Decisions

I think I finally have a handle on things. I have a biology mid-term on Monday, and chemistry on Wednesday. So this weekend is going to be a lot of studying. I spent probably 2-3 hours yesterday reading my biology textbook. I have not read one single chapter of it this entire year. And surprise! It actually helped me understand the material. Though I find that I can't read it for more than about 30 minutes without falling asleep. An unfortunate side effect. After I read the textbook, I did the end-of-the-chapter questions and got most of them wrong. But the important thing is that I know why they were wrong and I know what the right answers are. And then I went to the online companion website to the book and watched a bunch of really dorky animations and tutorials. I'm at the point in biology when most of the new terms we learn sound like they're in an other language. Like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). And ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP). So when Daniel hears the narrator of the animation say them, he laughs.

Last night at 11pm Nelson staff went to Perkins. It's kind of like Denny's or Coco's. I've never heard of it before, apparently it's a Denver thing. Anyways, it was really fun. Thursday nights are basically like party night on campus so we joked that everyone was going to go crazy when they realized that every single RA is out of the building for a couple hours. Actually, two RAs stayed behind to take care of incident reports. I was the only one that went that is not on staff, but everyone considers me on staff anyways. There are actually some residents that don't even realize I'm not an RA. It's kind of funny because they won't break any rules in front of me because they think I can document them. But I can't.

Yesterday Daniel talked to his mom about next year. He told her that he's really not that excited about being an RA next year, and you know what his mom said? She said, well then, let's get a house for you! That's what I've wanted all along. Most of the reason I was going to be an RA is because I thought we were going to live on campus next year, and I thought I might as well get free room and board if I'm going to. But if Daniel's parents are on board with the whole house thing, then I would definitely prefer that. So the next step is to talk to his Dad and find out exactly what our budget is and what we're looking for. And then.... house-hunting! We have to decide if we're going to do this in the next 2 weeks because that's when Daniel has to commit to being an RA or not. And I find out on March 6 where (if) I'll be offered a position.

Jessica talked to her fellow pro-staff about having couples on staff together and it seems it will be a difficult battle for her to put both of us on her staff next year. Some other staff members are really dead-set against it. A part of me will be really happy to say to them "well, if you won't put us on the same staff, then we'll just move off campus and live together and there's nothing you can do about it!" It makes me so angry that they have this rule and they won't even consider our situation. I mean, what are they afraid of? We're not going to break up anytime soon. And we aren't so focused on each other that we neglect our jobs or the rest of the staff. We've proved that this year. It seems so juvenile and childish that they have to separate us just because we are a couple. We are almost engaged, we are 20 years old and in a committed, mature, stable relationship. But none of that matters to them.

One of the problems with getting a house is finding housemates. We have plenty of friends that are looking for places to live next year, but they are all going abroad in the fall. I don't think his parents can afford for us to not have housemates for the first quarter. I talked to Hope last night and she said that she would LOVE to live with us when she gets back from London in January. And Jeff is also looking for a place to live. We know that we get along really well with both of them and it would be so much fun to live together. But, they will both be abroad in the fall. So we have to find someone who we know and like, who needs a place to live just for the fall. And I havn't okayed this with my parents for sure yet. I mean, we have discussed it, but I don't know how they will feel about paying Daniel's parents for my housing. Although, it's my grandparents that will be paying for it, and they love Daniel and in general let me make my own decisions about things. So we'll see. I hate not knowing where I'm going to live next year. But thinking about a house where we could have friends over and cook dinner and share a room without breaking any rules and not have to follow anyone's rules but our own and not have to find a place to store our stuff over breaks....... I can't wait :-)