2011 Summary

Sigh, 2011. What a long year. I feel like the beginning of 2011 was two years ago. I don't even remember what the hell I did in January.

January - I remember it was an exceptionally snowy year. I remember walking to my guitar class in the mornings being absolutely freezing and not being able to feel my hand that I carried my guitar with by the time I got there, despite wearing gloves. I learned to play guitar that last semester of school. I took only needed 3 classes to graduate, but I threw in guitar for fun (and because a cute girl was taking it) and a weekend camping course so I could bump things up to 12 credits.

February - was a rather depressing month. I spent most of my February on campus researching some potential oil play in the Barrent's Sea. In my free time I played a lot of video games alone in my room. I was ready to graduate. I went to my last Aggie basketball game as a student in February. They played 5 more games after that, but the last one in Logan was late February. For Valentine's Day I recall sitting around the kitchen table with Ryan talking about how screwed up our dating lives, or lack there-of, were. Trisha had recently written me a letter saying "I hate you because I think you're hot and I want you every time we hang out." That's not actually what it said, but when summarized into one sentence that's about it. February was a rather poor month.

March - was much the same as February. Still bitter cold, still just concentrated way too much on my classes and basically had given up on bothering meeting anyone new since I knew I was leaving Logan in just over a month. I found out that SOU accepted me for their field camp. That was cool. I met Alyssa towards the end of March. I want to say it may have even been St. Patricks Day, because I recall I'd had two mixed drinks and that's why I was being sociable and wanted to go hot tubbing. I don't think she ever knew I was tipsy when we met, haha.

April - was a little better because I could see the light at the end of the long long tunnel of college. My relative, who is a mining engineer, called me one night while I was at Alyssa's and started asking me what I wanted to do career wise. We talked about it for a while and then he asked me to send him my resume. I did. Afterward Alyssa told me all about the house we were going to buy, the kids we were going to have, the life that was in our future... it kinda freaked me out... It reminded me of that part in Wedding Crashers where Vince Vaughn sleeps with that crazy virgin and then that happens to him. Yeahhh, that was her. I registered for graduation, bought a cap and gown. It was happy. My friends and I all had a celebration dinner at Cafe Sabor for the end of the year, about 20 people came. My roommates gave a toast to me being someone they looked up to and a cool roommate. That night was truly one of the high points of my life. Also of note, I was sick for the entire month of April.

May - I graduated. I didn't get my diploma because I still had one more class, but it was a nice ceremony. Some guy that I'll never remember the name of gave a commencement speech about not letting what you learned in college go to waste. It was a good speech. My school hosted the regional GSA meeting and I volunteered at it. I spent the week at Alyssa's apartment. None of her roommates had moved in yet, so we had the place to ourselves. I was basically using it as a test drive for what our "future" would be like. Honestly I think I spent more time worrying if she was pregnant than trying to see if I could tolerate living with her. Regardless, it was a long week. I was more than happy to get out of there when Friday rolled around. She wasn't pregnant, freaking drama queen... "Oh no, I'm going to get up at random times in the mornings and go vomit and then complain about cramps all day... btw, wanna do it like 5 times today?!?" There really is a huge difference between 25 year olds and 18 year olds. As May came to an end she made airline reservations to come visit me in Oregon.

June - she cancelled those reservations, haha. We broke up. I spent the two weeks before going to Oregon being inside as much as I could since I knew it wouldn't happen much in the future. A guy from the company my cousin worked at called me and asked if I would have time to come in for an interview. I scheduled it 4 days before I left for Oregon. I had to go buy a shirt for it, but the interview went very well. I think I impressed them at least a little. The day I left for Oregon was actually a night. I went and had burgers with my friends before heading out for the long drive. I drove through the night and made it there the next morning then slept most of the day, got yogurt with my e-friend from Ashland and met some geology students that night at dinner. The one ended up being my favorite friend from there. Really nice girl. The rest of the month from the 20th onward consisted of field work.

July - consisted of a lot more waking up in the mornings, throwing on some junky clothes, hopping in an 11 passenger van and driving to random places to do mapping, stream gauging or sitting around chatting with friends about geologies. We'd get home around 5, dump our junk in our rooms, go eat, meet again to work on our maps and then fall asleep, hopefully before midnight so we could wake up and do it all again. It was strange. I made some of the best friends I have ever had on that trip, but will likely never see any of them again. Almost sad, but that's life. I also got an email from the place I interviewed with saying they were offering me a temporary position and stating the temporarily awesome rate that I would be paid. I celebrated by taking a break from a report I was finishing up, calling my family and letting them know. I left Oregon in late July and came back to Utah.

August - 1st was my first actual day of work. I was really broke and really ready to go work. I met my boss, Larry, who drove out to Sevier Lake where we met the field supervisor, Alex. I learned how to "log core" (take notes and pictures of what gets pulled out of the ground by the drills) and how to really miss field work in Oregon where instead of being 100 degrees, it typically maxed out around 80. I spent the majority of August in Millard and Beaver Counties working. I traded in my 2003 Tiburon on my 2010 WRX. I would have kept the Tiburon longer, but when I realized how much I needed fixed to pass registration, I figured 7 years was long enough to own the vehicle. I believe I also started dating Kelley at some point in this month. My time reference on that is pretty hazy.

September - came and went much like August. I wasn't doing field work so I spent a lot more time with the girly I was dating. She also asked me what kind of house I wanted to live in with her. At this point, having a real job and being done with school, it was at least feasible, but I was still not into things enough to justify it with an answer. She broke up with me a few days later. I made a quick trip to Vernal and did some field works there for a few days before driving home in a cargo van full of rocks.

October - came along with a quarter life crisis. The newness of my job which I loved so much suddenly wore off. I realized that I was 25, making more money than most 55 year olds, and still living at home. I began to become more socially awkward than usual since it had really been about 4 months since I had hung out with non-geology people. For Halloween I went to a party in Provo with Katie. It was nice to get out. We saw Paranormal Activity 3. I got carded twice. After leaving her apartment I went to In N Out burger where I ordered, went to my car, and sat for about two hours thinking of all the things in my life I regretted. I spent the majority of October doing office work at my job, which mostly consists of creating geologic models of potential mines.

November - was better. Nothing much changed, but my outlook on life became less crappy. I really have nothing to say about November. It was too dull and too recent. I did a bunch more office work, I feel like I'm almost getting a grasp on the programs they've been teaching me and am getting to the point where I can do a lot of stuff on my own even. Thanksgiving was nice. I went to my Grandpa's house where we had it with family.

December - This month hasn't really been my favorite. Honestly not much has changed from October to December in life. I got a Christmas bonus at my job which has kept me well beyond the temporary dates on my original contract. First bonus I ever got and it was really nice too. I went on a date with some girl, who has apparently also been out with two of my old roommates this month too. Oh well, random meaningless hookups ftw.. I guess.. (Not really, if it were up to me I'd never have a meaningless one again.) Christmas was nice. My grandpa came over for Christmas Eve and I went with him to his girlfriends house for Christmas. Yes, my grandpa is awesome like that. A few nights later I ran into Shelley. I dislike her much. Tonight I ran into Amber. I dislike her much. This, along with my meaningless hookup, has made me come to the conclusion that :

My resolution for this year is going to be to not have random meaningless relationships or sex. It just isn't worth it, at all.
Best month of the year: July
Worst month of the year: February
Happiest moment: A random September afternoon when I received my diploma in the mail. I waited until no one was around before opening it. It was just a paper signifying something I'd already achieved and had already been using, but having a tangible thing showing that my last 4 years were worth something really made me happy beyond words.
Crappiest moment: Pretty much the entire month of February. Specifically probably any night I spent alone or with a couple people in the geology building until midnight putting together a presentation before walking home in the sub-freezing weather and falling asleep in my clothes because I didn't care enough to change.
Biggest regret of the year: Never asking Caytie out because I was afraid I wasn't religious enough for her tastes.
Most unexpected event of the year: The email I had stating I'd been offered a job that was way beyond anything I'd expected.
Best movie of the year: Cowboys and Aliens
Best song of the year: Egypt Central - White Rabbit
Best make-out of the year: I really should take this off here since I've not answered it in 3 years now, but this year certainly had more variety than the prior two ;)
Best new t-shirt of the year: Mario Kart Turtles, no question.