Time flies...

... even when you're not having fun! 

It's been almost a month since my last post, and it's sad to report that not much has happened within that time. True, I did run into Jenni in American Fork and that was a blast. We went shopping for missionary clothes and she witnessed my insane shopping style. Uncertainty, buy, uncertainty, return. (all in the same hour, mind you.) Hopefully she still thinks I'm cool even if my shopping tendencies are a little on the strange side.

I have officially purchased all my missionary clothes... minus a pair of water-resistant boots and some undergarments. By the way, if anyone sees a pair of conservative, dark, water-resistant boots that look durable enough to walk in for 18 months let me know!  I could go for another short sleeve colored top but I think i will be okay. After all, I do have like 5 colored shorter-sleeved sweaters to wear. I think I have plenty of clothes. Give me six months and I'm pretty sure I'll feel differently!

I did go see Prince Caspian a fourth time and I have to say that it's a pretty excellent movie... almost "Lord of the Rings"-good material!  Lord of the Rings, that reminds me of something that happened in June.  My darling little sister borrowed my most amazing hardback copy of Lord of the Rings! Then she took a bath!  While the rest of us were in the living room, we hear a crash and a "Uh-oh". I didn't make the connection at first. Then Shelby my other wonderful little sister asked me if I realized what was in the bathroom with Laura. I walked up to the door and say, "Laura what happened?" Instantly, "Melissa, I'm sorry!" HA HA, my coveted copy of Lord of the Rings is now twice as large. I guess this teaches me not to covet my belongings!  It's okay, I still love my little sister! Just she better not get anywhere near my Chronicles of Narnia copy while I'm away. ;)

But all is good on the home front right now. I constantly hear that my friends I've gone to school with are getting married by the second and then what's weirder, being pregnant! That is awesome and I'm totally stoked for them, but I am totally psyched to be going to serve a mission in Albania for 18 months. 

It still hasn't quite HIT me that I'm leaving and I wont be back for 18 months. Live will go one while I'm gone, but when I get back I'll expect everything to be the same. I know it wont be. It is a little hard to handle that my littlest sister will be driving and dating when I get home!  and Shelby will be attending college! and Travis will be flying Apache helicopters! and my Mom and Dad will almost have an empty house! and maybe Laura will be down in Tuachan! Crazy!!

But life goes on, I guess!!  It'll be awesome. The best part of me leaving is I'll finally be out of this rut I've been in since the first week of March! Hallelujah! 

Ta ta for now!

Benadryl

It's been tested: marked drowsiness may occur with the use of Benadryl!

I slept most of the day today because of taking one Benadryl tablet. Not expecting to get very tired from one tablet, because I usually don't get drowsy with two. So most of the day I was zonked out. It's nine o'clock and I am eagerly waiting to get back into bed.  

But today was the last day for me to sleep in. My friend and I are going to the gym at 6:00 a.m. This is good for multiple reasons. One, I will get into the habit of waking up again. Two, going to the gym will hopefully build up my stamina. Three, I'll feel better. 

I still have a load to do before I leave in July. For instance, I still need to get my typhoid shot. But I am getting it on Friday the 13th. I also need to find a couple more shirts, a pair of shoes, a coat (but I think I have that covered), and some random essentials. I'm tired of shopping. This is a good thing, because for the next 18 months I wont have to really shop!  (Oh, I also need to finish applying to college and get that settled out!)

I bought a new scripture bag which is less bulky. BUT, there isn't a place for me to put my pencil and pen! Goodness gracious, what am I going to do!!

Random fact: I just watched Hook for the first time in ages. It was very entertaining. It was like watching it for the first time because I don't think I caught anything from it when it was littler. It was very interesting!  

I also bought a portable CD player. Archaic, I know! There weren't that many options for me to choose from. But it will do its job nicely.

Yesterday I took my little little sister to a parking lot and let her try to drive my car. It was definitely an experience. My car probably aged a good ten years. ;) It's really weird to think that when I get back from Albania, she'll be driving and probably have her license. Weird!

But life is great! I still need to watch all of Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings again. Seeing Prince Caspian again would be great but not really needed. I also need to go to the zoo and see the pretty animals.

But all will happen!!!

Summer is Slow

I have decided that the Summer has been going by way too slow.

Everyone might disagree with me. Normally, I would disagree with myself. I mean summer is always super fast. But I have never been waiting for one of the most amazing adventures of my life to begin! I can finally see the end of the waiting but I've still got about 50 days till the beginning of my adventure. To pass my time though, I still have a ton to buy and get prepared for the mission. 

I have been working at LPA for the past month as well, which has kept me somewhat busy and kept my thoughts elsewhere. The last week or so have been rather hard because there is not much to do in a school the last couple of weeks of school. As I have worked there this summer it has been beneficial. I have decided I could not be a full-time 2nd or 3rd grade teacher! Dealing with 25 2nd graders takes a lot of energy and herding skills. Don't get me wrong, those kids are adorable. I love hanging out with them. But they have no desire to be in the classroom for eight hours, and they let you know it. True, it might be different being an actual teacher rather than a random substitute. I remember using Substitutes to get away with a lot of stuff during my elementary days! Elementary students are a blast to be around though. They have an addictive energy for life! There is one 2nd grader who made me smile every time I saw him. We had an eternal game of Tag going on between us. Every time we'd see each other in the halls, he's come up and tag me. It was adorable!  There was also a 3rd grader who was such a blast to be around. She was so enthusiastic and always had a smile on her face. I decided that her lost twin was in the other 3rd grade class. She and this boy looked so similar that I could have sworn they were related; but alas, they are not!  

There was also this 2nd grader who would have to come and give me a hug every time she  saw me in the hall. It warmed my heart! Then there was a 1st grader who knew he was awesome, and it was to die for. His little attitude was awesome!!!  He made me smile. As a kindergartner last year, he and his friend showed off their little muscles to me. It was so cute!  I'd wait for him if I could. ;)

But now the school is empty of all the cute and crazy kids. Sad. So hopefully I can find just as entertaining as amazing things to hold my attention at the school for the next month. 

I went down to the Sister Missionary Mall today with my darling mother. I showed my emotional, hormonal side to my mom today on the way down to the mall. It would be really great to blame my outbursts on my haywire hormones but I don't think I can. I just need to learn to control my emotions and keep deep thinking to things that should be thought deep about!  Let's just say it was a crazy ride down to the mall and it really was my fault! And I feel dreadful about screwing up with the exciting venture my mommie and I were on!

We finally got to the mall and walked into a store full of long skirts, collared shirts and sweaters. It was beautiful! I bought some of my clothes today and it was way exciting.

The next 5o or so days will be full hopefully to help me quickly pass the time. I know of at least one night I'll be busy. I am going to go out with our ward's Sister missionaries and see them at work. I'll be able so see what I'm kind of getting myself into. Now, before you think I'm just doing this to satisfy you Mom, know that I was thinking about this on the way down to the mall. And I really did realize my reasoning for not wanting to do it was very illogical to say the least! :) It'll be exciting to get a glimpse of what I'll be doing for 18 months - even if I'll be doing it in Albanian and 1/2 way across the world.  It'll be thrilling! (Those text messages in the car were telling Sister McFall that I'd love to go out with the sister missionaries as well.) I'm really excited to do it!  I think fear really was a major part in not wanting to do it and I didn't want to admit it!  

So that is one thing I'll be doing.

I also really want to go to the Zoo one more time before I go. We'll see if I can persuade (or bribe) anyone to go with me! No one else seems to like the Zoo as much as I do. But we'll see what we can do about that!  I've also had the dying desire to go Ice Skating! 

I'll probably take my dogs out for a few more walks. I also have a day at Lagoon to look forward to. 

All in all, the time will probably go by quicker than I'm thinking it will. 

I'm super excited!!! It's gonna be a great adventure!

A story/ idea that popped in my head...

The Origin of Closet-Monsters

Since the dawn of time, magic has permeated the world. Before the world as lived now, there was a world full of magical creatures, spells, wizards and witches. Slowly though, the magical world died away due to a loss of belief and passion for the magical realm. Nevertheless, magic still permeates every part of our world today: from the changing of the seasons, to the laughing of newborn babies, to the dark creatures of the deep forests, to the sparkling of lovers' eyes, to the roots of bedtime stories and, most importantly, to the root of every child's dreaded fear of going to sleep at night because of the monster living in its closet.

Parents might think they created that myth to keep the children at bay and in their beds at night, but the parents got the idea from their own repressed memories of hearing the creaking and jostling in their closets during the deepest, darkest moments  of night. The real origin of closet monsters lies within the parent of our world, magic. Our life today is full of magical creatures. However, because of our nearsightedness, phasing, and faithlessness, our eyes and hearts cannot see what really surrounds all life.

Take the mysterious creature of Big Foot, for example. Ever wonder why he is sighted all over the world? The creatures (for there are more than one) "Big Foot" are descendants of the great mountain giants that have lived in the forests of the world since the beginning when the trees talked amongst themselves. Butterflies were not always mute to the ears of human folk either. They were once great faeries who ruled the air. The disbelief and destroying nature of the human race slowly forced the faeries to withdraw themselves from all life into what we now see as just beautiful colorful moths. (My dearest dream is to see the faeries unleash themselves again and take the sky. I have read it is a sight not to miss.) The world we live in today is not so unmagical as everyone believes. In reality, magic is what makes this world go round. We would see it if we took a step back and looked hard enough.

Within this magical world, the creatures now known as closet monsters started their lives of fear. These monsters do exist. The slow creaking in your closet at night is real. The loud banging, the glimpses of fearful things when your closet door is cracked open: these are not just extremely great uses of the imagination. Way back when the world was vibrantly awake with faeries, trolls, witches, broomstick flying wizards, giants and unicorns (which are now horses: silent dull creatures) there was a creature feared amongst all: the Bogart. Bogarts lived in the dark recesses of logs, underneath rickety old bridges, abandoned homes, wardrobes, and chests. Those who found one were soon face to face with what they feared the most. Bogarts, to protect themselves, change shapes and become the worst fear of whomever faces them. Bogarts live off of and relish fear. Some magical creatures in the early days could battle them with simple spells, but as magic dwindled into near existence, so did knowledge of how to get rid of these creatures (which is dreadfully sad because the true way of victoriously getting rid of a Bogart is hard, true laughter). 

As the world grew smaller and smaller with technology and urbanization, the Bogarts' living quarters diminished to closets and sometimes the space between beds and floorboards. Eyes and ears do not usually see and hear magic today because of the chaos and trivial distractions, but in the dead of night, when one's imagination is on fire, the locked magic hearing parts of our ears unlock and you hear it all.

Since the dawn of time, magic has permeated our world. We've just been too daft, dull, and busy to see it.

**Thanks for J.K. Rowling's The Prisoner of Azkaban for instigating the idea.

Crazy Life

Well the last 7 days have been ... interesting.

I have to admit that I have become addicted to two Michael Buble songs: Everything, and Call Me Irresponsible.  They're just fun!  

I have worked for a grand total of 32 hours so far this week. By tomorrow at 4 pm that total will be 40 hours.  

I witnessed my little sister, Laura, tap and hip hop. Didn't realize what she could do. Talented is too small a word to use to start describing her.

My little sisters and I had a head banging, dancing, make-up doing, crazy party in Shelby's room. It was here that Shelby and I watched Laura's dancing talent up close and personal. She's amazing. So full of energy, charisma and personality. 

And for a limited time, the music movie we made.

I just realized that I completely ignored my Visit Teaching Supervising responsibilities. My mind has completely left Logan. I was mass released almost two weeks ago so I don't feel that bad. ;)

My little sister is now 17 and is still a doll!  She wants to wear suspenders one day soon, and I know she'll look drop dead gorgeous while doing so.

I went to the library and rented 7 (i think) DVDs. Most of which are old movies that I had never even heard of. But so far, my random, high on boredom choices haven't turned out to be that bad. How could you get wrong with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby singing all together? And Shirley Temple is always exciting to watch.

Zeus, my massive Maine Coon cat, has found a new best friend in one of my greatest friends, Maria.


Too bad Ashley.  You should have come home. I doubt Zeus will remember you after such a great night of cuddling.

I sleep on an air mattress on the top bunk of a bunk bed. I share a room with my 14 year old sister which is especially interesting when she is high off Rubber Cement. 

I am crazily proud of my grades for the Winter semester. My BYU application is getting done. All I have to do now is get my Ecclesiastical Endorsement. 

I received a letter from my Mission President which boosted my excitement for the now nearer next adventure of my life. I was totally disappointed by "Made of Honor". Twice now, kindergartners have asked if I am a boy or a girl. I have been told I have orange hair. I have bruised my rear by my friends massive Suburban.

I have dyed my hair to a chocolate brown color that reminds me of a Tootsie Roll. My hair still has a red tint to it, but it is now darker and browner.  

I have officially realized I have a lot of stuff to do in three months. 

I have taken upon myself a massive job at work with next year's registration. No matter how big of a project it is, it will keep me busy.

Tomorrow will be a blast! I get to spend the whole day babysitting Junior High students in math classes. Happiness!

Well as one can tell my life has been crazy, but totally awesome!  

Life At Home

Okay it now has been a week since I left Logan. I seriously need to post this draft of a blog post:

As I left Logan, I was celebrating.  Freedom!!!  It was beautiful.  I said Bye to Sardine Canyon for the last time. Then, I got lost.

Or what seemed like I was lost.  It was dark and I was introduced to little, completely unknown cities of Utah like Slaterville or Hooper.  I was following a big truck and his rear and my car's front got to know each other very well.  We followed his rear end for a good 25 minutes.  I have to say that no matter the detour off I-15 where I was forced to go 55 mph I still made it back to my home in 1 hr and 20 min. Amazing!!

Saying goodbye to Logan created mixed emotions in my heart which was totally unexpected.  I was sad to say goodbye to somethings, but for other things I was totally stoked to leave.  Not many people realized that I wasn't coming back after my mission in Albania.  I didn't really announce that I was going off to BYU, because Aggies have a strong opinion of Cougars and I was happy to still be alive! (I guess I shouldn't say that I am not coming back until I actually get my acceptance letter, but I am 99.9% sure that I am not going back to Logan.)  Who can really blame me? Who would in their right mind want to live somewhere where it snows inches on May 1st?  Crazy.

I am going to miss seeing my friends. Right now there is a small part of me that wishes I was making pancakes with Jenni. Or watching a Disney movie with Maryann. Or playing my cello with Scarlett. Or talking about crazy emotional things with Christine. Or teasing Robert until his face goes the shade of a tomato. Or swinging on the swings at Adam's Park. Or locking up the Institute building after ward prayer with Ryan, Kaylon and Jenni. 

But I am way excited to really be out of Logan and be home with my extraordinary family.  I am still congested which is not fun though!

Stupid!

Well I just did something incredibly retarded. I'm blaming on the cold medicine. I just permanently deleted all of music on my computer!!!!  Isn't that awesome!  I thought so.

I have more memory on my computer now. 

That delete button is too readily available!  Nice!

I still can't believe that the only song I have on my computer is "Deliver Us" from the Prince of Egypt.

--

I backed all my music up on some CDs though, so I am pretty sure I can get it back.  Mostly I just want my iTunes purchases back. The rest, the illegal copying, I can deal with not having!  But my Enchanted soundtrack I really want back.

So I think I can get those back, but the CDs are in little old Centerville in a box. I am music-less for the rest of the week.

Wow!!  I still can't believe I just did that!

Due to coughing, and sore throat,

I sound like a man! 

I've decided that being sick incredibly stinks!

Oh my gosh!

My nose is stuffy. My head is completely congested. My throat hurts. I'm cramping. My eyes are itchy. I can't sleep because of the previous. And it's finals week!

Do you know what I have to get done this week by Friday at 5?

I have to study for my Trig final and my Stats final. 

I have to clean my room impeccably.

I have to wipe down all cupboards and drawers in my kitchen.

I have to go through my clothes one more time to get rid of stuff.

I have to pack the rest of my stuff: including my dishes and food. 

I have to finish my eggs.

I have to sell back my textbooks.

I have to burn my math book if I can't sell it back.

I have to sleep.

I have to stuff my car full of stuff.

I have to spend a fortune and fill my car up with gas.

I have to pay my utilities.

I have to check-out of my apartment.

etc etc etc

I have to do all this and more while on a grand amount of cold medicine!

Yea.

A Very Merry Unbirthday...

To you, to you...

When Jenni and I went down to lovely old Davis County to watch my little sister as a Cheshire cat in Alice In Wonderland, we had no idea that it would impact our lives so much!

Well it did. Tonight, we had a party inspired by that trip: the Very Merry Unbirthday Party!!  It could go down as the let's-stuff-Melissa-full-of-as-much-cake-as-possible-party though!  There is a good chance that this might be how this party goes down in history.  I am feeling the effects of this party still as my stomach makes the most interesting noises and feels like mush. Ahhhh... But I ate all 5 normal servings of cake. We didn't want any left over. It was awesome!

The party also somewhat evolved in a sending-Christine-away party. Christine is going to Italy for a grand total of 5 weeks. I am totally psyched for her (somewhat jealous too, but we will try to hide that fact).  I decided that Jenni and I needed to send her out with a bang. This was my chance for an engagement/ wedding present, seeing that I will not have the grand honor of attending her wedding!  

This is what she ended up receiving:

Yes, that is right: a "The Travel to Italy Minus Fiance Carry-on bag!" 

Full of all the essentials for someone in her position.  We have the bridal magazine to peruse over the 10+ hours of air flight, the separation from man medicine: chocolate, lotion to battle the stale smell you begin to acquire after 10+ hours of air flight, the hand sanitizer to battle the many germs, the gum for all your ear popping needs, the travel pillow with earplugs to allow you to get some rest on the 10+ hours of travel (she is definitely going to need this, especially since she is not going to sleep tonight because she is leaving Logan at 3 am), the name tag sporting the fiance, and the Italian phrasebook so she can learn how to shout "Help" in Italian!!  

Two words describe this Carry On Bag: magnificently amazing!  I was so excited to see her open it. It felt so much like Christmas! (I just realized I'm gonna miss the next two Christmases.) She had the biggest smile on her face. We also gave her one big piece of advice: Not to Constantly Moon over Robert!  She looked at me and said, "I am going to be in Italy! - no mooning is going to be happening." I answered right back with a great big High Five and an, "Exactly!" She is going to have a blast!!

The party then continued with each of us eating these massive pieces of delicious chocolate cake. 

I had two of the massive pieces featured in this picture. 

Then I was fed 3 pieces by Amelia who made her own cake during the movie. We watched Bewitched and I laughed! We all laughed.  Jenni and Scarlett had never seen this movie before. It is a great movie- totally adorable!! 

The party was a blast.  As it died down, I was put in front of Amelia's Dell computer and employed in putting her keys back together. It was great, exciting fun!  Then, Jenni got a rose from Stephan! Her face showed her joy at receiving the Rose!  Totally adorable. 

The night was a blast. Hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep, I ate a lot of cake.

Next week, I have to "get down to business and defeat the Huns" or defeat my finals. They're really the same!!

Ciao

The Weekend So Long Ago

Ahhh...

Can you say premonition? Well maybe, close-call?

As Jenni and I were driving down to lovely Davis County last weekend, my dream of a post ago almost became a reality. One second, Jenni was pointing out colorful bug guts on my window, the next second brake lights were flashing in front of me. I slam on my breaks!! -and my clutch amazingly at the same tome. My fight-or-flight response turns all the way up as it began telling me, "Melissa you're gonna slam into that car in front of you, swerve off into the dividing island between North and South bound traffic. Don't hit the car! Run away." But I kept stopping that all most too powerful reflex by reminding myself that swerving would not be a smart move; probably a far worse outcome would occur if I did so then if I rammed into the car in front of me. (After the intense few seconds, Jenni and I both relayed thoughts of flipping over into oncoming traffic if I had swerved.) It would have been bad! I magnificently stopped my car in time. It is a really good thing the freeway wasn't backed up, because with the amount of rubber that left my tires to permanently attach itself to the road and the amount of "smoke" from my intense breaking, we would have been hit. We would probably still be suffering from the whiplash!

Wow, can you say: WELCOME TO YOUR TRIP!

The weekend was great, minus that hair-raising couple of minutes. (By the way, it took a good 10 to 15 minutes for my heart rate to get back down to normal.) The trip was a go-with-the-flow-ordeal. No stress, no concrete schedule to keep. It was blissful.

We had been planning this weekend since the first time we went out to eat at Olive Garden, oh so long ago. It's been anticipatingly highlighted in my calendar! The plan was simple: drive to Salt Lake, do a session at the SLC Temple, watch the Joseph Smith movie, sleep at my house in Centerville, come back home. Simple. 

Even though it stayed simple in nature, it was far from bland.

The trip was supposed to start at 1:30. But thanks to Jenni's new and amazing calling, we had to push that time back a half hour or so. Since I had nothing to do but wait for Jenni to change at 1:30, I kept stuffing things in my car. What should have been a rather simple trip with a change of clothes, turned out being the trip I'd bring 1/2 my belongings home with me! My car was stuffed full! (Right about now, I wish I had kept my space heater. But who in their right mind would think it would snow on April 24th all day long. No one!)

Finally we were exiting the Logan city boundaries at about 2:15. Jenni and I took the scenic route through West Logan which we hadn't realized existed before that day. This occurred because we, well I (the driver), decided to get off jammed Main Street and try to make a quicker exit through the suburbs. (Right now, and during the ordeal, I wonder if it really was quicker. Ah, I guess we will never know!)

But finally, we left Logan and started our grandiose adventure down to Salt Lake City.

We were listening to crazy music and singing right along with it. My car didn't like some of the music choices and he showed his dislike by huffin and puffin his way up Sardine Canyon. Drama queen of a car, I'm telling you! He was performing the story of "the little engine that couldn't". Crazy, spoiled car!! (You got to love his breaking skills though!!)

Well we finally found some music Charlie (my car) could be cool listening to, and we finally made it out of the canyon!

Jenni and I long ago started the tradition of stopping at the Sonic in Brigham City every time we drove through it. We were not going to change that tradition that weekend. We pulled in and ordered. Then we sat! and sat. and sat. and sat. and sat!!!! Then we got so bored of waiting for our two large drinks that we scrambled around in my teeny car to try to document the tradition by taking a picture, somehow capturing Sonic in the background.
As you can tell that plan didn't go so well! You can kind of see Sonic menus in the background, but it would have been so cool if we had our DRINKS!

After that picture taking extravaganza, Jenni received a phone call from Stephan (who if I haven't told you decided to bum his way into this weekend so he could hang with Jenni. How adorable!!)
Well as we sat and sat, the children's hymn "And the Pioneer Children Walked and Walked" kept playing over and over in my head except with different words of course. "And the Pretty Women Sat and Sat and Sat". I could take it no longer, I hopped out of my car, and buzzed the Sonic workers and asked if they had forgotten us because we had been waiting for our drinks for a solid twenty minutes now. They had forgotten us, and rushed those drinks out to us! (Mind you we still had to pay for the drinks! If Dairy Queen had skipped an order, I am pretty sure the workers would have given them tokens galore while apologizing profusely.)

The drinks were well worth it though, as my car had been soaking up the warm heat for a good twenty minutes. The drinks were very refreshing.

We were then on our way again. By this time, we had quickly, and unstressfully changed our plans because there was no way we were going to be making the 5 o'clock session at the temple due to the perfectionist drink maker at Sonic who had to take 20 minutes to perfect our Cherry and Strawberry Limeades. It was beautiful how with-the-flow we were! It was almost artistic! 

It was between Sonic and Centerville, my dream almost came true. After the moment, we wish we could have taken a picture of our "I'm gonna die." faces, but we decided it would have been rather difficult and we had more important things on our minds, like survival. My car professionally stamped his signature all over Southbound I-15 with black tire rubber, saving our lives I might add. ( I guess he really liked the song we were listening to at that moment.)

Alive and kicking, we drove into my driveway where my dad had magnificently spread lunch out for us. Those hamburgers were delicious, and because of the going-with-the-flow attitude we had, we didn't have to scarf them down!! Yummy. We also ate Jalapeno, and Hawaiian BBQ chips (so proud of Jenni for loving Jalapeno chips by the way! so proud) and some chilled root beer. Lunch was superb. Thank you Daddy!!

As we drove into Salt Lake, we could barely see anything. There was so much wind blowing dirt and who knows what else all over the place. Taking pictures on Temple Square was a hoot. Holding our skirts down, keeping Jenni's hair out of my mouth, keeping Stephan's tie from slapping him in the face. The wind was crazy!!

We entered the temple and were blown away with the size and beauty of that building!! It was gorgeous. Those couple of hours were stupendous and breathtaking!!! (I will only say one thing: rotten egg)- you had to be there! 

We left the temple spiritually uplifted and feeling like we could fly. We went and got our cameras from my car to document the trip... actually there was a secret motive for bringing my camera. Along with wanting to document the trip, and get pictures to put on my blog, I have been asked by several people for a picture of this mysterious Stephan! Well, here he is in all his glory, you inquisitive people:

(he's the one on the left just in case you needed to be told)

He came in a white shirt and tie. Jenni and I don't really know why. We were both secretly grateful though because we would have been really jealous of his casual attire, for we were still wearing skirts and pantyhose!

We tried to take some pictures, but the sun had irritatingly gone down, and the wind was still strongly kicking. As you might tell,

See how the reflection pool is wavy... not normal!

After the failed attempt of documenting our time on Temple Square, Stephan and I introduced Jenni to one of the greatest movies ever: Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration.

(we thought, maybe, we could take a better picture inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, 

but our wind blown hair shot down that wonderful thought.)

As we sat in our chairs, we noticed (and then was pointed out to us by a volunteer) what highly looked like a body bag. Creepy!! It was actually though a black garbage bag covered chair on which someone had thrown up on. The volunteer kindly mentioned we might like to move because of a possible smell. Jenni and I had just suffered through rotten egg smell, so the smell of throw up never reached our senses! The body bag looking thing kept our attention though until the powerful cinematography pulled our eyes away and we were introduced into the beautiful countryside of New England!

The church did an excellent job in producing and directing that movie. I have seen it many a time, but by the end, I say weeping! That movie is gorgeous, powerful, full of the Spirit, and a testimony of the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith's call to restore the true gospel of Christ on the Earth. It magnificently showed the spirit and testimony of that man as he suffered through so much for the truth he knew! It made me want to be a little bit better. Joseph Smith is one of the heroes in my life, and the movie visually and spiritually reminded me why!

I am so glad that I got to share that movie with Jenni. The movie made me so excited to get out to Albania and preach this divine gospel of Christ that I know is true!! So excited!!

But I digress.

The weekend did not end there though we did part ways with Stephan! We walked to the parking garage with him, which would make Kaylon proud. (It was dark, and we girls were walking through a dark dangerous city!) Stephan didn't really have a choice though, because he was parked in the same garage. While we walked, we did use Stephan as a camera man again to take a couple of pictures at the Conference Center.

(as you can tell it was getting really dark)

We finally made our way to our cars where Jenni and Stephan said goodbye. They took a good 10 to 15 minutes to do so! Their lengthy goodbye might have been due to the amount of traveling time what each of them said took to get to each other. They were standing a good 7 feet away from each other! Odd!!! I rectified the situation by telling them they were both crazy! Then Stephan was leaving with no hug. (Maybe they didn't want to hug in front of me, you know keeping the amount of PDA (public displayed affection) down to a minimum, but I would have none of that.) I once again told them they were crazy, and Stephan had better give her a hug! Jenni still hangs out with me, so I don't think she found the crazy-calling offensive at all!

Even though we had eaten just a few hours before, as we sat in my car we realized we were starving. The night was far from over so we had to have a feast. We drove through Taco Bell. We met the most amazing young man at that drive-thru. He was amazing because within seconds he was completely in love with both of us. Flirting up a storm with stories of giving one mild sauce, one hot sauce, and lots of fire sauce to someone. Odd!- but hilarious.

We finally made it to my house even after watching this guy tease us by putting one mild sauce, one hot sauce, and one fire sauce into our bag. Can you say, WOW! (This whole sauce subject came up when he asked us what kind of sauce we wanted and because of the time and lack of brain activity, we couldn't decide. That will be the last time I will not be decisive!)

 (Have i said how utterly freezing I am!) Intermission time: take a look at this picture.

This is Old Main Hill on April 24th. That is snow!-just in case you were wondering what that white stuff is.

Okay back to Centerville. We got situated and started watching another one of the greatest movies, "Persuasion". Beautiful movie. I am ashamed to say though, I fell asleep! It was late and I was exhausted. I woke up at one in the morning with a really odd feeling though. It felt like the whole world was awake. Everyone was awake and trying to talk to me. My brother wanted me to get off the mattress, my mom was wondering if I was making Jenni comfortable. I was completely confused!!

Needless to say, we went to bed soon after that. True as we sat in the dark, we randomly talked about stuff for awhile desperately trying to fight back sleep. Sleep conquered and the rest is history.

The rest of the weekend was a blast. My car showed attitude. It did not want to have to stop super fast again, so it wouldn't go faster than 75 miles an hour without giving me an arm massage with vibrating immensely. 

Even with my car having an attitude though, we made it back to Logan in an hour and 15 minutes. Yes, 1 hour and 15 minutes! Thank you world. I have no idea what every one is saying about the length of that drive being more like 2-3 hours! Crazy! (Stephan your car must be a senior-senior citizen!)

But that was our weekend trip. Food (other than tuna), spiritual uplift, family bonding, crazy singing, near death experience, Stephan, car with an attitude! It was great!

And if you got to the end of this blog post, kudos to you!

Intense Dream

Due to my friend Randy relating his "horrible" day to me yesterday, I had the greatest images running through my head as I put my head to the pillow last night. This dream probably was a result of me laughing at his predicament. This dream was intense in that it could happen, but definitely would not want it to happen.

In my dream, I was driving down the freeway. I couldn't see anything in front of me. So I shifted quickly into the next lane. So I was accelerating because I was changing lanes. As soon as I got in the lane, the extremely big truck (I'm thinking it was a gasoline truck) immediately pushed on his brakes. I run into that truck and then the semi behind me ( who was really close because I had just changed lanes haphazardly) crushed into me. So I am sandwiched between the two trucks. The crushing impact of the two trucks on my little black Honda civic went into slow motion, for my life to pass before my eyes, wondering if I have done all I needed to do in this life and wondering why in the world I changed lanes (patience is a virtue). I die instantly!
I don't feel the incinerating heat from the gasoline truck exploding via the crash of the semi that has completely squashed me, because I have died. I just know I was crushed.

Instead of actually going through the odd death thing (because my mind doesn't know how that is going to play out), I wake up at 4:30 am.

Well, I think I will think twice before changing lanes haphazardly anymore!! I've been thinking about this all day and wondering if I would die. The odds are in my favor that I would be crushed to pancake size. There is a miniature chance that I could just be sandwiched very tightly, and the expertise of the medical team would save my life. Wow, this dream was intense and is still on my mind!! Probably going to happen again unless I can get something else stuck in my head. I guess that teaches me not to laugh at others sorrows! ;)

Sunday was Sunny

My heart almost burst from joy yesterday as it was sunny all day long.  It was glorious.  The air was warm, the skies were blue, and the sun was shining.  Life was great!

At 10:00, I rolled out of my bed.  Disheveled and completely asleep still, I went downstairs to have pancakes and eggs with the greatest person in the world, Jenni.  It was extremely awesome. My total body was still asleep but it was being well fed. After breakfast, she and I split ways for an hour to become able-to-enter-the-real-world-without-being-completely-embarrassed.  We walked outside and were blown away with the weather. It was absolutely breathtaking. I really wanted to walk to Stake Conference, but due to my brain inactivity I failed to mention this earlier. We had to drive. The air inside my car was hot beyond words, but it was glorious (so much better than shivering). (Bummer that my window doesn't roll down, but who am I to complain on a day such as that!) 

So we went to Stake Conference where I met Stephan. Stephan is the man who is madly in love with Jenni. When anyone came up to us, he acted just as if he has been with her forever.  It was very amusing. The longer we sat, the closer he got.  It was simply adorable.  As we sang the hymns, I was so happy that I sang with all my heart and soul.  It felt great to sing yesterday when the sun was singing its own tune. During the conference, my heart fluttered when I caught a guy staring at me, and waving. But the flutter was momentary, because I realized he was actually staring and waving at a much more attractive and adorable being: a little baby! I am okay with him enjoying a baby. 

At the end of the Conference, Stephan took Jenni away from me for a little bit.  He was going to go introduce her to his sister. Awkward! -especially since they had their second date on Saturday. She described as being on show; people gawking at her. It made me feel a little bit better on having to postpone our amazing picnic idea.  We'll be seeing more of Stephan this weekend in Salt Lake. He is going to come hang out with us - well mostly, Jenni.  Yea!  

Stephen ended up bringing Jenni right back to me though, because his sister had been locked outside of her house so they didn't have the fried ice cream ready.  Jenni loves me you see, and she didn't want to postpone our picnic indefinitely. (I think that might have been a little of an excuse just so she could get out from under the gawking eyes of Stephan's sister and brother-in-law.) 

So Jenni came back and all was right. ;) She, Sarah, and I accompanied Robert and Christine to the place where their lives changed (a park bench) to take some engagement photos. It didn't work out that well because everyone in Logan seemed to have the same great idea to come to the park and enjoy the magnificent sun. But it was fun nonetheless. Robert was setting up his camera, and us girls were enjoying some amazingly deep conversation. Well deep as in, we were thinking that the park would be the perfect place to start singing "That's how you know" and recreate the scene from Enchanted. (there were so many people) It was great fun.

We got a couple of shots at the park but there were people in the way.  It didn't stop me from taking my own pictures with my camera though. This is Robert (the man of the hour) setting up his camera,
this is Jenni and Christine (the woman of the hour) and Sarah is in the background talking on el cellphone,
this is Robert way far away from the bench (we were all wondering what he was doing way back there; wondering if he didn't want to see their faces or not).

It was just amazing to be outside without a coat, or wearing six layers just to keep us from going into hypothermia. 

When that trip ended, Jenni and I got ready for our picnic. We made sandwiches on seven grain bread (compliments of me), with tomato and turkey (compliments of Jenni) and real mayonnaise and spicy brown mustard (compliments of me again). They were delicious.  We also had wheat thins and cream cheese, and about 8 baby carrots. We also had a gallon of water to quench our thirst.  We then got into my beyond hot car, and drove to the Logan temple.  Little did we know, we had followed Christine and Robert (actually we knew, but that wasn't our purpose in going to the temple grounds). We set ourselves up on my jean quilt that has been frozen in the back of my car all Winter long and had ourselves a college student feast. In a word: amazing.

We tried to read the scriptures while there, but it was just so much more interesting to lay back and talk, talk, laugh, talk, eat, talk, laugh, take random pictures, and talk and laugh some more. We saw Christine and Robert getting photographed and they were adorable. This is us as we vegged on the grass,
this is us trying to take pictures of us documenting the great friendship, this is us after I very gracefully flew through the air,
this is us after a mom came to get her son who had been entranced by our insane laughter from the flying episode,
and this is the moon featured in the blue sky. 

It was great fun.  The night went on to include a very interesting mock performance of Scarlett and myself on the cello. Jenni sat transfixed watching my bow move all over my strings: simply amazed with my stupendous talent.  We then went to ward prayer where we shook the Bishop's hand for the second time that day, pretty much became leaches to a guy because we promised ourselves that we would never walk home in the dark by ourselves again, got extremely overheated and where I almost collapsed from exhaustion. It was a great day.  The day ended magnificently with Christine and I talking while her fiance was alone in her room. The day became perfect through the hugs I received at the end!!  I love my friends. I love the gospel. I love the fact that I am going to serve in Albania. I love the temple. And, I love the sun!!!

Great Dream

Tonight, I found myself dreaming about a nonexistent, very far into the future reality.  -my own apartment.

It's going to be lovely.  Someplace where I can walk into the kitchen for salsa and chips without worrying about my state and appearance. where I can not be stuck in a 15 ft by 15 ft cube all day, because the rest of the apartment is so not anything exciting and calm. where I will be able to know where my dishes are at all times.  where my appliances can hang out on my counter. where I will know if the dishwasher is clean or not. where my fridge will only have one gallon of milk rather than four that I have to juggle around to get to my own. where I can go in my living room, sit on my couch and read a book and not feel utterly exposed, and odd. where I can close my doors, make breakfast and use kitchen equipment without being on edge all the time wondering if I am doing something "unallowed". where my walls will not be white. where the scent of candles will be constantly. where I can play my cello in the living room and not worry about anything. where I can really walk around and have a mix of scenery.

It will be great fun to have my own place. My own dishes. My own pots and pans. My own couch. My own bookshelves. My own television and DVD player.  My own fridge. My own throw pillows. It'll be beautiful.  I'm not complaining about my present situation. I am just stating a fact and dreaming about having my own apartment. Or rooming with a kindred spirit- my bosom friend!  It will be so joyous to enjoy walking into the apartment, shouting "I'm home." (if I am living with someone) Or if not, being able to turn up my country music and sing throughout my apartment!  Gracious me. This dream and vision just keeps getting better and better!!  As I said earlier though, it is a dream that will come true, but for the time being, a dream that will be locked in my memory for a far away future.  

Don't you love my new blog template. Tinkerbell is so cool.  The background makes me smile every time I see it. I have been coming back to see it time and time again today. It has really brightened up my day. 

Well I probably should go to bed for I am waking up at 5 in the morning tomorrow which is Saturday. Anyone who knows me, knows that is a rare occurrence and something I try to avoid at all costs!

Random

I went home yesterday with my brother who needed to get his little car back.  He had been driving the monstrous family suburban around. (Doesn't he look like he is enjoying it so much!!!!)When I drive that thing, I feel gravity's pull somewhat less.  I feel excessively high from the ground, and that I am driving extremely fast, and my wheels aren't catching the ground very well.  Let's just say my brother was very happy that he has his little Mazda Protege back. While we were home, we learned a new definition of the sport body-surfing. It was rather humorous to see my brothers standing on top of each other. Travis even was trying to do push-ups while Justin was standing on him.  Needless to say, he didn't get to far with that plan. The trip was a blast.  I love my family!  They're so great, and fun to be around.  I spent a couple of hours helping my mom be secret Santa in April.  It was great.  She couldn't stop smiling, or giggling which made me smile and giggle.  My little sister threw flour at me which spilled all over my precious computer.  Not cool - but all is cool.  I realized that I complain a lot when I'm around my mom.  It's like I hold it all in until I can talk to her and then I unleash the horde of complaints.  Weird. I will do better on that.  We had pork chops and mashed potatoes which filled my belly with warmness.  I drove around town dropping my little sister off at tap, and then picking her up.  Even with the random snow on the way to pick her up, I had my iPod on, the windows unrolled, and me singing the music.  It was great. It's been so long since I drove with my window unrolled. It was exhilarating.  My car window can't unroll (well it can unroll, but it wont roll up again), so I never get to have that exhilarating feel of wind blowing on my face as I drive down the street. My dog, Sophie, came with me to pick my little sister up. With the weather changing drastically yesterday, Sophie was shaking uncontrollably until I got her sidetracked with a car ride. She was sticking her head out of the window just like me.  She was definitely enjoying my serenade.  As we were about to leave, I caught my cat's eccentric personality in action.

He is in a box. Why, is he in a box? 

It was great fun to see my family again!!

But we had to come back to frigid Logan. The sun likes to pop out some times. Today is absolutely glorious. The sky is blue, the clouds look like cotton balls, and the sun is shining magnificently. But it hasn't been like this for a long time.  

It usually looks like this, especially at 7:30 in the morning as I'm walking to class. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is freezing.  BRRRR... My feet are frozen as I type.  

Emptiness

There is a major amount of white space on my west wall. My alarm clock is on my floor behind my space heater. My printer is on top of 3 multi-system paper boxes. Almost everything I own is in boxes minus my clothing. My apartment is slowly loosing its unique personality. My toilet is issuing blue liquid from underneath where the "flusher part" meets the "seat part". It's very odd. I am not exactly sure what that is from.  If that's not weird enough, I moved my bookshelf and there is a bright green spot (like kool-aid spilt on it). My box of candy canes was brought out of my bookshelf and I have not stopped eating them since it emerged. You know I had thought I would have a ton to write about but I really do believe my brain has turned off. I have no idea when it's going to turn on again!

Why?

Why do I sit on my floor exhausted, yet unwilling to go make the effort to go to bed? Why do I just keep looking at my computer get slower and slower, showing its own signs of sleepiness and yet I still am unwilling to get off my butt, clear off my bed, and go to sleep? As I type my eyelids are falling, my brain is stumbling for words.  Why have I been pushing back my bed time for the past couple of days? Nothing is stopping me from getting to bed on time. All I want to do in the morning is stay under my nice soft covers, so why don't I make sure to go to bed on time instead of spending time on facebook "trout slapping" my friends?

Why?

Why am I posting this instead of being deep under my covers asleep? Why am I thinking still? Why do I not turn this time waster off, and do what I should be doing -sleep? 

My little sister is writing the greatest story.  It feels like a romance in the making. Her main character has met a boy; definitely going to be a part of the story. It's so entertaining. It reminds me of my weird past in which I read Star Wars fan fiction online where I had to wait impatiently for the next part of the story.  One, I don't do that anymore. Thank goodness. That was a definite weird phase of my life. And, two, my sister's story is by far better than anything I read back then. It's excellent. I think she should ignore her High school career and just finish that story for me.  But, I guess High school graduation is an important thing to accomplish.  

My other little sister was trying to curl her own hair this afternoon.  You know, putting your hair in sponge curls. She had to do this by herself because no one else would show their love for her and help her out!!  But I hope it turned out okay.  It's a good thing to learn how to do; just like the ability to french braid your own hair.  I miss the days when I had long hair that I could french braid!  

There is part of me that wants to grow my hair out again. I like my short hair, but sometimes it just seems there is little to do with it. Also, it starts to grow out, and looks extremely psychotic. Not at all exciting. And when you are a poor college student, paying to get your haircut by an amazingly talented hair stylist is way out of your price range.  Going to Great Clips always causes anxiety so I am trying to stay away from salons such as that. 

Why am I sitting here rambling aimlessly about my life? I need to go to bed!

Facebook is an interesting thing. So random, and somewhat pointless. I had someone throw a sheep at me on facebook.  How odd!  Why do we find this facebook thing so irresistible? Why? It's probably the same reason my sister is obsessed over World of Warcraft.  We find it so exciting and spend all our time on it, because it is just weird. (This doesn't make since because my brain is slowly closing down for the night.)

I now know why I tend to enjoy going places by myself rather than bringing people along with me.  The chore of merging the two schedules together is tiresome. We each have our own priorities and desires - it's hard to find a middle ground.  

Okay now that it has reached the 11th hour of the night, and my eyes are almost glued shut, I think I am really going to call it a night.

I have noticed that when I say I am going to quit, some other random bit of news or memories pops into my head and I just keep writing. It's the same in my journal, and while I am writing letters.  I think I ended one of the letters I just wrote at least 3 times before I actually said goodbye and then I even added a PS at the end.  It's a crazy phenomenon. 

In my english class our last project is a group project on a medical subject. Whenever I think medical, I think House MD. (The greatest show ever aired... Well airing right now.) Ever since I was told about this project, the sentence that keeps popping up in my head is "It's never lupus." I have decided that lupus is going to the subject of my group project. It's going to be great. Hopefully my group is cool with it as well. I don't really like working in groups. You have to do that merging thing with schedules, ideas and research. There are so many confounding factors.  Grr...  But all will be well.  

Okay now I must bid farewell.  Because I have seriously fallen asleep. 

Brain Exploded at 8:45 this Evening

My brain officially exploded with the over-downloading of Statistical information!  It hurts.  I am sick of doing averages, percentages, sums of box models.  Sampling retarded samples. Over and over and over and over again!  My arm is aching from the strain. My eyes keep glancing up at my clock wondering when bedtime will arrive.  Wondering how soon would be too early to call it a night!  I have done so much to prepare for my stats exam, and now my head is having difficulty processing it all.

I like doing well at school.  I expect myself to do the best I can do.  I see know point in spending the time, energy, and Money to do less than my best.  Some of my family members, mainly my older sister, thinks I'm obsessive compulsive with my grades. You know I just expect myself to do the best I can.  Getting that B because of retarded, stupid mistakes is highly irritating.  I am at school to learn and to get good grades. So that is what I plan on doing!

My brain is broken at the moment, but it will be okay after Friday.  I am planning on not doing any school work after 11:30 Friday.  I have to play hard and let my brain rest.

I have been looking at the next few weeks wondering how my brain is going to handle this:  I have so much to do the rest of the semester!  But then I decided that I will take it one day at a time.  I can handle it.  My brain will not really explode.... maybe if I keep telling myself this it will happen.

I asked my mom, via text, whether I could go to bed at 8:45 pm. She didn't respond.  Either her phone is off (which is very likely), or she is already in bed, so I will take that as a "yes" and say adios amigos!

It is officially my bedtime!!!

A Bunch of Peeled Bananas

Like banana peels,

Barricades erected for soceity

peel away

in Our extraordinary
exclusive
corner of the world.

Remembering
good times,
We 
create better.

Like a continuous game of tennis,
all eight of Us
rapidly pass wit's ball
   back
      and
  forth.

Whatever the situation,
together-We-knit.

Magnetism

I wonder what life would be like with
no Sun;
Warming days up with
his
ultraviolet smile.

Like the first bottomless Spring sky,
he
becomes more spectacular every
    short second
          upon
    short second!

With the giddiness of a schoolgirl, I know
he's
the one, My knees go weak with anticipation
thinking when I'll next see,

the one
who bursts excitement down my spine
creating energy
that could light Manhattan up forever.

With a massive magnet's power,
I am drawn towards
him
  unable,
       unwilling,
              tobreakaway.

Launch

6th east stands still as I,
the human bullet,
zoom towards my target:

the portal between
a receiver and
       loving mothers,
       tax returns,

       adventurous beginnings.

Six inches away,
I stand frozen to the ground,
with a kettle of mixed emotions
effervescing
in my eager mind.

Like a kid who Wants to Know
the stove is hot,
my sweating, shaking hand
reaches into my worn leather jacket pocket,
grasping
for the small unique copper key.

The unlocking-click echoes the
starting
of an engine.
Squinting as if I was staring straight at the sun,
I slowly pull the tiny door open.

But, my eyes go as wide as hula-hOOps,
as they discover the

        BIG 

    WHITE

 ENVELOPE

with 

Sister 

Melissa 

Kristine 

Boyer 

typed in the center.

Amazing

I find it simply amazing, ironic, and odd that I love my English class this semester.  As I registered for the semester, my English class is the class I was least looking forward to.  I hated writing.  I never thought I was good at it.  I know I am not a professional at it.  My sister is by far more amazing (to see check out her blog: freshscribbles). I even voiced my concerns during the first week of class.  Throughout all the assignments we have done though, I have unexpectedly enjoyed myself immensely.

For the class, we have to go visit a Writing "tutor" at least twice during the semester.  Those visits are great.  I had no idea the writing center existed on campus.  As I sit down and do an assignment, it is really exciting.  During the day, I think how to improve the paper, or poem constantly.  It's beyond amazing!  Anyone who knows me knows how odd this truly is.  If I were given the option to write a poem or do a mathematical equation at the beginning of the semester, I would rather be given the algebraic equation and solve for "x".  But now all I want to do is write poetry. It's such a fun avenue of emotional release.  

My personal essay assignment was even thrilling to write.  Trying to find visual ways to write rather than just telling the reader was almost as exciting as trying to find a solution for an inverse sine function!

I will definitely continue writing poetry throughout my life.  It's just fun!  

It really is ironic that the class I am enjoying the most this semester is my English class.  My trigonometry and statistics class are right up at the top as well. My life science class is a totally different story.  But really this semester hasn't been very bad.  In different ways, I have found All my classes enjoyable and interesting.  (even learning about the nature of wheat has been somewhat thrilling...)  

But writing doesn't hold the same dislike as it did in January!! It's been great fun. This blog will most definitely be seeing more of my writing.  

Like An Unreachable Itch

Five minutes ago you 

awoke 

with your face plastered against your textbook
with ten minutes before the Final exam.

Your fingers involuntarily

tap
on the steering wheel as you 

glance
obsessive-compulsively t'wards the clock.

Reminiscent of a recovering addict's ache, you 

crave
taco bell. With the pressure of a dam, the 

tension 

within your bladder rapidly reaches the breaking point.

Your chest aches from your heart's

devil-beating
due to unrelenting 

thoughts 

of the imminent exam.

You have little Time to 

dilly-dally
  hesitate

shilly-shally

  vacillate
whiffle-waffle
  dawdle

BUT

the car
in Front of you
is going
 30
in a
 40
mph Zone!

Chivalriless

In age

of chivalry,

men protected woman.

Courage, valor

and love

shew through 

their deeds always.

Nothing more important,

their Lady was 

their Life.

Modern

times have changed.

Boys think they're in mom's womb

till death, with no

growth,

courage

and protecting

damsels in distress; so

women wander

amiss.

Poetry Unit

In my English class this semester I have been writing poetry for the past week or so.  It has been an interesting and unexpectedly exciting endeavor.  It was fun to write poetry. I didn't know how to write poetry, and then I realized, through my class, that I can choose how to write it.  It's so cool!!!

So  I decided to post a couple of my poems on my blog.  

----

Completely Ridiculous

I am going to vent to space today.  I came across a really annoying bit of reality today.  My mom got an earful on her voicemail because of this reality (I needed someone to hear my frustration) - I am sorry for the long, loud voicemail mom!

I am trying to sell some of my DVDs.  I have too many.  I heard that this store buys used DVDs.  I thought, what I great idea!  My DVDs are in almost- new condition.  Most of them have only been viewed a couple of times.  So I went to this store with five of them ready to receive at least $15 dollars for all of them.  They wanted all of them for $7 dollars.  I was flabbergasted.  One of them was going to be bought for 25 cents.  Needless to say, I left the store with my DVDs to think about it for a little bit more.  True I bought 3 out of the 5 at an extremely discounted price, but 25 cents. Come on!!

So I was thinking about it all during the day today, and I decided that it would be okay to get $7 for the whole thing.  I only bought 3 of them, so it would be okay.  I wasn't going to take the time to find someone who would buy them for more.  I wouldn't take the time!  -it's not that important to me.  I just wanted to get rid of them.  I went back to the store today.  The new special clerk takes my DVDs and starts scanning them in.  She stops on the second one and sees my name written with black permanent marker in the case, and says she can't take it.  I was flabbergasted.  I told her that all of them have my name in them.  She's says I'm sorry.  I say, "I could take a black marker and cross it out and you couldn't even tell the difference."  She says, "They have to be in new condition."  So I leave the story before I explode all over her.  (My mom gets a call at this point in the story)  

New condition:  My DVDs have no scratches, they all play magnificently!  I put my name in them because I value my DVDs.  Everyone in their right mind writes there name in their personal belongings.  They were going to buy "the Holiday" for 25 cents ( a relatively new release), and they wouldn't because my name was written on the inside of the black case in black marker.  If they were going to buy it for the amount they were going to sell it (like 10 dollars), I'd understand it a little better.  BUT 25 cents!  -they had an issue with my name!!  I was giving them $60 dollars worth of movies for $7 dollars, and they had an issue with my name -- that can easily be covered up!!

I'm annoyed can ya tell!!!

But hey, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe I CAN find someone willing to spend $3 for a non-scratched DVD with my name written with black marker on the black case!!  Maybe.

(It's already showing blessings, i just sold 2 of the 5 for $10 dollars. ROCK ON!)

Ironic

"Isn't it ironic, don't ya think,

It's like rain on your wedding day,

It's a free ride when you've already paid.

It's the good advice that you just didn't take...."

It's buying 4 gallons of water because the water main breaks, 

then coming home and finding it fixed.

When you have no water for 3 hours, your mind is free to wonder about what would happen if I was truly out of water for days.  Would I be prepared?  Whenever I'm asked if I have a "72-hr kit" I think I'll be just fine.  I have plenty of Prego and such.  But I realized today that no matter how much Prego or how many spaghetti noodles I had, I would be nowhere without water!  So I finally decided to go purchase a few gallons of water.  So that 1.) if my water stayed off for a long time, I would have water; and 2.) If it ever happened again, I would be prepared.  (Also knowing that I didn't have water made me excessively thirsty!!)

It doesn't matter if people think that what I did was stupid.  "You should have waited it out."  -Or the looks that say, "Why did you just go buy water, are water is on now?",and so on.  I now have 4-gallons of water.  I will not feel so "threatened" the next time this happens.  I am a little better prepared.  You never know what will happened.  Water is a necessity of life, and I have it now.  The people around me who are thinking that I just wasted less than 4 dollars on water can go slap themselves silly.  Part of me feels like Noah and the building of the ark!  Noah was prepared, as I am.  

Bring it on!!!

Weird Phenomenon

I am excited to be writing my paper for english!  How odd is that?!?  I went to the Writing Center today.  It's a requirement for my class to go at least twice this semester.  The writing center is a place where we can take a paper, and have a tutor go over it with us.  It was a really good half hour.  It actually was one of the few moments when my head did not hurt today at school. (My head hurt, because my entire upper body hurts, because I shoveled piles and piles of snow of my parking lot yesterday to get my car out of the parking lot in order for the snow plow to come plow the snow I had already shoveled off. ) Anyways. 

So I was so excited to get back to my apartment and work on making my paper better.  I might have gone a little overkill in parts of it, but it'll smooth out nicely I think.  It's a lot better (at least I feel a lot better about it) then it was yesterday.  Reading it to my classmates wasn't even that bad!  What is going on here.  I am suppose to hate sharing my thoughts with others.  Agh, usually my palms are sweating and my heart beats wildly.  But no, it didn't happen.  Freaky!!  Am I getting more comfortable sharing with others?  NO, what will I do!!!

On a side note, I realized on Sunday that I have got to start looking at people when I'm talking to them.  Well maybe one person in particular.  I don't know what it is about talking to him, but I seriously have issues with looking in his piercing eyes, or even at his calm face when I am talking to him.  Grr...  I need to work on that little weakness.

But enough!  I must now go and graph trigonometric functions!!

It's 3 degrees outside right now!

I am a "Gilmore Girls" addict.  I have done the first step in breaking the addiction: recognition of the problem.  The reality of me ditching three classes though helped me recognize my issue.  Yesterday, I thought that I could write my paper while watching the show.  Not only was that an extremely pathetic idea because I watched it on a 4-inch screen, but low and behold it didn't work.  I was up so late last night doing homework.  I had five days to actually do the assignment, but did I take advantage of that time?  No!  I was up so late last night that when my alarm woke me up at 6:30 a.m. I had just fallen into a deep sleep.  I spent 25 to 30 minutes debating within myself the pros and cons of getting out of bed and going to class.  "My teacher wouldn't be coherent....  Maybe I have a quiz (Well he's dropping out lowest quiz score).... I can learn just as good through the book on my own.... I can sleep for a few more minutes because I don't have to take a shower because my hair is not a complete mess!... etc"  Wow!!  I decided to stay in bed and wake up an hour later for my next class: institute.  When my alarm woke me up at 7:45, I once again began the debate in my head.  "I'll wear my glasses.... I still don't have to shower....  It's institute....  One of my new years resolutions was to go to institute everyday if I'm not dying.... Sleep!!!!"  As you could probably guess, my desire and need for sleep overpowered all other thoughts.

Finally, I had to wake up to turn in my paper for English that I had stayed up late last night writing.  I took a shower.  I even walked up the 150 steps to campus instead of catching the shuttle (a punishment for myself for skipping out on two of my classes this morning).  I realized that I do indeed have a problem that I definitely need to figure out.  What a waste of time!! I am at school to learn not to watch the 7 seasons of the "Gilmore Girls".  Skipping class is not like me, and skipping 3 classes is undoubtedly unlike me.  I don't know what got into me, but I am going to change.

I found out later today that there might have been other forces keeping me in bed this morning.  If I had left my apartment at 7 a.m.  like I should have there might have been a chance that I could be dead; permanently frozen on the sidewalk outside of my apartment.  It was -13 degrees at 7 in the morning today!  No one should be out at that temperature!! It's not normal. The sun is shining but it's not warming up very well.  My cheeks are still frozen.  My headphone cords froze as well and they wouldn't stay in my ears.

I have recognized my addiction and I will no longer be a complete idiot.  I am actually grounding myself:  one of the things that I can't do to pay for my stupidity of the last couple days is go country dancing today!!!  I will do better!!!!