a little warm, but not at all astonished

I love Rudyard Kippling.  My dad used to read The Elephant's Child to my siblings and I before bed.  Consequently, we still quote it. For example: 'a little warm, but not at all astonished'.

'Insatiable Curiosity' is another phrase I love.  Especially when Papá says it.

I don't have a Dad.  I have a Papá.  For third person usage, I have a dad, but no Dad.  I'm proud of that fact.  Not that it gives me anything special.  (Besides a magic genie, and ownership of several islands.)
... No.
I don't get anything.  Except my Papá.  But that's cooler than a genie or islands, so I'm content.

Anyway.  Mr. Kippling, I wish I could write a little more like you did.  If is one of my favorite poems.

We drove my sister to her husband and new home in North Carolina.  Summers may be short there, but they are compensatingly humid.  Compensatingly should be a word.

I think that if someone took all the discomfort available during the long, dry summer out in this desert and compressed it so that it took up as little time as possible, the result would be summer out by the Atlantic Ocean.  Hot; Humid; No cooling off at night.  (I think the absence of actual mountains contributes to the absence of cooler evenings.)

Anyway, besides the instant-stickiness, North Carolina has very little worth complaining about.  I loved it there.  I want to go back soon.  (My desire to return is probably heavily influenced by family,  but scenery plays a significant roll too.)

So.  Driving, trees, restaurants, beach, museum, cameras, Knudsens, refrigerator, Target.  Those are words that came to mind as far as "NC Highlights" goes.

Other trip highlights include (but are not limited to): Lizzie, dark chocolate, Hampton Inn in New Albany, Indiana, driving home through the canyon.

But I'm back now.  A little warm, but not at all astonished.

Yep.
The end.
Josie

oainaflkae

Smacking the keyboard with my fingers can sometimes solve a problem.  [see this post's title]


Right now, I'm sitting on Sean's bed.  He's sitting at his macasaurus with his new computer game.  Ashton is here too.

This was a few minutes ago:

Sean was playing his game.  

He'd been explaining things to Ashton as he played, 

but had been silent for a short while.  

Both were fixedly staring at the screen like it was a professor teaching them a lecture.

I wasn't paying much attention to them.  

I was reading on the bed behind them.  

But then Ashton moved, and the corner-of-my-eye noticed.  So I turned to watch him.

He maintained his trance-stare as he slid off the stool.  

He snuck his legs in front of Sean's, 

whose trance was also left unbroken.  

Ashton tiptoed as Sean lifted.  

Fluidly, 

mundanely, 

colorlessly, 

Ashton sat on Sean's lap.  

And nothing happened. 

 The game kept going.

              But it was great!  I'm still smiling from it!
I like brothers.
:)
Ya todo.
Jo

"... anyway, so that's when the aliens showed up."

Once, I was talking to my brother.

More like he was talking at me.  And I listened and enjoyed.  And then he just sort of...
ran out of words on the topic.  But I hadn't finished listening.  So after a well-timed pause, he said:

"Anyway, so that's when the aliens showed up."

And I just laughed.  And then we talked about that comment for a while....

Now I'm gonna sidetrack myself for just a bit:
     I really miss Calvin.  I'm glad he is where he is.  And I'm glad I miss him.  Because that means that he matters to me, y'know?  It means we were tight before he left.  And we're tight now.  We come from a tight family.  That's what happens when you try to squeeze so many people like us into one house.  (I almost mean this literally.  In my old home, there was a point where 5 of us kids shared one bedroom, and my parents and youngest sister slept in another.)  We may reeeeeeeeeaally bug each other, but we're tight.  We spend time with each other.  We know each other.  It's good.  Hard sometimes, but good.

Okay.  Back to whatever was going on before the sidetrack:

He and I both used the aliens comment pretty often after that first time when we came to a point in conversation when we didn't know what to say.  I still use it.  He might.  Dunno.  Anyway, I use it differently at times, but usually it serves as a variation on supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Here's another digression:
The same discussed Calvin wrote a variation on the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

"When no one can stand your breath, my friend, that's halitosis.

H-A-L-I-T-O-S-I-S spells 'halitosis'.

If your breath is rank, then this might be your diagnosis:

H-A-L-I-T-O-S-I-S spells 'halitosis'!"

You know, you could spell it backwards which would be S-I-S-O-T-I-L-A-H, but that won't really do much for your breath....  
Try to sing that song.  It still takes concentration to get that O and final I to stay in the right place.

Okay.  Enough digression.  Now I'll regress so that this post can progress, and maybe actually conclude successfully.

I had no idea what to say.  I sat, just watching the cursor flash on and off in the title bar, trying to write something.   And that was about when the aliens showed up.  (Thanks for the inspiration, guys.)

Also, Calvin's birthday was last Sunday, and I felt like talking about him.  Now I have.
So now I'll go.
End.
Jos

Poem of the day

Poem of the day:

And now the day is done:

A bright full moon has come.

Knudsens left. They're gone.

And Calvin's twenty-one.

lacking wisdom

This is what I typed yesterday after my teeth came out:

Quick surgery. Maybe ten minutes. The stitching up finished at 9:17. I had a tooth with six roots! The oral surgeon said he'd never seen anything like it before. Crazy.

now it's 1:31, and I'm getting loopy. After a long while in pain, like, two and a half hours, I was given a different medicine. Lortab. It's lovely. I'm soooooooooooo sleepy, but I want to finish my lunch before I sleep. :)

This is how I looked:

There is a very, very big chance that I will regret putting this picture on here. But I look better in that photo than I do now.

So that picture will stay, and...

I will regret it less than if I would regret posting a current photo.

The swelling generally gets worse for the first 48 hours...

I'm on Lortab again. Maybe that's why I decided to finish this post...

Lortab is lovely. I've got some decent bruising going on. Artistically, it could even be a morbid masterpiece of colors. The Lortab is really helping me out.

My family is helpful too. Ashton has been willingly ensuring my comfort all day. Right now we're watching Iron Giant together. Earlier we played the Pokémon card game. He barely beat me. I was ahead for so long but then at the very last minute, he plowed through a ton of my Pokémon. We were both on our last one, and he beat me by one attack. But it's only 'cause he had two Richus in his deck, and one of my special cards....

I have a great family. Por ejemplo: My dad made me soup earlier, and last night my mom made me a bed on the couch downstairs. Maya has been super willing to get me ice and leave me alone, or get me water and talk and joke, depending on what I seem to need. Sean bought me a milkshake after picking me up last night, and then he stayed up late with me letting me eat some of his coveted ice cream and we watched a really cool documentary on helvetica (called HELVETICA) while I was having trouble going to sleep.

That's just to name a few of the favors from family. It's always a strange experience for me to re-realize that 'best friends' and 'family' are not universal synonyms.

They are synonyms for me. The members of my family are my truest, closest friends.

And thus concludes the wisdom teeth post rant on family.

fin,

la cuarta

they are more than half-way out

I'm the middle kid.

Now that I'm graduating, my parents are more than halfway through the kids in high school madness.

My sister's graduation lasted three hours, if I remember right. It was an undesirable experience, especially, I imagine, for my parents who couldn't go climb around under the seats...

I remember very little of Sean's ceremony, but I remember many pictures taken outside, when it was over. And I remember dinner afterward, because not only was it memorably delicious, but Sean and I both got to order a pricey Italian soda. He had just graduated, and I'd just finished middle school... I guess that getting out was qualification. ...heh...

With certainty I can declare that I remember more about Calvin's graduation than he does himself. This is because I was there the whole time, but he was not. His practicality made for a circumvention of Pomp & Circumstance. (I'm pretty sure he graduated with either honors or high honors.... I'm leaning toward normal-height honors, because he wanted a free period, which meant he was a credit short of the higher kind. Like I said: he is practical. High honors wouldn't do anything extra for him, but a free period would provide time for such and such, so honors is okay. Y'know. Whatever.) Despite his academic qualification, he didn't participate in the graduation ceremony. He didn't see any use for it. But when one of his best friends ended up being chosen to speak, he decided to go, only to listen to that speech. When it was over, Calvin left. I had to perform with the orchestra. I had to get there earlier and stay later than the graduates. ... Oh well.

Anyway, thanks to the PHS alumni, I have a formal graduation announcement. Sean took a picture, and then made it look good, and Olivia put Sean's work with some really nicely designed graphics. (Of course it's nice. Olivia can now add a BYU graduation to her collection: BFA in Graphic Design.) They both worked hard and happily. ... And Calvin I suppose did the same, but over in London... which made this possible in less obvious ways. It's true, just go with it.

Here is my graduation announcement, thanks to my graduate brothers and sister.

That's it.

Josie

a post i'm posting late

(Today is actually the thirtieth. But this belongs on the 25th.)

Olivia Cherie Juárez Knudsen.

Oliviack, maybe? Maybe.

She's older, and she's wiser.

She can raise her eyebrow, too.

(Like, really, though. She means it

when she raises it at you.)

She quite enjoys her major.

(A designer-- graphic'ly.)

She's GOOD at it. I've seen her

work with simplicity

and show so well whatever

she meant to get across.

(Kind of like that eyebrow

which just tells you it's the boss.)

There's lot's more to her. She's the oldest, of course there is. It isn't hard to tell, though, because she's very real. And very much her own character.

Go see.

Olivia, I love you very much. Happy 25 on 25, even though that's sort of old news. I still think it's exciting. Sorry I didn't do this when it was your actual birthday. We'll just say I was busy helping you celebrate, okay?

Okay.

Cool.

Love you,

jos

in the spirit of the season...

I've been out of touch with Provo Valentine's Day. Last year, I was in Guatemala at this time, and the year before that I spent Heart Day on a tour bus with the PHS orchestra and band. I'd kind of forgotten what "Single's Awareness Day" was like here.

First off, why did today become a hate-fest? :( I'm all for the shunning of commercialism, but that doesn't mean that people have to show their hate for a Day of Love. You can be single and love people. That's something that's kind of been floating around in my mind recently. Why do you need a significant-other to celebrate love?

My sister has brought out much of this thought. She's been celebrating acts of kindness over the last week, and sharing them via her beautiful blog. (Thanks, Olive.) I guess that I noticed the V-Day grimaces after reading her first post about "Valentnice".

For instance:

Sean gave me that this morning. Love.

Love is kindness. Love is being there for someone. Love is a smile. Love doesn't have to be giggles and a box of chocolate. Love can be music. Love can be words. Love can be pictures, or scribbles. Love can be cleaning up after yourself so your mom doesn't have to. Love can be taking your second favorite, so your sibling can have your first favorite. Love is... a lot. And today, I'm happy to celebrate that.

With love,

Josie

Hey Sean. Guess What. You're 22.

Hey Sean. Guess What. You're 22

Today is the twentieth

Now you're twenty two.

It's not your real birthday.

If it was you'd be pretty small.

But we'll still have a party.

'Cause it was your birthday once

(It was on the twentieth

in 1987)

Anyway, congrats.

It's been really cool

to have you back around again.

And now you're twenty two.

Sean, I wrote you a poem. Happy Birthday.

Love you,

Josie

Big Brother!

He spent two years speaking Spanish in Northern Washington.

He spent about four months planning his surprise early arrival.

He spent about an hour standing in our house with a sign, waiting for us to get home.

He spent about a minute watching us after we walked in before we saw him.

We all spent a few stunned seconds, trying to figure out what the heck he was doing here.

My oldest brother Sean is home from his mission! We were all expecting him today, the sixth, at eleven thirty in the morning. He and Olivia and Ben (and eventually Papá too) knew that he was getting home on Monday, the fifth, in the evening. Ben and Olive picked him up, brought him home, (after stopping for a frostie from Wendy's) and took him inside our house, and let him hide in the corner for us to get home. Unbelievable? Unbelievable. They got away with it well.

The point is, HE'S HOME!!!!! I'm so happy! It's great!!! I've missed you Seanboy!

Now he's here and not there!

Josie

Well, Hey there!

It's been quite some time.

But not as long as some other times. I like to blog, but it's not really... a part of what I do. Usually. There have been times where I was gonna post. ... But I didn't.

Anyway, school is in full swing (even though we still haven't had a day with a normal schedule) and I wrote an essay/explication of a poem in my English class today. Maybe that just put me in a write-y mood.

Anyway, I've been lazing on my bed with my internet connection. (It is Friday.) My lights were off for forever, because my screen provided me with all the light I needed. I wasn't really paying much attention to the world outside my room, but I noticed a noise I haven't heard in a very long time. My younger brother put batteries into an old Lego laser beam something or other that I used to play with when Sean or Calvin weren't protecting it, or using it, or aware that I had it. He wordlessly came up to my room, stood in the doorway, and pointed the sound + light device at me. After a few seconds, I collapsed and played dead. I watched through my hair as he turned and walked away toward Carmen's room. After a few seconds, I heard the sound of the device again. Then I heard Ashton head downstairs.

I continued my unproductive activities for a while, but then Ashton returned.

Still silent, he pointed his laser at me again. I collapsed much faster, but I must have healed quickly, because I popped right back up. He pointed his laser again, and I collapsed again, and he continued to fire at me to make sure I wouldn't do any more fast-healing. Then he ventured off again to incapacitate another sister. After another while he showed back up at my door and we went through the same process. I couldn't help but giggle when he walked away.

Now he's humming as he sorts through Lego, using his stun-gun as a drum stick.

Is it cliché to say I live for these moments?

It's out there anyway...

Josie

So Now You're Back From Outter Space...

Good song. Doesn't quite reflect what I feel right now, but we'll let it slide.

I miss longboarding and older siblings. Especially older brothers since I'm without either right now.

I sort of forgot what being really sick was like. I have been blessed with a pretty good immune system. I don't get sick that often. But right now, I'm ill. I stayed in bed pretty much all day. Ashton was sick recently. For just under a week, he couldn't keep anything down, and his frail, tiny, teeny self lost a lot of weight. Luckily he's an energetic kid. And he's no longer frail. Point is, he was really sick. It was miserable for me to watch. The one kid whose batteries never die was pretty much catatonic. That was me today. Minus the throw-up. I didn't really do much today. I got home from Color Guard and did something quite similar to a train wreck on my bed. I just fell. I napped. I'm not a day-time sleeper. It usually makes me sick. Today, it just let me dream during some body ache instead of feel the soreness. I think I take my health for granted. Being sick is really not pleasant. And I'm really not all that sick with a better set of eyes. I'm just mildly afflicted. I'm getting pretty deep-thoughtsy. I just really hope for all those who are affected by sickness in the world (including the healthy ones that have to watch) that we can progress to better things.

There that is. Don't judge me. I'm sick and my mind isn't on it's usual level.

Josie