Party in the U.S.A.

Oh my goodness, talk about sore! I was planning on about a 16-hour day, and that is almost exactly what it was. We got to ISU (from the hotel) at 8:30am and didn't leave until 12:30am! Oh my goodness it was a long day - but totally worth it for the paycheck I'll get! :P Now I just really wish someone would give me an amazing massage because I sure need it! Running camera for 12 hours will take a toll on ya! I had to do handheld for one of the games, too and wow... that thing is like a brick! Running up and down a football field for 2-3 hours with that brick on your shoulder ... no thanks! Anyway, the day as a whole wasn't that bad. I'd done this "Rocky Mountain Rumble" thing before, so at least I knew what to expect/what I was getting myself into.

Since we didn't finish until 12:30, everyone stayed at the hotels again for one more night (it was already paid for, so why not?) and left early this morning. We got back around 11:30 or 12 and I showered, got dressed, and went to my friend Adam's ward. I had written on my facebook status "hmmm... what ward (in Provo) starts sometime after 12 tomorrow... since I won't get back from Idaho until about then! Any suggestions? :P " Adam was the only one who wrote back before I went to sleep, so I went with him. Plus, it was the other Sparks ward and I had a few friends in that ward and thought it would be fun, since I still seem to be at Sparks 3+ times a week!

After church, I came home and chatted with Karie for a while before taking a glorious nap. There was a CES fireside tonight, so she and I watched that and then chatted a bit more until it was time for ward prayer. However, I headed to Sparks for the weekly multi-language hymn singing! I think every ward should do that. It's so awesome. This week we added Japanese to the mix! And my friend had a Russian hymn book, so I took a stab at singing in Russian. Depending on the song, I could read it in time... but when we sang the more upbeat ones... yeah, I was lost! I can read it, but I can't read it fast yet! So on those ones, I would revert to my Spanish hymn book.

Also, there are randomly a LOT of people in the ward this year from random parts of my life! Last week I could have sworn I saw someone I knew from VA, but I wasn't 100% sure so I never went up to him. But this week I was certain, so before ward prayer I pointed at him with an "I know you!" face and he looked and pointed at me too. Kevin Gonzales is in my old ward! He was in one of the Centreville wards back in high school. Small world! Also, my friend Mike (different Mike) from freshman year is randomly in this ward too! AND... one of those people you KNOW you know but for the life of you can't figure out how you know each other. His name is Jake and we spent half the evening trying to figure out how we know each other. He's an animation major; I was sound recording. I never really did any projects or anything with animation people, so that can't be it. But he has been in a lot of choirs/music groups. But he was in Singers, and I definitely never was! He looked like someone from Vocal Point, so I asked if he had been in that and he had... but it could not possibly have been from that, because he was in it 03-04 and I wasn't even at BYU yet! We never did figure it out! Bah. Oh well. Eventually, right?

The rest of the evening was spent bouncing between apartments in Sparks. After hymn-singing and ward prayer, I ended up at 8 for quite some time... which, was slightly weird since that was where I lived last year! Management totally fixed up the place after I left and now it looks amazing! AND... 8 has apparently turned into the "party apartment" and everyone is always over at 8. Boo! I guess having a very PDA/engaged roommate last fall as well as two roommates who hardly spoke English kind of took our apartment out of the running for "most fun apartment to be in."

We all played Nerts at Apt 8, and Jason was there (a friend from the ward last year) and last time I played "partner Nerts" (because there were so many people) Jason and I smoked everyone! So we partnered again. And let me tell you... it is SO hard to lose on purpose! Most everyone was learning, and whenever I play with people who are just learning, I go extra slow and lose on purpose. I told Jason that we couldn't smoke everyone in the first round, so we went as slow as possible... and still won, dangit! We played slow again the 2nd round and finally cranked it up 3rd round. I usually hate playing partner Nerts, but Jason and I have a system down and it works beautifully!

After that ended, I went to Jake's apartment (different Jake than the animation one) and played games with people in his ward. It was some weird karate-ish game that actually was a lot of fun! Everyone gets into some sort of karate position and then each person takes turn trying to slap one of their neighbors' hands and if they succeed, that person is out. Minus the whole BYU-housing and 6-people-to-an-apartment thing, I almost want to live in Sparks again!