The Alchemist

I highly, highly recommend this book.

My favorite quote from the whole book:

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

This has more significance to me than I can explain.

Second favorite:

"What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.'"

Thank you Jon Reyes for recommending and lending it to me.

What's New

So I realize it has been a long-elephant-trunk time since I've posted. It's always at work that I end up posting so I never have pictures. Otherwise I'm rarely on the computer, it's kind of nice.

I think there are several things I need to update on. Here we gooooo:

1. Moving. I moved from building 4 to building 2, same apartment complex. May I just say that building 2 is so much better. The ward is way fun...I have so many friends in the ward. I've made more friends in this ward in 3 weeks than I did in my old ward over the whole semester. I also love my roommates a lot. They are Lacey's old roommies (she moved out). Basically it's pretty wonderful and I'm rarely bored.

2. Work. I got trained on what's called "counselor support." I still answer phones but what that means is now I only talk to counselors. So instead of getting 50 calls in 4 hours, I get between 5 and 10 calls in 4 hours. I'm not complaining.

3. Summer classes. I'm taking them. Sociology and persuasive writing...woo.

4. Zach. Long story short: We hung out, we swung on swings, we walked around a park, we kissed. Might I add it's the same park where both Lacey and Katherine were kissed. ;] We started hanging out a lot more. I really liked him. We talked about relationships and decided that due to things he's going through right now, we wouldn't date each other. I've been fine with that and have learned to see him only as a friend. He has become one of my best friends. He's a really cool guy and we hang out basically every day. That might end soon. I really hope it doesn't...

So basically that's where my life is at right now. Classes end I think June 17th and I'll probably be home that weekend. I'm excited to see all my AZ buddies :] ....