Can I call you Car.. as in short for Carl?

So, I got a job working for Carl's Jr! I started my video training two days ago, and then I worked last night for the very first time as a cook. I was started on drive thru, which Ceci said was probably the hardest cook position. It was a little stressful! I don't have all the different burgers/burritos/tacos memorized yet, so I had to have a lot of quick-speed input: "Pickles? two tomatoes? red onions or white onions?".... yeah. I figure two more shifts, and I will be getting the hang of things.








Anyway, when I first got there yesterday, I couldn't help but think of a hilarious movie called "Yes Man." and then I thought of this scene. Jim Carrey plays a man named Carl.

 

Funny, right? :)

 

I am now a student at Utah State, studying Interior Design! Today I am working on a project that is going to take a while... I will tell more later when it's finished! pictures included :)

 

I deleted my facebook almost two months ago, and it has been great not to be accountable to it! I feel much more like I am doing my own thing, instead of going with the flow, or following the crowd, however you want to say it... bla bla bla. Anyway, I am liking the changes I am seeing in my life since I moved to Logan, and I am glad I decided to come up to here for school. It's where my parents met, and it's also where my dad's parents met! I love that. :)

 





Here Comes the Bride...

Sorry, long time, no posts... originally at the beginning of this year, it was going to be my goal to write an entry every day, reporting on my new year's resolutions.. then to once a week... now, every few months..! Well, I just wanted to share this video I found of the Piano Guys, who are awesome! It is their version of Canon in D, called Rockelbel. I start laughing when I am enjoying music as enjoyable and upbeat as this. I came upon this while looking for music to play the piano next week for one of my old friend's sister to walk down the aisle. Well, I wish I could play something like this, but that probably wouldn't fly... :)

"I've never been so happy in my whole life!!"

So, I was just bumming around today, and I found myself watching funny youtube videos... and this was so funny, it made me laugh for a good while! If you are ever in a bad mood, the best category of youtube videos to watch are Ellen's videos! They are hilarious :)
...and I have to add, my new haircut does not even compare with the awesome locks these people had! ...and the the second girl is definitely the highlight. The ultimate climax is when she says, "I've never been so happy in my whole life!" Aren't happy people fun? :)

The Finish Line...?!

So, this week I was getting close to the finish line for one of my goals: to compete a piano concerto in a real competition. And then it happened. I got an email this week informing me that my category, "adult concerto" was being canceled, because I was the only adult registered in my category! There were no other contestants for me to go up against, no one to anticipate me competing with, or just seeing what else others had prepared for competition.

I really am not that bummed, although it is not exactly thrilling news :) But, I am going to hold true to that goal for this year, and I am going to scope out other competitions that will be more reliable and mainstream for piano competing. I just wanna compete it! :)

Moving my attention to other finish lines: I have six weeks left of this semester!! That went fast! I had the goal of a 4.0 for this semester, and I think that for that 2012 goal, I will have to try again in the Fall Semester... I have tried accounting for my major, and I don't think that is what I want to pursue for my career. I am less than passionate for accounting, I have discovered.

Last week was spring break, and during the break I decided it was time for me to cut my hair! ...myself..!! :)  I wasn't going to tell anyone that I was the one that cut it, but whatever, it doesn't seem as important now to hide that fact. I think I did a pretty good job, considering the fact that I couldn't see the back of my head :) ...what a joke, right? Well, to say the least, the haircut has gotten me a bit of attention around campus, mostly from those who are more familiar with me. I think it's because they didn't expect it from me... at all.  But what would life be without those little surprises? :)

A Decade of Joy

Is it just me, or does life turn a corner when you reach two decades? I have been having such different experiences since I reached a full 20 years of life, and it in turn is making me feel sort of re-born? Too much? :)

My parents gave me the sweetest birthday card, and in it they said they are so glad that they have had a decade of joy with me in their lives :) ...what about the other ten years? haha, just teasing, I'm sure they meant to say two decades. ...but maybe I should clarify with them?... :) 

My goal was to attempt again this week to work on P90X, but I have missed the past two days.. The biggest reason I am not consistent with this certain goal is because when my alarm goes off in the morning, I would rather sleep another hour, instead of getting up to exercise! ...but I set the goal for this year, so I want to be able to complete it. Even if I keep missing days, I am definitely seeing improvement in my consistency.

I am three weeks away from my concerto competition in Park City, and I am performing my concerto in the SUU Student Recital a week from tomorrow! My goal for that performance is to perform without the music. This is going to be my only legit performance of the concerto before the competition, so I need to be sure that I am as prepared as I feel I need to be, and work out the little knots for the actual competition!

I have finished the 1st book of Nephi. I am in  the 2nd chapter of 2nd Nephi, and I love reading the Book of Mormon. I also love learning about the parables of Jesus in my Institute class with Kim Peterson. He is able to help us learn and apply teachings that are things we can ALL improve on. Today we were taught about the parable in Matthew 20:1-16, "Masters of the Vineyard." We learned about the importance of being faithful, and not murmuring. The phrase Brother Peterson used was the idea of 'managing your murmuring'. He testified that he has seen changes in individuals' personalities even, simply because they worked to manage their murmuring, and the ability to choose not to murmur or complain. What a valuable lesson! I love his insights of the teachings that Jesus has for us, waiting to be discovered and bring us joy. I love learning. :)

Freakonomics

I heard an ad the other day on the Utah Public Radio station, talking about a special broadcast entitled "Freakonomics," a presentation which discussed the strange occurances with economics. I heard one of these specials for a minute, and it was actually pretty interesting, learning how some things in our economy really affect certain outcomes. Some outcomes which we think are going to be positive are actually negative. Anyway, I have a strong desire to start calling every type of economics, freakonomics, because I just warmed up for a quiz for about an hour in the library, only to get 10 out of 19 on my quiz!  awesome... not! Yeah, I'm not happy at all about that..

On another note, although my academic accomplishments are not quite at their acme, I am getting much more prepared for my competition in March! I played my concerto for studio class yesterday, and everyone had a lot of great compliments for me, with a handful of suggestions. After listening to the recording of Rubinstein playing the same concerto, I feel that it could be much more developed and mature, but it really is coming along, and my teacher is helping me to think of the piece in a more sophisticated manner, imagining the melodies in the piece with different instruments, working on voicing, and especially my dynamics are taking a turn for the better. They are becoming quite articulate, with the help of Dr. Bohnenstengel. The only thing that is going to make my progress better is by my own development of my theme for my piece, what I imagine this piece is portraying.

Last Friday I was able to hear the famous Andre Watts perform with the Utah Symphony, performing one of Rachmaninoff's full concertoes. What an incredible experience! It is one thing to hear a recording of a piece, but an entirely different experience to hear and see the piece in person. I enjoyed it very much. I also got to see two of my sisters and their families that weekend, which is always a treasure.

In Institute, we talked about what we treasure, and recognizing we decide what we are going to treasure, and we judge others according to what is most valuable in our eyes. I have been trying to work on having different treasures since class, a challenge he gave to us. That class is so wonderful. I am able to apply every classtime I go to.

I am turning 20 on Saturday!! I will no longer be a "teenager!" Isn't that scary! ..maybe not, maybe just exciting, but I am looking forward to it. I am going to go to Richfield, my hometown, and celebrate there!

Rondo Alla Turca

Each week to begin my piano lesson, Dr. Bohnenstengel has me listen to a recording of a perfomance, and then we discuss a little about the performance. I loved this piece, in part because I learned Mozart's "Alla Turca" over the summer, and also cause I used to try to beat the Alla Turca song on Hudson's rock band game.. but this takes Alla Turka to a whole new level, right? Great work Volodos :)

This week has been amazing. Many changes have been taking place, and I am feeling much more involved in my own life. It seems strange, but in a lot of ways I feel like I am discovering myself, like I'm getting to know myself better now!

I am seven weeks away from the Con Brio Competition in Park City, and I feel like I have much work to do on my concerto, before it will be ready for competition. I have never competed in a real piano competition!! But it is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I plan to make it everything I want it to be :)

Peanut Butter Frosting

Last Saturday was a special day for me. Do you want to know why?...  It was National Chocolate Cake Day! ..after reading this on my old voice teacher's facebook page (Kristin Mabb, a great teacher), I knew I must make something involving a chocolate cake recipe. Seeing as I had made two chocolate cakes in the past two weeks, I did not want to make yet ANOTHER cake, so I decided it was much more appropriate to make cupcakes. So, I went to the Institute dance with my neighbors, (dressed as Fred from Scooby Doo!) and then we made cupcakes to the joyful tunes of Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Our cupcakes, made from one of my favorite recipes, Black Midnight Cake (courtesy of my dear friend Betty), they were loverly. Did Dover win the race? I don't think anyone knows..

I enjoyed making cupcakes so much Friday night, I decided I would make more cupcakes on Saturday night, this time to the tune of a charismatic red-headed little girl (Aileen Quinn), and Carol Burnett! These cupcakes, however, were topped with frosting. Not just any frosting... the frosting was originally a vanilla butter frosting recipe, but as I continued to work on it, I decided I would double the butter, add some cocoa, and since I was half a cup short of powdered sugar, I put in a couple spoonfuls of... peanut butter! It was the perfect touch to the cupcakes!

With my cupcakes fully baked and appropriate for consumption, I was able to make some special plans for them..
 - On Sunday, I texted my friend Stacia, and she was not feeling well, so I took her some of my   cupcakes! We then had a very nice conversation.
 - Then I went with my friend Tarakay to give some cupcakes to her friend Katie, who also was feeling under the weather.. and we joked about her taking some cupcakes to my "best friend", who she happens to have a crush on. If you know who this is, you deserve to. :)
 - I then was able to share my cupcakes with my two roommates, Alex and Saad, and also Tarakay and another friend, also named Saad!
 - Then, today I was able to go accomplish some home teaching, and I was so excited, because I was able to take my home teaching friends.... CUPCAKES!!
 - Everyone that had eaten some of my cupcakes enjoyed them a great deal, and I also enjoyed a handful of them myself, I might add. I shared a cupcake with my good friend Tara today as well. She has really been there for me.

My home teachers came to visit me, and so now I have officially been visited for the first time, since I have moved away from home. They brought me some delicious brownies, as well as a wonderful lesson about the ABC's of Thomas Monson, advice on having a good Attitude for A, and I can't remember the rest. I need to read more about it in this month's Ensign.

After my home teaching experiences for the month of January came to a close, I remembered that today my friend Rashelle turned 20!! ..I had promised her a cupcake, so I grabbed the last two cupcakes and headed over to her apartment. She is a good friend as well.

So, because I made some delicious cupcakes, I was able to broaden the 'flavor' of this Tuesday, while in the process of my overdrawn celebrations of National Chocolate Cake Day. I am glad that I was able to bake a little happiness this weekend, topped with peanut butter frosting.  Success. :)

If At First You Don't Succeed... Don't Start Over!

I am slightly embarrassed. I abandoned my blog for nearly two weeks, already!!  What would Julie Powell say to me? ..she would say, "Matthew, you are a delightful young person, but... not meeting your goal in the first month? ..a little, well, pathetic. But try again." :)

I am going to try again.  Should I add two weeks on to the end of the goal? ..or should I just respect my time period I have allotted for this goal, and the absence of my diligence will serve as punishment enough, knowing I did not fully achieve my goal. 

The great thing about setting goals, however, is that we do not always achieve what we originally set out to achieve... but it is hardly ever in vain. We learn, we struggle, we stretch what we think we are capable of, and we grow because of it! It is such an incredible process, materializing because we as human beings sometimes decide that we are capable of achieving a little excellence. :)

The great thing about excellence, is that it is not always easy to achieve something of excellence, but we are more often than not satisfied with what we were able to accomplish.

One thing that I do when I have a new focus in my personal life... I rearrange my room.
Today, I rearranged my room, and I am preparing to have a new focus of what my possibilities are. My perspective of what my long term goals may be for the next few years have been changing a great deal in the last few days.. and I am realizing I am much more capable than I realized. Another project I have is to map out a chart that is going to help me more closely know what major or even specific career will suit me well. Hopefully more than perfect! I am going to start with three areas: my interests, my aptitudes, and my personality. This was inspired by the speaker in my Intro to Business class today. The speaker said we should be doing what we love, something that we would want to do, even if we weren't getting paid! I want to play, not have a career. But it's important that I do my homework right now. Wish me luck. :)

My mind is being expanded, and I know it has a great deal to do with my reading and pondering of the Book of Mormon. I am working according to the reading chart that my bishop provided me with. It has a meaningful quote to go with each day of study, and also tells me scriptures to mark. One thing I have been realizing is that I must have a purpose when I read the Book of Mormon, or else I will not be taught nearly as much by the Spirit as I may if I am reading out of habit, or without a specific need or question in mind. My study in the Book of Mormon is helping me to become a different person. My mind is being expanded, my patience lengthened, my tolerance increased, and my understanding enlarged. What a wonderful thing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is.

"The Law of Unintended Consequences"

I had a fairly good day! I was able to do something that boosted my self esteem academically. ..well, here I was, sitting in Microeconomics, and our teacher gives us a question, and we are supposed to come up with a solution. He said that the individual who was able to come up with the correct solution would be awarded with 5 bonus points!

The question had to do with the subject of Prufrockian Economics, a.k.a. "The Law of Unintended Consequences."  This particular question was dealing with the speed limit in the USA:

    'When the speed limit was allowed to be greater than 50 mph, analysts predicted that the increase in speed would cause an increase in number of accidents. After a certain amount of time, actually the opposite proved to be true. Why might this be?'

After several (incorrect) guesses, he gave us a clue, stating something about the interstate being introduced, compared to the already existing highway system. This then put the idea into my mind... so I bashfully raised my hand and presented what I believed may be the correct answer. It did indeed prove to be the right answer! I nervously explained to my class that the benefits of driving on the interstate were greater than riding on the highway, because of the increase in speed, so more drivers were choosing to use the interstate. The cost of driving on the interstate was less than on the highway, because the traffic is one-way, not two-ways like on the highway, therefore allowing for a decrease in the number of accidents! (My teacher tells us time and again, it's all about costs and benefits; we want to be able to increase benefits while decreasing costs).

My teacher was so glad that a student finally answered it right, he actually got down on his knees in the front of class, and started to pretend to worship me for knowing the answer... "oh great one, almighty.." it was rather comical! He keeps class pretty upbeat. :) It made me feel good, since I am just starting out in a new major, and I feel like I know nearly nothing concerning the new material. But I am in school, and that's where I should be to learn these things, right? :) Yes, learning is quite a process. Quite a process, and well worth the effort, I might add.

Family Home Evening

As I was talking with my new friend Tarakay about the decisions we must make in life, I made a few meaningful comments, and she said, "you should write that on your blog! Right now!" ...I can't really remember what I had said. Sorry. :)

I was able to have family home evening with my parents and my brother Josh before I returned to Cedar City. We talked about the importance of fasting, and where the money from our fast offerings goes. There is such a need for us to serve each other, and to help each other to get by in life. Sometimes when I need more motivation to get my schoolwork done, if nothing else will motivate me, the last motivator I keep in the back of my mind is that it is my duty to prepare, so that I will be able to have a steady income, and in turn be able to help those who have not had the opportunity to be as ready to face life.

One thing that I think about while I am away at college, is all of the opportunities I had to learn from my parents, and how much more experience they have with life than I do! They are wonderful examples to me. I don't appreciate them enough.

What Is Good

Yesterday I was able to go up to Salt Lake and I got to see all of my siblings but three! That doesn't happen very often.. The majority of our sibling reunions take place when there is a wedding or a funeral.. And yes, there was indeed a wedding this weekend. :)

In sacrament meeting I was able to receive several reminders of how special the Book of Mormon is. One speaker talked of the wonderful book as a friend that tells him good things. I know I remember to read any out of the Book of Mormon in the morning, I am able to go throughout a day with less negative worries. The Book of Mormon is truly inspired!

And Now for the Weekend.. :)

My first week of classes has come to an end! Let me tell you, it is a bit of an adjustment to the areas of study that are related to my new major, Accounting. Mostly because I was a music major last semester..

It is funny, in the past when I had an hour or two open, I would head over to the music building and practice for a bit. Well this week I kept finding myself heading over to the music building. I may have to look into another hobby to occupy my spare moments :)

For my first official charitable act until my next Institute class, I made choc. chip pumpkin cookies for the St. Jude's weekly charity dinner for those in need. As for the final of my new year's resolutions, I did P90X Monday morning, but I haven't exercised since! I am going to make another attempt to start the three-month commitment again this next Monday, and I think I will be more ready to get into a routine, now that I am slightly more familiar with my schedule.

The Good Samaritan

I have noticed that the harder I work at bettering myself, it is like a gateway effect. With each good decision I make daily, I am able to recognize more promptings from the Holy Ghost on ways I can continually improve.

With the beginning of a new institute course, Parables of Jesus with Brother Peterson, I am able to observe that I am lacking somewhat in my personal study of the Book of Mormon. I am reading everyday, but I know there is more I am missing out on. I must decide to try harder.
Brother Peterson taught us about a parable from Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan. He was able to give us deeper insight, and reminded us of our capability to do good for others, and how it can be a domino effect:

          Brother Peterson was telling us of a girl who he was, they were, um together in college... anyway, she was asking him about what they would do with the little money they had for Christmas. She had $9.00 and he had $12.00. So, she suggested that instead of buying gifts for each other, combine their money, and buy something for those with greater needs. Other individuals heard about what they were doing, and began to contribute money to their Christmas "fund," and pretty soon there was a ward gathering money for the homeless, there were toys donated to all of the children of those homeless families, and there were even Christmas dinners that were provided for them by another generous source.

His point was, all of this had been caused by $17.00, but soon was much more than that. He also challenged us to be "doing good in all things," like the Good Samaritan had done for a dying man in need. He had given him more than enough, being charitable in abundance.

The challenge was to do just that: to be doing good in all things, and be more than just nice. Go out of our way this weekend to be more charitable. He said that the only way to fail was to forget.

I am taking Brother Peterson's challenge to be charitable, in abundance, and working to remember to do this, in hopes of a better understanding of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and to better understand what is good and right in life.

My First Piano Lesson (of the year)

This semester in my piano lessons, I want to do more with jazz, considering I played for three years in my high school jazz band, and I still feel like I have nothing to show for it! So, I spent half of my hour lesson today learning how to "jam" playing the twelve-bar-blues.  It was a lot of fun. I have a hard time being so 'casual', you might say, in a piano lesson, because for years it has been about being focused, formal, and strictly classical, by personal choice. I have been realizing as of late that I love a lot about jazz, and I would love to be able to sit down at the piano and be able to show some more personality, and just enjoy myself in a new way!

On another note, I also told my piano teacher, Professor Bohnenstengel, that I am very determined to compete in a piano concerto competition this semester! For the meantime, we have decided that I will compete March 24th at the Con Brio Competition in Park City. Yes, I am going to try to compete at the same competition that did not have a category for me last year. I hope this is a good decision. That weekend, there is also a performance by Stephen Hough with the Utah Symphony, performing Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto! Professor Bohnenstengel calls this a "landmark" concerto. It is obviously a big deal. :)

Concerning another goal, after a long day of classes, I realized that I did NOT want to be in classes on Wednesdays from 9 am to 3 pm.  That was too long, so I dropped my Statistics class to fit in an hour lunch break. That seems reasonable enough, right? Like Tyician says about a decision like this, "I decided I wanted to eat lunch." This was my decision as well.

The Gameplan

Ok, here's the plan. I am going to blog every single day for an entire year, and write about the goals I have set for myself this new year, and how well I am attending to them!  That way, I will be able to gage my process on my new found goals :)  
Here are my goals for the new year:
- Complete P90X at least once!
- Read the Book of Mormon.
- Achieve a 4.0 GPA for the Spring 2012 semester.
- Compete in a piano concerto competition.
These goals apply to things that I have tried to obtain in earlier experiences, but have not reached this level of excellence.  But I will. :) thanks tarakay.

About my goal for competing in a piano concerto competition: I worked all year last year at Snow College to prepare for the Con Brio Concerto Competition in Park City, but a few weeks before the competition was to take place, I was informed that there had not been enough competitors entered in the competition, so our category was simply being 'canceled'. I was thoroughly discouraged.  Yet now, I am simply determined to show the work I had put into preparing the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto no 2 in G minor, mov. 1.  It will be splendid to compete it for real, regardless of the placement I may receive. But that would be great to do well also :)

A Fresh Year, A Fresh Beginning

Well. Thank you, Julie Powell! Through a series of events, you have inspired me with a new goal: This blog is an attempt to shadow certain goals I am setting for myself for the next year, and to overcome adversities that have long been troubling me.  It has been said that true change is observed with consistency of time. My goal is to be consistent for an entire year, exactly 365 days.