March Madness

No, I am afraid this post is not about the NCAA tournament or my beloved Tar Heels, and frankly after that Duke game I would prefer not to talk about it. No, this is about the madness that creeps into the mind of a perfectly normal BYU student around early to mid March. There are no more days off, Finals are close enough to pressure us to work hard but too far to give us hope, the weather teases with warm days and then sends a blizzard. It is a cruel time where these elements coupled with further mid-terms, assignments, and obsessive library attendance drive most BYU students to the near end of sanity. All students come up with coping strategies to deal with the schizophrenic changes in environment. My personal coping strategy is to picture places I would rather be and what lovely things I could do and how stress free it would

be. Here are my personal favorites at this point:

1: Tuscany- Warm, beautiful villas surrounded by trees and nearby beautiful cultural cities. This fantasy involves art museums, clothing shopping, eating my weight in italian food, and reading at an outdoor cafe in some town square while people play in front of the town church or Medici palace. I this is exacerbated by the fact that Travis and Heidi just got back from Italy and were talking about how wonderful it is and my jealousy is piqued.

2: Tahiti- The reasons for this are obvious and simple. Beach, warm, lazy, relaxing, ocean

3: Thailand- I want to go and sit under a Bohti tree and meditate. I think that is the point, I just want to sit around and ponder with no responsibilities. If I have to shave my head and ponder the 8 fold path of the Buddha then I'll do it. I have had dreams about this. The best part is you can stay as long as you want and you don't talk!

4: Greek Isles: cruising on a sailboat through little islands and sunning (sunburning) on the deck. Nice and relaxing.

5: Mexico/Guatemala: I don't know if this is my madness talking or because i really want to, BUT I would like to wander through steamy jungles and meander around ruined Mayan cities. Nathan would go with me, so the Spanish thing is taken care of. Basically volunteered learning in a tropical climate. then maybe some beach time and eating lots of Gringas (this pork, pineapple, cheese quesadilla-like thing of glory)

Anyways, these are the fantasies that get me through this dark period of Winter semester. I think of them when it starts snowing, when I am in the library for 6 hours at a time, or when I realize that my next mid-term starts on Thurs. I guess I will get back to my homework now...i have some quizzes to take and essays to write.