Read This Before You Vote On My Newest Poll...

I got an email from the English Academic Society reminding me that registration for Fall starts on June 1st.

HOLY CRAP! That's on Monday!! I haven't even thought about that yet.

I had some time in my schedule today (because I b.s.-ed an assignment or two...) and decided to figure this out from top to bottom. Including that pesky little one science credit that I'm lacking and has been giving me grief for a few months now.

I lugged myself and my stuff over to the Smith after my math class to file a request to waive the credit and the girls in the office (after 20 minutes) finally admitted they didn't know what they were doing and sent me to the Benson to talk to the Agriculture Academic Advising Center. When it was finally my turn to be advised the dude with the totally rockin red bow tie took one look at my paper and told me not to worry, the credit I'm missing isn't even offered anymore and it should be waived with no problem. I just have to make sure it shows up on my transcipt in a week or two.

I got that taken care of, "did" the more pressing homework, and sat down to plan out the Fall semester.

Oh geez.

I only have 4 classes left to take and then I'm graduated. I have to take the Senior Writing Seminar (it sounds scary...), Advanced Professional Writing (no problem), a communications class (I only qualify for one that fits with my 2 English classes that are only offered at one time each), and then I'm left with an option.

Before I give you all the option though, let me say this: My 3 classes that I have no option over are all on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I go from 7:45 - 8:45, 10:15 - 11:15 and 2-3. Far from ideal, but like I said, I have no option with those.

Here's the option I do have: I can take Humanities of Islam (which sounds totally rockin' and I love Humanities, but it's the one teacher in the whole department I don't know) on MWF from 12:45 - 1:45, OR I can take Eastern European Culture (sounds totally rockin' and I thoroughly enjoyed my Western European Culture class [although, I think that is mostly because of McMarried] and I don't know the teacher) on Tuesday/Thursday from 8-9:30.

There's bonuses for each. If I do every class on MWF I can use Tuesday and Thursday all day to do homework. On the other hand, if I do this one class on Tuesday/Thursday, I can still use most of that day to do homework, but I'll have an excuse to go outside, which I should probably do...

Alright folks. You've read everything. Now vote!

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. A heart-to-heart with KP that I totally needed.
2. An offer was made on Grannie's house! (Let's all pray it sells!)
3. Blue October's Live CD's. All of which I own and am currently listening to. Not as good as actually being there, but pretty darn close.
4. GRADUATING IN DECEMBER!!!!
5. Only 2 more days of class this week.
6. Being lazy today. Sort of.
7. Potentially seeing "Star Trek" finally with Leslie!

What the French?!

If I add it all up, I've taken around 6 1/2 years of French classes. I never thought I'd use my French. I did though - for 5 days in Paris.

You hear all the time how easy it is to pick up other languages once you learn a second. And it's true. I've always been good with languages; I can understand most of what I hear when people are speaking Spanish to me, I understood a fair amount of the German Bryce would write to me, I remember all of the Latin my teachers have taught me, Italian is easy to get the hang of. You get the idea...

I honestly didn't think I'd ever use my French again.

Until today.

I have this Humanities project (which is kicking my butt, by the way...) and I chose to make an art tour itinerary of "The Best Vanitas Paintings You've Never Seen." I have to make a brochure detailing 5 artists, their work, and where the trip would take me. Easy: I found my 5 favorite Baroque Vanitas works, and where they're housed. Now I have to write a page for each painting providing 1) the reason why it was painted, 2) a provenance of where the painting has been housed and, 3) a critical description of the work. It doesn't sound all that hard, does it?

Well, it is. There's a reason you've never seen these 5 Baroque Vanitas paintings - because NO ONE knows anything about them! I can't find the provenance for 3 of the 5, and I can't find why 4 of them were commissioned. The critical description I can totally handle on my own.

(This is a vanitas painting, by the way. Check the winged death; he rocks. It's called L'Umana Fragilita by Harmen Steenwijck).

So, with all of that given, here is how I used my French: I went to the library and conned some poor girl into helping me find information. We headed to the art section of the reference books and would you believe that of my 5 artists, I could only find 2 artists' information in English?! However, I found an encyclopedia series in FRENCH that had every scrap of information I could ever want about all 5 artists and paintings.

What did I do? I sat down at a computer and translated all of the information (without using a translating website, cause those suck) into a word document in English.

I'm tired.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. Going to see Mom and Grannie. I will be gone half of Friday, all of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday. *sigh*
2. Buying new books on Friday. Yay.
3. Ticking off the projects I've completed for the semester.
4. External hard drive should be arriving on Thursday. *crosses fingers*

The Lists

On any given day I have at least 2 lists on 3x5 cards on my desk. One is a running grocery list because I almost always forget something when I go to the store - or the store doesn't have something I need so I leave it on there for next time. The other is a book list.

I have this massive project due on Thursday in my Humanities class and I'm stuck. I can't do anymore on it until I talk to Brother Jensen tomorrow. I decided to use the time I would have been finishing up my project to work on my homework for the rest of the week for my other 3 classes so I could dedicate myself anew to this massive (and aggravating) project once I have the information I need. Surprisingly, I got everything done for the rest of the week with the exception of half of my math homework and a reading assignment!! Hooray!

The best part? I finished all of that an hour before my "bed time!" So I pulled out my ice cream (thought of Shauna), pulled up the Barnes and Noble website, turned on my favorite iTunes play list and just perused the website looking for anything interesting or by my favorite authors. I found both!!

(Nicole - Anna McPartlin's latest is out in the states - As Sure As The Sun - did you know?)

Yeah, needless to say: I'm going to Barnes and Noble. Soon.

Plus, This weekend is a 4 day weekend so I'm trucking down to Utah again (hooray for not having to go to Ward Council at 8 am this approaching Sunday...) to see my Mom and Grannie! So I think I'll either stop in I.F. and pick up a book or 2 or head down to the one in Bountiful which sucks. Yeah. I'll probably stop in IF.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. How the heck did Laura get my phone number??

2. MTC (and no, you bunch of Mormons - I don't mean THAT MTC).

3. Having a buddy literally right outside my window. And down one level. *waves* HI JENNY!

4. My sweetheart roommates that I adore.

5. Going to Utah this weekend. You can't see it now, but I'm dancing at the thought. And I never dance.

6. Ashley, Hannah, and Rachel coming to Utah soon. I get to see them, too! (Too bad Dan isn't coming. I was in the mood to give a foot rub. Better luck next time, friend.)

7. 86 degree high today. Gorgeous.

8. Shauna putting in her mission papers. WOO HOO! (Feel free to vote here for where she's going. I CALL NEBRASKA!!)

9. Bob the Beta sending me a text.

10. A very good phone call yesterday that brightened my day and my prospects for the next few months.

11. Finding so many things to be happy about despite the drama...

New Obsession

I absolutely love this chick.

Her name is Melody Gardot. I first heard her through the iTunes free single of the week, "Worrisome Heart" and loved it. Her new CD just came out, My One and Only Thrill. I just got back from Idaho Falls and buying it and I seriously can't stop listening. Her voice is so smooth and seems to be exactly how I would describe jazz. LOVE it. (Stella, I have a feeling you would adore her - and you'd sound amazing singing her songs.)

I don't have her first CD, but it's on my wishlist for when I can afford to get it.

I love everything about her - her voice, lyrics (all of which she either wrote herself or co-wrote), hair and glasses! I even love her coat in this picture!

Basically, I want to be her. Ok, not really. I want to be me with her talent and hair stylist. Ok. I just want my own hair stylist to do my hair for me every day.

Also, for anyone who is interested in the latest about my haunted room, here you go!

I went to Utah this past weekend and I haven't mounted my new mirror because I'm terrified of it shattering yet again. So it's been just leaned against the wall on the carpet since I bought it unless I'm checking myself out before I go to class - after which I promptly remove it from the tacks. Yeah. I came back from Utah and it was on the tacks. I was the second to last person to leave my apartment on Friday (we were all gone all weekend) and Leslie (the last person in the apartment on Friday) said she didn't touch it.

Freaky.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Katie finally e-mailing me back and then checking up on me today. She's amazing.

2. Humanities tomorrow...yay.

3. Applying for graduation today. That's right - I filled out and submitted my application.

4. Finishing Angels and Demons. I think it's better than The DaVinci Code. Honestly.

5. The truffles I got for Mother's day. Mom - the last truffle I ate had nuts in it. The other three? No nuts. Just the last one. And I ate them in a counter clockwise order, in case anyone was wondering...

At the Nature Preserve

On Friday night, my roommates Leslie, Lo, Kate and I were the only ones home so we decided to head out to the Nature Preserve on the other side of town (and by other side of town, I mean 5 minutes away) to feed the ducks.

The ducks weren't hard to find. Stay on the path and head toward the quacking. Luckily, Lo seemed to have a gift for finding the hungriest ducks on the planet. There were 4 of us and only like 6 of them and I still felt out numbered. Before long, I was the only one with bread left and I was attacked. By ducks.

It was a lot of fun, actually.

After we were done with the ducks we started driving back toward our apartment and saw this little neglected "park" - if you will. And by park I mean there were 2 swings, a slide and one of those roundy things most states remove because they're safety hazards. Well, what is a safety hazard anywhere else in the U.S. is merely a child's play thing in Idaho, so we hopped on for some pictures and laughs.

(starting with me, going left to right: Kate, Lo and Leslie)

All in all, it was a fun night!

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Extra credit for seeing "Angels and Demons" for my humanities class. Because it's just me and 6 other girls (plus one male teacher) in the class we've already planned a girl's night/field trip to the REX. Maybe even IF, should we feel adventurous.

2. Hearing your voice. Even though you're emotionally stunted. And you frustrate me.

3. Papa Kelsey's run...FINALLY!

4. Really, honestly, truly going to Utah this weekend.

5. Getting e-mails from the Powers That Be on campus about graduating.

I Think My Room is Haunted

I hope you've all read "Schizophrenic Weather Part 2" - that will fill in a couple of blanks, I think.

For 3 years I've had a full length mirror in my bedroom that I move with me from complex to complex. I don't want to use the sticky stuff they sell at the store to mount the mirror because you can't ever get those things off the wall - trust me, there's one in my bathroom right now. So I found a way to side step that when I first bought the mirror. I use a row of heavy duty thumbtacks and some tape. I rest the mirror on the thumbtacks and tape the back of the mirror to the wall. I've NEVER had a problem with this method in 3 years of doing this.

When I came in from the hail storm on Thursday, I walked into my bedroom and found my mirror on the floor, shattered into many pieces! I was so sad! Here it is:

So, I went to buy myself a new mirror. WalMart only had one that had a funky line through the middle so I tried KMart and found one that was practically perfect and took it home, mounted it and called it good. Same method.

I went to dinner and a movie with the roomies - I highly recommend "17 Again" by the way, it was hilarious/adorable/with a really good message. ANYWAYS! I got home at like 11:30, got myself ready for bed, read my scriptures, said my prayers and was in bed around 12:30 (ridiculously late for me, for those of you who know my sleep habits during school.)

I haven't been sleeping very well lately, and since the roomies can get kind of loud, I've started using my ear plugs again. When I finally do sleep at night, it's either incredibly fitful sleep or I sleep so heavy I'm incoherent (right, KP?).

At 3:34 am I woke up and stared at my ceiling for a minute before I decided it would be safe to take out my earplugs. I leaned over to put them away and something looked ...wrong... in my room. And that was when I realized my mirror was not on the wall. I looked down and yep, you guessed it, it was shattered on my floor. It's not like my floor is hard or sharp or anything - it's carpet...WITH A RUG! I saw the same mirror fall over onto Hannah's head when she was like one and that mirror didn't shatter! WHAT THE HECK!?

So I just went and bought yet ANOTHER mirror - I had to go to IF to get one - and I've decided I won't be mounting this one. Ever.

And for those of you who have decided I now have 14 years bad luck for breaking 2 mirrors, I would offer you this consideration: I didn't break the mirrors. Once I wasn't even in my apartment when it happened and the other, I was beyond unconscious. Trust me. I slept through the crashing, shattering noises. The bad luck does not fall on me, here.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Some pretty cool ancestors. (Thanks, Uncle David!)

2. Chris. He's hilarious. And his pregnant wife is adorable!

3. My new "Talk Nerdy To Me" t-shirt. (Thanks, Grannie!)

4. Using this weekend to get ahead in my homework so I can party later. (Trust me, I'm excited.)

5. The Sonic car hops that don't know how to ride rollerskates but have to do it anyways...while carrying food and drinks. I swear that chick almost lost the tray of food.

Schizophrenic Weather Part 2

The coolest thing happened on Thursday!

I got home from class and was sitting at my computer when I heard thunder, yet again. So I opened up my window to better hear the rumbling and went back to what I was doing. Then it started to hail. So I went and played in the hail (check back tomorrow for a post about what happened while I was playing in the hail...) and came back in after I decided I'd been pelted enough. A few minutes later I looked up at the building across from me and saw that the roof was steaming. I figured it could be explained by heaters in the cool air. But then I realized I couldn't really see the windows of the building that is only about 15 feet away from me.

I had to go to the store (again, check back tomorrow for details as to why...) and I walked outside, got in my car and turned to head out of the parking lot. Now, I live just kiddy-corner from the Temple. I should be able to see it clearly, right?

This is what I saw:

It was cool and creepy all at once. The fog literally came out of nowhere.

I'm pretty sure the dementors are behind it.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Seeing McMovie Phone. *sigh* I've missed him. And his wife. hahaha!

2. The testing center Nazi that I gave total attitude to for asking me if my glasses were presciption or not. (I forget sometimes that my glasses are transitions and so they look like sunglasses a lot. Woops...)

3. Rockapella concert tomorrow night.

4. "17 Again" - so cute. A new favorite, for sure.

5. The dancing Jamba Juice banana.