Yup it’s finals week.

But I don’t really want to talk about finals. Most of us have faced them before. Some soon will experience, others can reminisce of the days gone by. But finals, in reality, are a reflection of what you learned all year. So that’s what I am going to write about today.

Things I Learned:

I took a genetics class this year. This is a challenging course, I learned a lot, I beat my head against a table a lot, I cheered for joy when the times came. But I can talk to you about mutations, the genetic code and how to translate it. I know some things about population genetics, and I can do some new math.

I am color blind. I have had a grudge against colors most of my life because I suck with them. I have failed multiple times when it comes to matching and identifying colors. But this year I took a 2D design class and I am beginning to like colors now. I understand them. I feel my real issue was I was never taught anything about colors, and I have suffered all my life because of it. So the lesson learned, teach your kids. Never assume.

I have already talked about horses. You can find that post from a few weeks ago

Being engaged is awesome, but sucks really badly. Make sure yours is short.

Take a public speaking class. I learned about how to create a great presentation. I learned that a great presentation is not made up of lots of bullet points on a power point. In fact most power points I ever did growing up really sucked, and I should repent of my wicked ways. Read a book called Resonate, it will change the way you do presentations.

Closing Remarks:

Thanks everyone for reading my posts, and making comments. I have enjoyed this semester when it comes to writing for tbirdnation. I probably wont do it next year. I have a few new responsibilities, and a Bio-Organic Chemistry class that is going to consume me next semester. I hope you all enjoyed your school year. Come to SUU if you are contemplating it, and have a fantastic summer.

I am proud to say that I am a life long t-bird with pride as big as the ocean blue, and I hope that you can be too.

So go and find that place where you need to be and stick with it. SUU is my groove because of all the amazing things that have made it that way, and I knew from the beginning that this was going to be my new home. I have never, EVER regretted that decision.

Just a picture and a really close friend I met at SUU and I at one of my FAVORITE SUU dances.

Events during the week included a comedian; the Mr. SUU pageant; bingo with great prizes; a showing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; a carnival with fun bouncy inflatables, free food, carnival games, prizes, and live music; the Thunderbird Awards Ceremony; and a masquerade ball.

I love dancing. Any time I have an excuse to go dancing is a good time. Sometimes I’ll go to rather sketchy places if I know there’s going to be dancing. When I found out about the masquerade, you can imagine how excited I was to go.

I went with my dancing friend Ali (whenever there’s a dance beat, chances are you’ll see us together) and our outfits matched. Unintentionally.

Black and leopard. I’m not wearing any leopard, but I’m wearing gold which matched her accents.

At the dance (which was free!) I ate lots of cookies and fruits and vegetables, danced, sweated, and got some photos done in a photo booth.

You can see our love we have for dance depicted in this photo with vogue-ing and jazz hands. The other two are just… great.

I love the great activities and events SUUSA does.

Au revoir!

Cedar City Airport

Did you know they have flights to the Salt Lake International Airport every single day?

CLICK HERE for a link to Cedar’s webpage about their airport. You can view the regular flight times there.

Did you know that flights are pretty reasonably priced? I’m not saying to fly up north every single day, but perhaps for the occasional concert, event, or wild spontaneous weekend…it’s an option. So, let’s say you want to go to your nephew’s fourth birthday party in Salt Lake on Sunday night but you have to be to class at 10am on Monday morning. Why not just fly back? Or let’s say that you’re super homesick for your rich parents. Why not just have them fly in for lunch? (I recommend the Pastry Pub.) It could happen (for those of you that have rich parents). There are other scenarios I could paint, but let me just tell you, flying from Cedar City to Salt Lake is a pretty good deal. I went home this last weekend for that nephew scenario. Happy Birthday, Cooper….thanks for letting me come to your party.

The Cedar airport is a happy place where life moves a bit slower. When I showed up an hour early for my flight, the only employee I could find told me, “Oh, just take a seat by the fireplace and we’ll make an announcement when we’re ready to start the security screening and boarding processes for the flight.” That’s just how they roll there. I loved it. Here’s what some of my experience looked like.

Like I said, don’t necessarily plan on flying from Cedar to Salt Lake every day or every weekend, but if you ever get the chance, just know that it’s an option. And you never know, upon landing in Salt Lake, you might just run into some good friends off on a weekend adventure of their own.

Lookin’ good, Garret and Kyle!

The Salt Lake airport is pretty nice too, it’s just not quite what we’ve got here in Southern Utah. PS, getting through Salt Lake security screening on a Monday morning took longer than my entire 33 minute flight back to the land of SUU. Ain’t no thang.

My sister told me I was pretty cool for flying up North for the weekend, and honestly, I kinda felt cool. Walking into my class at 10am, nobody even knew that my flight had just arrived at 9:20 that morning. Always be aware of the adventures that are awaiting you…even in Cedar City, Utah.

Any male student can apply for Mr. SUU and it’s always a blast to enjoy. This year there were seven beautiful contestants. Today’s pageant consisted of two sections: a talent section and an evening-wear section with a random questionairre. Some of the great talents we saw tonight were rhythmic gymnastics, acoustic guitar performances, a piano performance, and stand-up comedy. I have to say that my favorite performance was when one of the contestants did rhythmic gymnastics to “Colors of the Wind” from Pochahontas.

In the evening-wear section, the question that stood out to me was “If you could have only one of the qualities listed, which would it be? Beautiful, intelligence, or rich?” The contestant chose beauty because he believed that almost anything could be attained with beauty. By the way, there was some spiffy outfits tonight! Looking good, guys!

Judges left briefly as the audience was entertained by Little Big Heart, a local band comprised of many great SUU students.

The constentants waited nervously for the results.

The titles awarded were 2nd Man Attendant, 1st Man Attendant, and Mr. SUU. Those who won one of the titles were given a brand new scooter! I’m way jealous!

In the end, Joey Cardenas took the win as Mr. SUU! All hail the new king!

Want to know how? It’s called Sweat for Clean Water.

For those out there who don’t know, I write for another blog called Southern Utah Hiking. It is about hiking here in Southern Utah (seems to match the name, right). I recently wanted to make a difference in the world so I came up with this event and now I need your help.

Instead of retyping everthing here is the info.

Welcome everyone to the first annual “Go out and Explore” Day put on by me here at Southern Utah Hiking and Trails360.com. I hope you are all excited because I am! What we are doing is going out and hiking Calf Creek Falls out in Escalante Utah.

Along with this we are going to do a fundraiser for a charity group called Charity: Water. All those who donate will get a free T-Shirt. We are trying to raise 1000 dollars which will put upwards of 50 new wells so that people can have fresh drinking water.

Location- Calf Creek Falls, Escalante Utah

Time:10:00 AM

Date: June 29th, 2013

In order to for proper registration I need everyone to go the site, and follow the registration instructions

The morning stated off early with a performance by our Cheerleaders and an introduction to the things that were provided for the rest of the day. Along with other single presenters, such as the students and professors, a Poster Session was held where many people or groups of students where able to present their findings on research projects they did, whether for Psychology or other things. I was privileged enough to have  the opportunity to present with 2 other students on a Psychology research project that we conducted for more than a month. It was nice to be able to talk to students about what I had learned and share my findings.

The idea behind the Festival was to get students more engaged in the academics, as well as open other student’s eyes to things that they may not have know before and give them ideas to do more with their education. Which is actually what SUU is all about. We want students to take control of their education and do what they want with it and experience many different things.

Chelsea Kimptom, a junior History/Anthropology major, said that she really enjoyed having the Festival on campus and she was happy that we were able to have it and hopes that it will become an annual thing.

So when you think about where to attend, keep in mind that you’ll only find the best form of excellence at Southern Utah University

They’re going to build a Mormon temple in Cedar City. It’s going to be a couple years before this comes to fruition, but seeing as I’ve already been hoping for this for four years, I can wait patiently (and excitedly) for a little bit longer until it happens.

For more information on why Mormons build temples, CLICK HERE.

For some details on the Cedar City temple specifically, CLICK HERE.

For the SUU Journal article listing some additional benefits of the temple, CLICK HERE.

And in the meantime, just know that I’m one very excited tbirdnation-er!

But don’t fear! That is why we have flashlights on our phones! (And real flashlights around the dorm)

I was able to become squeaky clean with 29% brightness or so in the bathroom! I had a moment of epiphany as I would close my eyes. “Hey. It’s dark when I shut my eyes.” When we shower, water gets in our face and we tend to close our eyes, so it’s already dark in that aspect. We’re all experienced at showering in the dark.

Don’t worry. I felt safe after having this epiphany.

Living on your own teaches you to improvise sometimes!

P.S. Why isn’t there a picture? Because it’s totally pitch black, silly goose.

One thing I really enjoy is being able to work at the University Journal, the newspaper on campus. I have grown so much as a writer and writing is a skill that is necessary in almost every career. It’s been fun taking story assignments that get me out of my comfort zone and expose me to new things.

Considering the hours all the Journal staff puts in, we really aren’t paid, especially the fantastic editor-in-chief, Whitney, but we do it because we love it. I also like seeing my name in print. I’m kinda vain like that.

There is nothing so terribly discouraging as having your story colored red with the revision notes of a copy editor, but also nothing more encouraging as having a story come back from the copy editor with only a few corrections/revisions.

It’s a phenomenal experience and I’m excited to continue working there next year.

I think writing AP (Associated Press) style is something everyone should experience. It definitely makes you think. And it also makes you grow as a writer.

News editor Ginny, EIC Whitney lurking, and me in the Journal office. We have a good time all the time.