Welcome to the future.

I've finally joined the right decade. Hello 4G.

It's all Greek to me

It's rush week at the University of Utah. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Panhellenic system, this is when new freshmen (who look like they are 12, but that is another post entirely) try to join a fraternity or sorority. I have seen countless girls move in waves from one sorority event to the next. Always in little tiny dresses. I only see the girls because their events are in the building I work in. I am just assuming the guys are up to the same thing (minus the tiny dresses . . . I hope). But Rush is quite the rigmarole. Lots of meetings. Pretty much a full-time gig all week. Just in hopes that one of the sororities you like also likes you and invites you to join.

So, the major thing I learned this year, besides the fact that you might as well be working for hooters to be in a sorority, is that they are really expensive to join. Dues can be $2,000 a year!! And this does not include rent to live in the house (only upperclassmen get to live there anyway). How can a student pay for that? Oh, wait they probably don't.

Anyway, all this was foreign to me as a BYU student, and watching it happen has not made me wish I could have done that. Really, I love that as an undergrad, I was a member of a singles wars where I could meet people and have activities and live by values, all without dropping a couple grand.

Love

When I was in college, my roommate Courtney and I developed a Like/Love-O-Meter. Essentially determining the difference between important emotions: like, Like, In-Like, love, Love, In-Love. We mainly used it to rank our feelings on the latest guys. While it was a superficial way for us to measure feelings, it has grown in meaning over the years.

So, as I was contemplating on my feelings as of late, I realized that the major deciding factor between the like and love emotions is the presence of a negative aspect. As evidenced by the following examples:

• I don't like roller coasters, I love roller coasters. The addition of anxiety and fear increases my emotional connection.
• I have loved working at my job. It has been in no way perfect, with lots of red tape and conflict, however, the good outweighs that. It's not just something I just like, but a greater emotion because of the hardships involved.
• I love peach ring candy. I love it because it is delicious and cheap. I love it because it is so sweet. I love it because it always seems to hurt my teeth when I have too many rings. Therefore, I can't have it too often, and I love it all the more.
• I like a sunny day. It's just a little too perfect to love. I love a rainy day, with the chance of getting wet, but the beautiful clouds and rainbows and smell of rain. I dislike a snowy day; there is no way anything positive could overrule the freezing cold and wet.

On a deeper note, my strongest relationships are with people I have had totally imperfect relationships with. I have grown and my love has grown as we overcome hard times together. We all go through hard times, but I feel so blessed that greater love can always be the outcome. We just have to choose to make that happen.

My life right now

Things I do:

full-time position

intense transition to a new full-time position

major volunteer commitment

condensed graduate summer class

major graduate thesis paper

Things I don't have time to do:

free concerts every week

free outdoor movies every week

free trips to Seven Peaks (only because I've already paid for this)

ride my new bike

Although I haven't gotten the break yet, summer does exist, right?