Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)

Tonight I was thinking about things I like/love and why I like/love them. I came up with this little list of eight things and a brief explanation for each. This is kind of random, I know. . . but oh well

• Dr. Pepper: Why do I love Dr. Pepper? So many reasons. First, it just makes me feel good. I don't drink alcohol, so I compensate that with my good ole buddy caffeine(which is contained in Dr. Pepper, if you didn't know). Second, it burns your throat going down. This may be a weird reason and some you might ask, "Sac, why is that ranked so high?" Honestly I can't tell you. I just like it. Third, my mom loves it. I think it's one of the reasons we're so close. 
• Neil Diamond: Neil Diamond was my first love, musically that is. . . I promise. He's one of the main reasons I love music. I remember the first time I heard Sweet Caroline. It put shivers down my spine. The man hasn't stopped either. He just keeps writing music. His new album is amazing. If you want a copy give I'll give it to you. 
• Thrift Stores/Garage Sales: When I was but a wee little lad, every Saturday my mom would drag us kids all over town hitting every garage sale we saw and then to the thrift store. I hated it. I don't know why either, cuz I scored a lot of cool stuff. This dislike for second hand shopping lasted circa junior high. Then one day it clicked. I'm not even sure why. Ever sine then I love second hand things. In high school when I started driving, Meghan and I would go every Saturday to the thrift store. This tradition continues today. I don't go the specific day of Saturday, but I make it a point to go at least once a week.
• Shoes: I love shoes. I know it's kinda girly, but I seriously can't help it. When I was younger I ordered the Eastbay catalog and study every pair of shoes within its pages. I may or may not continue this practice(I'm not saying). I have a lot of shoes. Most guys wear one or two pair I think I have at least 7 pairs that I wear on a regular basis. It's bad, because I'm poor and don't have money and some how still manage to buy shoes. If I had lots of money I would probably have a closet just for shoes. 
• Lord of The Rings: Not necessarily the movies(they're alright I guess), but the books are amazing. They're the only books I've read more than once and I'll probably continue to read them multiple times before I die. They're so good. I get really caught up in them. I know what's going to happen but it's still really intense for me every time I read.
• My Grandparents: I've realized that I have a really special bond with my grandparents that most people my age don't have. They've always been a part of my life. For the past 20 years we've never lived more than twenty or thirty minutes away from their house. I've basically had the luxury of having a second set of parents. Growing up they never missed a wrestling match, football game, play or anything else of significance in my life. I call them every week and every week it's a phone call I look forward to. I love them very much. 
• My iPod: I'm not going to lie, it's my most prized material possession. All the music that I have is stored safely within it's chrome walls. If I were to lose it, it would be a really sad day for Zach Gibson. I love music, so naturally I love the apparatus that plays my music.
• NCAA Wrestling Tournament: The spring before my sophomore year my dad took me and my best friend to the NCAA's. It was one of the greatest times of my life. I'd never seen better wrestling. The roar of the crowd, the feeling within the arena was something that I'll never forget. Since that first time I've been back to see it live twice. I don't have the luxury of living in middle America anymore, but I watch the finals every year on ESPN. I usually stay on the phone with my dad pretty much the entire time, discussing back and forth what's going on with the matches. I AM a college wrestling fan. 

Fall Of The Star High School Running Back

This song reminds me of people that I went to high school. I think its a true story. 

I'm not trying to sound better or burn anyone. The song just emphasis how meaningless it is after high school being the "star" running back/quarterback was. 

Its by the Mountain Goats

sophomore year, you rushed for an average of eight and a third yards per carry. all eyes were on you. junior year, you blew your knee out at an out of town game. nowhere to go to but down down down. nothing but the ground left for you to fall to.  by july, you'd made a whole bunch of brand new friends, people you used to look down on. and you'd figured out a way to make real money -- givin' ends to your friends, and it felt stupendous. chrome spokes on your japanese bike, but selling acid was a bad idea. and selling it to a cop was a worse one. and the new law said that seventeen year olds could do federal time. you were the first one, so i sing this song for you, william stanaforth donahue, your grandfather rode the boat over from ireland, but you made a bad decision or two. yeah.

Stand Together, Hands Forever. Bound By Hope & Love

Saturday night we were all sitting around singing acoustic covers of Neil Diamond and Weezer songs when all of a sudden we came up with the idea to write a song, not just a song but a song that would change the world. We wrote that song and tonight at Music Outlet our dream became a reality. 

Imagine Michael Jackson and his pop hit We Are The World. . . . now X's that by 105. It was epic we had the whole crowd into it. It started out of with Myke and Ford then the rest of us gradually filtered up on stage. All 15 of us belted out the chorus along with chants and bops and la ti da's. It was truly an epic night. 

The song went like this:

Guitar intro
Verse 1
Whys
Ford's speech/call to action (start approaching the stage)
Whys (everyone singing)
Chorus build-up (shake hands with three people)
Chorus 2x (take off hoodies/jackets/sweaters to reveal white shirts)
Guitar interlude (no singing/talking)
Verse 2 (same lyrics as Verse 1)
Whys
Chorus build up
Chorus till we drop

Arts and crafts

Man! I have a lot to blog, blog, blog about. I'll start of in order.

1. I was on a poster on campus promoting jogging. I can't believe I failed to write about this before. Anyway It's probably the highlight of my whole life. I've finally made it to the tippy TOP. Thank you Quinn Merrill.
   
2. This weekend was really fun, by far the best weekend of the semester. Harper had a mock tail party (very much like a cocktail party) on Friday. Drinks were great and so were the decorations. Then we went to Sherries(like Denny's but like good and stuff). I had the best damn chocolate pie I've ever had in my life. No joke. We played sugar salt roulette. It was a gay ole time. 
3. Saturday: Straw Maze or as the Ancients would have called it a Maze, Maze. We went to the straw maze outside of town. We were lost for a really long time until finally we found the way. We took a what we thought was a shortcut. It turns out it was the portal to Narnia. Mr. Thomas greeted us with tea and strumpets. We found are way back right to the end of the maze. Afterword we had a maddog (brownie with mint chocolate chip ice cream and carmel on top. We eat it of the table) at our place. It was a really good turn out. It was the first maddog for a lot of people there.
4. This didn't happen this weekend but tonight(Tuesday) we had Arts & Crafts night. We made friendship bracelets for each other and listened to Fleet Wood Mac on vinyl. I was supposed to make homemade ice cream, but kinda dropped the ball. 

The week only seems to be getting better. I don't have any class on Thursday because of com day, so I'm going to Salt Lake to see Fleet Foxes. Then on Friday Sherwood is playing in Rexburg. Paul and Brenda, and hopefully Doug are coming down for the weekend. Should be good. Maybe bloggable. 

Oh Sister and Oh Brother

I don't have anything to blog about this week, but man! this pictures is really funny. It's of my little sister Anna. I saw it yesterday and laughed like crazy. It's the background on my computer.

Jed sang in the MTC Choir in the Priesthood Session. Here's a screen shot of his international TV debut. He left Wednesday for Arizona and I heard last night that he's in Yuma. I've circled his face in green if you couldn't tell.

For You My Dear

This has been a really fun semester. I've met some really cool people and we've done some really fun things. At the same time it's been a little weird too. For the first time since I've been in Rexburg my sister isn't here. She's just a phone call away, but I do miss her. I go to DI by myself now. I also miss my brother. He's on his mission right now. I got a letter from him yesterday and an email today. As much as I miss him, I'm also really happy and excited for him. In the letter and the email I received you can really feel his excitement. He's happy and that makes me happy. 

I also miss friends that aren't in Rexburg. Friends that normally would be here. I hope that you all know how much I love and appreciate you. 

At the same time I'm very grateful for the friends that are here right now and for the friends I've made. I like it how we're all very different, but at the same time we have a lot in common. We're a very dynamic group and we all have a lot to add and give to each other. I guess I'm thankful, that's all.