Man, bracket is TOAST! If you were to look at it, it is a bunch of X's and a couple +1's or +2's. NOBODY should ever have a perfect bracket. NOBODY could have chosen VCU and Butler to both go to the Final four. This is just madness. Now I know why they call it March Madness. BYU had a tough year, and Jimmer Fredette went out on a bad note. But it was fun while it lasted, and now I have the NBA playoffs coming up! So much sports.
Volleyball season is beginning to get hot, and I think that we can do something this year. Being in a really tough league, it will be exciting to see how we can do. On Tuesday we start with CDM. They are ranked 3rd in the county, and it will be tons of fun. We have got nothing to lose, so maybe we can pull a little VCU or something

Well, I finally had my court of honor. There were 6 boys who got it, and it was not as long as I thought it would be. I decided to give my mentor award to Alistair Hawker, but he passed away in December. It is really too bad, but it was nice being able to honor him at the Eagle Court of Honor. I said "I have chosen to give my mentor award to Alistair Hawker. Even though he was such an expert in the field of building cabinets and other furniture, he was kind enough to help me do my project. Such a gesture shows how humble a man he was and did not care if he was building for a Temple or a scout. He wanted everything perfect, never got frustrated at my cluelessness, and showed how someone can help another, even if they did not know them very well. Without Brother Hawker, I don’t know how or when I would have finished my project. I don’t think he was ever a Boy Scout, but he was the epitome of scout spirit, an adult helping a 14 year old boy, just trying to build a couple of cabinets. I wanted to give him this award today, but he suddenly passed away this last December, so I would like to invite his wife Patrice up to the stand to give her the award." After I said this, his wife came up and took the pin, and the crowd of people clapped and clapped for a good 3 or 4 minutes. I felt really good, but while this was happening, it was hard to not get nervous and a little emotional. I didn't cry, but I was shaking for the second part, which was a reflection on scouts in general. It was a really nice ceremony, and I could feel as though Brother Hawker was there listening.

This is my friend Connor and I. I never knew he was that much shorter than me.
This is Connor, Myself, Param Shaw, Matthew Kupferer, Tyler Muir, and Harrison Scoville. The newest eagles.

Blake Griffin Won the NBA Dunk Contest. He dunked over a car, and Hung on the rim by his elbow. This one other Guy, Serge Ibaka, Dunked from the Free Throw Line. Crazy stuff goes on. BYU is owning still, but I hope they didn't peak early and Jimmer is only good for the first 3/4 of the season.
Life Is Good

No one reads this, but whatever

Alyse says she reads my blog. Yeah right. No one does. It is a good place to write about my life and talk about random things such as volleyball or good scriptures. I think its kind of cool if no one reads it, then I don't have to watch what I write.
Anyways, today in church I was thinking about what a friend had said, which was that it says in the Bible that there is no other book allowed. I think he was talking about Revelation 22:18, which is "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book". This is saying that you cannot add or subtract from the Bible, but the Book of Mormon is introduced as "The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible". Not adding, not subtracting, but having teachings that are common with the Bible. I also found John 10:16, which says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." It is talking about how he was going to visit the Americas and other followers of him.
Well, volleyball is really coming on fast in 1 or 2 weeks. I am excited, but scared because I have no idea of what to expect because my club team wasn't all that good. I hope I am ready when the time comes. Austin is ready, then 2 other kids on the team are pretty ready. I really hope there can be four with me that are ready instead of 3.
Jimmer Fredette is destroying right now, which is good. If BYU was to win the championship, (and I am not expecting them to, just a what if) no one would ever make fun of me for wanting to go to BYU or anything.
Life is good

Dallin Shoji Part II

Try outs is happening right now. It turns out that my JV coach last year told the other setter that he needs to compete with me for that starting spot. I am excited and frightened by the fact that I have a chance to start. I am not expecting anything, because I don't know how good I am or how good I need to be. Corona Del Mar, the best team in our league, has at least 2 guys going to D-1 colleges to play volleyball. It is going to be super fun! I need to work as hard as I can.
I ended my semester with a 3.6 GPA. That is not bad, but not what I hoped. I really needed an A in Math, but no, I got a B. I did get a 103% on my science final though, which was awesome. I felt kind of bad because my teacher set the curve before my class took the test, and then I beat it. But I felt kind of bad because one of my friends worked really hard to set that curve, and I did not really study all that hard.
I am going to EFY with Evan Myres, my cousin. We are both extremely excited, but I think we are too excited if it is 6 months away, which is really too bad. We are going to BYU and are staying in Heleman Halls.
Life is good.

Dallin Shoji Part I

Well, 2010 is done. Too bad, but I am thankful. This year better be good, because I have been waiting for a good year for a long time. I'll start with Christmas. I gave to Austin this year, and all he wanted was one thing. For me to sign a contract, that said that I would do whatever it takes to do well in volleyball. He expects me to be quite the setter. He expects me to be this guy on the left. This guy is the best setter in nation. Austin wants to be this guy on the right. He is the greatest outside hitter in the nation. He has high expectations for the team this year, as do I. Corona Del Mar, the best team in the county, is in our league. I EXPECT to beat them this year. I have absolutely no idea why, but I am not nervous right now to play them. Sure, a 6'7" outside hitter hitting at your face is scary, but I'll survive.

Hey! I haven't written in a while. Sorry to keep you waiting for another classic quote. Life is pretty good. Math is hard, and I don't know if I will be able to get an A in that class this semester. I really want to go driving today, but mom says it's "pouring rain" or something like that. I just think that it will make me a better driver, and its not that hard to do, right? I drove in rain with Alyse, in Plymouth, North Carolina, so I don't get why I cannot do that now. I did get my permit, so I am just a step from getting my license. Then, the world is mine. I went through this whole fiasco with the coach of the club team I am on. It is pretty weird, because he moved me to different teams, then just put me back on the same team I was on the whole time. I don't have much to say anymore, so I will leave you at that. Later!

HEY! i haven't written for a while, but why would I post if only Alyse reads it? It's like why would you sing if no one wanted to listen? Why take a test when no one will grade it? Something to think about. Well since my last post, i finished drivers ed, I'm doing club volleyball, and we had a seminary party. Charlie bollard got a new xBox connection game thing that you don't need controllers, and it just sees your body move and you are the controller. We had a party before the stake dance, and it was pretty fun.Reminds me of a good quote. "I am the Captain of my fate, i am the master of my soul". Drivers ed was easy, but now I need to pass the test now. I can't believe i am so close to driving. Its been a long dream of mine that is now coming true. I am also excited to get my brother, Austin's, 1996 Beige Manual Transmission Ford Ranger. 0 to 60 in about 30 seconds. Watch out! Grant got called on his mission to the Santiago Chile Mission! I am so Excited for him, he is gonna have so much fun out there. I want to go to Iceland or the Pacific Islands, but anything would be the best experience of my life. I am also excited for volleyball season, but i wish it would come way faster. I am not doing to good, and I am not getting enough repetitions to become the player I want to be. I saw another good thing the other day. It said "when life throws you a curveball, don't duck, because you might miss something". Well, thats all I have today.

Well, BYU is off to a slow start... 1-2.
I am really excited for summer! I cannot wait! I don't really like my teachers but I still have to find a way to tear it up with the grades. Also, I changed seminary teachers from the awesome Bro. Moreland aka. Big Papa to the unknown Brother Welch. Its hard, but things will turn out all right.
I have realized something. I really, really, really want to go to Somoa/Tonga on my mission. Maybe Iceland. But it would be soooooooooooooooooooooooo cool. I can't wait no matter what mission I go to. In sacrament meeting was talking about my expiriences and said that "I guess it will be fun". People laughed and I felt like a fool.
In teachers quorum, we had 15-16 people in out little room. It was all right, but people talked a lot.
I love club volleyball. It is so much fun and I am the starting setter on the 16s 1's Team, which means I will be playing when I need to. I hope I do good and I get ready because I am expected to play varsity.
Here is a good scripture. Ether 15:34 "Now the last words written by Ether were these: Whether the Lord will be that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it matterith not, if it so be that I am saved in the Kingdom of God. Amen." I was in the hotel room in San Francisco when I read that and it hit me pretty hard. Nothing like that I started bawling, but it made me think. How can we become this way that it doesn't matter what we go through, but the only thing that matters is that we go and live with our Heavenly Father. Muy Bueno.
New Bucket List Entries:

• Do a triathalon
• Read through the Bible
• Go to Somoa and Tonga and Iceland if not called on a mission there

Yeah so it is Sunday and this is usually the day that I write on my blog. Since the last time I wrote on my blog, we as a family without Alyse and Tommy went to the Lonely Island of San Francisco. ( Is it an Island?) I had never been so it was pretty fun. We went to a cold Giants Game where the home team lost. We also went to Alcatraz, the jail that was up for a short amount of time but it might be the most famous. I Found some more things to add to my bucket list

• Go to Africa
• Visit Antarctica
  
• Go hunting
• go golfing on Pebble beach (the US open)

School started a week earlier than last year, and we had a 3 day weekend. (lame, I know) But on Monday my friends spencer and cole and dad and I went golfing. (Not cole murphy, cole murray) BYU got rocked yesterday, and The browns lost, so no good sports analysis. too bad. I got an ipod touch and its pretty cool

The past month was quite a fiasco. It all started on July 23 when I flew out of Long Beach air port, thinking i was ready for the time ahead of me. I had no idea. Boarding the Jet Blue Airliner, I sat in my seat near the back of the plane. After a calm, normal flight next to two kind older ladies, I landed in the Salt Lake City airport. I turned on my tracfone to find a missed call. Hmmm... I wonder who it was. I see the name on the screen as I open the cheap flip phone as my sister, Alyse. She was coming to pick me up so I could help her move out of her apartment and into a new life in North Carolina. I open it up to realize it is saying i had a missed call from her, so i return the call. She had stopped at a little place off the freeway when Tommy, her adoring husband, could not figure out how to restart the car. After getting help from AAA, their car insurance, they were back on track. They pulled up about 5 minutes later.
We got back to their little apartment in Provo, and they showed what they needed me to do to help them clean up for the rest of the day. they would be moving out by Monday, and we could not even think about moving on Sunday. This meant hard work for 36 hours besides sleep, eating and occasional card games. After we retired for the night, Alyse decided that she would teach me her and Tommy's favorite card games, The Bean Game and Killer Bunnies. In the Bean Game you have to imagine being the best possible bean farmer and get money. Killer Bunnies is a game in which you attack other players' bunnies to obtain "the magic carrot". We played these games for an hour or two until we got tired and prepared to retire for the night. I did not go to sleep that easily though, since I slept in their 90 degree living room. The fan was pointing at me, but all it was doing was blowing hot air at me. I had to make do, so I just went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and we moved all day with Tommy's Family. We had in n out and then i went to south jordan for the sunday. The next day was EFY and it turns out that one of my best friends was IN MY GROUUUUPPPP!!!!!!!!!! I had so much fun you have no idea. Then the next week was Volleyball camp and that was fun too. Kevin Sagers, Futti Tavana and Ryan Boyce were my coaches. They were super cool. THen we had a Family reunion and then it was super fun too. Then we worked for Grandpa Myres and then got some good money. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good summer. Thanks mom and alyse for everything and the phone

Summer School stinks! I just had it for 3 weeks and did not have much fun. Sure, I might have finished a whole semester of health, but the first two weeks were on Abstinence and Birth Control! I mean, COME ON!!!!!!!!! I made a few friends, but none that I will really hang out with outside of that class.
It is really hot in here. It is not a good thing when you are sweating outside then you come inside and sweat even more. Stupid heat! At least in Utah and Arizona they have effective Air Conditioning. Well, it better end soon.
I went outside to get some icecream in the freezer when, suddenly, I couldn't find any!!! Then, I went to turn off the lights, and I see a small figure scatter across the bar above the garage. I take out my tommy gun and begin unloading rounds in its direction. I miss all of the shots, and look down to see R.O.U.S.'s digging through the garage door. I say a catchy phrase like "Oh yeah? you wanna see my R.O.U.S.? Its a Rifle of unusual size!!! HAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!" I blow their faces off with it and realize I don't have much ammo left, and they still keep coming! I take out my sword and chop off all their arms and give them to King Lamoni. Then, he joined the church and I went on protecting his sheep. Then, I went to bed. BYE BYE!!!

My picture afterwards is above

HI!!! The last time that posted an entry on this blog was on may 2nd. Almost two months. Since then, these things have happened:

• My birthday
• Lakers won the NBA Finals
  
• Camille left and came back from Nicaragua
• USA got kicked out of the world cup (i don't like them, so I don't care. GO NETHERLANDS!!!)
• I finished 9th grade
  
• I went on my high adventure
• My friend Steven McCombs moved back to mexico

These are a lot of things, and I will go in order.
My birthday was a big thing. I got to eat Cocoa Puffs and go to Red Robin. I played volleyball with Austin, some of his friends, and Kipp Muir. It was a lot of fun, and to finish it off, all the school stuff with people singing and wishing me happy birthday. I am now 15, and only 3 years left in high school.
My school year finished, and as I said, only 3 more years of the Irvine Public school system. My GPA went up from a 3.33 to about a 3.6, and I will do even better next year. I hope that it just goes up and up to a 4.o next year.
The Lakers also won the NBA Finals. I hate them, but they barely got through the Suns, who are very good. I was pretty excited that the Suns even got that far, so i was okay with that out come. I still HATE the lakers with a deep passion.
On another sports note, the biggest sport event in the world began. The world cup. Anyone who knows me knows that I have no desire to become a major soccer fan or player. But... Every four years is completely fine for me. I am cheering for the Netherlands and pretty much any African nation that was in it. I am not a USA fan, and I never have been. It is a lot of fun figuring out soccer and watching the best go at it head to head. So far i have rooted for Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria, the Netherlands, Uruguay and Ghana. Only 3 are left, but whatever, hopefully one of them wins. USA got kicked out by Ghana on Saturday, 2-1 in a pretty good game.
I went on the High Adventure from Thursday until Saturday. It was a lot of fun. The first day we drove down there and just messed around camp from 6 to about 10. Then we went to sleep. The second day, we went to the beach all day. We drove to the kayaking store that rented us snorkeling gear and kayaks to go and snorkel near some caves. It was so much fun, and there were some pretty cool things under water. Then we just hung out and went boogie boarding for a while. After that, we went back to camp and sat around for a while. Connor had his water polo ball and also a box for his tent. We figured out how to play basketball with it and that was fun. We then went to sleep and woke up that morning sorer and more tired than the day before. we were exhausted, but that didn't stop us from tubing for 2 miles down a little river that ran through the whole camp site. I have some bruises on my lower back, but it was loads of fun. Then we packed up and went home.
One of my good friends, Steven, moved back to Mexico today. He moved here for a year to see what it was like, and I think that he liked it. He was a cool dude, and I am going to miss having him here as another Mormon kid at school. He was really funny and nice, and just like his cousin, Connor, who he lived with.

My new phone



No other photos will go on, but later.



Fancy phone, eh?

Heyyyy! So, I will start with volleyball. We are 3 and 5, which is okay, but we can do a lot better. I lost my starting spot, so I am not playing very much. It's okay though, since I got to play for the first half of the season. It is a lot of fun and I am giving up school basketball for club volleyball, or at least most likely. Also, I really don't like online shopping anymore. Stupid Target hasn't given me my iPod that I ordered even though I ordered it over 2 weeks ago. Here are 5 reasons why you cannot trust online shopping:

1. They have things cheaper, but they will just charge more with shipping and handling
2. They must be up to some diabolical plan, since they made me pay more than I would have with just going to Target.
3. They say "you can be a guest" on the website, but when I want to "track the package" they don't let me see the package ID
4. It takes a long time
5. I just am really mad at them, and I could only think of 4

Also, Momotombo's mark that it left on me in Nicaragua has almost gone away completely.

3 more to my bucket list:

• Meet a big time celebrity
• Go to Europe
• Eat Escargo

Here we are again. A month later. Different people. I have discovered what poor really means, and what the word "need" really means. I have rendezvoused with long lost family members from Idaho.

You know what is a crazy song? Oh Fortuna. I listen to it and it gives me the chills. The reason I am thinking about it is my friend, Brent Wong, and I are making a commercial for Things Fall Apart, pretending that it was going to be made into a movie. We have about 12 days, and we are doing well. I have three minutes to write as much as I can. We had a volleyball game on Thursday and we destroyed University High School, even though they were up 8-1 in the first game. In the second game the closest they got was 5-1. I got a really dirty serve that was really bad. It dropped about 2 feet off the net on their side. It was crazy. I love volleyball. Alyse is mad since I only got 3 things on my bucket list. Here are 3 more:

• Get a drum set
• Eat a real philly cheese steak
• Have 2 4x4's at In-n-out in one sitting.

There you go Alyse. Only 3 more weeks until Nicaragua.

Today is my blogging day. Otherwise known as Sunday. Seeing that Alyse is always making "Lists of things to do before she dies", or "Bucket Lists". Here is mine:

• Go to BYU as a student
• Start Volleyball setter at Northwood
• go to a killers concert.
  

and that's how far I've gotten. Too bad.

Well, I got a mark on my face that looks like I got in a fight, so people said things like "Did you get punched?" or even "Do we need to report bishop Murphy for this?" (That last one was a joke, so no one get scared). I had a game on Tuesday against Aliso Niguel and we destroyed them pretty good. It was a lot of fun. THursday we had one of our worst games as a team. We got beat by Irvine 25-23 and 25-21. It looks close but we should have killed them. The were bad. Selection Sunday is today. BYU better get an easy team so they can actually get past the first round this year.

Hey. Today is my blog day. I have had quite a few things happen to me in the last two weeks, so I should tell you about it. Last Saturday was Cole's party, and it was a load of fun. It was an Olympic Party, and kids got medals made from string and chocolate coins. It was a lot of fun to see the creative activities be played by the little kids. Alec, Tyler, Barrett, and their friends all came and spent the night that saturday along with Charlie Bollard (his parents were gone) and the alpine myres. IT was a lot of fun, and charlie brought over his xbox 360. I had my first volleyball games. We had 2 scrimmages against University and La quinta. We beat them both handily. Also, we played san juan hills as our first game and we won. I am trying to get used to the whole JV thing, but it is hard. As the only setter, I cannot get hurt or have a bad game or else we will be in trouble.

T'was a good 2 weeks away from the blog. I found out a new favorite song, even though i don't know what they are saying. Alyse posted this on her blog, but I will too. The song is by a post-rock icelandic band called Sigur Ros. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyI4p0yjDQ is the link, since I cannot figure out how to put it on the page just as a video.(help me with that alyse) For those who don't speak fluent Icelandic, the lyrics are at the end of my post.
Last weekend, Bethany and I were at the Alpine Myres house to help Evan with his eagle scout project. It was a lot of fun being with them and hanging out with them. On Saturday, we drove there to Del Mar, which is half way to the Myres House. We went to dinner at this Chinese/American Resturant. It was alright. Then we went to their house and hung out then lifted weights in their garage. I was sore for a very long time. After we went to church the next day, Evan Isaac and I went out into their back yard and shot the BB Gun at thrown away water bottles that were filled with water. It was a lot of fun there. At the Eagle Project, we planted about 1000 trees. It was fun helping him.
VOLLEYBALL IS STARTING!!!!! I am so extatic for this. Guess what...I MADE JV AS A SETTER! I am really excited because it is so much better than basketball. I am the only freshman on JV, and there are a bunch of sophomores and juniors. I love it.

Here are the lyrics

Smiling
Spinning round and round
Holding hands
The whole world a blur
But you are standing

Soaked
Completely drenched
No rubber boots
Running inside us
Want to erupt from a shell

The Wind
An outdoor smell of your hair
I breathe as hard as I can
with my nose

Jump into puddles
With no boots on
Completely drenched(Soaked)
With no boots on

And I get a nosebleed
But I always stand up
(Hopelandish)

And I get a nosebleed
But I always stand up
(Hopelandish)

From: http://lyricstranslate.com

This week could have been described as good, exciting, weird, or crazy. The week began with a day off on Monday and all I did was homework and went to basketball practice. Then on Tuesday, something amazing happened to me. I had a burden like no other lifted off my shoulders...er...maybe my teeth. My braces were finally taken off. I finally can look in the mirror without seeing the large magnetic field beneath my lips. I get my retainers tomorrow, but that does not cancel out my happiness that I got a barbed wire continually catching my lips detached forever. Then on Wednesday for young mens we combined with the Priests and learned a few jujitsu moves. That was a lot of fun. Our team is 3-2 in league. I haven't played in a game in league, and I don't know why. Whatever. I really don't like him, and in the most latest game against our rival, Woodbrige, we lost on a last second tip shot by their team. I don't really care since I did not play. As a family we went with the Alpine Myres and saw BYU beat SDSU in front of a hostile crowd due to a monster game by Jimmer Fredette.

Hey! This week was New Years, and we had a the Rasmussens over for New Years Eve and then the Alpine Myres came over the next day and we went to Knotts Berry Farm. On New Years Eve, We just stayed home and chilled with the cousins. It was a lot of fun watching Travis Pastrana jump 269 feet and then we watched Wanted. (Clean) We had a lot of fun that night, and we had a lot of eggnog. (Thanks to Uncle Brian) The next day we went to Knotts Berry Farm, which was a lot of fun too. We rode rides, but after a while, we got bored. We decided to play Sardines, which is where you have one person hide, (or in our case, one pair) then other pairs go to find them then stay with them for the rest of the round. Evan Myres and I were the first to be it. Austin and Isaac were the first to find us, then we hit a time of about and hour when no one found us. We went on to the log ride, and got wet. Then we got caught by Camille and Bethany. Then Alec and Maranda. Then we just called Grant and Mateo because they would not have found us. Then we went on a few more rides and then left to go and eat. We ate at the Knotts Berry Farm Chicken Dinner resturant, and I got the Chicken and Dumplings meal. It was actually really good. We went home, and pretty much sat around with cousins, then went to bed. The next day, at 7:00, My dad, Brian, Austin and I went golfing on the same executive course that my dad, Tommy, my dad's client, his son and I went on that same monday. (Executive courses are not any better than other courses as their name states, they are just smaller.) The first time I had golffed was that earilier monday, and I hit a 59. That time I hit a 46. Pretty good for a second time. Austin got a 58, and Brian and dad just beat us.