TGIF.

Tonight there is another volleyball game! I'm so excited. My teammates and I are all going to go again. Today practice was only an hour, but it was so hot outside that it felt like longer. I was literally sweating bullets. After practice my shirt was drenched in sweat, almost as if I had just gone swimming.

Only had one class today. Math. My professor randomly started doing a problem on the board. It was so hard to follow him. He told us it was a problem that he worked on for an hour and a half, just trying to figure out. I look around the class and find that I'm not the only one spacing off into another dimension. Finally a girl raises her hand and asks what exactly he is trying to do. He explains then goes on. Five minutes later I raise my hand and ask the question I know we are all stressing over. "Will this be on the homework?" His answer, "No.." We all sigh with relief. "But yes..." Oh crap. He goes on to finish the problem, then shows us that it works. In the end he asks us what the answer would be if we plugged in certain numbers. I answer. "140." "Yes, Loni see that is how it works and why it would be on your homework." (First name basis already? Great...) I raise my hand for a high five from him. He gives me one then we do knuckles, as I say, "Ah Yeah!" The class laughs, and after he turns away I look back with a look of, 'I have no idea what he just did.' Oh by the way, I sit in the front. My professor is right handed. So I can never see what he is doing on the board. Oh yeah and for all you wondering if he is from a different country like most are...Nope, he is totally a white guy.

This is my attempt at taking a picture of what he was doing. You probably won't be able to read it, since it is not close up. Plus there is more work on the other board. I had a limited amount of time before he turned around to take the picture.

So Ivy and Amanda are heading home this weekend. Which leaves me and Crystal home. Alone. Together. Amanda said last night, "The house is going to be destroyed by the time we get back. Things will be everywhere." Then we started joking that by the end of the weekend we would be locking ourselves in our rooms. Darting to another location when the other is not looking. We really do get along great. We just joke around and are sarcastic a lot. For example, the other day I was wearing khaki shorts and a navy blue v-neck shirt. Crystal said she needed to go to Walmart. I said I would go with her. She said, "You can't go looking like that, you would blend in." It took me a couple seconds to figure out what she meant. For those of you still confused...Walmart workers always wear tan pants with navy blue collared shirts. So I would have looked like a worker. Crazy jokes like that happen at our house. We also like locking each other out of the house, which resorts to climbing through the window.

Have a great weekend!

Team = Family.

I swear we use toilet paper up like nobodies business. (Ha Ha did you catch the little pun/joke) I'm pretty sure everyday or at least every two days we are replacing the roll. I guess that just proves that someone other than myself is using it.

Last night was the first volleyball game! One of the girls on the tennis team is also on the volleyball team. So as a team we all went and supported her. It was so much fun! We have so much fun together. The game was awesome to watch too. Unfortunately we lost, but it was an intense game. My teammates are like my family now. There's another game on Friday, we'll be on the front row supporting!

It's not the best picture of us, but it will do for now. From left to right it goes... Kayla (who is also from Utah), Kindra, Patricia (I don't know if that is how you spell her name, it is said different because she is from Slovakia, I think), me, then Maja (Said My-ya, I think she is from Croatia, not for certain though). Maja looks mad, but I swear she is not. Bad picture like I said. Ashley, who goes by her last name Pedro (Peed-row), is the one on the volleyball team.
I will post a better picture soon.

This week is Labor day weekend. No school Monday! I know two out of my three roommates will be headed home. Unfortunately I won't be though. Unless someone is willing to pay for a round-trip flight. Any takers? I think campus will become scarce. Good time for me to check out the city from a bikers point of view. No worries, Walmart is 5 minutes away, I will survive!

I never thought I would be so happy to have quarters in my possession. Getting quarters in my change from the store, is like Christmas day. Never will I be sad to see a quart. Why you ask am I so happy to have quarters? Laundry. It costs a dollar each to use the washing machines and driers. Only payable in quarters. I usually do two loads of wash, colors and whites, in separate machines. Then I dry them together. For all you rocket scientists out there, this math problem is not for you. Three dollars to wash my clothes. Sunday night is my desired washing time. Luckily the laundry room is only five steps from my front door, so I can't complain. The worst thing though, is lugging all your clothes and detergent to the laundry room, open a washer...someones clothes are still in there...open another...same thing. Try them all...clothes. Are you fetchin' serious! Come on girls, seriously, come get your clothes! It usually takes me 3 round-trips of checking until someone has moved there clothes. I know how long it takes to wash my clothes, so I try to be the fast one to wash and dry my clothes. 

Well anyways...I'm hungry.

-LCK

I'm Not Oblivious.

I don't think people here in Arizona are used to seeing a girl with short hair, that's often styled in a fohawk. Every time I go to Walmart, I catch people staring at me. I'm not oblivious. I know you are looking at me. Take for example these two little girls that were looking at posters. I passed them and headed down the isle to get some envelopes. Their whispers weren't very quiet, and they also kept looking down the isle at me and saying things. They followed me all around the store and kept walking passed the check out line I was in. When I would look at them, they would laugh and hurry and try to hide. Finally they gave up because I always knew where they were. I'm not stupid. I was even wearing girl clothes. A v-neck and tank. It shows off my girl form. If you know what I mean. If I catch people observing me, I often give them a big grin, and sometimes catch them off guard by saying hi. Crazy. I know. Who does that these days.

Tennis practice was awesome today! I love it. I really do. Even if my legs are sore from the day before. We all have so much fun and get along really well. My teammates always tease me about going to the gym to workout, because I go often. Coach saw me the other day working out, even though we worked out after practice earlier. So if ever the gym gets brought up, they are like, "Loni, did you hear that? The gym?" Then I say, "Ah yeah!"

So I'm pretty sure every night me and Amanda watch a movie. We have already gone through about a fourth of her movie collection, and she has a whole basket full.

Let me officially introduce my roommates. There are a total of 4 of us. Me, Crystal, Amanda and Ivy. Amanda is who I room with and Crystal and Ivy room together. We all get along really well. Sometimes too well. We joke around a lot which always lightens the mood.

It hasn't rained at all so far this week. I sure hope it does though!

"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon... everything's different." - Calvin and Hobbes

I'm So Lucky.

I've had a great two days so far. Yesterday I had class at 11a.m. and then another class at 4p.m. But unfortunately...my Astronomy professor was sick yesterday so we didn't have my 4p.m. class. It was terrible. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyways...then today I had a class at 1p.m., my one and only class of the day. Once again my professor for the class was ill. I couldn't believe it. My start of the week has just been awful.

But on the bright side I did have tennis practice this morning. Not going to lie it was intense. Practice is from 8-11a.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have weight lifting as part of our class. So it is a full day of working hard. Not saying that Monday, Wednesday, or Friday are any easier. I love it though, so I am happy.

I'll leave you with this inspirational video.

Catching Up.

Sorry its been a couple days since I've posted something. Let me get you all caught up.

First off...we had a death in the family...one of our three goldfish died this morning. I sent him or her on there way down to a new life. Flushing the toilet was a tear jerker...

Today was our first day of tennis practice! Woohoo! It wasn't totally a official practice though, because two of the girls on the team are international students, so they didn't have their insurance set up. So far on the team there are six girls. While the two international girls were setting things up with Coach, the other four of us went out and hit for an hour then went and worked out for about 30 minutes before some of us had to go to class. Tomorrow everything will be ready. The tennis season doesn't start until the spring, so for now we will just practice and have some pre season matches.

Yesterday was my first day in my new ward. Small, but comfortable. My roommate did say something about wearing a fohawk to church. Hey, the way I see it, they don't have to like it or agree with it. But its me, I don't care what people think. Not going to lie though. My roommate and I played an epic game of Dots the whole three hours. Dots covered the whole paper program. It was awesome. (For those of you who don't know what Dots is, you connect dots to make boxes. But you only get to draw one line each turn. So strategy is to try not to let your opponent make a box.) After church we all took around 3 hour naps. It was great. That night we baked brownies and watched A Walk to Remember. I love that movie. My roommates were making fun of me because I knew all the words to the songs. I love it so much. 

Just some random things....There are little lizards here. So far I have seen two. I want to catch one! They are so cool. The second one I saw had a blue tail. They are small. Also about a block away there is a little snow cone shack. They are delicious! $1 for a small, which is plenty. I want to walk there everyday. They are great to eat in this heat. A lot of the kids walking around campus wear jeans and a t-shirt. I feel like a rebel when I wear shorts. But I think the reason is that outside it is hot but inside the buildings it is cool. I get cold sitting in class sometimes. So yes, I have worn jeans to class. Something that is crazy to me too, is that they don't have fry sauce here! Some people make it, but its not a like a regular thing like back in Utah. I was dumb struck when someone told me that.

Amanda, my roomie and I will be sharing a post office box. When I get the address I will let you guys know.

Like I said if you guys want me to write about certain things, post a comment!

The Things I Have To Deal With.

Okay first off I need to vent...

This morning I was going to head to the gym to work out for an hour. I walk out to my bike and find this attached to it. Please read....

 If they haven't notice, this is what I have to work with....

                 
                       
        This is my bike ---->

It is attached to a gas meter.
Notice the bike with the red rims farthest away from mine...yeah mine used to be there. There is also another bike attached to another gas meter behind the bike rack but you can't see it. We have limited space. I bet half those people don't even use there bikes. I do!

This is what the back of the apartments look like. I have yet to see someone randomly walk back there and almost trip on a bike or think it looks horrible. I think that looks pretty good myself. My bike was not the only one to get a nice note from the owners. We'll see how long it takes people to walk past there bikes that they hardly ride and notice that they need to move them. Personally I think that if they want to eliminate this problem, they could easily just add another bike rack. Simple right?

Alright I'm done venting...This morning I went to the gym and worked out. It is a class that I have. By the end of the semester I need to have accumulated a total of 34 hours. I can go at anytime and any day. All I have to do is sign in when I begin and sign out when I'm done. It's nice I like it. I'm going to be buff soon. Ha Ha...Little Loni buff? Heck Ya! While I was at the gym it started to down pour. I had a nice shower riding my bike home. I was soaked. It felt good though after having worked out. Whats crazy is that when it rains here, it rains for about 20 minutes then the sun comes out and it looks like it never even rained. Unlike at home where the weather stays gloomy all day.

Speaking of one of my nicknames Little Loni, I have acquired another one. Yoli (Yo-lee)...or at least that's how I would spell it. Some of the boys that I often see and that come over to our apartment gave me that nickname. Don't ask me where it came from or why. I saw one of the boys yesterday as I was walking out of the gym and he said "Hey Yoli! So I guess its stuck.

So remember that girl I said I saw in the library who had short hair? Well I went and asked her where she got her hair cut, since we have like the same length hair. She told me she cut her hair because her aunt has Leukemia. So she normally doesn't have short hair. In my head I was like 'Great...I feel like an idiot'. She did tell me that one of her friends cuts hair and long story short she gave me her number. So I guess it was a win lose situation.

Interesting fact for the day...If you want to consider it that. The grass here on campus is so neatly kept. It looks like golf course grass. All the grounds are nicely kept. The inmates come in their orange jump suits and do the grounds keeping. They do a great job.

I know you all have been awaiting this moment...
Meet Amanda, she is who I share a room with. We get along great, obviously. We must get along because we hooked up the Nintendo and played Super Mario for hours! (Don't worry I asked permission to provide this info) :)

My roommates think I'm so lazy. They finally asked me yesterday if I actually had any classes. Every time they see me, I am laying on my bed asleep or not. They all have early classes, so while they are out I get myself ready then leave for my classes. After my classes I usually head to the library then go home. Since I don't have to worry about class for the rest of the night, I usually take a nap. I can't help it if my roommates decide to come home while I'm sleeping. Happens every time. Once tennis practice starts, which will be next week, I will definitely look and be busier.

Picture Time.

Alright I know you all have been wanting to see some pictures. I don't have a lot yet, but there will be more to come.

Yes this is my half of the room. Pretty simple. I love it.

Ah my lovely closet. Also not very complicated. Yes, I do have a lot of shoes...what can I say, I'm a sucker for sweet skids. Especially from Journeys. Rugby anyone?

 Our living room. Nicely furnished by one of my roommates.

 Our kitchen. Small but workable.

 I love that the toilet and shower can be separate from the sinks. That way we don't have to wait for each other.

 I love this. One of my roommates brought a Nintendo and while she was out last night, me and my roomy hooked it up and began playing Super Mario! We played for hours on end. It was awesome. It's our late night activity. That and eating chocolate ice cream.

 For those of you doubting our goldfish. Here he is! Ginger is his name because he is all white except for the top of his head, which is red. He finally has a bigger home and some descent scenery. Ginger is growing on all of us. We want to get another one so he is not so lonely while we are all at class.

So today I only had one class. Marriage and the Family. The teacher was funny and nice. That seems to be an attribute in all of my teachers, which is good. Oh and hey, I wasn't late! Woohoo first two days done. Now everyday will be a repeat of what I have already done.

It looks like it might rain tonight...again. I hope it does though. I love the rain. When it rains, it pours!

I don't know what else to talk about...If ever there is anything you want to know about or something you want me to talk about, comment and I will do what I can. Oh and for those of you wondering why I haven't said my roommates names or posted pictures of them, its because I haven't asked them permission yet. I don't want them to get mad or have there identity compromised. :)

I'll leave you with this quote I read recently.

   -Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible.' -Audrey Hepburn

1st Day Of School Joys.

Ah yes, today was the first day of school. I didn't have tennis practice this morning, and my first class, which was math, started at 11am. While all of my roommates were waking up at early hours of the morning (6 or 7am) to be to their classes by 8 and 9am, I was still lying in bed. Ah its the hard life. I got myself out of bed around 9:30 and slowly started to get ready. Nervous? No. Anxiously awaiting 11 o'clock? Yes. Around 10:50, I decided I might as well start walking over to campus. As I was crossing the street at 10:55, I could hear in the distance the clock tower ringing. I warily look at my watch, then my phone. They say it is 5 mins to 11. At this point I don't know what to think. I walk to my class, open the door and see everybody sitting in there seats and the teacher is talking. Awesome. I feel like such an idiot. I hurriedly sit down. The teacher cracks a joke about students being late, while handing me a paper. He asked if I had to ask for directions. I said, no I was just late. He was really nice and didn't really care. Luckily I wasn't the only one late. While sitting in the front row, I made sure to look what time the clock said. I quietly and quickly changed my watch to say the same. For the rest of class he went over the disclosure. He is a really funny teacher and told a lot of stories. But let me tell ya...my class looks like a typical 1st day class of freshmen. It's like high school all over again, except we are suppose to act our age.

After class I begin to head back home. My next class, Astronomy, starts at 4pm....or in my case 3:55. So I have to time to kill. While walking back, I pass a girl who I give a friendly smile too and she does the same. As we are about to cross paths, she says to me, "I really like your shoes by the way." A big grin appears on my face and I say, "Thanks! I do to." (I was wearing bright blue and green Nike's) Also while sitting here in the library, a girl told me she liked my hair and thought it was cool. Awe shucks...I love my fohawk too.

On a weird side note. A girl just walked in here that has short hair just like me. It seriously is almost the same length. Although she doesn't style it like I do. I might just walk over and ask her where she gets her hair cut. Sooner than later I will need to cut my hair.

Happy day! Our goldfish named Ginger has a real fish bowl to live in now, and real food. We don't have to feed him Captain Crunch anymore. He did get moved to the bathroom counter, but when I got home from class he was sitting on my desk. Darn roommates. Ha Ha we all get along to well. Sometimes we know what each other is thinking or doing. For example...last night I decided to do laundry. I walked out of our apartment with my washing basket and headed to the laundry room, which is only 10 feet away. I begin loading the washer and realize I forgot my detergent. Great. I pull my clothes out and walk back to my apartment. I'm barely a foot inside the door when my roommate askes, "Forget your detergent?" I say, "Ugh....yes." She laughs and I give her a weird look. Then later that day I was in my room and I could hear the same roommate pulling dishes out like she was about to eat something. I ask, "Are you eating ice cream?" She laughs and says, "Yes, how did you know?!" Seriously, its scary sometimes the things we do. Gotta love it though.

Hopefully I won't be late to my class later today and for my other classes the rest of the week. So far so good though. College Life.

My Friday Night In Thatcher.

My Friday night in Thatcher was both boring and adventurous. I spent most the day alone in my apartment. So far it's just me and another girl living there. She has a job though, so she is frequently gone. We did spent Friday night together. Which was very adventurous. She came home from work and said, "It's Friday night lets get out of this place." I was game, since I was just lying on the couch. We walked around campus trying to find out what was happening. Chatted with some boys that hang around the apartments trying to find girls to hang out with, then we decided to longboard around in the church parking lot. After roaming the campus, my roommate decided that she needed to take me to a Mexican restaurant, which Arizona has a lot of. We got the 'Arizona' burrito and a couple churros. It was so delicious! Our next adventure took us to Walmart. We did have a list of items that we needed but we didn't even think about buying those while we were there. Instead we bought a goldfish. Yes, a goldfish. We are proud parents. Although we have no food or a fish bowl to put him in. His home for now is a quart size mason jar. He sits on a little shelf hanging by our front door. He is so cute! I forgot to take a picture of him, sorry...later you will see him though. By the time we got home it was around 11:30pm. Our night was well spent. My roommate and I have way too much fun. We never stop cracking jokes and laughing. Not going to lie. It's going to be weird when the other two girls move in.

We both decided we were going to go to bed, but lucky us, we have unnecessarily noisy girls living upstairs. It's never ending. You can tell where they are in their apartment by the elephant stomping. 'Oh they went into the bathroom, now the kitchen, are they moving furniture?' Like I said its never ending! We are sick of it. Friday night is understandable but every freakin' day?! But get this, me and my roommate were both in our rooms, trying to get some sleep. The herd was still moving around, and then...they decided to vacuum. My roommate walks out of her room and says, "Are they seriously vacuuming?!" She grabs our mop and hits the ceiling with the end. "CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK" The vacuuming stops and you hear someones foot go, "THUD THUD THUD" We hope they are not mad at us for doing that, but at 1:30am, the noise needs to stop. The walking is unnecessarily loud. We are thinking of baking them some cookies and going up and meeting them.

Today is going to be like yesterday, boring. It's lunch time here in the activities center. All the students who have meal plans have been making there way in and out. Then there's Little Loni hanging out on the couch. Maybe I will head to the tennis courts and serve some balls like I did yesterday. Or lay on the floor by my bed, which was also something I did.

Oh and for those of you wondering...I actually had Mac & Cheese yesterday for lunch, not a Cup of Noodles. College food, gotta love it.

Getting Started...

Hello Gang,

I had an abundant amount of people ask me to keep them informed on my daily life here in Thatcher, AZ. Not everybody has Facebook or Twitter, my email or Cell #, so why not start a blog, that way everyone is happy and satisfied. Alright well now that we got that covered let me get you up to date.

I am officially moved in. My parents were kind enough to drive the 14 hour distance to help me start my new adventure. And let me tell ya, I am so happy they didn't make me hitch hike. That would have been interesting... Yes the weather here is hotter than Utah, but for the past couple of days it has rained. Yes rained, like thunder and lightning rain. It's awesome to watch. My parents stopped by my apartment this morning to say their final goodbyes, I walked out sleepily in my snoopy boxers and white tank top. Was I embarrassed? No, not a bit. This is me, get used to it. But anyways...We hugged and said goodbye. I know my parents are going to have a rough time getting used to me being in a different state. They both began to cry, and I almost felt bad because I wasn't. Is that a bad sign? It is going to be different without them around and not seeing any of my siblings as frequently, but I am strong and I am ready to take on this new adventure!

Oh...for those of you who just happened to find this blog or don't have any idea why I am in Arizona, let me briefly explain...tennis scholarship. When I say brief I mean brief. Ha Ha just kidding....I was offered a tennis scholarship to a two year college down here in Thatcher. After long deliberation I decided to accept the offer. So far, I am happy with my choice.

So back to my story... One question that a lot of people asked me before I left was, "What are you most nervous or scared for?" My reply would usually be, "Umm...I'm not really sure...I guess being away from home and not having my parents around." Believe me that is true, but what was really going through my head was, "Who am I going to get to cut my hair?!" Ah you may laugh, but this is a serious matter. I have short hair and I love it. My usual 'do' is a fohawk. (yes I'm a girl, no I'm not gay) When my hair gets long, I don't know what to do with it, it gets all weird. For those of you with long hair, I know what you are thinking, "Your hair is short, easy to do, why do you always get a hair cut, It's short!" How many times have I heard that statement, lets just say to many to count on all my 11 fingers. For those of you with short hair, you know my predicament, so thanks for agreeing with me. I might just have to cut it myself. How hard can it be?

Things are actually going really well for me. I feel at home here. I'm not really nervous or anxious. But that could definitely change. School does start on Monday, but tennis starts soon after, so I'm not too worried as long as I keep myself busy and on the teacher's good sides, I should be fine right? Lets at least hope so.

Is it weird for me to say that I am actually getting cold sitting here in the library? I'll soon walk outside and wish I was back inside. I am sitting at a table in the library, with my laptop and some headphones jammed inside my ears. Little do the people who sit down, walk by or even the ladies at the front desk know...I'm not even listening to anything.

For those of you who are going to be frequent followers, don't worry I will try to keep you up to date and possibly, if you are lucky, post some pictures and videos. Well...I'm sorta getting hungry and my battery is slowly lowering in life. So I'm going to leave you folks in anticipation awaiting for the next adventurous post, and head home to make me up a delicious Cup of Noodles.

-LCK