Howdy people! Sorry I haven't reported for so long! I've been pretty busy with work and getting my mission papers in! It has took me way too long to get my papers in after I started them. I had some medical issues show up which delayed me about 5 weeks and long weeks they were. I am super excited to go soon! Can't wait to get my call. At that point this will turn into my mission blog. woooo

Mr. Gordmon Smith

So I've begun work at Gordmon's and Smith's. For those who don't know. . .oh lets face it no one reads this blog so why even explain that Gordmon's is a department store. I really don't like the fact that I'm working yet more minimum wage jobs, but I really can't seem to land anything else, especially when I have no access to a car. Anyway, I started both jobs just last week and despite their grunt nature I am trying my hardest to be the best worker I can be. I was promised that if I would give it my all the jobs would turn out much more bearable and rewarding than they otherwise would be. I definitely have been successful at Smith's. I've had compliments given to me that I'm always very happy and polite, as well as a hard worker. As a result I just find myself even happier as I work and the job is not too bad at all! Gordmon's on the other hand is a different story. I've worked as hard as I could there as well thought sometimes it has been much harder. Much of the management there is never giving recognition to the people they are working with. As a result I find myself having a harder time keeping my happy attitude about my job. The store isn't open yet so they are also probably extremely stressed with trying to get everything worked out and set up so I do have the expectation that things will improve and all will be jolly at my jobs. I won't be staying at them for too long because I hope to be leaving on an LDS mission soon, but I have been told that if I was staying longer at Smith's I would definitely not stay a bagger for too long. That says it all I feel. It really is worth it to put effort into a job even if it is a job you feel isn't all that important for a companies success.

Blessings

Well I'm not really one to share testimony, especially over the internet but i feel so inclined to share how grateful I am for a few things. Recently my dad became a bishop and my whole family's world was turned upside down. We were all worried at first of what may come of this, but soon just decided to leave it to the lord and have faith we'd be taken care of much more than we need. Well it's only been two weeks and I have to say that some serious blessings have come to me and things are just really coming together for me. I've been able too acquire two jobs since he became a bishop and they sound like they will work around each other very well. I just have to say it's the first time in a while that things have started to really go my way :)

SOPA all over that PIPA

I just wrote a letter to my congressman concerning the SOPA and PIPA bills being presented to congress. This is it's content:

"Hello Congressman Rob Bishop,

I'm writing to you today on behalf of the SOPA and PIPA acts that are before us today in Congress. I'm a college student at the University of Utah and I know the importance of the internet, I'd say more than the average person. It is of up most importance to me that we keep the the internet free by stopping these bills from passing. It won't stop pirating very well because you can still just type in the websites IP and access the websites guilty of helping the pirating of media. All it will do will cause a mess of the structure to the internet and I don't want to see that happen. As my congressman I hope that you follow what you're constituents are saying and help to assure these bills are not passed. Thank you for your time,

Taylor Gemperline"

You do realize that posting a link in this blog to a sight that might maybe be considered a pirating sight, whether it is or not, could wind up putting me in prison 5 years if these are passed? Dang.

Eulogy for Raidylan

Today my poor beta fish died. I wasn't surprised cause I noticed it stop moving around and being as active as it usually is a few weeks ago and it's about 3 years old so he lived his life full (I think, wait, how long is the average life of a beta fish?) He came into my possession in a different way than most people, in fact it all started when I was asked to a girls choice dance in high school. She didn't actually give me Raidylan, she gave me about 10 minos caught in a creek I assume, and a fish bowl along with them I might add. Well about 6 of thefish stayed alive for about three months which is definitely a record at my house for life of a fish. Then came Raidylan.

Raidylan was originally my brother beaus fish. He had begged my mom to get him a beta fish when they were at Petco or some other pet place and she caved. She put it in my bowl of fish not knowing betas are carnivorous. Dun dun dun.

Well it was a mystery to my family why the minos were disappearing. We couldn't even find their dead bodies and Raidylan grew and grew. I figured it out when there were about 3 minos left and just watched them hopelessly swim away over the next few days. Well when all my minos were dead I claimed Raidylan as my own.

He of course was not named Raidylan until about a month after I got him. I went through many names, many names, but I could not decide between two names. Raiden, cause he's super bad and basically invincible, and Dylan, cause he used to sit in my room and watch me do homework, as the fish would. From the name you can see why and what I decided on.

There were many times Raidylan should have died. The week and a half I didn't feed him while in Mexico. The time he was dropped with his tank. So many yet he continued to live. Until today

So what now. Get a new one. Maybe a crap or snail with it?

Low Tree Branch, Low Ridin

So I feel prompted to tell you about a hilarious ski incident that I'm sure has happened many times but this one which occurred at Targhee individually is the best. So Tyson, BJ and I are up at Targhee launching off the cat tracks and just generally acting like idiots. Well there is this one patch of trees where a short maybe 5 foot tunnel was formed by lower hanging branches. BJ spotted it first and decided to crouch low into a ball and shoot through it. Tyson took is turn with basically the same thing but while yelling "yeeha!" Then it was my turn. Now Tyson and BJ were on a skis and I was on a snowboard. I bent down and curled into a ball but my head was more tilted forward than the others and whack flomp flump fwap smash. owwwwwwwww I find my body completely emerged in the snow and my board sticking out. It was absolutely hilarious and BJ and Tyson were laughing pretty ridiculously hard themselves. Good Times.

Avvvvverage Joe

Average? What is average? I don't know about you but I hate being referred to as average. It's like being stuck in a large crowd of people all trying to get recognized by a person in the front offering 50 bucks to the first person to shout their name. What's the possibility of that celebrity actually taking notice of you? No one wants to be average. If you are average how do you expect to be as successful as you would like in life? How am I to get through medical school if I just stay an average college student trying to make it through classes.

I've recently been taught by a wiser man than I (meaning just about anyone out there) that you can't just settle for average. What you have to do is take a giant cone with you when you go with the crowd so you can shout out louder than the rest. Being extraordinary is going to be one of the hardest things to do, the wise man says, but in the end it will be insanely worth it. Everyday you've got to start out in the morning by setting goals and reflecting on them by the end of the day. I've decided to do this everyday, i'm only on day 3 but it's working great! It's quite empowering cause it makes you feel like you really can do anything when you go over the goals you completed that day in the afternoon. I highly suggest trying it yourself.