Twelve for '12

Hey, kids.

The year is waning and it's almost time for a new one. Wah-hoo! To celebrate, all the news media are posting their top stories of the year. As my blog is a "news organ" (and as I rarely update it, oops), I thought I oughta contribute a list of my own "top stories" of 2012. Enjoy!

 1. Published in the Ensign ... four times, baby
My internship with the Ensign ended in April 2011, but my hard work is still paying off—four of my articles were published this year. It was great to see my name in print, but it was even better to get the stories of faithful, amazing people out into the world. Here be the blessed literary gems themselves:

• Finding Answers in the Book of Mormon
• Temple Service and Unexpected Blessings
• Service Never Grows Old
• Young Women and the Mission Decision (No author attribution, but I worked hard on this one so I'm including it.) 

 2. Interning at BYU Magazine

I love my coworkers, I love my assignments, I love the magazine. I have become a much better writer and editor, and I know that's what I want to do for my career. Here's a feature I wrote for the magazine:
Alexander's Box   








3. Deutsch lernen
To fulfill a language requirement for my grad program I decided to learn German. I have taken two semesters and will start another class next semester. Ich liebe Deutsch, but it's hard.

4. Ran a 10K

For the record, that's 6.2 miles. Let me say it again: SIX miles. Six. Plus point two more. This time last year I could barely run three. I ran almost every day all summer and gradually increased my mileage until I could handle six at once. Then on July Fourth, I ran the Freedom Run with some buddies. And rocked it. Boo-yah.

5. Owned Timp 

 My friend Ben begged me all summer to hike Timp with him ... and in a moment of insanity and poor judgment, I finally caved. Climbing that monstrous mountain (the second-highest in Utah Valley) was THE singular most challenging physical feat I have ever attempted. But the beautiful sunrise at the top was totes worth all the pain and lost sleep. I might even do it again. Maybe.


6. Gave away baby sister ... and attended a million other weddings

Twenty-twelve was the year of nuptials. Not mine ... I spent most of it painfully single. But Facebook was leaking engagement announcements and reception invites, and I prolly spent more on wedding and bridal shower gifts than Christmas. Did you know how expensive lingerie is? Heh. It's also super awkward to buy it for your little sister ...  I spent most of the year dreading being the weird old maid at her wedding in August, but it ended up being a blast.

7. Got super tan and hot (until another semester of grad school undid it all)
I spent the summer getting hot. All that running and weight training helped me lose lots of weight, and the time outside made me all tan and healthy-looking. Then school started again, and I got fat and white again. Go figure.

8. Evacuated Singlesville

After 40 years of wandering in the dating wilderness, I finally left Singlesville ( ... maybe as a result of #7?). Brian decided he could put up with me, and after a bit of intrigue we started dating a few days before my birthday in September. Happy birthday to me! My boo has made all of my life happier.

9. Ran a halfie 

My running adventures of 2012 culminated in the Halloween Half Marathon. I dressed up as a cat (Meow!) and was greeted by my adoring fans, i.e. Brian and Bryce, at the finish line. My loyal running companion was Alison, an escaped convict. We is so fierce!

10. Survived the most evil grad class ever
I took, and aced, the most difficult class I have ever taken, ever: Advanced Semantics. The readings took hours, the tests were the stuff of nightmares, and the paper was an evil hairy beast. But now I am done with my classes and just need to take a semester of German ... and write a thesis. Woot! :-/

11. Rolled Coasters. Or Coasted Rollers. Whatever.
Roller coasters I love them, roller coasters I love them! I went to two happy roller coaster homes this year: Lagoon in August and Magic Mountain last week! Lagoon was awesome cuz I got to ride the Colossus and the White Roller Coaster, the heros of my childhood roller coaster romances. Magic Mountain rocked cuz, well, I got to be with my boo and his fantastic family. 

12. Finally lost the sweater vests  
While home for Christmas I went through old artifacts of my childhood and threw away what I no longer needed ... including, after three years, my mission collection of sweater vests, plaid skirts, and even a Jodi dress. I felt a little bad cuz I had so much fun wearing those clothes ... even if I looked like an old frump. I post here a few pictures in remembrance of my rockin' missionary fashions:

My Jodi dress

MTC apparel, complete with dork dot marking me as a nube

"Tracting" in Hermiston. Sure rocked those sweater vests!

That's all, kids! Peace out, prease, till 2013.

Why I hate finals week.

[... because blogging is a great way to procrastinate the inevitable ... ]


-Snow. That three-car crash outside Helaman Halls didn't do any good for my already tenuous confidence in my driving-in-the-snow abilities.

-Textbooks not selling. Rude. Not only do I have to resort to other means to rid myself of them, I have to carry them around campus all day along with the other books and materials I actually do need.

-The library and Wilk filling with assorted muffins and other undergrads. Seriously, where are you people during the whole school year? All my favorite study spots are taken. I searched for 20 mins to end up sharing a table with a hipster dressed all in green and eating green fun-sticks candy.

-So. Tired. Can't. Think.

-Less time to work at actual paying job = less money to buy hoop earrings for the illegitimate children.

OK I can only procrastinate studying semantics for so long. Adios!

Finals Week.

Bleh. I had a final at 7 a.m. this morning—Monday, the first day of finals. Usually my profs show a little mercy when finals are scheduled at 7 a.m. and don't make us come in until 8 or later. No such luck this semester! Although the class falls within my best subject area (historical English), I was not adequately prepared. And by that, I mean I probably didn't get a nearly perfect score. Poor me. Ah well, I had better things to do this weekend—like hang out with my crazy-busy boyfriend (not my crazy, busy boyfriend, although one could argue that his status as my boyfriend must entail insanity on his part). Plz don't think I'm shallow or anything—I just rarely get to see him these days cuz he's so occupado and I will take the chance when I get it. Somethings are more important than other things.

My finals week isn't that horrible this time 'round—prolly because I am only taking two classes, what a silly slacker I am. Granted, while Middle English isn't that bad, Advanced Semantics is kicking my undersized tushy. I spend hours to get through twenty pages of reading for that class. So I think it counts as two classes. Maybe three.

These are my last two official linguistics classes. Now I am done with my coursework; on to my thesis! Woooooooot. And like such as.

This morn, after my sleep-deprived head attempted to wrap itself around and somehow translate early Middle English texts, I got my Middle English paper back from my prof. This paper is actually prolly the worst I've ever written, grad or undergrad. Maybe even since high school. The poorness of the paper can be blamed on unwarranted procrastination and sleep deprivation. So anyway I was expecting a horrible grade, but ended up getting a 97%. With a little note on the back from the prof basically saying, "so, Sara, we both know this paper is awful and I am doing you a favor with this grade, but this is probably the least crappy paper in a stinky pile of crappier papers. Congrats for sucking the least."


Heh, go me. Too bad school isn't only about grades. Wish I'd figured that out sooner, but whatevs.

PEACE.