Brought to You by Insomnia

I can't sleep. It's annoying, frustrating, and inexplicable. But while I'm up, I wanted to post the pictures from the Zoo. I went to the Jacksonville Zoo on Friday with Kristen and Lara. Yet another fun filled, road trip adventure. I explained my love for those earlier. Do try and keep up. The zoo was SUPER cool. I will show you my favorite parts.

Obviously white with black stripes. No, I will never let that go. Just concede already.

I like rhinos a LOT more after noticing their eye placement. It's just cute.

Get a room.

We're pretty talented.

Fancy pants elephant.

This was "We just found out we're going to be eaten by a Komodo Dragon." I don't think Andrew picked up on that. But perhaps he's just really excited to die in such an exotic way.

Tripping Over Myself

I've recently discovered that I love to take trips.
I love packing. I am both an over and an under packer. Quite the paradox, I know. I will always have q-tips, band aids, batteries, and a sewing kit, but never my toothbrush. It's actually kind of a problem.
I love sitting in the car/plane/train/creepy bus and having long, silly conversations.
I love sitting in companionable silence while taking in the scenery.
I love singing along with old school country and whiney punk rock songs.
I even like stopping for gas, using the creepy gas station bathrooms, and never really feeling whole again until I shower.
Luckily, I was able to have a lot of trips this spring break. First I went to Atlanta with Natalie. The five hour drive was surprisingly fun--we even threw in a couple of tricky detours to keep things interesting. I got to meet Natalie's sister, brother in law and niece. AND on top of that I did a million things I've never done before.
As a million is quite a lot, I will just tell you the highlights:
1) Dancing with no abandon in a room full of strangers. It was actually very liberating
2) Bath and Body Works Outlet! So many deals, so little time (and money, unfortunately).
3) A singles ward behind a temple. Now that was cool.
4) The largest aquarium in the world!
5) Trying 55ish coke products from around the world. Most were disgusting.
6) Eating some cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Where have you been all my life?
7) Attempting to haggle with a street vendor over a fake Prada bag. It didn't work.

I got some sweet pics at the aquarium. See?

We pretty much hung out with the cast of Finding Neemo. I felt like I already had a relationship with these fish.

Not actually as threatening as one might think.

My most favoritist, most depressing fishies.

Beluga Whales!

Well are you?

This guy is HUGE. Spread your arms out. Now imagine something bigger than that. He has a 9 foot wingspan, or something.

Takin' on the Jellies.

And the we went to the Coca Cola Factory. This "museum" is more of an Indoctrination camp. I'm not a big fan of coke, but now I'm strangely fond of it. I still don't like the taste, but I just feel better knowing that its there.
Yea, those are Coke 3-D glasses. We watched a 4D movie about Coke.

Lindy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Oh dear. Last week was simply dreadful. I had papers due, exams that I forgot about until the second I sat down in class and had to take them, exams that tested my oral competency and composition writing ability in an unknown language, and I topped it off with a nice helping of car trouble. But overall, it was a good week.
Don't get me wrong, parts of the week sucked. My Pompeii test was going to be intense. I had to know dates, important facts, historical significance, and be able to write a comprehensive paragraph about all the inscriptions and slides we've been shown in class. Then I had to label maps. Then I had to write an essay. I had this exam on Thursday. My Spanish in class composition was on Wednesday. Another paper was due on Tuesday. So, I had my studying schedule carefully planned. It all broke down when I arrived to my Pompeii class on Tuesday, and found out the exam was that very same day! I grabbed my notes and read over them as much as I could, but there was nothing to be done. It was that horrible dream showing up to class naked and having a surprise test. At least I was fully clothed.
Wednesday I took the missionaries across town to do a visit. The girl wasn't there, so we got back into the car to leave and then....the car wouldn't turn on. We tried a few things but, unfortunately we had no idea what to do. We tried to jump it off, and cool it down, and oil it up...but nothing worked. We thought it might be the battery, so we got a new one. Turns out my car is one of those cars that changing the battery involves a jack, and wrenches, and removing the tire and spinning in 7 circles, and then shooting yourself in the head. After we replaced the battery, it still didn't work and we'd lost 4 hours of our life we could never get back. So, I gave up, left my car at a gas station, and went home.
But although it wasn't very fun, it all worked out in the end:
1) I made an 82 on the Pompeii exam! I would have liked to do better, but hey--I'll take it.
2) I learned how to change a tire.
3) I have a set of ratchets!
4) I have awesome friends who let me bum rides off them.
5) My Dad was in town, so he fixed the starter for me! And my Mom came with him, so I got to hang out with them.
6)It's over! Now its Spring Break!

I just wanted to get all of that out. Next I'll have awesome pictures from the Atlanta Aquarium (largest in the World!), the Jacksonville zoo, and Wakulla Springs. I looove Spring Break!