The Middle and the End of 100

So you're back for more? Wow - brave soul - I don't know that I would have come back. Best of luck then and happy reading~

51. I used to believe that I was a girl with no fears (at least none that anyone knew about). Kidding myself on so many levels. The fear that plagues me most comes from early childhood when my dad told me the Boogieman was real and then proceeded to call a number that just rang and rang and rang (this was a pre-answering machine era). “The Boogieman’s not answering. He must be out looking for you.” Young Jaclyn was never the same. To this day, I make sure every possible thing is closed before I go to sleep – closet doors, dresser drawers, bedroom doors, shower curtains, etc, etc. You never know where he might be hiding.
52. I love condiments. Ketchup, mustard, and barbeque sauce are key. Ironically, my sister hates condiments. She eats her sandwiches dry. I won’t eat my sandwiches without all of the essentials.
53. When I was in grade school, I would get up at 5:30a.m. Monday through Friday (this includes summers) so I could watch “Bewitched” and “Little House on the Prairie.” No wonder I’m tired now.
54. I love to laugh. I probably do it too often at things that most people think aren’t funny or at moments when I shouldn’t (i.e. when my students make inappropriate comments). I once laughed for an hour straight after seeing a pink robe – I do not know why.
55. I am the princess of useless information. My aunt is queen, but I am following in her footsteps. Random facts and figures stick to my brain. I can’t tell you what I learned in British Lit, but I can tell you Matt Damon’s birthday or where the summer Olympics were in 1984. This is why I love Trivial Pursuit – a game that rewards people who know off-the-wall things.
56. Money got especially tight during one point in college, so my grandma was generous enough to let me earn money by cleaning her house on Saturdays. Being broke was the best thing for me because I got to know my grandparents over egg salad sandwiches and diet cokes after I had finished. They are incredible people. (random Hutchins trivia – I was born on their anniversary)
57. I am a teacher for many reasons – three of them are Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Jo March. All three of these fictional women were teachers and writers, dreamers and adventurers. They achieved their goals to teach and inspire, travel, find love, and live by their pen. I hope I’m on the same path.
58. I have fallen asleep at the wheel multiple times (never with anyone in the car so don’t panic if you’re in my car, but do worry if I’m following you). Scariest times were on I-15 driving to the Salt Lake Center after pulling all-nighters and on Highway 189 heading to Heber. We truly do have guardian angels – there’s no logical reason I should be here right now.
59. I love making chicken potpie. It takes minimum five hours from start to finish, but it’s the meal I make most commonly when someone is sick or when the weather turns cold. I even have mini-cookie cutters that I used to make shapes to put on the piecrust. My favorite is to use the fall leaves.
60. Someday I’d like to live in Europe – whether it’s for a month or five years, I would love the opportunity to be completely immersed in the culture and lifestyle.
61. I have self-control when it comes to buying everything except books! I have shelves dedicated to to-be-read books. I love the smell of bookstores and the possibilities held in all those pages.
62. I taught piano all the way through high school to beginning and intermediate students. It confirmed to me that my life goal was not to be a music teacher, but showed me how amazing the gift of music is.
63. Still on the music note, I have played the piano nearly all my life. I am exceptionally rusty after my college years were spent without a piano, but I’m coming back slowly. My goal someday is to play Chopin’s “Fantasie-Impromptu” – that day is a long way off, but it will come.
64. I cannot stand flannel sheets and wearing socks to bed. I have to be able to find the cold spot in order to fall asleep.
65. I am not a pet person. I like to ride horses, run with dogs, and pet the soft fur of baby bunnies, but at the end of the day, I want to go home to a pet-free house.
66. I love to hike. To explore mountains and hills by foot instead of seeing those places in pictures is a great experience.
67. I am petrified of needles. I have to lay down after most interactions with those pointy devil sticks.
68. Despite that fear, I cannot ask people to do things if I am not willing to that same thing myself. When I was serving in a Relief Society presidency at BYU, I encouraged the sisters to participate in a stake blood drive meaning that I also needed to give blood willingly. Thought I was going to die, nearly passed out, but I did it. People need to be able to back up their words with action or facts – there’s no way around that.
69. I saw George Clooney or his twin by his property in Lake Como, Italy. He is very good looking – like cheese he just gets finer with time.
70. If I could have any job (i.e. my unrealistic dream job) I would be a Broadway star. Can you imagine singing “On My Own” or “Defying Gravity” to a packed theater? Music transcends everything, and a brilliant story set to music….wowzers! Love it – oh, and the occasional tap dancing wouldn’t be a sad thing. I love to tap!
71. My semi-unrealistic dream is to be a writer. What a great concept to work from a cabin in the mountains in my yoga sweats and college t-shirts spinning tales of far away places. I have to find my muse first and a way to write convincing dialogue….
72. My realistic dream (that matters more than all of the above and that could, in theory, fit into my semi-unrealistic dream) is to be a stay-at-home mom who has warm cookies waiting for my kids when they get home from school. After snack, we’ll curl up on the couch and read books before they take their naps. It would be a perfect life.
73. I love listening to other people and learning about what things they love, what things they fear, what things make them uniquely them. People are what life is all about – who would want to return to Heavenly Father without the people they love most at their side? We can’t do this without each other. I’m bringing as many people home as I can.
74. I am weird about punctuality. I cannot stand to be late.
75. I still love “Dr. Quinn” – can’t help it. Sully is the reason I have a thing for cowboys.
76. My parents love to dance – slow, fast, whatever – we had spontaneous dance parties all growing up. This obviously led to a freeness that can be dangerous. One afternoon in college I got caught shimmying to “I’m too sexy” by the boy I liked. Never been redder in my life. To this day, I cannot hear that song without blushing.
77. There are rumors about how long girls really go without shaving their legs – those rumors absolutely do not apply to me. I love having freshly shaved legs so it’s something I do every day without fail.
78. I was asked this past summer if I was a twin with my 14-year-old sister. If you missed the memo, we’re a decade (not a year or even a few years) apart. Needless to say, it was a high point for her and an embarrassingly low point for me.
79. I eat my sandwiches in a circle so that I end up with the middle for my last perfect bite.
80. Growing up, there was a hill right next to my house. I spent hours up there laying in the sun and looking out over town. It was my own approach to getting away from it all, but close enough that I could hear my mom call my name for dinner.
81. I love the feeling after you’ve exercised – energized exhaustion if that’s even possible. I haven’t been able to work out the same since my car accidents, but I look forward to the day I can.
82. I love to learn. To sit at the feet of the brilliant minds of our day is one of my favorite things to do- I don’t even mind taking notes when I love the subject. My favorite classes to date have been “Sharing the Gospel” with Brother Bott, English 251 with Melia Fidel, Spanish 101/102 with a sassy Chicana, and Honors U.S. History in high school with Jacki Della Rosa.
83. Someday I would like to serve a humanitarian mission. Whether it’s working in Eastern Europe or Latin America, I would love the chance to help those who have so little.
84. I cannot wait to have my own house. I have too many ideas and plans to ever fit into one space. The essential element that has not changed over the years is floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining the walls of a room. I know the Beauty and the Beast library is far reaching, but I would be perfectly content with the libraries they show in Jane Austen movies. That’s another piece of my heaven.
85. I love giving and receiving notes and letter in large part because of my mom. She started the trend with little notes in my lunches and has kept it up to this day (just got one a few days ago under my door). My favorite set of letters that she’s written are not actually addressed to me, but to my dad. My parents’ letters from high school and my dad’s mission would make a hopeless romantic out of anyone.
86. I love speaking, hearing, reading, and singing in Spanish. I am very rusty, but I someday would like to be fluent in Spanish. I’ve read the first Harry Potter in Spanish and appreciate the hymns more in Spanish than in English. Not to mention, how much I love the Spanish culture both in Latin America and Spain. So much spice and so much passion!
87. I have always loved new school supplies – new crayons, new pencils, new notebooks. Whether from an office supply store or Papyrus, I love buying cards and cute envelopes. Good thing I get a teacher discount at Staples….
88. I dream of going to Israel and walking where Jesus walked. I want to dip my feet in the crystal waters of Greece. I hope to make it to the top of Manchu Picchu in Peru and live to tell the tale of a safari in the Sahara. I would like to visit six of the seven continents before I die.
89. I love having my hair played with. With someone’s fingers running through my blonde tresses (always wanted to use that goofy word in a sentence), I am completely relaxed. Dangerous when a boy does it – I cannot think straight!
90. It’s officially been more than a year since my last speeding ticket! I was pulled over for going 22 over (good thing the cop caught me when he did) the speed limit going over Parley’s Canyon and for following to closely (as I slowed down when I saw the cop). When he asked for my registration and insurance, I couldn’t produce either! Me, the person who voluntarily organizes everything, had left them in my “2nd accident file” – who ever thought I’d have one of those (let alone two!) or be grateful for just getting a speeding ticket?
91. I wanted to work in a grocery store when I was a little girl so I could put the shelves in order. I would follow my mom through the store lining boxes and cans up as we went. Too this day, I still love grocery shopping. So many possibilities and so much structure in that one space – not to mention a fantastic amount of ice cream all under one roof.
92. I prefer giving gifts to receiving them. I love finding the perfect thing for someone.
93. I want to live in Stars Hollow with the rest of the “Gilmore Girl” clan. I love this show with its witty commentary and drama with a comedic twist. I never expected to enjoy a show whose jokes center around Zelda Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, and imperialistic American condiments (essentially I never expected to love a show where I had to think while I watched it). My vote has always been Luke for Lorelai and Jess for Rory.
94. I love quotes from speeches I hear, books I read, and music I listen to. One of my favorites from “Gilmore Girls” is “ Did anyone ever think that Sylvia Plath wasn’t crazy, she was just cold?” Usually the quotes I love have more ties to the meaning and essence of life, but you get the idea.
95. Tracy Tanihara she is living proof that I love having my expectations exceeded. Tracy and I were forced (literally) to meet and “be friends.” In her, I have found my survival these past few months – we’ve shopped, laughed, cried, and formed one of those bonds that will last the rest of my life. When I first met her, I thought that she’d just be another face in my ward, not one of my dearest friends. Heavenly Father truly answers prayers through the people He places in our lives.
96. I was called a communist last fall – me, the often overly zealous, “I love America,” “I’ll teach good values to my students if it kills me” girl who has gotten into more than a few heated political debates about excessively liberal views. One of the most random, but hilarious moments of the past year courtesy of Patrick.
97. I love good conversations about anything and everything – life, religion (Elder Holland’s talk “An High Priest of Good Things to Come”), students’ antics (lighting incense in class!), books (craving a good drama right now), politics (who are we seriously supposed to vote for to lead this country?), Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (cannot wait – 8/8/08), youtube (“They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard” still makes me laugh until I cry), the latest boy drama (if I told you, then I’d have to…you know), where to get the best pizza (Skippolini’s or The Pie) or mango chicken salad (Costa Vida), etc, etc. Listening to what people think and feel is one of my favorite things to do.
98. Hello, welcome to Relief Society-R-Us. Would you like to draw from my experience as a RS pianist, instructor, education counselor, secretary, visiting teaching coordinator, president, or enrichment counselor? Seven years of “grown up “ callings and almost the whole time has been spent in Relief Society. Despite how long and how varied my service has been, I still feel like I am learning so much in my calling to serve within the Relief Society. It’s a privilege to associate with the women of the church.
99. I am nearing the end of my list and have too many random things to wind up with so following VH1’s “contenders” for the ones that didn’t make the official 100 list, here’s a quick shout out – I heart Concord!, Christiane Monteverdi, my 7th & 8th grade Spanish teacher changed my life – she’s one of the main reasons I am a teacher, CV3 ward forever, I’m named after a Charlie’s Angel, I love playing hostess and cooking for other people, I said "skanky ho" in class on the first day of school my first year of teaching, the sound of Sunday mornings growing up was Michael McLean and the smell was my dad’s waffles, movie soundtracks rock my world, etc, etc.
100. I am becoming more keenly aware of how well God knows us. I make plans all the time for my life, and since starting BYU, nearly none of them have actually become a reality. I never expected to be where I am right now, and yet I wouldn’t change it – not because I am incandescently happy, but because I know that He prepares our path. In that I have complete confidence. Life goes well when we leave it in His hands. I’m working on that strengthening my trust in Him and becoming the person He knows I can be.