Harry Potter and the Wizards' Book Club

It's been awhile, but I've made a new video! For those of you who have not read the last book in the Harry Potter series, this will contain some spoilers. You have been warned.

Jon Schmidt, You've Done it Again

From the guys who brought you "Taylor Swift Meets Coldplay," here's some "Michael Meets Mozart." Enjoy!

Full of Goals

Lately I've felt like I have all of these goals I want to achieve and at the same time I have a bit of a fear that I won't achieve those goals. In some aspects, I think I've been doing well. As I've strived to reach those goals, I've realized some other goals I want to make to help me become a better person. I suppose it's that way all throughout life. That's how we learn, grow, and better ourselves, isn't it?

I've had a few thoughts about these goals. First, I've got to prioritize. Some things need to come before others or should happen at the same time. Perhaps other things will have to go on the back burner for awhile. Second, I've got to turn my desire into action. Too often I let my laziness get in the way of things I want to accomplish. It's okay to take breaks and rest, but I shouldn't be doing that all the time. Third, I should write my goals down. And a possible fourth is to give myself a schedule or deadlines/checkpoints to help me achieve these goals.

I think is something I'm going to try out. I realize that I won't be able to work on everything all at once. I don't want to overdo it. Let's see how this works. I think it will be good. I'd like to feel like I'm working towards something. I'd like to strengthen my talents. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your Easter. May it be full of family, love, and time devoted to the remembrance of our Savior and the sacrifice he made for each of us.

Towed

I can now officially check "ride in a tow truck" off my bucket list. Okay, it was never actually there, but if it were, I could cross it off. See that beauty to the left? That's a 1991 Chevy van. Woot! I currently work part time for a machine shop. I drive a van very similar to the one shown here a good portion of the time. A couple days ago when I was driving home after making all my deliveries, the van died....in the middle of the freeway. Here's how it went down. I was driving along (probably singing along with the radio) when I realized I was starting to slow down. The van is kind of loud and, as I mentioned, I was on the freeway, so I didn't notice the lack of noise coming from my engine. I did the first thing that came to my mind--pushed harder on the accelerator. Needless to say, that accomplished nothing. My second thought was, "Oh crap! I need to get to the shoulder." My second thought mayber should have been turn on your hazards... But it wasn't. The big issue with getting over to the shoulder was that I was rapidly slowing down while the rest of traffic wasn't. There were four lanes of traffic and I was in number three. I turned on my blinker, repeatedly said things like, "Please let me over," and squeezed through two lanes and onto the shoulder. Once I was safely out of the way of traffic, my thought was to turn on my hazards. I turned off the car and tried to start it again. Well, it didn't start, so I called up my boss and told him that I had bad news--the van had died. He arranged for a tow truck to come get me, and I sat in the van for a lengthy amount of time until he could get there. No worries though. I kept myself entertained. I texted some peeps, scribbled on scrap paper... I was actually pleasently surprised at how fast time went by. Besides, I had a great view from where I was trapped. It was something like this: For those of you who can't tell, that is in fact Seattle, which is quite a bit away from where I was heading. You can even make out a little space needle on the horizon! So things weren't all bad. I was trying to count my blessings at that moment, the biggest one being that no one got hurt. I made it safely to the side of the road, and help was on the way. I had finished all my deliveries, so there would be no impatient customers. When the tow truck came, the driver mentioned that I was lucky to break down where I did because I little ways back where I had been driving at one point there was no shoulder to pull off on. I hadn't even realized that little fact. I'm extremely grateful that things turned out so well. I'm grateful to my boss who sorted things out even called to check up on me (which is probably a good thing because I could have gone insane sitting there... traffic rushing by...). Things definitely could have been worse, and I'm so glad they weren't. I think that's enough adventure for one week :)

From Rexburg to Denver

Oh! Hello, Blog! It's been awhile, hasn't it? How's the family? Good to hear. Good to hear. Let me give you a hand. *Dusting* There. That's better. Let's write a post, shall we? Jolly good.

Hello everyone! In case it isn't obvious, I did not in fact die of hypothermia when I went to Rexburg almost a month ago now! It was actually a lot warmer than I expected. I had a blast. It was great to see familiar places and visit friends. Good times. Good times.

When I left Rexburg last year after graduation, I'd get a little homesick for it sometimes, especially when September came and everyone was heading back. I missed my friends, being out on my own, the the general lifestyle. I didn't miss the snow... The point is, part of me really wanted to go back. So I finally did. Last month, I went on a little adventure. For those of you I didn't have a chance to visit with, know that I still love you :)

One thing I realized as I walked around campus and as I was sitting on a shuttle that took me to Salt Lake where my plane so graciously waited for me was that I had this sense of closure. I could return home and this time not feel that overwhelming need to go back. Don't get me wrong. I love BYU-I and the people there. I wouldn't take back any of the experiences I had there. I will cherish those times forever, but that chapter in my life has closed and a new one is unfolding.

So, BYU-I, farewell.

And hello University of Denver. That's right. Guess who got accepted into the Publishing Institute there. That would be me, and I'm so excited to attend! I honestly don't know what the future holds after that point. I have some hopes, so keep your fingers crossed that one of them will work out. And even if things don't work out the way I want them to, that doesn't mean that things will turn out poorly. I've definitely seen how things don't go according to plan, but I think I still have it pretty good. I have a roof over my head. I have friends and family. I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and will give me strength and comfort. So life is rough sometimes, but I'm going to do my best to stay positive and move forward with hope.

The Best Things Heard Today

My Mom, Megan, and I were just discussing the best things we've heard today. We came up with a few, and maybe they were only funny if you were there, but here's some of the things we heard today.

Number 1:

Megan: My goal is to get married in the next year and a half because twenty-six sounds more romantic than twenty-five or twenty-seven.

Number two:

Me: (after renewing my license and comparing the weight difference between now and five years ago) Oh yeah I guess I can see some of that added weight around my face... Well, at least I'm an attractive fatty.

(At that point my mom busted out laughing... I just hope that doesn't mean she disagrees with my statement.)

Number three:

Megan: I think the best thing I've heard today is your fart.

In conclusion: my Mom says, "You know, they say parents embarrass their children. I think it's the other way around..."

Oh Lappy

Would you believe I still haven't finished the book I started writing for NaNoWriMo? Well you should because it's true. I'm still working on it and I'm quite proud of it. It is now officially the longest story I've ever written! Huzzah! I hope I'm still proud of it once I finish writing it and go over it again for the editing process...

Lappy has been put on suicide watch. Once again, he tried to off himself. He's back up and running right now for which I am grateful! I never realize how fast Lappy is until he's sick and I have to go use the ghetto computer downstairs. It still works, but man is it slow! No offense downstairs computer. Thanks for letting me use you to work on my story while Lappy was being revived.

The good thing is I now know why Lappy keeps having mental breakdowns. It's not because he has a bad home environment like one of my friends suggested. It's because he's been congested, meaning he had too much memory taken up for him to function properly. Now it is up to me to make some more room or perhaps invest in an external hard drive. Until then, my dad took off all my music and stored it on his computer which must have a bigger memory capacity than poor lappy. That did the trick. Lappy is happy and running smoothly.

In other news, I'm leaving for Rexburg on Thursday and I'm convinced I'm going to die of hypothermia. Sure I survived the winters there for three years, but I'm kind of liking the winter this year where it's warmer and isn't so windy. But the risk of death will be worth it. I'm excited to see people :)