Some Finals Week Christmas Spirit

This Christmas, mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a letter.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise.
Forgo a grudge.
Forgive an enemy.
Apologize.
Try to understand.
Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind.
Be gentle.
Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love and then speak it again.
Christmas is a celebration,
and there is no celebration that compares
with the realization of its true meaning
--with the sudden stirring of the heart
that has extended itself unselfishly in the things that matter most.
-Howard W. Hunter

I love everyone

I bought my plane ticket to go home for Christmas:

Friday, December 21, 2007
Delta Air Lines # 490
Salt Lake City International (SLC) to Philadelphia International (PHL)
Departure (SLC): December 21, 5:05 PM MST (evening)
Arrival (PHL): December 21, 11:17 PM EST (evening)
Seat request: 31F
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Delta Air Lines # 604
Philadelphia International (PHL) to Salt Lake City International (SLC)
Departure (PHL): January 6, 5:25 PM EST (evening)
Arrival (SLC): January 6, 8:25 PM MST (evening)
Seat request: 32F

I won't say how much $$ those were because in my opinion it was way too much. At least it's non-stop and I'm not flying on my birthday for the first time in 3 years! I get to start classes on my birthday instead, woohoo.

I am grateful for my roommates for taking care of me when I had a horrible rash today. They got me benadryl and hydrocortisone and Meagan rubbed it in good. And Monica made homemade chicken noodle soup plus homemade rolls and fed me. Oh wait, you guys are the only ones who read this pretty much. I guess I don't need to refer to you in 3rd person.

I am also grateful for my parents, especially my dad who always calls exactly when I need him to. I don't know how he knows but he gets my vibes all the way over there. I think it was hearing the Billy Joel song on the radio that did it this time- he heard it and thought of me playing it and picked up the phone.

And while I'm at it, I'm grateful for a certain boy (who I don't think reads this?) who is pretty dang good at making me happy.

I'd better stop before this takes a turn for the sappy. Wait—

Breaktime

First things first, since I'm link-crazy we'll start off with this. Faces...everywhere you look.

I now work Tuesdays and Thursdays for a total of 8 hours which is hardly anything at all but I was beginning to feel extremely lame never having worked in college. Number one reason I can handle my job? Two words: Free. Muffins.

Blogging feels a little bit redundant since I keep a journal on Microsoft Word and habitually [compulsively?] write in it every night. But there are differences, such as there are no URL links in my journal. And there will unlikely be anything very personal on the blog, unless I am in a sharing sort of mood.
Sharing is caring.
Unless you're an intravenous drug user...in which case sharing is daring.

I think I need to attend another byu stand-up show.

Wasting an Inordinate Amount of Time

I am in the habit of bopping from one computer lab to another on campus, whenever it crosses my mind that I need to Google something. This happens far too often. If I'm in the middle of class I begin tapping my foot impatiently, but then it ends up not being just my foot but my entire body...tapping...wanting to find the internet and Google the thing which has just been brought to my attention that I don't know everything about it that I would like to. This can be quite a challenge when sitting in my apartment and Comcast once again proves unreliable. This also happens far too often. If I overcame my compulsion to check on the weather almost hourly perhaps that wouldn't be such an issue.

I like to keep tabs on my pet peeves because that way if they're out in the open I can figure how to not let them bother me anymore. There's 4 or 5 I can think of right now, which I won't blog about lest I unintentionally cause offense. But one that I know won't because I've only heard some professors say it is...pronouncing words that begin with 'W' with a 'Hw' sound. Examples...'Hwheat', 'Hwheelbarrow', or 'Hwhy'. Hwhat? Maybe it's proper or something. People and their mysterious pronunciations.

In one of my classes I have discovered that there are three, one two three, guys that I have been on dates with and felt awkward about it later. Now I don't like to avoid people but we'll just say that's one class to which I arrive precisely as the bell rings, and not a moment earlier.

Holy Sabbath Day of Prayer

Once again it is the Day of Rest around these parts. I enjoy and look forward to Sundays, generally speaking. However, sometimes I wonder for how many people it is actually a day of rest. For most [*Mormon folk], it is a day of early morning meetings, worship, instruction, more meetings, choir rehearsals, visiting, cooking, socializing, baking, and for some, last-minute scrambling to finish homework and studying. When planned and finangled, a nap is thrown in- that must be the Resting. 

Today in Sacrament Meeting I had a delightfully irreverent time singing the closing hymn. No kidding- try and sing that without having thoughts of, as Monica put it, "Stepford Children." I was doubled over in laughter and singing at the exact same time- talk about multi-tasking. 

Have a super sabbath, and most of all remember you should always be polite and treat ev'rybody right and in ev'ry place be affable and kind. Hark!

I don't know if you knew this or not but...

Oh my gosh, I live in Utah. 

 In other news, despite living in the so-called desert (not dessert, because you don't want more) it is raining heavily and of course the windows are open and how am I expected to focus on schoolwork? 

I know I just posted a few hours ago. But this blog is new and shiny and exciting, not to mention there's not much to read, not even enough to leave you wanting more. For the sake of not being distracted any longer, I'll sign off right here.

The Day After Yesterday

I decided to re-begin a blog for the first time since last time.