Notes from the Underground

I find myself in the basement of the student union with no way out and the torturous smell of unobtainable food drifting on the wind. Luckily there's a rockin' iMac to keep me company. My parents are in a movie until 4:45, and i don't feel like braving public transportation just to wait outside the planetarium while they watch IMAX. So, in the mean time, i thought i'd post a bit of an update on my vacation.

So, as is my custom, i'm going to work backwards, because that's how i am. Today i had orientation, or half of orientation, i came to late to get the beginning, and so ii'm going to get that tomorrow. Orientation was fun, i found myself reminded of how shy i can be at times, but that's alright. I got a free t-shirt and a frisbee, which i'm sure i'll give away (the frisbee, the t-shirt is too lame to give away, but ii'll probably work out or somthing in it) We had some very typically utah lunch, which was ok. i registered for a few of my classes, and i got into the honors program, although i probably won't be in the honors dorm, which is too bad, we'll see though, she said there may be a bed open for one guy, that'd be cool.

I was the only person in my orientation group that was majoring in math. go me.

Yesterday was the last day of the reunion. The reunion was good, but not the best, and quite possibly the worst, although that's still pretty good. The food was awful for the most part, and the activities were good at best. there was really no where for us to meet, or play games, except some of the time, but those times were great. I got to ride a horse, the second time in my life, although this horse was really rebellious, she would stop whenever possible to eat grass, and there was very little i could do to stop it, but that was ok, it made my ride a lot more fun than anybody else's, since everybody else was just sitting on the horse riding in a line. The rodeo could have been fun, but the only cool event, the barrel racing, was cancelled. weak.

Before the reunion we went backpacking with a couple of my uncles and a few of my cousins. That was great. We went on a hike way way up in the mountains, and we saw amazing views and hung out with mountain goats. They were literally less than 10 feet away, and not at all afraid of us. To get back down we had to climb down this nearly vertical slope. There were big areas where there was still snow, so we skied down those (well, there were no skis, so i guess technically we shoed.) that was really fun. We dropped 1000 feet in less than an hour and in about 200 horizontal feet. Then we swam in a lake, it was very cold (there was snow melting into it) but it was great.

On the drive out we went to a few cool places, possum kingdom lake, where we saw deer, and an owl, and we were almost struck by lightning. We also went to Guadeloupe National park, carlsbad caverns, roswell (which was really dissapointing, but i'm glad i went) and sitting bull falls which is a waterfall in the middle of the deserts of new mexico. It's been a pretty fun vacation all in all. tomorrow i stat the drive back, and i'll be 'home' (i really don't know where home is right now) on monday probably. That's about all from me. Peace.

Cooking, Colleges, and Camping

I just got a couple emails from MIT and Penn. The MIT one told me that i can find out saturday, the penn one told me i need to send an additional little essay thing about my interest in engineering. Makes sense. I'm really kinda nervous. I really want to get into MIT or Penn.

I just tried, and failed, to make pancakes. I think it's partly the pancake mix's fault, there's no way 3/4 cup water was enough. But also i made the pancakes way to big so i ended up with pancakes with doughy goo in the center. Also, for some reason, there's the inexplicable flavor of vanilla. But i'm full now, and i'm still bored, though i have a magazine and a family newsletter i'm midway through reading, i think i'll update on camping now.

So we met at my house at around 10:30 on sunday night. I pushed for leaving at 4 after sleeping a bit, but that didn't happen, so after gathering up all the stuff, packing bags, and choosing cars, we went off, but we had to stop at walmart first. Anyway, at about midnight we actually started heading towards North Carolina. Once we got on I-20 i worked on going to sleep, and i managed to sleep up until somewhere in alabama. After that i switched with emmett and he slept quite a bit. We drove through Atlanta, and the other guys got lost and were heading out towards the Atlantic, instead of back in towards the Smokeys. They were way too far off, so we decided to keep driving and meet up with them eventually. Somewhere past Atlanta the sun started coming up, and emmett woke up. We stopped at a little gas station, and i bought the first best doughnuts ever. We drove on, staying mostly on track. At some point we started getting into the smokey mountains, where, it turns out, it is very cold in the mornings. We stopped at a walmart and got some really cheap sweater things for emmett to stay warm. Then we kept driving. We stopped at the Fun Factory, which i think is easily the coolest place like that i've ever been to. It had every arcade game imaginable, mini golf, laser tag, bumper cars, i think it had bowling too, and it was all very nice. It was kinda like The Park, but much bigger, and way better maintained. We got some free tickets on some machines, and then got some souvenirs. Fun stuff.

After Fun Factory we kept driving mostly straight until Cherokee, where we waited for johnny since we didn't no how to get to the campgrounds from there. We skipped rocks, and hung out in this really sweet bamboo forest thing. Eventually Johnny and gang came, Emmett and Chris got in a rather tense fight for reasons unclear to me, and them, and we eventually kept going, stopping at subway for some food. We finally got the campground at around 1 or 2. After much ado and some last minute packing and eating, and a little talk with the park ranger, we headed out.

The first half or so of the hike was really easy, and we took breaks to mess around in the water and have fun since the trail itself was pretty boring. With about a mile left the trail suddenly got really difficult and interesting, so that was nice. Finally, just a bit before the sun went down we got into the campground, happily we were the only ones there. We set up a fire and started making some dinner. I got tired of waiting for the fire to get going to i used my campstove to cook some sweet pasta with cream sauce stuff. Twas quite good. Then we hung out for a while around the campfire talking and such, and eventually went to our respective tents.

I fell asleep eventually, but then woke up really early because i was freezing cold. After adjusting my sleeping bag and covering my head i got back to sleep eventually, but then woke up again to people being outside and making a fire. I really had to pee, so i had to get up and ended up staying up and seeing the sun rise, very slowly with the mountains. We, me chris and paul, ate breakfest and drank hot chocolate and had a generally fun time. Eventually other people got up, by then there was no hot chocolate, which was too bad. We went down to the river and built a bridge and hiked up the mountain, not really finding too much interesting. We came back and ate some lunchy food, and then hiked up the river a ways and messed around. The water was very cold, but it was fun. Chris jumped in the water, for five dollars from john, trying to find a fish john thought he had seen. After that we went back and hung around for a bit. We tried to start a bonfire, but because of poor planning, and a strong lack of wood and lighter fluid, it never really became anything. After the died off we moved our camp over to the other side, because the other campsite was way better. Josh was asleep so we left him in the tent, and built a little trap for him, but then he slept too long and we had to wake him up, which kinda made the whole thing less fun. After finally getting everything set up we ate dinner (ramen, it was delicious) and hung for a while and talked and such. That night i slept much better, although at some point i had to wake up to get back on my little pad, because the little bed of leaves that johnny and emmett had made under the tent got crushed.

On wednesday we slept in until about noon. Then we got up, made pancakes, which was an adventure not unlike today's, and then went up the river again. This time we went a lot farther, and i found a place where i could dive in, which was very satisfying. I tried to swim around a bit, but when i put my chest in the water i couldn't breath at all. So yeah. But it was really fun. We went up a little further, but i got kinda bored of the river and ready to go back. A few of the guys built a little fire which we sat around for a while, and then me and emmett stayed there while everybody else kept going. At some point Andrew came back, and so we all headed back down to our campsite. A little while after we got there the other guys got there, they had apparently found an airplane engine, which is pretty cool. I ate my little lunch of half a thing of ritz and a can o' chicken that i had brough to i'd have something to eat. Josh ate one of the dinners that i'd made for josh and me, and wouldn't let me have any because i had my half a role of ritz, which was super weak, but whatever.

While dinner was still going, people decided that they wanted to go home that night. It was getting kinda dark, so we had to hurry and get all our stuff ready fast so we wouldn't get caught in the dark. I didn't want to leave a pile of slightly burnt trash in the campsite, because it looked really bad. By then everybody had left, but josh, who very nobley stayed to help me finish getting rid of the ugly pile of crap and pack up the tent which Paul had nicely left for us to put together and carry out. By the time we finished with everything it was almost dark, and we didn't have a flashlight. We booked it out of the camp, and managed to finish the first mile right as it was getting too dark to see. Right as we came down Emmett got there, having realized we'd gotten left with no flashlight, and come back, in a brilliant, and very lucky, display of friendship. If he hadn't come back we would have been thoroughly screwed. The three of us hiked back as quick as we could, making it back to the car at around 10 or so. The other guys had driven off by then. Originally we'd planned to get pizza and hang out and do fun stuff on thursday and friday, but people decided they'd rather just drive home. They came back and gave us some of the gas money and left. Josh lost his keys, which was almost terrible, but then we found an extra engine key.

The drive back was farely eventful. First we got a bit lost and ended up in bryson. We stopped at a gas station to get directions, a map, and i bought what is definitely the best doughnut i've ever eaten. Andrew told us to head back to where we'd gotten lost and get on 441, but the guy that lived in bryson told us to head out to 28 and take that down to 441. We got to 28, which, as it turns out, is the scariest road in the world. I think if it'd been day time i would have really enjoyed the drive, it was one of those mountain roads that curves a lot and has sheer drops on the side of the road. As it was though it was a dark, dangerous road in the middle of nowhere with scary houses and cars all around. Eventually we got out of the mountains, and franklin turned out to be a nice place. We got lost again and had to get gas and directions in franklin, which got us on the right path. We finally started heading home, and josh was pretty ready to get home, so there was some adventageous speeding. At some point outside Atlanta some cop took issue with us going 90 in a 55, and so josh got what will probably be a pretty sucky ticket. After that we went more or less the speed limit, which made the next half of the drive a good deal longer than the first half, and a good deal less exciting. A little ways out of Atlanta i woke up Emmett (who'd been asleep since we got on 441) and switched with him, since i was having a lot of trouble staying awake. I slept mostly through to some gas station in alabama, where some rather shade cop asked us where we'd gotten emmett. He seemed rather rascist, and he probably was, but i imagine he was mostly doing his job, and being rascist on the side. Either way, it was kinda scary. I guess no camping trip is complete without some crazy back country rascists threatening Emmett. After that i slept up until tinseltown, when josh woke me up. We got to my house and i took a shower, and went to sleep in isaac's bed, since mine is still covered in clothes.

I woke up feeling rather rested and have meandered around a bit for the day so far. All in all i guess camping was fun, there were a lot of annoying happenings with people, and i'm not entirely sure if i'd want to do it again. But whatever.

That was a really really long entry. This morning i was a little impressed by how green my front yard looked, it'd just rained and it was all very warm looking. I wish i had my netflix but i don't, so i'm probably going to read some and then i dunno. We'll see. That's all.

i'm back from camping, a little early. My parents aren't back yet, i'm out of money, and i'm not sure who's in town, so i dunno what the next couple of days is going to be like, but i should get most of my homework done, and be productive, and maybe even work out.

I'm afraid to check my email and livejournal because it's going to take nearly an hour to catch up with all that. I think i'm going to go eat breakfast, although we're out of milk, and eggs. I was going to eat pancakes but the pancake mix i had got locked in josh's trunk. I'm going to go figure something out.

There will be a more full update later today probably, once i'm bored again, but no longer hungry.

The Daily Blah Indeed

I decided it's silly to keep to blogs. I'll merge my old blog into this blog at some point, and from not on good entries will be few and far between.

So today could have been far better than it was.

Camping is causing all sorts of problems. It would have been so simple if everybody hadn't found out about it. Roberta's being about as unfriendly as possible, which is not the way to convince me to go camping. There's really no possible way for everybody to go on this camp. Why does everybody think they can hike nine miles with 30-40 pounds on their back. I'm not sure i can, and i'm in better physical condition than most of my friends. It's almost worth letting everybody come and then just leaving them, but i wouldn't do that, because that'd be wrong, and the camp would end up sucking.

Other problems arise from other issues. Issues which i have to deal with, i really don't want to, but i need to, and it's going to be hard for me to tell people i'm friends with, straight out, you can't go. It really comes down to either completely scrapping this camp and doing somewhere else, or not caving and pissing everybody off. I love the idea of going camping with everybody. But it's not possible for this one, and i really want this to be exactly what i've planned and hoped it to be.

the other problem is money. Driving is going to cost over $100 per car, which means that we really need people in groups of 5.

So yeah, a simple escape from civilization is turning out to be very copmlicated and rather uncivilized.

In other news i've spent the last hour or so figuring out how to play zelda music using my shnazzy keyboard. So far i've gotten the bass, guitar, second guitar, and almost the trumpet part. I'm planning on putting it all together to make the song sound the same, which when i really think about it doesn't sound that cool on it's own, but i'll know how cool it'll be, and that's all that count.

Oh, and two of my sisters now have blogs. We're so cool.

A Vacation...from my problems

I was feeling like posting a picture, and that one caught my eye for some reason, then i messed with it in Picasa for a while, and so there you go.

I've been reading The Poisonwood Bible for a while, delaying the aweful amount of calculus take-home test i need to do, and generally relaxing. Church today was normal, i wore a suit, which isn't normal at all, and that was fun. I also pissed off my teacher by unintentionally calling him a bad teacher. In truth i was frustrated at the inefficiencies of the Socratic Method for teaching, mostly in the way that i answer a whole bunch of questions. I tried to steer us into a nice socratic debate about what freedom is as penence, and that seemed to cheer him up, so i felt a little better.

After church i came home, meandered around as is my custom, and eventually took a stats test, which wasn't so bad. I studied the stuff i figured would be on the test, so i was ok there, but then i kinda blanked on the process it was testing. Luckily it was mostly multiple choice, so we'll see how that goes.

I'm realizing the inherent inefficiencies of having two seperate blogs. Instead of digressing into happy philosophical thinking, i keep myself talking about my day and stuff like that. I guess i'll consolidate my blogs someday, till then i'll leave them. It does make my other blog a bit more interesting to read perhaps, although i'm really not sure which is more interesting, my emo teenager thoughts or my mundane daily toils. I think i'll just let this turn into a thoughtful blog and stick it on my good blog.

I'm realizing i need a break from my friends. I like my friends, they're fun, but when I need a bit of time to just relax and not do a whole lot. My vacations seem to become very busy. I'm looking forward to camping, and wondering how exclusive i should be. It is one of the last big things we'll do together, but in all honesty, i just don't want to go camping with everyone i'm friends with. And as hard as it is to explain, there is a very noticable and enjoyable difference in hanging out, especially camping, with no girls. I don't want my nice small camp get away to be turned into just a normal day but with nature. The other thing is that guys hanging out with their respective girlfriends and/or crushes just aren't as much fun. It's fun for them, but yeah. Maybe i just need a girlfriend. So i'm debating how this camping this is going to go. I also am wondering how everyone and their mom now knows about the camping thing. From my memory i've only told like 4 or so people. Everybody knowing complicates things.

So i'm realizing this blog is fairly revealing, and although only a few people read my blog, it's pretty thoroughly public. Chances are if you're reading this i'm not talking about you, unless you're spencer, and then i most definitely am. Sorry about that, just the way it goes.

Well, it's 7, so i'm going to start working towards doing my homework, starting with writing a quick review of Ghost Rider. Forsooth.