Fine, You're Forgiven

I'm not a big fan of fall, for reasons you can read about here. But on Wednesday I went climbing, and noticed a lot of pretty cool things about fall. For one, it wasn't so freaking hot as to ruin the fun of actually climbing. Also, the trees that border the trail are fluorescent pinkish-redish (not to be confused with a pinkish-radish). All jokes aside, it was crazy.

When it was time to quit, we diverted from the trail and hiked on top of a ridge to look down the canyon at the sunset.

I love how my phone silhouetted the mountainsides! 

This was taken at the same time as the preceding picture, but looking South

I chuckle at myself when I think of my mentality toward fall earlier. It's so beautiful! So, fall, I forgive you for cooling the air and changing the tree's colors. I'll have to work on forgiving for the snow, though...

Why the World Is a Pretty Darn Good Place

There is so much variety. It sounds cliche, but I am only just discovering how people's differences make them interesting. Nearly everyday I sit in a room with 40 or so people, all with differing opinions and tastes. We are surrounded by so much knowledge about the way life works, and yet we often don't offer a hello to the person passing by on the sidewalk. We get so caught up with advancing ourselves that we forget to learn from the accomplishments of others.

The planet is incredibly beautiful. Where I sit to eat breakfast I can see the sun rise over the mountains not 10 miles away. In my house. While I eat breakfast. How amazing is that?  Does the view stop me from looking at my phone instead of the mountains? Of course not, but the beauty is still there. Sometimes we forget to look around and notice the natural wonders we are surrounded by. 

People do good things. They also do bad things, but most of the time strive to become better people. Seeing the good that many people do makes me want to do good. Giving to the poor, offering comforting words to a friend in need, working toward the advancement of other people's goals, there are so many things we can do to be better people. Sometimes it's hard to know how, but if you pay attention you'll discover ways to help others, even in a small way.

The world is a fascinating, beautiful, and just darn awesome place to live. I'm glad that I get to experience, and hopefully add to in some way, this human adventure that is life.

Braggin' and Conference Weekend

The other day I stayed after school to talk to my teacher about an essay I'm writing in English, the same teacher who teaches my ACT prep class on Saturdays, and we started talking about my ACT diagnostic score. I told her that I had got a 32 on the diagnostic. She stared at me for a second and told me that 32 is the highest diagnostic score Mountain View has had since they started offering ACT prep. She told me that she would be surprised if I didn't get a 36 on the ACT! I'm pretty excited.

Also, conference weekend ends today. Pretty much a holiday in Utah, LDS people gather in the conference center in Salt Lake City or around televisions in their homes to listen to the prophet and other leaders. It's a semiannual meeting, and it makes for two of the laziest weekends of the year. My family decided to shake it up a little by listening to one of the sessions outside while doing yard work. It was actually pretty nice.

Yesterday I had to get a haircut. If you know me, you know I dread haircuts. I'm one of those 6 year old kids that cry when they have to get one. I'm almost serious.

Tomorrow is Monday, which means school. Mountain View Mondays are actually not too terrible because we get out at 1:15 instead of 2:15. So there's that. The weather this week is supposed to be really nice. Let's hope for some more climbing adventures before it gets too cold!

Oh October

It's here, and that makes me sad. October means that the days of summer climbing and 90 degree afternoons are behind us. It means that Winter is around the corner. And that means cold. Lots and lots of cold. And that white crap that falls from the clouds. No bueno.

On a happier note, I went climbing today! We got a late start and only had time to climb one route, but it was a lot of fun. I didn't take any pictures, so you'll just have to imagine our awesomeness. Hopefully I can get in a couple more trips before it's too freezy!

Ocean's

One of my favorite movies is Ocean's Eleven. It's hilarious, and full of quotable moments.

This is only a part of a myriad of texts sent over about 30 minutes last night. Gotta love it.

Also, rock climbing tomorrow!

Homework, Birthdays, and More Homework

Today's been a long, frustrating day filled with forgotten passwords and impossible math. To make a seemingly eternal story short, I stayed after school for an extra hour getting help for a test in AP Calculus BC (I put the whole title because it makes me feel intelligent) that's tomorrow and missed my lunch because of a forgotten login to the laptops in English. Not cool.

But, my grandparents came by to give me my belated birthday gift! It was fun to see them and show off my record collection which has grown substantially since they gave me records from their collection. Speaking of vinyls, Death Cab for Cutie's Plans arrived in the mail today!

What you see before you is $200 worth of music, give or take. And some ugly carpet, but don't worry, I didn't pay for that. And those are only the brand spanking new records. I still have nine or ten older ones, too!

After my grandparents left, my sister and I went over to Sam's house (our Chinese exchange student friend from Hong Kong) to celebrate his 18th birthday. We sprayed the crap out of him with silly string and had a blast. He leaves on his mission in December, and pretty much everyone who knows him is sad to see him go. We love that kid.

Okay, enough procrastination. I must study. I must do good on this test. I must!

I Wanna Get Better

You might be thinking, Kyle, why hast thou forsaken us? It's true, I pretty much have. But not to worry, friends, I have a plan! Mostly it involves more blog posts more often. I've found something interesting about keeping a blog: you find interesting things to do so that you can go home and blog about it. Because I haven't had much time to do anything, let alone be interesting, for the last month, I haven't blogged much. School is crazy, but I think that I've found my routine and will be able to actually do something with my life. I wanna get better!

The title of today's post is taken from a song by Bleachers. I bought the album on vinyl, and I was so excited when I pulled it out of its sleeve for the first time!

It's transparent!

Cool, right? Now I have a pink record, a clear record, a laser etched record, and a bunch of your traditional black records. I love music.

Speaking of music, we got a piano! It was my dad's grandma's and we were able to take it home!

So far I can only play Passenger Seat by Death Cab for Cutie. I'm planning on taking piano lessons, though, so I can play for reals! And, of course, you can find a piano tutorial for basically any song on YouTube. I plan on spending some time learning some fun. and probably some more Death Cab as well!

We're finally going to go and pick up a kitchen table in a bit. We've been eating at the counter where we have no bar stools, so we're pretty happy to finally get a place to sit down and eat like real people do. More normality, here we come!

Birthday Boy

My sister and I in front of the peanut butter bars she made. I do love peanut butter bars!

On Monday I celebrated my 17th birthday. I had a lot of fun spending time with my family. I was given a ton of gift cards to all my favorite things. iTunes, Barnes & Noble, f.y.e., and more! I'm excited to get some new records and music, and maybe some cool nerdy puzzles/games from Barnes & Noble!

 A couple of good friends of mine decorated my room with tons of balloons and streamers. And one of them almost gave me a heart attack by jumping out of the linen closet in the hall to my room. I'd post a picture of what my room looked like, but it was really hard to get a good angle. Besides, it's still a bomb from the move and needs a little TLC. 

Yesterday I thought a lot about what turning 17 actually means. And I decided it means that life is sneaking up on me. I thought that I was prepared to get older and enter adulthood. I'm taking college courses, taking high stakes tests, thinking about my future, exploring careers I might want to try, etc. But I realized that I'm not ready. I make the joke with my family that in a year they're going to let me pick the president. Really, though, in a year a ton of responsibility falls on my shoulders. I'll be my own person. People will start to care about things I do. Mistakes I make will stick to me, not my parents. All this happens in one year! 

Nevertheless, I do love adventures. And becoming an adult is going to be a big one. 

Clean Clothes Are Important

It's hard to go to church when your Sunday clothes are sitting in the bottom of your hamper. And when they have been sitting there since the move. Yeah.

Also, tomorrow's my birthday!

School On Saturday!?

Today was the first day of a six week ACT prep course I am taking at Mountain View. The Course starts at 9 am and goes until 12 pm. Every Saturday. Ughh. Today we took a diagnostic ACT that took the entire three hours. It was dang hard, and I hope that I am way more confident in my abilities by the end of the course.

After I got home I went to Lowe's with my dad to pick up something we needed for our new sink he installed. Then he was kind enough to let me sleep for a couple of hours. My head hurt from all the frantic thinking it had done earlier. I just got back from work at the Owlz. It's been a pretty busy day.

Speaking of busy, there's a really interesting article you should read that my good friend showed to me. It's called 'The Busy Trap' and discusses why society shouldn't be so focused on staying busy. It gives a whole new perspective on work and free time. 

I decided to write a short story. So there. During story boarding and writing the first page, I found out that writing is easy. Writing beautifully, however, is really hard. Hopefully it turns out!

The Clymb

Yes, the 'y' was on purpose.

I have loved theclymb.com for a long time now. It's a website that has different sales that run for three or four days with crazy deals on everything from climbing shoes to surf boards. If you're looking for anything outdoorsy, or some really cool looking shirts like the ones I bought above, the Clymb is the place for you. Go check it out!

What Do I Say?

I'm not even going to apologize for neglecting this blog. And I'll tell you why.

That house that I mentioned we were closing on last post? It's now officially our home. I've found out that a home is a lot of work. You know it's a lot of work when you're happy that you have to go to school instead of stay home and work like your parents do. But we have a home now. Not an apartment. A home! 

Anyway, the house has taken up pretty much all of my family's time. And then there's that school stuff. You know, going to a big crowded building and learning about stuff? There's that, too. But school's not so bad, and a hugely contributing factor to its not-so-badness is that A day B day schedule and university schedule (classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) don't coincide, which means I have a free third period every Tuesday and Thursday. Let's just say that walking to our home every other day and taking a nap while the rest of the world learns stuff is fine by me!

I am actually enjoying school so far. I have a lot of really interesting classes with good people. I think that this year may define my high school experience, that one year that you remember over the others. I've already been exposed to new ways of thinking and new strategies to conquering challenges. I'm optimistic that I will be able to utilize the things that I'm learning and record them to remember later.

That .30-06 I told you about? I'm typing this post on it. Instead of buying the gun I decided to get smart and buy a laptop. I figured if I'm pretending to be a college kid for a couple of classes, I might as well go all out. So I did. I'm loving the computer. Homework is infinitely easier when you can just pull out a computer and do it in the backyard.

Did I mention that we have a backyard? I'm sitting on our patio, listening to the wind rustle through the leaves, the birds chirping on the power lines, and the pleasant sound that my fingers make as they strike the keys on my laptop. Life's not so bad. Not bad at all ...

It's Been an Adventurous Summer

I love adventures, and the last 3 weeks have been nothing short of adventurous. I got back Saturday from a week long scout camp in Idaho. The week before that was spent with friends in Lake Powell. The weekend before that was spent camping at Timpooneke campground. It's been crazy, and I haven't really had much time to collect my thoughts and write a post.

So here we go!

These trips I just got back from have been some of the most fun I've been on in my life. I'm not going to trouble you with the details, but I've been able to experience new things with good people and friends that I haven't been able to in the past. I think that these trips have made a fantastic end to my summer. I wish so bad that I could spend another three weeks doing the same things, but for some reason my parents think I have to graduate high school. Lame.

I've started keeping a daily journal, which is another reason why this blog has been so neglected. Keeping a journal has never been something that was fun for me or easy to do, but I think this time around might work out. Already I'm seeing the benefits of being able to look back on what you were thinking on any given day. It's turning into less of an obligation and more of an opportunity. 

We are closing on a house this week and we are so excited! We have had a lot of work done to it to make it our own, and it's coming along nicely. My family is tired of hearing this, but I am so excited to finally get a piano and to be able to take piano lessons. It's something that I've wanted to do for a couple of years now, and pretty soon I'll have the chance!

My record collection has grown even more. And FYE in the Provo Towne Center now carries brand new vinyls! When I walked in and saw "Vinyls" written above rows of LP's, I was in music heaven.

I've done some math. If I save all my money that I'm going to make by the end of the summer from working at the Owlz and mowing lawns, I'll be able to afford a .30-06 rifle. That's the plan!

School starts in a week from today. I am not looking forward to it. It's weird to think that I'll be a Junior. And that I'll be 17 in September. Life keeps going by faster and faster as I get older. This summer barely felt like a month. Growing up sucks, but what do you do?

Life Gave Me a Lemon

Sometimes, life comes along and says, "It's about time for me to mess with you, don't you think?" And when you answer saying, "Uh, no!", life doesn't care and does it anyway. On Monday I lost my wallet. Really lost it, as in I've called everywhere we went that day to ask for it and searched pretty much everywhere in the entire house. Nothing. My driver's license, debit card, and some other pretty important crap was in that wallet. Bummer. 

So after I'm done writing this, I get to call virtually every store in Orem, again, and then call the bank and cancel my card. And then go mow and edge two lawns. Life, one of these days it's going to be my turn to throw something back at you! Just you wait, just you wait ...

Climbing Stuff and Stuff

I got to go climb with my buddy Collin today. It's been awhile since the last adventure, so we pretty well sucked. I just like being up in the mountains and away for a minute, which means the trip wasn't a complete bust!

This is an ATC style belay device. ATC literally stands for Air Traffic Controller. Funny, right?

There's Collin!

Tonight, my sister invited some friends of ours over to watch The Village. We've seen it at least 100 times and it's one of our favorite shows. It was a pretty good day!

Tomorrow begins a three day youth conference that three stakes in our area are participating in. All the youth are going to meet together in the morning and then are sent home late at night to sleep and then come back the next day. I may or may not be writing  posts for the next couple of nights.

Amazon.com = Happiness

Over the past week or so I have received three records in the mail from Amazon. I know that way too much of this blog lately has been about records, but the excitement and newness of listening to vinyls has still not worn off. On the days that the records were scheduled to arrive, I check the front doorstep two or three times. I feel like it's Christmas Eve when you lie in bed wondering how time could possibly go by so slowly. And when I finally find a package on the porch, I run inside like a little kid and tear that box open and throw that record on the player. So much happiness!

The favorites so far: The Head and the Heart - Let's Be Still, The Head and the Heart, Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde, and Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits

I also received in the mail a fountain pen with some ink. It is a lot of fun to write with because it has a flex nib, which means that you can create thin and thick lines by varying the pressure you apply as you write. 

Last night I went over to Mike's house with some friends to play shoot 'em up bang 'em up. Mike just bought a new house in American Fork. In his basement he has a pool table, an air hockey table, a Foosball table, and a projector set up to play on. We had a blast and were there until almost 12:30. He's so cool to let us come over and crash his house into the morning!

Cribbage

I made that board!

One of my family's favorite board/card games is Cribbage. It is a staple on any camping trip. My sister and I like to play it a lot during the summer. Today, my sister and I were playing and I got dealt this hand:

That, my friends, is a 21 point hand! The highest possible hand is 29! Not bad, if I do say so myself.

My The Head and the Heart LP arrived today. It's really fun to listen to music that you know and love in a different way. I ordered Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons just now, and it should be here next Wednesday!

Calligraphy

I do not claim to be a professional by any means, but it sure is fun to mess around! I used to write quite often with a fountain pen, but I've recently discovered an interest in writing with a dip pen. I'm going to keep practicing those alphabets until I can write something cool! I also ordered a cool/cheap fountain pen that should be here on Friday. It's clear, which is pretty awesome because you can see the ink and the piston and stuff.

Image courtesy of fountainpennetwork.com

Also, my The Head and the Heart LP arrives tomorrow! I'm so happy!

Boating

It is so nice to have such great friends like the Prestons. They invited us to go boating with them yesterday afternoon, and we are suckers for boating. We love it!

A Day of Tradition

The Fourth is a very exciting day for my family and I. We've established some traditions with some friends of ours in the neighborhood that are tons of fun. In the morning, we get up around 5:30 and drive down to Provo to watch hot air balloons launch.

Thanks for the pic Kristen! I didn't even know you took it!

We do go to see the balloons, but we also love to play games. We play tons of group games and always attempt at least one pyramid.

Once we're done at the balloons, we go home and take a nap because 5:30 is way too early to be up. We then go to our good friends Kurt and Michelle's house for a BBQ/pool party. It's so much fun to spend the day with friends.

Then at around 8:00, we go sit on a road somewhere in Provo to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks with the Prestons. Actually going to the show would be silliness; we like to go sit and play games and hang out until the real show begins. The fireworks were awesome, as usual. I still can't decide which was more fun to watch, though: Kristen's little baby Micah clapping and laughing through the whole show or the actual show itself!

I Feel Patriotic!

The 4th of July has long been one of mine and my family's favorite holidays. It's right up there with Christmas. I was raised to appreciate the sacrifices of great men that came before us and for what they did to ensure the blessings of liberty to the people of our generation and generations to come. I was raised to appreciate the military and their sacrifices for my freedom. I was raised to honor the flag and for what it stands for. 

I'm one patriotic kid! I love celebrating Independence Day. I love reading through the Declaration of Independence. I read those words over and over: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I'm entitled to those. And it feels good. I love singing the Star Spangled Banner with my hand over my heart. We are all so different, but when the crowd rises and removes their hats and thousands of people become silent in respect for Old Glory, we are all united. 

Spending time with family and friends in celebration of Independence Day has a special feeling. Maybe it's the unspoken understanding that we are united as Americans. Perhaps it's the knowledge of what happened on this day, 238 years ago. No one can quite put their finger on it, but we all feel it. Happy Birthday America!

I'm Makin' Paper!

Photo cred: Gracie

I took home my first ever paycheck yesterday! I was so excited to get home and deposit it, I actually felt a little childish. But hey, it was exciting, okay? I love my job. I have tons of fun with the people I get to meet and the colleagues that I work with. Hopefully that lasts!

Yesterday marked the end of my rock climbing drought! My friend and I went up Rock Canyon. I re-caught the climbing bug and went again today!

This is how I end each work night. Catching the last couple of innings.

My grandparents have a dentist appointment to catch tomorrow, so I get to hang out with them and maybe take them to go look at the artsy-fartsy booths. And tomorrow is the big fourth of July game that has fireworks afterwards. It's going to be pretty cool!

Whiting

As I mentioned last post, I spent this past weekend at Whiting campground in Mapleton Canyon with my family. We had a ton of fun just hanging out and playing games and riding bikes. Our version of camping is very laid back. We spend the day just hanging around camp and enjoying each other's company. We don't have any plans aside from what we're going to eat, so there's no stress and no worries. It really is a fantastic way to camp!

How do you start fires?

We arrived at the campground Thursday evening and came home Sunday. On Friday night, our good friends Taylor and Kelli came up to spend the night. We played tons of rounds of Cribbage, Carcassone, and Family Business. We had story and s'mores night too! 

I won three rounds of Carcassone, in case you were curious.

Hey look, it's me!

  

Update Time!

Lately life's been pretty hectic. I started my new job at the Orem Owlz on Friday. If you know me, you know that I don't yell at people. And that's my job. Yelling at people. I hawk ice cream. Crazy stuff. I worked both Friday night and Saturday night, and I'll work every home game. My summer just got a lot busier. And a lot wealthier!

This Thursday, my family and I are going to go camping in one of our favorite spots in Mapleton. We just got back from picking up all the groceries that we'll need at the store. The trip will be our first one of the year, and I'm really excited.

Tomorrow may also bring the end of a rock climbing drought. I haven't been since I got my wisdom teeth out, and that is far too long a time. My fingers are crossed!

Here I sit contemplating this post's lack of pictures and the fact that life really hasn't been all that busy, I just never seem to remember to sit down and write. I apologize for both of those. And my Bob Dylan LP just stopped playing. I think it's a sign that I need to stop writing ...

Job

Today marks my official entrance into the workforce. I dropped off some paper work to the Owlz that organizes tax deductions from my checks and a couple of other things. Tomorrow is my first day!

Water

Tonight was another Rock Canyon photo night. This time I went a little later in the day to try and get some long exposure water shots. Because I'm a little crazy for milky looking water. Me gusta. 

Next time I think I'm going to try to focus on more interesting trees and cliffs early in the morning. We'll have to see what my next photo adventure brings!

About a Cane

My grandma had a dentist appointment today that they needed a ride to because they don't have a car. So I got to drive them there. Let me tell you, my grandma does not like the dentist. Not even a little. But it was still fun for me because I don't see them very often and they don't get to go places very often, so we we're a relatively happy bunch. 

After the appointment, my grandpa insisted that we go eat at McDonald's before I took them to grab groceries. We ate and enjoyed each other's company and then drove to the grocery store. When we got out, my grandpa looked confused. I walked over to the passenger side and he said "Kyle, I think I must've left my cane at the dentist," with a sheepish look on his face. I laughed and told him I'd go pick it up after I dropped them off at home. 

They thanked me at least a million times for playing chauffeur. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with them, and I made sure they knew to call if they ever wanted to go somewhere. I sure love those old folks! 

Pretty Pictures

A couple of days ago my sister and I went up Rock Canyon to take some pictures. Here are some of the best ones.

We found an old gas can by the river.

I like how the green leaf draws your attention.

I focused a lot, maybe a little too much, on the water and the ripples in the water. There are a couple other pictures that turned out nice, but they're really similar to each other. Next time I'll have to broaden my horizons! 

What an Adventure!

Today was crazy. My family and I got up at around 8:30, which is something unheard of in the Anderson home on a Saturday or any day for that matter, and we drove to Heber to eat breakfast at a favorite diner of ours. The food was delicious as usual and it was fun to get up and go somewhere as a family. On the way back we saw a bunch of people at the Heber airport and some old looking planes, so we stopped by to see what was going on. 

It doesn't look it in this picture, but that is a B25 bomber with a 70 foot wingspan. It was giant. The plane flew 15 missions over Italy in World War II.  We got there just in time to watch it power up it's engines and take off. I can't tell you how incredible it was to watch this behemoth actually leave the ground. After it landed it taxied over by the crowd and the pilot throttled it's engines. They were so loud and powerful that you could feel it in your chest. It was quite a thing to see. We also got to watch a couple of small jets take off, which is pretty cool as well. 

After we got back from Heber we visited my Grandpa Lundquist to give him some raisin filled cookies as an early Father's Day gift. We visited them for awhile and then went to my other grandparents' house to give a gift. We also got to look through their vinyl collection and pick what we wanted to take home for my player. They don't have a phonograph anymore, so we took quite a few.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I'm home and I just got done editing some pictures from my excursion up Rock Canyon. But because this post has already gotten quite lengthy, you'll have to wait for tomorrow for some cool pictures!

All Work and No Play?

Today's Thursday which means that it's also lawn mowing day. After waking up way too late, we're talking near afternoon, I mowed a couple of lawns. But because all work and no play makes Kyle a dull boy, I spent the rest of the day doing this:

Recognize the table?

How 'bout this table?

You probably don't recognize this table.

It Came! It Finally Came!

What was I greeted by when I walked in the door today? A gigantic Amazon box. I almost died. The record player I ordered wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow sometime. Needless to say, the cardboard was a flyin'. 

We found a cool store in the Provo Towne Center that has a vast record collection. We picked up albums by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Neil Diamond (for my mother). I'm really excited to grow my collection! Are you sensing a lot of future overspending? I am ... 

Photos and Moving Photos

Today has been a lot of running around and doing errands, so I thought I'd share a couple of photos that I took tonight.

I also just got back from watching a movie at our good friend Mike's house. He set up a projector in the backyard and we watched Valkyrie outside. It was a blast!

It's on Its Way!

I ordered my record player today! I can't wait until Wednesday, June 11th!

Wisdom Teeth

Getting them out is no fun. However, I am proud to report that I didn't even say anything embarrassing. The dentist/surgeon dude even said he was disappointed because that's the best part of his job and I didn't even say anything weird! So even if my father recorded anything, it doesn't matter, because it wasn't even entertaining! 

Last night was pretty rough. I didn't get much sleep, but my mouth feels much better now. And eating only pudding and shakes and jello may sound like a fantastic plan, but it's really not. I am aching for some real food and to go climbing again. I also realized that yesterday was Thursday which is the day I'm supposed to mow lawns. Oops ...

Job Interview

Job interviews are scary. I had no idea how intimidating sitting across a desk from a potential employer would be. Today I interviewed for a job at the Orem Owlz, a local minor league baseball team. My dad had a connection with the guy in charge of hiring, so I've pretty much got a job. It was still really scary, though. I'm glad that's over. Phew.

Tomorrow I get my wisdom teeth removed. And no, I will not be posting an embarrassing video. I've made my dad swear not to record anything that comes out of my mouth. I am not looking forward to a weekend spent with chipmunk cheeks and milk shakes, but it's gotta be done eventually.

Random, Anyone?

Can I just say, teenagers are so lucky to have Summer vacation. I love waking up at 9 instead of 6:30 and spending the day doing, well, anything that you want! Today for example. I got up and hung around the house and played nerd games (computer games) with my nerd friend and then went rock climbing. After climbing I drove straight to my dad's softball game and then to dinner at the Great Steak in Provo. Now I'm home, writing this. 

That poetry memorization thingy I told you about? Well, the first poem is Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer". I've got it down, and I'm anxiously waiting to go over and have a recital party at Taylor's. Nerdy? Very. Awesome to have poetry memorized? Absolutely. 

On a random note, look what I did!

It's hard to take pictures of, but you get the idea. And because this post has been completely random, I guess I'll tell you about another one of my obsessions. 

 I love audio books. A lot. I love being able to mow a lawn or go on a bike ride or on a hike while some nice man tells you a story. Right now I'm listening to Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. It is awesome. Very cowboyish, but I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would going in. I highly recommend it.