Obligatory Pre-Birthday Post

So... It's my birthday tomorrow.

As many of you guys already know, last year I celebrated with 22 acts of random acts of service. From sun up to sundown, I ran all over Virginia attempting to complete these seemingly small tributes. And with the passing of another trip around the sun, I've been toying with the idea of continuing that tradition.

However, this year is a little different.

Why, you may ask?

Because this will be the first year I am celebrating without my family.

When we first talked about my going my back to school,  the biggest hurdle we discussed was distance. It's common knowledge to a lot of people that I wanted to be back out West. And despite their attempts at persuading me with glossy brochures and personalized phone calls, none of the schools in Virginia had much to offer to me.

More than anything, though, I feel as though I just wanted to return to Utah. Call it my pioneer heritage leading me home, or my subconscious desiring a new, spiritual awakening, I've always felt as though my time with the Beehive State was not quite over.

When I was contemplating the application process to UVU,  life as I knew it was changing.

• My older sister and her husband had just announced their pregnancy. 
• My little sister was in a serious relationship that was moving rapidly towards marriage. 
• My mom's health was stabilizing, which, compared to the following year, was a significant improvement. 

Everyone was taken care of in my family and I felt it was time to start pursuing my college career.

So I began the application in May. I wrangled together all my transcripts (one from my old high school and 3 separate records from my advanced studies at governor's school and my brief time at BYU ). I retook the ACT (excelled in English and Reading, bombed the Math section). I took Placement Tests and worked my butt of trying to get together enough money set aside to pay for school and the trip out there.

In the five months it took for me to finish the application, life was almost unrecognizable.

• My little sister had been engaged and was now single. 
• I was working two jobs and getting hardly any sleep. 
• Mother was unable to go up and down the stairs of our house. 
• And the arrival of my unborn niece or nephew would fall upon February... A month after I would officially start!

To be completely honest, I'm not sure how I survived those last 3 months of 2013. A lot of it probably stems from the coworkers and friends that supported me and my decision. But the majority of my sanity I attribute to my family. 

I'm not going to sugarcoat it: it's been a hard month. 

• My first set of roommates were of the "pot-smoking, food-stealing" variety and it got to the point that I only ventured out of my bedroom for two reasons: Class and to use the bathroom. (I later got them evicted, but that's a story for another day.) 
• I haven't made a single friend yet from any of my classes, which is rather impressive considering there are 30,000+ students that attend there. 
• Don't even get me started on Church! (3 hours of sitting by yourself is not enjoyable.) 

Despite all these minor setbacks, I know this is where I need to be. And I thank all of you for supporting me in my dream. 

Song of the Day: This Is The New Year

Welcome to 2014 -- The "It's About Time" Edition

Hello everybody!

Yes, I know, it's a been a very long time... Things have been kinda crazy.

For those of you who are not my immediate Facebook Friends, I have moved to Utah! Yes, the Happy Mormon Valley of the West is where I currently reside.

Why am I in Utah? I'm currently attending Utah Valley University, where I'm studying English with a emphasis on Writing Studies and a minor in Creative Writing.

What do I plan on doing with that degree? My dream job would be a book editor, where I'd discover the next breakout novel and live out the rest of my days in comfort. But until then, I'm still attempting to write my own novel and living like a poor college kid.

Well, I think I've properly summed up the last few months of the new year. Stay tuned for more updates as I tackle the craziness that is the life of a twenty-something. Until next time!

Thanks for Being (Dis)Courteous!

Anyone who knows me fairly well (or, at least, anyone who has added me on Facebook) knows that I have a soft spot for movies. When me and my sister were living together (July 2011 to November 2012) we frequented the cinema no more than 20 times. We know its absurd, but we love it. (And we looove some freshly popped, buttery popcorn.) 

Aside from the movie theaters though, I've also developed a sort of addiction to Redbox. Who honestly hasn't been sucked into renting a movie through them? At $1.20 per night, it's a ridiculously cheap option, especially when compared ALONE to the price of movie tickets. 

My problem though? I never return them the next day! 

I don't know why, honestly; it's not a particularly hard thing to do. I just... Forget.

And so we segue into my story: 

Here I was, with 3 DVDs being rented out more than 2 days ago, driving to the nearest Redbox kiosk to return them.  When I arrive there is a mother and son in front of the machine. Not wanting to crowd the sidewalk -- we were outside a CVS -- I turned off my car and waited for them to finish. Let me repeat that: waited for them to finish. 

Approximately 12.75 seconds later, a larger man, clutching 3 DVDs in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, comes around the corner and stands behind them. 

From my car, with the driver side window down, I made several observations about this particular individual. 

A.) He was standing very close to this woman and child. 

Now he wasn't grinding up on them or checking their heads for lice, mind you. But this presumable stranger was definitely within touching distance and invading their personal space. 

B.) He was growing visibly pissed off with every passing second. 

I'm talking toe-tapping, exasperated sighs, pacing, excessive wristwatch checking and tongue clicking!

C.) He kept blowing his smoke in their direction, like by doing so  they would leave quicker. 

Who does that?!

When the mother/son duo leave, he angrily deposits his videos and storms off in a huff. 

I checked my dashboard clock: No more than 3 minutes had gone by since he first got in line. 

Now, dear reader, I must ask you: Was that not possibly the most discourteous thing imaginable? 

The world is full of rude individuals. Everyday you see fewer people holding doors open or tipping waiters and help staff. How often do you hear strangers exchange hellos or good-mornings anymore? Some individuals get so caught up in themselves that they forget that there's 7 billion other humans on this planet and each of them deserve the same universal respect and courtesy. 

Be kind and considerate to each other. 

And maybe, just maybe, we'll make the world a better place. One act at a time. 

Thanks for reading. Remember to subscribe to my blog and LIKE it on Facebook!

LIKE Me On Facebook!

Psst!

Hey you!

Yeah, you. On the computer. Reading this blog post.

You should like me on Facebook.

Yeah, you should definitely do that.
See, I might post things on there.

Fun things. Like links and articles and music and YouTube videos.

(Probably a lot of YouTube videos, if I'm being honest.)

Again, you're gonna wanna LIKE this:

And while you're at it, add me as a friend and subscribe to my blog!

Who knows? I might be famous one day and you're gonna wish you were on the bandwagon before now :)

Song of the Day: I'll Be There for You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRpqS9d2f74&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Fair-Weather Friendship

Have you ever contemplated the friendships you have forged in life? Those special connections you've made with others, regardless of time and location, that never seem to cease from existence? Have you ever stopped for a second and contemplated how those ties came to be? 

In preparation for this post, I made a list of some of the different ways and circumstances I have forged friendships in my life. 

• We went to Church together and therefore spent at least twice a week hanging out at religious functions

• We had similar teachers in school and college and fate brought us together. 

• We were dysfunctional roommates that, for whatever reason, really liked pretending to hate each other in public and yet would spend hours of the night talking about life, our purpose in it and our dreams and aspirations for the future. 

• We were in Band Class and therefore a musical family for life. 

• You took pity on me and my lack of social interactions at Boys State of Virginia.

• None of us knew how to speak Spanish so we formed a study group. 

• We met in a Remedial Algebra Class and connected over our mutual dislike for math. 

• We formed a go-to squad for projects and assignments at Governors School that will forever be known as the "Dream Team". 

• We worked together and spent a portion of the day shooting the breeze, talking about everyone and everything you could possibly talk about while simultaneously keeping up with work demand. 

• We all went to a Halloween Party, spent the better part of an hour taking pictures all around Campus in our costumes, discovered we all had an appreciation for Harry Potter and Snuggies and spent 2 hours bumming WiFi off the freshman dining hall watching half of A Very Potter Musical. 

• You added me on Facebook and we chatted about Random Acts of Kindness, schoolwork and my laundry basket, which you then insisted on seeing in person and we spent another 3 hours just talking about our First Year Worries and Expectations. 

• We would go to Denny's (or IHOP) for a gathering of food, gossip, an account of our life the previous week and our plans, hopes and fears for the future. 

As I looked at this list, I began classify those friends and friendships into a pretty definitive list. Some of my classifications included: 

Millennial Friends: A friend that you may be separated from either, be it time or location, but when you are together it's as if your life was just merely paused while apart and resuming where it left off. 

Facebook Friends: People you know in real life that you can hang out with or speak to on a regular basis but for whatever reason choose to communicate more often via Facebook (through posts, messages, chat, etc.) and never in reality. 

School Mates: The friends you were always connected with in school but, now that you've graduated and moved on in your lives, you hardly hang out or make time to talk. 

For the most part, my classification system only has positive labels. 

But there is one taxonomical category that I reserve for special circumstances. 

Fair-Weather Friend: A friend that only speaks to you when they want something or when it's convenient for them. 

As you read this, you've probably had a few names come to mind for different terms. You may have even started mentally labeling your own relationships! 

I need you to stop that. 

Empty your brain, take out all the preconceived thoughts you've had within the last few moments. Completely drain your mind of bias and get ready for some brutual honesty and truthfulness. 

Because this isn't a post about the friends in your life. 

This is the post where you decide which label you've earned by your friends. 

Think about it: 

• Do you treat your friendships like one-way alleys or two-way streets? 

• Do you think you're dependable and responsible enough to be called upon by some of your friends? Or are you never considered because you're flakier than Kellogg's cereal? 

• Do you ever think to yourself, "I could probably call so-and-so today..." but always cast the thought aside because you can never make the time to do so?

• When was the last time you reconnected -- and I mean really reconnected -- with an old classmate?

• How many of those cyber friends do you see in reality and how often do you actually strike up casual conversation with them? 

• In short, would you want to be friends with yourself? Because as I'm writing this, I can't help but think I'd hate being my friend!

Our lives are short and relatively unknown. Death comes unannounced and Life has some pretty wicked ways of knocking us around. We constantly find ourselves shuffling between moments of clarity and periods of turmoil. 

But when we have people stand with us in those moments of uncertainty, to help stabilize our resolve and foundations, sometimes that makes all the difference. 

So, what's the lesson of the day? Be the friend you want to have. Because when you need someone to support you in times of trouble, you're gonna want to have a group to call upon and not be left to your own devices.