Something... HORRIBLE is in the water!

Not really.

Did I make you look?

Would you've looked if I was not typing this, and instead screamed it from your kitchen?

Would you even let me into your kitchen?

No sane man would!

But maybe you aren't a man?

Maybe you're... a MONGOOSE?!

Reader = mongoose.

Problem solved! You no longer have a leaky faucet.

Buhnaaaaaaaanuh.

Torie is moving up to her new apartment tomorrow. Amanda is already up there. Amanda has a lot of crap. I'm kind of wondering if she has been engulfed by it all yet. Maybe her only escape is her window? Maybe she made an escape hatch! Or a ladder from the ceiling (I hate you so much i before e rule) or something. Hopefully I'll get the chance to help Torie finish up her moving process, I'm really excited to get to see her more on our own terms when she moves. It'll also be nice to be in a bigger town, so we have a lot more available to us with a lot less of a drive. I missed her a lot today. It seems like the days that I don't do anything are the days I end up thinking about her and missing her ever more. It's really kind of obnoxious, in that nice pining kind of way.

What do pine needles have anything to do with affection, anyway?

I also found out last week that I'm giving my farewell talk on September the 14th. It's kind of a short notice, and a really weird time to have it, considering I'll still be here for another month. But, at the same time I think I've recognized it as exactly what I wanted. I've never given a talk in church before, I've only even been up to the bullpit (toro, toro!) once to speak into the mic, and I think that was to give a prayer. Even that was weird. So, this being so far from when I'm leaving, I don't even have to worry about it. It'll be done and so very over with by the time I've left, it'll only be a little bit on my mind. It also gives me a great time to see everybody with nice weather still around. And those that I don't see still have a month to see me before I go. Good tidings all around, I think they should have farewells like this more often.

We're also cancelling our Blockbuster Online in favor of Netflix. I'm really the only one that ever rents movies anyway, but it's still a nice little service to have. Netflix sounds much better anyway. I also need more movies to watch. Which means I need recommendations. Tell me!

I've also gotten a few more updates from Chris and Jessica. Still doing great. Still going crazy after being trapped in the MTC for so long, and still learning the language wonderfully. They both taught their first lesson just this past week entirely in Japanese, and both had pretty good reports. Jessica is excited to do it again after talking with one of her teachers who gave her a good pick-her-up about teaching in a foreign language. It also helped me out, her story. Basically what she said was you aren't trying to tell people things, what you're trying to do is give them the spirit so that they can understand for themselves. I think. Something to that effect. Even if that isn't it, that's still a cool idea. :D

Speaking of that, here's another thoughtful idea from your's truly:

I was looking on MySpace through some people that I used to know in high school. They weren't the best crowd by any means, they still aren't, but I could call them my friends at one point. So obviously they meant something to me. Even though I may not've been in touch with any of them for some time, probably coming up onto two years for some of them now, I still look at their profile page through my stalker-esque means - just to see what they've been up to. Or maybe even laugh at them to think back on something we may've done once.

At any rate, as I was doing not but thirty minutes ago, I started wondering through a conversation two of my old friends were having. Friend A was saying hi to Friend B, and so Friend B replied. Friend B was checking up on Friend A to see how he has been doing, and what he has been up to. Friend A has apparently broken up with a girl but gotten back together with her. Good for him. I still think they're both dumb, but yippity-yay. I'm also pretty sure it won't last long. Both Friend A and Friend B have been incredibly problematic with their emotional issues ever since I've known them, and neither have gotten better over the past few years. Neither Friend B nor Friend A are very active in the church. Now I'm not trying to say that the church is all there is in this life. Certainly not. But think about all of the immediate gratification we can get from the church! You probably haven't heard that one before, have you? We always think of immediate results and immediate pleasure as being a bad thing. Sure, it is. I agree. That's what leads man down the wrong path, is wanting something immediately. But think about all of the good that comes from the knowledge the church members have! If you do your best to strive in the Light, you'll be given the gift of the Holy Spirit, aka The Comforter. That's what I prefer to call him, because that is what He has helped me with the most.

In some of our most painful, absolutely awful moments when it feels like nothing will ever give way, just to give us a little bit of sunshine, The Comforter can be there for us. And you know, maybe we haven't even been striving to do our best. The Comforter can still be there. As I glanced over the profile page of Friend B and started looking at his other friends, I immediately began to notice the same thing... They're all practically the exact same person. I don't know why it seemed like this to me, but every one of B's friends seemed to be needing the same thing. There's just always a gaping hole in those that don't have what I've been so lucky to have had.

Now, at this point you're probably thinking "But I know a lot of really great people that aren't apart of the gospel, either!" (If you weren't, you are now, because you just read that. Sucker!)

Yeah, so do I. I'm not saying greatness can't be achieved without having the gospel. I'm just saying it's a lot bloody easier. Easier. That's about the same thing as immediate, wouldn't you say? Immediate happiness... Immediate gratification.

Maybe I'm not making any sense and I've talked myself into a circle (rhombus?) here, so please feel free to ask questions if there is any clarification needed. Or to tell me that I'm just being absolutely asinine. But I feel it's right.

Anyway, another behemoth of a post. I can't seem to write anything less than gigantic. One last blurb about music, though. I've discovered the band The Frost on my library. Very excellent, absolutely amazing. Strongly suggested. Also Anberlin is coming to concert this October with Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Hopefully I'll be attending. Yay! I'm also currently listening to Estradesphere, an all instrumental band that I disliked when I first heard them. Good now, though! I'm enjoying it, although still weird. Just can't beat a title like "The Terrible Beautypower of Meow".

Anyway, 'til next time. :D

----------------
Now playing: Estradasphere - Smuggled Mutation
via FoxyTunes

Dum-de-dum-da dadada-dum-de-dum-de-dum-da dadadada....

My mom got a new LAN line phone. It sings, and talks to you. It just rang. I set the song to that organization of dees, a's, yous, ees, and ems that you saw earlier. Also the hyphens. It's apart of the song. Weird.

Anyway, I've been watching the Olympics often. I always seem to get stuck watching volleyball. I've discovered sand volleyball is much more exciting than the normal court kind. It's faster first of all, and they make more exciting plays more often. Plus playing in the sand is just really hard.

I've still just been watching the kids up at the Jones' house. Nothing all that exciting, although a couple of weeks ago we went power tumbling. Everyone had a lot of fun, and Cameron even stopped by. Although he didn't do anything the entire time he was there. He opted for just sitting on the sidelines. It was funny though because he got to watch everyone, so he was telling me all the observations that I missed because I was busy throwing kids into the foam pit.

Last week wasn't all that exciting. I can't really remember anything in particular that happened to report. So far this week, though, I've been swimming and to Lagoon. It was Steph's birthday on Monday, and she chose to go to Lagoon with the family. It was crowded - there were a lot of lines in most to all of the rides. I went on all of the exciting ones that I like, like Wicked. I also went on Spider for the first time. That one is awesome! I've never been before, and I don't know why we didn't go last time we went. When we first got to the park, Nathan and I broke off from Richard, Kevin, and Stephany. Our first ride was the White Rollercoaster. Nathan said he wanted to get used to it, so immediately after that I took him on Wicked. That one is still very awesome. I can't really remember the other ones we went on after that, mostly what stood out in my mind was The Bat (sucked), Rocket (hurts), Wicked (still fun), and Spider (also fun). They need to smooth out the track to The Bat or something, because every turn felt like the White Rollercoaster. I also felt like I was going to hit my feet on everything that came by.

We met up with Torie after at about 7:00, when I was already incredibly tired. I took some motion sickness pills - those seemed to help a lot. I began to wonder if it was because of the pills that I was getting so tired. I couldn't tell. I also have these weird wristbands that are supposed to help with the motion sickness. I couldn't tell if it was those that worked, or the pills. Either way, I felt better than I usually do after coming home from a theme park.

Why do they call it a theme park anyway? What's the theme to Lagoon? Rollercoasters? That's kind of lame theme, because there're a lot of other "theme" parks in the world with the same theme! Technically a normal park could be called a theme park. The theme to a normal park is recreational activity. A parking lot could also be called a theme park. The point to the theme is to park. That's about the same thing.

Uhm... Anyway.

I met up with Torie first at Rocket. I tried to make Nathan go on it, but as he got closer and noticed how incredibly high up it was, it started to make him sick. I thought it was really funny, but he ended up not going on it. He said while he was waiting for us he was holding back some stomach acid burps. So it's good he didn't end up going on it, because I'm sure we would've gone vomit chasing. After that we met up with Linda and Steph waiting in the Wicked line. I kind of wanted to stay with Linda to watch he reaction as we went on Wicked, but also liked sticking with Torie. So I decided to follow Torie and her family and go to Rattlesnake (I just wrote Rattlesnack. What kind of ride would that be? :D) Rapids. At like 8:45 PM. It was cold! But, still pretty fun. Torie's dad stayed with the littler kids, and the rest of the family went on the ride. I thought it was funny how everytime Torie's parents started to come near, she'd let go of my hand. It happened like four times. I also thought it was funny how if I'd been near Torie at all, her dad wouldn't look me in the eye to talk to me. Not like we talked much at all anyway, but the couple of times did, he still wouldn't.

Anyway, so after (I also just wrote fat. I'm not quite so sure what my fingers are doing...) Rattlesnack Rapids we did... something else. At some point we ended up going to Spider. It's a spinning... twirly, twisty... always moving and dropping very fun ride. That first hill got me both times - we went on it twice because when we got off the first time we checked the line to Wicked and found it to be closed. The first time we were facing forward as we exited the gate. The second time we weren't, and that wasn't as much fun. Chelsea said she didn't like it, but enjoyed it more the second time as she was facing forwards. I think it's just more fun in general if you get to face forwards. That was my exciting Lagoon trip, anyway. At least as much as I can remember. I'm looking forward to going to Frightmares in a couple of months.

The next day was Linda's birthday, so for that we went swimming. I don't think she had ever been, and it was fun to have a little more company there. It's usually just me and the kids, so to see Annie and Susanne with Linda there also was pretty fun. Once Torie and Chelsea got off work they stuck around and played around with us. That was a lot of fun! I haven't been dunked since Mandi was here when we ran into Ashley at the pool. They dunk nice, though. Except for when Torie splashed me. I think a full cup of water went straight into my eyeball. I was getting pretty good at keeping my ground, too, except for when we were in the lazy river. That's when I got dunked the most. After that I went home and bummed around for a while.

But speaking of bumming around, I've discovered a gaming thing online called GameTap. I know it's not new nor very unknown, but I always thought it was just a stupid collection of lame games that were put onto a database online. Wrong! I've been playing it like a fiend. I want to sign up for Gold Membership - there are a lot of games that I really want to play and haven't had the opportunity to. I need to find a credit card, though. Or a PayPal membership. I'll give you a dollar, because that's all it costs! :D Feeeed my addiction!

School also starts today for everyone else. I think it's funny watching everyone else go back to school, but knowing that I don't have to prepare for something like that. Not this year, anway! I still get to watch the kids, but I just don't have to be up there until later in the day. Which means like, two hours. I haven't strangled any of them yet, too! Goal achieved!

I've been hearing from Chris and Jessica, too. They're still doing great and learning the language really well. Chris seems like he has been doing wonderfully at it - something I was wondering about considering how unwell he was doing at it in high school. 63 days left for me!

'til next time. :D

(I'm not listening to any music! Oh no! Still watching the Olympics. Volleyball: USA-2 Serbia-2. Tie-breaker match!)

Ooooo. Aaaahhhh.....

Check out all my new stuff! I updated the website. Pay particular attention to the link list, especially the My Pictures part. I put that up for you people!

Enjoy. :D

----------------
Now playing: The Aquarium Rescue Unit - Swallows
via FoxyTunes

Row-ads.

An yeong ha se yo!

My internet just crashed, so I lost the paragraph that I had already typed. That's obnoxious.

Anyway, as I was saying, I have this big ol' gash up my right leg. I was messing around on Chris' bike yesterday, trying to do a bunny-hop, and got a two-fer, and smacked my shin against the pedal when I landed one hop. So the nice medal pegs slashed up my leg. It was quite unpleasant I believe. Although apparently I got some pretty good height. Torie bandaged me all up last night. It was really nice to have someone else look to my wounds, rather than just bleeding and groaning on my own as I neglect to care for my horrible disfigurement. It looks better today than it did yesterday. It's still pretty swollen, though. Hopefully I'll remember to bandage it up again today. Hopefully.

And onto the more exciting news from last night, an entire mountain near my house caught fire. It was burning for several hours, so seriously no joke about it being an entire mountain. The mountain is very ugly today as I had expected. Most of it is incredibly charred and blackened. It'll be like this well into the next season I'm sure. Apparently it was started by a downed power-line, so says the news people. Either that or it was started in Spring Lake from an exposed electrical wire in some dry grass. Or some construction workers trying to repair a power line. Or a comet. Or dinosaurs.

Rawr.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3912315
There's some cool pictures on that site, with a little more information.

Everything smells like smoke now. It's really pretty gross. It's going to get hot soon, and it'll be hot in my house, but I can't open any windows or anything! Boo. Plus the valley looks really murky now.

And I can't figure out why my brother insists on not wearing shirts.

Last week I finished my immunizations for most of my stuff. I think there're a few other shots that I've gotta get done. I know of at least one more that I have to get hit with one week before I go into the MTC. Then I'll be able to go hug a panda without getting sick! Excellent! If not a panda then at least a Korean. Close enough. I'll go find a fat Korean. Short and fat. The short part comes standard. I think I'll skip out on the hairy part. That sounds awful. I'll at least get said Korean to hold a stick of bamboo, though. Chewing optional. I'm just a dumb foreigner, so I could probably get them to do what I want. I wonder how different Koreans treat foreigners compared to Japan? Apparently you're like contagious gangrene victim over there. My bishop said that Koreans just don't really know where to place you in their society, because everyone has a very strict title system to follow. Foreigners don't fall under this system.

I'm the normal one. You're the weirdos.

Just grab onto some duck tales.

I've also gone to see The Dark Knight. Three times, actually. As everyone else has said, it is an incredibly movie. Incredibly flawless, although very long. I don't really like how long it was, but I couldn't really see it being any shorter. Just like everyone else has said, it is sad that Heath Ledger has died, but this was an excellent final movie for him. It was hard to believe that that was him. The first time I watched it I got very captived by the characters, as if I was watching a documentary or something. It was amazing watching Batman and The Joker interact, how they were like two opposite sides of the same coin - which is where Two-Face played in! The one thing that they didn't do quite so well, was Harvey Dent wasn't really shown as having a split personality disorder. He just seemed really angry sometimes. Maybe I was expecting The Animated Series where Harvey would actually change voices when his other persona would come in, which is why Two-Face would always have that strange, raspy voice rather than a normal kind of voice.

Anyway, I look forward to the next movie. Hopefully it'll be done by the time I get home. That's my goal anyway. ;D

It is August 2nd today! Which means I have two months and twenty days. And then another three more months from that until I'm actually in Korea! Three or so months anyway. That gives me three months to learn an entire language to use in the real world. Oh so very exciting.

I've also recieved a letter from both Chris and Jessica, as I've been writing them on dearelder.com (something I strongly suggest everyone to use. It's a free service while your beloved missionary is still in the MTC. Remember this while I'm in there!). They both are doing really great. From the little I've heard from them, it is incredibly evident that their testimony has grown leaps and bounds already, including Chris'. Neither of them are timid about sharing how they feel any longer, and Chris has clearly discovered that his testimony is of his own, and it is currently being strengthened using iron shackles and steel braces. This is what I look forward to. I'm already quite sure I have an unshaking faith, considering what I've been through I've never been happier, so I know for a fact that there isn't a true sort of happiness outside of the gospel. Who wants to live their life unhappy? That doesn't sound like much of an existance.

Speaking of which, due to the fire I started thinking about why God would let something like that happen. Nobody was injured, and only one old, pretty much useless house was burned down, but that's still an incredible amount of property damage to several unfortunates. And I just knew there had to be some kind of reason. It occured to me that maybe He allows things like this to happen in order to test the faith of the saints. This is the time when people come together to help each other out, and when you have to know that everything is going to be ok in the long-run, no matter what happens. And think about it - the second coming is supposed to be marked by an incredible amount of destruction. When earthquakes start happening and other sorts of natural disasters, do you think it's going to be everyone's first thought to believe that Christ is coming again? Not really. It'll just be like "Holy crap holy crap holy crap theearthismoving holy crap." When people hear about the disaster, it'll be a true test to figure out who still has the faith, or which of us will cast it off in despair, cursing God's name that something like this could happen. That's when the true colours will show, and they will be cast down. Unforunate, but true.

Remember that when something happens, there's always a reason for it. Even the burning of an entire lush, green mountain. The vegitation will grow back to be even better! It takes time, but what doesn't? Why do you think patience is such an important part to life? Hope is a goal that every person must have. Without hope, faith is of little use to us. Faith is only a belief, while hope is what gives us something to believe in. Don't think of hope as a useless dream or fruitless ponderings. Hope is the stem to everything we need to believe in this life.

But maybe that's just me.

So anyway, 'til next time! :D

----------------
Now playing: Muse - Exo-Politics
via FoxyTunes
(shuffle!)