My time with Divine Comedy

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival."

– C.S. Lewis

I've talked a couple times now on this blog about Divine Comedy, the sketch comedy group that I worked with for a couple years. I just wanted to take the time to reflect on how truly amazing that time was and, in many ways, still is to me. These last couple weekends I've had opportunities to get back together with the group so I thought I'd try to finally take time now to put down how I feel about the whole experience.

I first learned about DC from a friend of mine who I dated for a while before my mission. While I was out, she'd occasionally mention going to a show, just how hilarious they were, and one time even auditioning to get in herself. I figured once I got back to BYU, I'd check them out and see just how funny these guys were.
The first show I went to was in November 2011, and the headliner sketch was a parody of "X-Men: First Class". I'd only been home for a few months, so I made sure to watch the movie before so I got all the jokes in it. Even if I hadn't done that, though, I'm sure I would have laughed my head off, because it was absolutely hilarious. The jokes came one after another, they were throwing glowsticks and candy out to the audience, and I was immediately hooked. I went to the shows immediately after that: "Twilight: The Day Dawn is Breaking" and "The Phantom of the Awkward" (which to this day is still one of my favorite parodies of all time). I thought that I'd just be a lifelong fan, going to all the shows even after I graduated and enjoying it along with everyone else. And with the show that they mentioned they were trying to get up and running – which has now turned into the wildly successful Studio C – I'd have even more ways to enjoy it.

Then the opportunity came in September 2012. On their Facebook page, they posted something about needing a new sound technician. I jumped at the chance; I admittedly didn't know a ton about sound engineering/editing/etc. but I knew that I wanted to be a part of it all. This was something that I enjoyed, that was for sure, but this... This would mean that I'd get to enjoy it even more. This would mean I'd get to participate in something that brought me joy at a time in my life when I wasn't exactly in the best place emotionally (if you'd like some context on what I meant by that, see part 5 of the personal history posts I did a while back). And I'd be able to help others feel that joy as well, if only in my special way.
I was asked to come to the auditions with about a dozen others just to help out, and they'd get a chance to get to know each of us through that. I worked mainly with Megan Ward and Eric Magleby, the stage manager and visual tech for DC, respectively. While I didn't really do any audio work then or for the next two days of auditions, I did get to know Eric and Megan, as well as many of the cast members (I'd get to know them all soon after that). I mostly just helped organize the 150 people who came to audition and the hundreds of others who came to support them and watch – not only did we fill the auditorium's seating capacity, but we had people filling up the stairways making it near impossible to walk through easily.
At the end of the auditioning process, I was the last of the people who remained for the audio tech position. Honestly, I was just offering as much help as they needed, and so I stayed later than any of the others. The auditioners were all gone, and the cast members had made their decision as to who they would add to the lineup. Eric then told them, as I was just kinda hanging out with him, that I was the new tech guy.

That was it. That's how I was lucky enough to become part of something that has been so phenomenal to me for the last two years. That's how I started one of the things that has brought me such delight and, frankly, kept me sane. I put in a lot of time to make sure my part was done well, despite not really having someone teach me exactly what I needed to do for the job. I'd spend hours making sure songs were just right so that by the time each sketch was over the music could start and get people immediately dancing and pumped for the next one. Or for some sketches, I'd make sure songs and sound effects were edited just right so that the jokes were their most effective. I remember even making some sound effects and audio tracks from scratch (like using my own car horn to recreate the whistle from the Hunger Games).

Now, that's all fine and dandy, of course I had a good time putting on these shows for everyone. Something I didn't really expect when I joined, though, was the new family I'd get.

I didn't take into account how much time I'd really be spending with everyone in Divine Comedy. Being in this group was a lot like the time that I spent in drama club in high school. And while that was a blast as well, that group of people is just so much different. We were there because it was high school, we didn't really have much say at that time in our lives to be anywhere else. I made some great friends there, some of which I still consider great to this day, but most of them I've just grown apart from. Everyone here, though... There's really not an exact word or phrase to describe it besides familial. There really is something divine about Divine Comedy, and it's something that needs to be experienced to truly understand. It has brought people from completely different places and backgrounds together and made us into a tight-knit, loving, supporting, laughing, caring, charitable, wonderful family. Having been chosen to be part of it myself and having seen others come into the fold, I can guarantee that the goal is to make sure everyone feels loved at all times, no matter who they are or what their role is. I can spend time with anyone from Divine Comedy and feel at ease. At peace. At home.

I could go on and on about specific experiences, but a lot of those are personal to me. And besides, if I started talking about one I would just go on about another, and another, and another, and then you'd either stay up late into the wee hours of the night reading this post or just have to take a break from reading so much at once. Suffice it to say that absolutely every moment I've had with Divine Comedy has been a blessing in my life. Whether it be at a practice and going over sketches, talking about how to really make them as funny as they could be, purposely trying to make others laugh, to taking a dance break, or breaking out into a song or jam session, or playing games like Murder in the Dark, late night dinners, road trips, any of the many performances we've done, on- or off-campus – all of that and more has helped me feel part of something that truly has been divine.

So thank you, DC, for making me feel appreciated.

Thank you, DC, for making me laugh harder than I had in a long time.

Thank you, DC, for helping me make friends I know will last for a lifetime.

Thank you, DC, for allowing me to be part of something I'll always be proud of.

Thank you, DC, for the memories I can always look back on with a smile.

Thank you, DC, for being such a loving, affectionate, lively, and hilarious group of people.

Thank you, DC, for everything.

The cast and crew when I started

And right when I ended

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."

– Thomas Jefferson

Journal-like entry 1-18-2015

I'm just gonna put down some random thoughts and feelings about how life's going right now. I figure that besides posting about specific topics most weeks, it'd be good to actually write about what's going on in my day-to-day every so often.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day for me, as I got to help out a little with a Divine Comedy alumni show. As I've mentioned before on here, I did the sound for them for a couple years and absolutely loved it. This was particularly fun as as lot of the sketches were ones from before my time, including The Little Mia Maid (a parody of The Little Mermaid) and Harry Potter and the One Where Dumbledore Dies (a parody of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). Almost all of the cast of Studio C, who started with DC, and some other past cast members came back for it and it drew crowds that filled the auditorium every performance. Getting to play the music again was especially fun during the last show, because Jansen (the guy who took over for me) proposed to his girlfriend halfway through.

I recently got a job with Deseret Book, after applying to a bunch of different places. I'll be working receiving for them and I start there this week! I'm really excited to work there, and I'm gonna keep looking for another job so I can just work a ton while I'm not in school. A Subway location close to where I'm at now offered me a job starting at the end of the month, so that's a definite possibility (as I worked at a couple locations in Provo last year).

I'm close to finishing Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and loving it so far. It was originally a series of radio chats that he broadcasted himself, then it was all compiled into this book. It's his explanation on what Christianity truly means, expounding on many points that really aren't too clear or are often glossed over, and what people who consider themselves Christian should do in order to get the most out of religious practices. A favorite quote from a chapter I recently read: "You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created." referring to the Savior in a great explanation of how He doesn't experience time the same way we do.

The exercise routine is going great. I've been hitting 5 miles consistently so far, so in February I think I'm going to up it to 6. And if I get that consistently in February, I'll just keep raising it until I really feel like it's challenging. Yesterday I did some walking in the morning, which helped get my total steps over 16,000 (about 7 miles). And I've been holding weights as I walk, so I burn some extra calories while I do it. Right now I'm about 90 pounds over my target weight... so I have a decently long way to go. But again, being able to hit my target distance every day so far is helping me feel pretty confident. And that's something I hadn't felt a lot of recently.

Still working on the dating thing. Starting at a new job this week, attending a new ward (and institute classes), and getting this confidence through exercise, I feel optimistic for this new year. I'm giving online dating another go, but lately it hasn't brought too many results... Still, I'm keeping the option open.

My sister and her two youngest kids will be visiting in a couple weeks, so I'll more than likely be getting a ton of time to have fun with them. (And get to know the youngest one, as he was born less than two months ago!)

I think that's about it for now... I do have some video ideas I'm working on, so I'll definitely have one up by the end of this month.

Books for 2015

Can I just start by reiterating how much I love the age of technology we're in? I'm writing most of this post on my phone while taking a walk, and I'm wearing a digital watch that's tracking how far I go. It's just awesome. (Also, update on the exercise goal: 10/10 days so far, and this will make 11/11. For the first week it was 10,000 steps a day, but since I was getting so close to 5 miles with that I just made that the goal instead.)

For the reading resolution I made, I've chosen twelve books and assigned them each to a month. Here's what I've got for now (summaries from various places around the internet):

Some of the books I've got on the list

January: Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis. "The book brings together C. S. Lewis's legendary radio broadcasts during the war years, in which he set out simply to 'explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.' Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations, Mere Christianity provides an unequalled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to absorb a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith."

February: Surprised By Joy, C.S. Lewis. "This book is not an autobiography. It is not a confession. It is, however, certainly one of the most beautiful and insightful accounts of a person coming to faith. Here, C.S. Lewis takes us from his childhood in Belfast through the loss of his mother, to boarding school and a youthful atheism in England, to the trenches of World War I, and then to Oxford, where he studied, read, and, ultimately, reasoned his way back to God."

March: An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis. "Why do we read literature and how do we judge it? C. S. Lewis's classic An Experiment in Criticism springs from the conviction that literature exists for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. He argues that "good reading," like moral action or religious experience, involves surrender to the work in hand and a process of entering fully into the opinions of others: "in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself." Crucial to his notion of judging literature is a commitment to laying aside expectations and values extraneous to the work, in order to approach it with an open mind. Amid the complex welter of current critical theories, C. S. Lewis's wisdom is valuably down-to-earth, refreshing and stimulating in the questions it raises about the experience of reading."

April: The Art of Manliness, Brett and Kate McKay. "While it's definitely more than just monster trucks, grilling and six-pack abs, true manliness is hard to define. The words macho and manly are not synonymous.

Taking lessons from classic gentlemen such as Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, authors Brett and Kate McKay have created a collection of the most useful advice every man needs to know to live life to its full potential. This book contains a wealth of information that ranges from survival skills to social skills to advice on how to improve your character. Whether you are braving the wilds with your friends, courting your girlfriend or raising a family, inside you'll find practical information and inspiration for every area of life."

May: The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown. "In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling—a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale."

June: The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell. "The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas."

July: Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. "In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will." (Yes, this is the one that was recently made into a movie, and a quite good one at that.

August: The Continuous Atonement, Brad Wilcox. "This book offers valuable insights about God, Christ, and our relationship with them. Each chapter contains clear examples that will uplift and motivate. Profound doctrine is made accessible and difficult concepts are presented in such simple ways that over and over the reader will say, 'I've never thought of it like that before.' That kind of change of belief will help bring about a change of behavior."

September: The Casebook of Forensic Detection, Colin Evans. "This well-organized compendium by Evans (Killer Doctors in Britain) covers cases from 1751 to 1991, arranged according to the methodology by which they were solved. Fifteen areas are listed alphabetically, ranging from ballistics through DNA typing, fingerprinting, odontology, serology and toxicology to the still-disputed voiceprint analysis."

October: The Great Snape Debate, various authors. "Love him or love to hate him, Snape has become the pivotal character in the Harry Potter series. There are plenty of reasons to believe he killed Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince at Dumbledore's behest -- but plenty of reasons not to, too. So is Snape on Harry's side, or is he on Voldemort's? Is he bad to the bone, or just a little misunderstood? Only after Deathly Hallows will we know for sure . . . but we can make some educated guesses now. Designed as a flip book, half the book provides the case for Snape's innocence and when flipped over, the other half provides the case for Snape's Guilt. In The Great Snape Debate, you'll get all the facts on our favorite Potions Master so you can decide for yourself."

November: The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, Akria Himekawa. "Hyrule Historia is, in essence, the “Zelda Bible.” This 274-page collector’s item was created by Nintendo and published by Shogakukan on December 21, 2011 for Japan and in January 2013 by Dark Horse Comics for the west."

December: The Great American Bathroom Book, various authors. "The Great American Bathroom Book is the perfect companion for the burgeoning intellect on the go. Whether you're an avid reader in need of a refresher course or a novice who wouldn't know his Longfellow from his Dickens, The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 1 provides nearly 120 comprehensive summaries and thought-provoking commentaries on the literary world's finest classics. By offering a unique combination of intellect and efficiency, The Great American Bathroom Book provides you with the perfect opportunity to obtain a wealth of knowledge while only sacrificing a tiny portion of your time. In one short trip to the lavatory you can learn the intricacies of Henry David Thoreau's Walden or John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Finally, your days of answering, "Maybe we should split some nachos" to a question like "Who's your favorite character in To Kill a Mockingbird?" will be over."

Some of these are books I've had in my collection for years, some are more recent recommendations from friends and family. Seeing as how this is still January, this is just a tentative list. I could easily get other books, or even just add more to the list since some of these are much shorter than others. So... Anything you'd recommend? I'm down for most anything; in the past I've read fantasy, non-fiction, science-fiction, comedy, suspense, you name it and there's a good chance I've heard of it. Maybe a good graphic novel... I've never been much into comic books* because, knowing me, I'd want to invest tons of money to get all the issues for the full stories. However, from my understanding of graphic novels, they're basically comic books but longer, with stories confined pretty much to the physical book they're in.

So if you have anything you'd like to recommend, I'll happily take a look at it and see if it interests me. I could probably fit three or four more decent-length books in this year, based on this initial list.

*By this I mean I haven't been into getting comics just to read them. Anyone who knows me well probably knows that I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Dark Knight is my favorite movie, and I have a huge respect for collectors and special collector's items. And I even own a near-perfect condition Iron Man comic book signed by Stan Lee, thanks to my awesome older brother. (I say near-perfect because I'm not actually sure what its official grading would be; it's new, and since receiving it I haven't taken it out of its packaging. I'd love to get it sent in somewhere to get it graded some day.)

Video series brainstorming

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that I really want to start making videos, and in greater quantity than in the past. The last few I've made, while I've been proud of them, were more for other people than for myself. And one of the things I've constantly heard about video making, especially for YouTube (which is where I'd like to eventually put these) is that it's important to like the content that you make – create something you'd want to watch yourself.

Here's a list of some of my favorite YouTube channels, with brief descriptions of each (in alphabetical order, just because that's easiest for me to look up). I'm going to group some of them together, because among some of these groups they've made their own networks:

• Belated Media – Movie reviews, talking with other internet personalities, and received a lot of attention for "What If Star Wars Episode I Was Good?"
• Boyce Avenue – a musical group, known mostly for their acoustic covers of pop songs (though they do have their own songs as well)
• Brutalmoose, Caddicarus, NintendoFanFTW, and Yungtown – their group is called Hidden Block, and their videos all deal with video games. Each channel has their own series of videos, and each has a unique flair.
• CinemaSins – known for their "Everything Wrong With ______" videos. As far as I know, it's run by just a couple guys, and was started by just one guy with a great idea.
• Continue?, DidYouKnowGaming?, JonTronShow, PeanutButterGamer, ProJared, and That One Video Gamer – part of a group called NormalBoots. A lot like Hidden Block in that these are all video game based, but it was around first.
• Egoraptor – online animations, a lot of which are about video games. Egoraptor the person is also known for voice acting and for being part of the channel Game Grumps, a let's play series I also like.
• Epic Rap Battles – videos that pit two (sometimes more) famous people from history against each other in a rap battle.The people can be fictional characters, but a lot of times they use real people and base their lyrics off of historical facts about them or things they've done. (Isaac Newton vs. Bill Nye as an example, with Weird Al Yankovic featured as Isaac Newton.)
• Fail Army – just collects submissions from people around the world and compiles them into weekly videos. All the videos consist of people failing (usually by hurting themselves) in some fashion.
• Glove and Boots – a semi-regular vlog, but the main personas are puppets. Pretty funny ones, at that.
• Hot Pepper Gaming – reviews of video games, but the gimmick is that they're recorded live right as someone eats a hot pepper (usually a habanero or hotter), and sometimes features other famous YouTubers.
• How It Should Have Ended – takes the ending of popular movies and animates them, but changes it so that the ending either makes a lot more sense or is just funnier.
• juliansmith87 (and technically jefferydallas) – channels that feature very well-made videos, but about completely random things or topics. ("Malk" being a prime example.)
• LetsPlay, Rooster Teeth, and The Know – all from the same parent company (Rooster Teeth), and mostly related to video games. The Know, their news show, sometimes reports on general entertainment or astounding scientific advances. The Slow Mo Guys also came out of this, and while all they do is just show stuff that looks cool in high-definition slow motion... It all looks really cool!
• MysterGuitarMan – While recently he's been making projects over longer periods of time (which have also been turning out longer), some of the first things that got him started were short music videos that featured crazy good editing.
• OK Go – if you've seen this, this, this, or this, then you know why I like these guys.
• Old Spice – their channel usually to host their commercials, but every once in a while they just go crazy and have fun.
• PomplamooseMusic – A lot like Boyce Avenue in that they do some covers of songs, and some original music, but also like OK Go in that they sometimes have super creative videos.
• RocketJump – originally known on YouTube as freddiew, named for the creator of the channel Freddie Wong. A lot of video game related content, many of which use special effects to reenact specific games or scenarios. Recently their main focus has been to finish the last season of their series Video Game High School.
• Screen Junkies – known mostly for their "Honest Trailers", which remake movie trailers into usually comedic versions that are brutally honest of the movie's plot. They also have a couple other shows, one being "Movie Fights" where they have three people argue about different movie-related questions and someone scoring for each question.
• Smooth McGroove – a cappella vocalist who does covers of video game music.
• Studio C – a channel I'm kinda partial to due to my past involvement with Divine Comedy, this is basically just where they upload the sketches that get broadcasted on television. However, they've been focusing lately on expanding their online audience, especially after the popularity of Scott Sterling.
• The Game Theorists – many different series exploring the worlds of video games and how they connect to each other, their cultural influences, or possible explanations (the so-named game theories) of why things happen in these video game worlds.

These are all channels I'm subscribed to, and ones I consider major influences on what I would like to make myself. This time I'm specifically looking for input from others. What are some ideas of videos that you'd like me to make? Or what are some kinds of videos you'd like to see yourself? I feel like somewhere on this blog I've already mentioned my main idea for a channel (reviewing movies that you can find for cheap, and reviewing the DVD that you'd get as a whole instead of just the movie). But I'm open and accepting of any ideas or suggestions.

So if you want, leave a comment – I can guarantee that I'll read it and take it into consideration.

Resolutions for 2015

I won't dilly-dally with  an introduction for this post, as it seems fairly obvious what it'll be about. And I already said in a post from yesterday that I'd be doing this today. So here we go!

1. Do better with exercise. I know that sounds pretty non-specific, so here's my plan to start out. I have a FitBit, which is a small device that looks like a watch that measures a ton of different things: steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, stairs climbed, and active minutes throughout the day. My initial goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps per day, and if I manage to do that for a few weeks in a row then I'll up it by 1,000 steps. This could also include me doing other forms of exercise, such as playing Just Dance or using an elliptical, both of which I have easy access to.

2. Eat better. I really do want to get my weight down, so in addition to making sure my exercise habits are better I'll be disciplining myself on what and how much I eat. I've constantly had problems with this in the past: getting portions that would almost certainly make me full, getting seconds, drinks that aren't water – just not great decisions overall. My dad has been doing Weight Watchers for a while and has enjoyed it a lot, and I've thought a lot about joining as well. While I don't think my weight is at a danger level at the moment, I'm certainly not making the best choices for a healthy future. So while there are definitely many things that I can and will do to fulfill this resolution, I know how I'm going to start: no soda whatsoever. I actually did okay with this for a while a few months ago, but the holidays started up in November and I broke my streak. So that will be the first thing to cut, which should help a ton. (Jan. 8 update – I took a look at a Weight Watchers pamphlet yesterday, and they said diet sodas were okay. I'm usually not the biggest fan of them because of the taste, but I'm willing to give them a shot...)

3. Read at least one new book a month. This is a repeat from last year, but I know what I'm going to start with, and by the end of this month I'll have a list of one book for every month this year. So far I have Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Art of Manliness (thank you Old Spice for that one), and Unbroken which has just had a movie made of it, which we saw on Christmas and is quite good. Intense, though, as it depicts the true story of a survivor of a Japanese POW camp during World War II.

4. Make at least one video per month. While my resolution on this topic last year was to start up a media production of some kind, it just wasn't specific. And that was my problem with a lot of my resolutions – I liked them, but I wasn't clear to myself how I was going to go about fulfilling them. This is a lot more specific than "just start up" and gives me a deadline of when to get things done. My next post on here will be brainstorming ideas of what to make.

This doesn't really have anything to do with this resolution, but I couldn't think of anything else. And apparently, Friends is now on Netflix as of today. So there's that.

5. Continue dating, still working towards an eventual relationship that could lead to marriage. I feel like I did fairly well on my part last year. I dated around a lot, got a better feel of what I'm looking for in a relationship, and have a lot of possibilities in store for the future. I have the small series I write about already as far as dating goes (the "Plight of the Provo Bachelor" posts), so I don't plan on going into more detail at the moment on this subject, but probably will soon. An experience I had fairly recently kind of bugged me, and I'll get my thoughts out on the subject soon enough.

Well, not lies.

6. Write a blog post on Sunday every week. Again, more specific version of a previous resolution. And it doesn't mean I can't/won't write during the week as well, but if I make sure to set a specific day (and even then, a specific time) to write every week then I'll feel better about having this as a goal.

because I can write as much as I want!

7. Start working on movie reviews. One of the reasons I've been collecting so many movies is because I've been wanting to begin a channel on YouTube or at least a blog specifically reviewing movies you can get for cheap. I know this resolution isn't as specific as my others so far, but that's because at the time of writing this post I'm still a little scatterbrained as to how to get started with this one. I definitely have inspirations, like CinemaSins, ScreenJunkies, or BelatedMedia. We'll see what happens though.

I still have yet to see an episode of Adventure Time, but these feel like wise words to me.

8. Attend a convention. The ones I have in mind are either FanXperience (happening this month), Salt Lake ComicCon (happening later this year), or RTX (in early August). Like I said in my last post, I did volunteer work at FantasyCon last summer, and while it was fun to go they won't hold it again until 2016. FanX and ComicCon are definitely the kinds of conventions I'm interested in, and RTX is one I'd love to go to as well, and especially for the people who put it on... except it's all the way down in Austin, Texas. So in addition to tickets just to the event I'd have to work out a flight, hotel, meals, etc. In any case, I want to go more to participate than to work this time around, because I feel like FantasyCon had a lot that I missed because I was working.

Because Galaxy Quest started with a convention. It makes sense.

9. Figure out my future. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not going to school this next semester, and I'm planning on working for a while to save up some money. But with that as my current plan, it's not exactly what I had in mind to reach my long-term goals of getting married in the temple, starting a family, and getting into the movie business. I need to take some time and just reevaluate a lot of things going on in my life.

10. Keep becoming happier with myself. Again, I'm a little vague on how this'll happen for now. But part of that is that as I keep all these other resolutions, I'm confident that they'll all contribute toward this one. (Especially #9 – having a set plan on what to do always gets me in a good mood.) And I like being happy, simple as that. Choosing not to be happy just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. So I'll be doing things, many which are along the lines of these resolutions, that will help me become a much happier person, and happy with who I am.

There they are! Ten resolutions for 2015. I know they're pretty much taken from last year, but seeing as they are mine, and there are ways that I'm improving on almost all of them, it's totally fair game.