Terrible Tuesday

3 March 2007

So, I hate Tuesdays just because they are prodigiously long and obnoxious (for me and my retarded schedule), but this week's was trashcan worthy. No, WAIT...that isn't disgusting enough. I'd say it was dumpster or landfill material...perhaps even toxic waste would justify a good description.

And it came to pass...
I started my morning in a manic/cranky manner, as usual. But during my morning blah, I had several thoughts that went something like this: "self, just wear glasses." In response, though, I went on to think, "that's retarded. I'll be fine," + ended up pushing the reoccurring idea to the back of my noggin'.

If ye go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye withdraw yourselves form the spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom's paths...
Lo and behold, my contacts decided to give me havoc. Throughout the day, I couldn't see and was unfocused in my classes. There was no point in my being in class (since I wasn't getting anything out of it) so I headed to the ladies room.
Basically... I attempted to rinse out my devilish contacts. Apperently, I failed miserably. I plopped them back in and moved 'em around, trying to get them to adjust. There must have been a piece of makeup or eyelash in the one, though, because my eye began to scream at me (metaphorically speaking, of course. I am glad that body parts can't really communicate, it would be freaky). I then proceeded to trashing the lenses.

And there was wailing and gnashing of teeth...
I-- being a retard-- remained in the bathroom, going through toilet paper like no other, because my eye spasm decided to invite my sinuses to the show. I was naively hoping that the pain would cease. Finally, ("here [she] come[s] to save the day") a girl of brilliance assisted me to the building's main office. I was blind, by this point, and in tremendous pain. I told them my situation and was led, like a dog on a leash, to the health and wellness center. It turns out that I had managed to scratch my cornea. It took like two hours for them to tell me this (after a junk-load of useless questioning) and I was then sent home to endure the rest of the day. It was disgusting. We hit a traffic jam and with my lack of sight, combined with the stop/go situation, things were "Mmmm good", only not. I became car-sick and vomited all over the car. :(.

Later that night, Bro. Durrant and my poppy gave me a blessing. It was very comforting (physically and emotionally). I love the priesthood. <3. style="font-style:italic;"> Words of advice = Don't hurt your eye; it is not fun.

Saturday @ School

A few years ago I wrote:

This past weekend was a rather weird one. I usually stay at home and catch up on my studies/practicing and then squeeze in some relaxation time. On a spur of the moment thing, though, I ended up hanging out at school all day. Do you know who Adam Neiman is? If not, I highly suggest that you look the fellow up.

So... It turns out that he was giving a studio class and a concert on Saturday. I was pretty much enthused when I found out about this. I attended both and took some great notes. It was very inspirational. He knows his music history, theory and everything in between. I was very impressed and in love with his technique!

I was also able to go to a study group in preparation a test. I think it helped, but I'm not sure. I guess I'll have to wait until the grade is posted. I'd go to all the study groups that are provided, but they seem to be at unsuitable times (for me anyways). I have no form of transportation to get me downtown on the weekends and in the evenings (usually). I am stuck at school from 8 in the morning until 9ish in the p.m., on Tuesdays. Even if a study group is on that day (which never happens), it would probably be during one of my classes. I laugh, because so is life.

And that I concludes my recap of a Saturday @ school. :)

An Up to Date...ish

An excerpt from a recent email to friend is below to fill you in on the recent happenings of my life (Reader's Digest Version.... haha).

I've loved almost every moment of Christmas Break. I'm sad to see it coming to an end. I know, I know... I should be glad for the lengthy amount of time that I had off (especially when [blogging to people] who [have probably had] less time than me) and I am, but it is just that school is not the most pleasant of thoughts after such a glorious vacation! Do you now what I mean?

I read, spent time with buddies and family, slept, and filled the Brookometer back to full. Oh, and guess what?!?!?! Patrick and Christine are going to have a baby!!! I'm going to have another niece or nephew by August. [My family] is getting bigger everyday!

During the past few weeks, I've done a lot of buying and selling books on half.com. * $$$* It has been as fun as selling and buying books can be. I've been needing to get rid of my old textbooks. They were beginning to take over my closet and book shelves. It feels good to have a few of them out of my hands and to have space for the new-comers that are assigned with this semester's slew of classes. I'm signed up for 12 credits (the bare minimum that I need in order to have financial aid). I'm hoping that cutting down my load will help me do better in my classes. I've had some not lovely past semesters and want this one to be all about the good grades.

I'm still teaching piano/violin lessons and love it!!!!! I'm trying to plan a recital for February, but we'll see if I can organize one with all of the varying schedules that I have to deal with. Haha. It should be fun! I'm also still working for E.N.C.O.R.E by playing for musicals. I've accompanied "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and am lined up for "Seussical the Musical" in the spring. I can't wait! I love being able to use music in my life and jobs. Good times, let me tell you!

Of Good Choices and Great Opportunities

Being in a singles' branch, I am reminded constantly of the importance of dating and getting married. I know that marriage should be the ultimate goal of an individual attending a branch of this type, but-- in my case (at least originally)-- the singles' branch was simply an opportunity to socialize with people who were and are in similar circumstances of life and learning as me.

My choice to associate with singles, like all choices, has been accompanied by consequences. It has been wonderful to be able to make friends and feel like, for the first time in my life, that I fit in! And yet, I also feel like I am growing up too fast. Being in college and surrounded by older single adults has given me experience that would have been shielded from me, had I stayed in high school for the usual amount of time.

I have dated all sorts of men (hey, I've even had a few marriage proposals!) and I've been attending a singles ward, institute, and college for three years now. All of this should be new to me, since I am only an 18-year-old girl, but it is not. I am used to all of it. In fact, I am starting to get tired of it all.

People often ask me, "Brooke, if you could go back in time, would you decided to stay in high school?" My reply is always the same, " No. The choice to go to college has given me some hard consequences, but it has been the best decision of my life. If I had the chance to go back in time, even with the knowledge that I have about how it would all turn out, I would choose college over high school, any day." And I would, too! After all, I prayed about that decision and felt like attending college was what I needed to do. As hard as it may be, at times, I still feel comforted in my choice.

With that said, I return to the idea of growing myself up too fast. I have one more year until I graduate with a BA, when a normal girl my age would be barely starting off at a new school as a Freshman-- the world of college being new, fresh, and exciting. It is insane to think about! I am excited to think of how far ahead I am in the world in comparison to that little freshman girl, though.

I have the advantage of a few years of experience. I'll be able to graduate, before I marry (that is, if I ever marry). I'll be able to get a nice, stable job and start really supporting myself (hopefully, anyhow... haha). I'll also probably be able to go to Graduate school. There is so much I can do with my life! Thousands of doors are wide open for me-- each one filled with a dozen fabulous opportunities. I am one lucky girl! I just hope that I can make the most of it.

I haven't done my best, in the past, but today is a new day and a bright future can be mine, if I give it my all and always rely upon the Lord to make up for the difference.

Drivin' in style..

March 18th, 2008

Today, I checked out a book on tape called Joan of Ark by Mark Twain. I'm tired of the same old music that is played on the raido and i'm hoping that listening to a book, while i drive, will make the long commute to and from school more interesting. Who knows, eh? It's worth a try.

Bubble Sheet Blues

[As you have probably already guessed... I'm a fan of using my other sources of writing to create blogs. I lack a sense of creativity, I suppose. Hehe. Sooo yeah.... Below is an excerpt of an email that I sent my friend, yesterday. If you're reading this, dear friend, I hope you don't mind me snatching this from our correspondence. Thanks!]


Guess what? *sigh* (and I really did just sigh, too) I had an econ test today, for which I studied hardcore (and by studied hardcore I mean that I seriously crammed) I even stayed on campus until midnight, last night. It was awesome!. I felt prepared, I'm pretty sure that I was prepared, and I think that, answer-wise, I did pretty well on the exam this morning. I took the full hour and was feeling pretty good about the whole situation (I knew that I'd probably missed a few, but hey... this was the best I'd ever felt after an econ exam), and then I turned in the bubble sheet and suddenly every happy emotion I had previously been feeling was replaced with heart-dropping nastiness.

I had forgotten to fill in the bubbles of my name and ID number! My teacher, after noticing this, transformed from her happy nice self into a monster. "You know you're losing 75 points for turning it in like this!" she angrily piped. What am I supposed to say to that? " Yup! I know, I planned it that way. I figured that failing my first test would be the way to go!" Yeah right! I felt retarded. My name was on the bubble sheet line on the opposite side of the paper. Who designed bubble sheets anyhow? The identification bubbles should be on the front so that forgetful/loserish people, like myself, will remember to fill them in. AHHH!

I apologized and asked if she would pity me. Her reply, "It's not my sorry it is your sorry." I was like "I know. Hence why I said I'm sorry not you're sorry." I actually said that, can you believe?!? It was definitely not the best moment of my life. Even with my dumb remark, she did eventually give in to my pleas by letting me buy an opportunity to fill in the stupid bubbles. I ended up sacrificing 15 glorious points!!!!! That is an automatic 85 % ( if I aced the exam... and I know that didn't happen.) I should be grateful for the second chance. 15 points is definitely better than 75!!!!! Stupid bubble sheet. I had my name on everything, even the bubble sheet... just not in the bubbles. :(

After this annoying escapade, I ended up losing control of my emotions and bawling in the girl's restroom. It was pathetic. I couldn't stop crying and I'm not an attractive crier. I managed to pull myself together enough so that I was only a few minutes late to my next class. I think my teacher forgave me for being late the instant I walked through the door, due to my red face, blood-shot eyes, and puffy cheeks. I received the "are you alright?" look from everyone. It was nice to know that they all care about my well being, but still... Crying because of a bad grade-- a total Brooke thing to do and yet very embarrassing. I hate it when high hopes are crushed so unexpectedly.

Another Look Back: Nerdy Registration

6/11/07

My life is still crazy-- awesome, but crazy. I am getting all sorts of calls and e-mails from prospective music students. My tutoring job is on hold until school starts up again, though. My piano teacher decided that he was too far behind, before we even had one session, and dropped the class. I like math, but I wouldn't consider myself a whizz. Speaking of math, what think ye of the following: I have to take 4 more credits of an area III course. I am scheduled, right now, to take a Physics class entitled: Planets and Astrobiology. I also could take Calculus (with my brother). Both will be hard classes... "Argg!" Would homework every night (for a math class ) be worse than the lab write-ups and etc. (for a science class)? I'm not sure. It probably doesn't matter, one way or the other, and I'll end up hating myself for choosing either. I enjoy science, and find space/planets very fascinating, and yet I have a strange desire to to tackle Calculus (Perhaps, this is because I would have taken Calc, in high school, and I don't want to miss out on anything.... Nerdy, I know).

A Look Back: It's Summer Again

5/14/07

I'm glad school is out! I'm not sure that the reality of summer has actually sunk in. Maybe it is that I'm afraid to see my final grades and am in a state of denial. I've been avoiding broncoweb/blackboard, all weekend. It is not like I can do much about my grade, at this point, but I'd rather not know my test scores, if said test scores are disgusting. You know the old saying, "ignorance is bliss?" Yeah... touche' goes out to whomever first spoke such wisdom. Not that its original meaning had anything to do with college finals. Ha, I laugh. Okay, so I probably did fine. *Sigh.* It is just that my motivation level had dropped into the negatives, during the last few weeks of school and it is extremely hard to do anything, let alone study, during such dips of will power. Then again, it is not like I didn't study... I DID, but I feel like I could have done better. Oh well... WOOHOO!!! SCHOOL'S OUT, FOR THE SUMMER!!! I'll be happy now... :).

General Eds

3/14/07

General Eds have not been my favorite aspect of college, but it is certainly nice to nibble on a wide selection of fields and topics. I have a feeling that I'm going to miss the variety, when my focus is completely on my chosen degree. I'll have English coming out my eyeballs!

Declaring a major does seem almost too concrete (kind of intimidating (not that a slab of concrete is intimidating... Unless, of course, you are randomly falling to your death)). I am pretty sure I've decided on a good one, for myself, but a shade of doubt makes its way through my thoughts, every once in a while. A person can change his or her major, of course, but I'd rather not take "forever" to get through school because of such indecision. Ya know?

Still Gettin' Older

My B-day with weak-sauce lungs:
Yesterday was my birthday. "Happy birthday to me!" It was a happy birthday, indeed. You know the years when the celebrations seem to last all week? This is turning out to be one of those years. I had a party at my grandparents' house on Sunday. A lot of my relatives, who live near and around Boise/Meridian, joined us for the festivities. We had cake (well, technically, we had sugar-free cheese cake pudding with gram crackers and strawberries.... mmm), and I attempted to blow out all the candles. You may be wondering why the word attempt made its way into the previous sentence. Blowing out candles seems so simple, right? "Perhaps," you think to yourself, "she had a batch of trick candles to deal with?" Well, not exactly. In all reality, I have never been able to fully complete the said task, properly. I don't have a lot of gusto, apparently, when it comes to blowin' and I always have to take several breaths to get the job done. This is sad, I know. I could probably overcome this deficiency with a bit of practice (EXPAND THAT DIAPHRAGM, WOMAN!!!!) But I don't feel like putting forth the effort. Let's scapegoat this issue and blame the lack of lung capacity (for candle outing) on my asthma, okay? Okay.

Monday:

Monday, felt birthday-ish because I was able to wear a new pair of pants and test out my new rolling backpack. "Goodbye Sir Jansport and Madam Shoulder Bag" [wave of the hand]. No more bad posture! I always thought rolling backpacks were lame, but (with the weight of all of my stuff finally off my shoulders) all bad feelings have flown away. Though the wheels on rough pavement and bricked pathways make quite a racket, I love my new bag and recommend rollers to everyone.

Tuesday:

Tuesday, being my real birthday, was probably one of the best Tuesdays that I've had all semester. I found a strap for my violin case and was able to carry it about, in a more comfortable manner. Briefcase style is a thing of the past, ya know.. ha. Violin lessons were canceled, though, so carrying Betsy (my brother named my violin) around campus was basically pointless. Oh well.

Field trip:

My Biology lab went on a field trip, yesterday (still Tuesday). We had the opportunity to hike around in the desertous foothills of downtown Boise. Three whole hours of bird watching, lizard catching, plant analyzing fun! You should be very jealous. I did obtain a sun burn on my neck and collar bone, though, so the trip wasn't perfect. You'd think that (with all the jazz I stash in my backpack) I'd have sunscreen, somewhere in the depths. I did last semester, for awhile. I suppose a girl can't have a Mary Poppins bag all of the time.

Food, glorious food:

After Lab, mis padres took my brother and me out for lunch. We gorged ourselves (at least I did) full of food, at a Chinese buffet. I ate soo much food that my stomach looked rather stretched out, afterwords. I guess that (because I don't have a lot of meat on my bones) when I fill myself with meat, it's bound to show. Anyways... YUMMY! It was delicious! After this grand feast, Ryan and I hung out at the SUB until our math class. He checked out a laptop and surfed the net/listened to Thai music while I yakked with my cousin, Kahli (who called to give me some birthday lovin'). Yippee for doing anything but math homework at times like these.

Thoughts about the past:

I have recently been contemplating the origin of birthdays and the celebrations that coincide. How long have birthdays been a reason to party? Any ideas? Did Methuselah find time to fiesta, in his 969 years. They obviously kept track of aging. Was a year back then calculated like the modern year? huh...

The Point of No Return

I think I have used up all of the motivation and self-discipline that has carried me through the last few months. There comes a time, when the end of a semester is nigh and grades are pretty much stable, that I simply don't want to care anymore. I have reached this point and any thought of school makes me want to scream... "AAAAWWWW!" <--- Do you see what I mean? I need some kind of a boost to help me just keep chuggin' along. Ugg! Perhaps, if I make a paper chain (like we did in kindergarten), the thrill of taking off one link every day will do the trick.. ha. It's worth a try, eh? Any advice or prescriptions for my serious case of lackadaisicalness?

Human Brains and Flights of Stairs

The other day, I noticed something interesting (at least to me). I was in the engineering building, tromping up a few flights of stairs, when I had a moment of realization. The higher the level, the less worn the stairs were. Also, the wearing occurred on the right-hand-side. I thought about causes for such and I could only come up with a few reasons.

First of all, people are naturally lazy. Let's face it; most of us are more likely to take the stairs, if we only have to go to the second floor (notice that I previously said the word "few" when referring to the number of flights I was headed up). The third floor is less likely and above that is a rare occurrence. "Hmmm" is all I have to say to that.

As for the specific location of the wear and tear, this could be due to the fact that our transportation system is set up in such a way that we drive on the right-hand-side of the road. It seems like we are accustomed to choosing the right (ha, CTR... :/). I'm not sure whether this is exactly connected to driving and stair climbing, but I noticed that people tend to stay to their right when walking, as well.

Is this different in other countries? If we were to drive on the left-hand-side of the road would we go up stairs and walk about differently than we do now? Can any of you (who have been on missions or have traveled to to other countries) answer my question? I am very curious. Is there some sort of psychological reason for the above mentioned or topics of the like? Perhaps, I can do a Google search of some sort....

It is fascinating to analyze human kind-- the way we think and our habitual ways. We are definitely an interesting species!

Brain Spasms

Today is Tuesday. For me, this means a slam packed day full of studying and classes. I am on campus from the early a.m. to the late p.m., carrying around a backpack, a shoulder bag and a violin. I look like the ultimate nerd, trudging along. Plus, (if you are familiar with the stereotypical nerd) because of my scratched eye-ball, I have to wear glasses which give me an extra zing of nerdiness. It is beautiful. :).

The day hasn't been too terrible, which is unusual. I am sure that my attitude has a part (if not the whole shebang) to play in my "terrible Tuesdays." I wake up, remember what day it is and automatically I hate the world and have a mindset that things aren't going to go well. This is not the right way to go about life. I admit it! I could probably use a serious attitude adjustment/kick in the pants. Any one have a good steel-toed boot?

My Physical Anthropology class was out of the norm, this morning. Instead of the usually boring note-taking session, we had a lab! My professor brought in skulls of all sorts of primates. It was exciting to be able to apply the information that we have been learning (dental formulas, sagital crests, post orbital bars/plates, etc.) to real bones!! I think I'll dream I'm a paleontologist, tonight... as if I can choose. Can a person choose what he or she dreams about? Do any of you have such an ability? If so, share you secret por favor. I want to know how!

Violin Lessons were canceled. It is always nice to bring one's fatty instrument case to school, for no reason... Well actually, for canceled reasons. NOT. *Sigh* On the bright side, though, it does strengthen my arm muscles. I killed (In all actuality, it died on its own. I am no murderer!) the shoulder strap and now have to carry it about like an elongated briefcase. Because of such circumstances, I should have Pop-Eye shaped biceps by the end of the year. I am looking forward to and planning on conquering some hardcore arm wrestling matches.

My BIO lab wasn't quite enjoyable. Last week we had the privilege of dissecting cow eyeballs. Today, though, all we did was count beetle populations and discuss a (soon to be due) science paper. In comparison to previous labs, this one just didn't measure up on my list of favorites. I must say, though, I have perfected the skill of beetle counting. It's all in the wrist, baby!

I have a Trig Test in a couple of hours. Wish me luck! I should be fine, hopefully, because I actually studied (amazing, I know.. jk). Plus, my professor has pretty straight forward exams. I aced the last one. Can you believe it? Miss Brooke doing well in math? Such things are unheard of! It was pretty much miraculous, I'm not going to lie. Hopefully, the math gods are still pleased with me.... Not that I am polytheistic or any such nonsense, ha. As for my grade, I suppose only time will tell. "Tick-tock."

I'm gonna go eat some grub, now. I'd better get my blood sugar up so that my mind can function. You know how it is...

Ciao!