Oh, beautiful for rainy skies

Ah, what an eventful week. It was the Fourth of July, so there was a lot that went on in connection to that. On Tuesday after work, I drove up to NSL to meet my sister and her family to go to NSL's annual fireworks show. I think it was the best show they've ever put on; I think it was also closer (probably because they didn't want to catch the mountain on fire).

Then I had an enjoyable drive back down to Provo--late at night, not a lot of traffic, still wearing my glowsticks, listening to Jan Terri and the radio--and I thought, "My life is pretty awesome right now." I'm attending a great university on scholarship. I have a good job--although it may be the worst-paying job I've had, it's one that I'm lucky to have and one that requires an education. I live in a good location with good roommates, and I'll live here next year too. I don't make friends, but if I did, I would have some. I have a lot of fun down here. I may not be able to run and I may have my bike seat stolen and I may have relatives who pester me about getting married, but my life is going pretty well.

The Fourth of July hasn't been one of my favorite holidays, but in recent years it's gone up in my opinion. I think it's probably now my fourth favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween. On Wednesday morning I woke up at 7:00 to the sounds of the Freedom Run just down the street from my apartment. Usually I can fall asleep again after waking up, but I couldn't that morning, so I got up and got ready. Then my roommate Bryton and I went to Provo's parade (this year it seemed a lot earlier than last year, but that's because I got up later this year), but Bryton wanted to go home and I'm pretty cynical about parades, so we weren't there for very long. I ate very unhealthily that day, eating a lot of Fourth of July cookies. That afternoon I went swimming (or, rather, sitting in the water, holding on to the edge) in the Regency apartment pool with some girls. Then a bunch of us from my ward went up to the field across from the MTC to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. I didn't know mosquitoes were biting me, but now I know. Then we came home and some people set off fireworks outside our apartment. The whole aerial-fireworks-being-legal thing kind of makes me uncomfortable. But they are fun to watch, if terrifying. This year's Fourth of July wasn't as fun as last year's, but it was still fun.

Then I had the best July 5 I've ever had. Actually I don't remember much about July 5--I know in 2007 I had my pre-mission physical and in 1999 I decorated my room for Halloween--but it was probably the best one I've had. Mostly I was excited about the weather. It was a very nice rainstorm, the first in a long time. It's a good thing it came, because I was almost converted to liking sunlight. Then the rain came and reminded me how awesome it is. I had to work in the library to do source checking for an article about the Church in Italy. Then that evening I went with some non-friend friends to see a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was very short and small and it had a happy ending instead of the real ending. But I guess that's what you get for a free performance. 

On Friday I took a French test (I'm not sure how well I did), and yesterday I spent all day studying. That wasn't fun, but I'm glad I did it.On Friday I also went to a surprise party for my future roommate, whom I am scared of.

This week I had a bunch of bizarre dreams. I dreamed about Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's. In the Christmas dream, some neighbors had dropped off Christmas gifts on our doorstep. One of the gifts was a stack of used Christmas CDs, one of which was by the girl on the Swiss Miss hot chocolate packaging. One of the songs was called "O Denmark," and I wondered why she was associated with the brand Swiss Miss if she was Danish. Another gift looked like a small Christmas tree, but it was actually a jar of giant pickles, each pickle costing $500, but it was foreign currency, so it was probably more like $30 each. When we microwaved the pickles, it turned out that they were more like pickle-shaped croissants. In the New Year dream, I was watching a movie (while I was adjusting a piano bench) about some cowboys and cowgirls hanging precariously on a rope at the edge of a cliff. The cowgirl at the bottom fell off, so the cowgirl above her went down to rescue her. When they came back up, the cowboy above them cut the rope--but before the last strings could break, the cowgirl cried, "Murderer! I'm going to cut your foot off!" And she did. Then she threw the bloody knife at another cowgirl on another rope. In another dream, I ate part of my niece and started on her friend, as well--but it wasn't cannibalistic, because they would grow back, and they may have actually asked me to eat them.

Here's hoping for a nice, rainy summer.