Old Movies

I came home this afternoon and turned on the TV to relax a bit. I found USA's Bond Movie Monday was something I could do while I waited out the afternoon. Between eating, printing homework, and facebooking, I noticed that I recognized some of the actors. For instance: Valentine from Golden Eye is the same actor as Matsui in Ocean's 12 and is more commonly recognized as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, HA! Then Alec Trevelyan (006) is the same actor as Ian Howe, the bad guy in National Treasure, who you will also recognize as Boromir in LOTR. Yay for a movies :-D

Timeline

This may or may not be interesting to anyone I know, so if you don't like it don't read it.

The last 36 hours, starting early morning, Tuesday July 21st:
7:30am - phone rings, Dan needs me to cover for him at work from 8-2
8:02 - I log into the phone at ServerPlus, eat a banana and work...
2:15pm - finish a really annoying call, send an e-mail to my boss telling him I'm quitting
2:23 - eat two peanut butter breads
2:40 - get my music 101 test and start writing
4:28 - leave the testing center, deciding not to go to class
5:00 - get e-mail finding class was actually canceled
6:00 - go to intramural ultimate game
6:50 - won
7:20 - eat some more peanut butter bread and a quesadilla
9:02 - went to late night ultimate
10:10 - won
10:30 - watched a horrific collision between two frisbee players
10:37 - found Brett's tooth
11:08 - dropped off Brett at ER
11:40 - drank a glass of water
12:10am - see Brett in the hospital just after his CT scan
12:47 - buy food at Macey's
1:14 - turn off lights, lock doors at Brett's sister's house
1:50 - start on a walk with Kat
2:30 - meet Brett and Michelle at oral surgeon's office in N. Provo
2:45 - get really queasy watching Brett's teeth get moved around
3:16 - set up camp on pool deck, laptop, speakers, 4 pool chairs
4:00 - start watching "A Walk Through the Clouds"
4:23 - eat a muffin
5:50 - start watching "Return With Honor"
7:56 - made a video on my comp (see below)
8:20 - listen to Michelle talk to Brett's family on his phone explaining the situation
9:27 - eat a bowl of Fruit Loops
9:38 - shower & shave (finally!)
10:20 - Chris calls, I nearly fall asleep talking to him
3:40pm - Oscar wakes me up
3:45 - eat PB&J and a glass of apple juice
3:58 - show up in MFG 202
5:51 - now.

Repetition

One thing that many of us probably realize, is that Sunday School lessons are repetitive. Not each lesson on it's own, but really... they only publish four years worth of lessons, after that it repeats, not to mention we learn the same stuff in seminary/institute too. That's not to mention YM/YW lessons, which vary only slightly every year, and how many times have we had talks given in sacrament meeting that were simply readings of talks given previously. What I'm getting at is that lessons in the church are repeated fairly often through various means. It is easy to go into a lesson hear the topic, and quickly recall important ideas or even quotes that you've heard in previous lessons on the same subject, a good sign that you're building up a gospel knowledge database.

Today in class we had a lesson talking about Zion's Camp and how the Lord sometimes chastises his people, the reasons for afflictions, etc. and I someone sitting near me made an important comment (one that is fairly commonly used is such a discussion, but one that I think is important to the topic) she's heard at a different time about the three sources of trials, others, our selves, the Lord (the comment was significantly more elaborate than that, but you get the idea). A few minutes later in the lesson I glanced over her shoulder and noticed the notes she had been taking for the lesson. I found it interesting that a prominent feature in her notes was the idea that she herself had mentioned, this 3-source idea. I do not doubt it's importance, nor am I saying that it wasn't an insightful comment, however I did have to ask myself if that was a note work taking.

What is the purpose of notes? I would say, note taking is to help you remember ideas from a lesson. If she knew that thought, used it as a comment to the lesson, clearly understands and knows the concept... why take it down as a note? Isn't the point of a lesson to learn something new? If all we are remembering are some key points that really touched us in one lesson and retaining those same ideas over and over again after hearing the same lesson, then we aren't really learning are we? Shouldn't we look at every lesson as an opportunity for further learning, not just regurgitating the past? I'm not saying I'm perfect or that this girl was wrong, I just think that there were more important ideas that should could have noted as new or more interesting doctrine that perhaps came from another student with good insights, or perhaps even the teacher who's been set apart as a teacher and even is entitled to revelation on our behalf (to a point)? .... just a thought.

Perfect

I realize that perfection isn't really possible, and supposing it was actually possible it would still be infinitly hard to determine whether an even or day was 'perfect' since there are so many variables involved and so many different ways to judge something as perfect. As far as perfect days go, one mans party is another's prison, but for me, today was great. So great in fact I'm quite tempted to call it perfect (assuming that nothing horrible happens tonight) and heck, even this whole weekend is shaping up to be pretty freaking rockin'.

So let me explain. I was with my family at ranch in the middle of Duchesne County, I woke up around 6:30 this morning, I love early mornings, I'm a morning person, good moment. I stayed in bed 'til nearly seven then did a whole bunch of cleaning around the house putting chairs and tables away because we had to check out that morning. However after 45 min. or so of cleaning and getting ready to go I said good-bye to my few relatives awake at that time and took off. GoogleMaps says this drive is 2h45m however I made it in just over two hours. Only about an hour into my drive my gas light comes on. I know that means I should have about two gallons of gas left, meaning I should be able to go about 40 miles. So I resolve to stop as soon as I see a gas station. Not long afterwards I see a sign saying Heber is 48 miles away... hmm. I quickly lost hope in finding a gas station before Heber as the terrain I was crossing was quite deserted so I just kept hoping. Then came the glorious moment of reaching a sign saying "Summit 8020" meaning it was all down hill from there. I had gone about 38 miles at the point, but figured I could make it to Heber. 15 miles later I did, victory #1.

I got into Provo and had plenty of time to prepare for our ward activity. An activity that I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. We filled up about 400 waterballoons and had purchased a large tarp for sliding on. I also go 15 extra large pizzas, and a couple of gallons of water. After a bunch of preparation I went to play frisbee. I LOVE FRISBEE!!! We had a good game, my team lost, but it was super fun and a bunch of my favorite frisbee friends came to play. Then the activity started, we ate pizza to our hearts content, then played a quick, silly game of capture the flag with waterballoons, a game of my own invention that ended up in a mass waterballoon fight to the enjoyment of all. With our remaining water balloons we played some WB-volleyball with towels. By this time some of our frisbee friends that weren't in our ward had come to join us, which made the whole activity SO MUCH FUN!! Maybe it was just be since I knew the guys, but I really loved it that topped of the activity for me.

Finally we had a huge slip'n slide down the grass hill which extended down across the dry creek bed, probably about 60 feet long! At first I was content with helping out, holding the corners down, manning the hose, giving suggestions, timing crazy racers etc. but eventually my comrades convinced me to get myself wet and slide down. It was awesome! Once getting over the initial strangeness of sliding down water sprayed plastic on your stomach it became one of the greatest activities I've ever done! Now that I had my feet wet, I went all in, and kept sliding over and over, on my back on my front, as a train, in a race and had the time of my life. We ended play a little sand volleyball, cleaned up and left.

I then proceeded to turn on music really loud in my apartment, showering, relaxing, and playing THPS 1 =] what a day!!

So other than my great elation and happiness over the day, I began to develop some interesting philosophical ideas about myself, including why today was such a great day. For those only interested in adventurous deeds, stop reading here.

This week I have been very busy with my few classes, catching back up on reading, as well as seeing Harry Potter 6 at midnight, and attending my family reunion as often as I could fit into my schedule to do so. For this cause I spent little or no time with my friends (a few of which were out of town themselves) and I felt separated from them, like I was missing out on a lot... or I was at least missing them. The sense of loss and longing only added to the exuberant joy when I saw them again today, which upon analyzing I found silly since I had only been gone for one day! I began to realize though why I love my friends so much, and that is because of their individual personalities that I know so well. I have some strange, some normal friends, some strange on the outside, others on the inside, and some while seeming strange at the first impression, turn out to be quite normal, while others that seem so normal are found to be very strange upon further investigation.

For what ever reason, my joy in being with them seems to stem from my enjoyment in predicting their behavior, corresponding to their strangeness or lack thereof. I'm not verbally saying "oh she's gonna do/say this next" but in my mind there are fewer and fewer surprises, and I love it. I think being with people that don't surprise you makes life more comfortable, you worry less, and I find it easier to be myself and enjoy myself when this is the case.

Bottom line, I like to analyze people and I think I'm pretty good at it. I also love my friends, and it happens to be time for me to go meet them again, gn&gl.

Razor

I have some guys I know that are a little crazy, all return missionaries, really great guys actually... but they've just gone a little off the deep-end (judged by 'normal' standards). I actually think they're smart, they don't let 'social norms' hold them back, they actively pursue ideas that may seem impossible or ridiculous to others. One of their ideas of late was to get Razor scooters, and go as far as they could in a day. They chose Mona, UT as a good destination and began to plan and publicize. When I first heard of the idea, I told them it wasn't possible, that their scooters would fall apart after only a few miles (Mona is about 40 miles from Provo). However when they day came of their unheard of journey I had somehow been pulled it.

Starting just past 8 in the morning from a house north of BYU campus, we Razored... down 9th East and onto State St. Arriving in Springville I was surprised, no broken scooters (well only one wheel had problems, but they had replacements), no broken bones, and a lot of enthusiasm from all participating. We continued on, south into Spanish Fork and down Main Street (really fun!) out past the Hari Krishna temple, and into Salem. Finally the magnatude of what we were doing began to set in, we weren't quite halfway there, and it was getting hot, and we were getting tired... However out designated spot of lunch lay just over one small hill (One Man Band in Payson) so we pressed on.

After a rejuvinating lunch and rest we all felt ready to continue on with high hopes of reaching Mona soon. However Spring Lake had it's own ideas for us. As we Razored past Spring Lake Elem. School (down a hill) we felt fine, and quickly hopped back on the highway to head into Santaquin. That simple stretch of road nearly killed us. At the top of the second, LONG hill we reached a yet unopened gas station, thirsting for cold water, we settled to sit in the shade of the building and began to doubt the plausibility of the ride ahead. The rough shoulder of the highway was no place for a scooter, vibrations disabling your fingers and slowing you down with every push... I was done, I just didn't think going over the several hills reamaining between Santaquin and Mona was worth it at all. Eventually we realized that no one was taking us home, and giving up just wasn't really an option (who wants to say that that *almost* Razored to Mona?) Moving on under the freeway and up Santaqin main, second west on the left, and straight on 'til Mona. The majority of the riders felt it better to walk up the hills, ride across the flat section at the top, then coast down the side, before picking up their scooters and walking up the next hill (only on guy actually rode up all the hills and he's a cross country runner). Three hills later we found ourselves in an endurance ride through the outskirts of Mona. Luckily the sun was low enough that any trees on the side of the road provided paradisaical shade and some smooth recently re-paved section of road made coasting possible and then suddenly in the distance the sign was seen, "Welcome to Mona" and we all crossed, collapsing thereafter to rest until our ride back to Provo showed up about 10 minutes later.

We'd Razored from Provo to Mona, a 40 mile trip, nearly an hour drive in a car, and it took us 10 hours. What an accomplishment, what a sense of fulfillment resonated within our group. Two of the riders were complete strangers to be in the morning, but we were great friends as we rode side by side for most of the last few miles. What many thought wasn't possible now was done, conquered, and the seed of a legend was planted.