So I Did End Up Having Some Adventure

So, yeah. I've been rather stressed. But... so is everyone else within sight. So somehow, it's okay to be stressed. Normality is strange sort of comfort, isn't it?

Lately, I've actually been buckling down and doing homework a lot more diligently. I finally found a place on campus where I enjoy studying -- and it's a place I used to clean back when I was a custodian. Except when I'd clean it, it was kind of dark... whereas during the day, when all the walls are basically just windows, it lights up. And the ceilings are tall, and there are little electrical outlets in the floors for your computer as well as amazing wireless access. So, I always knew about it. I just hadn't discovered it.

So... I'll sit and study and study and study. Go to class. Come back to my spot. Study some more. Etcetera until I decide it is time to go home.

Well, I'd been a lot more diligent than I usually am this week, but somehow, I didn't get done the things that needed to be done -- as usual. On Friday, the plan was to do physics (I had already spent a few hours on this assignment earlier in the week...) until it was done, study for biology, go take the biology test, and then do the physics lab. However, around 5pm Friday evening, my brain kind of... shut down.

At this point, I am feeling absolutely exhausted, and... well, my plan needed revising. I am not going to take any test tonight, no. No, I'm not. No test. I headed home. And collapsed.

Then, after having been a vegetable for about ten minutes, I totally cleaned the kitchen. And my room. Yes, I do happen to clean like a madwoman when I'm stressed. (My dear parents, I know you don't believe me, but it is something I've developed after leaving home. Sorry to not have developed it sooner.)

After that, I couldn't sleep, so I had a hot, hot shower. Came out... did my hair... ate something... Sat around in my bedroom for a while. By the time I came out, Ryan had showed up and was making himself at home... (Not an uncommon activity. I have learned not to be surprised to walk out of my room after a nap or something and find him chillin' in the kitchen. I would venture a guess that one reason I have so many stories about him is that he shows up so much.) And... well, by this time I had fully recovered from my temporary mental shutdown. But, even though my brain was working again, it was far too late to take the biology test tonight. I'll have to take it on Saturday in between conference sessions.

Jackie, however, had not reached the conclusion that tonight was not the best time to take this biology test yet. She is in my class, and we share the ginormous textbook that should have cost us each $150, but thankfully, Hillary had taken Biology 120, the same class, last semester and hadn't returned the textbook.

There's something you must know about Jackie. She... is intense. (That's an understatement.) Everything with Jackie is extreme. She is also extremely academic, in the sense that... well... that's basically all that matters in life.

Jackie sees I've recovered from my vegetablesque state and immediately pulls me over to our kitchen table where she has been studying. My brain says, Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no... not more biology... And then Jackie set off into studying verbally with me. The only thing is... Jackie speaks at a million miles an hour. My ears only listen at a thousand miles an hour. She starts babbling about meiosis. My brain hears snippets of what she's saying, but I definitely don't hear it all, let alone understand it all. Ryan perks up, hearing something about mitosis, and joins in studying, because he knows about mitosis (He loves it when he actually knows what we're talking about. He's gotten it in his head that Jackie and I are geniuses. Little does he know...). Unfortunately, Jackie and I soon move past the basic foundational biology stuff and into the more in depth stuff. Poor Ryan, who is only in Biology 100 (because he isn't a science major), quickly realizes that we have moved beyond his scope of knowledge, and moves away... well, a whole two feet to the couch.

It was probably an intimidating scene, now that I think of it... "So mitosis is equational division in somatic cells and meiosis is reductional division in gametes okay so that's easy but what about this 2n=30 stuff how many chromosomes does a cell in prophase I have what about chromatids wait so in interphase the cell is diploid until after meiosis I it becomes haploid..."

I blink at Jackie. I look down at the diagram in the book.

"Wait, slow down. So in premeiotic interphase... a 2n=30 cell has two of each type of chromosome, and that makes it a diploid. It has 30 chromosomes and 60 chromatids, right?"

Jackie responds in an enthusiatic affirmative (at least I think so... I wasn't listening as quickly as she was speaking).

"And then it goes through meiosis I... and it splits into two haploids..."

"Yeah!"

"And then... whoa. Each haploid splits into two haploids? Wait, what?"

Jackie then realized she didn't understand either.

Cue in an onslaught of great chaos and both Jackie and I start freaking about how a diploid splits into two haploids, but then two haploids split and make four haploids. We may have been screaming in confusion, I'm not sure. Although I rather think we were. We don't like not understanding things.*

Both on overload... Jackie slows down a bit and says, "You know what? I'm not going to take this test tonight."

"I'm taking it in between sessions of conference tomorrow."

"I will join you." And with that we shut our biology book. I look over at Ryan on our couch and discover he has fallen asleep, or else was practicing the appearance of sleep rather convincingly. Then Jackie, always needing to be doing something, decided it was time to watch a movie.

I quip, "Hey! I have Mulan and Enchanted!"

Jackie blinks at me. "No, I want to check out a movie from the library."

"Oh. Okay."

Jackie leaves the kitchen and goes into her room to check which movies the library has. Upon Jackie's exit, Ryan opens his eyes. I look at him suspiciously. Aha, he was practicing the appearance of sleep. I knew it... I was right to consider that as an equally likely possibility!

He looks over innocently at me. "I actually was asleep for a few minutes!" he says groggily, with a tired air of defense.

I laugh at him, and I pull up some biology slides on my computer, and study as I half-listen to Ryan as he starts philosophizing about life. Again, and as usual. Nothing new...

Then Jackie returns. Announces a few scholarly films she wants to go get. I look blankly at her. Then I say... "Jackie... do we really have to watch something academic?"

"Yes." And with that she leaves to go fetch them.

Then Hillary comes in. Ah, Hillary.

As far as Hillary is concerned... everything is so exciting to her. Everything! Everything is so intense, but not in the way that Jackie is intense. For Jackie, life is a series of intense obsessions. For Hillary, life is a series of intense fascinations.

At this point I have become bored enough to pull up Minesweeper for the first time in ages, and Hillary and I soon become wrapped-up in sweet memories of our Minesweeper-playing days.

Ryan randomly decides to make like a jumping bean and leap up suddenly and bolt out the door. Like greased lightning. Or something. Something spiffy and mighty quick I think.

Hillary, in shock... laughs for five minutes straight. I think somewhere in her giggles I heard things like "He's going to have such funny children" and (during a particularly intense fit a laughter) "You ha-ha-have my hehehe permission to - ahha ha haaa!"** and "Oh man, I love that guy so much!"

Shortly thereafter my brain shuts down again, and I decide bedtime is bestest.

I wake up early. And study biology like mad. Then I watch conference. Then... I ran down to the testing center and took that biology test. (Considering the circumstances, I was quite pleased with my 88%.) To reward myself I got an Orange Dream Machine from Jamba Juice (Mmmmmm!) and then went home and watched the second session of conference.

After that, I set up camp in the lobby, sat on top of what we call the coffin, and did my HEPE homework. Like mad. And then, to my glee... my phone went off. A call? For me? Why, yes, for me! It was Allison. Oh my dearie goodness me. High school friends!

Well, Allison and Vicki and some of their fellow NAUites came up for conference. And were coming to visit me! Yay! I gave them directions to where I lived, and then continued to do HEPE homework until I finished the lesson. I kept anxiously looking at my phone, afraid that maybe they'd get lost and call me.

Soon after I had finished my HEPE homework... indeed, my phone did ring. But it wasn't Allison. It was Ryan, my adventure buddy. He had "two items of business." First, he said, quite diplomatically, he wanted to return the yellow bucket which I had delivered his birthday present in last week. Okay, splendid. Second, he wanted to ask me something. "Meet me at the bottom of your stairs," said he. And that ended the call.

Hmmm... all right, Ryan, but Jenna would greatly prefer to stay at home or near home in the event that Allison shows up. I slip on my shoes. Head for the door. Oh, keys. I go back and get them. Oh... well, I might as well take out the garbage since I'm going down there anyway. By the time I finally get out, Ryan has made his way up the stairs and was waiting for me.

"Hello!" said I, as I charged down the steps toward the garbage can. He followed me back down.

"Uh... here is your bucket." I accepted it, and nearly put it on head... except then he asked, "What classes do you have on Fridays?"

The bucket in my hands forgotten I went through the hard work of remembering my very complicated schedule. "Uhh... I have... uh... calculus... and... physics, and choir... and biology. And then I'm done at two!"

"Two?"

"Yes."

"Two p.m.?" I see he wanted to be very sure.

"Yes. Two p.m."

"This could work!" he exclaimed in a sudden burst of excitement. Oh my goodness, Ryan, would you just spill it?

And he did. "Have you heard about the Rock Paper Scissors tournament on Friday?"

I paused, not sure I had heard correctly. "Rock Paper Scissors tournament?"

"Yeah!"

"No... no, I hadn't..." I considered the idea of an RPS tournament. Then I grinned. "There is such a thing?"

"Yeah. There is. And there's one on Friday!"

Oh, glee! Apparently, BYU hosts the largest RPS tournament in the world, according to the Guinness world record book. And... even better, free shirts and free food (at least for those who got their dates to pay...). And the grand prize is three thousand dollars. Definitely worth the five bucks (Especially for me, since I don't have to pay... Ryan does though! Ah, isn't being a girl nice? The guys get to pay for everything!). Excited, but rather chilled, we ascended my stairs and came back into my apartment. Jackie was sitting on the couch embroidering and watching Hello, Dolly! ... So, accordingly, Ryan and I decided to use our skinny little hallway instead. Jackie shut the door on us.

And then we discussed professional strategies to Rock Paper Scissors. Ryan had done some preliminary research. How do professionals play the game? Well, you have to get into your opponent's head. Know what they're thinking. And, if you're really good, subliminally control what they're thinking. THAT is how you play Rock Paper Scissors. We looked up some advanced RPS strategies on the internet*** and super-analyzed moves with each other.

"What move should we play first?"

"Well, I always throw rock first," says I.

Ryan gave me a funny look. "But that's what amateurs always throw first."

I put on my most dignified look. "Hey! I have very much thought through my rock is the best first throw over my years of playing this game." I explained why I liked rock for a first throw. "Well. I think you may agree that it is awfully rare for ANYONE to ever throw paper first."

He nodded.

"Everyone always throws either rock or scissors."

He nodded.

"Given that option, rock is the safest first throw because you're safe if your opponent throws rock, and if they throw scissors... score one for you."

He considered it, and conceded. However, all throws subsequent to the first... are a ton more complicated. We had gotten ourselves thoroughly wrapped up in how an opponent would react to certain series of throws when my cell phone rang again. Allison!

I answered the phone gleefully. Unfortuntely, the call was not to inform me my friend were nigh approaching my door... but rather it was news informing me that they were in Sandy. Definitely not at BYU. After I hung up...

Well, it had been a sufficiently long phone call to disrupt our train of thought. Our strategizing had been lost. Oh well. So what did we do? We... arm wrestled. But not really. Ryan had launched into an out-of-the-blue story about arm wrestling, and wanted to demonstrate exactly what he meant. And because we had been discussing strategies previously, he gave me extra hints in arm wrestling, such as which way to bend your wrist to make your opponent weaker and you stronger.

Then Hillary burst out of the kitchen. "Garrr! I have so much homework!" Oh, but dear Hillary is slightly ADD. So when I greet her with an ecstatic "HIRRARRREEEE!!!"... well, she forgot about her homework. (She responded with an equally ecstatic "JEENNNNNAAA! ... and RRYYYYAAAANNN!") Somehow we got to talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

And then... Rochelle burst in! And... trudged past. My, are we all ADD or what? This again turned the tide of the conversation.

"Did I tell you about when I was walking around outside Robison at 6am?"

I laughed. "No, but Rochelle did."

He blinked at me. "She did? Why would she tell you that?"

"I dunno."

"...What'd she say?"

Taking on my best Rochelle impersonation, I said, "One time when I got home at like six in the morning, Ryan was randomly walking around outside our building..."

Hillary yelped, "WHAT were you doing?"

Ryan grinned impishly. "Peeking in windows."

Hillary gave him the response he must have been hoping for. She squealed in horror. "Ryan! You shouldn't do that! That's a VERY BAD THING TO DO! That's... that's stalkerlike!"

Ryan laughed, again, like an imp. "Hillary, I wasn't peeking in windows!"

"THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING?"

I was curious too. Rochelle's version of the story had him walking over to the temple. Ryan looked innocently at her and explained... he was going to the temple. Oh good, the stories match. Hillary and I, both relieved, then exhorted him to never actually peek in windows, especially at 6am. And then Hillary scolded him for being so believable when he was joking.

Hillary finally went and did homework, Ryan went home to go play board games with Dallin, and I went to the Creamery and got some food and then... sat and waited for Allison to call.

But I didn't have to wait long. As soon as I walked in the door, my phone rang.

"We're loooooossst! We're at May Hall!" ... May Hall? Where's May Hall? Helaman... It must be in Helaman. Argh, I don't know the areas and roads immediately around Helaman Halls at all. Crudmonkies. Well, I told them to find the Creamery on Ninth and park in that parking lot.

Allison found the Creamery and then I had her and her passengers get out and follow my directions until they found me. I ran into the kitchen, opened up the blinds and kept my eyes peeled on the sidewalk next to ninth east. And then... I saw people coming from behind Shipp Hall. On the other end of the line, I heard, "Is that you?!?!"

I jumped up and down and waved happily. "I think so! Is that you?!?!" And it was! The little people-dots I saw started jumping up and down and waving at me. Yes! I ran out my back door where just a few hours earlier I had greeted Ryan. Oh, but this time there were more people and more hugs and high pitched squeals and such.

And then I brought Allison, Vicki, Dani, and Karina inside my little home. I showed them Jackie... who was still watching Hello, Dolly... Hm... Jackie wouldn't enjoy me having loud conversation when she was trying to watch a movie. I showed my friends my room... but then I had to introduce them to Hillary. I ran over to her door and pounded on it. "Hillary! Come meet my friends!" Hillary poked her head and then cautiously came out to greet them. After greeting, she went back in her room to finish her homework. And we were just standing in the hallway.

All cramped-like. And... the little claustrophobe part of my being said, "AAAHHHH!!!" So, I moved everyone out to the lobby. Where we immediately encountered Karina's friend Jordan (I think!) who also went to BYU and was trying to find her. We went and commandeered our lobby couches and started talking.

It was kind of weird talking with old friends. Basically... I didn't know what to say. At least at first anyway. The conversation was a little slow-paced until ... well, I think we split into two separate, more relaxed conversations... Karina and Jordan into their own, I think, and then me, Allison, Vicki, and sometimes Dani into our own.

Ah, my poor friends at NAU. Their primary complaint was basically... not enough good, LDS, single men. Alas, poor friends! I entreated them to come to BYU where there were LDS men... abundance. I also expressed glee for having so many of them as my friends (at least I did in my head... I don't remember if I said it aloud!)...

And we talked and talked and talked until it was nearly midnight. I would share it all with you, but I've been writing for a while, and I mostly only remember snippets (Napolean Dynamite? Anti-Mormon protesters at conference? The Chandler rapist? The timing of Utah sundowns? Classes? Institute? Your face? BYU campus? Yeah, random mostly. I know.).

And then I hugged all my good friends goodbye, and then they left. And then, left with nothing to do except eat my Honey Nut Cheerio's... I ate and then went to bed.

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*For your information, enjoyment, and personal fulfillment, the biology confusion has been resolved. The diploid splits into two haploids when homologous chromosomes separate. At that point the chromosome number is split in half, but the chromatid number per chromosome is constant. Then each haploid splits in two when sister chromatids separate. At this point the chromosome number is constant, but the chromatid number per chromosome is halved! Isn't it glorious? Don't you love biology?
**I dearly suspect that amidst all that hysteria, Hillary gave me permission to marry him. Haha. (This isn't really a big deal though. We give each other permission to marry boys who have earned our respect all the time. If the formal count is right, I have about twelve guys whom my roommates have given me permission to marry.
*** See http://www.worldrps.com/advanced.html