beginning and end

I am retiring from this blog. Thank you to all my faithful, or not so frequent, readers. It has been great these two years of COLLEGE LIFE but now I am starting a new chapter in my life. Yes, I will still be a student but I am also becoming a Hickman. I'm getting married and because of that will be starting a new blog called HICKMAN HAPPENINGS. And it pretty much adorable if I do say so myself. I'll see you there!

what i've learned

For those of you who don't know or have forgotten, I am engaged. And let's just say there's a lot to do with being engaged. It pretty much has been the craziest semester ever and my grades are a witness to that. So I thought I would share some things I've learned from my experience:
~ First off, get lots of sleep. I know its really tempting to just hang out really late with your fiance but it will take its toll. So believe me, a person who needs a solid eight hours of sleep in order to function, get some sleep!
~ Also, realize that when people ask you who the wedding planning is going they usually don't want all of the details. Of course this is a generic statement and there are people who do care about the flowers and the cake and the photographer and all of that stuff, but most likely the people asking will be looking for a short, positive statement about how it is going. I myself had to learn this the hard way as I would go on for quite a bit about the planning and only realize they wanted the reader's digest version. Needless to say it was awkward and I felt very silly.
~ And remember to keep a cool head. Wedding planning is crazy; I'll be the first to attest to that, but don't let it drive you crazy. Make sure that you are open to ideas and opinions of family members as well as your fiance. You might not chose to go the way you originally thought, which has happened to me several times, but it will look darling either way. So be flexible.
~ But you don't want to be wishy-washy. Make sure you are making decisions. And even if you don't really care what the center pieces look like or how the flowers are arranged, at least make a choice about it. Any choice will do. Just make sure you are happy about what you choose. Remember this is YOUR day and that the decisions should be yours, so make sure to make them. But please remember that it is your fiance's day too, so really do take their opinion into consideration no matter how ridiculous it might sound at first.
~ Also, and I think most importantly, take time for just you and your fiance. Just take a break from all the wedding craziness and spend your attention on one another. It will really help out your relationship, especially if the planning is getting stressful. Also remember that the important thing is that you are marrying your amazing sweetheart. Don't let engagements or rings or shoes or dress sizes or napkins or dessert ideas get in the way. Remember the real reason why you are getting married- the love of your life.
Well I don't know much, but I do know that these would have really helped me in these last few months. I also want to add to this list that looking outside of yourself is a great way to feel better about your problems. A little bit of service towards those around you goes a long way.

my fourth semester blur

So I really have been bad at blogging as of late. This really doesn't do this semester justice because it really has been amazing beyond all belief but crazy as well. Here are some notes about it, sorry this really is becoming a habit:
~ First and for most, I'M ENGAGED!!! Tanner is his name, and it really has been amazing. He is such a great guy and is so caring to me, really really really, and to those around him. He's a great example of what I strive to become. We got engaged on January 19 (2012) and its been pretty busy since with school, work, and especially with planning a wedding. Who knew it would be so stressful to plan just one day? But we have been slowly chipping away at the huge iceberg. We have taken our engagements, our bridals/groomals (I don't really know what to call it when we both go), have registered, and have a place to live. The date was determined even before we were engaged (my parents say that we were engaged already but we were the only ones who didn't know), the colors are set, the reception place is finalized, the cake is ordered, and most importantly the Temple is scheduled. We do still have a lot to do (like outfits for the bridemaids and groomsmen, flowers, centerpieces, etc) but we are slowly but steadily working on it. I'm not going to lie; it has been pretty stressful and really hard at points but I'm hoping that we can just get everything done before I have to start my finals.
~ Speaking of school, I've really been slacking this semester. Things have just been so busy. Whenever I get back from the day I am usually exhausted with work or school (I usually am gone from 8/9am to 5pm everyday). So I just want to rest, but I can't because I have this crazy thing called homework. And then on Saturdays I don't get a rest but instead have to go shopping more. Let's just say that there has been more time and effort in finding these bridesmaid outfits than my wedding dress. But I have less than three weeks of school so that will be nice to just get over with. I'm not going to lie, I have no idea what my grades are going to be but at this point I will just take it and enjoy spring!
Well, anyways, there's my semester in a nutshell. It has been crazy busy and stressful but I think it is during those kinds of times that I learn the most. Tanner has been amazing during all of it. Despite the fact that I worry like no one's business and that I stress over things way too much, he has been there for me through it all. I'm so excited to be married to him, my best friend and love for forever and always. And that's what's keeping me going.

since my last post

With the craziness of COLLEGE LIFE I haven't been keeping up on my posts very well. I guess a gas leak kind of takes up all your attention, wierd how that happens. But I figured I would make a list of all the crazy and yet fun things that I have been up to or done lately.
~ I started dating this amazing guy, this was a few months ago so sorry that you are the last to know. We have been dating for four months and it has been great. We met during Sunday FHE and eventually just became really mean to each other. He says it was because he was flirting but I'm still convinced that he really didn't like me or thought I was a bit crazy, which I admit to the latter. But yeah, there's that.
~ I also finished my third semester of college. It was a pretty crazy one but very well worth it. I absolutely loved my classes and can still remember quite a lot from them, usually I just forget about most of the stuff I learned after I walk out of the testing center. And thankfully my grades show how much effort and interest I put in them with A's and B's, so that's always nice.
~ My roommate decided to go on a mission and has since left for home. I am really excited for her and yet will miss her. It has been really fun getting to know her and I'm thankful for her example and great attitude about everything and anything. I'm confident that she will be a great missionary and that we will still be friends when she returns with honor.
~ I celebrated Christmas with my family and that is always a lot of fun. It is so great having such an amazing family and most of them are so close. So that is just great. I have really enjoyed being able to see my family, I am a very spoiled college student because of that. I couldn't imagine if I lived far from them, even though I am sure that one day I will.
~ I also met my boyfriends family, yes I guess you could say we are at "that level". They are so super nice. I could really tell where he learned his manners and constant kindness. We went bowling and to the movies and played games and just had a lot of fun getting to get to know one another. So that was great.
~ On the downside, I got my wisdom teeth out, which is never a fun thing to say the least. All I remember about the surgery, if you can really call it that, is that I was crying. Because of the medicine that they gave me I don't remember a lot about it, which I think is really good because I don't really want to remember. However, the medicine did leave me a little wierd, when my mom had taken the same medicine years ago she had started to hallucinate and it got so bad that she had to switch prescriptions, and I do remember seeing two of everything on the car ride home and can't say that I remember anything else about the whole experience. Even when I woke up from my nap I had to ask my mom if they had taken out my wisdom teeth. Later that day I passed out on my way back from the bathroom and had to be carried back to the couch where I spent the rest of my holiday break. Needless to say I didn't really go anywhere during that time. My left cheek also swelled up the size of a baseball, no exaggeration there, and it was pretty painful. Thankfully, my swelling has gone down a very dramatic amount and my cheeks almost look normal. I do have to continue to take medicine because of the pain and my fatigue but it is much better than before.
~ And now I am just trying to get into the swing of things again. I have a whole new schedule to get used to, both with work and school, and hopefully I will be able to make my way through this semester and learn a lot while I am doing so. So here's to a new start!

falling apart

It took three days to fix the gas and heating. But, of course, it took 11 days for our apartment to finally get hot water. I was the only one that took showers at our apartment during that time, my roommates either took them at the gym or a locker room on campus. Let's just say that without hot water for that long showers get really, really cold. I once got a headache from the cold and another time I almost started crying because of it. To say the least it was pretty bad. They said they would fix the walls but instead just screwed in a white sections inside the holes. However, we have a tan paint so it is pretty noticeable. And then, about a week ago, our heater stopped working. They tried fixing it but it didn't work the first time so we had to call them in again. They then had to take everything out of our closet, meaning water heater and heater, and clean the entire thing. It was super gross in there, so much dirt and who knows what else. But at least now our heater works. It is super loud though when it turns on, more than usual I'm afraid, so that is a little annoying. And now, after they got the heater to work the hot water isn't working. I kind of feel like COLLEGE LIFE is constantly attacking my apartment to say the least. So now we are hoping to get all of that figured out. But at least we don't have deadly gas leaking through.

gas leak

To pick up where I left off, we now have a new water heater. It was such a great feelings as I walked into my apartment and saw the new shiny heater. I literally gave it a high five because I was so excited to not have the old leaky one. So later that day, thinking that everything was finally fine, I was hanging out in the living room with a few people. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the gas smell hit me. It was just like I had walked back into a nightmare, okay maybe that is a bit exaggerated but it really was depressing. It just came and went quickly and no one else in the room had smelt it so I just thought nothing of it. It then happened again but no one smelt it so I thought I was just being obsessive, after all our water heater was gone so therefore the problem was gone. Boy was I wrong. Later that day my roommate and a friend of ours were hanging out in the living room and the smell suddenly came back again. This time, both of them smelt it. Worried and annoyed, they called a maintenance man to only have him say that he couldn't smell it or find the source so there was nothing he could do. After he left, they became determined to find the source so they searched the room. Oddly enough, it was found to be coming from our electric outlet. This was really strange to them so they asked our upstairs neighbors to only find the same conclusion. It was coming from the outlet. Now this is really wierd and, as Mary from headquarters rudely explained to me over the phone, not a normal place for a natural gas leak. She also informed me that a gas leak smells like rotten eggs, not propane. Little did she know. So my roommate and I both called the company, not maintenance because they appear to be absolutely clueless, and they sent a guy over, this was a little after midnight. Thankfully, he believed us, and despite the fact that his device couldn't pick up any traces he could smell it coming from the outlet too. He also checked with the apartment above us to find out that it had gone to the second floor but not the third. It was such a nice moment to realize that we weren't just going crazy. He also found the source of the problem was this big device for our complex's heating system right on the other side of our wall where the outlet is. He immediately turned this off, meaning no hot water or heater, and informed maintenance to come fix it quickly. Fifty minutes later two maintenance workers came by as well as two owners of the apartment complex. It sure was a party in our apartment at 1:30ish in the morning. The women owner even was trying to suck up to us, which, had I been more awake, would not have ended well. However, they decided that they would tear down our wall in order to get to the pipes to work on. Now this wasn't the most comforting thought but at least they would be fixing it, and with that they left and we went to bed. As I left my apartment the next morning there was a little sign on all of the doors informing everyone on the issue and that it would be finished within the day. However, when I came home after being at work, school, studying, and other COLLEGE LIFE activities, there was a new sign telling everyone that it would be a few days till the problem would be fixed. Apparently it was an underground leak and they weren't able to get to it from the wall, but since they turned off the source it shouldn't be leaking anymore. This, of course, was not comforting at all and it only helped with my annoyance as I opened my apartment's door to see the random chunks missing from the wall. Since they weren't able to find the source they had tried a few places, leaving about a foot long gashes everywhere. This has very drastically taken up our living room space as well as made our apartment freezing because they gave us a broken space heater and we can now see that there is absolutely no insulation in our walls. Well there's that. Hopefully I will bring good news soon.

water heater

Let me tell you the sad tale about my apartment's water heater. It has never worked all that well, usually we barely have enough hot water for just one shower. Our pilot light kept on going out and we had maintenance people come in and try to fix it. A few months ago a worker came in and told us it was, and I quote, "mostly fixed". This was after it had started leaking liquids into our kitchen and living room. Then, for the past month or so my apartment has had this wierd odor about it. It smelled of gas but only for the first few minutes of being home and then it would go away, meaning that we would simply get used to the smell. We were all getting very drowsy as well. At first we thought we were being silly but my roommate still reported it. A few weeks later we were concerned but again thought we were just being obsessive and it really wasn't anything. A few nights ago, however, our upstairs neighbors came down to report that the smell has leaked into their apartment causing them to become sick. They had taken action and called our apartment's maintenance. An hour or so later a guy came in with this CO monitoring device. When he first opened the closet door, that's where the water heater is, the device went off becoming a constant beep. He then waved it around a little more and the beeping become more regular. In the end he indicated that everything was fine. A few hours after that, yes this is one o'clock in the morning, a Quest Star employee looked at our water heater. He informed me that there were quite a few things wrong with it. The exhaust had built up so badly that it wasn't coming out anymore. So we do indeed have a gas leak. However, he said that it was okay to still run and after having cleaned it up a bit he took off. He did inform us that maintenance would want to clean and tune it and then it should be fine. However, a day later, yesterday, it decided to start leaking water into the kitchen again. Also, to make the situation worse, we have absolutely no hot water. I got a headache because my shower was so cold and we even had to boil water in order to clean our dishes. So, needless to say, COLLEGE LIFE is beating up on my apartment. With gas in the air, yellow liquid on the ground, cold water in the pipes, and annoyance at maintenance floating about it has been quite a fight.

the boards

I have been trying to get to know all of the people in my ward, this goes especially for the girls, or sisters/women/whatever you would qualify them as, because of my calling. This goal has been helped a lot with the directory that each apartment gets. If you don't know what that is it's basically all of the names, pictures, contact information, and random facts about everyone. You can understand how helpful that would be to memorize the different names and faces. However, people like to call this directory... "the menu", simply because of the dating opportunities that it causes. Plus people could look up anyone in the ward if they wanted. But my apartment takes it one step further. In our sinkroom, I would call it a bathroom but it just has two sinks and a mirror so there's not really a "bath", we have four tack-boards on the wall. These four represent the different dating status' in COLLEGE LIFE: single guys, single ladies, dating/should be dating, and engaged. After getting our directory, we copy the pictures and print them off and then put the different people in their respective boards. We started this at the end of winter semester last year and carried it through out the spring and summer terms. But now that we have so many new people in our ward we just barely were able to make all of the new spots for everyone. So now that room has a wall covered with dating status'. Yup... that's a little creepy, but it is actually a lot of fun.

lists

I have found that with work and school and studying and reading and tests and my calling and a social life, there really isn't much room to get everything done that I need to. There is far too few minutes in the day. So because of this, I have decided to start making lists. My mom does this all the time and I remember seeing her joy as she crossed something off of her list. So despite the fact that COLLEGE LIFE has completely taken up my time, I am hoping to be better at prioritizing and at least get as much done as I can.

immune system war

When I was younger I would get sick quite often: from colds to coughs to anything else my immune system could gets its hands on. But things have changed now. I haven't really gotten sick for a little more than a year, despite my cough but that is just natural for me by now. However, I fear that that is going to dramatically change. Starting now. A few days ago I realized that my throat was getting a little soar and irritated. I used some throat spray and drank more water and tried to be careful what I ate. Then it steadily got worse as a cough, and now it has gone to the nose as well. Sorry this isn't a fun post but I just wanted to report that the stress and busyness of college has finally won over my immune system. COLLEGE LIFE might have won this round but I'm not about to let it win the war.

done all wrong

Now, this might come as a shock to some of you, but I would consider myself a pretty organized person. Granted I'm not the cleanest or the best but I would put myself pretty high up there on the list. Not anymore, however, because this past weekend would for sure put me on the bottom of that list.
~For starters, I lost something that is really important, so much so that I won't even tell you what it is. But the problem is that I don't even know when I lost it or where it could possibly be. I've just recently realized that it was gone and have been searching everywhere for it and yet it seems to be no where.
~Then I realized that I bought the wrong edition for my packet of textbooks. Instead of getting the "shorter 7th edition" I bought the normal 7th edition. Now, you would think that since the required one is "shorter" that I would be okay, but of course that isn't true. Instead I had to buy two textbooks in order to get the correct "shorter" edition only to find out that the name is completely misleading. It is actually bigger than the normal 7th.
~And to top it off I even went to the wrong class today. I was at work and then left thinking that it was time for me to go to class. It wasn't until after I had gotten back to work an hour later that I realized that I had in fact gone to the exact same class in the exact same room with the exact same teacher but an hour early and for a different section. I quickly left work, looking like an idiot, and back to class so I could sign the role. So I went to the same class with the same lecture twice in two hours. Thinking back on it I did notice some strange things, like the amount of freshman guys in class and the small number of people there, but I didn't really think anything of it at the time.
I don't know, I feel like COLLEGE LIFE is making me loose my mind sometimes.

diversity

For those of you who don't know, I am an English major, I'm sure that isn't too much of a surprise because of the amount of blogs I have. With this major I have realized that there aren't a lot of guys; it is considered diverse if there are even three males present and the same goes for the humanity buildings. There are a bunch of artsy girls who are all rather younger. Or at least I have seen that trend. Now, with my work it is a total different story. I am surrounded by older guys who are mathematically and scientifically smart. So you can imagine my new awakening when I realized that difference. It sounds pretty depressing but I even started to crave my work environment as I waited for one of my classes. Well, at least I can have some people diversity here in COLLEGE LIFE.

prankster

Well... my friend left his facebook account open on my roommate's computer. Naturally, we needed to look around a little and then decided to do something mischievous. At first we thought we were clever for changing his picture to a rather unflattering one. Then we thought we were smart when we claimed that he knew pig latin and sarcasm, both of which he doesn't understand. But we thought we were hilarious when we realized that we could have him become engaged... to me. And then we finished it off with changing his language so that he will have some difficulty changing everything back. Wow, what a way to start off the new semester of COLLEGE LIFE.

book buying

I have been trying to pretend that summer isn't coming to a close, but despite my several tries school is starting up. So yesterday I went to buy my textbooks, something that I was procrastinating for as long as I possibly could, and had a kind of smack in the face. My books are huge and expensive. I had to pay tuition the other day and that is always fun, so that plus books is making me not very excited for school and COLLEGE LIFE to start up again. It has been fun having a break but I am excited about meeting new people and having a more regular schedule. I am not excited for hauling around those books though.

camp out

So this past weekend of COLLEGE LIFE I went with a group in my ward to Coyote Gulch. It was super fun and everything was just really great. Here are a few highlights of the trip.
~Almost ran out of gas on our way there but we made it to the gas station with less than a miles worth left.
~A car in our group's tire was destroyed on the dirt road over so everyone had to pile in two cars.
~We couldn't get past the thick sand in the road so instead just set up camp on the side of the road.
~Roasted hot dogs and smores before falling asleep.
~There were so many stars in the sky and I was able to see my first shooting star. I ended up seeing 11 in total in just that one night.
~I only got a total of nine hours of sleep the entire weekend.
~My roommate and I were able to have the best breakfast out of anyone: eggs and oatmeal and apples.
~The nature around us was super pretty.
~I got to jump around on this rock face as we hiked to the tip of the Gulch.
~We went down the huge rock wall by using a little crack in the wall.
~There was a stream of water down there so everyone just took off their shoes and socks and walked along that for most of the time.
~It was nice and shady during most of the 11 hour hike.
~We were able to play around in the waterfalls and look at the arches.
~Lunch and snacks were delicious.
~We rock climbed up roughly a 250 ft moutain and I completely loved it.
~There was a lot of sun up along the top of the gulch and we were running low on water but some boys in our group ran ahead and were able to bring the cars closer.
~Despite what we felt like, we were all able to make it to the cars.
~Cold beverages never tasted so good.
~Goofy movie sing along on our way back.
~At a wendy's we ended up getting cold food and eating it outside in the cold with sprinklers going on around us. Needless to say, we left rather quickly.
~We were able to make it home safely and enjoy the pool.

living to the fullest

The summer is dwindling down now, only one more month to go till classes start back up again, so I have been trying to live COLLEGE LIFE to the fullest. These are some of the things that I have been doing since getting back from China:
~Sunday game nights
~Celebration fireworks
~Ultimate frisbee
~Working
~Night games complete with dark clothes, bandannas, glow sticks, and war paint
~Pool attending
~Late night food/grocery runs
~Quidditch playing for FHE
~Tennis
~Pirate party complete with costume and boat
~Preparing, or watching people preparing, and eating food
~Hiking
~Christmas in July party
~Sunbathing
~Temple trips
~And just hanging out

catching up

Sorry, it's been a while since I've last updated COLLEGE LIFE, but there have been a ton of changes since I last posted. I'll just give you a list to make it less extensive.
~ I got a new calling. I joke that I wasn't good enough for teaching, that may or may not be true. But I am now a counselor in the Relief Society presidency in my ward. It is a lot of fun but a lot of work. Instead of just teaching Sunday School I will now teaching the teachers of Relief Society how to teach. Way too much teaching for me but I am excited and eager.
~ I also got a new roommate. It has been lots of fun to get to know her and such. She is a really fun girl. She also is really into fashion and stuff so our apartment looks really cool and fashionable now, no thanks to any help of mine. So that has been fun.
~ And the bigger news is that I have just gotten back from China. I was there for three weeks and completely loved it. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about their culture and such. But I'm not going to lie, I am very glad to be back in America where there is AC and washers.
Well that's my news in a heart beat.

sun

Despite the fact that it took till June, the sun is finally out! It is nice and bright outside and the nature looks so beautiful. All of this would usually be a good thing except for the fact that my skin and the sun do not get along. I am pretty pasty white, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, so there is a constant battle going on when it comes to being burnt. But I am excited for the sunny COLLEGE LIFE and maybe, just maybe, this year the sun and I won't be enemies.

calling

I am staying in my apartment for another year, well at least that's the plan. My Church leaders have been very excited because of this, and almost every single one of them has come up to me and expressed how glad they are that I am staying. I knew that meant a calling was in my future. After a few weeks of asking if I could met with them we were finally able to schedule an appointment, twice I couldn't make it and once they couldn't. To be quite honest I was, and still am, really thrilled for this new change in COLLEGE LIFE. So... I am now a Sunday school teacher. It's a little bit frightening, since I feel rather young and little in comparison to the people in my ward. However, I am really excited for it and happy about it and just hope that I can do it well.

a ton of freshman

I didn't realize that the new year was coming so quickly, and to be honest it's not. However, it feels like it is. At work a lot of the freshman are visiting campus to kind of get introductions to the college, to COLLEGE LIFE, and to the different majors it provides. This means that it is pretty busy at work, which I actually really enjoy. There are just a ton of freshman calling or scheduling an appointment or their parents are calling and asking questions for them. It's a little crazy but it is always good to be busy at work.