My Hunch

I had a hunch, and it was right. www.lovecalculator.com knows its stuff. This is the highest percentage I have ever seen it give.

The Hundredth Post

This is post number 100! It's amazing. I didn't realize that I wrote in this thing so much. I decided to use this mile marker to high-light some of my more memorable posts in the categories of relationships, Route 22, and travel. Enjoy.

Relationships

Tuesday, Jan 31, 2006
"Whenever I consider getting to know a girl better, I remember the time when a girl tore my heart out and covered it in firecrackers, lit it, and threw it into a twenty-gallon drum of gasoline, and then stomped out the flames with size 16 Combat boots."

Tuesday February 16, 2006
"Chelsea is pretty, really cool, easy to talk to, and fun to hang out with. I must say that I took a shine to her, but unfortunately Cupid's arrow didn't so much as nick her. So, there isn't any point in me pursuing anything more than a friendship at this time."

Monday, April 3, 2006
"We also did an anti-snow dance to ward off any evil winter spirits. At the end of the night she agreed to let me be her boyfriend. YIPEE!!! And, I hate to jump to any conclusions, but I think that also means that she's my girlfriend. YIPEE!!!"

Monday, May 8, 2006
"I guess I had a lot of thinking to do Sunday night, because the short walk landed me in American Fork at 4:00 am. I had to take the bus back to Provo. It was a good walk though."

Tuesday, January 31, 2006
"Alan and Councilina
sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love
Then comes marriage
The comes Alan pushing a baby carriage!

Alan and Councilina Bluffs are officially dating."


Friday, March 31, 2006
"Alan and Councilina Bluffs are no longer Alan and Councilina Bluffs. Now they're just Alan........and...........Councilina Bluffs. I didn't cry and I didn't beat anyone up, but I was very unsettled."

Route 22

Monday, January 23, 2006
"On Saturday during my time off I was able to enjoy a thrilling game of Catch Phrase with Alan, Gavin, Councilina Bluffs, Chelsea, Pottowattamie, and Whitney. Fun was had by all. We even found another use for the newspaper ball: You can pass it around and use the words on it to play Catch Phrase.(I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner)."

Sunday, March 26, 2006
"After everyone came back, I couldn't let them see me and I didn't want to be locked in my room all night, so I snuck out the window and walked to route 22 and hung out with Whitney, Pottawattamie, and Matt until the plan came to completion."

Saturday, April 1, 2006
"Route 22 used their girls night out to have a little fun with our apartment. They took all of our right shoes, and stole our doors. There was also a lot of random stuff all over the place.....Do we get mad or do we get even? Well, all I can tell you is that we're not mad."

Sunday, April 16, 2006
"In the afternoon we walked over to Route 22 in response to a dinner invitation. The food was amazing. I'm still craving ham. Frozen burritos just won't be the same for the next few weeks. During dinner we voted on the correct pronunciation of words like crayon, trombone, syrup, Monticello, Camille, and both. "

Sunday, September 24, 2006
"F6 and Route 22 could easily be figments of my imagination. They're all so weird. Real people don't act like we do. Real people don't do the things we do."

Travel

January 18, 2006
Just before Christmas we came home from work and I decided that I wanted to go to Las Vegas. I made reservations at the Sahara and surprised Intrepid in the morning. She was so excited. That's one thing I really love about her. She is always ready to pick up and go somewhere at a moments notice.

Saturday, June 24, 2006
I got back to my car, filled up the radiator, started driving, the car started smoking, I pulled into a Jiffy Lube, they said my radiator hose was cut, they said they couldn't fix it, I asked who could, they said Pep Boys, I said that's who replaced the radiator hoses last week, they said the Pep Boys a couple blocks away should fix it for free then, I went to Pep Boys, they said they couldn't get to it till the next day, I left my car, I called Alan, he tried to call his mom, I started walking towards his house, I bought a non-sweaty shirt at the thrift store, I called Chelsea, she was at the airport, we had a nice chat, Alan called me back, his mom picked me up, she was real nice, I met Alan's dad, he's just like Alan, I slept in Alan's bed, I picked up my car the next day, and I made it back to Phoenix in the early afternoon.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Then he got real close to me and stuck his hand in my side and said, "Give me all your money or I will KILL you."

Sunday, November 19, 2006
I'm back from vacation. For every one's information, I'm doing okay. Being a little crazy is what keeps me from going insane. I ended up meeting my replacement here in the morning and we drove up to Saint George together. Jack in the Box was good.

A lot has happened this year. Some of it has been recorded in this blog, but not nearly enough of it. I'm very curious to discover what happens in the next hundred posts.

There has been one good football game

The football game was amazing! I've never witnessed anything so intense. I can't believe that I enjoyed it. Football is supposed to be boring.

Today has been really relaxed. I enjoyed teaching Sunday School today. That's another thing I shouldn't enjoy. I have to actually prepare lessons and stand up in front of everybody and try to teach or lead some form of discussion. That's work. I'm lazy. I don't get it. The best explanation I can come up with is that I actually do enjoy work, but I can't take any kind of grading. In school I could work hard on a presentation and then get a bad grade. I am therefore a failure. Church is great though. It doesn't matter how good or how bad you are; at the end of the lesson you get the same people who simply say, "Good lesson." It feels great. Even if people are judging my teaching abilities and spend all day talking about what a horrible teacher I am, I don't know about it, so I don't care. I still get nervous, but I feel great at the same time. I just want to thank everyone who says I did a good job teaching. Thanks to those who mean it and thanks to those who are just saying it to be polite. You're all appreciated. Keep up the good work.

Thanksgiving Break

So far so good.

I met Mama Bluffs!

She's a really cool mom. It was kind of mysterious since no one had met her before. I was afraid that she would be this scary dictatorial woman who ruled the Bluffs family with an iron fist and had no interest in knowing their friends. Boy were my fears unwarranted. She's really friendly and seemed excited to meet all of us non-Bluffs. She likes to take pictures and keep track of all the cute things her kids do. She even wrote down all the nick names we've given them. Some of her hobbies include making crafts and scrap booking.

Whit and I were honorary members of the Bluffs family!

We drove up to somewhere past Ogden so that we could have thanksgiving dinner in a chapel there. The drive was fun. Good music was played. Bad music was played. Ok music was played. We covered the spectrum. While waiting for dinner I threw around the football with the girls while the other guys played basketball. I'm not very competitive and I could tell that the basketball players were. Council Bluffs broke his foot off during the game, but he's tough so we just stuck it back on and now he just has a swollen ankle. Then we played some football. Then we ate a delicious turkey dinner. Then we went to a house and ate pie. Then we watched Mission Impossible III. Then we drove back to Provo. Then we watched The da Vinci Code while some people played risk. Then I went home and fell asleep.

I worked a lot.

Wednesday I put in 8 hours at the lab, worked 5 hours at the Smith Field house, and labored 3 hours at the Marriott Center cleaning up after the game. Friday I didn't have to go to the lab, but I worked the same shifts at the Field house and Marriott Center.

I fell in love with an Arabian princess.

Obviously a big fat lie.

My Room, My Refuge

This is my room. Well, actually it's my side of a room of which I am a co-owner. I like it in my room. Not many people have been in my room (mostly just my roommates), so I thought I'd give everyone a short tour. This is my desk. I get most of my stuff done here. If we've ever chatted online, I was most likely sitting right here. Some key features are my computer, my Gremlins poster, and my junk.
This is the shelf we had installed right in the middle of the room. I use it to put stuff on. You'll notice pictures of me and Jenny, a yellow furby key chain, clocks, and other stuff.
And this is my cork board. It houses my assignment tracker, the names of the guys and gals that I home teach. A small piece of note card that says "CPM" in bubble letters, and an index card with a few things that I mustn't forget. To the right of my cork board you'll see "El Bruto" and "Senor Skateboard". As far as I know, a girl has never set foot in this room. When I lived on Kingsbury street back in Amarillo, Texas there was only one time that a girl other than a relative entered my room. I was gone doing something and the Young Women in the ward invited themselves in and "decorated" it. I felt like my sanctuary had been violated. I got over it though.

Harmony

WARNING: This post contains an attempt to discuss things that are going on inside my head to a general audience that is either not aware of my current circumstances or not interested in the details. It's probably confusing. Reader discression is advised.

I am divided into three parts. One part deals with emotions and feeling. He is responsible for my desires, my passion, my love, my disappointment, my discouragement, my sadness. He worries about things being right or wrong(moral or immoral).The second part of me is all about logic. He only cares about probabilities, patterns, and trends. He worries about things being right or wrong(correct or incorrect). His intentions are very good. He wants to keep the three of us safe. The third is the one that people see. People get to know the third. He's the one that governs. He listens to the first two and makes the decision of how to act/what to do. When I say the word "I" or "me" I am referring to all three, but the third is the one speaking for the other two. For too long now, the three have been fighting. The first will feel something and request that action be taken. The second will point out possible undesired consequences of taking any action. And the third will usually pick a side. Then it can get ugly. If one is ignored too often they can cause a lot of problems until they finally get recognized again. The third isn't nice to the other two. He's been know to say things like, "That's so stupid!", "Why did you do that?", "What were you thinking?", "Idiot!", "Fool!".

It has been easy for me to be understanding and patient with other people, but hard for me to treat myself the same way. I'm learning to work better though. It's never wrong to feel how I feel. I need to pay more attention to it. The more I suppress and ignore my feelings, the less passion I have for life, and the less creativity I possess. No longer will the third say to the first, "You shouldn't feel that way. It's stupid. I'm only listening to Logic from now on." How I feel is important. All three can begin to work together. Recently the first two were fighting. The first brought a feeling to the attention of the third and the second was quick to point out the trend of what happens when this feeling surfaces. The pattern pointed out by the second was very convincing, but the newly enlightened third came up with a brilliant idea that allowed the first to continue feeling what it was feeling while avoiding the pattern pointed out by the second. I'm so much better off because of it. I'm nicer to myself. I'm not as judgemental. When I do poorly on an exam I won't yell at logic for not being smarter, and when I'm discouraged or heartbroken, I won't blame it on the foolishness of acting on my feelings. I can act on my feelings and be logical. They can coexist.

Tired yet rejuvinated.

WARNING: This post is long and is not for the very busy. It is recommended that the very busy skip to the pictures.

I'm back from vacation. For every one's information, I'm doing okay. Being a little crazy is what keeps me from going insane. I ended up meeting my replacement here in the morning and we drove up to Saint George together. Jack in the Box was good. Then we drove around lost for a while as we tried to find a place to set up camp. Due to a wrong turn we ended up in Arizona. I took one of those exits that says "NO SERVICES" and followed a dirt road into the desert. Then I pulled off the road and we set up the tent. Once the sun went down it got cold. Real cold. The trip was nice. My replacement and I really got to know each other better. We dug down deep into our souls asking questions about what really is important to us, and what assumptions about life we have made. I also called Abby, because it was a little creepy and I wanted some contact with civilization. We talked for a good hour and a half. She has a new boyfriend and a new job in Chicago. It's helpful to get her perspective on things. It's nice to know that many of the problems I face aren't unique to me or to BYU or to Mormons. They're universal.

We woke up and had an early morning devotional of sorts. And then we just talked and read. Then something clicked. I had one of those epiphany things. Then I had the impression that my trip had served it's purpose, so I needed to go home. I packed up the tent, put everything in the car, got in the car, turned the key, and nothing. The car was dead. I tried again and again. It would just crank, but never turn over. This turned out to be an amazing blessing. Part of what I learned in my conversations with my replacement is that I'm too independent. I've always considered that to be a strength, but it's not in my case. I need to learn to rely on others and ask for help when I need it. It's no just that I try to be independent from my parents and things, it goes much deeper. I don't even ask God for help. I'll ask for guidance and forgiveness, but I try to do everything else on my own. That's not independence. It's pride. It's stupidity. It's like I'm trying to fool myself into thinking I can make it through mortality with just the bare minimum of divine aid. I need all the help I can get, and I shouldn't let my pride get in the way. So, my car was dead. The normal Kyle would have grabbed his bottle of water and started walking through the desert until he reached civilization so that he could find a tow truck to retrieve his car and bring it to get repaired. I did something different though. I prayed and asked for help. I'm sure it seems like the logical thing to do for everyone else, but it's something very new to me. I just don't ask for help. After the prayer, I popped the hood, jiggled every wire and thingamajig that could be jiggled, got in the car, caressed the steering wheel lovingly turned the key and BAM it turned over. I made it out of the desert of Arizona and all the way home. It was amazing to have the chance to put into practice what I had learned.

Okay, for those of you who skipped most of the post because it's too long... Here are some pictures!

Here's my replacement driving very carefully on the way to Saint George.

Me standing by the tent. I still remember some of what Boy Scouts taught me.

Here I am outside while we were star gazing. It was a great night for it.This is my replacement. He looks a little cold....And Arabic.This is me sleeping like a little angel.

Last Day

It's been fun being Kyle, but all good things must come to an end. I want to thank everyone for accepting me and treating me just like one of the gang. Maybe I'll come back and visit from time to time. It was warm today, so I'm hoping that its warm tomorrow, but AmAndA and AlAn tell me that a warm day usually means snow is on its way. Now that I finished everything Kyle had to do, I don't have anything to keep myself entertained. I played solitaire. I won. Yippee. Now I'm just trying to find an activity to burn my time until I go to work. After work I don't know what I'll do. I could do some deep cleaning in Kyle's room. That would be lame. This is my last day here. I should be SWINGING!

Today in History I learned that you can't spell Umar Uthman without Uma Thurman.

It Ain't Easy

Okay, so I thought that since I've been working so hard, I must have Kyle caught up till January, but no. It turns out I'm barely treading water. How does he do it? How does anyone do it? SO much work. I'm glad that I only have to be Kyle for two more days. Saturday I'm going to meet up with him in St. George. We're going to get some Jack in the Box tacos and then go camping somewhere. We might have a tent if I can take this one that's been sitting in Kyle's apartment forever. If the weather is nice enough down there, we won't even need a tent. I got a haircut yesterday, and I suggested that Kyle do the same. He's starting to look like a hippy. He'll be back Sunday night or Monday afternoon depending on his desires to skip his classes. Well, no rest for the weary. I better get back to work. Bye.

Greetings

Hello all! This is Kyle's replacement. You can call me Kyle. Kyle has begun his vacation, but I talked to him a little bit last night and he says he doesn't feel like his vacation has started yet. I understand. He has a lot on his mind. It will take a while to just sit back and relax. Plus, from my experience, vacations can be more stressful than the stress we mean to avoid by taking the vacation. I don't know how long he'll be gone, but I'm happy to be here, so however long it is, it's fine with me.

Yesterday was my first day as Kyle. It went okay, I went to most of his classes. I skipped history, but I figure it's okay since he never went anyway. I finished his homework for Molecular Biology Reading Series (boring). No offense Kyle, but I can't think of a more boring major that you could have chosen. Maybe if "History of Dog Food" were a major, it would be more boring. I also, wrote his New Testament paper that's due this week. Apparently he put it off all semester. Sheesh, what a procrastinator. Then I went to work and everything went smoothly there. You better look out Kyle, I might end up running your life better than YOU! Or, on the other hand, I may ruin your life rather than run it. Just kidding, Kyle. Sip some lemonade and kick your feet up. No worries. I'll keep everything under control for ya. That reminds me, I better get started on the rest of the stuff you've been putting off since who knows when.

Vacation!

Yesterday was pretty tough on so many different levels. At least the day ended well, with throwing pumpkins off a bridge. It made me decide to take a vacation. I can't get behind in my school work or get off at the Smith Field house, so I'm going to have someone take my place. He looks just like me and we act very similarly (No, it isn't Alan). While I'm getting some much needed rest, he'll be taking care of business here in Provo. Hopefully by the time I get back I will have found a way to get off the see-saw. Alan's and my future happiness depends on it. Good bye everyone! I'll see you when I get back!

Studs

Busy week. I just want to take this time to acknowledge the studity of my apartment. Last Saturday we all had dates, and this weekend many of us have dates. I'm not included in that "many", but I am included in the "all" that went on dates last week. Lafe from work set me up on a blind date with a girl in his ward. We made and ate Taco Salad at Lafe's house. It was weird to be in a home. A real home with parents and teenagers and stuff. That was my first experience in a Provo home. It was scary. After eating we went bowling at the Wilkinson Student Center. I saw Heather there. That was cool. I beat everyone in bowling. That's right. I rock. I'm the best. Bow down to the lord of all that is bowling. Well, I won, but my score was only 116. None of us were experienced bowlers. Then we went and got ice cream because I like ice cream and I don't care who knows it. This week was another hectic week. I thought it was over now, but it's not. I forgot that I'm teaching Sunday School. My parents are going to be here tomorrow. That's exciting too. I get to show them my turf. My stomping grounds. Introduce them to my peeps, my homies, my allies. Yeah, I'll just post some pictures and call it a night.

Am I weird?

Today a girl asked me if I was pre-med. When I said no she responded with, "Oh, so you're just going to Graduate school then." When I said no again she asked with a puzzled look on her face, "Then what are you going to do with your degree?!?" I'll do what I want with it! Maybe I'll use it as scratch paper or carry it around like a hanky and blow my nose into it! I'm sorry if getting a bachelor's degree isn't good enough for you. Am I the only person in the world that's anxious to be done with school? I've been going to school since I was five. That's long enough. It's not like going to school puts off anything. Right now I work AND go to school. When I'm done with school, I'll just have work! A huge chunk of my time will be restored to me. At school you have five or six bosses that never coordinate and demand ridiculous amounts of work from you. It's not like that in any job I've had before. One supervisor. One person to please. That's the life. My Professor in the Lab! My teachers! My boss at work! Cleaning inspections at home! There's no escape! Too much grading! Too much judging!

I was frustrated when I got home, so I move the refrigerator and noticed that there wasn't linoleum underneath it. Oh wait....There was linoleum underneath it, just hidden under years of grime. I got to cleaning. I felt good. Something accomplished. No one told me to do it, so no one has the right to say I did a bad job.