The Story of Tina and Troy

I would like to tell a story.  I call this one: 

The Story of Tina and Troy 

Once upon a time in August of 2010, Tina was sitting in D&C waiting for class to begin.  It was the first week of school, and she wasn’t completely thrilled to be back.  In through the door walked this tall blonde haired kid who came up to Tina and told her she had "stolen his seat".  She calmly responded with the simple fact, “that would be impossible, because you can’t steal something that doesn’t belong to someone.”  After some witty back and forth comments he sat down next to her. 

The next class period, Tina arrived to find the same boy already in the seat that she had occupied the class period before.  From then on, he always arrived earlier and took that seat.  She always sat next to him.   She came to find that the boy’s name was Troy.

About a week later Troy fell asleep in class.  Not wanting to let this perfect opportunity slip away Tina silently jabbed him in the side with what would later be called a “vicious side-poke”.  Troy yelled out in surprise and nearly fell off his chair.  The whole class turned to look as Tina turned bright red and Troy looked around not knowing what to do.  Both tried to hold back from laughing.

This was the beginning of Tina and Troy.

It only took a week or so before Tina discovered that she really liked Troy.  Her roommates can attest to this as she came home and told them all about '"the guy she met in her D&C class".  Troy however, was not really interested in the girl that he thought was, a little too shy.  This shyness actually came from the fact that she liked him and didn’t want to do/say anything stupid.  Eventually, she decided to give up and be content with being good friends.  As soon as she stopped worrying, she was no longer shy around him, and their friendship grew. 

The semester soon ended, and Tina and Troy no longer had class together.  They occasionally were lunch buddies, or saw each other at bonfires or barbecues.  Troy vented to Tina about how stupid dating was, and Tina vented to Troy.  She started dating another guy for a while and ran into some tough spots with him.  She’d come to Troy to ask for advice; He’d always give her advice that she would then try, and it always made things better.  Eventually, Tina decided that dating wasn’t worth it, and she swore off dating, vowing to “never date again!!!”  (I think we’ve all been there)

……but Troy had other plans…..

Turns out that once Tina had given up on dating Troy, and just started being herself instead of the shy girl….well, that’s when Troy started to like her.  So, about a week after Tina swore off dating forever, and about a year after they had first met, Troy held Tina’s hand and told her she was perfect. (heart melt)

Another week went by, and Tina and Troy could be found sitting on the counter of Tina’s kitchen shoving as many waffles into their faces as they could.  Somewhere amidst all this chaos, they decided to date. 

Five months later on a hill in Salt Lake City, Troy asked Tina to marry him.  And she said yes.  About six times.  

 It’s now been a year and a half since I first met Troy Andersen – the boy I had a MAJOR crush on from the beginning.  I am literally marrying my BEST FRIEND, and I could not ask for more.  

I've hit that wall

You know that wall?....just after midterms, right as you hit the next wave of tests after midterms....

That WALL where motivation is totally spent, and getting up in the morning takes ten times as much effort as it ever did before....

I get to that point and think....Do I NEED school...do I REALLY need this?

  And I have this internal struggle of perfect validations excuses for giving up and being lazy.  I'm never going back! bahahaha!   It is somewhat flimsy, because of  COURSE  I still have to go to school...but,  (the stubborn rebellion slowly appears).... will I pay attention?  Or will I let myself have that break that I've slowly convinced myself is only right, and just, and of course well deserved by the "hard work" (that is ironically no longer anywhere to be seen)....

While I'm trying to find good motivation, what song should pop into my head? 

None other than this:

That's right.  Elimination: Lack of Education.  

This is what we learn: If I don't get educated I'll die. 

I don't know about you, but that's motivation for me.

Believing Christ

I started an assignment tonight, grumbling about having to read 30 WHOLE pages in a doctrinally based book.

I know, I know, what a wimp, but it's hard for me to read pages and pages of metaphor, fancy language, and complicated doctrine.  

HOWEVER - this book is fabulous.  I got to pick whatever part I wanted, and the title of one chapter, "Saved by Grace" popped out at me.  I've always felt a little fuzzy about the whole concept of Grace, but in this beautiful book called Believing Christ, I am now totally captured as it finally explains things in beautiful and simplistic detail.  I particularly love how it explains Mercy.  Here is something to think about:

"In this life there are only two lords and two sides. We must choose to belong to the One or the other. If we do not choose the One, we will receive the other by default. There is no middle ground, no third alternative. Life, like a computer, has default settings, conditions that will automatically apply unless we take positive action to avoid them. Thus, if we refuse to make Christ our Lord by taking positive steps to enter into his covenant, then Satan becomes our lord by default. Christ by choice or Satan by default—there are no other options.

Now here is an odd thing about the nature of mercy: by definition, mercy can only be mercy if we don't deserve it. For if we deserve something, then it becomes a matter of justice that we receive it. So it ceases to be a matter of mercy. Thus, in this sense at least, to give or to receive mercy is always somewhat unfair. But one of the great beauties of the gospel, some of the best news of all, is that Jesus Christ does not mind this unfairness. He is willing to suffer unfairly and compensate justice himself out of his own person in order to extend mercy to weaker beings like us. This willingness on his part to pay more than his fair share and to carry more than his fair load in order to grant mercy to others constitutes the grace of Christ."

Beautiful.  I never thought about the fact that the Gospel plan isn't about fairness, and we should be happy that it's not - otherwise we wouldn't have a chance.  If we all got what was "fair" than none of us would succeed. 

Randomness

Lately my thoughts have been in a sort of 'stream of consciousness' mood.

I easily jump from one thing to the next, and that means that I'm suddenly sharing random facts with everyone I know - so I'm just gonna put them all down on paper.

Here are some of the most recent random facts I've been mulling around.  A lot of them I learned in my classes, so yes - they are medically related:

•  First - Botulism Toxin is the most lethal toxin known to man. EVER.  Less than 1  MICROGRAM can KILL you.  Get the picture?  Ok, then get this - Botulism Toxin also has a nickname - it can be shortened to: BOTOX.  Yes indeed - botox is in fact a diluted dose of the most lethal toxin in the world that people voluntarily inject into their skin.....That just gives me heart palpitations.

• Second - there happens to be evidence to support the fact that FLOSSING will in fact help not only your teeth but..........your HEART.  No, I'm not joking.  The fact is that flossing keeps down inflammatory responses in your gums which in turn helps mediate your entire inflammatory system....don't ask me to explain that, but it's real.

• Next - About 10 times more microbes live in and on the human body than there are human somatic (body) cells.  So basically for every single CELL there are 10 little microbes camped out ON or IN you; but before you jump in a pool of bleach you should know that these little microbial buddies actually help you live.  You should like them.......otherwise just pretend you never read this. (oh and P.S. they make up about 10% of your weight)

• Random and for fun - If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal humans neck.(See, Barbie is NOT perfect)

• and finally - Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body for men. If the average man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his lifetime.  (I wonder how long it took Dumbledore and Gandalf )
   
  Those are just some of them for now.  Also, my friend shared this great video on YouTube, and writing that Barbie fact made me remember it.  For those of you who have known people that think they're ugly because they're not barbie, they should see this:
   
   

October

October - came like a flash.

First off, conference weekend was perfect - everything I needed.  I know that God really does answer our prayers and talks through his apostles and prophets.  There's something so calming about being spiritually fed for two whole days.
In other news, I've been working on a stellar arrangement of the song "All I ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera for my brother's wedding.  I tried to work it after this beautiful arrangement:

 If only I could play it just like Sarah Chang.  the other problem: I am a soloist and won't have the complimenting part of the Cello, but I'm working around that.
Hopefully it will be everything Chris and Shauna had hoped for.  So - on the 21st I'll be taking off to Colorado Springs with my violin and trying to control my nerves so I can be part of their wedding.
I still need to figure out what to wear....sometimes I wish I had someone to make those small decisions for me - I waste far too much time in the morning staring at my closet and interviewing each of my articles of clothing... "So, why should I wear you today?".  If they don't convince me, I move on, and fact is - I end up right where I started in a second round of "interviews" until I throw up my hands and pull on my hoodie.
So, if I figure out what to wear NOW, I will therefore be preventing myself from going to a wedding in a hoodie.....although it might help my nerves.....no. no hoodies.  got it.

New Job! (sorta)

So, I have a new job! Still in the same office, but a way different set of responsibilities.
I'm now the hiring assistant for EFY. This means I'll be dealing a lot with counselors. Paperwork, training, the whole kabob.  
I'm excited about the newness of it all, and I'm already seeing that this new position is going to keep me busy.  Today I started compiling some general info for the EFY Employment page that will soon be up on facebook!  Way exciting.  We're just working on some final revisions and making sure we have all the necessary info.  Also, my new boss had to go on leave right after I changed to the new position, so it's been a little scary making sure I know what is expected of me and making sure I get things done on time.  In the meantime, we haven't yet found someone to cover my old position, so I'm doing both at the moment.  I feel like it'll sink in a little more when I'm replaced and make the switch completely.  So, wish me luck, and here we go!

P.S. just a shameless plug here: to all my friends wanting to apply for EFY check out our webpage here:

http://ce.byu.edu/yp/employment/