I just realized how late it really is, but I just have to say...

Two words: JIMMER. FREDETTE.

Can I get an "AMEN!"

It's Friday. It's Friday. It's Friday.

This week has been so long. Of course, every week is really, really long this semester. I know so many people who feel that way. Last night Michele and I were talking in German, mostly about how we are so tired and how German never ceases consuming our lives. I mean, I love German, but last night I was so fed up with it. In fact, I just went to bed and then skipped class today to write my close reading on "Tintern Abbey." I felt so irresponsible, but I just couldn't focus anymore. I had already studied German for a couple hours, taken a 90 minute German test, had a 15 minute conversation in Deutsch with Michele, done at least 90 minutes of dedicated, non-distracted homework...and I hadn't even gotten 1 page into my reading assignment and it was so late and I hadn't started writing about "Tintern" yet (I did know what I was writing on, however), and I wanted to go to sleep. So I did. And this morning I woke up, showered, started my paper, went to work, and then skipped German because I didn't get my reading done and because I really had to write this paper. So yep. That's that. I still feel really irresponsible and guilty. Hence this long justification.

Anyway. Eloquence is failing me right now. I am rather pleased with my paper on "Tintern" though. Especially considering I wrote the outline really, really late at night, the first half of it when I was half asleep at 7 this morning, and the 2nd half fairly quickly just now. But still. Trying to write this post I just feel like I'm rambling and rambling and rambling with no purpose. But there is a purpose. The purpose is to CELEBRATE FRIDAY!

Things that are wonderful about how today is Friday, in chronological order:

• Getting to watch Bones
• Sledding at Soldier Hollow with the Ward
• Waking up sans alarm tomorrow morning
• Sutdying Preach my Gospel with some of my favorite girls ever on Sat morning
• House/Apartment hunting
• (Hopefully) the BYU vs. Utah basketball game
• Catching up on life
• And many more...

Oh my goodness. I cannot wait to go tubing and then just sleep and sleep and wake up when I'm ready to and not have to force myself out of bed and still not really be awake 6 hours, a shower, 2 hours of work, a class, and a paper later.

BLARGH

Sometimes I wish extended library hours were all the time. Because I'm only productive in the library now. I used to be able to be productive here at home, but I'm not. Or maybe I'm just not panicky enough yet. Which is weird, because seeing how my close reading of Tintern Abbey that I haven't even started yet(not difficult, just time consuming) is due in 12 hours and 5 of those I'm supposed to be at work or in class and lots of others of them I'd like to be sleeping...I should be panicky.

Eh. We'll figure it out. We meaning me. After I take a shower. And drink some milk. And sleep.

Tintern Abbey

We read Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey and Preface to the Lyrical Ballads for my Engl 314 class today. Tintern Abbey=just like last semester in 292. Reading it I feel so much like Wordsworth and I just want to go back to England soooo much. So when Becca (my teacher) had us write our own "spotaneous overflow of emotion" Romantic poetry, this is what came out. It's kinda long, but let's be honest, I'm hardly ever NOT long-winded. And yes. I'm missing England big-time today. Not quite sure why. We'll blame Wordsworth. P.S. Sorry that it's kinda melodramatic. I'm kinda sometimes a melodramatic person.

Tintern Abbey
Perhaps I'm copying Wordsworth
But in reading his words my mind also turns--
Turns back to the ruins and the day I stood there,
God's stained glass--
The greenest green you've ever seen
On fire with a cool, misty rain,
The sweet white smoke filling my lungs, and covering the mountain tops.
God's stained glass
Taking it's place in the broken windows.

My green hiking boots splash in puddles
But quietly.
Climbing, exploring, sketching, laughing, pondering.
All silently, yet not in volume or tone.
We are happy and playful
With a somewhat-reverent camaraderie.
It is my dearest friends, William Wordsworth, and me.

Perhaps I'm copying Wordsworth.
But when I read again the lines of Tintern Abbey
I too reminisce with the poet.
Emotion, memories carry me away.
To the before, the then, and the now.
To the when I read those same words in that place.
To England and how it changed me.
How I want to go back.
How my heart yearns and aches.

I wish I could really copy Wordsworth.
Not just in subject and thought and emotion.
But words--mine are lame compared to his.
Still, words are the way to unleash my muse,
The Embers of England and friendship and writing
That always tumult inside my soul.
Weak words it must be,
Trying to express everything I'm feeling inside.

-Describe your favorite room in your house.

Otherwise known as, "I should be cleaning my room" and "Your house" being interpreted "my current place of residence."

My favorite room is my bedroom. Right now it is a mess. It is like this huge laundry monster exploded and ate the floor. But that is okay. I am cleaning it up, practically as we speak...or I type...? Anyway. I like it because it is me. And it is friendly and comfortable. The first thing you see, well, if you look down, anyway, is my jewelry box. It is big and looks like this, except the picture spaces are different and they are all filled with pictures from England. And then you look up and see my desk, with random quotes and pictures of the temple and some missionary friends and a Dove chocolate wrapper or two. One of them says FLIRTING IS MANDATORY. And then you look up and see more pictures of England and a Union Jack. And my bed is green and (when it's made) has awesome pillows on it. On my book shelf above my bed is a ton of British literaure. 4 Norton Anthologies.2 sets of Harry Potter. 26ish other books. Jessie always jokes that one day it will come crashing down on me in my sleep and BAM! DEATH BY BRITISH LITERATURE! What a way to die. :) And then I have pictures of my family and friends and messy things all the time everywhere. In my closet there are colorful clothes and fun scarves and all my shoes. And my dirty laundry basket. Except right now because it's on my floor full of clean clothes that I need to fold.

I like Jessie's side of the room too. It is very different than my side, but very Jessie and I love her and I love the fact that she lives in my room.

I also like the fact that Sarah Snow is sitting on Jessie's bed that used to be her bed and then was my bed and now is Jessie's bed. Because I like Sarah Snow. And my room.

Das Ende.

HUM REF

This is where I work:

Except there is a computer up at that chair now. I usually sit there, but sometimes I sit at the other chair by the main circulation express check-out we have. I like that one better, because circulation is fun. But it is a nice place. It meaning the Hum Ref desk. My coworkers are awesome. One of them is Whitney and Roxanne's roommate, Lauren. She is pretty cool. Jeff is the other new guy. It is us three who are the ones who are brand new. There are other really cool people too, like Naarah and Andrew and Tyler and Brooke and Tristan and Val. And of course all the librarians. I hope I didn't forget anyone. I'd feel bad if I did. We have fun, chatting, hanging out, helping people with their reference questions. I was actually by myself at the desk for a bit today and helped like 5 people. It was rockin'. Maybe one day I'll actually be fully trained and feel like I know what I'm doing. I always kinda feel like a secret agent when I clock in and when I go into the workroom. And I love helping people find books in the stacks. But that's probably because I love books and I love people too. Anyway. I like this job-place of mine.

Today, Chris, the Art Librarian/Humanities Department Chair stopped by. I was doing something--really easy thing, like checking out headphones or something--and she said, "Wow! Look at her! She looks like she works here!" ;) She is awesome. Anyway. Moral of the story: the Hum Ref desk is clearly the best desk in the library, so come on up and visit. 5th floor. I think I like my job. :)

VIBRANT

This is my new favorite word. One of my best friends used it to describe me. This is the first image that came up during a Google Image search. Go buy these flowers at https://secure.webcnx.com/kensingtonflorist/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=117. But seriously. I love this word. It is so legit. And wonderful. And it makes me want to sing.

In other news, the h key on my keyboard is somewhat broken. It is really obnoxious when you use h in like every other word and there are two of them in your name. I also want to do a post about work. The end.

-What's your favorite children's book?

This is a hard question. It all depends on definition. I am going to have to say my favorite children's book is...



Don't ask me why. Just thinking about it, this is one of the books that always stands out to be and it is awesome. I also like to say SNORT, which is from another favorite children's book (Yay P.D. Eastman...and Dr. Suess, just because you have to mention him. If you know what it is, let me know. I know Lisa knows it. :)

And, of course, if you countas a children's book, then it definitely tops the list.

Random Questions

So those surveys that go around...well, I found the most awesome one ever. I'm going to do a question from them for each post until I run out. We'll begin with:

-What is your favorite wood?
Mahogany. Basic uses: furniture making, dums, guitars. And it's pretty. And durable.

Sometimes...

...things just don't go the way you want them too.

Sometimes the Utah air gets all smoggy and inversion-y in winter and you can tell that it smells bad even through your congested nose. Sometimes doing what you're supposed to do and what you think will make you happy just puts you in a bad mood. Sometimes you really want a nap. Sometimes you briefly think you get to sleep in the next morning and then realize that you actually have to be at work at 8 a.m. Sometimes you try to make dinner with your roommate and end up being home for dinner only one night a week. Sometimes there's a letter that was sent to your home address that your family takes over a week to forward to you. Sometimes Facebook is all screwy and sometimes you play phone tag with a girl you miss with all your soul and just want to talk to for the first time in weeks (when you're used to seeing her every day) before she leaves on her mission. Sometimes you have a headache and are behind because you were sick, and will probably get more behind tonight. Sometimes the mail comes 5 hours late. Sometimes you feel like a horrible person. Sometimes Life just hates you.

But then again...

Sometimes it's fairly warm outside, for a January day, anyway. And sometimes you got two unexpected letters in one day. Sometimes you log into a campus computer and look at your blog and get really excited at how it looks on the bigger screen. Sometimes you suddenly look over into the hallway from your seat in the lab right by the door and see two of your favorite professors from freshman year talking to each other (Miller and Benfell, fyi). Sometimes you just have fun going overboard using repetition and the word "sometimes." Sometimes you remember that there is a Pizza Muffin party tonight and that it is what you've been waiting for and that there is a new episode of Bones this week and that you are in the Thursday night University Band conducted by Brother Arnold and so you get to play sax with Amber. Sometimes you have cute pea coats and help people find things at work. Sometimes you miss England, but in a happy way.

Sometimes life is awful and wonderful at the same time.

Aftermath

Even though I seem to have lost my organ book (the main one we work out of which I just bought a week ago and have used twice), I spent 3 hours in the organ lab yesterday and it didn't even seem like 3 hours and I love playing the organ.

Deutschklasse is going to kick my butt.

Work is awesome. I love helping people find books and just being around books and looking at all the beautiful books and my coworkers are awesome.

The c on my computer keyboard is not always working and it is kind of frustrating.

Jessie Arnold is in my American Lit class.

Last night/today I watched (500) Days of Summer, which is so fabulous, for the first time and then the official first time. New favorite. So well-done. So wonderful. And also talking with Lisa and doing Kokology with Lisa and Tracy is that too. :)

I need to write. I miss writing just for me. I haven't done it in so long, I feel like. Not since the end of last semester, because I am horrible. But I miss it.

I am sick. Not sick sick, but sick enough to not have a voice and be miserable and just want to sleep. I've kinda been losing my voice ever since about Wednesday night, but it's progressively gotten worse to now I'm at the point where my throat hurts and my head hurts and Jessie says I'm warm. But luckily I have chicken noodle soup and wonderful ladies like Jessie and Lila and my 208 girls and Tiffany who will still give me hugs anyway and who will give me chapstick to use and will bring and make me raspberry tea to soothe my sore throat. It makes me grateful that I don't get sick very often and that when I do, I'm surrounded by people who love me. :)

All I need is a Harold Hill to serenade me

Today at work I helped several people find books. It always amazes me how some people never learned how to find a book using a basic call number, when I've been doing it since I was young. Of course, I grew up a bookworm, always getting books from the library and also watching movies like this. Please follow the link. Because all day today, while helping people find books I thought about that song. And then I came home and watched it.

And how awesome would it be to do that in the HBLL?

Day 2

Things I am not a fan of:

• The Semester exploding on day 2 and suddenly you are already so very far behind
• Not knowing what night I have band
• Blackboard, and also it's new cohort, Agilix
• Being exhausted
• Just writing lists and lists of things for blog posts over and over again. A few is okay, but...
• Not having time to write for myself
• UGH LOTS OF DEUTSCH HOMEWORK
• Feeling like I know nothing at work, even though it's expected since it's only my 2nd day
  

Things I am a fan of:

• Amanda Frey
• President and Sister Samuelson
• Hot bread and honey butter and old fashioned donuts
• Brushing my teeth
• Band, especially Brother Arnold and Amber (hopefully they continue to be part of my band experience)
• Jessie Arnold being in my 293 (American Lit) class
• my co-worker Brooke
• Personal hygenie
• milk
  
• cute coats
• Being officially hired (well, having the Wilk processing my stuff, anyway)
• Running into random people that you like in random places
• Not having German every day
  

this post is a good example of what not to do when you have to be at work by 8 a.m.

Least Favorite Things About Today:

• Not having Writing with John Bennion
• Feeling stressed out already
• Being kinda blah
• Not being able to find my Driver's License until like 7 p.m. and therefore still not being officially hired
• Also not being on the Blackboard system for work yet, so not able to do the trainings
• Being really tired and unenthused (is that a real word or did I just make it up?) about this semester even though during classes today I felt really excited.
  

Favorite Things About Today:

• Reading North and South while waiting for Astronomy to start
• Playing the Organ :)
• Understanding almost everything Schwester Schultheiss said in Deutschklasse
• Starting work
• Seeing Sarah Lutz unexpectedly in the library, even though she's graduated, even if it was just for a minute
• Finding out that we will be studying Persuasion in my Writing about Literature class.
  
• Seeing Katy A. walking into the library
• Grocery shopping with Lila
• Eating Sarah Snow's butterscotch cookies.
  

TA-DA!

The great thing about 1 p.m. church is that you can sleep in a bit, and still have plenty of time to a) get ready leisurely and change outfits about 20 times, b) read scriptures and study Preach my Gospel for a good 45 minutes, and c) fiddle with your blog layout, all before church. So here's what happened. I might change it a teensy bit once I get official pictures from when we had family pictures taken, but this is generally it! What do you think?

New layout

I previously mentioned that I wanted to revamp my layout. But what I really want to do, I can't do yet...so we're just taking this one step at a time, starting with the basic layout. More colors and things will change soon. Tintagel will go...probably someplace else on the side or something. :) Because I love it too much to completely remove it, but I have a different idea for my blog title picture.

Okay. Bedtime. Aren't you proud of me? Actually getting to bed sometime semi-reasonable for the first time in like 3 weeks! :D

2009: Year in Review

2009 started in my basement, on the beanbags, with Lindsey, my best mate, and Chip Amanda, one of my other best friends from home, laughing and not being able to breathe playing Taboo. We came full-circle tonight, playing Mario Kart down on my beanbags, and then playing Taboo at Chip's house until the wee hours of the morning, in celebration of the start of 2010. Really, even though this was kind of a crappy year for the world, it was such a wonderful one for me. Here are the highlights. :)

January: Baptisms in the Twin Falls temple with my best mate


February: Cupid's Ball in Washington and my cousin Lorinda gets married!

March: Basketball games w/ friends and Wedding Dress shopping with Camillian (don't worry, she didn't pick this dress)
April: Wrapping up the semester and leaving for England!

May: England :)

June: More England :)



July/August: Yellowstone with the Fam and Disneyland for my Birthday



September: Back to school

October: Conference and many other adventures, like hiking Squaw Peak


November: Football Season ending with BYU beating Utah in OT 26-23, Thanksgiving, basically life = awesome (like the rest of the year)


December: Christmas-y Adventures, such as Christmas Devotional and MoTab concert in SLC, and being home with the family.

Now we get to do it all over again, except different. I'm so excited. I really am. This year has been epic. I loved it. In some ways, I wish I could go back in time and just relive this year. But all good things must come to an end, and we've got to move on with life. And when a door closes, another one opens. This year is opening, and after only 3 hours in, it's off to a great start. If you had hung out with me and Chip and Lindsey, you would think so too. :D

Happy New Year, everyone. May 2010 bring happiness to you all!