We Have a Winner!!!

So I RSVP'd about a week ago that I'd be going to my work (Turtle Bay) Christmas party. There was going to be good catered food, the theme was casino night, and on the invitation it said, "Dress to Impress." I had my eye on this girl Jansen that I've met a few times that I wanted to ask out. She's super cute, only about 4'11", filipino, and has an amazing smile. So I asked her out and she said "yes", that's a refreshing response, different from the normal ones I've been hearing lately. I decided to wear my 3-piece suit that I bought at a pentecostal thrift store in Burlington, NC for $5. I picked her up, took some awkward pre-prom style pictures before we left her house and then headed up to Waimea Valley where our party was being held.

So we both got pretty excited about the whole "dress to impress" thing and when we showed up to the party we got a little bit nervous, thinking that we might have gone a little overboard. We saw some people in shorts and blue jeans but it didn't matter, we were looking good and we were going to have a good time regardless. Right when we show up they gave us a little gift bag with a few little goodies, the best one was this box of mint chocolates that are to die for. They taste like heavenly, velvety goodness. That's all I can say about them. While we waited to be seated they had some pupus out, shrimp and chicken wings. I was starving so I think that anything would have tasted divine, but I'm pretty sure that these things were bomb to begin with.
So we took out seats and even took our turn posing for a professional photographer who was invited to come. I don't have those pictures back yet, I'll post them when I get them. And then we went through the buffet line. Man Turtle Bay doesn't hold out, this food was good. I think that I can give an unbiased opinion now because I'm not as extremely hungry as I was before thanks to the appetizers.


While we were sitting down finishing up our meals my boss came around and passed out the fake money that we would be gambling with and a raffle ticket for each person. We were given $300 (fake) each and the point was to make as much money as you could because every $100 bought you another raffle ticket and they had some pretty good prizes.
So we go up stairs and they had 3 or four tables going. I don't really understand craps too well so I decided to go for blackjack, a simple enough game. Well to make a long story short I only played with $200 and I increased that to $1,200. Pretty good don't you think? But at the same time it does put the thought in my head..."I could do this with real money and make the easiest, fastest money ever." But that's just bad news, I probably played differently because I knew that it wasn't real money.
So we cashed in our chips for raffle tickets and took a seat to wait for the numbers. They explained the rules which were that they had 3 main prizes that they were going to wait until the end to raffle them off. The rest was first come, first served. They would raffle a ticket and you would simply pick off the table what you wanted. They had a lot of things: a bunch of oakley sunglasses, a nintendo wii, 4 rounds of golf at another really nice golf club, 4-night stays at some nice resorts, a big tool set, just to name a few. (Oh just a side note, right before they started the raffle I was named the chip leader of the night, boo-yah baby.) So they start with the raffle and guess whose number got called first, that's right mine. So I go up there and start looking at what I want to choose. Now I have a question to throw out there, have you ever been to a restaurant that has a huge menu and the more choices that you have makes the choice even that much harder? Well this is how it was for me. And they didn't wait for me, they continued and called the next raffle. The 2nd guy quickly grabbed the nintendo wii, I went for the oakley sunglasses because there's this pair that I've really wanted for a long time, worth $180. I didn't see them amongst the selection so I kept looking. And then I saw it, exactly what I wanted. THE IPOD TOUCH....BOOYAH to the 19th power baby. So I grab it and found out that it came with a shirt too. I walk back to my seat stoked on my newly aquired gift. I sit down and start examining it and.....guess what.....its not an ipod touch, its an ipod touch case. NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! You've got to be kidding me. I had first choice over everything and I chose the ipod case when I don't even have an ipod to cover. That's right I was that guy, I was one of the only sober people at the party at that point and I was the one who botched the first pick of the raffle. That's like choosing choosing 3 free oil changes when I don't even have a car. I attempted to go up and explain that I couldn't read it well enough and pleaded for them to let me exchange it. Instead of sympathy I was given mockery. They decided to announce my choice to the whole party. Just shoot me now. And to make it worse I wasn't able to redeem myself with another choice, none of my other raffle tickets were chosen. I just had one chance and I blew it.

Afterwards I went to the Oakley rep, who had donated the case and the shirt (which was a size XXL) and I traded them in for credit towards those sunglasses that I wanted. So I ended up getting the sunglasses that I wanted but I had to pay some for them. Only $60 for a $180 dollar pair though, so I can justify that purchase.
The rest of the night was fun. Jansen is a really fun date.


We danced by ourselves on the dance floor but were later joined by some of my buzzed fellow employees. So besides the fact that I may have acquired possibly the greatest regret story of my life, besides that it was a great night. Good food, good games, fun dancing, great date, and even a good-night kiss. It's my story, I end it on then note that I choose.

Reaching the breaking point.

So what's the tell-tale sign that too much is too much? Considering what just happened to me, I think I may have found what my tell-tale sign is.

So it's 7:30 on a Thursday evening, the week before finals and I just returned to the library sure to be spending the rest of the night here (well they close at midnight so I guess until then). I needed to take a quiz online for my Operations Management class for chapter 17. So I open up the quiz, get my text book out of my back pack, open up to chapter 17, read the first question, and then started looking for the answer. I started getting frustrated thinking to myself, "great this is going to be one of those quizzes that has all the answers cleverly hidden in the text." No joke after about 15 minutes I was still on question number 1 having no luck finding the answer or even some of the same key words that were in the question.

Then it clicked, I'm looking in the wrong book. Now it makes perfect sense, that's why the answer to the 'Operations Management' question isn't found in chapter 17 of my 'international economics book. Just shoot me now.










Can you tell the difference? Of course you can, because they state which books they are on the darn cover. That's 15 minutes that I won't be getting back.

Mele Kalikimaka

Well its official, I'm not coming home for Christmas. This will be my first Christmas spent here in Hawaii. Every other year I've gone back to the mainland and shared every else's Christmas, someone else's home, someone else's family, someone else's decorations, and someone else's tree. But not this year, this will kinda be my own first Christmas. This weekend I'm going to go buy a tree and I was thinking that I don't have anything to put on it. That's where all of you (I say all of you like there's a lot of people that actually read my blog, there aren't) come in. So what I'm asking is for a Christmas tree ornament from you guys. I don't really want store bought, I prefer homemade. So the more popsicle sticks, construction paper, elmer's glue, and glitter the better. I want a personalized tree. When people come over I want to show them all my ornaments from my family. I'm going to get the tree this weekend so if you find some extra time for a little art project that would be awesome. I'll even pay you back for shipping. I love you guys and am really excited for my first Hawaiian Christmas and my first very own Christmas tree. Mele Kalikimaka.
P.S. Here's my address:
55-220 Kulanui St.#1789
Laie, HI 96762

L. Tom Perry....ALOOOOOOOOOOOHA!

About a month ago they made an announement in church that L. Tom Perry and President Monson were coming to Hawaii for a Regional Conference. Its always exciting to hear a prophet or an apostle speak in person. They also announced that they would have a priesthood choir sing at the conference. And since it was a Regional Conference basically all the members in the state of hawaii would be coming to this. So to sing in the choir meant that I would have a guaranteed seat up front.
About a week before the confernce we found out that President Monson's wife fell down and hurt herself pretty bad and that he would be attending to her and therefore would not be coming to Hawaii. A lot of people were bummed but at the same time we were still excited to be having L. Tom Perry come.
I was kind of nervous that being in the choir would draw too much attention to me, well specifically the beard. I thought that in the end they would make me shave it, but I played my cards right and I'm still sporting it. In the choir we sang two songs, "How Great Thou Art" and "Beautiful Savior," two songs that are now on my list of favorites.
Minutes before the conference started and everyone was seated waiting for it to start Elder Perry turned around and looked at all of us in the choir. He got up from his seat, walked over to our choir director, who is also a student, and said, "Music is the most important part of all church meetings, and it's all relying on you." I already told you this was minutes before we started, as if we weren't nervous enough already.
I got over the nerves fairly quickly when we started singing, actually when my neighbor started singing. They organized us according to height, so of course I was up in the front along with mainly Asians and Philipinos. I don't think the guy next to me hit the right note even once. Right before when we practiced a little bit I realized that that was going to be the case so I helped him out and told him to sing his parts in "piano", which means softly. I still heard him but it didn't bring us down, it atleast put a smile on my face.
After the conference when I was walking out I was stopped right before the front doors. They had started clearing a path for Elder Perry so that he could leave and be on time for his flight out. He was shaking hands on his way out and it looked like I was in line to shake his hand as well. When he got to me he shook my hand and then suddenly he grabbed the back of my neck, shook me around a little bit, and said, "look at this group, this group can change the world." That's the second apostles hand that I've shaken but the first time that my whole body was shaken by one.

I'm in the Money, I'm in the Money

So I've been working at the golf course for about 8 months now. Just recently we had the biggest shotgun tournament of the year, the Oakley Invitational. Basically all the Oakley reps, surf/skate shops that sell Oakley, and even a few sponsored by Oakley were present, like Bruce Irons.
The thing with shotgun tournaments is that everyone leaves the club house at the same time which isn't too bad. Takes a bit of prep work but not too crazy. But the hard part is when they ALL come in at the same time. At turtle bay we have two full courses, the Arnold Palmer and the George Fazio. And for this tournament we had 4 to 5 carts per hole, yes all 36 of them. Do the math, thats around 162 carts coming in all at the same time. The first challenge is preventing cloggage, we don't want to replicate rush hour traffic at the golf course. Keep 'em moving, get the patrons off the cart without kicking them off, clean up the trash, re-stock the carts with pencils, score cards, tees, and waters, wash 'em, and plug 'em in.
After the mad rush Oakley set up a large tent with catered food with live music and raffle. I bought a ten dollar raffle ticket in hopes that I would win the $1200 Oakley watch, but I had no such luck. As I was taking the walk of shame back to the car I noticed some paper money on the ground. I picked it up and whose face did I see? Its all about the Benjamins baby. That's right I didn't win the raffle but I did find myself a one-hundred dollar bill. I'm never that guy that finds money at the movie theatre or at the county fair. I'm usually the guy who finds a quarter on the sidewalk and then finds out that its been superglued there. Not this time. Now its my turn, boo-yah!

Lochness Monster...Bigfoot...and the Beard Card.

So you all heard the story about the chin incident. Well along with stitches and the newly acquired scar came a blessing that was previously believed to be mythical. Yup, you guessed it, the infamous beard card. When I went in to see the doctor at the health center to get my stitches removed he instructed me not to shave for a while. He knew about the honor code at BYUH and so he wrote me a note to take to the honor code office. I showed up at the office, presented my note and was given a beard waiver card that was valid for 45 days.
The expiration date on the card is December 9. Which to me is a terrible day and kind of scary. Why couldn't it have been just 8 days longer? School lets on December 17. I'm going to try to sneek by to the end, if I can make it there then I can take it all the way to January 7 which will make for my longest beard so far.
I'm not going to lie. I love having a beard. And being here at BYUH its super unique. I get comments from guys that I don't even know telling me that they're super jealous. I guess one down side to the whole beard thing is that I'm using up a little bit more shampoo, but that's one price I'm definitely willing to pay.

My Chiny Chin Chin!

I've had the conversation before stating my desire to have a gnarly scar with an even gnarlier story behind it. Like a huge scar on your side that came from a propeller blade in a plane accident. Or a bear slash scar on your chest, but if you have that one it needs to come with a single bear claw necklace that came from the bear fight that you were in. Then you could say something like, "you think this looks bad you should have seen the bear." I don't have one of these scars, yet. But I guess this is the next best thing that will hold me off for a while.

So this semester I haven't had much time to go to the beach. I've spent the majority of my non-work/non-class time in the library. So one saturday I finally got an opportunity to go to Waimea Bay, one of my favorite beaches. Right when we parked I had Porter put some sun block on me so that by the time we got to our spot on the beach the sun block would have already soaked in and I could go straight to playing. So we get, I throw down my towel and go for the water. One of my friends Tara was standing only in the shallow part because the waves were kinda big and she didn't want to get worked. So what do I do? I pick her up of course. I pick her up in my arms and start running for the water. As I jumped in the water we also got hit by a wave at the same time throwing us back. In the process I smacked my chin on her hip, 6'3", 130 lbs, yeah, those are some sharp hips. I didn't think much of it. I was just excited to be in the water finally. I look up out of the water and see Tara getting worked by another wave, it was a pretty funny sight. After my adrenaline wore off a bit I brought my hand up to check my chin only to see my hand with a small pool of blood. Yup I split my open on a girls hip....


I'm actually pretty stoked, I mean its no plane crash or bear fight but its alot better then having a scar from just tripping on a curb and splitting my chin open on the side walk. Come on, how lame would that be. How many times can I say it without it sounding cool? "I split my chin open on a girls hip." I love it.


So I cruise over to Kahuku hospital and get 4 stitches. While I was there I made 3 receptionists, 2 nurses, 1 cleaning lady, and 1 doctor laugh at my situation. But its alright because we're laughing together.

I am Bo

Define Awkard.

Main Entry: awk·ward
Pronunciation: \ˈȯ-kwərd\
Function: adjective
a : lacking social grace and assurance b : causing embarrassment

Or....

You could also define awkward by giving an example of an awkward moment. I'm a very visual person, I learn things best when a teacher paints a picture in my head or tells a story to relate a given principle. So for you I'm going to paint a very "AWKWARD" picture....



So everyone knows that I like to talk on the phone when I go to the bathroom, its no secret, its not like I try to hide it from the other person on the other line. Its just a good time for me to catch up on some of my phone calls. I'm also very regular. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have a music class at 8:40am, which is approximately 1 hour after breakfast. The class lecture isn't all too interesting so its a perfect time for a bathroom break. First I called Bobbi...no answer, then I called Drake....no answer, then I called Jill.....again no answer. Given, this whole time I assumed that I was in the bathroom alone. It is on a less populated side of campus and I've always been in there by myself before. But before I was about to make a fourth call I thought that I heard some rustling in the bathroom a few stalls over. So what should I do? I check. So I peek my head down towards my feet to get low enough so that I can see underneath the stall walls. But wouldn't you know it, right as I took the initiative to peek under the stall wall to check for company, so did the other bathroom occupant. There we were 3 stalls away from eachother locked in the most awkward eye contact ever. Now I've had some pretty awkward moments before but that one has got to be up on the list for the top most awkward moments.

Now what do I do? I don't want to make it even more awkward and go and wash my hands with the guy. Possibly catching another awkward eye contact moment in the mirror or something. I think that its better that I don't know the identityor the mystery pooper. So I stayed in the stall and waited him out. It's going to be really funny when I run into this guy again and someone introduces us and we both try to figure out where we know eachother from. That moment when it clicks is going to be another story in and of itself.

I am Bo

I am BOO

Alright so Halloween is coming around again soon. I want to dress up and I want it to be original and unique. These are my costumes from previous years:


2005

WIRE WHISK - This ones going to be hard to top, set the bar pretty high. But there are plenty more good ideas out there.



2006

SPA GIRL (i guess) - This one was just easy and kind of lame and that facial mask thing sucked to have on my face for an extended period of time, very itchy.



2007

80's PROM KING - This suit jacket made the costume. It was a good find at Saver's. This year I dressed up together with Abby (girl friend at the time).



2008

MICHAEL PHELPS - Yup, that's right, I did it. I already had the speedo and the goggles, I bought the last swim cap that Champ's Sports had which by chance had an american flag on it, and I made the "8" gold medals out of jar lids and ribbon. That was a fun/awkward night.






So there's the run down of the last 4 Halloweens. Give me some feed back. Something funny, random, unique, original, crazy.

I am BOO

Skateboarding is NOT a Crime!

So there I am, on my way to school, just like any other day. I ride my skateboard over to the quiet house so that I'll go to school with my friend Gina Geest. I live up on the point in Laie which is basically the only hill in the town. I've ridden my skateboard down this hill countless times before and I would say that it's ridden by numerous others several times everyday. But something must have been different about this time. So I'm riding down the hill and there's a cop parked on the side of the road. He yells at me and tells me to get off my board. So I do, and he calls me over to go and talk to him. He asks for my i.d. and asks me if I have $97. I tell him that I don't and he says, "well you better find it." He goes on to tell me that a skateboard has no place on the road as he's writing me a ticket. I can't really afford any additional costs right now so I asked him if he could just let him off with a warning. Before I was done with my sentence he cuts me off and goes on more to rebuke me for my "inappropriate" actions. He comes back with the ticket, tells me to sign, and now informs me that riding my skateboard on the road is not a $97 fine but rather an $130 infraction. Where he came up with that number I don't know. I took the ticket and started walking away and he added, "if you don't pay for it you'll have a warrant out for your arrest." WOW, me, Bo Christian, menance to society.

This didn't come at the best time. I just almost depleted my bank account to pay off my credit card to pay for school. Rents due in about a week and that's gonna put me down really low. Looks like mac 'n cheese and top ramen are back on the menu.

But don't worry. I'm not taking this one without fighting it. I'll write my letter, I'll show up to court with a suit and tie, I'm not just going to turn my cheek and wait for another. Since when is skateboarding a crime. Maybe it's the red hair, those racists.
I am Bo

When am I gonna learn?

So I'm usually very good about washing my car regularly, but lately my car has been neglected. So I decided this last weekend to wash my car. While I was setting up I decided to wash my roommate Chris' car as well as a surprise. I didn't think that it would take me too long. I put sunblock on my neck and the tops of my shoulders but now I'm thinking I should have put an entire layer on my back too. What do you think?

Living Large in the VIP!!!

Relaxin.....you've gotta love the hammock.

Finding good housing here in Hawaii is often times really hard. But besides my first semester here and maybe even the box I lived in with Neil I've had pretty good luck. The house I live in now is super nice and I'll stay here until graduation. This house will be my 5th place I've lived in.
All houses in Hawaii receive a name, Jill lived in the "blue roof house" because it had a blue roof, I lived in the "box" or the "castle" with Neil because it was a box. The last place I lived was called the "coach house" because coach wagner owned it. Now I live the the VIP house because its really nice and I don't know why else. We live up on the point, I can see the ocean from my bedroom window, I know I have it pretty rough.

Our large deck with dart board, t.v. and dvd player, a couple comfy couches and of course a solid quiver of surf boards.


Nice big yard that we haven't really utilized too much, we've played catch in it a couple of times but its still nice to have.



Our large living room is nice, ideal for get togethers and movie nights, we also have satelite t.v. and surround sound which has been nice for those breaks in between homework.



Everyone loves our kitchen, I probably use it the most and I love it. Its big and has so much storage space. Our house is really good about keeping it clean as well.



It's a three bedroom house and I stay in the biggest room of the house. There used to be two of us in this room but now that
Porter is here there's three of us. It's still super roomy though with plenty of windows which keeps it really bright.

ALOHA Porter Bowman!!!

The last time that I saw Porter was probably when I was 16 and we had the family reunion at Vashon Island. So that means if I was 16 he was 9 years old. This summer we had our latest Bowman family reunion, I'm now 25 and he's now 18, a little bit better relatable ages.
We got along well and thought about the idea of him coming out to Hawaii to live for a while and getting out of Kanab, Utah. His parents were excited about the idea and now he's been here for a few weeks now. I'm stoked to have him here. Everything has worked out perfectly. My landlord was willing to let him stay and our rent got lowered because of it. I got him a job the first week he was here working construction for Oceana Builders.
He's pretty shy and quiet but we'll get him out of his shell. It was funny today I taught him how to write a check. I was cracking up but I'm sure I was the same way when I was 18, it just seems like so long ago.

One Man : Two Jobs - Difference of Night and Day

I've been working at Turtle Bay Resort Golf Club for about 6 months now. I work in Outside Guest Services which basically entails getting golf clubs out of guests cars, setting them up on their cart, sending them out on the course at the right time, washing their clubs when they're done, and putting them back in their car. It pays $8 an hour but the tips are good. We're supposed to be clean cut and look professional.

Looking good on the golf course.
For a little more than a month now I've been working construction for an Australian contractor named Rob Fletcher (Rob Fletcha if said in an australian accent). Some of the jobs we've done so far have been demolishing a house, laying 800 square feet of tile, digging footings, and now building a house.
I come home from Turtle Bay and I can go straight to school or anywhere else for that matter because I'm still clean. Construction on the other hand, I can't go anywhere. I can't even get into my car to drive home without having to take off my pants, shirt, and shoes because I would stain the driver's seat.




This picture of my dirty face was even taken after I sprayed myself directly in the face with the hose. I even had to wash my face one more time after I got out of the shower. Cement dust is stubborn.


Looking at my socks you would think that I didn't wear shoes, but yes I did.

How are my odds?

So I started thinking about this the other day and I realized that I've dated 8 girls since I've returned home from the mission. Of those 8, there are 5 that are married. Can you believe that, 5 out of 8?

Tia #1. This was a picture that I took on halloween, i couldn't find any pictures of her with her husband.

Staci #2. I think that the picture says it all on this one.

Abby #3. This one is the most recent, just got married the other day.

Alice #4. I knew a while ago that she was getting married, Drake and I actually snowboarded in Utah with the two of them when they were engaged. But I just got a friend request from her the other day and found out that she's a mama.

Marina #5. Marina and I broke up about 3 years ago. And that's right, in those 3 years she's been busy. Got married and not only had one kid but two. Crazy!