October 5, 2014

     This semester is not chill as I said before. This is my hardest semester ever, and it was mistake to think that I can blog the world news again. Today is the 13th of October 2014. Cross country is going well. We won our first race. I am dating as much as I usually do. We had general conference and a Power to Become Conference the past two weekends. This seems to be my life summed up for the past few weeks. I got a new client that wants me to design her house.

     Maybe I will start by sharing a bunch of pictures of my Cross Country Team. They had to race without me this weekend because I attended the P2B Conference. I am humbled to say that my team has grown since the first race that we had. Tyre Russell recovered from her injury from running a marathon. Kyle Shaw joined us, and Amanda got another guy to join us. His name is Cody Lamoreau, and he is such a good sport. We were practicing running race pace. Tripping over a curb, he sprained his ankle. I am blessed with flexible ankles, so those incidents usually don't affect me, but he knew how to deal with it, recovering in one day. There is a special team unity and commitment that I am thankful for. I have a team captain for the following three teams: varsity guys, varsity girls, and junior varsity girls, and I am grateful for their commitment for the team. I depended on my team captains to get the team settled and ready for the race, and they were able to figure it out with minimal effort on my part. I was happy that we have such a deep team that we can still have a complete team with the P2B Conference, taking two of our fastest runners.

This is Cody. He looks intense when he runs.

This is Cory Hafen.

This is Conner Isham.

Intense Cody again.

This is Amanda Reaser.

The race is about to start.

This is Kiana Shurts. He is a great sport. Being injured most of the season, she always wants to run.

     I put my team first, training with each team once for every 4 days of the week. Josh Ray is my only junior varsity guys runner, and I am humbled by his commitment, keeping on coming; although, I let him work out on his own, since he can't keep up with the varsity guys. Last Monday was a little traumatic for me. Josh is great, but I had an experience that I never had before in the gym. I asked what he has been up to after the three mile workouts, and he said that he has done stairs once. Last week I showed the junior varsity the cross training exercises that I recommend, but they did not apply it. I am fine with that. They work out their success for the season. The maximum that I recommend new runners to run is three miles, and I don't know how each individual should work out because they are out of shape. They know themselves, so I let them do what they think is best. Since Josh did not have anything to show me, I coached him on his form, and we went into the gym. Josh looks like he is stronger and more solid. I told him that he should land on his feet when runs as if he lands on his feet when he does jump rope, and he said that his calves get really sore, when he does that. I know that happens, so I said that is how it goes. You will only be sore for only about a week.

     The traumatic experience in the gym was this. I have a favorite machine that no one uses that is really good to practice running for and strengthening the hamstring and butt. Josh went first, so I did dips. We switched on, and I did dips in between. I went to get some water after the second set, and my eyes started to black out. This has happened to me before, but all that I would have to do is sit down or just wait for a minute or so. This one would not quit though. I walked back to my favorite machine, and I was not recovering. I went over to Josh, telling him that I feel like I am going to pass out, after I attempted to do my third set. He decided to let me sit, and do another set before he leaves. I sat there for a little bit, and a guy asked me, if I was going to use the machine that I was leaning against. I looked at him, and I wondered how my eyes looked because they are darkened in my sight. I moved out of his way, and after a while I was not feeling well, so I laid on the ground. I felt that I was not going to recover, so I went to get help. I walked over to get help, but I could only make it to a stationary bike. I sat on it, and I was lying my head back. I must have looked really bad. I raised my hand up a few times, trying to get someone's attention, but no one came. When I recovered a little bit, I walked to the reception area, which was only about fifteen feet way. I told a guy that I need help, and I feel like I am going to puke. That came just as I attempted to walk. He sat me down, pulling a trash can up for me to throw up in. He was too slow though, and some got on the ground. He gave me some orange juice and some peanut butter crackers to eat as he asked some questions. I felt better drinking the orange juice, but I felt some nausea as I ate one cracker. I decided not to eat any more of those. After asking a few questions, he left me to rest. I was able to answer him completely, and I recovered somewhat from feeling that I was going to pass out. I sat there, and I was unsure whether I can walk home. I wanted another opinion because this never happened to me, and he was brushing the situation off as if it was common. He said that he puked as he was doing squats last week. I have never puked working out in my entire life, and I felt like I was going to pass out for like thirty minutes. I am surprised that no one helped me.

     I have two theories. One kind of makes sense, and the other almost makes sense. My first theory is a belief that my blacking out experience happened because I spun on a carousel with Naomi. I was very confident that I was no going to be affected by the spinning motion because I am usually not. I spun on the carousel for a few minutes, and I was so chill on it that I sat on the edge casually, where there is most force. I jumped on with the confidence that I would not be dizzy, and I wasn't; however, when we drove home from the park. Motion sickness hit me hard, and it peaked right when we turn in to park. I felt like I was going to puke when we turned, and I stepped out of the car before we stopped. I have only puked a hand full times in my life, so I had confidence that I would not.

     I am struggling really bad this semester. All four of my classes are heavy reading focused, and I need to understand the text deeply. The text for two of my classes with Brother Harker are professional, meaning that it is not written for students, but it is for construction managers. I don't know how to learn what I need to from the text. I did well on the first couple quizzes because we covered the information in class, but I have not kept up well. This is my first time taking upper level classes, and it is a totally different ball game from what I am use to; at least for the two classes with Brother Harker. I have grown up with learning disabilities, so I have lived with this struggle my entire life, but it is hitting hardest now. I have been triumphant with  classes for my first four semester, but I don't know about this one. Brother Harker, and my accounting teacher spoke to me personally about my struggle. I am seeking to get more accomodations. I requested a radical idea, where I have until next semester to learn the curriculum of the class. I feel like I am learning three professions at the same time from a book, and I am expected to learn it because I am tested on it.

     The Hawks has the two fastest runners, but my team still won the first race. I was so excited to see my five runners come in before anyone else's team, and I knew that my team had a high probability of winning the race. It was actually raining, and I did not do as well as I hoped because I let the mud and a short downhill slow me down. I was in the top pack pushing the limit, but I couldn't catch up after letting up on the downhill. We still won though.

     I don't think that I want to write about my dates yet. I think that this is all. I am not really one to write about conferences. I will say one thing about the P2B conference. One speaker was named Christopher Galbraith, and he found a great passion in banking, the stock market, and all of the money stuff. He asked around, and everyone told him that he was crazy for wanted to do this. I think that his first career pursuit was in banking. The principle that he taught us seem to come naturally to him. It is a form of networking, for he contacted people seeking informational interviews to learn about the industry of his interest. He did his research too. As his knowledge of the industry grew and he was about to graduate, he realized that he needed to go to the East, where the industry is mainly at, so he bought a ticket to meet the network of people that he made. He only knew them by phone, but his questions of inquiry was push his contacts to refer other people to talk to him as he asked questions beyond that individual's knowledge. Chris realized that these interviews are actually akin to a first interview with a company; therefore, an individual can create their own personal first interview. On his second time, coming to visit Wall Street, the people that he visited actually took him around to banks to recommend him for positions in their companies. Chris is an amazing networker. He did not work without failure. He said that, visiting Wall Street on Sunday at church, he ask people for contacts for businessmen in Wall Street, and he spoke to them, asking for informational interviews. He filled his whole week up with appointments; one for every hour. The example that he set for us and these informational interviews had him learn with the most earnest effort, coming up with questions of inquiry continually.

     Today is now the 19th of October. I am still struggling in my classes, and I have asked my mother to send up a copy of my IEP in order to get accommodations. I now have accommodations, and I am going to try to see if I can change my study habits to be successful this semester. I had two appointments on Thursday. My presence is somewhat growing on the internet; insomuch, Buffer, the app, company wanted to interview me for feedback on their application. We have one more week of the cross country season, and this weekend was a lot of work for me because we made shirts yesterday. We had a mile relay yesterday too. I had a lovely date with a sister that I met at P2B.

     My teachers were open for the standard accommodations. I wish that could accomplish as much as a normal person, but I am so much slower. I got my IEP in the mail, and set up an appointment with the disabled services center, facing my fate at 11 AM on Thursday. I had a proposition for the appointment, since I am so use to doing everything myself. It was to extend the classes that I am taking until the spring semester starts, giving me 4 extra months to learn and fulfil curriculum of the classes that I am taking. It is hard to face reality, and I was introduced to the tutoring center to rely on other people to accelerate my learning. When I was setting up an appointment for Monday with a receptionist, I must of look mentally exhausted perhaps a little depressed, receiving the fate and accommodations that I rest my life and hope on. My proposition is possible, but it is a hard pitch to sell.

     As I left in my mentally exhausted state, I was grateful for God, for he comforted me by placing many friends along my path. I met Katherine Zavala, who is in my electrical systems class; Macie-Grace Guthrie, who I met at the P2B conference and expressed interest in my architectural talent development; Cadison Shurtliff with her coworkers at the Crossroads; Macey Dally, a ward sister from last semester; and Alenka Batkova, a sister that I met who worked at the Crossroads. There were probably more people placed in my way, but I don't recall them at this time. I arrived home mentally refreshed.

     My social media presence was felt so much so that I told someone, who is trying to create a LDS Tinder website, that his social media campaign is lousy. His website has more than 2000 users, which is greater than my audiences' engagement; however, the twitter account of his effort has no followers, so if he did say something on Twitter very few people would see it. With that Tweet, the founder of LDSMatchUp sent me an email hoping to talk over lunch, but he is living in Provo, Utah. He said that he would like to pick my brain. I don't think that my brain has much to pick. I think that he hasn't called me because I have not given him my phone number...

    I skyped a guy from Buffer offering my insights. He asked very general questions about how I use the application. I told him some flaws and my application vision for Buffer. I would think that the application should offer logistical advise. For example it will tell you where and who your audience is that the time that you are considering to schedule the post. Just an idea.

     My cross country team and I decided to make shirts on Saturday, so I had to buy all the materials for the production on Friday. I felt like a wonderer, walking all over the town and carrying a bunch of stuff around. I was checking out all the stores that I thought that would have t shirts. I found matching t shirt styles for most of the people on my team that wanted them. I shopped around visiting Porter's, Walgreen's, and Walmart. Walmart had the most variety, but I visited all the stores at least twice. Carrie Jones, a runner on my team, thought that it was funny, seeing the locations pop around the town as I chatted with the team. After I thought that I bought everything, I visited the library to see, if they had equipment to cut stencils like an Exacto knife. Since they didn't have anything that I can borrow accessible, I had to walk back to Walmart and find dinner along the way. I found that what I needed, and, walking home, I walked down an iffy path.

     There is a path that leads to the road that heads straight to my apartment. It's a shortcut somewhat; however, there is no lights on the trail, and it was dark. I could have used my phone as a flash light, but I am a minimalist, not considering it. I was surprised to walk pass a couple. I don't know if the girl was walking with a guy, but that was a little creepy. A couple other girls on bicycles passed me too, and all who passed me were equipped with lights. An observation that I liked was the the girls on the bicycles were relieved of fear before they passed me, exclaiming "Oh, that was so scary." If they said it after they passed me, that would have disappointed me. I am grateful that I look trustworthy even in when I walk without a light.

     The team had a mile relay on Saturday. We were positive that we were going to win. The fastest runner began, and he concluded his leg in the lead. Our first runner was only about 20 yards behind him, and we were able to catch them in the second leg, and we lead it most of the race. Rhett Mullins was passed temporarily, and he passed it to Connor, who barely keep ahead of the Hawks. I took the baton from Connor. Running the anchor leg is pretty intense. I never ran one before, and I did pretty well. The fastest runner of the program felt like he was jogging compared to us. I sped off, and I was able to keep the lead for most of the mile. I did not hear him after a while, which happened the last time that I won this mile race, but he caught me on the downhill. I can be fast, but I don't have much of a kick.

     After the mile relay, the team gathered at my place, and we made shirts. It was with the same logo as I showed before; however, we had to modify and improvise it to be functional. Erin Enright was the most proficient at making stencils, so she basically made the activity a success. The mistakes that we made at first were funny. I had one sheet of paper, which had all the letters of all the members of the team and wanted a shirt.  At first I thought the letters would have to be cut out at the random locations of the paper, and Rhett did that, cutting out each letter individually; however, we realized that we don't have to cut the letters in the random order on the paper. Cody Lamoreau was put off, when I told him that. He had all his letters in a row, and he was still cutting them to individual letters. Rhett let the individual letters be a way of creativity as everyone else had one stencil for their entire name. Amanda Reaser was a little creative too. Cody made some mistakes painting his name on his shirt. He was hailed for his failures, for he laid his shirt on the ground to paint his name on his sleeves. He did not consider that painting as he laid the shirt on the ground would place his name on the inside of the sleeves. We made our shirts in a reasonable amount of time, and I completed my shirt after everyone else left, and I was happy because everyone left their stencils, letting me put all my team members names on my shirt.

     We wore our shirts at our championship race, which happened yesterday the 25th of October. I got third place, and I don't really have much to say about the race because another team totally dominated the championship races. Caleb coached the Hawks, and he coached with the wisdom beyond his own with a book and the advice of Brother Doug Stutz, an All American Champion coach and one of the last people to be indicted into the Hall of Fame of Rick's College. I was foolish enough to think that my wisdom was good enough. I liked the my team's morale was good the entire season though.

     The teams were much more well organized that last season, and the unity in all the teams are great. After the championship race, my team got together and had a full on good pancake breakfast with sausage, eggs, and chocolate chip pancakes with a caramelized sauce to put on the pancakes. The Viking team came to the meet with face paint, and they made socks. The winning team prayed together before the championship race.