6 months older and none the wiser

So, yesterday was my half-birthday. Yes, my family celebrates those with my mom baking this wonderful chocolate chip cookie cake. Soooo good. So, I started to think about my life in the past 6 months. It shocked me how much life has changed for me since July. First off, I have a blog...Hm, I never saw that one coming. I just naturally assumed that blogs were for people who had interesting things to talk about (i.e. not me). Either way, I have one, and I use it occasionally. Also, I have severely rethought my graduate school plans. If you had asked me back in July where I was going for my master's degree, I would've rolled my eyes and said, "Duh, BYU." Now I am almost deathly allergic to the idea of staying here for grad school. So what changed? Well, for one, I want to get out and see things. I want to go somewhere different (yeah, Utah is not for me), and I want to learn more. I think if I could take my organ professor with me, I'd do that. He is an awesome teacher and I have enjoyed studying with him, but I need to get away from here. That was big when I decided on that. That's not to say that I would rather not go to grad school at all than stay here. I have a select list of places that I am looking at for school, and should none of them work out then I will stay here for my master's. I also think that I finally have a solid group of friends that help me with anything and everything. I greatly appreciate them for that. I have always sort of been a drifter, not really having a group of friends that I am ALWAYS with, but now I do. I love it. Anyway, I don't care to discuss too much here, but I have enjoyed the path my life has taken in the past six months. Here's to another six that are equally memorable and enjoyable.

Vacation Over, Back to Work

So, I had an excellent vacation away from the stresses of school and Utah in general. The only stuff I had to worry about was what to get members of my family for Christmas. Granted, it was a bit harder than I originally thought, seeing as how I do not live with them and thus do not regularly interact with them. Oh well, that's just how life goes. I got all three CD sets I wanted (Britten, Prokofiev, and Hindemith), plus many more, and several things that were very pleasant surprises, such as a digital camera. Now I can actually take pictures...a lot. So yeah, in addition to all that, my mother and I ate at all our favorite places, such as Kirin House (a marvelous Japanese steak house) and Atlanta Bread Company (it's like Panera, but way better). But, now that all my shenanigens are over, I am back in Provo, where I have been greeted by awful amounts of snow...It makes me sad.

But, here we are back at BYU, and I already have 20% attendance for the first two days. In my defense, I have been sick since Thursday, so I am still getting over that. Besides, the first day of class is usually pointless anyway, so I don't feel overly guilty. I made a promise to myself to be better with attendance, even if I am not feeling overly well that day. I like school, really I do, but I let myself wear down to a point where I cannot function properly. So, we are identifying the factors that contribute to my less-than-ideal health, and eliminating them. So, all will be peachy keen now, right?

Anyway, so in other news, poor Tony has left us for greener (or whiter, since he's in the snowy Midwest) pastures, so I have decided to devote my whole week to acting out the 5 stages of grieving. I don't know where I come up with this crap, but it has been fun so far. Yesterday I was in denial that he was leaving, and today I am angry. Tomorrow is bargaining (either with him or with God), Thursday is depression (I'm an expert in *that* field already), and then acceptance comes Friday. Yay!

I have also decided to start posting random things I say that people react to on here. So, on Sunday, at Tony's/Andrew Snow's apt, I made the following statement:
"Syphilis is just a made-up disease that people use as an excuse for acting crazy after they have sex."
I don't know why I say things like that, but I am just weird, so it happens.

Well, that's all I can think of, so peace be with you, and an extra piece for *you*.