This past weekend, I traveled with my employer, Future House Publishing, to the bi-annual Salt Lake City Comic Con, affectionately called 'Fan Xperience.'
I worked hard to ship books, carry books, sell books, and talk about books as much as I could, working with fellow employees and authors alike to promote our brand and pique interest in the amazing things we're doing over here.
Of course, I saw an opportunity to detail my experience (and all its idiosyncrasies) through the medium of memes. Once I came home, I prepared everything and threw them into this blog post.
My pops, my older younger sister, my brother-in-law, and myself journeyed to Portland and the Oregon Zoo to see the beautiful Christmas lights abounding along the path.
The weather was cold and rainy. We were damp before we'd even walked a hundred yards from the car, but we were excited. Not only were we going to see a very unique display of Christmas lights, we were also going to be able to see animals! Animals! At night!
It soon became apparent that we weren't going to be seeing many animals. We saw some seals, some bats, and some penguins. The rest were all in hiding from the weather, or kept in a facility protecting them from the winter. No, the zoo had drawn us in just to see the lights. Nothing more, nothing less.
Given my nature, I wondered if the zoo was taking advantage of us. It made sense for the zoo to seek ways to draw in tourists. After all, what zoo-goer wants to walk around in winter? By setting up a bunch of pretty lights, the zookeepers hoped to make us forget we weren't seeing animals, and therefore deprive us of our hard-earned cash! The scoundrels!
So it was easy for me to forget the lights and imagine conniving businessmen lurking behind every corner. However, the further I went along, the less discontent I became. After all, the lights were beautiful. There were some displays that had obviously required much love to put up. The zookeepers may have gotten our money, but they were likely using it to feed the warm and cozy animals as they waited for Spring to return.
And honestly? I enjoyed it. This picture walk will never be able to capture the raw beauty of the lights. I tried to get a few shots of the wire animals, like the raccoon you see at the top of the post, but any pictures I took paled compared to what I saw in person. If you ever visit Oregon in the winter, come visit its zoo. You'll be amazed.
And most importantly, we four had fun. We laughed, we talked, we even danced a little. It was a perfect, idyllic night, and even if we didn't see animals, we had each other.
Thankfully, only three rescue crews were required to get them out of there.
The canyon prepares to sleep as the sun turns out the lights.
Only four rescue crews were required to get them out of that one.
We didn't have cell phone service. We took a route up a cliff that was less difficult going up than would have been going down. We wandered around for a bit, trying to find sea level without dying. We laughed and ate a picnic lunch and just enjoyed being out in the rough.
I want to do stuff like that more often. I want to feel closer to my roots. I want to dig my fingers, toes, and soul into nature and breathe it in. I want to leave technology behind and find peace in the beauty God created for us.
This past weekend, I went to the BYU vs. Boise State football game hosted at the Lavell Edwards Stadium right here in Provo. LET'S HEAR US ROAR!
And now, the overly long recap nobody was asking for!
DISCLAIMER: I totally didn't keep a good record of what the score was as I was doing these tangential things, so forgive me if my play-by-play of the game itself is a little off.
I have a habit of being fashionably late to things, and the game offered no exceptions. When I finally left my apartment (literally a five minute walk from the stadium), my phone was telling me that BYU was up by 7. Woot, I thought.
I came into sight of the field about five minutes into the first quarter. It didn't take me long to realize that, while I was fashionably late, I was also unfashionably dressed; I was wearing a bright blue shirt, and it was Whiteout Day. I felt a little like an idiot purposefully trying to draw attention to himself for no good reason.
Not only did I not know it was Whiteout Day, I wasn't entirely sure where the student section was. I kept calling the friends I was supposed to meet up with, hoping they would pick up, but they didn't. It was as I was seeking to hide my shame and find my friends that I ran into a solution for both. A couple of my excellent RA friends were chilling at the 50-yard mark, and they happened to have an extra white shirt for me. We parted ways shortly thereafter, but I had another goal in mind ...
I really wanted a CougarTail, aka A Big Ol' Honking Maple Bar, to share with the friends I was supposed to be meeting. Of course, I was beginning to doubt I would find them, so I decided to seek out the friends who gave me the white shirt, instead.
It was about the second quarter at this point, and I saw the Marching Band gearing up to rumble. I was in a marching band once upon a time, so I excitedly snapped this shot.
I was pulling out my phone to call my benefactors when I accidentally ran into them again on the other 50-yard line. They denied my offer to share my Big Ol' Honking Maple Bar, but they certainly didn't mind posing for the most excellent of selfies.
I'd actually purchased the BOHMP from another former coworker of mine, and realized I'd forgotten to properly record the encounter (this was a recurring theme of the night). So I went back to prove to all of our other former coworkers that we were the fir rill dill. At this point, I believe I'd circled the entire stadium at least three times.
It was about 10-7 at halftime at this point. I had given up on meeting up with my original group of friends, and I still had a couple of other individuals I wanted to meet as well.
Of course, then the marching band came on, and I had to seek a better view near the top.
That was when I discovered that these stairs are the worst. My massive feet wouldn't fit on the shrunken middle steps, meaning I had to stride extra powerfully to avoid stumbling or tripping. Why would anyone build these non-euclidean steps? I thought angrily. Then, I realized that people with bigger feet generally have longer legs, which the architect probably anticipated. I thought that was clever, but also rather discriminatory. Maybe I didn't want to use my impressive pace to avoid half of the proffered stairs, eh?
I ran into a whole bunch of friends during halftime, but had too many distractions to remember to properly record them all. Sorry, guys! Either way, now that the third quarter had begun, I vowed to pay more attention. After all, I'd spent most of the first half running laps through the stadium between plays so security didn't bust me for loitering. So, I moved toward my ROTC friends over by the cannon.
I'd told them I would say hello, but when I neared the sideline, I realized they were standing a good distance from the stands. Not only that, but they were wearing earplugs. I yelled their names a couple of times, but I got no response. Finally, I sent them this text.
Then I sent them this picture.
I stayed there for a while, hiding from security behind a lost Boise fan, before getting antsy and moving down the stands again.
Of course, Mangum's propensity to throw crazy long bombs down the field gave us another touchdown. We were definitely behind at that point, but you could feel the morale in the stadium pump up.
I'd finally worn down my restless nature enough to want to sit down at this point, and who should I run into but my roommate's girlfriend! She was kind enough to loan me a ticket with a specific seat number, which I didn't have because of my student status.
I ended up sitting next to three children who had apparently participated in over three football games that day. I was impressed with their devotion to the sport. After about five minutes, I got bored just sitting down and struck out back near the field. Around that point, the fourth quarter began, and for those of you who know how the game went, things started to get seriously intense.
I decided to work my way back over to my ROTC friends. Right around when I met back up with that lost Boise fan, BYU scored another touchdown, inching its way toward matching Boise's own collection of points. I wanted to get a video of the cannon going off, but I fumbled and ended up just getting a picture of the smoke.
Boise had the ball, but our defense was slamming on them. It didn't take long for possession to turn over to us. Then, all of a sudden, on the fourth down ...
MY CAMERA IS NO GOOD. I don't know what happens to the reel right when the catch is made, but I somehow managed to time that perfectly. That was the game-winning TD right there, but we weren't even done yet.
It's hard to tell, but the fans started to light the stadium with their cellulars at this point.
The ROTC were getting ready to do their 28 push-ups for the 28 points the team had scored at that point. I actually took a video of them doing those 28 push-ups, but then, Boise threw an interception, and we got another touchdown. It was ridiculous. So, the ROTC had to go again, and I took another video.
Of course, the fans were ecstatic at this point. A whole heap of them rushed the field, fireworks started going off, and many tears were shed.
I chilled in the stadium for a while before finally hiking home. For the rest of the night, I heard shouts and cheers, and would occasionally join in the revelry by opening my door, conveniently facing the street, and joining in. My ROTC roommate eventually came home, tired but as thrilled as I.
It was quite the night, my friends, quite the adventure indeed. If you were there or watching, be sure to let me know what your favorite part of the night was!
This past weekend, my family and I went out to go see a concert put on by the one and only Alex Boye, if you didn't already read the title. Here's a quick photo summary of what that was like!
YAY SO MUCH CONCERT
I don't know if you followed Alex when he went on America's Got Talent (I don't watch the show myself), but, about midway through the concert, he told the audience how, right before he got disqualified in the second round, he told the judges his dream to run a live show.
After Alex got disqualified, he posted a single hashtag on his social medias: #notdoneyet
Then, he made an announcement. I was under the impression that this was the first time any member of the public had heard about this, but there it was, out in the open.
Shortly following his departure from America's Got Talent, some big time hotshot fellow called him and offered him his own live show, every Friday night, in Vegas. The point of the story was, what some called this performer's greatest failure led to his greatest success.
I doubt this failure of mine will lead to my greatest success, at least right now. However, I, too, can say I'm not done yet. I have a whole life and a whole career in front of me. I'm not going to give up yet.
I'm sure some of you remember this post from Sunday. I actually write every single one of these myself. I used to put a link to an inspirational message underneath each one, but then I learned some people thought I was pulling the quote from the message itself. No! I wrote every single one! So, as of this point on, no more captioned links. I'm sure you wanted to know the origin of this picture, though. Well well well ... let me tell you.
Pro tip: You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
So there's this deer wandering outside my old residence, and I want to snap a cool picture of it! Of course, my phone is not the best camera, so I was struggling to get a good shot.
COME ON RED SHIRT YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY NATURE ADMIRER HERE
I guess the man made structure kind of ruins the 'nature shot' purity of the thing.
At this point, I was pretty convinced the deer was going to head up the stairs and be long gone, so I turned back to play pool or something.
But then, I realized I was wrong.
SO ADORBS! I WISH MY CAMERA WAS BETTER
I backed away from the deer at this point so as not to spook it. I was surprised to discover that it wanted to walk in my general direction, but, sure enough, it did. As it approached, I got to thinking.
This is a beautiful creature, I thought. Absolutely gorgeous. God sure has good handiwork.
I wonder if He's watching this deer right now, admiring it like I am. Well, He's at least watching it; His eye is on the sparrow, after all.
I guess it's more likely He's watching me watching the deer. One of His sons, admiring one of His creations.
I don't have a son, myself, but I can imagine what it would feel like to watch my son read one of my books one day. I think I would relish in his delight, if he found any in what I'd created.
Like right now, for instance. This deer is literally ten feet away from me, and I am having a hard time staying calm. I don't want to spook the dang thing!
So, really, God is watching me watch this deer. This is, truly, an unremarkable experience in my life. I've done a lot more interesting and unique things than this.
But I don't think He cares. If He truly is my loving Heavenly Father, then he knows me and who I am and why I find this deer so fascinating, so thrilling. Maybe that's why the deer is so calm and comfortable around me.
Of course, I'll have to share this in my blog. Maybe one of my rambling thoughts will get someone else thinking, too, hopefully about how much God loves them, how much He knows them, how He's willing to add wonder in their life.
After all, if God's eye is on the sparrow, and on this deer, and on me, then He sure as heck is watching my readers. I may think they're great, but, golly, He knows them even better than I. He must think they are fantastic.
Oh! The deer is giving me that look. "OK, you can stop staring now." I'll get on that, deer. Thank you for the opportunity.
