Monday, April 28, 2008

Not a whole lot to tell, but update none the less

So as another way to procrastinate that which I must do, I decided I feel a need to update all who are interested on my happenings.
So I am back in Rexburg and it feels pretty good for the most part I think. I thought I would be living with all my old Chinese roommates again, but one got an internship in N.Y. so there is a new girl. This girl seems pretty nice but her boyfriend is over alllllllll the time and it drives me crazy. And they are always attached at the lips so its slightly awkward. But I guess she seems nice when she doesn't have a boy attached to her face. We are all taking turns making dinner again which means LOTS OF CHINESE FOR FOR ME! Woo! I love Chinese food and love eating with chopsticks.
I'm taking 19 credits (7 classes) this semester, which may or may not be the death of me. And I am applying for a job at Melaleuca. With all that on my plate... I don't know how exciting this semester will be, but I'm determined to finish school without debt. So far I only owe $1300 or so from last semester.
I love school though. The homework part not so much, but I love going to classes. I was telling my roommate before that the more I learn, even about psychology and things like that, the more my testimony grows. It just amazes me. I wish I could express how incredible it is to be sitting in a class and learn about something that most people probably don't relate to the gospel and suddenly some gospel principle that you thought you understood before has a whole new meaning thats much more profound and explains so much more than you dreamed of.
Anyways, I'm taking a dance class, Book of Mormon (second half), Old Testament (second half), Sensation and Perception, Juvenile Delinquency, Counseling Therapy, and Spanish. In other words, lots and lots and lots of reading.
Still haven't gotten around to getting an appointment to go sell my blood (not really, its plasma), but I plan on doing that as well. The things poor college students do. If I get the job, which I really hope I can get, and also donate plasma, I think I can get through this semester without using any loan money AND pay off all of last semesters debt. Wish me luck and pray for me please cause I'm going to need a LOT of extra strength and help this semester physically and emotionally but I'm determined to do it!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Yay! I feel liked a kid again... but i hated being the person that was tagged

So I guess this means I get to answer some fun little questions. I know everyone is DYING to know my intimate feelings on things such as snack foods and such, so without further ado... here we go!

5 things on my to do list:
~meet w/ my academic councilor
~learn spanish really well
~stop procrastinating
~have an interesting/fun life this semester
~make it to south america to go backpacking

5 snacks i love:
~Potato chips w/guacamole
~pretzels and cream cheese
~nachos
~cheddar jack cheezits
~pita bread w/hummas and eggplant at The Whitehouse (yummm)

5 things I will never wear again
~Washington Mutual uniform
~fannypack
~clown pants (the kind that have huge hips and suck in at the feet
~pants that also act as a bra (you know what i mean)
~short shirts

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
~donate a lot to charities and such or set up my own charitable foundation helping a cause
~save a lot
~invest a lot
~help my family with anything they needed while letting them still take care of themselves
~buy a house

5 of my favorite toys...nostalgic
~a big stuffed bear that used to be bigger than me that sister Mason took and lost :(
~"the rock" as Maranda and I called it... it wasnt a toy really but it was kind of to us...just a big
rock in our backyard...
~barbies (just to dress em up and make houses... we never really played much with em)
~waterbaby (that maranda drew on with a red marker cause she was mean and jealous)
~the couch cushions (to make cool forts that we quickly destroyed as soon as dad pulled up)

annnnd since i dont have five people that no one else has... I'm the dead link. I'm sorry :) kind of.... or maybe not... hmm.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Its All Over

So here I sit... on the couch... waiting. For what you ask? For Carisa and Tim to come and get me with my mounds and mounds of junk that I felt I HAD to have in Jackson, half of which I never even looked at. I think that has to be one of my biggest problems. I am the worst pack rat you have ever seen. Not only do I keep every single thing (including receipts from years ago...don't ask me why) but I feel like just MAYBE I will need it once for some really random and unexpected event. Why throw this cute little blue ribbon away, I might have some crazy desire someday to make some cute little homemade gift in all my spare time for someone who happens to love the color light blue and collects ribbons. Why would I throw away a priceless treasure such as this? It seems ridiculous at the time. Then a couple years later when I'm going through my stuff (or when I have to pack everything up and move again) I take it out and force myself to just let it go. This is only successful half of the time and therefore I still have tons of junk that I have convinced myself is necessary or will be in the near future. So as a result, packing and unpacking are my least favorite things because I know I will have to drag all this somewhat useless crap to and from the car when I know in my mind its all for nothing because I wont use half of it and it will eventually be thrown away. Why must I burden myself so?
So anyways, here I will continue waiting till Carisa and Time arrive and say "wow, you got a lot of crap for only being here 4 months."

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sad Times

I wish I could make this all fun or at least funny, but right now I'm rather sad. All of the amazing people I started with are officially all gone. I think thats the hardest part of living somewhere like this with all the people from all over the world that come to work here. All the greatest people you meet are from the opposite side of the world. Its not like they are a state away where you can take a road trip to visit them.
My last Brazilian friend, Elisabete, left Friday morning. I drove her to the bus stop and cried as she drove away. Not only was it saying goodbye to her (she's absolutely amazing and funny and sweet), but it was like saying goodbye and ending this chapter in life that I've learned and grown so much from.
Overall though, I'm so so so grateful for this experience that I've had and I really hope I can get the internship next year and have at least a few of the people I love come back for at least one last season together.
I'm going to be getting ahold of someone tomorrow that works at the CV Ranch where I'm going to see if I can get an internship. They kind of mentor emotionally handicapped kids. One of the girls in my ward works there and I was asking her about it when I first found out she worked there and it sounds really interesting. I'm sure it would be very challenging and I'll need the spirit with me a lot to help me know what to do, but I really think I could learn a ton and grow a lot even spiritually from working there. I'm crossing my fingers and hope you are praying for me cause I'm definitely hoping and praying it all works out.
So this next weekend I head back to school which in a way I'm really excited about. In a crazy way I'm kind of nervous though because now that everyone I got close to here is gone, I feel like I don't belong here anymore and with that, I feel like maybe I'll feel like I don't belong in Rexburg anymore and what would I do then? Cause usually I trust my feelings about those type of things because I see where trusting my feelings has led me and I know its the spirit telling me where its best to be... so what would I do if I don't belong in Rexburg anymore? I know its silly cause I love Rexburg and I love school and I'm going to finish school, but man, its still a silly fear somewhere deep inside me. I'm a tad crazy, this I know, cause my roommates told me everyday while I was here. lol. But what can you do?
Oh, and random side note. The DAY that Elisabete left, I started packing (since I dont think I have a day off till the day I leave) and I hear the phone ring. Its this girl asking for direction to our place because surprise to me, she's moving in. And she's moving in with me! The same day Elisabete left. It was kind of sad. She's really nice and from Rexburg as well. Her name is Sarah and oddly enough has the same initials as me. She's my replacement here I guess. lol. I dunno... anyways, thats it for me. I'm just going to go eat my pringles and cry in the corner now cause Woe is me! lol. Ciao

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Crazy people

Working at the bank, I decided a long time ago that the general population are not the brightest stars in the sky. And I realized that people get mean when it comes to money... But now working where I do now, I have decided
1) Crazy people and weird people travel in packs (I'm not sure if this is a survival technique or if they have some sort of chemical that draws them together) and
2) people loose their minds on vacation.
One specific instance I will refer to in regard to number one happened today. Some lady came into the store and spent more than 40 minutes looking around and PUTTING ON everything she wanted. Then when she got to the register, she commenced in taking each thing off and stating why she was buying it and talking to anyone who would listen about why it was a good deal as if trying to convince herself and others that she was making a fantastic financial investment. Her and her friend then stayed another 20 minutes after the other found a jewlery box on sale that was too good of a deal to pass up. The problem was there was only one of the boxes that both wanted. The clothes lady was upset at the box lady for taking the only box that had a butterfly on it and got mad at her for saying that it was such a good sale too loud and thats why the other boxes were gone (there was maybe one other person in the store besides them and the employees). At this point I was extremely happy that I was not at the register .
The second one I have come to realize because some people buy THE dumbest things. They will spend over $100 on meaningless useless trinkets! buying bags full of rocks and 20 key chains and then 15 other useless things and then the best part is when they look shocked that its over $100 dollars. Their eyes go wide and they say "how?" and I explain that 40 little nicknacks that cost $5 each comes out to a tad over $100 and they buy it all anyways. Most of the time. But its really annoying when the looked shocked and say "oh, well then, I don't want any of it!" and stalk away in an awful tissy like we should have said "oh well since you bought soooo much CRAP, we'll give you 50% off it all out of the kind generous goodness of our hearts." So then we are left to put back all the useless crap. Its great fun.
But I think working here has reaffirmed my original theory... the general population's intelligence level may have gone up in some areas, but common sense wise, I fear for my species.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

First time

So apparently this is the "new cool thing" of the family. I guess if everyone jumped off a cliff, I might too... if its my family. Call me a sucker...
Where to start. I guess I'll start with a basic update.
Right now, I am in Jackson Hole, Wy but will be leaving in a couple weeks to return to BYU-Idaho. I am thoroughly excited about that because I happen to be a nerd who loves school... at least college here. But alas, I am still working in Jackson at a big touristy shop called Jackson Trading Company.
Its been an amazing experience here and I've met some of the greatest people here. I lived most of the time with four Brazilian girls and one girl from Colombia. Two of the Brazilian girls and the one from Colombia and I are good friends, but only one of them is left with me. I learned a lot about South American culture and even picked up a little Portuguese... a tiny itty bit. I also started dating a guy from Peru named Jose. He's back in Peru now which I am very sad about, but we are keeping in touch. I'll be back next year if I get an internship here. I also got made a manager at the store which was nice because that means $1 raise! Woohoo!
So thats really my life currently in a nutshell.