I am so happy.

The stress of finals that were not really too stressful has subsided.  Although, my butt still has not forgiven me for sitting on a hard floor for four hours yesterday while I was studying for my final final.

I'm completely terrified in the most exciting way for what's to come.

After my last final yesterday, I finally lost all tolerance of sanity.  Luckily, I was not alone in this and celebrated my madness with my lovely friend Mariangel by eating at the fine eating establishment that is JCW's and catching up on Parks and Recreation until around 2am.

Today was my last day at work.  I am no longer a cafeteria lady.  Even though I will most likely never have the best customers ever again (missionaries), I am happy to be done with the glamour that the occupation possessed.  It was a good job where I met wonderful people and I got to see some of my friends and family off before they went to serve the Lord, but I have had my fill of it.  I'm proud that I had the opportunity.  It was my first job that I sought out for myself.  I relied on it to sustain the roof over my head and the copious amount of trips to Denny's (it's the only place open past nine here).

Now, as I am experiencing the treachery of packing, cleaning, and experiencing unemployment (for now), I am still so wonderfully scared of what the future holds.  It is exhilarating.



I also had pizza and watched The Young Victoria.  It was beautiful (the pizza and the movie).

Taming a Beast

FINALS ARE OVER I CAN LIVE AGAIN HALLELUJAH GOD BLESS YE MERRY GENTLEMENEDGNJSDNGJSMORGANFREEMANEGNWNEG;WGW;RGB;.

Sorry.  I needed to get that out of my system.

I now have blessedly beautiful time to do more important things like read for six hours straight or blog about things that happen in my life that only my mom wants to hear about.

I leave for the 904 (Florida) tomorrow afternoon and it still hasn't hit me completely.  As much as I have missed home, I am going to desperately miss waking up to this.

That's right, my love affair with snow is still in full swing.  We've had some kinks in our relationship (I have fallen twice), but we've worked through those rough patches and our love has become stronger because of it.

My weekend consisted of snowmobiling for the first time, putting up the Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's cabin, and reading more than two pages at a time of Les Miserables.*

Snowmobiling was quite the experience.  I went with two experts -- my uncle and his brother-in-law -- during a trip to my aunt and uncle's cabin.  Luckily, I got the chance to warm up to the beast that is the snowmobile the night before when there was too much snow to drive up the mountain any other way but the snowmobile way.

What made the "warm up" a tad stressful, though, was the fact that it was at night and I had no idea where the road ended and my imminent death began.  I did get used to the sensitive gas clutch eventually, which made the thought of death fade and brought excitement about the next day's 'mobiling trek to the surface.

While it did take me an hour to get used to the tricks of taming the beast and my arms are now drenched in soreness, I had a gloriously awesome time.  I got to absorb the beauty of the mountains covered in snow and the gorgeous animals that inhabit its crevices.  I also got to experience family, which was a wonderful thing in and of itself.

I'm sure my lack of mountain knowledge and my getting the snowmobile stuck a million and five times annoyed my Uncle Ken and my Might-As-Well-Be-My-Uncle Brett more than they let show**, but I'm glad they were there to annoy.  I haven't got to see much of family since Fall Semester started, but it's so nice to have them so nearby and so willing to include me in all of their adventures, even if I can rarely make it.  I am so fortunate to have some family and family-in-law-ish so nearby when I am so far from home.

*This semester has consisted of me attempting to read three books and finishing exactly none of them. At most, the number of pages I was able to read in one sitting probably amounted to six.

**I also flew off once*** and flipped the monster of a machine on a separate occasion from the flying one.

***This is not an exaggeration.  I literally flew, ladies and gentlemen.

Ah-dult

It was not until today, after I took my last final, that I hit that point where I realized I am a full-fledged adult.  This whole time, I've kind of been feeling like this is just some freakishly long summer camp.  On one hand, I'm really upset that I can't be home right now, but on the other I'm really glad and grateful for all the experiences I had this summer.  I have met some incredible people and it has been a dream come true (dramatic?) to be around people who share my exact same values and beliefs.  I no longer have to suppress my biblical jokes, or when someone says a line from a hymn in regular conversation, I am no longer the only one who gets that hymn stuck in their head immediately afterwards.  More than just those values being matched in everyone I meet, I have met people that I have no trouble being my full self around, which is just incredible.  Don't mistake me as putting on some facade.  I just mean, with every friend we have, we magnify some specific personality trait around specific people, but I think I have held nothing back with every wonderful person I have had the privilege of meeting.  I am so excited for what Fall has to offer.

Y Chromosomes and DQ

So, I just successfully cleaned my room thoroughly for cleaning checks tonight.  Not only did I successfully complete this task five hours earlier than I expected, I also only locked myself out of my room once.  In my world, that's a sign of a good day.*

I know I said I'd write about the rest of my awesome-tastic weekend yesterday, but I need to get some work done before that infinity long post.  As a little taste of my BYU experience as of late, though, I guess I could tell you about my yesterday evening.

I was putting off doing homework like no other and I was feeling a tad bummed about certain things that will remain between my journal and me...and probably my mom since I tend to tell her everything.  I just planned on laying low and cuddling up to my book** and doing laundry that desperately needed to be done.  On my way down to the basement*** laundry room, I ran into Carolyn (my fall roommate), Vicki (Carolyn's summer roommate), a few other girls from my floor, and my RA. Judging by the giggles, the copious amounts of blushing, and the consistent use of the pronoun "he", they were obviously talking some serious girl talk.  I just passed by because judging by the bits and pieces of the conversation that I heard, it sounded like a level of boy crazy was going on that I don't really care to engage in.****

After stuffing my clothes in the drier and heading back to my room, the same group of gals were now sitting in the hallway looking like they were ready to embark on some adventure.  One of these lovely gals, Micaela invited me to tag along.  The adventure entailed Dairy Queen and oh, was I excited.  I've only had ice cream once since being in Utah and I haven't had Dairy Queen-level ice cream since weeks before I left Florida.

We made the little walk to that beautiful haven and it was just what my sore day needed.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was having a bad day, so it was nice to just let go of it all with other people having equally crappy days.

I don't understand why it is physically impossible for me to take a normal picture.

Our walk back included almost getting run over by a car that sped through a red light, and dancing like completely wonderful idiots to Micaela's ipod.  It was exactly what I needed.

I ended up getting back and having to do another cycle of my clothes in the drier, but that allowed me studying time.  I didn't get to bed until about 1AM, but it was so worth it.

__________________________________________

*Not that I'm constantly locking myself out of my room, but with my luck, it probably should have happened at least two more times as I made my travels to the cleaning supplies closet.

**I finished The Princess Bride!  Well, I actually finished it just before my 1pm class, but I was reading the extra stuff at the end about Buttercup's Baby while performing my even procrastination ritual.

***It's still super weird for me to say the word basement.  It's such a foreign concept to my Floridian mind.  I still think of them as something mythical like Mordor or Narnia.  Okay, maybe not Narnia.  We all know that's real.

****Not that there's anything wrong with girls that are boy crazy.  It's just never really been something I cared too much for.  Since being at BYU, though, it seems that's how girls here bond.  So, I've been somewhat more boy crazy than I like to admit, but on this particular night I was not feeling up to the energy required to giggle and scream about those who possess Y chromosomes.

Wonderful Weekend (Part One)

Holy cannolis, Batman!  This weekend was pretty spectacular.  It has been by far the most social butterfly-esque weekend since I left home.  My weekends are usually filled with me stuffing my face in a book all day, then hanging out with Miry and her roommates in the evening hours.  However, I decided to switch it up a bit this weekend.  This mostly had to do with the fact that my brain felt like mush from all the studying I was inflicting upon it.

SO, FRIDAY.

After my one class in the morning, Isabel, Mariangel, Ashleigh, Miry, and I had an incredibly delicious breakfast at the Scoreboard Grille.  I cannot express to you how amazing it was to eat a real breakfast for once.  Real, meaning not a Nature Valley bar or Trailmix.  After that wonderfulness, Isabel, Mariangel, and I hung around until our meetings with our writing teachers.  We were all pretty delirious from lack of sleep, so that was pretty entertaining.  Okay, maybe the deliriousness was just me.

After that, Isabel and I hung out at my dorm.  After about two hours of watching YouTube nonsense, we made our way to the library where we were to meet our Y group and have lunch with them.  After only four of us showed up, we decided to make our way to sustenance.  It ended up being pretty fun.  Miry showed up a little later, which was a wonderful surprise.  After feasting and conversing for quite a bit, we went our separate ways.

I spent some time with my books and then the back of my eyelids (a nap was desperately needed).

After my slumber, I texted Miry to see if she still wanted to go to the gym.  She called me and declared, "IT'S RAINING!"  Now, as a Florida native, it's kind of hilarious to me to see these landlocked westerners cease to function when a few sprinkles fall from the sky.  After a few minutes of trying to convince her that she would not melt if she went outside and made her way to the gym with me, I realized it was a lost cause.

We decided to have another movie night instead (we had one the previous weekend).  After quite some time of deciding which movie to watch, I suggested we watch She's All That.  Deanna and I were apparently the only ones who had ever seen it.  My generation sickens me sometimes.

It was mainly Ashley, Miry, and me who watched the movie with frequent visits from Maren and Deanna:).

After the movie, Lindsay, Ashley, Miry, and I talk some girl talk and then we interrupted Maren and her Skype call to her manly friend.  It was around that time that I got a call from one of my Y group leaders, Bryan.  There was a dance the next night (Saturday) and he called to ask if I wanted to go with him.  Of course I said yes:).  It was pretty nifty.

After the girlyness ensued, Deanna brought some of her guy friends over and we all played Uno until 12:30. We got in trouble, though, because boys are not allowed in their dorms past midnight (or somewhere thereabouts), so we made our way to the activity room where they are allowed until 1:30.  We continued with our festivities.  It was one intense Uno game.  One of the guys, Seth, also showed us some pretty sweet magic tricks.  After the 1:30 mark hit, the boys convinced us to go hang out outside for a bit.  It was still "raining" so that didn't last long.  We decided we'd hang out the next morning at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet nearby.  We ended up staying up until about 3AM, so that didn't happen, but it was a fun idea nonetheless.

I ended up deciding to spend the night, but I needed to go back to my dorm to get the essentials (i.e. panties, toothbrush, etc.).  Once we arrived at my dorm, I realized I forgot everything back at Miry's dorm, which meant I had no ID card to get into my locked dorm building and no key to get into my locked dorm room.  It was about 2:30AM by then.  This is where I become the worst person on the planet.  Brace yourselves.

After trying to call my roommate, Blake about a bajillion and five times, I called Vicki (my dorm neighbor).  That wonderful gal woke up and was more than willing to come down three flights of stairs to my undeserving self.  Just as she said "K I'll be down in a second," a girl that was sitting in a car outside the dorm building offered to let me in with her ID card.  She let me in, and I felt terrible for waking Vicki up.  She deserves an infinite amount of chocolate from me.

The next step was getting my dorm door unlocked.  I called and texted my roommate a bajillion and five more times to no avail.  I knocked on the door with an obnoxious pitch of loudness that echoed throughout my dorm hall, which made me feel even worse.  After about ten minutes of the call-text-knock combo, that beautiful woman opened the door.  I am the worst roommate/human being ever.  After packing all my goods, Miry and I made our way back to her dorm, Facebook stalked a bit, and sojourned to the wonderful land of dreams.

This post is entirely too long.  I will post about the rest of my weekend in another.  I commend you  for reading all of this.  You have an incredible attention span.

Freedom is Awesome

My adventure of yesterday included me going to the gym with Miry and Ashley and then vouching for three strangers so that they could use the pool.  It was wonderfully awkward.  I'm also kind of peeved at the lack of job availability.  There are plenty of jobs, but I'm not really qualified for any of them.  So, that kind of stinks.

Anywho, I have been slacking as far as keep you up-to-date with the big events that have been taking place.  America celebrated her independence from the motherland a week ago and I have yet to fill you in on the wonderfulness that took place on that day.

I went to bed late the night before, because I went to see a later showing of The Amazing Spider-Man with Isabel and Mariangel, which was just magical in every way.  When I got home from the movie the night before, I checked my Facebook to see if Miry had sent me a message about her plans for the Fourth.  I was planning on going with her and her roommates to Kiet's lacrosse game, which also included being able to see the Stadium of Fire fireworks that evening, but I wanted to make sure she had an extra ticket.  She did and she also informed me that she and her roommates were planning on going to the Provo parade bright and early and invited me to tag along.  By the time plans were sorted, it was about 1:30am and I wanted to sleep for days.  So, it took me a few minutes to submit to my beckoning alarm clock across the room at 6:15am that morning of Independence Day.

We ended up moving three times throughout the parade, because our first sitting spot happened to be at this section of street just before where all the floats and stuff were supposed to emerge, so if we remained there, we wouldn't be able to see much of anything exciting except the pavement, and that would have been no fun.

We then proceeded to an okay spot that was farther from the front of the street, which was fine, but was not an ideal spot to play with my camera.  So, Miry and I shuffled through to the front where all the little kids were.  It was a perfect view of all things parade.

After that magic, we parted ways to do the nauseating amount of homework that all of us had awaiting us in our dorms.

My roommate was back from spending time with her visiting cousin at the parade and she, her friends, and I got some lunch, because parades are apparently appetite-boosting.  She and a couple of her pals proceeded to make "'Merica Ice Cream."  This consisted of red and blue M&Ms and vanilla ice cream...and a little bit of blue Powerade.

We then "studied" on the lawn and went to get some shave ice.  I didn't get one, but man was it hot enough to crave one.

"Studying."

After that adventurous morning/afternoon, I had dinner with the lovely Vicki.  As we were finishing our meal, a few girls from our ward came and sat with us, and amongst them was Gabriella...the answer to my prayers.  Okay, that sounds creepy, but it may or may not be the truth.  This gal is basically me, except a few inches taller with red hair.  So, basically what I sometimes wish to be.  In our table's conversation, she mentioned just about everything that ever flows through my mind -- Disney, superheroes, books, movies, the gospel.  It was beautiful.  She apparently had had a hankering to watch The Goofy Movie for the past twenty-four hours, so we decided that would be our evening activity.  I had to leave early, though, so as to not be late for the aforementioned lacrosse game and fireworks.

I rushed back to my side of the dorm building, quickly tried to look decent, and rushed over to Miry's.  We were all super excited to go and support Kiet and his dashing team members.  The only problem was we had no idea where we were going.  Nathan pretty much didn't give any directions of any kind.  ("It's the place where there's cones...There's a field.")  So, we spent almost two hours trying to find this place.  Once we finally did, we felt kind of stupid.  Towards the beginning of that little adventure, we had to decide whether to go left or right at the main intersection that included the street Nathan described.  We took a right.  We were supposed to take a left.  We ended up on the completely opposite side of campus where we asked this guy if he knew where this game was, and he just happened to.  It ended up being fine and fun.  Miry and I got to play with my camera again and she taught me her Jedi wisdom.  It was a really fun night and I wish I could see these lovely girls (and Nathan) more often.

Basically a Journal

Today had a few ups and downs.  I was completely exhausted in my 8AM class because I had not been granted a beautiful eight hour sleep for two consecutive nights.  This is my fault in every way, but I kept trying to justify that it was my birthday and I could procrastinate if I wanted to.  Only, in my mind, the procrastination would come without consequence because again, it was my birthday...

ANYWAYS, I was to take my first test today.  I was dreading it like a child eating dinner who knows she eventually has to eat the broccoli, but eats everything around it so as to prolong the time when she would have to face her fear.  I studied/lost my mind for a bit while lounging with Isabel and Mariangel after my class this morning.  We had lunch, they went to their class, and I attempted to study some more in the Wilk.

A strange person randomly sat next to me.  Well, that was my thought until I realized it was the incredible Emma Lucy.  I regret not seeing her more here.  She's such a wonderfully fantastic human being.  You have not met a truly magnificent person until you have met the lovely Emma Lucy.  I can just see her being all modest now and throwing compliments my way after reading this.  Seriously, though.  I love her and you should too.

ANYWAYS (AGAIN), after the burst of brightness to my day that was seeing and talking to Emma Lucy for a bit, I made my way to my Doctrine and Covenants class, which was as wonderful as always.  Apparently only eight people had taken the test and we only had today and tomorrow left. So, that was pretty hilarious.  It's interesting how even here, people bond over the stress of school. Everyone was talking about the test and who took it and what they studied and what other people should study and so on and so forth.  This sounds like a simple comment, but my D&C class rarely ever seems to talk or bond from what I've witnessed.  The fact that the terrifyingness of a test brings people together is kind of symbolic of how hardship brings people together, don't ya think?  Just a thought.  Maybe a mediocre one, but one nonetheless.

I finally managed the courage to walk it over to the testing center.  I turned out I walked a way that made it farther than it needed to be.  That probably worsened the nerves even more.  Once I made my way in and through the door, there were a ton of people cramming and no one seemed to be heading in a direction that seemed to be the one I should have gone to get my testing materials.  I took a tour through the testing center during New Student Orientation, but of course my mind was in complete disarray and I couldn't remember one thing I was told while being led around that massively intimidating building three weeks ago.  I ended up joining the crammers.  I plopped my tush down next to a vacant wall and commenced fake studying -- I was to that point where my brain couldn't take real studying anymore.  I waited until someone would show me the path to my demise (how to get to the things I needed to take the exam).  A of couple people went, but I waited until about the fifth person, both because I needed a moment or two to pluck up the courage, and the crammer directly across from me on the other side of the room seemed like she had that "not another lost freshman!" look on her face.

I ended up coincidentally following a girl in my ward.  She was super nice and courageously relaxed about her test, so that was kind of comforting.  I got a little disoriented when I was told to "wait for the printer" for my scantron.  Luckily the other girl in the office was quick and calmed the confusion running through my already worried mind ("Where is the printer!  Is it in the testing room!  There are too many people in there for me to go around looking for a printer!").  I'm pretty sure no one has ever been so concerned about finding a printer in their life as I was at that moment.

The test itself went fine once my hand stopped shaking.  I really don't know why I was so tense.  I wasn't super dreading it; I honestly just wanted to get it over with.  I think it was just my subconscious freaking out because it didn't know exactly what to expect.  I didn't get an A, but I didn't do miserably.  There will be an A next time, since I better know what's expected of me.

I was actually pretty bummed about my B.  I made the walk of shame back to my dorm, did some laundry, studied, took a nap or two, then went to dinner with Vicki and Carolyn.

FHE was pretty nifty.  We were going to play basketball, but we played Twister instead.  It was "too hot" for the b-ball.  There was another family "playing" basketball too.  I suggested we play kickball next week, so we're going to play against them.  One of the guys in that family had a Disneyland marathon shirt on and I decided we're going to be best friends.

During my nap, I got a text from Isabel informing me that my writing teacher finally posted the grades for the Opinion Editorial I was dreading a couple of weeks ago.  I was terrified to check my grade and waited until after FHE to check.  I'm pretty darn happy with what I got.  I'm definitely relieved.

My roommate and I watched the end of the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice (she watched the beginning last night) and it was magical.  Then, we went to a "meeting" because we're apparently on the dance committee for this stake dance we're having in August.

This was super long and consisted of way too much information.  I sincerely apologize and I hope your day was wonderfully magical.

Just a List

So, a bajillion posts ago, I declared with complete confidence and determination that I would start making lists.  I claimed that life was moving too fast with too many tasks at hand and that it was time to buckle down, suck it up, and make some freaking lists.

That never happened...

Now, a bajillion posts later, I will make a list and you will be a witness to that list; a listness, if you will.

Goals for the week:
1) Take that darn D&C test and rock it!
2) Hit the gym at least five times this week (you're only a two second walk away!)
3) Annotate article for rhetorical analysis
4) Write rhetorical analysis
5) Finish all homework before dinner
6) Reward self with a weekend of fun (only if the work gets done!)
7) Send that package to thy father
8) Blog more.

I think that's a pretty good start.  Now to do that studying for that D&C test that I'm supposedly going to "rock."

Also, it's my birthday.  It was wonderful and consisted of a homecooked meal, wonderful friends, and my dorm door being decorated twice.  I'd say that qualifies as a good birthday.

Conducive Productivity

You would think writing an analysis of an article about blogging would capture my attention.  It did for a little while, but then I obviously was overcome with the intense desire to catch up on all the blogs I've been neglecting to read.  THIS IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO MY GOAL OF PRODUCTIVITY.

Back to the Writing Board?

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.

LOTR, Tangled, and Life

I am so completely excited to be heading out to BYU in 23 days.  Sure, there's anxiety about my plane crashing, my roommate detesting the very essence of my being (or Lord of the Rings), the government deciding I don't need any money, etc. etc., but the excitement seems to be winning in the duel with anxiety.

I have also been starting to realize how much I actually love where I have lived these past seventeen (almost eighteen) years of my life.  This little zip code of mine that I have never lived away from for a substantial period of time has always been one I've found fault with, but as of late, those faults have somehow become endearing.  The dreaded heatwaves that the sun usually inflicts upon my part of the world this time of year has actually held off and given me my favorite sort of weather that a real Spring season is supposed to have.  My little Florida world has actually been on its best behavior these past couple of months and there will definitely be tears when I have to say goodbye to it.

Tomorrow is my last day of high school.  My last day of senior year.  My last day before my life can actually begin.  I'm not going to burst into a song from Tangled or anything, it's just completely baffling and utterly incredible that my compulsory education is ending and I am now able to really explore what I want out of my future.  I really don't feel like this era of my life is ending, but HOLY CRAP, it is.  There's so much I want to express here, but there are really no words.  I can't even come up with some clever way to end this!

This life has been a beautiful picture thus far, and I am so excited and ready for what my Heavenly Father has planned for me next.

Yep, I'm an Idiot.

So, I had my AP Environmental Science exam this morning.  APES is probably my favorite of all the classes that I'm taking this year (minus AP Lit, of course), so I was super confident/stoked about this exam.

To preface my demise, let me inform you of the fact that I have taken six AP exams over the course of these past three years of high school.  I am no stranger to the essay portion.  Typically, each exam possesses three essays.  I was actually thinking about this fact this morning whilst taking the APES exam when pondering the next AP exam I am to take on Thursday (AP Literature and Composition).  Let me also say that I am not blonde.  I was actually born with the darkest brown shade of hair you can think of before actually getting to black.

For some goodness-forsaken reason, I forgot about the fourth question on the AP portion of the exam.  That's right.  I stopped at number three, finished half an hour early, and thought something was wrong, so I went back, edited the three essays that I had written, and still thought things were good and dandy.  I rocked the multiple choice and did fairly well on the other three essays, but for some reason my stupid self forgot about the fourth question, and did not remember until talking about it with Adam on the way home.  I am an idiot, ladies and gentlemen.

Productive Procrastinating

I've been in a major writing mood as of late.  It's probably mostly because I'm procrastinating everything while simultaneously trying to spend less time doing my typical procrastinating activities (YouTube, Tumblr, etc.).  So, what better, more productive way to procrastinate than to spend time logging my life for my posterity and future self to look back on?

As I touched on yesterday, I was able to go to the temple and get some family names done for baptisms.  I feel like every time I go to the temple, I feel the Spirit more strongly than the previous time.  I don't think I've ever had such a powerful experience as I did yesterday and I will forever cherish that.  The temple is my favorite place on Earth.  I know it's no secret that I love my Disney World, but no worldly creation can compare to that beautiful, white building where eternity is evident and full of joy.

I'm currently in the process of registering for classes I'll be taking this Summer and I'm kind of stressing about it, but in a good way.  Stressing only because there are so many classes that are sparking my fancy that I have no idea how to narrow them down.  I'm so excited to experience them, though.

So many blessings have been tossed my way as of late and there's no way I can ever say "thank you" enough.  It's amazing how much my Heavenly Father and Savior love me.  I cannot even fathom how my imperfect self gets to possess that much room in their hearts.  I feel like I should be on my knees 24/7 praising Them for all that They have given me.  It's so amazing and I wish everyone knew that that kind of love exists for them and is waiting for them to seek.

Lost and Found and Other Nonsense

In regards to my last post...

I feel like deleting it for some reason.  It didn't convey my thought process in the way I wanted it to, but that is the case with most of my posts in hindsight.

By some miracle, the hotel actually did end up finding my camera and they sent it our way some time last week.  I am beyond grateful and completely astonished that it was even found, but then again, maybe that's why I wasn't in super freakout mode when I realized it had been lost?

Over these past few years, I've really tried to dissect what I get upset over. I've especially been trying to do this as of late.  I take a step back and try to see if there is some way I can change whatever is making me upset, and if I can't, then there's no use in dwelling on it.  Such was the case of the lost camera, I think.

In other news, it is currently Spring Break and I am currently deathly ill.  Okay, maybe not quite so dramatic, but I don't think there have been five minutes where I have not coughed a crushing-chest cough.  I'm trying to not let it get me down, though. I made the decision to be productive this Spring Break, and gosh darnit, NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME!

Okay, maybe one more YouTube video.

Updateness

So, it has definitely been quite some time since I last wrote anything super significant in this blog.  So, let's go journal-esque, shall we?

Since my last post, I have (surprisingly) been accepted to every college I applied to.  It's been crazy and bizarre, but it happened.  After freaking out for a long while, I pondered what decision to make for a long while.  I've been really adamant about how SVU (Souther Virginia University) has been the greatest thing since the invention of devil's food cake, but there have been a view glimpses of time where I doubted that and leaned more toward a certain different school.  Granted, this was before I was even accepted anywhere, so I just expected one of them to reject me and make my life a whole lot easier.  Of course, that didn't happen.  So, I ran to prayer a bazillion times with the thought still in my mind that SVU was perfect for little ole me.  I still didn't feel one-hundred percent about it, though, even then.  This was all within the twenty-four hour period of me being accepted to the last school I was to hear from; the school that had been plaguing me with glimpses of "maybe I should go there instead."

At the end of that twenty-four hour period, I was off to a tri-ward New Beginnings program with my mom (who got a new calling from being the Secretary in the Stake Young Women's Presidency to being the Second Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency), listening to my "Christian Canticles" playlist (yes, all of my ipod's playlists' titles consist of alliteration), and I just got this punch in the spiritual gut that the place that kept inching in my mind with glimpses was definitely where I needed to be.  It would be really cool if I could sit here and tell you which EFY song was playing as I got the punch, because that'd be pretty stinkin' awesome, but unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by it all that I forgot to make note of the song that evoked such a spiritual experience.

So, basically, I'm going to BYU-Provo.  I am beyond excited.  I told my mom on the way home from that New Beginnings, but I wanted to ask opinions and such from friends that have been attending SVU or BYU-Provo before setting everything in stone.  I officially announced it to family on Thursday night, to school friends on Friday, then to Facebook on Saturday, which obviously made it completely official.

Saturday, I (somehow) successfully executed a Murder Mystery Dinner for all the youth in the stake with 80+ attendants.  I was a bucket full of nerves that night, but people have been telling me they had a good time and thought it went really well, which was really encouraging.  I honestly didn't know what to feel about it except relief when it was over.

I'm sure there are a million and five things I could say about what I've done over this past month or so, but that's all that's on my brain right now.

Now, I will be leaving for Provo in 107 days.  (They accepted me for Summer term!)  Let the craziness begin.

Lists and Such

So, for the entire span of my seventeen years and (almost) four months of existence, I have always scoffed or turned away from people who cherish making lists or detailed time schedules.  As I have gotten older, I have just come to the conclusion that that works for some people, but that's not my thing.  Now that I have gotten even a little more older (great grammar, I know), it's time I suck it up and get to listing.

My reasoning for the sudden change of heart is not because I'm way behind on homework due to the stupid flu I've had all this week.  It's not due to the last two Doctor Who episodes awaiting my sight.  It is the same reason that it has always been: my books.  I am currently borrowing three books (On the Road, Game of Thrones, and Spencer W. Kimball) and I haven't even finished the one I was reading before they were all loned to me (I Capture the Castle).  The only reading time I've allowed myself is what little time I have at school to read school assigned books, which is fine and dandy, but reading is a little more difficult for me when it has been assigned and it's not a book that's been on my To Read list.  (Yes, that is the only sort of list exception I have ever made.)

This complaint has been on my blog too many times to remain stagnant.  I am making myself and schedule, and no one (not even myself) is going to stop me, reader!