When did life get so complicated?

I had to write an essay for school 'cause I conditionally passed an essay test, but apparently I need practice. Whatever... Anyway, this thought has been on my mind so I decided to write my essay on it. (Note: don't read this and expect a good essay, just read it for its ideas and content)

When did life get so complicated?

As I got home from a long day at school, I was rushing to my room to put all my things down and relax for a minute. I noticed as I walked past the window that my cousins, whom I live with, were all gathered outside. It was a beautiful spring day and the sun was shining down pure happiness after a long winter. The kids had decided that it was time for a little home-made baseball game, 2-on-2. I looked on, watching them as they hit the ball and ran the bases. They laughed, they fought a little, but they were definitely having a good, carefree time.
I couldn’t help but reminisce of the times in my youth when I would come home from school around 3:00 and have hours to play with my friends. We played baseball, soccer, steal-the-flag and football. We jumped on the tramp, made ramps and rode our bikes off of them. We went to the “Rolos” for some adventurous bike riding. We shot at cans in the backyard. Occasionally, we found ourselves in trouble, but it never took long and we were back at it.
Life has changed so much since then. I go to school all day, I work at CVS, I volunteer tutoring French, I intern at Great Brook Valley Pharmacy, I teach a gospel doctrine class at church, I have choir practice, I have home teaching to do each month and FHE to attend each week. Much of the little spare time I have, I am trying to catch up on my homework that piles up because I have had 47 tests in the last 2 semesters. As if that is not enough, making and keeping friends along with dating can really make things difficult. Bad days, sleepless nights, anxiety, lack of exercise and bad nutrition (mostly just drinking too much Coca-Cola) all start to get to me. The days of the week are never long enough, and the weeks never go by fast enough…
So, as I watched them play baseball, I wondered whether I will ever make it back to those long days of youth: carefree, happy and easy. I dream of such days. Maybe when I am done with school, found my wife, started a family and found the perfect job, I will be in such a dream.

Spring Break

Spring Break 2007

So, last week was my Spring Break, and break I did not do! Everything else I did do... It was an awesome time. After working my butt off for the first 3 days of the week, I drove to the airport to pick-up Sarah for the long awaited "Tour of the East Coast."






















1st stop: New York City- I have never been to New York, so this was very exciting for me. It was freezing cold, so we just kept walking around, not really stopping unless it was in a warm building, like Virgin Megastor, the Empire State Building and the Bread Factory (which we visited twice the same day, delicious)! Since we had not planned anything in particular, we just looked at a tourist map, found the things we wanted to see and navigated to them. Time Square, The Manhattan Temple, Grand Central, Trump Int. Tower, Central Park, The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Ed Sullivan Theater were some of the stops along the way. Most the time I think I am a genius and of course I know everything. So, as we neared the Empire State Building, I was sure to recognize which building it was. The secret is out, I am a total retard. We walked several times passed it until Sarah convinced me that "this" building was indeed it. It turned out to be one of my favorite spots. We rode to the top in awesome elevators that go up 10 floors in 0 seconds and got to look out on the city just after the sun went down. It was cool (in more than one way). After taking a few blurry pics, my fingers were frozen and it was time to get back inside. I surprised Sarah with tickets to 'Les Mis' and it was so amazing. Just makes you want to be a better person and get up sing as loud as you can too! Then it was one more trip through Time Square, which has to be my favorite spot, especially at night when it is so lit up. The next day, we decided to drive in and park in upper Manhattan because the train ride the previous day had proved to be expensive and annoying. This day was dedicated to the sites of the lower portion of the City. We looked on at the World Trade Center site, which was a little dissappointing to me. (For those of you who know me, I have a really hard time with this, cause I was in the MTC during 9/11 and I still feel like I never got to experience it- Thanks to the MTC which pretended it never happened). Anyway, lots of it is blocked off and they have guards up so you can't really get a good view of the pit. The best view I got was from Burger King across the street, where I could look down into it. Its a weird place. We stopped in at Century 21, a massive discount clothing store (totally crowded to the max with people like me who want a good deal). Our last stop was batter park to get a view of the statue of liberty and then our journey to New York was over.





















The next day, we decided to drive in and park in upper Manhattan because the train ride the previous day had proved to be expensive and annoying. This day was dedicated to the sites of the lower portion of the City. We looked on at the World Trade Center site, which was a little dissappointing to me. (For those of you who know me, I have a really hard time with this, cause I was in the MTC during 9/11 and I still feel like I never got to experience it- Thanks to the MTC which pretended it never happened). Anyway, lots of it is blocked off and they have guards up so you can't really get a good view of the pit. The best view I got was from Burger King across the street, where I could look down into it. Its a weird place. We stopped in at Century 21, a massive discount clothing store (totally crowded to the max with people like me who want a good deal). Our last stop was batter park to get a view of the statue of liberty and then our journey to New York was over.

2nd stop: Boston After having a delicious bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder at Quincy Marker, we headed out on the freedom trail to see the sites of the revolutionary war. It was a beautiful day, so we stroled down the streets and did some shopping and just had a fun time! ***** READ THIS: This is my favorite story of the whole weekend. The beautiful saturday walking the streets of Boston was over. We had seen lots of great things, bought some cool souvenirs for Sarah's family and friends. We had the best clam chowder ever in a delightful bread bowl. And now we were on the T (the subway) going back to where I had parked the car, so we could go shopping for a few more things and then get back to my house and relax. We were both exhausted from our travels, but happy none the less and pleased at our vacation. Sarah put her head on my shoulder and we enjoyed the rest of the ride to Alewife, the last stop. When the doors opened, she stood up before me and I could see a big tear on her face that she quickly wiped off, of course. I didn't think anything of it until we were completely off the train and I realized that she was totally crying on the subway. Me, being the sweet guy that I am, says, "Are you crying?" She being the now completely embarassed girl that was when I brought attention to it, says, "No, I'm just wiping my eyes cause I am tired." I almost believed her, but I looked again and it was clear that she had something leaking out of her eyes and from my experience those are usually called tears, associated with crying. Again, I am so sweet, that I said loudly, "Why are you crying?!" "I'm not crying" she replied as she laughed due to her embarassement and as I laughed my head off and continually asked her, "Who does that? Who crys on the Subway?" Now, I will probably never know or understand why she was crying, but clearly it was hilarious that she spontaneously combusted on the subway of all places on the most calm, beautiful, relaxed day there ever was. Finally, about 4 hours later I got her to admit that indeed she did leak a few tears while riding on the subway.






















Thanks for coming to visit me Sarah, it was the best! (Don't cry, it'll be okay)

Me and Jacosa singing

This was a few weekends ago. Me and Jacosa just singing for fun. She is a professional singer, you can tell, and it is so nice to sing with her!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1583741864495320113

Karaoke Party

Angela invited us out to a wicked fun karaoke party at DoReMi's in Boston. It was the best time I have had in months...

These are the girls doing backup (Reva, Melba and Jacosa)

All the girls jammin out

Don't worry, this is the typical ratio in my ward. 7 girls and 2 guys.

I am a star! At least I felt like it while I was rockin out to "Indian Outlaw" and "Angry American"

You know you're a good singer when you can tilt your head backwards...

And make funny shapes with your lips!

For anyone who needs a good break from life to let it all out and have a good time...

Go Karaoke.
It was a great kick-off for the Spring Break festivities!

Thanks are in order

This is a special thanks that goes out to Melba and Jacosa for the great party last night AND for their talents that they shared with me in developing my blog and creating my first entry. Thank you, its awesome!

The Beginning

I'm here at Melba and Jacosa's having the time of my life. Gee how I love these girls. Especially Melba. She reminds me of everything I want to be. Cool . Smart. Hot. Hilarious. I'll stop so that I can post the pictures but I could go on all night. I haven't had this much fun in I don't know how long. I should come over more. For now, I'll just revel in the fact that I am hanging out with the best of Boston's ladies.

Getting ready for a mean game of First Reaction "Choir"
"Provo"

"Melba"

"Jacosa""Mike" Enough of this, i'm going to eat

The service in this place sucks. I have to wash my own dish