273

It's Wednesday, July 26, 2007. What's on my mind?

Trees. Lots of trees. Not just any trees though. We're talking slow growing, time-appreciating awesome trees.

Arborday.org

For 10 dollars (membership fee) you can get 10 trees, no shipping and handling. That's a dollar a tree. Not seeds, but little trees you can plant. For 10 bucks I could get 10 oak trees. Two Bur Oak, these are like the grandpappy of tres. They grow slow and big and awesome. And 8 other awesome kind of oak trees. How cool would that be?

Of course, I don't think that mom will spring for me planting ten trees in the yard. Maybe I could convince her to let me plant one though. Anybody want nine trees?

No seriously though, I want to plant some trees. I want to find out where I'm going to live when I'm older, and go plant trees there now. Trees increase property value and save money on heating and air conditioning. Not only that, but they're breathtaking.

So that's the plan. I'm gonna acquire some trees and plant them. If anybody's interesting in splitting 10 trees with me, let me know, because I'm pretty serious about it, providing that mom and pop are on board. Let me know.

Idea. (Been a while)

So, I've had an idea. I don't know if it's a good idea. But it's an idea nonetheless, and I think it's worth taking a look at.

We'll cut to the chase.

What if in the commons at the high school we installed a huge whiteboard with lots of markers and erasers on leashes with a big sign above it that just said "Write on me" or "Go for it" or "Edit me"?

It's a risky endeavor. What could happen? What'd be the result if you let a student body of near two thousand write and draw whatever they wanted on a whiteboard that everybody would see?

You'd have people that just try to offend others. They'd write and draw things that ought not be written nor drawn.

You'd have people that write something studid, because they can.

You'd have people that would try to write something comical, or inspiring, or a "cute" note to their friends.

You'd have people with agendas trying to get their news out. Buy the litmag!

You'd have talented folks drawing quick drawings that make people smile.

You'd have SBO's trying oh-so-hard to garner school spirit.

You'd have unoriginal folks with a classic "Shirl*, will you go with me to Sweethearts?"
*(Yes, Shirl is a man's name)

Me? What would I write? "Kyle kissed a boy"? "Poo upsidedown"? "Come to Frisbee Friday"? "Go Warrior XC" ? Or something inspiring, something noble?

I don't know what I'd write. I know for sure what I'd erase.

But who would win? The vandals or the winners? Just going off of names, I'm gonna wager the winners.

It's an interesting prospect. It gives students an unheard of level of freedom. It's a lot of trust, cause they could put some very interesting stuff up on the whiteboard. It'd be totally student regulated. If I see something I don't like, I can erase it. If somebody else sees something they don't like, they can erase it as well.

Is it worth pursuing? I honestly don't know. Who knows if the admins will go for it. I'm not convinced that it's the right thing for us to do as a high school. I just think it's worth taking a look at.

Could it raise school spirit? Yeah, I think so. It shows trust. It shows community. It's a social experiment. Above everything else, it's new and fresh. Everyday wouldn't necessarily have to be the same old, same old.

What do you guys think? Plausible, feasible? Hmmmm.

Motorboat!

So, I'm off and away for a few days to Youth Conference. I'm excited about those prospects, it's gonna be good times. It's pretty late over here, and I'm way tired. I wanted to throw some words down before I went though. I've been thinking, and it'd be a pity to lose these thoughts. Yeah, they're just my thoughts, and in reality I could journal these thoughts and be fine with it.

Ok, so I don't really want to write these thoughts. I thought I did, but I guess I don't. Huh, funny how that works, eh?

The jist of it is that it could be a solution to the problems that have been bugging me this summer. For those of you not in the know, those problems are that I'm lazy and don't make much progress in any department.

Mind you: This is just me thinking. There was once a time when I'd state this all as fact and move on with my life. But that's just not how things really work. I'm still trying to figure this out.

The main concept is centered around a verse in the B.O.M, Moroni 7:40. Everything around there is really good. It's a great chapter, really. But it talks about hope. hope is a good thing to have. I think that that's a big key right now. I've got to get some hope going on.

Maybe there'll be more to that later. For now, It's late, and I'm headed to bed. Haha! For-The-Win.

Also, the Alliance is back with an entirely new premise that is actually cool. We've got content now! There's a reason to go visit. Yea verily, it's no longer a cool concept without any stuff, it's just plain old good stuff now.

It's worth a look. If you don't like it, well, you don't ever have to visit again. But I think it's cool.

Tville Alliance

Sunday, July 15th

Blogging has changed a little bit for me lately. There is much less of a drive to post working within me these days. I am not overly concerned about it tonight, because things seem to make a lot of sense tonight.

See, in the past I've had some really strong feelings about blogging. I liked to think that it was somewhat of my duty to blog, and that by blogging I was making the world a better place.

Now whether or not other people believe that isn't the argument here. That's the way that I felt, in fact, it might still be the way I feel. I am proud of the things that I have accomplished with this blog. It's been a great tool for me, and if along the way it helped just one person have a better day or do something along those lines, it's served its purpose.

I have certain things that I want to accomplish with my life. One of the big things that I want to do is help people. More specifically, I want to help individuals. I don't like when people write like this, but it's an important factor in my life.

Which brings us back to the blog. Did it ever do that? One could argue. I believe that it did, and that makes me very happy. That's not the exclusive reason why I did the things that I did, but I'm glad of it.

Many of you at this point might be wondering why I'm writing this. This is not a farewell post. It's more of an explanation and exploration post.

I think there may be a shift in my life coming. A transition from the blog being a very important part of how I communicate with the world to more personal, individual communication. This is not a prediction or foreshadow or anything of the sort, I'm just saying that it might happen. I sort of see it happening already, but we'll see.

That'd definitely mean changes for me and my current style. I absolutely love talking to people. A few nights ago me and Nick got to have a really good talk. I'm really glad that we got to have it, it was good for me and him both. I love talks like that, and I think that they're important for everybody. I do believe that more of those are in order. One will have to work on that.

This blog, at times, has been sort of like an imaginary friend to me. If I'm upset or particularly excited about it I can come and write and explain things. It's a way to communicate feelings with what feels like an audience. Whether or not there truly is an audience is never entirely determined until later. But one can communicate the important feelings of the day to the ever faithful 'create post' window.

There is much that I've thought about today. I've had some really good discussions with my mom and dad and Michael. A lot about the future, a lot about how I want to live my life right now and in the future as well. And therefore there's a lot that I could write here. I could talk a lot about soda pop and water and compost heaps and all that. About how I think you should live your life. About how I want to live my life. What I want to study, what I want to do. The differences between my situation and my brothers. All important things to me right now.

But I feel good enough that I don't think that this is the place for all that right now. I think that there'll be a time for it. A season, if you will. I do love the idea of seasons.

There's a lot out there. Tonight is an excellent night because I feel calm and open-eyed. I want to go for a walk, but it's 1 AM. Feels earlier though.

I think we're going to be alright. The future looks amazing. There's a lot of brightness out there. There's a lot of good stuff being lined up for us. Opportunities await. There's a lot that we can accomplish, a lot of good that we can do for people.

I often wonder about good. Does doing good do any good if it doesn't last?

There's a lot of good that we can do. And it will last. And it is important. And even if it's not a permanent solution, fixing something for a moment is good. Making someone smile, just for a minute, is important. I hope that this comes off right. It's not my usual style. I don't want to sound like I think I've got this figured out, because I don't. But I think it's what I want to say tonight.

Good. I want to do good. And I want things to be good. I want to be a more helpful person. I want to influence more people's lives for good. How am I going to do that?

I've got some ideas. Normally I'd write a list here. I don't necessarily feel like a list here. But I've got some ideas. And I'ma work with them.

Just know, if you ever need something, I'm here. I'm ready to talk. Give me a call, tell me and we'll go take a walk on the parkway. Man or woman, Nick or Kyle. I want to be there if somebody needs it, so here and there I am.

We're gonna be alright friends. The future looks astoundingly bright.

Water - Unfinished

I decided to write a few paragraphs to start the next little water doober. This might be temporary, but either way, here it is.

~

Ending a chapter with "...and then everything changed forever" has always been bad practice. Even prehistoric authors writing on cave walls felt it left a bad mark on their petroglpyhs. By the time Plato began his lectures on spelunking, "...and then everything changed forever", had been used as a quasi-cliffhanger so many times that it had prompted the entire city-state of Athens to forbid its use in any oral or literary form. Yeah, it's that old.

The author of this piece graciously acknowledges that information. It was after several moments of great caution, with an emphasis on deliberation and serious self reflection that the aforementioned line was approved for inclusion in the piece.

How else, the author concluded, could one adequately capture and portray the utter awkwardness of the whole situation at hand? Copeman Leeds, driving down the motorway, and suddenly his seatbelt didn't fit comfortably.

Things "suddenly" happen to ordinary people. Somebody writes about it. But Copeman wasn't ordinary and Copeman knew he wasn't ordinary. It was therefore unfortunate, as he saw it, that this seatbelt problem had arisen with such a queer sense of velocity.

~

Water - Ordinary

Stories don't start with someone extraordinary, and thus it is fitting that this story neither begins nor ends with Copeman Leeds.

He was a toaster advocate. When he gave friends and associates three guesses as to what his profession was, nobody ever got it right. As far as Leeds knew, he was the only one of his kind in the world.

Leeds had a quest. Ordinary people, when they heard his extraordinary plan, were never quite convinced he wasn't off his rocker. It was an admittedly ambitious plan, a long term endeavor that Leeds would never see come to fruition. He accepted that; it was his plan.

Leeds wasn't necessarily a brilliant fellow, but in some regards he could beat a dog at a game of chess. He didn't possess the hyper-focus that allowed some individuals to solve the great problems of the universe regarding the space time continuum. No, Leeds wasn't Newton or Einstein or even Richard Feynman. What set Leeds apart as an extraordinary individual was his ability and willingness to see the whole picture and act on what he saw.

He knew what he wanted, and he saw toasters as the means to obtain it.

One day as Leeds hungered in his youth he went to the freezer. A foreign package awaited him there, something he'd never seen in his freezer before. They were Eggos. Delicious and wholesome Eggos. He'd seen them advertised for years, but his family wasn't the type to go out and buy Eggos. He had wanted them when he saw the commercials as a lad, but he had accepted the fact that the path his family chose did not include the pseudo-waffles. L'eggo my eggo, the commercials said. L'eggo my dreams, thought Leeds.

But the fact remained that suddenly there were Eggo's in his freezer. He was hungry, and he had a strong faith that the Eggo's would remedy that. He selected a few and rushed off to the toaster. He knew a bit about the comestibles from the television commercials, and thus he understood that the toaster was the next step in the evolution from waffle to juices in his stomach. He inserted the circular goodness and depressed the lever to begin the toasting process. Life for the youthful Leeds was excellent.

There arose a serious problem. Leeds didn't know how long to toast the Eggos. His toaster, which so brilliantly detected when bread was done toasting, didn't know how long the Eggos needed crisping either. Frantically he checked the packaging. Packaging always told how long to toast things. He found no answers there. He longed for some sign from the manufacturers, some morsel of knowledge that simply said, "Toast on seven for a minute and a half." Was that so much to ask?

Leeds was globally-aware enough to realize that it was. Toasters are different. A seven on his Kenmore on the counter wasn't the same as the seven on Hernando Sanchez's Toastmaster he kept next to his desktop. Asking the fine makers of Eggos to somehow know exactly which number to turn the dial to on his individual toaster was madness.

But Leeds, no longer concerned about the now browning and smoking status of his Eggos, had an epiphany. Why is the seven on my toaster different from any other toaster? There's really no reason for it. What does my seven mean? What does my eight mean? Why does that toaster go to eleven when mine only goes to nine? There's no logic behind the system! There's a better way, surely!

Leeds knew it. There was no denying it: the toaster industry needed reform. He had known it was coming for a long time. He had seen the problems in other industries before. Why the Americans were still using the English system of measurement he had no idea. There was no reason that Leeds couldn't find out how long to toast his Eggo and on what dial setting. No reason, other than the fact that the toaster industry had no definable standards or leaders. There was no government there; only toast.

That was many years ago. Our extraordinary specimen of a man had been on his quest for three months now. Of course he had been planning long before the actual launch date. He went through college and formed relationships and networks. He led a life, and a fairly successful life at that. All that aside, he took his questing seriously.

Leeds' plan was unique in that it started with toasters. He fully expected that the world would change because of his plan. Nobody else, with such a lofty goal, had ever started with toasters before. He was forging a new path here. And, if he was successful, nobody would ever have to forge that same new ground again. Oh yes, Leeds was in it for reals.

The world needed to be more unified. Not unified as in government peaceful happy unified, but unified in the "let's work together to make sure I weigh the same in Thailand as I do in Canada" unified. Leeds knew his history. He knew about the World Wars, and why the Americans sided with one side over the other. The ties that bound them; the world needed more ties. Having the same number on your toasters was a big step to helping people realize that the Asians were just the same as the Germans deep down.

He would start with the toaster industry. He'd work as long as it took to get all the big names in bread-conversion to make a standard on their number system. He didn't really care what form it took, he just knew that it was needed. He'd document everything that he did, keeping careful record. After all the work, when everything was done, he'd publish it. He'd push his little envelope through every medium he could find. Online, scholarly journals, public broadcasting; everybody would know that the toaster industry had finally found its soul and become standardized. Then, once the masses were enlightened, he'd hit them with the winner shot. "Why, if the toaster industry can come together to make a logical method for telling how brown you want you toast, can't the Americans find a logical way to use the metric system? Why can't we find a decent way to communicate with each other? Why can't we make coal mining in China follow the same rules at Coal mining in the Nile Delta? Why must we fight?"

And then, after the emotional appeal that would be sure to woo the audiences, Leeds would fade into the distance. He was not the one to change the world, he was the one to start the ball rolling. He knew that he couldn't do it for them, he just had to help them realize that they had the power and the obligation to do it themselves.

It was ambitious. It was almost crazy. And yet, it would work. Leeds knew it. Anybody willing to listen to him and really give it a shot knew it. It was so out there that it was stunningly perfect. The toaster industry: it was the only logical place to start.

Leeds had just gotten out of a meeting with the big wigs at Honcho Home Appliances. Nobody truly appreciated how hard it was for Leeds to actually get an appointment with those guys. "Hi, I'm Copeman Leeds, I'm the world's foremost toast advocate. I've detected a serious problem with the dial you are using in your toaster models, and I think I've got a lot of insight onto how you could increase your business and save the world. Can I have 25 minutes to have a discussion with you about it?"

None of them took him serious in the beginning. It was a long process, but Leeds was actually seeing success. He knew it would come eventually, but the naysayers were surprised. They didn't matter to Leeds much though.

"Look mister, if we started using your standard for dial numbers, we'd have to have one through 55 plastered on every toaster! This is no Proctor-silex, this is a Honcho toaster. We could brown an entire buffalo in 66 seconds. Your scale just isn't big enough for us. Not only that, but we're very happy with our current number system. I appreciate the time you've taken to decieve my receptionist enough to make her let you through that door over there, but I'm just gonna have to ask you to leave. Take care now."

Texans, always with their reluctance to put one through 55 on their toasters. Another day, another rejection. It didn't matter. The time would come.

He was driving, pondering the plan, as usual. The plan wasn't his whole life. He was going home to his family. They loved him, and he loved them. It was a good arrangement really. He got on the motorway, and then everything changed forever.

Picture 0014

Yeah, that's a sand fortress. It's main function is to turn back the pacific ocean. Just in case you didn't pick that up by seeing the giant walls and all. Pretty effective, I daresay.

263 - Pride

The title, one of my favorite parts of any post. Oddly missing from this one. I had this thought, a breakthrough, and had to post it. And yet here I am. With a post, and without a title. Quite the contrast.

In a way this post will consist of 50% recycled material. You can thank me later Mr. Gore. The breakthrough though, it's in the other 50.

This summer has been hard for me. Hard, simply because it's been so easy. There are some days when I haven't done a thing, and that disappoints me.

Conversely there have been some excellent days and weeks. By no means has this summer been a failure thus far-- it's just not been as manly as it could have been.

(That's the old 50%. Here comes the new)

Jaron wrote a post about his Music dreams and all that stuff. He talked about making an album, writing songs, all that cool business. It was nice to read because it was just straight up. Here's what I want to do, and here's how I'm going to do it. Bam.

In effect, you could say that it inspired me. Jaron's out there following his dreams. I looked at myself in the mirror while shaving and thought, "Why are my dreams going unchased? That's the problem!"

It felt good to have that thought. All the sudden there were options. Like the man said, if I want something, I got to want it bad. I've got to want to chase my dreams with a vengeance.

A few moments later though, I had found yet another road block. What were my dreams? To be honest, I couldn't think of any.

And there, in that brief moment between shaving cream and three or four razor-blades, the path opened back up. Maybe it was the insulin, maybe it was the smooth face, but I felt rejuvenated.

Realizations don't mean results, but they sure mean a lot more than a simple shave.

So what's the plan?

Somewhere around the end of third quarter and the start of fourth I was really pushing it. Homework was fierce, AP tests looming like so many looms in the English textile industry. I was pressed, but I wasn't ever defeated. In a way it was the best time of my life. So hard, but yet so rewarding. One night as I listened to Insideout, like I so often did during those days, I came across crazy.

Oh, we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy

I adopted it as my unofficial motto for the weeks to follow. Life was crazy and raging. Mounds of paper conspired against me, but I leveled up as I hacked and slashed my way through them. What I was doing was something I'd never done before. I knew it was possible, but I'd never proved it myself. Hesitation and doubt didn't fit into the schedule. I knew that the only way to survive, well, was to get a little crazy.

And so I did. The image comes to mind of Hai Ho jumping off the diving board during a friday cross training workout in the pool during summer XC last year. Hai Ho, our little asian buddy, was eager to show us his mad skills. Never known to be the most graceful or athletic animal on the team, he was loved by all. he stepped to the board, did a little warm up, and with nearly no vertical jump propelled himself forward off the board, spinning on at least two axes with arms outstretched like a man excited to hit that water.

The only way to beat the classes, the obligations and survive was to jump in head first spinning like crazy. Hai Ho had shown me the way in water, now it was time for me to forge the path through Princeton.

I did it, and I did it crazy. Maybe this is out of line, maybe it's whatever, but I am proud of what I did. I am happy with the choices that I made during those trying weeks. When it was up to me, I rose to the challenge.

Did I fall? Yeah, all the time. Some nights just didn't see the studying or the working out that I said I'd put in. Some days I was mean. My language wasn't as clean as I wanted it to be. There were problems with those weeks. With the flaws I had to keep pressing on. I couldn't give up, I just had to adapt and fix the problems.

Crazy. That was the only way we made it happen. Launched head first into the waves. Not on someone else's word or will, but by my own volition. Hit the waves swimming and running, falling occasionally, but getting back up and fighting back.

Am I proud of it? Yeah, I am. I had a challenge, and I feel like I rose to the day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this to boast or be arrogant. It doesn't really matter that you know this part of my life, but it's the way things are, and I'm writing it.

Why is it important to me? Here, on 4 July 2007, why is it crucial? Because here I am on the banks once again. Staring into the deep, taking those deep breaths.

But this time it's not a frothy tempest demanding attention and power on all sides. The sea is calm and arrogant. It stands before me with that smug look on its face that always seems to say, "Prove it. Prove you're who you want to be. Make me do it."

The sea is wide, nearly limitless. Waiting for me to tame it, to shape it and make it do my will. It's not the one throwing the punches this time. I'm the man with the gloves, and it feels like I'm about to box a glacier.

It's not like the glacier is going to counter my moves. It's just that it's a glacier. It's big and unmoving. To the glacier, it doesn't really matter whether I punch it or have a picnic in its shadow. It's a glacier, it's going to be there for a while.

But the picnic route just isn't good enough for me. It's simply not crazy.

The glacier, this arrogant sea that begs to be denied, it's going down. I will rise up. I will prove it. I will be the man I want to be. Taylorsville's pool couldn't stop Hai Ho from smashing it to pieces with his crazy dive, and this summer won't stand in my way.

It's been three weeks of not making it happen. Minus Mondays, three days spent making money, and three days for dates. That's 12 foiled days.

Hey Summer, right now it's 16 to 12, me. PLC week, plus the good stuff. That's right. I'm already winning. And you know what? I'm just getting started.

How am I going to do it? What secret moves will I pull off to pants Summer and laugh at it? All it's gonna take is a dream or two.

I've got a title.

I'm going to find out where I want to go, and I'm going to run, bite, and swim as hard as I can to get there. Right now I don't know where that's gonna be. The diving board has held me glued for long enough. Ladies. Gentlemen. Friends. It's go time.

Oh, we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy

Lingo

Must defeat the bad guys! Summer is so slow. I'm about as unproductive as a genetically modified hippopotamus that's designed to be unproductive (and that's pretty unproductive).

I must defeat the bad guys! Something good, tomorrow? I sure hope so.

Song of the week 1

Life is Beautiful - Vega4

*note, the video has some political messages in it. They do not necessarily represent what I think. The important part: the music.

Potomac

Sometimes when I can't think of a title, I just look at the keyboard until I find a particular letter I like. Then I'll try out the first few words that come to my mind that start with that letter. Today: Potomac.

What's the deal? There's ups and downs and confusing middles. Life, like we've discussed earlier, always comes at me in cycles.

One cycle that I've played through a few times is the Ultimate cycle. I traverse the amplitude between wanting to be super competitive about it all, or just keeping it relaxed and fun on Friday nights.

Most of this week I wanted to push the limits and be competitive. I wanted to play other high schools, maybe do summer or fall city league.

But I think we're now on the backswing of that cycle. Right now I'm thinking that we should appreciate Ultimate for what it is and use it as we've got it. Why do we need to blow Murray out of the water? Wouldn't we rather chill on a clear Friday night?

Odd mood tonight. Something's a little off. This summer, so far, has been less than what I wanted it to be. There have been some extremely excellent moments though. PLC was amazing. There's something glorious about the whole week. I have nothing but love for PLC. I've been on a few really cool dates, run a few great runs, and started moving forward on council stuff, which I absolutely love.

And, thinking about those things, summer's been alright.

The only reason that I am not enamored with this summer like I want to be is because I'm doing less work than I usually am. During school I'm constantly required to progress. I've got to learn something or complete a project or do whatever. Today, not so much.

Another factor, the human factor, plays a large role in summer. I just don't see people as often as I do during the school year. I know that this is partly (largely) my fault. I'm not quite sure why I'm like that though. I love to be with people. Somedays, for whatever reasons, I don't make a great effort to pull it off though. Those are disappointing days.

So how do I fix the problem? There's no use in having a problem if one is not going to make an effort to fix it. What's the key?

Obviously, be with people more. Work. Then work harder.

There are things going for me right now. I love those, and I'm going to work hard on those.

I need to go running more. Running makes my life better. I'm gonna do that.

I need to be around people more. Maybe I'll start taking people up on offers. Maybe I'll start making my own offers.

Tonight is a night. There's no question about it. And, as such, I am inhabiting tonight. The feelings of tonight, just like the feelings of last night, are important and real. I have a healthy respect for tonight.

But what about tomorrow night? Do I respect tomorrow night's feelings? Maybe I fear tomorrow night's feelings, because they will invariably be different than tonight's.

The question then, is whether or not these are good feelings. Are they productive? Do they serve a purpose? More importantly, what do they move me to do? Do they make me want to do good things, or bad things, or no things? What's the point behind them?

This post is sort of like all those other deep posts. Except that this one just isn't as cool. Which is alright. Because that's not the point of it.

Which, once again, begs the question: what's the point?

I want some rain. And I want to go downtown. I think I'd like some rain while I'm downtown.

I also want my AP scores. Ah, those were the days.

I think I want to just dig a hole. There's something extremely satisfying about using that shovel and creating a massless gap in the crust. The trouble is that I've never really had a good reason to dig a hole. Maybe if I had a reason to dig the hole...

So.... what's the news? Hmm, that's odd. I think I'm smiling a little bit. Yeah. Huh. And I don't really know why. But I am, as a passive sort of deal. Puzzling, yet not unwelcome.

I wouldn't mind a broadsword right about now. You know, for a quest and all that.

It's 1:50 right now. There's still a little time left to save it. It was good to see people tonight. Good to hang out with my family a bit. Tomorrow looks like a pretty decent day. I'm really excited for Sunday, that's going to be an even better day.

I wish that there was a pandora for moods instead of musical genres.

After all, at least we'll be safe from bears.

259

Remember how I used to say I've got a bad case of Ultimate dreaming?

It's now been replaced with Ultimate frothing at the mouth.

Carry on.

Time (Kill it!)

So, I got a few minutes. Well, really, I've had most of the day. But since I want to post more, I've decided that I'm probably going to have to start posting at times of the day that aren't 1 am.

So, here we are, at an unprecedented 5:57 PM.

Since it's not the end of the day I'm not in my usual pondering mood. I am, however, in my music listening to mood. Without further ado, me spouting random stuff about bands and songs I like.

Super good bands:

• Goo Goo Dolls
• Matchbox 20
• BNL
• Insideout

Now, this isn't the complete listing of awesome bands. They're just the four I want to mention right now.

Goo Goo Dolls are pro because they've got good songs. Very respectable songs. Whenever one of their songs comes on, it's like "Bam, good song." Example: Iris. Real good song. It's more downbeat though. They've got some up stuff, like slide. That's a good one too. Important to mention is "Better days." One of the more powerful songs I've heard in a while. That's the one I listen to when I want to cry. Haha, just kidding about that last one.

Matchbox 20 is sort of like Isaac Halliday. When everything else lets you down, matchbox will always be there. Super dependable. Always pulling through with a good song. 2 AM, (or is it 3, I don't even know) Real World (one of my favorites) push, all that other good stuff. Yeah, always pulling through with a good song. I dig.

BNL (you all know what the acronym means) are fully clothed canadian men. Not only that, but they're really good at that whole music thing. I haven't heard too much of their recent stuff, but their old school music is primo. What I really like is that they've got their super popular songs, and then their other stuff that isn't as popular but that I really like as well. They've got good music, it's just fun to listen to. Some good messages. I like.

Insideout, obviously the least popular band here, started out local at BYU. They're acapella. If you ever hear me or kyle running around singing something odd, we're probably singing insideout. Right now me, kyle, austin, P-thor, Rick, and Brad are working on learning one of their songs that they offer sheet music for. They're super talented, and their music just makes you feel good. Mmm mmm.

The four bands I wanted to talk about---> talked about.

On to random songs I really like.

First on the list is drops of jupiter, by train. Just a good song.

Someday, by Sugar Ray. That's a good one too.

Hmm. Different writing style. Not something I usually write about. I say "Good song" a lot. But you know what, it's 6:07, I'm allowed to write different.

Ha!

The Ok Alarm

It's a new kind of alarm. It'll beep loudly once every three seconds if everything is ok. If it's not beeping, things aren't ok.

The good news---> it's beeping.

Far

Outcome

The plan, so far, hasn't been working like I want it to.

For various reasons, there have been no super awesome posts. I do wish to remedy this.

Summer is an interesting time of year. Right now there is very little structure to the way my life is. I am essentially free to make almost all my own choices. There's no school, no practices, no job, not much of anything.

It's puts me in a very enlightening phase of my life.

For all my life I've wanted sink or swim. I've always wanted to prove that when it was all up to me, I could pull it off and make it happen.

We all know that it's not up to me. I've got my family, my friends, and, if you believe it like I do, heavenly forces helping me out.

This week hasn't been the greatest week of my life. But it's Thursday night. There's time yet to turn it around.

This time, right now, it's time to make it happen. Nobody's going to make it happen for me. If I'm going to go, I gotta go.

Where do the answers lie?

The genuine truth, the answers, they're going to lie in hard work. Nothing else will get you or I what we want.

It's summer, and the ball is in my court. What I do with it will determine the outcome. It's not all about me, I'm not the only one playing right now. But nobody else can make it happen for me. Nobody's gonna change my life, nobody's gonna make me jump higher but me.

The choice is mine. The power to choose my own destiny is mine, right here and now.

The past has gotten me as far as I am today. The choices of today will determine the launchpad of tomorrow.

Maybe June 21 didn't get me anywhere.

But here's to you, June 22. Let's make it happen.

11 Minutes, Go!

I have 11 minutes, what am I going to talk about?

I don't know, but I haven't posted as much as I'd like to lately, so I'm just going to fly with it.

As many of you know, I recently decided to not participate in the 2007 Warrior Cross Country team. I understand that a lot of people aren't super excited about this decision. The truth is that I know it's the right thing for me to do. It's not easy for me to walk, and I'm sure it's not easy on the team to have me jump out on them. There's a lot of reasons for me doing it.

I don't have much time now, but I'll probably explain it more later. Just know that it's the right thing for me to do, and that things are going to be dandy for everybody. The team will survive and do awesome this season. I'll survive, stay in shape, and do awesome as well. Life is going to be good, it's just going to be a little different.

625 baby. I can't wait for mid july. Yumm, food time.

Handprint

I don't have too much to say tonight. Just a quiet night, the inevitable crash after endorphin-land.

But there are some times when all I really want to do is put my hand up against the computer monitor and have that make sense. While I don't appreciate the oil on the glass, it seems like it's a decent way to get the message across.

So far it's never worked. Last time I tried it I had to paint my hand with messengers drawing function. This time I tried a picture. What's it mean? It doesn't really matter, and I couldn't really explain anyways. It's a hand, c'mon.

There it is. Keep up the good work Taylorsville. I think we're moving forward. We've got our ups and downs, but we're getting there. There's work to be done. I think I missed some opportunities this week, and that hurts a little bit.

Here's to you Friday night. Don't stop believin'

Manly

This morning I had the opportunity to cover for my mom at work while she helped my sister with her bridal pictures. My mom, who I love dearly, works in a little girls dress store. The dresses are made in San Francisco then shipped her to be sold in malls. Not too hard of a job, all I really had to do was run the sales. Somebody wants to buy a dress, I step in and make it happen. In theory.

Here's the transcript from the journal I kept. Hope you enjoy.

~

10:06 Am - Just got started, reviewed all the stuff I've got to do. Clear as mud. I hope no one comes in. I'm currently being paid to sit in a chair and write in my notebook. Two old ladies just passed by. I panicked, I thought they'd come in. But they didn't. Whew.

10:09 Am - Good some on B98.7. Makes me wonder why I only wanna listen to love songs after dark after frisbee friday... still a good song.

10:10 Am - I think I'll paint something for mom sometime today. I'm gonna sketch some ideas first though.

10:12 Am - A guy with a hat that says "Terminator just walked by... gasp! A lady just walked in mid write, and is like "Do you sell only girls?" and I'm like "As far as I know... wait! There's a tuxedo over there, in white!" then she left. 2 more customers. Woman and man. Man wants to be here as much as I do. Deep breaths. Oooh, another good song. They're gonna buy something. Deep breaths.

10:37 Am - Oh man, I survived. She was so nice, best customer ever. She was super friendly, and helped me out everywhere I needed help. I had to call for a dress check, and then I'm like, uhh, I don't know how to describe it... so she takes the phone and describes it for me, that was nice. She was patient, and totally reminded me when I needed it in a super nice way. I wanna be like her when I grow up. Yay for nice people!

10:44 Am - Just called my mom to tell her how good I did, yay! Man, another good song on the radio! I think it's five for fighting, so freaking good. "There's a reason for the world --> You and I." So good! Five for fighting - the riddle.

10:55 Am - I just got a fax from David (The Asian in San Francisco), saying he couldn't read the fax I sent him, so I redid it. Nice david, sending me the note and all. This job makes me feel important/special. Still really liking B98.7, pretty good. Gonna make it a preset once I hit the van.

11:19 Am - A lady just came in, doesn't look too serious. Just wrote out a TON of awesome ideas for heroes* (That means water). So excited about that, i've got some epic ideas. I almost wanna hire a professional writer to do this, I don't feel like I can do it justice. I'll try though, so cool.

11:24 Am - She was nice, just left. No complaints.

11:37 Am - Believe by cher is on. One of my favorite songs of the month. New lady in here, w/ kids. She snuck in while I was writing. Mmm, just left, new ones. Left, new lady. They come in waves. "How cute!" .... "You would." So freakin' excited about these water ideas. Rascal flats, what hurts the most? Yep.

12:32 Pm - Just made another sale, woot. Mom gets here in 15 minutes. Another frendly lady, from Idaho. Feeling pretty good about how today has been. No big mistakes, Hooray!

12:47 Pm - She's here! Hooray! Off to the barbecue

And there you have it, my day selling dresses. I was real successful, which was way cool. No complaints there. I did have to call my mom on the first sale I made to figure out how to do a credit card, but after that I had it down.

I spent a lot of time brainstorming and writing stuff for Water. I don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but it was looking really nice. I've got awesome and strong ideas up there, now it's just a matter of sharing. I almost wish I could just tell the story without having to write it down, all the details. I just want to ruin the ending right now. It was cool to notebook it though, getting all the characters down. All the sudden it changed from just an awesome scenario with cool play-outs to a genuine struggle with personal people that I started to care about. The characters started to gain a little bit of complexity, it was cool. The whole concept just makes me way happy. If it never gets written down, I want to explain it all to somebody one day so they can write it, it just makes me happy.

It's funny how many transformations the whole idea has gone through though. It initially started as something totally different. Every time I mow the lawn the thing changes. I think it's pretty stable right now though, considering I've got ideas on paper now. It makes me happy. Maybe I'll write something next week, I hope so.

In any event it's been a pretty good day. I made some money and had some fun. I hope I can keep moving ahead like this, it's feeling pretty good. There's still a lot of work to be done, but with a little help I think it can be handled. Here's to you summer~

Scoober

Post 250, hooray! Here's to a million more.

As I sat this evening and looked at the clock, I realized that it was very late and that I hadn't really done anything with my day. I decided to re-check wikipedia's list of Ultimate throws, to see if there were any new ones I could work on. Our little group has got quite a few throws down, and our creative juices have worked hard to make sure that there's no possible way to accelerate a disk that we haven't thought of.

Lo and behold, there were at least three that I'd never seen before. The scoober, the thumber, and the viggiano. While we did have throws that we called the scoober and the thumber, those aren't the same throws that wikipedia talks about. I was super curious to figure out what they were all about, so I read up on them. It was pretty confusing because of all the lingo, and trying to visualize what they were talking about was nearly impossible. They had a few pictures, but nothing that helped. I really wanted to get it through, so I kept pounding on it.

Eventually I just had to stand up, grab a disc, and try it out myself. Step by step I read the lines and followed the instructions. After a few tries it finally made sense. I actually got it, I made it work, and I've got a new trick to show everybody come Friday night.

Finally getting the idea behind the throw was such a good feeling. It's one of those feelings that only comes around once a month. I call it my "C-Two-H-Two-Oooooooooooh!" feeling. You know that feeling where you stare at that chemistry problem for half an hour, knowing that there's an answer but being unable to find it? You stand up, get a drink, and come back to staring. 22 minutes later you find a trail, and excitedly you rush to follow it. Calculation after calculation follows. It fills up half the page, your TI-86 is on fire with more decimals than any chemist would ever need. Sweating from excitement and number-crashing you hit enter the last time, and there, standing before you in beautiful black pixels is the answer. You check to make sure it's reasonable, and bam, there it is. The number, the answer, the key. You pulled it off, against the odds. You slew the giant. 52 minutes, all but eight of them spent scraping and scraping to find a hole. You pulled it off, you're amazing.

It was that rush. I was so excited, I ran to tell my big brother. He was asleep, so I told my sister. It didn't matter though, I was giddy as a school girl. I figured it out.

A little while later I had a thought. It was quite the thought, if I do say so myself.

I thought to myself, "why not make an Ultimate knowledge base? You know, a website of sorts that shows step by step how to throw, with pictures and video, so nobody else has to fight through so much jargon on wikipedia?"

And then I thought, "Yeah, that's an excellent idea."

So that's my proposition of the day. I could make an Ultimate knowledge base, and share all the stuff that we've figured out. It'd be just like Kyle or I standing there next to you teaching you how to do stuff, but it'd be online, so you could check it out from the comfort of your chair, and you wouldn't even have to smell me or Kyle.

It'd be a good project for me this summer, and I could get everybody to help with it. The site could be pretty extensive; there's a lot to cover. Because I feel like a list, here's a list.

• Throws section. This is where we'd show how to pull off every throw that we know. As we learn more, we'd add more. They'd be seperated into game-time throws and novelty throws. There'd be step by step instructions, with pictures every single step of the way, and then in-depth video at the end showing it done in its entirety. It'd be explained a million different ways, to make sure it'd be impossible to not get it. Oh yeah, it'd be a pretty in depth throw section.
  
  
• Catches. This would obviously be smaller, but it's important to have its own section. We'd talk about the pancake, and have pictures and video of how to pull that off. We'd explain why it's so important to do it that way. Then we'd show how to catch high ones and low ones. Then we'd cover novelty catches. Same basic concept as above.
  
  
• Gameplay. We'd have an easy run down of the rules, along with visuals. We'd talk a little bit about spirit of the game, and then we'd show people how to make gameplay work. Some strategies, the stack (if we choose to figure it out) and some other stuff like that. Make it understandable to new people.
  
  
• Discs. This will be a cool part, because it'd just be a link repository of where to get good discs for cheap. We'd recommend the flashflight and the ultrastar. We'd explain why you need those discs.
  
  
• Drills. This is one thing we'd have to work on, but we'd have some programs (once we figure them out) of how to make people better Ultimate players. We'd really have two different kinds, the game play kind, and the athletic kind. We'd show people how to cut, and give them a cutting drill. We'd give people a workout to make them jump higher, and we'd have video explaining everything. Step by step, easy easy.
  
  
• Physics. This is probably my favorite part. My theory is that if people understand the physics behind the disc, they can make the disc do what they want. In order to throw well, you've got to be able to understand why the disc flies. This satisfies the nerdy demands that I have. It starts with T, and rhymes with dork.

That's probably not all, but that's what I can think of right now. It'd be pretty easy to pull off, I could even make it happen with a new blog or freewebs. I know a lot of you are thinking that stuff like this is already out there. You're totally right, it is. It's just not out there done by me. There's stuff like this that's probably better than what I can do, but that's not the point. The point is that I have a knowledge base here, and I want to share it. I have the resources to do so. I will phrase my stuff differently than the next guy. It's that difference that will help people. Maybe one guy can learn great from wikipedia, and maybe the next guy will learn great from me once he can't understand the wikipedia.

Basically: I want an excuse to talk a little bit more about Ultimate.

I don't know, I think it could be a cool deal. If nothing else it'd give me a chance to get a little bit more into it. It could help people, if it got traffic. It doesn't really matter if it doesn't though, as long as I know that it's there. Could be a cool deal.

I'm in quite the ultimate mood lately. Been thinking about it a lot, how I want to be a better player and all. That's one thing that I'd really love. I know that I'm decent right now, maybe even good. But I'd love to just dominate. I'd love to transition well and run faster and jump higher. It's something that I'm going to work on, because I really want to be better. I am happy with the progress I've made so far, it makes me really excited. But wow, I'm going to push the limits.

I think tomorrow I'll post my official run down on Frisbee Friday. The pros, the cons, all that. Nick did something similar, but I want to go a little deeper on it. It's an evaluation, something that they talk about at PLC. By sitting down and evaluating stuff, you can find out how to make it better. If one never sits down to think about what just happened, one can never really make any progress on it.

Sitting down and thinking about stuff is brilliant. I love doing it. So much good always comes from it. Maybe that's why I love meetings so much. You take the combined wisdom of everybody involved and figure out what you can do better. Oh yeah, it's good stuff.

Super super, it's time for bed. Maybe this Ultimate knowledge base will fly, maybe it won't. Either way, I'm really looking forward to Friday night: I got a new throw to show off.