Let the Festivities Begin!

It's officially time to give in to those nagging urges to belt out some Bing Crosby ...or whatever Christmas tunes you're a thinkin' of. Pull out the Christmas movies, stories, music, and decorations. Have you waited all year for this? I hope so. If not, pretend you did.
Some folks (especially the Idahoans) put out the lights the day after Halloween! In Joe City, that's would be considered a major seasonal-decorating faux pas. I remember one family, new to our town, who actually had their Christmas lights on a week before Thanksgiving, and I thought -what a bunch of ignorant heathens. I had no idea that outside of our little Who-ville, lots of people put the lights up early. I guess it does make a bit more sense when there's snow on the ground even before Halloween.
I think I like to wait to bust out the Christmas cheer because it makes it more special. It's not just dished out in heaping helpings whenever the urge rises; it's saved up until that special hour when at last all the anticipation culminates into an excitement that will last well into the end of December.
That brings a little more magic to the season, and it also safe-guards against the dreaded feeling of being "all Christmased out". Nothing is worse than being sick of Christmas on Christmas. It's a down-right shame.
Only a few more weeks left of this semester, and it's time to head back to Joseph City. I can hardly wait to be home with my family to enjoy all the magic of the Christmas Season!

Well, Bless me Lucky Stars...

You may have heard the news about the bolide meteor (also called a "fire-ball meteor") that entered the atmosphere over Southern Utah.
I was lucky enough to actually see it from Main Street right here in Rexburg.
Me and a handful of friends were out a few miles north of town watching the meteor shower for about 30 minutes before heading in for curfew. On our way back into town, at 12:07am, the sky lit up with a brilliant streak. What a site! It apparently lit up the ground as bright as day farther south in parts of Utah.
Here are some photos I captured from Youtube:




You could say we picked the right day to go star-gazing.
And the actual link from the news segment:

Just Another Day

When I was a kid, I remember hearing that my Grandpa Hansen felt like his birthday was "just another day". I remember how sad that sounded. Now I know where he was coming from, and it's not a bad thing. Some people may look forward to it as a day of being remembered and/or pampered. After the last few birthdays, I've come to this conclusion: I prefer it to be just another day. I love hearing from lots of friends and family, and even going out to dinner with friends maybe, but I hate being celebrated.

It's got nothing to do with me feeling old. I just hate the sort of attention that comes with a big party and lots of attention and a big to-do over ...me.

This year, I told my friends that I didn't want a party, just in case they had anything in mind. And it worked! I got a few cards, lots of greetings, and some plates of sweets. No cake, no candles, no silly string or streamers. Just a little sweeter than average day: nice.

I'm 28 now. Is there any significance to this number? It's two times fourteen, that means I could get 2 learners permits. It's four times seven. Seven is the perfect number, so does that mean I should be perfect four times over? Ha ha ha! What a great birthday joke. I don't feel old at all. I don't think I look old. OK, so I do have some white hairs starting to creep in on the sides of my head down by the ears (nothing the tweezers can't fix). When I have a new acquaintance guess my age, they always guess 22 or 23. Part of that may be the fact that I haven't grown up all the way -I still act immature a lot the time.

It's really tempting to compare myself to others at this stage, to look at what they've accomplished by this age. I'm still workin' on a bachelor's degree (no pun intended, I promise), single, and without a real clear path laid out for my future. I've got some grand ideas of the eventual destination, but the getting there part is about as clear as the Little Colorado River water during monsoon season. I guess I could just say "as clear as mud".

Why compare myself to others? My age is a number, that's all. Can we really parallel the life of anyone to ours? We're all so unique! Despite the norm, despite what they (society) say, we all sort of develop and progress at our own pace. Human time scales have so many flaws when it comes to eternal things. Oh, and daylight savings time is one of them. (Go ahead and smile, all you Arizonans).

I guess I should tell you what I did for my birthday. Since it was on Sunday, I celebrated on Saturday night. Me and 3 friends went out to eat at Wingers dressed like goths. You should've seen the looks we got. One old man waiting with his wife to be seated couldn't stop staring! won't post pictures, as they're pretty scary. You've gotta do some dumb things like that to keep you young -that's my theory.

By my next birthday, this is my goal: I hope to have not aged a day. I hope to have soaked in much more of the richness this amazing earth has to offer. I hope to have a handful more of friends and an armful more of family. I hope that life continues to be amazing and full of hope and adventure. I'll stop there before Hallmark hires me.

Really?

I've gotta say, it's a catchy punchline. I don't know what his qualifications are, but I'm almost dead certain that he'll make a top-notch student body president.

Yesterday

I had one full day. After 5 hours of sleep, I got up to get ready for class at 7:00am. I finally came home at 4:00 and had time for a 30 min. nap before my next class. I got done with that at 6:00. Then I went and worked on a t-shirt design for the Best Of committee (I haven't told you about this, have I?). The Best Of committee is in charge of the Best Of Show; we hand out ballots at several of the student talent events on campus, people vote on their favorite acts, and near the end of the semester, we have the Best Of Show with all the best acts. It's really pretty sweet. Anyway, I designed the T-shirt for it (our manager wants it to be pink). Then at 7:30 I went to hand out ballots at the Grand Pianos Live show. After that, I helped edit my design in the computer design lab with the final edits before we print our shirts.
As I went to leave for home at 10:30, I found that the Dart had a flat rear tire. I wasn't too concerned about it, as I've got a good spare in the trunk. Well, I had a good spare. It was also flat from sitting for a few years. Thankfully, a fellow geology major happened by and had his wife bring an air pump, yes the hand pump type you use to air up your bike tire. After about a good seven minutes or so of pumping, the spare was back in business and the Dart was good to go. That's only the second flat I've ever had. I think I'll buy an air pump to keep in the trunk.
That about does it -not too exciting of a post, but at least you're in the know.

On All Hallow's Eve

Halloween. It came fast and went by even faster. The jack-o-lantern in the photo was my third to carve this season. It belonged to our FHE sisters, who put off carving it too long, so they sent it home with us. I schemed up an idea for a face, then free-hand carved it. This is by far my favorite of this year.

Since we love Halloween so much, my roommate Mike and I decided to extend the season another week and celebrate again on Saturday. Call us crazy, but Halloween is just so much fun, and now all the stuff is on clearance! WOO HOO!

More pictures to come, I promise.
Me and Mike were "Blood Brothers". It was a last minute costume idea that cost us under 12 bucks, split two ways. We sure know how to bargain shop.