Everybody's Gonna Love Today

You know what is really great? My morning playlist. Waking up to Mika, Britney Spears, Flo Rida, Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber just makes life so much better. And it makes it so I end the semester on a really good note.

Why My Life was Awesome on Thursday:

1. Theresa brought raspberry muffins into the Writing Center today. She made them from scratch. They are the best muffins she has ever made. I loved them. And her.

2. I tutored a Brazilian. He was from Brazil. He spoke Portuguese. He had a Brazilian accent. He was Brazilian. I tutored him.

3. I had lunch with Kelly. We have had lunch almost every day this semester and I realized I am going to miss it so much when I am in Disney World! Right now, this is what our lunch goes like:

-I txt kelly and say, "Lunch at 12?" or whatever time.

-She txts me back and says, "Yes :)"

-We meet at the CougarEat and get in line at L&T. Or wherever.

-She talks. I talk. We talk. Sometimes our conversations are random, sometimes organized. We kind of just go back and forth and it doesn't always make sense if you are just listening in.

Here's what I'm wondered my lunch will look like in Disney World:

-me to random friend at work: Hey, do you want to go get lunch?

-friend: yeah sure!

-We go to a random cart or restaurant. We order our food. We sit.

-And sit.

-me: So. Work is fun today huh?

-her: Yeah. I love Disney World, don't you?

-me: Yeah.

-We sit.

I am just so worried that it won't be as fun!

4. I had my last health class. I loved this class, even though it was only once a week and we missed like a whole month of classes, since my teacher was sick or there was a holiday or I had my sister's wedding or whatever else. Anyway, today we got our final and it is going to be so easy and I am so excited about it.

5. I sent Crystal a letter! We were roommates last year and it was so fun. We are kind of opposite but somehow we became really good friends. Unfortunately, she moved to Hawaii to go to school there, so now we only get to communicate through txting. We've been talking about being pen pals all semester and I finally got around to sending a letter today. It was so exciting! Sending letters is really one of my favorite pasttimes.

6. I took a nap. I love naps with all my heart, might, mind, soul, brain, strength, bosom. Everything about me loves naps.

7. I worked with Jackie. I was planning on going 80's dancing but that fell through, so I went to work at Coldstone instead. It was really fun to work at Jackie because I haven't seen her in forever! She left at about 10:30 and Ashlyn covered the rest of her shift which was also awesome because I haven't seen her in even longer. Like, since we went mancamping.

8. As roommates, we decided to do a dare of the week, every week. We had to complete the dare by the week and then report back to each other. We are still on our first dare because Caitlin and I, who have been named the social ones of the apartment, are chickens and cannot bring ourselves to compliment a random boy on his physical appearance. Not sure why this is so hard but I've tried to do it like ten times and every time, I get super-nervous and just look away. Or run away.

This made the list of things that made my day awesome for a reason, I promise.

It's because today, this boy came into ColdStone. He was a college student and was with two other friends, a girl and a boy. He had pretty eyes that went really well with his shirt. I thought about the dare. I tried to work up the courage to tell him that his eyes looked pretty.

I opened my mouth.

"Um, do you want this in a waffle bowl?" I asked.

"Oooh," he said. "I'd better not. It's probably a lot more calories, huh?"

I shook my head. "No!" I said. "The waffle bowls are zero calories!" I say this every time a customer asks me about calories because it is so obviously false. You just need to not think about calories when you are in ColdStone. It's the only way to be happy. (If you want to be miserable, you can look at the nutritional information here.)

Anyway, he believed me for a second. He said, "Really?" and seemed to be considering the waffle bowl. A split second later, I started shaking my head on accident (I'm a really bad liar) and he stopped believing me.

"No, waffle bowls have calories. You're full of crap," he said. I put his ice cream in a boring old cup and brought it down to the cash register. He handed me his card and I rang up his ice cream.

"I can't believe you just said I'm full of crap!" I said. We talked a little bit more and I noticed that his eyes went really well with his shirt. I got really excited because I could easily say, "That shirt really brings out your eyes" and then I would have done the dare. I would probably never see this boy again anyway!

I opened my mouth to say my compliment, but before I could, he said: "Has anyone told you that you are really cute?"

I closed my mouth. "Um.....like ever?" I said.

"Like, today," he clarified.

"Nope, not today."

"Well I'll say it. You're just, really cute."

"Thank you!" I said. "That just made my day." So I appreciated the compliment, but I never did get to do the dare. I think I just need to learn how to compliment boys, besides saying "You're looking dapper today."

Directional Incompetence

I have never been particularly good at directions. I think I could count on one hand the number of times people have called me to ask for directions, and no one calls back a second time. I am just really bad at knowing where to go. When I was home and driving, I knew how to get to Caitlin's house, the mall (where I worked, thank you, not because I was a shopaholic), my school, Rita's Italian Ice, and the church (on a good day). Now that I am in Utah, and not driving, I literally do not know how to get anywhere.

If you think I'm kidding, maybe this will give a better sense of my ineptitude.

Towards the end of my first semester at BYU, I had gotten pretty good at taking the bus. One day while waiting at the Wilk for the 832 bus to arrive and take me back to Wyview, I was talking on the phone to my dad. I saw a bus approaching. It was the 831. I thought to myself, "I shouldn't get on this bus." Then I got in line, flashed my bus pass, and sat down. I didn't realize my mistake until about ten minutes later, when I had ended my phone call with my dad. As the bus hurtled through unfamiliar roads, I mused to myself, "Hmmm. I don't remember this street. I should really learn to be more observant." Suddenly, my whole stomach tightened as I remembered that this was the 831 bus, and not the 832. Furthermore, I had no idea where I was. My mind was reeling. Should I get off at the soonest stop and try to walk back to the Wilk? Should I talk to the bus driver? Should I just wait until we made a full circle? I felt panicky as I frantically texted everyone who might be helpful. Gathering my thoughts a little bit, I decided I just had to muster up my courage and turn around and ask whoever was sitting behind me for help. They were probably nice, right? They would totally help. I forced myself to smile and turned around to meet my savior. My smile froze on my face when I looked into the bloodshot eyes of the stringy-haired stranger sitting behind me. Piercings dotted his whole face, which was sagging with a vacant expression. His eyes briefly locked on mine; I reiterated my smile and turned back around. "GET ME OFF OF THIS BUS!!!" was all I could think. Eventually I made my way to the front and explained my dilemma to the busdriver. She dropped me off at a stop that 833 shared with 832 and told me that the 832 would be there in about five minutes. Thankfully, the 832 arrived right on schedule, and I was home within the half-hour.

On a trip to New York City over the summer, I got horribly lost. I ended up in some ghetto area of New Hampshire, where people wouldn't stop knocking on my car window to see if I needed directions. I don't know how they knew, but I was too scared to say yes. I said no and kept driving. I called my mom and received a call about ten minutes later from my friend Alyssa's dad. Having grown up in New York, he knew the area well, and stayed on the phone with me for a solid hour while I navigated my way back to the freeway.

It is my second year here at BYU and I still ask people where certain buildings are, especially at the beginning of a new semester. Last year it was even more of a problem; even when I knew where I was going, people would stop me randomly to ask if I needed help in finding my way. I just found out how to get to the Creamery on 9th about a month ago. I can get from Raintree to Wyview and that's about it. If I miss the bus, I have no choice but to wait for the next bus, because I literally do not even know how to walk to campus from Raintree. A good sense of direction is just not something I was blessed with.

A few weeks ago, I signed up to be a mentor for Provo Youth Mentoring. I was involved in this program as a freshman, when I needed service hours, but last semester I just didn't have time. This semester my classes start pretty late in the day, so I figured I could fit in some service. I was assigned a student at Rock Canyon Elementary School and instructed to spend an hour every Wednesday morning from 10:30-11:30 mentoring Channer.

The night before my first day, I spent two hours poring over GoogleMaps, mapquest, and the UTA bus schedule. (The first half hour was spent figuring out if Rock Canyon Elementary (RCES) was north or south of campus, and north or south of Raintree.) I figured out that I could take the 833 bus from the Wilk at 9:50, get off at a stop closer to the elementary school, and walk the rest of the way.

After all this planning, I missed the bus and decided just to take the bus back to Raintree and walk the rest of the way. Luckily, my roommate Crystal happened to be home and offered to drive me. Once at the school, I discovered that Channer had moved in December. Instead of mentoring him, I just volunteered in kindergarten. It was a wonderful day and I was excited to go back the next week.

The next week, and the week after that, I found excuses not to go again. I was just too stressed, too tired, too late. Sorry, kindergartners....I really liked you!

This week, I was determined to go. I woke up at 7, finished my homework, printed off walking directions, and, at 10:15, started towards the school. I was sure it wouldn't be hard. After all, I had already been there once, when Crystal drove me. It was a nice morning and I was feeling confident as I walked briskly up the hill. I even felt confident enough to multi-task and called my dad to chat. He was in a meeting, so I called my mom. She was about to go shopping with some other ladies in Young Women's, so I quickly told her what I was doing. She said, "Oh, how good of you. You can totally find it. You have a good sense of direction."

This sadly misplaced confidence in my innate abilities became glaringly obvious twenty minutes later when I still hadn't found the elementary school. I had, however, found a lovely middle school, after backtracking twice. Thoroughly discouraged, I took another left turn and found myself back at Raintree, just in time for the 11:42 bus to campus.

I guess the poor kindergartners will just have to wait another week.