Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Beard

A beard just does not fit me.... hahaha! We did this in makeup class the other day. Pretty funny!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

haha hello ignorant America.

Well I'm glad to see a far left liberal (possible socialist) soon to be in the office. I'm wondering if anyone can remember back 30 years ago when a man named Jimmy Carter was President... he was easily one of the worst Presidents our country has had. Welcome back Mr. Carter! Oops I mean, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. Ha I'm sorry I'm rude, let's hope it's not that bad. But I wouldn't count it out. I think Mr. Obama has made promises far too large to keep. I was expecting to wake up this morning with the sun shining, someone giving me breakfast in bed, and my clothes to be ironed and ready to be put on... then I remembered, oh wait, Obama isn't sworn in until January! Look at the brightside, Obama will pay our mortgages, lower our taxes, give us free healthcare, and bring world peace. Oh he might even tuck us in at night :-D Standby for the next depression, and an even more pissed off America! Unemployment rate is most likely going to reach an all time high also. Good job America :) I'm glad I can at least one day say, "Don't blame me, I voted McCain!" - Possible bumper sticker?

Haha, I'm sorry. Let's hope he can be a good President. We can only hope.

Friday, October 31, 2008

hahaha funny stuff

Love these pictures.

Everglades

ahhhh! I really don't have the time to be doing this, considering I'm moving tomorrow and still have a crap load to pack. But oh well, I need a break.

So last weekend me and my documentary group went to the Everglades to film our documentary about non-indigenous species and the problems they cause in the Everglades. There are quite a few Burmese Pythons living in the Everglades, and they obviously don't belong there. They originate in Asia, and I was told they are the second largest snake next to the Anaconda. They can grow past 20 ft long! Enormous. There has been many sightings of the Pythons fighting with the Alligator, and there's even one picture of a python that ate a 6 foot Alligator, but couldn't handle it and it exploded out of its stomach ha ha! We saw a crap load of Alligators, but no wild snakes. But we did go to an animal shelter place where a guy got bit by a King Cobra and rushed to Vemon I. haha kinda crazy.

So anyways, we had some fun. We stayed in a ghetto place called the Hostel, which many people know about. I slept on a bunk bed that was way too short for me, and got about 8 hours of sleep in 2 days. Oh well! Here's some pictures from our journey.

Mine and Stephens War paint

Me and Mike in a tree

Like 3 seconds before the King Cobra bites him!


This is basically what the Everglades looks like.... nothing too exciting.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Yet another address change...

so hopefully this is the last of address changes, or else my head will explode. I could barely remember my address back at home the other day when I was shipping off a package!


2151 Portlight Dr. Unit 308
Orlando, FL 32814


The new apartment is awesome! Much bigger, and a great view of the lake. I'll post pictures as soon as we get moved in.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Dew Tour

So I had the privilege of going to Dew Tour yesterday. What Dew Tour is- it's an extreme sport tour that includes, freestyle dirtbiking, bmx vert and dirt, skateboard park and vert. Most of the professional athletes from extreme sports compete in this tour, because it is one of the biggest events. They go to 5 different cities, and get points in each city depending on the place they get. And at the last stop (Orlando) all the points are added up, and there's a winner in each event. The winner gets a decent amount of money. I got to watch the freestyle dirtbiking final, and the skateboard park final. It was awesome seeing some of my favorite athletes growing up, performing right in front of my own eyes! During the skateboard park event, they were shooting t-shirts from some t-shirt cannon thing, and if you caught one you and one other person of your choiec got VIP during the awards ceremony. This means you got to be down on the floor when the athletes walked the "green carpet" (because of Mountain Dew sponsor). Well I ended up catching a shirt, so me and my friend Dennis got VIP! I was so excited to be able to meet some of my childhood heroes. Check out the pictures.




Adam Jones (Freestyle MX winner)
Bucky Lasek (Pro Skateboarder)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Invisible Children

So tonight was the big night. I have been organizing this since May! I was a little bit stressed all day, just hoping people would come and support this cause. It was absolutely amazing to say the least. I organized for the new Invisible Children documentary "GO" to be shown at our school. On my way to getting things set up, I asked my roommate how many people he guessed would be there. His guess was 60. Well he had his sails set higher than me, and I said I guessed around 40. Well 6:30 hits, we have things mostly set up, and in come about 40 people. (The screening wasn't even starting for another half an hour!!!!!) So about 20 minutes before we start there were around 95 people already there. And by the time we start, over 130 people were there. I could not believe it! I was so excited.

The documentary, which was amazing, inspired a lot of people. Afterward, we had a question and answer time and people had so many questions! This was so cool. I got a list of about 30 people, and we are going to raise even more money. And I'm the Administrator over all our schools earnings. We raised about $1,100 by the end of the night. I just know that some lucky kids in Northern Uganda are now going to be able to attend school, something many of us take for granted, and this will change their life forever. We made it possible for other kids to get an education, and live a better life. That is the best feeling in the world. Tonight was great. I hung out with the 4 roadies (the people who go around showing the documentary) after it was over. They were all really really cool. They were so down to earth and really fun to talk to. Afterwards, me and Dan bought them pizza and hung out at my apartment. This is how cool these 4 are. They take 2 months out of there busy lives to go around and show this documentary to all different schools, they have to pay for their food, and the only thing that is paid for is the gas for the van. That is crazy! Talk about dedication, and passion. I'm so happy with the turnout :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

THE WHISPER




So we just finished making our first movie. It was quite the interesting experience, and I had a blast. The name of the movie is 'The Whisper'. Its about a man who wants to become a superhero, but has no powers to do so. But more than that, its about a dysfunctional family. It's a pretty funny movie, and I'm excited to edit it. Our producer (lab teacher) said it's one of the best movies he has seen done in Digital Cinematography in a long time. And if one of us makes a really good edit, we will get lots of praise for it. So that was pretty cool! I was the Assistant Director on the shoot, which ended up being VERY stressful. The A.D. is in charge of making the shooting schedule and making sure everything is running on time. I also had to call out 'Quiet on the Set!, this is for picture, Sound (they would say speed when they were ready), Camera (they would also say speed), Marker (and the Assistant Cameraman would clap the clapboard together) and then we would wait for the Director to call 'ACTION!' For the stressful part- I made a pretty good shooting schedule that accomidated everyone's needs (Our main actor had to leave by 12:30 am on the 2nd day). Well during the first day of shoot another one of our main actors suddenly remembers she has to leave by 6:30 pm that day... well we were supposed to be shooting until 9 pm. So I had to re write my entire schedule so we could get all her coverage done before 6 30 and had to push a lot of her shots to the 2nd day, which was hard because I had to get Paul out by 12:30 on day 2. So somehow I manage to get it all taken care of, and then our other actress decides that since the other 2 get to leave early, that she wants to to go to work some on Tuesday so she can make some money. Well, let's just say how annoying that is. She used the excuse 'I'm a struggling actress'. NEVER use that as an excuse. So I had to re-write my schedule 3 different times, and not to mention we were 3 hours behind schedule on day 1. SOMEHOW we managed to pull it off, with time to spare. I thank my amazing organization skills, because without those I would've died of a panic attack. Other than that, I thought the shoot went great. We all had tons of fun, and learned a lot. I think the movie is going to turn out great. We shot it in my apartment, which added to a lot of stress I must say. I'm glad we are done, and I can put my apartment back together. This Saturday night we are shooting a Rimell London comercial, so that should be fun. I'm Co-Directing on that, so wish me luck.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Hello

So today was not very productive haha. I took Stephen to the airport so he can enjoy the week break off at home. I wish I could afford a $600 plane ticket so I could come home also, but unfortunately I can't. After that, I went a turned in my app at Pac Sun, because I want a job I decided. And then me and my friend Dennis went to the Florida Mall and hung out. That place is HUGE. In one of the surf stores there is a wave pool to surf on, it was tight. Next time we go I'm gonna give it a try!

I also got the whole Invisible Children thing organized. They will be coming to my school October 10th to show the new documentary named "GO". I hear its great, and very inspiring so I can't wait. I can't believe I got the whole thing organzied by myself! Pretty nuts. Also, one of my friends from Africa said this to me today, "Thank you so much for looking out for my people man, it really means a lot." Those words alone will keep me going to achieve my goal. It really meant a lot.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Venting...

So can I just make one thing clear... I HATE flaky people. Honestly, if you say you are going to do something, just freakin do it! I get so sick of people saying they are gonna do something then last second change their mind. It seems to happen to me on a regular basis, so I should be used to it. It still drives me nuts. I'm glad I was not raised that way, because its drives me nuts. If you say you are going to do it, just do it and don't make up retarded excuses. Unless you are on your death bed, I don't want to hear your excuse. If you didn't want to do it in the first place, don't say you are going to then go change your mind.

Friday, August 29, 2008

well its been a while

Nothing new going on in my life, just a bunch of class. I'm thinking about getting a job next month, so we will see how that goes. I was supposed to start a 4.0 tennis league in September, but I don't think I'll be able to anymore because I don't have any money. College sucks.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

School sucks...

Haha well I got an A in my storytelling class, and a B in my Sound for Film. So far my cumulative G.P.A. is a 3.2! Not bad considering I have to get a 95% to even get an A in this freakin school!

Me and my girlfriend.


This is a pic from Maria and I's recent trip to Paris! haha!

Friday, August 15, 2008

That's what I'm talking about!

So when my roommate was leaving the apartment today, it turned on the door handle to open the door and the handle completely popped off. Not sure why, but it did. Well he was on his way to work out, so he stopped by the office to tell them and literally 4 minutes later a maintenance person was over here fixing the handle. I love that!

Here's why. At my old apartment, Azure (aka hell), my oven wouldn't turn off one night. The handle was turned to off, but the oven still wasn't turning off. So I called maintenance to let them know. I was told they were busy eating at the Waffle House, and wouldn't be able to come over so I just needed to unplug my oven. Not sure why "Emergency" maintenance was eating out when they should be on the job... waste of money if you ask me. So I unplugged it and went to the office the next morning to tell them about it so it could get fixed. Let's just put it this way, I had to go back many more times, and when I moved out it STILL WASN'T fixed. So I'm glad I have an office and maintenance that actually care about their residents. I love this place.

Also, I decided I either am marrying a tennis or a volleyball player. Some of these beach volleyball girls in the Olympics are super hot haha. But I still plan to marry Maria Sharapova, don't worry.

Cheater!!!!

So I officially HATE Fernando Gonzalez. And yes, that is a strong word. Gonzalez was serving 8-9 in the third set against Mr. James Blake. He came into the net for a volley, and Blake ripped a forehand that clearly nicked the top of Gonzalez racquet. The umpire like a retard didn't see/hear this so he called Blake's shot long. Well Gonzalez obviously knew it tipped his racquet, but he decided he'd rather cheat and win than to win fair. He stood back at the baseline and didn't tell the umpire it hit his racquet, even after Blake sat there and stared at him expecting him to say something. After that whole incident, James Blake went downhill and lost the math 6-4, 5-7, 9-11. So now I have no respect for Gonzalez. He's a freaking retard!!!! Reminds me of my match when the guy called everything out if he didn't see it. Glad it takes cheating in order to beat someone. Poor Blake.... maybe he can get the Bronze though. And I hope whoever wins in the other semifinal, out of Djokovic and Nadal, demolishes Gonzalez in the final. Blake shouldn't of shook his hand at the end of the match... I wouldn't of. Even the announcers at the end said "Blake got cheated in that match." I will never cheer for Gonzalez again. I hope he loses every other match he ever plays. I'm done ranting now.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Nickelodeon


So today for my class we got to go to Universal and watch a recording of Nickelodeon's new show "My Family's Got GUTS". It was pretty cool to see how a television production works. Also, it was cool to see this show live, because I used to watch GUTS when I would get home from school many years ago. Me and my friends were cheering on a team called Webb Dynamite. 5 of us decided to spell out the word DYNAMITE!!!! on some red t-shirts. I was the 'DY'. It ended up being my best idea ever, because now we are going to be on National Television. Should be pretty cool!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Birthday!

So today I turned the big 19. And to tell you the truth, there's absolutely nothing to be excited about when turning 19. That's alright though. So I'm 19 years old, and only have a little over a year left of school. A year and 2 months to be exact. Now that is a cool feeling! I will be done with my bachelor's degree a couple months after my 20th birthday. I'm stuck in 8 hours of class today... and we are going out to eat afterwards. Probably the lamest birthday I've ever had, but that's alright. Later!

Monday, August 4, 2008

well hello there.

So I need to give some updates. Nothing exciting has really happened in my life lately. I've been super busy with school, and just started 2 new classes. They are Directing, and Digital Cinematography. In Digital Cinematography we will be making our first "professional" movie. So that's going to be interesting to see how that turns out. We have to do casting for our movie when the time comes, and use real industry actors. Ha ha so I guess you could say this is the start of my career in filmmaking? -Wish me luck ;)

So I've been contacted quite a few times about different shoots, and different modeling opportunities. I've even had an agent out of New York contact me... pretty crazy! I have a photo shoot this Friday, so we will see how that turns out! Never would've thought my life would've taken me down this road... but I kind of like it :)

My birthday is in a week! I will be turning 19. Weird! Well that's really all I have for now. I'll keep you updated when anything new or exciting happens!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

TAG?

uhh not really sure why I "have" to do this, but I guess it's cuz my mom tagged me?

Four Places I've Lived:

1. Idaho Falls, ID

2. Orlando, FL

3. Roseville, CA

4. Forest Grove, OR


Four Favorite Books

1. Harry Potter 1

2. Harry Potter 2

3. Harry Potter 3

4. Harry Potter 4


Four Favorite Movies

1. Invisible Children Documentary

2. Remember the Titans

3. Across the Universe

4. Pursuit of Happyness


Four Embarrassing Facts About Me

1. I have more clothes than most girls.

2. I'm way too competitive

3. I used to throw huge temper tantrums when I was little, just because something wouldn't go my way.

4. I worry about worldly things WAY more than I should.

Four Dreams of Mine
1. Go to Africa multiple times, to help as much as I can to help the people affected by the Genocide.
2. Become a 5.0 in tennis.
3. To win the Sundance Film Festival with one of my documentaries.
4. Make enough money to travel the world with my family, and pay their ways.

Four Pet Peeves
1. Arrogant people
2. FEET
3. People who call something out in tennis when they don't even see where it hits.
4. Rhetorical questions

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

If you only knew....




so here at my new apartment, we have some pretty intense ping pong matches. Witness it for yourself....

Monday, July 14, 2008

New Apartment!




So I'm completely moved out of my old apartment now, and living in the new place. I love it! It's brand new, so we are the first people to even live here! We have a huge fitness area, movie theater, valet trash service, resort style pool and hot tub, grill area, sand volleyball, tennis court, and we live right by a lake. And the best part.... WE HAVE A PING PONG TABLE! haha woo hoo! I'll post a few pictures, but I'll post some better ones within the next few days.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Don't judge a book by its cover?

So I have a lab specialist in my Storytelling class, who looks like a typical nerd. If you looked at him, you would figure he was one of those people who never could make it in the entertainment industry so he is stuck teaching at Full Sail. But boy was I proved wrong tonight.

Come to find out, he is actually one of Brendan Fraser's liaison's. He travels to Hollywood one week of every month to assist Brendan at all his appointments, talk show appearances, and whatever he might do. He makes sure Brendan looks good, and knows what he is doing and where he is going (what a tough job!) Pretty cool if you ask me. So the moral of this story is NEVER judge a book by a cover, you never know who people have connections with, especially in this industry.

*ADDRESS CHANGE*

so I'm moving on Sunday, so obviously my address will be changing. Here's my new address if you ever need to mail me anything.

5353 Shea St. Apt #308
Orlando, FL 32814

Thursday, July 10, 2008

First couple pages of my script for my storytelling class. (More to follow)

EXT. AFRICAN VILLAGE – DAY



LT. GEORGE WILSON, a rugged looking man in his early 30’s, and his group of 4 other Navy SEALS carry out their mission of delivering care packages to an African village, and begin to set back to their helicopter.



TYSON

Lieutenant sir, how far do we have to go to get to the chopper?



GEORGE

It’s waiting in a small village approximately 6.3 miles north east of here. Please go let the other men know. We must be leaving here now, so we can get there before nightfall.



TYSON

Sir, yes sir!



The SEALS give their heartfelt goodbyes to the villagers, and set out for their journey back to the chopper.





EXT. JUNGLE – DAY



The men stop when they hear a crashing sound in the distance.



BRYON

What the hell was that?!



GEORGE

Who knows? But we are only 4 miles from the chopper, so we must keep moving. We do not want to be walking in these woods during the night! Keep alerted though, there are a few rebel armies that patrol these forests every once in a while. We do not want to have any conflict with anyone.



BRYON

Yes sir! Lets keep moving boys!


They are continuing through the forest, when they hear a few voices not to far from them.



GEORGE

Hold up a second!



MARK

(whisper)

Sir, there’s 2 armed men at 9 o’clock standing approximately 50 feet from us. They look like rebels.



GEORGE

Yeah I see them, but we must keep moving quietly. Keep your guns close, but do not fire unless ordered to do so!



The 2 men, who are part of a local rebel army, spot the group of Navy SEALS moving through the forest.



The rebels quickly head back to their village, where there are approximately 50 more rebel soldiers. They are all sitting around a truck, laughing and joking around with each other. The 2 men frantically search for their commander.



REBEL SOLDIER #1

Sir, sir! We spotted a group of Americans walking through the forest.



REBEL COMMANDER

What are they doing?



REBEL SOLDIER #1

I don’t know sir, but how about we go find out?



The group of rebels are standing around the man listening to him explain this to the commander.



REBEL COMMANDER

Well you heard the man, lets go see what these Americans are doing in our territory!



The group of rebels quickly leaves their village, all armed with AK-47’s, and pursuit the group of SEALS.



The Navy SEALS are quickly moving through the forest, but don’t have a clue that the soldiers in the rebel army spotted them walk by.

------------

that's all I have so far, and it's not the best yet. IT'S ONLY A ROUGH DRAFT! ha ha. I will post the whole thing, once I finish it. so stay tuned. and by the way, this is the first time in my life I have written a script, so be nice! ;) also, the script format isn't exactly how a script looks, I realize this, but it's hard to put it in the screen play form when posting it on here. I do have it written correctly on my actual script though.

Monday, July 7, 2008

My future?


So today while I was bored in my Storytelling class, I was thinking about different jobs I might enjoy doing after I'm done with school. One that came to mind was working for the Tennis Channel. I love tennis, and I would love to travel abroad, so what better than to work for them? So I did a little research, and found that they do different internships, and they also hire for all sorts of different jobs. Hmmm, so that could definitely be a future option for me. It will also bring me one step closer to my future wife, Maria Sharapova! ;) ha ha!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

HE DID IT!



My boy, Rafael Nadal, finally won Wimbledon! It was probably some of the best tennis I have ever seen. I enjoyed it while flying back to Orlando ha ha! Roger still hasn't won a major yet this year? Who would've thought.

Back to Florida...

So I came home for a week over the 4th of July. And let me tell you something, a week is nowhere NEAR long enough for a "summer break". Time really flew by, and I was sad to have to leave so quickly. It's hard not being able to see your family/friends for so long, and when you finally do it goes by so quickly. Now I'm not going to be able to go back until Christmas time, and that seems so far away. I did have a lot of fun finally being home though, and enjoyed not dealing with the humidity. I sure wish there was a good film school closer to my home, that way I wouldn't have to be so far! But oh well, only another 15 months to go... hopefully I can put up with dumb Florida for that much longer. (Florida is not as fun and "magical" as people make it sound either!)

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Singles Ward

So today was the first day I was able to go to church. Up until now I've had no way of getting there since I do not have a car yet. But my friend went out of town for the week and let me borrow his car, so I thought I'd go check out church.

I had an overall good experience, even though it was a little awkward since everyone seemed to already know each other. A couple interesting things happened though.

One guy came and sat by me and introduced himself. He asked where I was from, and I told him Idaho Falls. I was expecting some stupid potato joke or something of that sort. Instead, he asked what part of Idaho Falls. I told him the east side of Idaho Falls. He said, "Oh the Ammon area?" I was sort of baffled by this. He then told me he served his mission there, and most of the time he spent serving around the hospital and further out by the golf course. It's true when they say, it's a small world after all.

I met another kid, who goes to the same school as me and is also majoring in Film. He is going into his 8th month, so he is 4 months ahead of me. He came here from Salt Lake, so he's also far from home. He's a returned missionary who served his mission in Chile. Both of his roommates are big into tennis, and he's going to give them my number so I can have some more people to play with. He's also going to start giving me rides to church on Sundays, because he doesn't live too far up the road.

There are 3 other guys who was there for the first time also. They are here selling security systems for the summer. One of them is from Boise, and the other 2 from Utah. Up until now, I've only met one kid from Idaho, and only a handful even from the west side of the country. Everyone seemed to be pretty cool, but the ward is kind of lacking cute girls. There were a few, but needs to be more. It was crazy to see how tiny the church was (it is the stake center too!) Also, there isn't tons of members like in Idaho Falls. Probably between 60-70 people were in attendance, and that is the ONLY singles ward in Orlando. Pretty crazy how much more different it is than home.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

My "new" life




So I'm pretty new at this whole blogging deal, so bear with me here.

As most of you know, I moved down here to Orlando, FL a few months ago. Let's just say this place is definitely a whole new world- not necessarily in a bad way either. I no longer have my parents and close friends here to help influence me in the decisions I make, and the choices I make in my life. But my parents raised me to be able to make my own decisions, and not be pressured into things I don't want to do, and I thank them for that. If it wasn't for that, I would have already taken up smoking, drinking, and many other things many of the kids here at Full Sail do. I was talking to one of my friends who went to this school about a year ago, and he jokingly said "DO NOT TAKE UP SMOKING- that is Full Sail's sport of choice." hahaha he couldn't be any more right.

I'm going to Full Sail University and I'm majoring in Film. I'll graduate October 09 with my Bachelors of Science degree, so that's pretty exciting. I hope by getting this degree and knowledge in film I can one day open my own production company. I would also like to make some documentaries in struggling countries like Africa, so that I can educate people of the horrific things happening around the world and influence them into helping change that. They say 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' so I figure I might as well take that first step. And I'm actually trying to become involved with some charities right now, so I can do as much as I can to make a difference even while I'm in school.

I've had quite some fun while being down here. I've been to the beach numerous amounts of times now. Probably more than I can count on my hands and feet. I've been to Universal and Hard Rock a couple times now too. I've been downtown Disney, I went to an Atlanta Braves spring training game, I stayed in a $600/night 2 bedroom hotel with 2 other friends for free, stayed in a hotel in Daytona right next to the Daytona Speedway and minutes from the beach, and have jet skied in the harbor of Del Rey beach which was paid for by my friends super rich mom, who also payed for the $600/night hotel. I was the first person to get pulled over by a cop on the jet ski, because he said we were going "too fast" and too close to the shore. Is there such a word as TOO FAST? It's not in my vocabulary, especially when I'm on a ski. The cop told me to warn my other 4 friends that were with me to slow down also. They figured that we need to get our moneys worth on the jet ski's so they weren't going to slow down. Well, let's just say the cop pulled us over once again- made us hold on to his boat and lectured us. My friend Matt got salt water in his eyes, so he kept rubbing them and he was coughing because he had been sick the week prior. The cop was convinced that rubbing eyes and coughing meant one thing- being drunk. Now I don't know what world he comes from, but I never knew a characteristic of being drunk was rubbing your eyes and coughing. The cop threatened to give him a sobriety test, but he didn't and let us go again. We still didn't slow down, but weren't caught a third time thankfully. We told the guy who rented us out the jet skis, and told us there really isn't a speed limit and the cop was lying. So now I don't feel bad.

My friend Austin, came down for a week and a half over spring break. It was really nice to have one of my closest friends down here with me. It was kind of a relief, and made me feel not as homesick. It was sad to see him leave, but he had to get back to school just like I did. He really enjoyed it here, and made some new friends.

I play tennis about 4-5 times a week usually with my friend Stephen Aiken. He's a really good player, and makes me work for every single point. It usually sucks, and I'm usually quite exhausted after playing him. But it's good, because it has stepped my tennis game up quite a bit. It has made me feel more confident, and makes me go for the tough shots so I can get a winner. Tennis is definitely an addiction of mine. I also play basketball about once a week, and work out as much as possible. I'm trying to stay as active as possible so I don't ever turn out to look like some of the kids at my school- fat, un-showered, and could care less how their overall appearance looks like.

I've finished 3 classes so far- and finish 2 more at the end of next week. So far my grades have been 2 B's and an A. In a traditional college I'd have straight A's though. In my school our grading scale really sucks. Below 70=F, 70-74=D, 75-84= C, 85-94=B, and 95 and above is an A. It sucks, but all my classes I've gotten a 91% or better so far. So I'm pretty happy about that. I also have tot maintain a 90% attendance or else I fail that class. They expect a lot out of us, but it's a good thing (it doesn't allow me to slack).

The weather here has been beautiful. On an average day it is in the low-mid 80's. The highest it has reached since I've been here is 93, and the lowest is 58. If the temperature is anything under 70 everyone considers it "freezing." All I have to say is MOVE TO IDAHO then you will know freezing. It is starting to get really humid, and that becomes very obvious when playing tennis. I don't even want to imagine how this summer is going to be.

My roommates name is Victor Gonzalez, he's a 20 year old Columbian kid. He's a nice kid, and we get along pretty well. He's big into boxing, so we have the whole fighting thing in common. His dad is living in his bedroom over the next couple months, while he finishes up training at the airport. His dad isn't very good with his English, so we don't communicate very often. Usually just a 'Hey how are ya?' kind of thing. PS... I have come to the assumption that Spanish people can not say the name Tyler. All of them pronounce it Taylor. Even after I tell them multiple times it's TYLER not TAYLOR- I've given up now, and have learned to accept my new name of Taylor.

I have made quite a few friends down here, and usually always have something to do. It's nice because it keeps me from being homesick constantly. It's funny to see how immature some people are though. I'm the youngest kid in my class by over a year, but seem to have my head on pretty straight compared to some of the people I know. Many of them can't handle their money, and blow it all on stupid unnecessary things. They don't have the right work or study ethics either. They are in their 20's and still have no clue what they want in their life. They have to call home to ask stupid things, and are always super stressed. It can get quite annoying. But I just try to keep a positive attitude and keep on going. Most of the kids in my class are really cool, and we all get along pretty well.

Well that's really all my life has consisted of so far. Nothing too spectacular, just the regular college life. Hopefully I can keep adding to this, and let you know of anything else that happens in my life. Thanks for taking the time to read!