One day!

In just 24 hours (exactly!) I'm leaving Utah and heading to Hong Kong! I can't wait, and I can't focus on the paper I'm supposed to be writing. It doesn't help that I'm studying in the "Asian Collection" section of the library...

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tape faces & large poultry

well hellooo....

the other night my roommates and i went a little crazy. we'd been studying too much and we had just had it. we threw down our books in disgust and... well, that's not true. we were just sitting around the table catching up on each others' lives, and there happened to be some tape on the table. So, naturally i picked it up and made myself a pig-nose. it got such a great reaction from my roommates that i just kept going. sadly, i don't think they'd done this before. i taught them how, and then we all kinda went crazy.

first we taped our faces up all screwy, and then we dressed up like large poultry and had a race down our hall.... it was weird and oh so fun.

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we didn't get any pictures of us standing, but try to imagine it, it's very funny. oh, but you can see it in the little video down below.

it was extremely tiring. seriously.

the race:

shall i make it permanent?

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i'm not quite dead.

Well, I thought I would blog over Christmas, but it was just so nice to not be on the computer, and t be able to sleep and eat as I pleased. The entire break went by and I never did update this thing. I've decided not even to bother. So many awesome things have happened recently and it's a pity not to blog about them all, but its just too much to catch up with.. so I'll start with today.

I started school again a week ago, and I was hoping to have a calmer semester... in some ways it is, but basically, it just isn't.

here's what busies me:

ballet part 2

it's an intense class... it went from one hour on tuesday and thursday in fall semester, to an hour and a half MWF this semester. My teacher is in her 60s and she's such a cute little thing. she's just as flexible as ever and i feel lucky to be able to be taught by someone with so much experience. On our very first day we started doing all these leaps (it took us the whole semester to get that far in the fall...) I still find it hilarious and i feel like a clumsy little girl. most of the other students have danced their whole lives, and i think are just in there to make themselves feel good about themselves. it's a good workout and i love it a lot.

History of the Middle East part 2

This one's great. Just your basic history of the Middle East from 1800 till now. The books look awesome and I cannot WAIT to get back into the current stuff. I'm bored of ancient things. I want to study terrorists and radicals again. Call me crazy, i just find it fascinating.

Farsi part 2

This class is worthy of a blog post of it's own, which I may just do tonight. The teachers are amazing. And by amazing I mean just funny and ridiculous and I wish I could hang out with them all the time. Seriously. It's taught by Mary and Hooshang, who are married. They're from Iran and are an older married couple. Their marriage was arranged... and sometimes they don't hide how they REALLY feel about that. I love them so much. The language is great too, but honestly I'm in it for the 4 and a half hours I get to spend with them every week.

Intro to Middle Eastern Studies...

Yeah, this class is supposed to be the first one you take in this major. I think I did it the right way though. Think how easy it'll be: Basic geography, Islam, and history.

Arabic part 4

Ya salaam...! Okay, I've written about this insanity present in this program before, but honestly, it just got way more intense. I didn't think it was possible. I really didn't. It is my life. Really all day. Every day. Oh man. Maybe this needs a post of it's own too. I just want people to see what is required of me so they can laugh with me at the ridiculousness of it, and also so they understand why it seems like I've disappeared. Maybe it's an old topic. No, it for sure is, but I'm sorry. It's just who I am now. I love it, and I'm very proud of myself, cause I actually got all of my homework done last week, and then again today! It meant studying both friday and saturday night, but I'm glad I did it, and I think I have to get used to that... I wonder if I'll ever date again...

Belly Dance part 2

Oh man! This class is insane! It was so fun last week! I was so out of breathe by the end. Odessa just kept us going for the full hour and a half. I could hardly walk the next day... who knew belly dance was so hard on the thighs? Our recital this semester is on the 24th of march I believe... just FYI.

MESA (Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic) Club

I'm an officer in this thing, and I kind of forgot about it... We haven't done much for the last few months, and we just had our first meeting last week. I'm excited about it. We're going to do a lot of fun things this semester and I'm really excited about it. A whole smattering of Iraqi refugees just came to SLC so we're going to arrange some cool things with some of them. So far we're trying to get this old man who's an artist to come and give lecture in arabic and sell his stuff. I'm excited. We also get all these perks as officers that is mainly why I think I'll try to stay as an officer again next semester. The MESA faculty take the student with the highest GPAs out to lunch every semester. Even though I don't fall into that category, I still get to go! They take all the officers with them! It should be grand. We also get invited to a lot of cool lectures and events, and usually to the receptions/lunches afterwards and get to mingle with various ambassadors etc.

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Well, that's my life right now. It's so so so busy, but I also have some great goals that are keeping me sane. So far I've been going to bed by 11 (except a couple days... and weekends... so for like a week, haha) and getting up at 7, exercising every day and eating healthy. Oh life is great! Well, who knows, it may be a month or so till I get back here.

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Okay, a quick update: I was dating someone, and now I'm not... I think I said I would post about it... I actually won't be doing that... haha. it was good though, and ended well.

oh man.

i'm struggling through the last week of my hardest semester yet. two days of classes left, and then five days of finals... everything feels a little chaotic, and the arabic program, i believe, is trying to kill me off. seriously. i'm getting no sleep, writing papers, doing assignments, and studying in every spare minute (except right now cause i'm celebrating finishing my last project for political science!) and now, before i get too comfortable on this blog of mine, which i miss so much, i must go study for my ballet final, which is tomorrow morning... lots and lots of french words. thank you canada.

Where have I been?

This is a view I'm becoming rather accustomed to... it's what I see whilst walking home from the library night after night.

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And this is the room that owns me. The JKB (Jesse Knight Building) is really my second home. Much Arabic is studied here (by all of the arabic students... all day, every day).

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Wow, I haven't posted on my blog in almost a month. That makes me sad. I miss it.

This week (for the first time in about a month) I feel like I can breathe again... but not for long.

Finals begin in just three weeks, and then... ahhh. I will be finished forever with Political Science 200 (rumored to actually be called Political Science 666... I'm believing the rumors...).

Life is good. Thanksgiving is just one week away, and I plan on catching up on this little web-log of mine during that time.

I feel there's just so much to post about... belly dancing, ballet, indoor camping, setting a flaming barge afloat upon a lake, halloween, poor eating habits, free food, sneaking pizza etc. into the library, sleepless nights full of studies (I probably won't write about those) and perhaps even a new man in the picture...

So, stay tuned.

I promise to deliver next week.

midterms and a funny picture

i haven't written on this ol' blog of mine for a long time. that's because it's midterms week(s) here at BYU. last week i had midterms on wednesday, thursday and friday. this week i have midterms on monday, tuesday, and friday and a huge research paper due on wednesday, just to keep me on my toes i guess.

i took my history test on friday and was shocked by my grade (62%). turns out everyone in the class did really really poorly. our teacher realized this and saw that he had messed up on the answer key, so our grades will all actually be a lot better, alhamdulillah.

my teacher is a funny man. he sent out an email to us all, apologizing profusely and sent us the above picture so we could take out our anger before meeting him again face to face in class.

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a little unexpected romance...

yesterday my roommate (ginny) and i went to the library to study.

on the way there i started saying, "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to study very diligently for two hours straight." but instead i decided to be so funny and say "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to get asked on a date."

she laughed (i succeeded in being so funny) and we continued up the hill. we went to the infamous "no shhh! zone" which is a section of the library where you can talk, listen to music, and even socialize if you're bold. we found an empty table and sat down.

behind us was the most interesting thing. there were two boys and two girls sitting at the table which was covered in a lovely, lacy tablecloth, with a candle in its center (the battery operated sort). the candle was surrounded by chocolate kisses, and romantic music floated around them all. it made our table look so lame.

before we could get our books our of our over-stuffed bags, shawn (as i later learned he was called) came up to us and asked if one of us would be willing to be his friend's date for the night, as his had left. ginny didn't want to, but since i hate to turn down the opportunity to serve, i said i would. i went and sat with them. shawn felt bad for ginny, so he went and found her a date too.

there we all were. three dates. it was oh so romantic. shawn and his date (maddie) had been friends for a while, but this was their first date. they were studying together. they had sat at a table already occupied by nathan (my date) and had subsequently found him two other dates before me... they apparently didn't enjoy it. ginny's date was a boy named john, who i think was just 19.

it was all very random, and luckily ginny and i got a ton of chocolate out of it. none of us got a ton of homework done, but we all quickly became (facebook) friends (where we made all sorts of connections through the "friends in common" feature) and had a lot of fun trying to make each other feel awkward.

(yes, we are all holding hands. we had to.)

all in all, it was a good date. i'd do it again.

ginny and i are about to head back up to the library... and what shall i set as my goal this time...?

i love it so much!

ok, it sounds and maybe looks disgusting, but i am in love with this meal. seriously, i sometimes can't believe how amazing it tastes. i'm eating it as i type and i can't help vocalizing my approval. good thing i'm home alone. oh my goodness! SO good!

so, when you don't have a car, and you do most of your shopping at costco once a month, you tend to get creative as food supplies run short, and thank goodness! this little concoction of mine has been a favorite for some time now, but tonight i just enhanced it significantly.

first let me say, i love rice and i love beans (black or kidney... preferably black). i gained this on my mission. i could eat rice and beans every day and be oh so happy. one day, when it was rice and beans again for dinner, i decided to try to spice it up a little. i was wishing i had some sour cream, or, even better, this stuff that hermana salgado used to give me in LA called crema i think. mmm, so good. anyway, all i had was cottage cheese and i figured, "it's made of the same stuff, right?" so i added it to the warm rice and beans, threw a little salt on there and was nearly overcome with delight.

it was incredible.

i couldn't believe it. i kid you not when i say that this is now probably the most common meal that graces my table. my roommates think it's gross, but they have yet to taste it, so to them i say, well, nothing. i just laugh inside as they eat cereal and quesadillas.

tonight i cooked up some chicken, so it was chunks of chicken mixed with rice instead of beans. i added some edimame to the mix, and as i went to put the leftovers in the fridge, i saw the lonely little can of black beans sitting there next to the lonely little carton of cottage cheese... "No," i kind of gasped to myself in wonder, "could I do it?"

i had to.

i added black beans, to the chicken, rice and edimame, microwaved the thing ('thing' being bowl of heaven) and when it came out it was much too hot to eat. (here's another reason i love this meal): i added too big forkfulls of cottage cheese, mixed it all up, and the temperature was perfect for eating, which i did. (i've now finished the bowl). it is so satisfying. i would invite all who enjoy cottage cheese to change it up a little, and try it in a warm dish. and to those who don't: maybe it's time to give it a chance? might i add, these meals are healthy too. maybe brown rice would be better, but i just love basmati rice so much (and i'm still going through a costco bag of the stuff that i got in january... i think it'll last me till next january too).

well, that's all. maybe i'm crazy and i'm the only one who will ever love this, or even try it. i'm fine with that. it makes me so happy.

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bulls-eye... well, almost.

(me & boy)

"do you want to go shooting?"

"shooting what?"

"GUNS."

"um, where?"

"in the mountians."

"...uh..."

"i'm not joking."

"...yes?"

"like right now?"

"well, okay."

and so we went. it was amazing. i had never even held a gun before (well, one that had bullets in it). i shot three different little pistols. my favorite was the silver one. i didn't hit the middle of the target even one time, but i'm okay with it.

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did you get dressed in the dark this morning?

yes. i did.

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(our power's been turned off due to negligence {not on my part}. plus, it was twenty degrees colder than usual today and frankly, i didn't care how i looked).

farewell summer

i realize its been fall for about a week now, but today really felt like it to me.

i love this little path that i walk down when i feel like taking the long way home.

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it was so beautiful in the summer, but i think it's improved with age.

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cash money throw down!

Four hundred and eleven dollar bills were thrown off of the Joseph F. Smith Building at BYU today at 12:30 PM. They were inside pink balloons, some of which also contained bubble gum or coupons for local restaurants. There were over eight hundred balloons. It was beautiful.

I got one dollar, four pieces of gum and two coupons.

(you can watch it here)

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