Fun Times

This week has been busy! But, I think it is going well. Monday was quite busy, and we made tacos for family home evening. Tuesday consisted of an Isaiah test and a calculus test. Wednesday was as full as usual, but I also had a physics test.

I woke up late on Thursday... and barely made it to my social dance class on time at 8am. I signed in, and we danced a little when suddenly the wall separating the two hardwood ballrooms opened. The teacher from the class next door burst in. "Are there any ladies in here who would like to compete in DanceSport this Saturday who aren't signed up already?"

Crickets. We were slightly confused... since entry forms were due over a month ago. It was too late now. Much too late. My teacher piped up. "Extra credit!"

Ooh, extra credit is always good. I tentatively raise my hand. The other teacher immediately grabs me gleefully and pulls me into the ballroom next door, closing the wall behind her. "So, one of the guys in my class had his partner ditch him, and now he is partnerless! And the competition is in two days!" She makes her way over to the microphone. "Matt Romney, come see me!"

A lurpy blonde guy lurks out of the crowd, looking curiously at me.

"I found you a partner! Er... what is your name?"

"Jenna!"

"Okay, Jenna and Matt, new partners!" And she leaves. Matt and I stay at the side of the ballroom and exchange information.

"Er... can we practice sometime?" We end up deciding that 3pm in the JFSB courtyard would be best. I stayed in his class for the remainder of the hour so we could figure out how the other person danced.

After that I ran off to calculus. Then I ran home. I did some homework, and then packed my bag full of shoes (heels for chacha, tap shoes for Irish hard dancing, ballet shoes for soft dancing, and then I was wearing sneakers) and books and ran off to the Cougareat. Jenna craves sub sandwich. Mmmmm. I get myself a nice Subway sandwich, walk outside toward the JSB where my next class is... and then suddenly I realize how incredibly sunny and warm it is. I smile. I find a bench and eat my food. And then it occurs to me. I can just sit here and... absorb the sun. So I had a nap on the bench (which must have been about six feet long... I stretched out on it, and there was still room...). That... was glorious.

Then I went to Isaiah. After that, I had an hour until I was supposed to meet Matt. I decide there isn't time to run home. Nor is there really time for anything except finding a comfy place to do homework. I go to that one bench where I had my catnap, but I realize that it has gotten colder and windier and decide indoors is a better option. I look over at the JFSB. I haven't even gone in there since I quit my custodial job there. But I knew the place inside and out. And I decided the best place in there to study, considering its proximity to the courtyard and abundance of comfy places to sit... was the student commons. I walked in, feeling a little strange. And it was strange. I made my way over to where the tables and couches and such were...

I hadn't even been in there when other students were using it. I usually just cleaned it. Or at least I used to. I scanned the room for an empty table. Saw they were all occupied... But... that couch over there? Empty. But it was clear across the room. So I stiffened my resolve and headed straight for it, concentrating on it, willing others to stay away from it, so that I could commandeer it...

Aha! Here I am. I set my bag down on it, claiming the couch as mine. I then sign on to the kiosk next to it... I was suddenly overcome by an urge to email my dad and tell him hello. And I had hardly signed on, when, "Hello!"

I jump and whirl around. "Uh, hi..." It was Ryan. I keep bumping into him. All the time. Which is weird, because he doesn't stalk me and I don't stalk him. If I minded about it, it could have been annoying. But I don't mind. So I talk to him. "I didn't see you..."

"Yeah, I know," he said reproachfully. Then, "You were just like a zombie." He lifted up him arms so that they were parallel to the ground and started imitating an undead creature. "Just staring straight ahead... and then you walked right past me."

"Where were you?"

"At that table over there, doing homework."

"Oh. I'm doing homework too. Or at least I will be after I email my dad."

"Ah." We carried on some idle conversation, and I wasn't really concentrating on it, because my password repeatedly failed when I tried to sign into my email account. Arg.

He left and sat at his table. I wonder why I hadn't seen him. I had passed within inches of him. I finally figured out that the keyboard was stuck in caps and that that was why my password wasn't working. I finished emailing my dad. And then I moved to the couch I had claimed and started working on calculus. I couldn't see Ryan from there, but that was okay because I needed to concentrate. And I was concentrating quite well when I noticed Ryan had moved from the place where I couldn't see him to a place that was equally far away but where I could clearly see him. That kind of slowed down my work, but whatever... it was only calculus and so I didn't need ALL of my brain paying attention to do it. I finished it relatively quickly. And then he got up and left for his three'o'clock class, which was my signal to change from my sneakers in my dance heels so that I could dance with Matt. I got up and walked out of the student commons into the courtyard. Ah, a wide open space. Cool and windy. It was nice. I fiddled with the alarms and such on my phone until Matt showed up.

Then we practiced and figured out which moves we would do mostly. We decided that we would start out first with the sweetheart, and then do the three cha-cha move... then a few cross body leads... then some parallel breaks... and then repeat. We'd only have a few minutes on the floor. We decided that we would wear red, and then we left.

I then ran off to the RB. I was way early for Irish dance, but that was okay. I commandeered a bench near my classroom... put on my ballet slippers, and then started skipping through the hallways. Then I started leaping. Warmed up, I started practicing the two-hand reel for the heck of it. Once I was confident, I moved on to the four-hand reel, at which I really stink. Wow, Jenna. You must be bored.

"Hi!" I turn around. It is Shannon, who is also in my Irish dance class.

"Hey!" I smile big.

Shannon smiles weakly. "Are you ready for the test today?"

Test. What test. Oh, we're testing on the two-hand and four-hand reels today. Yikes. I'm doomed. Me too. Good luck. You too.

I suspect it was divine inspiration that prompted me to dance down the hallways before class that day. I don't think I would have passed otherwise. I hadn't ever done it before.

We tested on paper. Then we performed our reels in front of some fancy camera equipment so that my teacher could watch us over and over again and give us proper grades (yuck)... and then we pulled out our tap shoes and learned some new hard shoe moves. And at this point I was exhausted. Tired, sweaty. Mostly tired.

I went home, played a game... and slept. Whoo.

But...

TODAY IS PI DAY! March 14th... 3/14... 3.14... get it?

I walked into calculus this morning... to find a pi party awaiting my professor. James and a girl whose name I forgot had baked him a pi pie, and there was great pi artwork on the chalkboard. Dr. Cardon walked in, and we all yelled, "HAPPY PI DAY, DR. CARDON!" He was so shocked. And happy. And excited. He was so happy about the pie that he gave James a hug (James bragged about getting a hug from Dr. Cardon all day). And then, holding the pie in his hands. He looked around at us. "I would feel bad if I didn't share..." "No, we made it for you!" ... "But... but... I want to share..." "Dr. Cardon, it's your pie..." "I really want to share this pie... Can I share it?" "Uhhh... well, I guess so... it's your pie..." "Yay!" exclaimed my professor. And with that he ran off to his office to retrieve his secret stash of paper plates, napkins, and plastic forks. He came back, with them, beaming. We finished off our pi party by deriving pi using infinite series. Fun stuff. Ah, nerddom.

The other exciting happening... also involved pie. Lots of it. You see, I was in the Pi Day Pie Eating Contest. Which consisted of a very happy Jenna shoveling as much chocolate creme pie down her face as she could in 3.14 minutes. I actually got most of the pie down. After the competition (I didn't win... I lost to a teenage boy and there is no shame there) I grabbed some apple pie, because I hadn't gotten any of that. People looked at me funny... but hey, I like pie. What can I say?

In Which I Am Jobless, My Brain Turns to Mush, and I End Up Not Owing My Roommates M&Ms...

Yesterday has to be one of the most spectacularly strange days I've had in awhile. I survived. This 'un is a tad long, but then, yesterday was long. So... I feel justified.

I woke up, and it was dark outside. The clouds had parted enough that the moonlight was shining through my window. My alarm hadn't gone off, so I figured it was before 3:30 am... I tried to look at my watch, but all I could see in the near pitch blackness was the minute hand, which lay squarely on the 11th hour... ?:55. Okay. I figured it was 2:55 am. I reached for my phone to make sure.

I flipped it open. My brain fell through down to my knees and I felt sick immediately.

5:55 am.

I am so late for work. With a rush of adrenaline, I got out of bed, walked out of my bedroom... and I made it to the kitchen couch, at which point I just sat back down. I was out of energy already.

In fact, I felt numb all over. Late for work? How can this be? I promised myself I wouldn't miss anymore work this month. I started reviewing the last month in my head. The first week of the month consisted mostly of going to bed on time, and then staring at the ceiling, not able to sleep in the slightest... and then, just when I would start to drift off to sleep, I would jerk awake from the sound of my alarm clock cheerily informing me it was time to go to week. At this point, there was no way I was going to work. I would then call in, and then gather a few hours of sleep before class would start. The second week was different... I could sleep, but I was miserably sick. The third week... I went to work for the first half, and then the plague of the first week came back. I was up all night, thinking... and then I would get enormously frustrated that I couldn't sleep when I so obviously was exhausted...

I promised myself I wouldn't miss work again this month no matter what.

And here I am. Missing work. Again. Sitting on the couch. Numb. Staring into space.

I need to quit... No, no... I can't do that... You've flipped your lid. You're trying to spin too many plates, and this one just dropped and shattered.

That little voice in my head was right. I need to quit.

At that thought, limp tears started streaming down my face. Why am I so upset? My mind was active, even if I was as physically active as a vegetable... Quitting something has always felt like failing something to me. For me, it was a matter of pride... at all costs, I avoid admitting that I can't do everything to the point where I actually believe I can do everything and not go crazy. And by the time I realize I can't do it all, and I do go crazy, it's obvious to me that I can't actually quit any of it anymore.

But... I can quit work.

No, I can't. I need the money.

You need to think this through. How much do I have? How much do I need, and when? I've got enough to last me through the rest of winter semester, all of spring, and most of next fall. I'll need to take up work some more in the spring and the summer. But... the point is, I can afford to be jobless for the remainder of this semester... which I need to do.

I need to do this, and I can afford to.

My resolve stiffened, I look over at the clock, and I blink... back in reality, I see that it's 6:40... Wow... did I really spend all that time just sitting on the couch, thinking? Slightly energized with my decision, but still teary-eyed and wet-faced, I get up, gather my things, and head out the door. I nearly forget the bagels.

It is a tradition at our weekly training meetings to have a breakfast potluck... and every time I was assigned to bring something, I would take it to work, even if I had called in sick. It would be awful to go down to talk to my boss and forget bagels after all that...

I gloomily walk down to the JFSB, books and bagels in hand. I walk in the back way... go down the elevator, and find the custodial office. My boss isn't there. The other crew's boss tries to call him on the radio, but he left his radio in the office.

I leave the bag of bagels on top of the pile of food in the office for the breakfast potluck my co-workers were about to have... then I went to hunt down Glen, my boss.

I finally found him in the Anthropology Lab. "Hi, Glen."

"Hey, you found me! ... You didn't call in at all..."

"No... I... I just woke up, and I need to talk to you so..."

He looked at me, and the tears that had been stuck on my eyelids finally started falling down my face. Why was I so ashamed?

"Jennifer, do you need to quit?"

"I... Yes. Yes, I need to quit." I explained to him what had been going on lately with my life, and with that, my eyes started making tears faster than they could get rid of them. I was pretty much blinded.

Oh, this was so embarrassing. One of the things I've always hated that I've never succeeded in changing is not being able to hold back tears when I feel like crying. A skill like that would be mighty useful at this point.

"Jennifer, it's okay..." And with that he proceeded to explain that I needn't be embarrassed or ashamed for needing to quit. Then he said something that surprised me. "We'll go ahead and make today your last day."

I blinked. The policy was that if I ever were to quit, I had to give a two-weeks notice. But he just said...

"Well, you've been one of the best workers we've ever had. You're dedicated... I mean, you even bring the food you said you'd bring to the potluck even when you're sick!"

I was starting to go numb again.

"Okay, Jennifer, I'll go terminate your paperwork right now... And if you ever can and want to come back, I'll definitely let you come back. I'd hire you again immediately. And you can still come to our potlucks on Friday! Okay?"

I nodded, and then we said goodbye and I left.

And I felt numb again.

But the day wasn't over at all. I hadn't even gotten through half of my homework last night. I plunged through my calculus homework in the math department computer lab and then...

Frozen.

No. No. I JUST FINISHED IT!

When I brought the program back up... I had lost all my algorithms. No... no... I don't have TIME for this. I just don't! I did it again, and then printed it off. And then I got out my physics.

I looked through the homework.

And then I looked through it again.

What? This... can't be happening to me! I don't understand any of this! I can't handle this right now... I haven't had time to look at it yet. I don't have time to do it now.

But I plunged on... except slower than a snail would do it. Much slower. In fact, I don't think I was making any progress at all.

The bell rang.

I closed my eyes and said a little prayer. Then I got up and went to calculus. I made an executive decision to take notes instead of sleeping or continuing through the physics homework. And then after class was over, I headed for the MARB, so I could work on the physics some more.

But then... Eat, Jenna. You haven't eaten yet this morning and it's almost 10am. You need to eat. So... instead, I turned around, and steered straight for the Cougareat. I grabbed food and then I went to the MARB. I ate it. Then I looked at the clock. 10:30. I've got half and hour until physics class starts.

I began to despair. I pulled out the physics again, read through the problems. I didn't even know where to start.

Jenna! Look at your syllabus!

...The syllabus isn't going to help me with this.

Look at your syllabus.

So I pulled it out. My eyes jumped to the section titled, Homework. I read it, despairing.

And then...

A ray of hope. "After the due date, homework is late and worth 1/4 of the points. Three late assignments will be forgiven and counted as on time." I blinked and looked down at the quantity of assignments due today... three assignments. Exactly. I just hadn't had time. And... it was alright. Everything was going to be okay. I decided to try and finish just one of the assignments before 1pm, which was when the homework was due.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do so. I ended getting half way done, but I didn't get through it all... But it was okay. I just needed to turn everything else in on time for the remainder of the semester. And everything would be fine...

After physics, I ran to choir. After that, I ran to biology.

And... biology let out early. So I headed down to the physics lab.

And thankfully... the physics lab was ridiculously easy. I just had to set up a network of resistors with an equivalent resistance equal to the last four digits of my BYUID number. It literally took me five minutes. I ran home. Took the hyperquiz for biology... and then... a sigh of relief.

I... I can relax.

I just sat on my bed for a bit. Then I got up and cleaned the kitchen. Then I found Hillary in her room. She was playing the Sims, and had created a Sim family for me. She informed me that the Sim Jenna (named Code Blue Pheonix... yes, Pheonix, not Phoenix) was pregnant. I watched her manipulate Code Blue and her family until the Sim child was born... and then grown into a child. Then we watched Return of the Cat.

In the middle of the movie, Rochelle, who was sitting at my computer and using it, yelled, "Jenna! Ryan's talking to you! He says, 'You quit your job?'" I get up.

"Yeah, I did quit my job..."

Rochelle laughed evilly, and then imitated my voice. "Yes, my love, I did! I quit so I could spend more time with you!"

I rolled my eyes, and Ashley laughed. "Ahaha! Ro, I would pay you to type that!"

Thankfully, I got to my computer in time to prevent such a happening. I told Ryan I was busy, and signed out of chat so that Ro wouldn't do anything mean, and then I went and finished watching the movie. After that, I played the piano.

Knock knock knock...

I take off the headphones from the keyboard and look at the clock. 7:20...

Oh yeah, I have a date! Hillary gets the door, and it's Ryan. "Are you ready to go?"

"Uhh... yes." I grab my coat and we go. We talk all the way over to the HFAC, mostly about why I decided to quit my job. I realize suddenly just how ridiculously stressed I am. And suddenly I was so thankful I was on a date doing something instead of just aimlessly wandering about my apartment like I do when I'm stressed.

We walk into the recital hall and to our shock and amazement... it is jam packed. This was just a little opera performance! I look around for seats... "Hey, let's sit in our spot!" We have a spot? I look up to the top of the hall, where Ryan was looking, to a little corner in the back, where we last time we came to a music performance. Two seats... empty.

We squeeze our way over to them. I glance Hillary and Rachel coming in after us... I guess they had decided to spy on us tonight. Silly roommates.

And then it started.

So... confession time. During the middle of the opera, I looked over at Ryan... and then at his hands. And I thought, I want to hold his hand... I'm sure you've had those moments where time just stops and your brain splits in two and starts arguing... this was one of those times. I eventually convinced myself it was a terrible idea, because he was leaving on his mission in a few months... and I already knew I would be ridiculously sad when it happened. Holding hands would make it even worse. And, Ryan said he didn't want a girlfriend before his mission, and I had agreed with him, because I didn't want a pre-mish boyfriend. And holding hands was the sort of thing girlfriends and boyfriends did. So it was settled.

I started paying attention again to the opera.

Then Ryan whispers in my ear, "Hey, can I hold your hand?"

Whoa. "What?" I cannot have heard that right. I can't have...

"Uh... Can I hold your hand?"

Apparently I did hear that right. "Why?"

I don't what he had been expecting me to say, but it obviously wasn't 'why?'. He didn't know what to say... "Uhhh... because... because I'm scared?" He said it in a silly sort of voice that meant he wanted to... just because he wanted to.

"No!"

"Oh. Okay." And with that the next scene started and he slunk down in his seat.

After the opera, we went to the library and watched Home Star Runner videos for awhile. I think that by that time, my brain had turned to some sort of ghastly green mush. I was so tired... So tired.

"What do you want to do?" "You want to watch something else?" "Wanna go somewhere else?"

I think a long stream of "I don't know"s was the only answer I gave Ryan.

Finally, I realized that I was tired. I told him so.

He just kind of looked at me for a moment. "You mean this whole time you've been trying to tell me you want to go home?"

"Uhh... no... no... well, I don't know." Oh shoot, I'm doing the 'I dunno' thing again. How extraordinarily annoying that must be for him. Then, "Well, I guess let's go home."

He walked me home, and he gave me an extraordinarily terse hug, and then I went inside.

Jackie ran out the door with pillow in hand... she was going to save us a spot on the sign-up list for the Monticello apartments for next year. We had all planned on sleeping over there, but I just felt so ridiculously tired...

In the kitchen, I was greeted by Rachel and Hillary. "Heeeeeeeeeyyy!" they squealed happily.

"Hi." Ooh, I sounded dead.

They stared at me. "Why the grimace?" I told them about the holding hands thing. Rachel laughed at me, as did Hillary, but it was a sympathetic rather than mocking sort. Hillary comforted me as best she could.

I cried for a bit (because usually Fridays are wonderful, and this one wasn't), then I went to bed.

So, all in all, yesterday was... horrid. But looking on the bright side...

Bright side. Is there one? Okay, stretching it. It is tradition at BYU for girls that the first time you hold hands with a guy, you owe your roommates M&Ms. The first kiss, you owe them all ice cream. Engagement... steak dinner.

So here's the bright side. I continue to not owe anyone M&Ms. I'd say that's a good thing?

Men Treat Me Like I'm a Princess.

Yesterday was... interesting to say the least. It was an extremely jam-packed day, if I may say so. I woke up around 4am... oh dear, that means I'll be late! So, I call my boss and tell him I'm going to be late... and I was. I then cleaned stairs for about three hours. Then I scurried over to the Talmage building where I did my physics and calculus homework. Then I went to calculus.

After that was over, I made my way to the MARB, and seated myself comfortably on the top level next to a power outlet, where I plugged in my dear Jacques (my laptop) and began to hurriedly do my biology homework. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw some guys walking around with boxes of Krispy Kremes... I felt a twinge of jealousy and then tuned them out.

"HI!"

I jumped and looked up. One of the Krispy Kreme guys was offering me a donut. Oh, yes please. I happily take it. The guy walks away, offering donuts to my study neighbors. I look down at my glazed prize.

At this point, I thought of Ryan, because he often reminisces about Krispy Kremes. The closest shop is in Orem, and neither of us have a car, so our chances of coming across them are slim. I smile as I take a bite of the artery-clogging goodness. He would be so jealous.

My donut gone, I continue working on biology. The bell rings and I continue working. I was right next to my classroom, and the class that was in there now had to get out first. It was suddenly very crowded in the hallways, so I scrunched up a little, and kept my head down. And then...

BAM!

Some black-shoed guy had very abruptly slammed down on the ground in front of me, and I jumped. My head jerked up to see the face of the culprit. Oh, it's Ryan... he was one of the people who had to vacate my classroom so I could get in there.

"...Did you hit your head on the brick when I scared you?"

"No, no, I didn't."

"Is that biology?"

"Yeah..."

"That is a huuuuge book!"

"Yep. ... ... ... I had a Krispy Kreme today!"

"What?!? Where'd you get one of those?" I told him. And then he looked so miffed. "Jenna, you should have grabbed me one!" "That's rude though..." "Then... then... you should have come and gotten me! Pulled me out of class! You knew I was in there!" I shook my head, and started to pack up my biology and put it in my enormous backpack. And he was so sad. I promised that if it ever happened again, I would come get him. He went to his class, and I walked into physics.

It was a tad boring today. After that, I dashed off to choir... then after that I dashed off to biology. And after that I dashed over to the JSB, where I did my Book of Mormon homework, and then proceeded to fall asleep on the ground next to the door of my next class. Except I wasn't asleep... very close to it, but not asleep. Every time someone passed me, I would open my eyes. At one point Ryan had come, but then saw I was asleep, and then left again. At least he thought I was sleeping.

The bell rang. I almost got up... and then decided against it. I just laid there. And then Ryan showed up again. "Wake up!"

"Uggghh... I am, I am..." And then we went into the classroom. I groggily blinked around at people as they came in.

"Are you busy tonight?" I was. So busy. "Yeah... I've got orchestra and a mandatory dance lab I have to go to... So I'm busy from seven to ten!" Ryan sighed sadly. "Oh... Dallin randomly buys things he doesn't need..."

What? That was random. Well, it wasn't, but I didn't know this at the time. Dallin [his roommate] had bought tickets to the men's chorus concert that night, and then after realizing he couldn't go, gave them to Ryan. And now Ryan was desperately trying to find a date. Unfortunately, every girl he had asked had been busy beyond all reason and couldn't go. I sympathize with him, and then class starts.

After that, I ran home with Hillary (who is also in our Book of Mormon class), starving.

Hillary made sloppy joes, and I did my Isaiah homework.

And then I ran off to orchestra and played bassoon for awhile. Then Jackie and I ran off to the dance lab. Ah, so this was why Dallin was busy. He was there too, along with Roy, Josef, Ian, and Michael. Clifton was there too, but he had sprained his ankle. I danced with all of them until about ten'o'clock, at which point we could leave.

The boys left first. And I tried to follow them and catch up, but there were these blasted heels... Oh blast it all. I took off my heels and ran after them in socks... into the outside, where it was snowing wetly. The ground was cold and wet, but... my feet hurt from being in heels for so long, and then it wasn't very far from the Wilk to my apartment. I decided it wasn't worth it to wear the heels.

I dash after the boys... "Hey! I don't want to walk home alone!" I join them.

"...You're not wearing your shoes..."

"No, I'm not."

"And the ground is cold and wet!"

"Yes, I can feel that... It's not that bad..."

And then Dallin pipes up... "Do you want us to carry you home?"

I laugh at this, and protest, "I'm wearing a skirt! Somehow I don't think that would work too well!"

Dallin and Michael look at each other, and form a nice seat out of their arms. Hm. This could be a good thing. "Come on, we could totally carry you!"

I sit down on the arm-seat. And then they lift me up. Whooooaaaa... the instability was amazing... and then Dallin complains, "Michael, you're too short. Ian's more my height, that would be better!"

So they put me down. And then Ian and Dallin formed a seat. And then they lifted me up again. It was misty, and it was snowing/raining. Michael took my shoes and carried them for me.

"Jenna, wave like this!" Michael demonstrated, in much the same way they do in Princess Diaries. So, I waved at the passing cars.

"Do you feel like a princess, Jenna?" asked Ian (or maybe it was Dallin?).

"Yes, yes, I do. This is so amazing!"

Unfortunately, this didn't last very long. The boys below me finally had to put me down. They looked rather dejected and ashamed for not being able to carry me all the way home, and apologized for being so weak.

When I walked inside, my roommates immediately demanded why I looked so smug. "Well... I just got carried home by men!"

"WHAT? Why, you manipulative little witch. ... ... Teach me," demanded Rachel.

"What? How to manipulate men?"

"Yes."

Rachel was upset with the whole night.

Mop Thievery.

As a short preface... the other day when I was cleaning, I found a long lost piece of paper with a few email addresses on it... so if you've never gotten emails from me before... that's probably why. Sorry! I suppose that while I'm on that note, I could bring up another issue... I know a lot of you forward my emails along to people, and I'm okay with that... but if this and been forwarded to you and you'd like to just be on the original email list, please just email me and say, "Ooh, ooh! Pick me, pick me!" or something similar.

On to story time. I've got two, one is more informational because you are all so nosy and curious about my dating life... The second is a more adventurous sort.

Wednesdays, although enjoyable, are my longest, most ridiculous days ever. A brief outline of a typical Wednesday:
4am-7:30am: work; 9am: Calculus, 11am: Physics, Noon: Chorale, 1pm: Biology, 3pm: Book of Mormon, 7pm-9pm: Orchestra. In between work and scheduled classes, I am cramming in homework and food. Basically... running all over the place like a headless chicken.

Well, yesterday... was Wednesday. Nothing really exciting happened besides mad, mad dashing all over the place, although since both Ryan and I got to Book of Mormon early, we talked for a little. It is at this point where I realize how incredibly tired I was, since I had a hard time getting to sleep the night before and exhausted suddenly steps on me from out of nowhere, wiping me out. "Are you okay?" I hate that... I have no way of veiling how I am feeling. If I am tired or sick, everyone sees it as clearly as they see their own hand. Well, yes, of course I'm okay. I'm just tired. This is true, and of course Ryan believes it. No one ever dares to disbelieve me when I say that since they can't comprehend not being tired after waking up as early as I do. But of course, all it takes is mention of the proximity of the weekend to liven me up a little... And especially since this weekend is a three-day weekend, it is the topic of nearly half the conversations happening lately.

"Do you have plans for the weekend?" Um... I have to think about that. I trudge through my molasses mind and discover... oh, yes I do! I think at this point Ryan remembers I am also in choir, and since there is a mandatory retreat scheduled for Saturday, he says, "The choir retreat?" "Yeah, that too. After that I'm going to my aunt's house and I'm staying there until Monday evening..." And then at this point my happiness slightly dissipates... I sadly add, "Which probably means that I should do all my homework Friday night..." Ryan answers with a depressed-sounding "Oh. Yeah, probably." And then the day went on.

I finally get home at 9, and start getting ready for bed. I have discovered that I only have to wake up five minutes before I need to leave if I have a night shower, lay out all my clothes, pack my makeup and such into my backpack, and get all my books and school supplies packed the night before. That way, I wake up around 3:40, change from my nightie into my clothes, grab my stuff, and get out the door. Well, in my opinion, getting ready for bed also involves one last email-check... after all, a lot of my professors send out messages late at night assuming that every student will be awake until at least midnight. Well, inside Gmail is a chat interface that connects into AIM, and as has become almost routine, Ryan and I instant message each other for awhile.

The conversation was pretty average for awhile. Then Ryan says something oddly like an answering machine message. It looks suspiciously like my voicemail message... but then, mine is quite average. Tired and a bit confused (not to mention slow-minded), I leave my computer and go take a shower. I come out... and another message. Except this time it is my voicemail message verbatim.

I shouldn't have been so darned confused, really. I was just tired. I express my confusion. He complains of his mutual confusion. Which confuses me more.

Since I use my phone as an alarm clock, I pull it out to set the alarm and de-silencify it (it was set to silent since I had been in class), and... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. "Missed Call, Ryan Strong... Missed Call, Ryan Strong... Missed..."

This would explain a few things. If I wasn't so ridiculously exhausted, I would have definitely burst into hysterical laughter. But I'm tired. I just tell Ryan I'm not confused anymore... and that my phone had been set on silent. I am so ready for bed, and I feel like I should have collapsed sometime in the last hour... but even at the slow pace my mind was running at, I have a slight suspicion I'm about to get a phone call, even though technically I'm already having a conversation with him via the Internet. I fiddle with my phone. Silent... vibrate... full volume... half volume... three-quarters volume... seven-twelths volume... silent... open... close... vibrate... open... silent... And, well, it didn't ring, because I had fiddled it to silent, and it didn't blink, because I had fiddled it open... it was just the phone-version of an obnoxious pop-up window informing me I had a call. And, well... I took me a bit to figure out how to answer it when it was already flipped open.

I eventually found success and answered. My voice surprised me... it was dry and... well, I sounded like a receptionist from the underworld unamusedly greeting newly-dead people entering Hades, and directing them to the gates depressedly. I'm sure it was very unnerving for the receiving end, especially since my greeting wasn't even "Hello!" or "Bueno!" or "Hey!" or "Hi!" or "What's up?". No, what tumbled out of my barely functioning mouth was a terse, "What." Hidden behind the simple "What?" were the accusatory and hostile undertones which clearly asked, "Why are you calling me?" and "What do you want with me so late at night, at almost 10pm?". I even suspect that if he could see me, I would have been glaring menacingly at him.

"Uh... hi. ... ... How are you?"

I save myself in what is again the truest and most believable way... "Tired." I made a small effort to sound less hostile, and that happened... but I still sounded dry, dead, and humorless.

"Um... do you wanna go see something in the HFAC [that's the fine arts building where all the concerts and plays happen] tomorrow night with me?"

Oh. Darn, I'm slow today, I should have realized this was what was going on like... eight hours ago. It is common etiquette to avoid asking people on dates through an instant message, email, Facebook wall post, etc. The basic rule is... in person or phone call = ok. Anything less that than is too impersonal. Plus, he had been a little too inquisitive about my plans this weekend, which probably meant he was going to ask me to something Friday or Saturday night.

Tomorrow... when is tomorrow? Tomorrow... Thursday? Thursday. I think I can do Thursday. So... "Er... yeah... when?" "Um... starts at 7:30. So... I'll come get you at 7?" "Okay, yeah." ... "You looked really tired today." "Yeah." ... "Is there anything I can do for you?" Oh booger. I must sound like I was just invited to the funeral of my best friend or something. No one ever asks that with those exact words unless they're home/visiting teaching, or think you're about to have a nervous breakdown. Which I might if I didn't sleep soon. "No... no, I'm fine..." "Okay... see you tomorrow then..."

Oh. I can go to bed now. Yay. I groggily climb into bed... realize my computer is still on... hm. Having two conversations at once with the same person is kind of interesting. I say good night to Ryan (again) and sign off and finally get to sleep. I am out instantly.

I suppose we'll call that the first story, but here comes the fun one. It's definitely more exciting, even if it is shorter.

I woke up this morning energized. Yay, sleep, the cure-all. I get to work... and get assigned to clean the stairs. This involves sweeping, mopping, and scrubbing them all, and then sweeping and vacuuming all the landings. Well, the JFSB is huge, to say the least. There are four flights of stairs I get to clean... one on each corner of the building. Now, including parking levels, there are seven levels. Which basically means... a LOT of stairs. And, unfortunately, although there are usually multiple people assigned to this chore, my supervisor only assigned me to do it. Even though this is an indirect praise (I trust you to do the work of two or three people in less time!), this is mildly frustrating.

I sweep. Sweep. ... And then, I put the broom away. I sidle down to the basement custodial closet to get an Unger mop, and--- ARGH! WHERE ARE THEY? I search each closet repeatedly for the mops. None of them are there... which means they are all in use.

I can't not mop.

I mean, the stairs are FILTHY! What with the snow and salt and dirt and over the ground outside, once people walk in, the dirty snow melts into dirt slush and dries on the stairs. Also, people track in salt as well. Shoes prints. All over the place. So.. so... disgusting, and desperately screaming to be cleaned.

But no mop. I cry out in distress. My hungry stomach joins in, making a chorus of general tragedy.

I saunter depressedly over to the custodial office, where my boss is training the new guy... I inquire about mops... at which point I notice Brian munching on a cream-cheese-less wheat bagel. He gives me the other half of the bagel, which causes my screaming stomach to immediately shut up, and says, "What, are there no more in the closets?"

"No, none. And the stairs are filthy."

We double check the closets... and then Brian gets a crazy look in his eye, as he continues to devour the helpless bagel. "We could always steal a mop from the other crew..." I'm sure my eyes took on that evil glint as well. Mop stealing: necessary, barbaric, and totally adventurous. I take an evil bite into my equally helpless half-bagel, and agree.

Always with my iPod handy, I turn the song to the Mission Impossible Theme to spice it up. Immediately, our gaits turn into sneaky spy-like walks. We creep down the basement hallways like spiders, pressed against the walls, seeking out the not-so-innocent mophogs. Each empty hallway we pass is a relief. Then... the last hallway.

Voices. Laughter. Music. We definitely found the other crew.

Brian is the lead student. So, in addition to higher pay, he has valuable custodial authority... As far as my position goes, we have fake rankings. I am directly under Brian, so if he ever died, or disappeared, or quit... I'd be lead student. So... I've got faux authority, but no extra pay. Thankfully, I only need authority to pull off the mop stealing. We pull out of our strangely feline spywalks and start walking authoritatively down the hallway, like we were supposed to be there. The thing is, high ranking custodians pretty can go wherever they need without being questioned, because it is assumed that we know exactly what we're doing. And we do.

We make it through the first wave of enemy crewmembers without breaching security.

"Target identified, over," says Brian.

I look over and see it. An Unger mop bucket... with two Unger mops.

"Copy, over." We move in. Brian smoothly grabs the mop and squeezes the water out. This is a rather noisy business... but the enemy don't notice, because Brian and I are nothing out of the ordinary, and it probably did not register that it wasn't one of their crew making the water noises, since they were so commonplace. Then, I grab the mop, prop it on my shoulder, and we smoothly walk away, acting quite ordinary and as if we had been in possession of the mop the whole time.

We clear the enemy lines again, and return to our territory. "Target obtained, mission complete."

Brian and I exchange farewells, and I, short on time, return to stair cleaning.

Oh, the Pudding.

Warning: This 'un is a tad bit long. (Understatement).

Oh, the Saturday.

I have locked myself in my room, so that I can do homework.

Of course, I have my Internet browser in Gmail, as always. I hover over my poor inbox like a vulture, hoping for an email from someone, anyone. I also have iTunes up, and I am listening to my usual batch of music.

I am busily working on calculus, and I am getting tired. Tired enough to fall asleep... I turn my music up louder and get back to working. Sluggishly.

Dink.

I open my eyes, and wipe the calculus off my face.

Dink.

What is going on?!?!

Oh. The Google chat. Ryan is talking to me.

We chat about random things for about fifteen minutes as I do calculus. The good thing is, I am now awake. This is why I keep my chat open when I'm working... harder to fall asleep that way.

Then, rather abruptly, he asks if I'd like to go on a walk.

I should have seen it coming, really. I mean, he was kind of asking about what I was doing... and how busy I was. And if I had devoted the entire night to goofing off just yet. So maybe the walk question wasn't as abrupt as I thought it was.

Immediately after asking if I'd like to go on a walk, he starts talking about random other things, like haircuts and such. I think he was half-hoping I hadn't noticed the line asking me to walk with him. The thing is, I told him I would walk with him. But he continued talking about haircuts for another few minutes until he finally noticed what I had said about the walk, at which point he says something like, "Wait... did you say you WERE up for a walk?"

Silly boy. We decide he'll meet me at the bottom of my back-door stairs, so I grab my keys and tell Jackie that I'm going.

Unfortunately, sly little Jackie asks exactly the wrong question. "A walk? With who?"

"Er... Ryan..."

Jackie pretty much explodes with energy. "A DATE! ANOTHER TALLY MARK!" See, we have a little white board in our kitchen where we keep track of how many dates we've been on. I had three tallies. Jackie prances over to said white board and happily puts a fourth tally mark by my name. I blink. I hadn't actually thought of it as a date.

So, stubbornly, I make my way to the board, and erase the tally mark. "Not a date."

"Well, did he ask you?"

"Yeah. Just now."

"It's a date!" She marks it up on the board again. I erase it again, and walk out the door,knowing full well that I'll have to erase it again when I got home... whenever that might be. I didn't see the sense in counting it as a date. I mean, it wouldn't have counted as a date if it had been Clifton, or Will, or any of my other guy friends. Silly Jackie.

Even with the Tally Mark War, I got outside first. When Ryan comes out of the neighboring hall and sees me already standing out there, he runs over.

Oh, the pudding (translation: oh, the adventure). Ryan decides to show me some fun stuff. We start by exploring Upper Heritage (we live in Lower Heritage). He seems to have a particular destination in mind at first. This destination ended up being Whitney Hall... which had a spectacular Peanuts mural in the window, the best by far depicting Lucy as BYU and Charlie Brown as Utah. Of course, Charlie Brown had tried to kick the football, and Lucy had stolen the football just as he was about the kick. It was amazing.

Then we explored on the inside. We discover that in addition to having four floors instead of three, Upper Heritage Halls also have more washers and dryers, a larger sundeck, and a nicer and bigger piano room. We sneak around stealthily and make our escape from the strange alien building from the basement door.

Now we make our way west, to the pretty little path alongside the stream near the bell tower. We stop at what Ryan says is "his bench." He tells stories about his EFY adventures and chasing ducks around. He even had a video of duck chasing on his phone that we watched. I think we both would have been up for some duck chasing had the ducks not moved to the other side of the stream (smart ducks).

Upon my comment, that I hadn't ever actually touched the bell tower, we climbed the stairs to it. We decided it would be fun to climb up it if we had been ninjas. However, since neither of us had enough ninja skill to climb up it, we moved on to the Bean Museum. We were going to go inside, but I figured out that it closed in ten minutes and that it wouldn't be very nice to scare the workers in there.

We moved on to a curb in between the ruins of Deseret Towers and the Museum. Apparently this curb also belongs to Ryan, again, because he spent time there when he came up for EFY.

Then... the deserted Deseret Towers. Ay, where there once stood U and V Hall, now stood two large piles of dirt. How sad. We wanted to explore that, but decided it probably wasn't safe and went around it to the Morris Center. It is surrounded by large piles of red leaves, obviously neglected by the landscaping crews. We peer in through the window. Weird. It's all... empty and spooky. We proceed over the remaining four towers, and look inside. Apparently, this is where Ryan lived when he came up for EFY and it was sad for him to see all the furniture thrown out the windows. There were large fences around the three northernmost towers, and we would have scaled it and explored in there had there not been a sign on the fence warning of a $300 fine.

Well, that's when we decided to move on. We passed the Morris Center again, and then walked past the Marriott Center to where Helaman Halls was. We didn't explore that, but instead saw the new Hinckley Center and decided to explore that. Unfortunately, that was closed (it WAS a Saturday). So...

That's when I decided to show Ryan around the JFSB. That's where I work every morning. He was thrilled about there being two computer labs in there that he didn't know about. I showed him a nice little study area with an expensive Persian rug. He wanted to go up the balcony on the top floor, but it was locked, sadly. Then... on the top floor, we saw that there were stairs still going up. Ooh! We stealthily climb up those and try the door at the top, but that is locked too. I'd imagine that actually led to the roof-roof. I'll never know I guess.

After that, we explored the library. Ryan knows a lot more about the library than I do... besides the SWKT, that's practically where he lives. We explored the moving bookshelves, and he showed me his favorite study spots. Then we found the little model of the entire BYU campus. It's amazing how detailed that thing is. Amazing.

We were about to ascend up the stairs again when we saw a humongous picture of BYU. Of course, we had to go back down and look for places we knew on it. We found the Creamery on Ninth... and thus we found our places near it. Ryan knew a whole lot about the Creamery... apparently it used to be called Carson's Market, and his dad used to work there. After that, we looked up and saw through the Atrium glass that it was dark outside.

We decided to go home. But then, as we passed the Wilk, Ryan decided he had to show me the Memorial Room too. We went in there, but we could see next door that something was happening. So we left. Then we walked home. Ryan gave me two hugs (the second was better than the first), and then I walked up the stairs and into my apartment. No one was home. At all. I shrugged, reduced my tally marks to three, looked at the clock and... Ahhhh! That walk was two and a half hours. Sick.

Not sure what to do now, I sat down at the piano and started playing. Someone knocked. I opened the door. It was a pair of Jackie's friends from Helaman Halls from her home ward. They came in. A few minutes later, Jackie came home.

Here comes the funny part (at least in my opinion).

And then, as I re-entered my room after a long break from calculus, Jackie tackled me. She grabbed me by both shoulders, and gave me this strange, intense look. "What. Happened."

I blinked. "Uhhh... we walked..."

"AND?"

I wondered what that was supposed to mean. I explained that "nothing" happened and I only got a hug, supposing she meant something along those lines.

She let me go, but she was still giving me those suspicious looks.

Well, I confronted her about it later. Here's the dealio according to Jackie. Her friends had been "spying" on Ryan and I and had told her a tall tale about how we were making out, as a practical joke on Jackie (she is very gullible sometimes). Silly people. My reaction to this little rumor was a mixture of shock and laughter, which eventually ended up on my face as a raised eyebrow. No wonder Jackie was so confused and freaked out. :)

But no, the apartment rumors didn't stop there. I don't know if any of you have ever lived in a building full of girls, but if you say something about a guy, it isn't long before the whole building knows about it and has made it gospel. So... guess who happened to be half-eavesdropping? Ashley.

In this case, half-eavesdropping is more deadly than full-eavesdropping. Because guess what key words she'd pick up if she wasn't listening all the way? "Jenna..." "Ryan..." "making out..." "walk..." "Nooooo!'

So Ashley perks up in her chair and exclaims with a gleeful look on her face, "What? Jenna and Ryan went on a make-out walk?!?!? Oooohhh...."

At this point, I have my face buried in my hands while simultaneously trying frantically to make it absolutely clear that nothing happened whatsoever.

So Ashley knows it isn't true. But... Ashley and Rochelle happen to be the kind of people who don't care if it's true or not. If they think something is funny, they'll spread word about it regardless of its verity.

By some miracle, the "make out walk" rumor disappears after that. Thank the heavens above. Until...

It's Sunday night after midnight, when Jackie gets home from a late night solo walk. She had been talking on the phone with a guy friend. But she was all alone. Immediately, Rochelle, Ashley, Christina, and I pounce on her. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! Walking alone talking on the phone to a guy...

The latter phrase evolved slowly from "walking alone on the phone with a guy" to "walking alone talking to a guy" to "walking alone with a guy." I am so upset with Jackie's lack of safety precautions that I haven't noticed this transformation of situations that we are denouncing...

All of a sudden, someone in the frenzy yells, "WELL THEN! If we going to punish anyone for walking alone with a guy, it should be Jenna! TWO AND A HALF HOURS WALKING ALONE WITH RYAN!"

All eyes are now on me, venomous, and yet gleeful at the same time. Ooh, not good. Ashley pipes up, "Oooh, and they were making out!" Ooh, definitely not good. Not good at all.

At this comment, the venom disappears and the glee of new-found gossip takes over, causing a large explosion of "WHAT?!?!"s and "REALLY?!?!"s. Jackie's sins are forgotten completely. Now mine are foremost in everyone's mind.

I vehemently deny that I made out with Ryan. Vehemently. And just when I thought I had convinced them, Christina butts in slyly. "Wait a minute. You keep saying 'I didn't make out with Ryan...' What about him? He made out with you, didn't he?"

At the uproar that follows this little snakebite, I flip into the hallway. Now pressed against the wall, I shake my head and mutter, "No, no no no no no no..." At this point, I decide most fully that I do not like girls' senses of humor. Especially when it comes to guys.

So now I wonder... was the pudding worth its price?

Oh dear.

I'm a busy girl.
Yesterday I took two midterms and did a lab... today... I took another midterm.

I also got my first paycheck yesterday! It was about two hundred dollars. I bought myself a BYU sweatshirt... because it's darn cold up here. Today it's raining. A lot.

Tonight I get to go to the General Relief Society thingy... Shweet.

Well, about last week.

Monday! Ahh!
So I went to work, then to all my classes, and then I came home and watched Oklahoma!... which I borrowed from Ryan. Then I set off to make cookies... Oh!
I'm pretty sure I haven't emailed off the witty cookie piece I wrote Monday night. I posted it on Facebook, but I don't think I emailed it off. So... here's that. Viva copy and paste!

----------------

Cookies: An Epic Tale
I Am NOT Having Eight Children: A Rant from Someone Who Likes Things Just So

Disclaimer: I am not incriminating anyone in my FHE group at all… in fact, I love them all bunches. I need to vent out my frustrations… which I like to do in comical prose. I may have exaggerated a few details as per artistic license.

Ok… so… we had our first family home evening group thingy where I, Momma Jenna, was in charge. Oy, that was a HASSLE. So, I figured I'd make cookies for random people in our ward, right? And then have a batch for us to eat? (That's what everyone wanted to do... but no one wanted to be in charge of it... go figure). Theoretically, that would have worked. Except I figured that everyone wouldn't be able to keep their paws off of my cookie dough. So I more than doubled the amount of cookies I'd make. In my head this made perfect sense and might even solve some problems.

I started making dough at three after watching Oklahoma!… and here's where the problem comes in. My roommates (especially Jackie) seem to have a sixth sense that knows when sweets are being made. They also all seem to be addicted to raw cookie dough. They were eating dough all the while I was attempting to mix a HUMONGOUS quadruple batch… And I am wondering if the cookie-ingredient proportions were at all what they should be, because as I mixed it together, it disappeared.

It was once perfect cookie dough.

So of course I made a humongous mess mixing together cookies in such titanic proportions. Thankfully Rachel did some dishes, but really I was left to scour the kitchen alone, all the while thinking, "Oh man… I have history reading I should be doing…"

Somehow our kitchen got clean. And then the boys came.

Hands immediately reach into the cookie dough I spent forever making… Oooh, I am sooo mad. I karate kick Clifton, my little brother, in the chest, but gently, and really only with my toe. He doesn't seem to get the message. He swipes some more later, and that is when I drag him outside and lock him out. Unfortunately, Rochelle and Ashley happen to feel merciful at the time, and let him back in almost immediately.

I don't know how many times I explained that the pre-made cookie dough (my sweat, blood, and tears!) was for people in our ward and was off-limits for eating. Alex and Jon were mostly the only ones actually mixing together our cookie dough (which I yelled many times was free-reign for eating... but no one seemed to comprehend that there was a batch of cookie dough I'd let them eat). I'm sorry to complain, but I confess I wasn't quite happy with the consistency of the batch the boys made and was glad that was the batch we were keeping and not giving away.

Oh, but what I really couldn't stand was all the bickering and roaring laughter (I don't mind laughter, it's when I can't hear my own thoughts that it becomes a problem) and mean jokes and funny snapshots… it would have been fun… IF I wasn't trying to make cookies at the time. See, cooking and baking is like... my zen-mode, second only to church... (How else do I get cooking inspiration???) Most of the time I am perfectly willing to step out and initiate silliness and chaos… but I need order. I know there are certain times where you sit down and have a serious (or more serious-than-usual, as is the case with me) face... which for me is in the kitchen.

We colored paper plates with random holiday greetings (and I mean REALLY random)… signed them, put a dozen cookies on each plate, and then went cookie caroling to random dorms in our ward (we tried to give half to people we knew and half we didn't).

In total we made enough dough to theoretically cork out twelve dozen cookies. (I made two thirds of it myself.) We only made five-dozen cookies. All the rest of the dough had already been eaten. So now… here I am, left with a derelict kitchen, up way past my bedtime, and a little too frustrated to sleep… although a thank you letter from Ryan did help (thanks by the way… I really appreciated that!).

If I go to bed now, I shall get five hours of sleep… Oh, the incredulities!!!

I think I am quite feeling back to my silly ol' self. Not that that helps any… it's hard to sleep when you feel like dancing.

♥Jenna

P.S. The JFSB is always neat and tidy. I think I can completely destress there tomorrow morning... neat... and tidy... while rockin' out to Batman of course!

--------

So... that was Monday. Tuesday was very full and no exactly exciting.

Wednesday and Thursday I went to tutor at a nearby elementary school. Me 'n' Elsa (the girl I tutor) are already friends. So... here is about when I dash off to a study group... Well, actually I have another Facebook entry on this experience... But... I think in order to keep this email within tolerable lengths, I shall summarize it.

I forgot about tutoring and completely scheduled something in that time slot... a study group with Ryan, Dallin, Will, Roy, Mindy, Liz, and Claire. I had everything planned... and was falling asleep happily on my bed, when...

BAM!!! My forehead hits the shelf above my bed as I jerk up and out of bed, horrified with the realization that I forgot about tutoring. I instantaneously go from very much relaxed and stress-free to skyscraper-like stress levels. I have a throbbing headache spreading from my aching forehead through to the rest of my skull, and I feel really bad about missing this study group thingy... so I miss it...

But then... there's Will... who happens to be a history genius similar to my friend Zack in Arizona. Who kind of timidly asks if I want to study with him later since I missed the study group. Of course I say OK, cuz... well, I have to admit I suck at history and he happens to be darned good at it.

Yesterday... OK, funny story. My roommate's car wouldn't start one day, and they are already late to a concert... and then they see two guys walking to their car... and "Hey!!! You guys! Can we have a ride?" The guys give them a ride. And then give my roommates their number so they can get a ride home.

However, my roommates walk home, and Jackie decides she's going to ask the guys over as a thank you and have them eat the apple rolls we made. Well, I reminded her that she wouldn't let me give Oklahoma back because she hadn't seen it... and so she stuck it in.

Alas, the two boys come over and scarf the apple rolls, and then sit down and... don't leave. They are watching Oklahoma with us. And that's a darn long movie. And... well, there's a whole lotta stuff about marriage and kissing in that movie. Perfect set up for Jackie to feel awkward.

I was going to go to bed, but poor Jackie would feel so weird watching that by herself with two guys. So... I stay and watch it again. And I make funny comments at the awkward parts to make Jackie feel better. They finally leave at 11:30... and poor Jackie looks exhausted. Haha.

Well, I don't have anything else to say. Buh bye now!

The Myth of the Starving Student

I apologize that my life at the moment is not as entertaining as before. The most interesting thing going on is homework (which I'm sure you don't want to hear about) and my culinary life.

I don't know if this is a false idea that I got from pop culture, but the myth goes that kids going off to college are starving students, begging for food from merciful relatives and random passersby. This certainly is not the case for me.

I have, since I go to BYU, a required meal plan, which basically pays for your food, but you pay a mongo monthly bill. Unfortunately, if you accumulate too much money (i.e. not being able to spend it all), they stop giving it you… even though you already paid for it.

So, here is the dilemma: I have too much money allocated for food. I, and all my roommates, go to the Creamery for the sole purpose of spending our meal plan. No, we're not hungry, if fact, we are quite the opposite. We have elaborate meals. And lots of them.

Take, for instance, my menu today. For breakfast, I had a yogurt, because I wanted something quick. I ran to the Creamery and bought myself a beautiful turkey and ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato I could stow away in my backpack and eat when lunch came around (lines at lunchtime are horrendous). Around five I come home, my homework finished, and realize I'm bored. So I eat… little bits at a time! I munch on the community Cheezits happily as I start to do homework for next week. Then, alas! I realize I still require sustenance, and scavenge around our kitchen. I decide to make myself a delicious honey barbecue chicken breast. After eating it, I amble around my apartment aimlessly. After realizing my extreme boredom again, I turn to the fridge. Fruit. Lots of fruit. I make myself a beautiful fruit salad. More aimless wandering. I have some cottage cheese (don't tell my Dad, he'd gag at the thought of it). I play with my roommate's exercise ball. I have a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. I check my email. I proceed to make Jell-O. I grab my hymn book and make the trip to the basement to play piano in a claustrophobic room. I come back. I eat fried squash with basil, oregano, and garlic. Mmm, tasty. Just now I ate a York Peppermint Patty. And I guarantee that I am going to eat something tonight… probably Jell-O, more fruit, and something else. :D

My roommates and I are trying desperately to spend our food money. Thankfully, the Creamery sells things like laundry detergent, shampoos, make-up, and school supplies that I can spend my already-spent money on.

And, all my roommates and I have discovered that we can make fine cuisine with just a little extra money.

And even after this, I've got extra money that I can't buy things I want with. Eww. Especially with local mothers bringing us boxes and boxes of produce (stir-fry!!!).

So… I've got tons of homework, but not enough to keep me occupied. Really, the most interesting thing I had to do was write a couple paragraphs for an introduction to my autobiography for English. Bleh. And I'm being hit over the head with pre-calculus (oww) and dimensional analysis. I am so bored in my classes.

I've been hired for an early morning custodial job (Whoot! The only job on campus that'll work with my crazy schedule!) where the people are as crazy as me. I'm at home, haha.

Tonight I have the fine privilege of going to see Charlie Brown… for free!