Must keep studding.... only half way done.... only 15 midterms, 6 papers, 4 quizes and a chemistry journal left.

This appartment has never been cleaner.

We had Nazi cleaning checks today. My job was to wash the walls and outlets, the door frame, the tables and chairs, the microwave and the shower. I did not know that walls could get so gross. There was banana stuff on the wall by the trash can, and jam on the leg of a chair. The shower has mold growing on the corners. Speacking of mold, I grew E. coli today in biology lab, its not mold, but I was very excited to do so. I scraped the gel to hard so I had to redo it but lukly we had enough. I don't think there is any E. coli growing in our kitchen. I cleand my room, I picked up my clothes (stuffed them in the closet) and made my bed. I actually made it all nice and neat with my pillows and Brownie, my dog, big stuffed animal that my sister Sara gave me last year for Christmas to keep me company while I am here. Most of the time he sits on my chair and when I need my chair he gets moved to the bed, but when I need the bed he goes back on the chair. That's his life. At least its better then last semester he spent four months hanging out on my top shelf. I put it under the covers once to trick my roommate into thinking that I overslept for class. She was fooled for a second but she won't admit it. Well, we passed with flying colors. The RA said that this was the cleanest appartment so far. Man, that means that there are some very disgusting appartments out there because there is stilll so much grossness in our appartment. She just kind of pocked around and did finger dust tests, she did not even smell the walls, they smell pinesol fresh. When I pointed that out she said that they looked sparkling clean. If I don't make it in college, I can start a cleaning service. JK.

Victor, I hope that everything turns out fine with your surgery. Take care, soon you'll be as good as new.

Christina, I hope you'll be back to your spunky self soon. Life without you is like a girls appartent with no chocolate, it's just not as good. I miss how we used to kick the paper balls from the science anex to the building after Dr. Sayed's biology class sophomore year. I did get to kick chunks of ice across Brigham square last year with some boys as we walked to class, but it just was not the same. That should be one of the things we do when we do that thing in April or March or when ever. Love ya.

AcDec people, get cracking (I mean books not the other stuff).

drip, drip. drip....

Wow, it's really raining out there. I forgot how wet it gets when it rains. Rain in Utah is not very common. Usually when it rains it just drizles for a couple of hours but its been raining for two days straight and today it was real rain, almost like in Dallas.

This morning I was running around trying to get my Spanish presentation together and ended up getting really wet. I had to run to the "Cougar Creations" place in the student center to make transparencies and then I had to run to the library to print out my paper. The dumb computer there would not open my U drive so I went to two other labs before I decided to just go to the one next to my dorm. I should have just done that in my room but then I still had to go to another building and make copies of my presentation for the whole class. Lets just say that I had to give my presentation all wet and my hair was all napy. Even though I only had one class today because my other class was canceled, I ended up runing to campus several times and the rain did not let up. I changed my jeans twice because they were so soaked. Finaly after going out for ice cream with the apartment I changed into my nice warm pjs.

So here they have this thing where if the boy you like holds your hand you buy your roommates M&Ms, if he kisses you you buy then ice cream. There are other steps but if you get engaged you cook them a stake dinner. I dont know if its a BYU thing.... but at the speed that I am going, they are not getting anything from me.

By that way today was my brother Oscar's birth day (the one that turns off the lights when you ask him to close the door). He turned 12 today. He was born at home. The doctors turned my mom away from the hospital because they said it was not time. Well, after seven kids you think she'd know. My dad delivered him and then the ambulace got there.

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday, I dont really remember how old he is now, but he is up there. Here is a random thought: Why do we say I am 19 years old? Why can't we say that we are 19 years young?

I went to the book store to look for a present. I look for a present on their birthdays but to save on mailing I take them with me for christmas. So he'll get a Birthday/Christmas present in December. Last year I got him a tie pin but it broke. The back part came off the pin, so this year I'll get him something more solid, a tie. But you have to promise not to tell him. (He wont read this blog anyways.)

There was snow on the mountain top today. That's the second time this fall. Snow on the mountain does not mean that we get snow in the valley. Down here it just goes down to 50 degeeres, not too cold. I was amazed that we have not had any forest fires this fall. Those are bad, they fill the entire valley with smoke. Later I'll have to tell you about the ones we had last year if I can remember.

The baby is here!

My sister Mari just called me (she woke me up) to tell me that she went into labor yesterday and had a little baby boy, Jared. She did not know it was going to be a boy. He wanted to surprise her. Now she has Neavi, her daughter and Jared her son. I could not belive her, I hought she was playing a joke on me, untill I heard the baby cry. This is the first time that my sisters have a baby and I wont get to see them untill christmas. She said that he is a good little boy. He does not cry when he is hungry, he sucks his index finger the way I used to when I was a baby. I am so happy for her. I wish I could see them, hopefuly they'll send me pictures soon.

I am shamed by the rotten friut of my effortlessness.

(This post was inspired by my comment on Noemi’s blog.)

I have spent the first month of school without putting much effort in to studding and now I am gathering the rotten fruit of my effortlessness. I failed the organic chemistry test. Lets just say that I know less than half of the material. I trusted that because I had read that stuff last year, I could wing this test. Boy was I wrong! I also failed an intro to clinical science quiz. I love that class! I studied but the one hour that I studied before class was not enough. Cramming backfired and I got all the names of the white blood cells confused.

I was telling Victor (or I wrote it on Noemi’s blog) that I have been spending too much time with my high school pal the TV. The past two weeks (when midterms started) I just could not bring myself to turn off the TV. I would turn it on while I was making something to eat and then just stay there the rest of the night. It has been my secret addiction for years. As I child, when all my siblings were outside playing I was inside soaking up information from the TV. I love to watch nature or nova on pbs but when that is not on I resort to lame TV shows or even infomercials. Once the Cyclops has hypnotized me, all notion of time and all my worries just fade away into my subconscious.

I am really saddened that I am doing so badly in school, I love school. The things that we are exposed to here are just mind-boggling amazing. I mean I just can’t get enough on the structure of the DNA, how perfectly it all works together, how much information is coiled into such tiny molecules, everything necessary to begin a new life.
I must gather every inch of energy within me and today more then ever study like I have never studied before. I cannot shame my name. I will do better.

Walking sucks! My shoes are evil!

Yeah, walking suks and my shoes are evil. The shoes that I wore for church today scraped the entire back of my ankle. There was blood everywhere. About mid way through our walk to church the back of my ankle started to burn. I did not even had to look, I could tell, it was bad. I have not worn these shoes since last winter. They are thick (about two inches), perfect for walking in the snow. Except now I remember that I never wore these shoes to church in the snow. I wore tennis shoes and then changed my shoes before entering the building. That's why they did not hurt me before, because I did not wear them to walk. I had to sit through three hours of church with my ankels on fire. I could not even go down the stairs. I ened up limping to whole way home. I know what you are thinking, "Why didn't you just take off your shoes?" Well, I'd rather have burning ankels then burning bottom of my feet.

I could not help but to think of what the Mormon pioneers must have gone through. They walked from Missuri to the Utah Valley. They indured bleeding toes and even frozen feet. Wow, what curage and dedication.

Senior year I feared that I would end my first year in college with a few less toes, but now I see that it's not that cold, and the walk is not long. But I'll still wear two pairs of socks just in case.

Today,

Went to walmart and came back, nothing exciting. I got a new watch. It's digital because it always takes me a while to read the time. Now I'll always now what time it is. It even has a calander so I'll even know the date. That is about as interesting as my life gets.

We watched a movie (How to lose a guy in 10 days). It was funny. There were three guys in aour appartment watching. They were asking all sorts of questions. We also watched John Q, that is the sadest movie I've ever seen, (besides The fox and the Hound, and the part of Lion King where Simba's dad dies.)

So I get to have a boring weekend while my family is out parting. Meliza Mares had her fifteen today and my brother and sister were standing up in it. I got to miss it cause I'm at school.... happy, happy, joy, joy.

Exercise!!! What's that?

My friend Ya-Nee thinks we should go jogging on Saturday mornings. Told her I would if she could get me out of bed on Saturday morning. Saturdays are my days. Sundays are the Lord's days and Monday through Friday afternoon are shcool days. (Friday night is party time, hah! Not on this campus.)

I should execise more often. Exercising releases chemicals that releave stress (I know what they are called I just cant spell it...). Releaiving stress is a big thing especially while in college, but there is no way that she's going to drag me out of bed! I'll exercise when its for a grade... untill then, I can keep on sleeping. Besides is not as if running all around campus is not exercise enough. Last week I actullay ran around trying to find a computer lab open to print my paper. I was so sore the next day... I think I pulled a muscle.

Avoiding Homework

I got back from the testing center two hours ago, I've been on the computer for about an hour now. I am just avoiding homewok. I went around to read some bloggs but I was very disappointed. Where are all the bloggers? No one has updated since the first of October. Some since September (Christina!). I was really excited to get my blog but no one is reading it or even posting on their own bloggs. I might just have to stop blogging. I did find Superchick's was updated. Is everyone to busy for bloggs. Well, if I can make time so can you!

Today I took a Molecular Biology Lab test (a lot of math). I don't know if I passed because the test was written. I went in there expecting a miltiple choice test and they hand me a written. It was like expecting a brownie and they gave you icecream. Both are equally as good, but it just was not what I was expecting. I wanted a multiple choice test because if I could not work out the problem, at least I had a chance to guess, but in a written one, there was no way I could guess at the answer without woking it out. Man, I was bumbed. There is a guy who works at the testing center who is positive that he has meet me before in DT (Deseret Towers, the dorms I used to live in last year). But I can not for the life of me remember ever seeing him. He said he was in our lobby all the time because he was dating a girl that lived there, but I never hung out in the lobby. I only passed by on my way to the cafeteria. This is the second time I've seen him at the testing center this semester and he is still sure that he knows me. I don't think my memory is that bad. I just thought it was strange.

In the clinical lab that I have, where we've been analyzing blood, we moved on to Urinalisis. Yeah, that was an intresting day. I wont go much into deatil, but I will say that I ended up running out of the lecture cause I could not wait any longer. I grabed a cup and ran as fast as I could for a restroom. After all I had just finished drinking two tall glasses of water and a bottle of water on my way to class, I HAD TO GO! The teacher understood. Poor Ya-Nee had to hold it for three hours. We analyzed it for a bunch of things. We even saw it under a microsope. It's amazing what you can find. It was a very interesting experiance that I never want to have to personaly do again.

The Princeton Review on BYU

BYU ranked 5th on the "Top 10 Most Politically Conservative Colleges," according to surveys given by the Princeton Review. This is what they had to say:

5. Brigham Young University (UT)
One can't separate Brigham Young University and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the school's sponsoring faith. From the student body to the "stringent" honor code (which regulates not only academic behavior but also dress, hair length, diet, and sexual activity) to the heavy religious studies requirement, BYU serves the needs of America's Mormon community first and foremost. Those few non-Mormons we heard from in our survey suggest that outsiders considering the school strongly consider their ability to live within Mormonism's strict requirements. "Life at BYU is a lot different than a typical university life," explains a typical undergrad. "Students here do not participate in activities that are in contrast with our religious beliefs." Some, however, warn that "the nonconformist will find a dull social life with difficulty finding someone [who] will be their friend, regardless of who they are or what they believe."

I have mixed feelings about our rank number. We have also been ranked the number one stone cold sober school in the nation.

Texas A&M at College Station was ranked first and UT-D was number seven. Some of the others include the Air Force and the Naval Academy. UT-Austin was ranked seventh in the "Ten Schools That Party the Heartiest."

I gave up the party school for the conservative one and so far I am happy with my trade off. Reputation is one of the things you must look in to when searching for the right college. All though my mom says that what school you go to does not matter as long as you want to learn. Which is true I guess but the atmosphere that the school provides is vital to the rhythm of study.