2,576 Miles

2,576 miles OR 4,145 kilometers OR 13,601,280 feet OR 163,215,360 inches.

I'm finally getting the heck out of California!!! I'm leaving California to spend a week in my very good friend's home state... NEW HAMPSHIRE!

So, here's how it's gonna happen... I fly out of Reno, Nevada on June 29th and arrive in Manchester, New Hampshire later that night, like 11 ish. Of course, it'll only feel like 8 ish, so that'll be kinda weird. Then, Chelsie and I have Tuesday to hang out. Then, Wednesday, Symone is flying in. So, we'll go pick her up and then we'll party hardy! We're going to be spending the Fourth of July at a beach house! Watching fireworks by the ocean! How cool is that!? AND! We're going to see Transformers 2 in IMAX!!!! And I guess the theater is really really nice. With BOSE speakers built into every RECLINING chair!

Yes, you can be jealous of me.

But best of all... I'm getting away. It's going to be so nice to get away from California for a while. Get away from everything that I know and try something a little different. Even if it is only for a week. As much as I love you, Cali, I need a little break. But, don't worry! I'm coming back! Promise.

So, if you can't tell, I'm SUPER stoked! I'm gonna be spending a week with two of my favoritest (favoritest? most favorite?) people in the entire world, on the ocean, with fireworks, and Transformers, and bunches of other really really legit stuff that I can't wait for!!

New England, New Hampshire, East coast, Atlantic Ocean, Chelsie, Symone.......

HERE I COME!!!

A YEAR?!?!?!

HOLD UP! A year? I graduated a year ago? It's been an entire year? Holy crap... Where has this year gone? It's been a good one, that's for sure.

Summer time = The best EVER! Last summer was incredible. No summer work to worry about. Disney land with all of my best friends. San Diego with Brian.

And then college... Oh, college. How I miss you! It's crazy for me to think that I haven't gone to school for six and a half months. Wierd. I actually really miss it. Like, a lot. That is where I met two of my best friends. Two of my biggest helps and supports in my life. Yes, you know who you are. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of you guys on here. I don't have any on my computer. My first semester of college was a time that I will never ever forget.

So... In conclusion (ha ha), I've had a really good/busy/exciting/hard/fast year. And I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. 

Let's see what this year has to offer.

The end.

Any Other Name

Tonight. Tonight is a beautiful night.

As I sit here in my room, I look out my open window to see a world full of joy. I see the clouds, dark and mysterious, showing their love and patience with the people below. The constant lightning in the distance flashes in my eyes. The silhouettes of the trees show for a split second and then disappear into the night. The lightning is far enough away that only the sound of the biggest strikes are able to travel far enough to penetrate my ears. The only sounds I hear are the chirping of crickets, the last of the birds flocking to their nests for a good night's rest, and the occasional thunder boom. It begins to rain. The smell of the first drops on the ground is like nothing I've ever smelled before.

The clouds are getting closer now. The rain falls harder now.

The sound of water drops hitting the ground is continuous. The lightning flashes light and I can see the trees swaying in the wind above.

The lightning has enveloped me now. 

Everywhere I look, another flash of lightning shows me that the clouds have come to wash me. To take who I am and strip me clean. Another start. Another life. Another name.

Tonight. Tonight is a beautiful night.

Science Camp

HOLY CRAP!

So, this past week, I was a counselor at science camp for Union Hill K-8 school. The science camp was held at Alliance Redwoods Christian Conference Grounds. This little piece of world was probably to most beautiful place I've ever been to. The temperature was perfect every day. The weather was amazing.

The kids were so awesome! They were so much fun and so full of energy! It was so fun to hang out with them for a week!

The teachers there were a blast, too! You could really tell that they loved what they were doing and loved teaching the kids. They were all probably in their late twenties. They were so much fun! The teacher (or Naturalist as they're called at camp) that was with my group of boys was nick named Wrecker. Don't ask me why. All of the Naturalists had different nick names, such as Frodo (camp director), Granola, Blockbuster, Zippo, Fox, and lots more. Wrecker was so much fun! One of the classes entitled Forest Friends was all about finding and tracking a deer. He taught the kids different signs to look for to see if an animal has been close by. Before the class, he had planted rolled up pieces of Tootsie Roll, making it look like deer poop. When they came up to it, he ate it, convincing the kids that he ate deer poop!!! He was so much fun!

And, yes, we did find a banana slug.

What a week!!!! It was so nice. The camp is usually a Christian camp, so they had all of these really cool scriptures printed on signs posted on trees all over the camp. It was really cool. I really felt closer to God. Helping teach His children about the earth and being out in it, away from technology, away from everything. It was an incredible week.

Yes.

Wait, what?!

Yes, I'm back. My mission call got changed to October. I'm still going to Guatemala (throwing out a little whoop whoop!), but not now. If everything had gone according to plan, I would actually be out of the training center right now and be in the training center in Guatemala. But, no. I'm in Nevada City. Oh well.

So........ this past couple of weeks have been very interesting, with telling people why I'm home and all that good stuff. But, anyways... I've been working back at the good ole pharmacy! (dang)

I don't really know what else to say, soooooo....

k cool bye

My Time

So here I am, trying to think about what I'm going to say for my talk in church this Sunday. For all of you who don't know, I'm going to serve a mission in Guatemala for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for two years. I'm super excited and super nervous and super scared all at the same time. I can't wait to go but I don't want to leave. I'm really not looking forward to saying goodbye to everything I know and have grown to love so much.

But anyways, back on topic... I'm leaving in two weeks and this Sunday I have been asked to give a talk in my church meeting. The topic: "How I have prepared to serve a mission and why missionary work is important."

Wait, what? Okay, I know what all of this means, but I have to talk about it? I do? ME? I shouldn't be going on a mission! I'm not old enough! I should be watching my brother go, watching him get ready, waiting for my turn to come! I've grown up knowing I'd be going on a mission, and I've been taught and told that my whole life! I've been raised singing the song "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" in primary. I was told that throughout my whole life I should be preparing and getting ready to go to a different place, for me a different country, for two years! Two years!!

Despite these anxious feelings, I'm going. I've been called to serve. I've been waiting for these two years my whole life. Everything I've done has been in preparation for these two years. Every class I've taken and every person I've spoken to. Every mistake I've made and every obstacle I've triumphed. Somebody in Guatemala is waiting for me...

So here I go!

Michael, your time has come.

(wish me luck!!!)

An Ode to Lunch Break

My work... my job... not fun. I work at a pharmacy as a cashier/pharmacy clerk. So, basically, as a cashier, I stand there, bored out of my mind, hoping that somebody will come in and buy something. And as a pharmacy clerk, I stand there while old people who really need medicine tell me about how if they don't have the medicine they could go into withdrawals, go into a coma, and then die. 

I love it when they do that, because they are basically saying, "Here! I have my life in my hands and now I'm putting it on the counter in front of you. If you don't get my medicine right now, it's going to shrivel up like a raisin, turn dark blue and purple, and then implode. Thanks!!!!"

So, at around one or two o'clock every day, there is an hour. One hour. Only one. But it is the best hour of my day (except for the hour directly following closing time). This hour, this beloved God-sent hour, is lunch time.

So, here's to you, Lunch Hour. The happiness you bring to people's lives all across the world lights up our spirits, giving us the gusto we need to get throught the second dreadful half of the day. The food you put in our grumbling stomachs revives us from the long, tiresome work morning we were forced to endure only on the sad little bowl of Cap'n Crunch cereal.

To Lunch Hour!