Thoughts of the day and art update

Sometimes life is crazy, with decisions and luck you get thrown around in a whirlwind of experiences that are hard to know what and how everything really happens the way it does.

Today is kind of a crazy day, having it be the last day of my current job and starting and old, new job next week is kind of a crazy experience in and of itself. But making a little bit more and being able to progress a little faster within the work force - seeing as I kind of have put in some "time" already.

Having to change my schedule around that is going to be another activity making sure I'm still productive and keeping up with classes and schedules.

With everything going on I have still had time to work on the art projects, the top one is for my art class and the latest project we have been working on. We just turned it in yesterday and then the bottom one is the update to what I have so far on the Bountiful Temple for my friend.

Superhero Saturday 1.2

Today I was thinking a little differently, I put up some pictures to remind you of the majority of superheroes in the world, I understand there are more and that some people like villains more.

So being in college, and with my last post talking about how hard it can be to prioritize I got the idea to see what kind of super powers people would choose in college to use if they could. 

So you can comment and say 4 things.

1- Which super hero is your favorite one

2- If you could have any superpower to get you through college, what would it be and why

3- Would you use it to help others, or would you keep it to yourself

4- What would be your weakness

My favorite super hero is Iron man.

If I could have any super power, I would have the ability to teleport so that I wouldn't have to deal with the cold weather or traffic or parking tickets.

I would keep it to myself unless people paid me and I could monopolize on the commodity.

My weakness would be the inability to walk on carpet. It would be equivalent to walking on ice- possible, yet difficult. 

Well, there is my example go ahead and have fun with it!

T.G.I.F.

I found some funny memes this week and thought I would collectively put them on the same post on a day that is desired amongst so many! 

FRIDAY

Friday is such a great day because you are finishing up classes for the weekend, you usually are on your last day of work before the great break of the week, and it usually means that you can sleep in on Saturday (unless of course you have things to do or you are like me and your mind wanders carelessly around and around and you have an internal alarm clock that never stops going off at 5 in the morning)

Anyways the first one goes out to the ladies! Spring is coming around the corner and its about time to start harvesting!

Or when you were a kid, at least when I was a kid in elementary school, we always looked forward to Fridays.

Friday was always PIZZA DAY!!!! 

So, in honor of that looked forward to day-

Friday night date night? 

I think that it is always a maybe! (Usually no, because I work so late)

But to those looking to go out tonight, and the ladies aren't coming around the corning running into your arms, this meme could be for you.

Easy solution to drama free.

Then finally just as a kind of pick me up to our memories and reminiscing of childhood, the weeks or days when you ruined your weekend and got grounded for doing something your parents didn't approve of,  or that feeling of being double consequenced because in the moment you got spanked and then you got grounded afterwards- like, didn't I just get my punishment?

Now I know that this is becoming something illegal, I believe that discipline is good and sometimes that means a good spanking here or there.  

Working with youth, sometimes I feel like they lack the ability to have respect for others and can't take no for an answer. Now I'm not saying we should revert to spanking or any abuse whatsoever… I'm just saying…

I survived just fine. 

Why the top 3 really aren't the top 3.

I was thinking about my week this morning (after a pretty rough test and some assignments have been due occupying my time) and trying to figure out how we usually get things done.  I have heard of the triangle that looks like this … 

Where you have the choices between your top three priorities. Which as a college student I can vouch aren't always the easiest choices to make. 

1. Getting good grades

2. Social Life

3. Enough sleep

Only being able to pick 2 of these is hard enough to do.  We all live for each one of these and it seems like it gets to the point for most that say "c's get degrees" but with the way that society is today it seems like those that get c's or even b's can't really apply for their programs. 

In my research, as a good college kid does, I found a diagram that shows this kind of struggle to a more realistic level. 

This triangle then turns into a decagon with what really occupies our time.

1. Class

2. Work

3. Family

4. Homework

5. Sleep

6. Hobbies

7. Food

8. Extra-Curricular Activities/ Resume builders/ Volunteering

9. Love Life

10. Friends

Sometimes I feel like so many try to do everything that they don't realize how human they are and how much they can't do it all at once.  

How many of you end up veggin' in front of Netflix watching your  favorite show because you don't wanna deal with all the food on the plate anymore? 

My Visual Graphic art teacher this semester would say that there are way too many choices and that you can't mix flavors. 

If you have too much food on your plate then you might as well just blend it in the blender and drink it, cause that's what is ending up happening anyways!

Well, I guess today is about priorities, work 'em out and know that you can't get everything done in one day. And each day's priorities can be completely opposite or different from any other day.

Inspirational story

There was a group of boys at a summer camp. They were enjoying themselves, playing games and starting to get quite exhausted from the heat. In fact the heat became such a concern that the camp leaders decided to help out in a creative way- with funds available they made it a competition to see which group would drink the most water.  They split the boys into 5 groups of ten.  The groups started out drinking an drinking. They made piles where they could drop the water bottles off when they were empty so they could be counted at the end of the week. Through the heat, through the struggle the boys pushed on making sure they pace themselves but drank what they could. At the end of the week, one of the groups of boys cumulitively drank 3,000 bottles of water. The next closest group to them drank less than 1,000 bottles. And the number progressively got smaller.

One of the boys from te winning group turned to the councilor and asked him in a tone of frustration  "Why didn't you tell us we were winning by so much?!" 

Looking for the opportunity to teach the young boy an important lesson he took a moment to think about his response. 

He turned back to the boy and said "if I had told you where the other boys were, you wouldn't have pushed yourself so hard. You would have just gone the bare minimum and where would it have gotten you?  You may still have won, or maybe not.  What would you do if everyone told you what the minimum was that you had to do in life? Where would you get in life and what would you do? Would you still push yourself? Would you give up out of frustration?"

The boy stopped. A little puzzled he started making the connection of the analogy. He realized that life had no limits. 

In fact, life only has limits that we put around it and for some reason we stop ourselves from doing great things because we let others tell us what should be our maximum potential and we live with that dissatisfaction - at least until we pull away from those who hold us back and reach for the stars.

So as for me this year on living life for this year, I am going to get married! We are going to go to Mexico and then a few months later we will go and live in China for 4 and a half months.  We just got accepted to a school to teach english in Changzhou! We are so excited!! We will be living it up for sure because that is what we do best! 

San Valentin

Seeing as today is such a big holiday in many parts of the world, and seeing that so many people are either really for it or really against it or somehow in someway kind of in the middle ground, I thought it would be a great idea to post a little history about Valentines day.  

In my genius, and the help of a good friend Google I typed "the story of valentines day" and picked one of the first options.  So to that website I give credit.  Whether this is a true account or a complete fictional one made up by some great story teller- I don't really care. 

ENJOY!

Story of St. Valentine

"The story of Valentine's Day begins in the third century with an oppressive Roman emperor and a humble Christian Martyr.   The emperor was Claudius II.   The Christian was Valentinus.

Claudius had ordered all Romans to worship twelve gods, and had made it a crime punishable by death to associate with Christians.   But Valentinus was dedicated to the ideals of Christ; not even the threat of death could keep him from practicing his beliefs.   He was arrested and imprisoned.

During the last weeks of Valentinus's life a remarkable thing happened.   Seeing that he was a man of learning, the jailer asked whether his daughter, Julia, might be brought to Valentinus for lessons.   She had been blind since birth.   Julia was a pretty young girl with a quick mind.   Valentinus read stories of Rome's history to her.   He described the world of nature to her.   He taught her arithmetic and told her about God.  She saw the world through his eyes, trusted his wisdom, and found comfort in his quiet strength.

"Valentinus, does God really hear our prayers?" Julia asked one day.

"Yes, my child, He hears each one."

"Do you know what I pray for every morning and every night?  I pray that I might see.   I want so much to see everything you've told me about!"

"God does what is best for us if we will only believe in Him," Valentinus said.

"Oh, Valentinus, I do believe! I do!"  She knelt and grasped his hand.

They sat quietly together, each praying.   Suddenly there was a brilliant light in the prison cell.   Radiant, Julia screamed, "Valentinus, I can see!  I can see!"

"Praise be to God!"  Valentinus exclaimed, and he knelt in prayer.

On the eve of his death Valentinus wrote a last note to Julia, urging her to stay close to God.   He signed it, "From your Valentine."  His sentence was carried out the next day, February 14, 270 A.D., near a gate that was later named Porta Valentini in his memory.   He was buried at what is now the Church of Praxedes in Rome.   It is said that Julia planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave.   Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship.   On each February 14, Saint Valentine's Day, messages of affection, love, and devotion are exchanged around the world."

Today my valentine is Cortnie- She will be my valentine for a long time coming- CUUUUUUUUUTE!

To all those lovers out there have a great Valentines day! Don't get to crazy, but have fun and enjoy it!

I tried to avoid it. . . I swear

So I didn't want to overwhelm the great people of the blog. I was hoping to get some good  Breadman photos. But I think with his superpowers he is on to me. I even said to myself "you know, maybe he deserves his privacy... He doesn't want his cover to be blown" 

So out of pure love I decided to drop the camera for a day. As I got done with this thought process and actually started to pay attention in class I look up from my notes and saw the screen. A half loaf of bread with 5 slices. Just like what he was eating a week ago! I noticed that he glanced up as well an started eatin his bread a little slower. (If you look at the picture carefully you can see fingers by his mouth.  Proof of eating bread) 

Was he wondering if we knew?  Will he ever know that we've caught on? 

Or was this just a plea for help? The equivalent of the Batman symbol in the sky in Gotham city. Some innocent bystander in need of help and he just didn't want to blow his cover. 

It's gotten me thinking, what if every super hero was like this? They are more concerned about keeping it on the down low that they don't answer the call for help. I mean it had to be up to The Bread man- Mr. Whiplash was out cold. No one else was available!!

I guess when college students need saving there will always be some super hero to them. For me it's super curve on my American heritage test. For others it may be The Breadman -- whoever it is for you. Praise 'em!

Women Crush Wednesday

I figured today was a good day to introduce y'all's to my fave 5 list of celebrity women.  I figured I'd do this because of other social media programs that have WCW (woman crush wednesday) MCM (man crush monday) TBT (throw back thursday) SS (selfie saturday/sunday) and the likes, they keep coming up with new ones as life progresses and the cool kids think of new ways to be cool.

I also wanted to do it today because this morning was so terrible.  I woke up around 5 with my throat hurting so bad, I couldn't swallow anything and it hurt to breath.  I heard someone upstairs and so I texted my mother and sent her an S.O.S-- she came to the rescue (suck on that college kids who don't live at home!) she brought me medicine and stuff to help me get better and it started to work and I was able to get back to sleep.  I woke up and got ready for the day and took more medicine but wasn't feeling too hot still, got to school, and sat down at the computer to start doing some homework.

I texted my mother to thank her for the help and that I randomly suddenly felt the urge to throw up.  She said that the medicine I took would do that, so I run over to the concessions and bought myself a Jamba Juice and a Cinnamon roll.  Seriously, college life…? Do I have to be feeling gross all the time?! Good thing Jamba was there to help the morning shine a little brighter.

So lets get to it!!!

Number 5…..

Gwyneth Paltrow

Number 4….

Jessica Alba

Number 3 …

Colbie Caillat

Number 2..

Carrie Underwood

Number 1.

Charlize Theron

So to those crappy mornings-- This one is for you!

Good day!

Return of The Breadman

Anxiously waiting for class to start today, I was getting really excited to see if any more loaves of bread would find their way into biology class.  Strategically placing myself in my normal spot, I sat waiting.  I don't know if he has been catching on to my posts or not, but I don't know the kid- I just feel bad for him.

He walks in and pulls a biscuit out of his backpack.  Instead of showing the world what he had today he tried hiding it. Thanks to my technique and expertise in the paparazzi world, I snagged a photo still. The biscuit had no chance of hiding himself from me and Mr. Breadman has been caught once again.  Until the day he eats before coming to class, his fame and glory will go unknown to him but famous on this blog dedicated to him and all other breadmen minions out there. 

In other news, and during the Breadman capture, Mr. Whiplash was also caught next to me.  Coincidentally this picture was captured right before the major whiplash. It's the beginning stages of the head-bob that is a familiar move to college students. His head literally went so far back on this particular bob. 

The teacher kept giving me some dirty looks, luckily I wasn't called out to be brutally embarrassed in front of everyone.  It was seriously too funny to pass up.  To all Whiplashes out there, get some sleep, make the sacrifices - even though it is Biology and I didn't even really know what was going on today (too many distractions) Ehh, who am I kidding?? KEEP WHIPLASHING!! 

Also, thanks to you Miss Green - Shirt.  You have a face of great comic relief. 

Enjoy!

Dream Chaser

As I have been watching the olympics, I just wanted to give a shout- out to Park City's own Sage Kotsenburg for winning Gold in the downhill slope style!! That is a great achievement and he has probably put in many hours of practice to get to that point.

I always get thinking around these types of events ( including the x-games, summer olympics, Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup etc.) how these people got to that point in life and why they didn't give up earlier.  What helped them to achieve their dreams? Why didn't they let things get into their way of accomplishing them?

Those are all hard questions to answer.  Each participant has a uniquely diverse background from anyone else.  Some of the olympic athletes are so young, too!  It has made me question how much of doing that was their choice?  I mean it could totally be their choice, obviously, but when I was 15 years old I wasn't trying out for the olympic team to go represent USA in any event.  I was kickin' it with the homies, living the hometown dream. Playing soccer and doing random shenanigans, that I was happy enough.

It has also made me question, what stops people from continuing their pursuit? So many good athletes give so much time and dedication and it all comes down to them deciding to stop chasing that dream.  That isn't so say that there are so many factors that could be included, such as injuries that prevent them from training.  But there has to be something.

There are so many dreams out there, people often create lists and lists of things that they would like to accomplish before they die, many refer to them as bucket lists, but their purpose is to help guide people to accomplish their goals.  I think these achievements often get overlooked, just because they aren't rich and famous in accomplishing them.  I also think that these kinds of lists show priorities in peoples lives and their ability to choose more important endeavors.

Sometimes, I feel like athletes who give up on "those dreams" or put them on hold, have their heads on straight.  Fans often get upset and other people don't always understand why people choose these paths but they have things that they feel are more important.  That could be starting a family, getting an education, pursuing other items on their list that they feel are more important, and the humility to walk away sometimes is hard, yet people do it a lot.

I know many great athletes who could have made it farther than they did, who gave up for things that were more important to them at the time.  The majority was for family.  Sick parents or siblings, to start their own and many other types of variables.

The family is the most important group that we are a part of.  Some would disagree, because of situational events, but we wouldn't be able to survive with out those who take care of us.  Especially in our infancy.  Being dependent on others is a huge trust that we need to put in others for survival.  I'm grateful for my family and the love that we share in our home.  Family to me is incomparable to anything else, and they don't have to be blood related to be family.

I'm glad that I have had events in my life to help encourage me to put of certain achievements that I have had on hold, so that I can pursue ones that I feel are more important.  I am excited to start my own family and have adventures of a lifetime.

Again, a huge congratulations to all those athletes and people that are achieving their dreams while representing their countries, and another congratulations to those who achieve their dreams while representing themselves and their families!

Recent Art Project

I was going to add this into the last post but I just remembered... This is a project I'm doing for a friend for his anniversary.  He wanted me to paint the temple that they got married in.  It has been a pretty big project so far but it's been fun and a huge learning experience!

Thanks for asking, Bryan!

And of course, Thanks Jeff for mentoring me and helping me out! It's been a blast!

A worldy view vs. a Godly view

I was born into the LDS church, my parents raised me to be a good boy and to choose wisely.  They always gave me the freedom I needed but were always there to council me. I served an LDS mission in Spain and these choices help shape my life today.

I don't know every answer, but today I have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ than I did before because of so many experiences I have had.  While I was in Spain, there were many times that I felt lonely and frustrated and scared.  It was hard, but hard things always shape your character.

While I was studying the scriptures one day, I came across an article from a modern day apostle, Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  And he shared some scriptures, but I wanted to share them in my own way.

How many people are in this world? Can you answer that?

I have asked this many times, and to be honest I just barely used my handy dandy google search.  The first thing that popped up was a world counter and it said 7 Billion.  So, roughly using this as a guideline whether it's an accurate statement or something close to it, that is a lot of people.  In fact, it's so large that one can't really comprehend how many that is. It's not a number you can count to on your fingers and toes, or in your head without multiplying bigger numbers together.

Now, lets take a moment and look around.  How many people do you see now? As for myself, I am alone in my room.  My mom is in the front room with my nephew, that makes 3, my little sister and my father are upstairs, for a grand total of 5 in my house.  That's a huge difference. 7 Billion:5. Just thinking about that makes me feel overwhelmed.  It also puts into perspective for me why so many people feel lonely and worthless, there are just too many people out there to compete with, sometimes it feels like you're the only one of your kind and no one understands you, that no one will notice you.

Moses, the great man who is known for parting the Red Sea had a similar experience, that feeling of nothingness that we often get caught up in today.  God had shown him a vision of the things that He had created.  Moses at the end said, "Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed"

To contrast this feeling,  we put it into perspective.  I mentioned my family, they are people that care about me and make me feel loved.  They are there when times are rough and I need help and guidance.  I also have friends who help cheer me up and support me in my endeavors.  These local examples give us meaning and purpose compared to the global example earlier.

God also puts this into perspective, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." He knows each and every one of us, He is the Great Creator.  He is your Daddy.  He knows your struggles and your weaknesses and most importantly He loves you!

So when you are having a hard day or a hard week and things seem to be building up, don't blame Him, but ask Him for love and support to help you get through your trials.  That feeling of nothingness is real but so is the love that He has for you.

Super Hero Saturday

I've been contemplating how I wanna run my blog. I've been kinda nervous in starting this whole thing usually because I like to think I'm kinda like a hermit crab I close up and let few people in. I don't know why I do this I guess it's because I like being in control of what people know about me. I don't like being an open book but to some people I am.

So, congratulations to them :). 

Today I wanted to give a shout out to a hero. I can't say his name for legal reasons, but in the short time I've known him he has been a great example, leader and someone who rarely gets down. --in fact the only time I have seen him get down on himself is when he was around people who he felt weren't happy and he was unable to help. 

I admire his sense of acknowledgement and his awareness of the surroundings. He says thank you and you're welcome after every little thing you do for him. He genuinely thanks the cooks for the food they prepare him. He is the first one to go and help someone with a project or a duty, that quite frankly, others often complain about. 

To me he shows an exemplary attitude of gratitude and an ability to look on the bright side of any situation. 

The crazy thing to me about all of this, is the fact that he has been away from his family for a long time. Multiple years. 

This kind of behavior is sought after by generations of people and often take a lifetime to master. And yet, it is portrayed in a young man so willingly. 

This Saturday morning, I give a commendable shout out to my superhero this week. The one who calls me "The Ghetto Gorilla" (which I might just change the name of my blog to seeing as the one I have is too hard to pronounce and understand anyways) the outstanding example of what gratitude really is and stands for. 

Also, a great Olympic ceremony last night and a shout out to the us Olympic team and my runner up preference of Spain. And to all the other athletes who are participating this year!! To many you are heroes as well! 

I love the Olympics. I always can't wait until they start and get so excited when it is time to watch all the events. It is the best background noise for studying. And great for chips and dip and to watch all the records get broken. :)

Frightmare

Yesterday in my art class we worked on gradients.  This is what I ended up coming up with, with some edits this morning in the library before math class! I didn't want to have a plain white background, because even though the letters would have been cool enough I thought that it would be boring.  Truth be told.  I have really been enjoying my class, I have been learning so much!!

We just recently got a new assignment as well, it's called painting by numbers, as I get started and get going on that I will post updates. The criteria is that we have to use our own photo and basically outline the same color scheme and the main shapes to make it look pretty much like a cartoon-ey version of the photograph!

Other projects I'm working on is a painting of the Bountiful LDS temple for a friend of mine, I will upload photos of the progress this weekend!! That has been a project of its own kind and has been pushing me to new limits!

So .. On to other news!

This morning gave me quite the scare, I woke up with "The breath of life" thinking that I missed school and my classes and a test that I have been studying for the last couple of days.  I looked at my phone and it was 5:00 AM. Relieved, I rolled over and tried to get another hour or so of sleep. My alarm went off and I turned it off and ended up rolling over for a couple more minutes.  Needless to say, I ended up sitting straight up, again! (the breath of life moments are the hardest to recover from and two in one day!?) It was half way through my english class, I got ready and drove to school. 

 I guess in college being overwhelmed with life and everything sometimes you just need those extra moments of sleep and in the end missing a class here and there isn't the end of it all.  To say the least, do what you can and move on, and if needs be, let yourself experience the breath of life once or twice :D

Desperate times...?

I know that college is a time when you are supposed to be more frugal in some areas and that for most kids you are living on your own for the first time and you have more bills to pay for and have to strive to get your education for your career and yada yada yada...

This morning, bright and early, but not exactly bright, in my Biology 1010 class at 7:00 AM I got to my seat and pulled out my notebook and got ready for the lecture, other students obviously filtering in I noticed an unusual event.  The kid in front of me was eating, which isn't exactly uncommon ( personally I think that it is too early, because when I eat that early I feel sick for a while ) but upon further investigation, I noticed that he was eating 5 slices of bread.  There was no spread, no jam, no butter, no cinnamon sugar, it wasn't toasted... Plain. Boring. Bread. Not only was he only eating bread, He didn't have anything to wash it down with!!

There should be a law against crimes like this! My mouth was getting dry just watching this happen! I was about to hand him my water bottle and let him keep the change!

I was sure that it wouldn't be believed if I didn't capture the moment, and thanks to my handy dandy iphone, you can all be a part of the experience. Doesn't it just make you want to go grab a glass of water or chilled milk???

Now, that wasn't all the events of the morning, and I'm hoping that it's not the last, although I want to post this I could save anything that happens later today for a rainy day post, but in my American Heritage class our teacher offered us some cash money to do a 10 second MC Hammer dance.  He started at a quarter and went up to 10 dollars -- for only 10 seconds!  I was half tempted to do it and I almost raised my hand, it got to the point where 2 kids were battling for it and he dropped the price down to 8 dollars.  One kid bailed and the other went for it (he even ended up with a dollar tip.. that equals 9 dollars for 10 seconds!) 

Many kids got pics or probably even a short vine to throw up on their vine websites or instagram, and quite possible snapchatt if they were fast enough.. I just snapped a picture

If that wasn't enough I shot another one..

It made for a good 10 seconds of class and he obviously benefited. 

Needless to say, college is pretty great sometimes, the college life can be hard, sometimes all you can afford is a handful of slices of bread, or get paid to dance in front of your class I guess in the end it all comes to good stories.

On a little bit of a tangent, we finally decided about going to China.  We are filling out the paperwork today and starting to get the plans underway.  As to exactly which part of China we are going to be, I will keep updated through out the process and then obviously while we are there constant updates will be provided!!