I was asked to share a spiritual experience I had from this past semester at school in Sacrament meeting, but Church was canceled due to snow. So I posted what I was going to say here on my Blog! It's not very long because it was only supposed to take up 2-3 minutes.
At school I learned a lot. I learned about the duality of matter, and quarks and totally bizarre theories about relativity. I learned how to analyze artwork and after this past semester I can say that I can dance a pretty mean polka. All of these things are great, but I also learned things on the spiritual level, but specifically prayer. Although prayer is a pretty simple concept, I learned there is much more to it than closing your eyes and bowing your head. Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 states "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” At school I learned how this scripture applied to my goals. If I studied hard, I could call upon the Lord for the help I needed. I took a math class this past semester and the entire semester I was flirting with the pass/fail line. It got to the point where one final test would determine whether or not I passed the class. I started studying a week in advance for this test and on the day of the test I studied for 4 hours before I took it. I got to the testing center, pretty confidently (I had spent countless hours going over the material), got my test, found a seat, took out a #2 pencil and finally looked at the test. I wanted to cry. I looked at it and literally thought I had gotten the wrong packet. This wasn’t math, this was Egyptian. At the top of the packet listed the course name and the professor so I was really out of luck. At this point, the only thing I could do was pray. So I prayed and prayed hard. I wasn’t asking for an A, just a passing grade. As I prayed the scripture from D&C came to mind. “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say.” The best part of my situation was that I had done what the lord had said, therefore, I qualified for his promise. I finished praying and started on the exam. There were 20 questions and I think I only had to guess on about 20 of them. I finished my educated guesses and walked downstairs to see my score and I stand before you today and testify of the power of prayer. Not only did I pass the test, but it saved my life, my mom would kill me if I failed a class. I know that my prayer to pass was answered because I had kept the Lord’s commandments. I testify to you that for any situation, if you keep the commandments to live worthily of God’s promise, then He will bless you when you call upon Him. Prayer is much more than asking to “nourish and strengthen us,” it is asking the Lord to fulfill his promise because we have lived worthily. Amen.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
With Every End Comes a New Beginning
It has been incredibly hard getting myself ready to depart from my current residence at BYU. I have had such an uplifting experience here in Provo and it just kills me that I have to leave. I've learned so much, not only academics, but spiritual knowledge, as well as knowledge about myself. I've come to appreciate the ancient words of the prophets as well as the words of the prophet today. I feel so indebted to my Heavenly Father for my countless blessings. I have had so much fun, met amazing people, and learned so much. I'm getting ready to leave for a mission in February and I know this is a way I can express my gratitude toward God, by extending my service to my fellow children of God. My experience here as a Freshman in college has been such an enlightening one, I can only thank the Lord and my parents for it.
On the topic of gratitude, I feel it necessary that I need to be more grateful. I need to appreciate people for who they are and learn from what they have to offer. My roommates have taught me this lesson. By observing the other guys my age, but from different backgrounds, I have learned so much. From Curtis, I learned the value of listening. More often than not, it is easiest to avoid conflict by letting some one speak their mind without interruption. From Conner, I learned organization. Organization leads to less stress and anxiety. From Alec, I learned determination. Practice makes perfect, and when you struggle if you're just starting out, keep at it and eventually you might be decent at whatever it is you set out to do. From Jordan, I learned the value of an embrace. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of giving hugs, especially to other dudes, but Jordan taught me to be there for someone if needed.
I am at a loss of words to express how I feel at this present time. I am filled with more grief than I am worry. However, I am so grateful for the time i have been able to spend here in Provo and I can't wait to get back. But in the mean time, I know that I need to prove to my God that I am truly grateful and that I am his servant.
I want to optimistic about being away from school and not on a mission for the next two months, so I will do all that I can to better myself. I'm going to study my scriptures and improve my handwriting. I know that I need to keep myself busy or else I will just sit and stew. If anyone has any ideas as to how to make 2 months fly by. Let me know.
Again, I am filled with so much gratitude for the time I have been able to spend here at BYU.
Adiós
On the topic of gratitude, I feel it necessary that I need to be more grateful. I need to appreciate people for who they are and learn from what they have to offer. My roommates have taught me this lesson. By observing the other guys my age, but from different backgrounds, I have learned so much. From Curtis, I learned the value of listening. More often than not, it is easiest to avoid conflict by letting some one speak their mind without interruption. From Conner, I learned organization. Organization leads to less stress and anxiety. From Alec, I learned determination. Practice makes perfect, and when you struggle if you're just starting out, keep at it and eventually you might be decent at whatever it is you set out to do. From Jordan, I learned the value of an embrace. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of giving hugs, especially to other dudes, but Jordan taught me to be there for someone if needed.
I am at a loss of words to express how I feel at this present time. I am filled with more grief than I am worry. However, I am so grateful for the time i have been able to spend here in Provo and I can't wait to get back. But in the mean time, I know that I need to prove to my God that I am truly grateful and that I am his servant.
I want to optimistic about being away from school and not on a mission for the next two months, so I will do all that I can to better myself. I'm going to study my scriptures and improve my handwriting. I know that I need to keep myself busy or else I will just sit and stew. If anyone has any ideas as to how to make 2 months fly by. Let me know.
Again, I am filled with so much gratitude for the time I have been able to spend here at BYU.
Adiós
Friday, December 3, 2010
Christmas!
Like in so many other ways, my older sister Ashley inspired me. So I am going to make a Christmas List on my blog!
To get it out of the way,
WORLD PEACE
I love Star Wars and this is the newest and coolest Star Wars game! Gotta have it!
I would also like a pair of these bad boys
But if I don't get those I could settle for these
"Just Dance" is probably one of the funnest games out there, so Just Dance 2 should be even better!
We used to have one of these waffle irons when I was a kid, so I think it would be great to get a new one! I love mickey!
But I would REALLY like one of these for all my classes...
Well there you have it! Santa you better be watching! I've been real good this year!
To get it out of the way,
WORLD PEACE
I love Star Wars and this is the newest and coolest Star Wars game! Gotta have it!
I would also like a pair of these bad boys
But if I don't get those I could settle for these
"Just Dance" is probably one of the funnest games out there, so Just Dance 2 should be even better!
We used to have one of these waffle irons when I was a kid, so I think it would be great to get a new one! I love mickey!
But I would REALLY like one of these for all my classes...
Well there you have it! Santa you better be watching! I've been real good this year!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Smile like you mean it
Its been a significant amount of time since I've last written in this here blog, so since I'm awake, I figured I would leave a quick note.
Life is good. Specifically, life is good when you have an optimistic perspective. Those who know me very well (my mom) would probably argue that I am never optimistic and I can find something to complain about in every situation! This may or may not be true, but in previous posts I've mentioned my ambitions to do small things in order to become "a better person."
I was getting really stressed after mid-terms because my tests exhibited scores I didn't think reflected the things I'd learned, or my intelligence. So I decided not to stress about it. I've seen people (my roommates and friends) and how they act when they're stressed and I thought to myself "Do I look that pathetic when I'm stressed about a test or a project?" My solution has been to do what I know to do (study for tests and do my homework and all) but to not beat myself up if I don't perform as well as I had hoped. In the words of Robert Frost, "In three words I can sum up everything I have learned in life: it goes on." I've been trying to have more perspective for life/school, although I am still working hard for good grades, what happens happens I guess. In my English class I have been so determined to get a perfect score on a paper, my last one was a 94%, but I again, as long as I'm doing what I should, what happens happens. In complete opposition, in Math 110, I'm just gunning to pass that darn class! I find it interesting how my goals for each of my classes differ, in English and Humanities I just want a 100% on a paper(in English my highest has been a 95% and in humanities my highest is a 98%, so close!)but for Math 110 and physical science, I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life!
So in summary, as long as you're optimistic, the troubles don't seem so bad and things turn out in the end (or so I hope, finals are in 4 weeks! AH!).
I can't believe the Fall semester is almost over. It just blows my mind! I've had so much fun at BYU and I just can't imagine leaving it for now! I am very excited to serve a mission but I don't think it will really hit me until perhaps the day I leave for Spain.
In conclusion, I'm having a great time out here in school and I'm doing well in all my classes (minus Math 110 and physical science where it's turning into a struggle to pass!) But the good outweigh the bad, or so I hope(GPA speaking)(doing good in 6 out of 8 classes is good right?!).
Life is good. Specifically, life is good when you have an optimistic perspective. Those who know me very well (my mom) would probably argue that I am never optimistic and I can find something to complain about in every situation! This may or may not be true, but in previous posts I've mentioned my ambitions to do small things in order to become "a better person."
I was getting really stressed after mid-terms because my tests exhibited scores I didn't think reflected the things I'd learned, or my intelligence. So I decided not to stress about it. I've seen people (my roommates and friends) and how they act when they're stressed and I thought to myself "Do I look that pathetic when I'm stressed about a test or a project?" My solution has been to do what I know to do (study for tests and do my homework and all) but to not beat myself up if I don't perform as well as I had hoped. In the words of Robert Frost, "In three words I can sum up everything I have learned in life: it goes on." I've been trying to have more perspective for life/school, although I am still working hard for good grades, what happens happens I guess. In my English class I have been so determined to get a perfect score on a paper, my last one was a 94%, but I again, as long as I'm doing what I should, what happens happens. In complete opposition, in Math 110, I'm just gunning to pass that darn class! I find it interesting how my goals for each of my classes differ, in English and Humanities I just want a 100% on a paper(in English my highest has been a 95% and in humanities my highest is a 98%, so close!)but for Math 110 and physical science, I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life!
So in summary, as long as you're optimistic, the troubles don't seem so bad and things turn out in the end (or so I hope, finals are in 4 weeks! AH!).
I can't believe the Fall semester is almost over. It just blows my mind! I've had so much fun at BYU and I just can't imagine leaving it for now! I am very excited to serve a mission but I don't think it will really hit me until perhaps the day I leave for Spain.
In conclusion, I'm having a great time out here in school and I'm doing well in all my classes (minus Math 110 and physical science where it's turning into a struggle to pass!) But the good outweigh the bad, or so I hope(GPA speaking)(doing good in 6 out of 8 classes is good right?!).
Saturday, October 16, 2010
I'm still here!
I've grown a foot or two, so therefore, I am qualified to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I got my mission call last week and I can't even begin to describe the emotional roller coaster involved with the mission paper work and the fact that I'm going on mission so soon. In mission prep at church, my roommate Curtis teaches it and told us "You'll discover emotions you never thought you had when you start the mission process." I testify (you see that, I'm preparing to talk like a missionary) that Curtis' statement is true. I believe that, perhaps, my best 'word putting' for my emotions would be: a feeling of excitement, calmness, utter terror, stress, relief, inadequacy, ulh(sound effect, not word)and a little bit of whew. So if you can possibly relate then you've also gone on mission or you've been keeping up with this season's BYU football team.
I've been called to the Málaga Spain Mission and geographically speaking, it's in Europe. I wanted to keep an open mind through the mission paperwork process so I told myself I would be happy with anywhere I was called. I may have been able to lie to myself but deep down I desperately wanted to go back to Europe, specifically Germany. If you can picture a map of Europe you'll notice Málaga and Germany are a little different. Although I didn't get Germany, I'm still extremely pleased with getting my call to Spain. I've done a little research on Málaga, Spain and I have a few fun facts for you. Antonio Banderas and Picasso are from Málaga and the weather is never above 85 degrees and never lower than 70 degrees. So in the words of Brother Frederico, (the first counselor in my ward) "BAY-CATION!" (he mixes his 'v' and 'b' sounds sometimes)
On a less positive note, there has been a lot of dramatics going on 'roud here' with my family home evening group. So in order to protect myself from any more drama, that's my only comment on the matter.
But to positive again, This upcoming week is the downhill point! It's been eight weeks since the semester started! I've survived one half and I think I can handle one more. It's gonna be a real struggle, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I'm not counting on it though, just hoping. I got my very first college English paper back and I was disappointed; I got a 95. You might initially believe a 95 qualifies as an excellent grade, but this paper was perfect! It has hilarious and structurally sound! Where did those negative 5 points come from?! At least now I have a little bit of cushion for my next paper!
Tomorrow I am having a reunion with some buddies from EFY from quite a few years ago. We somehow all kept in touch and one of the four of us is having his mission farewell address tomorrow afternoon. Another one of the four is here at BYU with me so the two of us are driving to Ogden to meet up with the other two. I'm very excited about it! I'll make sure we get a nice reunion picture.
My Birthday is this upcoming Friday and my 19th birthday marks the year I will have lived in the United states longer than I have outside of the United states. At eighteen years old, I'm at 9 years overseas and 9 years not. But on Friday I'll be 9 years overseas and 10 years not. However, I'll be going to Spain for two years so I'll still be up with years overseas! Not that it's really important, its just kind of a fun fact, just like how 'Jason' can be found in the first letters of July, August, September, October, November.
As a side note, and I'll probably have to make an entire other blog post for Mr.BYU, but it was last week and a totally blast. This is me with sasquatch and his wife.
And this is their first argument:
I'll have to explain some other time because tonight I am going to the ward talent show. Hopefully it will be good. Until next time 'Hasta luego' (I'm practicing my Spanish)
I've been called to the Málaga Spain Mission and geographically speaking, it's in Europe. I wanted to keep an open mind through the mission paperwork process so I told myself I would be happy with anywhere I was called. I may have been able to lie to myself but deep down I desperately wanted to go back to Europe, specifically Germany. If you can picture a map of Europe you'll notice Málaga and Germany are a little different. Although I didn't get Germany, I'm still extremely pleased with getting my call to Spain. I've done a little research on Málaga, Spain and I have a few fun facts for you. Antonio Banderas and Picasso are from Málaga and the weather is never above 85 degrees and never lower than 70 degrees. So in the words of Brother Frederico, (the first counselor in my ward) "BAY-CATION!" (he mixes his 'v' and 'b' sounds sometimes)
On a less positive note, there has been a lot of dramatics going on 'roud here' with my family home evening group. So in order to protect myself from any more drama, that's my only comment on the matter.
But to positive again, This upcoming week is the downhill point! It's been eight weeks since the semester started! I've survived one half and I think I can handle one more. It's gonna be a real struggle, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I'm not counting on it though, just hoping. I got my very first college English paper back and I was disappointed; I got a 95. You might initially believe a 95 qualifies as an excellent grade, but this paper was perfect! It has hilarious and structurally sound! Where did those negative 5 points come from?! At least now I have a little bit of cushion for my next paper!
Tomorrow I am having a reunion with some buddies from EFY from quite a few years ago. We somehow all kept in touch and one of the four of us is having his mission farewell address tomorrow afternoon. Another one of the four is here at BYU with me so the two of us are driving to Ogden to meet up with the other two. I'm very excited about it! I'll make sure we get a nice reunion picture.
My Birthday is this upcoming Friday and my 19th birthday marks the year I will have lived in the United states longer than I have outside of the United states. At eighteen years old, I'm at 9 years overseas and 9 years not. But on Friday I'll be 9 years overseas and 10 years not. However, I'll be going to Spain for two years so I'll still be up with years overseas! Not that it's really important, its just kind of a fun fact, just like how 'Jason' can be found in the first letters of July, August, September, October, November.
As a side note, and I'll probably have to make an entire other blog post for Mr.BYU, but it was last week and a totally blast. This is me with sasquatch and his wife.
And this is their first argument:
I'll have to explain some other time because tonight I am going to the ward talent show. Hopefully it will be good. Until next time 'Hasta luego' (I'm practicing my Spanish)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Be Better by Doing Better
I have recently contemplated what I have done to become a better person. It seems that I am never happy with what I do or who I am so I set goals to try to make myself better. I've tried huge leaps that never seem to work so I've made small efforts to slowly make myself a better person. The only way to become a better person, is to do better. So, the first act of improvement I made was organization. I make my bed every morning. This is something totally foreign to my life; I think these past two weeks (when I started) is the longest I've made my bed in consecutive days! So for 14 days so far I have made my bed every morning after hopping out. It really does make a difference, not only for the way the room looks, but it starts my day on an organized and positive note. My second goal for betterment is changing the way I pray. What started as a coincidence has turned into a goal that I have continually been able to fulfill. One night, I decided to pray and only be grateful for the things in my life, not requesting blessing or a good night's sleep, only the things I was thankful for. In my family I believe there is a curse. Once you go to college, you will develop sleeping issues that will keep you up late into the night and your mind will work non-stop. My dad has weird sleeping and so does my older sister. After I prayed, only expressing gratitude, all the worries seemed to go into the back of my mind. I could have been stressed about a paper, a test, or just general studying and it would keep me up late just because my mind couldn't settle. However, after expressing my gratitude for the lord, I don't think about the current issues and I can have a good night's sleep. I would recommend trying it out! Those are my efforts to become a better person. I like them because they aren't hard to do or anything out of my ordinary routine. I guess at this point I am just trying to refine what I already do before I can take on anything new.
School has been good. It's getting a little monotonous but that's school for ya! I like all my classes, for the most part, and I'm making lots of friends and bettering my relationships with my current friends. I recently put in my mission papers and I'm just trying to keep everything in perspective. Today in Church the Bishop called all the young men who received their calls and asked them to announce where they were called to. Two guys walked up and the first one said "Mexico", he walked back to the stairs and the second young man announced his location. He said "Italy" instantly, a huge gasp and "wows" could be heard along with quiet cheering. I thought that act of "wowing" was so rude! Nobody wowed for the Mexico call! It was embarrassing and just rude, the indecency just killed me. That Mexico call probably means the world to that guy! I think I'm being sensitive to the issue because I'll be getting my call soon and I don't want anyone to judge it for me! Each missionary candidate is chosen to a certain location by divine inspiration! I don't need some stupid Utah Mormons telling me a call to a state side mission or Mexico isn't adequate!
My Mom just sent me some pictures through facebook of me from I believe fifth grade! They are of me folk dancing! WHOA! I remember doing the folk dancing during recces but the pictures are from our performance. I totally forgot about the performance until I saw these pictures! I wish that my start with folk dancing in 5th grade would have made me better! I love doing it but I get pretty lost sometimes!
This one is my favorite...It shows I've got that double step down!
Now I get to just try to make it through the week! My roommate and friend Conner Blake got two tickets to the Sunday Morning First Session of General Conference so that will knock out one of my goals for being in Utah! I'm pretty excited! The only problem, is I don't know if I've ever made it through General Conference without falling asleep!
School has been good. It's getting a little monotonous but that's school for ya! I like all my classes, for the most part, and I'm making lots of friends and bettering my relationships with my current friends. I recently put in my mission papers and I'm just trying to keep everything in perspective. Today in Church the Bishop called all the young men who received their calls and asked them to announce where they were called to. Two guys walked up and the first one said "Mexico", he walked back to the stairs and the second young man announced his location. He said "Italy" instantly, a huge gasp and "wows" could be heard along with quiet cheering. I thought that act of "wowing" was so rude! Nobody wowed for the Mexico call! It was embarrassing and just rude, the indecency just killed me. That Mexico call probably means the world to that guy! I think I'm being sensitive to the issue because I'll be getting my call soon and I don't want anyone to judge it for me! Each missionary candidate is chosen to a certain location by divine inspiration! I don't need some stupid Utah Mormons telling me a call to a state side mission or Mexico isn't adequate!
My Mom just sent me some pictures through facebook of me from I believe fifth grade! They are of me folk dancing! WHOA! I remember doing the folk dancing during recces but the pictures are from our performance. I totally forgot about the performance until I saw these pictures! I wish that my start with folk dancing in 5th grade would have made me better! I love doing it but I get pretty lost sometimes!
This one is my favorite...It shows I've got that double step down!
Now I get to just try to make it through the week! My roommate and friend Conner Blake got two tickets to the Sunday Morning First Session of General Conference so that will knock out one of my goals for being in Utah! I'm pretty excited! The only problem, is I don't know if I've ever made it through General Conference without falling asleep!
Friday, September 17, 2010
I never thought I'd look forward to Monday
Seriously. I wish it was the start of the week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday have become my favorite days! Mostly because of my folk dance class. It's my favorite and not only because I really enjoy it, but the girls are so talented and so pretty! You just can't loose with a class like that! For my Humanities class I am required to go to "cultural events" like plays, musicals, dance performances and the such. This weekend is the World of Dance performance so I have to attend and write a 3 page analysis on it. I bought two tickets with the anticipation of asking a girl to go on a date with me. Well, that didn't happen! I wanted to ask a particular young woman to go with me but I found out that she was already going so I got spooked and didn't ask her...so now I'm going with my roommate Conner.
I love BYU. This is the world's greatest school and its just so fun. Everyone is nice. The community actually reminds me a little bit of living on base overseas. Overseas, all the Americans are roughly in the same situation so they are nicer to each other because they can relate with one another. At BYU, everyone, mostly everyone, is just nice to each other because roughly everyone is a genuinely nice person! We can also all relate(except Utah Mormons) to being a "minority" back home. But I really love it out here and tomorrow we better kick Florida State's trash!
I finally took the time to officially organize my room. I kept making excuses to avoid organizing my closet and under my bed, but I finally ran out of excuses so now, after about 2 hours, my room is completely organized and everything has a home. Our room looks 10x better now! It was never messy, but my closet and side of the desk was cluttered and generally unorganized! But now, it looks beautiful!
My weekend starts very soon. I have one more class but I'm not really doing much this weekend so I'm not all that excited for it.
Oh! fun fact, I got a calling this past week. I'm on the activities committee, which is actually the calling I've wanted since the summer! I am very excited about it!
I've found my groove for getting all my work done so I've had a lot more free time this past week. The first two weeks were such a rush to get all my work done but I think I've gotten into a system and I'm in my groove. Like now, I've already finished my homework for today and Monday and I'm almost done with my work for Tuesday! It's such a relief to have your homework done before its due, because then, you can get the other stuff done, or have free time!
I found out this past week that the earliest I can get my Mission Papers in is this upcoming Thursday, so if everything works out, MY PAPERS WILL BE IN THIS UPCOMING WEEK! AHHH! I'm so excited! I think I'm most anxious to find out where I'm going! And I'm pretty excited to have a two year break from school! woohoo! However, I'm also a little bummed about it. I really do like school. I like learning stuff. In my humanities class we learn a bunch of random tidbits about cultures and I just love it! I've also figured out what I like. In high school, I used to love my science classes and hate English, but now, I hate going to science and I'd rather write a paper than work out some science problem! I hated math in high school and now in college, I still hate it. I hope I learn a new language for my mission then I can major in the language and never do math again. I passionately hate going to my math class. It's evil.
But on a positive note, it's Friday!
I love BYU. This is the world's greatest school and its just so fun. Everyone is nice. The community actually reminds me a little bit of living on base overseas. Overseas, all the Americans are roughly in the same situation so they are nicer to each other because they can relate with one another. At BYU, everyone, mostly everyone, is just nice to each other because roughly everyone is a genuinely nice person! We can also all relate(except Utah Mormons) to being a "minority" back home. But I really love it out here and tomorrow we better kick Florida State's trash!
I finally took the time to officially organize my room. I kept making excuses to avoid organizing my closet and under my bed, but I finally ran out of excuses so now, after about 2 hours, my room is completely organized and everything has a home. Our room looks 10x better now! It was never messy, but my closet and side of the desk was cluttered and generally unorganized! But now, it looks beautiful!
My weekend starts very soon. I have one more class but I'm not really doing much this weekend so I'm not all that excited for it.
Oh! fun fact, I got a calling this past week. I'm on the activities committee, which is actually the calling I've wanted since the summer! I am very excited about it!
I've found my groove for getting all my work done so I've had a lot more free time this past week. The first two weeks were such a rush to get all my work done but I think I've gotten into a system and I'm in my groove. Like now, I've already finished my homework for today and Monday and I'm almost done with my work for Tuesday! It's such a relief to have your homework done before its due, because then, you can get the other stuff done, or have free time!
I found out this past week that the earliest I can get my Mission Papers in is this upcoming Thursday, so if everything works out, MY PAPERS WILL BE IN THIS UPCOMING WEEK! AHHH! I'm so excited! I think I'm most anxious to find out where I'm going! And I'm pretty excited to have a two year break from school! woohoo! However, I'm also a little bummed about it. I really do like school. I like learning stuff. In my humanities class we learn a bunch of random tidbits about cultures and I just love it! I've also figured out what I like. In high school, I used to love my science classes and hate English, but now, I hate going to science and I'd rather write a paper than work out some science problem! I hated math in high school and now in college, I still hate it. I hope I learn a new language for my mission then I can major in the language and never do math again. I passionately hate going to my math class. It's evil.
But on a positive note, it's Friday!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Dinner for 10 Please
My roommate Curtis and I were sitting around the table and we were thinking about ways we could out-do the "rival ward", F. Smith. Here is a little bit of background. My ward, the BYU 131, is the ONLY ward on the entire campus where there are more guys than girls. It doesn't make sense and I have a solution! The 80-something-th ward has 2 girls dorms and 1 boy dorm. So why doesn't my ward send one of our boy dorms over to one of the other girls dorm and the number can be even?!? It just kills me. So because of our situation, there is an inevitable rivalry between the two guy dorms in my ward. Our goal, the guys from snow hall, is to be better than the guys from F. Smith. But back to Curtis and I, we were sitting and thinking of fun ideas that would one-up us to the F.Smith guys. We wanted the girls on our side, we want them to be our friends, we want them to hang out with US, not THEM! Curtis told me about a date idea that a friend he knew did. They rented the fancy china from the Central Office building and had a fancy dinner for their FHE sisters. I instantly fell in love with the idea and pulled out a piece of paper and we began to plan out a fancy dinner for our sisters. Most, if not all, the planning and carrying out was my doing. I was a little annoyed at how much my other roommates took credit for the ideas they DIDN'T come up with. This was my plan, my vision, I made this happen! But anyways, At family home evening we talked to our girls to see if they would be busy the upcoming Friday night. They said they didn't have any plans and of course, inquired why we were asking. We told them to keep it open and that was basically it. On Tuesday, I thought of the idea of making a fancy invitation and so thats what I did. Another roommate wanted to help and I wanted them to be involved but it really came down to MY creativity because he couldn't come up with anything. Maybe I'm being selfish but it really just, irked me, at how credit I didn't get for everything I did. No, thanks Jason, that was such a good idea, or, Jason actually made this all come together. One of my roommates, once all of us guys and girls were seated had the audacity to stand up and welcome everyone to HIS dinner party and declared himself the host of the party. I was pissed
OK! enough ranting! It was a great dinner and so now I'll only focus on how great it was!
Like I said, an invitation was made for them (by me) and a picture is featured at the bottom. The "HMC" (another thing I came up with) stands for the guys in my dorm. We are the "Handsome Men Club". Of course we didn't tell the girls what it meant until they were over. So we made the invitation on Tuesday and slipped it under their door that same night. We told them to dress in business attire, which, no one except Alec(one of my roommates) seemed to know what it meant. Like, 2 minutes after we dropped it off, we got texts saying, "What does business attire mean?!" Alec said they would know what it meant, but no one did. Hah. We ended up telling them to dress like they would for a church dance.
The Menu consisted of a three course dinner. We would start with a salad, have enchiladas for the main course, and then have s'more brownies for desert. On the Friday, Me, Curtis, and Conner went over to the Central Office building and picked up all the dishes and the table cloths and all the fancy stuff. At about 4 I started making the enchiladas. Everyone had a job. Curtis set the table, Conner was on the beautification team. He cleaned all the pots and pans we used to make the meal. Jordan and Alec were just kinda taking up space. Jordan ended up helping Conner clean and I made Alec brown the hamburger. It was a little stressful because we really wanted to be RIGHT on time. The kitchen was spotless and the food was in the oven. We told the girls to be there at 5:30 but of course, they didn't get there until 5:50! So the food wasn't as hot as I would have liked because I was ready right at 5:30! Part of us getting ready consisted of what we would wear. I had the idea of wearing church pants, a button up shirt and then a vest. I brought two vests and Alec and Jordan both brought two, so we had plenty! Although we looked fancy, I wanted to add a quirky twist! We were barefoot! So the dinner was fancy, but sorta silly at the same time! I mean, Enchiladas on fine China?! It was great! The girls knocked on the door and we sent Alec to get the door while the rest of us stood behind the chairs. The girls walked in and were amazed at how cool the kitchen looked! They had no idea what we were doing so it all came as a big shock! Again, it was great! I had my Ipod cued to Vivaldi's Spring so as they sat down the classical music started(Another one of MY ideas for which credit escaped me) It was a great touch! The dinner was delicious and Conner's brownies were fantastic. Conversation started a little slow because maybe we were being a little too fancy, but as the dinner went on, we were all talking and it was a great way to bond with our FHE sisters. F.Smith boys are clearly not as refined as the Men from Snow Hall was the message we were trying to convey and we think it worked! Our FHE sisters like us WAY more than the guys from F. Smith! But anyways, the dinner was AWESOME and just a blast!
I ranted a little bit about the whole "credit" thing. I wouldn't have cared had I not gotten any credit, but what killed me is that the entire night was my design and one roommate in particular took credit for things he didn't do! I don't know why he kept bringing stuff up and I wasn't going to stick up and say, "Alec, you didn't do anything!" because that would make me look bad! I would have gladly said that the whole night was a group effort, but he started pin pointing what everyone did and he minimized my HUGE contributions and made it seem like he did a lot! I was not happy about it, but I didn't let it bother me, because I was going to have fun with the activity that I made happen!
There is my Fancy dinner story!
On Sunday, I think, I made some Caramel apples. they were delicious, and beautiful. I borrowed chocolate chips from my FHE sisters and because I did so, I planned on giving my sisters one of them. I made it look like a unicorn because, well, inside joke, but it originated from the Unicorn song Agnes sings in Despicable Me. When I went to deliver it, Alec saw me leaving and wanted to go over there with me. I didn't have a problem with it but when we got there, he was like "Look what WE made you!" AHHHHHHHH! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! One of the girls took a picture of it and put it on facebook and tagged both him and me with the caption, "our FHE brothers are the best!" I think I'm just jealous...I'm all about helping a brother out with the ladies, but I can only let them hang on my coattail for so long!
This post may have seemed angry, but I had a great time with the fancy dinner and at least my caramel apples were delicious!
The girls sent us this thank you letter afterwards
OK! enough ranting! It was a great dinner and so now I'll only focus on how great it was!
Like I said, an invitation was made for them (by me) and a picture is featured at the bottom. The "HMC" (another thing I came up with) stands for the guys in my dorm. We are the "Handsome Men Club". Of course we didn't tell the girls what it meant until they were over. So we made the invitation on Tuesday and slipped it under their door that same night. We told them to dress in business attire, which, no one except Alec(one of my roommates) seemed to know what it meant. Like, 2 minutes after we dropped it off, we got texts saying, "What does business attire mean?!" Alec said they would know what it meant, but no one did. Hah. We ended up telling them to dress like they would for a church dance.
The Menu consisted of a three course dinner. We would start with a salad, have enchiladas for the main course, and then have s'more brownies for desert. On the Friday, Me, Curtis, and Conner went over to the Central Office building and picked up all the dishes and the table cloths and all the fancy stuff. At about 4 I started making the enchiladas. Everyone had a job. Curtis set the table, Conner was on the beautification team. He cleaned all the pots and pans we used to make the meal. Jordan and Alec were just kinda taking up space. Jordan ended up helping Conner clean and I made Alec brown the hamburger. It was a little stressful because we really wanted to be RIGHT on time. The kitchen was spotless and the food was in the oven. We told the girls to be there at 5:30 but of course, they didn't get there until 5:50! So the food wasn't as hot as I would have liked because I was ready right at 5:30! Part of us getting ready consisted of what we would wear. I had the idea of wearing church pants, a button up shirt and then a vest. I brought two vests and Alec and Jordan both brought two, so we had plenty! Although we looked fancy, I wanted to add a quirky twist! We were barefoot! So the dinner was fancy, but sorta silly at the same time! I mean, Enchiladas on fine China?! It was great! The girls knocked on the door and we sent Alec to get the door while the rest of us stood behind the chairs. The girls walked in and were amazed at how cool the kitchen looked! They had no idea what we were doing so it all came as a big shock! Again, it was great! I had my Ipod cued to Vivaldi's Spring so as they sat down the classical music started(Another one of MY ideas for which credit escaped me) It was a great touch! The dinner was delicious and Conner's brownies were fantastic. Conversation started a little slow because maybe we were being a little too fancy, but as the dinner went on, we were all talking and it was a great way to bond with our FHE sisters. F.Smith boys are clearly not as refined as the Men from Snow Hall was the message we were trying to convey and we think it worked! Our FHE sisters like us WAY more than the guys from F. Smith! But anyways, the dinner was AWESOME and just a blast!
I ranted a little bit about the whole "credit" thing. I wouldn't have cared had I not gotten any credit, but what killed me is that the entire night was my design and one roommate in particular took credit for things he didn't do! I don't know why he kept bringing stuff up and I wasn't going to stick up and say, "Alec, you didn't do anything!" because that would make me look bad! I would have gladly said that the whole night was a group effort, but he started pin pointing what everyone did and he minimized my HUGE contributions and made it seem like he did a lot! I was not happy about it, but I didn't let it bother me, because I was going to have fun with the activity that I made happen!
There is my Fancy dinner story!
On Sunday, I think, I made some Caramel apples. they were delicious, and beautiful. I borrowed chocolate chips from my FHE sisters and because I did so, I planned on giving my sisters one of them. I made it look like a unicorn because, well, inside joke, but it originated from the Unicorn song Agnes sings in Despicable Me. When I went to deliver it, Alec saw me leaving and wanted to go over there with me. I didn't have a problem with it but when we got there, he was like "Look what WE made you!" AHHHHHHHH! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! One of the girls took a picture of it and put it on facebook and tagged both him and me with the caption, "our FHE brothers are the best!" I think I'm just jealous...I'm all about helping a brother out with the ladies, but I can only let them hang on my coattail for so long!
This post may have seemed angry, but I had a great time with the fancy dinner and at least my caramel apples were delicious!
The girls sent us this thank you letter afterwards
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A Love Story By Jason Hunt
I figured I would change up my routine a bit. I wrote a story, I'm not much a story teller so I'm doing this to get better! So this story is based (well, not really) on trued events. The actual ending is sad and nothing like the ending of this upcoming story, so I changed it up, because, who doesn't love a happy ending?!
Author's Note: Any similarities to any real persons are strictly coincidental
Once upon a time in a magical and happy valley, there lived a handsome young prince. This prince had traveled very far to reach this magical and happy valley to study its ways of happiness. One day, as the prince was walking through the Wilkinson Center on his way back to his castle, a humble bard approached him and said, "My lord, thine feet have been blessed with the skill to move in a manor pleasing unto all, whilst thou honour our band of entertainers by auditioning for the BYU folk dance club?" The prince thought to himself, "well mine feet have blessed, eh, why-est not?!" The Prince, being a prince taught in the ways of social etiquette and cultural dances, graced the floor with his skills of dancing and was graciously accepted by the traveling entertainers to join their ranks. "Every Wednesday is folk dance rec night, you are required to be there, oh yes, and bring your non-folk dancing friends along, this event is for everyone!" Said the entertainer who was running the show. "That chief entertainer is a gypsy! thought the prince, I better do what she says or else she'll curse me!"
So the prince went to folk dance rec night, even after his roommates made clever jousts at him for it. Because our handsome prince went without bringing any non folk dancing friends, he just hung out around the water fountain until the actual dancing started. The dance started with the gypsy lady taking the magical device used to speak loudly, and described what dance would start the event. It was a partner dance. "Excellent, thought the prince, time to find a suitable partner." A rather attractive female was standing in a crowd of other attractive females and caught the prince's attention. "With that high level of attraction, she MUST be a princess! And a suitable folk dance partner!" The prince asked the princess to dance with him and of course, because he was a handsome prince, the princess accepted the offer. The dance went smoothly, with both laughing at their mistakes and having a grand old time. The particular dance the royalty grooved too was from Germany. After the German folk song ended, the prince, being a gentlemen, thanked the princess for a lovely dance while the music for the next song began. The princess inquired of the prince: "Do you want to be partners again?" The prince contemplated the matter, but the answer was quite obvious to him, OF COURSE! He said "My feet, and my heart, are at your service." The two joined hands, and by doing so, they joined hearts. For the rest of the evening, the two danced with such elegance, Apollo and his Muses kindled jealousy within their hearts.
The gypsy said "We put up the rolls, so if you're in a dance class, come sign up!" The two had to part so the prince could sign the roll, stating he was present, but while doing so, the princess disappeared. The princess was not required to sign the roll so the two did not accompany each other to the table. The prince returned to their departing spot, but the princess was gone! All that was left, was a simple brown shoe. He pocketed the slipper but music began to echo through the grand dancing hall and a new dance was initiated. A fair maiden approached the prince and requested his companionship for the dance. They joined hands, but his heart remained with the lost princess. He continued to look for her throughout the remainder of folk dance rec night, but to no avail. She was gone. Perhaps, the gypsy turned her into a canary, or even made her disappear. The prince began to despair, believing he would never see his beloved again. The travel back to his castle was lonely. "Why didst she depart from me? I couldn't even acquire her digits! Perhaps she was all an illusion, a mortal woman of that beauty could not possibly exist, she could have only been a piece of my imagination!
The next day, the prince performed his daily routine of educating his mind in the ways of happiness the valley had to offer. When the sun reached high noon, the prince began to daydream of his lost princess as he took the little shoe from his satchel. Where could she be? The prince began to doubt her existence, and at high noon, decreed to himself, that looking for the lost princess was a wild goose chase! There are hundreds of woman in this happy valley, how could he expect to see a particular one ever again! After he gave up on his lost princess he began to walk to his next class. As he waited for the stop light to turn red, which allowed travelers to cross the busy road, he spied a young girl, radiating with light, across the street. She was missing a shoe. This was clearly the lost princess from the night before! The prince could see a smile emanating from her angelic face and the prince couldn't help but smile back. She said "Hey!" and gave him a friendly wave. The prince returned the wave and also her shoe. "I believe this is yours" He said with a grin. "Yes, yes it is" she said. The two walked off together, and folk danced their way into eternal bliss.
THE END
The more I read it, the dumber I think it is! But I already wrote it, so I might as well post it! right?
so here are the actual non-embellished events
-I got a flier to audition for the BYU folk dance club from a guy at the Folk dance booth and he said "hey, you look like a folk dancers!" (But they say that to everyone to get their attention).
-I went to the auditions and didn't make it but I made it as an alternate
-I got a call from the teacher saying someone dropped out and wondered if I wanted to fill the spot
-At Folk Dance Rec night, I did meet a pretty cute girl who I danced with most of the night, but when I went to sign the roll, saying I went, the girl disappeared.
-The next day, while walking to my various classes, I would keep an eye out just in case I saw her again.
-I decided that I would probably never see her again, so I stopped looking. Immediately after I decided this, I turned a corner and across the sidewalk, guess who I saw?! The girl I danced with! We both smiled, said hey! and waved, but both of us continued walking.
I took those facts and turned them into a love story! YAY!
Author's Note: Any similarities to any real persons are strictly coincidental
Once upon a time in a magical and happy valley, there lived a handsome young prince. This prince had traveled very far to reach this magical and happy valley to study its ways of happiness. One day, as the prince was walking through the Wilkinson Center on his way back to his castle, a humble bard approached him and said, "My lord, thine feet have been blessed with the skill to move in a manor pleasing unto all, whilst thou honour our band of entertainers by auditioning for the BYU folk dance club?" The prince thought to himself, "well mine feet have blessed, eh, why-est not?!" The Prince, being a prince taught in the ways of social etiquette and cultural dances, graced the floor with his skills of dancing and was graciously accepted by the traveling entertainers to join their ranks. "Every Wednesday is folk dance rec night, you are required to be there, oh yes, and bring your non-folk dancing friends along, this event is for everyone!" Said the entertainer who was running the show. "That chief entertainer is a gypsy! thought the prince, I better do what she says or else she'll curse me!"
So the prince went to folk dance rec night, even after his roommates made clever jousts at him for it. Because our handsome prince went without bringing any non folk dancing friends, he just hung out around the water fountain until the actual dancing started. The dance started with the gypsy lady taking the magical device used to speak loudly, and described what dance would start the event. It was a partner dance. "Excellent, thought the prince, time to find a suitable partner." A rather attractive female was standing in a crowd of other attractive females and caught the prince's attention. "With that high level of attraction, she MUST be a princess! And a suitable folk dance partner!" The prince asked the princess to dance with him and of course, because he was a handsome prince, the princess accepted the offer. The dance went smoothly, with both laughing at their mistakes and having a grand old time. The particular dance the royalty grooved too was from Germany. After the German folk song ended, the prince, being a gentlemen, thanked the princess for a lovely dance while the music for the next song began. The princess inquired of the prince: "Do you want to be partners again?" The prince contemplated the matter, but the answer was quite obvious to him, OF COURSE! He said "My feet, and my heart, are at your service." The two joined hands, and by doing so, they joined hearts. For the rest of the evening, the two danced with such elegance, Apollo and his Muses kindled jealousy within their hearts.
The gypsy said "We put up the rolls, so if you're in a dance class, come sign up!" The two had to part so the prince could sign the roll, stating he was present, but while doing so, the princess disappeared. The princess was not required to sign the roll so the two did not accompany each other to the table. The prince returned to their departing spot, but the princess was gone! All that was left, was a simple brown shoe. He pocketed the slipper but music began to echo through the grand dancing hall and a new dance was initiated. A fair maiden approached the prince and requested his companionship for the dance. They joined hands, but his heart remained with the lost princess. He continued to look for her throughout the remainder of folk dance rec night, but to no avail. She was gone. Perhaps, the gypsy turned her into a canary, or even made her disappear. The prince began to despair, believing he would never see his beloved again. The travel back to his castle was lonely. "Why didst she depart from me? I couldn't even acquire her digits! Perhaps she was all an illusion, a mortal woman of that beauty could not possibly exist, she could have only been a piece of my imagination!
The next day, the prince performed his daily routine of educating his mind in the ways of happiness the valley had to offer. When the sun reached high noon, the prince began to daydream of his lost princess as he took the little shoe from his satchel. Where could she be? The prince began to doubt her existence, and at high noon, decreed to himself, that looking for the lost princess was a wild goose chase! There are hundreds of woman in this happy valley, how could he expect to see a particular one ever again! After he gave up on his lost princess he began to walk to his next class. As he waited for the stop light to turn red, which allowed travelers to cross the busy road, he spied a young girl, radiating with light, across the street. She was missing a shoe. This was clearly the lost princess from the night before! The prince could see a smile emanating from her angelic face and the prince couldn't help but smile back. She said "Hey!" and gave him a friendly wave. The prince returned the wave and also her shoe. "I believe this is yours" He said with a grin. "Yes, yes it is" she said. The two walked off together, and folk danced their way into eternal bliss.
THE END
The more I read it, the dumber I think it is! But I already wrote it, so I might as well post it! right?
so here are the actual non-embellished events
-I got a flier to audition for the BYU folk dance club from a guy at the Folk dance booth and he said "hey, you look like a folk dancers!" (But they say that to everyone to get their attention).
-I went to the auditions and didn't make it but I made it as an alternate
-I got a call from the teacher saying someone dropped out and wondered if I wanted to fill the spot
-At Folk Dance Rec night, I did meet a pretty cute girl who I danced with most of the night, but when I went to sign the roll, saying I went, the girl disappeared.
-The next day, while walking to my various classes, I would keep an eye out just in case I saw her again.
-I decided that I would probably never see her again, so I stopped looking. Immediately after I decided this, I turned a corner and across the sidewalk, guess who I saw?! The girl I danced with! We both smiled, said hey! and waved, but both of us continued walking.
I took those facts and turned them into a love story! YAY!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Week 1 of Fall Semester
I normally like to write about a specfic event of importance in these blogs and keep it from being a travel log, but so much has happened that I am afraid it will turn into just that.
This past week was the first week of the new fall semester at BYU. It was the longest week of my life. I can't beleive it has only been a week! its feels like I've been here for an eternity! Not that it is a bad thing, but I have gotten so much school work to do this past week and even though I was busy EVERYDAY, the week still seemed to just inch along!
I like all my classes, at least as much as you can like general ed classes, there really isn't anything too special or stand outish about any of them. However, my physical science teacher is Catholic, werid huh! You could almost feel the uncertanity in the air when the professor anounced it. She said "I'm Roman Catholic!" and you could hear fidgeting and nervousness. In my mind, scenes from "Angels and Demons" where the Catholics hide up science and claim it as heracy popped in! I also have a swimming class. For the first day we had a pretty easy workout, but I havn't gone swimming in months and so that workout was actually pretty killer! My arms are still a little sore!
I wish I could go into details with all these events I'm about to describe but it would just take to long!
Everyday this week I sat at a "kissing booth" for Mr.BYU. We would give guys a hershey kiss if they signed up for an audition. It got to be pretty boring and we would get maybe 7 guys to sign up in one day. So out of the 5 hours we had the booth researved for, we would get maybe 7 a day. To keep myself entertained I would creep people out. I don't think I realized what I was doing because I was driven to it due by my bordom! If I ever saw a girl reading the kissing booth sign I would smile, or make a kissy face or sometimes make smootching noises. My pinacle creep event was when a guy came up and said "whoa, kissing booth?! whats this all about!?" and I said, "How bout I give you kiss first then we talk." His face turned from genuine curiosity to a face of "what the heck?!" but we both laughed it off cause thankfully he could tell that I was joking and I went ahead and described what Mr.BYU was but I don't think he signed up.
I tried out for the BYU folk dance club and I had a blast at the auditions! We learned 3 folk dances: Irish, Ukrainian, and Indian(dot, not feather). I thought it was fun and I did it just to try something new but as the auditions continued I found myself getting more and more competetive, always trying to do better than the guy next to me. So really, making the team was a matter of my pride at this point. I REALLY wanted to get into the club, not to be on it, but because I wanted to win! Actually, after how fun the try-outs were, I did want to be on the team. I ended up being an alternate. About 100 guys tried out but they only had 40 spots availiable. I was in the top 50 so I got chosen as an alternate. They said they would call if something turned up and I was really crossing my fingers that someone would drop out! On friday, the try outs were on wednesday, I got a call from them and they asked me if I was still willing to be in the club! of course I was still willing! I am so stoked about it! Because I am now a part of the BYU folk dance club, I will be in the Homecoming parade and at Christmas time, I'll get to be in a huge performance for 1000+ people, its a little intimidating actually!
This Saturday has been such a great one!
In the morning, I helped set up for my Ward's "hall-gate" party and then at noonish the actual event started. It's a real bummer having a ratio of two guys to one girl in my ward. When the girls were helping us set up, one guy room and one girl room helped set up, we got some fun time with the girls but once all the guys came out for the event, every girl was surrounded by a couple of dudes. I guess I'm just not that aggressive when it comes to girls so I just hung out with my roommates. After about two hours I went over to go help out with Mr.BYU auditions. We held them Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday's earlier afternoon. We say some great talent. I am so glad I don't have to make the cut on the guys. We can only have 10 but all the guys that audition are so great! There is sooooooo much talent at BYU. I really have to step up my game and learn some new skills and improve the ones I have now if I'm gonna keep up with the BYU social scene!
After the auditions were over I went home and got ready for the football game, like I stated on my facebook page; watching my first BYU football ticket print out is like watching my first child being born, I was filled with indescribable joy!
That could basically sum up my emotions toward that game! It was a home game against Washington. It was a close game but that's what made it so good! We were all on the edge the whole time! BYU is working a duel QB system right now but I think I like Riley Nelson more than Jake Heaps. Whenever Heaps threw the ball I would get nervous. He just made me nervous, he is still an amazing QB, but I felt better with Nelson out.
The football game ended with a W for BYU. It was my first live BYU game and I had a BLAST! I LOVE IT! Man, I don't think it's gonna be an easy transition back to TV games! At half time, Coach Levell Edwards and the 8 BYU All-American QB were announced to the crowd. Apparently, this was the first time in awhile that all 8 of them and Coach were together. The only problem was that one of those All-American QBs is the Coach for Washington! When they called his name, some boo'd, but most gave a courtesy clap because deep down he is still a Cougar. I clapped and cheered for him.
Once the game ended, my friend Conner and I walked over to the Tanner building to watch Divine Comedy. DC is HILARIOUS! We were laughing for the entire 2 hour show! It was soooo funny, and so much fun, plus, two really cute girls sat next to me. At the DC shows they throuh glow sticks braclets and necklaces out to the audience. I caught a handfull but the cute girls didn't have any, so of course, I shared the wealth! I had the bracelet and I asked the one sitting directly next to me and help me attach the bracelet to my wrist. I didn't really need help, but i got to talk to her for a second and our hands touched! tee-hee!
Well there is my travel log for the week! I'll try to be better to keep this updated so I don't have to resort to long day by day journal entries!
This past week was the first week of the new fall semester at BYU. It was the longest week of my life. I can't beleive it has only been a week! its feels like I've been here for an eternity! Not that it is a bad thing, but I have gotten so much school work to do this past week and even though I was busy EVERYDAY, the week still seemed to just inch along!
I like all my classes, at least as much as you can like general ed classes, there really isn't anything too special or stand outish about any of them. However, my physical science teacher is Catholic, werid huh! You could almost feel the uncertanity in the air when the professor anounced it. She said "I'm Roman Catholic!" and you could hear fidgeting and nervousness. In my mind, scenes from "Angels and Demons" where the Catholics hide up science and claim it as heracy popped in! I also have a swimming class. For the first day we had a pretty easy workout, but I havn't gone swimming in months and so that workout was actually pretty killer! My arms are still a little sore!
I wish I could go into details with all these events I'm about to describe but it would just take to long!
Everyday this week I sat at a "kissing booth" for Mr.BYU. We would give guys a hershey kiss if they signed up for an audition. It got to be pretty boring and we would get maybe 7 guys to sign up in one day. So out of the 5 hours we had the booth researved for, we would get maybe 7 a day. To keep myself entertained I would creep people out. I don't think I realized what I was doing because I was driven to it due by my bordom! If I ever saw a girl reading the kissing booth sign I would smile, or make a kissy face or sometimes make smootching noises. My pinacle creep event was when a guy came up and said "whoa, kissing booth?! whats this all about!?" and I said, "How bout I give you kiss first then we talk." His face turned from genuine curiosity to a face of "what the heck?!" but we both laughed it off cause thankfully he could tell that I was joking and I went ahead and described what Mr.BYU was but I don't think he signed up.
I tried out for the BYU folk dance club and I had a blast at the auditions! We learned 3 folk dances: Irish, Ukrainian, and Indian(dot, not feather). I thought it was fun and I did it just to try something new but as the auditions continued I found myself getting more and more competetive, always trying to do better than the guy next to me. So really, making the team was a matter of my pride at this point. I REALLY wanted to get into the club, not to be on it, but because I wanted to win! Actually, after how fun the try-outs were, I did want to be on the team. I ended up being an alternate. About 100 guys tried out but they only had 40 spots availiable. I was in the top 50 so I got chosen as an alternate. They said they would call if something turned up and I was really crossing my fingers that someone would drop out! On friday, the try outs were on wednesday, I got a call from them and they asked me if I was still willing to be in the club! of course I was still willing! I am so stoked about it! Because I am now a part of the BYU folk dance club, I will be in the Homecoming parade and at Christmas time, I'll get to be in a huge performance for 1000+ people, its a little intimidating actually!
This Saturday has been such a great one!
In the morning, I helped set up for my Ward's "hall-gate" party and then at noonish the actual event started. It's a real bummer having a ratio of two guys to one girl in my ward. When the girls were helping us set up, one guy room and one girl room helped set up, we got some fun time with the girls but once all the guys came out for the event, every girl was surrounded by a couple of dudes. I guess I'm just not that aggressive when it comes to girls so I just hung out with my roommates. After about two hours I went over to go help out with Mr.BYU auditions. We held them Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday's earlier afternoon. We say some great talent. I am so glad I don't have to make the cut on the guys. We can only have 10 but all the guys that audition are so great! There is sooooooo much talent at BYU. I really have to step up my game and learn some new skills and improve the ones I have now if I'm gonna keep up with the BYU social scene!
After the auditions were over I went home and got ready for the football game, like I stated on my facebook page; watching my first BYU football ticket print out is like watching my first child being born, I was filled with indescribable joy!
That could basically sum up my emotions toward that game! It was a home game against Washington. It was a close game but that's what made it so good! We were all on the edge the whole time! BYU is working a duel QB system right now but I think I like Riley Nelson more than Jake Heaps. Whenever Heaps threw the ball I would get nervous. He just made me nervous, he is still an amazing QB, but I felt better with Nelson out.
The football game ended with a W for BYU. It was my first live BYU game and I had a BLAST! I LOVE IT! Man, I don't think it's gonna be an easy transition back to TV games! At half time, Coach Levell Edwards and the 8 BYU All-American QB were announced to the crowd. Apparently, this was the first time in awhile that all 8 of them and Coach were together. The only problem was that one of those All-American QBs is the Coach for Washington! When they called his name, some boo'd, but most gave a courtesy clap because deep down he is still a Cougar. I clapped and cheered for him.
Once the game ended, my friend Conner and I walked over to the Tanner building to watch Divine Comedy. DC is HILARIOUS! We were laughing for the entire 2 hour show! It was soooo funny, and so much fun, plus, two really cute girls sat next to me. At the DC shows they throuh glow sticks braclets and necklaces out to the audience. I caught a handfull but the cute girls didn't have any, so of course, I shared the wealth! I had the bracelet and I asked the one sitting directly next to me and help me attach the bracelet to my wrist. I didn't really need help, but i got to talk to her for a second and our hands touched! tee-hee!
Well there is my travel log for the week! I'll try to be better to keep this updated so I don't have to resort to long day by day journal entries!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
There and Back Again
As a quick update I would just have to say that I have successfully traveled from Provo to Virginia and then back to Provo
Monday, August 16, 2010
Wedding? I love weddings!
No. I don't love weddings. I'm all into the forever family part to marriage but I have yet to go to a wedding where I've actually enjoyed myself. At least at Mormon ones anyways. Every time, I get to play sheep dog and herd the little children all over the temple grounds. As you can imagine, I like playing sheep dog about as much as I like stepping in cow poop.
I attended Rob Skankey's wedding to Melanie Smith. It was nice to see my good friends the Skankeys, however, Bryce is in the MTC so it was really weird for me to be around the Skankeys and not have Bryce present. I was a loner for all the wedding festivities because Bryce is my main man and without him, I resorted to sitting with my brother Cameron while he read a book or played his gameboy.
But lets backtrack a little!
I took my finals and finished up the Summer term like a college pro. Since my finals were done, the next item on the to-do list was the clean up/pack out. My cleaning list was pretty simple but I had to move all my junk from my room in Felt Hall over to Snow Hall. It wasn't far but considering I only have two hands, it took me many trips to get all my stuff from point A to point B. While moving my mini-fridge, which is about as mini as a baby rhino, I had to take a few breaks to allow my arms to stop shaking. At one break point, I mentally picked out a tree or a line in the sidewalk and told myself "just make it to that point", I was resting when a couple of attractive woman walked around the corner and started walking in my direction. Instinctively, I pretended that I was NOT taking a break, and whipped out my cell phone as if I put the fridge down, not because I was tired, but because I was answering my phone. It appeared to work because they exchanged a "how do you do?" smile and continued walking. Once they were out of sight, I attempted to get all the way to point B, but I didn't make it very far. The normally 2 minute walk turned into an exodus across desert. I saw two guys from my ward and both offered to help me carry the fridge, but because of my success with the fake phone call I figured I would try it again. I replied: "*huff no *puff I was just *huff taking a phone call *puff." Finally, the fridge was successfully transported from point A to point B! I really should have planned out my moving schedule better and moved the fridge last. After the fridge, I just wanted to crawl into my bed.
Eventually, I got all my stuff, which actually wasn't much, into my cage.
The rest of my time has been spent with my family and with the Skankeys. Like I previously stated, I got to attend Rob's wedding festivities. At the family dinner, the Hunts and Skankeys are basically family, Mr. Robert presented a photo slide show he put together for the families. The slide show featured pictures of Rob and Mel growing up, so naturally, I was on the look out to see which pictures I was in. Finally, after three whole songs, that's like, 9-10 minutes, a picture of me was displayed on the screen! Excellent, a picture of me! only, it was of the back of my head. But I think the back of my head really stole the show!
A random moment just popped into my head that I feel is worth sharing. I was walking to my class in the JFSB a few weeks ago and on my travel I was fortunate enough to see a pretty lady who was very easy upon the eyes. Comparable to a male peacock strutting his stuff and showing off his beautiful feathers, I straitened up and walked a little taller, spreading my shoulders out and attempted to walk with a dramatic increase of "swag" in my step. As I strutted along with my swag, with the opening lines to the song "Stayin' alive" in my head, we were just about to exchange deep and longing looks into each others eyes, when suddenly, my right flip-flop got caught on a crack in the sidewalk and I tripped and stumbled for about 5 feet, my arms flailing about in a desperate attempt to regain balance while causing me to look like a landing albatross. I heard this pretty woman laugh out loud pretty hard, "at least I can make her laugh" I thought. I couldn't bring myself to turn around and face her, so I got right back up, straightened my shoulders, re-channeled my swag and continued walking to class while whistling the chorus of "stayin
alive". I might have lost this instance, but there is always next time!
A nagging question in the back of my mind for the longest time is: where the heck am I going to go on a mission!? Ever since i started filling out the paper work I have thought about it at least 3 times a day! At lunch today with the Skankeys we were talking about it some more. Apparently, Sam Skankey is just like the octopus oracle and can accurately predict where guys will go on their missions! I have yet to ask him where he thinks I will go, but I sure hope Same sends me somewhere good! Hah, if only it was that easy! I guess since I will probably be getting my call sometime next month, it would be alright if you, the reader, wanted to send me, or just comment on my blog, where you think I'm headed! Don't do it now though, finish reading this post and then save that thought for when it gets closer for me to turn in all the paperwork!
I am headed back to Virginia tomorrow and I'm sure it will be interesting. My family is flying back tomorrow morning and I really hate airplanes. I'm not scared of flights and I've never had a traumatic experience, it's just that every time I've gone on an airplane, the seats appear to get smaller! I've been on airplanes millions of times and they really are no big deal to me, but the seats and the limited leg room look like they belong at a torture chamber with the intention to keep the inmates awake for hours on end! It is impossible to get comfortable or let alone rest in those "seats"!
Well in conclusion, I missed my buddy Bryce thorough the wedding and it makes me even more eager to go on a mission. My friends are all going and finishing and I'm feeling a little left out!
I attended Rob Skankey's wedding to Melanie Smith. It was nice to see my good friends the Skankeys, however, Bryce is in the MTC so it was really weird for me to be around the Skankeys and not have Bryce present. I was a loner for all the wedding festivities because Bryce is my main man and without him, I resorted to sitting with my brother Cameron while he read a book or played his gameboy.
But lets backtrack a little!
I took my finals and finished up the Summer term like a college pro. Since my finals were done, the next item on the to-do list was the clean up/pack out. My cleaning list was pretty simple but I had to move all my junk from my room in Felt Hall over to Snow Hall. It wasn't far but considering I only have two hands, it took me many trips to get all my stuff from point A to point B. While moving my mini-fridge, which is about as mini as a baby rhino, I had to take a few breaks to allow my arms to stop shaking. At one break point, I mentally picked out a tree or a line in the sidewalk and told myself "just make it to that point", I was resting when a couple of attractive woman walked around the corner and started walking in my direction. Instinctively, I pretended that I was NOT taking a break, and whipped out my cell phone as if I put the fridge down, not because I was tired, but because I was answering my phone. It appeared to work because they exchanged a "how do you do?" smile and continued walking. Once they were out of sight, I attempted to get all the way to point B, but I didn't make it very far. The normally 2 minute walk turned into an exodus across desert. I saw two guys from my ward and both offered to help me carry the fridge, but because of my success with the fake phone call I figured I would try it again. I replied: "*huff no *puff I was just *huff taking a phone call *puff." Finally, the fridge was successfully transported from point A to point B! I really should have planned out my moving schedule better and moved the fridge last. After the fridge, I just wanted to crawl into my bed.
Eventually, I got all my stuff, which actually wasn't much, into my cage.
The rest of my time has been spent with my family and with the Skankeys. Like I previously stated, I got to attend Rob's wedding festivities. At the family dinner, the Hunts and Skankeys are basically family, Mr. Robert presented a photo slide show he put together for the families. The slide show featured pictures of Rob and Mel growing up, so naturally, I was on the look out to see which pictures I was in. Finally, after three whole songs, that's like, 9-10 minutes, a picture of me was displayed on the screen! Excellent, a picture of me! only, it was of the back of my head. But I think the back of my head really stole the show!
A random moment just popped into my head that I feel is worth sharing. I was walking to my class in the JFSB a few weeks ago and on my travel I was fortunate enough to see a pretty lady who was very easy upon the eyes. Comparable to a male peacock strutting his stuff and showing off his beautiful feathers, I straitened up and walked a little taller, spreading my shoulders out and attempted to walk with a dramatic increase of "swag" in my step. As I strutted along with my swag, with the opening lines to the song "Stayin' alive" in my head, we were just about to exchange deep and longing looks into each others eyes, when suddenly, my right flip-flop got caught on a crack in the sidewalk and I tripped and stumbled for about 5 feet, my arms flailing about in a desperate attempt to regain balance while causing me to look like a landing albatross. I heard this pretty woman laugh out loud pretty hard, "at least I can make her laugh" I thought. I couldn't bring myself to turn around and face her, so I got right back up, straightened my shoulders, re-channeled my swag and continued walking to class while whistling the chorus of "stayin
alive". I might have lost this instance, but there is always next time!
A nagging question in the back of my mind for the longest time is: where the heck am I going to go on a mission!? Ever since i started filling out the paper work I have thought about it at least 3 times a day! At lunch today with the Skankeys we were talking about it some more. Apparently, Sam Skankey is just like the octopus oracle and can accurately predict where guys will go on their missions! I have yet to ask him where he thinks I will go, but I sure hope Same sends me somewhere good! Hah, if only it was that easy! I guess since I will probably be getting my call sometime next month, it would be alright if you, the reader, wanted to send me, or just comment on my blog, where you think I'm headed! Don't do it now though, finish reading this post and then save that thought for when it gets closer for me to turn in all the paperwork!
I am headed back to Virginia tomorrow and I'm sure it will be interesting. My family is flying back tomorrow morning and I really hate airplanes. I'm not scared of flights and I've never had a traumatic experience, it's just that every time I've gone on an airplane, the seats appear to get smaller! I've been on airplanes millions of times and they really are no big deal to me, but the seats and the limited leg room look like they belong at a torture chamber with the intention to keep the inmates awake for hours on end! It is impossible to get comfortable or let alone rest in those "seats"!
Well in conclusion, I missed my buddy Bryce thorough the wedding and it makes me even more eager to go on a mission. My friends are all going and finishing and I'm feeling a little left out!
Monday, August 9, 2010
War, oiled bodies, bruised kness and JOHN!
Well its been quite the week! The last day of class is actually today but all we are doing is reviewing for the final. This term has gone by like a blink of an eye. I feel that just yesterday I arrived and made my bed with orange sheets and a camouflage comforter! I have gotten to know my ward really well in these past few weeks and I am so bummed that we are all splitting up. I love the girls of Fox hall; they are the best and I'm so sad to see them go!
Be ready for a lot of words and little pictures, sorry, but I haven't been very good at taking pictures! I mean, this one is really long! So get a snack or something to hold you over.
This past week some pranks have been going down. None were harmful, but they were really annoying. For example, my roommate Curtis got 600 post it notes stuck up all over his room, another guy in my hall got seran(spl?) wrap all over his bed, and they hacked into my facebook account and changed all my settings. I retaliated to those that "got" me and I booby trapped their hall so that once they opened the door a whole ton of crap would fall on their heads, i.e. pots and pans. All of us were paranoid about who the next victim would be but I decided that I had enough of it! On Friday I wrote a declaration to promote peace within the walls of my hall. I thought about how I could accomplish this; Timmy Blood, one of the residence in my Hall, was the prime instigator to all the pranks and actually headed all of them. In 1984 by George Orwell, The Party states that "War is Peace", which means, the easiest way to achieve peace, or unite, is to have a common enemy. I declared war on Timmy Blood! We all suffered at his hand and were tired of it! I modeled the Declaration of Independence for my peace treaty. I followed the same format of the DoI. It is basically 3 parts. The first part, Jefferson basically stated what was going on and what they wanted. The second part was filled with all the crimes the King had committed against them. In order to make the declaration credible, Jefferson couldn't just say that the crimes of the King were against British law, but that they were against natural laws and the laws of God. So in my declaration, I couldn't just leave it that Timmy had disturbed the peace, but that he broke the highest law at BYU: the Honor Code. The Third part is their justification for war.
So here it is!
"When in the course of Human events, it becomes necessary for one people, residing together within the same living boundaries; to dissolve any contentious policies which have connected them with one another.
We hold this truth to be self-evident, that each resident is responsible for the betterment of the hall, that his duty is to maintain peace within the walls of Felt 33, and is entitled to certain inalienable rights: these being, security, trust, and the pursuit of relaxation. The security to leave one’s room while leaving his facebook logged in, the trust to use one’s toothbrush without the fear of his toothpaste containing hot sauce, and pursuing the relaxation of living in a ‘prank free’ zone, are the rights that every man residing in Felt 33 rightfully deserves. It is our duty to insure that no infringements of these rights are ever repeated.
Timmy Blood, the bringer of contention, has violated these rights and through his devilish work inspired conflict within the sanctuary we call Felt 33. Not only have his actions broken the unwritten laws of Felt 33, but by breaking these unwritten laws he has broken the highest law, the Honor Code.
He has obstructed the ways of justice.
He initiates unlawful treatises
He has erected a corrupt form a “teams” within even our FHE group
And most gravely, he refuses to apologize
We, therefore, the residents of Felt 33, appeal to the highest law, the Honor Code to establish a new treaty, one to insure the inalienable rights and to establish peace for the remainder of the semester. In order for this to be sanctioned by the Honor Code, it is necessary for the residence of the new, peaceful, Felt 33, to declare war on Timmy Blood and all his abuse in order to achieve the justice every man, woman, and child deserves."
Then we all signed it! In our mini-revolution, I am the acting Thomas Jefferson(because I drafted the declaration) and my roommate Curtis is Benjamin Franklin(He made a propaganda poster for us. It was the "join or die" poster but instead of the states next to the pieces of the snake, it had our names!) We aren't exactly sure how we are going to get Timmy, but don't worry, he will be "got"!
We had an Elders Quorum activity this past week and it was a load of fun! We went to a park here in Provo that resembled a crater and had a giant slip n' slide! The plastic wrap or what ever it was was like 60 feet long and 5-6 feet wide. We also had vegetable oil and soap that some chose to lather their bodies with. I did no such thing. But we had a ton of 5-gallon buckets of water and we would send some water down and then a person would slide down! For not having a constant stream of water, there weren't any hoses or anything that we could use, it worked out really well! I flew down that bad boy and it was just a ton of fun! We had 400 otter pops (The native Popsicles to Utah) and a big group of people were having a picnic thing at the pavilion next to us and they had extra rolls and bags of peanuts that they gave to us. There was cinnamon butter for the rolls and it tasted amazing! It was sweet and creamy! But the water slid was excellent! Here is a picture of us after wards. Once a person slid of the plastic they would continue sliding for like, 10-20 more feet so most of us were covered in grass!
The slide was on Thursday. On Friday we had a big Ward activity and it was really "cool". Hah, we went Ice Skating! We all car-pooled to the ice rink, (I really hate getting rides with people cause they freak me out with their bad driving!) We got there but evidently we got there too early because of bad communication we though our reserved time was at 9, it was at 9:45. We got there at about 8:45 and just hung out for an hour while we waited for our reserved time on the ice. It was fun to just sit around and talk. We finally get on the ice and it was a blast! I love ice skating, it's so fun! After an hour of skating, the real fun began. Our refreshment was donuts and hot chocolate. KRISPY KREME DONUTS! AHHHH! I was in heaven! I haven't tasted anything so succulent and soul warming as these krispy kreme donuts. The hot chocolate was really good too, it was mint flavored. After the snacks we played the greatest game ever, BROOM HOCKEY! Boy, was it fun! Since we had so many people, they sectioned the rink into thirds and you just picked a section and started up a game! It was INSANE! I was slipping all over the place, I fell on my knees about a million times and my butt 2 million times. You play broom hockey in your shoes and you have to run around so you slip like non-other! I had a couple of sweet shots but I didn't score any! My team beat the other team 2-0! Overall, it was a great activity and a good ward bonding experience!
Whew, don't worry, my post is almost done!
My Uncle Michael called me earlier in the week and asked me if I would watch his kids on Saturday morning so he and Marie could go to a temple sealing. I said yes but man was it difficult! After the Ice skating activity a bunch of us played card games and I didn't get to bed until 3 a.m! That's my new record for staying up. I don't plan on ever breaking it. I was miserably tired! But Uncle Michael picked me up at 9 a.m. (do the math, less than 6 hours of sleep cause I still had to get ready, so really, 5 hours and 50 minutes of sleep) The sealing was in Manti, so we had a little bit of a drive ahead of us. The entire ride down my little cousin Lincoln kept calling me "John" and couldn't seen to understand that my names is, in fact, not John! but it was pretty funny nonetheless! After I got home from being with my extended family I tried to take a nap but I was so exhausted that I somehow couldn't sleep and I felt restless. I got up and went to the Creamery on 9th where I got a grilled cheese with ranch kids meal. Ashley recommended it to me and as strange as it sounds, it was delicious! After my little meal I went back home and saw that a bunch of people were gathering up to play a game of soccer. I couldn't say no so I got my cleats and headed over to the fields with them to play! It was a lot of fun and I scored a decent number of goals! I love playing soccer! I had a SICK header and it was totally going in but one of my teammates got in the way so that made time for the goalie to grab the ball. The ball was coming at me pretty quick when I headed it and since then my neck has felt kinda out of place. Hah.
The rest of my Saturday was as follows. I went to an hour of the campus dance, just to get the free food! then I walked over to Divine comedy with some friends only to find out that they were sold out. Then we headed back over to the dance where I ate a huge plate of fruit and we sat in the Karaoke room and just watched people sing.
This is incredibly long so maybe I'll try to do mini-posts throughout the week so I don't have one MASSIVE post every week!
Be ready for a lot of words and little pictures, sorry, but I haven't been very good at taking pictures! I mean, this one is really long! So get a snack or something to hold you over.
This past week some pranks have been going down. None were harmful, but they were really annoying. For example, my roommate Curtis got 600 post it notes stuck up all over his room, another guy in my hall got seran(spl?) wrap all over his bed, and they hacked into my facebook account and changed all my settings. I retaliated to those that "got" me and I booby trapped their hall so that once they opened the door a whole ton of crap would fall on their heads, i.e. pots and pans. All of us were paranoid about who the next victim would be but I decided that I had enough of it! On Friday I wrote a declaration to promote peace within the walls of my hall. I thought about how I could accomplish this; Timmy Blood, one of the residence in my Hall, was the prime instigator to all the pranks and actually headed all of them. In 1984 by George Orwell, The Party states that "War is Peace", which means, the easiest way to achieve peace, or unite, is to have a common enemy. I declared war on Timmy Blood! We all suffered at his hand and were tired of it! I modeled the Declaration of Independence for my peace treaty. I followed the same format of the DoI. It is basically 3 parts. The first part, Jefferson basically stated what was going on and what they wanted. The second part was filled with all the crimes the King had committed against them. In order to make the declaration credible, Jefferson couldn't just say that the crimes of the King were against British law, but that they were against natural laws and the laws of God. So in my declaration, I couldn't just leave it that Timmy had disturbed the peace, but that he broke the highest law at BYU: the Honor Code. The Third part is their justification for war.
So here it is!
"When in the course of Human events, it becomes necessary for one people, residing together within the same living boundaries; to dissolve any contentious policies which have connected them with one another.
We hold this truth to be self-evident, that each resident is responsible for the betterment of the hall, that his duty is to maintain peace within the walls of Felt 33, and is entitled to certain inalienable rights: these being, security, trust, and the pursuit of relaxation. The security to leave one’s room while leaving his facebook logged in, the trust to use one’s toothbrush without the fear of his toothpaste containing hot sauce, and pursuing the relaxation of living in a ‘prank free’ zone, are the rights that every man residing in Felt 33 rightfully deserves. It is our duty to insure that no infringements of these rights are ever repeated.
Timmy Blood, the bringer of contention, has violated these rights and through his devilish work inspired conflict within the sanctuary we call Felt 33. Not only have his actions broken the unwritten laws of Felt 33, but by breaking these unwritten laws he has broken the highest law, the Honor Code.
He has obstructed the ways of justice.
He initiates unlawful treatises
He has erected a corrupt form a “teams” within even our FHE group
And most gravely, he refuses to apologize
We, therefore, the residents of Felt 33, appeal to the highest law, the Honor Code to establish a new treaty, one to insure the inalienable rights and to establish peace for the remainder of the semester. In order for this to be sanctioned by the Honor Code, it is necessary for the residence of the new, peaceful, Felt 33, to declare war on Timmy Blood and all his abuse in order to achieve the justice every man, woman, and child deserves."
Then we all signed it! In our mini-revolution, I am the acting Thomas Jefferson(because I drafted the declaration) and my roommate Curtis is Benjamin Franklin(He made a propaganda poster for us. It was the "join or die" poster but instead of the states next to the pieces of the snake, it had our names!) We aren't exactly sure how we are going to get Timmy, but don't worry, he will be "got"!
We had an Elders Quorum activity this past week and it was a load of fun! We went to a park here in Provo that resembled a crater and had a giant slip n' slide! The plastic wrap or what ever it was was like 60 feet long and 5-6 feet wide. We also had vegetable oil and soap that some chose to lather their bodies with. I did no such thing. But we had a ton of 5-gallon buckets of water and we would send some water down and then a person would slide down! For not having a constant stream of water, there weren't any hoses or anything that we could use, it worked out really well! I flew down that bad boy and it was just a ton of fun! We had 400 otter pops (The native Popsicles to Utah) and a big group of people were having a picnic thing at the pavilion next to us and they had extra rolls and bags of peanuts that they gave to us. There was cinnamon butter for the rolls and it tasted amazing! It was sweet and creamy! But the water slid was excellent! Here is a picture of us after wards. Once a person slid of the plastic they would continue sliding for like, 10-20 more feet so most of us were covered in grass!
The slide was on Thursday. On Friday we had a big Ward activity and it was really "cool". Hah, we went Ice Skating! We all car-pooled to the ice rink, (I really hate getting rides with people cause they freak me out with their bad driving!) We got there but evidently we got there too early because of bad communication we though our reserved time was at 9, it was at 9:45. We got there at about 8:45 and just hung out for an hour while we waited for our reserved time on the ice. It was fun to just sit around and talk. We finally get on the ice and it was a blast! I love ice skating, it's so fun! After an hour of skating, the real fun began. Our refreshment was donuts and hot chocolate. KRISPY KREME DONUTS! AHHHH! I was in heaven! I haven't tasted anything so succulent and soul warming as these krispy kreme donuts. The hot chocolate was really good too, it was mint flavored. After the snacks we played the greatest game ever, BROOM HOCKEY! Boy, was it fun! Since we had so many people, they sectioned the rink into thirds and you just picked a section and started up a game! It was INSANE! I was slipping all over the place, I fell on my knees about a million times and my butt 2 million times. You play broom hockey in your shoes and you have to run around so you slip like non-other! I had a couple of sweet shots but I didn't score any! My team beat the other team 2-0! Overall, it was a great activity and a good ward bonding experience!
Whew, don't worry, my post is almost done!
My Uncle Michael called me earlier in the week and asked me if I would watch his kids on Saturday morning so he and Marie could go to a temple sealing. I said yes but man was it difficult! After the Ice skating activity a bunch of us played card games and I didn't get to bed until 3 a.m! That's my new record for staying up. I don't plan on ever breaking it. I was miserably tired! But Uncle Michael picked me up at 9 a.m. (do the math, less than 6 hours of sleep cause I still had to get ready, so really, 5 hours and 50 minutes of sleep) The sealing was in Manti, so we had a little bit of a drive ahead of us. The entire ride down my little cousin Lincoln kept calling me "John" and couldn't seen to understand that my names is, in fact, not John! but it was pretty funny nonetheless! After I got home from being with my extended family I tried to take a nap but I was so exhausted that I somehow couldn't sleep and I felt restless. I got up and went to the Creamery on 9th where I got a grilled cheese with ranch kids meal. Ashley recommended it to me and as strange as it sounds, it was delicious! After my little meal I went back home and saw that a bunch of people were gathering up to play a game of soccer. I couldn't say no so I got my cleats and headed over to the fields with them to play! It was a lot of fun and I scored a decent number of goals! I love playing soccer! I had a SICK header and it was totally going in but one of my teammates got in the way so that made time for the goalie to grab the ball. The ball was coming at me pretty quick when I headed it and since then my neck has felt kinda out of place. Hah.
The rest of my Saturday was as follows. I went to an hour of the campus dance, just to get the free food! then I walked over to Divine comedy with some friends only to find out that they were sold out. Then we headed back over to the dance where I ate a huge plate of fruit and we sat in the Karaoke room and just watched people sing.
This is incredibly long so maybe I'll try to do mini-posts throughout the week so I don't have one MASSIVE post every week!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
THE PANEL OF DOOM!
Today is Sunday. Every Sunday here in the dorms at BYU we have a thing called a "hall meeting." Everyone is supposed to gather to the main level lobby and the hall RA gives information for the upcoming week or if there is no information the RA will do a spiritual thought or something. But today, oh today was very different for me. The girls dorm decided to do a guest panel of guys from the ward so they could ask them questions concerning boys and dating and all that fun stuff! So I was on that panel, oh that fateful panel. There were five of us guys against a seemingly endless number of females. They were like wolves encircling their weak prey, waiting for the ideal moment to give the final strike, just preparing themselves to feast upon the exposed flesh of the dying animal. They pounded us with questions unfathomable to a man's mind. "How can a girl know if a guy likes her?" Came the first blow. "They took out the engines capt'n! we're going down" was in the minds of all of us guys on that panel. Although our arms were free to move at our own will, we all felt as though we had been tied down to our chair. We were helpless for the next strike. "what are the different qualities of a girl who is a friend or a girlfriend?" "AHHH! The shields are down? we're totally exposed! AHHHHHHH!" We were done for, all dignity striped from our very souls, there was no coming back from this one. The utter confusion elicited from their bombardment of questions left us defenseless! Ok so this is a little exaggerated and we didn't lose the fight that easily! I would even say that it was a draw!
So this is what actually happened, what you just read happened in my mind during the battl- I mean hall meeting. Like i said earlier, I was on a guest panel of five guys that was invited to attend the girl's dorm hall meeting. They wrote down a bunch of questions they wanted answered from guys and we did our best to answer them. I don't remember all the questions but at the beginning it was really rough! They were seriously eating us alive and didn't give us any chance to justify our answers and they all just had to comment! Of the five of us, there was one guy who was a TOTAL ham. Now, if you know me, which I hope you do if you are reading MY blog, should know that I too, have the potential to be a ham. However, with my experience with other hams I have learned how to deal with them and re-direct the attention back to myself. So the Total Ham guy, we'll call him Ham, was answering all the questions, very passionately I might add, and did what ever it took to make these ladies laugh. He wasn't giving honest answers and started up the "EFY persona". One of the questions was along the lines of what do guys look for first in a girl. Ham barked up with an EFY boy answer and said Modesty and all this other stuff that isn't necissarily the truth! yes Modesty is VERY important, but we all know he was being stupid and just trying to get brownie points, trust me on this one. So my tactics worked wonderfully. I was somehow able show that Ham was just attention crazy through small comments and quickly he lost all credibility with the questions. I did my best to be honest and actually give an answer for that matter. Most of those questions I had NO IDEA how to vocalize! Hah, one of the questions went like this: "Jason, you answer this next one, *some question about what guys think that I forgot*" and I just said "uhhhhhhhh....(probably with my mouth hanging open)" and my right gunma- I mean, the guy to my right said "What Jason is trying to say is..." And he totally saved my butt on that one! Toward the end of this meeting it started to get better, less comments were made by ALL the girls so we, the guys, were actually able to think about our answers and surprisingly give some pretty good advice on how girls could deal with guys. Really, only Ham and I answered questions. The other three guys did minimal effort, but I don't blame them, its probably better to be quiet than look like a fool giving some crazy answer to a "boy question." I would always wait for Ham to finish his spiel and then give my answer. Ham had an answer for EVERY single question! I think there were like 20 questions, I answered maybe 6, Ham: all 20 the other three guys combined: 2. So it really was the Ham show. However! After the panel we had a ward break the fast and I got to talk to a lot of the girls about what they thought of the panel. And SCORE! most said that I was their favorite panel member because I was funny with my answers, wasn't crazy about the spot light and that I actually gave honest answers! YES! Favorite Panel Member award goes to Jason!
Whew, it was quite the adventure. On one of my answers I could tell that my voice was getting shaky and i was "sweating like a sinner at church!" It was pretty terrifying being in front of so many girls, all expecting me to tell them what they should do about guys, and at the same time not offending any of them by saying something stupid like, "guys like hot girls" like some of my other(Ham) panel members did! Every word had to be very carefully chosen so as to not upset any girl or to make an insecure girl even more insecure! Overall, I think it was pretty fun, and I did get quite a few laughs from the audience and I was successfully able to get more attention and a bigger following than Ham because I was subtly hilarious and I gave good thought out answers! YES!
In the end, us five brave souls who braved the woman army, were able to convince them NOT to sacrifice us to their heathen gods, and, from the information I gathered after the event, were actually able to give some (not much, but some) good advice!
The rest of my Sunday was spent at the ward break the fast and then later my roommates and I went to our FHE girls' room for dinner(but that is a story for another time, I don't feel like getting agitated right now). At 10pm I went to Tunnel Singing and that is always an uplifting experience. Well its time to get ready for another week of American Heritage papers (I've only got 3 left! but my next one will be done tomorrow! So, after tomorrow, I'll only have 2! WOOHOO!) and lots of reading for Sociology. I can't believe this is the last week of class. Finals aren't this week, but next. This semester has gone by so fast but I can see how much I have changed for the better while I've been here at BYU. The atmosphere is indescribable. I really can't put to words how this place makes me feel other than happy or peaceful. I could have a million things to do in a day, but somehow I feel at ease and I am miraculously able to get all my work done. I get stressed pretty easily but I really haven't felt all that stressed out since arriving here(other than with math, but that doesn't count). I absolutely love how the spirit of God is here and that really makes all the difference. I am so grateful for my first semester here at BYU, even though its not even over yet, and I look foreword to more in the future!
So this is what actually happened, what you just read happened in my mind during the battl- I mean hall meeting. Like i said earlier, I was on a guest panel of five guys that was invited to attend the girl's dorm hall meeting. They wrote down a bunch of questions they wanted answered from guys and we did our best to answer them. I don't remember all the questions but at the beginning it was really rough! They were seriously eating us alive and didn't give us any chance to justify our answers and they all just had to comment! Of the five of us, there was one guy who was a TOTAL ham. Now, if you know me, which I hope you do if you are reading MY blog, should know that I too, have the potential to be a ham. However, with my experience with other hams I have learned how to deal with them and re-direct the attention back to myself. So the Total Ham guy, we'll call him Ham, was answering all the questions, very passionately I might add, and did what ever it took to make these ladies laugh. He wasn't giving honest answers and started up the "EFY persona". One of the questions was along the lines of what do guys look for first in a girl. Ham barked up with an EFY boy answer and said Modesty and all this other stuff that isn't necissarily the truth! yes Modesty is VERY important, but we all know he was being stupid and just trying to get brownie points, trust me on this one. So my tactics worked wonderfully. I was somehow able show that Ham was just attention crazy through small comments and quickly he lost all credibility with the questions. I did my best to be honest and actually give an answer for that matter. Most of those questions I had NO IDEA how to vocalize! Hah, one of the questions went like this: "Jason, you answer this next one, *some question about what guys think that I forgot*" and I just said "uhhhhhhhh....(probably with my mouth hanging open)" and my right gunma- I mean, the guy to my right said "What Jason is trying to say is..." And he totally saved my butt on that one! Toward the end of this meeting it started to get better, less comments were made by ALL the girls so we, the guys, were actually able to think about our answers and surprisingly give some pretty good advice on how girls could deal with guys. Really, only Ham and I answered questions. The other three guys did minimal effort, but I don't blame them, its probably better to be quiet than look like a fool giving some crazy answer to a "boy question." I would always wait for Ham to finish his spiel and then give my answer. Ham had an answer for EVERY single question! I think there were like 20 questions, I answered maybe 6, Ham: all 20 the other three guys combined: 2. So it really was the Ham show. However! After the panel we had a ward break the fast and I got to talk to a lot of the girls about what they thought of the panel. And SCORE! most said that I was their favorite panel member because I was funny with my answers, wasn't crazy about the spot light and that I actually gave honest answers! YES! Favorite Panel Member award goes to Jason!
Whew, it was quite the adventure. On one of my answers I could tell that my voice was getting shaky and i was "sweating like a sinner at church!" It was pretty terrifying being in front of so many girls, all expecting me to tell them what they should do about guys, and at the same time not offending any of them by saying something stupid like, "guys like hot girls" like some of my other(Ham) panel members did! Every word had to be very carefully chosen so as to not upset any girl or to make an insecure girl even more insecure! Overall, I think it was pretty fun, and I did get quite a few laughs from the audience and I was successfully able to get more attention and a bigger following than Ham because I was subtly hilarious and I gave good thought out answers! YES!
In the end, us five brave souls who braved the woman army, were able to convince them NOT to sacrifice us to their heathen gods, and, from the information I gathered after the event, were actually able to give some (not much, but some) good advice!
The rest of my Sunday was spent at the ward break the fast and then later my roommates and I went to our FHE girls' room for dinner(but that is a story for another time, I don't feel like getting agitated right now). At 10pm I went to Tunnel Singing and that is always an uplifting experience. Well its time to get ready for another week of American Heritage papers (I've only got 3 left! but my next one will be done tomorrow! So, after tomorrow, I'll only have 2! WOOHOO!) and lots of reading for Sociology. I can't believe this is the last week of class. Finals aren't this week, but next. This semester has gone by so fast but I can see how much I have changed for the better while I've been here at BYU. The atmosphere is indescribable. I really can't put to words how this place makes me feel other than happy or peaceful. I could have a million things to do in a day, but somehow I feel at ease and I am miraculously able to get all my work done. I get stressed pretty easily but I really haven't felt all that stressed out since arriving here(other than with math, but that doesn't count). I absolutely love how the spirit of God is here and that really makes all the difference. I am so grateful for my first semester here at BYU, even though its not even over yet, and I look foreword to more in the future!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
I can never think of a title
what a week! This week has been wild and I can't believe how fast its gone! On Monday I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit my Browning Cousins at my Uncle Michael's house. It was nice to see everyone and see how much they've grown! I can't believe that Hunter is going to be Freshmen in High school this year! Throughout this week I had a lot of issues with my math class, but I don't want to talk about it! Lets just say, math won't be bothering me for awhile now...
I've written two papers for my American Heritage class and one for my Sociology class! That is WAY too many papers to write! I wrote all three papers in the library. I really like the Library. Last night I had a big one for American Heritage so I got to the Library at 6:30pm and left at 11:55pm! WHEW! Man I was there forever! I was hoping they would play Hawaii Five-O but they played some other Hawaiian themed music. I was there so long because not only did I have to write a paper, I had to do all the research for it too. I actually had about an hour and a half nap when I first got to the HBLL. My laptop case is actually very comfortable! I woke up and there was a guy sitting in the desk next to me. I had to take a second or two to figure out where I was again. But here is some fun things I learned while writing this latest paper! South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union twice before they actually did in 1860. AND, the point that I thought was most interesting was that the South left because it was actually the NORTH who had been breaking the law! Isn't that crazy! The fugitive slave act in the constitution required anyone to turn in runaway slaves, however many northern states made anti-slavery laws that counteracted what was written in the Constitution. The South had been fighting for their State's rights to make laws that counteracted the Constitution (nullification) but they were forbidden by the Federal Government to do so. But here was the North making anti-slavery laws that were in direct opposition to the constitution! The things you learn!
I am in BYUSA and it is great fun! I am on an activities committee responsible for planning and carrying out the Mr.BYU pageant. It's basically a beauty pageant but for guys. It is gonna be hilarious! Apparently my committee did the impossible. We had a blank action plan on Monday and because of poor circumstances we had to get our entire event planned by Friday at 1300. We were able to get it all together and we even have a guest star Emcee, I organized that part, and some famous judges too! I can't wait! I really like being involved in BYUSA but I'm bummed because I'm not gonna be able to do much more with it Pre-mish. The current semester plans events for the next semester. Normally an event is planned in 14 weeks, WE DID IT IN ONE! So now in summer term we're planning for fall but in fall they are planning for winter, I won't be enrolled in winter semester!
On Friday at 1330 we had our meeting with the Activities coordinator and we all went over our action plan and presented our budget. I had to leave after 20 minutes because I had class at 1400! But I got a text about an hour later from our committee head and she told me that we got it passed! YAY! so we went to J-dawgs for dinner to celebrate! I love J-dawgs! I am one of two guys in the committee of 10 and they other guy didn't come to dinner with us, so I was the only male, but that was alright by me, I enjoy attention :p
I faced a demon within me yesterday. Humor U is a comedy club here at BYU and they had their show last night. I REALLY wanted to go and I had the opportunity to get a ticket and I had group of friends going. However, I knew I needed to get that Civil War paper done. I tried to reason to myself how I could get the paper done tonight AND go to Humor U but because of how fast this semester has been and how short it is, I knew that I needed to get the paper done ASAP. But "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul!" and Mamma! I chose to do my paper instead of going to Humor U! It might not seem like much, but I felt very accomplished. I'm usually not one to turn down fun activities!
Last night I got home from the Library at midnight. I made some spaghetti and then hit the sack! but less than five minutes later some ladies were banging on my window, asking if I would come out and chill with them. I said, "are you kidding me, its 1 in the morning!" they said "yea but its Friday night!" I said, "No, its Saturday morning! I was at the library from 6:30 to midnight! I'M SLEEPING NOW!" I think they finally got the hint that I, in fact, did NOT want to hang out in the middle of the night, so they left. Ladies, please, leave me alone!
Tonight I am going to my little cousin Riley's baptism. I am very excited for him! I don't think I've ever been to the baptisms of any of my extended family so feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to be a part of it. I really hate not having any pictures to go along with all these words but alas, I've no new fun pictures to post!
I've written two papers for my American Heritage class and one for my Sociology class! That is WAY too many papers to write! I wrote all three papers in the library. I really like the Library. Last night I had a big one for American Heritage so I got to the Library at 6:30pm and left at 11:55pm! WHEW! Man I was there forever! I was hoping they would play Hawaii Five-O but they played some other Hawaiian themed music. I was there so long because not only did I have to write a paper, I had to do all the research for it too. I actually had about an hour and a half nap when I first got to the HBLL. My laptop case is actually very comfortable! I woke up and there was a guy sitting in the desk next to me. I had to take a second or two to figure out where I was again. But here is some fun things I learned while writing this latest paper! South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union twice before they actually did in 1860. AND, the point that I thought was most interesting was that the South left because it was actually the NORTH who had been breaking the law! Isn't that crazy! The fugitive slave act in the constitution required anyone to turn in runaway slaves, however many northern states made anti-slavery laws that counteracted what was written in the Constitution. The South had been fighting for their State's rights to make laws that counteracted the Constitution (nullification) but they were forbidden by the Federal Government to do so. But here was the North making anti-slavery laws that were in direct opposition to the constitution! The things you learn!
I am in BYUSA and it is great fun! I am on an activities committee responsible for planning and carrying out the Mr.BYU pageant. It's basically a beauty pageant but for guys. It is gonna be hilarious! Apparently my committee did the impossible. We had a blank action plan on Monday and because of poor circumstances we had to get our entire event planned by Friday at 1300. We were able to get it all together and we even have a guest star Emcee, I organized that part, and some famous judges too! I can't wait! I really like being involved in BYUSA but I'm bummed because I'm not gonna be able to do much more with it Pre-mish. The current semester plans events for the next semester. Normally an event is planned in 14 weeks, WE DID IT IN ONE! So now in summer term we're planning for fall but in fall they are planning for winter, I won't be enrolled in winter semester!
On Friday at 1330 we had our meeting with the Activities coordinator and we all went over our action plan and presented our budget. I had to leave after 20 minutes because I had class at 1400! But I got a text about an hour later from our committee head and she told me that we got it passed! YAY! so we went to J-dawgs for dinner to celebrate! I love J-dawgs! I am one of two guys in the committee of 10 and they other guy didn't come to dinner with us, so I was the only male, but that was alright by me, I enjoy attention :p
I faced a demon within me yesterday. Humor U is a comedy club here at BYU and they had their show last night. I REALLY wanted to go and I had the opportunity to get a ticket and I had group of friends going. However, I knew I needed to get that Civil War paper done. I tried to reason to myself how I could get the paper done tonight AND go to Humor U but because of how fast this semester has been and how short it is, I knew that I needed to get the paper done ASAP. But "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul!" and Mamma! I chose to do my paper instead of going to Humor U! It might not seem like much, but I felt very accomplished. I'm usually not one to turn down fun activities!
Last night I got home from the Library at midnight. I made some spaghetti and then hit the sack! but less than five minutes later some ladies were banging on my window, asking if I would come out and chill with them. I said, "are you kidding me, its 1 in the morning!" they said "yea but its Friday night!" I said, "No, its Saturday morning! I was at the library from 6:30 to midnight! I'M SLEEPING NOW!" I think they finally got the hint that I, in fact, did NOT want to hang out in the middle of the night, so they left. Ladies, please, leave me alone!
Tonight I am going to my little cousin Riley's baptism. I am very excited for him! I don't think I've ever been to the baptisms of any of my extended family so feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to be a part of it. I really hate not having any pictures to go along with all these words but alas, I've no new fun pictures to post!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Quick Note
Hello!
I'm still alive!
It's been about a week since I've written anything so I'm just letting the records know that I'm still here!
This week has been a busy and a fast paced week! I've become pretty good friends with my FHE sisters but unfortunately they are the only girls I ever really talk to! But I like them nonetheless! On Friday night, we gathered at my house, specifically my kitchen, and we all pitched in food to make a really good meal! We had "Voodoo Pasta"! Its my own personal concoction and it was delicious! I provided the noodles, while my roommate Kurtis provided the sauce and the girls brought a salad and desert. My other roommate Matt found out about it all late so his contribution was saying the prayer and he had some orange juice to spare. Hah, I like Matt so it wasn't bad. I like all my roommates and don't mind at all sharing what I have with them, its when guys from other rooms show up and take advantage of my hospitality! I blame my mom. She burned manners into my heart.
But anyways! We made our VOODOO PASTA! (insight to a small inside joke, randomly someone will yell out "VOODOO PASTA" just to start a conversation or make noise) but we ate our pasta and ate our salad and just enjoyed each others company! After we finished eating we turned off the lights in the kitchen and we watched "The Princess and the Frog" Not everyone had seen it so that made it even more fun, but I do love that movie! It has great songs, and since we are all BYU students, we couldn't help but point out gospel principals we found in the movie! (faith without works is dead, you can't just wish upon a star, "the star can only take you half way, you have to go the rest" and other things like that!)
We finished the movie and then we ate our dessert. Courtney(one of my FHE girls) made a REALLY good cherry crisp thing so we ate that with ice cream and it was heavenly!
I'll write about the water balloon fight and music video I was in at a later time. I'm still trying to find pictures of me in the fight! And its super late....so....GOODNIGHT!
I'm still alive!
It's been about a week since I've written anything so I'm just letting the records know that I'm still here!
This week has been a busy and a fast paced week! I've become pretty good friends with my FHE sisters but unfortunately they are the only girls I ever really talk to! But I like them nonetheless! On Friday night, we gathered at my house, specifically my kitchen, and we all pitched in food to make a really good meal! We had "Voodoo Pasta"! Its my own personal concoction and it was delicious! I provided the noodles, while my roommate Kurtis provided the sauce and the girls brought a salad and desert. My other roommate Matt found out about it all late so his contribution was saying the prayer and he had some orange juice to spare. Hah, I like Matt so it wasn't bad. I like all my roommates and don't mind at all sharing what I have with them, its when guys from other rooms show up and take advantage of my hospitality! I blame my mom. She burned manners into my heart.
But anyways! We made our VOODOO PASTA! (insight to a small inside joke, randomly someone will yell out "VOODOO PASTA" just to start a conversation or make noise) but we ate our pasta and ate our salad and just enjoyed each others company! After we finished eating we turned off the lights in the kitchen and we watched "The Princess and the Frog" Not everyone had seen it so that made it even more fun, but I do love that movie! It has great songs, and since we are all BYU students, we couldn't help but point out gospel principals we found in the movie! (faith without works is dead, you can't just wish upon a star, "the star can only take you half way, you have to go the rest" and other things like that!)
We finished the movie and then we ate our dessert. Courtney(one of my FHE girls) made a REALLY good cherry crisp thing so we ate that with ice cream and it was heavenly!
I'll write about the water balloon fight and music video I was in at a later time. I'm still trying to find pictures of me in the fight! And its super late....so....GOODNIGHT!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sun Burn and Leopard Print
This past weekend has been right on! I've been doing a lot of homework lately so I decided that I take it easy for the weekend, heh, only to realize that because I didn't do any homework on Friday now I have to double up on work to get all my crap done! UGH! I really don't think I'll ever do summer term again. Its way too fast!
But lets back up a little bit. On Thursday I went rock climbing in Provo canyon with my roommates. My roommate Taylor is really into Rock climbing so he had all the ropes and harnesses and the rest of the equipment. It was a lot of fun but it was the most fun when we were just climbing to see how high we could go before it got really dangerous! We went at 6:30ish so we got to see the sunset and it was a bit cooler in temperature so it was all a lot of fun!
I have a lot more of the rock climbing pictures on my facebook
Friday: I went to a water park called "7 Peaks" with my friend John Bennion. It was a lot of fun and we got discount tickets because on this specific friday the park closed early due to a private party. We had our fill of fun way before the park closed and we had just the right amount of time to do all the things we wanted to do! It was incredibly hot and even though I used sunscreen I got a really bad burn on my upper back and half of my shoulders!
Before the water park we went to a place called "J-dawgs." Its a little hot dog joint right behind the wilk and I guess its the most successful of all the small businesses BYU students have created because its been around for quite a few years and a few years ago it expanded and now has a big building. But the "special sauce" they put on the dogs is FANTASTIC! On man those were some good dawgs! It was surprisingly filling too! I think it was because the bun so fairly large, but still delicious!
That friday night was a stake dance. I love dances, but I for some reason I was expecting something more from a BYU dance. It was exactly the same as youth dances. So I was pretty disappointed!
Saturday came and I can't believe how late I slept in! I heard the bell tower and i listened, while still in bed, and I only heard two rings. I thought to myself, no way, it can't be 2 o clock! So i turn to my desk and grab my watch and lo' and behold it was 2 o clock! I slept the whole day away! Man the water park and dance must have worn me out! Jeeze! For the rest of the day I worked on my American Heritage Paper. I have to write 4 papers for that class and I'm just about done with the first one. Its supposed to be 1,200-2,000 words and I think I'm at 900-something and I've still got 2 more paragraphs outlined so at this point its just a matter of filling in the rest of the paragraphs!
Saturday night was the another dance and my roommate Taylor and the girls from our FHE group went to DI while I was working on my paper. They said they found some sweet cheetah print pants for 3 dollars and called me and asked if I wanted them. Of course I said yes! what a deal! So for the dance I wore a black shirt, white tie, pinstriped suit jacket and my cheetah print pants. Oh and of course my sweet action black and white shoes! The pants were painful to wear so I brought another pair of pants to wear. I most brought them because I was sure that someone was going to tell me that they were immodest or something but I walked right in front of the manager guy and he didn't say anything! I was like "Come on! these are clearly too tight for me to wear! Enforce the rules!" But I couldn't take the tightness anymore so I changed into my regular pin striped suit pants. It was fun to see people's reactions though! The dance was really cool, but again, it was just another dance, nothing special. I really like dances but I like them better when I have my crew with me. I don't really have a crew here so its just not the same.
There was also had karaoke at the dance so me and a friend sang Backstreet Boys and the Beach Boys. The Backstreet Boys one was way better but there is a video on Facebook of us singing the Beach Boys.
Well I've really got to get on a better sleep schedule! Man this is killer!
Oh and Mama, this is my Chicken Cordon Bleu contraption...it was tasty, but didn't look all too pretty
One last thing! I discovered a Reggae CD that has Reggae Covers of Disney Songs! Its soooooo cool! haha I love it! I found a video thing that will let you listen to all of it! Its so chill! The only bummer is that you can't really pick which one you want to listen to! The songs it features are: Circle of Life
Can You Feel the Love Tonight, lion king
The Bare Necessities, jungle book
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
What a Wonderful World
True to Your Heart, Mulan
You've Got a Friend in Me, toy story
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Songs of the South
I Wan'na Be Like You, Jungle book
Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat, Aristocats
Kiss the Girl, Little Mermaid
Under the Sea, Little Mermaid
Find Yourself, Cars
This is the link to the video thing that lets you listen to all of it!
http://www.disfanreview.com/2010/06/listen-to-disneys-reggae-club-now.html
But lets back up a little bit. On Thursday I went rock climbing in Provo canyon with my roommates. My roommate Taylor is really into Rock climbing so he had all the ropes and harnesses and the rest of the equipment. It was a lot of fun but it was the most fun when we were just climbing to see how high we could go before it got really dangerous! We went at 6:30ish so we got to see the sunset and it was a bit cooler in temperature so it was all a lot of fun!
I have a lot more of the rock climbing pictures on my facebook
Friday: I went to a water park called "7 Peaks" with my friend John Bennion. It was a lot of fun and we got discount tickets because on this specific friday the park closed early due to a private party. We had our fill of fun way before the park closed and we had just the right amount of time to do all the things we wanted to do! It was incredibly hot and even though I used sunscreen I got a really bad burn on my upper back and half of my shoulders!
Before the water park we went to a place called "J-dawgs." Its a little hot dog joint right behind the wilk and I guess its the most successful of all the small businesses BYU students have created because its been around for quite a few years and a few years ago it expanded and now has a big building. But the "special sauce" they put on the dogs is FANTASTIC! On man those were some good dawgs! It was surprisingly filling too! I think it was because the bun so fairly large, but still delicious!
That friday night was a stake dance. I love dances, but I for some reason I was expecting something more from a BYU dance. It was exactly the same as youth dances. So I was pretty disappointed!
Saturday came and I can't believe how late I slept in! I heard the bell tower and i listened, while still in bed, and I only heard two rings. I thought to myself, no way, it can't be 2 o clock! So i turn to my desk and grab my watch and lo' and behold it was 2 o clock! I slept the whole day away! Man the water park and dance must have worn me out! Jeeze! For the rest of the day I worked on my American Heritage Paper. I have to write 4 papers for that class and I'm just about done with the first one. Its supposed to be 1,200-2,000 words and I think I'm at 900-something and I've still got 2 more paragraphs outlined so at this point its just a matter of filling in the rest of the paragraphs!
Saturday night was the another dance and my roommate Taylor and the girls from our FHE group went to DI while I was working on my paper. They said they found some sweet cheetah print pants for 3 dollars and called me and asked if I wanted them. Of course I said yes! what a deal! So for the dance I wore a black shirt, white tie, pinstriped suit jacket and my cheetah print pants. Oh and of course my sweet action black and white shoes! The pants were painful to wear so I brought another pair of pants to wear. I most brought them because I was sure that someone was going to tell me that they were immodest or something but I walked right in front of the manager guy and he didn't say anything! I was like "Come on! these are clearly too tight for me to wear! Enforce the rules!" But I couldn't take the tightness anymore so I changed into my regular pin striped suit pants. It was fun to see people's reactions though! The dance was really cool, but again, it was just another dance, nothing special. I really like dances but I like them better when I have my crew with me. I don't really have a crew here so its just not the same.
There was also had karaoke at the dance so me and a friend sang Backstreet Boys and the Beach Boys. The Backstreet Boys one was way better but there is a video on Facebook of us singing the Beach Boys.
Well I've really got to get on a better sleep schedule! Man this is killer!
Oh and Mama, this is my Chicken Cordon Bleu contraption...it was tasty, but didn't look all too pretty
One last thing! I discovered a Reggae CD that has Reggae Covers of Disney Songs! Its soooooo cool! haha I love it! I found a video thing that will let you listen to all of it! Its so chill! The only bummer is that you can't really pick which one you want to listen to! The songs it features are: Circle of Life
Can You Feel the Love Tonight, lion king
The Bare Necessities, jungle book
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
What a Wonderful World
True to Your Heart, Mulan
You've Got a Friend in Me, toy story
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Songs of the South
I Wan'na Be Like You, Jungle book
Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat, Aristocats
Kiss the Girl, Little Mermaid
Under the Sea, Little Mermaid
Find Yourself, Cars
This is the link to the video thing that lets you listen to all of it!
http://www.disfanreview.com/2010/06/listen-to-disneys-reggae-club-now.html
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
You missed a spot
Today was the first cleaning inspection. We all stressed out because our RA (who is in my hall) said that every Inspector person is different. Normally, the RA is the person that checks your room, but since my RA has a room in my hall, his boss check us! We were all freakin' out and super cleaning and finally 8:30 came and she knocked on our door. She walked in and took like, a half a second glance at the kitchen and said "looks good." Then she looked in the bathroom, didn't even go in and said "smells clean." She continued her inspection by entering our rooms looking around and then that was it! MAN! WE WERE CLEANING ALL FREAKIN DAY! THAT WAS IT! Our RA (Kurtis) just laughed and said that now we know for next time! But seriously...how annoying! Kurtis is going to be in my hall again in the fall so for the fall semester we get the snow hall inspector and kurtis said that she is a nazi! He had her his first semester and she would take a damp rag and run it on the walls and everything to make sure there is no dust! UGH! Also another bummer about Snow hall in the Fall is that for FHE groups, there are two guys halls to one girl hall. So that means there will be doubled the amount of bros for FHE! UGH! Apparently dudes go tribal and fight the other guys in their FHE group! I hope we fight next semester, that would be awesome! I've always dreamed of being in a western bar fight, so hopefully a western college fight will be similar!
This weekend there are two dances and I'm pretty stoked. There is one on Friday for the stake and then a BYU dance on Saturday and supposedly BYU sponsored dances are legit, so hopefully it will be good! I love dances!
The bathroom is finally available now so I can take my contacts out and brush my chompers...wait...nope...someone just walked in...
The worst part about dorm life is sharing a bathroom! I feel that whenever I need the bathroom its not open! UGH!
Our FHE girls really like being insane and they knock on our(specifically mine and my roommates) windows and try to get us to do stuff with them at like 3 in the morning! Don't they sleep!?!?!
Last night, actually this morning! they knocked on my window, while I was in bed I might add, and the were dressed up all psycho and told us to come out and have a party with them...So we did...haha...I wore my picnic tablecloth vest and my sweetaction stunner frames.
The rest of the pictures are on facebook somewhere!
In my American Heritage book I was reading about the American Revolution and it said something about the revolution being won in the hearts and minds of the people and it was a critical event in human history and yadda yadda yaaaa
but this is how it actually happened...
This weekend there are two dances and I'm pretty stoked. There is one on Friday for the stake and then a BYU dance on Saturday and supposedly BYU sponsored dances are legit, so hopefully it will be good! I love dances!
The bathroom is finally available now so I can take my contacts out and brush my chompers...wait...nope...someone just walked in...
The worst part about dorm life is sharing a bathroom! I feel that whenever I need the bathroom its not open! UGH!
Our FHE girls really like being insane and they knock on our(specifically mine and my roommates) windows and try to get us to do stuff with them at like 3 in the morning! Don't they sleep!?!?!
Last night, actually this morning! they knocked on my window, while I was in bed I might add, and the were dressed up all psycho and told us to come out and have a party with them...So we did...haha...I wore my picnic tablecloth vest and my sweetaction stunner frames.
The rest of the pictures are on facebook somewhere!
In my American Heritage book I was reading about the American Revolution and it said something about the revolution being won in the hearts and minds of the people and it was a critical event in human history and yadda yadda yaaaa
but this is how it actually happened...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Delicious Dinner!
I really hate going out for dinner to either the cafeteria or the Cougar eat for meals so this past week I planned out my meals and bought groceries and made all my meals! It was great! I did exactly what I planned, except I had Fridays dinner on Saturday and Saturdays dinner on Friday, but other than that I ate according to my plan!
These are my beautiful enchiladas
And the lawyer quote was from the movie "Hook"
When Peter is with the lost boys for the first time and Rufio says "we kill pirates" and Peter responds "I'm not a pirate, I'm a lawyer!" then the "kill the lawyer", "I'm not that kind of lawyer" quote comes into play.
These are my beautiful enchiladas
And the lawyer quote was from the movie "Hook"
When Peter is with the lost boys for the first time and Rufio says "we kill pirates" and Peter responds "I'm not a pirate, I'm a lawyer!" then the "kill the lawyer", "I'm not that kind of lawyer" quote comes into play.
Oh yea, one more thing!
Almost every week or every 2 weeks I change my idea about what I want to be when I grow up. I've been wanting to keep an update on what each week's occupation is so here it is for a couple of previous weeks:
I wanted to be a CIA agent one week
then
I wanted to be a Spinal Surgeon
then
I wanted to make Bombs
then
I wanted to drop Bombs
which lead to me
Wanting to be a Pilot
then
I wanted to be a Chiropractor
then
I wanted to be a Pilot again
and now...this weeks occupation is.....
A LAWYER!
("kill the lawyer!" "I'm not that kind of lawyer!" Name that movie! =)
But I want to live in Orlando someday so I'm going to be a lawyer for DISNEYWORLD!
There it is folks...I'll probably be stuck on this one for awhile maybe even 3 weeks!
I wanted to be a CIA agent one week
then
I wanted to be a Spinal Surgeon
then
I wanted to make Bombs
then
I wanted to drop Bombs
which lead to me
Wanting to be a Pilot
then
I wanted to be a Chiropractor
then
I wanted to be a Pilot again
and now...this weeks occupation is.....
A LAWYER!
("kill the lawyer!" "I'm not that kind of lawyer!" Name that movie! =)
But I want to live in Orlando someday so I'm going to be a lawyer for DISNEYWORLD!
There it is folks...I'll probably be stuck on this one for awhile maybe even 3 weeks!
whew
It seems like I've been going 100mph this past week! And I'm still not done! I have a test tomorrow for math(I really just hope I pass :S) Well, I'm not even sure what to say right now! It's just nice to have a break for a second! When I'm not studying math, I'm doing papers for sociology or I'm reading American Heritage! Man this college workload sucks! I can't wait for the fall when the classes are shorter and more spread out! These 2 hour classes are a snoozefest and they just shove information down your throat! Summer might be "more fun" because there are more open opportunity to do stuff cause there are less people around, but the pace of the classes are just a little to fast for my fancy!
So the girl I went to Stadium of fire with totally kicked me to the curb and doesn't even talk to me. LAME! I felt so good about it all cause I asked her the first day I talked her and she said yes so I was getting good vibes and everything was good...but I guess not! These ladies need to be careful! I have a fragile heart!
Speaking of girl woes, my roommates and I were all talking about how much girls suck and most of us have the curse of attracting the girls we don't want because we feel comfortable around them but when it comes to the girls we DO want, we are at a loss of words and way too nervous to be ourselves!
I bought some stamps today so I can write my good friend Bryce, but I didn't get any envelopes! Woops!
Tonight was an outdoor movie and my roommate and I went (The movie was Planet 51) with 3 girls in our FHE group. It was pretty fun, we got free ice cream because we were in the first 1500 people to get there, but it started to rain close to the end of the movie so we took off. It was down pouring by the time we got back to Heritage Halls! Its been kinda hot lately so it is nice to have some rain to cool us down.
I've rediscovered how much I love running and I've been running a lot lately. Its the only way I can get my mind off the stresses of school and all the work I have to do! Two days this past week I wasn't able to go for a run cause I was studying all night and those two were seriously the worst days of my life! Its really gotten to the point where if I don't run, I'm a wreck! Everyday my runs have gotten longer and longer because I just don't want to go back! When I get back, all my stresses come back to me! The other day I ended up running 8 miles cause I didn't want to go back!
Life is still good...I guess...I'm doing my best to stay optimistic!
Another guy in my ward got his mission call today, he is going to Mexico! With all these mission calls I'm getting kinda jealous and I wish I was going soon! Anything is better than school! Hah
EFY basically takes over campus at the start of every week and seeing all those kids and their fun activities really reaffirms my desire to be an EFY counselor! Man that just seems to be the greatest job ever! My RA was an EFY counselor and he said it was the best job he's ever had! They make $400 dollars a week and you get to pick how many weeks you work. They get free food, room and board and dances! I love dances!
I'm trying to get myself on a better sleep schedule because I've been going to bed close to 4am every night because I've been studying! So I'll probably go make myself a quesadilla and then hit the sack!
So the girl I went to Stadium of fire with totally kicked me to the curb and doesn't even talk to me. LAME! I felt so good about it all cause I asked her the first day I talked her and she said yes so I was getting good vibes and everything was good...but I guess not! These ladies need to be careful! I have a fragile heart!
Speaking of girl woes, my roommates and I were all talking about how much girls suck and most of us have the curse of attracting the girls we don't want because we feel comfortable around them but when it comes to the girls we DO want, we are at a loss of words and way too nervous to be ourselves!
I bought some stamps today so I can write my good friend Bryce, but I didn't get any envelopes! Woops!
Tonight was an outdoor movie and my roommate and I went (The movie was Planet 51) with 3 girls in our FHE group. It was pretty fun, we got free ice cream because we were in the first 1500 people to get there, but it started to rain close to the end of the movie so we took off. It was down pouring by the time we got back to Heritage Halls! Its been kinda hot lately so it is nice to have some rain to cool us down.
I've rediscovered how much I love running and I've been running a lot lately. Its the only way I can get my mind off the stresses of school and all the work I have to do! Two days this past week I wasn't able to go for a run cause I was studying all night and those two were seriously the worst days of my life! Its really gotten to the point where if I don't run, I'm a wreck! Everyday my runs have gotten longer and longer because I just don't want to go back! When I get back, all my stresses come back to me! The other day I ended up running 8 miles cause I didn't want to go back!
Life is still good...I guess...I'm doing my best to stay optimistic!
Another guy in my ward got his mission call today, he is going to Mexico! With all these mission calls I'm getting kinda jealous and I wish I was going soon! Anything is better than school! Hah
EFY basically takes over campus at the start of every week and seeing all those kids and their fun activities really reaffirms my desire to be an EFY counselor! Man that just seems to be the greatest job ever! My RA was an EFY counselor and he said it was the best job he's ever had! They make $400 dollars a week and you get to pick how many weeks you work. They get free food, room and board and dances! I love dances!
I'm trying to get myself on a better sleep schedule because I've been going to bed close to 4am every night because I've been studying! So I'll probably go make myself a quesadilla and then hit the sack!
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