Chaotic Halloween Weekend

Oh, I am so tired. I am out of control, and need to restore balance to life ASAP.

Last night Anthony, Jefferson, Keith, JJ, and the rest of the Hidden Valley football team beat their rival North Valley. It was the first time they had beaten them in seven years! They were feeling pretty good about that, and I was very happy for them too. Unfortunately, I had eaten 1/4th of a stuffed pizza before going to the game, and felt pretty rotten by the end of the game. Lack of sleep+malnourishment +sickness+mental illness+working out+huge slice of greasy, stuffed, meaty pizza= vomiting. I threw up on the ride home, and stayed up all night, tormented by my uneasy stomach.

I awoke the next morning at around 8. I had to get to the church quickly to help Sis. Dastrup set up the big Halloween party. It is such a hassle, really. This was the third time that she was in charge of it, and third time was apparently the charm, so to speak. This was her final party; someone else will have to do it next year!

Anyways, I got there and started helping with webs and other decorations. My good buddy Jared Pearson was going to be designing one of the rooms, and had told me to get some dry ice for a mist effect. I told Sis. Dastrup about the need for dry ice and she said that there were a lot of others who would need some too. And so, after she gave me $20, I went on an epic quest to go find dry ice. And it turned out to be a much larger quest than intended.

Before I tell you of the adventure, let me tell you what I brought with me to the Stake Center. I, being a pack rat, brought way too much stuff. I brought two guitars (I was planning on teaching Carmen a bit of guitar before the party), a phantom mask (my original idea for a costume), an elf costume (for Jared's room. He wanted me to be some kind of mythical creature), a laptop (to present some music to some of my musician friends who I hoped would show up for a little organization meeting before the party), a board game (in case there was time for one), and finally, a notebook, my scriptures, and Rich Dad/Poor Dad. I know, way too much stuff.

Anyways, concerning the quest: Wearing my elf costume, I first ran to a nearby Safeway to find some dry ice. They didn't have any. However, they pointed me towards Albertsons, which sells the icy, misty stuff. So I ran over to Albertsons on the other side of town, only to find that they do not sell dry ice to minors! It's dangerous stuff, so, they made against the law for kids to buy it and make ice bombs and stuff out of it. I felt stupid and foolish. Why didn't I tell Sis. Dastrup to go and get the dry ice herself? She would've done it, and a lot faster too, being in a car and all. I think I've identified a lacking in my character: a lack of wisdom. I need to stop being so mentally lazy and think things out before doing them. I feel so weak.

I walked all the way back to the stake center and told Sis. Dastrup about the whole predicament. She left to go get the ice and some other things while I continued to decorate. At one point I stopped and spent some time reading Rich Dad/Poor Dad. That book is so amazing. I haven't read much of it yet, but it is so good. Fear controls most people's lives. Learning how to face fear, desire, and greed are the first steps to being truly wealthy. It went in to so much more detail than that, but it'd take awhile to make it understandable. I am excited to learn, to be refined. To gain more wisdom: my goal!

Some of the single adults were there helping set up that day. One of them, oh, I can't remember her name! She was playing some beautiful new age music on the piano in the chapel. It really soothed my tormented mind, and made my day. I am so grateful for the sacred gift of music.

I hadn't eaten anything that day, except for a few chips and some candy by noon. I was having a hard time keeping things down the night before, and didn't want to eat anything really. When Jared got to the church eventually, he shared with me a Subway sandwich that he happened to have. I love that guy! Well, no one showed up except for him for the musician meeting that I had planned. Ah well; it was too short notice. It wasn't well planned out. I'll try it again some other time, and give everyone an earlier heads up. Oh that reminds me, last night I talked to Clark from choir. He sung the National Anthem at the football game. He's actually trying to set up a quartet, and I gave him my name and number. I WANT TO SING IN A GROUP SO BAD. I am sick of my constant solos. There is an undefinable energy found in a group when it comes to singing.

Anyways, we set up his room after a lot of frustration and tape. We had vines and skeletons and webs and a bunch of other things like that cluttering the room. I never used the elf thing for the room, but instead was a scarecrow in the corner. Jared would say to the kids, "Hey, if you want more candy, go touch that scarecrow in the corner." When the braver kids did so , I would say, "Boo!", or "That's a cute outfit you're wearing, Ivy!", or "I AM IRON MAN, dunnanunnanunana iron man!" or something else like that. It depended on who would come. There were these two teenage girls who were saying to each other, "You touch it." "No, you touch it!" and it went on for the longest time. They were both jittery and scared, and I thought, "ya know what? These two deserve it." I arose from my seat and ran at them, howling "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" They screamed. It was awesome. That happened a couple of times.

Fa and Carmen are two exchange students who are living with the Wrights: a family in our ward. Fa has a long and complicated name that I can't even spell, so she prefers everyone just call her Fa. She is from Thailand and loves music. Jared has a huge crush on her. Carmen is from Spain, and wants me to teach her guitar. They are both such sweethearts, and look so pretty! We had fun playing with guitars, cleaning, and just hanging out in general tonight, even though I was feeling under the weather. I hid my under-the-weatherness well, I think. Tonight was a great social thing for me. Most all of my friends from the stake showed up! And I learned a bit of awesome information too: Hayley is moving into the Murphy Creek ward! That's my ward! Yay! It'll be nice to have another friend in the ward. It's really kind of sad, my situation. There aren't really any guys my age who are interested in anything that I am interested in in my ward. Same problem with the girls, with the exception of Truli and the foreign exchange students. The more friends the merrier! I try to be friendly to everyone, but I still feel distant to so many people.

Anthony dressed up as Pac-Man for his costume tonight; how clever! It was a huge, round, 2-D thing made out of cardboard and yellow paint. What a great idea; that guy sure knows how to use his mind.

When it was all over, I was bushed, and ready to go home. After helping clean up a bit, we left at 9:30. Right now I feel so physically, mentally, and spiritually weak. I haven't studied my scriptures today, I have not been taking care of myself physically, and my mind is just, like, *fizzled noise*. Fried. I hope to use the day of rest to rejuvenate myself to get back on my feet! Good night.

Sick day :P

Our family has fallen ill, unfortunately. Today after seminary I slept in 'till 1. XP Ah well, at least I'm all caught up and won't get behind much for taking a day off.

The concert last night was a lot of fun! Oh, it made me want to go back to choir again. Just looking at all of those pretty and handsome faces singing up there made me want to get up and sing along, especially when one group sang "Bridge O'er Troubled Water". Not only was Hayley there, but a bunch of other kids from the stake too. It was really cool! The acapella group that sung that night was totally awesome. I've invited a ton of people to go to our singing group gathering tomorrow; I hope a lot of them can make it.

That reminds me, tonight is Anthony's last football game of the season! I am excited to see my ol' buddy play out in the mud.

Yesterday's piano lesson was so fun! My piano teacher showed me how Solfeggietto was played up to speed. It was MESMERIZING. I haven't had a clear goal in piano other than being able to play all of the popular hymns, but now I do: to be able to play Solfeggietto like a master. I love music from the Classical period; it is just so sophisticated and pleasing to the ears. Compared to all of the popular recent music today, the work of the masters is utterly superior, in my opinion.

10-27-10

The last few days have been full of productivity, and I have been feeling great. I've been working on school and seminary, and am happy to say that I am on top of all of my work. Today Henry and I went on a house rampage and cleaned all of the rooms in the house, which was fun. You can feel the spirit so much more easily in a clean house; I'm totally lovin' it. Seminary has been great, and I had an awesome find in the church a couple of days ago.

I was walking through the hall with Sis. Brinkerhoff, and I saw on the ground a pile of stuff. There was a pair of shoes and a hoodie and some hats and some other things like that. But what i found most interesting were the casettes that were in the pile. There were a bunch of sermons by John Bytheway in there! And even better, there was a book on tape by Brad Wilcox directed to fighting teenage troubles! It was so good to find the spiritual jackpot, but then I wondered who could possibly own this pile of stuff. I had to think of some kind of an idea. Well, maybe it was a "free stuff" pile. But there was also the possibility that the stuff belonged to some irresponsible soul too... And so, I left an note on the pile with my name and number, saying that if the owner of the pile ever wanted to see the casettes again, to give me a ring.

I haven't gotten into them too much yet, but what I have leared so far has been awesome. The tape by Bro. Wilcox is LIFE CHANGING. I swear to anyone who reads this blog, that any mental illness can be cured by Service. Go out and give people some Cool-Aid (what you give or do to people to make them feel cool, accepted, and/or loved). After forgetting yourself and going to work, you'll find that focusing on other's thirst for Cool-Aid quenches you own thirst for it. There is a bunch of other great stuff on that book recording too.

Hayley is going to have a choir performance tomorrow night, and I am going to go see her sing at GPHS. That'll be fun. Hatmen 4 is 2/3rds complete in filming, and I am struggling to find time to get it all done before Halloween. I just need to plan and hope things go my way. But something I have found that I need to work on is to not get fed up when things don't go according to the plan. I need more patience...

Mutual tonight will be a court of honor, nothing too exciting. At least I'll be able to see my singing buddies! That reminds me, this Saturday I plan on helping Sis. Dastrup to set up for the halloween party. I told Jared to come sometime during the day and to bring an instrument, an mp3 player, and ideas. Lots of ideas. I am so excited!

Fishing/Hiking Campout

Today I just got back from a scout campout that I went to to get some requirements done. It was an even bigger adventure than originally intended! The pictures of it are on facebook; it takes longer to put them on here and only one person I know looks at this blog anyways.

So we started Friday evening by driving to Cave Junction. We got some meat there from Taylor's Sausage, listened to some live music that happened to be playing there, and then drove off to our spot. We were going to camp at Lake Tanner, but due to harsh weather, we decided to camp at Bolen Lake and go to Lake Tanner in the morning to fish. Earlier that day I had prepared some foil foods that Bro. Evans suggested. One was an apple  with the core taken out and filled with cinnamon gummy bears dipped in chocolate (he originally suggested just normal, hard, cinnamon candy, but he also suggested to experiment with gummy bears!), another was yellow cake batter in an orange peel (which Jacob ate), and then the hobo dinner, with hamburger, onions, carrots, and potatoes.

That whole night was pretty crazy. The 12 year old scout that I shared a tent with went out in the middle of the night just to explore. It's some kind of insomnia thing he has, I guess. I didn't know this then though; he left while I was asleep. But when he came back in from the rain and got in his sleeping bag, it got wet on the inside and he started to make shivering noises which woke me up. I was quite confused as to how he got so wet. After a change of clothes and a new sleeping bag, he was just fine. My coat was warm enough to keep me happy sleeping on my mat for the rest of the night. So I dosed off some more, and then I was awoken by him talking. He just kept on talking about a bunch of random stuff ranging from Lord of the Rings to some scary girl in his class named Danielle. Although it was all interesting and all that jazz, it kept me up for the last few hours of the night. Ah well; you never get much sleep when camping anyways.

When it was time to wake up and leave, we threw all of the equipment in the cars and went off to the lake to fish. The fishing trip was pretty successful; my dad and Josh Haack both caught 10 fish or so each. I even caught one! The unprepared scout was moaning and shivering again, and didn't want to fish. He was feeling sick, cold, and miserable. Poor guy, I hope he learned his lesson. Hopefully his parents will prepare him with the stuff the leaders told us to bring next time.

Eventually everyone left in Bro. Black's car, except for me and my dad. We were going to go and go a 10 mile hike for one of the Hiking Merit Badge's requirements, and so we did. We went on a trail called Tanner Peak, and it was an inspirational experience for me, while also being challenging in the icy weather. The fog and mist covered everything. The wind and rain made the experience all the more epic and adventurous. The leaves of some of the trees had turned yellow while the evergreens retained their dark green shades. It was pretty... hm, a word to describe the area... mystical.

The long and monotonous march in the quiet place of nature gave me a lot of time to think. That's what I love about hikes; it's good meditation time. My last few days have been out of control. I have lacked the personal leadership that I need to feel successful, to have inner peace, and I've been spinning my wheels in the mud, so to speak. But while I walked my mind came upon Proverbs 3:3-5: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."
This is currently my most favorite scripture. I personally don't perform very well unless my spirit is strong. I forget things, I don't plan well, I lack the energy to follow through. I am weak without the Spirit of God. It comforts me that all I need to do to become better is to trust the Lord with all of my heart. Thinking that you can be happy in any other way is false. My new most favorite hymn is "I Feel My Savior's Love". That song brings such joy to my heart.

Anyways, our 10 mile hike turned out to be longer than expected. We made a wrong turn somewhere, short-cutted a bit, and eventually found ourselves quite lost in the wilderness, me and my dad. It was scary. We said a prayer, looked at the compass, and started moving west: the direction Tanner Lake was in. We found ourselves on another trail, but didn't recognize anything on it from when we walked in. Answer to prayer #1: Two people show up on the trail: a father and his teenage daughter. They were both wearing orange caps, and the father had a gun in his hands. We asked them for directions, and he had no idea what trail we were talking about. We had walked onto a completely different trail than the one we started on! He said to keep going until you found the trail head. Then he said that there might be cars that you could wave down to help you get a ride back to our vehicle which was parked at the parking spot near Tanner Lake. We thanked him and moved along. It felt so good to know that we were actually getting somewhere, even though it wasn't our original spot. I'm so glad we didn't get lost and die out there because of our foolishness. God is so gracious. And seeing that teenage girl's beautiful face totally made my day; girls are so awesome! There's a reason why scout camp isn't as likable as civilization: the lack of the young women! A smile from a female on any day makes that day worth living. Well, I guess all days are worth living, but, ya know. Sure makes me feel glad all the same.

ANYWAYS, we got to the trail head and waited for a car to pass by. None did. Eventually, dad gives me a walkie talkie and tells me to go down the road a ways and see if there might be a highway or something where cars would be more abundant. And so I did, but I found nothing. After almost losing reception with the walkie talkies, dad told me to come back. And so I did, and we waited some more. Two old guys who were driving a pickup truck rode by, but didn't pick us up. Dad thought that they thought that we were terrorists who wanted to kill them and steal their car or something like that. We kept on praying in the wind and rain for some merciful soul to come and help us. Answer to Prayer #2: This big green truck drives by and stops. The window rolled down, and dad explained our situation to a kind, pretty woman and a friendly looking and sounding older man. Out of the pureness of their hearts, they gave us a ride back to our rig, out of their way too. It is funny how much we take for granted things like heating and lighting and food and moms. I like trips like these that humble a body and show you how life would be like without most modern conveniences. Our saviors even gave us some water, chips, and jerky and let dad use their phone (which miraculously had service at one point!) as we drove to where dad's red Grand AM was. It was a huge answer to our prayers that these two showed up. May God bless them both forever for their Christ-like deeds.

After getting some poles, other equipment, and fishes that we left at the river, dad and I were off to home! We got there after about an hour's drive or so, I would guess.

I am so glad that I went. It was a challenge, but that was what made it so good. I love doing hard things; they refine me! That is what I seek: refinement. Maturity. Leadership skills. Initiative. Diligence. I know that if I just trust God and love him, "he shall direct my paths". I will keep this scripture in mind and learn myself to follow it good.

(btw, studying Huck Finn appears to be affecting my writing style. I'll write about him later.)

Get ready for a (close up to mouth) perilous adventure. DUN DUN DUN!

Okay, last night we talked a little bit about the scouting trip that we are going to do this weekend. The area that we hoped to go to do an overnight fishing trip is going to be rainy, stormy, and crazy. But we're going to go anyways! I plan on getting ready for the madness tomorrow... I think I have all I need. I just need to fit it all in the pack and find it.

I also got to talk to Jared, Jayden, and Laraine Pearson that night. They are in a different ward, but we got to sing and chat in the hall after out activities. I think our ideas for an acapella band are getting more and more developed. Mwahahaha....

The young women did a purple party that night! I guess the young women value of the night was Integrity. The YW values are so cool! Colors, YAY! Sis. Tripp (another super-mom I know) made purple food, dressed in purple, and even did her fingernails in purple! She didn't like the dark color for her fingernails she admitted afterwards though. All of the girls dressed in purple in some way. My sister Sabrina is so beautiful; she looked really cute when she wore all purple and her stylish glasses (she's nearsighted, I think). I told her, "Hey Sabrina, do you get told often enough how pretty you look?"

She said, not really understanding the question, "Uhh, no?"

I turned and yelled to my buddy, "Hey Jayden! Get over here!" and she ran right out of those glass doors! I thought it was kind of funny the way she reacted to that.

Today mom unexpectedly had to work in the morning, so instead of getting a bunch of schoolwork done like I had originally intended for today, I got to spend some quality time with my sisters. Faidra is so cute, and is such a talkative little girl! I would say "Hey Faidra, can you say _____?" And she would cutely try to say whatever I said. Or she would pick up something like a leaf in the yard and hold it up. I'd give her the name of it, and then she'd try to say it. It was so fun! I also attempted to practice piano while holding her on my lap today. She wanted her own solo apparantly; she kept grabbing my hands away from the keys so that she could pound out her own masterpieces. Oh, she's so precious.

Well, I got to get a little over half of the things that I wanted to in school today. But hey, it'll all get done eventually. Prioritize! Event control! I picked up this new book from the free spot at the church library today. It's title is something like "10 Principles that Control Life and Time and bring Inner Peace". I know, I am a self-help book addict. It's just so fun to read them and try to apply what's in them in yorur life. Still haven't finished 7 Habits yet though. I have so much to read... I've got this political book that I'm STILL borrowing from Bro. Evans that I should finish soon and I've now got a couple of Tennis Shoes adventure novels that I borrowed from Ceana that I must finish before *remembers date* OH MAN! I need to finish those books quick!

Ah, tomorrow is going to be a good one! I hope. The trip will hopefully be a good story to tell!

Church Schools Seminar

Alright, today was simply another day of schoolwork. :)

THIS evening, however, I was privileged to go to a BYU seminar about all of the schools that the church supports. Compared to other schools, the tuition is VERY CHEAP. That can be thanks to all of those good tithe payers out there. But still, I'll have to raise some sum of money to get me where I want to go...

I have to say that the very best church school out there is Provo BYU. It is the largest, most state-of-the-art one that's there. I have sentimental reasons for choosing it over the others too: my highlight of the year happens here: Education Week. I think I have decided what I want to do in life, profession-wise. Almost. I am torn between two decisions: to major in Psychology, or to major in Religious Studies. I'd love to be a psychiatrist, but I am also attracted to the spiritual benefits of being an Institute teacher. My Heavenly Father will prompt me which one to focus on. But for now, I'm going to study both of them. I'd like to minor in a lot of things: Vocals, guitar, piano (well, maybe I'll be better at those two by the end of high school!), and business management. There is so much opportunity!

I'm glad that they don't focus completely on the SAT and ACT scores. Hey, I'm workin' to boost that grade! It's just calming for me to know that the church schools also put into consideration your background, talents, church and seminary attendance, service, and leadership skills. I need to work on all of these things too! There is so much to do in life; I am so excited!

I'm feeling really confident right now.

A good Sabbath

Well, yesterday I did not complete shooting for Hatmen 4, but I'll finish it up with Sabrina later this week. The thing that took the most of my time yesterday was the scout popcorn selling that my troop did at Wal-Mart. We got a good sum of money, but something just doesn't feel right bout selling $3 popcorn for $20. It's just a donation, I guess.

I have been feeling kind of down and out for the past few days. Church today really lifted my spirit. It seemed that a lot of the talks were for me, and the choir sang "I Need Thee Every Hour". I now understand the importance of the P/PC Balance (it's a bit complicated. It's from 7 Habits) in my life. I need to attain that in all aspects of life. The only way for me to increase my capacity to bring about righteousness is to study the scriptures harder and plan for doing good. And then following through!

I need to develop the patience and love that the Savior has for everyone, including myself. I can do it, but it won't be a quick fix. It'll take patience and consistency, but I am willing!

Tonight there will be another fireside at the Wright's; I'm excited to go! :)

Oh! I saw my choir teacher, Bro. Lawson, in the hall at church today! I think he's becoming more active in the church! I also talked to Sis. Nava; she wants me to "child" sit her 9 year old sometime. It'll be nice to be able to do something for someone in the Stake while at the same time getting a bit of income. That reminds me, Bro. Dauge hasn't asked me to come back to work on his property for awhile now. I hope he's doing okay. Sister Dastrup (last year's Freshman seminary teacher) is going to plan and set up the big Halloween party this year, and I'm going to help her! She is the sweetest, kindest lady in the whole Stake, at least in my opinion. I LOVE SIS. DASTRUP!

Summary of Past Few days

Let me think... 

Well, I guess I'll start with mutual last Wednesday. For mutual we organized a fishing trip for next week. We practiced some fishing stuff.

Thursday was a blur of schoolwork and hanging out with my cat. I feel I'm becoming less and less organized daily as new things come up and things don't go the way that they were planned. I MUST NOT FAIL! I need to go through some more meditation, prayer, studying, and planning. I will never give up on myself; I will become the person I want to be.

Today I slept in and missed seminary. I feel really irresponsible, and llame on the inside. Keenan, get over it! Just don't let it happen again! Gee, when will I learn? Worrying only weakens my ability to change my world. I don't want that. Just plan more, and be more diligent with your plans. Come on! Get some honor and backbone!

On a more positive note, since today no work was assigned, I decided to follow my father to work and work in his class. That's right. I got to jobshadow my own father. I got to sit in his class just like a regular student in the alternative center. I brought my guitar and played some music for all of the students in his class and some other teachers and office ladies. I think they enjoyed it. :) Dad's got good friends at work. :) I did do some schoolwork at dad's school, but I was not as focused. I did a couple of tests that I shouldn't have done for the sake of getting them done. That is the story of my school life. I need to develop more diligent, patient study habits! It's something that I really need to pray about. God will help refine me; I just know it.

I'm hoping to finish the script for Hatmen 4 tonight. If things go as planned, I should get a lot of the shooting done in the morning with Sabrina. This will be one that she and I will work on together. It'll be pretty fun. 

I've been enjoying rock climbing at the YMCA. It's something that I like to do for fun after my workout. My friends Sky, Tes, and Daisy often work at the rock wall. They're some old friends from homeschool PE. Sky and Tes are identical twins, are 16, and sang in the community choir when I used to go. Daisy has a slight natural British accent, which leads me to think that her immediate family is from Europe. I love hanging out with those guys (literally, as in, on the rock wall)!

I love good music. :)

Henry's amazing millionaire story

Okay, I have to write this down before I write anything else. My brother just got back from seeing a really rich guy's office, and it inspired him to make up this story about him being a millionaire.

So he goes to school for who knows how long to be a surgeon, right? When he finally gets out, he says, "Oh no, I'm broke!" because he is out of money. He goes to a surgeon office and asks for the job. They say, "Sure" and then he does surgery on somebody's knee.

When he gets his paycheck, (which is one million dollars) for the month, he throws all of the money in the air and screams "I'm rich!!"
Suddenly he has really fancy stylish clothes, a Batman Car (like the one from Batman Begins), and a mansion. He is walking through town one day, and sees me in some old junky Honda. I say, "Whoa, Henry-"

But then he says, "What are you doing in that?? Jimmy, get over here!"

Some guy named jimmy comes up to my little vehicle and smashes it up with a baseball bat. I begin to yell in anger, but then I gasp as another Batman car comes driving up. I say, "Wow! Thanks Henry!"

I open the car door, and there are a million dollars on the seat. I start thanking him again. Then he says suavely, "There's more where that came from." He looks off-screen and sees a safe. "Open it up."

He didn't say who opened it, (maybe he meant to say that it was me that opened it) but somebody did, and an avalanche of money came out.

Henry screamed , "NO!!" like my dad always does, and the money flooded half of the town! When Henry woke up, he was in the river, with piles of money everywhere. He yelled, "Who did this??"

Some random guy in the crowd raises his hand. Then Henry says like a Nazi drill Sargent, "Kill 'im." While pointing in the guy's direction.

All of a sudden, Henry gets another paycheck. He cries, "NO!!" Once again as the money avalanche fills up the other half of the city.

"Oh great, now everybody is going to steal my money!" Henry cries to the world, " 'call this a democracy!! Ah well."

And so he and I left town and went to go see his mansion, which was enormous, and Henry begins to ride his dirtbike in his living room. That's right, in his living room! I ask, "Hey, can I use your bathroom?" To him after he gets off.

"Oh yes, come see!" He opens the door and reveals a golden toilet. I am in there for half an hour. He says, "Keenan?" and opens it up and finds me still admiring the golden toilet.

"Can I have it?" I plead to my brother.

"Sure. Hey Jimmy, go get another toilet!"

I take the toilet to my humble little house, and my wife says, "Honey, where did you get that?"

I say, "Henry gave it to us; isn't that nice? I'm going to go sell it."

And so I leave, sell the toilet for (wait for it) one million dollars. I then buy a more decent suburban home for my family and me to live in. When Uncle Henry comes to visit, he exclaims "What is this?? Jimmy, you know what to do."

An enormous wrecking ball comes out of nowhere and smashes the house to the ground. I start to scream, "No! My new house! That was a million dollars!"

"Shhyut up," Henry says, "okay, bring it in."

An enormous crane comes out of nowhere, holding a mansion just like the one that Henry had. It was placed on the remains of my demolished house. It WAS Henry's mansion, but he only gave it to me because he had gotten a new one twice as big!

Henry and his sons (he had 3 boys, one 18, one 15, and one 10) then rode dirtbikes in their living room again, in their new mansion. I'm there with my much younger children to check out the new home. When we go to his game room, Henry stated "Okay, this room is for adults only. And my sons, since they are... trained." My kids protest, and then I say, "Alright kids, go to the playroom!"

The playroom is the size of the gym at the YMCA.

So we go into the game room, and it is filled with computers and technology. Henry has all of his most favorite games and ones that he wished he had there. There are also movies, and Henry sticks in Newsies (because he knows that I used to like that movie a ton when I was a kid). But after watching it briefly, Henry says, "I make my OWN movies." with madness in his eyes. He throws in another DVD of himself driving around town on a motorbike with an airsoft gun, shooting people as he went through town on a mad rampage.

He says to me, "Hey, remember when you were on your mission and I was 16? Watch this." He sticks in another DVD.

"Wait, you didn't tell me you did all of this while I was gone. YOU LIE!" I cry (just to make things more dramatic, I guess??)

The video he put in was one where he borrowed (or rented, in another way he told it) the bishop's car. It's almost just like the other video with the airsoft gun and the rampage, only he takes the car for a wild, extreme  spin. But the movie ends when he is captured by the "cops".

Just totally randomly, there are two policemen that appear in the game room. They watch the movie, and then say, "Wait, we forgot to punish him for doing that! Get him!"

A bunch of policemen come out of nowhere and Henry somehow gets away in his Batmobile. They take me and throw me in jail, thinking I was the one to blame. Henry's three sons run to the caution room. There is a sign on the door of the room that says, "If the police ever show up, come in here."
So they come out in iron man suits. That's right. Iron man suits. They give their dad a call with a built in cell phone: "So dad, what do we do now?"

"Blow the whole place up!!"

So they explode the mansion with all of their guns and whatnot, and then fly away. A lot of rich people come out of nowhere and tell the police, "Henry stole all of our stuff! That's why he's so rich!" And so Henry becomes a criminal at large, but they think that I am Henry!

So they lock me up, and Henry and sons (in his secret lair) develops a bomb that can blow up half of the planet. So Henry brings the bomb to the jail to break me out, right? Well, he uses it and I somehow survive the blast. The problem is, that I am now falling into the center of the Earth because half of the Earth is now gone! But, of course, Henry flies in and saves the day and takes me to the other side of the planet.

The End

I'm sorry, this is a really really rough draft. I just needed to get the idea down. My little bro thought this story up in 15 minutes. It probably doesn't sound as good when written down, but the way that my little brother tells it makes it hilarious.

Op, too late. I'll write my journal entry tomorrow.

Oh, forgot to say!

Yesterday I found out that Hayley, the investigator who has been coming to seminary with us this year, got baptized last Friday! I am so happy for her!

Monday after the awesome weekend

Ah, today went alright, I must say.

Woke up, read scriptures, went to seminary, learned about listening to the voice of the Lord, ran home, did 3 math lessons, 1 gov, got short story done (finally), did some work in Latin, went to Sabrina's volleyball game, went to the park for family night with the Jarvises, went home, played a quick round of Galaxy Trucker with Gretel, got ready for bed, studied scriptures some more, checked fb and gmail, and wrote in my blog.

Scripture of the day: Isaiah 40:28-31.

Tomorrow will be AWESOME! Another day to work and learn!

Friend-filled Weekend

This whole weekend was so cool...

On Friday morning at 6:30 Sabrina and I met Cassidy and her mom at Elmers to drive us to the Open house in Scio about three hours or so away. It was a pretty fun morning, I must say. Cassidy is one of the most hyper individuals I've ever met, and she made the ride up there pretty interesting with her unique randomness. At times when we simply sat and read, I felt like I had a lot of time to just ponder. The book I brought with me, 7 Habits (shortened title), has really been helping me shape the way I see my world and the possibilities that I have, along with, of course, my study of the scriptures. 

Not long after we got to the school we found a group of awesome people known as the Baxter family. I "met" Ceana (who is in my grade) online last February, and have since become good friends. Kaeli, her 13 year old sister, is 4 inches taller than her! Caiden, who is 10, is a good natured young man who has really red hair: a trait that he alone has in his immediate family. Colton, the 7 year old, is the sweetest little guy I have ever met. Throughout the weekend the child held my hand, sat on my lap, and leaned on my arm. Then there was Ky: the 4 year old, and Kelsi: the 2 year old.

I had a good time meeting my teachers, playing music, singing a song on karaoke, and meeting many acquaintances from school at the Open House. Allie Holmbeck, another dear friend, finally got there at around 12. There was supposed to be some kind of college seminar, but for some reason that did not happen. Maybe we were at the wrong place at the wrong time for it. 

The time flew by way too quickly; it was over by 1:00. Just to have more time together, the moms decided to go get ice cream. Our quartet (Ceana, Allie, Cassidy, and me) got to stick together for a lot longer than originally planned. Out of pure spontaneity, Rory (Ceana's mom) invited us over to her house a half hour away while Allie and her mother went to a doctor's appointment in Portland. The plan was that she would pick us up after the appointment and drive us home. And so we went to the Baxter home and played board games, played at a nearby park, watched Youtube Videos, ate pancakes and scrambled eggs, cleaned dishes, sang, and played piano. Cassidy got sick and had to lie down after vomiting a bit. That kind of put a damper on the visit. 

Out of spontaneous planning once again, the moms decided to let us stay for the night. We got to hang out ALL NIGHT LONG. No, really. Ceana, Allie, and I stayed up till 4 A.M. discussing forever and topics related to it. Well, Allie went to bed earlier than Ceana and me. Though it was against the Word of Wisdom to stay up at such a late time, our talk felt really spiritual and insightful. Ceana and I chat online often, and it was so fun to speak to her in person that night!

In the morning, I awoke earlier than anyone else. I was considering going upstairs and jumping on everyone, but I decided to be polite and wait. When Colton, who has adopted me as his big brother, awoke, I told him to go and attack Ceana. Allie, who unfortunately heard our plot (I speak WAY to loud), stopped the child in his task. That morning Allie's mom said that they would have to leave right after breakfast to get home. But thankfully, we were permitted to tarry for a time. In fact, we got to go to the pumpkin patch with the Baxter family that day! We took some fun pictures there, and then, finally, had to leave. Ceana and Kaeli sneaked into our car and told Allie's mom to steal them. That would've been cool, and we would've been able to go to church the next day together! But Rory said that they already had the responsibility to sing in church in their own ward, and so they obediently left the car. 

The ride home was fun too; we bought some food from a grocery store and snacked on food the whole way home. I played some guitar, got high on sugar from eating too many cookies, and then fell asleep. When I awoke, we were back in Grants Pass. It was the most fun trip I've had since Ed Week. It was so good to be around such dear friends!

Today was a good Sabbath. I really felt the Spirit in sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and Priesthood. I feel rejuvenated. I have been prompted to attempt to achieve order once again in my life. One of my most favorite verses ever is D&C 88:119. If I am ever going to have an organized, successful family of my own, I must internalize the value of order in my own core. I feel that was the main thing I was prompted of today. 

This evening I was privileged to go to Charlie Jarvis' baptism. My little cousin's family is another fantastic family that I look up to. It was a very spiritual program and tears almost came to my eyes during it. The song "A Child's Prayer" was sung by 8 of the 9 children that made up their family. It was very very touching. Jefferson, the 17 year old, accompanied them with his guitar. He has a lot of musical skill; he accompanied all of the other music for that evening on the piano! Though his most favorite strength is his (state-wide known) sporting skills, his mother still makes him study music. It makes me think of Hercules' early years.

After the spiritually potent program I once again got high on sugar (only this time from cupcakes!), talked to some friends and family, and then went home. I really need to stop doing that; it's not godly to eat so much sugar at once! Maybe I should try another dessert fast... no, just internalize moderation!

A good day. :D

Ah, yesterday was a zombie day for me. I felt ill in the morning and did not go to seminary. I did the little amount of schoolwork I did sprawled out in front of my laptop on my bed. I have promised myself: "no... more... late... nights... during... the... week..." My body does not function much at all when I don't get enough sleep.

Seminary today was pretty wild, as Sis. Brinkerhoff called it. The teacher that teaches the juniors and seniors was gone, and the substitute teacher was not available, and so the huge junior and senior class joined ours today. We played a game that went a bit rough this morning. It was some complicated guessing type of game like battleship only on a large scale that somehow included answering questions about the Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. It didn't really make sense to me and I didn't feel like I learned very much. But hey, if you don't learn from a situation, then who is to blame?

I talked to Jared Pearson after seminary: a senior who is interested in organizing a music group. I meant to discuss the idea in more detail with him, but after class he rushed to the cars in haste, almost shooing me away with his body language. He obviously didn't want to discuss it. I think he assumed that I would be at seminary early to talk about the group before class. Ug, I must get up earlier if I'm going to do that.

Today was one of the most productive school days I have had in awhile. I got a lot of Latin done, a math lesson, and I got a couple of science lessons done too. :) I just love the flexibility of ORCA! I had fun at the Science LL too; I'm really excited to meet many of my classmates this Friday at the open house in Scio. It's going to be a fantastic event!

Today I got to watch Sabrina play a home volleyball game. Her team lost, but it was a lot of fun watching the game anyways. I don't like watching sports much usually, but today I really found a thrill in watching some pretty good volleys. It was fun seeing how long both of the teams could keep the ball up in the air. Some players did some pretty impressive dives. It was cool; I love volleyball!

After working out a bit at the YMCA after that, Sabrina and I went to mutual after grabbing a quick dinner and scripture thought from home. Tonight was a ward combined service project. There were other things being done, but some of the deacons and I got to fill in potholes on the church lawn! We learned a little bit about landscaping as we did it; it was interesting work to me. After we had finished our work everyone went to the cultural hall and played basketball and/or volleyball. We all had a pretty good time, I must say. Estie, one of the Beehives, brought along a friend whose name was Taylor who really enjoyed basketball. It was fun playing 3-on-3 basketball with Josh Haack, Bryce, and I on one team, and Estie, Taylor and Josh Smock on another team. Oh, by the way, our ward has four Joshes in our young men's group. Three of them are deacons! I like sports more than I realized; I should play more often.

Of course, as his own unofficial tradition, Bishop Wooley brought a lot of Little Caesars pizza to the kitchen for refreshments from the store down the road. I just love it; Sabrina could live off the stuff I am sure! I got to talk with Calvin and Alex Jarvis tonight as I ate my pizza. I was sharing with them a few ideas for Hatmen 4. I really want to make another video with those guys sometime; that was a really fun experience. Anyways, I told them that I had just bought a Phantom of the Opera mask online...

General Conference Morning Session

Wow! I love general conference!

Sigh, this morning has been so so good. I feel really peaceful inside. It's like my spirit has been recharged or something.

I got up early this morning with the fam to go help clean the stake center before general conference. I helped mostly by picking up trash around the parking lot. There was a lot more there than I realized! After that we drove some of our friends back to their houses. Sabrina and Henry had both invited friends to come over for movie night last night and both friends slept over and came with us to the stake center clean up!

The most moving talk in this morning session for me was President Uchdorf's talk. It's amazing how that talk seemed so directed to ME. I realize that I've been trying to busy-ify my life. But what I really need to do is to focus on the most important parts of my life; the fundamentals. Everything else should fall into place if I just simply focus on the basics of Christ's doctrine.