confession

i'm an english major. and i've only read one book by charles dickens. ever.

(when i was in high school we were supposed to read great expectations and i only read the sparknotes. that was the only time i ever did that. well, and huck finn . . . another literary classic i've heretofore avoided.)

this is that one dickens book that i've ever read:


it's my second-favorite book.

and it always makes me cry.

i'm re-reading it again, and i can't wait to finish it this time through.

graduation

i highly suggest that you watch this video as you look at this post. it will get you into the right mood:



here are the facts:
-tommy and i may or may not have graduated in the last few days. (actually, not. but we sure fooled everyone else.)
-my parents came and so did tommy's family = party.
-the guy who presented all the graduates at the convocation for the college of physical and mathematical sciences (the college of PMS for those of you with acronymic leanings) made it sound like i got a master's of statistics. grandpa murphy is proud.
-we were sure to take tons of pictures, particularly cheesy ones with the Y in the background and with brother brigham.
-we didn't get a picture with the "enter to learn, go forth to serve" sign, though.
-i'm still starting spring classes in 4 days.

RISE AND SHOUT, THE COUGARS ARE OUT!

done and done. SO DONE

so many posts in so many days, but THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT--I AM DONE WITH FINALS! i wish i could say that i've officially taken the last finals i will ever take at BYU, but i will be sticking around to take spring classes. tommy is done and done with BYU for realz. jealous.

i have had a most LOVELY finals week/reading days. i secretly love reading days and finals week because as an english major, i never actually have anything difficult to do. finals (almost) always require little to no studying, and i am happy because all of my really time-consuming papers are done by that point. it's been beautiful. plus, winter semester finals = best weather of the year so far. fall semester is far worse, because it's usually the worst weather.

we're celebrating.

thanks for the shirts, mom

we love them. frealz. even though we look slightly gross in this picture--don't judge us.

Bet You Didn't Know...

Some pictures from Alyse's freshman year (compliments of Alec):





--Tommy

just another motivation for me to never shave my legs

we love our apartment (we really do), but i will not be sad to be leaving our miniscule bathroom and shower behind when we move. it's barely even large enough for me to turn around in without touching the slightly grimy curtain or walls, much less bend over to shave my ankles.

but really, i hate shaving my legs anyways, so it doesn't even bug me that bad. i still DO it, okay? just not that often. that's one good thing about winter--no leg hair anxiety. i love wearing shorts in the spring and summer, but it just means i have to shave more often. sadness.

cougar 4 life.

sometimes i see people on campus who were in a class with me 3.5 years ago and i wonder, "what are they still DOING here?"

and then i remember, I'M still here. right.


but i'm walking in t-10 days. so not much longer.

i don't know if i'll even get to that point. i've reached the point of utter apathy. i used to want to excel. now all i want to do is finish. what if i don't pass? i really will be a cougar for life.

i don't even think i would care. all i know is that i don't want to look at this research paper, or any other research paper, ever again.

there are no words.

i'm used to being young--the last few years, all of my friends were born anywhere from a few months to five years before me. i'm the youngest of all of my old roommates and tommy is (almost) four years older than me (what a creeper, right?).

but last night, in my cooking class, i made a comment to my kitchenmates about being born in the late eighties. no big deal, right? i'm used to people around me saying, "late eighties! i was born in 1984! you're a baby!" i assumed everyone in the room was born in the eighties, or at least 1990, which isn't even that far from the eighties. (i've at least come to accept the fact that my sister is a college-aged student.)

at least, that was until this girl across the room turned to me and said, with COMPLETE AND UTTER ASTONISHMENT: "you were born in the eighties?"

i didn't know what to do. i said, "um. yes." what? along with the rest of byu students, right?

she said, "i was born in '92!"

NINETEEN NINETY-TWO, people. my little brother was born in 1992 and he's a junior in high school. what's going on here? and SHE was the one making ME feel out of place. there were no words.

so this was the only response i could come up with: "what the heck are you doing in college?"

incandescent

i really like the word incandescent. (even though i don't really know how to spell it so i have to look it up. in+can+descent. not that hard.)

to dictionary.com, incandescent means "shining brilliantly; very bright" or "aglow with ardor, or purpose." to me, incandescent means simple and clear and pure and clean and 100% real and true. it makes me think of the phrase "incandescent happiness," which in turn makes me think of things like this:
so when i'm really, simply happy, i think of "incandescent."

for me, most of these "incandescent" moments happen when i'm walking home from school. it's happened the whole last three years that i've been living on this corner of campus: i get to the edge of campus, behind the maeser building, and there it hits me, every day. i'm always listening to my music, and let me tell you, there is nothing greater than a view, the prospect of a few hours away from campus, and bob dylan's "make you feel my love" or john mayer's "waiting on the world to change" right there with you.

friday of all days, which deserved to be a miserable and grouchy and lamebrain day, after i slept for only three hours to turn in a horrible rottenface paper by noon, after i didn't have time to shower and i didn't do the rest of my homework, and there was only gray skies and blustery winds--on friday, i was walking up to campus when the blue skies showed up and the sun shined for a second.

and i had "incandescent" popping up in my head again. apparently i'm just easily entertained.