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!

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!