Things About Me

Hmm...an introspective look on my life. Well, here are some things about me, in case you didn't know.

• I love music. I did the band thing from 7th grade up through high school graduation. I played the trumpet. On top of that I play the guitar as well. Listening to music cannot be left out. It's a passion of mine. I hope to one day be a high school band director, after doing my business ventures.
• I like to observe people. Not just watching people in any kind of setting, but I love trying to figure out why people do what they do. I like to put myself in their shoes and look at the world in their eyes. I find that trying to see things the way others do, and looking at things in different perspectives, makes the world that much more interesting.
• Pet peeves: tail-gaiting; people who scrape their silverware against their teeth when they eat; meetings & talks that go over-time; a dirty kitchen; slow drivers in the left lane on the highway (and you have to pass them on the right....aargh!); being the blunt end of a joke; condescending humor.
• I recently found out that my personality is analytical/amiable. On the analytical side, I'm very task oriented and focus more on facts and details, and am more reserved with emotions. On the amiable side, I'm more people-oriented, a peacemaker, and am soft-spoken
• Typically, I open up intellectually/emotionally about the same amount someone else does (at least, according to my perception), as long as I feel trust with that person. Otherwise, "I'm a vault baby; locked down." In other words, I usually wait for someone else to open up at a deeper level before I do. If I don't, it's probably because there's no trust there from my side, for whatever reason.
• Things I like to do: biking; driving at night by myself on the highway with mellow music playing, alone with my thoughts; just about anything outdoors; daydream; study business concepts; football; reading books that teach concepts (preferred over novels/story books); looking at the stars; pondering life; teach; take pictures; being introspective; make videos; snowboarding (I've done it only once, with plans of doing it more); I normally don't admit it, but I like to dance; writing.
• Goals in life: graduate with a business degree; get an MBA (international business?); stay fit my whole life; make a cd with my own music; write a book; be financially independent at 50; be an entrepreneur; buy a house before 30; work for one of the top 3 consulting companies (Bain & Co, BCG, or McKinsey); be a high school band director; live in China and/or Germany; learn how to play the piano; have a good-sized family (I'd like to have at least 5 kids; we'll see what my wife says); be the best husband and father EVER!!!; travel after retirement; serve missions with my wife for the LDS church; improve education in America; fight evil; develop an organization that helps under-privileged workers gain higher-level skills in society, economy, and business; share the gospel my whole life.
• Quirks: I sing in the shower; according to my roommate, I smack my lips when I'm asleep; I open and close the fridge door several times before realizing food will not magically appear; I still use German words in certain situations during English conversations, the most common words being: "doch", "jawohl", "wunderbar", and "wunderschön"; I quote a lot of movies.

So now you have a synopsis of me. That's quite a list. There's more I wanted to share, but it's getting late as I type this....maybe some other time.

Untitled

So here's a song I wrote a while back on the piano. I just came back from a friend's playing it and was thinking about it, so I thought I'd share it. Let me know what you think the song is about. Also, any ideas for a title would be helpful as well.

Look at this heart. Say what you see.
Say how you feel. Tell it to me. Tell it to me.
Say what you see,
And take me as I am
Through the clouds and above the sun
Take me home. Take me home.

Memories flash in and out of my mind,
Of faults long lost in the passage of time.
Revitalize me with the breath of release
And take away these wounds and set me at ease.

Oh Lord please help me.
I've got to be free;
And I know it will take time
But I've gotta get home.
I gotta get home.

How long will it take for you to save me?
How long will it take for me to fly into the sky?
Come lift me up and let me see your point of view.
Come take me home with you.

White as snow. You will let me know
Crystal clear, where to go from here.
Winter's gone and spring has just begun,
Yeah, bringing light to take away the night.

Lord, I will praise thee forever.
My soul shall rejoice in thee.
My voice shall ascend forever to thee!

Just as a side-note, the last stanza comes from 2 Nephi 4:30,35.

A Roommate with Talent

I have a roommate - we'll call him Mr. T for the sake of anonymity - who has amazing artistic talents. He is well known in this apartment for certain pencil sketches that look like black and white photographs. Well, once again he has outdone himself.

(First of all, the reader must realize something about the writer's apartment: they are full of inside jokes usually made up at late hours of the night. One inside joke deals with David Bowie from this video...don't ask, it's complicated to explain)

At our Home Evening group we carved pumpkins. The idea for our apartment's pumpkin was to make a David Bowie pumpkin. However, we had nothing to use to do so, so we waited until we went home. My roommate, Mr. T, went online and found a head shot of David Bowie, edited it on photo shop so the contrast was black and white, printed it out, and used it for his pumpkin project. About 3 hours later (somewhere between 12:30 and 1 am) this beautiful creation was made:














(The lighter-colored areas of the face come from the glow of the candle inside the pumpkin)

Amazing, huh? All with one pumpkin carver! Sure, it's a pumpkin; however, I find it incredible that someone can be so precise in regards to sketching, painting, drawing, sculpting, and even carving. Anyway, because of Mr. T, we were able to enjoy a wonderful Halloween with David Bowie. (Brace yourself for the following corny line...) I pity the fool who tries to compete against my roommate in a pumpkin-carving contest.

Grace Kelly

So, I got introduced to a music artist named Mika last night at a BYU event. I really like his style of music. It's different from the main stream, and that's what I like. Anyway, I wanted to share my recent discovery with you (I heard that this song isn't the newest, but it was for me last night). I was told that Mika actually went to music school and studied to sing opera so he could sing the songs he sings now. Interesting.

Another Tally for YouTube!

This weekend I went home to Texas to see my brother and his wife, Adam and Rachelle, get sealed in the LDS temple in Dallas (for a little bit of info on the temple, click here). It was a wonderful event, by the way.

Anyway, I was there from Thursday to Sunday morning and noticed that when I'm home I seem to lose all self-discipline. Productivity is usually at an all-time low and not much is usually accomplished. I think the only time I was ever able to break that barrier was this past May. I was home for a week and actually got a lot of personal things done. However, that is the record thus far. This weekend my weakness was YouTube. I wasted practically a whole night looking at music videos made by BYU students that had been posted on YouTube. My argument was that I wanted to look at the videos to get ideas for myself, but knew that I would not want to use up any of my time while at school. So I spent my Saturday night in front of the glow of my computer screen, knowing I had two flights and a lay-over to catch up on lost sleep.

At any rate, here are a couple of pics from the wedding - maybe I should post my videos from this weekend on YouTube:

A Happy Birthday to Yours Truly

Yes, it's true. I've reached another epic moment in my life where I can say that I'm one year older and still single (yes, the writer is also aware that there seems to be recurring comments on singlehood...he will do his best to work on that).

So tomorrow, it being 10.10.2007, is my birthday, (not officially until 8:21 pm). Apparently, my mom went through 40 hours of labor just to get me out into the world. I'm a stubborn guy, I guess (hmm, I wonder where I get that from???). Anyway, this evening a friend of mine (if you talk to her she'll deny it) sent me on a treasure hunt of sorts through campus and parts of Provo. I must admit, it was a surprise, but a surprise I thoroughly enjoyed. It started off with me driving her car up 200 E, and as I stopped at the intersection of 2nd E and 8th N, this guy jumps out in front of me causing me to almost hit him. He comes up to my side of the car and motions me to roll down the window. Mind you, I've never seen this guy before, so I thought he wanted to yell at me for almost running him over. I roll the window down and he says, "Go to the botany pond. Feed the ducks, then go to the bleachers where you'll find a message. Of course, I immediately knew what was going on, yet excited for the adventure that lay ahead. I went from message that led to another message; and with each message there were little notes from friends and family. It was a great adventure!

There is one part of the night I wish to comment on specifically. A message led us into the library on campus (it read: "Go to the 5th floor and on the NW side of the building you will find a book at an unattended table. Put it in it's proper place and you will find the next message in a neighboring book." So we go up to the 5th floor and go to the north end of the building and start walking west. As we are doing so I spy a book on a chair of an unattended desk. I think, "Easy find." I go to pick it up and lo and behold, to my surprise the book is titled "Nude Photography Notebook"! Don't believe me? I have proof (I'm shaking my finger):

My friend insisted that this wasn't the right book, so we put the book back and went further west on the floor until we found a book in pink bound that read, "No Nice Girl Swears". Here's another pic for your gazing pleasure:



We read a few portions of it. It was...interesting.

At any rate, we put the book in its proper place, then found the next message that led me to another place. However, the note attached was my roommate's, which earned its right to be blogged on this site. Here is how it went, word for word:

"I am glad that Michael sallied forth from the womb because he is a great proficient with the ladies. It could be said that his finding pool is well stocked and has been left in pieces for far too long. He is a frequent guest on the popular radio program such as Dating 911, as well as Marriage before Maternity. I personally believe Michael is an angel of music sent to us from an otherwise terrestrial locale, the Texas, which got a lone star rating in the Three Degrees of Glory Geological Survey. His work has been featured on the Billboard charts in Orem for the past four days consecutively, unfortunately causing gridlock. Richard Dutcher, director of Gods Army 2: States of Disgrace was seen filming the chaos for a piece in his new film titled Brother Brigham's Blunder: Perpendicular Paralysis. Michael's breakout hit single "I'm Trying to Feel the Spirit, Here" was only surpassed in number of downloads on DITunes by his juicy rendition of Sloppy Joe, which has become an inspiration to lunch professionals in two and a half US territories. This song is reportedly said to have been the catalyst for the creation of five thousand new jobs in Puerto Rican meat packing plants. Additionally, Michael is a grandiose bastion of hope to the obese community at large. His hugely successful protein diet APECS (All Puerto-rican Environmentally-friendly Cow Steak) has transformed hordes of the metabolically disabled into skinny winners. When asked about his diet's wide acclaim and his clients' ballooning success rates, Michael commented, "No Big deal, none of them are Big deals now. APECS is a lifestyle, not...a deli meat." In her recent stint with NBC's Cooking in the Big House, convicted felon Martha Stewart suggested adding a bun and some cheese to APECS in order to broaden one's options. Michael countered by saying of the cheese and bun, "Most people's 'options' are already too broad! That's the problem, you selfish girl! Are the vein of Philly to be thus polluted?!" Martha then promptly sold her 300,000 shares of APECS stock to Richard Dutcher, whose film was a runaway success in the south. Dutcher's success has been lauded by such notable politicians as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Sen. Hillary Clinton who each agreed that the film was "the most thought provoking they'd seen since Liar Liar." Sen. Clinton was also accompanied to the screening by her husband, former President Bill, who, in attempt to comment on the film, was hushed by the Senator from New York, who said, "That's alright, that's alright! You are far from where you started." He was later seen muttering to the popcorn vendor about "the one that got away." Don't fret. I'm sure the odds are very low that that one fell into Michael's finding pool..."

-Ty

Though I wasn't too fond about his Texas comment, I laughed pretty hard when I read it. Sure, pretty much everything in it were inside jokes (that's how this apartment operates...purely inside jokes), but I'm sure it made you smile.

So there you have it! My pre-birthday celebration. Plus, my friend got me the book "The Scarlet Pimpernel", a favorite movie of mine that came from the novel! Odds fish!

Dating 101: Lesson 2

So I overheard part of a conversation between a guy and a girl as I walked through campus today. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the whole context of it, however the girl talking said, “I’m not going to date until the Spirit pushes me to do so.” Mind you, I have no evidence of whether she was talking about herself or about someone else; whether she meant guys in general or a specific one; or even if it was a hypothetical statement – as already mentioned, the context is unknown. However, whatever the case may be, the case in point is a meaning I wish to extract from it: don’t date anyone until prompted by the Spirit. The point I want to make is that having this frame of mind is far-fetched, immature, and potentially dangerous on a gospel level.

Okay, so this lesson on dating has much involvement with the gospel. So consider this your Sunday School Dating class for the week.

First off, if you don’t date anyone, you will never know what you really want in a spouse, therefore, who you want your spouse to be. In conversations I’ve had as well as personal experience, I’ve noticed that before we step foot in the real world of wooing we have certain Expectations of the opposite gender we want met, which Expectations often demand near perfection. Hence, the girl gets shut down because “There’s someone better out there,” and the guy gets burned because he’s not going to be a doctor or a businessman. I presume there comes afterward (sooner or later, depending on the level of naivety one may have) a state of realization where a person finally figures out that who they marry will not be perfect. Then Mercy comes into the list of Expectations, giving potential significant others a chance they didn’t have when Justice completely dominated. And I’m sure life gets peachy after that.

But I’m derailing the conversation. If you don’t date anyone you will never know who you will want to have as a spouse. And if you decide to only date someone the Spirit prompts you to date, you might be waiting a long time (unless He finally does so out of sheer pity for you, which might be more condescending than we really want). Someone with that frame of mind is immature because it is not congruent with principles of the gospel. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” (D&C 58:26-28) “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” The following is an excerpt from the talk “Revelation” by Dallin H. Oaks at Brigham Young University on 29 September 1981: “I once heard a young woman in testimony meeting praise the spirituality of her husband, indicating that he submitted every question to the Lord. She told how he accompanied her shopping and would not even choose between different brands of canned vegetables without making his selection a matter of prayer. That strikes me as improper. I believe the Lord expects us to use the intelligence and experience he has given us to make these kinds of choices.” I can give numerous other examples, but I think you get the drift of what I’m trying to get at.

The purpose of this life is not to constantly be told what to do and when. If that happened, we’d all be spoiled brats whining and moaning (and “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth”) until we were pointed in the right direction. We’d be those people who are thirty and still living at home. We wouldn’t grow up. There would be no point to this life, for how could we progress save we were given to “act for [ourselves].” (2 Nephi 2:16) The Lord expects us to gain knowledge and wisdom and learn how to use it properly. As Joseph Smith so candidly put it, “You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 346, 1976 Deseret Book Company)

So after all of my ramblings and standing on my soap-box, the lesson to be learned is this: don’t sit around and wait for the Spirit to tell you to do something (in this case, don’t sit around and wait for Love to come knocking on your door). Do all things in your power and when direction is needed, direction will be given.