Choices

choice |CHois|

noun

an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities: the choice between good and evil.

Since my short time here at BYU spring term is almost over, I've been doing some thinking about what exactly I've learned these past couple of months. I've learned some pretty interesting things in Physical Science, but one of the big life lessons that seemed to pop up again and again is the power of Choice.

The ability to choose is really quite amazing if you think about it. Choice determines who we are and how we see the world. These are not necessarily groundbreaking discoveries about choice, but it's good to be reminded from time to time.

Who We Are

For those of you who don't know what movie this is, it is one of my childhood favorites: The Iron Giant. Although it is a very superficial version of what I'm talking about, it does a great job of showing that who we are and how we show it is a choice. Sure there are things in our lives that are out of our control, but it is in these situations that we show who we have really chosen to be. "You are what you choose to be." So have you chosen to be the person you would like to be?

How We See the World

This is a choice that, in my opinion, is one of the most important ones we can make. Often times, it is even related to the decisions of who we are. Ultimately you see the kind of world that you want to see. Hard times will come. That's just how life is. But it's up to us to decide if we want to be happy or sad through the hard times.

So now I guess it's time to leave you with one of my favorite catch phrases: "Don't forget to :)"


PS - Since I'm on a more deep note this time, I should also add this: Don't forget to tell those you love that you love them, lest they forget.

Kicks

Kicks |kiks|

noun

1 Shoes: Apparently you fail to comprehend the awesomeness of my kicks.

So I decided to make my post a little bit more interesting than last time and talk about my secret obsession: Shoes.

That's right. I said it. I like shoes. Come at me bro!

And here's why I love a great pair of kicks in no particular order:

1) They're awesome

2) They are a practical obsession. An obsession that I can use and wear every day.

3) It one of the ways to showcase your style. They say you can tell what kind of a person someone is by the car they drive. Same deal for shoes. A person wears his personality on his feet.

4) Shoes are a symbol of going places and doing things. Your feet take you new and exciting places to do new and exciting things.

5) The new shoe feeling. That indescribable satisfaction you feel when you're sporting some new kicks.

6)They're awesome

OK, now it's time to talk about my favorite shoes. Right now I think my favorite brand is adidas. They have a classy and clean look with pops of vibrant color in several variations. Sadly though, I don't own a pair of adidas right now. Here are a few I have my eye on...

Adidas dragon. It's a retro shoe originally released in the early 70s. The upper is made of a lightweight mesh with suede overlays.

This is a Mi Superstar II. That means this is a pair of superstars I designed myself. (Hmm, I seem to be on a blue theme here)

This beauty, unfortunately, is a little bit harder to find because it is recently out of production. It is actually the reason adidas caught my eye in the first place. It's another Superstar II variation. Pretty awesome if you ask me...

One day soon, hopefully, I will own a pair of adidas. Heck, even the old jeep got some new kicks yesterday! The old ones were so bad that one even had a nail in it!

While I'm talking about shoes, there are a couple of others I should mention:

These babies are the definition of a classic shoe. This timeless design is one that never has and never will go out of style. It is embedded in american culture. So much, in fact, that there are many look-alikes. But don't be fooled. There is only one Converse All Star. No duplication of this shoe can live up to the quality and style of a true pair of converse.

Vans are also some of the classic american kicks. While the build quality of these shoes is good only 80% of the time, they will always hold a special place in my heart. Why? Because the first pair of shoes I ever really noticed and liked was a pair of vans similar to the one pictured above. I was in 1st grade.

Well, on that nostalgic note, I guess it's time to leave you. Hope you enjoyed a brief look into my secret obsession!

Surprise!

sur•prise |sə(r)ˈprīz|

noun

1 an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing: the announcement was a complete surprise.

Oh, man. Life is full of surprises. But I like that. It's what gives life pizzazz! In fact... There have been a few surprises in my life since my last post. A wedding, a sports drink commercial, a mission call, a rainy day, and a couple of other surprises I can't even talk about yet... (hehe)

A Wedding

Well, I guess this is a little less of a surprise. We kinda saw this one coming considering its been planned for months but... My niece's wedding. That's right, you didn't read that wrong. My niece Lynsie who is a year older than I (The girl I had a dance party with in the previous post) got married last weekend to Andrew White. I still can't believe my childhood BFF is married! CRAZY

A Sports Drink Commercial

A really great surprise opportunity popped up this last week as well. I was invited to come be a part of the crew for a 2 day commercial shoot for Xango (a local company that sells sports/health drink juice stuff). This was super fun to be a part of. In one commercial I even got to be a blurry shoulder in the foreground in one of the scenes!

A Mission Call

My roommate Rob opened his LDS mission call today. He wanted to go to a city in the south. He got a great surprise and was called to Dallas Texas. Even better, there was a surprise within the surprise. (Insert inception joke here) This is the same mission that one of our good friends is already in! Rob will be speaking the english language.

A Rainy Day

The fun of Utah weather just never ends. The weather for the last week or two has been just beautiful! Mid 70s and sunny almost every day. So imagine my surprise when I woke up to this!

Then true to schizophrenic Utah form, it did this in the afternoon

iPhone Surprise

OK, I guess it's time to finish up my post. I hope it was at least somewhat entertaining. If you didn't think so, maybe this video of an iPhone with a surprise will convince you otherwise.

Time

time |tīm|

noun

1 the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole: travel through space and time | one of the greatest wits of all time.

• the progress of this as affecting people and things: things were getting better as time passed.

Ok, those of you who REALLY know me know that my favorite movie is Back to the Future. Hands down. No question about it. The whole idea of time travel is so thrilling to me. So imagine my excitement when in my physical science class I learned that time travel is, in theory, possible! Yah, pretty much one of the best moments of spring term so far. But it has to do with relativity, so I'm not sure I understand it 100%.

Anyway, since this blog post is all about time, I thought I'd give you some snapshots of my life. Past, Present, and Future.

Past

First, let's jump in the DeLorean and head back to a time when my sisters wore denim shorts and I had an orange sweater. For these snapshots, I'm gonna confess I stole Bryant's idea and digitized some old VHS home movies. So here's me as a small child if you'd like to take a look.

Lynsie and Mike Have a Dance Party

Sneaky Ninja Mike (sneaky ninja part starts at 1:40)

Present

Since I'm living it, the present seems to be a little bit more difficult to put into one or even two snapshots. So I won't. Let's just say my life is crazy and random.

These are my closest friends

This is my front door

This is a song I made (That's right, I'm on Grooveshark)


Also, I guess this would be the place to say that I am pretty good at Draw Something as well

Extra points if you can guess the movie I drew here ^^.

Future

Since I don't actually have a DeLorean, it's hard to say what my future will look like. Although the internet says my future looks like this:

I sure hope I don't look like this picture anytime soon. But by the time I do look like this picture...

I will have lived here for 2 years (Guayaquil, Ecuador)

My bank account will look like this

And this will be an oldie

The End

PS, I saw the Avengers Movie. It was AWESOME!! If you have not already done so, you should definitely see it.

Hiatus Part II

hi•a•tus |hīˈātəs|

noun ( pl. hiatuses ) [ usu. in sing. ]

a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process: there was a brief hiatus in the war with France.

     Well. If you haven't noticed. I've taken a hiatus from my blog. Again. This time was a bit longer than the last. Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to be posting often, (I'm just non-committal like that. Come at me bro!) but it does mean I will be posting regularly. I suppose the next logical question is why I allowed this hideous hiatus to happen in the first place. Well, the explanation is simple. 3 words in fact. Between Two Arms. So much has happened in my life since I last posted, but this pretty much sums it all up. This is both the reason I haven't been posting on my own blog and the summary of my life since February 8th. So if you don't know what Between Two Arms is, you better repent and find out.

     There has been a lot of change even since the end of BTA. My bros/roommates and I have had such a blast. But the time came that we all had to part ways. It's sad, but it needed to happen because most of us are leaving to serve a 2 year LDS mission. (My brother Bryant brought his mission to an end already, so this will cause a brief bereavement). Tyler's gonna to mix it up in Mexico, Murphy's gonna hang with the cats of California (Carlsbad), Brett's gonna chill in Chile, Rob's propped up in Provo with me waiting for his call, and I'm gonna be a guy in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It's gonna be CRAZY AWESOME!
Before I go, I'll leave you with one of the last things we created together. It's epic!

Just for Jed

Hiatus

hi•a•tus |hīˈātəs|

noun ( pl. hiatuses ) [ usu. in sing. ]

a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process: there was a brief hiatus in the war with France.

• Prosody & Grammar a break between two vowels coming together but not in the same syllable, as in the ear and cooperate .

Sorry about the short hiatus I've been taking from the blog. Believe it or not, it's only been about a week and  a half. I know it seems like it's been a lot longer, but like Bryant said, there has been A LOT going on the past few days. As they say, the times they are a-changin'. But that's what makes life exciting. Right? Ok, now to the list of amazing things that have happened in the past while since my last post.

VOCAL POINT!! Oh my goodness. I love them sososososo much. I got to go see them with Monica in the Conference Center Theater at temple square. Then we got our cds signed. It was so much fun!! Then on campus on Monday, I saw the new Jake. I made Emma come him with me and he recognized me! It made my day.

Another amazing thing, I have had the pleasure of being a part of the crew for the new hit internet TV series, "Between 2 Arms". It's pretty funny if I do say so. I am the camera operator/editor and it is soo much fun. Let me tell you. You can watch the first 2 episodes here. Well, anthropology is over, so I guess it's time for me to be done blogging. So I leave you with this Broadbent 23 meme:

Silly Bryant.

Luckily I am done with my hiatus now!