TGIF. seriously.

This week has been super long. seriously. and it was only 4 days long if you count Monday being off school, even though all I did was homework. School finally got rolling for me and I was caught up in all of my assignments, lab reports, practicing, and reading. I got to talk and get more acquainted with a lot of my professors though so I was grateful for that. I haven't fallen asleep in any classes so far, which is a miracle!, although I came pretty close in Living Prophets the other night.

So I get to take Lloyd K. Newell's class. He is the narrator for Music and the Spoken Word (for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), and is also a great teacher here at the Y. He has a great memory and is able to remember facts about each one of his students. Angie pointed out to me that he remembered that she was sick the first day, and that we were roommates, and he even asked me how my date went, which was totally awesome. Now imagine how cool it is knowing that he is personable with us, how close he must be to all the apostles and prophets of the church. He must know so many things about them

and I'm grateful that I could learn so much from his insights. The other day in class, he shared a quote by Elder Nelson:

"Don't use question marks. Use exclamation points and just do it. The blessings will flow!"

I really like that perspective and I think I have to add it to my new years resolutions list to help me get things done faster and in a better mood, without complaining.

btw, I really had a long, tiring day today and was really happy when a boy called to ask me out. I guess God is looking out for me.

Also, I'm so grateful for my sister and her sweet connection to the Canon Center. So many times she has saved me and probably doesn't even know how important it was to me in helping me make it through the day! Well I made it through this week by an outpouring of God's tender mercies, and now get to enjoy a birthday party for one of my roommates. If there's one thing I learned this week it's this:

If it's important to me, then it's important to my Heavenly Father.

I love my sister!

Back to School 2010

The other day it hit me just how right chemistry is for me. I went to my first orchestra rehearsal and was potentially seated last in the first violin section. After feeling a little sorry for myself about how bad I was at the violin (I mean really I was struggling to keep up with the sightreading <--and that just doesn't happen to me), I realized that it was really a blessing in disguise. I couldn't have done music in college some things just aren't for everyone. I do love chemistry and sometimes I forget that. Chemistry works and it makes sense. It follows through and helps you understand why things work the way they do. At the same time it also amazes you, it makes you think when something doesn't go as planned, and it pushes you to be better. When I am cramming to finish a homework set due Friday morning or trying to figure out my nmr, it is easy to take for granted all the things that help me get through the day. But being able to help someone with there chem 468 homework when you've never even taken the class before, is priceless. I shouldn't forget the feeling I get when I walk of lab knowing that my reaction worked! I guess when you get excited about an article like this: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ar800150g, it kind of makes you a dork, but who wouldn't get excited about new research on laser induced photothermal nanoparticle cancer therapy? This semester I am going to try to get into a research group with a professor on campus so I am pretty excited about that, but I still am working in the Inorganic Stockroom, which is the greatest job ever.

So here's some stats for the new year:

13.5 credits (<-- lowest number of hours I've ever had)

461 Physical Chemistry

464/465 Physical Chemistry Lab

391 Advanced Chemical Writing

333 Living Prophets with Lloyd K. Newell!!

321 University Orchestra

115 Beginning Organ

111 Beginning Basketball

20 hour work week

$1.00 pay raise

11 AM - the time of my first class MWF!!!! (first time to ever happen in college. I have always had 8AM classes M-F.)

1/12/10 first date of the year to see STOMP

3: 3 score of my first intramural soccer game (S Club 7 vs. H1N1)

9-15-29 Combo for my gym locker so I can go work out more often instead of running in the cold.

1 Nephi 4:1 My scripture for the new year. The second Yes! matters the most!

A lot = the number of my New Years Goals.

April 21 Last day of finals!

The first day of class in PChem, my teacher asked, "Is anyone in here wearing a diamond?"

(silence) Looking around the room at the 5 of us girls in the class, "No?!"

What can he expect? We're chemistry majors. and proud of it!