Johnny Football Syndrome/Trayvon Martin syndrome?

“He ate Skittles, drank beer and won the Heisman.”  Really?  Thats what Johnny Manziels dad had to say about his college kid.  Our expectations as a society are just straight up embarrassing.  I see this attitude now on a daily basis.  People making excuses for their felonous "kids" who are 18 years old and by all means should be stepping up and taking responsibility for their own actions.  Why are we even hearing from a college age kids dad?  Didn't his son graduate from high school?  Arent they supposedly "ready" to take on the world?  Apparently not, college graduates still come into our lab and drop off resumes and come to interviews with their parents.  The "kids" dont even bother to show up in collared shirts and probably dont even own a business suit.  My parents recently chewed out my brothers friends that graduated from high school for damaging a $1500 patio set.  They decided that jumping off furniture and throwing balls around a pool while breaking a $200 diving board is the only way to celebrate their new found freedom in life.  My parents then get an email from their parents "defending their boys".  Trayvon Martin is another one I have to take issue with.  His parents and people all over America are ticked off that "justice wasnt served".  Really?  Where the heck were his parents and all these people when Trayvon decided that instead of being with his family, or being of value to society (i.e. having a job, getting an education) that he was going to run around smoking pot, acting shady, and getting in fistfights with strangers?  When my Dad was in his early teens, he ran his own household by himself.  He cut his own lawn, he did all his own dishes, vacuumed his own house, did his own handyman work, fixed his own car.  In a way, Im jealous.  I didnt prepare myself that well.  My dad tried to pass on as many of these skills as possible. I have picked up a few here and there, but not as many as I should.  When my Grandpa was in his teens you want to know where he was, WAR.  Yeah thats right a couple of generations ago "boys" were expected to be men and go fight for their country.  My grandpas generation watched their friends die in their arms in battle.  Then, they were expected to come home and get jobs and start families.  Now apparently "boys will be boys".  We can be irresponsible forever and let someone else jump in and make excuses for us and try to hold our hands through life.  Now, the norm is to be completely unproductive, not worrying about getting a job or taking care of yourself or anyone else.  Hey guys, dont worry about being responsible....the old people that had things called "high expectations", "class", and "intelligence" are all to old to bother you about it anymore.   So, just run around drinking beer, eating skittles, letting your butt hang out of your pants, and wearing shirts that are way too big....because hey were not much better than apes are we?

Thanks

Writing this quick streamline before I go to work, even though I dont really want most people to ever read it, but I know someone will.  Had a weird dream last night.  Wasnt weird because it involved my last gf, that still stays pretty consistent.  Shes still the girl of my dreams, no matter what happens during the rest of my life that decides to stay constant (sorry future wife, you may try to change this but you probably wont ever want to ask if you did/have).  The weird thing was it was pretty revelatory about my personality.  The dream was all about how I tend not to express gratitude and appreciation.  Also, I am not as good at complimenting people when I remain nervous around them.  So here it is in the blog.  Thanks, ATB.  You work tirelessly to help those in your life, even when they arent as grateful as they should be.  Off to work and off to be a more grateful, more appreciative, more complimentary person.  This could be scary, I may have to get rid of more of my shyness.

What to do with life?

Sometimes life gives you a lot of choices, and you dont really want any of them.  All of the choices are good choices, and they could all be good opportunities, but none of them are really anything that is very exciting.  I could stay at my current job, .living situation, etc for who knows how long.  I could go back to Utah or somewhere else to go to grad school.  I could just shirk all responsibility and become a hippie and live by the beach in a van.  There are a million different plausible situations and choices in front of me and I dont want any of them.  Im pretty happy.  All of the people around here are great and I could be happy as a clam chatting with the weirdest of the weirdies for hours.  I really enjoy people, talking with them, learning about them.  Problem is, I am super shy.  No one who knows me remembers that I am shy, but I really am.  So now I am just a shy introvert, waiting to create a situation to get excited about, but making life as exciting as it can be for right now.  Heck, I could keep going to Lindsey Stirling concerts and wouldnt mind catching Penta or Sara B, and just going on a fun concert spree.  Also, I still love sea animals, oceans and aquariums. Who knows what another week holds?  Miss the band perry, Miss wont stop whispering in your ear conversations in sunday school.  Life is crazy, Im just livin it and tryin to have a good time lovin it.  Ill just keep musin on the random noncoherent musings....

Stir Crazy

  I never thought of myself as someone who was always waiting for something new and exciting, and wasnt appreciative of what the have, but I think I was wrong.  I dont do well staying in one place or going after one thing.  In college, I moved apartments every year.  Red flag.  I should have realized then that I dont do well with permanency.  I did stay consistent with my major, and in general, I tend to finish things I start.  Books are one of my exceptions.  I love books, but I dont finish lots of them.  I have always had goals in life, but I have always needed goals in life.  Right now, I dont know what I want to do or what I should try and accomplish.  Some days, I want to venture into formal dance lessons, although I really think I want to wait on this one until I find a girl that I can dance with forever.  Other days, I want to go to art museums and just get lost learning and admiring.  Most days, I want to get lost in the world of fashion and by new exciting clothes. Thats just it though, I could never satisfy that desire for a new shirt, or a new tie, or a new pair of shoes.  Luckily I dont have too much money that I can worry about that yet.   What to do next?

The backwards hat

Tonight I came from basketball to tutoring with my BYU hat on backwards.  One of the high school girls was like, "nice backwards hat".   I can read sarcasm from a mile away....Its my game so its hard to beat me at.  Some previous girls that also thought they knew me said the same thing "you, and a backwards hat, it doesnt work".  Actually, the backwards hat is my personality.  In the future, no one will keep me from wearing the hat backwards when I want, because it is who I am.  Most people know the nice kid that will do anything for you.  If will go out of my way for people that like me and people that dont like me, but that doesnt mean Im a pushover or that I have no edge.  Really, the backwards hat is who I am, because I am never who you think I am.  You think Im the nerd that does science and math.  Well, English was my favorite subject all through high school.  I love lit.  Poems and classic works are my favorites.  I enjoy country music, hip-hop, regaetton, bachata, metallica, and many others.  Though I may do anything for you in normal circumstances, you dont want to be on the opposite side of me on a basketball court, a soccer pitch, or anything similar.  I will be nervous and quiet if you dont know me, but Ill be the loudest kid if you do.  I love to cut loose on the dance floor and have fun.  In the end, I enjoy helping people more than anything else, but I love to have fun...so Ill keep rockin my swag how I will and ya'all can quit whining about it!  

Awkward lunch

Ill preface this by saying I know I am going to take a lot of crap from the female gender for this one.  Hear me out anyway, I thought it had some hilarity.  So I am sitting in a Rubios eating lunch facing the temple outside.  A cute blonde girl walked right through my view and so I looked at her and smiled and she was already smiling back.  Cute blonde girl proceeded to enter the Rubios.  There was probably a good 15-20 seats open in various places, so there was no way she was gonna take the one right between me and awkward Doctor I cant take phone calls quietly and have to take them all through lunch.  Well, I was wrong she rolled up right to the spot that was so ridiculously close to me it wasnt even funny.  If you can eat from the other persons burrito or kiss them without moving, probably to close for a first encounter.  So said blondie decides shes just gonna keep her headphones in.  I am just chillin in the world of mixed signals.  Crazy girl goes through all this effort to sit awkwardly next to me but wont take the headphones off so I could actually start a conversation.  In the middle of eating Dr Crazy left and the girl slid over. I was like "ok off the hook, message is she just really wanted to sit on this row".  Well she slid out got salsa and then slid awkardly right back over to that close seat.  By now, I was done eating and not gonna try to pull her out of her ipod world.  Sorry girl, I know it looks like you made a ton of effort daring to move next to me and take the only seat nearby, but seriously if you want me to talk to you lose the headphones.

as much as our intellectual presumptions lead to pretty little plans,
life presumes to deviate our planned passages.
the resulting journeys of joy and pain through obstacles of
pride, prejudice, love, and avarice lead ever onwards to an unseen end.
The ability to follow the paved path of gold we walk
depending upon our ability to find friends with similar aspirations.
Together realizing, but altogether never realizing, the originally presumed purposes.
The end achieved through the means of the different lots life dealt.
The Omniscient hand ever pushing us to push ourselves
to find our respective selves and 

Hurricanes in our Hearts

I dont write a lot down on paper and so a lot of thoughts and feelings I have shared with family and friends have either become part of their memories or have disappeared forever.  When I got home from Miami I didnt have any clue what I wanted to talk to people about, however as I sat on the stand and was a few minutes from taking the pulpit I realized what everything was all about, "Hurricanes in our Hearts".  I experienced Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma while in Miami.  Both hurricanes were category 3s when they hit us.  The winds were upwards of 100 mph and the force was incredible.  Hurricanes are the most beautifully destructive thing I have ever experienced.  There really is something freakily beautiful in natures destructive power.  After a hurricane everything is left devastated.  The initial destruction is not what you worry about, its the after effects.  The lack of clean, drinkable tap water.  The lack of power for weeks or months.  The lack of a warm shower.  Having to clear and help friends and neighbors clear all the fallen trees, mend the broken fences, and mend their hearts and souls.  Really hurricanes are all about the last part. Hurricanes are a battle of heart, soul, and will.  The only way to get through it is by loving each other and loving Christ.  Trials in life will be our hurricanes.  Trials can leave us without power, with debris, and brokenness.  As we seek to lift ourselves up we must first do the unthinkable, turn and start lifting everyone else up.  It is easy to think, hey ill take care of myself and my own first and then ill worry about everyone else.  The truth is as we do the unthinkable and start pushing and lifting with those around us we will find God reaching down to push and pull with us.  Behold the lillies of the field.  If we our worried about our own needs we first need to relax and feed Christs sheep.

Not so cursed with girls!

A follow up to a post I left on facebook a few weeks ago.  I tutor for a family that has four girls.  I have only been tutoring one of them and periodically the other three appear as they come in and out doing homework and various things.  One of the first nights I tutored I was leaving and one of the younger girls was like, "Bye Tyler!" and I was like "goodbye!  I dont know your name but I should".  Well she got a little pouty face and I was like "Ill remember your name for next time" and she responded "I sure hope so".  Well, I grew up in a house that is mainly male.  Those of you that know Erika and Karissa know that they are extremely feminine.  They are very feminine in very different ways, we all have very individual very eclectic personalities.  Erika, Karissa, and my Mom instilled a love of fashion, shopping, country music and other such things on all us boys.  However, when we were growing up we all loved playing sports together.  The TVs in the house were mainly on sports channels and the girls had trouble fitting their shows in.  Our TV almost permanently sits with ESPN on, even when no one is watching it is on in the background.  I guess me learning how to read from the sports section of the newspaper had some sort of effect on all that.  I have always contended that when I get marry I know my wife is going to have girls.  I dont know how to deal with girls.  Ive been on bunches of first and second dates, but beyond that and into relationships I am completely in the dark when it comes to girls.  So I have always said, "One day I will be cursed with girls and then Ill learn".  Well getting back to the start of the story, being in a house full of girls tutoring has changed my outlook some.  While I realize I am not the parent of any of those girls, and I dont have to be around them incessantly I think they are awesome.  Do they fight because someone borrowed something without asking or for various other reasons.....yeah.  Do the teenagers have some extra sassyness and some things that would be tough to deal with...yeah.  The thing is though they are all so sweet.  Their sweetness blesses everyone.  As I went to leave today Caroline and Lauren the two youngest were hanging out by the front door.  I was like "Goodbye Caroline!  Goodbye Lauren!"  Lauren got a huge smile on her face and said, "Hey!  I remember your name too!  Goodbye Tyler!"  I left with a huge smile on my face and I feel stoked and blessed just to have had the opportunity to spend time around them.  Guess girls arent so much of a curse after all :).

Tender Mercies

Some doctrine of Tyler that I dare not teach or share in a Sunday School lesson.  Listening to the Spirit and going about doing good can be a real constant thing in our life. There are numberless chances during the day to stop and listen to promptings that will enrich our life and the lives of others.  While at BYU, I made a habit of slowing down in between classes and making a conscious decision of which route on campus I would take that day.  Most of the time at BYU people get set in a routine, walking the same way to their same classes everyday.  A number of days I just felt like there was a different path I should take, sometimes the paths were the opposite way of my class, and sometimes I just ended up at class real late or not at all.  How was this a positive?  Everytime I went somewhere I wasnt "supposed to be", without fail I would run into someone that I had not seen in awhile and we would share some time and words that would enrich our lives.  Oh right, I should add in here that sometimes it was excruciatingly painful for people to get across campus with me.  You never wanted to walk to class with me if you were planning on getting there on time and not meeting a bunch of good new friends.  I was reminded of this the past two Tuesdays.  Both Tuesdays I went to the same area near the temple to eat lunch.  The first time I was stopped by someone yelling "Workinger".  I looked over to see my good buddy Fitz, and he was eating lunch with a bunch of the guys that I spent a lot of time working with in a lab at UCSD.  We were able to sit down and enjoy some time together and renew old friendships.  Today, I went to the same place expecting maybe I would run into them again, however, I ran into Rory Taylor.  I dont know Rory incredibly well.  We didnt talk a whole lot.  We just exchanged pleasantries, said Hello, asked about each others jobs and carried on with our days.  All these simple "tender mercies" though reminded me that God has a role in all sorts of small things in my life.  Tonight everything seemed to be topsy turvy of what I wanted.  I ended up running a bunch of errands that I would have forgotten to run if I had gone on my own selfish way.  At the end of the errands I was at the checkstand, the little cute latina clerk sneezed, and I promptly said "Bless You".  Then, I kind of laughed and looked up with a smile and was like "Salud!".  She had just been speaking Spanish to the other clerks and when she heard me say it she got a huge smile on her face.  As I walked out, I heard her start talking to the other workers in Spanish and smiling and laughing about the whole thing.  Sometimes, God just wants us in places so people knows he care and that we care.  Hopefully, we all stay a little less busy and find a little more time to be in the places not that we want, but the places where God needs us.  We truly are each others angels.  Oh, Ill also give Maelyn another shoutout here for making my night last night.  Even though we were totally joking around about sharing a positive, uplifting moment at the end of the night, it really did make me smile.  Also, I hope people dont think Im posting this to say that Im awesome, cuz obviously that is not the case.  I feel like all the opportunities were in order to bless me and I selfishly got way more out of them even if I didnt get to do the initial selfish things I wanted to.  Basically, sometimes we think we are sacrificing but something more awesome comes are way!

Friends cheat?

There are many quotes that have somehow been attributed to me over time.  I dont deny that I said any of them although I dont remember the majority of them.  The few people that know me best know I love making a joke out of anything and everything and rarely take anything seriously.  Frankly, Im not sure I know how to take anything seriously.   There is just something wild, free, fun, flirtatious about being able to sit back and joke about anything and everything that comes your way.  It has a Bogartesque/Bondesque feel to it.  Let the world fly crazy round while you laugh at whatever comes your way.  Really though in my rare thoughtful times every once in awhile I get back quotes like "Friends cheat, thats why they are friends".  Really, I said that?  That is completely non sensical mumbo jumbo.  Although in someways I see why it might have made sense.  Friends cheat sadness, sorrow, and other Satanic wiles.  Friends give you the lift and wings to just keep on keepin on....that warm smile and an arm around you lets you know that they are behind you, beside you and in a second you are ready to keep fighting by each others side.  The most fun and most fulfilling things in life are being surrounded by great friends.

BYU Womens Soccer

Dear BYU Womens Soccer,

   You are the greatest thing on the planet.  Jaiden Thornock...I dig your style...so fierce but so smooth.

                That is all.

The lovers, the dreamers, and me...

I am a dreamer.  One of the reasons why I consider myself part southern or part cowboy is that I have always loved and dared to dream.  Being a dreamer is a blessing about 80 percent of the time, however right now does not belong to that 80 percent.  The idealist in me is rarely evident in my subconscious and most of the time i dont remember my actual dreams from dreaming at night.  Im mainly  a daydreamer, a believer that I can do difficult things.  Right now, my actual dreams are vivid and far closer to "beautiful nightmares" than anything else.  The interrupted sleep and waking up to reality is taking a converse toll on my actual daily dreams.  The funny thing is, I have found a way to tear it up at work and remain oddly focused.  My attention to detail during the daytime is kind of ridiculous at this point and my ability to think clearly after the 5 o'clock quitting time is completely shot.  Life, its a funny conundrum.  Nothing is ever as it seams.  "What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing...someday well find it...I've heard it too many times to ignore it

There's something that I'm supposed to be".

Creed (rough draft)

While at Bishops house last night I just had some thoughts that are turning into this rough draft creed:

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I will seek to love my fellow men and be of good cheer.  

I want to steal pretty much all these song lyrics and incorporate them somehow: 

So when my life's a leap of faith

I can hear You say well done

I'm gonna run this race

To hear You say well done

If people walk with me, talk with me, looking for truth

They're gonna find out soon

If they're following me then

They're gonna follow You

I will trust in the atonement of Jesus Christ through the sunshine and the storms.

I will seek to listen to problems without attempting to solve them.

Come what may and LOVE it!

I have always had an aversion to roller coasters.  I have lots of reasons and beliefs for why this fear may have come into existence.  It is not that I dislike roller coasters, I just dont like the anticipation of whats about to happen.  I dont like the feeling of falling and not having any control over where I am in time and space.  Life is the greatest roller coaster ride.  I have often pondered how I ended up on this ride and how willing and excited I was to go through all the experiences that come with life.  I am sure that at first it felt like a roller coaster line, complete with all the hesitation and panic.  Once the ride is over, I usually am jumping back in line to try it again.  The highest highs and the lowest lows are all worth experiencing.  The best part is learning to be excited for the hills and valleys to come and embracing whatever happens with a desire to keep moving and becoming better.

There is something pristine about the generation that is quietly disappearing.  As a youth, I was an avid sports fan.  I have not changed much since then.  Coach Wooden was a name I knew.  I had heard the legend of his UCLA teams that were unbeatable.  Now and again, I would hear a little talk about his "pyramid of success".  I did not realize, that he loved English.  Coach Wooden was a perfectionist and a master at everything he did.  Coach Wooden is probably one of the most quoted figures in sports history, but up until recently I did not know a single maxim attributed to him.  I like Coach Wooden, because he represents a generation I envy.  My grandparents generation was fraught with war and depression, but out of that time grew great God-fearing men.  There is a 90 or so year old man that walked into my dad's accounting office this year.  Whenever he comes in he greets everyone in sight.  Mr Reed always smiles and laughs and makes sure to compliment everyone he sees.  What I envy most about their generation is that they memorized poems and dances.  They were gentleman in every sense of the word.  Its a quality we dont see as much today, and some people dont like it when they see it.  Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow are winners in the Coach Wooden sense.  I hope we see a change in sports and the world in general where people turn back time.


"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." - Coach Wooden

Walking around the yard in the morning and looking at the growing plants and flowers is one of my favorite routines.  The large majority of those trees, flowers, and plants were planted by members of our family.  Their is an unmistakeable joy that comes from seeing nature take its course when things are done properly.  I came home today and their were yellow flowers on the table.  The flowers make me smile.  I dont know why, but I know they make me smile.  Life is about taking things that make you smile at a premium.  Its too easy to get lazy, and not appreciate the things that bring us joy in life.

This blog is born on my sisters birthday.  The blog was supposed to be born yesterday since I joked about it during a Sunday School lesson.  I am rather stunned that there isnt a bigger Switchfoot fan with this blog name.  Ive thought about starting this blog multiple times, but blogs were to feminine.  Awhile ago, I watched that awesome movie with Amy Adams, really I just think shes adorable, where she cooks everything in that french cookbook and then blogs it up.  I feel like this is an episode of Psych and Im missing the super obvious name of the movie reference.  Anyways, that should have convinced me more that blogs werent cool.  Now I have this space, and Im almost through with this miserable difficult first post.  Ill have to decide if my random song thoughts of the day, jokes of the day, sports thoughts of the day, or stream of consciousness of the day end up here.  For now we will just go with my faith in the younger generations music choices has been partially restored.  My younger brother plays on a baseball team and the favorite bands of the kids were:  Guns N Roses, Queen, and Metallica.  Hopefully, those kids will tell there friends about real music and get all this autotuned, computerized mess off the radio.