Neglect, Work, School, and Play

Oh boy. It's never a good thing when on a whim you decide to open up Blogger and remember about that blog you used to keep a long time ago. Even a worse thing when you open up the stats and see that a whopping 2 people viewed your blog the entire month of March. Poor, neglected little blog.

That job interview I mentioned last post? It went fantastic, and I felt completely confident that the position was mine. I felt confident right up until the moment they called to inform me that they were impressed, but couldn't hire people under 18. What a bummer, I was sure the job was mine. So now I need to find somewhere to apply. I'm a stubborn sonuva gun and I refuse to work in fast food, which limits the field quite a bit as a 17 year old punk. 

I just got the results back from the ACT I took earlier this year, and I almost cried when I opened it.

The last time I took the ACT I studied a ton and took a prep class and scored a 32. This time around, I literally didn't study anything, and this is the result. Hmm, my lazy teenage brain is drawing conclusions that probably aren't indicative of reality...

And finally, I've become obsessed with film photography lately. I stole an old Pentax ME Super from my comrade to fuel my obsession. I use my high school's darkroom quite frequently with a friend of mine, which is funny because I'm not even taking film photo until next year. Good news though, a film SLR all my own is on it's merry way to my doorstep!

Please realize that this is an image of a brand new one that I found on Google, definitely taken care of better than the one I'll be receiving. But I'm so excited for it to arrive!

This Crazy Life

This week's been interesting. The plan for high school was to graduate with an associate's degree along with my diploma. Some new information's popped up, and I've decided that getting that degree with the GPA I've created at UVU would actually hurt me more than it would help. So, I'm gonna finish HS like a regular old senior. I've grown quite fond of the college experience, and I was never big into the HS one, so next year will definitely be a little different than what I've grown accustomed to.

Also, for youth conference this year, we're going to spend the first week of the summer on Bishop Oldham's house boat on Lake Powell. I'm super excited about going, but it sure takes a lot of planning to make something big come together. I'm the Bishop's first assistant, so I'm in charge of a lot of crap that has to be done in order for the trip to run smoothly. The next couple of weeks are going to be kind of hectic, but hopefully we can create something that is fun and meaningful for the youth of the ward.

Lastly, there's no school tomorrow because of Presidents Day. To celebrate this day off, I scheduled a job interview. Kinda sucks that it falls on a holiday, but hopefully I can start makin' some paper (funny, 'cause I'm applying at an office supply store). Financial Literacy with Mr. Fieldsted has taught me a lot about the interview process, and that knowledge has made me feel more prepared for what's coming my way tomorrow. I'm hoping!

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!