Half Marathon!!!

This past Saturday I ran in the Salt Lake City half-marathon! Yes, I finished, and no, I'm not sore. :) It was pretty interesting, actually. I felt really good, despite forgetting to bring my energy gel with me. It was really fun to see random people sitting out on their porch cheering us on. There were something like 10,000 participants, so it was pretty much a mad rush (ha, no pun intended). I didn't push myself super hard, I just wanted to run continuously and finish. I didn't stop the whole time and my pace race was 10:23, which is pretty slow, but I'm proud of myself! I finished in 2 hours and 16 minutes, so it was a pretty good run. It was a gorgeous day and half the time I was looking at the scenery and not even realizing what I was doing! It was an accomplishment for sure.

Kamakazi Bird!

The funniest thing ever happened to my dad this last saturday. If you remember, it was a super windy day. My dad came inside and his ear was all bloody. It's a really random place to be bloody, so we asked him what happened. He was getting out of the car and this huge gust of wind came. It blew a bird right into the side of my dads head! I guess its beak cut him up pretty good, he was bleeding for a good while. But seriously, that was so random!! It gave us all a really good laugh.

Worse than nails on a chalk board...

I live right across the street from DT (Deseret Towers), which, as many of you know, they are tearing down. Since people like me live so close they are taking it down by ramming a huge cement ball from a machine to break it down piecemeal. Besides being painstakingly slow and causing earthquake-like shakings of my floor, the noise is unbearable. I cringe when I hear nails on a chalkboard, but hearing massive steel beams scrape mercilessly up against glass and wires is something close to Chinese torture. I hope my sanity hangs on just a few more days until I'm done with school.

Almost.. there...

I feel like I'm crawling in a miserable desert and I'm dying of thirst. The glass of water is so close... it s like the end of school. It just never comes!!! I'm so close to being done and I sometimes just want to roll over and quit, but I can't! I think, honestly the worst part of finals is eating. By the time I eat lunch, get satisfied, pack up my stuff, walk to the library, settle in and start studying... I'm hungry in a half hour! Honestly, eating is so annoying sometimes. Does anyone ever feel the same way?

April Fools!

I quite enjoyed the email I was sent the day after April Fools Day titled "Snoop Dogg Converts to Mormonism." Haha, it was a good joke, but apparently my roommates didn't think so. I was asking them if they had heard about it and they were like, yeah! That just goes to show you that people can change!" Are you serious??? It just made me think of how gullible some people are. I'm not doubting that people can change, but . . . . eh, not really Snoop Dogg. :) What are the best April Fools Day jokes you have done/heard of?

Injustices, anyone?

I know, I sound like a bit of a baby, but sometimes you just have to vent! I know life isn't supposed to be fair and all that, but seriously? I just have a few frustrations that just feel good to vent to anyone. . . and I honestly am not as weighed down by these things as it may seem, so chill out. (Yeah, who am I talking to?)

-I study for a week and a half, 10 hours over a weekend (yes, between Friday and Saturday), and cram for an hour and a half right before a test... I get a 48%. (I secretly think God played an April Fools Day joke on me and messed with my memory)
-My little sister was, in one school year, homecoming queen runner up last october and nominated for prom queen last month (I had no such luck...)
-The same little sister got nominated today for 'keys to success' and could possibly win a free car
-It snowed yesterday and its freaking April!!!

I know I can't be the only one who has the unvoiced desire to mumble a complaint or two under my breath... what are things that really get under your skin????? (I hate when people add more than one question mark at the end of sentences as well.)

Comparing myself to a Disney Character...

This weeks 'challenge' was to compare yourself to a disney character. I'm more of a mutt in the sense than a pure bred "Snow White" or "Mufasa" (eh, hopefully not Mufasa...) I feel like Cinderella since I have come to college because it seems like all I do is work... not to mention the stupid bell tower here at BYU wakes me up just like it does in Cinderella.

I also feel like Mulan... only because they (the curfew nazis they call "R.As" have knocked on my apartment door twice after curfew and asked if there was a boy in there. It was really just me talking (pretending to be a boy, of course, I'm not that manly.) Mulan knows my pain there.

Lastly, I feel like sleeping beauty, in more particular the 'sleeping part'. You see, the wicked witch (homework) is constantly trying to persuade me to go off the path and catch up on my sleep. Hence everytime homework comes sneaking up on me I'm persuaded just to drop off into never never land (wrong disney story, my bad) and not wake up until finals are over!

Church Functions... Always on my birthday

Not that I don't like church, or anything (I'm at BYU, voluntarily...obviously I like church) but it always rains on my parade to find out that a church function is being held on my birthday. Last year my birthday was on Sunday... woot. I went to Music and the Spoken Word for my "party" for crying out loud. (just kidding, I really didn't have a party of any sorts). The year before it was on a Saturday, and they had the General Young Womens Conference that night on my birthday, so nothing exciting happened.
This year, my birthday is on Tuesday, this Tuesday actually, and they are having enrichment night on my birthday. Not just any enrichment that people would sluff and come to a wicked awesome birthday party instead.... Sheri Dew is the speaker! Who is going to pick coming to a party when you can listen to the closest-to-a-female-prophet that ever lived??
Alas, such is the life.

Utah Drivers Really Are Horrible

Growing up in Utah, I guess I just became used to it. Now it drives me insane (no pun intended). Now that I know people who are from out of state, I always hear them talking about how horrible Utah drivers are. Whatever. California drivers are terrible! I'm talking from more than one experience, but Saturday night I drove up to Salt Lake to see my brother who is in the hospital. I swear there must have been a Retarded Drivers Anonymous convention near by that everyone on the freeway was trying to get to. I was cut off at least 3 times, tail gated, swerved around, and (the most annoying) people riding up my tail pipe with their brights on full blast. This is in 50 minutes of driving and my patience, brotherly kindness, and action bridling was put to the test. I passed though! What are the most annoying things people do to you when you drive? I'm open to any good road rage stories! :)

Worst Food Allergy?

A little boy that lives next door to my parents had the longest list of food allergies you could think of. He couldn't have milk or milk products (that would kill me right there), wheat of any kind, eggs, and his sodium intake was severely limited and those were lots more things that I can't remember. That made me grateful I don't have food allergies and I don't have to read food labels for whatever I eat. What one thing would be the worst/most inconvenient food allergy to have? For me it would probably be milk... I love my icecream too much.

My Roommate's Name Is Controversy

As mentioned before, my roommate is a vegan. She is way awesome and really smart, and both of us agree she was born about 4 decades too late (she is all about peace, love, flowers, and naming your child "river" or "strawberry" or "bushman") but her downfall is bringing up every and any topic having to do with controversy.
Disney movies are sexist, according to her. Women are put in such a 'helpless' light and they always have to have another person come and save them. I don't know whatever happened to those happy childhood days where people didn't analyze the crap out of everything. (sorry if that word is offensive, or maybe we can bring up a controversy discussion??) Other controversial issues discussed include:
-donating your body to science
-raising your children as vegans (a particularly maddening conversation for me)
-choosing a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle
-Disney princesses (as mentioned)
-not visiting the doctor unless you have a serious illness (like what? blood shooting out your ears or something?)

It's a tireless and ongoing game, trying to now use rhetoric to get my point across. Any ideas would be helpful! :)

Goodbye to President Hinckley

On Friday I left to go to President Hinckley's viewing around 10:30 in the morning, expecting to be back by 2:00 to come to english class... well, it didn't work out that way. The line we had to stand in reminded me of the phrase "endure to the end"... even though my 2 hour wait was nothing compared to others who waited 4 or 5 hours. It was a really good experience to go. I absolutely loved President Hinckley! He loved the youth and had so much trust in us that we really owe a lot to all the counsel he gave specifically to our generation. He left behind a wonderful legacy and it's super amazing to look at how much the church grew under his "era". The 70-something temples and 5 million plus members... its awesome!

Great Food and Crazy Classmates!

I must admit for this restaurant review assignment, I was a bit sketchy about going to eat with 3 random people. Oh, my goodness, we had so much fun! I thought it was a great idea because we will be in these same groups for the rest of the semester and it was good to get outside the classroom and get to know each other. Our food was super super good (we went to Carrabas) and our waitress was very accomodating and nice... but not as nice as Chloe was to her! Haha, we were all laughing and wondering if their pink lemonade is spiked?

This is awkward in a sense... but I guess it doesn't matter because I have nothing else to do. I'm a freshman and I am happy we are talking about food for this english class, because I like food. My parents used to own a restaurant, so thats pretty interesting I guess. My roommate is a vegetarian/vegan, which is very very uncommon in Utah/highly LDS populated areas (which means BYU as well). It bothers me sometimes, but I give her kudos for eating so healthy. This semester at BYU I'm taking 18 credit hours, so give me a break if I don't have time to waste on this blog (besides class, obviously).