Winter 2011

I haven't updated this thing in forever. I've been terrible about recording my life on things other than napkins and receipts.

Anyways, I want to give a quick run-down of the semester, even if it's just for my own memory.

So here it goes, things I liked, loved, and mildly disliked about this semester:

Like: Northgate Apartments.

After living in Snowed Inn for a semester, and being mildly depressed the whole time, Northgate is like heaven on Earth. I love everything about it: the room, the fact that Caitie and I pushed our beds together, our laundry room, our three couches in the living room, the stairs (where we've had at least 32 DTRs), the gym (which is about 200 feet from our apartment door), the theater. And that's not even going into the roommates or the ward.

Love: Last Poet Standing

I had my doubts about this competition. I thought it was going to be a group of 30 English majors listening to weird poetry in a classroom every week. I wasn't even going to enter until Matt Montoya told me to. After reading my poem the first week, I was addicted. Having people respond to stuff I'd written really meant a lot, and I met so many incredibly cool, talented people. Easily the best thing I did all semester.

Dislike: History 120

A class taught entirely by students reading powerpoints. I once counted how many words my teacher spoke in a class period: 134. No exaggeration.

Like: Books.

By far my favorite book this semester was Just Kids by Patti Smith. It's a memoir chronicling her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe before he died of AIDS. I'd only ever heard Patti Smith's name in reference to the birth of punk music; I had no idea she wrote, or wrote well. There's nothing particularly fantastic about the story, but she's so genuine in her writing. Her relationship with Robert is really captivating. There's definitely a lot there. Reading it made me want to move to New York and listen to old records all day. I definitely want to read more of her stuff.

"When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say."
"Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise."
"What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?"
"You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another."
In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life."

Right now I'm reading Salvador by Joan Didion. I'm about 36 pages into it and it's already pretty intense. Joan Didion's always been one of my favorite authors; everything I've read by her has such a different feel to it, and this one's no exception.

Love: People

I've made a lot of friends this semester, which I wasn't expecting. I was pretty content with my current circle of friends at the beginning of the semester. But, I've felt myself come out of my shell this semester. I don't know what did it exactly, but I've become much more comfortable with reaching out of my comfort zone. I've become friends with so many insane, talented, insanely talented people, and solidified friendships I'd already had. Some of these people I won't see again for a long, long time, so here's my two cents for each of you 'leaving' kids:

-Jill Fleming: I can't believe we'd never hung out before now. You are the sister of my soul, and I'll miss you terribly.

-Mallorie Lamb: The first time I saw you, I thought you were way too cool for me...and that's still pretty true. You're one of the sweetest people I know, and I know you'll make an amazing missionary.

-Garrett Sherwood: You're one crazy S.O.B

-Jeannette Snyder: Ever since I heard you read "If I Did Ecstasy," I knew I had to meet you. You didn't disappoint.

-Amada Hatton: Where the heck did you come from?! I love your poetry and I love you. Rhyme Schemers forever.

Dislike: Being sick.

About three weeks into the semester, I got super sick with the flu. I haven't been that sick since high school. This one is a cross between like and dislike, actually. I really like the feeling of being sick sometimes; there's something about knowing that your body is doing something, even if it's trying to recover from being sick. I spent three days wrapped in blankets, sweating, shivering, sleeping, sometimes crying, and another two days in a light-headed daze. Funny story, actually, I went to see Tron with my friends, Jeff and Tom, on a day when I thought I was completely better. Halfway through the movie, I started feeling really light-headed and nauseous. I walked out of the movie feeling like I was high, and I'm sure that I was acting like a weirdo the entire time. The cool part, though, was finding out how nice my friends are. Beside the people that treated me like I had the friggin plague, there were some really nice people looking out for me.

Like: NULC

Lots of good stories from this trip. First of all, it was cool just to be accepted. I got to read a story I hadn't even touched since about January. It's a story that's sort of become my baby, so it was nice to let it see some daylight again. Other than that, getting to walk around Ogden was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was absolutely gorgeous the entire time. We got to shop for old books, eat awesome pizza, meet interesting (sometimes drunk) people, listen to interesting writing, and sleep in the most comfortable beds in the world. Getting to hang out with everyone from BYU-Idaho was great too. I don't think we cold've had a better group.

Love: Deep Love

One of the coolest things I've ever seen; everything about it was absolutely incredible. It's come a long way from when I saw it at Sammy's last year. It was such a good night in general. The show was awesome, Lars Lindstrom came up from California (which was awesome), the after-party at Millhollow was awesome, annnnnd the show was awesome. Again.

Dislike:

Decisions. I've been kind of stupid when it comes to making those this semester, especially when it comes to relationships and such. Just thinking about it makes me feel like a stupid little girl. Anyways, I've had a hard time letting go of some things. BUT, it's gotten much better in the past couple of weeks. So, this is another mix between like and dislike, but in the beginning of the semester it was definitely a dislike.

Like: Growing up.

That sounds stupid, but it's true. I think I've done a lot of that this semester. There haven't been any humongous changes, but I'm starting to be less obviously stupid and immature about some things. I've done a lot of prioritizing, and I think I've figured out the direction I want my life to go in, at least for the time being. Knowing that I'll be out of college and working in the next five months is so crazy. I never thought I would actually graduate from college. I could picture myself as a thirty, forty year old women easily, but I never actually picture myself as a college graduate. Does that make sense? Anyways, whether or not I want it to happen, it will, so I might as well be excited about it. Am I right? AM I RIGHT?

Those are some of the bigger highlights. The rest are stashed in a journal somewhere.

It's been a good semester. Top notch. If this semester had a facebook page, I would probably like it.

Stuff to look forward to next semester:

-Three classes. I only have to take three classes. All of them are classes I want to take.

-TAing. I get to be a TA for Brother Griffin, Brother Lawrence, and Brother Gentry.

-Summer!

-Graduation. This one's a tough one. I used to hate the idea of graduating and leaving everyone/thing, but after seeing convocation last night, and seeing some of my friends graduate, I'm excited. I'm going straight from Idaho to California and TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM.

I don't want to write anymore, so I'm gonna stop.

Update: complete.