Day 8- A picture of something that makes me sad/angry...

This picture always makes me Sad/Happy...
I was born in Orange County California back in 1984, and this beach was about 30 minutes from where I lived as a kid for the first I think it was 7 years of my life. We would go all the time at least once a week and spend the whole day there, surfing, bogyboarding, making sand castles, exploring just having a great time. Then my dad moved us here to Utah to be closer to his parents and he thought it would be a good idea to raise his son and daughter up here. Now I love my dad and his decision I do appreciate now later in life...but I don't really like Utah at all...yea we have the mountains and I like the things you can do there, the atmosphere is nice, but to be honest that is about it...The people here can be very judgmental and very rude and I miss the care free get to know you before they make a conclusion kinda people that we Californians are. I miss the beach and I miss going to Sea World and Disneyland. I'm a big city kinda guy and also a huge beach bum. I could spend hours on end at the beach just having a blast doing pretty much anything..From diving to surfing, to exploring caves and little tide pools catching crabs and fish...up here yea we have lakes and rivers, but nothing quite can compare to being tossed around in the waves..and you don't have to have a boat or jet skies in Cali to have a good time. You just walk out on the beach and have a great time. Granted California has kinda slipped into the pit of death that is the natural man, that we are always warned about and that part I don't miss and I am rather grateful to not be a part of it, but I would gladly take a day at the beach over almost any day I've had in the 17 years I have lived here. I'm so happy every time I get to Cali and so sad every time I leave the wonderful place. Maybe one day I will end up there again and be able to call it home once more..Probably not for a while, I have a wonderful job here and some great friends, and living in Cali, is way too expensive lol. Although I would be fine with a box on the beach. So for now I will just have to enjoy the couple times a year that I get to go down there for a few weeks and just live it up.

Day 7- Photo that makes me happy......

I've grown quite fond on being in shows and performing for people. Every time I go to Disneyland I love watching the characters and seeing how they react to kids and to people and spend the countless hours that they do during the summer, waving, smiling, posing, hugging, signing autographs, doing all the things that they do. I've always thought that would be way cool to do, but figured that I would never really get the chance to do that. I got a small part of it in one of the shows I did a few years ago. The show was called Best of Disney. It was put together at a theater that I spent a lot of time at, and I was pretty excited about it all. I was in another show at the time that I was asked to do this one, and when they asked me to play Aladdin, I was needless to say pretty much amazed and at the same time so stoked! I was in most of the other numbers in the show, but the three numbers that I was going to get to preform as Aladdin, I was more happy for. I was going to be doing "One Jump Ahead, The Genie Song, and A Whole New World". We started the rehearsal process and got ready for the show a short 8 weeks later. Now the show itself was going to be a lot of fun, but I was looking more forward to the before and after parts of the show. Before each show we were to go out dressed up in costume with our respective princess and just mingle with the crowds. On Saturdays they did something called Breakfast With The Princesses. Here we would get there about an hour before the show and spend time with the kids and families before the show started. It was SO MUCH FUN! I remember opening night getting there a little late and my partner Haley came in and was like "Montieus get out here, we got kids waiting!' We always yelled at each other just for fun. It was great! So we stepped out and instantly you are rushed by children wanting autographs and pictures with their favorite prince and princess. Many were there. We had all the most popular ones and the kids loved it. One of my favorite nights would of have to been when Jasmin came in and was like "Aladdin you have a special fan out there waiting for you".. boy was she right. I didn't even get all the way out of the curtain and I hear "Prince Ali, Prince Ali! and through the light I can see this little girl, Jasmin's little niece, come barreling at me from the other side of the room and jumping into my arms. My dream had come true...well kinda...lol It really is fun to make some little girls day well according to her whole year lol. We did that for a lot of little boys and little girls that all came dressed up in their favorite costumes and all. It was really a magical little show. I've always wanted to go be a character down at Disneyland ever since. Don't think it would ever happen but it would be cool. The show was shut down about 3 weeks before we were supposed to close for some issues with the theater and we were all sad, but the time that we had with all those little kids was awesome. To this day and 23 shows later, it is still one of my most favorite shows that I have done, just because it was so neat to see all the attentive smiling faces every time we walked out on stage to sing or dance or whatever it was that we did. It was so fun.

Day 6 Whatever tickles my fancy....

Hmm I don't really know what to talk about in this one lol...

I guess I could talk about what's on my mind..right now it's that I'm sore...since my ex broke up with me I had a ton of free time and decided to start going back to the gym...I had been working out before, but mainly just at home and not really that much..maybe once o twice a week for like 10 minutes..lol. I tried to get her to come with me since she worked at a gym, but that lead to her thinking things that weren't true..anyways...I started going 4 nights a week again and it has been a lot of fun. Well as much fun as you can have lifting weights and tearing your muscles apart...lol

It was also kinda a wake up call, mainly cause when I started back up again I realized how much of a pansy I had become. I could hardly lift any of the same weights I was able to a while back and looked like a moron trying to do so..HA It kinda felt like I was back at the first day of summer weights back in football in high school...wow that was a funny day...Everyone showed up at 7 in the morning, and we were ready to find out what we were made of. Summer weights were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 7 to 9. We would always start out with some running and some form of outside lifting then we would go in and hit the weights. The first day though was to see how fast we were and to kinda get our stats on what we could do...and man did I suck it up BAD....They had us start by running the 40 to see how fast we were...So since I didn't have my shows for working out yet, I was wearing my DC Skater shoes that I for some reason bought when I was a kid..They are big bulky weigh a lot and aren't meant for running..needless to say I was like Linebacker slow...and for a guy that at the time only weighed in at 125lbs..that was sad...my coach was like well we got some work on you to do now don't we? lol Yea and the above weight just got me laughed at by everyone...I was so tiny...125 and had about 2% body fat.......Coaches head shook again...So needless to say I had a lot of work to do...which I did...and it went really well. By the time school started I got my 40 time down from like 5.5 to 4.6 which is super fast and I had put on some weight..not much though..and to fix that problem the coaching staff announced in a team meeting one day that after lunch whatever anyone had left over was to go to me...So I had tons of food lol..and by the end of the year I went from 125 to 150 it was awesome..all muscle...and I could lift a ton and could run forever...That is where I would like to get back to..It will be hard to keep up with working out if I get into Annie at the end of this month, cause the rehearsal schedules are always crazy, but I am going to do my best..I would like to be back where I was when I was playing for the school and practicing every day. It would be nice..that is my goal and so far it is going pretty well. Gyms are awesome! lol I can't do P90x even though I have it...why workout when I can just sit on the couch and watch t.v.? Yea that is why I go to the gym lol

Day 5- Favorite Qoute.....

I'm not totally sure about this one...but I did see one while I was picking up lunch for work today that I liked a lot..It's about love and since my love life at the moment took a huge turn for the crapper it kinda lifted up my spirits a bit..

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage"

I don't know why I really like that one...but I really do! I think its because of the fact that I haven't looked at love that way before...but it totally makes sense...It does take a lot of courage to put your heart out on the line and love someone hoping they feel the same way....and to me that's probably what has scared me the most about it all..mainly because whenever I put my heart on the line and give myself to that person it gets shot back in two pieces. I now look at it in a different way, thanks to this quote...and hope the next time love comes my way, whenever it does, I will have the courage to give my whole self to this person and knowing that the Lord loves me, will give me the strength to be able show what I feel towards this person...yea that didn't make sense...oh well...

In the end the quote means a lot to me now...and it makes me look at love and relationships in a different way..and makes me wonder if I'll get that chance again someday..

Day 4

Today is your favorite book.....Well since I don't really read that much don't have much to put here...I'm reading a book about a British Archer right now and so far so good...

I love Calvin and Hobbes...one of the best ever written..also I'm pretty sure he stole my life story..except my stuffed buddy was a bear instead of a tiger, but I took him everywhere with me. My mom also is certain that the writer stole my life story as well..

I guess a book that I have always really liked, I read back in six grade..I liked it so much that I actually went out and bought it after we finished reading it..scary I know...But it's called The Devils Arithmetic. The book is about WWII and I love stuff about that so I was excited to read it in class. It starts out with a Jewish family heading over to their grandparents to have the Passover dinner. The little boy is excited cause he gets to be a part of it and the daughter who was asked to say the prayer that would invite in the guy it does(I can't remember) she isn't so happy and doesn't understand why they do this every year..So they all sit down at the table and get ready for the meal, waiting for grandpa who is yelling at the T.V. showing off his number on his arm. Well he finally goes through it all comes to the table and the things starts. Time comes for her to go open the door and let the priest in, but when she gets to the door she sees a totally different picture then she thought. She is kinda confused but her, aunt comes up and grabs her and starts talking to her..She has stepped into the past and is back in the time of the holocuast. When the Germans come to take them away, she knows exactly what they are doing and tries to tell everyone that she is from the future and to look out. No one listens and as the book goes on she starts to forget that she knows what they plan to do. She just goes through every day life in the camps and the story ends with her taking the place of her friend and going to the gas chamber..where she wakes up and is back in the front door waiting for him to come in...her grandpa asking what she is doing and wanting her to come back to the table for dinner. It's a really powerful book and kinda opened me up to what they did to people. It's a good read.

Day 3

Day 3 is favorite T.V. Show...well this one is super easy. I would have to say The Office hands down...The show is freaking hilarious...but it also brings back memories of shows that I watched when I was a kid that are no longer around, because new waves of crap t.v. have come into play.

I used to run home from school as a kid to watch Saved by The bell...and Home Improvement..Those are still some of my favorite shows..and I loved watching Hercules and Zena in the late 80's and the early 90's those shows were so well done and basically awesome...You see T.V. back in the day stayed on a theme...and the themes were always different..the themes now a days are always the same...power, success and who you have to have sex with to get to those places...yea there are still some shows around now a days that were there when I was a kid...The Simpson's for one...love that show..but so many shows now a days are just all the same...but in different times different places..but the same plot always...

Back to The Office...I have been a fan since day one and I love that show..I watch it every week and multiple times during because I have it on my Ipod...and it will always and forever be amazing..Season Five Started out rough, but I loved it anyways..and now since I don't care to write more..I'm done..

Day 2

Yea so I'm a day behind so what, I'll be catching that up today. Day 2 is your favorite movie....

Those of you that know me know this is a hard one for me...Mainly cause I see a new movie like every week. I think last year I saw almost every movie that came out..except for stupid looking ones and R's....So I would say over my lifetime I have seen quite a few...I also have a collection that is close to around 280 movies...So I have a ton and not really any favorites...I will say that comedy is my favorite genre of movies though..I love them..also I love Jim Carey..He is amazing in what he does and how he applies everything so very awesome. So yes this post will be short....Mainly because I just love movies...

30 Day Blog Challenge....

Decided I would try this out, cause right now everyone is, and see how it goes...Yea I'm a day behind so today there will be two...simple...

Day One- Favorite Song....
That one is easyish....I've been singing since fifth grade and have listened to and sung quite a few songs in my day...But one has always stuck out above the rest..Prayer of The Children. It was originally done by Kurt Bester, and the first time I heard it was back in my senior year of high school. I've probably heard it before, but that was the first time that I can remember. Our Acapella teacher Mamma J. had presented the song to us and asked if it was something that we wanted to sing..Of course we said yes. Also finding out that it was her favorite song as well kinda put some pressure on us to make it a good one for her and for the people that came to see the concert. Her dad was the first one that got the chance to listen to the song and he was rather tickled as he said with it. We started learning the song about I think it was 2 weeks before the concert, and come concert time we were all pretty excited to sing the song. We went through the evening like normal, we were the last ones to go on stage and this was gonna be the last song of the night. When we started to sing the song it just kinda flowed out pretty dang awesomly. About halfway through the song mamma J. started crying and it was hard for some of the choir to keep a dry eye as well, but the song never faltered and it was a great end to an awesome Christmas concert. Ever since that concert I've always wanted to sing that song with a quartet o a sextet of guys o mixed with girls o whatever, but the chance never came up, until I went on my mission. I was in Madrid Spain and our mission had a lot of musical talent in it that we used for the work multiple times. We always did an Easter and Christmas concerts with a few little ones mixed in between. I was always wanting to be in them, but I was never close enough to be in the city for rehearsals and such. One of my companions that I had about 4 months prior to this worked with the Spanish T.V. before his mission and got with an old co-worker and asked if we could put on a concert for the station, that would be broadcast over the country and a few other ones. They agreed and we were on our way...there was just one small problem, I was living outside the city at the time....so bummed...BUT about 3 weeks into rehearsals and things I was transferred not only to an area that was so much closer that would allow me to join, but I was living with the director of the choir. So I was in. I was stoked to be a part of this huge concept that we were gonna try to accomplish. We did have a lot of good singers but the T.V. station had some pretty strict guidelines for the show. They had given us maybe 6 weeks to prepare and they were gonna come and see what the lists of songs that we had and they wanted us to sing all of them, they were going to pick from a list of 2 and those were the ones that we could do. I joined the choir and it was so helpful that my companion was in it as well, so I didn't have to bug him by making him go all the time. Well I was stoked for 2 reasons...1 I've been wanting to be a part of something musical in my mission for basically my whole mission...the concert would take place a month before I go home. 2 If they pick the group of songs that we want them to, we would get to sing prayer of the children as a sextet, and I got asked to be a part of it! So we practiced all the some 25 songs and when they came we sang them for them and they picked the one we wanted! SO stoked was I!

There was gonna be six elders singing the song, two from each part. 2 bases, 2 baritones, 2 first and 2 second tenors. The elders that were asked to sing we, elder Hanagarne, elder Pew, elder Sharette, elder Egbert, elder Murdock and myself. We started practicing the song after rehearsals about 2 weeks before we were going to be performing. WOW....right? We actually sounded really, really good together, and it quickly became a favorite number amongst everyone in the choir. The big day came and I was in pain...the day before after the last rehearsal I was jumping down the metro stairs and finding out two months later I had torn all the ligaments in my ankle..needless to say it hurt...I spent my birthday in pain in my apartment while my comp went out o work with another elder. The day of the show I was so drugged up it was hilarious! We had to get to the concert hall pretty early in the morning, because we were living with the director and he needed the help. So we set out around 7 in the morning so we could get to the theater and get things going. He wanted to have few rehearsals with our group as well. So we all showed up, it took us a while because of said above issue with my ankle and the fact that the drugs hadn't quite kick in yet, so I was slow. We got to the teatro monumental, which by the way is the second oldest theater in Spain. It had no microphones o anything that would make it so we could be heard other then us being loud enough, So cool. The inside of the place was just amazing.
Anyways....

We got there got everything set up and got underway. People started to show up and we started rehearsing. Our sextet had rehearsed earlier and needless to say we were pretty nervous. The show started and the cool thing about this one, is while most of the other concerts were mainly members this concert was 80 percent non member. Which just made it that much more magical to us that all the hard work paid off of getting people there.

We got to our song and walked up, I was so excited to do this number. We started the song and it went amazing. Honestly I give all the credit to the Lord and him making it so we could get the message across. Everyone enjoyed it and it is still talked about the most till this day. Some of us got copies of the song and we were pretty stoked to get them. I don't know what it is about the song but it has such power behind it and I could sing it every day if I had the chance to. It has a way of bringing people together and changing hardships and all that jazz. Just a great song.