Down Town Blue Lights

I finally got to go down town and shoot some of the people of the city. With-in 10 minutes of being in down town I was offered "good weed" by a guy that got obnoxiously close to me before he whispered his offer. It shocked me so much that he had to repeat himself 3 times before the reality of what he was offering to me kicked in. Later I was also offered pirated HD copies of every movie that was in theaters currently at this hole in the wall pizza restaurant that was AMAZING! (the food)  I started to make the connection that if you wanted anything of the shady nature you could get it in Atlanta and no one would even blink twice ( I am not in Utah any more).

I also recently acquired a new set of light reflectors that I am really excited to have. As we were walking around the city we found a pool that was full of blue lights, so I whipped out the reflector and went to town. 

In thought of mothers day. I've been thinking about this a lot of late and that is anything that I still consider useful knowledge I ultimately learned from my Mother. How to keep a clean house, build a basement, install tile, build a deck, tie my shoes, press a shirt, cook food, fold sheets with kissy sound effects, to be a man, to never give up, to create new ideas, and the list goes on. I owe all of this to my Mother.

 

 

 Thank you Mom!

Off Again - part ii

After 32 hours on the road from Colorado to Atlanta Georgia I made it safe and sound to my new apartment. I have 13 of the best co-workers and roommates: they are either return missionaries or getting ready to go a mission. It's empowering to be with a group of really good guys that are all striving to serve God. It has been a long time since I've knelt down with a circle of men and felt the power of the priesthood so strongly as we prayed for one others safety during our trip. Then to kneel in prayer again when we had car troubles relying on God's strength to help us solve our problems. I haven't prayed this much for such little things since my mission. It has been a humbling experience and reminder that I need to rely on God, to seek His help, and to remember Him through out my day. As I continue to watch the examples of all of my roommates as they kneel again in prayer every morning and night  making God an important part of their lives it has inspired me to allow God in my life more fully. I am so grateful to be where I am right now and to realize how much God is placing the people in my path that he has and is guiding me to where I need to go.

Off Again - part 1

Surprise! I'm going to Georgia!  My life is starting to feel like the Dr. Seuss book  Oh The Places You'll Go. I got a summer job in Georgia with Alterra out of the blue and now I'm on a 3 day road-trip with twelve return missionaries traveling cross country. Life takes so many twists, turns, and unexpected ups and downs. I guess the two things I still need to learn are: to be elastic and to prepare to be surprised.

 

 

 

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. 

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look'em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don't choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down a not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you'll want to go down. In that
case, of course, you'll head straight out of town. It's
opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people
as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't
stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too.
Oh! The Places You'll Go!

Getting My Feet Back

A quick update on life. I was very blessed to find a job after three days of being home in Utah. I now work at Utah Woolen Mills selling high end men's suits and clothing. I also got offered a job as a model which just made me laugh because I have never seen myself as the model type (I prefer to be behind the camera) but I'll give it a swing. It's been absolutely wonderful to be home, to be with friends and family and to enjoy the beauty of Utah. Now I just need to save up to get a car, find an apartment and get my feet back under me.

 

 

Spirited Away

My last trip in Taiwan took me to JiuFen, the city in Taiwan that was the inspiration for the Miyazaki film Spirited Away. JiuFen is an old mining town that was established during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Shuffling through alleys packed with little shops and walking down a narrow staircase I imagined I could see No-face and Chahero sneaking through the streets. It was so cool to see the places that took me back to the animated vacation town of the spirits.

Two Broken Suitcases - 12 things i learned from taiwan

I am so happy to be home! Three months in Taiwan has taught me a lot about myself and I have learned so much. Even though I returned home early, I feel like I learned all that needed to from this chapter of my life.

1.Make where you live an adventure! 

     Going to Taiwan I knew that I had a limited amount of time to be there and I was determined to   make the most of it. After venturing out into the scenic world of Taiwan I realized that I if  I had that same view on life where ever I had lived I would have gone so many places. So I vowed to myself that instead of complaining that I had nothing to do or hoping for something to do I would make where I live an adventure. The world is a beautiful place go and be in it!

2.Don't return the unkindness that has been dealt to you : this doesn't mean be a push-over! Always stand your ground.

     To put things simply and to leave people their dignity I am only going to say this; I was often was not treated with kindness. Even though I was not treated the best I learned to keep a level head and not return a strike after one was dealt. It would have been easy too, to be a thousand times more destructive with my words and feel justified about my actions. Leaving a weeping mess of ruin in my wake. Instead I kept my cool and talked with them and tried to resolve the problem civilly, with out causing more unnecessary damage. At the end of it all I left without feeling regret about any of my words or actions. Also because I didn't add fuel to the fire by escalating my own emotions I feel like it will be easier to forgive them in the end.

3.Consequences are a part of life. & 4.Do what you said you were going to do

An important part of teaching is helping those you teach understand the rules of life and that there are consequences for good and bad behavior. As a teacher the first I did was establish what I expected from my students and the consequence for good and bad behavior. It was beautiful because by establishing the rules at the beginning my students were responsible and I didn't have to "yell" or get "mad" to get them to follow the rules. Instead they received the consequences for their own actions. Some of them would test the water day after day until they figured out that no matter what they did they would get the consequences for breaking the rules. As the teacher it was crucial that I followed through with what I said I would do for the consequence because if I didn't chaos would shortly follow. Luckily as life goes on and my students learned about the rules of life and decided to live by them on their own I didn't have to worry at all.

5.Get to know the quiet and social awkward kid and be their friend.

To put it simply everyone needs a friend. Being someone who was too shy at one point of my life to go and talk with people I know how lonely it can be to feel all alone. Until I served my mission in Indiana I always felt uncomfortable to talk with people, even if I knew them. As time went on and I learned to talk with people and developed friendships I learned the social skills I needed to function in everyday social events. I wouldn't have been able to gain those skills though unless I had a friend to show me the way. I would still be that awkward kid that have been uncomfortable to talk to people so I would like to give a special thanks to all those people that have been my friends and have helped me become who I am today. As my life continues I notice people who were just like I was and I know that all they need is a good friend to show them the ropes and pick them up when they fall.
 
6.Don't prejudge someone.

Going to Taiwan I had assumed that it was going to be a specific way. I was foolish enough to even go to the length to turn my assumptions into an artificial known-fact (I do this way too often...). When I arrived I found myself with many let downs and sometimes sticky situations because I assumed it was going to be one way then found out later that it wasn't the way I thought it was going to be. Not only is it important to not prejudge a place it is also just as important not to prejudge people you don't know. Some times this can be extremely hard for me to do and I try not to judge a book by its cover but sometimes that cover can scream so much that it is hard not to judge. On the flip side I would say that it is important and necessary in life to make a judgement to maintain safety some times but I usually try to give those situations a cautious test to see if my judgement was right or wrong before I solidify my assumption.

7.Fix what needs to be fixed don't let it just sit.

I find this to be true with all things in life not just with replacing light bulbs but emotional, physical,  etc, etc, etc. It is always better to do what needs to be done promptly so it is  out of the way and you can move forward.

8.Learn something new when your board don't just watch T.V.

There are so many things that can distract us from learning something new or refining a skill that we already have. While I was in Taiwan I'm not going to lie I watched a lot of T.V. but I also learned a lot too watching youtube videos. I realized though how much time I wasted watching and rewatching T.V.  pointless things. Now that I'm back in the states I am excited to try to make rocket fuel, soap from bacon grease, and the best growing soil from baby diapers to name a few things.

9.Read as many good books as possible.

There is no better way to spend your time than reading a book. Enough said.

10. Doing the right thing can be really hard but it's worth it.

This is something I have always noticed. That the right path is usually the hardest path to take. Tying things back to earlier comments, I was put in many situations where I had choices to make. I always did the right thing but man alive I really sometimes wanted to do the wrong thing. Looking back I'm really glad I chose to do the right thing even though it was hard to do sometimes.


11. Make plans even if you don't follow them word for word you will be more productive if you do.

It is better have a plan to change then no plan at all and flounder about. Only having six planed months in Taiwan I wanted to make the most of my time. I always had a plan set but I didn't always follow them verbatim. Often I would go to some backwater town in search of a new sight to be seen and had a specific path laid out to follow. Every now and then I would find myself somewhere else unplanned and unexpected. The important thing was I had a plan so if I didn't where to go any more I could always go back to my original plan.


12. Talk to strangers.

On my way back to America I had a 4 hour layover in the Beijing airport, a 13 hour flight to California, a 3 hour layover in LAX and then a 2 hour flight home to Utah. My time flew by making it seem like all of my flights were back to back because I was always talking to someone new. A lady from Germany with tales of her amazing husband, A couple from California who deeply loved their kids, and a punk rock school teacher from LA. It was the best time traveling I have ever had, getting to know all of these amazing people with amazing stories.

A special shout-out to Tammy from the plane. I did what I told you about. Nothing came from it.