13 Thousand Words: It's Easier This Way

Cassie and Jason, Jaclyn, Holli, Erin and Harrison, and I went to the Draper Temple open house. It was really cool.
My friend Brock got his braces off. So he had a party, and we ate corn on the cob, chips, and other chewy things.
This is me with Cassie and Jason waiting in one of the Draper churches to ride the bus up to the temple. I kinda have a strained smile, but I was practically lying on Cassie's lap. And after the open house, Jaclyn and I and the couples went to Cafe Rio.
My first book. This one has coptic binding. I made everything and even painted the paper for the covers. Of course, I can see all the faults, but I wont point them out. On the whole, I'm happy with my first one.
Back cover.
The good things about this type of binding is that it inflates the spine so that there is a lot of room to add things to the book later. I think I might use this one as a photo album.
The spine; the most important part of the book.
Inside cover.
Front.
And now for the virtual tour--this is the living room. You can see our fish, mine's the one on the far left. You can't tell in the picture but he's purple.
Looking into the living room from the kitchen.
Other side of the living room--where I spend my time doing homework.
And for the grand finale: the kitchen! Look at that stove. The door in the back leads to our "hallway," "vanity," and bedrooms. Well, that's the tour. I hope you like it--it's kinda like my own little hobbit hole.

Why I do What I do

Do you want to know why my major is so incredibly awesome?

It celebrates people. It celebrates their achievements. And it celebrates their creations. How cool is that? I get to take classes and study awesome people who created awesome things. I study crazy people, depressed people, intelligent people, and average people. Do you know what they all have in common? They all created something worth looking at or something worth thinking about. It's just good to know that whatever has happened and whatever will happen in the history of the world, it will positively effect the arts. People will respond. Whether it's through an edgy sci fi flick, a classical concerto, or an outlandish sculpture, someone is going to say something! Maybe we should listen to what people are saying! You never know, maybe we could learn from each other. At the very least, we could come away with a new point of view or even. . .a laugh. People respond to the world around them, and that response that is so essential to human beings is also incredibly essential to society.

That is why my major is incredibly awesome and valid. I study the fundamental, human responses to happiness, love, death, and despair. So let me tell you, humans aren't as bad as they are made out to be. In fact, people are pretty darn amazing. And I get to study all the wacky and cool things that they create. It makes me so happy. I can't help it--I just love people.

Whoa. . .sorry to get all serious. I just thought I'd give out my response to “Why are you studying humanities?” once and for all. Or maybe I'm just reaffirming to myself why I've spent money and time for this thing called an education.

Next question on my list: “Why are you so short?”

Saturday at the Library

I am definitely one of those nerds who goes to the library to study on Saturday. But you know, it's not so bad to burrow away in the bowels of the BYU periodicals because every so often the HBLL throws the patient observer a bone (i.e. an awkward duo, a dosing student etc.).

And after a few hours of staring at long words about rocks and minerals, I become one of those patient observers. Some people call people like me a “people-watcher” but that sounds a little extreme and creepy. Anyway, the people I was observing weren't even in the library. They were outside on the hill that slopes down towards the periodical section's windows.

At first, the laughter and screams caught my attention. Kids were flinging themselves off the top of the hill and rolling awkwardly down to the bottom. I remembered rolling down hills as a kid. . .or yesterday. It kind of hurts. Who came up with rolling down hills? Princess Buttercup? But the fact remains that the only things that had kept me from rolling down that exact same hill in the past were—I dunno—social conventions? That and the fact that I am always on my own around campus and it wouldn't seem as weird to go screaming down a hill with another person as it would by yourself. I don't think I'd enjoy being the “funniest thing I saw on campus today professor. . .” You know it would happen. But I digress.

While I was thus engaged in observing and reminiscing, I noticed a man standing over some sort of bundle and trying to roll it down the hill. I soon realized that the bundle was a toddler, barely able to crawl. His parent would push him a little ways, the toddler would attempt to crawl back up the hill, and then his parent would push him again. The toddler wasn't upset—but I caught myself wondering if he really wanted to roll down the hill at all. This crawl-push cycle went on for several minutes and I found the whole scenario 2% bizarre and 98% hilarious.

And then I realized that I was laughing out-loud. In the periodicals. Some kid was looking at me (probably the same kid that “looked” at me when I awoke to find myself slapping the “spiders” off my leg after a strange dream in the middle of American Heritage). So I dug out a book that I could actually pay attention to and sank back into my studies.

Disclaimer: I realize that some of you may have been anticipating an entry about my summer. No such luck. If you want to find out about my summer, all you have to do is ask. I'm free Wednesdays and Sundays. And yes, I did meet King Noah and a Nephite baby. I went to Canada for the express purpose of staring at America. My mom was a much better rocker than my little brother and I. And I deliberately walked into an elevator that was about to drop 13 stories.

Welcome to the Loft

Here I am at my new apartment. It's called "The Loft" because it used to be an old hay loft. It took me the better part of the day to pack everything up and get it all here, and now I just have to unpack everything again. Moving is a pain. But I think I'll like my new apartment--its really different from my old apartment, but I'll adjust. I think I needed a change, and what better time to change than during a semester that I don't have to worry about classes? Plus, I got a break because back at the complex (only a few yards away) a kid in my ward rigged up a huge sheet, found a projector at DI, and we all watched Oceans 11 in the north court. It was fun, but super cold which is dumb because it's April.
So anyway, I'll basically just be working this semester. I'm a student manager at the Cougareat (I think everyone knows that. . .) and I'm only officially scheduled for 20 hours at work, but I've already got myself unofficially scheduled to sub and come in to clean this coming week for another 20 hours. In other words, my master plan to cheap the system and work 40 hours is working.
And then next weekend there's a little thing called Women's Conference, which rivals Education Week. This means that I'll basically be working 40 hours in two days--sounds exciting right? Well, actually it does--because if I can work as many hours as possible then I'll have plenty in savings for next fall. Of course, I don't believe in being suicidal--there's this girl I know at work who's plan is to work 80 hours a week. That sounds a bit extreme to me, but each to his own.
And then the week after that, my friend David Silvers is getting married on Thursday. Besides getting to see David (who probably wont remember seeing me because after all, it's his wedding day) I'll get to see Heidi! I'm really excited. It's also very possible that Jess will come back down for the wedding as well, which would be great! Then that Saturday, my friend Lacey and her mom will be driving back to Colorado from San Diego and will stop by Provo. Then early Sunday morning, I'll be heading back to Loveland with them. I only get to stay until Tuesday night, but better than nothing right? I haven't seen Lacey in forever. . .
Well, I have to teach tomorrow morning, so I better go try out my new bathroom and bedroom and get some sleep. I wonder if it will be weird sleeping in a hay loft. . .

It's OVER!

Yea!! No more school! I've just been working on cleaning check stuff, which means that my room is finally clean. And while I was cleaning, I discovered that it was time to say good bye to an old friend--my old little CD



player. It's broken and doesn't close, that's why I'm holding it
closed in the picture. Still, it was pretty cool. I had some pretty sweet stickers. But why take up space with useless junk?
I still have to clean the kitchen, but that wont take me nearly as long. I think I'm going to just be lazy for a little while and then clean--oh, I should watch Stargate since that is what my pole tells me to do! Hurrah!!

Happy Earth Day!

I should go plant a tree. But unfortunately it's dark outside and too late for tree planting :( Not that I have a tree to plant anyway.
But on the up-side, school is finally over tomorrow!! This has been the craziest finals week I've ever had. Typically I just have to finish papers the week before finals. But not this time. I got hit on both ends. But by 5 o'clock tomorrow, everything will be done and turned in. I took my last two finals today (humanities and elang) and I took my last French final (EVER) yesterday. I was pretty excited.
I should actually be in bed, but I was trying to take a look at my english project that's due tomorrow. And, it's actually a blog about Star Wars. Originally it looked exactly the same as my old blog--and I was getting sick of that so I decided to stop trying to force my brain to think and to just mess around with my own blog. You should check out the Star Wars blog sometime though--it's not half bad.
Whoa, I just realized how hungry I am. So I think I'm going to eat something and then go to bed. Hurrah!

Two days and counting. . .

The semester is just about over. I survived last week--it was absolutely crazy. I had a 12 page research paper and a Beowulf project on top of all the other reading and worksheets that teachers expected me to do and turn in. I also had some french "cultural" experiences and quizzes that I had to finish up, tests to take, and about 25 employee evaluations to finish at work. To make things even more crazy, you may have noticed the Subway commercials that advertise 5 dollar foot-long sandwiches. Well, I think every person on campus noticed because Subway has been going crazy. So instead of getting a my evaluations done, I've been stuck in Subway helping them with the endless line. I was so frustrated one night that I hadn't finished my evaluations that I had a dream that my boss hired bounty hunters to track down all the employees for me. I just walked into the office and there was this army of large, tattooed, gun carrying men who wanted a list of all the people I needed to find. It was a pretty funny dream.
But I survived the week!! And now there are only two more days left of class. I think my grades will turn out pretty well. All except for french that is. There has just been too much to do and too many more important things to finish--there's no way I could have spent even an hour a night studying french.
Speaking about difficult, I taught the Sunday school lesson today. It was on Jacob 5 and Zenos's Allegory of the Olive Tree. I was pretty nervous because that's kind of a confusing subject especially when I'm trying to teach other people about it. But I think it turned out okay. At least everyone told me that they liked it and that they learned something. . .
Anyway, finals start this Friday and finish next Wednesday. Then all I have to do is move into my new apartment Saturday. I'm excited to not be taking classes this spring. I'll just be working 40 hours a week. So it will be nice to just come home and not do homework. Well, nothing else to report, so I guess I should go to bed.