#2: Get a master's degree

16 classes. 8 semesters straight. 3.9 GPA. I did it.

I actually can't believe it and probably won't until I get my diploma in the mail. It's so surreal that I chose to get a master's degree and eventually did it, after 3 years of tears and toil. When you're a kid, you plan on growing up and going to college. Graduating from college was no big deal for me, because I always knew I would do it (which is a huge blessing of living in modern times). But I didn't have that knowledge with my master's. I wanted to quit at every turn, so getting there is too amazing to believe.

#6: Go 3 months without using my phone at church (except Gospel Library App)

I started this goal when Christmas fell on a Sunday and we only had one hour of church. Pretty easy to sit through one hour of Luke 2 and pretty choir songs, right?

After that it was harder. Sometimes I cheated and used it between hours of church. But the more weeks I went on, the easier it was.

I am glad it's over, though. 

#96: Have an ice cream cake for my birthday

Katie made this dreamy homemade salted caramel ice cream cake. Twenty-six, baby.

#44: Go to a cathedral

One of our first weeks in Washington, D.C. some of the other interns from the University of Utah mentioned going to mass. I was on board, since going to a cathedral was one of my goals, and I was genuinely interested in the service.

I had it vaguely in my mind that I might attend mass on Ash Wednesday, but I didn't plan specifically to. The D.C. life is brutal--waking up early, spending all day at work, commuting home, and only having enough time to eat something, exercise, and watch an episode of The Bachelor before it's time to go to bed and do it all over again.

Luckily, Kaitlin was going with a friend of hers, and she invited me to come. I wore a skirt to work and went straight to mass afterward. We went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is on the campus of the Catholic University of America (really close to our apartment!).

It was just incredibly beautiful in there, and the organ music was unreal. I loved art history in college, and Chrisanne and I especially loved church architecture from the Middle Ages. There everything was: the nave, the apse, the chapels all along the outside, the long aisles of beautiful space whose only purpose is to stand and walk in and feel the grandeur of the place.

We felt a little out of place, but it wasn't too hard to catch on to what we were supposed to do. The program helped us follow along to see what part of the service we were at.

I liked the repetitive, almost dronelike singing of little prayers and songs. My favorite part was, during communion, kneeling on the fold-out bars built into the pew in front of you, listening to the music, vaguely praying, waiting for everyone to have their turn. In my religious tradition, we never kneel in our services, so that was really special.

We also got to receive the ashes for Ash Wednesday. To my delight, the choir sang a piece I love, Miserere Mei, while we all lined up and went to the front and received our ashes. Again, waiting for everyone and having to approach the front and doing things one by one was really nice.

I rode the metro home and then went to the grocery store. It was a cool experience to have the ashes on my forehead and see people's eyes linger on them. I remember my fourth grade teacher coming in on Ash Wednesday with ashes on her forehead. In my religious tradition, we don't often wear outward, visible manifestations of our faith. I liked having that for a few hours, and being part of a religious ritual that is so well know and loved by so many.

#59: Vote in a presidential election

Rachel wants you to vote.

While I was in line, the following things happened:

• My phone died, so I had to just look around me to occupy myself.
• I tried to guess who everyone was going to vote for. I couldn't imagine that any of these people were going to vote for Donald Trump.
• A family with two kids let their older daughter run wild in line. She solicited food from 2 different strangers.
• I saw one of those couples that looks so awkward, you wonder how they found each other. He was clutching her hand so tightly and holding it almost in the air, instead of letting their hands fall naturally between them. They weren't talking. I wondered if they would vote Independent American.
• A few school children stuck their faces into the auditorium and started yelling, "Trump!" "Clinton!" It was noticeably awkward, because that is actually illegal. The woman behind me went under the caution tape used to rope off the line and said, "Young man! What's you're doing is illegal!" I was embarrassed that she took it so seriously. When she came back, she announced to the line, "I used to teach here last year."
• A guy behind me in line complained to an acquaintance he had run into about the UVU school schedule, and I wanted to give him a talking to.
• I fell in love with a boy ahead of me in line. Mostly because he was reading a book while he waited. He also had a calculator watch and a pencil behind his ear. When we got to the front, we split off into lines based on our last names. Everyone in front of me was A-L, so I got to skip ahead, and we actually ended up voting at the same time. I wonder how I could strike up a conversation. "So, eh, who did you vote for?"

Then I voted. I got a sticker. I took a poll just outside the door.

Later that day, the following things happened:

• America elected Donald Trump.
• I cried and prayed to God before I went to bed that I would die in my sleep.

The next day, I woke up and wore a black arm band to work in mourning and in protest.

Can you see how depressed I am?

#90: Use a movie quote naturally in context that is very funny and fits perfectly

At dinner with family, discussing the upcoming presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Me: I've never voted for president before. I didn't vote last time.

Family: Why not?

Me: "In the last mayoral election... I went to get a manicure and forgot to vote."

#46 - Watch 5 iconic/hard/serious movies on VidAngel

Call me a millennial, but it's very infrequent that I sit down and watch a movie and look at the screen. Sure, I watch tv all the time, but it's while I'm cleaning my room or while I'm getting ready in the morning. Or if I do sit down to watch something, I can't make it through without playing a game on my phone. #multitasking #distracted

That means I don't end up watching serious movies all that often, which are actually the ones I like most. Plus, I feel like, with only a limited amount of time in my life, I want to focus on the important ones, instead of just watching 27 Dresses a million times. Just like Hodel said in Fiddler on the Roof, "We only have one rabbi, and he only has one son. Why shouldn't I want the best?"

...

I watched The Silence of the Lambs alone on the night of the Harvest Moon. The interesting thing about watching these iconic movies so far after the fact is that, even though you've never seen them, they've seeped into your pop culture experience over time--so much so that watching the original feels almost cliche. I felt that way about watching Good Will Hunting and The Sixth Sense over the last few months.

Hannibal Lecter felt almost cliche. But part of the strangeness of this movie is how you at once relate with and are repulsed by Hannibal Lecter. Clarice always calls him Dr. Lecter, creating a kind of respect for him. He is strangely sympathetic in that he has a twisted sense of morality that you can't necessarily argue with. I found the scene beautiful where he is listening to faint classical music in his cell when he attacks the guards, ending up with blood on his face to contrast the white purity of his jumpsuit.

This won Best Picture in the year I was born, so I think it was meant to be.