Sunday, December 14, 2008

Randomm Thoughts and Awesome Occurences

So, this blog has been a long time in the making. It all started a couple of weeks ago in my Museums and Cultures class when my teacher made a remark that was something like "If you wanna see the freak show today, all you have to do is watch TLC." Which is pretty much true. They have the freak families, freak accidents at normal jobs, freak people. Just pretty much freaks all around. Just a random thought....
Since my last post there have been some pretty fun happenings. And by last post, I mean first post. Yeah, I know I don't do a good enough job of posting those kinds of things as they happen but hopefully I'll get better.
Firstly, I went to see a production of Savior of the World at the Meganacle.
It was the first time I had seen anything in the Conference Center so that was a fun experience. Amy's roommate, Leesa (she's the one on the far right), works backstage for the show and scored some tickets for her roommates and their dates to see one of the dress rehearsals. Aside from a few technical issues the show ran well and we all had a great time. After the show, Leesa showed us around the tunnels underneath the Conference Center and around backstage. We even got to go on the set and walk around which was way cool.
Another fun time that was had was our American Appreciation Night that we held for Kellie.
Kellie had applied for a study abroad program in London and didn't get accepted (which turned out to be okay because she later got accepted to one in Italy which I think is way better than London) so we threw her a surprise party at Amy's. First, Wistie, Wistie's friend Allie, and I went over to Kellie's and kidnapped her by throwing a blanket over her head and rushing her out the door and into her car. Matt drove us over to Amy's place and I carried her into the apartment. We had a grand old time eating American foods like hamburgers and hot dogs and watching An American Tale, playing with sparklers, and singing America the Beautiful. It was a pretty fun way to show Kellie that we loved her even though she couldn't go to London. But like I said before, now she gets to go to Italy for 6 weeks and I'm slightly jealous of her.

Have you ever wondered how people come up with the warnings for medications like "do not take while operating heavy machinery"? I mean, some of them are easy like "do not take while breast feeding" but some of them are weird. For example, yesterday I was watching TV at my sister's house and this commercial came on for some medication for some prostate condition and one of the warnings was "If you are considering cataract surgery, please notify your optometrist that you are using this drug". Now this got me thinking, what if they develop this drug and then have a team of people just sitting around asking "Well, we have this drug, what warnings should we have?" "I dunno, lets try it on this guy and then have him go through cataract surgery." A few days later: "Man, that didn't turn out so well. We better write that one down." Man takes note on pad.

I heard the other day that Mr. T talked someone out of a coma. Yeah, apparently the kid had been in a coma for like 20 years and his arm would twitch every time someone mentioned Mr. T's name (I wonder if anyone thought they would try and get a kick out of just sitting next to the bed and telling a plethora of Mr. T jokes) so the doctors called Mr. T and asked him to swing by. When Mr. T finally made it over there, he went the guy's room and started praying out loud and the kid woke up. Pretty crazy story.

Oh yeah, so another fun thing that I was apart of was a Guy Fawkes celebration bonfire. For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Guy Fawkes, you can google him or watch the first bit of V for Vendetta. Guy Fawkes day is a celebration held over in England and for an FHE activity, my family wanted to celebrate it. We didn't get to celebrate it on the real day, November 5th, because of bad weather, so when the weather got better, we went up to a campsite up in Provo Canyon. Brian built a nice fire and Kim made a little stick effigy of Guy Fawkes with a marshmallow head, gave a little explanation on why we celebrate Guy Fawkes Day for the uninformed, and then threw it into the fire.
We mostly spent the rest of the time making s'mores and melting starburst and just hanging out. There was also this cool log swing thingie in a tree close to the fire pit area so we had fun with that.

So yeah, theres a little glimpse into my life at the BYU. All of these activities are usually enough to keep me out of trouble but sometimes I get cornered and have to deal with the swarms of girls that follow me around.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Part 2

So we failed to do the things that I mentioned in the earlier post and as a result, we got wasted. I'll never understand why we didn't run more, keeping it out of Hall's hands. Oh well, I'm excited for next year!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

The Holy War-First Half

This is my first official blog coverage of the BYU-UofU football game. Some initial observations at halftime:

Utah doesn't even need a run game. Brian Johnson is on the money with all of his throws. There have been a lot of short passes, although they have scored once on a huge pass play. Why do we give them such a cushion?

Our run game is going well. Unga has two TD's, which is a really good thing, especially since Hall hasn't exactly been on the money with his throws nor has he made good desicions. This is evidenced by the interception right before halftime when all he needed was to run the four yards for the first down. Then he reacts in the wrong way with a Ute and costs us fifteen yards, setting up the long Ute TD.

If we win this game we'll have to get to Johnson more on defense, and Hall will have to be smarter. Period.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Friendship is Rare

So theres this song by Tenacious D about friendship and it just popped in my head. I love my friends. They're always looking out for me, making sure I'm taken care of, making sure I'm having fun. Some of the best friends in the world. Right at this moment, I'm in Salt Lake City for a reunion that all of us who worked at Jacob Lake this last summer are attending. Its been so great to see the people who I shared a ton of fun and created a ton of memories with. Right before I started writing this, one of them, Russ (who we all thought wasn't gonna be able to make it), surprised me with his presence. I'm so blessed to have such good friends. Kinda reminds me of another song that talks about friends, thats what its all about. Can't live without friends.....
Anyways, at school there are five of us that usually hang out (my friend Kellie calls it the fab 5):
First, there is Wistie.
As you can see from the camo and the shoulder holster, she's pretty legit. She's from Mesa and she made my food for me at Jacob Lake. Kinda like a slave, only she got paid. Just kidding, she worked in the kitchens and I was a waiter so technically she made other people's food for me. One thing that I think is hilarious about her is she played badmitton for Mesa High School. She even drew me a picture about it once.
Next up is Matt.
Matt's the youngest of our group, and we occasionally give him a hard time about it, but he is also a very unselfish individual. This is evidenced by all he does "for the team" so to speak. This includes driving around a majority of the time.
Being from Provo, he also has a pretty good idea of whats fun to do and when its a good time to do it. For example, this picture was taken on our way to go camping up in the mountains in September before it go too cold. Other adventures have included road trips to Idaho to see friends at BYU-I, trips to Aspen Grove to play in the snow before it got too cold in Provo,and the occasional trip to Pita Pit or Carls Jr.
Next up is Kellie, Matt's girlfriend.
Except to call her just Matt's girlfriend is a bit of an understatement. She is from California and is one of the best friends that I've ever had which is something I think most of her friends could say. One thing that I've noticed about her that is a very admirable trait is her desire to be friends. I've always known her as an individual who has strived to make her friendships stronger. More than once I've seen her apologize for something, explain her side of a situation, and then say "lets get back to being friends" or something similar to that. I also owe her for always allowing me to use her car to run errands and to take my girlfriend out on a date.
Which brings me to my girlfriend Amy.
Amy and I met at Jacob Lake and began dating around the beginning/middle of September. She is from McAllen, TX and, like me, is the eighth child in her family. She helps me do the things that I'm supposed to do and makes the things that I want to do more fun. One of my favorite things about her is that she helps me become a better person by challenging me to make the best decisions. She is also a great friend to her friends by being thoughtful of their feelings and by doing her part to make sure everyone has a fun time.
So yeah, thats pretty much it as far as my friends go. We all live relatively close together and have tons of fun, laughs, and good times. I love my friends.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

How the General Authorities Eat a Reese's

A couple of my roommates and FHE mates have talked about this a couple of times so I decided to finally look it up. They turned out to be pretty funny so I decided to share this with everyone. Enjoy!

10. Paul H. Dunn

I remember back in WWII that I ate a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Back then, they were big enough to live on for a week. Being the only soldier to have survived the battle in my brigade, I really didn’t know If I could eat it or not, but I remember my fallen buddy’s words as he died in my arms: “Paul, if you just take one bite at a time you can tackle anything.” So I took that giant cup and, breaking it with the bat Babe Ruth gave me after I struck him out with two outs in the bottom ofthe ninth in the seventh game of the World Series, proceeded to wolf down the tiny morsels.

9. David B. Haight

Imagine 70 years ago on a rough road between Idaho and Logan. There were only Circle K’s, no 7-11’s. You had to bring your Peanut Butter Cups with you. Ruby and I split one for the first time in 1937.

8. Dallin H. Oaks

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup challenges us to consume. From the beginning there have been three steps in eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. First, remove the wrapper. This is best done quickly, by turning the cup over, grasping the outer fold and pulling away from the bottom. Second…

7. Joseph B. Wirthlin

When I was young I would sprint to the corner store, buy a Reese’s and run my hand through my hair before taking it down in one bite. These days I don’t sprint, and I have no hair, but the peanut butter cup remains.

6. Richard G. Scott

If you have not eaten a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, I plead with you. Eat one now. Enjoy the chocolate, the peanut butter. Do not delay. If you have thought, “That’s not for me,” I plead with you to reconsider. Of all foods I treasure, this one was the first.

5. M. Russell Ballard

The time has come when members of the church need to reach out to our friends and share a cup, a peanut butter cup. It is not enough to raise a chocolate bar, it must now have peanut butter.

4. Boyd K. Packer

In all my years, I have always eaten my Reese’sPeanut Butter Cups the same way—the established way we have been instructed to eat them. There is a far greater evil in this world, though—those who believe they can eat their cups in a way unconventional to the time-honored manner. We must be true and faithful and eat our Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the customary and recognized approach as it has heretofore been established.

3. Neal A. Maxwell

I intentionally initiate the delicious design of the deglutition of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup by nibbling a negligible nit of the culinary creamy cavalcade. It is exclusively through small entities that the great things are fabricated.

2. Thomas S. Monson

I remember I ate my first Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I was a tender lad of eight. My mother came up to me, and with a loving twinkle in her eye, asked, ‘Tommy, are you eating a Reese’s?’

And I would invariably smile up to her, ‘Yes, yes, I am.’

‘But Tommy, did you know that Sister Jensen next door hasn’t eaten a Reese’s Cup in years?’ My young mind thought upon the plight of my neighbor. Tears were shed. Hearts were gladdened. A cup was shared.

1. J. Golden Kimball

Hell, Heber, I’ll eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup any damned way I want!

The Virgin One

Well, this is my first blog. Does this make me an official blogger? What is it that makes things official? Hmm........
So a couple of my friends and family members have blogs. It seems like a good idea. I'm on the internet enough, I think I could do it. Maybe it could be one of those things that I can do to get me in the writing mode enough to do homework. We'll see.
This is normally where I'd start saying stuff about me but I'm assuming if you are reading this then you know me. So I'll give a little recap of where I am now.
As of right now my life is moving along. I'm a poor college student finishing up my second full semester at Brigham Young University, making me closer to obtaining a degree in Anthropology. I have really good friends that I have a ton of fun with. A good portion of the friends that I spend time with, I worked with this past summer. A bunch of us former employees are getting together this weekend so that should be a blast. Plus there is the BYU-UofU game this weekend. ITS GONNA BE SO GOOD! I'm excited.
Oh so here's a crazy story. One of the girls that I home teach just got engaged. Thats not the story, thats actually the end. The beginning begins when a group of the aforementioned friends and I ventured up to Idaho to see some of the other peeps we worked with. While I was there my home teaching companion called to let me know that he was finally available to go home teaching and wanted to know if I could do it the next day, which was also the last day. I informed him that I was in Idaho and wouldn't be back until late the next day so he said he'd get his roommate to go with him. Well, his roommate and our home teachee hit it off and two months later, BAM, they're engaged. They're getting married January 17th. Crazy huh?