True Love, and other things.

Wow it sure has been a while since I last posted!

I had big plans to post exciting things about Haiti, but then bigger plans came along!  Ladies and gentlemen, meet Xan Baker:

When I came home from Haiti, Xan was waiting for me at the airport.  We spent every free moment of our remaining summer together, and found ourselves falling in love.  Xan and I are engaged to be married on Thanksgiving weekend!  By the way, Xan gets credit for all these photos.

Xan's family is wonderfully brilliant, artsy, and quirky.  I fit right in.

We carved our names into a tree on our second date,

then played hard all summer, falling in love somewhere along the way,

...and later took our engagements in that same grove of aspens.  Xan calls them "quakies," which I love.

This one is my favorite.

* * * * *

Then a month ago, we stuck a polaroid in the dash,

and drove ourselves out to medical school in Rochester, NY.

This is where I live now, with all of Xan's stuff.  Our toasty town home.

While I work on medical school here, Xan is living spartan back in Salt Lake, planning our wedding and working her butt off, moving real estate.  She'll join me here after our wedding in Salt Lake City!

I always feel excited as summer gives way to fall, and this year that feeling is amplified tenfold - 10 weeks and 6 days and counting.

Haiti Series: Beginning

Now that I am back from Haiti, have an internet connection, and a lot of spare time on my hands, I am going to review my adventures and transcribe some of the best bits for you, from my journal.  My experiences here were life changing and quite astounding.  I hope you enjoy them!

21 May 2012

It has been one day and I am already exhausted.  I arrived in Port-Au-Prince alone, at about 8:45am.  I supposed I would be sharing my flight here with other volunteers in Sustain Haiti, but because I signed up so late, my flight was not the same.  My first experience in this country, I was alone at the baggage claim without a lick of French or Creole in my knowledge.  After locating my bags, I approached a group of lost-looking white people and asked if I could borrow a phone.  One of the girls consented, and I made two phone calls - one to my home to assure them I was safe and to get the number for my in-country director, and then a phone call to the aforementioned, Eric.  He was waiting just outside the terminal for me, and directed me to come on out!

We walked through a milling crowd of Haitians who all tried to help me with my bags, whom I refused, and then arrived at the back of the parking lot, where a small van filled with the other volunteers awaited us.  Seating was sparse, consisting of two benches made of 2x4s in the bed, with the rest of the room being taken up by our luggage.  I sat on a wooden plank wedged against the door and rested my forehead on the windowpane.  For three hours, we made the 18 mile trek to Leogane.  Wavering between exhaustion and nausea, I took in my surroundings.

Traffic is mayhem, people are stacked on top of each other, and crammed into every crevice between the grey rubble, garbage, and sewage.  Some places seem to be in good shape.  Others are absolutely filthy fields of garbage and refuse.

Although exhausted, I decided to spend the afternoon observing some of the work that Sustain Haiti does.  We took a "moto taxi" out to a community called Mellier (125cc modified Daihatsu motorcycles), where I watched Eric teach a business class.  At 5:30, we returned to Leogane and I watched a few ESL classes being taught, which I will begin helping with tomorrow.  These people are in dire need of help, but also need to be able to help themselves.  I am excited to get to work here, and hopeful that I will be able to make a difference!

AMCAS, Med School, Primaries, Secondaries

Ran across this on a friend's blog and just had to share, because it makes me laugh out loud:

I am completing my last secondary application today, which is to Duke.  I am excited to be done!  It has been a long and rigorous process, which I probably made harder on myself by procrastinating.  Don't procrastinate your medical school applications!

In other news, the fall weather is BEAUTIFUL.  Each day I have set myself next to an open window and breathed the crisp autumn air, which is probably giving me a cold, so now I simply bask in the sunshine that filters through the windows.

Starting today, I will no longer need to (only) bask in the sunshine, for I will be out playing in it!  And while we're on the subject, the moon is quite full: perfect for some midnight adventures.  Go crazy, folks.

Utah State Fair

Fresh-squeezed lemonade, corncobs dipped in salty butter, rides on the ferris wheel (or not, because the line is so long and there is so much to see), petting donkeys, plugging our noses around the pigpen, and sharing a block of fudge while perusing the shops for keepsakes.  In short, an All-American Thursday night!  Gotta love the State Fair and the friends who make it memorable.

10 years ago

Tyler knocked on my door to pick me up for our Olympus Jr. High carpool.  His dad, Kim, was waiting outside in his big silver SUV, honking at us.  I opened the door to tell him I was coming, just had to grab my lunch, and Tyler told me that somebody had crashed a plane into the World Trade Centers.  I didn't even know what they were, and didn't understand what that meant.

30 minutes later found us with our eyes riveted to the television screen in Señor Thomas's Spanish class, as we watched the second plane smash into the other tower.  We watched church services and prayed as a nation.  I was only 14, and my understanding of politics, nationality, and patriotism were still forming, but I felt a distinct sense of unity with my fellow Americans.  I felt us growing closer.  Then I watched the buildings fall to the ground and I remember marveling that they didn't tip over on top of the other buildings, but seemed to disintegrate and sink down into the rest of the city.  We watched people throwing themselves from the upper floors on live television.  These were scary things to watch, and I felt like I was growing up a lot, all at once.

Throughout the day I heard from friends whose family worked at the World Trade Centers, found out they were located on Manhattan Island; families hadn't heard from their children, and were worried sick.  Some were safe, and some were killed.  Lots of kids went home from school early.

In memory of those who died, let us live to make men free.  God is marching on.

Labor Day

Today, I caught myself wondering to myself, "why do we celebrate Labor Day?"

Wikipedia tells us this:

"Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 5 in 2011) that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers."

And here is a little history as to how it came to be:

"The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York.^[1] It was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Laborin May 1882,^[2] after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada.^[3]
Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.^[2]. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congressunanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike."

I spent my Labor Day with my fam, and I'm surprised at what we were able to cram in:

breakfast of waffles and bacon, skiing on Deer Creek, swimming at the pool, watching the US Open, lunch on the go, a motorcycle ride up to Guardsman's Pass (very pretty this time of year), 9 holes of golf at the Wasatch Mountain Golf Course, then homemade pizza before coming home to my singles ward Family Home Evening.  You just can't argue with free donuts.  And now, it's time for all of us to admit to ourselves the truth of this last excerpt from Wiki:

"Labor Day has come to be celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable for women to wear white."^[

Happy End of Summer, folks.  I am not returning to school this year, which is weird, but it feels like summer is ending just the same.  I'm pretty excited for football season though - I hope my Cougs have a good first year playing independent!

A word.

     In this strange limbo between undergraduate education and medical school, I find myself writing a lot of essays.  Essays about a time I didn't get something I felt I deserved, essays about my experiences with diverse populations.  Essays about altruism.  And in my sticky summer kitchen, I stress that I cannot express exactly what I mean.  Even more, I lament that my "voice," which Ms. Bishop tried to help me find, is still stuck deep inside me somewhere.  Caged in, perhaps, by a family of grammar-correctors and memo-editors.  I submit essays to medical schools and they feel shiny and metallic: pretty and impersonal.


     I would like to think, in another life, that I would have the courage to be an English major.  I thought about it, then I thought I could not support a family on it - but oh how I would love to study words.  Words are the beginning of everything:

"In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:1

     Within words, somewhere, there exists power, power to construct a beautiful moment, power to make wrong things right, power to change minds.  Writers, I envy you, and in this small space, I join you for a moment.

Why My Applications Take Forever

... because this is how I do them:

Netflix, I simultaneously love and hate you.

Also, I am LOVING my new Macbook Pro, and the program Skitch which lets me take these sweet screenshots!  I've already said goodbye to my PC and I'll probably never look back...

A Large Purchase

I am typing this blog from my brand-new MacBook Pro!  Sa-weeeeeeeeet!  Couldn't be more excited.  Does somebody wanna teach me how to use this thing??

Sommer, wunderbar Sommer!

You know, my mom used to live in Germany when her father, my gramps, was a mission president there.  They lived in a palace.  Literally a palace.  It is sooo cool.  I've always felt a little bad that I've never learned German.  But that's beside the point!  I want to show you some pictures of my AWESOME summer!

Summer began with Ashten's return from Cedar City.  Hooray!

Lots of laughs whenever I'm around my crawdad friend Jenna.  This is us before the Bruno Mars Concert!
You really should check out her blog:  http://mouthofthesouf.blogspot.com/

Always love a visit from Marci and fun in Midway!

Janessa invited me to volunteer at the Utah Valley Marathon.  GOOD JOB, GO RIGHT! We yelled for an hour.

Rock Climbing at the Slips!  Tristyn is always a good climbing buddy.

These are some of my students - I helped them prepare for the MCAT!   Here we are blowing off some steam in the mountains.

I've joined the Jon Burgoyne Band.  We've recorded some good stuff and played some fun gigs!  This is Steve putting together a track for Clawson's wedding.

Lots of family time, which is best spent at RSL games!  Go Real Salt Lake!

Andrew and Robyn got married and it was beautiful!  This is us, waiting for the Andrew & the Guys pictures, at the Salt Lake Temple.  Later that day, we ate at the Lion House and got drenched in the rain.

Setting up to play at the Oakridge Country Club.  Loved it, not to mention the free dinner!

Lots of hikes in the canyons.  Here we are at Dogwood Lake.  Thanks Ashten!

Clawson came out of his cave (planning his wedding) to do lots of boating.  We never have many pictures 'cause we're too busy having FUN!

Practicing for Clawson's wedding.  Lucky braved the hot weather in a sexy cardigan.  A slave to fashion, that boy is.  Never looks anything but sharp.

Bear Lake Boating Trip with my singles ward!  Holy smokes it was fun, and I met some amazing new friends!

Sommer, wunderbar Sommer.  I haven't left the state, but I tell you what - I've been finding out about all the fun close to home.  I wish it wouldn't end!

Summer!

... but it sure doesn't feel like it!

     Once again, I have been reminded that I am not invincible - I have been running daily in order train up my knee, which bothers me when I run long distances.  With the weather so bleary this week, I refused to give in and ran in the rain anyways, on some days for an hour or so - and now I have a sore throat and a headache!  In May!!

     In other news, my medical school application is due in just over a week, I start my 3/4 time job on Monday, and I officially dread going down to Provo.  I used to love it, my friends, but that city is swiftly becoming dead to me.  I love Salt Lake so much more!  Last weekend I ran around with my friends up at the Capitol Building and took pictures, experimenting with the "low light" mode on my camera.  We had some cool shots:

Front of the Capitol

 I love that they light the flagpole and fly the flag even at midnight.  God Bless America!

Back of Capitol Dome Detail

 I always struggle with compositions, but with architecture it seems a little easier.  Love that moon in the background!

Salt Lake City Capitol and grounds

If you're in Salt Lake City, I would really recommend coming here to check it out - the property surrounding the capitol is absolutely beautiful.  We're in a little park area behind the capitol here, and in the front is a large beautiful lawn with rolling hills and some trees.  Good place for a picnic this summer.  Any takers?

Springtime!

Well I can't believe it.  I am now a BYU Alumnus!

But the adventures don't stop there.  Now that I have graduated, I'm continuing a little bit of work for Altius Test Prep, while I prepare to tutor the summer program full-time.  In the meantime, I have a little extra time on my hands to take care of the essentials (like washing my car for the first time in 6 months!).  This is what I've been up to!

I graduated!

Went crazy at Missy Marlowe's that very weekend.

Played with my nephews.  Charlie is so adorable.

Went climbing with my friends in Rock Canyon!  I love climbing so much!

 Celebrated my Dad's birthday with family.  Here's Emily's one-month old baby, little Benjamin.

I'm excited to take it easy for a couple of weeks, but even more excited to really get crackin on the Altius Program with my new summer students!  I love my job, and I love SUMMER!

My LAST Final

I am studying for my last final... and I am learning all sorts of new things!  That can't be good news.  Not at all.  It's funny how I only have 2.5 hours to study for my biggest (and last) final ever, and how little I care.  I'm just excited that SPRING is here!


I am attending commencement today at 3.  I wonder what happens if I don't take my final beforehand?  I'm not brave enough to find out for sure, but one thing is certain:  in 5 short hours I will be FINISHED with my undergraduate studies, and one day later I will officially be a BYU ALUMNI!


I cannot wait.


Thank you BYU for an unmatched education, for giving me the knowledge and skills to lay the foundation for my future in medicine.  Now if you'd just waive my requirement to take my last final, that would be great.


But seriously, life is full of opportunities, and I owe many of those opportunities to BYU.  Thank you.

April General Conference

Every 6 months, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints holds a General Conference, in which the worldwide leaders of the Church speak to listeners worldwide.  I packed up and left Provo for the weekend, to spend some time with my family in Salt Lake City as we enjoyed all five sessions.  I love that the General Authorities of the LDS Church can speak in enough detail to appeal to those who are intimately familiar with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but still speak in simple enough terms that a child, or somebody else who is new to the Gospel, can understand.  That is one of my favorite things about Conference.

I feel spiritually fed and richly blessed.  There is so much to learn, and so much more we can do!  As the talks become available online, I will post a link to them here.

That's what you get for falling asleep in conference.

Just kidding.  We didn't really fall asleep.

But take note of the awesome soft-focus from my g12.

Love it.

In addition to the usual joys of Conference, I got to meet my new nephew, Benjamin Percy Jackson.  He's a cutie, isn't he?  We call him "B-Perce," or while he's small, "Benjamin Button."

My oldest sister celebrated her birthday with us, and much wrapping paper was strewn about with reckless abandon.  My brother and I stapled 16 pieces of cardstock together and made the hugest birthday card ever.

Hare Krishna Hare Hare!!

I attended the Festival of Colors with some of my friends this weekend.  It was CrAzY!  Photos:

I got plastered with color, like most other people.  My first bit of color:  the green around my eyes.  Somebody threw it right in my face with my EYES OPEN.  It's also the last color to come off - despite my best efforts, I still have a little bit around my eyes and it looks like I'm wearing makeup.

Usually 4-5 people were crowd surfing at any one time.  To the left of that center pavilion, they burned a "witch" doused in diesel gasoline.

Arguably the most fun and most dangerous portion of the event:  a coordinated color throwing.  After everybody screams the countdown from 10, the world explodes into a whirl of yellows, greens, and pinks, which mix together and fill your lungs until you feel like you're going to pass out from all the scented chalk.

For any who haven't been to the Hare Krishna Holi Festival, do yourself a favor, and go next year!  It was fun to mingle with the locals in mutual support and celebration of the Hindu religion.  What a fun time!  I'll see you there next year!

My Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend was marvelous.  My family and my friends spoiled me beyond anything I've ever experienced, with party after party after party, 3 cakes, dancing, singing, blasting clay pigeons to smithereens, etc... not to mention presents galore!  Thanks everybody for making me feel like a million bucks!

 This is my new camera, which I purchased as a birthday gift to myself!  Thus, pictures on my blog are now going to be less of a rarity.  It's a Canon G12 and I bought it here.  LOVE IT!

 A celebratory March Madness Mustache - prudently I shaved it before I incurred any permanent social damage.

One of my favorite pictures from my new camera.  Great imaging. 

On Saturday, I ran up to Salt Lake and dropped my car off to get my tires rotated, then jumped in my friend Steve's fun new Outback to go shooting! 

Our shooting crew.  One notable addition: Marc's awesome new dog, a black labrador/boxer mix, fittingly named Apollo. 

Saturday night, Adam and Steph threw me a party, and I was flattered that a lot of my friends came from out of town to celebrate with me.  Thanks for coming, Ashten! 

 We played Rockband, always a favorite.

 My roommate, Scott and two of my best friends from Provo, Jenna and Gabe.  I'm so happy I met them this year!

 No party would be complete without a 4-way Just Dance Extravaganza!  Apparently Marci is the only person with enough body control to end up without a blurry face.

 Gordy and Hailey, adorable and status quo.

 Towards the end of the night, Dave (always a co-partier with me, as his birthday is 2 days prior to mine) came over with his wife and we danced to "Hey Hey I Don't Like Your Girlfriend!"  Oh man, super fun.

Things cooled off around 1am and Steve and I played a little guitar.

The following day, I had a great party with my family, with delicious steak dinner and lots of time with my cRaZy nephews!  I was having too much fun to take pictures, but thanks fam for helping me feel so appreciated!

And as always, my birthday means that SPRING has SPRUNG!  Happy spring everybody!