This is My Journey

Mada What?

2012-02-01T20:37:00.002-07:00

Madagascar actually.

About a month ago I purchased tickets to Madagascar on a complete whim. Well, to be honest I knew it was on the horizon since last summer, I just didn't know exactly when it would happen. My friend Alisha served her mission there and has always wanted to go back. Ever since I knew of this desire of hers I've always said I would go with her. So in about two months time we, and her roommate B, will be on a plane en route to Antananarivo, Madagascar. Pretty cool right?! I'm pretty excited. I already got the shots I need and have a list of things to do for the trip I've been chipping away at. I'm also really excited about our 23 hour layover in Paris. I will finally get to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower among many other exciting Parisian landmarks. It's motivation to brush up on my French... er, je vais à Paris! Haha, I never thought I'd actually ever need to use any French I learned in school. Not that I was ever conversant or anything, but a little knowledge of a language is better than none at all I suppose.

Flag of Madagascar

Part of me is a little sad that I do only have 23 hours in Paris because I know from my art history background there is A LOT I would love to see and drool over for hours and hours. But 23 hours is still better than nothing! The main attraction is Madagascar. It's not like I anticipate repeat trips to Mada in my future so I will do my best to drink up the experience in all its entirety. It doesn't feel real to me yet. Not sure if it ever will. Probably not. I'll have to take some amazing pictures.

Oh, and I'll say hey to King Julian for you too!

Excuses

2012-01-25T23:24:00.001-07:00

I been neglecting this blog. But I have a good excuse.

My hard drive is full. Aaannnnnd...... my external hard drive is full.

I have done my best to scour and delete all the unnecessaries I could find on each, and still they are too full. Too full for what? Photos. I do not have enough space to handle pictures anymore. I was in Photoshop the other day and the program literally wouldn't allow me to even move an image I had already placed. 'How does this affect my blogging?', you ask. Well, I hate blogging without visual aids. I'm sure the majority of the time you only jump on here to see if I've posted any more pretty pictures for you to look at..... Be honest. Ya, that's what I thought.

So just buy a new external hard drive and do some rearranging and 'viola!' right? WRONG. It so happens that there was some devastating floods in a place called Thailand in the not so distant past. Thailand? So what? Ahem... it also so happens that Western Digital (manufacturer of my trusted hard drives) manufactures their hard drives in Thailand and the majority of their stocks were wiped out and completely damaged beyond use in the floods. What does this mean? It means that my jaw dropped when I saw the price tags at Best Buy in December when I went to go buy an external hard drive. Simple Econ 101, supply and demand. The supply is limited and demand hasn't changed so the prices of external hard drives (not just WD) in general has sky-rocketed. Prices have pretty much doubled in fact. Soooooo.... I will not be purchasing an external hard drive until the crisis is mitigated and I don't have to burn such a deep hole in my wallet just for 1 or 2 terabytes of extra space.

The End.

Sources:

Thailand Flooding: Death Toll Reaches 600

Western Digital reveals Thai floods cost $199m to clean up

Worst Flooding in Decades Swamps Thailand

Photoshoot

2011-11-29T18:30:00.001-07:00

My sister came to visit for Thanksgiving and we were excited to set up my studio equipment in my room and to also venture out at "Golden Hour" (technically just before Golden Hour) to experiment a bit with the lighting. We had a blast shooting these photos of each other. Later we edited them with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.

Since Stef and I worked together closely on these we're calling it an overall collaborative effort.

Enjoy! :)

Turkey Day Adventures with My BFF

2011-11-28T20:10:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was literally a whirlwind of excitement and good food.

My sister flew down for Thanksgiving and we had a truly amazing weekend together.

I friggin' love that girl.

We had a T-Day feast with a group of my friends and it blew Stef's mind that we were eating our Thanksgiving meal outside in the backyard. It was new to me as well, and I am definitely a fan.

Appetizer table

A feast fit for kings

The food was awesome. Everyone did a really great job of cooking and preparing delicious dishes.

I introduced my Texas friends to what my family calls, "Magic Potatoes", because they are, well... MAGIC! I have to give a shout out to my fabulous aunt whose recipe I used.

Good food and good conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed my Turkey Day feast this year.

But our adventures did not stop there. Oh no, no.. that was just the beginning.

The next day we went on a trail run together and hung out at Monica's for a bit.

I took Stef to Rudy's BBQ so she could experience real Texas BBQ and have her first brisket.

That evening we hit up Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Sadly Superman and Poltergeist were closed. And even sadder yet, that meant the other lines were even longer. We rode the Goliath, The Scream, Scooby-Doo's Ghostblasters and the Ferris Wheel.

Six Flags decorated for Christmas

I beat Stef

The Ferris Wheel ended up being way more fun than I anticipated.

The Scream is always a favorite of mine because I always get the biggest adrenaline rush when I ride it.

It completely freaked Stefani out though. I ended up laughing uncontrollably during the ride at her reaction.

On our way home we stopped and pigged out on tacos from Taco Cabana (favorite).

LOVE Taco Cabana!

And then we rented and watched 'Something Borrowed'. Stef raved about it, so we rented it and I quite enjoyed it.

Saturday evening we had appetizers at a restaurant on the Riverwalk before seeing The Nutcracker at The Majestic Theater. After the show we returned to the Riverwalk to get dessert at a fancy French restaurants. I just wanted creme brûlée. Très, très bien.

The Majestic Theater!

Dinning on the Riverwalk

Riverwalk all lit up for Christmas! :)

We came home and watched 'Killers' since I really like it and Stef had never seen it before. I may or may not have fallen asleep for some of it though.

Sunday we did a photoshoot after church. We had a lot of fun and the pictures turned out incredibly well. We experimented with light, specifically pre-Golden Hour/Golden Hour lighting.

Seesters!

The rest of the night we cleaned, Skype'd the rest of the fam and edited pics and watched the T-Day episode of 'Mod Fam'.

"Skype-'ing'" with the fam

I did not enjoy having to drop her off at the airport this morning.

At least I get to see her again in about three-ish weeks!

My sister is my BFF, and I am so glad I got to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her!

Love you sis!

Occupy Wall Street: Really?

2011-11-17T20:53:00.001-07:00

So it took me a while to figure out what was going on with the whole "Occupy" movement, but when I did I remember thinking, "Really?... Really?".

Being in Texas I felt very removed from the whole thing. Had I been in Portland I'm sure it would've been a different story. You know, I'm not even certain there really was an "Occupy" encampment in San Antonio. If so, it was probably really really small. I thought I saw a small one in Austin a few weeks ago. Heh, of course I did, it's Austin. Austin is a little liberal pocket within
The Republic of Texas.

Anywhooo... Ya, "Occupy Wall Street". I don't get it.

Occupy Wall Streeters ("The 99%")

Starving children in Africa

"Every 6 seconds a child dies from malnutrition and related causes. Acute malnutrition impacts 55 million children in the world, with about 19 million suffering from the most deadly forms. Malnutrition contributes to 53% of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in the world. Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with [an] empty stomach"

(My Entrepreneurial Project: Malnutrition by Naomi Enevoldson)

Okay, so.... maybe try to count your blessings and make the best of what you have rather than focus on what you don't have?

Just a suggestion.

"I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them"
John Stuart Mill

Honestly the so called "1%" can keep their wealth. I don't want it. Because money doesn't buy happiness. I'm not rich, and I'm not poor, but I certainly will never be happy if all I focus on is the wealth of others.

Instead of "Occupying Wall Street" how about we try to help someone less fortunate than ourselves. Because how else can you distinguish yourselves from those who you are accusing of being greedy and self-serving when you have not reached out to help another in need yourselves?

There will always be someone in more need than yourself.

Stop complaining. Start reaching out. Start doing something productive and GOOD.

This whole movement sounds an awful lot like a spoiled little brat throwing a temper fit on the floor of the store because mommy won't buy them the candy bar at the register.

I have nothing against our Constitutional right to peacefully assemble, (which as of late it doesn't sound like they've been so peaceful at all the encampments - and it's just not cool how they are seriously in the way in some places) I just have an issue with the rationality behind the movement.

Stop playing the "victim" and be a person of compassion, a person of substance, a person who works to do good in the world rather than just being a scourge on our streets.

Please don't complain and throw temper-tantrums until you can honestly say you put in an honest effort, you tried your hardest and still got knocked down.

I'm pretty sure you won't have anything to complain about if you legitimately try.

Go out there and work your butt off. You just have to be stubborn enough to not allow yourself to "fail". Start your own small business... Help others without expecting others to help you. You can't rely on others to bail you out. It just doesn't work.

The "Occupy Wall Street"ers don't know the first thing about poverty, about being neglected.

My heart breaks when I see real suffering.

And real hardship.

"Occupy Wall Street" is a joke. It's really nothing more than a desperate cry for attention from a group of self-righteous lazy quitters who expect do be coddled by the government (aka their mommy).

If you don't like the way things are, then run for office. If you really are the 99% that should mean you would have a majority voting for you right? Aye carumba.

I don't see how camping out in city parks and streets is actually going to change anything.

This is NOT suffering. Homeless, yes. Sad, a little. But that's totally GOR-TEX!

This little Blurb from The Daily Show (below) gave me a pretty good laugh.

(To watch the video I would recommend pausing or muting the music on this page. To do so, just scroll to the very bottom of the page and you'll see the music player.)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Motivated

2011-11-06T09:26:00.001-07:00

This weekend I had some fun dance battling on the Kinect, and placing 3rd in my division for a 5k.

I was actually surprised when they announced my name for 3rd place for women 20-24 years old.

I don't really think of myself as a competitive runner.

I'm kinda glad Kyoo didn't end up running in this race with me after all.

Otherwise she would've definitely placed, maybe even taken 1st,
and that would've bumped me down to a measly non-medaling 4th place.

I think this was just the ego boost I needed to keep me motivated

to do more races and stick with improving my running.

After the race my friend Monica and I ventured over to one of the farmer's markets down town.

It was kind of disappointing.

Nothing can compare to Portland's Saturday Market.

We had lunch at Sam's Burger Joint to make up for it.

I also remembered that I had some fun pictures on my phone from last weekend

and the weekend before in Austin.

Enjoy!

Burger and onion rings from Sam's Burger Joint

My fabulous friend Monica

Crazy me after the 5k at Sam's (I'm pretty excited to eat that burger)

Byron and Richard dance battling on the Kinect

Last week when Kyoo and I bought a pumpkin pie at Costco

Kyoo and Alisha picking up their marathon packets in Austin (couple of weeks ago)

Air Show and the Blue Angels

2011-11-01T19:40:00.001-06:00

This weekend Randolf AFB hosted an Airshow. It was pretty cool.

The Blue Angels were the headlining attraction, but unfortunately I wasn't able to catch

them on Saturday. So what's a photographer to do? I went back on Sunday to

try and photograph the famous exhibition flight team.

Unfortunately, I accidentally forgot to put my memory card back in to my camera

after uploading all my pics from Saturday... I left my memory card at home.

So, no pictures of the Blue Angels actually flying.

Still kicking myself.

This Jelly Belly plane was so cool. The pilot landed on top of that itty-bitty platform on that truck!

And later the same pilot (same plane) cut the engine and glided very gracefully all the

way down to a soft landing.

Jelly Belly plane gliding gracefully.

Another really cool treat at this show was the Air Force Academy Parachute team.

They did all sorts of really cool aerobatics and it was just

super AWESOME!

Two parachuters free-falling

Criss-cross

It was SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait for next year already! Apparently the

Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds switch off every other year

and the venue also trades between Randolf AFB and Lackland AFB.

So next year I'm looking forward to seeing (and photographing) the

U.S. Air Force THUNDERBIRDS! At Lackland.

Weekend in Austin

2011-10-29T09:09:00.000-06:00

Last weekend my roommate, Kyoo, and friend Alisha ran in the Frankenthon Marathon in Austin.

Sadly I wasn't able to get any shots of Kyoo actually running because I broke

one of the cardinal rules of photographers which

is to NOT get involved in what you're shooting... yeah... I definitely ran a few short spurts with Kyoo to

support and cheer her on and keep her motivation high.

It was a lot of fun though, and I was able to snap some photos of the post-race activites.

Alisha and Kyoo waiting in the bathroom line before the start

Kyoo sharing a race memory with this random fellow racer

Kyoo getting her post-race massage from a very attractive man

A happy Kyoo

Stretching...

Alisha showing off her blingin' race medal

Later in the day we made a trip to IKEA! :)

We also went to the botanical gardens and that's
when I caught this precious moment ;)

Kyoo placed 3rd in her age/gender group! She did so well, we were all so proud of her. Unfortunately she missed qualifying for Boston by only 7 minutes. She friggin' beasted every mile of that marathon!

My Public Service Announcement

2011-10-17T16:29:00.002-06:00

ATTENTION!

If you are using Internet Explorer (IE)... STOP. Please download Chrome or Firefox. Both are free. And either will enhance your Internet web browsing experience ten fold. PLEASE, please, please stop using IE. I beg of you.

http://www.google.com/chrome

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

So Cliche

2011-10-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

Okay so I'm really loving this no homework part of being done with formal schooling (at least for now). But most of the time though I get kind of discouraged because there really isn't a ton of time at night after I come home from work to have to myself. Mostly it feels like I get up, go to work, come home, go to sleep to do it all over again next day. Especially since the sun is setting earlier now too and doesn't rise until almost 0800. Not to mention I'm usually exhausted after work and working out when I get home. But I still felt I needed some kind of outlet, something to do to unwind yet not feel like a complete and utter waste of time like watching tv. So I decided I would start scrapbooking. Yes. You read correctly, scrapbooking. It really seemed like the best option. It's very laid-back, it involves photography, which I love, and design, which I also love, and working with my hands, which makes me feel productive, and I will have fun scrapbook albums to show for it, something that I (and/or others) can appreciate in the future.

So there I was after work snaking my way through the Michael's scrapbook supply aisles loading up my cart with all the essentials. Not gonna lie, I felt ridiculous. And I especially felt ridiculous during and after the cashier ran up my total. Scrapbooking is expensive. I thought to myself, 'Did I really just spend that much on scrapbooking supplies???' Why yes, yes I did.

Right now it's kind of my obsession. I can't wait to get home at the end of the day so I can continue working on my scrapbook. Right now I'm just editing pictures to get ready to send over to Costco to get printed. I decided to start one project at a time so as to not overwhelm myself. I'm working on making a Spring Summit scrapbook at the moment. And I think I will break down college into years... and also do a high school one and slowly work back. I am planning on picking up a lot of old photos from back home when I visit for Christmas too so that will be exciting.

And so my first "hobby" is born.

Photography School

2011-10-14T18:05:00.002-06:00

I am the proud owner of a new Nikon D7000!

And one thing is for sure... going so many years without a camera has indeed left my photographic skills severely rusty. But not to fear, I am trying to get my hands on as much DSLR tips and tricks and general know-how as I can to get back up to speed and off on my own creative path once again.

For a moment I thought, maybe I should find an art school and enroll in a BFA program or general photography program...

But then I realized that would be a waste of money.

Art degrees are usually just that. A waste of your money.

Why?

Because the amount of money you can expect as income post-graduation is

nowhere near enough to sufficiently pay off those loans.

Especially because art is one of those things you don't necessarily need a degree

from an accredited institution to get a job.

All you need is a kick-trash portfolio

and

you're pretty much good to go.

Trying out long exposures with my wireless remote

Well, why would I consider another Bachelor's degree in the first place?

Well... my ultimate goal is to become a high school photography teacher.

And/or art teacher... willing to teach history and/or art history as well.

Conclusion I ultimately came to:

I'll need to save my money for a MA in Education or MA in Art Education program.

BUT, in order to qualify either for a MA in Art Education program OR

a teaching position with just an MA in Education

I will still need... what?

A kick-trash portfolio.

So I think I will work on that on as tight of a budget as possible.

First I need to master the many controls and buttons

my new DSLR offers. And then just experiment.

I found some cool workshops National Geographic offers that might be

pretty fun to attend, and I'm sure I would learn a lot from their

amazing photographers.

Many Blessings

2011-09-28T21:43:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been at my new job for nearly two months now and I am loving it. I honestly could not have planned for things to work out any better than they have. I am grateful that I had enough faith to change my major from art to CIT back in 2008 (even though it did not make any sense to me at the time) and trust the Lord that everything would work out how it was supposed to. I will not be upset if I never have to write another single line of Java code again in my life... let alone look at it. I am so blessed to have a job right out of college in midst of the failing economy, and the fact that it is actually a job I love...! Blessings do not come any more beautifully wrapped my friends.

So a little update is in order seeing how it's been a few weeks since my last post. Dating. Unfortunately no changes on that front; sorry if you were reading my blog only to find out if I'm dating anyone. I, however, have been making friends! Definitely makes weekends my roommate is gone a lot less lame. A couple weekends ago I went to Schlitterbahn in a lightning storm with some of these new friends. And just this last weekend I stayed up late enough it messed up my sleep for the rest of the week. True story. Friday, movie. 'Thor'. Pleasantly surprised. Saturday, cleaned the church building, attended a new friend's baptism followed by lunch at some decently good Mexican restaurant. Ridiculously long nap. General Relief Society Broadcast where I got to see some of my new friends and listen to Elder Uchtdorf speak about 'Five Things to "Forget Not"', and I also got to hear from one of my heroes, Sister Julie B. Beck as well. Followed by a birthday dinner for my new friend, we'll call her Arizona, at BJ's. I finally invested myself in going to FHE and Institute during the week and both have helped me to meet new people as well.

So work is good, church is good, friends are good. Life is good.

I am just so blessed. I'm so very excited to celebrate my birthday this weekend by listening to the Prophet and Apostles deliver the Lord's message to His children. I'm so glad I don't have any homework to distract me this time! I'm also really looking forward to my sister coming down for Thanksgiving and to go home for Christmas. I love my family so much; I could not have been blessed with a better family. I miss them so much! It's definitely tough living so far away from them, but I know this is a good growing experience. I'm also very grateful for technologies that exist which make it possible for me to stay in close contact with each of my family members. I don't know what I would do without cell phones/texting or video chatting.

In conclusion I guess I could just sum things up by saying that I am truly blessed and I love life.

Toodles!

New Beginnings

2011-08-10T06:10:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm proud to report that the internship went really well and even though ten weeks came to a close last Friday... it wasn't the end. I got the job!

I'm going through new employee orientation this first week and will soon join my new team. I've been hired as a UI designer and couldn't have planned things to work out better than they have. My final grade was submitted last week as well. What an amazing feeling to know that my hard work these last few (ahem... five) years was worth it! .

I am truly grateful for how things worked out. I started out an art major uneasy about the job security and opportunities of artists in today's economy. Something felt right about changing my major to CIT even though it scared me; computer programming just didn't seem like "my thing". And I soon learned that it really isn't. But I also learned that I can do hard things, even things that aren't "my thing" and excel at them, or at least do what I needed to to get by; nonetheless, a CIT degree gave me many opportunities an art degree simply would not have provided. And additionally, my university made it possible for me to continue to develop my artistic skills with clusters (basically two mini minors). My CIT major and the reputation of my university together, got me a foot in the door with one of the best companies in the country, and perhaps more importantly, one I feel like I fit really well with; One with the flexibility and willingness to let me do something I'm passionate about.

So I guess this means that I am starting a new chapter in my life. With this new phase comes more responsibilities as well as a few more freedoms. I'm happy and life is good. What more could I ask for?

Something creative every day

2011-07-17T20:43:00.003-06:00

The other day I stumbled upon (literally stumbleupon.com) what appeared to be a web blog of a year's worth of creative work by an artist for every day of 2009. So this gets me thinking... why don't I try that? Right now I don't know if I want to start it now, or wait until January 1 to begin the creative saga for the entirety of 2012... hmmm. It's a toughie. On the one hand I am so ready to dive in right now. But on the other hand, it'd really bug me that this project was straddling two years...

My inspiration: Make Something Cool Everyday

Weekend Adventure Team

2011-07-17T10:12:00.003-06:00

I've had a lot of fun here in Texas this summer. Nearly every weekend I've gone on some crazy fun adventure with generally the same group of friends. Yesterday we officially dubbed ourselves the "Weekend Adventure Team". Previously, we had been known as "Team Camping" because we mainly went on camping trips together. Yesterday we branched out and went paintballing instead. Here are some pics from my phone of one of our camping trips to the beach.

Adventures with Kyooyoo

2011-06-13T23:53:00.006-06:00

Well, I didn't just apparate to get here. Kyooyoo came up to the great NW and we drove down. Road trip!

Day 1

Oregon Vortex and the original House of Mystery

Mt. Shasta

Whiskeytown Lake and the Sundial Bridge

Whiskeytown Lake, CA

Day 2

Yosemite

Half Dome

Day 3

Yosemite

Hike to upper falls

Making sandwiches

Nap atop Upper Falls

Day 4

Drove through boring parts of California
PCH
Santa Barbara, California

Lost my wallet
L.A. & Irvine

Day 5
Disneyland

Disneyland

Day 6

Hotel pool

Huntington Beach

Joshua Tree

Huntington Beach, CA

Day 7

Joshua Tree

Tucson and cousin Kelsey

Day 8

Colossal Cave

Tombstone, AZ

New Mexico

Day 9

All of western Texas
New home

Greetings from The Lone Star State!

2011-06-11T23:35:00.000-06:00

Alright, so I've been in my new home for two weeks now. I'm still trying to learn the lay of the land, and have gotten lost only a few times. Temps haven't been lower than the 70's at night and it's been hitting in the 100's pretty regularly during the day. And I LOVE it! Seriously, I went from having a freezing cold miserable winter to a scorching hot, sweltering summer- I much prefer the latter.

I'm starting to get the hang of my job. The first week was mostly just training and meeting lots and lots of new coworkers. Now I'm beginning to start working on real assignments and get more settled into my role as an intern. My friend David and I have taken it upon ourselves to scope out all the cafeterias in the building at work- so far we've hit them all except one. My plan is to start taking my lunches though in order to save a little dough.

I joined a soccer team at work too. We're the SUPER MARIO ALL*STARS, and it's a more competitive league than co-ed and consists of mostly men. As far as I know I'm the only female on my team. There was one woman on the team we played against last week- Two Left Feet (David's team); we tied. I got quite a bit of playing time at wing. I also joined a women's basketball 3x3 team, our first game was cancelled. The other team forfeited. Lame. I was so pumped to play too! Hopefully we'll get to play this week.

It hasn't been long but I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far. David has a slackline so we've slacklined at lunchtime with my roommate (the fabulous Kyooyoo), and Kyooyoo and I went biking this morning which was a complete blast for me, we went swimming Friday night, Thursday evening we went to ZOOfari!, and I'm having a great time getting to know my mentor and manager and other team members better and the other interns as well. Although, it is my sincere belief that work days should only go until 3pm. I'm great all day... until 3pm. Then it is a struggle to stay focused until 5. Even though I haven't done anything super exciting at work yet I really do enjoy being there- best place I've ever worked before.

And not going to lie, I'm really REALLY liking this life without homework thing. Honestly, it is so nice to do my focusing during the day (like I usually always had to do anyway) and being able to come home and just leave work at work. Of course I have "homework" for the internship class- however I finished the big assignments practically before I even got down here and have already turned them in. Now all I have to do mainly is just journal my experiences everyday which isn't hard because I pretty much just log everything I do during my day in a notebook that I can just type up whenever.

I love it here.

Forgot About This Thing

2011-05-15T10:47:00.000-06:00

Okie dokie, I've been in the hometown for about a month now and completely forgot to keep this thing updated. Quite a bit has happened since I've been back.

1) I got a part-time job just for while I'm here without even looking, the job found me. I am a caregiver for two little boys during weekdays. Sometimes their sister is there as well. The job is fun, the kids are such cutie-pies, though it definitely has it's challenges at times and it's making me feel pretty domestic, haha.

This is the youngest one climbing on me, he's a goof-ball

2) I bought a car. A cute Suby. It's pretty much my dream car, except I would've preferred any other color... but really, I'm not complaining. I love my car! I still need to name it.

3) I found out what I'll be doing down at my internship. Scary! Haha... :-\

4) My sister's club soccer team FINALLY won the State Cup Championship! And best part is, I GOT TO SEE IT! I'm so proud of her! Go #3! She's #3 but she's really #1!!!!!!!

5) Went climbing out at Smith Rocks... man I have really gotten out of shape this winter. It was a loooooonnnng winter is all I have to say. Can't wait to find the sun again in California!

6) Cashed in on Baskin Robins' 31 Flavors 31 cent day. Mmmmm.... rainbow sorbet...

7) Got a flat tire after dining at the Hawthorn carts with a couple friends, and we changed it all by ourselves. :) Hah!

8) On Mother's Day I got to speak briefly with my cousin who is serving an LDS mission in Virginia.

9) Went to Little Big Burger. Oooooohh myyyyy gooooossshh! Sooooooooo goooooood... Between their cheese burger with chèvre and the lemon curd, lingonberry and chèvre crepe at the carts I'm hooked. Chèvre is now officially my favorite cheese in the world.

10) Last weekend I ate at Marrakesh for the first time. Awesome. I loved it. Five course meal, eating with my hands, the lighting, the smells, the rosewater, the mint tea, the chubby belly dancer... well, maybe not the chubby belly dancer, other than that I loved it.

Waiting for our food at Marrakesh

Really now I'm just trying my best to plan for my epic-ly long road trip and get my two "papers" done before I leave......... oh, and sell our old van so I can get a DSLR. So much to do, so little time!

Done and Done!

2011-04-09T08:04:00.001-06:00

All of my hard work and sweat and tears finally paid off. I hardly slept at all this week. My 460 class was absolutely kicking my trash. I had 3 cases to finish by Friday and, as of Monday, I still had only passed off my design and report part of case 4 out of 6 and the report part of case 5. I had roughly four days to complete the implementation of all three cases and the design for 5 and 6 as well, all in addition to studying for the case 6 quiz and taking it on Thursday. Holy moly, did I ever have my work cut out for me. I didn't think I could make it. Which is true. I know I couldn't have done it on my own. I'm very grateful for all the prayers on my behalf this week. I know that the Lord surely does answer prayers, and he most certainly did this week. I'm also very grateful for a few people who turned out tobe answers to my prayers and helped me finish the implementation of cases 4 and 5.

At approximately 10:28 am on Friday morning, I officially passed my class! Throughout the week I knocked out the design portion of all remaining cases, but as of Thursday night I still had to implement all three! Boy was I stressed. And when I woke up Friday morning after only two hours of sleep with our Internet down, I almost passed out. So there I was, on campus at 5 am working on case 5 with the janitorial crew cleaning around me.

I never implemented case 6. I didn't need to. I did well enough on the other two cases to pass the class. Granted, the fact that my grade was sitting at a 79% was kind of taunting me. At first I wanted to finish all up and try for that B-. But fatigue overtook me shortly after passing off case 5 and I gave up, perfectly happy with my C+. I took my stats final and the rest is history. I passed all my classes and finished up the last of my on campus undergraduate experience.

Now I'm off to San Antonio in May to complete my college journey.

The Final Countdown

2011-03-25T10:54:00.000-06:00

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!! In 14 days I will be a college "graduate"!

I say "graduate" with quotations because I don't officially graduate until July when I am technically done with my internship, but I'm participating in commencement ceremonies at the end of this semester. And so there you have it, aside from my internship, my undergraduate experience has reached a conclusion.

For Teagan

2011-03-23T16:17:00.000-06:00

Epic Dodgeball Game

2011-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

We didn't quite break the current Guinness World Record of 2,012 people. We only had 1,177 people, but it was still an epic game nonetheless. You can even see me in this video! Haha. It was a blast and my team, Team Gray, won! WoOT!

Schools Kill Creativity

2011-02-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

[Some Witty Title Here]

2011-02-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well first of all, it got over 40 degrees here earlier this week! And for several days remained warmer than 35! I was pretty excited. Although, it is pretty sad to think that 40 degrees really did feel balmy to me. I was able to walk around in just a zip-up hoodie like it was completely normal for 40 degree weather. Only in Rexburg...

And by-gum the forecast has actually changed again, it's supposed to get up to 32 today and 36 tomorrow! This is highly unusual for Rexburg in February. And I am definitely a fan. Seriously, if the weather stays like this until spring I will be A-O.K. with it.

Only 50 days till graduation. That's only 7 weeks! Then I will be free of this black hole of a town once and for all.

The summers were fun. But that's about it.

Toodles!

Hibernation

2011-02-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

I just want to sleep all the time. All day. Every day. Thanks winter. I am very jealous of bears right now.

Okay, so the sun isn't setting until between 5:30 and 6:00 pm now, but it doesn't rise until freaking 8:00-8:30 am. Yesterday it was still -10 degrees F by 9:00 am! Today it's a balmy 7 degrees F. Honestly I think this school should shut down in the winter. No one should have to subject themselves to this kind of torture.

So you may have noticed I'm a little more bitter than usual on this particular frigid winter morning. As I was walking on the sidewalk outside my house, I completely biffed it. There is pretty much a solid sheet of ice covering the ground at all times, and last night it snowed a tiny bit. Usually when it snows on top of the ice that's a good thing. The ground becomes grippy and you don't have to worry that there is a solid sheet of ice beneath you. Unfortunately this morning was a little different. The snow must've been a little wetter or something because it had the exact opposite affect. The ground is now much more slick, and it's deceiving!
Needless to say, my butt and left leg are pretty bruised now thanks to Mother Nature's tendencies towards this wonderful (note the sarcasm) place. Even after the incident I kept slipping and sliding all over the place. Luckily I didn't fall again, but it's still a figurative pain in the butt.

Now I'm hating on Rexburg even more so than usual. So sue me. I just want to go back to bed.

Seize The Weekend

2011-02-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Didn't get much homework done despite my attempt on Saturday spending nearly eight hours with every intention to be "productive". Well, eight hours later... I had only completed about an hour's worth of work. Oh well, at least I tried right?

I caught wind that my roommates had built a fort in our living room, so naturally I raced home to take part in the whimsy. We watched 'Benny & Joon', and then our FHE brothers came over and invited us to play a game of sardines at one of the campus buildings. We linked up with another group of people and had a pretty big game going. It was a blast. I forgot all about the homework I didn't do, and just had fun.

Inside the fort

Needless to say, today being Monday hit me like a brick wall. Why Monday? Whyyyyy?????

Nothing to worry about

2011-02-05T14:53:00.001-07:00

I was much more productive this past week. And was actually able to get quite a bit of stuff done. The hope of summer is keeping me going. I'm doing just fine in my classes. Getting good grades still, so there's really nothing to worry about. I'm excited for some upcoming events in my life:

I'm trying out for the Three-point contest in a couple weeks
I'm leading a sleigh ride trip for Outdoor Activities next weekend
Me and my roommates are having a SuperBowl party at our house tomorrow
Three day weekend on the horizon (Trip down to Utah maybe?)

Oh and yesterday something funny happened that really made my day. After PT I was going across the skybridge to the Hart building but the stairs I usually take were all blocked off because of wet paint. So I had to take the elevator. I'm standing there waiting for the elevator, a few more people start gathering behind me, and then I hear a 'THWUMP' and girls squealing and giggling. I can hear guy's voices too and then they talk about pushing floor buttons so they can do it again. I realized when I heard the 'THWUMP' and the squeals that they were playing in the elevator by jumping with a group of people, they did it a few times before they realized the elevator shut down on them and they were stuck. Haha! Serves them right! Fed up I just went outside and went around. But man oh man it made my day.

Worst Day, Worst Week

2011-01-27T00:58:00.002-07:00

So basically yesterday was one of the worst days ever. And this week is going absolutely horribly. Can I just close my eyes and disappear?

I really don't want to get out of my bed in the morning. I wish I could just stay here all day. But alas, I have to get up in about five hours. Wooo.....

It feels like I just keep getting punched in the face. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Why does this keep happening to me?

And to top it all off, I woke up sick today.

You know what, sometimes life just sucks. And right now, life kinda sucks.

Photo Dump - i.e. picture update

2011-01-26T13:57:00.003-07:00

Sorry I haven't been including pictures with my blog posts lately. I only have the camera on my phone now which I don't use a whole lot.

Lydia with Nate and Sarah Slaughter's pup

Teagan and Speed at the Oregon Symphony season opening concert at Waterfront Park (Sept. 2010)

My cousin Dagny and I at a Christmas family shindig

The new skybridge between the remodeled MC building and the Library

Temple Square a few days before Christmas

My house around Thanksgiving time (Nov. 2010)

Picture of the street I live on (Nov. 2010)

Make Over

2011-01-25T19:40:00.002-07:00

So I decided it was time for a blog make over. Actually I just got bored during my ART 337R class after I redesigned my blog for the class, katie jean studios.

We'll see how much I still like this new look a week from now. I might need something with more color... Oh well.

This week has been really hard so far. It's only Tuesday but it feels like the second Monday. I absolutely did not want to get up yesterday or today. If I had my choice, I would've just stayed in bed until about 10am or so. What is it about the winter that just makes you want to curl up in your warm cozy bed and never leave? Oh what's that you say? It's thirteen degrees outside? Thirteen? Ya? Okay, ya... that's probably why. Not a day goes by that I don't A) Question why I came here for school. and B) Question why this valley was ever settled in the first place (how on earth did they not die???????????????!) I may never know.

Honestly it's been cold and snowy for so long now (since about mid October) I am having a really hard time remembering what it was like before the snow. Crazy since my birthday is on Oct. 1st and was about 83 degrees last year, talk about uncharacteristic, the snow came only about three weeks later.

So I don't know if I can technically say that I'm happy no matter what anymore. The climate has just really gotten to me these past few days and has sent me into a slump. I'm basically a brooding entity of negativity. Almost everything irritates me. And no it's not that time of the month. I'm just tired. Trudging through the snow and putting up with the freezing temperatures day in and day out gets exhausting after a while. Not to mention winter in general forces you indoors, and I hate being stuck indoors. And I find having to wear thousands of layers of clothing quite cumbersome and annoying.

Summer! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaase come! I miss you soooooooooooo much!

I LOVE food.

2011-01-21T18:44:00.002-07:00

I seriously love, love, love food. Better stay active! Haha. But really, with an appetite like mine... if I want to live a long, healthy life I can't stop exercising.

Some types of food I adore (just to name a few):

Sushi (Sushi Hana is one of my faves)
Southern soul food (Montage baby)
Hawaiian BBQ (Mmm... Hawaiian Time :D, L&L's)
American (Five Guys, Red Robin, and Canyon Grille oh my!)
Middle Eastern/Mediterranean (Baba Fresh so delish!)
BBQ
Mexican (Fuego Burrito stand, Muchas Gracias)
Brazilian
Breakfast (Hot Cake House)
Thai
Japanese (thanks Kat)
Chinese
Seafood
Indian (excluding curry... I know right?)

If it has bold unrestrained flavors, I'm all over it like a fat kid on a seven layer chocolate cake. As I sit here at work (SMI 4th floor, lab) I am fantasizing about so many flavors. What is wrong with me? I don't even know where it came from or what triggered it, but I can't stop thinking about food now. I've licked my lips lusting for everything from a warm, fresh off the belt Krispy Kreme donut, to the juicy Canyon burger from the Canyon Grille, a fatty delectable Fuego burrito, sushi rolls drenched in amazing sauce (chili sauce + Japanese mayo), my mom's Chicken Tikka Masala (heavenly), Old Mac from Le Bistro Montage, and oddly enough I'm really craving some Mediterranean food. Not likely to get any of that in podunk Rexy.

I literally look so forward to going home after a semester not only to see my family, but also to sample the eclectic cuisine scene my hometown has to offer. LOVE it! And that is why I LOVE cities. You just can't get this kind of diversity and quality in a rural town. All Rexy has for diversity is Mexican: Ramire's, Bajio, or Taco Bus/Truck, Pizza: Little Caesar's, Pizza Pie Cafe (formerly known as Craigo's), Pizza Hut, or Domino's, Hawaiian: Da Pinapple Grill(sorry excuse for Hawaiian food, and I'm not even going to count their sushi), American: Subway, BK, McD's, Applebee's (ok in my book), Arctic Circle... ya I think I've made my point. And for all you Idahoans, Boise and Idaho Falls are NOT cities. So stop trying to convince me otherwise, you'll never convince me.

Boy am I hungry!

Two Point Five Weeks Down...

2011-01-20T23:35:00.001-07:00

...Eleven more to go.

This being my last semester I thought it'd be fun to try out a new study method. It's called "I do what I want". The philosophy is simple: 1)Play first 2)Study later, maybe.

So far so good. I'm happy. The temperature is in the single digits and there's ice everywhere, but I'm still happy. That's really saying something because I hate winter with a passion. I'll let you know how this new study philosophy works out for me later on down the road.

Here's a few of the adventures I've been on so far:

Urban exploring the bowels of the new MC and the new BYU-I Center
Snow mobiling
Playing with the microphones in one of the lecture halls

I just re-certified in CPR yesterday and I have another re-cert in First Aid tomorrow so I can start leading Outdoor Activities trips again. I'm so excited to get back into that program. It's going to rock.

Oh, and despite my being happy amidst this horrid climate I am definitely jonesing for another spontaneous road trip to Las Vegas. This cold weather might just freeze me to death yet.

Anyways, life is good.

The Doorstep Scene

2011-01-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

Not many things have as much potential to get awkward as do doorstep scenes. Especially if you happen to "interrupt", or be interrupted during, one of these said scenes. Three really is a crowd.

The awkward stroll to the door. The pause on the doormat, the giddy smiles, and the gaze. It's a stare down now. The guy attempts to muster up his courage and waits for the right moment to move in, and the girl waits almost impatiently for him to make it; should he or shouldn't he? And then I walk by trying to choke back an audible snicker. I purse my lips to keep from smiling too obviously. Both wait for me to pass, I get the upside-down smile and eyebrow raise from the girl and I know it's super awkward for them.

Believe me, it was awkward for all parties.

It was amusing though, not gonna lie. I rather enjoyed interrupting such a tender moment. I had to restrain myself from laughing audibly. And such is life.

Living With Strangers

2011-01-05T00:55:00.001-07:00

As I return to the academic residence that I have called home for three years now I am once again confronted with the same old opening semester routines. That first week is always somewhat awkward if you have new roommates. It can be especially unforgiving when you have eleven roommates' names to remember. At least this semester four of them are returnees and there is still an un-purchased contract, so that leaves only six new roommates.

I've been here a while so I'm pretty comfortable in this house, I only know a few of their names, but I really don't know these people yet. It feels like I'm living with strangers. It's weird. I haven't even been back 24 hours yet and they are having their boyfriends and other friends over, and I'm thinking, 'whoa, wait just a minute... who are you people? And what the heck are you doing in my house?' Unless you room only with people you previous knew will you ever avoid this awkward roommate/stranger phase during college. Sometimes it takes a while. You know, to finally remember their name and actually start feeling comfortable around them. With some roommates the connection never really gets made. And other times they become some of your best friends.

But for now, they're still strangers.

A Look Back - 2010

2010-12-31T12:54:00.001-07:00

Two-thousand and ten, or twenty-ten has been one heck of a year. Things kind of got off to a slow start in the beginning living at home last winter, but I'm really happy with how the rest of the year turned out.

A year in summary:

Spent the first couple months of the year unemployed and desperately trying to find a job in Portland
The job I ended up getting kinda sucked
I played on my mom's/cousin's indoor soccer team
I tried again in March to get an internship with USAA, but that didn't pan out either
I made friends with Greg, Cody and Katie in the ward and went climbing out at Smith Rock with them in April - lead my first climb!
Mid-April I headed back to Rexburg to prep for Spring Summit, we spent one week at Badger Creek and attending meetings at Bro Wood's house
We spent a month in the southern Utah canyon lands. It was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself and about life and had a blast doing it. We went through a three day desert survival course, canyoneered some sweet canyons, backpacked over 50 miles through the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, mountain biked over a 100 miles on the White Rim trail, white water rafted Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River, and biked the Slickrock trail in Moab, UT. We only had three showers the entire month and, besides the desert survival portion, ate like kings. Spring Summit changed my life.
Didn't want to return to civilization, but we had to.
Went on a climbing trip with Phil and Shaylor out to the City of Rocks - lead my second climb ever on the final pitch at "Big Time" on Castle Rock. We met Byron, a man from Utah State working on his PhD and doing a study for the USGS on the relation between wildfires, wildflowers, and bees.
Got sick for about 3 weeks, really really bad cold type symptoms but exercising made it worse, annnnnd.... I got out of shape :-(
I tried finding a job in Rexburg and came pretty close with a company called Kynetx, but I was getting worried about running out of money and I missed my family a lot so I was keeping my eye out for a ride home. I found one with my cousin Justin.
Ended up being stuck in Portland without a job, and likewise lost the opportunity with Kynetx, I really didn't want to work there anyway
Spent the 4th of July with my family for the first time in four years.
Had a little fling with a guy I met in the singles ward. He was in Portland installing security systems for the summer, he was actually from American Fork, UT. It was fun while it lasted.
I really enjoyed spending the time with my family and got much closer to my siblings
I got to be a photographer for my home stake's first Youth Trek (and got to test out my new backpacking hammock!!) on/near the Barlow Trail.
Out of nowhere Teagan ended up flying up from Texas and we went on a five day, 50 mile backpacking trip together around the Three Sisters in central Oregon. We worked out all our differences and had a really really awesome adventure. We encountered a freak snow storm and Teagan fell into a cold swift creek completely soaking everything in her pack and on her person. We had to start a fire in the rain without matches in order to dry out our drenched stuff if we wanted to not die of hypothermia that night. After about an hour I finally got one started.
Teagan's friend Speed flew in from Salt Lake to join us on a second backpacking trip just a day later at Goat Rocks in Washington state. The weather was gorgeous.
My car broke down on the way up to Windy Ridge, and miraculously an EMS van pulled over to see what was up seconds after I pulled over. No cell service up there for miles and miles. They dispatched a Sheriff for us and he dispatched a tow truck. Six hours later we were riding in my car on the back of a flat bed tow truck into Woodland, WA. My dad came and picked us up and took us back to Portland.
Returned to Rexburg for another semester of school in September.
General conference and my birthday. Went to Utah, had dinner at Tucanos by myself. Teagan called me, cheered me up.
Romance with American Fork boy fizzled out
Competed on the Ranger Challenge team for the BYU-Idaho ROTC. One of the other most amazing experiences in my life. HOOAH!
Flew down to San Antonio for interviews. Got to see Teagan's new condo.
Got an internship with USAA for next summer :-)
Worked hard, got good grades
Came home for Christmas, and have been having a great time with the fam

I hope 2011 can top 2010.

Things to look forward to in 2011:

"Graduation" in April
Moving to Texas
Internship at USAA

WoOT! :-)

My Brains Hurt

2010-12-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

It's finals week... need I say more?

Ranger Challenge Video

2010-12-11T12:59:00.001-07:00

Craig & Kassie - Announcements

2010-12-08T23:00:00.009-07:00

And the final phase of the project, the announcements...

{FRONT}

{BACK}

Craig & Kassie

2010-12-06T22:24:00.002-07:00

This past weekend I had the honor of shooting my friends' engagement photos. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I just used a Sony DSC-W120 Cybershot (aka point and shoot). Needless to say the magic was in the post-production.

Why do I live here?

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, school is cheap. Period.

2010-11-20T10:04:00.003-07:00

Life on the Trail - Three Sisters Loop

2010-11-06T22:10:00.004-06:00

Three Sisters Loop - 50 miles / 5 days

Thursday morning Teagan flew in from San Antonio and I picked her up from the airport. Before dropping her stuff off at my house and going shopping for gear, I took her to see Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls

The rest of the day was spent running around between REI and Andy & Bax to finish gearing up for the trip. We had lunch at Sushiville... I hadn't been there in a while and am now convinced that Sushi Hana is the best sushi bar ever. Later we had dinner at this random Hawaiian food place just down the street from REI. It was SO good. Mmm...

Friday was showtime. We woke up early and hit the road for the Lava Lake Trailhead near Sisters, Oregon. It was a long drive, but we had fun with it.

Teagan and I at the trailhead, Day 1

The first day was somewhat overcast with the occasional sun break. By the end of the day my feet were screaming and both Teag and I were so ready to set up camp. Setting up the bear bag was quite the ordeal that night. It took so many tries to get it to stay up on the branch and I think at one point someone almost hit someone else with the rock.

The next day was absolutely gorgeous. We started to climb a bit higher and were able to finally see the Sisters (from the east side). The miles went by fairly fast since we were having such a fun time talking and joking around.

Broken Top in the background, Day 2

It was still a long day though, and by the time we began to drop down toward Green Lakes I wanted new feet. I think we covered over ten miles. Arriving at Green Lakes after dinner time was kind of frustrating because we had to camp in designated campsite locations and most of them were already spoken for. We eventually found a quant little spot though and set up our tent and got dinner cooked up. We watched the sun set over the South Sister ("Charity") that night as the clouds rolled in.

Teagan cooking dinner, Day 2

The next morning we awoke to a big surprise. Snow. A good 3 or 4 inches of it too. I was in complete shock. In preparation for this trip I researched everything into the ground, including the weather forecasts for the area. And in no way was there any indication this would happen. In fact the forecast for this day in particular had been sun and in the upper 70's/lower 80's I believe. I hate snow.

Me trudging through the freak snowstorm in my fancy poncho, Day 3

We definitely were not prepared for snow. I only had a light rain/wind breaker and a backup poncho. So our goal was to pack up and get out of there as fast as possible. We talked about exiting at a closer trailhead and hitching a ride back to our car. But ultimately we decided it was a freak storm and that we just needed to get to our next campsite as soon as possible, crossing our fingers the sun would eventually come. All was going pretty well until Teagan fell into a three foot deep swift flowing creek on one of our creek crossings. Fully submerged for a split second, everything on her person was then at that point completely soaked. Sleeping bag included. Not good. Now we needed to start a fire to dry out our stuff or we could get hypothermia and possibly die.

Teagan emerging from the creek that she fell in (she's laughing at herself), Day 3

We just put our heads down and trudged on. As the day wore on the temperatures rose a bit, the snow turned into rain and began melting under foot. We spent the rest of the day sloshing through deep muddy puddles along the trail until our feet were numb. The trail took us to the west side of the Sisters and we hooked up with the PCT. By this time we had a hard time finding a decent campsite. Luckily we finally found a spot and got everything set up. I worked on starting a fire. It took me around an hour or so I think. We did not have any matches after the accident, and all the wood and kindling in the area was completely saturated not to mention it was still rainining. I used mine and Teagan's little flint/steel fire starters to finally light the cardboard roll of our roll of toilet paper we had, which was able to remain lit long enough to dry out the kindling around it enough to catch and eventually we had a roaring fire. We set up paracord line between some trees over the fire and hung our stuff over to dry out.

Teagan roasting her socks over our emergency fire, Day 3

Our plan worked and we were able to dry out her sleeping bag and our other things enough to be safe that night. Teagan accidentally melted that blue Nalgene in the foreground, and a few holes in her boots though. Whoops. The next day was bright and sunny. But it was a lie, because not that long after noon the weather turned on us again and the clouds rolled back in and this time unleashed hours upon hours of rain. So much for drying out our stuff. By the time we reached Obshidian Falls, I mean Obsidian Falls, we didn't even care anymore. We just wanted to find a spot to set up camp and go to bed. We found a spot atop an relatively exposed ridge, but we didn't care, it was a spot. We didn't even bother to tie up our bear bag. We just shoved it into a log about 20m from our tent. Lazy? Maybe. But it was so cold and raining so hard neither of us really cared anymore if an animal stole our food.

Teagan and myself kickin' it in the tent, Day 4

It was fun, adventurous, and miserable all rolled into one, so by the final day we were looking forward to seeing the car again. Ironically enough the weather was really nice as we hiked out. But before the clouds burned off and the misting rain dissipated we had to hike through Middle Earth- an obsidian lava field that looked just like Mordor from Lord of the Rings. Kind of painful hiking through in just our Chacos and Tevas.

Our quest through Mordor, Day 5

It ended up being a good thing we ended on good weather though, it really helped to lift our spirits. Having so much bad weather had been really discouraging.

Happy because the weather is good on our last day, Day 5

We were so ecstatic to see the trailhead and finally my car. Our first order of business, drive into Sisters to find a juicy burger.

Me enjoying the best hamburger ever, Day 5

Mmm... such a good burger.

Life on the Trail - Goat Rocks

2010-11-06T21:44:00.006-06:00

Goat Rocks - 13 miles / 2 days

Tuesday night we returned from our Three Sisters adventure and crashed. Wednesday we slept in a bit before picking up Speed from the airport. We ate at Sushi Hana before running around to REI, and Andy & Bax again. We almost got dinner at the same Hawaiian food place again, but we worried we'd be late for the symphony. That evening we met up with my dad, and my siblings to watch the Oregon Symphony's season opener at Waterfront park. We ended up sitting behind some people who had a picnic with that Hawaiian food from that place! I was jealous. The concert was so good and we had a really fun time. After the concert we went across the river and hit up the Hawthorn food carts. We got a largeorder of poutine to share, and we each got a crepe from the creperie. SO GOOD. Mmm! As we wereeating though, I noticed Jamie from church, and when I turned around I saw my cousin was there too! So we went over and hung out with them for a little while. They were pretty entertaining. Haha.

The next morning, Thursday, we woke up early again and hit the road for the Goat Rocks wilderness in Washington state. This time, the sun was bright and true with no indications of leaving us. The whole first day is practically straight up, so you get quite a workout.

Teagan and I at the beginning of the hike, Day 1

Being Labor Day weekend, and a popular trail to begin with, we passed a lot of people along the way. When we made it to the crest where most of the good campsites are, there were so many people it almost felt like a car campground. Honestly I didn't really care though. We set up our campsite and before dinner hiked up to the PCT to watch the sunset and enjoy the magnificent view.

Speed, Teagan and I eating lunch on a bridge over Goat Creek, Day 1

Oh my gosh, it was breathtaking. Easily one of my favorite moments in my entire life. My new happy place for sure. It was so beautiful and peaceful, I wish I could've just stayed there and enjoy it forever.

Speed, Teagan, and myself on the PCT; Mt. Adams in the background, Day 1

When we got back to our campsite there was another tent at our site. A father and his daughter had made it to that point, tired and exhausted but couldn't find any open campsites, ours was kinda big so he set up there. We were totally cool with it so no worries. Speed started a campfire and Teagan and I got dinner ready. For the rest of the evening we just sat around the fire and talked. Then Speed got out his green laser and cellular phone with a night skymap app and we had a little astronomy 101 lesson. It got quite a bit cooler and so we were awkwardly all hudled up together to keep warm while finding stars and constellations. It was pretty fun.

Me and Teagan, watching the sunset, Day 1

The next day we woke up to more glorious sunshine, filled our water bottles, packed up and heading on to Goat Lake where we stopped and had lunch. So pretty. This is easily one of my favorite hikes of all time. So we had lunch and then continued on. Once we crested over the opposite ridge we lost a lot of our breathtaking views and vistas, but it was still beautiful in the trees.

Speed at Goat Lake (he and Teagan were playing Frisbee) during lunch, Day 2

Toward the end of the hike we were beginning to think we'd never see the car again and were getting somewhat bummed out. But before we knew it there was the parking lot! We got everything loaded into my car, quick potty break and then we were on our way to Windy Ridge to see Mt. St. Helens.

Leaving Goat Lake, Speed and Teagan on the left, Day 2

We never made it though because about 5 miles from Windy Ridge, my car died. I got it to the side of the road, and just then an EMS van passing by at that precise moment stopped to see what was up. This was a real blessing because we were in the middle of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest where there is absolutely zero cell reception for miles and miles. The EMS van was able to dispatch a Sheriff for us who then called a tow truck to come get us and left a message with my dad as to what happened and where to pick us up from. We couldn't find any insurance or registration info in the car so I had to make a decision right then and there without any of that information. Where to tow to? I chose Woodland, WA because I knew it. I knew it would have an auto body shop and it was much much closer to Portland than Randall. It however, was quite a ways from where we broke down. Expensive? Yes. Very.

Sad my car broke down, Day 2

It was going to be a while before the tow truck would even reach us from Woodland so we tried our best to keep our spirits up and make the best of a really crappy situation. I found wild huckleberries not far from the road and enjoyed picking and eating them for a while. When the tow truck did show up, we got to ride in my car on the back of the tow truck (it was a flat bed). That was pretty cool, not gonna lie. The going was slow along those windy roads. We drove through Northwoods, my home away from home, and I was able to see, in the dark, many places I'd been a hundred times before. It made me miss the cabin.

We finally made it to Woodland, and just before, when I finally had cell service again, I called my dad to make sure he'd gotten the message from the Sheriff. Apparently he had missed the call and didn't get the message until almost right before I called. He hadn't even left yet, but left right then. Unfortunately he forgot his cell phone though and so a while later when I we were just getting to the auto body shop I got a call from my mom who was on the other line with my dad who had called her from a payphone. So miraculously he was able to meet up with us at the auto body shop and rescue us.

Rescued!

Me, Speed and Teagan were very happy to be going back to Portland finally

Wow, it certainly had been a long day. We got back super late and only got a couple hours of sleep before waking up again to go to the airport. I dropped Teagan and Speed off and returned home. What an adventure!

Ranger Challenge

2010-10-24T18:34:00.006-06:00

Last weekend was Ranger Challenge. Friday morning we met up and had lunch at Pita Pit before hitting the road for Missoula, MT. It was a long drive and it was a relief when we finally made it to the Lubrecht Experimental Forest where the competition was to be held. After we got settled into our sleeping quarters, we had a briefing and then had chow. We spent the rest of the night studying and preparing for the more academic parts of the comp. It was an early start on Saturday at 0500. Maughan and I woke up a bit earlier to be all ready by 0500. We weren't scheduled to depart until 0920 so we continued to prep.

Waiting to begin the rope bridge

The first event along the 6 mile course was the grenade assault course, we had to line up and answer two questions each for grenade identification and then we were given four dummy grenades to use for assaulting four targets. We buddy bounded across the range while a paintball sniper was hiding and firing at us. Once we completed that it was on to the map reading, and then the practical land nav event.

Inspection

For the practical land nav. we split into two teams, my team was Judkins, Evans, Geddes myself and Allred. We had three points to find and the other team, Onken, Schlecht, Van Woerkom and Hansen had two points to find. From there we went on to First Aid, and then Rope Bridge, LRC, and Scenario. At the end of the 6 miles we came back to the place the grenade assault course had been and did the modified APFT. 10 minutes to do as many push-ups as possible as a team, only one person doing them at a time, and then 10 minutes to do as many sit-ups as possible, and from there grabbed all our gear for the 1-2 mile run.

Me doing push-ups for the modified APFT

After the run, the commander's challenge. This is a surprise event. You are not told what it will be until you are physically at the event. We had to take a sandbag bunker and rebuild it about 50 meters away and then we had to push a Humvee through a little obstacle course. I was the driver, so I got to steer. Then we ran across the finish line, they stopped our time and then we had the inspection.

It was quite the experience. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do Ranger Challenge this year. Probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Definitely harder than running a marathon. It kind of made me sad that I can't contract with the Army ROTC because I'm graduating too soon. But I look forward to applying for OTS with the Air Force. This past week I really enjoyed being able to sleep in... Although I do really miss training with the team.

I Will Never Accept Defeat

2010-10-07T13:34:00.002-06:00

I have awarded myself some free time and so I blog. All the fear and apprehension I felt prior to starting this semester were only vague premonitions of the abuse I'd be putting myself through. This semester is kicking my trash. I feel absolutely destroyed every second of every day. My classes are keeping me busier than originally anticipated, and ROTC is really putting me to the test. Especially being on the Ranger Challenge team. We train twice a day everyday and a third time a day on our own. School is really wiping me out... I'm either in class, doing homework, coordinating the adventure race, doing something ROTC related or passed out asleep. I'm working so hard just to stay on top of things. Ranger Challenge is easily one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. I'm already starting to forget what it feels like to be well rested. I'm constantly fighting the urge to nod off. My body is forever aching. And my brain feels like swiss cheese.

But I love it.

And even though waking up super early isn't my favorite thing in the world, getting up at 0500 or 0600 for a ruck march or PT...
C-130 rollin' down the strip.... Airborne daddy gonna take a little trip.... mission unspoken.... destination unknown.... don't even know if we're ever comin' home....

Ah, nothing like a good ruck march with your buddies to start the day.

The Ranger Challenge competition will take place October 15-17th in Missoula Montana, with the main event being on Saturday the 16th. We will be representing the Bangal Battalion (ISU). I'm really excited/nervous for the event, but I know it'll be an awesome experience no matter the outcome. We've been training super hard and I know our hard work will pay off. Not gonna lie though, I'm going to be pretty relieved when it is finally all said and done. I'll be able to sleep in again! (sleeping in for me is like, 0700 or 0800, haha)

RANGERS LEAD THE WAY! HOOAH!

PCT Update

2010-08-23T00:26:00.003-06:00

Drum roll please..... And the destination of my backpacking trip is....................

The Three Sisters Loop!

Green Lakes/South Sister

I'm so excited. I have my limited use backcountry permit in hand and everything is coming together well. This hike sounds awesome. Really gorgeous scenery and I get to enjoy it for 5 days! :-)

Ah! I am so happy to be returning to nature in a week's time! I've missed it so much! The picture above is of where we'll be camping our second night out on the trail.

Also in other news, I had a yard sale on Saturday that was a lot of work to get ready for and it ended up being a bust. :-( No bueno... Never. Again. Totally not worth it. I still haven't counted the earnings, but I'm assuming I didn't make much over $25.

Life is good. :-)

Let the Planning Begin

2010-08-14T02:22:00.000-06:00

Pacific Crest Trail in two weeks!

I'm so excited! I've wanted to hike the PCT for a while now. And although I'm only going to be hiking a relatively small section of the trail, I am stoked. No specific route has been selected yet but I've gathered up as many maps and books I can get my hands on and will hopefully have one chosen soon. Ah, it will be so nice to be out in nature again! I miss it so much. Spring Summit already feels like a lifetime ago. School starts again in less than a month... so this will be my last hoorah of the summer.

Fundraiser to help local teen with cancer

2010-08-06T21:45:00.004-06:00

Where: 14150 Yearling Court cul-de-sac Beaverton, Ore.

When: Saturday Aug. 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Below is a letter from Tracie Radford, who represents the Risa Whitaker Foundation & Healing Prayers for Risa Whitaker Facebook Page. In it she introduces Risa Whitaker and talks of the benefit yard sale running Aug. 6-7. Edited for brevity:

Risa Whitaker is a 17-year-old girl here in Beaverton who just a couple of months before her high school graduation discovered that she has a very rare form of what her doctors are calling a pediatric cancer.

The cancer has spread throughout her abdomen and most of her vital organs have tumors. The doctors have been unable to pinpoint the place where the cancer started so are unable to effectively treat it. The prognosis is not good.

Risa's parents, Ron and Robin Whitaker, are unable to pay for the cost of diagnosis and for the few treatment options available. A couple of months before Risa was diagnosed the family changed insurance plans and the new insurance company is calling Risa's cancer a pre-existing condition and they refuse to pay anything towards her treatment.

Ron is an Air Force veteran who is now a small business owner here in Beaverton. He operates Ron's Heating & Cooling pretty much by himself. Robin is a school teacher in a very small private school, Pioneer Heritage Academy. They live in a modest suburban home near Fir Grove Elementary in Beaverton.

Friends and family have set up the Risa Whitaker Foundation in order to raise funds to help pay for the costs of Risa's treatment. Healing Prayers for Risa is a Facebook page where those interested can follow Risa's progress as well as find out about current fund raising efforts. The results of our fundraising efforts so far have been gratifying by the response of those who have attended but limited in scope as far as getting the word out to the general public.

On August 6 and 7 we are having our next fundraiser: A colossal yard sale that will involve several yards in a cul-de-sac near Southridge High School.

2010-08-03T13:44:00.010-06:00

“Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny.”

For a while I desired to discover my passion. I am proud to say that I have found my dream at last and now I must figure out the best way to make it happen.

I'm two semesters from graduation at BYU-I... At a point when I had to make a decision I had not yet discovered my dream, so I picked the best path hoping it would either lead me to my destiny or that I would discover my true calling at some point along the way.

Is it ever too late to chase your dreams?

New Favorite Show: Covert Affairs

2010-07-27T14:27:00.003-06:00

About a month ago I saw previews for a new show joining the USA Network powerhouse; I put the premiere on my calendar and waited eagerly for the debut of Covert Affairs.

Two weeks ago the pilot episode aired. BEST. SHOW. EVER. PERIOD. Needless to say I was not let down.

I have high expectations for this show, and I hope it continues to impress. So far I've been blown away. But then again, only two episodes have aired at this point.

I LOVE this show!

...Baby One More Time

2010-07-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been going through all the stuff I've accumulated throughout my 22 years of life and organizing it these past few weeks. It has been fun discovering treasures that have been hidden away for a few years or longer.

Today I stumbled across, dare I say, a little gem from my "pre-teen past". Britney Spears' debut album, '...Baby One More Time'. I popped the disc into our iMac and once that first track started up I was immediately transported back to 5th grade. Music class. Me and some of my girlfriends are passing around the brand new album one of them has brought to school as we excitedly ask Mrs. Edwards, our music teacher, if we can pop it into the player and listen to it during class. We jump for joy and squeal when she gives the okay. The music starts, and we all bust into song together, singing zealously along with Britney. We're ten and eleven year old teeny boppers, but we feel like mature sixteen-year-olds in the moment. I remember going home and asking my mom for the CD that day.

Even as crazy and controversial as Britney Spears' life, both personal and professional, has been up to this point I still feel a strange deeply rooted connection to my childhood through her music. Who'da thunk? I will admit it, I thought she was so cool. And I looked up to her during highly impressionable times in my young life. In hindsight, she was obviously not the best of role models. Even after visiting her website and watching some of her other older videos, 'Oops I Did it Again', calls back a memory playing with my cousins on the bunk beds at their Mt. Hood cabin, and 'Toxic', seems to remind me of a particular high school basketball practice as a sophomore. I could go on and on. I grew up with Britney Spears, and I guess I just hadn't realized it until now.

For your viewing, listening, and reminiscing pleasure I present:

Go Big or Go Home

2010-07-16T22:33:00.002-06:00

Summer, you've been pretty good to me.

I mean, other than being sick for about five weeks it's been awesome. Good news though, I'm no longer sick :) YAY! Bad news, I'm totally out of shape again... bleh. First workout after feeling better, I totally killed my arms and couldn't move for almost four days! FOUR days! I had to play badminton left handed and got pretty good at it. July 4th was so fun. It was definitely more low key than what I've experienced for the past three years, but I really enjoyed spending it with my family again for the first time in four years. We just had all our family in the area over plus some family friends and had a good ole American BBQ in our backyard. Jumped on the trampoline, played a little badminton, played with sparklers and lit ground fireworks for the little kids' amusement. Then we went up to the park to fire off the big mortar fireworks.. SO FUN! LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!

Me and my 1st cousin once removed, Arlo (July 4, 2010)

Heat wave! We had a heat wave in Portland that lasted almost two weeks, temperatures were consistently in the mid to high 90's and reached 100+. Oh my goodness, I loved it! My siblings and I would go up on our roof at night and look at the stars while we talked.

I also had a chance last week to escape to the Oregon coast with my friend Greg. We went to Seaside beach and when we got there it was a little overcast so we went shopping on Main St. and I bought some SaltWater Taffy... mmmmm. And we ate lunch at a little place called, Taco Shark. The sun finally broke through the cloud cover and we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the beach.

My feet - Seaside Beach, Oregon

This week my brother and sister have been away at EFY, so it's been a little different around the house without them. Tonight I got to go to Canyon Grille with my parents and we each had their signature Canyon Burger. SO GOOD. Easily the best burger I've ever had in my entire life. No joke. This burger is huge, and for only $6.95 it is definitely worth more than the price. Tanner and I discovered this little gem of a burger joint a couple weeks ago on a whim. Best spontaneous food choice of my life.

I will try to finish my Spring Summit posts within the next week and get those up here.

Summer adventures, to be continued...

Confessions

2010-06-20T19:15:00.000-06:00

I've been sick for three weeks now. I've also been unemployed and without classes in a college town for three weeks.

Free-time + healthy body = fun & adventures

Free-time + sickness = couch potato

These past three weeks have almost been pure and utter torture for me. Especially since returning from Summit where we were super active 24/7. I tried to get back into running again after Summit. Lydia and I started to run everyday, and even continued when she got a job. But then this sickness hit me. It was just a cold, or so I thought, and so I figured running would be good... flush it out of my system. This was definitely not the case. I felt like I was going to die on that run. My lungs, my throat, my sinuses were all inflamed to the max. I couldn't breathe and I felt like I weighed about 300 lbs. I had to stop every so often to hack up a lung and catch my breath.

An invention I could really use right now

I probably can no longer be called a "runner". I haven't run on a regular basis in nearly a year. And just when I try to start back up my health forces me to sit the bench. I have brand new running shoes from Christmas that have not made the miles to consider me a runner. I'm determined to beat this cold or sinus infection, or whatever you want to call it and get back out in my running shoes. I'm just scared this lifestyle is too close to how I was before Summit, which completely changed my life. But old habits die hard, especially when they are forced back upon you. I want to get better, get well rested and get back into shape! And I want to no longer have plugged ears and for my head to no longer feel as though it's expanding like a balloon.

Ya, that would be nice. I also miss smelling and tasting things. Good thing I have an appointment at the Student Health Center tomorrow morning.

Sick Sidekick + drugs* = happy day :)

*Antibiotics

Sitting On My Bed Eating Dry Cereal

2010-06-14T22:50:00.004-06:00

Yesterday as I was contemplating my life and thinking about some of my goals, Elizabeth suggested I to head over to Mike's Music on Main St. to look at their selection of ukuleles. So I went there today. $56 later... I was walking home with this tucked under my arm:

A light blue Makala soprano ukulele. Pretty schnazzy eh? I think so. And the dolphin shaped bridge adds a nice island touch to it too.

After I watched Italy tie Paraguay in their World Cup opener I headed to the park to practice. And to my surprise I seem to be getting it! Currently I'm just teaching myself the different cords and various strumming patterns. And to spice things up I'm trying to learn 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' by IZ, and 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz as well. I also got a harmonica at Mike's Music and have been teaching myself how to play a few songs, 'Blowin' in the Wind' by Bob Dylan, the 'Star Wars' theme, 'Hey Jude' by The Beatles, and 'Amazing Grace'.

It's been so much fun already. I'm really glad I bought my uke. Now I can't wait to play again tomorrow! XD

My New Anthem - 'Simple Man'

2010-06-12T23:06:00.000-06:00

Mama told me when I was young
Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this it'll help you some sunny day

Oh, take your time don't live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
Go find a woman you'll find love
And don't forget son there is someone up above

And be a simple kind of man
Be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won't you do this for me son if you can?

Forget your lust for the rich man's gold
All that you need is in your soul
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you my son is to be satisfied

And be a simple kind of man
Be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won't you do this for me son if you can? Oh yes, I will

Boy, don't you worry you'll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you my son is to be satisfied

And be a simple kind of man
Be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won't you do this for me son if you can?

Baby be a simple, be a simple man
Be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man

Time is Money

2010-06-07T10:04:00.004-06:00

Goals for the next couple weeks:

Figure things out with Kynetx
Get a design and site map for Katie Jean Design website
Finish CMS for 92 Black website
Senior project?
Workout again + join ROTC PT
Start Stats class
~~Organize financials~~
~~Finish Spring Summit slideshow~~
~~Spring Summit DVD cover design~~
Organize portfolio
~~Buy new bedding~~
~~Laundry~~
Yard sale

I'm excited. I woke up this morning just bursting with motivation to be productive and get all these things done within the next couple of weeks. I'm sure it helps that I'm feeling much better and I've been able to actually get some sleep at night.

Hello Mr. Cold

2010-06-05T00:00:00.003-06:00

Well, I got sick this week. Just as I was starting a regular workout regimen too. Today I was unable to go on my run. :( Sad day. It all started just before leaving to City of Rocks... the throat began to get sore and swollen. Awesome. Tried to ignore it and went climbing anyway. But it just persisted and kept getting worse each day. Then last night it invited my sinuses to the party. I only got about two hours of sleep on account I couldn't breathe. The pressure increased and my ears plugged... and I am still unable to unplug them. And of course with a headache to follow. Thank goodness Lydia came to my rescue and took me to get some drugs today so I could function above that of an ailing zombie.

Ah, the joys of having a cold.

More Procrastination

2010-06-03T00:55:00.006-06:00

So last week I got to go rafting with my Summit buddies. We stayed at one of the girls' cabin and rafted the Hoback section of the Snake River on Friday. It was a blast! I'm so glad I got to go. We all piled into Porter's little Suzuki Sidekick and drove up there Thursday night. Lauren had warm brownies and delicious Reed's Dairy milk waiting for us! Yum. :)

"Big Kahuna"

Then Sunday I went to church with Phil and Shaylor so we could leave for the City of Rocks shortly thereafter. We hit the road around 15:00 and when we got down there it was so crowded being Memorial Day weekend and all, we were sure we weren't going to find a campsite. As we headed out of the park towards BLM land we discovered a section of the park none of us had ever ventured. Three outcast campsites existed well outside of where one would normally go when visiting "the City". And even all of these were occupied. But we decided to take a chance and approached a gentleman parked at one of the sites. Turns out he was a pretty chill dude and agreed to share the campsite with us and split the fee 50/50. His name was Byron and he was there doing a study on the correlation between bees and wildfires for the Forest Service. Quite fascinating really... Or so it sounded when he was explaining it to us at the campfire Sunday night. For the most part we just swapped outdoor stories with him- it was really cool getting to know a random person and share a campfire. He even let us use his camp stove to cook our chili.

Monday morning we arose and headed out to Castle Rock to tackle "Big Time", a multi-pitch route on the south side of the monolith located just north of the City. Phil and I had attempted this route two years ago on an Outdoor Activities sponsored trip but only made it to the third or fourth pitch, and ended up anchored to the side of the cliff for 3 hours without ever making the summit. The reason, we had too large of a group, too small a summit, and not enough day light hours. So Monday we were determined to finally make it. We did it in four pitches... maybe five. I can't remember. But I led the final pitch to the summit! WoOT! My second lead climb and I totally on-sighted it! :) Once we all got to the top and had a little party at the chains we began rappelling down. By the time we got to the third pitch, Phil and I just tandem rappelled the rest of the route. We worked really well together, it was a fun rap. Then we met up with the rock climbing class from our school and talked to them for a bit and ate lunch before heading out to Parking Lot Rock and doing "Delay of Game". It was a fairly long climb, somewhere around 160 or 180 feet I think. After we all made it up we hiked around Flaming Rock for kicks and giggles and then headed back to Rexy.

"Big Time"; leading to the Summit!

I'm having a blast still after Summit but I'm really just procrastinating putting my life back together and being a responsible adult. I need a job. I need an internship. But I have no motivation. Bleh.

Desert Enlightenment

2010-05-29T13:13:00.002-06:00

Monday April 26th

Spring Summit is officially underway. The drive down was long but enjoyable. Our van was fun. We played some fun games and even started to adapt a catchy song to be our Summit song. Lydia and I were laughing so hard in the van though I got a good ab workout. We picked up Dave Holladay and his wife, daughter, and two young sons. Tonight we set up our camp for the next week. It so happens to be the same site we camped at for canyoneering fall 2008 when we did canyons in the Poison Springs area. We're going to do some of the same canyons I did back then. It was crazy coming back to this camp spot though. I thought I'd never see it again. Tomorrow we begin our desert enlightenment portion of the trip. Dave will take us out for three days and will teach us how to survive in the desert with just the clothes on our backs. No food or water. But I'm most nervous about the no toilet paper part. Really hoping I don't have to poop. Campfire tonight was cool. Dave seems like a really down to Earth guy, super nice and really funny. He is pretty knowledgeable and showed us how to "smoke" ourselves as a natural deodorant. We made a circle holding our shirts out to let the smoke travel up under our clothes.

Traversing the canyons

Tuesday April 27th

First day of Desert Enlightenment. It's 16:40 and I haven't had to urinate since we started. No food, no water, just us, the clothes on our backs and our will to survive. Dave is teaching us all sorts of cool things. I'm already beginning to see how much "stuff" is unnecessary. I'm surprised that I haven't been hungry all day. I'm only just a tiny bit hungry now. We had pancakes with peanut butter for breakfast before departing into the desert. We are learning so much about our bodies. I'm enjoying everyone's company. I'm a little sleepy so I'm not as talkative but I love being down here so I'm in heaven. I'm having a blast traversing over this land and scrambling around. The wind has been relentless all day with no signs of letting up. Clouds rolled in around 14:30 which has played to our favor, keeping it cool during the hottest part of the day. At this point though I'm really starting to feel my blood sugar level drop. If I could choose I'd probably hunker down and nap now to hopefully gain some more energy. Shaylor fainted today. No one has really talked much since we started because we are purposefully doing this in silence just for the experience I guess. I'm hoping I can stay warm tonight. I was cold last night with two layers of bottoms, two hats, four top layers, in the tent with Lydia.

Water!

Wednesday April 28th

Day two of Desert Enlightenment. Last night sucked. It was miserable. We started a fire and transported it via the Apache torch method. We set up "camp" for the night near where we finally found a puddle of water to drink from last night. We gathered bedding to sleep on. Any soft vegetation. In hindsight we didn't gather nearly enough to sleep comfortably on. The purpose is to reduce the contact your body has with the sand, because it sucks the heat right out from you. We tried to sleep near the fire and spoon each other in a long line but that didn't work so well in the long run. I got cold anyway and eventually moved to the other side of the fire to be close to the hot side and Shaylor gave me a warm rock and I put it in the back of my shirt to keep my rear side warm too. I probably got somewhere around 1 or 2 hours of sleep total. It was cold and the wind was fierce and it was so loud. When I got up in the morning I noticed some holes burned into my down jacket I was wearing all night. Every time the wind kicked up hard, it would blow the fire at us and all the hot embers would land on us. We lovingly named this camp, "Sand Camp". So after a cold, uncomfortable, sleepless night we started hiking once more. I felt so weak. I have never not eaten in so long before. As far as I can remember anyway. Today the sun has been so hot, not too many clouds in sight. The wind still as fierce as ever. We walked forever. At one point we stopped to let the rest of the group catch up and I laid down for a little nap. I dreamed about a talking cat and also about eating an orange. I awoke, and we kept going. Our goal, water. Eventually we can across our packs that had been stashed in a cache for us to try and find. Hallelujah! Water! Now it is 14:30 and we are napping at a cattle hangout. I only slept a half hour because the wind is horrible and loud and keeps blowing cow pie matter all over us almost constantly. There is no way I can sleep anymore here today. Not until this damn wind stops blowing anyway!

Morning after spending the night at "Sand Camp"

Thursday April 29th

Day three of Desert Enlightenment. It took us a while to get out of the wind and we had to hike a long ways to move to a different camp. We dropped into the lower part of Adobe Swale and set up camp next to a spring. We got a fire going and made fire cakes for dinner. I put brown sugar inside mine. It was so good. Then we set up our sleeping situation. We got to use our wool blankets and tarps! I was cuddled between Shaylor and Nate in hopes of keeping warm. It worked okay, Nate is really warm. But it also rained in the middle of the night and Shaylor and I scrambled to get the tarp to cover both of us. Today Porter and I were the navigators but we made a booboo right out of the gate and we ended up hiking up the wrong canyon for about an hour. We corrected ourselves though and got back on course. Getting to camp and being able to have chicken fajitas for dinner was amazing. Best dinner ever. This whole desert enlightenment thing was truly enlightening no doubt. I feel I definitely have a new perspective. I learned how to brush my teeth with willow branches and clean my face with orange peels. I think I will be getting rid of a lot of my stuff when I get home. I will be making a lot of changes after I get home from Summit. Through this phase I feel I have gotten so much closer to everyone already. There was just so much unity and I really feel like friends with everyone now. I love them.

Back at camp after our Desert Enlightenment experience

Into the Desert

2010-05-22T23:18:00.007-06:00

"It is the chance to be for a moment free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off non-essentials, to come down to the core of life itself..."

We got back Friday afternoon after a long drive from Green River, Utah where we spent our last night. How do I even begin to communicate the experience I had on the Colorado Plateau these past four weeks? Honestly, words really cannot describe it entirely, but I will do my best. For one thing I can tell that am not the same person I left as. Being "home" doesn't feel like home at all anymore. The desert is my home now; where life is stripped down to it's simple and barest form, where the only things that matter are, food, water, shelter, friends and God, which I believe, is the core of life.

I already miss the simplicity. I have never been happier in my whole life, and literally all that I possessed fit into just two duffel bags. Everything else seems like useless junk to me now. I feel like I could camp forever almost, or in other words, live with practically nothing. So long as I have good company and a sufficient food/water source.

It actually is really difficult being back. I feel uneasy indoors, and I really miss having 12 friends around at all times to do things with. I miss my sleeping bag, even in all its sandiness, I miss sleeping out under the stars, I miss campfires, I miss being able to go to the bathroom anywhere, I miss the adventure, I miss laughing so hard I nearly pee my pants, I miss being care free, I miss singing songs a capella at the top of my lungs, and I miss not feeling judged.

Many things we tend to do in everyday life seem so frivolous to me now. The way we live has advanced beyond what life is really about- we've blinded ourselves from seeing what joy is available to us. My head is literally spinning from all the distractions. It's really stressful being back in society. I seriously question if I will ever be able to fully re-integrate. At the moment, it doesn't feel possible. Maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but this is something I am really wrestling with.

Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy. 2 Nephi 2:25

Living simply brings me joy. Being outdoors brings me joy. Spending quality time with people I love brings me joy. I never want to forget that.

Spring Summit

2010-04-19T13:34:00.002-06:00

View Spring Summit 2010 in a larger map

"The Spring Summit Program is designed to introduce students to a variety of natural environments (desert, canyon, mountain & river). Summit provides firsthand opportunity to learn about desert ecology, wildlife, canyonlands geology, national park resource management, Native American History and Leave no Trace Principles (LNT). Students also develop various outdoor skills including wilderness survival, canyoneering, mountain biking, camping, backpacking, and river running & river camping skills. Lastly, students through first hand experience, develop leadership skills including trip planning, communication, decision making, risk management, problem solving, judgment, group development and expedition behavior."

Portals of Discovery

2010-04-15T10:58:00.007-06:00

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." - Lewis Carroll

I find it really quite amusing how things manage to work themselves out sometimes. Maybe not necessarily how you may have predicted them to, but your life ends up enhanced nonetheless. The stress I was dragging myself through these past couple weeks has subsided and has almost nearly disappeared.

Trying to make an important strategic decision between two different options is rather quite formidable to most. But when you throw a third option into the mix it can become downright overwhelming not to mention extremely terrifying. I went back and forth and this way and that way and all over the way. I counseled with friends, colleagues, parents, siblings... But I still couldn't pin down a definite best choice. I secretly prayed that at least one of the options would do me the convenience of eliminating itself somehow. Prayers are answered my friends. I was disappointed that option didn't end up working out, I mean, after all it was a good option. I interpret having this burden lifted as a blessing in disguise. So the logistics for option three just didn't end up panning out in my favor, bummer, now moving on to making a choice between the remaining two. Cool.

Life is good.

Weekend the Last

2010-04-12T08:24:00.004-06:00

This past weekend happened to be my last in Oregon. I'll be gone by the end of the week. So I went climbing out at Smith Rock on Saturday with some friends from my ward. My first climb of this season I led my first climb ever! It was awesome! I seriously can't wait to do it again! I'm ready to start collecting my own gear now I think.

It was a beautiful day out at the crag. And I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my last weekend in Oregon!

Westen, Puffin, Thumper, and Prince rockin' out at the crag

Now it's pouring and I have my last week of work to finish up before I head back to Idaho. Only two weeks till I leave for Spring Summit!!! WoOT! I can't hardly wait!

Be not afraid

2010-04-06T20:01:00.009-06:00

I realized something profound today.

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.

A good amount of what I do, most decisions I make, I make based on the fear of my parent's disapproval.

I have agonized over my summer plans for hours and hours. I basically had a good, better, best decision to make. After much deliberating I feel like I have reached a choice that is feasible and will make me happy.

So what's the problem?

I am terrified of what my parent's will think of this plan of mine. Will they force me to cancel my plans and do what they think is best for me? I still haven't told my mom. Today I told my dad, and even he didn't sound very thrilled about it. Am I ready to severe the cords? I really feel like my parent's have too much control over the decisions I make. I'm 22 and I don't think I've ever made a huge decision for myself (not caring what others think).. Problem? Yes. I value my parent's own experience and opinions but my whole life should not revolve around pleasing them. Even though they only have the best intentions for me, and want the very best for me, sometimes methods don't translate. In general my long term goals for myself and their long term goals for me are in alignment, graduate from college, get a good job, get married in the temple, and have a family of my own. However, it's the means to the end that gets lost in translation between us. I have also come across expressions of jealousy from my mom when I have gone ahead and pursued certain opportunities she never had. Just because my parents do not consider some of the things I love a priority in their lives shouldn't mean that I should purge them from my life as well. Right? After all I am my own person, their offspring no doubt, but not a clone. (Mainly, my mom disapproves of rock climbing and traveling)

In this particular situation I am petrified that history will repeat itself as it has in the past. That they will convince me to do things their way this summer- and I will shamefully cancel my plans, "because my parents said so". Again I am 22 years old and this pattern makes me feel small as a person. Healthy? I'm gonna go with a.. no.

I try to imagine how others my age interact with their parents, and from my perspective they are for the most part captains of their own destiny (most of them also are not oldest children). I see them making their own choices and their parents supporting them in those choices. When they seek for guidance and advice they often turn to their parents who appropriately offer their advice but don't try to control their son or daughter's choice. It's not like I'm seeking to live a destructive lifestyle, or wanting to do something harmful to myself.

So what am I going to do?

I'm going to grow up and live my life, my way. :-D

Carpe diem!

Vagabond

2010-04-06T17:27:00.003-06:00

My soul restless, searching for beauty
Dew so fresh, longing to be free
This life is for the journey
Too sweet to walk blindly

With wandering feet I must accept
Ignoring those afraid to step
Embracing this gift to look beyond
The truth is so; I am a vagabond

Others, they do not understand
Why I relish things unplanned
They fear things unsure
Heaven forbid, life is not a brochure

Life to them is just a skit
They claim this vagrant life unfit
I hear their words but do not despond
I am what I am; I am a vagabond

Reason No. 7

2010-04-01T13:55:00.002-06:00

"A fifty! ...And it's legit!!"

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Reason No. 6

2010-03-30T00:40:00.004-06:00

"You look like a rabbit."

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Spring Break

2010-03-28T18:08:00.010-06:00

Not gonna lie, I wish I could've had a legit spring break. Even most of my co-workers took plenty of time off throughout the week. I had a lot of fun with my siblings in the evenings nevertheless. I was given the responsibility of feeding a family friend's cats while they were away in Costa Rica for the break- my brother and I went and played COD together on their XBOX followed by a few rounds of ping-pong in the evenings. The highlight of my week though was Friday when I convinced my whole family to go to OMSI with me to experience the, SPACE: A Journey to Our Future exhibit. It was awesome. We spent around 3 hours there I think. I bought some cool stuff from the gift shop and I learned that I would weigh approximately 38 lbs. on Mars. I love OMSI. I also found out that they currently have an OMNIMAX movie playing there about the HUBBLE telescope using HUBBLE images. I think I may have to make another visit here before I leave.

I'm an Astronaut!

Stef and me

Friday night I also took Tanner and Stefani out for sushi dinner. Yum. :) So good.

And yesterday Tyler took me and Tanner fishing on the Tualatin River in Tigard. I finally got to use the fishing pole Tyler got me for Christmas.

Tyler and Tanner

Sadly we didn't catch anything. We didn't even get any bites... I could never get a good cast, there were way too many branches everywhere. It was still good fun though even if we didn't catch any fish. Saturday night I went to Rite Aide to get supplies for dutch oven cobbler, and ended up buying Apollo 13 and Taken on DVD. I'm especially excited about Apollo 13! Inheriting Kyooyoo's VHS version has been somewhat of a drag considering I didn't have a VHS player all last semester.

Gone fishin'

It's been a good week and a fantastic weekend. Now I am starting to get really excited for my summer adventures. Life is good.

Reason No. 5

2010-03-19T11:22:00.004-06:00

"Come to Icelaaaand!"

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Oops

2010-03-07T11:21:00.003-07:00

I have made a huge error.

Somehow I wrote down my flight departure time incorrectly. Unable to check-in online the night before since I did not have internet access I did not have the fortunate experience of realizing my error in time to correct it.

So unbeknownst to me I showed up at the airport after my flight left the tarmac. Now I'm on standby for a later flight. I have to go through Oakland, CA now as well. Hopefully I will make it home today. I'm sure I will. I'm just so glad that I'm not in a rush or anything or I would probably be super super bummed and stressed right now. I'm actually quite comfortable sitting here at the terminal with my laptop in my sweats.

Unfortunately my cell phone is dead as well. This ends up complicating the situation quite a bit. Makes communicating with my ride at my destination considerably difficult. I will just have to do it the old fashioned way and use a payphone upon my arrival.

This experience is making me want to just show up at the airport and go standby for someplace really cool sometime soon. We'll see how this plan plays out.

Anyways, I shall keep y'all posted on my travel status.

***************** UPDATE: 9:38:08 PM *******************
Okay, so I did not make it onto the flight from SLC to Oakland, CA. I had to board a flight to Las Vegas from SLC. From Las Vegas I tried to get on a flight to PDX. However, the Portland State University softball team was on that flight, so it was pretty full and I was unable to get on that flight. I then had to take a flight from Las Vegas to Sacramento, CA- and from Sacramento I flew to PDX. Luckily on my flight from Las Vegas the next two flights I needed had quite a few seats left and I was 2nd on the standby list, so they went ahead and gave me boarding passes for both legs. Whew. I made it home finally! And ended up waiting to be picked up for an hour before I asked some random girl if I could borrow her cell phone. Apparently my mom had looked up my flight online and the information was old and said the flight wasn't supposed to come in until 7:35 PM or something, when in reality the flight was supposed to land at 7:05 PM. And in fact we even landed a little early closer to 7. Anyways, my dad eventually got around to picking me up and the end to a very long day finally came.

Reason No. 4

2010-03-05T00:05:00.002-07:00

"Thomas! Thomas look!"

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Reason No. 3

2010-03-04T00:01:00.002-07:00

"'Knock, knock who's there? It's Gilly.' '...Sorry.'"

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Reason No. 2

2010-03-03T00:01:00.003-07:00

"I like chasing cars."

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Why Kristen Wiig is my hero - Reason No. 1

2010-03-02T20:24:00.009-07:00

"Don't make me sing..."

Kristen Wiig is My Hero

Kristen Wiig is my hero

2010-03-01T17:31:00.001-07:00

If you are familiar with one of my all time favorite shows, Saturday Night Live, you may know who Kristen Wiig is.

Kristen Wiig

I think she is absolutely brilliant. Probably one of the funniest female comedians, and arguably THE funniest comedian of the show's history. Her ability to play literally any character and her exceptional physical comedy blow my mind. To me her raw comedic talent heralds back to the days of Molly Shannon, Ana Gasteyer, and Gilda Radner. For the next while I will be making posts of some of my favorite Kristen Wiig SNL sketches to illustrate her versatility and remarkable talent and share with you the many reasons why Kristen Wiig is my hero.

The Life of an Unemployed College Senior

2010-01-18T23:21:00.005-07:00

Sorry I don't have any pictures to dazzle you with. The lack of a digital camera is seriously cramping my style- and is partially the reason I haven't posted a legit post in a while. I don't like posting without some visual stimulus to accompany the mundane stories that make up my life. But since it's been awhile I'll give it a go nonetheless. In my defense though, the only photographic documentation of my goings-on lately happen to be with my cousins, on their cameras, who have yet to post them on Facebook for me to copy.

Alright, the dirt. Obviously I successfully made the journey from school back home unscathed. Christmas was really fun with my family and I thoroughly enjoyed spending it with them. My favorite Christmas present is a pair of footie pajamas with space shuttles and satellites on them. And my cousin Tyler got me a nice fishing pole and cool socks that I really like as well.

After Christmas I bought myself a MacBook Pro and the Adobe Creative Suite (CS4) to replace my laptop that died in September. Really glad I was able to go ahead and get a Mac to replace my Dell.

I recently joined an indoor soccer team. We had our first game last week and I scored a goal! We don't play again until next week. Tonight I was just asked if I want to play on a co-ed team as well. Not sure if I want to play on two teams... so we'll see.

My stats class started last week and I'm actually kind of scared. It's going to be hard to stay motivated to finish it. Though... I don't want to waste the tuition, so I've got to stay focused.

I still haven't found a job, and have just been relishing the chance to sleep in everyday and do things in my own time-frame. New Year's eve was really fun. Went to a dance and then to a house my cousin was house-sitting. We played all sorts of fun games. Including sardines. I love that game. But I will admit, I was really sucking it up that night. I lost every single round we played. It was so embarrassing.

Oh yeah, and Avatar really is a futurized Ferngully minus the comic relief of Batty Koda. The 3D-ness is really what I liked. I wish more movies would come out in 3D. For example, I would love to have seen Star Wars Episode III in 3D! That would've been boss.

Anyways, that's all I'm going to update about for now. I'll be posting more in the days to follow.

Ciao!

Miley Cyrus Virus Rap

2009-12-22T00:23:00.001-07:00

Another Semester Has Come and Gone Away

2009-12-17T08:36:00.005-07:00

I survived!!!! :D
8 semesters down, only 2 more to go. I should be graduated by now...

This semester flew by just as I had predicted. So much happened as well, and my life has taken some dramatic twists and turns. I can honestly say I'm at a completely different place than I was a year ago.

Well, technically exactly one year ago... I was kickin' it on the beautiful island of Oahu with my best friend. And where I am now is definitely no where near where I was then. Figuratively and literally.

Me shooting a .22 (with Colton)

I'm happy though. And that's the important thing. Life happens, and I realize I can't control everything, and I may not even like all of the changes in my life, but everything happens for a reason.

Colton took me shooting recently to blow off some steam and relax after finals. He was in his ROTC ACU because he had a presentation to give to Sgt. Austen later in the day. It was a lot of fun. I'm really going to miss him. We had so much fun swing dancing every week together. I hate goodbyes. :-(

Now I just have to pack up and head home for Christmas. I can't wait to see my family, I miss them so much. And I'm excited to hang out with my cousins again too. And I get to snuggle with my puppy! :-)

And so the figuring out what to do with my life begins.

A Day of Giving Thanks

2009-11-29T14:52:00.008-07:00

I realized that I have not been home for Thanksgiving since 2005. I love my family very much and really miss spending Thanksgiving with them. Since going off to college I have spent Thanksgiving with different families in different states. My first semester I went with a friend to Lehi, Utah and had Thanksgiving with her sister and brother-in-law and his family. My next Thanksgiving at college I spent with my roommate, Hero, at her grandparent's near Twin Falls, Idaho where we went hiking in the foothills and played in the "pot-holes" and then had the feast in Boise at one of her aunt's home. That year, Hero also introduced me to Black Friday shopping for the first time. Last year I went again with Hero but this time we went to her home in Nebraska to spend it with her family and is probably my favorite Thanksgiving still to date.

This year, I didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving. I stayed in my own tiny apartment and did as much homework as I possibly could manage to do. A friend of mine from nearby Rigby was disgusted at the thought of me spending Thanksgiving alone in Rexburg and invited me to her home with her family for Thanksgiving day. Of course I didn't turn down a Thanksgiving meal! Wherever I have gone for Thanksgiving, the food is generally always the same across the board. What makes Thanksgiving special are the activities you do and the people you do them with. This meal was no different from any others I have had. But this year I got to go shooting with her and some other friends. Something I had always wanted to do. And not even an hour later I had the opportunity to milk a cow! Seeing how her family lives on a farm and has cows that they milk twice a day, it was not difficult to arrange. Both of those activities were on my "bucket list" and I got to accomplish them both in the same day. Milking a cow was very momentous for me, as I have been eagerly awaiting the day I'd get to cross it off my list for quite some time now.

Me milking the cow!

While I do miss spending this holiday with my own family, I have really appreciated the opportunity to spend it with other families and for a brief moment in time see what it's like to feel apart of another family. Not that I'm abandoning my family by any means; it's just really a neat experience. With your own family I noticed that it's easy to grow complacent knowing exactly what to expect year after year. But joining other families brings a sense of mystery and excitement because you have no idea how they do Thanksgiving or exactly what it'll be like or who you'll meet. And I know it will make me more grateful to spend it with my own family when I have the chance to again.

Me feeding a baby cow!(calf)

I am thankful for all the wonderful people I have met in my life. They are my friends and I learn so much from them and their examples. They all truly enrich my life and make if fuller.

University or Finishing School?

2009-11-06T20:33:00.008-07:00

Last time I checked I was enrolled at an accredited 4-year university working towards earning my Bachelor's degree. Or at least that's what I thought until I failed my "clean check" yesterday. A "clean check" is somehow associated with the approved single student housing policy. Every complex does it slightly differently, and some take it way too seriously in my opinion.

Basically the apartment is divided into "cleaning jobs" and each roommate is assigned a job plus their own bedroom. Once a week, or once every two weeks in some cases, the "cleaning check" takes place. The apartment complex I live at now decided to hire out and got a third party "cleaning lady" to come around and evaluate our cleaning jobs. If we fail we are charged $5 for failing, plus a $20 cleaning fee for the cleaning lady to then do our job for us.

I refuse to pay. And I refuse to clean (on their time-line). I came here to earn a college degree. I did NOT come here to be graded on my domestic skills. Had that been what I was looking for after high school, I would've enrolled in a finishing school. This whole "cleaning check" nonsense is one of the the most ridiculous absurdities known to man. My school is an amazing school, except for the cleaning check. And the only way to escape it is to get married. Because once you are married you are permitted to live in real apartments (or houses) where you are no longer subject to babysitting and belittlement. It's no wonder so many people get married here.

Situation Update 12/6/09

2009-11-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to be defiant or rebellious or even disrespectful. That's not me. No, I did't want to pay out of principle actually(and the fact that I'm dirt poor at the moment). I feel like I'm being taken advantage of here. I mean, I did end up paying because the owner wanted to evict me over the issue(it's not even outlined in the contract; he's just on a power trip). That was our compromise... that I pay for a cleaning crew to come in and laugh at the clean bathroom they had to "clean". They seriously thought it was a joke when I showed them what they were supposed to clean. The whole thing is seriously so ridiculous. I'm not a rule breaker or a trouble-maker at all. I'm still extremely baffled by the whole thing.

The owner spoke to me in a very condescending tone anytime we spoke which really bothered me, and he would not let the issue alone. He sounded like he was on a war path to evict me because I didn't clean the bathroom by 11:30am Thursday, even though before 2pm the next day it was perfectly clean. He even called me early Saturday morning, waking me up, and badgered me about it. So later that day I went on campus to talk to the housing office about what was going on. Turns out he can't evict me. He was just trying to intimidate me and manipulate me into agreeing to an eviction (that was the aim of his Saturday A.M. phone call, he kept trying to get me to say I wanted to be evicted). And our apartment isn't even provided a vacuum or broom. We have to borrow from next door, the housing office wasn't very happy to hear that he wasn't providing us with the tools we needed to live up to his cleaning standards. Anyways, the whole thing was just one big unnecessary headache. It was so bizarre to me how he was making me out to be some horrible person who broke a really important rule; the bathroom wasn't actually even that dirty to begin with. Anyways...I'm glad to be moving out of this complex in two weeks.

Seriously though, when the cleaning crew came in to clean it they laughed and honestly asked me if the owner had been serious. The lead cleaner asked me about the situation, and I told him exactly what had happened and that the owner wouldn't let me "clean" the bathroom to be counted as clean, that I had to pay to have it cleaned by them instead, or he would evict me. The cleaner man apologized to me and said the owner sounded like a jerk. Thank you cleaner man. So the cleaning crew emptied the not full garbage, vacuumed briefly, dusted, ran the tub and splashed a bit of bleach around to smell clean and they were done. They were in and out in about five minutes.Because the bathroom WAS ALREADY CLEAN!

In Good Company

2009-10-15T20:34:00.017-06:00

Last week I had the opportunity to escape from the Eastern Idaho tundra and spend five days in Utah where it was considerably warmer and sunnier. Hero was in the area on a business trip for recruiting and extended her stay in order to get out and play in the canyons with me. The trip was a product of many weeks of planning and re-planning. I was elated when it all came together last week.

I went down Wednesday morning with some classmates to attend the Engineering and Technology Career Fair at BYU. It was quite enjoyable. I got to talk to some interesting companies, and had lunch at Tucanos. Despite what Hero has to say about the place, I thought it was really good. I especially liked their lemonade. =)

Thursday I chilled in Provo. I slept in, had lunch at the Creamery on 9th, met up with some friends from back home, perused the bookstore, did some homework on campus, and had dinner, cookies & milk and watched The Rocketeer with Richard.

Friday morning we rounded everyone up and headed due south to Goblin Valley. We had quite the time jammin' in Captain Jack, Richard's trusty Subaru Outback. The back seat was all about the dance parties. Ooooohh yeah!

We hiked Little Wildhorse & Bell Canyon. Together they make a nice loop with one of the best non-technical slot canyon experiences in Utah. At the trailhead we met a fair number of groups on their way out of the canyons. We were there a little on the "late" side with only a couple more hours of daylight left.

Me at the trailhead

It was gorgeous and Hero and I were so excited to be back in our "happy place" once more! Our group was really fun to hike with as well. At one point fairly earlier on in the canyon, we took a little detour to try and scale the canyon walls in order to discover the mystery of high rising nooks.

Me and Richard navigating

The canyons were so beautiful though. We didn't want to leave. At first I was a little worried about the non-technical aspect, and whether or not it would be challenging enough to keep from getting bored. And actually there was just enough scrambling and problem solving to make it worth all the while. Not to mention the added challenge of canyoning in the dark, as we found ourselves doing down Bell Canyon.

[Back to Front]: Robbie, Morgan, Me, Hero

We returned to Captain Jack unscathed and ravenous with hunger. Just down the road we found a site suitable for camping and set up our tents and got a fire going. The temperature dropped quickly once the sun had set and continued to plummet as the night went on. As soon as our tents were up everyone threw on about five more layers, making us the Michelin tire clan.

Silhouettes; Looking off into the sunset
[Left to Right]: Robbie, Me, Morgan, Hero

For dinner, Robbie roasted up some Nathan's hotdogs over the open fire for everyone, and we chowed down on hotdogs, beef jerky nuggets, and ChexMix. =) Morgan and I took advantage of the gallon of milk we insisted on taking with us too. That night we just enjoyed each others company, talked and joked, played a little ukulele tunes, and gazed up at the clear night sky marveling at all the stars we could see.

Robbie roasting the hotdogs, whilst I chow down on CheckMix

The next morning we were greeted by one of the best sights in the world. I wish I could wake up to that view every morning. We took our time packing up and just enjoyed the crisp morning. And Hero serenaded us on the ukulele after we ate breakfast.

Hero playing the ukulele

T'was a sad moment when we finally loaded the last of the gear into Captain Jack and headed back to civilization. I think the trip was a smashing success.

More from Table Rock

2009-09-29T21:08:00.007-06:00

The Table Rock hike was well worth waking up at 6:30 in the morning for. And for those of you who don't know me, waking up early is not one of my favorite things to do anymore and I have to have a very motivating reason to stir myself out of my warm cozy bed before the crack of dawn.

Mike and myself posing at the trailhead.
Notice that it says, "VERY STEEP not recommended"
Yup, we took the harder trail just for kicks.

The guys picked me up around seven and we headed east towards the Teton mountains. It was pretty chilly that morning and I remember mulling over what to take clothing wise for the hike. I knew that even if it was cold, just moving on the trail would warm me up quite a bit- and the afternoon was supposed to get decently toasty. So I went with a comfortable layered approach. It proved to serve me well.

The Grand Tetons

We decided to take the "face" trail, which has a completely different trailhead location from the popular one most people take. It is pretty steep and not maintained by the Forest Service anymore, but we figured that was just an invitation for us more experienced hikers to take it instead of the "easy" trail. =)

Me just hikin' along :)

The trail took us through a variety of flora and fauna, pine tree forests, aspen forests, and many a squirrel and chimunk greeted us on our morning excursion. The trail was steep. It sheds a good 3 miles off of what the "easy" trail traverses. But once you break through the tree line and are on top of the ridge the views are breathtaking.

Fossil Mountain

Eventually Table Rock itself came into view. But it looked like it was really far away for a long time! It was just teasing us from a distance. We passed quite a few parties once we joined up with the normal trail on top of the ridge. I was impressed with how many fatties I saw huffing it up to the summit. Way to go! I sure didn't evny their having to haul an extra 50-80 pounds up the trail.

Aspen forest

The summit, was just what a summit should be. A time to feel accomplished, sit back, relax and just take in the amazing scenery. And of course have lunch and take lots of pictures too! =)

Vini, Vidi, Vici!

Once we'd had our fill of the summit scene, we decided to do some exploring around the cliffs to the east of Table Rock. WooWee! Those cliffs were freakin' high! Not gonna lie, they kind made me nervous.

Me with the Tetons in the background

And we had to take pictures standing as close to the edge as possible. The Grand was just a "stone's throw away". The thought of base jumping from that ledge did cross my mind. It would be a decent location to leap from. Or hang-glide on over to the saddle. That would be cool. Maybe a combo of both... Batman? Hmm.

Literally inches from death! This cliff was like 1,000ft!

On the summit, Table Rock
Left to Right: Brian, Mike, Me, Ryan

For the hike back Mike and I decided that we wanted change things up and chose to take the popular trail back down even though it was 3 miles longer. I'm glad we did. It added a nice variety to the hike. There were several cool creek crossings and meadows with close to expiring wildflowers. This way was more exposed and I'm pretty sure I got my color from this part of the excursion. We also saw more people on this trail as well, which was good and bad. For the most part it was good. I couldn't believe how much longer this trail really was, and it definitely felt longer! After going back this way I was even more impressed with the fatties. It would be a long hump up and down. The other guys came and picked us up and we headed back to Rexburg. I'd say it was a day well spent. =)

Semester the 8th

2009-09-19T20:59:00.012-06:00

Let's see... this week has been quite eventful.

After kicking off the semester with a trip to Big Jud's with Daniel and Abbey things have been pretty crazy.

Me and my late laptop at the old house

Last Saturday I had planned on climbing the Middle Teton, however that fell through at the last minute so I ended up hiking Table Rock with some other friends instead. We had a lot of fun playing on the cliffs to the east of Table Rock- and it was way cool to be so close the Grand! One of these days I shall add it to my conquered list.

Goofing around near the cliffs. [Left to right: Mike, Me, Brian]

My laptop monitor died on me on Monday... Leaving me basically computer-less for the first serious week of school. Aye carumba! It was insane. I just barely... barely... kept myself from falling way behind in my classes. It was so crazy because they kind of took out all the computers in the CIT labs... except for 476. I borrowed an old laptop from my boss for a few days until I was able to rent one from the school. And that is currently what I'm using. An HP laptop... it's actually nicer than my Dell that pooped out so I'm not complaining. I've just had to install a heck of a lot of things for a second or third time.

Wednesday I tried-out for a competitive swim team. I've never been much of a swimmer... but I figured I'd give it a shot before I graduate. I'm hoping it'll give me enough to go off of to train for open water swimming for triathlons in the near future.

And last night I almost made it to the ice caves finally. But alas, faulty directions and a driver who wasn't willing to listen to my instincts got in the way; and so Daniel and I ended up going to the Civil Defense caves instead. Oh well, it was still fun.

Me and Daniel in the caves

I have had a lot of fun with Daniel since he moved back to Rexburg. We met each other our first semester and hung out and went on a couple dates before his mission. I think it's kind of cool how I've been hanging out with people from my first semester again. Daniel, Shavonne, and Abbey. Good times. :)

Mmm... oh yeah, I now remember all my roommates' names. And I am also the oldest one in the apartment. :P This is definitely a first.

Other than the plight with the laptop earlier in the week things are dandy. :)

My grandmother has a saying...

2009-09-02T19:47:00.002-06:00

Grounded Theory

2009-08-28T23:16:00.006-06:00

Another week has flown by and this break is soon coming to a close. Though I have not accomplished all the things I originally intended to, I feel as though this interlude between semesters has been well served.

It has given me plenty of opportunity for some intense introspection and more than enough time to ponder on some of life's greater complexities. I've been able to really learn about myself, and what I want out of life and my education. My priorities have become much clearer and I feel a renewed awareness of what I deem important in my life. Though the future itself isn't any less of a mystery, I know who I am, I know where I want to go, and now I have a better idea of how I can get there.

Today proved to be a surprisingly stressful day. I apologize to those I took it out on... namely Kyooyoo. Sorry about that.

I had to finalize my living arrangements for the fall semester among other crucial errands I needed to run. (Don't even get me started on the University's regulation of the housing situation for single students. That is a whole other can of worms.) Figuring out so last minute where I'd be living really got under my skin. Especially since I am less than "enthused" about having to move in the first place. So I spent my morning hunting and calculating trying to find the best "deal". Eventually I snagged the cheapest place I could this late in the game- and sacrificed location and... well, I knew I would sacrifice a lot just by leaving the house and returning to an apartment. I don't feel good about my new place of residence but I don't exactly know what else to do. Though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't feel great about any place other than the home I have been so fond of the last four semesters. I guess I will just have to make the best of my new situation. New set of roommates, new ward, possibly new stake... new walking route to and from campus. Agh! I have to collect quarters for laundry again! Son of a.... Well, this should be an adventure!

Even though the break has been very nice, I am experiencing a slight case of "small town fever". I need to get out and go somewhere different. Take a vacation from my vacation before school starts again and spread my wings a little more before they get clipped. Trouble is I don't know how possible that is at this point unfortunately. So we'll see. Hopefully I won't go insane this semester.

Still, so many questions continue to plague my thoughts; I need more time! I need to get out of this place. I want to break free! (think, Queen)

Needless to say, watching Space Shuttle Discovery launch this evening was a beautiful finale to an eventful week. More posts and pictures of my recent adventures to come!

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-08-19T07:49:00.008-06:00

Last Tuesday and Wednesday night my eyes were glued to the sky. The peak of the Perseid meteor shower put on quite a little show for us. Both nights I passed out beneath the blanket of stars and meteors flashing across the night sky. Unfortunately I was unable to stay awake late enough for the best of the best showing of meteors. But I still saw a fulfilling amount of fireballs streak across the sky to make me feel okay about falling asleep early.

Saturday I ventured up to Yellowstone for the day with a few guys from the ward. It was free! And the President was there. Crazy.

It was super fun. And we saw a bear! The weather was a little funky though and it was actually pretty chilly all day. We even encountered snowflakes floating down from relatively blue skies.

Tucker poses for some artists busy painting a landscape scene.

Mostly I've just been kickin' it at home. Going to my class in the mornings, and sometimes I do my homework promptly and other times I procrastinate a little. I played at the spray park the other day, that was fun. And last night some friends came over for buffalo burgers. It was delicious!

I've also started applying for internships. Scares the crap out of me but I've got to do it.

And I've been doing a lot of "planning" for (but mostly day-dreaming about) adventures I want to go on.

Smile

2009-08-08T10:23:00.005-06:00

I apologize, it's been nearly a month since my last post. Nothing too terribly extreme has happened since then, but here's kinda what I've been up to lately.

Survived finals. Barely. I made it all the way to ~72 hours with zero sleep. Around hour 36 I started hallucinating a little.
Weekend trip to Utah with the roomies. Had my first pool/dance party of the year. :) And got to jump on a trampoline and get groped in a hammock (thanks Em)
Took an exquisite 3 hour nap in a park
River trip on a ducky kayak
Countless movie nights
Filmed the roommates starting their week long cycling excursion to Provo from Rexburg
Stomach flu & recovery
Watched the season premiere of MONK and also Psych!

The other day I went for a walk and just enjoyed the sounds of summer. Sprinklers, music, lawn mowers, kids playing. I love summer so much, and staying in Rexburg over the break has been very relaxing and refreshing. It's nice being able to just slow down and enjoy the simple things in life for a change. I'm excited for my roommates to return from their quest because we have a lot of awesome adventures planned ahead of us. Being sick this week really drug me down, so I look forward to getting back outdoors and being active again.

I'll keep you posted. Oh! And next week is National Smile Week. :D

13 days; 317 hours; 19,021 minutes; 1,141,283 seconds

2009-07-10T08:39:00.009-06:00

The last week has been crazy and frustrating, and fun and stressful all balled up into one. Fourth of July weekend was so crazy. We got an extra day off from classes so that was really nice to be able to get homework done and such.

For the fourth itself I ventured up to Jackson Hole with my roommate and a couple of her friends. We caught the outdoor 'Music in the Hole' symphony concert and crashed a massive BBQ. Then we hiked up to the ski lift and watched the big firework show at nearly eye level. It was so cool. The concussions rattled and shook the whole mountain! And we had a view of the entire valley below as the backdrop.

Other highlights from this week:

Wednesday I had a chance through ROTC to see (up close) an Apache helicopter land and take pictures with it
Had a wicked spin out while go-carting
Climbed a 5.10d
Got rejected for yet another job (shoot 2009, really?)
Accomplished a successful raid
Tripped and ate it hard in front of multiple squads while running in all my military/paintball gear :) I'm awesome
Bombed a typeface exam
Finally got case 6 and 7 for Web Development to work! :D
PR'd my two mile time! [16:14] WoOT!
Got an idea for a book to co-author with my roommate :P

This weekend I have to figure something out because I have a bum load of homework, but ALL the computer labs campus wide will be shut down tonight through Monday for updates and maintenance and I don't have the software I need for my assignments on my laptop. Please tell me how this is even possibly a good idea on the Administration's part? A week before finals?... Really?

The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.

2009-06-30T22:43:00.003-06:00

Rope Bridge

This is what we did for lab in ROTC last week. It was pretty sweet. And we may get to do it again for our lab next week because the place we're supposed to go to do our raid is flooded.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?

2009-06-29T11:41:00.006-06:00

if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much wood as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Why all this woodchuck talk?

Allow me to paint the scene for you. It was a quite Friday evening at the house and everyone was winding down from our adventures of the night. Girls were relaxing on the couches getting ready to start a movie. I was thumbing through a magazine. All was peaceful. That is until the front door abruptly burst open and then slammed shut just as fast. Myself and most of the other girls were puzzled at first. And then one girl started to scream, and like dominoes more joined in the shrill fest once they realized what had happened.
"It's under the couch!"
"What?! What's under the couch?!"
"I don't know but it's furry!"
(more screams)
A little piece of blue twine protruded from underneath the couch I was sitting on. One of the girls grabbed it and tried pulling, but the furry creature was no longer attached to the other end. A group of people were smashed up against the front door windows with a camera.

We tried to move the couch and the people with the camera came bursting in laughing as hard as girls were screaming.

"What did you throw into our house?!"
"A woodchuck."

So we spent the next twenty minutes or so trying to catch this wild little critter running crazy scared throughout our house hiding behind anything he could find. My favorite moment was when we'd caught the woodchuck the first time and one of the girls inadvertently ended up closer to it than she apparently wanted to be and just screamed bloody murder so loud... oh, it made me laugh so hard.

We finally were able to catch him in a laundry basket and get his "leash" back on him and take a picture with him.

Needless to say, it provided myself and our house much entertainment for the evening. And now somewhere there's a video of the whole thing... I'll see if I can find it. So yeah, some guys from our ward chucked a woodchuck into our house Friday night.

Now it's war.

Let The Good Times Roll...

2009-06-27T08:28:00.010-06:00

Two weeks ago Hero came up to visit. This time it was a planned rendezvous and the anticipation had been building up for nearly a month or so. The original plan was to run the Dam Marathon together that Saturday, June 13th. But after assessing our current and more realistic endurance levels, we decided to just do the half marathon and use it as training for Top of Utah in September. Well, Hero got injured and couldn't run so the plans changed to just straight up Hero-Sidekick action-adventuring like old times.

Thursday morning I was awakened at 5:01 a.m. by a text from Hero: "I missed my flight. Not even joking."
Yep, Hero missed her flight.

But the lucky little turd miraculously made both her standby flights and arrived in SLC later that evening. I was in nail biting mode all. Day. Long.

Friday I had class still so I went to those. And Hero spent some time in the library working on stuff. So we got to walk on campus together again! Shoot, I miss that. Haha. We visited with some of her pals and past professors throughout the day.

Hero was having a serious craving for hot dogs. So we HAD to get hot dogs for lunch! As soon as we got home we dashed off to Broulim's and got all our hot-dogging supplies. After several attempts at toasting the buns... We made some of the most delicious hot dogs!

Our delicious hot dogs.

Not long after devouring our hot dogs did we jet off to a College of Business and Communications faculty dinner that I had been invited to as a student secretary. Hero was my guest. And we ate yet again there. We didn't stay for long but Hero got to see some people she'd been wanting to see. Then we waited back at the house for Greg to return from his solo adventuring. At this point Hero and I discussed our options for Saturday adventures, and they seemed limited by the fact that we wouldn't have transportation for pretty much the entire day, as Greg had plans of his own. And then I got a random phone call from my dad- calling to tell me he'd rent me a car if I made it to my cousin's wedding reception in Idaho Falls Saturday night. It was perfect!

Greg came back finally and we went to Hero's aunt's place to play games. It was a lot of fun. And we played for a pretty long time. When we got back the three of us went for a night walk to the park and then crashed for the night.

Saturday morning we were scrambling to figure things out for the day. I rented a car and Hero and I started making preparations for our day's adventure. Mesa Falls and a campfire picnic. With of course, hot dogs. :) Oh, it was SOOOOO much fun!!! I loved every second of the excursion. We also did the little hike from the upper falls to the lower falls. It was so nice to be back in the outdoors with Hero again!

And in the traditional style of Hero-Sidekick action-adventuring, we just had to cram as much adventure into a single day as we possibly could. So we raced home to go climbing at the new climbing gym in Rexburg. We weren't in good enough climbing shape to climb for as long as we used to back in the days when we'd boulder at least once a week. But we still had so much fun!

I had to run off to my cousin's reception, and dropped Hero off at her aunt's for dinner on my way. After the reception we all met back up and went down to Lava Hot Springs for a nice relaxing soak.

It was just what I needed. We came back, and Hero got to sleep in my roommate's bed since she left for the weekend. It was really fun to be like roomies again.

Sunday... I had been dreading Sunday. We woke up and got ready for church and Hero packed up all her things. We drove down and went to church in her aunt's ward with her grandparent's, and then we hit the road.

Hero and Sidekick road trippin' once again.

We drove all the way to SLC. It was such a fun little road trip jammin' to our tunes and just talking. We stopped at her aunt and uncle's in Salt Lake for a little while before we had to head to the airport. I really didn't want to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. And this one was particularly hard. Maybe even harder than the one back on Christmas Eve. But it had to be done. So I dropped her off and we said our goodbyes. The drive back was difficult for me. Yeah... I may or may not have cried for quite a while.

It was such a good weekend and I had so much fun. I'm really glad Hero came up to visit. And I can't wait for our next adventure!

Meanwhile...

2009-06-18T21:46:00.002-06:00

I think I'm just gonna throw in the towel. I'm tired of struggling. Tired of working for nothing. Tired of getting nowhere. Tired of reaching out and only grabbing air.

I've tried so hard to make the best of things, but I just can't ignore the fact that I don't actually feel any better at the end of the day. My efforts have all been in vain.

Honestly I think it's time to just go to bed early every night so I can dream about how things once were and hope one of these days I'll wake up feeling like that again.

I'm just so tired. I don't have any fight left in me. I'm done.

Goodnight. There are people who I love that I need to visit in my dreams tonight.

Hero Surprise

2009-06-17T18:33:00.008-06:00

For Memorial Day weekend me and some roommates drove up to Billings, MT for a wedding reception of an old roommate and good friend our ours. I was feeling stressed and also a little bummed after losing one of my turtle earrings in the shower. So it was just really hard for me to get into the weekend. Hero reassured me that I would be fine and that I'd have a blast at the reception. Honestly, I didn't believe her. It was just a reception, and I wasn't feeling very chipper. I guess you could say I was in a classic, "whatever"' mood.

I was told we had to pick up my roommate's aunt from the airport before the reception. I didn't think too much of it; didn't seem like a big deal really. Well... Parked outside in the pickup zone my roommate's aunt looked an awful lot like Hero walking towards the car.

Hero and I at the reception. :)

My heart seriously skipped a beat, I was in shock. My whole reality suspended. It was like she had teleported or something and had defied the laws of physics. I literally could not believe my eyes. It was insane! I was elated. And it seemed too good to be true. But it was real. Yet if felt so surreal. It's so hard to describe with words, but it was one of the the best feelings I have ever felt in my entire life. :)

The weekend turned out to be so much fun! Hero and I got to talk and spend a little time together just enjoying each others company again as we partied with the crew. Ah, it was so good to see her! Especially so unexpectedly! It was seriously the best surprise ever!

Even after she left early Monday morning I was still trying to process the events of the weekend. Did that really just happen? Yes. Yes, it did. And it was AWESOME!

The Icing on the Cake: Proof my life sucks

2009-06-06T11:29:00.004-06:00

Well apparently Providence doesn't want anything in my life to go smoothly. That crazy psycho week ended, but unfortunately my bad luck didn't.

Nothing can ever be easy can it?

Alrighty, so my good friend Shavvy is getting married today in Las Vegas. I really wanted to go down to attend the reception since she and I are pretty tight. I thought it wasn't going to happen though... I couldn't find a ride down. But then this week one of my roommates said she knew of one of our old roommate's brother who happened to be driving down to Vegas for the weekend. I went back and forth and had a hard time deciding if I should go or not now that I had accepted the possibility of not going. I had a lot of homework to do as well so I kind of wanted to stay in town and try to be productive. I also knew I didn't have the money to go down either. But this brother guy talked me into going anyways and told me not to worry about gas. We had also figured out that we were both going to the same wedding. He and his sister for the groom, and I for the bride. Go figure. So I went.

To make a potentially long story short... The car completely broke down in Fillmore, Utah. The engine threw a rod. And we were stranded. Completely. And utterly. We scrambled to try and find a way out of the situation. My roommate who had told me about this ride down happened to be going as far as St. George, Utah and hadn't left Provo yet. So about two hours later she rescued us and got us as far as St. George.

What now?

Dah, dah, dah, duh! Have no fear, Richard is here! He drove two hours to pick us up from St. George and two hours back to get us to Vegas!

And here I am. In Vegas. Stranded. Trying to figure out a way back to Rexburg on Sunday. I have a ride from Provo to Rexburg. Now if I could just find a way from Vegas to Provo...

To be continued...

Worst Week Ever

2009-06-03T19:14:00.003-06:00

I'm really pissed off right now. I just realized a few minutes ago that I missed the close of a 300 point exam for my insanely easy class, CIT 140. I was SO tired today after a long, long night of hard core homework and studying and intense early A.M. workouts. I kept nodding off during classes all day. I've been so swamped all week I've had to keep pushing off taking the exam. I had the perfect window of opportunity to take it right after my last class today around five. So that's what I had planned.

But I ended up passing out as soon as I got home! SO I completely forgot! I really hope this doesn't affect my grade. But it is 300 points!!! Shoot. I swear... this class is soooooo easy! I shouldn't be getting anything less than an 'A'. Gahl! I'm such an idiot!

Ugh. I couldn't even think straight today I was so tired. I was like trying to screw the peanut butter jar lid onto the pickle jar and I was just doing really stupid sleep drunk things all day. And I started stressing about studying for my two big exams tomorrow and having enough energy to study for them later tonight... so I let myself fall asleep! Dangit. I really hope it doesn't drop me down to a 'B'. I really can't afford that.

This week has not been good to me at all. I just can't wait until it's over!

Worst week ever.

Of Course

2009-05-13T00:59:00.006-06:00

Update: (6/3/09)
I guess I turned them down so much that the offers stopped coming in. I haven't really been invited to do anything fun for a while now. :(
And I never did go rollerblading or mtn. biking with those dudes. Nor will I ever most likely. And now I have no friends except my laptop and textbooks.
____________________________________________________________________

Of course it would happen this semester. Of all semesters. I think I may have mentioned in previous posts just how important this semester is for me academically. But I don't think I have mentioned previously my off-handed remarks I have made all the while throughout semesters past, how I wish I hung out with guys more often.

Well... apparently that "wish", if you can even call it that, is finally being realized. I'm finally getting invited to do really fun things with guys! But I'm swamped! I've already had to turn down several invites! And it kills me! Just this past weekend I was invited to climb Mt. Borah with three guys. I had to pass due to a large heap of homework I urgently needed to get done. I have gone rock climbing twice so far, and both times I had a blast but ended up regretting it because of the homework repercussions I had to face afterward. And now I've been invited to climb Borah and Leatherman, and I had to say no... for more than one reason though. And I was invited to go rock climbing this afternoon, but I just don't know how much homework will tie me down, so I had to pencil it in. Saturday I've been invited to go biking.... and my roommate's boyfriend is trying to set me up with one of his buddies. That one... I've tried to get out of. Not really a fan of the whole blind-date thing. But he's a persistent fellow. I finally relented just to get him to stop bothering me about it. And as soon as the weather(ahem, wind) is no longer dangerous, I have a rollerblading "date" with one of my ROTC comrades.

I have met way more guys than girls this semester. And I am totally fine with that. Guys are typically way less irritating than girls. But it is so hard to do my homework! Agh! And I never thought I'd feel like a jerk for turning down invitations, but I do! I feel like a total jerk. And when I tell them I can't do something because I have homework, I feel really lame. Or like they think I'm just trying to use it as a lame excuse to weasel my way out of doing something with them.

Oh woe is me! :P

2009-05-10T16:56:00.002-06:00

Introversion

2009-05-02T23:55:00.002-06:00

I'm finding myself becoming rather boring. My guess is that I've either just grown tired of the incessant socialization or that I've gotten used to being somewhat of a loner. Either way, I've been having a hard time enjoying the company of others as I used to. I really don't know what it is, or what exactly has changed. I just know that half the time I prefer to be alone and the other half of the time I'm just dissatisfied with being with the people I'm with. If that makes any sense...

I guess what I mean by that is, that I'll want to hang out with people and do fun things but when I'm actually out with them or doing something "fun", I really could not care less. And I'm also finding that because of this new "attitude", I guess, that I'm not retaining a memory of these events. Like I really have been having a hard time remembering what I've done with people lately or even just conversations. I just flat out forget. I don't place any particular importance or significance on them, so they just fly right out of my mind. It's the weirdest thing ever.

And normally I have a really hard time with not being "apart of the action" and I usually feel like I'd really be missing out on something if I don't involve myself socially. And the feeling of "being left out" usually really bothers me and eats at me. But I honestly couldn't care less about any of that stuff now. People will invite me to do fun things and I really have no problem turning the offer down and just staying home by myself now. And in most cases, I actually prefer to just keep to myself and do homework or something "boring" instead. I do find myself feeling like I need to be 100% productive at all times though which probably isn't 100% good necessarily. Especially when I feel guilty for feeling like I'm not being "productive".

I really don't know what to do. Because I'm still an "extrovert" at heart and I do crave social interaction with people, and doing active fun things 24/7. It's just almost like, I don't know... I'm just not satisfied. My inner child feels lost.

Back to The Grind

2009-04-20T21:33:00.004-06:00

First day of Spring semester. Still not finished unpacking/moving in. And still haven't gotten around to my homework. I only got here on Sunday. And I feel like I've just hit the ground running. My last day of work was Friday. I didn't get any sleep Thursday or Friday night. Drove all Saturday... and just threw myself face first into the semester. You know it's going to be hell when you start out feeling like finals week.

Someone told me I was crazy today because of my schedule. I think they're right. But I really have no choice. I need these classes to move on and I only have 3 generals left to take anyways. Goodbye social life. Goodbye fun. Goodbye sleep. It'll be worth it though. I'm working towards something here.

Oh, yeah... so unpacking has been crazy. Since I left in such a rush at the end of fall semester all my stuff is extremely disorganized and just packed haphazardly in random boxes and it's making it really hard to get moved in and settled. I still haven't found my Hart shorts. AND I thought I had deodorant here somewhere... yeah, apparently not. But since I'm still going crazy unpacking I haven't had time to go to the store yet. My head hurts. I'm so close to at least getting my room looking clean... and then I need to start my homework. But I'm sooooo tired. Want. To. Sleep....

It's going to be a tough semester. Time wise more than anything. Wish me luck! Trust me... I'm going to need all the support I can get.