I didn't want those pictures anyway

Today was a bust! I had a plan, and I failed. My phone broke yesterday, so I spent the first half of the day talking to Sprint over the phone. They were very friendly, but proved worthless. I took the train down to 42 to find the nearest Sprint Store. They were also friendly, but very slow. Let me back up a little. I’ve been to a sprint store before, and they always seem to delete all my information. Luckily with the technology we have these days we are able to ‘back up’ our phones to our computers, as to not lose any data. I found the cord and program and with a little work, was able to back it up. I was very impressed with myself, but found a problem with the software. My pictures weren’t on the computer. I found a solution. I would put all my pictures on my SD card and voila, problem solved. I decided to put all the pictures into folders, and then I could easily put the folders into one big mega folder. It took me a while because I had to copy and paste each picture. I was down to seven pictures left, and decided these last ones weren’t worth it, so I would just delete them. In my haste to finish the job I deleted the mega folder. I had to go into the bathroom and splash my face with cool water. I thought they only did that in the movies, but it really works. I came out, always with a plan, and I called Sprint. My phone has Windows Mobile, and I deduced that it would have a ‘Recycle Bin’ program because Windows for a PC has it. They told me there was no way to recover my files. The lady was very nice and I’m sure she could tell I had been crying. Every time she put me on hold I would lose it. She was very apologetic, but told me there was nothing she could do. I hung up and covered my face with a blanket to muffle my sobs. I seemed to be destined to lose my pictures.
Girls camp, first real camera, Jamie Beasley threw sand on it to make me mad. It worked.
Vacations, disposable cameras, let’s be honest- no one ever gets those developed before they lose them.
Chicago, camera phone, got stolen at a laundro-mat full of Hispanics, and then again at Gameworks.
Hawaii, camera phone, Sprint wiped it before I could copy them.
History shows that I was never meant to have memories that last.

THE Colors

Like usual I spent a couple hours last night on the phone with Matt. We talked about our birthdays since his is tomorrow and mine is the week after. He started making me a boondoggle and asked me what colors I wanted. Being sneaky I said, “Green and Orange and if you have it, Brown.” He started laughing and said, “Those are ugly colors. What do you really want?” I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh or be offended or sad, but I didn’t want him to ask why, so I just kept half-gasping half-laughing, and yes a third half, half-guffawing. He was so confused and I let him be. Little did he know, those were the colors I was hoping for, for a certain event I’ve been hoping would happen in August. When he comes out (in 4 days!!) I was going to run them passed him, but saw the opportunity here and took it. BIG MISTAKE as The Spleen would say. He didn’t have brown so I told him to use white. After asking several times if I was serious, followed by ‘are you okay?’ he started the green, orange and white boondoggle only to find that he enjoyed the colors together. I don’t know if he figured it out and just said that to make me feel good, or if he really did think they looked okay, but he said, “Oh, I guess they aren’t too bad.” I took that for a positive reinforcement.

The Last Day (YC 9)

The third and last day I was sick. A lot of girls got sick, and I guess it was my turn. Yuhi was my mother because she took care of me. She’s awesome! We just packed up our stuff that morning and went back to the Grove for testimony meeting. I felt a lot better after. It was awesome to see these kids from the city, some who have never seen a barn, come out and appreciate the experience and feel the spirit touching their lives. How blessed I was to get to go and see those sites, to feel the spirit and gain a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and for the prophet Joseph Smith.

Food (YC 8)

I wasn’t in charge of any girls, so I felt pretty useless. I felt like I had to earn my keep by working in the kitchen. The first night I made spaghetti sauce, meat balls, noodles and bread for 100 plus kids. The next morning I made oatmeal and cream of wheat, and chopped pecans to go on top. I also helped clean a lot to feel worthwhile. I was sick Saturday morning and I felt really bad that I didn’t help make the breakfast. Dana had to make the pancakes by herself.

The Dance (YC 7)

Friday night there was a dance. I was tired from the long day and could feel some heat exhaustion coming on. Dana was excited to dance, so I tried to be. This, and in the kitchen, is where I got to know the leaders. I stuck close to Dana and Yuhi, but Yuhi had Shane. Jalene was crazy. She was all over the place. She danced like she was on Broadway, it was awesome. The kids taught us a way cool dance, kinda like a line dance. It’s done to the song Soulja Boy- How to crank that. It’s pretty cool, and way fun.

Advice Followed (YC 6)

I followed the advice of the stake president and as I was leaving the Hill Cumorah I saw the boy from the van, the one whose name I can’t remember, and he was walking by himself. I asked what he thought of the hill and he just shrugged his shoulders. I tried to get him pumped by saying “Moroni was here! When he was alive, and as an angle to show Joseph Smith where he put the plates, isn’t that cool?!” He said, “What plates?” I took a deep breath and realized he might not know who those people where. “He said, why didn’t he show us where they were?” I laughed and said, “Didn’t you see him up there?” he shook his head, no. I said, “I did. He was that gold guy on top of that white pillar.” I don’t know if he knew that I was talking about the monument, but he said, “Maybe next time.”

Hill Cumorah (YC 5)

Before we hiked up the hill, we saw the Joseph Smith movie. I’m not sure what it’s called, but they show it in visitor centers. I had seen it before in Hawaii. This movie is powerful and gives many opportunities to feel the spirit.
The hike up the Hill Cumorah was very steep. My legs were burning by the top. It was a beautiful view and there was a monument at the top. It was neat to think about who had been here in the past thousands of years and the significance of this site, in Book of Mormon times and in modern times.
The kids were rolling down this steep hill, and I had a feeling as one of the adults that I should stop this before someone got hurt, but I’ve always been on the stricter side. I took a couple of deep breathes and resolved to follow the other leaders’ examples. One girl was rolling and started to curve toward the trees. Everyone was yelling ‘STOP!’ but I think she must have been going too fast. From above we could see she was going to hit her head on a huge rock. We held our breath as Philippe (from the van, well actually from Mexico, but I knew him from the van) ran and dove in front of her to stop her. She stopped inches away from the rocks and trees. I tried to embarrass him by calling him a Hero. He blushed and said he wasn’t, but I made a big deal about it. I know he secretly liked being called a hero, who wouldn’t?

Cool Experience (YC 4)

The Second day was started at the Sacred Grove. I went with a different group from the van ride and was in charge of six girls. I didn’t know any of them, but I saw two of the girls walking slowly and asked if I could join them. They said the Grove looked creepy and they weren’t sure if they wanted to go in. I ignored them and rolled my eyes. The trees were bare and the only color was the gray of the trees and the brown of the dirt path. I stopped to read little signs along the way and they would keep going. I felt bad for these girls. They didn’t grasp how fortunate they were. We walked for a while, with them saying things like ‘did you hear that scary bird?’ or ‘look at that creepy tree.’ After a while, selfishly, I said, “Man, we are so lucky to be here.” They looked at me questioningly, so I continued, “in the scriptures when people say the Lord appeared to them, it’s Jesus Christ. But here of all places is where God the father appeared. The two most holy beings appeared right here in this grove of trees, and we get to be here in this holy place.” This is all true, but I mostly said it so they would respect the fact that I wanted to be here, and maybe they would stop calling it scary and appreciate it. We walked in silence for a short while, when I saw a snake. (snakes have a very sacred and personal meaning to me) I wasn’t sure if I should tell them because it might scare them, but I did. They thought it was so cool, and this surprised me. Their whole attitude had changed. I said, “In all the pictures, it shows leaves and lots of green, but it’s early spring right now. This is probably how it looked for Joseph Smith.” They started looking at the Grove in a different way. I actually heard one of them say, ‘did you hear that cool bird.’ Their opinion of the Grove took a 180 degree turn. The rest of the time spent in the Grove was wonderful. We appreciated the beauty of the feelings we had while in there. We continued on to the Joseph Smith farm and they loved it. They read every plaque and wanted to know all they could. A friend came up from a different group, and I thought ‘oh great, now they’ll get all cool again’ the friend said, “Let’s go find so-and-so.” They said, “Actually we want to go in this house, let’s go read the sign about it first.” I was so impressed with these girls. When we came to Joseph Smith’s cabin, the lady working there said, “The angle Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith upstairs.” We went up and the girls said, “Wow, an Angel was in this room.” They were pumped. It was awesome! We went to the printing press and they seemed interested and positive. They were picturing what it would be like to be there while the Book of Mormon was being printed. I thought it was interesting and amazing to see these things I’ve only heard in stories. Next we went to the Temple. One of the two girls I had spent the morning with couldn’t go in ‘I’m inactive’ she said. The attitude from the morning started to make sense. We went to the Hill Cumorah next, but I didn’t see them because we met up with all the other groups there. They met up with their friends, and I met up with mine. The next day was testimony meeting and we had it in the Sacred Grove. Michelle, the one of the two girls that wasn’t inactive bore her testimony. She talked about a dream she had where there was a fire and all she could see was the temple. That was the first time she felt the spirit. It had been a while since that and she was starting to doubt the church. She came to the youth conference to be with her friends, but she said that when she was in the Grove, she felt the spirit again and she knew that it was true. This brought tears to my eyes that I was able to see that transformation happen. She said that she was, for the first time, excited to go to church the next day. I marvel at the spirit and how its’ influence can change people. How grateful I am for that experience.

Susquehanna River (YC 3)

The first day we drove through Scranton, Pennsylvania and I wanted to stop to find Michael Scott, but we had to keep going. We ate lunch at the Susquehanna River where the Aaronic priesthood was restored to the earth.
I got out of the van and was relieved to be walking around. There was a good feeling at the monument, but I didn’t know if it was just because we were in fresh air and eating or if it was the sacredness of the location. After we ate we read the plaque stating that John the Baptist conferred on them the Aaronic Priesthood, right there. I was overcome with emotion as I read the plaque and the spirit bore testimony to me that it was true. The stake president came and shook my hand. He thanked me for volunteering and said, if you ever see anyone sitting off by themselves, go and talk to them. A lot of these kids come from rough backgrounds, so I assumed that’s why he said it. We continued on to Palmyra, New York.

People (YC 2)

I took the train down to the church and my body felt shaky. I wasn’t sure if it was the sickness I was getting over or the fact that I knew no one. I walked in and not knowing where to go, I stood in the foyer. Kids and leaders were coming in and out and I felt very intimidated and overwhelmed. Sister Houston came and introduced herself. She was the Stake Young Women’s president. She told me to go in and make a sandwich for lunch. I thought I felt intimidated before, this was intense. I was the minority, and the last time that happened I was in Hawaii and they were racist and rude to me. These were not Hawaiians, they were New Yorkers. It’s funny how New York gets a bad rap and everyone thinks the people here are so mean and Hawaii has the reputation for being so hospitable and nice. Those are not the sides I’ve seen, in fact, quite the opposite. I met Dana who was another leader and we became fast friends. She also had just moved to the city and knew no one, and her husband couldn’t come so she was alone. We stuck pretty close to each other. I finally met Mike, the guy on the phone that didn’t get back to me until the last second, also the guy that I was hoping remembered that he said he’d get me a sleeping bag. I met Jalene, a singer and dancer here in the city trying to make it big, I guess she wants to find a band to sing with- she’s nice, but maybe weird? I rode up in the van with a bunch of boys: Jose, Carlos, Alex, David, Jeremy and Philippe. David is the only one from America and he was born and raised in New York. Jose and Philippe are from Mexico, Carlos from Dominican Republic, and Alex and Jeremy are from France. They were very friendly and nice. I sat next to Yuhi and her husband Shane. They met on their missions in Japan. Yuhi is a cute Japanese girl that I love! Her husband is a red head from Idaho. They were an awesome couple and I spent a lot of time with them, they’re great! Cory was the driver and his wife couldn’t come because she’s due in a month. The boy in the front seat was…I can’t remember, but he was very quiet and listened to music the whole time. The girls in my cabin were awesome. Dana and I were assigned to cabin 1 and we walked right out and into cabin 2. There were already three leaders in cabin 1 and the girls were so loud! Yuhi was in 2 so we thought, ‘let’s change so we can at least be with Yuhi.’ There were two open beds so we snuck in. The girls in cabin 2 were awesome. They were mature and friendly, and they were also quiet! I met so many wonderful people, leaders and youth.

Youth Conference

So a week ago I volunteered to go to our stake’s youth conference. They needed two female adult volunteers and I’ve never been to any church history sites, but the guy in charge told me he’d get back to me. He never did, so I started a cleanse on Monday to help lose some weight before Matt comes out. Wednesday night I get a call about youth conference. I tell him I’ll be there and he says, “See you tomorrow morning.” I had to borrow a bag from my roommate, plus a jacket, gloves, hat and many other tid-bits. I threw everything in the bag and went to sleep so I could get up early the next morning.
We went to the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, the Sacred Grove, the Smith farm, the printing press, the hill Cumorah and the Palmyra Temple. It was awesome! I met a lot of cool people and had some amazing experience that I’ll never forget!

Rocks are just rocks

I love the park and I love to explore it, it’s so big that it’ll take my whole summer to see the whole thing. I can’t wait. Today while aimlessly walking I found a castle that’s a weather station and a nature observatory. From the third floor, I had an inspiring view of tree tops, a pond, an amphitheater, a baseball park, and the buildings that line the southern section of park.
I rest my arm on the beautiful carved stone making the rail that keeps us from falling to our death, and as I lean over, I notice rough stones that make the courtyard below. My eyes draw slightly to the right into Turtle Pond, which happens to be lined with stones, each carefully placed to create such beauty and comfort. On the left are the woodlands; nature preserved. The path leading into this urban forest from the castle is a rock, with steps engraved into its’ side. Above the sea of green treetops are the skyscrapers, looming far above the highest branch. I notice the precise etchings of the stones that make up the buildings in this sought after city.
So many different stones and each with a different purpose. I wonder if the stone that makes the steps envies the one that makes the bed in the pond, to see the fish swimming below, feel the water sloshing against its’ side, and house paddle boats in the water it’s helping to hold. Or if the courtyard stone envies the stone placed on the castle, creating shelter and structure, to be pleasing to the eye, and a work of art. Or if the path of stones look through the canopy to the skyscraper and long to belong on the 10th story, to overlook the city, to be a part of the hustle, to see cabs and billboards, and be a piece of the building that houses people and jobs.
I then realize that maybe the steps, the courtyard, and the trail like to be where they are. They see soles of shoes from every country. They have squirrels and birds scamper across them as they search for food. They provide guidance and security for those who venture into the park.
I wonder if rocks are the envying type or the content type. Then I remember that rocks don’t have brains and nerves and they feel none of this.

Dogs are gross

I should have known it was a bad omen to talk to that lady about Balto, it’s bad luck to talk about famous dogs. It’s also suspicious that I would find my friend Camille Johnson, now Stansfield or something, on Facebook and I would think of her and the time we once dog-sat in Park City one summer. This all should have forewarned me of what was to come. My roomie Patricia and her boyfriend Greg left yesterday evening leaving me to think I would have the apartment to myself to watch whatever I wanted. They returned shortly, which didn’t bother me because I like them and I get bored here alone. They left as two and returned as three. With a pug named pug, how original. The only dog we had growing up lived outside because dogs don’t belong inside. This dog was walking around my apartment, the same one I walk around in, and in bare feet (not anymore-I’ll have to mop now). It wasn’t a big deal until it tried to jump up onto the couch. Yuk. They put it in it’s, cage thing, thank goodness. They put the cage in the front room and went in the bedroom. So as I tried to watch my show the dog snored, louder than any of my brothers. I don’t know if the dog was farting or what, but every now and then I would get a whiff of some vile doggish smell. It really wasn’t a bad evening, I just wonder if I’ll get a check for dog-sitting.

Trying to be Local

So yesterday I was walking out of the park and an Asian lady with a little girl came up to me and asked, in broken Engrish, if I knew where the statue of Balto was? Note that I’ve only been here just over a week and I’ve only been to the park a handful of times. Also note that I’ve never seen this statue. I don’t know if it was my deep desire to belong and pridefully couldn’t inform the lady that I didn’t know, making me a tourist and not the local Yorker that I longed to be, or if it was my innate sense of where things are, but either way I gave her an answer. Without pausing to think this through, I explained to her that she was on the wrong side of the park, she was on the west and it was on the east. I told her to follow a certain trail until she saw certain landmark and to turn a certain way and to follow certain path until she found it. I have to admit that I’ve never been where I told her to go, but I was so sure and confident that it would get her there. She smiled and thanked me and we parted ways. I crossed the street and started my trek home. My eyes enlarged as I realized what I’d just done. This park is 768 acres, and I just led some woman on a 20 minute trail. Where did I pull that from? I started to feel guilty. That little girl wanted to see that bronze Disney dog hero and now they’ll be 20 minutes out of their way. How could I have been so prideful to not tell the truth? It would have been so easy to say, "I’m sorry I’ve never been there, I don’t know." But, no, I gave the façade that I was local. To be honest, it was refreshing and fulfilling to have someone think that I knew about this city because I belonged, but does that give me the right to lead people blindly? I had this ethical conversation with myself, and felt the inner turmoil the whole way home. I thought, "at least I’ll never see that lady again. "
Later that day I was on the internet and decided to look up this legendary Balto Statue, so that the next time I ran into some Disney lovers I’d be able to send them the right way. Turns out, it was exactly where I had sent that lady and her daughter. I couldn’t believe it. How do I do that? It must be a gift. Too bad my gift is that I know where things are, even if I’ve never been there instead of like flying or something. Oh well. At least I’ve got something.
PS Why do Asians love Disney so much?

The good ol' subway

As the subway train pulled up I noticed that all the seats were full as usual. I was waiting where I knew a door would be. I glanced in before the door opened to see that there were plenty of seats here, and I couldn’t wait to sit down to massage my temples and coerce this migraine into leaving. It felt like a slap to the face as I entered the train. The pungent smell of feces had forced vacancy in this section. I was already sitting. My survival instinct told me to find the source of such abomination and either eliminate it, or get as far away as possible. I noticed the bum standing by the train door. He was holding a bag. My first thought was, maybe he’s holding a sack of doggie poop. My next thought was, maybe he’s holding a bag of human poop. Next, That’s way too foul to be only poop. Then my heart dropped. He probably hasn’t showered in weeks or maybe months. He probably sleeps in a dumpster. I was trying to decide how someone could possibly get that dirty to smell so bad. A nice woman came and offered him a bag that had food in it. He said he had food and got off at the next stop. I was only on that train with him for that normally short distance from the one stop to the next, but his smell lingered. He waddled out of the train leaving a defecated stench and a brown bile trail. He dragged his right leg, which was huge, but I don’t think his leg was bigger than the other. I assumed he used his pant leg as a latrine. His stink is indescribable and for the time it took to get to the next stop, my stop, I dry heaved the entire time. I tried to control it, but I was sure I was going to lose it. The stop couldn’t come fast enough. I ran up the stairs to fresh air.
I’ve become very fond of these stairs and this intersection as it has brought me joy time and time again, to come out of that horrible dark dungeon full of reek.

Last Week

Okay, so last Tuesday was spent in an airport in Phoenix. Terrible airport. There are only a handful of outlets, with at least two handfuls of people with laptops and another of people trying to charge their cell phones! The worst part is their location. The outlets are on walls, in the aisle where people load onto their plane. Whaa? Who designed this? So there are no chairs to sit on, only the ground, and when a plane is boarding they make you move. The outlets are five feet high, so your cord reaches all the way up there. It’s ridiculous. Then, if you want the internet, you can forget about it because there is no reception unless you are next to a window. Well, Mom found an outlet next to a window, by some chairs, at a reasonable height. The problem was that they were in a restricted area where only the airport employees where allowed. Did this stop her? Not at all. So we sat there. We had to go under a line separator and over some chairs that were blocking people like us from going where we were going. We sat there for two hours. I guess they didn’t care that we were there, or maybe they thought we had permission. Either way, I watched The Office with no disturbances other than the slow connection to the internet.

We had the red eye to New York. I didn’t sleep very well, plus we lost 3 hours. We left Arizona at 9 and got to NYC at 4:30. It didn’t take seven hours, but it felt like it. We took the subway to my apartment. Let me back up one second. I packed in a HUGE bag with wheels, all my clothes and a pillow and blanket. It took one person to manage that bag. So the other person had to get the other three suitcases. We both also had our laptops. It was not easy to lug all this around. It would have been easy to take it to a cab, but no, we ventured into the subway. From the airport to the first subway station, there was a convenient elevator. It was also early in the morning, so there weren’t many people. We had to transfer to the train that would take us right to my apartment. We didn’t know that we would have to go up two flights of stairs, a ramp and then back down some stairs. It was awful. Luckily the people in New York aren’t as mean as they make them out to be on TV. An old man helped us up the second flight and a young man helped us down the other. Well, another thing to know is that there are express trains. They only stop at the major stops. We got on one and it took us to the stop right before mine. We got off and I was beyond tired and very ornery. I was sick of the dark damp humid subway and I just wanted a nap. The next train came and we got on. It was an express train and we saw my stop come and go in a blur. Annoyed we got off at the next stop and realized the huge error we had made. Now we had to carry all this up the stairs to get to the terminal we needed then take it down to that one. By now it was getting crowded with the morning rush. I wanted to cry. Eventually we made it to the right stop. We lugged all the suitcases up the stairs one last time. When I emerged from the dungeon it was light out, but still early morning and the city was beautiful! Not to be cliché, but it literally took my breath away. I could see my apartment and couldn’t help but get a little giddy. I made it! It hit me that I was actually doing this!

Maggie told me to call her when we got there and she would come home from work, I now realize that she thought I was coming that evening. I called her phone while a block away, and no answer. I tried again right outside the door. Still no answer. Boy was I glad that I fixed the internet on my phone because that’s how we got the apartment number and buzzed up to see if she was there. It buzzed back, and the door was unlocked. We got through the second set of doors, and I set off to find the elevator, after all, I was on the fourth floor. Losing my high from seeing the city, I set up the stairs to find 4cr. Maggie was waiting at the door and informed me that there were no elevators. We had to carry the luggage up three more flights of stairs! Of course. So we did, but Maggie helped, so that made a huge difference. As soon as keys and instructions were given, mom and I zonked out. When we woke up, we went to the David Letterman Show. That was pretty cool. No one we knew was on it. It was a comedian that was funnier that David Letterman, the national champion grocery bagger (so funny), and the girl from CSI. It was fun, but we sat on the very top row, actually behind the top row, in the aisle. It was free, so I can’t complain too much. We went grocery shopping and then home to fall asleep. Patricia and her boyfriend Greg were building our dresser, so we couldn’t go to sleep yet. Mom was passing out on the couch. I visited with Maggie. It was a great first day. April fools, it was an okay first day.

Day 2 April 2. We slept in, at least I did. We saw some sites: China Town, Time Square, Ground Zero, etc. We decided to try for Wicked tickets. To get them cheap, you must stand in line to put your name in a drawing. There were probably 1 to 2 hundred people there and they only draw out 12 or 13 names. Some people say they go all the time and never get drawn out. So we realized we probably wouldn’t get them, but it was worth a try. The only way we were going to see it was if we got these cheap tickets. The guy draws out the papers, then stacks them in order, then comes out and reads the names. The second to last name he called was Kaycie Graves. Oh yeah. I said I wanted two tickets, so mom and I got in. we were on the front row and all the way to the side. We didn’t care though. It was so much fun! Such a cute show! I’m so glad we got to go!

Day 3 April 3. We had never been to Coney Island so we decided to go that direction today. It rained puddles and puddles. We got off the subway to see the Brooklyn Bridge and to walk across it. We walked in almost a square trying to figure it out, but we got to see some cool angles of the bridge and then walked our way to Brooklyn. We were drenched! We even had an umbrella, but that didn’t really do a whole lot. By the time we got to Coney I thought I had hypothermia. Some nice cops told us where to go and we saw the rollercoaster through the fog, went to Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs and left. We got a delicious hotdog and some cheese fries. The cheese was just nacho cheese, they were weird. Mom bought some fried frog legs. Yuk. I was so cold that she had me hold them on the subway to keep warm. I hope I never smell the odor of fried frog legs again. We ate at the soup kitchen for dinner. It felt good to get some warmth in our bodies.

Day 4 April 4. General Conference is broadcast at the church. My church happens to be in the Temple. How cool is that? We watched the first session there, then got food from a street vendor. Mom got falafel. I got chicken. It had grilled veggies and spicy yellow rice. It was so good. I’ll definitely do that again. We watched the second session on my lap top at my apartment. That was nice.

Day 5 April 5. Watched General Conference in my apartment again, then took my mom to the airport. The end of the fun. When I got back, I watched the last session. My roommates came home, they were gone all weekend, their families live in New Jersey. We visited for awhile. I like them a lot.

Monday and Tuesday were boring. I felt kinda sick. The only thing worth mentioning is that I went to FHE on Monday. I only met like 5 or 6 people. Oh well, that’s a start. Anyway, that’s my first week in New York.

One Week!

Yesterday marked the time that I've been in New York City at one week! I celebrated by finally going to the gym. What's a gym? Ohhh a gym! That's not as funny when you read it. My roommate Patricia took me to Gold's Gym. That's where she works. She woke me up at 7! That's the earliest I've been up since I got here. That's also the first time I've worked out since I got here (if you don't count walking everywhere you go), so you can see what a special day it was.
I also celebrated by finally going grocery shopping (the cookie dough is gone)! I bought stuff to make my favorite, Tortilla Soup, but I made celebratory fajitas instead.
The best thing about yesterday was that it was ward temple night, so I went and did baptisms for the dead. Always a great day when you get to go to the temple! I met some people in my ward, they are really nice. I can't remember any names though.
The second best thing about yesterday is that my roommate Maggie put up curtains!! I'll finish the job today. It'll be nice to not have to crowd into my one-square-foot closet to change.
The worst thing about yesterday was that I missed the opening scene for Lost, so I didn't watch any of it.
The second worst thing about yesterday was that I had a huge migraine all day! I thought I was going to lose all that cookie dough I've eating.
Over all, it was a great day! And it's been a great week!