Jon Mother-H-ing Schmidt

I have a good post planned...soon....

But for now,

I demand that you watch this. NOW. It give me the chills and brings tears, real tears, to my eyes. Raindrops. Watch it.

Thank you, Summer, of the Summer Oak Tree diet, for showing me this clip. Amazing.

Peace.

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Broop, For Lack of a Better Word

What do you think the worst way to die would be? Whatever it is, unless you are Jal, you are wrong. The worst way to die would be starving while floating aimlessly and endlessly in space towards nothing at all. How do I know this? Have I talked to someone to whom this has happened and lived to tell the tale? That is utterly absurd. So what led me to this conclusion?

I made it to Logan yesterday. It was a good time. I spent the day frolicking in the recently-treated grass and eating a picnic at a secret nature park with Snake. Some Animal Control officers threatened to lock us up, which was rather odd. When did Animal Control officers get so much power? I'd like to investigate this in some future day, but today is not that day. I digress.

I stopped in at the AT&T store after spending some time with Snake, but alas, they couldn't help me. Fortunately, they didn't hurt me either. I am stuck in limbo with a phone that resets itself 13 times a day, fails to receive messages at times, and phone calls slip past leaving no trace. It's quite annoying, really.

Then I got my haircut. For those of you worried that I cut my bangs, you can stop. I'm growing it out so as to look like Peter Petrelli's. Saren does a very nice job cutting hair. She's also a great photographer, makes great lemon squares, and a killer ramen noodle surprise.

After the haircut, we proceeded to dinner at a great italian restaurant in Smithfield, Callaway's. The conversation was fantastic, as Saren and I talked about everything, from dating to music and food. Don't worry, I'm getting to the point.

This post is starting to sound like a travelogue of my adventures in Logan. I'm sure you'd be rather reading something interesting, like J. R. R. Tolkien discuss the song that the birds are humming, and the scent of the trees in which they are perched, etc. But if you hang with me for a minute longer, you'll be glad you did. Or at least it will be one minute of your life in which you didn't have to find something else to do.

I met up with Jalene after dinner, and we drove to Willard to hang with Seth and Shane. Loads of names here that you have to keep track of, but that's your problem. It was indeed a good time at the Durfee's, as usual. Discussions of guy stuff, like beef and engines and guns, as well as lovely chatter of trans-fat cake and cookies. Shane giggled as Shane is wont to do. On the way home, Jalface and I had a lovely conversation about the strangest things. I'll be darned if I can remember probably 2 of the 3 weirdest topics I've ever discussed with anyone...but she said to me (paraphrased): What would it be like to go to space? Is there a high probability of death? We talked of this for a little bit. This is when she said that the worst possible way to die is to starve while floating aimlessly and endlessly in space towards nothing at all. I agree.

Peace.

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Kristin Brown Photography

I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, it would seem. Kristin finally has her own photography website. For all those that are a fan of good photography, check it out! For those who need some pictures taken, check it out! You won't regret doing this. I have put a link on the left sidebar, so you will always be able to get there from this blog.

It makes me so happy to know that she is fulfilling one of her dreams. Someday I hope to be where she is: being good at photography and having my own website for said talent. And sell photos. Good on ya, Kristin. And good luck next month! :)

Peace.

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And Now for Something Completely Different

I want to write a new post about something completely different. However, my life is completely void of anything interesting.

I could tell you about this new video game I am playing. It's got a fancy name, and the objective is walk around as the character you create (you choose his or her race (i.e. human, elf, etc.) and design him or her to look however you want him or her to look) and do pretty much whatever you want. It's like having another life, an idea that some tend to frown on. Yes, there are some that think it is daft to live a second life inside a video game! Ridiculous, I know. The design of said game is to slowly suck you away from your real life, so as to become utterly negligent and useless, and at the same time create a second personality in your mind, warping any true sense of reality you may have. I reiterate the ridiculousness of frowning upon such games. I digress. Since I'm worth a hill of beans at this point, it's actually nice to go into my virtual life, become a dark elf with green skin, run around and help people. Or steal their stuff.

I could tell you about how I'm also wasting my life away looking for a job via the interweb. I'm beginning to understand the truth that comes from Kendall and his magnificent thinking ability. It's 10% what you know and 90% who you know. I've turned in almost 40 applications and have been rejected twice. All others just went out and are now in limbo, the state in which I currently find myself. I'm as lost about what I'm doing as I am with Lost, as it were. But what a great season finale!

I could also tell you about the new toy I got that tells me how far I've run and how fast I'm going, along with total calories burnt, and it fits in a little pouch that sits on my shoelaces and sends a wireless signal to my iPod. I can push a button and a nice female voice comes on and tells me this information. It's pretty awesome. Today I ran two miles without stopping, and I hope to keep improving this. Maybe I'll train for a marathon... Hey, maybe I will train for a marathon! I'm not sure where my motivation came from, but so far I've lost 30ish pounds, with only about 20 or so more to go until I'm where I want to be. I lied. I know exactly where my motivation came from. It all started with my hot PT....and now I feel so great, I want to keep going! Thanks, Sum! Miss your face!

I could tell you those things, but I just don't trust you.

Peace.

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Higher Grounds

I'm not used to the altitude here.

• I actually look forward to waking up to run. It's a weird feeling, especially because the altitude is killing my lungs. I've been known to be a little masochistic at times, so maybe this is one of those times.
• I generally tell the truth. Maybe the altitude is also affecting my brain because sometimes when someone will ask me a hard question, I lie. Types of questions include, but are not limited to are you hungry?, what do you want for dinner?, and more difficult feeling-class questions as in what are you feeling for dinner?, etc. Common responses that may be heard escaping my tongue are no - but I could eat, I dunno, or I'm not sure, in that order. The truth is, I know exactly if I'm hungry or not, but if I say yes, the inquirer might take advantage of my truthfulness, neglect me or simply call me a fatty. I also know exactly what I want to eat, but am afraid to share my true feelings for fear of rejection. What if I say, "Yes, I'm hungry. I want a cheeseburger," and the response I get is, "Thought so. Sorry, I'd rather have a chicken pot pie from the Cheesecake Factory." I can't deal with that.
• I am a pretty normal kid, but secretly I want to be an emo. I'll deny this to my grave if ever asked. This has been the case for quite awhile. It started one day while listening to Dashboard or watching Heroes. Unfortunately, the higher altitude is affecting my hair-growth speed. I just made this up, but it can probably be confirmed via wikipedia or emowiki.com or something.
• I said fifty+ times how I couldn't wait to get the H out of Utah and everything that I knew, but right now, I'd do anything to find a job in Salt Lake and move back. Shhh, don't tell anyone!
• You all know my love for statistics, right? I can't wait to find a job where i can get paid to do it everyday. However, my dream is to move to a small town, say Sandpoint, Idaho, write music, shoot photos or maybe open a restaurant I'd call O Burgers with my old friend Nate.
• I'm a Mac fanboy, yet I own an Xbox 360. Maybe Apple should come out with a game system called the iBox that can play all Xbox games, but will allow all fanboys to purge themselves completely of all Microsoft dependencies. It was a huge blessing to me when I put iWork on my MacBook and permanently uprooted Office. Mac thanks me everytime I open up a Word document in Pages by emitting a signal on a frequency only fanboys can detect. These things are amazing!

I've bored you enough for today. I hope this post answered all the questions that I know everyone has been dying to ask, many of which have already been asked.

Peace.

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A New Look

I was having a very depressing conversation with my good pal Jalface when she asked how to make her blog pure white like unto the deep snows of Mount Everest. How indeed! Then I looked at my own blog and my inner-monologue kicked in, "Squall, you're starting a new life. You need a new look to your blog. Something as cool are you, Squall, since you are the H*."

(*Note that "H" can be used as a substitute for any swear.)

Hope you like the new look. Thanks to both Lightroom and Photoshop for helping me with the new picture, complimentary colors for making it look good, Joe Koebbe for making me learn html/css last summer, and Jalface for inspiring me to change my blog look and also for simply inspiring me.

I expect everyone to now call me Master Squall due to my recent hooding, but will accept any derivative of any other pseudonym you come up with.

Still no word from Coldwater Creek. Cross your fingers, friends and fiends alike.

I almost died on my way to [current location] today. Picture the following scenario: you're driving on the freeway; visibility of 20 feet due to the massive amount of rain falling from all directions; a large semi spewing enough water to give the impression that you're driving through the ocean; and a small Subaru, afraid to pass the large semi, and taking 5 minutes to perform this task. You are caught behind the attempting-and-failing-to-pass Subaru, next to the fire-hose-semi thus getting soaked from literally all directions, and you feel all forces acting against you. Finally, there is enough room for you to squeeze between the Subaru and the semi. You go to cross, and the amount of standing water in the middle as you change lanes causes you to hydroplane. You feel your vehicle begin to turn sideways and suddenly straight again, and this happens once or twice more. You miraculously make it into the other lane and speed ahead of danger. This is what happened to me today. Curiously enough, soon after this event, the weather cleared up to a light rain and dryish roads. It's a bit too cliche to describe the metaphor running through my head while driving today, so I hope you catch it. (That and I'm too lazy to write it out...it's almost 3 a.m. and I'm beat) Luckily, I had the Lord on my side today, as well as Chris and Andy to keep me company. :)

One more thing real quick. I watched a great flick tonight. Kirsten Dunst's character, quoting Alexander Pope, said "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!" I know it doesn't directly relate to this, but it made me think a lot about the close of this chapter (chapter 5, for those of you counting) of my life, and those that have touched my life, whether for good or bad. I'm very sad to be done with school, maybe never to return to Logan. But I'm so excited to see what life has in store for me. To my friends from the past few years of my life: I will never forget you! I owe you all so much. I lack the ability to articulate the hope you have given me, the examples you have been that have made me grow so much, the friendships you've shared that I will forever cherish, the good and bad times we've experienced together that have made us close. You mean everything to me. I will miss you. I love you all!!!

Peace.

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