A Thought

Our life on earth is a piece of heaven that we have been given to test us to see what we will do with it. 

I colored it and made it fancy because that way more people realize that it's important.

Just a Week

            So let me guess. You’re here to read about my life. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Quite a lot of crazy shenanigans have been happenin’ lately, so I am going to share some of my experiences over the past few days with you. For your convenience, I am going to provide with both the short version and the long version, and you may choose which you would like to read.

June:

            I’m not working the next show at the Scera, so I don’t have to work every evening this month. Instead I’d like to try out some freelance bagpiping or something and see how I fare. I’m going to single’s ward now, and I don’t really know anybody in that ward, but my stake is awesome. Institute is also really fun, so you should all come. I’ve been doing a lot of cool stuff like running and swimming and such, and going to seven peaks and overall just adventuring Provo because there are still things I don’t know about it. Also I’m getting good at chess. Challenge me, if you dare.

Lately:

Short Version:

            Last Saturday I got to go boating with Kate and it was super awesome but it made me really sore, and it was great. After that I went to the quadruple birthday party thing, but I didn’t really do much there because I was so wiped out from boating. On Monday I played some Frisbee which further exhausted me. I love Frisbee. On Tuesday I got to go to see DCI! Yay! I love DCI; it’s rather exciting. But anyway, I didn’t get back from that until about midnight, and at that point I went down to my family’s parade spot to guard it and protect my cousins from all the crazies gallivanting around the town. And holy cow, I’ve never seen so many completely insane people. Why in the world would hundreds of people yell and scream and party into 3 in the morning?! That was complete insanity. So basically I got to sleep at 4:30. The next morning I woke up at 5:30 to get ready to run the Freedom Run! This was my first time running a 5K off of 1 hour of sleep, but I still managed to improve my time by more than 2 minutes. Which is not half bad. Anyway, after that I went to the parade and yelled cheery things at the Timpview band when they played. That night I watched the fireworks for stadium of fire out on my Grandparents’ lawn (which has a picture perfect view, by the way.) Also my car got stranded a block away from my house due to stadium traffic. The next morning I woke up and got to go to Lagoon with the Timpview Band (they needed another chaperone) so all day I was partying there and just having a grand old time. Friday/Saturday I went camping with my family and got to see some epic dinosaur bones and schwim in a reservoir. Basically I could sleep for a week right now, and I’ve had the best week ever.

Long Version

            Alright, here I go. Lots of writing. Yay! So the boating last Saturday was a total party, and you should look at the pictures on Facebook because they’re probably much more exciting than whatever I may be writing here. Basically it was Kate’s parents, Kate, Cami, Riley, John W, and myself all having a total party out on Utah lake. We didn’t do any wakeboarding or anything (except for Riley who somehow managed to wrangle himself onto someone else’s boat) but we did do a lot of tubing. At first we had two tubes, but then we switched them out for a bigger one that you could stand up on and was super intense, which at one point we fit all us kids onto and had tube battles of craziness. The water was warm and wonderful (except for some weird cold patches) and the sun was magnificent. Story! Riley and I were on the big tube (Cami and Kate and John were floating off in the water somewhere) and Kate’s Dad was trying to throw us licorice, but it generally ended up sinking to the bottom of the lake. A few tries in he threw one and I jumped after it and managed to catch it before it sank to the bottom. I got it back on the tube then yelled back “Thirty second rule!” Sometimes I’m funny. And no, I didn’t actually eat it. Nasty water. But anyway, I want to go boating much more often now.

            Last Saturday evening there was a quadruple birthday party for four of my fantastic friends, and it was super great because so many people were there! Many of whom I missed very much due to not seeing them previously in the summer. I was very tired, so I did not participate in the volleyball shenanigans and such, but I did play some people at chess (and I didn’t do great at that, either.) There was also good food there; particularly watermelon. I feel like I like watermelon a lot more than most people do. But hey, I’m fine with that. Also there should be more parties of that variety.

            Monday night Frisbee was wonderful. I need to play more often. I discovered that it’s really hard to judge how far one of the light-up Frisbees is going to go because you can only see the one dot and not the angle or anything, so I’m going to have to practice night-time play.

            On Tuesday night I went to see DCI (for those of you who don’t know, this is Drum Corpse International, and it’s basically professional marching bands.) For some reason I had a staff ticket, so I was sitting in the nice seats next to Mr. Hearld, but I wanted to see the shows from higher up, so at intermission I went and sat up next to the band. There was a band there called the Crusaders that I absolutely loved. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of them before, because they were pretty darn good. I also really liked Phantom Regiment this year, and I was sad that the Cadets weren’t there because last year they were so good! I think the shows were a little less exciting than last year, but they were still amazing. Most of them just had weird or lame music like SCV. DCI made me excited to visit Timpview during Fall Band. It’s going to be odd not performing with them.

            After DCI, at around 12:30 AM I believe, I went down to our parade spot, which was next to Seven Eleven. At Seven Eleven there were hundreds of hoodlums crazily partying, surrounded by police officers watching for trouble. There were also crazies cruising the streets on bikes or scooters or in cars or even atop segways, and nutters just walking around looking for some “fun.” I was completely astonished by the level of unwise activities going on as late as 4 in the morning. I really had no idea that south Provo got that insane on the night before the fourth. Where did all those people come from, and why weren’t they at home in their beds asleep?! Anyway, I had to stay up to guard all my cousins from some of those sketchy people, and plus it was too loud and bright to conceivably sleep anyway (except somehow my cousin Ashley slept through everything. I’m still impressed by that.) That last thing I heard before I slept for maybe an hour was “let’s go get breakfast now” from a passing stranger.

            After my little nap I went home and changed into my little freedom run shirt and drank some juice or something, and then I went to the starting line of the race. I felt kind of sick from not sleeping, but I’ve felt worse and still run, so I was not deterred. The actual race was really fun, and the course was exciting because I saw so many friendly familiar faces along the parade route! I kept trying to talk to the people running with me, but none of them would say anything back, and I’m pretty sure they all thought I was a weirdo. My final time was 26 minutes and 42 seconds, which I guess is okay. I might run another one on the 14^th and try to break 25 minutes. Afterward they gave us powerade and ice cream sandwiches and stuff, so obviously I couldn’t have been happier.

            When I was done eating ice cream sandwiches (which I didn’t know was possible until that day [being done, I mean.]) I went to watch the actual parade. It was really fun to see my Timpview band march by and get to see what it actually looks like, but I missed marching in it. Overall the parade was more boring than I thought it would be. I wished I could have seen the bands for longer and everything else for not as long. Actually there was some other awesome stuff, like some girls doing acrobatics on horses (not quite as cool as horseback archery, but great all the same), and I couldn’t argue with pretty girls on floats smiling and waving at me, but I wasn’t much interested in politicians in old cars driving by or sirens blaring in my face. I also got to beat some second cousins at chess, though, so it was good.

            That night I got to chill with my cousins some more and watch the awesome stadium fireworks, which I would say were the best fireworks that I’ve ever seen. Basically I just love my family. They’re great. And my grandpa is a fantastic cook and root beer brewer. After that I was going to help kidnap Dani for her birthday, but the traffic was so horrendous that I could hardly get two blocks home. Every time there’s a game or something like this cars park all along both sides of the street all over my neighborhood so that only one car can fit between them, and then cars try to go both ways through and it’s a nightmare.

            Chaperoning the band Lagoon day on the fifth of July was just plain amazing. I’m so happy that I got to see so many of my little band friends again! Most of the day I hung out with Derek and Nate and Allison and Daniel, and we probably had the most fun out of anyone there. We considerably cheered up all the poor people who have to run all of those theme park game things by talking to them, and we nearly made Nate throw up from spinning in the spinny cup on the merry-go-round. We did that last year too, and almost made Nick sick. Oh, good times. Anyway, some of the rides at Lagoon are starting to seem slightly boring and slow, as opposed to when I was scared to death of them when I was small. I really want to try the catapult thing, but it’s really expensive. Bleh. Oh well. I still have fantastically fun days every time I go. I very much like intense rides and spinning stuff. And I cannot get enough of that awesome funnel cake! Also, Nate, you still owe me $10. Actually 12 because of the other 2 I lent you to get in.

            On Friday I went camping with my family, and Robert and I had to sleep in a tent because there’s not room for all of us to sleep in the RV. After we got in the tent it started to pour, and the rainfly started leaking. Also the tent smelled weird from some scout campout. Robert and I were laughing for like half an hour because it was so awful. Luckily the rain stopped and we managed to be mostly dry by morning.

            The next morning we got to go swimming in the reservoir (I forgot which one, but it was somewhere near Duchesne, I think.) The water was very cold, but it was still fun, because there were really cool rocks in it and even some ammonite fossils (nothing like the ones we found in Myrup’s field Ecology class though.) After that we went to two different dinosaur museums, and I got to see more real fossils than I ever have before. Really, it was stunningly awesome. I felt like a legit paleontologist, only I didn’t have to do the boring stuff like coat bones in plaster. Anyway, I had a ridiculously awesome week. I love adventuring. J

People Sometimes Have the Same Thoughts

Sometimes something good comes from a catastrophe. 

If you need a friend, 

Don't look to a stranger.

You know in the end, 

I'll always be there.

And when you're in doubt,

And when you're in danger,

Take a look all around, 

And I will be there.

I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of the right words to say;

I know that they don't sound the way I planned them to be,

But if you wait around a while, I'll make you fall for me,

I promise you, I promise you I will.

When your day is through,

And so is your temper,

You know what to do, 

I'm gonna always be there.

Sometimes if I shout, 

It's not what's intended.

These words just come out,

With no gripe to bear. 

I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of the right words to say,

I know that they don't sound the way I planned them to be,

And if I have to walk the world to make you fall for me,

I promise you, I promise you I will. 

Heart beats fast

Colors and promises

How to be brave

How can I love

When I'm afraid to fall

But watching you stand alone

All of my doubt

Suddenly goes away

Somehow

I have died every day

Waiting for you

Darling don't be afraid

I have loved you 

For a thousand years

I'll love you for

A thousand more

All along I believed

I would find you

Time has brought

You heart to me

I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for

A thousand more.

And sometimes something wonderful comes from something wonderful

You, doin' that thing you do,

Breaking my heart into a million pieces

Like you always do.

And you, don't mean to be cruel,

You never even knew about the heartache

I've been going through.

Well I try and try to forget you, girl, 

But it's just so hard to do

Every time you do that thing you do. 

I know all the games you play,

And I'm gonna find a way to let you know

That you'll be mind someday.

'Cause we could be happy, can't you see?

If you'd only let me be the one to hold you

And keep you here with me

'Cause I try and try to forget you, girl,

But it's just so hard to do

Every time you do that thing you do

I don't ask a lot girl, 

But I know one thing's for sure.

It's the love I haven't got, girl,

And I just can't take it anymore

'Cause it hurts me so just to see you go

Around with someone new,

And if I know you you're doing that thing,

Every day just doing that thing,

I can't take you doing that thing you do. 

And sometimes your life has absolutely nothing to do with any of the songs stuck in your head. 

But sometimes it does. 

I Know What to do With My Life

I have finally figured out what I should do with my life! I can't believe that I didn't see it before!

First of all, I'm going to quit percussion, and all music, in fact. No more wasting my time playing piano or fiddling around with drums. I'm done with that junk.
Also, I'm quitting journalism, and anything else that has to do with writing. I know that I've always aspired to be a writer, but I really don't have what it takes. I guess that I don't even enjoy it all that much, it's just, yuck.
And my little passtimes like Chess and stuff are out too. Hobbies are distracting me from my ultimate goal.
Finally, I'm contacting BYU and telling them that I no longer want to attend, because the answer to what I'm going to do has just come in the mail.

I just received a scholarship to play basketball at the University of Utah. 


It's seriously like all my dreams have come true. This is a real chance for me to let people see my real talent, for it is on the court that I really shine. I plan to play for 4 years for UVU, and lead them to some incredible victories, and then I'll go straight on to play professional basketball. This is a great option for me, I feel, because I will have plenty of money and I won't have to spend time studying or anything like that. I know that I haven't let many people know about my secret passion for basketball because I thought that they would make fun of me, but now that I'm actually playing on a college team I don't even care what people think about me anymore, because I will be doing what I love. I'm so excited!

 This will be me one day.

 My hero, right there.

 So cool.

Look at that. Wow. 

There's really nothing quite like that feeling you get when the ball swishes right through the hoop from a perfect three. It's just paradise. 

Oh, and in case you didn't quite realize yet...

April fools.