Flight of the Arrow

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted on my blog.  School has started up again, and it's keeping me busy!

As per the Dating Race, I've fallen behind quite a bit!  Shayla is rockin' the planet by dating so many awesome guys, and Jon is right behind her (dating girls though).  Me?  I've run into a couple of "obstacles" that aren't necessarily bad, but just have kept me from asking more girls out and accepting suggestions from others of people to take out.  However, I've decided to not let those obstacles stop me anymore.  Even though I don't expect to catch up to Jon and Shayla, I hope to at least stay in the game.

In school, there have been a few cool things going on for me!  Well, really just one, but it's really pretty awesome.  So you might remember that I started working in a Research Lab at the University of Utah a semester ago.  I picked a really good lab to work in, for a few reasons: 1. It's flexible, 2. It involves doing work that is less mundane than others, and 3. We have had some significant success and are in the process of PUBLISHING A PAPER on it!  How cool is that?  As an undergraduate with a little over 2 years left still, I'll have my name on a published article!  I'm hoping that we will be able to continue to progress and hopefully repeat this process once more before I graduate.  I will, of course, let you all know when the paper is done, but for now, I'm just excited to be involved in something so cool!  I think this will help increase the amount of responsibility that I have in the lab as well, because we want to get some really good images and data out in the next couple of months to include in our Results section.  Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

Also, in our Ward Missionary Committee (I don't remember if I've said that I'm our Ward Mission Leader), we've recently started to go out and visit young single adults within our ward boundaries to invite them to come to our activities and meet new people and come back to Church.  It's been very rewarding to be more involved in the Lord's work, and I hope that we'll be able to reach some people who need the light of the Gospel in their lives.

Basically, my life is wonderful.  The only not-so-good thing that's going on right now is that I have a pretty bad cold that didn't allow me to sleep (like, at all) last night.  But that seems like a minor setback in comparison with all the blessings I have.  Yeah, there are things I would like to change, like being single, not having a steady source of income, etc., but I'm finding that "it's not hitting the target, it's the flight of the arrow".  (I don't know who that quote is by, but it's cool.)

Dating Race Update

So THIS is going well!

It's been a really good experience so far!  It's only the 3rd day in, but it feels like we've been doing this for a while already!  I'm surprised (pleasantly) at the attitude change that I've experienced toward dating, and the great topics that I've had the chance to talk to my friends about with this thing going on.

After reading Elder Oaks' talk, which Jon also posted on our dating blog, I realized that this is a good way for me to take dating more seriously!  I know it probably seems like we're taking dating LESS seriously with this "competition".  But to be honest, I couldn't care less if I lost the race.  I'm just glad to have an extra incentive to ask girls out!  It's already helped me to stay in the mindset of dating as a priority in my life.  I've dated somewhat consistently in the past, but i feel like this is really helping me to focus on it.  Of course, when school starts up again in a week (on the 11th), I'm betting my "date rate" will decrease significantly.  But I will still try to have asking girls out in the forefront of my mind.

I want everyone to know that the people I take out on these dates are people I would normally feel comfortable asking out, not just people around me to take on dates so that I can beat Shayla and Jon.  Jon did a great job of explaining why we're doing this in his post, "Not Just a Number", which I completely agree with, but I wanted to explain my own personal view on it as well.

I'd like to hear what each of you think about our dating idea, whether you like it or not, what you would do differently, etc...  Make your comments as long or short as you like, just try to keep it considerate.  Thanks!

The Dating Race!

This is exciting stuff!  For the month of January, a couple of friends from my ward and I are having a friendly competition called the dating race!  We are seeing how many dates we can go on in the month of January, 2010.  Each of the dates will be blogged about, and you can read all about it at the blog: 

http://thedatingrace.blogspot.com/

Please check it out, become a follower, and let all your friends know!  If you have any friends (Requirements: female, between the ages of 18-28, someone you think I would get along with) then e-mail me at kappyt3@gmail.com with their information (name, number, and anything else you wish to share).  I'm pretty excited.  Even if I don't win, I'm excited to get into the habit of dating a lot for the year 2010.  Also, I'd love to hear your comments or suggestions!

Another Dating Story

This year, I met a girl who I thought was very beautiful. I didn't talk to her for a while, but then we started talking at a fireside. She was telling me about how she was training for a short race that weekend. We decided to go running together early in the morning before I had to go to school. So we did! I ended up asking her out, and she agreed!

So we went on our first date, and I had a great time. It was very casual, and we just had a nice conversation the whole night. A few days later, I called to ask her out again, and she told me it sounded fun, but for her, it would only be as friends.

Of course, I was sad that she wasn't as interested in me as I was in her, but I couldn't help but feel grateful for her honesty. It is so much less stressful and difficult to just know how a person feels than to continually have to guess. I'm still very impressed by this girl, and I think sometimes that maybe she'll "change her mind" and give me another chance - (probably not :) ).

So to all those who are honest in your relationships, I commend and thank you. :)

Connections

Being LDS, having served a mission, and having friends that have served missions, and knowing quite a few friends in Provo provides ample opportunities to find out connections between people. If I meet someone in Salt Lake, I can usually find someone that we both know fairly well. The world just becomes a small place. So it doesn't come as much of a surprise when I find out someone I know knows someone I know. (Hehe, I like that sentence.)

However, there are those times when the connection is kind of bizarre and really cool.

Today, I was talking with a girl named Rhiannon, who is in my major and we've had a few classes together. We came to find out that both her dad and both of my parents had grown up and/or gone to high school in a little place called Morgan, Utah. I decided to ask my parents if they knew Rhiannon's dad, and Rhiannon did the same. Well, later, she sent me a text saying "Did your dad have a brother named Reed?"

Side-story: The answer is yes, I have an uncle named Reed. He passed away before I was born, when he was 13, having been struck by lightning along with my grandpa (who lived) on a golf course. I always remember seeing his picture on my grandparents' wall at their house, and I always felt like, if he were alive, he and I would have gotten along very well. Not too long ago, I mentioned this to my sisters, and they said they had felt the same way! Kind of cool.

So I answered yes, but that he had died when he was 13. She sent me this: "Yes! When he was struck by lightning on the golf course... Holy cow. He and my dad were best friends growing up. My youngest brother is named after him."

How cool is that? I of course was kind of blown away by that, so I told her, and she responded with "You can imagine how I felt, hearing 'Dave Carruth? [my dad's name] Yeah, he's actually Reed's brother.' I've heard about Reed my whole life, and I go to school with his nephew!" [Me].

Anyways, this was one sweet connection to a somewhat random person. Who do you know that I know? :)

Feast or Famine

It's never a consistent meal-plan.

Anyone else experience this? (I'm not talking about food.)

Tribute

To awesome dates!

Sometimes, it's easy to get tired of going on dates when you don't see a lot of "fruits" from your efforts. By "fruits" I mean getting along with someone well enough to see a relationship grow.

Then, there are those times when you go on a date, and it's just refreshing to be able to talk with someone, and because you're similar enough, you can understand each other and just have a great time. It is my experience that these types of dates are rare, and should therefore be treated as such. I think that's what most single people are looking for.

So this is my thank you - to those whose personality "rings" with mine.

Post-Fall Break Post

Last week was fall break at the U. I love fall break. Especially when you have an awesome Dad that picks that week and the week of spring break for your houseboat share for the year, and you get to go waterskiing in October. How awesome is that??? I had a great time. I think I'm skiing better, I got all the way around on a backflip again, I got a nice pre-winter tan (along with slightly bleached hair), and discovered what I'm going to be for halloween. Plus, I got to sleep in and relax with very little homework to do. Did some sweet rock-climbing, played on one of the best sand dunes I know of, tried to flip a kayak, played with my little cousins, and got to spend some quality time with my family. That's the best possible scenario I can experience right now, and I loved it! I'll try to get some pictures of our trip to post on here.

So it's kind of hard to come back to school and work and just... responsibility. lol. But life doesn't stop for a vacation, so I've gotta get back into the grind of working hard every second of the day and going on little sleep and food.

And finally, this is kind of a funny story, and I hope you enjoy it:
Today, I found out that I wouldn't be able to do anything in my research lab, so I headed over to the institute to get some studying done in the couple of hours before my institute class. After a little while, a couple of girls came into the place I was sitting, and I recognized them, I had seen them before in the same place on a Monday. They wore white uniform shirts with some sort of badge on the arm that I was too far away to read. One of the girls, I really thought was beautiful, and seemed very nice. I spent the next hour and a half reading a paragraph, then looking up at her, reading another paragraph, taking another glance, etc... So for the last hour (not joking) I sat there thinking about ways to go and talk to this one girl without being too strange or awkward, or making her friends laugh at me, or getting rejected and embarrassed. I racked my brain, and nothing seemed like it would be normal. I hoped maybe her friends would leave before my class started, or that she would get up and walk past so I could pull her aside and ask a "curiosity question" about their shirts or something. Of course, neither of those things happened. I tried getting up the courage as I gathered my books, but I just stood up and walked downstairs and into my classroom. It was empty, and I put my stuff down and started hitting myself in the head for not talking to this girl! lol, this story's making me laugh as I tell it! So, I knew I would feel so stupid if I didn't, so I went back upstairs (a different way, to give me more time to prepare - [this ended up being useless]), and after a couple of hesitations, I walked back there without my stuff, walked right up to the table and said "Hi. I was wondering what these shirts are for." or something like that. I didn't get names or anything, I just blundered along through my words, and then said "Well, see ya." and I left. So girls, if a guy come up to you and asks some stupid question, and looks like an idiot just standing there not really knowing what to say, it means he thinks you're attractive and would like to get to know you better. Anyways, it wasn't a total disaster, but I just wish I had gotten up the courage earlier and not waited, or that I had spent just a few more minutes and at least gotten her name or something. Now I can only hope to see her again and have another chance. So guys, get up the courage, and remember that Nike was right when they coined the phrase "Just do it" (and the apostolic addition - "Just do it right").

HAHA! So, immediately after finishing this story, I got into my car to drive home and plugged in my phone, which is on shuffle. The very first song that came on was "My Stupid Mouth" by Jon Mayer. It's not exact, but I feel very similar...