no thank you, homework

Remember that back to blogging post? I might have been lying. Not intentionally, of course. But lying nonetheless. I can't lie on purpose. Like really can't. At least lie and make it sound believeable. I should never be a spy...

School is HARD this semester. Whoever came up with the idea that classes should get harder as you become an upper-classman? Rude. Not only are they harder, but they are more stressful and MUCH more work. Redundant? Possibly. Whoever you are, I am NOT your number one fan. I'm not even your number one HUNDRED or one hundred THOUSAND fan. That's right. Take that. Now if you could just change that policy, please. Thank you.

I never realized how much time Matt spent calming me down every day as I would stress out about every little thing until he wasn't here to do it. Go figure. However, his letters still do a world of good.

School, I love you.

Homework, I don't. You make my life much harder. I'm trying to love you; they do say that trials make the heart grow stronger, don't they? Well regardless of whether they do or they don't, I'm pretty sure trials do just that. So I'm sure someday I'll thank you. In the meantime...

yep. i do this a lot.

Background:

I have two classes in the same building an hour and a half apart from each other. They are on different floors, but the floorplan on each floor is exactly the same.

Story (for which the Background info. is needed):

So the other day, I walked into one of my classes, and saw a bunch of kids I didn't recognize. This is actually not uncommon for me since I sit in the back and don't normally pay very much attention to the other kids in the class except for those that sit in my direct vicinity. Then a girl that I recognized from one of the past semesters called out to me, "Hey, Katie! Have you been in this class the whole time?!"

I looked around, now uncertain of my surroundings. "Uhh...is this Abnormal Child Psych?"

She gave me a look that suggested she was about to laugh. I knew the answer already. "Haha no," she replied.

"Okay...bye," I said. Then I turned around and walked out.

Explanation (for the Story):

Yep, that's right. I went to the location on the first floor where my class is on the third floor.

Confused? So was I.

Thanks for listening.

my happy place

I have come to discover that there are several small things in my life that take me to what I consider to be my "happy place." (It's similar to "Kate-land," for those of you in my high school choir class...thank you, Ms. Van.) Here are the ones I've recently discovered:

1. Letters/Emails/Pictures from Matt (Duh.)

2. Chocolate (Okay, yeah, maybe I've ALWAYS known this one...but I still had to add it to the list.)

3. Sugar Babies (It just doesn't get much better than that.)

4. Jon Schmidt's Love Story combined with Viva la Vida (Produces uncontrollable dancing...therefore, happiness.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfH2BY5pdLw

5. The early 80's TV show "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." Never heard of it, right? Neither had I until my (awesome) new roommate Jana showed me the first episode and I got addicted. It's definitely not what I would call "intellectual," but heck, I'm in school for like 6 hours a day and then at work for another 2. My brain just doesn't handle intellectual when I get home from school. (That it handles intellectual at all is still in question.) It's cute and romantic and just...cute. Watch it. You'll be happy you did.

http://video.aol.com/video-search/query/scarecrow%20and%20mrs.%20king

6. A 44oz. Mr. Pibb or Dr. Pepper (Okay, so maybe this is another given, but I still have to add it to the list anyway.)

7. Emails from Ashley or Cait. Awesome. (Still best friends even though we're hundreds of miles away from each other. LOVE.)

8. The song "You Can Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor. Awesome memories, good song. Happy Place.

I'm sure there are dozens more (it doesn't take much to make me happy, fortunately), but here are a few for starters. "Count Your Many Blessings," even if it's the small things, right? :)

motto for life

"Now, the most important principle I can share: Anchor your life in Jesus Christ, your Redeemer. Make your Eternal Father and his Beloved Son the most important priority in your life—more important than life itself, more important than a beloved companion or children or anyone on earth. Make their will your central desire. Then all that you need for happiness will come to you."

-Elder Richard G. Scott

You can find the entire talk here. It has become one of my favorites.

ralph the night hair dresser

Possibly one of my favorite things to do in my day-to-day activities is make fun of myself. This happens to come in very handy, because, let's be honest, there is a lot to make fun of. And if I just got embarrassed every time I did something dumb, I would be embarrassed the majority of my time. And that just wouldn't do. I much prefer laughing heartily throughout my day.

That being said, I did something really dumb yesterday. Shocker, I know. I had some leftovers from Oregano's in a styrofoam container that I wanted to reheat for lunch, and I've always heard that putting styrofoam in the microwave isn't good for you. (I have absolutely no idea if this is just one of those rumors that was disproved like 10 years ago, but I've never had the inclination to look it up.) I had planned in my head beforehand that I was going to get one of the paper plates from the kitchen where I work and heat it up on that instead. So I got to the kitchen, got a plate out of the cupboard, poured out the food from the styrofoam container onto the plate, and heated up my meal. It wasn't until I got back to my desk that I realized...

...the plate was styrofoam, too.

I know I've speculated about this before, but my suspicions are getting stronger that Ralph the Night Hair Dresser (he's similar to the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny) not only makes my hair look like a tumbleweed for when I wake up in the morning (seriously, I think he gets a kick out of this) but also dyes my hair brown every single night. There are simply no other logical explanations.

Have I mentioned logic isn't a strong suit of mine?

matt's mission blog

I've started a new blog that I will be working on for the next two years. Specifically the next two years while Matt is on his mission. I will be posting Matt's addresses, regular emails, and any pictures I receive. You can find this blog here.

awk-ward

Yesterday, I wanted to get my hair cut. It turned out to be a surprisingly awkward experience.

After work I drove over to the little place where I usually get it cut. I walked in and there were two haircutters (stylists? umm...yeah) on staff at the moment, and one was already cutting someone else's hair. The other girl was sitting on one of the chairs texting. She looked up at me as I came in as if I was some sort of annoyance. Awkward moment number one. Then she came over and unenthusiastically "welcomed" me and ushered me back to one of the chairs. I proceeded to tell her what I wanted to do with my hair, explaining that I had a "love-hate relationship" with my bangs; that some days they looked cute and other days I wished they didn't exist. She looked at me blankly; then, as understanding dawned, she said, "So...some days you love them and some days you hate them." Awkward moment number two. Yes, that is what love-hate relationship means.

When it became obvious that I was not going to be able to have an on-going conversation with this woman, I tuned into the conversation betwen the other stylist and the man whose hair she was cutting. She was explaining that she and her husband had met over match.com, and the man seemed unduly surprised by this. Indeed, he began yelling, "You met on match.com?! I've never heard of that before! I thought it didn't really work! There must be something wrong with me!" Awkward moment number three. Actually, awkward moment number three turned into awkward-sequence-of-conversation-number-three as the man proclaimed his astonishment for the next 20 or so minutes. Yeah. That'll teach me to eavesdrop. Not that I really had the choice to not hear what he was saying.

I suppose awkard moment number four would be when the woman who was cutting my hair said, "I think I'm going to part your hair over a little farther just to see what's going on with your bangs, then I'll put it back." Okay. Then she said, "I think I like it better over there." Totally open to suggestions, I said, "Oh yeah, why's that?" I didn't think this was a strange question--I was just curious as to why she liked it better that way, but she just gave me another blank look and that was that. My part stayed further over on my head.

I've never really thought about this in-depth before, but since yesterday, I have come to realize that good communication between myself and my hair stylist is very important. Or any communication at all. That would be nice, too.

Fifth and final awkward moment. I walked out to my car after getting my haircut, and my truck wouldn't start. This is actually a very common occurance, so I wasn't at all surprised, and I know a few tricks that usually work to make it start. I tried the first few, and, not succeeding, moved on to my last resort. This involves (as strange as this sounds, it really does work) pushing the entire truck back and forth in quick succession. I was in the process of doing this when a mother and her teenage son got out of their car and walked quickly away from me, their eyes darting back and forth from their destination to me with just a hint of fear. Yeah, I know I might have looked crazy, but come on, people. Fear? Flies aren't even scared of me. I am not an intimidating person.

Needless to say, I am glad it will be another six weeks before I get my hair cut again.