Hesitation

Do you ever have those moments when you're all alone, but there are people you don't know all around you, and you really need to do something, but you hesitate because they might think you're nerdy?

Well, I just had one. But then I realized I was in the Physics building, and I didn't care anymore.

My Post-Game Comments:

I like Utah. In fact, I love them. I love everything about them. I love their program, I love their fans, I love everything... I think the whole university, their fans and their organization, is full of class... I respect them, and they deserve it.

The Chase

So the other day as I was riding Trax to school and staring blankly out the window, we were stopped at an intersection when a tall, lurpy man came into view. He ran across the street into the parking lot next to us. Well, he wasn't really running... it was more of a jog. He had long slow strides, was wearing a black hoody over his head, and was carrying what looked strangely like a purse in his left arm... kind of like a football. My first thought was, "Dude! That guy just stole somebody's purse!" But that theory quickly died because he wasn't hardly running at all. It was like he was in slow motion.... But then, another man came into view. A shorter, chubbier man who looked like he was wearing clothes indicative of a police officer or security guard. He was also running.... or at least trying to. His velocity was much slower than that of the first man, but he looked like he was pushing hard. He even grabbed what looked like a radio on his chest and spoke into it as he trudged along.....clearly calling for back up.... So I was right the first time! This was a highway purse robbery! That guy really did steal somebody's purse, and he really was jogging to get away from the authorities- JOGGING because well, that's all he needed to do. He just sort of looked like he was merely taking a leisurely prance through the parking lot, and not like he was a criminal on the run.

It was kinda funny.

At least I thought so.

But then again, I guess it wasn't really all that funny for whoever the victim was... or the officer.... I hope the culprit was apprehended in the end.

But I hope we can all learn a lesson from this one.... For all you thieves out there:
You can jog, but you can't hide.

Are you serious!?

So KJZZ is no longer showing any regular season Jazz games. What the heck? This makes me really, really mad.

Well now they can't be called KJZZ anymore. That would just be stupid. They should change their name to NOJZZ. I mean, why keep the name KJZZ if they don't even show any JAZZ GAMES ANYMORE!??!???!!!!??!!!!!

I'm just a little annoyed.

That's all.

NEVERMORE

So, I am unemployed once again. I did manage to get a job though; between now and the last time I posted anything. I worked at a lovely little company which shall remain nameless, but I quickly became FedUp with it and have since moved on.... I'm thinking outside the BOX if you will..... Yeah, that TRAILER LOADED WITH PACKAGES has been SHIPPED, if you know what I'm saying.....

Yeah it wasn't working too well with school and all, but I was able to save most of what I made which was great. I wasn't crazy about it, but overall it was a pretty good job.

Now my job is to get the money my friend owes me for mowing all those lawns for him.

The MVMM

This summer has been pretty darn lazy. For most of the time I have been unemployed. "Funemployed".... yeah ok, it was a pretty fun most of the time. However, two wonderful and temporary job opportunities were offered to me and I GLADLY excepted them.

I have two friends who are big on the lawn mowing scene. They are the grass giants, the trimming tycoons of their neighborhoods. Anybody's who's anybody has their lawn cut by these teenaged entrepreneurs. Respectively, they dominate the lawn business in their own wards.

A few weeks ago, Friend 1 went on vacation and allowed me to mow his lawns for the week. These last couple of weeks Friend 2 has been out of town and has hired me to do his lawns in his absence. I'm a lawn mowing substitute. It's a great job. All together I mowed 21 lawns at an average of $23.43 each, and at an average rate of $18.13 an hour. Not bad. Combined with the two lawns of my own that I mow, I made more like $20.35 an hour during those 3 weeks.

I did have to borrow my mother's minivan, take out the back seat, and stuff the lawn mower and other equipment in there, but it all worked out awesomely.

So if you ever need someone to mow your lawn for you while your out of town, just give me a call. I am the MiniVan Mower Man................ Yes! That's what I'll be when I grow up! A substitute mower!

Discovery

Today for lunch I had leftovers. I made a cheeseburger with a piece of ham on it. It was amazing. I call it..... The Hamburger.

Question:

What should I be when I grow up?

Last week

I mowed lawns all week. It was awesome. I hope I get paid a lot. The end.

Senior Year

I had the coolest senior year EVER!!!! I had the opportunity to be a Student Body Officer, a Madrigal, be in the Concert Choir, Wind Ensemble, and play football. And on top of all that I took AP English and AP Calculus BC without a lab. My life got a little hectic at times (especially at the beginning of the year), but it was so much fun!

I'll never forget Stake Youth Conference in June at Washington Academy. The food was AMAZING. We ate like kings and played basketball all day long. Never try to wrestle after eating loads of Italian food.

I'll never forget how awesome it felt to be selected as an SBO and to go to Park City with the rest of them and party it up during the summer. There they fed us and we got to know each other and we pretty much planned the whole year in advance. I miss June.

I'll never forget the feeling of finishing my Eagle Project. "Let's Hang On" sounds best in a chapel I think.

I'll never forget what it felt like to start on the varsity Football team my senior year. We weren't the best team, but we still managed to have a good time. We even won a few.... 3 to be exact. I learned the importance of Trusting My Brother, and I cried my eyes out after the last game. Who knew I loved it so much?

I'll never forget the feeling at the homeless shelter. We took buses down there to pick up our guests for the Homeless Dinner. I was in charge, but I hardly did any work. The school's clubs donated everything and there were more volunteers there than we had work to do. That was a great experience.

I'll never, ever, forget how I felt as we delivered the gifts to the Neighborhood House children. To see their penetrating smiles and excitement was worth every second of work I put into that project. I chose the right SBO job, that's for sure. That experience changed me forever.

I'll never forget how fun it was to have a Madrigal gig almost every night in December. That was huge in making me a better singer and in allowing me to bond with the other 31. That's how the holiday season should be.

I'll never forget Jr. Jazz. Ha ha... We were HORRIBLE, yet somehow we managed to stay perfect.... A perfect 0-7. We could have been so good! Oh well.

I'll never forget having lunch sectionals every B day with the Madrigal Men. I loved those so much. Any time I got to sing in such an amazing group was a good time. We worked hard, and it payed off when we got into our festival season.

I'll never forget the Music Trip to San Francisco. I'll definitely never forget that indescribable feeling when the Madrigals walked onstage to a deafening roar of applause. I felt like a rockstar. After our performances that day, I knew I never wanted to have to end Madrigals, and I realized just how blessed I was to be able to be a part of it this year.

I'll never forget my final Madrigal Concert. We sang all of our favorites and it was a total blast. I'll never forget trying hard not to cry during "Marianne." I'll never forget singing "You Are the New Day" with my brother. And I'll never forget how hard it was to sing our final song "Somewhere." I bawled like a baby after we finished. I knew I would. Madrigals was my all-time favorite. I loved it so much! The friendships I made and the growth I experienced are irreplaceable. I think Madrigals is what I will miss most.

I'll never forget graduation. I made it! I did it! I survived! I loved it. I truly was blessed with many amazing experiences and opportunities. I'll miss high school, but I'm ready to move on. Thank you everyone who supported me and helped me through it all.

Um... Technically you lost

This last Thursday, the 19th day of February, 2009, we had a Churchball game.... well, 2 games actually. This was the second round of the post-season "just for fun" stake tournament. The 6th ward got first seed for going an undefeated 5-0 in the regular season. The 3rd ward got second for going 4-1 (only losing to the 6th). We, the Woods Cross 2nd Ward got third seed for going 3-2. First, at 7:00 we played the 3rd ward in the semi-final. In the regular season we lost to them by one point. On Thursday we beat them by 5. I had 12 points. It was a good game. We won and so we got to play a second game against the so named "Stake Champions" 6th ward at 8:00 sharp. A team of like 12 that had sat watching us- a team of 7- work hard to prevail over the 3rd ward.

For most of the game, we were pretty evenly matched with this team of semi-pubescent prima donnas, but we were all so tired from the last game and it was getting hard. They led us by almost 10 at half-time. But we got our second wind and we faught back, evening the score. Some very ridiculus calls were made... aparently you have to stand perfectly straight and upright while dribbling the ball as to not lower your shoulder to speed up past a defender... and apparently if an opposing player goes for your pump-fake and lands on your head and racks himself it's a foul on you.... and apparently if you get set up and draw one of the most beautiful charges ever seen by human eyes, and the shooter gets injured and stops the game for a few minutes, then the home-cookin' ref will just stand there looking dazed and confused and give the ball back to the offense and give no one a foul....

(Deep breaths...) Ok, Willey fouled out because of his head, and Trevor was ejected because he took his jersey off, and we were left with just 5 people out there on the court, behind by 2 points. No calls seemed to be going our way, and we couldn't get any rebounds, and I was getting very frustrated because we should've been winning, and then I got fouled over the back. I don't remember how many seconds were left in the game, but it wasn't a lot. We were in the penalty so I got the ball at the free throw line to shoot 1 and 1. I was angry. I believe in certain situations, especially sports and especially basketball, anger helps me perform. I glared at the ref passing me the ball. I glared at the ball. I glared at the rim. I shot. I made it. I could hear my mom cheering for me. Yes! I did the same thing again. I made it again. I glared at the scoreboard... 49-49. We were goin to overtime baby.

Overtime was 3 minutes long. We traded baskets. I was fouled again. I made two free throws again. Landon was fouled. He made two free throws. We didn't get rebounds. They scored some more. Our plan was to get me to the free throw line because I was feelin it. Once again, we were down by 2. I brought the ball across half-court. Nobody was fouling me. I penetrated a bit, the baseline got shut off and so I pulled up for a jumper. Immediately my right leg seized up in a humungous cramp. I fell to the floor and looked up to see my shot miraclously go in. But I knew something was definitely wrong. My leg was literally stuck in a flexed, toe extended downward position. It was insane! It hurt and it was very scary. I writhed in pain, holding my leg as a circle formed around me. I was afraid to get up because my leg wouldn't move or function as normal. Eventually, with help, I got up and limped to the free throw line. They had called a foul, the basket had counted, and I was supposed to shoot one shot. I knew I couldn't shoot if I couldn't even stand up right. They were gonna let Willey come in for me and shoot, but I knew he had fouled out, and I got my leg back to a normal position so I said no. I would do it myself. I was alright.

I missed the shot and as I tried to move my leg seized up again. I was done for the night. They let Willey go in, but time was pretty much gone and we are all tied up again at 58 I think. I don't remember if this all happened in the first or the second overtime, but the important thing is that we did go into double overtime. Nobody could seem to score. It was sloppy and hurried on both ends for both teams, and I had to watch from the sidelines. David, bless his heart, hit a clutch jumper near the end to put us up 60-59. And then with everyone missing free throws and rebounds going wild a foul was called on Willey with .3 seconds left.

I was very mad, limping back and forth on the sideline. I hadn't done all that work to lose. I hadn't scored a career-high 33 points to watch the amazing 6th ward get away with another one.... They got two foul shots.... They missed them both. Time ran out and WE WON!!! I had never felt so satisfied with a win before. Oh my goodness. And I was so proud of everyone on the team. We did it! We won despite the ref(s). We won despite the fact they were "Stake Champions," and the tournament was "just for fun." Psh! We should be the Stake Champions. We played 2 games and 2 overtimes in 2 hours and won them both. We beat every team. We earned it.

But hold the phone..... Word on the street is that the 6th ward "technically won" because we had to forfeit to let Willey play for the last couple of minutes when I could not. To that I say, "Shut up." Last time I checked, 60 > 59. Tell me if I'm wrong. I will go to my grave saying that we won fair and square.

And to all those unbelievers out there............ Um..... Technically you LOST......... because well..................... you did. Period. End of story.