flirt shamelessly.

"Flirt shamelessly," she said. My own mother. "Flirt shamelessly." Of course this was a follow-up to her previous comment: "For a girl who hasn't been on a date in a while, you should be flirting." To which I replied, "Mom, I can't just flirt with a man..." She didn't let me finish. "Flirt shamelessly," she said.

Let me tell you something about me. I can't just flirt with a man. There are reasons for this.

1. I am terrible at flirting. As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I am terrible at flirting. Did I mention that I'm terrible at flirting? I was notorious for this lack of skill with an old friend of mine, who would never cease to present me with YouTube videos with flirting tips any time I would come over to his house. I just can't do it unless I know the person with whom I am flirting, and if I am flirting shamelessly with said person, our relationship is more than likely 100% platonic. At least to me.

2. I have a special talent for encouraging male friendliness. Maybe it's the face that I am known as "The Porcupine," but any time I show so much as a tooth in the direction of the opposite sex, consequences often include a deluge of male friendliness. I am terrified of male friendliness. Okay, let's just chalk this one up to paranoia about male friendliness.

3. I would rather say no up front than go through the process and make things awkward and have to say no later. This is the opposite philosophy that some of my other female compatriots have. They may say, "YOLO," or some other modern-day colloquialism that takes me months to work up the courage to search on Urban Dictionary, terrified of the fact that it's something inappropriate. (I'm an innocent soul deep down, what can I say?) I am incredibly anti-confrontational. So maybe I just figure that if I feel like I should turn him down in the first place, we just weren't meant to be. (Side note: I would have to actually get asked out to turn someone down.)

DISCLAIMER: I have a tendency to do all of these things, including shameless flirting, embracing male friendliness, and YOLO when I am in love. But, as that is not the case right now, this is my current opinion on the whole "flirting shamelessly" thing. Or maybe I'm just bitter about being single. You decide. So. There you have it. Tonight I will settle down in my pj's and leave the shameless flirting to Rory and Jess.

everything is going to be okay.

And that's all that needs to be said. Don't forget it... Everything is going to be okay.

strangers no more.

So. You know that one person that you see everywhere that you kind of know but aren't sure if they know you? To begin, you should probably know that I have a creepy memory. I remember scary things about people. And considering the small world that is the college I attend, I can make a connection to almost anyone I meet. My roommate complains that every time we're walking around, I'll point out someone and tell her a random detail about their lives that they may not even remember themselves. I'm a creep. So what?

Anyways, back to the story.

So there was this girl. She was in my freshman ward. Never spoke a word to each other. Sophomore year, she shows up in my Psychological Statistics class. I switch majors. Apparently she does too, because she also ends up in my Intro to ComD class second semester. Still, never spoke a word to each other. This year, she's in two of my classes and my ward again. Still... No words spoken. I know all of these things, but I always doubt that other people are as afflicted by creepy memories as I am. I convince myself that I am the most awkward person in the world. One day, I walk into the library. I sit down at a computer. The girl next to me turns to me. IT'S HER. We have this entire conversation about all of these things that I remembered that she did too. And she wasn't creeped out by me. We now wave to each other in class and at church. Seriously. Such a relief. The end.

clarity.

All is right with the world again. Basically. A lot of prayers and questions have been answered, and for those that haven't, there's a whole lot of faith going on over here. And that's all I have to say about that. Things are going to be okay. I'm sure of it.

gratitude.

Well, it's been a very interesting semester thus far. To say the least. And I have just been so grateful for some things, namely...

1. My roommate. She is fantastic. I think one reason why she is fantastic is because she is so easy to talk to. She and I are similar in some ways and different in others and we very often keep each other incredibly sane.

2. Home teachers. In our church, we are assigned people to look out for us. Our home teachers came on Sunday and the roomie and I both felt like we should ask for priesthood blessings, so we did. These wonderful boys don't even know us, but are trying to make it through school and work and so many other things, but they took the time to take care of us in that small way and speak for the Lord. It was amazing.

3. Good friends who are willing to turn around and go back to supermarkets when I leave important things like my planner in carts.

4. General Conference! Seriously. Loving it.

5. Hot showers... Remember when I whined about having such a cold shower? Well. One of our roommates woke up in the middle of the night with the brilliant thought that we should check the temperature on the water heater. Man, oh, man, did I feel dumb then. Anyways, HOT SHOWERS. I will never take them for granted again.