To yield or not to yield, that is the question

Facebook. A craze that has swept the nation, membership ranging anywhere from 8 to 9 year olds to the aged senior. Yet, still I have managed to refrain from joining the so called "social" networking site. However, I am ashamed to say I have recently seriously considered joining. I know it's crazy, thinking of yielding to the pressures that society has created is unthinkable, yet here I sit, thinking... You see the unfortunate truth is there are some advantages to facebook, one that particularly caught my eye was when my sister advertised her blog on her facebook and promptly got 40 page views in one day, a feat I don't think I have yet achieved. Then there's also the added publicity of photos, which I would like feedback on, I like improving on my photography, but that's only possible if people actually tell me if it's good or not, it's hard to be completely objective on your own work. And of course there's the small but obvious benefit, staying in touch with all your friends, close, and not so close, as well as getting a different view into the lives they lead. Those are the advantages. However, there are also several clear disadvantages to be had with facebook, and I'm not talking about the supposed security breaches, although if any of you are wondering my social security number is xxx-xx-xxxx, it's more a matter of time. Facebook, as I have witnessed myself, can turn into somewhat of an obsessive habit causing people to forget eating, bathing, and even how to speak out loud. Obviously it doesn't have to be used obsessively, but there still remains that fact that it can be addictive. I don't want to waste my time on facebook, and the easiest way to keep from doing that is by not having one at all. But again, it can be controlled, the only problem is controlling it. That's the biggest disadvantage, but there are some smaller ones. For instance, my sisters could easily spy on me :), apparently they already do that, how they managed to gain access to so many of my friends on facebook is beyond me, but apparently they enjoy spying on me whenever a picture of me happens to pop up. I don't know, it's weird. :) And yes I was just joking, but not about the spying, that's just not a real reason, again it's mostly about the time. So, To yield or not to yield, that is the question.

Sedulous

So I learned a new word.
Look it up, it's a good one :)

wildflowers, death, The Fray, and the shock of my life

This past Saturday was a busy one, I began the day by waking up around seven o'clock to prepare myself for a day up in the mountains. Now if you know me at all I'm sure you know that I love being outside, particularly in the mountains. I love hiking and camping and all that good stuff, so Saturday I set out to help my good buddy Brad by doing a little service up at Alta where we would be leading wildflower walks for little kids through the basin. Now like I said before I'm an outdoorsy kind of guy, but still it shocked me how many kids actually wanted to go on a 45 minute walk just to look at flowers, sorry but that would definitely have not been my choice of activity when I was a little kid, I mean they're flowers! Anyways we led a few groups on these wildflower walks doing our best to pretend like we knew what we were talking about, in reality we had only learned the names of these flowers a week ago :), consequently we had some parents that knew a lot more than we did, which was kind of embarrassing, still it was a good service project and it was fun to hang with my buddies Brad and Joe, while spending a morning up in the mountain sun and air. After we finished the wildflower walk I headed back home and relaxed for maybe an hour or two, after that it was time to face what I'd been dreading the whole day, my 10 mile run. I really should've woken up earlier, but unfortunately that just wasn't possible, you see I have this disorder that requires that I sleep until at least seven on a Saturday, anyways, I was punished for this disorder by running at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, admittedly one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Ten miles in the heat is not something I would ever recommend. Running on the hot pavement was torture and it took me a loooong time to finish. I'm ashamed to say it but I had to stop for sprinkler breaks and such, it was just too hot. But I survived, slightly redder than before, but alive, barely. Almost immediately after I left to attend The Fray at the USANA ampitheater. It was a way fun concert and I was introduced to a lot of their songs that I'd never heard before, It was a really good concert and I'm glad I got to go there with some of my buds! After that we headed home and as I was driving home after a quick Ice cream break I had the shock of my life! I was driving along minding my own business, not speeding or anything and all of a sudden I looked out my back window and what did I see, the red and blue flashing lights of a police car. Needless to say I quickly gunned the car and made a quick break for it, there was no way I was going to be ticketed and get my license taken away! ha ha not really I pulled over, the whole time thinking that I was in major trouble. Having never been pulled over I didn't know the proper procedure, I rolled down my window and craned my head out of it trying to see if the officer was coming. When we finally came out of his car he came over to me and in a gruff voice said that I had to put both hands on the wheel and that I had to look straight forward because I'd made him nervous by looking out my window. He then proceeded to tell me.... I'd forgotten to turn my headlights on! I quickly turned them on and explained the car I was driving wasn't the one I normally drove and my car turned the lights on automatically. He took the explanation and then proceeded to ask me if I'd been drinking.... Hm not sure why he asked me that, but I answered no and then he let me go, no ticket, he didn't even ask for my license! Needles to say I was shaking for about a half hour afterward... And that was my little adventure, it was quite a day.

A view into my deep and thoughtful self

So I've recently been reading Harry Potter 4 in an attempt to brush up on my Harry Potter background before I go and see the new movie, and in the process I figured out that Harry's fourth year was the same as being in ninth grade. This of course got me thinking about my own ninth grade experience and I realized that it will have been three years since my ninth grade year! It doesn't seem even close to being that long, in fact it seems like I was just in ninth grade, but in reality I will soon be beginning my senior year in high school, a time that in ninth grade seemed so very far away, but time passes quickly. Those three years have blown by extremely quickly, and yet it struck me how much I've changed in those three quick years. I have grown and developed mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. For example three years ago I had not started running, I was slow as dirt and didn't even know there was such a sport as cross country. Now running has become a very integral part of my life and has taught me a lot about myself and about life in general. Furthermore I've also become fairly fast, at least I would like to think so :), and I have been a varsity member of the cross country team for what's now going on three years. So that brings me to my point, my one decision to try out running and join the cross country team has had a very profound impact upon my life, it has allowed me to meet new people and create new friendships that I value highly and would probably have never had otherwise, and it has made me a better stronger person. And so as these deep and philosophical thoughts were going through my head, as I sat there reading a Harry Potter book, I began to think about the future. In just another three very very short years my life will have changed dramatically. I will have graduated from high school, left home, and gone on to experience one semester of college, in a college that will probably not have very many of the friends I have had for the past few years, and some of them since elementary school. Furthermore I will be halfway through serving a mission, all in just three years. It's a sobering thought, and a scary one as well, and it made me realize that the decisions I make each day, such as the decision I made to run cross country, will define in a large part who I will become in the future. I believe the past three years, and the three years to come will be and have been a critical defining point in my life. And so I'll reiterate essentially my point in this post, each decision we make, and each moment we choose to take into our hands or let slip away, will define who we are, and who we will become. It's up to us to make the best of it and to settle for nothing less than our full potential.