Deer Rifles, Turkey, and Rubik's Cubes

Over this thanksgiving weekend I had an amazing time being back home with my friends and family. NOt only did I eat a lot of turkey, but I also purchased my own deer rifle. Long story short: cabellas had NO left-handed rifles. After Bass Pro dropped my call twice I decided not to go over to Iowa. On my way out of Omaha my friend and I stopped at Scheels. They had 5 left-handed rifles in stock! I ended up purchasing a .30-06. That day my brother and I broke in the barrel. Two days later and my shoulder is still a little sore! In addition to getting my rifle, I also began to learn how to solve the rubik's cube. I always wondered how it was done but I figured that you had to be really smart to figure it out. So what drove me to learn how to solve the little devil? My brother learned how to solve it...and I can't not be on a somewhat equal footing when it comes to things like this so I got onto youtube and began to learn how to solve the cube. It takes some time, but the more I do it the faster I get! Definitely try learning how to solve it. Here is a link to help you start: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOgN7d1D-3s&annotation_id=annotation_52227&feature=iv).

Good luck!

Oh Shenandoah....

Hey everyone. So you are probably wondering why I titled this blog entry "Oh Shenandoah". Have you ever heard the song? If not, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9vd5u4Q5T0&feature=related In the song, I feel that there is this powerful emotion. It is all about longing and searching for something. Obviously this song is talking about a river but I feel that this river could be anything that a person is searching for. Right now you could say that my Shenandoah is love. I'm not talking about friendship, family, or all out romance. I'm looking, simply put, for a girlfriend. I have been single for a little over a year. I think that I am ready for a relationship. This is probably the most random blog that I have written but its what is on my mind right now and I just wanted to update my blog. So if you wish, leave me a comment with some advice on the best way to ask a girl out on a date. Advice, tips, and ideas are all appreciated. I hope that life is treating you well. Till next time.

RA

So I landed the sweet, yet difficult, job of being an RA. For anyone who doesn't know, the letters RA stand for Resident Assistant. I am in charge of a building on campus. I am a resource for my residents, an event planner, as well as a rule enforcer. This does mean that I have to deal with one thing that I'm not the best at: conflict. I usually don't like confronting people or asking for things. However, as I have begun my duties as an RA I have begun to overcome my fears of conflict. I have dealt with, the far, intimate partner violence, theft, noise violations, trash violations, and illegal drugs. I have yet to deal with alcohol--one of the biggest issues when it comes to policy violations.

Being an RA is a lot of responsibility. There are also many positive benefits. Of course there is the whole free room and board, but that isn't the biggest perk. Being an RA has allowed me to meet a lot of new people and make some pretty good friends. I am also developing some skills that will be crucial for me in the future (planning, budgeting, confronting, etc.). This year is going to be intense. I am trying to balance RA duties, school, and family. It is not an easy task. Wish me luck as I continue with school and other activities. (Prayers are greatly appreciated!) I hope that anyone who reads this has a marvelous day. If your day isn't so hot don't worry. Tomorrow will come. Just give it some time.

Life Goals

So I thought that I would post about what I want in life, or some of my goals that I hope to accomplish before I die. So here it goes:

1. Find that special someone...I really can't wait to find that lady that God has in store for me. It kinda sucks being single right now, but thats life.

2. Raise a loving family...Kids can be nasty...crying and dirty diapers...that is gonna be a pain. But there is so much more than all of the bad stuff. You get to raise and love your own child. I can't wait till I get to have those special father/son and father/daughter memories. I want to be an amazing parent that takes really good care of my kids. I want to always be there for them and to show them how much they are loved.

3. Find that something in life that I will love to wake up early in the morning and stay up late at night to do. Right now I am looking at social work as my future career. I know that I will not be making the big bucks, but thats not why I want to do this. I want to be able to help people so that they can lead better lives. Right now I am really interested in international social work. I want to be out in the field, helping those who really need it.

4. I want to be the one person that my friends know will always be there. I want my friends to be able to come to me at anytime and to ask for my help without fear. I want to be able to have a spare bedroom at all times--even if I have to sleep on the couch, there will always be room for those that I love at my house.

5. I would like a big house. This is not to show off....heck I don't know how I will ever be able to afford a big house. But I want my house to be the place, as stated before, where there will always be room for those that I love.

These are my major life goals as of this point in my life. I really hope that I will be able to accomplish all of these goals. I sometimes wonder what will happen in my life and if these goals will change. They may change or they may stay the same. I just hope that I do what I am meant to do in my life.

Life

So its been a really long time since I have last posted on my blog. Nothing much new has been happening. There has been some drama. And it has resolved itself. Now I'm looking forward the summer. But before summer comes i have 2 major tasks: prom and finals. So i know what you are thinking...how is prom a task? Well I was not planning on going at all. My senior prom was supposed to be my last. Then my little brother told me that he really wanted me to go to prom. So i told him that he had to find me a date and then i would go. So he found me one. Now I am officially going to prom. I think that it will be fun. I hope that everyone has a good time. After prom I have finals week. It wont be too bad. I only have 2 real finals.

I can't wait for summer. It will be totally amazing.

I forgot to let everyone know: i am going to be an RA (resident assistant) next year! That means that I get free housing! It is gonna be really sweet!

Thats about all I got. Leave a comment if you wanna. TTYL

Proud Brother

So I don't know why, but I am in the mood to update...but the las time I update was about 24 hours ago...what is there to say really. Great news...my sisters went to a basketball tournament in Yankton and they took first place! The won all three of their games. The first two games were played back-to-back. Then they only had 20 minuets till their third game. Did I also mention that one of their games went into overtime. They did a great time and all of their hard work payed off. Another thing that I am proud of....my little brother got 6th place in the butterfly and 11th place in the backstroke at a swim meet in hastings. He received a medal for the butterfly. The swim team overall took 2nd place in the meet. So I just wanna say...congrats to everyone. You kicked butt and you rocked! I am so proud of all of you. (Sadly no one that I mentioned will ever read this.)

So random thought...with the triathalon stuff...i think I want to win a medal. I dont want ot be better than everyone else. I just want to win a medal. What do you think about that (if anyone is reading this)? Am I contradicting what I said in my last update? You should let me know. Ok well I'm gonna head out. My dad and I are going to go to the movie Wolfman tonight!!! I am pretty psyched!

Car Wrecks, Realizations, and A tip

It always seems like I wait a little over a month to update my blog....i don't know why I wait so long. It must be because my life is a little boring compared to just about everyone. Oh well. So I am super-psyched! Before I tell you why I am so excited I should give an update.

So about 2 days before I am supposed to go back to Omaha (college) a lady wrecks my car. Long story sort...she was at fault...we were not sure if her insurance would cover my car...the driver-side door was totally dented in...everything else with the car was ok...thank God that nobody in the car was hurt. So it has taken her insurance company (which is based in LA) over a month to finally decide to total my car and decide how much we will get for the car. In the long run...im actually making money. We found a door for $50. Plus my dad has some friends to fix it pretty cheap. I am also going to get some work done on the car as well as new tires! I may have enough money left over to buy a compound bow!!!!!

So that is a semi-important update. So I haven't had a car for a long time...i still don't have one actually. Anywho I came home this weekend with Mo. Yesterday I went with my dad, grandpa, and Lucas, to watch my sister dive at Hastings. She didn't do too well. She was really mad at herself. After getting back into town I went over to my best friends house to stay the night. He fell asleep right away. (it can take me a LONG time to finally fall asleep) So while I'm laying there I think about how I wish I could be back on the swim team and all the good memories from swimming. I think about how competitive some people are when it comes to not only swimming but football, basketball, soccer, like every sport. I also thought about how a friend told me I was an extremely slow swimmer, it didn't matter if I had more resistance or not. I thought about all of these things and I realized something...I was never competitive as a swimmer. I just loved being in the water and having some form of comradery. Lately I have been thinking about training and participating in a triathalon. The more I think about it...i really want to do it. Not to be better, faster, or stronger than another person. I want to do it for myself. I would love 2 do a triathalon with a team (comradery), but I need to find other people who would want to take part in the event. As these thoughts began to formulate in my mind I realized that my passion lies not in being better than someone else, but in doing something to help others. I am enrolled in a social work class this semester. We had to read an article titled "Poverty Economics." It opened my eyes to the harsh world of poverty and how hard it can be to escape it. While reading the article I found myself to be impassioned to do something. I'm not sure what I could do, but I want to do something.

So here is why i am psyched: I realized that I may never win a race of any kind because my passion does not lie in a medal, it lies people. I was so happy to have come to this realization about myself. I actually smiled in bed as I thought about this.

That is all that is currently going on in my life. I hope that if any readers are out there...really do some self-inspection. Think about the things that really matter. If you do...you may come to a realization like I did. TTYL

Update Update Update

Hello readers...if you are reading this then you are now a reader...so today I went to a swim meet to support my sister (she sang the national anthem), my other sister (she is a diver), and my brother (he swam in 3 events). I realized how much I miss swimming. It actually kinda hurt to watch other people who had the opportunity to get in last place. I wish sooooooooooo badly that I could go back and swim crazy-hard practices and end up exhausted. I think that I am going to try to start swimming on my own back at college. It wont be as fun but it will be nice to get back into the water. Side note...while my sister was singing the national anthem my heart was beating like crazy. I was nervous and excited for her at the same time. She is a great singer.

On another note...college is going to start here in a week. Im kinda sad to have to go back. I have spent the last 2 weeks hanging out with my brother and sisters and my good friends. I will miss spending over 12 hours with them every day. :(

Finally...I would like to welcome all of the people in Rowse's class who are starting their blogs for class. You may or may not know me, but I would like to encourage you to use your blog. I have found that my blog can be a good place for me to vent out anger, express joy, and share sadness. Whatever you use it for don't be afraid to be truthful and heartfelt. I know I am. I don't actually know if anyone reads my blog, but thats ok. I will try and make sure that I post at least once every week or two. If you want to leave comments feel free. TTYL Readers (if you exist). ;p