the five and jive

Today I've been in a surprisingly chipper mood which is unexpected given my slight melt-down yesterday, but when you have good people lifting you back up, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.

Anyway, in this new and improved attitude, I've been noticing the little things today.

For example,

BYU campus in Provo Utah may be the one place where high-fives are a standard salutation.  I noticed a prime example of this today when I saw a little nerdy guy outside the library talking to a cute girl.  It was apparent that he was nervous, and he had this little shaky laugh that gave it away, but I think his dimples made up for it.  Anyway, the girl was really nice and you could tell she was trying to make him feel comfortable.  As I got closer the guy said he had to go and in a moment of what I can only imagine to be part panic, part blackout, he gave the girl a high five and walked away. 
Ok, if you go to BYU I know you've seen this.  Maybe you've even been on the receiving end of this.  Really happy people are particularly prone to it. 

There they are saying goodbye and they hold up their hand......

 In your mind you may be thinking..."really?"..."oh dear"...or even, "I haven't done this since 6th grade, I hope I don't miss", but your general respect for the other person usually makes completing the high-five absolutely necessary unless you want to insult them.

Look! - even Ryan Seacrest does it:

Another classic example of the Provo high-five fever is between runners.  Yes, I have to confess again - I've been part of this, but in my defense it was only on the receiving end!!! 
Honestly I thought they were just waving, so I sort of gave a wave back and all the sudden he hit my hand! I wasn't expecting it, so I have to say it was a really sloppy high-five.

I don't run on a regular basis, I only run when I feel the need to get away from everything.  Given this fact, I don't know if there is some kind of "runner's code" or "pact" that I am completely oblivious to.

This guy in the black even threw in the "live long and prosper". Fancy pants. Some people know all the variations of high fives. They actually have names; the jellyfish, the bomb, around the world, too slow (yes, there are memories with that one that make me slightly bitter ;) see?  High-fives are still cool.  Are you into the high-five jive?

Serendipitous Spring

     First off, the start of Spring has been an interesting experience.  I had four days between winter semester and starting up spring term.  I tried to cram as much fun into those four days as possible, and well - I was pretty successful thanks to Sarah Ludlow and her purple car...yes, it's purple.  Then I came back to Provo and it snowed....that really got me in the great an happy mood to start school again (ya, right).

     For Spring term I get to spend my lunch break sitting through Organic and Biochemisty for two hours everyday.  I go to work, I go to class, I go back to work.   These classes move fast, and we fly through chapters introducing new material everyday.  After 6 days of this, I already get to take my first test...that is a more than a little scary.   I've had to learn a whole new language already- I've learned to speak "Chemese".  Ya, I know you think that's a made up language, but try this:

This is called: 2-butanone  ya, not bad, right?......

and then there's this:



This on the other hand turns out to be: 18-bromo-11-chloro-4,8-diethyl-5-hydroxy-15-methoxy-12-propyltricos-6,3-diene-19-yne-3,9-dione.

     Yep. and these don't even include the higher funtional groups, or cyclo groups, or thiol groups, or phenyl groups.....(see I'm speaking a different language, right? :)

I think I could put "Chemese" on my facebook 'languages' now.  So why would I do this you ask?  Well, honestly I do sometimes enjoy it, but in the bigger picture-it's the last class I need to apply to my major - which I am doing right now.

     In other news, I've been thinking a lot lately on how much timing plays a role in life.  I'm used to hearing that phrase "timing is everything", but honestly - the more I live- the more I believe it.  Where we are and when is the foundation for everything that we do, everything that happens to us - it's the direction that we take.  I think we've all had experiences where we've either been in the right place at the right time, or the opposite and we think "if only I had been this much earlier/later then.....".  For example, a few weeks ago, I was going up to Salt Lake.  I ran into some friends on my way out of town and I stopped to talk to them.  I don't know how long we talked, but I said goodbye and started on my way to Salt Lake, but as I stopped to make a turn, there was a pedestrian who walked right in front of my car that was one of the last people I had ever wanted to see on that day.  WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THAT!?  I talked to my friends for just the right amount of time that a single pedestrian walking across a fairly narrow road happens to be there RIGHT as I pull up, and is someone I wasn't entirely comfortable seeing?  It ALL came down to timing. 

It's like that movie - serendipity where they meet and then never see each other again until right before they're both supposed to get married - I mean, what are the chances of that?  I know it's not real, but it's the same idea - it's all based on timing.

 In the movie they explain timing with the idea of "fate" or "destiny" This ties into the question, "do coincidences exist, or does everything happen for a reason?"   I haven't figured that out yet, but I can pin down individual points in time that have led me to be exactly where I am right now...this state, this town, this city and even this desk right now at this computer...

     I am extremely interested to know what it will be like to look back on my life when I'm old and wrinkly, and see how all these small individual moments of timing add together to create the story of my life.  Where will things lead me in the future?  It's an interesting thought.  I'm not saying that our lives are out of our control, I mean, I make choices everyday, and these choices ultimately steer me in one direction or another, but each choice is made at a particular moment in time - and the timing has just as much weight as the actual choice.  So how's timing working out for you?