Nathan Zacharias' blog: Life at BYU

BYU Student life

2012-02-01T13:22:00.003-07:00

A great new entry on one of my favorite websites just posted about what it's like to be a BYU student, and what life is like for zoobies.

So if you came to my blog trying to find out what BYU Student life is like, I highly suggest you head over to the BYU 100 Hour Board.

I was blogged

2010-11-02T14:04:00.003-06:00

The BYU Triathlon Club was photographed and put up online. I think I would look pretty good if Sam weren't standing next to me with his Greek-god-like body:

Gigglebox Photography

May the best man win

2010-10-31T21:27:00.001-06:00

Just found out that I went on a date with a girl 12 hours after my roommate took her out.

Making Friends 101

2010-10-26T11:42:00.006-06:00

I just read a letter to the editor in the BYU newspaper, The Daily Universe, from an international student who was having trouble making friends, and who was told that the only way to make friends at BYU was to go to church. I wrote a letter in response--we'll see if it gets published. Here's my letter:

I am disappointed in what your friend told you—there are ample opportunities at BYU to make friends outside of church. Here are some suggestions that have helped me (in no particular order):

1. Get involved with the BYU Student Service Association (in 3400 WSC). It will allow you to interact with people in smaller groups and can be a lot of fun.

2 Volunteer with a group in the Center for Service and Learning (in 2010 WSC). There you can meet people while at the same time helping someone in need.

3. Talk to your classmates! PE classes (ExSc department) and recreation classes (RMYL department) are naturally social.

4. Join a club! They allow you to meet people with similar interests. http://clubs.byu.edu can inform you about some great clubs here on campus.

5. Talk to a neighbor and ask if they can let you know when there are church activities and Family Home Evening. Those weekly activities are mostly non-religious and will allow you to meet people who live close to you.

It is outside my experience, but I know there is an International Students Association which might allow you to meet people from a similar background. If all else fails, find me on Facebook and send me a message—I’d love to grab lunch with you some time!

UPDATE (28 Oct):

My letter was printed, albeit edited (page 3).

How to enjoy your time at BYU

2010-08-08T02:00:00.003-06:00

I was going through my old phone today, deleting all the data off of it (since I'm selling it on ebay). I found a note I had written last summer--a sort-of nostalgic memo of advice for incoming freshmen at BYU on how to enjoy your time at BYU (written for a girl in my New Student Orientation group). Since I rarely blog any more, and most of my hits on this site come from people wanting to know about BYU student life, I thought I'd share that memo:

-To enjoy your time at BYU, you must become a BYU student. Here's how:

-Serve with a service club. Here or here are good places to start.

-Join a club.

-Make as many friends as possible - there's something to like about almost everyone & many people will need you.

-Get to know cool professors/faculty.

-Learn how to learn & learn how to serve.

-If you focus your efforts on helping others have a good BYU experience, yours will be great.

-Be needed. By someone or some group.

-Buy an all-sports pass & go to the football games. Wear blue to the games.

BYU myths, legends, and fables

2010-02-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

I've decided to post all of the myths, legends, and fables that I can find about BYU. Feel free to comment if you have any more; I'll update as needed.

-There is a statue of a family in BYU's Marigold Quad (southwest of the bookstore). Legend has it that any student who touches the finger of one of the statue-parents will be married within a year. (women should touch the woman's hand, men touch the man's).

True or not true: Hard to tell, as doing almost anything at BYU is likely to cause you to be married within a year.

-Lavell Edwards: Legend.

-If you run across the walkways above the Periodicals section of the library while looking at the statue of Brigham Young at sunset, the former prophet does the funky chicken.

True or not true: Not any more.

-On a note related to the above myth, the walkways above the library form a giant "X" and obviously must have buried treasure underneath.

True or not true: True. The library has a wealth of knowledge. And the main computer servers for much of the genealogy of the church are also somewhere down there.

-There is a nuclear generator beneath the Eyring Science Center.

True or not true: Sort of.

-Ghosts in the HFAC.

True or not true: I've never seen one, but then again I've never been there at night.

-A mutual friend (Kelli D.) on Facebook tells this story: "Some guy was showing off on the railing of the bridge by the Richards Building (RB), fell off, and died... if girls walk across the bridge around midnight with their hand on the railing, they will feel the ghost tugging at them."

True or not true: Maybe not. Kelli said she tried it & didn't feel anything. But what if Kelli is a liar?

-There are underground tunnels all over campus.

True or not true: Of course (think about all the stairways going down to a locked door).

-There is a giant collection of dinosaur bones under Lavell Edwards Stadium.

True or not true: Seems like there used to be, but that not many are left.

Oh, how I miss engineering

2010-02-09T12:42:00.002-07:00

Just some funny things I've heard a co-worker say while talking about women:

"The problem is that she's like a mule, and I'm looking for a horse."

"There'd have to be, like, a quantum leap in her behavior."

"What annoys me is emotions. Any time you get into a relationship, there's emotions."

Waiting is the hardest part

2010-01-27T16:50:00.004-07:00

To quote an apostle: "Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens."

I was talking to a friend the other day and I teased about her getting engaged to her boyfriend. Which of course made her get a torn look on her face and she told me that they had broken up. There was still a chance of getting back together, so she was waiting. Waiting without knowing how long or even if there would be an end to her waiting.

Many of you may remember that I once dated a girl who had recently ended an engagement. She tried to move on; he didn't. I ended up getting caught in the middle of it. I see him around campus every now and then and all I can do is smile and nod in approval. Hats off to him, right?

I've occasionally spoken with friends about writing a book about dating. It would have only one piece of advice (and maybe some pictures and stories): "Women (or men, as the case may be) are hard to read because they don't know what they want. So if you know what you want, go for it until she (or he) knows what she (or he) wants."

Turns out it's hard to do - especially when it involves waiting for someone else to make a decision.

To quote Norm: "Women...can't live with 'em...pass the beer nuts"

The paparazzi is after me.

2009-12-02T12:02:00.003-07:00

I got a text message yesterday from a phone number I didn't recognize. It had this picture attached:

For the first time in my life, I feel like a movie star.

BYU True Cougar Tri

2009-10-17T12:19:00.009-06:00

I did the True Cougar Tri race today (it's sponsored by BYU's Triathlon Club). There were around 125 racers and they were mostly BYU students. It was way laid back and a lot of fun. The race was a 6.2 mile bike ride, a 1.8 mile run and then a 200 yard swim (in that order - I think they did it that way for logistical reasons). And all on BYU campus, which was pretty cool.

I blew a tire with a mile to go on the bike portion (right by J-Dawgs), so I took off my cycling shoes, dropped them off at the gas station right there, and then ran that last mile in my socks.

All in all, it was a fun, cheap race. As I always do for races on BYU campus, I took some pictures during the run.

Before the race:

I think I would have beat (almost) all of the women if I hadn't blown my tire. I didn't get passed by any, in any case. This is in the tunnel by Helaman Halls:

South campus:

In front of the Maeser:

I can't wait for next year!

Wearing spandex to prep for my latest date

2009-10-11T11:17:00.004-06:00

I went cycling with my friend Jeremy yesterday. We started out here in Provo and biked to the summit of the Alpine Loop. I headed back to Provo and he went on to Salt Lake. It was about 44 miles with a 3600 foot elevation change for me (with almost all of the uphill elevation change coming in 7 or 8 miles).

Things I learned:

-If it's cold in Provo, it's going to be colder up a canyon that's 3600 feet higher (there was snow on the ground the last few miles approaching the summit).

-If it's cold standing still, it's going to be unbearable when I'm going 30-40+ mph downhill on a bike.

-Bike shorts, a short sleeve shirt, and fingerless gloves are not enough to keep me warm.

-Luckily, I sneaked into Aspen Grove for 15 or 20 minutes to warm myself up.

-110 calories in the form of a power-gel doesn't provide enough energy for me on a 40+ mile bike ride in the mountains.

-If I get in bed after exercising for a long time to "warm up my body," I'm going to fall asleep.

-If I fall asleep, I better have an alarm clock set to wake me up.

-Especially if I have a date a while later.

I woke up at 3, still in my bike shorts, unshowered, unshaven, realizing that I was supposed to pick up my date at that very instant. No wonder I'm still single.

I had fun though!

Oh so single

2009-09-08T19:05:00.003-06:00

Confession: I'm 23½ years old and I'm (gasp) single.

I know what you folks that don't go to BYU are thinking: so what? But students here at BYU have a different culture. Single women start hiding their age by around 21; men nearing 25 fear becoming a "menace to society." As a sort-of proof, 36 of the members of the BYU football team are married (that's about 35 higher than the national average).

Not that this mindset is right. It's a stupid culture/belief system if you ask me. I don't really worry about being so "old" and single... Most of the time.

Wedding season just ended here in Provo. I was invited to about 1500 weddings in the past month and I ended up going to about 5 or 6, including those of a few of my favorite people ever. Weddings bring out the worst in me - I often feel down because I'm not the one in the tux.

Like when my friend's 60ish year old aunt rested her hand on my shoulder right after a wedding ceremony and said "it looks like we're the only 2 single folks here!"

Or the time when a relative asked me "when it was [my] turn" to get married and after hearing that I'd just broken up with a girl replied "seems like all you ever do is break up!"

Or when I was the last one in the room and looked in the parallel mirrors in the temple, just after hearing the officiator talk about the symbolism of the couple being able to see each other forever in the mirrors, and all I see is me fading back to eternity.

Really, I'm not bitter or anxious. But I sure wouldn't mind getting hitched.

(Unofficial) Stake Dessert Night

2009-08-17T15:22:00.002-06:00

I had nothing to do yesterday. I didn't have plans with my family, I didn't have anything to do for my calling, and I wasn't going home-teaching. My ward's dessert night (everyone gets together & eats cookies) was canceled.

So Zack & I decided to organize an (unofficial) stake dessert night. We got the help of a couple girls from the ward. We made signs and then put them up at the various apartment complexes from around the stake. Then we knocked on doors & invited people for an hour or two. It was actually way fun knocking on girls' doors and inviting them (and it was a great excuse to meet some way cute girls!).

About 100 people showed up and I'm pretty sure I saw some flirting. I'd say it was a success.

Saving money by not using BYU bookstore

2009-08-17T14:58:00.003-06:00

I saved $153.68 by buying my books online instead of using the BYU bookstore. Around the end of May, I emailed my professors for Fall semester and asked them what books I would need. I needed 4 books for the semester.

I used two sites to buy books: amazon.com and half.com.

I got my math book for about $30 cheaper than the bookstore offers. Even better, I got a new hardcover for that price, while the BYU bookstore is selling an unbounded version with 3-hole punches. That means no resale, and you honestly can't keep the book either. Oh, and then there's the problem of losing pages. How do you use a book that's really just a bunch of loose papers anyway?

I saved $28 on my Chemical Process Safety book. Even though I got it used, I still saved $28 off of the BYU bookstore's used price ($53 cheaper than their new price).

I saved over $73 on my Molecular Physical Chemistry book! The BYU bookstore does not offer it used, so getting the same thing online (almost new) was a huge savings off of the bookstore's new price.

The BYU Bookstore isn't all bad: though the bookstore is more expensive than many online dealers, they have made some improvements. For example: they didn't used to put up the book list (what books you need) until about a week before the semester started. This year, they've been putting up the book list as soon as they've gotten the information from the professors (a few months ago, for most of my classes).

Also, another reason to love BYU: the Chemical Engineering department arranged to have Celanese donate enough books for the Fluids class for all the students this year. The book goes for about $100 online, so free is a huge savings.

Looks like I may end up getting 50 after all

2009-07-20T11:45:00.002-06:00

Let's just say that I'm now a lone man in the Garden of Eden...

Playlist

2009-07-09T20:31:00.003-06:00

Almost as good as the now-dead Ruckus. Project Playlist lets you look up a song and listen to it for free online. You can't download it, but it's free, quick, and hassle-free.

Listen to what I'm listening to here: Nathan Zacharias' playlist.

Pride and Prejudice

2009-06-15T22:42:00.003-06:00

From the DVD shelf of some girls in my ward:That's right. Count 'em. Two copies of the 62 hour version of Pride and Prejudice and FIVE copies of the Keira Knightley version. Oh, and there was a sixth copy in one of their rooms.

You know, I love BYU girls, but this just goes a little too far...

Catch me when I'm busy and I'll agree to anything

2009-06-14T14:50:00.002-06:00

My car battery died on Friday morning while I was camping with friends and just as I realized the car wasn't going to start, I got a phone call. Who knows why I answered.

The man speaking told me I had been invited to be on BYU's Sustainability Committee. My name had been recommended and there was a meeting Tuesday in the ASB (the administration building). He told me I didn't need to dress up, but that I shouldn't look like a scrub. A polo shirt and khakis would be perfect.

I don't really know what the committee is and I don't remember agreeing to be on it, but sure enough I have an email telling me the location of the meeting. I guess I was too focused on jumping my car and I agreed to go?

I'm a people watcher

2009-06-08T13:42:00.003-06:00

Here I am, looking over the shoulder of a girl writing down her observations of what people are doing in the Wilk Terrace. Girl in green shirt waves at a guy walking by, but he doesn't notice.

Sad.

I felt like a bum

2009-05-23T18:21:00.002-06:00

drying myself off with paper towels in BYU's locker room after swimming this afternoon.

Nueve de Mayo

2009-05-14T20:19:00.006-06:00

One more reason I love BYU:

Where else could you find a Nueve de Mayo party (think cinco de Mayo, but a few days late)? There were actual luchadores there, and I must say - I just might start watching Lucha Libre on TV...

Lame wrist

2009-05-14T20:02:00.005-06:00

So I'm taking a mountain biking class this term and it's awesome. Part of our grade is riding on our own every week, and it's been fun to get out there on the trails. I went to Moab with my brother in law Mike a couple weeks ago and it was a blast. We did the Gemini Bridges trail. It was about 16 miles round trip.

At the summit (it was a there and back ride), we got caught in a crazy thunderstrom that arrived and left all within 10 minutes or so. We had to hide under a rock (and I'm glad we found cover because it was hailing pretty good).

Yesterday in class I ate it pretty good. I was going through this meadow at about 25 mph when we turned pretty sharply to the left. I lost control a bit and left the trail and as I was getting back on the trail I fell right. I started to roll and I foolishly stuck my arm out. Now my wrist is sprained pretty bad. It hurt too much to keep riding, so I walked/jogged the rest of the way back with my bike. Lame.

Here's the trail we went to yesterday. It's up past south fork park and I think the trail is called big springs or something like that. I was icing my wrist in the river right before this picture was taken:

7 more

2009-05-11T14:37:00.007-06:00

Quite a while ago, my roommate asked me how many girls I thought I'd ever taken out on a date. I grabbed the nearest piece of scratch paper and started writing the names of all the different girls I'd ever taken out. Now I update it every once in a while, haha. I have a feeling I've forgotten a few from high school and right after my mission, but I think I'm pretty close to having all of them. Here's the list:

1. Lizz

2. Lori

3. Amber

4. Ashley

5. Becky

6. Nicole

7. Danielle

8. Nancy

....

Ha, right. Like I'm going to post all their names. As of today, I can remember at least 43 first dates - so I'm like 7 shy of 50. Unless you count man-dates, then I'd probably only be a couple shy of 50. I should be able to make that milestone fairly quickly (let's be honest though, I hope I don't make it - I would love it if the one were from the early 40's).

Now it's up to you, my loyal readers: who should my 50th first date be with? Feel free to nominate friends, acquaintances, random strangers, enemies, relatives (yours, not mine!), or yourself. Ideas can be commented on here or emailed to 50thfirstdateidea@byu.net (I'm not even kidding, I just got that email address).

BYU Testing Center Lines

2009-04-23T22:24:00.010-06:00

I took my last final yesterday! Wa-hoo! It was the last day of finals and I knew there were going to be long lines, so I kept checking the line conditions to make sure that I would have enough time to get through the line and take my test. I ended up heading over at around 2 and made it through the line in about 40 minutes. Not bad. Here was the scene when I was at the front of the line:

When I finished my test at around 7, I saw this as I left the testing center (you're looking at the SWKT quad with the McKay in the background):

I decided to follow the line (The JSB is to the right):

I finally found the end (between the Benson & the Eyring):

I took 40 minutes when the line was about 5 times as short... I don't even want to know how long this line took (oh, and PS this was at 7:00 and the last test is handed out at 9:00. Ouch.)

Dag Nabbit

2009-04-20T23:57:00.004-06:00

So I've been sitting at the same table as this really cute girl in the BYU library (in the Periodicals section, or course) for the past couple hours. She's smiled at me a few times as we've made the inevitable eye contact, and I've smiled back.

I finally got up the courage and decided I was going to talk to her. I figured I'd go to the bathroom and when I got back I would say something to her, and maybe try to get her phone number or something. That was the plan.

Some plan that was. When I got back from the bathroom, the boyfriend was there. And now they're PDA'ing it up 3 feet away from me.

I'm going to be single forever.

UPDATE: She just left with her guy. To best pour salt on my wound, she smiled at me and waved goodbye. Ouch.

Goodbye, C2G

2009-04-16T16:02:00.003-06:00

So you probably know that I've been the chairman of the Choose to Give executive commmittee for the past year (For those that don't know - Choose to Give is a student-run fund raising campaign on BYU campus. We fund raise for programs that help students and our efforts have made it possible for there to be 8 students with needs-based scholarships right now). And I was on the committee for a year before I was selected as the chair. It's been a wonderful experience that has probably helped me more than any of the people I have been trying to help.

Anyway, we had our final meeting for the year today and it was bittersweet. It definitely is a relief to not have all the responsibility on my shoulders, but it is also the ending of a large (amazing) part of my life. I mean, 2 years - that's almost a tenth of my life. It's as long as my mission in Chile. It's almost half of my BYU career. I think I have learned so much and changed so much as a person because of it. It definitely has made my BYU experience amazing and helped me to meet so many awesome people (including the last two girls I've gone on dates with ;-) ).

And now I'm done. I'm going to have withdrawals...

Dangit, Spring

2009-04-05T12:39:00.004-06:00

So the weather was way nice a few weeks ago and everyone thought spring had come. It was sunny and was up into the 70's on a Saturday and since I had been doing homework all day, I decided to take a break and go mountain biking. There hadn't been snow on the ground in Provo for a couple weeks - the trails would be great, right?

Wrong:

Ok, so this picture is actually from snow shoeing with my family a couple months ago. But still, the trail I went to had a few inches still. It totally fooled me, too, because I didn't see snow on the ground while driving up until like the last 2 minutes.

When I got there, I saw another guy just getting off the trail. I asked him if it was rideable, and he said no.

Because I don't trust strangers, I tried it anyway. I only got about 3/4ths of a mile in, and I had walked some of that. And rode off trail quite a bit (giving me this):

I can't wait for Spring.

Look what women do to us

2009-04-02T22:50:00.005-06:00

Here's a picture of a friend:

A woman made him like this. And there are a million different things she might have done (or not done) to make him crawl into a ball in the corner. Sometimes it's frustration and anxiety, sometimes it's heartbreak, and sometimes it's just the realization of our faults and insecurities. But one thing's for sure - "Women...ya can't live with 'em; pass the beers nuts."

BYU Stats Zorro

2009-03-31T10:03:00.004-06:00

I had to print off something while in the Talmage Building yesterday, so I stepped inside the nearest computer lab. It happened to be a Statistics lab and there was class going on. That's never stopped me before, and I usually just ignore what's going on and use the computer.

But not this time.

There were only like 3 students in the classroom - which made what I saw even more strange. The TA (teacher's assistant) who was running the lab was dressed up as Zorro:

So I actually paid attention to what he was saying as I was on the computer. I guess there is some method in Stats called the Zorro Method (Ok, I'm not actually sure if that's a real method, or if it's just his nickname for it, but in any case he was dressed up as Zorro). He explained, "I've always wanted to do this."

A few seconds of glory

2009-03-25T23:18:00.004-06:00

I got interviewed for a news story about Choose to Give on Monday. I was on TV! Ok, so only for like 3 seconds, but still - they had my name on the screen. If you watch the video, it's like a quarter of the way through.

I think I was a little too long-winded, because they cut me off mid sentence. Hah, I love it.

Captain to Give was also interviewed. I guess they didn't want to put "Captain to Give" as his name, but he wouldn't tell them his secret identity. I guess somebody spilled the beans, but nobody the reporter talked to knew his last name, so it just says "Jacob."

Rex Lee Run part 2

2009-03-24T22:16:00.002-06:00

I forgot the most important picture from the Rex Lee Run in my other post.

Leap frogging the last 100 yards of the 5k race:
I bet we would be great friends if I knew them.

Chemical Engineering could be the death of me

2009-03-19T22:46:00.007-06:00

After going to bed around 1AM the other night, I woke up the next morning at 5:30AM to do more homework. I decided to head over to the Fletcher building, since I have a desk with a computer there. When I arrived, I saw this at the desk next to mine:

I didn't think too much of it... I mean, it is an engineering building after all. After working for an hour or so, I stopped to stretch and saw this as I turned around:

That's right. Another guy asleep under a desk. After another hour or so, they both woke up. I happened to know one of them, so I asked him if they had been there all night.

"Yeah..." he said, trailing off.

I asked him if he had gotten locked out of his apartment or something. He said, "You'll understand next year."

He's a year ahead of me in the Chemical Engineering program. I suppose that's why I'll understand next year.

I can't wait!

My dad in the NY Times

2009-03-16T18:17:00.002-06:00

When I was young I used to hold my breath every time I went under a tunnel so that I could make a wish. And since I really liked making wishes, I considered every freeway underpass a tunnel, so that I could make a bunch of wishes pretty much every time I was in the car.

I always wished the same thing: to be an electrical engineer when I grew up.

To tell the truth, I had no idea what that meant. But I knew my dad was an electrical engineer, and I guess I just wanted to be like him. I still do, in many respects. Although my heart is set on chemical (rather than electrical) engineering, I would love to work on similar types of projects.

Like this one. His project was featured in a New York Times article that is one of the most popular on the news-site. Basically, the project is this: build giant lasers to create fusion.

I guess that still is my dream. I would love to somehow be involved in a revolutionary way to supply clean energy to the world.

I just need to make it through this semester first.

Closure

2009-03-15T13:19:00.003-06:00

It's been an interesting week. There's a line from a Postal Service song that I was listening to that says, "your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures."

Those of you who know me best know that I never quite got over a girl I dated a long time ago. Sure, I kept dating and even was in other relationships - but I never got the thought of what might have been out of my head. Until this past week.

I think one of the worst feelings is to look back at something that ended and think it could have been.

Now I know it can't be and I have the closure I need.

What a great feeling.

Rex Lee Run 2009

2009-03-15T00:39:00.019-06:00

I ran BYU's Rex Lee Run today - it's a 5k and 10k race that fund-raises for cancer research at BYU. I think it's a great cause, and it's a lot of fun. I ran it last year with bronchitus and, because I was sick, decided to take it easy and bring my camera. I had so much fun running with my camera last year that I decided to do the same thing this year. Minus the bronchitus.

Race highlights:
-I powerwalked for almost the first half mile. It's harder than it seems, and I switched to jogging because my shin-muscles hurt. Who would have thought that power-walking can be tiring?
-I decided to take a picture with everybody who I saw who I knew. They are below.
-I got 288th place out of 1470 runners. Without even really trying!
-Because I was going really slow for the first mile or mile and a half, I got to pass tons of people once I started actually running. It's such a good feeling to pass other runners.
-I didn't pull any muscles.
-I did not get passed by anybody pushing a baby stroller.

Here are some pictures (and by some, I mean a lot):

Before the Race: Jessica, Corinne, Anna, and Emily. And me.

Me, Corinne and Emily.
Hannah and Courtney. They don't know each other, but I happened to see them at the same time.

Corinne and I about a mile in.

I got a stomach cramp about 4k in.

I hadn't seen anyone I knew in like 2 minutes, so I decided to take a picture with a stranger. Ha.

Mallory and me.

Me and Heather. I did the Rex Lee run with her last year; it was fun to reunite.

Curtis.

Ryan

Conner and Corinne happy to be Rex Lee running!

Cabrina. It totally looks like I'm crying in this picture.
Annique.

Final stretch of the Rex Lee run!

UDC

2009-03-09T16:08:00.005-06:00

I was invited to give a presentation at the University Dean's Council today. It's a meeting where Brigham Young University's President Samuelson meets with all the deans and directors on campus.

I was hesitant, but they said there would be free lunch - so I gave in.

In all seriousness: talk about intimidating. After everyone arrived (around 40-50 of BYU's most influential people), I looked around. I was the only student. Luckily, I knew 2 people at my table (Kim, the Choose to Give staff adviser; and Darla, a lady Kim works with), so the lunch portion was fine. Oh, and they had real silver. Yeah, silverware actually made out of silver.

Oh, and Clark Kent was there too! Ok, not really - but this guy looked exactly like him.

So anyway, on to the actual meeting. The whole meeting was about donations to BYU (hence my being invited). It was actually really cool to hear how much those men and women care about the students here and how much they involve prayer and the Lord in the decisions that they make.

Towards the end of the meeting I had 5 minutes ~~to sweat~~ to give my presentation. I basically said why I Choose to Give, why it is important for BYU students to Choose to Give, and how they can help students around campus to give.

I think it went well. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be, and even made them all laugh.

After the meeting a lot of deans came up to me and said I did a good job, and that the meetings were always so much better when there was a student there. President Samuelson shook my hand and said, "Nice job, Nathan." Hoo-ah!

I got an email a couple hours ago from BYU's athletic director, Tom Holmoe (ya know...hired Mendenhall and Rose...Has 3 superbowl rings...has a wikipedia article written about him... that Holmoe). He said, along with a couple other things, "Nice job on your presentation to the deans and directors this afternoon."

I'm totally bragging, I know, but hey - this is my blog and you don't have to read it. Hah.

Some interesting little tidbits from the meeting: obviously, donations to BYU have gone down in recent months due to the economy. So the annual goal for fundraising is almost half that of last year. BUT, the PLC (President's Leadership Council) realizes that the economy is being hard on students also. So although they are cutting the goal of total fundraising in half, the goal for donations to the scholarship fund is being almost doubled.

They really care about us. They mentioned that the number of job openings on campus have been very low (as low as 20 spots for all of campus). In recent years there have been as many as 1300 openings at a time. And this isn't due to the fact that BYU is cutting jobs - they have actually increased positions. Students just can't find jobs elsewhere.

It's nice to know that they care.

Also, I found out that there is a full-time employee devoted entirely to Ira. Ha. His whole job is maintaining good relations with him, so that the BYU donations keep coming. Awesome.

2009-03-08T21:17:00.003-06:00

I went out to lunch yesterday with someone who used to show up on my blog. Let's just say I may be catching the Andromeda Strain again. Just a simple little date. We were both at the library, so we met there and then went to the Brick Oven. And then that was it.

More updates to come?

One chicha morada, two straws

2009-02-28T22:40:00.005-07:00

So I went on a first date today - my first first date in a long time. I took a girl I met last week out to lunch. I didn't ever decide where to eat before picking her up, so I told her that we were just going to drive until we found a restaurant that looked interesting.

We ended up at La Carreta - a peruvian restaurant in Orem. I had eaten there once about a year and a ½ ago and liked it.

I remember liking the Chicha Morada - a juice made from purple corn (really). So when the waitor asked what we wanted to drink, I asked my date if she wanted to try the chicha morada. She said yes, and we asked for it.

When he came back with the drinks, there was one cup. Two straws. Heck yes - that's so romantic. We both just kinda went with it and I pretended to not hate sharing drinks haha.

The food was great and I think she's a way cool girl.

I spent more time taking tests today than I did sleeping last night

2009-02-24T18:51:00.001-07:00

Now I have a headache.

New BYU ID card heck yes

2009-02-23T20:44:00.003-07:00

Here's my new BYU ID card:

Things I love about it:

-My hair

-My smirk

-My neon green and purple jacket

Eavesdropped...

2009-02-21T10:39:00.001-07:00

I heard this exchange between 2 girls on my way back from campus last night.

"You're a whore"

"You're whorer!"

Close your eyes, creepo

2009-02-19T11:53:00.003-07:00

I'll admit it. I often open my eyes during prayers. Usually I just look down, but I'll look around if I'm not paying attention.

Like today. I was laughing at something when the prayer started, so I kept my eyes open & looked down at the ground while I laughed silently. After a few seconds, I looked up and saw the TA (teacher's assistant) staring at me.

It kinda creeped me out.

Library naps

2009-02-17T23:21:00.003-07:00

Ya know, I've seen a lot of people sleep in the Harold B. Lee Library in my day. Face down on a pile of books, cuddled up on a couch, or nodding constantly at a table - I've seen it all.

But until today I'd never seen this:

I must admit that I am a bit jealous of his courage.

Got to have my cookies 'n cream milk

2009-02-12T23:26:00.002-07:00

I had a stats test today. If I have to take a test around a meal time, I usually allow myself to get a delicious, delicious treat from the vending machine. The less healthy the better. I planned to take the test right after my swimming class, meaning I would have no time to go home and eat.

Swimming + test = double the reward, right? That was my plan, anyway. I bought 2 treats (which I don't normally do) and then went to buy the most important thing: cookies 'n cream milk (think normal BYU chocolate milk plus 2 pounds of sugar and whole milk instead of reduced fat).

Much to my horror, the vending machine for the drinks was out of order.

I did what any sane person would do: I walked a ways across campus to find another vending machine to buy my cookies 'n cream milk.

It was worth it.

Big Band Night

2009-02-08T13:59:00.005-07:00

We went to BYU's Big Band Night last night. Karic and Laurdam came along as well. We dressed up (along with Karick), but I guess Laurdam never got the memo that it was kind of a semi-formal event. Ha, good thing they're not the type of people to be embarrassed by being the only ones in jeans & t-shirts.

The night started out with dinner (before it started, we all guessed that the dinner would be chicken cordon bleu, since that's the food at every nice BYU event). It was chicken cordon bleu. Mmm mm. After dinner they had a 40's-style Big Band playing music and the dance began.

Turns out I don't know how to dance.

Since she's a great dancer, it was a good thing she was patient with me. I learned the basic step to like one dance (triple step), so we ended up doing that for pretty much the whole time haha. Oh, and I know the foxtrot, so we danced correctly to the one song that was foxtrottable.

Here are some pictures:

Laurdam dancing:

Karic dancing:

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

2009-02-07T09:51:00.001-07:00

Ruckus music has shut down its service. This may be the worst thing that's ever happened to me!

Mid-life crisis

2009-02-04T16:02:00.002-07:00

I was talking to a lady today who says she is going through a mid-life crisis. She said she has frozen all of her credit cards so that she won't use them. Thinking she deactivated them through her bank, I jokingly asked her if she put them in the freezer.

She put them in water and froze them in the freezer.

Ha, I can't wait till I have a mid-life crisis.

Right back at ya

2009-02-04T12:07:00.003-07:00

Ha, so I have a stat keeper on my blog. That means I can see how many people visit my blog each day. And the city they are visiting from and their internet service provider.

It's fun to see where you all are reading from. Here are some interesting visits:
-6 visitors from India
-3 visitors from Sweden
-A bunch from Maldova
-1 from Canada

I can also see the page that brought you to mine. The top ways that people get to my page are:
-A google search for "Nathan Zacharias"
-From my Facebook page
-Google search for "BYU dating ideas"

It's also fun to know who certain visitors are. Like, I know when Karic look at my page because it lists their ISP as their apartment complex. I've even seen the ISP of companies where I've applied for internships... So it's true that employers google potential employees.

I hope you keep visiting - it keeps me posting when I know people actually read it!

Meet the family

2009-01-27T14:09:00.002-07:00

So I had her (I still haven't come up with an alias for her for the blog... Comment with ideas!) meet my sisters a couple weeks ago. Nikki had us over to her house to celebrate her birthday. Our Puerto Rican family friend, Neira (who lived with my family for a summer about 10 years ago), was also there.

Neira started bringing up old memories of when she lived with us. Uh-oh.

I guess when I was 12 or 13 I used to go to LDS singles chatrooms and type "I AM THE DEVIL! I'M SATAN!" just to get a rise out of people and see their reactions. hahaha I must have been an awesome kid.

I'm so glad that Neira brought that up; none of my sisters told any embarrassing stories, so it's good to know I can count on somebody.

A bird in hand is better than 2 in the bush

2009-01-19T15:12:00.001-07:00

That's what I keep telling myself.

Miracle Milk

2009-01-17T12:19:00.004-07:00

I bought a gallon of milk in the beginning of December. All I can say is that this jug is a milk-miracle, because I had a bowl of cereal with that milk yesterday and it's almost a month and a half old.

Oh, and this video is from Christmas break. Sorry it's sideways. My sister Karen fell asleep on the couch:

Provo/BYU Date Ideas

2009-01-15T16:17:00.035-07:00

I'm going to post a bunch of date ideas for people in the Provo / Orem / BYU area. If you have any fun ideas (especially ones that BYU students could use), feel free to comment. I'm planning on updating this post every so often. A bunch are ideas from my mom (meaning I haven't done many of them).

These date ideas are appropriate for first and second dates. Or third or fourth or even fiftieth. I don't much like group dates, so most of these are ok if it's just the two of you.

-Go to the most amazing swingset in the world! There's a park in Pleasant Grove (around 1500 North on 100 E [100 E is also called Canyon Drive]) that has a gigantic and awesome playground. And an awesome swingset (there's a map at the front of the playground - look for the "Sympathy Swings").

-Geocache. There are a lot of hidden treasures around Provo.

-Test-drive new cars together

-Bean museum - it's full of dead, stuffed, exotic animals. Elise says there are free live animal shows nightly at 7:30.

-Planetarium (basically they sit you down in really comfortable reclining chairs and project the stars onto the ceiling and tell you all about ~~astrology~~ astronomy. It's pretty fun).

-Shoot rifles/handguns at a shooting range or with my Uncle Ron

-Arcade games at the nickelcade

-Mini golf (including an indoor course for the winter) & arcade games at Trafalga. Just remember: most girls who date a lot have done this 18,000 times.

-Get some sand from the store [or from the volleyball pit at The Riviera, you can take it back when you're done!], get it damp, and make miniature sand castles using kitchen tools

-Ice skating at Seven Peaks

-Watch a BYU hockey game (way more fun than you may think).

-Have an indoor picnic - get a cheap basket from DI, fill it with picnic food, paper products, etc., spread blanket on floor - go all out and put up/draw posters of south sea island beaches. In fact one night could be spent gathering/preparing, and another night the actual picnic. This idea is obviously not mine - I've never put so much effort into a date.

-Finger painting! Get butcher paper (a big roll of paper) & fingerpaint and then go anywhere outside. You can get supplies at Michael's (a craft store at 321 East University Parkway in Orem).

-Make a dessert in your apartment and watch a movie.

-Check Brigham Young University's calendar for upcoming on-campus events.

-Go up to Temple Square and watch the Joseph Smith movie. There are often other events on the weekend. Or explore downtown Salt Lake. It's gorgeous during the Christmas season.

-Saturday afternoon lunch date. I dare you to go on a date that lasts less than an hour. You'll be surprised how nice it is.

-Saturday morning breakfast date. Kneader's (295 West Bulldog Ave) has all-you-can-eat french toast.

-Hike the Y at sunset (directions and information here)

-Go to the mall and people watch.

-Rent a canoe from the Ropes Course in southwest Provo. It's only like $10 for 2 hours and they provide the canoe, paddles, and lifejackets. We brought sandwiches when I did this and ate out on the water. Bring mosquito repellent!

-From late spring to early summer you can catch & release butterflies up in the mountains. You can buy a butterfly catcher somewhere or make your own (basically a long stick with a mesh net attached to a hoop). This is my favorite trail to do this at (when I went we spent about 2 hours doing an easy hike and we caught around 20 butterflies).

-Make kites (you can find tons of recipes online) and fly them. Or buy & fly.

-Play with kids' toys (great when it's cold outside). My favorite is Rock 'em Sock 'em.

-Hike out into the middle of the woods with some blankets and a laptop. Watch a scary movie (hopefully one involving a forest like The Village or something). Make sure you tell her the plans or she may try to mace your face or something.

-Any date that involves the movie Labyrinth is a winner.

-Comedy Sports. It's an improv show. Pricey, but funny. I consider this a last-resort date since it's expensive and you can't talk very much.

-Bocce ball. If you can get a hold of a set, it's a lot of fun to play as just a couple or as a group date. The first thing my old roommate ever did with his wife was play a game of bocce ball. They were married like 2 months later, so take my word for it: it's a good date.

-Buy or get a hold of a scooter and take your date on a scenic ride. This is one of the first things another of my past roommates did with his wife. They were married like 4 months later, so you know this date idea is good.

-There are fish tanks in the hallways of the basement of the Widtsoe Building on BYU campus that you can look at. There aren't very many, but it's a fun idea if you want your date to go a little longer than you originally planned for...

-From Ashley M.: play croquet in the snow. It actually works! You have to avoid the deep footprints, can make trenches, dug tunnels, try to catapult your ball, etc.

-From the 100 Hour Board: "All the Things Nazi Mormon Parents Wouldn't Let You Do Even Though It's Not A Sin Date"... go to Starbucks for apple cider, get fake tattoos, play poker, drive to squaw peak and just talk, etc...

-From Emily R.: Cut soda cans in half and fill them with rubbing alcohol. Light it on fire and you can roast marshmallows or have a mini "bonfire" anywhere you want.

-Josh Guest (from my BYU freshman ward) has a bunch of ideas here.

-From Brady R.: The Museum of Art is a great date with the MOA cafe on top, too. You could pull off a mid-day, mid week date with this one.

Here's some of the restaurants I've been to in the Provo/Orem area (and liked) and the price per plate that I remember:

-El Salvadorian place (332 W Center St. in Provo) $6

-Sammy's (Center st with 1st west in Provo) ($5ish)
-Gandolfo's sandwiches(Center St with University Ave in Provo) $6
-Sensuous Sandwich (163 W. Center St in Provo) $4-6
-Guru's (deli style, has a little of everything) (about 50 E Center St. in Provo) $7-8
-Los Hermanos Mexican (Center St with University Ave in Provo) $12
-Kneader's deli (295 West on Bulldog Ave) $7
-BYU Cannon Center Cafeteria (N. Canyon Rd with Bulldog) (all-you-can-eat freshman nostalgia!) $8

-Las Tarascas Mexican (2255 N. University Parkway by Albertson's) $7-8

-Brick Oven Pizza (800 N with 100ish East) $9-10

-Las Tinajas Peruvian Restaurant (279 E 300 S) $8-14

Salt Lake area:
-Blue Iguana (165 W Temple Rd, SLC) (close to temple square) $12

(I've also been to the Red Iguana. Good food, casual atmosphere, but Red is overrated and overpriced.)

-Blue Plate Diner (2041 S 2100 E, SLC) $8-10 (it was an awkward date but a great restaurant!)

Ice Cream places that I like:

-Sammy's (Pie milkshakes!) (1st west & Center in Provo)
-Coney's Frozen Custard (242 E University Parkway in Orem)
-I used to have Smart Cookie on here, but it went out of business... so I'll add:
-~~Maestro's Gelato Cafe (22 W. Center St. in Provo)~~
-The Gelato cafe in the back of Little Gloria's Italian restaurant on Center St with University Ave.

-Spoon it up/Spoon Me/YoZone

-Cocoa Bean (hot cocoa & cupcakes) (1774 N. Univ Pkwy Provo)

Phew

2009-01-07T21:27:00.001-07:00

What a relief.

Santa's stocking stuffer

2009-01-04T18:08:00.005-07:00

So this year on Christmas day, I woke up before the rest of my family, excited to see what my stocking beheld. I found a kit to make Gingerbread Snowmen...

A few hours later, I confronted Santa. "Santa," I said. "Why did you get me this?"

"You don't like it?" Santa questioned.

"Well, I'll take it back to Utah if I have enough room in my luggage"

"What?! You may not like it, but I bet some girl will," came Santa's reply.

Santa is very wise. We made these last night (and had a frosting fight...). Guess which is mine:

New Year's Eve

2009-01-01T23:45:00.005-07:00

I think New Year's Eve is the only holiday that my family doesn't have any traditions for. I don't ever remember doing anything on New Year's Eve (last year we watched a movie and when it was over we all realized that it had been the new year for 45 minutes already haha). I've always been kinda jealous of all the parties and fun stuff that goes on.

So this year I did something about it. I asked her out on a date and we went up to the First Night celebration in Salt Lake City. We started off the night by getting steaks at Goodwood BBQ in Draper. I liked my steak and it was a pretty decent atmosphere (and they got us in within 30 minutes - not bad for how many people were there).

After that we rode Trax (the commuter train) from Sandy to Salt Lake. The First Night program had some pretty cool stuff. The first thing we did was go watch/listen to a bluegrass band. It was a family band and they were really good. I think bluegrass & folk music are my favorite to listen to live.

After that we watched Samba Fogo (a fire-dance group) perform. It was kinda hard to see because the stage wasn't very tall and there were a lot of people, but it was pretty cool.

Then we found a giant Lite-brite! It was arranged to say "2009." So we switched it to "2008." So rebellious! As we were leaving, we heard a girl who had just walked up say "shouldn't that say 2009?" Ha. We looked back at it a while later and it still said 2008. Yes!

Then we kinda wandered around until midnight, when there was a firework show.

All in all, it was a great night. I had a lot of fun at First Night, and I enjoyed my company even more...

Airport woes

2008-12-20T16:02:00.003-07:00

Friday, Dec. 19:
I just got up from my nap in the Library. The Ablion Middle School library. I drove up with my sister Laura & her husband Adam in the morning (I left at 5:45 AM) so that we can all go to the airport together as soon as she gets off work teaching here. Since I only got a little more than 2 hours of sleep last night and since the thought of sitting through a Jr. High Spanish class sends shivers down my spine, I came to the library.

This pencil sharpener is in the library:

Apparently middle schoolers don't know what pencil sharpeners look like any more.

Looking back at middle school, the days seemed so long. And I’ve only been here for a few hours now, but it seems like it’s been an eternity. Maybe all Jr. Highs are in some weird time-warp continuum that makes time move more slowly.

Well, I’m in the airport now. It’s almost 6 PM and our flight was supposed to have left at 3:00. It’s snowing pretty hard and it’s delaying or canceling pretty much every flight. The airplane is still in Pocatello, ID waiting to come here and they still don’t know when it’s going to take off from there. Sigh…

Here's an awesome guy in the airport:

Now it’s 10:45 PM and I’m still in the Salt Lake city. Here’s what happened: after waiting around for 6 hours for our flight to Oakland, it was canceled (the lady from SkyWest had told us about 3 hours earlier that she was almost positive that it would not be canceled, since they had already canceled one to Oakland, and they wouldn’t cancel two).

Right when it got canceled, I ran to the counter and tried to get onto any other flight into Northern California. They had 2 spots. The lady in front of me got the one that would have made it three (and I had let her go before me to talk to my mom and Adam on the phone about what to do). I’ll admit, I was rude to the SkyWest lady (they give no reimbursement, no coupons, no hotel rooms, nothing because the problems were due to the weather). Luckily, we had just bought tickets on Southwest for a flight at 10.

So I got into line to get our checked-on luggage. After waiting about 40 minutes, a guy from SkyWest (who had heard my troubles as I was rude to the Skywest lady) saw me from afar and ran over to me and offered me 3 tickets for a flight to Oakland ton

ight. I told him I was going to go Southwest but he told me to get Skywest anyway (just in case the Southwest flight was canceled). By then my phone had died, so I used a stranger’s phone to talk to Adam. It was very kind of the Skywest worker, and he went out of his way, so I took the 3 tickets and he assured me that if I didn’t use them, somebody waiting on standby would get on the flight. I apologized to the lady I had been rude to, then went over to the Southwest gate to wait with Laura & Adam.

We waited for a while by Southwest and the were announcing that our plane was circling the sky in flight pattern, waiting its turn to land. Then, a while later, they announced that our plane had returned to Vegas to refuel and return.

So, I went back to the Skywest flight (a 10 minute walk) and found out we’re actually on the standby list. So, the kind worker put us first on the standby list. So here we are. Nine and a half hours after we got here (11:50 PM). Waiting. For a flight that is circling the sky (who knows if this one will ever land) that we may not actually get to board. And if this one doesn’t work, we’ll return to Southwest to try to get on the flight that might return to Salt Lake city and then might be able to land.

Sigh…

Another awesome guy in the airport:

We finally got on the Southwest flight at 1 AM and got to Oakland by around 3 AM. And then to my house by 5 AM.

Wave your brownies outside to win over women

2008-12-17T14:35:00.003-07:00

So my roommate Notorious P has gone on a couple dates with a girl (who I'll call Nike). They are both some of the best people you will ever meet, but I would say a little shy.

Anyway, the other day, he had made a pan of brownies. He wanted them to cool off, so he went outside on the street and was waving the pan around (I'm not joking). As he was waving the brownies in the air, he saw Nike drive by. He was curious, but went back in when she drove past. Later, he found a bag of candy and other goodies from her on our doorstep.

I just talked to Nike's roommates. They said she was way nervous the other day & when she drove by & saw Peter outside waving the brownies around she kept driving because she didn't know he had seen her. Then she "said a prayer that he would go back inside" and when she drove by again he was inside, so she dropped the bag off.

Woo woo!

Christmas Turtlenecks

2008-12-16T23:00:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas from me and my roommates:

Kalai

2008-12-13T19:38:00.002-07:00

I've had this song stuck in my head all day: "On my mind" by Kalai.

That's all.

Temple Square

2008-12-13T00:34:00.007-07:00

We went to temple square tonight. First we ate at Blue Iguana, an amazing Mexican restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. The food was great, the environment was nice, and they validated my parking. (I'm an idiot though. I went to pour her some water and I asked if she wanted ice, and she did, so I just tilted it farther and she got ice all right, but the table got ice too. Then she told me that to get ice, you're supposed to pour it out the side. Does everyone else know that? You learn something new every day).

So, then we walked to Temple Square. We walked around and looked at lights for a little bit, then we went inside the Assembly Hall and listened to some high school choir sing Christmas carols. After that we walked around and looked at most of the Christmas lights.

Here's my favorite part: Neither of us brought a camera, so we asked a stranger to take our picture and then email it to us. And he said yes. After the thrill of that, we asked like 4 other people to do the same thing. It was awesome. We could end up with like 8ish pictures from the night even though neither of us brought a camera.

I already got one picture (and we only got back like an hour ago). This one is from Tara. Thanks Tara!

Oh and then there was the whole part on the way home where she told me that she has read my blog and that she read this post and that she told everyone she has ever met about it and how some of them hate me for it but that it's okay because she doesn't necessarily hate me and then I explained myself and said that I'd just never met a girl like her before and that I was sorry and that it didn't really bother me at all (no, she's not the nose-picker).

UPDATE 8:31 PM: I got a few more pictures today. Here's one from Cali. Thanks Cali!:

Superstition

2008-12-11T21:33:00.008-07:00

So this is from a finger-painting date I went on like...forever months ago. I think it's my personal best. (You can see it a tad bit bigger here).

Feel free to comment on the meaning of the painting (or try to guess what I used to create it).

Home

2008-12-09T23:19:00.007-07:00

So I went home for Thanksgiving. None of my sisters went, so it was just my parents, my brother and his family. Here are some pictures so you can see what my home is like.

About 4 years ago I got a whole bunch of new underwear, and didn't need all my old pairs. So, I signed them and gave them away to friends. There's still a pair hung up in my sister's old room:

My mom makes the best pies and desserts ever. The lemon meringue is the best! Here are her Thanksgiving desserts and her:

My nephews are the cutest!

This ends what has been perhaps my most sentimental post ever.

Load off my chest

2008-12-03T22:39:00.003-07:00

Just now I sent an email to the volunteer web-designer for Choose to Give.

"Who cares?" you might be thinking.

Well, the thing is - I should have emailed him like 2 months ago. I met with him about 2½ months ago and we were both excited to get things going for the website.

Then I ran into some... delays...in getting permissions & information for the site. Then, because I had taken a long time to get that done, I felt...hmm..embarassed? Ashamed? Maybe awkward is the best word. I felt awkward emailing him. So naturally, to make things worse, I put it off longer.

I emailed him just now.

What a relief.

I don't care if it is for a sorority initiation, you're not welcome here

2008-11-20T21:16:00.005-07:00

To the 15 U of U students in the library:

Get out of here.

Protect the Family

2008-11-17T23:18:00.002-07:00

Ok. So I know the church and therefore BYU have been active and vocal in their support of the family and therefore Prop. 8. Which I am all for. But I think that saran-wrapping families to protect them is going a little too far...

Circus time

2008-11-17T22:40:00.003-07:00

It's like the circus. It's disgusting, but I can't stop looking. I'll think I've finally conquered but then my eye wanders over and there it is again.

To the girl in the library who is showing her crack: please pull your pants up. I can't study.

Class rings

2008-11-16T21:09:00.002-07:00

I was talking on the phone with my parents and somehow the topic turned to my mom's high school love-life. Turns out that when she when was in high school, a guy would give a girl his class ring when they were dating. Since most of the time the ring was too big, girls would wrap the ring in yarn so that they could wear it.

I say we bring that back.

Third date

2008-11-16T20:05:00.004-07:00

I took a girl on a third date last night. I'm guessing that some Provoans reading this will think "Wow - a third date! I hear wedding bells!" Those of you from outside Provo might be thinking, "people still go on dates?" or "So, what."

My thoughts are somewhere in between. I try not to look into 2 or 3 dates too much, but then again...

The second date was last weekend. We were going to finger paint, but then I hurt my back the night before (incedentally, right after a 3rd date with another girl). Yeah, I felt like an old man - sitting there on the couch talking to my roommate right after we went on a double date. Ouch! My back started hurting (who knows why - I wasn't even moving). It still hurt last Saturday, so I called her up and told her we were going to do something different ("Hi. Are you ready for our date in an hour? Yes?... Well... umm... I think it's too cold outside to finger-paint.")

We made berry crepes instead and then watched a movie.

So last night we watched BYU's dancesport competition (on a side note, I think the word dancesport is kinda oxymoronic. Dancing isn't a sport. Just because it requires skills and is a competition doesn't mean it's a sport. That's like saying that a drama competition is a sport. I don't dislike dancing - it can be fun and entertaining - it just isn't a sport. Alas, I digress.)

So anyway, we went out to eat and then went to watch the BYU dancesport competition. The dancers really were very good and it was entertaining. I had a fun night.

Sermon

2008-11-16T20:04:00.002-07:00

I spoke in church today. I found out that I was going to speak in an email from my roommate Thursday morning.

I started out my talk like this:

"Good morning. To quote Mohammed Ali, who was probably the greatest boxer of all time and possibly one of the greatest athletes of all time: dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Wait...wrong one. Here it is: Ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong. I've been asked speak to you today about never giving in and never surrendering and I feel that Ali's words not only apply to sports but to life"

I went on like this "There are just 3 scriptural references to “surrender” and all are related to war and soldiers. And most general conference talks encourage us to surrender (to the Lord, or something to that effect). So I will assume the bishop wants me to talk in reference to war and fighting. I'm excited - this is a very manly subject."

Here are the notes to the rest of my talk. I don't remember in what order I said things. I didn't have time to use everything I have here.

Alma 23:6 – true conversion - key to never giving in

24:10 get rid of guilt

-surrender our hearts, as did the anti-nephi-lehites (24:11)

-they gave up their lives to give to their brethren rather than take away (alma 24:18)

-24:12 In the strength of the Lord we can do all things

-24:27 bear afflictions with patience and the Lord will give us success.

-Evaluate your life. Pick out the most important things. Never surrender and never give up on those things.
-A good friend of mine told me earlier in the week that he had no time this weekend and how he was going to spend it doing a lot of homework. Due to several needs he saw, he spent several hours in service yesterday. My friend understands what is most important in life. School is important, but helping others is more important.

Surrender your will to the Lord, but never surrender to life your will to go on.

Paraphrasing BYU President Cecil Samuelson (8 Nov. 08): "The apostles, prophets and Pres. Samuelson have to work very hard to be who and what they are. You, too, have to work hard.

There is a gap between our aspirations and our accomplishments. Don’t worry too much. When all is said and done there is more said than done.

Do what you ought to and understand why."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (The Infinite Power of Hope – November 2008): "The Lord has given us a reassuring message of hope: 'Fear not, little flock.' God will wait with 'open arms to receive' those who give away their sins and continue in faith, hope, and charity.

And to all who suffer—to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely—I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in.

Never surrender.

Never allow despair to overcome your spirit.

Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladdens every heart."

Jeffrey R. Holland (“However Long and Hard the Road” - Jan 1983): "We speak about excellence a great deal at BYU these days, and, by definition, excellence does not come easily or quickly--an excellent education does not, a successful mission does not, a strong, loving marriage does not, rewarding personal relationships do not. It is simply a truism that nothing very valuable can come without significant sacrifice and effort and patience on our part. Perhaps you discovered that when you got your grades last month. Maybe in other ways you are finding that many of the most hoped-for rewards in life can seem an awfully long time coming.

My concern this morning is that you will face some delays and disappointments at this formative time in your life and feel that no one else in the history of mankind has ever had your problems or faced those difficulties. And when some of those challenges come, you will have the temptation common to us all to say, "This task is too hard. The burden is too heavy. The path is too long." And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise. If you are, for example, a flagpole sitter then I say, "Come on down." But in life's most crucial and telling tasks, my plea is to stick with it, to persevere, to hang in and hang on, and to reap your reward...

On 10 May 1940, as the specter of Nazi infamy moved relentlessly toward the English Channel, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was summoned to the post of prime minister of England. He hastily formed a government and on May 13 went before the House of Commons with his maiden speech.

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all our strength that God can give us. . . .That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory--victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be. [Churchill: the Life Triumphant,American Heritage, 1965, p. 90]

Six days later he went on radio to speak to the world at large. He said:

This is one of the most awe-striking periods in the long history of France and Britain. . . . Behind us . . . gather a group of shattered States and bludgeoned races: the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians--upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall. [Churchill, p. 91]

Then two weeks later he was back before Parliament. "We shall not flag or fail," he vowed.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. [Churchill, p. 91]

Blood, toil, tears, and sweat. The best things are always worth finishing."

Jeffrey R. Holland (A Robe, a Ring, and a Fatted Calf 1984): [Speaking of a BYU student who had committed a fairly serious crime] "It had not been easy for him to get a mission call. Not only were there all the court-imposed sanctions and Church restrictions, but there was the terrible personal burden of guilt. But he wanted to serve a mission both because it was the right thing to do and because it was a way for him to say to the Church, the government, the university and all who cared about him, "I'm back. I made a serious mistake but I'm back. I am making up lost ground. I've still got a chance."

Because of [Jesus Christ] we can rise above past problems, blot them out, watch them die if we are willing to have it so.

I am not sure what your most painful memories might be. I'm certain there are lots of problems we could all list. Some may be sins among the most serious God Himself has listed. Others may be less serious disappointments, including a poor start in school, or a difficult relationship with your family, or personal pain with a friend. Whatever the list, it's bound to be long when we add up all the dumb things we've done. And my greatest fear is that you will not believe in other chances, that you will not understand repentance, that on some days you will not believe in any future at all."

Patricia Holland (1982): "It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. . . . it is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. ["Broken Things," an excerpt from Vance Havner, The Still Water (Old Tappan, NJ: Flemming H. Revell, 1934). Quoted in Guideposts, October 1981, p. 5]

Our Father in Heaven sometimes uses our pain as a megaphone for very significant instruction as he did with Joseph Smith, with Spencer W. Kimball, with Mary Holland. And as he did with Peter who, weeping bitterly, returned to greater power and service than ever."

Jeffrey R. Holland (The Inconvenient Messiah - 1982): "And so I ask you to be patient in things of the spirit. Perhaps your life has been different from mine, but I doubt it. I have had to struggle to know my standing before God. As a teenager I found it hard to pray and harder to fast. My mission was not easy. I struggled as a student only to find that I had to struggle afterwards, too. In this present assignment [as President of BYU] I have wept and ached for guidance. It seems no worthy accomplishment has ever come easily for me, and maybe it won't for you--but I'm living long enough to be grateful for that."

Taking requests

2008-11-05T22:34:00.003-07:00

I've had quite a few people ask me about my date with the testing center worker.

To respond:

It went well.

(on a side note, my sister informed me that if I were to get married to the testing center girl, we could name our kid "Testy." Hahahaha just say that one out loud)

BYU Testing Center

2008-10-29T23:15:00.003-06:00

So I took 3½ hours on a test today. Same thing yesterday.

For those of you that aren't familiar with BYU, the testing center is awesome. Instead of giving tests in-class, most professors have you take you tests in the testing center - a room with 500ish chairs and desks. I love it. It allows me to take my tests when I want (within a 2 or 3 day period) and lets me take as long as I want on the test (I sometimes just sit back and relax for a bit, then get back to working). And it's awesome that a place like this is even possible (BYU doesn't really have to worry about cheating).

Anyway, there I am, taking a test. Although cheating isn't really a problem at BYU, they do have one or two people walking around just keeping an eye out. So I notice one of the girls patrolling is pretty cute. Let's just say that I was in there in a while, and she walked by quite a few times. So naturally, I looked her way quite a few times.

When I'm just about done with my test, I start thinking that I should leave her a note. Something like, "you're too cute & distracting to be patrolling - Nathan." Just as I'm thinking about it, she walks by again and I take a quick look at her nametag.

Then I notice there's a note on my desk. With her name and phone number.

So after I turned my test in, I sent her a text message. Then she called me.

I'm going on a date Saturday.

Proposition 8 and The Book of Mormon

2008-10-27T22:34:00.004-06:00

I was reading in The Book of Mormon today, in Mosiah chapter 18, verses 8-9. It records that the desires of Alma's people were to help one another and to stand as witnesses of God. Those were the desires that led to them wanting to be baptized. I began to think how often are those my desires - "bear [another's] burdens" and to "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places."

We had a Stake Priesthood meeting here in my BYU stake last night and one of the speakers called on all Californians there to spend an hour a day campaigning for Proposition 8 until the election on November 4th. Prop 8 would define marriage in the CA constitution as between one man and one woman. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has encouraged its members in California to do everything we can to help it pass. The church has said it is a moral (not a political) issue.

I agree whole-heartedly with the church because I fear for a societal redefinition of marriage. I don't want my children to live in a society where there is no sense of ethics and morals. Heck, I don't want to live in that kind of a society. While this is only one part in a large set of morals that I embrace, I do embrace those morals.

What grabbed my interest, though, was the call to campaign for an hour a day - and the stake president's endorsement of that call to action. I've already been living on about 5 hours of sleep per night, so an extra hour of work per day seemed impossible.

My inclination was to ignore it. What good could I do, anyway? There are plenty of other people helping and I'm a busy man. My time is valuable, right? I already help other people, right? I'm heavily involved in a charitable organization...right?

That is why the verse in Mosiah 18:9 struck me in such a way - I should "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [I] may be in, even until death." I must do this - to stand up for truth and for righteousness and, if nothing else, to follow my priesthood leaders.

One hour a day. It's going to be tough - but I will do it.

An update for you

2008-10-26T22:46:00.005-06:00

Does anybody else have the 'praying in other languages' pet peeve? For some reason, this guy in my Calculus class volunteered to say the opening prayer in Russian the other day. I have nothing against the Russian language, it's just that I like to understand what is being prayed.

I didn't say amen.

I found a pair socks in my refrigerator the other day. They were in a grocery bag with some vegetables. I think they were from the same roommate who used my toothbrush...

My religion professor usually walks around the room shaking hands before class starts. The other day, he saw a really prissy girl wearing a totally cute matching camouflage hat and jacket. "Are you a hunter?" he asked, obviously joking. Not getting the joke, and a little embarassed, she answered: "Oh, no...I just [mumble]." It was really hard not to laugh out loud.

On a more serious note, a girl from my ward came over to our apartment the other day and asked my roommate Zack and I for blessing. She had been really stressed with school and a church calling that requires quite a bit of time. In all honesty, I had been feeling the same way. I have school, work, Choose to Give, and a church calling that requires more time than I'm used to. Oh, and I'm trying to ~~have a social life~~ find a wife, too.

Anyway, so Zack and I put on a shirt and a tie and then Zack gives her a blessing. Obviously our hands were on her head and the blessing was for her, but it just felt like I needed to hear what was said as well. He gave a lot of advice, in addition to a couple promises, and it really helped to hear it. She said thanks, and actually left us a thank-you note the next day. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "no, thank you."

No dates for this weekend. I was too busy to put much thought into it, and the one night I did think about calling up a girl, I got too nervous. Silly me.

If you knew this girl, you'd get nervous too.

Toothbrush

2008-10-20T23:48:00.003-06:00

My apartment has two bathrooms - one upstairs and a half downstairs. Since I'm often downstairs getting ready in a hurry, I decided to put a toothbrush in each bathroom a few days ago.

Turns out I'm kinda OCD about my toothbrush. I keep my toothbrush in the container it comes in (I'm paranoid about things in the bathroom-air getting on my brush).

So I go to use my toothbrush a couple nights ago and it's out of the case. I look down and see the case in the trash. Huh. So then I grab the brush out of the cabinet and look at it. Some toothpaste on the handle, the bristles still wet...

I decided to use my other brush. I guess my roommate was really tired and accidentally used mine.

Glad I have two.

BYU girls...err...women

2008-10-19T22:03:00.005-06:00

I still feel weird calling girls my age women. I guess it's because I still consider myself a guy, not a man. In today's blog, I want to tell three different stories about three different girls.

Case 1: I took a girl out on a lunch date last week. Being the kind, gentlemanly BYU male that I am, I opened the car door for her when I picked her up. Common courtesy (at least for a few dates), right? I was planning on going to Zupa's, so after picking her up, I drove up University Parkway past the mall and towards the freeway. When we got to where I thought Zupa's was, it was Applebee's instead. Oops. Turns out I didn't know where Zupa's is. So we went to Jason's Deli instead.

We got to Jason's deli, the conversation was going pretty good, I parked, I started to get out of the car, I started to walk to the entrance of the restaurant aaaandd... I noticed she hadn't gotten out yet. ... That's right - she stayed in the car and I had to open the door for her to get out. Luckily, I noticed before I got past the front of my car.

Here were the thoughts that went through my head in the instant that I realized she was still in the car: "Just keep on walking" and "if you open the door for her this time and you end up marrying her, you may have to do it the rest of your life. Don't do it!"

I opened it for her anyway. Pick your battles - that's what my mom says.

And speaking of picking your battles:
Case 2: I was in the Crabtree Building the other day doing homework (the Crabtree is one of the nerdiest buildings on campus - home to a couple engineering majors). As I sat down to do homework, I did what I always do when I walk into a room: scan the place for babes. It being the Crabtree, there wasn't much to look at. But there was one girl who I thought was kinda cute.

So like 10 minutes later, I looked up for a moment to think about a problem I was doing and I see this: kinda-cute girl picking her nose. Naturally, it caught my attention. So I did what any normal person would do: I stared. 10 seconds after the first (modest) attempt, she went in for more. We're talking full-finger action. Like, past her first knuckle. Then she switched sides (and hands) and started digging for more. It went on for at least 15 minutes. Or 45 seconds, whichever is less.

Needless to say, I didn't go hit on her.

Case 3: I went on a date yesterday. Completely normal girl - there were no demands of out-of-date chivalry, and she has good hygiene. She's cute, I had a blast, we had great conversation, and from what I've been able to tell since I met her a couple months ago, she's an all-around awesome person. I haven't met anybody like her in a long time...

BYU Choose to Give

2008-10-03T16:08:00.003-06:00

I found this online: A blurb about how much people are willing to donate to charitable causes. It refers to research that shows donors give much more money to a charity if they are asked to volunteer (as opposed to just asking for their money). I've always thought that, and think it's very valid.

So, I would encourage any BYU student who reads this to volunteer with Choose to Give (of which I'm chairman). Choose to Give is a students-for-students fund-raising campaign. We solicit donations from other BYU students, and 100% of donations go to student programs (such as the scholarship fund). BYU Cougars are very generous - there are 8 needs-based scholarship recipients on campus this year just from student donations!

If you would like to volunteer, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll let you know how. Or you can email c2gbyu @ gmail.com (without the spaces I've added to the address).

BYU eavesdropping

2008-10-02T22:38:00.002-06:00

So I eavesdrop a lot. Most of the time I'll just be walking somewhere on campus and I'll hear a sentence or two of a conversation while walking by. Here are some of my favorite lines (I've been writing them down as I hear them):

"I think I was kinda subconsciously scared to go to bed"

"What's a slide rule?"

"Because he's a nonmember he likes nonmember type puns" (wth?)

"They're haters, actually"

"Rule of stalking # 1: don't get caught" (pause)..."because then it's just really awkward"

Random collection of thoughts

2008-09-19T18:18:00.004-06:00

I was a counselor for Foundations of Leadership (FOL) - a leadership conference for incoming BYU freshmen at the end of August.

On the second day we had the chance to do a ropes course - basically a bunch of challenges that help groups develop and realize their team skills. For one of our challenges, we (my group of 10) were all blindfolded and told that we always had to keep at least one hand on the rope. A couple people were told they couldn't talk, and the assignment was to make a perfect equilateral triangle with the rope.

There I am: the peer mentor to a group of freshmen at a leadership camp. A leader. Full of great ideas, and with all the confidence to get things done. Right? I think it was getting to my head. I don't know the psychology behind it, but I did what I often do: I took charge.

I voiced my idea of how to form the triangle, then started giving orders. You - here. You - there. You - do this. Put yourself here. Now move your hand. Ok, scoot over here. Now pull. Ok, we're done; let's open our eyes.

It was a pretty good triangle. But it wasn't an equilateral triangle.

The girl in charge of the ropes course started a conversation to help us learn something from the experience. She pointed out that only one person had given an idea, and that the same person had given all the instructions about what to do.

Ouch. I realized it all at once: I was going about it all wrong. Even if my idea were the right one (it was pretty good), I needed to listen to other ideas. I couldn't be the only one doing things. I needed help from others. The best way to work in a group is as a team. It really opened my eyes to the fact that I can't (nor should I) do everything myself.

~

I went over to Mic Jagger's apartment a couple nights ago. She was quite surprised to see me. I don't know if she's an open book or if I can just get her to tell me anything, but she tells me a lot. Like, how she was discouraged because a mutual friend had told her "I think you're a lot more interested in Nathan than he is in you." Which is true. I like her, but I think I realize that I've only known her for 2 weeks now. Whereas she's willing to just dive right in apparently.

Oh, speaking of diving right in: she...umm...held my hand last weekend. We were watching a movie and she kinda snuggled into me so I put my arm around her (my bad, right?). Then, with like 10 minutes left in the movie, she grabbed my hand. I was thinking "Ahh! Wth? Who is this girl?" Now that I think about it, I bet any non-BYU student who reads this is thinking "What's the big deal?" But, here in Provo, UT, hand-holding means commitment. And I just don't know her well enough for that.

So, we're going on another date tomorrow.

~

The other day I walked by the tent that Quill and the Sword has had staked out southeast of the library at BYU for the past week. Quill and the Sword is basically BYU's medieval club. Who knows all of what they do and why, but there are definitely swords and there are definitely quills haha. I'd imagine they play Dungeons an Dragons and Magic and other games in the tent, but that's only a guess (I did see them doing some sort of medieval dance the other night).

Anyway, so I'm walking by their tent and I heard one part of a conversation. "What I love is...umm...when Katrina hit New Orleans..."

That's all I heard before I was out of earshot. I'm assuming he said more and that he's not a terrible human being, but I just had to kinda chuckle to myself in horror when I heard that.

~

Is proper blog etiquette to make 3 posts since I have 3 stories? Or should I just keep it all on one post? Feel free to comment...

Junior in college and still doesn't cook...

2008-09-18T18:02:00.000-06:00

So I'm in the Cannon Center in line for the salad bar and this girl is totally eating in line (like right by all the food). She turns to her friend and says, "Haha, I always eat in line."

Yeah, and it's always disgusting.

I got a meal plan at the Cannon Center (BYU's cafeteria for the dorms) this year. I love it. I got it for 2 main reasons:

1)I eat like crap. Frozen burritos, spoonfuls of peanut butter, and chocolate milk have been the main staples of my diet for the past year or so. I've had 2-3 servings of vegetables and fruits almost every day since I got a meal plan. And it's all soooo good.

2)Time-saver. I save a lot of time by eating in the Cannon. By avoiding going home to eat lunch, I avoid wasting time in my apartment (staring at my refrigerator, ESPN, Facebook, etc.).

And the food's great. I usually eat alone, since I don't know anyone that eats there (and I don't introduce myself to people since it's mostly freshmen and I don't want to be that creepy RM who all the girls are scared of).

Mic Jagger

2008-09-11T23:36:00.002-06:00

I went on a date with her tonight (my roommate Zack, for some reason, has given her the nickname Mic Jagger).

So there we are sitting in Coney's eating frozen custard, and I ask her some question. Something like, "tell me something interesting about yourself that I don't know." She just kept smiling and looking at me and not saying a thing. For like 2 minutes.

"You make me nervous when you do that," was what she finally came up with.

"Huh?" I was thinking. I looked down. There was my hand. Softly rubbing her knee. I hadn't even realized I was doing it.

I think I need to learn to keep my hands to myself.

2008-09-10T15:32:00.002-06:00

Apparently this girl realized how forward she's been (and it sounds like she's worried about it). She called me today and apologized for being forward. Hah. I love it.

Fast-Forward

2008-09-09T14:53:00.003-06:00

So I met a girl in my ward Saturday night and I'm pretty sure she's really interested in me. "How do you know, Nathan?" you may ask.

I quote:

"I don't know why, but I'm really attracted to you."

(To my roommate Peter): "I'm very interested [in Nathan]"

"Man, I'm tired - I didn't get any sleep last night."
"Up thinking about me?" I replied.

She just looked at me, smiled, then looked away.

New apartment, new classes, new ward, new...everything

2008-09-07T15:43:00.003-06:00

Well, a new school year has begun and everything new that comes with it. I love it. Some people hate change; me - I love it. I've met hundreds of people in the past couple weeks and I'm still meeting tons of people every day.

Along with all the people I've been meeting come all the new love interests. I'm probably interested in like 5 or 6 girls right now, no joke. (One, in my ward, is obviously interested in me - she's been following me around like a puppy haha. She is really cute...).

I actually went on a date last night - we finger-painted in front of the Naked Indian Statue on BYU campus. hah. I had fun, but I don't know how interested I am in a 2nd date.

I'm in a new apartment with Zack & Peter (who I lived with last year). I'm in the same room as Peter, though, this year. He's hilarious. I guess he wakes up at night like, whenever I roll over. And I saw him the other night in his bed with a shirt sleeve wrapped over his eyes (I don't know why he didn't just turn off the light). And he was trying to write something. It was awesome: Peter, self-blindfolded in his bed, trying to write something. I asked him what he was doing and he mumbled something - I still don't really know.

It's looking like it will be a great year.

RateMyProfessor.com

2008-09-01T14:08:00.005-06:00

There's a very valuable tool that I use while selecting my professors for a coming semester: ratemyprofessors.com. It lets you leave and read reviews about a professor and it really helps to have an enjoyable experience in my classes. (I've also heard of some professors who read their reviews and change as needed).

I recently looked at ratemyprofessor.com and saw that they have a list naming the top-50 highest rated universities as a whole. In other words, the schools "with [the] highest combined average ratings among their faculty."

No surprise: BYU tops the list. I love BYU.

BYU football vs. N. Iowa

2008-08-31T19:56:00.004-06:00

I went to the BYU football game yesterday. I got season tickets with my roommates and some other people in my new ward. Even though we signed up early, we still got stuck in the end zone. 6th row, which is cool; but still.

In the past week, however, I've met quite a lot of people. And quite a few of them happen to have season tickets in the first 6 rows right around the 50-yard line. So, I spent about half of the game sitting by my new friends. Specifically, the 1st row on the 45-yard line. It was awesome. I was so close to the player that I could hear the coaches talking to them a lot of the time. I also could have reached out & touched Harvey Unga a couple times as he jogged by. I did give Cosmo a high five a couple times when he ran by.

Some interesting things I saw and heard:

1. Right after N. Iowa recovered a fumble for a touchdown I heard a BYU coach yell at the players "None of you should be smiling. That is not BYU football!"

2. Right after #4 Howard had made a mistake on the field and his coach scolded him ("You were in the wrong place, man. And that guy's got wheels"), he looked a little down on himself. A teammate walked up and patted him on the back. Howard seemed a little better after that.

3. At another point, DB Howard had 2 mouthpieces - one in each hand. After looking back and forth between the 2 he started shaking his head and said "Man, I don't know which one's mine."

All in all, it was a great experience and we won by 24 points. I would do it again any time. I think I will.

Free Lunch

2008-08-29T23:54:00.000-06:00

The best part of volunteering for things like Foundations of Leadership & New Student Orientation: free stuff. I had my 12th free meal of the week today, and I've gotten 3 free t-shirts this week. With breakfast, lunch, and dinner set up for tomorrow already, it's looking like I'm going to be able to go for a full week without really doing my own meals!

Aug. 31 UPDATE:
Saturday morning I got invited over to a friend's house for breakfast. Lunch I went to a friend's BBQ celebrating their temple sealing, and dinner I had a leftover sack lunch from Freshmen Orientation! I decided to skip breakfast & lunch today (Sunday), and then my roommate cooked dinner for me. There it is folks: a week of completely free & effortless meals.

Quote board

2008-08-29T17:28:00.003-06:00

My roommates and I are keeping a board of quotations. Here are some (out of context obviously, but I'm not going to explain them):

"I think those girls were shallow enough to know whether [another girl] is good looking or not"

"Hey! Get your hands down!"

"She's got raccoon eyes"

Overload

2008-08-29T16:57:00.005-06:00

So after going a couple months without really being interested in any particular girl, I'm interested in like 5 or 6 right now haha. Seriously, I've met a ton of awesome (and cute) girls in the past week or so. I don't know where to start!

From Monday through Wednesday I went to Foundations of Leadership, - a conference for incoming freshmen (no, I'm not interested in any of the incoming freshmen!). It was all about how to be a leader, how to work in teams, and how to get involved at BYU. I had a blast. My group was really fun. And I met some way cool people who were peer mentors along with me. And I did some important networking. Like, I got invited to be on the University Student Council as the representative of Choose to Give (which will be great for Choose to Give). Our first meeting is with President Samuelson - I'm kinda excited/intimidated.

So overall, it was an awesome experience. The peer mentors were almost without exception some of the most influential people at BYU and it was inspiring to see how good they are. Great examples. And I'm interested in a few...

Wednesday after Foundations of Leadership I had about an hour to shower before I headed over to New Student Orientation (NSO), where I was a Y-group leader. There are a few that I've met there that I'm interested in as well (again, not freshmen haha).

Funny story: I found out a couple girls that are in charge of organizing NSO have 50-yard line season tickets, 7th row. I was interested before I found out. But let's just say I've been flirting a little more than I might have, and am going to sit next to them at the game! Hah, I'm so shallow. Shallow, but resourceful.

I'll be honest - New Student Orientation has been a chore. I haven't felt much of a connection to the freshmen in my group (the last event is tonight). My co-leader is cool, but I don't feel any chemistry with her either. And it's been a long week with FOL and NSO.

Tonight I go to a friend's wedding reception, and tomorrow I go to another couple's sealing. Exciting!

Crazy Yellowstone Buffalo

2008-08-16T23:25:00.002-06:00

I was talking to my niece Lina the other day while in Yellowstone National Park. She told me that a 7-year old boy had been eaten by a bear in Utah a while ago.

"Yeah, crazy huh?" I told her (somewhat surprised that she knew).

She continued: "Yeah and before the bear ate him a buffalo took off all his clothes. Except his shoes."

Man chat

2008-08-09T17:27:00.005-06:00

An old friend called me the other day. I've been friends with him for a couple years and he was in my ward for a while.

So I answered the phone and he started chatting. We haven't seen each other since winter semester, so we caught up for a couple minutes. I was thinking "maybe he wants to get an all-sports pass together & is just chatting first." But then he just kept chatting (even threw in a couple compliments here and there).

Ten minutes later, I decided we had been man-chatting long enough (I rarely talk on the phone with even my dad for 10 minutes haha). So I kinda stopped talking & let the conversation die so that he would get to the point. It worked.

"So the reason I'm calling is that I'm wondering if you're still interested in [that girl]?"

Amazing. He called to ask my permission to ask out a girl I used to date. hah. I told him to go for it, and then asked how he had met her.

"Actually, you introduced us."

Even better.

Slow down Tiger

2008-08-08T17:08:00.001-06:00

I saw a guy riding his bike down a hill on one of the roads that leaves BYU campus the other day. He was on the sidewalk while I was walking up the hill and he got onto the road as he passed me by. I remember thinking he was going too fast.

Like 10 seconds later I heard a loud crash and so I turned around to see what it was. The guy was on the ground, along with the crossing arm that keeps cars from coming in. It was AWESOME. He seemed to be ok - I think he felt like an idiot more than anything else (and let's be honest, he deserved to feel like an idiot).

I saw the crossing arm yesterday - it was repaired with duct tape. Yes!

Just realized why I haven't updated in a while

2008-08-01T16:39:00.017-06:00

So I was talking with a friend today, and she was complaining that I haven't updated my blog in a while. I told her that I usually write when there's problems or successes in my dating life, and that nothing has happened in that area of my life lately. And I realized - it's true. I haven't even been interested in any particular girl in quite a while. It's not that I haven't wanted to be - in fact I really want to be dating someone (or even just dating around). But I haven't even been interested enough in any girl to ask her out on a date. Weird. That hasn't happened since...like...my mission.

I'll try to update on what else is going on in life. I've been doing a LOT of camping, hiking and outdoorsy stuff. You can see my pictures on my picasa site.

I went backpacking with my friend Kelly and some of her friends in the beginning off July. We went to Island Lake, up in the Uintas here in Utah. It was gorgeous. It wasn't a hard or a long hike, and it was really pretty where we were. We just did a one-nighter, though we did go exploring the next morning. (And we jumped into the lake. It was way too cold for me. I should have known - there was snow still right next to the lake).

So then I went to Oregon to visit my cousin Tony & my aunt & uncle Shirley & Tad. It was fun seeing them. Tony just got off his mission, so it was the first time seeing him in almost 4 years. He's changed a lot, but at the same time - good ole Tony. We did some hiking (saw a way pretty lake and some cool waterfalls), watched a lot of movies, and went to a bumpin young single adults multi-stake activity. Hah. I kinda feel bad for Tony - there weren't very many girls I could see him being interested in. But, he'll be fine I suppose.

I went on a hike with my friends Taylor and Rachelo on Pioneer's day (July 24th). I've only celebrated that holiday here in Provo, but I love the idea of having an extra day off with a chance to watch some fireworks. Chello, Taylor & I went on a short hike in the morning and brought along a butterfly net. We caught a ton of butterflies - it was awesome. That afternoon I went with like 40 or 50 people from my ward to the Provo river and we floated down a couple miles on innertubes. It was a lot of fun. And then at night we went to watch fireworks in Spanish Fork. (We played spin the bottle: BYU edition while waiting for the fireworks. Only kissing on the cheek! hah.)

Last weekend I hiked Mount Timpanogos with a few people from my ward. It was soo pretty. We saw waterfalls all over the place, it was still green & cool, we saw tons of mountain goats (one herd up close, and another from afar that was kicking rocks off the edge of a cliff), we slid on our butts down a huge glacier, and we jumped onto an iceberg. All in one trip. I had a blast.

This video is of me sliding down the glacier on Mt. Timpanogos. I started taking the video about half-way down. It wasn't nearly as steep as the top. Also, I'm went pretty slow in the video to make sure I didn't drop my camera. You can see how big the glacier is though (we were there at the end of July and it was still this big). And you can see I was wearing shorts (yes, they were soaked afterward, and yes I cut my leg a little bit). It was way fun sliding down though:

That's been my life of late. Oh, and work. And Choose to Give. It's weird - a lot of what I'm doing for that right now is just brainstorming with various members of the executive committee about their positions. I think we're close to finishing planning out what we are going to do for the year. Dan, our amazing faculty adviser (and a truly inspiring person), is leaving to go to a graduate program in a week. He will be replaced by Kim, who is the only person I can think of that could come close to replacing Dan. I'll miss Dan, but I know that we can do a successful Choose to Give campaign without him.

PS If you like reading blogs by LDS folk, you might want to visit one that my friend Kaila suggested: seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

Closure

2008-07-15T23:06:00.003-06:00

It's amazing how fast I can get over a girl when she gives me a straight "No."

So I've been realizing that EE wasn't interested in dating me for the past week or so, but it's always hard to read girls. It definitely produced some anxiety. On Sunday I realized that EE and I were only going to be in town at the same time like 5 days the rest of summer. So, I told her that and invited her to watch a BYU soccer with me Tuesday. She said yes.

So an hour or two later, she came by my apartment and told me she "didn't think it would be a good idea" to go to the soccer game with me Tuesday. haha. So we talked a little bit and she told me she couldn't think of me as anything but a friend. I told her how I felt and that I would have been stupid not to try to go for her. I took it well. I think she did too.

What a relief! Now I don't have to stress about it! Bring on single women!

A letter to her (what I wish she knew)

2008-07-06T23:46:00.007-06:00

Dear EE,

I didn't mean for it to happen. When we first met I thought, "Yeah, she's cute - but she's taller than me and I'm interested in other girls right now." And then you really liked my roommate for a while. I was comfortable around you and it made it easy to flirt with you because I knew it wouldn't go anywhere. I even told you that every once in a while: "You're great! I can flirt with you and cuddle with you and you don't get the wrong idea."

But then it happened: I got to know you. We laughed together. I listened to you talk about your worries and goals. Just as important - I shared mine with you. And you listened. I did what any sane and single young man would have done - I started to spend more time with you and started to realize how much I liked you. When we hung out for a full day last week and you let me buy you lunch, I thought maybe you might like me too.

I'd have to be an idiot not to at least try to win you over. That's why I asked you on a date the day after we hung out and that's why I was hurt when you said you had plans for the weekend. I know you probably did have plans, but I could hear it in your voice. You were confused because I was trying to make it something more than friends.

I can understand your confusion, or whatever it is you're thinking about me. But like I said: I'd have to be an idiot not to try. So if it isn't too much to ask, would you mind giving me a shot?

xoxo,
Nathan Z.

I suppose it's time to blog again

2008-07-02T23:49:00.006-06:00

It's been quite a long time, hasn't it? I suppose I'll start with the most recent stuff, then tell older stuff until I feel like going to bed.

Today I went on a date. I guess. A girl from my ward (who I've kinda had my eye on for the past 2 months) took me to Salt Lake and showed me some of her favorite things downtown.Neither of us called it a date - it just kinda happened (we hadn't been on a date before today).

So funny story: I went on a date with her roommate on Saturday. We went canoing and I guess I had a good time. But I knew by the end that it would be our only date.

Back to today: we were planning to go to the temple and then watch the Joseph Smith movie. But the temple was closed (luckily we found out beforehand and didn't wear church clothes. phew). So, we watched the Joseph Smith movie and then walked around and looked at cool buildings. The movie was good, but I feel like it covered too much ground for how short it was - I would have loved more details and character development. But it was good.

Watching the movie really got me thinking about what I know and believe about God and how (she cried basically the whole movie. I didn't even come close.). I have really struggled for the past year or two to have mystical experiences. I think my sense of right and wrong is as strong as ever and that I still have strong desires to improve...But I struggle to feel things. Like feel the Holy Ghost. Feel the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Feel like I'm receiving revelation. It makes it really hard to believe (let alone know) all the time. I think my desperate hope that it's all true is what has been keeping me sane and generally on the path of righteousness. I think the closest I come is when I'm helping other people or when I hear about other people being helped. Obviously I've tried praying about this problem, but I just can't seem to feel the same things as I used to. Perhaps the Holy Ghost has decided to change how he communicates with me? Any advice or similar experiences, anyone?

So after we watched the movie we sat in the shade and looked at the temple while chatting. But more than chat, we mostly sat there and thought. I thought about my lack of mystical experiences and what I believe (and whether to hold her hand) and she thought about who knows what. After like 30 or 40 minutes, we walked to a nearby restaurant and ate lunch. It's called the Blue Iguana - a Mexican place. I ordered the Enchiladas Suizas (they had a mole poblano sauce) and they were the best enchiladas I've ever had. Seriously, they were amazing.

After that we just walked around downtown Salt Lake and looked at cool buildings. The SLC library was amazingly cool. The children's section had tons of cool places to read (like little cubbies) and cool decorations all over. Like a giant stuffed stand-up lion. And we found a way up onto the roof (like 8 stories high) and got a great view of Salt Lake.

Then we came home. I had a lot of fun and I really want to ask her out again. We've been spending a LOT of time together lately. Like 8 hours on Sunday - we went to bridal veil falls, among other things.

That's all I've got for now.

I'm purple

2008-06-10T19:37:00.004-06:00

So I've had a couple people tell me about the Color Code over the past couple weeks so I decided to take it. The Color Code is a book and test by Taylor Hartman that categorizes people into one of four colors: red, blue, white, or yellow. Reds are motivated by power, blue by altruism, white by peace, and yellow by fun. It's really interesting.

It turns out that I'm blue, but I have almost as much red. Hartman has this to say about my mix, "The most difficult color combination within one individual is the mixture of Red and Blue. If you are strong in both categories, you will often find yourself stepping on someone's toes to get a task completed (Red), but feeling guilty afterward for making that person unhappy (Blue)."

Yup. That's me all right.

Now I want everyone else I know to take it...And tell me the results...

~

I went on a date Saturday. Last week I was chatting online with a girl I've been friends with for quite a while, and she invited me to a choir concert she was in. I agreed to go and then said we should do something after. She obliged. I wasn't really sure if it was just going to me and her after, or all her roommates and friends that went to the concert, but I was victorious! Just me and her.

After her concert, we went to The Italian Place, a deli in Orem, for dinner (hah, like at 9:30). After eating we headed to Border's and read books. Well, one book mostly: The Encyclopedia of Immaturity. Best book ever. Seriously, it was hilarious - mostly justs dumb tricks, pranks, and ways to get out of homework while keeping yourself entertained. Awesome.

I had a great time on the date. Like, a better time than any date I've been on in a loooong time. I called her yesterday, and we're going on another date Saturday...

Capitol Reef

2008-06-04T14:44:00.011-06:00

I went camping to Capitol Reef National Park this last weekend - it was great. My roommate Steve and I planned it and there ended up being like 15 of us that went.

So we headed up at around 2 and got there around 5. After setting up camp, we realized there wasn't a fire pit. So we started the propane grill we had brought and cooked our hot dogs over the propane flame. More friends came around dark, and the park ranger informed us that other campers wanted us to know that quiet time was at 10 haha.

So we took a walk at 10 and found some grass about a half mile away from the campsite where we lied down and star-gazed. And cuddled. It was perfect weather and the moon wasn't out, so we could see tons of stars. After star-gazing for a while, the last car of friends got there and after a little while we went back to our campsite. Since there wasn't a fire pit, we made a fire in the BBQ grill and roasted marshmallows there in almost silence.

The next morning we ate breakfast & everything and then headed out. After a little searching we found the trailhead & started the hike. The hike started out in a broad canyon and slowly got narrower and narrower as we went. It was cool with the red rocks and all. And it actually wasn't too hot - I didn't even get burned really.

After about a mile most of the trail was rocks, so we did a lot of scrambling. I loved it. There were a few parts that were pretty tough - I had to climb up and then help lift up the rest of the group. Eventually the canyon became so narrow (and muddy) that we decided to turn around. I would have kept going, but there were a few people that were pretty tired.

So after that we stopped by the official petroglyph lookout spot and started to drive home. We ate at a place called Maria's outside of Loa, UT. It claimed it was "Authentic American and Authentic Mexican" but we didn't see any Mexicans there. So I got a burger instead - it was delicious.

All in all - fun trip. I love just getting away from everything and just being outdoors doing stuff. I wish that were all I had to do...

Here's the whole group:

It's a sign or I'm a fool... (probably the latter)

2008-05-29T21:18:00.003-06:00

I ran into this girl on my way to class today. I went on a blind date with her in September and that was about it. We talked for maybe a minute or two today.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about her today, haha. I can't decide if I'm remembering with too much fondness (I didn't even ask her on a second date...) or if it's, like, a sign.

One thing's for sure: I'm reading into it way too much.

Boobies

2008-05-26T23:31:00.003-06:00

My niece Lina came up to this morning and pulled up her shirt.

"You see these?" she said, pointing to her nipples. "They're um...They're.."

"Your nipples?" I asked.

"Yeah! My mom said that when I grow up that they're going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and then I'm going to have babies. And then my dad is going to be a grandpa and then my mom is going to be a grandma."

"Umm..that's right Lina"

The Race is on

2008-05-25T20:14:00.009-06:00

My little sister Karen got married yesterday. I'm happy for her. Her husband, Eric, is a great guy, and I fully approve. I actually met him almost a year and a half ago the same night she did - we were ice skating with a big group of people. She talked with him a little bit, but mostly was flirting with some other guy. I kept thinking "no, you're flirting with the wrong guy." That night, and a few other times, I told her that. "Go for Eric."

I could tell right away they are right for each other. I'm glad she listens to my advice.

So yesterday was a horrible day for me. Karen's been my best friend since we were kids, really. And for a long time - even though we are siblings - I was the main guy in her life. And to tell the truth, she's the one that's kept me sane, given me confidence, and kept me from loneliness for the past couple years. Our relationship has definitely changed since she and Eric started dating, but I guess I just realized it yesterday. Our relationship is going to change even more, and it should. After the wedding ceremony yesterday I gave her a hug, and it all hit me at once - I really felt like crying (and probably would have, if I could cry). I think it all comes down to this: she doesn't really need me as much any more.

Don't get me wrong - I'm happy for her, and she couldn't be married to a better guy.

But now I need a replacement. I've flirted with the idea of wanting to get married for a while, but for the first time, I think I really want to. I'm not going to have someone to encourage me, to laugh at my jokes, to just be there for me. And I need someone like that.

So watch out, ladies: I'm on the market, and I'm am an amazing guy... Right?

I wish Karen were here to tell me yes.