Hi-o, world!
K, I didn't post on Sunday, as we spent quite a bit of the day at my grandma and grandpa's house, celebrating one of my cousin's birthdays (and I found out J's is next week, too!). His dad made steak tacos (which were quite good, so good job, Uncle) and later there was cake and ice cream. I also hung out with Elenita in my room for a while once home (we played Battleship, mope.io, and a wee bit of Electric Man 2, and we were meanwhile petting and annoying PB! A grand ol' time!). (Oh, and Flower said something at church about how she learned in her other ward something about Heavenly Father being just like us before? She didn't entirely explain, but that resonated a lot with that God Cycle story concept I'd mentioned earlier this year... or is it now a conspiracy?!?! ILLUMINATI CONFIR-
Anyway, there... honestly wasn't much that's happened, thank goodness, so I'll just get that over with, as there's something I'd like to try at the end!
So, besides the birthday plans I already said, there was a little more. For one, I was gifted this necklace in church that has a pendant with all the Young Women Values colors. I like it a lot, but I'm wondering if I'll find a good opportunity to wear it... Also, while hanging with Broranges, when we reached the obligatory guitaring and singing, he played for me a little song he'd written a long time ago, and that got me like "Oh my gosh, should I return the favor???" So, I got the courage to go to my blog's Songs label and ended up showing him the lyrics to "Chained" (since that seemed like one of the least embarrassing), and he ended up saying it wasn't that bad for someone starting out, which sounded like it was barely a compliment... But I'll take it!
And, at the end, he said my present could just be that I keep his DS, and gave me a few more games for it! I was like "Woah!" and he was like "Whatever". I'm hoping I'll make the most out of this little device, even as I... mostly ignore it... But I tried some Scribblenauts, and plan to try the other games and finish Pokémon: Emerald eventually, so I guess that's good enough.
Monday, I updated my Blogger profile, as is the birthday tradition. Like, I don't even know what to put for favorite music anymore... For the longest time, I'd just had my childhood favorites and a couple artists I always name off the top of my head from more recent years, but I honestly listen to a gazillion different things and feel like those things alone aren't enough to describe my taste, but I can't just name every single artist I've got a song from... Agh! At least everything else in the profile is a little easier to contain in a proper description/list and feel accurate.
Also, I found a Vocaloid song called "Rugrats Theory" that I'm honestly a little surprised I hadn't heard before...
Next day had a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Yum. (Aaand no one cares.)
I did some QQ with Liz on Wednesday, after waaaaay too long not working on that story with her! Good thing it's pretty easy to catch back up on what the heck we'd been doing there, cuz otherwise I'd so be in trouble. (I feel bad that, ever since the beginning of the year, I've been a lot less present/available on Hangouts, and she gets frustrated that I'm never there, and it's extremely possible that'll get worse once I start college NEXT FREAKIN' WEEK, AAAAAHHH!!!)
Yesterday and last Wednesday, I did these short online courses now required for incoming students to the university to do this month before school starts about sexual abuse and alcohol (more specifically, how to prevent bad things from happening and what to do when bad things end up happening), which sometimes felt a bit... cheesy, somehow, or repetitive, but in general I'm pretty glad they told me to do those.
Thursday, I ended up going to wash dishes- this time, for real, not ending up preparing food and serving instead- and I stayed there for 11 hours. That was exhausting in a way I don't remember ever feeling before, because I was standing that entire time besides my lunch break and a short break I took near the end because my hands and feet seriously needed it. Man, my hands suffered. But one of the most frustrating things about the job were my fellow coworkers. They were all teenagers that basically never talked to each other unless necessary. Some of them had also brought earbuds and listened to music the entire time (which seemed terrible to me because it was already loud down there with the fans and whatever, and now you're gonna mask it by blaring who knows what straight into your eardrums?). The job could've been so much funner (and I doubt would've gone any slower than we were already going) if they bothered to socialize a little, but no. (Also, one of those guys was one of those people who always do their work in a really angry way? Like, he didn't seem like an angry kid in general, though I imagine he hardly enjoyed his job, but I couldn't help but flinch when he washed dishes and such so aggressively, like taking out his anger at the world on them. Also, pretty sure he couldn't stand how slow I was working in comparison, no matter how straight-faced he was the whole time.) At least I had my mental radio to keep me company... And during the later half of the day, when the boys ended up leaving me alone to do some stuff upstairs (like put away what we'd already washed), I found the freedom to sing and dance (mostly sing) to myself for quite some time, which was fun. I think I almost got caught a couple times, but I managed to restrain myself more when the other kids were around.
Also, I got rewarded with a little bit of my mom's cheesecake a while (and not standing, thank goodness) after I'd finally gone home... and I'll get about $100 to add to my bank account when my paycheck arrives. It's looking like I'll pretty much be paying for my food and whatever else while my parents pay for my housing and textbooks, so the more money I've got in my own pocket, the more likely I won't starve. *thumbs-up*
Next day, we went for some school supplies at Walmart, and brought some boxes from the storage unit home so I can start packing up for college (for real, this time, though I used the little boxes I already had some clothes reserved for college in for some of my stuff). As of now, I've pretty much got all my clothes done, so now to focus on everything I need/want to bring... I hope I don't end up bringing way too many stuffed animals/trinkets to display, considering that's one of the things I have a hard time living in a room without.
Saturday was also super exhausting, because we were helping move CapSis's stuff out of their apartment to Cap's parents' guesthouse, seeing as they, yanno, are gonna live in this area now (though an official place hasn't been found yet). The Dream Team included CapSis themselves, plus me, my mom, and two of my sister's old friends (so it was quite, quite awkward in the car, since we don't know them as much as she does). It was really hot outside, and also I'm more used to taking my time with packing up everything to move (though this was definitely a lot less than what we usually have to deal with, that's still a lot of items, sir), so it took a huge toll on me and everyone else. I felt a little bad that I seemed to be the one that got out of it sooner than everyone else, and couldn't figure out if I had a legitimate reason or was just being a whiny wimp. Regardless, we got most of it out of there and into the guesthouse, and man were we happy when it was over. (Today, though, we went to go properly clean the apartment and get anything else we'd left behind the first time, and... yeah. Not too fun. A little better than the other day, though, with conditions a bit nicer and no awkwardness since her friends weren't with us this time.)
Also, completely unrelated, Sis and I ended up making flash cards for the toki pona words we've got written down so far. I know it wouldn't necessarily be as useful as other languages I've kinda wanted to learn, but I'm still hoping I gain at least an amateur level of fluency in it and can speak with my sis in toki pona! No one else will know what we're saying to each other! Muahaha!
I might've mentioned something about how my phone turns out to have a pitiful amount of space available, and it's been getting worse, and pretty much reached its peak in terribleness last week. I'd already been thinking about transcribing texts (mostly Carter's because he's given me tons of DoH info over text that I hadn't written down somewhere else), but it was now urgent. And turns out there's not really a good way to do that yet. It took a lot of battling, but I eventually got the SMSs on my laptop in a readable format (though the best one is the one saved as a webpage, which would be unfortunate if I wanted to access it without wifi), and... I'm really unsure if I want to go through that whole thing again with texts from other friends. Of course I love my other friends, but I haven't texted most of them as much as I've texted Carter, and I think it's not really necessary to preserve texts when usually my favorite interactions with them were in person, not via text. And, I mean, I ended up not getting to keep my texts from my old phone number when I switched, but I've survived without those (though once I kinda wished I could go look through the ones with my sister's first boyfriend and reassure her that I definitely gave him all the sass he deserved from a justifiably unhappy preteen little sister), so...
(Okay, up to here was what I'd written Aug. 16th... Yeah, I didn't get to finish after all. So, that's frustrating. I think I have a decent amount of time today, though, so hopefully I can really catch up to the present.)
Thursday, I went to hang out with Diamond (I think that's the codename I gave her) at the mall, so she could return my book (The Ties that Bind, a light novel from the FMA franchise) and we could just talk and hang out one last time before I left. We actually spent most of that time just chatting in the cafeteria, long before and after we got some food from Panda Express. We also visited Justice for a bit, and lamented about how we didn't fit in this kind of stuff anymore. (The emoji trend is super annoying to me, and there's still stuff that has too much in that store, but I think it isn't as bad as a couple years ago.)
I guess this is kinda funny, how the fact that I was going to be living on my room truly hit home when I'd come home to find lots of new groceries, and my mom showed me all the stuff she and my dad and sister had picked out for me, and they were talking about stuff that I could cook or how often I should clean... I dunno, it was a serious "Whoa" moment, and I think I almost teared up because not only did I suddenly have to deal with the responsibility of doing things to keep myself alive and healthy, but they went out of their way to get me so much stuff and I knew it was going to be a long time before I could ever begin to repay them for everything they've been doing when they don't need to.
Friday, my family said it was my pick for a restaurant before I moved, and after them naming some suggestions we went to the dim sum place again. This time, though, we mostly got stuff from the normal menu (and our specially-ordered tomato and egg dish, which was super delish, as always). I also got to go to the concert with my sister and one of her old friends (in the place of Captain). The venue was a little... sketchier-looking than we expected, and they took a long time to finally start the events, which was the downside. Once the band was up, though, they did an awesome job! I had a really fun time listening to them do some of the songs from the EP I've put on repeat so many times since I got it, but also some that I hadn't heard (and one that they'd just written earlier that day!). I was practically vibrating from excitement a lot of the time they were up on stage. The only downside to being so close to the stage was also that it was so loud, but that's what happens when you've got a passionate singer, awesome keyboardist/guitarist (dude, his guitar skills were so slick and impressive), and a recently-recruited drummer. Later, we bought a couple pins with their band name, and my sister introduced me to the band and I took a couple pictures with them (that I think I looked super awkward in, oops). They were so happy about how I came here for my birthday and wanted to find out stuff about me and I was a bit of a nervous wreck because it isn't very often a normal person gets to meet one of their favorite bands. But yeah, overall I'm glad I got to go (and have my sister there, too).
The next day I went to work once again, most of the day washing dishes. Flower and Lala were there, though, (along with a radio,) so it wasn't as bad as the sometimes-overwhelming silence of the week before until they left for a catering. Then, the rest of the dishes were done with that angry guy and a girl who I'd helped with prepping a couple times (and she'd put on the music on her phone). I was then asked if I was up for a small catering, and I actually did. Turns out it was just me and Ramos, a guy who was once my branch president, going to a small high school reunion at the park. These folks graduated in '62! Honestly, both of us were impressed by how most of them were in pretty dang good shape, and they all seemed so happy; I hope I'll be like them at that age. It was also nice to hang out with him for real, since I just hadn't really talked to him much when we were in the same ward.
(I probably shouldn't be talking about this, but I can't help myself. Late that night, we were finishing up some more packing, and I remembered that my Genie Bras are in absolutely terrible shape and honestly not that useful anymore, and my mom had tried getting me some new stuff but most of it just didn't feel right, and so we went to Walmart together to buy a bunch of new stuff together, hoping there was something I would like more. By then, though, the fitting rooms were closed. I remembered that I had a camisole on underneath my shirt... and so, in an act of desperation, I half-hid and quickly tried on some of the options over my cami. We ended up buying a lot of what we picked out that night, but it's such a bizarre story, and my mom and I were honestly concerned about if we might've been caught by the cameras and then it gets put on Youtube or something in a compilation titled "Only at Walmart" or something. We don't want to be one of those people!)
Monday, I moved into my new apartment! During the solar eclipse! (Yep, that's right. We didn't bother getting eclipse glasses. I can say, though, that at least I saw the little crescents in the shadow of the big tree near my new front door. That was in my physics textbook last year, so I was excited to see it for myself.) I had a tearful goodbye with my sister before coming up to my new residence with my parents in a minivan full of drum set equipment, a few boxes with kitchenware and school supplies, and bags of clothes and food. It was... kinda a weird feeling that day. We rushed to get all the stuff into my room and start unpacking some things- honestly, there's a couple things I haven't fully bothered to do yet, like finish decorating- and then we went out for IHOP (while there, my mom told me what she'd heard about the movie theater in Abuelita's tiny village back in the day- no roof, no floor, lots of scorpions, and everyone was so excited to be watching a movie that they were not shy in the slightest about shouting commentary at the screen), and then to Walmart for a couple things, and then... they had to go, so I hugged them, and then they went out the door, and I was alone in my new place, and I think it still didn't feel 100% real yet. Maybe partly because they helped me so much, a lot more than I think I deserve, honestly, because even though I'm technically an adult they still have to pay for my housing, and my dad bought some of my textbooks himself, and now they're still buying me tons of food and other stuff, and what makes me feel worse is that they probably did have to get me all that after all, because my personal money that I worked 8-11 hour shifts for isn't stretching out as much as I was hoping, and maybe it'll only be enough for this semester... It's things like this that make me wish I was as good as my sister at this whole "independence" thing, because I'm not. At all.
But, I mean, I've survived since then, technically... I walked around to different parts of campus a couple times, tried cooking stuff on my own (everything's come out technically edible and really close to what it should be like, but not perfect), and tried to go to most of the campus events. Some of the events were really cool, actually- there was one where lots of businesses on/around Main Street put up stalls or opened their doors to give us samples, coupons, etc. so freshmen would have a taste of what's available in the area (and all those samples were basically my dinner that day- I also bought an adorable tiny elephant made in Kenya from a store that's a non-profit fair-trade place, which would be nice to buy a little more from if I think my bank account can handle it). Another was where they had all us freshmen go one night to listen to a couple people speak about us starting a new journey, and that we will also end here for our (second) commencement (which really was cool to think about), and then we went with little lanterns to the campus's (non-athletic) field and formed into the school's representative letter, so the overhead picture taken shows tiny lights on the ground that's actually us! People then took the little lights out of their lanterns and threw them up into the air, which was kinda terrifying because some landed really close to me and Weston, but he was having the time of his life and throwing lights too because I guess he's like that.
Yes, Weston is a friend I made here (at the "first commencement" thing, actually)! He's a freshman, too, and is studying... mechanical engineering, if memory serves correctly. He's also into various sports and hiking and wall-climbing and pretty much all that stuff I'm not. I brought him to the Anime Club a few days ago, though, and he seemed to enjoy that, so maybe we can still have something in common in this friendship. *cheesy wink* (Since I'm already mentioning the club, which I already love so far, I met another girl who I think is now a friend, too, while trying to find the meeting place, who I guess I'll dub as Jacky for now because I can't think of any inside jokes to use thus far besides how we have the same Attack on Titan T-shirt. We also watched a bit of Nichijou and Death Parade during club, and I and everyone else found both very interesting [and funny, with the first anime].)
I also made a couple other friends in my freshman-only class... kinda? One guy turned out to have served in the same area I lived in in Alabama (!!!), but it looks like he got there once we'd already bailed on the English ward for the Spanish branch instead. He's pretty cool, but I haven't really talked to him much since the initial meeting. Another guy who I just haven't seen much since I first talked to him actually came to talk with me at the swingset when our teachers brought us to the park. He's into woodwork and metalwork, which I thought was pretty cool (especially cuz he mentioned making wooden swords!). I also met a group of girls (one I went to the Main Street thing with, another actually got shown in the video about our lantern photo!) who I've talked to a little- I mostly hung out with them before the park, when the teachers had us go to their favorite pizzeria, which was really good, to be honest. (I loved my teachers a lot. I really hope I get to talk to them throughout my time here.) I also talked a while with a girl before class whose name I can't remember for the life of me, but she was really peppy and interesting to talk to (and she's a few weeks younger than me!). I actually went with her to a dance that happened after the lantern photo, which was fun but sooo sweaty and exhausting because the room was jam-packed with people to the point where it was hard to breathe the moment you went in.
I believe I'd mentioned that we were supposed to read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi for the class? His wife actually came for a live interview about the book and Paul and their daughter. Just like Paul, she had a lot of insightful things to say, so I'm glad I was taking notes of things that stood out to me, and also that she was okay with bothering to talk to a bunch of college freshmen, especially with some heavy topics like this.
We also got to see Tim Gabrielson, this hilarious comedian-magician that had us burst out laughing a lot. (I sat by a couple girls I met who had been talking to people in the Humanities/Social Sciences Department, an English major who ranted passionately about the things that bugged her about her favorite shows (so I returned the favor with ranting about the couple things that always irked me about FMA), and an Asian Studies major who wore an FMA shirt, and so got cool points from me even though she admitted she hadn't watched anime in a long time.)
...Both the previous paragraphs happened before the "first commencement". I accidentally got things out of order. Now, we're at my first Saturday at the campus.
For one, this was right around when my roommates finally started moving in, too. (Yeah, I was alone there for most of the week. Sometimes I was cool with it, sometimes I put on music because the silence was weirding me out.) My mom and dad also came to visit (with a second round of Walmart and such). It took a few days to finally get to meet all of my roomies (seriously), but now that I have, I honestly like all of them, which is a big relief. I've actually gotten to do a couple things with them, too. I helped Barbie bring in her stuff (dang, she brought in a lot more than me- and I have a drum set to deal with!), I went up to campus on my first day with Meg (she's actually the only girl that was also here last year, so she knew the girl I bought the contract from), watched Boku no Hero Academia with Terra last Tuesday (and we also found out that you can still send telegrams!) and went to the nearby burger joint last Saturday, and went to church, ward prayer, and bingo (I'll talk about that later) with Ash. They're all juniors and seniors, along with most of the people in this area, so there's a mix of them complaining about college to each other and encouraging me to enjoy college (which I've witnessed a couple times from other upperclassmen, too), which always seems a little odd and ironic to me. Regardless, I hope they can help me out with learning how to navigate this new world as it starts getting to more difficult assignments and I have more responsibilities to worry about. *sneaks a look at my overflowing laundry basket still waiting to be washed*
That night, there was also a freshman pep rally and dance. I found Weston there, so we spent most of the time there chatting and dancing, so that was fun, but I still get a little disappointed by how I keep forgetting that most people don't dance at dances (regardless of culture, as far as I've seen lately). Weston was putting in some effort, which was greatly appreciated, but it feels weirder to be dancing when almost no one else is, you know? And I also tend to forget that most pep rallies are not really all that fun (though now I'm wondering if it's because we were freshmen, because at the bingo game I'll touch on later, it looked like mostly upperclassmen were there, and they knew a whole lot better how to be a fun, rowdy crowd).
The day after was Sunday, my first time at a Young Single Adults ward (AKA YSA), which is certainly different from normal wards. It's also new to feel like I need to talk to a lot more people in a new ward than usual (which is a little intimidating). I mean, I've always had pretty much just the kids and leaders in my Sunday School and Young Women classes to learn to talk to (and maybe a bishop), but now the classes are a lot bigger because now we're all adults and I am in Relief Society! I imagine this is still easier than if I tried to start with a normal ward's RS because they're all mostly two or three years older and most of them're going to college, but it's still a little ahhh! Sometimes I forget just how bad I am at socializing compared to most people because lots of my friends are also bad at socializing!
As if that wasn't bad enough, yesterday... it was the first Sunday of the month, which means we're all supposed to be fasting (oops, totally forgot) and it's testimony meeting, and I ended up feeling like I really needed to go up there, and like what always happens when I'm up at the pulpit without a script (I ran what I wanted to say over and over through my head, but that's usually not enough), I started to cry. The embarrassing part is that I am pretty dang sure I was the one that cried the most up there! Imagine the kind of impression that put on people when it's only my second Sunday there! (I know Ash said they must've felt the Spirit strongly because of me, but I admitted I probably cried because of the Spirit and nerves worse than anyone else who went up. Either way, I felt like women were now going to talk to me out of pity.) More people certainly talked to me, but I always wanted to scream every time they mentioned my testimony.
My mom actually visited again later that day, because she'd hitched a ride with Lia's family, because they were all coming to help her move into her new apartment. They also said they'd feed us, but it turned out they meant going to a restaurant, which never feels very good on Sundays. (Yesterday, Lia's family visited her again, and they invited me over for pizza- I dunno, I thought they'd brought some leftover Little Caesar's pizza from home or something, since they've done something like that when they invited my family for dinner before, back at home, obviously among other food too. But nope, turns out they meant going to a restaurant again, this time the pizzeria I'd gone to with my class a couple weeks earlier. It was still good, and fun, as after eating, me and Lala and Elenita played a really poor version of billiards since we don't know very much about the actual rules. I also showed off a little bit of what I remembered from the long staff form from back when I was in kung fu. I was unsurprised that I didn't remember the whole thing, because there was always a part in the second half I'd forget back then. So yeah, it was fun, but I think I'll accept their offers for food less often because I just feel so bad about eating out on Sundays.)
(Oh, and there's a note about how we ended up listening to Tiny Tim once back in the car to drop me off at my apartment. We'd gotten in a really weird mood due to tiredness...)
Okay, now to my first day. Honestly, I don't think it was my best first day of school... I got to two of my classes late because I got a little lost. I also got the rude awakening that I'd totally forgotten to get the lab for my chemistry class on my schedule, so once home I got on some waitlists because literally every single lab is full beyond belief. I also dropped one of my electives (which was just one credit) since I now had to deal with the lab credit and it was going to be hard to get there on time anyway. (I really hope I can take it another semester, because it was a self-defense class, which sounds fun and useful.) Oh, and I ended up carrying around my chemistry textbook all day because I'd wanted to show my professor my book in case it wouldn't work for the class. (Turns out he couldn't care less about the book.)
It wasn't all bad, though. I had a good feeling about all of my teachers, and I made a friend in my chemistry class! I think I'll call him Jett, for some reason. (It turns out he also has the same biology class as me, but that one's a huuuge lecture hall so I haven't seen him there yet, and he has trig before that class, too, just like me! It's a different teacher, though.) There was also a carnival on the school field later. I got a churro and a bit of Terra's cotton candy, and then went into one of the inflatable games (failed at that, but it was still fun) and this one ride that went around and around and around fast enough that it's hard to keep your head up and it made me giggle drunkenly.
Something really awesome happened later that day. I was supposed to be getting ready for bed, but I ended up going to check on the TAU updates anyways, and it turns out they had a little TAU chat going on on this site called Discord. I was suddenly like "Oh my gosh, would I actually get to talk to some of the writers?!" and "Oh my gosh, could I actually see if anyone would have any advice for the Azul story?!" so, though nervous, I got onto the site. Yep, one of the people who posts often besides the mods was there, along with a couple other people, so they talked to me for a while (by chat at first, then we turned on our mics- it's always a different experience actually hearing someone's voice, isn't it?) about Azul and writing in general, assuring me that the story did sound interesting, but I should worry less about making it "good" and more about making it what I want it to be. I think I was kinda forgetting that, and feeling like I needed to make it a lot more intricate so other people were sure to like it and so that it'd be more on the caliber of my favorite writers, but as long as I'm passionate about it and it's what I really want, then that's when stories are worth reading, and though you shouldn't be all that worried about what other people think, people will like your work when it's done this way. So... yeah, I'm gonna focus less on sub-plots and planning out dramatic twists and all and just see what I really, truly want from this story, and let the characters fill in the rest. That's the plan, anyway. (I hope, regardless, I'll hang out with these peeps again, when I think I can take the time to.)
Tuesday, I began my first Institute class. I'd originally been in a normal class, but when I realized the peer tutor classes (ones that have special ed students) were voluntary and they'd probably need anyone they could get, I felt like I should try it. I mean, I haven't really had much experience with this kind of thing, but I've had a couple friends with autism, at least, some of them very close to me. Maybe that could be the start to getting me ready for this kind of thing, and this could help me build a little experience and confidence for more things that could come later. And the nice thing is, I feel like I am learning about the gospel in this class, too. I'm still nervous as heck about the whole "peer mentor" idea and about if I'll do good enough of a job, but I'm also excited and willing, and that's the most important thing, right?
Thus far, I've been paired with both Joshes in the class (heh), and gonna stay with one of them, who had reminded me a lot of Crazy Insane Person (it'd be rude to call her that if she didn't insist on people calling her that herself) on the first day of class. I think it'll go better with someone like me, pretty shy, paired with someone who's more outgoing and will get me to open up and talk more to them and in the class, a lot like what happened when I first met Crazy in seminary. They both also have a very spiritual aura about them and an eagerness to learn about the gospel, which makes me happy and feel the Spirit myself more, too. So yeah, I'm hoping this goes well.
Later that day, I heard a speech from a man in the Humanities/Social Sciences department who had won an award for his work in Latinx American Studies and advocating initiatives with Latino/a communities in the US. He told us about his life, which was a little heartbreaking but impressive and fascinating. He was from Guerrero (that's where my mom was born!), and crossed the border to California to work and attend high school. When he managed to become a legal resident and go to college, he ended up having a hard time in his master's program. He wanted to do Latino/a American Studies, which didn't exist in that college back then, and so he basically had to create that whole field within the college himself, and he had no one to help him with his thesis. Imagine doing something like that all alone! But he was very determined and did it, and not only was he proud to have accomplished that, it gave him such an impressive resumé that he could basically work anywhere he wanted, and he was doing what he was passionate about (well, and still is, presumably). He urged us to become successful people who don't find a place to fit in, but create their unique space in their field, and pursue whatever big dreams they have.
I talked to him a little later, starting off with having Mexican pride (because I do) and how his message was very inspiring, and he was very excited to tell me personally that I should not be afraid to accomplish whatever it is I really want to do. I didn't have the heart to tell him, though, that... I don't really have a huge, out-there dream I want to do. I mean, I've got a bucket-list, which is probably somewhere in this diary of mine, and there's things I hope my future self will do, but it's more of a "keep doing all those things I love so that I'll be happiest and a unique individual", not something big like becoming president of the United States (which sounds like a horrible job to me, honestly, though I would love to see a Latina become president someday). Maybe that's something I should be pursuing here in college- not just studying to grow intellectually and as a person, and reaching the job I will enjoy the most, whatever that is, but finding the difficult thing(s) I want to do to really make a mark on the world. I'm not much for big dreams, but maybe there'll be one that really matters a lot to me, and I'll find a way to actually reach it.
Next day was the day tons of departments, organizations, clubs, and businesses put up stalls in the school field (yeah, they've been using it a lot lately) to recruit people and such. I ended up putting myself on the email list for some clubs (mostly diversity-related clubs and the Anime Club, because those are a given with me) and some service projects. I don't know how many of those I'll actually have the guts to join in on, because a couple are similar to what I'm doing at the Institute but I'm still super nervous about things like that, evidently, and a couple other ones use time that I'm not sure I'll know how to balance well with my classes yet (I've only been here for a week, give me a break), stuff like that... But one of the things I really wanted to do in college was get myself into a little bit of service, so hopefully soon I'll feel at least somewhat confident to join one or two of them officially, to start, and see where that takes me.
That happened around lunchtime and my fiction writing class, and a couple hours afterwards there was gonna be a small music festival on the field, so I just waited around on the bench by my last class writing. I think I was starting to take some of the advice the TAUers had given me, along with what we'd already talked about so far in class, to heart as I began that first writing assignment. It ended up just being about a kid who couldn't resist the temptation of spinning around in his sister's office chair, only for it to break the moment she catches him. Nothing super grand, but I was passionate about it (because that really is fun, and I've already whirled around a little in the computer lab's chairs when I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be doing that as an 18-year-old) and put my heart into it, and did my best to work on using five senses, like talked about in class, and also to get most of it done in one sitting, also like said in class (which I used to do, when I was just barely starting to write fics, and I agreed that it was a good habit I needed to regain). I also carried around the same small notebook as I listened to the different musical artists, hoping they could inspire a bit for any of my stories or just random lines that could become songs of my own someday. Lia came by near the end, so we hung out during that time, and when we both felt too fatigued and hungry to stay any longer, she brought me to her apartment for food. She also left me half a cantaloupe that I've been slowly finishing off.
Thursday is when that bingo game happened. More specifically, High Stakes Bingo, something that apparently happens once a semester, and sooo many people were trying to get in. Honestly, I only managed to get in because Ash (wait, now I'm wondering if I've already used that codename for someone else... oops) and her friends had stayed outside after the first round of bingo got full, so they were close to the door when the second round was about to open, and they let me cut in. (I usually feel so bad about cutting in lines, but so many people were already doing it, too...) Like mentioned before, it was a really rowdy crowd, because this is apparently one of the funnest events of the year. The thing is, everyone's super excited over the huge prizes. There was an Apple Watch, an Amazon Echo, an iPad, a kayak, a flat-screen TV... yeah, people were super excited to get the prizes. (I personally wasn't actually as ecstatic about winning, because if I did get one of those prizes, I'd most likely sell it. Most of the things available just aren't really my kind of thing.) It was fun, especially with the energy in the room, but next time I won't be as worried about making it into the bingo room, I think.
Oh my gosh, I'm almost done with catching up to the present! *cries tears of joy* Last thing I wanted to mention was that I read some of the book The Book of Duels by Michael Garriga, which is pretty interesting and unique. I'll admit there's a lot more mention of Christian topics than I'm typically comfortable with, but that's what happens when you read adult fiction- you're not gonna be totally comfortable most of the time.
Remember what I said at the very beginning of this weeks-long post? I wanted to try something new? As if I don't already find it difficult to find the time to finish my blog posts lately (thank goodness Labor Day's free, so I could use a couple hours of it to finally end this monstrosity of a post), I also wanted to see if I could occasionally recall old memories that happened before I began this blog, or even something that happened after I began this but I didn't mention it or I feel like I should add a lot more detail to a mentioning of it. Since I really am hoping to do this, it gives me even more reason to cut out small details that I tend to keep in my blog posts regardless of how long these now typically take me. I guess that'll be a relief for Present Me, Future Me, and whoever else happens to be reading this, huh?
I'm really tempted to call this old memories section "Going Back to My Roots", totally in reference to that Imagine Dragons song, even though I have no idea what they're really talking about in that song. I'm gonna go try to get myself to do my laundry and find the donation box for Hurricane Harvey (someone said there was one on-campus for school supplies, which is something I feel more comfortable about donating since I have an excess of that), then come back to tell the tale I hoped to do this time.
*Spongebob French narrator* Hours later...
Okay, got that stuff done, plus made and ate food, among other things. Now I'm ready.
I was reminded yesterday of a temple trip we did in Mexico years ago, which I may have mentioned before but I know nothing beyond that. This was in 2012, the summer before I started writing this. We lived in Mexico at this point- me, my mom, my sister, and Abuelita. We didn't have Dad there, or a car, and we weren't exactly doing so hot financially either, especially since the house we ended up in was a little expensive. What that meant (that is important for this story specifically) is that it wasn't exactly as easy to get to the temple as it was back in Utah. It was about 2 hours away, and I'm pretty sure we would've had a hard time affording the trip by taxi or bus.
If memory serves correctly, we hadn't even thought seriously about going until good fortune came upon us. The people we rented the house from were planning to go to Mexico City for some reason that I think never got disclosed, and agreed to bring us along! I mean, now that I think about it, how bizarre is it for your landlord to be nice enough to do something like that? The family wasn't a part of the same church, and probably didn't really know anything about the temple's significance, and yet they took us to the temple anyway.
Their car was... a station wagon, so just barely enough room for all of us. There was room in the trunk for us to put a suitcase, fortunately, because we had brought one. I think I didn't know until we had to pack that they actually let you stay for free at the temple, which sounded really weird to me. None of the American temples have something like that, after all. The reason why they had such a thing (guest rooms) here, though, was because this temple's also used to be used as Mexico's MTC (Missionary Training Center).
So yeah. After a relatively awkward car ride, we were dropped off right in front of the temple's gates with our luggage, and I was already awed by the sight. The temple and visitor's center (I believe that's what it was) were beautiful, with Aztec-esque designs on the walls (more-so on the visitor's center, but the temple still had a distinct look that made me feel like it was specially-made for Mexico). Honestly, I could've stared at just their exteriors for forever. We had to leave our stuff in a room, though, so I didn't get to.
The building that housed the room we were staying in for the night looked almost like a motel (or like old college campus dorms, now that I've seen some in person and can make that comparison), though cream-colored, I think, and clean, thank goodness. I think, after we'd picked our beds- there were two sets of bunk beds there, so of course my mom and sis took lower bunks and I got a top bunk- and relished the cool air in the room, we'd gone on an adventure to find some dinner near the grounds. (The streets were really wide and packed with cars, so that was rather intimidating.) I also remember, when it was already dark outside, we were looking for snacks and found a vending machine by the parking lot, and I saw it had Pengüinos cupcakes and chose those as my snack, but when I began to munch them I was startled by how cold they were, and I was like "Gah, why'd they do that?!" It still tasted okay, but... yeah, I prefer them room-temp, thanks.
One of the things I really liked about this trip was that I could look around and remember that my mom's been here before. She was here when this was also the MTC, and had gone into this temple and lived in these rooms when she was younger, before she had married my dad. She might've looked at these same palm trees, and surely admired the same buildings, and I am currently inching closer and closer to the age that she did these things. I was still just 12 years old when I got to do them myself. I'm sure I'd asked her about any memories she had of this place, and been fascinated by all of it.
Of course, we did go into the temple itself, though we split up so my mom did the stuff the grown-ups do, and my sister and I did what the youngsters do, baptisms for the dead. How they did the process was a little unfamiliar to us, too. They'd put us into a decently-sized group into the first room, and had us do a hymn and prayer, then took us to another one to talk more about what all of us are about to do and what kind of impact it will have on those we're doing service for, and then they let us go... you know... actually perform the work. Though I suppose it was nice that they did that, I think my sister and I still preferred the normal Utahan approach, that when you're with a small group they just check you know where to go and let you be.
Strangely enough, I don't really remember us leaving the temple. I'm pretty sure we just stayed for one night, and I assume the landlord and his family picked us up again when both parties were done with what they wanted to accomplish in Mexico City and drove us back home. (Seriously, it's mind-boggling that they had done that for us!) Though, if I wanted to be deep, I could turn this into "We should never let our thoughts leave, or stray away from, the temple"... but naw, I think my brain just lost that part. I'm glad I remember this much, though.
Alright, there's a story! And hopefully I can find more, no matter what kind, to share (and not take too much time out of my studies and whatever else to do it)! Bye!
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