Greeting to one and all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!! It's not every year that you get a Tuesday Christmas, so it's a cool experience to be able to blog on the most-anticipated day of the year. Today, with the final blog of 2012, we will take a look back at the past 12 months and celebrate some of the best things that happened - as voted upon by you, the Loyal Subscribers. Let's all take one final, nostalgic breath. Ready for the Top Five Signs of the Times in 2012? It's the Year in Review! On we go!
Merry Tuesday Christmas!
Honorable mention:
"The District: Season Two" - Not shockingly, the highly-hyped renewal of my once-popular TV show, starring Austin, Craig T. Nelson, and me, failed to garner a single vote in the blog poll. "The District: Season Two" was canceled after only several issues.
Indoor Skydiving - Hey, I went indoor skydiving this year. That was pretty crazy. Apparently none of you thought so.
Austin Gets Married - We lost a large part of the SotT family in May, as Austin and Lex got married in the Draper Temple. Since moving on to bigger and better things, Austin doesn't stop by much anymore, but we here at the Newsletter feel a small void in our hearts at the mention of his name.
Blu-ray Marathons - 2012 was a big year for movies. I continued "working" for Examiner.com doing my DVD reviews that nobody reads. My Examiner page views are down 1,882 from 2011, so, as I noted on Twitter, that either means that nobody cares about me or I really suck at writing. The Year in Movies was headlined by my #IndyBluRayMarathon, where I watched part of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (I saw it in IMAX the previous week) and the other three "Indiana Jones" movies in one, singular day. It was beautiful. Amazingly, nobody accepted my blanket invitation to come watch with me.
Park City Trip with Austin, Lex, and Amy - This didn't seem to be a popular option in the poll, but the pictures I posted on Facebook got a bunch of "likes" at the time, so it's worth a mention. Austin and Lex convinced me to go up to Park City to hang out with them for the day back in the summer of 2012. Amy and I made the caravan through the canyon and spent the day shopping, updating our wardrobes, swimming, and dining. For us, it was a great trip and a fun way to spend some time together. I spent over $100 at the sports merchandise store.
The Killers Concert - I was in attendance as The Killers rocked the UCCU Center at UVU in November. I hadn't been to a concert since that notorious night when I got beer poured down my back by a chick at Bon Jovi in 2011. It was a good concert and helped me become much better acquainted with Brother Flowers and company.
A-Town Returns to the KAGE - Cody and I had the opportunity to go visit Amy down in Ephraim a few months ago. Upon arrival at blessed Snow College, Amy let us guest star on her popular radio show, "The Love Shack with the Dicer." "The Love Shack" is a show about dating advice, of all things, so we had a good time talking about things from ultimatums to online dating to a couple that Cody (AKA "The Apprentice") found making out in the trees just outside the studio. "The Dicer" has carried on the "A-Town" legacy with grace and style.
"The Amazing Race" Audition #2 - The fabled Brothers Christensen applied for CBS' hit show, "The Amazing Race," again this season. While the end result of our audition still remains uncertain, Austin and I are incredibly confident that if and when CBS finally allows us on the show, we will dominate everyone. "Signs of the Times" followed the latest season of the show closely, recapping every episode as they aired. All in all, we learned two things: that the Twinnies were incredibly, incredibly annoying, and that, apparently, all you have to do to win the Million is hang in there as long as you can and get lucky one time. Hmmph!
And now, for the Top Five Signs of the Times from the year 2012!:
Fifth place:
Failed Presidential Campain - Almost immediately as soon as I got home from my mission in 2008, I was nominated by a fellow returned missionary to run for President of the United States in 2012. Within a matter of weeks, I had filled out my potential cabinet members and had put together some of my top policies. As the year went on and the other candidates heated up their campaigns, as well, it unfortunately became apparent to me that I did not have nearly as much support in the race as I had anticipated. Due to the lack of support, I was forced to pull the plug on my administrative hopes and forever retire from politics. That's kind of a depressing story. I'm not sure why so many people voted for it.
That would have been a good campaign slogan for me. Capital I in Issues.
Fourth place:
200 Issue Milestone - On March 20, 2012, I published the 200th Issue of my Newsletter. That's a whole lot of typing, my friends. It's been over four years and I'm still going strong. 200 Issues was a big deal for me. I also saw it as a way to shake things up a little bit. I've always tried and tried (unsuccessfully, mind you) to get some participation out of you people, so one thing that I started doing for a while was the Guest Blogger segment of the Newsletter. It seemed to be an exciting, innovative thing to do at the time, but I think most of you got a little burned out of me trying to get volunteers, so it eventually fizzled out, not unlike the "A-Town Webisodes." Anyway, regardless of how much the readers do or do not choose to participate, I'm going to keep writing. I've got some really big things planned for 2013, so look for some changes coming up in the Newsletter in the weeks and months to come! And... to those of you that actually do read, thank you. I appreciate it.
Oh, I do. All 240 of 'em.
Third place:
Brother A-Town Teaches Seminary - The first half of 2012 was dominated by my enrollment in LDS Institute classes as part of the pre-service training program for prospective seminary teachers. From January until May, I was taking three different Institute classes, Tuesday through Thursday nights, in order to graduate as a student from the Church Educational System. I needed to graduate from Institute as part of the requirements to become a middle school seminary teacher. The "final project," so to speak, was to teach a ninth grade seminary class for two weeks. I spent my 10 days teaching a class at Crescent View Middle School in the exact same room where I was educated as a young man. My topics were selected from the Old Testament books of Ezekiel and Daniel, which had some great stuff for kids that age. Though the class was very quiet and reluctant to participate (which is probably the exact opposite of what I was hoping for in a class), I tried my best to be prepared for each class. I felt that some lessons went more smoothly than others, but, overall, I thought I did a pretty good job. Feedback from the students was very positive and my evaluation from my instruction was also good. Though I was not eligible to be hired full-time at that point, I am grateful for the experience that I had and look forward to trying again when the time is right. On a side note, my obsession with argyle socks was practically put on steroids by those kids, who thought my purple socks were the coolest things ever and demanded a different pair of socks each day.
Brother A-Town.
Second place:
A-Town Wins a Scooter - My company's summer party was at Lagoon for the second time this year. We spent the day going on roller coasters and were also treated to a nice lunch in the afternoon. During lunch, they raffled off a bunch of prizes, ranging from a giant teddy bear or golf clubs to Jazz season tickets or a cruise in the Mexican Riviera. I was really hoping for the Jazz season tickets, but was by no means expecting to walk away with anything. To my absolute shock, as they raffled off a Yamaha scooter, I did a double-take and realized that they had called my ticket number! To make a long story short (too late), I went home the owner of a nice, shiny, blue scooter. I've had some good times on that little sucker, like the time I rode around the block in a bandana. Or the time that I had to go up to the DMV at 8:30 in the morning in November and I was only going 20 MPH up the final hill - with cars behind me. Oh yeah, baby. Good times. I like my scooter. I don't drive it around nearly as much as would be ideal, but when I get a chance to take it out, I feel like a real tough guy. It's a beautiful thing.
Vroom vroom...
First place:
A-Town goes to Texas - I'd describe myself as a pretty cheap person. My mom probably just winced. She'd prefer that I call myself "thrifty" or something like that, but no. I'm cheap. You know, sometimes I just realize that I haven't done anything fun in, like, a really long time. Back in July, I figured that I just needed to get the heck out of town. I wanted to go on vacation! I wanted to go anywhere, really, just as long as I was doing something different. A year and a half in a call center starts to wear on you a little bit. I tried (unsuccessfully, of course) to recruit somebody - anybody - to go with me, but nobody took the bait. I certainly wasn't going to Disneyland for four days by myself! So I needed to find somewhere that I could go where I knew somebody. That narrowed down my options significantly. In the end, I decided to head down to Texas to spend time with my uncle Ryan and his family. I was seriously freaked about traveling on my own. I'd never been to Texas. I had no idea what there was to do down there and I certainly didn't expect Ryan and my aunt Shandee to babysit me for the whole vacation. After a bit of research, however, I was able to find some amazing things to go do. I spent a day at Six Flags Over Texas with my friend, Julie, which was sooooo much fun. Julie used to work at Six Flags and she was a perfect tour guide for me. Over the course of those few days, I was able to see the JFK assassination site, do some site seeing and shopping in Frisco and the surrounding area, and I even had some good, old fashioned Texas BBQ. It was mighty tasty. But my favorite parts of the trip, by far, were a sports lover's dream. I was able to tour the Ballpark in Arlington and see a Texas Rangers game with Ryan and his family. At the baseball game, Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle, which is something most sports fans will never see in person. I also took a tour of Cowboys Stadium, which, if you have been living under a rock for the past decade, is one of the biggest, most expensive, fanciest sports facilities in the entire world. That tour was incredible! I've been a life-long Cowboys hater, but you've got to appreciate what Jerry Jones has done with that place. As Ryan and I toured the stadium, we heard mention that there was going to be a pre-season game there that Saturday night. We instinctively bought two tickets, which ended up being on the very top row, and went to our very first NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Rams. Yeah, yeah, I know it was only pre-season, but it was awesome. I need to get one of those TVs for my house. I admit, I've had a little soft spot in my heart for the Cowboys this year. I still hate Tony Romo, though. Never liked Romo. Never will. I wrapped up the trip by going to church with Ryan, Shandee, and their two kids, Matt and Megan. It was cool to go see what the church is like in Texas. (About the same, if you were wondering. Just, maybe, friendlier and more, um... Southern.) I attended the Sunday School class that Ryan was teaching and had a chance to interact with the kids a little bit, which was a unique experience, as well. When all was said and done, I loved my trip to Texas. I didn't want to come home because I was having so much fun. For me, this was definitely my favorite experience in 2012. I wish I had the time and money to travel a little more often, but, because I don't, it made the experience all the more valuable to me. I've got some great memories from that trip that I'll remember for a long time. Finally, thanks again to Ryan and Shandee who were nice enough to take me in for a few days and treated me like their own son. I'm grateful for them and hope that they had as good of a time as I did.
What an awesome trip - the #1 Sign of the Time for 2012!
Well there you have it! The Top Five Signs of the Times from this past year! All in all, I think that 2012 was a pretty good year. I haven't felt so favorably about some of the last couple years (*cough*2009*cough*), so yeah. I think it was a successful year. I accomplished some big things and had a lot of fun, but I am really excited for 2013. I've had a bit of a chance to think about ways to improve my life and do more exciting stuff, beginning in January, so stay tuned and keep reading! To finish up, the Issue, I'd like to do two things simultaneously. I'd like to give the Shoutout of the Week and also talk about one final Sign of the Times that I have recently experienced that, technically, wasn't on the ballot for the Top Five. The Shoutout of the Week goes to my family. We've made some great memories in the past week and I'd like to touch on them for a second before I end. Our family had a tradition going for the last few years called the "Trans-Christensen Orchestra," where we would go out for the little programs at our family parties and use Rock Band instruments to flamboyantly perform Christmas songs. I thought it was an awesome tradition, but apparently not everyone felt that same way. We were on the verge of being fired this holiday season because some family members felt that the XCO ship had sailed. Out of desperation, I suggested an alternative to the Rock Band production in hopes that we could still keep the Orchestra alive. My idea was to perform four-part melodies of Christmas songs with kazoos. I could instantly tell that not everybody was on board with the idea, but I thought it might just work. On Friday night, Austin, Lex, Amy, Cody, my mom, and I huddled around the piano with kazoos between our lips and belted out a few carols. To our amusement, it was not only hilarious, but it also sounded fantastic! We continued to practice, going through nearly every Christmas song in the LDS hymn book. Once we were done, nobody wanted to stop, so we took a moment to discuss whether or not it would be sacrilegious to continue, then agreed to start performing traditional hymns, as well. We kazooed to the likes of "Praise to the Man," "Nearer My God to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy," then we brought it all home with a rousing rendition of the national anthem and "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. It was quite the site to behold. On Saturday night, we performed much to the boredom of one side of the family, but we could hold our heads up high knowing that we kazooed like nobody had ever kazooed before. I mean, have you ever heard harmonizing kazoos? (A video will be posted shortly.) Christmas Eve, for the first time in a long time, was spent at home with no extended family parties to attend. We had a delicious Mexican buffet with my Goulding grandparents and my uncle, Kent. Later that night, we had an hour-and-a-half-long discussion about the birth and life of the Savior, Jesus Christ, which, we hope is a memory that will last for years to come. We finished the night by playing the popular "candy bar game" with Austin and Lex and popped in "The Muppet Christmas Carol" until 1:00 in the morning. Five hours later, we were up and exchanging gifts and we spent this Tuesday enjoying each others' company. I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday, not just because I get lots of new movies to watch, but because it means I can spend some meaningful time with my family, and there's no way I'd rather have it.
I love my family!
That's about it for this week - and for this YEAR! I hope you've had a fun time reading in 2012 and I hope that these Top Five Signs of the Times have accurately depicted The Year in Review. I hope that all of you had a marvelous Christmas and were able to create your own memories, as well. Thanks for reading. I'll see you guys next year!
Until next Time,
Move It! Sell It! And Leave the Door Open!
Aaron
1 comment:
I heard that your kazoos were awesome! We didn't make it to the party but my family was impressed! :)
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