Good Samaritan, Bad Samaritan

You know those moments when the very best in you comes out and you think to yourself "why can't I be that great all the time?" you know those moments? This was't one of them.

My friend, who we'll call Maude, called to ask me for a favor. She'd locked her keys in her car at her work in Orem. She wondered if I could take her husband, who had the other key, to get the car after his class. I said yes.

On my way, I noticed my gas tank was a little low so I decided to be on the safe side and fill 'er up. That's exactly where things went wrong. I parked at a gas station right beside campus and gently hummed to myself as I got out of the vehicle (I tend to do that). Just as I was about to shut the door, my phone began screaming at me. In the shuffle to get out my phone and answer it, I dropped my keys in the door of the car I was shutting - locked. As I heard the slam of the door and my eyes drifted to the locked locks, my eyes widened and the tune I was humming stopped abruptly. My greeting to the caller was not the cheeriest.

Turns out the Provo police won't unlock your car, and BYU police will only unlock your car if it's on campus. Sadly, I missed that mark by 20 feet.

Of course, the irony of the situation didn't fully hit until I explained to the locksmith that I'd locked the keys in my car while taking a friend to get their keys out of their car. He laughed, my friends laughed, I laughed. You have to admit, it was funny.

Goal for next time: try not to be a bad samaritan. Also, next time I lock my keys in my car I will be doing it on campus.

Planning for the Future

Okay, I realize that some of this might be based on conjecture, but in case I'm right I'd like to be ahead of the game.

I figure that all of those times in the bible and the other standard works when it refers to "mansions in heaven", that they're actually being serious. Even if they aren't necessarily Pemberley or Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle, I get the feeling that we won't need to worry about housing. Having said that, neighbors are another thing.

Everybody who makes it is going to be pretty darn cool, but there are some people that I've met in life that I would like have on my block. My friend Jesslyn and I have formed a group called the "Celestial Cul-de-Sac", and we are currently taking applications. At our last official meeting we decided that Abraham had what we were looking for, so we had to deny Moses. In another landmark decision, J. Golden Kimball's spot was given away in favor of our dear friend Ben. Feelings may have been hurt.

For those rejected applicants whose awesomeness is sufficiently awesome, we afford them the option of sharing a back fence with one of us, or digging a tunnel to connect our basements. After all, sharing is caring. The picture is an artist's rendering of our potential development. We'll probably have to run it by somebody first though...

In any case, spots are filling up (mine is the one at the top with the nice pool).

Maybe. Maybe Not.

Dear Reader,

Do you ever have one of those days where you can't speak english...or any other language? Yeah, me too.

There just happens to be a girl at one of my jobs that I like (attraction level: 10/10). We'll call her Beyonce. However, there just also happens to be a disease called can't-say-what-you-want-to-when-you-want-to-itis. I have it real bad. And I think it might be terminal.

First of all, let me just say that I believe I'm funny and well-read; if any of you want to dispute that I will fight you. However, every time my secret lover/coworker goes to leave for the day I try to say something funny and all that comes out is something that sounds like finnish (she doesn't speak finnish)(neither do I). She then gives me a laugh that shows she doesn't understand a word I said, and I slowly turn around and rest/bang my head on the keyboard.

Just before writing this blog I said something as she left that sounded more like Danish (slightly closer to English...), but based on her laugh, I'm assuming she doesn't speak danish either. Somedays I'm awesome, I just have this disease where I'm never awesome around her. If this were real paper this would be the part that was wrinkled by bitter tears.

Sincerely,

Louis

iHear, iShare

I love music. I love it alot. I hear some songs and I stop whatever I'm doing and listen because they're awesome. I wanted to share a few of my current favorites and some that will never get old.

New Additions:
Heartbeats - John Gonzalez
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Blood Bank - Bon Iver
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Sara Bareilles
Hallelujah - MaMuse
Farewell - Rosie Thomas
Sugarcane - Missy Higgins
Crossfire - Brandon Flowers
Us - Regina Spektor
Eveningland - Hem
Doubting Thomas - Nickel Creek
I Was Made for Sunny Days - The Weepies
Lost - Coldplay and Jay Z

Never Get Old:
Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson
World Spins Madly On - The Weepies

I hope you all appreciate these as much as I do. If not, well...you're dead to me (in a very real, very legally binding sense).

Early Resolutions

I made a new years resolution that I'm only allowed to dislike (alot) one person per year. Don't worry, I've already got 2010 covered. Let me tell you about this year's prestigious winner:

1) I used to see him about every day and he would ignore me every day (the occasional nod in my direction was the exception). The only time he would actually see me was when he came to hometeach me. And yes, he was my hometeacher. Needless to say, his visits on the last night of the month weren't exactly life changing. Don't worry, my self esteem remains .

2) He wasn't the clear winner for 2010 until an occurrence that took place about two weeks ago. He'd moved out of our ward by this time and I hadn't seen him for a while - maybe I forgot how much of a tool he was. I was walking through the bookstore and having a particularly nice day when I saw him walking towards me. He turned and looked me in the face and I smiled and said hi. He said nothing and turned away. Note: I say hello to people because it's nice, not because I think they're awesome.

3) I was sitting down by a friend (who is a girl) and talking with her at a ward function. He left the group of girls he was talking to and sat down beside this girl, ignored me completely and began a conversation with her that demanded her undivided attention because of continuous questions. I made my exit.

So, without further ado, the 2010 "Waste of Skin" Award goes to the most worthless hometeacher of all time.

Penguin Launchers

I may have stumbled upon another trump card (something you can't help smiling at no matter how messed up your day was). There I was, minding my business and getting ready for the day. I grabbed my box of cheerios and headed for the table with my 2% milk and bowl. I opened the box and began to pour, but I got more than I bargained for. Suddenly there was a "collector's series prize" sitting in my bowl. Shocked, I carefully examined the UFO. Then it hit me: I'm a winner!

I don't know what it is about finding a prize in my cereal box, but I don't plan on getting tired of it anytime soon. I felt like a little kid.

Switching to the (serious) moral: have you ever sung the extra verses to If You Could Hie to Kolob? There is one lyric that says "there is no end to youth". Is your mirror sending you the same message? Probably not (your mirror isn't lying to you, put the hammer down). The truth is our spirit doesn't age with our bodies. Our body decays, but our spirit is eternal. Some people become as stiff, tired and old as their bodies, forgetting they live on after this life. Others mature, but never grow old.

Maturing, I think, means knowing how to respond to every circumstance life presents. Growing old, I think, means forgetting how to play with kids or relate to a teenager. So, maybe I won't be able to jump up and down at the age of 80, but hopefully I'll still giggle when I find a penguin launcher in my cereal.

Kick him in the Shins!

I may or may not be experiencing a funk. In order to counteract this I set a goal last week to exercise every day, instead of the normal one or two days during the week. At 6:30 AM the alarm sounded and my head instantly reminded me how late I'd stayed up. Like a snake in the grass, the thought crept in "well...maybe I could skip exercising just for today...." Fractions of a second later my alarm was reset for some distant time and I was playing cards with Mr. Sandman. (Repeat tuesday - friday) Epic Fail.

After a particularly inspiring weekend I decided to make this goal a reality, whatever the cost. I should've known it would be a fight.

I left a party sunday night before it even started so I'd be in bed by 10:30. I get home and realize my bed sheets are still soaking wet in the washer. Crap. Put them in the drier and get ready for bed in the meantime. I'm not going down that easy. Finally I get to bed at 11:45, bracing myself for the pain I'm going to feel at 6:30.

6:30 - alarm sounds, pain registers, fight through it and begin grabbing my stuff for swimming.
6:35 - goggles are nowhere to be found. I'll have to find my roommate at the library and get them from him. Pool closes at 7:30, I can still make it (pace quickens).
6:40 - Can't find car keys anywhere. Oh wait, there they are...locked inside my car. Slowly sigh and lower my head.

This is the point where my friend told me she kicks satan in the shins and moves on. So, I do.

6:45 - Put on my jogging shoes and go running instead.
7:20 - Arrive home feeling like a million bucks.

Victory!!! However, when I arrived home I got completely ready for the day then fell dead-asleep. So, maybe I missed class...but that'll be my goal for next week.