The Prescholastic Era includes the time up until I entered kindergarten. The Orchard Era makes up all seven years of elementary school. The South Davis Era has all three years of junior high, and the Woods Cross Era has all three years of high school. Then the Spokane Era makes up my mission.
Another era is coming to an end, the BYU Era. This week I will have my very last classes, my very last reading days, and my very last exam. I graduate a week later.
It kind of blows my mind that it's already over, basically. The BYU Era has been longer than the previous three. There is more time between now and my freshman year than there was between my freshman year and high school.
I like to think that I have changed over these last four years, and for the better. I thought that my mission wrought a mighty transformation in me. And I still believe that to be true. However, I think I underestimated the changing power of just two years. I think I changed on my mission more than I would have in just two ordinary years (spending 24/7 with someone you didn't choose and talking to strangers all day does that to you). But it didn't stop there. I think of myself as a fairly normal person, whereas before I was totally weird. Now I'm on the weird end of normal, whereas before I was just weird. I think that my mission didn't make me normal, but it gave me the potential to be so. It was college life that turned me into a normal person.
I'm still very socially awkward, but I'm not as bad as I once was. If I so choose, I can hold a conversation with someone I don't know, even if it's stilted. I used to have an analogy that a shiny, red ornament would work on a pine tree but not on a black, dead, ugly Halloween tree. I used to say that I was a Halloween tree and therefore I couldn't have Christmas ornaments (normal things). I don't think that anymore. There are plenty of Christmas ornaments in my life now. I have become a better thinker, and as some questions in my life are answered, I get a lot more. My first year, I was a very good student and was very focused on my studies. Now I'm not as focused. Which I think is both good and bad.
Here's a recap on the BYU Era.
- In 2010, I started college as an awkward, freshly returned missionary. I had registered as an English major, but I realized I really wanted English Language (ELang), so that's what I did. My first room roommate, James, was not good for me, as he was the most extreme introvert I have ever met. But my other flatmates, the Jeffs, I think were very good roommates for me at that time in my life; I think they befriended me a lot better than some of my other roommates would have. I attended winter through summer, but I had to take off fall because I couldn't get a job in Provo. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I applied for scholarships for that fall, but they based scholarships on your GPA as of the previous fall semester. But I wasn't a student the previous fall, therefore I had no GPA, therefore I had no scholarship. But because I took the fall off, I had to say I wanted to be considered for scholarships when I returned--and at that point I did have a GPA, so I got a scholarship for the following winter, whereas if I had gone that fall, I would have had no scholarship for fall or for winter. I think they do things differently now, so that wouldn't have happened today.
- In 2011, I moved into the complex and ward where I live now. I officially declared myself an editing minor. I lived with some people who went to Woods Cross but whom I didn't know very well, and I lived with one of my former mission companions. I got a job setting up for and cleaning up after various sporting events--it was a decent job, but my boss didn't like me enough to hire me again later. I'm just not cut out to be a janitor. I spent all of summer term with no roommates, and most of that time was without air conditioning. I officially declared myself a geology minor in the summer, but I didn't know anything about it at the time. My dad lost his job, so without financial help from my parents, I had to take fall off again, and I was rehired at the Distribution Center, where I had worked the previous fall.
- In 2012, I moved into the apartment where I live now. I met Bryton, who may have been my favorite roommate ever. I took physical geology, which changed my life. I became friends with a bunch of girls whom I nicknamed "the horses." I started working for BYU Studies, which at that time was my lowest-paying job ever despite requiring the most education. I went to school winter through fall that year. One of my favorite experiences was going to Death Valley. I had to deal with a roommate whom I called a tarantula.
- In 2013, I stayed in the same place, and I was called as ward clerk. I took classes winter, spring, and fall, but I took summer off to go on vacations to visit my nephews. I officially finished the editing minor in the spring, and though I technically finished the geology minor in the winter, I took the Field Studies class and Groundwater, which was less interesting than I had hoped. I finished my ELang classes. I thought that taking Groundwater prevented a December graduation, but in fact I could have graduated even with taking it--but I don't regret graduating in April.
- In 2014, I took my fifth and final winter semester, in which French was my only serious class. I interviewed with the Joseph Smith Papers and didn't get the job, but I was surprised when that interview led me to get a job with Reid Neilson, the managing director of the Church History Department. This job required me to leave BYU Studies, where I had been for nearly two years.
As of this moment, I don't know what's going on with me in the spring, whether I will continue to work remotely in Provo or if I will move to Salt Lake. I should find out this week. Staying in Provo will provide a more gradual transition between the BYU Era and the next--but going to Salt Lake will end it immediately.
I hope that the strata deposited in this era will serve as an important foundation for the eras still to come.
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