The Hurricane

Thursday night was pretty much the most random night.

I was supposed to go longboarding with some friends from the ward and literally as we are walking to the car it goes from beautiful boarding weather to hurricane status. So Matt and I ended up hanging out at Blake's condo until it was safe to drive home, we sat around in the candle light (power was out) and sang to Matt/Mike playing acoustic guitar, it was pretty fun. Once I got home I could not believe how much worse things were over at my complex in comparison to Blake's. Here are some photos.









I would have you notice that in the last picture there is a white car shown on the left side, just feet away from the fallen tree. Yeah. That's my car. It escaped death by mere feet.

I hate covering the space/what do teachers make?

First, in my gph111 class our teacher likes to start the lecture off with a funny video to kind of loosen us up, and this is the one he played on wednesday, and I looooved it. I will put in a disclaimer though: he uses a minor curse word, uses an inappropriate finger gesture, and drops a G-D at the end. BUT this video really says something to those of you who question the motivations of those who choose to become teachers. Enjoy.


Last night I worked until about midnight, came home, did homework until about 2 am, then got into bed feeling proud of myself for all I had accomplished, and went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, I was very upset to see that it was 9:00 am, when my alarm SHOULD have gone off at 6, making me completely miss my institute class, and my ed. psych class. Fortunately, I emailed my EDP teacher and he said he doesn't start taking attendence until next week so I won't miss out on any points, BUT the assignment I stayed up until 2 working on was for that class so now I will have to turn it in monday for half credit, not too bad since the assignment was only worth like 2 points, I was really up that late doing the assigned reading that accompanied the assignment.

Today in THP, my teacher drama class, we played theater games the whole time, one of which I really hated call "cover the space". In this activity everyone walks around the room pretty much randomly, our goal being "if you see empty space in the room, walk towards it, and cover it up" I am not joking, those are the exact instructions. He would make different rules like, only walking in right angles, if you don't hold a partner's hand you have to crawl on the floor, etc. but overall I thought this was the most ridiculous/annoying activity ever ha ha. The other game was pretty interesting though. It was called tilt, we all were paired off and our teacher put a water bottle on the floor in the center of the room. The pairs took turns pretending they were standing on opposite sides of a plate, the water bottle represented the center of the plate, and so if one person moved closer to the plate the other must also step closer or else the plate would tilt and fall. I had a lot of fun with this one because during my turn I kept trying to fake out my partner, by starting to step in one direction and then quickly pulling my foot back, so then she would tip our plate. I don't think she appreciated this, but I laughed everytime, I am sure my teacher thinks I am an idiot, haha. Do I care? No.

Love, Madi

ye shall run and not be weary, shall walk and not faint

Yeah, I could definitely use some assistance in this area 'cause I am definitely weary already, only two days into the school year!

Today I woke up at 6 am and went to my first class, institute, which was The Gospel and World Religions with Bro. Wold, which I can tell is going to be amazing! He has so much energy and his excitement about teaching makes me excited to learn. I am really stoked to learn about other religions and how they have pieces of truth in their doctrine and how I can look at their beliefs and make positive applications to the way I worship God and serve in the church. There was this really great quote brought up in class today that was said by Joseph Smith that says, "One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may...gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true Mormons." I really liked that quote because I have experienced many branches of Christian faith and many of them claim to be the only right church and work harder to discredit other faiths rather than support their own. I am so grateful of the open-mindedness of the church and its ability to draw knowledge and truth from so many different avenues. I forget what scripture it is, but there is one that says that everything on the Earth testifies of Christ, so with this scripture in mind it would make sense that we could gain a better testimony of the Savior, even through beliefs that seem to be far from our own, such as Buddhism or Islam. Wow, I am so excited for this class, can't you tell?

My next class was Educational Psychology, which doesn't seem to be too challenging, but was horrifically boring, like whoa. I was borderline falling asleep, but did my best to pull myself together since I was sitting in the very front.

Immediately following EDP I have Improvisation with Youth, which is like a theater class but for teachers, to learn how to respond on the spot to situations in the classroom and how dramatic activities and such can improve a child's learning. This class will hopefully be an easy A, woot woot, and Courtney Spencer, a friend from the Institute, and Kelly Doherty, a co-worker at In-N-Out, also have this class with me, so I am sure we will make it interesting.

Right after class got out at 11:30 I rushed over to work, I was actually scheduled to work 11-8 but I told them tough luck since I had class and I had already given them my schedule in advance so they had no excuse. Work wasn't so bad today, except as soon as I came back from my ten-minute break and had eaten my delicious turkey sandwich, I was ridiculously tired, so much that I was performing way below my abilities at work and some co-workers were actually concerned, ha ha. At around 3:30 I got to take my half hour break and I decided to lay down in the locker room. I turned off the lights, got a sack of clean linen and used it as a pillow, set an alarm on my phone just in case by some miracle I fell asleep, and just relaxed, as much as is possible on a dirty, hard, tile floor, ha ha. At 3:50 I awoke to the sound of my phone alarm and was completely shocked that I just passed out on the floor! When I came out, everyone was asking where I was and was almost as shocked as I was that I capable of just crashing on the locker room floor. I did feel a lot better though after my power nap! Boy was I just physically/mentally exhausted today! HELP!

Love, Madi

LDH, MTE, GPH rule my MWF

First day back at ASU. I wasn't too excited to be back but am pleasantly surprised that so far my classes seem really fun and interesting, and I may be capable of getting A's in both of them, yay! I sure need the gpa boost. My first class was institute, my favorite, I had Latter-Day Hymns with Bro. Calton and it was sooooo cool! He is such a smart man and I learned so much about how the hymns tie in with specific doctrines, and I really just have a higher appreciation for the hymns, after only one class period! By the end of the semester you won't be able to stop me from singing them aloud at all times :)

My next class was Math for Elem. Teachers, which seems to be relatively easy..learning how to teach kids addition and such. My teacher seems really cool/nice AND Abby Christian is in this class with me! So that automatically means a good time. Funny story. So I was walking down the hall in the life sciences building and in walks Abby, "HEEEEEEEY are you going to 302?!" "YES! Wow we have a class together!" We walk into 302 and it is pretty much a storage room, ha ha, so we looked at our schedules and realized that we were supposed to go to PHYSICAL sciences not LIFE sciences, and I am just amazed that at the exact same moment in time Abby and I made the same mistake and went to the same incorrect classroom. Wow. Eventually we did creep in late to the correct classroom, but she had just barely began tlaking so she was ok with it.

Next and final class for the day was Intro. to Geography, which sounded horrifically boring when I signed up, and now seems incredibly cool! Abby is also in this class with me too! My teacher is a riot, I was laughing so much in class today, and the things he plans on teaching sound so interesting, I am pretty excited to learn more about our planet and mainly about sustainability and how I can keep the Earth in good shape for my posterity :)

School is now over for the day, so of course, I am off to work for the night!

Love,
Madi

Arm Burns and Cheese Pants

School is most definitely back, along with the thousands of ASU students who love to eat In N Out Burger. On friday night I worked the closing shift from 5 pm to 2 am and I pretty much cooked the entire time, and today I worked from 11 am to 9 pm, and I cooked for the entire shift. Wow. My back is killing me, I am exhausted, and covered in new grill/cheese burns, ugh! I forgot how busy we are during the school year and am just overwhelmed by the lines out the door without ceasing. The one good thing about how much business we are getting is that the shifts go by ridiculously fast. I am also glad that I work with such amazing people, and that we can laugh and joke almost all day long in order to keep our spirits up amidst the stress and often cranky and/or completely drunk customers.

On a positive note, I was talking to my manager about how I will be needing an extra day off this semester so that I can volunteer at a school for my major, and he said that his wife is a third grade teacher at a school on broadway and stapley and that he would ask her if I could volunteer in her room! I have been so stressed about finding a good place to volunteer and finding the time to do so, I am so thankful that my manager cares about his associates outside of their work situations and is willing to help me with my school requirements.



I had to take a picture of my work pants last night because I have never seen them ever ever get this messy. I don't think you can tell but there are random pieces of melted cheese all over them, a big grease patch on my right thigh from where I lean against the grill, and a big blotch of spread on my left leg. Mmmm doesn't this make you want to eat a burger?! Ew.



Ah the new burns. The big one on top happened today sometime, I didn't even notice it until I got my break and started to feel the burning. The other ones are from this week, and there are like 4 that aren't visible because one is on my finger, one is on my other arm, one on my elbow, etc. Wow my arms will be COVERED in scars by the time I quit In N Out!

Love,
Madi

"In our lovely deseret..always be polite and treat everybody right"

Today I woke up bright and early at 7 am and headed over to the DI (Deseret Industries, the Mormon equivalent to a Goodwill) to do some volunteer work, and boy was it rough. The work itself was not rough but it was very tedious. For about 4 hours I stood at a table and went through bags upon bags of clothing donations and sorted, buttoned, zipped, and folded the millions and millions of articles of clothing. Although this experience was one I don't plan on repeating anytime soon, I will admit that there were several instances where I was amused, surprised, and even just a little bit wiser.




1. Every person has the capacity to do good and is a unique child of our heavenly parents

I know this is stated often but sometimes it's hard to look at someone and think, "That person is my brother/sister, and we are all equal in God's eyes." I am not being high and mighty or anything, just honest, I don't think there are many people who can say they haven't turned down their nose at a bum on the street, or at the juvenile delinquent on the news. Today when I showed up to DI, most of the people working there were not people I can say I would feel comfortable around, but after working beside them for 4 hours I learned to love them. For instance, the first woman I met there, the head honcho, came off as this mean mean woman, barking orders and putting down other people working, and I was pretty much scared to death of her, but later on I heard her laughing and joking, and she sincerely thanked me for my help. So after my shift I totally changed my perspective on this woman. Another example was the quiet hispanic woman who spoke little english and was often asking other workers, "como se dice?" and pointing to various things, trying to learn the english translations. At around 10 we all got to take a 15 minutes break and this woman sat next to me and shared some dessert-like bread with me that she said her sister made from scratch the night before. I was just so touched by this woman's kindness to me, a complete stranger. Once our break was over the woman asked if I was a member of the church, and I replied that I was, and in her broken spanglish she said that she was too. It made my heart just swell to know that this kind woman knew the same truths that I knew and to feel that Christ-like love that she shared with me.

2. One man's trash is another man's treasure

Sorting through piles and piles of clothes would have been the most boring four hours of my life, if I hadn't decided to entertain myself. Every once in a while I would pick up an article of clothing and try and picture the kind of person that would wear it. Some examples: The nasty, sweat-stained in n out tee shirt could have been dropped off by my former manager, Corey, who is lds, o rmore likely dropped off by his amazing wife Jenna; the Red Mountain HS game day shirt, perhaps worn by a HS freshman girl, standing in the bleachers at homecoming, cheering her face off for the cute quarterback who was in her biology class, surrounded by her favorite girl friends; the faded something corporate shirt, that should be worn by me as I dance and sing around my apartment; the many many BYU and EFY shirts, all worn by the lds kids that I know who are still in high school and attending seminary; a whole pile of onesie pajamas with the built in feet made me chuckle, picturing a christmas card with a picture of my husband, me, and a mini toddler version of me, all wearing these ridiculous pajamas with the biggest goofy, yet genuine, smiles on our faces. Instead of viewing all of these discarded relics as trash, I tried to imagine certain pieces as they were during their prime. It was actually pretty fun and somehwat stimulated my brain for the four hour shift.

If you haven't noticed this about me yet, I am quite the "unique" individual, ha ha. I embrace my individuality. Hopefully you will get a laugh out of my ridiculous thoughts concerning old stained clothes and how wrong one's pre-conceived notions of others often turn out to be.

http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,2022-1,00.html

Much Love,
Madison

Anything you can do..I can do better!

This glorious morning I woke up at 630 a.m. to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes, thanks to my amazing roommate Ashley and the beloved Abby Christian who stayed over night, and also to this..



Ugggghhhh. First I freaked out for half a second because I had about 20 minutes before I was supposed to clock in at work, then I ran upstairs and got permission from Ash to drive her car to work, she is amazing, I would be lost without her. On my half hour break at work I called my dad, the conversation went something like this:

Madi: Hi Dad, so I definitely have a flat tire.

Dad: Well, who do you know that can put the spare on for you?

Madi: Andrew said he would do it, but he isn't off until 9 at night so it would be dark, I think I will just change it myself.

Dad: Madi, that doesn't sound like a good idea to me, can't you just wait for Andrew to get off?

Madi: What, you don't think I can do it? Dad, it can't be that hard, and just because I am a girl doesn't mean I can't do it and I need some big strong man to come fix it!

Dad: If you do it wrong you could get really hurt or killed! Do you want me to drive out there and do it?

Madi: No way, I can do it!

Dad: Well just call me if you can even get the lug nuts off.

Guess what? I DID get those dang lug nuts off, and I totally put the spare tire on allllll by myself!




The picture doesn't show it very well, but my hands were so black! I felt so cool :)

I am so proud of myself! See! Girls can do anything that boys can do! Even Andrew, one of my best friends from work, tried to talk me out of this, "Madi, Just let me change it after work, if not for me then for your poor Dad so he doesn't have to worry about you." What the heck, I don't see why they had so little faith in me but BOO YAH, I totally accomplished this, surprise surprise. I also feel really accomplished and semi-adultish because I also called my apartment complex staff on my break and firmly told them that I had not had hot water in three weeks, I want my some kind of credit towards my rent, and I want a copy of my lease to see what rights and services we are entitled to. I think this kind of freaked them out since they knew I meant business and they pretty much agreed to everything I requested, and the best part of all....I came home from work and HOT water was coming out of the faucet! YAY!!!!! I am so happy right now, I am so proud of myself for taking care of all these situations without asking for any help.

Love, Madison

I'd prefer not to be rescued

Not much has gone on lately, just work work work of course. I still love my new apartment, except for the fact that we still have yet to take hot showers. The maintenance man has come at least 5 times to fix it, and I am getting rather upset about the entire situation. My dad says I need to go to the office and yell but I just cannot be that person! I really wish I could be assertive and not let people take advantage of me but I just can't be mean to people, ugh, I need to man up haha.

Last week I taught my first lesson in church. I subbed for the gospel doctrine class and taught the lesson for Alma 32-35. I was so scared to do this because for obvious reasons I am not very knowledgable about the Book of Mormon stories. I know it's true, that's what really matters, right? While I was preparing the lesson there were so many times when I just got confused and didn't really understand what I was reading or what lesson I was supposed to pull from the story. But I think I did well at pretending to know what I was talking about when I taught.

I have been teaching myself to sew, oh boy, I had no idea what a frustrating task that was going to be. I have been trying to make myself a dress for church, it might turn out okay but I feel so bad for Ash because whenever I work on it I get really flustered and cranky and tend to snap. Poor girl. Hopefully it will be a good learning experience and the dress will be wearable.

I am addicted to Breaking Dawn.

I realized today that there is only week until school starts, and I am totally unprepared. My mind and body are not ready for the extreme stress and lack of sleep it will have to endure, my apartment is not organized/clean enough for me to be able to come home and not feel like I am going to have an axiety attack, my to do list is still way too long, my sleep schedule is horrible and I will never be able to wake up for my 7 30 am institute class. Although I am ready to basically live at the institute and have those wonderful teachers available to answer my millions of questions, for dollar lunch, that feeling of accomplishment after somehow magically finding time for everything, the brand U5 ward and all the newbies that will be transferring in, the opportunity to improve in my classes in comparison to last year, making new friends and loving the life I lead with my current friends, seeing how this year will play out with no plans or expectations (which is really hard for me to grasp, since I have always always always had a game plan). What will I be like when May rolls around? What will I have accomplished? How many amazing memories will I have? I can't wait to find all of this out.

Ashley= scrapzilla, she has been scrapbooking for days, without ceasing. She also has been badgering me constantly to start the scrapbook I bought her for her birthday, I promised to do the first page. There is paper, stickers, ribbon, and paper shards all over my living/dining room floor and table. Oh boy.

Time to go run :) I love how free I feel when I run.

Love, Madi

My calves are killing me

This past Thursday was moving day..ugh. I love the fact that I live with Ash and Katie now, but gosh it was a total pain moving! I had to take two trips from my old apartment to the new one to move all of my stuff and yes, my calves are killing me from going up and down the stairs and I have bruises on my arms from carrying boxes, ha ha, I swear I am not a total wimp. So after everyone leaves Ash says to me, "Madi I have a huge surprise, close your eyes." I walk outside to our front door and see this



My reaction: "No way, we have to move that, or someone will totally egg our front door." haha so we put it in front of our patio door outside. I am seriously not afraid to tell people that I am mormon but to just display it like that is like asking for persecution ha ha, maybe I think this way because I am the only member in my family and I have to kind of be on guard and prepped for persecution, but come on, you know someone would like spray paint profanities on that door mat just to spite us!

Our apartment is totally trashed right now with boxes and junk but I know it will come together really nicely!




Get excited ladies and gents because this is going to be the ultimate lds party place next year. We have already discussed several theme ideas.. and they will be off the chain, fo sho. I am sooooo excited! Let me know if you have any fun ideas!

So funny story, Ash and I went out to get clothes for an 80's party (will post documentation of party later) and just run some errands and when we get home we realized that Ashley's bedroom door is locked, and everything we need to get ready for the party is in her room. Crap. We called the emergency maintenance line and apparantly they don't handle lock outs, we tried to break in with a bobby pin, I then proceeded to remove the door handle with a screw driver, which made us even more confused at what to do because the part of the door that actually opens the door was on the inside of the room. Next step, we said a prayer for help, because whenever we ask for like mechanical help Heavenly Father ALWAYS fixes things..I swear He dabbles in mechanics in His spare time. Then we called my Dad for help and he is pretty much a genius..I tell him the situation and he says the most obvious solution. "Why don't you just unscrew the handle on your door, stick it in Ashley's door and turn the handle?" So I unscrewed the handle, walked to Ash's door, put in my door handle, turned, and voila. Ash and I started screaming with joy, with my Dad still on the phone (he thought we were mechanically retarded, yet hilarious, he laughed the whole time we were on the phone).




I am so exhausted, and stressed, and sore, yet unbelievably happy. Last night was the most fun amazing night ever..I will put up a post soon, the pictures are hilarious.

Love you all!
Madi