What happens in Vegas....

So I just spent like five days in Vegas.  I've heard people say that Vegas is a three day kind of town.  It you stay for less than three days you won't get the real feel of it, but if you stay for more than three days you're likely to end up in more trouble than you set out for....  I'd probably have to agree.  Truthfully I didn't get into any traditional 'trouble' like someone would suppose when it comes to Vegas, but I certainly got a lot more out of this trip than I was ever expecting.  Being with my friends and hanging out all day everyday was awesome.  I really do have some of the best friends ever!  My old roommate was getting married (the reason for the trip) so it made quite a special time for us all, and I LOVED going to the sealing, it was beautiful.  The only thing that rivaled the excellence of the temple was the day before and after where I got to enjoy some time with a girl I met in my ward this past semester.  Her name is Lyndsi and she's a native of the Las Vegas area so we picked her up from home and had her along for some of our activities.  My roommate, Reece was pretty happy about that, he's been trying to get me to hook up with a girl all semester.  I guess he got his wish because all that time with Lyndsi seemed to end with us being pretty much together.  It was certainly the last thing I was expecting from this trip, but I can't complain.  I guess in the back of my mind it is what I wanted all along.  YAY!   She is a really awesome girl, I'm super excited to get to know her better next semester.  (that's the biggest problem with the situation, just as we began to really want to spend time together we have to be separated).  Anyhow... I'm excited for life, and for skiing this break.  All in all, I am so thankful for all that has happened in the past week or so :D

... like the ocean needs the waves.

I've been pondering on the phrase, "all drains lead to the ocean." I believe this is a Disney take on the world-wide saying that 'all roads lead to Rome' although I don't know if that's really where it came from, that's what is certainly sounds like. Anyhow, it's an interesting thought though, and the more I use it the more meaning I see in it. This originally comes from Finding Nemo where the fish in the dentist's tank are trying to escape back to the ocean and try to get into any drain in the office, believing that it will lead them back to the ocean. In the end this is true, and Nemo is able to escape by going down the spit collector drain and later finding himself in Sydney Harbor. I thought it was a clever line and like it quite a bit.

I started to use this phrase on a weekly basis while I was serving as an office elder durring my mission. We would often have errands to run around the city and we wouldn't know how to get where we were going. My companions would sometimes get worried, but I told them over and over again that all drains lead to the ocean, and all roads lead to EDSA. Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue is a large (4-6 lanes in either direction) highway that entirly encompasses most of Metro Manila, if you drive long enough in any direction you will eventually end up back there. So they began to understand that whether not I knew where exactly I was going, we couldn't get too lost because we could always get back to the main roads which would lead us home.

Since being home I've realized that more and more of my life is centered around that idea. For instance, I've driven around Provo quite a bit, but I always get 'lost' around south campus. I just don't have the locations of different landmarks memorized so when I go in that area I just remember that all drains lead to the ocean, and I keep driving, right turn, left turn, right turn, left turn... until I finally drive by the place I'm looking for and it's all good (ok, honestly I don't just drive aimlessly, but you get the idea). Recently I've begun to understand it as a very gospel oriented subject. I may not know all the twists and turns, but I know that eventual out come. All we have to do is, "just keep swimming" and we'll get to where we need to be. Isn't that so true? We don't know which road we'll take, how I'll get there, but I'm headed in the general direction of the Celestial Kingdom and I expect I'll get there someday. Obviously not all roads lead there, but there is a general direction of paths that head there, and I like to think I'm on one of them.

It breaks down into everyday things too like temple marriage. I don't know who I'm going to marry, I don't know when or where, but I just keep swimming, right? Dating different people, finding what I like... it'll lead to the ocean someday, right? Or college, sure I don't know what my grades are right now, but I'm doing my best to head in the direction of graduation... I guess it can be kind of a lackadaisical view on life, but that's me :D It's an odd feeling sometimes when you're swimming and swimming and you don't see or feel the ocean yet. It takes faith and hope, and charity so that you stay happy on they trail.

It's beginning to feel a lot like.....

Christmas time *is* the most wonderful time of the year! It's so very nice to see snow (uh.... well in the mountains) and think of Christmas, and drink hot chocolate, and listen to sweet music. Yesterday I was SO happy to see the most beautiful Christmas tree ever (thanks to Mallory) and it even smelled like a Christmas tree!! I can't wait to get home and see our train, and tree, and all the presents. I love love love it so much. Even on a dismal day like today, I'm sitting at work, there are no calls, life is so boring, at least I have Pandora and Frank Sinatra's Holiday channel to keep me company.

I had a marvelous experience just now so I thought I'd write about it. I was getting pretty bored, wasting all kinds of time browsing the internet absentmindedly.... I took out my head phones for a sec and walked around our little office space and then came back. As I put my earphones back in my overall happiness increased dramatically as I was welcomed by not only a holiday song, but a Christmas song, that's right a CHRISTmas song. I sat and listened to "What Child is This" and was filled with the spirit. I'm so thankful for the 'reason for the season' and despite not having snow, or a tree, or presents at my apartment right now, it's just as Christmas-y as ever. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Life has an interesting way of making things happen. Isn't it funny that no matter how much we dream otherwise, time never stops, days don't slow down, and every perfect situation that we could ever dream of *doesn't* happen. It's funny how one small event can change the course of your week. I don't really like to tell stories that aren't over yet, but there is this one... and it's hecka funny thus far. I met this girl, I thought she was pretty cute... ok, who am I kidding, I thought she was gorgeous! and as such, I was totally freaked out to even talk to her. One evening at a ward gathering we randomly end up talking with each other (yay!) and I met her sister, who's not quite as beautiful, but still an awesome girl. They tell me that 'sure, we should hang out sometime' and the very next day I get a call and hopefully would've done something with them... but timing didn't work out, so we didn't. Then it was thanksgiving and the day after I have a chance to see them again, going on a hike. However the older, more attractive sister doesn't come and I end up on a date (pretty much) with the younger sister.... dag. I can't say I didn't enjoy the hike, I did, it was awesome, but it just didn't work out the way I would have planned it. That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, "I saw that going differently in my mind." (Hitch) pretty much the story of my life. Solution, stop thinking.

Elevator

It often seems that the darkness and sadness can last forever, even to the point it seems that perhaps life was meant to be that dark and dull and you become complacent in the misery. I am pleased to announce that it's not true! It just takes some time, sometimes you're only in the middle of the ride, but everything will be just fine, everything will be alright!!

I can't say I've been super sad recently, just content with a seemingly sub-par life. This past weekend though I had quite a wonderful couple of days, and I saw the light again of a joyous life. This is why I have thus decided to make the conscious effort of making my life move upward again, and hopefully be on top of it all by the end of the semester. If not, I'll sure have fun doing it :D

Dance, Dance

So I failed. :-( I can't say it was the saddest day of my life, but it was still extraordinarily sad. Did I really have a chance to win? maybe not, but I sure felt that I didn't go as far as I could have. Today was BYU's DanceSport competition (and for those of you who know me, competition is my middle name) and I was all over the Cha-Cha and even tried my hand (or feet...) at Swing. I was felling great, having fun, but got cut after the fourth and first rounds (of cha-cha and swing, respectively). It wasn't a big deal, I don't mind not winning, I'm not a dance major, nor do I ever plan to be, but I do like dancing. It really shouldn't matter that I got cut so early... but it did.

Going in to this competition I was ready to win, it was in my head, I had visioned it, winning, what a champion-like thing to do, no? My dance partner was amazing, she *is* a dance major (er... minor actually) and she is a wonderful dancer. She got called back in all of her events (6 of them) except the ones where I danced with her.... see a connection? I feel bad that I lost, but even worse that I made her lose. Sure it wasn't entirely my fault, but I feel bad that I wasn't able to do better. She sure helped me a lot, gave me pointers and practiced often. I really feel like I've improved in my dancing, even just today I felt like I learned a lot from her as we would wait backstage and she would tell me over and over again about keeping my posture up, about planting my feet, about looking up, making it snappy, starting quickly, making it dramatic..... I learned SOOOO much today, and I loved dancing, even for the short while that we did. However deep inside of me it feels like I'm wretchedly angry at myself for falling short, and truthfully I feel like crying, but I can't... there's still life to life, so I'll do that.

Consequences

I love music. Music can really make or break my day, it can cheer me up or make me sad, help me remember or help me forget, and I feel like I could eat and breathe nothing but music for a week and be just fine. Since I was young I liked to listen to music when I did my homework, and when I was young my dad would tell me I couldn't study with such a distraction... then as I got older it turned into a question, "How can you study with music on?" Now and days I get it every now and then, "You can study and listen to music at the same time?"
I thought it was just a generation thing, that because he was old and I was young he didn't get my live/love of music. However recently I've been running into this problem more and more (aka, everyday!). On idle MWF afternoons when I come home to do a little homework, I turn on some tunes, sit down in the middle of our floor, and work out some Mechanics of Materials problems. It's usually not long before my roommate comes home and also starts studying and within minutes I can be guaranteed that he will ask me to turn off the music because he just can't think. More than once this has spawned conversation of how he can't stand to study with music on, and how I can hardly stand to study without music on. Truthfully I can hardly stand to do anything without music on, but I've learned to be very tolerant of those with less brain power than I ;-).

Today however I encountered a most amazing experience. I was sitting in the computer lab of the SWKT doing some ISYS quizzes and checking facebook and listening to Pandora, and checking my registration status and checking my e-mail..... so I was working on this quiz and I was doing just fine, but I got to the point that I couldn't think very well so I took a break for a second and when I got back to work on the quiz again I still just couldn't think, I couldn't really even read the question! I was quite frustrated when my frustration was compounded by my realization that the music was listening to was inhibiting my thinking! I could hardly believe it! Me, marvelous Mike, sting, *I* was having trouble thinking because of a song!

Mind you this was quite the amazing/distracting song ("Consequences of Sound" -Regina Spektor) and you might realize where it gets its namesake. All I know is that I was suffering some serious consequences from the sounds in my head at that time. Now I know that it's not any music that I can stand to have helping me study, and I think I may go back to my techno station when studying.... that seems to get me in the groove pretty well.