2012: In the Rearview

Well, folks, it's (almost) 2013. It's been a heck of a year, in some ways good and in some ways bad. But here is how my year went:

January: Well, first of all I started a blog! One of my New Year's resolutions was to start a blog, so that I could work on my writing. I also wanted to work on my actual writing; short stories, sketches and such the like. I've done decently on that, but my blog went well! I made 24 posts, so averaging once every two weeks. I'm actually doing pretty well! So I did well.

Also, I went back to school for what I thought would be my semester, but life had other plans. We'll get to that in a bit. Anyway, I also went out to Junction, Utah for a weekend with Glen and Mitch. In all honesty it was one of the highlights of my entire year. It was fun to hang out just the three of us shooting guns, playing video games, riding quads, and of course, eating lots of food. In short, biggest man-weekend I've had in a while.

I know, I'm pretty cool, you don't have to tell me.

Why yes, we are standing on a solid lake. and yes, I do miss this kid like no other. 

February: Not too much. I got into the swing of things at school. Started having more classes and, more importantly, more fun. 

I got to meet the real life Hitch! He was really cool and really funny!

We went out sledding one day. I was SO DANG COLD.

March: Spring break! What else is there to say? I dragged as many people as wanted to come to California with me. We went all around Southern California, enjoying the sights, visiting the beach, going to LA, and all around enjoying the fact that it was above 50 degrees! 

Santa Monica Beach picture with everybody

China town picture with everybody

We found the bench from (500) Days of Summer!

Hiked Fish creed. It was cold and would have been miserable, but I had good friends with me!

This was Mitch's idea of a breakfast..

We went to the local Novelty store, Charlie Brown Farms

And that's where this, my vote for picture of the year, was taken. 

We also went up North at the end of the month for Mitch's mission call opening and for Color festival. 

We got pretty dirty by the end of it. We took this as we were leaving.

Mitch's mission call!

April: Even though school was winding down, we still found ways to entertain ourselves. We watched Conference in Lone Pine at Melissa's grandma's house. It was also April Fool's. That whole weekend was full of the spirit, and the spirit of mischief. 

We sticky noted Kay's car.

We also got in a Sand Hollow trip. It took us a while to figure out that tent...

May: Said goodbye to SUU for what I thought would be the last time for a couple years. I said bye to everybody, too. Landon left for his mission, and I got back out to Kanab for his farewell.

This is what Landon's farewell was like. we just took a bunch of silly pictures. 

I hate saying goodbye and I hate mornings. 

Summer: I won't bore you with a month-by-month here because it's all a blur to me too (plus I didn't take all that many pictures...). But rest assured, it was full of beach trips, hikes, cliff jumping, and hanging out with some awesome people. Most notable here are (without pictures), Glen's farewell and going to see my sister out in Missouri. We had a death in the family, so we took a trip out to see her. It was great to see everybody again, despite the circumstances. 

The Beach! and some dudes...

My last trip back to SUU

Cliff jumping in California!

Cliff jumping in Utah!

We blew a tire on the way to the Brigham City temple open house. That didn't stop us from having some fun, though!!

Fourth of July up on the hill. What a sight! We got to see the whole valley's firework's show. 

Hiking Kanarraville! 

October: Full of hanging out with my friends here in California! I spent a week with my grandparents in Palm Desert, watched Diego and Tristen get their mission calls, and overall enjoyed some downtime before..

November: Probably one of the biggest months of my life. On the 26th I had the first major surgery I've ever had. I had a renalectomy, or kidney transplant surgery. Right now, while I sit here, I am typing with one less body part than 99% of the population. It feels pretty good to be different. Plus, it helped save my brother's life. Overall, worth it, despite the pain and slow recovery.

This was the night I got home! 

December: Aside from recovering, and saying goodbye to Diego (unphotographed), I went up to Utah to spend Christmas with my grandparents. It was a great trip because I got to see my brother Adam before he deploys from Afghanistan in January. I also got to see Breanna and Jason get married!

Breanna and Jason getting all married. 

We hung out at the wedding a bit. 

We went sledding. My parents are kinda cute sometimes. 

Anyway, that's been my 2012-- all the highlights, anyway. It's been a rough year in some ways, but a great year overall. I look forward to the challenges, hardships, joys, and memories of 2013. Here are some of my resolutions for the new year:

• Continue taking risks. I want to get out of my bubble and try new things. I pride myself on being open minded, but why stop at thinking about doing cool new things? :)
• Work out again. Because of surgery I've lost the ten pounds, basically everything I put on from working out this past year. So I want to start working out again and gain all my weight back. I was just starting to enjoy not looking like a total wimp, and I want it back! The actual goal: to work out at least three times a week every week, and to get back up to 150 lbs.
• Be nicer to those who treat me right. This is pretty self explanatory, and I think I do alright with this. But sometimes I simply repay them with a thank you, when I realize a proper thank you would be in a repaid favor or something like that. So I'm gonna work on recognizing people's sacrifices for me and repaying them better!
• Find a job- No matter what, I need to find a job. I want to become more independent, and money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure buys freedom. 
• Last, but not least, leave on my mission before my birthday. I plan to be fully recovered by March or so, and school ends in May. So hopefully by May or June I'll be gone, but I DEFINITELY want to be gone by August. 

Finally, in case I haven't told you, I will be attending SUU for the next semester. Because my recovery will be done at March at the soonest, I decided to not fall a year behind in school and finish up my Associates at SUU while I finish my recovery. I'm taking 17 credits and will be trying to find employment, so I might not be around too much. But rest assured, if you're at SUU we'll be hanging out! I'm leaving Wednesday the 2nd, and school starts the 7th!

Anyway, I hope that this finds you well. I hope you all have had a happy holiday and that you have a Happy New Year. Have a great day and have a wonderful 2013 all!

If you're not moving forward...

Hello to all! I hope you all find yourselves well. I hope that you have come with minds open, because I'm about to drop some philo (what the kids are calling "philosophy" nowadays") right on your dome (what the kids are calling ones' "head") nowadays. You ready? Alright, here we go:

So, as many of you are aware, I'm in this really strange point in my life. And not just because I'm 19 and the world's my oyster and all that jazz, but because I have been put in an extremely unique position that I would dare anybody to find me another person in the history of the universe who has been in this position. Now, I realize this is a bold statement, but I say it with confidence. Because right now I am planning to donate my kidney to my brother.This procedure has only begun to become possible through modern science, probably in the past 40 or 50 years. I am also going to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints. As many of you know, we as Mormons will typically serve missions when we're 19. Well, as of this month, men can now serve when they are 18, and women when they are 19. So now, as a 19 year old male, I am sitting around, waiting for a date on when I can get a major organ sucked out of my body and implanted into my brother, and had to postpone serving my mission to do so. Meanwhile, almost every male friend I have is now serving a mission, and now I am watching all my female friends begin the process to leave.

I mean, honestly, there may be 1 or 2 other people in the existence of time who have even had a situation comparable to mine. But this isn't a post about the expanse of the universe, the meaning of life, or any of that.

No, what this is about is a realization I have come to over the past week. And that's if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward. See, I've realized that life is a muscle. Life must be flexed, moved, strained, pushed, hardened, expanded, and used, in order for rest to be worth it. Otherwise, life becomes obese, extravagant, and begins the process of regression, like any muscle. For instance, you can work for years on the perfect body, but lose it in a matter of months if you stop utilizing those muscles that make it up. I've seen this in almost every aspect of my life.

The problem is that I have had very little to motivate me the past few months. I've lived in a state of limbo--of not knowing--for such a long time, that I began to regress in my habits. I wasn't acting like I was in college. I gained a year's worth of knowledge, wisdom, worldly awareness, habits, thought patterns, routines, and maturity (well...). Now, after sitting on my butt for 6 months, at home, doing little to nothing, I've moved backwards.

I can't say it's entirely my own fault. I mean, I'll take responsibility, but it's not. If I'd known that the process to get tested and scheduled for the kidney donation surgery, I would certainly have pursued another/better job. Right now I'm selling Cutco and setting my own schedule (which I've also slacked off on, to be honest...) and if I had known I would have sought out better employment. I could have earned 4 or 5 month's worth of minimum wage. Nothing to shake a stick at.

If I'd known how long this process would take, I would have done another semester at college. I wouldn't be sitting at home, twiddling my thumbs and wasting my time. I would have given it a shot to try and get tested out there, and to get myself ahead another semester. I would have met more people, gained more knowledge, and made another 6 month's worth of "mature responsible" (I'll use those words loosely) Tommy habits and routines.

But instead, I just sit around. I do what I can around the house. I surf the web for hours on end, stare at Facebook statuses and tweets I've read at least a dozen times, play video games, try to hang out with whoever isn't in school, maybe earn some money if I can, or if I feel like it. But most of the time, I lack the motivation. Because I haven't flexed my "responsibility" muscles for a while. So instead, I sit around and think. I ponder, and I get myself into trouble.

But I'm trying to get better. I'm trying to jump back into my good habits and routines. Fortunately, unlike working out, you don't tire quickly after a hiatus of not working out your good habits and routines.


So yeah! That's what I've been thinking about the past few days. I hope maybe this helps somebody. If not, well you'll be rewarded for reading all the way either way. Because if you like good music, you should listen to Cloud Cult. They have really good music, and I haven't stopped listening to them since I discovered them. They're kinda strange, but I like almost every song they make, and I hope you do too!

'Til next time, stay classy San Diego.

Hi, I'm Tommy, and I'm the world's worst blogger

Ever. Ever. EVER.
I only wrote three blog posts (including this one) this summer. You know, summer? That time when you have a crapload of spare time and spend more time wondering what you should do with this gratuitous amount of spare time that you have? Yeah, I blogged three times. The good news is that means this post will be extremely long, and I'll get to catch you up with a series of pictures and a wall of text. Are you ready kids? I can't hear you! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,

I live on my couch in my own house. I know, crappy segue, but it was the best I could do, and I love SpongeBob so why not, right? So, this is my biggest story from summer. I've been sleeping on my couch for about a month. Why you ask? Because my room is now occupied by a 17 year old Norwegian girl named Pia. My parents decided to take her on for a full school year, and they have to have their own room. So I've been sleeping on my couch for the past few weeks. It actually hasn't been terrible, except while I've been sunburnt. The couch is leather, so you know that thing where you skin sticks to leather if it's on it too long? Imagine that while you're peeling. Yeah. Gross, right? As well as painful. But honestly the couch is quite comfy, so I can't complain too badly.

And speaking of sunburns, I have had not one but TWO in the past week. In other words, me and the sun are not on speaking terms. He gets the kid this week, I get it next, and we'll just do that until Thanksgiving and Christmas when we can just fight it out. But seriously, it's bad. The first I got last Monday when I went to Sand Hollow with my friends. That one turned my back turned a nice hue of pink, then red, then blistering red. It was my first ever second degree burn! Who said the summer before you mission can't be exciting, huh? Well the second one I just got yesterday. I was refereeing and we get to wear these super-attractive shorts that don't even go to your knees, and the back of my knees got burned hardcore. So now I get the feeling I get to repeat steps 1-3. Whatever they were. 

The next exciting bit of news is that I got the chance to spend what is probably my last week in Utah for two years-- well, aside from my 8 week stint in the MTC that I'll talk about in a minute. Sarah's friend Natalie came out and so Adam, Sarah, Natalie, and myself spent a few days in Cedar, then drove up to Brigham City for the temple open house, then went to a Real Game on Saturday night. We spent the night with my grandparents then went back up to Roy Utah for Adam's Dad's stake conference where Richard G Scott was speaking. It was a real privilege and treat to hear from a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles, as well as to walk through the temple, seeing as how I will be doing that soon. Then I headed back to Cedar, where I got the chance to stay the night with Kaleigh, Dani, Melissa, the Courtneys, and Megan. They were nice enough to let me bum it on their couch for a little bit. That was awesome, because I got to see almost everybody I wanted to one last time. We went to Sand Hollow, celebrated Dani's birthday, had a mini jam session where I pretended I had talent, and best of all just hung out! Being able to just hang out with everybody one last time before I leave was definitely a blessing before coming home and getting a nice bit of news.

Last but certainly not least is that good news: My mission call. I can't believe it's actually here. Ever since I was in primary I've heard about missions, and known how important they were, but it wasn't until January that this process became a real possibility for me. I always thought I would be a missionary, but it didn't actually happen until recently for me. I've really been praying and studying my scriptures and taking steps towards being able to go. And now that my call is here, I am SO excited to leave. I don't look forward to leaving my family, my friends, my lifestyle, my schooling, writing, blogging (what I do of it anyway), practicing my ukulele, and everything else that I enjoy that I'll have to put on hold for two years. But I know that the sacrifice will be worth it. I'm excited to serve the people of the McAllen Texas mission, and I'm excited to learn Spanish. I'm especially excited to go through the temple, to learn the entirety of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to bask in the happiness it brings when followed in exactness, as well as the opportunity to share it with others. Am I scared? Out of my freakin' mind. But for now my excitement is outweighing my fear, and I'll try to keep it there. 

Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures of the things I've talked about. I hope that you all have had a blessed summer, and that I can keep catching you up until I leave in October. I also hope you'll keep me in your prayers and, soon, your letter list. 

SUU signs!

We hiked Kanarraville falls

Our date to go see Wimpy Kid

The car broke down and we didn't have a jack, so we just took stupid pictures

We finally made it to the temple!

Real game!

Sand Hollow!

Fun pictures! 

We were having a lot of fun in the water

Group photo! 

"Best sides!"

The girls!