The Festival Of Colors

     Imagine 40,000 people gathered together in the spirit of companionship and celebration of nature.  Add to that live rock music, people holding "Free Hug" signs, absolutely ridiculous traffic, and enough multicolored, lavender scented chalk powder to block out the sun.  You've pretty much got it.
     The Festival of Colors (or Holi) is a Hindu holiday whose origins lie in ancient Bengal.  It is a celebration of spring and the devotion (as legend has it) of Prahlada, a demon prince, to Lord Vishnu.  The largest celebration of Holi in the western hemisphere is held in Spanish Fork, Utah, at the Lotus Temple. 
     Yours Truly did indeed attend this year's festivities.  It was pretty crazy!  Some friends and I drove down through Springville, through heavy traffic, and were lucky enough to find a roadside parking spot only about two miles away from the festival.  As we were walking towards the temple, we passed groups returning from it.  I got quite a few handfuls of chalk on my clothing from fellow revelers even before arriving. 
     Although quite a bit of color flies between official throwings, the actual throwings (held on odd hours) are absolutely spectacular (and make it rather hard to breath).  Pix below:

This is at the actual festival.  You can see how many people there were and this photo is only of those in front of the Lotus Temple.

Right after the throwing; unfortunately, the colors had already begun to blend together when I snapped the photo.

This is how our shoes looked after a little while.

And my hat.

A picture of Beno and me taken from the top of a trash can (for photographer's effect ;).

     Yup, I'm definitely going next year!

-Drew

Drewshizzle And The Boys

     It's been a great couple of weeks.  Morp (girls-choice ugly prom) was fantastic.  My date dumped a bucket of red paint down the back of my shirt and not many guys can say that.  It included pizza, Curses (the game), paint wars, and McDonald's.  What a night!
     It was the end of third term last week.  I can't believe that the year is almost over.  Now just for testing...  Also, Yours Truly can legally drive other people!  Booya!
     On Saturday, Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band came to Timpview for a private concert.  Beno, Taylor, and I, tripled up for an awesome date (myself with Kimberly Russon).  It was a super fun night and everybody had a great time.  The band's sheer musical talent, energy, and goofy sense of humor make them great performers.  I would attend anytime.  Here is one of their music videos:

     On top of that, I was fortunate enough to attend the ward talent show earlier this evening.  Yes, I did participate.  I was planning on doing a solo performance on the guitar or banjo, however, a couple of awesome brothas recruited me to form a band.

    
     Not bad for one practice, eh?  Thank you Oak Hills 2nd Ward Young Women for your support ;)  We hope to be back next year even better than before...

-Drewshizzle