He Did

Remember when I said that this wasn't the place that I would try to piece together the puzzle of life? Remeber when I said that this was where I was just going to vent? My public journal? Well, this is a combination of the two.

Today started out like a normal day. I heard my cell phone buzzing. When I answered it, I heard a warm, loving voice calling to wake me up. I showered, ate, and got ready for the day. I went to my girlfriend's church, and then came home. I watched a bit of a movie... and that's when I realized how temporary and sudden this life really is.

Life is a beautiful thing. We are given the opportunity to grow, to learn, to find who we really are and then share it with those around us who are trying to do exactly the same thing. We see how cruel people can be and how good people can be, as well. We learn to love. To want to make someone happy. To do whatever we can to make that person happy.

This life is a gift. This life is wonderful. How sad it is when someone leaves it.

I heard a story once... It went something like this...

"A little boy and his mother were talking about their very sick dog who had recently died.

'Are you okay?' the mother asked her son.

'Yes,' replied the boy. 'Mom, we come to earth to learn how to love each other and be happy, right?'

'Yes, we do.' the mother answered, unsure of where this question had come from.

'I think dogs learn this faster than people do. That's why they don't live as long.'"

I think the same thing can be applied to people. We come here to learn how to love and how to be happy. And it's easier for some than it is for others. I think there are some who pass at a young age because they learned these things much faster than the rest of us.

I know he did.

Sound Effects

When I was in kindergarten, I used to get picked up for school by my best friend. Every day, he and his mom would drive up to the house, honk the horn, and I would come running out of my front door. He would be, of course, in the front seat and so I would jump in the back... That's when the fun began...

I distinctly remember our adventures. Brian would man the co-pilot's seat, which, as you know, is the main gunner seat of the vehicle. From the back, I would take control of the missile launch. Every car we passed was the enemy, and we never left any survivors. The triggers to the guns were the little handles in the door way of the car, AKA Oh Crap! handles. We would jerk our arms, pretending that the guns that we were shooting had kick to them, launching our tiny bodies back. His mom was the pilot, and so, we always made sure that she was going the right way. So that we could get back to the USS Enterprise safely. These adventurous missions were always much more fun when it was snowing outside. The snow flakes would fly past the windshield, and it would look as though we were traveling at Mach speeds while we flew past the stars.

But, there was something more important. More important than who manned the gunner seat, more important than where the triggers were in the cockpit of the ship, and more important than where we were going....

The sound effects.

With every gun, there was a sound effect. With every turn of the wheel, there was a sound effect. With every enemy star cruiser soaring past us, there was a sound effect. The sound effects were crucial. If you didn't have the right sound for the right tool, the mission could be in jeopardy. With the wrong sound effects, the others might not know what you were doing, and therefore putting the whole crew at risk. The sound effects mattered most.

I took a semester of school up at Brigham Young University Idaho, and there I took a Spanish class. My teacher was incredible. He had lived in Venezuela for two years and was fluent in Spanish. He is an awesome guy. He once told the guys in the class, "If you ever find a girl who can make good sounding sound effects, she's a keeper no matter what."

Oh, the wisdom of his words.

Apple Juice or Orange Juice?

Sometimes I wish I had the courage to just yell at somebody. To really get in their face. To really let it all out. I wish I could just flip out at them.

But... I can't. I know how bad I would feel. I know how bad they would feel and that would make me feel worse. I know that if I said some of the things that I think, I would be in a lot of trouble. Have you ever seen those shows or movies where something happens and you're like, "Whoa, what?" Like, the hero of the story randomly jumps on the villain and just starts beating the crap out of them. Or, they chuck a book at their face right in the middle of a meeting. But then, it flashes back to the hero just standing there, not doing anything, just taking it. I often wish I could do that with my life. Visualize how doing something one way would turn out and see if I liked that or not. Then, flash back to reality.

I remember this show from when I was little, and this episode has always stuck with me. It was on Nickelodeon, called "So Weird", and about this girl who would always run into extremely odd situations. With aliens, and monsters, and people who were invisible, and ghosts and stuff. And, there was one episode that talked about how one decision can change a life. They used the example of what juice you choose to drink at breakfast. They showed two scenarios side by side, split screen. In the screen on the left, she chose apple juice. She grabbed the pitcher and poured the juice into her cup, and everything was fine. A normal day. In the screen on the right, she chose orange juice. She grabbed the pitcher, but it slipped from her hand. The orange juice spilled everywhere on the table and down the front of her shirt. She scrambled for napkins and towels but her shirt was permanently dyed orange. She was extremely upset, and she let that set the tone for the day. Then, the show put the two together. It showed how different the girl's life was because of the apple juice or the orange juice at breakfast.

Sometimes, when I'm day dreaming at work, bored out of my mind, I think, "Maybe if I had a bagel instead of pancakes, my day would have been more exciting."

How to be a kid when you're technically an adult...

There are just a few steps on how to be a kid when you're actually an adult. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm only 19. So, I'm not an experienced adult, but I think I've gotten a little taste of adult life. And I think that some adults really need help getting back to their inner child and I think that I've still got some kid left in me... So, here are a few easy and simple steps to becoming a kid again...

Step 1: The Friend

Having a friend who also is in desperate need of re-connecting with the kid inside them is crucial. There are plenty of old, boring adults out there, with a kid just yelling and screaming inside of them, trying with all their might to get out. Go grab one!!!

Step 2: The Ice Cream Man

Imagine with me... You're a kid again... It's summer vacation, and it's the hottest it's been in years. You're sitting in your room, bored with all of your toys. You're looking out the window, just hoping your mom will take you to the public pool. When all of the sudden, you hear a little tune in the distance. You know that song... THE ICE CREAM MAN!!!!! You go tearing down the stairs, screaming at the top of your lungs, "MOM! MOM! I NEED A DOLLAR! This is not a want, Mom! This is a NEED!" After what feels like infinity years of your mom shuffling through her purse, she finds a dollar! You grab it and run, yelling, "Thanks, Mom!" over your shoulder as you're half way across the front lawn. Then, you stop. You look, and listen. "Where is it?" you ask yourself. And then, you hear it! You sprint towards the sound, turn the corner, and... there it is! The Ice Cream Truck! You patiently stand in line. The sun beating down on your head, your feet burning on the side walk. Who has time to get shoes when you're chasing the ice cream man? Finally, it's your turn. You hand the man your dollar and you finally get your favorite frozen treat. (Mine was the Flinstones Push-Up Pops!!!)

Now, how good did that feel? When you were standing in line, feet aching from the long run on the scalding hot pavement, what was the only thing you could think of? The ice cream! For this step to be effective, you need to find that ice cream once again. Whether it be an otter pop, a push-up pop, or one of those cool astro pops! Find one, and eat it!

Step 3: The Puddle

Do you remember when rain wasn't evil? When you longed to go outside and just get soaking wet? Do you remember back before everybody carried those lame black umbrellas? Throw out the umbrella! Throw out the overcoat! Take some time to just enjoy the rain! Jump in a puddle, splash your fellow "Kid Finding" friend in the face! Race your leaf boats down the river on the side of the road! It's the best way to re-connect.

Step 4: Lunch Time

Make yourself some lunch. Like Mom used to, remember? The good old peanut butter and jelly, no crust, cut diagonally, with a bag of Cheetos on the side, and a Capri Sun sitting there, the straw already opened and punched through the hole. Oh, lunch time...

I hope that these few tips have helped someone out there get back to basics in life. Break free from the mold. Find a childhood friend, get some ice cream, splash around, and eat some PB&J. The good old days...

The Meaning of Life... Not here

So, I decided a while back that I kinda wanted to start a blog. A place where I could maybe write down some thougts, some feelings, or something like that. Now, i'm not really a deep kind of guy. I don't really analyze... anything. So, I didn't make one. I felt like I wouldn't have anything to share or anything that anybody would be interested in reading. My life is simple enough. I work, I eat, I sleep. I wait. A lot of waiting. I'm currently waiting to serve a two year mission for my church. So, I'm trying to earn money and get things ready to go for that. I'm super anxious, and super nervous! But at the same time, extremely excited! But anyways... I've found that I don't really need to be an analytical person to have a blog. It's not really a place where I will try to be deep, and try to figure out the meaning of life. It's more of a place for me to vent... for me to write things down that I need to say, but don't want to say to anybody. Does that make sense? I guess it's a public journal. An online journal, where anyone and everyone can see and comment on what I'm feeling and experiencing. So, if you want the meaning of life, I suggest you look elsewhere. Not this blog, anyways...

Here goes nothing!!