Well, since I don't have much to say, here are some scary pictures just in time for Halloween. My aunt bought some masks for Halloween, and we all had fun trying them on with costumes before Andrew went into the MTC. Maybe having the camera wasn't a good thing; I don't know. Enjoy!
Looking for the precious (gotta love the glasses!).
Disgruntled Alien.
Frankensten gets a mullet.
3 Mask-eteers.
I dropped my little brother off at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo today, and I managed to keep myself together until after I had said good-bye. Andrew had a big grin on his face the whole time, and you could tell that he was ready and rearing to go. When it was time to me to leave, I reminded him that Mom would never let me leave him behind before, but he laughed and left with a big smile. I know he's going to do incredibly well. I'm going to miss him, but I'm glad I got to be the one to send him off.
Anyway, here are some preliminary pictures from the send-off earlier today (Wednesday). I probably won't get to formatting the others for a while, but I had to post something. I bought a digital camera yesterday, and I'm already having tons of fun with it. Thankfully, the pictures seem to be coming out well, even if I haven't yet figured out how to get rid of the time and date stamp. At least it's set properly, right? At any rate, enjoy the pictures. I'm glad my fingers weren't over the lens today. I think that at long last, I have finally learned how to take a picture!
Friday night, I went to wash my hands, and my bathroom faucet kept running. I called maintenance, who promised to come first thing Monday morning. So, I endured the sound of running water for Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday. Let me just say that I do not find the sound of running water to be soothing, and this is the weekend before my prospectus defense. Anyway, mercifully, the water all but stopped for some reason (I have no idea) on Sunday afternoon, so there was almost nothing coming out of my faucet and I had to borrow my roommate's sink to brush my teeth. Late Sunday night, I hear a weird hissing noise coming from my closet, and I look to find out that my closet wall is damp. Monday morning rolls around, and at 11 am (aka first thing Monday morning) a maintenance person comes to fix my tap. I mention the closet wall, he looks at, and says, "oh, that's bad" (Ya think?). He fixed my tap and called the plumber about the wall, and the plumber came about 3 pm. Turns out our hot water pipe had cracked and started leaking everywhere. It even started seeping into the apartment below ours. He fixed the leak, but there's still a mess.
Monday evening rolls around, and the water has stopped, but my carpet is still sopping wet and smelly. I head up to campus that evening to run through my presentation and to make sure I know how to hook up my computer to the projector. That goes fine, but when I get home I climb the three flights of stairs to my apartment only to discover my roommate is outside, trying to get in. We both had our keys, and yet the deadbolt was completely stuck and we could not get in. A guy friend of ours ended up going to the laundry room (on the 2nd floor), climbing out the window, and climbing up the balcony next to the laundry room. He then climbs up to our balcony, where, by some fluke, our balcony door is unlocked and he can get in. He opens the door and we get in, but man, what a night. Keep in mind that we usually lock the balcony door, so we're grateful for the blessing. Also keep in mind that this is the night before I defend my prospectus.
Later that night, I get into bed and realize that I can still smell the carpets. After an hour of tossing and turning, I come out to the couch in the living room, and continue to toss and turn for hours. I finally fall asleep about 3 or 4 am, only to start waking up almost every hour on the hour afterwards. Finally, at 9:30, I'm ready to give up and get up, only to find that my roommate is already in the shower. I thus go to sleep for half an hour longer, only to finally get up at 10 after about six hours or so of very broken sleep.
I go up to campus, where I later defend my prospectus, and I come home to find that they've started to fix the carpet. I find that they've moved all the furniture up next to my bed (a chair, a desk, and assorted boxes). I had two wire storage cubes (the kind that hook together) that were holding sweaters in my closet, and those are now lying dismantled on my floor. It wasn't enough to take it out of the closet; no, it just had to be taken apart, too, and left in a heap for me to pick up. Plus, my sweaters and winter clothes are lying in a pile in front of my dresser, blocking the drawers that contain socks, underwear, and other necessary items. I should point out that I had put my dirty laundry basket in front of the dresser this morning, too, to try to get it off the wet carpet. So, if it wasn't dirty before, it is now. Anyway, to go on with the story, I've been wearing my contacts all day, so when I go to find my glasses, I remember that I left them on my desk this morning. This desk has since been moved, and I had to have a friend of mine help me search for my glasses. She finally found them under the bed; I'm grateful they weren't broken or cracked. I guess they fell off when the desk got moved.
Now, there's a very large and loud fan going constantly in my room to dry out the wall and the carpet, but it's too loud to stay in my room for long. So, it's another night on the sofa for me. I have no idea how long it needs to be there or when they're going to replace the carpet pads, so I can't even start cleaning things up again. They didn't tell me they were coming today, and I don't know when they'll be back. Can I be in the loop, please?
At least this way I don't have to clear off everything that's landed on my bed in order to sleep tonight. I should note that my bathroom is also a mess (I have my own half-bath; that is, a sink and a toilet) since I had to clear everything out from under and around the sink so they could fix the running faucet yesterday. I'm beginning to think that I just can't win. What a circus, indeed. At least my prospectus passed. Yup, I passed my defense sucessfully (like a kidney stone), but at least it's now over. I'll write more about the defense later, but right now I'm now going to go to bed. I think I might just blow up the air mattress I have; it seems like my best option right now. :-) My poor brain-dead body just wants rest. I'm sleeping in tomorrow!
Well, my prospectus defense is now formally scheduled and it's only a matter of time. Cross your fingers for me; I'm going to need all the help and prayers I can get!
