Procrastination!!

Sometimes I don't feel like doing homework....so I decide to catch up my blog instead! That's still semi-productive right?

Where to begin......School! So as you may remember from my last post, I got into the Music Ed program at BYU at the end of this summer! Well I knew that this was going to be a demanding program, but I didn't quite understand exactly how ridiculous it was going to be! On top of having to learn music theory (which is COMPLETELY new to me), I'm also being violently shoved into the world of teaching! That's right, we're already teaching! In public schools! I wear classy clothes and a fancy name tag and everything!

This would be the fancy name tag. FBI approved.

And we started doing this in like the second week of school so they really didn't waste any time! It's been good though, and I can tell that it's really helping me become a better teacher!

My bass training is also going fantastically! I'm so lucky to get to study with Eric Hansen! He's an awesome guy, and a PHENOMENAL bass player/teacher. I've already improved SO much! Actually practicing my instrument for once in my life is probably helping too.

And that's pretty much the gist of school. There's really not a lot of variety in my academic life.

Oh so I guess I should talk about my hugely life changing weekend! I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about: The mission age announcement at General Conference. That was seriously one of the unforgettable announcements ever. And for me that was largely because of how I heard about it. It went down something like this....

Saturday 9:55am: "Hmm I should wake up and watch Conference.....nah, I'll just start this session late." 

10:15-20ish: House-mate Emily Scholes bursts into the room, "GIRLS CAN GO ON MISSIONS WHEN THEY'RE 19 NOW!!" A very surprised and confused Shelby, "Wait....what th-....ARE YOU SERIOUS?" 

At which point I proceed to jump out of bed and frantically search the internet for the announcement.

So what does this mean for me? Well, just call me Sister Hornback! Yep, I knew almost immediately that I was going to take advantage of this amazing opportunity! I'll hopefully be submitting my papers in January or February, and be out of here right after school ends! I'm so excited to serve the Lord and make history as one of the first of the 19 year old girl missionaries! It's going to make my schooling process a bit longer but I know that it will be more than worth it.

So yeah, that's pretty much all the big stuff. Here's a few other random things I've done this school year so far:

Hiking the Y with Jane, Emily, and Jackson on my first night back. I somehow never did this as a Freshie!

Sam's mission farewell! That was a sad day for me....but now I'm going to get to experience my own farewell!

Instrumental Showcase Concert! (I'm in the Symphony Orchestra by the way)

At a concert in SLC! Grouplove and Neon Trees! We were SUPPOSED to see Imagine Dragons and AWOLNATION too, but we got there late and they were running ahead of schedule! Super lame. Oh and me and Scholes didn't even go to this shindig with Jane. We just happened to find her there. 

Beauty at its finest.

And last, but not least...GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND!

Tony and Sara came up for Conference, so I got to hang with them!

 Tony and I miraculously got tickets for the Sunday morning session!

Well I think that's all for now! I'll update this baby again next time in an especially procrastinaty mood!

Hey, look at me go!

Two blog posts in less than six months! I'm on a roll! Anyway, as most of you have probably already read on Facebook, I've had some pretty awesome things happening in my life lately! So here they are again:

After driving up to Provo four times in two weeks to take the class prerequisite to applying for BYU's Music Ed program, finishing my portfolio in record time, and ROCKING my interview, I found out that I GOT IN! Studying music education at BYU has been my goal since middle school, so I'm pretty excited! It's a tough program, so college is about to get a LOT more intense. But I'll actually be working toward becoming a teacher rather than just doing generals, so I think the motivation will be easier to find.
I've also recently made the decision to minor in another subject so that I can teach more than just music. I'm still trying to decide between history and political science. And speaking of history and political science, I've also decided to apply to be an American Heritage TA this February. For those of you not familiar with the workings of BYU, an American Heritage TA is basically and American history teacher. I would teach labs once a week, help struggling students during my office hours, and grade essays, quizes, etc. I'm not really sure how competitive it is to get this job, but we'll see how it goes!

About a week after I found out about getting into the Music Ed program I FINALLY got my teeth fixed for good! After SEVEN YEARS of nasty fake cement teeth that would break off randomly at the most inopportune times (13th birthday, right before a vacation, in the middle of class, ....yeah), I finally got crowns put on that should last me around twenty years! And let me tell you, they're fantastic! Super strong, super white, and apparently movie star shaped! I LOVE THEM! I posted this picture on Facebook, but here it is again: the transformation!

So yeah, that's my big news! Other than that my summer has consisted of work, work, church, a little friend and family time, work, work, and more work! Oh and some shopping. I LOVE FOREVER 21! And I also drove to Vegas by myself without dying on the five-lane freeway or getting lost! I thought that was quite the accomplishment.

Anyway, that's all for now! I'll try to keep this going! (But no promises. Hehe)

Remember that one time when I made a blog at 4 in the morning? Yeah me either....until now!

So it turns out, I am a terrible blogger. Unsurprising really, considering my track record with journaling, scrapbooking, and any other form of actually keeping track of my life....

Anyways, my last post was in the beginning of my first semester of college. And right now I'm over a month into the summer after my first year of college. So....I don't really want to go back and try to remember everything that happened in the 7 or so months in between. Sorry guys. I know you were all dying to hear about how much I hated actually having to do homework for a change, or about how sick I was of Cannon Center food, or about all the hot RMs I made out with (which would be zero hot RMs). Basically, it was a good first year. The school part was fine. I went to all my classes (most of the time) and got decent grades. And I found out that my lucky test taking skills DID carry over to college. That was a definite plus. I actually managed to have some fun too! Went to some dances. Watched lots of movies. Nothing too crazy. Although there was a random Vegas trip with the roommate and our friend in there at some point.

The roommate! That was one of the movies we watched by the way. Creepy shiz. Anyways, me and Jane got along surprisingly well despite the fact that we're complete opposites! I think both our personalities are weird/creepy enough that it worked out. We definitely had some good times. I'm going to miss her sleep talking and random song-singing at bedtime.

Now that I'm done with that random tangent, there are a couple major events that happened this year. The first, and probably the biggest is I GOT INTO THE MUSIC PROGRAM! Reading my acceptance letter was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life. Being in the music program at BYU has been my dream since I was probably 14 years old, but I honestly wasn't sure it could happen. I mean who would have thought that some little bass player from Snow Canyon High School who'd never had a lesson in her life before college could get into a program as good as BYU's? It still hasn't totally sunk in yet, but I can't wait to get started with all my music classes!

Another noteworthy accomplishment was the fact that a managed to get an A in American Heritage! And it was actually super easy! I heard all these horror stories about how American Heritage was the hardest class ever and how it was nearly impossible to get better than Cs on the tests. But guess what? I got As on ALL of the tests! Because I'm awesome. Actually I think that's where my lucky test taking skills came in. And also Jane made some really intense study guides that she was kind enough to let me use. In any case, I did way good in the class, which was an excellent confidence booster!

And last, but not least, on my list of things that happened this school year that are awesome enough to mention, I found a place to live off campus! After much trial, tribulation, and procrastination, me and my friend Emily Scholes (who is also the friend in the above mentioned random Vegas trip) finally found the perfect place! It's a nice little house with a huge living room and all private bedrooms (which is good considering mine and Emily's extremely different decorating preferences). And get this! It was the house that Emily's mom lived in when she was going to BYU back in the day! Same landlord and everything!

So that pretty much covers the important stuff that happened during school. Here's a few pictures just to sum up the year:

Ok I guess that was more than a few....whatevs. Now onto summer! Don't worry, not much has happened so this won't take long.

Basically I just work a ton, and in my small amount of spare time outside of that I get to hang out with friends. It's pretty chill. I did get to make a very short trip to Phoenix, AZ for my cousin Nathan's mission farewell. It was awesome to see him one last time before he left! I'm going to miss this man.

Can you tell we're related? ;)

And that's about the extent of my summer activities. I do have some pretty intense things coming up in the next few weeks, but I'll get to those when the time comes. So I guess I'm done for now! I'll try and do better about keeping this thing updated for anyone who's interested (aka my mom).

Ok so I've been meaning to start a blog for a really long time (I'm terrible at keeping a journal but since I live my life on my computer I thought this might go a little better) and it just so happens that I'm currently in need of a distraction to keep my awake so I can finish my homework. So I figured now would be a grand time to finally get this going. Leave it to me to start something like this at 3:30 in the morning. So yeah, this blog is mainly for my own benefit, but who knows, maybe some people actually care about what's going on in my life. But probably not. ;)

Sooooo where to even begin..... The beginning would be a good place I suppose. I moved up here on Wednesday August 23rd. That was a pretty intense day. I unpacked my whole life into a dorm room, met my super awesome roommate Jane Della Silva (side note: it's very strange to meet someone in person who you've been facebook stalking for months), and said an extremely un-tearful farewell to my parents. And honestly, the time from that point until now has been kind of a blur. We did New Student Orientation the first few days I was there which involved lots of tours and.... well the tours are pretty much all I remember actually. Oh and there was a cheesy musical performance about the Honor Code. Then after that I started classes and then things really got crazy.

With the combination of my extreme indecisiveness and the fact that I kept getting into extracurricular activities that conflicted with classes, I ended up changing my schedule like 17 times. Ok that might be a slight hyperbole but it was a lot. I finally made my last change today which leaves me with this schedule: Monday/Wednesday: 8am Writing, 9am Book of Mormon, 11am Music 201, 1pm Symphony Orchestra, 4:30pm Rugby; Tuesday/Thursday: 9am Joseph Smith and the Restoration (typing that just made me remember that I have homework in that class. Crap!), 1pm Physics 101, 5pm rugby conditioning (when I don't sleep through it); and Friday: 8am Writing, 10am private bass lessons, 11am Music 201. So that's my life right now.

While I'm on the subject of classes, I would just like to make it known that college really is a million times harder than high school. In high school I pulled off straight A's without really doing much of anything. I could rely on nothing more than my slightly above average intellect. Not so in college (which I'm sure is illustrated by the fact that I'm up doing homework at 4 in the morning). For the first time in my life I'm not understanding everything that's taught to me immediately. I have to work a lot harder to learn the things that I need to and let me tell you, that's taking a LOT of getting used to.

Well I have a lot more to say but this is getting pretty long so I'll save it for later. Farewell for now to anyone besides me who might decide to read this!! :D