BUT Before I Do THAT... I'll Do THIS!

This morning was an odd morning! All of 2008 I have not gotten a cold or flu, but today I wake up with a sore throat running nose, itchy/watery eyes, etc, etc, etc. I think to myself "Great way to end one year and begin another... SICK!"

So I do what I can, get up drink some hot herbal tea (which really helped the sore throat) put some Zicam up my nose and eventually take a Claritin D that my mother brought to me at work around 2:00 pm.

The whole day at work I am thinking about how miserable I am and how I just CAN"T WAIT to get home to my nice warm bed, maybe read a little and have some hot tea or something and go to sleep.

I have no idea why, but every time I imagine a nice quiet senario I never ever end up doing that!

Today it just happened that my parents had just started "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Of course I've never seen it and my dad proceeds to bug me about it until I sit down and finish watching it with them.

The movie is finished! I then decide to read a bit then go to sleep. BUT first I'll check my Facebook... and my email... and twitter... and my myspace... and chat with a friend... and find some cool new music... and WRITE A BLOG!!! (Can you tell which one I'm on right now??)

I always procrastinate my relaxing! I've decided it needs to stop! So right now I'm going to bed. I'm done writing and I'm hitting the sack (after I also post this to my Facebook and make it known on twitter that I wrote this blog)! Wish me luck!

I think I may really need it!

My Music

Recently (as in the last 3 days) I've been listening to an artist named Sia... who has been involved in the past with the band Zero 7

At any rate she is an amazing talented woman! She used to be part of an Acid jazz group back in the day. Meaning she is a jazz singer turned Pop. I would highly recommend her music to anyone.

My favorite song of hers at the moment is Academia (lyrics below). I have listened to it about 20 times in the last two days! If you have the opportunity check her out. She is amazing! If you want to see someone else's opinion check out my friend's blog! He has posted her music videos for her song Buttons.

academia
Lyrics:

you can be my alphabet and i will be your calculator
and together we'll work out on the escalator
i will time you as you run up the down
and you'll measure my footsteps as i blow through this town
the mean of our heights is divided by the nights
which is times'd by the daggers and the route of all our fights,the pass of your poem is to swathe me in your knowing
and the beauty of the word is that you don't have to show it
oh academia you can't pick me up soothe me with your words when i need your love
i am a dash and you are a dot
when will you see that i am all that you've got
i'm a binary code that you cracked long ago
but to you i'm just a novel that you wish you'd never wrote
i'm greater than x and lesser than y, so why is it that i still can't catch your eye?
you're a cryptic crossword, a song i've never heard
while i sit here drawing circles i'm afraid of being hurt
oh academia you can't pick me up
soothe me with your words when i need your love
you're a difficult equation with a knack for heart evasion
will you listen to my proof or will you add another page on
it appears to me the graph has come and stolen all the laughs
it appears to me the pen has over analysed again
and if i am a number i'm infinity plus one
and if you are five words you are afraid to be the one
and if you are a number you're infinity plus one
and if i am four words then i am needing of your love
oh academia you can't pick me up
soothe me with your words when i need your love
academia repeat x 5

New Year's Resolutions

Since it is New Year's Day in a couple days I am, as most individuals do this time of year, making some New Years Resolutions.

I put the Wikipedia link in here, just for those who haven't yet made a resolution... because there is a list of most popular new year's goals.

Here is my list of goals so far... Mind you I may decide to add or subtract from this list as time goes on.

> Get a Passport and go out of the country
> Read at least one book a month
> Eat Better
> Do a full body cleanse at least twice this year
> Exercise more regularly
> Save money
> Travel somewhere I haven't been in the United States
> Dance every chance I get
> Do well in school
> Grow my hair long
> Make more of an effort to be close to my immediate and extended family

I'm pretty satisfied with the list at the moment. I am excited for the New Year. It will be a year of no regrets and it will be fantastic!

Future post!

So after watching a person's VLOG tonight I have decided that one of my soon to come BLOG posts will be in VLOG form.

What does that mean for all of you?! I'm going to use American Sign Language to say what I want to say! You'll get to see me sign! Maybe you'll understand it maybe you won't!

I will put a "translation" in my BLOG so people can kind of follow along or if you're really just interested in what I have to say (although I highly doubt it).

I'm WAY excited! You all should be too! Now I just have to find out what I want to talk about... if you have any suggestions let me know... Or else I'll just end up talking about myself!!

Accepting Viewpoints

So I know I've been talking a lot about accepting political opinions and such recently... BUT I feel it's very very very important at this time. I promise I'll try to keep this to a minimum in the future.

The Church of Jesus Christ came out with an Article via it's Newsroom responding to the recent passing of proposition 8 in California. Specifically it was titled "Church Responds to Same-Sex Marriage Votes"

The statement that really stuck out to me and to the friend who sent the link to me was...

Before it accepted the invitation to join broad-based coalitions for the amendments, the Church knew that some of its members would choose not to support its position. Voting choices by Latter-day Saints, like all other people, are influenced by their own unique experiences and circumstances. As we move forward from the election, Church members need to be understanding and accepting of each other and work together for a better society.

I have had debates on this very issue and other issues with fellow church members, while I don't always feel that they are looking down on me for my opinions, I do feel that way some of the time.

I actually had someone tell me I was jepordizing my membership in the church because of feeling a certain way on a recent issue. Which I know isn't true... a wise friend once said to me, "once it is a requirement to tell a bishop how I voted, in an election, to enter the temple the church is no longer true."

I feel that we all need to be more accepting of each other. Whether it is inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or outside of it. It is one thing we can do to make this world a better place.

Mixed CDs/Tapes/Playlists

Ok so I have a confession....

I've always dreamed of getting a mixed CD/tape/playlist from a special someone. Meaning someone I was dating or someone I was interested in. I know that sounds a little cheesy, but I think if you knew how big of a hopeless romantic I am you would understand.

I have not gotten a mixed CD/tape/playlist to this day. After seeing Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist this dream really hit hard. I remember thinking in all of my relationships... "that would be awesome if he would just put all of these songs that he tells me about on a CD for me."

Now I realized that some guys might think, "oh that's lame." Or some guys might think it makes you less masculine. I guess depending on the girl you give it to that could be the case, but I am not one of THOSE girls! I would love it and like you that much more!

At any rate... Mixed CDs/Tapes/Playlists are great and I only hope one day I could be so lucky that someone will find me worthy of one!

Thoughts for Friends

So I have a problem. Well most people wouldn't say it's a problem, I think most people wish to have something close to my "problem."

So here it is... When I see my friends going through tough times, or when I see them sad I can't help but feel their sadness. I can't help but to want to do everything in my power to just make it all better.

Today has been one of those days that I just wanted to make everything better. It seemed that al around me something was going wrong in one of my friend's lives. I felt completely helpless. Which is not a common feeling for me.

After feeling this way all day I'm here in front of the computer still feeling helpless. Usually I can do something or say something and it helps. I mean if I do something funny and my friend laughs or smiles that makes me feel that maybe, just maybe, I did something that helped them.

Today I didn't get that satisfaction or rather relief. It something that now I know doesn't help only the person that is struggling, but it helps me.

Basically I think I am writing this for all of my friends who are going through a tough time in life. I am constantly thinking about all of you!! I know there might not be a lot I can do or say to make anything better, but believe me I constantly pray for all of you and I am mindful of you. And if there is anything at all I can do let me know and I will do it in a heart beat! Whether it be just listening or the most outrageous thing you can think of... I mean it anything!

I love you all and hope for nothing but joy and happiness for everyone!

Leading by Example (IE politics)

Over the past little while, well since the election on November 4th, there has been a lot of hate generated over Proposition 8. And I know... no need to tell me I am constantly saying I don't want to hear anything more from either side on the issue. But today I read something that really hurt my feelings and just felt that I needed to write something.

At any rate...

A lot of people have been "blaming" The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (A.K.A. LDS or Mormon) for the passing of proposition 8. Which in and of itself does not bother me. I do believe the church used its influence to try to influence their congregations one way, but I don't believe the church is solely responsible for the passing of Proposition 8 (I mean not 52% of California's population is LDS, but that's a different conversation all together).

Now people are calling all LDS members bigots saying we should be ashamed in what we believe, be ashamed that we belong to a church that could support something like proposition 8.

I in fact am not ashamed to say I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But I don't enjoy being called a bigot just because of my religion. I want to make it VERY clear I'm not saying I voted for or against prop 8. I'm just trying to make a point.

If I was trying to get someone to see my point the last thing I would want to do is call them a bigot. If we belittling a person's way of thinking he/she will immediately turn us off and not listen. The saying, "kill them with love," I think, applies here. If people were rioting in the street for no on prop 8 and then came and saw a person who voted yes on prop 8 and was nice to that person. The person who voted yes on prop 8 probably wouldn't be so defensive and may actually listen to what you have to say.

Again I want to make it VERY VERY clear that I'm not disclosing in any way, shape, or form that I voted for or against prop 8. I'm just tired of the hate coming from BOTH sides. There is no need for name calling and no need to say any group should be ashamed of themselves.

I consider myself to be a very open minded and accepting person. I mean I have VERY CLOSE friends from EVERY walk of life. I love them all and support them in whatever they do and give them whatever help they need. I don't think that would qualify my as a bigot, or a hater, or a person who interferes with the rights of another person.

I'm Mormon, I'm not a bigot, I don't hate, and I don't discriminate.

Please don't hate or discriminate me because I choose to exercise my constitutional right to practice the religion that is best fitting for me.

5 Minute Attention Span

I was browsing a Swing dancing forum just a few minutes ago. On the forum there was a thread about politics. I thought "hmmm. This should be interesting."

I open the thread. Automatically I'm turned off! The posts were all SOOO stinking long! I barely skimmed over one or two posts then I called it quits!

At that moment in time I thought about what my speech teacher keeps shoving down our throats. The average American adult only has an attention span of 5 minutes.

That thought led to another thought (as my thoughts usually do).

If the average American adult only has an attention span of 5 minutes maybe that's why different political parties don't get along... we can't listen to each other long enough to understand where the other person is coming from.

We can even bring that out into a wider picture. Maybe that why people in general don't get along. We can't listen to each other for more than 5 minutes!

Just some food for thought... at 12 am.


On a side note, I've decided I'm crazy or otherwise just a kooky person at times.

Learned a new word!

pos·i·tiv·ism (pz-t-vzm)

... 2. The state or quality of being positive

I found that very interesting... I had never heard of that word before I was revamping my about me section last night! Yay for learning new things!

Dance Events! The Love and the Hate!

This is a love hate relationship I have going on with lindy exchanges and other events!

I love them because they are amazing and there are SOO many. I love dance events because no matter what I always learn something new! I love dance events because they are SO fun and a good excuse to go see the world! I love these events because I make new friends and see new places!

I hate them because I can't go to all of them, because there are too many! I hate them because they cost money that I don't have (for travel and the actual event). AND I hate them because they leave me wanting more dancing and I can never satisfy the urge!

Basically... swing events are the bane of my exisitence, BUT the marshmallows to my hot chocolate at the same time. Funny how that works out sometimes!

I'm working on my schedule of events for the next year. If you have any that are a MUST GO TO let me know and I'll do my best to work them in!

Voted!

When I was younger my parents would always take me with them whenever they got the opportunity to vote. They would go off into their little booth and cast their vote. I would wait for them and "cast my own vote" (the people at the polling places would give me a fake ballot and pretend that I was voting too). This instilled a very important value in me. Voting is important.

Today it was finally my turn to truly cast my vote. I went to my local polling station and voted on all the issues that currently face California.

As I was walking down the street I was getting extremely nervous. Thinking, "what if I'm making the wrong decision..." blah blah blah. I mean this is the first presidential election that I have had the opportunity to vote in, therefore making me just a tad nervous.

I finally get to the voting place (that happens to be just a block away from my house)and as I'm walking up the steps there is an old man walking up them as well.

This gentleman turns to me and says, "you look so young! You look like you could be 12! I'm proud of you coming out to vote!"

At that moment in time all of those anxieties went away! I stood up tall and went through the line to check in and get my ballot.

I was the youngest person in the room and it felt great! There was a 93 year old man there who said "I'm 93 years old. They didn't kill me in the 2nd world war, and that's why I'm still here and voting."

It was all just a good experience. At any rate after I was done voting I got my "I Voted!" sticker and went to celebrate by getting donuts.

I'm glad that I have the great privilege to live in such a great country with the opportunity to vote to express myself with the freedom of speech and religion. I encourage all registered voters to go out and vote today. If you are unable to participate in this election for whatever reason I encourage you to do all you can to register and be eligible to vote in any upcoming elections for your area.

I mean if you think about it... if you didn't vote (and technically could have, but you didn't register or just didn't vote) you have no right to complain about what's happening in the economy, with foreign affairs, or anything else really. It was your choice to stand on the sidelines and you'll have to live with that decision.

I hope everyone has a great election day and I'll be glued to the TV at work tonight to see what the outcomes are.

Places I Want to Visit

Here is a list of places I want to visit (I may have already been to some of these places, but if they're listed I want to go again).

> Seattle, WA
> New York, NY
> Orlando, FL
> Kansas City, KS
> Washington DC
> Paris, France
> London, England
> Stockholm, Sweden
> Minneapolis, MN
> Berlin, Germany
> Rome, Italy
> Portland, OR
> San Fransisco, CA
> Sacramento, CA
> Phoenix, AZ
> Hawaii
> Denver, CO
> West Yellowstone, MT
> Keystone, SD
> Austin, TX
> New Orleans, LA
> Boston, MA
> Barcelona, Spain
> Ontario, Canada
> Madrid, Spain
> Frankfurt, Germany
> Munich, Germany
> Beijing, China
> Tokyo, Japan
> Amsterdam, The Netherlands
> Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

That's the list so far! As I go to these places I'm going to post about it. At some point in my lifetime I hope I will visit all of these places. That would be the greatest thing in the world!

Broken

So much for not breaking the chain. All you have to do is throw a cute guy (or my boss... who, for the record, is not a cute guy) in front of me and almost everything goes to pot.

I posted that blog on Tuesday saying how I was taking more steps to help myself not "break the chain", well that very same day I get some terrible news. At 3:00 pm I find out my boss needs me to work a double shift. I had already worked all morning so i was already dead tired, but me being the wonderful reliable person I am say, "Of course, Ray! I'll be there!" I decided I was only going to stay until 8:00pm and then I'll go make an appearance at institute (to see a cute boy of course) and then I'll go to the gym.

Well After I finally got off of work at 8:00pm I immediately head to the institute and, of course, the cute boy I wanted to see was there ;) which made my night. When I got there I started interpreting for the last 15 minutes of the lesson. While I was interpreting my back started to cramp up and caused a lot of pain... along with my shoulder (earlier in the day I had re-injured a previous injury. FYI that means I tore the soft tissue in my shoulder again).

The lesson ended and I stayed and talked to this said cute boy. We had set a date for the next night and I just wanted to iron out some plans. 20 - 30 minutes later we go our separate ways. I get into my car look at the clock it's about 9:30 and I say to myself, "UGH! it's too late to go to the gym and I'm hurting..." blah blah blah blah blah!

SO I DIDN'T GO!!!

Wednesday rolls around. Naturally I'm looking forward to this date with the way awesome/cute/funny/cool guy. I figure it can't go very late because we're starting at 5pm. I figured the latest 8 or 9. I then planned to go to the gym after we were finished hanging out.

That didn't happen! The cute boy kept me entranced until 4:30 Thursday morning. There was no way I was going to get to the gym then especially after not sleeping.

Then I automatically thought, "well I'll go after work." Come to find out that I have to work a double again tonight. I was SO tired I came home and just laid in bed.

NOW after much debate I am not going to the gym tonight, but I will be going tomorrow morning before I have to go to work. So that's the plan. Unless the cute boy calls and says he wants to do breakfast. ;) Which I HIGHLY DOUBT. One can dream though right?

The Color Purple

I was on a forum the other day and one of the topics was about the color purple (not the book the actual color). One of the questions presented by this forum was some thing along the lines of "what does the color purple remind you of?"

Well for me the color purple reminds me of fat/obese people. Don't ask me why it just does. Maybe because I saw some really really huge person wearing purple sometime or whatever the reason.

I was thinking last night about some of the goals I am making for myself (One of them to be to go to the gym everyday except Sunday). So I decided to go to the grocery store at 11:30 last night and pick up a composition notebook to track my progress. I get to the store and they have 2 colors to choose from. Purple and red. My first instinct was to immediately grab the red notebook. As I was reaching for it I said to myself purple wouldn't be good to motivate myself to go to the gym. I quickly stopped and said a purple notebook would motivate me MORE than anything else!

So I grabbed the purple notebook and went to check out. I printed off some calendars and pasted them in the first few pages of the book with some "motivational quotes."

It is now right next to me on the floor and I feel like going to the gym RIGHT NOW!

The color purple is good for something!




Don't get me wrong purple isn't all that bad... I mean Darkwing Duck (only the coolest crime fighter ever) wore purple.

I don't like the color purple partially because it reminds me of fate people. Also because throughout my growing up years my favorite color was pink because of the pink Power Ranger, and then my mom got it into her head and everyone else's that my favorite color was purple. Crazy family!

Don't break the Chain!

Thanks to my friend Traci and her blog post about her goal to not breaking the chain I'm changing my outlook on how I make goals. My goals usually are oh I want to do this, but taking no action and no positive reinforcement to make them happen. BUT when I mentally started a chain I could see that I'm actually working toward something and that I'm building on something and making it bigger and stronger everyday. Positive reinforcement helped me immensely! Now it's just time to make it official into something I can physically see.

SO STEP ONE, I'm going to print off some calendars.
STEP TWO is to not break the chain.

One of my goals is to go to the gym everyday (except Sunday). So far I've done really well except Friday when I was surprised by the fact that I had to work all day and Saturday when I was in bed most of the day with a migraine type headache.

I encourage everyone to read The "don't break the chain" article. It may just be the motivation you need to get off your patooty! Just like it was mine!

Good luck!

Experience

I was talking to a friend the other night about experiences I believe people should have in college.

He was talking about how he was planning on taking 19+ units/credits a semester so he could get his BA in 3 semesters (Mind you this is not where my complaint lies I'm all for finishing school as fast as possible). I asked him if he was planning on working part time, since he has to pay for his education, living expenses, etc. He said no he's just going to focus on school.

My response to that was "Good Luck. I could never do it." Which is the HONEST TO ZEUS TRUTH!! I could never just go to school, I have to have a sense of freedom. He started to ask why I felt that way. I proceeded to tell my friend that in order to do things you have to have money. If a group of people are going out bowling, out to a movie, dinner, etc. you need money.

(Now we're getting to the part that i didn't agree with)

His response to this was, "why would I want to do that?"

What are you a recluse?! Seriously why wouldn't you want to do that?! At any rate I told him that making friends is a part of normal college life and it's an important part to being a well rounded person.

Of course he didn't see it exactly as I did. He starts going off about how he has all of the friends he needs and how he has made his close group of friends out of the people he wants to associate with so he wouldn't have to make any more friends.

Finally after going back and forth just a little bit more I decided there was no winning him over. So I did something I rarely ever do... I conceded.

Now it's my chance to tell ALL OF YOU how I don't agree! YAY!!!

I mean if you aren't going to be making new friends what is the point of doing anything?! What's the point of going to that expensive college in another state just because they have a decent or good program? What's the point of going to church activities or classes? Without socializing and making new friends College wouldn't even exist!

I know not everyone has the same goals and dreams as everyone else but I thought that was a general want and desire to be accepted by people and be friends with people to gain a support group. It was just beyond me! Why would anyone want to go to college and NOT want to socialize?! This is the one chance you have in your life to do certain things.

So the moral of the story is: Carpe Diem! Seize the Day! Don't let life's few fleeting moments/opportunities pass you by!

;)

Everything, but Nothing

WARNING THIS MAY RAMBLE AND MAKE NO SENSE (IT IS 2:00 AM)



So the other day I was filling out an about me section (the bane of my existence) and I described myself as "everything, but nothing." On a previous about me section I had listed contradicting statements that were all true. For example, I described myself as "...lovable, [but] hate-able..." Well this got me thinking.

How can I be a walking ball of contradictions?! Wouldn't that make me a hypocrite?

Well I came to this realization siting in Biology on Tuesday, while we were talking about atoms and their components. As my teacher was talking about how the protons and the electrons balance each other to make an atom neutral I figured that there was something more to this. Then I remembered in the book Angels and Demons it presented an idea that everything has an opposite to make the universe stable (The book used matter and anti-matter)

I applied this concept of balancing everything out to me and my personality. Well maybe to make ourselves somewhat stable (I mean let's face it, who in this world is REALLY stable?!) we need to have opposites in our personality.

It was just an interesting thought that came to mind as I was trying to come up with something funky fresh to describe me. At the moment I'm satisfied with it...

"I'm everything, but nothing."

The thing that you get into now is what do you mean by everything, but nothing?

For me it means that I can do everything I can to please/help others, but in the self-less act I'm still selfish, because why am I doing it? It makes ME feel good. The list can go on.

I am everything because of my great friends and my religion, but I am nothing because without those factors I couldn't see reason to do anything.

I am everything because I have the ability to be everything, but I'm nothing because some outside force may stop me.

I am everything to one person, but nothing to another.

There are a lot of things that can contribute to the everything, but nothing description.

So again I'm satisfied with being "everything, but nothing."

Back in California

More specifically I'm back in the San Fernando Valley (or LA county).



So far it's been great. Besides the living at home part. My parents drive me absolutely up the wall! I have started school at Los Angeles Pierce College and so far that's going really well! This is the 4th week into the semester and my first tests are on this Wednesday. Wish me luck!

Right now I'm working at The Granada Hills Pizza Cookery (on Balboa and Devonshire). I'm absolutely loving it! It is almost exactly the same as when I left! I mean except for the new front wall... That was courtesy of a hit and run driver. I think they wanted us to offer a drive-thru service. lol. I work there just over 35 hours a week which is great because it's fun and it's good money.

Working and school are my two MAIN focuses... of course there are others as well. Dancing would be one of them! I've gone dancing every week since I've been back. This past Saturday (September 20, 2008)I actually went to Third Saturday Swing and had a blast!

I've also tried my hand at a couple things I've never done before! The most exciting would be mountain biking! Yes I did it! Even clumsy ol' me got on a mountain bike and went on an actual trail! It was awesome and I'm going again probably on Wednesday! The other thing is actually committing to finishing a book series. I've never finished a series of books before, so I have committed to finishing the Blue Bloods series. I would suggest that everyone read it!

So that's what I've been doing for the last three weeks! Ain't it exciting?! I know I'm not a very interesting person, but I'm planning on doing a lot more in the near future and I'm sure that will be more interesting to read.

Play time

A few nights ago I had the most fun I have had since the "take cover" incident with Rocio(which consisted of her and I throwing stuffed animals back and forth yelling "take cover" in Russian type accents).

At any rate, Drew and I were at the grocery store and just happened to walk down the isle with the $2 toys. For some reason we go all out! The next thing I know we're walking out of the store with PVC Dinosaurs, Army Men, toy guns that shoot the arrows that stick to the wall, and the magic sponges that turn from pill type things to sponges.

We get back to Drew's place throw the pills in warm water and make our way to the garage. After separating the dinosaurs and army men into two teams. We set up the team formations and set some ground rules. Then the battle begun! The goal was to knock down the opposing army.

I felt pretty confident because I didn't have just anyone as my commander(s) I had the whole land before time crew! Petrie, Spike, Ducky, Cera, and Little Foot. Unfortunately these commander weren't up for the challenge. Even after recruiting Drew's brother Alex we still experienced an upsetting loss.

HERE are a few pics I took with my phone to remember the night. (Note my sunburn from earlier that day at Arches.)

Arches Overview

Arches National Park is a beautiful place where one can go to hike, get some fresh air and relax. Too bad for me it wasn’t as relaxing as it was back breaking!

The adventure begins on July 4^th around 4 pm. First Drew and I picked up a few necessary food items at the local Walmart, then we Left South Salt Lake City, Utah around 5 pm or 6 pm. When we arrived in Moab we had the hardest time finding the Lazy Lizard Hostel, where we had reservations to stay (it turned out you needed to turn INTO the A-1storage facility’s parking lot).

Drew and I got a good night sleep woke up the next morning, July 5^th, bright and early at 7am to get ready for the long day we knew we had ahead of us. After much insisting that I needed to look perfect because we are going to take pictures we set out on the road to Arches National Park!

First we hiked to the Delicate Arch, and then we made our way to the Devil’s Garden where we hiked the Primitive Trail. Let me tell you… that Trail is PRIMITIVE! We stopped at multiple arches while hiking up in Devils Garden (I.E. Double O arch, Pine tree arch, and Private arch.). When we had finally decided that we were going to call it a day we were both completely wiped out!

While we were walking back to the car we come to a sandy area that has a fenced pathway. I’m looking down dragging my feet. Suddenly, BOOM! I was taken aback for a second. I hadn’t known what hit me. To my surprise there was a HUGE tree branch just in the middle of this FENCED OFF PATH! So the highlight of the trip was that I ran into a tree and we got to make fun of it the rest of the time!

I had tons of fun and would suggest Arches National Park to anyone who is an outdoor lover and wants to see some amazing sites!

Here is a link where you can view the pictures from this amazing trip!

Taking a Trip

Yes that's right! To celebrate the 4th of July, Independence Day, I'm taking a trip 4 hours south of Sandy, Utah to Arches National Park. Drew and I are leaving today, after I get off of work (around 3pm), and heading down there.

Even though I have gone to Arches before and hiked to the Delicate Arch, I am thoroughly excited! I have not done any of the hikes other than Delicate Arch; which means there will be a lot to do/see.

So here's the Pre-Hike check off list (as of now).

• HIGH SIERRA ‘WHITEWATER’ HYDRATION PACK 2.0 Liters
• Water
• clothes/shoes
• Toiletries
  
• Camera
  
• Clif and Luna Bars
• Trail Mix
• Fruit Leather
• Sunblock
• Rockstar
• Hair ties

I think This will make for a pretty amazing trip! Don't worry of course I will post pictures and tell everyone about my experience! See you all Saturday night!

Twitter

I'm sure most of those reading my blog know I'm a twitter-er.

What is Twitter you may ask? Well It's good that Wikipedia has answers to almost EVERYTHING!


"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send 'updates' (or 'tweets'; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter web site, via the Twitter web site, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook."


Twitter has basically become my favorite part of the day. Waking up to say good morning to everyone and getting a cheerful "Hello @karenvizzy! How are you from" @br0xen or @mishimmy. Hearing about @bobthecow being a leader, "I overheard Homogonized was the new overheard." Watching as @popthestack @lelani and @drfindley geek out about Dr. Who. @jessicaford and @some0...chasyaldor...chasy (lol) talk about birthday presents and eating "baby". @sesasha and @sdswingr poking fun at me for something I said or did, or just calling me a douchebag.

Basically I have to say thank you to all of my close twitter friends who make the day go by so much faster! Each of you have a special place in my heart.

No fear for all those twitter-ers I haven't met yet I'll make room in my heart for you too!

SLC to LA from IDK

If you didn’t know before here is an official announcement for you, I am moving back home on August 31, 2008 (F.Y.I. for everyone that’s the day after my birthday). By the way, the reason it’s an official announcement here is because I know no one back home knows I have a blog and I don’t want people back home to know. That was a disclaimer for those back home who may come across this.

I’m looking forward to moving back to the good ol’ SFV (San Fernando Valley located in Northern Los Angeles County).

There is a “but”…

The dilemma I face is this: I want to move back now! There are many reasons I find it would be beneficial to wait, but I can’t stand talking to my friends on the phone and wishing I was there to do the cool stuff they are doing! Every time I get off of the phone with my BFF Rocio ---> I find myself wanting to move back that day.

For instance today, I called her to tell her I’m an ace for not realizing the date until 10:30 pm last night (it was her birthday). We talked for a while and she had to go, because she was getting another call. After I hung up I went right back to work doing what I do. Suddenly a wave of nostalgic memories came FLOODING back! Then I start thinking of when the soonest I could move back and I start missing my friends and the fun good times we had together all the time.

On the other hand though, after I start thinking I’ll quit before Camp Hollywood (CH) go to CH then come back pack and move! I start to think, “Well I want to be here for my birthday,” “I don’t want to leave my friends HERE,” and “If I move back when I’m still a teenager my parents will have a field day!”

I think it basically comes down to the fact that I know moving back home is going to be the right choice. The choice I have to decide on though is whether or not I want to wait or go back now. I wish people would just make the decision for me! That would be a lot easier!

Suggestions? Comments? Concerns?

Define Me

So I have a thing on face book called define me. I initially set it up to see how people would describe me to write a new wicked awesome about me section for my social networking sites... you know the usual (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, my blog, Plurk, etc.). Well no on has defined me yet. Hopefully on my blog I'll get a better response.

Here is your chance to help me. Define me. Say whatever you want! I promise I won't be offended... well I'll try not to be. if I don't like it I can delete it. hahaha. The power of being in control.

At any rate, define me. GO.

Holding a snake

So holding a snake is an interesting experience. It's something I've always been afraid of. Well Thanks to one of my bestest and hottest friends in the world, Drew, I slowly worked my way up to holding his ball python.

• First I started by watching him handle the snakes and blue tongued skinks and feed them.
• Next, I pet his skinks.
• Third, I held a skink.
• Then, I let a snake slither on my arm just a little.
• FINALLY, today I actually held a ball python.

(All reptiles and Drew are pictured below as well as me holding the python.)

Mind you it has taken my 3 months to get to this point. But the point is I got there! Right? right!

Drew


Blue Tongued Skink


Ball Python


ME HOLDING THE BALL PYHON

New Phone!!!

So I got a new phone! The Nokia 5310 (top picture). Isn't it beautiful! I love it so far. Granted I have only had it for 1 day, but For this one day it has been great! Considering I changed it from the Sidekick III ( bottomw picture) it is definitely a change! I'm just happy that I will have picture messaging again! I'm going to be picture message happy for a while. So if I have your phone number and I know you can picture message I most likely will be sending you a message! Woohoo!


Keep in mind the pictures aren't proportioned to each other.

Karen the Douchebag

"So I'm hangin' out with all of my buddies, and uh, I realize something,I realize something. Think of the group of people you've knownthe longest in your life. Think of the group of friends you've hung out with the most, maybe you're all here tonight.And this is what I realized, I had an epiphany, and here it is, right here:There is one person, in every group of friends, that nobody f***ing likes.
You basically keep them there, to hate their guts.When that person is not around the rest of your little base camp,your hobby, is cutting that person down.


Example: "Karen, is always a douchebag."

Every group has a Karen and she is always a bag of douche.And when she's not around, you just look at each other and say,"God, Karen, she's such a douchebag!".Until she walks up, then you're like, 'Hey, what's up Kar-? Kar-. What's up Kar-?'"

- Dane Cook

Apparently I'm a bag of douche. This is my claim to fame right here! lol. So from now on I expect people to say "Hey Kar!" to me. And this is fair warning... I'm allowed to be a douchebag!

First Post!

Well I just created this account in 10 minutes and figured I'd better put something here. So here it is! But they are now kicking me off of my work computer because the work day is over. So I guess until next time! woohoo!