Ashley's Adventures

Family Visits and State Fair

2011-10-17T09:15:00.001-05:00

Well, I've been home for a few months now, and I'm back into the swing of things here in the 'real world'. I have a job at Chick-fil-A, so that's where I spend a lot of my time. It's a good job, I get to work with some great people, it's closed on Sundays so I don't have to worry about being scheduled then, and not to mention, I love the food (no, I haven't gotten tired of it yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.)

In other news, I have gotten to do a bit of traveling since I've been home. The beginning of August, Trevin and I went to Missouri to see David and Sammy and their adorable kids. When I saw them on the way home from my mission, Ashton and Hannah were really shy around me, maybe even a little afraid of me, so I was relieved to find that they warmed up to me pretty quickly while we stayed there. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while I was there, but I can assure you that I had a great time with them. We set up a trampoline in the basement, played with the kids, and otherwise just had fun together.

In September, I flew to Wisconsin specifically to babysit Knightley and Mason, but also to see Jeffrey and Debbie. It was a lot of fun. Knightley and Mason definitely didn't remember me, but they also warmed up to me not long after I got there. We did lots of fun things together-

We did puzzles...

...we played outside and drew with chalk on the sidewalk...

...built a fort...

...and their favorite thing was watching their new Cars movie: Mater's Tall Tales.

They're some adorable kids. Aside from that, I also had fun with Jeffrey and Debbie, talking with them and staying up late playing games. It was a fun trip.

In the beginning of October, David and Sammy also came here to visit, so we got to spend a few days with them again. And again, I didn't take any pictures while they were here. (I promise I'm not playing favorites!) But we had fun, and I loved having them here. I can't wait to see everyone at Thanksgiving.

In other news, we also went to the Texas State Fair last week - it was awesome! I haven't been in years. We looked around at some of the animals - horses, dogs, pigs... all so cute. We also watched an amazing dog show where the dogs would catch frisbees while doing back flips (no joke), and crazy cool stuff like that. It was incredible. We also had some chicken fried bacon, which tasted AMAZING. And finally - the highlight of the Fair - we got to see our favorite local band, the Killdares. They are awesome. All of us except Mom had Killdares T-shirts, and three of us had their new DVD/CD for them to sign. Yeah, we're fans.

Though my life seems mundane at times, it looks like I've had plenty going on. And I love it.

I'm Back!

2011-07-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

I finished my missionary service and I am back at home! My mission went by so fast. I can't believe it's over and done. It was an amazing experience. It was super hard; the hardest thing I've done thus far. But I can say without hesitation that it was the best decision I ever made. I loved it.

I was really sad to leave, but I love being back home with my family. Now all I have to worry about is jobs, school, dating, money, and all that junk that comes with growing up. :) I'm going to be at home for a semester to hopefully work and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Now we'll just see where my life takes me!

I'm Off!

2010-01-31T02:05:00.004-06:00

Well everyone, I'm leaving for Utah in the morning. I'll spend a few days there, and then I go into the MTC! This is real!

For those who want to keep in touch with me, I'll have my mailing information up on my Facebook page, along with my mission blog that my family will keep updated for me:
http://sisterjacobson.blogspot.com/

Wish me luck!

A New Decade

2010-01-12T21:04:00.002-06:00

Happy 2010!

We've started a new year, people are going back to school, life is marching on.

It feels a bit odd not going back to BYU when everyone else was, but I gotta say, it's also nice. I could use a break from school. The thing I miss is seeing all the friends I've made there. It's been really fun staying at home, though, while Cody and Chanelle go to school and Dad goes to work. I haven't been up to much as I don't have a real job and no one would want to hire me for only a month. So I've spent some time with Wii Fit Plus and even more with Mom. :) Also, my roommate Jessica is coming to Dallas for the weekend! We've become great friends, and she's made a big impact on my life. Not to mention, she's going into the MTC just two weeks after I do!

It's so weird to think that I'm leaving for my mission in two and a half weeks. That's so close, it's scary! Of course I'm excited to an extent, but I'd be lying if I said I feel like I'm totally ready to go. I'm loving being at home with my family, and I don't know if I could ever get enough of it. But I do know that I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do, and I'm going where He wants me to go. And if I'm always trying to do those things, what more do I need?

'Tis the Season

2009-12-31T17:37:00.006-06:00

Christmas break has been great!

I had a lot of fun playing with my friends as we finished up the semester; it was a really great one for me. Really awesome. ^_^

BYU went to Vegas for our bowl game, where we played against Oregon State. And we trashed them. It was an awesome game, which was fitting, because the game was actually on my birthday. What a place to turn 21 - Vegas! All the opportunities! I'm kidding, of course, but it was a good birthday all the same. :)

After the game I came home for the holidays, and on Christmas Eve it snowed! Typically if it snows at all in Texas, it doesn't stick for long if at all, but it kept snowing and stuck around all evening and into Christmas day! Believe me, this is a big deal. First of all, it's my first white Christmas (that I've been old enough to remember), and second of all, it's apparently the first time in I think 80 years that that's happened here! How awesome is that?

Christmas was awesome, as it always is. There were less people around this year, but I love being here with my family.

Even sugar was dressed for the holidays with a gingerbread man on her shirt - she's so adorable in that thing! (I'm actually still amazed that Dad tolerated her wearing a shirt.)

One of our family traditions on Christmas Eve is playing Christmas songs on all our instruments. In this video Cody, Chanelle, and I are playing Frosty the Snowman. Yes, the brass instruments are considerably louder than the flute (particularly the trombone:).

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T10:39:00.003-06:00

This week I got to come home for Thanksgiving break. It's been so fun to be here with so much of my family. I couldn't ask for anything more. ^_^

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd like to list a few of the things in my life that I'm truly grateful for:

The awesome country that I live in
My friends in all areas of my life
My roommates, a.k.a. the best roommates in the world
My job and the amazing people I work with
My family; I love them more than anything
Being able to see some of my family at school and in Provo
The church I belong to; it brings me happiness
The opportunity I have to serve as a missionary for my church

My life is greatly blessed, and I am so grateful for the things that fill it.

Band Practice

2009-11-13T19:43:00.002-06:00

So, at band practice today, we worked on part of our show that we're doing joint with the University of Utah band. The U game is on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so a small group of people (myself included) won't be going to the game because of Thanksgiving break and the traveling that goes with it. So while most of the band was learning drill and practicing the new tune we're playing in the show, the small group that's not going to the game got to stand around on the sideline with nothing to do.

Half of us ended up playing a game called Ninja Strike for the first hour of rehearsal. Then we stood around talking and watching/listening to the band for another half hour. And then we split up for sectionals to work on our new music, and those of us who aren't going to the game don't have to pass it off, while everyone else does. So I just got to leave!

One hour of Ninja Strike. Half an hour of standing around talking. Go home. Best band rehearsal ever.

Mission Call

2009-11-01T13:45:00.005-06:00

After a very long week of waiting for my mission call to come, it came in the mail on Thursday!

I wanted to open it with my family, so I had to wait until the time that worked best for everyone, which turned out to be 8pm Thursday night. It was a long day, but the time finally came.

Though the original plan was to open it at Jeffrey and Debbie's apartment, we decided that afternoon that we would all just come to my apartment for the event. So the crowd ended up consisting of Jeffrey, Debbie, Trevin, Kalisha, as well as my roommates Jessica, Serena, and Lyssandra (plus Mom, Cody, Chanelle, David, and Sammy all on the phone). With great anticipation (to the point where I was actually shaking a little), I opened my call. I had to cover up the lines and just go one line at a time, or I know my eyes would've skipped ahead. :P So I opened it and read it, and...

...I'm going to BOISE, IDAHO!!

And no, I'm not kidding. Though I do think it's hilarious that out of all the missions there are out there, I got the "joke" mission. (Thanks, Singles Ward.) Not that I mind; I'm really excited to serve in Boise. It's going to be amazing. I report to the MTC on February 3. Which is just perfect - it gives me about a month and a half at home before I leave, and I still get back in time to go to school again in Fall 2011.

So, that's the exciting part of my life right now! ^_^

Passing the Time

2009-10-23T15:10:00.005-05:00

The past month has been pretty awesome. My job and coworkers are awesome. My ward is fun. My roommates rock. Overall, life is good.

A couple weeks ago I was playing Capture the Flag with some friends from my ward. Jessica and I mostly went to hang out with people, not necessarily for the actual game. So we were kind of expecting to be sitting in jail for most of the time. But we ended up finding a stick and a tennis ball and tried to hit it in the dark. Fun stuff. The second round, on our way being led to the opponent team's jail, we ended up climbing a tree. The poor guy taking us to jail didn't know what to do with us. But it was a lot of fun, and we ended up having some visitors in our tree.

Last weekend we had a tri-ward dance, the theme being "Old School," meaning you could basically wear something that represented any decade you wanted. Jessica and I made up a lot of our own dance moves, and we had fun dancing with a bunch of people. It turned out to be quite the workout, too.

Things like these make being at BYU super fun. :)

In other news, I'm still waiting eagerly for my mission call. I just found out that my call was actually put in the mail today! I'm hoping that I'll get it within about a week! I'm just so excited. Thinking about leaving for a mission for a year and a half is sometimes a scary thought, with everything that will be so new and different and with everything that I'll be leaving behind for that time. But I'm excited to be able to go out and share the gospel. I've found so much joy in it, and I'm glad that I have the chance to give even just a piece of that to others. And now that I know my call is in the mail at this moment, it's all I can do to contain my excitement! I'll definitely be posting again when I find out where I'm going! ^_^

Things That Have Made My Day Today

2009-09-28T17:58:00.007-05:00

Downloading Owl City's album Ocean Eyes (and getting it cheap using Amazon store credit)
Eating a volcano double beef burrito from Taco Bell for lunch
Watching this video
Finding out that they're remaking my favorite generation of Pokémon games for DS
Seeing a good friend from work who I haven't seen in over 3 months
Seeing someone on campus wearing the Red vs Blue shirt that says, "It's not pink. It's lightish red."

Back to the Grind

2009-09-25T12:18:00.005-05:00

My last few weeks at home were awesome. I had a lot of fun with my family, and got to see David and Sammy (and of course, Ashton and Hannah) a couple times before I left. I didn't hang out with a few of my friends as much as I would've liked, but hey, nobody's perfect. Also... Chanelle turned 13! It's just insane! My little sister, and baby of the family, is now a teenager. She is growing up so much faster than I was prepared for. :P (And even more recently, Cody just turned 18. Crazy, I tell you.)

This is how Ashton says "Cheese!"

Me, Chanelle, and Ashton. He's got such a cute little grin.

And adorable Hannah. She's a pretty happy baby.

A week before school started, I had marching band. And don't get me wrong, I love marching band, but that first week is killer. We have rehearsal from about 8 in the morning until 10 at night, with breaks for lunch and dinner. Not only that, but it's a 30-minute walk from my apartment to where we practice. Needless to say, I didn't do much that week besides eat, sleep, and marching band.

Sarah got married on the 28th... will the insanity never end? I was lucky enough to get out of band rehearsal that night to go to her reception. It was sweet. :)

Once school started, band became much easier - only two hours a day, three days a week. Classes are another story... but all in all, things are going fairly well here. My job is awesome, and I frequently hang out with people from work and play games until the late hours of the night/early morning. Not to mention, my roommate Jessica is awesome. We met at work during the Spring term, and living together is really fun. On top of that, our other two roommates, Serena and Lyssandra are also super fun. We all get along, we all love being crazy and having fun... what more could you ask for? :)

Preparations for my mission are going well; I've done everything I can do, and now I pretty much wait until it can all be submitted in early October. And then I have to wait for the call to come. :)

I have my moments that feel like I'm riding an emotional rollercoaster, but things are going overall pretty well. And that's what life's all about.

Mission Prep

2009-08-10T20:27:00.005-05:00

So, I've recently decided that I want to serve a mission. This is news to some, and old news to others, but now it's official. For those who are unfamiliar, I would serve as a missionary for my church for 18 months, most of which would be spent in whatever location in the world that I'm called to. It's been on my mind from time to time for the past few months, and I've decided that it's something that I want to do. As I'm working on the paperwork, I'm getting excited about the whole thing. ^_^

But the preparation stage has its downsides.

Today I had my physical examination, most of which wasn't that bad. But I had to have a couple shots, as well as get blood taken. And anyone who knows me really well knows that I absolutely... hate... needles. Call me a baby, but I just can't stand them. *cringe* Needless to say, it wasn't the most pleasant experience. My mom can testify to that, too; I was very dramatic about it afterwards. :P

Aside from that, things are running smoothly- I'll be receiving my passport in a matter of weeks, my dental stuff is done, and I have most of my paperwork done; now I mostly just need my interviews. I'll be leaving for BYU in about two weeks and I'll be up there for Fall semester, and then I'm hoping to leave for my mission in January. Time sure does fly! :)

Vacation and Reunion

2009-07-22T11:50:00.015-05:00

Alright, so I'm not the best at updating regularly during the summer. But hey, it's been a busy several weeks.

Finals went alright, and it was really nice to get it all over with and out of the way. I had a lot of fun with the friends that I made during the spring term, and I'm looking forward to hanging out again, but I'm now thoroughly enjoying life at home. I've had a few babysitting jobs since I've been home, which I enjoy.

At the beginning of July, we left on family vacation. We first visited Poppy Jake in Utah. While we were there, we visited Temple Square, which was very cool. We got to see the Salt Lake Temple and the Conference Center among other things. The temple is so pretty.

In the North Visitors' Center on Temple Square we went to see the Christus. It was so cool, the walls and domed ceiling were all covered in stars and everything, and the statue of Christ was standing tall in the middle of it. Being in that room is so peaceful and the spirit is very strong. It was a great experience.

Following our stop in Utah, we proceeded to Idaho to visit Nana Raine and Poppy Ralph on my mom's side, and after a few days with them we all went to the Ball Family Reunion.

The Reunion was tons of fun; the house everyone stayed in together was huge and very nice, and I had the chance to see a lot of relatives that I haven't seen in years. Trevin and Kalisha came for a day, and Jeffrey and Debbie came for a couple of days. It was great to see them again while I'm not in Provo. We took family pictures, went to Bear Lake, had a skit/talent night, sang karaoke and just had fun together.

Mom and Dad. (Aw, cute.)

Me and my awesome cousin Brianna.

Jeffrey and Debbie singing karaoke.

Dad, my cousins Jesse and Dan, and uncles Mark and Troy.

That last picture was a hilarious synchronized swimming skit performed by my dad, cousin, and a few uncles. It was put on Youtube (The Ball Family Swimmers), and I suggest watching it and letting the hilarity ensue. (My dad's the one in the back with the red cap in the picture, and the last one to enter in the video. He makes me so proud.) :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMSeD2hh7Y

After the reunion, we went back to Utah to visit for a bit longer with relatives from my dad's side of the family. We got to see Trevin, Kalisha, Jeffrey, Debbie , and of course little Knightley once again during our stay in Utah, which is always a treat.

Debbie and my adorable nephew Knightley.

Our trip was unexpectedly extended due to my cousin Jason's death, sadly, and we stayed for his funeral. Jason was a really cool guy, and very loving to everyone. I didn't know him as well as I could've, but it was hard to see him gone, and hard to see the impact it had on everyone. But as much as he was loved here, I know that he's doing Heavenly Father's work now.

After all was said and done, I had a lot of fun seeing and spending time with family, and the trip was a great experience.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

2009-06-07T23:12:00.004-05:00

...well...I'm leaving soon enough, anyway. Spring term certainly does go by fast. I have 6 more days of actual classes, 2 days of finals, and a total of 12 days until I go home. I feel like I just started a month and a half ago. Wait... I did. Insanity.

As different as it is keeping up with classes that move twice as quickly, it's awesome how soon these classes will be over. Especially technical communication. I'll say three words about that class: I hate papers. And guess what? Two weeks from now, I will never have to take another English class again. Ever. Sure, I'll have the occasional paper to write in a few of my major classes, but it's different. I'm excited, anyway.

And speaking of excited, I am so excited to go home. See some friends, be with my family again... it's gonna be just awesome. And did I mention how excited I am to go home? :)

A few weeks ago, Mom was kind enough to buy me a new outfit "for Easter," even though it was well after Easter when I got it. But I promised I would post pictures of it, so here they are. Aren't I cute?

A full view of the outfit.

And a closer shot.

Little Things

2009-05-21T21:06:00.003-05:00

A lot of the fun in life is just finding those little things that make us happy. Here's one of mine.

Whenever I'm walking somewhere and someone's coming from the opposite direction, I usually firmly designate myself to one side or the other of the sidewalk (or hallway, etc.). When I do, even from a distance, it causes the other person to automatically drift to the other side, whether subconsciously or not. When I take my position early on, the other person will go to the other side. This is one of those little joys in life, for me - knowing that I have that little bit of momentary power over another person. (Especially when they're about twice my size, 'cause heaven knows I'd lose a real fight to them.) :)

Women's Conference

2009-05-19T10:17:00.011-05:00

A couple weeks ago, Mom came to Provo for BYU Women's Conference. It was awesome! Her flight was supposed to arrive on Wednesday (the 29th) at about 1:30, but due to a string of events, some of which weren't even related to each other, she didn't get here until about 6:30. And almost the entire time, she was sitting on a plane. Not even in the airport. I felt bad for her - the only things she really could do to take up time were read, go to the bathroom, and talk to me on the phone. Which was fun, but it did end up using a lot of battery power from my phone. :)

So I picked her up Wednesday evening, and we stopped by Jeffrey and Debbie's apartment to see them and Knightley, which was great. Trevin and Kalisha also stopped by, so we all got to chat for a while. Eventually, Mom and I left, and grabbed some food at Taco Bell before going back to my apartment. Luckily I have that extra bed in my room, since no one else is sharing it with me, so Mom got to stay with me!

On Thursday, I didn't go to any of my classes (any meaning Calculus), and instead went to Women's Conference with Mom all day. The opening session was amazing! They had some entertaining stuff. But the best part of it was at the end of that session, when they had all of the women standing up and singing together... it was incredible. I started crying right away. It was a great emotional and spiritual experience.

The workshops that we attended were about replacing fear with faith, making the most of an empty nest, and not neglecting your gifts. The second one, while the least relevant to me of the ones that we went to, was co-taught by Nana Raine (Mom's mom). And it was really good. Even I was able to take something from it, though the general idea of the lesson doesn't really apply to me yet. Nana did a great job.

That night, Mom and I went grocery shopping. Which was awesome - it was like Mom wanted to buy me the whole store. Practically everything we saw, she offered. There are sometimes benefits to being a poor, starving college student. Then we went to Jeffrey and Debbie's again for dinner, which was great. The next day, I went to classes, while Mom attended the rest of Women's Conference. Afterwards, we did some quick shopping in the BYU Bookstore, and went to Jeffrey and Debbie's place again. Trevin and Kalisha came over, and we all had pizza for dinner. ^_^

On Saturday and Sunday, we stayed with Aunt Carisa. It was fun. I love staying there. We got to chat with some relatives, stay in a really nice house, and have a good time. Mom and I left late Sunday morning, came back to my apartment for a while to pick up a couple things she forgot, and left for the airport. It was hard to see her go, but I'm so glad she came. I want to go to Women's Conference with her every year. It's awesome.

Knightley and his great Nana Raine.

Trevin and Kalisha. They're cute.

Mom and Tawni, while Carisa weasels her way into the picture.

Knightley and Mom, or his Nana Jake. So cute. :)

Starting Over... Again

2009-04-28T22:12:00.003-05:00

Well, finals for Winter semester ended last Wednesday. Sarah and I stayed in our apartment until we had to move out, which turned out to be Saturday at about noon. We ended up waiting until Friday night to pack everything. Times like those make me wonder... how do I have that much stuff? And how did it all get here?? Needless to say, with that and not packing very quickly, we were up all night. Literally. After we packed everything, we still had to do our final cleaning checks before we moved out. And by then I was exhausted, and not very enthusiastic about cleaning.

It turned out that our manager was not very strict on our cleaning checks (though they said they would be), thankfully. Then we finally got everything moved from our apartment into our cars. Of course, it started raining that morning. Right when we're moving out... perfect timing.

From there I went to Jeffrey and Debbie's place. They graciously let me stay with them for a couple days, as I couldn't move in to my new apartment until Monday. It was a lot of fun. Trevin and Kalisha came over on Saturday night, and we had pizza and played Scattergories (which I came in close second both times we played, might I add). On Sunday I went to church with all of them. Four babies were blessed in their ward that day! Insane. I ended up helping Trevin and Kalisha in nursery for the second and third hours, which was a lot of fun, though I'm not sure how badly they needed my help. Apparently there were not as many kids there as usual. But it was fun.

On Monday I moved into my new apartment. It's built for six girls in one apartment (three bedrooms, two in a room), but there are only four other girls, plus myself. The others were all here in the winter, I think, so I ended up getting a room to myself. Which is nice. And the apartment is definitely bigger; I guess it kinda has to be, to accommodate for six girls. It's not bad.

School for Spring term started today. I only have Calculus on Tuesdays, for two hours. And today it was really easy stuff, so not a bad day of school. Tomorrow I have Technical Communication... we'll see what that class has in store.

Of Pizza and Plastic - The Sequel

2009-04-26T16:52:00.004-05:00

So, a few weeks back, I bought some English muffins, cheese, and pepperoni to make mini pizzas. Which are just delicious.

I put a couple mini pizzas together, and stuck them in the microwave. I leave the microwave to do its business, and hang out on my computer until they are done. When I hear the beep, I go out to get my mini pizzas... and there is smoke everywhere. Apparently I had microwaved it a lot longer than I thought I did. (Note: the smoke alarm didn't ever go off. Maybe last time it went off we had unplugged it or something.)

So I made my way to the microwave, opened the door, and more smoke came out. It was bad. Charlene came out of her room as well, and came to see what happened. She got up on a chair to see in the mircorwave, and started laughing immediately. Once she got the microwave plate out, I saw that the mini pizzas were 100% charcoal black. We opened the front door and some windows, and took the plate outside. Charlene and I went to work on cleaning up the mess I had made. I started scrubbing the burn reside out of the microwave, and Charlene was outside throwing away the rock-hard mini pizzas. When she lifted up the plate, the pizzas stayed on, as well as the parts of the plate that were underneatht them. Those parts were completely melted. It was hilarious.

We successfully cleaned everything, but the smell of smoke lingered. I hoped it would fade in time, especially when we'd leave the door and windows open, but it still pretty much always smelled like smoke. After a few days, I bought an air freshener/odor remover because I felt bad. I think it helped, but now when you use the microwave, sometimes it still smells vaguely like smoke. It was quite the experience. And very funny.

This is what it looked like after Charlene lifted off the plate.

Laugher Is The Best Medicine

2009-03-23T22:31:00.002-05:00

My Doctrine and Covenants class today was awesome. Just not for the reasons that it normally should be.

So Trevin and I have D&C together, which is always so much fun. Today he had a pen that had a piece of plastic missing where the two halves of the pen connect together. So once while he was holding it, the pen just fell apart in his hands. Randomly. Which I thought was just hilarious.

A bit later, we were told to put something in our notes, so Trevin starts writing, and the pressure that he put on the pen made it come apart completely again - and not just fall apart, like it did when he was just holding it, pieces of it shot off to the side. (Luckily we were sitting at the end of the row next to the wall.) We both laughed really hard. I just about died laughing, and the hard part was trying to keep it quiet, especially because we were in a religion class.

Then we started playing around with the pen a bit, and making the parts of it shoot off again. After I had a go, I picked up the spring the landed beneath Trevin's seat. I was squeezing the spring in between two of my fingers a few times, when suddenly I accidentally made it shoot out from my fingers, and it hit me right in the eye. It wasn't painful, just startling. And we both proceeded to just about lose control of our laughing again.

I had tears coming out of my eyes more than once from laughing so hard. I know, we were so irreverent. But it was awesome. :)

Did You See The Sky Today?

2009-03-19T15:51:00.006-05:00

Talk about blue!

This week has been really nice. Even though BYU doesn't have a Spring Break, and seemingly every other school I know of does. But you know... I'll get over it. At least our semester finishes sooner, in the long run.

The weather has been fantastic the past few days! Two weeks ago, it was really nice outside, then the following week it was really cold... and this week it's really nice again! Though I hear that next week it's supposed to snow. Apparently we're just going back and forth. But for now, it's been so nice and warm... not hot, but very pleasant. I love it.

Last night, instead of our normal 2-hour conducting class from about 7pm-9pm, each student had a five minute lesson with the teacher. We basically had this piece that we had to be prepared to conduct for him while he played the piano, and while we were being recorded (so that we could take the video home and watch it, and write a critique about our conducting). We had to do something similar for part of our midterm a couple weeks ago, and that was terrifying. I shook the whole time. But when I had to conduct for him last night, for some reason it wasn't nearly as frightening (though still kinda scary). It really does help, also. He helps me find out what my weak points are, so that I can improve. Seriously, I have a lot of respect for people who really know how to conduct. It doesn't sound hard, but there is so much to it. I've also realized that there are very few out there who do know. Like in church; frequently the chorister will "know" how to conduct - or rather, they know what the beat pattern is or what the back of the hymn book tells them - but educated conducting is quite a bit more complicated. It's a skill that I think will be nice to know. (If I ever get really comfortable with it. :)

I also had another Country Dancing test on Wednesday, which I think went alright. It wasn't terrible. The thing I love about that class is that it's just what it sounds like - when we're dancing, we always get to listen to country music. It's great.

This week has been an overall pretty good one. :)

Happy 3.14

2009-03-14T21:10:00.007-05:00

It's Pi Day!

Yesterday the BYU Math Department hosted some kind of "Pi Day" event in the Wilkinson Center, even though it was technically the day before Pi Day. But I figure they don't ever hold events like that on Saturdays or Sundays, so I got double the fun for having it on two days. There were pie eating contests, which looked like it would make me sick... pie-ing teachers in the face... but I wasn't really concerned about that. There was, however, a contest to see who could recite the most digits of pi. There were prizes for being able to recite a certain amount, plus whoever was the winner would win an iPod Shuffle.

Since Sarah and I know the same amount, I wasn't planning to bother participating, but I ended up giving in and signing up. It was scary though, let me tell you - you get up in front of all the people there, recite pi into a microphone, and if you mess up anywhere the people running the whole thing would blow this airhorn. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous. And by nervous, I mean I was shaking the whole time, and my mouth went completely dry. I also said it slower than I usually do (since normally I just speed through it and it's probably harder to understand), and when I'm actually having to think about what I'm saying, I tend to mess up more easily. I got to a certain point where I stumbled, but after some crowd support, they let me continue. After that point, I was a little thrown off, and didn't make it too much farther before I slipped up. I managed to get through 184 digits, which beat the previous 1st place (which, by the way, was at the time held by someone who "guaranteed he would win").

Not too long after that, Sarah went up, and I was pretty sure she'd beat me. Which she did. At the end of it all, we left knowing 240 digits of pi. And ever so graciously, Sarah is going to split the money with me that we get from selling the Shuffle, since we both know that we both know the same amount. :) I kind of expected us to get it, but thinking about it, I'm almost surprised that there's no one else in the school that would go to that, who doesn't know more digits than that. Not that 240 is anything to sneeze at, but there's a lot of nerds out there. And whoever says that memorizing pi is pointless or a waste of time, is obviously wrong. Not only did Sarah and I earn $5 from our manager at work once for it, but now we've got free T-shirts and stuff, along with a free iPod Shuffle. Yeah.

This morning was the Rex Lee Run. One of those "Race For The Cure" type things to raise money for cancer research. This is my second year participating. I have to admit, when we were first getting started and I saw some people around me with certificate things to honor someone who has battled with cancer, I got a bit emotional. It is one year ago to this day that Nana Jake passed. Now I just want to do what I can to help the cause, for others who are struggling.

What Goes Down...

2009-02-17T18:01:00.012-06:00

So, a few weeks ago I had an interesting experience that I'll finally post about.

I was out with some friends on a Thursday night - we went to Denny's, played a board game while we were there, and ended up staying until at least 3:30 am or so. Then, none of us were really tired, and someone needed to buy some paint for something, so we decided to walk to Lowe's, which is between an hour and an hour and a half walk. Which was an exciting idea to me - I had never walked that far before, and I love going on walks. So on our way to Lowe's, we're all walking along and I step on a spot on the sidewalk that apparently had ice covering it that I didn't see, and I completely biffed it. I don't have any idea exactly what happened between slipping and landing, but I ended up face first on the sidewalk. And honestly, for the first few seconds I was just trying to figure out where it was that I hurt myself. It was so cold, I couldn't tell at first..

Anyway, I could tell that I hit my mouth and probably my nose, so my hand went immediately to cover it. And when I took my hand away and looked at it, I was obviously bleeding. It turns out I had busted my lip (luckily not bad enough to get stitches or anything - my lip healed in a few days, but it was swollen for a couple days), and I broke one of my front teeth - about a third off the front, and a lot off the back. After going to the dentist that Saturday, he put some composite stuff on it to protect the nerve until I went in again this morning and got a temporary crown put on it while they start working on one that will match my teeth. At this point, I'm doing quite well, and just looking forward to the time that my smile looks as normal as it once did. :) (Some friends and I have a way of saying that if you slip and fall on the ice here in Utah, then "Utah has claimed you." Until this point, I could declare "Utah has not claimed me!" I guess Utah wanted to spite me, and now my declaration would be "Utah has owned me!")

This is what I looked like the Friday morning I got back. My top lip is really swollen on the front, and the bottom of one of my front teeth is missing, though there was a lot more taken off the back of the tooth when I fell.

This is what I looked like a day or two later, after seeing the dentist for the first time. With the composite stuff on it, it's less noticeable, plus my lip was starting to heal.

And this is where I'm at now. You may not be able to tell in this picture that the tooth isn't exactly like my other teeth, but it looks pretty good, all things considered.

This experience is one I certainly never want to go through again, and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. Not only was it devastating to me to lose that chunk of my tooth and has been a big hassle, but it's also significantly slowed my walking speed when there's ice on the ground - I used to be fine walking on ice, I might occasionally slip, but I'd rarely fallen. After this, it makes me a bit anxious to walk on ice.

However, that said, there are still blessings to be found in it. Not that I think cracking a tooth is a wonderful thing, but it really opened my eyes to the love and support that I have, especially from my family (both in Texas and up here with me). I'm especially grateful to my mom, who has dealt with so much on my behalf. I really am lucky to be in such a position, and I'm so very grateful.

And then people always take things for granted, and you don't appreciate things enough until they're gone. All things considered, I really do have a lot to be grateful for. It reminds me of a poem:

Today, upon a bus, I saw a girl with golden hair.
I envied her, she seemed so gay, and wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobbled down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch.
And as she passed... a smile.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 legs, the world is mine

I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad.
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind."

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 eyes, the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play.
He did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word. And then I knew,
he couldn't hear.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 ears, the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go.
With eyes to see the sunset's glow.
With ears to hear what I'd know.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine!

As A Side Note

2009-02-02T10:25:00.002-06:00

My mom told me about a deal at Denny's tomorrow, which ended up leading me to the discovery of a cool blog that makes posts about sweet deals that happen at different places. As a poor starving college student, I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate this from time to time. You should all check it out too.

Of Pizza and Plastic

2009-01-23T22:01:00.005-06:00

Friday night! The start of the weekend.

Tonight Sarah and I bought a large pepperoni pizza at Domino's with a Starving Student Card, so we got a good deal on it. We watched Kung Fu Panda while we ate, since she had never seen it before. What a fun movie. The only problem is, I was still so hungry after we finished the pizza...

A little while ago, I was making some Ramen soup (of course). The cupboards and stove and everything were full of dishes (none of which were mine, believe it or not), so when I finished making the Ramen, the only place I could think to put it was the spot on the stove I had just used to make the soup. When I picked up the pot and put down the cheap plastic bowl on the hot metal grate, it crossed my mind that the bowl could melt a little as it sat there while I poured in the soup. But I went ahead anyway. Then I took the pot to the sink to wash it, still leaving the bowl on the stove. I'm sure you know where this is going. When I went back to pick up my bowl, I couldn't lift it from the grate. I put on a hot mitten thing to pull the grate off while I carefully held up the bowl full of soup. As I did so, I could see the melted parts from the bottom of the bowl stretching from the bowl to the grate, like it was melted cheese. After I pulled it off completely and took off the stringy parts of the bowl, I proceeded the same as usual. I don't care about it much, since I got four of these bowls for really cheap somewhere. The whole ordeal was just very amusing to me. This is what the bowl now looks like. You can see just where it was sitting on the grate.

So now I know in the future, for when I'm dealing with dishes that might actually matter to me - if I think it might melt because I'm putting something plastic and vulnerable on a hot stove that I just barely turned off, maybe I shouldn't do it. And here I thought I had left my "stupid years". :P

Haircut

2009-01-20T22:19:00.007-06:00

Today I went and got my hair done with Debbie. I got a few inches trimmed off, a few highlights, and some layers. We went to Dallas Roberts Academy, a hair school... or something like that, so it wasn't as expensive as going somewhere to get it done professionally. And it still turned out lovely.

You can more or less see a bit of the layers in this picture.

You can kind of see the highlights in this one... kind of.

I went in being completely unsure as to what I actually wanted to do, but I really like how it turned out! Nothing too drastic (I'm too afraid... but someday I'd like to do something crazy), but it looks good. If only I were a better picture taker and you could actually tell. :P Regardless, it was a fun experience.

Taken From Rachel

2009-01-19T22:40:00.013-06:00

This makes a post two days in a row! I haven't done that in a while. Anyway, a little survey thingy is always interesting to do every once in a while. :) (And for anyone who cares, I did reformat this a little to satisfy my obsessive-compulsiveness. It also makes it a bit more pleasant to read.)

Name: Ashley
Eye Color: Brown
Shoe size: 8, usually
Height: Just about 5'7"
What brands are you wearing right now? Uh... I'm honestly not sure about the brands. Normally I'd be wearing Old Navy jeans, but right now I'm wearing BYU sweatpants instead.
Favorite Number: 13
Favorite Drink: Milk, followed by water
Favorite Month: December - my birthday, Christmas, the holiday spirit... what's not to like?
Favorite Breakfast: Bacon and eggs. And bacon. I also love cereal.
-----------------------------HAVE YOU EVER-----------------------------
Love/Liked someone so much it made you cry? Aside from my family, I don't think so.
Been in a police car: No.
Came close to dying: As a pedestrian in a college town... yes.
Been in a hot tub: Ahh... yeah.
Fallen asleep in school: Yes.
Broken someone's heart: I hope not.
Cried when someone died: Yes.
Fallen off your chair: I'm sure I have.
Saved e-mails: Yes. With Gmail, I keep a lot of my emails.
Ever been cheated on: No, I've never been in a position to be.
--------------------------------WHAT IS--------------------------------
Your room like: Home - Blue walls, awesome blue and brown bed, usually has a lot of stuff that's not mine. School - Messy, cold, but good enough for me.
Last thing you ate: Brownies from an instant brownie mix my mom sent me.
-------------------------------EVER HAD-------------------------------
Chicken pox: Yes. In Second grade.
Sore throat: Yes.
Stitches: Besides the ones in my mouth when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, no.
--------------------------------DO YOU--------------------------------
Believe in love at first sight? Not really.
Like picnics? Yes, depending on the situation.
Like school? Parts of it, yes. Parts of it, no.
-------------------------------QUESTIONS-------------------------------
Who was the last person you danced with? Some boy I don't remember the name of in my country dance class.
Who makes you smile? My family and friends.
----------------------------------WHO---------------------------------
Did you last yell at? I don't know, honestly. I don't yell often.
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses? Contacts. I only wear glasses when I'm on my way to bed and when I get up in the morning, before putting contacts in.
Do you like yourself? Yes. Sometimes I just makes questionable decisions, like everyone else. :P
----------------------------MORE QUESTIONS----------------------------
Favorite song? No way. Too many to choose from.
What did you do today? Had a nice day off... didn't go anywhere or do anything particularly exciting.
--------------------------------RANDOM--------------------------------
Hate someone in your family? No. Hate's a very strong word. I've been really upset at someone, but I couldn't hate them.
Good singer? I'd say I'm average.
Diamond or pearl? Diamond, though they're both pretty.
Are you oldest? No - I'm the fourth of six, in the middle with Trevin.
Indoors or outdoors? Depends. I like them both.
-----------------------------TODAY DID YOU-----------------------------
Talk to someone you like? Yes - I don't usually only talk to people I dislike.
Get sick? Not today. Though I think I still have a very slight cough from Christmas break.
Sing? A bit.
Talk to an ex? I don't have an ex.
Miss someone? Of course.
Tell someone you loved them? Of course.
----------------------------LAST PERSON WHO----------------------------
You talked to on the phone? My mom.
Drove in the car with you? I think Sarah and her cousin, when he took us grocery shopping.
Went to the movies with you? Jeffrey and Debbie - we saw Ghost Town.
-------------------------------HAVE YOU-------------------------------
Been to Mexico: No.
Been to Canada: No.
Been to Africa: No.
--------------------------------RANDOM--------------------------------
Do you have a crush on someone? Yes.
What books are you reading right now? Twilight. And I'm still in the middle of Eldest.
Best feeling in the world? I guess spending time and laughing with people I love.
Future kids' names? I really want to use Jacob for my first boy, for my last name Jacobson. And Ann for the middle name of my first girl, as it's my middle name and my mom's middle name.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Yes! :)
What's under your bed? Home - food storage and some random stuff. School - probably some small things I don't realize are there.
Who do you really hate? I know it's cliché, but like I said, hate is a very strong word. I don't hate anyone.
Do you have a job? Yes, as a custodian at a cafeteria here. It's really not a bad job.
Ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with? Yeah, for one thing, I didn't really have a chance with anyone I thought was cute in elementary school. :P
Are you lonely right now? Yes and no. Always both. But I'm happy.

Welcome to 2009

2009-01-18T23:52:00.010-06:00

I've been putting off posting a new entry for quite some time now, so I guess now is as good a time to do it as any. (Now that we're over halfway done with the month of January.) I'll try to run through the major points of what's going on in my life:

- BYU lost a very frustrating bowl game against Arizona. Very. Frustrating.
- Allen High made up for that - when I found out (while I was at BYU's bowl game that we were already losing at the time) that Allen won STATE, I was elated. The bowl game didn't really matter to me in that moment. My high school is AWESOME. I'm just super jealous of everyone who got to be there. (Cody was there with the band! Coolest thing ever. And yes Rachel, I'm looking at you. You know. Virtually.)
- Got home the night of the 21st, and slept on the couch. (Which doesn't bother me much - those couches are comfortable!)
- Woke up to realize I was 20. (And suddenly sick, as a matter of fact.) I've been anticipating being 20 for a little while now, but it's still mind-boggling when I really think about it.
- Had an awesome birthday - I got some great presents, but the best part was definitely having the whole family home.
- Had our usual Christmas Eve festivities, which include snacking on delicious foods, watching A Claymation Christmas, reading some stories we always read, and all of the kids playing Christmas tunes on our instruments together. (My horn had a crisis just beforehand, but with some help from Jeffrey, we were able to take care of it.)
- Christmas was great. Everyone gave and received some pretty cool stuff, and we all had a lot of fun together.
- I also had a lot of time to see my two nephews! Ashton is adorable, has grown so much in just a year, and was starting to walk when I was there (he's fully walking now). Knightley... well, let's just say, pictures of him don't do him justice. He's so super cute. I love them. ^_^
- We all got to spend a lot of time together before people starting leaving. It was definitely the best part of the break - being at home with my family, everyone being there at the same. Even though it meant that I slept on the couch and the floor half the time - I would sleep on the kitchen tile if it meant the whole family would be together for the holidays. I absolutely loved it all.
- I also got to spend some time with friends. It was great, though I didn't get as much time as I assumed I would allow for that kind of stuff.
- On the plane ride back, on one of my flights I sat next to the cutest little girl! Her name was Lily, she was two years old, and we played for the whole flight to Albuquerque. (Her dad seemed really nice about it all.)
- I got back to Provo on Sunday night (January 4th), and school started the next morning.
- Classes are all fine so far, and I'm hoping I can handle it all the whole semester.

I'm coming to enjoy being up at here more than I did at the start of my college years. (Not that I necessarily enjoy the actual school, homework, and test part of it.) I really appreciate the opportunity I have to be at BYU, and I love this school. I love every chance I get to be back at home, but I am grateful for the time I have here as well. I hope 2009 has a lot of opportunities, and I'll do my best to make it a great year.

Finals Week

2008-12-16T19:59:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-20T14:06:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-09T23:50:00.004-06:00

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, Kalisha 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

2008-10-31T22:56:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-15T13:44:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-06T18:02:00.004-05:00

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

2008-09-27T14:44:00.004-05:00

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

2008-08-31T22:24:00.004-05:00

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

2008-08-23T17:21:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-08-02T13:56:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-21T00:59:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-14T11:06:00.004-05:00

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

2008-07-04T09:03:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-06-30T22:41:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-25T21:56:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-19T11:15:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-04-24T01:49:00.008-05:00

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

2008-04-12T22:27:00.004-05:00

...'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!

2008-04-05T23:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-25T01:23:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-22T15:10:00.006-05:00

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

2008-03-17T19:02:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-14T16:34:00.005-05:00

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

2008-03-13T19:46:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-05T17:23:00.003-06:00

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...

2008-02-23T00:50:00.004-06:00

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

2008-02-14T23:21:00.003-06:00

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...

2008-02-12T16:34:00.001-06:00

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

2008-02-05T16:45:00.000-06:00

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...

2008-01-29T01:26:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-28T02:45:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-27T00:53:00.001-06:00

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

2008-01-26T00:50:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-24T22:42:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-10T12:46:00.000-06:00

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

Phone Drama

2007-12-12T17:59:00.001-06:00

So, Monday... well, Monday wasn't the best day of all. After all of my classes, I came back to my dorm room and sat down at my computer, as usual. And my phone was in the charger still, even though it was fully charged. So, I'm just sitting there, and I accidentally hit the cable with my foot. It pulls the phone off of my desk, and falls to the ground. Normally, I don't think this would've been the most horrible thing ever, but the poor thing had already been damaged for several months. As soon as it hit the ground, it just busted. Broke clean in half. I think I was probably a bit stressed or overwhelmed already, given that finals are just barely around the corner, etc. So I pick up my phone, try and put it back together, but it just doesn't work anymore, and finally start crying. I'd just had enough. I tried to keep my composure, but it just didn't work too well. I just broke down. And then I tried using our dorm room phone, and I couldn't figure it out, for some reason, no matter how hard I tried. (Turns out it can't make long-distance calls without a calling card or something.) I suddenly felt so cut off from a lot of people. It was pretty lousy.

So then, yesterday, Jeffrey and I went to a Sprint store to exchange my now completely broken phone (although I put it together so it looked like it was still whole, though I have no clue if that actually made a difference) for a new phone, since the contract that goes for every two years was up (this month, conveniently), and I was able to exchange phones for free or cheap, depending on the new phone. So I picked a nice phone that was free, and was able to transfer over my old phone numbers. And now I'm in love with my new phone. It's just beautiful. And has a camera. It's a very lovely phone. Granted, I still have an attachment to my old broken one. After all we've been through... we just have this bond. I know, with a phone. I can't bring myself to throw it away. So, I still have my old one, just for good times, and I now have this sweet new one. So, it all worked out well enough.

I took my physical science exam last night. Which was odd, because our finals don't really start until Monday of next week. But hey, I'm not going to complain. I think it's a good thing - now I don't have to worry about studying for that final while I'm studying for all of my other ones. I ended up getting an 83% on it (without the few points for the short answer part at the end, but I don't know how much that counts for). Which is... meh. *shrug* I would've really liked for it to have been better, but I guess it could've been considerably worse, too. So... meh. I don't know exactly what I have for a final grade in there, but I'm estimating that it's either a B or a B+. Since I don't think I managed an A- (sad), I'm hoping for that B+. Better than the former, I suppose.

Today was also my last day of classes. Tomorrow is the official last day, but I don't have any classes. Good. Times. So, now that all of my classes are over, I get to look forward to next week, a fun-filled final exam-fest. Yay. I'll just be really happy when it's over. And then I'll go home... and have my birthday... and Christmas... and be with my family... and see my friends... yayness all over the place. And I think there's a pretty good chance of working mostly box office at work when I get back, so that is most definitely a good thing. Much more tolerable than working concession, especially when it's busy, and especially on Christmas.

Let It Snow!

2007-12-08T23:20:00.000-06:00

Today I woke up, looked out the window, and lo and behold, snow! Apparently it hadn't been snowing for too terribly long, 'cause there wasn't a whole lot on the ground yet, but it was snowing anyway! The walkways were mostly slushy, though. You take a step and the slush-snow bursts out from under your foot. Kind of exciting to watch, actually. So, anyway, I went to my private lesson this morning. Which, I can only assume, is my last lesson of the semester. Saying as the last day of class is this Thursday. Yay! The only thing is, I have a recital on Monday... blech. Not looking forward to that. Definitely. Not.

After my lesson, I stopped by the bookstore once more... no, I didn't go crazy with buying things... :P I just needed to pick up something for Rachel. But as I was leaving my lesson, the snowflakes were so huge! I swear, some of them were as big as my thumb! It kept slowing down, to the point where I thought it'd stop snowing, and then it'd just start snowing like crazy. So... yeah. Crazy. I am so not used to this. :P

Other than the awe-inducing amounts of snowfall today, not much has been going on. Oh, but I did get a package from Rachel (Hay)! That was really good times. She sent me a CD that contained a mix of all her favorite songs by Michael Buble. And he's actually pretty good. I like it. Heck, I like all music. So this was great. :) Not to mention I absolutely love getting mail. It's just wonderful. Definitely a day-maker.

This afternoon our ward met to go to Temple Square, watch a Joseph Smith movie, and walk the temple grounds. We were all going to take two charter buses to get there. But the second one apparently got lost or something. So the stragglers that had been waiting on the second one, myself and Sarah included, headed back inside. Supposedly the next bus would be there in about twenty minutes. Everyone was just hanging out for a while in the lobby. So Sarah and I just chilled for a bit in our room, and after about twenty minutes, we ventured outside again. As we passed the lobby, nobody was there. We stepped outside, and no one was there, either. Cravitz. After looking for maybe a minute, we determined that we had been left behind. Which wasn't a big deal in retrospect, because it was just a "come if you want to" kind of thing. But still, I think I would've enjoyed it. Ah, well... I'll get over it.

Race to the Finish

2007-12-07T16:59:00.000-06:00

...and by the way, I did not intentionally copy Rachel's blog title for this one. Just a happy coincidence. :)

So, I got my computer science midterm back on Wednesday. Sad, sad day. It basically killed me, and then brought me back to life, just to kill me again. Yeah... it's pretty sad, when you think about it... these midterms are supposed to be a measure of how well you're doing when you're on your own, and that just goes to show... that I'm apparently not doing well by myself. I'm just really hoping that I'll be able to get a grip on the final.

So, the other day, I don't remember which one :P, I went to the BYU Bookstore to start my Christmas shopping. I have Chanelle's name for Christmas, which means that whatever present I get for her is supposed to be bigger/more expensive. Everyone else just gets normal presents. But, since I didn't come across anything big or expensive that I thought would be good for Chanelle, I decided to just buy her several smaller things that added up. And then I bough presents for everyone else. Well, nearly everyone else, anyway. And then I went Christmas shopping again today, to get a few more things for other people, and... yikes. Buying gifts for so many people adds up fast. Over $100. If I were an only child, I wouldn't be spending so much money. :P Aw, but I love my family. And it makes me happy to buy presents for them.

And now I can't wait until Christmas. And my birthday. Same diff. :P It'll be so fun. I can't wait to be home for it all. Except... I can definitely wait to go back to work for the holidays. Blech. I wish people didn't feel the need to see so many movies on Christmas day. C'mon, guys, really. Be with your family, enjoy your presents... I don't care. Just don't bother me. :P

Classes are coming to an end so quickly! Our last day of class is this coming Thursday. Which is actually awesome, because I don't have anything that day, so Wednesday is my last day. Potentially I could use Thursday to get a good head start on my cramming... er... studying, but... we'll just see that goes. Hopefully I'll study at least a little.

Last night, I was really looking forward to having Hawaiian haystacks for dinner, mmm..., but lo and behold, last night was a themed night, based on the Polar Express. And even though it wasn't terrible, and it definitely could've been worse... dinner wasn't all that spectacular. Bummer. I really wanted Hawaiian haystacks. I guess I'll have to wait until next week. *sigh* Oh well. :P

And speaking of TV, which I obviously wasn't, I'm going to go and watch some more Smallville. I'm almost on Season 4. And I'll eat yummily-delicious popcorn. Mmm... when my family came up here for Thanksgiving, my mom gave me a whole bunch of popcorn. Absolutely wonderful.

After-Thanksgiving Lethargy...

2007-12-04T12:47:00.000-06:00

...as in, I was really slow on getting another update. So, like I was saying before, Thanksgiving was lots of fun. I love being with my family. And still having access to my laptop. :) But it was hard to separate when we left, as I expected. Sad, sad day. I was faintly hoping that I'd be able to not cry, but of course I did. The good news was, I knew I'd get to go home and be with them in less than a month.

Speaking of going home! Especially since now it's December 4th, going home is drawing ever nearer. Not as near as it is for Alex and Rachel, but I can live with that. :) I can't believe the end of the semester is so close. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be taking most of these classes for much longer, but it did seem to go by pretty fast. The big downside to all of this is that it also means all of my final exams are really close as well... but... I try not to think about it. I can't wait to be home with my family, see the rest of my friends again... oh, good, good times...

So, I get back from Thanksgiving break on Saturday morning. And I don't have my ID with me to get inside the building if it's locked, but luckily enough, it isn't locked. Sarah's already gone for marching band, because there's a football game that day. And not just any football game - BYU vs Utah, a huge rivalry. Everyone and their brother was going to the game. So, I decided to sell my ticket. Facebook can do wonders. I put up an ad for my ticket to the game in the Marketplace section, and sure enough, it worked. It did take some time... but I managed to sell it. So I got out to meet this guy by the stadium, and we exchange money and ticket. Now we're both better off with this exchange. That's the market system in action, for you. :P Anyway, so I trudge on back to the dorm room, and lo and behold, it's locked. What the cravitz? I didn't bring my ID with me to get in, because I got in this morning at like 9:30, and now it's like 12:45. What... the heck. I try all of the doors, unhopefully, and they're all locked, of course. So I go back to the door right outside of the lobby and start banging on the door. If there's anyone in there, which there usually is, they'll hear me. But... since it's right after Thanksgiving and tons of people aren't back yet, and the people who are are probably at the game or something, of course there's no one there. And I have no way to get inside. Trevin's at the game, so I can't crash with him. At least I have my cell phone, so I try calling Jeffrey. I call a few times... but each time, no answer. For the freakin' love. I had pretty much had it by now, and I was just about ready to really break down. So I decide to start walking to Jeffrey's place anyway. They usually leave it unlocked. I just hoped I wouldn't get lost. Luckily, I remembered how to get there. Thanks to the boring grid system they use for streets in Utah, and the sun for direction. I managed to walk to their house, after probably about half an hour, and they do happen to be home. Phew. So I got to play their Wii for a little while, and then I went shopping with them. Some Christmas decorations... and then we got some food. Mmm... and when we got back to their house, a couple of Debbie's friends came over, and we ate the food. Just delicious. After that, Sarah texted me back, saying the game was over and she was home. So, I decided to go ahead and start walking back home. But, try as I might, Debbie wouldn't have it. So I waited until Jeffrey was back again, and he gave me a ride. And all was well again. Oh, and we won the game. In your face, Utah. Go cougars. :D

Okay... yeah. If anyone reading this is like me, huge paragraphs = less desire to read. Sorry 'bout that. Oh well. *shrug* After that, normal college life ensued. Except that my iClicker that I use for physical science decided to stop working. Or so I thought. I tried changing the batteries, but no luck. It seemed to have just stopped working altogether. Which was sucking, because now I was missing all of the questions in class, and I would be getting all of them right, so far. I finally take it in to the BYU Bookstore, and they reveal to me that there's three batteries in it, and all along I thought there were just two. And, now I feel stupid. So, I change the third battery as well, and now it works perfectly fine. *sigh* Well, at least it works now.

Oh, and when we got back from break, we got our last computer science midterm. And... I pretty much did horribly. First of all, I didn't finish it by the deadline, so it was already a day late. And one late day on a midterm costs 20 points. For the absolute love. So I keep working on it, and the next day's deadline rolls around, and I still don't have the stupid thing finished. I was further along at this point than I was before, but I still just can't figure the darn thing out. But I decide that getting the points taken off for what I didn't finish would hopefully not be as bad as getting yet another late day. But still... I pretty much bombed it. Before, I thought I'd be able to get an A in the class. Now... definitely not. Provided the final exam isn't as killer as this one was, I might still be able to pull of an A-. We'll just have to see. :\

Let's see... what else? My last day to volunteer for TOPS was last Tuesday. Aw... as much as I've been looking forward to it ending and being able to sleep in on Tuesdays, I was sad to leave for the last time... :( So I've considered volunteering more next semester. We'll just have to see. I don't even know yet how that'd fit into my schedule if I did decide to do it. So... yes. We'll see.

The good news is, our last concert in band was pretty much the end of band. We did meet last Tuesday, though we met later than usual, because apparently BYU is searching for a new Director of Bands, and our band is the guinea pig to see how they do. And we meet one more time for that, on the 11th. Other than those, Tuesdays don't have anything at all anymore. And Thursdays just have my American Heritage lab. Unfortunately the semester is almost over, but at least I enjoy it for a little while.

Oh, and it snowed last Friday night/Saturday morning! A lot! It snowed so much on Saturday... good times. That morning, Sarah and I went outside in the snow. We made a snowman, named it Tristen, made snow angels... good times. I love snow. Probably because I'm so unaccustomed to it, back in Texas. We normally get like, one snow day a year. And half the time it isn't actually snow, it's more like ice. Sometimes we really do just have an ice day. :P So I'm going to have to get used to the idea that there's going to be a considerable amount of snow in the winter here. :) Yay!

Now that I can't think of anything else of much importance, I'll go ahead and end this. If I think of more, maybe I'll remember to add it to my next entry. Maybe. And by the way, David and Sammy, Ashton is dang cute! I can't wait to see him sometime!

Thanksgiving Joy

2007-11-23T12:09:00.000-06:00

Okay... yeah... I haven't updated this thing in quite some time. I really keep meaning to, with everything that goes on, but I just don't get around to it for some reason. Oops. My bad. So, I guess I'll try to fill in the gist of what I've missed posting.

I've had a couple of tests. Let's see... since I really don't remember what tests I have and haven't mentioned... my American Heritage test did end up curving to a C, I believe. And I have a C in the class. So much cravitz. I'm really hoping that I can get at least a B- in the class. C's are just so... blech. I got a freakin' 62% on my Book of Mormon test. Suck! I thought I knew the material at least a tiny bit better than the last test, but I think I got 80% on that one. What the heck happened?? And that class only has three grades - midterm 1, midterm 2, and the final. There is an extra credit thing that I did, but who knows how much that's going to help. Freakin' dumb. I hate it. And then I also had another physical science test. Which, I know, I hadn't been keeping up completely with the reading, but I was paying attention in class (well, as best I could when I wasn't falling asleep), and taking notes and everything... and just because I didn't read the material before the coinciding class period doesn't mean that I didn't read it at all. I did go back and read. And even during the test, usually you can tell what the gist of the outcome is going to be, because you do or don't know the stuff well enough. So here I am taking the test, and even until the end of it, I thought I might get an A again, or possibly a B... but no... I got 67%. What the freaking cravitz?! Getting that, after failing my Book of Mormon test, was only slightly disheartening. And by slightly, I mean like, really depressing. I thought I was being better in my classes than the beginning of the year, but I just keep getting worse. What the freakin' heck. The good thing was, a few days ago I took a music test. Those always make me feel better, 'cause that's an easy class. I go to class, pay attention, listen to the selected music just before the test, and everything's fine. So I got a 98%. Yeah! Woot! *dances* Really, really made my day better.

Okay, so, enough about my grades. I'd rather not think about them that much anyway. I had a concert the other night. Last Thursday, the one before Thanksgiving. We played... eight pieces, I think. And two of them had four movements. It was a long concert. Definitely different than high school concerts. :P I really liked most of our music. Actually, probably all of it. Some things were just better than others. Like, in the second and fourth movements of the first piece, there were these awesome horn rips... like, to a high G (and some to a high A). Pretty much the best parts of that whole piece. I love it. And the Dixie Land Band was pretty awesome. I just love listening to them play. Which is a good thing, because after we finished the piece that they played with us, they just went ahead and played something of their own, and I swear, it never ended... well, okay, obviously it did, but it seemed really long. But they were really cool. And then there was the last piece. Oh, yes... Zion. What Jami likes to refer to as Chop Killer. And she has fourth part. Mine, third part, was pretty much death. Second worse, next to first part, in my opinion. I feel for them, because by the end of the piece, I could hardly play. In fact, I literally barely held on long enough for the piece to end. Hard stuff. But I do really like the piece. It just takes a lot. And we played it last. Great... so we had alreay been playing probably for more than an hour. My lips... so tired...

I've also finally registered for my schedule for next semester. It's now set in stone, so there's no more of this, well here's what I'm planning to do next semester, this is what I'm hoping I'll get... so, my schedule next semster is as follows:

Monday
8:00-8:50 Econ
9:00-9:50 English
10:00-10:50 Book of Mormon (part 2)
12:00-12:50 Psychology

Tuesday
9:00-9:50 Beginning Jazz Dance
1:00-2:50 Band
3:00-3:50 Trigonometry

Wednesday
8:00-8:50 Econ
9:00-9:50 English
10:00-10:50 Book of Mormon (part 2)
12:00-12:50 Psychology
7:00-9:30 Careers in Music Ed

Thursday
9:00-9:50 Beginning Jazz Dance
1:00-2:50 Band
3:00-3:50 Trigonometry

Friday
8:00-8:50 Econ
9:00-9:50 English
12:00-12:50 Psychology

And then I'll probably have private lessons on Saturday. And I'm taking an online health course, which shouldn't be too hard.

And then Sarah left the next day, Friday. And came back on Sunday. So I was Sarah-less for the weekend. She left for her brother's (Mark's) wedding. Aw, good times. That was a lonely, boring weekend, though. However, I did watch some movies that were being shown on TV. Titanic a couple of times, Enough a couple of times, A Walk to Remember... oh, good times. That's a sweet movie. Like, in a tender way. Oh, and I also had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Jeffrey and Debbie's house on Sunday evening. It was really crowded for their little place. But it was good food. They had turkey and mashed potatoes, of course. And I don't remember what else, 'cause that's probably all that I had. And then I had some chocolate pie. That was also pretty good stuff.

Tuesday was fantastically a Friday. Had all of Friday's classes. So I liked to think of it as a Friday, with several Saturdays that come afterwards. Good. Times. And Sarah and I went to computer science at 9:00, since our schedules allowed it. So we were finished with classes by 11:00. Whoo! Aweseomeness. And then my family came to visit a few hours later. We met them at the BYU Bookstore. Really good times! Oh, and Chanelle got her hair cut, so it's cute and short. She looks adorable! Then we went shopping for a while, for shirts and hoodies and stuff. That... took a long time. And I didn't really get anything, so it seemed even longer. But I was with my family! Really good times! And then we went and had some ice cream. Well, my mom, Cody, and I had hot chocolate. Mmm... good stuff. Hot at first, but yummy. Oh, yeah, we also met up with our cousins in the bookstore after a while. And then, after visiting the dorms and everything, we headed off to my grandparents' house. We've been here since Tuesday. Jeffrey and Debbie came on Wednesday, I believe. And we're having good times together. Thanksgiving dinner last night. Mmm... I pretty much just had turkey and mashed potatoes. So... yummy... yeah, delicious. I also had a cinnamon roll and an orange roll. The cinnamon rolls... are absolutely delightful. Thanksgiving dinner's great.

And apparently, this morning Sammy had her baby! Aww! So exciting! And at least she waited until after Thanksgiving dinner, right? He was born at 6:55 this morning. 19 inches long. 7 pounds, 11 ounces. And probably one of the cutest little guys ever, though I haven't seen him yet. His name is Ashton. Ashton David Jacobson. Aw... isn't it cute? I like the name, anyway. So now I'm an aunt! I'll bet he's just adorable... though, to be honest, I was rooting for a December birthday, like mine. But I guess I'll let it go. Besides, David and Sammy did want him to come sooner than that. :P November 23, 2007. Oh, kind of weird. Never lived in the 1900s! Poor guy. He's missing out. :) Anyway... yeah, I'm excited about that. Good times all around. And congrats, Sammy and David! Everyone's so happy for you! :D

Change is Inevitable...

2007-11-09T20:33:00.000-06:00

Ahh... this morning was somewhat on the depressing side, for some reason. I just felt so annoyed and angry at the world. It's hard to say exactly why. However, my day did improve.

During my break between Physical Science and Music 101, I decided to head over to the BYU Bookstore. It's always fun to just look around. Although, sometimes it really makes me want to buy stuff. Luckily, I almost never carry around money with me. I often see cool books I'd like to get, or I wander into the place where they have a bunch of board games and things... speaking of which, today I found a Nintendo Monopoly game. Wow, that'd be really fun to have. It even has cool little Nintendo figures... forget that dog everyone wants to be, there's Link's shield, a classic Nintendo controller... ah, good times. Thing is, I don't play Monopoly nearly enough to pay the $36 it asked for on the sticker. But, I enjoyed looking anyway.

After lunch... oh, actually, speaking of lunch... for at least the past two days, the food selection in the cafeteria has been less than satisfactory. At least for me. I can manage with some of the foods, but they haven't lately had something that looks really good, like they often do, out of all the choices. But... I'll get over it. Eventually, they'll have something delicious again. :P

So, after that... Oh, I got a letter from Rachel in the mail today! Really good times... there's just nothing quite like getting a letter in the mail (something other than junk). It just made my day brighter. Except... actually, the letter did draw tears from my eyes. I realized, once again, that things will never be the same. Ever again. I'll never be able to go back to high school. Never be able to do all those things we did together in high school. As great as it was to move on, I think I took some things for granted. And I can only assume that things are going to keep on changing. People will change. I will change. And there's no going back. It really makes me sad to think about. I guess I'm one of those people that isn't particularly fond of change. Change just makes me look back at the past, and think about how it'll never be the same. And as much as I'd like to, I'll never have that time back. I suppose the better thing to do would be to move on, and look forward, to the future, but... *sigh* Okay, stop making yourself feel depressed again, Ashley. Really, it was a fabulous letter. I loved it. :D

Oh, and I think I may feel a cold coming on. I can only hope I'm wrong. Probably all Sarah's fault. [/teasing]

Go Team!

2007-11-08T21:43:00.000-06:00

Well, yesterday I woke up and thought it was Friday. Shoot... I do things like that all the time. I swear, I can hardly ever get the day of the week right. :P Anyway, classes were nothing special. Same ol', same ol'. So, nothing really to talk about there. Last night I also went to a concert. Dr. Hinckley, my Music 101 professor, was in it. He plays clarinet. Really well. He is the clarinet instructor, after all. And he was accompanied by piano. It was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, today was one of those lonely days - emotionally, at least. School-wise, though, today was great. The usual Thursday classes - two hours of band followed by American Heritage lab. Normally I have to catch up on the reading material in the morning before I go to the lab, but today we got full credit on the quiz just for going to class. Which I knew beforehand. So... I woke up at the same time as Sarah to shower, then went back to sleep while she did homework. It might seem weird to do that, but often when I get up by myself to shower, I'm scared the whole time. Apparently somehow just knowing that she's in another shower makes it a little better. Stupid fear of... everything. Anyway, so I got up and showered. Then went back to sleep. Then had breakfast with Sarah, then tried to go back to sleep again. I think I did, eventually. Which most likely means I did. :) Then we had lunch. And then I considered going back to sleep. But I didn't. Regardless, it was a good, sleep-y morning.

Band was fun today. I always like band, but today the Dixieland Band played with us, 'cause we're playing this Dixieland Concerto thing. It consists of piano, a drumset, a clarinet, a trombone, and a trumpet. And the piece is like, jazzy solo mania for them. My part is boring to the max, but I could just sit there and listen to them play it all day. Er... maybe not all day. Whatever. It was cool-sounding.

Then there was another football game tonight, against TCU. On a Thursday night... and no, I did not go. But we did win. 27-22, or something like that. Although, the Allen team also had a game tonight, against Plano East. It was actually broadcast on TV, but unfortunately, we don't get that chanel on the BYU network. :( But Rachel kept me filled in, and the end score was 63-35, I believe. Go us! We're goin' to the playoffs! And apparently they said on TV that we wouldn't be playing Southlake this year. Holy freakin' cravitz!!! That... is... I mean, it figures something like that'd happen right when I get out of high school. For the love. On the other hand, that'd mean we actually have a shot at state this year. And I think the first game at state would be on like... the 22nd of December. It might be a game that I could actually go to! Whooooo! I've always wanted to be able to come back for a visit at one of the Allen football games, but never thought it'd be possible, being up here at BYU. And that's my birthday. What a great present that'd be. :D

Such Excitement

2007-11-07T00:56:00.000-06:00

So, I had yet another tutoring time for TOPS this morning. The class I help with just got a new girl. And apparently she's only on about a second grade math level, and this is a third grade class. So, needless to say, she's struggling to keep up with the normal pace of the class. So I worked with her the whole time. And believe me... she does need the extra help. Plenty of it. I had to help her with a little bit of multiplication and division, and I pretty much had to walk her through every little detail about it. If I ever asked her a quesiton about it, she would just kind of sit there, and I'd eventually have to tell her anyway. Poor girl. I feel bad for her. I hope that with some time she'll catch up.

Tonight I also had an American Heritage test. Ick. I actually kind of enjoy the class, I just don't like the tests at all. They have a few options, and then either a bunch of different combinations of those options, or they just throw in 'All of the above' and 'None of the above'. So I have to be pretty presice in whether I'm sure about the answer choices. Blech. And for this test, I really didn't feel like I knew the material as well as the last test, which I got 57% on (which curved to a C, I think... blessed curve). Except for all the econ stuff we've recently been going over. That was pretty darn easy stuff. Very basic. But somehow I managed 62% on this test. Good stuff. With any luck, it'll curve to a better letter grade than a C, but that all just depends on other people in the class... *crosses fingers*

Oh, and I feel compelled to mention this, even though some may not really get it, or some may not really care... but whatever. So I go to these forums on this website a lot, called Kokiri Kids. I'm a moderator there. It's fantastic. So, anyway, the old administrator (Kokiri Kid) hasn't been active at all lately, and people have been wondering about him. Just a couple of days ago, he decided he wasn't able to keep up with the site anymore, and he sold it to this other guy (that none of us have heard of or seen before), who goes by Shafty. So, now Shafty owns the site, and Shafty is the new administrator. And there's a lot of talk going on about it right now. It's kind of a big deal. Kokiri Kid will still come around from time to time, but... it won't ever be quite the same. And I'm kind of sad, even taken aback a little. But hopefully this Shafty guy will be a good guy. I just love it there, and there have been some great times. *reminisces*

Monday, Monday... So Good To Me

2007-11-05T23:50:00.000-06:00

This morning I actually stayed completely awake during all of Physical Science and Book of Mormon! Yay! I did get ever so slightly tired just a couple of times, but I never had to fight the sleep. Really good times. ^_^ Maybe I should try to get at least seven hours of sleep every night I have early classes the next morning, because that sure seemed to work. Speaking of Physical Science, my iClicker (the thing we use in class for the random quiz questions) was apparently running very low on batteries. I noticed partway into class that the red light next to "low battery" was flashing every now and then. Then during the last one or two questions of the lecture, sometimes when I'd push the button for the answer I wanted, it would just turn off. Luckily, I found out that if I wait long enough before turning it back on and using it, it'll work. And now that I've replaced the batteries, I should be good.

Oh, and Book of Mormon... so, I may have mentioned before (I could check, but that'd be more effort) that I e-mailed my professor, asking when the actual test date was. Today he announced it in class, and I also got an e-mail back from him today... which said, and I quote, "We mentioned in class two or three times that Exam #2 would be November 12-14 in the testing center. -Bro. Millet" Oh, man, I feel really stupid now. But I e-mailed him back, and he replied, saying not to worry about it. *shakes head* Yeah... I'm pretty sure that's because the past several classes I've walked in a few minutes late, and that's kinda when we go over announcements and things. Oh well.

Today, in my Physical Science lab, we didn't have our usual TA. I don't know where she was, but someone else came in her place to teach us. We had two worksheets to cover, so I thought it could take a while. At least, it would take until the end of the normal lab time. But it was really easy, and we finished about 15 minutes early. Good times. I've never liked having that lab at 4:00, right in the middle of nothing. Inconvenient.

Oh, I also finally turned in my Computer Science lab today. Two days late, but I still got all the normal points on it. And now it's out of the way. Even though... there is another one due this Friday, but... meh... that'll be done soon enough as well. :P Also, I got my midterm back for that class, and I got a 97. Alright! That's pretty good times. It's a really good thing it wasn't as hard as some of the recent labs have been. I'd be screwed. And not that it's a huge deal or anything, but Sarah got a 115 on it. Blech. But... in retrospect, at least I got a 97 on it by myself. And in my first year of any computer science; Sarah's had three, so I can hardly compare it fairly. It turns out there are some things in this world that I can do, every now and then. :P

Tonight for Home Evening, we went and saw Stardust. I've already seen it before (with Trevin, right before we actually got to BYU), but I really liked it. Great movie, in my opinion. Plus, I got popcorn to go with it. Good times. One of our better activities.

Reflection

2007-11-05T00:15:00.000-06:00

So, this morning I woke up at about 7:00. (Which was really like 8:00 to my body clock, I'm sure.) I was supposed to meet with Tom at 8:00 so we could prepare the lesson we had to give in Sunday school today. So I dutifully got out of my warm, cozy bed, and hit the shower. After which, I threw on a sweater and went to the lobby we were to meet in. But, as he did last time, apparently he slept in a little. At about 5 'til 9:00, he texted me, saying that he was so sorry and would be there as soon as he could. Rats. Even though it was a very slim chance, I was hoping so hard that maybe he'd sleep too long and we wouldn't be able to get a lesson together (what we'd do after that, I'm not sure), or maybe something had happened that I hadn't found out about... and then I'd use that as an excuse to worm my way out of giving a lesson this week. In my head I shun my calling in any way possible. :) But we got together at about 9:30-ish, and finished in less time than it took us last time (thank goodness). When we actually taught our lesson, I think it went alright. Like normal. So... good times? At least we don't have to teach next week. We get to watch the other teachers suffer instead. :)

But since today was fast Sunday, the cafeteria didn't open until three, which is coincidentally what time my ward gets out of church. Unfortunately, it also means that it is crowded beyond belief at that time, because everyone is starving. So we have to wait in lines for everything, and the poor people that work there are trying to keep up with all the people and doing their best not to run out of food. Not to mention you can hardly move through all the people, and there's basically no seats anywhere. But eventually we got our food, and sat down somewhere. Alright. Sadly, Sarah is kinda sick today, so even if she was really hungry, I don't know how full she was when she stopped eating. *shrug* It sucks to be sick. I really hope she feels better soon. Not to mention, I hope I don't get sick from her. :P

Something that bothers me from time to time is when I feel lonely. Granted, I do have Sarah here, and I'm glad I do. And even though many people seem to think that rooming with such a close friend can only lead to disaster, we're still friends (so far... *wink*). But that doesn't always keep me from feeling alone. But... alas, that's part of the college experience for a lot of people, right? Missing old friends, missing family... Maybe I just need some time to figure myself out. Where I'm headed, what I'll do, it can all be so confusing. And maybe, just maybe, someone will be generous enough to take me on a date or two along the way. Maybe I just need to try harder to make more friends. It's just... so hard. I guess before I can find other people I need to find myself first.

Fall Back

2007-11-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

Okay, start with Thursday. Let's see... band was normal. I had yet another American Heritage TA lab. Normally I read the assigned material on Thursday mornings for the quiz in the lab, but this time I didn't read any of it before band. I more or less skimmed through it during band. But I still got four out of five points. Good thing we're just doing basics of economics right now, so the questions aren't as hard. Whoo!

That night, I also worked on a computer science lab. That was frustrating. Yes, I could figure out how I was supposed to do things, but only because Sarah held my hand through the whole freaking program. (Not literally...) But I couldn't do it on my own. Not even the very beginning. *sigh* And it was due on Friday, so I was going to turn it in then (which wouldn't give me *extra credit* for turning it early, but whatever). Turns out I still didn't have everything figured out before Sarah left for marching band, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it on my own. And I was not going to stay there and get help from the TAs... there were so many people, there's no telling how long I'd be waiting. So by the time Sarah figured out how to fix it for me, the lab was closed. So I'd have to take away extra points I had from before, and turn it in late. Which, I still didn't get it turned in today (I was unthoughtful enough to not bother checking what time the lab closes on Saturdays), so I'll have to turn it in yet another day later.

Yesterday, I yet again neglected to read the chapter for Physical Science. Oopsie. Only this time in class, there were only two questions that I can remember. One of them the professor ended as I was walking in, 'cause I'm usually a couple minutes late and it's never really made any difference, so I didn't get the chance to answer it. Which, didn't really matter, because with that little amount of time that I would've had walking in, I would've just entered A real quick as my answer, and I think the right one was actually D. Ah, well. Then the only other question was whether we had read, which of course, I put no. Wonderful. That's okay. Provided I don't get no credit the rest of the year (wow, that was supposed to make sense, not sound hick), it should work out, because the lowest ten of those quiz grades are dropped. Just... get some right. Yeah!

Then, as usual on Fridays, I had a break where I normally have Book of Mormon. So I went to the instrument office in the HFAC and bought some instrument supplies I needed - oil, slide grease, French horn string, tuner/metronome... good stuff. Then I headed over to the bookstore. The past little while I've been in more and more need of shampoo and hairspray. I'm not completely out of shampoo yet, but nearly. And I pretty much pushed the rest of my hairspray to the limit. Now I'm refreshed. Ahh... relief.

I also thought that yesterday I might have to take my next Book of Mormon midterm, 'cause that's what it said in the syllabus. So why would I think otherwise? But apparently it's actually on like, the 12th. Not that I'm complaining, because I was not ready for the test, but I don't know how I was supposed to know that. Maybe he announced that in class sometime, but I didn't know because half the time I'm just trying really hard not to fall asleep. That would make sense.

This morning I had breakfast with Trevin, Jeffrey, Debbie, and two of my cousins (Cameron and Danny). At Jeffrey and Debbie's house. They made us French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. It was great. Especially the bacon. I'm a sucker for that. :) It was nice, though. When I went home, I had a private lesson, then sat around for a while and watched some Smallville. Good stuff.

Then there was the football game, BYU vs CSU (Colorado State). We pretty much owned. Though I didn't go. Again. I figured out after going to the first couple of games that I don't much like going to them. Even if I go with Trevin, it's almost like I go by myself. Sort of. It'd be fun if I were in the marching band, but otherwise, I won't go to many. *shrug* Then I went to a concert tonight. Brass Chamber Night. Three different brass quintets performed. It was pretty good. The middle part of the concert I was falling asleep... but the last piece was an awesome-sounding contemporary piece. I loved it.

Oh, and remember to set your clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings Time - spring forward, fall back! It's a good thing my mom reminded me, else I'd have forgotten. One more hour of sleep. Yay sleep!

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T01:02:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday morning I went to tutor third grade kids again at that private school. I got to help them with multiplying and dividing with more digits than they're previously used to. Some of them are pretty good at it, and others... aren't as good. But as far as I can tell, they're generally getting the hang of it. Good times.

On the way to the school, I talked to Mom. Like I usually do. It's a thirty minute walk each way, so I like to talk to her to keep me company. Only this time she had some bad news - one of my gerbils had died. Either the previous night, or that morning, she wasn't sure. Tears instantly sprung to my eyes, and I cried over her. I knew it'd be coming eventually - they can't live forever. They typically only live somewhere from three to five years. But still, that was a very sad moment. It was really hard when Mama (the mother gerbil) died, especially because I know that it was a painful death, though I'm sorry to say it. And now Amber is gone. We don't know why, either, because apparently she seemed perfectly fine before then. But Amber... she's just, Amber. The one we affectionately referred to as "the crazy one" or "the psycho one". She always had the most energy. And there was a period of time when she would climb up the wall of the cage partway, and then basically launch herself from there to the top level. And she'd jump around a lot, and climb all over the place... and I'll really miss her. And now Pepper is all alone. She's always been a little more mild-mannered. But there were times that they'd groom each other, play with each other, or just run around... and it was especially cute when they'd sleep together, all snuggled up next to each other. Amber, I'll miss you.

So... on that note, I'll move on to something a little more light-hearted. Let's see... well, I took my third Music 101 midterm on Tuesday. I didn't feel like I knew the material quite as well as I did last time, when I got a 92, so I expected... a high B? An A- if I was lucky? But I somehow managed a 95! Rock on! So, that was pretty exciting. Can't say I'm expecting the same thing to happen on my Book of Mormon test. I need to take that either tomorrow or Friday. And I don't feel prepared at all. *sigh* I guess we'll just see how that goes...

On to Wednesday. In Music 101 we've moved into the Romantic time period. I love it. :) Each time we move into a new time period, I just like the music even more, it's always getting better! The Romantic period is just... awesome. So expressive. Oh, and I also can't wait to get into the Modern era... so much dissonance! It's pretty sweet. Ah, I just love music.

And today was Halloween! I did wear Sarah's sweet cape for part of the night, but I didn't do anything big. There were all these little kids from somewhere (I don't remember where, though) that came through the dorms from around 5-7 tonight. And they were all so cute! Aww! Little babies, tiny kids, and just young children... it was great. So each room in our hall had the option of buying candy to give to these kids when they went Trick-or-Treating. If we were going to participate, we put up an orange piece of paper with a pumpkin on it on our door, and they'd knock on all the doors with those papers. So, I went and bought some candy from the Cannon Center and handed it out to the little tykes. It was great. And then Jeffrey and Debbie and some of their friends stopped by afterwards so we could see their costumes, and I gave them some of the remaining candy. Debbie made costumes for the two of them - from Candy Land (oh, good times), he was Mr. Mint and she was Princess Lolly. Good stuff. They were cute together.

Haunted House

2007-10-30T01:44:00.000-05:00

This morning I had neglected to finish reading my chapter for Physical Science, as I have a few times now. Really, it's not a huge deal if I don't. We do take in-class quizzes every day (just random questions interspersed throughout the lesson), and one of them is whether or not we have read the chapter, but really, it's only one point if you don't. Out of, like... I don't remember. Hundreds. So if I miss once or twice or so, it's not that big a deal. But if I continue to do it, it could actually make a difference in the long run. Plus, I need to remind myself, I'm sure that I learn the material better if I read the whole chapter. So... bad me. Start reading again. I used to be a lot better about it. I'm just starting to slack.

For Home Evening tonight, we went to this haunted house place. Called... I don't quite remember... something about being in the dark, and the word spook... okay, so it's kind of lost its effect. Anyway, so we went there for our activity. It was $9 per person (or $8 with your student ID). Meh... I could deal with that. But honestly, I got scared as soon as I saw the sign for the place as we passed by it on the road. We did pass it on accident and have to turn around, but that wasn't a big deal, so... whatever. So, yeah, I already got scared. And waiting in line to go inside was scary. There were a couple of people in costume who would wander around and freak people out while they were standing in line... yeah. They looked very frightening. Once we got in... it was even worse. Just terrifying, like, the whole time. Holy cravitz. I really didn't want to let go of Sarah the whole time, but sometimes I just made myself. Eventually (lucky for me), it was over, and we all went home. I don't know... I'm really afraid of haunted houses and the like, but at the same time, I somehow really like them. *shrug* Maybe I should just get over my stupid fears, and then I'll really like them.

And for some strange reason, I keep thinking today is Tuesday... even though it's definitely not. It's Monday. Monday Monday Monday. And it's a good thing, too, because that would mean that Tuesday was almost over, and Wednesday was coming... and I much prefer Tuesdays to Wednesdays. I don't know why I keep thinking that, but I have at least like two or three times. Eh. I'll get over it.

Sleepy-Heads

2007-10-29T01:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I had another private lesson. As I do every Saturday. :P When I went in to warm up and run through my music before my lesson started, I was rather discouraged. Basically, I was playing like crap. I think I almost cried. Just frustrating. When I actually went in to my lesson and played, it went much better. And I think I'm getting a little better overall, too. See, apparently I've been playing for seven years with the wrong embouchure, and so now I have to pretty much completely change the way I play. Just a slight setback. >.< My range was significantly reduced, plus it's just been overall harder to play, for the most part. But, as I keep having to play when I practice and in band, it's getting better. And supposedly it'll make me that much better in the long run. It gets really discouraging sometimes, so I just keep telling myself that.

Last night I also went to a concert called OcTUBAfest. Clever, I know. It goes on for four days, and I went to the one on the last day. It was pretty neat. There were a whole bunch of tuba and euphonium players. The first several pieces were played by this one guy named Adam Frey (and a piano accompanist, Robin Hancock), and he was amazing. This one thing he played was what he liked to call "the Swiss version of Flight of the Bumble Bees." And seriously, that's about what it was. Holy cravitz, he played so many notes so fast... just... wow. Freakin' amazing. I'd love to be able to play like that. Maybe someday... or not. :)

This morning we slept in... much longer than we inteded. Our ward in church meets at 12:00 - 3:00. I woke up at about 11:50. And I'm sorry, but I'll be honest - if I have a good excuse to not go to church, I'll take it. I know, shame on me. So I woke up at about 11:50, and realized that church was in like ten minutes, and neither of us had showered, and we'd still have to get dressed and everything after that, and it takes a little less than ten minutes to get there. I looked over, and Sarah was still asleep. So, I was kind of pleased that we had slept so long, and went back to sleep. I woke up one or two more times after that, and then Sarah got up at about 1:30 and was like, "Oh my gosh, do you know what time it is??" So, yeah, we missed church because we slept in. Tehe... sounds kind of funny, considering it started at noon. And we did stay up kind of late last night watching some Smallville - about 2 or 2:30 - but considering we're at college, it really wasn't all that late. Speaking of which, we're going to watch some more tonight. So, until next time, adieu.

Party Time

2007-10-27T00:50:00.000-05:00

Oh, I love Fridays. Great day. I only have three classes, and I'm out by noon. And they're all decent classes, too. :P This morning when I woke up at about 7:04, was slightly confused... and at first I tried to figure out if somehow it meant that I could still go back to sleep. Funny how that works, sometimes. I'll wake up in the morning, and if I'm really tired (which is often the case upon first waking up), I'll do anything I can to allow myself at least just a few minutes more sleep. In the long run, those few minutes are going to do squat, but they're really important at the time.

Moving on, I accidentally missed dinner today. Really, it was entirely unintentional. Sarah went to this party thing for marching band or something, and someone was supposed to call her beforehand, so she didn't want to leave the dorm in case they called while she was gone. So I was just going to go to dinner after she left. Plus, after that, I was going to go to a concert that started at 7:30. I was just messing around on the computer for a while... and I looked at the time and it was like 7:45. The concert was already in progress, and they were most likely putting things away in the cafeteria. So I missed both. Drats. Speaking of which, I'm still quite hungry right now.

Tonight I also went to some social thing that was after the party that Sarah went to. It was at Jami's house... actually, apartment. Whatever. So... that was at 9:30. She had made play-doh that people were messing around with, and she made brownies and put out pretzels and apples and caramel... which, the latter two were delicious. After a while of just sitting around and chatting, we all played Apples To Apples. What a fantastic game. Even though I pretty much never win - and tonight was no different. After several rounds, I finally won one green card, shortly after which we left, because we still needed to practice tonight. Speaking of which, I still do need to do that. But I ended up on the computer instead. Eh, it happens. All the time. :)

Been Busy, But Today Was Good

2007-10-25T22:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I missed a couple of days... granted, I'm certain that'll be happening a lot. I always start out diligent, and then start slacking... such is life. So, yeah... the past couple of nights, actually, I've been working on a computer science program. And then I'd rather just go to bed than post here or anything. What a ridiculous program, too... I got stuck on this one part because the interest of something wasn't working for some reason. I spent so much time tryin to figure out why the freak it wasn't working, because nothing else made sense! Only to find out that it was annual interest, so all I needed to be doing in the program was divide by twelve. Dumb. Really, really dumb.

I also took another Physical Science test the other day. I got an 83 on it. Meh... personally, I'm not too pleased. Especially considering I got a 97 on the first one. Maybe I'll get another A on our next one. *shrug* I have a couple more tests coming up, too... I have one for Music 101 sometime next week, I think... as well as Book of Mormon? And then American Heritage the week after that. They just keep coming and coming. And as soon as I get a couple out of the way, it's been a while since the others, so it's time to take more of the first again. >.<

The good news is, I'm halfway done with the semester. One more half (and several stupid final exams...), and I am finished... for the semester. Not that I'm really hating my classes now, but I look forward to seeing what my classes next semester will be like. I hope I don't regret saying that. :P

Oh yeah! There was another new episode of Smallville tonight. Good times. It was really... interesting. Oh, but there was one part that just made me cringe... so much... gaaa... Anyway, so... I had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner tonight. Absolutely delicious. Probably one of my favorite meals here. Heck, possibly one of my favorite meals anyway. The only thing is, they always seem to have it on Thurdays... which is sometimes inconvenient, because we have to eat dinner fairly quickly a lot of times, so that we can get back to the dorm before Smallville starts, and usually there's a pretty decent line for Hawaiian haystacks. And then there's the times when they run out of the gravy stuff that goes on top... that's just... dumb. Yes.

Package

2007-10-22T02:14:00.000-05:00

Today I had to teach a lesson in Sunday School. Yes, I'm a Sunday School teacher, by the way. I team-teach with someone else, though (named Tom), and there's two sets of teachers for each class. So I half-teach every other week. Really, it's not that bad. Though, the best part is when it's over. :)

Oh, and last night it snowed some more... it melted as the day went on, but it was still there for a while. I'm really gonna have to get used to it. It's just still a big deal to me - I'm a Texan. :) We usually get one snow day a year, though sometimes it's more like an ice day.

Today I got a package from my mom. So cool! I love getting things in the mail. Anyway, so the package had a whole bunch of Halloween stuff, mostly. A bunch of candy... and also a little bag of chili-cheese Fritos (one of my favorites... and I've already eaten them) and a package of Goldfish (the flavor-blasted kind - yay!). And a nifty little pop-up-er-something pumpink to put it all in. Additionally, I got a couple more pictures from Chanelle. Aw! I love getting things from her. And they go right up on my wall in this little desk area I spend so much time in. Pretty soon my walls are going to be like... completely full of her artwork. Good times. I also received that Taylor Swift CD I was going to get at Target... so it's a good thing I didn't end up getting it! Apparently, my mom thought she had told me not to get it, but it seems to me that she may have only said not to order it online. (I ordered Kenny Chesney's newest CD online and ended up paying much more than I could've if I just bought it at Target. Oh well, at least I learned.) So... yeah. At least I didn't already have it, or I would've felt really bad. But now I'm really excited that Mom got it for me. So kind. :D

Game Day

2007-10-21T00:54:00.001-05:00

Today was another BYU home game. Apparently we won by a decent margin, though I didn't actually go to the game. But it did snow! (So maybe it was a good thing I didn't go.) It was kind of exciting to see... I mean, I am definitely not used to the idea of getting snow in October. It was nice and cold when I went outside.

Speaking of which, after the game Sarah and I were going to have some dinner, only to discover that the cafeteria closes at 6:30 on Saturdays, so it was too late when we went. And the only other way we normally get food is by getting things out of the vending machine. But... I wasn't really thrilled at the prospect of having to spend money on vending machine snacks to replace dinner tonight. So I called Jeffrey, hoping maybe he had some extra food or snacks or something. And we ended up being able to eat a little of the leftovers in his and Debbie's fridge. Aw, what a generous brother and sister-in-law. I was pleased.

I didn't feel like driving to his house, though, for one thing, because I'd have to drive yet again in this unfamiliar Utah-ville, and for another, it was shortly after the game, so everybody and their brother was probably on the road. So we walked instead. Kind of nippy outside, saying as it had just snowed a little before. But it wasn't unbearable. And we got good food. And played the Wii while we were at it. :)

Crazy Outing

2007-10-20T02:21:00.000-05:00

Whoo, Friday! Actually, today has seemed very long. By the time evening came, I had almost forgotten that I had classes this morning. I don't know why, either... and it wasn't long in a good or a bad way. Just, long.

This afternoon I went to Target. Well, actually, Sarah and I went to a music store first, to see if she could get her oboe repaired. The only thing that came from that voyage, though, was finding out there's a couple of shops in Orem that do repairs that the guy we talked to didn't recommend. But holy cravitz... he just kept talking and talking. Not even kidding. He talked and talked... and didn't stop until we were out of the building. Even when we were getting to the door, he was just kind of shouting so that he could keep talking. It was absolutely hilarious!

And then we went to Target... which turned out to be more profitable. I was planning on getting a CD (Taylor Swift's Christmas CD) as well as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (for DS). At first I didn't see the game, so I figure at least I could get the CD. Then I found the game - apparently I had just overlooked it... by a lot, they had quite a few - and couldn't find the CD. Though I did see a lot of other CDs I'd like... that's the only thing I don't like about buying CDs, is I always want to buy so many. I guess I just like a lot of singers and a lot of music. Anyway, so we asked about the CD (actually, I made Sarah ask), and... to make a long story short, they ended up not having it.

I hope I don't have to do that again in the near future. I'm not particularly fond of driving here... as I am with any unfamiliar place I drive in. I'm just completely not used to it.

Good Times

2007-10-19T01:27:00.000-05:00

Today was a pretty good day, all in all. For one thing, I finally found out for sure the name of the French horn player next to me. We talk every day that we have band together, and she knows my name and some random things about me... but it's started to bother me that I don't know her name. She is a friend. I did hear someone say her name once or twice, but it wasn't quite clear. Though I was pretty sure it was either Jamie or Jenny. So, also in band we've done "introductions" where after we rehearse one piece, each person in one section introduces themself and everything. And... it turns out, the French horns were the last ones to go. The director kind of forgot about us. I think he just assumed we had already gone. So we all introduced oursevles today, and it turns out her name is Jami after all. I don't remember her last name, or quite where she's from... or what her major is, but I do know she's double-majoring. Anyhow... yeah... enough about Jami. I'm just glad I finally know who she is. :)

I turned in my essay today about the book Just and Holy Principles, and... well, I don't know how I did. Personally, I feel like I did a better job than my last essay, which got me a whopping 17 out of 25 points. I hope I did at least a little better, anyway. Mostly, I'm just glad it's out of the way. I won't have another essay to turn in to that class for another couple of weeks, I think. *relief*

At the Cannon Center cafeteria today, there was some luau of some sort going on this afternoon/evening. And so when we went to dinner there were all these different kinds of fruits, and various other Hawaiian-ish foods. It was... interesting. I didn't actually see anything going on when I was there, but there were decorations all over the place. I don't know why we have these random days, but there was one day that was chocolate day for some reason... that was good stuff. So many chocolate goodies, and a chocolate fountain, and cookies, and strawberries, and... mmm... so, um, yeah.

Smallville was also on tonight. I enjoyed it. Like always. But it did make me sad. Aw. I just hope some things will start getting better again soon, or resolve in some other ways... which, I'm sure they will, in due time. When there's other problems going on. :)

I guess I'll just stop with that. I need to go get my laundry, it should be done by now. I've finally done it... after unintentionally putting it off for... too long. :P And then, sleep time.

Busy Day

2007-10-17T21:25:00.001-05:00

Today I had pretty much all of my classes. In Physical Science this morning I was kind of falling asleep for about the first half of the class. A little odd, since whenever that happens it's usually during the second half. *shrug* And then Book of Mormon... I was more tired than I usually am in that class. Not a great thing, since I'm trying to bring up my grade... blech. But then I was fine for the rest of the day, pretty much.

I was going to go to a concert tonight, but when I got there it was full... for the love. I guess I'll just have to find some other concerts to go to fairly soon. I'm supposed to attend eight during this semester for Music 101, and the deadline for the next couple is coming up in a couple of weeks, I think. Eh, I'm sure it'll turn out fine. I actually got there late, too, because I was talking to Chanelle. She had called about 10 minutes before I was planning on leaving, and then when I got to the building we were still talking, and I just couldn't hang up... I only talk to her so often. And there's other concerts for me to go to. So, I don't really mind at all. Good times.

Tonight I still do have... some homework to do. Some reading for the American Heritage TA lab that I have tomorrow, so I'll do alright on the quiz. But also, I have an essay due in that class based on a book I'm supposed to have read... which I haven't finished yet. So I'll be doing that tonight too. Blech... this is partly why I don't like Wednesdays. The good news is, after my lab on Thursdays, life is pretty good. The lab is out of the way, I watch Smallville that night, Friday doesn't have very many classes, and then it's the weekend... just good times.

Though I may or may not be getting a cold... actually, I don't think I am. So nevermind. :P But... my throat just feels odd. Eh. Although, it was a little on the cold side today. Cold to me, anyway. I swear I think the sun was shining for like... 20 minutes. Well, probably longer, but that's what it seemed like. Pretty much the whole day the sky was just covered by clouds. And it drizzled a couple of times. So it was chilly all day... man, I don't know if I'm prepared for the winters here...

First-Timer

2007-10-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've never used Blogger before... so today commemorates my first post here. Yay!

So, I guess I'll start with the going-ons of today. I had hardly any classes today, actually. Tuesdays are great. I'm doing this volunteer program called TOPS (Tutor Outreach to Provo Schools) here at BYU, and I just go to a school and help tutor or whatever the teacher wants me to do, once a day, for ten weeks. So far, it's pretty neat. I volunteer at a private school, so that's definitely an experience.

The only other thing I have to do on Tuesdays is band, and that hardly counts as a class. Granted, it is two hours long, so it takes up a decent chunk of time, but it's fun. I really enjoy playing the French horn in band.

Although, this particular Tuesday I had to turn in a computer science midterm. Luckily, I think I did it right and everything, so it should be fine. I enjoyed doing it, too, except for when I would get ultra-confused about something... blech.

Recently, I've also been watching Smallville. I know, I'm not nearly up-to-date with the shows, but I'm watching the ones I can nonetheless. And besides, Sarah tells me enough about them anyway, it's not that big a deal. :) In any case, I'm enjoying them. Actually, I've found that if I watch any TV show, I'll almost always like it. Same goes for movies. I guess I'm not hard to please. :)