2012 Christmas Letter

I've had a busy year, so let's get started. It all started on January 1st when I resolved to buy a car. I had lived the first 24 years of my life without owning a car and I figured it was time to grow up and buy a car.

For the first 4 months of the year I worked at Colorado School of Mines doing research on plasmonics. It was a fun job, but eventually we ran out of research money, so on April 30th I said my goodbyes to the ole' Mines campus and went home to figure out what I was going to do. April 30th marked 6 years, 8 months, and 29 days since I first came to Mines -- 4 years as an undergrad, 1 year as a grad, and 1.5 years as a research associate. So it was quite the life change to leave that campus.

The plan was to search for a job like searching for a job was my full time job... That lasted one day. I quickly realized that searching for a job was the last job I would ever want to have, so I decided to just stick with the minimum requirement for unemployment benefits, which is 5 job contacts per week. I set my focus on secondary math teaching jobs, but after sending out many applications without hearing back from any of them, I decided to go for engineering/scientist/technician jobs. Turns out, I had much more response for the field I'm actually qualified for.

But unemployment was more than just job hunting. One application per day does not take a full day, so I took up other things. I taught myself to knit and successfully knit a couple hats. This gave me plenty of time to listen to an audio book of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, which is now one of my all-time favorite books. My mind was very focused on being frugal and self sufficient, so this book was perfect for me. I also started baking my own bread. That bread was so delicious, I could eat at least 5 slices with butter after it came out of the oven. It's a miracle I didn't gain any weight during my 2.5 months of unemployment. I still didn't have a car, so I got enough exercise from my rides out to Golden for church events and other things that I rode my bike to. Being unemployed at the same time as my friend Dave also meant he and I started going on long rides once a week. They were usually at least 30 miles and the longest ride we did was 70 miles.

Right when I fell in love with unemployment I was offered a job to teach math at Colorado Christian University and the next day I accepted the offer. Later that day I received a call from Aerotek, a staffing agency, saying that ITN Energy Systems wanted to hire me and wanted me to start immediately. Well since CCU was an incredibly part time job which would not cover my expenses, I accepted the job at ITN.

So, no more fun, time to work. Now I work for ITN, a research company, trying to develop a thin film battery. I came into the company at a pretty chaotic time, so the first few weeks were very stressful for me, but I eventually got the hang of it. This job has allowed me to learn a lot about batteries, materials, X-ray diffraction, and other things. It's a good job that challenges me and that I enjoy.

Luckily, new jobs come with money, and money helps you buy cars. Cars make some aspects of life simpler and others much less simple. It's nice to be able to drive places, but it's not so nice to have to make expensive repairs, pay for insurance, pay for gas, etc.

So here I am on December 13, 2012 (whew, made it past 12/12/12) and I'm considering whether my life is better than it was a year ago. I think my year was kind of like The Biggest Loser. My 2.5 months of unemployment really taught me about myself. I learned what I needed vs. what I wanted and I made a lot of progress in practicing self-control. But all of a sudden, everything got real plush, real fast, like when the now skinny contestants go back home to where they aren't forced to exercise anymore and the busy demands of life get in the way of their own personal goals. This summer, I had no choice but to practice self-control because if I didn't, my only other option was to fall into becoming a disgusting, lazy slob, without a job. I also had no money, so I had no option but to only buy what I needed. Now that I have a plush job I have a security net to fall back into and I now have the option of letting my personal goals slide. But the fact that I have options reveals my true desires, because I'll only accomplish what I truly desire. So now I am working on answering the question, "Who do I want to become?" And slowly but surely I'm seeing that I want to become the man that God wants me to be.

Rained Out-an excerpt from A Boring Life

The night I have a softball game is the highlight of the week for me. I get to play a dumbed-down version of my favorite childhood game and I get to see several of my friends.

I got a ride to the game because I'm too cheap to have my own car. I keep telling myself that I enjoy riding my bike and the bus everywhere, but it's not entirely true. It's really great riding my bike and the bus under the perfect circumstances, which is about 85% of the time. The other 15% of the time I'm either not enjoying riding my bike or the bus or I'm getting a ride from someone, feeling like I'm a freeloader. But I ignored my feelings of being a freeloader and got a ride to the game.

Driving along the highway we talked about not very much. About the most interesting thing I had to say was that it took 4 hours for my model file to open that afternoon and then my computer ran out of memory. At least I got lots of blog reading done.

I do a lot of blog reading these days. Blogs are so great because you just hop from one subject to the next. They are short and concise and you get some variety. So much variety, you don't have to sit back and think about what you just read. Move right along to the next, completely unrelated, but inspiring, blog! Give it enough time to let you feel good about it, then make sure you read something else instead of really considering what you just read. I've also started reading lots of books and the same thing happens with them. I was chatting with Justin while we were both at work last week.

Justin: maybe do something else besides book studies for awhile maybe if you are doing one after another, it's become as procedural as a day of work or a trip to the gym.


We made it to the softball field and it hadn't started raining yet. The skies looked foreboding. Ten softball tosses with Ken and then the rain started. The girls ran to cover because our softball jerseys are white and the guys joined them soon after. When we decided it wasn't going to get better we all went to Chili's for dinner.

As usual, I complained about their lack of good beer and just ordered food. I should quit complaining about that. Lots of chips, a hatch chili burger, and a molten chocolate cake I shared with Liz 1. My internal commentator noticed that the burger was awesome yet messy and that the cake was tasty, had lame texture, and was too strong. Next time I'll get the cheesecake.

A Humbling Day on the Softball Field.

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On Sunday I realized something--softball and baseball are a lot harder than they look on TV. Baseball used to be what I did all summer long and I was pretty good at it for my age. I figured that I could just pick up a bat, ball, and glove and be just as good as I used to be. Not quite the case. In the process of attempting this, I learned several lessons.

• Bad habits do not go away over time just because you haven't had the opportunity to practice them. In the last 2 years of when I played baseball I started developing a really bad throwing form. It meant that I had little power and quite horrible aim, not to mention looking kind of silly. I thought I could just pick up a ball and I would throw normal again. Well I tried this and still had issues aiming the ball and my throwing speed wasn't superb.
• Baseball and softball actually take a good amount of upper body strength. After practicing for a couple hours, it seemed like every muscle in the upper half of my body was sore. Yeah, I have no upper body strength now.
• Holes in the batters box suck. They sucked back in the day and they still suck. I almost want to bat switch so I don't have to stand in the holes.
• Turns out, I'm actually halfway decent at pitching for slow-pitch softball.
• Fielding ground balls is no where near as easy as the pros make it look. It's hard to keep track of the ball as it bounces back and forth and it's just unnatural to bend down like that to pick it up. I think infield hits happen a lot more in slow-pitch softball than in pro baseball.
• Softball fields are ridiculously small. It takes like 2 seconds to get from one base to the next. Pitching is quite dangerous with how close the pitcher stands to the batter.
• My hitting style is no different from what it was 8 years ago. I was always a lead-off or number 2 hitter and that's pretty much the same way I bat and run today.
• Baseball and softball are still amazingly fun.

Man on Bus Tests Patience of Young Man on Bus

Exactly what the public bus has never looked like in the history of the automobile

Riding the bus is sometimes just really really weird. Today there were no seats on the 16L where I could sit by myself. I saw the pretty girl with curly blonde hair and sat across the aisle from her, next to an old man who looked like he was homeless aside from his lack of a grocery cart. He was looking in my direction as I read The Perfect Storm, so I could tell he was getting ready to say something to me. I kept my headphones in my ear and kept my focus on the book, hoping he wouldn't say anything after all.

He asked about the book I was reading and told me of some series of books he likes but couldn't remember the author. He was the kind of person who acts like he has alcohol in his system even if it's been days since his last drink. His speech was slightly slurred and looked a bit disoriented. He told me a story about when he was building Invesco field and how some Mexicans finished their job really fast...A Zach story. He smelled horrible, but I couldn't pinpoint what the smell was. I assumed it was just really bad breathe because it seemed worse while he was talking. He told me, "I'm sorry I smell so bad. I pissed my pants earlier. It's what happens when you're old." Ugh, gross. I nodded my head and turned back to my book, keeping one headphone in my ear. "How many girls have you been with at the same time?" I kept silent and shook my head. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to just say, 'hey let's go over to your place.' You can get a lot of girls that way." "I don't do that." "It's really easy. I've gotta get off here."

I got up and let him get off. I sat back down where he was sitting and the seat felt warm. Ugh, a man who wet his pants was just sitting here. The seat wasn't wet, but his reek remained. I immediately switched seats and sat where the pretty girl with curly blonde hair had been sitting. Much better.

I love riding the bus, usually, because it gives me a chance to read and just relax. But some people test my patience and my tolerance for poor hygiene.

Con Artist Gets to Celebrate Mardis Gras

As most of you know, I ride the bus from Denver to Golden almost every day. You may also know that weird people live in big cities like Denver. You may also know that one of the best places to find weird people in a city is on the bus. If you are familiar with Denver, you know that the concentration of weird people increases as you approach Colfax. Well, luckily for me, being a weird person enthusiast, I ride the bus that goes all the way down Colfax every day.

I've done my fair share of dropping eaves. I've been informed of more than a couple places to get free weed. I've witnessed drug dealings in the back of the bus. I've seen a crazy woman run like mad at a man in the back of the bus, was topsized by the man, and soon was recognized as one of the man's good friends. I've seen several drunks fall into the arms of an unsuspecting old woman, innocently sitting on the side of the bus. Anyways, I've seen lots of weird people on the bus.

On Sunday morning, I got on the bus to Golden for church. I sat on the left side of the bus, not far from the front. I was just sitting there, listening to my music when a man came up from behind and sat in the seat across the aisle.

Hey man, you know Mardis Gras is coming up and I don't have any beads to wear or anything. Do you have some money you could give me so I can go get some Mardis Gras decorations?

What did you say you needed the money for!?

Mardis Gras decorations.

Sorry man, I'm not going to give you money for Mardis Gras decorations.

---Silence for a few seconds---

I didn't really need the money for decorations. I need it for food.

---The man stuck out his lower lip---

Why didn't you say that in the first place.

I didn't want you to think that I was some drunk.

---Silence...Sad face---

Let me see if I have any money...Here you go.

---No response, no thanks---

---Mexican man walks down the aisle---

Hey man, do you know where the nearest dispensary is?

---Absolutely huge smile on my face. No anger whatsoever. Simply in awe of the man's audacity---

Some lucky con artist is three dollars closer to smoking a bowl for Mardis Gras!

8 Hours In Seattle

At 12:00AM I walked through security with no problems. No frisking, no metal detectors beeping, it was smooth. I put my shoes and my belt back on and waved at my parents who were still waiting for me. 2AM is a pretty typical flight time for flying from Anchorage to the lower 48, so I didn't think much of how busy the airport was. I sat down and read Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison for a while, waiting to get on the plane. They called my name and switched me to a different spot, closer to the front. I think they were having plane balancing issues because they also had other people move to the front just for the take-off, leaving the back of the plane a bit empty. It was weird and I was slightly sketched, but I soon forgot about it because I was tired and I fell asleep before the seat belt light came on.

Seemingly seconds later, I woke up to the pilot giving us our wake-up call. We were already in Seattle. That was one of the nicer flights I've been on.

I bought a ticket that had an 8 hour layover in Seattle, so I had already been thinking about what the heck I'd do for 8 hours. I was mostly excited to get to explore a new city, but it's always a bit intimidating to try to find your way around a brand new city. With little effort I found the light rail station, bought my ticket, and hopped on. The sun was just below the horizon for my ride, so I was able to see my surroundings alright.

It was a nice ride, but the shock-factor left my jaw open for at least 3 minutes while I was sitting there on the train. Now, I knew that Seattle is a rainy city, but I just didn't quite realize the implications. I looked around and saw a lot of trees. Evergreen trees, evidence of a forest that had survived for a very long time, probably because of the abundance of water. I did notice that most of the leaved trees didn't have leaves on them, so that was comforting. But the grass. Surely that was just fake grass. There's no way grass could be so green on December 26th. It was seriously as beautiful as a golf course in May. In my experience, winter is either white or brown (white being AK and brown being Denver), never green. While this left me questioning my entire philosophy on seasons, I found myself in a better mood with all this color.

It wasn't too long before I realized it was Sunday. I was planning on skipping church, since I was kinda far from my church in Golden. I didn't feel at all bad about it. I just didn't know how I was going to keep myself entertained for the entire 8 hours. A memory came out of hiding from a dark corner of my brain. Mars Hill Church is based in Seattle. Since they're a church, they probably have a meeting sometime on Sunday. I could probably go there. Mars Hill Church, if you did not already know, is a quite famous church. It is mostly famous because Mark Driscoll is the pastor there. Because I think he's a good guy, I decided I'd try to go there. Hmm, I didn't have the internet and didn't have any idea where this church was. My first idea was just to ask around. It's a big enough church, surely somebody would know where it was. Then my brain kicked into anti-social gear and I realized how I could find this church. My friend Nathan is famous for his ability to be awake ridiculously early and he can often be found in front of his computer if he's not at work. It was pretty early, so I texted him and got the info I needed. I knew the place was at Western Ave. and Bell St, although I had no idea where this intersection was.

I was starving, so I made my way to Pikes Place Market Center, hoping to find some grub. After walking through the market that had an incredibly strong seafood smell, I found a place across the street that looked like a bakery/coffee shop. Indeed it was a bakery/coffee shop entitled Le Panier-Very French Bakery. It must have been very French because all the stuff was written in French, leaving me very confused about what to order. Overcoming the language barrier I pointed to a pastry that looked like a flat cinnamon roll and said, "I want that one!" Embarrassed by my loud, uneducated exclamation, I sheepishly asked if I should order my latte right there or next to the espresso machine. Well I got my pastry and my latte, making sure I tipped them well as an attempt to excuse my ignorance. Surely they were thinking, He may be stupid, but at least he's generous. The pastry and the latte were both amazing. If you go to Seattle, make sure you go there. Since I had spent $6.00 at this place I figured I was entitled to some time to just sit at the table and read for a while. I did this for a while and then left around 9:05, hoping to find that church.

My hopes of finding the church were very low. I started just walking around aimlessly, hoping to find Western and Bell. I got to the end of the market and looked out to Puget Sound from the park. I hadn't heard the sound of sea gulls in probably 3 or 4 years and just hearing them lifted my spirits, reminding me of the good ole' days when I worked in Anchorage during the summer. I turned around and kept walking down the street. Happening to glance at the street sign, I noticed that I was at Western Avenue! Well I'll be darned. I was not expecting to actually ust walk up to the right street. I had a 50/50 chance of Bell St. being north or south. I chose north and continued to walk in that direction. Seeing an Asian girl walking the opposite way, I worked up the courage to ask her if she knew where Bell St. This was a huge risk, because, for all I knew, Bell street could be miles away. "It's 2 blocks north of here." Are you serious? How could I just randomly walk to the right place? Sure enough it was right there-the Mars Hill Church Downtown Campus, just a half block away from Western and Bell. I went in, sang the familiar songs, and listened to the sermon. It was good stuff about Jesus' title, Prince of Peace. Then I left.

I had already gone a little ways north, so I figured I'd go to the Space Needle. I was hardly interested in seeing it, but I was quite bored and had nothing to do, so I walked all the way there. Geekfest was of course happening nearby at the science fiction museum. It was about as exciting as I was expecting to see the space needle, that excitement level being hardly even interested in looking up.

It was 11:30, so I figured I could walk back and find some lunch somewhere. This ended up being a pointless walk in random directions around downtown. I found some places that looked interesting near the market, but due to the chaos that was ensuing, I did not stop at any of them. I just kept walking and walking. I got to the area of town that's basically a really really big mall on every single block in all directions. This part of town just seemed phony, like it was just a bunch of phonies pretending to be rich. All the food places around there were either too nice or nothing unique to Seattle. After probably walking a mile around the phony part of Seattle I went back to the touristy part of Seattle (the market) to find a place I was actually interested in. I went to Michou Castillanos for a flat bread sandwich and it was superb. I strolled around the market for another 15 minutes, observed the chaos, then left, figuring it was time to catch the light rail.

I caught the light rail, made it back to the airport, successfully went through security, watched some NFL, took a nap, then flew back to Denver. It was definitely a fun day out and I learned some valuable lessons. Seattle is very green. Seattle is completely obsessed with Starbucks-I'm pretty sure they have a Starbucks on every single street corner. Pikes Place Market is my favorite part of Seattle so far. French people know how to make good pastries and coffee.

What did I go downstairs for?

I was really proud of myself. I bought all my gifts a whole two weeks ahead of time on Amazon, intending to ship them to Eagle River, where I could pick them up, wrap them, then put them under the tree. It was all planned out. My cleverness amazed me.

On the plane to Alaska I started thinking about how slow the USPS is. I had ordered the gifts 2 days before I left, but I would surely get to Eagle River at least 3 days before they actually arrived. It takes extra long to ship things to Alaska because the USPS is jealous that Alaskans get the PFD. They slow down shipments just to spite the Alaskans. Even though the USPS hates Alaskans, I was not concerned because I ordered the gifts so far in advance.

Sitting in the comfort of my family's black leather couches, listening to my brother playing the guitar, I basked in the glory of how little preparation I had to do before Christmas. Christmas is great, but I usually find myself working really hard getting ready for Christmas by decorating, buying gifts, practicing music, performing music, etc. But this year, I was truly getting to experience the vacation.

Somebody mentioned going shopping the next day, so I had trouble wiping the smirk from my mouth. I thought, my gifts should be here any day. I even got the confirmation email that one of them was shipped the day I left Colorado. Wait, I only got one of those emails, not two. Immediately panicking, I ran over to the computer and pulled up amazon.com and looked at my previous orders. One undisclosed object had been shipped a few days ago and another undisclosed object was scheduled to ship on September 1st. Yes, the September 1st that occurs in a little over 8 months. This was no good. It must have been some kind of pre-order deal that I couldn't get immediately. I cancelled the order and accepted the fact that I'd have to go find the gift at a store in Anchorage. Oops.

Back in the living room, playing Bach's Prelude to The Well Tempered Clavichord, I started thinking. The music was well-tempered, as the title stuggests, but my mind was in turmoil. Where did I ship that gift that was shipped a few days ago? I don't remember entering my family's address. I was so stressed that I stopped the song on the second to last note, which is just begging for the tonic, if you know what I mean. That second to last note was on it's hands and knees, pleading for conclusion, and I just completely left it hanging because I was so worried that I didn't ship the gift to the right address. Running back to the computer, I pulled up Amazon.com again and noticed something horrible. The package had arrived...in Denver...and I was in Alaska, which is over 3,000 miles away driving.

There it was before my eyes. The perfect plan had completely gone to waste. All my joy for having thought ahead of time was simply blissful ignorance. Not only would I have to buy one gift, but I'd have to buy two gifts. I'd be able to return the gift that was sent to my house in Denver, but would not get to continue to bask in my perfect Christmas shopping. It really wouldn't be that difficult to ship it to the right address, but I messed it up anyway. In a moment of excitement, I spaced on changing the shipping address.

Here's where I could say, "I can't believe I was so stupid!" But I won't say that. No, not because I'm a positive thinker. Not because I genuinely believe I'm really really smart. But because I already know I'm that stupid. I forget things like that all the time.

A few weeks ago I told a friend I would go to her concert. I really wanted to go and was excited about it, so I mentioned it to her the day before. Whaddayouknow? I forgot it and didn't show up.

When I was a freshman at Mines I was in the band and we had a spring concert in May. Well, I had dinner that night, played some Battlefield, and the next thing you know, I remembered I had a concert that night. It was 9:00 by the time I remembered this and the concert started at 7:00. Yes, I forgot our one and only concert that I had been practicing for for several weeks.

As a teenager I would be upstairs doing something and go downstairs to do something. I would go down there and 80% of the time I would forget what I had gone downstairs for.

I also had a very common habit of putting the milk in the cabinet and the peanut butter in the fridge. I also remember looking for a nice, unbroken plate one day and found it in the trash can where I had put it a few hours prior.

It's a good thing to be spacey sometimes. I'm glad my brain doesn't work perfectly. People who's brains work perfectly annoy me. They read into your vocal stumblings, thinking that you're hiding something from them. If you accidentally say that you're going to the store tomorrow when you really meant you're going in two days, they think that you're being secretive about your shopping. Being spacey is nice when things don't matter that much.

But being spacey is really annoying when people are depending on you. When you're really trying to be responsible and help the people who need you and you just space it, making yourself look like a jerk or a complete fool. This is frustrating. It's also just embarrassing when you forget something and those people with perfect brains just slam you down on the floor with their awesomeness.

My forgetfulness is sometimes funny and sometimes frustrating, but it reminds me that I'm a human living with a bunch of other humans...and a few robots who never make mistakes.

1 Day With a Grateful Heart

A blog that I randomly found a while back, and now keep up with every day, is doing this thing called "30 days with a grateful heart," which means she's going to write a blog post every day for a month about something she's thankful for. And she invited her readers who write blogs to do the same thing. I don't know if I'm going to do very many of these, but here's at least "1 day with a grateful heart."

My Wonderful Job

I have a really cool job. It's one that has the potential to make a lot of people jealous, I think. The reason it's cool is because I get to study physics every single day. For me, there is nothing more interesting than physics. The whole reason I majored in physics was simply because I think physics is really really interesting. That's it. And now that I'm done with school it means that I get to keep studying physics every single day. Just the fact that my job is to study physics makes it a great job.

It's also one of the best work atmospheres I could ask for. I get to be a part of a research group where I have professors, research faculty (like me), and students all collaborating to be successful on several projects at a time. It's good to collaborate because some of the guys in the group are ridiculously smart, but can't do an experiment if their life depended on it. There are also guys like me who are less smart, but actually know how to do experiments pretty well. This way I don't have to be as smart as I should be and they don't have to have steady hands like I have. Also, it's just a fun group. We pick on each other and have fun at our meetings. All 7 of us young guys go out to lunch every week and it's just fun to have guys who are both coworkers and friends.

The pay is "amazing." Now, many people would say that the pay is quite low, but it's my highest paid job I've ever had, so it's A-okay. I get paid enough to pay for rent, lots of food, bus pass, student loan payments, cell phone, fun, and there is more than enough for me to be able to save up for a big expensive bike ride next summer. I'm very thankful for how well I can get along with the amount I get paid.

Just the security of having a job is incredibly comforting. I went to an interview for what I thought was a research faculty job at Denver University yesterday. I was excited at the possibility of the job because the research was incredibly interesting and I had hopes that the pay would be higher than what I get paid at Mines. At the end of the interview I asked how much the pay would be and he said that he could only hire me as a grad student. That was quite a let-down. Since I was only about 5% interested in more school, I declined his offer to go to dinner and left. This was disappointing, but I am so thankful to already have a job at Mines. This misunderstanding would have been devastating if I was at the point of desperately needing a job. But since I do have a job, I'm able to see this as having better direction on where I should go. That direction being to stay at Mines for a while longer. Maybe I can get some papers published and maybe, just maybe, I can become a lecturer at Mines someday. Who knows what could happen, but I'm just thankful to have my job at Mines.

Christmas Letter

I've never written a Christmas letter before, so I'm just going to have to give you a summary of my entire life. It's gonna be a long one...just kidding. The past year has been an interesting one. There have been lots of changes in my life-all of which have been very good. Where to start?

Well I was officially tired of school last year on September 1st, which was only a couple weeks after the first day of the school year. This meant that I had almost exactly one year of school left to pound out, while all the while being ready to get out of Mines. So I did my work, took some interesting classes, nearly died because of those interesting classes, researched all summer long, wrote my 70 page thesis, gave a 45 minute presentation, answered a bunch of easy questions, turned in my thesis and I was done. I couldn't believe it. All I had known for the past 19ish years of my life was school (if you really count pre-school as school). This meant I had to grow up.

I saved a lot of money during grad school, so I had aspirations of working on a ranch in Mexico for room and board for a month after finishing my thesis. This fell through because I moved to a Mexican neighborhood, which I felt was enough of an adventure for now. Yes, I moved to a new house in Denver and am curiously a minority in my neighborhood. I now live in the basement of a family's house. The family consists of a mama, an hija, an hijo, and a papa that occasionally comes over. I absolutely love my new home and they have become my second family.

Upon arriving in Denver, I was met with a most unfortunate event-my bike was stolen. This was a sad day for me. Turns out parking a nice bike on a less-than-nice road in Denver at night isn't the best idea. Knowing how much of a pain life is without a bike, I immediately started looking on craigslist for a "new" bike. I found the bike of my dreams-a Bianchi Campione, made in the 80s for $100. This new road bike has inspired me to ride around town a whole lot more because it is quite fast and is a very fun ride.

After finishing my thesis, I needed somewhere to ride my bike. For a couple weeks I just sat at home all day, playing guitarra and watching baseball. Thankfully, I was offered a job at Mines, which meant I would have an excuse to ride my bike to Golden occasionally. At this proposal I thought, "Wow, I can't get out of this place." But I took the job and now work at Mines doing similar research to what I did in grad school. That research is integrated optics/photonics. I build optical devices on microchips that do fancy things and test them to see how well they work. The main project I'm currently working is essentially to make a really fancy pixel for a really fancy camera. It's a wonderful job because I'm friends with the other guys in the research group and as far as jobs go, it's just a pretty fun, relaxed, and interesting one. This is a semi-temporary job though, so I'm still looking for another job to help pay off those student loans. So if you know anybody who does physicsy stuff, tell them to give me a job.

I joined First Baptist Church of Golden over the summer. I'm teaching the young adults Sunday school class and I'm learning a lot through it. I'm realizing that I really enjoy teaching, although it is quite difficult for me. Every week I feel like I learn a ton about about the passage that we're covering because I spend several hours beating my head against it (literally). I also get humbled due to lack of preparation sometimes. But overall, it has been great and I'm very excited to be a part of the ministry at First B (as the cool people call it).

Now the romance section. I'm not dating anyone and I have not married anyone in the past year.

Now hobbies. Since I now live 13.5 miles from work, I ride the bus most days. This makes for a good 35-40 minutes twice a day where I have nothing to do. Those times when you have nothing to do force you to take up hobbies that are completely unnatural to your personality and do not match your abilities. I am a very slow reader, but this large gap of time forced me to start reading. Due to extreme boredom, I taught myself to read on the bus (I used to get sick), and now I read every day. That's right, I am now a "reader." I've read several good books recently including the Ender's series by Card, Gulliver's Travels by Swift (Jonathan, not Taylor), Meditations on the Word and the Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Miller, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, and more. This is the highest number of books I've ever read in a year, I think. My other hobby is riding my bike to and from work when I have the motivation. Another hobby I have taken up is watching tv, which is sports 95% of the time. I played a ton of disc golf for half the year, but haven't played in the past several months.

Now you know what the heck I've done for the past 12 months. Make sure you bust out those Christmas tunes. And don't you dare listen to the corny ones (the ones with Santa Claus) except perhaps upon threat of death.

Merry Thanksgiving

For a thanksgiving post, I have 3 different options.

1. Write about what I'm thankful for
2. Talk about how much I love food, specifically pumpkin and pecan pie
3. Rant about spending the holiday away from home every year since I moved to CO

I'll have some self control and take the first option.

August of 1993 I moved to a new life in AK. August of 2005 I moved to Colorado. August of 2010 I moved to a new life in Denver. I'm very glad I can move on to a new life. Over the past few months I have loved life. I've been able to finally forget about the "traumatic," but not really, thing that happened to me last September. And I've had a quiet enough life to have time to just sit back and appreciate life. It's really nice to have the freedom to have a fresh, new start and to just live a brand new life. So I'm thankful for being able to move on to a new life.

Along with moving to a new life I'd like to mention that I absolutely love the new place I live. If you didn't know I live in a basement of a family's house. A mom, a 7 year old girl, and a 1 year old boy live upstairs. I've become very close to them. The Mama is a close friend of mine now and I feel like the kids are my niece and nephew. They have showed me what a young family should look like and how sad it is that there are so many fathers who are absolute failures and some who just aren't around much. I'm learning a lot from them and they are very encouraging to me because I could not stand living by myself.

And the usuals: Food, my Bianchi, my bus pass, coffee, the heater, my blankets, my guitarra, my job that pays me more than I've ever been paid, my church, my family, etc.

Merry Thanksgiving to all and to all a good day!

Livin' in da Ghetto

Some people would say I live in a ghetto neighborhood. Some people would say that we have a gang problem in our neighborhood. Some people would say it's a dangerous neighborhood. Well I say, those people are right!

It's a ghetto neighborhood, when you compare it to most of Golden. The streets aren't well kept, lots of people don't have pristine yards because there isn't a nit-picky neighborhood union that makes sure everything is perfect. There's lots of barking dogs in the neighborhood, mostly Chihuahuas, which in my opinion are the best guard dog ever because they bark like crazy every single time someone comes within 10 feet of the fence. Most of the cars you see aren't Lexii (Plural for Lexus). Everyone has a 2000 pickup or a 95 Caravan...so ghetto. You buy meat at the Carcineria or bread at the Panaderia or candy at the Dulcineria and they actually give you a 3 cent discount on your Barbacoa (goat head) because it costed $4.03. People just aren't picky enough there. They don't realize that living the American dream means having your perfect house, perfect yard, and doing your darndest to make sure your neighbors have the same, so as not to make you look bad. It's so ghetto. I can't believe it.

It has a horrible gang problem too when you compare it to pre-school. I've seen probably like 4 or 5 cars that are all sooped up with either the wheels that look too big for the SUV or wheels that look too small for the SUV. Those people are undoubtedly in a gang. Guys'll get on the bus and see one of their gang friends and give them a high-five (Dame cinco if they're speaking spanish) followed by a fist pound. Gangstas, the lot of 'em. I'll be riding my bike from Colfax to my house and see like 7 young men just sitting around on their porch. Oh, they're just friends, hanging out, shootin' the breeze, you say...No these are surely gangsters because I heard that the neighborhood near Federal has gangs and it's just not normal for people to be spending time with each other like that. You always see people sitting on their chairs on their porch. They say hi to their neighbors and smile, but they're really out there, making sure no gangsters come and catch them unawares inside their house.

It's dangerous too when you compare it to a foam padded room. People drive fast on 25mph roads, causing all kinds of unsightful (or is it unhearingful) noise. Some nit-pick really should talk to the city of Denver and get a noise ban after 7:00 pm because all of us people want to be able to sit inside our houses and watch our MTV in peace and quiet. The neighborhood is so dangerous that I heard a guy talking at a Habitat for Humanity project saying that his friends refused to come work on a house with 10 other people for the day because they were just too afraid they might get shot or something like that. People just fear for their lives when they come to my neighborhood.

People exaggerate and it doesn't matter to me because I love my neighborhood.

On a lighter note...

I want to give a shout-out to whoever's reading my blog from Denmark. Go Denmark for being the coolest country starting with the letter D! Yes, I think you're even cooler than Djibouti. Sorry, Master D.

Greyhounds and a Few Sobering Conversations.

Photo: Photgraph of Dallas lights when I figured out how to change the exposure time on my camera.

I've done something different every spring break during college. Freshman year I stayed in Golden and played Battlefield 2 the entire time. Sophomore year I took a bus to Mississippi to see my sister and brother in law. Junior year I can't remember what I did. Senior year I went to Moab Utah and did some great mountain biking. Grad school year I stayed in Golden and spent a lot of time with friends including a trip with Bryant to Boulder to tour some breweries. Sophomore year was the most memorable spring break, however. Riding the greyhound is sketchy enough when nothing goes wrong and it's outright ridiculous if anything crazy does happen like it did sophomore year.

I'm not sure what inspired me to go, but I had the money and figured, what the heck. Why not go. Kalen gave me a ride to the bus station in Denver. I had no idea how greyhounds worked. I didn't know where my bus was or even what the procedure for getting on it was. I started waiting in line. Just a line. I didn't know what it was for except it looked like they were getting on a bus. After standing there for a good 10min I asked the lady next to me where the bus was going and she said it was going to Minneapolis! Where's my bus! I finally "asked for directions" from a greyhound employee and he told me that the bus was about to leave and I'd better hurry over there. I ran through the door and found a bus outside already running and it was almost completely loaded with luggage. I quickly thanked God and gave them my bag and got on.

I walked down the aisle, looking for somewhere to sit. All the seats had 2 people in them except for a few. I chose a seat next to a tall Mexican man, expecting I might get to have a conversation with him and practice my Spanish. I really like speaking Spanish, but I kind of suck at it even after studying it for 3 years in high school. I can read quite well, but when it comes to comprehending words or getting the person to understand what the heck I'm saying, I'm pretty lost. Well after an hour or so, I decided to ask the man where he was going. Here's how the conversation went.

Where are you going? Huh? No Ingles. A donde vas? Que? Aaa Doondeee vaaass? Dallas. Vives in Dallas? Si. Que haces para trabajo en Dallas? ***Some spanish I didn't understand*** Muy bien. Tienes una familia alla? Si. Tienes ninos? Si. Cuantos anos tienen? Tres y ocho. Muy bien...

Translation: Where are you going? Huh? No English. Where are you going? What? Wheeeerrreee Aaarreee Yooouuu Goooiiinnnggg? Dallas. Do you live in Dallas? Yes. What do you do for work in Dallas? *** Some spanish I Did not Understand *** Cool. You have a family there? Yes. Do you have kids? Yes. How old are they? Three and eight. Cool...

I don't always have the best of luck when I try to talk to people...much less when it's in Spanish. That was our entire conversation. I tried, but saw that I was failing and he had no intention to have a conversation with me. I was looking forward to Dallas for a new seat partner to maybe strike up a conversation with. Unfortunately, we were stuck in Amarillo, that God-forsaken city.

We were there for 2 hours when we were only supposed to be there for 45min. I knew that I only had a 30min layover in Dallas, so there'd be no way to catch my connection there. Everyone at the bus station was mad. Some lady with 3 little kids was crying and I asked her what was wrong. Her ride had bailed out on her, so she was stuck at this horrible bus station at 2 in the morning with 3 upset kids. I offered her my cell phone to make a call, but she didn't need it. Her sister would pick her up at 7am. Poor lady.

We finally got back on the bus...they told us they had been cleaning the bus and the cleaners took longer than they were expecting. Sure. I got on and realized that someone had stolen my Sony Walkman cd player. Sad day. I should have known better than to leave it in my seat. At least they didn't steal my cds, which were and still are precious to me.

We got to Dallas at 8am. I was mildly impressed too. I mean, compared to the rest of Texas that I had seen while the sun was up. Wow that's a boring state when you're on whatever road I was on. And the fact that texans love texas was even more firmly nailed into my head after witnessing countless front yard texas flags and a trailer painted with the texas flag. But Dallas looked kind of interesting. I was looking forward to walking around.

I ended up walking around town for a good 2 hours because I knew I had about 4 hours before my new bus was going to leave. I saw a bunch of sky scrapers and found a Chipotle. I love Chipotle's burritos and I was a bit homesick after having driven through a wasteland, so I bought myself a steak burrito with black beans, fajitas, green chili, pico, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. So delicious. I was bored of walking around, so I went back to the bus station where I had locked up my bags. I decided I wanted something out of them, so I unlocked them and sat down, watching CNN.

A man walked up to me and asked me if I was a Christian. Yes. I knew it. How'd you know I was a Christian? I could smell it on you. You have the reek of a Christian...He just stood there, looking at me for 30 seconds. Is there anything I can do for you? Where are you from? Colorado. Have you ever heard of _____ (Some pastor that raped a child and I can't remember who). No I hadn't heard of him, but that's horrible. He's a hypocrite just like all you Christians... Yeah, Christians are often hypocrites.

He kept talking to me for a good hour. Mostly about Christianity. He hated how hypocritical Christians are and he said that he might believe in Christianity if it wasn't for his dad. His dad had raped him when he was a child and claimed to be a "Devout Christian." His dad taught him not to sin and to believe in Jesus, but he was a terrible, abusive father. He completely destroyed this man's view of Christianity, but the rest of the Christians in the world hadn't helped their reputation much. I was sad and tried to convince him that Christians aren't perfect and mess up sometimes and all that nonsense that's just a bunch of excuses. He was tired of me trying to convince him away from something that had already been completely proven to him, that Christians are hurtful hypocrites, not worth being around. So he left me. He told me never to tell anyone about him and I lied to him and said I wouldn't.

He was right. We are hypocrites. We really don't live like Jesus did. So few people have a problem with Jesus. In fact most people really like Jesus. It's Christians they don't like. I had nothing to think about. Nothing in my mind needed to be processed because all I could think was Wow. It was such a convicting conversation for me. I had nothing that I could argue to prove to him that Christianity is good. I started to realized that yeah, we really do more harm than good a lot of the time. It's sad. I still think about that man regularly because it was such a convicting experience for me, making me realize that it's not acceptable to say, Christians mess up every once in a while, just like everyone else. If we identify ourselves by the word Christian, which means Little Christ, then we are identifying ourself to a much higher calling than one that just gives excuses for mistakes.

Anyways, I finally left Dallas at whenever I left. I was in a bad mood after that conversation and really hoped I had a seat partner that just didn't say a word the entire time. I sat down next to a lady, who happened to be from Colombia. Oh great, I'm gonna try to speak Spanish again and fail...again. Thank God she spoke fluent English. I found out she was a high school spanish teacher. She was a really nice lady. She was about 35 years old and was maybe a little chubby, but pretty attractive. She was going to see her fiancé (or fiancee? whichever is masculine) in Jackson, MS. Nice! I'll have a good seat partner all the way to Jackson! We only talked occasionally. Both of us were sleepy, so I slept most of the way there. She said goodbye to me from across the parking lot when Sarah and Lance picked me up at 4am.

The time in Mississippi was good. It was enjoyable and relaxing. Sarah and I drove to Atlanta to visit our Grandmother. I had the pleasure of explaining special relativity to Sarah on the drive because she wanted to know. I wasn't just rambling about physics on my own. So the trip was good and I left Mississippi on Friday.

The trip back wasn't quite as eventful as the trip to MS, but I had the pleasure of sitting next to the creepiest of creepers from Jackson to Dallas. Some guy from Alaska was rambling about how amazing Alaska is behind us (sound familiar, people who know me?) and The Creeper next to me started mumbling something. This guy better shut the &#%@ up or I'm gonna turn around and stab him right in the gut. He was playing with his knife in his lap, flipping it open and shut, gripping it very tightly. Needless to say, this made me uncomfortable. Again, I couldn't wait for Dallas.

We got to Dallas and left after a 45min layover and this time I got to sit next to a nun. She kept handing me these newspaper articles that I should read and pamphlets and all kinds of stuff. You'd think that she was giving me literature about Catholicism, but it was just random stuff. I never read any of it, but it was all just really stupid, boring stuff. She was kind of weird, but much better than The Creeper.

I started to get tired of the New Mexican landscape. Yeah, it's not completely boring like texas, but all the mesas and brownness was uninteresting after a while. I made it back to Denver that evening and I was incredibly happy to be home. Greyhounds make for interesting experiences, but I was pretty tired of that experience.

Someday, perhaps, I'll write about my other spring break "adventures," which are all pretty boring except the Moab one and the mysterious Junior year one that I can't remember.

A Routine Morning Gone Awesome

What a morning. Have you ever had one of those mornings that are just epicly crazy? Well mine was pretty crazy. It all started at 5:00AM...

I woke up in a panic because of the terrified screams coming from upstairs. My heart started pounding really fast and I just wondered what was going on up there. This whole episode didn't last very long though because I soon heard The Mama's voice calming The Kids down. I'm pretty sure I was only awake for maybe 30 seconds and I fell asleep really fast for the last 45 min I had to sleep. Adventure #1 of the day.

I ate my Quaker Oats granola like I do every single day with 2% milk, which is so much better than the skim milk I drank through most of my childhood. I went downstairs and read my Bible while drinking my coffee, sitting in the green rocking chair downstairs like I do every single day. I read a chapter in Proverbs about The Adulteress and it was pretty epic. I went upstairs after 2 cups of coffee to take my shower like I do every day and The Mama told me that the bathtub wasn't draining too well today. No biggie, I spent most of my childhood using a shower that persistently wouldn't drain right. So I took my shower, flossed and brushed my teeth just like I do every single day.

I went back downstairs at 6:45, the same time I go downstairs every single day, and threw my clothes in my laundry basket. I heard water from above me and didn't think too much of it because I can hear water in the pipes pretty well from my room. But the water wasn't in the pipes this time. The water was dripping down on top of my TV cabinet and it started coming out really fast! I quickly unplugged everything and took all the electronics from the cabinet and put them on my bed. I grabbed my trash can to catch all the water because a lot had already fallen down to the carpet. I cleared the immediate area of all items that were getting wet, including all my shoes, my bike gear, my hats, etc. I took out one of my plastic drawers, emptied it, and placed it on the cabinet for a larger container to hold all the water. I noticed there was a pool of water in my closet too and there was water dripping down inside a sub-closet within the closet. I put my trash can inside there to catch that water and then heard more water dripping down from a different location in my room, through the ceiling tiles. I got a third trashcan that we use to put lint in to catch that water. I started using my towel to sponge all the water from my closet into one of my plastic water catchers, then once all the water was cleaned up and the water quit dripping, I dried off the cabinet, slid it across the room, and set up some fans to dry off the carpet while I was gone. Adventure #2 of the day.

I knew I had missed the normal 16L bus that I would normally ride to Golden every day, so I went ahead and left the house, in hopes to catch the next 16L. I was feeling lazy so I put my bike on the 1 for a quick ride up to Colfax. This takes the same amount of time as biking, but takes less energy on my part (I very rarely do this). Got to Colfax and waited for the 16L. It got there just a few minutes late and I saw that 2 bikes were already on the bike rack on the front. I asked the driver if there was room in the back and their wasn't. I used to get really ticked off whenever this happened, but I have realized it's not worth getting mad. Just wait for the next bus and accept getting to work a little late. Instead of waiting for the 16L, I decided to try to get on the 16, which only goes part of the way down Colfax to Simms, then turns off colfax. Well the 16 was full too and had no room for my bike and after having my old Specialized stolen a few months ago, I was not willing to just lock up my Bianchi.

As soon as the driver told me this, I started riding along Colfax towards golden. The 16 is really slow because it has more stops, so I was doing a decent job keeping up with it. I realized that I could just keep up with the bus till the people with bikes took theirs off. Brilliant idea! So I did this and it was pretty easy to keep up. Passed Sheridan, passed Wadsworth, still keeping up with the bus, but the 2 bikes were still on there. Are you serious! I started having thoughts of actually getting all the way to Simms before the bus had room for my bike. I was ahead of the bus and I got to Garrison. I saw the bus pass me and saw that there was one spot for a bike! There were people at the next stop that would stop the bus, so I could catch up and get on. Oh wait, there's a man with a bike at that stop and he's not going to let me just ride up and put my bike on the bus. Dang it! Oh well. I kept riding and realized I was getting dangerously close to Simms and I was still keeping up with the bus. Well the bus passed me a few blocks before Simms and I didn't catch up in time to ride it one block to get to Simms, only to get off and wait for the 16L.

I got to Simms and decided that I was tired and called RTD to see when the next 16L was coming and it was coming in only 10min, so I decided to wait. I had enough exercise for the morning and if I could get on this bus, it would get me to work before 9. As soon as I hung up, while I was still straddling my bike, I heard a man yell from behind me.

Hey! You damn near beat the bus all the way to Simms! Yeah, I kept up with him for a while. Well, good job.

Boy, that made my day! I kept up with the bus for 5.2 miles. Take that, RTD!
Adventure #3 for the day.

P.S. Oh parents, please forgive me for cussing. It was needed to get the point across.

Song of the Day: You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne

No Car For Young Man

Left: My Specialized Rockhopper that got me through college. She was stolen in August.

Right: My Bianchi Campione Fixie that I now ride everywhere I go.

The car-free life came to me by accident. I was practically an international student since my home is further than Canada and it's hard to bring much of anything to college when you're from that far away. I brought a bike, guitar, trumpet, books, and clothes. Everything else has been accumulated since I moved to Colorado (which isn't that much really). I couldn't afford to buy a car since every year of college I survived off of summer job money and the money my parents were able to give to me.

Inconvenient Truth

Over the years in college I kept on saying, I'll probably buy a car next year because it's really inconvenient to not have a car. It really was inconvenient. I couldn't get to school and back just fine since I never lived further than 2.5 miles from campus, but I felt so limited in doing anything else. This included going to church, picking up groceries, going out with friends, skiing, going out to eat, you get the idea.

Independence=Hatred of Dependence

I was always very fortunate to have friends who would loan me their cars whenever I needed them. As you can imagine, it was kind of annoying borrowing cars though. I felt bad about free-loading off of them and the thing I hated the most was that I could not be independent. Independence is the reason I am so glad I have a bike. I really hate being so dependent on other people. It makes me feel irresponsible, cheap, and poor. So the way that I avoided this feeling was to try my hardest to always ride my bike places, unless it was completely convenient for somebody else to give me a ride. I would ride my bike at 2 in the morning coming home from friends' houses, ride when it was pouring rain, or blowing wind at 30 mph in the opposite direction. Thankfully I could draft with Z-dub often when I had to practically ride through a wind tunnel called South Golden Road to get to school.

Where'd all this money come from?

After a while, I started to realize that I kept putting off buying a car. When I became a grad student I finally realized that I didn't really want a car and that I'd just wait till I got a real job before I started seriously looking for a car. My method of saving money has always been just to not spend money that much and after a while I'll look in my account and see a bunch of money in there that I accidentally saved up. Not having a car is great for this method of saving money. As a grad student, I made more than enough money for my living situation, so you can imagine that the money in my account quickly piled up. I mean I spent $287.50 on rent, like $25 on utilities, and however much on food. Grad students get paid really well if you're single, in my opinion, especially when you include tuition.

Why's my heart beating so slow?

In addition to the large amount of money I was saving, riding a bike kept me in decent shape. I rode everywhere, so I was always exercising at least a little bit. Recently, since I moved to Denver, I've started riding more miles per day, sometimes having to ride to or from Golden (like 14 miles). And I tested my resting heart rate last night and it was at 48bpm! This is the best RHR I've had in a very long time and the only exercise I ever do is ride my bike places and volleyball every other week (which is not very intense exercise). So I'm really happy that biking everywhere is contributing to my health.

Those are the 2 main reasons I am very happy that I live without a car. Some side reasons I like it are that bikes and buses have very low pollution, bikes are easy to repair, bikes are a ton of fun (especially fixies), buses are great for reading and meeting really weird people, and I'm forced to do a lot of planning ahead of time and manage my time well. Yes it is inconvenient sometimes, but I haven't been overwhelmed by the inconveniences yet, so I am enjoying the life.

Song of the Day: Leave by Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Thoughts for the night 'bout the adventure that pursued

-Weird, the bus is at least 10 min late or was over 10min early...

-I'll try out the new bike route that I planned on google maps

-I sure hope google maps is right...

-Nope, google maps wasn't right...NREL likes their high security driveway...

-Oh crap! There's a man wearing minimal clothing standing at his doorway, staring at me...I should turn around...

-I sure hope my memory of the route doesn't fail me...

-Ugh, now that I thoroughly explored this neighborhood I realize my memory failed me...but it's back!

-Please God, let Denver West Pkwy turn into 20th...

-Thank you, God!

-Google Maps should really have an elevation graph that goes with your directions cuz I wasn't expecting this steep hill...

-Ok, turn right on Garrison...

-Oh wait, I haven't been watching for Garrison...

-Aaaah why are there 6 streets in a row that start with the letter G?!

-Missed Garrison...hmm what's the next road that would go all the way through?...

-Oh oh there's Carr! that one goes pretty far. I'll turn here...

-Blast you 6th avenue!!!!!

-Oh, good ole' 10th avenue...

-Darn, 10th stops at some country club...Oh wait, there's a bike detour that goes along a creepy side walk...

-I hope I don't get murdered on this creepy side walk with 6 foot bushes on either side...

-Please God, Please God, Please God, Please God, Please God, Please God...

-Thank you, God. Thank you, God...Hmm I should probably thank God as many times as I said Please, God...

-10th is a dirty road...why do they have to use so much sand in the winter and not sweep it all up?...

-Aah Sheridan, I'm tired of this adventure. Time to bite the bullet and ride down the bumpy sidewalk to 1st...

-Never!!! This adventure's not done!!! I still have yet to see if 10th makes it all the way to Knox! Forget Sheridan...

-Aah, Money Gram place. Such a sweet familiar sight...

-Oh, I the longer I've been riding, the more these thoughts have actually been me talking out loud...Oh well...

-6th Avenue, my arch nemesis!!!! I've defeated you this time...

-Aah, sweet Irving Street...

-I should write down all my thoughts I had while riding here before I forget them all...

-I should write something saying, "In anticipation of all you people who are going to comment, 'Jon, you could have called me and I'dve (best contraction ever!) given you a ride,' I'm glad I rode my bike home. It was an adventure."

-I think I might just work from home tomorrow since it's 12:27...

-I should go to bed...

Check out the sweet route I took

Getting Hit by a Car...last year

I was reading through some documents that I wrote in the past and I came across this one that I wrote on October 21, 2008. I thought it was an interesting read so here it is:

It is a humbling experience when you get run into by a car while you are riding a scooter. Last night I was coming home from writing a paper at school and I ran right through a stop sign without slowing down. I saw a car coming from the left and the only thing I was thinking was, I hope I can get across the street before that car, because it as too late to stop. Typically I will slow down for that stop sign but not stop. This time I wanted to just fly through it because the next section is really fun if you go fast. I even thought that I could hear a car but thought that it couldn’t be because I didn’t see the light from the headlights.

Time seemed to slow down as soon as I saw that car coming towards me. I have heard that in stressful times, your brain will go at faster rate, making it seem like everything is going slower.

It was soo stupid of me to do that. I ran that stop sign just for fun and I was not being careful at all. The car hit me and pushed me to the right for about 5-7 feet. My body started falling towards the ground as the car continued to push me and I started going under it. Thank the Lord that the car stopped right before my body went under the tires. I was wedged as far back in the car as I could without being under the tires.

Immediately, the driver came running out of the car asking me if I was ok. As she asked me questions I pulled my body out from under the car. I had trouble responding to her. I could only get 2 or 3 words out at a time. I don’t fully understand why I couldn’t talk but I guess it had something to do with the shock. The driver kept asking me questions about how I felt, if I could talk, etc. Some people who lived in a house nearby came out to help. The blonde lady gave me water in a jar and the man called 911. I did not want him to call because I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it. I wasn’t hurt that bad and I though I might be able to walk away from it.

In what seemed like 15 seconds the police arrived. There were 2 or 3 police cars and they immediately came up to me and started asking questions. The dark skinned lady asked me my name, where I live, my phone number, and if I could remember what happened. I answered all her questions and I was quite proud that I could answer everything without trouble. My body started shaking uncontrollably. The paramedic later told me that it was because I was scared, it was cold outside, and the pavement was sucking the heat from me.

In what seemed like another 30 seconds, the paramedics arrived. They immediately took over the situation. I asked if it was ok for me to stand up but they told me to wait till the buggy came over. I stood up with the help of the man paramedic and sat in the buggy. They pushed me into the ambulance. Inside there, he checked my whole body making sure nothing was broken. The girl paramedic took my blood pressure and pulse. My pulse was 83 or something like that. Once again I felt proud that all my stats were so good. They patched my cuts which I had on my head, hands, hip and knee. The man asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital with them. I told them no because I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg doing it. I felt healthy enough. I was mostly just sore and my cuts hurt. The police officers came and asked me a couple more questions like how fast the driver was going. I told them 15-20 mph and they kept asking me if I was sure and I told them that there was no way for me to know exactly how fast they were going. They weren’t going faster than normal.

After sitting in the ambulance for a while warming up I decided I felt well enough to leave. I got out, grabbed my broken scooter, and the man asked me if I wanted a ride. I was partially afraid they would charge me for it so I was hesitant. He told me that it was free so I went with them. They took me home and I thanked them for their help. I walked in the house, put my stuff down and took a shower. Most everyone was asleep so it was really dark inside. The shower was pretty painful, but I needed to clean my cuts so I bore the pain. After stepping out of the shower I immediately started feeling nauseous and felt like I needed to vomit. I sat down on the floor and prepared to vomit into the toilet. Nothing came out. I just sat there for a while until I started feeling better. I went into Narf’s room and told him that I just got hit by a car. I told him that I may come in asking him to take me to the hospital in case my head, neck, or back started hurting or if I started vomiting uncontrollably. I went to bed and woke up at 7 in the morning. I went to the bathroom and it was very painful for me to stand. My shins hurt and once again I started feeling nauseous so I prepared to vomit. Nothing came out again, I just got really sweaty. I went back into the living room to lie down and them I slept till 10:30. I was able to continue with the day but I skipped all my classes because it would have been too painful to walk to them. I did spend some time with God and finished a bunch of homework so it was a good day.