Week Three!

Hello!

Well, it's week three of classes starting tomorrow, and I figured I should update on what's been going on. :)

Last Saturday was the huge Oklahoma vs. BYU football game. Now, mind you, there are a few things you should know to begin with-- Oklahoma was ranked 3rd, and BYU was ranked 20th. We had absolutely NO hope of winning this game. We were expecting a dismal defeat, a major killing on the field. But as the game went on and BYU managed to keep up, we all began to wonder if we really could win the game. And then, right at the end, a miracle happened! We managed to score one more point than the other team, bringing it to a total of 14 to 13. And with 20 seconds left to go on the clock, OU gave up, and we won the game.

Now, for the first half of the game, Somers, Sarah, and I were watching the game on these huge projector screens in the Wilk. There were probably close to a thousand people all jam-packed into the ballroom, watching the game on these giant screens. However, we had no seats because we got there a bit late, and so we left to watch it on our wonderful TV back home where we could have front row seats on comfy chairs and couches. By this time, our voices were already hoarse from screaming our heads off every time BYU managed to make a comeback. So back home, we're still shouting at the top of our lungs. And then the game ends and we're stunned. We're shouting and screaming and jumping up and down. We can hear the people in the apartment above us doing the same thing, jumping up and down on our ceiling. And then we finally calm down, sprawled across the couches, and sit in silence, listening to the roar of the crowd on the TV. And then we start to realize that the roar isn't just coming from the TV. It's coming from outside our windows (which are all open because it's still ridiculously hot here). So we open our front door and it's like a wave of sound that hits us, this mass of people pouring out of the apartments around us, shouting at the top of their lungs. And from our balcony, we can see all the buildings that make up our ward, and we see that at Windsor Arms (one of the boys' apartments) there is this mass congregation in the street of people cheering. So we run over to Windsor Arms and join the crowd, cheering and dancing and screaming at the top of our lungs. People open up their car doors and blast music, some people set off fireworks, and everyone is chanting and cheering like there's no tomorrow. It was awesome.

And then this mass of people decides to move the celebration elsewhere--namely, the streets of Provo. So this huge mass of people begins running through the neighborhood, cheering and disturbing anyone who was silly enough to try to sleep that night. We made it out onto a busier road and obstructed traffic, shouting at all the cars as they all shouted out their windows, cheering and honking their horns. Then the mass decides to run up to Brigham Square on campus, so these people book it for campus up a giant hill (since we're on the low end). They run through the Wilk, shouting, and then decide to run to the Victory Bell. By this time, I was far too tired and knew that the partying would go on all night, so I headed back to my apartment to change into proper shoes (flip flops are not the best for running in).

Not too much later, Somers and Mack appear back at the apartment and say that there's a huge dance party in the street on Condo Row. So we book it for Condo Row and see that there's a ton of people in the street, still cheering and dancing. We join in and it's all good and fun, until someone crowd surfing falls into someone else, who then proceeds to hit his head on the concrete and pass out.

Instant kill to the party, of course. What amazed me was how quickly everyone quieted down, and then how quickly we heard the call "Who has oil? Who can give a blessing right now?" And then a few guys step forward and proceed to give this guy a blessing. So this mass of people is all silent in the street with folded arms and bowed heads as these two young men give him a blessing and another girl is on the phone calling an ambulance. The ambulance shows up a minute later and everyone watches as this guy is taken off.

Of course, no one feels like resuming the celebrations now. Everyone feels awful for what happened and everyone's worried about the nameless guy. There are still fireworks going off everywhere, and we can hear other people shouting around Provo, horns honking, etc. But this mass of people is silent, and then, one brave soul decides to step forward...

And proceeds to play Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

The mass of people laughs hysterically, because the idea of some guy playing BAGPIPES at that moment is just too funny. So the mood is lightened thanks to this guy and then everyone decides to start an impromptu march, with the bagpipes in front. So we begin this procession down the streets, following the bagpiper playing Praise to the Man. And then we hit 9th.

Now, 9th is pretty busy. I mean, it's the street that the Creamery is on, and it's a pretty big road. When we get there, there's a gap in traffic because they're all stopped at the traffic lights. So the bagpiper and a few in the front decide, "Quick! Let's run out on 9th before the cars get a green light!" So they do. And so does the rest of this mass. And so there's a huge congregation of people + a bagpiper in the middle of 9th, all cheering. The cars, of course, take it good naturedly and honk back, cheering out their open windows. We eventually decide to stop obstructing the traffic and move onto the sidewalk, still chanting and cheering. We run through apartment complexes, and eventually end up at some dance party at an apartment. The mass of people decides to crash the party, which the people throwing it have no objection to, and this mass dance party ensues for several hours.

It's then announced that the football team will be arriving at the Provo Airport at 2 AM, and we're all going to go greet them. So we head back to our apartments to await 2 AM, and then we head off. There's a new mass of people there, all cheering as the football team gets off the plane, and they give us all high fives. It was pretty awesome.

By the time we get to bed, it's about 3 AM and we're exhausted. We'd officially had about 7 straight hours of celebration. Our throats are protesting from all the screaming we've done, and our bodies are begging for sleep. So we conk out immediately, and are extremely grateful the next day that church starts at 1. :P

Sunday night we had a dessert social, the ward activity that has replaced last year's ward prayer. We met a few people, and it was the first night I actually remembered people's names. :P We met an apartment of guys that seems pretty nice, and they invited us over to watch a movie. So Somers and I went over and we watched Indiana Jones on their huge TV. One of the guys brought a surround system, a subwoofer, and a HUGE tv. So it pretty much felt like all those arrows were whistling past us. :P

Then Monday was Labor Day, so no school. Somers, Mal, and Mack went to Payson to watch a parade, but I stayed behind because I was utterly exhausted and had a lot of homework to catch up on. That night we watched a movie and just had fun with our last night before classes started up again.

As for classes... well, I anticipate I'll hate biology, but that was no surprise. I dropped my Modern American Usage class because after attending it for a while, I realized that there was no way I'd be able to pass this class with the professor I had. He doesn't explain things at ALL and I was already lost on the first day, which... isn't a good sign. So I dropped that, which means I now have no Friday classes (which my roommates are all very jealous of :P). I've added a Creative Writing class, which I think I'm going to love a lot. My teacher isn't a professor, he's a grad student, and so he's very personable and funny. He's more focused on us just having FUN writing rather than producing writing that's worthy of being nationally acclaimed. Of course, he encourages us to do our best and expects our best, but it's more about just enjoying what you're writing about and exploring your creativity. Which I like. We do a lot of in class examinations on our own papers. So we bring in our work for the rest of the class to read and they critique it. So... half of our required reading is from the class itself.

My favorite class is, of course, Makeup. Tomorrow we start actually working with it. It's our first practice day, and we're doing Youth Male Corrective Makeup. Which means I have today to find someone to be my male model to work on. :P I'm hoping my home teachers come visit today so that when they ask "Is there anything we can do for you?" I can say "Why yes, actually, there IS something you could do for me!" We received our makeup kits on Wednesday, and it was so cool! There's all sorts of fun stuff in there, like stage blood and spirit gum (which you use to make wrinkles and stuff). Haleh, the teacher, is really cool. She's also a grad student, and she's a lot of fun. Every time I walk in class she always compliments me on my hair or my makeup, which, of course, just makes me want to look my best for that class every day. :P Of course, once we start the practice and graded days doing makeup on ourselves I'm going to have to come in with no makeup on and my hair completely pulled back. :P

I love New Testament. I'm pretty sure I already said I have Brother Parker again, whom I took Book of Mormon 2 from last year, and I loved him. He's been one of my favorite professors so far. One of my favorite quotes from him is "Don't be a spiritual couch potato." :P He's been a lot happier since Brother Matthews funeral. I think it gave him the closure he needed, and now he's back to his old self, which is good. It was sad seeing him so depressed.

Chum is pretty good too. I'm expecting I'll like that class quite a bit, and my professor is the head of the Editing minor, so he knows a lot about what I'm going to have to be doing. I'm probably going to end up taking a lot of classes from him in the future.

I've been pretty tired this past week. Both Krista and I have no energy whatsoever. We're wondering if we've caught something, because it's not that we're TIRED and aren't getting enough sleep (because, I know this is surprising, but I go to bed around 11:30 every night now and wake up around 8 or 9). We're just PHYSICALLY exhausted. No energy to do anything. So hopefully we'll both get some of our energy back this week, but last week was hard. We'd both come home from class and just collapse on the couch for a while.

I've seen James a few times. I mean, he's in my bio class, but I've seen him outside class too. I went over to his apartment on Thursday with Somers so I could take a picture of a bio project we were doing (we have to send pictures of us with the experiment for documentation) and we chatted for a bit. He seems to be doing well.

I saw Allison Mitton walking across campus the other day but was in a rush, so I didn't get a chance to say hi to her. James told me that Meghan is now at BYU too, which surprised me. I thought she was younger, but I guess not. Apparently she's now here. I haven't seen her yet, and I don't know that if I did I would even recognize her. :P James also told me that Christina... oh, I can't remember her last name. But they lived in the Adams-harts old house next door to where the Thompsons now live. Anyways, Christina's engaged now, apparently.

Well, I should probably end this. We've got to head off to church soon. It's so weird having church so late... we get out at FOUR now. Which makes Sundays seem a lot shorter. Today will be busy because we've got a CES fireside at 6, and then the dessert night at 8. And then homework. Whoo! (Actually, I don't think I really have any... I think I just have a little reading to do and then I'm done :P)

I'll try to post pictures next time. I've got a bunch of pictures from Julie's wedding and some pictures of the football team at the airport. :) Till next time!

YEAH!!!!

Two words:

GO BYU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

We beat OU (who is ranked THIRD, in case you didn't know. And we're TWENTIETH) and now everyone is partying in the streets, setting off fireworks, etc. It's awesome. We've been running all over Provo obstructing traffic for the past four hours. And at 2 AM we're all meeting at the Provo airport to greet the team as they get off the plane. :P

BYU IS SO AWESOME!!! :D

I'll post more later. But for now, I'm going to go have a bit more fun. :D