Flying Buttresses

So one day, Michael was sitting at one of those desks designed for four people in the Law Library. No one else even thought about sitting there with him this time though because there was no room. They weren't sure if Michael was a contemporary artist trying to make a model the Wasatch Front or a Gothic Cathedral using books. Some were leaning towards the mountain range because of he striking similarity. Others were sure of the Gothic Cathedral because of the flying buttresses extending down to the chairs. Regardless, behind a pile of books, Michael was studying. Surprise, surprise, huh? Between his temple trips, he's been hitting the books all day every day, but it was getting worse and worse as the week went on. 


While reading, he needed to pull out another book to check some chart to compare. He may have spotted something important and wanted to cross-reference with another book. He saw the book he needed about 8 feet over his head, precariously balanced on top of Squaw Peak (or was it the Basilica of St Remi?). Great. So, he stood up and started the hike to get the book (he brought his hiking boot for this very purpose). He would have called Riley to come, but there was no time. 


As he got near the top, he saw that the book was within reach. He extended his hand…closer…closer. Just as his fingertips touched it, the book on 1857 Minnesota Law slipped from under his feet. He fell headfirst into the pile of books. As he landed, books were thrown about flying in all directions! BOOM!


When the librarians came to see what the matter was, they saw a pile of books in a wreck, strewn about over 4 tables. Other students complained, saying some kid wanted to go swimming. They cleared up the pile of books over the course of the next few days. Funny thing though, is that Michael was never found among them. 

Kicking the Bucket

Ugh. Monday morning. Can there be anything worse? The long, relaxing weekend went by too quickly. Homework that should've been done wasn't, giving some people a stressful Monday morning. The 16½ pounds of ground beef in the form of Navajo tacos have now digested and hunger settles in. Some are optimistic for the new week—others not so much.


Brianna was one of the optimistic ones. She was up by 3:00, did 1500 push-ups, ran a 5K, and finished all her homework for the next two weeks. "It's always good to get ahead," she says. She decided to top off the day with a marathon temple trip. It was her goal to get hypothermia from doing so many baptisms today.


Meanwhile, Jeramy wasn't doing so hot. She stayed up too late catching up on homework that she should've had done, decided to watch a movie or two, and forgot to set her alarm. She was late to class, forgot to print out the very paper she stayed up all night working on, and remembered that Saturday was the last day to take a midterm.


Worst of all, she kicked the bucket just before lunch…

Beware of Blow Horns

10:00 Sunday morning. Most of Park Plaza was awake by now—"awake" meaning "no longer in REM cycles." There were some that were good little boys and girls and got up early to do productive Sunday morning stuff. But let's be honest, a lot of us didn't. Some were still in bed with no intentions of getting out of bed. After all, it's fast Sunday, and the more time you spend asleep, the less time (it seems) you fast.


Apartment 109 was no different. People were just barely rolling out of bed in time to get ready for church. Most of them had taken showers, shaved, and had gotten ready. They could sleep in a little more because there was no need to make breakfast or lunch. 


It was quarter to 1:00 when most of them headed out the door. That's when they noticed Jared still asleep in bed. 


"That bum," one of them thought, "he's going to be late for church." 


They wanted to be funny (and jerks) about it and got a blow horn. They snuck into his room, kneeled down right next to his bed and blew the horn right in his ear! They were surprised that he didn't even flinch so they tried to shake him awake. It was then that they realized how pale Jared looked. They touched his face and discovered it was cold. 


"Oh dear…" one of them said, "we've killed him…."

Park Plaza 215? Really?

It was a wonderful Friday evening. Couples paired off into dates, guys grouped together and watched manly movies, and girls got together and…well, what do girls do when they get together on Friday nights?


Park Plaza 215 was holding a party. There was food, movies, lots of people from the ward. It was good. There were a few people that weren't there. I guess the thing to do on a Friday night for Michael and Theo was to go to the temple. However, for the rest of the ward it was happening at 215. Those of note in attendance were Riley, Katie, Andrew, Simon, Kassi, Mayra, and Dan.


Then all seven of them dropped dead…

Mobocracy

It was a crisp Friday morning and all was well. The weekend is almost here and things were starting to look good. Everyone was excited about the Walley-Ball Tournament and were prepping their teams for that. People were getting ready for their big dates that evening, and Saturday night was full of movie nights and other random stuff that BYU singles tend to do. 

Down in the basement of Park Plaza, things were starting up again. Some of the girls were still asleep and others were gone. Susie was in the kitchen making pancakes when Kylie and Alaina burst in, soaked in sweat and completely out of breath.

"P90X went well then today, huh?" Susie asked them.

"Yeah, but—outside—lots of people," Kylie said through gasps of air.

"Torches—pitchforks," added Alaina.

"…what?"

Sure enough, Susie stepped away from the sizzling of the pancakes and moved closer to the door. It was strange to hear so much yelling so early in the morning.

Then it hit her.

A moment later, Susie was barricading the door with the couches as what seemed like half of Park Plaza approached the stairs down to the basement. Sure enough, they had torches and pitchforks. Susie couldn't help but thinking, even in a time like this, "where in the world did they get those?" She propped beds up against the other glass door as the mob started banging on the front door. It suddenly dawned on her that the door leading to the laundry room was completely free. She ran past the washers and locked that door just as people jumped the railings to get down there. 

They had her surrounded. Even as the only apartment in the complex with two (or three) doors, they still had her surrounded. If only Park Plaza was equipped with secret passageways.

But, wait. It is!

Running down the hall to the managers' apartment, she burst her way through the door. What's-his-name with the sweet accent came running out with a baseball bat, but Susie just told him, "My light is  broken. I'm not paying rent until you fix it." It worked. 

Susie burst out their front door and up the stairs. No one was there. They had forgotten about that hallway. The mob broke through the barricades, and filled the entire Park Plaza basement. As they rushed out to find her (they had a hard time dodging the electrician on the ladder who hurriedly showed up in the middle of her kitchen) and headed back up, they only caught a glimpse of her as she ran off into the distance. 

                                                                *  *  *

A couple hours later, Simon came back from the temple. His roommates asked how it went. 

"Good," he said. "But Carson had to run off suddenly. He was my ride too, so I had to walk home in the cold." 

Meanwhile 210 was waking up. Even though it was still early morning, they couldn't help noticing Carson missing. The only clue to his absence was found after a few minutes of looking around. It was a small note, obviously written in a hurry. 

"Sorry guys. I had to go. Bye."

Coping with School

Everyone was well into the week by now. School was in full swing and the thought of “Holy flipping cow! When is the semester going to be over??” was on everyone’s minds. People were getting bogged down on homework. Midterms were starting, papers were being assigned, and the professors were reminding us that that random project you overlooked in the syllabus was due the next class period. 

Several people have different ways of coping with the stress. Some people lock themselves away in the library until midnight everyday, ignoring any sort of social life. Others lock themselves from the library welcoming any sort of social life. Some suddenly find interest in long lost hobbies, such as reupholstering leather, barbershop, and cartography. 

Then there are those who are inspirations to us all. Carson and Simon manage to keep their priorities straight. Both are righteous folk and make it to the temple regularly. This was one of those days in which despite all the homework, they found time to go there. They tend to disappear off the map when that happens. 

Meanwhile, others found not-so-great ways of coping with the stress. Scott, who was relaxing by watching YouTube videos was laying on his beanbag like usual. He had plans to do more important things later on, but needed a few moments to rest in peace. He had his headphones on so he didn’t notice that someone was coming up behind him. This person had alternate means of coping with school, some of which aren't exactly on this side of legality. As he carried out his move, little did Scott know just how literally he would be resting in peace tonight!

dirk - noun a short dagger of a kind formerly carried by Scottish Highlanders

So, I have a funny story for all of you today. As you know, David and I share a room. I got up like normal and got ready for class. David is up when I am sometimes. Today, I noticed, he wasn't, so I kept the noise to a minimum and the lights off. I was just about to leave for class when I forgot my phone and went in my room to get it. As I was next to my bed getting my phone, I noticed even in the dark that David had a different colored blanket. It was darker than usual. It was when I noticed it was a dark shade of red when I saw the dirk sticking out of his back!


Oh my gosh! I freaked out! Well, you would too if you found your roommate DEAD! I ran out to find someone to help me. Ben sat me down, gave me some hot chocolate (mmm...) and called Mayra. She can solve everyone's problems, right? She needed backup this time though. Dead roommates aren't exactly the most common thing. She called up Susie and Emily. Susie was up in a heartbeat, but Emily didn't respond. She called and called again. No reply. "She must have been up late doing homework," Mayra said.


Little did she know that Emily's roommates would wake up a few minutes later to a dead roommate as well! They didn't even know she was playing the game! It was a sad day for Park Plaza today. Sad day indeed…