Favorite Harry Potter quotes

No one can say it quite like J.K. Rowling. Rather than posting the text for the entire series (I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be legal), I have picked a few of my favorite Harry Potter quotes and copied them here for my enjoyment, mostly.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed—or worse, expelled." —Hermione
"Yeah, and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis—'there's no wood,' honestly." —Ron (This part is even more awesome when you read the 7th book and Ron laments that they didn't have Crookshanks when they were going to spy on Voldemort in the Shrieking Shack and Hermione says, "Are you a wizard or not?!"
"Are you really Harry Potter?" —Ron
"Mars is bright tonight." The centaurs
"Where's the canon?" —Dudley
"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" —Dumbledore
"I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid—we know we're called Gred and Forge." —George
"Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground." —Dumbledore


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Lockhart will sign anything if it stands still long enough." —Ron
"Watch out for that tree!" —Harry
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we really are, far more than our abilities." —Dumbledore
"You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life, he's going to kill you." —Ron
"I want more bacon." —Dudley
"I hope Ron's not in a girl's toilet." —Percy


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"Well, honestly . . . 'the fates have informed her' . . . who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!" —Hermione
"Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?" —Professor McGonagall
"Pity you can't attach extra arms to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the snitch for you." —Harry
"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor." —Padfoot


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Ecletic you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that." —Mr. Weasley
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" —Mad-Eye Moody
"You coming to this ball thing on Christmas day, Hagrid?" —Ron
"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Harry." —Dumbledore
"I killed my father." —Barty Crouch Jr.
"Don't be stupid . . . it's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey
"What are you doing here?" Rod and Fred
"I want to fix that in my memory forever. Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret." —Ron
"Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?" —Ron
"Er, is this the new stand on elf rights? You're going to make yourself puke instead?" —Ron
"If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?" —Fred


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"Don't put your wand there, boy! What if it ignited? Better wizards that you have lost buttocks, you know!" —Mad-Eye Moody
"There's been a mistake. No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect." —Fred
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." —George
"Just because you have an emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have." —Hermione
"The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. . . . The mind is a complex and many-layered thing." —Snape
"I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important that homework." —Ron
"We believe the dementors are currently taking direction from Lord—Thingy." —Fudge
"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." —Sirius
"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley." —Mad-Eye Moody
"Size is no guarantee of power." —George
"You know Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts, but you cannot deny he's got style." —Phineas Nigellus
"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzaf?" —Ron
"Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?" —Harry
"Well, that clears it up. It would have been really annoying if you hadn't explained yourself properly." —Ron
"You don't want to bottle your anger up like that Harry, let it all out. There might be a couple people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." —Fred
"What are Fred and I? Next-door neighbors?" —George
"The thing about growing up with Fred and George, is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." —Ginny
"I could have gotten rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority . . ." —Professor Flitwick


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

"It was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry." —Mr. Weasley
"There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from darkness." —Dumbledore
"Your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" —Mrs. Weasley
"There's no way they'd let me be a Death Eater!" —Ron
"I'm tall." —Ron
"What have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?" —Madam Pince
"That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!" —Neville's gran
"It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have." —Professor McGonagall
"I've learned not to expect too much from boys." —Moaning Myrtle
"Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?" —Ron
"I am good-looking enough for the both of us!" —Fleur
"Once again, you show the sensitivity of a blunt axe." —Nearly Headless Nick
"She didn't see that, did she?" —Ron
"There's no need to call me sir, professor." –Harry
"I am not worried, Harry. I am with you." —Dumbledore
"Nobody's ever asked me to go to a party before, as a friend. Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine, too?" –Luna


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"I don't think you're a waste of space." Dudley
"Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all of the good-looking girls are taken?" —Krum
"The fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to." —Fred or George
"Well, I don't know how to break this to you, but I think they might have noticed we broke into Gringotts." —Ron
"Merlin's pants!" —Hermione
"And what in the name of Merlin's most baggy Y Fronts was that about?" —Ron
"Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?" —Kreacher
"Daddy, look—one of the gnomes actually bit me!" —Luna
"Imagine losing fingernails, Harry! That really puts our suffering into perspective, doesn't it?" —Hermione
"OI! There's a war going on here!" —Harry
"What's that, an illness?" —Ron
"If you should feel any burgeoning talent today—perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim the Mermish—do not repress it!" —Xenophilius Lovegood
"If there was a wizard of whom I would believe that they did not seek personal gain, it would be you, Harry Potter." —Griphook
"A brutal triple murder by the bridegroom's mother might put a bit of a damper on the wedding." —Ron
"Brains like that, you could be a Death Eater, son." —Aberforth
"You know how to drive, I take it?" —Dedalus Diggle
"We teachers are rather good at magic, you know." —Professor McGonagall
"IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU HARRY!" —Ron
"Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever." —Fred
"Can’t you even tell us apart when we’re Harry?" —George
"You look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry." —Hermione
"It's me. I'm extremely famous." —Ron

A bit of Harry Potter trivia

When I was in 8th grade, I started making a Harry Potter trivia game for an English project. However, that project didn't end on the due date. At that time, only 3 of the books were out. And because I have such a hard time moving on after finishing a new Harry Potter book, I continued to come up with trivia questions as I progressed through the series. Finally, last summer I finished the game: each book had 4 levels and each level had 30 questions, making a grand total of 840 questions.

Today I have included a level-4 question from each category for each book. I have even provided a key at the bottom because I'm awesome. So put your thinking caps on—some of these questions are a bit ridiculous. (Most of the level 4-questions were designed to stump me, particularly the fill in the blanks.)

Book 1

1. At the end of the year, how many house points did Ravenclaw have?
A) 312
B) 352
C) 426
D) 472

2. What were the first and second passwords for the Gryffindor common room?

3. True or false: Harry's last letter from Hogwarts was addressed to: Mr. H. Potter, The floor, Hut on the Rock, The ocean.

4. Who said: "Peeves, the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

5. Fill in the blanks: "_____! _____! _____! _____!"


Book 2

1. During his detention with Lockhart, to what fan did Harry address the first envelope?
A) Veronica Smethley
B) Penelope Hopkins
C) Gladys Gudgeon
D) Doris Crockput

2. Who died in the Chamber of Secrets?

3. True or false: Ron is afraid of spiders because George turned his teddy bear into a spider when he was three.

4. Who said: "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backward."

5. Fill in the blanks: Professor _____'s arms were full of _____, and with another twinge of guilt, _____ spotted the Whomping _____ in the distance, several of its branches in _____.


Book 3

1. When Madam Rosmerta, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Professor Flitwick, and Cornelius Fudge were discussing Sirius Black at the Three Broomsticks, what did Professor McGonagall order to drink?
A) A small gillywater
B) Four pints of mulled mead
C) Cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella
D) Red currant rum

2. What did the manager at Flourish and Blotts say was just as bad as Hagrid's Monster Book of Monsters?

3. True or false: Parvati Patil's boggart is a mummy.

4. Who said: "Not now, thanks, I'm pickling some slugs."

5. Fill in the blanks: A number of small _____ broke out in the corridors, culminating in a _____ incident in which a _____ fourth year and a Slytherin _____ year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their _____.


Book 4

1. Which of the following is NOT a language Mr. Crouch speaks?
A) Troll
B) Centaurian
C) Mermish
D) Gobbledegook

2. Who took a chunk out of Moody's nose?

3. True or False: One of the merpeople dwellings Harry swan past has a pet grindylow tied to a stake.

4. Who said: "Don't be stupid . . . it's a flying house!"

5. Fill in the blanks: One week later, however, _____ was telling a _____ tale of _____ in which he struggled _____-_____ against fifty heavily armed _____ who had beat him into _____ before tying him up.


Book 5

1. Which of Sirius's relatives tried to force through a Ministry bill to make Muggle-hunting legal?
A) Araminta Meliflua
B) Aunt Elladora
C) Phineas Nigellus
D) Andromeda Black

2. What was the first memory Harry had to relive when Snape broke into his mind?

3. True or false: Professor Marchbanks examined Dumbledore in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts when he took his N.E.W.T.s

4. Translate the following sentence that Ron so rudely says with his mouth full of food: "Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzaf?"

5. Fill in the blanks: After skirting a large _____ stand that looked as though it had been made from a severed _____'s leg, they started up the dark _____ passing a row of _____ heads mounted on plaques on the _____.


Book 6

1. What is the name of Hepzibah Smith's house-elf?
A) Baloney
B) Hokey
C) Stoker
D) Porky

2. What, specifically, was one of the "crimes" James Potter and Sirius Black committed that Harry had to copy out onto a fresh new card?

3. True or false: Voldemort was born on New Year's Day.

4. Who said: "Greatness inspires envy, envy endangers spite, spite spawns lies."

5. Fill in the blanks: Unnoticed by either, he seized the _____ that contained the _____ and began to try to open it by the _____ and most _____ means he could think of; unfortunately, he could still _____ every word of their _____.


Book 7

1. Who did Hermione's parents think they were after Hermione modified their memories?
A) Wendell and Monica Wilkins
B) Welby and Martha Williams
C) Willy and Marsha Widdershins
D) Wesley and Marissa White

2. Who forged the first ever Golden Snitch?

3. True or false: The battle of Hogwarts took place during a full moon.

4. Who said: "I am probably one of the only people alive who can say that they knew the real Harry Potter."

5. Fill in the blanks: There was a great ____ and a surge toward the foot of the _____; he was pressed back against the wall as they ran past him, the mingled _____ of the ______ of the, _____'s Army, and Harry's old _____ team, all with their _____ drawn, heading up into the main _____.

Key. Book 1: 1 (D), 2 catput draconis and pig snout, 3 False, 4 Harry Potter, 5 Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak. Book 2: 1 (C), 2 the Basilisk, 3 False, 4 Draco Malfoy, 5 Sprout, bandages, Harry, Willow, slings. Book 3: 1 (A), 2 200 copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility, 3 True, 4 A tiny wizard in a nightcap at the rear of the bus, 5 scuffles, nasty, Gryffindor, sixth, ears. Book 4: 1 (B), 2 Evan Rosier, 3 True, 4 Dennis Creevey, 5 Ron, thrilling, kidnap, single, handedly, merpeople, submission. Book 5: 1 (A), 2 He was five, watching Dudley riding a new bicycle, 3 False, 4 "How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?" 5 umbrella, troll, staircase, shrunken, wall. Book 6: 1 (B), 2 Apprehended using an illegal hex upon Bertram Aubrey, 3 False, 4 Voldemort, 5 bowl, pod, noisiest, energetic, hear, conversation. Book 7: 1 (A), 2 Bowman Wright, 3 True, 4 Rita Skeeter, 5 roar, stairs, members, Order, Phoenix, Dumbledore, Quidditch, wands, castle

10 reasons why Harry Potter is awesome

I'm feeling the need to justify my intense Harry Potter obsession because some people just don't understand it. I am determined to convert those people some time before I die.

I've come across a lot of long (and sometimes funny) lists of why Harry Potter is so awesome, and I have decided to make up my own list, since I consider myself quite educated in the Harry Potter world. And I am going to be different and do it without bashing on Twilight. Here I go!!!!

1. The characters. One of the biggest reasons why I am such a huge fan of the Harry Potter series is because of Harry Potter himself. He's not perfect—book 5 in particular is proof of that—but he is still an incredible person. The fact that he still fought for what he believed in despite all of the horrible things that happened to him is a testament to that. And of course, Harry Potter wouldn't be Harry Potter without the faithful Ron and Hermione. I love those two so much. Fred and George are also particularly awesome, as are Luna and Neville. There are so many amazing people floating around in J. K. Rowling's head and they are equally real in my head. I often find myself wondering what they are doing out there in the wizarding world, years after Voldemort's demise.
2. Hogwarts. I don't think there is a child out there (or adult) who doesn't wish they could go to Hogwarts. Going to school in a castle with ghosts, changing staircases, magic wands, a forest full of magical creatures, and amazing food just sounds like a great time. More than that, however, Hogwarts feels like home. Misfits like Harry, Snape, and Riddle found a home at Hogwartse. Each of us feels like a misfit at times too, and we all want to truly belong somewhere. I think that anyone could fit in at Hogwarts, if they only just have the imagination for it.
3. The author. If Harry Potter was written by an American, the series wouldn't be nearly as good. Back when I was in college (wow, that makes me feel really old), I took several classes where all we did was read novels—and the British ones were always better. Brits just have an inborn wit that Americans just can't duplicate. It's those little tidbits that make the books so delightful, the reason why readers randomly burst into uncontrollable fits of giggles. Okay, and I like that the series was written by a woman.
4. The fight between good and evil. Anyone who thinks Harry Potter is evil is not only INSANE but they also haven't taken the time to read the books. Deeply ingrained throughout the entire series is the fight between good and evil. The books exist on that fight—it was evil that destroyed Harry's parents and gave him the desire to destroy that evil. There are so many wonderful things to be learned from the books and anyone who says otherwise is not my friend.
5. The wizarding world. Each of us has our own little fantasy world, hidden away from the "Muggles" around us. Harry Potter's world is hidden, but it is not a small world. It is a vast world full of cultures, rules, diverse people and animals, and knowledge. The Harry Potter books give us but a glimpse of this world. Harry's world doesn't feel made up; it feels like a real, delightful discovery.
6. The complicated plot lines. I have read the Harry Potter books many times, and I always find new things to enjoy in each run-through. For example, Peeves smashes the Vanishing Cabinet in book 2 that Malfoy spends the entire 6th book mending; Dumbledore mentions the Room of Requirement a year before Dobby shows Harry what it is; Hagrid tells Harry in book 1 that you would be mad to try to rob Gringotts, and that is what Harry does in book 7. There are always little nuggets to find, little nuggets that sneak up on you later. Reading Harry Potter is almost like reading the scriptures! Though after the 12th time or so through the books, you don't pick up on as many of the little clues because you have the entire series memorized. That is why if I ever get amnesia, I want someone to make me read the Harry Potter books so that I can experience the whole series fresh and new. Sigh. Somebody hit me with a hammer please.
7. Quidditch and the D.A. I love anything that brings the students together. The Quidditch matches were fun House rivalries, and the D.A. was a brilliant way to unite the Houses. I just loved watching the students work together toward something great, whether it be defeating Voldemort or winning the Quidditch Cup. And, I loved watching Neville and Luna grow under Harry's leadership and the friendships created in the D.A. It was a fun game to be a part of.
8. The appeal to all age groups. It bugs me when people try to classify Harry Potter into a specific age group because it just doesn't work. We talked about Harry Potter a lot in my YA lit class and how Harry Potter breaks all rules. It appeals to children, teenagers, and adults equally. You don't have to be a child to revel in the magic of Harry's world, and you don't have to be an adult to appreciate the lessons of love, loyalty, and bravery. There is something there for everyone; it's a ride that everyone can enjoy.
9. The escape factor. When life gets stressful, Harry Potter is a safe place to run to. There is no better way to escape reality for a few hours than by diving into a Harry Potter book. Reading these books are effortless and comforting. It's not wonder I always suffer intense withdrawals whenever I make it through the series—it means I no longer have a (real) fantasy world to escape to. But at the same time, it also leaves me with the feeling that I can conquer my own life and that I really do have a lot to be grateful for.
10. The journey. Half the fun of reading Harry Potter was the excitement of waiting for the next book to come out. It was so fun discussing with the rest of the world the fate of Harry and his friends. The wait drove me crazy at times, but at least it always gave me something interesting to think and talk about. And, I discovered Harry when I was 12 years old. In a sense, I went through Hogwarts with him. I felt his pain in a way that only a teenager could. It was a long journey for Harry, but it was an even longer journey for the rest of us. However, that made the journey more worthwhile. It still makes me sad that I don't have another Harry Potter book to look forward to. I miss that more than anything. There is nothing quite like reading a Harry Potter book for the first time after waiting 2 long, agonizing years to hold the book in your hands. However, I still have the longing between reads that contribute to the fun of finally laying my hands on a book.

It's Harry Potter week!!!!

As I am writing this, there are 7 days, 14 hours, 28 minutes, and 14 seconds until Deathly Hallows part 1 comes out. Needless to say, I am completely stoked to see the movie. So to help celebrate this grand occasion, I am going to have a Harry Potter–related post every day for the week leading up to the midnight release. (I'm not actually going to the midnight showing, though; I'm going to the 12:19 showing. In Orem. Because Payson is stupid and I only bought my tickets a month early.)

I started writing these posts back when I still had a boring job and needed something to do to fill my oodles of down time. And then I refined the posts during my months of boredom from lack of job. So these posts are months in the making. :)

So at least we know that I will have something to entertain myself with while I wait impatiently to see this movie. I can't believe it is only a week away. My mom kind of rolled her eyes and shook her head the last time I vehemently expressed my opinion that if the movies weren't worthy of the books, I would be very, very upset. But really, the movie could be a complete disaster and that wouldn't change the book one bit. J.K. Rowling already gave us an awesome ending to an incredible series—what more could I want than that?

And since I don't think the movie will be a complete disaster (I think the producers were afraid for their lives when they made the decision to split the final movie into two; they didn't want to be stampeded by angry, fanatic fans if they changed too much of the movie), I can't wait to stand out in the cold for a few hours and lose a night's worth of sleep.

It'll be so worth it. Besides, no pain, no gain, right? Let the fun begin!

Apocalyptic dreams

As has been mentioned before, I have lots of dreams. Most of them contain at least one of the following elements:

• Harry Potter
• Lost
• Domino's Pizza
• Getting married
• The end of the world

My apocalyptic dreams win the poll by far (though every now and then I will be repeatedly experience the woes of being a pizza driver). Last night I had another classic: it involved a heroic escape on a dragon (which we borrowed from a Chinese dude who lived on a big boarding house) with the man of my dreams.

My apocalyptic dreams aren't usually that scary, even though they involve lighting-fast lava, moody tornadoes, nuclear bombs, and raging floods that fill the entire world. (And frankly, if I get to ride on a dragon for 48 hours with a guy I am completely in love with, it kind of detracts from the gravity of the situation.) Oddly enough, I have never had an earthquake-themed dream, even though that is the only plausible natural disaster that could happen in Utah: Mt. Nebo is NOT a volcano (despite my childhood fears), floods don't just start at the top of the mountains, and tornadoes are very rare in this state. Yes, we did have a tornado in Salt Lake about ten years ago, but I think that was just a fluke. :)

So I guess I am a little bit bemused that I keep having these apocalyptic dreams. I'm not complaining—they usually make for really great stories—but I just wonder if there is a reason why I keep having these dreams.

Maybe my dreamlike obsession with the end of the world has its root in my childhood fear of all of the destruction of the second coming (particularly the mountains falling down). I remember walking around Lagoon once and wondering how all of the families could look so happy when the mountains were about to crush us all at any second. And it's not like my driving-off-the-cliff dream that I stopped having once I made it to the bottom of that 180-degree hill; I always finish these dreams. And besides, they don't scare me. But maybe there is a part of me that was just scarred for life by all the destruction we read about in 3 Nephi.

It could just be my fascination with natural disasters. I've never actually been through one, but I think they are really cool. Not the death and destruction part, but the fact that nature can put up such an epic battle that man has no chance of stopping. Storms always make me really hyper—the more intense, the better.

Or maybe I'm just really curious what the end of the world will be like. Maybe this is because I'm young and I have a hard time picturing myself dying of old age, but a lot of times I fantasize my life ending with everyone else's at Armageddon.

Actually, I think the real reason here is that I watch too many movies.

I wonder what the next epic dream will be like. Maybe it'll involve me marrying Volemort on a time-traveling island that is being chased by lava that is really pizza sauce.

I guess there are some advantages to being a light sleeper—I get to remember most of my awesome dreams.

A new way of reckoning time?!?!?!

For as long as I can remember, I have chronicled my memories based on what grade I was in at school and by the length of my hair. If someone were to ask me how old I was on 9/11, I would know because I was sitting in Mrs. McKinlay's 8th grade English class when I learned the gravity of the situation. If I saw a picture of myself with short hair at a high school function, I would know that it was my senior year of high school because I cut my hair at the end of my junior year, right before Trouvere tryouts.

This system has always worked very well; I went through a major haircut (and by major I mean cutting off at least a foot and completely revolutionizing the style of my hair) once every several years, and between each haircut I would have grown a lot, so it wasn't hard to place my age or grade whenever I saw a picture of myself. The length of my hair provided a sort of proof in the placing of my memories.

It worked the same way with my place in the school timeline. Each year brought new challenges and triumphs, and each year had its own feeling to it. Second grade was full of childlike wonder because Miss Spencer allowed me to reach the height of my goodie-goodieness and I had a best friend to tag along with me. Ninth grade was a dark year because the junior high kids were jerks and my small group of friends changed a lot. My senior year was a carefree year because I spent most of my time in the choir room and I didn't take school (or myself) quite so seriously.

So with these two markers to guide me along memory lane, I have never gotten lost.

But today I realized that I can no longer chronicle my memories this way. Being done with school and done with the dramatic physical changes, I'm not sure how I am going to reckon time. Instead of saying, "When I was a senior on high school, I took the last math class of my life," I'll have to come up with something like, "After graduation some time, maybe a year or five—it's hard to tell because I look the same with long hair at the age of 22 that I did at the age of 27—it was probably some time while Kimberly was still in school because she was complaining about doing homework, yeah, it was around that time that I moved into my first house." By the time I finally get to my point, my audience is probably still thinking about their math homework, their ACT score in calculus, the hours they spent studying for a math final, or the last math class they took, all depending on the age of said audience. And by the time I get to the exciting part of my story, they are too bitter about their massive amount of homework waiting for them, the wasted hours of studying in the cursed library, or the fact that I didn't have to take a math class in college to even care that I ever moved into a house all my own. And then no one will care about my cool story.

From here on out, my life is going to be a lot more stable. No more uprooting my routine every 4 months, or even every 9 months. My reckoning of time will become a lot more scattered. I'll judge my memories off of major events like weddings, funerals, and children—and those don't happen as often as the beginning of a new school year. Maybe as often as a major haircut, but even my haircut pattern has become quite standardized, not exciting enough to warrant a new marker on that line of memories. Even funerals get lost in the haze of memories sometimes because even though they're life-altering, I've been to so many of them that I lose track of when certain funerals took place. Call me morbid, but without my grade in school to help me out, I'm going to have a hard time remembering when all my relatives were buried.

So I'm not quite sure what I am going to do when I want to tell someone a story about something that happened to me post-college. Maybe I'll just say something like, "When you were 15, I learned how to successfully eat a pomegranate." Or I could start carrying my journals around with me everywhere so that I could pull out a book and say, "On March 13, 2012, I fell down the stairs and laughed my head off." Or maybe I'll just have to remember how old I am ALL THE TIME. Maybe I should just go back to school and never leave. Then I could say something like, "When I was a super senior to the fourth power at BYU, I had 200 grandchildren."

I hope you understand the gravity of this situation. Reminiscing as I know it has changed forever.

Exodus 14:13–14

During my sophomore year in college, I came across the following scripture:

"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. . . . the Lord will fight for you."

It inspired me so much that I wrote it down on a stickie note and placed it on my wall by my bed, right by my Dove Chocolate wrappers. (I am such a creative decorator.) However, I didn't write down the reference, so I didn't know what the context was, who was talking to whom, and what the ellipses were omitting.

A few days ago, a ran across that scripture during my nightly scripture reading. I was quite excited; I was beginning to think that someone had just made the scripture up. It is in Exodus 14:13–14, and the full references says the following:

"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."

Following this statement, the Lord parted the Red Sea. He did the impossible to protect his children.

I have never had much patience for the children of Israel. All they did was complain. God performed miracle after miracle, and yet they were still like children who were incapable of thinking about anyone other than themselves. I always found comfort in the fact that I would never act like that; I would trust God and do what I was told without whining incessantly about it.

But, am I really any better than they? These past few months of being jobless has really tested my trust and faith in God. I have so many wonderful things in my life, so many small miracles, and yet I still complain when one thing in my life still won't right itself. It is really hard to fight against the hopelessness and depression that comes with being unemployed. I almost think it would be easier if I did have a family to support; at least then my life would have meaning. So I have been learning to rely on the Lord more than ever—and yet I still doubt his power. I still can't bring myself to fully believe that God will fight for me, even though I know he has been there with me every step of the way.

I know that it doesn't really matter where or when I start working. There are much more meaningful and important things I will do with my life. But right now, it is important to me. And I've hit a pretty big dead end. I've done all I can do—now it's up to God to do the rest. And honestly, it's been really hard putting my trust in him rather than in myself. It just seems wrong to just sit around while I wait for a miracle to happen. But obviously, my work alone just isn't cutting it.

But I don't want to be like the children of Israel, so I am just going to push aside my fears and "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." He'll fight for me. I have never doubted that he has the power to do so, just whether or not he will use that power for my benefit. So I guess it's time to put aside those doubts and wait for my Red Sea to be parted.

And while I wait, I will be at peace.