Long-winded ramblings.

I loved Ricks. A lot. I am so glad I went to school there. I'm glad I went to BYU first as a visiting student and I'm glad I went to BYU and the U of I afterward. Pretty much I loved my college career. Ricks was probably my favorite school, though, for a lot of reasons. For one I was in a department where most of the teachers loved me and treated me as a daughter. I loved my Ag teachers. For two I got to work on the Ricks college farm and clean out grease buckets and power wash tractors and stuff. And, you know, pick tons of rocks out of fields where they would put in parking lots and temples.

Another reason I loved Ricks is because of a teacher that I didn't like. His name is Dr. Holdaway and he is one of the best teachers I ever had. We didn't get along. Kind of at all, until a little over half way through the semester. He taught botany and was amazing at it. I took his class just a bit before he retired and right after he got remarried. he team taught with Dr. Weller.

We several fights throughout the semester, but one was about a lab I did where I was supposed to find out what kind of a sugar was in a certain vial. I ran all the tests and came out that it was water. Apparently it wasn't water, though so I failed the lab. I was pretty ticked. Especially since I did the test two or three times to be sure. So I went and talked to him to find out what was in my vial and find out how the test could have gone wrong. He refused to tell me and I stomped out of his office telling him off. Luckily Brother Weller was there to push me back in and we had a nice little chat and worked things out. I was so mad at Dr. Holdaway, though--probably why it took me about a week after the lab to calm down to go back to his office and talk to him. Wow, didn't mean to write that story.

Another fight, and the one I meant to write about, was when I went to tell him that I was going to be taking off for potato harvest. I told him that it was a school approved absence and a mini-internship and he didn't buy it at all. He swore up and down that there was no way he was honoring that and my absences would count against me this wasn't high school. So I went down to Dr. Walkers office and brought him back with me to say that, yes, this really was a legitimate thing. Turns out Dr. Walker and Dr. Holdaway were rivals since grad school, so that was fun. I think I induced more yelling in that hallway than any other student. So then he said that my absences wouldn't count against me, but there was no way I would pass the test and I'd be accountable for all the information that they covered in class. So I, of course, vowed to ace their stinking test. And I did. I didn't work all that hard in college, but I did for that test and it was so worth it. I think I got the second highest score and the only thing I missed was something that they had covered in a lab that I hadn't made up yet.

I hate it when people tell me I can't do things. I don't know why I need to prove people wrong, but it makes me much more productive. Sad, but one of my greatest memories was having Dr Holdaway and Brother Weller look up my score and tell me that I had done well. Take that. I eventually got over myself and we were semi-friends. Every time I walked down their hallway they would say, "Here comes trouble." I think they still cringed when I stopped at their doors to talk to them, though. I am so glad that I had such an amazing botany professor, though. I wish I could remember half of what he taught me.