Break Me Off a Piece #Bless

Honestly, this break wasn't much of a break for me, since I spent more time than usual in the training room. No class, but still homework. I did an annotated bibliography, a take-home test, and read an entire book in French to name just a few assignments. Also, enjoy some savage Thanksgiving Clapbacks.

Hannah and I went to her HT's house to watch a BYU game at their tournament in Vegas. He even fed us ice cream and I got my GRE prep book back. And we won. Unlike our game vs. UVU yesterday, but that's another story.

Our ward started switching off basketball and volleyball on Mondays. Joel convinced us to go and it was way fun. We claimed Westes on our team from the get-go, then picked three other moderately athletic tall people. We killed it. Which you could tell by our post-point screaming rituals.

The training room was pretty boring since most of the really injured guys just went home for the week. But I did get to help out Chandon's mom.

The equipment managers challenged us to a Turkey Bowl. All the players were telling us that they didn't think we'd win because those guys are out playing all the time, and are often late getting the players their stuff because of it. They had experience, but we definitely had them on good attitudes and general athleticism. So we won 18-6. And they are really sore losers.

Greg came over later and helped me with a project that shall be released December 1. Hahaha.

After I got out of the training room on Thursday, Greg, Hannah, and I headed up to Jason's family's house for some Thanksgiving festivities. I was so tired and kept falling asleep, which would have been nice if people hadn't kept waking me up. 6andUP performed our rendition of The Oxcart, where it gets progressively lower. We were assigned seats far from each other so we wouldn't get into trouble. We also had 2 assigned topics of gratitude - mine were a story (the potato farmer) and a place (the bathroom). Food was delicious. I ate an entire pie by myself. And we got back before Hannah had to work, so we spent a little time calling the CT fam.

Hannah also wants me to watch Avatar with her, so I started. It's pretty good. But I've got a long way to go.

I went running and ran all the way to the store to get the supplies for peppermint bark. Which I then made all by myself. See Mimi? I am domestic. I then ate it myself instead of giving to boys. I feel pretty good about my decisions.

Saturday I spent the whole day at the stadium unloading the truck and setting up for the last home game of the season. We were terrified it would snow and make us even colder, but it held off until just after the game. Bless. I brought my candy canes for the hot chocolate Brett got us. He also bought cider and some chicken broth for the players that was actually pretty good.

Zac Dawe. Worst photographer ever. 

I was assigned to the D Bench this time (as opposed to every other time, when I've been on the O bench). It was senior night and a black out and so the uniforms were boss. And also we beat USU. And got home by 2am. And had a great amount of fun and food. Thanksgiving blessings.

The Cream Crew, as Hannah might say.

Outta Yo Hair Quicker Than Yo Favorite Shampoo

Sunday was Friendsgiving at the Yellow Brick Brothel. It was delicious and so filling that people had trouble eating the desserts that Hannah and I brought. Which meant more for us throughout the week. 

Wow. Quel class. Much posh.

Westes came over to hang out and make some brownies with me. I like him - he’s super chill. And he’s somehow already discovered the Derek-Naomi friend dynamic. By that I mean he comes into my room and won’t leave until we’ve had a nice chat. That’s how most of my real friends are made.

BYU basketball played Princeton this week and it was a nice game. They thought they were prepared for the backdoor, but they definitely go burned at least 2.5 times. We still won though and some good basketball was played.

Sliding into the comfy chairs with ma gal Britt.

Derek gave me his tickets to the premiere of Fantastic Beasts. Which meant I got to talk to him for like an hour when he dropped his tix off. Which is good because the Derek-Naomi friend dynamic has temporarily reversed roles. 

I took ACon with me to the movie, and after a slight mishap involving confused locations, everything went swimmingly. There was unlimited popcorn and beverages that we profited from. Not to mention the movie was great - potentially even better than the actual Harry Potters, due to the lack of expectations for this one. 10/10 would watch again.

In addition to having already downed several drinks
and boxes of popcorn, this was our take-home.

About to smash this line of coke.

Thursday was another game against Coppens for BYU basketball. I met up with my friend Chris there and we watched from someone else’s seats, as usual, so we could avoid the student section. I have mixed feelings about Mika despite how good he is, but I’m looking forward to some good ball by Elijah Bryant, who is intriguing both as a human and a player. 

Friday I took an Ortho test and didn’t do too badly. Just in time to go to a French activity. I have to get 3 in this semester, with my limited time. I skipped a poetry night and a movie with the football team to be there, but it was fun. I snuck Joshie in for free to the BYU vs. Montana hockey game and we ran into Tyler and his wife! (Tyler is his brother, and an old friend of mine.) I was voting for Montana, but they got crushed. Why did this count as a French cultural activity? Canada. 

This is my teacher, Dr. Flood. 

HOCKEY! is a sport.

BYU football played UMass at noon Saturday. I was prepared for the frozen adventure of my life time and was utterly disappointed. With all my layers, everything but my hands were warm. And all the players made fun of the snowboarding gloves I was wearing, but they also didn’t have to hold bottles of ice the whole game. It was a fun sideline experience - lots of sass, way more smack talk than usual, and such an efficiently run machine that we had some down time (that we didn’t get yelled at for taking). 

Early morning set-up crew.
Our coats are puffier than your favorite cheetos. 

I was so tired at the end of it that I didn’t end up attending BYU basketball vs. Coastal Carolina, which we also won by a bunch. Instead, I watched at home with the roommates and vegged out on a couch. We were all in the same mood: ready for Sunday and a week off from school.

Oh yeah. And the trainers and equipment guys all did the mannequin challenge. Eh, bah, voila: 

Hannah Keeps Eating My Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Also, the Election.

My ward basketball on Monday was changed to volleyball this week, which I didn't play. My knee's still bugging me, but I talked to my boss this week and he gave me some good non-operative rehab advice and some extra vitamin pills to enhance healing. Maybe it's meniscal, maybe it's articular cartilage, maybe it's osteochondritis dessicans... Either way, Brett told me I need to get hitched before my body literally crumbles into dust.

Also it was Weeny K's birthday. HBD, lady.

Don't be fooled.
She is actually a witch.

Tuesday I was the unwilling participant of an election-watching party. I just really wanted to go to bed. But then LyssB100 brought home several Pizza Pie Cafe pizzas. Anyhow, here are some funny (not meant to offend) memes about the election without any political commentary. Hope you voted.

Wednesday, my class was cancelled so I worked on HW. And exercised at night, which was refreshing. We're reading Voltaire's Candide in the original French and it's very reminiscent of Catch-22. Also, hilarious. My favorite part so far is when a this lady is kidnapped and sold as a concubine, then cannibals want to eat her, but a very nice religious leader convinced them to only eat one buttcheek and if they were still hungry to go for the other one. The whole book is a terribly vivid satire on war and religion and the treatment of women, but it's presented in such a ridiculous way that it doesn't sting as badly.

Greg helped me get a new iPhone and recommit to a 2-year plan. So yay now all my iPhone friends can have named groups and see their messages in blue. I hung out with Hannah and her date for a bit. Also went to In-N-Out with the brothel.

Friday - Veteran's Day. I was in the training room from 7-2. My hours are very unclear sometimes, so I forget that I should probably leave at some point. All the other kids started doing 2-hour shifts on Fridays. I just work when I feel like it, and I do really enjoy it, so it's hard to leave.

Then Mallory and I had a movie night. We ate popcorn and fudge and talked about weird things that have happened later. Like an offered bite to the buttocks, which was hastily turned down. People are weird.

Saturday I spent all day at the SUU game. We had Waffle Love for breakfast and wings for dinner. I was assigned as a courtesy trainer to help out the SUU team, so I was on the wrong sideline the whole time. It also started off really awkward due to some miscommunications that had nothing to do with me. But their head trainer, Rick, is a delightful fellow. Also, the team was a huge fan of our Powerade mixing skills. We were told several times.

My feet hurt really bad after, but I still made myself go to Alexis Carre's surprise birthday party later. I saw a bunch of old mission friends - Mallory, Bryson, Alexis, Stephen, Derek Sanchez. I met some new guys - Andre (the DDR champ), Jesse (the reasonable roommate), and a small Belgian man. It was pretty fun and we ate/stole lots of pizza. You're welcome, Bryson.

Mallory: The sturdiest koala tree.
Bryson: The clingiest koala.

Can ya top me off, Kronk? Be a friend?

Remember last week when Hannah and I took family pictures by ourselves? Yeah, good times. Please admire them and send to all the attractive boys you know.

Wow, hottie.

Monday was Halloween and also the last day to take a test. At this point in my life, I don't even remember what test it was. Is that sad?

Sorry half these pictures had issues uploading. It's cuz they're such high quality...
So just text me if you want a better copy to give to your attractive male friends.

I didn't dress up for actual Halloween since I learned from experience that trick-or-treating will get me nowhere in this town. But I did play some ball with my ward and 2 randos. But here's a pic of my costume from Friday.

Boom, baby!

The fam keeps sending me pics for our family book because some pics I get sent are outdated and I honestly have no idea. How am I supposed to keep track of everyones' lives?! So a lot of rearranging is happening of late.

Incomparable to New England falls,
but it's as close as we could get.

Also my roommate brought home 7 pizzas from her job at Pizza Pie Cafe - meaning half those were dessert pizzas. Yum.

The Moriah.

I went to a study group that I was overly prepared for. I make a killer study guide.

We call this the Mom/Lavinia pose. 

Hannah knew some girls on the team BYU was playing for their exhibition game Wednesday night, so we went for the second half. A bunch of the football guys were there and it was fun to hang out with them as well. And get introduced to their GFs as their personal booty masseuse. What a legacy.

Sorry Hannah's eyes don't open that wide. 

I took my Ex Prescription test early Thursday morning during my class that was cancelled. It went well.

Model Shot.

I kind of hurt my knee during my basketball class, but I had my friends check it out and we're not sure what I did. But I had to play in our tournament game for intramurals that night with a decent limp since we had very few girls. We lost, but not before some further injuries to our team and me trying to hold back elbowing some girls in the head.

"Ok, now pretend like you like each other."

Friday I ran some errands and did a lot of HW catch up work.

Almost like we're friends.

There was an AT party, which was kind of sad since only 10 people + spouses showed up and nobody from the first and second semesters. But the food was good and the games were even fun. It was funny to see a couple of cliques separated due to some lingering football drama which should never have been an issue.

Now imagine me waving my hand in a circular motion and whistling.

Acon, Ashlyn, and I did face masks and watched Friends and told horrendous dating stories. It was quite amusing.

She's his lobster.

Oh my! I forgot to introduce myself:
I'm a mysterious old man.

I went to the temple Saturday morning at Provo City Center. I like that one - the rooms are beautifully painted. As usual, it was a delightful experience. The veil worker was kind of funny and told me 'good job' after I went through. Made me laugh.

At least we're genuine.

Then I hung out with two Laurens, a Ho'o, a Chelsey, and a Rachel. We played Racko and I cheated at Yahtzee and we got papusas that took two hours to get to our table. But we didn't even notice since we were in such delightful company, trying to teach Lauren Rigby to keep her hands only a little to herself and use pickup lines like: 'Dew me a favor and Sheri your evening with me' and 'hey, big boy'. I like them a lot.

My zipper is touching my naked and it's cold.

My roommates, Harrison, Dorian, and Ashlyn's date Scott played Telestrations. It took them a surprisingly long time to understand it. But it was still fun.

Everyone should have a magnet of this on their fridge.