I Will Return

I shall be making my return to blogging on April 1st. That's all for today.

Welcome Back My Friends

How's this for fun: 2 blogs, 4 classes, 2 jobs, 11 tournaments, homework to do, checkbook to balance, groceries to buy, laundry to clean, a wife to love, and a car to clean. That's the short definition of my life at the moment, and guess what? I wouldn't trade anything in the world to have it any other way. Something about it has me very happy today, that's all you need to know.

There are very few things that can improve my mood better than a late night all by myself, headphones on, and a keyboard to pound away at. That's what I'm doing right now, actually I've been doing it for the past 3 hours and my outlook on life is improving drastically by the moment. I've almost got the lyrics to Elliot Yamin's "Wait For You" memorized as well. You folks don't know the meaning of "high life" in my world.

The past week has given me some interesting trials in my volunteer work for Conquer Club. I love the job that was entrusted to me in being a Tournament Director, and while there are some days when I get a little lost in the role and get quite upset at faceless individuals halfway around the world when they break the rules and then publicly flog the system for no reason whatsoever, I still find too much fulfillment and enjoyment to give it up. Some might tell me that is a silly way to think, but those people don't understand the real impact that job has had on my life over the past 4 months. Well, maybe some of you do.

School is something I've been on the fence with the past couple of weeks as well. Part of me wants it to be over tomorrow and the other half of me wishes it would just stick around so I don't have to face the reality of actually finding a big kid job. I don't really think I'll have any trouble doing so when the time comes, but with a shift in my personal interest in the past few weeks, it is an interesting vein of thought to follow from time to time. A brief period recently had me considering changing my major over to Computer Science as I realize more and more how much I love working on them and figuring out how to program, but after a so-called "heart to heart" with Dad I decided the degree was a bigger deal, and I can learn the programming on my own time with a few classes on the side. I think I have a bit of a knack for it actually.

I'm currently searching to find a legitimate source for the Top 100 books of all time in order to begin a quest to read each and every single one of them. I want to start with #100 and work my way up the list as quickly as possible. How many people do you know that can say they have read 100 of the greatest books of all time? Yep, didn't think so. If anyone knows a good source for that kind of list, point me in the right direction.

In closing, rock on with what you've got to do folks, but from tonight on, your problems aren't my problems anymore. I've got bigger fish to fry then worry about some of the things that keep taking my attention from things I consider more important. Live your lives, make some friends, and learn an important lesson: Complaints aren't going to get you very far in life these days.

I've got big things to accomplish starting today, I'll let you know when I get them done.

Guess I Got Tagged

Looks to be that Britni tagged me to do some kind of fancy-schmanzy survey thing, so since I haven't posted in a week or so I figure I'll humor her.

10 year ago: I was 13, living in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and wondering if I would ever pass 5' in height.

5 things on my to-do list today:
- Work on ConquerWiki
- Check my Conquer Club inbox for questions.
- Eat some macaroni and cheese
- Write on my other blog
- Do the dishes

5 snacks I enjoy:
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Haggen Daaz Ice Cream
- Popcorn
- Double Stuf Oreos
- Cheez-its

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire: Whatever the heck I want to because I won't care anymore.

3 bad habits:
- Not clipping fingernails over a trash can
- Talking loudly
- Talking VERY loudly

5 places I have lived:
- Bartlesville, Oklahoma
- Coshocton, Ohio
- Lancaster, Ohio
- Provo, Utah
- England

5 jobs I've had:
- Pretzelmaker
- Newspaper Delivery Boy
- Custodian
- Department Secretary
- Tournament Director

5 things people don't know about me:
- I really don't like stupid people
- I would move to Canada to work for Conquer Club
- I don't like classic literature very much
- I'm not a very big fan of phone conversations
- I can eat 1.5 pounds of pasta in less than five minutes

I tag......Roxy, Julie, and Shelley

Just Doing My Thing

Well, Holly and I cleaned up around the house a little bit this morning and I spent 7 hours working on tournaments and Conquer Club administrative duties.

Not an incredibly dynamic day, but to me it was a good day nonetheless.

Two Days In

Well, I have to say that after two days of school this semester I don't have a whole lot to show for it. We have reviewed the syllabus in all of my classes, and one of my classes only lasted about twenty minutes, but we haven't done much else to speak of. I was incredibly excited to go to my web design class today because it is something I have wanted to learn how to do for the longest time, but I checked my email this afternoon and discovered that class was canceled. Last night there was a snow storm that dumped nearly seven inches of snow on the town. Therefore, my instructor could not make it to Provo from his home in north Salt Lake City and I was left waiting all the way until Monday to learn my first bit of web programming. Needless to say, I was more than just a little bit disappointed.

I'm pretty tired of the snow at this point as well. It has been on the ground for five or six weeks at this point, and there has not been a day when it melts entirely before another snow storm will hit and leave the car buried, and my shoes wet as I walk to school. I wouldn't mind for a freakishly warm weekend that melted all of it, even if only for a day.

I don't know how many people know this, but I have learned to crotchet over the Christmas Break and am now in the process of creating for myself a magnificent blanket that will cover me at all times when I am cold. I don't know if Holly believes I will ever actually finish it, but I promise that I will and it will be the greatest blanket any of you have ever seen.

A Resurrection of Sorts

Today I am thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, I will resurrect the idea of keeping a regular blog about something other than my everyday life. Maybe I will make one about the adventures of college, or I might even be persuaded to return to the CC blogging idea I had so many months ago, but we will see where I end up.

I got a new wallet today. It was the first year in what seems like forever that my Mom didn't buy me a wallet for either my birthday or for Christmas. 2007 must have been a rough year for my wallet as normally I don't keep them for that long. Funny, eh?

Shout-Out to Mom and Dad

I spent the day dealing with parents who thought they needed to do all of the legwork for their children today. I had at least 15-20 mothers, fathers, grandmothers and such arrive at the English Composition Office today trying to add the classes that their children were either too lazy to add for themselves or too stupid to figure out how to add for themselves. I will be honest in saying that I was somewhat disgusted at these parents.

I want to tell my Mom and Dad thanks for teaching me how to do certain things in life on my own. I understand that sometimes folks need a little help, or sometimes people need a companion to help them through a rough experience. However, I am glad my parents taught me how to keep track of the bills on my own, how to go and get the oil changed on my own, how to go talk to teachers on my own, how to go to the doctor on my own, and several other things.

Basically, I'm glad my parents didn't lead me by the hand throughout my entire life because I would be embarrassed if my parents had to go add my classes for me.

Yep, simple as that.

School Once Again

Tomorrow is the first day of school all over again. I feel like I am well prepared to face that monster for yet another semester, but at the same time I am a little nervous. I have always struggled in the literature courses due to the "deeper meaning" that we are supposed to search for when we are reading. Whenever I read a story I approach it as just that: a story. I never take the time to think that perhaps the author is actually trying to tell me something ground-breaking. That is where I struggle to find my place in these classes. I don't know how to respond to everyone when they discuss the hidden messages of oppression or enlightenment and such. I just view it as a story. Perhaps that is why I want to be a manuscript editor at some point.

Holly is both nervous and excited to go back to school. Although, she now has her new "war backpack" as she calls it and she says she is ready to take it on. I think she will do just fine and will probably enjoy herself more than she is ready to believe. At the same time, it will be a bit of an adjustment for me to have both of us in school. I'm not used to her having to do homework too because ever since we got married she hasn't had any homework. I'm used to thinking, "Hey, I'm done with my homework, let's go on an adventure!" I need to quickly convince myself that life is going to work in a different manner now. She was always ready for adventures before, and I'm sure she will still be, but I need to remember that she also has other things to do as well.

School. Work. Holly. Conquer Club. Rinse. Repeat. Fun, eh?

I'd Rather Fall In Chocolate

Today has been a pretty decent day all things considered.

I completed several small projects for Conquer Club, did some work for my own tournaments and leagues, as well as answering a stack of PMs filled with questions. I also cleaned up around the house a little bit, helped take out the trash from fumigating the house, and went to pick up Julie from the airport this evening.

When we got home from the airport we had Shyla, Russell, Julie, Jaren, Rick, Shelley, and Brittany over to play some games and have some fun. Russell and Shyla taught us how to play a couple of new ones and now while I am sitting here typing this blog entry the rest of the house is watching a Divine Comedy DVD.

Movie Night

I think that we are going to go and see the new Denzel Washington movie entitled The Great Debaters this evening. I'm always up for a good Denzel flick, even if I didn't have the chance to see the one I really wanted to see, which I don't even remember the title to now that I think about it. Odd.

I just ate some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and it tasted delicious. I also had macaroni and cheese for dinner which was delicious as well.

Three Up, Three Down

Check that out, will ya? Three days in a row to start the year with a blog post. I bet all of you are shaking in your boots with excitement.

Today was a pretty normal day. Work was once again very slow, but I seemed to handle it okay. Found lots of mini projects to take care of with my Conquer Club responsibilities. The site owner and community manager gave me a few new projects to work on over the long term, so I have a few things to do here and there when I feel like it now. As always, the tournaments are running smoothly and things are going well with the players.

I'm somewhat excited for school to start again, especially after receiving a 3.10 as my GPA for the Fall Semester. I worked hard, especially after an incredibly disastrous start to the semester in my grammar class. Worked my way all the way back to a C+ in that class though and had A's and B's in all the others. Looks like getting married was beneficial for my school endeavors to say the least.

More tomorrow!

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work after nearly two straight weeks off. It was nice to get out of the house to do something during the day and not feel like I was waiting around for something exciting to happen for hours on end. It was a pretty slow day at work, but it was work nonetheless and I got paid. That is what is important.

I also went to buy the textbooks that Holly and I are going to need for the semester and so far I have already spent $500 dollars with several more books left to buy. I didn't think it was going to be that expensive, but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to survive.

Oh, and my mileage is at 0.5 miles so far, but I'm going to win anyways.

Starting the New Year

Well, I have started 2008 by taking down the Christmas tree. Yep, that's about it. I also did some dishes today and decided that while I might not have the most interesting things to say I am going to see how many straight days of 2008 I can make some sort of post on this blog.

Wish me luck.

Door Slamming Gremlins

Well, I'm bored. The only thing I have to look forward to is 2 straight weeks of spending the day alone while Holly is at work. So this is what you get:

A= Available~ You wish, don't you?

B= Best Friend~ Holly

C= Cake or pie~ Chocolate cake with vanilla icing.

D= Drink of choice~ Purple Fusion Kool-aid (mix tropical punch and berry blue).

E= Essential item you use everyday~ Jump Drive

F= Favorite color~ Blue

G= Gummy bears or worms~ Gummy Bears, but only the Haribo brand.

H= Hometown~ Bartlesville, Oklahoma (jealous, aren't you?)

I= Indulgences~ Orange Dreamsicles

J= January or February~ January has always been a decent month for me.

K= Kids and Names~ My first son will be named McKay Flanagan, simple as that.

L= Life is incomplete without?~ Some snuggling every day.

M= Marriage date~ August 4, 2006

N= Number of siblings~ 4, and all of them are girls.

O= Oranges or apples~ Apples

P= Phobias or Fears~ Not getting a job after college.

Q= Favorite Quote~ "50 years from now when you look back on your life, don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?" Sam Witwicky, Transformers

R= Reason to smile~ Gunner

S= Season~ Fall, but only if it is a warm type of fall.

T= Tag 3 or 4 people~ Roxy, Shawn, Joe, and Rick

U= Unknown fact about me~ I'm actually a rock awesome dancer when there is nobody around to watch. However, I truly do forget my moves around other people.

V= Vegetable you don't like~ Brussel Sprouts

W= Worst habit~ Interrupting people

X= X-rays~ The one of my broken collar bone was pretty sweet.

Y= Your favorite food~ Rumbi Island Grill's Bali Island Bowl

Z= Zodiac Sign~ Taurus

One Thing Done

Well, yay, I have one class worth of homework done for the day. How excited am I? Not very.

Not Enough Time

I am so tired, and so far behind in all of the work I need to do that I just want to quit today. Really I do. I don't want anything to do with school or anything else.

Bad day, I know.

Just Waiting for a Day of Goodness

I had a rough day yesterday. I spent over 10 hours checking, re-checking, and then re-checking again to make sure that I had everything correct on an editing class assignment and then promptly got everything wrong all over again. Just like the last time. I was pretty upset for the rest of the evening and actually almost walked out of the class for good. I didn't though, I just sat there and wished I knew what on earth I was going to do with myself for the next 40 years or so. It's not looking all that great at the moment.

In other news, Generation One: The Clan is pretty much a self-sustaining entity at this point due to some big help put forth by Gozar and Night Strike. We have some nicely arranged activities for the clan and are getting close to making a challenge to another clan in a small battle of skills. Thankfully, the G1 clan is something on Conquer Club I can just check in on and not run every small detail. It makes life a lot easier for me than you would think. After the forum revamp last week and the creation of the clan I was swamped for several days, but I think I have it all under control now.

Also, I registered for my winter semester classes yesterday, and it looks like I will be heavy on the English literature once again. I am going to try and finish up all of the prerequisites that I need for the major in one fell swoop so that I am not backed into such a corner with what classes I need to take each semester. Once I finish British Literary History, American Literary History, and Shakespeare I can take all of the remaining classes in any order that I want to at any time to finish the major. I also only have two more classes to complete for my Editing minor and about 4 more classes for the CHum minor. I will have my first web programming/design class next semester and I have to say that I am excited for that. Perhaps someday I will just be able to create my own website instead of having to depend on others.

Returning WIth Emootions

No, the title isn't misspelled. It is in reference to something funny that Holly said the other day when we were talking about something.

I took a couple of days off from the blogging to get caught up on a few things with real-life and after looking back I think it was a good decision. I have a ton less stress because I have completed all of my homework, Conquer Club is caught up after the tournament forum revamp, and in general nothing terribly stressful has happened in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that doesn't jinx me.

The holiday season is upon all of us and that means trying to decide on plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Right now my plan is to stay home and save some money. John Volk is supposed to be trying to come out to visit Holly and I for the Thanksgiving time period so we are hoping that will happen. He's a fun guy to have around. I'm still trying to decide how I will fill my time for the Thanksgiving break as it appears I will have all of my big projects for my classes due before the break actually begins. There won't be any catchup work for me to do as far as I can see. How nice!

Casual Saturday

It's been a pretty casual day around here for the most part. I slept in for a little while, even took a nap a couple hours later, and ate some macaroni and cheese. Other than that, I have watched a little bit of football, taken a shower, and thought about trimming my fingernails.

I will say that I have stayed away from Conquer Club for most of the day so far. I had to do several big projects for them over the past couple of days and wanted to take a little bit of a break this weekend. I've only checked in for a couple of minutes here and there to take my turns when needed and left the other duties at the door for the most part. Nothing terribly should happen while I'm on break.

Just Doing My Thing

I've spent a lot of time today doing different things. I went to class this morning, I turned in my homework, I found the power cord for my MacBook, I ate some Captain Crunch cereal, I stamped out a small revolt on Conquer Club, updated my new clan forum, announced the new tournament organizer forum, answered 25 PMs from players, did some German homework, a few things with my Editing homework, and now I'm just sitting here at the computer wishing I had something else to add to my already full plate of daily activities.

I know that in about 30 minutes I won't still have that feeling, but lately I've been thinking that I enjoy being busy. Not busy in the "gotta get it done or I will fail miserably" sense, but busy in the "I have lots of projects and goals that are giving me some fulfillment in life" sense. Does that make sense to anyone other than me? If not, oh well. I still like the idea.

I've been trying lately to keep myself from having too much wasted time where I don't do anything but sit around and stare at the TV or the wall. I've been trying to make myself busy with worthwhile things that I find some enjoyment out of. Conquer Club, and the recent offer by them to help out, has made it much easier to fill my time. It is something that I enjoy. Heaven forbid I had a PAYING job with them. That would be unreal!

I'm thinking I might go to the BYU Hockey game this evening. I want to go on a small adventure of some sorts, but of course there are no good movies out at the theater to see this week, and I don't feel like renting one from Blockbuster, so I might just go see the hockey game. Holly said she would go a few weeks back and the BYU team won't be having another home game for something like five weeks. I guess that pretty much means now or never for the most part. Speaking of local sporting events, the Utah Flash begin their season here in a week or two and for only six dollars a ticket I think Holly and I will be going to see some of their games from time to time. BYU basketball starts next week too, so I guess that is good as well. I sure do like to go to sporting events. They are a ton of fun.