Has it really been so long?

I cannot believe that this is my first entry for the month of April.  I guess I disappeared big time.

I have been SUPER busy.  The semester is almost over, projects are being wrapped up, I’ve had tons of tests…  I’m ready to get out of here.

Things with the house are going… well, I suppose.  It’s really hard to get in touch with Danny.  He also wants only one person on the lease, and he wants that to be my mom, which was a little frustrating at first, but will work out in the end.  All of the housemates and their parents are going to get together, write and sign a contract basically saying that we’re all in on this together.  So it’s not just my mom that gets screwed if something goes wrong.  Which is good.

I talked to my mom about a potential name-change.  I was originally born with a wonderful name, but when my mom married my dad (when I was three) and he adopted me, they hyphenated my last name to include his as well.  It kind of ruined the name a bit.  And my dad and I have… issues.  I’ve been thinking about a name change for the longest time (to drop his bit of the last name), and I finally mentioned to my mom that I might be interested in doing that.  To my surprise, she was actually really supportive of the idea…  I guess I never realized that she preferred my name the way she constructed it.  She said that she would try to bring the topic up with my dad, and get everything all cozy.

I am excited for this.  Bryce (Stephen’s dad, a lawyer) is all lined up to help me with the process once I get the go-ahead from my parents.  (I figured it was better to do this thing with their support rather than start another family feud.)  So… that’s exciting.

And let’s see, what else?

There is a small chance that I may get a 4.0 this semester.  I think that’s really neat, considering the MASSIVE amounts of REALLY DIFFICULT classes that I’m taking this semester.  PChem and BioChem were never intended to be taken at the same time…  *head bonk*  BUT, I did sign up for my classes for next semester, (and browse the scheduling for the semester after that), and I will definitely be able to get all of the classes that I need to graduate tucked up and out of the way in those two semesters.  My dream of a three-year college degree is coming true!  I will be graduating in a year.  Holy guacamole, Batman!

I talked to Lisa (the puppy coordinator) about when I’ll probably be getting my puppy.  Boring reasons why aside, I am the first on the list for Salt Lake area, and my puppy should be arriving in mid-June or, at the latest, early July.  I am stoked.  I also use this a lot as a change of subject.  It’s really hard for people to keep discussing (or arguing) some topic when I’m bouncing up and down saying "I’m so excited for my puppy!  I’m so excited for my puppy!"

Hmmm, what else?  Beth’s birthday was yesterday.  (Bryan’s darling sister)  So we went out to dinner at her favorite restaurant:  Chuck O’Rama.  Remind me never to go there again.  Not only do I eat this sort of food every day (Thank you, dorms food), but it was worse.  Instant mashed potatoes.  Macaroni and cheese made not even with cheddar, but with American cheese.  Eew.  I wound up not eating hardly anything…  It really is kind of a waste to feed me at all-you-can-eat places–  I rarely eat my money’s worth.  (Except when the food is good– then I tuck away an entree’s worth or two)

Bryan is doing well.  He’s happy that this semester will be over soon.  His work is just beginning to pile on, where mine is just starting to ease up.  We still see a lot of one another, though.  Which is good.

Katrina has gotten in the habit of having really loud sex all of the time.  It doesn’t help that she’s into BDSM.  There’s always this loud smacking sound (sometimes a whip, sometimes a hand on flesh) and then a loud moan.  Half of the time I find it really funny and amusing, the other half I’m petrified by the awkwardness of it all.  I think normally I would bring it up, but when I only have a little over two weeks of still living with her, I think it’s best to just let this one go.  And keep playing loud music.

Easter was fun.  Bryan, Beth and I dyed eggs, but not in the usual way.  All of the stores were completely out of egg dying kits, so we tried Hana’s method!  Essentially you boil a boatload of onion skins in some water, and in the meantime put electrical tape (or masking tape) around your eggs in nifty patterns.  After letting the water cool (so as not to crack the eggs upon their entering), you simply hard boil the eggs in the onion water.  The eggs turn really really dark brown, except where you’ve put the tape.  It’s a really neat effect.  And we got some pretty nifty eggs out of it.

My parents also gave Bryan and me a toaster and a welcome mat for Easter.  It was awfully sweet.  🙂  I love practical gifts, for serious.  I am also really excited about the welcome mat– it’s super pretty, and I’d just been thinking a few days before we got it that we’d need a really nice welcome mat.  I swear sometimes my mom is telepathic.

She’s doing really well.  She works seasonally preparing taxes, so once April 15th hits and then is over, she all of the sudden has tons of free time.  (She usually works upwards of 14 hour days in the last week before taxes are due– and she’ll work Saturdays for the whole month of April.)  So it’s nice to get my mommy back.  She and Bryan and I played Hearts the other night, and that was lots of fun.  I tried to shoot the moon twice (my first attempts ever), and I failed miserably the first time (Bryan pointed out the one card that I could have played differently that would have allowed me to do it), but actually succeeded my second try, which won me the game.  Yay!

This guy in my PChem class invited me to play human chess today.  So I’m heading off to do that in the afternoon.  I know that the whole thing was put together by his Institute group thing (that means a bunch of his Mormon friends, through a church-sponsored something-or-other), but I do believe I’ll have fun.  I hope I get to play some sort of really neat piece (I assume everyone wants to be a knight, so I don’t have my hopes on that; but a rook would be cool– those are my favorite pieces anyway).

I write with parenthesis a lot, I’ve noticed.

Aaaand I really will be writing in here more now that my life has come back to a normal workload sort of deal.  I’m looking forward to being back!