Saturday, September 29, 2012

Selnate Chinese Youth Camp

Friday night and I have absolutely nothing to do.  My former roommate texted me asking if I had already eaten.  I already had, but I can ALWAYS go for a molten chocolate cake. So we met up at Chili's and now I have officially done something on this Friday night.

Well, I'm back and I'm going to watch X Factor and blog I guess.

I'm making an Android app atm.  Stay tuned.



So this summer I landed the most ultimate job I could have asked for.  Think EFY, with Chinese youth, 2.5 weeks long, off campus at various fun places, but with no religion.  That was my job.

I yelled at them through a mic for 20 minutes trying to get them in this complex formation for a photo.

Here my buddy Jordan and I are with a fraction of the youth on our way to somewhere fun.
One of the two days I spent with them at 7 Peaks water park.
The students came from Sichuan Chengdu China and stayed with host families here in Provo/Orem area.  They were able to experience a American family atmosphere and did things they never have opportunity to do in China.




Here are some of my favs that I bonded with more than the others.  Here we are at the Utah state capitol.
A day at Trafalga
Shopping in Park City
We even took them to Temple Square, but because they're from China from a school which are all government institutions we couldn't proselyte or give them anything.
Kennecott Copper Mine.  Here I am with two of the Chinese teachers that came from China with the youth.  They also had home-stays.
A few more of my favs.
Here we are at some outdoors High Adventure type of place.  

Here Jordan and I are performing the song that we wrote at the farewell concert.


I love Chinese people.  It's weird.  I've always loved working with youth as well.  So working with Chinese youth was an incredible experience.  Of course they all loved me like crazy which always helps, but even before that I still love them.  I'm really glad I got the job.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Call If Horn Yeah

I started this post forever ago.

So whoooooaaaaa, did I just go on a vacation?  I almost can't believe it.

--SUNDAY--

It all began when my grandma gave my mom, brother, and me a ride to the airport.
Christy flew in from Phoenix and we rented a car.
We went to Jo's and spent our first night there.

My beautiful mom at the dock.  She looks like she's right at home.
Our awesome beach house.


--Monday--

Six Flags Magic Mountain!
"Goliath", one of our favorites.


The Colossus


Those were our dinners.  Dallin paid $6 for that Monster.


--Tuesday--
I was on vacation, so I drank a few Monsters.

Knott's Berry Farm!  I hadn't been there since I was small!


This picture made/makes us laugh soooo hard!!!  This rollercoaster, "Ghost Rider" at Knott's Berry Farm seriously feels extremely unsafe and I swear one day the train will come right off the track.

This is the ride shown above only at night and from the ground.

This rollercoaster lasted about 15 seconds, literally.

The Jaguar 

When we were little kids we love this little ride.  The child rider has to pump their way through it using a bar on the little cars.


Dallin and Christy are on the front row.

--Wednesday--

Beach Day





--Thursday--

Well, my mom flew home Wednesday night and my dad flew in Wednesday night.  It was a parent swap.

Universal Studios!





They sold this at Universal Studios and I HAD to have one.  I bought four.

--Friday--




--Saturday--


We went on a dinner cruise.  My dad broke his glass and drink went everywhere.


                     --Sunday--


We went to church.


This post is way over due.  

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Beatles!

For years the sub-status of my gmail chat was "I don't like the Beatles".  Now I had nothing against them, well maybe a little, I just had nothing for them.  As I grew up I had several friends that absolutely LOVED certain older groups and EVERY time this was the case those friends' parents were huge fans of that band.  I remember some huge Eagles fans, Beatles fans, Rolling Stones fans, etc..  Well, that bothered me.



If you're going to like something, like it because you like it.  Now my friends claimed that they really did "like" those bands.  Well, chances are if they really did like that ONE band that their parents introduced to them then they'll probably love a lot of other music too and therefor need to broaden the scope of music listening.

So for almost 25 years I avoided The Beatles thinking that they were just like any ordinary band and simply were the first of their kind and therefor very popular and now the next generation is getting brainwashed by their fanatic parents.  I was half wrong.

I feel a lot of people are Beatles fans only because their parents are.  Those people suck.

As I'm getting older I am naturally taking an interest is my people's history.  Where do I begin my search for such knowledge?  Awe yes, Beatles Anthology, the 8 DVD/VHS documentary about the band.

After watching that I am without question a huge Beatles fan.  They were great musicians, genius even.  And the fact the both John Lennon AND Paul McCartney were in the same band blows my mind.  They were like two Michael Jordans on the same team.  They knew music, theory even, but they didn't let that blind them.  They broke the rules of music and allowed their genius creativity lead the way.

Their pitch was perfect.  In those days they'd record a song in one take with out any pitch correcting anything and they are always right on pitch.

My favorite band Radwimps
So do I go out and buy their 12 albums?  No.  My favorite albums of all times are ones that I knew were coming out that I waited for.  Once those albums came out I would then rush to Wal-Mart and buy them and treasure every song on them.  I've decided to do the same with the Beatles albums.  Otherwise it'll be like what I did with Radwimps, my favorite band.  They're from Japan and when I discovered them I got every album all at once.  Information overload.  I have since taken the time to dedicate certain lengthy periods of my life to each of their albums and now I feel like I know them pretty well.

Starting this month, September 2012, I will buy one album a month for one year.  I'm so excited!!!  It's Beatles year!!!

Their first album, "Please Please Me" is great.  I listen to it almost everyday on repeat and it doesn't get old.  What the...?  I can't even do that with Clay Aiken.  Ok, Clay Aiken's songs aren't that great, but he has a killer voice and therefor I listen to him.  But this first album of The Beatles doesn't even have any of their biggest hits on it, yet it's still good.

The Beatles First Album "Please Please Me"
Paul McCartney was an incredible singer too.  And personally I think the songs he writes are better than the songs John Lennon wrote, but I'm still a Lennon fan don't get me wrong.

Now for you Beatles fans, can you imagine going back and rediscovering the Beatles in one years time?  This is an exciting time for me!  It could only be better if I lived in the 60s when the albums actually came out.  But it's 2012, so this is the best I can do.

It's Beatles Year!