ive been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, which is alright because it gave me the opportunity to catch up on all my friends' blogs. genuine gold, every one of em. especially my good friend Clark. found this gem on this page and have been hooked ever since. i love it and had to spread the good news. hats off to the creative souls of this world.

squam. lakes and lodges and porches and docks and boats and canoes and rope swings and sunscreen and all you can eat breakfast lunch and dinner. the occasional mosquito. ivy league eye candy. just a little slice of heaven in our own new england backyard. 

fourth of july in boston. if you havent done it, i'm sorry but you have never actually celebrated our country's independence. if you have, you know why i feel that way. GOD BLESS AMURICA

my first good read of the summer. Man's Search For Meaning: An Introduction to Logotheraphy, written by Viktor E. Frankl. came highly recommended and will go highly recommended. my conclusions in one sentence, seeing as this blog is not a book review and i am not a member of any book club (despite the encouragement of my mother): i feel better equipped to live having read, no, experienced this book.


"I think the meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected."


"What man actually needs is not a tensionless state, but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him." 


"The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calender, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calender and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the full. What will it matter to him if he noticed that he is getting old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future that is in store for him? "No, thank you," he will think, "Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of suffering suffered. These are the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy".


i think i am growing up a bit. although i still intend to conquer the world.

i feel weird

flying from LAX to salt lake. this is probably one of the most unique flights of my life because usually traveling is a rather large production (to massachusetts or hawaii), but today is just a quick hour and a half hop skip over to the island of utah. i am wearing cut off shorts, a bathingsuit, tshirt and flannel with my hair in a nest on top of my head and sand spilling out of my ears and shoes. once again, a unique flight.

i have the bad tendency of making strong judgements regarding people on airplanes. for example, i'm sandwiched between two men. the one to the left looks about twenty five, is clean cut and rather normal. t-shirt, jeans, no strange tattoos, piercings or extreme hairstyles (overall, he would pass honor code at BYU). a "nice-looking boy". i sit down, rather pleased, and we make eye contact. he looks away quickly. strike one, but i havent made any assumptions yet. i rummage around for my seatbelt and realize that the strap between us is caught underneath him. he makes no attempts to help me out or get up. strike two, but i'm still not worried because i dont like seatbelts anyways. i let it slide and remain unbuckled. he assumes the typical stance of any man on any flight (i wont go into this, but it is one of my biggest pet peeves). widespread knees flooding into my space and fat elbows practically resting on my ribs. ofcourse my legs are tightly crossed, hands resting in my lap, elbows tucked into my side. but i dont hold it against him, society and gender stereotypes have corrupted this otherwise innocent young man since the time he was born. he has no control over that. then something happens that changes all my optimistic hopes for our pleasant flight relationship. something so revolting i had to stop myself from dry heaving. something so absolutely inappropriate and contrary to any social norm i could hardly believe my eyes. in one swift movement he leans back, lifts his left leg and rests it on his right knee, exposing a fat, pale, smelly bare foot. if he had pointed his toe it would have massaged my thigh. STRIKE THREE. I DONT LIKE YOU.

besides that, its been a smooth flight. california was epic. los angeles, san clemente, san diego, palm springs, laguna, venice. my first in&out burger experience. lots of fun firsts. lots of film. lots of love.

some samples from the new fisheye. more to come. more rolls to develop. expensive habit. atleast its not drugs.

LA to san clemente to san diego. 5 days and california is treating me very well. also i bought a fisheye camera from urban yesterday that i am stoked on. so today will be a fisheye day. excited. kudos to kait for being the best host on the west cooast

at the BYU-idaho library. crossing into foriegn territory. will give detailed report later. over and out.