I've come to realize the more time someone spends in Rexburg the more things start to happen that would never happen anywhere else. For example last night I went to a movie with a friend and upon returning home I smelled that distinct burnt hair smell. You know, the one that smells like rust and limes have caught fire. I realized the smell got stronger as I got closer to my bedroom when suddenly my roommate burst out of her room and began to apologize profusely for the horrid smell. When I asked her what happened she told me she had lit some candles in her room but knocked one onto her bed where it immediately caught fire. The fire was small and very quickly contained but the singe markes and smell where evidence enough for me to forbid my roommate from burning candles at night ever again! Rexburg is a strange place and I seem to be like a black hole for strange things and people while I live here. I suppose I should just sit back, fire extinguisher in hand, and enjoy the show!

How can I even begin to describe what its like living with people who dont know who Elizabeth Taylor or Humphrey Bogart is?! This has been my challange since coming back to school, finding people with real soul. People who understand that the reality of life is so much better than the dream. I've been thinking about the things I hope for in my life lately. I have a friend who always says, "April, you're the girl here tell me where you think I and the rest of us will be in five years." I imagine those I love with just the things they want because I honestly believe these are wonderful people who deserve all those things, but who will tell me where I will be in five years? Will I have all the things I hope for simply because I try to be a good person? Sometimes I fear that I wont have those things but at the same time I wonder if I will be as happy then as I am now without those things. Maybe thats what I need to remember, find happiness where I am now. I guess I'll just have to wait to find out if I get the things I want, and hey, being a good person cant hurt right?!

Starting in the Middle

I've heard the expression "trying to find myself" so many times since I've come back to school. I hear it when I ask someone their area of study or when I ask someone why they're not coming back to school and I hear it from young adults just out of high school for no particular reason at all. What a load of crap! I find myself every morning in the mirror when I see a few wrinkles starting to appear or my first grey hair. I'm a 27 year old almost junior in college still deciding what im going to do with the rest of my life. So many young people and oftentimes adults use phrases like "trying to find myself" as something they can hide behind. Why not just come out and say, "I dont know what to study", "I'm still not ready for school" and "I really dont know myself yet"?? Why are these so shameful? It was the journey back to school when I truely discovered that I didnt need to find myself; I needed to be realistic, grow up and just start my own life. Thank goodness I came to that conclusion. School has been hard, particularly BYU-Idaho because it houses such a young population. (Try going to class with people who were born a decade after you and being at the same learning level, THAT is a humbling experience.) With all it's faults, BYU-Idaho has provided me with the springboard for which I can progress with my plan, growing up! So I start my chronicles in the middle of my life.