I walked out of the testing center after taking my last final, ever! During my victory march when leaving the testing center, I decided to walk along the beautiful vegetated trail on the south side of campus. I took this photo there, despite the small group of people standing nearby staring at me. (June 18, 2014)
I have officially graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Computer Science and an Associates in Management. My first semester was Winter, 2009, totaling about 5 1/2 years of studying.
Me just before going in to take my last final.
After leaving the testing center one last time, I decided I would walk around in order to reflect the countless emotions I've felt at various parts of campus. While doing so, I walked through my favorite part of campus, the trail on the south part of campus which is filled with beautiful vegetation (see victory pose photo).
There are very few people on this trail at any given time. I used to spend a lot of time walking here during school. Whether I just needed time to unwind, time to see the sun, a moment to prepare for a test, a quick stroll to relax after a test, or just a casual walk to celebrate turning in a big project, this trail was always there for me.
So what's next? I have a job and start pretty soon. I'm pretty excited about this next chapter of my life.
I'm taking one class this term. My last class of my undergrad career. Music 202. Beethoven was the man.
My class is held but twice a week and I have little to no homework. Thus I have a lot of free time. What do I do with that free time? I shall tell you.
Music I've been writing, transcribing, arranging, covering, recording, mixing, and mastering.
I'm trying to get better at arranging music, so what better than a super short primary song to arrange? While I'm not a fan a belting out names of deity, this clip shows kind of my style when arranging strictly four voices.
Now here's a short song some friends and I made on the spot. We were just goofing around and having fun. Each of us only did one take in front of the mic, hence its random lyrics, harmonies, and rhythms.
Now here is the song I released this past week on my YouTube channel. It's a song I've loved since high school. I wrote a brief blog about it here.
Play I've been hanging out with my awesome mom!
I've been going to Seven Peaks water park a bit.
Google Plus has been making these videos automatically when my phone automatically uploads its pictures and videos. They're kind of fun.
And then I went to an art museum with my friend. It was edifying.
This statue was scalding hot.
I've been trying to make DDR cool again.I've been putting forth effort to get more involved in my ward. It's been a lot of fun and very rewarding. Here I am with my Elders Quorum President, who is also my home teaching companion. I also home teach one of the girls.
I love this picture. What's on the screen and our facial expressions say it all hahaha!!!
Here is another video Google Plus made for me.
I've been making a Mormon themed game for Android with my best buddy Nozomi.
We got trapped in an elevator.
We made a camp fire in Provo Canyon.
After we took the bottom picture you see here, a raccoon came and took the entire bag of hot dog buns we had on our table. My phone/camera was still propped up on the table at the time, but I really wanted to video the little dude! I slowly crept towards the table/raccoon to get my phone, but it quickly grabbed what it wanted and ran away. It would have been a hilarious video.
Tyrells face is black for some reason hehe.
I escorted my friend Tyrell as he purchased a new car.
That's pretty much all that's been going on. Things are pretty dang chill at the moment. I'm trying to make the best of these last moments here in Utah and I'm definitely going to be missing a lot of people, but I'm extremely excited for what's to come. :)
I remember the first time I heard this song. One day during my high school years I was sitting on a couch at my mom's house watching a movie that featured this song. My buddy Colten was on the couch next to me. After the song finished I said out loud, "That was amazing." To which Colten responded, "Yeah it was."
As I was living in my confused state of not being consciously gay, love songs never spoke to me. Instead, only music that held particularly beautiful harmonies, obscure dissonance, or a special personal meaning to me made it onto my playlist. This song was one of them.
Even though I'm now in a very good place, I still hold strong to the music that helped me through the years. The music I've been writing, recording, and covering still has a bit of a downcast feel to it despite me having moved on from those rougher times. I've discovered that expressing to you such deep parts of my life through the songs that gave me strength has had a liberating effect of me. Each song is a journal entry and I need to write them down, or rather, sing them for you.
Here are some behind-the-scenes of some of my video making joys. For those of you who don't know me in person, this will definitely show you more of who I really am hehe.
I've been pretty sick these past 3 weeks with a strange flu. At times I feel great, so I'll do something active, but the day after I'll feel horrible. It's been making me tired and it kills my already small appetite. I guess I'll just keep on resting until I get better. I'm going crazy sitting in my apartment with such limited social interaction. All well. It could be worse :)
But I got to Skype my little bro (and family) for Mother's Day, which was really fun.
Well, I enjoy running. But even if I didn't, I know I'd still love running races with friends and family. Allow me to explain:
First of all, previously my family wasn't a running family by any means. This whole, "let's start running as a family a few times a year" thing is so incredibly random. I'm incredibly glad it happened, because it's extremely fun and it truly brings us closer together.
5ks, 10ks, and half-marathons are so so fun to be part of. Now, it's much more fun to actually run in these races, but even going as a spectator can be fun if you're cheering your friends on. The atmosphere at a race is filled with positive energy between all those who attend. Spectators stand on the side and cheer you on with heart despite them having no idea who you are. If your pace suddenly slows mid race, then those who pass you will cheer you on, motivating you to keep going. Everyone wants you to succeed!
If you're afraid to run a race, or fear people will laugh at you for walking almost the entire thing, you are terribly mistaken. So many people do that, and everyone cheers such people on with genuine feeling behind it. First time racers are always surprised at how motivating the race actually is.
This past year at the Salt Lake Marathon, the weather was pretty rainy and cold. The year before that the weather was ridiculously hot. Either way, the races were great. The weather can't impede on the awesomeness of a race. Though, after the race this past year I was ill prepared in that I had no jacket to warm me. But other than that it was great!
Pre Race
Just starting off!
Mile 2
Mile 4
Mile 11
This is actually my slowest half-marathon I've run to date. I didn't train for it, so I guess it makes sense.
The race will usually put on an expo the day before (Salt Lake City Marathon always has an expo). At the expo you can purchase fun running things like energy goo that you eat during a race to maintain energy, running shoes, cool glowy things, running socks that don't have cotton in them thus preventing blisters, and basically anything running related. It's also the time you pick up your running bib. It's a fun thing to attend with friends and/or family.
My family and me at the expo. The Salt Lake Marathon was the first big marathon after the Boston Marathon tragedy. We ran in their honor.
Here's a picture of us after the race. My sister Christy actually wore the garbage back the entire race haha! It rained the entire time.
Another thing to be aware of is the race will hire a company to take professional pictures of you running. My sister Christy had to hold up her garbage bag when running passed a photography in order to expose her runners number which is how they sort the photos post race. I didn't purchase any of them for this race, but here's one from the Halloween Half I ran October, 2013.
And here's one from the Disney Half-Marathon.
I'm wearing the same shirt in both of those pictures. Meh.
Anyways, running a race is a lot of fun and quite the memorable experience. I strongly encourage you to register for a race and then run it. It's always fun to have a race to look forward to and to motivate you to go running. If you sign up with a friend or two, or five, then it'll be even more fun.
I'm not sure what it is, but I've been having a really hard time being creative these past few weeks. I feel that up until now, I've written and produced my share of melancholy gay Mormon themed songs. I'd like to move on and show everyone more of who I really am. But what am I going to write about? Love songs are out of the questions. That leaves_______???
At one point I seriously considered writing a song about trees. Like, seriously. That's how bad this writer's block has been.
I love writing and recording. Producing/mixing is still a bit stressful because that's where I believe the most difficult part of creating a song lies, and I'm still quite a novice producer. We've all heard a not-so-good song that, when redone by another artist, sounds amazing. Producing/mixing can do just that. I have a great song in my head right now, but I just can't make it sound good.
Below are some random clips of us (mostly of Adam) goofing off during some of the recording sessions we've had.
I would love to have some people jump in and participate with all of this stuff. The thing is, these people need to want to participate. I have many great friends who are willing to help because they are kind people and are happy to help, but unless they're passionate about it, making videos/music tends to be more work than play. Any takers?
I made a course of videos documenting my stay while in China, but I never compiled the last of my footage, so here it is!
I've been back for four months already, but it seems like forever; almost as though my time in China were just a dream. I greatly miss the cute Chinese couple I lived with and my fellow coworkers at the company I worked for.
With my fellow employees at Micro Benefits, the company I interned at in Suzhou, China.
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