Happy Valentine's Day

Hard to believe it's already been a month since the sledding fiasco. I've healed quite well, but my face still has some red spots. They aren't that noticeable to many others, just me. I was just glad that it all cleared up before the winter choirfest.
So, this is Valentines Day, and I'm watching the snow fall out my window. It looked like it would stop a couple of hours ago, but then it got heavy again. I'm heading up to Salt Lake in an hour to observe an awesome Master class. The Men's Chorus and the King Singers are going to be working together in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, and it's going to be so awesome. Amelia is coming with me so I won't be driving alone. I'm really glad I have something to do today that takes me out of my apartment for a few hours. When I get back, I'm going to dinner with some girls in my ward. My friend Megan invited me to go eat Indian food. I hope it's good. I'm scared of curry.
Tonight I'm hanging out with Liz and Amelia. I'm so glad we have each other to distract one another from Valentine's Day. It's much needed at the moment.
I promised a blog this week since Sarah and I are on a facebook fast that ends tuesday night. It's hard, but I'll make it. haha. There's been a lot more sleeping and reading in my life this week. But there are only a few days left, and I'm going to make it, no matter how tempted I am.

So this one time I went sledding...

I decided I better post my latest mis-adventure for those of you who won't see my facebook pictures. Here's the story. I'd been wanting to go sledding all week, but once school starts its hard to find time. Especially since I have no sled. So, when my ward announced a bring your own sled ward fhe, I was kind of excited. When I got to Rock Canyon Park, I noticed that the spot we had chosen was a little too steep for my liking. I saw people sleddingon it, and going far, and having fun, and not crashing, but I couldn't even see the bottom of the hill. It was like a roller coaster. My friend Janelle tried to convince me to go down with her, but I was too scared. Eventually, this kid Ben convinced me that I really needed to try it at least once. He found a pretty sturdy sled, and had me get in front with another girl behind me, who was also terrified. He got in back, and Jaimeson took a picture before we went down. I was holding on for dear life and screaming when we started out, and before I knew it Ben was warning us of the bump we were about to hit. He was trying to get us out of that path, but it didn't work. We hit the bump, turned over, and the sled went over my hand. We must have then hit another bump, because we were all thrown from the sled, and I hit the ice face first. The girl behind me bit her lip, and Ben didn't get even a scratch. My head hurt so bad, I was sure I had a concusion. It took me quite a while to finally get up. My friend David slid down the hill as fast as he could to make sure I was ok and help me up. At the top, Jaimeson took another picture. I don't have a concusion, and I don't hurt really anymore. I'm just a little ugly is all.

Snow-vo

Apparently this picture thing works in backwards order from the way I want it. Anyway, the plan was to dedicate a post to Christmas break, and show pictures of my mom's Nativities all decked out in Santa hats, but then I realized all those pictures are on mom's camera, not on mine. And I don't think she knows how to get them off, or to email them to me :) We haven't taught her that trick yet. So, we'll just have to manage with pictures of my winter wonderland. I took these on the way to campus today. I think I may not see the ground for a couple of months. This first one, since we are in backwards order, is the way down from campus. Notice the clean railing. Most people prefer to slide.
This is my favorite shot of the day. I love the Maeser building, especially in the snow.
This is the awesome tree outside the library.
Here I am on top of a 10 foot mountain of snow in the middle of campus.


This is the way I walk to school, walk to school, walk to school

These are not my cars, because I have COVERED parking. Woohoo! I also have four wheel drive, which accounts for my greater enjoyment of this weather than most of those around me.

So, that's what my life looks like at the moment. I have started classes for the last time, and most of them are fun. Some people save hard classes for last, I saved easy ones. I figured it was a good plan.

How to get rid of squatters

Thursday morning, I woke up and found a girl I didn't know sleeping on my couch. I didn't think much of it, since I have been known to have sleep overs in the living room. In fact, I just had one last night. Anyway, I figured she was a friend of Brittany's and maybe went to the concert with her the night before. Brittany didn't get in until after 2am. When Brittany left for work, the girl was still there. In fact, she asked if I had an extra clean towel, and took a shower and everything. A little later I was making breakfast, and I asked where she was from. She said she was from Heaven, and wasn't about to offer any other information. That's weird. She also told me her name was Plauci. So then, she started doing Brit's laundry, in return for letting her sleep here. She had to go run some errands, so she left a little before I did. When I came home, two of my room mates, Catherine and Heather, and my relief society president, Tamara, were in my kitchen talking about this girl. When my room mates found out that Brittany didn't know her, they called the Bishop to see what they could do, or where they could take her. Tamara had been waiting all afternoon in our apartment for her to come back. All her stuff was still in our living room. Apparently Brittany didn't know her at all. She came home and saw the girl on the couch in our lobby. Brittany figured she was locked out of her apartment somewhere in our complex. But she wasn't. She was just sleeping there. Apparently she sleeps there often now that its cold outside. She doesn't have an apartment, she doesn't go to school, she doesn't have a job. She's a wanderer, trying to find herself. She reads preach my gospel a lot. At least 3 hours a day from what I observed. And you can't even see that her copy of it has margins because she has written everywhere in them. From what we can tell, she grew up in the church, but has been away for a while until recently. She says her parents are in Salt Lake, but she can't stay with them. Even that is iffy. Most of the time when asked about where her family was, she said "I have family everywhere."
After dinner group, I left with my friend Amelia, Heather went to school, and Catherine and Tamara had tithing settlement. So we left our apartment locked and deadbolted. About 8:30, I got a call from a number I didn't know, but I thought it might be Tamara because it was a 702 number. I answered, and it was the homeless girl!!!!! I was a little freaked out by that, but I figured she just borrowed someone's phone and a ward directory. She wanted to know when we were going to be home. I called Heather, but she was still at class. When we got there, I didn't know what else to do, so I let her in. She had to get her stuff anyway. I ran in the back and called Catherine from Heather's closet so that I wouldn't be overheard. She said that she and Tamara would be right back, so Amelia and I just waited. Plauci still thought she was gonna spend another night on our couch. When Cathering and Tamara got back, they sat down and explained that Plauci couldn't stay because it would be against our housing contract, and we would have to pay fines. They asked if she had anywhere else to go. She pulled out a number for a "friend of a friend" and called them. Tamara and Catherine drove her to the address, which ended up being an assisted living home. So, that's how our apartment kicked out a homeless girl.
Later that night, some of Brittany's friends were decorating for her birthday. We were recounting our tale, and one of them said , "She sounds exactly like the girl I replaced in the Elms. The one who got evicted because she was schizophrenic." Her name was Delores, but I'm pretty sure that was the last name she gave when she talked to the assisted living place. So it might be the same girl after all. And it makes the story even better if the homeless girl on my couch was also schizophrenic.

First Concert of the Year

I LOVE CONCERT WEEKENDS!!!!!!!!!! They are my very favorite weekends of all. Do you know why? Because every time, no matter how unsure we might be the day before a concert, we find that our preparation pays off. I love sharing music that I love with an audience of fellow students, friends, family, and teachers of the choir members. I'm so glad that some of my very best friends we able to come! I love sharing the peace that I feel when I sing. I love being a part of something so beautiful. You might say it was worth the wait. It was definitely worth the perseverance. It is probably even worth the past disappointments. The highlight of this concert was the Pilgrim Song. I LOVE that song. I heard it first in high school, and have waited years to sing it with the BYU choirs. Now I have, and will many more times before the school year is over. Life is beautiful. This week we are jumping into even more beautiful music, getting ready for our next concert in November.

School is cool

So I'm getting into the swing of campus life. I had my first paper due today, so I wrote it this morning in true Meagan fashion. It was an easy one. Basically, the topic was perspective, and I could write whatever I wanted about my own insights from class, or the book, or life, etc. That was for my temporal welfare in the home class, which basically follows the outline of providentliving.org. And those taking the class are taking it because we fell in love with Dr. Israelsen when we took his family finance class. That really is the reason, because we had no clue what kind of class this was going to be.

Women's chorus started on friday, and I was instantly reminded how much I love it. Plus, I'm sitting by all my favorite people and some new favorite people. And our music is gorgeous as always. Our first concert is two weeks from tomorrow, so I imagine things might get a little stressful before then. Personally, I love it when choir gets stressful. I wouldn't mind if it was like that all the time.

I found out today that one of my teachers whose class I actually got an A in is looking for a TA. And it's a class in my major. The marriage prep class, to be exact. So, I emailed Dr. Carroll and I hope I'll hear from him soon. Not that I really know what a TA does besides grade papers sometimes, but maybe it would be good to find out. And I would have a job, 15 hours a week. And it would be INFINITELY better than custodial at 5am. Let's see, what do I have going for me? I'm a senior, hfl major, graduating in april, I loved his class, got an A in his class, and aparently my papers in his class were brilliant enough to get full credit, which means I definitely know what kind of papers he is looking for. I might even still have those papers. Plus it's all fresh in my mind because I just had it before I went to Jerusalem. Granted, my gpa is not really brilliant overall or in my major. But I'm definitely interested in the subject material. lol. So lets hope I at least get an interview.

Something different in store for me

Time is going ridiculously slow right now. It needs to go faster. I don't have class until 4:30, but I came up to campus for Singer's callbacks, for which I've been excited since last Tuesday. I wanted to see how many were on the final callback list when all the returning singers were added, so I went and looked at it. To my surprise, my name was gone. I wish I had known that before I left for campus. I did it again. I let my hopes up way too high, when I knew it was a mistake. This was a big dream for me, and that was my last chance. I wish I'd at least gotten to sing in callbacks, but apparently there is something else in store for me this year. I can't imagine what might make me as happy as being in Singers would have, but I hope I find it soon. What am I going to do with myself? I really am ok, just like I prayed I would be, but I feel this emptiness that needs to be filled. I'm not mad at myself really, because I did the best I could. I'm certainly not mad at Dr. Staheli because I don't think I can find that in me. I just really need something I can give myself to so that I can heal faster. Maybe this is a bigger deal to me than it should be, but it's too late to change that now. I can't help how much I have come to love Singers. I'll still be found there nearly every day, even if it hurts for a while. And I guess it's not like I won't be singing. I just have to get through more callbacks and then it can all start. I hope I can put my heart in it, because if not, it wont work. It's hard to give my best to what I don't want most.