roommate bonding...

well hello everyone!

i don't have too much to say... just that my homesickness is currently cured... which is really good for me (o: i have been having fun for the rest of the week and that's been good too. last weekend i had a sleepover at my sister's house with all of my roommates. it was fun, even though we didn't get to do as much as we wanted. we played a game where you all put if/then statements in the middle of the room, split in two pieces, and then each person chooses a random if and a random then and reads them together. it was pretty humorous. then we watched a couple movies and then we just talked for a long time, which was fun.


then the next day there was a football game so we got all dressed up. the BYU strategy was for fans to wear all white t-shirts, to "white-out" the crowd, so as obedient BYU fans, we bought white t-shirts. we bought heritage halls t-shirts and then (even though we didn't get around to it yet) we're going to sign each other's shirts on the back and stuff, which will be exciting. so we went to the football game, (BYU won by the way... 38-0) and then we went home and hung around for a while and it was that night that i got really homesick. which was sad for me...

anyway. so then sunday we had church and i met the sunday school presidency that i'm going to be working with because i'm the secretary... should be interesting i guess. but anyway. i just wanted to post some pictures from our fun sleepover! and pictures of me reading to will... because my head is down, i have to admit i look a TON like my older sister in those pictures, which is really strange to me, because when i looked at them, i thought it WAS her and then realized it wasn't. silly me.

anyway. school is going alright this week... i have a physical science test this weekend that i'm dreading... not necessarily because i don't know the material, but because it's my first test at college and it's just intimidating.

anyway... so much for my lovely update. i'll have to talk about real things sooner or later. it's been a fun week... though the days have been going by slowly on the whole, but quickly individually, which is good.

i got told yesterday by 8 girls that i have a "funny" accent... "but it's cute!" they say. that's weird to me... they're the ones that talk funny. (o;


-mollie.

p.s.- i posted a couple pictures of friendly's just because i want a sundae from there, and i'm craving their cheesy waffle fries or whatever they are. mmmmmm.



















The pictures of will are from the next morning. erin and bryce went out, so they left will with us to babysit. he quickly woke up all the other girls, crawling on them and screaming at them. Then he got out "good night moon" and got three of us to read it to him... I read it 3 times. when you finish a book and he wants to read it again, he holds it up to your face, which is what he is doing in the last picture. i think that was about the 6th time i read goodnight moon that morning. for some reason he loves it... when he brings it over to you, and you pick him up, and open up the front cover, this big grin spreads across his face and he gives a little squeal of delight. and that makes reading it 6 times in a row totally worth it.

home is where the heart is

i missed "home" today. i missed it a lot.

i read somewhere that i ought to be thankful that i have people in my life that i care enough about to miss them as much as i do.

well, i guess i'm really thankful today.


i hope all is well with you.
-mollie

party throwing and shoe throwing... all in a day's work.

So let's see...

ummm I can't think of much that has happened that's worth reporting, but then, being "worth reporting" has never really been a prerequisite for most of the stuff I've posted in my last entries, so...

On Tuesday, I babysat my nephew for a while and then I went to the mall with my mom and sister. Megan is in the highest orchestra at BYU-Idaho so she needs a black dress with 3/4 length sleeves. So my mom took me to the mall so that I could pick out and/or try on things so that she could buy something to send to my sister. That's one thing about having a twin- you always have a "mirror." So I had to try things on and see if they looked good so they could be purchased and sent to my sister. We didn't find anything to buy, but yeah. I did get a sweater for $5, which was pretty exciting.

Then I came back and went to Student Development. I will refrain from posting my opinions about that class anymore. I'm getting used to it, but I don't think I'm ever going to end up "liking" it.

Then on Wednesday, I had 5 classes, which was rather stressful. I had a psych quiz, which I wasn't too worried about because I like psychology. But anyway. I can't really remember what happened that night. Then on Thursday, I babysat Will again for an hour and 15 minutes. He had a stinky diaper, so I had to change him (I won't give graphic details, don't worry), but while I was putting away the wipes and other such items, he crawled off behind me. It was only about 15 seconds, and I turn around, and he's sitting in my closet, pulling shoes off the shelf one by one and throwing them over his shoulder out onto the floor of my room. What a stinker. (Literally... until I changed him). So at first I grabbed him and took him out, but he climbed back in again, so I just got out my camera.

Then, he turns and sees me with my camera and I swear he posed. He sat down and looked at me and gave this little smile, waited until I took the picture, and then back to his shoe-throwing business he went.

(I have posted a bunch of pictures of the event).

What a little ham he is.

So then I went to lunch with my mom and sister because I have to do a restaurant review for my English class. So as I told you in my last entry, we went to Mimi's Cafe because they served me a better sandwich than I ever knew could exist last summer. So my mom wanted to go on Wednesday night, but I didn't have that much of an appetite and I wanted to wait until I was really hungry so I could really enjoy this lovely sandwich. So we went on Thursday. I had to take notes the whole time for my review, which made me feel kinda silly. The review is due on Monday, and I know it sounds stupid, but I'm looking forward to writing it. Anyway. I ordered the sandwich from heaven: Turkey Pesto Ciabatta. And it was wonderful. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

So we were just sitting there talking, and they set three tables next to us to seat 12 and my mom was like "It's about to get really loud in here- they're having a party or something." So then we watched to see who came in and it was a bunch of middle-aged to old ladies, so I didn't think they'd be that rowdy. So it was apparently a birthday party. My mom says "Oh, grandma was going to lunch with a lady in her ward because their birthdays are back-to-back, I wonder where they're going." Well, about 10 minutes later, I look out the window and see my grandma walking into the restaurant, all dressed up for her birthday lunch with this other lady. They walked in, and the party was for her, and all the ladies started singing to her. My mom, sister, and I joined in the singing and it was so cute to see my grandma's expression when she realized her friend had thrown her a surprise party. (At which point I informed my mother that I hoped when I got old I would have a group of 12 little old lady friends to throw me a party/ throw a party for.) It was so cute!

So my grandma thought that my mom knew about the party and that we went there on purpose to be there for her party. So anyway. We were sitting there eating, and my grandma comes over and says "Come meet my friends!" and my mom was like "Mom, we'll come when we're done eating". But my grandma was looking right at me and I could tell it was important to her that I go meet her friends at that specific moment in time. So I got up and walked over to the table, and my grandma says "This is my granddaughter Mollie. She's a freshman at BYU" (All the ladies say something like "Oh!" and "That's great!") So I was just like "Yep, I am." And THEN, she says "Well, now I have to brag about her..." and she starts talking about my class rank and my GPA and all this other stuff and I just felt so silly standing there. I didn't know my grandma wanted me to meet her friends so she could talk me up! And I have never been the reason for bragging in my family... therefore I have never heard anyone brag about me, so it was very strange. Let's just say I was very glad to go back to my table and finish my to-die-for sandwich.

Well, there's a BYU game tomorrow, as I said. I didn't go to the BYU employee party with my sister because her husband's camp-out got cancelled because of rain, so she took him. She's coming to pick up me and the roommates in about 10 minutes. I'm so excited! (o: Hopefully we'll win the football game tomorrow. And then there's a Relief Society meeting at 6 pm tomorrow, so I suppose we'll be going to that.

Oh, and about the weather- yeah, it's been raining for three days straight. Someone make it go away? Perhaps you know a rain dance of some sort?

I hope you all have wonderful weekends,
from Mollie and Prince William

weekend update with m. dickerson

Well hmmmmm... what has been happening lately?!

Well, on Friday, it snowed, as is shown in my last entry. Then on Saturday, I was walking around on campus with my roommates and this odd feeling came over me. What was this feeling? Hmmm... it's something I haven't felt since I got to campus. Oh yes, it was hunger! What a foreign concept. So then I came back to the apartment and I decided to make rolls because they sounded good without being totally without nutritional value. So I got out some ingredients and started mixing. Oil. Done. Water. Done. Egg. Done. Dried Powdered Milk. ... Dried Powdered Milk?! Who's ever heard of such a thing?! Well, I had heard of it before, but who's ever heard of a college student having such a thing on hand?!

So I sent one of my roommates on a frantic mission to the creamery two blocks away. (BYU has a creamery and then a "quasi-creamery" called the "Creamery on 9th". The Creamery on 9th is the one two blocks away. It's like a small grocery store, and it also sells all of BYU's dairy products: milk, ice cream, etc. I stood in the kitchen and pleaded with my yeasty bowl of roll dough, begging it not to go bad. (If such a thing is possible, I don't know- this whole cooking thing is new to me.) So she got back and I mixed in my 1/2 cup dried powdered milk and then left them to rise on the counter. Then we decided to go to the BYU women's volleyball game. My rolls were supposed to rise for two hours. Well, we were gone for 3.5. (BYU won though, so it was worth it...AND we got an ADORABLE picture of us with "Cosmo" the Cougar...)

As we raced up the stairs and down the hall into the kitchen, I saw my bowl of roll dough had overflowed its boundary and was creeping across the kitchen counter. Lovely. So then I quickly tried to take the damp cloth off to roll them out and found the dough and the towel apparently hit it off while I was gone because I couldn't get them off each other. With some effort though, the dough was on the counter being rolled into a flat blob to be cut and formed into little balls to be put in the oven. Well, regardless of all unforeseen obstacles, my rolls prevailed quite scrumptious. Mmmmm.

(There are obviously pictures to mark the occasion.)

So then on Sunday, I had church and got a calling* in my new ward* in Sacrament Meeting. (See LDS Sunday Services for more information) I am the "Sunday School Secretary." Of course I am. Me and secretary work always seem to go together. So I got called and everything. Every girl in my apartment has a calling... one is the chorister, one is the Relief Society* Secretary, one is the Family Home Evening* coordinator, and two are Visiting Teaching Supervisors*. (For any non-LDS readers, this might sound very strange. Proceed to bottom of page for explanations.)

So that was semi-exciting. Except I found out that because of my oh-so-important calling, I have to attend a Leadership Meeting this sunday at 7 am. 7 am! I haven't gotten up that early since... May! Oy.

Then on Monday, Amy and I got applications to sign up for tutoring in the Provo School District for elementary or middle school kids. So hopefully we'll be doing that for one hour a week- on Tuesdays. Should be fairly exciting. I'm hoping it'll be good- because we did the Helping Hands thing in Peer Advocacy my sophomore year, and even though it was only once a week for not very long, I really liked doing it. And I got this adorable card from the boy I was "tutoring" which really made the whole thing even better. I'm sure his teacher probably made him make it, but I still kept it.

So then on Monday night, the MOST EXCITING THING (since I got here) happened. To make (what could be) a very long story short, I was awakened by banging. Someone was just pounding on the back door that goes out to the fire escape that connects to a little entry-way that connects to our apartment. Because my room is the last one, it is on the corner of the building, and the door being banged on was about 2 feet down the wall from the wall right behind my bed in my bedroom. (follow that?) So... at first I thought of my mother's horror story of a roommate getting murdered while she was at school out here and got all freaked out and decided I wasn't going to let in some crazy molester psychopathic murderer. But then I thought maybe that person really needed me. But before I could do anything, I heard someone answer the door. Because all of my roommates were in the apartment in bed, I figured a girl from next door had gotten locked out and one of the girls from my apartment had gone to "save" her. I stood in the hallway to hear what was going on.

I hear the rescued girl being asked "Are you ok?" She says "yes." Then she's asked "Do you have a key to get in?" She says "No." Then "Do you just want to sleep on our couch?". "Yes." So I expected them to come into our apartment so this girl could sleep on the couch in our kitchen, but they didn't come in. So I got back in bed and waited to hear. But they didn't come. I drifted off to sleep before anything happened.

Well, it turns out that the girl that got locked out and was crying miserably because of it was my apartment-mate Amy! She was rescued by a girl in the apartment next door, and the couch I thought she was going to sleep on was in their apartment because the rescuer was not my roommate, but a girl from the apartment next door. (Their back door also connects to the same little entry-way). Ok, so now we know who was out there. But the question remains: Why was my roommate (who had gone to bed with the rest of us around midnight) outside, pounding to get in at 3:30 am?! Well, (drum roll...) she sleep-walked out of our apartment, our our back door, out the entry-way, onto the landing of the fire escape stairs. Then she woke up and realized where she was, and being cold and without a key, she began to cry and knocked on the door as hard as she could for someone to let her in. We were talking to her later and she said she's never done anything like that before... so she was just as scared as we were.

I was retelling this story to my older sister, who then said "That's kinda creepy because some night you'll wake up and she'll just be like standing at the foot of your bed!" I got all creeped out... I'm hoping that never happens. Erin said she had a roommate who sleep-walked and once her apartment-mate got her up to see this girl ballet dancing down their hallway. When they asked her what she was doing, she said "SHHHH! I'm in the middle of my performance and everyone's watching you! Get off the stage!!" They laughed at her and apparently had many similar, quite humorous encounters with their sleep-walking roommate. I suppose it's similar to being around drunk people. They say and do things they'd never do or say in real life, and then don't remember a bit of it in the morning. Odd...

Well anyway. So that was the excitement of the week. Then on Tuesday night we had a firedrill and I made blueberry muffin cake (because we still have no muffin pans) and then we went to a safety meeting to learn how to protect ourselves from all sorts of crimes on campus. I feel informed, so all you would-be criminals out there, watch out!

There's a BYU football game this weekend against one of our big rivals: Utah State. I'm hoping we win. This Friday night, my older sister has an employee party at the BYU bookstore. She's taking me because her husband will be out of town on a Scout camp-out. I've met the BYU Bookstore head-honcho man (her boss's boss's boss) two times already and he has offered me a job both times. Erin says not to be surprised if I leave that party with a part-time job at the bookstore. Mr. Head-Honcho told me he loves having my sister work for him and he'd love to keep it in the family and that I've got a job if I want one... we'll have to see if he continues his recruiting on Friday. I would like to have a part-time job just to keep myself busy and to have some money coming in, but I'm not sure how much stress I should get into right off the bat... besides the point that confronting shoplifters is a little intimidating to me.

And then, after the bookstore party, Erin is picking up my roommates and we're all going to Erin's house to have a pizza night and girly movie night. We're going to have an old-fashioned sleep-over and possibly stay up all night playing games and getting to know each other better. It'll be nice to have a change of scenery from cinderblock walls and weird multi-colored, typical hotel/office building carpet. And we'll get to have a real "bonding night" where we can get to know all the things that don't come out in regular conversation.. I'm looking forward to it.

So I think I'm about done updating for now. My English class went over "parallel structure" today and the teacher told me my definition was wrong, though I know it's not... which made me kind of annoyed, but I don't suppose it matters much. We're also required to write a restaurant review (the rough draft of which is due on Monday for peer edit) so my mom's taking me to Mimi's Cafe tomorrow for lunch. I went last summer and had a turkey/avacado sandwhich that I've been dreaming about ever since, so hopefully it will not disappoint.

It rained all day today- very dreary.

I only have one class tomorrow, and then it's FRIDAY! the week is half over!!!

Yesterday was my month anniversary of leaving home.

until again,
mollie

p.s.- the pictures are of the "heritage cup" which was just a big party for all who live in Heritage Halls housing, and then there are some pictures of my rolls, and then a couple pictures of Nichole with crazy hair- we call that the lion's mane. She had worn it crimpy and then brushed it so it was huge so we could all laugh at her... and laugh we did.

p.p.s.- I'm feeling much better! (o: being healthy is so underrated.

p.p.p.s.- someday I WILL learn to abridge my entries.


*VOCAB for NON-LDS readers...
*calling= the bishop of a ward asks members to volunteer in different service positions in the church (callings usually last 1-5 yrs, at which point you are "released" from one and get a new one.)
*bishop= clergy of our church- kind of like a priest, father, minister of other churches.
*ward= congregation
*Relief Society= the organization for women in the church ages 18 +. They plan activities for the women to get to know each other and just to have fun and all. They also coordinate
*Visiting Teaching= part of relief society. All the women in the relief society are asked to be visiting teachers and are called in pairs (companions) to go visit at least 2 women in the church individually. In their visit (once a month) they teach a lesson and then just check up to make sure everything's going well, and if it's not, they report issues to the Visiting Teaching Supervisors. Therefore
*Visiting Teaching Supervisors= women who are called to supervise a section of the visiting teaching program to make sure all the women in their section are visiting the people they're supposed to and all the women are being visited by their visiting teachers. Any issues reported to them are then reported to the Relief Society President who will bring them to the bishop if necessary.

and if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills, you're probably in UTAH!

WELL HELLO EVERYONE!

Today is a momentous occasion if I ever did see one!

I got up this morning (after realizing that my runny/stuffy nose has now turned into a rather uncomfortable sore throat) and I was just sitting in the kitchen watching tv. Everyone was gone, but Amy was in the shower. I hear people screaming outside. So I look, and LO AND BEHOLD it was SNOWING!!!

I yelled to Amy and she rushed out of the bathroom and we ran to the back door to see. I ran down the stairs to the parking lot where people were dancing around and stuff. One of the girls suggested it was freezing rain because there weren't really flakes- it was really more like little snowballs. Either way, it looked very snow-like to me, so for the purpose of this entry, I am labelling it snow. SNOW. on SEPTEMBER 16!!!

So we took pictures and everything. My first Utah snow! (o: The first picture is showing you some of the little snowballs that fell today. Next to that is the view out our kitchen window... yes, that's snow that has accumulated between the branches of the tree. Then there's a picture of me pretending to catch a snowflake/ball on my tongue... if it looks like I'm in pain it's because the snowflake/balls were hitting my face with quite a bit of force. It's funny that you can get a ton of them to hit you inconveniently in the eyes, but it seems impossible to catch one on your tongue. The picture next to that is the view out our back door- the snow-covered mountain. in September. And then, of course, a picture of a car with snow on it, in case you needed more proof.


I bet you've never seen snow on September 16th in Connecticut!

-mollie


p.s.- WHOA, as I am about to push the button for "publish post"... I hear a noise. What is that noise? Thunder! I'm not joking. Snow and thunder in the same hour?! I think Utah may be having a meteorological identity crisis. Hmmm. But either way... it SNEW! (Why is the past tense of "snow" snowed? I think "snew" makes much more sense... and it's much more fun to say.)

no this isn't an hour-by-hour account. but yes, it seems like it.

well, it's been almost a week since I left everyone a lovely update.

not all that much has been happening here... I had classes on monday and got assigned to a group in english and then we find out that my specific group (and only my group) has a project/presentation due on monday. as in, 3 days from now. fantastic.

anyway. so then on tuesday I had "student development" with three of my roommates. it is the pebble in my shoe this year. the four of us roommates decided it is a complete waste of time and not even worth the 1.5 credits we earn for taking it. we also decided that if the class was not linked to our freshman academy "envelopes", we would be dropping it in a heartbeat. (FA envelopes = groups of classes that come together. therefore, to drop this silly student development class, I would also have to drop psych, religion, and american heritage.) oy. it is obnoxious. I had a reading assignment for this class, and we got a question sheet saying that these questions would help "guide our personal note-taking". so we all "personally note-took" and got to class on the first day and were asked to turn in our notes. What?!

so we turned them in. then this week, we had a 10 minute lecture about how to improve our writing skills. and then we got a 5 minute lecture about how even though we didn't think we'd have to turn them in, we should have done our best work because we are privileged to be at this institution and we ought to always do our best work on every assignment, regardless of whether or not anyone is going to see it but ourselves. (this is a bogus idea... every high school student knows if you're taking notes for yourself, you are not taking notes for the teacher.) incidentally, in english on wednesday we had this lesson about how your audience changes what you say in writing. I believe I could make a valid argument that because we thought our audience was ourself, (I'm not sure how grammatically correct the beginning of this sentence is, but anyway...) we wrote to appeal to that audience. Had we known our audience was the teacher, we would have written differently to appeal to her. Of course, I will not actually make this argument, but I do believe I would win if I did.

Annoying. So then this week for homework we have to go online and read responses that the teacher thought were good and then write a paragraph about why we think it's good, and then we have to write a paragraph about why ours isn't as good. Give me a break. I already know why it wasn't good- because I thought it was just to help me participate in class discussion, not to be graded. If I had legitimately thought I had a fabulous response to every question, I wouldn't mind writing this paragraph. But anyway... We also have to listen to/watch/read 4 historical speeches and answer 10 questions about them relating to their purpose. Last week we had to do an assignment about the "Other Eminent Men" (for those of you who are LDS) and it was also a bogus time-consuming/time-wasting assignment. I'm very frustrated with the class in case you haven't noticed. I could go on like this for hours, but I'll save you the trouble of having to read it.

Anyway. So on Tuesday before class, I went shopping with my mom and sister to get notebooks for class. I only originally had one 5 subject notebook to take notes with until I knew what I needed for each class. So I went to staples and got some binders, paper, and other assorted items necessary for a proper college education. (for instance... a 5 pack of neon colored post-it notes.)

So then on Wednesday I had 5 classes again. I came home and took a nap and was homesick but got over it with the help of some roommates. We went to dinner in the cafeteria (belonging to the dorms next door to us... ) because heritage halls residents have to have a meal plan the first year, the lowest of which allocates $30 every monday to a credit card type thing and we spend it wherever. So we went over for dinner and I was with Nichole and Katie and we were standing in line and this girl behind me was talking about how she was from CT. I asked her where, and it turns out she went to HK high school and she says "I know you! You were friends with Bailey... that's how we met!" Oh. Awkward. But it was nice to know someone from "my neck of the woods" (as Al Roker would say... and I would know because I did, of course, get to talk to him on national television)

Anyway. So then we were at the dinner table and one of Nichole's friends from high school came and sat with us ( = boy ). So they were talking about how I'm incredibly gullible, and they're all laughing at me, and I'm just trying to defend myself but not getting anywhere when the boy says "Oh, you've got some rice krispy treat on your elbow" (I love rice krispy treats). So I'm thinking "Great. Another thing to make me embarrassed... hurry, wipe it off." So I look down and twist my elbow around at an odd angle and then the boy starts laughing hysterically, causing Nichole and Katie to laugh at me even more. There was no rice krispy treat on my elbow.

Then thursday I got up and babysat my nephew for an hour and then I went over to Erin's house to do laundry. Then my mom took me to the mall to get a watch band because the band on my (favorite ever) watch broke in may and I've been late to everything ever since. (at least it seems like it) So with school starting, I decided I really needed to get a new band. So my mom looked up this specialty store (which ended up being a small kiosk at the mall...) which advertised "Over 2,000 bands available!" Of course, out of those 2,000, exactly zero fit my watch. So I continue to be watch-less.

So then I came back to my room and grabbed some books and went to Physical Science Lab. We did an experiment with a scale in an elevator and the whole group was so confused by our results and then fascinated when they realized they were accurate. I, on the other hand, was not in awe because I had that same experiment explained to me in intense detail in Mr. Gambino's physics class last year. It's nice that it's review, it makes me feel like I learned something, but at the same time, it's kind of sad when I can't share in the surprise of the rest of the class.

Then I had a meeting with my Freshman Academy peer mentor, which was good, but a little awkward. More details later. probably. And then I had a Freshmen Academy Envelope Social... with all the other kids in my envelope of classes. We were sitting there and all our professors got up and gave little speeches about things they were passionate about-- one said "the church", one said "people", one said "his family" etc etc. Then there were papers on the bottoms of our chairs, and there were 5 people who got an "O" and had to share something THEY were passionate about. Well, (as is my luck) I got an "O", so I had to give a 3 minute speech about what I'm passionate about. Hah.

So then I came home and we watched some tv for a while and then I went to bed last night not feeling that great. Somewhere in the last 48 hours, I have developed a cold- the likes of which you've never seen in CT. I don't like being sick- it makes me feel all run-down... like I move at a slower pace than the rest of the world. It's weird. But then, I'm weird, so it's fitting.

Last night, I had to do an english assignment, but the bookstore didn't have the book, so I was bookless. (similar to being "watchless", only, without a book.) so our teacher nicely scanned the pages into the computer and posted them online for us bookless people to read. The only problem with this is that she scanned two pages at a time, sideways. I naturally turned my head to one side so I could read the words, which was getting uncomfortable, when one of my roommates came in, and just laughed at me and said "why don't you just turn your laptop on it's side?" hmmmm. It was specifically at this point that I discovered the benefit of working in a group and learning to find alternatives to your own solution, which you humbly believe is the absolute best possible way ever to solve that specific problem. (well, notice the picture)

Anyway. So then I went to American Heritage TA lab today. (On Monday/Wednesday, we have lecture with the professor and then on Fridays we have a lab with a teacher's assistant who helps us with any confusing topic and/or gives quizzes.) Well, today was a quiz day. He passed around the roster to write down our scores and I realized my name wasn't on it. Before raising my hand and looking like an idiot, I looked at my schedule and saw that I should be in room 175. I was in room 178. It was now that I could raise my hand and look like an idiot while admitting "I've been in the wrong TA lab for the last two weeks. What should I do?" Great. Someone just plaster a big "L" to my forehead... and maybe you could add a big sign across my back: "I'm a Freshman". Well, ok, so it wasn't that embarrassing, but I still felt pretty stupid. At least I was able to make the other 25 kids (who were rightfully in that TA lab) laugh... and at least I'll probably never see any of them again since I'll be changing labs. Haha.

So then I went to psych and then went to the computer lab to write an english paper and then I submitted the english paper, and then I went to physical science, and then I finished some physical science homework and turned it in, and then I walked home. I'm tired. and I have a cold. Boo. (or should I say "A-choo!")

It's been stormy here the past couple days... right now it's really windy out and I think we're expecting a severe thunderstorm sometime soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite chilly. I suppose winter sets in fairly early here, but I'm not ready yet! Our window is open, and there's quite a forceful, chilly wind coming in... along with the carrying tune of the marching band that happens to be practicing about 2 blocks away.

Well, I think I'm going to possibly take a nap for a little while and then get up later and do some homework and stuff so I can enjoy the weekend. I apologize for the length of this update... I suppose I was in a talkative mood.

i hope all is well with you. (i live by the bell tower, and every hour it plays the same phrase of "come, come ye saints"... therefore I hear the notes for "all is well, all is well" about 10 times a day... so I suppose it's just made its way into my vocabulary)

mollie

p.s.- the other picture is of two of the girls who live next door (the one on the right is kendra)

soaked in cheer

So as promised, I thought I'd write about the football game...

So this morning, Ashley and Eryn were supposed to get up to go to work this morning at 11. They both slept through their alarms thanks to our almost 3 am bedtime last night. So they got up, and then I got up later at about 11:30, which is surprising; I haven't had a decent night's sleep for the last week or so. I fall asleep, but then can't stay asleep, so I toss and turn, and when I finally do sleep, I have really vivid dreams so that when I wake up I feel more exhausted than when I went to sleep. It's pretty weird. But hopefully it'll cure itself. I was the 2nd to last to shower this morning.

We had bought blue and white eyeliner to use to decorate ourselves, along with blue and white ribbon, so I got dressed in my BYU t-shirt and jeans, put my hair in pigtails and braided them and then tied them with ribbon after about 15 minutes of being frustrated with my hair. Then I used blue and white eyeliner on my eyes, and then painted little paw prints on both sides of my face. Then the four of us (me, nichole, amy, katie) went to the game and got our seats and waited for ashley and eryn to come from work. The seats were way up in the back, but it was still fun. It was really HOT though- so I lathered myself up with sunscreen and hoped I wouldn't get burned.

And then it started pouring in the middle of the fourth quarter.

So then Ashley, Eryn, Katie, and I all left because we didn't like the thought of being struck by lightning. We got out and we ran through the rain to get to shelter, and when we were about 1/4 mile away, we heard them announce on the loud-speaker for everyone to leave the stadium because of the threat of lightning. When we left, BYU was up 42-17. So we ran to the morris center- (cafeteria) to eat dinner, because our meal plans buy one meal every day. We were totally soaked- running through the rain. We all decided it'd been way too long since we ENJOYED running around in the rain. So we tried to puddle-jump and be silly. it was actually quite amusing- and I decided i'll have to do that more often. Although, rain always sucks for my mood-- but as my sister told me, it only rains a few times in utah, so hopefully i'm down to 3 more rainy days for my 1st semester in utah. Anyway, so we took pictures of ourselves totally soaked.

My roommates and I decided we really need to learn the BYU cougar Fight Song to sing after we make a touch-down- even though they post the words on the big screen, it would be a lot cooler if we could just sing them from memory. So we'll have to work on that.

Anyway, that was about all the fun I had today. I have to do homework because tomorrow is stake conference* (refer to previous entries' vocab for "stake" definition.) and president monson is going to be there, which we're excited about. so the thing doesn't start until 9 but we'll probably go at 7:30 to hopefully get seats. and of course... no homework on sundays.

So I got my first thing in the mail today! It was a note from my roommate. The other night we were talking about how we should write letters to each other so we can pretend we got mail. So then we were wondering if the mailman would deliver it if we didn't put a stamp on it and just wrote another room number that was in our building (or our own room number). and then one of the girls said "well, if there's no stamp, they'll return to sender and sender is us!" and we burst out laughing for like 15 minutes. it was pretty funny. so amy wrote us letters- so i got mail today! Except, she wrote her virginia zip code on it instead of provo's... interestingly enough, it still made it to our apartment! (o:

Anyway, that's about all the news I have for you today...

-mollie

*VOCAB for non-lds readers
*stake conference = conference for our stake (stake = area group of wards) (ward = congregation) stake conference is only two hours (compared to three hours for church each week, because stake conference doesn't include sunday school or relief society... see a past entry's vocab for relief society definition)
*president monson = like the "bishopric", the presidency of our church has a president and then a 1st and 2nd counselor. President Monson is the 1st counselor in the church presidency = he's a big deal. if/when the current prophet/president of our church dies, President Monson would/will become the new prophet/president. see LDS presidency for more.

I finally figured out how to get a title section for entries!

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while- things have been... crazy.

So on Wednesday morning, I got up early and walked to campus to the building to meet the english lady in. i got there 15 minutes early, and upon arrival, realized i had absolutely 0 writing utensils of any kind with me. so i walked over to the bookstore and bought a pack of pens for $2.50. (after going to the library hoping to see one i could "borrow".) So then I went back to the English lady and she offered me an 8 am T/Th class to replace my old one. 8 am. hmmm. well, she gave me the contact information of the teacher and then I left and went to the library to make use of the newly acquired contact information. I was looking online and saw the teacher for the class was just a "general ed. professor". so then i checked out the "add courses" myself and found an english 150 H (the class i was taking before it got cancelled) section on MWF at 2 pm. The teacher description said she was an English professor and I thought that was probably better than a G.E. professor. So, I emailed the teacher and then trekked back to the English lady to ask her if she could get me into the MWF class quicker than me writing an email. So I was sitting in the English lady's (I should really have found out her name. Well, actually, I know it: Karen Pierotti.) office and then this woman came in and sat next to me and we were carrying on a conversation randomly and she seemed nice, and then the English lady came out and said "Oh! I'm glad you two are together! Jill, Mollie wants to be in your 2 o clock section of English 150 H." And so, my english professor signed my "Add card" and off i went. My first education problem solved on my own- although I was wishing I had a convenient guidance office and counselor to solve the problem for me )o:

Of course, now I have 5 classes MW, 3 classes Friday, but oh well. That means I only have one class on T/Th at 4 pm and that's it. But it'll have it's advantages. So anyway. Then i went to class all day wednesday. I went to the english class (which is practically on the other side of the earth- in the farthest university-owned building on campus away from my dorm... absolute opposite corners) and... well maybe this was naive of me, but I was expecting to be in a class with all these people who loved to write. Well, I was totally excited about it, and when the teacher asked a question ("What is rhetoric?" (because the name of the class is writing and rhetoric)) and no one answered, I offered a definition and she told me I was right and I was thankful for all those rhetorical analysis assignments in english. haha, but still. no one else answered- the class was dead. It was weird. But anyway, our first assignment was to write a page auto-ethnography: essentially a one page writing about how we write. We have 12 such "response papers" due throughout the semester, and as long as we post them online we get credit- because the teacher says she usually gets better writing when the students aren't worried about the grade. so YAY for that! But then when I posted mine (on thursday- a full day early!) you can read others' posts, and almost every single one i read said something to the effect of "I hate writing!" so I felt kinda dorky turning mine in like "I'm obsessed with writing- I do it all the time" ... but it's good to be different... right?! (o;

So then on wednesday night, I was exhausted, and our dorm had a meeting, and we talked about our rules and stuff. Then I believe I read some and that was about the extent of it. Then on Thursday, I babysat Will from 9:45-11 because Erin had class. It's interesting here- because half the people think the baby is mine and are happy for me, and the other half think the baby is mine, but they're disgusted that I live in on-campus housing with him. I feel like i should write a memo and post it- If you see this child with me, you can rest assured he's not mine.

Then I went to the bookstore and bought more books and then came home, went to class at 4, and stayed on campus for a while to do my reading for friday's classes. Then my mom picked me up and brought me to dinner at Erin's house. Then Ashley wanted to go meet boys, so we walked over to the boys' dorm and talked to a few guys and then decided to come home because we were embarrassed by our own forward-ness. So then Friday, I got up and went to class and it had rained overnight, but it cleared up nicely. I got out of class by 2 and then all 6 of us met up to pick up sports passes so we could go to all the sports games and sit together. Then I got separated from them because I was starving, so I waited for them, and then they called and they were all back at the dorm while I was sitting on campus waiting for them. OY. So I walked home and took a long nap and then we decided to go out and be adventurous. We took pictures, played frisbee (the picture of me jumping in the air to catch a frisbee was totally staged, but still cool) , went to a dance held at the dorms next to us. The dance was yet another crazy mormon dance-- I danced, and loved it, and even got asked (by boys!) to dance for almost all the slow songs. Oh boys. (notice pictures) That dance had all sorts of free stuff too- hence the pictures of cotton candy (which I love). Then we left and went and found a group of people playing capture the flag and we were gonna do that, but I was tired, so I came back to the dorm.

So then we all came back to the dorm and after Nichole got back from her date (with the boy she met last sunday), we all got into our pajamas. I know this entry is getting long, but here's a story for you. So while we were in Branson Missouri for a brief 5 hours, we went shopping and I found this cute pajamas set for $5 (deal!) So i decided to buy them. When we were leaving, my mom said "did you make sure you tried them on?" "yes, they're fine." So I hadn't gotten a chance to wear them until last night. I was all excited because the pants were so cute. So I put them on for our dorm pajamas party and ... well, they're obscenely tight around my, well... rear end. So I couldn't go out in public in them- I was very upset... they were adorable- they just didn't happen to fit in that dimension. And I couldn't tell my mom about them because I lied and told her I tried them on when I didn't. Sad. So I donated them to Amy because she's the small one of the bunch and they look adorable on her. Too bad I'm not skinny. But anyway, so I took pictures of my pajama pants (the pink striped ones) with their new owner. Then we took a picture of all four of us on the balcony outside our room- there were some girls/boys out there having a dance party, so we joined in our pajamas.

So then we took pictures in our jammies and then we all squished on the couch and watched "ever after" and got all dreamy-eyed over the prince and the perfect love story-- after my short experience with boys, I've decided that relationships don't really work that way. But it's nice to pretend. So then we went to bed at 2:30 am.

Then Ashley and Eryn had to be at work at the MTC* (see bottom for * explanation) at 11, and they slept through their alarms, so they were late. We all got up and got dressed for our first BYU football game. I'll save that story/pictures for my next entry so this one doesn't get too long, though it's already obnoxiously long.

until I post my next entry (in about 10 minutes)
-mollie


p.s.- all my pictures in this entry are in chronological order!!! yay for me! (except for the first one)*MTC= missionary training center- it's in provo, utah. All the missionaries for our church go and live there to prepare and to learn to teach and to learn all they need to know before they leave to go to their assigned areas. Ashley and Eryn work in the cafeteria feeding our lovely LDS missionaries.