"I Try to Take it One Day at a Time, but Sometimes Several Days Attack Me at Once."

So this past week has been incredibly intense. As someone like Homer could attest, intense definitely can mean interesting. I'm here in my room, listening to Maná, and just feeling grateful. I think I understand better about how difficulties make us appreciate all things good. For example, I have been looking forward to the weekend probably since Sunday...but let me explain myself more fully. 

Here is my schedule for the past week: 

Monday: Three classes

 Physical Science Exam 

 Spanish Exam

Tuesday: Two classes

 Have the Aeneid read (my copy is 290 pages)

Wednsd: Three classes

 Spanish composition due in class

 Research paper due by midnight online

Thursda: Two classes

 Comp Lit Exam

I think I started feeling stressed out Sunday night as I realized what a monster of a week I was facing. What buoyed me up was the hope of the weekend, which promised the following: 

1. General Conference: Probably one of my favorite times of the year is just enjoying the Spirit and listening to words of comfort, hope, and counsel. I always feel uplifted and motivated to be a better person. 

2. Ethan: Thanks to General Conference, Ethan, his brother, and sister-in-law are driving down to Salt Lake City to watch in the Conference Center (how cool is that?). Since Salt Lake City is less than an hour away, Ethan's planning to come visit BYU so I can take him to Jamba Juice (which has milk-free options), and show him all the cool places I study (like the Museum of Art garden and the library). 

3. Bleakhouse: Last weekend Becca introduced me to the PBS version of Dickens' Bleakhouse.  I thought it was absolutely beautiful. The despair and humanity, the excellent score, the commentary on human nature, the cinematography- it's just a wonderful rendition of a novel. I definitely felt swept up in the story and intricacies, and now I feel a great desire to actually read the novel. Even though Dickens has intense prose, several characters, and complex stories, I hope I can still see the beauty, majesty, and brilliance from a literary perspective. Back to this weekend though, Becca and I will hopefully have time to see another segment of this masterful cinematic rendition of a classic literary work. (P.S. Mark Twain once said, "A classic is a book which everyone praises, but nobody reads." Hahaha)

4. Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban: So I've been wondering for a while how to increase my general Spanish fluency. I realized that part of the reason I understand English so well is because of my extensive childhood reading. I used to read all the time, and I think my spelling and grammatical fluency is in part due to my love of literature- in a sense I just absorbed the rules and vocabulary. When I had reflected on this I thought, well why not read children's literature in Spanish? I proceeded to the wonderful Harold B. Lee Library, where I spent some time scanning the Juvenile Literature section's shelves for books in Spanish. What should I find but Harry Potter, not only in English, but in Spanish, French, and other languages I am not certain of but could possibly be German, Russian, and one that was character-based but didn't look like Chinese/Japanese/Korean. Since I love Harry Potter, I felt quite excited by the plethora of Spanish options. I finally chose the third book because I enjoy the story and because the grammar/vocabulary is considerably less advanced than the fifth book but more advanced than the first or second. (The sixth and seventh were not available in Spanish). Although I could probably read the fifth book, I wanted something that I could read through with relative ease and without getting caught up in unknown vocabulary (hence the absorption). As I began reading the first chapter, I felt confident that I would be able to enjoy the story but still grow in my vocabulary knowledge and grammar. This weekend holds the promise of a rather lengthier time to enjoy Harry Potter in Spanish. Haha, also, I enjoyed the Spanish with very English names: 

--¿Dónde está mi Dudders?--rugió tía Marge--.  

--¿Y qué tomará Ripper?

"Después de sus amigos, lo que Harry más apreciaba de Hogwarts era el quidditch, el deporte que contaba con más seguidores en el mundo mágico."    (págs. 16 y 24)

Delightful, no?

5. Return of the King time: The approach of the weekend means that I can spend some time recording podcasts of Return of the King for James :). My busy state has meant almost zero time, and I'm looking forward to reading not only for the excellent tale of the hobbits (depite the fact that the chapter we're in about Merry is one of the few chapters that I skipped on my second personal reading), but mostly because I miss reading to James and I definitely enjoy feeling like I'm still part of his life and "spending" time with him. (I love you, James!)

Onwards

There are other reasons why I am excited, such as talking to my family, writing letters, and sleeping. These have been the hopes I have held before me as I've slogged through the week. To give more details on what's been going on, I present the following highlights: 

Physical Science Exam: This is almost not worthy of mention, but basically I did passably well, with an 80 percent on the multiple-choice segment and hopefully a few more points from the essay, which has not yet been graded. It being the first test, I was uncertain about what to expect. I now feel better prepared to study for my next exam. 

Spanish Exam: I hope I did well. I felt pretty good about it on the whole, so hopefully I got at least a B. 

Aeneid: Wow. So The Odyssey was interesting to get through. Some parts were very gripping, in particular the Cyclops,  some of the fight scenes, parts with his son, the final battle, and parts with Penelope. There were also parts that were less interesting, such as the part when Odysseus is in the Underworld looking for a prophet but spends several pages talking with other people beforehand (few of which have any relevance to the plot) and then talking with people afterwards. I think it was touching that he got to see his mother, but beyond that most of them were just important to the Greeks, and not to anyone else. The Aeneid was a completely different venture. Virgil was essentially trying to, as Brother Peer says, "out-Homer Homer." So it's an epic, of similar style, but not as well done. It's 290 pages of Roman propaganda, why Rome is destined to rule to world and be the best. Aeneus, the main character, is admirable, but mostly only because Virgil tells you he is, and because he does all these wonderful things, with a ridiculous amount of help from his mother, Venus, and other gods. In class we talked about how much less subtle everything is, how much less showing and how much more telling Virgil uses. On the positive side, the action is more frequent and more interesting, which was enjoyable. However, with everything else going on, I am still only halfway through. Maybe the second half (about the war the Trojans fight to take possession of Italy and found Rome) is more genius. 

Research Paper 

I think I will quote Legolas here, and say more or less, I don't want to talk about it..."for me the grief is still too near." (Insert dramatic elven pose.) Basically, it was a hard paper to write. I'm still not sure why. I think research papers make me feel insecure. But no matter, it's over, and it was only a rough draft. (This means that revision looms ahead, but still, what's written is written). 

Becca's Birthday!!

This was definitely a highlight. I enjoyed documenting her day by taking pictures of everything she did and ate as well as her presents. I don't have much to add, except the documentary will be posted on Facebook and we had really awesome Mexican food for dinner.

Comp Lit Exam

Well, I finished this only two hours ago, so I may be lacking somewhat in perspective, but I felt fairly good about it. Fortunately the Aeneid was not on the test. We had 25 matching questions and then an essay about the choruses in the plays we've read: Medea, King Oedipus, and Prometheus Bound. I found I really enjoyed writing about their roles and analyzing, even though I couldn't remember too much about Oedipus. I really enjoyed reading these Greek plays- not just because I feel more cultured for having done so, but because they were truly works of art. The implications of fate and power in Prometheus Bound are so intriguing, and the strange sympathy and revulsion you feel as you read Medea is a testament to the excellent structuring and presentation of Euripedes. I never enjoyed learning about Greek and Roman culture much in high school, but learning about it through literature has proved to be extremely rewarding, despite the amount of reading required. 

Jamba Juice 

This morning my Book of Mormon class let out early. I thought to myself, how wonderful! I can get some breakfast. Now where to get breakfast... Then I recalled that Jamba Juice has something new called "Chunky Strawberry Banana." The ingredients include yogurt, strawberries, peanut butter, and granola blended together with freshly sliced bananas across the top. I walked to Jamba Juice and lo and behold! instead of the usual line of people waiting to order and even longer line of those awaiting their order, only two people were there besides me! I ordered my Chunky Strawberry Banana and only waited about 7-10 minutes to receive my cup of goodness instead of the usual 15-20. Ahh, and it was a beautiful creation of yummy health. 

Conclusion

Well, that's been my week. I guess I'm ready to tackle my homework for tomorrow, but it's so much less than every other day that I feel as though the weekend has already begun. I now feel very appreciative of free time and the weekend. Even though this week was difficult, I feel as though I've learned a lot, and I've been able to see many blessings and "tender mercies" as I've worked to balance everything. I hope everyone is happy and doing well. I miss you all. 

Matthew 6:25-34