Boredom Buster (A.K.A. Flood of the Century...well....almost...)

Story time.

It all started Tuesday night. Last day of classes before break. Campus closed due to "severe impending blizzard conditions" such as to rival any storm they've seen in the last 3 decades my foot. Travelers gone (all rushing home early due to said "blizzard"). Heritage Halls left as a ghost town. This is when lone Freshman, abandoned by their families for the first time for Thanksgiving (actually I abandoned my family for work, which didn't even happen due to the fake-out blizzard) band together and do crazy things. Especially when both local RAs have checked out for the week.

First item on the agenda?
Build an epic fort.
Boys lobby. 8+ mattresses, 1 couch raised up on 4 chairs, lots of blankets/pillows/bowls of popcorn, The Day After Tomorrow projected onto the wall IN one of the boys dorms (because watching movies in public places is illegal....?). *note the movie. It's disturbingly ironic.
We had a blast until the 11pm roaming RA walking in. The look on her face was priceless. She quickly informed us that our brilliance was "SO against housing 'guidelines' ("they're more guidelines than actual rules, anyway..." :))" and to please stop the movie and take down the fort. yeah, yeah. She was just mad we found a loophole. This is the same RA who told me 2 weeks ago not to sit on the 3 ft high stair railing because it is, in fact, a "safety hazzard." Someone needs to get their panties out of a knot. The fort was retired, and we resorted to a random strobe dance session til midnight. Epic.

The next morning/afternoon, we planned a homemade pizza party. It was delicious. And fun. And we were all just sitting enjoying the beautiful day from the kitchen window. Well, one boy was not content to just sit and visit. No. He kept trying to think of things to do. He was bored. I finally pointed out to him that we were all just fine and that he was the only one complaining. That shut him up. Minutes later, we look out the window to see we are nothing more than an island in the middle of a RAGING RIVER OF DEATH! Recycling bins tumbled past in the current, stairs turned into cascading waterfalls, parkinglot- gone.

We ran to the front of our building and saw the water quickly seeping towards the front doors. We grabbed a shovel and tried in vain to clear leaves away from the drain.

Soon it was above our ankles, and we ran back inside to shove towels under the doors to prevent the worst of the flooding. Slowly, the water seeped into the lobby.

We got a couple inches. The boys dorm had several. We went outside again to see if anyone else had noticed. The police were on their way (we called them...the all-too-eager Provo police...) and RAs were beginning to be notified. Over in the construction site, workers stood dumbfounded on their cell phones trying to figure out what to do. Idiots hit a 20" water main. Not. Good. We watched from the high ground as the river gushed into the lower parkinglot and began to overtake lower Heritage. *In upper Heritage, the basements have window wells with big raised cement barriers around them, so the worst we got was some leaking into the window wells. In lower Heritage, however, the basement windows directly meet the ground, and the water, by that time had picked up debris, so windows were smashed, and 2-3 feet of water flooded the basement rooms.) After awhile of being stranded, they finally got the water off, so I put some shorts on, took off my shoes and braved the 19 degree temperatures wading through water to assess the damage in lower Heritage.

Yes, I am from Arizona. No, you can never again call me a wimp for being cold. The Central Building had at least 2 inches of water throughout,


but the river itself ran down the hill past the law library. Insanity. Buildings were evacuated. Students, relocated. My Bishop came and "rescued" those in our ward. The media wanted interviews (much to the chagrin of Bishop), and I was whisked away for the weekend.

damming the sidewalks....or darning them in BYU appropriate language...except that's what you do to socks....ok. Karli needs to go to bed.

the dam...

and look. No stinking blizzard to be seen.

 Thursday, I went with a dear friend to her grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious, the company nice. It was a good time, and it turns out her uncle knows a lot of my family from Mesa. Small world.

I spent the remainder of the week at Bishop's. It was frustrating in some senses. I loved being there, but I was constantly having to choose between "Good, Better, Best." Papers to write. But Bishop said whatever I think is due Monday, is not, and that if my professors think otherwise, he will talk to them, and they will change their mind. Not so sure about that. And yes, I should be writing a paper for tomorrow. I will. Don't worry. Bishop said this weekend was a time for "fun." In a good sense. Not in the frivolous sense. A time for rejuvenation. Spiritually. And I needed it. I was forced to spend a lot of time with people I don't normally spend time with, so I made new "friends." I spent hours and hours (til 4:30 am Saturday morning) at the feet of the Bishop listening to the Best music ever written and learning Eternal principles and Truth. I got to "meet" Dr. Seuss, Schultz (the "Peanuts" creator), Tolkien, the original "Batman" artist, the original "Bugs Bunny" artist by "fingerprinting" letters and pictures that have only ever been touched by their original author/artist. Oh, by the way, my Bishop is a collector, so he has all these things and let me do it. He hasn't even touched the ones I have and quickly sealed them up again. I got to hold Bibles that are hundreds of years old while sitting on a thousand year old rug. I studied letters writted by Puccini, Lichtz, King George, John Hancock, Hellen Keller, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, etc. The icing on the cake came this morning. First, I woke up to a winter wonderland. Everything white. As we were clearing the sidewalk outside, a car pulled up and Bishop said, "oh look! Karli has a visitor." I squint to make out the driver and it comes to a stop, and nearly scream when I see DONNY OSMOND in the front seat. Did I mention I was wearing my dad's old gymnastics sweatshirt, holey plaid flannel pants, and slippers? We chatted it up, and the other kids gathered around. We sang Silent Night for him, and he was kind enough to get out and take a picture with us. He got back in and was about to leave when Bishop said, "Donny, we need a hug." He looked confused for a minute, and got out to give Bishop a hug, when Bishop said, "No, Karli needs a hug." I. Hugged. Donny. Osmond. Still getting over it. When I told my mom, she asked if I kissed him. Ummm....No. She agreed that was probably for the best. As his car pulled away, one kid turned to me and said, "Wait, who was that?" Needless to say, I almost punched him. But I didn't. And tonight, we went back to the Bishop's for one epic snowball war, and he had to show me the most beautiful aria ever written before I could leave.

So yes, it is 3 in the morning. Yes, I have a paper to write. But do I feel like I squandered my time? No. ...ok, maybe I didn't have to completely dominate in the Monopoly game, but besides that, I feel like I am better because of the way I spent my time. I could have written my papers. But I would have missed out on everything. And I feel like I am stronger because of it. I sure hope so. My apologies to Dr. Fullmer if my Macbeth analysis is not quite up to par. I was learning things of Eternal importance, and doing things that make me Happy.