'Twas the Night Before Halloween

'Twas the night before Halloween and all through Richards Hall, not a student was sleeping, not even the small...

Top 5 Reasons October 30 was the bomb:
1) Aggie basketball game.
2) Hocus Pocus.
3) Ninja Destruction.
4) Hillary Clinton.
5) The Scorpion King... 2.

Let me explain.

1) One of the best things about USU is their basketball team and the basketball games. Friday was our first home preseason game, and let me just say that it was awesome. Super coolness spewed out of the crowd as we sung the Scotsman and the school song. I love basketball. I can't play worth crap, but I sure as heck love watching it. The Jazz are my favorite team (of course!), and now the Aggies are my second-favorite. I just can't wait until the season starts... mwahah it'll be crazy awesome.

2) After the game, Rene hosted a Hocus Pocus and hot chocolate party. An awesome formation of couches surrounded the TV and behind there was a table full of many different kinds of hot cocoa. We made our cocoa and claimed our couches, laughing along with the movie. I love Hocus Pocus- it is the Halloween classic. I think I've watched it almost every year come Halloween time. I always pick to be Sarah the witch, of course! Because skanky and blonde fits me perfectly, right?3) Ninja Destruction. I remember watching Tess and Aubrey and everyone else playing at Youth Conference and wanting to learn. I finally did. It was super excellent. Tons of potential awkwardness ensued, along with gut-busting moves and outcomes. This game... is quite difficult at times. You need fast reflexes and good moves. I have neither, but I still did alright.

4) Okay, when I say Hillary Clinton, I don't mean THE Hillary Clinton. We were walking Christine back to her apartment at the LLC and we decided to play Ninja Destruction along the way. One round we were standing underneath the light post in the crossing of walkways (keep in mind it's about 1:30-2:00 a.m.) and doing our good ol' Ninja moves. Suddenly a figure runs up to us and asks to play. Guess what they're wearing? Yep, a Hillary Clinton mask. The static, smiling rubber face of Hillary Clinton acting as a Ninja was enough to put chills down my spine. It was slightly eerie watching them, actually. I did laugh the whole time though, mostly because the mask was both creepy and ridiculously hilarious. Soon after Hillary walked away, we heard a loud yell across the way: "This mask is so HOT! AHHHH! I can't breathe!" In the which Chris replied by saying, "Funny how ironic that is, because Hillary Clinton is not attractive at all."

5) We slinked back to our apartment and saw Rene standing outside on his balcony. It was 2:30 am. We couldn't really figure out why he was just standing there, but he invited us to go and watch the Scorpion King 2 with him. None of us had seen the Scorpion King 1, but we did anyways. It was a ridiculous movie... not that great. But it was fun watching it, mostly because none of us were tired enough to go to bed, and we were still pumped to go do something.

I went to bed at 4:30. Wow.

If Halloween is half as fun as Halloween Eve, then I'm in for a treat.

Lost and found

As I was leaving for SLC to meet some of my family to go to Nightmare on 13th, I was somewhat nervous about driving. Yes, yes I was.
Because anything to do with the car is basically my only fear. I have random paranoia's, but freeways and driving and vehicles... yes, it's a fear.

Anyways, I headed off to Salt Lake and got into town safely. I tried calling my dad (we were meeting at Chuck-a-Rama), but he wasn't answering his phone. I looked up to see my dad's minivan kiddie corner to my right and my dad waving at me. Perfect timing! For real, that's pretty awesome in and of itself.
It was dad, Elizabeth, Mark, and Mary.
We ate, had a jolly good time, and left to go to Nightmare on 13th. After we went through the haunted house (which was quite excellent, I must admit. Superb props and scares.), we went to an Arctic Circle and got ice cream, and sat in the most awkward-shaped table ever.

Anywho... I said my goodbyes and headed back to USU. I was worried about getting back on the freeway in the right direction and safely, which is actually the worst part about my driving fear. Freeway entrances.
I followed the signs and got back on safe and sound, and proceeded to drive up north. A while later, I saw a sign that said something about a junction, something about splitting the freeway into west and north. I thought, "Hey, I need to go north. But I don't ever remember anyone else taking a turn-off when they drove me back. I'll just stay on the road."

I passed the junction, and about 99% of the cars behind me took the north turnoff, and I stayed on. That should've been a flashing light in my brain....

My feeling of being lost started to kick in when I noticed that there weren't any other lights around me. Including cars. Nothing. I flipped on my brights and noticed that I was surrounded by hills of dirt.

EXIT 39.
EXIT 20.
EXIT 16.

That's when I got uneasy and decided to call my dad. I tried to explain to both him and my mom that I just kept going, and that I didn't turn off where I wasn't supposed to. My dad couldn't figure out where I was, so he had my Uncle Scott call me.
As my cell phone signal cut in and out, I told my uncle that the nearest city sign said "Snowville." Where the heck...?

He explained (with a bit of difficulty, thanks to America's most reliable network...) that I needed to head back east and meet him in Tremonton.
Good, a city name I somewhat recognize.
I blasted down the freeway at 85+ (I don't really know, my speedometer stops at 85 mph) and met my uncle in Tremonton. He's a Highway Patrol, so he knows the area quite well. He pulled out a map of Utah and proceeded to show me where I was, where I had been, and where I needed to go. I was definitely going the wrong direction- I was about 15 miles away from Idaho. Idaho?!

Turns out, I missed my exit completely, and even taking the North junction would've still gotten me lost. My uncle then showed me the easiest and fastest way to get back to Logan, and afterwards he showed me all the cool gadgets in his lovely cop car. Some pretty nifty stuff, I'd say.
I thanked my uncle and headed off. I found my way back to Logan pretty easily, and was able to see the faint blue of Old Main lit up from the valley boundaries. I looked for the temple and found it glowing in the distance.
As I got into town, I kept looking for the temple, because if I could see the temple, I could find my way back to my house. Not being able to see it, I kept driving, assuming I was going in the right direction. The temple lights burst through a gap in the trees and caught my eye. I was so overwhelmed with emotion; I had never been happier to see the temple. I was so happy to see the temple and so happy to finally make it home. I was so grateful that I got back safely, even if it meant pushing my sanity and fear a little further than usual.

Snowville (red) - Where I was.
Logan (blue) - Where I was supposed to be.
It sucks getting lost.

Series of Unfortunate (yet awesome) Events...

This has been my schedule for the past four days:
Friday:

• 5:00 p.m.- Take nap.
• 7:00- Wake up, eat dinner.
  
• 7:30- Go to lounge and play Crud (aka Spaz for pool).
  
• 9:00- Office marathon in Jenna's room.
• 9:05- Set up for Office marathon (including, but not limited to: debating for 10 minutes on which episode to start with, setting up Jenna's computer, attempting to link the computer to the t.v., getting another cord to hook up computer to t.v., switching computers, waiting for internet to buffer, getting an Ethernet cord, getting speakers, and setting up speakers).
  
• 10:00- Start Office marathon.
• 12:00 a.m.- Start "Galaxy Quest". In the mean time, five people (including myself) are squished onto the "Bliss Bag," or bean bag, and four more are on the couch. Laughter ensues.
• 3:00- Head back to dorm.
• 3:30- Finally start getting to bed
• 3:50- Go to sleep.

Saturday:

• 9:50 a.m.- Wake up for pancake breakfast.
• 10:30- Play Crud.
• 12:00 p.m.- Chat with Rene and get my notes back from him.
• 12:15- Shower.
• 1:00- Do math homework.
• 3:30- Take nap.
• 4:00- Get on computer.
• 5:00- Try math again.
• 6:00- Give up on math.
• 6:05- Go to neighbors' dorm.
• 7:00- Go to Hockey game.
• 10:00- Home from Hockey game, play Crud.
• 12:00 a.m.- Watch "The Mighty Ducks" in Jenna's room.
• 2:00- Take Mary home.
• 2:10- Conspire with Neal and Jared on what to prank.
• 3:30- Start constructing toilet paper "blanket" to cover Melanie's door.
• 3:45- Toilet paper Melanie's door.
• 4:00- Go to bed.

Sunday:

• 8:05 a.m.- Wake up.
• 9:00- Church.
• 12:00- Linger Longer.
• 12:30- Lunch.
• 2:30- Write blog then take nap.
• 5:30- Wake up, do laundry, and play Killer Bunnies.
• 6:45- Eat dinner.
• 7:00- Do math homework.
• 10:00- Move math group from lounge to Neal's dorm.
• 12:00 a.m.- Make pasta for me and Rene.
• 12:30 a.m.- Math homework.
• 3:00- Give up on math homework.
• 3:15- Discover that my chemistry lab stuff is missing.
• 3:16- Panic.
• 3:17- Tear room apart looking for chemistry lab stuff.
• 3:18- Panic.
• 4:00- Give up on looking and sleep.

Monday:

• 9:30 a.m.- Wake up, take shower.
• 10:30- Get some chemistry stuff from Neal.
• 11:15- Quick breakfast.
  
• 11:30- Chem lab (in which 2 hrs in a kid in my group shatters the beaker and kills the experiment).
• 2:30- Lunch.
• 3:00- Math lab.
• 5:00- Math class.
• 7:57- Write blog.
• 8:30- Watch "Big Bang Theory."
• 9:00- Watch "Castle."
• 10:00- Discover that Jenna and I both have the same deep love for Radio From Hell.
• 10:01- Discuss Radio From Hell.
• 11:00- Start USU 1300 studying.
• 11:39 (now)- Write blog; continue studying.

So yes. I should be tired, but I'm not.
I should've had a bad Monday, but I didn't... not really.
I should be studying, but I'm... getting there.

fogblog

Current Conditions:
43.0 °F; Foggy.

I just thought it looked cool.

bats.

So I decorated my dorm's front room...
with a whole heck of a lot of bats. That I cut out. Individually.
And other stuff.
But mostly bats.

On another note, I got accepted into the International Student Volunteers (ISV) to go to New Zealand (most likely) for a service project. Excited excited excited excited excited. Except I just worry about money. I need to find a way to get enough money for the trip, hopefully I can find some sponsors to help me. If anyone knows of a company that will sponsor for a service trip... let me know.
But yeah. I'm stoked. Because New Zealand is awesomely delicious.











This is a picture I took of the giant map they have in the Institute building. Every time before Institute, I just look at the map and find cool new cities, rivers, and what not. It makes me want a giant map. It also makes me want to travel more.

Oh, baby.

Parker Trey Singleton.
10/4/09, 11:12 a.m.
8 lbs 9 oz, 21 inches.

Adorable. I'm now officially an Aunt... yay! Liz mentioned earlier that Parker and Julia are closer in age than Liz and Julia. How weird.
I'd just like to say congrats, sissy. Your baby boy is super cute, and I hope he doesn't give you too much trouble. I can't wait until I can take lots of pictures of him.