New Direction

So yeah...It's been a while.

We...well I just finished finals for this past fall semester. I was lucky enough to only have two this semester. Everyone hates me for it, but I'm okay with that haha. I would have had three finals on top of a paper...but one of my teachers LOVED our class to the max so he cancelled our final and final paper! Good stuff, good man.

Anyway, this past fall was a hard one. My classes gave me a run for my money, I didn't have rugby, and I've realized that I regret a lot of things in my life...plus I really miss my friend Keilani. She's currently serving her mission in Korea, and doing wonders there, but I just miss her terribly. As for school, I think I've finally decided what I'm doing and how I'm going to finish up. I'm finishing up my major classes next semester, taking the BOC over the summer, taking my last three GE's next fall, and then graduate next December! Sounds perfect right? Let's hope so.

So let's just say, I'm glad I made it out alive. There were things along the way that helped me through: Las Vegas Ragnar, Halloween Half, seeing Julia and her fam for thanksgiving, a trip to Goblin Valley, among many others. Thanks to those that took part in those. I'm really looking forward to Christmas break and just being able to relax. I'm hoping to fix a lot of things when I go home.

Water

Once the clouds finally opened up and let a little sunshine through today, I decided to go on a bike ride out to Utah Lake via the Provo River Trail. I'd done the trail before, but on my roommates extremely small bike, so I was flying on my new (new to me) bike I got off of KSL. I was flying by, but so was the water that I was riding next to. It's been raining nonstop here for the past week so the water was really high and just crui

sing! Watching it rush by and seeing how much flooding it has caused around it got me thinking about the power and destruction behind it.

It's crazy to think that one of the most powerful and destructive things on this earth i

s also the very thing we need in order to live. Water. Our bodies are mostly composed of water, so w

e need to intake water everyday in order to operate normally. That's a beautiful thing! It keeps us alive. The ocean, on the other hand, is also known to have made massive things disappear and has caused quite a bit of casualties over the years. That's the destructive aspect of water. I think we, as human beings, have underestimated the power of water and continue to do so. We seem to think that we can conquer everything on earth, but in

reality we can't. Water sets us in our place.

I love the water. I love swimming, floating, the ocean, water sports, boating,walking in the rain, showering, drinking...anything! I also love learning about water. When I was younger, I used to read all sorts of books about sharks, natural disasters, and ships that have sunken in the ocean. But the thing is, water also scares the living crap out of me. The power that water has scares me, and if you know me well, then you also know that I have a hard time enjoying the water when I know that water creatures are in there swimming around me. That may sound funny, but if water is so powerful, then the creatures that live in it are as well because they've conquered it enough in order to survive. We sure can't say that for ourselves! You hear about all of those stories of people getting swept out to sea, victims of drowning, hurricanes, tsunamis, and even the creatures that live in the water becoming curious when human beings step foot in their habitat, and it's kinda scary. Now, I'm not saying that we should all avoid the water and everything involved with it, but I'm just learning more and more about my love/hate relationship with the thing that keeps me alive. Maybe someday I'll get over it and just be able to love it :)

Water. It's a beautiful, but dangerous thing.

Running...

That's one of my goals this summer, to run a lot more. Well, it's really a sub goal to a bigger goal of mine this summer, but I'll mention that later.

So it rained today, and I ran in it. It was perfect. Most of the time I can't stand running without music in because the sound of my own breathing and pounding on the pavement drives me crazy. I usually need something to distract my mind from over thinking too much, but today I just didn't want that. I wanted to listen to the rain fall on my jacket, and hear the sound of the water rushing down the streets as I climbed up them. I wanted the freedom to think about what I'm going to do next. Most of all, I wanted that opportunity to build my inner strength, the courage that I can do great things. The mind is one of the hardest things to overcome on runs and I feel like mine hasn't been in the right place lately. I feel like I need to retrain my brain to think good things, and to trust myself that I can do things that I set out to do, good things. I will no longer accept defeat from myself. I can do great things.

I mentioned before that I have a big goal for myself this summer. Most probably won't know what I'm talking about because it deals with rugby, but I'll tell it anyways. Currently I am a back. I've played most positions in the back line with my favorite probably being scrumhalf. We lost a lot of people at the end of this season for multiple reasons (graduation, missions...) so next year should be my chance to impact the team and become an asset to them. I would also like to try out new things. It's probably a little crazy, but I want to train for a forward position. That way if things don't work out with the backs I can try with the forwards, or vice versa. If they don't work out for either, then maybe it isn't for me anymore. All sorts of crazy thoughts running through my head these days! Anyways, the plan is to run more and to lift and strengthen my body and mind more for the upcoming season. It's going to be a great summer!

WE DID IT!

After so many years of struggling and having things taken from us... my rugby team finally made it to the final four!!! We just got back from a weekend in Minnesota where we trudged through the worst game conditions we've played in in a while. The first day we played UCLA in the cold and wind, but we handed them a 31-10 defeat. It was such an ugly game though. That seems to be our method though. Ugly game Friday and a better game on Saturday. Anyways, the next day was actually kinda nice. We played Navy and beat them 7-0. We totally dominated their forwards though and we should have scored more often, but it just didn't happen.

So now we are gearing up for the final four and championship game that we are hoping to be in. We play Army May 13th and then most likely Penn State the next day. It's so close!!

In other news, I'm busy trying to get everything organized into my new place and at the same time trying to get used to taking spring classes. It's only the second week in and I'll already have two tests next week! Crazy.

Spring term, rugby, and hotel rooms...

Spring term officially began this morning at the ripe 'ol time of eight o clock. I had the privilege of sitting in a class for two hours and learning about the bones in our bodies. It was great! There are about five of us that are taking it this semester that are in my semester of the athletic training program so we have a pretty good time. I think it will be a pretty good semester though.

Now rugby...we leave for Minnesota this Thursday to play in Blaine for the sweet 16 and hopefully the elite 8 as well. First up is UCLA and then most likely we would be playing Navy. We are all pretty excited and nervous. The end is so close! We are pretty excited to just travel there haha. Somehow they managed to get us all on the same flight. Plus, we got new warm ups so we will be looking pretty legit! We're hoping for a successful weekend :)

As for the hotel room...Last week, as some know, was finals week here at BYU. So we are all done and going home and all that nice stuff. Well, some of us are actually staying and we unfortunately have to deal with the ugly monster that is student housing. For some reason, BYU can't seem to master not having any lag time in between moving out and moving into another place. It's never been a problem in the past and I thought it wouldn't be this year either. Turns out I wasn't able to move in when I needed to, but I did have to move out of my old place. A long story short, My new landlord was told a few different things from the current tenants and now they aren't moving out until sometime this week. That left me with about five nights of no place to be. The first few nights my friend Janelle helped us out and we were able to stay at her place and spend Easter with her and her family. The remaining nights we are spending in a hotel in Springville. It basically white trash USA, haha, but it's a place to be for now. We are hoping I can move in tomorrow and that everything will be squared away. No hard feelings towards the new landlord though, it wasn't her fault at all. Anyways, happy Spring!

The end is near...

Of the semester that is!

We only have about two weeks left and I can't wait! Unfortunately, spring and summer term are just around the corner, but I have faith that they won't be nearly as taxing or emotionally consuming as full length semesters are. I can't wait for full on springtime/ summer to come! Even though I'll still be tied down by schooling and a job (hopefully) the feeling of freedom will still be there :) Speaking of the job...I talked to the Sports Authority here in Orem and they said they would be hiring for someone in the apparel section in the next couple of weeks! The manager told me to apply and he would hold onto my application. Hopefully my time at the South Jordan store will give me some kind of leg up. I also applied to work summer camps that BYU puts on for kids around the nation. I have yet to hear back from them but that would be such a good working experience if I could get that job. I don't see it working out as well with my schedule, but I can still hope right?

As for the other main ingredient in my life...rugby...We had the first round of playoffs here in Provo last weekend and we blew both teams out of the water. We are gearing up this next week to travel to California and take on UC Davis and most likely Stanford. I feel like this is our year! Sadly, one of our games last weekend was during a session of conference, but we were able to watch the Saturday morning session together as a team. I just love how different this team is compared to any other that I've been on. I've always been the only member on a team in high school so to have an entire team that believes in the same things as me is truly incredible. When we travel to California next weekend we are planning on attending the Oakland Temple together. This will be the second time we've done that as a team and I love that we set time aside to think about the things that truly matter. Going back to conference, one of my favorite talks was given by President Uchtdorf Sunday morning. I love how he focused on receiving revelation and how we don't have to have experiences like Psaul or Joseph to believe and be converted. Most of us just need little steps of faith. Also, I loved when he said that we can become an answer to someone's prayers, and in the meantime we can answer our own. Anyone have any favorites they'd like to share?

So yeah, that's what these next two weeks are looking like...some rugby love and a little school time crunch all finalized with a touch of moving out of Belmont. I'm actually pretty excited to move out. I've been here for two years now and I think it's about time to move on. At first I was trying to find a place to stay with two of my roommates from freshmen year, but they were taking a little longer than I had wanted so I took things into my own hands. I'm moving into a house that is owned by a friend's parents with people that I've never met. The only other time I can say I've done that is when I moved into my freshmen dorm three years ago. It will be an interesting experience I'm sure. I'll miss my roommates though.

That's all for now!

...

It's been forever. Nothing new is really happening. We are coming upon the last few weeks of this semester and it's crazy to see it fly by all of a sudden. February crawled by and now everything is just a blur. School is going well. I finish one class early next week and then I just have three to really worry about. Hasn't been too rough this year and I think it's going well...or maybe that can attest to why I'm so bored a lot lately. Clinical at Lone Peak High school is going well too. The kids there are really nice and cooperative, and it doesn't hurt that they are good at most of their sports so the games aren't too painful to watch haha. I feel like I'm finally clicking with my major though. I'm not second guessing so much and I remember to do everything that is required when doing evaluations and such. It's a good feeling after two years!

Speaking of two years...two years ago my roommates and I sent of numerous guys that were our really close friends and now all of a sudden, they are all coming back to Provo! It's exciting and kinda nerve wracking at the same time. I hope they aren't all awkward! haha.

Rugby is going well. In the past few weeks we've played Weber State on their goose poop field of awesomeness, UVU, Salt Lake Slugs, and today we played Utah State. I feel like I've really been improving as a player. I had the opportunity to score a try against Weber and then I also got to start as the A team's scrumhalf against UVU. It was a really good game! But yeah, things are going well and our team is looking really good I think. We start play-offs in two weeks against Cal Berkley. It's nice because we host the first rounds of tournament play, so no traveling for us yet!

Some other key things that happened over this past month or so...I attended a Jazz vs. Celtics game with my friend Janelle which was awesome!! The Jazz put up a good fight but in the end my Celtics won :) We went up Emigration Canyon one night and went sledding down it. Talk about the most exhilarating, ten minute sledding experience of your life! We didn't have any lights or anything. We just started at the top of a mountain and just let the sled follow the ditch-like path that was there. That's pretty much it for now!