XXIV

I feel so loved. It's great. All these years of pretending it wasn't my birthday. What was I thinking? Becca and Katy introduced me to birthday week and it was awesome! Now I know what it means to be showered in gifts. Katy gave me some awesome new threads that have added some much needed variety to my wardrobe. Until a few days ago I never realized that I don't own a single green T-shirt. I do now! And it has a slogan that makes you think. Greg and Karen got me a hip cool cardigan. Alan got me the super magnets I've been playing with. Hannah got me some candy, go-fish cards, etc. . Becca went all out. She's amazing. She got me new scriptures so that I can be spiritual enough for her :) , and a bathrobe that isn't too short for me. My favorite gift this year was the book that Becca made for me. It's the coolest thing this side of Jupiter. It tells the story of how we met and fell in love; complete with pictures, blogs, journal entries, emails, g-chats, and facebook messages. It's so cool to have a hard copy of these memories. That's a problem with this digital age. You have to pull out a computer and plug it into a wall just to relive some cherished memories. Thank you everyone for all the awesome gifts. There is a lot more I could say about five buck pizza, a cake party, delicious frosting and many other birthday treats, but I should be packing and getting ready to go to California. Oh... and if I've forgotten to mention a gift, I'm sorry. I'm just in a hurry. Peace.

Kids Again

We were kids with a car. Alan, Amanda, Becca, and I had an evening of playing video games, eating frosting, eating happy meals, and eating 20lbs of candy. It was great fun until it was time to go to bed and my childhood came back to bite me. So much sugar. So..much...sugar. The frosting turned out great. I'm excited for my birthday this year. That's rare. I'm excited to see what Becca got me. I want so many things right now! I want to see Becca's dress, I want to wear my ring, I want to go to California and register, I want get married, I want to know what Becca and Katy got me for my birthday, I want to graduate! The anticipation is killing me, but I'm glad to say that in a week I'll have three of the above and in less than three months I'll have the rest.

Did I swallow acid?

What is up with my throat? It's on fire. I had a chemistry lab today where I was supposed to identify an unknown chemical. How do you identify an unknown chemical? You taste if of course! How was I supposed to know any better. Seriously, I'm getting sick. I felt a little feverish today and my throat just gets worse and worse. At least tomorrow is Friday. No work. Oh yeah. Feels good. Sometime I should take a picture of our lamp that is magnet-ed to the ceiling. It is a work of art. Oh yeah, and I want to dedicate this post to Brooklyn. I've never been there, but I feel like I should go someday. Any ideas of cool things to do in Brooklyn? Places to go? Things to see? Alright, it's time for some more throat spray.



A thought from Thaddeus.

If I'm ever a professor, I'm going to put a stack of papers on my desk and I'm going to say, "okay class, I want everyone to come to the front of the room and take a sheet" every day.

Valentine's Day Week

Valentine's Day was awesome. I've always wanted to dip an Olive Garden breadstick in Chili's salsa, and Thursday I got the chance. Becca surprised me with all of my favorites. They are listed below.
1. Olive Garden Baked Ziti, Salad, and Breadsticks
2. Chili's Chips and Salsa
3. Arby's Curly Fries and Dr. Pepper
4. Outback Cheesecake
Yesterday was also really cool. I love to shop. One day I'll go shopping and actually buy something. Today we rearranged the furniture. Not everyone is happy with it. It's not ideal, but it's the best idea we can come up with. It's hard to fit two full size couches, a loveseat, entertainment center, drums, two end tables, a coffee table, and a piano in a college apartment. I can't wait to know where me and Becca are going to live. Then we can set up the floor plan and figure out what furniture we can have and how we can decorate. I was so close to getting an apartment in Wymount, but it slipped through my fingers and went the way of all the Earth. I'll keep checking. Wymount seems a little cliche, but it is the cheapest and closest thing around.

I'm blogging on location in the kitchen right now. Everyone is playing Werewolves in the living room. There are too many people for me. At least more people are paying attention this round.

Tomorrow there isn't any school and I get paid time and a half. I love presidents.

Why must I vote for McCain?
It fills my very soul with pain
I'd rather drown in acid rain
Or floss my teeth with a rusty chain

How could I vote for Obama?
It's scary that he rhymes with Osama
But cool that he rhymes with llama
And neutral that he rhymes with comma

How could I vote for Hillary Clinton?
She's dumb.
And stupid.
and related to Bill Clinton

Weekend of Wedding Planning

Becca's family came into town for a weekend jam packed with wedding preparation. I missed most of it due to work, but I was there for the wedding invitations. Wow. I had no idea it was so complicated. I imagined going to the local Halmark store and picking some cards that play Bon Jovi when you open them. That's how I get cards for anything else. But with wedding invitations there's so much etiquette involved. I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time, but I'm happy with the final product. The next exciting things for me are finding a place to live, and taking engagement photos. That's gonna be fun. I'm glad Becca's family is so awesome. I really lucked out. I'll never have to worry about a stressful visit by in-laws that I don't get along with. I imagine that it's going to make my life so much easier.

Now it's back to school and back to work. My boss was fired and now there's some new guy in charge. My best guess is that work will be more stressful, but there will be better benefits and possibly even better pay. I have to work Saturdays now too. It was really nice when saturdays were optional, but at least I'll have a night off during the week now.

Goodbye Ruby January

I'm so glad it's February, but so sad it's not April or May. I'm very sleep deprived. I've been doing homework the past several hours. I need sleep, but the weekend is over. So busy. No time. Work at Platinum Protection has been going pretty good actually. I don't feel like I'm any good at what I'm doing, but I just hope that's only because I'm new and am not used to it. I figured out that I'll be getting back a good solid 970 dollars back from the federal government. With the elections coming up, I'll vote for the guy who can get me a full 1000 back next year. I need to do my state taxes now, but I have no idea how to. It's a lot more confusing. Maybe I'll go to the free tax help on campus. Okay. That's enough for tonight. Back to work.

"You've Made a Difference"

The last Sunday of the month, is a very dangerous day of the month. It's easy to lose your identity amidst the confusion of trying to home teach and be home taught while your fiancee is visiting teaching, being visit taught, and being home taught. If you add church, a meeting with the bishop, homework, and an evening missionary farewell, you've got yourself a busy day. Who am I? Am I receiving or sharing the lesson? When's my next appointment? When will there be time to read my Spanish assignment? Am I Spanish? What's my name? Juan? No, that doesn't sound right. Well....maybe...no! that's my last name. Kyle Juan. Okay, I'm from Spain, but what am I doing here? What's my agenda? Who is the king of Spain? Does Spain have a king? Am I the king of Spain? I must return to the father land! Mi pueblo me necesita!

Yesterday I got a scam email allegedly from PayPal. It said I was randomly selected to verify my account information so they can see that I'm the only person using my account. What? That makes no sense. So, I went to the PayPal site and forwarded the email to them. They sent me back an email thanking me for reporting the scam, and then said "you've made a difference". I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before. It was such an unusual thing to say, but it felt good. I've made a difference.

It's not like I ever forget that I'm engaged, but sometimes, like a couple of nights ago, I'll see the ring on Becca's finger and I feel like Charlie felt when he found the golden ticket. I'm just so excited and pleasantly surprised. We went to Barnes and Noble last night to look at a cake book. It made me hungry for cake and even made me want to try and make a wedding cake of my own. Not for the wedding though. Maybe it could be a graduation cake, or a Valentines day cake, or a February 4th cake.

Congratulations! You've unlocked the mall.

Looking for places to live is really exciting. All the affordable apartments are pretty small, but what do we need a big apartment for? We just need room for a card table so that Thursday nights we can invite the Johnsons over for bridge. That's what married people do, right? So far I like Skuffs's apartment and Councilina's apartment. They both have their pluses. Tuesday I'll call and see if we could get in to either of those complexes. Tonight we just had a great dinner with my roommates and Becca's roommates. I was worried that it would be ruined due to lack of preparation on my end, but Becca and her apartment really pulled through. Now Becca is here, so I'm going to watch 30 Rock with her now. Peace.

Fee-on-say

I had an unprecedented experience today. I had an interview with the bishop while Becca was getting an interview with the same bishop. It was sooooo cool, and it saves a ton of time. Why did we have an interview with the bishop? Well, in case you haven't heard, WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!!!! I've known that I wanted to marry her for a quite a while, and lately we've been discussing marriage so much that I felt comfortable that she would say yes if I were to propose. And then when we picked out a ring I was even more certain she would say yes. Then, when we started trying to find a place for us to live I was 99.9% sure she would say yes. It got to the point where if I didn't hurry up we would be married with three kids before I even proposed. A while ago I was thinking a proposal in February and a wedding at the end of the summer would be perfect, but why wait?!? I proposed yesterday, and we're getting married May 17th in the Oakland Temple (if anyone out there is stalking me, this is some juicy information for you). All last week I was a little stressed about how to propose. I was aware that when people found out that Becca is engaged the first thing they would want to see is the ring, and then they'll ask how I proposed. Then they'll get around to asking who she's marrying some time later. I knew the ring was great because 1. she helped me pick it out and 2. she has great taste. The proposal however scared me. It seems like the perfect proposal is planned for weeks and involves trained doves and a field of roses, but I just want to get engaged, not set a Guiness World Record. So I proposed to her in my car, in a church parking lot in American Fork. It may not sound like much, but it was amazing because Becca was with me and she said yes, and she cried, and we're so happy. I even got a little teary eyed when I thought of the fact that I know who I'm going to marry. It's no longer an abstract concept. I can now envision the rest of my life and eternity and know who will be by my side. I'm going to marry Becca Anderson. I'm even getting teary eyed right now. Maybe Becca is rubbing off on me a little bit, or maybe I just haven't ever been this happy before. It's hard to get back into the routine of school now. It would be nice if me and Becca could just spend every second having fun and planning the wedding. I should be doing homework right now, but I wanted to record a little about this big event in my life.

Now that we're engaged I feel entitled to be a little sappy. If sappy things make you sick, I suggest you go to http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/ instead of reading this.

I love Becca. Sometimes she'll look at me with a really cute smile that melts my heart. I'm so lucky. I was sure that no one would ever love me, but Becca came along and proved me wrong. Not only does someone love me, but it's her. It's Becca. Beautiful Becca. Blissful Becca. Bright-eyed Becca, Bodacious Becca. She makes me happy, and makes me want to be a better person. I know I'll be happy with her.

My Fate is Sealed

I don't have to worry about anything anymore. Everything is out of my hands. I'm out of the frying pan and into the fire. Catch 22. Ipso facto. So many wonderful things are happening that to enumerate them would leave you out of breath and out of numbers. I'll do my best to hit a few of the highlights.

Christmas was great. Becca and I managed to get a time machine off of ebay for 20 bucks. We used it to go back in time to November 21, 1963 to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but it was no use because the next day some guy named Lee Harvey Oswald shot him anyway. How lame. We decided that changing history wasn't for us, and we weren't even all that good at it. Since we were anxious for Christmas to come and we had a time machine, we made it Christmas! It was really nice and I got a really cool watch from Becca, the most beautirific girl this side of pluto, and the other side of pluto as a matter of fact. The watch is comfortable, cool, and the colors go well with everything I own. As for the time machine, I sent it to myself 20 years from now. Since I haven't come back to give myself warnigs of what is to come, I assume I'm severly overweight, bald, and ill-tempered. I'm just too ashamed to see myself, so instead, I'm in the future eating a sphere of pringles and watching episodes of Seinfeld on my XDTV.

Finals ate my whole head as usual. I fully expect to fail at least one class. That means another year at BYU. Oh well, at least Becca will be going to school with me. I'll need the moral support to keep from dropping out of school and going door to door selling knife sharpener sharpeners. 'Cause when you think about it, what are you supposed to do when your knife sharpener gets dull? Speaking of Becca, she's the best. I can't believe we've been dating 4 months in a row! That's a huge deal for me. I am very pleased with the way things are going.

I'm doing laundry now, then I'll pack, but first I'll go to five buck pizza, and last I'll read some Harry Potter and go to bed. Then, tomorrow I'll fight my way through the holiday traffic to Amarillo. The trick is to pick the biggest guy in line and tell him that his government is a less than pleasant drawer of used tissues. Then when he takes a swing at you, duck. He'll hit the old lady in line behind you and then the skateboard punks will jump in. During the chaos you make your move to the front of the line where you take off your coat and put on sunglasses so that no one is the wiser.

Update to the Third Degree

First Degree
Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I want is to not be awake. The second thing I want is to be asleep. The third thing I want is for the first two wants to be realized. Usually the debate can last along time, resulting in skipping my morning shower and breakfast in exchange for an early afternoon shower and brunch. Today I had to break my routine a bit due to the impatient knocking on the front door. Low and behold, it was the manager requesting my assistance in the removal of our old couches. I was in a good mood for some odd reason, so I helped him. Usually I would be in a horrible foul mood because I had to do something that required spending more than 12 seconds with the manager. After 1 second with the manager my eye starts to twitch. After 2 seconds I explode. After 5 seconds my anger begins to condense. After 10 seconds my anger forms a super condensed black hole from which not even light can escape. After 12 seconds, oddly enough, dinosaurs somewhere in another solar system go extinct. Today was different though. It wasn't that bad. My irrational anger has begun to subside a bit. And hey, we got two new couches, two new end tables, a new coffee table, and two new lamps.

Second Degree
I'm stressed out about school and stuff, but that's just the status quo. Nothing new. I can't wait for my fate to be sealed. If I fail my classes, at least THIS semester will be over and I can relax over the Christmas break. For Christmas I'm flying to Texas where I'll see my family, and friends like Braxton and Mary! Then after Christmas I'll drive up to Phoenix with my Mom and Dad. Then Bright-eyed Becca will be flying to Phoenix! We'll probably go to Tucson for Alan's birthday, and then sometime we'll drive back with Alan to Provo. Maybe we can even fit in a round of miniature golf or go-carts in there somewhere. So many things to look forward to!

Third Degree
I can feel myself getting sick. My throat is tender and I'm getting the achy feeling I have whenever I get a fever. I'm taking a class on infection and immunity, so I should be able to diagnose/cure myself. Maybe that's what the final exam will be. Maybe yesterday they infected us with a malignant virus and the final will be one question....
1. Are you Sick?
a. Yes, and it sucks.
b. No, I cured myself a couple of days ago.
c. No, I cured all disease and was never even infected.
d. Yes, but it's due to a new disease I invented for the Government.

I left my "will to live" in San Francisco

I don't have much time to post right now, but I fear that if I wait until I have enough time, I'll never post at all. The big news was that this Thanksgiving break was awesome. For a more detailed account you can go to Becca's blog. She did a great job. I had a lot of fun with Becca's family. They treated me like I was just one of the family, and made me feel really comfortable. Actually, they probably treated me better than a member of the family. Had I been a member of the family they probably would have been more comfortable taunting me relentlessly about my inability to break the single digits in Squeak. I held a baby for the first time also. It wasn't all that scary because Lucy is a little older and doesn't look as fragile as other babies I've seen. California is really cool. I'm glad to finally know what all the fuss is about. Is it appropriate for my generation to say "fuss"? I'd better rephrase that. Hmmmm......okay...."I be gettin' all the hype now....dawg." That's better. Much better. I have to go take an exam that will surely suck all the life out of me now. Why can't I just drop out of school and be a bum in downtown San Fran? Would that be so wrong? I could even study molecular biology on the streets. Not many scientists are street smart. I could start a new fad.

Anticipation Proclomation

I'm ready to get out of Provo. San Francisco, here I come! Go Lincoln!

"That on the twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven, all persons held as students within any University or designated part of a University, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom."

Last night was unprecedented. All five of my roommates and I went on a group date. Even when there were only four of us in Moon Apartments, we never did that. It was fun. Oh and just in case you've seen Becca's blog, I'm not abusive. I just lose my temper sometimes. :). Becca and I made some Kitchen Chaciatore (chicken cacciatore) and polenta. It was absolutely divine. I'm impressed with the success we've been having in the kitchen lately. It must be the new oven.

Today in church I saw that we would be ending a little early, so I told Becca she would have to give her testimony to use up the extra time. I kept telling her the bishop would ask her to do it, but she didn't believe me. Sure enough, her name was called to go to the pulpit and give her testimony. She did a really good job. In that situation I probably would have just said something quick and impersonal to get it over with, but Becca actually shared her thoughts and feelings. It was cool. I should have gotten up right after her to say, "hands off brethren, she's already taken." Then I gave my lesson. I didn't do a very good job in my opinion, but at least I was more prepared than usual. Now it's time for a day of home teaching and studying for my evolution exam. Peace.

A Pound of Flesh

Boy did we get fancy last night. I'm pretty sure it was even fancier than the Olive Garden- Italian Restaurant. Becca was craving steak, so we did a quick run to Smiths and with the help of her mom, she picked out a beautiful New York Strip Tenderloin and some seasoning. Then we came home and cooked the steak and Becca made some of her world renowned couscous. It was really good. Another item that complemented the steak very nicely (other than the couscous, Martinelli's, candle, and company) was the cleanliness. We could have easily made a huge mess out of the kitchen with liquified beef fat covering every dish and utensil, but instead we cleaned as we went and had no problem leaving the kitchen cleaner than we found it.

Relaxation

I'm done with work! No more Dillards! My room is clean, I've done some studying and now I have time to take a seat and jot down a few of my thoughts. Saturday morning I took the GRE subject test for Biochemistry. I think I would have done just as well had I not even read the questions, but I'm still glad I took it. The rest of the weekend was great. Becca and I got to hang out and spend some good quality time together. Now we're back in school mode, but at least I don't have to work.

I am developing the habit of walking behind people on campus and listening to their phone conversations*. Sometimes what people say makes me want to quit the human race and join some other species that isn't so obnoxious and lame, but other times my faith in humanity is restored. Today I overheard a girl talking about her volunteer experience with autistic children. You could tell her concern and love for them was sincere. She had ideas about changes that could help them. For example, there was a kid in the class that didn't speak English. When a teacher was reading a story, he would perk up and get excited whenever he understood a word. "Elephante! Elephante!" he would say. No one there spoke Spanish, so there was no way he could get the same help as the other children.

*I am a creepy person, but at least I'm not menacing.

Not Angry!

I cooled off pretty soon after posting last time. I knew I would. Our manager came back, passed us, and had a change of heart and didn't charge us any money. For a while now I've been meaning to post about our trip to the Olive Garden-Italian Restaurant. That's right an Italian RESTAURANT. Not an Italian diner, or hot dog stand, but a restaurant. That's high class. Becca, Katy, and I were in the mood for something fancy so we pulled all the stops and went straight for the the big time. I felt really under dressed and didn't know if they would even let us in. Well, we got there and got a high tech flashing/vibrating device to tell us when our table would be ready. We took the flasher and went to visit some of the charming shops in the area (an LDS bookstore and a dollar store). Then, after some confusion over the availability of our table, we were seated and ordered some delicious food. I had baked ziti, Becca had spaghetti with meat sauce, and Katy had the chicken alfredo. One thing I love about the Olive Garden-Italian Restaurant is that the waitresses are so eager to put freshly grated Parmesan cheese on everything that is on or near the table. "Would you like some freshly grated Parmesan on your salad? On your ziti? In your water? Straight into your mouth? In your lap? In your girlfriend's hair?" MMMM....I loooooove Parmesan. I also like Soda a la italiana. Becca let me try some of hers. We all had a wonderful evening and hope to be lucky enough to return to the Olive Garden-Italian Restaurant some time in the future.

ANGRY!

Nothing makes me more outraged than cleaning checks. Last night I called in at work and put off some much needed studying so that I could clean. Then, this morning the idiotic manager came and FAILED us! She's even trying to charge us 20 bucks for a recheck! That uninteresting concoction of moldy diapers isn't getting any of my money! Alan just made the point that she'll just take it out of my deposit, but we can just do more damage to this place than the deposit is worth! One hundred dollars is well worth the satisfaction of breaking all the windows and tearing up the carpet only to replace it with cottage cheese and strips of raw bacon. I can feel the rancor overtaking me. I should be studying for the quiz I have today, but I can't. I'm too mad. I want revenge. A cleaning check is a cleaning check, not an exam. We aren't professional cleaners in custodial school. The check should be- "Was this cleaned?" It shouldn't be, "was this cleaned perfectly so that it looks like no one has actually ever lived here?" I want out of here. I'm sick of BYU approved housing. I'll take living in an apartment complex filled with prostitutes and drug dealers over Park Place management any day.

Hopefully I'll cool off soon. All my ideas for revenge will only make things worse. If I make their life more difficult, they'll get mad and be even bigger jerks. It just sucks that they are by nature bigger jerks than I am and no matter how evil I try to be they will always be one step ahead. I just need to forget about it. In less than a year I'll be done with this stage of my life and I'll have a fun new set of problems to deal with. I can't wait.

I just want to post my Comic

I went to a seminar hosted by the College of Life Sciences in the morning. A number of happenings at the seminar caused me to reflect.

1. It was crowded.
2. Freshman were obnoxious.
3. The speaker and I were on the same wavelength.
4. I sat by an acquaintance who became a friend.
   

I've been craving the real world. I want to get back into real research that has an impact. I'm sick of getting an assignment done just so that some TA can skim through it and slap on a grade. But why can't I do meaningful things now? How can I make my assignments meaningful? What is it I want to accomplish and how can each class bring me closer to that goal? Am I currently focusing too much or too little on my grades? What's going to matter in the long run? Will my GPA come back to haunt me? What contributions to my field can I make now? These are just a few of the thousands of questions that run around in my head all day. One day I need to set aside some time to talk myself through them and come up with ideas and solutions.

El Jorobado de BYU

I think Becca may have supernatural powers that allow her written fantasies to become reality. Last night she wrote a story about a hunchback whose hump was really a sack of treasure. Then, this morning as I was walking to the library, a hideous creature passed on my left side. He was wearing a brown hooded cloak that covered a large deformed hump. I quickened my pace to get a better look and upon closer examination I saw that the hump was actually a backpack. I can only assume that it was filled with gold and saffron.

Becca just called me! She's coming home from class! I shall ask her to pen a story about me getting all A's this semester and gaining 20 pounds of muscle. And then she can write one about me winning the lottery!

The Naive T-Cell of Bel-Air

Immunology was great today! Our skit went well, and the room broke out into enthusiastic applause after I performed my song. I'm pleased that it went well, and that it's over so I don't have to think about it anymore. Working 20 hours a week and taking 18 credits is killing me. What keeps me kickin' is always having something to look forward to. For example, Becca's birthday and the opera, quitting my job, and maybe going to California. And what am I going to be for Halloween? I know Becca liked my costume last year, but I've gotta be original. Hmmm... the TV is giving me some good ideas. I could be a diabetic, a mermaid, Whoopie Goldberg, a nun, Tom Hanks, or an orange. Nahh, those don't sound so great. I'll have to keep brainstorming. I wish I had more time to write, but I just plain don't. Maybe next month will be better.