Happiness is.....

This past week, I discovered joy in some of the least likely of places....

1. I found it the other day in a snack pack chocolate pudding that I ate with a plastic fork. I thought to myself, "could life get any better than enjoying this simple pleasure?... I submit that it canNOT!"... until I discovered it can when I ate one with no utensil at all! Gosh, I really love those things, but they just don't last nearly long enough!

2. Then it hit me even harder when the Suns stuck it to the Trail Blazers the other night to win game 2 of the series. However, now they have to win on the road and I have to say I'm a little nervous about it.

3. And then, I truly found it when I was walking on campus yesterday and the trees were all a' bloom and the sun was shining its big fat warm rays down at me and I was sweating, actually sweating on my way to class! Wow! I love the warmth of the sun! I wish it could last forever!

4. Greater still was the magnificently joyous feeling I had when I finished my last final yesterday. The burdens of the semester were magically lifted and for the first time in 4 months of classes and seemingly endless assignments I felt like I could breath again. And the best part about it was that I ended on a very good high note by rocking that exam! BOO-YAH!

5. And even greater was the joy when I got a call from a potential employer this morning responding to my job application! And can I just say, I have sent in about a hundred resumes by email and no one ever even responds, which just goes to show you how excited I was when this particular lady called me. She was so nice and even said that they were all "extremely impressed" with my qualifications!!! This would be a perfect job and I seriously danced around the apartment, unable to contain my joy, for a good 20 minutes!

6. And as if my joy couldn't be any more full, all I have to do is think of this girl and I get all twitterpated. I'm overjoyed that she's my girl and I'm so proud of her for graduating. I love you Jen!

HelloooooooooOOOOOO Nurse!

7. Also, all the little things in life that bring daily joy, "like such as" hearing good news from a family member; watching a funny video or movie that makes you laugh harder than you have all day; listening to a beautifully written song; reading the Book of Mormon in the morning; receiving a compliment from a close friend; doing something that you've never done before and feeling so adventurous and creative as a result; hearing from your little brother who's serving a 2 year mission for the Church; eating something delicious; making somebody smile or laugh from something you did or said to make them feel better; and a million other things!

Point is, happiness is a choice, but occasionally you have those days when the choice is so easy to make!

Provo City Library Crazies

I discovered something this evening when I decided to make the Provo City Library my place of study. That is simply that.....

Libraries attract a bunch o' weirdos!

The Harold B. Lee Library on campus turns into a social club half the time when people go there to "get their groove on"! What kind of person, whether consciously thinking of a place to meet people or not, uses a library as their romantic venue? It's supposed to be a place of study and learning and reading, which means: please no pick-up lines in my general vicinity while I'm studying chemistry! There's something wrong with that scene.

And now I know that it's simply a different breed of weirdo that frequents the city library:

it's the legitimately and psychotically insane kind.

I was just studying for an exam when I decided to lift my eyes from the text to notice a passer-by. It was a squat little lady with a Little Caesar's hat on. Her eyes awkwardly met mine for a fraction of a second and I made the mistake of grinning "hello" before I put my eyes back to the page. She walked straight up to me and started talking with me as if we had already had a first half of a conversation that she was just continuing very normally, as if I had been there all along. The problem was, I wasn't there. It was all in her head. It went something like this:

Schizo: "... and so, I'm doing a lot better."
Me: "Beg your pardon?"
Schizo: "You see, my husband, he screwed me over. And that's why I'm glad he's gone."
[she then trailed off as she walked around the corner, however, only to reappear still talking]
Schizo: [mumbling something like] "...and I never want to do that again."
Me: All I could think to say was "Well, I'm glad you're doing better" (with a rather conversationally ending tone to try to terminate the discussion while I looked resolutely back to my text).

It was very awkward at first, feeling a little, what I call, "conversation-raped." But, I realized very quickly that she had psychological issues and it was easy to understand that I didn't need to understand. Apparently she was dying for someone to vent to. I felt like I did my good deed for the day by lending my listening ear for a minute. Then I continued studying the finite element method.

The end.

Fake-out and the Real Deal

I saw this a month or so ago and it got me so excited that a new version was coming out. But, it turns out this is a fake; a hoax; a phony. To my credit, it looks somewhat legit.

Either way, it got me very excited for a revision of one of the best television series, although sadly short-lived, of all time:

The A-TEAM

Ok, Here's the fake:



Here's the Real Deal! It's happening! And I can't wait!

I love you Pandora Radio!

Thank goodness for Pandora online radio.

When I don't particularly care to listen to the idle banter of the two girls sitting next to me talking about what so-and-so guy said or did last night and [insert random drama here] so loudly as if they want the whole computer lab to hear, I just put in my earbuds and escape to the sound of...

... The Killers
or Phoenix
or John Williams
or Jimmy Eat World
or The Format
or The Ting Tings
or Arcade Fire
or The Postal Service
or Weezer
or Coldplay
or John Mayer
or Imogen Heap
or Ingrid Michaelson
or Josh Ritter
or Bloc Party
or Michael Buble
or Susan Boyle
or Claude Debussey
... or whatever else I want to listen to besides I think you know what!

Conference Tidbits

Here are just a few tidbits of wisdom and inspiration from General Conference this weekend:

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'."

- John Greenleaf Whittier, quoted by Robert D. Hales

"Two men can do anything, as long as one of them is Jesus Christ."
- Neil L. Anderson

Words have a powerful effect on me. I love it when they are strung together thoughtfully and when they teach simple truths. True beauty to me is a powerful and concise proverb.