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
Monday, February 4, 2013
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
Friday, October 19, 2012
Highlights
Well, I'm going to continue with the highlight reel of the last few weeks, starting on September 24th (since that's where the previous post ended) and going until hopefully today October 19th. Anyway, If you're curious what I've been up to for the month before this post make sure to check out the two posts before it since I also published those today... which I guess I could have waited... but I really wanted to get them out there and not have to worry about it.
Anyway, the first highlight from this time period is the afternoon of Saturday September 29th. I went on a mini-date with one of my friends to get some frozen yogurt, which tastes surprisingly like soft-serve ice cream... especially if you put some toppings on it like m&ms and chocolate chips. I had cake batter flavor... which was pretty darn delicious... and well worth the $3 or so that I paid to get some for the both of us. Anyway, I only consider it a mini date because it lasted about an hour and pretty much consisted of walking to get the yogurt (and talking on the way), getting and eating the yogurt, and walking back home (and talking all the while about various things). I promised her I would take her on a real date soon enough... and the plan is for it to be tomorrow. I kinda hope she doesn't read this until then... but it doesn't really matter if she knows what I'm planning or not. It's an afternoon date - We're starting at like 12:30pm, and we're gonna go on a picnic type of thing with some hopefully tasty rolls (cinnamon and regular), pulled chicken (I would do pork but I don't have any...) to go on the rolls, baby carrots, and some Guarana Antartica to drink.
Then we're gonna go watch a movie at the dollar theater, Ice Age: Continental Drift to be precise (one of the few movies she hasn't seen that is currently in the dollar theater). After the movie, we're gonna go walk up to campus and see if the roof of the JFSB is open and if so go on it and chat for a bit. I'll of course have some cookies and cinnamon rolls still for us to snack on, and some bottles of water as well. We'll head back home after that since she has some activity to go to that evening. [There will soon enough be a post about how the date actually goes and what we actually end up doing... you'll see it soon enough :P ]
The next highlight I've had was pretty much an entire week long... It was midterms week! I ended up doing pretty well on all of my midterms (I at least didn't fail any of them...) and considering I had tests in 5/6 classes in one week... that's not too shabby. During the week I usually relieved my stress by baking... so I made about 4 batches of cookies that week for various reasons :P
Another Highlight was on October 7th, 2012... which was a very great day. My friend happened to have an extra ticket to the last session of conference and asked me to go... of course I said yes without a second thought. So I finished work the night before, and got about 4 hours of sleep in order to wake up early enough in order to be ready to go at 8:30am for the entire day. So I got ready, and we drove up to Salt Lake City incredibly early in the morning... there was like no traffic because it was Sunday and it was pretty early. Once we got up there we ended up watching the first session in the North Visitor's Center on Temple Square in a sweet auditorium. It was incredibly awesome to be in a room full of people all eagerly listening to the words of our church leaders, and it was a great session. After that session we headed back to the car to eat the lunch we had packed, and then headed up to the conference center. We got to our seats about an hour and fifteen minutes prior to the session starting, so I read some chapters in the New Testament and looked around the conference center. It is a sweet place! Everything is super beautiful and well crafted even down to the seats being incredibly comfortable and actually spaced enough apart to not be painful to sit in. Once the Prophet walked in everyone stood at the same time, it was a sweet thing to be a part of. Then the actual session was incredibly spiritual and awesome. Overall, it was an experience that I'll definitely remember for quite a while.
My next highlight I'm gonna type about is my friend Mike opening his mission call. It was incredibly awesome to be there for someone to open it (it was the first one of my friends I was actually able to go to the opening of his call). So his family was about 15 minutes late, and the entire time there was an air of nervous energy throughout the room as everyone talked about random things. Once he actually opened the call, there was a great spirit of confirmation that it was indeed a call from the Lord. It was pretty awesome.
That's all the highlights up until now... If you want a more detailed listing of my dealings... well too bad :P Unless you're part of my family, then feel free to call me :D
'Til Next Time!
Jordan Nielson
Awesome church experiences, Incredible Date, and more!
Well, I'm still eons behind where I would like to be for today... considering it's already October 19th and I'm only up to about September 9th... So, In order to catch up I'm just going to go through my calender for the last month and a half and hit the highlights. I'm just gonna go in chronological order, not in order of highlightness - so don't think just because something is first or last it was better than something else... just when it happened! Also, I'm not going to post anymore insights from my D&C class... I figure I'll just post them on a separate page on this and throw a link up to it once I get it done (which shouldn't be hard since I already have all of them typed out... just want to put there here). Let us begin!
First on the list of highlights happened on September 12th, sometime in the afternoon. My good friend Lydia and I went on an adventure to Buy-Low (kinda like publix but less awesome) to acquire some limes to try making these smoothies that she found a recipe for. It turned out the smoothie was basically lime juice, vanilla ice cream, and ice, and for those who are huge fans of lime you could also put half a lime in the bottom of the cup. They were actually quite tasty, and that's all for that highlight.
Next on the ever-increasing list is stake conference, which happened that weekend (September 15th and 16th). It started out with the adult session at 2pm on Saturday, which was down at the UVU institute building, and was pretty awesome! The highlight from that was definitely my stake president calling his wife up to the podium to speak with him while they talked to us about marriage. It was kind of entertaining, because I had never seen a church speaker call someone from the audience to join them at the podium so it was certainly an experience. Of course, I also have some spiritually centered notes on what was said, but I don't really feel like posting those up here... If you want them email me? Anyway, later that night I of course had work (since it was a saturday) until midnight. I only bring that up because stake priesthood was at 7am on Sunday morning. Yes. 7AM. Like earlier than I usually wake up 7AM. So I got up at that insane time (5:30am) after going to bed shortly after midnight and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! From the notes I have, the feelings I remember, and the fact that I was able to get to regional conference early enough to get a boss seat, it was way worth getting up that early. Later that day (not really... pretty much right after it) there was a regional conference for all of Utah Valley. It was totally incredible, as the concluding (kind of like a keynote) speaker was Elder Dallin H. Oaks (of the 12) who I got to be IN THE SAME ROOM AS. It totally blew my mind. I had never considered being within 200 feet of an apostle, let alone being able to hear him speak! So regional conference was totally awesome, there were a couple great speakers in addition to Elder Oaks, which made it even better! Topics that were spoken about included temples, family history, who we are (children of God), integrity, optimism, founding ourselves upon Christ, missionary work (even in an area where the majority of people are members), marriage, being single in a regular ward, the direction finders (liahonas) we have, the basic principles of the gospel (article of faith #4), and even planning! Elder Oaks made a comment to the effect of "I cannot remember a conference where it was so inspired, varied, and important." My favorite part of the conference was definitely when Elder Oaks made an analogy relating being single in a conventional ward to a new member of a stargazing club. He pointed out that single members lack a spouse, much like new members of the club lack jackets - and so life is uncomfortable and awkward for the person who can't relate to the things being discussed and you end up a bit cold.
The next highlight, interesting enough, was later that day at the Wyview Office Desk Attendant Potluck we had. I was able to make dessert which ended up being a cake (which I foolishly didn't take a picture of) that had different sections of different kinds. It included plain vanilla, marble, funfetti, and funfetti marble. Anyway, my incredible co-workers made awesome stuff as well including Chicken Black Bean Salsa, Sitcky Rice, Some kind of fancy crockpot thing that you put on rice and tasted delicious, corn, orange salad, and some regular green salad. It was a super fun thing to be able to go to, and it ended up that not much cake was eaten because of the volume of other delicious food that was there to be had.
The next semi-highlight was forum on Tuesday. It wasn't a devotional, mainly because the topic wasn't spiritual at all, but it was still incredibly awesome and informative. The speaker was a judge on the circuit for D.C. and he discussed "The Hard Work of Understanding the Constitution" which I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on how difficult it was to really get what the constitution says. But, he made me realize it was even harder than my old Young Men's President (who was totally awesome) had beat into my skull.
The next highlight spanned a couple days, and was the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Career Fair. A couple days before the fair I went to get my volunteer's vest, but they weren't available yet. So, I asked the person organizing it if I would be able to help her at all in preparation for it, and I ended up being allowed to move boxes of gifts for recruiters for her. This was a super awesome chance I got, and I only got it because I took the initiative (and I still believe I was prompted by the spirit to ask) I got the chance to volunteer a ton of hours for the career fair, including the 3.5 I spent moving boxes the day before the actual fair. The day of the fair I was able to volunteer for a grand total of about 7 hours spanning random time intervals (interspersed with classes) from 7am until about 4pm. It was super awesome to be able to see all those companies out there, and it really opened my eyes to how many options there were for people that excel in their major regardless of what it is.
Anyway, the next highlight came a little while later on the 21st of September. It was my first date of fall semester, and it was pretty awesome. The Tuesday before, I had asked one of my co-worker's roommates out as part of a challenge given to me by on the RAs. So, I baked her some cookies (sugar cookies to be precise) and walked over to her apartment and asked her. Anyway, then came Friday and I decided to bake a pizza for our date. I must admit... it was pretty tasty, and I actually took a picture of it! After we ate a bit, we walked up to the Planetarium on campus for the planetarium show. It was pretty sweet, and reminded me of how much I enjoy looking at the stars and trying to figure out how on earth they came up with those constellations. After the show, we walked back to my apartment and ate a delicious giant cookie/brownie thing (also have a picture of that). That was pretty much the end of the date... or at least it was for all y'all.
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My next highlight, and final one for this post (which I just realized is actually kind of long...) was the Brigham City Temple Dedication Broadcast. It was super awesome to be a part of, and I can't wait until I actually find a way to get to a dedication in person (that's on my bucket list). So there were a few things that happened that were incredible to be a part of... but a tad sacred to just post on a blog for anyone to read that happens upon it.
'Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
First on the list of highlights happened on September 12th, sometime in the afternoon. My good friend Lydia and I went on an adventure to Buy-Low (kinda like publix but less awesome) to acquire some limes to try making these smoothies that she found a recipe for. It turned out the smoothie was basically lime juice, vanilla ice cream, and ice, and for those who are huge fans of lime you could also put half a lime in the bottom of the cup. They were actually quite tasty, and that's all for that highlight.
Next on the ever-increasing list is stake conference, which happened that weekend (September 15th and 16th). It started out with the adult session at 2pm on Saturday, which was down at the UVU institute building, and was pretty awesome! The highlight from that was definitely my stake president calling his wife up to the podium to speak with him while they talked to us about marriage. It was kind of entertaining, because I had never seen a church speaker call someone from the audience to join them at the podium so it was certainly an experience. Of course, I also have some spiritually centered notes on what was said, but I don't really feel like posting those up here... If you want them email me? Anyway, later that night I of course had work (since it was a saturday) until midnight. I only bring that up because stake priesthood was at 7am on Sunday morning. Yes. 7AM. Like earlier than I usually wake up 7AM. So I got up at that insane time (5:30am) after going to bed shortly after midnight and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! From the notes I have, the feelings I remember, and the fact that I was able to get to regional conference early enough to get a boss seat, it was way worth getting up that early. Later that day (not really... pretty much right after it) there was a regional conference for all of Utah Valley. It was totally incredible, as the concluding (kind of like a keynote) speaker was Elder Dallin H. Oaks (of the 12) who I got to be IN THE SAME ROOM AS. It totally blew my mind. I had never considered being within 200 feet of an apostle, let alone being able to hear him speak! So regional conference was totally awesome, there were a couple great speakers in addition to Elder Oaks, which made it even better! Topics that were spoken about included temples, family history, who we are (children of God), integrity, optimism, founding ourselves upon Christ, missionary work (even in an area where the majority of people are members), marriage, being single in a regular ward, the direction finders (liahonas) we have, the basic principles of the gospel (article of faith #4), and even planning! Elder Oaks made a comment to the effect of "I cannot remember a conference where it was so inspired, varied, and important." My favorite part of the conference was definitely when Elder Oaks made an analogy relating being single in a conventional ward to a new member of a stargazing club. He pointed out that single members lack a spouse, much like new members of the club lack jackets - and so life is uncomfortable and awkward for the person who can't relate to the things being discussed and you end up a bit cold.
The next highlight, interesting enough, was later that day at the Wyview Office Desk Attendant Potluck we had. I was able to make dessert which ended up being a cake (which I foolishly didn't take a picture of) that had different sections of different kinds. It included plain vanilla, marble, funfetti, and funfetti marble. Anyway, my incredible co-workers made awesome stuff as well including Chicken Black Bean Salsa, Sitcky Rice, Some kind of fancy crockpot thing that you put on rice and tasted delicious, corn, orange salad, and some regular green salad. It was a super fun thing to be able to go to, and it ended up that not much cake was eaten because of the volume of other delicious food that was there to be had.
The next semi-highlight was forum on Tuesday. It wasn't a devotional, mainly because the topic wasn't spiritual at all, but it was still incredibly awesome and informative. The speaker was a judge on the circuit for D.C. and he discussed "The Hard Work of Understanding the Constitution" which I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on how difficult it was to really get what the constitution says. But, he made me realize it was even harder than my old Young Men's President (who was totally awesome) had beat into my skull.
The next highlight spanned a couple days, and was the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Career Fair. A couple days before the fair I went to get my volunteer's vest, but they weren't available yet. So, I asked the person organizing it if I would be able to help her at all in preparation for it, and I ended up being allowed to move boxes of gifts for recruiters for her. This was a super awesome chance I got, and I only got it because I took the initiative (and I still believe I was prompted by the spirit to ask) I got the chance to volunteer a ton of hours for the career fair, including the 3.5 I spent moving boxes the day before the actual fair. The day of the fair I was able to volunteer for a grand total of about 7 hours spanning random time intervals (interspersed with classes) from 7am until about 4pm. It was super awesome to be able to see all those companies out there, and it really opened my eyes to how many options there were for people that excel in their major regardless of what it is.
Anyway, the next highlight came a little while later on the 21st of September. It was my first date of fall semester, and it was pretty awesome. The Tuesday before, I had asked one of my co-worker's roommates out as part of a challenge given to me by on the RAs. So, I baked her some cookies (sugar cookies to be precise) and walked over to her apartment and asked her. Anyway, then came Friday and I decided to bake a pizza for our date. I must admit... it was pretty tasty, and I actually took a picture of it! After we ate a bit, we walked up to the Planetarium on campus for the planetarium show. It was pretty sweet, and reminded me of how much I enjoy looking at the stars and trying to figure out how on earth they came up with those constellations. After the show, we walked back to my apartment and ate a delicious giant cookie/brownie thing (also have a picture of that). That was pretty much the end of the date... or at least it was for all y'all.
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'Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
Falling behind
So in my last post I got to Saturday September 1st, which means I'm still a good month and a half or so behind... so this might end up being a marathon post since I don't really have much else to do tonight that absolutely needs to be done.
Anyway, it's Sunday September 2nd, 2012, which was a very interesting day for a few reasons. To start off, it was Fast Sunday, which meant that I didn't want to eat anything in the morning, or for lunch, so it was good that a few interesting things happened that day. To start off my day I woke up super late... like 20 minutes after church starts late. Luckily, there's four wards in my church building, so I was able to make it to Sunday School and Priesthood for my ward, then attend another ward's sacrament meeting. Anyway, after I finished sitting through one and a half testimony meetings, and the Sunday School and Priesthood meetings, I went home and it was about 3pm before I finally was done with church meetings, largely due to the fact that I was ridiculously tired the night before. So I took a nap, went to ward prayer, and then headed to bed since I had work in the morning.
So it's now Monday morning, and it is a reasonably good Monday for two reasons. First, we don't have class since it's labor day. Then second, I was able to cover one of my co-worker's shifts that morning and got to experience opening the office for the first time. Sadly, after work the day headed downhill pretty fast. I took a nap, and really didn't do very much else of note that day, aside from homework, but it was still nice to not have class.
Then came Tuesday, which was a slightly more exciting day. For one, I actually had classes today which is almost always a good thing, especially since it was the second week of classes and therefore most of them were pretty set in who would be there. Since most classes were set, we got groups in my Chemical Engineering class, which was pretty awesome since my group is made up of 7 super awesome people who all live in Wyview. Later that day we got to get together, back at Wyview in order to complete our group assignment that was to be due on Thursday. Anyway, because I have to do it for class anyway, I kinda like putting cool insights I had from D&C on here, if nothing else because I really like that class and find it incredibly interesting. So, for today (the 4th of September) my insight was regarding how our church is a church that believes and does miracles, every day, and that whenever I put off a chance to exercise my priesthood authority and power, that's basically me living below the potential I have to be the best I can be. So that's the D&C related thought for today, it is related to sections 2, 3, 7, and 10 so if you're curious read up on them :D
Moving on, Tuesday night wasn't too exciting - just went to work and entertained questions while working on homework - and as typical of nights I work went to bed sometime after midnight. Then came Wednesday, which was a reasonably good day. From what I can remember there was nothing exceedingly terrible that happened, and I got an excuse to make a cake. The excuse was that it was the birthday of one of the hall advisors, and it just so happened to be the one who was my hall advisor for summer term. So I made a super tasty chocolate chocolate chip cookie cake (picture below this paragraph). But, sadly for those of us trying to surprise her, she wasn't home until waaay late that night (like 11:30pm), so we just had to leave the stuff outside her door and didn't actually get to see her reaction to it :(
After Wednesday of course comes Thursday, which was a pretty routine day so far as I can recall. Nothing really extraordinary happened, but I did have d&c again and therefore have another insight to share. Anyway, after Thursday came Friday which wasn't too busy except for a chance to make some lasagna (which is like my favorite food). Of course I've also been having to work on an ever-increasing list of homework that needs to be done each day, as my classes finally get in a rhythm with what work they expect to be done. So it is finally the weekend again, which is always wonderful as that usually means I can do pretty much whatever since I don't have homework due during this time. So I ended up skyping my wonderful aunt for a little while, working a bit, and going to church.
Sunday was an especially exciting day as it was the birthday of my boss at work so a few Resident Assistants and I decorated the office for her to see on Monday. I also got to go ward prayer, which was interesting as we filled out spotlight forms. Another cool thing that happened was I got a calling - from over the pulpit (kind of) - to be an assistant ward clerk. So I got to spend some time learning all that cool stuff, and got set apart which was a really awesome experience. So I'm not really going in order for this day, but there was also a super awesome CES devotional given by Elder Holland that day and I got to make some Chicken Parmigiana for some of my friends right before it. And... since I'm still over a month behind, I'm gonna throw this post up and then write a new one!
Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
Anyway, it's Sunday September 2nd, 2012, which was a very interesting day for a few reasons. To start off, it was Fast Sunday, which meant that I didn't want to eat anything in the morning, or for lunch, so it was good that a few interesting things happened that day. To start off my day I woke up super late... like 20 minutes after church starts late. Luckily, there's four wards in my church building, so I was able to make it to Sunday School and Priesthood for my ward, then attend another ward's sacrament meeting. Anyway, after I finished sitting through one and a half testimony meetings, and the Sunday School and Priesthood meetings, I went home and it was about 3pm before I finally was done with church meetings, largely due to the fact that I was ridiculously tired the night before. So I took a nap, went to ward prayer, and then headed to bed since I had work in the morning.
So it's now Monday morning, and it is a reasonably good Monday for two reasons. First, we don't have class since it's labor day. Then second, I was able to cover one of my co-worker's shifts that morning and got to experience opening the office for the first time. Sadly, after work the day headed downhill pretty fast. I took a nap, and really didn't do very much else of note that day, aside from homework, but it was still nice to not have class.
Then came Tuesday, which was a slightly more exciting day. For one, I actually had classes today which is almost always a good thing, especially since it was the second week of classes and therefore most of them were pretty set in who would be there. Since most classes were set, we got groups in my Chemical Engineering class, which was pretty awesome since my group is made up of 7 super awesome people who all live in Wyview. Later that day we got to get together, back at Wyview in order to complete our group assignment that was to be due on Thursday. Anyway, because I have to do it for class anyway, I kinda like putting cool insights I had from D&C on here, if nothing else because I really like that class and find it incredibly interesting. So, for today (the 4th of September) my insight was regarding how our church is a church that believes and does miracles, every day, and that whenever I put off a chance to exercise my priesthood authority and power, that's basically me living below the potential I have to be the best I can be. So that's the D&C related thought for today, it is related to sections 2, 3, 7, and 10 so if you're curious read up on them :D
Moving on, Tuesday night wasn't too exciting - just went to work and entertained questions while working on homework - and as typical of nights I work went to bed sometime after midnight. Then came Wednesday, which was a reasonably good day. From what I can remember there was nothing exceedingly terrible that happened, and I got an excuse to make a cake. The excuse was that it was the birthday of one of the hall advisors, and it just so happened to be the one who was my hall advisor for summer term. So I made a super tasty chocolate chocolate chip cookie cake (picture below this paragraph). But, sadly for those of us trying to surprise her, she wasn't home until waaay late that night (like 11:30pm), so we just had to leave the stuff outside her door and didn't actually get to see her reaction to it :(
After Wednesday of course comes Thursday, which was a pretty routine day so far as I can recall. Nothing really extraordinary happened, but I did have d&c again and therefore have another insight to share. Anyway, after Thursday came Friday which wasn't too busy except for a chance to make some lasagna (which is like my favorite food). Of course I've also been having to work on an ever-increasing list of homework that needs to be done each day, as my classes finally get in a rhythm with what work they expect to be done. So it is finally the weekend again, which is always wonderful as that usually means I can do pretty much whatever since I don't have homework due during this time. So I ended up skyping my wonderful aunt for a little while, working a bit, and going to church.
Sunday was an especially exciting day as it was the birthday of my boss at work so a few Resident Assistants and I decorated the office for her to see on Monday. I also got to go ward prayer, which was interesting as we filled out spotlight forms. Another cool thing that happened was I got a calling - from over the pulpit (kind of) - to be an assistant ward clerk. So I got to spend some time learning all that cool stuff, and got set apart which was a really awesome experience. So I'm not really going in order for this day, but there was also a super awesome CES devotional given by Elder Holland that day and I got to make some Chicken Parmigiana for some of my friends right before it. And... since I'm still over a month behind, I'm gonna throw this post up and then write a new one!
Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
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