Inspirational quote by me! I think, perhaps, I picked it up from someone else but I did just pen it and I didn't look it up so I'm taking credit for it. I'll explain it in a bit.
Currently, I find myself sitting in my apartment watching out over the parking lot taking in the last few hours of the first month of 2010. Time sure does fly by and at this rate it will be May in no time. Life has been going quite well this month and I see no reason for it not to continue. Sadly, I do understand that complications occur and difficulties emerge but hopefully I will be able to maintain the positive feelings I have now in the future. The last few days have gone well and since I last posted on Thursday a few things have occurred.
Friday morning I awoke and started the normal routine. First I pursued the news of the day from my six favorite papers (SLTrib, Utah Chrony, OU Daily, Vernal Excuse, NYTimes and the Oklahoman). Newspaper reading is a habit I picked up my Junior (1st year) at the University of Utah. I would frequently find myself bored with nothing to do while I waited for classes and so I would picked up the free copies of the Chrony, SLTrib, and NYTimes and read them throughout the day. I've carried on this habit and as a matter of principle decided to include the OU paper and a state wide paper to the my reading. The Vernal Excuse allows me maintain a watchful eye over my friends in Vernal and I generally just use it to see who is coming and going both from missions and in death. After the papers, I played around and thinking it was Saturday went to watch the Oklahoma State basketball game. I was wrong as it was only Friday and so I instead watched the winter X-games on ESPN. Other than that Friday was vanilla with not much occurring.
Saturday was fairly vanilla in the morning and mid-afternoon besides one notable exception. That exception was the loss by Oklahoma State to Missouri. Oh well! Saturday night I traveled up campus braving the cold, snow, and ice and had dinner with Lena Tenney and Co. The cafeteria the OU students eat at makes me quite jealous. It is definitely better than the HC. After eating, we went up to the lounge in Lena's tower and played Naked, a combination of charades and catch phrase, and UNO. My UNO skills let me down and my Naked skills did about the same. Either way the company was good and I think everyone had a good time.
This morning, I woke up at a brisk 9 am and went about getting things done. After eating, showering, and dressing, I, once again, braved the cold, ice, and snow and walked up to and met up with Lena and we walked to church together. I have a great story of getting mud on my suit pants and ask me about it later when we talk. As a side note it is important to know that Stanley, my car, is currently iced over and not going anywhere. Perhaps this borders on Car Abuse but there is nothing I can do about it now. Either way, it was not feasible to de-ice him and take him to church so walking was the smarter option. I hope Stanley is okay and when he de-ices I will definitely take him for a ride. Either way, back to the story.
Church was good. I once again got the opportunity to pass the sacrament and truly that is one of my favorite things to do in church. The speakers in Sacrament spoke about the church mission focusing on perfecting the saints. All three speakers emphasized the importance of home teaching and visiting teaching, a remainder for me to do better. In Sunday School we discussed and learned about Cain and Able, and if time permitted, we were going to discuss the contrast between Cain and Enoch. Elder's Quorum and Relief Society were combined and Bishop taught about budgeting and money management. A good remainder to everyone that failure to control one's fiances will allow one's fiances to control them. A great quote from that class was, "Marriage is grand, but divorce is 100 grand!"
After class, Lena and I were required to stick around to be set apart for our new callings. Which by the way, I was called to be a ward missionary. Brother Hack set us apart and both of us received great promises of blessing if we were to fulfill our callings. I'm excited for this opportunity as I just recently sent my mission papers in and all the preparation I can do now will undoubtedly help lead to success in the future. I really don't know what a ward missionary does and from my experiences in Utah it didn't seem like they did a lot. This of course might be due to the fact that I didn't know where to look to see their efforts. Either way, pray for me and I will try my best to be the best ward missionary I can be before I move onto being a full time Missionary. I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but Brother Hack has to be my favorite of the Bishopric. Truly there are not too many better men then him.
As a mission papers update it should be noted that Bishop Drayton and Bishop Rueckerd have been in contact and they should be able to knock out whatever requirement was there hopefully before this post. With that, the papers will be electronically submitted to President Keyes, who already has the physical copies, and he should be able to shortly communicate them electronically to Salt Lake City. Using a general time frame of two weeks then I would think I'd get my calling by the end of the week starting on the 14th. Once again, pray for me.
This afternoon has been one of general non-work. I really have had a hard time focusing on anything and so not much was truly accomplished beside feeding myself and knocking out the last of the Legal Writing and Research assignment. Which brings me to the quote above.
Typically, in a law school education the capstone to the Legal Research and Writing class is the oral arguments competition that takes place in the spring time. We recently received our questions for the memos leading up to the arguments and they involve guardianship issues for the elderly, and infirm. I have never read of such sad cases before and knowing they are just a fraction of what is out there scares and saddens me. For example in one case a court guardian was required because an elderly lady was being taken advantage of by individuals whom she trusted. The entire time I read that case I was reminded of an elderly lady I took the sacrament to as a 16 year old priest. Sister Martinsen was in her 80's and was generally house bound. Although she was occasionally able to leave the house when the time came. Every time we brought her the sacrament she beamed at us and was so excited to have us come visit her. She even gave us ice-cream bars as treats afterwards. She loved us, and it would have been impossible to not love her. I remember the day I was with another priest and he had to tell her he was leaving for school and wouldn't be back next week or the following weeks. She was so sadden by that and frequently asked me about him until I assume she must have forgotten him. Next time I'm in Vernal or anywhere close I will have to stop by and visit her. I wish her the best and I hope all is well.
I guess, these cases are a good reminder to all of us big shot lawyers that each case is not an independent event occurring outside the bounds of emotion or society. As such we should as a profession treat each case with the upmost care and attention and strive to do what is best for our clients and not ourselves. To think someone could take advantage of Sister Martinsen and feel like they did no wrong would have to mean they lacked any sort of humanity and a soul. That would be worse then death.
I like to believe that I could never represent such individuals and that is why I want to go into criminal prosecution. I guess I want to be the knight in shiny armor that comes to the rescue of the victims of society. Overall moralistic? Maybe, but I'll take it.
One Love
ps. If you'd like feel free to comment on anything I say here or elsewhere. Those who don't want to comment publicly, I welcome your comments through facebook, cellphones, or in person communication. Let me give you what the people want! So tell me, what the people want!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
This one is for you
The only thing scarier then myself is being stuck with myself for long periods of time. As classes were canceled today due to the Storm of the Year (unofficially titled) there wasn't a lot to do. Not at lot to do. As such, I caught up on my Psych, Colbert Report, and ESPN viewing. As well, I read some on my kindle and enjoyed a nice 45 min nap. Gotta love being able to do the simple stuff.
Recently, I have been enjoying a nice period of introspection. This of course is documented by the fact that I've posted more then a few times in the last few days. As such, I've been exploring facebook and as I look at different profile pages, for the most part, different memories are instantly brought up depending upon the person. I was looking at Joe Ipson's page, for example, and we took a Network+ class together and had a great time harassing the teacher and the other students.
So what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Well, we each meet new people every day. Suppose for example that we each meet 1 new person per day on average (Using an average we can take into account that we all meet a ton of people the first few days of each semester and then don't meet as many on the following days and so forth). Well I'm currently 20, but we will use 21 for simplistic math and because rounding up is for winners. So 21 x 365 + 5 (for leap years) = 7670.
Once again what does this bring us to? With the limited capacity our memories have we forget the majority of the people we meet. We also forget many of the situations we have been in. Which means there is always that handful of people that you will probably remember for the rest of your life. Whether those memories are triggered by a passing phrase or even by the persistent reminder of a great event the two of survived and or enjoyed together, they are hopefully pleasant memories. For example, my roommate David owns a game for the PS3 that whenever we play it together or I see the controllers for it, I am reminded of Orientation and the good times we all had together. Whenever I think of, or am reminded of, a dance I always think of Katie Weber and Sammie Ufford which of course reminds me of Sadie's and Prom(which is mentioned below). Hopefully, somewhere out there, is someone who looks at a random item and thinks of the goofiness that is myself. We can only hope to have some sort of impression upon those people we meet. So to those I cannot and do not want to forget, this post is for you.
Also with this storm as a backdrop I'm reminded of Christmas break when my family's furnace went out early on Sunday morning. The rest of the day as some people fretted (Courtney, I'm looking at you!) I wasn't worried at all. I contributed this to my successful upbringing in the Scouts program and the event that every boy scout needs in order to truly have done the scouting thing. Klondike. For those not familiar with the Klondike tradition let me explain a bit. Klondike is winter camping. You arrive on Friday night and spend the night outside surviving the elements. When you wake up on Saturday you compete as a troop in a number of different events such as snow-shoeing, sled races, and first-aid. My troop, 230 The Badgers, never won but we always did well, I believing placing in second or third one year when we competed as a troop of two. This camp tested your ability to survive the winter cold and then compete at a highish level.
Klondike was one of the events in your life that you don't forget. It was a character building time and it comes with a great story that can be told in a lot of different situations to the tune of a bunch of different reactions. Luckily for me, I have an assortment of those events that I use for a variety of storytelling moments. Those of you who know me well know these stories and know how often they are referenced in some form or another. These stories include Prom, Sadie's, and of course Pink Floyd. If I haven't told you these stories then you should ask me about them or just give me some time. It really is only a matter of time till I tell you myself. It's like the instructor said in my mission prep class when talking about being able to talk to people. He looked at me and said, "I don't think you'll have a problem talking to anyone." Much like Pringles, once I start, I just can't stop.
Hopefully I will be able to better feel out my schedule for tomorrow. If not I guess I could always do the homework I will have to do anyways. As an updater to my post from the 26th, I had my interview with the Stake President last night. Definitely, the most intense interview I've ever had but definitely one I needed to go through and one that went well. He told me that he felt I was ready to go and would sign off on my papers when we had them forwarded to him. So I'm just waiting for my Bishops, the one from Stansbury Park and the one from Norman, to communicate with one another and then my paperwork is all done. I'll keep you posted on what occurs.
One Love
Recently, I have been enjoying a nice period of introspection. This of course is documented by the fact that I've posted more then a few times in the last few days. As such, I've been exploring facebook and as I look at different profile pages, for the most part, different memories are instantly brought up depending upon the person. I was looking at Joe Ipson's page, for example, and we took a Network+ class together and had a great time harassing the teacher and the other students.
So what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Well, we each meet new people every day. Suppose for example that we each meet 1 new person per day on average (Using an average we can take into account that we all meet a ton of people the first few days of each semester and then don't meet as many on the following days and so forth). Well I'm currently 20, but we will use 21 for simplistic math and because rounding up is for winners. So 21 x 365 + 5 (for leap years) = 7670.
Once again what does this bring us to? With the limited capacity our memories have we forget the majority of the people we meet. We also forget many of the situations we have been in. Which means there is always that handful of people that you will probably remember for the rest of your life. Whether those memories are triggered by a passing phrase or even by the persistent reminder of a great event the two of survived and or enjoyed together, they are hopefully pleasant memories. For example, my roommate David owns a game for the PS3 that whenever we play it together or I see the controllers for it, I am reminded of Orientation and the good times we all had together. Whenever I think of, or am reminded of, a dance I always think of Katie Weber and Sammie Ufford which of course reminds me of Sadie's and Prom(which is mentioned below). Hopefully, somewhere out there, is someone who looks at a random item and thinks of the goofiness that is myself. We can only hope to have some sort of impression upon those people we meet. So to those I cannot and do not want to forget, this post is for you.
Also with this storm as a backdrop I'm reminded of Christmas break when my family's furnace went out early on Sunday morning. The rest of the day as some people fretted (Courtney, I'm looking at you!) I wasn't worried at all. I contributed this to my successful upbringing in the Scouts program and the event that every boy scout needs in order to truly have done the scouting thing. Klondike. For those not familiar with the Klondike tradition let me explain a bit. Klondike is winter camping. You arrive on Friday night and spend the night outside surviving the elements. When you wake up on Saturday you compete as a troop in a number of different events such as snow-shoeing, sled races, and first-aid. My troop, 230 The Badgers, never won but we always did well, I believing placing in second or third one year when we competed as a troop of two. This camp tested your ability to survive the winter cold and then compete at a highish level.
Klondike was one of the events in your life that you don't forget. It was a character building time and it comes with a great story that can be told in a lot of different situations to the tune of a bunch of different reactions. Luckily for me, I have an assortment of those events that I use for a variety of storytelling moments. Those of you who know me well know these stories and know how often they are referenced in some form or another. These stories include Prom, Sadie's, and of course Pink Floyd. If I haven't told you these stories then you should ask me about them or just give me some time. It really is only a matter of time till I tell you myself. It's like the instructor said in my mission prep class when talking about being able to talk to people. He looked at me and said, "I don't think you'll have a problem talking to anyone." Much like Pringles, once I start, I just can't stop.
Hopefully I will be able to better feel out my schedule for tomorrow. If not I guess I could always do the homework I will have to do anyways. As an updater to my post from the 26th, I had my interview with the Stake President last night. Definitely, the most intense interview I've ever had but definitely one I needed to go through and one that went well. He told me that he felt I was ready to go and would sign off on my papers when we had them forwarded to him. So I'm just waiting for my Bishops, the one from Stansbury Park and the one from Norman, to communicate with one another and then my paperwork is all done. I'll keep you posted on what occurs.
One Love
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Perhaps it is my advancing age?
For some strange reasons, of which I have no idea, I have felt more and more compelled to record my thoughts and expound upon the reality which I face from day to day. Perhaps this has to do with the rapid amount of growth, at least change, that I have been encountering as of late. Of course, it is just as likely that I'm extremely bored and I'm finding some enjoyment from posting my thoughts on an online blog that is open to the world to scrutinize. The possibilities are endless and much like those children books, I'll let you choose your own adventure(or idea).
Today is the 26th and as such it is Tuesday. That means there have been a few days since my last post so let me bring you along over the last few days.
Of the 23rd there is not much to report. Honestly, I was so exhausted and wiped out from the first week of school that I didn't really do anything at all. In fact, I'm sitting here trying to remember anything I did on Saturday besides watch a few basketball games. I don't know if I can. Of those games, Oklahoma State played Kansas State in Manhattan and was fortunate enough to come away with a win and Utah was successful in defending the Huntsmen Center from the Air Force Academy. OU lost as well to Texas Tech which made the day brighter. The only bummer of Saturday basketball was the success of BYU against SDSU in San Diego. I guess we can't have everything we want can we?
Today is the 26th and as such it is Tuesday. That means there have been a few days since my last post so let me bring you along over the last few days.
Of the 23rd there is not much to report. Honestly, I was so exhausted and wiped out from the first week of school that I didn't really do anything at all. In fact, I'm sitting here trying to remember anything I did on Saturday besides watch a few basketball games. I don't know if I can. Of those games, Oklahoma State played Kansas State in Manhattan and was fortunate enough to come away with a win and Utah was successful in defending the Huntsmen Center from the Air Force Academy. OU lost as well to Texas Tech which made the day brighter. The only bummer of Saturday basketball was the success of BYU against SDSU in San Diego. I guess we can't have everything we want can we?
The 24th was a Sunday and a good one at that. The Elder's Quorum Presidency spoke in Sacrament meeting, the Sunday School lesson was on the Fall, and the Elder's Quorum lesson, I can't remember what it was on... Either way I have pleasant thoughts of all three and as such they must have all been good. I had the opportunity pass the sacrament which I always enjoy, and I got to catch up with those I hadn't seen for awhile. Afterwards, Brother Hack extended a call to me, but I haven't been sustained and as such I understand you are not usually suppose to talk of such things until then. Call me next sunday afternoon, or come back sometime after then and I'll let you know what it is. That night I had volunteered to go with the Missionaries so I hanging out waiting for them to let me know they were ready when I decided to take a quite 30 minute power nap. As such, I was laying down when my phone started to ring. At first I thought it must be the missionaries letting me know they are ready to go, until I looked at the clock and realized that it was too early for that. Upon answer the phone, I realized it was Brother Nye and he wanted to set up an appointment for me with the Stake President. I was only too glad to do this as I was planning on calling him myself. As such, my appointment with the Stake President is on Wednesday and hopefully at that time everything will be ready to go out. If so, I would expect to get my call some time in early February. That would be fabulous. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the current plan is to have my call by the time I go home for Spring Break. At that time we would then try to procure the necessary items and have everything ready to go for when I get home in May. I'm planning on getting my endowments in the Oklahoma City Temple hopefully sometime right before or right after Natalie's graduation. Of course with me all dates, plans, and assignments are subject to change until they have been verified a day before hand. All mission related things are subject to change based upon the decision of the Stake President. Lets hope things stay as they will.
I forgot to mention any of the time I spent with the missionaries on Sunday night. We did the usual, that is to say we drove around to prior contacts and tried to teach them again. Fortunately, this time we were able to teach someone. It was an interesting lessons with little kids and animals running about everywhere trying to get the attention of their mother. I think the missionaries did a good job with what they could do. I got an opportunity to share as well which was awesome.
Monday, or yesterday, was rather vanilla. Classes were the norm and the Family Home Evening was average, which is to say good. Nothing in particular sticks out that needs to be mentioned and so perhaps with this post being much longer then I supposed it would be when I started I should wind down and end it.
Today was decent. Tabb called on me to answer one question, I thought I did so satisfactorily and life moved on. The really interesting point of the day was when someone asked me what I was interviewing for on Wednesday. I mentioned it was for church, as every thought it must have been about a job, and then a mission and everyone seemed surprised but supportive of my decision. It will be interesting to see how the law school responds to it when I bring it up with the administration, but once again let me echo that I'm not worried about it.
One Love
I forgot to mention any of the time I spent with the missionaries on Sunday night. We did the usual, that is to say we drove around to prior contacts and tried to teach them again. Fortunately, this time we were able to teach someone. It was an interesting lessons with little kids and animals running about everywhere trying to get the attention of their mother. I think the missionaries did a good job with what they could do. I got an opportunity to share as well which was awesome.
Monday, or yesterday, was rather vanilla. Classes were the norm and the Family Home Evening was average, which is to say good. Nothing in particular sticks out that needs to be mentioned and so perhaps with this post being much longer then I supposed it would be when I started I should wind down and end it.
Today was decent. Tabb called on me to answer one question, I thought I did so satisfactorily and life moved on. The really interesting point of the day was when someone asked me what I was interviewing for on Wednesday. I mentioned it was for church, as every thought it must have been about a job, and then a mission and everyone seemed surprised but supportive of my decision. It will be interesting to see how the law school responds to it when I bring it up with the administration, but once again let me echo that I'm not worried about it.
One Love
Friday, January 22, 2010
Another Friday Night?
The simplistic reality about Christmas break, spring break, and generally all breaks from the usual tedium of life is that time seems to meld together as a extraordinary routine sets in that allows one to dawdling away life's precious moments. Funny enough, I feel like I'm still wasting away as it is already Friday and already one week of the new semester is over. I felt the emergence of some sort of grades warranted a blog post and so I do write this, but first to catch you up since the 19th.
The 19th was the first day of classes and as I mentioned not much occurred... Since then the routine is slowly kicking into gear and perhaps I'll be able to set into it without a delay. I've already bombed two separate questions from Professor Swank and apart from that I'm enjoying my classes immensely. Criminal Law, if the pattern continues, will definitely be the highlight of the week. The professor is nearly, if not just as much, animated as our contracts professor was and seems to have a real excitement about the subject. Both of these in my opinions make for great teachers and professors. Civil Procedure is the same course as last semester. I make attempts to grasp the material and those attempts always seem to come up short when I need them the most. That is okay as I plan to work much harder in Civil Procedure then I have been. Constitutional Law to put simply is too early to judge. Although I'm currently enjoying the professor, I haven't been able to make up my mind about him yet so we shall see about him.... We shall see... Torts, I'm assuming will be Torts. Which is to say, a decently entertainingly class that I hope to do well in.
And with that time for grades. For this semester I received a small straight (my family likes to play yahzee, although it is not my favorite game). That would be a B+, B, B-, and C+. I'm fairly happy with those grades and the only one that is slightly disappointing is the C+. The C+ was in contracts which was one of my favorite classes and the one I thought I knew the best. The best laid plans of mice (because men don't have a lot to do with it). The B+ came in Torts which I did originally feel very good about and the B in property which I too felt very good about. In both those classes, coming into the test, I felt I had a good grasp of the material and I feel my efforts were rewarded. The B- came in Civil Procedure and is actually a slight relief. Although, I finished the test quite quickly, I struggled mightily with Civil Procedure and before the actual test was started I would have predicted it to be my worst. A lot of listening and some reading went into improving the score in the night and day leading up to the test and I feel very proud of that simple B-.
My overall assessment of the semester is one of mixed feelings. Up to this point in my life academics have never been a struggle before. I've never had to work hard for my grades and so I never did. My GPA in high school and in my undergrad reflect that. When I took classes seriously I got A's and when I didn't, I passed with some grade in between an A or a C-. So for the first time it was a feeling of disappointment when I opened the webpage and discovered so many B's, and a C, that I had worked quite hard to achieve. As many individual's, including my mother, have commented this is truly the first time I have been graded on a curve with individuals as dedicated as myself. Thus the age old saying is true. 90% of you can't be in the top 10% of the class.
Overall, I will walk away from these grades happy about what I've achieved over the last few years. Last year I was an undergrad at Utah (living away from home for the first time on someone else's dime), two years ago I was an undergrad (living at home and working far too many hours then I should have), three years ago a senior at Uintah (who lived with his neighbors for a few months in order to finish out the year) and four years ago a Junior (who played basketball, sang in highlights, and took far too many college classes). Truly, I've been blessed to make it this far without too many major scars, emotional or physical.
As I plan to get caught up in the new semester, hopefully I will remember to post with regularity that will make myself and ya'll (for those who are not aware, ya'll is an Oklahoman word which can be used in place of a pronoun, or even a noun, it can be used to signify a group, "Once ya'll come around the corner," or even an individual, "How ya'll doin'?") proud. Although it is Friday night, I know this because I looked at the calendar, I plan to head to bed now so I can catch up on my reading in the Book of Mormon. I just started Mosiah and I am currently 27% of the way through the book again having started this session on December 20th. I am currently 6% behind schedule so hopefully I can catch 1 or 2% of that up tonight.
One Love
The 19th was the first day of classes and as I mentioned not much occurred... Since then the routine is slowly kicking into gear and perhaps I'll be able to set into it without a delay. I've already bombed two separate questions from Professor Swank and apart from that I'm enjoying my classes immensely. Criminal Law, if the pattern continues, will definitely be the highlight of the week. The professor is nearly, if not just as much, animated as our contracts professor was and seems to have a real excitement about the subject. Both of these in my opinions make for great teachers and professors. Civil Procedure is the same course as last semester. I make attempts to grasp the material and those attempts always seem to come up short when I need them the most. That is okay as I plan to work much harder in Civil Procedure then I have been. Constitutional Law to put simply is too early to judge. Although I'm currently enjoying the professor, I haven't been able to make up my mind about him yet so we shall see about him.... We shall see... Torts, I'm assuming will be Torts. Which is to say, a decently entertainingly class that I hope to do well in.
And with that time for grades. For this semester I received a small straight (my family likes to play yahzee, although it is not my favorite game). That would be a B+, B, B-, and C+. I'm fairly happy with those grades and the only one that is slightly disappointing is the C+. The C+ was in contracts which was one of my favorite classes and the one I thought I knew the best. The best laid plans of mice (because men don't have a lot to do with it). The B+ came in Torts which I did originally feel very good about and the B in property which I too felt very good about. In both those classes, coming into the test, I felt I had a good grasp of the material and I feel my efforts were rewarded. The B- came in Civil Procedure and is actually a slight relief. Although, I finished the test quite quickly, I struggled mightily with Civil Procedure and before the actual test was started I would have predicted it to be my worst. A lot of listening and some reading went into improving the score in the night and day leading up to the test and I feel very proud of that simple B-.
My overall assessment of the semester is one of mixed feelings. Up to this point in my life academics have never been a struggle before. I've never had to work hard for my grades and so I never did. My GPA in high school and in my undergrad reflect that. When I took classes seriously I got A's and when I didn't, I passed with some grade in between an A or a C-. So for the first time it was a feeling of disappointment when I opened the webpage and discovered so many B's, and a C, that I had worked quite hard to achieve. As many individual's, including my mother, have commented this is truly the first time I have been graded on a curve with individuals as dedicated as myself. Thus the age old saying is true. 90% of you can't be in the top 10% of the class.
Overall, I will walk away from these grades happy about what I've achieved over the last few years. Last year I was an undergrad at Utah (living away from home for the first time on someone else's dime), two years ago I was an undergrad (living at home and working far too many hours then I should have), three years ago a senior at Uintah (who lived with his neighbors for a few months in order to finish out the year) and four years ago a Junior (who played basketball, sang in highlights, and took far too many college classes). Truly, I've been blessed to make it this far without too many major scars, emotional or physical.
As I plan to get caught up in the new semester, hopefully I will remember to post with regularity that will make myself and ya'll (for those who are not aware, ya'll is an Oklahoman word which can be used in place of a pronoun, or even a noun, it can be used to signify a group, "Once ya'll come around the corner," or even an individual, "How ya'll doin'?") proud. Although it is Friday night, I know this because I looked at the calendar, I plan to head to bed now so I can catch up on my reading in the Book of Mormon. I just started Mosiah and I am currently 27% of the way through the book again having started this session on December 20th. I am currently 6% behind schedule so hopefully I can catch 1 or 2% of that up tonight.
One Love
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The 19th
Last night my sister, Natalie, reminded me to update my blog and so now I endeavor to do so. I recognize that my grasp of the english language seems to weakening by the day so perhaps this blog will be as filled with errors as my latest Facebook status. I rather don't care but if it does bug you, just let me know and I'll fix the errors! Uhm, I don't know what post actually. Although my last post was on the 1st and it has been over 18 days since then not much has truly occurred. I'll do my best though and if you take offense then so be it.
Major events since the 1st of January:
Tuesday January 5th 2010 was probably one of the funniest days of my sojourn in Utah. The 5th was when my father and I traveled to Salt Lake City to visit my Urologist. Now, if we've known each other for awhile I'd be quite surprised if you don't know why I have Urologist but am lacking a regular doctor. Either way, my father and I spend the entire time leading up to the appointment and the time during the appointment to make inappropriate jokes and try to make the other laugh. We actually had a tough nurse this visit and it took a while before she cracked a small joked and gave us a laugh. It was truly a worthwhile trip. Definitely the hi-light of the week when it comes around every so often. Also on the Fifth I downgraded from my iPhone to an LG Xenon. Not a big deal to me as the iPhone was nice but definitely not a necessity.
Monday Janurary 11th 2010 was probably slightly more entertaining then the 5th. On this day I took my father's car and went to Layton to hang out with my best friend Joe. Joe had recently returned from South Africa and was great time swapping war stories and playing Left 4 Dead: II. After we played for awhile we drove down to SLC proper and picked up another good friend Ken Melrose and then went to the 3.14 and had pizza and cheesy pull-aparts and again swapped war stories. A better couple of bros, I don't know if they could exist out there. As we went our seperate ways we promised each other a good time in May and I hope we can make that happen again! Those two truly taught me the importance of having a couple of really good bros. Bro v. Hoes!
Tuesday Janurary 12th 2010 was the end of a long sequence of events that lead to the completion of my mission papers. The clinic called me and said come now and we will draw blood and I said I'm coming. Thanks need to go out from here to Dave and Kelly Wendt for letting me borrow their car. With that my paper work was complete and I was set to go. I handed those papers into my Bishop this Sunday and I meet with him on Wednesday. Hopefully, if everything goes well and I do believe it will, then I should be meeting with the Stake President on next Tuesday (26th) and my paperwork will be in SLC by the weekend. Assume that is how it plays out, I should my call by mid-February.
Wednesday January 13th 2010 was the day that I flew back to Oklahoma. I originally planned to try and bump if possible but there was no opportunity and not looking back from that I boarded the plan ready to touchdown in Oklahoma City. The flight was uncomplicated and landed right on schedule give or take a few minutes. Natalie met me at the airport with Stanley, whom I missed dearly, and we went about our business. This took us to the Mall for Natalie's ring and gave us an opportunity to see the Oklahoma City Temple. As well we were planning on hitting the Stable for dinner, but I couldn't hold out and we ended going to Arby's. I spent the night with Natalie and Jacob in Stillwater.
Thursday January 14th 2010, the first order of business after I got back into Norman was to go stare down the financial aid office and get my money, and or the state's money. Although mostly uneventful there was slight complications due to the system that made me return after lunch to actually get the check. This lead to a 15-20 min wait when I returned because someone forgot to follow up on something. Oh well! After that a trip to Wal-Mart was needed because I needed food for the rest of the month. I made sure to hit Braum's that night for dinner and all was well with the world.
Saturday January 16th 2010, although nothing really did occur on this day that was ground breaking the Elder's Quorum activity did occur and I did attend. Decent pizza and good company made the activity a mostly successful one.
Tuesday January 19th 2010, because of a lack of desire to attend I did miss Family Home Evening last night but I plan to attend the rest so we shall keep trying no? Classes started today and so not much has been achieved. We talked about the final and the syllabus in Torts and thats it, and in Con Law we had a discussion on slavery. This lead to the deeper discussion, which I think was intended, to discuss whether or not morality plays a role in the legal system of today. Overall, I'm liking my classes so far. It will be interesting to see how this plays out on Thursday with Criminal Law as I'm extremely excited about that class.
Chelsea is playing well with a recent slaughtering of Sunderland, 7-2, and there is not a lot to complain about in regards to that team. Oklahoma State basketball is as frustrating as trying to milk a chicken. I just don't get them some days. Some days we will milk the cow and other days we try to milk the chicken! Utah basketball did the usual .500 during non-conference which Boylen is known for so far, but recently beat UNLV at home. This is a rather odd occurrence and I'm excited about this team. They generally play a tough non-conference schedule and are better for it. Bring on the Cougs!
I guess overall I'm doing really well. I feel relaxed, focused, and excited for upcoming future. The sun is currently shining in my life and I hope to keep that going as long as I can. The next big event in my life, excluding the interviews, will be grades being released on Friday for first semester. I feel that my positive attitude towards life right now and how I felt about the test will lead to good results so bring it on. I happy to say that I love my family, the church, and myself. A combination that may not have been there a few years ago. What mistakes I have made in the past and funny enough they all started out very innocently enough. Perhaps that is what I would change if I wanted to change anything about my life, I wouldn't have taken that class. Either way, life moves on and so shall I. I know Joseph Smith Jr. was and still is a prophet of God and I know that President Thomas S. Monsen is God's prophet on earth today.
Till the 20th, or maybe the 21st
Friday, January 1, 2010
What a long, strange, confusing, and enjoyable journey it has been.
This time last year and I was sitting in a smallish hotel room overlooking the parking lot and trying to maintain peace and order in the University of Utah's Guest House. If I wasn't in that room then I was probably roaming the dark portion of campus that was housing looking for lights that had been left own or open doors that should have been locked and closed. Although, I did not take a gander into the future, and note it, guessing where I would have been at the end of 2009. This location, that being my parent's house watching television with them, would not have surprised me one bit. Surely, the best place to spend one's time is with one's family and that is doubly truthful during the holidays.
I haven't posted for awhile so I suppose it is time to mention what has been occurring over the last few weeks. My last post, if I remember correctly as I'm not working with the post in front of me, was just before my last two finals. My second to last finals was Contracts and I must admit that that final may have kick my butt. It was not what I was expected, but I think I'll do okay as I still feel really good about my grasp of contracts. The last final was Civil Procedure which I scared the living crap out of me beforehand. I singlehandedly studied more for that final then I did for any of the others. It probably paid off. Although we won't receive grades back until after the first week of next semester, I feel like I hit that test out of the ballpark beautifully! Once testing was over there was nothing to do! I had the missionaries over for dinner on Saturday night and then I headed up to Natalie's and Jacob's to spend the night. We drove to the airport on Sunday morning and then dropped me off and I waited for my flight. The flight was smooth and non-consequential. Courtney, Mom, and Dad picked me up and I'v been with them since then.
The most important thing that has occurred since I've arrived home occurred on the 27th of December. On that day, my father ordained me to the office of an Elder. We had quite a lot of family over to experience the moment with me. It was well worth the wait. Other then that everything else has been pretty vanilla. Christmas was very good as we had the entire family together and some points. Silly Chris and Amy had other commitments during the time so we only saw them sometimes. I fly back to OKC on the 13th and till then I don't have much planned. I guess the vanilla continues.
Since it is the New Year, it seems only appropriate to reminisce about the top moments of the last year. In reverse order.
5. Kansas
On February 6th, I experienced the greatest college basketball that could ever exist. My father played with Bill Self at Oklahoma State. As such, he challenged an individual who he buys products from and said if my dad could get basketball tickets then Shaun had to buy airline tickets and hotel rooms. My father was able to contact Bill and he did provide. Thus we, my father, mother, and my self, flew to Kansas City on the 5th and then traveled to Lawrence to watch practice and meet with Coach Self. On the 6th we traveled back to Lawrence and we experienced what has to be the greatest college basketball atmosphere ever. The fans were amazing and the sport wasn't ruined by artificial noise. Hopefully, I'll get the opportunity to attend such an event again.
4. Law School Acceptance
On February 3rd, I received my first acceptance to law school. Although it was to the University of Tulsa, where I didn't end of attending, the first acceptance truly was the sweetest. It was an acknowledgement that I was going to be going somewhere at least. I remember the excitement of looking at that envelop and opening it up. Although I would be accepted to two others schools, including the University of Oklahoma, that first acceptance from Tulsa was the sweetest.
3. Turning in the Final Paper
August 6th, I finished the culmination of 2 ½ years of academic work. On that day, I turned in my final paper to my senior thesis professor. Although, I didn't receive my grade for a week or two later, I remember turning that paper into Professor Castle's box and being so excited because I was finally done and because I knew nothing was going to be in my way in regards to attending law school. My senior thesis was on the effect of negative editorials on the percentage of elections that are contested. My findings seemed to implicated that my hypothesis was incorrect but that is okay.
2. November 1st
November 1st, while all of my other moments to this point have been rather secular, academic or sporting, November 1st was quite spiritual. November 1st started in Stillwater at Natalie and Jacob's and ended in the institute parking lot in Norman. In between we attended a ward conference with President Eyring and I received my patriarchal blessing in Ardmoore. I don't know if there is anything I can say that will describe what an event that day was.
1. Law School Orientation
August 20th I started a journey that will culminate ultimately, hopefully, in my graduation from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. The whole experience didn't become real until after my father and I stepped into the Bell Courtroom for the first time and I was suddenly hit with that feeling of belonging and a realization that I had achieved what I had set out to achieve at the beginning of the year.
Although, I have list just five major events of the last year, there have been many other events that have occurred that have shaped me into the person I am.
Over the next year, I'm hoping that I will continue with academic success and do well this spring. As well, I'm hoping spiritual development will continue as well and I will get the opportunity to serve a mission somewhere where I am called.
Well, I'm typed to much and I haven't proofed this at all so hopefully it's not too bad. I'll leave you with my New Years Resolutions:
1. Be a better person every day
2. Achieve academic success this spring
3. Be called to a mission and serve worthily
4. Have a good time
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