Moving up in the world

This week marks a monumental moment in my life.  I, M. Riley Creer, bought a motorcycle.  Holler.  Since high school I have wanted to upgrade from the moped to a motorcycle (in essence from boyhood to manhood).  Well I'm pleased to announce that I have done it.  It is a 1982 Honda XL185S and it's a beaut.

I plan to fix it up and take it to school as my main mode of transportation.  Good thing I have heaps of knowledge about motorcycles (not to mention fixing them).  It will certainly be an adventure, an adventure mostly spent, I'm sure, on YouTube watching repair tutorials.  It will all be worth it though, here's the vision: me rocketing off into the sunset on my shiny, rust-free, 185cc stallion...with a gorgeous girl on back, holding onto me like...well you get the idea.


I'm open to suggestions on what to name my trusty new steed.  Just write it in a comment.

That hurts the team...

This past Wednesday I went skiing.  I couldn't wear my glasses (it's a long story that is actually very boring).  I'd been skiing twice without my glasses and had no problems so I thought Wednesday would be the same.  Well it wasn't.  First run of the day we go into this bowl area littered with moguls and other hazards.  I decided the safest thing would be to follow right behind my brother.  So off we go.  Sam is a marvelous skier.  I'm only half marvelous.  So naturally he pulled farther ahead of me and disappeared around this grove of trees.  I zoomed around the trees trying to catch up and was knocked flat on my back.  I literally didn't see it coming.  Pause.  Rewind....Stop.  Now play in slow motion.  I came around the trees and caught a glimpse of an orange rope.  It was too late to react.  The rope caught me by the neck and threw me to the ground.  Laying there, I felt like an idiot.  I cautiously made my way to the lift where Sam was waiting.  Trying to shrug it off I told him I just got clotheslined by a boundary rope.  He laughed.  I was ready to go sit in the lodge, drinking hot cocoa as I waited for Sam and his friend to be done skiing.  But I didn't quit.  I kept skiing.  And the day turned out to be absolutely awesome!

Lesson Learned: When you get knocked flat by something you didn't see coming, don't quit!  Because it honestly can't get any worse.

My Family Rocks.

Well I'm home.  Weird.  I landed at the airport on Friday, 21 February 2014.  That night I was released from being a full-time missionary by the Stake President.  Weirder.

Following are the highlights of the past couple weeks along with my thoughts.

Skiing:

Yeah...we look pretty sick.

I missed skiing.  Especially skiing with Sammy.  He is an all-star skier and taught me basically everything I know.  When I was in 7th grade I busted my wrist snowboarding.  Lame story too.  That summer my brother convinced me to buy a pair of twin tip skis.  He is very persuasive.  I bought 'em.  And snowboarded only once after that.  I spent the next 3 years skiing behind Sam; I went wherever he went on the mountain.  He liked it steep and deep...so I had to learn fast.  I'd follow as he'd turn a normal run into a playground, jumping off hidden features, zooming down the hill at deadly speeds.  When I think of skiing, I think of skiing with my brother.

Dancing:

Waiting for the beat to drop

Katie taught me to dance.  I was twelve.  I was finally old enough to go to my first tri-ward dance.  I was terrified.  I didn't know how to dance to anything with a fast beat.  Naturally I hid in the bathroom for everything but the slow songs.  Shortly after, my sister taught me the X and V dance move.  I was hooked.  Suddenly I loved dancing.  Youtube became my teacher and I would spend hours in front of our glass sliding door watching my reflection as I attempted to master the moonwalk.  Fast forward a few years.  I was spending the weekend with my sister before EFY.  We had nothing to do one afternoon and decided to make a music video.  It snowballed from there.  Now we have made 8, in 4 different states.  When I think of dancing, I think of dancing with my sister.

Nutshell:

My family rocks.  And I missed them a lot.  I realized that the hobbies I love most are hobbies that remind me of my family.  In other words: I love my family more than anything.