Tuesday, December 16, 2008

If Finals Don't Kill Me, This Wretched Snow Will!

This morning I woke up and got ready for school same as usual.

When I looked out the window, much to my dismay, there was a freaking blizzard. I'm not kidding, it was SNOWING. Hard. *Sigh*

I put on three more layers of clothes(not an exaggeration), a scarf, my cheap jacket from AZ, and determined that today I was going to buy a real coat and actual shoes because ballet flats just don't cut it in the snow.

I grabbed my trusty polka-dot umbrella and set off for an adventure. I only got about a foot from my front door before deciding that snow is absolutely wretched.


By the end of my driveway, my socks had slipped down to the toes of my shoes due to the slippery nylons I was wearing under them. Not like I could really stop and take off my shoes to fix it because it was still coming down. Also, my cute little flats were so full of snow that I could hardly tell the socks from the piles of ice. Wretched.

Determined to actually make it past my street, I continued on. Note: while the umbrella did help to keep my head dry, and the snow out of my eyes for the most part, the wind started to pick up about this point, and I was covered with snow.

I was trudging along at a terribly slow pace, trying to convince myself that it wasn't all that bad, but knowing at the same time that I was a terrible liar, when all of a sudden my little flat failed to grip and I went down. Hard. In the middle of a street I was crossing. *Sigh* I picked myself up and heard someone yell: "Are you hurt?" To which I replied: "Just my pride, thanks!"

I brushed myself off and continued on. After all, I was almost a tenth of the way to campus. Wretched. Freaking. Day.

I then began wondering just how many times I was going to fall before actually making it to campus. And then I pictured the eighteen stairs I would have to climb, and the ginormous hill I have difficulty with when its nice out. Those stairs and that hill covered with snow and ice? Kill me now. The only emotion present was dread. Pure and simple dread. This was going to be humiliating, but it was too late to turn back and I had two papers to write, a study group to meet, and a final to take and both(yes, both) of my computers decided to die on me within the last two days. Once again: Wretched day.

It was about this point that I began questioning the reason I even moved here. Why was I willingly subjecting myself to this torture?

Then it began snowing harder.

I now could barely see a few feet in front of me, which didn't really matter because I was staring at my frozen feet attempting not to fall again. Almost two tenths of the way to campus.

It was at this moment that I heard: "Do you want a ride?" I peeked out from under my polka-dot umbrella, and there in a car pulled to the side of the road was a man I have never seen before in my life. With no hesitation I replied:"Yes please." I trudged off the sidewalk and climbed into this strangers car and promptly filled it with the snow I was covered with.

The man told me his name was Camon and I told him that I was from Arizona and that this was my first real snow. He tried not to laugh at me and almost succeeded.

He took me to campus and I thanked him profusely. He really can have no idea of just how grateful I am for that.

The moral of the story is: there are angels among us and those angels drive old beat up red Toyotas and rescue strangers from fates worse than death.

Thanks Camon.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I'll be Home for Christmas...

do, do do, do doooo. (Uh, that was the next line of the song, of course!)
Anyway, it's true! My wonderful parents have lovingly bought their pathetically poor college student/daughter a plane ticket to go home for a whole week! Yay! Thanks Mom & Dad!

So, in celebration of that fact, and in order to totally avoid my life, stress, and homework, I decided to do a random Christmas post just for kicks. Feelin' Christmassy? Join me!

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, totally. Way more fun than gift bags.

2. Real tree or artificial? All my life we've had an artificial tree and I think this is the first year ever that I haven't helped put it up. (Just kidding. Now that I think about it, I didn't help the year I was in Russia for obvious reasons.)

3. When do you put up the tree?
Day after Thanksgiving. Right after shopping and a nap.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Sometime soon after New Years usually?

5. Do you like eggnog? Only the Meadow Gold kind, which I can't find in the grocery stores here. The Shamrock kind is way nasty though and tastes like that bubble gum flavored junk the dentist used to use on me when I was little. I hated that stuff.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My adorable Cabbage Patch baby doll. Her name is Marianne, and yes I still have her. (In a box at my parents house - not like I still cuddle up with it at night or anything, sickos.)

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, a really cute one that is also in a box at my parents house. Huh.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
Cassie. Love ya Sis, but you know its true.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Not sure, probably Annie and Lynnsi.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably nylons. That would actually be an okay gift now knowing how annoyingly expensive they are and considering the fact that I can only wear them once before ripping them, but I was like 15 at the time, so it was just kind of strange(love ya mom!)

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Christmas cards? What?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Elf. Miracle on 34th Street. Muppet Christmas Carol. The Grinch(both the cartoon & Jim Carrey versions). White Christmas. It's a Wonderful Life. Okay, okay, so I can't choose, and apparently I LOVE Christmas movies way more than I realized!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Well, considering I haven't started yet, your guess is as good as mine.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Not that I can remember(or would admit to if I could).

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cap'n Crunch, Ham and potato casserole, and my Grandma's(or whoever actually makes them) caramels. Mmm!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? We always used to have colored lights, but now our tree has clear lights already on it which is so fantastic. If I'm doing a pretty theme tree then I like clear, but if we are doing the random conglomeration of ornaments from all over, then I like colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Like I could ever choose. I must say though that I seriously LOVE Josh Groban's Christmas album. If you don't have it, get it. If you don't want to get it and don't mind my gushing over my Joshy-boy and singing along, then you can just come over and we will listen together. I pretty much listen to it year round.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It all depends. The last couple of years my family has headed off to California or a cozy cabin, but this year I am going home and I can hardly wait!

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Yes, but not without singing.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We always had a star until a couple of years ago when I convinced my Mom we needed an angel. We discovered that it was kind of difficult to find a non-scary looking angel, but did eventually succeed and she adorned our tree for a couple of years until we found the most adorable star topper ever at Joanns! Oh, my red and cream elf and star tree is my favorite!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning for sure!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The commercialism. Although I must say, living in Utah and freezing basically all of the time is pretty annoying as well.

23. What I love most about Christmas? Everything! I seriously love it all! The baking, the music, finding the perfect gift for someone, how happy and generous people feel, singing Christmas hymns in church, visiting friends and family, going home for a whole week, the Arizona weather, everything!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

My computer is LAME

Okay, okay.

Yes, I'm still here. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I'm still having crazy adventures. And yes, I have tons of stories for you all.

But...

my computer is SO dumb! I worked for like forever and a day on this really great post, and it wouldn't let me post it! I've tried like six times and it freaks out every time! It's so frustrating. So then I abandoned that wicked awesome post and attempted to post this really great Thanksgiving message complete with totally awesome picture, and I couldn't do that either. Grrr.

Point of the story is: this computer is lame.
Also? My life is going to be crazy stressful for the next three weeks until school is over and all I wanted was to do one more happy post before my life became a living hell during finals week, and instead all you get is this lame post of me complaining. Sorry bout that.



**Okay, I cannot believe that it let me post this. I seriously have tried so many times to post that other stuff and it wouldn't do anything. So why this? Why now? Boo.