Death and other happy alternatives to what I'm going through

I am sick.

I have been sick for three days now.

I hate sick.

It's not the "boo hoo I have a cold and it's keeping me slightly miserable as I trudge begrudgingly to all my classes" sick.
No, I wish I were that lucky. It's the "I really want to not fail school, but if I try to walk to campus I might simultaneously pass out and throw up" kind of sick.
And this is the perfect time for me to be on my death bed, because I have two tests this week and a test next week and all kinds of stuff that I can't really afford missing, but I can't really do anything about it.

Also, being sick is booooooorrrrrriiiiiinnngg. All of my roommates keep leaving and having lives and laughing and all that stupid college-y stuff, and I'm like, "Have fun friends. Remember me in my hour of need. I hope you're all happy out there looking down on those of us who are becoming one with our beds."

Blergh.

I'm tired. I have a test tomorrow.

Did I mention I hate being sick?

Sorry this post is so complainy.

Autumnal Equinox

I have been working on writing a post about how much I love the Fall for a few days now. Always kind of working at it and trying to find the best way to express how much I love the glorious season.

I was going to mention the awesome clothes. Sweaters and scarves are definitely my favorite. I was going to talk about how there is a general sense in the air that things are changing and magic is happening. I was going to bring up how beautiful the trees look and how the mountains are like a personal gift to me every day as I'm walking to class.

I was going to go in great detail about the fact that Fall always kicks off the holiday season for me, and makes me all nostalgic for the days when I was a little girl jumping in leaves and getting ready for Christmas. I even have the desire to listen to mostly oldies because it just seems to fit better.

I was going to talk about all of the wonders of this autumnal season...

But then it snowed today.

So I guess that boat's floated.

Happy Winter, everyone.

Airplanes

How can you not love these men?

Can we just talk about General Conference for a second? I'm not really listening to your answer, because we're gonna talk about this anyway. For those readers that aren't of my faith, General Conference is when the prophet and other leaders of the Church speak to the whole LDS Church. It's pretty great. I fell in love with General Conference this year. Don't get me wrong, I have always been a huge fan, but this year was definitely one of those years that I kind of wanted to get up and cheer after the talks, you know, if that wasn't completely inappropriate and stuff. Almost every talk gave me some inspiration that I had been needing in my life. Isn't it funny how the speakers can be talking to 13 million people and still you can think, "Man, they must have written this talk for me."

My favorite favorite was President Uchtdorf. Without getting too whiny, my life has been incredibly frazzle dazzled lately. It felt like everything was hitting me at once, and I didn't know how to handle any of it. I settled into my chair at conference, with thoughts in me head about how I didn't really have time for any of this, there was far too much going on. Then President Uchtdorf starts talking about trees. And I was thinking, "Trees? That's cool and everything, but what does it have to do with flying an airplane?" Ok, I didn't think that, but he is a funny man. This did get me listening though, and I realized that to get through the tur-bə-lence in my life, I need to slow down and take a breath. Focus on the basics of the gospel, and worship the Lord in the most simple way. It reminded me of becoming as a child. A child's testimony is not complicated, it is simple and pure. Full of trust and absolute faith. I loved this talk.

The rest of conference had me thinking along those same lines. Think Fourth Article of Faith. I loved that my notes were littered with words like "faith" and "agency" and "Holy Ghost" and "love." These words aren't hard to understand. They aren't even hard to put into practice. There were many occasions where I whipped out my pen when I thought I would receive some grand new shortcut into Heaven. Oh! He's going to talk about the things we need to do to gain salvation! Better be prepared. ...Read your scriptures, go to Church, love one another. Well duh. I was a little disbelieving at times. That can't be all. Yes it can, Erica. Just look at the snake already, you'll be fine.

So pretty much, I love the gospel. I love the Church. I love the prophets. The Lord doesn't deal in secret formulas for salvation.

Also, Boyd K. Packer. I love that man. His talk was incredible. I wish it wasn't being skewed so badly by the world.

If you are interested in listening to conference, you can find it here. Also, if any of you want to tell me about your favorite talk or inspiration you received, I would love to hear.

It's Been Awhile

Ugh. The title of this post just reminded me of Nickelback. I hate Nickelback. I should change it. But if I did then these sentences would make no sense. So I just looked up that song, and it's totally sung by Staind. In that case. Ugh. The title of this post just reminded me of Staind. I hate Staind. They sound exactly like Nickelback. Anyway, moving on.

It has been a rather eventful month, ladies and gentlemen. But I'm not going to tell you about any of it, because I don't approve of being whiny and lame in public. That's for alone times. However, I will fill you dear readers on some important things I've learned.

Starting with the obscure:
The Disney Channel makes spin-offs of shows with all the same cast and plot but just in different locations. I feel like they don't really understand the concept.

Xena the Warrior Princess is way more awesome and ridiculous than it was when I was 7.

Now it gets sincere and stuff. Be prepared:
Wallowing in self pity doesn't help anything. It makes you annoying and usually you just get more angry with yourself.

Friends are incredibly important. Without them, I would be going nutso right now.
Along with that... I have the best friends of any person in the whole world. Seriously, my friends are better than yours. Sorry.

I love my religion. I wouldn't be half the person I am without it. Favorite and most relevant quote of my life right now: "Come what may and love it." Also, "Forget yourself and go to work." Those apostles really know what's up.

One last thing:
Sometimes I sit down and write on my blog and it ends up being really blahblahgoobledeebloogeebloo, and I'm like, "maybe I shouldn't." Regardless, I just did.

It was '81

Last night, I got to see these guys:



because of this guy:



and I looooooooooooved it. They sounded SO good. But here's things to watch out for at Vampire Weekend concerts:
1. Cowboy short shorts
2. Random old people
3. Guys who pretend they want to get past you to get up closer, and then just stand in front of you and be awkwardly close.

But still, so awesome. SO awesome.

Also, Ezra Koenig was adorable. I don't know why that's the only word I can think of to describe what I thought about him, but it is. Adorable.

See what I mean? No? Well you're just going to have to trust me.

Bertha

If my name was Bertha, I would do everything in my power to be the hottest thing you've ever seen. It would make for some surprising and hilarious times.

"Hey there, hotty! Who you is?" (Yes I realize that person hitting on me in this scenario is a little bit gangsta)
"Bertha."
"Are you fooo real??"
"Yup."
"Weird."

or like...
"Dude, you gotta meet this girl Bertha. She is smokin'!"
"Bertha sounds like a whale"
"She's not though"
"Oh."

Ok, maybe they weren't that hilarious. But still. I think it could be interesting. I'm still thankful my name isn't Bertha

Now that that's out in the open... BYU no longer blocks me! I don't know what happened, but clearly they saw the error of their ways. Oh happy day.

On another note: School is going good. German is hard. Aber ich liebe es! I have Teachings of the Living Prophets with Lloyd Newell. It's pretty amazing times.

I'm going to see Vampire Weekend tomorrow! Gaaaaah! I'm sooooooooooooo excited and it's the best thing ever ever ever.

K now I'm done.

Flabbergasted

I am hurt and confused.

BYU blocked my blog. For adult content. Why, BYU? What did I do to you? Was the picture of me cuddling with fake John Lennon just too much for you? I checked my settings, and I voted NO on Adult Content. Please, dear BYU. Just tell me what I did wrong and I will try so very hard to fix it.

I'm sorry, bloggers. You can no longer waste time in class reading my excellent writing. Maybe that's what it was. President Samuelson felt that my wit and charm was too distracting for the students of this fine institution that I attend. I miss you, BYU.