The Good Life

I am falling in love. I am falling in love with life. It seems like my whole life I grew up thinking certain things were beyond my reach, that certain things could only be accomplished by those with more favorable circumstances than myself. I am now creating my own circumstances. It is hard to help others understand how I feel because they have grown up just as I have. I feel like I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. The most precious commodity in my life right now is time. There is so much I want to accomplish and there are so few hours in each day. I turn on the tv and feel like I have to watch something educational or it's not worth my time(excluding jazz games of course--hey, I have to relax sometimes). I now look at video and computer games as seriously addicting vices. My mind is more active now than at any other time in my life. I haven't "worked" for almost two years because I make my job enjoyable. At the moment I am not dating anyone...but I feel as if that will change shortly. I no longer let myself get upset or discouraged. I know things will work out. The glass is half full and there is a full pitcher right next my glass. I have much for which to be thankful. I wish everyone could feel this way.

The Secret

So, if you know me you know I am a pretty big fan of the documentary-type movie The Secret. The secret is pretty much the law of attraction, it is the claim that whatever you have in your life, good or bad, is in your life because you attracted it through your thoughts, words, actions, and feelings. With the purchase of my house I am realizing I have nothing to put in my house. So, as of about a week ago i have been trying to attract the following things into my life as CHEAP-ly or as FREE-ly as possible:

Fridge -

Washer & Dryer - My brother Cary said he'd give me the extra set he has in his basement.

Microwave - Brother Cary also has an extra microwave if I need it.

Kitchen Table - Bought a nice glass kitchen table at DI for $35. Need to find chairs.

Chairs for Kitchen Table -

Couch - 3 leads. First lead was a nasty nasty nasty couch. Other two leads are free and promising...will update on end result.

1 Bed -

End Table -

Entertainment Center -

Book Case -

There are also things I need to do with which I will definitely need to attract some help or knowledge my way. I took the first 3 days I will own the house off so I can pull up the carpet that is currently in there, sand and refinish the wood floors, and paint the interior. Also, probably around summer time I will be putting up siding on the garage addition which the previous owner started but didn't finish. I am looking forward to the work I will be putting into this house and the things which I will learn in the process. I know you want pictures, I will be closing in a week and a half and will take some before and after pictures of the house for you all.

Buying A Home

For those of you who may not know I have been trying to find a house to buy for the last 6 or 7 months. I am doing this because I don't want to throw money away in rent and it is time I move back out of my parents house. At first I tried partnering up with close friends so that we would have had more options in buying. After that failed twice I decided to go on my own. This meant I would have to look for a much less expensive house and would limit my options quite a bit. So for the last 2-3 months I have been looking for a cheap house.

Well, I found one. I actually found a few and only put an offer on two places. One was a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo being shortsold for $30K less than its worth. I put an offer on that one, then someone put an offer on it for $15K more, then the owner decided they were going to move back in and keep making the payments somehow. So that one didn't work out.

The next one was a house in West Valley by the Valley Fair Mall about 2 minutes from my work and about one minute from the freeway. It was a red brick house, 3 bedroom, on bath with a 3 car garage. We found out there were no offers so my realtor and I made up an offer and submitted it. When our offer went in two other people submitted offers as well. So we did a slightly better offer once we found that out and submitted it. It was a couple of tense days but I got a call on Friday and they accepted my offer!!

So it will be about two and a half weeks before we close on the deal but I am excited. I know there are risks and I know this is a big decision but I know what I am getting into. I already have a couple of friends who I will be renting the other two rooms to. I am looking forward to doing repairs on the house as well. It doesn't need a ton of work but I am going to be painting and sanding down the wood floors and refinishing them. The previous owner started making an addition on to the garage which needs siding on the outside to finish. Anyway, I am excited. I am a little nervous but more excited.

I will put up the before pictures in a couple of weeks and the after(i have made some repairs) pictures hopefully in about a year. Fun times!

It's Been a Long December...

...and there's reason to believe that next year will be better than the last.

I've been secretly having a rough time this last month and a half. But--thank heavens there's a "but"--things are on the upward swing. With the new year approaching I feel energized. As I look back at the goals I made this past January I am in awe. They were bold goals and I have achieved many of them. I am not sure how it happened exactly but I believe there is a power in setting lofty goals, in shooting for the moon.

I believe I have been experiencing a mild depression this past month and a half. I have experienced a sadness and lack of desire in many areas of my life. I am glad I have been able to recognize what it is. I am grateful to have passed through it because I recognize there are many people who cannot. Many people experience depression their whole lives. It must needs be that there is opposition in all things. I believe I will more fully understand and be grateful for my happiness now.

So last January when I made goals, I set goals for work, school, health, money, and church. I didn't set any relationship/romance/girl-oriented goals. I am not making that mistake again. I will still make goals for everything else but this year I have a new top priority. So, wish me luck.

I wish everyone the best in the coming year. I like these:

-Ether 12: 4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

-(In the unlikely story that is America there has never been anything false about hope.)

Counting Crows - A Long December

howdy all

So I don't know how many people even look at my blog considering I have only told a few people I even have one because I haven't consistently blogged since creating it. I feel like blogging at the moment.

So when I was younger I remember people telling me I could be anything I wanted to be. I thought they had no reason to lie to me and believed it. I decided at a young age I wanted to play football for the Dallas Cowboys or basketball for the Utah Jazz. At some point in middle school, probably the point where everyone was getting a lot taller than I was, I decided that people had lied to me. I let go of those dreams. I never really made a new vision for myself after that point. I kind of stopped dreaming. I didn't know what on earth I even wanted to be anymore.

Now, I see that I can be almost anything I want to be in life. Several things have opened my eyes. One of them is one of my best friends David Perez who is now in his second year of law school at Yale. Another thing that has helped me see this is the success I have had at Wells Fargo in the last year or so. Another thing I've realized is that I have a mental edge over people. I am saying this not to be cocky or over confident. I realize this is a blessing and should take advantage. I have to work less hard to learn things and do well in school than other things. Because of this I often don't work as hard and end up procrastinating. I'm getting off the subject.

Anyway, The problem still comes with knowing what I want to be or knowing what I want to do. I think too many people dream small. I believe I can do lots of things. My friends have lots of ideas but lack the understanding that trying those ideas out is how people become succesful or lack the drive to actually make them happen. I lack neither of those things. I seem to always use the excuse that I don't have the time. But I could make time.

So I'm going to take the LSAT and see about going to law school. I want to go into immigration law because I think I would really be able to help people that way. I have already signed up to take a couple practice tests. I plan on taking close to 10 of them to get ready. I may even pay to take the prep course. This is something I'm going to actually work really hard at. I am also going to try a couple other things to possibly make money doing the one thing I absolutely love doing which is making people laugh. I'll let you know how those things go.

So I'm pretty much a Mexican. That's what it really comes down to. Ok, not really but anyone who knows me knows I have a place in my heart for most of them. This stems from my mission for sure. I was treated with so much kindness by the Hispanic people in Georgia and even here in Utah that it takes a pretty sour Hispanic person to get on my bad side.

Here is an example of a typical conversation which used to upset me: I was speaking with these two guys who were trying to recruit people to work with them on the Border Patrol. I jokingly said I couldn't work for them because I would let everyone in. Later I said, seriously, that the real reason I wouldn't want to work for them is because I have seen so much of the good, having had good friends who are in this country illegaly and been treated with so much kindness by some of these people, that I wouldn't want to always be seeing the bad in the border drugs and everything on a daily basis. Then the guy had the nerve to say, "Well, the thing you need to realize is that even the good is the bad. Illegals are a huge drain on the economy...blah...blah...blah...(a bunch of misinformed nonsense spewed out of his mouth.)" Anyway, that would have upset me in the past but I've gotten used to the fact that some people have forgotten the fact that this country was founded by people who fled other countries searching for better lives. Anyway, this is one thing I feel strongly about but I don't really want to make this political. I just don't feel like I'm better than anyone else because I was born in this country and I don't feel like I have the right to deny someone the chance to have the same opportunities I have to succeed in this country.