Adventures in a Straw Maze

 Last night we were invited to go to the straw maze. It sounded fun enough, I had never been to one before and I figured it would be fun to test my directional skills in the dark. So I went.

Ariel view.. during the day.

Well. Turns out straw mazes are actually HAUNTED straw mazes.  I wouldn’t know though because my little friend, Tony, conveniently left that part out when he told me about it.  So we get there and wait in line for 45ish minutes. I was fine until one of the creepy character people came and stood RIGHT behind me. The people around me ran away while I just stood there, looking straight ahead, frozen. Tony and Jarhed started laughing at me – and mistakenly said my name. Mr. Creepy man heard it and repeated it – so then I ran. And he ran after me, calling my name in a sinister voice.

We took this picture later on in line, when I got my hearbeat back.. see how he's just staring at me though?? Creeper.

Memories from a haunted house I went to in highschool came flooding back to my mind - I was being chased out of the house with a vicious man with a CHAINSAW.

 But then, I really DID hear a chainsaw. I don’t remember what I did, but everyone was laughing yet again and said they just wanted to go in with me because my reactions would be funny. So not cool – I need better friends. Ha – just kidding. But I did feel like I was about to enter the Triwizard Tournament. I was sure I was not going to make it out alive. I began compiling crazy scenarios – and past Bones episodes really made that easy.

Before I could escape my imagination, we were at the front of the line and had to enter through a swinging tin door.  

I must have used up all my “fear” neurons while waiting in line, because the actual thing wasn’t that scary.

Except for one part. I was at the front (yeah seriously, who would have thought I would be the brave one in the group? Not me) and we got to one of the characters – I walked past him but everyone else ran away. Well shoot, now I’m alone. But that’s when I heard it. First a thundering of footsteps  then A CHAINSAW. I was hightailing it out of there… but he was following me! There were like 3 groups of people right there in that little intersection and I ran right into some stranger and grabbed onto his jacket. And didn’t let go for like 2 minutes while he just laughed at me (But I’ll just add that he was one of the people running away too… and everyone was running and screaming). Fear does strange things to you I guess.

Then I decided I should find my friends. So I left him and found them soon enough. They pushed me back to the front and we continued on. We met dozens of interesting people - freaky bride, a man with a heinous laugh, a psycho doll, a joker on stilts, a regular joker, a pig (probably the most startling except for the chainsaw man – whom I did NOT get a good look at), a gorilla, lots of just creepy painted bloody faces and more.

When we were around the bride, Kayley screamed Tony’s name – the bride heard it and started calling him too. Ha. Payback.

After 45 minutes we were still not out. And I swear the characters were starting to recognize us. That could be because I talked to them every time, though. But really it just became frustrating and not frightening. When we finally made it out, it was just Paige, Jarhed, Tony, Kayley, Kate and I. Everyone else had made it out long before. (But i'm going to make myself feel better by saying it's because Jason had been through it the day before so he knew the way and everyone else just followed him)

I guess our directional skills are not really skills. We went in many a cirlces. 

But all in all, it was a pretty fun night! 

Talk of the Town

So. General conference this last weekend. So good. So so so good! But I feel this way every time… There’s just something wonderful about listening to our leaders direct and guide us through the inspiration of the Lord. It’s always one of my favorite weekends ever! Especially this one because I was in Utah. (More on that later… maybe :)

ANYWAY, there was one certain aspect of this little conference that has been the talk of the town, probably the talk of Mormons everywhere! (and sadly, it’s not the new announced temple in Tucson, making SIX in AZ… we passed Idaho, baby!)

Nope, not that. But something that has been mentioned in every class of mine, in the library and in line at the testing center. I hear bits and pieces of these conversations every time I walk across campus (all four times a day). It’s EVERYWHERE.

It’s the new missionary ages.

Not going to lie, my heart did a little skippy thing when I heard President Monson announce this little fact on Saturday morning. 18 years for boys (if they have graduated high school) and 19 years for girls. So crazy!

Why so much emotion, though? Maybe I just think it’s weird because my whole life it’s always been 19 for boys and 21 for girls. Maybe it’s because it’s going to change the whole culture at church schools and in large populations of LDS single adults. Maybe it’s because I’m really interested in how it’s going to change -- How many more girls will go? Will this add more or less pressure for girls? Will the girls who stay get married super fast? Will people start marrying people their own age? Will this change the stereotypes of sister missionaries? Will more high school sweethearts get married? Will girls start getting less education? Is there already an outpouring of 19-21 year old girls talking to their bishops? Will there be a mad rush to the MTC from June to September every year? And how long will it take for these changes to occur? Will boys still attend school for a semester or two to try living on their own before they leave?

I don’t know. I still think it’s crazy to think about.

But this is what I know: There’s a reason for all of it. And it's a good one.

And this is what I think: This will increase the number of missionaries out in the field because there’s a need for more. The church is steadily growing. And society is getting more and more wicked and strange...  And it’s not going to get any better. We need to become stronger and get this gospel out to all corners of the earth. It’s time to prepare. We’re in the public eye right now with Mitt Romney in the presidential election; we need to use this to our advantage. We have the greatest message here on the earth; we need to share it with everyone! The time is now! The Lord needs more. And although this change will change the dynamics of the people serving, it's not about the people. It's about the work.

Wonderfully, exciting times! I’m definitely grateful to be a member of this church. And the blessings of continuing revelation. 

School is taking over my life

Actually it's not present tense, it has already happened.
Both last week and this week I have literally planned out just about every waking minute of everyday. And if something ends up taking longer or shorter than planned, problems ensue.

How do I have time to blog? I don't.
Back I go, memorizing the 12 cranial nerves: names, numbers, functions, locations.

The time has come... the time I honestly thought might never happen... I love school... but... i'm officially ready to be done.

On a lighter note, which nerve do you use for gambling?

(the vagus nerve) bahahahahahahahah!!! Ok, not that funny... but still.

To brighten your day :)

1 down, 13 to go! :)

It's one week into the semester, yet it seems like it should be halfway over by now! Busy busy busy! Last weekend I kinda had a bad attitude about school starting, change is always kinda weird for me... It takes me a while to get settled I guess.  But there's no going back now so I might as well just enjoy it, right? :)
 I'm going to be soo busy! But busy isn't bad... AND i'm really excited for my classes! I say that now... wait 2 months or so and I might be singing a different tune.

I’m taking:

One of the most challenging classes for most psychology majors (and the teacher takes a little too much pride in that fact), Behavioral Neurobiology. It even sounds hard. That class in and of itself is going to be a LOT of work, and very time consuming, but should be really interesting too. The brain is fascinating. Wish me luck.

*Social Psychology -- which I am most excited for! People watching, why do people do what they do? Why do people act differently in different situations? These are the things that interest me most in psychology! Plus my professor is a very funny French guy. I LOVE French people! I had him last semester & he’s one of my favorite people ever!

*Adult development -- It’s giving me a fear of turning old. And it makes me want to drink milk every single day. I better buy Nesquik or something stat! :)

*A sociology class that I never remember the name of – This little class is… interesting. Well yes, it is interesting because sociology is interesting.  But the set-up to the class is different than any I’ve ever had. He’s the kind of teacher who jams his classes super tight at first… I mean, I was sitting on the ground the first day for crying out loud! But he knows so many people will drop that first day that it all pans out in the end. He starts with a lecture comparing his class to teaching kids to swim by pushing them into the deep end… then goes on to introduce a killer research assignment that scares away a quarter of the class. Nice. But the weird part is… Even if you do ALL the assignments PERFECTLY, you can only get a c in the class. Saaaay whaaaatt? In order to get a B you have to do all the assignments correctly, and then do some additional work, approved by him, that corresponds to things we talk about in class.  (i.e. extra research assignments; book reports; GRE or grad school prep, etc.) To get an A you have to do all the assignments correctly, even MORE additional work than B status, then, during finals week, you have to go to his office with all of your work in a portfolio and explain to him why you deserve an A and defend your position. He takes the whole “taking learning into your own hands/Know and DO/unto à into/take a step into darkness” thing to an extreme level. Well, Mr. PhD, Challenge accepted. Plus, he’s also rather funny and I’m sure good habits will derive if nothing else.

*Book of Mormon. Self-explanatory. I love the Book of Mormon and there is always so much to learn… this is bound to be a great class.

So there you have it. My next 3 months in a nutshell! I’m very excited! :)

Happy weekend! 

Keeping it Classy in College

Remember my "classy" goals for 2012? Well this may or may not have anything to do with those…  But it’s funny nonetheless!

My five roommates and I all spent the weekend unpacking and getting settled into our apartment. None of us knew each other previously, so we got to know each other and laughed a whole lot. We also proposed the idea of making Sunday dinners together.

Sunday came and Megan decided to go ahead and be the first to make our weekly Sunday dinner. Well our apartment was still kind of a mess; there were empty and half empty boxes everywhere (and still are for that matter). So when she went to set the table, we weren’t sure if we were all going to fit. Kayley quickly announced that she would just eat on the couch.  But before she could even finish, Megan responded, “NO! This is our good Sunday meal. We will all sit down at the table. It’s one day a week for 30 minutes, you can do it.” (or something to that effect… I don’t quite remember now). I laughed at her quick INSISTINCE on eating a proper meal and made a joke about how classy we would become because of it. Before long, everyone started in on the classy jokes, except Megan. She took them in lightly but underneath she was becoming COMPLETELY DETERMINED to make this meal classy.

 It was HILARIOUS.

She started setting the table. “We need ambiance” so she brought in a lamp from her bedroom and turned off the lights. 

We all decided to play classical musical softly in the background... (i'm getting cultured and classy)

“Does anyone have placemats?” Uhh… no we’re in college. Who has placemats? So she went into the bathroom and pulled 6 green hand towels and set them under the plates.

“We need flowers or something” I offered to gather all the toothbrushes and put them in a cup/vase for a floral-like centerpiece, but she declined my invitation.

As Kariann is putting a bagged salad on the table, “It can’t go on like that, put it in a bowl!”

As Megan is searching through the knives trying to find 6 that match, Kariann adds, “We’re eating spaghetti we don’t need knives.” To which Megan replies, “That’s not the important thing, we need a proper table”

All the while the classy jokes from the peanut gallery were firing in rapid succession. I was almost on the ground I was laughing so hard.

Then it was dinner time. Classy meals can be delicious as well. This one sure was.

Pinky's out. Classy dinner #1 was a success! Thanks Megan! :)

Next week Kariann is going to make a Chilean dinner.  When it’s my turn I’ll probably make pigs in a blanket and have everyone sit on the floor on a blanket or in a fort. Haha I kid. Sort of. 

Techno Shower Raves

This is a view of our bathroom. 

Does anything seem weird or out of place here? Anything at all? Pay no attention to the overflowing trash can… it was the only one we had when we first moved in.

No? How about in this one?

Take a look at the location of that light switch.

It’s OUTSIDE of the bathroom.

 There is only one explanation… the bathroom was designed by an only child. No human with siblings or roommates would ever put a light switch on the outside of a bathroom.

If one of us suffers a seizure before the semester is over, it’s probably from the techno strobe light experience we receive every so often.