Man's Search For Happiness

Here it is!! Finally after a long wait.

Here's what goes through a guy's mind when asking a girl he likes on a date. Usually it happens from a combination of peer pressure and personal desire. The guy wants to ask the girl out to a certain degree, which will be represented by a percent "A" from 0 - 100, and his friends will pressure him to find a date to a certain degree, which will be represented by a percent "B" from 0-100. Now, if the sum of the two percents "A" and "B" are greater than 100 then he'll ask. If not, then he won't. Lets say this one guy named Rob likes this one girl named Kaley to a degree of, say, 95%. His roommates don't really care if he asks her out or not, so they really only pressure him because it's SO MUCH FUN! We'll give that a 10% pressure. Add these two together and Rob has a date!!! (For those math challenged peeps 105% > 100%).

Now, lets say that a guy doesn't like like a girl but still wants to go on a date with her. Probably because he thinks she's tight and wants to have some fun. The two factors involved are his inhibitions and the external pressures he feels, social, ecclesiastical, or otherwise. Once again, add them and if they exceed 100 then the date happens.

Okay, so thats not really how it works, but the point is that we're dealing with two very different cases here. If the guy likes the girl or if he's just going for fun. Here are the takes of myself, Brett, and Mike. Who is which color? You decide.

MONDAY
Somebody casually mentions the possibility of a date this weekend and suggests a double/group. I spontaneously agree, but give it little thought.
A roommate mentions the possibility of a date this weekend. I give a non-committal response and forget about it within 10 minutes.
Should I go on a date this weekend?
Oh hey there homework, let's have some fun!

TUESDAY
I see the person who suggested the group date and it reminds me of it. I start thinking of who to ask. Nothing else happens.
Still don't remember the date possibility. What's for dinner?
I have some free time Friday evening. That sounds like a great time for a date.
Oh goody, more homework! My favorite!

WEDNESDAY
The looming date has started to seep into the back of my mind. I'm starting to decide if it's going to be a "for fun" date, or the high rolling, high intensity, finally-ask-out-the-girl-I've-been-wanting-to-ask-out-for-about-a-month date. Because if its the second one then it needs to be GOOD. All Caps. Hmmmmm. I'll figure that out later.
Person reminds me of date possibility. I say I will probably go, although I'm still non-committal. I promptly forget again.
Hey, I should probably figure what I'm going to do this weekend, shouldn't I? I'll go talk to the guys.
That's a good idea. I should probably find a girl to ask.
Do I want to take this girl that I'm really interested in? Or is this just a fun date? Let's do a fun date this weekend.
RockBand looks like fun!

THURSDAY
Okay, so the date is tomorrow. I should probably ask someone right? At three times during the day I say to myself, "I really need to figure out who I am going to ask on this date! I would do it right now, but I'm in Physics/roller blading/its too early/playing sports/eating a peanut butter sandwich/don't have cell service/break dancing/writing poetry." This gets nothing done. I get home late from school after doing homework and now I'm sincerely worried about this date. Soooooo, I pull up the ward menu directory. This is either going to confirm to me that the girl I secretly wanted to take is the one I should take, or I am going to remember the cute girl on Sunday who gave the good lesson/talk/comment in class/smile and wink and decide to take her. Either way I am going to figure out who to take. This has cost some considerable mental energy and strength and so I think that it was good enough for the day. I might call or go over to her apartment tonight, but probably not. I have all day tomorrow anyway!
I remember the date on my own, feel proud of myself for remembering, and forget again. RockBand anyone?
So who am I taking out tomorrow? Let's check out the ward menu directory.
I think I'll take this girl. That should be fun! We'll have a great time. Should I call her?
I'm hungry. Time for dinner.

FRIDAY

After waking up in the morning the dread hits. What if she says no? Could I find another date in time? I could call her, but what if she answers? I pick up the phone and dial. Here is what may happen: "Hello? Hey, this is _____. How are you? (This is almost always fumbled because I want to get to the actual point of the conversation as soon as I can. The 'How are you' is always rushed for this reason, and I would have no idea what to say if the answer was anything but 'good.' Good thing that never happens) Good, how are you? (Okay, ball is back in my court and I can bring it on home!) Good. (k, past that) What are you doing tonight?   OR   Do you want to go to ___ with me tonight? (Now the heart is pounding. If she says yes is it because she is being nice and doesn't actually want to go? Or is she totally in to me? If she says no and gives an excuse is it because she really just doesn't want to go out with me? Or is she legitimately busy and would go out some other time if I asked her to?).  -  Pause...  -  Yeah that sounds like a lot of fun! (Okay good!! Now just rush through the details and get off the phone to celebrate!) Oh, awesome! We are going to meet up with (insert people's names for the group/double date here). I'll come by to get you at ____ time.  Okay, sounds good! See you then! Okay, bye!" Oh, that was brutal. But it was a success!! Now, gotta get my swag on! I dress up classy about a half hour before the date. I put some gel in my hair, spray the cologne, probably get one or two opinions on how I look from my roommates, and we're off.
I get home in the afternoon and consider the date possibilities. Choices: Stay home alone and bored, or go out and have a blast with a woman. Needless to say I usually choose the latter. Then I open the ward menu directory. I browse the pages and pages of beautiful women in the directory. I decide on someone, and ask for roommate confirmation. I can the proceed to the contact stage. I call or knock on the door. But I avoid texting at all costs, because that's just tacky even if it is ultra convenient. I ask how she is and ask if she is free tonight. Then I proceed to tell her we will be ________ and the group will be meeting at ______PM. I am about to hang up when she asks where we are meeting. Then I turn really red (thank goodness I'm on the phone and she can't see) and inform her I will pick her up and apologize for the lack of clarity. Now I can relax for a few hours before my date. Movie, food, RockBand, food, more food. 20 minutes before the date: Hmm, I should probably get ready soon. 15 minutes before: I really need to work up the willpower to get up and ready now. 10 minutes before: Get up, dressed, smelling good, and looking extraordinary (which isn't hard for me) all in time to pick up my hot date. Date time: I run out the door, and immediately run back in because I forgot a) which apartment my date lives in b) my phone or c) my wallet. Then I can proceed to pick up the girl. I knock, say hello and begin the best night of the week.
Okay the date's at 8 tonight. I should call her now.
Ring. Ring.
-Hello?
-Hey, [name], how are you?
-(The answer here is always, without exception, "good!")
-That's great! I was wondering if you're free tonight?
-(Usually) Yeah, I am.
-Awesome. Would you like to (go do something) with me?
-Sure, sounds great!
-Okay! (Explain details of date).
-Sounds like fun!
-See you tonight!
***T-minus 60 minutes to date***
What time is it? Okay, I've got half an hour until I should start getting ready.
***T-minus 30 minutes to date***
Oh hey, I should go get ready now.
Pump some jams. Brush teeth, put button-up shirt on, maybe shave.
Hey roomies, how do I look?
Darn. I could have waited a lot longer to get ready.
***T-minus 5 minutes to date***
Alright, I've been sitting here for 20 minutes. It's finally time! Let's go have some fun!

Want to know what goes through my mind while ON the date and afterward?? Stay tuned for more :)

Funstuffs

So my very first Ultimate Frisbee match is tomorrow morning! We scrimmage the Killjoys, who are alumni of the BYU Destroying Angels frisbee team and BYU that have formed their own club team. Its going to be two games to 13 win by two. I'm pretty dang nervous because I'm still trying to get the offense down. Maybe I'll play, maybe not. At any rate, its exciting!!

I had a freaking legit workout this morning with my buddy Eric (an RA from another building here in Heritage). We hit the gym at 8 and went hard until 9:30 hitting basically muscle group. Our goal was to make ourselves so sore that we wouldn't be able to walk home. Now that I think about it, its a good thing we didn't achieve that goal; I don't think spending the day in the Smith Fieldhouse is my idea of fun. I love how I feel after a good workout. You can feel the blood is pumping through your veins and you that, even though it hurts, your body needed it. Then you chill out and recover and build the muscle back so you can tear it down again.

I'm about to go to an interview with Venture Pest Control for a summer sales job. For me this is the chance I need to ask all sorts of probing questions and get my fears on the table. I swore to myself that I would never do summer sales, but I've been going through some pretty hard economic times lately, and I desperately need a good job. If someone can promise me $30,000 for a summer's work then I need to at least look into it. That's all I'm doing though, nothing more. No commitments today.

Also, I programmed a website really quickly for an introduction assignment in intro to computer programming and numerical methods class. Here it is: http://et.byu.edu/~rboyer2

In summary and foreshadowing, I'm excited for three things:
1) Ultimate Frisbee in the snow
2) Our new apartment blog: http://mimasboys23.blogspot.com
3) The posts that we are individually and collectively writing to post this weekend. They are going to be GOOOOD!

FROLF 4 LIFE!!

I had the SWEETEST experience yesterday! I got an email from the co-captain of the Ultimate Frisbee team at around 3:00 calling a throwing practice at 9:30 PM. We all met at the Law Building parking lot and they told me that instead of regular practice we were going to be playing Frisbee Golf on a course that they had come up with that makes a circle around campus. Each hole was going to be 4 or 5 par and there were some trick skill shots for bonus points. We started by the Heritage Halls Central Building and threw between Harris Hall and Horne Hall, through the parking lot, and to a sign at the opposite corner by Carroll hall. I mapped the course out below:

You know how you come out of the Marriott Center and go through the tunnel to get back onto campus and it Ts off at a fence? My favorite hole was throwing it from that fence over the road below and into the fountain outside of the ASB building. I put it in blue above. I can't even begin to express how awesome it was to chuck the disc and see it float over the road and all the cars below and into the field on the other side.

You know those raised cement circles between the JFSB and the Indian statue? One of the trick shot bonuses was to throw the frisbee into one side of it, have it go all the way around the circle on the wall, and catch it when it comes out the other side. At least 4 of the guys got it too!!!

This is by far the best thing I've done on BYU campus. It was SWEET!!

Oh, and I got -2 on the course :)

Eat what you want and have no regrets!

You know what? I've been having cravings lately. A choice few of you know that I ingested 7 pounds of ginger snaps last November and early December. In my defense it would have only been 6 pounds but a thoughtful friend brought me an extra bag (Aw, how nice!) Then it was graham crackers with frosting (2 cans of chocolate frosting to one big box of grahams), vegetable crackers (throw it away!),  toast with peanut butter and chocolate frosting... I've been a mess. Oh, and that last one almost tastes like nutella (Amanda, this could help you get through your withdrawals. Also, I think you deserve a moment of silence for the loss of your nutella).

And really, all these things make me feel downright disgusting. Always. And I promise I'm not pregnant.

The point is, sometimes you want something and you don't know why. Sometimes it's because it tastes SO GOOD! But mostly you just don't know why. Sometimes the things you want are bad for you and you know that they'll make you miserable, but you just can't stay away from their peanut-buttery-chocolately-goodness. Just remember, life isn't about giving in to cravings and impulses, its about making the conscious decision to do what's enriching for you and those who are around you. And whatever will preserve lasagna longer, I love lasagna. And thumbs up for rock and roll!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Super Lame Youtube videos

Ok, here it is. The only youtube video I have been in (Well, other than this one:
That was made by my little sister)

This next one is super lame.  But, it got 6,000 views. So it must not be TOO bad. Don't make fun of me, just face it. If you don't like it then throw it away!


K, so enjoy these things. No one else is.

Now your turn

A Serious Post... Mostly

So I am totally involved in our Broadbent 23 Madden 10 tournament as the Tennessee Titans and today our regular season opened as I snagged a victory over the New England Patriots (Monica) 28-10. I suck at video games, so that was pretty lucky!! Oh, and I hugged someone for over 4 minutes today, just to make sure people who have claimed to do it (...cough cough...Rob) were legitimate. Lets call it my own version of Myth-busters.

I miss Steven Baird.

Now for the serious stuff. Some things that happened today really blew me away. I am always trying to make my life feel full and rich. This explains why I suddenly decide to rearrange the furniture in my room every month and a half or so. This also explains why I volunteer every week at the BYU Special Olympics practices. This also explains why I try to be involved in several sports at once. Last week I "tried out" for the BYU Ultimate Frisbee club team. It is so amazing to push myself to the limit with frisbee. We had practice at 10:00 AM and I had a blast. I was really blown away with how free I feel on the field. I feel like I could chase frisbees down all day every day. I don't know what it is, but taking off and having someone throw the frisbee up in the air to chase down and feeling my lungs burn liberates me. It was quite an experience.

I'm also blown away with how awesome it is to build strong relationships with people. I'm talking about relationships that get to the inner part of who you are and where you feel comfortable sharing that part of yourself with this other person. I wish there were more people I could have this kind of relationship with. I've come to find that it's like a puzzle pieces: sometimes no matter how you rotate the pieces they won't fit together. You just need the right combination.

Just felt in the mood for some seriousness.

We're Back!

I'M BACK! And guess what? E-mail, Calendar, and Cell Phone integration are not big deals like they were back in the day (see my previous blog post here). In fact, the rarity now is finding a phone that doesn't. Wow, now I feel old. Maybe I should write a will like Tyler did.
There is an epidemic sweeping through my closest friends. No, it's not the chicken pox. No, it's not The Black Plague. No, it's not Influenza. AIDS aren't even contagious. Tyler, stop asking questions. It was a metaphor. You know what? Forget it.
A lot of the people around me have taken up blogging. I check them all a lot. Actually, everyday. Some of them I sit on the edge of seat waiting for the next post. You know who you are. I once paid a man to post because I couldn't take it anymore.
No, but really I love all of this blogging. It gives me a chance to read into people a little more than they let the general public in on. It's so intriguing to combine this knowledge with what I already know about them. I call it their blog-self. No big deal, just came up with it on my own.
On an unrelated note, people say as they get older that time goes faster. We know that time doesn't actual move at a different pace. Therefore, we must be moving faster in comparison to the time as we observe it. According to the theory of relativity that means that time appears to contract. Ultimately, because we think time moves faster as we get older we get shafted and die sooner.

Happy Step-Child!