What do I want this year?

It is December, the sixth to be exact at 2:33 in the morning. December just happens to be the month of my birthday (20 this year) and Christmas! Both of them being times when people begin to ask you what you want as gifts. I’ll get to those but in the mean time I just finished watching the movie Treasure Island by Disney! I haven’t seen that movie in a long time! I was actually at the library earlier studying (hard to believe I know) for finals and whilst listening to a wonderful movie sound track playlist on Spotify, I heard the theme song to Treasure Island and I decided that I wanted to watch it so I downloaded it from I tunes and watched it when I got home. I absolutely love Disney movies, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t but I suppose they are out there. Each movie that Disney releases has a subliminal message in it. I’m not sure that everyone always understands these messages, these deeper meanings. I know that I certainly didn’t when I was younger. Now, though as I watch old and new Disney movies I begin to understand what they mean, the messages they convey. Wall E, for instance, teaches us about taking notice of what we have because if we don’t we will soon fall into destructive habits and monotonous routines. We must open our eyes; see what is out there waiting for us. To see the beauty of the world around us and of course to love! Treasure Planet teaches us about adventure, risk, and learning who we are. Jim, the main character, faces tough choices and a rough road ahead of him. He is not happy with who he is and what he is doing and so departs on an adventure where along the way he realizes what he had been missing out on. He begins to understand what he was meant for and realize his responsibilities as man. He finds the inspiration in his life and in doing so finds himself. So that brings me to the first thing I want this year, inspiration. Well not just inspiration but the power to inspire, to be a role model. I have always wanted to inspire people to do things not matter how big or small. I think that is why I like to be a leader because I like being a role model. I want people to look up to me and to be inspired by me. This is why I think I have always wanted to be a Dad, maybe not this year but some someday for sure! I think I would be the best Dad there is, I would make sure of it!

            The last year has not been the greatest for me for a lot of reasons. I know that my life is not all that bad but that does not mean that it is easy. School is tough for me, it always has been. I would have hoped that by now I would have found a way to get a grasp on my schooling but such is not the case. I came to college so excited to start my adult life only to find that I wasn't really ready for it. Sure college is fun and you get to be independent but I haven’t found myself to really be enjoying it. It is neither the school nor the location; it is just me to be honest. Often I think that I may have made a mistake in going to school. I know that college degrees are everything in this country but I think that I could manage without one. If it wasn't for my Fraternity I doubt I would even be here still. My brothers have kept me sane no matter how crazy we get. I love each and every one of them I hope that they understand that. I have made friendships here that are stronger than any I have ever had before. That is what happens when you share a common ritual. It is friendship that brings me to my second wish this year. I wish that my friends could forgive me for the mistakes that I have made. I know that I have made many mistakes with my friends and sometimes I think I have taken them for granted. I have not trusted them as I should have nor have I loved them the way they deserve to be loved. I think I am one of the luckiest guys in the world when it comes to friends and I wish everyone of my friends could understand how I feel about them. So for my second gift this year I ask for forgiveness.

            We live in one of the greatest countries on this planet yet sometimes it just doesn’t feel so great. People always say that I should be proud to be an American! But I have to ask myself, am I? What is the American dream anymore? To own a fast sports car and a big house to fill with useless junk? What has happened to that dream of freedom, liberty, and justice? I don’t see much of it anymore that’s for sure. In the past I have simply turned a blind eye to what happened in Washington, it never mattered to me until this year. The elections really opened my eyes to how corrupt and twisted the people of my country are. The elections are supposed to be seen as a Nation electing the next great leader who will ensure everything that America is supposed to be. But that is not what I saw this year. I saw a nation torn in two, contorted into ugly weapons of hate and self-destruction. I saw hateful advertising, words of cruelty, and empty promises. This wasn’t an election; it was a cold war that’s what it was. The tension between the parties (which I find useless by the way) was so thick I couldn’t breathe. The hate that emanated from the people was so strong I’m surprised that a civil war wasn’t started. There is no unity here in the United States of America, only chaos fueled by hate. And so that is my third request this giving season, unity. Unity among the people of my nation is all that I ask. United we once stood, so please close your mouths and open your arms so that we may stand United once again!

            

It takes a lot of courage to step out into the world today. Just getting out of bed and going out into public is easier said than done. Everyone is so demanding of perfection anymore that we lose sight of who we really are. Courage is required to stand out from the crowd. One of my favorite quotes comes from Dr. Seuss: “Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you!” These words mean a lot to me because in a world where I am told to fit in I have chosen to stand out, to set my own path and to create my own future! Who cares what anyone thinks, I did not ask your opinion and I am sorry if that offends you but it is my life so get your own! So this time I would like a little more courage so that I can stand up to the status quo, so that I can defend myself when I have too. Courage sounds nice to me! 

I hope that so far what I have asked for isn’t too much to give, I’m not big on presents to me it is the thought that counts. I would rather just spend the holidays with friends and family! Happy Holidays Everyone!!

The Calm

Before I get back to where I left of on my last blog I just want to comment on one of my favorite TV shows Ghost Adventures! I don't watch much TV but I love watching documentaries on paranormal stuff! I have always been fascinated in ghost stuff, I have no idea if it is real or not but I don't care it is so mysterious to me. I have had a few past experiences that have kept me curious. Im actually watching an episode right now!

 

Ok back to the story! For a quick recap the Waldo Canyon Fire, that is the name of the canyon the fire started in, started around 12pm on Saturday, June 23rd. I was evacuated from my place of work which was only a mile or so from the fire. Now I am just waiting to hear if I still have a job.

The fire grew very rapidly in size and began to threaten several communities, the towns and neighborhoods of Green Mountain Falls, Chipeta Park, and Cedar Heights were evacuated immediately. An intense column of smoke hovered over the City of Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs Real Estate Connection - From Flying Horse Ranch East of Colorado Springs

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night and I kept a constant eye on the news which wasn't very helpful because they where not getting very coverage of the fire. My manager called me and said that she would kept me posted on what was happening with the property. I actually opened a Facebook page for the rest of staff so that I could keep them updated as well. It was about 2 am and I was laying in bed watching the news when suddenly the reporter cut back to the anchor who had an urgent update. The entire town of Manitou Springs was being evacuated because the fire was coming down the big canyon that led into the city.. Well that Canyon is Williams Canyon, where Cave of the Winds sits. My heart dropped and I thought for sure that we had lost our buildings (gift shop, snack bar, pavillion, and ropes course) to the fire. The reassuring thing was that the cave would always be there since it was a cave, but the gift shop was a very old and historical building and it would have been very sad to lose. Along with the buildings we would have lost all of the beautiful scenery in the Canyon and that would have just been awful..

Well, my manager called and told me that they wouldn't let Grant, the owner, go up the highway and check the property. It was an erie night for sure, the part that got me the most was the evacuation of an entire town... I have heard of it before but it has never been so close to home. I couldn't imagine what the residents of Manitou where going through. The next morning came and I watched the news anxiously for any source of information I could find. Finally my boss called and told me that we had gotten lucky and that the fire stopped just at the mouth of the canyon but the fire marshal said that it was going to be a few days until it would be safe for us to return and that the would keep us posted about the fire and if the property was still in danger or not. I was glad to hear that we had made it through the night and I decided that it would be nice to have a few days off so that I could see my friends and be with my family. Monday I went up to Denver to visit the Aquarium with a few friends which was great since I hadn't been there in FOREVER... That night my family went to our neighbors, who's son actually works with me, house to watch the fire burning in the distance, another friend of ours who is also a fire fighter was there and he said that he never thought that the fire would ever reach the city limit. The mood that night was so relaxed. The calm before the storm...

Needless to say..

Today is the first time in a very long time that I have opened my blog. According to my dashboard, the last time that I posted was back in March..... Needless to say I got a little busy!

I really really want to get blogging again because I like how I can express feelings, discuss touchy subjects and complain a little every now and then. It is like having a Journal! I'm sure that all of the Gentlemen are thinking "what kind of guy writes in a  journal!" Try it sometime guys, it is extremely helpful especially if you need to vent a little!

I'll try to pick up where I left off. After spending spring break at Disneyland with my friends I finished out the semester with less than pleasing grades.... Ok, really awful grades. I failed my math class and my Aircraft Systems Maintenance class. I suck at math, always have. I was bummed though, I actually did study hard for the final and I thought I did great on it! But of course as is my luck, every time I think I do good on a math test I actually do horrible, I cannot explain why. So I got a 50% on the final and I am back in the class this semester, with a horrible teacher and a ton of freshmen I might add.. My other class was such a roller coaster. I have a lot that I could say about the class and the teacher and how horrible he and the class where but im not. Ill just say this. The average test score on any test in his class was around 48% with a HUGE curve and I usually scored above that. As for the final, the majority of the material was not ever taught in class or included in the study guide. I am also certain that some of his test questions had incorrect answers seeing as some of them conflicted with what was taught in my other Aviation Classes. I walked out of the class with a group of people and one of turned to the rest of us and said "well, i'll see you all next spring in this class again," I was not the only person who failed the class Ill stop there though as it would not be fair for me to continue on a pointless rant.. Whatever though I was ready to get that semester done. It was a long, depressing, and cold semester and I wanted it to be behind me. 

I hung around Utah for 2 more weeks so that I could finish my Private Pilots license... And I did... Sorta. I flew home (back to Colorado) on the 19th of May and my check ride was the 18th. I was so ready to get done, but of course on the day of my check ride it was raining. Well, the check airman and I decided to finish the ground portion of the exam and since I had to come back to Logan for a week for my Greek Ambassador duties at the beginning of June we would finish the flight portion of the exam then. While I was bummed that I didn't finish before I went back to Colorado it was very nice to be home! The plus was that I got to look forward to visiting my friends in Utah in a few weeks! June rolled around and I flew back to Utah to finish my check ride. It was such a fun week and to top it all off I passed the test with flying colors! It was such a breeze and I actually had fun doing it! The best part was when we landed, the check airman turned to me and said "I have one last question for and it is the one that will determine whether or not you pass, so park here and take a second to relax and clear your mind because it is a very difficult question." After shutting down he turned to me and asked "how does it feel to be Private Pilot!" I laughed and said "damn good!" I didn't want to leave my friends in Logan but I was excited to get back to CO and get back to work!

I work at a place called Cave of the Winds in the mountains above Manitou Springs, Colorado. It is a big cave in which we give tours! At the beginning of the summer I was promoted to Head Guide which was really cool and I really looked forward to doing that for the rest of the summer! At the end of June I got a big suprise! One of the Assistant Supervisors had stepped down and the job was offered to me! I was super super excited for the job! Of course life has its way of being cruel.. About a half an hour after I was promoted, we received a call that a wildfire had started in the canyon next to us and the it was headed right for our property. The other Head Guides and I had always joked about how cool it would be to evacuate the Cave but of course we never thought it would happen. As a side note, I worked there for 2 years previously! Well, we had an hour before we where in any real danger so we slowly began to take people out of the cave, refund as many people as we could, and evacuate the property. Well we where almost done when suddenly the winds began to really pick up and the fire marshal called up and told us to get out ASAP. We quickly rounded up the last few visitors, and got them out. We moved all of the computers and money into the cave and then proceeded down the mountain ourselves. As Head Guide I was one of the last people out. I shook hands with the owner who had come up to help out and wished him good luck and walked out thinking full well that I would not have job in the morning. The fire was getting really close as I got in my car and drove off. It was a very surreal day for sure..

My poor mom had called to check up on me because she could see the smoke from where we live and from there it looked like exactly where I worked and really it was. I couldn't answer though because I was very busy. When I had a second to spare I called her really quick and said "hey I can't talk but im ok, we are evacuating right now, ill call you when I get down the mountain, I love you." Waited for her to say ok and hung up. So im sure she was freaking out! I went through the list of texts and missed calls and let everyone know I was ok! I got home and a co worker sent me this picture. The red arrow is the approximate location of Cave of the Winds..

Yeah, it didn't look good. Some friends of mine who work at a camp not far from the fire where also evacuated. We met up and talked about how it felt to be jobless.. Little did we know it was about to come alot more than just jobless.. More to come.

Oh Hello and Other Stuff....

How's it going everybody? It has been a little while since I last posted on my blog but I have been super busy! Last week was a short week and I know you are probably thinking, "but Nate, if last week was a short week how come you where so busy?" Well let me tell you! I had Monday off of school and usually when I have Mondays off I have a 4 day weekend because I have no classes on Tuesdays! Well this time Tuesday was a Monday schedule meaning that I had all of my classes that I usually have on Mondays on Tuesday WHICH SUCKED!!!! Mondays and Wednesdays are my busiest days! To have them right next to each other really sucked! On top of that I had 3 tests and I was preparing for my Private Pilot Stage Check #2 (out of 3) which I have yet to complete, I passed everything except for my short field landing. For a short field landing I am required to pick a spot on the runway and land 0 feet before and no more than 200 feet past, you may think that it would be easy and there are times where it is but the planes that we fly, DA-40s, are incredibly aerodynamic so they can be hard to land! Plus the winds where starting to act up just a little which added to the difficulty of the landing so I touched down just past the req's. I just have to go in and do a short field successfully and I will be done!

 Anyway, because of the goofy schedule that week I had to shuffle all of my flying around and most of it ended up being super early in the morning so I was getting up at 5 am every day and not going to bed until 1 or 2 in the morning each night because of all the studying that I was doing! It was super difficult to for many reasons, I had taken a Math test the week before and didn't do so well which discouraged me a lot, I need to have a 2.5 or higher to keep my Executive Board position which I really want to keep! There has also been a lot of drama within my fraternity, being an Exec means that I have to deal with much of that drama. Usually I have no problem dealing with drama but I think that since I was already so super stressed, the drama wore me down even more. Needless to say I was very glad when Friday rolled around. Friday night was awesome, we (Delta Sig) hosted a dance party called the Tight and Bright Dance.

 Everyone showed up in tight and bright clothing and danced the night away, we had an amazing turnout and the party was rocking! In fact we had so many people that the floor began to give out! We were fortunately able to relocate the party to another room before anything disastrous happened! We where worried that everyone would leave but in fact the complete opposite happened! Even more showed up! We seem to have set a new standard of partying and that is the standard of partying so hard that you break the floor! The next morning during clean up we pulled the ceiling tiles out to inspect the damage. We discovered 4 broken floor beams! Our house is over 50 years old and for a long time people have been wondering when the floor would give out and it has finally happened! Apparently like 10 or 15 years ago when DSP bought the house the skylight above the floor was broken and there was rain damage to floor which was never fixed so it is most likely that the rain damage combined with the weight of 200 people caused the beams to give out! While our last dance party was successful, I don't think that we will be having another one for a long time! I said that last week we had our Big Brother ceremony and that it was one of my favorites! Well I GOT A LITTLE BROTHER! Technically I am his fraternity father and he is my son but we call them big's and little's. I am super excited because the big little relationship can be super awesome and I have always wanted a little brother!

devinstein:

wearing my new letters with excessive amounts of pride—and I’ve got the best big I could ask for :]

That's my little!

Aggie Snow!

It has probably snowed a foot in the last 3 days or so! I love it like crazy! I went sledding last night with some friends down old main hill which is on the other side of the A in the background!

More Fun Stuff!!

Here are some fun pictures and what not to look at!

When I lived in the Dorms, our chairs did this!

Purpose

I found this picture on Tumblr and I really really really like what it has to say because I understand what it feels like to just want to give up. I'm not saying that I have it rough but I have had my days. Remember that there is always a reason for you to be alive, the purpose is always there. Just because you haven't yet figured out where you are going or who you are doesn't mean that you never will!