I have a roommate who I never really see... all during the day she is working and playing somewhere, and generally she doesn't get home until about 2 am every morning, at which point I'm definitely in bed. This is Rochelle. And she should grow up and be a motivational counselor type person.
Tonight... or I suppose this morning, Rochelle came home to find everyone here awake, and writing essays. (The big paper, which I was only half done with, was due at 11am that morning...) Everyone was pretty darn stressed. But... apparently I was even more stressed than everyone else. She came down upon me and accused me of the serious crime of emanating great waves of stress throughout the apartment... "Jenna, we're gonna do some breathing."
I stare at her in bewilderment. Breathing?
Rochelle promptly turns off my light. She sets her way-cool candle down on my desk... and then... "Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out..." I am too tired to argue. I suppose I can follow directions long enough to make her happy and make her go away.
But then.
"All right! REPEAT AFTER ME!"
Oh no? Yelling now are we? Oh joy, what is she going to make me say?! "Okay..."
"MY NAME IS JENNA MARIE GRIFFIN!"
"My name is Jenna Marie Griffin?"
"I AM A DAUGHTER OF GOD!"
"I am a daughter of Go-"
"I'M GOING TO ACE ALL MY FINALS!"
"I'm going to ace all my finals..."
"I KICK ROCHELLE'S BUTT EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL! I'M AMAZINGLY COOL! I'M REALLY PRETTY! EVERYONE ONE IS AMAZED BY ME... AND RYAN STRONG IS FREAKING IN LOVE WITH ME!" At this point Rachel, Hillary, and Jackie are all cracking up at Rochelle and I. I kind of look up at Rochelle like she's crazy while blushing at that last part. She gives this ridiculous repeat-after-me-or-die look... so, having forgotten the majority of what she'd said... "Ditto?"
"AMEN! GLORY, HALLELUJAH!"
And I am left to finish that blasted research paper.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Could my life be any more... random?
I've got a lot of random things to tell you about... including a potato gun, a spaz trip to Salt Lake, the lack of hat-wearing to ward prayer, and the occurrence of chocolate cake.
Well... here's the thing. We poor college students are surrounded by snow. It's really cold. And there is a TON of snow. What would you do? Build a snowman? We did too! Make snowangels? We did too! Throw snowballs? We did to-- Oh. Wait. We DIDN'T. I know how much your jaw just dropped. I hear the wheels turning in your head... What? No snowball fights? None at all?
A note of explanation. It is currently against Provo city law to throw snowballs. It's against the honor code to do illegal things... and thus, no one throws snowballs for fear of getting kicked out of the university. It really is quite depressing.
I was going to go on a date with Ryan sometime this weekend... we were going to go bowling and get pizza. But... we forgot. You'll understand why (besides the fact that it's finals week) shortly.
Ryan and I were feeling that widespread depression resulting from the inability to throw snowballs acutely. Furthermore, somehow Ryan had gotten the idea that he didn't have a hobby (besides exploring the campus grounds) and he needed one. He wasn't taking any of my suggestions seriously (he didn't think he'd be too spectacular at sword fighting and he thought he was too poor to go skydiving for a hobby). Then he got desperate, and we started surfing the Net for random hobbies that poor Ryan could take up. He stumbled upon a video of some kid firing a... spudgun? Oh goodness. That's right! A potato-firing device of grand proportions.
The two of us watch the produce accelerator with rapture. We pretty much are thinking exactly the same thing at this point. He looks over at me, and says, "Jenna. We HAVE to build one of those." We start the initial plans for our weapon of mashed destruction immediately (at which point we both forget about the date). Since us poor college students have no power tools... we'll have to crash in North Salt Lake at his grandparent's house (more specifically the garage) which has everything we could possibly need. Hillary'll have to come with us, because she has a car, and at the end of day, us two girls can crash at her house... half a block away (how convenient). Ryan already figured out exactly where the nearest Home Depot is too. Pretty much... we are way too excited for our own good. The thing is, we can't tell too many people about this... because then EVERYONE would want in on it.
Well, the next morning I wake up to see Rachel and Hillary packing... Wait, WHAT? Why? Why are you leaving me? I put on my best sad face at their departure, when... "Hey, Jenna! You should come too!" Oh!
"Where are you going?" Well, they were going to their homes... so that they could go to a missionary farewell the following morning. Upon further inquiry, I discover that this almost-missionary is Ben. At one point about two months ago, Rachel and Hillary were moping about because their friend Ben from high school had promised to come over, and... he hadn't. And this was the third time this had happened. Furthermore, Hillary is pretty much head-over-heels in love with this mystery Ben. So. I steal Rachel's cell phone. Browse through the contact list. "Ben Poulsen?" Is this the Ben? They nod forlornly. Yes. That was him. Love-stricken Hillary even tells me that that is his home phone number, and exactly how you can get his mother to hand the phone to him. Oh, well. This is useful information.
I press the talk button, and put the phone to my ear. My roommates are looking at me like deer in headlights. "Are... are you actually calling him?"
"Yes. I have to scold him." I don't quite remember what Ben and I talked about for twenty minutes except that the gist of it was me threatening to send flaming squirrel assassins after him if he didn't get his butt down here to visit Rachel and Hillary soon.
Well, after all this, I figured I wasn't really a complete stranger and decided... okay! I'll go to Bountiful and go to Ben's farewell! This was completely on a whim. I bring books so that I can study. I don't. Mostly I eat and sleep and go to farewells. And listen to Christmas music and send Rachel crazy messages. At one point Rachel's dad came in with Nerf guns and attacked us. Then he let us keep the guns and ammunition as early Christmas presents. The two of us were thrilled, and immediately started plotting how we would torture dear Jackie when we got home. For dinner tonight, I had seven plate-sized blueberry pancakes. Why? Well, that was how many I was given. And... they were darn good. And... I wanted to see how many I could eat before I was too full to belch in approval.
We got back in time for ward prayer, but because Rachel's mother had sent home extremely-stuffed stockings full of goodies for all six of us roomies and six beautifully wrapped packages that contained amazing fluffy scarves, we broke tradition. That's right. We DIDN'T wear hats. We wore scarves. I show up a mere five minutes early (usually it's about ten) to be confronted by dear Robert, my home teacher. He was complaining about how I hadn't been home when he had spontaneously tried to come visit me. I am laughing at him, and I then notice Ryan moping around in the background pretending to be a ghost.
Ryan has this tendency to pretend he's not there and be a ghost until he finally decides it's worth gathering up the courage to come and talk to me. I am perfectly content to just let him do this. But Ryan has recently tried to convince me that he "is not a ghost," and since I had already broken the hat thing... I could break another unwritten tradition. "Hello, Ryan!" I was not expecting him to be so thrilled that I had noticed him and actually started talking to him first. He lit up instantly. I'm not sure I can even begin to describe how funny it was. So that's how I ended up breaking a third tradition... I was talking to Ryan and then ward prayer started... and... I was not sitting in my traditional spot on the staircase with my short roommates (who happen to be giggling and shaking their heads at me). Oh snap.
After ward prayer... my friend Sarah pokes me as I've resumed conversation with Ryan. I turn around to an offer I cannot refuse. Sarah... has... chocolate... cake... I hurriedly say goodbye to Ryan and I invade Sarah's apartment. "I'm really, really sorry, it's just that I made too much and I'm trying to get rid of..." I kind of just laugh at her. "No, no, any time!"
I come back to my apartment... and realize I have forgotten my keys. I pound on my door. This is a surefire way to get all your roommates out in the hall. So, when I open the door, I am pounced upon instantly. I went from a singular person carrying a chocolate cake to a large mass of six girls clumped together cradling a chocolate cake. "What... what... what... is it..." "Oooooh... oh oh oh...." "Can... can... can... I have some?" "Shaaaaarrreeee? Share share share?" Remember now that we are all stressing out majorly and that chocolate is a cure-all (ooh, FYI, I've been eating chocolate all semester and no migraines... joy!) for anything stress related. This is also a fresh, warm, and extremely aromatic chocolate cake. I put on the counter and let my roommates have at it. I go check my email, preferring to not be a part of this frenzy (I would have been participating if I wasn't stuffed full of pancakes). I come back seventy-five seconds later, only to find... GASP! The chocolate cake is GONE. Gone. Eaten already. The WHOLE thing. Not a single crumb left. Not only was the pan empty, all of the cake's former glory was in the bellies of my dear roommates. I wasn't too disappointed since I was so full, but I just shook my head at my ravenous roomies and made my way over back to Sarah's place to return the pan.
She opens the door and looks at me warily. "I'm here to return your pan!" I say brightly. "It's all gone! My roomies found it!"
"Well... did you get any?"
"No... I left for a few seconds, and I came back, and it was gone."
Maybe I should have lied, because Sarah was distraught. She attacked her apartment to find a Snickers bar to give me (she didn't like Snickers and had been given one). I just laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Anyway, that is all for now! I will see you all next week!
Well... here's the thing. We poor college students are surrounded by snow. It's really cold. And there is a TON of snow. What would you do? Build a snowman? We did too! Make snowangels? We did too! Throw snowballs? We did to-- Oh. Wait. We DIDN'T. I know how much your jaw just dropped. I hear the wheels turning in your head... What? No snowball fights? None at all?
A note of explanation. It is currently against Provo city law to throw snowballs. It's against the honor code to do illegal things... and thus, no one throws snowballs for fear of getting kicked out of the university. It really is quite depressing.
I was going to go on a date with Ryan sometime this weekend... we were going to go bowling and get pizza. But... we forgot. You'll understand why (besides the fact that it's finals week) shortly.
Ryan and I were feeling that widespread depression resulting from the inability to throw snowballs acutely. Furthermore, somehow Ryan had gotten the idea that he didn't have a hobby (besides exploring the campus grounds) and he needed one. He wasn't taking any of my suggestions seriously (he didn't think he'd be too spectacular at sword fighting and he thought he was too poor to go skydiving for a hobby). Then he got desperate, and we started surfing the Net for random hobbies that poor Ryan could take up. He stumbled upon a video of some kid firing a... spudgun? Oh goodness. That's right! A potato-firing device of grand proportions.
The two of us watch the produce accelerator with rapture. We pretty much are thinking exactly the same thing at this point. He looks over at me, and says, "Jenna. We HAVE to build one of those." We start the initial plans for our weapon of mashed destruction immediately (at which point we both forget about the date). Since us poor college students have no power tools... we'll have to crash in North Salt Lake at his grandparent's house (more specifically the garage) which has everything we could possibly need. Hillary'll have to come with us, because she has a car, and at the end of day, us two girls can crash at her house... half a block away (how convenient). Ryan already figured out exactly where the nearest Home Depot is too. Pretty much... we are way too excited for our own good. The thing is, we can't tell too many people about this... because then EVERYONE would want in on it.
Well, the next morning I wake up to see Rachel and Hillary packing... Wait, WHAT? Why? Why are you leaving me? I put on my best sad face at their departure, when... "Hey, Jenna! You should come too!" Oh!
"Where are you going?" Well, they were going to their homes... so that they could go to a missionary farewell the following morning. Upon further inquiry, I discover that this almost-missionary is Ben. At one point about two months ago, Rachel and Hillary were moping about because their friend Ben from high school had promised to come over, and... he hadn't. And this was the third time this had happened. Furthermore, Hillary is pretty much head-over-heels in love with this mystery Ben. So. I steal Rachel's cell phone. Browse through the contact list. "Ben Poulsen?" Is this the Ben? They nod forlornly. Yes. That was him. Love-stricken Hillary even tells me that that is his home phone number, and exactly how you can get his mother to hand the phone to him. Oh, well. This is useful information.
I press the talk button, and put the phone to my ear. My roommates are looking at me like deer in headlights. "Are... are you actually calling him?"
"Yes. I have to scold him." I don't quite remember what Ben and I talked about for twenty minutes except that the gist of it was me threatening to send flaming squirrel assassins after him if he didn't get his butt down here to visit Rachel and Hillary soon.
Well, after all this, I figured I wasn't really a complete stranger and decided... okay! I'll go to Bountiful and go to Ben's farewell! This was completely on a whim. I bring books so that I can study. I don't. Mostly I eat and sleep and go to farewells. And listen to Christmas music and send Rachel crazy messages. At one point Rachel's dad came in with Nerf guns and attacked us. Then he let us keep the guns and ammunition as early Christmas presents. The two of us were thrilled, and immediately started plotting how we would torture dear Jackie when we got home. For dinner tonight, I had seven plate-sized blueberry pancakes. Why? Well, that was how many I was given. And... they were darn good. And... I wanted to see how many I could eat before I was too full to belch in approval.
We got back in time for ward prayer, but because Rachel's mother had sent home extremely-stuffed stockings full of goodies for all six of us roomies and six beautifully wrapped packages that contained amazing fluffy scarves, we broke tradition. That's right. We DIDN'T wear hats. We wore scarves. I show up a mere five minutes early (usually it's about ten) to be confronted by dear Robert, my home teacher. He was complaining about how I hadn't been home when he had spontaneously tried to come visit me. I am laughing at him, and I then notice Ryan moping around in the background pretending to be a ghost.
Ryan has this tendency to pretend he's not there and be a ghost until he finally decides it's worth gathering up the courage to come and talk to me. I am perfectly content to just let him do this. But Ryan has recently tried to convince me that he "is not a ghost," and since I had already broken the hat thing... I could break another unwritten tradition. "Hello, Ryan!" I was not expecting him to be so thrilled that I had noticed him and actually started talking to him first. He lit up instantly. I'm not sure I can even begin to describe how funny it was. So that's how I ended up breaking a third tradition... I was talking to Ryan and then ward prayer started... and... I was not sitting in my traditional spot on the staircase with my short roommates (who happen to be giggling and shaking their heads at me). Oh snap.
After ward prayer... my friend Sarah pokes me as I've resumed conversation with Ryan. I turn around to an offer I cannot refuse. Sarah... has... chocolate... cake... I hurriedly say goodbye to Ryan and I invade Sarah's apartment. "I'm really, really sorry, it's just that I made too much and I'm trying to get rid of..." I kind of just laugh at her. "No, no, any time!"
I come back to my apartment... and realize I have forgotten my keys. I pound on my door. This is a surefire way to get all your roommates out in the hall. So, when I open the door, I am pounced upon instantly. I went from a singular person carrying a chocolate cake to a large mass of six girls clumped together cradling a chocolate cake. "What... what... what... is it..." "Oooooh... oh oh oh...." "Can... can... can... I have some?" "Shaaaaarrreeee? Share share share?" Remember now that we are all stressing out majorly and that chocolate is a cure-all (ooh, FYI, I've been eating chocolate all semester and no migraines... joy!) for anything stress related. This is also a fresh, warm, and extremely aromatic chocolate cake. I put on the counter and let my roommates have at it. I go check my email, preferring to not be a part of this frenzy (I would have been participating if I wasn't stuffed full of pancakes). I come back seventy-five seconds later, only to find... GASP! The chocolate cake is GONE. Gone. Eaten already. The WHOLE thing. Not a single crumb left. Not only was the pan empty, all of the cake's former glory was in the bellies of my dear roommates. I wasn't too disappointed since I was so full, but I just shook my head at my ravenous roomies and made my way over back to Sarah's place to return the pan.
She opens the door and looks at me warily. "I'm here to return your pan!" I say brightly. "It's all gone! My roomies found it!"
"Well... did you get any?"
"No... I left for a few seconds, and I came back, and it was gone."
Maybe I should have lied, because Sarah was distraught. She attacked her apartment to find a Snickers bar to give me (she didn't like Snickers and had been given one). I just laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Anyway, that is all for now! I will see you all next week!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Dodging Boys and Spinning Plates.
Have you ever seen one those variety show guys who spin plates? They go to catch one plate, and a plate on the other side starts to fall... so the plate-spinner runs over to catch that one... another falls... It's an amazing feat if the guy can keep all the plates spinning. I have come to connect with this poor guy. Constantly catching falling plates. It's like my life!
Anyway. Right now is the time where I attempt to juggle all my classes... all my papers... all my midterms... all my finals... all my dates... all my life...
Well, school is the boring part of my life right now. On to what might be considered interesting aspects of my life.
It seems I have become a victim of the attention of quite a few guys. I happen to not mind that Ryan likes me, because he's pretty much just as content as I am to just be friends... who happen to go on dates... every once in a while. Unfortunately, not all the guys around here conveniently don't want girlfriends before their missions like Ryan... take Will for instance. Will is one of those guys who is absolutely determined to get a girlfriend, and I seem to be his current target. Cue the sigh of despair.
I went on a date with him last Friday. Mostly I said yes because of what we were doing... Ok, so he got me at the words "Christmas concert"... The choirs and orchestras were spectacular, really. Especially those basses... Anyway.
Will certainly knows how to make a perfectly nice friendship go awkward. He gets depressed a lot... and then the first thing he thinks (and says aloud because he can't seem to differentiate between thought and the spoken word) is that he needs a girlfriend. And that his life would be magically wonderful if he had one. I always respond to this strange theory of his with hysterical laughter. Then I always make sure to tell him how ridiculous it is and lay down like concrete the fact that I don't have a boyfriend (and don't want one) and I'm perfectly happy. Sadly, this is the part where he tries to butt in, tell me I'm wrong, and that I'd probably enjoy having a boyfriend because he loves having a girlfriend. Ha. Ha. It was an amusing conversation the first time.
Will certainly knows how to make perfectly nice small talk awkward. At one point I informed him it was supposed to snow anywhere up to a foot the next weekend... he comments, with a rather sly note in his voice, that it's definitely cuddle weather... and that he didn't have anyone to cuddle with. Ugh. I respond with laughter (what else was I supposed to say?).
Will certainly knows how to make an innocent knock at the door scare the living daylights out of me. I was innocently cutting open a roll for a mini-sandwich when there came a particularly loud knock at the door. All of us ignore it... we don't really care who it is... we're pretty much stressed out of our minds... The mysterious visitor knocks again, this time more urgently and desperately. Jackie opens the door. From the kitchen, I hear Will's voice sounding off a rehearsed-sounding speech about how it's nearing finals and thus he is giving away free hugs and if anyone here wanted a hug.
Now see, I am pretty much famous in the ward for hugging everyone at the slightest excuse... I am well-known as the hug-lover. (In fact, as a silly side story, I was so tired the other day that I walked past my guy-friends Erik and Ryan without seeing them. Erik called out to me and asked if I was okay... I say I'm just tired, which was an understatement. Erik then asks if I'd like a hug... well, of course I did! I gave Erik a hug/ Erik gave me a hug while we were both walking, which proved difficult because he's so much taller than I am. It turned out to be the funniest hug I'd ever had. Immediately thereafter Ryan complains about not getting a hug, so I gave him a walk-hug too. Will was behind us somewhere watching...).
Back to the story, forgive me for the sidetrack. Well, Hillary bolts into the kitchen. I have told her all my suspicions about Will, and she pretty much... well, she feels sorry for me. She whispers to me urgently, "Jenna! We have to get you out of here!" She shoves me out into the twenty degree cold with knife and roll in hand without a sweater or jacket of any sort as I hear Will asking, "Is... is there... any one else here that needs a hug?" The door shuts and I am suddenly a very cold hobo with enough food for half a meal. I realize I have no keys either. I looked around at the snow... watched my breath for a while... watched the fog in the window... It was very uneventful. Then, Hillary suddenly pulled me back inside. We all looked at each other for a second... then Jackie and Hillary burst into laughter.
They launched into a narrative of Will's visit...they mentioned several times that he actually came into the apartment and looked into my bedroom to make sure I wasn't there. I wasn't sure I liked the drama that was happening, but I figure that's what I get for living with five other girls.
So, I'll be home late on Friday, December 21! I can't wait to see you all, and we should definitely hang out! :)
Anyway. Right now is the time where I attempt to juggle all my classes... all my papers... all my midterms... all my finals... all my dates... all my life...
Well, school is the boring part of my life right now. On to what might be considered interesting aspects of my life.
It seems I have become a victim of the attention of quite a few guys. I happen to not mind that Ryan likes me, because he's pretty much just as content as I am to just be friends... who happen to go on dates... every once in a while. Unfortunately, not all the guys around here conveniently don't want girlfriends before their missions like Ryan... take Will for instance. Will is one of those guys who is absolutely determined to get a girlfriend, and I seem to be his current target. Cue the sigh of despair.
I went on a date with him last Friday. Mostly I said yes because of what we were doing... Ok, so he got me at the words "Christmas concert"... The choirs and orchestras were spectacular, really. Especially those basses... Anyway.
Will certainly knows how to make a perfectly nice friendship go awkward. He gets depressed a lot... and then the first thing he thinks (and says aloud because he can't seem to differentiate between thought and the spoken word) is that he needs a girlfriend. And that his life would be magically wonderful if he had one. I always respond to this strange theory of his with hysterical laughter. Then I always make sure to tell him how ridiculous it is and lay down like concrete the fact that I don't have a boyfriend (and don't want one) and I'm perfectly happy. Sadly, this is the part where he tries to butt in, tell me I'm wrong, and that I'd probably enjoy having a boyfriend because he loves having a girlfriend. Ha. Ha. It was an amusing conversation the first time.
Will certainly knows how to make perfectly nice small talk awkward. At one point I informed him it was supposed to snow anywhere up to a foot the next weekend... he comments, with a rather sly note in his voice, that it's definitely cuddle weather... and that he didn't have anyone to cuddle with. Ugh. I respond with laughter (what else was I supposed to say?).
Will certainly knows how to make an innocent knock at the door scare the living daylights out of me. I was innocently cutting open a roll for a mini-sandwich when there came a particularly loud knock at the door. All of us ignore it... we don't really care who it is... we're pretty much stressed out of our minds... The mysterious visitor knocks again, this time more urgently and desperately. Jackie opens the door. From the kitchen, I hear Will's voice sounding off a rehearsed-sounding speech about how it's nearing finals and thus he is giving away free hugs and if anyone here wanted a hug.
Now see, I am pretty much famous in the ward for hugging everyone at the slightest excuse... I am well-known as the hug-lover. (In fact, as a silly side story, I was so tired the other day that I walked past my guy-friends Erik and Ryan without seeing them. Erik called out to me and asked if I was okay... I say I'm just tired, which was an understatement. Erik then asks if I'd like a hug... well, of course I did! I gave Erik a hug/ Erik gave me a hug while we were both walking, which proved difficult because he's so much taller than I am. It turned out to be the funniest hug I'd ever had. Immediately thereafter Ryan complains about not getting a hug, so I gave him a walk-hug too. Will was behind us somewhere watching...).
Back to the story, forgive me for the sidetrack. Well, Hillary bolts into the kitchen. I have told her all my suspicions about Will, and she pretty much... well, she feels sorry for me. She whispers to me urgently, "Jenna! We have to get you out of here!" She shoves me out into the twenty degree cold with knife and roll in hand without a sweater or jacket of any sort as I hear Will asking, "Is... is there... any one else here that needs a hug?" The door shuts and I am suddenly a very cold hobo with enough food for half a meal. I realize I have no keys either. I looked around at the snow... watched my breath for a while... watched the fog in the window... It was very uneventful. Then, Hillary suddenly pulled me back inside. We all looked at each other for a second... then Jackie and Hillary burst into laughter.
They launched into a narrative of Will's visit...they mentioned several times that he actually came into the apartment and looked into my bedroom to make sure I wasn't there. I wasn't sure I liked the drama that was happening, but I figure that's what I get for living with five other girls.
So, I'll be home late on Friday, December 21! I can't wait to see you all, and we should definitely hang out! :)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Oh, the Pudding.
Warning: This 'un is a tad bit long. (Understatement).
Oh, the Saturday.
I have locked myself in my room, so that I can do homework.
Of course, I have my Internet browser in Gmail, as always. I hover over my poor inbox like a vulture, hoping for an email from someone, anyone. I also have iTunes up, and I am listening to my usual batch of music.
I am busily working on calculus, and I am getting tired. Tired enough to fall asleep... I turn my music up louder and get back to working. Sluggishly.
Dink.
I open my eyes, and wipe the calculus off my face.
Dink.
What is going on?!?!
Oh. The Google chat. Ryan is talking to me.
We chat about random things for about fifteen minutes as I do calculus. The good thing is, I am now awake. This is why I keep my chat open when I'm working... harder to fall asleep that way.
Then, rather abruptly, he asks if I'd like to go on a walk.
I should have seen it coming, really. I mean, he was kind of asking about what I was doing... and how busy I was. And if I had devoted the entire night to goofing off just yet. So maybe the walk question wasn't as abrupt as I thought it was.
Immediately after asking if I'd like to go on a walk, he starts talking about random other things, like haircuts and such. I think he was half-hoping I hadn't noticed the line asking me to walk with him. The thing is, I told him I would walk with him. But he continued talking about haircuts for another few minutes until he finally noticed what I had said about the walk, at which point he says something like, "Wait... did you say you WERE up for a walk?"
Silly boy. We decide he'll meet me at the bottom of my back-door stairs, so I grab my keys and tell Jackie that I'm going.
Unfortunately, sly little Jackie asks exactly the wrong question. "A walk? With who?"
"Er... Ryan..."
Jackie pretty much explodes with energy. "A DATE! ANOTHER TALLY MARK!" See, we have a little white board in our kitchen where we keep track of how many dates we've been on. I had three tallies. Jackie prances over to said white board and happily puts a fourth tally mark by my name. I blink. I hadn't actually thought of it as a date.
So, stubbornly, I make my way to the board, and erase the tally mark. "Not a date."
"Well, did he ask you?"
"Yeah. Just now."
"It's a date!" She marks it up on the board again. I erase it again, and walk out the door,knowing full well that I'll have to erase it again when I got home... whenever that might be. I didn't see the sense in counting it as a date. I mean, it wouldn't have counted as a date if it had been Clifton, or Will, or any of my other guy friends. Silly Jackie.
Even with the Tally Mark War, I got outside first. When Ryan comes out of the neighboring hall and sees me already standing out there, he runs over.
Oh, the pudding (translation: oh, the adventure). Ryan decides to show me some fun stuff. We start by exploring Upper Heritage (we live in Lower Heritage). He seems to have a particular destination in mind at first. This destination ended up being Whitney Hall... which had a spectacular Peanuts mural in the window, the best by far depicting Lucy as BYU and Charlie Brown as Utah. Of course, Charlie Brown had tried to kick the football, and Lucy had stolen the football just as he was about the kick. It was amazing.
Then we explored on the inside. We discover that in addition to having four floors instead of three, Upper Heritage Halls also have more washers and dryers, a larger sundeck, and a nicer and bigger piano room. We sneak around stealthily and make our escape from the strange alien building from the basement door.
Now we make our way west, to the pretty little path alongside the stream near the bell tower. We stop at what Ryan says is "his bench." He tells stories about his EFY adventures and chasing ducks around. He even had a video of duck chasing on his phone that we watched. I think we both would have been up for some duck chasing had the ducks not moved to the other side of the stream (smart ducks).
Upon my comment, that I hadn't ever actually touched the bell tower, we climbed the stairs to it. We decided it would be fun to climb up it if we had been ninjas. However, since neither of us had enough ninja skill to climb up it, we moved on to the Bean Museum. We were going to go inside, but I figured out that it closed in ten minutes and that it wouldn't be very nice to scare the workers in there.
We moved on to a curb in between the ruins of Deseret Towers and the Museum. Apparently this curb also belongs to Ryan, again, because he spent time there when he came up for EFY.
Then... the deserted Deseret Towers. Ay, where there once stood U and V Hall, now stood two large piles of dirt. How sad. We wanted to explore that, but decided it probably wasn't safe and went around it to the Morris Center. It is surrounded by large piles of red leaves, obviously neglected by the landscaping crews. We peer in through the window. Weird. It's all... empty and spooky. We proceed over the remaining four towers, and look inside. Apparently, this is where Ryan lived when he came up for EFY and it was sad for him to see all the furniture thrown out the windows. There were large fences around the three northernmost towers, and we would have scaled it and explored in there had there not been a sign on the fence warning of a $300 fine.
Well, that's when we decided to move on. We passed the Morris Center again, and then walked past the Marriott Center to where Helaman Halls was. We didn't explore that, but instead saw the new Hinckley Center and decided to explore that. Unfortunately, that was closed (it WAS a Saturday). So...
That's when I decided to show Ryan around the JFSB. That's where I work every morning. He was thrilled about there being two computer labs in there that he didn't know about. I showed him a nice little study area with an expensive Persian rug. He wanted to go up the balcony on the top floor, but it was locked, sadly. Then... on the top floor, we saw that there were stairs still going up. Ooh! We stealthily climb up those and try the door at the top, but that is locked too. I'd imagine that actually led to the roof-roof. I'll never know I guess.
After that, we explored the library. Ryan knows a lot more about the library than I do... besides the SWKT, that's practically where he lives. We explored the moving bookshelves, and he showed me his favorite study spots. Then we found the little model of the entire BYU campus. It's amazing how detailed that thing is. Amazing.
We were about to ascend up the stairs again when we saw a humongous picture of BYU. Of course, we had to go back down and look for places we knew on it. We found the Creamery on Ninth... and thus we found our places near it. Ryan knew a whole lot about the Creamery... apparently it used to be called Carson's Market, and his dad used to work there. After that, we looked up and saw through the Atrium glass that it was dark outside.
We decided to go home. But then, as we passed the Wilk, Ryan decided he had to show me the Memorial Room too. We went in there, but we could see next door that something was happening. So we left. Then we walked home. Ryan gave me two hugs (the second was better than the first), and then I walked up the stairs and into my apartment. No one was home. At all. I shrugged, reduced my tally marks to three, looked at the clock and... Ahhhh! That walk was two and a half hours. Sick.
Not sure what to do now, I sat down at the piano and started playing. Someone knocked. I opened the door. It was a pair of Jackie's friends from Helaman Halls from her home ward. They came in. A few minutes later, Jackie came home.
Here comes the funny part (at least in my opinion).
And then, as I re-entered my room after a long break from calculus, Jackie tackled me. She grabbed me by both shoulders, and gave me this strange, intense look. "What. Happened."
I blinked. "Uhhh... we walked..."
"AND?"
I wondered what that was supposed to mean. I explained that "nothing" happened and I only got a hug, supposing she meant something along those lines.
She let me go, but she was still giving me those suspicious looks.
Well, I confronted her about it later. Here's the dealio according to Jackie. Her friends had been "spying" on Ryan and I and had told her a tall tale about how we were making out, as a practical joke on Jackie (she is very gullible sometimes). Silly people. My reaction to this little rumor was a mixture of shock and laughter, which eventually ended up on my face as a raised eyebrow. No wonder Jackie was so confused and freaked out. :)
But no, the apartment rumors didn't stop there. I don't know if any of you have ever lived in a building full of girls, but if you say something about a guy, it isn't long before the whole building knows about it and has made it gospel. So... guess who happened to be half-eavesdropping? Ashley.
In this case, half-eavesdropping is more deadly than full-eavesdropping. Because guess what key words she'd pick up if she wasn't listening all the way? "Jenna..." "Ryan..." "making out..." "walk..." "Nooooo!'
So Ashley perks up in her chair and exclaims with a gleeful look on her face, "What? Jenna and Ryan went on a make-out walk?!?!? Oooohhh...."
At this point, I have my face buried in my hands while simultaneously trying frantically to make it absolutely clear that nothing happened whatsoever.
So Ashley knows it isn't true. But... Ashley and Rochelle happen to be the kind of people who don't care if it's true or not. If they think something is funny, they'll spread word about it regardless of its verity.
By some miracle, the "make out walk" rumor disappears after that. Thank the heavens above. Until...
It's Sunday night after midnight, when Jackie gets home from a late night solo walk. She had been talking on the phone with a guy friend. But she was all alone. Immediately, Rochelle, Ashley, Christina, and I pounce on her. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! Walking alone talking on the phone to a guy...
The latter phrase evolved slowly from "walking alone on the phone with a guy" to "walking alone talking to a guy" to "walking alone with a guy." I am so upset with Jackie's lack of safety precautions that I haven't noticed this transformation of situations that we are denouncing...
All of a sudden, someone in the frenzy yells, "WELL THEN! If we going to punish anyone for walking alone with a guy, it should be Jenna! TWO AND A HALF HOURS WALKING ALONE WITH RYAN!"
All eyes are now on me, venomous, and yet gleeful at the same time. Ooh, not good. Ashley pipes up, "Oooh, and they were making out!" Ooh, definitely not good. Not good at all.
At this comment, the venom disappears and the glee of new-found gossip takes over, causing a large explosion of "WHAT?!?!"s and "REALLY?!?!"s. Jackie's sins are forgotten completely. Now mine are foremost in everyone's mind.
I vehemently deny that I made out with Ryan. Vehemently. And just when I thought I had convinced them, Christina butts in slyly. "Wait a minute. You keep saying 'I didn't make out with Ryan...' What about him? He made out with you, didn't he?"
At the uproar that follows this little snakebite, I flip into the hallway. Now pressed against the wall, I shake my head and mutter, "No, no no no no no no..." At this point, I decide most fully that I do not like girls' senses of humor. Especially when it comes to guys.
So now I wonder... was the pudding worth its price?
Oh, the Saturday.
I have locked myself in my room, so that I can do homework.
Of course, I have my Internet browser in Gmail, as always. I hover over my poor inbox like a vulture, hoping for an email from someone, anyone. I also have iTunes up, and I am listening to my usual batch of music.
I am busily working on calculus, and I am getting tired. Tired enough to fall asleep... I turn my music up louder and get back to working. Sluggishly.
Dink.
I open my eyes, and wipe the calculus off my face.
Dink.
What is going on?!?!
Oh. The Google chat. Ryan is talking to me.
We chat about random things for about fifteen minutes as I do calculus. The good thing is, I am now awake. This is why I keep my chat open when I'm working... harder to fall asleep that way.
Then, rather abruptly, he asks if I'd like to go on a walk.
I should have seen it coming, really. I mean, he was kind of asking about what I was doing... and how busy I was. And if I had devoted the entire night to goofing off just yet. So maybe the walk question wasn't as abrupt as I thought it was.
Immediately after asking if I'd like to go on a walk, he starts talking about random other things, like haircuts and such. I think he was half-hoping I hadn't noticed the line asking me to walk with him. The thing is, I told him I would walk with him. But he continued talking about haircuts for another few minutes until he finally noticed what I had said about the walk, at which point he says something like, "Wait... did you say you WERE up for a walk?"
Silly boy. We decide he'll meet me at the bottom of my back-door stairs, so I grab my keys and tell Jackie that I'm going.
Unfortunately, sly little Jackie asks exactly the wrong question. "A walk? With who?"
"Er... Ryan..."
Jackie pretty much explodes with energy. "A DATE! ANOTHER TALLY MARK!" See, we have a little white board in our kitchen where we keep track of how many dates we've been on. I had three tallies. Jackie prances over to said white board and happily puts a fourth tally mark by my name. I blink. I hadn't actually thought of it as a date.
So, stubbornly, I make my way to the board, and erase the tally mark. "Not a date."
"Well, did he ask you?"
"Yeah. Just now."
"It's a date!" She marks it up on the board again. I erase it again, and walk out the door,knowing full well that I'll have to erase it again when I got home... whenever that might be. I didn't see the sense in counting it as a date. I mean, it wouldn't have counted as a date if it had been Clifton, or Will, or any of my other guy friends. Silly Jackie.
Even with the Tally Mark War, I got outside first. When Ryan comes out of the neighboring hall and sees me already standing out there, he runs over.
Oh, the pudding (translation: oh, the adventure). Ryan decides to show me some fun stuff. We start by exploring Upper Heritage (we live in Lower Heritage). He seems to have a particular destination in mind at first. This destination ended up being Whitney Hall... which had a spectacular Peanuts mural in the window, the best by far depicting Lucy as BYU and Charlie Brown as Utah. Of course, Charlie Brown had tried to kick the football, and Lucy had stolen the football just as he was about the kick. It was amazing.
Then we explored on the inside. We discover that in addition to having four floors instead of three, Upper Heritage Halls also have more washers and dryers, a larger sundeck, and a nicer and bigger piano room. We sneak around stealthily and make our escape from the strange alien building from the basement door.
Now we make our way west, to the pretty little path alongside the stream near the bell tower. We stop at what Ryan says is "his bench." He tells stories about his EFY adventures and chasing ducks around. He even had a video of duck chasing on his phone that we watched. I think we both would have been up for some duck chasing had the ducks not moved to the other side of the stream (smart ducks).
Upon my comment, that I hadn't ever actually touched the bell tower, we climbed the stairs to it. We decided it would be fun to climb up it if we had been ninjas. However, since neither of us had enough ninja skill to climb up it, we moved on to the Bean Museum. We were going to go inside, but I figured out that it closed in ten minutes and that it wouldn't be very nice to scare the workers in there.
We moved on to a curb in between the ruins of Deseret Towers and the Museum. Apparently this curb also belongs to Ryan, again, because he spent time there when he came up for EFY.
Then... the deserted Deseret Towers. Ay, where there once stood U and V Hall, now stood two large piles of dirt. How sad. We wanted to explore that, but decided it probably wasn't safe and went around it to the Morris Center. It is surrounded by large piles of red leaves, obviously neglected by the landscaping crews. We peer in through the window. Weird. It's all... empty and spooky. We proceed over the remaining four towers, and look inside. Apparently, this is where Ryan lived when he came up for EFY and it was sad for him to see all the furniture thrown out the windows. There were large fences around the three northernmost towers, and we would have scaled it and explored in there had there not been a sign on the fence warning of a $300 fine.
Well, that's when we decided to move on. We passed the Morris Center again, and then walked past the Marriott Center to where Helaman Halls was. We didn't explore that, but instead saw the new Hinckley Center and decided to explore that. Unfortunately, that was closed (it WAS a Saturday). So...
That's when I decided to show Ryan around the JFSB. That's where I work every morning. He was thrilled about there being two computer labs in there that he didn't know about. I showed him a nice little study area with an expensive Persian rug. He wanted to go up the balcony on the top floor, but it was locked, sadly. Then... on the top floor, we saw that there were stairs still going up. Ooh! We stealthily climb up those and try the door at the top, but that is locked too. I'd imagine that actually led to the roof-roof. I'll never know I guess.
After that, we explored the library. Ryan knows a lot more about the library than I do... besides the SWKT, that's practically where he lives. We explored the moving bookshelves, and he showed me his favorite study spots. Then we found the little model of the entire BYU campus. It's amazing how detailed that thing is. Amazing.
We were about to ascend up the stairs again when we saw a humongous picture of BYU. Of course, we had to go back down and look for places we knew on it. We found the Creamery on Ninth... and thus we found our places near it. Ryan knew a whole lot about the Creamery... apparently it used to be called Carson's Market, and his dad used to work there. After that, we looked up and saw through the Atrium glass that it was dark outside.
We decided to go home. But then, as we passed the Wilk, Ryan decided he had to show me the Memorial Room too. We went in there, but we could see next door that something was happening. So we left. Then we walked home. Ryan gave me two hugs (the second was better than the first), and then I walked up the stairs and into my apartment. No one was home. At all. I shrugged, reduced my tally marks to three, looked at the clock and... Ahhhh! That walk was two and a half hours. Sick.
Not sure what to do now, I sat down at the piano and started playing. Someone knocked. I opened the door. It was a pair of Jackie's friends from Helaman Halls from her home ward. They came in. A few minutes later, Jackie came home.
Here comes the funny part (at least in my opinion).
And then, as I re-entered my room after a long break from calculus, Jackie tackled me. She grabbed me by both shoulders, and gave me this strange, intense look. "What. Happened."
I blinked. "Uhhh... we walked..."
"AND?"
I wondered what that was supposed to mean. I explained that "nothing" happened and I only got a hug, supposing she meant something along those lines.
She let me go, but she was still giving me those suspicious looks.
Well, I confronted her about it later. Here's the dealio according to Jackie. Her friends had been "spying" on Ryan and I and had told her a tall tale about how we were making out, as a practical joke on Jackie (she is very gullible sometimes). Silly people. My reaction to this little rumor was a mixture of shock and laughter, which eventually ended up on my face as a raised eyebrow. No wonder Jackie was so confused and freaked out. :)
But no, the apartment rumors didn't stop there. I don't know if any of you have ever lived in a building full of girls, but if you say something about a guy, it isn't long before the whole building knows about it and has made it gospel. So... guess who happened to be half-eavesdropping? Ashley.
In this case, half-eavesdropping is more deadly than full-eavesdropping. Because guess what key words she'd pick up if she wasn't listening all the way? "Jenna..." "Ryan..." "making out..." "walk..." "Nooooo!'
So Ashley perks up in her chair and exclaims with a gleeful look on her face, "What? Jenna and Ryan went on a make-out walk?!?!? Oooohhh...."
At this point, I have my face buried in my hands while simultaneously trying frantically to make it absolutely clear that nothing happened whatsoever.
So Ashley knows it isn't true. But... Ashley and Rochelle happen to be the kind of people who don't care if it's true or not. If they think something is funny, they'll spread word about it regardless of its verity.
By some miracle, the "make out walk" rumor disappears after that. Thank the heavens above. Until...
It's Sunday night after midnight, when Jackie gets home from a late night solo walk. She had been talking on the phone with a guy friend. But she was all alone. Immediately, Rochelle, Ashley, Christina, and I pounce on her. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! Walking alone talking on the phone to a guy...
The latter phrase evolved slowly from "walking alone on the phone with a guy" to "walking alone talking to a guy" to "walking alone with a guy." I am so upset with Jackie's lack of safety precautions that I haven't noticed this transformation of situations that we are denouncing...
All of a sudden, someone in the frenzy yells, "WELL THEN! If we going to punish anyone for walking alone with a guy, it should be Jenna! TWO AND A HALF HOURS WALKING ALONE WITH RYAN!"
All eyes are now on me, venomous, and yet gleeful at the same time. Ooh, not good. Ashley pipes up, "Oooh, and they were making out!" Ooh, definitely not good. Not good at all.
At this comment, the venom disappears and the glee of new-found gossip takes over, causing a large explosion of "WHAT?!?!"s and "REALLY?!?!"s. Jackie's sins are forgotten completely. Now mine are foremost in everyone's mind.
I vehemently deny that I made out with Ryan. Vehemently. And just when I thought I had convinced them, Christina butts in slyly. "Wait a minute. You keep saying 'I didn't make out with Ryan...' What about him? He made out with you, didn't he?"
At the uproar that follows this little snakebite, I flip into the hallway. Now pressed against the wall, I shake my head and mutter, "No, no no no no no no..." At this point, I decide most fully that I do not like girls' senses of humor. Especially when it comes to guys.
So now I wonder... was the pudding worth its price?
Mini-Story
Hallelujah!
I am done peer-editing Erik's paper after much procrastination. Erik wasn't there... but Roy and Ian were, and I said goodbye as I happily skipped down the stairs of Shipp Hall, the men's hall in my ward.
I make it safely to the ground floor. This is quite an achievement for me... I'm not much for agility or grace.
I burst out the front door of the Shipp into the cold, but I am elated. And then.
Without any warning whatsoever.
I am soaring through the air, almost gracefully. I mean the only oppositional force acting upon me here was the gravitational force (and perhaps a negligible air resistance), so my center of mass executed a perfect parabola... until my knee hit the concrete, sending me into a spectacular somersault onto the grass, where I land, spread eagle, facing the Shipp.
The grass is quite cool and comfortable. I am slightly bewildered as to how I got there though. I tilt my head up at the Shipp and inspect my surroundings. A teeny little set of three stairs in front of the hall wave at me gleefully. I suppose it's not often such a small fleet of stairs gets a victim. I was thankful that there was only one passersby at the time.
I don't remember my foot hitting the pavement, but now my shoe is sporting a large hole where my big toe should be. My palm is also stinging.
I get up clumsily, and after regaining my balance, I skip the remainder of the way home. Once home, I pull up my pant leg and inspect my knee.
Ooh, a skinned knee!
I clean my wounds with Rachel looking on. We decide my unfortunate fate had something to do with waves of manliness (or perhaps gorgeous) that hit me from behind, causing me to splat on the pavement.
Moral of the story: All those guys in the Shipp should be a little less manly and/or gorgeous for my safety.
I am done peer-editing Erik's paper after much procrastination. Erik wasn't there... but Roy and Ian were, and I said goodbye as I happily skipped down the stairs of Shipp Hall, the men's hall in my ward.
I make it safely to the ground floor. This is quite an achievement for me... I'm not much for agility or grace.
I burst out the front door of the Shipp into the cold, but I am elated. And then.
Without any warning whatsoever.
I am soaring through the air, almost gracefully. I mean the only oppositional force acting upon me here was the gravitational force (and perhaps a negligible air resistance), so my center of mass executed a perfect parabola... until my knee hit the concrete, sending me into a spectacular somersault onto the grass, where I land, spread eagle, facing the Shipp.
The grass is quite cool and comfortable. I am slightly bewildered as to how I got there though. I tilt my head up at the Shipp and inspect my surroundings. A teeny little set of three stairs in front of the hall wave at me gleefully. I suppose it's not often such a small fleet of stairs gets a victim. I was thankful that there was only one passersby at the time.
I don't remember my foot hitting the pavement, but now my shoe is sporting a large hole where my big toe should be. My palm is also stinging.
I get up clumsily, and after regaining my balance, I skip the remainder of the way home. Once home, I pull up my pant leg and inspect my knee.
Ooh, a skinned knee!
I clean my wounds with Rachel looking on. We decide my unfortunate fate had something to do with waves of manliness (or perhaps gorgeous) that hit me from behind, causing me to splat on the pavement.
Moral of the story: All those guys in the Shipp should be a little less manly and/or gorgeous for my safety.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
So.
I haven't sent off an email for like...two weeks. Two whole weeks. As these two weeks were happening I thought they were quite boring. But I guess I might have a few mildly interesting stories. Maybe.
As with all my stories, all the details are probably not exactly accurate. But I have to make it interesting somehow.
Well, I haven't said anything about that dance I went to with Ryan... I guess I'll write about that. It was last... Saturday. Yes. I do believe that is right. Rachel and Clifton as well as Hillary and Robert decided to join me and Ryan and make a six-some group. Intrigue and excitement. And, since it was girl's choice dance, us girls were in charge. However, neither Hillary nor Rachel seemed particularly thrilled about planning anything for a dinner... So... I decided to make spaghetti and garlic bread and all that exciting stuff. I called up the boys and told them all when to show up... and then I started my work.
It was like an intricate symphony -- everything had to be timed perfectly. Well, I got the meat and the sauce and the noodles timed perfectly. Even the garlic butter ended up right on schedule. I got the butter on the bread and stuck it in the oven at the right time... and then I forgot about it while I made the finishing touches on my spaghetti recipe. I was quite proud of myself. Except for that burning smell. It was really annoying and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was burning. And then it dawned on me as I set the table...
Oh yeah. Garlic bread.
It would have been divine garlic bread if I hadn't forgotten about it. I had made the perfect garlic butter, and smeared it nicely on the perfect loaf of garlic bread from the Creamery.
I opened the oven door in panic ... and there was the blackest bread I'd ever seen in my life. Along with a billowing cloud of black smoke. Just then I heard a knock on the door. Looking furiously at the clock, I see it's about time for the boys to show up. I dash to the kitchen-hallway door just as Rachel opens the hallway-lobby door... Rachel doesn't have time to greet Ryan or Robert (both were standing there, looking in quite inquisitively) before I blurt out at her, "Rachel! Don't let them in! Keep them in the lobby! Stall!" I don't see Robert's face at all after that, but I caught a glimpse of a bewildered expression on Ryan's face before I slammed the kitchen-hallway door shut in order to prevent the smoke detector from going off.
My cooking-fire-response-team mode has kicked in. However this response-team-member and the cook in me are having a huge argument. With the oven safely turned off, I open the windows, open the back door, prop it open with a chair, turn on the fan (quite useless really, but just in case it helps...). Then I get the Febreeze (for lack of real air freshener) and spray the kitchen down). I stir the sauce, finish setting the table, and then...
I make my out to the lobby. That's where I get some very confused looks from Rachel, Hillary, Robert, and Ryan (sooo many R's!). I was confused too... so... I resorted to a grin. "Garlic bread," I said. "I put it in the oven. Then I forgot about it." That seemed to explain all. I went back into the kitchen, where it smelt faintly of smoke. I heard a knock on the back door. In came Clifton, who informed me it didn't smell like smoke any more... So... I retrieved the others from the lobby.
I wasn't breathing very well. The mad cook in my head was hitting me over my real head for that garlic bread mistake. So, I was starting to grow a bump through the top of my skull... and I pretty much did. I shoveled spaghetti onto six plates... and then I sat at the table. And I couldn't sit still. The mad cook in my head was distracting me (wouldn't you be distracted if you had a mad Frenchwoman screaming about your stupidity and your ignorance relentlessly?). Eventually the spaghetti on the plates disappeared, and the dishes disappeared soon after that.
Now came the fun part... getting to the dance.
So. Three couples = six people. One car = five seats. ... ... Five seats = six people? Yes. That seems about right. Trust me, I'm a math major. Six very small and sardine-like people, though. Rachel and I get in the middle. Then Ryan and Clifton come in on either side. SQUISH. Wow, that's pretty much... wow. I never realized how valuable the air was until I couldn't breathe it. The four of us struggling in the back, Robert gets in the passenger seat, and Hillary gets ready to drive. She looks quite pale. ... Very. She's obviously quite nervous about driving people all the way to Heber.
After about an hour of reciting the Muppets, having a This-Is-The-Song-That-Gets-On-Everybody's-Nerves (Clifton & Rachel) vs. Yellow-Submarine (me & Ryan) duel, breathing in crazy rhythms, giving one of Ryan's friend-girls advice about college application essays (don't write about chickens) via a cell phone, and even some Yu-Gi-Oh impressions, we finally find the train station.
Yes, the dance is on a train. Really, great fun. I pretty much pretended to dance, although I'm sure it was quite obvious I had NO idea what I was doing. Ryan pretty much did know what he was doing and put me to shame. Hillary also shamed me with her dancing skills.
The ultimate shame came when Ryan, Clifton, and a towel started dancing. Yes, that's right. The Towel Dance, which words cannot describe. Oh, how I would have died for a video camera right then. Yes, died. It would have been worth the camera. We danced for awhile. Or at least everyone else danced, and I had a few arguments with my feet, who resisted every possible dance move that came up in my mind.
Then the six of us moved off to the seating cars, getting hot chocolate and cookies on the way over. Rachel, Clifton, Hillary, and Robert commandeered a group of four seats. Ryan and I sat across from each in another group of four seats. I was quite content (how could I not be, sipping hot chocolate?) and had my legs propped up on the seat next to where Ryan was sitting. I think we were all talking about something random. And then Ryan got up and grabbed my feet (presumably to move them when he decided he'd rather sit next to me than across from me). Now, recall that I had an argument with my feet earlier. Here I pay the consequences, for both feet had sworn an oath to neither listen to or talk to me for the remainder of the night. I will my legs to bend; they do not. Instead the rest of me tilts. Which results in hot chocolate all over the front of the man-shirt I happened to be wearing (Ryan and I dressed up as Gilligan and Skipper, respectively). The warmth all over my front triggered the mad laughter/giggle mechanism, quite involuntarily. Ryan finally ended up where he'd like to sit. I ended up making better friends with Clifton's dancing towel.
Well, after the chocolate had partially dried, the seating situation kind of led to Ryan and I having our own conversation (there was sooo much distance between us two and the other four... we couldn't hear each other's dialogue). I can't remember what it was about for the life of me, but I think it was interesting. At some point the other four left (not sure when that happened... they were sooo far awaaayyy) and then a slow song came on, and Ryan decided to teach me how to slow dance.
I was more hesitant than I usually would have been I think... the last experience trying to cooperate with my feet didn't end well. After I got over the initial shock that my feet were begrudgingly cooperating somewhat (they must have decided I got what I deserved with the hot chocolate incident), I was able to look up... kind of... 'cuz Ryan was right there and that meant I'd have to look right at him. Which would have been a lot easier if he didn't have such nice eyes, truthfully. It would have been easer to dance with Clifton because he has blue eyes (I think?). Anyway, I think I should get lots of bonus points for learning a life skill (that's slow dancing). And Ryan should get bonus points for teaching me.
Eventually we found the other four back on the dance floor. We all danced a little more, and then we ended up back in the seating section. This time Hillary and Robert got to be the lone two. Clifton, Rachel, Ryan, and I had some random fun bobbing our heads in time, debating who in our rooms would get married first (unfortunately, I was placed pretty close to first... I personally don't think that's going to happen. I'm determined to go on a mission...). The train eventually ended up back at the station, and we all piled back into Hillary's car.
Rachel, I think, was the least comfortable this time. She was the only one we didn't manage to get into a seatbelt... so Clifton, Ryan, and I threw our arms around her to, uh... secure her? It was pretty much amazing. As time wore on, hands drew back until no one was holding Rachel steady (I think Ryan was last to move his arm... Least selfish of all us?). So, I guess, if we had gotten into an accident, Rachel would have died. How sad. Well, we called Jackie before midnight to avoid getting "grounded" and then... and then I got really tired. Rachel had a very comfortable shoulder on my left, as she was a little elevated due to the close quarters. Ryan had a comfortable hatted head on my right. I tried both out as pillows and decided that Rachel's shoulder won. Rachel, your shoulder is amazing. If you were taller in real life, I'd be using it as a pillow all the time.
We eventually got home, and piled out of the car. I got a few nice hugs (yessssss) and we all went to bed.
As with all my stories, all the details are probably not exactly accurate. But I have to make it interesting somehow.
Well, I haven't said anything about that dance I went to with Ryan... I guess I'll write about that. It was last... Saturday. Yes. I do believe that is right. Rachel and Clifton as well as Hillary and Robert decided to join me and Ryan and make a six-some group. Intrigue and excitement. And, since it was girl's choice dance, us girls were in charge. However, neither Hillary nor Rachel seemed particularly thrilled about planning anything for a dinner... So... I decided to make spaghetti and garlic bread and all that exciting stuff. I called up the boys and told them all when to show up... and then I started my work.
It was like an intricate symphony -- everything had to be timed perfectly. Well, I got the meat and the sauce and the noodles timed perfectly. Even the garlic butter ended up right on schedule. I got the butter on the bread and stuck it in the oven at the right time... and then I forgot about it while I made the finishing touches on my spaghetti recipe. I was quite proud of myself. Except for that burning smell. It was really annoying and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was burning. And then it dawned on me as I set the table...
Oh yeah. Garlic bread.
It would have been divine garlic bread if I hadn't forgotten about it. I had made the perfect garlic butter, and smeared it nicely on the perfect loaf of garlic bread from the Creamery.
I opened the oven door in panic ... and there was the blackest bread I'd ever seen in my life. Along with a billowing cloud of black smoke. Just then I heard a knock on the door. Looking furiously at the clock, I see it's about time for the boys to show up. I dash to the kitchen-hallway door just as Rachel opens the hallway-lobby door... Rachel doesn't have time to greet Ryan or Robert (both were standing there, looking in quite inquisitively) before I blurt out at her, "Rachel! Don't let them in! Keep them in the lobby! Stall!" I don't see Robert's face at all after that, but I caught a glimpse of a bewildered expression on Ryan's face before I slammed the kitchen-hallway door shut in order to prevent the smoke detector from going off.
My cooking-fire-response-team mode has kicked in. However this response-team-member and the cook in me are having a huge argument. With the oven safely turned off, I open the windows, open the back door, prop it open with a chair, turn on the fan (quite useless really, but just in case it helps...). Then I get the Febreeze (for lack of real air freshener) and spray the kitchen down). I stir the sauce, finish setting the table, and then...
I make my out to the lobby. That's where I get some very confused looks from Rachel, Hillary, Robert, and Ryan (sooo many R's!). I was confused too... so... I resorted to a grin. "Garlic bread," I said. "I put it in the oven. Then I forgot about it." That seemed to explain all. I went back into the kitchen, where it smelt faintly of smoke. I heard a knock on the back door. In came Clifton, who informed me it didn't smell like smoke any more... So... I retrieved the others from the lobby.
I wasn't breathing very well. The mad cook in my head was hitting me over my real head for that garlic bread mistake. So, I was starting to grow a bump through the top of my skull... and I pretty much did. I shoveled spaghetti onto six plates... and then I sat at the table. And I couldn't sit still. The mad cook in my head was distracting me (wouldn't you be distracted if you had a mad Frenchwoman screaming about your stupidity and your ignorance relentlessly?). Eventually the spaghetti on the plates disappeared, and the dishes disappeared soon after that.
Now came the fun part... getting to the dance.
So. Three couples = six people. One car = five seats. ... ... Five seats = six people? Yes. That seems about right. Trust me, I'm a math major. Six very small and sardine-like people, though. Rachel and I get in the middle. Then Ryan and Clifton come in on either side. SQUISH. Wow, that's pretty much... wow. I never realized how valuable the air was until I couldn't breathe it. The four of us struggling in the back, Robert gets in the passenger seat, and Hillary gets ready to drive. She looks quite pale. ... Very. She's obviously quite nervous about driving people all the way to Heber.
After about an hour of reciting the Muppets, having a This-Is-The-Song-That-Gets-On
Yes, the dance is on a train. Really, great fun. I pretty much pretended to dance, although I'm sure it was quite obvious I had NO idea what I was doing. Ryan pretty much did know what he was doing and put me to shame. Hillary also shamed me with her dancing skills.
The ultimate shame came when Ryan, Clifton, and a towel started dancing. Yes, that's right. The Towel Dance, which words cannot describe. Oh, how I would have died for a video camera right then. Yes, died. It would have been worth the camera. We danced for awhile. Or at least everyone else danced, and I had a few arguments with my feet, who resisted every possible dance move that came up in my mind.
Then the six of us moved off to the seating cars, getting hot chocolate and cookies on the way over. Rachel, Clifton, Hillary, and Robert commandeered a group of four seats. Ryan and I sat across from each in another group of four seats. I was quite content (how could I not be, sipping hot chocolate?) and had my legs propped up on the seat next to where Ryan was sitting. I think we were all talking about something random. And then Ryan got up and grabbed my feet (presumably to move them when he decided he'd rather sit next to me than across from me). Now, recall that I had an argument with my feet earlier. Here I pay the consequences, for both feet had sworn an oath to neither listen to or talk to me for the remainder of the night. I will my legs to bend; they do not. Instead the rest of me tilts. Which results in hot chocolate all over the front of the man-shirt I happened to be wearing (Ryan and I dressed up as Gilligan and Skipper, respectively). The warmth all over my front triggered the mad laughter/giggle mechanism, quite involuntarily. Ryan finally ended up where he'd like to sit. I ended up making better friends with Clifton's dancing towel.
Well, after the chocolate had partially dried, the seating situation kind of led to Ryan and I having our own conversation (there was sooo much distance between us two and the other four... we couldn't hear each other's dialogue). I can't remember what it was about for the life of me, but I think it was interesting. At some point the other four left (not sure when that happened... they were sooo far awaaayyy) and then a slow song came on, and Ryan decided to teach me how to slow dance.
I was more hesitant than I usually would have been I think... the last experience trying to cooperate with my feet didn't end well. After I got over the initial shock that my feet were begrudgingly cooperating somewhat (they must have decided I got what I deserved with the hot chocolate incident), I was able to look up... kind of... 'cuz Ryan was right there and that meant I'd have to look right at him. Which would have been a lot easier if he didn't have such nice eyes, truthfully. It would have been easer to dance with Clifton because he has blue eyes (I think?). Anyway, I think I should get lots of bonus points for learning a life skill (that's slow dancing). And Ryan should get bonus points for teaching me.
Eventually we found the other four back on the dance floor. We all danced a little more, and then we ended up back in the seating section. This time Hillary and Robert got to be the lone two. Clifton, Rachel, Ryan, and I had some random fun bobbing our heads in time, debating who in our rooms would get married first (unfortunately, I was placed pretty close to first... I personally don't think that's going to happen. I'm determined to go on a mission...). The train eventually ended up back at the station, and we all piled back into Hillary's car.
Rachel, I think, was the least comfortable this time. She was the only one we didn't manage to get into a seatbelt... so Clifton, Ryan, and I threw our arms around her to, uh... secure her? It was pretty much amazing. As time wore on, hands drew back until no one was holding Rachel steady (I think Ryan was last to move his arm... Least selfish of all us?). So, I guess, if we had gotten into an accident, Rachel would have died. How sad. Well, we called Jackie before midnight to avoid getting "grounded" and then... and then I got really tired. Rachel had a very comfortable shoulder on my left, as she was a little elevated due to the close quarters. Ryan had a comfortable hatted head on my right. I tried both out as pillows and decided that Rachel's shoulder won. Rachel, your shoulder is amazing. If you were taller in real life, I'd be using it as a pillow all the time.
We eventually got home, and piled out of the car. I got a few nice hugs (yessssss) and we all went to bed.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Oh man, oh man! It's snowing! Hard core!
Eehehehee!
Snow! It's snowing. Everything is turning white! Ahahaa! And we are already having snowball fights! :)
I also built a snowman.
Anyway, that's it for recent developments. In less recent news we have a few mildly interesting stories...
The Orchard
So... my Book of Mormon class has a party at my professor's orchard. Fun fun.
We pile out of the big university vans and toward a huge table full of raw hot dogs and hamburgers. Brother Wilson's first question was, "Soo.... who wants to cook?" He said this while motioning toward a big barbecue. Okay, so all the girls shrink away, probably thinking about how manly a job barbecuing things is. So I look over at the boys... Oh dear. They are also shrinking away from the grill as if it were toxic. Looks like a job for... JENNA THE BURNINATOR! I volunteer. Oh joy. Now I am slaving over the grill, hoping NOT to burninate anything. Then everyone saunters off into the depths of orchard... and I am left all alone.
Well, of course smoke follows beauty. And since I was the most beautiful (and only) person there, all the burger smoke drifted right in my face. Coughing, I finish grilling and look around. I'm all alone with the food... but I hear screaming and laughing farther in. I abandon the food and run off to find my friends.
There it is.
The zipline of death.
I approach as Roy comes zooming down. He is caught, and then Michelle goes. She is caught by a few guys. I stand next to Zach. "Have you gone yet?" he asks placidly. "No, I was grilling, remember?" "Ohhh... yeah." Eventually, I say, "Okay, I'll go I guess."
Everyone seems quite excited that I'm ziplining. Why? I wonder. Everyone was going, and no one seemed to excited, except for when Helen went Superman-style.
I jump on. Backwards. Just to mix things up.
Roy and Clifton start pulling me up to the top. I look down when we reach the top. "We're gonna race you, okay?" Roy yells up at me. I laugh. "Go ahead." They launch me... and take off as well. Hm.
I am falling backwards, and it wasn't as exciting as I though it'd be. So... just to make things more exciting, I started kicking and yelling like I was about to die.
That did the trick. ZOOOOOOOOM! I hear screaming behind me. THUNK! I hit the either the knot in the steel rope or a body, I'm not sure. I bounce high in the air, my feet just barely missing Erik's poor face. My head also missed the ground by a single centimeter.
I am out of breath from laughing so hard. Hillary is hyperventilating. "JENNA!!! Don't ever do that again! If you had gotten hurt I would have been legally obligated to help you!" Apparently she's medically trained... and just had my life flash before her eyes. Which I think is weird since she knows nothing about my life... :)
Hillary and I walk back over to where the food is. I grab myself some food and make my over to the campfire. Fun, I guess.
I get bored quickly... so I call up my Dad and talk to him.
Then things get boring again.
So... Brother Wilson brings out the marshmallows, looking warily at me as he sets them out next to the roasters and the campfire. I smile. "Don't worry... Rachel is here to duel with." Brother Wilson, a little relieved, leaves me with the marshmallows. I start roasting them.
Now I don't really like marshmallows... I just like burning them. I say so. Brother Wilson laughs. "Jenna, you missed your calling. You should have been a cub scout!" I look up at him, saying quite seriously, "Well, sorry, I wasn't born a boy."
There is laughter. I happily burninate the marshmallows. Hillary comes to burninate them with me. So does Ryan. I talk with Ryan for a while. We get into a debate about -- hair? He insists it takes guys just as long to do their hair as girls do. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade him otherwise, I just shake my head.
Then... there is an apple fight. BAMMM! Ryan is pelted. I laughed, and I would have joined in... except I'm already covered in bruises (not sure why, I blame sleepdancing). Yay?
Ryan and I talk some more about the most random things. Smiles. (His photo-smiles are really creepy!) Also the potential deadliness of the marshmallow roasters. Then we all burst into songs and sang hymns around the campfire for about half an hour.
Then we set off for the vans so that we could go home. I realize that I haven't nicknamed Ryan.
"Hey! You don't have a nickname yet! I've nicknamed nearly everyone except you! There's Cliftonius, Tsar Alexander, The Willinator, Isaacle... but I haven't nicknamed you!"
"Uhhh...."
I pause. "My dad calls you Grape Man 'cuz I told him about how I asked you to preference!"
"Oh... Grape Man? Grape Guy? ... Grape Crush?"
I laugh.
"Oh wait... that sounds like... never mind..."
"You know I'm going have to call you that now..." I am laughing so hard on the inside because he doesn't realize how accurate this is. Poor boy.
He also promised to bring some Grape Crush (the soda) since I'm never had it before... and thus my childhood is not complete (I was wondering why I hadn't grown up yet). He starts trying to figure out where he can get it... ooh, he sounds serious :P I'm excited... for soda.
When we get back on campus and pile out of the vans... Ryan walks me home. I joke about getting kidnapped between his hall and mine (they are right next to each other). "Well, anytime you need an escort..." "Haha, 3:30 in the morning?" I say it jokingly... but he said he wouldn't mind much, he has to get up early anyway. I think this is ridiculous and tell him so. And then I go inside. Where I am immediately teased by my roommates. Ugh.
Preference
Hillary, Rachel, and I decide we all want to go the Murder Mystery dance in Heber. Hillary has a car, but with three couples... well, let's just say there's not enough seats and it's a forty-five minute drive.
"Okay... so who are we throwing in the trunk?"
"Robert's the smallest... he should go in the trunk!"
"Yeah... but... he's the date of honor. I mean, Hillary's the driver..."
"Oh... good point!"
"Oooh... let's throw Ryan in the trunk!"
Hillary pipes in. "You could sit on each other's laps!"
Rachel and I give horrified looks to her. In near unison, we both exclaim, "I'm not sitting on Ryan's/Clifton's lap!"
Hillary, wide-eyed gasps, and then says, "No no no no! I meant -- I meant that Rachel could sit on Jenna!"
This seemed much more... comfortable. To both of us.
Cold Hands
Oh man, it's cold today. Jackie and I run off to the central building to exchange our dollar bills for quarters. On the way back, I realize my hands are pretty much frozen.
"Argh!" I say. "My hands are freezing! I need a man on both sides to hold hands with!" Jackie laughs so hard.
Later tonight, Jackie comes home, with bright red hands and covered in snow. "Ahhh! I need like... five warm coats and a boyfriend!"
So... we, the women in 126 Robison Hall, have come to the consensus that boyfriends are good for keeping warm. Except none of us have one :P
Well, that's all folks! I hope I'll actually have something interesting to write about next week! (I should, the preference dance is next Saturday!)
Snow! It's snowing. Everything is turning white! Ahahaa! And we are already having snowball fights! :)
I also built a snowman.
Anyway, that's it for recent developments. In less recent news we have a few mildly interesting stories...
The Orchard
So... my Book of Mormon class has a party at my professor's orchard. Fun fun.
We pile out of the big university vans and toward a huge table full of raw hot dogs and hamburgers. Brother Wilson's first question was, "Soo.... who wants to cook?" He said this while motioning toward a big barbecue. Okay, so all the girls shrink away, probably thinking about how manly a job barbecuing things is. So I look over at the boys... Oh dear. They are also shrinking away from the grill as if it were toxic. Looks like a job for... JENNA THE BURNINATOR! I volunteer. Oh joy. Now I am slaving over the grill, hoping NOT to burninate anything. Then everyone saunters off into the depths of orchard... and I am left all alone.
Well, of course smoke follows beauty. And since I was the most beautiful (and only) person there, all the burger smoke drifted right in my face. Coughing, I finish grilling and look around. I'm all alone with the food... but I hear screaming and laughing farther in. I abandon the food and run off to find my friends.
There it is.
The zipline of death.
I approach as Roy comes zooming down. He is caught, and then Michelle goes. She is caught by a few guys. I stand next to Zach. "Have you gone yet?" he asks placidly. "No, I was grilling, remember?" "Ohhh... yeah." Eventually, I say, "Okay, I'll go I guess."
Everyone seems quite excited that I'm ziplining. Why? I wonder. Everyone was going, and no one seemed to excited, except for when Helen went Superman-style.
I jump on. Backwards. Just to mix things up.
Roy and Clifton start pulling me up to the top. I look down when we reach the top. "We're gonna race you, okay?" Roy yells up at me. I laugh. "Go ahead." They launch me... and take off as well. Hm.
I am falling backwards, and it wasn't as exciting as I though it'd be. So... just to make things more exciting, I started kicking and yelling like I was about to die.
That did the trick. ZOOOOOOOOM! I hear screaming behind me. THUNK! I hit the either the knot in the steel rope or a body, I'm not sure. I bounce high in the air, my feet just barely missing Erik's poor face. My head also missed the ground by a single centimeter.
I am out of breath from laughing so hard. Hillary is hyperventilating. "JENNA!!! Don't ever do that again! If you had gotten hurt I would have been legally obligated to help you!" Apparently she's medically trained... and just had my life flash before her eyes. Which I think is weird since she knows nothing about my life... :)
Hillary and I walk back over to where the food is. I grab myself some food and make my over to the campfire. Fun, I guess.
I get bored quickly... so I call up my Dad and talk to him.
Then things get boring again.
So... Brother Wilson brings out the marshmallows, looking warily at me as he sets them out next to the roasters and the campfire. I smile. "Don't worry... Rachel is here to duel with." Brother Wilson, a little relieved, leaves me with the marshmallows. I start roasting them.
Now I don't really like marshmallows... I just like burning them. I say so. Brother Wilson laughs. "Jenna, you missed your calling. You should have been a cub scout!" I look up at him, saying quite seriously, "Well, sorry, I wasn't born a boy."
There is laughter. I happily burninate the marshmallows. Hillary comes to burninate them with me. So does Ryan. I talk with Ryan for a while. We get into a debate about -- hair? He insists it takes guys just as long to do their hair as girls do. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade him otherwise, I just shake my head.
Then... there is an apple fight. BAMMM! Ryan is pelted. I laughed, and I would have joined in... except I'm already covered in bruises (not sure why, I blame sleepdancing). Yay?
Ryan and I talk some more about the most random things. Smiles. (His photo-smiles are really creepy!) Also the potential deadliness of the marshmallow roasters. Then we all burst into songs and sang hymns around the campfire for about half an hour.
Then we set off for the vans so that we could go home. I realize that I haven't nicknamed Ryan.
"Hey! You don't have a nickname yet! I've nicknamed nearly everyone except you! There's Cliftonius, Tsar Alexander, The Willinator, Isaacle... but I haven't nicknamed you!"
"Uhhh...."
I pause. "My dad calls you Grape Man 'cuz I told him about how I asked you to preference!"
"Oh... Grape Man? Grape Guy? ... Grape Crush?"
I laugh.
"Oh wait... that sounds like... never mind..."
"You know I'm going have to call you that now..." I am laughing so hard on the inside because he doesn't realize how accurate this is. Poor boy.
He also promised to bring some Grape Crush (the soda) since I'm never had it before... and thus my childhood is not complete (I was wondering why I hadn't grown up yet). He starts trying to figure out where he can get it... ooh, he sounds serious :P I'm excited... for soda.
When we get back on campus and pile out of the vans... Ryan walks me home. I joke about getting kidnapped between his hall and mine (they are right next to each other). "Well, anytime you need an escort..." "Haha, 3:30 in the morning?" I say it jokingly... but he said he wouldn't mind much, he has to get up early anyway. I think this is ridiculous and tell him so. And then I go inside. Where I am immediately teased by my roommates. Ugh.
Preference
Hillary, Rachel, and I decide we all want to go the Murder Mystery dance in Heber. Hillary has a car, but with three couples... well, let's just say there's not enough seats and it's a forty-five minute drive.
"Okay... so who are we throwing in the trunk?"
"Robert's the smallest... he should go in the trunk!"
"Yeah... but... he's the date of honor. I mean, Hillary's the driver..."
"Oh... good point!"
"Oooh... let's throw Ryan in the trunk!"
Hillary pipes in. "You could sit on each other's laps!"
Rachel and I give horrified looks to her. In near unison, we both exclaim, "I'm not sitting on Ryan's/Clifton's lap!"
Hillary, wide-eyed gasps, and then says, "No no no no! I meant -- I meant that Rachel could sit on Jenna!"
This seemed much more... comfortable. To both of us.
Cold Hands
Oh man, it's cold today. Jackie and I run off to the central building to exchange our dollar bills for quarters. On the way back, I realize my hands are pretty much frozen.
"Argh!" I say. "My hands are freezing! I need a man on both sides to hold hands with!" Jackie laughs so hard.
Later tonight, Jackie comes home, with bright red hands and covered in snow. "Ahhh! I need like... five warm coats and a boyfriend!"
So... we, the women in 126 Robison Hall, have come to the consensus that boyfriends are good for keeping warm. Except none of us have one :P
Well, that's all folks! I hope I'll actually have something interesting to write about next week! (I should, the preference dance is next Saturday!)
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Conclusion of the Grape Saga (We Hope Anyway)
All right. So. Concerning Preference.
I decide to ask Ryan; Hillary decides to ask Robert, Ryan's roommate. Theoretically we should be able to do it at the same time. Theoretically.
Hillary's plan: she has a bag of Goldfish. Her name is hidden somewhere on the bag, and she plans to leave a note, which read something like "Out of all the fish in the sea, I'd like to go to
preference with you! I'd go crackers if you said no Robert! P.S. My name is hidden on the bag of Goldfish."
My plan: Take advantage of the inside jokes. I buy tons of grapes. I plan to spell out "DANCE?" in grapes in front of his door, with identifying features such as "for Ryan" and "from Jenna" on the grape bag…
Our plans combined… doorbell ditch them both at the same time.
So, we head over to Shipp Hall (the men's hall) and walk up the stairs, laden with Goldfish and grapes. But… Robert is chilling in the lobby, precisely where we don't want him to be.
Escape… we have to escape… we knock on Clifton's door, and ask, "Is Clifton there?" His roommates, who answered, say "No…" So, Hillary asks, "Well, is Alex there?" And we barge in and shut the door hastily. No one is there except Benny and Nathan… and we explain our situation to them… We have their apartment as an escape.
Well, as we were hastily closing the door, it had appeared as if Robert was going back into his room. We walk out of Clifton's apartment, and… there is Robert, chilling on the couch. Too
comfortably. Like… he'd never leave.
He asks, "So, what are you guys doing? Dropping something off for Clifton?" I really wish right now that Robert wasn't my home teacher, so that he wouldn't be obligated to speak to us…
Hillary says loudly… "WELL, I GUESS SINCE CLIFTON ISN'T HERE, WE'LL COME BACK LATER!" We hastily leave.
Back in the apartment, we try to come up with some bizarre plot to get Robert back inside his room. Coming up blank, we realize that we can still leave the grape message… that's not for Robert. But, we hide the Goldfish and note in my purse… just in case, by some miracle. In
Shipp Hall again, we stop on the stairs to solidify our plan… Robert walks by to his door, sees us, and starts talking to us again. "You're back!" "Yes, we are." "…What are you doing?" "…Plotting." "Oh… well, see you later." And with that, he enters his room… and shuts the
door!
What luck! We dash up the stairs to his door, and drop the note, and are about to drop the Goldfish when… the door opens. Robert is coming back out. "Oh…" Hillary immediately and flusteredly yells at him, "YOU'RE SUCH A BUM!" He sees the note… with his name on it… "That's for me?" He picks up the Goldfish, and asks, "From which one of you?" Hillary is bright red, and I am on the floor planting grapes in the shape of letters…
"I… guess I'll go inside then…" And he closes the door with our promise to guard his computer… which we didn't notice until then. Whoops. For some strange reason, he leaves the Goldfish and note on the floor outside.
We busiedly spell out "DANCE?" on the ground… and it seems all is almost well. Hillary figures we still might as well knock… And we dash down the stairs the basement… Hillary has enough tact to yell, "WE'RE SUCH NERDS!"… unfortunately, right as the door opens.
We exit out the basement door, and take the long way home, laughing hysterically… and wondering what else could have gone wrong. "Well… at least Ryan wasn't out there too!" So true. That would have definitely made it much worse. :D
Well, we wait for a while… and finally we start family home evening… during the opening prayer, there is a loud knock on my door. And at the cue of "Amen" Hillary and I leap off our butts and dash to the door. Somehow Jackie gets there first and opens it… and says, "Jenna-Jenna!" Hillary also gets there first… and immediately starts squealing "Yaaay!!!!"
I finally get to look out my own door… and there on the ground, spelled in grapes, "HECK YES!" It was so great. Except I was just like… Oh. My. Goodness. Robert hasn't responded to Hillary yet… but then again, I did provide an obvious way to respond, unlike Hillary.
I decide to ask Ryan; Hillary decides to ask Robert, Ryan's roommate. Theoretically we should be able to do it at the same time. Theoretically.
Hillary's plan: she has a bag of Goldfish. Her name is hidden somewhere on the bag, and she plans to leave a note, which read something like "Out of all the fish in the sea, I'd like to go to
preference with you! I'd go crackers if you said no Robert! P.S. My name is hidden on the bag of Goldfish."
My plan: Take advantage of the inside jokes. I buy tons of grapes. I plan to spell out "DANCE?" in grapes in front of his door, with identifying features such as "for Ryan" and "from Jenna" on the grape bag…
Our plans combined… doorbell ditch them both at the same time.
So, we head over to Shipp Hall (the men's hall) and walk up the stairs, laden with Goldfish and grapes. But… Robert is chilling in the lobby, precisely where we don't want him to be.
Escape… we have to escape… we knock on Clifton's door, and ask, "Is Clifton there?" His roommates, who answered, say "No…" So, Hillary asks, "Well, is Alex there?" And we barge in and shut the door hastily. No one is there except Benny and Nathan… and we explain our situation to them… We have their apartment as an escape.
Well, as we were hastily closing the door, it had appeared as if Robert was going back into his room. We walk out of Clifton's apartment, and… there is Robert, chilling on the couch. Too
comfortably. Like… he'd never leave.
He asks, "So, what are you guys doing? Dropping something off for Clifton?" I really wish right now that Robert wasn't my home teacher, so that he wouldn't be obligated to speak to us…
Hillary says loudly… "WELL, I GUESS SINCE CLIFTON ISN'T HERE, WE'LL COME BACK LATER!" We hastily leave.
Back in the apartment, we try to come up with some bizarre plot to get Robert back inside his room. Coming up blank, we realize that we can still leave the grape message… that's not for Robert. But, we hide the Goldfish and note in my purse… just in case, by some miracle. In
Shipp Hall again, we stop on the stairs to solidify our plan… Robert walks by to his door, sees us, and starts talking to us again. "You're back!" "Yes, we are." "…What are you doing?" "…Plotting." "Oh… well, see you later." And with that, he enters his room… and shuts the
door!
What luck! We dash up the stairs to his door, and drop the note, and are about to drop the Goldfish when… the door opens. Robert is coming back out. "Oh…" Hillary immediately and flusteredly yells at him, "YOU'RE SUCH A BUM!" He sees the note… with his name on it… "That's for me?" He picks up the Goldfish, and asks, "From which one of you?" Hillary is bright red, and I am on the floor planting grapes in the shape of letters…
"I… guess I'll go inside then…" And he closes the door with our promise to guard his computer… which we didn't notice until then. Whoops. For some strange reason, he leaves the Goldfish and note on the floor outside.
We busiedly spell out "DANCE?" on the ground… and it seems all is almost well. Hillary figures we still might as well knock… And we dash down the stairs the basement… Hillary has enough tact to yell, "WE'RE SUCH NERDS!"… unfortunately, right as the door opens.
We exit out the basement door, and take the long way home, laughing hysterically… and wondering what else could have gone wrong. "Well… at least Ryan wasn't out there too!" So true. That would have definitely made it much worse. :D
Well, we wait for a while… and finally we start family home evening… during the opening prayer, there is a loud knock on my door. And at the cue of "Amen" Hillary and I leap off our butts and dash to the door. Somehow Jackie gets there first and opens it… and says, "Jenna-Jenna!" Hillary also gets there first… and immediately starts squealing "Yaaay!!!!"
I finally get to look out my own door… and there on the ground, spelled in grapes, "HECK YES!" It was so great. Except I was just like… Oh. My. Goodness. Robert hasn't responded to Hillary yet… but then again, I did provide an obvious way to respond, unlike Hillary.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The Grape Motif
This week has been uber-stressful... but, like any stressful week, there are times when stress-ridden people have some pretty hilarious experiences... And this week, grapes happen to be it. The reason for such stress? Our first government midterm which covered an ENORMOUS
amount of material. I think in total I studied about fifteen hours for it, and I ended up getting an 82, but now my goal is to always do better than that on future ones! :D
Well, here's Grape Story #1... I hope you enjoy it.
Ryan randomly asked me if I liked grapes one night... Well, I happened to be hungry at the time (when am I not hungry?) and immediately I imagined big, juicy, purple grapes... so of course I
have to respond with a yes. So, in the end, Ryan and I have plans to eat all his surplus grapes... which I think is a very good idea, since I <3 grapes.
I forget to inform Rachel and Hillary about the grape eating festival, and when he asks me after government class if I'd like some grapes, Rachel says, "WHAT?" ... Must have seemed truly random I suppose. Quite truly. So Ryan comes over with grapes. And Ryan, my roommates,
and I all eat massive amounts of grapes... and the grapes disappear within a few minutes. But we continue to have fun, listening to Beatles and having funny conversations...
And I forget why, but Ryan makes a VERY bizarre noise. Like... the kind I usually make. Rachel comes out of the hallway, and demands to know why I made the freaky noise... I mean, why should she suspect someone else, huh? I'm always making strange noises and exclamations.
I immediately point the finger at Ryan. Rachel gives me and incredulous look, clearly meaning, "Yeah right. I know you did it, Jenna..." But then Ryan makes the bizarre and indescribable noise once more, and Rachel, overcome with surprise and shock, collapses on the floor in hysterical and quite helpless laughter. No one can see her in the kitchen, but she is writhing on the floor, gasping for breath. I keep trying to tell her that I had been telling the truth, and that I had done my best to warn her, but my pitiful attempts to ease her helpless laughter come to no avail, and she continues to writhe on the floor for about fifteen minutes. Sadly, this is not an
exaggeration. It was quite painful to watch... quite.
But... it wasn't me who made the noise for once. For once. Poor Rachel.
Alas! That is the conclusion of Grape Story #1! Here approaches Grape Story #2!
Two days later, I come home to discover grapes upon the dear table. I am overcome with joy, and leap toward them, exclaiming, "AMAZING!!!! GRAPES!!!!" Rachel happens to be in the kitchen, cooking something or other, and we immediately glance at each other, realzing each other to be thinking EXACTLY the same thing.
We burst into song. "Amaaaazi-i-iing graaaapes, hoooow sweeeet the-e taaaste... that saaaved a-a-a wretch li-ike me!" (Funny aside: the MoTab on TV just started singing Amazing Grace). We proceed to make ridiculously sad puns concerning grapes and grace.
Concerning the government midterm, I quip that I was "saved by the grapes of God", and we proceed to make many borderlining-on-blasphemous grape-grace puns. Sadly enough, the tune
for "Amazing Grapes" remains stuck in our heads like stubborn superglue for the several days, and even remains so now. Stupid superglue... should have thought about the consequences of having such a song stuck in our heads for time and all eternity.
Anyway, that is all as far as grapes go.
As an addendum, I proceeded to have an emotional breakdown (a very loooooong fit of hysterical laughter the night before the midterm)...and was writhing on the floor for a period of time that seemed to be an hour to me. I laughed so hard I was weeping... really, it was amazing. Truly. I highly recommend long fits of laughter to anyone... you can get rid of the most amazing loads of stress that way. :D
amount of material. I think in total I studied about fifteen hours for it, and I ended up getting an 82, but now my goal is to always do better than that on future ones! :D
Well, here's Grape Story #1... I hope you enjoy it.
Ryan randomly asked me if I liked grapes one night... Well, I happened to be hungry at the time (when am I not hungry?) and immediately I imagined big, juicy, purple grapes... so of course I
have to respond with a yes. So, in the end, Ryan and I have plans to eat all his surplus grapes... which I think is a very good idea, since I <3 grapes.
I forget to inform Rachel and Hillary about the grape eating festival, and when he asks me after government class if I'd like some grapes, Rachel says, "WHAT?" ... Must have seemed truly random I suppose. Quite truly. So Ryan comes over with grapes. And Ryan, my roommates,
and I all eat massive amounts of grapes... and the grapes disappear within a few minutes. But we continue to have fun, listening to Beatles and having funny conversations...
And I forget why, but Ryan makes a VERY bizarre noise. Like... the kind I usually make. Rachel comes out of the hallway, and demands to know why I made the freaky noise... I mean, why should she suspect someone else, huh? I'm always making strange noises and exclamations.
I immediately point the finger at Ryan. Rachel gives me and incredulous look, clearly meaning, "Yeah right. I know you did it, Jenna..." But then Ryan makes the bizarre and indescribable noise once more, and Rachel, overcome with surprise and shock, collapses on the floor in hysterical and quite helpless laughter. No one can see her in the kitchen, but she is writhing on the floor, gasping for breath. I keep trying to tell her that I had been telling the truth, and that I had done my best to warn her, but my pitiful attempts to ease her helpless laughter come to no avail, and she continues to writhe on the floor for about fifteen minutes. Sadly, this is not an
exaggeration. It was quite painful to watch... quite.
But... it wasn't me who made the noise for once. For once. Poor Rachel.
Alas! That is the conclusion of Grape Story #1! Here approaches Grape Story #2!
Two days later, I come home to discover grapes upon the dear table. I am overcome with joy, and leap toward them, exclaiming, "AMAZING!!!! GRAPES!!!!" Rachel happens to be in the kitchen, cooking something or other, and we immediately glance at each other, realzing each other to be thinking EXACTLY the same thing.
We burst into song. "Amaaaazi-i-iing graaaapes, hoooow sweeeet the-e taaaste... that saaaved a-a-a wretch li-ike me!" (Funny aside: the MoTab on TV just started singing Amazing Grace). We proceed to make ridiculously sad puns concerning grapes and grace.
Concerning the government midterm, I quip that I was "saved by the grapes of God", and we proceed to make many borderlining-on-blasphemous grape-grace puns. Sadly enough, the tune
for "Amazing Grapes" remains stuck in our heads like stubborn superglue for the several days, and even remains so now. Stupid superglue... should have thought about the consequences of having such a song stuck in our heads for time and all eternity.
Anyway, that is all as far as grapes go.
As an addendum, I proceeded to have an emotional breakdown (a very loooooong fit of hysterical laughter the night before the midterm)...and was writhing on the floor for a period of time that seemed to be an hour to me. I laughed so hard I was weeping... really, it was amazing. Truly. I highly recommend long fits of laughter to anyone... you can get rid of the most amazing loads of stress that way. :D
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Oh dear.
I'm a busy girl.
Yesterday I took two midterms and did a lab... today... I took another midterm.
I also got my first paycheck yesterday! It was about two hundred dollars. I bought myself a BYU sweatshirt... because it's darn cold up here. Today it's raining. A lot.
Tonight I get to go to the General Relief Society thingy... Shweet.
Well, about last week.
Monday! Ahh!
So I went to work, then to all my classes, and then I came home and watched Oklahoma!... which I borrowed from Ryan. Then I set off to make cookies... Oh!
I'm pretty sure I haven't emailed off the witty cookie piece I wrote Monday night. I posted it on Facebook, but I don't think I emailed it off. So... here's that. Viva copy and paste!
----------------
Cookies: An Epic Tale
I Am NOT Having Eight Children: A Rant from Someone Who Likes Things Just So
Disclaimer: I am not incriminating anyone in my FHE group at all… in fact, I love them all bunches. I need to vent out my frustrations… which I like to do in comical prose. I may have exaggerated a few details as per artistic license.
Ok… so… we had our first family home evening group thingy where I, Momma Jenna, was in charge. Oy, that was a HASSLE. So, I figured I'd make cookies for random people in our ward, right? And then have a batch for us to eat? (That's what everyone wanted to do... but no one wanted to be in charge of it... go figure). Theoretically, that would have worked. Except I figured that everyone wouldn't be able to keep their paws off of my cookie dough. So I more than doubled the amount of cookies I'd make. In my head this made perfect sense and might even solve some problems.
I started making dough at three after watching Oklahoma!… and here's where the problem comes in. My roommates (especially Jackie) seem to have a sixth sense that knows when sweets are being made. They also all seem to be addicted to raw cookie dough. They were eating dough all the while I was attempting to mix a HUMONGOUS quadruple batch… And I am wondering if the cookie-ingredient proportions were at all what they should be, because as I mixed it together, it disappeared.
It was once perfect cookie dough.
So of course I made a humongous mess mixing together cookies in such titanic proportions. Thankfully Rachel did some dishes, but really I was left to scour the kitchen alone, all the while thinking, "Oh man… I have history reading I should be doing…"
Somehow our kitchen got clean. And then the boys came.
Hands immediately reach into the cookie dough I spent forever making… Oooh, I am sooo mad. I karate kick Clifton, my little brother, in the chest, but gently, and really only with my toe. He doesn't seem to get the message. He swipes some more later, and that is when I drag him outside and lock him out. Unfortunately, Rochelle and Ashley happen to feel merciful at the time, and let him back in almost immediately.
I don't know how many times I explained that the pre-made cookie dough (my sweat, blood, and tears!) was for people in our ward and was off-limits for eating. Alex and Jon were mostly the only ones actually mixing together our cookie dough (which I yelled many times was free-reign for eating... but no one seemed to comprehend that there was a batch of cookie dough I'd let them eat). I'm sorry to complain, but I confess I wasn't quite happy with the consistency of the batch the boys made and was glad that was the batch we were keeping and not giving away.
Oh, but what I really couldn't stand was all the bickering and roaring laughter (I don't mind laughter, it's when I can't hear my own thoughts that it becomes a problem) and mean jokes and funny snapshots… it would have been fun… IF I wasn't trying to make cookies at the time. See, cooking and baking is like... my zen-mode, second only to church... (How else do I get cooking inspiration???) Most of the time I am perfectly willing to step out and initiate silliness and chaos… but I need order. I know there are certain times where you sit down and have a serious (or more serious-than-usual, as is the case with me) face... which for me is in the kitchen.
We colored paper plates with random holiday greetings (and I mean REALLY random)… signed them, put a dozen cookies on each plate, and then went cookie caroling to random dorms in our ward (we tried to give half to people we knew and half we didn't).
In total we made enough dough to theoretically cork out twelve dozen cookies. (I made two thirds of it myself.) We only made five-dozen cookies. All the rest of the dough had already been eaten. So now… here I am, left with a derelict kitchen, up way past my bedtime, and a little too frustrated to sleep… although a thank you letter from Ryan did help (thanks by the way… I really appreciated that!).
If I go to bed now, I shall get five hours of sleep… Oh, the incredulities!!!
I think I am quite feeling back to my silly ol' self. Not that that helps any… it's hard to sleep when you feel like dancing.
♥Jenna
P.S. The JFSB is always neat and tidy. I think I can completely destress there tomorrow morning... neat... and tidy... while rockin' out to Batman of course!
--------
So... that was Monday. Tuesday was very full and no exactly exciting.
Wednesday and Thursday I went to tutor at a nearby elementary school. Me 'n' Elsa (the girl I tutor) are already friends. So... here is about when I dash off to a study group... Well, actually I have another Facebook entry on this experience... But... I think in order to keep this email within tolerable lengths, I shall summarize it.
I forgot about tutoring and completely scheduled something in that time slot... a study group with Ryan, Dallin, Will, Roy, Mindy, Liz, and Claire. I had everything planned... and was falling asleep happily on my bed, when...
BAM!!! My forehead hits the shelf above my bed as I jerk up and out of bed, horrified with the realization that I forgot about tutoring. I instantaneously go from very much relaxed and stress-free to skyscraper-like stress levels. I have a throbbing headache spreading from my aching forehead through to the rest of my skull, and I feel really bad about missing this study group thingy... so I miss it...
But then... there's Will... who happens to be a history genius similar to my friend Zack in Arizona. Who kind of timidly asks if I want to study with him later since I missed the study group. Of course I say OK, cuz... well, I have to admit I suck at history and he happens to be darned good at it.
Yesterday... OK, funny story. My roommate's car wouldn't start one day, and they are already late to a concert... and then they see two guys walking to their car... and "Hey!!! You guys! Can we have a ride?" The guys give them a ride. And then give my roommates their number so they can get a ride home.
However, my roommates walk home, and Jackie decides she's going to ask the guys over as a thank you and have them eat the apple rolls we made. Well, I reminded her that she wouldn't let me give Oklahoma back because she hadn't seen it... and so she stuck it in.
Alas, the two boys come over and scarf the apple rolls, and then sit down and... don't leave. They are watching Oklahoma with us. And that's a darn long movie. And... well, there's a whole lotta stuff about marriage and kissing in that movie. Perfect set up for Jackie to feel awkward.
I was going to go to bed, but poor Jackie would feel so weird watching that by herself with two guys. So... I stay and watch it again. And I make funny comments at the awkward parts to make Jackie feel better. They finally leave at 11:30... and poor Jackie looks exhausted. Haha.
Well, I don't have anything else to say. Buh bye now!
Yesterday I took two midterms and did a lab... today... I took another midterm.
I also got my first paycheck yesterday! It was about two hundred dollars. I bought myself a BYU sweatshirt... because it's darn cold up here. Today it's raining. A lot.
Tonight I get to go to the General Relief Society thingy... Shweet.
Well, about last week.
Monday! Ahh!
So I went to work, then to all my classes, and then I came home and watched Oklahoma!... which I borrowed from Ryan. Then I set off to make cookies... Oh!
I'm pretty sure I haven't emailed off the witty cookie piece I wrote Monday night. I posted it on Facebook, but I don't think I emailed it off. So... here's that. Viva copy and paste!
----------------
Cookies: An Epic Tale
I Am NOT Having Eight Children: A Rant from Someone Who Likes Things Just So
Disclaimer: I am not incriminating anyone in my FHE group at all… in fact, I love them all bunches. I need to vent out my frustrations… which I like to do in comical prose. I may have exaggerated a few details as per artistic license.
Ok… so… we had our first family home evening group thingy where I, Momma Jenna, was in charge. Oy, that was a HASSLE. So, I figured I'd make cookies for random people in our ward, right? And then have a batch for us to eat? (That's what everyone wanted to do... but no one wanted to be in charge of it... go figure). Theoretically, that would have worked. Except I figured that everyone wouldn't be able to keep their paws off of my cookie dough. So I more than doubled the amount of cookies I'd make. In my head this made perfect sense and might even solve some problems.
I started making dough at three after watching Oklahoma!… and here's where the problem comes in. My roommates (especially Jackie) seem to have a sixth sense that knows when sweets are being made. They also all seem to be addicted to raw cookie dough. They were eating dough all the while I was attempting to mix a HUMONGOUS quadruple batch… And I am wondering if the cookie-ingredient proportions were at all what they should be, because as I mixed it together, it disappeared.
It was once perfect cookie dough.
So of course I made a humongous mess mixing together cookies in such titanic proportions. Thankfully Rachel did some dishes, but really I was left to scour the kitchen alone, all the while thinking, "Oh man… I have history reading I should be doing…"
Somehow our kitchen got clean. And then the boys came.
Hands immediately reach into the cookie dough I spent forever making… Oooh, I am sooo mad. I karate kick Clifton, my little brother, in the chest, but gently, and really only with my toe. He doesn't seem to get the message. He swipes some more later, and that is when I drag him outside and lock him out. Unfortunately, Rochelle and Ashley happen to feel merciful at the time, and let him back in almost immediately.
I don't know how many times I explained that the pre-made cookie dough (my sweat, blood, and tears!) was for people in our ward and was off-limits for eating. Alex and Jon were mostly the only ones actually mixing together our cookie dough (which I yelled many times was free-reign for eating... but no one seemed to comprehend that there was a batch of cookie dough I'd let them eat). I'm sorry to complain, but I confess I wasn't quite happy with the consistency of the batch the boys made and was glad that was the batch we were keeping and not giving away.
Oh, but what I really couldn't stand was all the bickering and roaring laughter (I don't mind laughter, it's when I can't hear my own thoughts that it becomes a problem) and mean jokes and funny snapshots… it would have been fun… IF I wasn't trying to make cookies at the time. See, cooking and baking is like... my zen-mode, second only to church... (How else do I get cooking inspiration???) Most of the time I am perfectly willing to step out and initiate silliness and chaos… but I need order. I know there are certain times where you sit down and have a serious (or more serious-than-usual, as is the case with me) face... which for me is in the kitchen.
We colored paper plates with random holiday greetings (and I mean REALLY random)… signed them, put a dozen cookies on each plate, and then went cookie caroling to random dorms in our ward (we tried to give half to people we knew and half we didn't).
In total we made enough dough to theoretically cork out twelve dozen cookies. (I made two thirds of it myself.) We only made five-dozen cookies. All the rest of the dough had already been eaten. So now… here I am, left with a derelict kitchen, up way past my bedtime, and a little too frustrated to sleep… although a thank you letter from Ryan did help (thanks by the way… I really appreciated that!).
If I go to bed now, I shall get five hours of sleep… Oh, the incredulities!!!
I think I am quite feeling back to my silly ol' self. Not that that helps any… it's hard to sleep when you feel like dancing.
♥Jenna
P.S. The JFSB is always neat and tidy. I think I can completely destress there tomorrow morning... neat... and tidy... while rockin' out to Batman of course!
--------
So... that was Monday. Tuesday was very full and no exactly exciting.
Wednesday and Thursday I went to tutor at a nearby elementary school. Me 'n' Elsa (the girl I tutor) are already friends. So... here is about when I dash off to a study group... Well, actually I have another Facebook entry on this experience... But... I think in order to keep this email within tolerable lengths, I shall summarize it.
I forgot about tutoring and completely scheduled something in that time slot... a study group with Ryan, Dallin, Will, Roy, Mindy, Liz, and Claire. I had everything planned... and was falling asleep happily on my bed, when...
BAM!!! My forehead hits the shelf above my bed as I jerk up and out of bed, horrified with the realization that I forgot about tutoring. I instantaneously go from very much relaxed and stress-free to skyscraper-like stress levels. I have a throbbing headache spreading from my aching forehead through to the rest of my skull, and I feel really bad about missing this study group thingy... so I miss it...
But then... there's Will... who happens to be a history genius similar to my friend Zack in Arizona. Who kind of timidly asks if I want to study with him later since I missed the study group. Of course I say OK, cuz... well, I have to admit I suck at history and he happens to be darned good at it.
Yesterday... OK, funny story. My roommate's car wouldn't start one day, and they are already late to a concert... and then they see two guys walking to their car... and "Hey!!! You guys! Can we have a ride?" The guys give them a ride. And then give my roommates their number so they can get a ride home.
However, my roommates walk home, and Jackie decides she's going to ask the guys over as a thank you and have them eat the apple rolls we made. Well, I reminded her that she wouldn't let me give Oklahoma back because she hadn't seen it... and so she stuck it in.
Alas, the two boys come over and scarf the apple rolls, and then sit down and... don't leave. They are watching Oklahoma with us. And that's a darn long movie. And... well, there's a whole lotta stuff about marriage and kissing in that movie. Perfect set up for Jackie to feel awkward.
I was going to go to bed, but poor Jackie would feel so weird watching that by herself with two guys. So... I stay and watch it again. And I make funny comments at the awkward parts to make Jackie feel better. They finally leave at 11:30... and poor Jackie looks exhausted. Haha.
Well, I don't have anything else to say. Buh bye now!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Dueling and Little Brothers.
My week has been splendid busy. It was homecoming week, and I am happy to say that I successfully avoided a date.
Avoiding a date? Why would Jenna avoid one of those, might you ask? Well. I don't remember if you recall, but I went on a date with a very quiet guy named Jon. And, uh... well, it seems he likes me. And he's an RM. (Oh no!) I keep hearing things from my roommates about him, such as, "I saw Jon today... he kept asking about you..." "Jonny likes you Jenna!" Thus, I have become victim of many many Jenna's-going-to-marry-Jon jokes.
Well, see... we all suspected that he would try to ask me to homecoming. And thus, we "accidentally" lose my phone. I never see him during the week... only at Family Home Evening, and occasionally at church. We figured that if he was going to try and ask me, he'd call. So we "accidentally lost my phone". And then we "miraculously found it" after the homecoming activities were over. And lo, and behold! There were a few missed calls from Jon.
But enough about that. My classes are going well... my job is going well... and I think (except for the homecoming thing) that my social life is going well.
On to the highlights of the week.
Our Book of Mormon teacher, Brother Wilson, decided that we were going to go see the leaves as they were changing color. Thus, he took the entire class down into the canyon, and took us into a little campground for a picnic.
Oh no, some of you may be thinking, Jenna gets crazy when she's camping.
Don't worry. I didn't do anything that bad... The boys start the fire (at my complaint asking why the boys get to do it, I get the reply "Because we're Eagle Scouts!!!"). And after it is started... nothing. Everyone is just socializing. There are hot dogs for roasting, and everyone is just... talking. Except... wait! Ryan! He gets himself two hot dogs and starts to roast them. He must not have been lying when he confessed that he was starving. I grab, Rachel, my roommate, and drag her over to roast hot dogs too.
We put the hot dogs on a pitchfork like roasting object... that feels like... well, a weapon. Rachel notices this too. We ignore the urge to duel and roast hot dogs. I sit by Ryan eating them, and Rachel sits by me. Everyone sees us enjoying food, and they realize, "Oh... we have to cook our own food!" And off they go to the fire.
Soon, I am done with my meat. Both Rachel and I are still itching to duel.
BAM! We are suddenly in a pose-off. Rachel appears like Batman, except with a roasting fork raising high above her head, pointing at me. I match the pose, but I do it so much more elaborately. Then the pose-off moves to our facial expressions. She raises one eyebrow incredulously. I raise the opposite eyebrow, and tilt my head to the side. I am aware of everyone's eyes on us, but I really don't care... and I suspect, neither did Rachel.
BAM! We are no longer posing... we are sword fighting miraculously with roasting apparatus. Then, from one of the boys (not sure if it was Clifton or not), "All you guys need now are flaming marshmallows on the ends of those!" Rachel and I both stop mid swing and realize we are both thinking the same thing.
BAM! We dash off to the marshmallow bag, spearing them incredibly with marshmallows. Oh, we reach the campfire at lightning speeds, thrusting our marshmallows into the hottest flames... My marshmallows are flaming beautifully. So are Rachel's.
BAM! We are back to sword fighting, but the flaming marshmallows certainly make it so much more interesting. A flaming marshmallow goes flying through the air as I knock it off Rachel's roasting stick. Her face at this instant tells me that I have just upped it from duel to war. And it was war. She stabbed at me more amazingly, and I dodge them more miraculously... and then. Finally. I have knocked all the marshmallows off of Rachel's stick, and I realize too late that I have taken it too far. Rachel swipes for my belly... and kills me. I act out an incredible death, falling to the forest floor, crying, "Alas! I am marshmallow'd!" And then I die.
I soon tire of looking like a dead person, and get up. Sweet, everyone is looking at us funny... and Rachel is yelling triumphantly. Brother Wilson, who has never seen me or Rachel outside of a Book of Mormon class, looks shocked, but starts picking up the carnage (not-so-flaming marshmallows...).
After all that, Brother Wilson decides we all need to see where Squaw Peak is, the makeout point. We go up there, and it was windy and beautiful... so I run up at stand on the rock wall, with my arms spread all eagle like while having a brief conversation with Ryan. Then... a faint push. I turn around, and there is Clifton, whom my roommates have declared our little brother (even if he is both older and bigger than all of us). Brother Wilson is calling out "Don't pair off, guys!"
Clifton has asked for it. I could have died... well, not really. But it does sound better that way, when you are about to attack someone. I revert into battle mode, prep for the attack, and then... I ruffle his hair? Oh wait. That would have been a more suitable attack for Hillary, who had long hair... but... Clifton had short hair, and ruffling it made no difference at all. I start thinking of a new attack, as Clifton laughs... and then he dashes away, up around the bend... I set off at a run, screaming, "OH NO, YOU DON'T!!!"
I am almost caught up to him. Then Clifton has to ruin it by pointing out that we have paired up and that people might assume we are doing something we are not... and after all, this is Squaw Peak. Frozen for a millisecond... then I bolt off in the opposite direction, screaming, as little brother chases after me. Hillary misinterprets the scene, and yells, "Don't worry, Jenna, I'll save you! Get behind me!" Thankfully I don't have to suffer the humiliation of hiding behind someone else, because Brother Wilson calls for us to all pile into the vans.
Yesterday, Clifton came over to mooch off of our sausage and eggs... like a little brother. Hillary wasn't there, so she totally misinterprets when I casually ask Rachel, "Who was it... I asked, "Are you playing with my ears?" this morning, and was it Clifton who exclaimed, "Yes!"?" Rachel nods, laughing.
Hillary on the other hand had been lying down in bed. At hearing that Clifton had been playing with my ears, she bolted upright, screaming "WHAATTT?!?!" She then proceeded to hyperventilate, and I could see her thoughts in her head, not believing that little brother would play with Jenna's ears.
To relieve her pain, I point out that I was wearing ogre ears at the time. Hillary starts to reverse-hyperventilate... and gasps for breath. Clifton wasn't playing with Jenna's real ears... that's good.
Avoiding a date? Why would Jenna avoid one of those, might you ask? Well. I don't remember if you recall, but I went on a date with a very quiet guy named Jon. And, uh... well, it seems he likes me. And he's an RM. (Oh no!) I keep hearing things from my roommates about him, such as, "I saw Jon today... he kept asking about you..." "Jonny likes you Jenna!" Thus, I have become victim of many many Jenna's-going-to-marry-Jon jokes.
Well, see... we all suspected that he would try to ask me to homecoming. And thus, we "accidentally" lose my phone. I never see him during the week... only at Family Home Evening, and occasionally at church. We figured that if he was going to try and ask me, he'd call. So we "accidentally lost my phone". And then we "miraculously found it" after the homecoming activities were over. And lo, and behold! There were a few missed calls from Jon.
But enough about that. My classes are going well... my job is going well... and I think (except for the homecoming thing) that my social life is going well.
On to the highlights of the week.
Our Book of Mormon teacher, Brother Wilson, decided that we were going to go see the leaves as they were changing color. Thus, he took the entire class down into the canyon, and took us into a little campground for a picnic.
Oh no, some of you may be thinking, Jenna gets crazy when she's camping.
Don't worry. I didn't do anything that bad... The boys start the fire (at my complaint asking why the boys get to do it, I get the reply "Because we're Eagle Scouts!!!"). And after it is started... nothing. Everyone is just socializing. There are hot dogs for roasting, and everyone is just... talking. Except... wait! Ryan! He gets himself two hot dogs and starts to roast them. He must not have been lying when he confessed that he was starving. I grab, Rachel, my roommate, and drag her over to roast hot dogs too.
We put the hot dogs on a pitchfork like roasting object... that feels like... well, a weapon. Rachel notices this too. We ignore the urge to duel and roast hot dogs. I sit by Ryan eating them, and Rachel sits by me. Everyone sees us enjoying food, and they realize, "Oh... we have to cook our own food!" And off they go to the fire.
Soon, I am done with my meat. Both Rachel and I are still itching to duel.
BAM! We are suddenly in a pose-off. Rachel appears like Batman, except with a roasting fork raising high above her head, pointing at me. I match the pose, but I do it so much more elaborately. Then the pose-off moves to our facial expressions. She raises one eyebrow incredulously. I raise the opposite eyebrow, and tilt my head to the side. I am aware of everyone's eyes on us, but I really don't care... and I suspect, neither did Rachel.
BAM! We are no longer posing... we are sword fighting miraculously with roasting apparatus. Then, from one of the boys (not sure if it was Clifton or not), "All you guys need now are flaming marshmallows on the ends of those!" Rachel and I both stop mid swing and realize we are both thinking the same thing.
BAM! We dash off to the marshmallow bag, spearing them incredibly with marshmallows. Oh, we reach the campfire at lightning speeds, thrusting our marshmallows into the hottest flames... My marshmallows are flaming beautifully. So are Rachel's.
BAM! We are back to sword fighting, but the flaming marshmallows certainly make it so much more interesting. A flaming marshmallow goes flying through the air as I knock it off Rachel's roasting stick. Her face at this instant tells me that I have just upped it from duel to war. And it was war. She stabbed at me more amazingly, and I dodge them more miraculously... and then. Finally. I have knocked all the marshmallows off of Rachel's stick, and I realize too late that I have taken it too far. Rachel swipes for my belly... and kills me. I act out an incredible death, falling to the forest floor, crying, "Alas! I am marshmallow'd!" And then I die.
I soon tire of looking like a dead person, and get up. Sweet, everyone is looking at us funny... and Rachel is yelling triumphantly. Brother Wilson, who has never seen me or Rachel outside of a Book of Mormon class, looks shocked, but starts picking up the carnage (not-so-flaming marshmallows...).
After all that, Brother Wilson decides we all need to see where Squaw Peak is, the makeout point. We go up there, and it was windy and beautiful... so I run up at stand on the rock wall, with my arms spread all eagle like while having a brief conversation with Ryan. Then... a faint push. I turn around, and there is Clifton, whom my roommates have declared our little brother (even if he is both older and bigger than all of us). Brother Wilson is calling out "Don't pair off, guys!"
Clifton has asked for it. I could have died... well, not really. But it does sound better that way, when you are about to attack someone. I revert into battle mode, prep for the attack, and then... I ruffle his hair? Oh wait. That would have been a more suitable attack for Hillary, who had long hair... but... Clifton had short hair, and ruffling it made no difference at all. I start thinking of a new attack, as Clifton laughs... and then he dashes away, up around the bend... I set off at a run, screaming, "OH NO, YOU DON'T!!!"
I am almost caught up to him. Then Clifton has to ruin it by pointing out that we have paired up and that people might assume we are doing something we are not... and after all, this is Squaw Peak. Frozen for a millisecond... then I bolt off in the opposite direction, screaming, as little brother chases after me. Hillary misinterprets the scene, and yells, "Don't worry, Jenna, I'll save you! Get behind me!" Thankfully I don't have to suffer the humiliation of hiding behind someone else, because Brother Wilson calls for us to all pile into the vans.
Yesterday, Clifton came over to mooch off of our sausage and eggs... like a little brother. Hillary wasn't there, so she totally misinterprets when I casually ask Rachel, "Who was it... I asked, "Are you playing with my ears?" this morning, and was it Clifton who exclaimed, "Yes!"?" Rachel nods, laughing.
Hillary on the other hand had been lying down in bed. At hearing that Clifton had been playing with my ears, she bolted upright, screaming "WHAATTT?!?!" She then proceeded to hyperventilate, and I could see her thoughts in her head, not believing that little brother would play with Jenna's ears.
To relieve her pain, I point out that I was wearing ogre ears at the time. Hillary starts to reverse-hyperventilate... and gasps for breath. Clifton wasn't playing with Jenna's real ears... that's good.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Crazy Week!
Well, it wasn't particularly exciting... but I did promise people to keep in touch and a few people told me they looked forward to hearing about my dates. Soo... I feel obligated... or something.
Last Monday was long and horrid. I only had classes in the morning, and I had already finished my homework for all my classes on Tuesday except for one classes worth of reading. I figured one day would be enough to read it all. Boy, was I wrong. I read for twelve straight hours, and only read half of it (whoops). A little interruption that night was Family Home Evening... where my fhemates proceeded to nominate me as FHE Mom. One of my roommates were also nominated, so we rock-paper-scissored it, and I lost. So I'm FHE Mom. Whoot?
Dad happens to be the guy I went out with the following day. His name is Jon, and his family is from Peru and he went on his mission to Puerto Rico. He took me to the Museum of Art to look at some Minerva Teichart. I liked the paintings, and it was hard to talk much to him while we were in the MOA. However, once he took me to the Creamery and got us a burger and ice cream, I discovered that he really likes to talk. Which is a little eerie because his yell would be like my hoarse whisper. He's extremely quiet. But apparently likes to talk... about everything. So mostly I sat there and ate, listened, and gave an occasional input when I could hear him. It was nice, but afterwards my ears hurt from the constant strain to listen to a barely audible whisper in a crowded Creamery.
Wednesday... I squandered. I really don't remember that day at all. Oh wait! It all comes clear! I had an evil calculus assignment. One of my friends in calculus did a little investigating and figured out that people in 400 level math course were learning the same thing: proof by induction. See, the honors sections of Calculus 1 get extra assignments... like that. It did it, but it took a while... and a lot of backwards thinking. I also had an interview with the bishop (oh no! a calling! save me save me! :D) where he did not give me a calling but asked all about me. He hinted that I would likely only be made FHE Mom, and nothing else. Viva 18 credits and a parttime job? Sweet. Yes, that was my Wednesday.
Thursday! Oh man, I started work at 4am! The job itself is an extremely fun and exciting custodial job (no overstatement intended here) and I really don't mind the early hour. Especially since I go to bed a lot sooner than the average college student. Classes on the other hand... they might have been a little more exciting if you get my meaning. At night time, I went with my friend Sarah to an ROTC Social down in the canyon. That was exciting if I may say so. How can war games and food not be exciting. It's kind of fun to dodge marshmallow bullets while crawling army style on the ground looking for ammo for your Nerf gun. As soon as I found ammo, one of the enemy charged over to my side, and before I could shoot, I was tragically light-sabered to death. I did manage to kill a few of the enemy before I was taken out though. The only awkward thing about that social was that Sarah, some other girls she brought with her, and I were the only single girls at all. All the females there were either wives, girlfriends, or in the ROTC themselves. I got asked several times whose girlfriend I was. Which was a little freaky. What was freakier was when some random (not really, but I thought so at the time) guy started talking to me... he knew my name already, and started naming off a few of my classes by name and asking how I liked them. But then I realized that it was Isaac (I had to ask him what his name was)... apparently he is both in my ward, and in two of my classes. Wow, I'm very observant, aren't I? After another sickening ride home, I went to bed feeling quite carsick. Next time I go I shall require Dramamine.
Yesterday I think I liked the best. I went to work again at 4am, and did lots of paperwork and took trash out of every office (oo, fun?). Then we all ate breakfast together: breakfast burritos, bagels, cereal, juice... I loved it. Best thing was, we were all still getting paid for eating breakfast. :D Then I headed off to all my classes, where I was still extremely tired from my late night adventure with the ROTC. After class I went and had an interview with one my peer mentors who just wanted to get to know me a little better... and then I headed home for lunch. I munched on honeydew and something else, and then I set off on an adventure...to the physics lab! I have to admit I was absolutely thrilled to be able to calculate the acceleration due to gravity with a percentage error of 0.1%. I'd never done anything quite so spectacular before... but then again, having high tech university equipment versus old ghetto ancient Chandler High School equipment might have made a big difference. Yes, I realize I am a nerd and that only nerds would be thrilled about something like that. Furthermore, I felt this urge to email my old physics teacher, Mr. Knust, and relate to him the excitement I felt at an experiment actually going right... for once :D.
Well, after that I came home, thoroughly energized despite my lack of adequate sleep, and decided to do math homework... while listening to the Batman Begins soundtrack at full blast to drown out loud music next door. Very ominous, that was. Made math so much more exciting. And then... I turned on my Pirates soundtrack... to counter our neighbor's booming music and also to celebrate that I was going to be Pirates 3 at the dollar theatre that night! Yes, it was a date. I did homework until he called me... and informed me that he was standing outside. I wonder if he knocked... if he had I probably wouldn't have heard it due to Batman and Pirates booming bass throughout the hall.
So I went and saw Pirates with Ryan, which I absolutely loved. Then we went to Creamery (which seems to be a recurring date motif) and got ice cream. We walked back to the lobby of my hall, where we ate our ice cream... and talked. For a long time. About the most random things... like the game (which you all just lost by the way) and high school... and classes... and professors... and cookies and brownies. Apparently when he and his roommate made brownies for the first time and left them for the girls in our apartment, his roommates were disapproving. But after our positive response... they decided it was a genius idea. They proceeded to make a batch of 110 cookies and then drop them all off in front of girls' doors, making sure to leave a note about who they were from. I thought that was quite silly. Of course, they got tons of cookies in return.
By the time I casually asked what time it was, and to our surprise discovered we had been on the date for over six hours and that it was almost midnight (ahhh!). I went inside where my roommates were all thrilled to see me ("We thought you had been kidnapped!!! But then you were on a date... but you were gone for sooo long!"). We looked out the window, and saw people sitting on the grass outside our hall... We decided to creep them out. We took Hillary's cardboard cutout of Orlando Bloom and stuck him in front of the window, so he was staring at them. They soon left.
I eventually wandered off to bed, and now here I am this morning writing. Exciting?
Last Monday was long and horrid. I only had classes in the morning, and I had already finished my homework for all my classes on Tuesday except for one classes worth of reading. I figured one day would be enough to read it all. Boy, was I wrong. I read for twelve straight hours, and only read half of it (whoops). A little interruption that night was Family Home Evening... where my fhemates proceeded to nominate me as FHE Mom. One of my roommates were also nominated, so we rock-paper-scissored it, and I lost. So I'm FHE Mom. Whoot?
Dad happens to be the guy I went out with the following day. His name is Jon, and his family is from Peru and he went on his mission to Puerto Rico. He took me to the Museum of Art to look at some Minerva Teichart. I liked the paintings, and it was hard to talk much to him while we were in the MOA. However, once he took me to the Creamery and got us a burger and ice cream, I discovered that he really likes to talk. Which is a little eerie because his yell would be like my hoarse whisper. He's extremely quiet. But apparently likes to talk... about everything. So mostly I sat there and ate, listened, and gave an occasional input when I could hear him. It was nice, but afterwards my ears hurt from the constant strain to listen to a barely audible whisper in a crowded Creamery.
Wednesday... I squandered. I really don't remember that day at all. Oh wait! It all comes clear! I had an evil calculus assignment. One of my friends in calculus did a little investigating and figured out that people in 400 level math course were learning the same thing: proof by induction. See, the honors sections of Calculus 1 get extra assignments... like that. It did it, but it took a while... and a lot of backwards thinking. I also had an interview with the bishop (oh no! a calling! save me save me! :D) where he did not give me a calling but asked all about me. He hinted that I would likely only be made FHE Mom, and nothing else. Viva 18 credits and a parttime job? Sweet. Yes, that was my Wednesday.
Thursday! Oh man, I started work at 4am! The job itself is an extremely fun and exciting custodial job (no overstatement intended here) and I really don't mind the early hour. Especially since I go to bed a lot sooner than the average college student. Classes on the other hand... they might have been a little more exciting if you get my meaning. At night time, I went with my friend Sarah to an ROTC Social down in the canyon. That was exciting if I may say so. How can war games and food not be exciting. It's kind of fun to dodge marshmallow bullets while crawling army style on the ground looking for ammo for your Nerf gun. As soon as I found ammo, one of the enemy charged over to my side, and before I could shoot, I was tragically light-sabered to death. I did manage to kill a few of the enemy before I was taken out though. The only awkward thing about that social was that Sarah, some other girls she brought with her, and I were the only single girls at all. All the females there were either wives, girlfriends, or in the ROTC themselves. I got asked several times whose girlfriend I was. Which was a little freaky. What was freakier was when some random (not really, but I thought so at the time) guy started talking to me... he knew my name already, and started naming off a few of my classes by name and asking how I liked them. But then I realized that it was Isaac (I had to ask him what his name was)... apparently he is both in my ward, and in two of my classes. Wow, I'm very observant, aren't I? After another sickening ride home, I went to bed feeling quite carsick. Next time I go I shall require Dramamine.
Yesterday I think I liked the best. I went to work again at 4am, and did lots of paperwork and took trash out of every office (oo, fun?). Then we all ate breakfast together: breakfast burritos, bagels, cereal, juice... I loved it. Best thing was, we were all still getting paid for eating breakfast. :D Then I headed off to all my classes, where I was still extremely tired from my late night adventure with the ROTC. After class I went and had an interview with one my peer mentors who just wanted to get to know me a little better... and then I headed home for lunch. I munched on honeydew and something else, and then I set off on an adventure...to the physics lab! I have to admit I was absolutely thrilled to be able to calculate the acceleration due to gravity with a percentage error of 0.1%. I'd never done anything quite so spectacular before... but then again, having high tech university equipment versus old ghetto ancient Chandler High School equipment might have made a big difference. Yes, I realize I am a nerd and that only nerds would be thrilled about something like that. Furthermore, I felt this urge to email my old physics teacher, Mr. Knust, and relate to him the excitement I felt at an experiment actually going right... for once :D.
Well, after that I came home, thoroughly energized despite my lack of adequate sleep, and decided to do math homework... while listening to the Batman Begins soundtrack at full blast to drown out loud music next door. Very ominous, that was. Made math so much more exciting. And then... I turned on my Pirates soundtrack... to counter our neighbor's booming music and also to celebrate that I was going to be Pirates 3 at the dollar theatre that night! Yes, it was a date. I did homework until he called me... and informed me that he was standing outside. I wonder if he knocked... if he had I probably wouldn't have heard it due to Batman and Pirates booming bass throughout the hall.
So I went and saw Pirates with Ryan, which I absolutely loved. Then we went to Creamery (which seems to be a recurring date motif) and got ice cream. We walked back to the lobby of my hall, where we ate our ice cream... and talked. For a long time. About the most random things... like the game (which you all just lost by the way) and high school... and classes... and professors... and cookies and brownies. Apparently when he and his roommate made brownies for the first time and left them for the girls in our apartment, his roommates were disapproving. But after our positive response... they decided it was a genius idea. They proceeded to make a batch of 110 cookies and then drop them all off in front of girls' doors, making sure to leave a note about who they were from. I thought that was quite silly. Of course, they got tons of cookies in return.
By the time I casually asked what time it was, and to our surprise discovered we had been on the date for over six hours and that it was almost midnight (ahhh!). I went inside where my roommates were all thrilled to see me ("We thought you had been kidnapped!!! But then you were on a date... but you were gone for sooo long!"). We looked out the window, and saw people sitting on the grass outside our hall... We decided to creep them out. We took Hillary's cardboard cutout of Orlando Bloom and stuck him in front of the window, so he was staring at them. They soon left.
I eventually wandered off to bed, and now here I am this morning writing. Exciting?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Smokin'! And... Getting Hit On.
Forgive me, all. But I am about to relate to you an extremely silly story that quite demonstrates how very much I need to improve my observation skills. And it has to do with smoke.
This all happened last night (why is it that the funny things happen on Sunday?) while my roommate was attempting to Americanize some Japanese dish. I don't remember what they were called, but my best guess is nikamun, and I truly don't know what they are. The best I can do to describe them is like...deep fried (I suspect that's the Americanized part) meat eggrolls. Only not.
While Rachel, my roommate, was cooking the meat, Clifton (a guy from our ward) comes over and asks if we want to come over to his place for dinner in an hour. He thought he was too late, because he saw us cooking, but we said that we would go ahead and bring what we were making to the "family dinner" (because he and some of his roommates are in our family home evening group). He left us to finish cooking.
After the meat was done, Rachel started heating the oil, and then she, Hillary, and I started rolling the meat up in the dough. I was proud of mine, because I could make them so cute like little meat envelopes. I loved that mine had more aesthetic value than those of my roommates. While I was caught up in making these things so cute, and Rachel and Hillary were caught up in making them hold meat in the first place, we finally have the sense to realize that... it smells REALLY bad... and come to think about it, we can't really breathe very well either. Our attention captured, we look up in horror to see Rachel's pan of oil has heated up WAY too fast and is ejecting huge clouds of thick smoke into our once-breathable kitchen air. We kind of blink at each other and think something along the lines of Huh... that's not good.
Then came the idea that there is a smoke detector somewhere around here. While Rachel takes the pan off the heat, Hillary and I located the detector: right outside the kitchen in the hallway. We decide that since there isn't actually a fire, we don't want that going off and summoning the fire department. We hurriedly shut the kitchen-hallway door. Then we throw open the kitchen window, turn on the fan as loud and powerful as it can get, and then proceed to prop open the kitchen-outside door with chairs. At this point the air in our kitchen is not breathable. The three of us rush out the back door, down the stairs and onto the grass where the air is finally breathable.
At this point, the guy who invited us over had the misfortune of wondering if we were done yet. He calls Rochelle, one of our other roommates, who is safely shut in her room, which is farthest away from the kitchen. Since the kitchen door is shut, and I scientifically presume that the smoke would rather go out the windows and the back door than through the crack under the hallway door, and therefore assume she is safe. I did not take into account that she would get a call from Clifton and then come into the kitchen to track our progress.
According to Rochelle's account she unsuspectingly glides down the hallway, and finding the kitchen door shut, wonders, I wonder why the kitchen door is shut... it's never shut. Innocently she opens the kitchen door and -- "ARGGH!!!!!!" And she hangs up on Clifton.
She joins us down on the grass near our apartment, and we explain to her what happened. Just then, Clifton and one of his roommates, Jon, round the corner, and look bewildered to see our door propped open and expelling clouds of smoke and us sitting on the grass. This wasn't good, because we were hoping the boys wouldn't have found out.
By this time, Rachel decides that the air inside the kitchen is breathable, and goes off to put our toxic creations into the oven instead. The boys return to their apartment. Hillary and I cautiously follow her, discussing carbon monoxide poisoning and marveling about what sort of chemical reaction must have taken place in the oil for it to emit such vile smoke. We decide Rachel would die first if any of us died, so if Rachel collapsed, then we might call 911. Fortunately, we decide we are all healthy except for our sense of smell being scarred for life.
We eventually make it over to the guy's apartment with our toxic eggrolls, which apparently didn't taste so bad. The guys had pork chops and rice and salad and avocados and... juice? Huh. So we sat there laughing at each other, and then Clifton brings up movies. Last week he was mumbling to me about something to with Facebook and movies in class when he wasn't supposed to be talking, and at my expressed confusion, he gave up. he clarified at this dinner. Apparently, according to Facebook's movie application, we pretty much like all the same movies. It said we were a 82% match, which is practically impossible. I didn't really care, but he seemed excited. So the whole table gets into a discussion about what movies we like the most. I say, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and get great approval from the both guys and girls.
The subject turns slightly to favorite Disney movies. All the people who go before me say the ones I really like, such as Emperor's New Groove, Lion King, Finding Nemo, etc. So... for something new, I say something like, "I really like Beauty and the Beast... because I practically am Belle." Unfortunately, this results in a creepy comment from Clifton: "Well, I'm Beast!" And Rachel, bless her, blurts out, "AWKWARD!" I give her an approving look, and the subject changes.
Well, there's this roommate of Clifton's (Jonathan) who is EXTREMELY quiet, but extremely nice and polite, and his family is Peruvian. I'm sitting next to him, and when we start talking about music I say I like full orchestral music especially (as well as practically everything else). We exchange a few words and next thing I know he is asking me on a date. Ooh... smooth, quiet man. Strike when the rest of the people there are completely ignoring you except for me. I think he's taking me to see some Minerva Teichart at the Museum of Art and then to dinner tomorrow. I can't be completely sure about what he was saying because he was so soft-spoken.
All of us play a few games (except for Jon, who decides instead to scour the kitchen and table clean instead). Jon lets me have all the leftover rice. Then we head home.
We get home, and upon informing my roommates of this date, they immediately turn into teasing mode. They decide instead of having a marital status board (which originally listed us all as single, but then morphed into sillier things... i.e. arranged marriage to mystery Tibetan man... then dumping the mystery Tibetan man for the cardboard man in Hillary's closet...), that we should have a date tally. They continue to tease me about having two dates in one week. Yes, two. I have another one. On Friday. With Ryan. Who happened to be the one that made my entire apartment brownies and left them at our doorstep. Yes, that was him. We are going to see pirates on Friday.
And this is slightly disturbing to me, because I've only been on one date before this, and I am not used to getting hit on. At all. It's like... whoa, guys like me? And I have more dates than any of the other girls already? Dang it. Staying single is going be a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Especially since I just found out Jon is pretty much the only RM in our entire ward. Oops.
This all happened last night (why is it that the funny things happen on Sunday?) while my roommate was attempting to Americanize some Japanese dish. I don't remember what they were called, but my best guess is nikamun, and I truly don't know what they are. The best I can do to describe them is like...deep fried (I suspect that's the Americanized part) meat eggrolls. Only not.
While Rachel, my roommate, was cooking the meat, Clifton (a guy from our ward) comes over and asks if we want to come over to his place for dinner in an hour. He thought he was too late, because he saw us cooking, but we said that we would go ahead and bring what we were making to the "family dinner" (because he and some of his roommates are in our family home evening group). He left us to finish cooking.
After the meat was done, Rachel started heating the oil, and then she, Hillary, and I started rolling the meat up in the dough. I was proud of mine, because I could make them so cute like little meat envelopes. I loved that mine had more aesthetic value than those of my roommates. While I was caught up in making these things so cute, and Rachel and Hillary were caught up in making them hold meat in the first place, we finally have the sense to realize that... it smells REALLY bad... and come to think about it, we can't really breathe very well either. Our attention captured, we look up in horror to see Rachel's pan of oil has heated up WAY too fast and is ejecting huge clouds of thick smoke into our once-breathable kitchen air. We kind of blink at each other and think something along the lines of Huh... that's not good.
Then came the idea that there is a smoke detector somewhere around here. While Rachel takes the pan off the heat, Hillary and I located the detector: right outside the kitchen in the hallway. We decide that since there isn't actually a fire, we don't want that going off and summoning the fire department. We hurriedly shut the kitchen-hallway door. Then we throw open the kitchen window, turn on the fan as loud and powerful as it can get, and then proceed to prop open the kitchen-outside door with chairs. At this point the air in our kitchen is not breathable. The three of us rush out the back door, down the stairs and onto the grass where the air is finally breathable.
At this point, the guy who invited us over had the misfortune of wondering if we were done yet. He calls Rochelle, one of our other roommates, who is safely shut in her room, which is farthest away from the kitchen. Since the kitchen door is shut, and I scientifically presume that the smoke would rather go out the windows and the back door than through the crack under the hallway door, and therefore assume she is safe. I did not take into account that she would get a call from Clifton and then come into the kitchen to track our progress.
According to Rochelle's account she unsuspectingly glides down the hallway, and finding the kitchen door shut, wonders, I wonder why the kitchen door is shut... it's never shut. Innocently she opens the kitchen door and -- "ARGGH!!!!!!" And she hangs up on Clifton.
She joins us down on the grass near our apartment, and we explain to her what happened. Just then, Clifton and one of his roommates, Jon, round the corner, and look bewildered to see our door propped open and expelling clouds of smoke and us sitting on the grass. This wasn't good, because we were hoping the boys wouldn't have found out.
By this time, Rachel decides that the air inside the kitchen is breathable, and goes off to put our toxic creations into the oven instead. The boys return to their apartment. Hillary and I cautiously follow her, discussing carbon monoxide poisoning and marveling about what sort of chemical reaction must have taken place in the oil for it to emit such vile smoke. We decide Rachel would die first if any of us died, so if Rachel collapsed, then we might call 911. Fortunately, we decide we are all healthy except for our sense of smell being scarred for life.
We eventually make it over to the guy's apartment with our toxic eggrolls, which apparently didn't taste so bad. The guys had pork chops and rice and salad and avocados and... juice? Huh. So we sat there laughing at each other, and then Clifton brings up movies. Last week he was mumbling to me about something to with Facebook and movies in class when he wasn't supposed to be talking, and at my expressed confusion, he gave up. he clarified at this dinner. Apparently, according to Facebook's movie application, we pretty much like all the same movies. It said we were a 82% match, which is practically impossible. I didn't really care, but he seemed excited. So the whole table gets into a discussion about what movies we like the most. I say, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and get great approval from the both guys and girls.
The subject turns slightly to favorite Disney movies. All the people who go before me say the ones I really like, such as Emperor's New Groove, Lion King, Finding Nemo, etc. So... for something new, I say something like, "I really like Beauty and the Beast... because I practically am Belle." Unfortunately, this results in a creepy comment from Clifton: "Well, I'm Beast!" And Rachel, bless her, blurts out, "AWKWARD!" I give her an approving look, and the subject changes.
Well, there's this roommate of Clifton's (Jonathan) who is EXTREMELY quiet, but extremely nice and polite, and his family is Peruvian. I'm sitting next to him, and when we start talking about music I say I like full orchestral music especially (as well as practically everything else). We exchange a few words and next thing I know he is asking me on a date. Ooh... smooth, quiet man. Strike when the rest of the people there are completely ignoring you except for me. I think he's taking me to see some Minerva Teichart at the Museum of Art and then to dinner tomorrow. I can't be completely sure about what he was saying because he was so soft-spoken.
All of us play a few games (except for Jon, who decides instead to scour the kitchen and table clean instead). Jon lets me have all the leftover rice. Then we head home.
We get home, and upon informing my roommates of this date, they immediately turn into teasing mode. They decide instead of having a marital status board (which originally listed us all as single, but then morphed into sillier things... i.e. arranged marriage to mystery Tibetan man... then dumping the mystery Tibetan man for the cardboard man in Hillary's closet...), that we should have a date tally. They continue to tease me about having two dates in one week. Yes, two. I have another one. On Friday. With Ryan. Who happened to be the one that made my entire apartment brownies and left them at our doorstep. Yes, that was him. We are going to see pirates on Friday.
And this is slightly disturbing to me, because I've only been on one date before this, and I am not used to getting hit on. At all. It's like... whoa, guys like me? And I have more dates than any of the other girls already? Dang it. Staying single is going be a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Especially since I just found out Jon is pretty much the only RM in our entire ward. Oops.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
The Myth of the Starving Student
I apologize that my life at the moment is not as entertaining as before. The most interesting thing going on is homework (which I'm sure you don't want to hear about) and my culinary life.
I don't know if this is a false idea that I got from pop culture, but the myth goes that kids going off to college are starving students, begging for food from merciful relatives and random passersby. This certainly is not the case for me.
I have, since I go to BYU, a required meal plan, which basically pays for your food, but you pay a mongo monthly bill. Unfortunately, if you accumulate too much money (i.e. not being able to spend it all), they stop giving it you… even though you already paid for it.
So, here is the dilemma: I have too much money allocated for food. I, and all my roommates, go to the Creamery for the sole purpose of spending our meal plan. No, we're not hungry, if fact, we are quite the opposite. We have elaborate meals. And lots of them.
Take, for instance, my menu today. For breakfast, I had a yogurt, because I wanted something quick. I ran to the Creamery and bought myself a beautiful turkey and ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato I could stow away in my backpack and eat when lunch came around (lines at lunchtime are horrendous). Around five I come home, my homework finished, and realize I'm bored. So I eat… little bits at a time! I munch on the community Cheezits happily as I start to do homework for next week. Then, alas! I realize I still require sustenance, and scavenge around our kitchen. I decide to make myself a delicious honey barbecue chicken breast. After eating it, I amble around my apartment aimlessly. After realizing my extreme boredom again, I turn to the fridge. Fruit. Lots of fruit. I make myself a beautiful fruit salad. More aimless wandering. I have some cottage cheese (don't tell my Dad, he'd gag at the thought of it). I play with my roommate's exercise ball. I have a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. I check my email. I proceed to make Jell-O. I grab my hymn book and make the trip to the basement to play piano in a claustrophobic room. I come back. I eat fried squash with basil, oregano, and garlic. Mmm, tasty. Just now I ate a York Peppermint Patty. And I guarantee that I am going to eat something tonight… probably Jell-O, more fruit, and something else. :D
My roommates and I are trying desperately to spend our food money. Thankfully, the Creamery sells things like laundry detergent, shampoos, make-up, and school supplies that I can spend my already-spent money on.
And, all my roommates and I have discovered that we can make fine cuisine with just a little extra money.
And even after this, I've got extra money that I can't buy things I want with. Eww. Especially with local mothers bringing us boxes and boxes of produce (stir-fry!!!).
So… I've got tons of homework, but not enough to keep me occupied. Really, the most interesting thing I had to do was write a couple paragraphs for an introduction to my autobiography for English. Bleh. And I'm being hit over the head with pre-calculus (oww) and dimensional analysis. I am so bored in my classes.
I've been hired for an early morning custodial job (Whoot! The only job on campus that'll work with my crazy schedule!) where the people are as crazy as me. I'm at home, haha.
Tonight I have the fine privilege of going to see Charlie Brown… for free!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
BYU Fun: Poltergeists with Alibis and Manbrownies
By far, my most interesting day has been today... so I will just quickly summarize my week at the Y, and then tell all about my fabulous and well, very funny, Sunday. I flew up to Salt Lake on Wednesday morning, and my grandma picked me up and took me over. I spent that evening unpacking and situating myself. Thursday... orientation. Walked all over campus. Not particularly exciting. Friday. Ditto. Saturday... I bought my books! And... cleaned my kitchen. I twitched everytime I walked by it, because there were boxes everywhere and I could barely walk through it. So I cleaned it. And I went to the football game, where we both won and got sunburned. Then... I was tired and slept.
I woke up around 9am, which for me was sleeping in. To everyone else in my apartment... well, let's just say they were all asleep. Perfect time to sneak a shower; after all, I do share my bathroom with five other girls. When I come out of the bathroom, my door is closed... and locked. With my room key inside, along with my contacts, my shoes, my phone... basically anything that might come in handy. So I ram on the door, screaming at my roommate Ashley to wake up ("Awaken, awaken! Let me in!"), but to no avail. I assume then that she is not inside. Next option. I barefootedly and wethairedly leave my apartment and ram on the Resident Assistant's door... she doesn't hear me... after all is only about 10am. Too early for the average college kid to be awake anyway. Back to my apartment... excitement!!! One of my roommate/apartmentmates is awake! Rachel tried her key, but it didn't work (should have been obvious, but it was worth a try). So... I left to try and wake the RA again, and again to no avail. Alas! As I reenter my apartment, out yonder by my room appears -- Ashley! Aparently she slept through my desperate attempts to get in my room. Haha. I now will take my keys to the shower with me. :D
We went to church as a hall, and then we came back... most of my roommates left, so it was just Rachel, Hillary, and I. Being the strange creatures we are, we discussed how useful a poltergeist would be... and that we would bribe it with brownies so that it would torture our roommates instead of us. We continued this conversation by IMing Rachel's cousin Cynthia... who didn't know what a poltergeist was.
Then...
BANG BANG BANG!!! Someone knocking at our door! We immediately suspect poltergeists, but in kidding. I bolt to the hallway door, and peep out the eyehole... no one! No one at all!!! So... the three of us, slightly freaked out, run to our kitchen door, and alas! No one there either. Now that our freak out factor has been raised to paranoid level, we decide to check the hall door again... this time we actually open it. And... the ground yields and poltergeist-y surprise. Brownies. On the ground.
Coincidence? We thought not! We were just talking about how wonderful a poltergeist would be, and how we would make our poltergeist brownies, and suddenly a poltergeist yields up brownies as an initiative offering of alliance! But for those non-believers, the brownies and the poltergeist had an alibi. With man handwriting! Ahhhh! And the handwriting said something about the brownies being a gift from the shippmates in a particular room in a neighboring man's dorm. And! There were initials on there. In awkward cursive!
We were not at all impressed at the intrigue and mystery, and had to know WHO had left us brownies if not the poltergeist (who I am now a firm believer in). Hillary, being the resourceful sidekick she is, remembered about the freshman academy directory... and quickly identified the culprits. Two bakers and... a sustainer. Slightly disappointed at them being guys and not poltergeists, we headed off to a hall meeting and a ward prayer.
Back from the activities, we sit down and start chomping on the brownies, having identified the culprits and confronted them at ward prayer (one of which asked my roommate Jackie on a date, haha), felt safe enough to finish off the plate. As we ingested the large amount of sugar (after fasting no less), we undoubtedly and expectedly became very silly and hyper although it was kind of late. And sadly, I have to admit the sillyness started with careless mumble of, "Mmmmmm... manbrownies...". This of course resulted in a long tirade of laughter and a succeedingly hillarious onset of jokes.
The worst, and funniest, joke, although I am afraid I may have screwed up attributing who said what and what exactly they said:
Sunday.
I woke up around 9am, which for me was sleeping in. To everyone else in my apartment... well, let's just say they were all asleep. Perfect time to sneak a shower; after all, I do share my bathroom with five other girls. When I come out of the bathroom, my door is closed... and locked. With my room key inside, along with my contacts, my shoes, my phone... basically anything that might come in handy. So I ram on the door, screaming at my roommate Ashley to wake up ("Awaken, awaken! Let me in!"), but to no avail. I assume then that she is not inside. Next option. I barefootedly and wethairedly leave my apartment and ram on the Resident Assistant's door... she doesn't hear me... after all is only about 10am. Too early for the average college kid to be awake anyway. Back to my apartment... excitement!!! One of my roommate/apartmentmates is awake! Rachel tried her key, but it didn't work (should have been obvious, but it was worth a try). So... I left to try and wake the RA again, and again to no avail. Alas! As I reenter my apartment, out yonder by my room appears -- Ashley! Aparently she slept through my desperate attempts to get in my room. Haha. I now will take my keys to the shower with me. :D
We went to church as a hall, and then we came back... most of my roommates left, so it was just Rachel, Hillary, and I. Being the strange creatures we are, we discussed how useful a poltergeist would be... and that we would bribe it with brownies so that it would torture our roommates instead of us. We continued this conversation by IMing Rachel's cousin Cynthia... who didn't know what a poltergeist was.
Then...
BANG BANG BANG!!! Someone knocking at our door! We immediately suspect poltergeists, but in kidding. I bolt to the hallway door, and peep out the eyehole... no one! No one at all!!! So... the three of us, slightly freaked out, run to our kitchen door, and alas! No one there either. Now that our freak out factor has been raised to paranoid level, we decide to check the hall door again... this time we actually open it. And... the ground yields and poltergeist-y surprise. Brownies. On the ground.
Coincidence? We thought not! We were just talking about how wonderful a poltergeist would be, and how we would make our poltergeist brownies, and suddenly a poltergeist yields up brownies as an initiative offering of alliance! But for those non-believers, the brownies and the poltergeist had an alibi. With man handwriting! Ahhhh! And the handwriting said something about the brownies being a gift from the shippmates in a particular room in a neighboring man's dorm. And! There were initials on there. In awkward cursive!
We were not at all impressed at the intrigue and mystery, and had to know WHO had left us brownies if not the poltergeist (who I am now a firm believer in). Hillary, being the resourceful sidekick she is, remembered about the freshman academy directory... and quickly identified the culprits. Two bakers and... a sustainer. Slightly disappointed at them being guys and not poltergeists, we headed off to a hall meeting and a ward prayer.
Back from the activities, we sit down and start chomping on the brownies, having identified the culprits and confronted them at ward prayer (one of which asked my roommate Jackie on a date, haha), felt safe enough to finish off the plate. As we ingested the large amount of sugar (after fasting no less), we undoubtedly and expectedly became very silly and hyper although it was kind of late. And sadly, I have to admit the sillyness started with careless mumble of, "Mmmmmm... manbrownies...". This of course resulted in a long tirade of laughter and a succeedingly hillarious onset of jokes.
The worst, and funniest, joke, although I am afraid I may have screwed up attributing who said what and what exactly they said:
Rachel: "Everybody stop! There may a ring hidden in one of these manbrownies!"
Hillary: "Oh! Oh! I got it! I got it!"
Well, I start class on Tuesday, although I already have homework to do. So that is what I'll be doing tomorrow.
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