Exciting Thursday

Ok so pretty much today has been freak out amazing. Well... not initially... but now it is! Explanation? Ok!

So I have a job where I wake up at 5:30am every morning (shoot me in the foot) and clean the Science Building on Campus for two hours. Not a thrilling job but hey it's work. The cool thing about the job is that it's very repetitive. Yes I said that was the cool thing. It's really cool because as I'm going about tasks it gives my brain a chance to wander and think about things. Now in some instances this is definitely a bad thing (some people I'm sure know what I'm talking about) but for the most part it's amazing! I don't know about you but most of my days are spent being forced to think about certain things and I never really get the chance to sit back and just let my mind go. Yes there are times in class (*gasp* Becky doesn't always pay attention in class? Shocker...) but it's honestly not the same. Anyways! Back to the story - this morning despite my "I don't want to get up and go to work" attitude I went and as I was cleaning a few things became clear in my mind and slowly started to make sense. It was like *bang!* someone just flipped on a light switch! Have you ever had those moments? The answer's right in front of you and you've been looking everywhere else for it?

Anyways, so I left work in a pretty up beat mood. I went to the gym (a good habit I'm trying to acquire and slowly am) and worked my body hard and left feeling refreshed and ready for the day. I get to my first class and I hit the downer. I get get put into a group with this guy who is middle aged, a know it all and has an attitude. Lucky me... We have to find information and give a presentation in class that'll count as a quiz - well! Low and Behold this guy takes charge of the group (shocker) and takes little to no feedback/input from the rest of the group. After everyone's submitted their presentation AND presented it - he still hasn't sent ours and is snapping at anyone who tries to talk to him. Honestly? This is a project that can be done in less than 10 minutes - easily and by now it's been at least an hour - oye! Anyways - lucky for us the teacher is great and agrees to let us present our project next time. Phew!

Then it was on to the library where I couldn't find a computer. Which - can I say? That is one thing this campus seriously needs to work on. I can't tell you how many times you go to the library and can't find a computer and it's not just me because I see at least a dozen people wandering around looking too. So I'm about to give up when someone asks "Are you looking for a computer?" I turn and it's this kid from my service trip to Mexico last fall. "Yeah I am actually." "Well I'm done so you can have mine" *insert hallelujah chorus here* It was so nice! That almost never happens!

After the library I headed over to the student center to and listen to a presentation. This thing is so cool! So there's this program (http://www.isvonline.org/) where students go and volunteer in a country for 2 weeks and then go and have an "adventure" for 2 weeks. And I'm not talking about just site-seeing adventure I mean full on rafting, exploring, horseback riding, scuba diving, rappelling, zip lining through the rain forest kind of adventure! Um hello! Amazing! So I really want to go because:

1. How cool would it be to go and volunteer in a country - like help in conservation of endangered species, rebuild houses, help protect the rain forest, teach English to kids and the like. For two weeks! Do you realize how much of a difference you would make? I love it! I did Alternative Winter Break last year and helped with this kind of stuff (minus the animals and rainforest thing) in Mexico and I can't even begin to describe how that made you feel. Honestly one person really CAN make a difference.
2. It's a foreign country. I don't know about you but I LOVE to travel and don't really get to do it a whole lot. I was so lucky to get the chance to go to Europe after high school as a student ambassador and it really changed my life. It is so amazing to go to a different country and see the sites, meet the people and just live! Granted I'm really not the kind of person who would just be like "See ya I'm going to Russia for a week!" I'm very much one of those people who likes to go see things but with a group... call it issues but whatever. I love to travel and see new things.
3. Holy Adventure. I was reading about the different things you'd get to do and it's stuff that is seriously exciting! Those who know me know I'm not much of a "Let's go jump in a river and go White Water Rafting" or "You have rope? Let's go rapelling off that huge cliff." Nonetheless - to get the chance to do some of the things they're offering would be life changing. They're things people only dream of doing and you'd get to do them - lots of them! - with in a two week span of time. Can life get better? I submit that it cannot!

So moral of the story? I want to go... SO badly! The only thing that's really stopping me is money... it's kind of a pricey thing. It really was a miracle that I was able to go to Europe in '05. A miracle. My extended family, ward members, and family friends were more than generous in donating money to me so that I could go. I honestly can't even begin to describe my love for all of those people! I could never ask them to donate money again - I just don't have it in me. The only way I could do this is if I am a work-a-holic and can maybe get sponsered by local companies - which would be a huge challenge. I wouldn't even know where to begin... Oh! Just so you know - the two places that I want to go would either be to New Zealand or Costa Rica. Given the choice I'd go to New Zealand. Yes it's more expensive and some of the "adventure" activities aren't as cool but um, hello!! It's New Zealand!! I've wanted to go there for SO long and when else will I really get the chance?

So after my grand adventure in learning about this amazing program I headed off to my Honors class. I love that class... It messes with your mind and makes you think! The new TED talk we discussed was "Larry Lessig: the Law is Strangling Creativity" (In case you want to watch it here's the link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html) It's insane. It's all about how crazy some of the copy right laws are and that we, in all reality, are just remixing things in our society. For example, you go out to youtube and see a video like say this one:



Funny Right? Well is this thing a violation of copy right laws? People are trying to tell the creators of things like this that it's "piracy" but it's not! Everything that we do is built off of what others have already said or done in some form or another. I don't remember who said it but there's a quote that says "The only man certain he had an original thought was Adam." It's true! We are what others have said or told us. So does that mean when we write an essay for a class that along with citing all of our sources we took our research from, should we have to cite our parents? Our church leaders? Our friends? If you think about it a lot of the conclusions we draw in papers like that are from what others have told us. Are we violating a copy right by not crediting them? Oh man I love that class...

Anyways! I'm off to see what other events will happen today. Wish me luck!