Ride of my Life

My April Fools joke was pretty funny. If you’re confused as to what i’m talking about, just go here. I pretended I was engaged. It’s crazy how much feedback I got from it. It’s funny how alot of people are kinda dumb. They didn’t click the link that lead to the “YOU JUST GOT PUNK’D” page. So they still think that indeed I really am engaged!

My online statistics show that over 300 people saw the main “engagement” page. But only about 3/4 of them went on to see the “punk’d” page. That’s alot of people out there still thinking i’m gonna get hitched on June 17th. Haha. How did people not get that it was a joke? Hello kids…hello hello hello…..?

AND NOW FOR A FEW OF THE APRIL FOOLS RESPONSES>>>>

Here’s my personal favorite:
“That is so nice to hear that you are engaged. I mean, I was a little surprised to get that email from you when [name witheld] nor [name witheld] got one and they know you much better than I, but I always love to hear about engagements! It’s especially good to hear that now cuz I just broke up with my boyfriend a few weeks ago and it restores my faith in guys knowing that there are still decent ones out there that can commit! Maybe eventually i’ll b able to tell you about my engagement. Anyway, congratulations!!!! That is very exciting news!! She’s beautiful!”

Another bimbo sent me the following email:
“Wow, Mick!! Congratulations!! I am so happy for you. Well, you are quite the catch, I guess you couldn’t be swimmin’ out there for too long. She looks like a real sweetheart. Have a great week!!”

Another oblivious viewer said this:
“You’re getting married! What?!?! Nice invitation!”

And now come a few responses from the people who actually realized it was a joke:

“Oh man…did you have me fooled! I read it and I was like, ‘oh, that’s great!’ Ha ha…it was pretty funny when I found out about the whole April fools thing! Thanks for catching me off guard–it totally made my day! Hope you had a great weekend listening to Conference and playing jokes! She is pretty cute…a future target of yours?”

Another:
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I’m in D.C. for ECAC’s with polo, and my parents came here to watch, so i’m in their hotel room showing them some friends on facebook and my mom asked about the boy who went on a date with Michelley and we TOTALLY fell for the engagement thing! You’re awful!!!”

Another:
“Oh, my gosh! Mick that was totally great! I totally believed it- I mean come on… you are pretty smooth and all. then the whole punk’d thing came up when I clicked on the ‘more engagement photos.’ You totally had me. I was laughing so hard. I tried calling you instead of typing this whole thing out, but ah well. Obviously you like to laugh (teasing me and the April fools thing). Luckily so do I. :)”

Another:
“Ha!! I fell for it! I was about to write back ‘congratulations’ and then I clicked on the ‘click here’ and realized I was the idiot! Ooops…”

My mom said this (imagine it being said with a cute Guatemalan accent): “Michael. I hope you r kidding.” Haha…jk. In reality she just said this: “Your April Fool’s Day blog is good!—Erin appears cute.”

My father simply said, “Great stuff!”

Others simply said, “Cute!”, “HAHA Happy April Fools!!!”, “haha, I wonder how many ppl believed you!”, “Hmmm….I got worried for a second,” and a bunch of other small notes.

Bottom line: You all got smok’d, punk’d, fool’d, and hiney-slapp’d!!!!!

Now that the joke’s over. Let’s talk about some more serious issues.
So I listened/watched General Conference basically all day today. It was awesome. For those of you confused, General Conference is where the leaders of the Mormon church speak to everyone around the world via satellite or over the web. I talked about it a couple days ago in my blog, The Prophet Speaks

I woke up at around 11:00 (I needed alot of sleep). I responded to emails, did some work and studied. At noon I turned on Conference (online) and listened in my dorm. It was from 12-2. And then another conference session was on again from 4-6. I listened to it all online. Tonight from 8-10 was Priesthood Session (for the males of the church). It wasn’t online so I went to the church building to watch that as it was broadcasted via satellite.

I think today I had one of the most jam packed 2 hours of my life. It was the time between conference sessions, 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Here’s the quick rundown:
2:00pm : Conference ends. I sprint over to the gym.
2:05pm : Start my workout. Worked on upperbody today. I did things just a little quicker than normal due to time.
2:45pm : Sprint home.
2:50pm : Take the quickest shower of my life. Get dressed. Do my hair. Get ready for a meeting.
2:58pm : Sprint over to Cafe Vivian
3:00pm : Have a meeting with a girl (who basically was representing a Dean of Princeton) who wants me to do a website for them. It’s a new “campaign” promoting administration/student body unity/cooperation.
3:25pm : Go to Frist Dining Hall to grab a quick lunch (salad).
3:35pm : Return to Cafe Vivian for another meeting with a client/buddy. This time with the dude from a Band, Redline, who i’m helping with web design, marketing, and photography.
3:55pm : Sprint home to catch the 2nd session of conference.
4:00pm : Chilling in my dorm room listening to conference.

So yeah. Two wholesome, productive hours between conference sessions. It was crazy.

A good day. A really good day. I really enjoyed the conference talks. Especially the Priesthood session tonight. Powerful stuff. Those men are prophets and apostles of God.

Sweet dreams everyone,
Mickey

p.s. Late tonight I spoke with one of my buddies on the phone. A female buddy. She lives in Provo. We had a very interesting conversation. She has alot of good qualities about her. I’ll mention two here:
1) Scrumptiously Sexy.
2) Spiritually Scrumptious.
Folks, that’s the double whammy. 10 points to her.

Her name is Erin. I met her at church in NYC during early October. We’ve been dating for awhile now and today we had a really long discussion about things. Great news. June 17, 2006. San Diego Temple. It’s official. I’m engaged!

If you wanna see what she looks like. Check out my new section dedicated to her!
www.mickhagen.com/engaged/

Ya know what….this is kinda random…but I feel like waltzing right now. I’m listening to some Italian music (some mob hits…word) and this song called Tarantella Napoletana just came on. And seriously folks…I feel like waltzing right now. Anyone up for a nice midnight waltz? Oh how I crave a nice waltz right now. Darnit folks. Where’s my mom when I need her? Bummer. That’s a serious bummer. Now the song already ended and I switched my playlist to the “love songs” before I go insane due to the lack of a heart-warming waltz.

Yeah yeah yeah……word to all your guys’ mothers. Check this! We got the love songs in da house! Oh yeah….oooh la la. The good stuff: Kci & JoJo, Frankie J, Ryan Cabrera, Boyz II Men, Alan Jackson, Faith Hill, Marcos Hernandez, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync (yes…I like boy bands too), Usher, Babyface….etc. I got it all. Shaggy’s “Angel.” Al Green’s “Can’t take my eyes off of you.” And of course…how could anyone forget Andrea Boccelli’s “Ama credi e vai.”

C’mon folks…ya gotta admit…this might be the sexiest and most romantic playlist a single dorky christian boy can muster up in a small dorm room in the little town of Princeton, New Jersey. You can’t argue with that one!

Music is so cool. Wait. Scratch that. DANCING is so cool. I love to dance. It’s one of those things that’s in my bones. Now i’m not saying that i’m good at it. All i’m saying is that I really enjoy it. Once I sense/hear a beat somewhere…….my feet start moving. My insides start to do weird things. It’s uncontrollable. The dragon is unleashed and from that point to when the music stops…..i’m possessed by some dancing angel that enters into my soul and I TURN, TWIST, JIVE, SHAKE, BOUNCE, JUMP, SLIDE, and of course….smile. It’s nuts. It’s one of those natural phenomenons in life that I can’t explain. No one can. I become a puppet to the dancing angel and I just let it control me. It’s fun. You just gotta be loose. Ya gotta relax…get into the element and just…..flow. Feel the music. Feel the rythm. Feel the beat. And let the dancing angel do his thing…

Oh dancing angel. You pretty much rock my socks! Literally and figuratively. Thanks buddy.

It’s kinda weird being in an actual dance company (BodyHype). I love it. I enjoy it. But it’s different. This year is the first year that i’ve been in an organized group. I’ve never had to remember routines or choreography. Before it was all freestyle. At dances I would just let the dancing angel take over and i’d glide into the circles and just bust it on the homies who thought they were cool. I’d do what the dancing angel wanted me to do. And it always worked. It was fun. But with BodyHype I gotta learn routines and stuff. It’s fun. But it’s different. I just hope I don’t offend the dancing angel is all….that’s my only concern. But hey….i’m sure the dancing angel understands.

Sometimes I wonder if when I grow “older” i’ll still have such a good relationship with the dancing angel. It’s not one of those things where I only have a certain time to be his friend….is it? I sure hope not. I hope he’s my soulmate. I hope by now he’s trapped and he can’t get out. I won’t let him go. He can run but he can’t hide. I’ll find him. And i’ll let him know what i’m thinking. I’m thinking that the dancing angel is pretty much my buddy. Buddies don’t just leave. What kind of buddy is that? He’s been with me for almost 22 years. And all of a sudden he would leave? Oh please. The dancing angel is my buddy. He won’t leave.

I want him to be with me for even when i’m old…married….and bald. Late at night…when the kids are in bed….i’ll wanna sneak down to the kitchen in my PJs and 100% cotton socks. I’ll carry my wife down too as she just finished her late night reading of Sports Illustrated (haha…wishful thinking I know). We’ll put in some “classics.” At that time it’ll be Boyz II Men and other like bands. We’ll put the music on real soft….to not wake up lil’ mickey.We’ll both be in our PJs. It’ll be completely dark except for the shimmer of the microwave light along with the moonlight that’s sneaking in through the windows. We’ll get real close…and basically….we’ll dance the night away.

She’ll rub my bald head and tell me how much she loves me…even with no hair. I’ll then give her a big juicy kiss and tell her she’s the best thing that ever happened to my life. I’ll also tell her that i’ll start applying Rogaine first thing in the morning…just to demonstrate my undying love for her….haha…..

To end the night we’ll finish with Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” However…it’ll be instrumental. Yes that’s right….i’ll sing it to her….and it will be DEAD sexy…..oooh la la……

“Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,
And the dreams that you dreamed of, Once in a lullaby.
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly,
And the dreams that you dreamed of, Dreams really do come true…..

….Well, I see trees of green and red roses too,
I’ll watch them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself: What a wonderful world!”

Oh yeeeeeaaaaaah. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be good. But it’ll only work if the dancing angel stays true and loyal to good ole’ mickey boy. If you’re reading this right now dancing angel….please don’t leave me. Stay with me. I beg of you. I need your help. I need your bootyliciousness.

The dancing angel is pretty much my buddy. Boooo yah! If you are in need of a dancing angel…you can probably find one at any local Walmart.

Sweet dreams knuckle heads! And hopefully next time i’ll have someone to waltz with.

- Mickey Lee Hagen

OF THE DAY AWARDS…
Highlight of the day: Waking up early to get some homework done. Yeeee haw! (I know…that’s a really sad highlight)
Lowlight of the day: Going to the doctor and having him tell me that I can’t run for a couple weeks. My ankle is messed up.
Epiphany of the day: 1) Realizing that coincidences don’t exist. Some people just keep showing up in my life and i’m starting to realize that it’s not normal. 2) Realizing that I can’t live w/o my dancing angel.
Biggest Surprise of the day: Watching Sportscenter and seeing that Duke Basketball lost to FSU.
Sweet diggity Dog of the day: My history teacher. She has a passion for history. Princeton is a place for people who have a passion for something. Today we went to the library and I spoke with her on the way there….she really really really loves what she does. I admire that.
Crush of the day: See February 18th.
Random Quote of the day: “Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade.” – Benj Franklin

Okay. So you’re probably expecting some super and insanely crazy blog like my last two. But no. I feel it a need to everyonce in awhile just to share how life is going….how my day went…..etc. Isn’t that what blogs are for?

Okay. I will. Today was a good day. It’s weird how it seems like the three miles I run get harder to do everyday? Shouldn’t it be going the other way around? Haha…i’m so confused. Today was a killer. It’s beyond me.

So during lunch today I was sitting in Frist (the campus center….where I often eat lunch) eating my lunch and watching TV and you’ll never guess what was on TV. It was the discovery channel and there was a special show on. You have three guesses.

Go ahead. Make three guesses.

k. You’re wrong. The TV show was “How to be a Ninja.” Haha. So I learned how to be a ninja today and it was great. It wasn’t a joke either. The discovery channel doesn’t do jokes. It was dead serious. They taught us how to do the stealth walk and everything. It was sweet.

So basically i’m now a certifiied ninja. Watch out kiddos!

Today I spent alot of time working on the USG site. I was appointed the new USG webmaster so i’m trying to get it done as soon as possible. Hopefully by the end of this weekend i’ll be done. It’s crazy how things are starting to really pick up as far as graphic design, photography, web design goes. Alot of people are starting to hire me and contact me to do their stuff. It’s cool. I enjoy it. I feel though that sometimes the priority of “school” is starting to slowly trickle down the priority list. It’s sad. I need to get more focused with that. I’ve been so busy with my special projects, etc…..i’m starting to forget what the purpose of college really is.

It’s nuts. So tonight I didn’t go out….I had too much work to do. There were a bunch of activities going on and a bunch of people wanted me to go out with them…but I had too much to do. I pick my spots. Sometimes i’ll go….sometimes I won’t. Sacrifice brings blessings anyway.

Life is good. Life is wonderful. I’m seeing God’s tender mercies all around me. For this i’m so grateful. I must never forget my nothingness. Just as easily as God has put such wonderful blessings into my life is as easy that he can take them out of my life. Gratitude and humility are key to having continued success. That’s the bottom line.

Sweet dreams everyone. I’m going to bed. I gotta wake up early for BodyHype rehearsals.

Oh yeah…another thing….I shaved my mexi-stache. It’s gone. Forever.

Much love,
-mickey

Okay gangsters….so you want another blog huh? Fine then…i’ll give you one. You wanna know something that’s really just a BUMMER when it happens? K…i’ll give it to yah. So I woke up this morning…energetic, alive and ready to dominate the day’s adventures….and in the process I realized that I had just finished having the COOLEST dream ever. I made an effort to remember it…and indeed I did. I remembered it. I told myself that it was a MUST-TELL DREAM that I would share with ya’ll in my blog. It was truly an amazing dream. I remember the sensation of waking up…oooh la la….quite refreshing. So anyway, the real bummer is that somehow…through the craziness of my day….I forgot my stinkin’ dream. I forgot. I simply just forgot my cool dream. And that makes me really, really sad. It’s a bummer…it really is.

The BUMMER of the Day Award goes to…..
….drum roll please……
………Mick forgetting his supa fly, supa fresh, supa bootylicious dream. Thank you very much.

Now that we’ve taken care of the serious business…let’s move onto something a little bit more interesting…shall we? I was watching the news today and for a second I thought I was living in a world full of dogs. Literally folks. Dogs. One news clip talked about how a dog was just strollin’ along….going down the street….and…..ZAP! It was electricuted and killed. I know, I know…it’s a sad story. I love dogs and I hate for that kind of tragedy to happen to a dog. But what was so incredible to me was that the news clip was showing all sorts of interviews to neighbors…people were crying. “That was such a well-behaved dog,” some would say as tears trickled down their cheeks and landing at the corner of the mouth….causing that somewhat salty taste. Don’t act like you don’t know what i’m talking about. So anyway….the news clip also “retraced” the path of the dog like if it was some huge murder scene and investigators were trying to crack down on the case.

Haha…it was incredible to me. They put this on national news. A dog got electricuted. Sad, I know. But please folks…i’m sure there is better news to report than this. I mean…c’mon….i’d much rather hear about Dick Cheney shootin’ his hunting partner. Now that’s a story!

So anyway…after laughing my way through the news clip about the dog….I figured, “okay, now we’ll get onto some juicy news.” But much to my surprise….they were still talking about dogs!!! I absolutely love and adore dogs….but by this time I was starting to get antsy in my chair….I really just found it quite annoying to find dogs all over national news (NBC). The next story was about a dog who was lost in an airport. However, this wasn’t just any dog. This was a dog who competed in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in NYC just last week. Somehow this champion dog escaped from her crate. They still haven’t found her and they say she’s somewhere in the marshes of New York. Click here if you don’t believe me. Once again…I laughed my way through this clip. It was funny…but I was somewhat annoyed.

And then an amazing thing happened. As cliche as it may sound: the light turned on. I realized something incredible! It hit me like a confused fly keeps hitting the car door window. it just kept hitting me and hitting me and hitting me. It was starting to turn into a nightmare. I was realizing that we are all just a bunch of dogs. There aren’t humans. Humans don’t exist. The news I was watching was about us. Me. You. Us.

This epiphany was quite heart-breaking to me….I must admit. 21 years gone by and this thought had never crossed my mind. I am really just a dog. You are too. Essentially we are just a bunch of weiners running around on planet earth. That’s what we are.

Well….at least now I know. And if you didn’t know…..now you know. We were all living in ignorance to this fact before. But now we know. What a joyous day this is for all of us. Woof woof.

Hot diggity dog for life.
[at this point we call the baha men and they sing "who let the dogs out" and we dance....doggy style]

Much love from your mutt at Princeton,
mickey the hot dog

What if we all could fly? What would we do…where would we go? What would the rules and laws of flying be? What if we were all like Peter Pan….thinking of only happy thoughts to elevate into the air? What if you could soar through the sky like Superman, Heman or Batman? Wouldn’t life be so interesting if we all could fly?

As I was doing my routine jog tonight….I thought of that interesting question. What if we all could fly? It’s a dumb question, really. Obviously we can’t fly. But it’s alwas fun to stretch the imagination. So…what would you do? I would probably chase the birds. I like to chase things…usually in a figurative sense. Girls, opportunities, progress and dreams. You know what…now that I think about it….I’m really just a chaser in life. I don’t usually sit around hoping things come to me. I try to find them. So I think i’d probably end up chasing. I’d chase Harry Potter around on his nimbus 2000; i’d chase the planes, the hawks, and of course….the stars. I’d chase the shooting stars. That would be exciting.

We’d all be travelers. We’d all go around and visit other countries, cultures, and candy shops. The airplane business would….well…..go completely out of business. Airports would shut down. The Bed-and-Breakfast Inns would be somewhere in the clouds…..I don’t know how they’d regulate laws out in the middle of the ocean. But I guess it wouldn’t really matter…there wouldn’t be any crime, right? We’d all be thinking of happy thoughts….flying….enjoying ourselves…..we wouldn’t want to inflict pain on anyone now would we!

I’m pretty sure i’d easily be the world’s best quidditch player. I’d steal the Nimbus 2000 from Harry Potter himself and i would basically just eat you up….i’d dominate you! I would use a paintball gun to thwart off aggressors. Wait….scratch that. I would have an assistant on my broom….some little dwarf dude. He’d be behind me and he’d use the paintball gun to thwart off defenders. I would be in front, one hand holding the Nimbus 2000 flying broom, and my other hand….well…..as cheesy as it may sound…..i’d be flying a kite. Think how cool that’d be!!!!! To fly a kite from so high! Think of the scenario in your head. We’d be playing quidditch with Harry Potter’s magic broom. I’d have a dwarf assistant behind me shooting defenders with an semi-automatic paintball gun, and i’d be flying a kite, with the cheesiest smile on my face and the largest skiing goggles you could imagine.

Haha. Yup. I’d pretty much dominate quidditch. If not for skill….i’d win some sort of award for creativity and style. Guarantee it.

Think of a happy thought. We’re gonna fly. And we’re gonna play some Harry Potter Quidditch. And one more thing…no stealing my ideas. The dwarf w/ a paintball gun is my idea. Don’t mess.

Imagination is bliss. Creativity is a way of life. If you don’t know how to explore the territories of the impossible….you don’t know how to live.

Much love from your Princeton nerd,
Mickey