I Can't Remember A Time Before This Story Began.

So I just had a story happen to me. It starts off on a rather pleasant night/morning, one that by all accounts (both recent and previous) should have been much colder and wetter. As it was, the wet came later, and unfortunately, was within doors.

I spent most of the night studying Organic Chemistry with my roommate, #1. Or I should say, alternately studying Organic Chemistry while talking to both of my roommates. And 2 guy friends who were there because they were long boarding from the stadium to my house in the dark, and to whisk away roommate #2 to do the same, who doesn't have an Organic Chemistry test today. If not for that we would have all been long boarding in the dark. I contemplated doing it anyway, on the grounds that if I injured myself (an unavoidable occurrence in this case), I would have a legitimate excuse to not take my test. Already throughout this semester I've noticed an unpleasant trend of me not working as hard as I could and should. I really do love school and what I'm studying this semester, but I've also found a lot of opportunities to play hard, and those generally tend to trump homework in any given situation.

This weekend being General Conference definitely heightened that fact. I briefly, or not so briefly, break from my story here, only to start another story that might eventually tie in to the first, but will most probably instead stem into yet another story from an earlier time. I absolutely love Conference, and this one was especially good, but I slacked off in between. Saturday was the regular Conference Breakfast, and though there were no crepes, there were German pancakes, which made up for the first by diffusing powdered sugar throughout my system. A lot of other stuff was present, and I had it all, save the Chocolate chocolate cake donuts. During Conference we colored pictures in coloring books, which is something I forgot entirely about from last Conference, and is something I've missed acutely since moving out of the West Valley house. In between sessions we went to tea at GV. I really love clotted cream and peppermint tea, so I was brimming with both come the start of Session 2. Still I managed to eat some of Joshuar's fries during the talks, and I really don't know how I managed to take 2 very large German pancake slices home with me, covered in powdered sugar, as I was leaving FK's house that day. It wasn't the taking of them that is unfathomable, but I did finish them both in the car on the way home. That night we (ironically all of us girls, though we waited till Priesthood was over), went to a pub and got the best meatloaf ever. FK, Duckling, and Pinkie had to pick me up as my car was broken. Which marks the beginning of yet another story. One that happened before I went to Graywhale and bought myself cd's, which made the aforementioned 3 wait at my house for a good 30 minutes, or a bad 30 minutes as it more likely was, because I lost track of time borrowing my parent's van, and those 3 were nice enough to drive me home to Salt Lake that night.

The reason why I was bumming rides had to do with a certain 1985 Pontiac Sunbird deciding not to start, yet again. This time it had to do with wires my dad cut in his search for the previous problem, and which didn't stay together when twined. Incidentally, Friday night I had to take Traxx to So Jo, because my sisters and I and my mother were going out to dinner that night. My oldest sister decided we needed these monthly Girls Night Out dinners a while back, but we got out of the habit and just started it again. I got some studying in there, but minimally, and once I got to my parents' house I really just needed to use the internet. So then two of my sisters arrived, and at that point I thought, "I wonder what they're doing here and where they're going (because it obviously wasn't a coincidence); I want to come." Then I voiced basically just that to my sister Kim, and then I immediately remembered why I was there, and that I did get to go to wherever they were going. I'm a genius sometimes. We went to a Sports Bar, but I don't remember the name. I really like my sisters, so it was enjoyable. My car was fixed Saturday night, but was at my house and therefore unattainable.

So I really should have spent more time studying Organic Chemistry. The problem is that I get it and it makes sense, but I can't make myself take the time required to do all of the problems, and some things just need a lot of practice to do really well on come a test. I did spend 2 hours at work yesterday doing homework, because I was donating platelets at the same time. Before that I hadn't yet admitted defeat to the beast that is O Chem, so I cancelled a lunch with friends to do homework, then decided I would go after all; but alas, I had locked my keys in my car. Unfortunately my windows were not cracked at all, and I learned that it's harder to break into a metal car than a plastic one. I ended up calling the U's campus police to jimmy it, and that took about 2 hours. From there I did platelets, and directly after that I went to our group meeting just long enough to get cake, then went to Institute and had the coolest lesson ever. We talked a lot about Orthodox, and Heresy, and got into some very deep discussions. Mainly about the nature of God's omnipotence, because apparently Brigham Young said something about God's ability to progress throughout time, and how he is continuously learning things, as we do. He then mentioned Willard Richards' (?) opposing opinions, where instead God progresses only because we as his children are progressing, and he essentially gets the credit for that. We talked about a child's perspective of his parents, in comparison to his own. Basically we were given a lot of different opinions, but none of them definitive. And so it mostly came down to thinking for ourselves. My own thoughts are that God is much smarter than I'll every be, and knows more than anyone else on any given subject in the Universe, but that doesn't mean there isn't more to learn. What's important is that he knows more than me, and thus can adequately guide and lead me, regardless of what I don't comprehend, in the situations of my life.

Class went late, and then I drove Sheidi to her aunt's house, who got sent home with the chocolate Sheidi's mom bought for her presentation on chocolate of all things. Then I drove her to her class. Curiously, her car too broke down, but the day after mine, as it also did the first time my car broke down, 2 weeks ago. I can relate to the not being able to get around thing, so that and my extreme desire to not study chemistry led to my willingness to drive her around for a while. I guess our friendship factors somewhere in there as well, but mainly I was in it for the chocolate.

Cut back to the first story. I really should have spent more time studying Organic Chemistry. One of the 2 long boarding guys at my house, Brandon, has apparently spent a lot of time as every kind of tutor you can think of, including said subject. It was actually nice to study in a group environment for once; I learned a lot I couldn't have by myself. If only it was easier to make #1 study with me more often, instead of her concentration being glued to her fiance. The drawback was that there was way too much talking happening that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. We discussed the option of choosing to know about fatal genes beforehand, stem cell research and the ethics involved, all-you-can-eat sushi buffets, and of course, among other things, long boarding. I pried myself away soon after some in depth discussions on chiral molecules to go to work.

Where my story ends is in the lab, which I just spent the last hour mopping, because the second Immunocap 1000 sprung a leak where the DI water hose is connected. While I was trying to fix the problem, the whole tube broke wide open, and where there was a pretty big puddle before, there was then a lake of an impressive quality for being inside of a building. Oh, and the rack loader on my instrument just broke. It's looking to be a stand-up day for one already promising. I guess it's good I have things like this to keep me busy when I've gotten no sleep and have a test in mere hours. I can't fall asleep if I'm shooting myself in the foot.