Because I Feel Like It

1. I'm going to start up the "phantom-poem-leaving" bidnez again. I might even get halfway to famous!
2. Instead of staying silent in the back row as usual, from now on I'm going to speak in Spanish to my Spanish teacher because I can. Just this very day she said (in Spanish of course, bahah) "McKenzie speaks Spanish?! McKenzie stays silent in class but....she speaks Spanish!" Why yes...yes I do! Who'd a thunk?!
   
3. I'm going to beat down the pavement (and/or treadmill depending on the arrival of spring weather) with those brand spankin' new shoes because they are screaming to be abused.
   
4. I am not going to let my fiancee, whoever he is, propose to me over the phone. This happened to one of my roommates this past weekend, and she accepted, but for reals?! Phones are for "Hi, how are you?" not "Hi, will you marry me?"
5. I am going to go to bed before 1am. Yesyesyes I will! My poor body can't take the exhaustion anymore, even though somehow I've been able to stay awake in all of my classes.
   
6. I will continue to read Junie B. Jones to my roommate because it's our end-of-the-day, feel-like-a-kid, laugh-until-we-cry time.
7. I am going to make excuses to serve people.
8. My children will be educated in the following: Arthur, reading Little Critter books, and climbing trees (even if they skin their knees).
   
9. I am going to stay positive and throw that feeling around to others like a virus. That kind of sounded bad, but this is one virus that you don't want to get a shot for! I promise!
10. I am going to end this random post now and get back to mi tarea. Goodnight for now!
    

Girl in the Mask

What a crazy first week of school, gee whiz! I started out on Monday with my English 252 class, which is all about research, writing resumes, and basically finding a job in the English profession besides that of a teacher (no offense to teachers, who I love). Then it was off to Spanish 201, a class in which you must speak the language of love at all times and in all things and in all places. It's good practice, but now I know the fear that accompanies lil' green missionaries trying to learn a language. It's hard when you really don't know what you're saying! I also know, however, that if you put enough effort and desire into a challenge, the Lord will make up the rest.

My other classes are Math 108 (so far I've been doin' A-okay in this class but that's subject to change), English 110 (my professor talks like a muppet but dang is he FUNNY!), Marriage and Family Relations (our professor said that if we showed up in raincoats to class he wouldn't be offended...can ya guess why? Let's just say he's into what he teaches. I've got not problem with that. As long as I'm in the back row.), and Book of Mormon with one of the best religion teachers I've ever had. I've already learned so much about 1st Nephi in two class periods that I never understood or realized before. It's definitely worth the 6am alarm.

Okay, enough with the academic shtuff. I'll get on to the juicy goods, which I know is the whole reason most of you read this blog (wink wink). On Saturday, my roomie Chelsea and I decided we were going to be productive after a laaaate night (I won't say how late but...it was morning). First we walked to the grocery store and got some goods for our apartment. The hard part was walking back because, well, stealing shopping carts is a felony and so we had to make use of our triceps instead. We thought that maybe if we dragged our bags on the sidewalk and looked really flustered some Priesthood holder driving by would stop and offer us a ride. But don't worry mom, I wouldn't have said yes, because I don't ride with strangers. Right? Right. Anywho, we got home from the store super-duper sore and feeling hungry. So we decided to walk to Subway (call me traitor all you want but Quizno's is so much farther from my apartment!) and get some fuel for our weary muscles. We have one of those circular chairs people used in the 70's that sits on a bamboo-ish stand thing... (see pic below) and we decided to drag it onto the porch and eat our sandwiches there. Why not bask in the (temporary) sun of Rexburg? That's what we thought. Don't worry the interesting parts are coming I promise!

After that we started the homework marathon. I started at about 2:30 and finished at 9. That's right, 6 1/2 hours of homework! During our study time, there was a faint knocking on the front door. I thought it was our roomies coming home from Idaho Falls, but then Chelsea said someone was at the door and to go get it. I guess it didn't register in my brain and I kinda just looked at her. She must've really been in a hurry to get the door because she jumped off of her bed, tripped on her computer cord (which proceeded to crash to the floor and be dragged by her across the room), fell across some boxes on our floor, and smashed into the doorframe. We both started to laugh hysterically and panic at the same time because whoever was at the door was probably still there...oh dear. Well Chelsea, all bruised and battered, was laughing still and I was having a hard time breathing, but eventually we got up and got the door. Upon examination of her computer later, she found a big crack in the keyboard and a chip off of the top. Dangitall! She has a good attitude though and just kinda laughed it off. After that whole incident, she called a bunch of people in her family to tell them her sad/funny story and her homework was forgotten until Christina and Niki got home. Finally it was scary movie time! Well the movie we rented (What Lies Beneath) had a crack in the disc and so we took it back to Hollywood. There's only one other place to rent movies in Rexburg besides a Redbox, and that's good ol' Horkley's. I think it's about 50 cents for VHS and maybe a buck for DVD's? Anywho, we found our movie on VHS and we were pretty excited about that. Cheap college kids, I know. Well the whole time we're in the video store I had some facial mask on, but I didn't realize that I was still wearing some. I had put it on a few hours before but never rinsed it off. When I realized this I quickly put my hood over my head and said, "Why didn't anyone tell me I had mask on?! Ahh!" All my roomies just laughed at me and assured me that "you can't really see it." Psh!

Wow that was a lot longer of a post than I wanted it to be... but the point is that us college students really know how to party on the weekends. Homework, food, homework, movies, homework. Rinse. Repeat. And don't forget the rinse part!!! Ugh...

PLUS


PLUS

PLUS

= GOOD WEEKEND!!

Back in the Burg...

...And it feels so good.

I've now had all of my new classes and my favorito is definitely going to be Book of Mormon. Even though it's at 7:45am in the morning (the most unholy of hours for a college student who goes to bed at 1am), I know it's going to be worth it. When I was changing around my schedule during registration, nothing was working out; when I finally settled on having BOM at 7:45, everything worked out. So I'm supposed to be in this class, right? Right!

Spanish 201 is hardcore. We only have one more day of speaking English, and then after that if you say a word of English in class you're outta there! Yikes!

Not having to walk around campus with a coat on is pure bliss. And nighttime walks up to the temple are also pretty high on the awesomeness scale.

Liz, Kristina, and Audrey are all here. Can you say part-ay?

Math isn't going to be that bad! I was definitely surprised at this information.

Devotionals are proof that this is an exciting time to live and BYU-Idaho is the best place to be right now!

Remember Friday

I remember a certain Thursday.

It was raining when I woke up, turning everything outside that we thought was spring into mud. That's okay, I thought. I like the smell of mud. It means that the earth is still good enough to be cleansed by God.

This Thursday was like most other Thursdays in that it didn't hold any special event or awakening. Until I read this:

I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross.

On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth.

Those evil men who sought His life rejoiced. Now that Jesus was no more, surely those who followed Him would disperse. On that day they stood triumphant.

On that day the veil of the temple was rent in twain.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were both overcome with grief and despair. The superb man they had loved and honored hung lifeless upon the cross.

On that Friday the Apostles were devastated. Jesus, their Savior—the man who had walked on water and raised the dead—was Himself at the mercy of wicked men. They watched helplessly as He was overcome by His enemies.

On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled.

It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God.

I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.

But the doom of that day did not endure.

The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.

And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the firstfruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.

Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.

But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come.

Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Sunday Will Come,” Liahona, Nov 2006, 28–30

So tomorrow when you wake up and find that it's still raining and you wish that spring would come, or you are simply struggling and wish that your Sunday would come, remember a certain Friday a long time ago. And remember how everything that happened on that Friday was so you could have a Sunday. Remember.

Anybody Up for a New Pet?