i'm alive, and really, i am twenty five

Before I begin, I'd like to brag for one moment. The picture below was taken of test configuration pages of my new printer. Yup, you read correctly. I have a new printer. I know I'm moving somewhere this fall, and printing is expensive. This printer was not. It's an old HP Laser Printer that I snagged for $4.96! Hoorah. It was from publicsurplus.com. You can bid on items that school districts, etc. (government agencies) are discarding, and can usually get for fairly decent prices.

I do have to find a power cord, and a parallel to usb cable, but I do believe it is still worth it.



One thing you will not see a picture of is the state of my room. It is a disaster!

Pictures will be posted at a later date of graduation. It's official. (Well, with the tweaking of my final paper....) And I enjoyed much the wearing of pink shoes and hoodie.

The post title stems from the surprise many express at finding which degree I graduated with (Masters versus Bachelors [The fact that it's music is great, too]) and my true age. It's almost shocking - and I get a kick out of people's disbelief every time. (Whenever someone asks me my age, and I'm not being put off by them being impertinent, I'll have them guess first. It's great fun.)

Last weekend. I was a VIP shuttler person for BYU's Women's Conference. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. At one point, the Relief Society General Presidency was in the van, along with the Young Women's counselor . It was fun to listen to their conversations, and I could tell that they honestly were friends, and interested in helping the sisters of the church.

One more aside, then back to the point.

Sis. Silvia Allred was waiting to get in the van, when a friend of her passed by, and they became conversing in Spanish. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she mentioned that she had been in an accident on the way down, so I couldn't help but express concern. (In English) It didn't throw her off that an obviously white girl could understand her. And she wasn't condescending in any way. So kind.

I lied, one more aside: the topic in the car (I had decided to not follow the other shuttle because I didn't want to make a left turn into traffic so they were in the car longer than a normal trip to the Smith Fieldhouse would take. It turned out there was an officer directing traffic. Oh well.) ...the topic of conversation turned to Preach My Gospel! And how great it is. I wasn't really in a position to offer my opinion, but I did mention to Sis. Thompson who was in the front seat that it was great. It makes my heart happy that this manual is being taken extremely seriously and being implemented in so many ways. It was even a topic of at least three different sessions during the conference.

Okay, I'm back on target.

On trips where there was only one or two presenters, they would chat with me. The conversation usually went something like this:

WCP: Are you a student here at BYU?
M: Not any more, I graduated last week.
WCP: Oh, that's so great, congratulations! What did you graduate in?
M: Music
WCP: Oh, how wonderful! (I could hear some of them hearing beginning strains of the that one group of people who sings.)
Do you sing/play piano?
M: No, I play the oboe.

At this point, some would be grateful we arrived at their destination, others expressed how much they loved the oboe, and what a distinctive sound it had. I just smiled, thankful that I was driving, so as to hide the smirk.

One lady, when mentioning that her husband had originally started out in Piano Performance, changed majors when he realized he couldn't support a family with that degree and changed to [insert random business degree here]. She then continued to let me know that's it's okay that I chose music, because I don't have the added pressure of needing to support a family. sigh. bite tongue.

I never really mentioned what degree I was awarded unless they started listing off their children's degrees. They really weren't expecting that, because I am, after all, so young.

My favorite moment of this came while I was picking glasses at this nice old man's optometrist shop. I like the plastic frames, that don't have nosepieces, for the occasional times that I put my glasses on my head. It saves tearing out a good chunk of hair. He informed me that that was the way to go, because it was the style that all the young kids were wearing.

My dad and I were there, and there was the standard chit chat. Somehow, it came out that I just graduated.

When he asked, "So what are you going to study?" I just smiled to myself.

My dad spoke up, saying that I just graduated with my masters, and that I was probably going off this fall to start a doctorate degree. There was a split second of disbelief, but he hid it well, and accepted the truth quickly.

Maybe I should have gone for the more grown up glasses?!

It happened again on Tuesday evening. It was a break during a rehearsal for Elijah in Gardner Hall at the UofU. One of the other orchestra members asked me my name and about me. I told her I just graduated. "Okay, so you are a student." I explained that I really was older than I looked (i.e. I did belong in the orchestra) and she replied, "That used to be true for me, but then I aged about eight years in one." If you're looking for a phrase that makes someone wonder what to reply, that is one. I murmured an "I'm sorry," she saw someone she knew, and I was off the hook.

I don't want to look old, nor lose my 'youthful' appearance, but it does make it a bit harder to have people take you seriously, but conversely, I can get away with some things, too. :)

Perhaps if I were to carry around a picture of myself when I was 14 or so....