change-ups

today there was real solid evidence that spring has begun to melt the winter snows and that soon all will be green and warm. and i love that. as much as i love skiing, and my job doing it, i love the changing seasons more. i'm glad for the first day that temperatures hit 55 in spring when everyone breaks out their shorts, and i am glad for the first day that temperatures hit 55 in fall and everyone breaks out their sweaters. i don't just love the changing seasons because they are pretty, or it is a change of pace, or i am tired of the heat or tired of the cold, though i love all those things too. i really love the changing seasons because they are a chance to reinvent yourself. just as nature is reinventing herself, you can be happier, more productive, better looker, better kempt, better dressed, and overall just better or even just different from the you that you were before. i think that new year's resolutions should be changed to spring and winter resolutions. that we should begin our changes at a time when our surroundings are changing. that way it won't seem so out of place.

it's a great time to be alive, it's a great time to get better. i'm getting a haircut soon.

an internet game

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

What does next year have in store for me?
it's got to be jean - new buffalo

What does your love life look like?
hand in glove- the smiths

What do I say when life gets hard?
tear it up- macho man randy savage

What do I think of when I get up in the morning?
i met this woman- steven wright

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
gonna be trouble- macho man randy savage

What do you want as a career?
love in war- andre 3000

Your favorite saying?
la la radio- shugo tokumaru

Favorite place?
the beautiful burial flowers we will never see- alaska in winter

What do you think of your parents?
ghost- neutral milk hotel

Where would you go on a first date?
israelites- desmond dekker

Drug of choice?
ready for it- the stills

Describe yourself.
as i went out one morning- bob dylan

What is the thing I like doing most?
from the muddy banks of seattle- girl talk (this was a lot funnier the first time around)

The song that best describes the president?
a question of gender- douglas heart

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
no other one- weezer

How will I die?
who is sara stern? - bruno pronsato

The song that will be played at your funeral?
he knows the sun- the legends

The song you'll put as the subject?
let it go- stars

dead in a skiing accident

i got a text this morning informing me that someone had a dream in which i died in a skiing accident. i found this interesting, because i think about dying in a skiing accident fairly regularly. when i am on the lift, or when i am skiing alone in trees, when no one knows that i am hiking a very tall mountain or that i am going to go down said mountain an a very high speed, i think "maybe i should record some last words, just in case." just in case i run into a tree, or get buried in an avalanche, or fall on my head, or any of a hundred real or imagined deadly situations that i confront a few times every week.

this seems morbid, but i am writing for this reason: this has changed the way that i live. since i started living this way, i try to make peace with everyone more quickly. i try harder to read my scriptures and pray, i try harder to make my relationships count, and i find it easier to avoid the pratfalls of my recent life. it's not as though i have improved overnight or am now the perfect iteration of me, but i feel better about this version of me.

i'm almost positive that i won't die in a skiing accident, but if i do, at least i've been trying a little harder.

things to do today

1. finish "on the road"

2. clean my room

3. watch no country for old men

a day's success depends on whether you made your goals when you woke up or when you went to bed.