07.09.13 (The Day I Started My Blog)

K so this is my first blog "journal" entry. In the past I've kept a handwritten journal, but it's been about a year since I've made an entry. I've something like 9 or 10 journals in my room, and I figure I should make it digital before I need to make my room a library.

I've separated my blog into three different parts (see the tabs above): Daily Journal, Thoughts, and Spotlight. My "daily journal" is where I'll try and write every day. Usually mundane and routine, it may not be entertaining for anyone reading it, but I believe it's important to keep a record for myself of things that have happened in my life. I've referred back to my journals countless times as I've needed to remember a date or when something happened, or just to remember how much of an idiot I was and to laugh at myself. Also, I'm gonna try posting a picture every day with my entry, just something random from the day (and probably usually from the moment I'm writing the entry cuz I'm lazy and I forget).

"Thoughts" is where I'll write when I have random tidbits of things I want to write. They won't usually have something to do with the happenings of the day, but rather just things that I believe in or thoughts that I have. "Featured" will be special topics I concentrate on. Parts of my life I want to highlight and describe in words, pictures, and videos. The posts will be more thematic, and can include anything from special people, to trips, to projects I'm working on.

So let's begin!

Annie (see "My Girl" on my Spotlight page) left yesterday morning for St. George to help coach a team of girls from Sky View at a soccer camp there. She was supposed to be staying with a friend there, but when she got there she found out that her friend's boyfriend is living with her now, which made her uncomfortable. The boyfriend apparently isn't the best guy... so Annie arranged to be able to stay in the hotel with one of the coaches.

We knew this was gonna be kind of a rough week, she got a letter back from Paul on Thursday in response to the one she had sent. Last week she had sent him the letter telling him that she was dating someone seriously, and she's been nervous ever since about how he'd react. He actually took it extremely well... almost too well though. He has an attitude of not really caring, and just told her that he should probably concentrate on his missionary work anyway. I know she's pretty bothered that he's taken it so well, and it's totally understandable for her to feel that way. I won't lie though, this has been a huge deal for me, and it's really shown me that she's taking us seriously :)

I found out it's gonna cost me $40 to get Bumper's hair cut, which is annoying. Haha the poor guy's hair is so long though he can barely see through his eyebrows. Plus, the long black hair can't feel the best when he's out panting in the 96 degree weather. He's getting it clipped tomorrow.

I had an appointment today to figure out the rest of my schooling and figure out for sure when I can graduate. I've got to decide what I'm gonna do next summer for my "international experience" requirement for my major. They're all pretty costly options, I just gotta decide one.

Went on a little Jeep ride with my parents, watched "Under The Dome" with my Dad and ate dinner with them (Dad burned the steak, he was pretty upset about that). Now I'm just finishing up watching the USMNT game against Belize. It ended 6-1, I'll let you guess who won.

I have to get up at 7:30 tomorrow for another meeting to figure out the international experience stuff. Gross.

"Enjoy the little things in life, because one day you'll look back and realize they were big things." -The Vow

Many of the things I remember most from my past have been things that seemed at the time unimportant, and that I'm sure are insignificant to other people. Every day things happen to us that we forget. The average person lives well over a half million hours in their life. How many of those hours do we remember, do we really retain? As we grow older the details of those memories grow dimmer, until they're gone. If those memories go unrecorded, they are lost forever in the moment that we cease to exist.

See, it's crazy to me to think that thousands of years have passed in the known history of man, and so relatively little is known about individual's lives. Billions of people have come and gone over the ages, and for the most part they are forgotten, and their lives seem insignificant to us now. But if we could take the sum of the lessons learned in just one of those lives we would be that much more wise, that much more prepared for our own futures. As a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints I believe in scripture. The Bible and the Book of Mormon have a clear purpose in my life, both spiritual and temporal. As I read back and study the lives and experiences of those that have lived before me, I learn. I learn how to achieve the successes they did, and I learn from their failures what not to do so as to not fall into the same errors. I've made tons of mistakes in the first 23 years of my life. I can't be ashamed of them, but instead use them to teach myself, and hope that others might learn from them as well.

The purpose of this blog is to record the good and the bad, the happy and sad, the exciting and mundane of my life. If I'm in a deep mood (like I seem to be currently) then I'll type out my thoughts. If I'm angry I may rant. I hear a funny joke? Maybe I'll post it. If I learned a lesson, then you'll find it here. Working on a project, going through a trial, having success, going on a trip, if I'm confused, ecstatic, lonely, bored, embarrassed or whatever it is. It'll be here.

I know that the happenings of my life are important to only a select few. It's for them and myself that I take the time to record who I am, what matters to me, and the little things that, when put together, make my life what it is. All the hours or frustration it might cause me to update and maintain this blog will be worth it if in the end I, or anybody else can laugh, cry, or learn from something that happened in my little life.