Weekend

So, since it's Monday, I figured that I'd just let you all know about my weekend.

Friday, I went to class and then went home and slept for a while since I wasn't feeling very well. That evening   Kelli, Stacey, Kim, Julie, and I went with three guys from our ward, Ryan, Jason, and Clark, to the rooftop concert. There were some opening bands that I didn't really pay attention to, but the main band, which I think was called Fictionist, was pretty good. After the concert we went to Macey's where we picked up some of those dollar pizzas and then we went back to our apartment where we watched The Legacy. I had never seen that movie before, it was pretty good.

Saturday, I went to the football game. The game itself was good, but it was so hot outside. Chrysta and I spent the entire half time waiting in line at the drinking fountain. We won again also, just in case you weren't sure. I also practiced some dancing and spent a while resolving an issue in locating where my last paycheck had wound up. Thank you by the way to everyone who helped me out with that. I majority of the rest of the day was spent doing homework, or attempting to in some instances. That evening I also went with Autumn to the Divine Comedy try outs.

Sunday was a pretty relaxed day, nothing too exciting happened. I did however listen to a very good devotional by Elder Holland, which if you haven't listened to, you should consider. As typical of Elder Holland, so chastisement was dished out, but I always enjoy listening to him all the same. After his devotional I went to ward prayer, met some new people, and did some more homework. Nothing real exciting. Oh, one good thing that did happen though. I wasn't able to do some of my reading until late at night and I was really tired, but as I got online to check what my reading was, I saw that the class was canceled for the day. So that was nice. I also found out in church that Elder Oaks will be speaking at our Stake Conference next week and the week after that we have the opportunity to attend a broadcast of the dedication of the Brigham City Temple. I've never been to a temple dedication before and I'm pretty excited to "go" to this one. That is one thing that I really do enjoy about living in Utah. We get a lot of opportunities here to see, hear from, and go to church things that I've never been able to before. I know some people who live in Utah take that for granted, and I hope that I never do. It's one of my favorite things about being here. You know, after the learning and all of that good stuff.

General Blathering

I have good news and bad news. Ok, actually neither of the news is really good or bad, it just kind of is. I've been going to the gym the last few days, which has been great, last year I didn't even set foot in the Field House once. The only problem with that is, now everything hurts. Not really a good plan in general, but particularly not when you walk everywhere and you're taking a dance class. The other bit of news is that open doors seem to be bothering me less. I know, it's a weird thing to be annoyed with anyway but what can I say? I'm kind of weird like that. So I don't know if this means that I'm growing up (like that will ever happen), or just that the door in my room is kind of behind a corner so I don't seen when it's open as often. Either way, just throwing that out there. The only other thing that's been going on is that I managed to catch a cold. It's been pestering me the last few days but I think it should be gone by the end of the weekend.

Nacho Noche was fun. We watched Nacho Libre had Nachos and toast with beans and cheese. Tomorrow I'm also going to register to vote again, yay! It's kind of annoying that every time you change addresses you have to re-register, but whatever.

So, everyone have a rad weekend and I'll be back on Monday.

Education in Zion

I went to the education in Zion museum today and yes, I will confess that I only went for a class. Unlike the Museum of Art however (which I honestly found to be pretty boring, and I kind of even like museums) I was really interested in this one. BYU is certainly a school with humble beginnings, and some pretty awesome people. Last year, when I was at orientation, we watched a video of the history of the school but so much had been going on recently and I was really tired so I was only half paying attention. The museum of course went into a lot more detail than the video did. One of the most interesting people that I learned more about was President Brimhall, who was the third president of BYU and the guy who the building my major is in is named after. I think that all of the buildings here are named after someone, at least I don't remember seeing any that aren't. Some of the people, like the prophets, I obviously know who they are, but the people that were influential to the school I really didn't know too much about before. Except of course for Karl G. Maeser, but really that's just because he had so much to do with the founding and because everyone always quotes that saying of his about honor. You know the circle one?

"I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!"

Pesonally, I'm pretty sure that I would leave the chalk circle long before I died, word of honor or not. So, I guess that I'm just not that honorable. Sometimes it seems like people do some pretty dumb things in the name of honor and that often that "honor" is just pride under a different name but, that's a conversation for another day. Also, I don't mean to put down Karl G. Maeser, he was a pretty awesome guy and pretty much saved BYU. I can't believe how many times BYU almost closed down though, usually because of finances. I can't remember exactly how many times, but it was like 5 or something. I know people joke about it being "The Lord's University" but he has got to watching out for this place or something. 

So, on a totally unrelated note, I watched Wait Until Dark last night. I liked it well, and the end was darker than I had anticipated it to be (both literally and figuratively). The only thing I don't really know though is why it's called Wait Until Dark. I mean, I get the dark element, but not the waiting one. 

Edit* I don't know why this is highlighted in white but I don't know how to fix it, sorry. 

Now we're all back in school

Happy Wednesday! 

Hey, school starts today for normal people. How was that? Brandi, how was your first day of high school? I remember my first of high school pretty well. I got lost on my way to Japanese class. I actually got lost my second day here at BYU too. Although, in my defense, this place is much bigger and I'm really terrible with directions. That's one of the things that I've just come to accept, is that when I'm somewhere that I've never been before, chances are good that I'll get turned around at least once. It is kind of weird to think though that I used to not know my way around the high school and BYU, they're both so familiar to me now. Obviously, there are some building here that I don't know, but I haven't gotten hopelessly lost after the one day. 

 My Japanese class here reminds me a lot my class in high school. Its moving faster obviously, and we actually talk about what we're saying so I think that I'll end up learning more, but the style is very similar. It's kind of weird because since we're still learning stuff that I for the most part already know, whenever I go to class there is this strange sense of almost deja vu, especially when we do competitions. 

Since there wasn't any school on Monday it feels like the week is just starting but here it is already half way through. Tomorrow I'm going to Nacho Noche (I have no idea if I spelled that right), with some kids in my ward. We're going to eat nachos and watch Nacho Libre. Friday night I'm also going with some kids in my FHE group to a roof top concert. If you remember me talking to the Beattles cover one I went to last summer, it's the same type of thing. I don't remember who the band is this time though. Saturday afternoon there's another football game, and I'm sure I'll throw in some homework here or there for good measure. So, it's shaping up to be an interesting weekend.    

Not Yet Fall

It's finally starting to cool down! The nights are starting to be reasonably chilly and and days are starting to be a decent temperature as well. Fall is my favorite season so I'm glad it's coming, but it's still about a month away. It's kind of weird to think about that seasons, people get them wrong all the time. I remember this summer I was listening to some ad on the radio that was trying to tell me that technically, Memorial Day was the first day of summer. All I could think of was "No, technically, the first day of summer is the summer solstice, which is around June 22nd, a good month away from labor day."  I think the ad was for coffee of something, but if it had been for something that I actually might have used, I'm pretty sure I would have avoided that product, because of the ignorance of their ad.

Also if we think about seasons, Fall begins around the 22nd of September, so if you have a middle or early September birthday than your birthday is actually in the summer. Winter also starts around December 22nd which means that it actually snows in the fall a lot. Also, while Christmas is in winter, the majority of its celebration is in the Fall.

So yeah, that's my rant for the day, know your seasons.

Winter: Dec. 21/22 - March 21/22
Spring: March 21/22- June 21/22
Summer: June 21/22 - Sep. 21/22
Autumn: Sep. 21/22 - Dec. 21/22

Also, don't say osmosis unless you're referring to the diffusion of water, that's really annoying as well. Oh, and  don't leave doors open. I think that those are my only somewhat unreasonable complains. Or at least that I can think of now.

Happy Labor Day!

Hello everyone! Are you all excited for Labor Day? I know for a lot of people Labor Day is no big deal and to anyone starting school right after it's a horrid last reminder of what awaits for you the next day. For me though, Labor Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. For as long as I can remember, my family has gone to the Scott's picnic on Labor Day. It was a company picnic for Scott's Paper company (no relation to the Michael Scott Paper Company =D ) , which later turned into Kimberly Clark. My grandma worked there for a long, long, time.

The picnic would have a barbecue, a bouncy house, hay with money hidden in it for little kids, races, ball toss contests, and other games for kids and teenagers and the first three places would always get money. A lot of years a walked away with some big bucks (ok, like $10, but for a kid that's a good deal of money). It was held near a river where you could go play and people would always throw rocks, until some crazy neighbor guy had a fit. Most notably perhaps was that most years there was all you could eat ice cream. I remember one year, when I was about 8, my uncle, who was about 30, challenged me to see who could eat more ice cream. I gave up after about 10. I don't remember how much my uncle had but he dominated me. The picnic was also always the day before school started and so it was a nice way to kick off the end of the summer and get ready to start school.

Last year, the Kimberly Clark plant in our area closed and so the picnic ended. My parents though decided to keep up the tradition and are having a shindig at the house with most of the same activities and some friends. I think that I'll spend my day doing homework, going to FHE, and maybe, getting some ice cream.

So, I hope that everyone has a wonderful unofficial ice cream day! See you tomorrow.  

はじめました

* So I know it say that I wrote this on Sunday, but that's just because I saved it weird. I promise I wrote it Saturday.*

Alright, it's Saturday, time for me to regal you all with the wonderful tale of my first week in Provo.

       Oh, and in case any of you were wondering, the Japanese is a common way of saying nice to meet you/ how are you. A direct translation though would be "The start of something new". And, now you have that song from high school musical stuck in your head. And just in case you don't, here it is for you.

      so,  Saturday morning I got to the airport around 5 in the morning, but I was so tired and I just slept through pretty much the entire plane ride, as well as the shuttle ride to BYU. So, the shuttle took me to new heritage at BYU, but then I had to walk to my landlord's house to get my key and then down to my apartment. Thankfully, a Good Samaritan offered me a ride to my landlord's house and she doesn't live too far away from the complex. That is one thing that I really like about Provo. Sure, it's in Utah, and sure it's incredibly hot, but there are a lot of good and kind people here. 

     After I got my stuff pretty much put away I headed up to campus to get my books, find my classes, etc. I also went over to Autumn's new apartment at the Branbury where we went swimming. I was going to go home around 10 but from all of the walking that I was unaccustomed to I ended up with quit a few blisters and alsoI guess the Branbury, which is also called the "great and spacious", has a reputation of rape happening at night. In fact, I guess that it happens frequently enough that they call in "branburing" (not to be confused with bunburying, which is awesome) so I decided to just stay there. 

     Sunday I went to church at my ward which meets at the super weird time of 12:40 on campus. I've never gone to church not in a church building before, and it was a little odd. I spent the rest of the day studying a few Japanese phrases because I got an e-mail from my professor saying that the first day of class would only be in Japanese. I was also inducted by my roommate Julie and her friends into the Flub of Cork. I would tell you about it, but it is I suppose super secret and you can only be inducted to know more. I will say though that it was pretty smart, and fun.
    Monday was the first day of class, which started at the very unfortunate hour of 8:00 in the morning. Japanese without any English wasn't too bad since I'm already somewhat familiar with the language. I also had my Analyzing English, Ballroom, and New Testament classes that day. After school I went to the creamery on 9th to get some groceries, but I'm pretty sure that I'm never going there today. It was a little pricey and since it's mostly for the kids that live in the dorms, there wasn't any real food. That evening I went to a ward social at my bishop's house. My bishop lives in one of the Provo party mansions and oh...my...lanta.... it was the biggest house I'd ever seen. The garage was the size of a small house. We had dinner, swam, hung out, and met up with our FHE groups.
    Tuesday I had Japanese again (I've got it every day), and D&C part one, and my composing personal history class. I have a big break between my D&C class and my history class and so I was hanging out down by the RB. I saw 2 guys running up and down the stairs like 10 times in half and hour. It was intense! For those of you who don't know what those stairs look like, I'll show you. It's crazy!

     Wednesday I was able to get the rest of my stuff from Abby's sister's house, where it was very gererously being held and spent a lot time unpacking the rest of my stuff. The bishop also came over later evening and we talked for a little while.
     Thursday I went to the game, like I mentioned earlier. It was a lot of fun, and a good start for the season. It was kind of stormy during the start, but of course Washington brought the rain with it right? I also found a really cool bunny pattern to crochet.
     Friday after class I spent the majority of the day studying for my advertising exam and then took it. I did alright, I ended up getting a 86. Then I got the rest of the stuff all set up to turn it. I'll be turning the rest of it on Tuesday and so then all I'll have to do is wait. When I was done with that I went to Autumns and she, Hannah, Abby, Heidi and I hung out in their clubhouse and watched "My Best Friend's Wedding". It was really kind of funny, while we were there we met "guy in the corner", a guy who just hung out in the corner and talked to us for a while, and then "Sam the slut", a guy who came in half way through the movie and talked to us for a while. A little while after the movie Autumn, her roommate Sarah, and I went with a group in Branbury on a midnight hike up the Y. So far I've been keeping up with the tradition of going up at least once a semester.
   Today, the magical one week mark, I made the cake that I was supposedly going to make yesterday, and by made I mean mostly sat around while Autumn made it. Although, that's only because really only one person can work in the kitchen making a cake at a time. Later in the day I went ziplining with a guy I met at the hike. It was fun, but he did say one thing that kind of bothered me. This is kind of a long post though so.. that's a topic for another day.

And, that's it. The first week in the life of a second year student at BYU. Pretty exciting!