crazy, crazy, crazy week take 2 and recap edition

I'm in for another crazy week, though hopefully not so crazy as last week. I wanted to do several posts about my week and everything that's been going on, but it's just not going to happen.

• Dinner at the Olive Garden and watching "P. S. I Love You" with Katelyn on Friday night. It made me just happy to be her friend
• Lunch with Brooke and a few of our friends on Saturday
• RS Broadcast--I wasn't up for going, but really glad I did
• Emily and her roommate Jessica over for Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese and a movie on Sunday--I love having Em out here with me
  
• Still feeling overwhelmed with my job. My boss said give it a month and I'll have a groove, but right now, a month is seeming like a very long time. Editing is a bit different from the exercises I do in class.
• "Chuck" season premier=awesome
• Great roommates, still
• Still a dishwasher that never gets loaded or unloaded
• Not nearly as much sleep as I'd like. I could have gone to bed at 8:00 tonight and been completely, 100 percent happy with that
• A great family cheer that made me feel like I could do it--thanks :)

Here's to Tuesday. . . .

crazy, crazy, crazy week: my first days as a hideous editorial intern

I can't believe it's Saturday again, and my week has been a flurry of school, work, and crammed socializing. It's been kind of a weird week, but a good one. I think I'm going to try a series of posts this weekend to sufficiently document my week, because it's been good. Just insanely crazy.

I started my new job!!!!!! First things, though, I had my last day at the physics department, which was, despite the craziness that job often entailed, sad for me. I love working at the physics department, and I love most of the people I work with. It was a bittersweet day. They had cake for me, I got a bonus, things ended well; but, it was sad to punch out of the physics department for the last time. I'm super super super excited for this hideous editing job, but leaving such a great job is hard.

I'll especially miss working with Emily. :( This is a SP of us on my last day. I meant to get a picture of Brooke and me, but I forgot. I am experiencing Brooke withdrawals--I'm so used to seeing her everyday.

Despite my glumness at leaving the physics department, I think I'm really going to like my new job!


I started on Thursday, and fortunately, I don't think my impression was an accurate one of how things will really be. My boss was gone (which I knew he would be), and so he just left some source checking for me to do--for four hours. I trekked to the library and spent hours in the dark recesses of the library, among the dusty tomes.

I didn't have any interaction with anyone, really, and so I was hoping that things won't normally be like that. Yesterday, my boss was here, and so I got a much better feel for what I'd be doing. I'll be getting a better initial training with all my responsibilities next week, but from what I gather, I proofread, source check, baseline edit (still not sure what that is), format, and do whatever hideous editing needs doing.

All that said, I hate first days at jobs: you don't know anybody, you don't where you're going, you don't know what you're doing. I'm looking forward to the time when this job won't be so new anymore.

Good morning, Charlotte--I'm your migraine

That's how I woke up this morning. Throbbing pain in the left side of my head, nausea, attempting to squash my pain by digging my head deeper into the pillow. Up and at 'em, right?

Semi-remedy: pop a couple of heavy painkillers, crawl back to bed and listen to Harry Potter for a hour, feel somewhat better, get up, get to class late.

Traces of the headache are still there, unfortunately. I've been flaky all day: I forgot the textbook I needed for my oral presentation today in editing, I forgot to print up my final draft for my editing news blurb, I didn't have time to finish my Jane Eyre reading.

I'd rather have the flu.

celebratory unproductivity

So, big news: I got a new job!! I am now the new editorial intern for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. I applied last week, interviewed on Friday, and was extended an offer yesterday! I'm SO excited!!

However, this does mean leaving my job as a Budget Deputy at the Physics Department: I'm on my way to being a full-fledged hideous editor. Ah! I'm pretty freaked out, but way excited!

Yesterday was a day of celebration, and I accomplished practically nothing. I went to Smart Cookie with Emily, Katie, and Anneli; had a dance party with Katie and Anneli; and watched the new Brian Regan DVD at my friend Matt's apartment. Then, at 11:00 p.m. I started my homework. It was ridiculous. Then I started reading my Jane Eyre assignment at midnight. It was a Monday, but I was acting like it was a Friday. Good grief.

But I'm going to be editing for my job!!!!!!

who knew?

Facebook saved my identity. Seriously.

Before you permanently quit reading my blog after such a ridiculous statement, hear me out:

On Friday when my car was on the way back from Heber, we stopped by the Sinclair gas station on 8th and 7th, because the Toyota was literally running on fumes. Unknowingly, I drove off with my wallet on the top of the car. In my wallet I have not only my license, but my debit card, my temple recommend, my student ID, my Blockbuster card, my ULTA card, my Denny's gift card, my library cards, my grocery store cards, and *gasp* my Borders Rewards card. (I have my priorities.) Yikes.

And I didn't even know I lost it until I get a phone call during the movie. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I answered anyway. It was this guy asking if I was Charlotte, and if I was, I lost my wallet. He and his friends were out and about and asked where I lived so they could come and drop off my wallet. Whoa. Talk about awesome. I was shocked that I lost my wallet and even more shocked that someone got back to me so quickly.

Then I got to thinking and wondered how in the world these boys got my number. I racked my brain and could think of nowhere in my wallet where I would keep my phone number. Here's the story:
1. They looked me up on BYU's online directory.
2. My number wasn't listed. (Maybe I'll fix that to be on the safe side.)
3. They looked me up on facebook (the ultimate place to find just about anyone).
4. They couldn't see my profile.
5. They saw that we had one friend in common: Jenna Mortensen.
6. They called her to get my number.
7. They called me to come and drop it off.
8. Amazing.

So, yes facebook did save my identity, my money, my Borders Rewards.

Who knew?

playing the hot/cold game

What better way to spend a Friday night than in Heber in a hot spring smelling deliciously (hahaha) of sulfur? Well, I can think of a few things, but this was pretty stellar. I went with Brooke and some friends from my ward. We were supposed to leave at six, but didn't get on the road until about seven; so, what do you do when you're waiting around for an hour?

Blow bubbles.
Once everything was ready to go, we headed up to Heber and enjoyed an evening in sulfur water of varying degrees. It was really weird, actually. You'd get in, and the water would be ready to scorch your butt off, but your toes would be freezing. The water temperature was not at all uniform, but trying to evenly distribute the temperature and mix the hot and cold was half the fun. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed home.


The drive up there is beautiful, but 10:00 at night, it's really, really dark. That was kind of weird, but we all made it home safely. When we got back into Provo, we stopped through the drive-thru at Wendy's and indulged in Frosties and other such fast food delicacies. Then we went back and watched a movie. It was fun, it was sulfury, it was Friday with friends!

roommate rave

I came home from my day close to 10:00 tonight, and my roommates had cleaned my part of the apartment for cleaning checks. Wow.

roommate rant

Is the dishwasher a recent cleaning revolution? Is is one of those things like big sunglasses that didn't become popular until fairly recently? Is there somewhere in the continental United States where dishwashers are the "new" thing, the new appliance which everyone has a hard time figuring out? . . . I didn't think so.

I always thought the dishwasher was a staple appliance for those of my generation. And why shouldn't it be a staple? I mean, all you have to do is rinse off your dishes, put them in the dishwasher, and turn the dishwasher on. It's really that simple: no gimmicks, no tricky instructions, no ridiculous plastic ties like Barbies have to strap them in the box.

So, if the dishwasher is such an easy and user-friendly appliance, then why in the world do people have such a hard time using it? It's a machine that says, "Hey, let me do your dishes for you. All you have to do is load and unload--it's that easy!" It's like we won the dish-cleaning lottery; it's like having a personal maid but not taking advantage of it.

Why can't roommates just load their dishes into the dishwasher? Why?!

maybe I'm spoiled

This semester I'm taking a class called "The English Novel," where we read seven British novels. I think overall I'll really like what we read and I think that this class has tons of potential for discussion, thought, and analysis.

Backtracking to last winter, I took a class dealing with British literature from the 1800s-ish through modernity. It was absolutely amazing. Seriously, I've never had a class like that. We not only discussed the literature and its history, but more importantly, we analyzed the themes, ethics, humanity, the meaning of life. (Okay, so that sounds dramatic, but I'm actually being serious.) We talked about right and wrong, life and death, love and hate, and the applicability of all those themes. It was probably the most intellectually and emotionally enriching class I've ever taken.

Fast forward to now, and I'm starting to feel frustrated. I see so much potential for this English novel class, but so far, our discussions haven't really stimulated me at all. We're reading Persuasion right now, and there are so many things we could talk about. Anne is such a relatable character, and Austen explores so many universal themes, but we barely seem to scratch the surface of the novel. We seem to talk more about the events of the story and only touch the underlying intents and themes. I don't want to seem like I'm completely discrediting the class, because we do mention important issues (e.g. class issues, family relations, romantic relations, Austen's intent with portraying characters and themes as she does), but we don't flesh them out as we did in my British lit class last winter. We don't discuss why the social class divide is right or wrong, we don't thoroughly analyze the ethicality of Lady Russell's role in dissuading Anne from marrying Captain Wentworth, we don't probe Anne's psyche and try to understand her thoughts and actions, we don't seek to make the novel universal and apply its lessons and themes. English 333 is just falling a bit short for me.

I mean, I'm finding myself exploring those ideas on my own and discussing them with Katie, but it's not the same as a discussion in a classroom with twenty-five other students who all have different perspectives, experiences, and opinions that lend to the issues at hand. One of the things I love about literature is its timelessness: if the literature is good, then you can learn, understand, and appreciate the history behind it and still be able to extract epiphanies, lessons, and truth that can be applied right now. That's the magic of literature for me: it transcends the time in which it was written and lives to edify me, a 21-year-old college student in the 20th century.

I know that all the books we're going to study in The English Novel (Persuasion, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Jude the Obscure, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Mrs. Dalloway) have all of those qualities of great literature, but I'm not sure if we're really going to explore the depth of these novels.

So maybe English 292 spoiled me, but so be it. I'd rather be spoiled in superb literature teaching than never realize what literature really is.

If you made it this far in the post, kudos. I was caught up in my self-defined purpose of what it means to be an English major. I'll hop down off my soap box now.

a bit of faith restored

Friday was a blast of a night: Katie had a party up at her house in Alpine, and, as usual, there was more than enough to do and keep everyone entertained. There were probably around fifty or sixty people total who came, and it was a blast! I went up with Emily, her roommate Jessica, Brooke, and Tyler, which completely filled up the Toyota, making for a rockin' car ride listening to Hannah Montana and Cascada selections--talk about party. ;)

A quick recap on the night's activities: 3 games of air hockey (I won 2), 4 games of foosball (Tyler and I miserably lost 2), 2 games of knock-out (because it deals with a basketball, naturally, I did not advance far either time), 2 trips down the water slide, 2 trips to the bonfire pit, 2 rounds in the hot tub, 1 round in the pool. We arrived around 8:00 and left around midnight, making for an excellent, fun-filled, not-caring-what-time-it-was night.

The title of my post refers to my hot tub experience this time around. (Remember the last time I was in a hot tub?? . . . ) This time I went in the pool and the hot tub, I had a blast! The waterslide was certainly a score, I went off the diving board (but I definitely didn't dive--don't get the wrong impression), and I crammed into the hot tub with a bunch of people. We actually engaged in fun conversation and had a good time. That said, I do think that the factors were skewed in my favor. The people in the hot tub consisted primarily of those I drove with and other people I already knew: me, Emily, Jessica, Tyler, Brooke, Brennen, Mibrie (I'm not sure how to spell that--she's my next door neighbor), and James (Brennen's friend). Yeah. I would be way disappointed if I had a negative experience with all those people I know.

Okay, so maybe this hot tub round isn't enough to nullify my previous experience.

PS--I brought my camera, but stupidly did not take any pictures. You can use your imagination.

I'm proud to bleed blue

Yesterday was the UCLA game, and we totally kicked trash. Emily said that she'd be able to get me a ticket for the game, but I declined, simply because football games really take up most of the day, and unless I plan on that, I have a hard time going on a whim. Nevertheless, I still watched the game. Katie and I went over to our friend Jon's apartment and watched the whole game there. (So really it did take up most of my day--my entire afternoon really--but at least I got to do some editing homework while I was cheering on my team.)


We were up by 21 or 28 points (I can't remember which) by halftime, and then in the second half, we continued our slaughter. After a few of the touchdowns (and trust me, there were several), Katie, Jon, and I all sang the Cougar fight song (rise and shout!!). It actually got kind of boring by the end, because it was like there was no competition; I mean seriously, we won 59-0. Max Hall was pretty much awesome because he scored seven of our eight touchdowns, and by the end of the game, we were playing all of our freshmen to get them experience--ha! We kicked total trash.


I do love going to games, but watching them is pretty awesome, too. Katie ran and grabbed us a pizza, we snacked on Chex Mix and rolled our eyes at the really stupid commercials that the network played. I dozed a bit toward the end, because our lead was just so ridiculous. It was just a fun afternoon, and then I had absolutely zero motivation to do anything productive in the evening. It was worth it though--beating UCLA was pretty much awesome. I'm even more proud to be a Cougar!

Maybe if I can get a ticket to the next game and plan more ahead, I'll go :)

PS Funny Story: When I was scrapbooking last summer, I was using rub-ons to write out "Go Cougars," but my brain malfunctioned, and I wrote "Go Cogars" instead. Yeah. I had to fix that. But now, my family (well, really my Mom) and I often refer to the "cogars." And I'm supposed to be an English major. . . . Go Cogars!!!

my new dental regimen

I honestly don't know why I'm posting about this, but it is something I've been doing diligently for a few months now, and I want something to post about. So, here I am telling you about my new routine, the routine imposed on me by my dentist, who was quite appalled with my gums a few months ago.


When I went to the dentist at the beginning of the summer, my teeth were hurting, and I thought that I had a cavity or two, which I was dreading. (I hate Novacain more than almost anything--it's tied with migraines.) I had my teeth cleaned and polished, and my mouth ended up bleeding and throbbing. The dentist looked at my teeth and said that I had "bulbous gums." How sick is that?! I was horrified.

The remedy for "bulbous gums," however, is pretty simple. I just have to floss (I know--I should have been flossing this whole time), swish with Listerine, and use Crest ProHealth toothpaste. So, now my tooth routine takes about triple the time, but it's worth it. Even though the Crest ProHealth toothpaste is not to my preference and flossing is a pain, my gums are no longer bulbous. I committed to another dentist appointment before I came back to school, and he was impressed by my great gum improvement. So, I continue to floss, brush, and swish. I'm a pro, and my gums are no longer bulbous.

This is Mom and me after successful trips to the dentist's--look at our clean, non-bulbous smiles!

I will never decorate with poor punctuation

This is part of the Halloween decor in the Physics Department, naturally. I mean, who needs to bother with using the apostrophe correctly? Not physicists. My reaction: "I will never use decor that is punctuated poorly."

How could you manufacture such an abysmal representation of misplaced apostrophes? I have to look at this everyday until after Halloween. I don't know if I can handle it.

weekend miscellany

My weekend in review:

• I was reunited with my Chicago Manual of Style. We were meant to be. Thanks ELang 410 for giving me another chance with my one true love: commas.
• I started reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves for the first time (if you can believe I haven't read it yet--I mean, it's a whole book dedicated to punctuation). Favorite phrases and clauses include "satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes" and "anger [over egregious punctuation errors] gives way to a righteous urge to perpetrate an act of criminal damage with the aid of a permanent marker."
  

• The fridge froze at least three of my eggs. Frozen eggs=weird, no?
• I watched the new episode of "Monk" at Brooke's after we watched a whole disc of season one at my apartment. Picture freezer!! Picture go regular!!
  
• I went to my first ever BYU dance. Granted, it was only for half an hour, but I met up with my friend Brennen there and we had fun partying it up.
  
  

• Emily hiked the Y: this is a picture of the Y when Emily was on it. Kudos, Em!
  

• I helped Katie purge her closet. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you to throw out stuff. I learned that from Mom.
• Lunch at Katelyn's on Saturday: Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese, just like the old days.
  

• Emily came over Saturday night and we went to Smith's and watched "Sliding Doors" afterward.
  
• Saturday, there was a banana pancake party at Katelyn's, complete with "Seinfeld."
  
• We had regional conference today: President Uchtdorf and President Packer spoke, and it was stellar.
• There was a CES fireside tonight with Elder Holland, and it was beyond incredible. It's like he knows me or something. He talked all about the lessons we learn from Joseph Smith's stint in Liberty Jail. It was so personal and touching.
  

• I watched a few episodes of "Alias" online. I'm a huge fan. Because, you know, it's not like I don't need another TV show to like. Good grief.
  

• And probably my favorite highlight from the weekend: B-Money. He's a salesman who carries t-shirts he designs himself around in a large duffel and tries to sell them to students. He's especially popular among the 700 East crowd. One of Katelyn's friends invited B-Money to crash the banana pancake party, and so for the first half hour, B-Money was trying to bargain with us on t-shirts (which have his face on them, no joke). He also makes his own hip-hop CDs and was selling them for $7. (The CDs were called "Rag$ to Riche$.") If only I had cash on me. He just hung out for a while, and then went back to pounding the pavement. I wish you all the luck in the world, B-Money.

And now I get to start another week. Hopefully I can find a good school groove: I'm finding motivation hard to come by. Maybe if I buy a B-Money shirt. . . .

Edit: Google "B-Money" on GoogleVideo and enjoy.

new level of shallow

Yesterday, I went for a run for the first time in a long time. It was kind of hard, but overall, very satisfying. Afterwards, I was sweaty and gross, and spontaneously decided to go to with my roommates to the complex hot tub. It was kind of fun putting on my swimsuit and strolling on over to the pool area for a bit of hot tub relaxation before I had to bunker down and complete some homework. There were several people already in the hot tub, but I didn't really think anything of it, seeing it as maybe an opportunity to just meet more people.

Boy, was I disappointed.

These people were ridiculous. I sat on the other side of the hot tub where it wasn't so crowded, and so I wasn't by my roommates. I didn't think this would be a big deal, because you know, people, in general, are friendly around here. Nope. Not one person even acknowledged my presence, and one of the boys there, I'd even met! There was this one girl in the hot tub who didn't even live in the complex who was doing everything she could to keep everyone's attention on her. It was ridiculous. (She even complained once that people always think that she's younger than she is, but my reaction was, "Well, stop acting like a sixteen-year-old and people will believe you're twenty.")

Not that I need attention whenever I enter a social setting, but I do think it's common courtesy to simply be friendly and acknowledge people, even if you're already in the middle of a conversation. My roommate Katie was interrogated about her major and overall life plans by another guy in the hot tub, (he was asking rude, attacking questions like, "Well, what if you don't get into the master's program?" and "Why in the world do you study English?"), and basically no one talked to us the entire time we were there. Katie and I both felt that our IQs dropped by at least ten points after being around those people. I mean, they were discussing the attractiveness of tattoos and how funny it would be if one of the girls lived in an apartment with the boys. Seriously?

After about ten or fifteen minutes of this hardly durable moron-fest, Katie and I left, appalled at that new level of shallow.

I like having a hot tub so close and all, but if these are the kind of people I have to be around to enjoy the hot tub, I'm out.

housewarming

Welcome to the new school year, Charlotte. You'll probably just have to move everything out of your closet so maintenance can fix it--don't even worry about.

Thanks.