Be A Man

New years resolution: Be a man.

Rudyard Kipling
If 

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Joie de Vivre!

   
        It started out with "what on earth is a transducer?" and then BAM! I was done my first semester. A celebratory blog post? I think so! My semester, like I'm sure all the rest of you, was crazy. I had 14 courses and thank goodness I didn't have finals in all of them. In all I wrote around 12 throughout the semester and boy am I ready to veg out for the next 2 weeks straight! When I got home from my exam today I did a little Christmas shopping. As I walked down the street I noticed people were smiling at me, and more than the polite curving of the lips. I realized I was beaming. I could not contain myself 'joie de vivre' was bursting from me. After all it was a very special evening.

      Tonight was roommate Christmas. Everyone made something. We had roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, broccoli salad, yorkshire puddings and about a million kinds of juices. Seriously, living like student kings! After everyone overindulged we exchanged secret Santa gifts. 

 Eve bought me mine and I loved it. It's a picture frame with all the quotes from kid history. Which is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me. Our house is obsessed. As Ariel puts it "We say our prayers, read our scriptures and watch 'Kid History'." Putting that beauty in my study corner for comic relief.

      After those festivities we piled in the car and drove to the legislature building to walk around and look at all the lights. It was magical. Skaters were dancing on the ice, music was playing everywhere and the lights dyed the snow. We had a fabulous time listening to a choir and sipping hot chocolate. 

    When it was time to leave though, Kyla reached into her pocket and no keys were to be found. Since the grounds at the legislature are rather extensive we began, very calmly, running in every direction. They were quickly found underneath the bridge. An odd place to look for keys yes, but say if you had been rolling under said bridge to get to the other side it would be a logical place to look. Not that we do childish things like that, just a lucky guess...

     Finally we reached home and of course the perfect way to end an evening like this is to jump in your pajamas and watch a movie (Elf). Of course cheesecake was involved as our Christmas dessert.

Life is so wonderful when the longer you live the larger your extended family gets. I love my roommates.

I also love my real family though, and the countdown is on: 18 hours folks. 18 blissful hours until I'm in those gorgeous, foggy, rained out mountains.