So I've been missing for the past few weeks. Can you tell I had finals?

I've put blogging aside for the past few days, even though I've been home for almost a week. To be honest, there hasn't been time. I've been out doing things with my family; there's a sense of urgency to do things because I'm not staying home for my usual winter break. I'll post about those things in a bit. 

I figured that I would do a bit of a semester recap, since I tried to be good about TILT and didn't post about too much else - but I don't quite know what to say. I'll just put what comes to mind.

- This was a pretty great semester spiritually - I think I only missed a week or two going to the temple, and had one really incredible experience there while reflecting after baptisms one time. I tried to be good about prayers and scripture study, which I have never been great with in the past, and found myself getting cranky if I went too long without reading.

- I made friends...but not...best friends? I've noticed that with my friendships, I tend to have a few VERY close friends, and I spend all my time investing in them. I branched out of that a bit this semester, and got to know people in my ward/classes a bit. I got even closer with my roommates and Chris and pretty much spent all of my time with him, but I did make an effort to get to know other people.

- I learned how absolutely draining it is to spend your time being angry. Kelsi getting engaged this semester was incredibly difficult for me, as I was not ready to let go of our friendship yet. I spent a lot of time being upset about it instead of talking to her, because I felt like I was being selfish and it was just something I needed to get over. It felt like each day was a trial, trying to feel at peace with the situation. But they're happy and I need to be supportive of her. 

- Work, unfortunately, was not everything I hoped it would be, and I'm continuing with it next semester as well. But it gave me a chance to be grateful for all of the ways that Brother Brown prepared and pushed me. Dating wasn't everything I hoped it would be, either, but it never is. I went on one (blind) date and it was nice and that's all. Maybe I'll make a post about the dating situation here sometime. I'm always shifting between being really content with the fact that I am single and can do what I want, and being lonely. Still, I was able to think about some of the things that I'm looking for blahblah moving on...

- I've had some interesting ideas about thoughts and intelligence. I really loved my Absurdist Hero class, and we covered an array of topics - some which acted as a catalyst for my own thoughts. Maybe that deserves its own post as well. 

- Chris was constantly reminding me that I had a choice as to how I react, and how I feel about something. I am still disputing this - I mean - I'm contending with myself. I realize that I think too much and it's just that sometimes, feelings seem out of my control. I know that I need to stop taking things so seriously and to stop being hard on myself.

Ok. That's all I've got right now. That all probably seems incredibly vague, so I'll move on to the more specific posts.