The Life of Ryan...

Yeah... its true. So here's the scoop. Last night I went to open the balcony window in my room to get a nice breeze in. Well ever since we hosted our foam party and used my window to transport foam, it has not been able to stay up. The springs either won't stay in place or I'm not Mr. Handy man like I'd like to believe. So as I'm fiddling with the window last night it slips out of my left hand and crashed down on my right hands index finger. I didn't swear! Can you believe that?! I just let out a very long grunt and bit my lip. When I looked at my finger the only thing I noticed was the skin pulled back a little off my finger....no biggie. The pain started to make it's way into my finger but it was nothing traumatic. I ended up playing games with my roommate Kenny for a few hours after that and thought nothing of it. Well Come 4 oclock this morning I was in pain. I was awoken to the feeling that my heart had somehow made its way down to the end of my finger and was pulsating like a raged chihuahua. So I took some ibuprofen and went back to sleep. Well at 7 oclock this morning, the same problem woke me up. So I made my way to the student wellness center, and was escorted by a rather attractive looking assistant. I Told a CNA my story. Had an x-ray and was read my final results. Broken. Hairline. In the tip. Or in proper terms, in my Distal Phalange. Good news though. No cast or wrap can cure this monstrosity. I just have to take pills that take away the pain and make my face numb and wait about 6 weeks for it to be fully healed. So really its not that big of a deal. I just thought it was blog worthy.

Well after a seriously long drought, my family decided it would be nice to visit their ONLY son at school! My dearest mother and grandmother came down from Idaho this week and we spent some real quality time together! This was my mothers FIRST, again I say FIRST time to Logan (welcome momma) so I had to give her the grand tour. The first day we went out to eat and I was their wildlife guide through the wild and dangerous Logan canyon. We faced many a danger as we came across testosterone-filled cattle drivers and the looming fear that a deer could pop out at any moment had our adrenaline running!!! Heart pumping, let me tell you. Of course I filled their noggins with the city of Logans history and gave them a pop quiz at the end. The next day we headed down to Salt lake and ate at the Cheesecake Factory... Mmmm... and then shot our way to Park City. I had the pleasure of seeing the look on my moms face as I dragged her up and down main street. She was reminded of a three year old version of me pulling her along at the toy store during Christmas. All in all, it was great to see them and I was so glad they came down so I could show them the fruits of Utah. Maybe we could do it again before I go off on that Spiritual Journey or something? Have your people call my people and we'll work it out.

Showing mom my Fire-by-Friction skills.

My Fire-By-Friction skills sucked... so I took it out on mom.


Park City!


What the H is this?! We were appalled!

So I just realized that my last two posts were about my friends getting married. If my FRIENDS lives are blog worthy, but I cant post anything about mine... then thats just pathetic! Have no fear! Something has come my way!!! What? you Ask?!?! Drum roll please... a SCOOTER!!! Yay for two wheeled transportation! Yay for my family freaking out right about now! YAY!!! Yep it's true. I got a scooter... kind of. So my roomie Jordan decided we should go in on a scooter together because A: It's gas efficient. B: The ladies like it. C: They're fun! So we did. We bought a brand new 150 cc scooter for a whopping good price. Jordan forked out the money because... well... he's rich and I just paid him my half. We both got motorcycle endorsements so we're pretty much awesome now. In the past week I've had it I've driven my car... once! Saving gas while saving the environment! And yeah...some ladies have ridden on the back. Family Listen now! I bought a helmet... okay? I am SAFE! I follow the rules of the road. The scooter only goes 150 mph... kidding. 65 really. I dont plan on taking it off road and I'm too chicken to go super fast...yet. :) I love you all...but I'm sticking with the scooter until it gets cold. Which is in about two months... maybe less. Oh and the scooter's name is Jimminy. It sounded like a cricket was inside of it at first so we named it after Jimminy Cricket. There ya have it!

PS. Those of you who are wondering what the "whopping good price" is. Under $1000... that's all I'll say.

Here's a pic... only it doesn't have the trunk thing anymore. Ain't he cute!

So. There comes a time in every mans life, where his best friend goes and gets himself married and leaves his buddy with nothing to do. Well my best friend Matt ended up doing just that. He always thought I would be the first to go, but alas...fate decided other wise! Which is fine by me, because I got to party it up at all his fun filled events! Long story short... Matt and Caitlyn met two years ago and its been a roller coaster ride of events. Matt was twitterpated from the beginning, it just took Cait a few tries to feel the same way. Eventually she grew a pair and she fell mad for the kid. Now they look great together as a married couple and I'm so happy for them! Congrats Matty boy, I love you!

So a few weekends ago one of my best friends FINALLY got married! Congrats Jared! I haven't seen him that happy since our days working at camp. It was hard to let him go... but his lovely wife Shannon is much prettier than I am, so I understand. The reception was at The Cellar in Idaho Falls and it was nothing short of a party. I was probably the only one not drinking but I was able to enjoy a nice bottle of San Palengrino sparkling water. Yum! At the reception I was able to visit with some old friends and reminisce about the good ol days. One of the highlights was when a few of us guys sang a ballad for Jared and Shannon. We did a guitar version of Outkasts Hey Ya, and it turned out so cool! It was fun singing it for him and luckily Casper took video of it. I'll post the link at the bottom, so be sure to click on it. Jared is just the first of many close friends who are getting married soon and I feel like I'm becoming that girl from 27 Dresses who ends up being a bridesmaid for all her friends. Only I'm a groomsman... not a bridesmaid. That would be just silly.

Jared, Lisa and I at camp over 5 YEARS ago!!!



Jared and the "Crew." Jared is bottom right.

Here is the youtube link for the video of us singing to Jared and Shannon. I think we could be BIG!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kuVvZ5Lvo5Q

Hello! Hello! Hello to you all! So again... it's been a while since I have given you all the "update" in the Life of Ryan. To be honest ya'll... not much has happened. Yep. Or... nope. Either or. I have been working A LOT and hanging out at the pool with my homies here in Logan. I've been making some pretty good money though... so if anyone needs a loan, or wants to me to be there sugar daddy, let me know. The APR is only 129%, so your good. A few highlights have been my two trips to my homeland of Idaho Falls. A few weeks ago I came up for the 4th of July. It was neat. Granted I could only come up for about 20 hours before I had to be back the next day for work, but I got to go to a baseball game with the family and enjoyed the fireworks with Matt, Caitlyn and his family. The fireworks never disappoint. So I came back to Logan for a few more days and let me tell you what happened then. Remember a few months back when Ryan James got... um... arrested? Yeah... so I got pulled over because my brake light was broken and the kind ol' officer gave me a nice little reminder to get it fixed. Which I have gotten fixed about three times, I think there is a fuse problem or grounded out wire. ANYWAY! He just wanted to check out everything and asked to see my license, and I gladly gave it to him because I KNEW my record was clear... right? WRONG!!! He comes back and says" Hey Ryan... looks like you were arrested on a warrant back in February, and that warrant is still active." My face went pale white, and my jaw dropped to the ground. Here is how I retaliated, "Um first off... no, no, no, no.... no." I explained I went through the whole court thing and had EVERYTHING taken care of. Long story short, he said because I was already arrested there would be no arresting me that night. Which I was kind of excited to go back to jail, because I knew I could get the awesome bail bonds T-shirt. Sorry Erin... I know how much you wanted me to get that. :) So I called the city office the next day, and cleared it all up. I guess someone forgot to hit the delete button on that little situation.


So a few days later I went back to the homeland and saw my good friend sing at a local concert. Then the next day I went to the YMCA camp I use to work at with my friends Paul and Samantha. It was so great to see those kids, and my how they grow up. I feel so bad though because they remember me and I "recognize" them. I remember a few of their names but for the most part... I'm completely lost. That day we played mud-volleyball, went swimming at the lake, ate spaghetti off the tables, had the Friday night dance ( my costume was a mixture of jack sparrow and peter pan... it was scary), and we finished with skits and songs. The kids demanded I do my famous Tarzan song and I was more than happy to do so. It became the best Tarzan ever and lucky for you I have footage. Mind you its a little dark but still cool.



The day after that I attended one of my best friends wedding which I will talk about in my next blog. Also look forward to a few more blogs after that because I feel I have a lot to write about... Yay for you all! Some excitement in your lives!

PS. Thank you Nani and Mom for your kind words in my last post. I love you both. :)

Here is the famous TARZAN!!! ( click on the highlighted link below )
http://youtube.com/watch?v=S0Ms9sYOFTI

Back in 2007, I made some mistakes in my life. Some minor and some big enough for me to want to make a change in my life. So, not really being a new years resolution guy, I decided to make a few. Now that it is June, I have thought about how far I've come in the past six months and wanted to give myself a little evaluation. I had three major goals to conquer and then some little ones that followed. The first of the three, and the most important was being HONEST to myself and others. For a while there it seemed like I was trying to be someone I'm not, and that guy was no fun anyway. The RJ that would say or do anything just so he could "fit in" never actually did, and therefore only pushed people away. It was a lie to myself, and it was a lie to others. People called me on it and it was a huge wakeup call. Looking back, if I had the chance I would have slapped myself in the face with a silly stick. Why in the world would someone want to fit in by being someone their not? Deep down I always wanted to be liked for who I REALLY am, but thought no one would see me for me. Boy was I wrong. This year has shown me that by being myself, I'm being someone that is unique and different. Someone not afraid to just be themselves and not worry about what others think. I'm not in high school anymore so it was time to stop acting like I was. Now I'm just me. Me in my own skin, in my own life and not trying to live vicariously through others. I still have my moments where I think I'm being an idiot or wish I would have done something better, but then I realize I'm forever changing and who I am a year from now, will be different in some way, to who I am today. As long as I'm happy with who I am and where I'm going, I really don't think I'll have room to complain. So I give myself an A minus as far as all thats concerned.

The second was to be more SPIRITUAL. Not only with God but within myself. I'm not talking about going to church or reading up on the scriptures to gain knowledge, but finding my own personal relationship with God. This one is hard to explain, but going along with finding out who I am, I see little hints of God's plan for me. Opening myself up to the spirit and be in tune with his promptings I can better hear the whispers in my ear that I need to hear. It has helped me so much to understand what I have to do. Does he tell me which way to go? No. Does he give me the option to choose? Yes. The best way to describe it, is like having my own life tutor not tell me the answer but letting me find the answer on my own. And when I find something, I go for it. I feel like I was just filled up with the highest grade of heavenly diesel, and I go full steam ahead! I'm still learning so many things. Within the church and within myself, but it feels great to know what I have come to find out over the past few years and especially the past six months. I give myself a B plus on my spiritual quest.

The last mojor goal was to just LOVE LIFE, no matter what happens. For this one I gave myself an A minus. Here is why. Holy cow have I had some of the happiest and saddest times these past few months. I have come to find out new levels of love and to experience great loss. I have come closer to my friends and family and closer to myself. I have found that happiness is not in any materialistic item but being close to a certain someone or best friend or family member. I've also learned you can't always get what you want... but if you wait long enough, patience will open your eyes to something better. I've learned I can't sit around and wait for things to come, but to go and get those things the best way I know how. And if things don't work out the way I plan, or want, I pick myself up off the ground and do it again. I can't give up on life, or on God, because God won't give up on me ( thanks cucumber for that quote) :). Life is too good to worry about the small stuff, and no matter how hard things may seem, if you want it bad enough, great things will come your way. You just have to know where to find them.




PS. Not to worry, the hilarious Ryan James will be back on tour shortly. :)