There's something about ice cream...

I normally don't spend a ton of time in the on-campus computer labs as I have a great laptop at home, but today I am less-than eager to return home (I will explain why in a moment) so I decided to write another blog entry. I don't even plan how often to write in this thing, but it's always twice a month. Am I really so predictable?

This morning I was taking a shower when my roommate was knocking on the door. I couldn't hear her, but I just figured she wanted in there and thought was taking too long. Then when I turned the water off a second later, I could hear this high pitched sound in our apartment-it didn't sound quite like a fire alarm, and it wasn't a tornado alarm (you hear those a lot in oklahoma) but it freaked me out. So I dressed at top speed and went to go find out from Karin what it was. It turned out it was our Carbon Monoxide detector going off, and Karin had opened our front windows and the door and had called our friend David, who worked for matinence. So Karin and I left the apartment, me looking dreadful as I had put on a normal shirt but was still wearing pijama pants, was barefoot, and my hair was soaking wet and was starting to curl since I hadn't brushed it out (and since I ran out the door, I didn't have time to put something in my hair to make it curl properly and it just looked funny). David came to the rescue of course, to check out the apartment, and he said I looked great, which made me feel a little better that he was trying to be nice. We don't think it was a leak since we didn't have any of the symptoms and they thought it was because of the water heaters in the basement, but it still freaked both of us out. So, I'm not too eager to be in my apartment right now even though they said it's okay to go back in. Once you're paranoid about CO2 poisoning, you start getting a headache and feel nauseous just from thinking you could have it.

I'm taking an advanced writing class for the social sciences, and it's kind of intimidating since even though I've taken a lot of classes for my major and am supposed to be sort of close to graduating (3 semesters left!), I feel really unqualified to enter the real world and the work force. Today, though, we talked about interviews, and we had to practice answering interview questions (in applying for a job) in the last few minutes of class. The person who practiced interviewing me said I had really good answers, and this was a single mom who had been interviewed and had even conducted a number of interviews before, so it made me really happy. Now I just have to figure out how to write a resume so people will even call me in for an interview. Right now it's just for an assignment in class, but in about a year I'll be looking for an internship and I need a great one if I want to continue on in my field. It's scary, but it's also really exciting because this is, of course, what I really want to do with my life. I love studying families and marriages, and I want to utilize what I've learned so I can help other people.

One of my weaknesses in life is that I'm not the greatest at prioritizing. When I have too many things I should be doing, it gets really overwhelming and unfortunately, nothing gets done at that point. And I get distracted very easily-but I think I'm doing much better. I just have to stay on top of my reading assignments as well as the other things I have to do. I think as long as you don't procrastinate things too much, you go out and be social now and then, and you recognize that you need to go to bed at 11 if you're getting up at 6:30, well then do it. I think also you can't beat yourself up if you end up doing something on friday that you meant to do on tuesday, well, at least you did it! The point is, I'm trying to do my best with everything and that's what is important.

Saturday I'm going to see a lot of dance performances at BYU, and I am very excited! I love attending a university that has so many cultural events, and so many talented students!

Family, Friends, and Life is good!

After typing that title, I am reminded of a post I made about a year ago entitled, "Today, Little brother, life is good." Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Sarah and Kevin's wedding, and they are still doing wonderful and my life is still awesome!

I apologize for not writing in almost a month, but as I've been very busy I hope you'll all forgive me. Part of it is that I moved from Oklahoma City where I was staying with my family over the summer back to Provo for the start of another school year. So for the last two weeks I have been moving boxes, washing dishes, unpacking, going grocery and textbook shopping, figuring out classes, and the like. I call this my senior year (part one) and I estimate 3 semesters left before I graduate, so I don't have to rush through my internship. My Major is still Marriage, Family, and Human Development, and I still love it.

I am constantly reminded by how much people change around me; in particular, college appears to be the time where everyone is getting married or coming back from missions or doing study abroad programs or leaving on missions. It's all very exciting, but at this moment I'm just glad to be happy for all these people. In one week alone during the month of August I was able to attend two special occasions: a missionary homecoming and a wedding!

One of my good friends just returned from a religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Chile, Vina del Mar mission. I went to his farewell also, so it was interesting to the difference. He's always been spiritual but he's grown in the two years he's been gone. It was a little strange to visit someone you haven't seen or even talked to in two years, but it was really a good experience. I think he appreciated me coming up to hear him speak in church. I think it's important to support our missionaries because they do so much for us. My family was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ by missionaries several years ago, and we are so grateful for their wonderful service that has brought our family so much joy, and I know the people of Chile are grateful for his service.

Three days after this, I flew out to Salt Lake more than a week before I could move into my apartment so I could attend my freshman roommate Aubrey's wedding! It was nice visiting my friend Amy for a day beforehand and eating lunch with her, and then we drove to provo!
Aubrey-and her wedding-were so beautiful! Aubrey has always been one of the prettiest people I know, inside and out. Her husband, Russell, also seems like a great guy. Aubrey said that she was marrying her best friend, and I am so happy for them. We saw them at Smith's grocery store last night, and they seemed so happy! I'm glad that their new life together is going well.

As I was homeless for about a week before I could move into my apartment, I stayed with Sarah and Kevin! We had tons of fun eating Sarah's delicious cooking, such as her Nach-o chicken, crepes, and even salmon (which I actually enjoyed)! We also enjoyed watching episodes of Burn Notice, playing cranium, and spending time at the pool. Of course I spent a lot of time finishing up my independant study statistics class, but I still had a great week anyway.

Now I'm just trying to survive the semester, keep up with my reading assignments, and still have fun with my roommates! I hope everyone who is taking a class or is in school right now does well in whatever they're studying. Have a great semester!