Tagged by the Blog

In my relentless pursuit to humor my Belle Maman (FMIL), and in the everlasting, all-permeating spirit of 'tag', here I am, a tagged man.

Alas, on to my five-things-that-no-one-else-knows-and-there's-a-reason-for-that-
but-oh-well-here-goes-all-my-secrets-that-I-wanted-to-keep-secret.

1. I came home 'early' from my mission. This one always seems to heighten not-only the curiosity of those around, but often the tension that accompanies the conversation. When I was 16, my dad was called to serve as a mission president in the New Zealand Wellington Mission. Because he was still serving when I turned 18, I was able to enter the MTC a year early (a little-known church policy), just 19 days after my birthday. After serving the full two years, I came home, just 23 days after turning 20 years-old. For the next 12 months, I endured many blank stares and awkward pauses from many-a-person who asked me my age. Most of the conversations went like this:

them: Have you served a mission?
me: Yep.
them: So you're 21 then?
me: Nope. Just turned 20.
them: (pause)... oh, so are you sick?
me: Nope, healthy as a horse.
them: Are you going to go back out?
me: Nope.
them: uh... well, how about that weather recently? Mighty cold huh?

Now just because I didn't explain in detail the situation, doesn't mean that I was lying or misleading them... besides, anyone who'd judge someone else based on how much of their mission they served might deserve an emotional roller-coaster of their own. :)

2a. I have a Green Bay Packer tattoo on my upper-right shoulder. False. But if I got one, that's what it'd be.

2b. The Packers will win the Super Bowl this year. That's right, it's a secret no longer. Consider yourselves warned.

3. I thought Meghan was cute on the mission. I realize that there are certainly some parental-figures that likely would have preferred to not read that, but while it is true, let me explain myself. When she came into my district in Ottawa as a greenie, the first time I met her I thought to myself, "Whoa, Sister Walker is kinda cute." And that was it. Promise. I ended that whole train-of-thought right there and didn't let it go any further, until of course I saw her again here in Utah, when my thoughts quickly changed to "Wow, ok Sister (Meghan) Walker is a babe. I'm going for it." And wouldn't-ya-know... a few months later, she's gonna be Sister Staples... boo-yah.

4. I reached a decent age before I realized that Jefferson Starship sang "Marconi plays the mamba" and not "While Kody plays the mamba." So yeah, when I was but a lad, my older bro Kurt told me that he was friends with the lead singer and that he wrote "We Built This City on Rock and Roll" with them for me... I expect free, life-time medical attention for me and my entire progeny as recompense.

5. The best basketball game I ever played... was on Sunday. I was on my high school basketball team (I played shooting guard) and our school did a 'sports exchange' with another school in the region. (A sports exchange is basically where all the sports teams from one school travel to another school and play in every sport over the course of the weekend.) The sports exchange culminated in the last game, basketball, Sunday night. The entire student body of each school was in the gym to watch the game and the atmosphere was electric. My coach asked me to play and the temptation to play in front of such a huge crowd was too much for me... seven 3's and 31 points later, I won sports exchange MVP honors and was mobbed by hundreds of my peers... and felt absolutely terrible about it.


So there you go Belle Maman, you tagged me and here's my shout-out to you... And of course, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so Megs, I now tag you! :)

The Return of the Prodigal Son

That's right ladies and gents... your favorite blogger is back from his 45-day hiatus. What have I learned from my time out of the spotlight? My priorities.

What has happened in these past 45 days? Let us reflect; The summer school term ended, Megs and I traveled on down to the 505 so my parents and grandma could fall in love with her too, I moved, the NFL regular season started, as did the school fall semester. Now with all these things going on, not including church and work responsibilities, I've had to really juggle my time and energy with everything that's been happening. Now I'm not really a fan of quantifying such things, but I figure I'd objectively look at what I've been up to recently and try to put some things in order...

1a. Religion/Spirituality

1b. Megs/Family (One might wonder, why 1a and 1b? Well, I figure that it's impossible to serve one without serving the other. Notice however that Heavenly Father gets the edge here as 1a because well, he's God.) Note: All wedding preparations and such fall under this category, let's not get too specific.

2. Football I*. More specifically the NFL, but I'm down with all genres of God's Game. Go Pack Go. (*) refer to priority 7.

3a. School.

3b. School. (I have so much of it I thought it appropriate to put it twice.)

4. Fantasy Football, yeah it's that important.

5. ESPN.com

6. Work, blah.

7. Football II. *There are two types, (I) the kind that you MUST watch (i.e. The Super Bowl, all playoffs and Packers games, games that have playoff implications or affect the Packers, as well as all marquee-matchups) and (II) the kind that you'd watch if you didn't have other priorities that prevent you from watching (i.e. all other football games).

8. Sleep

9. Madden... my thumbs are exceptionally strong and nimble.

These of course are neither complete nor final, (nos. 4 and 5 could be interchangeable) but I feel that they are a decent representation of how and where I've been spending the majority of my time and energy. So if someone asks about me, you can just tell them that God and Megs are my life, God's Game is my favorite pastime and I work hard to be a good economist.

Oh and I almost forgot...

10. Blogging. :)