EFY week anyone?

So, Rosalind and I (and maybe Rachael? I don't know if she's actually doing this) are doing a pseudo-EFY week this week. There are lots of rules, but I'm really enjoying it! One of the rules decided on was to post on blog or write in journal about a few specific things. Let me go check Rosalind's email to see what they are. Here we go: a) something that stood out to you, a thought or scripture, from your study b) an act of service you went out of your way to do during the day c) something about a boy ;) d) something you are very grateful for and why e) how you did that day as far as EFY week :)

a) Scripture: so this was something from my scripture study a few days ago, but it was something I hadn't really noticed before. But I was reading in Jacob 5 and in verse 48 it's talking about the reason the trees have become corrupted. It says, "And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard--have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted?" I just really thought about the "taking strength unto themselves" part. It is when we start to think that we don't need Heavenly Father's help that we begin to fail and lose that goodness. I just thought that that was a really important and neat principle!

b) Service: This morning, I got up and was making pancakes and instead of just making a little bit for myself, I asked Sarah if she wanted some and then made extra, and then cleaned up all the dishes. So I made a lot of pancakes, even though Sarah only had one. But then I just had the last two for dinner (sort of), so I did get blessings from it. :)

c) Boy: Um, I don't really have much to say about this right now---I've seen no boys today (well, ones I know) so I haven't really thought about them today. I guess I'm hanging out with one later tonight. But don't worry, Rosalind, it's a group setting (I think...maybe), so it doesn't violate the no single date rule. Haha.

d) Grateful: I'm really grateful for my family. I'm glad that I have two sisters that live nearby, but I'm also really glad that I'm figuratively close to all of them. I was really upset about something this week and so I called Rachael. Normally, we just talk about normal things and I'll tell her about something that upset me a while after, but this time I was able to talk to her while I was upset and she helped me and gave me some great advice. I loved it! I really love that my family is here to support me whenever I need it and that I am developing such good and mature relationships with my family members as I grow up.

e) As far as EFY week: I'm really trying to focus on thinking better thoughts of people and controlling my anger and irritation better. It really hasn't been easy this year in my apartment, but these past few days I've really been trying to not get irritated with someone and then be angry at them. I'm trying to look past their faults and I'm really focusing on praying to Heavenly Father to help me be able to overcome this and continually seek to do good. Even though I may not be advancing as well as I wish, I feel really good about being able to recognize the moments when it is not worth getting upset or just being able to overlook someone's faults. I also am being able to instantly recognize when I'm getting irritated and thinking not-very-nice-things and then I can ask Heavenly Father for help and try to get over it. I just really appreciate my ability to recognize the need for the Lord's help in this every day in my life.

In other news: Today I got up (before I wanted to, but I couldn't go back to sleep), made breakfast, and then did my cleaning (for our cleaning check) very well, I think! I worked hard on it. Then I went to the library, didn't spend as much time as I would have liked there, but at least I went and got some stuff done. On the way home, I suddenly decided to go to J-Dawgs, got an amazingly delicious hot dog, thought for a while about what it would be like to work there, called Mary Beth to see if I could stop by and visit on my way home (it was a walk way out of my way), no answer so I walked home, was almost frozen by the time I got home (it had been warm earlier--it snowed in the evening), convinced my roommate to come with me to the Provo Library, got some of my favorite books, read for the whole afternoon, and now some boys just came over so I have to stop hiding in my bedroom and go be social. Good night!

So, today I was half of a really, really good student. I have a yucky paper on Kubla Khan and for the first time in a very very long time I outlined the whole paper before starting to write it (and it was the best outline ever). Unfortunately, now at 1:30 in the morning, I have been unable to write and focus on it for a bit now. It's like my mind already thinks I wrote the paper and now wants nothing to do with the silly old thing! I was actually having a lot of fun with the outline, but now I feel like I'm just drudging on. Earlier tonight Sarah was talking to our old roommate Kailey on facebook and she said (in explanation of why I wasn't joining in the conversation) "Elise is trying to write a paper right now. Poor girl, five pages on a sex poem." Luckily, five pages is a lot better than it could be. But now I'm just kind of brain dead. A few minutes ago, I was so incredibly hyper that I couldn't sit still at all. My roommate Abby said she was going to pee her pants just watching me. And then I crashed. Like, really crashed. While it's true that I don't have class until noon tomorrow, I like to sleep as late as I can (when I stay up this late) and it's actually quiet for once in my apartment right now. Which is often why I stay up this late. Tomorrow morning, everyone will be busy bees, noisily getting ready and leaving. I could write my paper in my bedroom, but then my much too comfortable memory foam mattressed bed will be tempting me to just lie back down. Too bad I was trying to be really good and write an excellent outline. Twice in the last two hours I had a little cup of ice cream--that got me going, but now I just can feel the crash from the sugar---ugh! No bueno! (that's for you, Rosalind, except you never ever read my blog).

Did you know, that according to Melville, if God pressed up against the Romantic notion of the veil separating our world from the true, perfect veil, He would come out on our side as Moby Dick? I learned that the other day. Apparently, the biggest, strongest, whitest, most intelligent mammal is Moby Dick. And so Ahab was trying to kill God. Through Moby Dick. I just like telling people that Romanticists thought that God in our world would turn into Moby Dick. But then I have to explain it to them. Sometimes I tell my roommates cool things I learned in my English classes, but they really don't care at all. Except for Lauren, cause she's an English major too, but mostly I just complain to her lately about how sexual Kubla Khan is. That's why you shouldn't do drugs, cause then you'll turn out like Coleridge and then innocent college students will have to write papers on sex. Well, I'm twisting it away from that general direction. Although I did have to tell Sarah she couldn't listen to Lady Gaga while I was writing this paper. At first she said no, and then I threatened to tell her what the lyrics actually meant. Or I could tell her what the poem meant. Either one would be just as scandelizing.

As you can probably tell from this post, my mind really isn't working at all, this is just the randomest stream of conscious ever. I think I shall go brush my teeth, wash my face, and see if I can think. On second thought, maybe I'll just get up early. Yuck.

Over and out.