Sunshine and a Broken Bank Account

So as my last update said, I spent my summer in Maine. Yes, I am a bit of an extremist when it comes to making decisions--spontaneous and random--but it usually turns out to be for the better. I had a fun/ difficult/ exhausting/ exciting summer and although I complained quite a number of times while experiencing it, I know it was exactly what I needed and it turned out to be a really good experience.

I met some of the most amazing people I could ever imagine and while most of our days off were spent cramming 10 people into one hotel room just to save a few dollars, I actually got to explore and witness some of the craziness that is unique only to the east coast.

I bonded with some truly amazing little children and learned some pretty important lessons that will probably come to my aid in my future as a parent; including keeping my cool when snotty, spoiled, little pre-teens try to lie to my face.

My ski skills sadly didn't really get a chance to improve a ton because we had a verly limited amount of time for free skiing, but I did witness some truly cool skill in the people I worked with and hopefully from tips they gave me I will ba able to improve next summer.

I can't really put all my experiences from this summer into words so I will just try to let these pictures explain most of it.

The Cabin in which I dwelt.

The Lake on which I skied.

The wave runner that I powered.

The girls with which I 'Souldierboy'd'.

...and cranked it.

The thug life that we lived.

The second session wangster girls that melted my heart.

The Avatars that we became.

The stage on which we sang..."I'm on a boat".

The boats that we were on...

And the weirdo I became.

After almost an entire morning of crying my eyes out saying goodbye to my summer friends, I departed from Boston and headed back to my homeland. I arrived at the airport back home at a very late hour but my Dad was awesome enough to be willing to drive two hours to pick me up from the airport only to have me leave his house just a few minutes after arriving. What can I say?... Bear Lake was calling my name.

It doesn't sound fair that I went from waterskiing in Maine to waterskiing at Bear Lake--many people have told me-- but I just want to remind people that I honestly did work more this summer than I ever have before in my life.

Time at Bear Lake was heavenly as can only be expected with the fact that it is my favorite place on earth; and it didn't hurt that I was surrounded by the people I love most and many of which I hadn't seen in over a year. Enjoying Bear Lake chicken, watermelon, marshmallows, and all the other lovely treats that make up my fondest memories of that paradise made my return home a smooth adjustment.

After a great family reunion at Bear Lake, a week working with my dad, and a little visit to all my old friends at home; Rennie, Scott, Nate, and I took off for a backpacking trip in the Windrivers. It was my last little 'hoorah' for the summer. We had a great trip full of dirty feet, cold water, black buggers, peeing in the woods, back massages, and all that the Windrivers entail. We were lucky enough to miss out on the snow storm that hit in many places higher than our campsite and we came out healthy, tired, dirty, and happy.

Next I departed with my old man to make the rather long expedition up to my new home here in Washington. As I was traveling with my Dad, it should come as no surprise that we spent a night in a Walmart parking lot in the van, had no heat in the car, and probably took twice as long to get up here. But it should also not come as a surprise that despite all my complaints it turned out to be a really fun trip. I did convince him to stay in a hotel for just one night so that I could have a chance to shower. He made it out to sound like he hated hotels but I think by morning he had accepted it as a good idea.

Coming out of the mountain pass and into the city reminded me of last year when I first came up here and it made me feel so happy to be back. Once in the city though, we hopped right onto a ferry and headed out to Sequim to spend some time with Jonah, Aja, and their kids. It was good to see them again and Jo was nice enough to take us out in his new boat so that we could see how he has been crabbing all summer. When we first arrived we were welcomed woth some fresh Dungeness crab and I do have to say it was better than any of the Lobster I ate while in Maine.

While our time out there was fun and I wished it could have continued for longer, the time for me to return to school came and so we headed back to the city. My dad got to come to my ward and meet my Bishop and all the other amazing people there and I think he finally began to understand a little bit why I love it up here.

Since then I have just been working on settling back into the flow of life up here. Classes have started and I have already helped with a number of welcome back events over at the institute as part of my calling this year. My clas and work schedule is going to be hard--in fact it already is-- and I can tell there are going to be a number of mental breakdowns on my part throughout this quarter but nevertheless I expect it will all be worth it.

Currently I am just trying to balance all the commitments in my schedule but I am also working on finding a second job. I may have worked harder this summer than ever before, but that doesn't mean I got comparable compensation. In fact some of my co-workers and I broke it down and it turns out we were getting paid about $0.35 an hour. So now after paying for this quarter's tuition, my bus pass, and my books, my bank account is officially zeroed out. So, as of now I am officially broke, hence the need for my desperate search for a second job. So far the search has not gone incredibly well--I guess there aren't a lot of jobs available right now...who knew right?--but I am determined to not give up; and to not spend any of that virtual money that peeks out of my wallet in the form of an innocent piece of plastic.

....Such is Life.