I love BYU

So, last week I had a test in my Chemical Engineering class. The test was made available for us to have after it was graded, so I can actually put this on here. How many places out there have this as part of the directions for the test?

"Now, relax, take a deep breath, and have faith in your abilities. Pray and ask Father to help you recall what you have studied and learned. Ask him to help you avoid simple mistakes. Finally, make sure to spend the most time on the problems that are worth the most points."

I love that here at BYU, not only are we encouraged and expected to live the Honor Code (dress standards, word of wisdom, honesty, etc.) but our professors encourage us to pray and ask for help. Most of my classes begin with a prayer, and in some that don't my professor has told us that we should have a personal prayer before class starts to understand the material better. I feel so incredibly blessed to be here at BYU. We have general authorities as our university presidents, prophets and apostles come here regularly to speak, and many of our professors are in stake presidencies and bishoprics. Ah! :) So awesome.

Hare Krishna!

So, a few weeks back I went to Indiafest with some of my roommates and friends. There is an Indian temple about a half-hour from Provo, and they hold festivals and celebrations for holidays there pretty often. Well, this time it was Indiafest, and to be completely honest I'm not even sure what holiday they were celebrating. They did show this crazy play though, about this demon that kidnaps this girl. The girl's husband comes and saves her and destroys the demon though. For that part in the play, the shot fireworks at a huge paper demon and it caught in flames! :) It was awesome. Here are some pictures!

The Demon!

It burst into flames! Loved it...reminded me of my chemistry class explosions. :)

Then it just kind of sparked and lamely burnt to nothin'. Actually, thinking about it I'm pretty sure one of the demon's heads and arms survived the inferno of doom.

After the slaying of the demon, the band started playing. It's the same band (and songs) that they played at the Festival of Colors I went to in May. Same lyrics and all. They use all different tunes, but always these words:


If you can't read it, well then just take a listen. My video got it on video!

Fun night! HARE KRISHNA EVERYONE!

HOLY DANG!

Holy Dang!!! I can't wait. Starts tonight. Yes. :)

Karl's Clone

So, I had this guy as my Sunday school teacher when I was about 13. He is about 6'6", large build, talks like Karl, laughs like Karl, and jokes like Karl. It is so weird! I stumbled upon his wife today, and did some ultimate creeping, and here it is. Amber and I have talked about it before. It's really, really strange.

Here's one of Karl just for some comparison. I tried to find one that looked a ton like Joe, but I just don't have many pictures of Karl.

Bouquet of Sharpened Pencils

School has started...again. I just counted out of curiosity, and this is the 19th time that new classes have started in my life. I suppose it should be boring by now, but it's still a bit exciting going back to school at the end of summer with lots of new people, classes, and teachers. Don't you love (Provo) in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would buy you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. That is basically how I feel about fall. I. Love. It. :) It is just better than spring. I'm excited for the mountains to be covered in reds and yellows, for sophisticated peacoats and pretty scarves. And Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are coming up. Winter semester is full of snow and death. Bleh. But fall? :) Love, love, love.

As for my classes, they are good, though they are going to be a ton of work. Which I knew, so definitely no surprise there. I wasn't planning on taking any dance classes, but it actually worked out, so I'm taking 2. I was just going to take 1, but I couldn't decide which one to do. And I'm auditing them (meaning I don't get a grade, I'm just allowed to attend), so it double doesn't matter. I'm taking Beginning Jazz and Beginning Contemporary. I love them both, but my Contemporary teacher is really good, and that kind of dance is so different than anything else I've done it'll be really fun. For those that don't know, which I assume are most of you, contemporary is more "dance what you feel", though it still is structured. We've been learning about how to move your body and all that. The first day of dancing we started out by walking in random directions around the room (to music) and then she called out a body part and we had to "explore" how to move it. Sounds weird, but it was fun and I'm excited to get out of my comfort zone for this class. And I'm taking Jazz with Jen so that'll be fun.

So I saw Eclipse for the first time on Friday, cause it's finally in the dollar theater here. That's the only way to watch movies in Provo, who pays the $10 when you can pay $1.50? Seriously. There's not any question there, of course you wait for the cheap one. Anyhow, I actually liked it. They included most of the important information, which is nice to see finally. The acting was tons better as well, so you weren't distracted by any of Bella's weird breathy stammering, or Edward's awkward expressions. (Though he still walks weird, haha.) Anyhow, Provo was the place to watch it, the best thing about the movie was possibly sitting with the audience. We all laughed at the same things (even if it wasn't meant to be funny). The best time, though, was when Edward way saying that he wanted to wait till marriage and that it's not the most modern idea. Bella then says, "Yeah, it's ancient." A guy in the audience then yelled out, "It's eternal!" Ha! It was sooo funny, the entire audience was laughing for a while over that one. Gosh, I just love Provo. Where else would that happen?

Also, I saw Slumdog Millionaire on Saturday morning. Before y'all start judging, it was edited. They have an International Cinema here on campus, they show international movies weekly. Anyhow, this one was soooo good. Sad it was rated R, they only edited one tiny part (that wasn't even necessary!) and bad language. So dumb. But the story was excellent. If y'all ever come across an edited version of that movie, I would suggest it. :)