Nearing the End

I'm done with classes. After finals, I'll be free from homework and studying until next fall. This morning I read 50 more pages out of Babbit. There are some parts of the book that do a good job of explaining what its like to feel like a failure in the midst of success. I have enjoyed the book up to this point, but if the pace doesn't pick up pretty soon, I can see myself getting bored and not finishing it. I'm anxious to read my other books. I have no school and no work today. What will I do with my spare time? It has to be noteworthy. The great thing about publishing my daily thoughts and activities in a potentially public forum, is that I am very aware of moments in my life becoming dull and boring. Well, I need to catch up on the past week. I'll do my best to remember things that have occurred.

Monday, April 17, 2006

It was difficult to get out of bed due to my late night preparations. Bro. Walsh ended up just having us hold up our journals and filing assignments. That was it. He didn't even look at them. Part of me wished I hadn't bothered doing them, but the other part of me would lose all respect for the first part of me if it had lied. I want all my parts to get along, so actually doing the work will always be my only true option whether "getting away with it" is an option or not. After the short internal debate, I mailed my state tax thingamajigger. The girl who I always sit next to in Cell Bio has been much more open and friendly ever since she got married. I suppose that at the beginning of the semester she was either afraid of me hitting on her, or just constantly worried about the wedding and how it would all turn out. Getting hitched in the middle of a semester has to be pretty stressful. In Genetics we discussed speciation and interspecies mating. Of course, some slightly inappropriate, but entirely funny comments were made by witty students. In the afternoon I fell asleep and woke up late. I threw on some clothes, sped to work, and made it just in time. In my rush, I neglected to put on my cufflinks, so I ended up using cable ties to keep my shirt cuff closed. I had my five minute review with my manager who warned about the evils of gossip in the workplace. It's funny, because after the meeting she asked how I was holding up since Jessica took off. I never told her about that. She must have heard it from Chuck. Gossip. Well, anyways, I was happy to report that I'm holding up just fine. Then I came home, went to Wal-Mart with the gang and jogged over to Route 22 to see Chelsea. We ended up going for a nice walk around the neighborhood. It's great to have such a wonderful girl to walk with.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Church was fine. We saw Terra and Leslie, and Derek and Paul for the last time as their home teachers. In the afternoon we walked over to Route 22 in response to a dinner invitation. On the way all four of us were talking on cell phones. It must have looked pretty ridiculous. The food was amazing. I'm still craving ham. Frozen burritos just won't be the same for the next few weeks. During dinner we voted on the correct pronunciation of words like crayon, trombone, syrup, Monticello, Camille, and both. I have to change my pronunciation of syrup from now on. No more sear-up, just sir-up. Then I came home and worked late into the night preparing twenty gospel files filled with three stories each, filling in all the gaps in my daily journal, writing three analogies, and writing four test questions for New Testament. It's my own fault for not working on it throughout the semester.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Eight hours at work flew by pretty quickly. I had lunch with Adam and his mom in the foodcourt. That is the first time I have ever shared my lunch break with a co-worker. I usually eat alone and keep to myself. I enjoyed it. After work I went to Chelsea's ward's "end of the semester, good bye, closing social extravaganza." The food was tasty. The hamburgers were burnt, just how I like 'em. I threw a football around with Chelsea, Whitney, and Councilina for a while. Even though I can't handle a football very well now it brought back memories of high school P.E. and the only time I ever felt good at a team sport. For some reason, maybe all my practice with juggling, I was able to catch a football really well at that time in my life. My teammates would always throw the ball to me because I never dropped it. They even called me Jerry Rice. Well, after tossing around the ol' pigskin, we watched the slide show, went to play foursquare at Alpine Court, and Chelsea and I watched the second best movie ever made, Reckless Kelly.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Well, I waited too long to write an update. I can't remember what happened Friday. I'm sure I went to school and then went to work. Well, I can tell you that two years ago from today, I was helping an investigator do some work on his house in Chile. I accidentally grabbed a live electrical wire and everyone freaked out. Miraculously I wasn't hurt at all. I must have been wearing the right shoes.

Update

Today I have felt a great need to restructure my life and change what I focus on and how I do things. Well, It's not really something new that just hit me today. I've felt it for a while. In an attempt to take a step up and not be complacent with where I am and what I have achieved, I purchased some books to help stimulate sections of my brain that haven't received much play lately. The books are Babbit, Utopia, A Tale of Two Cities (That's right, I've never read it), and The First Men in The Moon. When I go to work today, I want it to be different. I want to do things differently, find a better approach, get to know the people who enter my department, and really enjoy my time there. I won't allow it to be three wasted hours. I'm reminded of some Franz Ferdinand Lyrics:

I time every journey to bump into you, accidentally

I charm you and tell you of the boys I hate

All the girls I hate

All the words I hate

All the clothes I hate

How I'll never be anything I hate

You smile, mention something that you like

or How you'd have a happy life

if you did the things you like

I have no plans to make any dramatic changes in my life. I won't move to Russia, change my name, or join a boy band. I actually have no plans at all. I just want to wipe away everything I know about life and rediscover it. I tried this in the mission field in two different ways. When I started the mission I tried to forget American Culture and I just accepted Chile as my new reality and learned to love it. After a year, this new strange culture and missionary lifestyle became routine and unexciting. When I had the chance to train, I decided that I wanted to start over and forget everything I knew about the discussions and the routines of missionary work. Since my new companion wasn't tainted by unnecessary traditions, together we could reinvent how the work was done and find new ways to be successful. It felt great. I want that feeling again.

Eureka's Castle

I found a copy of Reckless Kelly on Amazon and made it mine. It should arrive next week. I had a lot of fun studying with Chelsea last night so she could get ready for her test, but tonight I've been stuck studying for my own classes, bummer. I can just be glad that my tests probably won't be half as difficult as hers was. Since I aced my last lab exam I'm hoping to do it again. If I get every question right I'll have a good chance at an A in the class. I need every A I can get. I don't see it happening in any of my other classes this semester, unless all my teachers suddenly whip out Kilimanjaro sized curves. I'm pretty pooped. I just thought I'd jot something down real quick. I have to keep studying now.

Funny ways to take the bolded sentence out of context.

"I'm pretty...", bragged Kyle as he studied himself in the mirror.
When Kyle was questioned about his slipping grades he responded, "I'm ... [poop]."
Headline: "Kyle claims '...pretty [poo]' to be more beautiful than our own Milky Way!"

Alright, that's enough. Be excellent to each other.

Reckless Kelly

Now I'm on the lookout for a new movie: Reckless Kelly. It's made by the Australian Director, Writer, Producer, and Actor, Yahoo Serious. So far I don't think it has been released on DVD and none of the video stores carry it, even though they do have his other works such as, Young Einstein and Mr. Accident. For now I'm keeping an eye on eBay to see if I can find it for cheap. My classes went okay today. Before work I was trying to open up a can of spaghetti sauce with our piece of vraag can opener, I got mad and threw it away. Since it was thrown away and I wasn't about to reach into the garbage and restore it to it's post, I went to Smith's and bought a new heavy duty one. This sucker is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of can openers. Later, on my way to work, I listened to the Eagle's cassette that Chelsea gave me. I arrived at Dillard's early so I just sat in my car and kept listening to the tunes before clocking in.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

I spent the morning getting the final touches done for my presentation in my Molecular Biology lab. I knew everything about the Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone that I was assigned to study. Before I left, I thought of a scripture that I wanted to share. So, I grabbed my scriptures and tried to find it as I walked to my class. Then, out of nowhere, I ran into one of my favorite zone leaders from the mission. I asked where the scripture was and he found it right away. FYI, the scripture was Alma 30:44. The presentation itself could have gone better, but I also got back my last exam and saw that I made a 100 percent on it. After work, I watched Run Lola Run with Chelsea and Council Bluffs. If you loved, Groundhog Day, The Bourne Identity, The Fifth Element, One Crazy Summer, and Schulze Gets the Blues, then Run Lola Run is the movie for you.

Monday, April 3, 2006

I'm going to give up on trying to figure out the code to Route 22's door. They can even punch it in right in front of me and I won't even bother to look. They can all feel free to let their guard down. That's right, they can go ahead and let their guard down. I'm no threat. No siree. No threat here. Not at all. Nope. No threat. (fingers crossed). After work I stopped by Route 22 because Chelsea said she had something for me. What she had for me was one of the most thoughtful gifts that I have received in a long time. She knew that all I ever listen to in my car is R.E.M and the Ghostbuster Soundtrack, so she gave me some new cassette tapes. Now I have a good variety and don't have to listen to the same thing every time I get into my car. She's so great. Later, we went to the park to do some swinging, and then just sat and chatted for a while. We also did an anti-snow dance to ward off any evil winter spirits. At the end of the night she agreed to let me be her boyfriend. YIPEE!!! And, I hate to jump to any conclusions, but I think that also means that she's my girlfriend. YIPEE!!! I've been on cloud nine ever since. (I don't really know what that expression means, but I think that it applies to what I've been feeling)

SLEEP

I need to sleep, and I will sleep, but I would like to keep a daily account of my life, even if it is brief. Today I woke up and watched the first Sunday session of General Conference. I confess that I missed one of the talks in order to fill up my car with gas. I was sure to go to a pay at the pump station so that no one would be required to take my money. Although it would be fun, I don't feel like debating the ins and outs of Sabbath day observance right now. Then we all got together and made our way towards Salt Lake for the Afternoon session. We made it to the Conference Center with what we thought to be plenty of time, but I guess we were wrong. So instead of using our tickets to get in, we used them to pass notes as we sat in temple square and listened to Conference over the speakers. It was a ton-o-fun. Thank goodness for cootie shots. After conference Chelsea invited me over for dinner. She made some delectable bean soup and heavenly cornbread. Then I came home, took a nap, ate some orange sherbet, discovered my shirt was sewn shut, called Chelsea, and now I'm typing this up before I fall asleep.

Saturday, April 1, 2006

I woke up much earlier than I wanted to so I could go to work. I only had to work until four, which was great because it meant I was able to go with my roommates to the priesthood session of General Conference. Of course, looking back I realize that the night would have been much different for quite a few people had I stayed at work till six and skipped out on the priesthood session. So we went to Salt Lake and got there way too late and ended up watching it at the Legacy theater. On the way back I was exhausted. It's already been a really long weekend. We came home and opened the door to find that we had been pranked. Route 22 used their girls night out to have a little fun with our apartment. They took all of our right shoes, and stole our doors. There was also a lot of random stuff all over the place. At first I thought that they switched our things with stuff from someone else's apartment, but upon further inspection of the sign they left and the items themselves we realized that it was just a bunch of treasures from good ol' DI. We took a moment to inspect the apartment and then had a small apartment meeting where we discussed our plan of action. Do we get mad or do we get even? Well, all I can tell you is that we're not mad.

Friday, March 31, 2006

I did some school stuff, went to Chelsea's soccer game, and then had a really fun date with her. We tried to get a bite to eat at Chili's, but there was an hour long wait so we aborted that mission. We ended up going to Costa Vida/Azul. They make a killer burrito. Then we saw Schultze Gets the Blues, got ice cream, were sent on a pointless errand and then watched The Hudsucker Proxy. Thank goodness for cootie shots. I enjoyed the night a lot and came home happy and started to go to bed, but my "spider sense" told me that something was terribly wrong with the fabric of the universe. Alan was outside talking to Councilina Bluffs so I got dressed and went outside and started walking laps around the neighborhood and looking over to see if he was done talking yet. When I walked by and saw that he was no longer on the phone, we started walking and I found out that my worst nightmare had become a reality. Alan and Councilina Bluffs are no longer Alan and Councilina Bluffs. Now they're just Alan........and...........Councilina Bluffs. I didn't cry and I didn't beat anyone up, but I was very unsettled. So me and Alan just kept walking until we reached Beto's, a 24 hour Mexican food place. The food made me wish I had no stomach. Then we walked home and went to bed around 6:00 in the morning.