Please Handle With Care

Sorry for the lack of posts... Finals were killer, but that's another story indeed. So at the end of November I went to try and give blood. Try being the operative word. So I go in, and everything is going well until she tries to stick the needle in. The needle goes in, and I'm feeling ok, things are going pretty normal. Then I start to feel a little bit of pressure on my arm. Hmmm. I look over and expect to see the blood coming out of my arm into the tube; routine blood donation. However there is one minor issue. No blood in sight. I then hear the nurse say: "Oops..." Not exactly what I want to hear when she is dealing with my body and needles. So I casually ask her what happened. She punctured the side of my vain. I look over again, and see a very large bubble growing under my skin. "Don't worry, that's just where all of the blood is pooling." Oh, good. No worries at all. She was like, "I'm really sorry, you will have a lot of bruising." That's fabulous. Well, it was a great bruise, and a cool story. The best part of the whole experience would have to be in the interview where they ask you what your name is like eight times. They asked me what gender I was; it took me a little off guard. I responded "Male...no...I mean female." Awkward!! It was pretty funny. Just be careful when you give blood. Say the right gender, and don't ever let them say oops. Let's handle with care people. So these ugly pictures are of me dead because of the evil Red Cross Nurse. (No feelings of animosity at all...) It's fine.

Rosebud

So basically I'm allergic to Idaho. You laugh, but just wait. Here is the story. So a few weeks ago I had this really annoying cough. I had lost my voice, and it was just terribly inconvenient. Well, one night after Wait Until Dark, it got slightly worse. And by slightly I mean lack of oxygen.... I was at Mary's apartment and just couldn't stop coughing. It kept getting worse, and I started wheezing. I pretended it was of no importance, but based on the noises I was making, Mary was not convinced. She called my Papa Will, who is in fact an EMT, and he walked her through what I was going through. I could hear everything that he was saying because the volume on my phone was up so high. This did nothing to help the traumatizing anxiety attack that I was apparently experiencing. I started to breathe into a bag; that was fun. It was so scary. I'm not gonna lie. Seriously, when you can't get any air into your lungs, it makes you a little worried. I was crying, which made everything worse...it was great. Mary kept asking me if she needed to call 911. I had her convinced that I would be okay until I informed her that I was very dizzy and couldn't really feel my legs...Details. So we called the paramedics and they rushed over. Meanwhile, I was being scared to death. I was trying to calm myself down, and breathe, but all I could think about was: "I can' die!! I have to write my talk tomorrow!!" Not the best thought process to be running through your mind when you are having a terrible anxiety attack. It didn't help that I was worried about having to go to the hospital. Seriously tough, I had so many thoughts running through my head, none of which did anything to calm my nerves. So while we were waiting for the nice paramedics to show up with the oxygen, my friends David and Matt came over and gave me a blessing. It helped a lot. Of course, I always bawl like a baby when I get a blessing...so that did not help my cause. So while we were waiting for the paramedics to show up, everyone was crowded around me like I was on my death bed. (Rightly so) It really frustrated me though, because I hate that helpless feeling. So I, being my usual self tried to lighten the mood with jokes. Unfortunately, when ever I tried to speak, I sounded like a vacuum with Asama. So that was no good, especially because I had such witty comments in my head!! They were good ones too! Of course now I can't remember them because I'm pretty sure that I killed some brain cells. But I remember them being good, and me being very angry that I couldn't be funny while I was dying. Finally the paramedics came. By that time I was almost going to pass out. It was pretty bad. I was so out of it. They were moving me around, and I couldn't tell if they were putting me on a stretcher or not. They kept asking me questions. I was like, "Hello! It's a little hard to breathe right now!! Don't ask me what my name is!!" They hooked me up to the oxygen tank, and I finally was able to breathe somewhat normally again. They took my blood, and hooked me up to all of these machines and cords, and basically checked every thing possible. (Okay, that was a little exaggerated, but lets just say that they were very thorough.) The head paramedic man told me about all of these numbers that were somehow relevant to my breathing. I don't remember. I didn't quite grasp it all then. Finally I was normal enough that they said they could leave. I was slightly glad. It was a very exciting night. Mary quarantined me to her apartment that night and all the next day until I had to go to the show that night. It was quite the adventure. So, to all those who say that this place is good and healthy, please bless that you pass this story on. I thank you for your time.

In a Few Moments Time

I promise that I have not died in Rexburg, although I do in fact have a story about that... Anyways- things have been crazy here... Midterms and all that! But the play is over, and so in a few moments time, I will get a minute to write down all of my exciting adventures here in Rexburg, Idaho!! (I'm not gonna lie, some of the stories are pretty sweet. Just you wait.)

Happy Halloween!!

Be yourself!!

Wait Until Dark

I'm the Dramaturg for Wait Until Dark. It's amazing! My first semester here, and I am already involved in a major production. It's so much fun. I am in my element again. It's great. It's a little crazy, because we have put this entire production together in about a month. We open next Wednesday. I'm so excited. Oh, so maybe I should mention what it is that I actually do. I am the Dramaturg. Yes, that is a real term. I do all of the research for the play. Let me give you a run down of what happens.

Actor: I have no idea what this means...Emmilie?!

Emmilie: I'll look it up.

Actor: Yeah, I have no clue. Just let me know what it means.

Emmilie: Ten, Four good buddy!

More or less. It's so much fun; but it really is hard work. The play is set in the late 1960's and things have changed slightly since then. One of the things I got to do was make a map of New York, mainly Greenwich Village. I had to plot out where the apartment, studio, drug store, and police station was. It was pretty cool. A little challenging, but fun. I also made program notes about the original production and the Playwright. I had to go through old Newspaper archives to find reviews from the original run's opening night. It was really interesting. I love doing this stuff. I do wish I could do some acting, but hey- this isn't bad for my fist semester. Not bad at all. I am so excited to open. It is such a scary show, and our leads are amazing!! It creeps me out every time!! Here are some pictures of the show. No, sadly, my ghetto camera did not take them. So sorry to get your hopes up. Anyway-

This is Sam and Suzy Hendrix. She is blind. Very important to know.

Suzy and her little neighbor, Gloria. This little girl has more sass than anyone I've ever met in my life. Holy St. Francis!

The bad guys. Carlino, Mike, and Harry Roat, Jr. They are so creepy. Especially Roat. Those glasses and black coat always creep me out just a tad...

Harry Roat Jr. He is such a talented actor. I love watching him act, he is amazing. He scares me to death every night, but he is great at it!! The last scene is the best.

Suzy, looking particularly scared with a match. This is one of the coolest parts of the show. Everything is completely dark. You can only see the action from the light of the match. Ah! Brilliant!

Roat. I told you he was creepy!!

Yep- That's pretty much what I've been doing for the last month. It's been great. I'll be sad once it's over, but then I can actually start meeting people again!! (That's the only down side...) I'm excited, because we have sold out every show. This will be amazing!!

The Testing Center...Of Doom

Right, so I have had four exams thus far in my first month here at BYU-I, and each one of them have been in the Testing Center. I must say that I do in fact have great feelings of animosity towards this building. It is actually quite unnerving in there. I would like to compare it to a Nazi Concentration camp. You may laugh, or gasp, but nonetheless. If you only saw it, you would feel the same. It really is like a prison. There is only one way in. No doors out. If that doesn't scream impending doom at you, I don't know what does. So you go in the one-way-doors, praying desperately, and climb a very steep set of stairs in silence. You then stand in line; silently. Everyone is sending each other covert looks; it's as though all of us in that chamber of death are trying to see if the other victims are having the same thoughts. "Where are the gas chambers?" You then proceed into the office area, where they give you a change of clothes, and a scrap of bread. Just kidding!! They swipe your card, and access all of your information. Slightly creepy. They then demand to know if your cell phone is off. You stammer nervously that it is indeed off, and then they tell you what you can use on your test. It is a little intimidating. Your mind goes blank..."Do I actually have a #2 pencil on me?!" "What?! No graphing calculators?!" Are common thoughts that weigh heavily on your mind. You are then given your test, and are wished good luck as you walk down the silent, white, and eerie corridor. You enter a very large room with about 100 desks. All of the walls are white. At the very front of the room, is a large picture of Jesus. That is your only hope. It really is like a prison. It's terrifying! I promise I have not exaggerated on any of this! It's so weird. I dread finals. No doubt I will be trapped in there, wishing that in a little bit, I may see the sun again.

The Big Game

So Mary and I went to the first football game of the season. It was great! Mary and I are hard core BYU-I football fans! Okay- so there really isn't a team here at BYU-I. I totally tricked all of you. We have like nine different teams up here. Mary and I went to the first game on Thursday night. It was...anticlimactic. We got there two minutes before the game ended. We didn't know who to cheer for, so that was slightly awkward. I knew that my friend David was playing that night, but I didn't know what number he was, so I couldn't tell if he was playing or not. I didn't even know what his team was called. I didn't want to cheer for the other team, the Wolverines, because that weird kid that I dated, Andrew, know as Steve, was on it. When I was dating Steve he kept telling me that I was going to be out there with a big sign that said "Go 22!!!!" My initial response, was, "Ahem, yeah right..." Needless to say, I broke Steve's heart, and feel absolutely no remorse about it. That is another story. It is rather funny, so if you want to hear it, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Anyways, back to the game. It was sort of fun. Mary and I had the attitude of, "It's Rexburg, what else is there to do?!" So after our hard core work out we went and cheered on our school. See Kristen, we do to have sports here! There may even be a team called the Bears. I will call them Cozmo, and think of you fondly. Stay tuned for more exciting sports updates!!

Potato Harvesting

I had my first Idaho experience the other night!! It has always been a dream of mine...not really. But, it was interesting to see how fascinated some people are with potatoes. They are so proud of their spuds!! Okay, so I don't want you to get the idea that I just wander into potato fields for fun. It was a ward activity. Our First Councler is a potato farmer. He was trying to convince us how cool potatoes were. I thought it was kind of a loosing battle. Okay. Let's get into the goods.

Check out all of these spuds! This is what was called the cellar. It can hold 80,000 one-hundred pound bags of potatoes. That is pretty crazy; not gonna lie. It was kind of cool; but I don't think that I would be able to stand the smell of dirt and potatoes all of the time.

This is me and the spuds. I really don't know why they call them spuds... Don't I look so cool with all of those potatoes in the back of me? I could be a potato model.

This is Courtney looking like a babe behind the spuds.

Tasty!!

This is me, harvesting those spuds! It may or may not have been staged... Do with that what you will.