my high school reunion

As i drove up to Ogden, i wondered, just what was going to happen. all but one of these classmates i had not seen since the day of graduation. I got into Ogden about 5:15, early. so i decided to visit my cousin Adrian's foster family for a bit and catchup. i had a nice visit with them and shared with them my information on banana degration techniques. I let enough time pass to afford me the distinction of not being the first one there. Kind of like church dances, never show up exactly at 8pm, when the Dance starts, no one ever does, or for any church activity. they give you a time to start but there is an understood delay in attendance to the said event. anyone arriving early is therefore demean a nerd, an outcast, and could possible risk expulsion. you are cool because you are graciously late.
Ben Lomond for me had many great memories. Of Course it was high school and had all the necessary trauma of attending, however, i knew it was tough, but i somehow made it. that was my victory. I parked and had to wait a second in my car to get a sense of where i was. How can i possibly be here. i walked up to the old gym entrance, just then some girls walked by. holy crap. they looked like they were in kindergarten. man i'm old. i tried to suck in my stomach and walk macho. this didnt' seem to help. i felt like chris farley in tommy boy. "do you know where the weight room is?" stupid.
So many memories walking in those doors. then turning the corner to the small gym, every emotion flooded back to me. the long hallway that i knew so well, going to the small gym where we held our wrestling matches. where the girls had their volleyball and basketball games. walking in there, i remembered everything, all the colors on the wall. even the painting on the floor, a mural of a scotsman was the exact same. the first person i recognized was an old friend. tracy. he looked the same, except he had gained about 70 pounds, a good thing because before he was a beanpole. and had grown about maybe 8 inches in height. but the same smile and so familiar to me. he was such a good friend. we had several computer classes together, among others. we caught up on our lives and whatnot. it felt good to have a good first impression. After grasping more courage, i noticed a few others and walked over to walk to them, and was caught up in our stories. after a while i felt like i was being interviewed for a movie. just one after another, like magazine after magazine, same questions, same answers. we seemed all to ask the same things. It was so much fun.
notable changes: heather. in fact her change is she didn't change. she was beautiful before and she still was, she looked like she didn't age a bit. i'm sure all the other girls there envied her to death. so either she kept well, or she has one of the rings of power in her possession (hint: lord of the rings, if you don't know, then you need to watch them.) i've seen her family pictures and they have a beautiful life. i'm happy for her. really. i mentioned tracy. then scott chenowith. man it was good to see him. he also put on weight. another bean pole. man we suffered so much in wrestling together. we went through all the ups and downs. he was the strongest man i knew. he's also into running, but more into triathlons than i am. still, his facial hair threw me a bit, he never had any in high school. debbie parkinson, she's always been tall, but with 7 kids she is still vibrant and beautiful as ever. she was my partner many times at church dances, given she was 6 inches taller than I, i'm sure she felt awkward with me. i think we helped saved each other many a time from dancing with creepy people. we served on seminary council together. she's as crazy as ever. she's getting remarried in 3 weeks. happy times. then there was teddy duke. man i missed him. he was my first friend when i arrived at mound fort middle school in 7th grade. we had band together. he was soo much fun and showed me the ropes. he will always be my friend. he was homecoming king and on the soccer team. I still don't know why he wanted to be my friend. i meet few great ones like him. nicole alder, probably the best shape of all of us. a powerful woman and still very beautiful. she was the homecoming queen. brett earl, our student body prez. man, the guy never ages. amy bjerke, the tallest in our class. she was a hoot then and a hoot now. she organized most everything. amazing woman. rich herbon. he was so much fun, man the dude is ripped. no more belly on him. lorayne fears, she was so tiny in high school, but now, just beautiful and tall. she's always been that way to me. she has a great family. she's the only one i didn't talk with though.
so many more people and their stories, i was a fun evening. i'm glad i went. they had us get together to sing the school hymn, most didn't sing, i did and realized, hey i have a voice. i couldn't finish the last half of the song, i knew it, but i got a bit choked up and didn't want them to see me cry. It's a guy thing. then we had a dvd collage with pretty much pics from the year books of old. it was great. they had me in my mascot uniform a few times, i had to raise my arms when they showed my picture. holy crap i was skinny.
a few things of note. i'm glad no one spiked the punch. that would have been a interesting drive home. only a few of them were actually drunk before hand, i'm sure that helped them get to the reunion. and no fights ensured. i think we all got along. i'm pretty sure i was the only one there that had never married and had no kids. quite a few had been through several marriages. so again, i'm a in the minority. minorities rule!! It was good to go back to the past, because at least, it gives me something to look forward to, to work for. we've all had changes in our lives that i'd like to think has helped us be better people. last thing i noticed walking out, there was a picture board i didn't see before that had in memory of. we had four scots that wouldn't be coming to any more reunions. they were old friends. I'm glad i tried my best to do good to others because i know in departing. we have no ill feelings to worry about. so many other things in life that matter most. i feel like we all left as friends. it was a good reunion.

how much is my blood worth

well i'm still a bit dizzy after running yesterday. it wasn't far, just 2.5 miles, but it sure affected me. the cause relates to my donating blood to the red cross on Tuesday. anything with needles scares me and it actually takes a great deal of self-assurance to get over it and donate. In my life i've only donated blood 5 times. twice while i've been in this ward. it is a service activity and if i am not in training then i'll donate. i was on the service committee at the time and felt like it was duty. twice while i was at BYU i donated blood. first time was when a girl in our ward had gotten in a sledding accident and her family asked us to donate blood. i remember how badly i was shaking going there. it was my first time, but it was for a friend and that helped me through it. and once while i was on my mission. A missionary couple in our area needed the blood and i had the right blood type. the older gentleman had gotten sick and he need blood. i didn't hesitate, but donated willingly. i remember afterwards him telling me we are blood brothers now. just seeing him get better was worth all the pain. did i mention i'm afraid of needles, but love has that wonderful power of casting out fear.
well tuesday was no exception, even after all this time it takes alot of courage to sit there and have them drain me. well, after they had poked me. my friend Jana sat in the chair next to me to donate. Jana is our ward Choir director and very beautiful. she has a great voice and is amazingly talented. for some reason. after the blood started flowing out of me as we were talking i started confessing things to her. i couldn't stop myself. i remembered when i first met her and i just couldn't stop giving her details. i would have never told her otherwise. i then caught myself and quickly changed the subject before i hope she realized that i do like her a bit. i don't think it worked. so girls, you wanna find a way to get your guy to confess stuff, try having him donate blood and lose all sense of self-control. at least for a moment you might actually get us to tell you the truth. (guys-you've been warned). there are quite a few good looking girls in my ward. jana is one of them. i know i've never told her. fact is we really haven't had a chance. plus she's like out of my league. but i hope things don't start being weird when were around each other. this should deserve a daytime emmy.
so back to my running. i finished my run slower than i did before, but my heartrate was about 15 beats higher than before. could be the blood thing, or the 88 degree weather. either way i was in bad shape. and i couldn't do my pushups or anything with my left arm because of the pain. my arm still hadn't healed. i'll take it easy on my saturday morning run, it is only a 5 mile course so really not pushing it. but i love that course. early in the morning no one is around and it curves by a stream and gives me such a view of the sun as it rises over the mountains. i'll make sure to take my heart monitor so i don't pass out or run into anymore friends.

my WebLog beginning

i suppose it was bound to happen. here comes my first blog ever. most things that happen in my life of significance go right into my journal. but lately that has been faltering due to time contraints. i need a place where i can put things that happen to me on an immediate level of occurance. Don't get me wrong, my journal is still going to receive it's share of entries, that won't change. But i find that this form of communication and recording has it's benefits as well. as i continue to think about what i can write, i'll add more. for now. here is my beginning.