Finals Week

So, Thanksgiving week was amazing. I drove down to Allen, Texas with a couple other people, which was a very long drive (about 19 hours one way). I completely surprised my family at home, though - they had no idea I was coming. At all. They were shocked. It was awesome. I had an amazingly fun time with my family the four days that I was there. We all had tons of fun together, I didn't worry about school or work during the break, the food was delicious. So much fun. The only downside to Thanksgiving break is that I have a really hard time completely coming back to school, mentally. Also, over the break, Jeffrey and Debbie had their baby, Knightley! Knightley Leland Jacobson, born on November 25, 2008 (8 lbs 4 oz, 18.5 in, for anyone who's interested/doesn't know).

Now that I've made it through a couple more weeks of school, I'm in the middle of finals week. Such an unpleasant experience. I only have two finals left to take tomorrow, though, and then I'll be finished. Tomorrow... I have a lot of work to do, though. Blech. Then the marching band leaves on Thursday morning to go to Las Vegas for the bowl game. Which will be fun. Then I get home the night of the 21st, and the following day is my birthday. I am so stoked. I can't wait to get home - everyone in my family, including the married couples, is going to be there for the break. It's going to be one huge awesomefest.

I just have to stay focused for one more day, and then I can let go and enjoy Christmas season the way it was meant to be enjoyed, without the stress of school butting in.

P.S. Is it a bad thing that I'd rather go to Allen High School's State football game than BYU's bowl game? :P

Calm Before The Storm

Well, I'm glad this week is about over. For me, at least. I have marching band this afternoon, and my computer graphics class at 7. Which I enjoy. Then I have marching band tomorrow afternoon, and that's it. So basically, this week is practically done aside from those few things I need to go to. This week wasn't the worst ever, but I've been looking forward to it's conclusion. I had a couple papers to write and a bunch of art stuff to do, and all that jazz. Which, naturally, I put off until I absolutely have to do it. :P

This weekend is The Duel - the game between BYU the U of U. It's always a big deal, and there's a huge rivalry between the two universities. We've won the past two years, and I really hope we win again. BYU spirit all the way!

Next week is Thanksgiving week, which will be really nice. I found out yesterday that two of my classes on Monday aren't meeting, and the other one we're just watching some video. Then on Tuesday is Friday instruction, and since I don't have anything to go to for those Friday classes (we're not even meeting for marching band that day), I have nothing at all on Tuesday. I don't even have work, since it's Friday instruction - they're having the people at the Cannon Center who work on Friday work on that day. My Thanksgiving break starts a day earlier than most other people on campus. Sweet! It's going to be a nice Thanksgiving.

After this week, there's only about two weeks left of school, and then a week of finals. We're almost done! It's unbelievably close! So is it bad if I still feel like I'm catching up in some classes? :P I've reached a relaxed point in my classes - for a moment. Once this is over, I'll have to kick it into gear again (going back to school after Thanksgiving break? Does anyone really completely come back?). We're almost there.

The Good Stuff

Last week I got to sign up for classes. What a joy. In all honesty, I really do enjoy planning out class schedules and signing up for classes and stuff, it's just not as fun to take the classes. That, and it can be a pain to sign up for them, since a whole lot of people at BYU are trying to sign up at the same time, so it kinda makes the website a bit slower. I did get all the classes I wanted, but I'm actually waiting to see if spots open up in different sections of a couple of the classes will open up. I'm sure they will eventually, I just have to keep my eye on them so I can grab it.

This weekend we had a football game against San Diego State University (SDSU), and won 41-12. It was a great game. Not only that, but we had one of the coolest halftime shows I've ever done. We played Tetris, Zelda, Mortal Kombat, Pokémon, and Freebird. Awesomest. Show. Ever. I'm pretty certain I'll get a recording of it from band eventually. It was so sweet.

This weekend Jeffrey was also back in town! So today he, Debbie, Trevin, and I all got together and had a Sunday meal together, after which we played some games together. The food was really good, and much appreciated. Then me, Trevin, and Jeffrey played some little Arthur game that came in a Wendy's Kid's Meal. So you know how much fun that had to be. It was so lame that it was funny... except for the fact that in the three games that we played of it, I got last all three times. No... that was actually funny too. Then all of us played It Came To Pass. In the first round, when people were scoring, I dunno... 20s? 30s? I got a whopping 167 points. And you're supposed to get as few points as possible. 167?! That round was seriously messed up. We ended up playing until someone hit 500, which we all knew after a short while would be me. At the end of it all, I had 504, and the person who came in second to last only had 245. (The rest of the scores were all relatively close.) Undisputed last place. That's right guys... ain't nobody can lose the way I can. But seriously, I had a blast today. I literally laughed so hard so much today that not only did my stomach and face start hurting, like sometimes happens, but I got a serious headache. I still have it. I'm just hoping it's gone by morning. But hey, what better way to get a killer headache than to laugh really hard all day? :)

Happy Halloween

Boo.

A few things: I found out several weeks ago that Nintendo is apparently coming out with a Nintendo DSi in the near future. First of all, DSi? That sounds too similar to Apple, I think. But oh well, I can go with it. I wasn't a fan of the name "Wii" for their newest console when it came out, but it's grown on me. The thing that really gets me, though, is that I finally bought a DS Lite this summer, after years of having the old DS. Who would've known that if I just waited a bit longer (supposedly it should come out sometime next year in the US), I could've gotten the newer one instead? I really didn't think that they would go and make another upgraded version of the DS. Maybe it's just me, but I think that's a bit much, and they should be working on something new. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the DSi will be sweet, and I would love to have one, but the whole situation just disappointed me. Just bought the DS Lite...

Also, I'm still completely hooked on Red vs Blue. I can't get enough. This past week, actually, when the new episode came out... well, to make a long story short, it was supposed to come out at a specific time, but was delayed, so I stayed up... much later than I should have... eventually went to bed, and it ended up coming out the next day (19 hours later than they initially said). And all I have to say about it, is that it. Was. Awesome. Overwhelmingly awesome.

For Halloween today, I decided to dress up as a nerd. No, not the stereotypical nerd with glasses and a pocket protector and all that jazz. I know I'm a nerd, and so by being a nerd for Halloween, I didn't have to do anything extra. Just be me, and there you have it. (That line is for you, Dad.)

And with the closing of October, I realize something... where on earth did the month go? Don't get me wrong, I am in no way unhappy about it. September seemed to go by slowly, but October just seemed to fly by. The semester is half over! A little more than that, I think. The only bad thing about that is that it means more tests are coming up soon. But I can deal with it.

That's the way things roll.

Live for the Moment

Well, Happy Hump Day everyone. Wednesdays can be so lame... especially since this weekend is going to be so nice. We're not having marching band practice on Thursday or Friday, so I just have two classes on Thursday, and one on Friday morning. Besides that, the weekend is free! Not to mention we don't have a football game to go to this week, so Saturday is also free, aside from work.

I've realized that now that I have a plan for the future, I want to just get on with it already. The classes I'm taking now are just required stuff that I need to get over with for GE credits (plus a couple art classes), and don't seem that meaningful. I'm looking forward to this semester ending, because I feel like I'm not fully invested in my classes now, and that I'm mostly just going through the motions until I finish this semester. However, I've also realized that life is a great gift, and so is the opportunity I have to get an education here, and I shouldn't take it lightly. Sure, the classes I'm in now pretty much aren't a big deal for the future, but everything I can learn here is important. Every moment of my life is special, and I take most of it for granted. I shouldn't always be looking toward the future, waiting anxiously for whatever is coming next, and ignoring the time that I have now. This stage in my life won't last forever. I have so many blessings in my life, and I will enjoy the little moments.

Conference Weekend

The past week went by smoothly enough. On Friday BYU had an away game, about three hours away. Everyone in the band had the option to go or not. I decided to go with the band, even though it meant that it would take up most of my Friday, and limit the time I spent on my computer graphics assignment that morning. As it was, I just got up a little earlier to do that, took about three hours or so, and finished that. Then I had an hour or two to have lunch, spend some time online, and get ready to go. The game was fun, but slightly disappointing. We did win (against USU - Utah State University) by 20 points, but from what I hear BYU is in the top ten college football teams and USU is in the bottom ten. Or something to that effect. So everyone was expecting to do better, maybe even get another shut-out (it would've made three in a row). But at least we still won. And we had fun.

On Saturday, I watched the morning session of General Conference in my apartment. After that was over, Debbie and I drove to Midway to visit my aunt Carisa, as well as Nana and Poppy (my Mom's parents), who were visiting from Idaho. We had a great time there. My little cousin Carson told me that I was "too skinny" when he hugged me. Haha, thanks Carson. ;) We then watched the afternoon session of Conference, and later had a delicious dinner. Afterwards, Debbie and I drove back to Provo, and she was kind enough to take me shopping. I didn't get too much stuff, just replenished some things I'm running out of.

On Sunday, Debbie and I got up early and drove to Sandy, where Trevin and Kalisha were visiting her family for the weekend. We had a great breakfast, with extra bacon. :P We all watched the Sunday morning session of Conference. Between sessions, a bunch of us played various games - pool, foosball, and Disney Scene It. Lunch was great, and then we all sat down again to watch the afternoon session. Overall, General Conference was fantastic. Very inspiring. Once it was over, we played The Great Dalmuti, which is a lot like Scum, for those who know, just a bit different. Dinner was really good, and then Trevin and I played another game of pool before he, Kalisha and I left for Alpine (where Carisa had gone back to that evening), and Debbie left for Provo. I would've liked for Debbie to come to, but she needed to get home instead. We visited with Carisa, Nana, and Poppy and played with the kids for a while, and then we all left again for Provo.

It's after weekends like these that I hate going back to school.

One Month Down

Well, I'm now about one month into school. Thinks are going pretty alright so far. At the beginning of the semester, I did end up changing half my classes. Now I'm basically taking some GE classes, a couple music classes, and a couple art classes. One of them is a beginning piano class, which is so fun! I've never had piano lessons of any kind before, so I'm really excited to learn a little. And right now, since it's for people with no piano or musical experience, it's really easy. We haven't even done scales or anything yet, actually. But it's great. Probably my favorite class of the semester.

My New Testament class I'm taking with both Trevin and Kalisha, which is also awesome! I get to see them at least twice a week, this way. We all sit together during class. Not to mention, I really enjoy my teacher. I'm taking biology, which is actually really interesting. For some strange reason, the particular class section that I'm enrolled in is focused just on birds. So while all the other Bio 100 classes are learning the stuff we all learned in ninth grade, I get to learn all about birds. Plus, there have been optional "field trips", where a small group from the class would go with the teacher at 7:00am on a specified day to go birdwatching, for about two and a half hours. I went once, and though I wasn't a fan of getting up at 6:00am, it was fun.

The other classes I'm taking are Computer Graphics (fun), Music Fundamentals (really easy), LDS Marriage and Family (really enjoy this one), Intro to Art and Drawing (fun, for the most part), and Marching Band. Most of my classes are fun or interesting to one extent or another. I have a pretty decent semester. Although, since my art classes are both one night a week for three and four hours, between that and work I have no evenings except for Friday and Sunday. But hey, it's all good.

I've also been watching Red vs Blue a lot lately, which I love. It has a bit of swearing, but it's so funny. I also work at the Cannon Dining Center again, as a custodian, which is fun. Since my school schedule is so odd, I can't work the normal shifts, which are either Monday/Wednesday/Friday nights or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday night. So I work on Monday/Tuesday/Saturday night, with both the custodial crews. I enjoy working with all of them, though.

Other than school, work, band, and the random things I do to waste my time during the day, I'm not up to anything else new. There have been plenty of confusing things going on lately, but things are pretty okay right now. I absolutely can't wait to come back home over Christmas break, but in the meantime I'm enjoying myself up here at school.

Back To School

Well, I'm back in Provo. I just finished up a week of marching band, which left me with no time to do anything else. But it was really good, because I was working hard all the time, so it took my mind off leaving home. We then had our first football game of the season, against the University of Northern Iowa, which we won. Of course. :P It was great fun.

I'm moved in to my apartment, which just so happens to be the exact same one Trevin was living in last year, and I'm even in the same bedroom that he was in before, though I'm not on the same side of the room that he was. They must have changed which side of the complex is the boys' and girls' again, but seriously, what are the odds? Haha. I also went grocery shopping for myself for the first time, which was a new experience. And one that I'll have to get used to pretty quickly. Luckily, Jeffrey took me. He offered tips, plus he gave me a ride. :)

My roommates seem to be really nice. Charlene and Allison. All of us are sophomores, which is pretty cool. I think we'll all get along great, and it'll be fun to live with these girls.

School starts on Tuesday, which seems to be later than every other school I know of. But hey, I'm certainly not complaining. This year is going to be a busy one, but hopefully it'll also be a fun one.

Back Again, Leaving Again

First off, the trip to San Antonio was fantastic. When we went to see the Alamo, I was actually pleasantly surprised. After hearing from so many people that it really wasn't a big deal and wasn't very big, I had settled on the idea that while it might not be much to look at, it was still an important piece of Texas history. But it was actually cooler than I had expected.

We then went to the River Walk, which is great. We ended up eating at Café Olé, which happens to be the same place I went to with Alex and Rachel R. on the band trip our Freshman year. Oh, it brought back memories. Only, this time Rachel wasn't there freaking out about the time and thinking we'd be late, even though a table or two away from us were some of the chaperones. :) There was also a small Mexican band, I guess you could say, who ended up playing The Devil Went Down To Georgia for us. It was awesome.

Sea World was wonderful, of course. The first day, we did mostly animal shows, which were great. The second day we did mostly rides. It was interesting, actually... the first day we went, we had to take our passes that we had purchased online and printed off, and we also had our thumbprints scanned. The second day was the same, and when I scanned my thumb again, the screen said that my bio didn't match. For a moment, I was like... what?? I swear, I didn't change myself or my thumb between yesterday and now... and then I think the guy pushed some button or something and it was fine.

Schlitterbahn was really fun, and I'd never been before. We had half a day the first day, and were there all day the following day. It was really fun, and it's been a long time since I've been to a water park. Also, the Master Blaster was awesome. I'd never ridden an uphill waterslide before, but it was so cool. In both ways, actually. It was great, and it was cold. But we had a lot of fun.

Ever since we got home, leaving for college has seemed to come closer and closer, and now the day is here. I'm leaving tomorrow, after we go to church. We're going for the first hour, and then leaving early so that we can have dinner together before I leave. I can't believe school's already about to start. I'm looking forward to it in a few ways, but it's definitely very bittersweet. It's hard to leave home. When I do get there, though, I'm planning to stay with Jeffrey and Debbie for a few days, maybe a week, until I can move into my apartment. I can move in sooner, but it costs money before the 30th. Not a lot, but still, money is money. I'm just glad Jeffrey and Debbie are willing to let me stay there for however long. After a week of marching band, classes start. We have that Monday off, for Labor Day, and we start on Tuesday. And once that comes... it'll be a busy semester.

So for now, I've just been packing and enjoy my last few days at home. Packing has been oh so fun, of course. Right... but at least I haven't had to work since Tuesday.

Oh yeah, and Chanelle's birthday was on Thursday... which was fun. I can't believe she's 12 now. She'll be in Young Women now. She's growing up... *sniff* I supposed we all have to, sometime or another. I wonder when I will... :)

To San Antonio!

So, I finally saw The Dark Knight the other day. It was really good. A little creepy, but great. I wasn't disappointed.

A week from tomorrow I have the great pleasure of leading the music in Sacrament meeting at church. And since you can't tell just by reading that, that was sarcastic. :P I already conduct the music during Relief Society, which is significantly less frightening, because there aren't so many people in there. But Becca Hay asked me if I could do it, since she'll be out of town, so of course I agreed. And you know what, it seems intimidating, but it'll be fine. In the end, I don't mind.

I also bought a DS Lite a few days ago. Sweet! It's so nice in comparison to the old DS (sometimes referred to as the DS Phat :). I decided on the white one, even though there was a decent selection at Target - Cody has black, Chanelle has pink, and the others they had were white, blue, and red. Of course, Mom liked the red one the best. The blue one was also cool. But white just looks so... nice? I don't know. I just like it. So now I'm hoping to sell my old one. If anyone who reads this (who is local) knows someone who would be interested in buying it, let me know. It still works fine and everything, so if I don't sell it before I leave for school, hopefully I'll be able to do so when I'm at BYU.

Later, also at Target, Mom and I decided to get a new bedspread and sheets for my bed, since the old bedspread I had is, well, getting old. I ended up keeping the same blue color that my walls are painted, for the sheets, and getting brown for the bedspread. We're now thinking of painting a part of my walls brown, and leaving the rest blue. So yeah... I like it.

Tomorrow, I leave with my family to go to San Antonio! Tomorrow we'll go to the River Walk, and probably will see the Alamo. From what I hear, it's no big deal, really, but at least I'll finally be able to say that I've seen it. The next two days, we'll be at Sea World, which is awesome! I've been twice in the past, on band trips, and I loved it. I can't wait to go again. The shows are cool, and the rides are great. The two days following that, we'll be going to Schlitterbahn, about an hour away. I've never been, but I've heard that it's a really neat water park. Then we come home Friday, afternoon-ish, I'm guessing.

That Friday evening, I'll be going to Allison's reception. She'll be married! It still blows me away. I can accept the fact, but when I really think about it, it's still so weird. When did we ever grow up so much?

The Dark Knight

This weekend was opening weekend for The Dark Knight. It's been so busy. I worked 5-close for the midnight showings on Thursday night. We didn't close until about 12:25, but then Brooke and I had to do changeovers, since we were in box office... which is basically, we have to put up new movies and showtimes on the board above our heads that everyone looks at while they're standing in line. Every Thursday night it has to be done (as well as changing the huge letters we have on the board thing on the front of our theater, but someone else does those), since new movies come out on Friday. So Brooke and I were figuring everything out, and once we finished up in both box offices, the managers were checking over it, and found two mistakes in the times that they had printed out. We were hopelessly tired at this point, so we kind of just improvised and tore off numbers from the times we were throwing away and put them together to make whatever new times we needed. They let us go after that, although looking at it now, I think they just printed out new times at some point. Regardless, I didn't get out of there until about 1:30am, and bed at about 2am. That said, I know that the people seeing The Dark Knight didn't get out of there until about 3am, but that's out of their own free will, and working is not nearly as fun as watching a movie. :P Brooke and I took the liberty of taking a bunch of game tokens home with us that night.

The next morning, Brooke and I (as well as a couple other people) had to open (9-5) in concession. First of all, I hate working in concession (and hadn't had to do it in months). Second of all, it was opening day for The Dark Knight. Third of all, Brooke and I had to close the night before, and had to get up early to open (and actually, so did a few other people we were working with that morning). Anyway, it actually wasn't as busy as I assumed it would be, but it still wasn't fun. And I did get a little burn on my hand, which had touched the bottom of the popcorn popper on accident while I was getting popcorn. There was actually someone who opened in concession that morning, who ended up staying until close that night (which is about two hours later than our normal closing time that Friday and Saturday because of The Dark Knight). Ouch. Ms. Cogar was asking each of us if we would stay until close, and my response was, with no hesitance, a no. So yeah... poor guy who ended up staying. Luckily enough, Ms. Cogar was gracious enough to let Brooke and I go home about half an hour early (4:30).

Last night I worked again, 5-close. In box office again, thank goodness. It was a busy night, until about 11. After that, we had customers come and go, but it was generally pretty slow. So I didn't get home until a little after 1am. And I don't work on Sundays, so that was the end of it for me. It was a tiring weekend, but it's over. :) The other annoying thing about all of this is that for three nights in a row I've either dreamed that I was at work, or some of my managers were in my dream. I could never escape from work. :P Now I just want to go see The Dark Knight. I just have to watch Batman Begins first, since I haven't seen it... :P

More July Fun

Last week we went to a baseball game. It was fun. I tend to get bored after a while, but for the most part I really enjoyed myself. I also don't know all the rules, and just don't follow every moment of the game. It was really cool, though, because the Rangers (Texas) were playing the Angels (LA), and the Angels were winning for most of the game. But in the last inning, we got one run followed by a home run! It was great! A very cool ending, it put everyone in a great mood on the ride back home.

I also saw Get Smart with Cody the other night, which was a great movie. I heard from a lot of people that it was an okay movie, but not that great. When I saw it, though, I loved it! I'm not the pickiest person with movies, but I really enjoyed it. Great stuff.

Cody and I had spent a lot of time this past week trying to network our two home computers together so that we can play multiplayer computer games. We tried so many things, and our hopes would raise just a little, even though I always knew I'd be disappointed, whenever we found something else to try. Last night we decided to try once more, and we figured it out! All it seems we had to do was install some IPX thing on one of the computers, and it works! So we started our game this morning, which was a lot of fun. :)

I had to work a 10-hour shift last week... which, surprisingly enough, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a long day, but it still went by quicker than I anticipated. I know I really need the money, but sometimes work can be a drag. Oh well, I tough it out.

Trevin decided to change his major (from civil engineering), and he's planning to be a linguist for the FBI, I believe. That's so cool. It suits him better, too, I think. Now if only I could choose what I'm doing... :) I'm still looking into classes, though, and may end up changing something before classes start. Ah well, it happens.

Kokiri Kids, my beloved forums, are now gone. Just, gone. It's so sad. It was such a great place... I try not to dwell on it too much. We don't know exactly what's going to happen next with this situation, but I'm eager to find out what the plans are.

That's pretty much everything I can think of now. Great stuff, it is. I guess I'm off to work now.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July, everyone. :)

So, I completely forgot to mention in my last post that I also bought a Wii a few weeks ago! And I love it. The only games I have for it right now are Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as a few Gamecube games I can play on the Wii. It's all great fun. I've been looking forward to getting one for quite some time now, and I finally got one a few weeks ago. ^_^

On Wednesday I saw Wall-E with Cody and Chanelle. It was great! I really liked it, and it was very cute. I recommend it to anyone.

Also on Wednesday my mom, Chanelle, and I went to David and Sammy's place. We were taking them to the airport so they can go have fun in Utah instead of in Allen. Yeah, whatever. ;) Anyway, so we stayed there with Sammy and Ashton until David got back from school. Ashton is just as cute as ever, and now he can scoot himself to get around. He's almost fully crawling. And he's got a few teeth. He's adorable.

Today everyone at home who works took the day off. We'll get lots of time to do fun things together, though I still don't know if we're planning to do anything in particular yet. Ah well, spontaneity is fun. We'll probably all go bike riding together, and I'm hoping we go swimming as well. We'll be having shish kabobs for lunch/dinner, though, I know that. So yummy. Tonight we might have those little popper things, or snap dragons, or whatever they're called these days - the kind that you throw on the ground and it makes a loud popping noise. Those are fun. I like to pretend I'm Sheik and I throw one of those smoke things down to disappear. :) I've also got some glow sticks left that I got at Girls Camp, and Chanelle and I saved them to use tonight. Those are pretty fun. :)

On another note, the forums I go to and moderate - Kokiri Kids - have been down for quite some time, and still don't seem to be working. Not good. Not only that, but a few people are starting to leave the forum for various reasons, some people that I've become good friends with. Sad. It just won't quite be the same, pretty soon.

Anyway, I intend to have a great day today, and I hope everyone else does the same. :)

It's Been More Than A Month!

I figure since today's the last day of June, I should get in one post before July comes. Yeah, I'm getting lazy with this. :P

I went to Girl's Camp last week. It was Chanelle's first year to go. Aww. :) Technically, I'm too old to just go as one of the girls (like I got away with last year), so this time I was officially a leader. It was a little weird, I have to admit... kind of awkward at times, but definitely really nice. Kara and I both went as leaders, but we ended up still getting some of the neat things the girls got from the leaders and all of that. And then, the way things worked out, we had hardly any responsibilities, so it was way more relaxed for Kara and I than any other year I've gone to camp. Not only that, but we were in cabins (we've have cabins some times and tents other times) that had really nice air conditioning, like I've never had before - seriously, it was so good that most people would get cold at night. It was wonderful. And being there with Chanelle was so much fun. I loved watching her and her friend Nicki do things together, they're so cute. I love Chanelle. :)

Oh, I also made it into the BYU Marching Band. Hooray. :D I think I should be more excited about it than I am - honestly, I think it was more of a matter of either frustration if I didn't make it vs relief if I did, rather than oh well if I didn't vs party time if I did. I am very happy about it though.

I'm still wondering about my major, and I've actually been doing a double-take on the classes I signed up for months ago, but I think my classes are pretty much set. I think about changing stuff, but I'm not sure I actually will.

Oh yeah, I also went to a high school band concert at the end of May, man it seems like so long ago... I went on to different nights, because our high school has so many bands. The first night I went to listen to Cody's band, which after the lower orchestras that I heard before he went on, was wonderful. Heck, it was a really good concert either way, I really enjoyed it. The next night, after listening through a bunch of other lower groups, was Wind Ensemble, which was also incredible to listen to. And it was Gibson's last concert, since he's moving up to Administrator of Arts or something fancy like that. :) So yeah, the concerts were really good. Afterwards, Sarah, Alex, Rachel R and I (who went to the second night of concertness together) went to Sonic, which was really fun. Good, good times.

I also went to the YSA Conference the other weekend... like, two weekends ago? Something like that. First night was an "Activity Night", which turned out to be kind of odd... so Rachel H, Marianne, Sarah (don't remember her last name) and I sat in an empty room for most of the time (we did go and socialize from time to time!) and just talked. Well, I didn't do a whole lot of talking, but it was fun. The next day there were workshops and a service project of some sort, and I went to two of the workshops, both of them with Rachel H, and one of them also with Kara and some other fun people. They were good. I also went to the fireside the next night, on Sunday. That was also good. I got there a little late, and didn't want to look awkward looking for an open seat next to some person I didn't know, so I sat just outside of the chapel. It turned out to be nice though, 'cause I got to just sit there on a comfy couch while I listened.

I haven't mentioned it on here, I don't think, but Debbie is pregnant! She has been for at least a few months now, I don't remember exactly how long... but today's Jeffrey and Debbie's first anniversary, and they went and got an ultrasound - and it's a boy! We're so excited! The name is already picked out, too - Knightley Leland (Jacobson). Cute name, I think. His due date, I believe, is December 1st, so he should be born sometime around when Ashton turns one. That's so cool. So yeah, definitely exciting stuff.

Kara and I went to visit teach Lisa yesterday, and she said that she might be getting her mission call either Monday (today) or Tuesday! Better not be Monday, because I haven't heard anything about it yet! Anyway, I just think it's so cool that she's going on a mission - I really admire sister missionaries. I still don't know if I plan to when the time comes or not, but I think it's great.

The movies I've seen this month include Indiana Jones and Prince Caspian, both of which I liked. I can see why people may not have liked Indiana Jones because it was kinda weird at time, but I still really liked it. And Prince Caspian was also a fantastic movie. In the near future, I'm hoping to see Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, and Get Smart. They all look really good, and I've heard good things about all of them.

Well, there's a lot that goes on in one month, I guess, but I think I got most of it. Life is going just swell, most of the time. There's things about going back to school that I'm looking forward to, but I love being home and it's definitely going by too fast. :)

Open House Was A Success

Well, I'm still truckin' along. The week is finally over, so hopefully my mom will be less stressed out all the time. :P Trevin and Kalisha's open house went well, though. It was really nice, and we had a good turnout. The only thing left to take care of (as far as I'm concerned) is leftovers. But hey, food is great, so it's all good, right?

I went to a YSA (Young Single Adult) fireside today - the first one I've officially been to, since I don't really count BYU stuff. It was pretty good. Bishop Hopewell talked about recognizing the spirit, and he told us about some of his own experiences. I liked it. Then Rachel H. and I had a nice chat in the car before I actually went in my house. I really enjoyed that. It was really meaningful, to me. Plus it was just nice to talk for a while.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, which will be fun. On Saturday, I'm babysitting for the McKneely's, which will also be fun. I used to babysit for them before I left for college, so I'm looking forward to it. Their kids are so cute... :) One of their kids, Sam, was still being carried around in a carseat last I remembered him. Now he's walking and talking, apparently. And they have another baby, who I met for the first time today. Aw... yeah, good times. As for the rest of the week, I'll just find out what it holds in store for me.

Home For Summer

Well, the past few weeks have been awesome. I love being home. It was especially fun when Trevin was home with me, and we got to just stay home and have fun while Cody and Chanelle went off to school, when I wasn't working. Seriously, the new school schedule around here sucks compared to what it used to be... I'm just glad I got out of it just in time! :) So lately, all I've been up to is playing Gamecube, Paper Mario when alone and Tales of Symphonia with Cody and Chanelle, and working. It's great. I don't have to worry about all these other things, I just work and play. I still haven't gotten together with any of my friends, but I most definitely plan to, and I'm looking forward to it very much.

Trevin left to go back to Utah a little while back... on the 9th? Maybe. I didn't really mind, either - I knew I'd be seeing him in a week, and I'll get to see him when I go back up to BYU next semester (plus, I have a couple classes with him there). So I wasn't that broken up that he'd be leaving. But I have to say, when he left, and I was left home alone while Mom and Dad took him to the airport, things just felt so much more empty. I do miss him, even though I'll get to see him plenty once school starts. It was so much fun to have him here.

We then left on Wednesday to go to his wedding in Utah. That makes three out of the six of us kids that are now married. Very, very weird. So supposedly I'm next. Yeah... I just can't see myself getting married anytime soon. I know it could happen, but don't get your hopes up. Anyway, this week has been a tiring one. Lots of things happening. And now that we're home, we get to worry about having Trevin and Kalisha's open house on Saturday - basically, when I'm home I get to help Mom so that she doesn't completely lose her sanity. But after that's over, then I'll be able to go back to the whole work and play routine. :) Time to buckle down and get through the week!

Freedom!

School is completely over! I finished all of my finals by Tuesday evening. And I have to say, I did pretty well on my finals. I got a 94, 87, two 90s, 97, and a 95 (which apparently is now 100, because he dropped three questions or something). The only one I don't know is my jazz final. Which... whatever. The 87 and the 94 are for the same class, we have two different finals in that class, basically... and for that test, an 87 was pretty good. So yeah. Take that finals. I still don't think my overall grades or my GPA will be as good as they were last semester (GPA last semester wasn't even as good as I had hoped), so many things have been going on this semester... but as far as my finals went, I'm a winner.

So I was done with school by Tuesday night, technically. But I still had a marching band audition today, so I was done with school, but at the same time, not exactly. So I had my audition today, and I think it went alright. I could've played better, but I don't think I played poorly. I hope. I'm not thrilled with the idea of going through not making it again, so hopefully my audition was good.

Sarah left this morning. Her aunt picked her up at like 9:30-ish, and took her to the airport. Her flight was at 11:30 or something. So yeah... I'm just chillin' alone. I thought I would be really bored, but I have actually hardly even been in my room. We'll see how the next few days are, though I don't think they'll be bad either. And while I'm sitting here at my desk, and when I go to sleep in the dorm bed, she's sleeping at home, probably much more comfortable... it sounds so nice. I wish I was at home tonight. Oh well. Sunday night I will be.

I also bought Super Smash Brothers Brawl today! Yay! :D It's so fun... the funny thing is, I don't even own a Wii yet... but I bought it, and took it to Jeffrey's house to play. This summer I'm planning to buy a Wii... when I can find one... but yeah. Brawl is awesome. And I'll probably go over to his house tomorrow and Friday to play, as well. I have absolutely no plans for my days other than working both nights, so that's what's probably going to happen. What an awesome game.

So yeah. School is completely over. I have Brawl. I'm about to go home. Life is good.

Insert Title Here

...'cause seriously, thinking is getting old.

This week has been insane. I had so much stuff due by Wednesday, I could hardly breathe. Like... five assignments, two quizzes, and a final project, along with three test things for work. I was so busy at the beginning of the week with this stuff. After that, I had to study for a health test and wrote a few more short papers for other classes. Tomorrow I have to get up early to prepare a lesson for Sunday school, and then get that teaching over with (I only have to teach twice more this semester), then study for another Book of Mormon quiz, an exam in Music Civilization, prepare my oral presentation that is my final for English, and study for my beginning jazz test - all for Monday. My recital thing for private lessons is also on Monday, which could go pretty well, or pretty badly. I'm hoping the former. I also took like 3 or 4 online quizzes today. When all of this is over... really good times.

Work is going fine. I never look forward to going, but it's usually pretty good anyway. And maybe it's a nice few hours to not have to worry about anything else. Well... maybe. Whatever. The thing that bothers me every now and then, is that since I'm the "rookie" I've been blamed for a couple of silly things that people have done. Really, it's no big deal, so I gave up defending myself and I just accept it. Overall, it doesn't really matter anyway. Also, since I work with a crew of guys, the supervisor calls me a man as well, and usually calls me Ashton instead of Ashley. Which is kind of funny, I think, considering my nephew is named Ashton. :) Yeah... but that situation can get kind of weird sometimes, when he purposely asks me weird questions as if I'm a guy, like asking me things about going out with girls, and once he persisted in asking me if I live and sleep in the same room as another girl... yeah, it's just kind of weird sometimes. But he's a cool guy. And anyway, he won't be here next year, because he's leaving on his mission, so I just have to put up with it for two more weeks.

Pretty soon I'll have to start packing up my room... yeah, that'll be interesting. My stuff is all over the place. At the beginning of last semester, I was so proud of myself - I made my bed every morning, I kept my stuff put away and everything most of the time... eventually, that cleanliness gave way to chaos. Psh. Oh well. I really enjoy packing, most of the time. But we'll see how this goes - I'll have to put everything I have in this room away somewhere. It'll take me some time, that's for sure.

And now, to get away from the dread and anticipation of tomorrow, I think I'll go to bed.

Hold On Tight!

Man, I tell you what, my life feels crazy sometimes.

There's a week and two days left of classes, and then finals. This is definitely a good thing - except this means that all the things I've gotten behind on, I have to get them all wrapped up real soon! Ack! But once this is all over, I will be so relieved. Holy cow. School is intense right now, but in exactly three weeks from today, I leave for home. I would probably be leaving sooner than that, except I have to stay until a certain time for work. Oh well, I'm cool with that.

Oh, and here's me just always wondering what to do with the rest of my life. I swear, I change my mind so much, and then I'm still always lost and confused... it drives me insane. I know it's not uncommon, but I still don't like it. Eventually, though, I'll have things figured out. Just wait and see. The latest thing I've considered doing is majoring in neuroscience and psychology. (With a music minor.) Sounds interesting, at least I think. We'll see if that actually goes anywhere. ;)

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up the important stuff. I have way too much on my mind right now to bother with the little things.

Blah

This weekend, I went to my grandparents' house for Easter. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. I wasn't planning to do anything in particular for Easter, but Cameron offered for me to come up to Nana and Poppy's with him and Tyler (cousins). I kept changing my mind, but in the end I decided to go with them. And I'm glad I did. It was really good to spend Easter with everyone who was still at their house.

When I got back from that on Sunday night, though, I had all of this homework to do... study for a Book of Mormon quiz, study for a Book of Mormon test (Monday was the last day to do both), and write a draft of my issue paper for English. Which I have actually managed to still not do. >_>

Last night, I ended up having a small breakdown. I can't pinpoint exactly what it was, but it must've been due to a mixture of emotional exhaustion I've been going through, feeling overwhelmed by school, and being homesick. I can hardly take it anymore. And the thought that I keep thinking to myself is "I don't want to be here." I just can't do this anymore right now. I really just want nothing more than to go home.

Bleh. Then today was... well, I've had better days. Tonight I worked. Which is good. I never really look forward to work, but I always enjoy it more than I think I will. And when I'm not too happy, usually I feel better after I go to work. I'm not exactly sure why... I guess I just like to work with the guys I work with. So, that was good times. And now I'm okay.

Family Time

Wow, this week has been nice.

I left for Nana's funeral on Wednesday evening, and me, Jeffrey, and Debbie went to the viewing when we got there. It was open casket, and I have to say, that was one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced. First of all, it all just seemed so unreal... in multiple ways. It was so weird to think that Nana was gone, and that body was all there was left of her. It was just... I don't know. It made me cry. And secondly, her body hardly seemed like it had been a real, living person. It almost seemed fake. And I have to be honest, fake people, manikins, and things like that scare me. I always feel like they'll just come alive and grad me. So her body did honestly scare me a little. But eventually I got up the courage to touch her hand, and her cheek. The best way I could figure out how to describe how it felt was like a rose petal. Not quite as smooth, but surprisingly similar. Man, the whole thing... just... unreal.

The funeral was the next morning. My first one. It was a beautiful service. All of the grandkids that were there sang the primary song, A Child's Prayer. I love that song. But I had a really, really hard time with it. Before we even started, my dad gave the eulogy. And he started crying as he finished. And I never see my dad cry. So I started losing it at that point, and there was no hope for me while singing. There I was, pretty much in the front of the group (except for some little kids), trying so hard to sing while tears were just streaming down my face. I was a mess. And I was crying for pretty much the whole service, off and on.

Other than all of that, the majority of the week that I spent in Willard was great. I loved it. I actually got to meet a few cousins that I had never met before. That's always odd. But it was just so fun to be there with everyone. And I absolutely loved being with Cody and Chanelle for a few days. Fortunately, after I gave my supervisor at work a second call, he told me not to worry about work on Friday, he'd take care of it, and I could stay. That was awesome. I'm so glad I got to spend that time with my family. Me, Cody, and Chanelle had a lot of fun, and did our share of crazy and stupid things. I really, really can't wait to be home. Mentally, I'm finished with the semester. My brain has been shutting down for a while now, and I just really want to go home. I just feel like I don't really care about this semester any more. Hardly, anyway. I know in my head that I'm going to kick myself for not getting better grades, but I just can't shake it. Most of this just seems so trivial right now. I feel like I have senioritis all over again. I just... don't want to be here anymore. I want a break from school. I'm ready to be at home with my family. I'm ready to see my old friends. Just a little over a month, and I'm out of here.

Good Days Ahead

Well, things are going alright at the moment. :)

My grandma's funeral is this Thursday. So I'll at least be gone on Thursday, and probably Wednesday night and Friday as well. I just have to make sure someone at work can take my shift on those nights... but I'm guessing that'll work. So I'll miss a little bit of school. But I don't really care. And I don't think it'll be that hard to catch up anyway. The good news is, my parents, Cody, and Chanelle all came up for the funeral. I can't wait to see them. I've seen my parents (especially my mom) more than anyone has seen them their Freshman year of college, so that was pretty lucky. I especially can't wait to see Cody and Chanelle. Of course, the whole time we're there isn't going to just be good times - there is a 100% chance of tears at whatever point - but it'll be nice, regardless.

The other good news is, I just bought two tickets to the Video Games Live concert on March 29th, in Salt Lake City. I guess it just didn't work out with my cousin's friends, so we're just going with us two. It was costly, but it'll be worth it. I love video game music. And to hear it and see it live... amazing. Not to mention they have some cool special effects. I can't wait.

Oh yeah, but the bad news is... my iPod might be broken... and I have no idea how. I plugged it in to my laptop, just like I always do when I charge it or put more songs on it. And as far as I could tell, iTunes didn't read it, but my iPod showed the little charging icon... but it didn't do that "Do Not Disconnect" thing that it normally does... and it wouldn't respond to anything I did... so I ended up just having to pull it out, and it's still like it was when I tried to hook it up - it has the charging icon, but seems to be completely frozen. The heck.

Pi Day

Today started out so promising.

I woke up early, to work on my issue paper for English. I thought the first draft was due today, but I found out that it's not due until next Friday. So, that's pretty awesome. I love sleep.

And today was just cool because it's pi day. Good times.

But my grandma, Nana Jake, passed away today... we all knew it was going to happen soon. In fact, we didn't expect her to last as long as she did. But it doesn't make it go away. She was diagnosed with cancer - throat cancer, I believe it was - less than a year ago. Unfortunately, it was already pretty far along. And I've been visiting my grandparents' house a few times recently with my family, to help out, and to be with her just a little longer before she went. The thing is, the way she's been living recently, it was much better for her to leave us. And we all wanted it for her. And I know that she's so happy now. I do. But it's still hard for the rest of us, because now she's just... gone. I loved her so much. And her heart was so filled with love for everyone. It's so hard to think that she's not here anymore.

I have to be honest, school just feels pointless right now. Everything does. But I guess I have to keep on working anyway.

I love you, Nana. I'll miss you so much.

Holy Cravitz

So yeah... I keep thinking I have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I keep feeling undecided. So, I think I'll take a little break from thinking. At all. Man, wouldn't that be nice. :P Anyway...

So last night I started working. I was hired as a custodian in the Cannon Center, where the cafeteria is. So I'm thinking, clean the floors, wash the windows, take out the trash, all that jazz... all in the man area of the building. Turns out, I work back where all the food is made, and the dishes are washed, and we clean pretty much everything back there. It's kind of like when I worked concession at the movie theater, and we could just leave some things for the janitors to clean after we left... now I get to be that lucky person who cleans after people leave. But it's really not that bad. I'm on a custodial team of four people - three guys, and me. That's pretty cool, I think. Plus there's several people who work after closing also, to clean up. In Tomassito's, the pizza place in the Cannon Center, and Cosmo's Connections, where I like to buy snacks. So after we finish our stuff, we help them out until they're done. Or... something along those lines. So it's not too bad, but my feet do hurt after working. I don't mind it too much right now, but I feel I may like work less and less as I keep doing it. But who knows, maybe this is one of those things that as I work more, it'll grow on me more. *shrug* At least I get paid more than I do at the theater. :P

You know what's kind of funny to me, I guess, is that I keep forgetting completely about spring break. Most other people have it around now, but BYU doesn't have a spring break. Which, in the end, is okay with me, because I just get to go home sooner instead of being up here for an extra week. (Even if it would be a fun, non-school week.) But I just keep forgetting that it exists. :P Eh, what can you do...

So, there's this concert I want to go to at the end of this month in Salt Lake City called Video Games Live. It looks so ridiculously awesome. It'd be 40 bucks... and that's nothing to sneeze at... (seriously, who wants to sneeze at any amount of money anyway?) ...but I am really wanting to go. And my cousin is going, so I could get a ride with him and his friends, if they go. I don't know if this would delay my Wii-buying at all or not. But if it does, I can deal with it. This one looks like a definite winner to me.

Thoughts

Well, midterms are finally over... or, they should be. Except that I have my second Psychology midterm on Thursday or Friday. It's just like my Music 101 class last semester... there were more exams in that class, so by the time I would finish the rest of my exams for a certain time, there would be another music one. Ah... oh well. Hopefully I'll do well on it. I haven't really studied for it... at all. Maybe I'll do some of that tomorrow. :P

And I've been thinking... 'cause I do that sometimes... and right now, I think I might go into electrical engineering. Seems interesting. I don't know about music, right now... but I guess at the moment I'm thinking that I'll just minor in music. We'll see. So next semester I'll take some classes that I'd need for electrical engineering, and hopefully I'll like them.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to talk about. So... maybe I'll go have another bowl of Reese's Puffs. Absolutely delicious. :P

I Knew It...

This week has been so odd. It was fantastic to have Monday off. Wootness. And then we had Monday instruction on Tuesday. So Tuesday and Wednesday were like, the same thing. That was a little odd. And so then I kept thinking that the next day would be Friday, instead of Thursday. You'd think that it'd be the other way, since this school week was shorter... but I guess since... I don't really know. :P And now today has seemed like a long day. Going to class, breakfast, lunch... I have to remind myself that they were today.

And speaking of going to classes today... it was really good times. I had Music Civ at 8, and English at 9. The end. Yay. Music Civ was good times, because we just continued going over Romantic music. And that is some pretty great stuff. And in English we took a punctuation quiz, no biggie, and then a couple people read their opinion editorials (hooray that I wasn't one of them). And then we talked about commercials and the idea was to analyze them, but it ended being more along the lines of just talking about commercials we liked. And yet again, I was spared, and didn't have to share a commercial of my choosing. And then normally on Fridays I have a two hour gap, and then Psychology at noon. But I guess we're doing well enough with the schedule that we didn't have to meet today. Sweet. Two morning classes, and I'm finished for the day by 10. :)

So today I was just on my laptop, doing my thing, and I got an e-mail from the School of Music. With my results. Definitely unexpected... I thought I'd get a letter not an e-mail. It turns out that I was rejected... again. I had a sinking feeling that I would be, but I still hoped. My future is a complete blur at this point. I don't know if I plan to keep trying, or try something different... right now, I'm just not sure. I'll be alright, though. I'm just tired of trying, since every time I try I just fail. I'm shattered and heartbroken. But you know what? I'll be okay. This is just one of those moments where I can say, "Screw you, BYU. Screw you School of Music," and continue moving forward. I'll decide if I intend to audition for a third time later, but I don't feel like worrying about that now. Just one step at a time.

Happy V-Day

Man, this week has seemed like a long one. Every day of the week, I kept thinking it was the next day. And now... tomorrow is finally Friday. Whoo! I only have Music Civ in the morning, and Psychology at noon. And that's it. Really good times.

The past couple of days have been strangely pleasant. Not necessarily really good, but definitely not bad. Content, I suppose. So yeah... good times. That, and I haven't had much homework the past few days either. And wow... suddenly I'm at a complete loss for what I was going to say. So...

Today, my brother got me a rose for Valentine's Day! It was so sweet... I love it. Jeffrey is just great. That pretty much made my day. Granted, the card he put with it was an index card folded in half, haha... but it was sweet. And I didn't have a vase or anything to put it in, so it's in a water bottle. Hehe. Plus, Sarah got some candy for me... which, by the way, was absolutely delicious. Too bad it's already gone... ;) That was really awesome as well. :)

Well, since I'm out of things... this wraps it up. I might even go to bed. Yep... or maybe read or something. Either way, I look forward to tomorrow, and maybe the rest of the week will finally catch up with me. Good night, and since I assume whoever reads this knows me, I love you all! Truly and sincerely. I hope everyone had a terribly fantastic Valentine's Day.

The Days Are Too Slow...

Well, school is just truckin' along... not quickly enough, sadly. I can't wait for the semester to be over. But, in the meantime, I just need to keep up with my classes. So, I ended up getting either a B+ or a B on my hip hop routine in jazz... not sure which, but it was somewhat disappointing nonetheless. It shouldn't be hard to get an A in a 0.5 credit class like this, it seems. But... we'll see. Hopefully I'll do better on the next ones.

I also got a 70 on my psychology exam... not very thrilled about that, either, but it turned out the class average was about a 71 or something, so he's going to curve it, or something... so, yeah. Good times. The bad thing is, I like going to that class, and I enjoy it, but I seem to have a hard time keeping up with the work. Maybe I'll start getting better about that. :P

But seriously, having to wait for so long to find out my results for my School of Music audition is killing me. I'm slowly dying inside. I just need to know. I'm going through another one of those phases where I feel completely lost about what exactly I want to do with my life. I thought I finally knew, but now I'm not sure. I keep doubting. I just don't know. And the more I think about it, the more confused I feel. It gets so overwhelming sometimes... like, I was talking on the phone with my mom this morning about it, and just started crying. I have all these different things that I'm good at, how am I suppose to choose just one? How do I know I'm making the right choice? I feel like no matter what I end up doing, I'll regret not doing something else. There just has to be something that's great for me... and talking to people about it doesn't help, either, unfortunately. I can get reassurance, but of course nobody can decide my future for me. My head is just swimming. I really need to find out about that audition, because hopefully it will help me. You would think, anyway.

What I've found I like to do the past few days is watch TV (though I didn't typically watch very much). All the fun shows, like Everybody Loves Raymond, According To Jim... good stuff. And one episode doesn't seem like it takes that much time, so I just watch one... and another... and couple more... :P One reason, because sometimes I get bored, and can't think of much else to do. Another, because I don't have to think about anything. I escape into my own world, and don't have to worry about the real one that I live in. The same thing with games... computer games and DS games. Definitely allow me to step into my own world. Yep... this is good times. What I should be a little more concerned about is doing a little more homework before the morning that it's due. :) Ah, well... whatever works, works. So, it's all good, I guess. :P

Oh, but the really good news is that a few days ago I got a Valentine's package from my mom. ^_^ It was so awesome... she bought another pair of the earrings I so unfortunately lost, I got a really cute (and super soft) stuffed puppy, a card from Chanelle, Goldfish, and some chocolate. Mmm... chocolate makes life good. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much out of that. Oh well. It was fantastic while it lasted. And the package completely made my day. :D

A Few Downers

Well, Thursday they had Hawaiian haystacks, as I would hope... but we got there at about 7:45, and it was all put away and being washed and everything! What the flipping heck? The darn place closes at 8! And I ended up leaving at 8, and everything else was still out, not even starting to be put away yet... seriously, what's their problem?? I was... angry. I'm planning to put a note of complaint in their suggestion box, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Conveniently, my lesson on Saturday was canceled, due to President Hinckley's funeral service. Convenient, because I had only practiced... once. And that one day of practice turned out to be pointless anyway, because I tried to practice a piece by Strauss, which turns out to be a bit difficult to read in some parts, because it's like... a copy of the hand-written thing, I guess. So I'm done with that until my lesson, where I'll complain to my teacher and make her help me. :P

Sunday really wasn't a great day. That morning, Sarah and I slept in (to my surprise - I thought Sarah would set her alarm or something... but apparently she decided otherwise) past Stake Conference. Which was not a bad thing - in fact, I was quite pleased. I know, bad me. Whatev. I got up, while Sarah was still sleeping... and had a chat with Rachel that was just lovely. Sure... that works. Sarah ended up sleeping in until like... 1? Or so? I don't even remember. I was surprised, but apparently she stayed up until like, 3 or 4. I think it was 4. Crazy. The worst part of the day was when I was getting up and dressed for the day, and trying to put in earrings. I was standing in front of the mirror, 'cause that's what I do, which is at the sink... and I didn't get the earring in, and it fell into the sink, and slid right down the drain. Noo!! That pair of earrings is probably my favorite... or rather, was my favorite. At that point, I could barely take it. I just stood there over the sink, trying my hardest not to cry over it. To no avail. The tears fell, and went right down the drain with my poor earring. Not good times.

Monday didn't have a great start either. I was trying to print an assignment for my Family History/Genealogy class the night before, and it wouldn't print. The dumbest thing. It just wouldn't let me select a printer. So Monday morning, we wake up a few minutes early so that I can go to the open access computer lab in the Cannon Center and print it there. And I can't get it to print there either. What the freaking heck. (I discovered why by today, but that's a different story). So I'm going to have to ask my teacher if I can turn it in even later (it was already acceptably late, because I added the class late), which I assumed would be okay. And it was. But there was this thing in class that apparently is a rare opportunity, and we had to bring a pedigree chart if we wanted to participate in it. And it was extra credit. And I couldn't print the chart! So yeah, I was really upset about that. It turned out, the people who came to our class had forms for people who didn't bring their pedigree charts, so that we could still be a part of it. Good. Times. Made my day a whole lot better.

And today... well, I had a test in my jazz dance class over our hip-hop routine. And normally I can do well enough that I feel pretty good about it, while we're just going over it. But I don't think I did as well for the actual test. And there was one part where I kind of slipped because apparently I was shaking.

The good thing is, instead of band, I had another sectional. Which is good times, because I enjoy it more, and it's much shorter. Yay. I just hope the cafeteria has something yummy for dinner. They've been lacking for quite a few days now.

I'm Tired...

Ugh... this morning I woke up early to finish some English homework. After having stayed up until about 3 in the morning doing psychology homework that I put off until the last minute. So I was so tired... I was going to get up at 5:30, but just sort of laid there in bed, drifting in and out of sleep. Then I re-woke up to Sarah's watch alarm at 6, and decided to get up. So I start reading from this book, and then I'm about to start writing about the article thing I just read, and realized that that wasn't what I was supposed to have read. And now it's 6:15, and I was hoping to be able to go back to sleep for a few minutes after the homework. So I search all over for the actual book I was supposed to have read a chapter from, and I just can't find it... at all... after several minutes of this, I figure that if I can't find it, I should just try not to fret about it, and go back to sleep while I can. It's only a few points anyway, I think. Like, 5. Whatever. So I try to go back to sleep for a while... and then wake up again at 6:45, wondering what time it is. For some reason I thought it might be after 8, which would not be good. I find out that it's 6:45, and I'm missing out on the now small window of sleep for me to get. So I sleep for a little while longer, and we get up at 7, as usual. All that time to sleep... wasted.

The rest of the day wasn't so bad. In fact, in my English class, I did something that I normally avoid like the plague - I raised my hand in class. I know, big deal, right? But seriously, for me, it's kind of a big deal. I don't even remember the last time I voluntarily raised my hand in a classroom. It usually terrifies me. So yeah. Sarah should be so proud. :P

Oh, and I'm finally doing my laundry tonight... after it's been... you don't want to know, probably. But it's been too long. Ah, now everything will be so clean and fresh. ^^

Oh yeah, I also saw August Rush tonight for FHE. Finally; I didn't know if I'd ever get around to it. So yeah... I really liked it. I usually do, I'm not surprised. But it was kind of ridiculous. So many things... just... whatever. I'll not go into it. It was good.

You might also be interested to know that I had this... I think it was a spider bite. And I picked at it a little, so it got a little scab. And I keep picking at the scab... yeah, tsk tsk, me. But I admit - I'm a scab picker. Unless they're really big, then forget it. So I was picking at it today during a class, and accidentally made it bleed... a lot more than I thought it would. It stopped after a few minutes, but I can still tell now that it was a little bloody before. So I think I'll put a band-aid over it for a while so I won't keep doing that. Now I'm getting tired, so I'll try to wrap up everything I'm doing so that I can go to bed. :)

I Guess I'm Just Annoyed

So, today was pretty dumb. :P Actually, I did have a dream last night that I got shot in the head, "between the eyes"... and that was a really interesting dream. But that's not the point.

First of all, I woke up like... 40 minutes before planning to. And normally I'd be stoked and be like, "Great!" *plops down in covers* And promptly fall back asleep. But of course not... I can't sleep, so naturally, what do I do? Facebook! :P Yeah... so anyway, then I go shower. And then get ready for church. Okay, I'll stop the play-by-play... it's getting boring.

After church is ridiculous... because it's fast Sunday, the cafeteria doesn't open until three. And, of course, that's when our ward gets out anyway. So we get to go and eat right when everyone else and their brother is eating there. Pure joy. We have to stand in this stupid line... stupid, because there's so many people. And with that many people... well, there's a lot of stupid in the room. And then there's a couple of people that are just hanging out next to the guy behind us, talking. Just because, they're pals, so they want to chat. Annoying, but fine, I'll deal with it. And then they're all like, "Oh, there's a line? Where's the end? Oh my gosh, I'm retarded! I can't follow this string of people that will lead me to the end of the line, because it curves around at that end!" Okay, so I made those last two up, obviously... -_- But seriously, is it that hard to find the end of the line? And then, go figure, the guy behind us is just all, "Oh, don't worry about it! You can get in line in front of me. I don't mind." And of course, because he doesn't mind, that must mean that everyone else behind him doesn't mind, right? O. M. G. Seriously, I thought I'd seen enough of that in high school. So now, these people, by getting in line with their friend, have cut in line in front of... I dunno, 30 people? I could be waay off, but does it really matter? It's the same principle. Sheesh, people...

And then the cafeteria is always really crowded on Sundays, and that just always bothers me... I hate trying to get a meal when it's so crowed, and you can't walk anywhere, and it's hard to get to the food, and really hard to find anywhere to sit... *sigh* Yeah, sometimes people just bother me.

And now, because I'm freakin' retarded also, I'm up at two in the morning, and I am just starting my homework that I'm pretty sure will take me at least an hour. What the heck is wrong with me? I just want to throw something through the window right now, and see it shatter... that would be oh so satisfying. :)

Audition

Oh man, so my audition was this morning. The whole morning I just felt this sense of utter dread... when I finally went to the HFAC, I signed in and everything, and then waited for a warm-up room. My warm-up was actually pretty good. That made me feel just the slightest bit better.

In my audition, I had to play through... I dunno, five scales? Give or take. And I did them alright. And then played my Mozart piece. It was... well... I suppose it was okay, but most definitely not as good as it was in warm-up. It could've been worse, but it could've been much better. And then I had this dumb sight-reading thing... I don't even know about those. I mean, I can play parts of it, but seriously, at least half the time I have no clue if I'm even hitting the right notes. Gosh I hate having so many fingerings for every note on horn. So I get through enough of that to satisfy him, and I'm out. Oh, yeah, and you know the thing he said to me before I left? He was talking about how for some reason or another this year was especially competitive for horn, and apparently there were quite a few people trying out and only so many open spots. So he said that hopefully it wouldn't be me, be someone had to have their heart broken. It has to happen to someone. Oh, good gracious, thanks, that's really comforting after I've freaked out about this stupid audition enough already! I'm sure he says that to everybody (I hope)... but still... NOT comforting.

On the way out, back to the dorms, I started crying again. I was just so stressed out... I mean seriously, it's only like, the most important audition of my life so far. So why shouldn't I be a little stressed? And honestly, if I fail to make it in once again... I don't even know. I'm so tired of trying to figure out what the heck I'm "supposed" to do, or what I'm "meant" to do. Doesn't it make sense to just do something that I "want" to do, or that I will "enjoy" doing? Seriously. So yeah... no pressure, right? I just really hope I make it in. I don't want to be the one with my heart broken again.

I Loathe Auditions

Man, most of today was great.

This morning I didn't have English, because of meetings or conferences or something of the sort... so all I had was Music Civilization at 8, and Psychology at noon. I was tempted to just skip Music Civ and sleep in for a while, but I figured I needed to go, since I wasn't signed up for the class for the first two weeks. That, and we talked about Mozart today - how could I miss that? :)

This evening, however... I started thinking about my audition I have tomorrow (10 am) for the School of Music. And started getting really nervous... seriously. I just felt this sense of dread that wouldn't go away. I even came near tears. So tonight I eventually was so overwhelmed by nerves and pressure that I just broke down for a few minutes. Good gosh. I do think I have a good chance of making it in. But looking at my past record, and I don't doubt that I might not get in. I just can't wait until tomorrow morning is over.

And with that, that pretty much wraps up my day. Wish me luck... because I'll be needing it.

Pretty Nice Day After All

So, this morning was interesting.

Sarah and I woke up at 6:30 to shower, as usual. Then I went back to sleep for a bit while she did sight-singing homework. And then I guess she usually sleeps for a tiny bit after she's done with that. So then she woke up at like... I dunno, 8? And started panicking. See, she had a pace test in her music dictation class, which is her first class. So I just assumed that for some reason her test was at 8, and her normal class time would still be at 9. Apparently she forgot that her class starts at 9, because last semester it was at 8... so basically, she left as fast as she could, and ended up going late to an earlier class... but it all worked out okay in the end.

After my jazz dance class, I had a conference with my English teacher about my opinion editorial essay. It went much better than I had expected, saying as my draft was probably supposed to be three pages, like the final copy is supposed to be. And my first draft is one. Because I did it the morning it was due, and I didn't know how "draft" to make it, because we still had another draft due later. So yeah, anyway, it went quite well. She thought it was a good topic, and that I had some good ideas. I just need to put them all down on paper. Yay.

Oh, and before that, I went to the library to get a copy of Strauss's first concerto for horn, for my lessons. They gave me the information I needed to find it, and sent me off. Not long after, I felt completely lost looking for it. At first, I wound up in some Korean/Asian studies section... and then wandered over to the music section. I still couldn't find it, so I went back, and they guided me to where it was located. Turns out it wasn't hard to find at all, I just didn't look in any of the right places. Seriously, it's a good thing I don't have to go to the library very often. That place is gigantic.

The even better part of today was that they had Hawaiian haystacks again! ^^ Granted, the rice did have beans in it for some reason, but I'll go with it. I was so happy...

Catch-Up

Okay... it's been so long since my last update, I can't even begin to catch up. Hopefully I'll hit most of the highlights.

Final exams. For the most part, they actually went pretty well. Decent grades for my first semester, overall.

Then I went home for Christmas break, for about two and a half weeks. And seriously, I know I'm really enjoying myself if I don't mind being away from my laptop for at least an entire day. And I went at least two or three, at first. Yeah, I loved being home.

My birthday was great. Now I'm 19. Yeah... strange. The weirder part is, in less than a year I'll be 20. Seriously, that's like... much older than I feel or act, that's for sure. :P And then Christmas, three days later. Also splendid. Which is particularly odd, because I don't really use the word splendid... ever. In any case, I got some cool things... a few movies, a couple CDs, a webcam (to my utter surprise - aren't they expensive???), and then the usual - clothes, snacks, calendar... etc, etc.

Now I'm in a new semester. I started in a Careers in Music Education class, because I thought I might want to do that as a major/career. As it turns out, I ended up dropping the class. And decided to major in music therapy. Finally, I think I know what my plan is. Since BYU doesn't offer the major, though, I'll be getting a BA in general music here, and then I'll go to another school - right now I'm considering Sam Houston State - and do a music therapy equivalency program there. So then I went through the trouble of completely re-planning my schedule for the next three years, and I may have finally gotten it figured out. Though, that's what I always say, and I tend to end up changing it quite a few more times. Whatev... we'll see.

The bad thing about this new semester is that I already really want to go back home... I sometimes just don't have the will to go to class, to do the work... which is definitely not a good thing. I guess I'll just have to survive the semester, and then I'll get to go home again. *sigh* I just miss playing with my family.

Also, Trevin is nearly engaged to his girlfriend, Kalisha Roberts. He's just waiting 'til he gets the ring. That's pretty awesome. We've had a wedding once every year, in the summer, starting with David... and after Trevin this summer, I'm next. o_0 Or... maybe I should just hope for a date by then. Allison is also engaged. Which seems way weirder! I guess just because I've been good friends with her, as opposed to Trevin, who's always been a couple of years older than me... little Allison, all growed up. When the heck did that happen?? :P So, her new name will be Allison Dredge. Different... I'll have to get used to that idea. The exciting part is that I'm one of her bridesmaids. ^^

Other than all of that... I can't think of anything else of much significance. Except that the cafeteria hasn't had Hawaiian haystacks at all so far this semester. Yeah, I'm pretty peeved. It's like... the best meal ever. Or, close to it. It's probably in my top five. Maybe. The point is, it's delicious, and I want it back. :P