This blog = my life (mostly)

Slice of my life..

So I usually try to bring lunch with me to school, but today I didn't have time/ just didn't pack one. This was no problem, because I thought I had my wallet with me.

I thought wrong.

I did not have my wallet, and therefore, no cash, credit card, or even my BYU signature card. I began to panic, when I found my checkbook!!! I was so thrilled!

So I ordered my delicious Greek salad wrap at L&T, and had just finished writing out my check when this evil girl (Well, she wasn't really evil, but she plays the antagonist role in this story, and it makes me look better if she is evil.) at the cash register told me that I could not use a check if I didn't have my driver's license, or photo ID. As I mentioned earlier, I had neither.

So I called Andrew. He suggested I find a friend, write them a check and have them cash it at the Wells Fargo in the bookstore. A great suggestion. However, I couldn't find a friend. (Sad, I know.)

Then, I ventured over to the Ticket Office, hoping that maybe one of those girls might have cash and I could just write them a check. What I ended up with was my boss' signature card. He offered to let me use it and I could pay him back. So back to L&T where the evil girl worked! This time I asked, before they made my food, if I could pay with someone else's signature card. Guess what she said?! ... "No."

At a loss, I turned around to walk away and a strange feeling came over me. I began to feel my breath stutter and my vision became blurry.

Yes,
oh yes,
 I was crying.
In the middle of the Wilk.
For no reason.
And I couldn't stop.

Then, as if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I ran into a friend from my directing class! I was totally embarrassed and ashamed to tell her why I was crying. But she gave me a huge hug, was able to help me out with the money, and didn't even laugh at me for crying over something so silly!

....sometimes I feel so crazy....

You will never belive this!

So, I did get a response back from my landlord. She emailed me saying that the house was up to standard and that BYU inspects it every August (which I highly doubt, because in the BYU handbook it said explicitly that BYU does not have time to inspect every place once a year.) Anyway, so I decided to go a head and contact BYU housing and request an inspection. And so I did.

Well when I was in Texas, I received a call from my landlord. She told me they had a 'situation' and wondered if I could help them out. She said there was a mix up from some of the girls who had already moved out. They both sold their contracts, but one of them had promised the new girl a private room, and it was a shared room. So basically, they were overbooked. She then asked if I would mind if she released me from my contract for the rest of the summer.

YES, PLEASE!

So, I moved out on Friday, the day I got in from Texas. I got a written confirmation of the release, and my deposit being sent to me as we speak!

This is obviously a wonderful blessing. It is going to save us about $600 and we are getting my $300 deposit back now rather than later!(which will be very helpful)
The only negative aspect about this situation is that I am homeless right now. Andrew and I are furiously trying to find a place to live, where I will just move in right away. This will be nice because I can get somewhat settled before the wedding and before Andrew moves in. We've looked at plenty of places and they are either totally disgusting or too expensive. Clearly we are looking for something in between: nice and affordable.

Drama, drama, drama

So, I live in this house that is incredibly nasty.

It. is. SO. Gross.

Let me give you a little background on this house:

It is a pretty old house. It is apparent that the people who tried to fix it up did a sloppy, quick fix. (the molding in the shower is almost gone, the wooden floors are completely thrashed, the shelves are falling off, the counters are no longer touching the walls (does that make sense?) and so on and so on.) The landlords live in California, so they are unable to swing by for any maintenance checkups. The only time they fix things is when there are big problems, such as mold, dead heater, etc. The house holds 6 girls - 2 shared rooms, 2 private. The shared rooms are $265 per occupant, and the private are $325 & $345 per occupant. So in all the landlords are making $1730 a month! What's worse, the contracts are year round so the rent does not change for Spring/Summer terms, which make it impossible to sell for the Summer. Around here in Provo during the Spring/Summer, private rooms in nice houses run about $150/month or so! So the tenants are stuck paying a horrible rate during the Spring/Summer for a poorly maintained house!

On top of that, the house smells HORRIBLE. All the time. I seriously and literally gag when I have to walk through or around the kitchen (which is where the horrid smell is coming from, to make matters worse). Luckily, I do not store food, prepare food, or eat food at my own house. The Nevin's have been gracious enough to let me steal their food for the past couple months, but that is a whole other story. We also are not required to do cleaning checks ever (only when we are checking out - ergo, nobody is forced to clean, so nobody ever cleans!).


And here is another thing: I am a good tenant. I am a good roommate.

Exhibit A: I always pay my rent on time. Never ever has it been late!
Exhibit B: I do the dishes sometimes. I shouldn't even have to, because I never use the dishes. But I do wash them sometimes. You know, when I'm feeling generous, or just super grossed out by the mess!
Exhibit C: I have never been the cause of any type of concern. No physical damage. No honor code violations. ~ I am never even in the house, really (except to sleep and shower).



So, I have had it. I am so fed up. I cannot and will not deal with this any longer. I wrote my landlords an email today giving them a few options:

A. Lower my rent to $100/month. I told them I would be willing to pay this through August even though I will be moving out in July.

B. Release my contract. I told them I would have no trouble finding another place that was more reasonably priced.

If neither of these option were satisfactory enough, I would resort to plan C.

C. I will go to BYU Off-Campus housing and schedule an inspection. BYU has very specific instructions for a house to be considered "BYU approved." I'm so sure this house would not pass an inspection as BYU livable! In which case, BYU would grant all of the occupants a release from their contract.

And now I impatiently await their reply.

Don't worry, I'll let you know how it all works out!

Procrastination

I should not be trusted with a computer with an internet connection when I have homework to do. I have an assignment due tomorrow which I "started" about an hour and a half ago. (I only have my heading and title completed thus far.) The crazy thing is, I have NO idea what I have been occupying my time with! A little bit of blogging (clearly), a tad bit of Facebook, looking up random artists and facts, corresponding with my email buddies, and complaining about the assignment to fellow students. Logically, procrastination makes no sense. However, I have a theory: If I did not procrastinate, I would have no time to do such web browsing and connecting with friends. When I do not put a project or assignment off to a later date, I spend my time afterward either sleeping, eating, reading or watching movies. Now, not that these aren't wonderful things to do, (obviously they are because I spend my extra time doing them) it's just that if I don't procrastinate, I don't find time for the smaller things as listed above. I don't regard the time I spend procrastinating as 'extra' time, because it is not extra at all. It is cutting into the time I should be spending on homework, projects, etc and then cutting into my so called 'extra' time. So I've now designated my procrastination time to be 'browsing' time, if you will. Therefore, procrastination is healthy when it promotes stretching your brain, connecting with friends, and sometimes relaxing from a stressful day. Although, it is always important to remember that I must finish the project eventually. Speaking of which ...

What to do?!

So, I'm starting to realize that I'm getting to the end of my undergraduate college years! Now, this has been a long time coming, but it just seems that I don't have enough time to finish everything in time. First of all, this upcoming Summer is the last of my Summers before I become a graduated adult working in the real world. This means that I need to get an internship somewhere fancy so that I can be ready to get a big job next April. Problem: I don't know where I want to get my internship. I could go somewhere like New York which would be AMAZING, yet scary and far away from...everyone. I could also move and work in Nashville and live with Marcy, Taylor, Tiffany, and Rachael! But again that is far away. My other option is to stay in Provo and work here. The benefit of doing this would be that I could take some classes over Spring and Summer terms and get a few more credit in under my belt. Which brings me to my next problem: I want to take more classes than I have room for in my class schedules! Some of the classes I'm looking at are:
-beginning playwriting
-advanced dramaturgy
-contemporary performance practices
-intermediate makeup
-costume design
-stage management
-beginning sewing
-nonprofit grant writing
-props
-play review
-set construction
(not to mention any of the classes that are required for my major or my degree!)
The only way I could possibly take more and graduate on time is to take classes over Spring/Summer. I am in quite a pickle, indeed. And that is where my topic title comes in: "What to do?!"

Finals Finals Finals!

It's the last week of the semester, which means that my extra time is/should be spent studying & preparing for finals. This semester half of my finals have been projects, and the other half have been tests. I have a test today, and one paper to turn in. After today I will only have one more test to take! So far I have felt pretty confident in my grades for all my classes. Hopefully this semester's GPA will be high and help to bring up my overall GPA!! This was a good semester! I had good teachers and great classes. School seems to get better and better the more I have a chance to choose the classes I really want to take (as opposed to the BYU general courses...ugh!).

I'm getting so excited for Christmas! Also, now that Andrew isn't working out of town, he is coming to Texas with me! I can't wait to go to Corpus Christi and see all of my lovely family members! Especially Ari! (no offense Allison, Kathleen, Mommy, or Daddy, or whoever reads this) I just can't wait to see how much he has grown since I left him in August! He and Lincoln just seem to be growing out of control! I cannot believe they are both almost two years old! And I'm totally excited to see the two together! Perhaps now they are both old enough to want to play with eachother! cute!

Well, I suppose I have put off taking this test long enough....

EEK!!!

I'm starting to realize that this semester is almost over and I have a lot of work I need to do! I have papers, and projects, and busy work assignments (which get old after 8 consecutive weeks)! Now, not all of these assignments are due at once but they are all pretty big deals, counting for a high percentages of my grades, and demanding lots of time! I think I'm just now starting to feel the stress of this semester's workload...