My Roommate the Reptile

I've had a lot of strange roommates. I've had cute, quirky roommates who were very popular. I've had roommates who left old dinner on the table for four days. I've had a roommate who faintly squealed about her potato. I've had a roommate whose mother hemmed my jeans. But never in all of this time have I had a reptile for a roommate.

In all seriousness, I live with probably one of the most cold blooded individuals ever. She always, always has the heater on. I wake up sweaty it's so hot. It's so hot my other roommate sleeps with the fan on in the winter! I came home today, when every normal individual is walking around in shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the sunshine, when I am bloody hot from walking so far and up so many stairs, when it's perfect weather to open the windows... to an apartment with the heater on.

Granted, the last chance I had to talk to her about this I had chills from food poisoning, so I had the heater on. But it really is NOT necessary at this point. It is not freezing; there is no snow. There ARE blankets and sweatshirts. At least you can save money in the winter with these things and keep the heater off or down. In the summer you just strip down all you can and sit in front of a large, powerful fan. It's harder to get cool than get warm!

Anyway, I texted her again asking if we could talk about this heater thing. She came out of her room, didn't acknowledge me, and left. So much for that. Whatever, I'm not paying for heat that I don't want, and I'm in charge of the bills. So if she doesn't want to talk to me about it then I'll "adjust" as necessary. Ha.

So today was productive... I got my Spanish done, my short story reading and reading response done, and my draft of my grammar analysis done. I did my mission prep reading for Monday. I also emailed my professor to ask about my paper topics. And I sent a text to Becca asking about Modbe because I want to try on bathing suits! I need a new one. I really desperately want a nap right now, but I'm not sure I could fall asleep. I could clean my rabbit's cage...?

I also wanted to write about something I read in the mission prep. manual. I had a really quick glimpse of my overall vision in life. I dismissed it because I wanted to finish reading, but it's probably important to think about these things. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, "'Seek first to build up the kingdom of God' means to assign first priority to God and to His work. The work of God is to bring to pass the eternal life of His children, and all that this entails in the birth, nurturing, teaching, and sealing of our Heavenly Father's children. Everything else is lower in priority....As someone has said, if we do not choose the kingdom of God first, it will make little difference in the long run what we have chosen instead of it. Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time.... With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever."

At first I was like, "Well gosh I'm so busy doing so many things it's hard to think about putting God first." And then I remembered that I was commanded to learn. I had a vision of myself as a teacher, as someone who brings others toward learning and understanding. I realized that these things I spend so much time on accomplishing really are going to be used to build up the kingdom in the end. I can stand as a witness wherever I am doing whatever I am doing. As a teacher, I can project the light of Christ and influence students in one way or another. It's not that I'm some noble person, someone my students will necessarily love or be drawn to, but I can at least shoot for the higher goal of setting an example.

Anyway, it was a good reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing and how I can use it for the building up of His kingdom.

Three best things...

1. Sunshine!
2. Chocolate.
3. Generous people.