Poetry

I know I've shared Anis Mojgani's stuff before..this is a little montage of selected bits from different poems by Anis with music from Inception.




I'm invincable these hands, these hands they are huge
on a good day I catch bullets like they were frisbees



And we are as strong as a string stuck inside of an ice cube stuck inside of an iceberg
we are as unto diamonds and I know that all that it takes to be invincable sometimes is to know that you are such.



I'm thirty years old and I'm trying to figure out most days what being a man means.



We once went to bed like between the bed sheets was a valley with dinosaurs still breathing
And I will capture these triceratops and brontosauruses
But even he was opened up with the smoke that rose out of the homes
and the corners that we once climbed through,
The streets and the footballs which we once threw,
The school desks upon which we once drew,
The windows that sat open through we once flew,
Before the outside world of parking spaces and dead friends came flooding on in
And we forgot what we wanted
And we became what we've become:
Waitresses and bartenders, city employees and temp positions,
We are junkies and one kiss poems and we cry the stars



And I fall in love six seven eight nine ten times Quentin,
so I don’t want to, want to, but I still do.
And I want to find God in the morning, in the tired hands of dusk 
At the mouth of the river and down by it's feet
But, instead, I drive sixty through residential streets
Praying to find a child so that they may stay safer in front of angels
and safer full of night and light and crayons and the simple outstretched limbs
Trying to pick up way too much way too fast,
Forgetting what it means to be a person.
In a world where egos are measured with tabloids,
Where automobiles double for morals,
Where beliefs are like naps, you leave them behind when somebody touches you.
And in a place where oil always takes precedence over life, I find myself sitting on a bus,
Watching a small boy float down like fresh water,
carrying a book I used to asking if I want to see what he sees if only for a little while, and I do.
Then he says to me he’s going to show me the world
And starts reading the sentences himself, his hands dancing back and forth
across the pages stumbling over words skipping over lines
and his fingers are moving faster and it shows in his eyes
and I want to tell him“Slow down, Quentin."
Slow down, Quentin.


Every breath I give brings me a second closer
to the day that my mother may die
Because every breath I take takes me a second further
from the moment she caught my father’s eye
Because every word I carry is another stone to put into
place in the foundation that I’m building
Because the days can erase something that I never saw
What all of us wanted and what none of us got
What we all had and have and what we all forgot
That we all wanted to be something
That we all became something
And it might not be the shit we once thought we’d be when we
were kids but something is still something
and like some cats say, something is better than nothing

Feet are smarter than an engine
And dreams are stronger than thighs
And questions are the only answers we need to know that we are alive
as I am when I have the mind of a child,
asking why is 2 + 3 always equal to 5 ?
Where do people go to when they die?
What made the beauty of the moon?
And the beauty of the sea?
Did that beauty make you?
Did that beauty make me?
Will that make me something?
Will I be something?
Am I something?”

And the answer comes:
already am,
always was,
and I still have time to be

Lousy Form and a Nice Shot...

I got to have some quality nature time for my birthday.  I had planned a hike but I ended up being so sick that I decided something a little more low key would be best.  I headed out to the bird refuge in Farmington and took a nice easy trail and got some photos.  And by some of course I mean like 100+, but don't worry I only included a few in the album.  I also drove the Alpine Loop recently so I included those.

Catching Up

I haven't blogged...pretty much this whole year...so I'm catching up.  I know I don't really have an excuse, working full time and doing school full time should leave me tons of free time right?  Here is the first of a few photo albums that I'm going to post.

For Mom

I know I already showed you this...but at least the Battle at Kruger isn't the first thing on my blog any more :)

And In case you were wondering why water buffalo are one of my favorite animals...

I know it's a bit long, but it's so cool if you watch it to the end. (Kruger is a National Park in South Africa)

One of My Favorite Stories...

     the

water

   buffalo

When I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot

at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed.  He

slept most of the time, and ignored everybody who walked past, unless we

happened to stop and ask him for advice.  Then he would come up to us

slowly, raise his left hoof, and literally point us in the right direction.  But

 he never said what he was pointing at, or how far we had to go, or what

 we were supposed to do once we got there.  In fact, he never said anything

because water buffalos are like that they hate talking.

       This was too frustrating for most of us.  By the time anyone thought

to “consult the buffalo,” our problem was usually urgent and required

a straightforward and immediate solution.  Eventually we stopped visiting

him altogether, and I think he want away sometime after that: All we could

 see was long grass.      

       It’s a shame, really, because whenever we had followed his pointy

hoof we’d always been surprised, relieved, and delighted at what we found. 

And every time we’d said exactly the same thing – “How did he know?”

                      - Written and Illustrated by Shuan Tan

EFT Conference

 As an undergrad student, just starting to pursue psychology, I was lent this book by a professor because I had heard about Emotion Focus Therapy(EFT) in a class and wanted to know more.  This was back in 2004.  I read this book and I have to tell you, it changed my perspective on therapy.  I remember thinking, you know this therapy stuff can be pretty incredible.  It was the first time I had really connected to a theory that I felt could be extremely effective.  This helped me to solidify my interest and subsequent graduation in Psychology.  Leslie Greenberg was the pioneering Psychologist that developed EFT, so he kind of became a bit of an idol for me.  I even considered applying to York University in Canada for my graduate degree so I could study under him. (Of course foreign schools have ridiculous tuition prices for foreign students, so that was a no go ;)

Anyway, I found out about a month ago that for BYU's 2012 Counseling Workshop they had invited Dr. Greengerg to come down and present on EFT, and I can't even tell you how excited I was!  It's kind of a known fact that Dr. Greenberg is so busy that he rarely presents so I knew this would be a special opportunity.  I signed up and I was able to attend the conference that was held on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Like the nerdy geek that I am I arrived early so I could sit right up front.  I was like 5 feet away from Dr. Greenberg the whole time and I was totally star struck, he's such a cool guy!  Here's his bio/info BYU published about him if you're interested.  (One of the interesting things about Dr. Greenberg is that he started as an engineer.  He graduated in engineering and worked as one for a while but didn't find satisfaction in it so he went back to school to become a psychologist.)

He was adorable.  Really down to earth, humble and incredibly intelligent(the South African accent didn't hurt).  I was enthralled for 8 hours the first day and 4 hours the next.  Reviewing EFT was awesome and I learned a lot.  When I first studied EFT it was cutting edge and in psychology sometimes word travels slow... it was interesting to find out that for many at the conference this was their first exposure to it.  It felt a little funny to be with seasoned therapists and know more about it than they did.  Another fun thing about the conference was how many people I knew there.

All in all it was a great conference, kind of a dream come true to see Dr. Greenberg in person, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Playful One

I'm posting these for mom...she said she wanted to see some videos of Maki.  I'm also posting these to prove that Maki doesn't always spend all of her time hiding, she's actually really active and has a HUGE personality.  She's just a little selective about who she will grace with her presence.

I've always said that if cats played soccer that Maki could be a Pro...
(...and I'll never know why Maki's very favorite toy is a heart gobstopper candy, but it is.)


and here she is with a little toy mouse, we could play this game for hours...

Bethany's BFA Show

 Last Saturday I attended the opening of Bethany's BFA show.  Her show is called "Tithing Child" in reference to herself being one of ten children.  Her show centers around the significance of refrigerator doors and how we use our fridge to display things that are important to us: children's drawings, report cards, wedding invitations etc.  As she states: Just as our kitchens are a gathering place for friends and families, the fridge is a visual representation of people and events.  Bethany collected 10 fridge doors and used each one to display pictures of each of her siblings in their daily lives.  Her 9 siblings live all over the country and so she got to do a bit of traveling.  Bethany did a wonderful job of capturing her siblings interests, personalities and humanity.   She's an amazing photographer and definitely has a strength in taking pictures of people. One of the fun things for me to see was a few pictures that she took of the experience that she had with her siblings as they ran a relay together like Hood to Coast.

These pictures that I took were taken a week after the opening when I was up on campus again but the opening was great, tons of people, good food and AWESOME photos. 

Photo Class

I've been taking a DSLR class at UVU on Tuesday nights for the last month and it's been a great experience for me.  I'm learning a lot about how to really use my camera.  This last Saturday morning our class met at Utah Lake State Park to take some pictures in the morning light.  I took a lot of photos and experimented with shutter speed, aperture and other various settings.  Here are a few that turned out okay ;)  

Provo River Trail 5k

Candice and I ran a little 5k on the Provo River Trail on Saturday morning!  Candice made a New Years resolution to run a race every month this year, which is a pretty great goal.  She missed the race she was wanting to run earlier this month so we came up with the idea to have our own 5k.  We mapped out a 5k course on the Provo River Trail that ended at the CLAS ropes course on Center Street, her roommate made us numbers(can you guess the significance?) and I made us medals!(Fudge Stripes on a string).  It was a beautiful morning and we had a lot of fun!

The big news is that I was officially accepted to Argosy on Friday after my interview with the dean Dr. Ambrose.  I guess I might actually be growing up after all.  It's been a busy couple of weeks getting everything ready to apply and it looks like they want me so I will start the 2 year graduate program in Mental Health Counseling the 5th of March. 
This program will lead the way for me to become an LPC(Licenced Professional Counselor) aka a Therapist...I know right? Me, a therapist?  Who would have thought?!  It's the only 2 year program in the State(all others are 3) which means it's a really intense program.  So big changes are coming for me and I'm expecting to be a whole lot busier in about a week!  It's a new adventure that I am freaked out and excited about, which is probably just as it should be ;)

Dr. Who Themed Baby Shower!

I went to my friend Delaina's baby shower on Saturday. It was "Dr Who" themed.  Dr. Who is a British TV show.  Don't worry if you haven't heard of it you're not alone.  I have seen a hand full of episodes but I'm not super familiar with it.  It was a lot of fun!  Awesome decorations, good food and wonderful people!  I took some pictures, here are some of my favs:

Because Nothing Says LOVE Like Green Olives

I just wanted to say that as far as the love category goes I'm pretty lucky.  I've been extremely blessed to have amazing people in my life that have shown me what love really is.  I hope that in my own way I've been able to show you all how much I appreciate you.  I think one of the greatest experiences in life is being able to love others.  I hope that I can continue to grow in that capacity and today I just wanted to say thank you to my family and many friends.  I LOVE YOU!

And this is why we love R.E.I.'s Winter Sale...

You would all be proud, I only bought one other thing and I bet you would never guess what it was... I  mean you can never have too many hoodies right?  All together I left the store only spending $35 which was pretty much a miracle.

"Seize The Fat One"

Getting ready for bed the other night, I turned down my covers, went to brush my teeth and when I returned...

...someone had claimed my spot.

Whatever you do...

(Can you complete the phrase?)

Feis

I was very excited to attend Brie's Feis on Saturday. This was my first Feis experience and I really enjoyed being there and watching everything going on. Brie did awesome! She placed 1st and 3rd in two of her preformances! Way to go Brie!

I stopped by Yuba Lake for a minute on my way through...

Road Regrets

I fell in love with this video a few weeks ago and wanted to share. Love the song, love the art, the love the concept.