NOVELTY....

Sorry about the delay on this update, but I didnt want to do this post until I had pictures.Definately one of the funnest dances ever though. Cassidi looked absolutley stunning (always does) and we had a blast. Though she probably thinks I'm a total retard cuz I jump around like an idiot cuz I can't dance to save my life. However, she eventually got into it, and my group did too and we had quite the evening. Wasn't REALLY awkward, which I was grateful for. She's a fantastic friend, hope to see her more often. Anyway our day activity was really interesting. We decided to go bowling, however I forgot that the poor girl had a shoulder injury and couldn't bowl with her dominate arm...sooooooooooooooooooooo I tried bowling with my non dominant arm...that kind of hurt. So I had to switch hands after the first game. I had a blast, and I think she did to (at least I hope she did). Altogether fun date, fun girl, fun time, fun dance.

16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

When you get a year older, your not just sixteen or whatever age. You're 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Some days, you're four, when someone hurts you deeply and you want to cry. Other days you're 8, when theres absolutely nothing wrong in the world cuz you are playing and having a good time. On occasion you may be 12, and you're tired of everyone treating you like a child. Some days, you're 14, and you want to slap someone around cuz of all the drama that surrounds you. And some days you act you age. But its important to realize that we're not just one year; we are several. Because no one is the same age all the time, and no one can predict exactly how they'll react to certain situations. At times we feel like the world is crashing down on us, and we feel like Atlas, bearing the world on our shoulders. Other times, we'll feel like nothing else exists accept for us and what we're doing. Bad things will happen, good times will end, nothing will ever stay exactly the same, and good and bad situations will arise. How you react really depends on what age you are when the situation happens.

Everything Happens For a Reason....

"Trust thy self: Every Heart vibrates to that iron string, accept the place the divine providence has found for you; the Society of your contemparary, the connection of events. Great men have always done so and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their beings and we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendant destiny; and not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and reformers and benefactors, obeying the almighty effort, and the advancing chaos and the dark..."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Nothing happens for no reason. Be yourself, every heart vibrates to that iron string [of life]. Or should. Where are YOU from, what do YOU like to do, what do YOU dislike? What are YOUR favorite things, YOUR fears, YOUR DREAMS! Who are you?

Ok I really want to write something, but I know what so I chose a random picture from my phun photos folder and i'm not going to attempt to expound on it :D

Just laugh! :P

Region Swim Meet

Wow! What else can I say other than wow! Region swim meet was one of the best days of my young highschool life! I dropped time continually, and i was awarded 3rd place in both the fifty freestyle and the one hundred freestyle. My relays took third (the 200 free relay) and second (400 free relay). My best fifty free time now is a 22.91. And my new hundred time is 50.4. AMAZING!!! But my favorite part about the meet, was the two boys i swam against in all my events. Tyler Condie, and Joseph Nelson are two of the most inspirational people I know. Joe has been a really great competitor, and i was so thankful to race against him. He said a prayer with me before our fifty free, and that to me is absolutely amazing! Tyler Condie is an amazing sport. He's a junior like me, so i'll see him again next year, but he works so hard and he is SO FAST! I learned from these boys the benefits of hard work and sportsman ship. They make me want to be a better person as well as a better swimmer. Tell you what Condie, you beat my be a .01! Keep a wary eye over your shoulder buddy I'll see you at state!

Life altering...

Have you ever had to make a choice? A choice so profound that it had the ability to change your entire life? It seems so important that it can't wait and you desperately try to push it to the back or your mind because you dont want to feel the pressure of decision? I have been presented with a decision. Starting with a very very good swimming oppurtunity. The reason i was introduced to swimming, was when a colleague of my Dad's saw me swim and said "Get him into swim." I doubt she knew that within a few short years i'd be swimming on a state level. Her name is Cazz and she has recently offered to private coach me. A former BYU swimmer she knows the ins and outs of swimming. BYU is renound for its fantastic sports programs, and I know that i'm going to be worked over. While discussing the work i was going to go through over the summer, i began to wonder about my future, if swimming was something i actually wanted to persue in a colligate level. I was talking about it with my parents, Swimming and winning on the levels i have achieved implies that I could be scholarship material for BYU. The Y as most know has gotten progressively more and more expensive, and my goal for attending the Y seems to be getting slowly harder to achieve. But to reach this level, i would have to endure a period of training unparalleled by any highschool coach. But the decision gets hairier. If i were to persue, and succeed swimming on a colligate level, i would (as my competative nature promotes) rise to the top as quickly as possible. This meaning that i would probably have a shot at the olympics. On the other hand, i could stop swimming after highschool and focus soully on school. Get on my feet. But for some reason i cant seem myself in an everyday job. If i found one that never betrayed my interests then i would be fine, but it has yet to manifest itself. I love swimming with all my heart, but I dont know if i could endure the hours of time and effort it would take to make it to a competative colligate, much less an olympic, level. Granted it would fulfill all my dreams and i would have accomplished something absolutely amazing, but would this decision keep me from more important things? Like my mission, or future spouse? Where do my priorities lie in this possibly life altering decision?

Insight

Our lives are built on perspective. Our lives revolve around how WE see things. Naturally we see things differently than others, but in the end we as human beings want to believe in the world as we see it hence the birth of Opinion. It's actually an argued idea that if you were to look through someone else's eyes, still having the knowledge you already have, your vision would literally be different. For intstance, if i were to get into your head and look through your eyes with my own the color you see as green (though you've been taught to say its green) could very well be brown or red to me. We've all been taught to say its green, but in reality there is absolutely no way of knowing if what i see is the same as what you see. So what does that say about reality? We all see it differently, see it the way we want to see it. So in other words we basically create our own realities, and I think we have opinion because someone else is trying to force their reality on our own, and no body likes to be pushed around! As a part of our manufactored realities, we have succumbed to certain truths because we've been taught that some things are just the way things are. But flashing back to the "looking through someone elses" eyes theory, simple truths are still simple truths but we decide on how we see them. This is one of the beauties of mankind, the gift of discernment, opinion....and insight.

Due To Nagging.

So, due to numerous naggings of a certain Jackie Eborn. I am being forced to write (against my will) So I will extend my sentances about nothing for as long as I can, with lots of commas and probably a series of run on sentances which are grammatically incorrect and for which my english teacher would put her fifty dollar pedicure square in my rump for doing! (try and say that whole last bit in one breath ha ha!)

OK ok, on a more serious note, You ever feel that romantic nostalgia? Dude its been freaking plagueing me lately. Personally (well usually at least) I like being single and I love playing the game. But lately, I've been craving that womanly infatuation that I guess has recently become part of my fiber as a human being. However when ever I try to go for a girl, they always have problems, or they are huge drama queens, or they play me for a sap. So despite how much I miss Girls, I've recently come to be very wary on them. Because I've found that there has only been one, ever that was normal! A girl that didn't play me, that didn't have numerous problems/issues and didn't thrive off of drama! Why can't girls be more like her really is that too much to ask?

Everytime you're with someone you love, you chop off a little bit of your soul and give it to them. So just make sure it's someone you trust.

-Ashley Sparks

Quote:

Love Isn't reserved for the old.
-Jackie Eborn

Embarressed...

I decided to swim in the most advanced lane for the rest of the year, so I would be better prepared for the Region and State competitions. Near the end of practice coach B had us doing starts/ fifties in the pool. When we were doing the fifty free, Matt Krambule (my main competition) Made a bet with coach that if he beat me at the fifty free practice, for him, would be over. Coach said only if he gave me two seconds head start...Matt beat me all the same, and the entire team saw. I've not felt so ashamed of myself for a long time. Never again Matt, never again!

NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Well, I do suppose I spent my New Year in good company. I spent it with the Roylance family. Yes the young lady I went with to the Christmas Dance. It happened to be Ashley's birthday and I was privilaged to share it with her and her family. Delightful people all of them. We went to go see first night which was cool, saw a cool fire dance, some samba and we actually spent some time Swing dancing and we were invited to go dance some time at a place run by the people who sponsor www.swingutah.com. Might actually take em up on that. I have so much in store for this year, hopefully I'll actually progress in my swim career and get off this plateau, get that Davis record under my belt. Happy New Year!

Emilee Penrod

This is Emilee Penrod. She's been one of my dearest friends for a long time. Took for freakin ever but not as long as leah's portrait, also looks more like emilee :D love this girl, love this drawing enjoy!

I love to draw. New drawing I did at the lodge. :D It was supposed to be my friend Leah Lunt, its not. but its still a pretty good peice.

Christmas Eve

Wow, It's always a party but I guess being in a lodge excentuates things. If any of you have seen "Dan in real life" my family is the cuban version of that. Therefore everything in that movie is done to the extremes. We woke up and did aerobics (which really actually burned like a mother!) Did a little yoga and reight now, the Christmas day, I'm extremely sore. But thats perfectly ok, at least my swim coach will be happy I kept active over the break. I should probably take an aerobics class to build my core. hm....ideas ideas! Anyway along the lines of xmas eve we sang our heads off, we laughed we joked, and then i woke up this morning to a screaming baby, and when you've been up till 3 am and a little baby girl goes crazy at 7 you really want to just die. Its terrible. It's like a freakin hangover! Everything seems so much louder when you're tired beyond all reason. Well it's christmas funny thing is that the two gifts I was most excited to recieve couldnt come today. Makel told me I'd have to wait, and my mom couldn't decide on a phone so I have to pick one out upon getting home. Yay! I think the most thoughful, and indeed my favorite gift was the portfolio my cousin gave me. Its incredible, leather and about 18x30 inches. Definately the most thoughtful gift, which I am SOOOOOO thankful for. The family plans to go snowmobiling today, that is if this storm ever stops, huge blizzard up here. Anyway MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

At The Lodge!

Well here I am, chillin' in the lodge my family rented. Most of you probably have seen it. Its a huge three story lodge that actually rents out snowmobiles. Its pretty close to bear lake. Its amazingly awsome here. So much snow its scary! Best part of this is that i'm surrounded by my mom's side of the family. A BUNCH OF CRAZY CUBANS! It's amazing! I'm happy that my brother was able to come home for Christmas and all my cousins who are married. Apart from the non stop partying I think so good rest is involved here. No swimming, or school. A long, needed, weekend.

The Foot

I have a size eleven and a half foot. Now how could that great big foot ALL of it...fit in my mouth?

Swimming Update

Update on swimming: I've hit sort of a hump/plateau. I was dropping time on my fifty freestyle and my one hundred freestyle, but then I hit a hump in my times and I haven't been able to drop time. Hopefully, its just cuz I need a little rest because I'm on my Christmas break, and when the break is over the next week is two meets one after the other. Then on the 23rd we have region. If I'm unable to break 22 seconds on my fifty free before then I dont have much of a shot at state. I recently got bumped from thirteenth in state to fourteenth. That will have to change in the next meet. As for my 100 Free I just want to GO to state in that event. I need stamina, perfect technique, far starts and blurringly fast flip turns. Hopefully what with it being Christmas and all I wont gain more time.

Christmas Dance

Christmas dance was by far the best dance I've ever been too. My date, Ashley Roylance was awsome, and she looked absolutely stunning. My group was way fun, I haven't laughed that hard for some time. I was also fortunate to be trusted enough by her family enough to drive her mom's Jaguar! I was up tight while driving but I have decided that a Jag will be my future car! The best part of the dance I think was the fact that we didnt just bear hug or jump around and call that dancing....we actually waltzed and even did some east coast swing. very attractive in a girl (the fact that they can dance I mean). I like Ashley's mom, she reminds me of my mom. Ironic that both their names are Karen huh? Altogether so far the Christmas Dance was the highlight of my December.

Friends

I dont know if anyone really appreciates how much a friend is worth.