It starts with me

This week we were privileged to hear from Jenet Erickson on leadership in the home and community. It was such an amazing presentation I loved every minute of it because i found the whole thing fascinating and thought provoking!

She addressed so many concerns and issues that are attacking the values of society and the former structure of the home and the family. These problems are things I've seen in my life so far, especially going through high school and now starting into college I can see a larger effect generated by these things. It's hard for me to look at all of these problems and think that there is so much wrong with the world and that there are so many problems, not knowing quite what to do about them because the complexity of it all is too overwhelmingly depressing. However, Dr. Erickson brought up a great point that though one individual can't solve all of these problems, they can focus on one or two. That's when I realized the solving of these problems needs to start with me. I can help prevent technology from degrading my relationships with people by simple things like taking my headphones out when talking to someone, not texting while having real conversations, focusing on the people around me. I can help courtship remain alive and well by taking girls on dates and setting the example of courtship. As I've learned in this class a large part of leadership is example. In my role on RHA I can provide the example for the people around me of doing simple things that render very meaningful effects.

many musings

So, the other night I walked away from home. This is not an experience I would especially recommend to anyone, but it was definitely an eye-opener for me. I had a good opportunity to do some soul searching and really get deep inside myself to discover the root of most of my problems that I have with my parents. It's such a funny thing to leave feeling so right and so justified and like everything is their fault only to realize how wrong you are and how much your parents really care about you and how personal selfishness creates all the problems. Amazing, really, to feel that change inside. I spent two days away and was so glad to come back.

Leadership

So I'm really interested in leadership and positions and stuff. I am planning on doing BYUSA and attending BYU's freshman leadership conference. However, in the meantime, I'm looking for some books on leadership. I have a couple, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Summer job

Yeah, so I'm now at the semi-awkward, just graduated high school and looking for full-time work part of my life. It's really funny to be here because I've always thought about being done with high school, and now I am. And I actually have my diploma, which is a funny story and great accomplishment all on its own. Sometime soon I hope I get to start working somewhere and earning a lot of money. That would be very nice to pay for my life and my college.

Reading

Since my life has kinda been slowing down recently I've found a lot more time to read, one of my favorite things, but something that gets shoved aside when I get busy. I read some of the Harry Potter series, I read the last three books of the Pendragon series (I hated the ending, personally), and I read the book Ender's Game. I had forgotten how interesting that book is. Every time I read it I gain a little new perspective, seeing it not only as a story but noticing the statements the author is making about humanity and about the unfortunate changes he is seeing in society. I really like that book, I've decided, especially the ending. I had almost forgotten how great reading was and how much I love it. Sometimes it's really nice to pick up a book and escape for a little bit, gives a nice breather from the hustle and bustle of life.

The end is coming!!!

Ok, so not like the END end, but high school and life as I know it is coming to an end rather quickly and it's a little disconcerting.

This week we had our Masque Club Banquet where I got lots of awards, but also the season for next school year was announced and I was sad that I'd not be doing those shows. Then the presidency for next year was announced and I felt so replaced. I realized that for all intents and purposes, this year is over and it's their game now. It's their turn to preside and to take charge of next year. It hit me that my friend B, the president before myself, probably felt the same way I was feeling so I sent her an email and talked to her. She brought up some great points about loving what you're doing and where you are in life and that even though change is hard, it's good. I'll just keep in mind to remember that.

tee hee hee i did it too! (stick figure family, that is)

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Life comes at you fast

wow, I started this a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting! Haha, how true this little post is.
Ok, so first of, I'm sorry about that whole tour update thing. Not happening. Yet. I'm just a little swamped with everything.
So, for happy news, I officially will be moving out in a couple of months. I just got my college apartment with my two buddies so I'm very very excited!
It's crazy to me how fast life comes. It feels like this year has gone by so quickly but I've been able to do so much and accomplish so many things. I'm really proud of my goals and the things I've had the chance to do. I have to keep telling myself that I'm not done quite yet and I have to keep going strong for the next five weeks and then I'm free! I can't believe how all this stuff keeps piling on top of me because I thought I was practically finished when tour ended. Haha. Doesn't life have that stealthy way of sneaking up on us and piling on top as hard as it can. Oh well, it's going to be totally worth it!

Tour update in the works, I promise

So, I got back from tour a week ago today and I'm working on writing down all my tour experiences and such so I'll be posting those and hopefully some fun pictures very very soon, potentially within the next week and definitely by next sunday! :)

Scholarships

If anyone knows anywhere I can get scholarships for next year I would greatly appreciate your info. I'm desperate for money and I'm looking everywhere I can for any scholarship I can possibly apply for, I need to pay for college! :)

College Decisions and stuff

So, for those of you who haven't been told yet, I've pretty much decided to go to BYU and major in psychology with a pre-med. focus and an emphasis in addiction counseling. I want to then go to med. school at the U of U and be a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction counseling. My back-up or other potential major is poli sci as a pre-law major and then I would have to figure out where to go to law school. I'm not as excited about that one as I am the whole psychiatry thing.
I plan to live at Wyview next year (hooray for moving out on my own!!!) with some awesome high school buddies! If you have any questions I'm more than happy to answer them! :)

Why we are taught basic safety principles in kindergarten

The lesson to be learned in this adventure is NEVER RUN BACKSTAGE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS DARK!!! (and especially when you are rounding corners)
I was in this show, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. It was really fun. Closing night, in the scene change before the last scene, I realized I had forgotten my tux jacket backstage right and I was backstage left. I ran around the back of the stage, back behind the set and such, to retrieve it before my entrance. I grabbed it, and put it on while running back around to backstage left. As I was about to round the corner from behind the starry night backdrop to backstage left I collided head-first (literally) with my good friend Skyler Hardman. We went flying backward and I put my hand to my face because it kinda hurt and I could feel it bleeding. I looked at my hand and saw a considerable amount of blood. Not a very pleasant thing to see right before you're supposed to go onstage. I ran up to the dressing room and looked in the mirror. Something had cut the right side of my upper lip in two pieces. yuck. It was not a comforting sight and I covered it back up quickly. Someone ran in quickly after me, I think it was Sarah Johnson (the amazingly talented girl who played Rosemary, my romantic opposite) she gave me some paper towels and made me hold them to the wound. (it could have been someone else, this is all kinda a blur to me right now.) I was holding my face and a myriad of people came in and out of the room. I remember Adrian Foster, Mr. Bradshaw, Jared Tuckett (?), and maybe someone else, I'm not 100% sure, like I said earlier, this is all kinda hazy to me. Mr. Bradshaw asked me where my parents were and I told him they were in the audience. He found them and Mr. Dudley quickly and they, along with Mrs. Foster, rushed into the dressing room (at this point Skyler was in there too, holding his eye) Mr. Dudley looked at what was wrong, and now that I think of it, he must have come in there before my parents were there because he told them before they came in what was wrong with me. They thought it was a heart problem of some kind due to my history of heart issues. I was rushed to the E.R. in payson and was taken care of there. After a while I got my anesthetic and Dr.Jones (my friend Jenny's dad) gave me stitches. Skyler was there at the same time, he got stitches in his eyebrow. We're not entirely sure what happened to my lip, but the doctor was pretty sure that Skyler's gash was the result of his glasses cutting into his eyebrow. By midnight I was out and on my way home. What an exciting way to end the run of such an amazing show!
I'm extremely grateful for doctors, and especially anesthetics! I do not recommend this type of injury to ANYONE!!! It hurts. :) But I'm doing great and this will be an amazing story to tell for years to come! :) :) :)

college confusion

So I went to the Utah Theatre Association Conference, Jan 29-31, hosted this year at Weber State University. It was a blast! I got to represent SFHS in the Closed Scholarship Audition, each school got to send two people (or 3 if they had 50 or more people coming from their school) and my friend and I were selected. This audition asked for two contrasting pieces showing our strengths. I chose to do a song and a monologue because I wanted the colleges there to see my performance range. The pieces I performed were, a monologue from The Glass Menagerie playing the part of Tom; and the song "What Do I Need With Love" from Thoroughly Modern Millie (sung by the character Jimmy). I spent hours working these two pieces and perfecting them as much as I possibly could. My audition went well, in my opinion, which I am sure was in answer to many prayers on my behalf. I was calm and collected and I really had fun with my performance.

I left the theatre feeling very good, on my way out Snow College handed me a flyer about them and the University of Utah told me how interested they were in me and handed me an application for scholarships. I was ecstatic! I called my dad and was telling him that I had auditioned and that I felt it went well and as I was winding down my conversation, I saw a man walk out of the audition theatre towards me. He waited patiently until the end of my phone call and then he told me he is from Western Wyoming Community College and that they wanted to give me an acting scholarship. I realize most of you have never heard of WWCC, but they are one of the best Musical Theatre schools in the nation. They have a very small and prestigious program focusing on the synergy of music, dance, and theatre in the form of Musical Theatre. They offer great training and excellent instruction. WWCC is a feeder to BYU and NYU (which happens to be the BEST theatre school in the U.S. and one of the best in the world). I was offered a very very good academic scholarship along with my acting scholarship and I would practically be paid to go to school there. My housing, tuition, food, and stuff like that would be paid for, meaning I wouldn't need to work during the school year. Yay! I am, however, waiting to hear from other schools. Last year when my friend did this audition she didn't hear from colleges for three weeks.

I'm confused, to say the least. This is an option that I'd never considered before and it is extremely exciting! I just don't know, though, if its the best place. I really want this education and the benefits of starting at a place like WWCC are astounding! There are negatives, however. I really want to go to room with my best friends in college and go to somewhere there, but now I have to decide which is more important to me. I also have to think of what moving that far away will do to my mission plans and such. I know a lot about the program at WWCC and I love it, from what I can tell. They'd hold my scholarship while I serve my mission, they have a family-oriented theatre program, which means their shows have the same integrity/content requirements as BYU, and stuff like that. I suppose I just need to pray and wait and list the pro's and con's of each of my options.

I would love it if y'alls would share your feelings on this subject and your opinions on the college choice issue. :)

Talking

I love talking. There is not much better than sitting and talking with a good friend about anything and everything that comes to mind. Tonight I had such a fun time just talking with a friend that I don't talk to much. She and I talked about all sorts of stuff, but it was totally awesome! I'm so glad for friends like that that I can talk to. They're awesome!

Friends

Tonight, I had the chance to have a long chat with a good friend. I'm so glad to have amazing friends, like him. We have been friends for a while, but until this January we hadn't really been very close. That changed, and now the two of us are practically inseparable. It's great! He's such an awesome kid. He's helped me figure out a few things about being a best friend.

1. sometimes, personal sacrifice is required. Time, money, a listening ear, a crying shoulder...
2. you have to really get to know this person. learn their "isms", what do they do in certain situations, how do they react, what do they like to do, how do they relieve frustration, what are their non-verbal cues telling me...etc...stuff like that
3. you HAVE to communicate. talking is important in working out any problems or misunderstandings that arise. honest communication is the only way to move a relationship of any sort in a forward direction.
4. if something goes wrong, fix it! and don't wait a long time before you do, try to fix the problem as soon as possible.

I wouldn't be who I am today without the wonderful influence of my best friend!

living in the moment

Yesterday, I made a new friend. He and I met at my niece's baby blessing and we talked for quite a while. We talked about a lot of stuff and it was really neat to get to know him and let him get to know me. I made some comment while we were talking about how I couldn't wait for high school to be over and he said something that hit me really hard. He made a comment about how we get to these stages in our lives where we just want to move on to the next stage and then we look back at how good the last stage was. Then he said "I decided last year to live in the moment. Prepare for the future, but live in the moment. I've never been so happy." I was floored. Here was an obvious answer, staring me in the face. I need to quit worrying so much about the future, stop my incessant daydreaming and start enjoying the here and now. It only happens once and I need to enjoy it while it's here. So I made a new years resolution to live in the now and love it.

post the first

Well, here it goes. I'm gonna try this whole blog thing because I think it'll be easier for y'alls to see what I do with my life and actually get info about me, from me! :)