deterioration of air quality and pants

hello again all,

I don't have much to say-- except that I'm avoiding finals, so I'm writing again. I just wanted to show you something: This is apparently what happens in Provo when a storm is coming in. All that crap in the sky? It's not fog. It's not snow. It's a lovely lung-clogging, eye-irritating mix of pollution and dirt.

It's lovely, isn't it? I know. The first picture is out the front door of my apartment building. The second one, well, there's supposed to be a mountain there-- specifically the mountain that is shown in the pretty picture with the blue sky and pink flowered tree. That mountain. It's gone in the fog of nasty-ness. Mmmmm.

Anyway-- so I had to go shopping today-- at least for items that have some lifespan longer than the three days food lasts in my apartment (I hate food shopping. It's so hard to spend money on something, knowing that in a week, you'll just have to go do it again. At least clothes don't generally deteriorate a week after you buy them-- well, excepting Bryce's 99 cent pants...)

So I had to go shopping today. Because in the last two days, I ran out of deoderant, make-up (eye-liner, mascara, etc.), toothpaste, lotion, and other items and decided I better go shopping. All in the same two days though-- that's weird right? I feel like it's weird. Anyway-- so I did that. And of course I got home and put a nice coating of mascara on to check out my new purchase, and then walked outside to take the pictures you see here. Well, I think mascara completely negates the purpose of eye-lashes, because I think my new mascara (which wasn't dry yet or something) just funneled/channeled all the crap in the air right into my eye. That was fun...

I took a test today-- I am officially done with Psych 302 now. (I am also officially done with Eng 251, IAS 201, and WS 222. I am not yet done with HEPE 129, Religion 222, or Anth 101.)
Speaking of deteriorating clothing (well, I mentioned it a couple paragraphs back...) I was at Erin's last Saturday and was wearing a pair of capris. I was talking to Erin about them, saying "These are so threadbare- I've had them so long. I'm afraid one day they'll split open." Erin's response was "Hopefully in public!" Well... (I know- you can probably see where this is going...) that afternoon I was sitting on her couch and Kent had called to come over, so he was on his way. I went to sit in "Indian-style" and felt this rip. Erin looked at me-- apparently my eyes were really wide, my hand was holding my pants together on the backside under the right pocket, and all I said was "IT HAPPENED!!!" at which point Erin asked what, and then saw my hand and started laughing hysterically. She has a mirror on her wall, so I made Erin close her eyes while I turned around to inspect the damage. ... I had to borrow a skirt from Erin to wear for the rest of the evening.

So, I threw away a pair of pants last weekend. (They're the ones I'm wearing in the last picture). I'm about to give up one of my deepest darkest secrets: I had them since 7th grade when my mom drove me to the mall with Sarah Bironi-- that was a long time ago... 7 years! They've been through a lot-- and got stretched a little too thin apparently. I half thought about repairing them, and then decided it was time they be retired. Sad. :( ... At least they didn't rip in public though...

Anyway-- I can't think of much else to say, so I guess I'll leave it at that. I think I'm going to take a final on Monday and then we'll see where things stand. I hope this new weather doesn't bring rain or snow. The last time it did this, it snowed after. But anyway...

Megan is on tour right now with the BYU-I orchestra. I think she's having fun-- she keeps sending me pictures of weird things. And we had a text messaging conversation about how the "Navel Monument" really shouldn't be anything besides a big bronze belly button.

Hope you're all doing well--

-mollie

p.s.- I absolutely despise when you get a sunburn on the part in your hair, and then it starts peeling. Blechk. It makes me feel like this.

Presents, Posters, and Personal Frustrations...

(good title, huh? Sorry-- couldn't think of anything else...)

Alright ladies and gentlemen,

Prepare yourselves for a new post from mollie. My life has been so busy lately that I have thought of a ton of posts, but haven't had time to write them, so we'll see what comes out now.

First of all, April 1st was my 20th birthday. 20! I'm so old! No longer a teenager! That's really strange. My birthday itself was really good- quiet and low-key and just right. I had class at 8 am though, so that wasn't so fun. Then work, then Erin and Kyle took me to my favorite Utah restaurant for lunch. Then I went to Erin's while she made me a cake. Then I went to my class at 4 and then Kent picked me up and took me to dinner and then over to my sister's for cake and presents. It was good! The cake was soooo good- I wish my stomach didn't have a finite capacity. Then we came back to my apartment (Kent and I) and watched a movie-- 101 Dalmatians to be exact- because I didn't own it and got it for my birthday!

On the Thursday after my birthday, I presented a poster at the Mary Lou Fulton Chair Conference of Mentored Learning. My psychology professor was encouraging us to enter, so we did. And then someone had to go pick up the poster and hang it up at our designated post at 7:30 am. I went and found our poster in a wad in the corner- it had "printed funny" so they told me to go see the Tech Guy in the SWKT. I did and he was very friendly and generous and saved our poster. (A 3' by 4' poster, printed in color, costs $65+, but he printed another one for free). I meant to bring him brownies or something, because his competence was mind-boggling in the realm of BYU students, but I forgot. Maybe there's still time? And fyi- the conference went well, and we got a free fancy lunch out of it, so it was good. (I tried to attach a PDF of the poster, but blogger won't let me. Maybe I'll get a picture up somehow- I feel like it needs to be seen by more than the nerdy people who went to the conference...)

To illustrate how surprising his ability was, let me recount to you a story of calling the housing office for work. Freshman Academy students must live in certain housing and someone asked me what specific floor. I didn't know. But I called housing to find out.

her-Hello?
me- Hi I'm calling from the FA office- I was wondering if you could tell me what rooms in _____ Hall are for FA students?
her- *pause* I have no idea
me- *pause* well... is there someone you could ask?
her- *disgusted sigh* well, let me put you on hold
....holding....
her- my manager says it's the rooms of the 3200s but he says you have access to that information in your office. (said all snotty-like)
me- oh, sorry about that. i just asked our supervisor who told me to call you.
her- bye!

... wow... were we having a bad day or something? "I have no idea" oh, right, well if you don't know, i guess i'll never find out. thanks bye. (?!)

Another similar experience happened at Taco Bell in the Wilk. I try not to eat fast food that much, but every once in a while when I'm feeling cheap and hungry, I get a craving for a Steak Crunchwrap Supreme. I went to the register and ordered one. The girl looked at me blankly and said "We don't sell that." "Ok, well, I've ordered it before, and it's right here on your menu." There's a long pause. "Well, we don't have a button for it on the register." ... oh, alright then, i guess you don't sell it. (?!) Seriously.

OH! and speaking of BYU student employee incompetence, someday I will tell you the story of a certain TA who has, on all accounts, floored me with her incompetence and lack of qualification for the job. But that's a long story that makes me beyond annoyed and frustrated, so I won't tell it now.

Moving on...

That weekend, Megan came down for our birthday/to celebrate her engagement. Chad came later on Friday night while we (Erin, me, Megan) were at the mall helping Megan find a wedding dress. We were sitting in this little store and she came out in a pretty one, but it wasn't gorgeous or anything and then went back to change into something else. I was sitting with Erin and I was like "On "Say Yes to The Dress" [it's a reality TV show about girls in a huge dress emporium] the other people with the girl always know when it's the dress. Like the mother starts crying and stuff. I think I'll know when it's the dress." And the next one she walked out in, I almost died and Erin was making fun of me. But it was absolutely positively THE dress for her. She loved it, and couldn't be convinced to take it off, so it was determined that it was "The One". We went back the next morning to put a down-payment on it, and then played a joke on mom who (obviously) couldn't see the dress and was convinced it was of the "mermaid" variety-- you know-- the kind that is really tight until the knee and then it explodes in ruffles and such? Mom thought it was that kind of dress and we kept trying to tell her it wasn't. So then we took a picture of a really awful mermaid dress and sent it to mom on the phone so she could see what she just put a down payment on. She called and there was this long pause while she tried to think of something remotely positive to say, and finally we all started laughing and had to tell her it wasn't actually the dress. But it was really funny.

As for academic news, yesterday was my last official day as a sophomore! Finals start on Friday and as of next wednesday, I will be a junior! Holy cow where does the time go?! I have been writing papers like mad, but soon it will all be over and that's what matters. Here's a related story for you: Last thursday I had a rough draft of a paper due. Then yesterday we had the final draft due. I stayed up till almost 3 finishing it and finally emailed it to myself (to be printed the next morning) and went to bed. I went to campus and opened the email to print, and found my rough draft there- what the heck!? I was so annoyed- I had stayed up so late finishing the paper, and it was done, and now I had to stand in line and offer my excuse along with 3 other people who hadn't started their papers yet. So annoyed with myself. I tried to call my roommate and told her the name of the saved file. She found it on my computer, but it was the rough draft. Had I not saved the final copy?! I know I did! I remember doing it! Because I couldn't think of anything else, my roommate brought my computer to campus for me and I looked up the file under the name I remembered. There was the final draft, just sitting there ready to go. Why had it brought up my rough draft the last time I clicked on that file name? Weird! I emailed my professor and attached the final draft file name so she could see it was done. I told her I'd bring in a hard-copy later and thanked her for being so understanding.

I went to Erin's and opened the email to my professor that I had BCC-ed to myself. I opened the attachment to print so I could drop it off before my class at 4, and lo and behold- there was the ROUGH DRAFT AGAIN!!!! What the heck?! I was beyond confused and annoyed and frustrated with myself. I had turned in the rough draft to the professor this morning, explaining I emailed myself the wrong file, to show her I had something, then emailed her the WRONG ONE again?!

I ran (well, drove) home quickly, ran inside and opened up the computer. I opened the document and found the final draft. What the heck?! Why was the one file name sometimes opening the rough draft and sometimes opening the final?! And then I found the problem- I had saved two documents, one in a "My Documents folder" and one in "Sophomore year" folder, under the same name. But one was the final paper and one was the rough draft. And because I didn't know that before, and only knew the file name, I was sometimes clicking on the one in the My Documents folder and sometimes clicking on the one in the Sophomore year folder. Of course when it came to emailing, I apparently favored the "My Documents" folder because I never got it right. I finally emailed myself the right one, went to campus, ran to the computer lab, printed it, looked up my professor's office online and ran to turn it in before class at 4 (at this point it was like 3:50). I ran all the way across campus before realizing the office location I had looked up was actually the classroom our class was held in. So I had to look it up again and discovered her office is in the same building as my 4 o clock class-- if I had known that in the first place, I wouldn't have been 5 minutes late to my 4 o clock class. Oy. Oh well. But it was just so frustrating to know I had my paper done and to keep getting the rough draft somehow! So, finally, 7 hours after it was originally due, and 13 hours after it was originally finished, I got the thing turned in.

ANYway- that was long. Sorry.

I guess I'll be done for now. OH! Except for the fact that I was at Erin's on Saturday and she found out she passed the Utah Bar Exam!!! My sister's a lawyer! It was exciting because it meant she didn't have to re-study, which means this summer we can do whatever we want. And because I spent quite a bit of time babysitting so she could study, and it worked/paid off! Her swearing in thing is in May, which should be exciting. We went out to dinner to celebrate. :) (We pretty much only celebrate things with food...)

Well, have a lovely day everyone. I have no concrete plans for the day (it's a reading day) so I am going to do whatever I want and love it.

Hope you all are doing well,
-mollie