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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

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

Rutabaga.

My arm freakin' kills.

I got shot in the arm yesterday, twice in my left and once in my right. It was a really good aim to only get me in the arm. But geez, I wasn't expecting it to hurt quite so bad! I mean, I'll probably be feeling this for a few weeks at least. It's nothing like the movies.

...

"Oh hardy hardy," you're probably thinking to yourself (or glancing around to make sure no one else is there and saying it to yourself. Don't worry, we've all done it). Well, you'd be right. Except laughing like that has been proven to lower your intelligence. Seriously. Keep laughing like that around people and see if they treat you differently than normal.

I got vaccinations done. Hepititus (or something. They could've been making up words just to stick me with a needle for all I know) A and B were the killer ones I think. My left arm is really stiff. And I get to go back twice over the next two weeks to get them finished! They also gave me typhoid fever pills. I get to ingest typhoid fever tonight! That seems kind of contradictory. $45 to get sick? I could just go hug a homeless person.

Anyway, the reason behind all of this is that I finally got my mission call, if you haven't heard already! Hooray for that. It came on Thursday. I'm going to the South Korea Seoul mission, and I'm leaving for the MTC on October 22nd to learn the Korean language. It sounds very intimidating. I don't know anything about the Koreans!

Speaking of missions and octupi, Chris and Jessica have departed for the MTC as of Wednesday. They're currently sitting in a classroom learning Japanese! Probably. I dunno, it's not like I bugged their clothing or anything.

... Of course not.

Also, I'm currently reading Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. It's funny so far, a little bit obnoxious how it's written as it's really short and small and repetative, but it's also a kid's book. I have to keep remembering that, as it kind of borders toward the Young Adult audience. Maybe that's what it is. Anyway, it's good. I'm a little less than halfway already, starting it yesternight. I also bought the second book in Terry Goodkind's series The Sword of Truth. This book is called The Stone of Tears. Or something. It's alright. Actually kind of annoying, I prefered the first one so far. I'll try and get through it though.

I've also got a whole lot more music from Chris' laptop. I went and raided it yesterday and put some more bands onto my iPod. Except Winamp isn't recognizing my iPod as a portable device. D: Oh the tragedy!

"Just one little shooting and people don't want to ever shop here again."

'til then! :D

Pohtaytoe.

My dog is howling.

I just got back from Subway and Orderville Gulch. Holy crap they were fun hikes. I definitely want to do those ones again. They were both about as equally cool, although we got to play around on Orderville a little bit more, and wasn't as rigorous of a hike.

Chris and I left on Monday night to go visit some friends in Cedar City. That was also super awesome. I met one of Chris and Jessica's friends from when they went to school, and then we went and visited Danelle. I played with her carpet, wax, and read that super awesome book of her's. Then we left to go down to Zion and had to go buy the permit for the Subway hike. Then we went on this nice little walk on a trail called The Watchman Trail. It was named after a mountain I think. We didn't go all the way up because it was getting dark, and we needed to find a place to stay.

First we went into Zion park campgrounds to try and find a camping spot. But then we found out they cost $16 each, and we are cheap. So instead I told Chris where the church was and we went around into the back and slept on the lawn behind this fence. And by slept, I actually mean we both laid there for several hours under the disguise of sleeping. First, we were being eaten alive by bugs. Then there were a lot of lights in the parking lot that kept us awake, and to top it off, it rained. Thunderstorms, about four times during the night (good call Danelle). Not so fun. We woke up at about six and messed around for an hour before we went back into the park and got the Orderville Gulch permit. I found out permits are incredibly difficult to get, actually. Some of those guys that were there had been there since about 5:30! I couldn't believe that. So after that we went to a nearby gas station and got some hot water to eat our oatmeal for breakfast. That was quite the day.

We then waited for Richard to call us so that we could go and find the Subway trailhead. Chris and I got lost of course and ended up about an hour in the opposite direction of where we needed to be. Chris got very frustrated - it didn't seem like we were having a very good time with directions and communication most of our trip. Finally we hit the trail. It was boring hiking into the canyon, but we finally got there and it was a lot of fun. It was my favorite hike I've been on so far. I know that because I was enjoying the hike as it was happening. There were a few cool repels, and these really funny Swedish group that was ahead of us. They got stuck in this one hard part, on a repel I think and started cursing (I think) in Swedish. The guy that was with them just said "Oh don't mind them. They're Swedish."

When we finished that hike I was very sore. The hike out was awful. We climbed something like 500 ft. in less than a mile. It was incredibly stranuous, although it was cool to look back at the river and think that just like ten minutes ago you used to be walking in it.

Afterwords we met up with the rest of the family that came on Orderville with us, had some more miscommunication that resulted in Linda driving about half an hour up into the canyon. Arguments and sour faces, but then everyone went to sleep alright. Nate and I slept in the bed of the truck. It was actually a really good sleep, although more padding would've been nice. I decided that whoever I end up marrying, I want to take them on a hiking trip to Subway and Orderville and sleep in the bed of the truck. It was a lot of fun.

Then the next day came and we left for Orderville. That hike was more exciting as there were more deep pools to jump into off of rocks. That was what I was looking forward to pretty much the whole time we were doing both hikes. I will go back there someday!

Then, yesterday, Chris and Jessica went to the St. George temple to recieve their endowments. It's so funny that Chris has to wear garments now. I was making fun of him for it when he got home. He said that it's all very overwhelming, they give you a lot of information that deals with a lot of symbolism. Chris was worried that they were going to have to sacrifice something, but was relieved when they didn't. And Jessica almost got brought into the bride's room because the lady thought she was married, not a missionary.

Also, my papers are submitted as of last Sunday. Along with Nate's. If my stake president is correct I should be expecting them next week, although he also said that July is the month that the general authorities take their time off so it might take longer. Either way, I'm very excited. I'll be sure and let everyone know where I end up going.

Anyway, 'til next time. :D

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Now playing: Rush - The Spirit Of Radio
via FoxyTunes

Aauuugh....

Muscles... hurt... so bad... The burning and throbbing... And the lack of feeling. You don't actually need your leg muscles, right? I didn't think so, either.

I went for a twenty-two mile bike ride yesterday. If we weren't so pressed for time I would've brought my camera and taken many much nice pictures. It was a really fun ride, although incredibly long and painful in some parts. All of it was paved, and it wound through very nice trees and followed the Provo River for a very long time. I think that's the most amount of trees I've ever seen outside of a canyon in Utah. It was very impressive. The city put a lot of work into that trail, and it's cool to see it getting used.

We started from the three mile marker and rode up to Vivian Park, which ended at 14 miles. Now, if my deductions are correct, that makes it...

14-3...
Carry the nine, divide by four, square root that answer...
Solve for x, y = 19...

Uhhh. Well I dunno, but it was a really long ride! It made me want a road bike, too. That would've made it like half the effort. When I get home off my mission... I'll have to divulge in a few pleasures. :D


It has also been raining a lot. Like, a lot. Apparently it rained really hard this morning, although I wasn't aware. I was either sleeping or still laying in bed reading. Speaking of which! The Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind is an excellent book. It's very long, and I think I still have 200 pages left, but it really is excellent. It's the book I plan to finish before I leave. Unless I leave late, then I'll be onto the next book. I think he has like eight or so books out of it, which is kind of a bummer. Long series are kind of a drag, because then you know that some of the main characters aren't ever in perilous danger. They'll pull through! Because they have seven more books to be apart of.

Anyway, I'm five days away from having my papers submitted!

And I'm going on another bike ride today. I'm probably going to collapse...

'til then! :D

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Now playing: Transatlantic - Suite Charlotte Pike
via FoxyTunes

Sultry.

I've been good and done with finals for some time now. Hooray for that! It's been really great to not have anything to do. I think this has been one of the best summers yet, and it's just getting started! I've been on the hike of Coyote Gulch. That was so much fun. I wish I would've taken more pictures. The canyon was absolutely amazing - it was surprising how nice it looked. I haven't been on a decent hike for some time, so it was really nice to get back into the swing of things. I ought to throw some pictures up here, but... too lazy. Much too lazy.

I've been exercising more recently - mostly a lot of bike riding. Dave hooked me up and got my old bike fixed, so that was way awesome. I'm still getting some nice things done to it, thanks to people that don't need parts. Free stuff for a mediocre bike! I plan to get my entire bike re-constructed due to other people's newer purchases for their very nice bikes. I went on my first downhill mountain biking excursion yesterday. It was frightening. Next time I intend to bring a camera so I can record the other good people coming down, that was so much fun. I almost crashed three or so times, but never actually crashed. I scrapped my shin on my pedal, however. That hurts kind of a lot now. In the process I also racked myself on the frame of my bike. Also hurt a lot, but I worked through it and kept peddling on!

We had a large group: Dave, Chris, Norman, Seth, Taylor, Nate, and mineself. Chris was kind enough to stay back with me and make sure I didn't die - everyone else pretty much cruised ahead. They were supportive in me going, at least. They all knew it was my first time. I wish I could've gotten ahead of them sometimes to watch some of their angry skills, so that's why I intend to bring a camera. I'll have a reason to go ahead and make them wait for me! Awesome pictures and such to be viewed later, hopefully.

And about that me being lazy thing... I'm so sore. D:

Chris is also back home from Cedar. It's really great to have him home again. It's so much fun to have him and Dave together now. It makes things a lot easier for us to hang out, and a lot of fun in general. Unfortunately, Tiffany left Chris, so Chris hasn't been in the best of spirits... And I've been doing my best for him. I'm not quite so sure how to help out like I should, but... I know he'll get through. If I think about Chris, I get sad. When I think about Tiffany, I just get angry. It's some sort of awful double-bladed sword. A fiery, hope-you-step-in-gum kind of sword.

But on the plus side, at the end of next month we'll be going to the Zion Subway! I'm so incredibly excited for that hike. That's the one that I thought the miserable Narrows was going to be. This one ought to be absolutely stunning. I'm excited.

Chris is also expecting his mission call by the end of this week. Also very exhilarating! I can't believe how close it's getting to be sometimes. I'll be getting my haircut soon... For those of you reading this from afar, I'll be sure to get pictures up somewhere for yoos to view. Speaking of the end of this week, my graphic novels will be here by then, too! I bought two Batman graphic novels, one about The Joker (my new favorite supervillain ever), and the other is a cool looking one with a story coming straight from Arkhum Asylum. I've been watching Batman: The Animated Series lately, hence the reason I've been so obsessed with Batman. I think he really has become my new favorite superhero. Even though technically isn't the "super" part of superhero, he's still a hero and a man devoted to his cause! Watching some of those episodes from the animated series, I don't think I could have the devotion that he does - dead parents or no.

Interesting line from this song: "You gotta kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds sunlight."

Anyway. I also went to the Provo temple today. It had been a while since I've gone, so it was really nice. Kind of early to wake up, though. Chris and Torie went, Chris putting the thing together. It makes me glad to see that, even though Chris is having problems, he decides to go to the temple in the morning. That means he really does have an unshakable sort of faith - that no matter what happens his mission and his religion will be put first. It gives me a lot of hope and trust in the kind of friends I've stuck with.

I have a dermatologist appointment tomorrow. He's going to look at my cancer is see if my arm needs to be removed. I think I need my left arm, so I'll be very sad if it does need to be... Maybe he'll just get a spoon or something and scoop it out? A spork would work better, it has the pointy things (what're they called? Prongs!) at the end. It would be a digging/scooping motion that a normal spoon just can't handle. Is that why sporks were invented? For dermatologists? Hmm... Questions for the ages.....

I'm also going to Nickelcade. So there.

'til the next time you want your brain to turn to mush! :D

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Now playing: Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me
via FoxyTunes

(when was the last time you listened to these guys?)

Who's hip anyway?

What's a place like you doing in a girl like this?

It's finals week. That's stupid. I have three two papers to hand in and two tests. I'll be finishing my English paper today I think. It'll be good to get that out of the way. My Biology test is tomorrow, and I plan on handing in my two other papers tomorrow, too. On Wednesday I get to take my Music and Fitness for Life final. I'm pretty sure I'm ready for my Fitness for Life final, but my music final is going to be a pain. We have to take another listening comprehension portion. That is, we have to listen to certain songs from some different composers and name the composer, song name, time period, and genre. It sucks. The last time I only got like a 28/50. So... here are to hopes of studying and good fortune all around! I hope everyone else's school closures are going alright.

A couple of days ago Tiffany brought over the Love-Sac. Now I have one for my very own self! It's a lot bigger than I remembered it being in her apartment, so it takes up like half of my room. It's totally worth it, though. I love that thing. No one else in my family has seen it yet, though. I'm wondering what their reaction will be. Torie didn't remember it being so large, either. She thought it was funny when she saw it in my room.

Speaking of a couple of days ago, though, I went down to the Fillmore hot springs with Richard, Tony, and Emily. That was fun - it was cool to hang out with those guys again. We met Danelle and some other people I didn't know down there. I remained mostly aloof, but the hot spring was really nice. I want to go down there again but don't want to make the 1 1/2 hour drive. That was awful... Emily wouldn't stop talking, for the entire hour and a half! D: Some of it was pretty funny, though. On the ride back I fell asleep. I also discovered that I kicked this very jagged rock with my foot and it gave me a painful cut on the top of my left foot. It hurt! It's fun to look at now, though. It's just deep enough to feel but not deep enough to go fishing in.

I also just finished The Guarding today. It's kind of sad, but really good. I liked the ending. I'd recommend it.

I'm still playing FFX. That game is too bloody long. I'm taking a break from it, but hopefully I'll still get to finishing it. I'm also wrapping up (I think) my ShadowRun campaign. I'm very excited to play. Eric, Justin, Doug and I played Star Wars last night. We killed a Rancor! I got bit twice and that really hurt, but lived through it. I really like that game, it's a lot of fun.

Onto more nerdy thing, I've also started watching more animes. I've started Ah! My Goddess and Black Cat. I'm not far on either of them, but I really like Black Cat so far. It seems a bit cliche, but I have a feeling that'll change later on in the series. I also plan to watch Rurouni Kenshin, too.

And with that! I get back to my English paper. Wish me luck!

'til next time. :D

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Now playing: Cowboy Bebop - Clutch
via FoxyTunes

Burlap.

A lot has happened just over this week or whenever I last updated. I had a fun birthday party up at the Jones' place of residence, with quite a few people that showed up. We mostly just listened to music and messed around all night - it really was a lot of fun. I think it was just the kind of thing I was looking for. Jeff angered me because we had a wrestling match and he started putting me in holds that were actually cutting off my wind pipe, but... at least that ended. It was pretty ok after that, I was glad to have the decrease of everyone when people started filtering out and it quieted down. Still, I look forward to the next time something big like that can happen.

The same night Chris and I hid easter eggs all around the house. We intended to make some of them impossible to find, because mom was telling us how she was still finding some of them from last year. We wanted the same thing to happen. Unfortunately most of our efforts were thwarted as the greatest ones that we hid were all discovered! Except for some of the more obvious ones, like the one in the teddy bear's shirt downstairs and the one underneath the Love-Sac. I think there was one left in the hallway light, too...

Things have gone back to normal for the most part, too. Chris and Jekka left for SUU on Monday, which sucked. I missed being able to do stuff and have somewhere to go everyday of the week. That was very nice. But I think there's only like... two weeks? Something like that. They'll be back up for another weekend, and then only a couple more weeks after that and school will be dismissed. I'm looking forward to that; I'm ready for school to be done. I think it's a consensus.

Unfortunately, on a less-happy note, my uncle's failing health finally let loose on him, and he passed away last week. The funeral was today. It was incredibly long, but wonderful at the same time. Everyone had only the best to say about my uncle Darryl, even some people that didn't even know him. A friend of my mom's that came by the funeral listened to the talks and commented that, listening to everyone, it made her want to know Darryl.

The viewing was last night, family thing. Eric came with me, as a kind of volunteer. It was kind of nice to have him there, being with my family for so long can be overwhelming some times. He and I walked up to the open-casket and he explained a little bit to me about the temple garb that Darryl was dressed in. After a pause, I started to reflect on the lesson we had in Institute just last Wednesday. I don't think it was some sort of coincidence that we'd have a lesson on death and the after-life only three days before a funeral. As I was looking into the casket, at Darryl's mortal remains, I told Eric how weird it is, or it would be, for people to not have anything to believe in. To have death be death, the end the end, and nothing to look forward to or strive for. How incredibly... well, mysterious, even. Just to die? A funeral without beliefs would be the most horrible thing to go to. Today we had a celebration of Darryl's life - our memories, his accomplishments, and how he touched so many lives. What would it be otherwise? It's difficult to celebrate death; you only have a memory to look forward to if there's nothing for you to believe in.

Although it wasn't the best situation, the funeral this weekend reaffirmed the reason why I'm going on a mission. I can't believe people are able to go through their life without having something as great and powerful - and comforting - as the gospel. Even though I know Darryl is gone, I've already learned that he's with us now, waiting and watching for a chance to maybe help when someone needs it, waiting for the rest of his family to come to him.

"Maybe the spirit is too strong, or the flesh is too weak."

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Now playing: Symphony X - Rediscovery, Part 2: The New Mythology
via FoxyTunes