The rest of it.

Here's the other question that goes along with my last post on describing yourself.

Those characteristics that you used to describe yourself....are they related more to your leisure activities (non-obligated or free time) or your non-leisure activities (obligated time like school, work, care-giving, etc.)?

There is, of course, no right or wrong answer here. These are just interesting things to think about when examining our lives. Maybe the descriptors might wake us up a little bit in terms of how we live our lives. Maybe not.

Let's see....in other news related to Indiana. It has been approximately 60-65 degrees everyday for the last 5 days. It's been GREAT!!! Although, I know the loveliness of the warm weather won't stick around. Something about highs and lows, and pressure and blah blah blah. It's supposed to be cold again in the coming days. Not exactly ice storm, -5 degrees cold. But chilly.

I'm in the process of applying for some funding to do some research this summer. The grant proposals are due this friday. And I'm not really done with them. YIKES!! I see my first all-nighters as a doc student coming up. I'm trying to go to Spain to do a mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) study of the cultural application of the Core and Balance model. I know what you're probably thinking...Spain, Isn't that where Jeff is? Yes. Madrid to be exact. I want to visit. Plane tickets are expensive. So unless I develop a SEND JASMINE TO SPAIN website with a convenient PayPal account that accepts credit card donations (like the lady who just had octuplets....seriously??), getting funding to do research pretty much sends me there for free. And I'll just hire Jeff as my translator since I very obviously do not speak Spanish. :-) I'm also hoping to get money to do a small qualitative study at the NAC....after I get back from Spain, of course. I'm interested in understanding what the constraints, barriers, and stresses to family leisure are for families with someone with a disability....all from the Core and Balance perspective. So....keep me in your prayers in the coming weeks. I need to be productive this summer and these grants will allow me to do that. Plus, I really don't want to spend the summer in Bloomington and humidty. I've gotten very used to dry desert heat. How do people survive in the midwest??

How would you describe yourself?

In my Social Psychology of Leisure class this week, we are talking about leisure (of course) and how it influences our identities. One of the questions used in a study on identity formation was "How would you describe yourself to someone who doesn't know you?" For myself, I thought: athletic, adventurous, hard working, dedicated, fun, easy going. Now, there are quite a few other aspects to this study that ask about what kinds of leisure activities you do, how often, how important they are to you, etc...and then it ties it all together to tell you about the influence of your choice of leisure activities on the formation of your identity. Too much to talk about in this post. If you are REALLY interested, let me know, I'll send you the article. But I just wanted to throw it out there as some food for thought for all 3 people who read my blog. Enjoy.

Top and Bottom 10's

Well, it's been almost a month since I've been in the land of the Hoosiers. I have yet to get an answer from anyone on what a Hoosier is. No one seems to really know what it is or the origin of the word. So for now I'll just settle with Hoosiers being students at Indiana University.

In no particular order, here are my top 10 and bottom 10 lists for things here in B-town (that's what everyone here calls Bloomington, I promise). I hope that in time, the bottom 10 list will disappear and the top 10 list will get longer. After 4 weeks, I not so sure it will happen. I'll be totally honest here.....I struggled to come up with the Top 10. The bottoom 10 came without hesitation.

Top 10
1. Midwesterners are nice people.
2. A cute stray cat lives in the hall outside my apartment. I want to adopt it.
3. Big-Ten college towns = cheap furniture (can be questionable though, I'll be careful).
4. My stats class is easy. That might move to the bottom list next semester though. We'll see.
5. Proximity to cool places like Chicago. I haven't gone yet, but my list of places to visit is getting longer every day.
6. Dinner group has saved my life in terms of getting to know people (and saves me $$). Thanks guys!!
7. People here RECYCLE!!!!! YES!!!!
8. Student housing is Pet-friendly. :-)
9. Trees everywhere.....it's like living in a forest. There aren't any leaves on them now, but I'm sure it will be awesome in the Spring and AMAZING in the fall.
10. I hear the park near my apartment shows movies on those cool blow-up screens on summer nights....FOR FREE!! Free is good.
11. (I had to include this, even though it's a top 10 list). The local strip club near my apartment, Night Moves: A Gentleman's Lounge, always has catchy phrases on it's marquis. When I got here it was "Wanted: More Nice Girls". We got a new one today "We Have Our Own Stimulus Plan". Apparently people wait with anticipation to see what the new sayings are. You gotta love the small towns.

Bottom 10
1. Ice.
2. Wind.
3. One-way streets.
4. No Clean Air Act....people can smoke indoors here!?! I guess California and Utah have spoiled me.
5. The lack of snow-plows.
6. Parking at IU is not free.
7. Lack of family and friends. I really miss everyone.
8. Football in Indiana? Ha, yeah right!
9. Slower pace of things at school. I shouldn't complain but I'm used to being super busy.
10. No office space at school. I'm less productive at home as it's always easy to find other things to do that are more interesting....like taking a nap.

So there they are. I keep telling myself that I will like it better here when the weather gets better. I'm sure I will. This winter has been yucky. And I think I will like it better when I move this summer. No more neighbors standing outside my door and smoking. In fact, my roommate and I checked out an apartment complex today that quickly moved to the top of our list. It's still under construction so it will be brand spankin new when we move in in August.....hopefully. The other great thing about it is that our upstairs neighbors are in our branch. It will be good to have friends so close.

So overall, the jury is still out on my first month in Bloomington. But it gets better every day. The sun was out and shining on Sunday. It was about 47 degrees....I wore shorts while I did laundry. It gave me some hope for a great future. :-)

Winter storms

After living in Utah for 10 years, I would say that I've grown used to snow and winter storms. But I would have to say that I've never experienced winter stormageness like this.

This is an icycle on my windowsill..... INSIDE my room.

Up close and personal.

Our balcony. At least it's kind of starting to melt.

We never got any cool icycles like this in Provo.

It's official....Jasmine Nutter, M.S.

I got my diploma in the mail from BYU today!!! It's awesome. Here's a link to see the digital version of it. I don't how long this link will work, so check it out. I didn't think I was going to get it until I walked in commencement in April. And I was kind of bummed about it because I recently realized that I won't be able to fly back to Utah in the end of April to walk. It's really bad timing since that will be the week before finals for me here at IU. Also, it will be really close to Jada's 100 day birthday, which is a big deal in the Korean culture. So anyways.....I'm glad I got the diploma in the mail. So exciting!!

You can be sure that I will walk when I graduate from IU in 2012. That seems so far away. But I know it will come sooner than I think. :-)

https://www.michaelsutter.com/emaildiplomastatus?mailstatusid=8118-1820137-351

P.S. I did successfully submit my abstract to LRS monday night. I won't know for a few months whether or not it got accepted. Wish me luck!

The universe is working against me!!!

I believe that all the planets and stars have aligned tonight and that it has created a massive forcefield of power that is keeping me from submitting my abstract to the Leisure Research Symposium by midnight. As follows is a Series of Unfortunate Events (thanks go to Lemony Snicket for the great title):

First: The time difference between Utah and Indiana is quite inconvenient when my committee chair Ramon (in Provo) and I (in Indiana) are both trying to make edits to my abstract (at the last minute of course) and email them back and forth. I'm sure I ruined his night with his family and for that I feel HORRIBLE.

Second: The internet doesn't work at my apartment therefore I am stuck in the office on campus. So as Ramon was working on some edits I went home to get dinner (aforementioned time difference). He sent some back to me and I had to high tail it back to campus. When I got back to the office, it was locked. Do I have a key? HA.........yeah right.

Third: It hardly ever snows in Bloomington, however, tonights forecast calls for 4-5 inches of fluffy stuff.

Fourth: There is NO GRAD OFFICE in the HPER department at Indiana University. I believe this is cruel and unusual punishment....for what crime, I have no idea? When the previous department chair was approached about the need for graduate work space his response was "You do realize that costs money." It wasn't a question.

Fifth: When I realized the department offices were locked I miraculously found the small library in the building open. I was kicked out 15 minutes later as it closed at 9:00 p.m. What kind of a university library closes at 9????

Sixth: BYU parking lots are open to anyone at 4 p.m or so. It's great for us late night workers. IU, on the other hand, provides lovely PARKING TICKETS 24 hours a day and night. I have no parking pass. I didn't care......I parked in a chancellors spot or something....it said Reserved for someone important...not you! It was practically gold-plated. God showed mercy on me and I didn't get any tickets.

Seventh: After getting kicked out of the HPER library at 9 pm I drove like crazy amidst the snow and one-way streets (a deadly combination) to a branch members house. I knew she had wireless. I was going to "borrow" it. Luckily she was home and was willing to tolerate my barging in. She even fed me homemade cheesecake. Unfortunately, my computer wouldn't hook up to her wireless connection. Is this really happening??

Eighth: While eating cheesecake I was educated about the 3 other libraries on campus. Hey....I'm new here. They have computer labs open 24 hours. So I bust a move to the closest one. Ramon finishes his edits. I finished filling out the submission form online. He sends me his edits and high tails it home. It looks like the night is going to be a success. Unfortunately, I called him as he pulled into his driveway and informed him that he sent me the orginial abstract....without all our revisions. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where is the revised one? On his computer in his office.

So.............I have 1 hour and 13 minutes to get it submitted. I figured posting on my blog would help the time pass while Ramon decides if he wants to drive all the way back to the office to resend the abstract. I really wouldn't be suprised if this freak winter storm makes the power go out as soon as I hit publish on this latest blog post. It would be a fitting end to this day.

As for now, I will continue to sit here in the library....in my pj's because that's what I happened to be wearing when I ran out of the house. I think days like this are meant to happen every once in a while....just to keep us in check or something. Wish me luck that things turn out.

Jada's Commentary on Life

Jada is so cute. My mom sent some more pictures and said she's already changed so much in just one week. One thing is for sure though. She definitely has Andy's hairline. Poor girl. Hopefully it will grow out quickly. Right now her hair is so short it looks like stubble, just like Andy's short military cut.


I LOVE MY AUNTIE!! Her arm is in the way, but that's what her shirt says.
This is my clown outfit. What do you think?

Stiking a pose. This is acutally my favorite picture of her. So much PINK!!!! Mom says she has Andy's nose and my lips.

To Rachel and Andrew, From God. Mom did this one. If you look closely, you will notice that Jada is screaming her head off. She was furious about this picutre. I'm sure she's not so happy that she doesn't have any clothes on.

All bundled up with nowhere to go.

Do I have to continue to wear this much PINK??? I know I'm a cute cuddly little girl...but come on. Look at my hair....when is it going to be long and flowy??

Why did you insist on taking me out of that warm, cozy womb? I was so comfortable in there. And you continually put that camera in my face? Do you expect me to smile? Because I won't.

Yeah.....she's definitely got some attitude. But she's a cute one. We love her to death. She went to dinner with the entire family the other night. Everyone was holding her up next to Andy and making comparisons in the noses. She sleeps 8 hours through the night already. My mom had to wake her up to feed her. Whose child is this?