Thursday, February 28, 2008

No one

No one reads this, so i don't know why i even update it. But that's ok cuz it's really just a journal for myself.

So my life at the moment is kind of in an interesting position. I'm not in school as noted in a previous post, not dating anyone seriously, and i'm working full time. Theh "rut," i guess you could call it that i'm in, is really just i don't know what's going on with anything or....anything at all. I'm just chillin, running a race, but not going anywhere. The weird thing is, is i feel like right now i'm ok. I'm not sad, or depressed or freaking out about some small issue. I'm just living my life the best i can right now and not worrying to much about the future. I know what will come will come, and what will happen will happen and i don't need to wig out about it. Happy am I.

I'm not really in the mood for writing. I don't really have a lot to write about right now, at least here...maybe in my other Blog... But really people i just thought of somethign pretty cool i can write about.

So recently i've come to the conclusion that some things in life are just Impossible to be passionate about. For example: My current job, paper cuts, celery, mustard, cats, getting yelled at by angry customers, cell phone breaking, losing things, breaking an arm, etc. You know, the crappy things in life. Other things are difficult, but possible. Examples: Dating, school, parental pressure, driving the speed limit, forgiving others, to name a few. I have also recently discovered there is one thing, to me especially, that is SO easy to be passionate about and i found that it is one of the things i am most passionate for. Music.

You know, it doesn't really matter what kind of music as long as it's soothing and can help me understand and think. In fact, i think any kind of music can have a good effect on a person depending on their mood. Of course there is the music that is just annoying and dumb, rapping, or screaming vulgarities non stop, but even that can be healing power for some people. My healing power, i found, is just anything that sounds good. I don't care if someone says they hate it, or it's trendy pop, or it's lame. If i like it and i can relax while i'm listening to it, it's basically zen for me.

Two nights ago our friend Kat Tingey, who is an amazing guitarist and artist by the way and you should definitely check her out. Anyway she is pretty awesome, and decided to play at the Open Mic show at Velour on Tuesday night. We went, and it turned out she had to play very last...not to great cuz most people had left by then. In the middle of the show, one guy got up to play that goes by "Rockin Rob." Just imagine a mountain man, that can't hardly speak english cuz he has no teeth, huge bushy beard, long hair, cowboy boots with one pant leg tucked in, one leg not, and you have your man. He got up and tuned his guitar for liek 3 minutes at least....then started to look at it and started laughing....which made everyone else in the whole joint just kind of uneasy cuz it was an awkward weird, crazy man laugh. He played his song, which was...whatever...then after he tuned his guitar again and played a song call Mt. Timpanogos....my favorite line was "You are a mountain, a mountain to my heart." It was pretty classic...i just wish i had a video camera...that i SHOULD have..jeeze...but yeah, it was great.

This is KIND of what he looked like...

So anyway the night was pretty sweet. The best part was when we were walking out, they invited Kat to come back and play last night at the Acoustic Showcase...which was a real show. Kat played for about a half hour, including a song she wrote with heavy Muse influence...which was pretty rad. The bands that followed afterward, and i say bands cuz the rest of them..except the last one had more than just one member. The 3rd guy had a saxophone player...which was amazingly amazing...and awesome plus 10.

So with the last few days, and the Incubus DVD i bought, i really just KNOW that music is a passion and i love it!!

Friday, February 15, 2008

V-day

V-day. Who needs it really? All it is, is just another corporate world Holiday where people go out and spend way to much money on Heart Shaped plush animals, chocolates, and flowers. Of course it MAY be different if i had a girlfriend, but i don't so it's not.

I went to Wal-mart yesterday, yeah pretty GRAND mistake. The store was lined with confused guys. Not sure how to pick out flowers, or if the girl would like the oversized, $15, made in China, teddy bear. I just couldn't believe the ratio of people in the store to what it normally is. Sure there are the....Mexicans, the White Trash, the normal looking guys buying random assortments of cheap crap they will look at once and throw out. Wal-mart has everything, it's true. I do like to go there sometimes, but man NEVER again on valentines day!!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A Promise Kept is a Promise Earned

Sunday, what a wondrous day. It used to be, for me at least, one of sleeping in and relaxation til church and then more relaxation after church. Well for the most part it's still the same, only ever since i started working mornings, and waking up every morning at 6:30, i just CAN'T sleep in to long anymore. Exceptions are made when i go to bed like at 3 AM, like i did on Friday night. But even still, my body woke up like at 7 thinking it had to go to work. Luckily i was at home in Sandy, in a warm bed and didn't have to get up for anything.

Friday night was interesting to say the least. I decided to opt out of a speed dating thing Mike wanted me to go to, even though i heard later on that it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Needless to say though, i did enjoy myself at home for a day and a half. I drove up and met my sister and her now fiance (yeah she got engaged a few days ago...really weird. It's been really fast since she met the guy just recently, but i'm way happy for her. August 2nd is the official date. Anyway...) at her school cuz she was setting up to go back on track on Monday. I basically hadn't eaten anything all day, so we went to go get some food. Max, her fiance, was kind enough to buy me lunch...even though it was like 3 pm, but hey that's life right? I'm actually pretty stoked about having a brother in law considering she is the oldest and i don't have one yet....So the rest of the night, Steve came down and we watched Wildboyz. Pretty much the most ridiculous thing ever. If you enjoy watching people let a bear lick honey and eat marshmallows off them, or get bitten by Alligators on purpose, or even just watching stupid humans, it's a great show. It's basically Jack-Ass but with animals included. You can actually learn something from the show...ironically. Then we watched the Jazz lose, quite to Steve's liking since he's a huge Kings fan. Then we watched Blood Diamond...it'll make you think twice about buying a diamond out of any random jewelry store. Good flick. Then i was pretty dang tired since i got up like at 6:45 that morning and never had a nap. Steve gets the idea that an airsoft gun war would be the best thing for 1:30 in the morning. Good thing my 17 year old brother has exactly 3 guns. One that shoots like 450 ft/second. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me...since he shot me in the knee with it and i STILL have a mark, and today is Sunday. At least i didn't get shot in the butt like Steve did. He didn't know my brother shot him, and kept playing. But when it kept hurting had to call a time out. I'd totally insert a picture here of the wicked welt it left him with, but i'm not to keen on taking pictures of butts....especially of a guys...not that i would ever take a picture of anyone's butt for that matter, but it may have been worth it had i had a camera handy. We finished with more wildboyz and hit the sack.

Saturday, i got to go see my Grandma in the hospital. Seriously some people have a crappy life, and that's all there is to it. I had a companion that taught me basically only one thing when i was with him. He was pretty much trunky and didn't want to work anymore, but was all about service and helping people. I remember we helped this 16 yr old member get back in touch with the church and get straight with the Lord and it felt amazing. Anyway he always said "siempre hay alguien con una situacion peor que tu" "There's always someone worse off." Basically it's true. If you are ever in a slump, or life is getting you down and everything seems like it's gone to crap, there really is someone worse off. My Grandma has been living with a tube in her stomach for the past 15 years. She cant' swallow even Saliva. Basically she had Thyroid cancer or something and everything got all messed up with the treatment. She lived ok with that for a long time, but has always been pretty grumpy. According to my dad though she's kind of had a grumpy attitude ever since my Grandpa died back when my dad was a teenager. But despite everything like that i love her and i'm thankful she's with us. She had a stroke about 2 years ago, a little less. So with that her life is just turned upside down. The problem is, she really was healthy physically....just couldn't move very well or eat or anything. It's pretty hard seeing her so sad and down on life, when everyone around her loves her and gives her so much support. I can completely understand though why she would be down. I can't imagine living like she has had too. But that's why we have the gospel in our lives and we need to follow the commandments and live righteously. As long as we know what we need to do to get back to Heavenly Father, and do it, despite any hardships, we will return to him. It's a great thing to know. I love my Grandma, she's so special and loves us so much too.

Sometimes i know we take things for granted. Life in general, but i have learned so much in seriously the past just...like 3 weeks. From Stake Conference last Sunday, to this past week, I'm learning a lot about who i am and what i want from life. It's kind of weird. Stake conference last week, President Baker said he hadn't missed a day of reading his scriptures in TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. I can't believe it. That's so nuts. I committed to myself that i won't miss a day ever again, as long as i can control it. I've done it now for a week, and while that's not 25 years...it does make a difference. I'm glad i can be back on track.

Today was interesting. First of all, i got my calling finalized. I had my Stake interview and then was sustained and set-apart after church. I was called to be Assistant Executive Secretary to the Bishop of my ward. It sounds intense but really isn't. All i have to do is basically go to some meetings on Sundays, and then be there for the interviews on Tuesday nights. Not to hard, but it's important and i think I'll learn a lot.

After church i came home and walked in to the wonderful smell of Roast finishing up. So juicy and wonderful. One of the best parts of Sunday dinner is the fact that usually some new people show up and we make friends. This week it was Lacy's (Ace's Girlfriend) roommates, Anita and Amanda (sisters in fact). Now the title of this blog comes from a promise i made to Anita. We were playing Rock Band, and Eric insulted me about something and i was pretty hurt...maybe...possibly...but regardless he apologized, and she gave me a hug for him since Erica and I don't exactly have a hugging relationship, although i'm not a homo phobe so it wouldn't bother me that much. Anyway, she gave me a hug for him but the first time it was kind of a weird hug cuz i had a guitar on and was starting to play. She gave me a second hug cuz Eric wanted me to know he truly felt sorry. I'm still not sure if i believe him :) Anyway, so there ya go! I kept my promise! I wrote about the hug i got from my new BFF Anita!! I love meeting wonderful new people. It makes life much more fun and meaningful. I like being a friend too. I think i make a good one. Yet one more thing in Living Life and Being good at it. Anyway i'm done for now, this Blog entry is massive. Peace

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Table Burns

Yes. They do exist. How does one get a table burn? Spoons. This case, more specifically, at FHE. Yeah ok, it wasn't like the "burn" was that drastic, but i didn't know you could get a table burn. I guess when your roommate is on top of your arm, rubbing it on the table with all his body weight trying to pry a plastic spoon from my kungfu grips, even though in his other hand he already has one and doesn't even realize it. Yes folks, this game can be extremely violent. If there is anyone out there reading this, who doesn't know what spoons is, here ya go here ya go. Spoons is a great game. I mean, what's not great about tackling someone over a spoon? Maybe that didn't happen, but you get my point. Yet again, another part of life and being good at it.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Stupid Questions with Granola Bars for Breakfast.

Saturday. A wonderful day. A break from the busy week, the one day when we should be able to relax and have a day to ourselves. Not for me, and why? I'm at work.

I know i've complained about working on Saturdays before, but honestly who can like working on a saturday. You know, i've been thinking, maybe i should get a job somewhere where i actually don't get annoyed at every actual working moment. At my current job i answer phone calls from people who want to place orders, or sign up accounts, or do other random things. The majority of the calls i get are from people complaining that we charged their credit card without them authorizing it, which is BS. Most of those calls consist of "well i told the person that ordered these vitamins for me that i wanted to try them once and then i would decided if i want them after." So the question comes up "did you give them your CC #?" You know, if it were me, i would say "What is the # so I CAN call and place the order." The problem is, in this world, most people are way to trusting and/or lazy to do things themselves or make sure what they want is actually done. Example: I had a lady call in just awhile ago that had an ADR (Automatic Delivery Rewards) order, which by far is the absolute best way to buy Expensive Nuskin products. The A in ADR stands for, as previously noted, AUTOMATIC. Well, this lady who i'm sure is a wonderful person and has many great qualities, called in pissed off at the company, and more specifically at me since i was the fortunate lucky soul to take her call, because she had gotten an order when she said she had cancled her ADR online. A) This is not possible. The company has made it impossible to cancel the order online, since we control alot of the benefits of the order they have to call in to cancel it, which is fine because that's what we're here for. So the lady calls in angry that her order wasn't actually canceled and wants an INSTANT refund, which we ALL know never happens from ANY company, EVER. I tell her this and she says she's paying overdraft fees on her checking account. Our problem? No. She goes on to tell me that there is nothing online saying she has to call in to cancel her ADR (something i told her, one of the many facts that she was angry with me about). B) Also not true. I went online and found, in the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions for those illiterate in online lingo) and found that it actually DOES say exactly what the lady did, doesn't work. Direct quote from the website:

How do I cancel my ADR order?
To cancel your ADR, you must call 1-800-487-1000. Removing all items from your ADR cart online does not cancel your ADR.

This lady told me she removed everything from her cart, thinking that it would delete her order since she had nothing in her cart. If it were me, and i told her this and she took offense to it thinking i was saying she didn't know what she was doing (which was true), if it were me and i wanted to cancel an order. Regardless of what i THOUGHT i could or couldn't do online, i would still call in to make sure it was canceled. She also told me she didn't think we should expect her to look all over the website for information about cancelling her order. It was really only like 3 clicks to find out about cancelling her order. Anyway, in the end, i gave her a full refund and told her to send it back and she proceeded to tell me i am a horrible representative of Nuskin. I've worked at Nuskin almost 2 years now, and that was the FIRST time i've EVER been told that i was a bad representative. In fact, i've been told so many times that i was such a pleasure to talk to, her insult was hardly a dent in my reputation.

It really annoys me that some people in this world can't take responsbility for something they've done. Everyone messes up, no one is perfect, and no one ever will be. If everyone really would learn to take responsibility for their own errors and mistakes, the world would be at least 50% better. There would be less hate crimes, less arrogance, less pride, less world wide anger. Maybe not so much, but i'm pretty sure the world WOULD improve some. Isn't that what we're all fighting for? A better world? A better life? Shouldn't we all at least have SOME desire to improve the world. It's like Jesus once said, "remove the moat first from your own eye before telling your brother to remove the needle in his eye," or something like that. Point being, is we need to change ourselves first before we can accuse someone else of being imperfect. I was polite to the lady, never raised my voice, and really just stated how it was. People hate hearing the truth. What was i supposed to do, tell her "dont' worry mam, everything will be ok, you're right and we're wrong." I do realize that the "customer is always right," and in this case i told her i understood her frustration, and i was doing what i could to help her out, but she still didn't understand. Now this lady was elderly, and i'm not being discriminatory but at the same time i know that most older people don't fully understand the computer. My own mother, who does understand it for the most part, still sometimes has really basic and easy questions. So the real question is, how CAN we expect them to do things online when it really isn't their thing. So who's right? Who's wrong? There really isn't any way to tell, it's 6's in the air, and maybe it's not right. All i can say is i just wish people WOULD learn How to Live Life and be GOOD at it. It would make my job so much easier, and less stressful as well.

I'm eating Granola bars for Breakfast these days, thank goodness for Costco. Working at 7 AM everyday, it's butt early and really i dont' have time to eat anything. So Granola Bars and Yogurt have been my sustaining for quite some time. Thank you Costco.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sunday Morning Wake Up Call...

So home teachers are great right? I mean they come over, they share the word with you, they ask if they can do anything for you where usually the answer is no. What would 2 guys (1 in the case for today) be able to do for you, that 5 guys couldn't handle? Well let me setup the scenario.

Last night, well yesterday, Mike bought a bunch of new toys. A PS3, a new surround sound system, and the game Rock Band. So needless to say, we played it basically from 7:30ish until about 1 am....straight. Sure we took breaks and stuff, but it was pretty constant. Rock Band tires you out. Plus, me personally, i was up til almost 3 am watching an addiction...no nothing bad! Get your mind out of the gutter! Grey's Anatomy is my newest addiction. April Dansie let me borrow the first season, rather her mother did, but that's where it started. I downloaded a torrent of the second season, and the 3rd just finished downloading...so i've been pretty much completely addicted to it.

As my last episode for the night was finishing, Mike pushes open my door and was like "what are you still doing up, why didn't you come out to the hot tub?" So Mike was also up til 3....and Eric was up late too because he's sick. Ace is sick also, therefor making him a candidate for not getting up early.

I was awoken at about 10:30 by my wonderful new friend Janae. She decided to fall asleep on me last night, and sent me a text, responding to the one i sent her last night. But hey i can't say i haven't done that to anyone, just not her....although i'm sure it will happen eventually :) Ok actually, my alarm woke me up, but i always check my phone when i first wake up to see...if by chance anyone has tried to contact me. Pathetic i know :) So after awhile, i leave my room to go to the bathroom. As i'm walking out of the bathroom, i hear the doorbell ring. I couldn't fathom who would be coming over on a sunday morning, since basically no one we really know rings the doorbell...most people just walk in. I go out to the front room, and find Mike M. sleeping on the couch (his brother has been in town) sitting up, wondering as i was who in tarnation is ringing the doorbell at this hour (yeah i know it's like 11, but hey we have a right to sleep in!). I open the door, and our home teacher is standing there...kind of awkwardly. I think the minute, the second, the instant i opened the door, and had the look on my face of *wow...the home teacher is here, and everyone is still asleep, my hair is all messy, and he DIDN'T CALL!* He knew he was in trouble. WHO DOES THAT!! I mean if he HAD called, i'm sure no one would have had any problem with it. But when 3 out of the 4 people he's home teaching are still asleep, 2 out of the 4 are sick, and he comes when both things are in effect....it's his own fault. He shared a lesson with us, but needless to say...there wasn't much participation. I read a section he asked me too, Ace read something, but when he asked us to participate with opinions or whatever...no one really had any motivation to do it. Now i can't blame the kid for fulfilling his responsibility. In fact, i really think it's awesome that he took care of it, although it was a touch inconvenient for us, but hey the Gospel isn't always convenient right?

That's my story about our Sunday morning wake up call. The ironic thing is, the kid is actually kind of a little on the weird side. Not in a bad way, more in a fuanny way, so i'd almost expect this kind of thing out of him. Well time to get ready for church and the day for that matter....at the crack of noon....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Changing Gears,

The jeep was rolling along the dusty, rocky, terrain with no problems at all. The sun was shining, a cloud here and there drifted by lazily casting small shadows over the land. The jeep drifted along, changing gears all the while. It came to a steep hill, the driver shifted to first and crawled up the hill. The young lad in the back seat was wondering how something could change gears. If it was stuck, wouldn't it be impossible to get out? He was also thinking of the clouds and the water that came from them. The streams, the rivers,the lakes, and the earth's many seas. Is this where the rain comes from? How do they all come together? Can the water in one river touch the water in the ocean? Is it the same water? Many questions like these often filled the mind of this mysteriously curious young one.

He hadn't undergone any training yet as he was a young boy, but despite his interest in the many questions that life brings, his deepest and most true desire was to understand the Human Body and how it worked. He would often be found with his nose in a book, or on the internet, or in a library reading about what he loved most. He often told those he would talk to that one day, he would grow up and be a doctor and help people live better and understand the amazing creation they were living in, the Human Body. Many other people in the great world also had these desires, something the young boy did not know.

The years went by and the boy grew up, passing through all the years of schooling, graduating from high school, falling in love, having his heart broken, learning new things every day as any normal person should. One day he decided he would go out and serve as a missionary, to help more people learn of the goodness of God and our savior Jesus Christ. He helped many people serving in the country of Bolivia, learning to love them and really change their lives. He really loved helping those people, and even more using the beautiful Spanish Language.

Que cosa mas bella que aprender una idioma tan buena como espanol? He truly loved speaking the language, and when it was time to come home he knew it would be a big part of his life from that point on.

When the now grown boy returned home, his family was very happy to see him. He let life slip by a bit before starting anything important like school or a job. Eventually though, like all people he set off to attend a University. The University he chose, and was gracefully accepted into, was a good one, one he was happy to be attending. He decided to go for his original dream and pursue a career in the medical field. He started taking classes to fulfill this path, and enjoyed them at first; however, this was not the case in the end. Some of the classes came extremely hard to him and he really did not know what to do. If i'm in this path, how can i change without feeling like i'm giving up? The clouds don't just give up and stop collecting water. The jeep didn't just stop at the hill and not go up it. Although, they both had to change something to do what they do best.

One day he was thinking really hard about the whole ordeal, just like how he used to think about our Mother Earth and her many wonders. Maybe i should try and work out a career speaking Spanish, the language i learned to love so very long ago. It would be just like the jeep's gears changing, the clouds collecting water and bringing new life to other parts of the world. That was it, his decision was made, he was changing paths. Although his love for the human body and medicine will always stay with him he knew that he would do better in this field and still be able to help people in other ways.

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That's it my friends. I'm changing my major. I'm dropping my classes this semester, taking it off to figure things out. I know it might be weird or lame or maybe...almost bad...to drop this semester, but i really feel it's for the best. I know that i'm following guidance i've received. Just to let anyone know who does read this, prayer is real and I know the man upstairs wants me to change my major to Spanish Translation. Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated!!