Focus, Suzette, Focus

I have ONE hard final left. ONE. And it's in half an hour.

I can't focus!!! I have no interest in rereading the Mystery of Samba or looking up the definition of the charismatic movement. I only have eyes for this bright orange, study abroad pamphlet I picked up off a random, unattended table. GHANA. A program to build sustainable villages and researching public health in Kumasi.
I need to put it down and stop staring at my google map of the world. This is the one area that I cannot practice self-control.
Isn't procrastination a definable disease by now?
There has to be a pill for this....

I AM A BUS DRIVER!

I am officially a licensed Commercial Driver. And you don't have to clear the roads or make some comment about how the world is unsafe or something because the lovely lady who tested me thinks I'm a great driver. Yes, I am tooting my own horn but since I consider this the one time I'll do it, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.
This is really fulfilling a goal that I've had since I was 12 or 13. I had 2 crazy best friends. We were really cool and would ride our bike to the Sonic and terrorize the employees by pushing the button on the menu dozens of times until someone would yell at us from inside, "Stop! We hear you!" (haha first time was an accident but later it just made us giggle to make them crazy). Anyway, we would talk about how school is for fools and we were going to drop out someday, become bus drivers and live in a van down by the river. It was always an astro-van in my day-dreaming mind but I wouldn't be too picky.
Where are we three 9 years later?
All pursuing higher education (suckers, I know), one married, and one bus driver :) Suffice it to say, I win.
I told a friend last night that having my CDL is kind of a big deal and he got upset with me because he laughed so hard it hurt him. Rude.

I am ridiculously excited for this amazing job for which I need the license. I am going to be a tour guide in Alaska. When people think "Alaska", they think snow, igloos and eskimos. It's unfortunate that there are such misconceptions of the whole state. But it's also lucky for me because it means that not everyone will be rushing to crowd my beloved Southeast Alaska. Thanks everyone!
Juneau is my summer home. This will be my third summer in this glorious place and while I can hardly wait to return, my heart will be split in two, part of it staying behind with my dear family. 5 months is a long time. And that's just the beginning.
There are BIG plans in the works.

• Hiking twice a week.
• Visit Sitka and Ketchikan 
• Visit Skagway, maybe twice
• Sea kayak!
• Camp, on an island maybe...

What can i say? WORK HARD, PLAY HARD is my creed. There's no other way to live. Life is short, yet long. There's lots to do but also lots of time to share. I plan to love every minute of it. 

...right after finals. :)

Jumped out of a Plane. SICK!!!

A red letter day. 4.4.10 To be remembered as the day that I did what many people have on their 'bucket list'.
I've done some pretty cool things in my life: lived in Juneau, Alaska, sea kayaked, rock climbed on sea cliffs, and other Alaska-associated cool-ness including running a 5k at midnight in the land of the midnight sun.

But today tops the charts....

I WENT SKYDIVING!!!

I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has been pondering about it at all. I wasn't truly afraid at all. Ok, there was a moment in the plane when we reached the 13,000 ft. altitude to jump that I saw the two people before me jump out the door and disappear from view that I thought, "Holy crap, what am I doing?" But my fantastic instructor Anthony kept talking in my ear the whole time and I never had time to feel fear. From the moment I suited up to when we landed gracefully back to the earth, I had to focus especially hard to realize what I was doing. It was like walking through a dream. I didn't question what was going on. Even scooting toward the door to jump was automatic and natural.
I wish I could post the mental image that I have from looking down at Tooele with mountains of three sides and the Great Salt Lake taking up the rest of the view. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
Not only did I have a phenomenal time up in the air, but I got to share the moment with great friends. Thanks for being awesome guys!

I wasn't nervous.... :)

This is the group (minus a couple people who left early) with our logbooks. Which we will keep for when we go again. (Sorry Dad!)

The Festival of Colors!!!

WICKED FUN! If you have never been to this spring Indian tradition, try and plan it into your life. I only know of it because there is a temple just half an hour from my house. But as far as I know, this happens all over the place. I had an absolute blast!

This year was different than other years I've gone because NO ONE wanted to wait for the actual countdown to the throwing of colors when they light the bonfire to burn the witch in effigy. So there was color everywhere hours before the bonfire but it was still good fun.

This was when we were clean:  

We had only been at the temple for 20 minutes: 

this is when you could still see individual colors, still BEFORE the official throwing of colors: 

And the final product of our adventure:

Feel free to scroll up and down and see how our white shirts turn gradually colors and then the dull gray-pink tint. :) haha

Insanities but it was a great time. 

A little history (provided by Wikipedia):

It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,^[1] and countries with large Indic diaspora populations, such as Suriname, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Mauritius, and Fiji. 

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli Vandana in Sanskrit,also Dhulheti, Dhulandi orDhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi(little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahladaccomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. 

Hating on FB...yeah, this is happening

After a good two weeks of being facebook free and loving life (minus having incredibly handy and instant contact with some besties) nothing was wrong in the world. Life continued as I know it and I didn't spend a couple hours a day checking on my notifications and friends' news feed. 

But I've HAD IT!!! 

If there weren't certain people that I NEED to stalk because they live so far away (yes, you Heli) I would just turn it off forever. Tonight really killed me because within one scroll of news feed for today, I was made aware of THREE engagements. One I knew was coming, another was actually truly shocking but a nice surprise and the other was just too much for me to process. 

I shouldn't hate on weddings and bliss, I know. This is ideal for everyone. Mostly. But I am just done. Done trying to figure out what may or may not (mostly likely IS) wrong with me. 

Ok, pity party is officially...... ADJOURNED!!! Good night Internet Void....and Heli :)

Warning: Nodding off in class can cause minor Whiplash

I really like school. I love to learn. Signing up for classes every semester is both stressful (trying to make sure they will all count toward graduation) and exciting. It's like a scavenger hunt of riveting subjects that I get to study at an institution of higher education.
Except this class STRUCK OUT
The name Brazilian Cultures in the anthropology discipline (and diversity requirement fulfilling credit) gave me reason to think that I would thoroughly enjoy learning about an exotic country. Um...not so much. It really isn't the class content, it's definitely the professor. I have the best luck with professors. They are fantastic at teaching and really knowing what they are talking about and/or watching them walk into the room makes me chuckle.
This Brazil professor looks a lot like Tom Hanks (minus movie makeup) but a lot geekier and goofier. Probably less eloquent too. Oh my Prof has a cute diamond stud in his left ear lobe. Super cute!

My prof is always prefacing what he's going to talk about according to the lecture. Which would be totally fine and extremely helpful....if he didn't repeat it every 5 minutes.
Ok, I'm being too judgmental but I think that the small fortune I paid to sit through an hour and a half of pinching myself to stay awake allows me some degree of criticism.

Classy, Mr. Creeper sitting in front of the library, real classy

No. I'm not blind or oblivious to your all-too-obvious stare, I just choose not to acknowledge you, ok? Just because I don't say something or stare back at you until you unashamedly look away doesn't mean I don't see you. So don't be such an obvious creep please or I'll be forced to glare.