Forgot my lucky hat

My lucky hat. Also known as the get-'er-done hat and the keep-information-from-floating-from-my-brain-during-a-test hat. Or, simply, the "Just Bite Me" hat.

Casey gave me that hat, years ago. I love the thing.

I could have used it this morning when I ran into one of my friends from Wyview. (:D!) I knew her face, I knew where I knew her from, but for the life of me I could not remember her name.

"Hey Jess!" she greeted me with a huge smile.

"Hey!" I made an effort to give her a bigger smile. It was the least I could do for not remembering her name.

We talked for a few minutes; we didn't have long because I was on my way to work, and she was just getting ready to go home.

"We should get together sometime," she said.

"Yes!" I said.

"Do you have my number?"

"Um... I don't think so..." How could I know for sure if I couldn't remember her name?!

She told me her number, which I dutifully copied into my phone as "Person," planning to specify the contact later, perhaps as "Person from Wyview whose name I can't remember."

Then, unbeknownst to her, she saved me the trouble. "Do I need to spell it for you or do you know how to spell it?"

Saved! "Spell it, please."

"L-e-t-i-c-i-a."

Oh yeah, I thought.

"I'd better let you go; see you later," Leticia said.

"'Bye, Leticia!"

On the bus- and Graig's wisdom teeth

You meet a lot of interesting characters on the bus. Usually, after sliding into an empty seat and taking off my backpack, I pull out my book and become instantly absorbed. Usually, people don't bother me once my brain has obviously gone to la-la land. Or if they do, it's a quick question such as "Whatcha readin'?" to which I simply raise the book to eye level and let them see the title and author for themselves. No talking needed.

But sometimes you meet someone who just won't let you alone. I try to take such moments with patience. Whenever somebody goes against the social norm and talks to me while I'm reading (heaven forbid!), the ensuing conversation is always interesting. People are worth getting to know. There are some crazy ones - such as a guy winter semester that spent the entire bus ride calling us all to repentance - and occasionally scary ones - such as a slightly creepy man that almost followed Jill home spring term ("slightly" is very sarcastic; Jill told him very firmly to get lost and thankfully he listened) - but mostly, I don't mind people talking to me.

Yesterday I met one of the very friendly types. I took the seat behind her as I got on the bus and it wasn't long before she turned around and started talking to me. She had just served a service mission in Salt Lake and was on her way to BYU for the devotional. She had a black folder full of quotes from a ton of LDS prophets and general authorities. I think she brought enough printouts to share with every tired-looking student riding the bus, because she started handing me all these quotes and telling me to keep them. She allowed me a few minutes to read through each one before she gave me the next one. This went on for the entire 25-minute ride to the transit center, where she got off so she could catch the 830 (which stops directly in front of the Wilk). When she realized she was running out of time, she gave me a whole armload of quotes at once. I still haven't looked through them all. She bore her testimony to me and then just like that, she was gone.

Like I said - interesting.

Graig got his wisdom teeth out yesterday. When I got mine pulled last summer, Tyler and Melanie came in to gawk at me lying miserably on my bed after the surgery. I don't remember Graigry coming in to see if I had "chipmunk cheeks," though (for which I was grumpily grateful), and when I saw him after I got home from work, I didn't say anything about his swollen face. (Although he looked pretty funny with ice packs tied to the sides of his head.) I do not have fond memories of wisdom teeth pulling. Luckily, Graigry seems to be recovering better than I did. But I can hardly stand to look at him because I remember my own lovely (*cough) experience with wisdom teeth all too well.

Mara, if you're reading this: good luck in August. :D

Junior's blog

I've seen this kid around campus before but never approached him. There was a nice feature about him on BYUtv right before the devotional started, which is where I got the URL for his blog, which I want to start reading.

http://polywheels26.blogspot.com/

Circles

Stopped by a homemade Kool-Aid stand on the way home manned by about six kids. The cold drink tasted good after coming up the Provo College hill. A full circle.

Passed by a poor guy walking his bike up the beastly Provo College hill - in gear three. Full circle.

Said goodbye and happy birthday to Jilly F., who is heading home to Tennessee very soon. Broken circle. I will miss her.

Currently listening to latino music. It has a salsa beat. :) Growing circle.

Spring Haven: BYU 14th's final ward activity

These pictures are from March. They haven't seen the light of day since I took them so I'm doing the kind thing and posting them now. :)

The inside of Spring Haven Lodge has a huge fake tree and playground, complete with indoor slide!

Jill wanted to explore the outside of Spring Haven - especially the pond. We found a back door that led to a different outside area and had to crawl under this cement wall/bridge to get to it before we realized there was a door leading to the pond part of the grounds as well.

I went first, followed by Jill...

Followed by J.D. (the only one of Jacketh who came)

At this point, J.D. and I just started following Jill.

Jill is fluent in swan.

My ward members mostly played inside

No fluke

Fluke... I haven't heard anybody use that word for a while now. Do you all remember what it means? If not, see if you can figure it out. :)

I fully expected to have to start over today in terms of biking progress since I cheated and rode the bus yesterday. (Technically, the cheating wasn't my fault. I knew I was going to be at school until 8:30 and didn't feel comfortable riding all the way back to Orem at sunset. But I still cheated.) I took a few extra minutes this morning to pump up my tires (they were getting flabby) and then I was off!

It's amazing how much difference a little air can make. I made it all the way to campus almost in record time. (My best time so far is still what I accomplished on the first day.) When it came time to go home, I triumphed once again up the Provo College hill and even made it all the way up the final slope right before the turnoff to my street. (Ready for it?) Now I know Wednesday's accomplishment was no fluke. I can do it! As always, the descent to my grandparents' house (built at about the middle of the hill) gave me a thrill. Who's awesome? I'm awesome! Just for that one moment, I can fly.

Good thing I make it a point not to ride with my grandpa, or the trip back and forth every day wouldn't be such a confidence booster. At least not for me. He'd be a mile ahead of me the whole time, probably wondering what was taking so long. :) I love him.

Hazelle

Hazelle. Two months old. Jill's.

Jill's puppy comes today

My favorite song from chorale.

A scare, a big accomplishment, and the next chapter of the fire alarm saga

I was a little worried about my Spanish test today. I'm having a hard time getting down the tú form commands. I let myself off work a few minutes early to do some last-minute studying before I took the exam and felt better by the time I started walking to the foreign language testing center. I got my wallet out as I walked so I could walk right in with my ID and get started. There was only one problem.

My ID was not in the little pocket with the rest of my cards. I took everything out of my wallet, sorted through it, and still came up with nothing. I wondered if I could just tell the FLTC my student number and still take my test. I sent up a quick prayer and checked my back pocket seemingly on a whim. I don't remember putting it there, but there is where I found it! My test didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought it would be - my favorite kind of surprise.

I got out of my test at 6:15 or so and began the trek home on my bike. I had been mentally preparing myself all day to tackle the last two hills - killers, both of them. I didn't even make it halfway up the first one on the way home yesterday, but today I conquered! I went all the way down to the first gear and stared at the curb to the side of me all the way up. Just have to make it to the next sidewalk crack, over and over until I got to the top.

There wasn't anybody around, so I even took a moment to do a little dance. Shh. :)

I made it to the same place as yesterday on the second hill, but I got back on my bike sooner this time and rode up the last bit of incline before the glorious trip down, down until I arrived home.

Now for the last story of the day.

A few months ago, Jill had the ultimate bad day complete with fainting at school, illness, and being busy out of her mind. To top it off, when she got to our apartment all the fire alarms were blaring. All the alarms. In our apartment only.

Since then, the alarms have become something of a joke. Jill, Sara and even I have been caught in a few screaming buildings. (Jill more than Sara or I.) The latest chapter of the saga happened this morning when Sara was in the HFAC and the alarms went off.

To my knowledge, Mara is the only one who hasn't been caught in a building when the alarms begin to wail... So far.

Who's awesome?

I surprised Grandpa last night by quizzing him about how long it took him to ride his bike to BYU and what route he took. He said, "Are you going to ride your bike tomorrow, Jess?"

Yes! And it only took me 5 more minutes than Grandpa said it usually takes him. There are several big hills on the route between south Orem and Provo (at least three) and I was about ready to die every time I had to pedal up one of the slopes. I counted six bikers in total who passed me en route. (I didn't pass anyone.) But I made it all the way to campus without mishap in good time, and that's what counts, right?

After I got to school, I also got to see Jill and Rio! I was wrong when I said I thought Jill had talked about him before; Rio is a pretty new dog. He turns 6 months old tomorrow. He is on the small side but Jill said he'll grow big, and his coat is a light yellow/red. Jill says he's the best-behaved dog she's had, but he's also the slowest walker and very lazy.