Post Christmas

So Christmas was really good for me. For those of you that know me a bit, you know that I am not super close to my family. We are all pretty darn independent, and dont talk with each other that often. I dont really talk that much with my brother that I live with! This Christmas was a little different though. My brother Kelly has been here from Alaska on a break from the Air Force and it has been really good. We have been able to just chat and catch up and I have really enjoyed it. He asked me to watch his house this summer up in Alaska because he doesn't want it to be empty for 6 months when he is in Afganistan. I really want to do it, but I really dont know how I can do it. I need to talk to the VA to see if they will let me transfer for 3 months and then come back. I really dont think they will let me do that, but I am going to see what I can do. I think my other option is to quit the VA, get a job up there, and study my butt off and get certified aas a personal trainer, and then come back to Utah and do that for my job afterwards. There is alot for me to figure out, but I would love to be able to do it.

Aside from talking with my brother, it was good to see alot of my extended family. I dont see them that often, even though they live in Ogden and Roy, but I got to spend Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family and it was alot of fun! I spent the night at my Grandma and Grandpa's house and so did my parents. We opened presents there, and that was alot of fun. Christmas doesn't have the same kind of appeal that it used to have though. I get more joy out of seeing the reactions people have when they get a gift from me. I usually know what I am getting for Christmas cause my family is pretty good at getting me exactly what I am asking for. I think one of the best things that I got though was a new wallet. It was much needed! Its a jimi wallet. Go ahead and check it out, I think you will like the idea of it, I know I do!

I hope that you all had a bodacious Christmas too! I hope that you were able to think about Christ a little bit during the week and think about the sacrifice that He made for us. It is truly amazing that He would do such a thing. I love my Savior, and I know that He loves me and all of you too. I wish you all the best of luck in the coming year!

Update

So it has been a little while since I have updated anyone. I think most of you know what has been going on in my life, but for those of you who dont, here you go.

Not too much has been going on in my life, I suppose that is why I haven't written any thing on here. Continuing the story from my last post, I have since gotten my motorcycle fixed, although, I received zero help from the company I took it to. I will never go there again, and I am encouraging others to never go there either. Edge Motorsports will screw you over. They dont have your life in mind, and are willing to risk your life to make money. Anyways, I got it fixed finally, by taking it to Suzuki of Salt Lake. When I took it in to them, they told me that I wasn't the first person to come in saying that they got screwed by Edge. They took care of it, and son enough, I was back out on the road happy to have it again.

There was one other bad thing that I learned soon after going to see Mike and Danielle. Danielle called me one day and told me that they were getting a divorce. When she told me that it was an important call, I knew instantly that she was going to be leaving the church. She didn't tell me that, but I knew. It took about 2 months for her to finally talk to me about it. She started putting pictures up on facebook that confirmed it to me. It is was so hard for me to come to terms with that. Part of the reason that it took so long for her to tell me was that I told her on facebook that I was probably going to yell at her if we talked. I think that Danielle finally realized that she needed to tell me. She called me and we talked for about 2 and a half hours. Overall, it was good. I was able to bear testimony in a way that I had not done since I was a missionary, back when I was teaching Danielle. It felt amazing. By doing so, I was able to have the things that I know to be true confirmed to me once again. As bad as the situation was, I gained alot from it, and I like that. Danielle now lives in Boise, and Mike is about to move back down to St. George, with the kids. Danielle gave Mike full custody, as far as I understand. Its a terrible situation that I wish had never happened, but there isn't really anything that I can do about it. I have no doubts that Danielle will come back to the church, but it will take some time.

On to lighter topics, I got to go to New York for two weeks!! It was awesome! As some of you know, Yankee Stadium has been closed. I wanted to go there to see it, just because of the historical significance of the stadium. I hate the Yankees, but it was pretty cool to see the stadium, even though I paid 100 dollars for a ticket with a face value of 25 dollars. While I was back east, I got to go to Philadelphia for a day and watch the Phillies in their new stadium. I of course had a couple of authentic Philly Cheesesteaks, and they were awesome! I got to see the Liberty Bell too, and that was pretty cool. I also went to Boston and saw a Red Sox game in Fenway with Tiffany Ann Wood, and let me tell you, I love Fenway. The place has such an old feel to it, the way a basball stadium should feel. I recommend it to anyone. Instead of just going back to New York, I went back to Tiverton, Rhode Island with Tiffany and stayed with her relatives (possibly her mothers cousin, I dont remember). It was amazing! Their house is on the ocean. Literally. It was so incredible to eat out on the back porch, and be eating out on the ocean! I recommend Tiverton to anyone! I got to see a whole mess of things when I was in New York, and thankfully I didn't even have to pay a penny to stay there! My friend Shane had a friend that he went to school with that lives there and she found a place for me to stay. It was awesome! One of the best things that I did there was got to a Mets game, not because I got to see the Mets, but because they were playing the Braves! It was great! They lost, but thats ok, just seeing them was great! What made it even better was that the guy I was sitting next to was from Atlanta. It turned out pretty good that way.

This summer and last semester has been a good one. I have had my struggles with school but I seemed to come out of them alright so far. I have been able to cultivate some quality friendships, namely with Shane. He and I are pretty similar, but the best part is that we have the same sense of humor. He is someone that I have no problem saying I look up to him. He has such a strong testimony and keeps me in check. We have our good times too. We currently have been on a deal that we aren't making fun of each other, but its hard. We leave ourselves open to it often, but we are trying. I already owe him some ice cream cause I couldn't bite my tongue. He and I both wonder why it is that we hadn't been friend before now. Its great though!

With all this talk about another guy, I might have some of you wondering about me, but not to worry, I am not gay. haha! I have tried dating a few girls, all at separate times of course, but it hasn't really worked out, but honestly, I am ok with it. I received a blessing from Dave before the semester, and part of it said that dating shouldn't really be a priority at this point in my life, so I guess that is why I am ok with it. I dont know how long I am supposed to keep it up, but, I think I have gotten past the point that I am ok with it. I recently have been trying to figure out the little things in my dating life that I do that should be done away with. I know that it will take some time to eliminate these things, but I think it can be done.

I struggled the most this last little bit with my physics class. It had been the hardest class that I have ever taken. I got the worst grade on a test that I have ever received. A 23%. It was terrible. Luckily, I got to drop one test, and I ok on my final, which I think really helped me. I ended up getting a B-, but that is way better than I thought I was going to do going into the final. The crappy part is that I am going to be taking the second semester of the class in this upcoming semester, and I have heard that it is even more difficult than the first semester. I think that even if the blessing that I get before the next semester doesn't say somthing similar to the last one I received, I am going to continue to have dating a little low on the priority list. I really need to do well in this class, since it is a pre-req for Physical Therapy school. I have been doing some other things to get me closer to PT school though, I have been doing some observation/volunteer hours each morning at the PT clinic at work for 4 hours. Its been really good, and they are starting to trust me to be more hands on. It has been really cool to see the things that I am learning in class actually put to use. It kinda gives meaning and reason for learning those things.

Anyways, I think this is sufficiently long now, but thats about all that has been happening in my life. Its almost Christmas, so thats pretty exciting.

You've got to be kidding me

So I went on a weekend trip to St. George on my motorcycle. I had a wonderful time despite the fact that my butt got really sore. I got to see Mike and Danielle, and their kiddos, and a few other people, Nicole and Tiffany. I got to see The Dark Knight, absolutely amazing. I headed back on Sunday after going to church and there was kind of a threat of rain. My friend Tiffany had left for home a little before me, and said that there was a ton o' rain through Cedar City so I braced myself for that. I dont have any rain gear, so I bascially just had to deal with it. I made it through Cedar, no problems. I got to Beaver, no problems. Just past Beaver though, thats when the down pour came. I was doing ok, but then I noticed that there was about an inch of standing water on the road, thats when I knew that I needed to stop. I found an overpass that I could hang out underneath, homeless style. I sat there for about 45 minutes, and then someone stopped. Dawn, the girl that stopped, offered me a ride in her Xterra. I told her that I was headed to Salt Lake and she said that she was too. I then said, "Well, I dont really want to leave my bike here." Her response was something like, "well we can just put it in the back." Now I dont think that she really knew anything about motorcycles, and for those of you who also dont, they tend to be kinda heavy. I told her that I really dont think that we would be able to get it up into the back, nor did I think that it was going to fit in the back, so I declined. It provided me a little humor while I was sitting there, waiting for the rain to stop. It finally let up a bit, enough for me to feel safe riding again. The rest of the ride was pretty good until I got to Nephi. I stopped there to fill up again, and when I got back out in the road again, I was on the on ramp, and my chain fell off, but I was able to put it back on. Now keep in mind that I had just taken my bike in for a tune up. They had suggested that I get a new chain, but that was that. They said that there was more important things that I should take care of first. Things that I ended up not having a problem with. I got to the I-15, I-215 interchange, and all of a sudden, my chain was off again, I was leaking oil, and my clutch wasn't working. Just so you know, sitting on the side of 215 is not a good way to spend your Sunday evening. I ccalled my friend Kirk, and he was able to make it out to me with a truck and a trailer, and we took it back to my house. I called the company that did the tune up, they basically said that it was my fault. I am going to be calling the service manager tomorrow to see how much money they are going to be giving me back for the crappy service they did on my bike. All in all, I am glad that I am still alive. I very easily could have gone down when my bike started to break, or even get thrown from it. I think its sadly going to be the end of it til next summer, when I have a bit more money to put into it.

Deception

So as a few of you have known, I gave up dating for a while. I just didn't care about it. Not that I didn't have any interest in any one, I just didn't have any sort of a desire to ask them out. That kinda changed as of late, but recent event have made me think otherwise. Two of the last three girls that I have met recently, and gotten the numbers of, are really good at deceiving. After having great conversations with them and getting to know them well enough to know that I wanted to take them on a date, I asked for their numbers. They seemed eager to give them to me. This made me pretty excited. These girls know what they are doing in life, they are beautiful girls, and most importantly, or at least what I thought was most important, they seemed interested back. I called them, cause thats what I do when I get a girls number, but with no luck. No answer, and so far, no call back. I suppose three calls, or maybe three strikes is enough, but given recent history, I dont know if I should waste my time. Having said all this, I still hold these girls in high regard, even though I dont really know them all that well. I only have one request though. If you dont have any plans of going on a date with me, dont give me your number! It's a simple request! I dont see the purpose. I dont understand the female mind, nor do I feel that I will ever. And yes, I know that the male mind can be, and usually is just as confusing. Anywho, I just wanted to vent, so I think I am done.

Motorcycle

So, as you probably know, I have a motorcycle now. It turns out, they go really fast. Today, I found that out. I reached a all new high speed. This includes being in a car. I was out with my friend Brian, and his friend Steve, and we went out for a ride. We went up Emmigration Canyon, and then jumped on I-80. This happens to be the west side of Parleys Canyon. I kinda got cut off by a semi as I was getting on the freeway, so I had to catch up a little bit. I laid down on my tank (to be more aerodynamic), and cranked the throttle. All of a sudden, I had caught up. And yes, it really was sudden. I looked down at my speedometer, and I smiled a little. 120.

New beginnings....

Well I decided to start a new blog. A few of you have read my previous one that I had, this one is going to be nothing like that one. I plan on just keeping people updated on me and my life. Really, my life isn't that exciting, but as many of you know, I just bought a motorcycle. Its incredible, and I love it. I got a great deal on it, and I am very happy about that. Again, as many know, this has been a long time goal of mine for me. I have wanted to own a motorcycle for quite some time now. But I am so very happy that I have it now. There is a sense of freedom that comes with it.

Anywho, I had given up on dating for the last little while. I decided that it was a good idea for me, cause this last semester was one of the hardest that I have had. I devoted all the rest of my time to finding a motorcycle, and pretending to study. I feel like I was able to set some good habits during that time too. Thats always a good thing. I feel like I learned a bit about myself too. For some reason I dont really have much of a desire to get back into the dating scene, however, I am not saying that it wont happen.

I have really been trying to establish deeper and better relationships with my friends and my family. I still have alot to do in those relationships, but I think I have done a bit of a better job at it. One thing I have been realizing lately is how important it is to have these close relationships. I really dont think I am that close to anyone in my family, but I dont know that I wish that was different. I have never been able to say that anyone in my family is my best friend, but I think that I am ok with that. I know that they are there, and I know that I can turn to them any time that I want to, I just dont really do it. I would rather talk to my friends that know my situation, cause they have gone through it recently. I dont think I would ever turn to Curtis, my brother, for any sort of girl advice; he hasn't been on a date for at least 10 years. I really dont think that he would be able to help out with that. I am excited to build better relationships. It's something that a good friend has taught me. I will be forever grateful for that life lesson taught to me by this friend. This friend is way better are it than I am.

I think that this is why I want to have more close friends. They are so good at so many things that I really need to work on. I want so badly to be better, but as many of you know, it kinda takes a bit of time. Wierd how that works, huh? If only there was a way to skip all the drama and growing pains that come with change. I guess in a way its ok. I suppose thats where I actually learn real life skills.

Anywho, I dont know what else to talk about, so thats about it.