The Last Name

I've spent quite a bit of time today looking up my last name because I'm absolutely convinced that it has to have some sort of meaning. There's a couple of theories. Here's the progress I've made so far.

1. My earlier research has led me to believe the name comes from Finland. Mostly because there is a Finnish company that is named Sokkia and a town called Nokia. There is also a cell phone by that name whose company is based in Finland.
2. The town Nokia has a couple of theories of what their name means. One is that it is the plural of "noki" which means "soot" (which is funny because my first name means from the ash tree meadow so by that meaning, I would be Ashy Soot). More likely it comes from an older word "nois" which means sable, a dark furry creature suitable for hunting. Oddly enough they have now come to believe that sables never actually were in Nokia, Finland, but that they gave the wrong name to beavers.
3. Operating under the same deductive reasoning, I tried the words "soki" and "sois" in a Finnish to English dictionary. The closest I came was the word "isoisa" which means grandfather. So, we could be a bunch of grandfathers. Interesting tidbit, in Spanish "sois" is the plural verb for "you are" in formal style. Mixing the two languages our name would mean you are a bunch of grandfathers, making our name an appropriate trash-talking phrase.

On the other hand, my new last name is going to be "Gordon." The meaning of this name is pretty straightforward: a large fortification or a great hill. In French or Spanish it means REALLLLLY fat. And in Gaelic, it means "beloved." However, when you are polynesian, all of these definitions can be pretty much interchangeable.

Some Poems...

I used to write ALOT of poems, but they are all hidden away in a notebook in my room since I stopped writing in my third year of college. I'm reading through a couple of them and I thought I'd start to share some just so I can feel validated in writing them in the first place. This one didn't have a title as it was a response to an e-mail poetry battle I was having at the time with my friends Mike Steed and Marie Hutchison.

I've been hearing through the grapevine
and the modem at my home
that my words have just not satisfied
that you want a REAL poem

Well, you see a poem is more than talent
It's inspiration and sweat
It's evaluating all life has
and what it holds for you, yet.
Some treasure the sappy moments
Others are jokes in rhyme
But little do the readers know
these poems took lots of time
Revisions of their visions
A line that just won't fit
A true poem not only has style
But conveys meaning behind it

In our overworked and fast paced world
The time passes too quickly
But even then anyone can write a poem
If they will take the time to see
The joy the world holds for them
The sorrow that it gaves
And refuse to be blinded to anyone
who offers a unique perspective

So, my friends, keep your ears open
And let your ears hear it all
But only keep that which is good
Or, more than likely, you will Fall
Remember this advice you've received
From this little Ghetto Poe
The truth will only come to those
Who have the courage to WANT to know.

A plug for Walt...

I have to put in this special plug for my friend Walt for a couple of reasons:

1) He's hilarious.

2) I post the pictures he took of me and Nate all over this blog and he hasn't called the copyright police on me.

3) I do that because I freaking LOVE his pictures and...

4) I just discovered that he has a blog!!! Click the link. Check it out. I think my favorites of his pictures, though, are his commercial product pictures and I know several of you are either starting businesses or thinking of starting businesses and he can make you and your product look SO much better than you can, LoL...But seriously, he can.

How's the wedding planning going?

A couple of thoughts. The word wedding is a weird noun. I mean, to wed is a verb, although we don't use it often. "I am going to wed on June twenty-sixth," is a weird, but grammatically correct, sentence. It makes more sense use forms of the verb to marry, but no one asks you how marriage is going when you're going to get married because that would indicate that you are already married and have been trying it out for a while. Which brings me to the question I get asked so often nowadays, "How is the wedding planning going?" Well, wedding would be the present progressive form of the verb "to wed," right? But we can't say, "I am wedding Nathan on June 26th" because even though it follows the rules, it makes no sense. So, when someone asks about wedding planning, I don't know how to respond because my brain goes straight to how odd it is to have two gerunds right next to each other. And when they add going it makes me even more confused. I have less trouble when someone asks how the wedding plans are going because I am, in fact, planning to wed Nathan, although the only thing I have to do to actually wed him is show up at the temple with a marriage license and a temple recommend. I guess the preferred question would be to ask how the wedding reception plans are going. But no one ever asks it like that, do they?

The plans for...whatever...are going well. So far, I've just tried to reserve all the people that I want to do things for the the day that I want them to do them. LoL. Do you like how I just went off about my grammar gripes and then I wrote that sentence. My biggest concern was getting good photographers before anything else and I'm pretty pleased with the ones I've gone with. My wedding pictures are going to be done by Creative Juice Photography which is two of my friends friends, Christi and Jessi. They're from Hawaii (mostly) and they are so much funHopefully we'll be getting my bridal gown and measuring it for alterations tomorrow. My goal is to get a cake person and a flower place in the next week. I'll let you know when I've made some decisions, but I've got a pretty good idea of the places that I want. Then I'll have all of next month to worry about bridesmaids and flower girls and tuxes and decorations.

Speaking of cakes, my mom and I have recently become obesessed with a show called "Ace of Cakes." You can look up their stuff on YouTube. They are AMAZING. But my mom is saddened that I want a boring normal cake instead of a thematic and dramatic one all the way from Baltimore. (Or as the locals call it, B-More).

So that's how the wedding planning is going.

Dear Casey Jones,

I read your article in the editorial section of the Deseret News about a recent study at Harvard showing that Utah has the highest number of subscribers to internet pornography than any other state. I may be misinterpreting the satirical intention of the article, but I assume it is supposed to be the disbelief that a conservative LDS Utahn would express at hearing the results of the study. As a conservative LDS Utahn, let me share what my reaction was to the study.

Thanks, Harvard, but we already knew that.

Maybe we didn't have the specific numbers, and maybe we didn't apply this knowledge to encompass all of Utah, but as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we knew this was a problem. And it wasn't even one that we were trying to hide or deny. Every session of General Conference the leaders of the church have admonished us over and over again to avoid pornography and have warned of it's a addictive nature. And they have not told us these things as a way to spread the words to others, they have directed these words towards us. We are supposed to know better and yet the problem persists and persists and the fight continues.

This issue has just strengthened my testimony even more that the Brethren, in whom I put my spiritual trust and confidence, are more aware of what is going on today than we will ever realize. They are not old-fashioned, naive, or uninformed. They are inspired by God and many of the issues which we have had to deal with as members of this church have been addressed and we have been prepared sufficiently to face them without fear.

Glamour Graphics Pictures!!!

Hahahaha!! I am so freaking excited!!! Bethany posted some of our pictures on her blog!!! I love them!! Nate and I are not very exciting people to take pictures of, but she sure made us look good.