Gotta Love Finals

My schedule today:

• Woke up around 10--two hours late.
• Ate toast
• Plopped myself down on the couch and didn't move until about 3:00. So I sat in one spot and worked on this paper for about 4 hours.
• Ate pizza
• Went up to campus
• Studied for my Russian final
• Went to FHE (ugh for driving on icy/snowy roads) and ate food
• Plopped down in almost the exact same spot on the couch
• Had a great talk with some roommates about wonderful things
• I have been sitting here for 5 hours working on this paper/studying for Russian.
• I probably won't sleep tonight, now that I really think about it, and if I do it will be very, very briefly.

My schedule tomorrow:

• Finish this paper
• Finish studying for Russian
• Take Russian final
• Make crepes
• Go to 368 final and eat food and talk about this paper I am working on right now
• Come home and write 2 quick synthesis writes for my real final for 368
• Practice conducting
• Study for Russian lit final
• Maybe not sleep again because I have a lot to do before I take my Russian lit final at 7 a.m.

Basically there is way too much to do in the next 28 hours.

Real-World Contacting

You would think that after 18 months of walking around streets trying to force myself to talk in a foreign language to everyone about something as personal to me as what I believe, that talking to other people wouldn't really be a problem.

FALSE.

I was always really bad at contacting on my mission, and now that I'm home . . . well, not much has changed.  I've realized that I have a hard time being social and making new friends. I have also realized that if I ever want to get married or even just be a good, productive member of society, I need to start talking to people. And, especially after inspiration from my lovely roommate Tracy, I have been making a special effort the past few days to talk to people--especially guys, no matter if I'm interested in them or not. Just noticing the little things to start a conversation, like we would on the metro or trains. Patron is checking out a ton of books on King Lear--"Oh, are you doing a paper on King Lear? I LOVE King Lear!" Or starting to talk with the guy who held the door open for me. Or the kid wearing a Russia jacket. That last one actually took a really, really long time. But guess what. Contacting is hard. No matter where you are, why you're trying to do it, or what language you are speaking in, it's just not natural. So wish me luck in my endeavors.

At least here in Provo people don't swear at me. :)

МИССИОНЕРКИ!

I probably shouldn't be quite so emotional about this. But it just warms my heart and makes me miss my nametag and my mission in general.

Tonight I got home from a fun night a Guru's with Tracy and Danny. I open my facebook to be welcomed by the announcement that not one, but two, younger sisters of some dear, dear friends of mine were called to serve missions in Russia! One of them in MY MOSCOW! I screamed for joy and the longer I think about it I almost tear up. I remember when I got my call and the wonderful feelings I had and how I had no idea what I was getting myself into--what miraculous, wonderful beautiful time I would have. And how much I would fall in love with Russia and the Russians and their language and culture and just discover a part of my soul I never knew was missing.

So now I can't tear myself away from facebook. I'm telling Hannah all about Russia. I want to tell Beth all about MOSCOW! And I'm just reminiscing on all the greatness that is...well, this:

I was actually just thinking earlier today about how I've found a happy place and aren't missing it too much anymore. But now I have mission-call-envy. I want to go back. MOTHER RUSSIA!

Decisions

I have decided that I need to get back to blogging more. I feel like this is a good sign--like I actually care about recording my life again, maybe a sign that I moving on from my mission a little bit in a good way and not a depressing way. And since I have not been productive for the past 3 hours, I decided I should blog.

Anyway. I'm not quite sure what to blog about. But I need to do this more. I love Christmas. I love how we have a tree and lights and stockings and snowflakes. I love Doctor Who. I love Tracy and the rest of my roommates. I love hot chocolate. I love not being stressed out when I should be. I love Taylor Swift and Christmas music. I am just super happy right now. It's kind of weird. I haven't felt this light and happy in a really long time. Not that I've been unhappy. Just not like this.

I'm actually 23

Tonight was one of those nights.

Looked super cute, for no particular reason, other than I wanted to
Ate good food
Saw great family people
Watched a silly movie, that involved a lot of laughing, and a lot of swooning, even if David Tennant looked like this half the time. I think it was mostly great because he tries to play the bagpipes.

Isn't he just adorable? Hideous outfit, and yet he's still so attractive.

Made an 11:00 p.m. Walmart run with Tracy that ended up a lot more of an adventure than we were originally planning on. Bought the new T Swift CD and great tights and a lot of Christmas decorations and a photogenic rake (the original purpose of the outing) and some intriguing deodorant. Hehehehehe.
Blasted T Swift on the way home with the windows down. While dancing.
I feel good about my future plans for life and I also love my roommates and today was just great. And I think I'm going to start writing on here more.

Tonight was this song.