Near the end of the longest semester ever

Well, I am in my philosophy class right now and I am already bored, so I will write a little in my blog for once. A little update... well, not much... just kidding. I am still working at Uncle Sams, although I am very displeased with working with my boss. I am hoping to get another job when summer comes along. But for now, I need to focus on my schooling.
I like to point that my job is the source of all my woes this semester. Mostly because of the timing of my work. I work from 1-7pm usually and those are my prime studying hours. Especially monday through thursday. Once the weekend comes I get easily distracted and I want to go out and play. But during the week, during the afternoon, I have found that I can focus the best. But because of my job I have missed out on this studying time and have only been able to study on the weekends and at night when I am super tired. So not very effective at all. In light of this I am planning on doing the evening afternoon classes next fall semester. Hopefully I can overcome that. But either way, at my job my bosss won't be very happy when I quit. She has a few screws loose and so I am getting worried about how she might react to my quiting. But oh well, life is life, I just need to find a good 8-5 weekday job. That would be the best.
In other news, um, school is taking up my life and so I don't have much time for girls, I hang out with them sometimes, but for the most part, they are just annoying. I won't date any more girls in my ward.. well, at least I tell myself that. anyways, longboarding is still fun! I have only fallen once, and it was really embarrassing. I went really fast and I was scared I was going to fall, and I stayed up. But at the very end right as I was about to hop off the board I hit a big bump and fell off. Scraped my knee a little and my pride a lot.
Summer is coming!!

way too long...

Ok, so some cool things have happened recently. It has been forever since i have written, I got a few minutes so I'll write a few things.

So yesterday, I got laid off from my work. It came as a surprise to me. Especially since my budget and my life depended on having a steady job. I stayed at work for a couple hours and realized when I couldn't take it anymore I just left to go start looking for anew job. I felt like crap. Life wasn't feeling good at that moment. Especially with school starting the next day. I went home and got online for a couple hours. I applied to a couple places online and had one that I was going to go drop by to apply. I went to this place called Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outdoor. Its one of those army sale places.. It will pretty much be alex's favorite store. So I walked in and I asked the lady in charge about the job and she told me a little bit about the hours and stuff. Then she told me that she has had a ton of people come in and apply for the job, but none of them she felt safe leaving them there alone. But she said that the moment I walked in she liked me and felt like she could trust me. She liked my resume and everything and wanted me to call back later in the day to tell her if I wanted the job or not. I had to drop one of my classes and sign up for a different one, but I made my schedule work. I called her back and she kept telling me how much she wanted me to work there. So I told her I really wanted the job. So that's that! After getting laid off, I got hired at a new job about 5 hours later. I know that heavenly father was behind it all, there are too many coincidences to explain otherwise. I had my schedule for school already practically completely organized to fit the job schedule, the whole first impression thing. It all worked out so well. But now I am going to be working 31 hours a week with school on top of that. But it is going to be worth it. She told me its a good student job because I will have time to study when things are going slow. Yay!!!!

In other news. I went to class today. The chemistry professor kept telling everyone how hard his tests were and that its almost impossible to get above a 60 on his tests. But luckily he curves the tests. Either way, it was like he was trying to scare us away. But I have no choice but to take his class. Oh well.

Life is good.. yeah.. I don't take many pictures anymore. Most of my pictures are on facebook if you want to see them.

Thats my facebook

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=532771954&ref=name

my hair is blue

Ok, so I didn't write last week cause I didn't have much to say and I wasn't too motivated to write. However, this week, after a wonderful thanksgiving there is much to write about!!

Starting out, I guess I will mention a few things from the week before the last. I found this mask from halloween hanging out in our apartment and decided to recreate a body and leave it in one of my roommates beds. So when he got home from church this is what he found.

Then after he saw it and was mildly scared of it, he thought I was in it and was waiting for me to jump up. I moved it to the couch for all to see, it weirded me out cause everytime I walked into the apartment out of the corner of my eye it looked like someone was on the couch staring at me. Good times.

Ok, so this last weekend, was crazzzy filled!!! Thursday was pretty chill, we feasted at grandmas and grandpas. The turkey was wonderful and made us all very sleepy. We pushed through it though and at night the fam went and saw Bond. I think I liked it better the 2nd time around. Friday was incredibly busy..

First, we went to body worlds, it was crazy! People kept telling me that you learn a lot more about your anatomy then you knew before. And well... its true. At the end of the tour there was this wall that was covered in these half papers with things like confessions written on them. There were some that were pretty sad, some disturbing, and quite a few that were outright hilarious, such as the one below.

After body worlds I went to cafe rio for the first time since coming home... Good stuff!! After that we went bowling and did a couple games. I am getting better!! almost 100!! after that we went home and ate and chilled there for a couple hours then chris, lucy, and I headed to temple square to see the christmas lights. They were alright... Oh, I will get some of those pictures up. I forgot about those. It seems like the church has put up a lot fewer lights this year than years past. I hope they put up more. But it is still breathtaking to see so many lights. Then that was pretty much it for friday, I was so exhausted!

Saturday, we went shooting and shot up some osama and I shot some rabbit. After that we did a little ice skating for a couple hours. It was pretty fun, then afterwards I went and saw Twilight. Although I didn't read the books, I actually liked the movie pretty good. It was kinda girly in some aspects, but there were some cool parts to it. Maybe in the next one they will make it more of a guy movie and put more blood, guts, and guns in it.

Now I am back at my apartment. I went to the ward in sandy today. It was my first time going there since I moved to my apartment and there was this friendly sister that introduced her neice to me... Sigh... I heard about those things for return missionaries.. When ward members introduce girls to them... just never thought it would happen to me. Has it happened to any of those other lucky RM's out there? I am curious to see what comes of those hook ups. Luckily the girl is preparing to serve a mission, so I won't worry, plus, I won't be going back to that ward for quite some time I am sure. Phew!


So the two days before thanskgiving break were probably the most stressful of my entire life. We had a project in engineering due, it was a mousetrap proppelled car. We built it from scratch and at first we were having a lot of problems getting it to work (it would only go 6 inches max and the class requirement was 10 feet). So I spent most my monday afternoon tweeking the car and adding a few things until it was due at 4pm that day. Luckily, things worked out, we got it to go 28 feet, far surpassing the requirement, but not the class best, but good enough for me. These are some pictures of it, in reverse order..

The aftermath, taking out a little stress after we were done with it.

This is what it looked like during its peak.

This is the basic drawing of it when we began.

Tuesday was the worst. I had to turn in my math homework from the previous week (which was already done thank goodness). As well I had to turn in an outline for my final essay in english. That was pretty tough. Then in the evening I had to take a test for math. I studied for a little bit but they kicked us out of the math lab to go on their thanksgiving break at 5pm. So I got about an hour and a half of studying in and decided to tough out the test, I have done really good at previous tests, how hard could this one be? Yeah right.. It was the hardest test ever!!! I swear the teacher put concepts and questions on there that we didn't cover in depth in class and with the assignments. So I was sitting there staring at my test for almost an hour trying to figure out how to do these problems when I finally just said an extremely fervent prayer. After that, one of the main problems clicked in my head and I finally figured it out, which helped me get the next few problems. Then I remembered another of hte main problems and that helped me a lot. All in all, I think I will pull a B out of that test. But I was in the testing center for a little over 2 hours. It was horrible. But I am so thankful for the help I am pretty sure I didn't deserve. After that I was ready for a holiday... And I got it!!

Now after a weekend of fun and hanging out with the family I am ready for school and work to start again. Believe it or not I missed having those things. But now its back and I am sure I will start hating it again soon enough!

I haven't cut my hair yet, its long...

What a busy week!!!

But thats the way I like it, I guess I will start out with my embarrasing moment of the week. As I was leaving institute there was this girl that was in my institute class and in my ward that came up and started talking to me. So we talked and I went over by the the school shuttle that would drop me off nearby my apt. As I waited for the bus we continued to talk, as the bus arrived I realized that she wasn't waiting for the bus, she just wanted to talk to me. That made me feel pretty good, however, when I said i had to go I just wasn't thinking. I instinctively put my hand out to shake hers and she took it a little bit perplexed and laughed a nervous laugh. I didn't realize what I had done until I had gotten on the bus. Then it hit me that I had just shook a girls hand! Ahhh!!! I bet a bunch of people on the bus were wondering why I was getting so cherry faced. I haven't seen the girl since...

I had my first FHE. We did a pinata and it went alright. We actually hit a couple pinatas, I think now that we know what to expect we will do better and better. We just need more of our children to attend fhe!


So I went shooting on saturday with one of my roommates. These are some picutres. I like this cause the shell is just ejecting.

Try and pick out our many targets. I had a lot of cd's.

My gun was misfiring.

His name is Bryan by the way.

So on monday I tested my bridge like I told you. These are some pictures of the bridge. We dominated! Everyone else had bridges that were very complex and looked like they had done some precision cutting and glueing. However, ours, took a total of 2 hours to plan and create. And we did the best!

We were filling this bucket with rocks and we actually filled it almost all the way to the top before the teacher told us to stop in light of how long it was taking to break it. So we never broke it! It still lives on. The bucket was actually bending more than the bridge was at the end. Total, we had about 50 lbs on the bridge, we believe it could have probably taken another 20 more.

Why is it so structurally sound? Well, we told the class that we were inspired by the passes over I-15. We just bunched all the wood as close together as possible. There was a rule that it had to be a papers length apart, the wood the was the farthest apart was about 3mm. Most were about 1 or 2 mm apart.

I have really begun to enjoy my rock climbing class, A LOT! I wish I could afford a membership to the place, but things don't look like they would work out. Its expensive there. However, I want to go as much as I can while I still have a free membership there. I have that membership due to the rock climbing class I am taking.

This is just a taste of what we get to climb in the class. Best class ever!

So I saw Amelia after I went rock climbing down in orem. I was driving to wendys when suddenly this really nice car pulls up and honks at us. I don't look, but my friend I was with looked and told me that they wanted me to put the window down. As I was putting the window down I noticed that amelia was driving the car. She was in my dream car!!! The Subaru WRX!!! Somehow I guess she convinced her guy friend to let her drive it. Now I am reaking of jealousy... Amelia, you better start rock climbing with me!!!

I went and saw the new bond, it was alright. It didn't really grab my attention. But it was alright. I also went bowling on friday, I won't tell you how good I did, because i didn't do good. It was actually really embarrasing..

Right now I am in the process of planning another fhe for tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Adios!!!

The lifestyles of the rich and the famous.

This kinda started out slow. I made a point to go and vote on my super busy Tuesday evening. Most of the beginning of this week was spent studying for a math test that I was going to take on Wednesday. I did really good though from the studying! I am pretty sure I got an A on the test.

We have built a bridge for my engineering class out of Basswood, I am not quite sure how it turned out, I will have pictures tomorrow when we test it, ours was pretty... simple... we decided not to go with your standard approach towards bridge building.. you'll see...

I talked with the engineering counselor and figured out what some of my options were with my engineering degree. They don't offer engineering at Uvu, only pre-engineering, which is all the general engineering classes. A lot of the sciences and the calculus classes and what not. So eventually I will have to transfer somewhere. My goal is to transfer to BYU, but first dad has advised me that I make an app with the byu engineering counselor. From the looks of things, without the perspective of having talked with the BYU people, I will probably end up staying at UVU for a few more semesters.

Friday was pretty good, I am taking the best class ever!!!! Rock climbing! and during the week we have to come in on our own time to practice so we can get credit for the class. In my math study group there is a girl that is also in a rock climbing class, so we are partners for the extracurricular climbing. So I spent most my Friday night with her. Oh, she's the one I went on a date with for the ice skating, so you can see her pictures below.

Saturday was amazing! I went to the temple in the morning, there was a BYU game going on so it took me like a half hour to commute up to the Provo temple from my apt, it was ridiculous. But I survived, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Then after wards it was awesome! I came home and was getting my lunch ready when one of my new roommates walks in with his girlfriend and the missionaries! Josh hasn't been doing his missionary work and found out that the new guy actually isn't a member of the church. But his gf is and she brought the missionaries over. Apparently they have been reading in the BoM together and been going to her institute class. So I got to sit in on the first discussion with him. It was awesome! I have been praying for missionary opportunities and finally this one just shows up, it was an experience i couldn't let slide. I don't know how much the missionaries appreciated my being there cause when they rescheduled the return app they ignored me... oh well, I am going to keep up on my roommate and support him as much as possible. He's a good guy, we just need to help him stop a few... scandalous activities..

Oh yeah, then I was going to go on a date and go shooting but she cancelled so I just went with my roommate and we enjoyed ourselves shooting the heck out of computer screen and some statuettes. Oh yeah, I bought some banana clips for my .22, they are awesome!!!! I love it so much, it makes my gun look pretty bad too. I forgot to bring my camera, or I would have taken pictures..

So yeah, no pictures this week, I will repent next week and take some more.

Livin la vida loca

What a good week. It was one of those weeks that lets you know that you are happy.

FHE didn't go over so well. But we weren't worried too much about it becuase we weren't expecting a big show up. Well, only 4 people showed up. So we just combined with another FHE group for the night. We had team pumpkin carving. I don't know what happened, but we carved the Pi symbol in ours (pumpkin pi). We felt pretty smart.

I started to ride my scooter to school because I am sick of walking so much to the shuttle and whatnot. It has been pretty enjoyable so far. I get a few weird looks, but there are a few fellow scooterers out there. I think it is very efficient. And I am getting excercise that I need!

Speaking of exercise, I started a rock climbing class this last Tuesday. It is really fun! We go to this place in Provo called, The Quarry. We get a free membership there because we're taking the class. So I can go there anytime I want, I just need a climbing partner. Luckily, a girl in my math study group is also taking a rock climbing class, so we are going together to climb. Its good stuff.

I don't know how many of you know, but you can prove mathmatically that girls are evil. I will and get it on here someday. I did it in math class in front of everyone. They were all impressed, well, except the 4 girls there.

I went to a ward halloween party. It was kinda lame. But there were a few people there that i had a good time talking to. Its still hard to get to know people in my ward because they all have their clics and groups. But ever so slowly I am integrating myself. ps, I dressed up as a gangster, you will see my pictures further down.

Ok, these things are out of order, but I will start with the pictures on top. Well, as it happens, I took that girl I rock climb with on a date on saturday. Jocelyn and rob came with. We had an awesome time, I made taquitos and we ice skated, then we made cookies and hot chocolate and watched The Prestige. I had soooo much fun, it was awesome.

These are some pictures from the iceskating.

Ahhh... HALLOWEEN!!! I had the best time ever, you guys have no idea. I had a mission buddy, Mark Puls, get off his mission last wednesday. He was passing through utah and he wanted to hang out with me halloween night. So I set aside all plans (what plans?) and we hung out!! It was sooo good to talk to him. I think him and one other elder still in LA are my two best friends from the mission. So anyways, we went to my favorite restaurant (the philidelphian) and then we went back home to try on some costumes for him. Eventually all he got was a little pink tutu and I called him my Ho. We then went to a halloween party being thrown by one of my friends. It was actually an exgirlfriend's party I was going to, so I wasn't too excited to go. I explained this to mark and that we may not stay long. But when we got there, they had some activities going. We did a halloween questionaire, which mark and I won, getting two prizes. Then we did the best part, a scavenger hunt! Most of these are pictures from the scavenger hunt, I will explain them as we see them.

We had to find "something headless" and "something bloody" So we combined the two! Thats mark, this is the picture that brought us victory.

We had to get a picture trick or treating. I think the lady at the door is the scariest.

Not scavenger hunt, this is the ex, and my costume!!! check out the blingin grills!

Mark, my ho

We had a wonderful time doing the scavenger hunt and in the end, one some more prizes. After the party we went home and watched one of my favorites. Iron man! He hadn't seen any movies since coming home, so, just like me, Iron Man was his first movie home! and he felt the same way I did, it was awesome!!! Talk about an awesome night.

Today, thoughts of proposition 8 have been on my mind as I have fasted. I feel everything will work out, as it should. After the fast, I went to Joce and Robs and had some wonderful roast.. mmmm... it was really good!

All in all, I will remember this weekend for quite a while. It was very fulfilling. Hope everyone else had a good time. If not, I had enough to go around.