I've Got the Fever: The Curse is Reversed

Bex & Hutch

Well after an exciting start to last MLK day with free French toast and MLK vs. Black Rapper, I spent the rest of the day doing HW. I do that a lot now. But I will always stop for a game of kickball (which my team won) and when I find out one of my ward friends is the cousin of my mission friend and they're hanging out for his birthday, with free ice cream and cake. Thank you, Noah and Kjersti. I like them. They're funny.
I got a job! It's only a temporary fix, but I work at Scoreboard Grill. It stresses me out because it's not as relaxed or fun as the Malt Shoppe. The search continues. Although I do enjoy seeing Sage, my roommate occasionally there. I already covered someone's shift and earned an awesome card this week. That's right. A card. For being awesome.
My basketball team, consisting of myself, my trainer, my friend Ho'o, and Ho'o's mission friends (including my old ward mate and my BFF from kindergarten), played our first game this week. Despite being wildly out of shape and out of practice, we didn't do too badly. In fact, we won. Our water polo team found a permanent goalie and John Fife actually shaved his face. And we won by a landslide.

Just how I remember:
Yummy.

My best friend Lauren turned 23 this week. I love her a lot. Hence, my spending multiple hours making Yummy Bars, her favorite Canadien dessert. We made a Pringle wheel. We "danced" and "felt the heat" (good thing they have a ton of space heaters).

The Pringle Wheel at its finest.

Emarie Swenson and I had a delightful pancake lunch. Mallory Layton and I had a wonderful cereal dinner. Derek came to my water polo game and agreed to play at least once, if only for the experience. Taua, Victoria Beeny, Hailey Howden, Wheeler Heck, and Devon Gardner all found me on campus at the same time. Cam's band had a concert where I saw my now bearded friend Jake. I'm a fan of the beard.  Andrea Mann had a fancy grape juice/cheese tasting party for her birthday. It was white tie attire, which I translated that to mean sweatpants. I kept wishing there was waiters to replace my empty glasses and carry cheese platters around, but whatevs. I went to the temple and saw everybody that I know-John Fife, Megan Bird, Jessica Harris, Victoria Beeny, Kjersti Roberts. John Fife even tried to help me find my future husband. Too bad all his ideas are awful. And now Bex Huckstep is visiting from Utah State!

RKDA

I love my French class. I feel at home because most of my mission is in that class. Plus, it's French, which I love. I don't get in trouble for repeating everything Dr. Lee says with my grossly exaggerated accent. And I'm like the only one he really corrects because he knows I can handle it. Also, I planned on going to the writing lab to work on my paper for his class, which I found out later was illegal, but he said I could go anyways. But it was also good for me because I realized I'm actually not that good at French. Apparently, I'm a good writer, but my French basics need some serious work. Yikes. The lady recommended I read some real French literature and not just the Livre de Mormon.
And I watched Fever Pitch this week, which is the best movie I've seen in a long time. I'm wearing my Red Sox shirt and never taking it off. I also want to get a whole bunch more Red Sox paraphernalia. And I keep wondering why nobody else is obsessed as I am. The Curse is Reversed. I love the Green Monstah. I love Sweet Caroline in the 7th inning stretch. I love the exhorbitantly overpriced hot dogs. I love Boston. And I love love love this movie:

MLK Day

What a splendid holiday. Shoutout to my black friend, Kirby. He has so many MLK and black rights posters in his apartment, I can't even count them. We even let him cheat at kickball because it was his special day. And in honor of such a prestigious holiday, we played a little game called MLK or Black Rapper? (credit to Noah and Hannah). So, here it is. Who said it? MLK or a black rapper? (Double points if you can guess the black rapper.)

1. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
2. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
3. It was a weird mix of emotion. One day, your best friend could be killed. The day before, you could be celebrating him getting a brand new bike."
4. Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
5. I look at things as everything is meant to be.
6. Let the Lord judge the criminals.
7. You only live once, that the motto, yolo.
8. Don't go through life...grow through life.
9. I've been criticized for the things I chose and the things I've chosen to do.
10. A man who wouldn't die for something is not fit to live.
11. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
12. Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
13. A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
14. I'm a reflection of the community.
15. A lie cannot live.
16. I like being misunderstood.
17. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Answers:
MLK, MLK, Jay-Z, MLK, Lil Wayne, Tupac, Drake, Drake, Lil Wayne, MLK, MLK, Tupac, MLK, Tupac, MLK, Lil Wayne, MLK

"It's hard because I feel like the black rappers quote MLK half the time!"

I'm Getting All the Jobs

Work. Shoutout to Uncle Zach this week as I applied and interviewed around campus for all the jobs. I wore a skirt way too much this week. But among others, I interviewed for a planning position with Elder Kunz's aunt, which was probably the most exciting interview I'd ever had. Not because she was his aunt, but because she and her coworker are just exciting people. The only problem with job hunting is that I don't know if I'll be here for the summer. Also, I did get a part time job at the Cougareat.
Sports. Well first off, it rained one day and was slippery and I rolled my ankle. But the great thing about my Athletic Training lab is that I know how to tape it up and I get free tape. And just in time for our ward volleyball activity. Which was better than expected, but not as good as I'd hoped. Sage and I pegged out the good players though, so next time we'll know who to call. A nice kid named Dean drove us home so we didn't have to walk in the snow. I made my roommates do P90X with me this week, kenpo style. They loved it.  We had our first inner tube water polo game of the season. It was rough, but we found our new goalie. If we can just get all the newbies to stay in their tubes, we'll be a real threat. I am still working on my pull-up goal for the year. By the end of the week, I felt like I had gotten shot in the arms. I'm taking that as a good sign.
School. My first exam is in two days. I went to the French lab and spoke to Sadie Hirschi's Quebecoise friend for twenty minutes. I started helping out a guy with an experiment by using ultrasound on my trapezius muscles three times a week. I also get paid for that.

Life. Mals took me to Teazan Tuesday where I just hung out with Bowan Call and Cole Fox and Julia Reintjas all night eating nutella-covered bread. We asked them to go to our water polo game, but they couldn't come. So after the game, we went to visit them and found a really convenient hole in the railing on their balcony. Mals and I climbed right up and slowly opened their sliding glass door. We poked our heads in and the two boys jumped about a mile. Turns out it was the middle of a scary part in The Conjuring and they were really freaked out. Unfortunately, both of these boys were mere roommates, so it wasn't as funny. But still good. I went on a ward temple trip (taking my friend Cam along with me, as per usual) and got free food AND ran into an old friend, EJ who served his mission in Congo, knows some good friends, and speaks French now. Crazy small world. I did my laundry at Derek's house and watched 127 hours (edited), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and played Injustice with Taylor. I like them. Even if all they do is watch movies. Then I had a sleepover with some of my best friends. Ho'o (who also served a mission) and I fell asleep first and woke up first. And I had a weird dream:
I was working in MOA security and holding a sharp butter knife in hand while I frisked people exiting, but strictly from the waist down. Among them, I saw my illegal immigrant friend and we decided to ignore that fact that we knew each other, for our own sakes. Then this lady starts sprinting away before I could frisk her and literally everyone chases after her, even the patrons. I stop and look back and see my tiny roommate, Johnst, do a crazy ninja flip thing as she starts to join the chase as well. But then, somehow she breaks her leg and bones are sticking out everywhere. Using my AT/EMS skills, I splinted her up. Then I was looking for a non-emergency number to call the hospital and Derek kept trying to convince me to watch some new movie with him. 
In other news, I forgot how much I love music. Sometimes I just walk home with my beats bumping and I just think about how happy I am. I'm especially into the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. I also went over to a neighbor's house and played their piano for an hour and a half yesterday.

Elle Me Dit: Danse! #RM

Missed the
 Mountains

I live in Utah now. Five minutes west of the gyms on campus. With three other RMs of Washington, Arizona, and Ukraine. It's nice because I relate to them: we all have this inner anxiety about the future, are scared of men (all to varying degrees), love reading our scriptures, and aren't motivated to socialize. At church last week, I met my bishop and told him I need a calling. (And not one of the silly ones). So I got to schedule my new member interview first. During which he made me promise to go to ward prayer, despite the fact that I think it is silly. But first, I helped my roommate Sage (the Ukranian RM) move in and we went to her friends' house to eat curry. Then we went to ward prayer together and even hot chocolate night. We have five friends now. One is half black half Philippine.
Monday I finally got to scope out some of my classes. This week has been a bit abnormal because I was one a few waiting lists so I went to double Microbiology. I also have an AT class, an AT lab (at 7am where I get to tape BenJammin's ankle for two hours--it's awesome), French (with a bunch of Lyonnaise who bring me free chocolate milk), Finance (with my entertaining millionaire professor), Physics (which I took in HS), and Intro to Health Professions (where different doctors visit and explain about their jobs). Kind of a workload, but I think I can handle it. I've already had 2 tests.

Browkies, in all their glory.

My FHE went to go see Meet the Mormons, but it was sold out. We ended up getting our vehicle of transport hit by the car of a newlywed Canadian woman instead. I was also trying to get into a basketball class, so I went to ask the teacher for a code and found out that: 1. Amanda, who punched me in the face in my last basketball class, also just got back from her mission and is in that class. 2. The teacher is an injured BYU mens basketball player and wants our classes to be like his practices. Yikes. Myles, one of our friends from the ward brought us browkies. Like half brownie, half cookie. Intramurals opened and I have my inner tube water polo team mapped out, including cousins Tanner and Hunter. I went to the temple with Sage and her old mission friend. I had an interview to be a French indexer. I listened to Elle Me Dit by MIKA and imagined myself in the music video. Jordan came over and told me about his married life. Cam and I had lunch and he told me about his unmarried life. Hannibal and I had Cafe Rio and she told me about her African life.

Elder Joblot-Birmingham, Angloterre

Basically no matter where I go, I run into hoards of people I know. It makes me look really popular, like I have a lot of friends, old and new. One time I was so shocked to see someone, I left my wallet at the RB. But don't worry, it's BYU, I got it back. One day I saw Sanchez and he told me he had just seen Wheeler Heck, so I sprinted across campus to say hi. I saw Lauren Richardson and her boyfriend, who both hugged me. My French class is a reunion by itself. Emarie Swenson, my brother, and I went to see the edited Amelie, which I LOVED. It was so funny. Carolyn Carter and I went to Yoga. Hailey Howden and Jordan Jones skyped Laurent Joblot in Chalon-sur-Soane to see him open his mission call to Birmingham, England. While I was at Cafe Rio, I saw Josh Kunzler and Abby Luthi and we found out that Dirk Sven Peterson would be in town, so we planned dinner with the mission. We ate at JCWs with them, Dirk's friend Todd, Emarie, Jordan, blonde Johnson, Sr Gardner, and Carolyn. Then Jordan Jones' car wouldn't unlock, so I had to use my AAA Gold Membership to get a guy to unlock it. Afterwards, we went to Alexis Caldwell's house and Wheeler Heck, E Pieteck, and Ryan Sagers showed up. We tried to play Mafia, but chaos ensued. (This isn't the half of it:)

HOCKEY TIME

I GOT THE BRUINS TICKETS! -my father, shaking me awake and also laying on top of me Monday morning. My reaction may or may not have been significantly dulled due to grogginess and the fact that I couldn't breathe, but I was excited. I played some basketball with the missionaries and fam-which was fun except that I still felt like I couldn't touch them too much. So I was holding back a good deal. I think the feeling was mutual. And THEN, I showered and went to Lunenburg, MA to pick up my cousin Adam. Perfect person to bring to a hockey game, if only for his beard. We drove into the depths of Boston, which is an adventure in and of itself. But we made it. And we had sweet seats- second row, right in the corner. No complaints. It was a good game. My favorite plays were when some guy's helmet came flying off in the middle of a tussle and we still scored and also a really nice play that almost scored for us, but the puck bounced off the pole. Bruins won 5-2 and the only loss of the night were my Muddy Buddies that didn't make it past security.

Hockey Time!

 Since I slept over at Adam's that night, I had two rare opportunities. First, to use the guest bed, which I now agree is the best bed in the house. And secondly, to see Sarah after she got her wisdom teeth out. We can only hope there will be videos to follow.

But look what happened
 to the cook!

Titanic: if you shower, you're sunk.
Literally.

Okay, let's talk about Moriah. She's my 14 year old down syndrome sister. She does a great Gollum impression and all she thinks about is food. She likes eating, Uno, and play dough in that order. Other than that, she just kind of sits there all day talking to herself. Naturally, we try to help her exercise. This week, mom told her to run 20 laps around the house. After watching a pitiable three laps, I ran outside to motivate. And by that I mean drag, push, and yell. My favorite excuse was, I think my leg is broken. Drama Queen. New Years Eve revelries included Clue the movie, Titanic the game, Sparkling Apple Cider the beverage, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Classic.

My flight alterations gave me some extra time in CT. So I went out to breakfast with Derek and Trevor at AJ's, the favorite high school hangout. I picked up some more glowsticks. I dropped off a Livro de Mormon for my pal, Maurice at Groton Townhouse. I took my sisters out to see Big Hero 6 (which was pretty darn good). And I had frisbee night, this time with all of Trevor's friends. Basically, I'm ensuring that all good traditions continue.

Friday, I flew out to UT and was graciously picked up by Uncle Ben and got to hear all about his new books. I already want to read them and they're not even written yet. I like books. Saturday morning, Lauren came over to help get my stuff down from Ben's storage. I did not think that one through. For some reason,  I was convinced that the shelves would be lowerable. Guess not. It was almost a dangerous situation. At my new apartment, I realized that I didn't even want half the stuff in those boxes. I like to keep things missionary simple. I went to BYU campus for the first time in years and it was super weird. I got an ID card and some books. The Jones family took me out to dinner which was a whole bunch of laughs and balloon art. Lauren took me out to Maceys where I ran into Soeur Berge (from the MTC), Cam (a good friend), a guy who hates the Bruins (and refused to bag my groceries), and another guy who thinks it's hot that I like hockey (necessitating a hasty retreat). And then I skyped Hannah and slept in my own bed.