Care about Curls Campaign*

My roommates don't appreciate when I find a perfect curl in my hair.
And I don't even have a camera to show you all the perfect curls that made an appearance in my hair today.
But I know YOU can appreciate them, or at least try to appreciate them as much as you can from 125 miles away.

That makes it a little better.

Kiss Me Baby One More Time

Thoughts from Thursday on My Love Life

H2O and I went to the toy store today for a class of mine. It was the cutest thing. There were marbles and train sets and stuffed animals galore.

At the back corner of the store there were a few little quarter game machine things. There was one that you could shake Uncle Sam's hand and he would tell you what kind of hand shaker you are. And there was a freaky devil palm reading one.

And then there was the Love Tester.

Now, how can you blame me when the words under the title said, "See how well you rate."

You just can't blame me, I tell you. No doubt every person reading this blog would have gladly put a quarter in the machine for a love rating box like that.

Immediately after seeing this game, I knew it was for me. So I begged and begged H2O to donate a quarter to this worthy cause but twas all in vain.

Then I dug through my minuscule purse for like 5 whole minutes looking for a blasted 25 cent piece.

In the end, I came up with two dimes and five pennies.

The wonderful toy store worker joyfully traded me for a quarter, and I was back at the machine, ready for action.

I put my quarter in the designated slot.

I pushed the tray thing in, feeding it my money, and activating my love testing fate giver.

I squeezed the palm thing so it could get a good feel of the romantic me.

The light went up and down the machine, each time passing words such as wild, hot stuff, and sexy.

Which one would it land on! Which one would be me!

I held my breath.

The light stopped.

I looked to the right to behold my romantic destiny.

BLAH!!!!! ARE YOU BLEEPING KIDDING ME?!?!

No. No, in fact it was serious for crap's sake.

I said a mild expletive in my head and gave the machine a good punch.

Last time I pay a quarter for a worthless machine to tell me that.

As I stomped out of the store in a mad rage, I heard Britney Spears singing to me in my head. And no, it was not kiss me.

It was, "HIT me baby one more time!"

At least I'm not clammy.

I Heart These Cookie Bars

I am thoroughly addicted.

Ohhhhhhh YUM.

Please send me these delectable morsels any time that fits your fancy.

Hi. Nice to meet you. Will you marry me?

We had our first "normal" day of church for the semester on Sunday. By normal, I mean we met at our normal time, with just our ward, doing all the normal classes, with people my age teaching, and not fasting.

Let me enlighten you on what a singles ward is like.

They are trying to marry you off.

It's true.

And it's awkward.

First talk of the first normal Sunday. Guess what it was on. Marriage.

I feel bad for the girl who had to give it.

Second talk: Ward unity.

Third talk: Marriage. No lie.

What the crap! The MAJORITY of us are freshmen and the two who aren't are ALREADY ENGAGED. One couple just got engaged last week.

Give us a break! We just graduated high school. Let us live a little. Please.

So I was pretty much disturbed and I think I will never go back.

Jk jk, I would never go inactive.

Probably.

But it's also disturbing that within a week - A WEEK - of being up here, there were already couples being bf/gf. How can you be like that with someone you just found out existed 6 days ago?!

I guess there is good reason for giving us these marriage talks after all.

$1.75

That is how much I just paid to wash a dry this pile of whites.

And when I say "just" I mean just.

Ridiculous.

Thus is the life of a college student.

Not boys, not men, but FRESHMEN*

Guess who texted me this morning asking me to go slip-and-sliding with HIM? You guessed it. I'm glad he didn't take our awkward/humiliating encounter at the Creamery too seriously.

Boys are all over my life these days. It's unnatural.

Like last night, while I was in the midst of watching the latest episode of Teen Mom, one of the mailbox boys (I'll explain that to you later, or did I already?) called up Cali and asked her if we (the rest of us roommates) wanted to go to the Humor U movie montage. But we had to decline, because guess why?

We already had some boys scheduled (tehe) to come over and grace us with their presence. But we invited Brett and the mailbox boys to come over for a little bit anyway and make brownies. Of course, I ended up doing the majority of the brownie making, and then they had to leave before they were even done. A few minutes after they left, Texas' friend's (*boy*) friends came over and the 3 of them ended up eating the brownies that were meant for the other mailbox boys. Then I went back to my room and attempted to finish my show.
Mmmm....didn't happen.

At about 11 the mailbox boys came back and split the 2 measly brownies left for the 4 of them. We talked and displayed awkward dance moves and then went outside to play smurf and ghost in the graveyard. When we got tired of those games, Texas' friend's friends left and we and the mailbox boys, plus one really annoying girl who'd managed to infiltrate our fun, descended into the basement and played signs until 1:30 a.m., until the R.A. kicked us out. The boys went home and all us roomies went back to our dorm. My show ended at 2:30 this morning. We all slept in til 10:30.

SO FUN.

This is insane.
Since when did I hang out with boys?

We need to talk.






WHOA. We need a follow up on that one!
Best Saturday of my life!

-Slip and slide down a giant tarp on a giant hill will dozens of good lookin boys and only a few girls -Mud puddle at the bottom which when fallen into made you look really sexy.
-Swimming (3 boys and 4 girls, two of which you would know from Lehi), but I mainly played around with....uh....we'll call him Zona, the creamery boy.
-Triple chicken fight, which was awesome. Then we all laid out on the cement and Zona took notice of my curly hair and said he likes it.
Ok, you know what's lame? That your whole family is reading into my personal life. So I'm going to stop and I'll just have to talk about it with you later.

Lame.

Do you remember me?

By far, my fav class is FCHD 1500. Aka: Human Development Across the Lifespan. It is so me. I have no problem being attentive and sincerely interested in the whole class every time. It is mostly a review of stuff I learned in Psychology last year, but I still love it. I also love reading the textbook. I am a nerd.

The other day I was reading this textbook of which we speak and it was talking about the brain. It said that the brain has a specific area meant just for faces that allows it to pick up on the tiny details and that is why you can recognize old friends you have not seen in a decade.

I have had personal experience to attest to this.

One day I was in the student center looking at a booth when I heard, "Brittan?"

And I looked over to see a girl standing next to me.

It took me a sec. I said, "You're. . . {insert correct name here}."

We hadn't seen each other since 2nd grade. 2nd grade! Do you realize how young that is? I had barely turned 7 the last time we saw each other. Now, more than a decade later, and all grown up, we still recognized each other and remembered each others' names. And we weren't even best friends.

Then one day I was walking past the library and I saw my friend from my old house. Last time I saw her was the beginning of 6th grade. I knew immediately who she was. But I didn't see her until right when we were passing. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. But for some reason, which I regret now, I didn't call out to her. I just watched her walk away. Then I turned back around and continued on my way.

Seriously, that was dumb of me. A couple months ago, I was thinking about my friends from that school and who I wanted to see again. I even wrote down the people I wanted to see. There were only three. She was one of them. She was one of them and I didn't even talk to her when I had the chance! But the whole thing totally caught me off guard because she was the last person on Earth I expected to see. So next time, I will be prepared. Trust me.

Yesterday, I was sitting in Stats as usual, when in walks another of my friends from that time in my life. She sat a couple rows in front of me. I had learned my lesson from last time, so at the end of class I went over to her.

"What is your name?" I inquired.

"{insert name here, keeping up with the semi-annonymity of this web log}"

I knew it.

And then we talked for a bit. It was a delight. I asked her if she came up with anyone and she said, "Do you remember {girl by the library}? She's up here. We don't live together, but we just both came to school here."

I said, "Oh ya, I saw her. I didn't talk to her or anything, though."

And then we bid adieu. But I have so much to talk to her about. I want to hear all the details of her life since I moved away. And about everyone else's lives too, of course.

I just love that. People still live even when they are not in your life anymore. All my elementary friends grew up, just like me. I still picture them as little twigs with frizzy hair and thin rimmed glasses, but really, they are big kids now. Adults, in fact. And I love when I come upon them.

Now, GP, speaking of growing up. All today, as I have seen myself in various mirrors, I have thought to myself that I have grown up. I don't know why. I see myself in the mirror every single day, obviously, but today I just noticed that I am a little more grown-up than I used to be.

And then I remembered what you said when you came to visit me. You said I grew up. You were right.

Now that you have moved out and become a real college woman, I would like to see you again. Because I bet you grew up, too.

That is kind of sad. But kind of sweet at the same time. I bet our grown-up selves will be great friends.

Until next time, then.

I Would Like Caribbean Passion With Immunity

Thoughts from Thursday on

My Current Employment

Yes, I am now a "contributor to society," as GP would put it, and have been for 3 whole days. Let me tell you about it.

It is hard. I know nothing about Jamba Juice and what they offer. Sometimes I can make it up. For example, you wouldn't believe how many times I have heard something like, "What should I get: Aloha Pineapple or Mega Mango?" And then I just pick one in all seriousness and enthusiasm as if I really have an opinion when I have actually never tried either. They listen and obey, every time. It's great.

But then I get more specific questions like, "What is your creamiest smoothie?" Or, "Which one is most tangy?" And I have no clue. But I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I can effectively enter in a buy one get one free coupon all by myself without any help whatsoever. And I have swiped so many visa cards, it's unreal.

I have even poured a fair share of smoothies in my day. I'm certainly way slow and no pro, but I haven't spilled any yet so that's good.

The one part I have yet to master is the actual smoothie making. Wow. You should see me.

Everyone has pretty much all the recipes memorized, but for those lacking in the knowledge, they are hung upon the wall. So when I make a smoothie, I have to search forever for the right recipe. Finally I find it and read the first ingredient. Then I look away to put said ingredient in the blender. And then guess what. I have to look forever again to find the flippin recipe because I lose it among the millions. Every single time! It's ridiculous.

One time I put the blender on the motor thing without a lid.

And then I turned it on.

And then I noticed there was no lid.

And then I could not find the stop button.

And then I screamed.

In the middle of Jamba Juice.

And then I found the stop button.

No major damage.

There are all these little things you have to remember. Whey protein makes it expand so you have to put it in a bigger cup than what it says. Just so you know.

And it's awkward when people I know come in because I have to be polite and talk to them but it's really hard because I am trying to focus and do my job right and I just can't work and socialize at the same time at this point. It's hard.

On Tuesday a guy came in and read my name tag and told me his little brother and I shared names. And then another girl came in and said her cousin had my name.

On Wednesday a girl came in and said there is a girl that works at Macey's with my name.

What is this? Apparently everyone and their dog has my name and they have been hiding for 18 years.

Anyway, I can now say I have a job. Yep, I'm cool. Come get a smoothie next time you're in town, yo.

The Best Thing About College Football?

Instant replays.

Oh ya, and winning.

The cruelty of humans*

My life got a little more bleak on Thursday. I lost a dear friend, and this dear friend just happens to have four legs and fur.

Yes, earlier in the week I called my mother to discuss the best time for us to go out to lunch, and she shot right into this spiel about how and why she's finally decided to get rid of my dog.



I was so upset, I hung up on her. I'd successfully held this moment off all summer long, but I should have known it was inevitable.

I called her back later and she discussed the finer points of her decision and said she would be taking him on Thursday. She asked me if I wanted to say goodbye and of course I did, so I insisted on riding down with them to Rivedon, to drop Jacky off at his new home. I'm not sure that was entirely intelligent decision on my part, but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, and so I did it.



Thurday after my first class, I met them in the parking lot. Jacky was jumping up at the window and wagging his little tail like he does. I got in the car and held him all the way to Rivedon. I was able to keep my emotions in check most of the way, but as we neared the house, the tears started to spill over. And when we finally rolled to a stop in front of the house I was a complete mess.

I couldn't pull myself together, even though this complete stranger was standing right there and I thought "she must think I'm crazy."



But she didn't. She just gave me a big long hug and I cried on the shoulder of this woman I'd never met for a true minute. We took Jack to the backyard and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Then we brought him inside to go over the logistics of things, and he laid across my mom's feet like he always does.



Heart Wrenching.



I could not believe we were about to leave him there all alone with this family of strangers. It was criminal.

But we left him anyway.

And it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

She was holding him back by the leash as we drove away.

You should have seen the look on his face.

He was so confused and sad and scared.

And he wanted us to come back.

But we didn't.

We just kept driving.

And I regret it.



There are people who argue that animals don't have feelings. But I'm 100% positive that they do. Because this dog's feelings are what keep me up at night. He has no idea what's going on, and he'll never know why we dropped him off at some random house and left him there forever, and he'll never stop waiting for us to come back. It turns my world black when I think about it.



Wow, that was depressing. I'm depressed. I could barely get out of bed this morning. And I hate crying in front of people so I always have to hold it in around my roommates. Ugh. BAD week.









PS: I'm using an * in my titles from now on so you can tell it's me.

Don't Feed the Brittan

What the heck.

I go from being fed NON-STOP to, not only being fed nothing, but having nothing to feed myself. Here is a *list of foods I do not have at this time:

1. Milk.

2. Bread.

3. Cheese.

4. Tortillas.

5. Eggs.

6. Lunch meat.

7. Yogurt.

Everything I can possible think to eat requires one of these things.

Here is a *list of foods I do have:

1. Spinach.

2. Cashews.

3. Spaghetti noodles.

4. Oatmeal.

What is this?

So basically right now I am hungrier (yes, that's a word) than a cow and I have nothing. I am trying to hold off til our next trip to the grocery store which is flippin tomorrow.

Maybe this lack of nutrients to the brain is the cause for my blogger's block and thus the reason you all have been so deprived of a post lately.

But guess what. The church is true, and this fact may save my life. Let me expound.

On Monday I responded to a knock at the door by opening it. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but 3 nicely dressed young men, 2 of which were wearing the all too familiar name tag. I immediately thought of 2 of my roommates, The Hybrid and The Rock, that are most likely on a list "To be converted."

Me: Hi.

Canada: Hi, is H2O here?

What? H2O?!

Now, let me tell you, H2O is my actual in-room roommate and she is quite active in the church. So I was pretty much shocked.

Me: Uh, ya. (Turn around) H2O, door for you.

She comes out of our beautiful/welcoming room to greet her door friends.

Canada: Hello. You're H2O? I'm Canada. This is RI, and this is RM. (Turning to me) What's your name?

Me: Me.

And we all shook hands. They then told us that they had prayed and determined that there was a girl in our dorm named H2O that they needed to visit her. Psh. Ya right.

Okay, so I was seriously just about to post the entire conversation we had, but it distracts from the point, so let me skip to the good part.

So they were actually here to ask about the roommates I mentioned above and they wanted blah blah etc and then Canada said this:

We're here to invite you to invite your friends.

Bah!! Can you believe he said that? I started laughing right then and there.

Me: Wow. I feel like I'm in a movie right now. You know, the cheesy seminary ones? Yep, that's what this feels like. This is just not real.

But real it was. And guess what they almost made us do: practice "inviting" our friends. Right there in front of them. Fortunately another roommate walked up the stairs right at this exact moment. She is actual friends with the roommates in question so she was able to give more accurate information to these young men.

In the end it was determined that they would come for dinner sometime during the week and that would be a casual enough, not awkward, normalish way of getting them to be able to visit our roommates.

That "sometime during the week" just so happens to be tonight. And guess what. We don't have food. So guess what we are most likely going to have to do.

Go to the store!!

And so you see, if the church was not true, then I would be here, starving my face off, wondering if I would even survive through the next night and make it to our grocery trip tomorrow.

But it is true.

So off to the store I go.

Moral of the story = Uh. Let me get back to you.

*List is not complete

I say tomato....

This first week and a half of college life has been superb. But the best part is being roomies with UK.

She's introduced quite a number of little English terms to us, her thoroughly American roommates. For example:

bangs=fringe
6:30=half six
definitely=for definite
to call=to phone
dollar bill=big note
crap=rubbish/crazy talk
tomato=tom(ah)to
status=st(A)tus
band-aids=plastics

Noteworthy moments:

The other night, Cali jumped out from behind a door and made a scary noise. The first thing UK said was "That was so unnecessary!"

UK laughed her head off when I said "back in the day."

She's appalled by the giant American food portions around here.

She couldn't believe that our papers get hole punched 3 times. There's only a 2 hole punch in England.

Apparently there are no such things as parades in England either.

She ate toast with an egg and baked beans on it yesterday for dinner.


And everyone we meet is basically in love with her at first sound, because they're enthralled with her accent.

No fair.

That Would Be O Positive Sir

Look. At. This!

Can you guess what I did today?

That's right. I donated blood. Real live blood.

It was totally awesome! It was not even hard or painful or scary.

They made me read this purple packet thing that told me all the reasons I could possibly be disqualified from donating blood and of course I did not fit into any of them, so it was all go.

But then I discovered that you have to have ID and guess what. I forgot mine. So I had to go all the way back home to get it and the whole detour took almost an hour. But that did not stop me from saving a life, no it did not.

I came back with my ID and I fulfilled my duty to society.

Before you do it you have to go into this private little cubicle thing with a phlebotomist and he asks you a million questions, but guess what. Approximately 43% of those questions have to do with what your name is. Apparently they just have to make sure you are who you say you are and you don't randomly change in the middle of the conversation.

The other 57% are easy questions like birthday and what not and they are also repeated about 3 times each.

Phlebotomist Ryan: Have you ever donated blood before?

Me: No.

PR: First name?

Me: Me.

PR: Birthdate?

Me: Month, day, year.

PR: Have you donated blood under any other name?

Me: No. I've never donated blood.

PR: Sorry, I know you already told me that, it's just a rule that I ask you.

Me: Oh.

PR: State your name.

Me: Me.

PR: State your gender.

Me: Female.

PR: Spell your name.

Me: M-e.

So you see? Easy peasy.

So I asked PR how he got his job and he was telling me all about it and guess what he said.

PR: You only need 12 sticks.

Me: Sticks?

PR: (Doing the movement with his hand/arm) Putting the needle in and drawing blood.

Me: YOU CALL IT A STICK?!?

PR: Te he. Ya.

That kind of freaked me out.

Then I had to answer all these questions alone on the computer about my disease and drug and travel history and when I was done, Phlebotomist Jeremy came to my aid.

PJ: First name?

Really???

But I was not done with my name for one day. After that, he led me to the chair from which I would be donating, and right before he got down to the real thing, he looked at his file and said: State your name for me one more time.

And then he stuck the needle in my arm.

Not only did I save a life, but I got yummy treats after, plus this sweet shirt that looks even better on.

Boo ya. I'm totally doing that again.

As You Know, I Love Lists

Thoughts from Thursday on College

As my first week of college comes to a close, I have a list of thoughts that I would love to share with you.

1. A laptop is absolutely necessary. If you are about to go to college and you don't have one, GET ONE.

2. Sometimes you are going to have to sacrifice. For example, free food. As previously mentioned, you will get a lot of offers. In the beginning, you may feel obligated to accept every time. But if you keep this up, you will not be happy when you pass a mirror. Therefore, sacrifice potential joy to your salivary glands and politely decline.

3. Just give up when it comes to remembering peoples' names because it's just not gonna happen.

4. While we're on the subject of giving up, let's do a sublist of other things you should give up on:

a. Trying to go to bed on time.

b. Trying to finish your to-do lists.

c. Trying to respond to random people who randomly text you in the middle of the day. You can't be polite all of the time, okay?

d. Trying to get 8 cups of H2O.

e. Trying to keep up on your Psych episodes.

f. Trying to blog on a daily basis.

5. College is not even as hard as the rumors let on. Don't fret.

6. Uh, sorry, maybe I will finish this list later, but right now I am busy again. Being in college = being busy, so get used to it.

P.S. Dear GP, Me + Blood Battle = World Saving, Life Changing, Dominating, Free T-shirt Wearing Awesomeness. And when the time comes that BYU has to take us on. . . let's just say, prepare to eat. my. plasma. Bah!

Case In Point

This is no joke.

I did that freshman 15 post last night and then look what flier got handed to me this afternoon. I did not plan this, guys. I did not set this up. This truly happened 100% naturally.

Another bbq with free food. And do you see the word creamies? Directly ON the flier??

I'm not gonna lie, I did enjoy it.

Who knew there were PURPLE creamies?! I am learning so much these days.