In My Shoes

2007-03-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Ryan's graduation party on Saturday, March 17th. I just figured I would post them here for family to be able to access. If you guys want the originals (higher quality and resolution), let me know and I'll try to find a way to get them to you.

2007-01-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

I have officially completed my first day back at school. Go me!

Actually, it wasn't that difficult. The most challenging thing was actually staying awake - not that my classes are in the least bit dull, but rather that I fell asleep at 1:30am this morning and was wide awake at 3:00am. I suppose that's payback for getting into the sleeping patern of going to bed at about 4am and getting up around noon for the past two weeks.

As I tossed and turned, my mind was relentlessly processing. It even got to the point where I started contemplating what would happen in the hypothetical event that I were to write a book. It would have to be fiction of course. My life isn't THAT interesting. Plus I don't know enough about much of anything to be able to write for more than 20 pages. The things one ponders at 3:00 in the morning truly are stranger than... fiction?

Today was also my first day as a member of the 15 student team that runs the Summit Fund (the College of Business' investment portfolio). I have to wonder if anyone else on the team feels as intimidated or inadequate as I do? I definitely have the desire to be there and do my best, and I suppose that's the most important part. But being on this team also elevates you to a certain level where you are being watched a lot more closely than just an average student dozing off in accounting. I guess it's time to really push myself and see how well I can do!

One of my favorite classes is also back in session - Chinese! I loved/missed that class so much that I actually studied it a bit over break. Yes I know. I'm a nerd, but I'm proud! For some reason, the expression "sticks and stones may break my bones, but nerds will never hurt me..." comes to mind. I don't know why, but it did. But for some reason I highly doubt it holds much veracity.

Just for your information, CSU must have the most crowded recreation center that I've ever seen. It's amazing. Of course, it being the first day of school and everything, I imagine that the majority of people there were in one of those idealistic "lets get things started off on the right foot!" phases. I give them two weeks. Then it shouldn't be so bad. Regardless, I hopefully will be going at 10:00am on Tuesdays and Thursdays after Chinese because, as I have discovered, college students are morning averse. They will do everything possible to avoid having to deal with mornings. That's why they invented hangovers. It's a clever excuse to sleep in and be miserable and not emerge until after lunch time.

Another thing I have observed about students here at CSU, and presumably the majority of educational institutions across the nation: they also walk really slowly. In fact, I can only think of three occassions where someone actually passed me, walking faster than me. (Naturally I don't count the times when I was walking with someone else). As I discussed with a friend a while back, this fact, coupled with the fact that CSU has such a huge campus, means that these students are actually slowly making their way to their classes from yesterday. They just haven't gotten there yet.

As if this wasn't random enough, I have discovered that life is a lot more bearable when you go on an endorphin binge. I went to the rec center and worked out. Yes, it did thoroughly kick my trash, but I still felt great afterward. Massochists have a natural knack for being able to see the gain that is covered up by pain. For some extra, healthy protein following my workout, I have found that nothing beats chilled shrimp with hot and spicey cocktail sauce. Shrimp have a very light flavor that is quite pleasing (in my opinion), plus they are cool and naturally wet, which adds to the refreshment. Adding the fact that spicey food has a tendancy to increase the mind's production of endorphins, this is pretty much the biggest natural, healthy high that can be experienced. Throw a little bit of fresh broccoli into the picture and, well, that may be going a bit overboard.

You laugh at me, but secretly you're jealous. I can tell :p

I also got a whole mess load of paper work done for my application for hopefully being able to study abroad next fall. Hopefully I can get this done and out of the way before the homework starts piling up.

Well, I'm off to go hit the books again. I hope everyone is doing well!

2006-06-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Just some cool backgrounds I found.

2006-05-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Spring 2006 Painting Continued

School has been out for over a week now. My days are currently falling a bit shy of what I could make them to be, but at least I am able to get in some more painting again. It is actually really fun. I just take my laptop into the kitchen, put on some headphones, and paint away while listening to some good tunes. That has to be one of my favorite things in life.

So here is the photo of my work in progress. I must admit that the reds are a bit too saturated in this picture, but this is pretty much how it is coming along. I think I may actually be able to finish it later today. I'm excited! I have a goal set to produce 4 good, unique paintings this summer, so this one will be the first one. If I am ambitious enough, perhaps I will do more. Whatever I do, I will post them on here. So be sure to check back!

2006-04-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Bowling Baby!

Bowling alleys make for surprisingly hard places to take pictures. But here's what souvenirs we were able to take back with us.

2006-04-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Chalk Drawing, January 2006

After debating on the best way of posting a whole mess load of pictures for my work as Historian this semester for Delta Sigma Pi, I decided to just put them up on here. If I get creative enough, or at least motivated enough, I may even find a way to post some videos.

Before the semester even began, we kicked off our recruitment events with some quality, artistic publicity. Despite a few brushes with local law enforcement authorities, everyone had a great time and the weather was just plain amazing for mid January.

Zach and Kim

Megan

Kim

Me (Joe)

Home Sweet Home (Jessica's Idea)

Jimmy

Group Shot
(Jimmy, Zach, Kim, Jessica)

Zach

Jessica

The Biggest Pi Ever
(Jimmy and JD)

Ester

Drawing by Joe and Megan

Ester

Ester Again

2006-04-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

Delta Sigma Pi Formal 2006

This was another one of those random snap shots. I love these unplanned pictures.

This one is definitely going to be a classic. The hilarious "not quite ready" pictures!

Ashley and Kathryn

A nice picture of Matt, Laura, and Ivan

Gotta love those random shots into the crowd

Following initiation on Friday, my fraternity went up to Silver Creek for some good times, great music, hot hot tubs, and a well earned break from school and the old FC.

I was on risk management, so that meant that I had to do exactly what I do any way: not drink. It was cool though. It's really nice to get to chill with everyone in an environment of complete relaxation and fun and really just let our own personalities show through. The dancing was fun, as it usually is. It's especiallyl nice to be surrounded by people I know so I can just go dance with whoever and just have a good time since we are all friends.

After such a nice break, I feel surprisingly less exhausted with school and everything. I was actually really surprised by that. I think I need more vacations.

2006-03-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

My Spring Break painting in progress #3

I decided to try my hand at a blue piece again. I haven't yet ventured to try one that combined both the warmth of browns and the classical warmer tones with the coolness of blue filling in the seemingly negative space. I still am just feeling my way along, deciding what colors will best fit here or there. It's a challenge, and that's good. I've gotten very comfortable with my style, so it is nice to have to push myself and actually think to decide where I want to go. Hopefully it will help build my intuition so I will be more free in the future with new paintings I will do.

My Spring Break painting in Progress #2

I have a thing for deep contrast in my art. I think it brings a lot more interest to a piece and helps it have a lot more impact. It's stunning. It's fascinating. It's inspiring. It feels so fresh, unashamed of itself. Confident, bold, ready to make a statement. And yet even at this point, it feels like it is lacking something. Obviously I am going to bring in color, but I'm venturing into unknown territory without too much of a plan. I'm just feeling my way along.

My Spring Break painting in progress #1

Is it just me, or do you kinda like this brown kind of look? It seems so classic, which is really cool considering how the actual style and composition of the piece is far more contemporary. I think I'll have to try a painting that uses more of the subtle tints in brown to make a painting.

2006-02-25T00:09:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen so many french people in one place?

2006-01-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

Could it be? Will this really be my year for cars?

Seeing that we are now two weeks into the new year, I already have car experiences. I guess I will never get a break from it. Last Saturday, while delivering pizza, my speedometer decided to stop working. It would read zero on occasion, and other times it would be all over the place, bouncing from 20 mph to 110 in a matter of seconds. It didn't bother me too much at first, despite the fact that my car has no tachometer and is a manual transmission. One thing that helped was not having a stereo anymore. I had to rely entirely on engine sound and feel to determine about how fast I was going. If the irony of the situation wasn't so hilarious, I could have been frustrated and angry by all of this. But, I wasn't. At least, not too much.

Yesterday I finally got a chance to meet up with my dad and have him take a look at it. Toyota said that it could cost up to $450 to fix if any parts of the electronic speedomter required replacing. But as he suspected and as proved to be the case, it was simply a loose connection. It took all of about 2 minutes to find and reconnect. I wish more of my problems (the few problems that I actually have) were this easy to fix.

And to add even more irony to the situation, after I got it working I got pulled over by the police. I wasn't even speeding, I used my turning signals, and everything. Yeah, she just wanted to let me know that my rear license plate was hanging by only one screw (thanks to the guy that rear ended me last year and drove off). I think she just wanted to see if I was drunk. But she was really nice actually. In my experience, females cops are generally very strict and harsh, but she was amazingly polite and kind. I was back on the road in two minutes.

So, it looks like this may truly be my good year for cars!

In other news, I have finally received some of my text books that I ordered. This can mean only one thing: school is inevitable. Plus, we'll be doing some chalk drawings and stuff tomorrow to hopefully get some quality pledges for Delta Sigma Pi this semester. It should be fun! I hope the weather cooperates.

2006-01-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

The Return is Imminent

So this is what it comes down to: school starts on Tuesday. It is amazing to think about how simulateously the break has flown by and yet felt so long. I look back at my list of things that I hoped to accomplish over this four week break, and it actually makes me smile. Some of them I can say, with great satisfaction, that I actually accomplished. Others, well, I find myself scratching my head and wondering why I even put them on the list in the first place. But all in all, I am confident that my time has been well spent. Though I definitely can't say what the upcoming semester and year have in store for me, I am as optimistic as ever.

My load for this semester is going to be fairly intense:

BF311 - Investments - Fixed Income Securities
BGCC260 - Business Ethics
BN301 - Supply Chain Management
EC315 - Money and Banking
L313F - French Translation and Interpretation
L CC300S - Reading and Writing for Communication - Spanish

So that is the break down. I will have classes from 9:00 am to 2:00pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will have class from 9:30am to 12:00pm. I am actually looking forward to having somewhat early classes everyday because it will give me a reason to get my trash out of bed in the mornings! And if I can stay as motivated this semester as I was last semester, I'm sure I will have lots to look forward to.

One thing in particular that I am excited for is being historian for my fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. I now have an excuse to go to all of the activities and take tons of pictures. I really enjoyed being the historian for our pledge class, and I think I feel a bit more prepared to take the post now for the entire chapter. I will definitely have plenty of pictures to post. And of course, I can tell that our formal retreat will be a major highlight of the semester, as it was for last semester. I mean, honestly, just look at our smiles from November's formal. That says it all.

Delta Sigma Pi Formal - November 2005

So, until classes begin next week and my rigorous schedule kicks into high gear, I will be savoring every last moment of unplanned and disorganized time. I'll be sure to get in some last minute painting, socializing, and eat some good food.

2006-01-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

"Introspection"

The painting has finally been finished and I have chosen to title it, "Introspection." I originally intended on finishing this one over Thanksgiving. I originally intended to do something completely different with this one, but it seemed to have a will of its own.

In case it is news to anyone, I have been doing way too much thinking and such over break. I found it to be kind of enlightening. Needless to say, for someone to finally come to terms with their own self, it is a really joyful and happy as well as a downright mind-numbingly depressing experience. It actually hits everything in between, as well as other feelings I didn't know I had.

Where am I going with this, you may ask? Well, a lot of my pondering was done with a brush in hand, headphones on with music playing, and me just sitting there doing what I love while pondering who I really am. And this went beyond the basic master statuses of "mormon" or "skinny caucasian dude" or even "artist." The resulting piece is, well, extremely self-expressive. I chose to title it introspection because that is exactly what it was. I think it is probably the most emotionally laden piece I have ever done. I think this has also been one of the most emotionally laden and challenging times I have ever gone through. The most unique thing about it is that as I was going along, I wasn't sure where I was going with it. I had no real vision of how it would turn out. I just went along, stroke by stroke, following my instinct, my feelings, my hopes, dreams, and desires. It is truly an expression of me.

2006-01-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

Where do I go from here?

In Progress 1

In Progress 2

In Progress 3

In Progress 4

Christmas break has been wonderful beyond words. I have been needing a break like this for months. Amongst doing art for Christmas presents for friends and family this year, I have been working on a painting that I started over Thanksgiving. The odd thing about this piece is that I really don't know here I am going with it. It is just of building itself as I go along.

I've been taking pictures of it as I have been working on it (about 15 hours of work at this point) and it is kind of cool to see it take shape. It's getting close to what I would consider done, but it's not there yet.

It just sort of dawned on me today that this is exactly what my life is doing in this moment as well. I mean, I'm kind of at a threshold where things have changed a lot for me, especially over the past few weeks. I don't have a real clear vision of where I will be even 6 months down the road, but I definitely feel excited and confident that things will work out well. I at least hold firmly to the hope that this will be a better year for cars for me than last year was.

I also started reading my journal entries from when I was in France. It really has been an adventure for me to visit those memories and experiences all over again in my mind. I can see the faces of the people so clearly. The scenery, the culture, the food - it is all so vivid in my mind. Suddenly I realize how much I miss it. It is yet another glipse in retrospect of where I have been compared to where I am now. I practically don't know what to think. Things definitely have gone in a completely different way from what I had been planning 3 years ago after I got back to the US. Now I can't help but wonder what I will think three years from now when I go back and look at where I am today.

2005-12-31T10:40:00.000-08:00

Me in December 2005

Not my year for cars

I never would have expected 2005 to be what it was. The dominant theme of the year is well summarized as "car problems." First you have to understand that I am about as unsupersticious of a person as you will ever meet. I don't believe in luck, I believe we create it ourselves by our attitude and actions. But if there is such thing as "bad luck", it has happened this year for me in relation to car problems. Yikes.

It started out on January 1, 2005 at about 12:02 am (yeah, 2 minutes into the new year) when I was delivering pizza and my car broke down. Frozen water pump. It certainly managed to destroy about a week for me as I was carless and discovered what a genuine challenge it is to fix Japanese cars. Mine was a 1986 Honda Accord. It was inexpensive, but I loved it.

There seems to be a curse in my family with water pumps on cars. Everytime my dad replaces one on someone's car, something bad happens. This was no different. March 5th, about 2 months after we fixed mine, I was driving home from work and was hit by a drunk driver going about 100 mph. I remember it all too well - the rolling, shaking, darkness, and staring at my hands tightly gripped to the steering wheel. Then it all stopped. Suspended upside down in the crumped mess of what was my car, I remained buckled in my seat. My mind was surprisingly clear. I smelled gas. I needed to get out. Immediately.

After managing to release the seat belt, I crash onto the roof of the car. Shattered glass, dirt, and blood was everywhere. My head hurt. My turning signal was on. A few CDs were scattered around. I could see the weeds pressed against my windshield. My nose was running. My CD player was ripped off. The smell of gasoline was getting stronger. I tried to get out, but the door was jammed shut. I grabbed my cell phone and called 911. While on the phone with EMS, I managed to find one of the windows was shattered and crawled out, after pushing away the twisted mass of metal that was some part of my car blocking my exit. When I finally got out, my jaw hit the floor.

"I shouldn't be alive" was all I could think. I had never seen such a twisted, nearly unrecognizable car in all my life. I tried to keep my mind thinking in case I had a concussion. I went over everything in my mind as I stood on the side of the freeway trying to flag down help. It was hopeless. Everyone was passing by. I saw the offending car in the median, with signs of people stirring. They were alive, and that was my only thought that was directed toward them.

EMS arrived in a few minutes. My head hurt terribly. It was cut and bleeding. Miraculously I had nothing else but a few scratches and some blood stains here and there. No broken bones, nothing like that. The EMS crew was amazed that I could have emerged from such a mess, considerably calm and completely acute and aware of everything that was happening. It was nothing short of a miracle. They told me they had seen people get killed in wrecks that were far less intense than this one. After checking me out, they declared I was completely fine and took me home. I never talked to the person who hit me.

My Honda

After finally finding a new car, I got my life back on track. Two weeks later, boom! It broke down. It wasn't major - just a broken throttle cable, so I couldn't control the gas pedal. But it still set me back. Once that was fixed, things would get back to normal. So I thought.

Then I was working one night. Stopped at an intersection for about 10 seconds, I looked behind me and saw a car come and crash right into me. Once again I felt the all too familiar feeling of be jolted forward, hearing the well-recognized sounds of crashing metal. I got out to make sure the person was okay. Then they drove off. It was hopeless. I couldn't catch them. They made their escape and nothing could be done to find them again.

Then school started in the fall. I found myself having to be completely dependent on my day timer to keep everything organized in under control. I was taking 18 credits, pledging in a fraternity, working part time, and trying to maintain a social life. It was quite the juggling act. Then when working one night (I'm starting to hate my curse, I mean "job") someone stole my backpack out of my car. Not only did it have all of my notes from all of my classes, it also had my day timer, two text books, my checkbook, and an MP3 player. This would have been practically of no value or benefit to whoever stole it, but it was a nightmare come true for me. Fortunately my teachers were understanding and helped me recover. My things were never found though.

I managed to survive the semester and pull a 3.87 GPA. I am extatic about that! Now that break is here, I thought my life would return to its simplistic nature and all would be fine. No. Not for me.

I woke up yesterday to find a message on my cell phone from the police. My car had been broken into. They wanted to know, first of all, if I knew where it was, and second, if I knew what had happened. I looked out my window and it was still there. But my driver's side window was shattered. I looked and my $500 stereo was stolen. All gone in just an instant. All that remained were shards of glass all over the interior and a gaping whole in my dashboard. "This really isn't my year for cars" I concluded to myself. Yeah.

Now that I got the window replaced and my insurance company is just laughing at me (liabilitiy only...), I have concluded that mean people really do suck. I don't even know if it is worth replacing just the CD player. I mean, if it was that easy to steal in the first place, whats't to stop them from doing it again? I certainly won't bother with another amplifier and sub. Those are even more difficult to protect because I can't take them inside every night. But I suppose there is a plus to all of this. I was getting sick of my music anyway and was enjoying the peace and quiet while delivering. And I am sure that the upcoming year will be much more pleasant than this one.