I've decided I have a gift for writing obnoxiously long, but still grammatically correct, sentences.

I would compare myself to Henry David Thoreau (have you tried reading Walden? Whew! At least I ramble in conversational English vocabulary- with him you need a dictionary sitting next you every minute), except I rarely, if ever, write obnoxiously long sentences about philosophicalities. (Just made that word up; I think it's kind of cool.)

Three steps to falling asleep almost anywhere but mostly geared towards public transportation

1. Always carry around something that could potentially be balled up into a pillow.
   • Whenever I'm traveling on public transportation, I usually have my backpack with me, where I almost always keep my thin black jacket- lightweight but with enough substance to create a comfortable barrier between my head and whatever metal bar or plastic corner it's resting on... as long as I position it so the zipper doesn't catch in my hair. On the rare occasion that I don't have anything unattached to myself that I can ball up, I use my arm, my sleeve, or my hair (and you thought I kept it long because I thought it was pretty. Heh heh heh).
2.  Wrap your legs or arms around the possessions you have with you so they don't get lost, forgotten or stolen.
3. Lean against the nearest solid object- if you're lucky, you have a window seat and can prop your elbow on the sill and rest your head on your palm. If you're unlucky, you're standing or sitting in a chair with no armrests- in the former case, experiment until you've found a secure position leaning against the handhold or your arm while it's holding the handhold. In case of the latter, simply slide down in your seat until the back of the chair is behind your head. (It's really uncomfortable to wake up after you've slept with your neck twisted funny, which is why you need support behind your head.)

That's it. My three-step guide to falling asleep almost anywhere (but mostly geared towards public transportation). My credentials for teaching this class include the fact that I took a nice, hour-and-a-half-long nap on my way to work this morning. Graduates of this program include my brother, Graig, who has since been known to fall asleep during his own violin concerts and right before he has to get up and give a talk in church.

A Disney sort of trip

When I woke up on Christmas morning and reached inside my stocking, I came out with a pretty standard balance of treats and practical items: an orange, some candy, a package of quarters to feed the washers and dryers at my apartment complex, postage stamps, and a small slip of paper with a note. It read, "Dear Jessica, please set aside a few days for us at the end of April to go on a family vacation to Disneyland. Love, Mom and Dad." There was a similar note in every kid's stocking. We were really excited at the thought of our first Disneyland trip (first for everyone but Graig). Melanie in particular seemed REALLY excited. We got three days total to spend in Disneyland and California Adventure, and to keep things short and sweet and to the point...

They didn't disappoint. :)

Cinco de mayo= City Hunter Day

Yesterday was a busy day. My parents and little sister drove to Logan for an orchestra concert with Graig's orchestra. Tyler had a boatload of geometry problems and a Scout meeting to attend. Jennifer and I had a party in the quiet house from about 2:30 to 10 watching City Hunter.

Sara came first, then Mark, David (Sara's brother), Mary (Sara's sister) and Joseph (Sara's other brother). Tyler watched with us before and after his Scout meeting (even though he was supposed to be doing geometry... I let that battle go). When dinnertime came around, I made two different trips to Kohler's (I kept forgetting stuff) first alone, then with Jen, David and Mark to get hot dogs, buns, lemonade and ice cream. Mark, who served a mission in Argentina, turned out to be a superb Hot Dog Chef. I didn't know boiling hot dogs could be so complicated. They turned out good, anyway. :)

It was AWESOME.

(If you can find a spare 20 hours of your life here and there, I highly recommend watching City Hunter. It's a Korean TV drama- but hold your judgment until after the first episode and know that it starts good and ends GREAT. And for those of you who don't speak Korean- like me, Sara, Mark, David, Mary, Joseph and Tyler- there are English subtitles.)

The catch-up begins

How I rode my bike to school four days in a row but only rode it back once

The date was April 21. I finished checking out of my apartment (what an ordeal; I won't write a whole blog post about it, but suffice it to say the women who checked us out were super nitpicky and we were not prepared for super nitpicky) and moved in with my grandparents temporarily to finish out my final days working at the Chemistry Department. (I'm very pleased to report they asked me to come back in the fall after I finish my internship, so they were only my final days until August.) Grandma and Grandpa live within biking distance of BYU, as you know from several of my previous blog posts (see Who's awesome?, A scare, a big accomplishment, and the next chapter of the fire alarm saga, and/or No fluke), so I didn't expect it to be a problem for me to hang out with Jennifer after work- I would just ride my bike back. No motorized vehicles necessary.

But then a fortunate accident occurred on Monday that changed the entire course of the week. I was on my way to my grandparents' after an awesome afternoon spent swimming with Jennifer. I had just made it up Provo College hill (without having to get off and walk up, thank you very much) when I heard someone call my name from inside the truck that had just pulled up next to me. It turned out to be Mark, a boy from my Alta ward who moved in the same time Jennifer did. Not only were we in the same ward, but he usually watched the BYU devotional with us and participated in the potluck lunch, so we're friends.

"Jessica! Where are you going? Do you want a ride?"

I considered. I didn't want to impose on him and I knew I could make it back to my grandparents' fine, but really, how often does an opportunity like that come around? Why not take him up on it just this once?

And so I replied:

"Hey, Mark! I didn't know you had a truck. Sure, I'd love a ride."

"That was some hill you rode up," Mark said after I'd loaded my bike into the bed of his truck and climbed into the cab.

"Yeah," I said not too modestly. "What are you doing up here?"

"I'm taking something to my sister. She lives around here," Mark said. "I hope you don't mind if I stop there really fast. Where are you going?"

I told him about moving to my grandparents' and that I had just been visiting Jennifer and we talked about our summer plans a little, like how he was taking spring semester and I was moving home to work and Jennifer was working in Provo, and about fall and winter and how I was returning to Alta for those semesters. We got to my grandparents' soon after he stopped at his sister's and Mark unloaded my bike for me. I said thank you and he said goodbye, and the next thing I knew I was relaxing on the sofa in my grandparents' house.

The next day, I again rode to Alta after work and hung out with Jennifer, but this time when 4:30 rolled around I didn't really feel like riding home. Plus Jen was coming home with me to work on our Bleach poster and play Rummikub with my grandma. I told Jennifer about how Mark had a truck and we decided to call him- maybe we'd get lucky and he'd be feeling charitable two days in a row.

Either he was feeling charitable, lonely, or it was our promise of a milkshake that won him over, because it didn't take much convincing before Mark appeared at the door.

Long story short, the next day (Wednesday) was the only day I rode my bike all the way home from Jennifer's (and formerly my) apartment. Mark also ended up driving me home on Thursday, and Friday my family left me with a car to drive after we attended Graig's UVU graduation. (He earned his associate's degree.)

An important note for life: it's always useful to have someone in your pool of friends with a truck. Hooray for Mark!