Resistance

My biggest resistance this semester at BYU is probably time management. I have this problem where I don't want to study or do homework when I have something better to do, which is most of the time. So it's really hard for me to do homework that I should be doing when I know I could be out playing. I've also had a really hard time with this whole "studying" concept. I've never studied for anything before. Like ever. And now my classes are hard and if I don't study for my tests then I am SOL. I still haven't overcome either of these things yet, but I'm working on it. I think a lot of it just takes some getting used to. It also probably has something to do with my frame of mind; just me thinking, "okay, what is really more important? what's going to matter in the long run?" And once I can do that every time i have homework to do I think I'll be able to get more done. Another help with that would be to go to bed earlier so that I can conentrate on my reading and such.

All Hallow's Eve

My halloween was such a funny day. I had plans to hang out with my boyfriend and we weren't dressing up, but my roommates were dressing up, and so they needed costumes. Well who better to go to when you need a costume than Jenn? I had already provided the amazing 80's aerobic outfits for the ward party, so they knew i had a wealth of goods. So i dressed Josie in my hot 80's bra, blue net top, fish nets, hot shorts, and a skirt. It was beautiful. And then I went to dinner with Adam and we ate at this Indian place, and the people there were so funny. First of all, the Indian guys working there were way funny. They were all wearing these masks and hoods that kind of creeped me out, but then they would come talk in their Indian accents and I had to try so hard not to laugh. Then there were these people at the table next to us that were so funny. It was this kind of older guy dressed as a sorcerer or something, I'm not really sure what, but he was totally wearing a dress and this long white wig, and had glitter all over his face. And then his date was a girl wearing kind of a matching costume, it was a medieval looking dress, but she looked normal because she's a girl. But he kept making her take pictures of him in his costume and kept making weird comments about her being brown. So awkward. I just laughed at them the whole time, they were so funny. And then we went back to Adam's and his friend Clay came over and saw the pumpkins in the corner and was like, hey I learned how to make a dessert with pumpkin while I was on my mission. So we went to Macey's to get the stuff he needed and came back so he could make it and he cooked while Adam and I carved Harold Delbert. Then one of Adam's roommates came home with his friends and so it was me and like seven guys. So we're just hanging out and then one of the guys was like, hey can we watch a movie? And we were like yeah sure. So what movie do a the guys pick out? Tristan and Isolde, total chick flick. So funny. So we watched that and then went home. The end.

Work Wisdom

I really enjoyed President Hinckley's stories about his childhood and how his parents taught him the value of hard work. I liked this part because every time I want something from my parents they tell me that if they just gave it to me then I would never learn how to work for what I wanted. They've taught me a lot through that and I can see the difference it has made for me compared to my friends whose parents buy them whatever they want. Some of my friends' families are just really loaded and they can afford to buy whatever they want whenever they want. I know that's really nice for them, and sometimes I wish that my parents were like that too. But then I look at how ungrateful my friends are for everything they have. They expect their parents to spoil them and get angry when they don't get what they want. It makes me glad that my parents have taught me how to work; that they've made me get jobs and pay for things myself so that I don't take everything for granted. And I think that's exactly why President Hinckley shared his childhood experiences, so people would learn how to teach their children how to work hard.

Education in Zion

One part of the exhibit that I really thought was interesting was the part about all the academies the church set up. It talked about all the schools that were made when the pioneers first came to Utah and how all of them were church schools, which I should've realized before because the pioneers were all mormons, but I'd just never thought about it before. I knew about Brigham Young Academy, but that was it. I didn't know that there were so many church schools. I also didn't realize that that's where seminary and institute came from. It was added on to other schools for kids who couldn't go to the church academies. I also didn't know that the church still has schools in like Mexico and Somoa and places like that where there aren't other schools for the kids to go to. I thought that was way cool; I think it would have been great to grow up in a church school and have religion put into the regular academic curriculum like that.
Another thing I thought was interesting was in a different section, but it talked about priesthood schools, which I had never heard of before. What I thought was really funny about it though, was this list of things the students repented of before they came to class and one of them was oversleeping. I had never thought of that as something to repent of before, and especially back then when they had to get up at like five and milk the cows or whatever I don't imagine it would be a big problem, so that was really interesting.

Homecoming

This was the lamest assignment. To get my "homecoming experience" I went to the BBQ at Brigham Square. Pretty much i stood in line for like half and hour to get a crappy hamburger and bag of chips. The band played for like ten minutes and I love the band, but they left before I even got my food. And then the Cougarettes performed, but it was only six of them and the dances they did were just the ones they do to the band songs at football games. They weren't even real dances, just pom. Lame lame lame. And that was it. There was nothing else to do so then I left. The End.

Conference Correction

During the Sunday morning session of conference, President Thomas S. Monson spoke about change. He spoke of the familiar adage, "nothing is so constant as change." It wasn't familiar to me, but I thought it was kind of funny. It seems really contradictory, but when you think about it it's totally true. He talked about worrying about today, not dwelling on the past. Stresses that always seem to be present in life will always change. Always say I love you, always express your thanks. Don't take others for granted. He gave lots of good advice about what should be first priorities, like friends and family. I really liked this talk because, first of all it was given by President Monson and he's the coolest. Second of all he used tons of good quotes and kept referring to things I knew about, like Our Town. And then of course I liked it because I'm one of those people who gets really wrapped up in certain things and it makes me stress out sometimes, so I really appreciate his advice. He spoke of a lot of things that I really need to work on; things that I actually want to work on so that I can live happily and not worry so much about things that don't really matter.

Y the Y?

Before today I had never heard the statement, "Once a cougar, always a cougar." Reflecting on it, however, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. In high school I thought that I would always be a Don. Now that I'm out of high school I've realized how little I actually care about Spanish Fork High. BYU is different though. It has a legacy and a reputation. Going to BYU is a unique experience because of all these dang mormons. I thought it would be normal for me to go to a school with a bunch of LDS kids because my high school was hugely mormon, but it's not the same. I love that we can start class with a prayer or relate the topic in class to the gospel. I was in the PS lab the other day and one of the TA's was talking about gravity. Someone asked if the earth would eventually be sucked into the sun because of it's gravity. The TA was like, "yes, it would, except by that time the sun will have grown big enough to envelope the earth anyway. But I figure, hey, Christ will have come by then and we won't have to worry about it." I thought that was way cool that we could just talk about something like that at school. I like that I can look around the Cougareat at lunch time and see a bunch of kids praying over their food. That's not something that people feel comfortable doing anywhere else, but at BYU it's almost normal.
Once I graduate from BYU I'm not really sure what kind of responsibilities that will entail. I'm sure that according to the school it means I should donate lots of money to invest in the future or something. And if I marry a rich man that may happen. But I think it's more of a moral responsibility to keep BYU an upstanding university. If I didn't like the people I knew that came here or if people talked badly about it I wouldn't have wanted to come here. So I need to tell people why I like it so that they will have the same opportunity as me.