Harry Potter Halloween Love

I LOVE Harry Potter. This is a fact.

I'm thinking that I might be Luna for Halloween.



I think I just need a blonde wig and some of those spectacular specs. I'm not that big on dressing up. I think it's fun, but it makes me self conscious. But I hope this costume works out! Unless I come up with something else awesome. :)

Possibly Stressed

I might possibly be stressed out.

I think it's weird that I'm stressed today when I wasn't really stressed yesterday, even though not much is different.

I think certain things just came to my attention today. For example, I realized that I can register for Winter semester classes in just a week and a half. I went to look at what's available, and I'm not sure how I'm going to make things work. If anyone has any good ideas for me for language learning, help me out. Some things at work also caused me stress. My performance review for the year is on Friday. I recently changed managers, and I don't necessarily feel like the month where I've had my new manager has been the best reflection of my year as a whole. However, my new manager is really nice, so it should be ok. Performance reviews just make me nervous though. Also, my life is busy. Work or school from 8 to 6 and then homework and eating and my attempts at maintaining a social life afterwards make me quite busy. I guess it's time to go back to the day by day method, while also planning ahead where I can. I can do this!

Compliments

I know. Two posts in two days. It's crazy! I've just been feeling very reflective this week.

So, I'm a big complimenter. I have been for years. I just have all these thoughts about people in my head about how wonderful and amazing and talented they are. I also feel like these thoughts don't really do me any good, just sitting there in my brain, so I might as well share them! I know that sometimes people think that since I compliment so much, the compliments don't mean as much. And people can think that and it could be true, but I definitely mean what I say. I think sometimes people also think I compliment so that I can get something. I can't say that's 100% wrong because sometimes I share my compliments with people because I think they are awesome, and I want to be their friend. However, the compliments are sincere.

So, it really amazes me how often I'll tell someone how great I think they are, and they respond by saying something about how they really needed to hear that. It doesn't always happen, and sometimes people say it to be nice, I think, but it happens. A lot of times these people are people who look and act like life is going great. And maybe overall it is, but there are times when kind words from a friend can really make things better. I know that's true for me. Yesterday was feeling kind of rough, and a friend texted me some nice texts, and it made my night feel much better!

I'm not posting this to try to make myself sound all good or anything. I could be such a better person than I am. I just felt like I should write about this: how kind words can really be helpful and how sometimes people are having a harder time than you realize.

Sometimes I've given compliments and then people tell me that I'm going to contribute to an overinflated ego or something. And I do believe that humility is a good thing, but, at least for me, I feel like the world pulls people down enough. I'd rather build people up.


This is not related, but General Conference is this weekend, and I can't remember the last time I was this excited for it! I am seriously so excited to hear the words of the prophet and to learn more about the gospel. I am so excited to learn more of Christ. It's going to be the best weekend!

Encounters

Someone has been on my mind a lot this week. Someone who used to be a best friend. And a song just came on that we both loved. I have been wondering if he's doing well and whether he's been able to overcome some struggles he had and whether he is happy. I hope he is. I've been thinking about how I'm different from how I was then. And also how I'm the same. But I also have been thinking about how that friendship changed me. I'm sure I can't see it all, but I can see some of the change. And I hope that I had a positive influence on his life.

I don't think everyone will agree with me, but I feel like every single person we encounter, whether for half a second or 80 years, makes an impact. I feel like there is so much I can do to help others. I sometimes feel like I need to be positive 24/7 so that I can help others feel happy, but I don't think that is actually the case. I think I need to be true to myself in both the stressful, unhappy times and the peaceful, happy times.

So I'm doing the best I can in my lovely life. And I hope that helps.

End of the Second Week of Grad School

I did it! I survived the first full week of grad school + working full time! Last week had Labor Day, so it wasn't a full week.

The first couple of days were pretty overwhelming coming back to school. I hadn't been in school for three years. Isn't that crazy that I graduated three years ago!? I felt like everyone in my classes already knew what they were talking about, and I didn't remember all of the terminology from years ago. I felt like a lot of things were really over my head. It was also really difficult having such long days (still is, but I am getting used to it). I start working around 8 every day, take breaks for my classes, but then work until around 6. I also am really used to the luxury of not having homework. Now that I have it, I have to be a lot more careful with scheduling my time. So, things are kind of challenging, but things are also starting to feel more comfortable and familiar and are falling into place.

I am really loving my classes. I love learning and being in class and learning from the professors, who are seriously so incredibly knowledgeable and impressive. I get really excited to do my homework for my sounds class because I am a nerd and find phonetic transcription to be a super exciting thing. :) Although I can't say I love every page of everything I have to read, I do love learning about language from so many different perspectives and being able to see connections. I love having classmates who have different perspectives and personalities that I can learn from and build relationships with. I also find campus to be quite lovely. I feel like although things have been much more stressful and difficult than I am used to, I have also had so much happiness in just my two weeks of school. Walking on campus makes me happy. I love the environment here.

I feel like there are many challenges ahead of me in grad school, but I'm kind of just taking things one step at a time. I have a calendar that helps me remember when things are due and when I have happy plans with friends. I am happy to be in grad school and feel like I have learned so much in just these two weeks! And this makes me feel really grateful.

Life is pretty cool.