Wow it's been a long time

I think about blogging all the time. Really, I do. I walk around at work or at home or I'm on the bus and I think about what I want t blog about.... but for some reason, in the last month, the fingers to keyboard part has not happened. And it's like the longer I wait the more I have to say, and the more overwhelming it gets. So I'm going to do a sum-up of the last month or whatever, and then we're just going to move forward.

1. I moved out of my lovely home in Banbridge Square. It was more heartbreaking than expected. I really thought of that place as home. But now I live in Victoria Place II-- about a half a block away from BB. And I really do like the apartment. And I love my roommates (Meg, Lorina, and Rachel). But I sincerely miss Lene, Sarie, and Andrea. And I miss my Fivers. My ward. Anyway. Goodbye forever Banbridge. It was a great place to live--- my favorite as BYU by far. Two best best summers took place while living in Banbridge. And the other best summer (in DC), took place right before living in Banbridge. I've had a good couple of years, I think (minus student teaching, of course. But even that has it's merit. I like to think I'm a better person for having done it).

Lene's going away party.

2. Lene left forever. Well, I'll see her again. I have to. But she's student teaching in DC and a little part of me left with her. I tried to convince her to say, citing all of my reasons for hating student teaching, but she didn't listen to me. She's going to learn on her own that it is awful. haha.

3. My Fivers won the stake kickball tournament. We won it last year too. We are so stinking cool I can't even stand it.

Kickball champions. We're holding up fives because we're the fivers. We rock.

4. We kind of hiked Mt. Timp. When I say kind of I mean that we didn't actually get to the top this year. Well, most of the group did. There were 19 of us, and the wise and happy 6 stayed behind in the meadow and then headed down early to go to the pool. It was lovely. I have to admit that I was exhausted and a little bit miserable and didn't want to take another step, but I could have (which is evidenced by last year's hike of Mt. Timp that I lovingly compared to climbing Mt. Doom into Mordor. See THIS post). And really, without finishing the whole thing, the hike didn't knock me out for the next three days like it did last year. I actually came home, went to the pool, took a nap, and was good to go. And I still completed like a 14 mile hike! That's already an accomplishment. And it was very beautiful.

the losers who came down early.

me and my pal Sara. We're excited. Meghan gave me that cute flower.

hikers.

5. I still love my job. But I love it a lot more when I get lots of good sleep. I have a hard time going to bed on time. big surprise. At first I just loved going to bed because I was so excited about the next day of work (plus, nothing too exciting was going on anyway). But the month of August was particularly hard. I didn't get to bed until after midnight a lot of the month (which is very, very bad when you have to get up between 5:30 and 5:50). I barely survived on 5 hours of sleep a night, but slept on the bus there and back. Let me tell you a bad story: sleeping on the bus is one of the more miserable things in life. Here is a simple equation to summarize the wretchedness: tiredness so complete that keeping your eyes open is self-imposed torture and you want to cry+no place to rest your head except the window, which is greasy from the head of the last person who tried to sleep there in addition to being made of hard glass, and somehow exceptionally sensitive to the jolts and bumps of the bus that is moving at (hopefully) 65 mph in the carpool lane+excessive stopping and starting due to rush hour traffic+the large stinky man sitting next to you+the bags, jacket, lunch, etc., that you are trying to balance on your lap. It's not a good experience. SO. The conclusion that rational thought leads us to: SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT SO YOU CAN STAY AWAKE ON THE BUS AND DO PRODUCTIVE THINGS LIKE READ YOUR SCRIPTURES OR CONFERENCE TALKS OR ANY ONE OF THE 4 NOVELS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FINISH FOR LIKE 4 MONTHS. Yeah, I'm working on that. So anyway, I love my job. I've really been thinking about hurrying up and getting my masters so I can move up in the library-- work in collection development or something and do real archive work. I miss processing. I miss doing the research and the writing. And holy heck, I miss school (see below).

5. Even though I still live in Provo and am desperately clinging to any semblance of my old BYU life as a student, I am left out of BYU world (for good reason), and that makes me very sad and very nostalgic. Sometimes I drive around Provo and just look at all the buildings-- virtually everything withing a 2 mile radius of BYU is labeled "cougar" or "byu" something or other, or else students live there-- and I remember what it was like when I was new to this world. I was still a very excellent student who did all her homework with great care and precision, who went to bed at like 10 and didn't do things with friends on week nights, and spent weekends doing homework. I was stressed, but I loved it. And do you know what I loved the most? The thing that I noticed the very most about this new world that I was immediately sucked into? That everyone was kind of like me. Everyone cared about school and grades, at least to some extent. It was such a drastic change from Dixie that I was in awe of these hordes of students who all went to class and who all did their homework with the same vim and vigor that I did. The library was FULL of students studying and reading and writing papers and I was amazed. I was so happy to be part of a world where I felt I belonged. And do you know what they did to this girl who loved BYU so much? They kicked her out. They made her graduate and supposedly move on to bigger and better things. I'm supposed to "go forth and serve" And I think I have. And I will. I'm loving life now-- working at the church--  but I still miss school. I miss it a lot. I want to get food in the Cougareat and then eat it in the terrace while watching CNN and doing the sudoku from the Daily Universe that day. I want to read the police beat and run into random people on campus that I kind of know but kind of don't. I want to walk by all those annoying dancer people in the wilk and then go to the bookstore and look through the journals (for the 4th time in a week) and the YA books (which I always knew more about than the girls that worked there), and then buy one of the delicious cookies from the candy counter that were only 33 cents and if you bought 10 then you got one for free. I want to take fliers from the hot rugby boys and then go to their games. I want to go to class and take lots of notes and use highlighters and post-it notes. And I want to spend reading days and finals weeks at the library for hours and hours and take breaks only for meals, three times a day. I want to make my own schedule all day every day and have group meetings and big projects and horribly annoying but kind of awesome papers to write. I want to do my reading and take breaks in the sampler room of the library to either take a nap or read my favorite parts of a Tennis Shoes Adventure Series book. I want to laugh at the annoying couples in the library, and I want to whiz right past all the people in line for computers and use the secret computers and printers that only the experiences BYUers know about. I want a hot bread and honey butter from the sugar and spice, and I want to walk to devotional, and I want to eat lunch on the grass and observe the quill and the sword club. I want to walk up to campus in the terrifying but magical snow. There is hardly anything more peaceful than an early morning walk to campus on untouched snow with light flurries still falling around you. Heck I loved being a student at byu.

 6. We went to Rachel's fairy tale cabin for a night. With probably too many people. But there was lots of flirting and eating of delicious food. And it was fun.

I can't see this picture without cracking up. Why are we all hiding behind Meg? And Seth and Drake-- what are you even doing back there?

7. Paul FINALLY took me sailing. It was magical. There should be another word that means the same thing as magical but better to describe sailing. I knew I would love sailing. I already knew that I love boats and water and sun and everything happy, and sailing could just easily be added to the list. Thanks for taking me Paul!! You're the best.

heaven.

whoa excited.

8. Last Monday was Labor Day and me and Meg had a very full day. The Schedule included: hike to Stuart Falls, 7Peaks for the last time this calendar year, Volleyball, Sailing, and then the NFL fantasy draft party. Yes, I have a fantasy team this year. I've been wanting to do it for years, and this year when I was invited into a league with all sorts of cute boys, I finally committed to doing it. And let me tell you what, that draft was one of the more stressful things I've experienced since student teaching. We just took turns picking players, but it moved so fast, and I had to reevaluate my picks all the time, and I wasn't really sure what was going on anyway, that it turned out to be very... exhausting. But I'm excited. I got me some great runningbacks, a fabulous tight end, and very strategic receivers, qbs, and team defense. It's gonna be awesome.

stuart falls.

9. My friend Christopher took me to a concert. But not just any concert. A Parachute-Michelle Branch-GOO GOO DOLLS concert. So he mostly went to see Parachute. One of his buddies from home is their roadie. But holy heck, I went for the Goos. I don't know if you remember, but I love them. Mostly I love "Iris." When they played that song I practically had a spiritual experience. It is one of the best songs of our generation, and I will stand by that statement until the day I die.

the goo goo dolls man. who has the voice of an angel.

10. Also, I just realized I am so dumb. I have not even blogged about the 4th of July, or anything that happened in July for that matter. Maybe I'll just post some pictures, and you'll have to take my word for it that July was amazing, as per usual.

we sat outside during the stadium of fire to watch david archuleta. It was awesome.

11. I loved this summer. I am still so happy to be back in Provo, and so happy to never have to student teach again. I talked to Lene for like an hour today and she had very similar complaints about student teaching that I did. This just reaffirms my suspicion that student teaching is awful all the time. HATE.

12. You guys. The Church Office Building cafeteria is Disneyland for adults. I went there for the first time last week. And now I want to go there everyday. Luckily I have a little bit of discipline and still bring my lunch... sometimes. But seriously. This place has everything you could want or imagine and it is SO CHEAP. And by cheap I mean inexpensive but delicious. Some other great things about the cafeteria: 1) you can get there by going through the tunnels under temple square. I do it everyday. 2) An old guy plays the piano for all to hear while they enjoy their yummy food. 3) yummy food includes cookies and frozen yogurt. 4) there is a bar against the wall in the dining area, and there are newspapers hanging on the wall. People who sit in their desks all day stand at the bar and catch up on the national news. You can't get more productive than that. Man I love the Church. Plus all the people are just so jolly all the time. 

I don't remember what else I was going to write about, so I guess that's all!!!!!!!!!!!