Hey Christmas is coming...

I bet none of you would believe where I am right now. Eleven of the clock post meridian time and I am sitting in my dear Harold B. Lee Library. What nonsense is this? It would seem that I am being most studious and actually studying like the wonderful scholar that I am. Finals are just two weeks away and I need to focus, people! Luckily I have great friends that encourage me to do work rather than just sit in front of a homeworkless computer screen.

Now, you could point out that although I am in the library, clearly I am blogging, and not studying. But I won't let you point that out. Because I just did. So there.

How have your lives been, devoted readers? I'm sure some of you are out there, just dying to hear my next thoughts, since they are always so full of wisdom and insight. Well, here goes:

School is death. Grrr.

There are too many people in the library for me to not be running into anyone I know. I know libraries shouldn't be for social visits, but they're no fun otherwise.

My favorite place to study is the fifth floor women's bathroom. Just pop in my ear phones and relax on the couch, while awkwardly avoiding eye contact with all the incoming and outgoing guests.

Thanksgiving was amazing. Here is what I'm thankful for: family. Specifically aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, nephews, parents... I think that's every family member I have. If I missed anyone, I love you too.

11:11 make a wish

Did you wish that this post would be over? Because it is.

Ok, ok, I'll go back to my paper outline now. Happy Day, everyone!

No matter who wins, BYU has the best mascot

Yesterday my friend Shawn said this: "You know... dating, and finding your eternal companion is great and everything, but there's nothing better than watching football on a Saturday."

It's clear he was serious because he's 28 and still single. At first I laughed, but then I thought about it, and I couldn't agree more. This was confirmed to me as I spent the entire day watching game after game and realizing that it was a truly great day.

Starting off with the amazing game by my dear BYU with a score of 49-10 over Colorado St. And the crushing defeat of Utah by Notre Dame. Finally everyone knows they didn't deserve to be ranked with their pathetically easy schedule.

Then I watched Oregon very unimpressively beat an unranked California. If only Cal hadn't missed that second field goal! Poor guys. And Auburn and TCU didn't do all that amazing either.

And for a short break from football, we watched yet another comeback by the Jazz for the fifth game in a row to win in the last second. Go, D-Will!

I don't know how many of you knew this about me, but you should have figured out by this point: I love sports. Especially football, but especially basketball, but especially football. I also like tennis.

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.