With a New Life come New Opportunities

I'm not a fan of writing big posts. And I realize you might not be a fan of reading them. But this one, this one is important.

It all started last Monday. Actually scratch that, it all started last September.

A guy came to my chemistry class asking if  we wanted more info about summer internships. Without really thinking I wrote down my info, sure, why not, internships are good right? Sometime later I get a call asking me if I was still interested. I said yes and the guy on the other side of the call proceeds to give what felt to me like a mini job interview. Apparently I passed, because he set up another meeting for me to learn more. Sure, why not. But unfortunately I had to work during that time so...I didn't go.

Then last Monday I get a call. Apparently they didn't forget about me, they still wanted to meet with me. Gotta love their persistence. So I agreed to a meeting. This time I wasn't working. I go to the meeting and learn about this summer management program where you run your own small house painting business over the summer. Cool right? I decided to go for it.

The story does not end there.

The week before this meeting, my friend Shay had told me about another job opportunity. This job is a sales job, selling Living Scriptures products for 15 weeks over the summer. Then the day of my meeting for the other summer internship, she tells me there's a meeting for those interested in the job. Also, free pizza. Okay, I thought, I'll give it a shot, hear what they have to say. If nothing else I get free pizza right? 

I go to the meeting and to be honest, I was quite impressed. It sounded like a great opportunity for adventure, to see new places, meet new people, gain new talents, learn more about myself, maybe win some cool prizes and vacations, and of course lets not forget the pay. Their goal was to have us make enough money in one summer so that we wouldn't have to have a job during the school year. Now I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch, but according them the average first year salesman makes around $15,000-$20,000 his first summer. Like I said, I didn't know how I would do but honestly, that's a lot of money to make in four months. Especially for a college kid like me, living from paycheck to paycheck. 

If it had been just about the money, I wouldn't have done it. Really, I've heard of a lot of jobs like that. Sounds great for you, but not for me, I would think. This is different though. Number one, this is Living Scriptures we're talking about. Any normal Latter-day Saint child would recognize them. Heck, its how I learned all the Gospel stories, from Ammon to Alma and Amulek on down to Joseph Smith. I still remember those videos. So really, its something I felt good about selling to people.

Number two, I feel like the opportunity to live somewhere else, to work hard everyday, meet new people everywhere you go, would take me back to my old mission days. And I miss those days. Sure it won't be exactly the same but something about it just calls to me, excites me. A chance to push myself again, to learn about myself, to become a better person. That's the real reason I decided to do it.

The next day I set up an appointment for an interview. It had all the normal parts of a job interview, yet somehow I felt much better about it than in other job interviews. And at the end of it, he told that he really liked me and offered me the job right there and...well, I accepted! I know, it seems really soon and honestly, things could change before summer. But as of now I feel really good about it. I'm excited! It's gonna be real hard but hey, isn't everything that's worth doing?

As for that other job possibility, the program looks really awesome. I've researched it. In all truth I will probably do that in a future summer. If you're interested look up CollegeWorks Painting. Great program, great people.

If you haven't figured it out yet, yes, this means that this summer I will not be living here in Utah. I will be afar off in some part of the U.S. I have never been, mostly likely back east somewhere like Indiana, Kentucky, or New Jersey. Least that's what they tell me.

I'm excited. Brand New Life baby.

Until next time...can I interest you in a DVD set of animated Book of Mormon stories? Yes? I'll put you down for ten...

Night time

Its night time.

My room is dark.

My roommate is asleep.

Today was a really fun day.

After class, we went off-roading.

The fall canyon leaves were beautiful.

I stood up in back of the jeep like a madman.

There were a lot of cows in the road

We honked so they would move.

We rushed home for FHE

We were late, but still

played the games

Look, arrow. 

It's so easy, a Caveman could do it!

Dear World,

       Its late. Really late. I should be asleep. But I don't feel tired. So I figured, hey, why not post at 3 am. The past few days have been awesome. Yesterday night I went up with Mike, Kevin, Jerrica, and Lauren to a cave Mike and I had found called The Green Door. Its actually more of a tunnel.

Anyway, after basically everything going wrong (not having meat for the tinfoil dinners, forgetting the firewood, losing each other on the drive up, passing the trail for the hike up, etc.) we made it up there. We proceed to make a fire with Mike's steel wool and after much coercing (and after Kevin got involved, as he would say), we were able to make fire. We felt like real men, HUH!

After putting the dinners on the coals we started taking lots of night pictures. If you don't know Mike, my best friend and roommate, I should tell you he is a huge photography lover. He's really good too. We took lots of night pictures involving steel wool spinning in circles, and "painting" with flashlights and LEDs. Here's some examples:

 

If you want to see more pictures by Mike, go here: "Endless Photography" Mike's Photo page

Anyway, after tons more pictures I haven't shown you, we ate dinner (with Lauren's various cards from her wallet, cause we forgot the forks. I ate with a Costa Vida rewards card), then took more pictures, and talked, and the fire started smoking us out of the cave, while the rain (yes it rained quite a bit while we were there), drove us in, so we sat just at the mouth until the fire died down and the smoke receded, allowing us to fully enter the cave. We soon get settled for sleep. I had an awesomely warm sleeping bag that Lauren (was it Lauren's?) provided me. Unfortunately Kevin didn't get one and slept with a funny train blanket we made fun of him for, and Mike had this super thin sleeping bag with a broken zipper that Kevin and I called a five year old's sleeping bag, because it looked really small for him.

I fell asleep rather quickly, as did Kevin. But apparently the girls and Mike stayed up later, even going for a stroll down the tunnel after we were asleep. They told me I talked in my sleep and snored. Wouldn't be the first time, right family?

Kevin woke up early and left cause he had work, and the rest of us slept til around 10:30. It was the first time I had slept in for two weeks. Its was awesome, even though my back said otherwise. We hiked down and had doughnuts for breakfast the girls had left in their car, then returned home.

Its was way fun, I loved sleeping a cave/tunnel, even if there were weird lobster shaped bugs that attacked us. I would definitely do it again.

Until next time...call me caveman.

A real brain-BUSTER

I tried a new game on campus today.

I call it "quick-compliments".

It consists of looking at every person you pass (or most people, if its really busy) and just by looking at them for a few seconds, coming up with a sincere compliment that you would give them if you had the chance.

Sometimes its hard because they pass so quick,

Sometimes I try to make it harder by coming up with something deeper than a common one-layered compliment. For example: "Hey I like your shoes." would instead  be more like, "Hey I really like your shoes, they go with your shirt and it makes you look really confident."

Another example: I saw a girl with a diamond headband  and a shiny necklace and I thought, "Your headband is really beautiful the way it sparkles in the sun and that and your necklace really make you stand out."

I don't know why or how I started doing this. It started a few days ago and it was only today that I really consciously realized what I was doing.

I noticed that it really put me in a better mood because whenever I see someone I think something positive about them, and that makes me happier. I think I will continue to do it.

Until next time...I really like your comment below, it lets me know you are an awesome person.