Anno Ammoni 18

So, today was great. I have to say, there's a lot of pressure to have a happy birthday, and i think i pulled through this year. Birthday's can be a sad time sometimes if no one really knows about it, because it really high lights how lonely you are (my birthday in Cambridge was pretty lame, it came and went without consequence. I'm glad i make friends faster than i did then) I think facebook has done a lot for making people's birthdays happy. Before if you wanted people to know it was your birthday you had to subtlety work it into the conversation weeks before hand, but now everyone gets a little reminder about it. Even so, it came in a few conversations, which had something to do with going on a mission (so when are you turning 19? Today! bam). I got a few phone calls, from melissa and my mom and logan and the bishop. Our bishop is way cool, i was worried that i was going to have to give a talk in sacrament meeting, but nay. That actually marked the third time today when i got weird unexpected messages from the bishopric, the first was to have me join the mission prep class, taught by the bishops son, who seems like a cool guy. The second was in the middle of sacrament meeting, Brother Olsen passed me a note. And it's not like i was sitting next to him, i was conveniently on the second row, so after he finished announcements he held out a note to me so i had to get up and get it. Apparently i turned really red, it was weird. But that was just to play music while the elders quorum passed out roses to all the girls, and that was good. My roommates gave me some presents (a t-shirt and The Office season 1) which was really thoughtful, and my roommate told me that when he buys a new snow board he'll give me the old one. So great news there. That pretty much sold it for me, i'm going to survive living with this set up. If i could get him to stop smoking it would be glorious, but free snowboard more than compensates for that.

Lets see, there was also a fireside today. The speaker was great, and he reminded me a lot of President Monson, who is generally my favorite speaker in conference, and then i came back up and had a little peanut-butter and jelly party by my RA. So overall, a pretty awesome day. Definitely one of my better birthdays.

So on to what's happened in the past year. Well, one year, one day, and about 6 hours ago i was being interviewed to get my Eagle Scout. Since my last birthday i graduated high school, went to college, gained a lot of independence (much like America did, only without the war...or the tyranny), have again changed my mind about what i want to be when i 'grow up', have gotten dangerously close to being grown up, became an elder, said fare well to a great bunch of friends, said salut to a great bunch of new ones, become 2.6 times the uncle i was before, and all sorts of other adventures that made being 18 a pretty good year.

As Logan quoted from my favorite Jerry:
"Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing."

For the most part this is true, i am basically the same person i was 1 year ago, i am about as passive, sarcastic, procrastinating, shy, neurotic, and removed as ever, but i'd like to think i've gotten a bit more mature, more responsible, a little smarter, and am starting to get over my crippling self doubt, that's a big plus. I've also made a conscious effort to be a little more sensitive. Between too much masked sarcasm and generally thoughtlessness, i've insulted a few more people than i would have wanted to. It's not that i don't care about other people, i just have a tendency not to think much about the fact that they might not see things as i do, and calling someone a heathen just won't fly with some people. Hm, this is one of the more honest self evaluations you'll find on this blog, generally i do stuff like this in my real journal, but i'm betting by now anyone who doesn't already know me pretty well will have stopped reading, and will have no idea, although i guess i'd better end it in a way that doesn't suggest the earlier comments...

So that's how i learned that altoids are not a suitable replacement for prescription pain medication. Sorry about that Spencer.

But yeah, all in all, good year, great birthday, and i look forward to what mambo number 19 will bring.

!XIX!

I think 19 might me one of the more insignificant birthdays, but its roman numberals have a nice symmetry. So far i've had a pretty stellar 15 minutes of birthday, and today i've gotten a few presents so that's cool. This morning i went a cashed the check from Grandparents Perkes, happily there's a zions bank open on saturday (in smiths! It was hard not to spend it all in smiths right then) Then i came back and found two presents in the mail, one from my parents (which wasn't a present at all...well i suppose it was, just not for me, but it comes with 30 dollars being added to my savings account, so that's rad) and one from Katie and Logan. Now i can go under cover and a mustached crime fighter using my Cat Gun.

Like So:


I also managed to finally photograph the elusive family of deer than roam around Utah campus:


Otherwise today was pretty uneventful. I kinda got another present in my roommate getting a cheap as free snowboard and boots that fit me and i imagine i'll be able to borrow from time to time. I have a couple complaints about my current roommate, but i can't deny that he is a super nice guy. Plus i found out last night that he knows Tai Chi, which is pretty cool.

Lets see...in other news, i may be getting a job soon. I had a job interview yesterday at Jamba Juice and it went really well. They probably don't like that i'll only be there for 3 months, but otherwise i think i'm a shoe-in. I actually had a really great day yesterday, i meant to make a blog about it. Orange Juice and 33% Recycled paper and other exciting adventures. I found out yesterday night that i've spent 60 dollars in the past month or so, that was a bit surprising, but with grandparent money, parent money, pain survey money (they're going to electrocute me and i'm going to answer questions about it for $15 an hour), plus the impending job i should be doing ok, which is good because in one month i'm going to have to shell out 50 bucks on Smash Brothers Brawl...it's kinda bad because i'll only have it for threeish months before the mission, i could just play Adam's...whatever. I think if i have a job when it comes out i'll buy it, because i should be finding myself with a little bit of pocket money.

So that's about all that's going on here. I'll probably write sunday night about this past year, but until then, enjoy the sunset picture i took on the way back from my job interview.

Superbe Mardi Gras!

It's interesting how much more productive a day becomes when there's nothing on Tv. I worked out, i put in a job application, i went shopping (bread, hooray), i ate dinner, and then i watched house. Now i'm watching the election results and trying to learn a new pen spinning trick. I should perhaps be doing physics homework, but whatevs.

Utah voted for Obama, good for them/us (i couldn't vote in Utah with the whole residency thing), i'm really hoping he'll win

Otherwise life of late has been pretty usual. It looks like i'm on the verge of having enough money, s that's pretty exciting. I'm getting 60 dollars on Valentines day for a study i'm in, and there's birthday money, and the chance that i get a job, and i think i have a pretty good chance. I have decent restaurant experience, and if they actually call Sal and Mookie's or Backyard Burgers (if there's anyone who still remembers me at BYB) i'll probably be described well. Speaking of Sal and Mookie's, their new bar-lounge where the scoop shop was looks awesome. To all my people's who read this and live in jackson and don't already work at Sal and Mookie's, you should check it out.

I got a sweet birthday letter today, but apparently i'm not allowed to open it until the 10th. It's sitting on my shelf taunting me with it's hidden awesome.

man, this post is boring. sorry, i'll try to have more exciting news in the future. Here's a picture to make it better.

Gordon Bitner Hinckley 1910 - 2008

A couple hours ago my mom called me to tell me that President Hinckley has died. So instead of watching Dane Cook's stand-up, i decided going to Ward Prayer (a sort of family prayer with our church), which was nice. We sang "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good" which is a beautiful song, and i was playing, which was nice because i was the best piano player there...that sounds conceited, i only mean that it is a song that wouldn't be nearly as good when played poorly or only one handed, and i'm glad i was able to provide decent two handed playing.

President Hinckley is the first President of the church to die while i was old enough to remember, and is really the only one i've ever known. He's always, even as a 97 year old man, had a great sense of humor, and was a powerful speaker. I can't really compare him to past prophets since he's the only one i've lived through, but he's certainly been the most influential on me, maybe one of the most influential people to live. It's weird to not have him be the President. I'll definitely miss his presence at conference, but it seems like he's been awaiting this for some time, especially since his wife died, so it's really not a sad day. He lived a great life, and now can rest.

"When such a friend from us departs
We hold forever in our hearts
A sweet and hallowed memory,
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim
Devotion to the Savior's name,
Who bless our days with peace and love,
We praise thy goodness Lord above."

Please tell me why

Today i saw a commercial for a compilation album of 90's alternative rock. When did i get so old?

I will always stop the Microwave at 1 second.

That was pretty much the best part of my day. That might sound a little depressing, but the first bit of peanut butter is fairly amazing.

Other than that my day was spent with class, physics homework, and a surprising amount of waiting on hold...oh and some scrabble. You can't forget the scrabble. Anyway, tomorrow looks to be a long but eventful day. So i'm going to go to sleep somewhat soon.

In that category of things instead of which i should be sleeping:

I'm not quite sure if the grammar works out the way i want it to in the title, but you get the gist.

My roommate is still trudging along through his homework, having slept the majority of the evening. I figured i would take the opportunity to update everyone one the events of my life, because it is oh so fascinating.

I hit a snag a couple days ago in Operation Crowded Bear, formerly called Operation something about my roommate. As it turns out, there isn't a single open room anywhere on campus. I find this somewhat impossible to believe, so i'm hoping the system is just wigging out since they just put it back on, but we'll see. I've taken some flack for trying to get rid of my roommate, and i've put quite a bit of thought into it. I don't want to live alone, and having a roommate i was friends with and could talk to would be awesome, but yeah, i dunno, between the smoking and the language barrier and the impressive propensity for getting very drunk despite not have much tolerance and suffering from impressive hangovers, i'm not sure this roommate is entirely for me. Technically his drinking is legal, but having a roommate sleeping and moaning all day is just awkward, but whatevs, we'll see how it unfolds. I could always look around for some room to switch to, but i like my room, and my suitemates for the most part, and it feels all homely now...maybe Chung will happen to find some friend he wants to move in with. I'm 3/3 so far with that happening.


Other than that life has been fairly regular. James and/or Tim popped my inner tube-sled. It was only a matter of time before that happened, so it's good that they did it, cus now they're responsible for the next sled. Tuesday i went a drew the plan for a house. That was a lot more work than i thought it was. And then my partner bailed on me for our presentation today, so i didn't really have anything, but happily i had taken a picture of it before hand, so i could at least show that i'd done it, and my professor was pretty understanding about the whole thing, at least for me, i don't think it'll go well for my partner but whatever...

I've been making good use of my camera, it's continued to be wicked snowy up here, so the picture taking possibilities have abounded. There've also been some deer that have taken up residence in Chapel Glenn and the surrounding area, and earlier today there were five of them just chilling down there but my camera chose that moment to run out of batteries. I love my camera lots and lots, but it sure could do with a battery meter, that was kinda bad planning there Canon. Due to the lack of deer, i'll provide this picture as the constellation prize. I realize that the word is conciliation, but it's one of those things that has become so deeply ingrained* in my thinking that it's very difficult not to say it or in this case type it. Like Zooology and pronounciation.



I like that picture, it makes me think of Big Fish.

well that's all from here. One of these days something of consequence will happen, but i'll be so wrapped up in my exciting life that i'll put off writing about it for weeks. Until that day comes, expect meaningless updates fairly regularly.

Oh, and mad thanks to caitlin for the wicked awesome presents i got. Now i am well equipped to start or stop small fires. Hoorah.

~Ammon