Too Short

Dear Weather,

I would just like to politely point out that it has been less than six months since the last time you snowed.

I saw the weather forecast for the next few days and felt it necessary to point that out to you.

On an unrelated note, Friday is my birthday and my favorite birthdays are the ones with nice, warm, lovely weather.

Love from,

Alyssa

The Anti-Tag

Name 5 things you hate:
-Water chestnuts
-Asylum Films. They're not even so bad they're funny. They're just bad.
-Mosquitoes
-Hatred
-Charlie horses

Name 5 pet peeves
-When people take forever filling up their water bottles in the tall water fountains. Especially when there's a line and the people in front of you refuse to use the short water fountains and you'd feel weird if you cut in line to use the short one but you're really thirsty.
-When people touch/put things on my desk. Dude.
-The faces Megan Fox makes in every picture ever taken of her. What's with the mouth hanging open thing? Is that supposed to be sexy? Hows about a smile, once in a while?
-Pedestrians who don't pay attention
-Drivers who don't pay attention

Name 5 names that you once considered for your future children, but that have now been ruined for you
-Isabelle
-Jeremy
-Charles
-Jared
-Jeffery

Name 5 things you never considered studying
-Physics
-Accounting
-Chemistry
-Political Science
-English

Name 5 things that give you the willies
-Chalk
-Chalkboards
-Fingernails on a chalkboard
-Mannequins - especially the ones in the Old Navy commercials
-Meal worms

Now, I tag....... no one. Especially not you.

The Thrilling Conclusion

Remember the cab driver who tried to stiff us? And then I thought he had gotten a hot, stinking plate of karma stuck under his nose? And then it turns out he did stiff us?

Well, when we discovered the $87 charge, Lewis called the bank who told him to call the cab company and record the conversation if he could. The cab company was really nice and told him that they would investigate the allegation (is that too strong of a word) and give the cab driver a chance to come in and tell his side of the story and then they would get back to us. Well, it's been almost 3 weeks since Lewis talked to them, and we were wondering if we were ever going to hear from them again.

But then yesterday, a check for $42 came in the mail, along with a letter that said:

"Dear Mr. Young;

Than you for letting us know about the problem you experienced. This is how we know that problems exist. It gives us a chance to take steps to correct them and improve the quality of service to our customers. I apologize for the problem you experienced on August 17, 2009. I am mailing you a money order for $42.45.

We look forward to the opportunity to provide service for you in the future.

Sincerely,

Joyce Last Name"

I was touched, really. Especially since the cab driver did give us $20 back in cash when we told him that he had charged us too much in the first place. So that means we paid only $25 for the ride! Boo-ya. (I did feel a little bad about that for a minute, but then I thought about the whole debacle and I stopped. Feeling bad, that is.)

Lewis got really excited for a minute when he looked at the money order because he thought it was signed by the actual cab driver and that made him laugh. But then I looked at the signature and said I thought I said "Joyce" (I hadn't read the letter yet). Lewis said, "Oh. That makes more sense."

In other news, it's the first home game of the season today! Rise and shout, Cougar fans!

Motivation

Is it weird that one of the reasons I want to be a teacher is so I can eat school lunches? Maybe it's because it was so rare for my mom to give me lunch money instead of a packed lunch, but I LOVED eating school lunches. And I get to do that for the rest of my life. Seriously. Little cartons of chocolate milk that I never got the hang of opening properly, every day.

It's only elementary school lunches, really. Lunch at my high school tried to hard to be hip and give the people want they wanted, or what the Prince William County School District believed we wanted, anyway. What I actually wanted was frozen lasagna and fruit churros, not underbaked pizza, thankyouverymuch.

Also, the smell of baking bread in the morning at schools makes me happy. When I was doing my internship for MFHD at Farrer last winter, I would smell the bread baking in the hallways and my mind would be flooded with memories of happy times in elementary school. And then my mouth would water and my stomach would grumble and I'd get really bitter that I was only at Farrer in the mornings and had to go back to BYU before lunch. Lame-o.

Yeah, go 'head and said it. I already know I'm a nerd.

Headphones

Dear girl sitting at the table across from me,

You don't bug me, but if I can clearly make out the lyrics to the song you are listening to on your iPod from all the way over here, you might want to reconsider the volume you've selected. Seriously.

Honestly, we'd all win if you did that. No one in this room would be subjected to your annoying teenybopper cheese fest anymore and you would save yourself from going deaf in the next five years. And I'd have one less thing to complain about!

Win-win-win.

Thanks. You're a pal.

-Alyssa

101st Post

Yeah... 'Nuff said.

100th Post

'Nuff said.

New Year's Resolutions

SO! The new school year has begun. Campus is especially full this week as everyone buys their textbooks, participates in Welcome Week events, and figures out which classes it's okay to skip the rest of the semester. The Wilkinson Student Center (where I am gainfully employed) is particularly full as it is something of a central hub for campus. The Bookstore, Cougareat, and BYUSA office are just some of the many things found in this building, all of which seem to attract an abnormally large amount of students this time of year - especially those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed younglings we all know as freshmen.

With the new school year comes new year's resolutions, the evidence of which can be found all over campus. The past two mornings as we've walked to school, Lewis and I saw dozens of joggers out. Normally we see maybe four or five, but dozens?! Similarly, the Bookstore sold out of salads in record time yesterday, leaving only pizza and fresh baked cookies for those who came seeking lunch later in the day (darn it!). Clearly, there are many who have resolved to live healthier lifestyles this year.

Likewise, I am sure there are many students who've resolved to study harder this year to get even better grades. Have you ever noticed when you purchase a used textbook that the first few chapters are diligently highlighted and marked up, but there is nary a tick mark on the last few chapters? Yeah. That's a harder resolution to keep.

Today, as I was running the gauntlet this afternoon through what is known as the third floor of the Bookstore (textbooks and computer) on my way to work, I found myself getting annoyed. How dare all these people be in my way! Why can't they spend hundreds of dollars on pricey texts and fancy electronics when I am not headed to my office?

Similarly, I found myself inwardly groaning during my first class yesterday. I just started my first semester cohort in the elementary education program. As you may be aware, the elementary education program consists of mostly girls. As in, it's an anomaly to have even one boy in a class. This is particularly problematic for me as I don't get along with girls as well as I probably should seeing as I am, you know, a girl. They tend to bug me with their fashion accessories and their voluminous hair and their general perkiness. Especially at 8 o'clock in the morning. Gosh!

And then I realized... It's easy to be bugged by freshmen boys who stop dead right outside a high-traffic door to put something in their book bag or peeved at the girl who giggles rather shrilly at a lame joke the teacher tells to grab everyone's attention. It's really, really easy. But what's the point? It just makes life harder for me. It's not like they know they're doing anything wrong, even if I do occasionally shoot them a dirty look (I don't).

So I decided to take a leaf out of my jogging and salad-eating and study harding peers. I would make a new year's resolution for myself! Here it is, all official-like:

I, Alyssa Lucille Young, resolve to stop being bugged by the people around me.

Whew.

I once had a religion teacher who told us that a good way to live more like Christ is to say in your head about every person you meet, "I love you." Now, I don't think I'm quite up to that level of appreciation for the people around me, but I think "You don't bug me" is a nice start.

Don't worry, dear readers. Whether you like it or not, I will be updating you on the successfulness of this resolution. Unless I forget.