One of Those Days...

Today started out innocently enough, but as strange as it sounds, my day took a turn for the worse once classes ended.

It started with my attempt to play drop in ice hockey which starts at the same time my last class ends so in order to be there for about an hour I have to go straight to the rec center after class.

I was making great time until I realized I was missing something quite crucial to the whole ice hockey thing... Then it hit me: MY SKATES!!! I had left them in my dorm a few days before because I had taken them with me to re-lace them!

No problem I thought! I'll just sprint across campus, grab them, and still get in 45 minutes of skating! It was then I ran into my next road block. Groping for the keys to my room I realized they weren't in my pocket, and of course my roommate was skiing today! I made a frantic search of the locker room, my hockey bag, and retraced my steps around the rec center to no avail! Fortunately I found them on the floor under my desk in Duane G2B60, where my last class was held!

By this time it was late enough that I figured I would ditch hockey and take my car to get an emissions test since mine is due by the end of January (I know, I know, I'm a procrastinator). I printed out directions and headed out. Unfortunately unbeknown-est to me, the directions I had printed from the emissions website were on a page that was too wide to print properly and as a result I got directions that appeared to make sense but were missing something...

So when I read "Head east on Valmont and it becomes Airport Boulevard, stay on it till the road ends." The actual message was Head east on Valmont turn left on Airport Road and it becomes Airport Boulevard..." Unfortunately I had driven myself into rural farm country on a one lane road by the time I realized something was fishy about my directions. Luckily I was able to call a friend (Thanks Erika! :)) to fill in the missing pieces!

Fortunately, my car passed and I made it home only 90 minutes later than expected. I figured I'd skip the dining hall since my luck was out on me, and instead got a burger to go. Of course while I was eating it at the dorm I dropped it smearing meat juice on the unfortunate landing zone of my new white sneakers!

Oh well as said by Forty Foot Echo, tommorow's a brand new day!

Popping my Clubbing Cherry

Last night I found myself talked into taking a car load of 4 girls to Lower Downtown Denver, affectionately called Lo-Do. We wound up downtown near Coors Field in line for a nightclub called Bash.

Now you must understand, to say I'm bad at dancing is as much as an understatement as saying that the people who were at ground zero of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a bad day.

However I put on my nice silky button up shirt, gelled up my hair as suggested by the eHow.com website and we were off.

It took about a half an hour for me to begin to move even remotely musically but after a while I decided this was fun! I was the only white blond boy in the entire place but I didn't care! I had a blast and have now decided clubbing is fun! Although it did suck to have to pay $10 even though I had brought 4 girls. I thought about negotiating this point with the doorman, but he didn't look like he was much of a negotiator...

Anyway I'm now a fan of clubbing, though I still haven't gotten this whole "dancing" thing down yet...

An Avalanche Fan's Dream Come True

Today I had the opportunity to go to the Colorado Avalanche vs the Calgary Flames games thanks to my friend Michael!

After the drive from Boulder I was waiting to turn left from Auria into the parking complex that provides $10 Avs parking. Unfortunately it's one of those intersections where people waiting to turn left from the opposite obstruct your view of whether it's clear to turn. I waited until I thought I saw a gap I could squeeze through but unfortunately I was wrong and wound up having to stop as the light turned red.

It was then that I noticed that I was sitting in the middle of the crosswalk. As if on cue from a horror movie, I looked up to see a hoard of people beginning to cross the street and had the sickly realization that I was in the middle of their path.

As Michael covered his face in shame and I broke into fits of uncontrollable laughter the torrent of people broke around us. I got mostly smiles but everyone looked at me with a "Have a little trouble stopping did ya?" look. Very embarrassing!

Anyway onto the game! Our seats were incredible! I have only once sat closer to the glass than I was tonight when my Dad treated me to rink-side seats, but tonight was awesome as well! We were 8 rows behind David Aebischer for 2 periods just over his right shoulder. What a game it was!

This game had the most goals I've ever been present at an NHL game to witness! To make it even more spectacular 9 of the 11 goals scored were scored right in front of us! On top of that there was a fight, Joe Sakic passed Guy Lafleur on the all-time goals leader-board, and the coup de gras was a scrum that broke out in the end of the game that wound up with Phillipe Sauve coming across the rink to fight David Aebischer!

For those who don't remember/don't know, Phillipe Sauve served as David Aebischer's backup for two seasons before signing with Calgary! It was very reminiscent of the scene in Star Wars where Vader and Obi Wan face off and Vader informs Obi that he was but the learner but now is the master!

YEAH AVS!!!

Rain from the... moon!?

Yesterday it was cloudy on the side of Oahu where my grandparents live, called Kailua by those who name such things, so we decided to drive to the other side of the island to the world famous Waikiki beach.

Upon arriving there we went to a wonderful restaurant called Duke's on the beach where we had drinks and pou pous (pronounced poo poos), which for the non-Hawaiian speaker translates to snacks, not what you might be thinking.

Anyway while sitting there I noticed a few times I felt moisture raining down on my arms and face! It was one of those spectacular cloudless days where the entire sky was blue, but it most definitely began precipating a fine mist! Looking around for the source, I looked straight up and saw only one thing other than the deep blue of the sky... It was... THE MOON!!!!

Apparently I have discovered that the moon does in fact have water and that when directly overhead it may cause rain! Unfortunately this Lunar rain appears to have the same properties as Earth rain, because I do not seem to be imbued with super powers, or suddenly good looking, or any other of the sorts of things that may be caused from an enchanted rain.

Oh well I guess...

New Years Resolutions

Go to bed earlier

End my freshman year of college with a GPA above 3.25 (I would set that higher but I REALLY slacked off this semester)

Actually go to ALL my classes this semester

Ditch my computer more often

Start running again

Start working out again

Play hockey at least once a week

Stay in touch with old friends more often

Smile more often at complete strangers

Make at least one person laugh each day

Stop procrastinating

Become more motivated

Do at least two adventurous things (Skydiving, bungee jumping, white water rafting, etc...)

Learn to dance

Go clubbing at least once

Be less shy and go out more often

Plan more trips with friends (Camping, vacations, hikes, etc.)

Write at least two of my own songs to perform on my guitar

Get over being shy to sing around people with my guitar

Battlefield Hawaii

This New Years I had the great fortune of breaking my 17 consecutive years of New Years celebrations in Colorado with a celebration Hawaiian style! Nothing against my Colorado celebrations but this was unlike anything I've ever experienced.

I felt like I was in a World War II movie the majority of the night as people seemed to be ringing in every New Year around the world by setting off fireworks. It sounded remarkably like the shells and popping that comprise the background track of any Hollywood war movie. I remember being impressed by the fact that the fireworks at 10 pm HST were far superior to anything mustered by Coloradans on even the Fourth of July! I began to anticipate the chaos that must be coming for the actual New Year!

I was NOT disappointed. I was not aware that so many lipstick sized explosive devices had been invented! Every house along the street was doing their part to drive the evil spirits out of Hawaii. There were impressive aerials going off everywhere to a never ending clapping of firecrackers exploding everywhere. The people I rung in the New Year with had several massive boxes of thousands of firecrackers all strung together and capped by a small box of a few hundred firecrackers. When midnight arrived I felt like I was in a CNN video showing a bombardment of Iraq at night. Thick smoke filled the streets and things were exploding everywhere. Flashes in the smoke marked explosions in all directions as I felt the heat wave blast from the thousands of firecrackers exploding in my hosts' display. This went on until around 1:15 or so after the Samoan New Year and tapered off about 1:45.

Amazingly I escaped unscathed! Hau'ole Makahiki Hou!