Vacations No Longer Exist

Hear ye, hear ye. I would like to announce and emphasize the passing of yet another birthday of my best friend, Lauren Gertrude Bellon. Due to the unfortunate timing of the date (the same day as Eliza R. Snow was born), the weather has never been ideal (it snows every year). Nevertheless, this woman manages to complete an entire birthday week of fun every year to a degree to which I can only aspire. She's delightful and hilarious and the best person I know and if you ever hurt her (and she tells me your name), retribution will be imminent. HBD BFF. (Has it been 7 years yet??)

We had a week off of school for MLK Jr. day and because half our teachers are presenting at a national PT conference in D.C. Somehow, despite having no class on the second week of school, I still felt like I was always studying and doing assignments. I am determined to crush neuroscience.

Brandi and I started our rescue visits this week. Since church is only two hours, we spend the extra hour visiting people we don't know super well or who we think could use some extra pizazz. I actually met Emalee in person for the first time and convinced her to go to a dance and the movies.

Part of me didn't feel great this week, so I resumed my HS post-basketball habits on Monday by replacing dinner with a gallon of juice. Which was extremely satisfying, but probably unhealthy.

I had three different sleepovers at Brandi's house this week. And we worked out at her gym in the morning where I got shocked every time I tried altering anything on my treadmill warmup (awkward, since I was doing intervals). It's payback for all my borderline blasphemic quotes. We got a lot of other errands done - signed up at the hospital (nightmare), picked up table cloths, went swimming, got our free food from Louie's Cupboard (NAU's godsend program).

In addition to my other sports, I'm now playing in the men's basketball city league. We won our first game thanks to some useful recruits from Monday night (who we've permanently recruited). I contribute a decent amount of points, but I can't take credit for all of them since they just count the basket if you get fouled on a shot. And I'm tryna go hard in the paint.

After setting up for the dance (a job that I actually delegated to someone else), Brandi and I learned calligraphy real quick so we could make place tags for each pair that showed up to the dinner. (Also, I had people literally calling me Thursday night asking for help finding a date. If you're wondering why I hate people.) Brandi and I had a good time doing it and JJ even said he thought we just printed them out.

The dinner/dance was a moderate success. A lot more people signed up and attended than I estimated. And it was infinitely better than our previous attempt at a dance. I had a good time. So I'll check it off. Also, all the adults stress out way more than us and I need them to calm it down.

Saturday I taught Caleb how to make enchiladas (tune in for next week's penultimate episode of my cooking repertoire: pancakes). And Brandi and I saw Fantastic Beasts II, which was disappointing, but I'm sure made the producers lots of money. I was just there for the free movie and snacks.

MLK or Black Rapper (round 4)

It's that time again. One point if you correctly guess MLK or a black rapper, double points if you can name the rapper. Let the games begin. 

1. “I respect everybody, but at the same time, I carry myself with an aura that demands respect, too.”

-Lil Kim

2. “I hate a liar more than I hate a thief. A thief is only after my salary, a liar is after my reality.”

-50 Cent

3. "Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter."

-MLK

4. “I really want people to understand that nobody is perfect and that things happen in life beyond our control.”

-Lil Kim

5. “Some people have to put in work. Others get to cut corners. We see it but don’t say it. Welcome to the real world.”

-Nicki Minaj (1 / 4 black)

6. "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

-MLK

7. “If you give anybody the chance, they can always make a decent human being out of themselves. It’s the people that don’t have a chance that we look down at like they’re monsters or they’re animals or that they want something different than the rest of us.”

-Ice Cube

8. "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically."

-MLK

9. “The worst thing you can do about a situation is nothing.”

-Ice Cube

10. "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way."

-MLK

11. “Sunny days wouldn’t be so special if it wasn’t for rain. Joy wouldn’t feel so good if it wasn’t for pain.”

-50 Cent

12. “Sometimes you don’t realize how far you’ve gotten until you look around at the people who are still trailing far behind you.”

-Nicki Minaj 

13. “When I win and when I lose, I take ownership of it, because I really am in charge of what I do.”

-Nicki Minaj 

14. "A man can't ride your back unless it's bent."

-MLK

15. “Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.”

-Ice Cube

Final Jeopardy Round:

"I have a dream 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."

-MLK

Take Two

In undergrad, I was always upset when I actually decided to go to class day 1 and all we did was read over the syllabus together. Now, I look forward to it and am increasingly distraught that grad school does not have syllabus day. We literally jumped right in and my stress levels immediately skyrocketed.

This poster was taken down because the posters
retrospectively deemed it potentially offensive. 

The good news is that a new semester means new friends and a whole week of free lunches. We're finding more and more people to supplement our Monday night basketball and we even had some of our classmates show up to Tuesday night volleyball.

Day two, we spent six hours dissecting brains and listening to words that we never knew existed in the English language. (Most probably stemmed recently from Latin.) One of my favorite fun facts was that your pineal gland, which is responsible for regulating melatonin, calcifies before age 50 unless you are an avid meditator. Melatonin helps you sleep and prevents Alzheimer's. Scary.

Me trying to meditate despite constantly increasing stress levels.

I'm the worst suggestive seller at the bookstore because I keep it real for people. Never buy your books at the bookstore unless that is literally the only place they are sold. I've been finding free or cheap PDFs and sharing them amongst friends to further lighten the load. Reading online isn't the best for your eyes, but you can actually afford vision in your health plan by saving all that money, so who's the real winner here?

Mason has always wanted to be promposals.
Out here making dreams come true.

Brandi and I have wanted to start swimming to supplement our other workouts, so we finally kicked that off this week. The first ten minutes were rough, but after we adjusted to having water in our lungs, it was fine. And pretty decent cardio.

The captain of the harem. 

The stress of a new semesters warranted a new rap - and I actually had time to do it. This third song on my DPT mixtape is probably one of my favorites as it highlights both the stress of school and finances in neuro-themed verbiage.

One of Brandi's new year resolutions is to do one scholarship per week, and I'm jumping on the train with her starting with the NATA scholarship. Which I had 7 days to complete with 2 recommendations were were so accommodating and I can't thank them enough.

New movies are airing at the Prochnow, NAU's free theater, and a lot of them look really good. Brandi and I walked approximately 2 miles in the freezing cold to see Venom, which was so good. Love. Even if the villain was a bit obvious.

I'm a fiend for a good dinosaur stop.

Our monthly temple sessions kicked off with a trip to Snowflake Saturday morning. The temple was so packed, there was a line out the door of the dressing room. And half the people there were from Flagstaff. Well, you know what they say, double your attendance and maybe you'll get your own temple. The temple was good and the authentic Mexican cuisine afterwards was too. Also the dinosaurs we stopped at in Holbrook.

Favorite dinosaur bc it's literally eating another dinosaur.

In light of MLK Day and Black History month in February, we celebrated with a themed "party". (Our parties involve light conversation, light conversation, and end promptly at 10.) We played a conglomeration of past versions of "MLK or Black Rapper", ate brownies, and watched Black Panther.

The End Approaches

This was my last week of freedom and I am terrified to go back to school. I really enjoy it and even the studying isn't bad (until finals roll around - then I understand what most people feel like during normal school). But it's more studying than I've ever done in my life and we've got a couple teachers who I might disagree with. Currently taking bets on how many times I get kicked out of class this semester. 

I was supposed to get myself all prepped for next semester, but instead I had several early morning dates with the Student Services at NAU - and despite my standards - they still tried to screw me. Currently in the works with the VP, pray that all goes well. 

Then I was super frustrated, so I thought shooting some hoops would help, but I was distracted and didn't do well, so then I was even more frustrated. It doesn't help that I also have been working part time at NAU's bookstore - which is very below my pay level at this point. 

This is where I live. 

Highlights included Brandi getting back. It's nice to have someone to vent with who is in a similar position and has a similar background. Tom also made us so many enchiladas and taco soup and très léches cake and it's going to be a thing from now on. 

I also had to drive down to PHX this weekend, so I just left early and went to the temple. Which, let me tell you, is the biggest deal. This is the only place where my thousands of swirling thoughts can dissipate so my brain can focus on one at a time. Love. 

And since I was in the area, I got to hang out with Becca, who is one of the most delightful humans you will ever meet. She took me to Texas Roadhouse and even sat on the saddle. What a breath of fresh air. We had a sleepover at her mountaintop villa with the most scenic view and even made me breakfast. I do not deserve her. 

Cutest. 

 I woke up early Saturday so I could do some real work that uses my degree. Fourteen hours of soccer injuries later and I'm back up in Flag with a fat paycheck. (Fatter than the $0 that I make normally, lol). Let's get this bread.

Another Dam Post

Last week's church was a good segway into the changes for this year. Jake, Mason, and I helped prepare food during SS and during 3rd hour, everyone just introduced themselves and helped set up chairs. We then enjoyed a delightful meal prepared by the Mangisi (sp?) family. After a nap, I went to game night with the Fishers and Gillilands and also finished my trebuchet.

Stop pretending like you're surprised I'm on
the front page of the church's website. 

It snowed super bad all day on NYE, so I was worried about going down the mountain (around sharp curves with no guard rails and terribly cleared roads). Instead, I drank an entire bottle of Martinelli's and worked on a short story I'm writing. (Which are never short enough.)

10/10 would do again. 

I worked a few times this week and committed to an ATL gig next Saturday. I also really wanted a grilled cheese, but didn't want to go to the store, so I made my own bread for it. Delicious.

This is also a repeat venture. 

 I took a trip up to Nevada to visit Hannah & Markies. They had a lovely apartment, even if the idea of having neighbors is less palatable. We chilled and Markies made some great crunchwraps and watched Django Unchained, which I'd highly recommend if you can stomach some violence.

Hoover Dam, pretty decent view. 

We hit up the St. George temple and ate at Olive Garden and did some shopping. Hannah didn't even throw up or pass out once. She did absolutely demolish me at Scrabble, but what else is new. She learned some sneak moves from the Mimster herself. We watched some Leo in Man in the Iron Mask and barely stomached half the actors. But if you're gonna hate people, it's nice to have someone to do it with and these kids are good for that.

I knew I had to make this dam trip. #worthit