Validation

The Butterfly Circus

I don't think you ever just quite "get the hang of it"

Good Sabbath! So this week has been fantastic as always. Life is a continuous forward motion and each day continues to build more and more momentum. It all seems to be rushing towards something, but I don't know quite what. I guess the obvious answer would be eventual death, but that sounds rather morbid wouldn't you agree. And hopefully a long time off at that. Each week (each day basically) is full of interesting and often entertaining developments. I don't think I really see that many dull moments.

One interesting development that has occurred is how often I hear the word "dating" everyday. The more I don't want to date or get involved in that direction, the more and more and more I seem to hear about it. From the bishop to all my friends and from my family to answers to prayer - literally everything is pushing in that direction. The problem is that I am the fun date guy. I like to have fun and don't like to get serious very fast at all. I don't just "automatically" like girls like every other guy seems to. I mean I can tell if a girl is "cute" or not, but it has no effect on whether or not I am attracted to her. I have to get to know a girl really well, to be best friends with her and then I start to like her. This process usually takes about a month. I hang out with her a ton and then the attracting and the "like" factor builds, but it never exists from the first moment and doesn't come out on dates until I already know her extremely well to begin with. I don't know quite how I am going to figure out dating now. I guess I do need to start going on date, Heavenly Father has been sending enough hints that I picked up on it. They might turn out to be more fun dates though then serious commital dates. Hopefully, that doesn't make girls too angry at least until I get my viewpoints to change on the whole dating shenanigans scenario.

In other news, Divine Comedy rocks! Completely. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very, very long time. There was way too many good skits to just pick one good one. But I will always remember the jean wraiths, Sherlock Holmes assessing possible dates, Severus and mother (who knew it is so entertaining to sound like Alan Rickman?), She-kitty-o'neal, one word dating/proposals,and the relationship based all on insults. Also, the clear play guy on the Twilight skit was genius. Sooooo good. Also, gospel doctrine today kind of felt like Divine Comedy, it was hilarious. I don't know if it was quite appropriate, but it was entertaining. And for what it was worth, I did feel the Spirit. In between bouts of laughter. Watching the Rocketeer on Saturday was fun as well. Thanks goes to Jane for that one, I was just going to sit at home studying all night but she texted me saying she was bored so I threw something together. A lot more people actually showed up then I had been planning on. It was fun, and the projector screen makes movies look really good!!! Much better than on the wall or sheet like has been done before. Also, much better than the Relief Society room one we had found in freshman year. It even has its own stand! How cool is that!?! Potluck dinner on Tuesday was a blast as well. Lots and lots of pasta plus "he said, she said" and animal signs. I will have it known that when we ended the elephant signs game, I was in the top position! :) That was all the fun stuff this week. Oh, plus eating breakfast yesterday with Emily's and Stephanie's apartment. That was a blast and very entertaining! Sometime soon, going to have to have a Phantom of the Opera sing along.

This week has also been full of inspirational moments. I think I might add an inspirational movie from YouTube each week to my posts. They at least help me to get through the week, I don't know if they would help anyone else. I watched The Butterfly Circus this week as well as Validation. So awesome! Both make you smile and think how great life really is. The true meaning and purpose of it. So here is the inspirational movie of the week. Or movies for this week. I'll post both of those aforementioned. They will be below this post.

Another pressing issue this week: housing and future potential roommates. There are so many choices and options. I know that I want to room with Will and so far that means staying in the Colony. But all that is subject to change if I get a prompting to go any different direction. I keep praying about it and will take it to the temple this week. I know I probably won't be rooming with Samuel, Spyglass Court is not overly appealing to me. And he already signed the contract to stay there. Kevin Forrest is coming up in the fall though and he is a viable candidate. As well as Aaron or Jared or David or there are some others. Whoever is up for living in the Colony I guess and wouldn't mind rooming with me. It is kind of depressing though to figure out the costs of all next year paying for rent, food, school costs, etc. So much money and not getting any of it back...well I guess getting a real career and then working will pay it back, but I am still not a fan. I have to get used to it. But I guess everything is set up to make next semester the best semester ever - pick the roommates, pick the location, pick the price range (depending on bedrooms and amount of people in apartment). I will keep praying and working on it. God has a plan and I trust Him.

Another thing that I am so excited about, I have a valid temple recommend now!!! I can go to the temple all that I want. I have set a goal of once a week and am going to do my best to stick to it! I absolutely love the temple and everything about it!!!

Anyway, that is what I have time to report on this week. New and upcoming things to look forward to next week: housing updates, temple trips, getting a job, service needed somewhere, and potentially start going on dates. Who knows?!?

The Routine Sets In...

Good afternoon! So my life is decidedly less exciting than freshman year or during my mission when I was writing. For one thing, I am perpetually injured and that severely limits the activities that I can do. Cuts out all the crazy adventures that my freshman year was so well known for. I guess you could say I am growing up. Which is both good and bad. Everyone has to grow up at some point and it might as well be now for me. I can still have fun, just not to the reckless abandon that I was capable of before. I don't even have nearly that much energy like I did, I don't know how I had all that energy back then to begin with. Oh well, I need to quite rambling and write something of substance. I guess I don't know how to take this things anymore. I don't think anyone reads it so it might become more of a journal than a blog. We shall see.

Anyway, this week was still awesome! Lots of fun, lots of studying and hard work. I have so far managed to do really well on all tests and quizzes based on prayer and feverish constant study. I hope I can keep up the pace (although with another anatomy quiz tomorrow who knows?) The first anatomy lecture quiz was great! It only took me about 10 minutes to finish it and I got a 100%, it was so good to know the mission did not ruin my test taking skills. The first lab quiz I got a 95% which isn't bad but wasn't great either (stupid thoracic vertebrae question using two different models!!!). I haven't had any other tests yet, just some papers or in class quizzes, but nothing too bad. My first bio midterm is this week and should be all on chemistry, so no good. I can't remember anything Mellyn taught me and my PD bio teacher is obviously not a chemist and doesn't know how to teach that. Only biology, so I am struggling to remember from sophomore year of high school. Other than that, school hasn't been too much of a struggle yet, just getting back into the groove as much as I can.

As for fun things, there is always a plethora at BYU. This week I went with a bunch of people to the War on Winter at the Wilk. There was dancing, kareoke, laser tag, and other things. Then we all came back to my apartment and watched the Princess Bride on the projector and the new screen. It was very nice!!! Then Saturday I went on an adventure with Lora and Courtaney. We went movie hunting, Zupa's, watched a movie and talked. I have to admit I rather enjoyed the movie. It was Emma, based on the book by Jane Austen. Who knew after avoiding the movies and books all this time that I would actually enjoy it? But I thought it was hilarious. Some of the hardest I have laughed ever. Best comedy ever and it feels so much like actual real life instead of modern romantic comedies.

I also went to the temple this week!!! Best use of time ever. The temple is so peaceful and comforting and revelation flows so freely there. I now know that I need to go at least once a week, if not twice a week if I could just find the time. Church was really fun this week and I have found some good friends in the ward to always sit by or do something with. Life is going to be great.

The only downfall has been the knee. I don't know what to do with it. It doesn't know what to do with me either. I can't sleep, can't bend, can't walk without a limp. I can't sit easy, can't get back up easy. Stairs are a nightmare. Ice is retarded. I did find out that crutches are a great work out. Also, walking on crutches brings out the best in people. I have never had so many doors opened for me or people go out of there way to help me with everything. Restores my faith in humanity everyday and what they are capable of.

Life all around is awesome and it continues to move on. Much too fast for my taste, but I doubt it will ever slow back down. Ever. So I will get used to it and adjust the best that I can. And maybe I will even someday no longer be a cripple!!!

Adjusted back already?!? You decide...

Good afternoon! And Happy Sunday!!!
This has been an absolutely fantastic week so far. Getting back into the swing of school has been a great experience. I have a lot of study time built into my schedule in between classes during the day. I spend 2 or 3 hours a day in the library going through all my anatomy for the most part. I find it to be one of the most fascinating subjects ever! I could spend all day going through all the different parts of the body and what they do and I would be ecstatic. The other classes I spend a small amount of time studying for are PD bio and statistics. Neither of those seem hard though. Statistics is all common sense and Mr. Higbee covered way above and beyond the depth of the honors biology class that I am registered in currently. Having Lora in the same class as me is also a ton of fun. I am going to try my hardest to make sure that I can get the higher grade on every possible quiz, test, or assignment. It is on! I have found people in almost every class now that I know which makes life so much better. Also, getting to know the ward members better here at Liberty Square, lots of really fun and amazing people. Everything is just fantastic.

Lots of random adventures this week as well. The highlight would have to be the dance/paint fight I went to last night. Courtenay, Lauren, and Will went with me. We met up with Will's old roommate and friend there as well. Also, one of the ticket sellers was Sister Maudsley from the first area of my mission. Talk about crazy coincidence. That was fun. It was a clubbing kind of experience for the three hours of dance time at the beginning. All bass and electronic mixes of popular songs. Some turned out pretty good, others not so much. It was fun to dance in our own little circle though. Then we got squirt guns filled with neon paint and got to squirt it at each other. We all ended up covered! Courtenay got me really good in the ear. I have gone through about 7 Q-tips so far trying to get all the paint cleaned out. It was the most epic adventure I have had in a long time. This week we also started to use our Pass of all Passes. Right now, only Kelly Ann, Jared, Will, and I have them. We went up to the Tralfaga up in Lehi and played some blacklight minigolf and road one of those bouncy up-and-down drop rides. We will have to play lasertag/rock climb and other things another day. Not a bad deal for $30 and good for the whole year plus soon can go iceskating, skiing, and so much more. And guess what happened in minigolf? I got a hole-in-one on my first hole. All the way up the wall and around the corner and made it in!!! After that, my game might have been not that good. But I started out on fire :) Oh, confession of the week. I loved watching the movie version of Sense and Sensibility (I would have that italicized but my computer was freaking out and wouldn't agree to it). It was, without a doubt, the funniest movie I have seen since I came back home from my mission. Courtenay is going to make sure I now get to see all the rest of the movie versions of the classic Jane Austen books. She says that they are all that great. Who knew what I was missing out on this whole time? Also, we have the projector all set up now with nice speakers and everything. We had a movie night to honor the newly returned missionaries in my apartment. We watched Megamind and it was a riot. Much more funny watching with a lot of people and being in a really humorous mood (not having just tore ligaments in my ankle like last time).

So all-in-all a very busy and productive week. I get a lot of study hours and a lot of fun hours. Most the time, staying off my knee which is superb. I can't wait to be able to start playing sports eventually though or at least hiking or something. I am studying hard though. No worries about that, I am not reliving freshman year or anything and I am sleeping a lot more. Or at least lying in bed for more hours relaxing. I did manage to already catch a cold. My voice is much deeper than normal and I have a cough/runny nose. It hasn't slowed me down much yet though. I hope it goes away soon. My knee is doing ok, as long as I stay off it as much as possible. I also need to always sit somewhere in class where I can stretch my leg out because if I bend it that long, it doesn't support me after class is over. I am learning my limits and trying to stretch as much as I can each and everyday. My knee continues to get better and better. It just isn't fully there yet. My ankle has not given me anymore problems. Thank goodness, God has blessed me to only have one injury at a time. Which is all I can take I think. I can't think of much else to report on right now. I am loving life and everything about it. I really do miss my family is the only downside. They are amazing, the best anyone could ever dream of. Also, Mesa friends are missed, but these next few months will fly by and I will be home before you know it. Things will be and are great!!! I hope everyone else is happy and doing well!

Picture of the week:

The Return

Dang. So I just had something pretty amazing written and now it all disappeared. Even after hitting the save button and everything. Now I get to start over, yay! NOT. Oh well. Here goes...

I know I haven't written on this blog for a very long time, too long. I guess in my mind it will always only be the blog that I use when I am a student up at BYU. It is my chance to release each and every week and to keep a good record of everything that has been going on. I definitely fail at keeping a journal so this is the one chance that I got to record things or to help myself remember them. I don't know if anyone will ever look at these again or not, but at least it is worth it for my own personal sanity.

That being said I should start posting something worthwhile. I absolutely loved every minute of my mission. As you can hopefully tell by the other blog that was created by my family while I was out in the field. I would never have given those two years for anything else. Ever. The amazing people that I met and worked with both member and nonmember, active and not so much are now such great friends. The most important friend that I truly made though was my Savior, Jesus Christ. I got home from my mission in October and since then my life has been a whirlwind. Time decided to switch into mega warp speed (not just even warp speed, but mega) and I can't seem to catch up with any of it. I was truly blessed at my homecoming to have such great friends that came down from BYU to see me and hear me give it. Unfortunately, I proved to be the same old me. I tore ligaments in my ankle while playing ultimate frisbee and ended up having to wear a big black boot for about a month and a half. I never would have went in to have it checked out though if my mother had not insisted. I would have kept living life like normal with just more pain and problems. Three days after getting that boot off, I managed to do my knee in while playing Just Dance. How dumb is that? Another very me thing to do each and every time. Anyway, life is good. I had a great Christmas with my family and an amazing job to boot. I hung out with lots of friends and had a lot of fun and got a lot of things done. Then Lora and I drove up here. Oh, I almost forgot. Of course I hit up all the amazing Mesa restaurants that are nowhere else like Tia Rosa's, Crackers and Co., Oregano's, and Floridino's. So good! But not as good as Mom's cooking, I missed that so much for two years and I am already missing it again!!!


So far I have loved being back at BYU. Overwhelming? Yes! Stressed? Yes! Exhausted? Yes! But loving it. I miss my family though, I really love them so much. They are the most important thing to me in this world and I will forever more cherish the time I get to spend with them during breaks or vacations or whatever else happens. I will never take that for granted again. I have been blessed to have some pretty amazing roommates. My room roommate is probably the best ever! He is the son of a mission president who is serving in Texas and just got back from his own mission about three weeks ago from Georgia. He is the most outgoing person I have ever met. He talks to everyone and never stops serving other people. I am going to be learning a lot from him about the kind of person that I want to become and that I really need to be. He is one of the most Christlike people that I have ever met. Collin is another roommate, he is the only one that is still living here from last semester. He is way into music and is very intelligent. He likes snowboarding and graduated early from high school. He seems way chill and he likes to have fun. Clay finishes out the apartment. He is a major Lakers fan (but he can be forgiven for that) and likes to have fun as well. It is turning out to be a much better combination that I was hoping for having completely random roommates. Interesting fact: I am the only non-Californian in the room. They all actually know all the same suburbs and stuff, so that's cool. Collin and I got the projector and speakers set up already so that will be super fun. We will have to find excuses to use them and to invite lots of people over to have fun with them. We also have a very large assortment of board and card games to play. Also, a very huge fake Christmas tree with colored lights and pinecones. The tree belongs to someone who actually moved out of here but doesn't have anywhere to put it yet, but we will definitely keep it for the time being. It adds a certain cool element to our apartment. We finally cleaned out the nasty fridge as well and everything feels so clean and good now. Much better. Lora and her roommates are way fun. So are all the friends that I still have from Mesa that are up here or those from freshman year. We have already had a plethora of game nights (from Quelf to He said, she said), birthday parties, decorating someone's car, a DI trip, studying, classes, grocery trips, a snow fight and so much more. Life is good that way. And fun. Tonight was my first dessert night, it wasn't bad. But I felt out of my element, too many people going too crazy. I can do good with small groups, not humongous ones. Oh well, I will keep working on it and see what happens. I am so tired so I think I will turn in for today and leave this as my first post. Hopefully next week, I can start taking pictures, getting quotes and all those other good stuff!

The end and the beginning

So it has been another few weeks since my last post, but trust me when I say life has been busy and finding anytime to be alone to write up here and sort through my thoughts about stuff is quite the impossible task. Seriously, being alone has never been so hard to come by. I guess that's what happens when you have such great, crazy, amazing friends. They make sure to fill up your time and then school fills in the other hours and then just barely enough sleeping and eating to get by on fills up the rest. Never a dull moment these past few weeks. There was so much we did, it was quite ridiculous. I guess I should start off with the Six Flags Magic Mountain trip since it was probably the most monumental by far. It has actually been on the planning process since sometime in the beginning of January when Will and I decided that we really wanted to go to Magic Mountain just for the fun of it. He had never been and I just happen to be a die hard roller coaster fan. So it went through numerous phases of being planned and unplanned (including at one point either hang gliding there or somehow getting an RV to drive there) before the details were finally hammered out, the tickets bought, the people picked to go, and so on and so forth. In the end the group that ended up going was Sherrie, Courtney, Regan, Will, and me. And I don't think a better group could have been picked to go. We all somehow match up with each other perfectly - balancing out each other's insanities and craziness, introvertness and extrovertness, and so on. Plus we ended up being seriously one of the closest groups of friends I have ever been in. My really, really close friends back home in Mesa is the only one that could probably really top it. Anyway, it was a blast. One of the best ideas of the whole semester and one of the best and most fun activies of my life so far. I even found who I want to room with after my mission is over - Will Casper. Granted, he has been wanting to room with me ever since the beginning of Marchish, but I was never really sure if I wanted to back. There are so many people from Mesa to choose from, or the roommates I have now, but in the end after this trip I can finally say I am pretty sure he is the best option for a roommate for me. The only problem is that he happens to be a major slacker, but you couldn't find a more loyal, caring friend in the world. And there are very few who understand me and read me as well as he does. Call it a rare talent. I also found out this trip that my love life could very well just be the lamest such story in history. I am such a coward is what I learned. I liked both girls that went with us earlier this semester (much earlier) but had always been afraid to act on it because of my bad luck and experiences with such things in the past. However as we talked and talked waiting in lines or on the long drive home, I learned that they had both liked me when I had liked them (and I had liked them at different times, just clarifying - I am not a player). All it would have taken is for me to have told one of them that I liked them in January or February and this semester would have turned out a million times differently. But oh well, everything happens for a reason as well I figured out. One, I would not have become good friends with Will at all if that had happened, not even close or Regan for that matter. Two, I would have blown through a lot more money and got a lot lower grades which I can't really afford either so in the end it all works out for the better I guess. Just kind of funny the things you learn about the choices you made in the past and how much differently life could have been. Another interesting event that happened with in the past week was that Jared decided to have a yearbook party. He made the yearbooks and the food to go with them. But for some reason, I always end up being the one to invite all the people and planning out all the activies at the party. No one else ever steps up to the plate so if I don't do it, parties end up, well, lame. Regardless, this one was a brilliant idea. It allowed everyone to be able to say goodbye to each other and for us to take a very long trip down memory lane of all the crazy stories and events that have gone on for our freshman year at BYU. I also got voted quite a fair few of those personality awards. I managed to snag most outgoing, best at throwing/planning parties, one with the craziest late night plans, most likely to win a Darwin award, most likely to make Aaron a sandwich, and best at cutting hair (don't even ask). So maybe the last three are not the most enviable titles I found out a lot about how people actually perceive me because I honestly have no idea. I still am caught up from things that happened years ago in junior high and the beginning of high school when all I was thought of was extremely shy, a bookworm, and rather plump. The bookworm I don't mind, but the other images I have been constantly working on since about the beginning of my junior year in high school to change. And I guess change they have. I get called a "stick" now about my weight and got voted most outgoing. Boy have I have changed. But Im not always the biggest party animal, in my more personal messages I got a lot of comments from people about how nice I was, or how I was a great listener, or I am "the most amazing friend ever" (thanks Will). It just really made my day to know that people actually care about me and think highly of me because a lot of the time I really can't see how they do or why they would. It was the self-esteem boost I really needed going into finals and the end of my freshman year. Also, this week I went on probably the most random, crazy date I have been on ever. I took Courtney, Will took Sherrie, Tayler took Regan, and Jared took Amanda and it was a blast. We started off by thrifting for the most outrageous outfit we could find for each other. Mine ended up being a Jamaican dude/druggie thing complete with Aladdin green pants and I ended up getting Courtney in a baseball uniform. Then we went and ate at Red Robin and ended off the night by sitting around talking by a bonfire at the Central Building of our aparment complex. The stares we got and the laughter we got made the entire thing worth it. It was just a blast and and a great closer to all the best friends I have made here at BYU because that is probably the last time we will hang out in a group again. I plan on writing each of them and note and delivering it individually but altogether, last night was it. It was the end. And I am crazy sad to see it go. I really do want to go home, but I really don't want to lose all my friends and the atmosphere that is BYU. There is nothing quite like it anywhere else. So much fun, but always clean at the same time. Lots of work, but so many people to help you out. It just rocks and I am going to miss it terribly because it will never be the same again. When we all get back from our missions, I will room with Will and that will be awesome. But most of the girls will probably be married or engaged. Most of the guys I probably will only catch glimpses of between classes or something. It just won't be the same. Maybe it will be even better, butI doubt it. This year would be such a hard thing to top as far as college experience goes. Not going to lie. It is just hard to watch it go and it is a heck of a whole lot harder to say the goodbyes than I thought it would be. Anyway, finals and classes are going pretty sweet here at the end. I managed to score all A's so far on my finals with the exception of a mega retarded biology one but even that was still a B. I have one final left to go tomorrow and then a crazy amount of packing and cleaning to do. Also, finding time to write all those invidual thank you/friend notes is going to take awhile but I really need to do it. I just have the strongest feeling that I do. So here is some pics of my last days as a freshman, enjoy! This is a pic of Whitney and I when we all went out to breakfast before finals

This is Courtney and I on our date night!
This is everyone who went on our amazing group date!

This is all the guys that went.