not sure if a person is available to talk and you want to find out
• Asking a simple question that can be answered quickly

The following are unnacceptable reasons:

• Asking a complex, thought provoking question that will lead to a deep conversation
• Getting to know someone
• Expressing love and devotion (unless it is commonly expressed in other ways as well, then a text of this nature can just be a pleasant surprise)
• Figuring out details of a situation that are complicated and will require a lot of attention
• Any text conversation that lasts several hours
• Arguing
• Asking someone out
• Breaking up with someone

I think there are some circumstances when this can be bent, for example, if someone is at work and they are the only person you can talk to about a certain situation, but obviously they can't answer the phone. That's about the only exception (and is not an exception to the asking out or breaking up, or even arguing rules).

I like talking to people. Some of my most cherished memories involve having conversations with people until 6 a.m. Not texting conversations. If you text me after 2 a.m. and wake me up repeatedly, I will curse you to death.