This is something I am working on in English class.

Education True Meaning

What makes me an individual, what will set me apart from the rest of my peers, what will enable me to progress and find prosperity in this life? The answer to these questions is education. It is only through learning profound truths that one gains power and expertise enough to face all the challenges of life with a smile. When I am asked what will my education do for me I say exactly that, my education will give me the knowledge in what joy is and how to find it. Life is about becoming a well rounded individual being able to always find the good in wherever you are. Education particularly and education obtained at a University will greatly help you on your road of finding things not just worth dieing for but truly living for.

Getting an education at a university to me means options. I have never wanted to live a closed up life where I cannot make any of my own life changing decisions. I hate putting the rains into other peoples hands. Studying at a university also allows you to find out a small portion of who you are and what you are naturally excel in. Before attending this university I was under the impression that my math skills were well below par. Throughout middle and high school a struggled in this subject and no amount of tutoring could help. I remember hating math class and wishing to never see another number as long as I lived. After starting a university math course I found that I was not only capable of doing the work but that I was also quite good at it. My whole perspective on what a can and cannot do has changed because of the way knowledge was presented to me on a university level. I still cannot say I enjoy math but I can say that I am very good at thinking out the equations and finding their applications.

Having options and finding knowledge now applicable in day to day life has made me a better individual. Knowing that through hard work and some natural skill I can not only get through school but find gainful employment in the future. Growing up I had a number of odd jobs and none of which paid more that minimum wage. After one day of washing pans at a bakery I worked at I came home to find my dad smiling at me. He asked me how my day went and why I was so tired. Then I remember vividly him saying, “you know this is why we go to college son.” It donned on me then that I hated working hard and not getting a lot of money for it. I have never loved money but I do love my time and if I have to work I might as well make as much money as possible and studying at a university opens more doors to a better paying future.

Having a university education is not just about making money it is also about appreciated the world and people around us. I am a man of faith and studying at this particular institution of Brigham Young University Idaho has truly expounded this fact to me that the more education you get the more you appreciate living on this planet. When I read the Book of Mormon I see a huge contrast in the way the people of Nephi live in comparison to their sister nation of Lamanites. The Nephites enjoyed making things and creating works of art while the Lamanites only loved the practice of war. The first people to truly listen to the message of Ammon and Aaron were the more educated kings. The kings were able to appreciate what the missionaries were saying because they had been taught to think and to question the world around them. I found this a major theme while on my mission to Hong Kong. In the intercity it was always those or the more educated class that listened to the message of the gospel with an open mind. Those that were less educated usually but not always disregarded what the we would say because they could not see how another culture could help their lives for the better.

I never want to live a dull and mundane life. Being here at a university has given me great insights on what some of my future goals in life should be. I have always been good at rock climbing and I would love to travel the world doing it but since my attendance at this university I have changed my mind set greatly. No longer do I always want to climb mountains but I want to expand my horizons and see the great works of art in the Sistine Chapel. I have never really had a gift in music or I have yet to find anything in music that I am good at but I do enjoy listening to the master pieces where as in my youth I would rather bash my head into a wall. Education allows us to see a more colorful world around us. It gives us the knowledge that we really do not know everything and that it is ok. That there is always something new to try and accomplish all the days of our life.

I have to be honest in saying that the university education has truly helped to broadened my horizons but with that said I now have no idea what I specifically want to do in the future. I intend to continue my education at least in tell I am able to graduate with a Masters Degree. I would really like to leave an impact on those around me as well and know that I am living a life with purpose. I have a huge fear of wasting time and since my young adolescence I have always coined the phrase “you can sleep when your dead.” I am fairly sure this phrase explains that a really want to be successful in whatever field of profession I chose.

I have always wanted to know what makes one successful in anything and I have found this constant theme. Those that are successful never stop learning how to become better. I hope that I have learned enough lessons in self humility to know my lack of omnipotence because if I have to eat another piece of the humble pie I will explode. I hope to always have the ability to set goals and make plans to meet them because anyone with an imagination can dream but its those rare individuals that can make plans to accomplish their dreams that get everything done. I don’t want to grow up and look back on life and see the glass half full with all the “if onlyies” that never got done. I know that life is not forever but it is long enough to make most of my dreams come true. Only after one semester of university study gave me the wisdom to choose and serve a full time mission. It was on my mission I learned I could learn not just one but two very foreign languages and that I could learn to love a people so very, very different from my own. I intend to learn everything I can about everything that interests me and then some things that do not interest me just to say that I tried.

I have learned the most in life by throwing myself into a subject and absorbing as much of it as possible. I was never very good at getting used to the water before I jumped in and this is the same approach I take in my learning. I have the firm belief that if you want to learn you cannot fear the subject at hand. If I would have continue in my fear of math I would never have received an A in math here last semester. As Winston Churchill stated, “the only thing to fear is fear itself.” From past experience I have also learned some restraint in this learning method. I have to many times burned myself out of a subject because I fascinated over it for far to long a time. I feel that one needs the wisdom to see the importance and application of the knowledge he is learning. I have learned a lot about Star Wars but I also understand that his knowledge might not be the most useful in my future employment but I also have not closed my mind to the idea of working with the Star Wars franchise in the future.

I will become an educated individual by continuing in my worship and following precepts taught in this church. We are taught to become as the Lord who is Omnipotent. Even after eons and eons of time after I leave mortality I will still have a long road ahead of me to reach this lofty goal of perfection but there is no better time than the present.

I once heard that the purpose of life was to find something worth dieing for. For a long time I agreed with this principle in tell it donned on me that dieing was easy. Well once after one believes in an afterlife dieing becomes a little more bearable a thought. I have decided however that the purpose of life is finding something worth living for. Something that will get me out of my bead on those days where the head cold will not leave and I feel like dieing instead of going to work for another ten hour shift. Getting a University education help me to put life back into a personal perspective. I plan on living more than just a few more years and I need to prepare for all those rainy days where I wished the world would just stop for me. The knowledge that I am qualified at a University level will comfort me greatly when self doubts arise. Graduating with a college diploma is a big deal and something to do the right way. I have heard many wise men say that there are far to many people who spend so much money and do not work in getting a good education. To me this is an oxymoron, it seems very uneducated to spend money on something that will not be a treasured investment because a University education is just that an investment. After you are done here you will need to keep adding upon this investment in tell one day in a very long time you will have learned everything. After you learn everything it is then you know that your mission has always been to help those around you learn and with your perfect knowledge you will finally be able to truly teach and help those around you.

The Bucket List Week

Amelia here - Nathan's friend
Ok...so I have this bucket list. It is vast and intended to last my entire life...or so I thought. Within this last week (the first week back from school), with the help of Nathan and his enthusiastic roommates (Chris squared), I have accomplished three of my tasks at hand. The tasks may seem miniscule, but they were grand in their accomplishment...at least to me. First, I got to ride on a motorcycle! I know...21 and had never been on a motorcycle. But the age is besides the point. The task was accomplished. We set out to ride...at night...and it was awesome. We went on a random road...we're in Rexburg mind you...and went super speedy. I was nervous at first, but came to understand the appeal of these machines known as motorcycles. Next. Second task was to catch a fish. I have been fishing various times in my life, but I was never successful in actually accomplishing a catch. Big Chris set up the line and we were set. I sat with the fishing pole anticipating a long wait. Within minutes the fish were biting and I snagged one! It was unreal. Haha pathetic I know...I had been anticipating this for quite sometime. Then when Big Chris took the fish off of the hook I had to hold it. That was the worst. It was alive, slimy and trying to breath...creepy. But just the same...I caught a fish! Task number three. I learned how to repel at camp when I was 11. I had gone once in my life and the wall was maybe 15 feet, but I was 11 so it was gnarly. I had dreamed that one day I could accomplish a repel from a higher height. Today this task was accomplished. Nathan and Chris squared took me out to this bridge...I'm not sure how high it was...60 ft? But anywho we walked out on this bridge...on the girders...and took the plunge. I think sitting on the bridge freaked me out the most. Then as I was hiking up the hill I encountered a deer...it was dead...in half...and decomposing. But needless to say we had an adventure and my bucket list is shorter.

that is so much hair THATS SO MUCH HAIR HAIR

My Religion Professor on the last day of class made me get a hair cut. Well it was either a zero on the final or get a hair cut therefore I got a hair cut. In the hour he gave me I raced and found some willing friends to help and man there are few things that really "sugar my cookies" but cops (patrolmen in specific) and hair cuts always make me furious. We recorded it this time for posterity sake. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQsoptTBdzE

Some final thoughts on the Comm 150

Life is really like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get. I have always tried to live to the fullest. I have always pretended that my life is a novel and each day I try to make each page one worth reading. Believe it or not I am now 22 years old and I for one never thought I would make it this long. For the first 19 years of my life I only lived to serve a mission and now that's done I have been in a real tight spot. Wow well after coming home I realized that I could no longer be Elder Sardoni because well I would have been a real weirdo and I would no longer be the same Nate that I used to be. When you don't really know who or what you are anymore life gets way lame and boring. The R.M. chapter of my life was one that I wish no one would ever read because it is filled with all the lonely, indecisive, and unexciting times that accompanied my return to the western hemisphere.
The R.M. chapter ended in January of 2010 when I first waited outside the door to Sister Embree's communications class. I didn't really know anyone and I only had one previous class mate that I recognized and well her and I had never really spoken. I remember thinking or myself this class had better be easy or I am gone, this is not my major and I can take some other class to get the G.E. credit. Haha looking back on my first impression of this class all I can do it laugh boy was I wrong and I am glad that for once I was smart enough to stick it out and see what a class was all about.
The day my outlook on the class changed was the day I stood up and volunteered for a class activity. The activity was supposed to get us stressed but well I thought it would not be funnier and from then on I looked forward to class everyday. In fact the crazy thing is that I never missed a day. There was this almost black hole gravity well that kept me coming and participating even when I didn't feel well. I remember this one day when I did not feel well. I had been sick for the last week and if it wasn't for the constant "the world doesn't stop for you Nathan" going through my mind I would have stayed home. On this day of days the class topic was on relationships. Anyone who has ever made my acquaintance knows I have a hard time believing in relationships escpecially between the boys and girls. (thats another story.) I remember everyone in the class was excited to talk about this topic but to start the day we were going to have some volunteers participate in an improv. I didn't raise my hand for the position and I remember as if ti were this morning Sister Embree looking at me and calling my name. I guess she didn't want a volunteer after all haha. I stood up and got into my position. My female counter part took her position and here we were sitting way to close for my comfort (our knees and shoulders were like touching) pretending to be a couple that has been dating for 6 months. When I told my family and friends about this they laughed especially when I told them we had to look into each others eyes longingly. (the second time was the charm here)
This class really pushed me to find out about myself and to care about others in a new way. The ME and YOU projects really made an impact on me. Being asked to share about myself to a bunch of strangers well it just not my cup of tea. The YOU project was well different as well. What was said about me has really humbled me. I don't take compliments well they make me feel little for some reason and to have a person tell you how awesome you are in front of others and then have everyone else agree with them is a very different experience for me. My own project was delayed a week which made it nerve racking to say the least. I wanted to keep the whole thing a secret and well I think I did a good job there but everyday I didn't go just left me with the feeling that I had to do more. It wasn't hard to find more things to say my project person makes a really good case for herself to win a Nobel prize. ( if Obama could do it so could she) It was alot of fun to see the reactions I got when I finally did get to present.
I really didn't want this semester to end. I had finally started making head way in life and now its over and I have to move on to another adventure. This chapter of my life was one worth reading. I have gained a new insight on the man that I am supposed to be. The project we did really gave me back my courage that I had been missing. No mortal really know what has happened to us this semester. I could try and explain but I don't think they would ever truly understand. I have made some real friends in this class. I have new dreams and things I would like to do and I hope we all stay in contact so that we can share some of our dreams together.