Basics Begin

College is weird because schedules are so flexible. Most of my teachers have dismissed us ten minutes early. Yesterday, we were let go with half an hour left in class. I'm sure that won't last for long once the ball gets rolling.

I went to Day on the Quad today, where the field had tons and tons of tents and booths set up. I spun a lot of wheels and won free candy and things. One of these things is another water bottle. Now I have five.

When I made it back to Blue Square after my last class, I read the first chapter of my lifespan development book and took a lot of notes, watched a show with Demetria, and ended my day by finishing a giant chapter of my writing that I've been struggling with. A pretty basic day all in all.

Back to Easing In

On most Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next month, my first and only class doesn't start until 3:00 in the afternoon. So, I had a lot of time to myself this morning. I did a small bit of writing, some laundry, and a lot of homework.

This afternoon I attended my lifespan development class. My teacher seems friendly, relaxed, and like she has a good sense of humor. But at the same time, she also has a decently strict set of rules and she said she would throw out anyone who was too disruptive. I think I'll like this one.

When I came back to Blue Square, I finished my three-page essay about why college is important, what the three parts of a university degree are, and how they all relate to one another. It wasn't fun, but it's done. Now I don't have any Connections homework due until the 20th of September. I just need to stay on top of the work from my other classes.

I also scanned in the paper syllabuses given by my horticulture and lifespan teachers. Specifically, I wanted to keep the class schedules on my desktop, because they tell me which days we don't have class, when homework is due, and when all the quizzes and tests are. Nice to have on hand.

Demetria and I also ordered groceries from Lee's Market online for the first time. We were given a promotional code that was supposed to give us free delivery, but it didn't work. I guess we'll have to ask when our delivery person comes.

Well... I guess that's all. Although, Demetria showed my several more episodes of "Star vs the Forces of Evil" tonight. Holy plot twist, things went south for Ludo fast.

This is a show about a magical princess from another dimension who doesn't understand Earth culture, is raising a litter of puppies that shoot lasers from their eyes, and blasts narwhals at her enemies during battle. The parallel storyline is about a bird prince who is trying to raise an army (or possibly a family) by offering abandoned monsters food and shelter in his castle, providing them with free milkshakes, and who gets grossed out if he ever has to touch hair because he was attacked by the tickle monster on his birthday as a child. That's not even a little bit of an exaggeration, that's just exactly what happens.

Tomorrow I go back to a busy day of classes. But, I'm off to a good start so far!

The Real First Day of School

I got up this morning and headed out the door to my behavioral psychology lab, where we were supposed to train a rat. Well, not on the first day, obviously, but it's the class where it will be. Something was off, though. The building was small and not very classroom-y. The janitor was surprised to see several of us walk in, but eventually he figured out which room he wanted and led us through multiple doors that required keys until we reached the room in question.

Skinner boxes!

Turns out, we won't have this class until the end of September (and even then, there will be a Group A and a Group B, so I might be waiting for awhile).

I went to the actual psych class next. Lecture halls are interesting because it's a bit like a movie theater: All the soft folding chairs are pointed forward at the screen, layered in steps so those in the back can see over the heads of those in front of them, and you share an armrest with your neighbor. Only, instead of a cup holder, you have a small desk that swivels over your lap.

My psych teacher seems like he has a good sense of humor. My horticulture teacher seems friendly. After those two classes were over, I grabbed lunch from the Marketplace. I had a lot of vegetables... although, maybe it wasn't a good idea to be eating there on a Monday. Some of those foods seemed like they were left over from Friday (I did hear a lot of people complain about the strawberries being sour, although I must have gotten lucky because they tasted fine to me). I decided to get a scoop of mint ice cream at the last minute, which probably cancelled out the vegetables, but made up for the broccoli, cauliflower, and my last couple bites of corn.

Institute was next. I went into it with a good attitude (which I still have, by the way) and I'm hoping that I like it. We have a relatively small class, it seems, and I didn't notice anyone texting their friends during the song or possibly the prayer or anything like that, so that's always a plus. We took notes, were assigned some reading, and all given a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". This was just the first day, so hopefully we will start touching on new concepts throughout the year and not just recycling junior primary ones. We did get to watch a cool video about some guys trying and failing to trick Jesus, though.

My peer mentor had wanted us all to schedule a time to meet with her, so I checked up with her before arriving at my "chocolate class". This is a class where we will learn all sorts of things about chocolate, like how to grow and prepare it for consumption, its effects, its composition, and stuff like that. My teacher had some samples of dark, milk, and white chocolate that she gave all of us. I am a bit nervous for her class, though, because I don't think it will be as easy as psychology.

I went back to Blue Square for the first time after that, and Demetria and I were there until 6:45 rolled around and we went off to join the ward for Home Evening (which is a lot like Family Home Evening, except without the Family because we're all on our own). This time we managed to secure a ride. We went to the house of Brother Wade (the first counselor, I think) and had cake and ice cream. 

Brother Wade had set up croquet in his backyard. Demetria had never played before, so I and several other participants showed her how. I was leading for almost the entire game. All six of us (seven, technically- the yellows played as a team) were clustered around the poison pole. Yellow hit it and became poison. Apparently some people play the game as, instead of going back through the wickets, you place your ball a mallet's length away from the pole, and hit from there. So yellow did that and aimed for me. He went through the second wicket in front of the pole and died before his ball bounced off mine.

I think blue became poisoned next, and killed orange, then red. That left green (me), black (Demetria), and blue (poison). I seem to remember Demetria getting poisoned after that. On my next turn, I was poisoned too and smacked my ball a fair ways away. Blue ended up rolling right between Demetria and me. I had a shield, but Demetria took out blue and came for me next. She won, the first time she ever played the game!

We talked with Eliza and a couple of other girls- Amanda and Madi (Madi, I think, gave a talk yesterday like I did). People began to leave, as it had gotten dark. Luckily, Madi had a car to drive us back. After saying our good-byes to the bishop and his counselors, we loaded up and headed off. Tomorrow I only have one class, so the day will sure be more relaxing.

First real day!

My Ward Uses Plastic Cups

So I gave my talk in church today, and it went a little something like this:

Hello down there, little people. My name is Maysen Smith. I moved up here from Sandy last week to study psychology, and I just graduated from Alta in June. I was so excited when Bishop Israelsen asked me if I’d be interested in giving a talk this Sunday. In fact, I actually asked if I could be scheduled to speak first, because - hello! - first person speaking on the first real day, I mean, how cool is that?

My topic today is keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Come on, give me a hard one, right? Admittedly though, I do feel a bit underqualified to speak about this. Maybe it’s just me, but doing the little things like not shopping on Sunday has never been a challenge to me. It’s not a question. It’s just a thing that is, and always has been since I was little. And to be perfectly honest, it’s nice not to have any obligations to go out. Sunday gives me plenty of time to relax and think about things. It’s like a time management game: You have to structure your weekly chores, like grocery shopping and social events, around this twenty-four hour period, give or take, where you’re just hands-off. And that’s kind of my thing.

Speaking of time-management games, my dad really likes to work with computers, and one of the ways that he and I and some of my siblings have enjoyed connecting with one another in the past is by playing computer games against each other. “Day of the Tentacle” has always been a personal favorite of mine, with my ultimate record being about twenty-five minutes to beat every puzzle, but there’s also the Monkey Island games - you know, ‘You fight like a dairy farmer’, ‘How appropriate, you fight like a cow’ - “Populous: The Beginning”, “Age of Empires”, “Robot Arenas 1 and 2”, “Rise of Nations”, “Total Annihilation”, “Age of Mythology” (including the Titans Expansion pack), and even some “Multimedia Fusion 2” game programming on the side- I’ve played them all.

I’m really not much of a goal setter. When at the beginning of January my parents handed us all pieces of paper with the twelve months of the year written on them, my “Goals For February” box literally reads ‘I am pretending to write something down’ (and bonus points to any of you out there who caught that reference). I just hate doing all those goal projects. And those statistics about how we’re more likely to complete our goals once we’ve written them down? Don’t even get me started on those.

But somehow, it seems different when setting the goal is your own personal, thoughtful choice, and not your parent or your school teacher shoving the paper at you. Two years ago, I chose of my own totally free will to make the New Year’s resolution of not playing computer games on Sunday anymore, just to help me keep the Holy Spirit with me. Although, a bunch of guys wearing armor surrounding an army who have nothing but spears and loincloths sounds like an accurate description of the second half of the Book of Alma and therefore I can technically argue that I’m still thinking about the scriptures, but ehiyeh.

To sum up Isaiah 58:13-14 in a nice little bow, it says that if we prioritize the Sabbath Day and keeping it sacred for the Lord, then we’ll be lifted up and blessed. It’s a pretty basic concept to wrap our heads around, but sometimes it can be more difficult in practice. I come from a home where both my parents and all my siblings have always been members of the Church. I’ve never had a friend invite me to an activity on Sunday since I was in first or second grade. And if I remember correctly, I walked through the door after school and said instantly to my mom, “I was invited to a party at the roller skating rink. Too bad it’s on Sunday so I can’t go,” and probably handed her the invitation and skipped off to have apple slices or something. For a kid, it was really that simple.

Then, I’ve never been in the position where I’ve been asked if I could work a job on Sunday, whether it means leaving in the middle of Church or not. I’ve been fortunate that way, although I imagine that one day I will be asked directly to make that choice, and I hope that I choose for the best.

Until then, I like to draw. I don’t claim to be any kind of ‘real’ artsy-artist, but I do love to sit down and sketch people or animals or fairies, especially when I’m listening to or watching something else. Actually, my New Year’s revolution for this year was to improve my artistic abilities by drawing my lighthearted interpretations of a different scripture character for each of the 52 Sundays in the year. And so far I’ve kept up with that. Last week, for Week 34, I drew the Three Nephites. And I can’t remember off the top of my head who comes after them, so I'll have to be looking that up when I get home. 

I’ve done Nephi raising the sword to slay Laban; Amaron and Chemish fighting over the “I saw what my brother wrote, and he didn’t carve anything into the plates until the day he gave these to me” line from in the Book of Omni, Ammon petting a sheep while surrounded by severed arms; King Lamoni frantically explaining to his dad that he was late to dinner because his new best friend talked his ear off until he passed out for three days (“and no, Dad, you can’t kill him or else he’ll paralyze your arm, geez”)...

I've done King Noah riding a jaguar while wearing his ridiculous potted plant hat; Alma the Younger being a giant bratty party boy who throws around friendship anklets like carbon dioxide, later befriends some random guy who gave him bread, and constantly bothers his son Helaman about getting a girlfriend; Gadianton singing assorted “Aladdin” songs about friendship to Kishkumen; and Samuel the Lamanite playing “Dance Dance Revolution: Extreme Edition”.

I’ve even drawn Governor Lachoneus making “Spongebob” references as he insists to his people that the Gadianton Robbers won’t be able to starve them through siege if they “just take their stuff, and push it somewhere else”. Don’t laugh- it worked.

This project is meant to be casual and silly, but it’s forced me to read through the Book of Mormon looking at the ‘characters’ therein as real, with real faces, and it’s really helped me connect their lives to mine. They’re my history, and their culture is my culture in a way too.

While drawing is one way to spend a Sunday, there are other ways the pencil can be put to paper. I have friends who strive hard to finish their homework earlier in the weekend so it doesn’t have to be done on Sunday. I’m not demanding that any of you go that far if you don’t want to. I do tend to finish my homework on the first day of the weekend rather than the second if it can be done, and that may be because I try to avoid procrastination. I personally don’t have a problem with reviewing notes or completing work problems on Sunday, and especially if you’re seeking to be inspired in an area that you’ve been struggling in, but that might be because I’ve rarely been in a situation where it’s come up.

Either way, the purpose of the Sabbath Day will always be to renew your own personal covenants with the Lord. Sunday isn’t just the Lord’s time. It’s your time too, to remind yourself why you put on the pretty dresses and the strangling ties and do it all.

I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to be up here on my own as an adult for the first time. I’m grateful for the way my parents raised me, even if it did sometimes scratch at my nerves. I’m even grateful that I accidentally went all the way up to the wrong stake center at the wrong time last week so I had to come see the bishop one-on-one and end up asked to drum my fingers on this pulpit speak to you today. I hope that aside from keeping the Sabbath Day holy, we can all write powerful stories with the approaching horizon of blank pages in our life and look out for one another as good friends. 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Turns out you CAN say, "How appropriate- you fight like a cow" over the pulpit and they won't throw you out. Best talk I've probably ever given. I spoke a bit faster than I meant to (I sped-read all the computer game names and sort of made swinging motions with my hands as I listed them, much to the amusement of the audience) and probably fell short of the ten-minute mark, but I had the effect I'd wanted. Everyone laughed in all the right places and I had a lot of people compliment me and want to shake my hand. That's always a good way to start out in a new ward. Brother Wade, the first counselor, asked if I would talk again next week! ... I told him no, and he laughed too.

Demetria and I went to ward prayer this evening. While there, we met a girl named Eliza. She lives up the street between the church and Blue Square. We ended up walking her back to our place and showing her around, and we talked for a good long while before we walked her home again. 

And, when we walked on the sidewalk, the three of us walked side by side. When I was on the side, they didn't pair off without me. Even when I was in the middle of the group, I didn't get fenced off and closed over, stuck walking behind the two of them. I know for a fact that hasn't happened for years until today... and it happened earlier too when we walked our other tentative new friend Ellie to her place after the block! College really is a magical place.

Been One Week

Today was a pretty easy, lazy day. Nice to have one of those after easing back into school. Here are some items that have been delivered to me over the past couple of days, but that I didn't take pictures of until now:

 Loud blender for the kitchen (But not too loud, according to Demetria)

 Lamp for my bedroom- No more feeling towards my bed in the dark

Utensil holder- These are always nice to have! Our drawer was getting full

I did some writing this morning, and around noon I made macaroni for the first time up here. I gave some to Alison when she came over. She brought her car, so she, Demetria, and I all headed about a minute down the road to Lee's Marketplace and showed her around.

Alison dropped us back off in front of Blue Square and we went our separate ways. Demetria and I rested for a bit before heading up to campus. With classes starting on Monday, we wanted to be sure we knew where to find our first several classes. We played some Pokemon Go and talked about my writing as well as the books Demetria likes to read and her future plans for her music/acting career.

She and I watched various shows this evening, though after the first one I realized that I hadn't printed off my talk for church tomorrow. Yikes! There's no printer at Blue Square, which meant that I'd have to walk the thirty minutes back up to the campus library to do it. And we had just come from there.

Since neither of us has a car and the shuttles weren't running, I tried asking one of the neighbors I knew for a ride up, but no one answered the door. That was all right- Demetria pointed out that the library might have closed already, since we thought it closed early on Saturday. It was still open, but we'd be cutting it close. So the plan is to get to church early and print it off from one of the computers there.

If that doesn't work out, we have a back-up plan; I e-mailed the file to Demetria, and she took screenshots of it with her Kindle. I'd still like to have the paper copy in hand though, I think, but it's always nice to be prepared.

Third Day of Connections

This was the last day of Connections until we have our follow-ups. It's nice to have weekends. Of course, when Monday rolls around, it means I'll be starting college "for real".

This morning, after getting to class, we rode the buses into town and did some service cleaning baseboards and walls. Then we had pizza. There were lots of extras, so we were told we could take a box home if we wanted to. I did. Now I have pizza in my fridge. Since Demetria can't eat gluten, it's all mine.

Also, I passed this sign while I was out:

I talked more with Alison on the way back to campus. Her housing is just up the street and around the corner from Blue Square, and since she wanted to see it, I offered to walk with her to the grocery store tomorrow. It's good to be making friends.

We listened to explanations on how to use the various library technologies, study rooms, and websites and heard from some nutritionists who talked about, well, nutrition. I rested at Blue Square with Demetria for awhile after class was over before heading up to the Spectrum so we could hear from the author of our summer reading book, "How We Got to Now". He was obviously passionate about his work and there was a surprising amount of people who came up to ask him questions in the end.

Yesterday, we folded paper lanterns that look like the top of the building that bears the USU Aggie A. Today, we got them back along with a small battery-powered light. Then we all heard from the school's president, and he told us how we would be walking from the Spectrum to the quad, where we would gather in a large 'A' shape and have our pictures and a few videos taken for promotional USU images and stuff. He said that when we graduate in four years, we'll be walking from the quad to the Spectrum. I'll bet time will fly soon enough!

Connections Day 2

So I climbed a mountain that was on fire this morning. What did you do today?

Yeah, when my peer mentor casually mentioned that the canyon was currently aflame (or had been the night before, possibly), I naturally assumed we would be staying in the classroom. We did not. Okay then.

I carpooled up with two girls - Alison and Cassidy - and they sort of hung out with me throughout the rest of class today, so that was neat. Upon reaching the canyon, we went on a short hike through the underbrush and then climbed a steep slope of sliding rocks. Seriously, that thing was at maybe a forty-five degree angle. One of the girls who normally rides this scooter thing was also on crutches. She's a trooper!

We discussed our book and homework before eating some sandwiches and then headed back to campus. We had a short break before gathering in an auditorium in one of the biology buildings, where we asked questions to a panel of four professors, and later heard from a fifth guy who told us about communication and conflict. He was fun, so it was more enjoyable than it might sound.

When I made it back to Blue Square, I polished up my church talk while I ran some laundry. Now the thing's pretty much done. It takes about seven minutes to read aloud if I don't go too fast, so if I speak a little slower over the pulpit than that should be plenty of time. I'm speaking on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Easy breezy.

I headed up to campus later on, after the buses had stopped for the evening. It seemed that the psychology major get-together (which I thought was classified under "Humanities and Social Studies") wouldn't be held until next week, but I thought that was weird because, well... all the others were scheduled for today.

In the end, I found out that the psychology major is more likely classified under the "College of Education and Human Services". Which had of course just ended. Ah, well. I got to play some Pokemon Go, and that cushioned the blow of having to walk up there and back by myself. Funny how it's easier to navigate campus with that app than the official USU one.

The rest of the evening was relaxing. I watched a video for homework while I ate some food, folded laundry as "Lilo and Stitch" played, and then grabbed water bottles and blankets and camped out with Demetria for more "Star vs The Forces of Evil". Turns out I'm a bit of a sucker for evil minions pushing their boss around the department store in a shopping cart and magical butterfly protagonists going completely psycho and hurting their friends when puberty gets to their heads. It's been nice to be an adult with my own place so far. Extra nice that I don't have to pay bills!

First Day of College

I woke up in plenty of time to get ready for the day, which was nice, especially since I had my Connections course this morning. After leaving Blue Square, I walked up the hill to the Spectrum (the basketball stadium). There, we freshmen were split into our separate classes, were taught the fight song, and we heard from the professor who had written a summer reading pamphlet-book. We were also told that we're not allowed to sit at games because the sports teams want to be cheered on. Har har.

I think the seats look like pieces of cat food, but maybe that's just me.

I did run into my friend Molly on the way out, so it was nice to say "Hi". Our class moved to the library, where it looks like we'll be meeting most of the time. Today was long. And painful. After an hour of "get to know you games", then if I remember correctly, we spent most of the day talking about brevity. My teacher enjoyed rambling on about it, showing us videos, initiating partner discussions, calling us to the front of the room to explain brevity, and having us type a response that showed on the projector. Oh, the irony.

On top of that, she cited those little blue summer reading pamphlet-books as examples of good writing, which I got a kick out of since it's literally fifty pages of the professor repeating himself. Definitely not "brevity" material.

Fortunately, this "USU Freshmen 101" course won't last forever, and we did get some famous Aggie Ice Cream. I ate mine while we played parlor games because obviously that's what this class is for.

Aggie Blue Mint

We had only an hour for lunch. Since I had left my glasses back in my room, my hope was that I could grab them from Blue Square, get something to eat, and still make it back. The shuttles were slow, since I had missed one by two minutes, and then the next had to change drivers. Once I'd made it, I ran in, said hello to Demetria, gobbled down some food, remembered the glasses, and got out to the bus stop just as the next shuttle was rolling in. I made it back to the third floor of the library with about three minutes to spare. Now I know!

When parlor games had ended, we took three hours' worth of notes on grit, success, and motivation, and were assigned more homework than I was hoping for. I came back to Blue Square and took a restful break before Demetria and I headed out to grab some free goodies from town. It was the "Taste of Logan" event, so after a brief excursion of wandering campus and not finding the booths and tents we'd been looking for, we realized that we were supposed to actually ride the shuttle into Logan. That makes sense, looking back on it.

This map key made me laugh

I'd heard that we should expect to be given out free stuff, and we were showered with it. We swiped a few pieces of candy, several coupons, notebooks, and food samples. Lee's Marketplace handed out apples and water along with grocery bags for people to carry the stuff they picked up from other booths. Clever.

Cold Stone decided to set up their booth inside a jewelry store. Don't ask.

And there was a chocolate fountain on the other side of the store. I had Oreos. Also don't ask.

 Totally free! Now that's service!

Demetria and I scouted out a few more booths. Turns out there's a pizza place with food that tasted really good, although the entrance to the store was weird because you had to descend a bunch of steps to get to it. Like a creepy basement. The lights were dim too. We also passed a sandwich shop called Logan's Heroes. Ooh, a triple pun! I stopped to applaud that.

We found one more ice cream place around the corner handing out miniature tasting cups. Their mint was pretty good, although of course Cold Stone's samples beat them out.

Close to seven o'clock, we made our way back to the shuttle, and several minutes later we were off. Demetria and I parted ways at the door to Blue Square, and I grabbed the packages that had been mailed to me. It was nice of her to take up my Lee's bag of goodies, because one of those boxes was huge! Inside I found my blender, and the other was a utensil holder from my family. It's blue and very nice.

I got to work on homework straight after that. It took me somewhere between two and a half to three hours to do. Not fun, but had to get done. We were supposed to watch a couple of TED talks and motivational videos and upload the notes we took on them. Then I re-read and annotated the first chapter of my summer reading book. After I had compiled those notes (rewriting them, since I didn't think scanning my book would work as well), I took a quiz on what I had learned.

Luckily it's a participation grade, because I scored poorly. And no, I was not amused to see that the questions I had gotten wrong were ones with the correct answers - the same ones I had chosen - written down. Looks like someone's going to have to fix that, because I have the notes to prove I was right.

When that was done, I wrote up a three-paragraph reflection on all that I had learned, and then I turned to writing this blog post. And now, I go to bed.

Summer's End

Today was pretty easy and relaxing. Demetria and I walked to the grocery store, since she hadn't been there yet. We picked up some chips and vegetables and things. After dropping them off in our room, we gave the shuttles a try. Turned a twenty-minute walk into a two-minute drive!

We checked out the campus store and then headed off to find the printers in the library, and the elusive Biotechnology building we kept missing the other times we went out. I texted my friend Molly to see if she wanted to meet up and say hello, but she must have had her hands full because she didn't get back to me once I'd confirmed she was up at campus. We'll try again another day.

Demetria and I had printed off two blank seven-day calendar schedules, so when we got back to our room we each filled one out and taped them to the fridge. That way we'll have an idea of where the other is during the day and when we'll be back, which will be useful for coordinating cooking and laundry things.

We rested at home the remainder of the day. Just a simple way to ease out of summer. My first class starts in the morning. I hope I haven't forgotten anything!

Summer Drawing to a Close

Tomorrow is the last day of my summer before I officially begin college. Crazy to think about.

Demetria and I had breakfast this morning and then headed out to learn about printers, shuttle buses, elevator key cards, and to scout the campus. I stopped by the scholarship office to make sure everything was still in order, and we swung through the library before paying a visit to the arts building where Demetria will be having some of her classes.

On our travels, we picked up a girl named Shannon for a bit, and ran into an employee who told us about the USU app that is supposed to automatically pinpoint and offer directions to your classes, as opposed to us wandering about dropping pins on Google maps like we had been doing. That will definitely need to be looked into.

We started heading back to Blue Square after the arts building, but made a detour into the TSC - the central student center building - so Demetria could pick up her school ID. Long line, but luckily it proved to be worth it as I was also able to get my elevator card punched (Before we left Blue Square, I'd talked to one of the people in charge and after some examination, he told me where on the card we could punch without damaging the chip). Now it hangs on my lanyard with my ID and room keys.

Upon our return, we had lunch and I ordered shoes with Mom. Then I worked on some writing and my talk. I had planned to attend that ice blocking activity (although Demetria didn't want to come), and I made it to the church with several minutes to spare. We had been told to meet in the parking lot for carpooling. I circled the church maybe four times, but there weren't any people about, and the doors to the building were locked. There were cars. Just no people.

I waited for awhile in one spot, then started to circle the church again. As I did so, one boy started to pull up next to me, then evidently changed his mind and went around the corner of the church. I saw him leave hardly thirty seconds later with a new girl in his car. A second car seemed to circle around the building deliberately to avoid me before speeding out. I lingered around a little longer, then headed back to Blue Square instead when it seemed apparent that I wasn't going to be getting a ride. Oh well. Maybe next time. The weather was nice and I got a good walk out of it.

I did a bit more writing while "Meet the Robinsons" played in the background, and some dinner was had. Demetria and I camped out on the couch armed with pajamas and water bottles as we watched a few more episodes of "Star vs The Forces of Evil". The details of tomorrow aren't quite ironed out yet, but hopefully we can find a way to make my last day of summer count!

Sunday's Thick of Things

I woke up this morning with my bed covers still on me, which is always a nice plus. My ones back home were slippery, but this one is more cushy and doesn't fall off so much.

I decided to start my day by looking up my schedule and copying it over to some sticky notes for ease of transport. I have my thick Alta High School blanket, but I did find myself wishing for a lighter one for when I want to still be capable of moving my arms. I had switched the thermostat to 'Heat' last night, but noticed later today that Demetria had switched it back to 'Cool'. Looks like we'll have to find a middle zone.

With my schedule in hand, I pulled out my campus map and began circling buildings and dotting possible routes. I'd brought a pack of colored Sharpie highlighters from home, so I started with pink. Turns out, the pink didn't like this idea very much. The cap simply would not come off. I couldn't even twist it at all. I ran it under water for a bit. Still nothing. Then I covered my hands with a dry rag and tried to yank it off that way. The 'clip' part of the cap accidentally tore a small but decent hole in the cloth when I did. Oops. Of all the problems I'd expected to face now that I'm an adult living on my own for the first time, not being able to uncap a marker wasn't one of them. None of the other markers gave me any trouble, but I'll have to keep an eye on pink's attitude problem. I switched to orange instead.

The sign near the elevator informed me that church wasn't supposed to start until 11, so after changing into my purple dress, eating, and brushing my hair and teeth, I watched "Leroy and Stitch", did a little drawing, and just generally killed time until about 10:15 when I decided that I would rather walk up sooner than later. On my way out the door, I was struggling some locking my room, and a boy named Anthony helped me get the key from the lock again. I then showed him my pink marker and explained my predicament about the cap. He popped it off very easily. Of course. What a little brat.

I walked the half mile or so up to the stake center and made it there in plenty of time. I sat next to one of the RAs from the "Snow" housing complex (I think her name was Lindsay). When I told her I was rooming in Blue Square, she said she didn't think Blue Square was in this stake, but where it was, she wasn't sure. Hmm.

We sustained one or two of the High Priests and were given some introductory talks welcoming us to USU. Once that was over, we were divided into wards by housing. The only problem was, Blue Square wasn't on the list. I asked one of the bishops or counselors about that, and was told that this wasn't supposed to be my stake center. Figures. Maybe they shouldn't hang the sign in Blue Square if it doesn't apply to the Blue Square people? I guess they handed out the signs to the people in charge of residential housing, and Blue Square IS housing...

After snapping a picture of the address and my correct ward, I made my way back to Blue Square. The church I was looking for turned out to be a quarter of the mile down the road, in the opposite direction I had originally walked. Church was over - I'll have 9:30 church - but I ran into a Brother Wade. He gave me a pink sheet to fill out so my records could be transferred up here, to the YSA 16th Ward.

As I finished up, I spoke one-on-one with Bishop Israelsen. I told him about my plan to study psychology with a later emphasis in animal behavior, and how I had taken the veterinary science class last year and am now a certified veterinary assistant. He grew up on a farm, so he found that interesting.

After a bit of discussion, he confessed that they were looking for one more person to give a talk next Sunday. Not exactly what I had planned. Still, I offered to do so, figuring that this way I'd be able to get that all done before classes grew too complicated. I asked him in what order we would be speaking. He said he hadn't decided yet, so I requested to go first. How cool will that be if it works out, being the first speaker the first day? Hopefully I can keep everyone engaged, teach a little, and maybe make some friends. Good way to start off, I think. Perhaps visiting the wrong stake center wasn't a mistake after all.

Brother Ward told me about the upcoming activities. Tonight at eight there was to be a "ward prayer", as the combined wards would be splitting up with the influx of students now that the school year was about to begin. Tomorrow for Family Home Evening, we're supposed to be meeting in the Relief Society Room at six so we can carpool to a hill for "ice blocking"... which seems to involve laying a towel across a block of ice and sliding down to the bottom. That should be interesting.

I headed home after that, and talked with Demetria while eating some lunch. We finished watching "Up" and I told Demetria about my plan to spend the afternoon wandering campus and dropping pins on Google Maps so I could navigate by my phone. She told me she had planned to do the same thing tomorrow when her private singing and music classes are supposed to be finalized. Sounds good.

I did some blogging and worked on my talk after that. While Demetria played around with her rice cooker, I told her about my favorite cartoon - "Fairly OddParents" - and she told me about her favorite cartoon - "Star vs The Forces of Evil" - as well as a couple of anime shows with titles that I don't remember. We watched half an episode of "Elena of Avalon" that was on while we waited for a girl downstairs to run up with a key to open Demetria's door after she accidentally locked hers in her room. Turns out the girl, Maddie, went to Demetria's ward in Arizona.

After that, we went to ward prayer, sang "How Firm a Foundation", and snagged some cinnamon rolls. On our way back, we ran into our hallway neighbors just outside the elevator. I went to Alta with Shantal, so it should be fun to have her just around the corner. Still no sign of my other friend Molly, but I'm on the lookout!

Demetria and I ended the day by watching some of her show and some of mine. "Star" is about a ridiculous and irresponsible magic-slinging princess who is sent to school on Earth, and since she's clueless about how our dimension works, the principal assigns the self-proclaimed "bad boy" Marco (who is really a major goody-two-shoes obsessed with safety) to watch over her. Sounds like something Jorja would be interested in. Nice to settle in after a morning of plunging into the thick of things!

Aloha!

What a crazy day! The time came at last for the eldest little bird to leave the Smithsonians nest and start her own story.

 

I really wanted to plant a tree right before I left for college. Fortunately, my dad was all for that, and helped me find a nice spot for my little crabapple red right in the front yard a few days ago.

 

"Aloha" means both "Hello" and "Good-bye". What a perfect shirt to wear!

 

Then this morning, it was time to part ways and head off into the world.

 

Farewell, sweet family!

Stockton, Dad, Jorja, and Preston

 

Preston and me

 

And Stockton too!

 

After good-byes had been had, Mom and Dad carted me up to Utah State University, where I'll be making my home for the next few years. I got unpacked pretty nicely and painlessly.

 

What a great room! Bit more than necessary,

I think sometimes, but I'll love it.

 

I also got to meet my roommate, Demetria. She's pretty cool and has been great to talk to and hang out with so far, so it looks like we'll be good friends this year. Her birthday is only three days after mine, so we might just have to celebrate together.

 

Demetria and Maysen

 

We each have a cactus 'sticker' on our door with our name on it. I did a bit of snooping around and it looks like all the girls have pink flowers on their cacti... except us. I guess our names sound a bit too masculine. Hopefully that doesn't raise any issues when someone inevitably spots us slipping inside!

 

When all the unpacking was over and done with, my parents walked around campus with me to hunt down all my classes. Then it was to hardware store to look for a lamp and a hook for my bathroom robe, and then to the grocery store for foodstuffs. Turns out they deliver! Well, for a few dollars more. I definitely think I'll be taking advantage of that feature throughout the year.

 

 Last kiss from Mom!

 

Dad showed me how to use the TV right as "Monsters University" was up to play. A fitting movie as I begin college life myself. Mom and Dad said their last good-byes then and started on the long two-hour drive back to Sandy. I put on my pajamas, dimmed the lights, grabbed my thickest blanket, and relaxed as the movie played.

Demetria ended up staying the night with her mom in the hotel for one last hoorah, which left me all nice and quietly alone, so when the movie was over I began working on this blog, and ended the day by crawling into my big soft bed. Turns out I left my blue Grandma Parry blanket back at the house. Well, it will give my family something to remember me by until I have the chance to pick it up. Hope they don't miss me too much! I'll keep you all in my heart!

That's all from here so far. Here's to filling up the blank pages of my future with many enjoyable adventures in the future!