potential makeout buddies: steer clear

That title is a joke.

However, I do indeed have mono. No, I did not kiss anyone with mono. I don't even know anyone with mono. I have no idea how I got it. Its very annoying.

I haven't been feeling well so yesterday I went into the doctor. I told her I'd been feeling way more sick than seems normal for a lot longer than I usually have viruses. She ordered a blood test (that is every doctor's knee-jerk reaction, I swear) and went the results came in, she looked down and went, "Oh wow." "Oh wow good or oh wow bad?" I asked. "Well," she said, "See that number there? We're supposed to test for mono if it is over 15. Yours is, well, its 48." So she called the lab and had them test the blood for mono, and it came back positive. The treatment? There is none. Sleep. For 6-8 weeks.

I love my life, I love my life, I love my life...

Lizzy

if

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

I think this applies to girls just as much as men. :)

Love,

Lizzy

fire and ice

Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. Robert Frost

the countdown begins

In exactly 3 months tomorrow, THAT is where I will be living.

Also, I'm 19. I think I forgot to inform you. But yep, I am! Madness, huh? I know.

Hey guys...PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Lizzy :D

PS-Right now in Paris it is 43 degrees and raining. I will take that over our current state of 21 degrees and cloudy any day.

the motion of the ocean

I love being a Psychology major. And I love being a French minor. I know this is only my second semester at BYU, but I promise, I know enough to love it.

For one, I love other Psychology majors. Really, its like being in a room full of people who are perfectly compatible with one another. Normally, I despise group projects. But both my psychology classes so far have required them. And I have loved both of my groups. Seriously. Doing group projects was equally as fun, and sometimes even more, than hanging out with people I actually chose to be friends with. Psychology majors are awesome. Psychologists themselves are awesome. I've never met a boring psychologist, or one who wasn't absolutely hilarious. I adore psychology. Which is odd, I mean it makes no sense really, I just feel in love with it during AP Psychology my Senior year of high school. Why psychology? The french-speaking ballet-dancing art student, the one who always hated math and science, is a psychology major?? Yep. Completely nonsensical. My only explanation is that I love it because my Heavenly Father is giving me some tender mercies: helping me love what He wants me to do.

My History of Psychology class this semester is 2 and a half hours long once a week. I was nervous about this, but it turns out its the best choice I ever made. The class is incredible. Even my philosophy classes, which I was very hesitant to take, are fascinating.

And as for being a French minor? Je l'aime. I adore the French language, the French people who understand my bluntness, the French professors who are all so adorable and earnest. Love. Love. Love.

Actually, I really, really like ALL of my classes this semester. It is literally a Godsend. If only I weren't such a slacker, I bet school would even be going well. I will have to stop slacking. Make me stop slacking. And procrastinating.

Love,

Lizzy ;)

the many colors of decay

This faucet is not painted. It is rusted. This is where I come in with finding beauty in everyday life.

The faucet started off all new, shiny, and silver. But the years have worn off its shine and neglect has eaten away its newness. Though the faucet is now rough, the hardships of its life have left it not dismantled and in disrepair, but rather, beautiful, in a way nothing new could attempt to be.

Love,

Lizzy :)

bad pickup line of the day.

The BYU Creamery is famous, at least in my life, for the worst pickup lines I have ever heard.

For example, two of the most recent:

"I know why you're wearing a flower in your hair." "Why?" "Because you like...flowers."

and my personal favorite,

"Hey, you could just throw your hair out the window and wait for your prince to come." "Um..haha..." "Like, Rapunzel, you know? D'ya get it?"

Today's went a bit like this.

I was at the creamery, waiting to pay, and debating about which line to choose. An ordinary-looking guy was at the end of one of the lines. He saw me debating and said, "This line is for republicans only." I was completely confused and just stared at him like an idiot, while shifting around towards the other line. "I was kidding," he explained, "It was a joke." "Oh," I said, "Haha..." Knowing he'd blown it, he paid for his gum and exited, "So...er...see ya."

It was only when I got home that I realized I'd been wearing a blue jacket and a blue striped shirt, like the symbol for democrats. I had to look this up, though, because I'm completely oblivious to all things political.

Well, guy from the store, I hope someday you find a girl who understands your political pickup lines.

Love,

Lizzy.

This picture is sweet, huh? I actually took this one. Look at the printed words everywhere, running off onto my very hand? Cool, isn't it?

Really those are just call numbers for books I needed to get at the library. Why waste a piece of paper when you have a perfectly good hand?

Love,

Lizzy

another one down, another one down...

...another one bites the dust.

Today, of the 6 girls residing in my apartment, only one made it all the way from Sacrament Meeting to Sunday school today.

Roommate #1: ...never even made it out of bed.

Roommate #2: ....claims illness and leaves after sacrament meeting.

Roommate #3: ...claims her friend is speaking in another ward and leaves after sacrament.

Roommate #4: ...claims illness and leaves during relief society.

Roommate #5: ...claims illness and leaves after relief society.*

Roommate #6: ...is still at church, where she should be.

Way to go, Abbey. Way to go.

Love,

Lizzy ;)

* in my defense, I really was feeling sick.

a fairly sad tale

A Fairly Sad Tale

I think that I shall never know Why I am thus, and I am so. Around me, other girls inspire In men the rush and roar of fire, The sweet transparency of glass, The tenderness of April grass, The durability of granite; But me- I don't know how to plan it. The lads I've met in Cupid's deadlock Were- shall we say?- born out of wedlock. They broke my heart, they stilled my song, And said they had to run along, Explaining, so to sop my tears, First came their parents or careers. But ever does experience Deny me wisdom, calm, and sense! Though she's a fool who seeks to capture The twenty-first fine, careless rapture, I must go on, till ends my rope, Who from my birth was cursed with hope. A heart in half is chaste, archaic; But mine resembles a mosaic- The thing's become ridiculous! Why am I so? Why am I thus? Dorothy Parker

ballade of a talked-off ear

This is "Ballade of A Talked-Off Ear" by Dorothy Parker. Pardon the language, but it is hilarious.

Daily I listen to wonder and woe, Nightly I hearken to knave or to ace, Telling me stories of lava and snow, Delicate fables of ribbon and lace, Tales of the quarry, the kill, the chase, Longer than heaven and duller than hell- Never you blame me, who cry my case: "Poets alone should kiss and tell!" Dumbly I hear what I never should know, Gently I counsel of pride and of grace; Into minutiae gayly they go, Telling the name and the time and the place. Cede them your silence and grant them space- Who tenders an inch shall be raped of an ell! Sympathy's ever the boaster's brace; Poets alone should kiss and tell. Why am I tithed what I never did owe? Choked with vicarious saffron and mace? Weary my lids, and my fingers are slow- Gentlemen, damn you, you've halted my pace. Only the lads of the cursed race, Only the knights of the desolate spell, May point me the lines the blood-drops trace- Poets alone should kiss and tell. L'ENVOI Prince or commoner, tenor or bass, Painter or plumber or never-do-well, Do me a favor and shut your face Poets alone should kiss and tell. Love, Lizzy ;)

first day of classes: the rundown

9-9:50 AM: French 211R (Second Year Conversation)
This class was fun and looks like it is going to be fun. The french language actually feels comfortable, and that's a really great feeling. It will help me improve my conversation skills right up until I go to France and converse with the French natives!! I am excited. I love French.

10:30-11:50 AM: Ballet 290 (Ballet Accelerated Technique 1)
I'm still not technically "in" this class, so pray some people drop it, but I'm just attending anyways in hopes that I will get in--I probably will, if it is right/best. It should be great.

1-1:50 PM: Philosophy 201
This fulfills both a psych major and GE requirement, so I'm taking it. It could be interesting or horrible. Only time will tell.

2-2:50 PM: Creative Writing
There is A LOT of reading and A LOT of writing in this class. Luckily, I am an excellent writer, not to sound cocky. And I haven't gotten to read real literature rather than schoolbooks in a long time. We're not reading Plato or Crime and Punishment. We get to pick what we read, and it is fun stuff, stuff I like reading. A lot of work, but hopefully fun work.

Then I transcribe an anthropology class. And then my monday is over! Today was exhausting, but overall good. I'm scared and stressed about the semester, but I'll get it under control and all will be well. I hope.

Love,
Lizzy :)

fml.

Have you ever seen 500 Days of Summer?

Basically, it is the story of a guy who falls madly in love with a girl. She seems like she loves him too and their relationship is going really great, until she ends up leaving him because she "doesn't want to be in a relationship." Most of the movie is about him falling in love with her, the few months of a wonderful relationship, and then the subsequent dark depression.

Add in the girl cheating on the guy who is madly in love with her before she leaves, and if you want an update on my life, there you have it.

I am the guy.

Lizzy.