A First for Everything.

This is the first time in my time at college that I've gotten straight A's. Yes. I know other people are doing that in their sleep. I, however, am not that diligent. I always make a stupid mistake here or there. Its a marathon just to get through one term without screwing something up. Not doing and extra credit here. Missing a crucial class here. Forgetting.. uh, to take a midterm. Yeah. I'm forgetful. That means I have to rely on other ways and advantages to get an A. And i'm not talking about cheating. Things such as...begging the teacher for mercy. Annoyingly visiting the teacher's office at all times of the day and leaving notes. Promising to take the TA on a double date if she would just let me retake the midterm. Ok. That last one wasn't exactly the way it went. BUT, I am going with her on a double date once I come back in the Fall. And. She did let me retake the midterm. Yeah I missed that midterm. Yeah I retook it. Yeah I got an A- in the class. Boo-yah, in your face. Figure that one out. thank you so much Chinese TA. :)*

But like I said. I did not realize how smart everyone at BYU was until just this past term. How did I get here? Consider the following conversation.

Rachel: I CANNOT get an A- in this class. I came here from Community College on a 4.0 GPA!

Me: WOW. A 4.0 GPA? You are super smart!

Rachel: What? Its not that hard. You've never gotten straight A's before?

Me thinking: Oh crap. I can NOT let her know how stupid I am. uh...quick, think of something witty. No. She won't fall for that. Hmm... got it.

Me: Well ya know. I would get A-'s and stuff.

Rachel: Oh yeah, well that makes sense.

Me: Whew, dodged a bullet on that one.

Notice how I did not lie per se (even though I consider any form of deception a lie). I just merely answered another question. I didn't say I had never gotten straight A's. I just said I had gotten A-'s. Haha. Oh, I'm so clever. I hope she doesn't get a hold of this blog. I already think she hates me.

But you see. That's just how it is at BYU. You rarely see anyone below a 3.0 GPA. luckily, I don't fall under that category. I've also been on probation for a semester before and threatened to be kicked out of a second. Someone should award me for that. Its a hard act to achieve. "The Award for Student that's been on Probation yet has a Cumulative GPA Above 3.0". :D How many students can claim that? That's right. A handful.

And one last thing to illustrate my point.

I was telling Shalise's brother the other day that I would only redo one thing about freshman year, and that would be grades. It stank. Thus the point in the previous paragraph. In which case, Shalise enthusiastically agreed. I was so relieved to hear that from a fellow straggler that Iwas going to tell her my freshman year story as a bonding experience.

So I began, "Yeah, my freshman year grades sucked!"

To which Shalise said, "Yeah I know. They were so bad. I got a B+!"

"Yeah I know, I got a ... ... wait. what?"

"A B+"

"0_0 followed by *FACEPALM*"

Well. I could have kept quiet about my own grades, but this time, I decided to be truthful.

"I...got...an F."

"What? In what?"

"In math".

"What were you doing?"

"Um...writing stories in class."

"That's so funny."

You hear that Mike Glazier? I blame you for writing such awesomely funny stories that distracted me in class. Of course, that was a slight lie, because I wrote stories with Mike the SECOND time I took that class. And yes, I proceeded to bomb that semester too and hence, the probation. Everything's coming together now.

You see the pressure of performing at BYU? Yeah. Crazy. Its like being a 9th grader in a college class except I'm not a child prodigy. Its like chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one.

I feel like this post has turned into a confession about all the times that I've lied. haha. But fear not, I eventually told the truth to my dear friends. Good thing too, because Shalise told me that she figured out that I've been fluent in Chinese this whole time and that I should stop tricking people. I proceeded to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. :)

*big thanks though to my TA and my chinese teacher for being so merciful to me. God knows I would not survive without them.

String of Weddings

Katie, Breanne, and Heather are getting married this week. In an ironic twist of fate, a bunch of my friends became single this week. 0_O

Best. Week. EVER

And you know why? The Lakers won the championship. I am SO HAPPY. Back to back baby. Ready for a three-peat!! I actually turned off the TV at the third quarter because we were down 13. We were down 9 earlier, and this second fall behind disgusted me. So my roommates, who don't care for basketball, watched. They said they wanted the Lakers to win just so I wouldn't be depressed. hahha. Nice roommates. But we did it again. Kobe has 5. Yay-ya. Now we look forward to next year. YES!

Also saw Toy Story 3. I liked it more than I thought I would. Of course, I went in not expecting or knowing anything. So it was pretty neat. Crying babies and little kids everywhere was pretty interesting too. haha.

Then, went over to Brittany's place to talk for a couple hours. Dang. So many good moments and quotes and know one else will get it.

Man I miss wyview already. ugh. Well. Fall will bring its own interesting things hopefully.

Best Day of spring term

honestly. today has been the best day of spring term.

Studying for 3 hours, another hour of review. Played basketball with Josh for an hour and a half. Lunch and dinner at the canon. Watched all the craziness that was E3. I think E3 did it for me. Yeah, I can't believe all the stuff they revealed. I am SUPER STOKED for the 3DS and oh man, I was just speechless. The video gamer in me definitely erupted today and made a return.

On top of that, Lakers CRUSHED the Celtics brutally. That made me super happy, especially because Sunday's loss actually depressed me super much to the point that I went to sleep sad. Yeah...

Shalise: Its just a basketball game.

Landon: Its not just a basketball game.

Me: Sometimes, its just a basketball game. But sometimes, its more than that.

as quoted from a basketball commercial. haha.

But yeah, Lakers force a Game 7. YES! Oh man, topped the day off with playing Smash Brothers, talking to my sister and wishing her happy birthday, and more roomie bonding for the last little bit and its just been the perfect day.

Anyway. whoop!

Quotes of the week

Stewart: Dang, my cut is open. Now I'm bleeding. I better stop playing before everyone gets AIDS like me.

Shalise: We're going to Israel and Egypt. But I think we're going to get bombed.

LOLOLOL.

Crazy Week

This is going to be a CRAZY week.

Finals. studying. Eating.

packing. Saying good-bye.

Toy Story 3.

E freakin 3. dang. yeah.

EDIT: E3 is BLOWING MY PANTS OFF. DANGGG!!

Melody in my Head

So I got some spare time to write. And so. I will write. I was listening to some songs the other day. Which I do too often because I feel cut off from the world. But anyway, I was listening, and a song came on that reminded me of someone. I actually have a playlist on my iPod called "Soundtrack of Life". It originally came from a myspace thing where you fill out what songs would make up on a soundtrack of your life. For example, "Breakup Song" or "Character Revelation Song". However, the playlist is made mostly of songs that I think were cool or fit my mood. I want to chat about the songs that actually remind me of people and places.

Song name, Band - memory

Buddy Holly, Weezer - this song perhaps symbolizes the theme song of freshman year. I don't know why I liked it so much. Every time I hear, it instantly calls up memories of chatting in Mike's room, walking slash dancing down the streets of heritage, random dancing in the middle of campus. I can even almost feel and smell Deseret Towers whenever I hear the song. haha. Love that song.

runner-up

2-0-5, Jibjab - Mike and I memorized this song. And sang it constantly. I think this song epitomizes the seriousness with which we took freshman year.

Where is the Love?, Black Eyed Peas - Amy Shah. The first time I ever heard this song was from her xanga. Hearing this song instantly takes me back to 10th grade.

Peaches and Cream, 112 - Amy Shah. even more of a reminder of her than Where is the Love?

Hey Ya, Outkast - for a spanish project, we translated this song into Spanish...and then performed. Also reminds me of PE junior year when the PE teacher said something about shaking it like a polaroid picture. That phrase was so common then.

The Last Thing on Your Mind, Lights - i don't listen to this song that much, because its the song that got me through winter semester 2009. So when I hear it, it reminds me of the crazy days.

Shawty Get Loose, Lil Mama - the first song I really learned for Club Style. So many memories attached to this one. I will remember the beginning of sophomore year, and the year after my mission with this song.

This is my Idea, Swan Princess - Lauren Gardner. lol

The Light, April Meservy - I started playing this song everytime after my companion and I put someone date to be baptized. Later, I got all my companions addicted. I remember, once, we went the whole day only listening to this song. Its been the one song that's been consistently there throughout my entire mission, so it embodies so many good memories. Now, usually I play it when I want to feel good, or right after I get a date with someone I'm interested in. haha.

Holy is the Lord, Chris Tomlin

Forward with Faith, Kim Bracken

When its Time we Arrive, artist unknown

- all these songs remind me of serving out in Price. Whenever I hear them it reminds me of road tripping it up to Vernal and watching the amazing greenery around us. I also usually play Holy is the Lord when I'm contemplating, or right after an exhausting basketball game. its a simple song, but in those moments I feel like I LOVE life, and I just talk to God. I just feel on top of the world, and closer to the spirit and to my mission. And we share inside jokes. haha.

- Forward with Faith reminds me of meadows, fresh grass, and breezy spring mornings.

Casanova, Lights - Jenny Young. i have NO idea why. it just does.

Toxic, Britney Spears

Ocean Avenue, Yellowcard

- high school freshman year memories. freshman year dances, assemblies, innocence, and fun

Werewolf

There's this game called werewolf. It is awesome. Its like mafia. But more fun because it adds additional roles into the game. We played the first round regularly, and kept adding more roles each round (and more and more people kept joining, so it kept getting crazier). The roles we added each round were the following:

Seer: the seer is like the sheriff in mafia and gets to pick one person while everyone is asleep to ask the narrator if that person is a wolf or not. The narrator will indicate yay or nay. The tricky part is for the Seer to play his part well to help the villagers guess the werewolf guess correctly without revealing himself (or the werewolves might target him/her next).

Little girl: Honestly, i hated this character. What the little girl gets to do is look while the werewolves are making their selections on who to kill. The little girl has to be sneaky about it, or else if the werewolves catch her they can kill her off instantly. The little girl is kinda like the seer in that she needs to help the villagers catch the wolves without revealing herself.

Witch: The witch is like the nurse in mafia except she has a heal potion and a death potion. She gets a turn where the narrator tells her who is going to be killed and she can choose to heal that person, do nothing, or kill someone else with her potion. She only has one potion though. The interesting part is, if the seer or little girl reveals themselves, the witch can then protect them for one round with the heal potion while they find the werewolves.

Captain: the captain is elected before the first round begins. This person is the vocal leader of the group, and gets 1.5 votes as a person to break ties. If the captain is killed, he/she elects a new captain (which makes it interesting when they don't know who the werewolf is).

Cupid: The cupid gets a turn in the first round (while everyone is asleep) to pick two people to be lovers (they can pick themselves if they want to). Then the cupid goes to sleep and the lovers open their eyes (the narrator makes it known who the lovers are). During the daytime, the lovers and cupid can reveal themselves if they want to. What happens with the lovers is that if one lover dies, the other lover dies with him/her (making for interesting combinations).

Hunter: The hunter gets to kill someone else (or not) when he/she dies. They can choose whomever.

Thief: the thief gets a turn in the first round where they can choose to steal another person's role/ability or an unused role. If he/she steals another person's role, than that person whose role is stolen gets the unused role.

So this made for some interesting games. In the first game, Mary and Rachel killed everyone (with me being the first person to be killed). I couldn't trust Mary after that.

There was another round where Owen was elected captain and was also the werewolf. I was cupid, and made Mary and Owen lovers. Well, what I didn't realize was that Mary was also a Seer(or Sheriff). We wanted Mary to use her ability and see if Owen was a werewolf, and in order to protect the seer's identity we told the seer to not say anything if Owen was innocent. Well...since Mary knew Owen was her lover, she protected him, unknowingly, also protecting the werewolf. In the end, the werewolves decided to kill Owen (Owen being a werewolf himself decided to do it), and took down Mary with her, leaving Jason as the werewolf winner. (They could have alternatively decided to kill Jason, leaving both Mary and Owen to be the winners).

Rebecca was werewolf like three times, and she played her parts well though it was hard for her to lie. But she was hard to read, and once I actually defended her when she was a werewolf since she was eliminated first or second in the first three rounds innocently. haha.

I was also accused a ton, but was innocent each time. The one time I was werewolf, I committed suicide and revealed myself to preserve my truth-telling reputation.

The game had so much argument, lying, and logic that it was actually really fun. One time, Steve was going to use his death potion on me because he was convinced I was a werewolf. Well, the werewolves attacked him that night and he had to use his health potion to save himself. Oddly enough, this convinced him that I was not the werewolf because he said a smart werewolf would have killed someone else and let him use his death potion on me killing two villagers in one night.

The best was probably the last round where the captain was also cupid and actually made him and his wife lovers. However, his wife was the thief, and used her ability to become a werewolf. We did not realize, and the captain himself did not realize, that there was a third werewolf until we killed the second werewolf and there was 5 people left. The captain, still convinced that his wife/lover was innocent, asked the seer to reveal Rachel if she was a werewolf. He had asked the Seer to reveal Mary the previous round. She was a werewolf, and that eliminated the second, and presumably, last werewolf. However, it got interesting, because the seer and captain both realized who the third werewolf was at the same time, and the captain, realizing he would die if the werewolf died, began using his voting powers to kill the other 3 innocent people. Rachel died that night, using her last potion the round before to save the Seer. The villagers than targeted me, but the Seer, knowing that I was the hunter, and that I would kill the captain if I had a choice, went along with the votes and killed me. I then shot the captain, who died, and whose lover, the werewolf, also died, leaving the Seer victorious.

Yeah, the game was intense at times. But I really really enjoyed it, mainly because for me I was able to deduce most of the time who the werewolves were or come close. And it was played by the right people, the right crowd. Loved it. lots of yelling, accusations, defending (I loved Owen's defense, "I hate little girls" or his reason for why he should be captain "I rock"), lots of brain power being generated, lots of complexities, the room just felt alive and pulsating with how much we genuinely were thinking about the game. Don't know how to explain, just the right crowd and, despite all the arguments, a pretty clean and no ill-will game, with fun personalities.

note for myself on what I want to write next:

-Which songs that remind me of people and places

-capitalism, workplace alienation, and World of Warcraft and how they are connected

So my trip up to Idaho was an eye opener and revelation. It was crazy, up and down, with drama, but ended happily enough. But it sparked some self-contemplation and wonderings of warnings from others.

First of all, my Californian friends are way more flirty than I remembered. Or its maybe cause I've been in Utah for so long. Mark and Jeff were Ok, but it was Alex and Dezzy that sparked the constant flirting more than anything else. haha. But it certainly made the road trip slightly more....interesting.

I ended up hanging out with mission friends for most of the time. We actually all ended up staying at different places, but I had fun. Watching the Laker game at Applebee's and being one of two people cheering for the Lakers (the other being a waitress, and the moment the Lakers won on a game-winning shot will be forever one of the kewlest memories I've shared with a stranger). The game itself was pretty crazy. Then watching the Lakers close it out with two of my mission buddies who were both rooting for the Suns...even more fun and memorable times. Got to see a bunch of missionaries, party a bit with them, and went to a single's ward with them. Fun times.

I did not know that there were personal agendas with my Californian friends about why they went to Idaho. I mean, that would make sense, they HATE utah, why would they ever go up to Idaho? Misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and an overall unstructured and unorganized road trip pretty much felt like it doomed the trip as the days went on. By the middle I was wondering if the reason anyone was doing anything was for an ulterior motive.

It was disappointing to see that, as immature and child-like as I am, I had, in a way, matured more than they did in the two years since I've been home since the mission. It was really interesting to see Dezzy become interested and entangled in boy trouble, a completely different Dezzy than the one I knew two years ago, making feel like the student had finally surpassed the teacher. The one thing I'm most amused about is that she continues to be more of a fan than a friend. However, when all the craziness settled, and as we were at Jack-in-the-Box the friend side of her finally revealed itself.

Overall, after all the frustration that I had felt coming off the trip, I finally understand the line "cuz I don't need your mess, I'll be the one to keep you, one disaster less" from Lights. Though their drama certainly is entertaining, and crazy at times, I will always be their friend, because sometimes, who else will be? haha.