What lavender smells like:

This afternoon was kneeling in the sun at my landscaping job spreading out rocks and listening to Radio Lab.  Next to me there was this little shrub.  As I caught a whiff of it I suddenly remembered very clearly my first kiss, and really everything about that relationship.  I remembered that this little bush was lavender (I had seen the tag on it another day).  Turns out that perfume was lavender too, who knew?

I think it's fascinating how smells can bring back such vivid and emotional memories.

I also find it interesting how rewarding and completely exhausting landscaping work is.  After i got home (which admittedly required a slightly up-hill 8 mile bike ride, which probably contributed to the exhaust) I passed out on the couch and stayed there for two hours until i had to get up to play soccer.  So now I'm tired, in the best way.  Now I'm going to go play cities and knights.

Sunday Dinner and Hiking the Y

 Today I made a Peanut Butter sauce, sort of a Thai style thing, with rice and chicken and broccoli.  It turned out really good.  I had no idea how easy peanut butter sauce was, and it was really really delicious.  I think i'm going to make it more often, it puts soy sauce to shame.  Plus, now my hands smell like garlic.

Yesterday we hiked the Y for the first time (well, my first time).  It was fun, now I want to go on some real hikes.  

I hung the Calvin and Hobbes thing, tomorrow I'm going to buy some frames and hang the posters I got.  Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, I'll be well into phase two.

Sherlock Holmes has nothing on me

The mystery of the missing packages has been solved.  Over two weeks ago i ordered two posters and a book and they still hadn't turned up.  Today I decided to get to the bottom of it.  I checked the tracking things, and two of them said they'd already arrived.  I asked my roommate and it turns out the package slips just got lost in the mess of random papers we have on our counter.  Sadly the place is closed, so i'll have to wait till monday.

The book i checked and it turns out that I, always prone to sentimentality, sent it to the house on Howard st.  in Jackson.  So that was silly of me.

Remember being a little kid and always having random cuts and scratches and bruises and scars?  That's sort of how things are going for me these days.  Between landscaping and lots of theoretically non-contact sports, i'm either sore or bruised everywhere.  It's pretty great.

Sunday is for cooking and games, Monday is for Jack Johnson

I went to sleep last night at three A.M. a cool breeze and the sound of pouring rain coming in through the window.  It was lovely.  This week was great, despite the persistant raininess.  Almost everyday was a nice combination of sports, work, and games.

So I made this on Sunday.  How cool is that?

Friday, after work, I came home and took a nap, because i had been working really hard (I've picked up a second random job doing landscaping) and not sleeping quite enough, and after that Tim and I went to Seven Peaks Water Park.  It was probably the most uniquely awesome waterpark experience ever.  First of all, it was only 2 dollars because they had a special deal thing.  Then, it was rather cold, cloudy, and a bit windy.  This was ok though, first of all because i was already sunburnt, but also because it meant in the entire park there were maybe 15 people.  There were absolutely zero lines.  Tim and I just went down slide after slide, running back up the steps to go again.  It was pretty awesome.  After that we came home and played cities and knights with Carly and Bryan.

So, i've been working on this post for almost 12 hours, I keep trying to finish and getting interrupted by awesome things,  I just got back from playing water polo.  Suffice it to say, life is great.

Postscript: I'm considering linking my blog posts to my facebook like some people I know do.  I feel sort of weird advertising my blog.  On the one hand I'd like to have more people reading it, but I don't really feel clever or insightful enough to justify telling other people they should read it, because mostly it's just me rambling about how cool my life is and what i happen to have done recently.

Be My Mirror, My Sword and Shield, My Missionaries in a Foreign Field

I love the rain.  I do.  I am, however, extremely grateful that I was able to catch a ride down from the MTC when it started dumping buckets.  Biking in the rain in a tie is only fun occasionally.

Life chugs along, the early summer slump of few friends and nothing to do has given way to nearly constant fun activities.  It's a nice change.  Today i just got home from work, I have FHE in half an hour or so, and then I'm going to play cities and knights with some people.  Tomorrow is soccer, wednesday is ultimate frisbee.  Thursday I work nights, so I'll probably just go home.  Friday 7 peaks water park is only 2 dollars, so i'll be doing that.  Saturday we play volleyball, and maybe sports in the morning, or maybe a double date picnic.  On top of that, I think I'm going to start working another random little job doing landscaping.

Phase one of Operation Decoration is almost complete.  I made this little Calvin and Hobbes thing for all of $3.50, I bought three posters for about 13 dollars including shipping and handling.  I'll need to buy some frames from DI.  I bought a used copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon which I'm going to cut up and mount and frame, and I'm planning on doing something with the Sheet music for Claire de Lune, although I'm not quite sure what yet.    Then once we put a lamp in, generously pledged by Cami, and put up a bunch of photos I have to print off in some cool way, my apartment will be super cool.  I can't wait.

So far, total cost is just over $20 dollars.

Hey look, the rain stopped.  I think I'll eat dinner to celebrate.

Operation cool apartment, phase 1:

So DI is basically my favorite store in the world.  I learned some things there today.  First of all, don't buy your kids christmas books.  I assume people buy them christmas books for christmas, only to realize that it's immediately out of season for 11.5 months.  They're all going to end up in DI eventually, many of them before they even get a chance to shine in their seasonal glory.

Buy your kids books like Harold's Purple Crayon, and Ferdinand, and Corduroy, and The Velveteen Rabbit, and Little Bear, and The Bike Lesson.  Apparently they'll keep those books forever and you won't be able to find them in DI no matter how long you wade through the hundreds of slightly used coloring books, disney picture books, miscellaneous religious children's books, and the obligatory set of childcraft.

I did find The Polar Express in really good condition (also a Christmas book, but classic enough that everyone should have it) , but i'm planning to dissect this book and put it on my wall so that girls will think I'm whimsical and artistic, and I just couldn't justify destroying that book.

So, for posterity: 

Before

I found a used Harold and the Purple crayon for a buck on ebay, which will do nicely.  I also found a calvin and Hobbes book for a couple bucks at amazon, which I think I might use, after I read it.
Other than harold and the purple crayon, i'm about to buy a couple posters from amazon for a few bucks each, one of Einstein on a bike, and one by Escher.  I might get one by van gogh also, we'll see.  Then I have a bunch of pictures that i've taken over the past few years that i figure i can do something cool with.

  Then I just need a lamp and maybe one more chair for the living room, a bunch of dirt cheap frames from DI (that i might repaint, a lot of those were seriously ugly), and I'm in business.  I'm having fun redesigning my house.  It's like back in the day when we'd make scale drawing of my room and furniture and design it.  And unless it stops raining this week, I'm going to have a lot of time to think about how it could be cooler.

Nowhere is the world small smaller than in Provo, UT.

Stories from Ammon's ongoing adventures in finding new friends:

This weekend was rather epic.  I discovered an exciting new strategy for finding people to play games with: invite people to come over and play games.  It's a risky move, I know, but in these desperate times, when past friends have all but vanished to summer jobs and returning home, boldness is essential.  As it turns out, it's pretty easy to round people up for games and make things happen.

So friday we had this big ward barbecue.  We were also going to play softball, but then several us remembered that we're rather bad at softball and love ultimate frisbee, so while a bunch of people played softball, a pretty great game of ultimate frisbee ensued, as they often do.

Saturday was good.  At around nine I went to play some night games with by friend Tyler's little sister, who I barely know.  As it turns out, she's in the same ward as Mac Cobb, this guy from my mission.  As we were driving to sonic, we ran into two people from the MTC.  At sonic, I was talking to people, and I mentioned that I was from Mississippi.  It turns out that there was a guy there who'd served his mission in Mississippi, and spent some time in Biloxi and knew my parents.  There's something really weird about being thousands of miles from home and meeting someone your age who you've never seen but knows your family really well.

Sunday after church I took a little nap and then played games at my house, then played cities and knights at a friends' house.  That was great, sundays just haven't felt the same without extensive Cities and Knights games.

It also happens that this girl, whom I met randomly at the MTC on wednesday where she was volunteering, who happens to know one my Zone Leaders from the MTC, who happened to be in the same freshmen ward as one of my favorite comps, happened to be there.  (just to clarify, all these people went to different missions, but they all know each other from before the mission, and all ended up in different portuguese speaking areas)

In other serendipitous news, my downstairs neighbor Brad, who just moved in, is good friends with Nicole Brown, one of my best friends from Mississippi when I was about 5.  Oh, and Cami's dating my mtc teacher's cousin.  I suspect that within provo, no one is more than 2 degrees apart, and since i'm just 2 degrees away from kevin bacon (through my friend who was in My Dog Skip), no one is more than 3 degrees away from kevin bacon.

So life has been good.  It's national bike week, and to celebrate i've picked up a third $10/hour part time job doing yard work for a bike shop owner.  If the work's not too bad and if I can find a bike I want, I'll get a 20% discount on a shiny new road bike.  Then I can wear my tight pants and argyle socks and vegan shoes and my threadless bike hoody and just be so very hip.