Alright, so I hope that title got you intrigued... but there has definitely been a lot of things going on in my life since I last posted on here! To start off with, we'll go back to a time where I was more productive......... or not, as that's probably going to involve going back quite a while. Anyway, it's been a super crazy spot of time since I last posted on here, with my calendar dripping in red.
To start off with, the day after I posted on here - which would be Thursday the 21st - I begrudgingly attended an "Academic" banquet. It was pretty much only begrudgingly because of the fact that my academics weren't good enough (I only know a few people who actually did that well in school last semester... I heard it was something around a 3.9 gpa to get invited), but because of the fact that I'm in RHA and therefore was required to go. After I got there I had a pretty decent time, I sat with some pretty swell folks, had a reasonably pleasant dinner, and ended up getting two awards! I got a "Bronze Pin Award of Excellence", which was described as follows on the certificate (and at the banquet): "The bronze pin award is given to a limited number of individuals who have made a lasting impact on BYU's Residence Life. This pin is the highest honor awarded on the campus level of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, Incorporated." So that was pretty sweet to get, in addition to my award/pin for being inducted as a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary.
So after that swell day, Friday was pretty exciting - I started my journey of watching the Lord of the Rings series for the first time, extended edition style :) Then Saturday was quite eventful, as I went through the temple on Saturday morning to take out my endowments - coolest thing ever. Then Saturday afternoon I got to play dodgeball with some guys in my building. Then Sunday I was able to teach Sunday School again, and I think it was my best class to date - you'd have to ask the folks in my class about that though. Ward choir was a blast, and I was able to go home teaching that night!
Monday wasn't all that eventful, pretty much only went to work... but then I was actually productive on Tuesday! Unusual right? Well yeah. I kinda sorta ended up on international television for a good portion of our three-four minute choir piece during the BYU devotional. If you wanna check it out visit this a here Link! You probably want to skip to around 9 minutes into it (9:15 if you want to be right when we start), as there's an excessive amount of pre-devotional junk on there. Other than that... Tuesday was just a regular day, with work and classes never ceasing.
Well... that's actually all I feel like writing for this post...
So...
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Showing posts with label Winter 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter 2013. Show all posts
Friday, March 29, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Weeks It Has Been?
It has definitely been a heck of a month. That's all. But seriously. That's all I'm going to write for this post.
But really it isn't, because that would just be a waste of time for all parties involved. Instead I'm going to make you figure out how to read this post. I would give you a hint, but to read it you would have already figured it out. Anyway, as I said previously it's been an interesting couple weeks since I last posted on here. There have been a myriad of events that have influenced how my days have gone, with one of the largest influences being my emotions - probably not a good thing while in school. My emotions have been all over the place lately... and to read more about that you'd have to hack into my journal - which wouldn't be very nice. I'm down to 57 days until I enter the Missionary Training Center to head to Oklahoma, which is really not that many. If all goes according to plan I'll be able to go through the temple for the first time this Saturday, and hopefully will go a ton before I enter the MTC. I'm also hoping to be able to be home for about two weeks before I leave, which should give me enough time to catch up with all the people I miss from back there. But back to why this has been an interesting length of time. For one, I've had a test or large assignment in pretty much all of my classes since I last wrote on here - which isn't all that fun. Additionally, the realizations have slowly been hitting me in larger measures each day regarding recent events that have made it really hard to just make it through the day. My roommate expressed it a lot better than I can in his post on his blog! You should go check it out, because I've been dealing with a lot of those same things, not really to the same extent, but it has definitely gotten a lot worse as time has passed by and things have been ratcheting back up to speed.
Another thing that has made this a crazy couple weeks has been work. It's usually pretty peaceful, and occasionally I'm even able to get stuff done (like tonight - got a few homework assignments done and found time to write on here!). But then there are the majority of the days where there are just constantly people in here for various reasons and I'm not able to hear myself think with all the things going on around me. Those nights are usually the ones where I had been having a bad day at classes anyway, and that compounded with working (and therefore staying up lateish) will often lead to me missing classes the next day - a very vicious cycle to be in. I'm working to try and break the cycle and get to class more often, but as some of my classmates can attest I'm not having all that successful a time with it (if you have any tips about motivation to get to class please lemme know somehow!).
On another note, I recently wrote another comfort zone assignment, and this one I think I'm actually comfortable sharing (though it isn't as far in my comfort zone as I'd like it to be). So, check it out here: LINK (there's also a link at the top of my blog if you wanna find it later).
In other news, I changed the color scheme on my blog again. More St. Patrick's Day feely now, even though that just passed. Oh well. Guess that's what happens when you don't blog for a while. I recently started reading a book called "Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World that Can't Stop Talking", and it's pretty good so far. The author has a ton of insights and such regarding the topic (which is introversion for those who couldn't guess that), and I feel like I'm learning a lot. It has definitely been too long since I've had a book I really enjoyed, and I've realized how much I miss sitting down and just reading for hours at a time. It's actually quite peaceful, which is nice in the rush of everything going on.
Anyway, if you scrolled all the way down here and didn't catch the drift, you have to highlight the text to read it :P Oh, and if you want to see it on a mobile device that doesn't show text when you highlight it... I think you'll have to wait and use a computer or copy it into a document of some sorts and try to read it there.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
But really it isn't, because that would just be a waste of time for all parties involved. Instead I'm going to make you figure out how to read this post. I would give you a hint, but to read it you would have already figured it out. Anyway, as I said previously it's been an interesting couple weeks since I last posted on here. There have been a myriad of events that have influenced how my days have gone, with one of the largest influences being my emotions - probably not a good thing while in school. My emotions have been all over the place lately... and to read more about that you'd have to hack into my journal - which wouldn't be very nice. I'm down to 57 days until I enter the Missionary Training Center to head to Oklahoma, which is really not that many. If all goes according to plan I'll be able to go through the temple for the first time this Saturday, and hopefully will go a ton before I enter the MTC. I'm also hoping to be able to be home for about two weeks before I leave, which should give me enough time to catch up with all the people I miss from back there. But back to why this has been an interesting length of time. For one, I've had a test or large assignment in pretty much all of my classes since I last wrote on here - which isn't all that fun. Additionally, the realizations have slowly been hitting me in larger measures each day regarding recent events that have made it really hard to just make it through the day. My roommate expressed it a lot better than I can in his post on his blog! You should go check it out, because I've been dealing with a lot of those same things, not really to the same extent, but it has definitely gotten a lot worse as time has passed by and things have been ratcheting back up to speed.
Another thing that has made this a crazy couple weeks has been work. It's usually pretty peaceful, and occasionally I'm even able to get stuff done (like tonight - got a few homework assignments done and found time to write on here!). But then there are the majority of the days where there are just constantly people in here for various reasons and I'm not able to hear myself think with all the things going on around me. Those nights are usually the ones where I had been having a bad day at classes anyway, and that compounded with working (and therefore staying up lateish) will often lead to me missing classes the next day - a very vicious cycle to be in. I'm working to try and break the cycle and get to class more often, but as some of my classmates can attest I'm not having all that successful a time with it (if you have any tips about motivation to get to class please lemme know somehow!).
On another note, I recently wrote another comfort zone assignment, and this one I think I'm actually comfortable sharing (though it isn't as far in my comfort zone as I'd like it to be). So, check it out here: LINK (there's also a link at the top of my blog if you wanna find it later).
In other news, I changed the color scheme on my blog again. More St. Patrick's Day feely now, even though that just passed. Oh well. Guess that's what happens when you don't blog for a while. I recently started reading a book called "Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World that Can't Stop Talking", and it's pretty good so far. The author has a ton of insights and such regarding the topic (which is introversion for those who couldn't guess that), and I feel like I'm learning a lot. It has definitely been too long since I've had a book I really enjoyed, and I've realized how much I miss sitting down and just reading for hours at a time. It's actually quite peaceful, which is nice in the rush of everything going on.
Anyway, if you scrolled all the way down here and didn't catch the drift, you have to highlight the text to read it :P Oh, and if you want to see it on a mobile device that doesn't show text when you highlight it... I think you'll have to wait and use a computer or copy it into a document of some sorts and try to read it there.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Monday, March 4, 2013
Music, Sleep, and Productivity = School?
Alright... so my last post was pretty brief compared to a lot of my other ones, and that's largely because I've taken to writing a journal. I actually kinda like it - compared to whenever I used to try and do it and hated it, because like most guys I hate talking or writing my feelings anywhere - as it's a good outlet for stress. Now though, tennis class is starting up and hopefully that'll be the main outlet and my journal can actually become about my feelings instead of all the things that stress me out or stuff I need to work out with myself. Anyway. My post today has three major themes - Music, Sleep and Productivity - which all seem to be determining factors of how I'm doing in school.
Foremost is Music. I don't know about you, but to me Music is a huge indicator of my mood, and has a large influence on how my days go. Almost any day that I go to choir and sing will usually be a great day for me, while the days I don't have choir I usually find it hard to drag myself out of bed and get motivated to go to class in the freezing weather. I've also discovered though, that the music I sing or listen to has an impact on my mood as well. For example, right now I'm switching between Disney and Church music as I work on homework at three am. It's doing a pretty good job of keeping me awake, because I know most of the songs well enough to start singing if I get tired. In addition to that, it's helping keep me focused precisely because I know the songs well enough that I'm not intrigued by the lyrics or music to pay more attention to them than what I'm working on. On a slightly random Music note though - in the CES Devotional that Elder Bendar gave yesterday, the choir there sang alone on the last two verses of "How Firm a Foundation" which reminded me of the song that we're performing as a ward choir soon titled "Fear Not". It was written by the Jordan High School Seminary Faculty and a recording of it can be found here:
Recording!
It's quickly becoming my favorite song I've ever been able to sing in a ward choir - largely because of how uplifting and motivational it is. So seriously. Click the link and listen to it while you read the rest of this lengthy blog post.
My next topic revolves around something I've been having issues with recently - Sleep. As a college kid I've discovered how important sleep is, but I've also discovered how easy it is to not get enough sleep. For example, tonight I'm still awake and it's about four am. Why? Because I was actually feeling productive, which is far more rare than me feeling tired. So, my thoughts about sleep are as follows:
And somehow or other, this all impacts school right? Well of course. School is kinda sorta my life - at least for the next seventy-two days!
On another random note, I'd like to throw in a plug for one of my mission prep teacher's books - The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox (Deseret book link!). He assigned us to read a chapter every week from it, and I think that is the thing I look forward to most each week as Sunday rolls around. It's a super awesome book, and it's really uplifting and enlightening. So if you get a chance, make sure to check it out and perhaps even read it!
Well, looking at my calendar this week is going to a heck of a week if everything goes according to plan. So, if I'm still alive come the eleventh of the month of so, be glad. For just a brief glimpse into the craziness of this week:
Foremost is Music. I don't know about you, but to me Music is a huge indicator of my mood, and has a large influence on how my days go. Almost any day that I go to choir and sing will usually be a great day for me, while the days I don't have choir I usually find it hard to drag myself out of bed and get motivated to go to class in the freezing weather. I've also discovered though, that the music I sing or listen to has an impact on my mood as well. For example, right now I'm switching between Disney and Church music as I work on homework at three am. It's doing a pretty good job of keeping me awake, because I know most of the songs well enough to start singing if I get tired. In addition to that, it's helping keep me focused precisely because I know the songs well enough that I'm not intrigued by the lyrics or music to pay more attention to them than what I'm working on. On a slightly random Music note though - in the CES Devotional that Elder Bendar gave yesterday, the choir there sang alone on the last two verses of "How Firm a Foundation" which reminded me of the song that we're performing as a ward choir soon titled "Fear Not". It was written by the Jordan High School Seminary Faculty and a recording of it can be found here:
Recording!
It's quickly becoming my favorite song I've ever been able to sing in a ward choir - largely because of how uplifting and motivational it is. So seriously. Click the link and listen to it while you read the rest of this lengthy blog post.
My next topic revolves around something I've been having issues with recently - Sleep. As a college kid I've discovered how important sleep is, but I've also discovered how easy it is to not get enough sleep. For example, tonight I'm still awake and it's about four am. Why? Because I was actually feeling productive, which is far more rare than me feeling tired. So, my thoughts about sleep are as follows:
- It's really important - unless something more important comes up
- I really, really, really like my sleep - so if I'm sleeping, don't bother me unless I asked you to previously
- I don't sleep nearly as much as I used to for a variety of reasons
- It takes me forever to fall asleep - like an average of an hour - which is really annoying because I'm usually thinking about things during that hour which doesn't help me get to sleep
- I think too much
- Nothing really good usually happens after midnight, so it's almost always my goal to get to sleep shortly thereafter
- Contrary to my Chem Professor's belief, it is pretty common for me to lose sleep thinking about things related to school work
- In contrast with that, it's slightly more common for me to stay up late thinking about things like girls, music, or church stuff
So those are my main thoughts on sleeping... which somehow leads me to writing about productivity?
I'm still not entirely sure how these things are related... but there is definitely a connection somewhere. It usually involves a mystical perfect amount of sleep where you wake up refreshed, not tired, and ready to be productive. That hasn't happened to me yet since I got to college, but it's something to strive for - which leads me to change how much sleep I get on a regular basis to try and find what works for me. I've discovered how easy it is to get too much sleep and waste away most of the day, but I've also discovered the affect no/little sleep has on my days. Usually, both of those are negative impacts but occasionally I get like no sleep and it becomes a good thing because I actually got stuff done staying up late that I wouldn't have gotten done otherwise. On a random note, I've discovered that facebook doesn't change much at all during the period from about 2am until noon, when people are up and posting stuff again. Anyway, at building meeting last night we talked about ways to improve our time management - which pretty much always seems to be a good thing to talk about and remind people of. We discussed ways to motivate yourself, and I can't seem to figure out a good one that doesn't have much of any negative consequences. My first thought was to reward myself with like Candy or Ice Cream after accomplishing some amount of homework, but the downside to that is I'll end up eating tons of candy. I'm starting to lean towards using baking as a reward... but nobody got time fo dat. Seriously though, if I were to reward myself with baking it'd have to be in like increments of an hour or two, which is a lot of time to take a break from studying for a reward. So if you have suggestions on that, I'd gladly welcome as many as possible!
And somehow or other, this all impacts school right? Well of course. School is kinda sorta my life - at least for the next seventy-two days!
On another random note, I'd like to throw in a plug for one of my mission prep teacher's books - The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox (Deseret book link!). He assigned us to read a chapter every week from it, and I think that is the thing I look forward to most each week as Sunday rolls around. It's a super awesome book, and it's really uplifting and enlightening. So if you get a chance, make sure to check it out and perhaps even read it!
Well, looking at my calendar this week is going to a heck of a week if everything goes according to plan. So, if I'm still alive come the eleventh of the month of so, be glad. For just a brief glimpse into the craziness of this week:
- I have a bio exam to take sometime between Monday and Wednesday
- I have a chem exam to take sometime between Wednesday and Friday
- I need to spend five plus hours working to prepare for invitational which is on Saturday night
- I'm still working twelve hours this week at my job
- My birthday is on Wednesday, and I might not have time to celebrate it very much
- My tennis classes are in full swing for the first time this week, so that's another eight hours of in-class time I haven't had till this week
- I have a computer programming lab due Friday which could take anywhere from an hour to twelve to finish
So yeah, it's going to be one of those weeks.
I probably won't get a blog post in... or at least don't bet on it. I'll be lucky to remember to write in my journal each day!
Well, it looks like that's all the rambling I have time for at this time of the morning - I have to go finish another week and a half's worth of chem homework, hopefully before 8 this morning.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Time flies... when you're in school?
It may just be me, but it seems like time always goes so much faster when I'm in school than whenever I'm at home doing nothing. That's probably because if I'm at home that usually means I'm not being productive which leads to... I dunno, time going slowly? Anyway, it's been 2 weeks already since I last posted on here. I'm not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing, but there's definitely been a lot going on - the journal I recently started could attest to that.
Anyway, it's been a super crazy bit of time since I last posted on here with a ton of eventful life-changing events happening.
Farthest back, and probably most relevant at the moment is that my good friend passed away twelve days ago. It's been a tough little while, although her funeral service was fantastic. The spirit was super strong, the choir was phenomenal, and those who spoke truly spoke from their hearts. It was also nice to be able to go to the grave dedication, and to be able to support my friend as he goes through this tough time. I don't know about everyone else, but it's been kinda tough for me to pick up with school and keep going with that recently. For one because of my friend, and missing her presence, but also because...
I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!!!
Anyway, yeah. I'm going to Oklahoma Oklahoma City!
I get the awesome privilege to speak English... and I leave in less than 3 months.
But yeah, aside from that and trying to keep up with school as other things come up has kept my life pretty interesting.
On another note, my tennis classes started recently and my coach is absolutely awesome. He's super chill, and I don't think I'm going to regret in the slightest having eight hours of class with him a week.
Anyway... I guess if you wanna know more about what's been going on... you could try and get me to let you read my journal, but that isn't likely to happen. Better off if you call me and try and pry it out of me with questions ;)
'Til Next Time,
Jordan
Anyway, it's been a super crazy bit of time since I last posted on here with a ton of eventful life-changing events happening.
Farthest back, and probably most relevant at the moment is that my good friend passed away twelve days ago. It's been a tough little while, although her funeral service was fantastic. The spirit was super strong, the choir was phenomenal, and those who spoke truly spoke from their hearts. It was also nice to be able to go to the grave dedication, and to be able to support my friend as he goes through this tough time. I don't know about everyone else, but it's been kinda tough for me to pick up with school and keep going with that recently. For one because of my friend, and missing her presence, but also because...
I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!!!
Anyway, yeah. I'm going to Oklahoma Oklahoma City!
I get the awesome privilege to speak English... and I leave in less than 3 months.
But yeah, aside from that and trying to keep up with school as other things come up has kept my life pretty interesting.
On another note, my tennis classes started recently and my coach is absolutely awesome. He's super chill, and I don't think I'm going to regret in the slightest having eight hours of class with him a week.
Anyway... I guess if you wanna know more about what's been going on... you could try and get me to let you read my journal, but that isn't likely to happen. Better off if you call me and try and pry it out of me with questions ;)
'Til Next Time,
Jordan
Friday, February 15, 2013
CHESTS - Communication, Hospitals, Events, Support, Typing, Stories
Hello there! Isn't it just a fabulous day today?!? I know it has been for me, because as a few friends of mine have recently taken to saying (due to someone's talk in sacrament meeting a few Sunday ago) "Make it a good day."
In other news, it's been the better part of a week since I last wrote on here, and what a week it has been!
The craziness involving my friend has never ceased, and yet this week seems to have flown by as I've struggled to keep up with all the things I wish to do. Her status hasn't changed that much overall, but there have been random back and forth events affecting her. A few scares later, and we're still here praying. The highlight so far was definitely not being at the hospital, but that has been an experience for sure as it's my first time spending significant chunks of time at a hospital. The best highlight was definitely getting my mission papers finished and turned in, so hopefully I'll be getting my call pretty soon (before my birthday if I'm lucky!) and know what all is going to happen with that. After that highlight though, they're kind of muddled. I've noticed as we've been in the same place day after day for almost a week now, the days start really blending together. Anyway I've had a few thoughts whilest here that I would like to throw on here regarding a wide range of topics. Sadly, our discussions have definitely not been as entertaining as Monday's were largely because now it's usually just Friend 2 and I here as Friends 1 and 3 have a harder class load and that's where they need to be.
Foremost on my mind has been the concept of support. One of my main reasons for being up here everyday since this started, is to help support my roommate and his girlfriend's family. Some people don't seem to understand how big a deal it is, but whenever I've had to struggle with things like this (first examples that come to mind regard my experience with my great grandmother and my grandpa) it's always been super helpful for me to know that I have family (or friends) around that are willing to help me whenever it's needed. Especially when my grandpa was in the hospital for a week or so before he passed away while I was up here, and unable to go home because it was right before and during finals week, I was really grateful for friends that were willing to help me and comfort me through that entire process. So personally, I find it super important to have a system of people willing to help and comfort you at a moment's notice. Since my friend's status has been kind of iffy most of the week, and because I feel that this is more important a thing to be at than my classes in most cases, I've spent a lot of time up here trying to help out in whatever way I can. I totally understand that there isn't always something that those going directly through a trial will need, but it's nice to have been able to be present whenever they did need something. The example that best comes to my mind was recently shared by one of my friends in his blog (shameless advertising!) titled "the Benefit of the Doubt" in his most recent post located here. I really like the post he wrote, and echo a lot of those same opinions/concerns. So go check it out. But wait until you finish reading this one. I'll post the link again at the bottom of the post :P
In other news, I've thought about the importance of communication. As I worked to fix my schedule to get up here I've certainly made a few mistakes whilest communicating with those around me. An example of this was when I was trying to figure out my work schedule. Whilest I was talking with one of my co-workers about this weekend, I realized that I didn't know yet what the plan was and when it would be best for me to work. I told him I'd get back to him the next day (we were talking on Tuesday), but I totally forgot about it until Thursday, when he texted me to figure out what had happened with that. While some might try to excuse this oversight in the midst of all the other things going on, I took it personally and decided to make a more direct effort to communicate with people when I tell them I'm going to and not forget about it or put it off. Another thing I've noticed is how caring people generally are when you take a moment to explain the situation to them. Pretty much all of my professors understand that it really doesn't benefit me all that much to attend class right now with my friend in the hospital. The times I have gone to class this week, I've noticed my mind continually wandering back up to the hospital and me reaching for my phone to try and get a status update out of somebody who is still up here. As the week has worn on, I've noticed that there's less and less people up here as they have to get back to their work and family responsibilities in other states. So, I find the concept of being there to support even more important as time goes on.
As time goes by, I've realized how much more fun it is if you are comfortable sharing stories. This might seem like a random thought, but it is pertinent in some way - not sure how many people will understand it, but whatever. Anyway, as I've started going to college, and when I went home for Christmas break, I discovered a lot of people really enjoy stories, and nothing's better than stories that actually happened. I realized I honestly didn't have that many crazy stories to share, as the vast majority of fall was spent studying until it switched over to being eaten by video games. Sadly for me, this resulted in a few awkward situations whilest at home that I had no solution for as I just didn't have any stories. It turns out winter is a much easier time to get good stories, such as totally eating it on the ice when it's freezing rain, or spending the better part of a week at the hospital whilest not being admitted to the hospital but to see a friend and support her family. Anyway, I think by the end of this semester I'll have better stories to share upon returning home, though you might get them on here first - if only so that I can remember them by the time I actually get home.
In other news, sleeping in a hospital is kind of difficult, if only because there's pretty constant activity throughout the night, but I've somehow managed to get a bit of sleep in this night where I happen to be awake at 3am lying on the floor of a hospital hallway after a brief period of time being asleep. I think I'e gotten all the sleep I'm going to get tonight, so it looks like it might be time to break out netflix or my computer and catch up on movies or something. Anyway, I hope you like my blog, and my friend's blog that he started writing the first day we were here in this glorious place. If you have any questions for me throw them up as comments and I'll more than likely answer them :D
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Here's the link again, as I promised!
http://runklesbay.blogspot.com/2013/02/little-things.html
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Comfort Zone Assignment My thinking whilest at the hospital
The
Comfort Zone Assignment: Part 1
One of the biggest enemies of the skilled artist is fear. Courageously
attacking the complex tasks related to the “habits” and acting expressively on
the music being rehearsed is not a casual activity. If something is “normal,”
it is not art. If the music is “nice,” it is not art. To be classified as art,
something has to be special, unique, deeply meaningful. Art can be created only
by those who are willing to put something personal “out there” for others to
observe and scrutinize. This creative act can be frightening but also
liberating.
In
order to expand personal comfort zones and enhance the ability to adopt the
identity of “skilled choral artist,” each student will complete 3 comfort zone
assignments in the course of the term. For each assignment, do the following:
1.
Humbly identify an action that you tend to avoid because of fear, but that
would be meaningful to you it some positive way.
2.
Do it!
3.
Write a 2-paragraph (or more) report. In the first paragraph, describe what you
did and anything that happened as a result. Tell the story. In the second
paragraph explain why your action was meaningful.
Edit/Update: On another random note, I ended up working tonight - probably not the best idea since I lost pretty much all my sanity in the first few hours at the hospital, and the rest obviously left before I got to work. I'm just super glad nobody has videoed me today, that would be rather embarrassing. In relation to this, I've realized that I have a really, really small comfort zone as I wrote that assignment. Honestly, I think it's grown a tiny bit since I got out here... but there's definitely been some walls thrown up since I got out here as well. Oh well, we'll see what happens with that.
Jordan Nielson
Pinterest, and other Crazy random hospital discussions and thoughts
Alright, I'm going to preface this with the fact that I've been pretty much in the same room for the last four hours and have only left the room to go visit my friend who is critically ill. Anyway, it turns out that when you're in a hospital for a lengthy amount of time the crazy discussions start to begin, especially when the preson you're there for isn't getting much better - like she is in some aspects but getting worse in others. So basically, we've discussed things from different water fountains possibly having different water, different cookies from the same dough perhaps tasting different, guys being on pinterest and random other things. Anyway, my friends and I who are here have had some interesting conversations.
As we've chilled here, and had these intense conversations, there have been some pretty interesting quote lines, in order to convey these better, we'll call them Friend 1 (a female), Friend 2 (a male), Friend 3(a female), and me. Some of them are as follows:
Friend 1: You're not going to put this on your blog are you?
Me: I make no promises...
Friend 1: What is this?
Friend 3: Yes, what is this?
Me: Hot, Hot, Hot
Friend 1: Oh I've heard this before!
Me: It would seem I have an album on my iTunes called "Good tunes for Good times"...
Friend 1: Well turn it off!
Friend 1: Is your computer dead?
Friend 2: Almost, if I close it it will be.
Friend 3: How long does it have?
Friend 2: about 9 minutes.
Friend 3: Does that mean you'll actually do homework?
Friend 1: Yeah, does it?
Friend 2: No. It means absolutely nothing.
Friend 1: Did you skip it again?
Friend 3: It's on shuffle?
Me: There's order with shuffle?
Friend 1: Yes... wait..
Friend 1: You have a pinterest?!?
Me: Do you have a problem with Pinterest?
Friend 1: No...
Me (Looking through my pinterest feed which consists entirely of food and things to make): Oh good.
Friend 1: Oh, it only has food... that's a little more respectable.
Friend 2: I once went on pinterest to find something and it was just a picture from the internet.
Me: Well usually it is a link to a blog or somewhere you can actually find the full recipe...
Friend 2: There's no recipe for shoes.
Friend 2: What room are we in?
Friend 3: The waiting room...
Friend 2: To do what?
Me: to wait?
Friend 3: To blog!
Friend 2: Don't tell X that I'm eating her cookies, she'd probably kill me.
Friend 1: I won't.
Me: Why would she kill you...?
Friend 1: You haven't heard?
Friend 2: Basically, we dated at one point.
Friend 3: She's kinda crazy
Friend 1: Like 75% crazy.
Friend 2: Like why are we here?
Friend 1: I dunno, my tailbone hurts though.
Friend 3: Then lay on the floor.
Me: yeah, it helps.
Friend 1: Maybe we can dedicate this room...
Friend 1: Like we could say: "The floor, it was therapeutic."
Me: Well traffic in Utah doesn't seem to be as bad as i could be...
Friend 2: Well yeah, Human trafficking isn't that bad here.
Friend 1: Wait what?
Me: I meant car traffic...
Friend 1 Drinking her apples juice from a cup that looks like a pudding cup
Friend 1 Spills
Friend 1: Oh crap, that looks like drool ...
Me: Not really...
Friend 1 zips up her jacket: There all better.
(20 minutes later)
Friend 1 unzips her jacket: Ah it doesn't look like drool anymore!
Me: What's wrong with drool?
Friend 1: It's not comfortable enough to nap, so there's no reason I would have drooled
Me: I dunno... I could go find a corner and fall asleep there, it can't be that bad.
Me: Just lay on the floor, it's therapeutic.
Friend 1: Maybe I could just lay over there (points towards a double seat in a row)
Me: Nah. that's not as good, it's uncomfortable.
Friend 1: But I'm shorter!
Me: So? It's still less therapeutic than the floor.
Le me looking at a facebook status: Facepalm.
"I met a normal man today"
Friend 2: Am I abnormal?
Friends 1 and 3 in unison: Yes.
Friend 2: How am I abnormal?
Friend 1: Because...
Friend 3: Because...
Friend 1: See I can use the door properly!
Me: Wait. Was anyone paying attention when she left?
Friends 2 and 3: No...
Friend 1: I used the door properly then as well!
Me: I don't believe you. Pics or it didn't happen!
Friend 2: You could step into the office over there and ask to see the surveillance tape...
Friend 1: Nah..
Friend 2: Like just the last five minutes of it.
Friend 1: Oh well, it's not going to happen.
Friend 2: Good thing this is a good book.
Friend 3: You've read how many pages...?
Friend 2: Fine. I'll go sit in the hallway. As soon as I figure out how to get out that door.
Friend 2: Ah nevermind. The hands-free waterfountain is in here.
Me: Stunned silence.
Friend 2: Have you ever wanted to swim in a pool full of jello?
Me: yes.
Friend 2: What if you get stuck?
Me: You could eat yourself out!
Friend 3: Would you even get stuck?
Me: Not if you dice it up!
Friend 2: What the record on that?
Le Me Googles it: 7700 gallons of Jello!
Friend 2: We can beat that. BYU is all about beating records!
Me: While you listen to the backstreet boys?
Friend 1: Well it all started on the RA retreat when I heard it on XM Radio and an RA made a big deal about me not knowing this song. Now I've listened to it about 30 times to educate myself.
Me: Alright... I still don't understand why there's something wrong with the backstreet boys.
Me looking at a photo from facebook...
Friend 1: Save the dates?
Me: Save the date.
Friend 1: Oh, "Mawwiage is what brings us here together this day."
Friend 3: Peas, Peas, Peas (Looks at friend 2) Like the vegetable! Peas, Peas.
Friend 2: I KNOW! (not shouting, just firm.)
Le me on youtube watching a video.
Friend 1: If you put that as public I'm never coming back into the front office again.
Me: Yeah right.
Friend 1: Good point... I have to go back there for work.
Friend 2: Quote: "It will be hard to discover who it was since the cat does not speak?"
Friend 1: What was that? I got distracted by the blog.
Me with a smug smile.
Friend 2: They found a cat sneaking into a prision with a cell phone and drill bits attached to it.
Me: Does she even know I'm here?
Friend 2: Did she know I have been here, and was here last night?
Friend 1: No...?
Friend 2: Well if she does find out I'm eating her cookies, tell her they're pretty dang good.
And that my readers, is a few snippets from our random conversations.
Anyway, I really did want to discuss Pinterest a little bit, so if you have any comments related to guys using pinterest for various reasons please feel free to post them :D
Some reasons I've heard for guys using it are as follows:
- DIY Stuff
- Looking up his girlfriend/fiance's marriage plans
- Food
I think this might be the last time I'm blogging today... but don't quote me on that.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
As we've chilled here, and had these intense conversations, there have been some pretty interesting quote lines, in order to convey these better, we'll call them Friend 1 (a female), Friend 2 (a male), Friend 3(a female), and me. Some of them are as follows:
Friend 1: You're not going to put this on your blog are you?
Me: I make no promises...
Friend 1: What is this?
Friend 3: Yes, what is this?
Me: Hot, Hot, Hot
Friend 1: Oh I've heard this before!
Me: It would seem I have an album on my iTunes called "Good tunes for Good times"...
Friend 1: Well turn it off!
Friend 1: Is your computer dead?
Friend 2: Almost, if I close it it will be.
Friend 3: How long does it have?
Friend 2: about 9 minutes.
Friend 3: Does that mean you'll actually do homework?
Friend 1: Yeah, does it?
Friend 2: No. It means absolutely nothing.
Friend 1: Did you skip it again?
Friend 3: It's on shuffle?
Me: There's order with shuffle?
Friend 1: Yes... wait..
Friend 1: You have a pinterest?!?
Me: Do you have a problem with Pinterest?
Friend 1: No...
Me (Looking through my pinterest feed which consists entirely of food and things to make): Oh good.
Friend 1: Oh, it only has food... that's a little more respectable.
Friend 2: I once went on pinterest to find something and it was just a picture from the internet.
Me: Well usually it is a link to a blog or somewhere you can actually find the full recipe...
Friend 2: There's no recipe for shoes.
Friend 2: What room are we in?
Friend 3: The waiting room...
Friend 2: To do what?
Me: to wait?
Friend 3: To blog!
Friend 2: Don't tell X that I'm eating her cookies, she'd probably kill me.
Friend 1: I won't.
Me: Why would she kill you...?
Friend 1: You haven't heard?
Friend 2: Basically, we dated at one point.
Friend 3: She's kinda crazy
Friend 1: Like 75% crazy.
Friend 2: Like why are we here?
Friend 1: I dunno, my tailbone hurts though.
Friend 3: Then lay on the floor.
Me: yeah, it helps.
Friend 1: Maybe we can dedicate this room...
Friend 1: Like we could say: "The floor, it was therapeutic."
Me: Well traffic in Utah doesn't seem to be as bad as i could be...
Friend 2: Well yeah, Human trafficking isn't that bad here.
Friend 1: Wait what?
Me: I meant car traffic...
Friend 1 Drinking her apples juice from a cup that looks like a pudding cup
Friend 1 Spills
Friend 1: Oh crap, that looks like drool ...
Me: Not really...
Friend 1 zips up her jacket: There all better.
(20 minutes later)
Friend 1 unzips her jacket: Ah it doesn't look like drool anymore!
Me: What's wrong with drool?
Friend 1: It's not comfortable enough to nap, so there's no reason I would have drooled
Me: I dunno... I could go find a corner and fall asleep there, it can't be that bad.
Me: Just lay on the floor, it's therapeutic.
Friend 1: Maybe I could just lay over there (points towards a double seat in a row)
Me: Nah. that's not as good, it's uncomfortable.
Friend 1: But I'm shorter!
Me: So? It's still less therapeutic than the floor.
Le me looking at a facebook status: Facepalm.
"I met a normal man today"
Friend 2: Am I abnormal?
Friends 1 and 3 in unison: Yes.
Friend 2: How am I abnormal?
Friend 1: Because...
Friend 3: Because...
Friend 1: See I can use the door properly!
Me: Wait. Was anyone paying attention when she left?
Friends 2 and 3: No...
Friend 1: I used the door properly then as well!
Me: I don't believe you. Pics or it didn't happen!
Friend 2: You could step into the office over there and ask to see the surveillance tape...
Friend 1: Nah..
Friend 2: Like just the last five minutes of it.
Friend 1: Oh well, it's not going to happen.
Friend 2: Good thing this is a good book.
Friend 3: You've read how many pages...?
Friend 2: Fine. I'll go sit in the hallway. As soon as I figure out how to get out that door.
Friend 2: Ah nevermind. The hands-free waterfountain is in here.
Me: Stunned silence.
Friend 2: Have you ever wanted to swim in a pool full of jello?
Me: yes.
Friend 2: What if you get stuck?
Me: You could eat yourself out!
Friend 3: Would you even get stuck?
Me: Not if you dice it up!
Friend 2: What the record on that?
Le Me Googles it: 7700 gallons of Jello!
Friend 2: We can beat that. BYU is all about beating records!
Me: While you listen to the backstreet boys?
Friend 1: Well it all started on the RA retreat when I heard it on XM Radio and an RA made a big deal about me not knowing this song. Now I've listened to it about 30 times to educate myself.
Me: Alright... I still don't understand why there's something wrong with the backstreet boys.
Me looking at a photo from facebook...
Friend 1: Save the dates?
Me: Save the date.
Friend 1: Oh, "Mawwiage is what brings us here together this day."
Friend 3: Peas, Peas, Peas (Looks at friend 2) Like the vegetable! Peas, Peas.
Friend 2: I KNOW! (not shouting, just firm.)
Le me on youtube watching a video.
Friend 1: If you put that as public I'm never coming back into the front office again.
Me: Yeah right.
Friend 1: Good point... I have to go back there for work.
Friend 2: Quote: "It will be hard to discover who it was since the cat does not speak?"
Friend 1: What was that? I got distracted by the blog.
Me with a smug smile.
Friend 2: They found a cat sneaking into a prision with a cell phone and drill bits attached to it.
Me: Does she even know I'm here?
Friend 2: Did she know I have been here, and was here last night?
Friend 1: No...?
Friend 2: Well if she does find out I'm eating her cookies, tell her they're pretty dang good.
And that my readers, is a few snippets from our random conversations.
Anyway, I really did want to discuss Pinterest a little bit, so if you have any comments related to guys using pinterest for various reasons please feel free to post them :D
Some reasons I've heard for guys using it are as follows:
- DIY Stuff
- Looking up his girlfriend/fiance's marriage plans
- Food
I think this might be the last time I'm blogging today... but don't quote me on that.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Programs, Hospitals, Teaching, and Class. Oh Joy!
Well the circumstances I'm writing this post in could be better, but I guess this is a reasonably productive use of my time. My thoughts today will probably be super random, but I'll try to make some sense of it for y'all. It might not help that I'm listening to a movie I first watched with my good friend who is in the hospital for various reasons and not doing all that well. Anyway, on a lighter note I taught my first Gospel Doctrine lesson yesterday. I feel like it went pretty well, though I probably seemed a bit distracted to my class even though I really did try to focus. The lesson was about how to receive personal revelation, and like most teachers usually feel I think I learned a lot more than my class did. This was partially due to the fact that I only had about 35 minutes to teach, which was a little shorter than I would have liked. It was a fairly long lesson in the manual, at least I thought so, but it was only the first time I had a reason to go through and actually read everything in the manual and teach from it.
Another thing that happened was my first program as part of the Residence Halls Association, we ended up calling it Love-view as it was a wyview only activity so they seem to be pretty set on making sure the name involves -view of some sort. It was pretty awesome, and seemed to turn out well as there were plenty of people there. We ran out of the food about three quarters of the way through the activity, which had a variety of activities. Foremost, and most fun, was the "Dating Game" which is a pretty common game to play here at BYU. Basically how it goes is everyone fills out a survey handout that has like ten questions on it, then a bachelor/bachelorette is selected either from the crowd or pre-selected and the game begins. To start out, the first part of the game involves the bachelor/bachelorette sitting on one side of the stage wiith a curtain separating them from seeing the other side of the stage. Then, anyone of the gender opposite the bachelor/bachelorette who wants to participate going up on the stand and ending up on the other side of the curtain will be contestants to win a date with the bachelor/bachelorette. The game officially starts once the announcer begins reading off the bachelor's answers to the survey questions and whenever the contestants end up on the wrong side of the question they get a strike, and with two strikes they're out. Once the field of contestants is narrowed down to about 4 of them, the next round begins where the bachelor asks deeper questions than the survey ones and each contestant gives an answer. Once they've all answered the bachelor picks the one he likes least - remember he hasn't seen what they look like - to eliminate from the game. Anyway, that was pretty entertaining, and I think you get the jist of it.
Moving on, I've come to a realization recently that class isn't as important to me as it could be. For one, I care more for my friends than I do about making sure that I attend all my classes - take today for example. Another thing is that sometimes I feel class is a waste - not all the time, or even most of the time, just randomly when I happen to already know the material we're discussing in greater detail than we're even talking about in class. This doesn't happen all that often, but when it does happen, it's not all that fun. Anyway, I've decided to fix that ya know, after this ordeal is over.
I think that's all I'm going to write about today, but make sure to check out my other post beneath this one that I published this morning before heading to the hospital.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Another thing that happened was my first program as part of the Residence Halls Association, we ended up calling it Love-view as it was a wyview only activity so they seem to be pretty set on making sure the name involves -view of some sort. It was pretty awesome, and seemed to turn out well as there were plenty of people there. We ran out of the food about three quarters of the way through the activity, which had a variety of activities. Foremost, and most fun, was the "Dating Game" which is a pretty common game to play here at BYU. Basically how it goes is everyone fills out a survey handout that has like ten questions on it, then a bachelor/bachelorette is selected either from the crowd or pre-selected and the game begins. To start out, the first part of the game involves the bachelor/bachelorette sitting on one side of the stage wiith a curtain separating them from seeing the other side of the stage. Then, anyone of the gender opposite the bachelor/bachelorette who wants to participate going up on the stand and ending up on the other side of the curtain will be contestants to win a date with the bachelor/bachelorette. The game officially starts once the announcer begins reading off the bachelor's answers to the survey questions and whenever the contestants end up on the wrong side of the question they get a strike, and with two strikes they're out. Once the field of contestants is narrowed down to about 4 of them, the next round begins where the bachelor asks deeper questions than the survey ones and each contestant gives an answer. Once they've all answered the bachelor picks the one he likes least - remember he hasn't seen what they look like - to eliminate from the game. Anyway, that was pretty entertaining, and I think you get the jist of it.
Moving on, I've come to a realization recently that class isn't as important to me as it could be. For one, I care more for my friends than I do about making sure that I attend all my classes - take today for example. Another thing is that sometimes I feel class is a waste - not all the time, or even most of the time, just randomly when I happen to already know the material we're discussing in greater detail than we're even talking about in class. This doesn't happen all that often, but when it does happen, it's not all that fun. Anyway, I've decided to fix that ya know, after this ordeal is over.
I think that's all I'm going to write about today, but make sure to check out my other post beneath this one that I published this morning before heading to the hospital.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Tunnel Singing, Comfort Zones, and Random Stuff
Hello there! I've recently been informed that I've made a huge mistake a couple times now, namely referring to something very few people know about as if it's a worldwide affair. What I'm referring to is a mystical activity here at Brigham Young University known as "Tunnel Singing". The basic idea is that for an hour a week, usually on Sunday nights, a bunch of random people from BYU gather together in a tunnel - specifically the one by the Marriott Center for those who have been here - and sing hymns together for an hour. The second best part (because the singing is always super awesome to be a part of) is that half-way through those who have recently gotten mission calls are given a chance to announce where they've been called to serve to all those present in the tunnel. I actually didn't start going until this semester, and I've been like three times so far. Honestly, I have no idea how it started, who came up with it, who runs it, who picks the hymns, or anything. I usually just show up and sing, and will generally only go if I have people I know going as well, and I'll almost always go if somebody I know is planning to announce their mission call there. It's usually pretty late on sundays with the English one starting at 10pm and going until 11pm with various smaller meetings that sing in other languages meeting earlier. Anyway, it's super awesome, and if you want more details about that... well ask me, because honestly I have no idea what else to write about it.
In other news, for my choir class my professor has us do these things called "Comfort Zone Assignments", where basically we have to find something outside of our usual comfort zone and write at least a two paragraph paper on it. The first paragraph (or portion, since most of them are longer than a paragraph) is about the actual event or thing you did to get out of your comfort zone. Then there's the second part which is all about you explaining how that was meaningful to you in helping to expand your comfort zone. Anyway, I mention that because the write-up for it is due tuesday, and I'm figuring I'll probably post it on here if I feel comfortable with that, it will probably be a bit edited though.
Anyway, now that you're aware that is coming up - time for the random stuff! Foremost on my mind is physicals - like from a doctor - since I recently got one for my mission papers. They've always been kind of uncomfortable for me, largely because the doctors are always pretty secretive about the results - I honestly don't think I've ever been given a chance to peruse the results from one of my physical exams or any tests that have been done on me, I don't even know my blood type. (I should get that fixed soon...).
Anyway, I've been working on this post for the better part of a week... but stuff just seems to keep coming up that makes me put off finishing it for another day. So I think at this point I'm just going to publish is, and try to write a new one regarding some thoughts about what all has been happening for the last week or so.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
In other news, for my choir class my professor has us do these things called "Comfort Zone Assignments", where basically we have to find something outside of our usual comfort zone and write at least a two paragraph paper on it. The first paragraph (or portion, since most of them are longer than a paragraph) is about the actual event or thing you did to get out of your comfort zone. Then there's the second part which is all about you explaining how that was meaningful to you in helping to expand your comfort zone. Anyway, I mention that because the write-up for it is due tuesday, and I'm figuring I'll probably post it on here if I feel comfortable with that, it will probably be a bit edited though.
Anyway, now that you're aware that is coming up - time for the random stuff! Foremost on my mind is physicals - like from a doctor - since I recently got one for my mission papers. They've always been kind of uncomfortable for me, largely because the doctors are always pretty secretive about the results - I honestly don't think I've ever been given a chance to peruse the results from one of my physical exams or any tests that have been done on me, I don't even know my blood type. (I should get that fixed soon...).
Anyway, I've been working on this post for the better part of a week... but stuff just seems to keep coming up that makes me put off finishing it for another day. So I think at this point I'm just going to publish is, and try to write a new one regarding some thoughts about what all has been happening for the last week or so.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Monday, February 4, 2013
Food should smell tasty to be tasty and singing rocks!
Alright, so I've been sitting here thinking about what on Earth to post about for a while now, and I'm still not entirely sure. But I've got a couple rough ideas, and I hope something good comes from them that makes y'all better people. Anyway, so today my thoughts revolved generally around two things - food and singing. There were random other things thrown in throughout the day, such as girls, testimonies, churchy stuff, naps, teaching, and various other random things, but those were the two mainstays of today.
So my thoughts about food today were constantly there, largely because it was fast Sunday and I don't have church until 2pm (thank the Lord!), but that means I don't get home until sometime after 5pm, so that's usually about when my fast ends. Anyway, I didn't want to make this post about complaining but about my thoughts, this part specifically revolving around food. So recently, I've been pretty lazy about what I eat - I usually just end up eating cereal for breakfast and dinner and finding something on campus to eat for lunch which usually ends up being pizza in the Cougareat. I think this might eventually become a problem... except for the fact that I really, really like cereal, and it's super quick to eat. But alas, I think I should eat better food.... but at least I still haven't eaten Ramen. That stuff just smells gross, I can't even imagine putting it in my mouth. Moving on... I used to be pretty good about making a couple things a week, but making enough to last a few days. But recently I've been feeling super lazy, as stated earlier, so today my thoughts about food (yes I did just spend quite a few sentences before getting to my actual thoughts) are as follows. Foremost, food should smell good. If it doesn't smell good, I find it usually doesn't taste good, but that's inductive reasoning - which is usually incorrect - but I still like the thought so I'm going with it. Another thought I had today regarding food is that most of it is pretty easy to make, especially with the magic of Google allowing you to find recipes super quickly for just about anything. Pinterest I've found is also a great place to find cool ideas of things to make, but generally those are a tad more elaborate than say tacos or lasagna. So I've been working on finding food that smells good, while is also easy to make, and I'm planning on making a section of my recipes page (check it out if you haven't yet, there's a link close to the top of the blog!) dedicated to the quick and good smelling foods that I'm going to be learning to make.
Anyway, my other thoughts today were about singing. Largely because that's what I did for the vast majority of today... I think I got a good 3.5 hours of singing or so in today, which is quite a bit. It was super fun as well! I joined the ward choir - and we're singing some pretty sweet arrangements of stuff, so that was super awesome. I also joined an a cappella group (which might end up being my comfort zone assignment, as it took a lot of talking to myself to convince me to join it) with some people who live in Heritage. Yes, I do have a legitimate reason to have found out about it - my roommates twin brother is in it and he threw out the offer for me to join. Anyway, they really like doing mash-ups of songs, which I'm totally cool with because those are super fun to sing. One they're singing is "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" mashed with another song (which name escapes me now... If I remember it I'll edit the post.). It's super fun, and I'm pretty glad I joined, only downside is walking over to heritage whenever we have rehearsals, but that isn't too bad. After rehearsing with them for an hour and a half, I went over to Tunnel Singing. I can't recall if I've discussed that on here before... so if I haven't someone throw a comment about it and I'll write about it in my next post. But, that was super awesome and my friend announced her mission call which was pretty cool to be there for (she's going to Kentucky by the way). And that's basically all my thoughts for now... I'll write more thoughts eventually (possibly later tonight if I find time while working).
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
So my thoughts about food today were constantly there, largely because it was fast Sunday and I don't have church until 2pm (thank the Lord!), but that means I don't get home until sometime after 5pm, so that's usually about when my fast ends. Anyway, I didn't want to make this post about complaining but about my thoughts, this part specifically revolving around food. So recently, I've been pretty lazy about what I eat - I usually just end up eating cereal for breakfast and dinner and finding something on campus to eat for lunch which usually ends up being pizza in the Cougareat. I think this might eventually become a problem... except for the fact that I really, really like cereal, and it's super quick to eat. But alas, I think I should eat better food.... but at least I still haven't eaten Ramen. That stuff just smells gross, I can't even imagine putting it in my mouth. Moving on... I used to be pretty good about making a couple things a week, but making enough to last a few days. But recently I've been feeling super lazy, as stated earlier, so today my thoughts about food (yes I did just spend quite a few sentences before getting to my actual thoughts) are as follows. Foremost, food should smell good. If it doesn't smell good, I find it usually doesn't taste good, but that's inductive reasoning - which is usually incorrect - but I still like the thought so I'm going with it. Another thought I had today regarding food is that most of it is pretty easy to make, especially with the magic of Google allowing you to find recipes super quickly for just about anything. Pinterest I've found is also a great place to find cool ideas of things to make, but generally those are a tad more elaborate than say tacos or lasagna. So I've been working on finding food that smells good, while is also easy to make, and I'm planning on making a section of my recipes page (check it out if you haven't yet, there's a link close to the top of the blog!) dedicated to the quick and good smelling foods that I'm going to be learning to make.
Anyway, my other thoughts today were about singing. Largely because that's what I did for the vast majority of today... I think I got a good 3.5 hours of singing or so in today, which is quite a bit. It was super fun as well! I joined the ward choir - and we're singing some pretty sweet arrangements of stuff, so that was super awesome. I also joined an a cappella group (which might end up being my comfort zone assignment, as it took a lot of talking to myself to convince me to join it) with some people who live in Heritage. Yes, I do have a legitimate reason to have found out about it - my roommates twin brother is in it and he threw out the offer for me to join. Anyway, they really like doing mash-ups of songs, which I'm totally cool with because those are super fun to sing. One they're singing is "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" mashed with another song (which name escapes me now... If I remember it I'll edit the post.). It's super fun, and I'm pretty glad I joined, only downside is walking over to heritage whenever we have rehearsals, but that isn't too bad. After rehearsing with them for an hour and a half, I went over to Tunnel Singing. I can't recall if I've discussed that on here before... so if I haven't someone throw a comment about it and I'll write about it in my next post. But, that was super awesome and my friend announced her mission call which was pretty cool to be there for (she's going to Kentucky by the way). And that's basically all my thoughts for now... I'll write more thoughts eventually (possibly later tonight if I find time while working).
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Whoo Whee!
Hello folks! It's certainly been an interesting few days to say
the least!
Foremost, I've
gotten some great pep talks from some of the awesome friends out here. Like I
don't know how I would have made it through this week without the help of some
of these awesome people. But alas! the week is just about finished, and all
that really stands between me and a weekend of awesomeness is a dreaded chem
test. We've been learning some rather interesting things pertaining to reaction
equilibrium and thermodynamics, so this test will definitely stretch me.
Hopefully it's not as difficult as I fear it will end up being.
Then again, today
is the last day of January, which can only lead to good things right? It's a
new month starting in a little while, which - while not as significant as a new
year or semester - is another great point to turn around and make some better
habits. For example, I've not been the best about making sure I get to class
this past month due to various reasons. A large reason has definitely been this
crazy weather that we have around here, but another was just a plain lack of
motivation to attend. Honestly, I think the weather here is crazier than
Florida's, in large part because today it was absolutely gorgeous outside,
while a couple days ago it was muggy, snowing, freezing, and just plain
miserable. I don't know about all you folks, but I hate doing much of anything
on days where it's so miserable outside that it usually leads to me feeling
miserable, and it's tough to fight that. I think today was the first time in a
couple weeks where the sun was actually shining and wonderful.
On another random
note, I passed my cleaning check!
Moving on, I went
to my first NRHH (National Residence Halls Honorary) meeting tonight, and had a
blast. We had a workshop about portfolios and the stuff that usually goes in
them, while eating some delicious treats made by the NRHH President. The treats
were probably the best part - they were basically an apple with the core taken
out and filled with caramel, then chopped into bite sized pieces and drizzled
over with chocolate and butterscotch :D After that we planned what all we're
doing for the next couple months, so that we can hopefully be super awesomely
productive.
On another totally random note, I work some pretty awesome people
:D
Yet it seems as though my posts drag on forever right? Well… I’m
sorry :P I just like typing so very much, and it’s quite fun when you type
quickly – much faster than I write – because it makes it easier for my ideas to
be transferred at almost the rate I think them up allowing my posts to be more
of a dialog that I have with myself and less of a blah, blah, blah, boring
whatever you wish to call it. Anyway, I recently learned the importance of
actually doing things throughout the week and not procrastinating. It used to
be that I was able to work incredibly fast and just get stuff done right before
it was due… but I’ve recently discovered that no longer works due to homework
taking many hours of work even at a feverish pace.
And because I really like random notes, here’s another one! I
clearly know too many awesome people… because I was about to start listing
them, but I realized it would probably add another 9 lines or so before I got
through all the awesome people, even if I just wrote their first names. So, if
I’ve recently told you you’re awesome this post/part of the post is a shout-out
to you! Or those random people I’ve thought are awesome but neglect to tell
them… because honestly that’s usually not in my comfort zone.
That’s all I got for tonight… I best be off to bed else I might
not do well on my chem test tomorrow.
‘Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Monday, January 28, 2013
Kid History, RHA, and Monday what could be better?!?
Alright, it's been a week since I've posted anything on here... so I figure I best get on it. My post today will have a few different parts as they're my thoughts about a few things over this past week.
First, is Kid History. For those who have never heard about it, it's a youtube series where the kids tell a family story while the parents act it out. So, I bring this up because recently (this past Friday the 25th) I went on a date to the premiere of the newest episode of the series. Honestly, I've never been a huge fan of the series, largely because it's one of those things where it's only funny if there's other people you're watching it with that are laughing. There are a few parts that are genuinely funny, but they are fairly rare - so I wouldn't advise going through and watching all 10 episodes in one night alone in your room. But, the reason this is relevant is that the premiere was the releasing of episode so I got to see it before it was even published on YouTube (check the dates!). The premiere was quite exciting, but I have to say my date was definitely more enjoyable than most of what was happening at the premiere. She has a fabulous personality and is pretty easy to talk to, so I had a great time. The episode was quite hilarious in large part because of the giant crowd of people that were all in the Wilk Ballroom to watch it. Honestly, I think if the video wasn't even funny in the slightest the people there still would have laughed just because it's Kid History and they are expecting to laugh.
Moving on... Saturday was RHA (Residence Halls Association for those who don't know what it stands for) leadership retreat. It was at a place called Spring Haven Lodge, check out this link! SPRING HAVEN! It's a super awesome place, with an indoor treehouse (complete with a slide!), two pool tables (those were quite fun to use), an air hockey table, a foosball table, and an Indoor basketball court! It's a giant mansion basically. We couldn't get into the bedrooms, so I have no idea what those look like, but there is a giant lake outside. I think some people were taking pictures... but I personally was too busy having fun and learning things at the workshops to bother. I learned a ton about RHA, the people I'll be working with, and what awesome stuff I can help do! Honestly, it was just a wonderful day. The people were absolutely fantastic, and I think my favorite thing during that day was when the RHA president was teaching a workshop about programming and a giant block of snow fell off the roof right outside the window behind her. She screamed, jumped forward, looked behind her to see what the shadow and noise were, and then proceeded to freak out for about 30 seconds before realizing that we were all laughing at her reaction as we heard the noise and saw the snow (which she didn't see as her back was towards it). It was definitely a you-had-to-be-there moments of laughter, but now I can look back on it and laugh with those that were there. In other news, for lunch they served us Costa Vida (shameless advertisement coming up) which was totally awesome. I don't think there's any in Florida, but for those of you who see this in Utah you should definitely go get some in my honor. For those in Florida... go to Chipotle. It's tastier and more filling anyway.
Next on the list of things to reflect on is Monday (Today). It's definitely been an interesting day in quite a few ways. To start with though it begins yesterday on Sunday when I made the foolish choice to go Tunnel Singing at the time that it's always at of 10pm until 11pm. It was super fun - don't get me wrong, I really, Really enjoyed it - but it wasn't a great choice for a few reasons. Foremost, it was wet, and kinda cold outside. This, combined with the fact that I was walking there and back with some crazy friends of mine, resulted in quite a bit of snow being thrown around on the way there and back leading to being cold and wet for a while that night. Secondly, my roommate hadn't been feeling well that day, and there was a high chance I would be sick the next day already, so being out in the cold, wet weather late at night was not a good idea. Furthermore, I stayed the entire time - another bad choice, I should have left halfway through - compounding the problem as an hour of singing really wears on your throat (which wasn't good for me, because my roommate had a cold thing that made his throat hurt). So, as luck would have it I woke up this morning not feeling well and it took a really long shower, in addition to some meds after breakfast to make me feel well enough to go to class and brave the snow/ice that had fallen the night before. So, that led to me missing Chemistry, but I went to all my other classes today. Biology was enjoyable, largely because the TAs were teaching and they did a fantastic job explaining DNA to us, and I feel like there might be a post about Biology later this week. Later today I went to Mission Prep, and was recorded answering a few questions for some video that Deseret Book is making which was pretty sweet. In addition to that, RHA was awesome today as we planned for our program that's happening on the 8th. Then, since I was sadly unable to find anyone available to hit with me, I went and hit some serves for about an hour. Then went home and ate food and came to work.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
First, is Kid History. For those who have never heard about it, it's a youtube series where the kids tell a family story while the parents act it out. So, I bring this up because recently (this past Friday the 25th) I went on a date to the premiere of the newest episode of the series. Honestly, I've never been a huge fan of the series, largely because it's one of those things where it's only funny if there's other people you're watching it with that are laughing. There are a few parts that are genuinely funny, but they are fairly rare - so I wouldn't advise going through and watching all 10 episodes in one night alone in your room. But, the reason this is relevant is that the premiere was the releasing of episode so I got to see it before it was even published on YouTube (check the dates!). The premiere was quite exciting, but I have to say my date was definitely more enjoyable than most of what was happening at the premiere. She has a fabulous personality and is pretty easy to talk to, so I had a great time. The episode was quite hilarious in large part because of the giant crowd of people that were all in the Wilk Ballroom to watch it. Honestly, I think if the video wasn't even funny in the slightest the people there still would have laughed just because it's Kid History and they are expecting to laugh.
Moving on... Saturday was RHA (Residence Halls Association for those who don't know what it stands for) leadership retreat. It was at a place called Spring Haven Lodge, check out this link! SPRING HAVEN! It's a super awesome place, with an indoor treehouse (complete with a slide!), two pool tables (those were quite fun to use), an air hockey table, a foosball table, and an Indoor basketball court! It's a giant mansion basically. We couldn't get into the bedrooms, so I have no idea what those look like, but there is a giant lake outside. I think some people were taking pictures... but I personally was too busy having fun and learning things at the workshops to bother. I learned a ton about RHA, the people I'll be working with, and what awesome stuff I can help do! Honestly, it was just a wonderful day. The people were absolutely fantastic, and I think my favorite thing during that day was when the RHA president was teaching a workshop about programming and a giant block of snow fell off the roof right outside the window behind her. She screamed, jumped forward, looked behind her to see what the shadow and noise were, and then proceeded to freak out for about 30 seconds before realizing that we were all laughing at her reaction as we heard the noise and saw the snow (which she didn't see as her back was towards it). It was definitely a you-had-to-be-there moments of laughter, but now I can look back on it and laugh with those that were there. In other news, for lunch they served us Costa Vida (shameless advertisement coming up) which was totally awesome. I don't think there's any in Florida, but for those of you who see this in Utah you should definitely go get some in my honor. For those in Florida... go to Chipotle. It's tastier and more filling anyway.
Next on the list of things to reflect on is Monday (Today). It's definitely been an interesting day in quite a few ways. To start with though it begins yesterday on Sunday when I made the foolish choice to go Tunnel Singing at the time that it's always at of 10pm until 11pm. It was super fun - don't get me wrong, I really, Really enjoyed it - but it wasn't a great choice for a few reasons. Foremost, it was wet, and kinda cold outside. This, combined with the fact that I was walking there and back with some crazy friends of mine, resulted in quite a bit of snow being thrown around on the way there and back leading to being cold and wet for a while that night. Secondly, my roommate hadn't been feeling well that day, and there was a high chance I would be sick the next day already, so being out in the cold, wet weather late at night was not a good idea. Furthermore, I stayed the entire time - another bad choice, I should have left halfway through - compounding the problem as an hour of singing really wears on your throat (which wasn't good for me, because my roommate had a cold thing that made his throat hurt). So, as luck would have it I woke up this morning not feeling well and it took a really long shower, in addition to some meds after breakfast to make me feel well enough to go to class and brave the snow/ice that had fallen the night before. So, that led to me missing Chemistry, but I went to all my other classes today. Biology was enjoyable, largely because the TAs were teaching and they did a fantastic job explaining DNA to us, and I feel like there might be a post about Biology later this week. Later today I went to Mission Prep, and was recorded answering a few questions for some video that Deseret Book is making which was pretty sweet. In addition to that, RHA was awesome today as we planned for our program that's happening on the 8th. Then, since I was sadly unable to find anyone available to hit with me, I went and hit some serves for about an hour. Then went home and ate food and came to work.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Monday, January 21, 2013
Randomness doesn't fit me well...
Well, I wrote part of this post last friday, then forgot to post it so I guess I'll add to it today :P
1/18/13
Alright, hopefully I'll figure out what to title this post by the time I finish it... since as of now I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to end up writing about. Honestly, I wasn't feeling well today - took some medicine, slept a ton, and now I'm feeling significantly better so I figured I could write on here. We've already been through two weeks of classes, and what a couple weeks it has been. I'm really glad I ended up coming back for another semester here, because I feel like this semester might be my favorite one of college yet. I'm finally taking classes for fun, which as of yet has been a novel concept to me and lead to my burn-out last semester. Since I've been sick today I've had plenty of time to think, but most of those thoughts are probably just going to stay locked up tight in my head. My mind has been wandering from the most random topics to even more random topics a few examples include girls, missions, work, class, video games, Christ, The Atonement, Church, my lack of a calling, the confusing process of changing wards in-between semester while filling out your mission papers, and many many more things as I've done very little today. I've learned today that the most disgusting tasting medicines usually work the best, and how great it is to be able to afford those nasty things when I need them.
1/21/13
It's definitely been an interesting LONG weekend. I was super glad not to have classes today. So glad that I actually considered trying to get ahead on homework so that I could go on a date... yeah didn't happen quite to the extent I planned. Anyway, that was partially because I made some chicken today to try and figure out how I most liked my chicken. I think I decided upon breaded and baked/cooked some way largely because I'm just a huge fan of breading stuff. It is super easy to do, makes it more filling, cheap as can be, and incredibly tasty! I also discovered this weekend that I like pineapple... considered I had never actually tried it before I thought it tasted kinda funny at first, but I slowly got used to it. I also decided today that I spend WAY too much time at my workplace, even when I'm not actually scheduled to work, so I think I'm going to have to tone down how often I'm over there. Considering it is just a minute and a half walk from my apartment, and there's always one of my co-workers there, I understand why I'm there so often... but I seriously need to stop it. I think I might spend more time at the office than I do in class, which is definitely not good. Have I noted yet how awesome Patriarchal Blessings are? Well, I recently decided to start reading mine at least once a week, and it's definitely made a difference in how I look at things. It's almost a guaranteed way for me to feel the spirit super strongly, which is nice, but it also helps me see more of the big picture. Aside from that, it's been a pretty chill weekend. I read The Count of Monte Cristo again - still a super awesome book. I also spent some time with my roommates chatting about random things, which was nice since we're all pretty busy most of the time. Another random thing I did was get my Foodhandler Permit, which is just nice to have. I've had one since 10th grade, when I took my commercial cooking class, but it was about to expire so I renewed it so that I can cook for stuff again! I also discovered that my hands get dry really easily and even started bleeding at one point today (not excessively, just enough to make me notice it and put lotion on them). Well, that's all I got for now. If you have any ideas on stuff that you want me to fill you guys in on - my opinion on something, how to make tasty food, anything you think I know about and want me to talk about, feel free to send an email or write it in a comment :D
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
1/18/13
Alright, hopefully I'll figure out what to title this post by the time I finish it... since as of now I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to end up writing about. Honestly, I wasn't feeling well today - took some medicine, slept a ton, and now I'm feeling significantly better so I figured I could write on here. We've already been through two weeks of classes, and what a couple weeks it has been. I'm really glad I ended up coming back for another semester here, because I feel like this semester might be my favorite one of college yet. I'm finally taking classes for fun, which as of yet has been a novel concept to me and lead to my burn-out last semester. Since I've been sick today I've had plenty of time to think, but most of those thoughts are probably just going to stay locked up tight in my head. My mind has been wandering from the most random topics to even more random topics a few examples include girls, missions, work, class, video games, Christ, The Atonement, Church, my lack of a calling, the confusing process of changing wards in-between semester while filling out your mission papers, and many many more things as I've done very little today. I've learned today that the most disgusting tasting medicines usually work the best, and how great it is to be able to afford those nasty things when I need them.
1/21/13
It's definitely been an interesting LONG weekend. I was super glad not to have classes today. So glad that I actually considered trying to get ahead on homework so that I could go on a date... yeah didn't happen quite to the extent I planned. Anyway, that was partially because I made some chicken today to try and figure out how I most liked my chicken. I think I decided upon breaded and baked/cooked some way largely because I'm just a huge fan of breading stuff. It is super easy to do, makes it more filling, cheap as can be, and incredibly tasty! I also discovered this weekend that I like pineapple... considered I had never actually tried it before I thought it tasted kinda funny at first, but I slowly got used to it. I also decided today that I spend WAY too much time at my workplace, even when I'm not actually scheduled to work, so I think I'm going to have to tone down how often I'm over there. Considering it is just a minute and a half walk from my apartment, and there's always one of my co-workers there, I understand why I'm there so often... but I seriously need to stop it. I think I might spend more time at the office than I do in class, which is definitely not good. Have I noted yet how awesome Patriarchal Blessings are? Well, I recently decided to start reading mine at least once a week, and it's definitely made a difference in how I look at things. It's almost a guaranteed way for me to feel the spirit super strongly, which is nice, but it also helps me see more of the big picture. Aside from that, it's been a pretty chill weekend. I read The Count of Monte Cristo again - still a super awesome book. I also spent some time with my roommates chatting about random things, which was nice since we're all pretty busy most of the time. Another random thing I did was get my Foodhandler Permit, which is just nice to have. I've had one since 10th grade, when I took my commercial cooking class, but it was about to expire so I renewed it so that I can cook for stuff again! I also discovered that my hands get dry really easily and even started bleeding at one point today (not excessively, just enough to make me notice it and put lotion on them). Well, that's all I got for now. If you have any ideas on stuff that you want me to fill you guys in on - my opinion on something, how to make tasty food, anything you think I know about and want me to talk about, feel free to send an email or write it in a comment :D
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Tired... All... The... Time...
I have recently discovered great value in getting enough sleep. Well, that sentence in itself might reveal what these last few days have been like, but for those who don't know me all that well I guess I'll dive into a bit more detail.
After having a great (albeit full) third day of classes, I ended up going to bed at about 1am after getting off work shortly after midnight. I woke up feeling refreshed, and headed off to chemistry class. After chemistry, I chilled out with some friends in the TA lab then went to eat lunch before my bio lab. We took a pretest in lab, which I found out today I got a 39% on it, which isn't nearly as bad as I had expected since I felt like I know literally nothing it was asking. After Bio lab, I went home and worked on homework until it was time for university Chorale. I convinced my roommate from fall semester to come give it a try, and told him to add the class if he liked it (as of when I'm finally writing this post he has). After choir I went home and basically only had time to eat, take a brief nap to make sure I wouldn't fall asleep at work, and then headed to work. After work I crashed on my bed for as long as I could until I needed to wake up for class on Friday.
Friday was a pretty great day, if only because there was nothing all that bad that happened to me. I didn't have mission prep that day, I was convinced to join RHA (Residence Halls Association), and I got my homework turned in. Friday night I hung out with my roommate and his girlfriend at her apartment with all her roommates and one of her roommates' boyfriend. It was a pretty great night as we hung out and played Starfox 64, Mario kart 64, and watched movies (Thumbelina) until waayy too late with me spending time working on labs for my programming class throughout. I ended up sleeping in on Saturday pretty late (like 11:30am).
And so Saturday didn't start until the afternoon, and it was time to do laundry. After doing laundry, I ate some food and headed up to watch the men's tennis match against Weber State. It was a pretty entertaining matchup, but that was probably because BYU killed them until the final match (which I think pitted a freshman against a senior) where we finally lost a point (in the overall match - we had lost points in the individual ones). That ended up taking about 4 hours from start to finish, so I was able to get a good gauge of how long those are going to be in the future, and it was definitely interesting to be able to see what level they play at in college. For some reason, I had always thought they were super good and could probably have gone pro instead of go to college, or dropout and go pro at anytime... but from what I saw they weren't that much better than I am, and if I actually played more than a couple times a month I could probably be as good as them.
After Saturday of course comes Sunday, which was a super awesome day. It was my second day of not having church until 2 pm and it was absolutely fantastic! I was able to spend the morning doing various things to get ready for church and just chilling out. It was a pretty awesome day as after church I watched a devotional given by President Uchtdorf, which was pretty awesome about the importance of Truth in our lives. He made a great point that truth is true, even if nobody believes it. But, between church and the devotional I made some pretty tasty chicken (if I do say so myself) that was stuffed with cheese, and spiced to have a little bit of kick to it. I would have taken a picture of it... but it was my first attempt so it didn't look all that pretty even though it smelled divine.
Monday was the start of a new week of classes, which means it should be better than the previous one right? Well... it kinda wasn't. I woke up late, missed class, didn't have very much time to eat lunch, and didn't have a very good morning at all. But, at least the afternoon was pretty sweet. My mission prep teacher was out of town for his calling (he's on like the General Sunday School Board or something), and so we had his Son-In-Law come substitute for him. It was definitely different than having the actual teacher, but he was still pretty awesome and I learned quite alot about different kinds of teaching. For example, a good teacher/missionary will focus on themselves - how they look, and various other things focusing on them - while a better teacher/missionary focuses on the message they're sharing - what they're saying, how they're saying it, if it makes sense, etc - while the best ones focus on the people they're teaching and what their needs and wants are and how to best fulfill them while still teaching something. After that I went to RHA class for the first time - it was certainly an experience - we started out with the basic college introductions - name, where you're from, major, and an interesting fact - then jumped straight into planning for the February program that we're putting on. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and felt kinda like I was back on the Stake Youth Council again (ah... the glory days). Sadly after that there was no Home Evening, so far as my apartment heard about, so I didn't really do much except for homework.
On Tuesday, after going to bed pretty early on Monday I actually got up on time for classes (the one time this week that has happened - except Friday since that day hasn't hit yet) but missed the bus because my nose started bleeding right before I was going to leave and took forever to stop. It was actually rather inconvenient, but I ended up getting homework done that I hadn't planned on doing until Friday evening finished. I also ended up going into work for a little while to help out and teach one of the newer people how to do a few things. I of course made it to University Chorale (I don't think I'll ever miss that class unless something comes up... it's soooo late in the day), and had a total blast there since we're singing some pretty awesome songs. I'll try and find some good videos and post the links in my next post. After choir, I went with my old roommate to the bookstore so he could buy the music, as he had decided to add the class after singing the right part (on Thursday he sung my part - tenor - which he doesn't like very much, he prefers baritone). After that I headed home and devoured some food in preparation for spending another grueling four hours at work on a tuesday night. Tuesdays are unusually busy, largely because all the Resident Assistants (RAs) have staff meetings throughout the building. After work I ended up not being able to sleep, and instead spent a couple hours cleaning and organizing my room - which in retrospect was not the greatest choice, but I did it anyway because the clutter and inability to find anything was really getting to me.
So, after staying up insanely late, I of course, woke up insanely late and missed class (it hasn't been a good week so far) and ended up using my new-found time to bake cinnamon rolls and snicker-doodles for my good friend's mission call opening that was to be later that night. I did go to mission prep and RHA, as those classes are fun and late in the afternoon, and then came home to finish baking. After that was done, it was time to go up to American Fork for her mission call opening, so I went over to my friend's apartment who was giving me a ride. We crammed the four of us into her little car, and headed to go pick up another person who was also going who lives over in Heritage. After picking him up, we started headed towards the interstate, but at the intersection of university and 450 East (by the Marriott center - worst intersection ever by the way) my friend's car started having issues - like the radio would randomly shut off and her lights would flicker in and out briefly - so we were talking about how her battery was probably dying (in addition to it having a crappy transmission so it didn't work all that well - thanks dad for not having crappy cars! ) and she thought since it didn't look like it was going to move anyway, it would be a great idea to try turning it off and turning it back on. But, since the battery died after turning it off, we couldn't get it to turn back on. And so, the pushing began, in the freezing cold weather, the other four of us got out to push the car out of the intersection and to try and find a parking lot. Luckily, because we're in Utah and not Florida, we happened to be on the top of a hill, so once we got it going it rolled away from us and the four of us pushing looked pretty comical trying to catch up to it. After the driver went past about 4 entrances to various parking lots by the stadium, we figured she was going to try and make it back to Wyview so we stopped running and just walked until we caught up to her. So, she eventually turns off into the stadium parking lot and proceeds to take up about four parking spots with her car parallel to the parking spots. We decided that four of us would run back to Wyview and retrieve the car of another girl in our group , but neither her nor her roommate that was with us had keys to the apartment and so they had to stop by my workplace to get one. After running back to Wyview (a total of about 1.2 miles of running from start to finish) we hopped in the car and went to pick up the guy we had left with the other car. We picked him up (and the treats) and left that car there taking up four parking spots while we headed off to watch our friend open her call. After we left - she got called to Lima Peru West by the way and it was super awesome to be there - we dropped off the fellow who lives in Heritage and went to jump the other car. We discovered - much to our surprise - that there was a basketball game that night and every single parking spot had been taking in the lot we left the car - except for the four it was taking up. Luckily we had left it with the battery on the correct side, and it was pretty easy to jump the car and head back to Wyview. After that wonderful adventure (it might have been the first exciting thing I've done since I got here!) I went to sleep in hopes of getting up on time for class today.
Which of course didn't happen. It's just been one of those weeks where I haven't been able to sleep all that well during the night, and end up not waking up when I need to, either way before and going back to sleep or way after and freaking out because I miss class. So, after missing my first class today, I headed up to Bio and took a quiz and learned the stuff I had missed yesterday (Score!) from my TA. She's super awesome and actually helps us to understand what we need to, and I was definitely glad I went to lab. After lab, I hung out with my old roommate (who is in both my Bio section and choir with me) until it was time for choir. After having a blast in choir singing some incredibly fun songs (still planning on getting those links... this is actually still the same post that I promised that earlier in), I went to take a pretest - which I again got about a 40% on. Those have shown me the obvious need I have to attend class this semester - which I'm working on - I've started working with my roommate so that both of us actually get to class on-time, and after this depressing week it'll probably actually work. Anyway, after that I went home and ate some food and watched some HISHE (How it should have ended) videos before coming to work and spending forever writing this marathon post - terribly sorry about that by the way - and so I have finally caught up!
From here on out, I'll try to post every other day (maybe daily if I can pick a good time) regarding my insights, things I've learned, and done that were of any note at all. Anyway,
Until next time,
Jordan Nielson
After having a great (albeit full) third day of classes, I ended up going to bed at about 1am after getting off work shortly after midnight. I woke up feeling refreshed, and headed off to chemistry class. After chemistry, I chilled out with some friends in the TA lab then went to eat lunch before my bio lab. We took a pretest in lab, which I found out today I got a 39% on it, which isn't nearly as bad as I had expected since I felt like I know literally nothing it was asking. After Bio lab, I went home and worked on homework until it was time for university Chorale. I convinced my roommate from fall semester to come give it a try, and told him to add the class if he liked it (as of when I'm finally writing this post he has). After choir I went home and basically only had time to eat, take a brief nap to make sure I wouldn't fall asleep at work, and then headed to work. After work I crashed on my bed for as long as I could until I needed to wake up for class on Friday.
Friday was a pretty great day, if only because there was nothing all that bad that happened to me. I didn't have mission prep that day, I was convinced to join RHA (Residence Halls Association), and I got my homework turned in. Friday night I hung out with my roommate and his girlfriend at her apartment with all her roommates and one of her roommates' boyfriend. It was a pretty great night as we hung out and played Starfox 64, Mario kart 64, and watched movies (Thumbelina) until waayy too late with me spending time working on labs for my programming class throughout. I ended up sleeping in on Saturday pretty late (like 11:30am).
And so Saturday didn't start until the afternoon, and it was time to do laundry. After doing laundry, I ate some food and headed up to watch the men's tennis match against Weber State. It was a pretty entertaining matchup, but that was probably because BYU killed them until the final match (which I think pitted a freshman against a senior) where we finally lost a point (in the overall match - we had lost points in the individual ones). That ended up taking about 4 hours from start to finish, so I was able to get a good gauge of how long those are going to be in the future, and it was definitely interesting to be able to see what level they play at in college. For some reason, I had always thought they were super good and could probably have gone pro instead of go to college, or dropout and go pro at anytime... but from what I saw they weren't that much better than I am, and if I actually played more than a couple times a month I could probably be as good as them.
After Saturday of course comes Sunday, which was a super awesome day. It was my second day of not having church until 2 pm and it was absolutely fantastic! I was able to spend the morning doing various things to get ready for church and just chilling out. It was a pretty awesome day as after church I watched a devotional given by President Uchtdorf, which was pretty awesome about the importance of Truth in our lives. He made a great point that truth is true, even if nobody believes it. But, between church and the devotional I made some pretty tasty chicken (if I do say so myself) that was stuffed with cheese, and spiced to have a little bit of kick to it. I would have taken a picture of it... but it was my first attempt so it didn't look all that pretty even though it smelled divine.
Monday was the start of a new week of classes, which means it should be better than the previous one right? Well... it kinda wasn't. I woke up late, missed class, didn't have very much time to eat lunch, and didn't have a very good morning at all. But, at least the afternoon was pretty sweet. My mission prep teacher was out of town for his calling (he's on like the General Sunday School Board or something), and so we had his Son-In-Law come substitute for him. It was definitely different than having the actual teacher, but he was still pretty awesome and I learned quite alot about different kinds of teaching. For example, a good teacher/missionary will focus on themselves - how they look, and various other things focusing on them - while a better teacher/missionary focuses on the message they're sharing - what they're saying, how they're saying it, if it makes sense, etc - while the best ones focus on the people they're teaching and what their needs and wants are and how to best fulfill them while still teaching something. After that I went to RHA class for the first time - it was certainly an experience - we started out with the basic college introductions - name, where you're from, major, and an interesting fact - then jumped straight into planning for the February program that we're putting on. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and felt kinda like I was back on the Stake Youth Council again (ah... the glory days). Sadly after that there was no Home Evening, so far as my apartment heard about, so I didn't really do much except for homework.
On Tuesday, after going to bed pretty early on Monday I actually got up on time for classes (the one time this week that has happened - except Friday since that day hasn't hit yet) but missed the bus because my nose started bleeding right before I was going to leave and took forever to stop. It was actually rather inconvenient, but I ended up getting homework done that I hadn't planned on doing until Friday evening finished. I also ended up going into work for a little while to help out and teach one of the newer people how to do a few things. I of course made it to University Chorale (I don't think I'll ever miss that class unless something comes up... it's soooo late in the day), and had a total blast there since we're singing some pretty awesome songs. I'll try and find some good videos and post the links in my next post. After choir, I went with my old roommate to the bookstore so he could buy the music, as he had decided to add the class after singing the right part (on Thursday he sung my part - tenor - which he doesn't like very much, he prefers baritone). After that I headed home and devoured some food in preparation for spending another grueling four hours at work on a tuesday night. Tuesdays are unusually busy, largely because all the Resident Assistants (RAs) have staff meetings throughout the building. After work I ended up not being able to sleep, and instead spent a couple hours cleaning and organizing my room - which in retrospect was not the greatest choice, but I did it anyway because the clutter and inability to find anything was really getting to me.
So, after staying up insanely late, I of course, woke up insanely late and missed class (it hasn't been a good week so far) and ended up using my new-found time to bake cinnamon rolls and snicker-doodles for my good friend's mission call opening that was to be later that night. I did go to mission prep and RHA, as those classes are fun and late in the afternoon, and then came home to finish baking. After that was done, it was time to go up to American Fork for her mission call opening, so I went over to my friend's apartment who was giving me a ride. We crammed the four of us into her little car, and headed to go pick up another person who was also going who lives over in Heritage. After picking him up, we started headed towards the interstate, but at the intersection of university and 450 East (by the Marriott center - worst intersection ever by the way) my friend's car started having issues - like the radio would randomly shut off and her lights would flicker in and out briefly - so we were talking about how her battery was probably dying (in addition to it having a crappy transmission so it didn't work all that well - thanks dad for not having crappy cars! ) and she thought since it didn't look like it was going to move anyway, it would be a great idea to try turning it off and turning it back on. But, since the battery died after turning it off, we couldn't get it to turn back on. And so, the pushing began, in the freezing cold weather, the other four of us got out to push the car out of the intersection and to try and find a parking lot. Luckily, because we're in Utah and not Florida, we happened to be on the top of a hill, so once we got it going it rolled away from us and the four of us pushing looked pretty comical trying to catch up to it. After the driver went past about 4 entrances to various parking lots by the stadium, we figured she was going to try and make it back to Wyview so we stopped running and just walked until we caught up to her. So, she eventually turns off into the stadium parking lot and proceeds to take up about four parking spots with her car parallel to the parking spots. We decided that four of us would run back to Wyview and retrieve the car of another girl in our group , but neither her nor her roommate that was with us had keys to the apartment and so they had to stop by my workplace to get one. After running back to Wyview (a total of about 1.2 miles of running from start to finish) we hopped in the car and went to pick up the guy we had left with the other car. We picked him up (and the treats) and left that car there taking up four parking spots while we headed off to watch our friend open her call. After we left - she got called to Lima Peru West by the way and it was super awesome to be there - we dropped off the fellow who lives in Heritage and went to jump the other car. We discovered - much to our surprise - that there was a basketball game that night and every single parking spot had been taking in the lot we left the car - except for the four it was taking up. Luckily we had left it with the battery on the correct side, and it was pretty easy to jump the car and head back to Wyview. After that wonderful adventure (it might have been the first exciting thing I've done since I got here!) I went to sleep in hopes of getting up on time for class today.
Which of course didn't happen. It's just been one of those weeks where I haven't been able to sleep all that well during the night, and end up not waking up when I need to, either way before and going back to sleep or way after and freaking out because I miss class. So, after missing my first class today, I headed up to Bio and took a quiz and learned the stuff I had missed yesterday (Score!) from my TA. She's super awesome and actually helps us to understand what we need to, and I was definitely glad I went to lab. After lab, I hung out with my old roommate (who is in both my Bio section and choir with me) until it was time for choir. After having a blast in choir singing some incredibly fun songs (still planning on getting those links... this is actually still the same post that I promised that earlier in), I went to take a pretest - which I again got about a 40% on. Those have shown me the obvious need I have to attend class this semester - which I'm working on - I've started working with my roommate so that both of us actually get to class on-time, and after this depressing week it'll probably actually work. Anyway, after that I went home and ate some food and watched some HISHE (How it should have ended) videos before coming to work and spending forever writing this marathon post - terribly sorry about that by the way - and so I have finally caught up!
From here on out, I'll try to post every other day (maybe daily if I can pick a good time) regarding my insights, things I've learned, and done that were of any note at all. Anyway,
Until next time,
Jordan Nielson
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
And so it begins... again.
Well it seems fall semester has come and gone already, and with it comes the dreaded winter semester. Most of the stories I've heard about BYU growing up have been about how insanely cold it always is the entire winter semester and how that same cold made both of my parents independently choose to return to Florida instead of staying here. So naturally, as I returned to Provo I was expecting to pretty much die of freezing before I ever even made it to finals. Clearly though, I haven't frozen yet so y'all still get the chance to read my boring and usually lengthy blog posts about my highly uneventful life. My flight back out here was not all that eventful, though when I got here it was rather cold. After my flight I took one of the airport shuttles down to Provo and it wasn't too bad of a trip.
It ended up that I got the chance to work the night I got back, and the night after that as well. The next day was my favorite as of yet, since it was my first day of two p.m. church! I woke up eventually, hung out with my roommates, and made it to church perfectly on time :-) My new ward seems super awesome so far, and I even found a couple people I already knew there. After church, I made some snickerdooodles for man meeting, but I ever-so-slightly over cooked them so they weren't as soft as I had wanted. I actually went to bed really early Sunday night so that I made sure to wake up on time.
And so, the first day of classes begun. It started out like most days this semester will - freezing cold in the negative temperatures, but somehow I still made it to class on time. My first class on Monday was C S 142, intro to computer programming. That class (as evidenced by my pre-semester anticipation) is likely to be my favorite class this semester, and so it seemed on the first day when I found out that it actually has extra credit rewards for turning things in early. After that I went to Chem 112, and honestly I'm still not sure what to think about that class. At 11 it was time for differential equations, and my Asian professor makes me fear that I won't be able to get much from the lecture and will have to rely on the TA and book to get the material into my head, such a shame too because I was kind of looking forward to this class. After D.E. I head to Bio 100, where my professor somehow managed to find an excuse to play a clip from star wars (where Yoda is training Luke around the part with the x-wing) and a clip from the lion king all in one class period while wearing a Jedi robe with a $300 light saber :-) After a two hour break (for now... come march I'll have two hours of tennis there!) I headed over to mission prep and was totally blown away with how enthusiastic my professor and classmates were to be there. It would seem that everyone was super glad to be in the class that at one point had a waitlist of over 150 people for a 60 person class size, me included. Anyway, after that awesome class, I went home and chilled out until it was time for bed.
Then came Tuesday, which as a general rule for me is a pretty chill day. I started my day at 10 with chemistry again (stupid daily classes.) then went off to staff meeting and work for a little while until it was time to go to University Chorale at 4. Then I went home and ate some food afore heading back up to work until midnight. Then it was time to rinse and repeat Monday's schedule on wednesday, but there were definitely some cool things that happened Wednesday as it was no longer the awkward first day of class. Foremost, in my mission prep class, Steve Jones (the guy from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs ) Anyway, he was super awesome and had a great testimony of missionary work to share with us. Another cool thing that happened on Wednesday was that I experienced for the first time what it's like to have awesome teachers who have different sections of the same class later in the day then my scheduled class time. I slept in a bit late, and was able to start my day in chemistry, then go to computer programming, then bio, then at two I was able to go to Diff Eq, and mission prep at 3. I went to work later that night as my co-worker's brother was getting his mission call, so overall it was a pretty sweet day :D
Ya know... I think I'll stop this post here and let the next one catch up to today so that I can finally start writing about stuff other than my boring life :P
'Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
It ended up that I got the chance to work the night I got back, and the night after that as well. The next day was my favorite as of yet, since it was my first day of two p.m. church! I woke up eventually, hung out with my roommates, and made it to church perfectly on time :-) My new ward seems super awesome so far, and I even found a couple people I already knew there. After church, I made some snickerdooodles for man meeting, but I ever-so-slightly over cooked them so they weren't as soft as I had wanted. I actually went to bed really early Sunday night so that I made sure to wake up on time.
And so, the first day of classes begun. It started out like most days this semester will - freezing cold in the negative temperatures, but somehow I still made it to class on time. My first class on Monday was C S 142, intro to computer programming. That class (as evidenced by my pre-semester anticipation) is likely to be my favorite class this semester, and so it seemed on the first day when I found out that it actually has extra credit rewards for turning things in early. After that I went to Chem 112, and honestly I'm still not sure what to think about that class. At 11 it was time for differential equations, and my Asian professor makes me fear that I won't be able to get much from the lecture and will have to rely on the TA and book to get the material into my head, such a shame too because I was kind of looking forward to this class. After D.E. I head to Bio 100, where my professor somehow managed to find an excuse to play a clip from star wars (where Yoda is training Luke around the part with the x-wing) and a clip from the lion king all in one class period while wearing a Jedi robe with a $300 light saber :-) After a two hour break (for now... come march I'll have two hours of tennis there!) I headed over to mission prep and was totally blown away with how enthusiastic my professor and classmates were to be there. It would seem that everyone was super glad to be in the class that at one point had a waitlist of over 150 people for a 60 person class size, me included. Anyway, after that awesome class, I went home and chilled out until it was time for bed.
Then came Tuesday, which as a general rule for me is a pretty chill day. I started my day at 10 with chemistry again (stupid daily classes.) then went off to staff meeting and work for a little while until it was time to go to University Chorale at 4. Then I went home and ate some food afore heading back up to work until midnight. Then it was time to rinse and repeat Monday's schedule on wednesday, but there were definitely some cool things that happened Wednesday as it was no longer the awkward first day of class. Foremost, in my mission prep class, Steve Jones (the guy from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs ) Anyway, he was super awesome and had a great testimony of missionary work to share with us. Another cool thing that happened on Wednesday was that I experienced for the first time what it's like to have awesome teachers who have different sections of the same class later in the day then my scheduled class time. I slept in a bit late, and was able to start my day in chemistry, then go to computer programming, then bio, then at two I was able to go to Diff Eq, and mission prep at 3. I went to work later that night as my co-worker's brother was getting his mission call, so overall it was a pretty sweet day :D
Ya know... I think I'll stop this post here and let the next one catch up to today so that I can finally start writing about stuff other than my boring life :P
'Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Changing directions
So ya know how this blog usually details all the fun little things that happen to me? Well, that will probably be changing a little bit at least so that I can use this to fulfill a requirement for my mission prep class :D
Hopefully that gets you readers as glad as I am, because it gives me an excuse to write on here at least 3 times each week! That means you'll get updates incredibly often, and you'll probably actually get some insights and things I've learned since I gotta find something else to start writing about if I'm going to be posting that often or y'all would get incredibly bored with my life story.
So for now I'll give y'all the good old rundown of what's been happening since my last post all those many months ago. I'll make it brief:
October: Video games, being social, working, baking, and such took up the vast majority of my time and my priorities started to slowly shift away from class and more towards having fun since I wasn't liking my classes.
November: Boy was I looking forward to that break, more so because of the lack of homework that had to be turned in than anything since I wasn't able to go home. It was definitely an interesting month as I saw my motivation wane and my desire to achieve fall into a pit and never climb back out.
December: Wow. This month was probably the craziest month I'd experienced yet here at college, filled with tons of sadness, grief, fun, tests, and insanity that I can't even begin to capture it in this brief paragraph. But! I got to go home halfway through the month and that was absolutely spectacular. I was super happy to be able to catch up with so much awesome family that is still down in Florida, and I even got my wisdom teeth out and lived to tell the tale!
And now I'm back to January! Magical isn't it? I just find it crazy that yet another semester and set of classes here at BYU has started once more. This semester I'm taking a whole new slew of classes, so here's the list including my pre-semester reaction to each:
Hopefully that gets you readers as glad as I am, because it gives me an excuse to write on here at least 3 times each week! That means you'll get updates incredibly often, and you'll probably actually get some insights and things I've learned since I gotta find something else to start writing about if I'm going to be posting that often or y'all would get incredibly bored with my life story.
So for now I'll give y'all the good old rundown of what's been happening since my last post all those many months ago. I'll make it brief:
October: Video games, being social, working, baking, and such took up the vast majority of my time and my priorities started to slowly shift away from class and more towards having fun since I wasn't liking my classes.
November: Boy was I looking forward to that break, more so because of the lack of homework that had to be turned in than anything since I wasn't able to go home. It was definitely an interesting month as I saw my motivation wane and my desire to achieve fall into a pit and never climb back out.
December: Wow. This month was probably the craziest month I'd experienced yet here at college, filled with tons of sadness, grief, fun, tests, and insanity that I can't even begin to capture it in this brief paragraph. But! I got to go home halfway through the month and that was absolutely spectacular. I was super happy to be able to catch up with so much awesome family that is still down in Florida, and I even got my wisdom teeth out and lived to tell the tale!
And now I'm back to January! Magical isn't it? I just find it crazy that yet another semester and set of classes here at BYU has started once more. This semester I'm taking a whole new slew of classes, so here's the list including my pre-semester reaction to each:
- Differential Equations [Meh. another pure math class... wahoo time for super repetitive homework and no fun in class]
- Into to Chemistry Part 2 (112) [ Ah, so it begins anew - my fight with chemistry will never end will it? Perhaps I'll like this half more than the first half... I never was a huge fan of the microscopic anyway]
- Into to Computer Programming [Wahoo! A 3 credit class that I can take for fun to actually have a marketable skill! Totally down with that - definitely looking forward to this class the most]
- Bio 100 [meh, it's a GE so i might as well get it over with]
- Mission Prep with Brother Wilcox [This class will probably be my second favorite as it's the most applicable to me now... what with getting started on my papers and getting ready to go and all]
- University Chorale [Wahoo! I got into a choir class! This will hopefully be one of the more fun classes I take and relieve stress instead of adding it]
- TWO Tennis Classes?!?!? [Scratch that. I'm most excited for these two classes, but sadly they don't start until March.]
- RHA class [Well... I don't really have a pre-semester vibe for this class since I was just convinced and worked out how I could do it tonight]
In case you missed that... I'm taking 18 credits in a total of 9 classes, 9 credits of which I'm really looking forward to and the rest I hope to be as excited about once I actually start class.
In other news, I switched back to my summer apartment to room again with Master M (the awesome RA I was rooming with summer term). So, if ya wanna send me mail or anything (always appreciate it - you might even get a shoutout on my blog and on facebook!) my address is once again 1938 N 40 W #68 Provo, UT 84604.
Anyway, this post looks long enough to me for now, I'll probably write another one later tonight if I get bored that actually talks about the start of this semester from when I got back to Utah until whenever I'm writing it. After that though, I'll have to start incorporating random things that I learn and encounter throughout that seem interesting.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
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