Let me just preface this by telling you how much I love to write.  For years, if I had an essay to write and reading to do, and I was crunched for time, the essay always came first.  This wasn't because the essay weighed more as far as the grade, but I've just always loved formulating my million-mile-an-hour thoughts into some intricate form of nouns, adjectives, conjunctions, etc.

Essays were always my strength when it came to AP testing, no matter the subject.  When everyone whined about another timed essay, I had my pen ready with anticipation to roll across that page.  The thing is I was ready to roll because I knew what was expected of me; I knew what sort of format or argumentation was being asked of me.  As soon as I was told the topic, I almost instantaneously would start composing the catchy first sentence of my assignment.

I'm telling you all of this not to boast or to go writing-lover-crazy on you.  I am simply telling you this to make you understand that I am no stranger to writing an essay.  Yet with this first paper for my writing class, I have had the hardest time.  I think the main reason has to do with the fact that this was basically the first time I had completely free range as to what topic I was going to write about and what format I was going to write that topic in.  This completely threw me off, to say the least.  I basically just started writing something similar to a blog post, because my professor mentioned that there was really no completely formal road I needed to take.  She just stressed the point of connecting with your audience, which I took to heart.

I knew it wasn't a masterpiece when I brought it to the writing center to be critiqued.  I knew what needed to be improved and what wasn't completely working; I just needed help deciding how to tweak those little flaws.  Little did I know destruction of my very soul would ensue.  Maybe that's a tad dramatic, but you must understand my connection to everything I write.

I really detest the thought of showing anyone of any relation to me any writing project of mine. My stomach twists at the thought of them not understanding the way I wanted them to react to something (especially when they don't get the satire or the obvious pun; that just kills me to an ugly death).  The fact that I even went to the writing center was an extraordinary feat in and of itself.  I walked in at its opening time and put my name on the list.  I did not walk out and I did not flinch when my name was called, but I did feel about as big as a grain of sand when my time was up and I I actually had to walk out.  I know it was all constructive and it did help, but man did it take me a long time to be comforted by that fact.

In other news, I got a very satisfying grade on my Doctrine and Covenants quiz today, and I met some more people.  The day did end up turning out pretty great after my little run-in with the destroyers of all things I love (*cough*).  I even motivated myself to find the gym and hit the treadmill for a bit.  I am ahead on my homework, and I'm probably going to go get a dose of Marty McFly and Doc with my roommate and some of her friends.  In case you didn't hear, it's Back to the Future day.

Awkward Mormons

So, sorry to be such a debbie-downer in that last post.  This one is going to make me seem a tad bipolar.  My apologies.

Yesterday may or may not have been the greatest day of college thus far.  Having only one class in the morning, I went back to the dorm with every intention of taking a nice, comfy nap.  However, my conscience kicked in and told me to get something done.  So, I did.

The day before that, I went to the Student Advisement Center here on campus to ask them how exactly I'm supposed to declare a minor in English.  The guy told me I needed to go to the Biology department (my major), have them fill out a form, take that form to the English department, have them sign it, then take it back to Student Advisement.  While it was already dinner time and that sounded like quite a task, I decided to put it off until the next day (yesterday).

So, after debating between a nap and productiveness, I decided to engage in the latter.  I worked on my Opinion Editorial for my English class a bit, then headed on down to the good ole Life Sciences building.  I went to the PDBio on accident, they told me I needed to go downstairs to the regular Biology department, then the regular Biology department told me I needed to go to the English department to get the Holy Grail of a paper that would determine my minor.  So, I went to the English department, they told me I needed to go to the regular Humanities Advisement Center.  So, I did.  I then took it to the regular Life Sciences Advisement Center, and they took care of it from there.  Ladies and gents, I'm officially working on a major in Biology and a minor in English.

I worked up a pretty good appetite with that whole ordeal, so I decided to grab a calzone from the Wilk (a building on campus that also happens to have a cafeteria-like section with Subway, Taco Bell, and other various fast food places).  It turns out one of my awesome Y group leaders from orientation was working at the place I got some grub, which was a lovely surprise.

I sat there for awhile after feasting, and caught up on some social media, then I headed back to my dorm.

After relaxing for a bit and attempting to finish that editorial, I decided it was time to do some laundry, and apparently, so did everyone else on my floor.  It was quite a task and I got quite a workout going up and down four flights of stairs for two hours, but it got done.  So, that's always good.

I then finished my editorial, posted it to my class Facebook page (we were supposed to; I was not bragging to people or anything), and headed out to the Wilk once more to have dinner with Miry and her roommate, Rebecca.  After chatting for a bit, we headed back to their dorm and had the funnest night ever.

We snacked a bit, played Uno and this other psycho game, called OzFluxx.  Then, their other roommates came home and even more fun commenced.

I don't even know what we were doing when we noticed what was going on outside their window in their courtyard.  Guys and gals our age were sitting in a circle, and there was one girl in the center of that circle.  At first we thought this was just an innocent game of Duck, Duck, Goose, but oh, contrary-wise!  All of a sudden a guy and a girl from the circle stood up and raced to the middle.  The guy apparently was supposed to attempt to get to the girl in the middle, and kiss her on the cheek, while the girl from the circle was racing him towards the center of the circle kiss him on the cheek.  If the circle guy got kissed by the circle girl, he went to the center of the circle, and if the circle guy kissed the girl in the center of the circle, the circle girl got sent to the center of the circle.  It was quite awkward and quite violent.

After a couple of seconds of watching this strange ritual from the bedrooms of the dorm, we all decided to move the show to the living room and pull up the couch.  Eventually, we even started scoring with signs that had the numbers one through ten written on them.  The most hardcore attacks got the highest scores, of course.  A few people did notice, so they would try to get tens.  'Twas quite hilarious.

Towards the end of that fun time, a guy from Miry's FHE group, Nathan, came over to enjoy the free entertainment with us.  Then, we somewhat invited ourselves over to his house to meet his new roommate, Kiet (pronounced Git, but Nathan called him Kit; I asked if his last name was Kat, then we officially christened him Kit Kat).  We hung out with Kiet (who is so awesome) and all the other guys in Miry's FHE group for a bit and had an FHE prayer.  I'm kind of jealous of the awesome that is that FHE group.  I mean, I haven't been assigned one yet, but these people are going to be pretty hard to top, so they allowed for me to be an adopted member of the fam.

After "family" prayer, the guys were going to head on over to Seven Peaks (a water park here), because admission was apparently only $4 last night.  The girls decided they wanted to tag along too.  I really wanted to go, but I had the Y hike bright and early this morning:(.  So, Ashley (one of Miry's roomies) graciously drove me back to my dorm and then those lovely gals drove off into the night to have an awesome time.

The hike to the Y was brutal, but I'll save that for another time.  This post is way too long and I have way too much homework to do.

Cuddling Routine

Woah!  Two blog posts in less than 24 hours?  WHAAAAAT?

Now that that freak out's done, let's get down to business.*

I like to think that I'm a pretty nice person.  I don't like it when people feel left out or awkward.  I don't like to gossip and I don't like talking down to or badly about others.  I like to think I'm pretty good at making polite conversation with the people standing next to me in the Barnes and Noble line or in my Doctrine and Covenants class.  My roommate and I are cool with each other and we've talked quite a decent amount about friend-like topics in the few days that we've known each other.  While this happy nature of friendship very well may just be a facade I've painted for myself to help me sleep at night, I think it's pretty near reality.  However, for the past few days, I have not left my room to go out and socialize.  Sure, I went to a five minute meeting with my bishop and talked to the other members of the bishopric and the other kids that were there for a few minutes.  I went over to my friend, Miry's apartment to have breakfast and I talked to her roommates a little bit, but for some reason I feel like I'm wasting my time.  I've been doing my regular school time routine -- do homework, do Pinterest, YouTube, etc. when I feel like my head is going to explode from homework, then go back to homework, have a snack, and repeat.  For some reason, I can't help feeling like I need to step out of that routine in this new chapter of my life.  Maybe I'm just over-thinking it?  Maybe I should go for a walk and have a conversation with everyone I make eye contact with?

It's not that I'm anti-social.  Believe me, I love spending time with friends and family alike.  I like to go to church dances and school activities, but not all the time.  Often, I'd prefer cuddling up to a book than annoying the person sitting alone in the eating place next to my dorm with small talk, but I feel like I shouldn't be doing the cuddling just yet.  I feel like I should have some well-established friendships before I start locking myself in my room with some Charlotte Bronte.  I wish someone gave me the book on college etiquette before I got here.

P.S. I miss my mommy:(.  That probably just made me sound more anti-social.  For that, I sincerely do not apologize.

*If a certain song from a certain Disney movie just jumped into your brain, please marry me.

The College Life

I was planning on doing this some time over the weekend, but I'm trying to start this paper and I can't seem to get into the writing groove.  So, what better way to cure that funk than writing a blog post?

This week can definitely qualify as one of the greatest of my life.  NSO (New Student Orientation) was a blast and I met some awesome people there.  I also got to see Divine Comedy perform, which was hilarious without exaggeration, and I got to participate in a dating game.  I did not make it through to the final round, but I participated nonetheless, and that was pretty fun.

My classes are fantastic in every sense of the word.  Right now I'm taking First-Year Writing, Doctrine and Covenants Section 77 through Official Declaration 2, and The Living Prophets.  I'm loving each and everyone of them.  It's so awesome to go from being the only LDS person in my school to being at a school full of them, where we start class with a prayer and talk about the relationship between spiritual and secular things.  It's just everything I've ever wanted, and I am just so freaking happy.  It's ridiculous.

My ward is really cool, too.  My bishop, his wife, and his counselors are all super nice.  I have, however, been asked to give a talk this Sunday.  I guess it had to happen eventually.  My ward is also hiking up to the Y on Saturday morning, which I'm both excited and terrified of.  Excited because hiking is awesome and you can do an actual hike here unlike in Florida.  Terrified because I'm pretty sure this altitude and dryness is going to kill me.  I have had to walk up a hill everyday to get to my classes, so hopefully that's conditioned me enough.  That's definitely one of those things I'll be using to reprimand my children with when they start complaining about school -- "I had to walk uphill everyday in the snow (well, not yet) to get to my classes!  Don't you complain to me about schoolin', sonny!"  It should also be noted that the picture I was trying to paint there included a Jazmin with a walker and no teeth.

On top of the debate as to whether or not the hike will kill me, I'm not sure what to do about photographing the event.  I'd really like to test out my Canon 60D, but I'm terrified my klutzy self will drop it and send its very expensive self rolling down a mountain.  I'll probably end up just taking my Cybershot, which is still nice and can take some awesome pictures. ANYWAYS, I won't bore you with that.  I need to get back to writing about arts and sports at BYU.  Wish me luck:/.

Pre-First Day Thoughts

Something I wrote last night (before starting my first day of college today):

There is no way to describe to you the pure joy that I am feeling at this moment.  My Heavenly Father and my Redeemer know me so, so well.  They knew this school would be where I would find the greatest happiness -- even something beyond just happiness.  In these past few months of deciding where my future is meant to be pursued, I have come to realize just how very aware my Father and Savior are of me and my every need, my every desire, and my complete potential.  I thought I knew it, but I really didn't until this chapter in my life when so many massive things rest on my minute decisions.  They heard my every cry.  They understood my every confusion and fear.  They rooted for me to succeed and told me how to.  Even when I continued to question those promptings of the Spirit, They just kept pushing confirmations into my heart.  Not even bliss could describe what's going on internally for me right now.  It's moments and realizations like this that I ache for those without that assurance of love and understanding.  I am so completely blessed and I am going to strive in every class, club, and other event for the next four years to prove to my Father and Savior just how grateful I am for Their help in this decision.