The Key to My Heart

After considering some experiences and taking time to look inside myself, I better understand my sources of attraction and what kind of things would make me truly want to love someone. The key to my attraction and my heart (or at least a decent portion of it) is as follows:

My attractions

1) Femininity: Feminine girls are very attractive to me. Skirts, earrings, lipstick, or mascara/eyeliner can all easily score a girl extra points.

2) Boldness: It's nice to see a girl who stands out and who isn't afraid to communicate or express herself. It shows that she is confident and not bound by the false precepts of modern society. Yeah, that's hot. Also, it's nice to see a girl who is bold enough to show affection in public. I'm not saying that I enjoy watching people make out, but it is nice to see people who essentially say "I love you, and I don't care who knows."

3) Class: I'm a perfectionist of sorts, so I'm more likely to be interested in girls who are trying to be their best in every way. This often comes across as class in the attributes that can be easily seen. A girl with class holds herself to higher standards, and it's definitely obvious in the way she acts and present herself.


When I feel loved

If you are familiar with the idea of the 5 love languages, then mine would be physical touch and service. I really feel like a girl cares about me when she goes out of her way to do something special. Any kind of service says that she cares enough to give me her time and do something for me. Whether it's taking time to look her best for me, a surprise plate of cookies, or a specially planned night, I definitely appreciate it and it makes me feel closer. As far as physical touch, I love it when my back is scratched or my arms caressed. A kiss is nice, but an unexpected stolen kiss is even better. I guess it comes down to letting me know that she is really interested. In my relationships I try to make the people I date as happy as I can. I plan extravagant dates, always try to look my best, surprise her with gifts and flowers, try to shower her in sincere compliments, etc., etc. Really, I would do just about anything for someone I cared about and it's nice to know that all that effort is worth something and to see the girl respond with some effort of her own. Any relationship with unequally devoted participants is bound to fail. I like to put a lot into a relationship and expect a lot out.

Lessons learned

With another relationship come and gone, I feel a bit wiser and more prepared for future relationships. The lessons learned this time are simple, but important:

1) There's no such thing as a perfect relationship. You have to make it work and overcome concerns together. Willingness and effort are more important than trying to find someone perfect.

2) My current idea of an ideal relationship is as follows: Each person gives their best and tries to make the other person happy. In return, both find they have the best and that they are happy.

3) You have to be willing to give your heart and do whatever it takes to be together.

On top of that, I might add something like girls are confusing and don't make much sense, but that would probably just get me in trouble.

I used to think a sky diving accident was the way to go - one last hurrah followed by a quick ending. Now I realize one flaw in that theory. Not many old people go sky diving, which means that you would die young. Yeah, sky diving is no longer the way to go. Anyway, I have to get to the airport... hopefully this won't be my last post. See you later!

Quotes

A couple weeks ago I added some quotes to my facebook profile. I just didn't have any quotes that I really liked up until that point (except maybe some things that friends had said in passing, like "As long as there are children there will be cages" -Jason Williams), but those kind of quotes are more for my personal satisfaction. Without further ado, here are the two quotes I added:

The first on is by an ancient Iranian poet. Given how long ago it was written and that it had to be translated, I find it quite amazing that it managed to maintain its beauty.

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth, "You owe me."
Look what happens with a Love like that!
—It lights the whole Sky.
-Hafiz

The next quote is from a lady who was working as the only doctor at a science facility in the South Pole. She diagnosed and treated herself for breast cancer while she was isolated from other medical help during the harsh winter months when no one could enter or leave the facility. She ended up surviving and went on to live a very fulfilling life of service and adventure until she passed away recently.

More and more as I am here and see what life really is, I understand that it is not when or how you die but how and if you truly were ever alive.
- Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald

Ah, what the heck. Here's another Jason Williams gem:
"Even if it was to an elf maiden, I still wouldn't get married unless it was in the temple."
-Jason Williams

Good ol' Jason... =)

Cancun, Part II

(For for the first part, go to http://apeakinsidemymind.blogspot.com/2009/06/day-1-o-mexico.html)

Wednesday morning we woke up. For the most part this day was unplanned. We had the morning and afternoon to explore Cancun and see what it was really like. Unfortunately, it turns out that it is a commercial city for tourists, so we ended up just wandering malls and tourist trap sights. It was fun, but it is something that we could have done just about anywhere. In the evening we decided to try some authentic Mexican food rather than our usual meals, which consisted of McDonalds or a grocery mart, or anything cheap and safe. An authentic meal was a bad idea. Both of our dishes were extremely hot. My friend described his meal as pain spread between two tortillas. he managed to finish about 1/6th of his dish. My meal was about the same, but I continued to eat despite the unbearable burning. I've never been a fan of horchata, but I was glad to order one that night to help extinguish the intense burning, if only for a few seconds. During those seconds of only semi-burning I was able to hurry and take another large bite and begin chewing it before the pain became unbearable again. I finished my meal, quickly paid, then went in search of ice cream. Ah, back at Mcdonalds again... The burning was just the beginning. It was followed by nausea, stomach cramps, and wishing we didn't eat there. In the evening we enjoyed night fishing out on the ocean. I caught a pretty decent fish, took a lot of pictures, and really had a lot of fun. Then they cooked up the fish we had caught, along with some vegetables, and served a late meal. If it hadn't been for my previous meal, I probably would have enjoyed this one better. Still, I love the ocean, I love the waves, I love the smell, and I love the wind. It makes me think that I belong on the water.

Thursday morning I awoke to the sensation of extreme stomach cramps and aches. Stupid delicious cheesy way-too-hot burrito thingy... After that passed, we had another day of freedom, which we spent in the beautiful ocean just outside of our hotel, and exploring Cancun again. In the afternoon we took speed boats out into the ocean. We passed through jungles and mangroves on the way, and then stopped for snorkeling in one of the reefs. It was fun passing the locals and seeing them play in the rivers and oceans. It was a very foreign experience. In the reef we saw a number of fish, including some yellow sting rays. the best part, however, was following some squid. SQUID ARE FREAKIN' AWESOME! They put their tentacles together and swim like fish. In fact, at first I thought they were fish with fake eyes in the back of their heads to scare off predators, then I saw them swimming the other direction too and I thought they were cool fish that could swim both ways, but then they opened their tentacles! I tried chasing them and swimming under after them to see if they would spray ink, but I didn't have any luck with that.


On Friday, we woke up and headed out to the Island Mujeres. Once we arrived there, we got talked into buying some souvenirs, then we went snorkeling. This time we went snorkeling in a current, so we could just float along. The best part was diving down towards the flora (or whatever it was) that instantly pulled itself in and disappeared when you tried to touch it. When I saw it, I would dive under and wave water at it just to watch. I like the simple joys in life. =) After snorkeling we enjoyed a buffet and then went on a golf cart tour of the island. We saw some extreme poverty, which is really sad, but we also saw a lot of cool areas and visited the east most part of Mexico. There were also tons of wild iguanas.

Saturday we traveled towards the center of Mexico. We had to take two buses (one of which was over an hour long without any stops), and then we got on a shuttle and went even further. After about 3 hours of travel we arrived at a jungle adventure place. We rode in the back of a stripped down truck through rugged jungle trails. We could see the engine and frame of the truck and it bounced up and down as we drove through winding jungle paths. It felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie. We rode a zip line, repelled into a cenote, then took a zipline into a cenote (landing in the water). Afterwards I went back and rode the zipline again, only this time I went down backwards. Next we got to snorkel through a cenote, which is a freshwater sink hole. It's like a long underground cave that is full of water and splits into tunnels that go for miles. You could probably travel through most of Mexico through cenotes. That was perhaps the best part. Next we rode a "sky cycle" through the jungles and some caves. I took a lot of really cool pictures and actually saw one of those birds with the big tail feathers that used to represent the feathered serpent of the Mayans. On the way back, while standing in the back of the Indiana Jones style truck, my camera bounced out of my pocket and broke open. It wasn't anything too serious, except that I lost my SD card with all of the pictures I took since Tuesday, and I didn't realize it until we were already out of the jungle and on the way back to Cancun. Losing all your pictures from a vacation in the middle of jungle isn't very cool, but I guess it helped me realize just how unattached I really am to physical things. I just shrugged my shoulders and went on.

With the exception of trying to smuggle chocolate milk through the airport (I got it through Mexico, but not the US), and meeting a cool BYU student on the airplane, that pretty much concludes my Cancun experience.

The Weekend

I went to visit my family this weekend to celebrate Father's Day. Don't worry, this isn't an annoying travel log. I'm saving that for the rest of my Mexico trip. This is just a note of a few interesting things.

On the way to my parent's house I passed a truck with a tandem bike attached to the back. I thought it was odd and decided to see what kind of cute old couple was hauling it along. When I glanced inside the truck I saw a couple (probably in their 40's or 50's) wearing matching racing gear covered in logos. That's right. As far as I could tell, they were sponsored tandem bike racers. Weird. I didn't know such a thing existed.

At church, there was a little girl in the row in front of us. She was just old enough to stand on her own, but not old enough to balance (she either had to lean against something or have someone hold her up). I was entranced by her tiny hands and I loved watching her open and shut her fingers. I love little kids. If I was her father, I probably would have spent the entire meeting playing with her. Then in the Gospel Doctrine class, the guy sitting next to me had his little girl too, and she kept making noise the entire time. She just opened her mouth and tried to talk or hum. People seemed to be getting irritated, but I couldn't help but smile. I love little kids. I imagine that when I get married, my wife will have to come tell me to stop playing with the kids and talk to her. That's a shame. I give great piggy back rides.

In the evening, our dog had a seizure. I'm understand that seizures are very common for dogs and don't generally suggest that anything is wrong. That aside, as my 19 year old brother held our dog (while he shook and drooled), I couldn't help but notice a look in the dog's eyes. He seemed both sincerely scared and worried as he didn't understand what was happening. Those aren't emotions that I generally associate with dogs. It seems like they are usually happy, apathetic, or preparing to bite someone. It makes me wonder how much deeper their emotions or even their thoughts run. Heck, maybe our dog is really a poet.

Day 1 o' Mexico

Last week was my trip to Mexico. This week was my recovery period from getting a small bug and completely changing my diet for a week (in what many would consider an extreme and bad way). That aside, I had a great time in Cancun. The first day we got there late and only had time to breath in the humidity and get used to the idea of tipping everyone who looked at us (the effect of being in a foreign tourist city, I suppose). Our first REAL day in Mexico, we headed to the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza on a tour bus, passing through several small towns and interesting places. Our first stop on the tour was at a large sink hole/underground cave known as a cenote (Mexico apparently has thousands of them, though most are undiscovered and many are linked together). You can see in the pictures below that the cenote was actually very large and interesting. It was full of stalagmites and stalagtites (there ought to be a single word to describe them both. Maybe I'll just take an academic approach and stick with "cave-thingys"), um, so yeah, it was full of cave-thingys, as well as fish and bats. You'll see the original opening in one of the pictures below. Should one fall into the opening, they would find a long drop and a hard landing, so it's generally best to be avoided.

The original entrance.


The view from the current entrance.


Proof that I was either there, or that I'm familiar with Photoshop.


The cenote from the other side.


Ditto.

After the Cenote we drove through some small Mexican towns and had lunch. I'm told that one of the dishes was iguana. I don't know if that's true, but there was a dish with fried white meat that didn't seem to be either fish or chicken. In fact, it was somewhere in between (however, fishy-chicken is MUCH better than fishy-beef. Always avoid alligator sausage...). Following lunch we headed to Chichen Itza, which is one of the most famous and most spectacular of all the Mayan ruins. The large pyramid reflects the Mayan calendar with a total of 365 steps and the larger levels representing the months of the Mayan Calendar. We also saw the famous ball court where the Mayans would try (in two teams of three) to shoot a rubber ball through a small and rather high hoop without using their hands or feet. To kick the ball they would have to lunge and smack it with their knee, or they could use their hips or their head once it was in the air. The winning team had a special honor. One of the three players would have the privilege of being beheaded for their gods. I'm a very competitive person, but I think I would be ok losing at that game.

A small Mexican town.


Chichen Itza


Me in front of the pyramid for either perspective or Photoshop bragging rights.


The court where the game was played. Notice the hoops in the center of both sides.


You can see how high the hoops really are in this picture.
The Mayans were also a rather small people as far as stature goes.


A depiction of the victor being gloriously beheaded.


The place where the heads are buried.
(On the other side of it, an early archeologist carefully excavated the site using dynamite. Fast, effective, but not generally used by many archeologists. Weird...)


The court from the outside.


The first wild iguana we saw. We were pretty excited, but about 50 iguanas later, the thrill wore off.


Some of the Mayan's handiwork.


I have to wonder what this place looked like "back in the day."


The "Observatory."


I'm not sure what this place was used for, but it's cool, right?