Dancing

I love dancing. I really do. I've been going to social dance club every week with Clifton. Which is fun, but...

Not nearly as fun as taking the dance classes! I crashed a 380 class today.

AND GUESS WHAT. There are extra guys. Which means -- everyone in that room would love it if I came every day. Betsey, the instructor, was like YEAH! TOTALLY COME EVERY DAY!

So. I will. Heart. <3

Bubbles

Why don't more people find such pure joy in blowing bubbles? I know people like bubbles in general, but sometimes I wonder why they don't make people even HAPPIER. Bubbles are spherical joy...

Yay!

Clifton taught me how to tie a tie today. It was awesome. I had bought a tie a couple years ago when he was around for freshman year, but I kept forgetting to ask him how to tie it.

And then he left on his mission. So now that he's back I asked him how. A little part of me is complete now.

Awesome Things From Today

1) Lemonade pie, courtesy of Elisa Andersen... Mix one can of frozen lemonade concentrate and one quart of vanilla ice cream. Put it in a graham cracker crust. Freeze. EXCELLENT.

2) I feel really cool when I move boxes ten times my size with a pallet jack. Like, strong and stuff.

3) Coloring books are super cool. Coloring with cool people is even cooler.

4) I like it when people feed me. For free.

5) Having a brother in Provo is. so. nice.

6) Realizing that xkcd's most important contribution in my life is this: I know check everywhere I go for potential velociraptor attack entry. http://xkcd.com/87/



7) This. And I quote, "Man, don't you feel like a friggin' GENIUS SCIENTIST when a recipe comes together the right way? You're the EINSTEIN OF POUNDCAKE. The NEWTON OF COOKIES. The CURIE OF RADIOACTIVE PIZZAS. Okay that last one was a bad analogy. But dang if baking ain't the tastiest science there is. This apron lets everybody around you know that YOU HAVE HARNESSED THE POWER OF BAKING and are NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH." This practically sums up my life in the kitchen.

Clifton is Back

And in Provo!

This IS glorious. Oh, I knew I missed him, but I kind of purposely trying to minimize it in my head to make it more tolerable. I spend a ton of time with him, and I'm so glad.

He still gets a surprised look on his face when I randomly exclaim "YOU'RE BACK! I'M SO GLAD!" Apparently even the cascade of letters I sent while he was gone was not enough to make him expect that.

Occasionally, if I think too hard about it, I get all teary-eyed. Teary eyes of joy.

"Was it really THAT bad when I was gone?"

"Yes," I responded.

"Oh."

I can talk to him WHENEVER I want. And even more exciting -- he can talk back whenever he wants. I can call him, text him, email him, visit him, hug him...

I'm so happy.

I think...

I think I had to pee while I was dreaming last night. In dreamstate, I awoke to find a bathroom. I was sleeping over at M8 because I had locked myself out of my own apartment...

On my quest to find the bathroom, I suddenly realized that M8 was a lot bigger than M10. Where M10 had a coat closet, M8 had a shiny white bathroom. I daintily used it. I noted that when I looked in the mirror I had long, wavy blonde hair. This confused me until decided I must have dyed and permed it and then just forgotten.

Then intrigued about the possibly of more differences in the apartment, I decided to explore some more. I went into the hall, and then saw that the hallway opened up into a vast, shiny, tiled room... Full of exotic plants. I went in, and found myself in the largest and most beautiful bathroom I'd ever seen...

There was a river of showers on the right side and a large waterfall bath on the left. On the far end of the bathroom was a curtained entry-way to MORE luxurious rooms... Of course, I investigated.

I found the most beautiful bedroom ever...

And ohmycrapthereisamanlivinghere!

An attractive man. He was blond, blue-eyed, and had perfect teeth.

He didn't notice me, but I watched him for a while. He wasn't doing very exciting things... paperwork (for what, I wonder?) and organizing.

I went back to the bathroom and then I went and found the real residents of M8... "Jane! There is a guy living back there!"

"Uh-huh, we know. It's only until he finds his wife."

"And how long is that?"

And then the man came in. "Jenna! I've looked all over for you!"

"For me?"

"Yes! You're my wife!"

I was confused. But he had paperwork that said I was supposed to marry him.



Strangely enough, I didn't feel very opinionated about the whole thing, so we had a quick marriage in the big bathroom.

And then we were supposed to have our honeymoon in the beautiful bedroom and apparently the tropical paradise behind that... but I suddenly decided I didn't really like him all that much. It was really awkward until I put something in his soda and he promptly fell asleep.

So I ran away in a flowing red dress with a blue umbrella into the stormy night...

And then I woke up because now I had to pee for real.

Welcome to Adulthood

Where DO all those bills come from?

I've been living off of very little for so long that I expected that working full-time this summer (for the first time in my life) would be easy in the financial department. But no, I can't really say that's what's really going on. Unexpected costs are popping up all over the place.

Take for example my glasses.

Two nights ago I sat on them and they are thoroughly unwearable. And now I need to pay for glasses. Gaugh!



Also medical bills, and a contract for fall/winter. My computer is fizzling out, and my flat iron has bit the dust. My jeans got holes in irreparable places, and my parents may need help paying for insurance. AND my car needs more antifreeze. I was hoping I wouldn't need student loans after working the whole summer through... but alas, I am pretty sure I'll need them anyway.

In brighter financial news, I got a 1/4 tuition scholarship and a 1/4 tuition grant... equaling a whole grand 1/2 tuition already paid for. That is a $4500 blessing.

Things are not all bad.

Meet the Ward

I have been in the BYU 11th Ward for approximately... let's see... one, two, three, four, five... ... ... FOURTEEN months. I am scheduled to stay until fall semester, making that SIXTEEN months. I... feel like moving away. So I didn't get another contract here.

Since then, I've been nervously waiting on waiting lists for other popular apartment complexes, such as Regency.

However... I just realized I need to stay in the ward. So, I will move into House, I think. I've lived almost EVERYWHERE on this one little block. Red brick, white brick, Linford, and now even House. Ha!

I have mixed feelings about staying the ward. See, I love the people.

But then there's a HUGE emphasis on getting married. Today church consisted of trying comfort our fears of getting married.



Um, I'm not afraid of getting married. I'm just not. And I don't really think the "problem" with the ward members is fear of marriage.

The problem isn't marriage. It's DATING. Which is prerequisite to marriage. Do you know how long it's been since ANY of the guys in my ward even bothered to ask me on a date?

January.

January!

It's not that the men in the ward don't know who I am. Believe me, I am well-known in my ward. Most people know who Jenna is. And the guys assure me that I'm attractive, both physically and personality-wise. It just so happens though, that I am rarely, if ever, asked on dates. (I should mention at least, that I did date a ward member for a couple months, but that was a while ago. He was the only ward member to show any interest in the entire fourteen months I've been here.)

The reason I mention this, or even noticed this, is because... the majority of the OTHER women in the ward feel the same way. The guys are fond of us, it seems, but it just hasn't occurred to them that they could DATE us.

And then they wonder why the female members of the 11th ward are ready to strangle each and every one of them...