Battered and Bruised

Well, the semester is almost over. Or rather, it is over, with the exception of finals. Anyway, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on some of the events of this semester. First, about a week after my 21st birthday, I came to my car only to find a note tucked under the windshield. Stating "Sorry man, parking here is tight, " a Mr. Joe from MO proceeded to explain in eloquent prose that he had scratched my car. Thanks for being honest Mr. Joe. He ended up being very cooperative and helpful when I took it in to get it fixed, but boy was that a headache. Here's some pictures of the damage. It took a few shots to get the full extent because I took the pictures in the parking lot and, well, parking here is tight, so I didn't have a lot of room to back up.
So that was the "battered" part. Now, the bruised part. For my structural geology class, we were on a field trip to the Bridal Veil Falls fold. The trip involved some steep slopes and loose rocks. I'm sure one can see easily where this is going. As we were making the descent down another side, we were kind of sliding/hiking/walking/falling down the slope on the leaves and loose gravel. Not really too treacherous, but we looked kind of funny. Anyway, I was already down with about 3/4 of my class. We were just waiting when we heard from above the telltale warning shouts of "rock! John, look out, rock! John! Move!" Now, there are 3 Johns in my class. And all three were nowhere near me, so I figured, hey, I'm solid. I was standing on a steep slope anyway, so I couldn't exactly run. I couldn't exactly move at all, for that matter. So I just minded my own business when all of a sudden BAM! I was knocked clean off my feet, literally bowled over like a pin to a ball. The good news is that the fall wasn't too far because of the steep angle of the slope, and the ground was cushioned by leaves. The worst was the contact of the rock to my calf muscle. Thank goodness it wasn't my shin, or else I might've been dealing with fractured/broken/bruised bones. Instead, I just got a gnarly bruise that lasted for a month or so and a dimple in my calf when I flex. The picture shows the damage the night of. The bruise continued to darken for a few days afterward, but this is the immediate result. The penny is for scale. The flash on the camera made it very difficult to capture the extent of the bruise. So I put on my best tough face after brushing myself off and finished up the trip just fine. I went home and ripped off my pants and ran cold water in the tub where I sat on the edge and with a washcloth, cleaned the wound (there were a few little surficial cuts, but nothing too bad). I also screamed. It kind of hurt more than I let on. Good thing no one was home. The difference in size of my calves from the right leg to the left was comical. So then I put on some shorts, grabbed a bag of ice, and iced my calf while watching a few reruns of America's Next Top Model. Walking wasn't too bad or anything, I just didn't wear heels for a long time. Dancing was the worst because it was like having shin splints in my calf muscle. At least the first week, sharp pains would shoot up through the muscle while clogging every 15 minutes or so. I'd say that's not too bad and I ended up pretty lucky.
But wait! There's more! The whole ordeal wouldn't really be that interesting but for the fact that it was an assassination attempt on my life. For I soon came to discover that who should have dislodged the large rock but none other than the TA for the class! Why she would want to eradicate me, I still don't know, but there must've been malicious intent, as my geology friends jokingly informed me. So I guess I go down in BYU structural geology 375 history as the girl who got knocked over by a rock "thrown" by her TA. Woohoo.
Also of note, in the picture on the right, I am with the group near the top, in the green shirt, to the right.
So there's my battered and bruised semester. I did, however, go to Ikea with Tyler and his roommate Cameron, at which point I purchased a new cover for my down comforter. My bed is beautiful and I love it. This is where I go to rest and it is fabulous. So despite Dr. Jekyll having a bad run-in with a maroon Honda Civic, and despite my calf having a (permanent?) dent in the muscle, I have a wonderful place to sleep.
Other things, even over big or bigger things, have happened this semester than my car getting grossly scratched, my leg getting awesomely bruised, and my bed being fantastically comfortable and Swedishly colorful. But they all make for more interesting stories than the other options, which are much more normal happenings.