up to speed.

The last few months have been a blur. I'll try my best to catch you up.

My last blog post, I was going to work on a Zine and try to get other people to contribute. I've decided to do it myself because it's hard to get submissions. That's not to say that I won't take help, but I'm going to make a zine with all my own material. It will be a series of my short comics that I have been writing recently.

Now to fill in up to what I am currently doing, I need to take a moment to recognize that I haven't been on my blog for over 4 months. A lot has happened and changed in my life.

For Easter, we went on a family trip to San Diego. We got to witness an Eagle Scout Court of Honor on the deck of the USS Midway. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on because I was fascinated with the sail boats in the Harbor making their way to the deeper waters of the distant ocean.

Summer came and was beautiful. I went on so many adventures and saw many things. I went hiking and to nature to get away from everyone. I often went alone, but I was never lonely.

I went on a sweet road trip with Nathan Barnhurst. First we went to my sister's high school graduation. We then spent Memorial Day weekend in the Grand Staircase area of Utah with my dad and Rika. We did lots of hikes and enjoyed not showering. I came back from that with surfer bum hair. I shouldn't have cut it the week after that.

Early June, I took my brother Walker on a camping trip that my friend Nathan Cowlishaw organized. We backpacked to Havasupai in the Grand Canyon. There was always the sound of calm, flowing water. We saw all the major waterfalls we could around there (Navajo, Havasu, Mooney, Beaver). We had fun playing with the reservation dogs, making food on little camp stoves, and swimming in the water.

The World Cup happened. Brasil and USA didn't win. I don't want to talk about it.

I visited cool places with friends. I went to Kanaraville Falls, Cedar Breaks for sunrise, Brian Head (I buildered there), The Subway in Zion National Park, the reservoir on the hill to play beach soccer, climbing at Grave Side Matter, the Renaissance Faire, Battle Creek Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, the Castle Valley Pageant, The Wedge in the San Rafael Swell, a free Wallflowers concert, and many more. I also spent time listening to music, doing yoga, watching movies, and sharing wonderful uplifting conversations with them. 

Lots of things happened in people's lives over the summer. I had a lot of friends get married, but most notably my friend Justin Cox. I was one of his groom's men. It was good being able to see him and lots of other friends that were there too.

I also had to hear about my old friend Elder Matos who passed away. He was a good friend on the mission. He and his wife had so much love for us. I know he understood the purpose of life and was living right. He was happy.

My summer ended a little earlier in how much "vacation" I had because by the second week of August I was out here in Washington DC for a congressional internship. I'm working in Congressman Jason Chaffetz' office and having my own urban adventure.

Capitol hill is an interesting place to work. I pass the Pentagon, National Mall and Capitol Building everyday on my way to work. I take people on tours of the Capitol building. 

Since being here, I have visited lots of museums, went to Gettysburg, visited Luray Caverns, camped in the misty woods, went to an open mic poetry night, saw a free Shakespeare play, etc.

One of the big things here in DC is that I have started to draw and write more. I hadn't been working on my own creativity, but I have started to get some of my own stuff done. I went to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland and met Lynda Barry, John Porcellino, Charles Burns, Jules Feiffer, Anne Koyama and others who made me want to keep working on my art. I got in free to the expo because I volunteered. Being a volunteer, I also got a few free things.

On that note, I am working on getting my own zine put together. I have some good content and have done some art that has stretched me as an artist and also as a story teller. It's not the best stuff, but I can't have everything perfect. The important part is that I am getting stuff done. 

I've had lots of firsts here. My first full-time desk job, first metro ride, first 9th floor apartment, etc. It's cool being surrounded by people, but I do like when I can find a time and place just for me.

That's why I love going to the roof and working on my art up there. It's nice to feel like I'm on top of the world doing something I love.

So, expect some comics and writing appearing here shortly.

childish tycoon

I just watched "Geothermal Escapism" or affectionately Community: Lava World.

Now before I write about this beautifully written episode I want to say that if you haven't watched Community yet, get on that. 

I started watching the show during the summer. I had some things going on and emotionally I was a mess. I didn't want people to know that and I covered it up well. My roommate provided  me with come great distractions by introducing me to new TV shows. Community is the one that was the best for me. 

Community captured my heart. The writer, Dan Harmon, created a community of social outcasts that come together at Greendale Community College to form a "study group" that comes to see each other as family. It is a hilarious show that makes you come to love these seven outcasts as they make the journey through their undergrad together. 

(This is where there might be spoilers and where I probably won't be able to convey effectively what I'm feeling.)

The show has been on the air for four seasons and just started the fifth about 4 weeks ago. Going into this season, I knew that Donald Glover who plays Troy would be leaving and I did not expect to get emotional over that. 

That being said, Dan Harmon wrote this episode beautifully and I would have cried if I had watched it alone. 

The whole episode was a big game of HOT LAVA. Yes, I'm talking about the game we played as kids where we couldn't touch the floor because it was lava. The lighting, cinematography, witty quips, and everything about the episode resonated with my imagination. 

And then there was the fact that the game was sponsored by Abed as a way to divert Troy from leaving. If you haven't watched the show, you should know that Troy and Abed have the most wonderful bromance in the all of fiction. They are friends for each other like I only hope to be to those around me. 

At the climax of the episode, Abed admits to Troy and to himself why he instigated the game, “It’s not a game for me, Troy. I see real lava because you’re leaving...I don’t think the lava’s here because you’re leaving—it’s here because I won’t let go.”

And then Abed lets go and falls into the lava. Britta comes to Troy's side and helps him clone Abed to bring him back to life. When Abed comes back, he says that he is a perfect clone, but he did lose his emotions in the process of the cloning. Then, Troy dies to the lava to get cloned so that he won't have his emotions when he has to say goodbye.

The episode ends on some good notes with wonderful goodbyes. The last goodbye is to Abed with a clone hug. That was the moment that almost made me cry. That combined with "Come Sail Away" by Styx which Troy once said, "...always makes me cry." He gets on a boat that Pierce left him to sail around the world with Levar Burton, his childhood hero, to earn his part of his inheritance from Pierce.

I feel like I imagine things too much sometimes especially when I don't want to accept a change. I just need to embrace those things. Fall into them. I know I talk a good game and seem prepared for the things in front of me, but I am so scared. I'm like Abed and no one really understands me. I don't know what the future holds and I feel as prepared for it as a rock in a tumbler. All I know is that I will come out more refined and beautiful in the end. I just need to jump in.

"I'm sailing away, 

Set an open course for the virgin sea,

'Cause I've got to be free,

Free to face the life that's ahead of me,

On board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard,

We'll search for tomorrow on every shore,

And I'll try, Oh Lord I'll try, to carry on!

I look to the sea,

Reflections in the waves spark my memory,

Some happy, some sad,

I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had,

We lived happily forever, so the story goes, 

But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold

But we'll try the best that we can to carry on....

....come sail away with me!"

~STYX

reel inspiring

 "The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask."

~Jeff Johnson, 180° South

This movie, combined with Secret Life of Walter Mitty, have sparked a new journey, a new quest, a new adventure in me. 

Both movies are about guys who get an insuppressible wanderlust, but I don't think that is the reason for these movies. They will make you want to travel. I do no deny that, but I think that the reason they are so effective is because they teach us each that we need to find out who we are. We need to find our reason for living. There is a quest for purpose that we all embark on as passengers on this planet. A quest to make this place better. 

"Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all, but we just went for it." 

~Doug Tompkins, 180° South

Both these movies inspired me. Walter Mitty saw someone else on adventures and even imagined some of his own. I often find myself imagining a better world where I am doing things that I enjoy. Too often, like Walter Mitty, I am afraid to pursue those things that I want to do. I need to be more like Jeff Johnson and just go for those things that I want to do. The unknown will always be unknown until we embrace it and become it's friend. 

There are so many unknowns in this coming year. 

Currently, I am not dating anyone seriously. I won't lie. My thoughts of the way my future would work out always included me getting married before I left college. It may be cynical of me, but I don't see myself getting married this year. If I started dating a girl now, I would want to give myself more time to just date. I've already done the jumping-into-things thing, and it didn't work out. When I find someone, I am going to develop something deeper and make sure that we'll be able to work together more effectively. 

I'm hoping to have everything done to graduate in December. That means doing online classes and hopefully an internship this summer. I want to get a job lined out as quick as possible so that I can jump into something other than school next January. There are a few job openings that I think I seriously have a chance at filling. There are a few with Amazon, one with Diamond Comic Distributors, and others.

I only have 11 months left in this year. I am going to make the best of them that I can here in Southern Utah. After this year, who knows when I'll be back. I could be in Maryland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, or any other place in the world. I don't know where life is going to take me and where God wants me to go. I just know that I need to keep going forward. 

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life."

~Walter Mitty, Secret Life of Walter Mitty