Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Airborn Adventures

It all started when my neck decided to explode aka cause me a lot of pain. after the fear that I had deadly Meningitis subsided, I had to go get X-rays. though that is not what I'm going to talk about (but if you want to hear that story click HERE ). As I arrived at the hospital to get said X-rays, I saw the Life Flight helicopter taking off and I thought to myself "now that would be an interesting career!" I went home and did a little research a few days later. What did I find out? not a whole lot, but hey, I was interested. All summer I thought about it and how cool it could be to have a job like that. It was around that same time that a guy named Ryan who climbs at the Quarry asked if he could put a flier on the cork board advertising the Helicopter flight school he works for. Now skip forward a little bit. School started and being a senior, I'm required to take Senior Seminar, a class where you try and figure out what colleges and stuff you want to go to. So I looked into Helicopters again. Finally I realized "well shoot! I ought to fly in one and see if I even like it". Skip forward to today. Today I went to the Helicopter school Ryan works at and had a little introductory meeting with the Owner/operator of the school. Found out a lot of information about how it works and all that jazz. But here's where it gets good: part of the introductory meeting was actually getting to go out in a Chopper for 30 min. So we drove over to the Spanish Fork airport and I hopped in with the owner John. My first helicopter flight ever. It was really exciting, got to have a fancy headset and all that cool stuff. Fortunately I didn't even get a little bit sick (lot's of people do in helicopters). But get this: I got to actually fly the Helicopter 80% of the time! Of course I was briefed on how to do it and all that, plus John had the other set of controls if anything happened. It was kind of a weird sensation. The controls are super sensitive and unlike any other kind of control ever. John said I was doing pretty good for a first time, and I essentially flew from Spanish Fork to Payson and back. Then John took over the controls again, killed the engine and demonstrated how to glide a Helicopter safely to the ground. Surprisingly that wasn't the least bit scary. I had a really good time flying It was super super fun and I'm legitimately considering it as a possible career. The down side is: It'll cost me $100,000. But the up side is, I could start tomorrow if I wanted, don't have to be 18. Not sure if I'm going to do it yet, but if I do, I'd start next semester because I won't really have any classes at school and I've decided not to graduate early. So I'd fly a few days a week and take a few fun classes the other days. We'll see what happens

Friday, September 23, 2011

Timp Lodge 2011

Here we go. Timp Lodge 2011 through my eyes.
Truth be told, this was the most boring Timp Lodge I've been to yet. The first day went well. Walked around the woods a little bit with various company. The usual stuff you know. But there just wasn't the energy this year that Timp Lodge usually has. I did a sculpting workshop that didn't really amount to much, and for the seconds workshop, Dallas and I worked on our songs for the talent show that night. Yes, we finally put some official lyrics to the Girlfriend Song. The talent show was great. I really had fun performing our songs. Also, I read a poem that I wrote about the Walden Walkabout. That was good. I very rarely write poetry and that was the first time I ever read one in front of anyone. I'm glad I did it, Cause I almost decided not to. But then I decided there was really no reason not to so I said "what the heck! I'm doin it!". Hopefully it earned me some points with the ladies, but who knows. After the talent show I headed up to the fire where everyone was hanging out, cuddled with some ladies to keep them warm. Then it was off to bed where very little sleeping was done. Colman almost killed a few kids but he didn't so I suppose thats good.
The second day was pretty much as uneventful. Walked in the woods some more, layed out in the field for a few hours with friends. Put some of Holly's lipstick on. Which caused a rumor that we made out and did other kinky stuff. but I can assure you it's just a rumor. I hosted a music party in the guys drom, it was pretty entertaining! Then some crazy drama started to emerge, which found Dallas and I walking through the woods talking in our classy british accents. Then we had to go wash dishes and continued to talk in our accents and be more or less ridiculous. It was not long after that that the traditional Timp Lodge dance began. It was pretty much as wild as ever. Lot's of craziness ensued. Good times. I danced so long and wild that by the end of the dance, my whole body was sore like jumping out of a moving car at 40mph and I felt sick. So it was off to bed again. This time I put in my ipod and just went straight to sleep.
In the morning, someone came to wake us up to start cleaning and get packed. Though I was already awake. I then proceeded to plug my Ipod into my amp and play The Jimi Hendrix version of The Star Spangled Banner. That woke everyone up pretty quickly! It was great! Probably 3/4 of the guys at Walden are pissed at me now, but hey, it was one of the highlights of my trip. This day consisted of just cleaning everything up and going home. the cleaning wasn't too bad, I mean I got to do the vacuum dance with a few of my lovely lady friends. 

So yeah, that pretty much wraps it up. My last Timp Lodge. Over all pretty good times. Never had a TLH but hey whatever. Maybe I'll make a surprise attack visit next year.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Golden State Excursions

We left in a whirlpool of Burning Ipods and the deliveries of secret packages at 3:00 a.m. (those are stories for another day). A Sea of impulses. Utter madness and altogether organized chaos. The Plane boarded at 12:30 or thereabouts, I can't quite recall. It was a short burn across the western wastelands. Hurtling at 400Mph. We were greeted by the strangeness of Long Beach airport. A small dinky place with trailers for terminals. Not the smallest airport I've been to, but certainly the most peculiar. why had I come here? what was the purpose of this trip? How had I been conned into this? I thought. I don't even like California. and I certainly don't like sand or heat! But the deed had been done. I was standing on pure concentrated Californian soil. Sweet Jesus! what am I wearing? I'm liable to be shot in clothes like these, this is So, Cal. A man can't wear red or blue around here, not to mention both! After realizing my awful choice in wardrobe, I began to peer around. looks safe for now, but I'll have to be sure to change. Moments later we were greeted by a big red Suburban wheeling into the passenger pickup lane. The bags were stowed and it was off. Next I found ourselves racing down the Californian interstates: Tangled messes of writhing asphalt serpents. Pure madness! Everyone here drives like Need For Speed Underground, and you need 5 GPS devices in your car just to make it to work every day! I was getting antsy, nervous, terrified. Why was I here? I needed to get out! and to make matters worse, I had to help little Zander pee in a bottle during all this. 

After about 2 hours of this wild ride, we arrived just in the nick of time. A few more minutes and I would had 3 heart attacks. Surely the Rolling Stones must have written the song 19th Nervous Breakdown about such an experience.  My nerves were shattered by the time I stumbles through Kathy and Tommy's front door (my aunt and uncle). Here I was. Riverside California. Finally able to relax a little, sit back, eat a hamburger and chat with my siblings and other family members who had ventured out two days before, mostly by car. Night time found me sleeping on a couch swathed in fine Scottish wools.

Day 2
The morning came early for me. I tend to wake up at 6 every morning, thus 5:00 there. After a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes and bacon, the troops were mustered and we set out on another venture down the Interstates. This time was different though. Slightly less terrifying. I was prepared this time, listening to Jim Morrison's sexy voice chanting in my ears. The destination came into sight. Our jaws dropped. We were in for a day of true adventure, adrenaline and excitement: Six Flags Magic Mountain. There were already hundreds of people there, I had to fight for my very life to approach the front gates where they took my ticket and turned me loose. And that's where the true chaos began! People everywhere! All of them there to test their wits and bravery. And Lines! Lines everywhere! so many lines! After a day like this, I think I'll sit at home for a while. where the only lines are the ones I draw myself. Many a ride was tackled by my band of thrill seekers and I. Including a stand up roller coaster! Around 9 p.m. the park came to a close and we were given the boot. It was time for some dinner! So we rolled down the highway to a In and Out Burger joint. And I thought the amusement park was wild! This was a whole other kind of mess! over one hundred people in this little restaurant, fighting over empty tables like ravenous wolves after a fresh kill. Civilization at it's finest. On Fortunately we escaped the place in one piece and it was off for home.

Day 3
Ahhhhh Sunday. A day to relax and collect my thoughts. But that was not entirely the case. I headed off with a few of the devoted for 9 O'clock church. and received a brief tour of the town on the way back. This place seems decent, I thought to myself. Wait a minute, Wait a minute! listen to yourself! what are you saying? This is California, this is the enemy! Everyone then met up and we booked it off to L.A. It was the Getty Museum of Art for us today. What a magnificent building! a true masterpiece among architecture. The house of many a valuable painting. I spent the afternoon amongst fine company such as: Rembrandt, Cezanne, Van Dyck, Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh and a few others. Now this was my kind of place. a shelter from the storm. But it did not last nearly long enough. The children were restless. So we Headed on over to Venice beach. The hub of California crazies. The very stomping grounds of Jim Morrison. A whole carnival of free thinkers and drugged out weirdos. My relatives seemed pretty down on it, but I couldn't see any of the negativity. How could one not enjoy the drum circles on the beach, the man rollerblading around with his electric guitar and amp strapped to him, the fire dancers, the medicinal Marijuana shops on every block, and the wild street performers? Surely this must be heaven, or some sort of strange delusion! I like it! It was like a Grateful Dead concert without the Grateful Dead. In other words, Home. Just as I was beginning to settle in, it was time to go again. on the journey home I pondered. long and hard. Yeah, I could live here.

Day 4
At last it was the day I had been dreading. Beach day. Laguna beach was the destination of choice. It was cold and overcast when we arrived. Which meant no swimming for me. Why would I risk being dismembered by a shark in water as cold as this! I needed exploration! So I hit the shops. This was a town of fine art. Where there are more galleries than actual houses. or almost. I strolled into the Fingerhut gallery. What a pleasant surprise I found there. A few original Rembrandt's and a whole slew of Original Dr. Seuss painting and sculptures. all priced no less than $3,000. Who would pay such a price! outrageous! But wait a minute. This is Laguna beach, not some sick dump of a town. This place is loaded. Everyone filthy rich! Where Cadillac Escalades are shunned. Not good enough. and Every 10th person drives a Ferrari. I stumbled across a few original Salvador Dali sketches. and strolled around a few more galleries but only one really caught my eye. There was a lovely lady working there. The most attractive I'd seen the whole trip. Fortunately the art there was amazing so I had another excuse for sticking around a while. Super vibrant and vivid paintings with paint an inch thick in some places. Truly an Inspiring collection of works. A few galleries later, I hit the beach again and we soon packed up and rushed off to dinner. Some strange Chinese place named Pei Wei. With magical soda machines of which I had never previously seen the likes of. Wait a minute! no real chinese place would have fancy machines such as these! The chinese are all about tradition. hmmm, but then again, I bet these new fangled machines were made in China. I suppose that's alright.

Day 5
We had come to the last leg of our journey. This was the end. The return journey home was to be simple and smooth. But it began with a quick rush to the bathroom and an epidemic of vomiting. Sage was sick. Possibly dehydration? It did not look good. I had been in her situation before, having to fly on a sick stomach is complete hell. She stuck it out pretty well til we made it to the airport. There we checked our bags and all that other boring airport stuff. Cept when it came to security I slipped right through without ever showing them I.D. Didn't even look twice. Just turned their heads and let me walk right on to the plane. The goons didn't even check me! what now? maybe I'm supposed to blow up the plane! Naw. That would be too much work. I'll just read my book. Dear old Sage was transferred up to the front row seats to help with her illness. As we took off I reflected on the wild trip while I watched the Golden state disappear over the horizon in the rear view mirror (or rather I would have if planes had rear view mirrors). This place wasn't so bad after all. I found myself giving in. Succumbing to the California dream. And considering living in Venice beach. But only for a short while. Few months. No more no less. But we were pointed in a new direction now. Hurtling off to fulfill our lives, our destinies. Back to reality.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

A Change of Plans

Lately I'm come to the realization: You gotta do what you gotta do. Now allow me to elaborate. you can't live life worrying about what other people think. Which I typically feel like I do a pretty good job of. But you just have to do what you want, follow your dreams and goals. So by Golly I'm gonna do it. Even more lately (or I guess recently) I've been applying it to my life. To be honest, it's way better to live this way, much more fun. Easier to not worry about girls and drama and school and all that other stuff. Except that's also a problem cause I kind of really need to worry about college. Oh well. we'll see what happens.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Throwing in the Towel

I finally lost. Gave up. finished with love. I can't take it any more. It's made a mess of my mind and left me for dead. I came to the realization this summer that I could have a girlfriend if I wanted. But to quote one of my favorite lyrics: "If I can't have the girl I love, I don't want none at all". Which leads to the next issue. I'm not even sure if I'm still in love at this point. I want to be! I mean truth be told I am, but it feels different now. In fact, some days I'm not in love, but others I am so hopelessly it makes me sick. Maybe I'm just bipolar...ought to walk out in a field and shoot myself in the stomach then, like Van Gogh. Actually, that's too boring, I'd rather drive off a cliff or something (Don't worry though, I'm not planning on doing that any time really soon).  Anyways, I may say I'm done with love, but let's be honest, It always manages to reel me back in...sooner than I expect too. Probably by next week some new girl will walk into my heart or the same old one (cause she tends to do that a lot). I think my biggest problem is I'm generally pretty awful at noticing social cues. I mean dead awful! you pretty much have to just straight out tell me things otherwise I begin to over think. man I really wish I could just stop thinking for a while. I feel like I have nothing to say anymore. like my well of wit has begun to dry up. I need a mental vacation or two. As Dallas would say "when you're mind is all melancholy, listen to some Simon and Garfunkel" and I think I shall.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

One Heck of an Adventure

I came home from School Friday, did some stuff that I don't remember. Anyways, a few hours after being home I discovered my father was going with his brothers to Spokane, Washington in order to help my uncle and his family move to Provo. Some of the brothers had gone up the day before and brought a load of stuff down...but apparently they had more stuff than anyone expected, so it was decided to make another last minute trip back up there. I was told all that about three hours before we were to leave, and I decided heck yeah I want to go! I'd gone a few years earlier to visit my cousins up there, so I was well aware of the awful drive. But being the compulsive person that I am from time to time I said "well I've got nothing better to do, this will be an adventure!"

My Uncle Joseph, my Father, my uncle Justin and his daughter Mckenzie (the ones that were moving) and I all met up about 6:30. We hopped in the truck that had been borrowed from some of our other relatives and drove off. the truck was pulling a large stock trailer (for transporting animals). We hurtled across the wastelands of Idaho and on into Montana, telling stories and trying to sleep. The plan was to make it to Spokane by 7:00 a.m.  Somewhere in Montana at 2 a.m. we pulled over, my dad and I decided to give sleeping in the trailer a try. So we crawled up into the top part where there was a mattress. It was pretty bloody cold outside but not too bad in the trailer. It took about 5 seconds of riding in the trailer to realize "this thing doesn't have any bloody shocks!" every little bump would shake and rattle the trailer. It was quite apparent that we would get no sleep whatsoever in there. It felt like being in a bomb shelter during world war 2. Loud noises, the whole thing shaking, bouncing and rattling, sounded like machine guns being fired and all kinds of craziness. We soon transferred back to the truck. Joseph who had been driving climbed in the trailer to sleep and we continued on. Around 6 a.m. we pulled over in Couer D'Alene Idaho to refuel. we found Joseph wrapped up in a rug in the back of the trailer...pretty funny.
finally we rolled into their driveway exactly on time. The kids were just waking up. I walked in and said happy birthday to my cousin Brady (it was his birthday). He was pretty surprised, didn't know I was coming. I said "yeah I came just to wish you happy birthday". Justin and my dad went to sleep for an hour, I just messed around with the kids. Then we started packing up the trailer with the help of some people from their ward. Bout eleven o' clock we were ready to hit the road. but one of the cars wouldn't start. So Justin pulled the other car around to jump it...some how the cat that was in a cage in the back seat, managed to get out and was run over.  It was really really gross watching it flop around as it bled to death, but there was nothing we could do. Everyone was really sad. Awful way to start a trip. But we had to carry on. So the three vehicles rolled out. I was with Kenzie, her friend Joy and little Ella in the Jetta. not 30 min. down the freeway, one of the trailers started fish tailing. It was super super scary to watch...think I had a heart attack or five. It wasn't the stock trailer, but another one. So we drove right back to the house, unloaded that trailer and shoved as much of it as we could in the stock trailer. then we left the messed up trailer, surprised that it hadn't rolled the car, and started the trip all over. At one point we stopped to get gas and a few glass bottles rolled out of a car and broke. Just another great thing to add to the list. at a different gas station later down the road, Kenzie scraped the front of the car on a concrete post. Complete accident, but super fortunate that it didn't really do anything cept mess up the paint.

We ate dinner in Dillon Montana at roughly 7:00 p.m. and that was the halfway mark for out trip...6 hours left to go. Somewhere around Malad Idaho at 1 a.m. the truck decided to die. Fortunately we got it started again and didn't have any problems. At last we reached Orem at 3:00 a.m. Drove to a storage unit and unloaded the trailer while we were all slap happy. Then we had to drive over to their house in Provo to unload a few more things. My Uncle Tim and Jess were taking the trailer as soon as we were done with it back to Lava, Idaho to our relatives. So at 6:15 a.m. I walked into my house and went to bed. 36 hours and 1,534 miles later I was home. Dead exhausted. I'd only slept a total collective of 4 hours during that 36. So today I slept til noon 30 then got up and went to my uncle's church. Brady was ordained at teacher. Now I'm just writing, wondering why on earth I'm not asleep seeing as I've only slept 10 hours in the last 72. Quite a crazy trip!