This Dream Is Exclusive

Though out of no fault nor vanity on my part. Yesterday at church, Shellie Baird, the girl down the street asked if I missed Provo. To that I responded "No." Then about twenty minutes into sacrament meeting, I realized I was a filthy liar, unashamed and untouched by social desirability. Because as I sat there in the chapel sitting amidst these people, I decided that they were sucking the hope out of me. I started seeing visions of myself in five years in that same building getting up to bear my testimony and thanking everyone in the ward for being such a support. I almost threw up. I actually had to excuse myself to the bathroom before the dry-heaving stopped. When, I felt myself again I went back into the chapel and sat down again.

Every time someone opened their mouth, I was given another reason to feel like I wouldn't fit in. In Provo, its really easy to find people that you can relate to and share a sense of humor with. The Beaverton/Cedar-Mills singles ward is not a place of that same persuasion. I really couldn't see myself hanging out with anyone in the group. Even at the break the fast, where I actually got to meet some people and get past the first impression, I found out that sometimes the first impressions are true.

Also, during Sunday school, I accidentally said something funny loud. I was really trying to keep myself behind my glasses (@even stock) but it was hard with whatever comment I wanted to make. So, I said something like I normally do in classes or church and everyone just looked at me like "Yeah?" I felt really lame. It should've at least gotten a few chuckles.

Plus, everyone is about 26, so that does not increase Pearson's R-squared at all. Substantive significance is doubtful.

Oh, the title. Yeah. Since I've been home, its been like a dream. A really uninteresting one because my mind is just taking me back to the places that I know the most. A dream where you're sleeping is really boring. This summer might just be a dream. Also, I'll try to meet people/make friends, but, really, what's the use? Then I recall the Singles ward. I better get married before Graduation, dillon, if not, I'm jacked.

Teh new kicks

Chinese food makes me reckless.

My parents are in town for conference weekend. So, I cleared (kept cleared/did nothing out of the ordinary) the weekend of any plans to spend it with them. They got in last night and today we went out to lunch at Kneader's and then saw how to train your dragon at Xango. We thought we were in time for the 3D showing, but we were, in fact, late. So we went to the regular-sauce showing. It was still cool like yeah, though. After that, my mom axed if I needed new shoes. I had accidentally let slip that I had holes in my pair now and my feet kept getting wet and my socks kept getting holes, though I didn't know why. She didn't buy it. She knew I knew it was because of the hole in the bottom and the rough concrete. If I had only been walking in a bed of roses, or thrown into the ocean in the worst of weather... So we headed to University Mall. We arrived there, too.

Inside, we went first to the bathroom. At the movie theatre I went to the bathroom and I was about to remark to my dad about how it seems everytime I go to a movie, I use the bathroom. Then I remembered that movies are quite the time commitment. Things started to make sense, so I didn't bring it up. But I did bring up that I had to use the bathroom again. So, we found one. I had to use a toilet, so I first wiped the seat off and then got out the seat cover. I was busy tearing the middle part free from the outsides when the automatic toilet flushed. No problem. When the toilet was done doing its business, I put down the seat cover and turned around to sit down. Then it automatically flushed again, taking the cover with it. Krade. So, I had to stand very awkwardly to make sure the toilet didn't flush prematurely... it didn't work. But this time I sat down before it could pull all of the cover in after it and I kept it in place. Success.

Then we went to some shoe place to look at shoes. I wondered what kind of shoes I would get. I forgot that when you bought new shoes they didn't just give you a fixed up pair of your old ones, but that you had to choose a completely new pair. This was a very disconcerting realization. I realized that "If you love somebody, you have to learn to say goodbye." That is a line from the song I'm listening to. So, I got some chucks. The high-tops would be too much a hassle if I ever wanted to take them off, so I decided to go with the low tops. Now I have teh new kicks.

So, with my clear evening, I figured me and my folks would play yahtzee and halo all night, but I was disappointed to find that they had a dinner party to go to with their old friends that had all moved down to Utah. Well, that's just great. My parents come all the way down to Utah to see me and then they go off and have a party with their friends and leave me at home. Just like all my other friends. My mom said "Well, you could come along..." I told her I didn't want to be the four hundred and first wheel for the second time in a week. So, they dropped me off at home.

I was kinda hungry because we hadn't got anything because they were going to dinner without me. So, there I was, alone, bored, hungry, and unsatisfied on a friday night. Business as usual. I finished Ranger's Apprentice numba four and wondered what to do after that; it was only 7:30. I was on gchat, so I asked the only other person on (Jenni Boyle) what I should do. She said "read a book, master fusha, or call arabic james". That didn't really open up any options to me. I just finished a book and Arabic James' family was in town, so I couldn't hang out with him. I texted Mikail Severkovich, but he was with his family, too. It seemed like everyone else's family knew what to do on a friday night in provo besides mine. Also, Pres. Traveler isn't back yet, so no mission reunion, something everyone else was going to. Alone and extremely left out, there was only one thing to do: break in teh new kicks.

I laced my chucks, I walked the aisle, a baby cried, too, I think. In-flight radio. I got out on my porch and looked around for direction. I knew that "Kabob Connection" was on at the international cinema at 8:45, but I didn't want to go on a friday night alone, so... I didn't. I decided to go to smiths. So, I walked outside and it was cold with some snow falling. Really small snow. May just tiny pieces of ice, really. It wasn't sticking. But it was cold, nonetheless, so I zipped up my jacket and pulled it tighter around me. I really hoped that I looked cool, or at least that I looked like a man to be pitied. I crossed University ave and was on my way to smiths when I realized that I should just go to Lon's smoke shack. I walked in, but nothing looked good, so I decided to go to the chinese buffet just down the road. I heard a sound that sounded suspiciously like my name on the wind coming from behind me, but I didn't want to look. Cool people don't turn when they are called. They turn when they want to. Then it came clearer and someone yelled "Scott Ogden!" I started to want to turn, independently of the yelling, and saw someone in the back seat of a car at the light that recently turned green. They shouted something to me and I shouted back "WHAT?" But they just waved and closed the door because the car had to move because the light was green. Then they sped off, up university and out of my list of possible things to do tonight. Even though it was sitting very firmly at the top.

I went into the chinese place and was going to ask for the take-out menu, but seeing that it was only 6:50 for the buffet, made a split-second decision and said I wanted the buffet. That really confused the lady because she had seen the "I just want the take-out menu, please" look flash across my face. I smiled at her surprise. She seated me at a booth with two places set. "Will this do?" she asked. I said yes, but just sat and looked at the second place-setting for a little bit. Just another friday night.

The first plate I filled with fried-rice, orange chicken, lo men, and some potstickers. I returned to my booth to find two people that had come in just after me seated there. Realizing I'd been replaced with a real couple, I sat in the booth next to them. I cleaned the plate quickly, hoping that eating faster would pass the time faster. Then I realized that eating out normally takes more time because you sit and talk with the people you came with. I was full, but I got another plate. This time, I went for sweet and sour chicken, though it seemed a bit bitter tonight. I had finished that plate, but still hadn't been there for even ten minutes, so I went for one last plate, even though my stomach was bursting. I decided to have some dessert and got some chocolate and vanilla pudding. I sat and ate it, but noticed that the chocolate pudding was warm, while the vanilla was cooler. I didn't want to eat the chocolate, but had to because I wanted my money's worth. Finally, when I felt I had eaten $10 worth, I went to the counter to pay. "Just one buffet?" she asked. I assured her she had not misheard. With the tip, I paid a total of 8 dollars.

I walked home. The wind was colder now, for some reason, so I zipped up all the way and got lost in my thoughts. As I walked by the library I wondered what my parents were doing. I wondered how my mom would cry if I was killed on the way home. I didn't want her to cry, so I tried to be more alert. Then I saw a car idling in the parking lot of the library. I thought about just jumping in and taking it. Going somewhere. Then a head popped up in the driver's seat, done searching for whatever had fallen on the ground and I gave up all such notions. I was stuffed, cold, and starting to think that the chinese food was laced with loneliness, so I was becoming reckless. Dreaming of things I shouldn't and having nightmares of all the rest. Suddenly, I looked up and was surprised to see Liberty square. I hadn't remembered walking all the way back. I thought I still had a couple blocks to go. I looked at my watch and saw that it was still only 9:20. Too early to sleep. So, I went to the bathroom and stripped to my skivies. Now I sit her in just my newly washed garments and my chucks. Breaking them in. This is my life guys. I know you didn't sign up for it, but this is all you get, so get used to it. You might be teh new kicks, but these are just the same old digs.

Why am I not a mathmatician?

So, Last week. I was in the library. It was Friday morning right after the Arabic speaking midterm. It weren't all that bad. But, it was soon approaching the time when I would have to go to Political Science lab. Nothing really exciting ever happens there. So this post will not comment on that time period of the day. We will hang out just a couple hours before that when I was doing my practice assignment for said lab.
In poly sci right now we've finally started statistics. And we've finally begun to use spss, a computer program that's all about stats. I love both things. Stats and computer programs. I used to have grand dreams of becoming either. Little did I know that my high school sophomore year of statistics (six years ago) would come in handy now-a-days. We're going over it a lot simpler than we did in hike school. But life is tougher now, so my high school days are thumbing their nose at me for that. Me, Cory Newton, and Sunil Garg. We were the three sophomores in stats that year. Back when I hated Cory for being as smart as me. I didn't hate Sunil because I always expected him to be smarter. First off, he was indian. Second off, James dalton always talked about how he was a genius and won some spelling competition or trivia quiz in elementary school. Back at the coug mtn. I only went there for three months, if that.
So, I was in the library doing my two throw-back old-timey favourite things (stats on a computer) when I got an e-mail from a girl in the class. You know, one of those blackboard-wide e-mails that you get all the time and don't really like, but kan't do anything about because you have to be registered in the class. Yeah, one of those. And she was all like: "Help me the krade! I Khan't dew thais!" And I decided to help her out a little. Do my good turn for the day, (I actually had my "do a good turn daily" coin in my back pocket at the time). So, I started pounding out a good reply that would explain all of the stuff to her in as simple as words do allow. Then Arabic James walked up from being away from me and I said salutations, dear friend! And he responded in kind.
Then I glanced at the table just a couple feets away and saw none other than Meg sitting at the table (see the last post for an interesting anecdote on Meg). And as luck would have it, it was Meg who sent the e-mail! So, I was all like "Yo, Meg!" and she turned around and I was like You still need help with the assignment? And she was noddin her head like "yeah". So, I took her over to a computer and sat her down and told her how to do it. She was trying to do it in Excel. Big mistake, N00b. That's whatcha get. So, I explained it to her and she was gettin it real good and I said goodbye and she said thanks. And I was all like "any time, guurl." But it was mostly just in my head I said that last part. But you know what I mean. I love stats. No, I really do.

A Quick Anecdote

I had a real fun couple minutes this morning. They went like this: First, I got out of Arabic and Arabic James and I were talking about something. I think we were talking about how he went to Dr. Doug's class yesterday instead of our class. Then Arabic Jenni showed up and walked beside us and started saying something to which Arabic James responded, but then we saw Rachel Manning and They went crazy (Arabic James and Rachel Manning). They ran to each other and hugged and acted as if it;d been forever since they;d seen each other. Then Arabic Jenni was all like "Why didn't YOU greet her like that?" and I was like "I didn't date one of her roommates all last semester." I had stopped and Arabic Jenni kept on walking, so I three small lengths of thread attached to me: One from me to Arabic Jenni, one to Arabic James and Rachel Manning, and one to the Library. I don't like people, so I went to the Library, but then a wonderful idea came to me: if I went home and showered and did my Book of Mormon reading now, I would have all the time after Poly Sci to do my revision project. Plus I could get more supplies. I decided to do that. This is where the fun starts.

I was walking from the Library to the JFSB square and snow was lightly drifting down, almost imperceptibly. I was walking by some one and I heard him say to his friend in a slightly aggravated tone: "Dude, I'm pretty sure God does NOT have dandruff..." Then they were out of earshot. I laughed because of his seriousness and decided to update my Fbook status, so I pulled out my phone and started texting. Arabic James was still talking to Rachel Manning, but Arabic Jenni had already jumped ship into the JFSB, presumably on her way to the HRLC. I walked through the square trying to text with my gloves on, so it took a little bit of time and I was approaching the planters on the other side when I started worrying about running into people. I remembered someone talking about how annoying it was when people were texting and not watching where they were walking. I almost felt guilty, but remembered that walking-speed collisions don't hurt that much and sometimes even lead to marriage. No problem. I kept on texting. Then some one said "Hey, watch where you're going!" I looked up and it was Arabic Alex. "Fine!" I said, "I'll just sit her and finish the text." So, I sat down and finished the text.

As I was pushing the send button, I heard two voices saw "Scott!" I looked up and had already starting walking with them before I realized it was Steph Tardiff and Scott Haynie. "Hey, kids." I said. Then Steph said, "Where are you going." "Home," I said. "You're walking in the wrong way," she said. "I know," I said. "Do you have an 8-o'clock class?" she asked. "Yeah." I said. "And you have a break right now?" she asked. We were in the middle of the JFSB square by now and I said, "Yeah, My next class is at 11..." I said just as a girl from my 11-o'clock class walked by in front of us, "with that girl." I pointed at her, which was okay because she wasn't facing me. Then I said slightly quieter, "Hi, Meg." that's her name. Then Meg waved her hand, without even looking back. Ha! And here I was, thinking she hadn't heard what I said or even recognized me. Boy, was I wrong. She sure got me there.

Barry McFly?

So, the other day, I was at work. Also, it was Tuesday. I had just run there from that one class, MESA 201. There's a Jewish lady in that class. I don't know if she really is or not. Arabic Jenni said she was a Jewess from Israel, but then I talked to her once and we shared a paper to take a quiz on. When I talked to her, she said that she was from LA. So, I'm faced with a decision: do I believe the Arabic Jenni, or the lady herself. Also, she's not old. She's young. Also, she's in Hebrew 4-something-something. I wish I were there. She also knows some Arabic, and I don't know her major. Probably MESA, because she's in the MESA class and didn't raise her hand when it was asked for those who are not MESA majors to raise their hands. I wonder what year she is...

So, I went to work. And when I got there, I saw Barry. I like Barry. He's a freshman from somewhere up in Washington. He always wears a hat that has a 'B' on it, so it was really easy to learn his name. When I saw him, for some reason, a question immediately came to my mind: Did he time travel over the weekend? I mean, it was a three-day weekend... A lot could happen. For some reason, it just looked like he got a little older and wiser, more experienced since I had seen him last, the Thursday before. There are all sorts of movies about people having great adventures and stuff in short times, weekends and the like, but because I was thinking about a time-travel adventure, time is really not an issue. I could have a time-travel adventure in the one single moment our time, but I might experience YEARS during the endeavor. So, if I look suddenly reeealalllyyy old... you'll know what's up. But, in order to find out if Barry had gone on any wonderful ventures, I decided to resort to stratagem. I had to trip him up somehow. Catch him in his words. So, I went up to him and asked him: "Hey, Barry, how was your weekend?" Crossed my fingers. "It was good," He said. "Yeah? Do anything fun or exciting?" "Well, I went to a dance on Friday... with Helaman and DT and Heritage and Wyview..." HA! I had him. On two accounts. First: he mentioned a dance. Time travelers always go to dances. Marty McFly, Bill and Ted, Bill Murray. Dead giveaway that the person had been on a wild time adventure over the weekend. Secondly: He said that DT was at the triple dance. DT is DEAD! There is no longer any DT and thus no one from there to go to a dance. He must've gone somewhere back in time to go to a dance that was once had, but was not over this weekend. Some time between when Wyview was built and DT destroyed. But, Wyview is pretty recent. They were first built in 1996, but we only family student housing. It wasn't until 2003 that they became single student housing facilities, too. And The last people to live in DT were in 2006-07 year. So really, Barry had a really crappy time travel experience, he only went, at most, seven years in the past. I mean, if you're going to travel back in time, at least go somewhere cool. Seven years ago I was 15. Just a freshman in high school. Really not the most exciting time of my life. My jealousy of Barry has now turned into sympathy. He's prolly really sad that he only went back in time a couple years. Didn't even break the decade. Poor kid. He is the first time traveler I know and, for all I know, the effects of his journey won't be felt for hundreds of years down the line. A waste of a time trip, if you ask me.

I wonder what other adventures people have that I never find out about. Now that I found out about one of them, I'm sure there are more of them going on. Maybe someday I'll not only find out about one of them, but maybe I'll be able to join one. A boy can sure dream.

Ah Frig

So, I don't exactly know what to write about, but everyone has been telling me to update, so maybe I'll write about my week so far. Don't worry, as objectively as possible. But then again, it was my objectivity that got me in this whole business to begin with.

I woke up Sunday Morning in the bonus room. Its got a nice couch, large flat-screen HDTV and computers. I prefer to sleep in there. Its almost nicer than my bed. The couch that is. I dare say I'd rather not sleep on top of the Television, no matter how bad I wanted to be on tv. Church started at 1, and choir practice was at 11. I got up at 10 and hung out a little. Not sure what I did, exactly. But I think me and Mom ate some food. Or maybe we talked the night before. I figured I'd go to choir practice, just for kicks. Also, because it was just across the street at the Brownell's house. When Mom told me it was at the Brownell's house, the night before, I just laughed. She asked why I was laughing (probably her number one most commonly asked phrases around me) and I told her it was embarrassing and I didn't want to say. But then she pressed and I relented and said I thought Danielle was really cute and she said "Well, I wondered if there was something there from the way you two facebook" and I was really confused because we don't, but then she said "She likes you" and I was like "Yeah, Mom, but she's 18 and still a senior in High School. Not exactly what I'm looking for right now".

So, I took the first shower since getting home and went to choir practice. I was going to sing tenor, but then thought I should sing bass because I always have. Brother Brownell was crazy and kinda mean, as ever, and we practiced two songs to sing that day at church. I messed up on when to breath once and he stopped to point it out to everyone.

Mom went to church before I did because she had a meeting, so I drove afterwards and showed up with -:30 left, so I was early. I sat down next to Mom. Then we sang. James Dalton was sitting next to Aric Johnstone and they just kept talking the whole time. Also, through Sunday School. Also, through Elder's Quorum. Then Church got over. I saw Melanie Boss. I don't know what she expects. We aren't real friends, yet. Just because she fbook chats me. And types so fast my eyes start bleeding trying to keep up. Also, I think after Sacrament Meeting, we went to the foyer and Shana Brown was walking in. She hugged Anders and talked to him. I decided to try my luck and walked up. She hugged me and we said hi and the three of us talked a little and then they were all like "Come caroling on Tuesday!" and I was like "Fine." Then, I left after church and got home. Also, we went and picked my Dad up from the Airport. He was in Dallas for his annual work meeting.

Sunday night is the next moment of importance. It was pretty late. Oh, also, before we went to pick my Dad up, Jenni and I talked on the phone and it was good. But then I had to eat dinner. She really likes home and I was mostly bored, so I didn't. She'd only left there four months ago, after all. I was a little more distanced. Then later that night I was on Fbook and she was on, too, so we started chatting and I was all about how life was so boring and I missed Provo. I was also talking to Shana Brown at the same time. And Nathan Pullman, I think. Then I was talking about how I missed Raage and Cole and then at the end I said, "Basically, I'm just trying to say that I miss you." Then after five minutes of no response I get a phone call from her. She says let's just be friends. I says "WTF, mate."

Then I watched "500 Days of Summer" on my laptop because my insides felt weird. I really wanted to be really sad. Also, I tried to find all the sad songs on my computer that I had. But none of these things made me really that sad. I really wanted to be sad, but I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be. Earlier that day I had saved the Dinosaur Comic at the top to my computer. I texted James and said that I win, Jenni is most like Summer. He conceded. I went to bed, anxious because I knew I should be sadder.

Monday, I went with Cory and Ryan geocaching. I fell in the crick. In spite of my waterproof boots that my mom had sent me three days before I left Utah and so I wore them the whole time just to make it worth her while to have sent them. But this was in Oregon. Then I tried to text Arabic Jenni about geocaching and how I was fine without a connection to her and she just said "Good, I'm glad you're happy because your status was telling me otherwise." It was basical the "I hope this means you're ready to be friends." Then she was all about when we were going to go geocaching. Then, that night we decorated the Christmas tree and I fell asleep in the bonus room again. The next day, Mom and I left the house at 9:00 ish to go to the Mall. We got me some christmas presents. Clothes. I'ma look real stylish when I get back. Arabic Jenni will be real sad she ever said those words. Also, Sarah asked me how it was going with Arabic Jenni, so I told her the story I wanted to be sad about and she leaked it to Mom. So Mom found out why I was going out of my way to be alone and lonely on Tuesday. She tried to give me a pep talk, but I feel so oddly about this situation that I didn't really want to listen to advice. We went to the Mall and that might actually be it. I was really lonely in Bed, Bath, and Body Works.

Then in the afternoon, James and Nami and I went to the Caroling thing. No Anders. No Shana Brown. The Bennions showed up and we sang only like 7 songs. It was really short and the version of the songs we had were way dinfrent from any version we were familiar with, so... but after that we went to Brother Ray's house and we had really super-saturated Hot cocoa and real sugary cookies. I just talked to James.

Then we went home and I watched the BYU/Oregon St. game until James and Aric came and picked me up at 7:30 ish. The time we were supposed to be at Caitlin Scott's thing. Then we got Ryan and we finally got there at 8:15, but it was okay because she was only in her first song. Cory Newtron didn't show up until the last song. He sat down and she said "Thanks for coming everyone." Then we talked to people and I saw Wade Willis and we talked about life. I've probably told people my plans for the future one hundred times this break. Week.

Conor McManus

First off, there's this girl at my work. Not the one I wrote about before. When we moved buildings, she didn't. But Clayton Poston (a.k.a. Ehmin Poston from my Arabic class) did. He always brought doughnuts to class on Friday mornings, but now there's a lot more people at the new building and they eat all the doughnuts before a lowly delivery guy like him can get his hands on enough to breakfast us طلاب عرني. So it seems the solution has become a problem, Doug Andersen.

So this girl. She works as a part of the pastry krew. I don't know what the k stands for. They used to work at the Wilk, but new building, so... She's cute, but I don't talk at my job. I feel comfortable there, but I'm never happy a work (go fig), so I don't really talk. Much less to girls that are cute. Like Sarah. Who is not the girl I'm talking about. She's a cake lady. Confused about my feelings for her. Like the girl from before.

This girl's name is Chelsea. One day, maybe her first, or even second, she offered me some left-over cake. Really good cake. Built of chocolate and caramel and a metal pan. I took some and commented on how good it was. The next time was Halloween. She was the only one to dress up. She wore a cow suit. I was really confused. What are we supposed to believe about that? What kind of a message does that send?

Chelsea gets there at 10:00 am, like I do. But leaves at 1:00 pm, unlike me. I leave an hour after that. My guess is that she works everyday. There's a guy that gets there at 12:00 noon that always talked to her and flirted with her. I really wished I was him until I found out he was engaged. But that's not the reason. If I were engaged that would mean that my life would actually be really good. So, that's kind of an attractive state of being, right now. Come on, girls...

Now I just think he's inappropriate.

On Monday, the sixteenth, I was at work, like usual. And I was sheeting up cookies. As usual. And Chelsea was working in the same area as me. Unusual. But I was real quietly just doing my work. As usual. Chelsea's and my relationship is odd. Sometimes we're really friendly to each other and talk a lot. Other times, I barely acknowledge her and don't say a word (Like today). (But this is about Monday). We started talking. She first asked about my weekend, I rattled off some really boring events, leaving the exciting ones out (Mostly cause there were none), and the conversation took off from there. I made some HP reference and I was really glad that she got it, but then we started talking about Twilight. I almost asked her to see New Moon. A close 2nd. Then another girl, Britten, got on the talk and they started trying to compare HP and Twilight. I tried to tell them that a book cannot be better than another one, only that you like one better, especially when talking about bestsellers. They didn't listen. I'm not a fan of that debate. Doesn't make sense to me.

Finally we got off that topic and I asked Chelsea where she was from. Wisconsin. Then she asked me where I was from. I said Oregon. Then Britten asked me where in Oregon. I said Beaverton and she asked me if I knew any "Totten"s in Wilsonville. I said no, but a couple of my mission companions were from Wilsonville. Chelsea then asked me where I went on my mission. I said Japan. I wasn't a lie. Then she got real excited and said her brother went on a mission to Sendai. I asked when he got back. She said he got back in January, I said I prolly didn't know him, but there were a lot of people in my Japanese class who went to Sendai, so they prolly do. She told me to ask if anyone knew a Nate Shrillar. I laughed. That guy was in my class. And I thought his sister was really cute. Then she said that she'd taken 5 years of Japanese. We talked a little, but then she said "このアルバイトが大嫌いです。" I told her that our boss knew Japanese. That shut her mouth real quick.

After work, I have Japanese. So I went to class and sat next to Nate and told him about this cute girl at work and blah blah blah, then he interrupted me and said it was prolly Trevor Habermeyer's sister. I laughed. So did Trevor. Then I told him it was his sister. He laughed and said, "Yeah. She's weird." Really anti-climactic. Just like The Lost Symbol. "The real Ancient Mysteries is all right here... in the Bible..." Great. Thanks, Dan Brown. I should've just read the Bible, instead.

Also, I really want to ask MESA Girl # 3 (See below) on a date. But I'm really scared to. But I'm starting to think it is possible, so that's a really good sign. Ehmin Poston said that she talked about me the whole time I was in my mid-term speaking assessment. I don't know about that. She asked why I picked "Soufiane" as my name, but that's it, really. That's all I heard. Then, when I got back, she asked me why and we talked for about ten minutes. It went really good. And we're going to be in the same Arabic and MESA 250 class next semester. That means she'll be in all my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. And there's a forty minute break in-between. And then last week, she commented on my lack of mustache. I was sitting on the right end of the bench and there was a partnership about six feet away to my left. Then her and her partner walk up and sit down between, but she's on the other side of her partner and says hi to the other partnership, so I figured it would be one of the Thursdays where we don't talk. Then she said "You shaved your face." I didn't look at first thinking I either imagined it, or she was talking to some one else. Then she said it again, or at least started to, so I looked up and responded "Oh! Yeah, well, mostly just above my upper lip. At least, well, that's recognizable." She kinda laughed and asked me why I shaved it. I responded by saying "See, I love two things in this world. One: My facial hair and 2: how I can shave it off without feeling a thing." I don't think she got the reference, so I'll have to watch it with her. If this ever gets off the ground. Of the third floor hallway outside Arthur Sensei's office, Fluffy. Then we talked about mustaches and stuff until Arabic James showed up. Then we went in and spoke. Then I came out and said, like I stupidly do every week, "Dang, that was really hard. Good luck." I really need to come up with something else. Like "Dang, what's your phone number?" or "Dang, I think I just had a hernia." Just for attention.

I'm going to try and make tomorrow a talk real good day. I just feel bad taking time from them preparing. Then I was thinking of "just happening" to walk by after she got done, but realized I have a writing fellows appointment at that time. Hopefully she goes to the No Shh! Zone after her speaking appointment. A boy can dream.

Her partner is in my stake, along with Yusef. He (Not Yusef) was sitting next to the guy that was wearing the exact same sweater as Dan, my roommate who was sitting next to me. Good conversation starter with him. And her. Gotta be ambiguous. Get her asking questions. Then hit her with the right question at the right time: "Hey, isn't Conor McManus in your class?"

Golden.