The Staircase

For those of you who don't know, BYU is often lacking in...ahem...pleasing architectural design. And by pleasing, I mean that its 70s style buildings and brick walls just don't really add to the feng shui of this educational institution.

In my humble opinion.

But this stairway?


Brilliantly beautiful. Sleek. Modern. Yet welcoming and warm.


In fact, we can add this stairway to one of the reasons I am a humanities major.

The World at my Feet

I have had people tell me "I have the world at my feet."

Sometimes I just look at them and think,
Really? Do you have any idea what I am going through right now? Do you realize that instead of having the world at my feet, sometimes I feel like I am just trying to keep my feet on the world?

But I had a moment yesterday and I realized...it's true.

I can get up and go running...and RUN my heart out.
I can turn up my music...and DANCE.

And these two things...may seem somewhat trivial...but for me--
This is having the world at my feet.

Real Age

So I thought I would try the "Real Age" test. Basically, it takes your health habits and medical history and tells you how old your body really is.

So I went through all the steps...
and guess how old my real age is?

14.6.

Seriously.
It should probably be closer to 14.2 since I had to adjust my birthday 4 months so I could take the test.

But seriously?! 14? That is in years. Not that I am taking this too seriously, but 14?! I'll be turning 20 soon...and just I was starting to feel so grown up...

It is all coming together now though. I guess the morning runs help out a lot and the fact that I don't smoke or drink and I eat fruit and manage stress...but 14?!

It explains what happened over the weekend too...my cousin's friend found me "very attractive" ... and he is a junior. In high school. That makes him 17. But, hey, if my real age is 14, then why not?!

I guess I can use this as an excuse for losing $60 this weekend too. I mean, 14-year-olds can get away with that kind of thing, right? I am still hoping I will find it...that was going to go towards a new pair of jeans...or, since I am actually 14, maybe I should just spend it on movies...that is, if I find it.

And while we are making confessions...last semester I saved $100 by not buying books for my mythology class. Not only did that save me some money, but I also saved many hours. By not doing my readings. Out of the hundreds of pages I was supposed to do in Livy and Ovid and Sophocles and Hesiod how much did I do? Probably one page...yep, one page. Maybe even half a page.

And what grade do you think I got?
A. A freaking A.
Not just an A, but a 98% A. Yeah...the things you can do when you are a teenager.

I'm sure when I turn 20 in three and a half months I will be much more responsible...because then my real age will be what...15?!

Serendipity...Maybe

So lately I have been thinking that my blog is all wrong. Like, I think maybe I have become a pessimist because I have stopped believing in "serendipitous moments." You know--happy things that happen to you when you don't expect them? Yeah, well, they don't happen. Like I said--a pessimist.

But. I went running the other day and I was only going to go two miles. It was 6 pm--I didn't have time to go earlier in the morning like I usually do, but still wanted to make myself go--but at this point, I just wanted dinner. I decided to keep running anyway and 2 miles turned into 3 miles that turned into a little bit more than I was planning on. By the end of my run I was pretty tired. I usually sprint the last quarter mile, but I was pretty tired and decided I would just kind of let myself run down like my body was feeling like it wanted to do.

Then, the craziest thing happened. This little toddler with short legs started running on the sidewalk beside me. I didn't notice at first, but then out of the corner of my eye I see this little boy laughing his head off and pointing at me. I yanked out my earphones and heard an ineffable and incessant giggle.

And then he started running faster than me. His short little legs just moved, and he looked like a little hover craft over the ground.

And that little booger was looking back and laughing at me.

"Wow, you're a fast runner," I said to him. Then I started running faster. And then he started running faster, still laughing as if this was the funniest thing he ever saw.

What the word?! I thought. How can this little kid possibly be running that fast?!? Or am I really running that slow...

Well, not to be beat out by a toddler, I started sprinting, leaving that little squirt and still hearing that adorable laughter bubble out of him.

And so, maybe--just maybe--that was a bit of serendipity. Maybe.

Bleakness

January is over--the longest, coldest month of the year.

It is the month that seems to start two days after Christmas and drags on forever with its 31 days. The snow seems never to be fresh in January, it is always gray and dirty and hard. January is the month of inversions and bad air that chokes up lungs.

But it is over.
And February is here.

Except sometimes February just seems a continuation of January.
In which case, I wish I was a bear and could hibernate in the winter.

Any ideas of how to enjoy the ugliest coldest longest loneliest months of the year?