In The Rough

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? -Abraham Lincoln

Fear not, my friends, for the darkest clouds are beginning to subside, and the bright sunshine is coming back to what I once thought was a barren wasteland.
The eternal smile has begun to creep back upon my face every minute, of every day, of every week. I suppose it's for a multitude of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is my wonderful friends and all that they do for me! :D After the whole... "friend-zoning" occurrence... I'm still a bit hesitant to even try and contemplate a functioning relationship with someone nice and faithful.
I owe a big thanks to one couple, and one member of said couple in particular. Thank you to Rebekah Phillips and Dawson Hammond. :D Happy 6 months and 11 days! May your relationship last a very long time, if not forever! <3
I find myself thinking... day by day... that maybe I should just forget about life for a little while and concentrate on what is truly most important. My priesthood, and its power.
Sure, I do like my share of wordly items, namely my music and Lindsey Stirling. :3
Haha, I don't know what it is about her and her music! It's just so... pleasant to my ears! I have so many friends who absolutely love her music, and I was so bummed when I couldn't make it to her concert last Friday! I checked like... a week and a half in advance, and she was already sold out! But hey, I spent the whole day with my mom, so that's better, right? :D
I didn't do any of the traditional Easter festivities this year, because I feel too... out of place now. I mean, sure, it still looks fun, but those types of festivities are meant for the younger ones, not for the newly ordained priest! xD Besides... I celebrated my Easter today by blessing the sacrament for the first time, and by going to the Spanish branch and watching a good friend of mine give his first talk in Spanish in over... 20 years, in fact.
I'm just so much happier than I could ever imagine myself being after the whole thing that happened earlier this month. (: But it's all through the power of the Gospel. This is true, and I believe it. (:
I won't shove my religion down your throat, but I will tell you how much I love it. It's not my position to judge anyone because of what they do, or what they believe in.

"And now my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgement which ye judge ye shall also be judged." Moroni 7: 18
I tell everyone, even though it may seem hard to believe, that I do not judge anyone differently than I judge myself. I don't know your story, I don't know your living situation, I don't know everything about you, therefore I am in no position to wrongfully judge you based upon what I see now. I have seen many people whom I did not know were very righteous based upon how they act at school or in general, but then I see them do selfless acts of service and I find myself feeling very dumb for judging them unjustly.

"We do have a lot in common, the same earth, the same air, the same sky. Maybe if we started looking at what's the same instead of always looking at what's different... well, who knows?" -Meowth
You and I aren't so different, you know? We both have hair, however long or short it is. We both have feelings, emotions, spirits... We're all human beings, and no one deserves to be treated differently.

"No matter how much you think you know a person, you never know what they do behind closed doors. You never know if they cry themselves to sleep or if they cut themselves to feel." -Unknown
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of people posting these "equal rights" pictures on Facebook. They depict an equals sign, with three couples in them showing the "homosexual" and the "heterosexual" sides of society. Personally, whatever someone decides is their orientation, that's their choice, and I shouldn't have a say in whether it's wrong or right. I see all these people picketing on the streets about "Being gay is wrong" or "God meant for a man and a woman to be together". Sure, say what you want everyone, but always remember that you are judging that particular group of people, and pushing them away from feeling accepted in society. You can't force someone to change who they are inside! It's up to them to change it, over time!

"A friend is one who loves you as you are, understands where you've been, accepts who you've become and still invites you to grow." -Unknown
Those that are true friends will show themselves over the course of many trials and many changes. My ring of true friends seems to slowly grow each year. I mean, there are those friends that I'd thought I'd lost forever due to my retarded choices and the stupid things I've said... but they stay with me, never wavering, and never judging... I love them even more because of that. I'm going to deeply miss Katie, Joey, and their family when they move to Oregon in the following months. They've grown to be some of my best friends ever, and they've always been there for me, through thick and thin, and I've been there for them through heck and back.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." -Dr. Seuss
To be honest... I haven't cried since... December-ish, when we went on the Salt Lake City trip for Troylairs. I don't remember if I've shared the full story of that here, but... as I said, it's the last time I cried. It was pretty intense, and completely... unexpected. BUT WHATEVER, I smile now because I realize why I cried and what really came out of that experience.

"Butterflies don't know the color of their wings, but human eyes know how beautiful it is. Likewise, you don't know how good you are, but others can see that you're special." -Unknown
For those of you out there who feel like you don't quite meet the so-called "requirements" of society's love, don't ever feel like you're not good enough, please! There will come a time, where you will be above the society that we currently have, and when you will find that special somebody that will show you that you are truly a beautiful person on the inside and outside. (: I know that I used to feel very unloved by society, but then a few years back, I realized that society doesn't matter. It's how Heavenly Father views you, and he loves all of his children equally, no matter what. He gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That is the biggest gift we could ever behold in our lives, and it shows how much he truly loves us. For Jesus died on the cross, that man might live. I say these things, because I know them to be true, and I give you my solemn testimony, in his holy name, amen.

Songs-of-the-Day/Week:
Dead Island Riptide Literal by Tobuscus
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) by Fall Out Boy
She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) ft. Sia by David GuettaPersonally, Tobuscus has always been a source of uplifting comedy, but only throughout the past... year and a half. I only found out about him because of Rebekah. (: I remember I was overly obsessed with everything of his at first, but now I just watch his comedic stuff from time to time. He's just... hilarious, with his personal parodies.
DUDE, when I heard the Fall Out Boy song on the radio, I couldn't believe it was them! I kind of freaked out! I've always been a fan of their music! But man, they came back, and they came back STRONG! Ha, I've already seen so many remixes, it's insane, but they're all good ones!
Now, this song isn't even that new, but I just BARELY heard it the other day, and I love it! :D I have to learn how to play this on the piano, or I might explode. :3 Ha, I love David Guetta's DJ skills!

Shout-Out-of-the-Day: Jesus Christ and Jesús Cristo
It's Easter Sunday, and I've been taking far too long to recognize the one and only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father in my life and on my blog. I love you, more than I can ever show. You are the best example of how I should live my life. I know we are taught to live like you did, and to keep your commandments. I know that your Atonement is infinite and that all you taught us on this Earth is true. I know you live, and I know you love all of us equally. I'm eternally grateful to you. I love you!!


Well everyone, I hope you've all had a wonderful past couple of weeks, and a wonderful Easter Sunday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and keep doing what you know to be right!
Love you all! Thanks for helping me get through a rough patch in my life!

Gotta Get Up

"Sometimes you just have to be saved by your friends, and only your friends. Sometimes they are the only ones who are truly there for you, or the only ones you feel like you can talk to about anything. Maybe they are just those that will truly be there with you throughout all the doldrums of life, and throughout all the hellfire that we are put through in this mortal existence. Friends are the best, and there's no doubt about it." -James W. Facer

Here I sit, nearly two weeks since my last post, not even close to better. As some of you may know, these past couple weeks have been an absolute killer on my emotions, my self-esteem, and my usual attitude. I'm going to just flat out say it now... I GOT FRIEND ZONED.
And do you have any idea what that feels like? I guess I'm just taking it differently than I probably should. Everything has just gone wrong these past couple of weeks... other than the whole being friend zoned by someone I deeply care about...
For one thing, I dropped my iPod for the first time in 4 years, and cracked the screen pretty bad. And now here we sit, about two weeks since it happened, and it's only gotten worse. I tried having my dad repair it, because he's done iPod screens before, and they always turned out perfectly fine. WELL, he apparently may have cut a cable or burned something when he was lifting the screen off, and therefore my iPod is a little bit... in limbo, so to speak.

In other news, I got my finger jammed this past week. And to add insult to my injury, it's on my writing hand. And we just started the trimester, so there's a lot of writing and note-taking to be done, and it's sort of hard to do that with my screwed up finger.

There's four things that I can name right now that seem to release any of this stress from my shoulders and make me feel a lot better about myself.
1. Kneeling down and praying every now and again: I've found it hard to take the time out my life and pray to my Father above. *sigh* I need to do it regardless if I'm having a bad day, or anything.
2. Talking to my friends, Rebekah in particular: Now I know some of you guys keep getting confused as to who I really like, and who I used to like. As to with how I feel for Rebekah right now... I'm sort of confused, mixed, and unsure right now. She's the only one that I'm still able to talk to, and relate to with a lot of things. I mean... we're practically brother and sister, with all of our similarities and our memories and times together...
I love talking to people, and she's just one of those people that truly understands me, and I'm one of those people that tries to truly understand her as best as I can.
3. Minecraft: For some reason, when I start playing this, my OCD turns on, my ADHD completely shuts down, and I concentrate on nearly nothing but this. It's the creativity, the infinity, and the lack of complexity. I can just sit there and pretend, in my mind, that I was really in the game and doing this stuff in real life. Sure, that sounds nerdy, but hey, that's part of me. If you don't like it, too bad.
4. Reading: I just love reading interesting fiction books, and getting lost in the story for hours. Especially when the author puts in great imagery, so I can imagine that I was there for real.

Now, this past Tuesday, or March 12th in simple words, I auditioned for Chamber Singers/Troylairs for the next school year! I was a bit nervous, despite the support from my "brother and sister" being there with me. Alex and Naomi are seriously some of the best supporters for me whenever I need to make decisions about singing. So, the audition seemed to go okay. I always love how Burrows skips sight singing for me, because he knows that I can do it. :D I guess that was one plus for this week.

Oh, and on the following day, March 13th, I went to my good friend Jacob Allred's house to party with him for the last time in two years. He's leaving on his mission soon, and we all wanted to spend one party with him and just have a great time. There was one game in particular that I've never even heard of before, but I dominated at it, and it was a lot of fun! "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT !!!1" is how it's stylized. It's a top view-down shoot-em-up game where you just point and click with up to four players. It's such a trippy game, and I would suggest it if you have a small group of friends that you want to have a little competition with.

Songs-of-the-Day: 
Gotta Get Up by Harry Nilsson
Opera 2 by Vitas
C'Mon by Ke$ha

Shout-Out-of-the-Day: Rebekah Phillips
Can I just say you're the best friend ever, and you've never back stabbed me. I'm glad we're still friends, and I see us being friends forever, and always being close in some manner.

Well, I'm sorry I was gone for nearly two weeks guys. I'll try not to let it happen again anytime soon! Love you all!
AS ALWAYS, HAVE NICE DAY!