Cumpleaños.

Ah, the internet. How I missed it the first few hours of my weekend, but then how I didn't. It actually feels kind of weird to be on. I may even get off without checking my facebook tonight. I have a feeling it will take me quite some time to get through all of my new wall posts.

My best friend flew in Friday evening to spend my birthday weekend with me. We got to and from the airport via light rail, which was nowhere near as impressive as its subterranean, European counterparts. It felt so...lazy? Tranquil? Sluggish? I don't know which adjective I want to use, but it was kind of nice and relaxing. The Tube and the Paris Metro were so intense that the local light rail was rather unimpressive by comparison. I would still love to use it more, though.

Friday night I showed A. some of the principal sites on campus. We got dinner at the MU and chatted for hours. It was dark out by the time we left, so she got to see campus all lit up. I love campus at night. All of the lamps are so pretty. Hayden is especially gorgeous, but my favorite part of campus has to be Old Main Lawn. They finally turned the fountains back on Friday morning. I love fountains. When we walked by, Main had that beautiful lamppost glow and, with its serene fountain, it felt like something out of a movie.

I had hoped that we could go down to Mill Avenue Saturday morning, but I slept in and we took a long time getting ready, so we didn't have time before my dad came to pick us up. He had to get us by noon because I needed to go to the bank, where the teller tried to sell me a student account and spelled it "Missiura." I know, right? I probably wouldn't have been so worried by that, but she was looking at my license as she wrote it down. A. and I spent the afternoon hanging at my dad's house and watching YouTube on my PS3 while I did laundry. We watched a few Blind Guardian music videos/concert recordings (that's a fanbase, right there) among other things. I love how when I typed in "somebody to love," she knew I was looking for Jefferson Airplane and not Queen. Somehow that led to us watching The Truman Show. Awesome movie. Of course, then it was time for dinner. Well, after the eyeshadow. I hate makeup. It's so weird looking in the mirror and feeling like I don't recognize myself. Dinner was absolutely awesome. We went to Ah-So. We had a really funny chef who kept whoot-whoot-ing. Actually, that was kind of weird. But hilarious. After we were all done eating, we just kept sitting there. Just as I was about to say something to try to get our party moving, three waitresses came over with a weird orange-and-cherry pyramid for me on a plate. They made everyone put their hands up and clap along as they sang something ("Happy Birthday?") to me in what was presumably Japanese. It was totally awesome. Then the weird lady at the table behind us loudly said, "Oh. It's her birthday." Good job, lady. Good job. Back at Anne's house, A. cut my hair with some of Anne's grooming shears. Eventually we came back to the dorm so we could go to church on Sunday. About midnight we popped in The Wedding Date. Another awesome movie. J. Y. gets mad props for being the first to wish me a happy birthday. At, you know, midnight:30.

Sunday we went to church, though I can't really recall much of what was talked about because A. and I spent most of the time writing notes to each other. I know it was fast and testimony meeting (obviously), the Sunday school lesson was on Noah, and Relief Society was about...gratitude? Self-image? I feel bad that I have only the vaguest idea. I guess that's better than no idea. By the time church got out, A. was ready to eat my notebook because she hadn't eaten anything all day (silly girl). Anne made something she calls chicken-broccoli braid for dinner. Cherry chip cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. Of course, my relatives were their usual selves at family dinner. It was fun, though. For the first time in my life I watched part of the Super Bowl. Which basically means I watched a few of the commercials. Meagan was antsy or something, so we blew that popsicle stand and drove down Main because I wanted A. to see the temple all lit up. Meagan's idea was to yell pick-up lines at pedestrians, but she forgot to factor in Super Bowl parties. The streets were understandably empty, so we got some ice cream at a Dairy Queen that had a sliding glass door instead of a window and a drive-through that went the opposite direction of every other drive-through I've ever seen. We took our ice cream to Mill Avenue just as everything was closing. I don't think Anne and Meagan were really thinking their plans through at all. Ah, well. A. got to see Mill Avenue and, my favorite part, the Mill Avenue bridge. I love that bridge. It's so pretty at night. ...I'm sensing a theme here. Apparently I have a thing for streetlamps. Especially when it's sprinkling, though it wasn't that night until we were already on our way home.

I thought that would be the end of the festivities, but as I was up at 12:30 AM working on my Spanish paper, I had the pleasure of listening to not one but two people talking in their sleep. I think A. was trying to ask me if my roommate and I ever fought because our bedsheets are similar colors. At least, that's my best guess. She wasn't using complete sentences or even content words. There were a lot of pronouns and trailings-off and much gesturing. My favorite part had to be her looking me in the eye, saying "I'm sorry. I'm a little delirious right now," and laying back down. O...kay... My roommate just sort of mumbled as she tossed and turned. Who needs TV when they've got such entertaining friends?

Sadly, I had to take A. back to the airport today. I got to spend more time with her than I expected because my Spanish class was cancelled due to our teacher's daughter being sick, but it was still a major bummer having to say goodbye. Of course, the leaving part was quite the quiet fiasco. We left a little late, so we got to the airport later than we wanted to. Then, A. had misread the airline and we went to the wrong terminal. She set off walking for the next terminal, thinking that would take less time than waiting for the next shuttle. After passing the third parking lot, she finally realized that the terminals were, in fact, not connected and that we had gone under a lot more underpasses than she had thought on the way to the wrong terminal. We finally got there, though. And then my iPod mocked me by playing "Broken" by Seether when I turned it on.

When I finally got home, I felt like napping and doing nothing, but I had to take a check somewhere so I had to hike all the way across campus and back. It was awful. My feet hurt so bad. My calluses aren't quite up to snuff yet after their last round with the pumice stone. Halfway back I gave in and sat on a bench next to one of my favorite fountains for a while. I didn't want to get up, but I convinced myself that the sooner I got back to my room the sooner I could take a nap. When I finally reached my destination, I rewarded myself with a cupcake. Then a nap. A longish nap. The only thing that called me from it was the lure of food. Dinner was taken with my roommate and two friends from her hometown. The more time I spend with those two guys the funnier they get. We sat over our empty plates for an hour just chatting while my roommate debated whether or not she wanted to go to FHE. I had already decided against it because the activity was a rumba lesson and I a. don't like dance lesson activities and b. didn't want to walk to the Institute. My feet are still mad at me. So instead of going to FHE, the four of us watched an episode of the Office. It was going to be the three of them, but they finally convinced me to join them instead of doing my homework.

Now here I am blogging instead of reading my English assignment and preparing for my linguistics test tomorrow. Darn. And sorry for the parenthetical overload. I don't know what the deal is there.

Listening to: "My Life Would Suck Without You"
Reading: Timeline by Michael Crichton