The Beginning of the End: A New Way of Life

Today is the first day of my last semester at BYU-Idaho, and I feel great. I'm ashamed to admit I was feeling rather pessimistic about coming back to school after Christmas, but now that I'm here, I'm actually looking forward to it. I've set some new goals for the year, and (thanks to Natalie) I'm calling them my "New Way of Life." I have some significant changes I want to make that will hopefully contribute a healthier, happier me.

I began the day feeling proud of myself for sticking to my "New Way of Life" schedule. I actually woke up at seven o'clock and went to the gym before class today. I'll pause now to give myself a pat on the back.

...

My first class was Rhetorical Studies, which sounds like it's going to be a lot like Advanced Research and Literary Analysis, except I'll be creating a magazine instead of a literary journal, and my articles get to be a lot shorter. I sat in quiet contentment as the rest of the class squirmed in their seats and asked nervous questions. "I totally got this," I thought to myself. "One research paper and seven 500 word articles? Piece of cake after last semester."

There's no way it can be more difficult anyway.

Last night, I got an email about i-Comm, a practicum program that offers "real world" experience for people interested in Broadcasting, Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, etc. The email specifically mentioned copy editors, and since I'm considering an editing career, I thought I'd check out the class today. So now I'm officially an i-Comm copy editor for The Scroll, and I'm actually pretty excited for it. I only have to put in three to five hours of work per week besides class time, and I can do it whenever I have the time. Tomorrow I'm going to the i-Comm office to be trained. I can also write articles for The Scroll, which I think I will, mostly so I can say I've been published on my resume, but also just for the heck of it. I might as well try it out while I can. I kind of wish I would have known about this sooner. Oh, well. I'm doing it now!

Look at me! I'm on my way to success!

Hello, New Year. Nice to Meet You.

I have a few things on my mind right now, and I'm not sure why I'm about to post them on the internet. Sometimes I'm not even sure why I have a blog at all. I'm generally a pretty private person and keep a lot of things to myself. Anyway, here's a look inside my very cluttered mind. Enjoy.

• I don't want to go back to school on Monday. I know Laura would tell me to be positive and make it a great semester, and I'll see what I can do, but I don't want to face the winter or my classes. Three 400 level Writing classes? What have I done to myself? The good new is all my classes are either in the Smith or the Spori. No more hiking to the Hinckley and Ricks Buildings for me!
• I want to combat the media's influence on young women. I want to help girls feel powerful and achieve great things. I'm looking into different programs and trying to find a way to get involved.
• My little dog leaped halfway across the table and nearly ate my face today. I screamed. It was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
• I wish I would have gotten involved in more extracurricular activities.
• I don't like feeling left behind.
• Starting the first day of the semester, I'm going to be a healthier person. I'm not going to eat junk food all the time, and I'm going to create an exercise schedule and stick to it. I want to be like my grandpa--still running around and beating my grandkids at ping pong when I'm 74,
• I kind of have a little bit of a crush. It kind of took me by surprise, actually. He doesn't know, and it will probably stay that way because I'm still 14 when it comes to guys.
• I really want to get a dalmatian, but I have to wait until I have a place for it and time to take care of it.
• Skidmark, my golden brown '87 Honda Accord, is gone. I'm excited to go car shopping in the summer!
• I think I would rather move to San Francisco than get a church magazine internship, but I'm still planning on applying.
• I'm going to be 25 this year. Nigga what?
• I don't feel like sleeping right now.