And one fine morning---

All these videos just blow my mind

2008-08-08T20:20:00.002-06:00

Ambitions

2008-07-25T09:32:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was awesome for me because I got to take a step towards achieving one of my life's goals: Being able to do every board sport I physically can. This may seem like a stupid goal to some people, and maybe it is. But I love everything I've ever done on a board so much that I don't see a reason not to do everything. I don't know what it is, but it is such a rush. The speed, the fluidity, the balance, precision, and tenacity required to do it well. I'm not very good at a whole lot of things, but I'm pretty good on a board and I pick things up quickly, so this is my goal.

Yesterday I got to move one board up the list: windsurfing. I discovered last week that my friend's mom has a windsurf and after some convincing, I got him to get it all together and take it out. I did my research before hand and I was ready. So after a long, wet afternoon, I was able to tack back and forth several times without falling. Success. It was much more difficult that I thought it would be, but it was well worth the effort. So, here is my updated list:

Boards completed:

Longboarding
Snowboarding

Boards I can do, but not well enough to cross off:

Skimboarding
Skateboarding
Wakeboarding
Windsurfing

Boards I have yet to do:

Sandboarding
Mountain boarding
Kite boarding
Kite surfing
Surfing
Wake skating
Skurfing
Kneeboarding
River boarding
Skysurfing
Hoverboarding (seriously, they have it)

Exploration

2008-07-19T19:10:00.004-06:00

So in the last 2 months I've really decided to broaden my music tastes and I've been exploring new genres and artists. Many of them I have found from the best radio station ever, 90.3 KEXP. Many others have been things my roommates were listening to and I never took the time too. Many of them I am just going out and finding. So here is a small list of the things I have learned to appreciate in the last month or so...

Islands
Punch Brothers
Styx (from seeing them live)
Say Hi
Fleet Foxes
The Wombats
the new Beck cd
The Flaming Lips
Outkast
The Wombats
Albert Hammond Jr.
Bright Eyes
Tegan and Sarah
Rise Against
John Legend
Metro Station
The Unicorns

And finally, there is one artist that is just coming up in the world from around here that I think you should listen to. His name is Colin Isler and he's very good and you can find his music here. He also plays cello for a post-rock band called Post Harbor. You can find them in his top friends on his Myspace.

The now, the future

2008-07-04T16:18:00.002-06:00

This summer I've been watching a lot of the West Wing, and I have to say that it is one of the best shows I've ever seen. I think it is the best drama I've ever seen.

The characters are real, and lovable, and hateable, and passionate.

The struggles are not unrealistic, and while being a show about politics, it shows the human consequences at least as much, if not more than the political.

The technical side is clean and precise and emotional and effective.

Aaron Sorkin is simply one of the best.

And beyond that, it has really inspired me. Along with conversations in my Bible study, conversations with friends, and personal reflection, it has helped show me that I do have a path for the next few years at least.

I'm going to law school. I don't know where. I don't know how. I don't know if I will take a year off or not (which is the biggest decision right now. It may be my only chance for the next 50 years to take a year off and do nothing, but if I do I will have to start paying student loans and I will feel like I am falling behind my friends).

But the point is, I have a direction now. Who knows where it will take me? Who knows what 'll accomplish? I certainly don't, but I'm excited.

A Post

2008-07-01T21:26:00.002-06:00

Its been a long time. I know I said I wouldn't let myself wait so long to write, but I never get motivated to write. Well tonight I am. And I'm just gonna share what my summer has been so far.

Mostly, I've worked. I've learned a lot about our company, and a ton about dairy products, and even a little about CSS and HTML coding today, but mostly I'm bored. All of last week I would go to work for 7-8 hours and only have about 1.5-2 hours of work to do. That may sound awesome to some, but its not. Its very boring, and its hard to look like your not wasting everybody's time when you are. This week my web development is keeping me busy and interested, but that won't last long and it will be back to the mundane.

Socially I don't do much. There's only a few friends around I still hang out with and about all we do is play board games, though they are very interesting ones. It is finally and for the first time consistently nice out here so hopefully soon I can get to golfing, hiking, camping, and the such.

At church we just got a new pastor, and he just started a 20s group. This last Sunday was our first meeting and it went well. I got to run sound for a really good worship leader, and I watched my first Nooma video.

There's more I'd like to write about, but nobody reads long posts, and I need something else to write about later on. So I will end with this, my 21st birthday is two weeks from right now, and I'm pretty excited.

This looks pretty sweet....

2008-06-16T19:35:00.001-06:00

Books...

2008-05-27T17:45:00.002-06:00

are awesome! I spent all day Sunday and Monday just sitting in the sun on my back deck reading. I finished my first book of the summer-- The Amber Spyglass, last book of the His Dark Materials trilogy, out of which came the Golden Compass. I know what you are thinking, its a kid's series, but its really, really not. It's very dark and very interesting to see where the author gets his prejudices against the church and what he believes is the answer. A good series of books, terrible movie.

I then immediately order The Road by Cormac McCarthy on the suggestion of Reed and Dr. Shaw. Unfortunately that will take a few days to arrive, so while I wait I found the Space trilogy by CS Lewis and am going to read the first 1 or 2 books of that, as they are very short. I have heard good things about it from friends.

When I am not reading or working, however, I am watching The West Wing, an amazing show that I am fully engrossed in.

And now, I leave you with the greatest gift I can on this fair Tuesday.

I have great difficulty....

2008-05-19T22:42:00.002-06:00

...rating things. When I have to actually decide how I feel about a specific movie or book based on 5 stars, I break down. I start second-guessing each decision I make and end up going back and changing half of my ratings.

I just got on Netflix again and have been spending all night trying to rate a ton of movies so that I can get better recommendations. But its driving me nuts.

I'm back...

2008-05-14T21:04:00.002-06:00

Sorry it's been so long, my time just got away from me. I can't believe its been a month since I last posted.

Now I am back home and in the middle of my internship. I'm working for a commodity trading company downtown Seattle doing a bunch of different projects, including a marketing research project now and potentially some domestic invoicing. Pretty boring so far but it should get better.

The thing I'm most excited for is working downtown. My office is right in the middle of Pioneer Square in a historic building across from the Smith Tower, one of the most famous buildings in Seattle. I am 4 blocks from the ferry piers and 4 blocks from my favorite pub in Seattle.

And the best part is I ride the bus to and from work. I feel like part of the rat race, like part of the urban work force. I feel bad for anybody that has never had the chance to ride a metro bus. Public transit is great.

Well I'm being distracted by a movie right now, but I will not let another month pass. This post was kind of lame, I know, but I have to get used to posting again.

Sunburns

2008-04-13T17:23:00.002-06:00

are easy to forget about before they happen. Meaning that I never think about the fact that I will get sunburned unless its over 90 degrees. So of course, when I went golfing yesterday for 5 1/2 hours I got really sunburned. I had to sleep with a lighter blanket with the window open last night, and now I have to be careful when I pretty much do anything that involves contact with my neck. And I especially should remember sunburns seeing as how I am a pale red head who has been getting bad sunburns all my life. So a cautionary note to all: Just because it's April doesn't mean you won't get burned.

It was time for a change..

2008-04-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

My blog title was lame. I can admit that. When I came up with my blog I was just trying to make it sound cool, because my blog had no meaning to me. It was another fad that I was gonna get in on before it was too late, and nothing more. But as I write more and more, it has begun to take a certain form in my mind, and has begun to mean something to me, so I wanted to find a title that means something to me. Plus the layout was ugly and it needed to be changed as well.

I chose the title from the end of one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby. I just re-read this book a week ago and it has really stuck with me as not only an important piece of literature, but as something that I can really relate to in certain aspects. I think to understand this quote better you need some context. It comes at the end of the second to last paragraph, with the subtitle being the last:

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that's no matter---to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning---"

The future is a picture we paint while looking at the past, and the more we stare at the past the better a picture we paint, and this is the very thing that Fitzgerald is trying to warn us of, but I think there's more to it than that. I think that one fine morning we finally look away from the past and see what the present and future really hold, but remembering always what the past held. I want my blog to be that morning for me. I want to reflect on what has happened, but to use it as no more than the frame of the future, and to be able to look forward with unrelenting persistence of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.

What is the obsession...

2008-04-08T21:19:00.003-06:00

...with DIY? I just don't get it. Okay, I understand doing it yourself. People want to be self-reliant, or more often they want to save money. I'm not gonna pretend that everybody has the same inclinations and drive as Thoreau to be self-reliant. But why is DIY the cool thing now? and mostly I'm talking about the phrase itself.
People have been "DIY-ing" for thousands of years, but all of the sudden its a big deal to do things yourself, and everybody has to know about it. and all of the sudden we have DIY kits and books and all sorts of crazy stuff. It's ridiculous. And it all started with those "____________ for Idiots" books.

There's nothing new or fresh about DIY, I think people are just desperate to look independent, but in this very act they are showing that they are dependent on the approval and admiration of others for their "self-reliance". I just think its stupid.

And reading my own post I realize that I sound very cynical and almost angry, and I don't think I am like that very much anymore, but sometimes things just drive me nuts. So if you're gonna do something yourself, great! do it!, but don't feel like you need to tell everybody, and don't call it DIY so that you can fit into some kind of cool cultural niche.

Always order the...

2008-04-06T18:37:00.002-06:00

... half-sized milkshakes at Moon's. The guy that works there will try to convince you to buy the whole size for only $1.10 more, but its not worth it. When you order a half you really get a 3/4, and the whole is too big anyways.

and don't you hate in when your milkshake is too runny? its like you left it out too long and it turns into some sort of soup, but its fresh, and you feel cheated. but you eat it anyways cuz its a milkshake.

and nobody ignores a milkshake. thats a fact.

Too much of a good thing.

2008-04-02T19:55:00.003-06:00

I wonder if you really can have too much of a good thing? Is it possible to have something so much that its wrong, to a certain extent. Right now that is NNU mints. I just can't stop.

I didn't realize before last night how many people I know with blogs that are worth reading. I know have 16 links to the right to people I know. weird.

And I joined Twitter last night. you should too.

My stupid head, and girls

2008-03-30T23:07:00.003-06:00

I think I have wasted too much of my life watching Scrubs, Wonder Years, and Doug, because I spend too much time in my head.

I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about relationships. Most specifically mine with other people. They're pretty complicated and there are too many for me to deal with: my family, my roommates, my friends from home, my friends from school, and the worst of all, with girls.

Girls get me all screwed up. To start with, I develop little crushes really easily, and so I'm constantly dealing with this because as soon as I stop thinking about this girl or these girls, there are instantly more to take their place. But I don't suppose that this is really all that unique. Every straight guy who is single is always thinking about girls and how to ask them to hang out or go out or make out. The only problem for me is that sometimes I find so many girls I want to ask out that I can't narrow down. And then there's the one I will never get over to consider. But that's all fine.

The problem is I have this innate ability to create such chaos within myself that I am immobilized. I can easily convince myself that the timing is bad, that if I wait that I actually will ask her out though I know I won't, or that I'm not good enough. If you know me very well, you know I have a problem with confidence and that I continuously second-guess and doubt myself.

This vortex within my head, this rollercoaster of determination, confidence, and decisiveness, is where I spend most of my time. Especially as of recent.

And now I get to this point and I don't know why I am writing any of this. I hate ranting about nothing that nobody cares about, or sounding self-pitying. But I'm here and I'm not going back. I'm not writing this for other people, I'm writing it for me, and I'm doing out loud so people know me better, to make myself more vulnerable. (except that the only reason I am blogging is because of people telling me to)

So I guess I'm writing all of this to say to myself: get over it. And if you have any thoughts, insights, or advice as to how to do this please tell me. But don't just say something moronic and obvious like "don't be scared and ask someone out". If I didn't have that figured out already I wouldn't be writing this.

The difficulty of blogs

2008-03-30T22:45:00.002-06:00

The thing that is happening now is the thing that I knew would happen from the beginning. I started a blog and now I have no motivation to write in it. It's terrible. I could write about several things that have happened this week:

We had the play this week
My aunt was here
I went out to dinner with some friends

Okay, so in writing this list my plan was to list all the things I've done and then say I don't want to blog about it, but now I do want to talk about some things that happened this week.

I finally watched Adaptation and I think it's one of the most well-written movies ever. Charlie Kaufman is a genius and he blows my mind. As does the acting ability of some people. It starred Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep, and Nicholas Cage, and they all played characters that I had never seen in them before. It's amazing to me what some people can do when they have the right inspiration and direction. I'm gonna say that again: it's amazing to me what some people can do when they have the right inspiration and direction. I think I could write a whole blog on that, but I have other things I want to write about. sorry.

Last night I went to dinner with Lissetta, Dani, and Tyler, and Katie joined us half-way through. I'm not sure if there's anything I enjoy more than going out to dinner with a small group of friends. It gives you a chance to just sit down and talk with a few people for a while without being interrupted by other people or distractions. After dinner we, well I (Lissetta ditched me after driving back) went to Corlett to meet up with Dani, Katie, and Tyler again, and after some strong convincing towards Katie, we left to go find something to do. I'm glad we could get Katie to go, she's a lot of fun and I have never really hung out with her.

So we got in my car and I just started driving. The drive began with hoods up, rap music, and Katie freaking out about being shot for being stupid white kids, and from there we just kept driving. We didn't stop driving all night except to get Tyler a Slurpee and to get out at Table Rock for a little while. I love just driving. Its so relaxing. You can talk, you can yell, you can rock out, or you can just sit in silence and nobody has to feel uncomfortable. I think that if I could I would spend the rest of my life driving in cars and eating dinner with friends. Nothing makes me happier. So I am happy.

And I am listening to Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay and that solidifies my happiness.

Busy, busy, busy

2008-03-20T22:37:00.002-06:00

This post has nothing to do with how busy I am.

I was trying to find purevolume tonight, and I say trying because I couldn't remember what it was called, when I found it, and the very first feature band I see is called Ice Nine Kills.

This sounds very insignificant, and it would have been if I had seen this any day before today, but it is today. As it happened--as it was meant to happen--I finished Cat's Cradle today by Kurt Vonnegut.

This book was a chance find in a small cupboard in my house the day before I left for Vegas. I knew I would finish my other book, so I thought I'd bring it along. I didn't know anything about it. It wasn't by design, because if I had planned to read any Vonnegut on purpose it would have been Slaughterhouse Five.

As it turns out I started Cat's Cradle yesterday and finished today in the car, cuz it was raining and I didn't want to drive in traffic. Well in the book coincidences and mysteries have meaning and often allude to your karass and wampeter. These are terms which are from a made up religion in the book. If you have ever read Vonnegut you know that how he invents things for his stories.

Well, the name Ice Nine Kills is the fulcrum, the turning point of Cat's Cradle, and so I thought it quite odd that such an insignificant book and insignificant band would line up in my life on such an insignificant day.

To understand my post better you should borrow the book from me and read it. Its very short and pretty good. I recommend it if want to read but don't have a lot of time or want to put much effort in to it.

Spring Break, Pt. I, a synopsis

2008-03-18T18:26:00.002-06:00

A brief breakdown:

Friday: take off early and drive home.

Saturday: watch Minority Report, eat homemade dinner (Chinese food), go to friend's house

Sunday: take-off for Vegas 14 hours later than expected, took a test during 14 hr break

Monday: Arrive in Vegas at 1.30am, sleep, meet up with crazy girls for lunch and swimming, help Lissetta's mom buy tickets to show, chill in apt, go out with friends 'til 4am

Tuesday (so far): sleep in, watch tv, lay in sun by pool for hours, finish book

Some notes:

First: Vegas is an interesting place. I had never really planned on coming to Vegas, it was always a thought, but I never thought that I would actually come anytime soon. I'm not sure what I was expecting. It's not very glamorous. I'm sure its got its side, but I certainly don't have the money or connections for it. The casino floors are dirty and dark and the people are sad and mostly drunk, though that could have been because it was St. Patrick's Day

Second: Friends in Vegas are different than you'd expect. I don't want to use any names or specifics, but it's always interesting to see people you know in a certain setting without any inhibitions. Some things you think you know about people turn out to be very true, and some things turn out to be very wrong. I found out some inetersting things about my friends and what people think.

Third: I can't believe that it took me so long to finish You Shall Know Our Velocity! I should have finished it a month and a half ago. but I get distracted easily. So I got a good chunk done on the plane, and then, today sitting in the sun, I finished it. it was a great story, but I feel like I need to read it again to really take everything away from it. it inspires a new way of dealing with people, with thinking about the issues that you think are big in your life, and it inspires change and movement, but the first time through I got wrapped up in the story too much. there's so much the Eggers wrote about though, the story was just a vessel. but, for now, I will reminisce and move on to my first book by Kurt Vonnegut: Cat's Cradle.

That's my Spring Break so far. Update to come when I get home.

My soul, bared for all.

2008-03-13T01:17:00.005-06:00

I just watched Into the Wild with Chris and Reed, and these are my gut reactions:

The whole time I was watching the movie I thought of a quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an 18th century French philosopher, who is most famous for his statement "man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". Rousseau believed that the natural state of man is the only one in which he is truly happy. This natural state is where man lives as an individual only, his only cares and wants are to provide for his survival. He lives perpetually in a pre-Descartes revelation: "I am therefore I am". In this state, where man is only self-aware, his nature is lent towards kindness and altruism because he has no care for any other, positive or negative. It is when we become aware of others that we develop the idea of power and pride and we lose that simple life of few concerns. And now it is society that creates our unhappiness.

This seems to embody the idea of Chris, or Alex (the main character). He read of philosophers like Rousseau and Thoreau who found their happiness in solitude and simplicity, and he took them to heart without considering the external forces acting upon them, or the consequences of their thought. And so, he takes up their burden unrest, and a burden it is, believe me, and believes that this will take him far from the lies and pain and violence that he has experienced.

I do not want to take too much away from the movie, and so I won't give everything to you, but I think that the man at Salvation Mountain said it best when he said "I think a lot of people out there love me, and I just hope for the wisdom to love them back." What words are greater than these? It is that wisdom I lack, but even more than that, its the vision to see that there are people out there who love me, that God loves me.

I could go off on dozens of tangents from here, but I have had a hard enough time writing this knowing that other people will read it. This is part of me looking for my anchor, by letting people in. So I will end with this: look to those around you, look to God, let yourself love and be loved, because when we love, the light of God shines on us.

Pride comes before the fall.

2008-03-12T20:18:00.002-06:00

So, today was, long. I woke up. I practiced, I spoke.

My speech, I thought, was one of the best of chapel. I tried to build a balance between humor and having an actual point, and I thought it came off well. My voice stayed solid, though my knees did not and I almost fell over a few times. So after my speech I was pretty confident.

So I waited.

And I waited.

And I waited.

Then the moment came, when the envelope was opened, and we learned the truth. I call it the truth because truth is something we can't control, we can't manipulate the truth to what we want it to be, results we can. And that's how the elections went after speeches today. And the truth is, I lost.

But perhaps I shouldn't call it the truth, because I did have control over the results. I could be upset if I wanted to, I could blame the people that didn't vote, or I could just say it wasn't meant to be, but the real truth is that it was my fault. If I had really cared about it, I suppose I would have campaigned harder. I used the excuse that I had a really busy weekend before campaigning started, and that the first half of the week was just crazy, and it was. But its not like I couldn't have started a week ahead, or even two, which some of my opponents no doubt did. I also had hoped that my name recognition, my qualifications, and my speech would make up for my lack of posters, but apparently I was wrong. Which amazes me because I have always believed that posters were the least important thing, and maybe they are, maybe I just wasn't the right man for the job.

So, yes I am disappointed, no I am not mad, yes I think that they can get the job done.

I hope to walk away from this as if it were a Tuesday night sitcom, with some kind of lesson learned. Assume nothing, work for everything. I'm not very good at taking lessons to heart, but I suppose its about time, and I'm sure I have a lot of lessons ahead of me this next year. Thanks to all who supported me.

In the beginning...

2008-03-10T18:41:00.000-06:00

...there was chris and reed, and chris and reed blogged, and they saw that it was good. and so the apartment of olsen a2 entered into the world. and chris and reed continued to blog, and they spread the good news to those they came upon. with encouragement and persistence they collected a body of soul searchers and opinion sharers, and they shared their hearts, their minds, and their lives. as the good news spread the body grew bigger and stronger, but this growth demanded continuous supplement. the body would not be refused its nourishment, and so the blog became an integral part of their lives, it consumed them, requiring all thoughts and actions of them. but it was still good. and they continued to share the good news, and increase the size of the body. there was one they came across who was resistant where others had been submissive. he came nearly to the point of manic reactions when confronted. he was not ready for the commitment, he did not believe he had what it required of him. but one day, whilst musing about his day, he had a revelation. the blog was exactly what he needed to express his thoughts, his frustrations, his joys, and his sorrows. he knew that it would be difficult, and that he would undoubtedly displease the body with his abstract, divergent, and honest writings, but if they wanted him he would take them by storm. He knew his relationship with the body would be inequitable, sometimes it demanding more from him than he could give, sometimes he demanding more from it than it would be willing to part with. nevertheless, he answered the call this new world sounded, and it was good.