Goodbye Kui.

So there's this girl named Kendra who left on a mission today. She's kind of a big deal.

She is my Kui. 

Kui=best friend/roommate/all-encompassing awesomeness.

She is going to Japan to teach the gospel to her native people. There is nothing more amazing that she could be doing with her life at this point in time.

But I'm going to miss her. I kind of don't know how to live without her.

I may or may not have lived with her for the past 2.5 years. And it has been a complete blast the entire time.

I can talk to her about anything and she accepts that I'm completely crazy.

Our friendship was unexpected and I'm still not sure how or when it happened, but I'm glad it did.

She's great. We have fun. I'm sad she's gone.

Kui, I will miss you. See you in 18 months.

Let the good times roll.

Christmas was a success.
Good amounts of family time. Song singing. Present opening. Church going. And all around joy.
One of the highlights for me was our pre-Christmas program rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. I also enjoyed the dubstep dance party Adam and I had before everyone arrived for Christmas Eve dinner. The traditional Christmas Eve sibling sleepover was fabulous. A fair amount of Super Smash playing went down, some uno, some unintentional fat jokes, tons of catch phrase, and lots of laughs. My brothers are wonderful.
Christmas is such a lovely time of year. Obviously getting gifts is super fun. And being around my family so much is even better. But let's not ever forget that Christmas is really about Christ. A celebration and remembrance of his birth and life and death and resurrection. Here's a lovely video:

Sad note: Ryan won't be here next Christmas.
Happy note: He is going to be one a MISSION next Christmas. This is wonderful.
He got his mission call about 2 weeks ago. He's going to the Scotland/Ireland Mission! I am so excited for him! I have a couple friends in that mission, so that's exciting as well. Here is what he (and the parents) looked like when he first read his call:

 I can't wait! Missions are amazing things. Plus, 2 years really isn't that long. I've realized this recently because my wonderful friends are returning from their missions and as soon as I see them, it feels like they never left. Excellent.

Another good thing about Christmas: getting together with good friends from back home. At a lovely Chrsitmas sweater/pajama/mustache party.

I have the best friends. I miss seeing these girls all the time. We are so funny and have wicked dance moves and laugh more than my abs can handle. Life is just so great when I am around them and for that reason, I love breaks from school.

Changes.

Well gorsh. <--- in my head that sounded like Goofy... but typed out it looks ridiculous. Just go with it.
This past week has been one of the most busy and emotionally-roller-coastery weeks of my life. One of my bestest friends got married. Another gave her talk before she leaves on her mission. And I said goodbye for a year and a half to another beautiful friend who's also going on a mission. I have been roommates with all three of these girls and I could not ask for better friends.
To Mandy, Kendra, and Krystal: I LOVE you girls with all my heart. That ain't never gonna change.

This weekend was the first time that I realized that I really am growing up. I thought I was growing up and everything was going to change when I graduated from high school and then again when I first went to college and then again when all of the guys left on missions... but that seems like nothing compared to my current situation. Those changes over the last few years have shaped who I am and it has been quite the journey. But for some reason, these wonderful girls leaving on their missions is a way bigger deal to me than any of the guys leaving. And obviously marriage is a huge life changing experience as well.
I think that what I've come to realize this weekend is that life is never truly going to be the same again. Everything is changing around me, and I need to learn to roll with it. Sure, in the future we're all going to get together for lunch and laugh our heads off just as much as we do now... but it's not going to be the same. We all have our own lives we're leading; we're adults and each of us is doing something slightly different with our lives.

Normally I am a big fan of change, but these recent changes are a lot to take in. I know I'm still in the same place I have been for a couple years and it's not me making the big life changes right now, but I am still overwhelmed by the effect these changes are having on my life.
If I can say I've learned one thing through this crazy weekend, it would be this: The place I'm in in my life right now is super unique. It can change very quickly, so I need to take advantage of it while it's still here. I love where I am, but change is good. Kind of terrifying and makes me want to cry at times, but still very good.
I'm growing up. I am learning to accept that change can not be stopped. I already miss the way things were, but I also know that the future is going to be rockin.

Life really never turns out exactly the way you expect, but it always turns out the way it's supposed to.

Here is a song that is wonderful. And reminds me of my current situation.

Battle Week.

So I may or may not be in the midst of an epic battle. Yeah, you heard me, epic battle. I'm cool.

You may ask: with whom is this battle? Well, I shall tell you. Otherwise, this blog post would be completely pointless, unless I really just wanted to taunt everyone with mentioning the battle and then not elaborating. This would keep the world in such suspense, hanging on my every word. Actually, that's kind of a brilliant idea. But alas, I can't hold my tongue, because I really do have something to say today.

Epic battle.
In one corner there is me; a college student trying to find the balance between school and the fun I crave at all times. In the other corner we have this vile thing called finals. Don't worry about it, he's just lurking surreptitiously in the corners, ready to pounce at any moment. He truly is a terrible thing. My opponents mere existence causes spontaneous and terribly timed mental breakdowns. He also just enjoys putting the general college populous through pain. Quite the conniving little sucker.

I have taken 2 finals thus far this week. One yesterday (don't worry, I only spent FOUR HOURS on it) and I just finished one. And then there's another tonight.
I am not a fan of evening finals because you go in knowing it's going to be dark when you come out and it's just a horribly sinking feeling. Plus, it's right during dinner. Rude.
Anyway, so tomorrow's goal is to turn in one take home final, trek to the testing center to take my last multiple choice final, and then start and hopefully finish another take home final. Then I will be done! Done with finals by Wednesday. Will this actually happen? Let us hope so.
6 tests in 3 days? I'm a fan. I think that would definitely mean I had defeated, even pummeled, my unworthy opponent.
Secret to my success? Wearing my Ron Weasley t-shirt to every final for the last 3 semesters. Win.
Picture proof? Done.

I'm pretty sure that everyone around me in the library appreciated me taking this pic.

End of semester things.

Apparently I don't believe in sleep. Especially not this last week of school.

What with projects and papers due this past week and finals coming up next week, sleep just doesn't happen. I really just don't have time in my life to sleep. Or eat, most of the time. Eating and sleeping. It's really terrible, because I feel like those are two essentials for life. However, when the end of the semester comes, I do away with them. I propose that school is not more important than my life necessities... but try telling my professors that.
Monday may or may not have consisted of me staying at the library writing a paper until 1:30 in the AM (I'm leaning towards may). Tuesday was me staying up until 2, writing the same paper. Wednesday was the turning in of a semester long creativity project and a paper. Then staying up until 5 in the morning, yeah... you heard me: 5 am. Thursday was me turning in 15-page research paper, group presentation, and turning in another paper. It was great news.
On a positive note: My group presentation went surprisingly well. We talked about adolescents and gangs, and had an ex-gangbanger come be our guest speaker. A+ if I do say so myself.
Another positive: I was so incredibly blessed this past week. I haven't felt tired one bit. Seriously, when one gets 2 hours of sleep in a night, you expect her to be exhausted the next day. However I have been so blessed as to not feel tired even a once during work and class and reviews.
Another positive: at the finish of this very long week of final projects, we had a Chinese Murder Mystery date. Details are forthcoming. Don't even worry.


So I've come to the conclusion that teachers think it's hilarious to assign semester long projects that are due the last week of class (aka 1-2 weeks after Thanksgiving). They do not actually intend for you to work on these projects all semester. They just want to make you have a mental break-down the last two weeks. They assign these projects in the syllabus and briefly mention them the first day of class and then don't talk about them again for months until 3 weeks before they are due.

The student thought processes on semester long projects:
September: "Do we have something due at the end of the semester? Eh, that's months away. No need to worry about it now."
October: "Our teacher mentioned something about a project in class today... maybe I should figure out what that is.... Nah! That's not until after Thanksgiving, that's not for two months!"
Early November: "I finally read the assignment description for that project, it seems like a lot of work. I should start that or something."
Mid-November: "I really will start that project over Thanksgiving break! I have so much free time that weekend! I'm totally going to get it all done!"
Thanksgiving Break: "Nom nom nom nom!!!!"
Monday after Thanksgiving: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! That project is due in one week!!!!!!! I'm going to freaking die!!!! Oh no! And the project for this other class is due. And the one for this other class!"

Professors who assign semester long projects just think it's wonderful to give you a false sense of security and then BAM make you realize that you fail at time management. And their class. These professors know well enough how college students work, I mean I'm sure at some point in their lives they were college students too. They know how procrastinating works and they know it is inevitable. Yet they continue to assign them and I continue to get no sleep for a week straight while I do a semesters worth of work in that one week.
I don't see the humor. Maybe I will once I get some sleep.