Sleep?

Some people sleep at night. Most people sleep at night. That's usually not me. I'm typically the person who sleeps during the day and stays awake most the night. It's been this way most my life.

When I was 2, I still remember being awake in my crib at night scared to death while unable to sleep. I'd sit there and wonder what was out in the dark while I was trapped in a cage.

At 5, I played around my room at night sometimes while my parents and family were in bed. I didn't know why people wanted to sleep so badly while I just wanted to have fun.

By the time I was 9, I just played video games at night when I couldn't sleep. Like most boys my age, I was pretty much obsessed with the video game systems I owned, so I enjoyed not sleeping. I was in school, so I got enough sleep to function..... just usually not as much as everybody else.

When I was 15, my life was completely crazy and I was often up doing homework until late at night. I was determined to get the grades needed to be accepted into BYU, so I could actually use the time I spent awake being productive and getting things done. Being something of an insomniac helped as much as it hurt. I definitely was exhausted during school most days and wanted to go home and sleep.

Three years later, at 18, I was a freshman in college, and felt like I was 9 again. Staying up late was fun again, since there were so many people up and everybody was always doing something. Every once in a while, I'd pull an all-nighter to work on a paper or get studying done, but it was mostly just fun.

Fast forward to now. I'm 22, and I only have about a year left in college. Sleeplessness has become a bit more of a real obstacle with actually having to work and be more responsible for my finances and life. I've been able to dodge it a little bit by working later hours, but it can't go on forever. Soon enough, I really will have to learn how to sleep at night and function during the day. I think the time in my life has finally come where I have to undertake that task and grow up a little bit.

I'm not sure how I will start sleeping after a whole life of relatively sleepless nights..... I'm going to try and figure it out, though.

Living Off Cereal and Sandwiches

I went grocery shopping tonight. Just about every time I've gone grocery shopping for about the past three years, I've bought the same exact things. Tonight wasn't much different. I wasn't sure what else to buy, so I just went ahead and bought cereal, milk, apple juice, and canned fruit. The canned fruit was a bit different, I don't usually even get that creative. Haha I'm just not very original at shopping I guess, and I've found what I like. For the past three years, the list has almost always included:

Milk

Eggs

Cereal

Apple Juice (or, sometimes, a different type of juice to mix it up a bit)

Macaroni and Cheese

Hamburger Helper

Hamburger

Grapes

Oatmeal

Bread

Lunch Meat

Sliced Cheese

Sometimes, like tonight I might buy something extra. Usually, though, if I think about getting something else, I'll sit there for about five minutes and wonder what else I really need. I'll usually be too indecisive to make a decision quickly, and grocery shopping takes way too long. So, I've just gone with just about the same things every time.

 The more I think about it, the more I realize how weird this is. I don't know how I'm still alive. haha I guess my parents help me with food once in a while, so that keeps me going sometimes. I really am just living off pretty much cereal and sandwiches.

Honestly, I don't think this changes much until I get married. I've somehow kept myself living, so I guess it works. 

"Please Walk Instead of Run"

Today, I was working at Dippin' Dots in Seven Peaks scooping ice cream for people.

It's not such a bad job: you really just sit inside a small, air-conditioned shack and scoop ice cream for several hours. Honestly, sitting in an air-conditioned room for my job helping people is much better than sitting in a hot apartment all day while bored to death.

Anyway, I heard something I thought was really funny while I was running an errand. These two kids go running past me carrying a 2-seater tube and one of them yells out, "I don't care about that sign that says please walk instead of run!" Then, they just continue running on their way to wherever they were going.

I wasn't even sure what to take from this. The kid had basically just yelled out to everybody he didn't want to follow the rules. It just seemed so pointless. Honestly, it seems like such a simple thing, but I feel like it's an attitude which has infected our entire American culture. It's not unusual for people to blatantly disregard rules and announce to the whole world that what they are doing is blatant. Disregarding rules for the sake of showing your individuality and rebelliousness is something people commonly do because it seems like the cool thing to do. Ironically, by doing that, it seems they are actually just following a new norm of rebellious behavior, thus, going completely against their own intentions.

I recently saw a discussion on Facebook about whether it's okay to avoid saying the pledge of allegiance with everybody else. Isn't this the same argument? It's usually just somebody refusing to stand since they don't want to be like everybody else and want to show freedom of speech. Why would it be okay not to stand during the Pledge? What is the importance of freedom of speech if it's not something we're even willing to stand and support. Maybe if you're from another country, I'm not quite sure about that. However, it just doesn't make sense to me that so many people choose to do something for the sake of rebelling.

I'm fascinated by this point of view, nevertheless. Maybe somebody else could provide a better commentary than I do, I just sometimes wonder about the attitude our culture has taken toward blatant rebellion.

Wedding Reception

The other day, I was able to go to the wedding reception for my good friends Scott Richey and Chelsea Dahl.

It was a really good experience, especially since I've known them both for a long time and they were each really deserving of something great to happen in their lives. I don't usually go out and dance at things like this, but I actually did this time after some convincing.

Anyway, this post is a shout-out to them, wishing them a happy marriage and a great life together. I'm grateful to have had both of them as friends these past few years

Year In Review

Today's my birthday, and I'm officially 22 years old. I've been thinking tonight, and realized I'm not actually sure what I've done for the past year. I'm not really sure I've actually accomplished much. Maybe I have, though. I mean, I could probably list at least a few things that I did which weren't a complete waste of time and were a good experience for me:

• Ran a half marathon. This was a pretty big one. I actually had to train for several months to get to the point where running a long distance like this one wasn't too difficult. I'm just glad I finished it. 
• Had my first kiss. It took 21 years, but it did come.
• Finally got another job.
• Moved out of Centennial Apartments and into Glenwood. It was a really tough decision for me to initiate change and move into a new place, but I feel like it's also helped me to grow and realize I can make new friends and adapt. I've even joined a dinner group over here and made a few friends. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm glad to have a new experience.
• Drove a boat for the first time. It was down in Monterey Bay, California. Quite the interesting experience, too. haha the boat broke down for a bit in the middle of the ocean and we started sinking, while I was feeling really seasick most of the time. We did make it out safely, and I was able to drive the boat for a while and feel like a captain. So, maybe it wasn't too bad. 
• Got to be one of the groomsmen at my roommate's wedding. That was a really good experience and I'm really happy for them.
• Got to help film and be in two different short films, one of which won Best Picture at the Ward Oscar Night. It was basically just a good time our church ward had to make movies and show them to each other. That was a lot of fun. The first was called Brother Husbands, pretty much just a parody of the show Sister Wives, and the other one that won was called Sardines, about a group of kids playing Sardines in a building and slowly being caught by a guy in a mask. That was a lot of fun.
• Had my own personal trainer for a couple months and actually got a bit stronger. My friend offered it to me for free since she was trying to improve her training abilities, and those were the toughest workouts I've probably ever had. haha
• Stayed up all night on more than one occasion, talking to a girl I really liked and who really liked me. Those were some of the best conversations I've had, and it was a really good experience.
• Attempted the cinnamon challenge for the first time and completely failed within seconds. That was a really awful experience that made me hate cinnamon for a while, it'll be a while before I try again. haha
• Drank Yerba Mate for the first time. It was actually really good. Thought I would hate it.  
• Went to the world record largest game of dodgeball ever played. BYU and Utah put it on between the two schools, but people didn't really follow the rules and it was really chaotic. Still, kind of a fun time. 
• Had dreams about Disneyland all the time. I don't know what inspired all those, but it's just been a dream I've periodically had is about me going there and having fun. Guess I need to go sometime soon. haha
• Volunteered at the Utah State hospital and had a great experience working with the patients there.
• Read through all the epistles in the New Testament and learned a lot from reading them.

There's been a lot more I've actually done, but I feel like these are some of the ones that stand out. I've really done a lot more this year than I had, though. Looking forward to the future and seeing what comes next. I'm glad to have had so many good experiences. Thanks to everybody who's been around this year. 

Now, let's see what I can do in the next year. 

The Glenwood Hot Tub

Just got back from hot tubbing tonight.

It's always quite the experience going to the Glenwood hot tub. I feel like hot tubs here in Provo are the equivalent of bars, since nobody really drinks. Haha everybody goes there to talk and it's the one place where everybody is your friend. They're not drunk, but they're all so relaxed and happy most the time so it has a similar feeling.

The one here has a unique feel to it. And, when I say feel, I mean that literally. There's usually hairs, bugs, leaves, and all types of unsanitary things floating around that could probably make you sick. It makes me laugh to think we go relax by sitting in a pool of our own filth which is at just the right temperature for bacteria to grow. I know the chlorine is supposed to clean it all out, but I'm not sure I completely believe that. haha also, it kind of smelled a bit there tonight like somebody hadn't showered or was really sweaty. The more I think about it, the less I want to go in there. I'll just not think about it. That'll solve my problem.

I also went to see Snow White and the Huntsman tonight. It was kind of interesting, but really long and didn't completely make sense or tie everything up. My date did enjoy it, and it was a good time so I was happy. If I was a movie critique, though, I probably would not recommend it. But, I'm not. Feel free to go see it and think what you want, anyway. haha

One last thing before ending the post, today I paid over fifty dollars to fill up my car's gas tank. That's way too much money. I really hope gas prices go down soon, since it's getting a little ridiculous. I'm glad my car has good gas mileage, or it would be a lot worse.

Hope everybody has a good weekend!

Dream Post

I think I have crazier dreams than most people I know (besides maybe one girl I met here at BYU who had some equally crazy dreams). It usually doesn't make much sense and is completely chaotic.

Last night, I had a dream I owned a bunch of young pets. I think some of them were puppies and others were little bunnies. I loved all the little guys and was trying to keep them alive. I don't know why I dreamed about puppies and bunnies, it doesn't make any sense to me.....

And, there's usually a lot of destruction. I've had countless dreams about running away from tornadoes. When I was on a cruise boat, I'd have dreams about the boat sinking. I have dreams about being on other boats and those boats sinking. In another, I dreamed one of my friends was stuck in a ventilation shaft and was floating down it like a river and I couldn't save her. I seem to recall a dream when I was little about King Kong being after me as Mary Poppins and I ran away to escape.

One of the weirder ones I've had included ruins in Mexico, Micky Mouse, characters from The Land Before Time, and I was trying to escape from these ruins where our plane had landed. It gets so weird sometimes.

I don't understand how I can have dreams about puppies and Disneyland (see my earlier post about that), and then have these crazy dreams about destruction and things going wrong. My mind must be pretty far out there. haha