Dear Mom and Dad,

Today I almost resorted to plasma donation. This letter is for you, mom and dad:
(To the tune of Baby Girl by Sugarland)

They say in this town the students stay up all night,
well I don't know, can't see em,
through the glow of my neon fans,
well its a long way from here,
to the place where the rolls sometimes burn,
well its five hundred miles and one right turn...

Dear Mom and Dad please send money,
I'm so broke and it ain’t funny,
I’m sellin’ plasma just to get me through,
please do worry, cuz that ain’t right,
see I’m sleepin’ here at the Riv tonight,
Well in this town I actually might learn to drive,
Well I love you more than anything in the world,
Love your baby girl

A big Y, and blue skies. It’s a college town full of big white guys,
They’re always your friend, until they find out you’re 19,
Most find eternal life and diamond rings and all sorts of silly things,
It sure makes me remember what my knees are for.

Dear Mom and Dad please send money,
I'm so broke that it ain't funny,
well I really need a lot, at least enough to pay the rent,
please don’t worry cause I’m doing alright,
See I’m sleeping here at the Riv tonight,
In this town I'm going to develop road rage,
well I love you more than anything in the world,
love your baby girl

I know that I'm on my way,
I can tell every time I pray,
I'll know that it's worth all the tuition I paid
When I can write to you and say:

Dear Mom and Dad, I’m finally making money,
I'm not rich, but ain't too crummy,
But I still wish, I had gotten a scholarship or two.
Please don’t worry, I’ll be fine.
See I’m working here at the school tonight,
What do ya know, my dream’s finally comin’ true
cuz now I got a fancy car and diamond ring
but you know that they don’t mean a thing
cause they all add up to nothing compared to you,
well remember me in ribbons and curls,
I still love you more than anything in the world,
Love your baby girl

And just for everyone elses benefit, I got myself a published letter to the editor in the Daily Universe today. It was the first time I'd submitted something, so I'm pretty excited. My first draft of the letter was extremely sarcastic, condescending, and judgmental, but I decided I'd likely get hate mail, so I rewrote it. It's correctly formated in the newspaper, but it's kind of funky looking, so if some of the sentences seem to be just randomly placed, that's why. But I was excited...Feel free to read (and if you want to know where my letter stemmed from, just read back a few pages on the daily universe opinon section. There's quite a few articles concerning it.)

Why Can't We All Just Get Along

Lately

So I have about 10 blogs that I started writing that are still in my drafts folder. Most of them are about funny situations or stories, but I'm so paranoid that somehow one of the people mentioned will stumble across my blog. haha. But just so you all know, I'm still alive. Barely. Just kidding. But my lack of sleep is starting to take a toll on me. I've even started taking naps lately. And if you know me, you know I hate naps. That might just tell you how tired I am! I think I am gonna try and work less hours next semester...Especially because I'm missing awesome things like the Biggest Loser, and a sweet cake decorating class that I've been dying to take, AND a sweet BYU college republican's meeting, because of work. haha. Umm....Nothing much else is going on. Met some cool people around my complex lately. Kind of. haha. I'm at work right now, and really wish I had something incredibly witty and funny to blog about, but my mind is drawing a blank. So sorry for this lame post. Hopefully my life becomes exceedingly more exciting in the next few days. For your sake, as well as mine.

Oh but kind of exciting. I am totally going to be in the Guiness Book of World Records...along with about 2000+ other people. lol. Last weekend, BYU attempted to break the record for the biggest game of capture the flag. And we succeeded. Woo hoo!

Dilemma-Advice?...and randomness

So today I went to declare myself as an official elementary ed major, right? Well, I decided it might be smart to talk to the counselor person about classes, when I should apply, etc. After talking to her, we figured out that I can definitely apply in January, and start the program next Fall. The lady asked me if I decided on a minor yet. And well, I had been so concentrated on deciding what to major in, I didn't even really think of a minor. She suggested that I look into the TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language), which would certify me to work in Utah schools that have limited English Proficiency. It sounded intriguing, so I looked into it, as well as a couple other minors that I am only about 3 classes away from finishing.

But here's the dilemma. I don't know what would be best. Yes, it would probably be good to have that certification, but since it would only be really valid in Utah, is it really worth getting? Granted, maybe I'm destined to live in Utah for eternity, but if I am not, would the minor be worthless?

The other minors I am looking at?
Communications. I have 3 classes left and I will have a minor in this. The classes look like fun. And since I had originally planned on majoring in some form of communications, I think it would be a worthy idea. Granted, I don't know how good it will look to potential employers, but I think it's a good minor.

Home and Family Living. Okay, you can laugh. But I really only have 3 more classes in this minor as well. They are Family Finance, Intro to Family Processes, and then my choice of any class that is offered by the School of Family Life. I honestly think the classes are so fun, and I'll end up taking some more anyways, if time permits, so heck, might as well get the minor right?

The TESOL is 19 credits. Which would mean I would have to go to school for at least 3, more 4 (because I need to finish some GE's, as well as a couple of the El Ed courses), spring or summer semesters. And I dunno if I want to do that. I mean, in the time it would take me to finish this minor, I could have also finished the previous two mentioned minors. So I don't know what to do. I think any option would be good, but I need some outside advice. Any takers?

_____________________________________________________________________

And on other, unrelated notes:

--I think that guys at BYU should have some kind of signal to show that even though are not married, they are dating someone. It would cause far less "I feel dumb for flirting with you" moments for people (like me). Today i was at Wells Fargo and I got a cute tellar. We talked for awhile, and he was really nice. I was like, score. Maybe I'll come back again, and then we'll just fall in love, and everything in the world will be right. Then right before I leave he asks me what I'm majoring in. I'm like "oh elementary ed!". And then he says a dredded phrase...

That's what my girlfriend's major is!

Denied.

Why is it that I only know how to flirt with the ones who are unavailable? Epic Fail.

A couple good quotes

I just opened up my scriptures, and the first thing I flipped to was a quote I had been given awhile back. I forgot I even had it, but I think it's one that's good enough to share :) And since I'm kind of in the mood for quotes, I'll post a few more I've found lately that I really have liked.

We may feel singled out at times when adversity enters our lives. We may shake our head and wonder, "Why me?" But the dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another, everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.
--Elder Wirthlin

~
So if you have problems in your life, don't assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life's purpose. As we draw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you're seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you're moving nearer to God, not farther away.
--Bruce C. Hafen

~

Keep your covenants and you will be safe. Break them, and you will not.
--Elder Boyd K Packer

~

When one door of happiness closes, another one opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
--Helen Keller

~

And this is one I've posted before, but continues to be my favorite quote ever:

Each of us will have our own Fridays--those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of the world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death--Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next, Sunday will come.
--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Oh, and on an unrelated note, would it be weird if I joined the pre-dental club at BYU, even though I'm not pre-dental?

Plea to the Man

(Some may have seen a condensed version of this as my facebook status, but I'm so bitter, I'm writing a longer version here.)

Dearest BYU,

To put it plainly, parking sucks. Now, it wouldn't be such a problem if I was a faculty member, which there seems to be more spots than needed. But alas, I am just a lowly sophomore with no special parking privelages. Even though I should.

Last week I was fortunate enough to grab the last spot in the parking lot by my work. Today, there were none. I decided to drive down to another Y lot. Praying a spot would appear. This did not happen. I drove through several different lots, about 5 times each, hoping someone would drive out of their spot and leave me with a glorious spot. This did not happen. So I drove around South of campus, looking for a spot on the street. There were none. Except for places that only allowed 2 hour parking. Or a random spot or two in between two cars. Yeah, I didn't learn how to parallel park in my online drivine class. Some may argue I didn't even learn how to park....And they'd be correct.

Finally I got to about 200 north. There were spots. Wait, this was about 6 blocks away from my class. Yeah, about that. After about an hour of driving around (yes, I don't give up easily, and no, it never dawned on me to just go back to my apartment to begin with), I drove back to my apartment. I had left an 30 minutes early to get to class. I thought I'd be set. Oh, but now, I was 30 minutes late.

I got to my apartment (well, Wells Fargo. But that's another story.) And parked. And walked to class. This only took about 15 minutes, but still, because I had driven around for so long looking for spot, I missed my class. Which I had a paper due in. And now will take a 10% hit on my grade because I wasn't there. I just about cried as I was trying to find a spot. I comforted myself by watching the Season Finale of the Secret Life of the American Teenager. That was nice.

You may ask, why didn't you just walk in the first place? Well, to be honest, I'm kind of lazy and my feet have blisters from some shoes I wore last week. Usually my reasoning is better, as I work early in the morning, or late at night. But I don't have work today, so basically, I was just lazy.

BUT, the blame should not be put on me. It is you, BYU, who is at fault. Please make more parking. Or give me special parking privelages. That would be excellent.

Love

Katie

PS...Since I technically work for BYU, shouldn't I be able to park in the employee parking lot? I think so.

Turn right and continue to the motorway!

So when I got to Utah, I decided to use part of a walmart giftcard on a GPS system, because I don't do well with directions. Even though apparently Utah is way easy to navigate through (which, it is not!), I thought this was a worthy idea. Well, it has gotten me very lost two times. I will ignore the fact it's because I can't type in the right address (it's really hard, ok?). The first time, it wasn't too tragic, and I was able to get to my real destination without much trouble. But yesterday...yeah that's a different story.

Around 5:30, I left to go and see a little sister and mom of one of my friends (ok--my ex-boyfriend's. But his sister and I are friends, and his mom is awesome, and they invited me over, so that's not weird, right?). So they gave me their address, I thought I typed it into my GPS correct, but it started taking me to Orem. I thought this was a little weird, but I decided to have faith that I wasn't being led astray. Well eventually I see a church building that I really thought I always saw when I had been to this house a few times in the past. Of course, I had forgotten that Utah has a church building on every corner. And they all look the same. Anyways, so I pull up to where the GPS took me, and I can't seem to find the address. So I call the mom, and she informs me that they live on 300 S, not 300 N. Greattttt. So I decide to rewrite the directions into my GPS, and they were the correct ones this time. Little did I know that the GPS didn't just know that I really haven't driven on a freeway and it should avoid these at all costs. Especially not in Utah. So I'm driving along, listening to some great music, and all the sudden I hear the dreaded words come from the British voice on my GPS

Turn right and continue to the motorway!

Now, I just feel grateful that I remember my brother's GPS always saying this before we got on the freeway. But still, even with that knowledge, I start freaking out. Now that I think about it, I could I have easily driven back to Provo and not followed the directions of the GPS, but I guess I felt obligated to believe the British voice. But, nonetheless, I go along the way and just pray I don't die. And then I remember my sister, Diana, telling me about when she drove on the freeway, and how she had to talk herself through it to calm herself down. So I use her technique, and lo and behold, it worked! But still, you better believe I was completely white-knuckled by the time I turned off on the exit to Provo. But it wasn't over yet. I had no idea what was going on, but somehow I got on another freeway. And I almost cried.

But finally, I made it to my destination. An hour after I left. To a place that was five minutes away from my apartment. Maybe I should have realized something was wrong when I was in Orem, not Provo, even though I knew very well that these people lived in Provo. Anyways, I survived my first time driving on the Utah highways. And I really don't want to do it again! At least I survived to tell this tale.

Oh, and I got called to be a visiting teaching supervisor. Yay!

Back at the Blue

Well, I have a blog to write about Mexico, and one about skydiving. But I really don't feel like doing either now. Mainly cuz I'm at work and there are no pictures here. But I figured I would just write about my first few days of school!

I'm obviously back at BYU, and I'm glad to be here. I was sad to be leaving home, but in some ways I was ready to be back. This summer has been kind of hard for various reasons. I drove out with Diana, with my parents driving all my stuff (I don't see how people can stuff all their stuff into little cars and then drive all the way to college. Crazy people who pack light!). We moved my stuff in. It was great. I hung out with my family quite a bit the past few days before Diana and Levi left. We had a fun shower for Cindy.

Then class started on Monday.

My first class was LDS Marriage and Family. It's pure awesomeness. Especially cuz there are more guys than girls. Attractive, single (for the most part), returned missionary boys. Yes please! haha. Really though, I'm so excited for this class. My teacher is so funny and interesting, I think it will be really informative. Especially because our first assignment was to write an autobiography of our love lives. That was due today. I embellished a lot of it, going into detail about my crushes from elementary school on. And then it ended with my current situation. Which was sad. And I was sad writing it. But that's okay!

Then I had New Testament. Everyone and their mom is in this class. Like really, I swear I knew half the people. They must have all found out I was in their (just forget the fact that it's with one of the best religion teachers at BYU. I like to flatter myself). I have the same teacher I had for Book of Mormon, which I'm really excited about!

Physical Science Lab was next. The teacher didn't show up. Nice. What a great way to end the day.

On Tuesday I started at the day with Biology Lab. And I surprisingly liked it. And I came to realize that science classes for elementary ed majors are more on my level. Unlike that ridiculous biology class I took last year. I'm still bitter about that. I met some really, really nice people. But the class is at the bottom of this weird staircase I didn't even know existed. And I wore high heels. My feet hurt. So. Bad.

Oh and I made an unfortunate discovery. There are no boys in Elementary Ed. Maybe I should have majored in something more male dominated. Like business. But then again. I hate math. And business.

Interior design. This class is gonna be awesome. I am terrible when it comes to decorating and making things look cute. Somehow I missed out on that gene. Hopefully this class will help me enough so I can at least make my future home look nice. Instead of mismatched colors and weird furniture that doesn't match. hehe.

I've been pretty busy since I've been here though. I work, a lot. 20 hours. Which is the maximum amount that a full time student can carry during fall/winter. Don't ask me why I'm doing that. Actually. You can. It's because I want (and need) money. And my job is sweet. On monday we had yummy hawaiian haystacks at Kristalyn's house. Then I went over to Lindsay's bday celebration. It was so so good to see my old friends from last year. They are so fun. I showed them my skydiving video which got a lot of laughs. Because I look absolutely ridiculous. Yeah. Don't think I'll b showing this video to many others. haha.

Tuesday kind of ended not so great. My boyfriend broke up with me. I knew it was coming, and I should have broken up with him first. But I was lame and just always had some glimmer of hope things would work out. Even though everyone I know had been telling me to drop him. It kind of sucked. And as much as I'm trying to act like it doesn't bother me, and that I'm better off without him, I'm still sad. I am grateful for angel's that God sends into your lives when you need them the most. He broke up with me right before I went to work (class, right?). And my dear friend Leah came over and talked with me for a few hours. Heaven knows if I had had to sit downstairs by myself for 3 hours I would have probably gone crazy. She said a lot of things that I needed to hear, and I am so grateful for her. I'm grateful for all my friends who let me rant and be sad. And for my awesome sisters :) I doubt anyone cares about this. But this is totally like my journal (seriously so blessed moment ;-), so I figure I'll leave a record for my prosperity so they will know about the first time I really got my heart broken. Yay. So if anyone knows any attractive, extremely nice, boys at here at BYU, hook me up. I guess I should try and break my record for 5 dates in a week. hehe.

So this semester has started off kind of on the wrong note. But I do have a lot of awesome friends, and I think this will be a really good year eventually. Here's to hoping! :)

"And now I'm glad I didn't know, the way it all would end, the way it all would go. Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance."