The Sound of Settling

Our youth is fleeting,
Old age is just around the bend.
And I can't wait to go gray.


And I'll sit and wonder
Of every love that could've been
If I'd only thought of something charming to say.

New York City in 3 days

I need to write down a list of the things we did while in New York this weekend before I forget them all. In fact my memory is so poor I'm sure I'm already missing things, but whatever.

In 3 days in NYC, we did/went to/ate at the following:

• Times Square
• Washington Square Park
• Canal Street
• Bought/did some shady shopping while there
• Wall Street
• Occupy Wall Street protests
• 9/11 Memorial
• Bought ties at Century 21 (3 sweet ties for $38 total)
• Shake Shack ($17 fast food meal anyone?) and Flatiron building
• Columbia University (OM Gorgeous campus...)
• Cathedral Church by Columbia
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Central Park - row boating on the lake was amazing!
• United Nations - sat in the Security Council's chairs and stood at the General Assembly's pulpit. (Pulpit? Is that only a church term?)
• Halal food street vendor
• LOVE Statue
• Grand Central Station
• Artichoke Basille's Pizza
• Observation deck of the Empire State Building
• Walk the Brooklyn Bridge
• Grimaldi's Pizza
• Staten Island Ferry - nighttime view of the Statue of Liberty and downtown New York City

In 3 days. I know there are a couple other things I'm forgetting too.

And I think I spent less than $300 for the whole trip. Booya!

Spirit

Spirit airlines is bad.

Bags cost $38 to check and $40 to bring on the plane. (Personal items are free! Whoopee!)

The person in front of my at check-in didn't take his own bags to TSA screening (which everyone at La Guardia is supposed to do themselves), but when the employee who checked him in couldn't find the man to tell him to take his bags, he took them there for the man. Nice, right? His manager snapped at him in front of everyone.

Too bad the nice guy mis-tagged my bag and sent it to Fort Lauderdale.

The plane seats were this weird, cracked, fake leather that wasn't very comfortable. Fortunately I slept the entire time (literally got no sleep the night before).

When my baggage didn't come, I went to the Spirit baggage office, which was locked. I knocked on the door--nothing. Knocked harder and a lady back at the carousel was like "did you need something?" It took me a while to realize she worked for that locked Spirit baggage office, so I was like "yeah, I just need my bag."

"All the bags are over there on the carousel."

(Those of you who know me know my absolute biggest pet peeve is people treating me like I'm incompetent or stupid.)

"I know they're supposed to be, but mine isn't over there..."

"What color is it?"

"Tan."

"There's a tan bag right over there on the carousel."

"I can see that, but that isn't my bag."

"Do you have your claim ticket?"

I gave it to her, and she actually took it and tried to match it with the huge tan suitcase that I had just told her wasn't mine.

"Ma'am, I know that isn't my bag..."

So we went into the office, figured out the bag was sent to Florida, and filled out the paperwork.

(This is where the double entendre of the post title comes in)

Just as we were finishing, I felt impressed to ask the lady to repeat my address, just in case.

"1736 Loveland."

"... no, it's 17260 Loveland."

You have to appreciate the small things Heavenly Father does for us.

Thank you Spirit! (The Holy Ghost one, not the airline.)

P.s. Go here for some relevant funny stuff

Over-thinking

I like the way wikipedia explains Occam's Razor as "a principle that generally recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions."


But I naturally tend towards making a ton of new assumptions, and then reacting emotionally based on those new assumptions. When I don't have all the information, I assume the worst and react based on that assumption. Makes no sense.


On a somewhat related note, I wanted to relate something I've learned over the past few weeks, relationship-wise. Over-thinking relationships can be the death of them. (Or suffocate them before they can even start. Kinda like the seeds sown in the weeds in Mark 4:3-9)


Here's what I mean. To myself, I am a very persuasive person. In the same way I convince myself that a slew of new assumptions are true, I can convince myself that pretty much anything I don't know much about is true. I can also pretty much talk myself out of anything.


Especially in Provo (maybe all of Utah?), I think the thought pattern goes like this: (feel free to change the gender, because it goes both ways)

"I dunno, I think I kinda like her. But I still don't really know. I should keep dating around to see if she's really the one for me."

"Yeah, I don't know that I'm really super interested in her."

"She's not really my type."

These thoughts, in my opinion, are really just ways to think yourself out of having a relationship that could potentially become something very meaningful. I think part of it also assumes that the "commitment gap" (as I'll call it) between (1) going on dates, (2) dating exclusively, and (3) being engaged are something like this:

(1) ----------- (2) ----------- (3)

Where it is as big a commitment to move from 1 to 2 as it is to move from 2 to 3.

What?!

I mean, maybe we don't consciously think that, but I for one sure act like it. "I don't know if I'm super interested in her." (So... really you're thinking 'why take the huge irreversible step (note the sarcasm) to date her exclusively to find out how interested I am?' Is that what I am really thinking?) "She's not really my type." (How do you know? You've only ever gone after the same kind of person before!)

The gap is truly more like this:

(1) -- (2) ------------------------- (3)

Moral of the story: don't avoid getting into a relationship because it may not work out. Doing so is basically like saying you will only date exclusively the person you fully intend to marry. And then how do you gain experience?

My first philosophy: if I'm not interested after the 1st date, I probably won't ask her out again.

My last philosophy: always go on a second date and keep an open mind. First dates are bad for really getting to know someone

My newest philosophy: just freaking date people! Obviously if there are red flags, then don't go there. But if you're honestly not sure, I say just go for it! The worst thing that could happen is you find out you're not really that interested, and you break up and move on. Isn't that basically the definition of dating before marriage? You learn facts about people on the first few dates. You don't really get to know the person until a pretty substantial amount of time (and maybe even a certain level of commitment?) is spent with them.

If you think too hard about it, you'll probably talk yourself out of it. And maybe even out of feelings you once had for someone.

Believe me. It happens. Unfortunately.

Facebook

Here's an interesting article about a study done at Stanford indicating that time spent on Facebook could contribute to people's sadness and depression. I guess we really don't want to know that other people are having more fun/being more successful than us out there, huh?

Good times!

Never gonna forget this crowd.

If there's anything I learned tonight...

It's that I need to follow my own advice!

Good grief. I frustrate myself. It's all in my best interest though :)

Ugh

Ugh.

That is all. Sorry to be vague. I'll be fine, so don't even worry about it.

Overwhelming

My checklist of things to do before I leave for LaGuardia airport to fly back to Provo for the rest of summer:

• Finish preparations for and give our Comms 381 group presentation
• Write three 5-paragraph essays for my Comms 381 final
• Finish up and fax in all my internship forms and do an exit interview for BBDO
• Return a bunch of clothes for H&M
• Buy a new suit from a shop we found a few weeks ago
• Do all of my laundry
• Pack everything, including figuring out how I'm going to fit the tennis balls I bought. (This may include buying a cheap new suitcase)
• Write thank you notes to the people I've been working with at BBDO New York
• Take pictures with the friends I've made in the program and say my goodbyes
• Somewhere in here get 2 nights worth of sleep (yeah right)
• Go to work tomorrow (this will have to end up being a half day for me, as I can't finish everything otherwise)

I feel just as blindsided by having to leave NYC as I was to leave Provo. I wasn't very emotionally affected by leaving Provo until I was in the car on the way to the airport.

I wonder when it'll finally hit me that my time here is over already.

100

This is my 100th blog post!

I was trying to think about what I would do to celebrate. I thought my post would be something thought-invoking and original, something that would entice a bunch of comments and spark a discussion.

Meh. I figured I would just talk about the past couple weeks in New York City.

Oh yeah, I moved to New York City.

Actually I'm not sure what to tell. I've been working as a planning intern at BBDO New York and it's been a great experience! I've probably learned more about myself and what I want to do with life in the past 2 1/2 weeks than I did in the past year.

I'll admit though, I miss Provo a little bit. Maybe it isn't Provo necessarily, but I miss the open-ness. Houses with yards and lawns, places where it can actually get quiet (actually I did find a couple spots in NY where it does get quiet!), living so close to people in your ward, visiting them isn't a chore or something you necessarily have to plan ahead for.

A quick recap on the cool stuff so far:

• Ate at The Artichoke
• Went to the MoMA
• Found the roof entrance (and outdoor stairs that lead even higher) to the I-House
• Went to Wall Street and the south street seaport (pretty fun street magician down there)
• Times Square, Rockefeller Center, etc. in Midtown
• Talked with my mom while using Google Earth to look at the house I was born in (er, lived in after I was born) and planned a trip to go see it. (Only a few miles away, after all)
• Bought a mini-fridge after 2 weeks of not having ANY milk (or, therefore, cereal)
• Surviving without a smart phone in the US's biggest city. (I was thinking about it the other day, and I think of all the times I've seen people using their phones, I have literally not seen someone using a non smart phone. For reals. (Probably mostly because you can do other stuff on them, so people on the subway are playing games and stuff. But even in the BYU program, I don't think I've seen a single phone that wasn't a smart phone.)
• Taking way too few pictures
• Seeing $13 movies for only $6
• Spending TONS of time on Google looking up blogs and articles for work
• Making a surprising number of new friends/acquaintances
• Watching a ton of 30 Rock. (All of season 4 and half of season 5 - signed up for the free month of Hulu+) Next on the plate: catching up in The Office

Oh yeah, and we saw Wonderland! last night. Meh, I'd give it a 6.5/10. The acting and music were good, and the stage setting and all were very flashy and exciting. The storyline? Pretty dumb and hard to follow.

But it was free, so how can I say anything?

Anyway, maybe my 101st entry will wax more philosophical. Until then, I've got a ward service fundraiser to volunteer at.

Peace!