Beard

Mustache Attempt and Beard

Fighting

This past week I've been thinking a lot about what is worth fighting for or over.

I would consider myself a softy, a lover not a fighter. I haven't been in many fights with people who aren't my brothers and even the fights I have been in I realize now were pretty dumb, but fist fights aren't exactly the fights I am referring to anyway. But here is a picture of a kid I got in a fight with and punched in middle school. It was on the bus. I want to say he started it and I think he did, but I can't remember. We didn't get in trouble because no one saw us. I kind of wish he looked a little bit different now than when he was younger so my mom won't recognize who it is, but I think she will.

I used to fight with my brother Brigham a lot haha he started it most of the time too. I'm glad we get along now though. Jacob and I just wrestle for fun.

Is it worth fighting for or over a girl? I guess it depends on the girl and who you're fighting against haha. My friend's dad told me that if there isn't any competition she probably isn't worth my time in the first place.

Next Blog>

Have you ever clicked on the next blog button on the bar at the top of the screen on your blog? I did and this is what I found:

the green-eyed monster

If I ever check out this one friend's wall on facebook I can't help but feel jealous and insecure. She's beautiful, successful, has way fewer kids than me (so her life is obviously easier than mine (that was sarcasm, if you didn't know)), is skinnier than me, has more money than me...I'm sure I can come up with more.

It's ridiculous, I know. It's juvenile, I know. It's like she makes me feel like I'm back in high school again with all those "Am I good/cool/skinny enough?" thoughts. I hate it. I have actually outgrown those insecurities. (Thank you, God!) But for some reason this one person drags it all back up again. The crazy part is that I'm completely aware of how skewed online personas can be, since most people only report the rosy everything's-going-good stuff. I know that everyone has crap they have to deal with and everyone has different strengths. We really can't compare ourselves since God made us all with unique purposes. That knowledge is all up in my head, but when she's on the screen, I can't feel it in my heart. So what to do?

Right now it's blaringly obvious to me that I need to get some Divine help. If anyone can get this ridiculousness sorted, it's Him.

And why did I even post this for the world to see? Ummm...the good answer is "If it just helps one person, it's worth it." Yeah, right. But the real answer is, "I just had to get off facebook because of her and I'm tired and should be in bed and felt like posting some honest/transparent stuff."

Nitey nite.

Post Semester Thoughts

I'm basically an Uncle. LJ and Kaylie had a baby on March 6th. It was a boy and his name is Gabe. Nelly called me the same day and said, "can you believe that LJ is in charge of another human being?" He also tried to convince me that Kaylie had twins, but I had seen the pictures from the ultrasound. A few weeks ago they blessed baby Gabe and they were definitely ready to be parents. They are awesome examples to me, but I am in no rush to get married or have kids that's for sure.

On the note of marriage, Bill is getting married on June 4th to Annie. Annie and I have a love hate relationship. She is stealing one of my best friends, but she makes him happy so I'm cool with it. I get to go to California for the wedding so that will be cool too.

Living with Mike Heder was quite the experience. I love that kid. On our last Sunday as roommates we were all up til three in the morning listening to Mike talk about aliens. We also talked about doing Humor U, he actually did it. I would of, but I had my late class on Wednesday, the night of try-outs. He actually got to perform in one of their shows too. I think I might go try out next time. Mike was also a good example when it came to a lot of things like persistence.

Some people just say the right things at the right time. This Summer I have to work for four hours in the morning and then I have a break and then I go back to work in the afternoon. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Then I was talking to my Dad and he said he wished his work schedule was like that because then he could go running and do stuff in between. That was just what I needed to hear. I decided to start running, it's only been two days, but I'm hoping to keep it up.

Finals/Post Finals/Easter

Finals started last Saturday. I took one final on Saturday and then played soccer.

On Sunday I drew people at church and we had a lesson/discussion on marriage.

Monday I took another final.

Tuesday was spent studying for my history final.

Wednesday I got up at five something and went to take my history final. The first essay I totally owned, the second not so much. I had Laura and April look at my magazine design and they were a lot of help and a lot of fun. Wednesday night I turned in my magazine and spent touching up some paintings.

Thursday I handed in my paintings to end a long semester. Mark's parents were in town so we hiked the Y and went out to lunch. Thursday night Jessica made an awesome dinner and then Hannah, Tiana, Laura, Jessica and I went to see Parlor Hawk perform. They're good check them out here. I also did some packing and cleaning to get ready for the big move.

Friday was spent in frantic cleaning and packing to get ready for check outs. Goodbye King Henry, hello Moon Apartments. I went to a twenties party with some people. I have a tough time at parties where I don't know a lot of people, but I did eventually meet some pretty cool people. There was also live jazz music which was awesome. Dancing was fun too. After the party I watched Tangled with a bunch of girls. I think they enjoyed me singing along haha. I slept on the couch.

A week has passed since finals started. Today I went to the annual Stoddard family Easter egg hunt. I kept thinking that I had some homework that I had to do for Monday, but I don't, it's a great feeling. It's been a fun day despite having a lot on my mind. Wish my family could have been out here. Easter is one of those holidays that I think should be celebrated with the family. Right now I'm just doing my laundry and then I'll go to bed. I'm excited to draw people in church tomorrow and feel the spirit too of course. It's Easter! Jesus Christ is risen.

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Starting fads...

Wearing a long sleeve shirt in lieu of wearing a sweatshirt. Wearing the same sweatshirt consecutive days is alright, hopefully I can get away with wearing the same long sleeve shirt consecutive days. It is basically the same except when you take off the one it takes up much less room in your backpack.

Ray Lamontagne

Can't get enough of this guy.

It's been a while since I've done this.

The semester is about over. Just got to take finals and I'll be done til September.

My family came out here a couple of weeks ago. We went to Moab for a couple of days. My dad, brother and I went skiing/snowboarding. It was great to have them here. Probably won't see them again until June or July.






















Conference weekend was awesome. I translated for the second time. Did the Saturday morning session. I did both the prayers and Elder Gonzalez's talk. You can check it out here. Ally McClain was in town. President Monson brought down the hammer during Priesthood session. Saturday night was April's birthday. Sunday, Laura and I went to Karen and John's and my Grandma's house, watched conference and hung with my cousins. We also went and saw Uncle Vai speak at the MTC, it was just what I needed. Don't know what I'd do without good friends.

I saw Tangled... four times. And plan on watching it a few more before returning it.

I went to my old ward's ward prom with Laura. The food, dancing and company were just what I needed.

Summer is around the corner, some Rita's would be nice.

Self Portrait with Mustache

What I Want To Do

http://www.rebelart.net/diary/watchlist-phil-jones/007754/

Christmas Break and Christmas Miracle

Last year everyone was home for Christmas. This year we're missing my brother who is in Thailand. Now I kind of know what everyone must have felt like when I was gone. Next year I'll most likely be the only son home and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It will be nice to get the bottom bunk, but it'll be super quiet and estrogen dominated, definitely weird.

Last year for Christmas my brother came home from college and listened to one song the whole time he was home over and over, Hey Soul Sister by Train. This year in order to keep him in our hearts and minds I decided to one up him and get multiple songs stuck in my families heads. So far so good. They all have at least two songs stuck in there heads and I still have over a week before I go back to school.

On Christmas Eve I got an envelope from the BYU Visual Arts Department. It had two letters inside of it. The one saying that I was not accepted into the Graphic Design program and the other saying I was not accepted into the Illustration program. After getting the letters I was kind of bummed even though I kind of was expecting it. I texted my friends and told them the news and that was that. At about ten that night we were getting ready to Skype with my brother and I checked my e-mail and saw that I had received an e-mail from Richard Hull, the Illustration Department head at BYU. In his e-mail he told me that the Illustration program had accepted twenty students into their program and I was number twenty one (that would have been a pretty sucky e-mail had he ended it there) and then he went on to inform me that someone else who had been accepted into the program decided to go another direction making me number twenty. So I got into the Illustration program and will start classes this January. Probably the best Christmas present I received this year.

I'm very optimistic as far as life this coming semester goes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chances

Statistical Analysis.

But who knows... there are factors missing from Mr. Miller's studies... like luck and coincidence... and that's what I'm banking on.

Mustache: Attempt Two

Attempt two started around when the MLB playoffs started, so the beginning of October, and ended the day after my intramural soccer team lost, so Friday, December 3rd in the afternoon before I went to work. So, about two full months of growth. There were a bunch of reasons I did it, well the list of reasons I did it grew as I did it, but here are just a few and I'm not going to number them because no one was more important than any other or at least I don't want you to know that any one reason was more important than any other. Reasons: because I can, to show girlfriend that she had no control over me(relationship ended shortly after by me), so that I would never have to grow one again, all great men have or have had or can grow mustaches(general I know, but true), as a social experiment(more to come on this), I assumed it had some associated magical powers that I wanted to find out about, less to shave, it made me look older and classier according to two people and for fun.


















Why was growing a mustache a social experiment? I think by growing a mustache I was able to separate superficiality and realness in others. Superficial girls are disgusted by mustaches and they're mean about it. By having a mustache I think I separated the people who liked me for me from the people who liked me for the way I looked when I didn't have a mustache. My Mom told me there are girls who just don't like mustaches and she's probably right, but girls with hearts will tell you that after you shave it off or really nicely when you have it. OK, so growing a mustache isn't exactly a social experiment like a girl shaving her head, but don't tell that to the three people that I've convinced to grow mustaches by using that as a reason. Despite what my Mom said I still think it was a social experiment and plus my Mom just wants grandchildren so she would say that.

So my mustache isn't the thickest and it wasn't very dark until I dyed it with some Just for Men beard and mustache dye that I found in my grandparent's basement that probably belonged to my uncle and that I should have used twice, but I was satisfied and I had also ran out of excuses to keep growing it despite not really needing excuses. I just kept telling people I was going to shave it when this or that happened and eventually it caught up to me. I learned a lot about myself and my mustache growing ability, so all in all, it was a good experience.

I'm going to tentatively say that there will never be a Mustache: Attempt Three...

Emotionally Conflicted, C.S. Lewis and My Brother

I always want to do what's best and sometimes that is hard. Actually it's hard more than just sometimes. It's especially hard in some cases.

Is giving up something good, for the prospect of something better logical? It's already hard to give up things that are good, but what about when what you really want is a potential crapshoot, even if it is better.

Then what seems to be better seemingly slips away and you don't know if that's what you really want anymore, but something else catches your eye. Is it better? Only time will tell.

C.S. Lewis
"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

This is a painting I did of my brother. He's in Thailand and I miss him.

Mustache: Attempt One

After five or six weeks this is all I had and then I went home and my parents told me I had to shave before church and then after I shaved they told me that they were only kidding and so ended attempt number one.




















But stay tuned for attempt number two which is already in the making as of last week.

I caught ADD: If you're not happy feel free to move

Earlier this year I think I caught ADD from someone. Yeah that's right I caught it like it's a cold. It's hard to pay attention in class sometimes, but it's especially hard in Doctrine and Covenants. I don't think it's the teacher's fault, it's just hard to listen to him when you're in good company. Krista, Bill and I (and sometimes Bill's friend) end up chatting, doing crosswords or ken ken, or playing Boggle on Bill's friend's phone for most of class. We all got a little nervous last week for our first exam figuring our lack of listening might hurt us, but after taking it and all getting A's we discovered that you can get an A without paying attention. This was good news for us, but apparently bad news for everyone around us who may not have gotten such good grades or just want to pay attention. I think just in the last week or so maybe two people have gotten up and moved away from us. Tuesday was no different. We found three seats together, got out our materials and then talked for just about the rest of the class and I managed to finish a ken ken as well. The girl to our left was obviously irked probably from the very beginning. She had two empty seats to her left, but what ensued amazed us. She made attempts to show us her annoyance and flashed furtive looks in our direction often. She leaned in her seat to the left a bit and you could tell she was fighting within herself as to whether to move or not. She probably thought it would be disruptive to the class or rude to us, but we wouldn't have minded one bit. She moved her back pack from the right side of her feet to the left and lifted the desk part connected to the arm rest of the chair numerous times, but never got up. What ended up happening was freaking ridiculous. She leaned her body as far to the left as she possibly could and just stayed in her seat in a seemingly very uncomfortable position for the rest of class. See for yourself.

Things that happen in basements!

This one time I went over to my friends house for his birthday party. I swam in the pool a lot, but the real party was happening downstairs. They had some funky tunes playing and when I descended the wooden staircase it kind of looked like a smaller version of a high school dance, rabbit farm. Bumping and grinding like it was nobodies business.

One of my good friends has a ping pong table downstairs along with a TV and XBOX. We would play one on one halo a lot. We especially liked the one level with the two sides separated by space with snipers. We would try to jump from one side to the other, but you can't do it. We would also play welts. It's where you play ping pong to a certain score then the loser would have to put his back up to the table and then pull his shirt up and the winner would hit the ball at the loser as hard as he could and it would make a welt, thus the game named welts. Haha in the same basement we had a large sleepover. Dom who was a freaking beast of a man took a shower while we were there and then came down with just a towel on and then he walked in front of us and dropped his towel. We all screamed until we discover he had underwear on under the towel and then we wiped our brows with relief. Dom also told us about when he has to poop at school he squats to avoid touching the toilet seat. Probably part of the reason his thighs were so freaking muscular.

One time in LJ's basement, LJ, Bill, Geoffrey and I all squished onto a couch and watched a movie. A couple of us were sick so there were tissues all over the floor. We all ended up falling asleep on the same couch together. Aunt Keala woke us up in the morning and she was pretty confused as to our positioning on the couch and the plethora of tissues. One time we put shaving cream down this one kids pants, well I didn't do it the older kids did, but he cried. Haha so many fond memories in that basement.

New Apartment

The sound my old bathroom fan used to make.



The sound my new bathroom fan makes.

Nipple Chafing

NOT A MYTH! I saw it's effects first hand when I went and watched Claire run her marathon.

Let's first read one man's experience:

"Whenever I go out for a run longer than 45 minutes and I don't protect my nipples I know I am in for trouble. First time this happened to me I was quite shocked. During my long run in the dark I felt my nipples starting to hurt. A stinging sensation. Not much to do about it when you are running! I ended up holding my shirt the last twenty minutes so that it didn't come into contact with my nipples anymore. When I got home I got a good look at my shirt and was shocked to see part of it was covered in blood. My nipples were bleeding. That was my first and painful experience with nipple chafing while running. Afterwards I haven't had the experience many more times, because I took protective measures."

Now lets explore more about this:

Nipple chafing is the result of friction between your chest and your shirt. It mostly effects men and only some of them. "Treat your bleeding nipples like a normal open wound. So wash them with water. Then clean them with an antiseptic and then cover them with a sterile gauze pad. Protect your nipples the next times you go running, because I can tell you that they stay tender for a very long time. The chances of them getting chafed again are quite high!"

So how can you protect you nipples?

1. Use bandaids, but there are some cons to using bandaids namely it doesn't stick to chest hair very well, when you sweat it can fall off and you can be a manly man, but it's going to hurt to take off.

2. Use cream, but if you're going on runs longer than an hour you might have to take it with you because after a while the effects wear off.













3. Use nipguards! Click here for more information about nipguards!













You're probably wondering if I have had any experience with nipple chafing. All I can say is wear a water shirt when boogie boarding. This may be able to prevent rashes and nipple chafing. When running you can probably prevent nipple chafing by going shirtless like Matt Brigham sometimes does.