Sunday, June 26, 2011

First Week done!

Now just seven more to go.
Yesterday I went to my cousin's wedding, which was pretty fun. I saw some relatives and met some new ones, including quite possibly the cutest little baby ever. I'm glad I went, even though that means now that I have a bunch of reading to do today. Thankfully my prof told us he only expects us to "read for the forest, not for the trees" and that it's more about understanding the big idea and he doesn't expect us to be reading every page. So after church today there is going to be some serious "for the forest" reading going on.
   I've also discovered a terrible thing. Before I left for Provo, I decided that while I was gone I was going to work on getting more sleep, which I've actually been doing a pretty good job of. I typically get about 8 hours now, rather than the 5 or 6 I was getting last year. The only problem with that is that now when I do get only 5 or so hours, I'm extremely tired, where as before I was just always in a constant state of doziness.
Soo.... possibly still going to post a big long update, we'll just have to see.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Slender Man?

I started watching second season of Marble Hornets last night. That's a good thing to do alone, in the dark, in a city you've lived in for less than a week, were you barely know anyone or where anything is and you have to walk, usually alone, if you want to get anywhere right? Man, that show is freaky... Good thing it's summer and it takes forever to get dark.
 The big long update of my adventures is coming I promise, it's just taking me a while to write it.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

I Live Here Now!

Hello you all. Tomorrow I shall write you again and fill you in on all of my Utahian adventures thus far but right now, since I have to go to sleep soon I'll just give you a virtual tour of where I'm living.
Don't be fooled by the title, I do not live in a dumpster.

Here's the street where I live 
and here is my building 

when you first walk in there is a "living room". The door in this photo is the entrance/exit 
Next to the "living room" is the "dining room" 
and across from the "dining room" is the kitchen. 

across from the "living room" is a hallway 

The first door on the left is a closet 

The second door on the left is the bathroom 
The third door on the left is my room mate Elizabeth's  room. I actually don't know what it looks like in there. She's kind of shy and stays in there a lot. 
The door straight down the hallway is another closet
And the door to the left is the room I share with Autumn. Look, there she is! 
This is my half 
Here's my bed. It's the top one. 
The front of the room.Oh look, you can see Kiba. 
Fiver, in his new home on my windowsill
Here's my closet 
And the rest of it. It's a walk in. 
And the wonderful view of the ground from my window 

Provo is like right at the base of the mountains so they are everywhere! I tried to take some pictures of them but it was kind of cloudy today. Here are a few, I'll try and take some better ones later. 









I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of where I am now living, I'll be sure to take some more pictures later and update you with a bunch of words tomorrow. 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Day Sixty

So.... turns out that I typed out this whole post yesterday but forgot to publish it. So ya'll are just going to have to pretend you're traveling back in time.

We made it all the way to day 60! Ah! That means I graduate today!

Day 60 - A picture of something you’re excited about




Ha, what a silly question considering that this entire challenge has really just been a countdown to graduation. Obviously that is something I'm excited for. I haven't actually graduated yet, so I can't show you any pictures of it, but I did take a few pictures yesterday in my robe (wow, that makes me feel like I live in Harry Potter land) since I was wearing it for my Baccalaureate.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Day Fifty Nine

Day 59 - A picture of a random item that you own.


I guess this isn't exactly something random, but it is an item that I own and I just got it today. And it took me 4 years so I felt like showing it off a little.


This is the cool cover of the case 

Seminary Diploma, yeah! 

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Day Fifty Eight

Day 58 - A picture of your favorite animal.


Photo of a Grey wolf


I don't really have a favorite animal but in middle school it was a wolf, so I guess that's what it is now.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Day Fifty Seven

Day 57 - A picture of your favorite holiday.








My last post was far to long so I'll keep this one nice and short. I already told you about Labor Day and why I like it so I would say for this that my favorite holiday is a tie between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Day Fifty Six

Day 56 - A picture of something that makes you happy.


Victory_silhouette


       I thought about this thing for a while and what I finally decided to go with it small victories. You might remember I alluded to this a little bit on day 12 (something you love) when I talked about how I loved the feeling of learning. What I mean more specifically though this time is an actual victory over something. Not a real big thing though. Although I obviously appreciate and enjoy big victories, in a way the little ones make me more happy. I guess that's because really almost every big victory is made up of several little ones. Also, in smaller victories, the  change  between being in a place of frustration and confusion to a place of understanding and success is much more immediate and so the contrast makes it seem that much better. 
        You guys probably already know what I'm talking about, but just to clarify I guess I'll give you an example or so.  I remember last year in my math class we were starting some new subject thing and we had been working on it for a few days. I was honestly trying to pay attention in class but I just didn't understand what was going on. I kept telling myself, "Oh, well, you just need to see more examples and then you'll get it." and similar types of nonsense, and of course being my typical self I was too proud to ask someone for clarification or to stay after and ask the teacher for help. I just kept telling myself that it really didn't matter, I would get it when I looked at it later. It figures then that was the night that we had like 40 homework problems all using this concept that I didn't understand and you know math, you always build on what you've already learned, so if you don't get the first thing, you're in a world of hurt. 
      Well, I got home that day and eventually decided to pull out the math. I'm sure you're not surprised that I still didn't understand it. I must have studies that stupid book for over an hour. I read the entire chapter, poured over every example problem, and tried to work out every even problem (Since the answers were in the back so I would know if I was doing it right). After tireless work with no success, I finally got to the point where I was just so angry and frustrated that I picked up my book and threw it across the room. 
     Eventually, since aside from being far to proud I'm also way to stubborn ( I blame genetics. My great grandfather once had a heart attack on a plane but didn't say anything and just toughed it out until he was off the flight) and refused to let myself give up, I picked up my book, cleared my mind, prayed for understanding, and decided to try again. It didn't come right away, but after a little while something just clicked and I got it. I was able to do all 40 or whatever problems and even got almost all of them right. 
       Ok, this post is already way, way too long but I'm in a talkative mood so here's another good example I just thought of. When I first got my guitar in December, I at first had trouble figuring it out. I guess that's pretty normal, I mean it is a new instrument that I had no idea how it play. I wasn't expecting to be able to just pick it up and play something like magic or anything like that, but I was just having more trouble understanding it than I anticipated. I kept trying chords,scales, easy songs, and different stuff for beginners but nothing seemed to work out right. It never sounded right. In this case I wasn't angry or frustrated like I was with my math work, just disappointed I guess that I couldn't get it. Then I eventually decided to try tab and so I got a tab version of "Blackbird". I sat down to try and play it. I played the first note and it sounded exactly like it should. I was ecstatic. The tried to play through the rest of the song, and I did eh, ok, but it didn't matter to me anymore because that first note was perfect and if one note could be perfect I knew eventually that they all would be.
     It's silly really when you think about it. One College Algebra math concept and one note on the guitar in a song for beginners?  In the grand scheme of things, and even in the grand scheme of my own life these aren't things that are important or significant. No one is going to look back and list "understood College Algebra" or "Learned to play 'Blackbird'" in my list of great and wonderful accomplishments. So then why should those things matter? To you they might not, but to me they do. Because these little thing, these small, insignificant, unimportant victories continue to prove to me time and time again that although it may take work and sweat, frustration and tears, and most certainly it may take time, nothing you long to accomplish is ever truly out of reach and nothing you strive to achieve is ever actually impossible.           

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Day Fifty Five

Day 55 - A picture of the last movie you saw in theaters.



Although soon I'm seeing X-men. 

Monday, June 6, 2011

Day Fifty Four

Day 54 - A picture of the one thing you would bring if you were stranded on a deserted island.

A boat. Or is that not allowed? 

If I wasn't able to bring a boat and there was already food and shelter on the island then 


Sun Screen. There's nothing worse being horrifically sun burned when you're trapped on a deserted island with no one to talk to and nothing to do, I assume. 

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Day Fifty Three

Day 53 - A picture of someone you think is hot.


    I actual had a little trouble with this one. I would think of someone who I though was good looking and then I would Google them to find a good picture, but the more I looked at whoever it was, the more they seemed to look less good looking and more average, until eventually I had to find a new person. It's kind of like when you get your school pictures taken. First you look at your picture and you think "oh, this isn't so bad, I actually looking kind of good!" and then you look at it again and you realize that you only look ok, until finally you hate your picture and want a new one. I'm pretty sure that when you're looking at hot guys, that's actually the opposite of how it's supposed to work, but I don't know, maybe I'm just weird or I just have weirdly high standards. 
     The other kind of crazy thing that happened when I was looking for people for this, was that after I eventually picked a few, I laid them all out on my desktop to see who I like the best, and they all pretty much looked the same. So, I guess I have a type and I never even knew o.0 
Here are the top three 


Christian Bale 



Milo Ventimiglia



Lee Pace

Although after seeing Pushing Daisies I think I would describe him more as adorable. 

Day Fifty Two

Day 52 - A picture of your favorite sport.


      As usual, the answer to this question will be somewhat lengthy and complicated. As a kid in elementary school and middle school, I played my fair share of sports. I played hockey for a year in elementary school, basketball for three years in middle school and was on my church team, I did track for a year in 8th grade, and I progressed through the ranks of softball, (t-ball, coach pitch, semi-coach pitch, normal softball, competitive softball), up until I think the 7th grade. Also in elementary school and the beginning of middle school my friends were the popular boys so we would cycle through playing football (touch when the recess duties were around), basketball, kickball, four square, and occasionally wall ball and soccer. Aside from being on actual teams, I think that I have somewhat of a competitive nature anyway, since I tend to want to make normal things contests a lot. 
     So, obviously I do like sports, and with my experience (oh yeah, there was also P.E. in there) I do know how most of them work. So if I went to any kind of game I would be able to follow it and I if I wanted to play I would probably at least know how you were supposed to. I never really cared that much though about following any professional teams. I enjoy the occasional game, but I never know who's playing in the Super Bowl until the day before. 
     I actually now that I think about it owe a lot to my involvement in sports since it's how I indirectly met most of my friends. I think also my minor involvement in sports has partially made my friends consider me "the strong one" even though I'm really not any stronger than they are and I Katy was involved in soccer all through out growing up and was on the tennis team every year in high school, but you know, whatever. 
     So now that you know all that stuff you didn't care about, on to the pictures!       


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Football is pretty fun to play (at least it was in my experience as a middle school and elementary schooler) the most interesting sport to watch. I'll admit though that the reason I like watching it the best is more for the atmosphere than the game itself. Football is just a really social event. Everyone always goes to the games and dresses up in their team's colors, so you can always find people there to hang out and goof around with. It's also pretty loud so it gives you a chance to scream and yell and cheer like crazy.  


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Basketball is the most interesting sport to watch if you actually want to go to pay attention to the game. I'd say it's my second favorite sport to play too. Even though it isn't as much as a social event, there are still pretty good crowds there. The cool thing about basketball is that the score can change really fast and things can be really fast paced, so get drawn in a lot more than you do with other sports. Also, I love for some reason when someone turns really quickly on a gym floor and their shoes make the really loud squeaking sound. When you're watching a game it just makes everything seem all the more intense.  


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Softball is by far my favorite sport to play. As I mentioned earlier, I traveled up the ranks of softball right up until the point where it started getting really competitive. Before I left though I did establish myself as an awesome 3rd baseman and a relief pitcher. I also mentioned earlier that my involvement in sports was how I indirectly met most of my friends. What happened was that when I started middle school I was in a new town from where I went to elementary school so I really didn't know anyone except for Riley, Karoline and a few other kids I went to church with and Kelsey who was the catcher on my softball team. Kelsey and I were friends and so I mostly hung out with her around school. As it turns out, she was friends with Chelsea, Hillary and Katy and so we met through her. James I knew since our brothers were friends and Scott joined us later, I think from knowing Katy. Eventually we formed a group of awesome. There were two other kids in our group of awesome they both moved away (one to another state and one to another school). I don't know if you remember but that middle school group of awesome is the same group of people from day 37 (the people you spend the most time with) with the exception of Natalie, who I formally met in 9th grade. Even though apparently our parents were in the same ward in a different city before we were born. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Day Fifty one

Day 51 - A picture of your dream car.



No, you're not going crazy, it's not a car. It's better.

Day Fifty

Day 50 - A picture of your most frequented place.


Grey Wolf Hall at the Community College 


Signing the wall in the ex-costume room at my high school. I guess I don't have a picture of just the school. Too bad this isn't last year, I must of taken a thousand pictures of the school as Yearbook Assistant Editor. 

 
Well, here's the welcome sign to the school. I guess that's the best I can do. 


School is defiantly the place I frequent most. I go to the community college almost everyday obviously for classes, and even though I don't take any classes there I still end up at my high school all the time for drama rehearsal or meetings, sports, assemblies, senior stuff etc.Sometimes I feel like I spend more time at school than at home and sometimes, like towards the end of the play, it's probably true.