Archive for November 2012

Now I'm good. A few days ago on the other hand, life was like nut bolts in a blender. I'm not even sure what that even means.

This week has been crazy!

Pictures from the party at The Isles last week.

Monday started out cold and early. The girls on my committee and I got up early to go do baptisms at the temple. It was really cold and I didn't have any gloves, so I just used a pair of clean socks to drive with. It was a really special day for Nicole which brought us all to tears. She had come ready to do the work for her grandma which she had been putting off for a couple years. It was really special that she chose to do it on that day with us. We were all so lucky to be a part of it.

Afterwards, sitting in my next classes, the reality of the week ahead dawned on me:

Auditions.

Performances.

Tests.

Reports.

Projects.

This week was going to destroy me. Why is it that everything important always happens the same week? It was almost like the feeling you have right before you go down a really tall water slide or get on a really scary-looking roller coaster. Excited but clueless as to what will happen to you.

The rest of Monday was a blur to me. All I remember is giving blood with Matt K. and then meeting up with Mat S. at the library later on that day.

Tuesday we started filming students for our gratitude video project that my committee and I are doing for BYUSA. The idea evolved off of a lot of other small ideas. The first was to do a gratitude chain, which turned into a puzzle, which turned into a video. So Matt and I teamed up and the others teamed up as well in going around campus and reaching out to students giving them a shot to be in the video. While we were filming, we ran into this cool mural in the JKB which actually was really interesting.

I ran around the rest of the day literally all the way until I went to bed. We had an Elders Quorum Presidency meeting that night and I had to film my dance portion of my audition for MDT that night also which was killer as well. Sleep at this point seemed to be optional.

Everyone was so beat after the show.

Wednesday was lots and lots of singing: Claire and I worked on recording my singing and acting portions of my MDT audition all morning, I had a singing exam in one of my voice classes, and then GLEEYU performed at BYU's Got Talent later on that evening. It was a really long day between singing, classes, and homework. I barely had time to eat. The whole day my group and I for my MCOM class were also coordinating back and forth for our group project that we were scheduled to present the next day. It was a really crazy day. So crazy that I can't even write about it without it coming out crazy.

Thursday was the day to hit breaking point.

We had our BYUSA lunch-time activity filming kids that afternoon, the MDT audition was due, and we had our group project presentation in MCOM all in one day, within an hour or two of each other. Putting the MDT audition together was the most time consuming, editing and finding times to edit and what not. I had problems with my computer so I had to use the media lab which was conveniently closed the one hour I was free. Somehow, someway though, everything worked out though and everything turned out okay. After 5:00pm that day, my hectic week was over.

I got that home and sat on the couch that night and did nothing. It felt weird but great. Everything had somehow worked out that week, the Glee "Glease" premiere was that night, and I had planned to have friends over as well. Matt and I along with my roommates hit up Mountain West Burrito for dinner and then spent the rest of the night just hanging out and studying. Later, Emily and her clan came over and we all just relaxed for the rest of the night.

My wingman called me up around eleven though and turned out we had work to do. If there's anything I think he and I can take credit for, it's that we really put thought into expressing ourselves to girls. It was Kelli's first day of performance the next day and Matt wanted to do something special for her. Whenever one of us is stuck as far as girls... or I guess anything (usually just girls or food haha) we call each other and bounce ideas off of each other. So we went grocery shopping at midnight and put together a small, healthy breakfast for her the next morning. I think it turned out really well. I know for sure Kelli loved it--even though we had to try twice for her to answer the door.

The week ended well with my date with Kelsey that I had been looking forward to all week. Kelsey is such an amazing girl with the best personality. She is the girl that walks in the room and makes everyone feel good about their self. The girl that you see around campus just when you're having a crumby day and finds a way to make you smile. The girl that just is the best.

We went out to see Jake perform in his Vocal Point concert that night after a great dinner at Communal. It was hands down the best date I had been on all semester--if not the best date I've ever gone on period. It's been a really long time since I've enjoyed someone's company like that. Jake also did great on his concert and I'm so proud to be his friend. It was also great to see Sadie and catch up with her and their lives.

The next morning, I got up early with my committee, roommates, and Kelsey to go volunteer at a nursing home. It was a really heart-warming experience. I felt like I was looking through tears the whole time I was inside helping these people. It really made me want to volunteer and serve others more. I missed feeling that way everyday like I did while I was a missionary. I'm not sure there is anything that can hold you heart the way that serving someone else does.

Right after we had our last GLEEYU rehearsal before break and all went to Panda after. It was so much fun. I love these kids so much. We are having a blast putting together our last number for BYU's Got Talent. Being with them you can never expect any less than laughing, smiles, and happy faces. You can't not be happy doing what you love and sharing that with other people.

I spent the rest of Saturday getting concert-ed out. That afternoon, I went with Matt's girlfriend's mom (Kelli's mom) to go watch her perform in the dancEnsemble show. Kelli did amazing. It was the first dance show I had ever seen at BYU and although I wasn't completely blown away, I was blown away by a handful of pieces, especially the ones Kelli was in.

Later on that night, I went on a brodate with Michael to the BYU Singers and Concert Choir concert. They are known to be BYU's finest choral performing groups and some of the best in the nation. There were several wow moments, although I was struggling staying awake because of the temperature of the room and the lack of energy I had from the lack of sleep of the whole previous week. Regardless, it was a great concert.

Finally, Sunday was the end to a great week. A few of the kids from Salt Lake drove down for a small mission reunion with Sister Justiniano. It was the first time I had seen most of them after the mission and I couldn't explain how happy I was to see them. There's just something different about being with your mission friends. I especially looked up to most of these kids while I was on the mission so this reunion was really special to me. We had a great time reminiscing and playing Filipino games. It was a fantastic way to end such a rocky week.

So what?

This week I've thought a lot about how often everyone has long weeks like this. I thought about the comment I made a few weeks back when Professor Middleton caught me saying that after this test on this day my life would get better. Does life work like that though? And should it? Should we just endure in spurts only looking forward to the one or two days of peace we'll have, after the matter of fact ,only to be in pain again when the next trial comes? Does that make sense?

When Professor Middleton caught me word-vomitting that day about living from exam to exam, or from one difficulty to the next, thinking life was going to get easier after the next test or struggle, she opened my eyes to see how incorrect that was.

When we look at our lives, I think we all can agree that at no point have the trials or circumstances we live in gotten easier, nor will they ever. You grow and so do the tests that are put before you whether in school or out. After thinking a lot about what Professor Middleton taught me that night, this is what I've concluded.

Now what?

The trials we all will encounter in life will not get easier but they will. It's kind of like weight-lifting. The weights don't change how much they weigh, they just are what they are. When you are first starting to weight lift, benching a bar can be difficult. However as you train, benching that same weight will get easier--not because the weight has gotten lighter, but because you have gotten stronger. Eventually, you'll be able to add weight and make that weight feel lighter. And add weight again, and make that weight feel lighter.

That's also how life is, assuming we train and apply ourselves correctly. The more we approach our trials and tests of all kinds with positivity, faith, and trust in the good around us and not on instant and temporal gratification after the trial, the more our capacity to endure through tests and trials will increase. Thus, when the weeks where everything happens as once comes, we will be ready--not because it will be easy, but because we are strong enough to get through. Tough times don't last, but tough people do.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Come back ready for finals--we've got some trying weeks ahead to get through!

What you don't need.

When everything happens at once.