Give Said the Little Stream!

Today I guess I was feeling particularly charitable.

I have been planning to give blood for the last four months, so today was finally my chance. I am terrified of fainting or feeling sick, so I usually prepare well ahead of time by drinking so much liquid I have to pee every hour and eating a nice big breakfast. Well, today I didn't prepare well because I didn't have any food in my apartment besides pop-tarts, and I didn't drink lots of liquids, but I went anyway.

The lady who took my health history was plenty nice, if a little weird. Then a younger girl came over and prepped me for the needle. I hate giving blood. It hurts. But spending three years in high school trying to recruit people to give blood made me really annoyed with people who said they didn't donate because they "don't like needles". So I try to do it. And this time was no different- it hurt. And then the girl said "I'm going to try to fix it" and there was more pain and pushing of the needle. Luckily she was good at it and it didn't take too long, and luckily there was another guy there who came to talk to me and distract me when he saw I was getting upset.

I sat there intermittently squeezing the little ball when I looked over and saw "Brandon" working with a girl. Now, I have tried so hard to find my blog post about Brandon because I'm pretty sure I wrote one, but I can't find it. All I know is I think "Brandon" was the name of the kid who stuck me in both arms unsuccessfully and then had to call over The Boss to get it to work. I could have killed him. I was glad he wasn't in charge of me this time.

Anyway. I ate my snacks and drove to Erin's house, feeling just fine. I replaced anti-lock brake relays in the car all by myself (except Bryce had to pull one loose for me because I am weak) and went back inside, at which point my lack of blood giving preparation caught up with me. I felt really dizzy and tired and accidentally fell asleep on Erin's couch.

They left to go on a walk and I decided I should probably go home and get packing again. I dropped off three garbage bags full of clothes at the donation box at Albertson's. Three bags. That's a lot of clothes! I told myself I had to get rid of anything I haven't worn consistently in the last two years. I let myself keep a couple pairs of pants I used to wear so that if I ever lose 15 pounds I can feel all triumphant fitting into my old pants. But other than that, I made myself get rid of it. I hope I don't start missing it all!

I have packed up books to donate to the library if they'll take them. I hope they do because they're brand new- I just can't keep them.

I have five suitcases available to me to get all the rest of my stuff out and I'm wondering how much stuff I have. I have tons of books, so that's a problem because they weigh so much.

But anyway. So, giving blood and donating clothes/books pretty much puts me at the top of the "People Who Did Good Deeds Today" list, right? I need to go add it to my resume.

... that last part was a joke referring to someone we used to know in high school.

I'm done now.

Sorry this is all scattered.

-mollie

Hair

So, I finally got around to collecting some pictures of my new hair cut. I like to play with Picasa, which would be why the colors are a little weird.

Most of you have seen it in person, but for the rest of you, here are a couple pictures.

Commencing and Convocating

Well, hello there.

I know it's technically Saturday already, but I haven't gone to sleep yet, thanks to a craptacular landlord and cleaning check that await me sometime during Saturday daylight hours.

I just wanted to write to say I am officially a college graduate. I got my 1.5 seconds of fame as they called my name and I quickly walked across the stage. There must have been... 600+ graduates for the Family, Home, and Social Science college. The ceremony was huge, and long, and somewhat boring.

So as of today, me and 6,173 other BYU students have been released into the wild as BYU now awaits the arrival of the newbies. It is weird to think graduating from high school, driving across country, and moving into little 2012 Kimball Hall didn't happen all that long ago, but look at all that's happened since then.

I'm getting ready to move back home, work, and go to Harvard University for a Master's degree. Whoa.

Anyway. Go me.

I'm just realizing we didn't take a single picture of my fan club- parents, twin and BIL, sister and nephews. We are lame.

Sleeping now.
-mollie

Because Ashley Tagged Me

Ash did this on her blog and tagged me- so now I feel obligated. To Ashley- I miss you and love you!

Four shows I like to watch...
1. The West Wing (of course)
2. The Biggest Loser
3. That Oprah special "Life"
4. Jeopardy!
(And almost anything on HGTV)

Four things I'm passionate about...
1. Counseling/Psychology
2. Public education
3. Some political issues
4. Writing

Four phrases I say a lot... (I had a hard time answering this one- so feel free to jump in)
1. For Pete's sake!
2. You've got to be kidding me!
3. I can't hear you, peach.
4. Anyway...

Four things I have learned from the past...
1. Everything happens for a reason.
2. I owe my life to many people.
3. My sisters are pretty cool.
4. My heart will always be in New England.

Four places I want to go...
1. Paris
2. Africa
3. Heaven (I liked this answer from Ash)
4. Ireland

Four things I did yesterday...
1. printed a study guide for a final exam
2. fell asleep instead of studying
3. read "Make Way for Ducklings" twice to my nephew
4. played Bingo

Four things I'm looking forward to...
1. graduating on Thursday and Friday
2. going to Florida in May
3. going to Harvard!
4. having a job and my own apartment

Four things I love about spring
1. flowers
2. the ducks on campus
3. all the baby animals (stolen from Ash)
4. Daylight Savings (also stolen from Ash)

Four things on my wish list...
1. a summer job and someone to buy my Sp/Su contract
2. a way to teleport
3. time to read all the books I have
4. a husband at some point

Four people to tag...
1. Erin
2. Megan
3. Mom (even though she won't know what "tagging" means)
4. Sean :)

Updates

So, I will make this quick because I need to be studying for finals, but some of you might be wondering what I've been up to.

1) As Erin posted, I got my hair cut. I will post a picture soon. It's pretty much chin length.

2) Went to Idaho last week to see the twin graduate. She played clarinet and I have pictures of it, but I don't have my camera cord with me. Then we went to dinner at Applebee's and looked at houses in Idaho Falls for an obscenely long time.

3) Had my last day at THS yesterday. I had meetings scheduled with 10th graders all day and was calling them out of class 8 or so at a time. At 11:30 they closed the office and we had a party for me and ate pizza. It was fun. It was supposed to go till 1, but everyone had things to be doing, so it was fine that it ended early. They gave me a bracelet which is really pretty and a card. Aww how sweet. We went back to the office and I met with some more students before cleaning out my cubicle and saying goodbye. It was really weird. I'm going to miss them a lot!!!

4) Spoke at peer mentor training last night. Pat and Bryce asked me to give a little testimonial about my experience working there for the last three years. I may have cried. That job has been the best thing to happen to me at BYU. There have been so many things that wouldn't have happened without it, including the internship I had, my trip to present at a conference in Denver, and my acceptance to Harvard. I will miss it a lot.

5) Last night I accepted my offer of admission to Harvard. (I got my financial aid info. from Boston and it was less than what Harvard gave me- didn't think that was possible...And UConn won't send me anything until I accept admission- LAME.) So I accepted at Harvard. I am hoping money will materialize in the next three months, so we'll see. It's official now- but it's not without doubt and anxiety. Bring it on, Harvard, bring it on.

6) Today I attended the peer mentor farewell breakfast which was fun and now I'm off to study. A couple finals and I'll be done. My commencement is next Thursday and convocation is on Friday. I'm afraid both will be painfully boring. But it will be fun to hear my name called. Wooo I'm gonna be a college graduate!

The end for now.

p.s.- Congrats to my friends who are expecting a baby!!!!!! I'm sure I have overestimated how much time they spend reading my blog, but hopefully they'll see my congratulations. I'm going to miss you guys! You will make wonderful parents- that kid is going to be happy.

p.p.s.- Congrats to Sean who got accepted for a research assistantship at the NIH. He will be getting paid to do it, too! I am sure I have overestimated how much time he spends reading my blog as well, but hopefully he sees my congratulations. I am so happy for him!!!! And he will be in Maryland, which means we'll be close enough to see each other a handful of times. I am excited about that. Sorry I probably didn't use all the technical terms about what you're going to be doing Sean- but I'm excited for you just the same!!

Life is just good. Changing, but good.

Or not.

As many of you already know, I got my Harvard financial aid information and it was less than stellar. They awarded me about 20% of tuition, and then qualified me for Work Study and Student Loans for another $25,000ish.

The total of my "financial aid package" (including the $26,000 in work study and loans) still puts me below the cost of tuition. Nevermind all the other expenses.

So... unless I can somehow find $15,000+ in the next month, it looks like Harvard will be giving my spot to someone else.

I don't want to whine about it, but it makes me really sad.

The end.

Birthday

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. I'm officially 22 now. 22 is not a very exciting birthday.

Sometimes on birthdays it seems you hear from people you haven't talked to in forever. No one gets excluded. The American Red Cross even sent me a happy birthday email.

And then I realized it was just a nice way to say they want my blood.

Well, I will give it to them next chance I get so I guess it worked (though I try to give blood on a regular basis but interning at THS has been problematic).

I'm all-of-a-sudden not feeling that great, so I'm going to sleep now.

The end.