A new term is dawning

1 in 14 adults experience tiredness as a side-effect of the Hepatitis A vaccine, and I think I'm one of them. The informational sheet they gave me doesn't mention any side-effects of having an extra strong appetite or experiencing moments of forgetfulness, but I wish it did, because then I'd have something to blame those on, too. Somewhere between the devotional and my D & C class today I abandoned my English 315 book. If it weren't for that moment of brain loss, I would be working on homework for that class right now. But alas, the book is nowhere to be found. Please pray that some charitable soul found it and took it to the Lost and Found office--I had a nice visit to them today and they said it wouldn't have gotten to them so soon, so to check back tomorrow morning. That book cost beaucoup bucks, so I'm really hoping and praying that it will be there tomorrow morning.

I'm having withdrawals from last term. I just loved what I was studying so, so much, and I'm sad that those classes are over. I miss talking about culture. Yesterday as I was walking back to my English 315 class during the break, I passed a flyer advertising an anthropology class on Asian religions--Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Feng-Shui. I almost started hyperventilating for desire to take it. But then I remembered how earlier that day I had mapped out what classes I still need to take before graduation, and I really don’t have time to take it. That is if I want to graduate next August. Which I really should. Too bad I can’t stay in college for the rest of my life learning about awesome things and getting minors in anthropology and gerontology and social work and geography and dance.

Speaking of dance, you know how I had mentioned earlier how last term was fun because I felt like I was a good dancer in my country dance class? Well, those days are definitely over. I’m in silver standard now and it’s so dang hard. We’ve only had two days of class, and Brent (our teacher) has taught us nearly the whole Waltz routine. Notice how I didn’t say “we’ve learned the whole Waltz routine.” Because I certainly haven’t. Two days is an incredibly short amount of time to learn a routine with seven new figures interwoven into figures I learned in bronze. I’ve always been a slow learner at dance, and I’m feeling just a tad bit overwhelmed. I keep reminding myself that I’m going to retake it in the winter, so not to fret.

Brent has really been pushing us to compete in a dance competition in Las Vegas this August, and today a guy in the class asked me if I wanted to compete with him. He’s not very good, but I’m not very good either, and at least he’s taller than me. We could work together to get better, and then maybe after the competition I could make my long-awaited visit to the Grand Canyon. The competition is the night of Thursday August 17, the day after my last final, and then I could go to the Grand Canyon for the next couple of days. Hmmm. Now the question is if I can find anyone to go with me.

So, English 315 is going to be a long two hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If anyone has any ideas for making long classes go by faster, pray tell!! But the good news is that I really liked my D & C teacher today. His name is Alexander Baugh and he’s the type of religion teacher I like—knowledgeable, enthusiastic, fast-paced, and uplifting. His teaching style is a tender mercy.

And finally, an entry on my musings would really not be complete without a mention of Chad. Because let’s see, what made me think of him today… a guy in my dance class is from Ecuador and was wearing a bracelet that said Ecuador on it, my religion teacher’s son-in-law played football for Snow college, I ate a pear (his favorite fruit) for lunch, Guin and Amy asked me about him, the girl next to me in my religion class drew a picture of herself hiking a mountain in the “interests” section of the get-to-know-you sheet Brother Baugh had us fill out (and that’s what he’s doing today—well, technically, they are hiking a volcano), etc. You catch my drift. It's a good preview for what September through December will be like.

P.S. The devotional by Gerald Williams was amazing today. It was on conflict resolution. I’m going to listen to it again sometime while I’m getting ready for the day. I would recommend that everyone do the same—he offers some very insightful, well-thought-out ideas. Go here for a free mp3 recording of it:
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=browse&speaker=Williams%2C+Gerald+R.&topic=&type=&year=&x=4&y=10