No out

I'm failing all my classes. Call it lack of motivation or whatever. I tend to get in ruts....I get 1 week behind in an assignment and then I just frustrate myself more with each passing week. I try to escape by going on vacations and hanging out with friends. It helps put me in a great mood but then reality soon sits in and I realize I am 5 weeks behind.....DOH!

Recently one of my nieces passed away. Sabrina Gabriella Bennett. She was barely 3 months when she passed away in the night. It has been very hard for my older sister Tammy and her husband Troy. I had the opportunity to spend some time with her before she left this earth. She was the cutest pinkest little baby you will ever meet. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her:





Angry baby! :)

Such a cute pink plump figure!


First time mommy and daughter meet.



baby with daddy.



Sleeping with mommy
Precious baby Sabrina. You will stay in our hearts forever!

This precious little angel was taken in the night back to our Heavenly Father. Although it has been hard for my family I know that it has also unified us in great ways.

I was listening to my sister Tammy yesterday after the funeral service talk about how she has dealt with this whole situation. For her and her husband it has been extra hard because they had to deal with two funeral services and in a way two goodbyes. On Saturday the 7th they had the first funeral service in Seattle Washington. They then came to Utah and had the second funeral service and burial on Monday the 9thof November. Tammy said that so many people had come to her to say how impressed with how she had been able to handle everything. Making decisions on where to bury her and where to have the services etc. While we were sitting talking as a family she said: "It's not that I was so strong. It's that there was no other thing to do. There was no out. Of course I am going to do everything for my daughter." This struck me pretty hard. How many times do we not do 100% and instead find an out? STORY. OF. MY. LIFE. I am the KING of looking for outs. Especially lately with school.

Well, this is my new motivation! NO OUTS! Just get things done. Why look for an out when you know that the final accomplishment is BETTER than the out?! If you look for an out then down the road you are just going to be dodging the same thing and will try to find another out. Blah. That's not worth it.

So, I am going to pass my classes. If I get only C's then I will be content.

Ready? GO!

Disneyland!

I am bad at blogging. Enough said. I have NOT kept my New Years Resolution at all this year. That's okay though cause I just got back from DISNEYLAND!!!
The last time I went was back in summer of 1998. That's over 11 years people. That's awful! I can't believe I have neglected the happiest place on earth for that long!
I went with a bunch of friends from my ward and 5 of us left on Wednesday night at 11pm and crammed into my 2 door car. I feel bad for those who had to ride in the back. I KNOW they weren't comfortable. After all night of driving we finally arrived. I drove the whole way and I did it with the help of dill pickle sunflower seeds and Rockstars. They are my friends.
The first day out there we caught up on sleep and then hit downtown Disney. I stood outside the entrance of Disneyland and gazed at the booming fireworks from the park. Ghee! In the Disney stores I took a picture of me in a Mickey hat.
On Friday we hit the beach and met up with the rest of our arriving clan. Huntington beach is beautiful and I could live on the beach for sure.
Saturday was the big day. DISNEYLAND!!! I played on my feet all day long. I soon realized that I was wearing the wrong shoes for Disneyland. I had converse on and I could tell I was getting blisters. I decided it would be better to sport crocs and have happy feet rather than try and go through the day with crunched achy feet.
I had never been to California Adventure and was very pleasantly surprised. Soarin' Over California is by FAR the best ride in that park. By far. Well, I guess Tower of Terror comes in pretty close. I have to say though that as fun as California Adventure was it didn't give me near the joy I feel when I am in Disneyland. There is something about the magic in the air when you walk along main street. When you taste the Pineapple Dole Whips and watch the birdies sing in the Tiki Room. It really is the happiest place on earth.
After we finished our weekend at Disneyland we checked out and began our long journey home. We did stop in Vegas (the sinniest place on earth) for the night. We stayed at Circus Circus and hit the long awaited hot tub.
A night in Vegas is never complete if you don't see Bellagio's fountains.


I will see you again soon Disneyland! I promise!

Oh, and I wanted to post these two pictures. On the Indiana Jones ride I found some fun bamboo to play on as a monkey! This first picture is in 1998. Notice the scrunchie in my hair. In 2009 I decided to re-create my monkeyness. The scrunchie was replaced by a fannie pack however. What do ya think? Have I changed at all? ;)



I made a quick little video of some fun moments in Disneyland. Enjoy!

51 Things

I jumped on the bandwagon of 51 Random things found in my house. :) I hope you like it!

I got a new editing software program and really fancy high definition camera. This is my first creation with my new equipment. I am not totally satisfied with the quality of it yet. I have to figure out how to get it to edit and save in a higher quality.

Enjoy!

Thank you for helping!!!

First off I want to thank everyone out for helping out by watching my video and commenting so much! Next I wanted to give you an update of the Netflix contest. We didn't make the final three chosen videos. Even though we were the number 3 viewed video overall and we had more comments left on our page than anyone else we still didn't get chosen. You can see the winners here: www.netflixgreatestkiss.com
We think it had to do with the Deena (the girl that I was in the video with) being hired by the sponsor to promote the contest. We think that, by being hired, she was automatically disqualified. They never said anything about that but there were others who were hired by the sponsors and none of them made it into the top 3 either.
No worries though. We had SO MUCH FUN! It was great to see everyone rally to our side and promote/watch/rate/comment on our video. I have also ventured into the world of youtube. I have decided to become a regular on youtube and create my own videos. Deena has been doing it for over a year now and she is now a youtube sponsor which means she gets paid for putting videos on! What a fun way to earn some extra dough! So that is what my goal is. You can check out my first video at the from the link at the end of this email.

I just uploaded my latest creation on youtube. It's a thank you video to everyone who helped out! Oh, and the sound is bad cause I am using a digital camera and not a professional one.

Our final stats:

11,872 views
543 5 Star rating
374 Comments

THANK YOU!

To my friends and family

I have many secrets. Some of which I have kept up inside for so very long. It's time to finally let them all out. I am sorry if this comes as a shock to some of you. Many of you have probably seen that I have been anxious. Especially as of late. Well, here you are. The truth to it all.

Please watch before reading below.












So, how many of you thought I was going to say I am gay and coming out? Huh? How many? Let's hear it! I BET that's what crossed your mind!

Guess what? Straight. Staying straight. Yup. That might be good news for some of you!

With this blog and this video submitted to youtube just this morning I officially announce my quest to become a YouTube Idol! I had so much fun making this video and I have a lot of other projects in mind. So go to my website www.youtube.com/MonoAtPlay and click on the Subscribe button!

Thanks!

Super Bowl/One month check up/12 week program/

Super Bowl Sunday is one of my favorite times of the year. All my old high school friends get together to celebrate two teams head butt for four hours. I love my old friends. I borrowed my roommates dog Toby (I kinda feel like he is sorta my dog too cause I spend so much time with him). The food was delicious and we watched it on a great plasma tv that Ben borrowed from Costco. Haha. It was good to see everyone again and for Laura and Ben Ellis to host. They have a great house for it. As you can see the in the picture I am the only one that didn't bring anyone this year....female wise that is. So I got to play with Rocky and Toby most the night. All they wanted to do was hump each other. That seemed a bit weird seeing how they are both boys and they are both fixed. Huh.

Moving on.

I set myself some goals 1 month ago today and I have decided that in order to see that my goals get completed decided I should do a "check up"to make sure that I am doing my best to complete each goal. So here we go!

#1-make a BIG CHANGE this year- So far I feel as if I am doing a lot to make something happen. I have made many new friends and I have been networking myself quite a bit more to make something happen. Also, I have a feeling that this Netflix contest that I am involved in with Deena could bring me some exposure!Maybe if I will actually get to go to New York! That is something big! I feel lie I am really trying to make some big changes happen!

#2 and 3- personal blog each week and start a family blog. 5 weeks in January and I had 5 entries! Woot! Also the Lee fam blog is a go!

#4-Disneyland! nothing happening with this yet.

5-Birthday cards and birthday wishes to people on their birthday. Thanks to Facebook I can actually remember when peoples birthdays are! I haven't sent any birthday cards to family though. :(

6-Respond to all texts, email, phone calls etc- I have to admit this has made quite the difference. I am such a people person as it is. It should be a given then that I want to respond to anyone contacting me! Oh, I just remembered that my dad sent me an email and I have not responded to it yet. Whoops.

7- Swear less. Hmmm. I broke this one at 3:12pm on New years day. Gotta renew!

8-Re-print mission photos and get them digital. Haven't really given this one much more thought.

9-Finish Associates and start Bachelors. I am for sure in school! I am taking me some 13 credits right now! Boo-yeah!

10-Finish El Libro de Mormon. I still read out of it but I am falling behind.

11-Clean room always. I just took a look and it's all clean! Except for some laundry that I need to fold. :) It feels nice having a clean room.

12-See end of my blog entry.

13-Learn one new song on guitar and piano. Still got to work on this one.

14-$4,000 in savings. I have my 401k! Looks like this one is working just fine

15-Be in a book club and read 1 book a month. I am in a book club and I read 2 books this last month! I read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I am almost finished with Good Omens by Neil Gieman and Terry Pratchet (that's the book of the month)

16-Fred Chef. I have been cooking a lot more! I cooked for my roommates and a girl the other day too!

17-Organize or be in charge of a service project. I am looking for ideas on this one. Any suggestions? Anyone?

18-Do not rely on overdraft. This is gonna take a little time but I am on my way. I want to always have my checking account in the positive.

19-Go hiking, camping, fishing. This one is seasonal and right now it's not gonna happen.

20-Be on time. I am getting better at this but I still run a little behind on schedule.

There we go! My 2009 goals are coming along! Some better than others but I AM trying.

#12 on my list was to gain 15 pounds of muscle this year. I have always been a little guy. About 4 years ago I was a lot smaller. I weighed 125lbs. I found a workout plan online by a guy named Anthony Ellis. He set up a program for guys who have very high metabolisms and have a hard time gaining weight. I took this program on in 2004-2005 and in the time I actually did it I gained 20 lbs. I have not continued to work out with the same program but I have kept the weight on. I am happy about that. I don't want a girl who is dating me to weigh more than I do (not that I am in this situation right now any who). So, I have a target weight and that is 160-165. That is healthy for me (if it is me being fit and not fat).

With the summer months coming and all I want to look good without a shirt. I better get crackin'! One reason why I decided to kick off my workout program in February is because in January EVERYONE and their dog start their new diets and workouts and they usually stop them by Feb or so. So now when I hit the gym it will be a lot less crowded! See? I am a thinker!
I saw some pretty fantastic results within the first 4 weeks when I was on this program. Pardon the long hair and the evil look. I was going through a long hair phase. The picture on the left was on 3-14-2005 and the right side was on 4-11-2005. If I took my shirt off now I would not look like the right side. I wouldn't look like the left picture either. I am somewhere in between. All the muscle in my shoulders and chest have slightly shifted to my belly. I am gonna get those abs back!

Thank you for reading!

My Girl with Deena for a Netflix Contest!

This last week I had the chance to be in a youtube video with the all talented Deena Marie. I have had many opportunities to work with her. I met her when I was Young Joe in Damn Yankees almost 2 years ago. Since then my life has NOT been the same. She immediately became one of my best friends! I was given the golden opportunity to work with her again that fall in Little Shop of Horrors. Her talent blows me away! Then, about two months ago she asked if I would participate in Twilight High School Musical. This youtube skit has reached nearly 260,000 hits and in the short time it has been up. Deena is making me famous! Well, that isn't true entirely. She is becoming famous and I claim to know her and that makes me feel like I am becoming famous. :) Hope that made sense...any who, she notified me recently of a Netflix contest. Netflix wants anyone and everyone to re-create their favorite kiss scene from a movie and send them in. She came up with the idea to do the cute scene from My Girl. I brushed up on my Macaulay Culkin and on Sunday last we shot it in her house. Her husband did the editing and green screen work and WALLAH we have a video!

So, family, friends, and anyone else viewing this blog I need you to watch this video and then share it with EVERYONE! You can link them to my blog or you can just send them the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_28B1O9X00&feature=channel_page

We need more than 5,000 hits (views) to make it into the final 3! It will help as well if you have a youtube account and you can log in and rate it! the top three videos on the Netflix webpage get flown out to New York to perform it live in front of a panel of judges! WAHOO!
Also, if anyone wants to submit their own video they can, All the rules etc are here:

http://netflixgreatestkiss.com/

Enjoy the video!


Here are a few more pictures of me and the famous BeanerLaRue.
As you can see I have had some shining moments with Deena Marie. I hope to be able to work with her a lot more!