Just For Kicks

Just for Kicks, thought I'd write one last post to essentially close this blog up. It has in fact been a Long Strange Trip. Many of the weirdest parts never managed to make it into this blog, but are perhaps jotted down in diaries. 

It's always funny to look back at how silly one used to be. How uneducated, naive, and sometimes surprisingly intelligent too. 

A year or so ago, I began my third blog: "For Anyone That Cares". I suppose it's more or less a continuation of this blog, but hopefully better written and more profound? Likely a bit less whiny and also less cared for up to this point. But one grows old and busy I suppose.

What is life, but a collection of memories...

Moving to Snobbery

If you've not yet heard, my family and I are moving to a new house in Indian Hills. Which means I'm now going to turn into a snob, wear fancy clothes, drink tea, and of course walk around with my nose turned up at everyone. Indian Hills was once where all the snobs and rich people in provo lived, before Sherwood hills was built. Then all the snobs moved there, after which the River bottoms were developed and all the ritzy people moved there. Anyways, Indian Hills is still pretty well known for being a place where all the snobby BYU professors live. Though they're not as snobby as the BYU professors that live in the tree streets.

As for me becoming a snob, I highly doubt I actually will. I'm picturing my family being thought of by all the snobs as like the dirty hippies moving in, that don't much care for the already established social rules. But in a few more weeks I suppose I'll find out. I'm curious what our new neighbors are going to think about our VW buses. I have met a few of our neighbors already, cause their kids actually climb at the Quarry, so I already know they aren't snobs. But it will be interesting to meet the whole ward.

I'm pretty excited about moving, just a nice change of scenery and people. I've lived in our current house and ward my whole life. So moving is a little saddening, but quite adventurous too. The strangest part is going to be visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Knapp (who live 3 houses away right now), but not getting to go in our then former house. Also moving to Indian Hills will mean I have to drive less far to get to work and school! The question is if I'll ever be able to find my bloody house up there. Utah is traditionally built on a simple grid system, but when they got to building the roads up there, everything went haywire! Plus it doesn't help that all the streets have indian names rather than numbers. not to mention a lot of the streets have similar names: Mohican ln.,  Mohican dr., Mohican cir., etc. Though my house is in the west part of Indian Hills, so it shan't be too hard to find depending on which way you drive to it.

Also, I think there is a Skinwalker that lives in our neighborhood, but that's another story for another time.

A Hopeless Un-romantic

I once used to consider myself a "hopeless romantic". Always wondering when my princess charming would come or something like that.  But it seems that I have become an un-romantic. For that past few months, I've had no interest in women. Not to say that I don't still find them attractive, I just don't have any drive to flirt, have relationships, or pursue anything romantic. I'm not saying I'm a homosexual either (I'm all for homosexuality, it just doesn't work for me, though sometimes I wish), cause trust me, if I were, everyone in the world would know it. No proverbial closet would be big enough to trap my homosexuality in! Anyways, I'm not really sure why this change has occurred. But I don't think I even know how to flirt anymore. It's really all quite strange. One thing may be that I don't really know any women anymore. At least not that I really hang out with or anything. And like I said, I do find women still attractive, but not quite on a level that I used to. Now it's like "oh she's cute" and I just go back to whatever I'm doing. Whereas before it used to be like "oh she's cute, I ought to go talk to her, I'm interested in meeting her, and finding out who she is as a person". I'm not really sure why I'm talking about this, just been on my mind lately, kind of freaking me out a little, yet I have no motivation or inspiration to make any changes. Guess I'm stuck in an un-romantic funk.

Graphic Designing Days

 Once upon a time I became a famous graphic designer. Except not really all that famous. But thus far I've designed three shirts that have been printed. Two for the Quarry. One was a youth competition shirt that was later transformed to be a staff shirt as well. And of course the most recent competition shirt and poster. Everyone got super excited about it.

Above is the image printed on the shirt. On the back it says: Ready For The Rope? (the name of the competition). It turned out pretty well I think. But like I said, everyone freaked out about it, all the staff were asking when they could get one of the shirts, not to mention other climbers in the gym. When they were printed, I was even asked to autograph a shirt. The artwork was sent around to companies so they can donate prizes to the competition. Apparently the Representative of Petzl really liked the design. Said it was the coolest competition artwork he'd ever seen. Now I'm not saying all this to brag, because i'm not bragging...quite the opposite. Designing things is kind of fun, but mostly it's a huge pain! So much work and time goes into it, and you have to keep tweaking things until they work out just right. I mean it's cool that everyone is super excited about the artwork I've done, but now the boss man already has me set to design another staff shirt, and the next competition shirt. And a friend wants me to design a shirt and album cover for his band. I agreed to do all of the projects...don't know why, but I guess it will give me something to do this summer! And that's the story of how I became a graphic designer. 

Concerts I've Attended

I sat down to make a list (for personal sake) of the concerts I've attended. Thought it would be fun to share. In my  concert ventures, I'd had the opportunity to attend 5 shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, and a show at The Gorge in Washington, both considered among the most beautiful concert venues in the world. And boy do I agree with that claim!

Bad Manners

The Vandals

OFF!

Paul McCartney

D.R.I.

The Offspring

Social Distortion x2

The Cult

Gogol Bordello

Stand Ridgway

Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull playing the entirety of Thick as a Brick)

Ringo Starr

Jane’s Addiction

2 and 1/2 White Guys

The Vibrant Sound

Rancid

Adam Haworth Stephens

Bob Dylan x4

Now for the Grateful dead related section. The following bands are essentially various incarnations of the grateful dead by members of the Grateful Dead after Jerry Garcia died.

Grateful Dead (I saw them twice with Jerry Garcia when I was less than a year old. though they're the only shows on this list I don't actually remember, I think it still counts.)

Rhythm Devils (Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman

The Dead (all members of the Grateful Dead minus Garcia.)( The Allman Brothers, and the Doobie Brothers both opened for them at this event at The Gorge)

Furthur x7 (Phil Lesh and Bob Weir)

And of course a handful of other local bands mostly that I had/have friends in. I also accidentally saw Macklemore and Imagine Dragons, both before anyone really knew who they were. But in all honesty, I can't stand either of them (then and now). I walked out on both shows early, so I don't count them. And man, this list would be twice as long if only I were 21! Missed so many amazing shows because of that.

She walks in velvet...

She walks in velvet...

okay okay this post isn't going to be a sappy love poem. I don't think it's even going to be about love, or  even poetry. Though now that I think about it, I really want some velvet pants. Maybe in navy blue, or perhaps maroon. Actually both! If anyone knows where to get some let me know.

Anyways, this is a tale about a girl (still not a love story). A girl with radiant hair. A girl whom I've spoken no more than ten words to. Yet somehow we have an understanding. Our thrice weekly wave and smile passing in the hallway speaks volumes; usually a cherished part of the day for me. Just a familiar face of a woman I know so little about. Sort of a candle light in the crushing darkness of school pressure moment. I've no idea if she even knows my name. And some days, I wish I didn't know hers, just because it would be more interesting, more mysterious. It just makes me happy waving to her in the halls. Apparently happy enough that she has started showing up in occasional dreams. Even more peculiarly, she's often a main character in them. Just one of the gang, someone I've known forever in the dream. I think I'd like to actually meet her someday. Have a conversation, go on an adventure or something to that extent. But I suppose we'll see.

Don't really know why I shared that story, guess I'm just saying that the little things in life really are what make it beautiful. And also that I'm back and going to start writing on my blog again, so stay tuned.

The College Odyssey Round Two

If you are reading this in hopes of stalking me at school, I'm afraid you will be mostly disappointed.

  Today began with Biology 1010 first off. Right when I parked, Dallas happened to pull up and park next to me. What are the chances right? we chatted for a while, then I headed off to class. The auditorium my class is hosted in contains 150 people (nowhere near the BYU general classes I've heard rumor of, but one of the larger classes UVU offers). Taught by Jim Harris, a really cool guy whom I had the pleasure of going on a week river canoeing trip with last semester. Afterwards I have an hour break, so I met up with Riley, and helped her find her classes/look for mine too. Then it was up to the top corner of the GT building, on the outskirts of UVU's main campus. I walked down the hallway, and found the room number to be marked with a sticky note, rather than a plaque...I would have the one classroom on all of campus without a plaque. Fundamentals of Acting is the class contained in that room, which I'm sure will end up being my hands down favorite class. The teacher is highly recommended, and considered to be one of the best in the theater department, plus our class seems like a really fun group and consists of only 15 students. Not to mention that quite a few of them are really attractive ladies! Oh and my only homework for that class will pretty much be attending 3 plays. After that I had to make a run for my English 2010 class located in the basement of the LA building essentially on the complete other side of campus. Oh yeah and I only get 10 minutes to do it in. My English teacher is also my neighbor. Her name is Angie, so of course I had this song stung in my head all class! Looks like it's going to be a tough class, but I should learn a lot of good stuff. And there is a midget in my class, she seems pretty nice. But everyone in that class seems to be quite a few years older than me so it's kind of weird. Then I get to run up to the Institute building for Mission Prep. And of course I happen to randomly be taking it from the world's tallest institute teacher (true fact), Brother Jim Toone happens to be 7ft. tall and sounds slightly like Andre the Giant! It should be a good class, but at the same time, all the cute ladies there are planning to go on missions, so it's kind of weird cause there isn't much point to flirting, also everyone is more or less my age. After that, I have the pleasure of running back to the LA building to attend Ethics and Values from Uncle Larry Harper, a long time family friend, and my previous english professor. Much to my surprise Jamie Roan was sitting there, so I sat by her. Seems like it's going to be a pretty good class as well. So basically if I can survive Biology and English everything should be good. But fortunately I have tuesdays and thursdays free to ski and homework-a-cize. After class I headed to the bookstore, got my books (none of my classes have textbooks except English...which has 4). From there I strolled back across campus towards my car. On my way there, I found a guy lying in the hallway in a sleeping bag just taking a nice little nap. I couldn't help but smile and think to myself: "This is why I go to UVU, cause awesome/strange/quirky things like this happen all the time, and no one minds".

No Wisdom In These Teeth

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    A head full of Lortab. Dazed. Confused. Altogether discombobulated. A nice evening stroll about the park was all I had intended. But fate, or maybe some cruel mishap had found me here. I turned to look at my arm. "Oh! Hello there, what is this linked in my arm...another arm?” I leaned over to studiously examine this foreign member. Was it responsible for bringing me here? Was I being held against my will? After a moment more of studying, I concluded that the arm in question meant me no harm, that it was placed there rather carefully, lovingly. Slowly I began to trace the arm back to its roots. "Oh, I daresay this is not at all what I was expecting to find, you are not a murderer, but rather a pleasant girl". She smiled at my remark. "Are you sure you're okay? Should I take you home?” she questioned. "No, no, I'm perfectly alright, just give me a moment to gather my surroundings", I retorted. Surely the pure Scottish grit running through my blood vessels could see me through this. Wait a minute, my mother was adopted...hmmm. Well, I suppose the Germans were a pretty tough crew too.

    I began to peer around cautiously. Enormous cement walls encompassed us. Some sort of hospital? No, too loud for that. A sea of blue swept through the doors. Suddenly, images of cougars danced across my eyes. BYU. Homecoming dance. Before I could formulate any plans, any possible escape routes, her friend Miz Adelaide came waltzing over to us. We said our hellos and nice to meet yous, or at least I think we did. Hard to say.

     Then the stairs. Finally, the gate. "Give them $3 she instructed me", I thrust my hand into my pocket. After a year, I finally handed the money to the cashier, and received a stamp on my left dorsal. Stamps are expensive these days. Then we were turned loose. By this time, both girls were very skeptical of my condition, but we proceeded nonetheless. Creeping into the darkness of the room, drawing nearer to the noise. The temperature began to rise. “Look! It’s Waldo; I’ve found him!” I proclaimed. The girls stared at me in horror “we should never have brought him here!” their looks seemed to say. Then they turned to see that I was indeed correct. A sigh of relief seemed to emanate from Miz Adelaide’s and Miz Cristin’s bodies. I found myself being pulled to the center, dragged by some strange un-seeable source. Flashbacks from Star Wars now encompassed my mind.

    Music pounding, lights flashing, sweaty people everywhere. A rave without the ecstasy. A disco without bell-bottoms. My legs began to twitch. Then my arms. Next, the torso. I think this is what they call dancing. I was doing it. Cutting a rug with the children of Zion!

    After thirty days, or maybe thirty minutes, thirty seconds? The girls decided I needed to be removed from the premises. Starting to make sense of things, starting to come down, I wisely agreed to surrender.

    The door clicked shut. The women sped away, likely delighted to be free of their Lortab ridden captive. “Surely that was only a dream”, I thought as I sat up in bed the next morning. Only to find the letters B.Y.U. stamped across my left hand.

What's this? A career?

I've got it figure out. An actor! that's what I'll do with my life! It's perfect. I love dressing up (as I'm sure you've noticed). I absolutely love movies and plays. At least good ones. And I'm fairly decent at doing different voices. Believe it or not, I can also be really serious. Plus with acting I can stay super focused, at least with my theater career so far that's been the case. Don't really get stage fright either! Not to mention that I really enjoy performing. And I'd have way too much fun if I ever got famous. But the problem with acting is that unless you make it fairly big, it's not a very steady or well paying career. Though I like to get risky sometimes, I'm definitely a fan of stability! Especially if I ever end up having a family. I'm not entirely sure yet if I'm that passionate about acting, I've really enjoyed my experiences so far, just not entirely sure yet if I'd actually want to risk it all and attempt a career at acting. Good thing I'm taking an acting class this next semester! Hopefully that will help me figure things out.

Liahona

"And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness." Nephi 16:10

I've always wondered how the Liahona found itself outside Lehi's tent. Maybe it was teleported there, just sort of appeared. Or maybe God dropped it, like you would a marble onto a sandy beach. Or maybe it was delivered by a dark rider under cover of the night. One with a fantastic head dress or turbin, riding a trusty camel. I bet he just snuck right up on their camp and left it by the tent door. Of course he would have tried to ring the doorbell and run away, (like you'd do with a plate of cookies) but doorbells hadn't been invented yet, so he just figured to leave it there. And in the morning when they found the Liahona, if they would have looked up at the ridge in the distance, they'd have seen the dark rider peering back, watching, to make sure his entrusted package was discovered. The golden sun glimmering up behind him, barely peaking over the ridge, trying to catch a glimpse of this curious workmanship for itself. Yeah, that's what I'd like to think.

Things On Me Mind

    Tis been quite the while since I've really written anything on here. And in honesty, I haven't felt like writing at all. But I'm going to now take some time and just talk about a few things on my mind/whats been going on in my life.

   College: college is really not all that hard or terrifying as everyone wants to make it out to be. You just have to get into the swing of things and then it isn't too bad. Unless you have lots of tests and homework due around the same time, that tends to get a bit stressful. The secrets to college life are simply: 1. Have a well organized schedule, balance out school, work, and friends, so you don't go crazy. 2. Find professors you like, cause that really does make or break the class. 3. Don't procrastinate! So far this year, I've gotten almost all of my homework done the week before it is due, which is not always easy, but keeps the stress and frustration levels at non-existant.

    Voting: It was far over rated. To be honest, I don't know if I'll ever vote again. Just because it's pretty much a joke. Stand around in line for potentially an hour or so to check a few boxes on a screen and leave. My biggest qualm with voting though is the Electoral College. There are no laws that say the electoral representative has to vote the way the people did. And in history it has happened where they haven't. But I live in Utah, so no matter what I vote, the state is always going to go Republican. It always has. That's why I think it's a joke. Plus politics turn me off quicker than a light bulb in ice water. I have zero interest or desire to be involved with them in any manner.

    Now for the juicy stuff. Romance: Just as I figured, romance is better after highschool because the principle of "nice guys always finish last" isn't really so applicable. People are more mature and seem to know more of what they're looking for. At least from my observances. Since graduating, I've dated two ladies...both older than me. Neither of the relationships lasted all that long, but those are stories for another day. I don't regret either of them and I learned a lot from the experiences. Well that wasn't as juicy as I thought it would be, so my apologies.

    Time: I always figured adults were just being silly when they talked about time flying. "Before you know it, you'll be all grown up and have kids of your own" and all that jazz. But gosh! Ever since my last semester of Highschool started, life started moving at an exponential rate! It's really terrifying how fast the time really does go by. I'm terrified to go to sleep now, cause the next time I wake up, I could be 80 years old! (okay I'm not really that terrified) I'm down to forty minute days now though. Meaning my days feel about forty minutes long. Not during the day while it's happening, but at the end of every day, it feels like the entire day only lasted that long. Guess them old folks really do know what they're talking about! 

    Anyways, those are a few of the main things that have been floating around my brain and life lately. Also, this winter has already been super depressing...it's going to be a long one. Though to a degree I kind of like being depressed. I like the raw emotion of it. Hopefully I'll be in more of a writing mood in days to come, cause I have quite a few interesting tales to tell, but we shall have to see.

Newfangled Technolologies

   Recently our fridge died, so naturally it had to be replaced. The new one is about the same size, one of them fancy stainless steel ones with the double fridge doors, and a bottom freezer drawer. But here's where things get crazy! The water dispenser. Man that thing is wild! it tells you how much water in ounces it is filling your glass with, in cups, ml or any other relatively small measurement. So what? okay okay not that impressive. Maybe the autofill will impress you. It knows how high to fill your glass all by itself. Still not impressed? Fine. Let me tell you where it gets really wild. That bloody fridge can take your blood pressure. Honest.  It will even show you a slide show of your favorite pictures while doing so. "The built in face recognition software also ensures that no pesky teenagers will be able to access the fridge for some late night munching", that's straight out of the manual. This fridge is pretty top notch. Heck, the other day it even brushed my teeth for me! Wait wait, here's the best part: If a robber happens to break into your house while you're away, the front sensor in the fridge can detect it. Then the fridge does an interior quality test to find the most rotten item of food in it, then proceeds to shoot the projectile rottenness at said robber.
   You probably think I'm writing this to brag about how awesome my fridge is. But I'm afraid that's where you are mistaken. Why on earth would anyone need a fridge that could do all that for them? I thought fridges were for the sole purpose of keeping food cool. Technology these days...

Freshman. Round Two

    Beep Beep, sounded the alarm clock at 5:45 a.m. A weary eye shot open. Followed shortly by another. Judgement day at last. The morning ceremonies commenced. Shower, clothe that body, feed, and grab the back pack. "Fare thee well Mother, I'm off to conquer the world" I found my lips uttering as I stooped over to give her a hug. Tears. Emotion creeping in. But I had no time to reminisce the 18 long years. So I jumped in my bus and puttered down the road.
    Upon arrival, I found many an open parking space for the taking. I got out, threw on my suit coat and strolled off into a new era of life. The looming doors seemed to say "come on in, the weather is fine. Expand your mind. Join the team". It was all too easy. With too much confidence, and too few worries, I proceeded to meander through the teeming hallways. I knew my destination: Sociology, Liberal Arts building. Room 25. I entered the room to find a few terrified college students. Sitting silently in their fears. The classroom began to fill. Miz Liz entered the classroom seemingly as nervous as the students themselves. We proceeded to cover the syllabus. This was it. I was living the educational dream in the basement of that cold crude concrete utopia. The first class passes seemlessly. We were released 20 minutes early. I clambered back up to the fresh air and light of the main level. Sitting in wait for my lovely lady friend (yeah I have one of those, but that's a story for another day) I watched countless students roll passed. 4,000? 5,000? Hard to tell. All in their own little worlds trying to survive the first day grind. After too brief a chattering with my Lovely Lady, I strolled off toward my next class. Hidden on the outskirts of the university, it was across campus from my then current location. I took some strange route...quite by accident. At last arriving at my destination a few minutes early. In waltzed Larry Harper, general hippie, free thinker, intergalactic explorer, and professor. English was his game. And that's what I was there for. He touched our minds, inspired our emotions, a filled our souls with his delight for writing. The class ended all too soon and it was back to the sea of students. I then was faced with two hours to try and deal with before my final class of the day. Pulling up a chair, I scoured the syllabus, all the while people watching. Familiar faces: Karsten! Tess! Josh! then finally a reuniting with my cousin Michael. We chatted about school matter for another hour until reluctantly I slinked off to American Civ. Back to the basement! This class was strange. Over crowded. The man next to me, old enough to be my dad, commented on the suit I was wearing. Class began. Chad Ostler, history whiz took the stand with a similar speech as to the others I had previously witnessed. Syllabuses Syllabai? To great astonishment, I peered over my shoulder and found Daniel Rollo staring back. We were both shocked. I chatted with him for moments after the class then cautiously headed towards the building's exit. Running into my lovely lady. And seeing a previous Institute friend, Catherine.
    Eventually I mounted the drivers seat of my car and fired up the engine. The ride home was brutal! traffic everywhere. I found myself swerving(okay actually very cautiously) driving through shopping center parking lots to avoid long traffic jams at the light, and further down the road, an accident. Home at last. Mixed feelings about the entire ordeal. But in the end, I survived, eerily awaiting tomorrow's ordeal of Humanities and Institute.

All Growed Up

Well it's been quite some time since my birthday, but I've been too busy to write until now. Rather than bragging about the things I did for my birthday (which was actually mostly just sitting around) I've decided instead to write about a few of the things I've learned in my 18 years of existence. 

I've learned many things, and probably forgotten even more. I've learned that money doesn't matter. It is nice and even necessary to have, but I don't feel that it brings lasting happiness. I've also learned many things about myself! I don't know how, but I always find myself surprising myself if that makes sense. I've learned that you should follow your dreams. Forget everything that stands in your way, just go for it! Even if it doesn't end up turning out how you imagine, you will always learn something from the adventure, even if it is small. I've learned through my travels and investigations of the world, that boy, I sure don't have anything to complain about! I've certainly had my rough patches, but by far I've led a blessed life. But most of all, I've begun to learn that people are most important! Slowly I have realized that it isn't material possessions that make me happy, it is my interactions with people.  People are part of the key to happiness. There's really nothing better than just hanging out with friends, having a good time, or giving someone that's feeling down a giant hug. There's just so much joy to be had in helping other people out. Creating new bonds, hearing people tell the tales of their life. I think you'd be surprised at how much you can find in common with someone, even if you've just barely met them. You can lose everything you have, but friendships can be made for life. Whether we notice it or not, people influence the decisions we make in life too. Anyways I believe that relationships with friends, family, lovers, teachers, and even strangers are more important than anything you could ever own.

Mountain Love Affair

This summer, my sister Sierra and I have made it a goal to go on a hike every Monday. So far, we have succeeded. We've hiked Slate Canyon, Rock Canyon, Sundance, and most recently, Squaw Peak. I've always enjoyed hiking, maybe because I was practically born hiking. When I was but a wee lad, my parents would throw me in one of those child hiking backpacks and tote me around everywhere. Ha, they even took me skiing a few times. Mostly what I think it comes down to though is that I don't really care all that much about hiking, I just love being in the mountains. I once said "I was raised in the desert, but I'm a child of the mountains". Bloody cheesy right? But its true. I spent a lot of my childhood in the Southern Utah deserts. Boy, I can't even tell you how many times I've been to Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zions, and not to mention Goblin Valley! But I really do like the mountains better. I love the fresh cool air, the snow capped peaks, the dense piney forests, and of course: the wild flowers. I have a great love for the Uintah mountain range. We have a cabin up there, right on the Bear River. And it has always been one of my very favorite places to be. Its a great place to just go and hang out. You don't have to worry about every day plans. Just who is going to wash the dishes and if you're going to finally win a game of Uno or some other game. I really enjoy the nice cool air up there, especially in the summer when it's 90º down in the valley, and you're wearing a coat up there not to freeze at 6p.m. I've kind of strayed off topic. Back to hiking. Life is simple when I'm out hiking. You can leave your worries behind and just enjoy the scenery. There comes a point in every one of my hikes, where I realize: I don't want to go back. The point where you find Serenity. Sadly I turn back and head for home, but not without taking a few moments to stop and take it all in. Who knows though, maybe someday I'll just keep going.

There you have it. That's the story of my Mountain Love Affair. So if you ever want to go hiking, I'm always up for it. Give me a holler.

Strange Occurences

I figured I had better write about my new friend Kirsten. Because, there is somewhat of a strange story involved. I'll start from the beginning.
      Let's see, I do believe it was last summer, my mom came home from girls camp and was telling me all about this amazing girl she had met. At the time, it seemed like my mom was trying to set me up with her or something. And maybe she was. But that's not so important. She added me as a friend on facebook, and we chatted a little bit here and there. About a year later at seminary graduation (so like two weeks ago) I saw her again and talked to her a little bit. After the graduation, I thought to myself "She seems like rather a fun person, I don't really know why, but I would like to become friends". Eventually, I got her number and we texted eachother a bit. Now here's where it gets strange. Both of our favorite colors are Orange, we come from big families, She likes Sushi, Pizza, and Curry, Enjoys hiking, is not very good at sports like myself. Amongst other things, She loves golf and also happens to be allergic to cats! We both think its pretty strange how much we have in common. Oh and she is very much a fan of the 1800's. We decided to hang out and go hiking this last Thursday. It was really fun. She's super easy to get along with, not to mention she has a great sense of humor. I think our brains run on similar wave lengths, cause we seem to agree on most things. At least so far. Anyways, I think this is the beginning of a great friendship.

25 Best

I've been thinking about it lately, and I decided to go through my music collection and try to choose my top 25 favorite albums. Let me tell you, it was hard! I chose the albums I thought were best, albums that flow nicely, the ones you never get tired of listening to. I decided not to count greatest hit cd's to make it a little easier, only actual albums. So here they are, my top 25 (in no particular order).

American Beauty - Grateful Dead

Closing Time - Tom Waits

Come Away With Me - Norah Jones

Dire Straits - Dire Straits

First Demo Tape - Minor Threat

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

L.A. Woman - The Doors

Electric - The Cult

Let It Be - The Beatles

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

All Good Things: Studio Sessions, Run For The Roses - Jerry Garcia Band 

MTV Unplugged - Alice In Chains

Wildflowers - Tom Petty

Reckoning - Grateful Dead

The London Years - The Rolling Stones

Days Of The New 1 - Days Of The New 

The Wall - Pink Floyd

Alice - Tom Waits

Aqualung - Jethro Tull

Cheating At Solitaire - Mike Ness

Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine 

Blood Stained Hitz - Agent Orange

August And Everything After - Counting Crows

American Woman - The Guess Who

Death of a Romantic and Other Happenings

It appears that I may need to clear up a few myths. I have been waiting to write about this for a while, just to make sure. In my typical fashion, I write or say that I'm not in love anymore...and the next day or so I fall in love again. But that is not the case now. It's been three whole months since I've been in love. I don't know when or how it happened, but one day I realized I wasn't romantically interested in anyone. Don't get me wrong, I find many women very attractive and really fun to be around, but I'm just not interested in romantic relations with any. I don't feel like I can flirt anymore either (and maybe I can't). To be honest, the whole thing is really quite freaky. Doesn't make any sense to me. Oh well, it's not like I'm going to get married any time soon, so it probably doesn't matter all that much. I just want friends right now.

Other Happenings. Life has been whack lately. The last month or so, I feel like I've been living in a dream or something. Most things don't seem to affect me. Also I don't really know what to say anymore about anything. I've been more depressed than I generally am, but life has been really hard for me the last seven or so months, for various reasons that I won't mention. And my memory, something terrible has happened to my memory. I forget so much more than I used to. I've had the strangest of moods ever! Like in Seattle this past week. Also, when did I learn so much about baseball? I have become so much more serious in the last couple of months. Maybe more mature and boring too. Certainly less funny. Geez, I feel like I've been alienating myself from the world. But I haven't been doing anything different than I always used to do. I can't figure out whats happened. I still read my scriptures and pray every day. I don't do any drugs, so that certainly isn't it. Hmm, maybe I'm going through puberty again (Sure hope not!). Or my midlife crisis. Guess I'll only live to be 34. Whatever is happening though, I wish it would STOP!

The Way Life Goes

Things have been strange lately. I have zero desires to be wild. I also don't care about having attention either, which is a big part of why I blog a lot less now. I used to have to brag and tell everyone about everything I was doing, a real attention whore. Ha ha yeah, that's what I was. But these days, I'm happy to roll on the more unnoticed side. I mean heck, I just went to Mexico for a week, and only like 20 people total even knew I went. Think I may be starting to slip back into one of my little anti-social phases. Which I kind of enjoy, I usually just do a lot of art. My creativity levels seem to spike during these anti-social sessions. Another thing is somewhere in the last month or so I've gained great amounts of self discipline. For the past few weeks, I've written in a journal every day (among other self disciplinary things). That's something I've always had problems with being able to do. And homework, I've been cranking it out like crazy. Which leads to another thing. Timing. Timing has been wild for me lately, all my plans have been working out (knocks on wood). First there was the School play. That ended just in time so that I could make my poster for the Senior Luncheon and then run off to Mexico. I got back from Mexico the night before the Senior Luncheon. I then had a day to finish all of my Finals for classes. This Saturday I'm going to the Provo Temple ground breaking, and that night seeing Social Distortion. The 18th is Graduation, the 20th is Seminary Graduation, and the 21st I leave for Seattle on a school trip. So I've been able to do everything without having to choose priorities. Another thing is, I've been super relaxed. Haven't really been stressed out in the last few months. I'm just kind of doing my own thing these days. Not worrying about what others think, and not getting involved in too much drama. The only thing is: I just need to figure out what I'm going to do all summer.

Adventures In VW Land

Life has been crazy lately. Filled with madness and loads of work. I've been all over the place, doing all kinds of things. But for the moment, I'm only going to tell you about my new ride. A few months ago, my dad and I drove out to the middle of nowhere, near Vernal Utah. We were picking up a V.W. Vanagon Bus. My dad has a V.W. Syncro (the 4 wheel drive version of the Vanagon). So we went to buy this one for parts. After hauling it back, we decided "why not see what it would take to get it running?". So a few months later we took it to the mechanic, got it checked out. And guess what? It turns out, it does run. Actually, it runs better than my dad's bus. So we put a little work into it, new windshield, seat belts, a new exhaust system, all that good stuff to get it street legal. But while we were slowly getting that done, one day we were off driving in the mountains and long story short...got into a cop chase! Now I'm not going into any detail, cause you never know when Big Brother might be listening, but we narrowly escaped. It was wild! Anyways, This car is super sweet! I love driving it. It's a 1984, and it has the giant sunroof. And when I say giant, I mean giant! it takes up at least half of the roof space. It's not the prettiest car at the moment, still needs a bit of work. But it sure as heck is fun to drive. Also, it's really weird driving our other cars now, because they're automatic and it isn't, plus the bus has a much larger steering wheel than any of our other cars. Here's a picture of it.

My mom decided I needed to have one of those cheesy graduation postcard things to send to everyone. So I said "Fine! but only if I get to wear my kilt". So we took this picture amongst others. But that's what it looks like.

Luckily I should have some free time in about two weeks, so I'll get around to telling a few more tales of my recent adventures. Until then