Same day, different post.

I realized that I have been slacking a lot on my blog, and I apologize. Earlier today, I was getting ready for the day and it struck me how much I had to write about. First of all was my recent photography excursions (see post below). But I also had some more personal stuff I wanted to share, and I feel like it deserves its own post. Heads up, though... this is a long one.

Over the past several months, I have had a LOT of new experiences at college. Some were incredibly beautiful, memorable events that will remain with me forever. Others were devastating blows to my life as I knew it. However, both are to be expected and endured whenever you take on a new chapter of your life. One thing I want to expound on comes from the place I have been the most since moving: the dorms.

There are so many people in this building that have made such a huge impact on me. Some of them are leaving after this semester and not coming back, possibly ever. Others are leaving, and I literally could care less. I know that sounds like a mean thing to say, but it's true... you can't like everybody. (But don't worry, Mom... I'm still nice to everyone, even the ones I don't like.) What I want to do is mention just a few of the people that I live with that have impacted me this semester. Note: this isn't a like an exact list of the only people I like in this building. Just putting that out there.

1: First of all, I want to talk about my adorable roommate, Lindy. Before college, we didn't know each other too well. We were pretty much just friends at church, but I'd always liked her. One day in Sunday school, my teacher asked me where I was living. When I told her my building, Lindy said "hey, me too!" We talked about it a little bit, and we both decided we really didn't want to have random crazy roommates, so we decided to request each other and live together. I never exactly had "doubts" about living with her, but I thought it'd definitely be interesting to live with someone that I was only kind-of friends with. But much to my sheer joy, it has turned out perfectly.

Lindy is a spectacular roommate in every aspect. She's clean, which (usually) makes me be clean, which makes our room look great, which makes me feel great. Also, she is so, so cute and is always so much fun to talk to. I will talk to her about literally anything, even if I know she doesn't really care. There will be sometimes when I just tell her a story without telling her any background about the person it involved, so it probably doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but she listens intently and laughs at the right parts or says "Oh no!" at the right parts. I love how comfortable I am with her, and I love that we leave each other cute notes every once in a while. It's always nice to know that when I come home, I have someone that will listen to whatever I have to say (which is usually a lot), and sometimes gives me Christmas treats. (: So basically, I absolutely love Lindy.

2: If you read my post below already, then this introduction will sound familiar to you. This "shout out" is for my dear good friend PeTA. PeTA lives on the 3rd floor of my building, is very, very sweet, is actually named Devan, and is a vegan, so he very quickly turned into PeTA (not sure about the random capitalization, but whatever). At the beginning of the semester, I could only stare at him because he is a perfect cross between Adam Mathis and Justin Powell, two guys I went to high school with my freshman and sophomore years. Anyways, I've always found PeTA to be an intriguing character. He has some very unique views of the world and the animals in it, but I respect him enough to let him keep those views and he respects me enough to not try and force them on me.

My favorite thing about PeTA is that he has always gone out of his way to give me a hug or ask me to smile or tell me I'm pretty. He can always tell whenever I'm having a bad day and does whatever he can to make it better because by golly, he doesn't want me to be sad ever! I'm not entirely sure if he knows what a difference he makes, but on a day when it feels like everything is falling apart, it means the world to have someone step in and remind you that there are people who love you. And it's those simple reminders that make you remember exactly why you love those people back.



3: Now I want to talk about a guy named Jd. Jd is Best Friend Kyle and Charlie's suitemate. Funny story: at the beginning of the year when I only hung out with Kyle, Charlie, Emily, and Curtis, I'm pretty sure Jd hated us. And none of us really liked him. Eventually though, our little group of 5 friends kind of fell apart, leaving only me, Kyle, and Charlie as tight as we were before. Over time though, the three of us realized that Jd is actually a pretty cool guy. I would often walk into my room and find him sitting on my floor talking to Lindy. At first, I was a little hesitant about the situation, until I started talking to both of them whenever I came home. It turned out that Jd was a pretty funny guy, and a lot cooler than I'd originally given him credit for. Jd has come through for me several times when I needed someone to make me feel better. When I had strep throat a few weeks ago, he was the one who got two other guys together and gave me a blessing. Also, when I had had a genuinely terrible day last week, he didn't hesitate when Jasmine asked him to take me to buy ice cream to make me feel better. Jd has been a very good example to me, and it's partially because of him that I've started to become more spiritually active. And for that, I am so, so grateful to him.



4: When I first moved in, I already knew two of the people in my building. One was Lindy, and the other was my neighbor Jasmine (we went to high school and graduated together). The first Friday in the dorms, I was on my way out to go hang out with some people from Kanab, but I saw a bunch of people in the common area watching a movie. They all asked me if I wanted to come watch, but I said I was on my way out. When I got outside and met up with the kid that was picking me up, it struck me that I really didn't want to start of the year strictly with friends from Kanab. So I told him that I was going to stay and have a movie night with the people I was going to live with for the next eight or nine months. And that's exactly what I did. When I came back upstairs, there were significantly more people there than there were the first time I walked by. One of those people was Jasmine.

To be quite honest, my first response was "Oh man... Jasmine is living here..." It's not that I didn't like Jasmine, because I really do and I always have. But she tends to get very loud and high pitched and random whenever she gets excited. And she was very excited that night. But after a couple of days when she got more settled in and everyone wasn't so new, she became a lot more chill. Anyways, Jasmine and I are pretty much together most of the time. It's gotten to a point where people call us by the others' name. I can't count how many times I've been called Jasmine this year. /: But Jasmine is really someone that I have needed this year. Like Lindy, she's an amazing listener. She always says she feels bad for not knowing what to say whenever I vent to her, but in most cases, that's all I need: just someone to listen. She and I have definitely had some crazy times together, but they're always fun. I have a lot of people asking me if it sucks to hang out with someone from Kanab all the time, but I really like it. This way, it helps me connect my past to my present. So for that, I love her. (:



5: The last person I want to talk about is someone that I am going to have a really, really hard time not seeing every day after this weekend. Best Friend Kyle is going home for Christmas and is not coming back. He recently decided that he wants to try and go on a mission instead. So he's going to go home to work on his papers, which means he won't be coming back to SUU for 2 1/2 years at the very least. Worst of all, he lives 7 hours away, so it's not like I can see him all the time. I'm afraid that even as I'm typing this, I'm already crying at the thought of saying goodbye to my best, best friend.

The same night that I mentioned seeing Jasmine was the night I met Kyle. Lindy and I had locked ourselves out of our room, and my phone wasn't working, which meant I wasn't able to reach the RA on duty to let us in. So we were stuck hanging out in the commons until someone came to let us in. During the movie (it was "She's The Man"... why do I remember that?), I said something about how wildly attractive Channing Tatum is. I heard some guy say "Yep, he is definitely my man crush." I turned around and saw a much closer, more realistically attractive fellow. Yeah I'm just gonna say it, I think Kyle is really attractive. It's not really a secret. Anyways, after the movie was over and I was still locked out, I made it a priority to go talk to Kyle and make him love me. Alright maybe not that last part. However, over the next few weeks, we begun hanging out almost constantly. Why? We had/have SO much in common.

One night, our group of 5 friends were all hanging out in Kyle and Charlie's room when someone said something about watching "Aladdin." Kyle and I didn't really want to watch it, but everyone else did... so they left. For the next 2 hours, Kyle and I talked about so much stuff that I never thought I could talk to anyone about. When everyone came back in, they immediately assumed that he and I had just been making out the entire time. But in reality, he'd sat on his 9-foot-tall bed and I sat in Charlie's chair while we talked about our families, our high schools, choir, our favorite composers (ironically, it's the same guy: Eric Whitacre), how we eat sandwiches, our best friends... everything. He even let me punch him in the face one time.

Ever since then, Kyle has been my very best friend. There is nothing I can't talk to him about, nothing I'm afraid to say to him. I have shared my dearest spiritual experiences with him, and we're able to connect in a way that I've only had in one or two friends in my entire life. The natural assumption of everyone in the building was that we were dating, but we definitely have a different kind of relationship to date. In fact, he and I have a joke about how we are always, always together whenever he sees a hot girl or I see some guy that I've been diggin, and it always looks like we're a couple. We even used to get those "Aww... what a perfect couple. I approve of this union" looks from people--sometimes random people, but usually people that we both know. It's like they knew we weren't dating, but they "knew" we were. It's going to be hard enough when he's gone, but what's going to make it even harder is the fact that I know people are going to say "Hey Jennifer, where's Kyle?" and "Hey Jennifer, where's your other half?" and "Hey Jennifer, you look weird and awkward walking places by yourself. You look like you need to have a best friend next to you." I don't know what I'm going to do. Kyle is my fall-back guy in every situation. Had a bad day? Talk to Kyle. Need a lunch buddy? Call Kyle. Need a workout schedule? Ask Kyle. Need someone to cry to? Find Kyle. Have a stupid joke/story? Tell Lindy. And then tell Kyle. Granted, we both have Skype and have agreed to use it to maximum capacity (too bad the internet at my house sucks, so I won't even be able to Skype him for like a month after he leaves...), but obviously it's not the same.

I guess the best I can do is appreciate the fact that I've had someone as incredible as Best Friend Kyle in my life for the past few months, and hope that our paths cross again someday. But still... I can appreciate all I want, but I'm still going to be semi-heartbroken when he's gone. I'm always going to remember Kyle as being one of my greatest friends of my life, and I'll always hold him dear to my heart. I hate to make this sound like an obituary, but I can't help it, considering I have no clue when I will see him again. I'm sad, but I hope I'll see Best Friend Kyle soon. I love you, bud.



P.S. Mood shift. This is my 43rd blog post of the year. Judging from 2008 and 2009, I need to do 4 more. I apparently like to end my years at 47 posts...??