BYU Reminders

Yesterday I had two reminders that I attend a Mormon University.

1. My Joseph Smith/Church History class was started by the class energetically singing "Book of Mormon Stories" complete with the hand signals and drum beats.

2. Halfway into my Food Preparation class, we stopped because the teacher had forgotten to ask someone to say an opening prayer and share an inspirational message.

Even though I laughed to myself about these, it made me realize how awesome it is that I get to go to school in an atmosphere like this. Even though we are weird. And if you haven't seen these videos, check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04zdLRu7qnA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-msbDhvqVFw&feature=related

I'm proud to say that I've said some of these things. And heard all of them.

Something smells... foreign.

This semester I had a new roommate move in. He's from Brazil and is here to learn English. He is now my 4th international roommate that I've had so far at BYU. First there was Shuo from China. Then I had C.J. from Nigeria and another one from Nepal. I don't remember his name... I pass him on campus every once in a while and I avoid eye contact because I'm embarrassed I don't remember my own roommate's name. Anyway, the one I have now is Esteavo. And what do they all have in common that I've noticed? Let me tell you. They each have a very distinct odor about them. Why? I don't know. But whenever their bedroom doors would open, it was like smelling a whole new culture. Does that make sense? I have spent a lot of time thinking about why they each smell differently, and I also think to myself if Americans have a smell too? And is it a good smell? Who knows. I'd like to think we smell good.

Since Esteavo moved in I've had to speak very simple English. And once you get into that mode, it's hard to break it. I caught myself asking my friend a question last night in very simple, slow language. "Watch movie? Yes or no?" Oh and last weekend I went Salsa dancing for the first time with a bunch of Brazilians. I was definitely a minority. But it was probably one of the funnest nights I've had in a while, even though I couldn't understand what was going on and no one could understand what I was trying to say to them.

But whether they smell good or bad, or whether they don't speak English very well, I am always excited to have international roommates and the adventures that come with them.

Facebook thoughts.

I think Facebook is a lot of fun. Mostly because I enjoy seeing how ridiculous some people are and what they share with their virtual social world. For example, this is one of my favorite posts right now:

"Dec. 25 is for Jesus not for Santa. (Repost if You Believe in Jesus !) P.S He Knows You Looked -deny me in front your friends and I will deny you in front of my father"

Really? I don't think Jesus cares if I repost that or not. And I don't need to let people know that I believe in him through my Facebook.

Every once in a while I will put up my own Facebook status. And believe me, whenever I do it is a hit. Notifications left and right. For instance, a few weeks ago I wrote something really simple. "Sometimes I buy cookie dough just so I can eat it." The result? 34 likes. And 17 comments. In a matter of days. And the majority of people who liked/commented were girls. What does that say for them? That they do the same thing? That's not attractive. And tonight I put "Did I really just eat a whole box of fruit snacks in a few hours? Yes. Yes, I did." The result so far? In 20 minutes there have been 8 likes and 2 comments. All girls. Really? Please don't tell me you really do that. Besides, by "few hours" I meant about 48. Or 2 days. That's basically normal, considering it's finals week. Apparently people can't get enough of my eating habits.

My life is never boring.

Great news! After this Friday night, I will only have one more Friday night shift for the year! (and if they try to schedule me to work another weekend night, I will refuse.) Tonight's shift is especially painful. The OACL people are having their annual Christmas party tonight. Of course. I emailed to ask if I could still go and just leave the lab unattended for a few minutes... or hours. What's the worst that could happen? Those guys playing World of Warcraft in the back room really don't look that dangerous. And that lady who is here every Friday night, well, she's here every Friday night and does nothing. So in reply to the email, I was told I could go to the party from 6:30 to 7:00. 30 minutes? Lame, but I'll take it. The one downside: the party starts at 6:30. Who goes to a party right when it starts? Well, I did. And you can bet that it was just me and the old lady who works here with her husband. Finally around 6:45, people started showing up. And at 6:50 I actually got to eat some food in a rush so I could make it back to the lab by 7:00. Oh well, their loss because it's not going to be much of a party without me there. I'm pretty much a big deal. Ok, not really. But I did want to hang out with my friends longer...

Other news: Classes are officially over! And one week from now I will be right back at this lab with no homework, no responsibility, and no life. But that's ok because finals will be over!

Fun moments in the labs this week: Some lady just started blasting some Bob Marley because she plugged her headphones into the wrong place. On Wednesday we were bored, so we made 3D snowflakes. Thank you, YouTube! As I was trying to hook them to the ceiling tiles with a nifty paperclip chain, we hummed Christmas carols. I might have been mistaken, but I would say that the lab patrons thoroughly enjoyed it. Or maybe those were just annoyed looks. Oh and my friend Allison from the labs totes just came and said hi. (I never ever will say "totes" out loud. It even makes me cringe just typing it. But it's an inside joke I guess.)

And last of all, here is the best YouTube video I have seen this week. Enjoy!

The Hunger Games

Ever since the official movie trailer was released this week, everyone has been talking about this book. People in class talk about it. People at work ask about it. I've never felt so out of the loop. I've been used to this the last 4-5 months since I was out of the loop for a few months. (24 to be exact.) So yesterday after class, I decided to officially start my Thanksgiving break. No homework. But that's usually what I spend my time doing every Friday in WSC 1111 for six hours. What would I do at work?? Such a dilemma. I decided to head to Barnes and Noble and buy a REAL book. I haven't read a REAL book since the last installment of the Harry Potter series back in high school. I bought The Hunger Games so I could finally add something to the conversations that continue to come up. I got to work and started reading. And I couldn't stop. The storyline? Gruesome. The plot? Addicting. I had forgotten how much I really do like reading a good book. At the end of my shift, I had already read 250 pages. I came home and had nothing to do, so I kept reading for another hour. This morning I woke up and finished it. I can finally say I read a whole book in less than 24 hours.

Today was painfully vanilla. (That's a phrase I picked up in Virginia. It means boring, but the only time I heard it was from black people in reference to boring white people.) I had NOTHING to do. So I headed back to Barnes and Noble to get the second book in the series. They didn't have a paperback copy, and the hardback was $17.99. Ouch. But what else was I going to do all day? I had already checked the libraries in town and the books were checked out. It seemed worth it to me. I'm about one third of the way done so far. There was a football game tonight, the last home game of the season I think. I decided that staying home and reading a book in the warmth of my apartment was more appealing than freezing to death at at the game. You know it's cold when even my roommates, who are huge fans, come home at halftime.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't read these books, I recommend it. I know they are about kids having to kill other kids, but there is much more to the story than that. I'll probably read the third one soon as well. And then the wait for the movie to come out next year, March 23rd!

I'm going to go read some more.

Smorgasbord.

Ok, first of all, I can never think of anything creative or catchy to put for a title. Not my forte.

Here are some highlights of the week.

For those of you who may not know, BYU gives out free Bridal Guides. They are everywhere. And they are hilarious. On my Wednesday shift I work with some pretty funny people. So as I was leaving lunch to go to work, I saw the stand with the guides, so I grabbed one and headed off. I walked into the lab, held up my Bridal Guide proudly, and we all burst out laughing. I'm sure everyone in JKB 1005 thinks we are the most immature people. So we spent that hour flipping through and criticizing everything. Little did I know a Bridal Guide could make for hours of wholesome entertainment.

Every Thursday night me and some friends get together for dinner. It's always a fun time. Last night, we started talking about shows we used to watching growing up. Before we knew it, we had Youtube up and we were looking up the theme songs of all our favorites. The list included, but was not limited to, Arthur, Zoom, Duck Tales, Recess, The Magic School Bus, Animaniacs, and The Pinkie and the Brain. Yes, we could still sing to most of the songs. Yes, we still had our favorite episodes. And yes, we can even still recall the schedule of when they came on TV. Why don't they make shows like these anymore? I would still watch them faithfully.

After dinner last night, some of us decided to go check out the line at Wal-Mart for the release of the latest Harry Potter movie. I expected a huge line, I mean there are two large universities here and what else do college kids do for fun? We got there and there was no line.


But there was a small crowd off to the side watching the movie and eating cake. I won't make any judgment calls, but it was totally the type of crowd that would be in a place where there was free cake. We stood around and debated what to do, and then one of the employees paused the movie for a quick trivia question. "What was the first horcrux to be destroyed?" Annoying little girl: "The locket!" Me: "NO! It was TOM RIDDLE'S DIARY!!" You bet I was right. Prize? A free poster. Of Hermione. I can check that off my bucket list! They turned the movie back on and we watched until the end (15 more minutes) and then waited for more questions. If I could have answered more than one, I would have won so many prizes. Obviously this crowd did not know their stuff. My friend won a poster and then we were out of there by 11 o'clock. Success? I would say so.
Oh, and happy 11/11/11.

I'm BACK!!!

Greetings to all my blog readers! All three of you. I've always wanted to say "greetings" as an introduction. I know you all have been waiting and waiting in suspense, wondering when I would blog again. Well I have good news. Too many funny things this week have happened and I believe you all deserve to hear about it.

1. Apparently I still look like I'm in the 16-18 years old range. Since school has started, I've had way too many people ask if I'm an R.M., when I'm going to turn my papers in, etc. One time (the only time) I went to the mission prep sunday school class, they asked who had served missions. Me and a few others raised our hands and the teacher looks at me and says, "Oh, really? Wow." Small comment, big impact. The most recent occurrence was this week. It started at work with someone saying I looked 18. Then that night while I was taking the trash out, some guys asked if I could help carry some boxes in. There were probably five of us and we piled into the elevator. One thing to note about Alpine Village is that the elevator rides are always, ALWAYS awkward. This time was no exception. So we are going down, and one guy says, "How old are you? You look pre-mission." Before I answer my first thought was "Is he really asking me this to break the awkward silence?" I say, "I'm 21, I've already served." Everyone nodded and raised their eyebrows like it was a huge surprise. What the heck?

2. I went to my very first, and probably last, Pampered Chef sales party. It was a hoax. My friend got invited and told me that a professional chef was "going to teach us how to make a dessert." We got there, and there was sweet Marilynn, our saleswoman. She did teach us how to make a dessert. And you bet she sat us down with a catalog and let us look through it. One of her tactics was to say an item, and we had to find what page it was on. She did this three times, I won twice. And I won a piece of chocolate each time. You'd think this was a nice prize, right? I did, until I discovered that she took it from the candy bowl that was already in the apartment. Real cheap. I put it back in spite of her.

3. I had another biology test. The kids I sit with in class are a lot of fun, but we usually end up not listening to the lecture because it is so boring and impossible to take notes on. None of us did that great on the test, so we all decided that today we were going to pay attention. That lasted for like 10 minutes. By the end of the class we had all taken the Moron Test, an app on my phone, and we had all taken our picture and uploaded it to the FatBooth app. It was so funny. I know I've been complaining about school being so hard. But seriously, PDBio 120 is not the most thrilling class to take.

That sums up my week. This may become a weekly update thing since I work every Friday night and I get bored really quick. I have a stack of notes for Music 201 sitting next to me, but who wants to study Greek literature and Gothic architecture on a Friday night? Not me.

Exactly one year ago...

One year ago from today I was on BYU's campus as a student for the first time. I was scared to death, didn't want to be here, didn't want to meet new people, didn't want to start classes, and I just wanted to go home and have a normal summer break like all my friends. A few days later I was wondering what I had got myself into. I didn't even know how to go inside the Cannon Center, so I didn't eat dinner Saturday night or eat the next morning. On the first day of classes I got lost on campus somewhere down by the Richard's Building and was late for my first class, which was English at 8 a.m. and lasted two hours, three times a week. It was the worst. The rest of the week wasn't much better either. And then I finally started hanging out with some people from my freshman academy group. At first I thought they were all weird and I didn't want anything to do with them, but they all turned out to be pretty cool. College started to be more fun. We went ice blocking every week, went to the Skyroom Cafe when our dining cards got maxxed out, and played night games around Helaman Halls. Today I talked to a few of the people that I met on my first day and it's crazy to think that it's been a whole year. I still remember the names we had to make up for ourselves to "help" us learn each other's names. There was Joking Jake, Joshing Josh, Magical Melinda, Tiny Tara, Grinning Gwen, Ecstatic Erica, Leaping Lindsey, and of course myself, Masculine Michael. Or maybe it was Musical, or even Muscular. Either way, they all apply. Anyway, I've endured classes that probably haven't helped me at all, like American Heritage and Human Development. I've had roommates from three different countries. I've had spaghetti and grilled cheese sandwiches at least once a week, and either Lucky Charms or Honey Bunches of Oats for breakfast every morning. I've had enough midterms, finals, projects, readings, writings, and study groups to last me about two years. But there are some things that I am going to miss. My daily 30-minute walk to campus and back, mint brownies from Sugar 'n Spice, the bell tower ringing "Come, Come Ye Saints" every hour, seeing "Y Mountain" every day, studying in the library until midnight when they start playing classical music, night games on campus, pranking innocent EFY kids, and sleeping wherever and whenever I got the chance. I could keep going and going but I don't want to bore you :) Now I am getting ready to come home for good, only to leave it again to come back to Provo once more. And then it's off to Virginia where I will spend the best/hardest two years of my life. BYU, you've taught me a lot and even though I thought I would never say it, I'm going to miss you. See you in two years.

Just a quick update...

Just three more weeks until I leave! I can't believe it has come this fast. It's really hard to focus on school AND getting ready to leave at the same time, but it has helped keep my nerves down. I have my last midterm on Thursday and then one more week of classes, one last trip to Idaho, back down to Provo, finals, back to Idaho for a long weekend, and then back to Provo. It's going to get hectic very fast.

The Past Year

Exactly one year ago, I was getting ready to do this...

A month later, I was getting ready to come here...


I got to eat food like this...


And tried to get as much of this as I could...


I've seen my fair share of celebrities...


And I even became a celebrity myself!

http://academy.byu.edu/newsDetail.jsp?id=71

I've had enough of these to last me for a while...


And in less than 5 weeks, I'll be getting ready to come here!


One big year of change, don't you think?

A Story for the Ages...

By now you all know the story of how I got my call, but here are some pictures of the quickest, most exciting, most boring trip to retrieve that mission call.

After calling five or six friends to see if they wanted to come on a quick road trip, none of them could go! But I knew my good friend Lindsey would. She was in class so I kept calling and calling until she finally walked out because she thought I was going to be telling her where I was going, but not quite... After some quick explaining and persuading, she left in the middle of a class and skipped another class to come along for the ride!

I know he wasn't thrilled to come and probably could have spent his day doing something else, but I couldn't have asked for a better twin to come along for the ride!


After a long 3 1/2 hour drive, I finally had it!!! But with the daunting thought of having to drive back with that envelope screaming at me, I decided to drive back so I wouldn't be tempted to peek. All I knew was that whatever was in there was going to tell me my future for the next chapter of my life! And despite rumors that I looked before I opened it with everyone waiting at home, I did NOT look! (That's right Candria. I do have self-control.)

Richmond, Virginia: Here I come. (And Brittany, Andrea, Amy, and any other family that I may "run into." Cards, new ties, and goodie packages are always welcome!)

P.S. Thanks to everyone for waiting up so late for me to get back, it meant a lot! And sorry for all the late-night phone calls...

And the winner is...

ONE person guessed stateside. As a winner, you are officially invited to my farewell. Anyone else who voted is invited too!

It's been a crazy week, so sorry for the long boring post. After a hectic weekend with an unplanned trip to Utah and back in one day, the time has come to start yet another semester, or term in this case, of college. My roommates are a little crazy. One of them is from Nigeria. He's about 5'4", has a thick accent, and likes to smile and laugh a lot. Before he says anything to me, he says, "My friend..." It makes me laugh. The other one is from Nepal. Yeah I didn't know where that was either. I've seen him once since I moved in on Monday. I'm sure he's pretty cool...? Classes are going pretty well so far. On Tuesday when classes started, I couldn't find my first class, tennis. It brought back horrifying memories of my first day last June when I was wandering around the Brick Oven trying to find the JFSB. I knew there were stairs somewhere, but I had no clue where to go. Anyway, I skipped tennis and waited until noon for my next class. Usually when I go to the JFSB (my home away from home) I have to wander around trying to find a place to study. Today, I felt like I was the only person in the whole building. At noon I went to the JSB for my next class. It was the same room where I had class last summer. So I went in, the class was full, and we waited for the teacher to arrive. At about 12:30, after half the class had left, a nerdy but helpful student realized he had the professor's office phone number in his phone. I'm still wondering why, but hey, he called and the teacher was there five minutes later. He was really nice and apologetic, but after 30 minutes of apologizing and giving every excuse that came to his mind for being late, it started getting old. So yeah, first day was off to a great start. My next class was right after the last one and right across the hall. So of course I was there before everyone else. I started talking to my teacher and found out that he served in the Richmond Virginia Mission! He was really nice and it was a good class. So that is how my first day turned out, pretty crazy. Now I have 7 more weeks of school, a mission to prepare for, a farewell talk to write, farewells to attend, finals, and then the MTC. Life is great.

Never judge a book by its cover.

This is probably one of the best videos I have seen in a long time. It's great to see ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Especially when we are so quick to judge people and then are quickly proven wrong. Enjoy! (And sorry for the strange link, YouTube is blocked.)

My bad...

Ok ok ok, I've heard your complaints and have made another poll. I think I have the whole world covered now.

Vote!

Here's your chance to vote on where I am going on my mission (see poll to the right.) My papers are in as of last night so now I just get to wait!

Festival of Colors!

Today was the annual Festival of Colors at the Hare Krashna Temple in Spanish Fork. It was so much fun! We got their really early so we walked around the temple and looked at the llamas, the same llamas that I saw at the Llama Festival last year at the same place. Anyway, they had a bonfire with a "witch" that they burned and then everyone threw colored chalk powder at each other. It was hard to breath and see because we were all in a giant powder cloud. It was definitely the funnest thing I have done this year so far!

They told us that we couldn't get high from the powder, so I had to take a whiff.

Only in Utah

Only in Utah will you see people laying out and working on their tans as soon as the weather gets above 50 degrees. Same thing for Idaho, but it's more like 30 degrees.

Mission Call!

Ok it's not mine. Sorry to disappoint, just wait another month or so. BUT Brock, my roommate, got his call today. Well... I got his call. I was the one to get it out of the mail box and tell him, but he was in class. So just as a good roommate should, I had some fun with his call with some good friends of ours. Our conclusion, mostly to start a rumor on Facebook, is that he is going to Jakarta, Indonesia.

A Day of Firsts

I ate my cereal with a fork for the first time.
I was late to Nutrition for the first time this semester.
I fell asleep in Nutrtion for the first time.
I went to Devotional for the first time this semester
I did go-uh to the Moa for the first time today to eat.
I looked at an art exhibit for the first time.
I got to sit at a table in the JFSB to study for the first time. (Usually they are taken)
I got sunburned for the first time since Hawaii.
I aced a midterm for the first time.
I got an exclamatory remark by my test score for the first time. ("Fantastic!")
I walked to and back from campus for the first time in a long time.
I turned the AC on for the first time this year.
I ate yogurt with a fork for the first time, because I am still too lazy to wash my spoons.

Whale Watching

This was probably the coolest thing we did on our trip. The guides said it was one of the best tours that they have done. We saw everything!

The video is a little long, but it shows two males fighting (?) and then a lot of fin slapping at the end, you can actually hear the slaps.