Day 3 – Baby pictures!

"Ohh look, that's me as a baby!"

Since I’m conveniently at my grandma’s house over the break, I decided to take advantage of her extensive photo albums and dig out some old pictures of me. I was so cute! I don’t know why I’m not anymore… oh well.

Mandatory childhood photo messily devouring food. Here in Exhibit A, I am spreading mushed carrots across my face.

My maternal grandfather Morgan and me. Two studs.

I learned at a young age that I was a superhero. I can fly! ... Right?

I discovered at a young age that I can sleep in any position at any time. My roommates can all attest to this eternal truth.

My pops and me. D'awwww... (2 years old)

21 years ago, my mom wrote on the back of this picture, "Dream on, David!" I can't tell if that's supposed to inspire me or to remind me of reality.

From left: li'l ol' me (4), oldest sister Krista (9), younger brother Scott (2), cousin Sara (9 months), older sister Erika (7), youngest brother Ryan (3 months)

Clearly the 90s were good to me, fashionistically speaking. Grandpa Morgan, Scott (2), and me (4)

Family ski trip in 1992 to Snowbasin. Adult all-day lift ticket costs $23.

4-year-old David has no idea what he's doing. (And I haven't been skiing since. Though I plan to, of course. Also, my fascination with a variety of colors began early. Thank you, 90s.)

I don't know when this is, but I like this picture. Maybe first grade, circa 1994?

And there you have it, photographic evidence that I once was adorable. Awwww… Memory Lane… actually I don’t remember most of these ever happening, with the exception of skiing.

Day 2-The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

Well, I just changed it, so now my blog title actually has meaning. I’ll explain in a second, but first, a riddle.

What is greater than God,
more evil than the Devil,
The poor have it
The rich need it
And if you eat it, you’ll die? 

You’ve probably heard it before. The answer is, if you give up and have’t guessed or pondered sufficiently, is      nothing     . How is this related?

What is important to God?
And what is evil to schoolwork?
David has the latter
David needs the former
And if you eat cyanide, you’ll die.

While the last line is true, I couldn’t think of a related line to mirror the original riddle. Sorry. I find that the struggle to establish a balance between patience and procrastination accurately defines my life. Patience is important, and I definitely need more of it. Procrastination is the bane of my school life, especially this past semester. I have plenty of it. I don’t want it.

And yet you may notice I struggle to establish a balance between the two. Not to say that the two are opposites and that I can only have one; that’s certainly untrue. I do, however, need the right amounts of each.

Patience: There is no end goal available, no maximum quantity attainable. The “right amount” of patience is more. I can never perfect this; I can only improve.

Procrastination: There are times when procrastination can be beneficial. We all need breaks from things that preoccupy our free time in any way. Procrastination inherently isn’t bad; in excess, however, it can be scholastically lethal.

I wish that my blog reflected more lighthearted carefree samples that my life is full of random happiness and enjoyable spontaneity. This is what my life is, but it’s not the essence of my blog. My thoughts usually grace [infest?] this blog, which makes its overall feel slightly odder and louder.

Nevertheless, my thoughts are welcome. Why? Because my thoughts continue to make me who I am. And I like it.

A demand for time

You saw the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, right? Hermoine seems to get SO MUCH accomplished — how does she do it?

Oh, that’s right. She hacks the time-space continuum. I’m glad that magic can do that. That’s seriously how I feel so many times in my life, but especially right now. I just want to jump around and wave my arms like Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels:
“This! THIS! I want THIS!! THIS… is what I want.” *

Its day-to-day practical uses are virtually limitless. You need to go take a test, but you want to ask that cute girl on a date? Sure. Friends are going to Denny’s at 2 A.M., but you really need to get some shuteye? Just flip that hourglass and fill that belly with a delicious breakfast platter. You accidentally asked Ashley and Holly out on dates for the same night? Just — wait. No, I don’t recommend that at all. You’re bound to get caught. Especially if you’re in Provo; everyone gossips.

I wish I could use Hermoine’s time turner without the mindbending consequences of seeing yourself.

“Hey David, how was astronomy class?”
“Eh, it’s going all right. I fell asleep a few times, though. My bad. You heading to work?”
“First, I’m going to go dance with my partner, Whitney. Then I’m going to work.”
“Sweet, so I’ll catch you later, then?”
[I think passersby would be very confused. “Are they… twins? Or just really weird dudes? Or the same weird dude? Or maybe… hey look, Taco Bell!”]

Anyway, I’m taking way too long to get to the point of this blog post.
I have too many worthwhile ways to use my time, but I don’t have enough time to do all of these things.
I don’t have any money, so I should probably be working as close to full-time as I can during the summer.
My dance partner Whitney and I want to enter some dance competitions this summer, so we need to practice a lot.
I want to be more athletic. My gymnastics class helps, and I go running after that. Dance also is very productive.
I want to be involved the advertising lab this summer and get some good hands-on experience there. I’m majoring in this field; I better get used to it!

I allocate 4 hours a day  (M-F, maybe Sat) for the athletic and dance categories, and depending on the second job I hope to attain, I’ll be working close to 40 hours a week. So currently the only category that is getting shafted is advertising, which is pretty ironic considering that’s my major.

I just want to be like Hermione: ridiculously smart, organized, and diligent. And to be able to hack time-space. Then maybe I’ll even get a girlfriend? Who knows.

*By the way, you know that feeling you get when you look at a specific word for too long? When it stops seeming like a real word? That just happened with “this.” This this this.