Thanksgiving Break!

Wow, it's almost been a full month since I last updated this. Sorry to those of you who try to keep up with this; though you may admit, I've made it easy to keep up with for the last month. Unfortunately, there is compensation needed, so I may or may not make this a long one.
The picture above is the same spot as the last picture. See? The leaves hadn't even fallen off most (except for the one) of the trees before it snowed. I like the picture because it shows Rexburg in a climate nutshell: It can be nice and Summer-like one day, have a Fall day the next, and be covered in snow the day after that.
So what have I been up to the past month? A lot, yet nothing that different. School commands my time like an irate drill sergeant in Boot Camp sometimes. This last week had been an interesting one. Last Thursday was the deadline for my final paper of the semester for my English 101 class. The teacher's a little crazy about English, though, so that made writing the five-page persuasive research paper a little stressful (am I incorporating enough of what we learned? Am I keeping it fresh and exciting? Will he like my syntax variation? Etc.). To add to that, I chose the topic of Nuclear Energy (is it controversial enough (we had to pick a controversial topic that we were "passionate" about)?) On top of that, (confession time) this paper would be the first persuasive paper I did major research for and actually finished. Well, without getting into too many details about my semi-procrastination that was aided by work for other classes and lack of good resources to use for my paper, I ended up basically doing the entire thing the day before it was due. Six hours in the library is not incredibly fun, but when it's six hours of intense study and writing, it's considerably less than incredibly fun. However, I consider myself lucky. Most people, having to do such things with the kind of homework background I have, would be burnt by the end of that 6-hour paper blitz. Spent, done for the night, ready for bed, goodnight America. I wasn't like this, though I did look rather tired. I could have done more homework if needed. In fact, I ended up seeing a couple of friends who had been begging me to do something with them for about a week and a half. Anyway, I had named three days of last week thus: Scaffold Tuesday (it was the last English class before the paper was due), Flashback/Executioner Wednesday, and Guillotine Thursday. I am proud to say that I was spared the guillotine on Thursday because I had been exonerated by completing my paper! Now we'll see if I'm totally spared the chopping block when I get my paper back, graded. Essentially, I'll have to rewrite the paper after we're given them back and hand in the final draft a week later. I try not to think about this too much because I want to have a happy Thanksgiving Break.
Speaking of, I'm on Thanksgiving Break right now! I'm home for the break and will be here until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Yep, good times are a-happening and still more to come.
After the break will be fun. December 3rd is the University Band concert that I'm playing in and December 4th, I found out the other week, is when I'll be competing against the rest of the school for my Beginning International Latin Ballroom class. I'll be doing both dances we learned this semester: Cha-cha and Samba. Sidenote: If you want a really good ab workout, learn the Samba! Last semester I competed for my Beginning Social Dance class in Cha-cha and got 4th place. I have the same partner for Cha-cha this semester, so it will lots of fun, but wish us luck! For anyone wanting to attend either performance, the information can be found on BYU-Idaho's website (the event calendar). The band concert is Friday (Dec. 3rd) evening and the dance competition for me will last from 12-2pm the next day (Dec. 4th), but I'll only be dancing as long as I keep getting called back.
At any rate, Thanksgiving is this Thursday! I'm so excited for it! A time of family gathering, giving thanks, and feasting in celebration of the great bounty which God has so kindly bestowed upon each of us! Even if we don't have as many things as some others, we are still greatly blessed with what we do have. It's good to sit back every now and then and count our blessings.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!