ACCORDING TO ZAC

I think I am officially a college student. I ate a pizza-pocket. For breakfast. You gotta do what you gotta do, right? Right.

International Relations is a truly awful class that I don't really even need for my major. The one good thing that comes from studying for the exam I have tomorrow is that I indulge in all types of yummy, fattening food and don't feel bad about it because I'm too consumed thinking about my dumb test. At least I'll be well fed tomorrow... even if I won't have much sleep. Oh, college.

Tonight we went and saw Hereafter .  [ This one , in case you were wondering.] Eric moaned and Austin tried to nap. I found it positively engaging and thought-provoking. The entire time I couldn't help but think of how blessed I am. Life totally sucks sometimes. Seriously. Granted, what stresses me out, like school, church obligations, etc., are relatively small in comparison to some of the things other people deal with. At the end of the day though, I know why I'm here, what I need to do, and where I'm going, and I have a wonderful support system of family and friends that keep me above water when I don't feel like I can swim any longer. The people in the movie struggle with deaths of certain loved ones and what lies in the hereafter. Death is hard. You don't need to tell me that. I think that as a 20 year old, I'm reasonably well acquainted with it, especially losing my uncle that we were all close with.  But having the knowledge and understanding of God...

I find it slightly remarkable how quickly your day can be turned around. It's not like today was a truly awful day. On the contrary, things were going alright. I was just stressing myself out like crazy over this news story I have due tomorrow. Granted, I still haven't written it, which is the main thing, but at 1:45 in the afternoon, you only have one of your four required sources, and you nail down the remaining three, things get a whole lot cheerier. One of which was a fantastically forward nutritionist who loved to chit chat, which made my job as an interviewer really easy (thank the heavens). You're saying, "1:45? That's awfully early in the day to be stressing out about it." Normally I would agree, however, when your sources are real people, you can't just Wikipedia it at midnight. I don't think most people like to be called and bothered at midnight (I know I don't), so you kind of have to plan accordingly, which gets a little tricky if th...

It was super therapeutic to pick up my camera yesterday and to walk away happy. Hank and I drove up Mt. Lemmon on Friday afternoon hoping to get some super cool pictures of the valley, but I was really bummed with how all of my photos turned out. I mean, part of it is my camera. I'm at the point that I'm ready to start learning how to use manual settings to make all of my photos turn out as best as I can, but since I don't have the cash for a new DSLR, those hopes are dashed (for now). We had a fun trip up the mountain. We laughed and sang and marveled at earth's awesomeness, but I just didn't love any of the photos that I took. However , Arizona amazes me. In the middle of a desert is a beautiful forest on a mountain. And it was freaking cold up there. I am coming to really love this place more and more. I hated Arizona as a kid. Sometimes I don't really care for it. Overall, though, it really is a neat place. Anyway, Kendle is doing a painting for me, and...

This is old news, but I felt like the world would like to know about my little vacation at the beginning of the month. Hank and I jumped on a plane to head to the good old SLC. We went to Utah to go to General Conference and embark on various other adventures. We had tickets to three sessions (THREE!), so we were pretty stoked. We got in on a Friday (Oct 1st), and drove on down to Provo. We met up with Kelsey and had a grand time at Olive Garden. We're hilarious , if you didn't already know. That dinner just confirmed it. Ha ha. On Saturday we ran up to Conference in the morning. We took Kels and gave away our extra ticket. Conference was brilliant, as always, and it was fantastic to hear the good words. Being in the Conference Center makes it all the better. Later, Kelsey went to the afternoon session and we hung out for a while. After an afternoon in downtown Salt Lake, a trip to Deseret Book, driving through the hills overlooking the city, looking at the Salt Lake T...

Last semester I did really well in school. Weird, right? Well, as it turns out, I'm a Dean's Honor in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Who'd have thought? My parents were there to support me walk across the stage at Centennial Hall. In and out in less than 45 minutes. Doable, and even kind of nice to do instead of work. Then again, what isn't better than work? :)

Here we are. Blogging. You're thinking, what's the deal with this kid, he blogs everyday for an entire year, and can't just let it go? Well... not really. I feel like I hardly have a purpose when I wake up if there's nothing for me to show the world by the end of the day. That's what was so fulfilling about Through the Lens . But this time things are going to be a little different. I'm not blogging everyday, and I'm not blogging exclusively photos. I am blogging my life, because at some point down the road my memory will fade and I'll be a little upset that I don't have a record of the fun things I did in my youth/young-adulthood (not that those are actually different in any way, shape, or form). And, I really do tend to have a lot to say. Too much to say, sometimes. At any rate, According to Zac is up and running. Awkwardly, I don't actually have a lot to blog at this point, so stay tuned for the happenings of my little life as I do my best t...