the end is in sight.

For two reasons. All I have to do for this semester is go to an interview for next semester and then present my final paper for extra credit. I'm not too worried about either of them, I just have to go do them.

And then I have to finish cleaning and packing and I'm out of this place. And after this I will only have one more semester of this student housing nonsense. Reason number two the end is in sight.

I understand that there is only so much that can be done...but still. It's not the most exciting thing when you get the short end of the stick. And I understand that all students have been there, I'm just documenting my experience.

So last semester was a nightmare when it came to cleaning. I won't go back into it because it will make me frustrated and I'm aiming for a more stress free life. This semester has been better, but it's still having its moments. All I'll say is that if you've already left and you leave your stuff in the apartment...it becomes fair game of possession. And that includes donating it to the garbage can.

With the track system at BYU-Idaho there is a pretty constant flow of students in and out of apartments and campus. I don't even know how many people have lived in my bedroom up until this point. But I can bet it's been a while since one of them has cleaned the tracks on the window. So as it is white glove time and I'm totally moving out until next semester I had to clean my room with a lot more detail than I did last semester since the break was shorter and they didn't require me to move out during the break (does anyone else think its outrageous to pay $200 for storage for a room when nobody is going to be living here until I come back into the exact same apartment and most likely room?).

So I was scrubbing and scrubbing the window track since it had quite the collection of dust and grime in it. Oh, did I mention glass shards?

Last semester there was an incident of a crashing snowman head that left a nice hole in my window and glass all over the floor. Thankfully the apartment paid for it to be fixed.

But this is where things get ironic. When it comes to clean checks they come and check with a vengeance. And I would put a pretty penny down that sometimes they look for things or make up things just so they can take your money.

Well I would like to pose that residents should be able to do the same. Since I don't own this apartment, I'm not responsible for maintenance. They are. So the air conditioner that you took your sweet time to fix? Or the dishwasher that broke every other week last semester? The fan above the stove? The clogged sink and bath tub? All I'm saying is that if they are going to charge ridiculous fines, residents should be able to as well when they don't fulfill their responsibilities.

Not to mention, isn't remaining glass shards a little bit of a danger? In all fairness, I could have checked and cleaned a little bit earlier, especially since it was last semester. But on the other side, they could have checked to make sure they cleaned up their mess as well.

OK, enough ranting for today.

wishful thinking

The topic ideas have been coming in! Thank you so much. Please keep 'em coming. I'm still in desperate need of ideas. But here's the first one.

If you could just *BAM* have any talent without having to work at it, which talent would you choose? Not a super power, just a real life talent that real people have.

I'm going to answer this in two ways. What first came to mind was something that involved music, which is more like expanding an ability (and I use that term very loosely) that I already have. I play (again....using the term loosely) the violin and the piano. I'll spare myself the embarrassment and not tell you how long I've been playing them because for the amount of time I have been, I should be exponentially better than I am. Especially when it comes to the violin. I mostly blame myself because I didn't like to practice, but slightly blame by teacher because she DROPPED me. She said I wasn't progressing fast enough. Really?! Why does it matter to you? You're still getting paid if I'm correct. Don't worry. I'm not bitter.

But I think it would be beyond cool to be able to hear a song on the radio, TV, at a performance, what have you and then sit down and be able to play it. How does that even work?! People can pick out notes and recognize them, not to mention remember them, well enough to learn an entire new piece in a matter of seconds. Crazy cool.

OK, so that's the first way I'll answer that question.

I'll pick something entirely new, that I've always thought was cool but have no part of currently. I wish I could pick up on new languages like a boss. It comes so naturally for some people. I've heard that once you're fluent in one language it's pretty easy to pick up on others. Especially languages that are similar, like Spanish and Italian. And if you're good at languages the possibilities are endless. You could have a sweet job like working as a special agent like Sydney Bristow.