Tie-Gyle, the "JUMP", Mandarin testimonies, silly me

(Transferred from my old blog on 18 August 2008.)

I've been stressing because my counselor let me know that I could not graduate and go to Boston in the same semester. I tried to figure out ways, but it was just too close to call, because of a residency requirement. So I think that the plan now is to graduate in the summer and either work there with an internship, or find one here, or start grad school there. Then I can go on a mission in the spring! Wahoo!

On Thanksgiving, Mom took me to Shopko and bought me a coat that was on sale for $25! She also got me some nice pants and a sweater. I finally have a coat, and just in time! It snowed the next day quite a bit and I really needed it today. I'm wearing it as I speak. After we ate a ton of food at Rick's (the stuffing and the orange rolls that Mom made were my favorite, although I've never had such a good turkey), we went to Grandma Smith's and had some pie. I talked to Lee for a while. I don't think I've ever done that. He went to Holland on his mission, so we talked about Dutch and German. Then I played some ping pong. On the way back, Mom hit the jump better than we ever have. We all thought she would stop, because when we came over the hill, the light was already green. She gunned it! We flew over that bump, screamed, landed, flew again, and landed. Holy mongrel! I bet the car waiting to turn left at the intersection was totally freaked out. I'm laughing my head off as I type this. It was so awesome and so good that it wasn't snowy and that we didn't die and that the axel didn't break. Then I went to Clay's grandparent's house and played "Obnoxious", their version of Phase 10. I did better than Clay, which is what his uncle was hoping for.

Clay has done a lot of nice things for me. He knew I was stressing out, so he called me one night (I was already in bed at 9), and told me to check my mailbox. There were Ghirardelli chocolates and a card that said, "Happy Turkey Day!" He wrote in there that he knew it wasn't Thanksgiving yet, but he wanted to let me know that he was grateful to know me! Wow! Then he brought me a Lollicup at work! He had to look on every floor and finally found me on third. The other night he grabbed my guitar and started playing. I realized he had taught himself this song that I told him was one of my favorites. He's so great, I'm just not ready for a huge commitment yet. I think that the whole Matt thing kind of messed up my relationship skills. Anyway, Clay and I went to a party at Marci's on Friday, and we played Mille Bornes and Canasta and Skip-Bo. She had good sandwiches and gave me a whole bag of rolls to take home. It snowed a ton!

I finally talked to Suzanne T about not working very much at EMC. It scared me, but Katie, as usual, helped me know what to say. I just told her that I needed to spend some time with Grandma before she dies. She said that it was fine, and I told her I could work a tiny bit, so she said just to let her know when I can or can't come in. I will miss Grandma so much! I can't believe how awesome she is! The same spirit that possesses you at death will have the power to possess you in the after-life. I heard that again yesterday and it made me glad that Grandma's so awesome. She's dealing with her pain and trying to be upbeat, but I've never seen anyone suffer so much! I keep thinking that she's going up to prepare a heavenly cabin for us to go to, since ours here will be gone soon.

I asked Wil if I could talk to him. I asked him what I could do to be a better employee. He was dumbfounded for a while. He looked at my stats, and kept apologizing. He also repeatedly asked if I was worried about something. Finally he said, "Okay, now just let me talk. When we get together in our meetings, and we think 'Michelle' , we like what she brings to the unit. She's hardworking and optimistic and . . . ." He went on and on and I was kind of embarrassed, but it was good to know that I'm appreciated. He even let me in on a secret about what they're doing with the employees in the next year and told me not to tell anyone. Then we talked about my family and Boston and North Carolina, etc. I was so glad that I went in there.

On Wednesday, Tanya and I bought some tie-dye stuff and some white t-shirts. I told her I thought it would be funny if we made an argyle shirt, because I've been obsessed with argyle lately, but the problem is, since it's too current of a style, I can't get any without breaking my 10 dollar rule. Then we decided to tape diamonds onto the shirts and then spray on the tie-dye! We named it tie-gyle! It looks pretty funny, but it's cool. Tanya was jealous because hers bled all over, but I was more careful. I even used food coloring to make two pink diamonds and a green one right in the middle. Then we put some on the sleeves, and Tanya forgot to put a bag in her sleeve, so it bled through and looks like she has pinkish-yellowish sweat. Who knows if the food coloring will stay or not . . .

Weird, non-chronological order, sorry. On Friday, I went on a date with Steve. Grandpa hugged me before I left and said that I smelled so good "that boy will want to get close". Haha. We went to Passages across from Temple Square. They had GOOD ROLLS! Yummy! I think we both ate a meal's worth of rolls, and so the real meal we couldn't really finish. Then we went to Steve's house and played Apples to Apples with his family. I WON! I never win that game! Yippy!

I stayed up late last night writing and researching this essay, and then got up early this morning (4:30) to finish it. I was so proud of the final product, it really was a nice paper. Then, at 7:04 AM I realized I had done the wrong essay! I did the re-write instead of the one that's due today! NO! I can't believe it! I am such an idiot.

So I wanted to go visit Grandma right after school, but I've got to turn in this essay. Wow, they need to dust in here. My teeth are bad again. That is a SCARY BAD SIGN! (Instead of very, ha.) I'm going to call the dentist in a bit.

Oh, guess what! I went to three sacrament meetings yesterday: Craig Barton's farewell, Grandma and Dan's homecoming, and Joey Mortensen's homecoming. First off, Craig's talk was AMAZING. I can't believe how much he has grown and matured in the last year. It's a good thing he waited. At the end of his talk he bore his testimony in MANDARIN! COOL! He kept saying something that sounded like the word "censure" to me, but it was nifty. How many people can do that before their mission? And in Mandarin? Anyway, next, we left Craig's early to go to my Grandma's, and I was mad because Joey said he was going to be at Craig's and that he wanted to see me. At Grandma's, there were like forty people in the chapel and 25 to thirty of them were related to me. Then we stopped at her house for some food, and went on our way to Joey's. It was so awesome! He is so funny and intelligent. I can't believe the memory he has. He remembers everything that anyone has ever told him, and he knows so many poems, even one about a hippopotamus that's really funny. Anyway, Emily has liked him for a long time, and I can't say I haven't had my moments, but she doesn't know what to do because she's kind of dating this other guy. We stood at the church for a long time (his mom wasn't very happy that most of the "guests" had left when we got to his house with the actual missionary). We all talked for about three hours before we finally left. We're starting our own book club, possibly to be called the Melinda Lane Book Club.