Good-bye senior year (kind of)

Yesterday was the last day of finals for my (technical) senior year. Technically I should be graduating today but that's not really how college goes when you have to apply to get into your program. Regardless, finals are over and that means it's time for FUN.

After I finished my Spanish final yesterday morning, I went to lunch at Cafe Rio with Margaret. In June Margaret leaves for her mission to Japan. She and I grew up together and it seems like our families have known each other forever. It's weird to think about going home and not having Margaret there. She's one of those people that always makes Utah feel a bit more like home.

I also started packing for New York. The biggest problem I'm running into is, of course, shoes. I'm trying to be reasonable about what I'll actually want to wear for the 2 months I'm there but the thing is I really do wear  almost all of the shoes I own on a fairly regular basis. I'm only bringing one suitcase with me for 2 months away. I'm really not all that worried about not having enough clothes; though I do really like options for shirts, it's all about shoes for me.

Bronwyn's mission call opening was the highlight of the night, though. It was hilarious to watch her start reading her call out loud, stop a little bit to cry, keep reading and then finally read where she's called to serve only to have her stop AGAIN before she actually said it out loud. She's going to Salem, Oregon. It seems to be an perfect fit for her. I'm super excited to write her letters.

Peter and I then spent the rest of the night together. Finals kept us both terribly busy so we only saw each other at church on Sunday. It was great to finally sit down together with literally no responsibilities or stress left to bother either of us. After Bronwyn's mission call opening he and I went to In and Out. While there I ran into my friends Will and Braden! I've known them almost 4 years now. They're absolute gems, two people I  love talking with and who constantly make me smile. And while I'm not a crazy In and Out fan, I realized it's been quite long while since I had a cheeseburger and it sure was delicious, more so than usual I think. After eating we spent the rest of the night mostly talking.

Every now and then Peter and I try to come up with an "activity," something to actually do together, but when it comes down to it we're both more than happy to just sit on his couch talking for hours on end. And sometimes we throw in watching some TV show. Last night we watched an episode of Psych, a show I used to watch all the time but haven't seen in quite some time. I forgot how much I loved it! I laughed more watching that show than I have watching anything else in a long while. But like always, we went back to talking about life. Kirk and Kyle eventually showed up, at which point we eventually got on the topic of science jokes and Kyle told some joke he made up which I did not understand in the slightest but he thought was hilarious. That was the best part, the fact that he laughed so much at his own joke.

Absolutely terrible effort

I didn't mean to become such a terrible blogger but nearly 10 days have passed since I last posted and I'm pretty sure that equates to being a terrible blogger when it comes to blogging every day of a month.

No one is missing out on much, however. I spend my days at work (in the library) and then studying (in the library or at home). In just over a week I'll be in New York, though. That's quite exciting. Two months in New York City and then it's back to Provo.

I suppose another exciting thing is that I'm all set for graduation. I'll be walking at the ceremony in August and in December I'll be officially done. Pretty cool, eh?

And the final exciting thing I've done lately is finish designing a magazine. It was the final project (a group project) for my publication graphics and design class and it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself. We present it to the rest of the class on Saturday night. There is perhaps no time more terrible for a final exam than 8-10 pm on a Saturday, except maybe for 7-10 am on the last day of finals, which is when my Spanish exam is.

So here's to a few days of me and my friends suffering through finals.

Soccer time

This afternoon I met up w/ my friend Katie and a bunch of boys she knows to play soccer. Katie and I were in the same freshman ward and still try to get together to do awesome stuff every now and then. Point in case: when we went wakeboarding in October.

It was pretty rainy this morning and not too warm. That would not stop us, though. Around 2 o'clock it was getting a little sunnier but it was still not the warmest of spring days. Once we started playing, after just a few minutes or so the sun really did come out and it was a perfect spring day at the park with no worries for exams or what not. I'm not particularly good at soccer. I'm actually quite bad at it. But I love it, so I keep playing.

Getting outside was awesome, though. I've been doing a lot more running lately but it's always nice to change things up and actually run with a purpose. That's still my biggest issue with just going out for a run.

At this point I still have a few days until it's back to school again. Even then, classes start on Tuesday. And my only Tuesday class? Yeah, it's zumba.

But other than soccer, my day was quite relaxed. Tonight I'm going to hang out w/ my Italian friend Carson. I say he's my Italian friend because we had 101 together last semester. He's going on a study abroad to Siena this spring, so that's both awesome and sad. He's from Utah so if he'd stuck around we probably would have hung out a lot. This will be the last time I see him so we're going to play this Italian card game called Scopa and probably eat some snacks.

But now that I think about it, Carson and I might not even hang out for that long, so I imagine my night will be filled with . . . Hmmmm . . . Probably lots of YouTube. Because I'm not going home after this semester I don't feel this terrible need to see/hang out with a ton of friends, especially because a lot of them are staying spring as well. Lorraine and I both have felt the end of this semester has been quite anticlimactic. We're used to cramming as much fun as possible into the few days all of us have left together. Not this time around, though.

Last YouTube video I watched: Pillow Talk! A Day in the Life

Tuesday madness

Like I mentioned in my post from 2:30 this morning . . . Tuesday was pretty crazy. So here's what went down.

My exam wasn't until seven at night so I spent the day half studying, half watching Vlogbrothers, half watching The Office. It was alright, though I wish my exam had been earlier in the day.

I went to campus around five something and sold back two more books and got $13, money which would later pay for my delicious dinner.

So I took my exam at seven and it only took about an hour, which was awesome because then I was able to get dinner w/ my friend Mikaela and her old roommates. Mik was in New Zealand all this semester on a study abroad and is getting married in June and is all done with school so after she gets married here in June I won't see her again for a long while. It was awesome spending literally the entire night w/ her and our other friends. We went to Red Robin and I remembered how delicious that place is. I had quite a large amount of steak fries. It was awesome. 

After our crazy dinner, which it really was, we went back to Mikaela's old apartment, where all her old roommates still live obviously, and ate tons of candy/chocolate from New Zealand. I also Tim Tam slammed for the first time ever! That was pretty nifty and Tim Tams are quite lovely when soaked in hot chocolate. The whole night was spent acting generally ridiculous and laughing and talking about old times  and new times and all that jazz. I realized how much I missed having Mikaela around just to hang out with. We met freshman year but really only became friends till the last month or so of winter semester so all summer we talked and then when we got back for sophomore year we hung out a ton. Provo isn't quite Provo without Mik so it will be interesting to come back this next fall and have her not be here.

I'm thinking about how delicious Red Robin was and now I'm getting really hungry again.

As for today's plans, there are none. Lorraine and I will probably bum around a lot. Maybe clean? I really have no idea. We'll figure out something. If it's nice weather that'd be even better but it seems pretty cloudy right now. It's almost 11 and my room is still dark considering it is almost 11. I think it's supposed to rain a little today but other than that be warm. This afternoon I should probably go for a run. I definitely need it.

Last YouTube video I watched: Romance and Sex Questions in an Airport

SORRY

It's technically Wednesday but since I haven't gone to bed yet it doesn't count as Wednesday in my book since my Tuesday has not ended.

I took my last final this evening.

After lots of crazy fun stuff happened. That'll be included in tomorrow's REAL post. Just know that I ate a ton of food.

Last YouTube video I watched: Brief History of Baker Street

YouTube refreshing

I realized tonight how often I refresh the YouTube homepage. Whenever I don't have something to watch or I'm just bored I command+R the crap out of my subscription box, somehow hoping someone will post a new video to watch. Usually I'm waiting for something from ShayCarl, as I been tonight. The thing is, Shay already posted his video hours ago but I'm used to watching them late that I forget.

My love of YouTube is hard to understand for many people. It really is my version of TV. I still watch TV shows, though it's on Hulu or Netflix, and even then it's basically just the NBC Thursday night comedy line-up. Oh, and BBC stuff like Doctor Who and Sherlock. The people I watch on YouTube happen to like/talk about those shows pretty often as well. It's good stuff.

YouTube is so cool in that it allows people to remain connected through video, even when there's thousands and thousands of people watching. It's an interesting feeling, knowing that if I were ever to run into people I watch on YouTube that we'd be probably have a totally awesome conversation. It'd be a little strange, of course, because we wouldn't have ever met in real life and it's always a little bit awkward meeting someone for the first time whether you watch them on the Internet or not. Hopefully some day I can make that happen by going to VidCon.

Today I took one final and I have one more tomorrow, and then my junior year is pretty much done. It's been a crazy semester and an even crazier school year overall. I'll be sure to write a "semester in review" type post when all is said and done.

Last YouTube video I watched: My Parents: Opposingly Supportive

Taking a break

I've been studying for a good part of the afternoon and feel the need for a little break, even though after church, Becca and Trent came over and we had sweet potato fries and pancakes for lunch. It's a winning combination, I know. We've had lunch together a number of times this semester and it's great fun.

I only have two actual finals; one is tomorrow and the other is on Tuesday. I alternate studying for them so I don't get worn out on one subject. Later tonight as I study I will probably focus solely on my history final, though. I'm quite excited to be done with this semester, even though I will be staying spring and taking a few classes. I've been assured that spring is much more chill than other semesters so I'm not worried.

Perhaps the most exciting part of spring will be leaves returning to trees. I've never been in Utah in spring and I hear it's pretty nice, though I doubt anything can rival the actual forested and not desert land of the Midwest. Nevertheless, it should still be a nice little experience.

In other fun news, I hit my head on a cupboard door today; rather a cupboard door hit my head as I opened it. There's a pretty nice bump there now. And right after this head-knocking I knocked off the counter a bowl filled with pasta, which was a shame because that pasta was going to be delicious.

While I'm writing this I've got The Office going on in the background. No matter how many times I see these episodes they are still hilarious. Right now I'm going through season four and am currently watching "Launch Party," an episode I quite like because of Jim and Pam pretending to be the computer and messing with Dwight. Brilliant. I'm looking forward to watching the "Dinner Party" episode very soon as well. I'm sure tomorrow in the library I'll get to it.

Time to get back to studying, though.

Last YouTube video I watched: Dawes - When My Time Comes, Live from Coachella

What I ate today

I just got back from a party so this is all I have the time for because I need to go to bed.

-Hashbrowns with onions and cheese.
-A glass of Sunny D
-Handful of Swedish Fish
-Bagel w/ plain cream cheese
-Two bananas
-A handful of strawberries
-Half a chocolate frosted donut
-Two slices of Hawaiian pizza
-Some flavor-blasted Goldfish
-A few mini M&Ms
-White rice
-Some sort of barbecued pulled Hawaiian pork stuff
-Antipasta salad
-A roll
-3/4 of a chocolate chip muffin
-Barbecue funyun type things
-Salad w/ Italian dressing
-Lots of water
-Three peanut M&Ms
-One pretzel

I'm pretty sure that's it. And that's also not in the order I ate it, so no worries there. I also ran 2 miles this afternoon so I don't feel too bad about it.

Last YouTube video I watched: Dance Bombed

My show

I'm pretty sure one of the subjects I blog about most is The Office. When I come to think about my life over the last few years, that show is one of few constants. Not even just the last few years, either. I've been watching since the very first episode of season two and it didn't take long for me to go back and watch season one.

It's crazy to think that The Office has been on almost as long as Seinfeld was; it has nine seasons, in case you didn't know, and The Office is currently on season eight. I'm still pretty much of the opinion that it should've stopped when Steve Carell left but I've definitely not stopped watching. I feel about The Office the same way I felt about LOST: I've just watched it for so long that to stop would be silly. However, LOST had a lot more questions I wanted answered compared to The Office.

If you ever walk past me in the library, that's probably what I'm watching too. It's my default studying show. And my default relaxing show. And my default I don't know what else to watch show. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, how a perfect date would be watching The Office. Though I suppose I've already had that date, I'm definitely not opposed to doing it again.

Well, that's enough about that wonderful show. I want to give a shout-out to my friend Kaitlin who wrote this awesome post about our little picnic to the park with Cafe Rio. She's an awesome photographer too, so of course there are gorgeous pictures along with some nice words. Kaitlin is one of my neighbors and was in my Italian class last semester; I got to see her every day last semester because of it. Basically, she's wonderful.

And now because I'm in the mood to put pictures on my blog because I've been reading Kaitlin's. So here's a few pictures from my freshman year of college because I'm all nostalgic and such. The end of the school year always does this now. I can't believe it's been basically two years since I lived in good ol' Heritage Halls.

My friend Catherine took this candid picture of Jordan & me
at the ward's closing social. This was almost exactly 2 years ago.

No blog post about freshman year is complete
without a picture of Matthew McKay.

Warren & Phil sharing a delicious strawberry concoction.
I always call this one "Sharing is caring"

Now that Brooke is married we don't pull pranks anymore.
But this was definitely our finest hour of freshman year.

And now I'm going to get back to studying. What a joyous night it shall be with my books.

Last YouTube video I watched: Introducing Lizzie Bennet

Final day of classes

It's been a very chill day as far as classes are concerned. I only have two on Wednesdays but they're spread apart. I have a history class at 12 and then my next class isn't until 4. All in all I've mostly been watching videos on YouTube and getting things ready for reading days.

I only have two actual exams and then one paper due after. The exams are both scheduled, one on Monday and one on Tuesday, which makes things pretty easy. I'll technically get to start my break days before winter semester is actually over. I don't know what I'm going to do w/ the days before spring semester. I need to buy a helmet for longboarding, so that'll probably take up a lot of my time. Lorraine and I also have a little shopping trip planned. I'm in need of new shorts; basically all but one pair of mine are now too big. It's both inconvenient and kind of awesome.

I'm about to take my third final actually, but it's in class which makes things quite nice. I'm hoping to get done before five and hopefully before it rains, because it sure is cloudy outside, so I can go for a run this evening before it gets legitimately dark. My legs are pretty sore today, but I mostly feel it when walking down stairs. I thought yesterday was a perfect temperature for running. Today seems even better. I figure I need to get in all the running I can while the weather isn't terribly hot and exhausting, especially because I like running in the afternoons when it is definitely hotter than in the morning. I could solve these problems by exercising inside, like in a gym or whatnot, but that's not a thing I enjoy doing. I love being outside and enjoying nature. It sounds funny but being outside is just so much better. Hopefully in spring I get to play soccer again because I have not done so all semester. Then I won't have to run as much either. While I do run for the sake of running, it's still not even close to my favorite thing. My friend Trent goes rock climbing a lot and hopefully I'll get to do that with him during spring semester.

There's not much else to report at this point. Exam time never really gives many exciting stories because I really do just spend my time studying and reading and in the library. This semester will prove no different. And just like every other semester, I will study with The Office playing in the background. Well, now that I think about it I realize freshman year gave some fun times during exam week, but those were special circumstances. 

Last YouTube video I watched:

Another month of madness done

As yesterday was the NCCA men's basketball championships game, March Madness is officially over. This year was really fun. At first I thought my brackets were going to be terrible but I ended up doing quite well in all of my groups.

For my history class, I ended in 8th place. For the competition done by a local restaurant, I won! This Italian place did a group and I was the winner so I get a free pizza party for me and, like, 10 people. How awesome is that?! And then for the sports desk, I also won. Not a bad year by any means.

Whenever I think of March Madness, I think of my freshman year of college when I completely dominated all the boys I was in a group with. Out of the whole first round, I think I got maybe two games wrong. It was spectacular. They all kind of hated me, or so I was told by a few of them. They literally did not want to see my face in their dorm.

I also think of the last two years and how thanks to my lovely friend Jeff, I've had a place to watch games at all. On any given day of March Madness, I spent around four to six hours in his basement apartment. Sometimes it would be just the two of us; other times his roommates and other friends would be around.

I called my dad right after the tournament started and kind of yelled at him for giving me bad advice on teams, but it turned out in the end. I'll call him tonight to let him know he's taught me well.

Tis kind of a short post today, though I doubt my few readers care much about that. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done tonight on final projects and things of that sort so my last week of classes goes smoothly. I only have two actual exams, and they're on Monday and Tuesday respectively. It should be a lovely exam week.

Last YouTube video I watched: Malachi Our Friend

Finals week take 2

Remember how at the end of my last post I said I had a final to dominate?

Yeah, I totally did dominate it. I also dominated a second one. Advertising was a 98 percent and, get this, I got 100 percent on my religion final. Is that not wonderful and amazing? When I wrote that post this morning, I did not expect my day to go as nicely as it did. I'm quite astounded. Maybe next time I need to ace some exams I'll go through another dramatic event. They seem to be extra helpful. Utah is looking a little nicer after those little pick-me-ups of great exam scores.

As a Facebook status this morning I wrote that in order to survive finals week I needed the following: a Chipotle burrito, a glass of chocolate milk, watching The Office, and hugs. I haven't gotten my burrito and I don't think I will; hopefully when I get home this will be made a reality. I did get a delicious bottle of chocolate milk at lunch with Lorraine though. I have yet to watch The Office today but I definitely will be before going to sleep. As for the hugs, I've had a fair few of those as well. All in all, I'd say I'm surviving quite nicely.

Now I only have 2 finals left, both of which are scheduled. Italian is tomorrow afternoon and Spanish is late Thursday morning. This week would be shaping up to be absolutely perfect were it not for the event that won't be explained and the fact that I'm leaving on Sunday instead of Thursday evening.

I'm beginning to see that I was greatly misguided in thinking that this finals week would be fun and stress-free. As for who did the misguiding, the responsibility is all mine. Mostly. Not everything is within my control. Is it even possible for finals week to be legitimately stress-free? I don't think so. The days leading up to this week were great. I was hardly stressed at all. Dare I use the word blissful? Because that's probably the best word to describe everything from the last day of classes to yesterday morning. The week so far has been far from blissful and not fun at all, but my stress levels are not that high, surprisingly enough. I just hope it will stay that way.

Last YouTube videos I watched: Breaking Up is Hard: The Miracle of Swindon Town #8 and also this gem Axl Rose: The Miracle of Swindon Town #14 (John Green is very good at explaining things, especially when he's playing FIFA. You get two videos because I just love each of these so much for various reasons.)

And I really actually want to end with these three quotes, also from John Green, because without having read them this morning I don't think my day would have been as nice and manageable as it was.

The good times and the bad times both will pass. It will pass. It will get easier. But the fact that it will get easier does not mean that it doesn't hurt now. And when people try to minimize your pain, they are doing you a disservice. And when you try to minimize your own pain, you're doing yourself a disservice. Don't do that. The truth is that it hurts because it's real. It hurts because it mattered. And that's an important thing to acknowledge to yourself. But that doesn't mean that it won't end, that it won't get better. Because it will.

We all want to do something to mitigate the pain of loss or to turn grief into something positive, to find a silver lining in the clouds. But I believe there is real value in just standing there, being still, being sad.

I know this isn't very helpful, but, um, you're gonna be okay... It's a terrible thing in a lot of ways that everything ends. Like, everything. All of human experience ends. But in other ways it's really liberating... You're gonna be okay.

Yes, John Green, it really will. Have a great week everyone.

Finals week

So here's a question: How do you go about writing about things that are really personal even though you don't like writing such personal things on your blog, even though this time you really want to make an exception?

Oh, so you still don't write about them? That's what I thought. I don't think I could ever bring myself to write about legitimately personal situations. Instead, I will continue to hint at various events that happen without ever actually explaining them. So in this case, just know that stuff happened and it's sad and happy in that weird way that only truly bittersweet things can be. Also, go back and read my post on best friends from the beginning of the semester. If I hadn't already written that post already, I'd write it exactly the same right here. (Take that hint to meant that I really need some time with my best friend who happens to be thousands of miles away and who I won't see until June.)

Down to business: it's finals week. I've taken one final so far and it was easy as pie. I'm taking another today that I should dominate. That leaves me with three more to take between today and Thursday. Finals actually run until Friday but on account of how I was supposed to fly home Thursday but due to an incredibly stupid mistake on my part I'm now leaving on Sunday, I'm still getting them done by Thursday. I might not be home but it will still be Christmas break for me. What's even more sucky is that I don't think I have ever wanted to leave Utah more badly than I do right now. I was already super excited to get home, but after the event that I will continue to hint at without explaining, I'm even more disappointed that I have three extra days in Utah. Well, maybe disappointed isn't the right word. Sad isn't even that good of a word to describe how I feel either. It's almost like I feel out of place, like Utah can't offer me anything to help, and it happened so suddenly that my first response is to get out of here as soon as possible and start enjoying the delicious Wisconsin air. I had almost gotten to the point where I was legitimately almost okay with having extra days at school. Almost. But not anymore.

But alas.

I best be preparing to head up to camps now. I've got myself a final to dominate.

Last YouTube video I watched: Books to get as presents

It is upon us

Finals are upon us. Lots and lots of finals. Well, maybe not lots. Is 4 considered a lot of finals? It feels like a lot of finals. And I'm pretty sure I've used up my quota for the words "a lot" for the entire next year.

I figured I would just take some time away from studying and write a fancy schmancy blog post. Though I guess it's not really a break since I've spent the last hour and a half studying whilst emptying my YouTube subscription box. By far the greatest thing about it was seeing all the new Ministry of Magic music videos. I've never bought a physical copy of a wizard rock CD before but I might do just that with this latest one. I love me some MoM boys, that's for sure. The House Song is kind of the greatest thing ever.

I've also spent that last hour and a half writing down the answers to a media writing study guide. Such fun. I'm going to do some Spanish now, which I actually enjoy quite a lot. I'm shooting for an A on the final and I really think I can make it happen.

I'm going to watch the Wisconsin/Marquette game now. I was going to do that instead of going to the library but then my roommate Lorraine convinced me to come to campus with her. I just hope the game is on ESPN360. [And I just found it!] I'm pretty stoked.

So back to Spanish I go. I feel like the Nosh Zone is emptier than usual but much louder. It's strange. Not a very exciting post but you know . . . That's life.

I GO HOME A WEEK FROM TODAY.

Oh, and one last note: KAYLEY AND KRISTINA COMMENTED ON MY BLOG ABOUT 5AG. I LOVE THEM.