Let's title this one Friends.

Alright, finally the computer started and I got Word opened up and iTunes going. Finally I can sit down and start to write or I guess type. I don’t know why I suddenly decided to start, but I did. I haven’t had the most awesome week so far. I guess I’m writing because it’s a way for me to getting things out of my mind and onto paper. Dan Peters has been an a great inspiration for me since I took his English 101 class my first year at YVCC. He has always been an encouragement for me and I have gone on to take English 102 with him and also a creative writing class that same quarter last year. I had heard a lot about him from my high school English teacher Pam Hayter. She read us some of Dan’s poem in my high school creative writing class. I don’t remember too many of the poems, but I do remember both Dan and Pam telling me to starting writing and keep writing as an exercise to get my creative mind thinking. So here I am now writing at 8:23 pm on October 7, 2008 alone in my barn with my Skullcandy Skullcrusher headphones plugged into my MacBook Pro listening to The Album Leaf. I just got done chatting with my cousin Ashley on Facebook. She is one of my best friends. I say best friends, but I really mean friends. I only have one type of friends, true friends. I don’t just have friends. I know people, but that doesn’t make you a friend. A friend to me is someone how asks how you are doing and will actually stand there or sit there and listen to what you have to say. They don’t say it to say it. A friend is someone who will do anything for a person no matter what. Someone who will tell you you are being ridiculous or try to cheer you up on a bad day. A friend is someone you will do anything for and listen to them and just be there. It’s simple really. I only know a few people like this, my cousin Ashley, my friends growing up Adam Schilperoort, Richie Williams, and Will “Wille” Jameson. A few people I have met along the way Nicole Veloso, Dave Shubert, and Robby Mahre. These are my friends. Maybe this sounds selfish or lame, but you know what, I don’t know why I started to write tonight and I don’t care to know why. All I know is I am writing and this is what is coming out. I don’t get to see many of these people very often but when I do it is always a good time. Ashley lives in Michigan, Adam is stationed in Washington D.C., Wille is at school at the University of Washington (Huskies SUCK!), Richie is at school in California, Nicole lives in Oregon and goes to school in Ohio (I think Ohio at least, maybe Indiana? anyway over there somewhere), Dave goes to school at Eastern Washington, and Robby is a slave at a lumber mill in Yakima. Ashley is my cousin, that’s how we know each other. Richie, Adam, and Wille were all my buds ever since my family moved to Yakima when I was 3 or 4, I was always with at least one of this guys in the summers growing up. I have known Dave for quite awhile from church, but we only started hanging out and “doming noobs” for the past two years. Dude has an awesome music selection and I cool relaxed nature about him. Nicole and I met at a Young Life camp called Breakaway near Seaside, Oregon when we were both leaders for junior high clubs. We swapped phone numbers and started talking or texting at least and got to know each other that summer. I met Robby when he got hired at the Sporthaus, we have worked together and skied together for the past two years. If I had money I would sponsor Rob for all the ski races he goes to in the winter. The kid can flat out ski. Where do I go from here. I can’t think right now for some reason. Dan would tell me to always keep the pen moving even if I couldn’t think of anything to write. He would say to just start writing I can think right now and see if anything comes in that time. Have you ever listened to The Album Leaf? Its beautiful. Peaceful relaxing comforting. I wish I had the other two albums of theirs that I don’t have. I think I’m too emotional sometimes. I know I can be annoying too. I know I talk to much. I try to work on these but I fail most of the time. I don’t really open myself up to my family much. They usually see the mad, angry side of me. But during the day at school and work I put on this mask that makes me look together and alright. I can just go from happy to angry in about .001 seconds. It’s my worst habit and I am sorry about that. I am a snowboarder. I am a hardcore snowboarder. I am seriously saddened to see kids now of days and how pathetic they are. When I was getting into snowboarding and even still to this day, I am stoked to get a new magazine every month and to see the new movies every year. And to find out what companies are doing to make their product better than the other companies. It is a life for me, not a thing I do for fun. Kids don’t have respect anymore. I only know one kid who does. Cody McDonald. I see a lot of myself in this kid. He is always texting me to know what gear we got in the shop for the day, and what I think of this and what I think of that. I want to be a role model for Cody. I was never given any opportunities when I was younger and no one helped guide me and show me the ropes. My big bro Brian ditched me at the top of the hill and I taught myself how to snowboard. I hated it at first. Thanks Brian! Everything I know now I taught myself. I am trying to teach Cody everything I know and its kinda weird how I feed off his energy also. The kid is 15, he isn’t “Shaun White” but he is a solid rider and he has the potential to do some cool things. Snowboarding is fun for me. I love the mountains. It is my place to get away from the rest of the busy world and relax. I have ridden in the trees a lot in the past year. Flying through the trees on a snowboard is like nothing else. Fresh snow below you and no one around. When you stop you can hear nothing, nothing but the snow falling and settling on the ground. Yes you can hear that. You have to listen closely though. I like to think of myself as a hippy. I love nature. I don’t eat organic foods all the time or have dreadlocks, but going outside and just listening. Sitting there, by myself in physically, but sitting there next to God, enjoying His masterpiece. I should have mentioned this first I love God. I thank Him everyday for the day I had whether it was bad or awesome. There was always something good about it. I try to learn more about Him, but I am not the best at keeping to things. I should read my Bible more and do a devotion. I take for granted so much every day. My family, my friends, my job, my abilities, and all the small things. God is awesome! He is forgiving. He know I am going to screw up about a million times a day and He forgives me every time. I could never do that if some one kept messing up over and over, but God can. That’s awesome! I thank God every day for my friends and pray for Him to protect them and watch over them. A few of my friends aren’t into the whole religion thing, but it doesn’t stop me from praying for them. Everyone desires to know they are loved and someone is watching out for them. Jason Williams my youth pastor in high school always ended Sunday school with the most awesome saying ever. “You are loved!” Isn’t that awesome? Have you ever heard a person with an Australian accent say, awesome? It is the coolest sounding word ever, when it is said with an Australian accent. It’s 9:26 pm now. I’ve been writing for over an hour now. Non-stop. Never done that before. I don’t like being in college much right now. I want to become a teacher or at least get my degree in it. Back to snowboarding, I read a ton of snowboard magazine articles and interviews, and lately I keep hearing the same thing from the top professional riders out there, and that is, if you want something go for it. Don’t let people tell you what you can and cannot do. Be yourself and if you truly want it, you will get it. I think I have been subconsciously living that the past few months. I really want to snowboard and have a career in that industry whether it be a pro rider or a shop technician. That is what I love to do and it is what I want. I read an awesome interview in Transworld Snowboarding last week. It was an interview with Janna Meyen. OG girl ripper that would throwdown with the dudes back in the day and is still ripping it up now. She talked about her life and how it wasn’t easy and the drug use and hating everyone and everything, but her brother and her started going to church and now they are both super happy and are Christians and love God. It was cool to read that in a magazine that hundreds of thousands kids read all across the country. She had a few tattoos that I thought were awesome, one read, God’s Daughter and another that says, Thy will be done. (I think, pretty sure though) Man Album Leaf is some good stuff. The world needs to listen to these guys. Another thing. Girls. I’m borderline pathetic in this department. Ashley thinks I’m too desperate and I am wanting it too badly. But I honestly don’t think that. There are some girls I like and whether they know that or not its fine by me. Everyone says dating is a game. Pretty dumb game to me. The girls are the ones the run the show. If they like a dude they get him. But I dude doesn’t always get the girl he likes. Which is lame. This game of the dude is always calling, or texting, or messaging the girl to much or vice versa is lame. To me if you like someone it is ok to do that, but no like at 2 in the morning. That’s ridiculous. Saying hello everyday is all right to me. It’s nice to talk to someone and say hello to someone you know and care for. Am I right or wrong? If a girl thinks a guy is being too annoying when the dude says hi everyday or good morning everyday the girl is the pathetic one. Maybe the whole goal for the guy in the day is to make this girl smile and feel like she is liked and some one cares for her and want her to know she is special. Am I making sense or is this a bunch of garbage to you. I’ll say this too. There are some dude who are total creepers, most live in Naches, Washington, and every girl should stay far away from them. I’m debating whether I should post this on Facebook so people can read it. I think I will but I will take out some stuff and keep it for myself. I could probably keep going, but I will stop for tonight and maybe write more later. Peace and Love!