Adventures on the west coast

We arrived in Keri's place in Washington late at night, but not too late because Pinetree was speeding the whole way. We were greeted by Keri's mum. "Mums" are pretty much like "Moms" except they are English so they do nice things like make tea (of the non-caffeinated variety) and dinner and have beds ready for you with chocolates on your pillow. Keri's mum was incredibly kind to us the while in Washington and she was a lot of fun to listen and talk to.
The next day we woke up and went to the pier and the woods. We ate at Barbie's Cafe (excellent reuben sandwiches and clam chowder) where we had a spectacular view of the Puget Sound.

On the deck near Barbie's Cafe



Blueshorts and Keri get cozy in the woods


Then we checked out antique stores and the Norwegian town of Poulsbo.














Jumping up and down on the deck of the ferry headed to Seattle. We were pretty excited
















Smurf feigns illness




















Riding ferries is loads of fun!
















Keri, utterly disgusted that Pinetree gave her a fake smooch on the ferry ride. Pinetree utterly unashamed.
















Blueshorts and Keri on Keri's ipod
















The whole gang, about to dock in Seattle
















"What's coming out of that man's tummy?" asks Blueshorts, pointing to Seattle's first Starbucks.
















Happy New Year!
















JD's place on Bainbridge Island. Huge, beautiful backyard. Behind is the beach
















JD, at his place, Sunday




















Pinetree and a map of The Family Tree Apartments, where he used to live.
















Pinetree's former dwelling, before his parents moved to boring old Utah to buy a house three times its size.



















How Pinetree used to get to school in the morning, despite barbed wire and monkey grease.
















Commuting to San Francisco
















Look at how butch we are.
















Match #250
















Consider the lilies
















Stintson Beach
















Stintson Beach
















So I've actually been in Utah for the last two years, believe it or not.
















Frolicking comes naturally to Blueshorts. :)
















That Golden Gate.












































One of the most beautiful things you've ever seen.



Visiting Mecca.
















Kicking it on the rainbow steps.
















The Palace of the Fine Arts, San Francisco

STATE CAPITALS
Blueshorts and Pinetree insisted on seeing the capital building of every state. Except Nevada; like anyone wanted to see the capital of Nevada anyways....okay, so maybe we did...but it was pretty far out of the way.)














Behold, the mighty power of Boise, Idaho.




















Washington Capital at Olympia, a very pretty building. Green all around, just like Washington
















The Oregon capital building at Salem. "The Provo Temple of state capitals"

Music

On My Way

God's Own Image

God's Own Image

bah.

Order

Christmas Around the World ended Saturday in a good way. Everyone from the cast and crew and El Veneno’s team of custodians helped take apart the set. There were 150 or so people all working together to get the job done quickly and efficiently. I think this is something like what Zion is supposed to be like: tons of people assigned to enormous tasks that get done quickly and happily.

And there was no contention among them.

I’m going to miss folkdance from this semester. It really brought the spirit into a part of my life again for a while. I was just getting to be good friends with many of the people there and it was good wholesome fun.

On a less wholesome note, Cranguy and I went to the club in Salt Lake late on Saturday night, and oh what a difference. It was fun too, especially for Cranguy who met some Latina girl (a female. imagine that...) who striked his fancy, but it seemed like a kind of fun that was all messed up. Something was different from how Christmas Around the World was fun. There was no order to it. Order has been something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Like today at the Christmas Devotional when that lady got up to try to disturb the order and she was immediately aprehended by the church security guys. And President Hinckley just kept speaking like nothing happened.

That whole last paragraph was a little abstract but I don’t know how else to put it.

I thought this would be long and maybe I will extend it later but I’m tired and need to go to bed. Goodnight.

Christmas Around the World.

From BYU website:

Christmas Around the World

Fri.-Sat., Dec 2-3, 7:30 p.m. & 2 p.m. Sat. Matinee

Christmas Around the World features the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble, performing one of the largest productions of ethnic dance anywhere in the world. This group exhibits one of the most varied repertoires of International Dance in the world; with dance, costuming, music and cultural representation at its highest quality.

Tickets are $10 for the Friday and Saturday evening performances which begin at 7:30 p.m. and $8 for the 2:00 Saturday Matinee.

If you haven't bought tickets to this even yet, go buy some at the Marriot Center ticket office. It will be cool I promise and I'm even in one of the bajillion numbers. And Cranguy is in another one of them. And some other people you probably know are in it too, especially if you read this blog. It's an awesome show; really beautiful and uplifting. If you go saturday night you will also see a special guest appearance of the Lithuanian ambassador to the U.S. (I get to dance the Lithuanian number right after they announce his presence...oh man...let's all hope that goes well) and another ambassador, I believe from Estonia, but can't remember.

Music, dance, world leaders. Check it out.

Just like any other day...

Just like any other day...

calvin and hobbes

Things to do:

1. Appeal stupid $50 booting fee for Jared’s car
2. Get insurance for my car
3. Get inspection for my car
4. Register car at DMV
5. Get Christmas break schedule from work, plan getaway to sunny (or possibly just a little rainy but a heck of a lot better than Utah weather although the snow was nice this morning but I hate the cold) California.
6. Do BoM homework once and for all.
7. Write paper for poli sci and pray to pass class
8. Just plain start praying and reading scriptures again
9. Finish Mere Christianity
10. Start Chronicles of Narnia and finish before the movie comes out
11. Quit eating wheat/gluten again (I hate this one!)
12. Go running at least every other day so I can look cool at half-marathon
13. Get a six-pack
14. Write blog post about what happened over Thanksgiving break and jump on that whole "I'm thankful for..." list bandwagon so I don't look like an ingrate. I swear I'm not an ingrate...
15. Figure out what to do next semester. (Options: Try to continue at BYU somehow, Defer for a semester and get a job that pays better, Start attending UVSC, Join U.S. Army: the online videos make it look pretty fun!, Run off with my pal the Smurf and sneak into the backdoor of Harvard University, Run off to anywhere and proceed to get a job, establish residency, and enroll in the local community college, Take my chances at trying to become a celebrity/actor/model in hollywood..., Become a pimp. Find a pimp.)
16. Do a good turn daily.

"It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are." Publilius Syrus

Untitled

You know that feeling when you stay up way too late just being dumb, and then stay up later working on your Book of Mormon assignment and they stay up even later eating ice cream because you haven’t gotten it done?

Yeah, that’s the one.

I feel so worthless these days. I get lazy, and then depressed because I haven’t gotten anything done, and then more lazy because I’m depressed. My grades are shit. Social life is a mess. I have student loans that feel like they are going down the drain. I have no desire to go to work. I just want to crawl into bed all the time. And I do. I’m so tired lately. If any bad things happen, I think I’m going to crack.

On Monday I forgot to take a test. I thought I could still pass this class, but not anymore. I went to Beto's in the freezing cold and just sat there and stared out the window eating a breakfast burrito. There was a car outside the window being sold for $1200. I have that in student loans right now. It's getting harder and harder to not do stupid things.

I went to DI because it was across the street and because I needed some jeans. My mom threw out one of my last pairs when I went home last sunday because they had all these holes in them, lots in the bum area. She's been wanting to throw them away for a while. Blueshorts met me there and got some stuff and then we went to Big Lots to look around and get out of the cold. In the middle of it I just plopped down in one of the big easy chairs they have there and wanted to just die or cry or something, but I didnt. Blueshorts sat down too, and we just sat there watching people and listening to the horrible music, forever.

It’s not bad all the time. Like when I get to hang out with cool people like pretty much all of you who read this or like yesterday when I got to babysit my nieces. We played hide and go seek and tossed each other on the couch and watched Veggie Tales and Dora the Explorer and I taught them the Macarena and read them stories. But there’s this shadow over everything and it looms everywhere I go.

I talked to my mom the other night about my... (insert generic term here, ie: issue, dilema, problem, trial, situation, etc) My mom is really great and she listened and tried to empathize, but she just can’t and she had no idea what I should do about anything either. Told me to pray. Said she didn’t understand why I can’t go on a mission. Ugh.

I had this weird day dream (?) the other day. Or maybe it was just the leftovers of a dream I had that night. Anyways, I had just gotten out of bed and was walking up the hill to campus. I was listening to my iPod; something raucous was playing. All the people were walking by like they always do. I was sort of half asleep still and maybe that’s why my head was off in space somewhere, but in this dream I was just imagining the whole of BYU falling to pieces beneath my feet. And then I realized I was destroying it. I stood and hit the ground and everything shook, like the hulk. I was using this weird mix of superpowers and conventional weapons, bombs and explosives. I would sneak around, ninja style and plant bombs and fly off and just make things shake and crumble. I had gotten people to help me do it too. Lots of people. I was on TV and the police and the army had come but they couldn’t stop us. Church leaders were imploring us to stop. I gave some other people super powers and we were just too much. We were all just mad at the BYU and the world for one reason or another I guess. It made lots of sense at the time. It made me wonder a lot about what dreams are supposed to mean, if anything.

I might really be on TV tonight. Not for anything nearly as dramatic as what I wrote above though. They were doing a news story about Y marks at the bookstore and I was taped a couple of times. I could be on KSL 5 at 5 PM or 10 PM.

As another weird brain connection, I got some new checks yesterday. They have superheroes on them. Awesome. Paying bills will be just a tad less painful now.

Back to the Y marks. We are selling Y marks at the bookstore now. It’s basically this big drive to help local food banks and the United Way and I always push them pretty hard (“Would you like to donate a dollar to BYU’s food drive? *does his best to smiles pretty*) at my register because a lot of people are willing to donate a dollar if someone just prods them in that direction. I guess there is some contest we are having against the U as well.

It’s hard to get to work these days, but once I get there, this has made sort of a twisted little game out of it. If the person donates a dollar to help other people, I’m super nice to them, I make sure I get all the discounts they can possibly get, I bag everything carefully, make polite conversation sometimes, and then tell them to have agreat day, or occasionally, a wonderful day.

If the person doesn’t donate a dollar, I just do my job, bag the stuff, give them a little “thank you”, usually without a smile, and ask for the next customer. I don’t wish them any sort of day, and sometimes, when it’s a really fat person buying all sorts of expensive candy for themselves (It is totally cool to be fat and buy candy, but if you’re gonna be one of those people, you’d better give a dollar to the food bank) or some snotty parent buying a gajillion dollars worth of toys to spoil their already spoiled children with, or when it’s a professor that you just absolutely know is loaded and they talk all stuffy and condescendingly....when these people say they don’t want to donate a dollar to help the local food bank, I secretly hope they trip on the way out, or have a heart attack after eating all that candy. I secretly despise them.

The Ring Bearer came in once and acted as a sort of external conscience for these people. It was great. Some lady didn’t want to buy a Y mark and he stood right behind her, shaking his head and saying “Shame, shame....” Ha! And then he heartily congratulated someone for buying one after the other lady left. Hehehe. Thanks, buddy! :)

I need to go take a shower now, but really there are a lot of other things I could post about.

P.S. I think you sign up for the Moab Canyonlands Half-Marathon today, so if any of you all want to do it, let's get on that.

(Pinetree's real name here)

I met another person with my name at BYU!

I was ringing this guy up and the back of his credit card wasn't signed, so I asked for some ID, and lo and behold he had the same name as me! There are only three of us at this school of about 30,000, (I know because I've looked it up) so it was pretty special. We're both one in ten thousand people! I wanted to be his automatic best friend right then and there, but that might have been weird. I was pretty stoked about it though. That's the first time that I have met someone else with my name. Apparently he has met the OTHER *Pinetree's real name* as well. Awesome.

As an Addendum

I almost forgot some important things to add to my last post:

- On Saturday, when I got dropped off by Tom (the girl's dad), we almost ran into Rachel because Tom's truck stalled out. Rachel was on her scooter in the rain, and she smiled and waved and I think that was probably the hottest thing I've seen in while.

- Some females in my ward are setting me up on a date for Homecoming on Friday. The date is from Tennessee and apparently she is a model. (Probably a hand model or something, but whatever that's cool) We are also going to do true blue football. I need to buy a corsage I think.

- This morning I went to Book of Mormon class all tired expecting the welcoming, calm demeanor of Sister Burgon. Instead there was this big Australian lady there barking out names in her oh-so-cool accent. All we had to do was sign the role and pick up our graded test and a study sheet and leave. Awesome.

- We are learning such awesome dances in folkdance. Everyone needs to come watch the Homecoming parade on Saturday morning. I will be getting my groove on in it, Gypsy and Indian (dot not feather) style.

Throwing my blog a bone.

I thought I would post a couple of things here just to keep my blog alive and kicking.

Yesterday I helped this girl move up in Salt Lake. Her mom works in the bookstore with my sister. She isn't a member and has this really ecclectic group of friends: a Catholic priest, a Muslim store owner, Two gay guys, a church security guard, a graphic artist soon to be in the Peace Corps, and several cats that I was allergic too. It almost felt like I was in California again. Mormons were in fact the minority in the group. I had to try not to laugh or smile when her mom coached me on the way up about how her daughter had some friends who were "homosexuals."

We moved all of her stuff, and got most of it done before it started raining. Then we went inside and ate pizza. I had Hawaiian, like with the pineapple and ham and all. It was probably the tastiest thing I've eaten all week. After the pizza we kept moving all of her stuff into the new apartment. We had to move a couch in through the porch because it wouldn't fit through the door.

When we got done the girl's dad drove me home. We got stuck in traffic and so he ended up trying to make conversation with me. It was nice to just sit and look out the window. There were all sorts of cool clouds in the sky grazing the mountains. He asked me my age and then if I was going on a mission, and I answered him truthfully. I'm getting better at doing that. I told him I might join the army or do something else instead for a while. "You’ve got some real burdens, dont you?" he asked. That sort of caught me off guard. I shrugged and didn't know what to say, so I looked out the window again. He told me I was a fine young man and that felt really good. He advised me not to join the army until I get a degree, told me about himself as a young man, and really just talked to me like I was his son. When we got back to my apartment, he grabbed my shoulder paid me $65, which I tried to give back to him, but he wouldn't take it. He smiled at me and I told him he had probably paid for my groceries for a couple months.

After he left I came home and talked to some people online and then went to the grocery store and to DI. I got a couple of shirts and one Book of Mormon in Spanish and one in French. I think it will be cool to try to read the B.O.M. in Spanish. I'm not taking any classes anymore, so it will be good for me.

Later that night I went to Oktoberfest. I hung out with my roommate for a while, ate pretzels and hot dogs with rootbeer, and then did the polka with some girls I didn't know. I love the polka. Later Smurf showed up and then Blueshorts. Smurf and I jumped into a giant German chocolate cake with a million other guys frantically searching for an engagement ring hidden inside. I got all pumped and mostly liked the moshpit sort of feel to it all. Smurf was actually searching strategically for the ring and ended up finding it. $1500 worth of engagement ring! Pretty Sweet. He's one step closer to getting married.

After the party we went to Wiggle's. The whole night was fun, but also very weird. My life is such a soap opera right now, and I sort of hate it and sort of don't know what to do about it.

Today I went to church in the morning. I was asleep or staring into space for most of it. At testimony meetin there was this girl who gave her "testimony" and sounded more like she was talking to a counselor. She would laugh and cry and tell her story all in the same breath; it was weird. She made the meeting go overtime and I'm pretty sure everyone felt really embarrased, like how you feel embarrased for people who do stupid things and don't know it. I also felt sort of bad for her. I could tell she had been having a hard time.

I went home and slept for a long time after which we had Break the Fast at my apartment. After that I went to my family's place and did my laundry and had a really pleasant evening with them. My little brother is such a cool kid. I gave him a cd I made for him. My nieces are so much fun. My mom and my little sister were doing each other's hair and I thought that was really cute. My dad talked about geneaology and asked me about my computer school and other things I'm never really very concerned about, but I tried to be into all of it for his sake. He gave me some more vegetables. If anyone wants any zuchini, tomatoes, or peppers, talk to me. My brother is going to be married very soon, as I predicted. His girlfriend is really fun and I think will add some spunk to the family.

That is all for now. I'm going to go to bed and dream about silly things, and then try to wake up in a couple of hours to go work out.

Later.

Pinetree as a sapling.

pictures

On the porch. Santa Clara. Heh.

Roots.

pictures

Mom and Dad. Provo Temple. 70's (obviously)

Favorites

Monument:
-Lion Monument, Lucerne, Switzerland

Lion Monument

Alizee

Singers, Female:
-Alizee
-Blumchen
-Shakira
-Nelly Fertado
-Alanis
-Amaia Montero
-Chicks from Tatu
-Jewel
-Charlotte Church
-Leigh Nash (Sixepence None the Richer)

Male Voices/Bands:
-Dave Grohl
-Josh Groban
-Rufus Wainwright
-Damien Rice
-Garth Brooks
-Jack Mannequin (from Something Corporate, but also on his own)
-James Taylor
And..I can’t remember all their names so I’ll just put their bands:
-Weezer
-Coldplay
-Greenday
-Jimmy Eat World
-Postal Service

Most Beautiful People:

Tom Welling

Kristin Kreuk

Coincidentally they are on the same TV show....
Hot.



Hair Products:
-Iced Tea Shampoo

American Crew

-American Crew hair gel
-Tea tree hair wax

Female Characters:
-Nicole Kidman in Bewitched
-Sam (Natalie Portman) from Garden State

le_fabuleux_destin_d_amelie_poulain

-Amelie (Audrey Tautou)
-Harper, (Mary Louise Parker) wife in Angels in America
-All the models who played shy girls in Shallow Hal. (SO hot, by the way)
-Daria
I find that most of these characters are people who can hold heir own and do what they need to do, but are still incredibly self-conscious about everything as adults. I identify with that.

Male Characters:

Guido

-Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) in Life is Beautiful
-Yoda (okay, so maybe he’s a puppet. whatever.)

calvin-n-hobbes.thumb

-Calvin and Hobbes
-Tobias (from the Animorphs series)
-The man being tempted in The Screwtape Letters



Mmm...Food:
-avocados

avocado

-sushi
-cookies
-pancakes

pancakes

-chow mein
-pasta in general
-curry chicken bowls from terriyaki sticks
-BYU brownies
-Naan (Indian bread) and most other Indian food
-warm fajitas, enchiladas, and good, fat burritos.

fajitas

Most things generally accepted as food and placed in front of me on a serving dish. Or even just placed before me.

Ways to Get From Here to There:
-Train - any type, but I’m especially fond of the tube in London, night trains from France to Switzerland, and Amtrak from California to Utah in the viewing car.

London_Underground_train

-Bike
-In the car, alone, music blaring, me singing horribly.
-Canoe

Types of Weather:
-Cloudy mornings, fog and rain: Feels like magic, like survival. I think: home, walking to seminary in the morning, outerwear, my pale face in the cold, running,
-Summer, at night. Feels like fun, carefree. I think: Venice, gelattos, the beach at sunset, looking over city lights, solitude, playing

Activities:
-Eating
-Dancing
-Running
-Reading at a moderate pace.
-Daydreaming
-Sleeping, or basking in those few moments before I completely fall asleep, and those little leftovers of dreams that I have left when I wask up early in the morning.

Mountains that I’ve Seen:
-Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland

Grand Tetons

-Grand Tetons, Wyoming
-Y mount, and that sort of rocky mountain just left of Provo Canyon. I always think it looks very cool
-Sierras, all of them.

Colors:
-green, like ivy and/or pinetrees
-very deep, dark blue
-Orangey/pink like a sunset
-reddish-brown like redwood trees.

Ha! you’d think I was a hippie...



Superheroes and Mutants:

nightcrawler

-Nightcrawler

rogue

-Rogue
-Batman
-Superman
-Spiderman
-Jean Grey

sailor_moon03_800

-Sailor Moon et al.
-Super Grover





Hymns:
-Lead Kindly Light
-Be Still My Soul
-Where Can I Turn for Peace?
-Praise to the Man
-A Poorwayfaring Man of Grief
-Come Come Ye Saints
-Nearer, My God, to Thee
-Abide With Me ‘tis Eventide
-I Stand All Amazed
-Because I Have Been Given Much
-Lord, I Would Follow Thee

Articles of Clothing:
-London T-shirt
-green silk tie from Italy
-big blue Hoodie
-Green BYU shirt
-Mom’s old blue 70’s track jacket
-Yellow/black/green clubbing bicycle shirt
-Fall sweater with patches of different colors
-old green sweatshirt
-green track jacket
-green cardigan with brownish shirt that Given picked out for me.
-Running shoes, even though they are dying.


Songs:
-Nicole Kidman - One Day I’ll Fly Away
-Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me
-The Streets - Dry Your Eyes Mate
-Colors - Soledad
-Leanne Womack - I hope you dance
-Garth Brooks - To Make You Feel My Love
-Weezer - Hold Me
-Madonna - X-Static Process
-John Denver - Annie’s Song
-Irish Rovers - Waltzing Matilda
-Les Miserables - Who Am I?
-Lots more...

Beautiful Scriptures and Quotes (just a few. we could do a whole other post on this)

1 Corinthians 13:12-13
12 For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known
13 And no abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity

Doctrine and Covenants 84:88
And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Alma 7:11-12
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities

franciswebstermayor

"I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and my wife was in it, and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited here was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities.”

"I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there.”

Francis Webster, my great, great, great grandfather, mom’s side.

“Jesus did not condone; he declined to condemn; but he sent the sinner away with a solemn adjuration to a better life.”

Talmage, Jesus the Christ

"He wants them to learn to walk and must thereforetake away his hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters



Places I Want to Go:
-Ireland
-Denmark
-Japan
-Taiwan
-Hong Kong
-Wales
-Spain
-India
-Brazil
-Mexico
-Chile
-Argentina
-Iceland
-Alaska
-All over the East Coast
-Washington/Oregon

Places I Want to Go to Again:
-Yosemite
-The Grand Tetons/Yellowstone
-Zions National Park

Big-Ben-at-Dusk,-London,-England

-Everywhere I went in Europe...especially London, Switzerland and Germany.
-Santa Clara, California...and all over the bay area

Places I Wouldn’t Mind Not Seeing Again:
-Nevada

Favorite People I’m Missing in California:
-Steven
-Liz
-Ashley
-Nick
-Little Nick
-Raja
-Kimball
-Will
-Chris
-Morgan
-Sarah

Yeah....pretty much everyone really. So much so that continuing this list would be silly. Trip to California anyone?

Angela Merkel is my homegirl.

Angela Merkel

Elections get me very excited. I imagine they do for me what Monday Night Football does for most other guys, with American presidential elections being a sort of superbowl.

Above is a picture of Angela Merkel, poster-girl for the Christian Democratic Party in Germany, and quite possibly the next (and first female) Chancellor. I was going to write all about her politics here, but I understand that politics make people bored and/or cranky most of the time (despite the fact that they fascinate me and I would love to explain everything about them to you all on my blog.)

Suffice it to say that people like this make me want to run for office. If you want to be updated on the current political situation in Germany, just ask me, or click on the link I made.