A Little Hilarity

I saw this on a friend's blog...I think it represents itself quite well. Enjoy!

http://www.vimeo.com/8009598

Just Can't Get Enough of This Place

Here's the latest on my life....(The following is almost ironic considering my last post with that email from my academic adviser:)

Last week I stopped by one of my former professor's offices, who also happens to be over the Geospatial Intelligence program. While we were talking, he suggested I stay one more semester (yes, one more semester) to take the Remote Sensing classes, as well as one of the high-priority languages (ie: Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, Pashtu, Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin, etc). I sat there stunned, wondering, "Is this REALLY, truly what I want to do?"

Over the next day, I thought about it, prayed about it, and ultimately came to the conclusion that it is in my best interest (as well as the nation's....or at least that's what I told my adviser to convince him to sign my graduation extension) to stay on one more semester (*sigh*) to take these classes. I just can't seem to get away from this "bubble" if you will, no matter how hard I try. I sure do hope it's worth it.

News flash

So I've not let myself post anything for quite some time, mostly because it doesn't fit onto my "best use of time" list. Nonetheless, I got an email this morning from my academic adviser that made my day; a true sign that I need to get out of here. Please read below.

This e-mail is being sent to notify you that a hold has been placed on your records, due to the high number of credit hours you have accumulated at the university. This hold is in accordance with the timely graduation initiative our office has developed and prevents you from registering for classes Winter 2010.

In order to have this hold removed, please contact the FHSS advisement center at 801.422.3541 to schedule a time to meet with me as soon as possible so that we can develop a graduation plan that helps you make the most of the remaining time you have at BYU. In this appointment we can discuss how the high number of credit hours you have accumulated are distributed (i.e. transfer credit, A.P. credit), your academic and career goals, and ways that the advisement center can help you achieve your aspirations.

You should bring a preliminary schedule of courses you plan to take each semester to this appointment and be prepared to fill out a graduation application at that time as well (please bring your BYU ID card). Once an approved graduation plan is in place and your application for graduation is filled out, I will be able to lift the hold and you will be able to register for Winter 2010 courses.

If you have met with me in regards to this already, we have developed an approved graduation plan, and you have applied for graduation, then please remind me of the date we met, and upon verification of this I will remove your records hold. If not, I look forward to meeting with you in the near future and to assisting you with developing a graduation plan that considers your needs, and helps you achieve a timely graduation from BYU.

I'm not entirely sure why I found it so funny, but I did. The first paragraph is particularly a delight. Maybe I found it funny because not even a month ago, I met with my adviser (who sent the email) and he knows I'm graduating, blah blah blah, not to mention that I've already applied for December graduation. Shouldn't they, of all people, know this? hmmm. Even so, I guess if I randomly decided "hmmm, I think I'll continue my existence in the bubble" I couldn't, because I have a hold. Sad, sad, sad day

Spontaneity

First of all, I should rename the last post; I doubt there will be a official "part 2," though I'm sure this semester will get mentioned when I actually do write about something....

For those of you who don't know, I did something spontaneous last month and bought plane tickets out to Alabama (via Atlanta) to visit one of my mission companions, Elisangela. It was something that as I sat chatting with her and found out her husband was leaving for three months, I wanted nothing more than to go hang out with her. The problem was, he was leaving right before school started, and will get back right before school ends. Looking at a calendar I realized I could go on a weekend, but a three day weekend would be best, and there just happened to be Labor Day coming (the only three day weekend in the semester), so I frantically starting checking prices and found a pretty good (well, for crossing the country, pretty good) deal. I stared at the screen for a long time, debated, asked Elisangela a million times if it would be okay, debated some more, looked at my money situation, hovered my mouse over the "book flight now" button, and finally, took some deep breaths, and decided right then and there "I'm single, I have the money, I have nothing holding me back," and proceeded to click on the "book flight now" button. It was almost exhilirating, almost unreal. I feel like I am the antithesis of spontaneity, but i had just accomplished it. It took me awhile to realize it was real.

I have never been to Alabama. The closest I have been to the "deep" south was the Miami International Airport on a layover. But I've always wanted to go to the South, maybe not specifically Alabama, but the South. And now, just mere hours away from leaving on this grand adventure, I'm nothing but butterflies. I fly into Atlanta and from there take a little drive into Alabama. I'm looking forward to being able to drive awhile and see the scenery, especially since my flight is in the wee-hours of the morning and I will (hopefully) miss the view from up top due to sleep. So off I go. Hopefully I'll get pictures posted when I get back!

The dawn of a new semester part 1

With school just a mere three days away, I sit here wondering, "Shouldn't I be a bit more concerned?" The reality has not yet hit. I'm not dreading it. I'm not looking forward to it. I think I'm in denial. Is there something wrong with me? Or is it that my mind is still trying to wrap itself around the idea that I had planned on having my last Independent Study class done by today (yeah, not even half done), and it's my last semester. I think I secretly think school will never end, that this will just continue forever. I can't even imagine not being in school; I look forward to it, but I can't imagine it.

And now, I will enjoy my last few hours of "freedom" before I feel the pressure. *sigh*

Who knew?

Earlier today, I was walking on campus and walked past several sets of parents and new freshman, all without fail were looking at maps. Approaching one building, I overheard a father ask another passerby, "Is this the Knight Building?" "Uh...." So being the great person I am, from behind, slightly yelling (I was still aways away), when I could see that the father and son were going to keep going in search of the Knight Building (that they were unknowingly in front of), "Yes, yes it is." They stopped, thanked me, and turned into the building. I felt good about myself. (service accomplished for the day)

Several minutes later, on my return by the infamous Knight Building, and after seeing even more parents and students, looking slightly lost, I started thinking about myself, and how I'd done the same thing, 6 years ago (I'd say I feel old, but then, I think everyone who reads this is older than me, so I won't). My mom and I came to campus to buy books and look around campus a couple weeks before my first semester, and I remember thinking how HUGE campus was (I don't think that anymore...sure, it's big, but when class and work are confined to two neighboring buildings, campus seems pretty small). I don't however, remember getting lost, or carrying a map around...probably because mom knew where everything was - at least the classes I was taking (hooray for mom and her good memory!)

Yes, those were the days. Carefree, who cares what classes I take or what grades I get, living in the dorms, with a cafeteria for all my food needs...yes, those were the days. I never would've imagined it would take me 6.5 years to graduate, and that I'd change my major more than three times, know Portuguese fluently, and the Cyrillic alphabet (as well as a few key phrases in Russian). Who knew that I would end up majoring in Geography, with a strange desire to get a job doing something, well, dangerous. Looking back to when I was 18 and a new freshman, I never would've thought I'd go on a mission, and certainly not to Brasil. Who knew that my life would bring me to this point in time and place? Certainly, not me.

Will someone please tell me where the happy medium is?

For the past, oh, couple of weeks, I've been in this very perplexing situation. It goes something like this: I'm single, six months from graduation, I need a job to support myself, and one option is to join the military. In a passing glance, it doesn't seem perplexing at all. But it is. When talking to any good, decent guy, and the words "I went and talked to a recruiter today" (or last week, or I'm thinking about it, etc.) come out of my mouth, I know the conversation is just about over, or if not, whatever good graces had been acheived are now lost. This is why my current situation is so perplexing - most (and I say most, because I know that somewhere out there is someone awesome who won't think this way, but instead will say, "you go girl!") decent mormon guys want a girl who is going to stay at home. I totally agree. That's what I've wanted to do since I could think for myself. But there comes a time, when maybe that just won't work, or maybe won't happen, or won't happen for an unknown amount of time. When this time comes, and you realize "Shoot. I can't just graduate and call that good. I need to make something of myself, I need to support myself" you start looking at your options. And for whatever reason, the particular path you want to take just happens to involve the need for experience which you don't have, but which a 4 year active duty commitment could give you, and the more you look into it, the better it seems, on so many different levels. What is a girl to do? I don't know.

One of my brothers told me that the moment a guy finds out what I'm looking into (and please don't get all worried here, I'm not decided yet, it's just an OPTION) they'll be intimidated. It's true. Just last night, I was talking to a guy, and asked him about that, he agreed. My only rebuttal is - "What am I supposed to say when they ask what I want to do after graduation? Sit around in P-vo and wait?" Um, no. I personally believe that is wrong. There's so much to do and see, and make of oneself that I've got to get out of this place. And the more I've thought about this "intimidating" factor (I'm getting on my soap box now), the more I think to myself, "if a guy is intimidated by the fact that I have ambition, and perhaps he doesn't, than we have a problem." (stepping off of soap box)

I think the main thing people don't understand about me is that I don't want to make the military a career if I go that direction. I'll do my four years, get out and get a civilian job (or stay at home, as the case may be). It's a hard situation. What am I supposed to do? Will someone please tell me where the happy medium is?

Update of Awesomeness

I guess I should clarify the last post...all of that...rubbish.... just suddenly appeared there in the little walk way at my apartment complex I think on Monday, and day by day, it just continues to grow. So much so, that now this is the space to walk through..... (it has even made its way to the parking lot, tho' I haven't taken pictures of that...)

It's only about a foot and a half of space. I'm half tempted to walk myself over to the Housing Office with these pictures, but then I think to myself, "Is it worth it? Will they really care?" The answer to both of those questions is one big fat "NO" because the housing office in general does absolutely nothing for students in awful conditions unless their parents call (seems a little weird considering we're supposed to be ADULTS), and it's just not worth my time considering I'm moving out in a month. HALLELUJAH, the angels are rejoicing.

Oh, and in the last post, there was only one roller blade present in the round up, it looks like they found roller blade #2 as well as other mysterious objects (that can't be seen).....

You know it's awesome when....

You walk out your door every morning for the past 4 days to this....


And when you look to your left, you see this....

And as you walk past it all and look behind you....


Oh, and don't worry, if you enlarge this last one, that is indeed a hot water heater (cerca 1950's) on its side there near the end of the pile of rubbish, as well as a mysterious black drum there at the end, probably containing toxic material.

Quandary

This is just for Mom, because she doesn't think I should just leave awkward dating stories up, and that I needed to change my post. So, I'm adding a new post, just for you. :)

I don't have much to write about, other than I'm in quite a quandary about post-graduation options. Here they are: Be a civilian employee in the government (likely secretarial, bore, but perhaps not.), join the military (is this why Mom is suddenly so interested in setting me up? Hoping she can marry me off before I can sign my life away?), keep going to school until April (which is just a delay of the inevitable, let's be honest), find some random temp job in Utah (eeewwww on so many levels), or run away to Brasil and never come back (just came to me, and sounds GREAT).

So. There they are. If I knew how to make one of those poll things, I would. Unfortunately, I don't, plus, I think there are only three people who look at this, so I'm sure I could figure out who voted for what. BUT, I am open to any suggestions from anyone. The beauty of my current situation is that after I have the diploma in hand, I will have nothing holding me down - I can go wherever I want, and do whatever I want. This is great, and not so great at the same time, due to the large number of options. Whenever I figure it out, I'll let you all know.

Tennis Lessons

I feel like I should once again state that I am not athletically inclined. I'm one of those people that when playing volleyball (or basketball, I suppose), if the ball comes my way, I either duck and cover, fearful of it hitting me, or I simply watch it bounce right next to me. Simply put - I don't like playing volleyball or basketball, and most people don't want me to play on their team for the aforementioned reasons.

Much like the random desire I had to learn to swim, I have wanted to learn to play tennis. Lucky me, my rooommate for spring/summer also wants to learn how. So a couple weeks ago, we went and hit some balls around...and I'm sure to the other players on the court, we were quite hilarious, looking like a bunch of pansies not knowing what we were doing. It was good though, and reinforced the fact that yes, I think tennis could be a sport I actually enjoy.

Yesterday in the mail we received a booklet about different sports and recreation programs in the area, and in Heidi's and my perusal of said booklet, we came across adult tennis lessons, taught over the course of 4 weeks, two times a week, for only $30. Needless to say, we got very excited. So, we're both going to take them, and then hopefully, we won't feel so silly on the court.

Hooray, Hooray!

I finally bought a digital camera! Yay! Unfortunately at this point, I have yet to take any real pictures (thus there are no pictures still) (and I've yet to do anything in the past two days requiring picture-taking), because I'm just trying to figure out how it works. Never having had a digital camera, I really don't know much about them, and this one has so many different features, that at this point, I'm pretty much overwhelmed.

In two lovely weeks I get to go on vacation, and I am incredibly excited. There are a few reasons for this. Number one, getting to spend time with family. Number two, getting out of Utah. Number three, letting my body enjoy humidity (I'm strange, I know, but my skin is peeling right now, which is one reason I dislike UT, and which is also gross). Number four, non-stop flight to Washington DC. A few days spent there, about a week in Boston, and a few more days in DC (thanks Brandon and Felicia for letting me spend so much time with you). Number five, no working. No picking up other people's messes. No coming in each morning to find that nothing was done the day before. Number six, I finally have a digital camera that I can use and take as many pictures as I want.

And those, friends are just a few reasons why I'm excited. That and I LOVE the East coast. It reminds me so much of Brasil - all the green, the rolling green hills, the big cities, the high humidity, the proximity to the ocean. Ahh. It is love. I can't wait for the day when I can live somewhere east of the Mississippi.

The MTC

almost three and a half years ago, when I was in the MTC in Brasil, we had one privileged day to go to the TRC (teaching resource center). We all looked forward to it - a day to not teach our fellow missionaries, but actual natives who didn't know the memorized forms of our lessons. We'd been warned that sometimes not enough volunteers arrived, but we would still get the chance to teach and be video recorded so we could see our progress. We showed up at the TRC to find out that not only were there not enough volunteers, but indeed, no volunteers. We were once again doomed to teaching other missionaries, even missionaries from our own district. It was a letdown, to say the least. (and no, we didn't even bother watching the videos after....)

Jumping forward to present day, up until a few months back (where did the time go, it was only February, yet that seems like it was just yesterday) I had never experienced the true TRC experience (we'll blame it on my "bad" experience in the MTC). I'd always known about volunteering at the TRC, but I never knew where to go or what to do. Luckily for me, my roommate would go sometimes on Friday nights and volunteer with the English as a Second Language (ESL) missionaries. As soon as I found out she was going, I joined her. It was life changing. I had been thinking for quite sometime how I needed to be doing more, needed to do service somewhere, and this became the most amazing solution. I love it. Instead of sitting around on Friday nights, wondering why I'm not on a date, I get to go be with missionaries, and sometimes even use my Portuguese, and I get to be taught the Gospel.

My goal now is to share some of the experiences I have, because they really are amazing. I have quite a few stories to catch up on until I'm up to date, but hopefully over the next couple of days I can catch up and share some of these things, and hopefully share the spirit of this marvelous work that these elders and sisters are a part of; that we are a part of.

Flippies

In the Winter semester of 2008 I took a beginning swimming class. I didn't know how to swim, but I could tread water and do a decent doggie-paddle. Breathing doing freestyle was awkward, and I often couldn't even swim the length of the pool without having to stop along the way to catch my breath. It was a rough, slow beginning.

After much effort, by the end of the semester I was able to swim the length of the pool without stopping, and I was able to actually breathe like a swimmer. I still had to breathe every other stroke (which isn't very efficient) and at the end of the pool I would have to stop and breathe for a minute before I could go another length.

After the semester was over, I decided I needed to keep swimming, because I did enjoy it, and it felt amazing after getting done. I went three days a week over the summer. When Fall semester started last year, I decided to keep going, but thought I'd up it five times a week. After two weeks of that, I was tired, and swimming wasn't enjoyable. So, I started running two days and swimming three. I got seriously addicted.

By the middle of the semester, I was up to swimming a mile, and running two miles. Any of you who truly know me, know that I am not athletic, and until this whole swimming craze, never was one to exercise. When I was able to swim a mile and not die because of it, I was incredibly happy. I felt such a great sense of achievement and pride. But yet, I was still lacking. My swimming, though much improved from when I first started, still needed help. When I would get to the end of the pool, I'd have to stop, turn around, and keep going. Not for a lack of breath, but more for a lack of technique on how to turn. In my class, my teacher had quickly gone over how to do a flip turn but I was still struggling with the breathing and the stroking all at once, that I couldn't grasp the concept of somersaulting in the water, and then to keep swimming....it was daunting. And, I couldn't even quite understand the concept of an open turn, which is by far easier than a flip turn. By the beginning of this year, I determined I was finally at the point that I needed to learn to do some sort of better turn, because I had reached a plateau in my swimming.

I started practicing my flip turn. I would go to the pool on the weekends when not many people were around, and I'd stumble along, getting gallons and gallons of water up my nose, and sometimes inhaling it. It was a brutal experience, to say the least, but well worth it in the end. I finally felt confident enough in my turn a couple of weeks ago, and decided I just needed to start doing a couple flips in my routine in the morning. So I did. They were very awkward, and often unsuccessful. Last week, I started throwing in a few more; they turned less awkward. By Friday, I did three decent ones at first, but as the end of my workout drew near, I started turning side ways and found myself not knowing which way was up. Frustration built. Yesterday, I decided to try again. Still sideways. (It didn't help that Army ROTC cadets filled the lanes next to me....)

Today was a new day, however. I was determined. I would win. I would defeat the flip turn. I started right off. First turn was a little sideways. I analyzed it as I swam to the other side, and I realized I wasn't giving enough forward momentum to flip myself completely over (you can watch this video if you have no idea what I'm talking about..and please, take note of the guy's hair, it definitely dates the video, and offers a good laugh if you think about how silly it looks). I continued, length after length, lap after lap. I swam 4 laps continuously (that's 8 flipturns, just so you know). Life was looking good. I kept going. I did more turns. My workout was so much more effective, and so much more enjoyable and satisfying. By the time I was on lap 30, and I only had 6 left before I hit my mile, I decided I'd go to 36 without stopping. I had the lane all to myself up to this point, and I was feeling confident. It would be more turns in a row than I had ever done. But I would do it. I started. I was stopped in my goal. As I approached to finish my 34th lap and start on my 35th, I suddenly realized someone was standing in my lane. I wasn't sure if I'd have room to turn without hitting her, I'd never tried before. My mind couldn't handle it. I had to stop. I said yes when she briefly asked if she could share my lane (what could I say, "No. I'm sorry, find another lane"? No. Share my lane. Seriously. (Plus I've shared a lane with this particular person before, and I knew she wouldn't be in my way). I still had to finish my laps though, and I was feeling SOOO good about my turns, I had to keep going, I was addicted. I went. I did turns with this woman standing a foot away from where I was turning, and I didn't hit her. I swam 38 laps. It was love!

And that is my story. I can now do flip turns. I can do flip turns with someone else in my lane. I can swim without stopping. I am happy. I am satisfied. For now.

Reading Day

Yes, today is a reading day...blessed be. This means several things - #1, I don't have class. #2, I'm semi-free to do whatever I want and not feel guilty that I have homework I should be doing. #3, I have to study for four finals.

So far I've successfully studied for one and a half of my finals. I still feel like I have a load left, and I do. But I'm so excited for this semester to be officially over. There's something about the freedom of not being in school that is purely satisfying; a giant burden is lifted. It'll be interesting to see how I feel about the three independent study courses I have to take over the summer and if that will put a damper on my feeling of freedom.

Well. This blog is now on. I've now posted. I found the perfect background. Still tweaking some fonts and colors, but I'll get there. And yes, my goal is to get a digital camera before the end of May, which means that at some point, maybe I'll be able to post pictures. That will be a good day.