Day 1: ten facts about yourself.

So...you know the 30 day photo challenge that everybody and their mother has been doing on facebook? Well, I'm a little copycat and I'm gonna do what Haley did. I'm doing it on my blog instead.

Only, since I don't want to be stuck with this challenge while I'm in Europe, I'll probably do two a day on some days...or one. Or zero. Or three. Whatever I feel like really.

Here we go!

Day 1: Ten facts about yourself.

1) I'm so excited for Europe I can barely stand it. Only. 25. more. days.

2) The idea of studying at Cambridge slightly terrifies me. Okay, it really terrifies me. Sometimes, in regards to intelligence and knowledge, I can fake it till I make it. I can't fake it over there. If you're dumb, you're dumb. I don't want to be dumb.

3) I went for my first scooter ride today. Let's just say, I really really want a scooter right now. A scooter and beautiful sunshine-filled days like today.

4) I used to hate running. Like, in high school, I couldn't even run down my driveway without panting. Sad, I know. But now, I really love it. I never ever thought I would say that.

5) Speaking of running, if I grow up to be the lonely, single middle-aged lady, I want to run marathons on every continent. Except for maybe Antarctica. And travel. And do humanitarian work. That way, at least I wouldn't be a cranky, single, middle-aged lady.

6) I'm pretty ambitious. I like to make big goals. Sadly, I don't always keep them. I would like to do something worthwhile with my life though.

7) I have yet to find something that makes me quite as upset as seeing an awful test score on the tv when you come down the testing center stairs. Seriously. It makes me so upset, even when I tell myself that a bad test score won't ruin the rest of my life.

8) I can honestly say that even when I get upset, stressed, and grumpy, deep down underneath it all, I'm still  genuinely, seriously, exhilaratingly happy.

9) I'm really ticklish. But the truth is, you don't have to tickle me to get me to laugh. I laugh a lot. Mostly, I just think lots of things are funny. But I'll even laugh at lame jokes and corny lines. I also laugh when I'm embarrassed or clueless. If I don't know how to respond to something you said...you got it, I'll probably just laugh. It's ridiculous.

10) I've strongly disliked peanut butter for as long as I can remember. I don't care how tasty said pie, cookies, or sandwich is, if it has peanuts in it, I don't want it.

the big two zero.

I'm 20.

Whoa.

It's been a great day. 

I woke up at the early hour of 6:30, showered, went to the kitchen to eat breakfast...and found that Ms. Haley Boyle (aka best roommate ever) had left me a lovely surprise.

A sweet card. An AMAZING bamboo plant. And a mysterious poem with the mail key. 

I love plants.  And cards. And clever poems.
Haley, you're genius.

I went to work. Went to my religion class. Finished a WHOLE physics assignment in an hour. Got a chicken bbq wrap from l&t for lunch. Got 100% on my Spain prep class quiz. Watched old movies during Honors (who says no to a movie?). Got 100% on my commemorative speech. AND got out of class at 8:30 instead of 9:00. 

Following the instructions on the poem, I ran home to check the mail. Lo and behold, a package wrapped in newspaper with Jimmer Fredette's face on top. Um, YES. And, there was a plastic pink easter egg as well. Once I was in the house, I opened the package to find a package of knives, which I had sorely needed. I was thrilled. I opened the easter egg, and there was a piece of paper that said "I'm a little green and stalky."

My easter egg, Jimmer Fredette package,
and easter egg.

Haley informed me Cheryl was making me work for my present. I found my bamboo plant in my room with another easter egg. This time, the note inside the egg said "Blinds--not just for peeking at the neighbors!"

Bamboo plant with clue.

I checked the blinds in our room. Nothing. I went to the kitchen. Sure enough, behind the blinds, Cheryl had left me peach gummy rings (I really love these) with another egg. This time the clue said, "...and the rocks, for his rock hard abs."

Treasure behind the blinds.

It took me a while to figure this one out...until I remembered an inside joke and I checked our poster. There was another egg. AND a gift card to Panda Express. I couldn't BELIEVE it. Their chow mein and orange chicken? Pretty much heaven on earth. The clue said "Pooh bear, I know you're out there!"

Panda Express card. If I were you, I'd be pretty
jealous of me right now.

I found our Pooh bear poster on our wall--behind it was another clue. This one said "Something you will surely miss when we move." 

That clue was easy to figure out. What would I miss? Our washer and dryer fo sho. I discovered a box of raspberry yogurt pretzels and still another clue. This one said "I may give you the cold shoulder all the time; but you still love me, especially when you're hungry!"

yummy pretzels. and another clue.

I ran to the fridge...and found...this!

I opened the box...and  it was
 cake! Ah YUM.

Pretty fantastic finale, if I do say so myself. But it gets better. Kim came home, and she treated me out to frozen yogurt. All of us went. It was spectacular. :) I have the best roommates (and ex-roommate) ever. 

me, haley, cheryl, and kim.

Sorry about the length of this blogpost. I just couldn't contain my excitement. This beats any princess party that Mitchell (Modern Family, for you non-watchers) could throw. 

I must say, so far, it's looking like 20 just might be the best year yet.

Getting lazy.

Please tell me it's too early to get senioritis. Tell me it'll just pass and pretty soon I'll be back to doing my homework on time and diligently studying for any and all exams.

Hopefully this entire "kill time by facebooking and blogging" is just a phase that will disappear soon. Entirely. Prontisimo. If at all possible. 

Because, you see, I don't think I can handle three more years of school with senioritis.

Yeah... I'm going to be a super-senior. Five years of school. Because of all the pre-reqs required for some of my classes and the fact that some of the classes for my major are only offered fall semester and others only winter semester...five years of school it is. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

Because of all the blank spots that'll now be in my schedule, I think I'll also minor in nutrition. Three minors? Do you think that screams out "Hi, I'm Emily and I had no idea what to do with my life so I decided to do a bit of everything"? I think it might. In my defense, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life is a little complicated, overwhelming, and scary. 

At least that'll give me another year before I have to start thinking about studying for [and taking!] the GRE, applying to grad schools, and figuring out a thesis project.

In the words of Cameron from Modern Family,

"I don't know! I just don't know!"

Meanwhile, I'd better get back to studying physics (fluids in motion? what?) and how Faust/Pere Goriot/The Communist Manifesto/Constitution/Declaration of Independence all tie together and affect our ideas of utopia in modern Western Civilization. Fun fun. 

P.s. Mark Zuckerberg came to BYU today to speak at a forum. It was quite fascinating. Mark, you said you were passionate about facebook--and that's what brought you success. Well, honestly, I bet I'm pretty passionate about it too. And that's not leading me to success--unless you plan on offering me a job for it. 

Therefore, goodbye, facebook, for the rest of the night. 

Anddd that's a wrap, folks.

Choose to Give week is officially over.

I am officially exhausted.

However, I'm still so glad I got to be such a big part of it this year. It's amazing to see how willing our student body is to help each other. I think we've had a pretty successful campaign and our finale activity was fantastic. We had a Carnival Extraordinaire... tons of people came. I was helping set up, man booths, take care of donations, clean up...about five hours of running around tonight. Let me just say it was definitely worth it. Choose to Give has given me so many opportunities to serve BYU and the student body--and I'm glad for them. Most of the time. :)

Choose to Give 2011

Nonetheless, this past week has been crazy...conferencing for Writing Fellows, working in the QA lab, running all over for Choose to Give--and still trying to keep up with school and homework...

Shhh...but I'm kind of, sort of, really glad it's over. For this year at least. Next year, you bet I'm back.

It's 12:00am right now. All I really want to do is sleep. I still have to prepare a relief society lesson for tomorrow.

Ummm...pray for me?

i am not superwoman.

I used to think that I could do anything as long as I tried hard enough.

Well, sometimes losing an hour or two or three of sleep, religiously putting your life in a planner, and spending countless nights at the library just doesn't cut it. I've been struggling with this concept for quite a while--call it pride if you want. You're probably right.

But sometimes, no matter how fast you run, college still knocks you down in the mud. And steals your lunch money. And laughs. And then buys a lunch with your money and eats it in front of you. Despicable.

Sometimes, you've just got to come up with a better escape plan. Because if you can't beat up the bully, you've got to outsmart him. Think strategically. Start running faster. And then the masterthought-- lighten the load. 

I've officially dropped chem. Left it behind--until next semester. My chemistry book probably weighed a good ten pounds...just saying. I should be considerably faster. Good luck trying to catch up with me now, college. 

I got a frikkin solid B on my physics exam for the first time in a very long time. After two very bad physics exam scores, I'm taking that as a sign that the gods are smiling upon me. 

It's been quite a while since I've had a satisfying lunch. I plan on eating it right in front of college's face. 

Revenge is sweet. 

I'm not superwoman. Apparently, I'm not always charitable and forgiving either. 

music.

It's times like these...

when I wish I had never stopped learning to play the piano.

And this...this...

makes me wish I could dance. Like, really dance.

Sometimes

Music creates something inside--

Something so raw that it almost hurts. 

So intense that it almost burns. Something so big 

That your heart aches.

And it's something deep enough

 To fill up the very depths of your soul.

To me, that something is beautiful. 

Music, friend, is beautiful. 

please, someone shake me....

If I ever EVER decide to take 19 credits in one semester again.

Or,

if I ever think I'm smart enough to do my physics homework without going to the physics lab.

Bad decision on my part. 

In other news...

I was sitting in the terrace just doing my homework when Vocal Point (BYU men's a capella group) suddenly got up on stage and busted out a tune. Needless to say, my homework did not get finished. I bought their new CD and then...they all signed it for me! I was thrilled. They're fantastic. They also just happen to sing one of my favorite hymns. So in case you haven't heard of them before....here it is.

Nearer my God to Thee

(Vocal Point)

Also, I discovered that when I am running late for work, I can get from my apartment to the Eyring Science Center in a record-breaking 9.5 minutes.  Pretty good, if I do say so myself. 

And finally, Mark Zuckerburg is coming to speak at my school. Um, yes, please. Tell us poor college students your secret to becoming a self-made billionaire. Thanks in advance. P.S. The kid I was sitting next to in chemistry could NOT stop talking about you. Hope you're flattered. 

europe, Europe, EUROPE.

It's happening, people.

This Europe trip is really happening.

Maybe it's the fact that I have my plane ticket two feet away from me in a drawer.
Maybe it's because yesterday, an outrageously large chunk of money disapparated from my bank account and suddenly appeared in the Kennedy Center's pocket.
Or perhaps, it's because Katelyn and I were able to secure our Les Mis tickets in London last night.
It could also be because we've finalized our itinerary.
On the other hand, booking hostels in Rome and Florence...
Or looking up lovely things on the internet about Southern France
Will also do that to you.

Whatever it is, it's finally sinking in. Here's where I'll be all summer!

April 26- June 16: Spain
June 17-19: Southern France
June 20-23: Rome
June 24-25: Tuscany
June 26-29: Paris
June 30-July 2: London
July 3-August 27: Cambridge

Only 47 days till this semester's over and I'll be home.
Only 51 days till I'm on my way to Spain.

Yes, I am counting down.
No, I am not ashamed in the slightest.

Sunk Costs are Irrelevant.

It's Thursday night once again...which means that I spent it with Neil and Brady. Seriously, IMPACT is a blast. It's been so cool to get to know Brady--he's so comfortable with us now. We've gone bowling, made mock apple pie, read books, gone to the Nickelcade...I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me. Someday I'll remember. Hopefully. Today, we visited the PETCO and got ice cream (strawberry cheesecake sundae, ftw--you can't get much better than that). On the PETCO, will I ever buy carob chip cookies for my pet? Probably not. Do ferrets stink? You bet. Rat tails are still as ugly as ever. And on a side note, I still despise spiders. I especially despise tarantulas. Don't even get me started on snakes. Ugh. Good thing Ranger is so cute, or I probably wouldn't like her either. Just kidding--I actually love that dog.

Getting back to the point, I get so busy with life that I sometimes think, "Wow, I could really use this Thursday night to study, read through student papers, clean the apartment, and so on." But every time Thursday night rolls around, and I put those things off to go do this instead, I always return to my apartment with the biggest smile ever. I'm always so much less stressed out--which rationally, shouldn't make sense.

Because the truth is, despite my love for being busy, I can get really stressed out about not getting everything done well and in time. My roommate probably knows this more than anybody else--but she's awesome and deals with me anyways (Thanks, Haley). This week is one of those stressful weeks.  But tonight as Neil and I were discussing our busy schedules, he said something that really hit me: "Sunk costs are irrelevant."

Thanks to my high school econ class and half a semester of Econ110, I knew what he was talking about. But for those non-Econ majors, here's the Wikipedia definition of a sunk cost: "Sunk costs are retrospective (past) costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered." And in the realm of Economics, they are totally irrelevant. You don't make future decisions based on sunk costs. You can't live your life according to sunk costs. They're irrelevant. Over. You look at the future from the present onward. You look at prospective costs. And let me tell you, that's a lot less stressful than basing your life off of your sunk costs.

So, I'm going to study. I'll do my homework. Go to work. Fulfill my callings. But in this entire rational (and very irrational) equation of life, I'm also going to factor in the Panda Express, strawberry cheesecake sundaes, and Chuck marathons. Don't mind if I also throw in Impact, Choose to Give, and travel planning. I'll even toss in running and doing my laundry and cleaning my room. It won't be perfect. But when everything doesn't go my way, I'm calling that a sunk cost. It's over and done. After all, I'm not afraid of a few red lines in my ledger right now. I'm going for long-term profit. I'm making my decisions off prospective costs now.

Yeah. Good-bye old negativity in my life. You're a sunk cost and entirely irrelevant.
:)