Stuff to do

My computer's still being gooftarded. I found the problem on Microsoft's website--apparently, Windows Service Pack 3 is incompatible with my motherboard. Unfortunately, Microsoft says they won't fix the problem because it's ASUS's fault, and ASUS won't fix the problem because they say it's Microsoft's fault, and this problem has been known by both parties for months. Gay. I tried uninstalling Service Pack 3, but it didn't fix the problem. I think that may be because I wasn't in Safe Mode when I uninstalled it, so I may try downloading and installing it again and then trying to use my BIOS work-around to get into Safe Mode and uninstall it from there.

I ended up signing up for German 101 instead of French. The class time is perfect--it's just before my other classes every day. I like back-to-back classes. It means I only have to go to campus once a day for my classes and I don't have to kill time between them. I wonder if killing time is a sin. "Thou shalt not kill, nor do anything like unto it." Ha. Anyway, the German teacher's really nice, and I'm a little ahead of the game already, since I took a little German in high school.

My speech class is going to suck, I think. I already don't care much for the teacher--she doesn't seem to have any sense of humor at all--and I don't particularly want to dress up to give formal speeches that I have to spend hours researching and practicing for. My first speech is going to be on Wednesday, and it has to be five minutes long with a "generous grace period" of thirty seconds either way. But we're not allowed to watch the clock. We're also required to use notecards, but not allowed to read anything. I signed up to give my speech on the Cookie Monster. I'm going to be very sad if I get an e-mail from the teacher saying I'm not allowed to speak about fictional characters. I was going to talk about juggling, but I looked at the syllabus before I signed up for that, and I decided to save that topic for the speech later in the semester that requires a visual aid.

Speaking of juggling, I went to juggling club the other day. Apparently, there's only one member who goes all the time. He's the president, and his name is Rob. He wears a top hat. I know more three-ball tricks than he does, but he's better with devilsticks and clubs and probably several other things. I started learning how to do clubs (once I can do clubs, I can also do knives and torches!), and I practiced with devilsticks. The club's devilstick is very different from mine. It's not a straight stick--it's wider on the outside than the inside. Apparently, this whole time, when I thought I was using devilsticks, I was really using "crystal sticks." Devilsticks are similar, but different. They go faster and handle differently. Also, they're made of different material, and don't seem to grip each other as well. So, where I was good with crystal sticks, I'm having trouble even doing a helicopter with devilsticks. The club also has three acrylic balls for contact juggling, as well as torches, knives, flaming poi, a unicycle, and silicone balls that retain 80% of their bounce. Apparently, there are usually around three people who show up to meetings, but no one in the club can ride the unicycle. There's one guy one campus who rides his unicycle to class every day, but the punk isn't in juggling club! How dare he! ...Anyway, I learned passing (with balls, not clubs) and practiced with clubs and the devilsticks. I'm just starting to get the hang of them both. I can handle two clubs just fine, but when I get to three, I can only get around seven or eight tosses before I start dropping them. It's an improvement, though! (Rings are easier.) And I got to teach the club president how to juggle a Windmill. :D

I haven't really been around much lately because Jack's decided that since it's been so long since we've seen each other and we're both, by freak chance, in the same city at the same time, that I have to spend every minute when I'm not in classes or meetings partying with him and all zillion of his friends. And by "partying" I mean largely sitting around at his place, watching TV, and making fun of his roommate Eric. Seriously, three guys live in that apartment, and at any given point in time, there are like eight people over there. Jack's going to Iraq next week, and I can't help but wonder if Dave and Eric will have as many visitors with him gone. Somehow, I don't think so.

Actually, we also went shooting. Jack's apartment has like twenty guns (and even more swords), and practically everyone here has at least one of their own. I shot Dave's .22 rifle he got before he could walk (he calls it the Chipmunk), Katy's larger rifle with a scope that was impossible to look through with the massive earmuffs I was wearing, and Eric's (or Jack's?) shotgun. I'm not actually a terrible shot, despite the fact that I've never even held a real gun before. Well... I didn't think so, anyway. I mean, I was able to hit the root beer bottles from ten yards about half the time. For a first time, that's not too bad, right? Riiiiight?

Oh yeah, Mom, remember how you were worried that I'd get married like a week after going to BYU, and then I didn't get married there at all? Aren't you proud of me? Jack and I are getting married tomorrow. For the honeymoon, he's going to Iraq and I'm going to school. Isn't that the most romantic ever? ;)