Daffodil Flashback

I ran across this poem today and couldn't help but chuckle. I wrote it when my awesome coworker was learning the poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth, and she would recite it over...and over...and over...and over... It still makes me laugh. If anyone knows of a parody-to-famous-poetry contest in which I could enter it, please let me know :)

Daffodils - by William Wordsworth
as adapted by Jen Parks

I wandered lonely as a clown
That stumbles along on crazy stilts
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of angry daffodils.
Beside the wall, upon the rocks
Shouting and yelling at a fox.

Continuous as the taxis roll
And honk upon the motorway,
They marched and pushed a bouncy ball
Along their hot and angry way.
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Raising their spears in Spartan dance.

The grass beside them withered brown
They pierced the leaves upon the ground.
A poet can’t help but be afraid 
Of such a fearsome flower brigade.
I stared in fright, and every thought
Was on escaping from this lot.

For oft, when in my bed I lie
Shaking with terror from the sight,
They flash upon that inward eye,
Remind me oft of all my fright.
And then my heart with terror fills
And runs, screaming, from the daffodils. 

New Year's resolutions

I've always thought New Year's resolutions were a little silly. For one, nobody ever sticks to them. Secondly, it comes right after the holidays in the middle of the winter (if you live in the northern hemisphere) and it's not much of a time to feel motivated to start a fresh new perspective on life. However, most years I make resolutions, if for no other reason than that I like setting goals. I do it all the time and hardly ever achieve them. Why not do it again on January 1st?

I can't promise I won't make more resolutions on January 1st, 2014. However, after watching General Conference this weekend, I decided this was a good time to set some goals. So I did. And I'm hoping they change my life a little bit. I'm kind of in a rut, and I'm not as happy as I could be. I feel like since I graduated and lost my job and started working from home, I'm not progressing in life as much as I could be. There's not really any reason I shouldn't be progressing. I don't have to be attending college classes to better myself. After all, "lifelong learning and service" is one of the AIMS of my BYU education - and if I can't figure out how to do do that, I missed something very important in the five years I spent going to class.

So here's hoping for a fresh start on October 7th - that the upcoming year and years will be better, more fulfilling, and happier. I don't expect they'll be perfect - life here never is - but maybe they'll be a little brighter and I'll be just a little bit better. After all, that's the point of being here in this mortal life in the first place - to continually progress toward the perfection our Father in Heaven knows we can achieve.

Viva la Vida.