Minor Tribulations and Old Teachers

Not much has happened since my last entry. I've got a crick in my neck that prevents me from turning my head all the way to the left when I should be able to. I first noticed it yesterday, and I thought I'd be able to sleep it away, but that didn't quite work.

I'm just too tense--I want to go to the FMH Wellness Center in the FSK mall (I haven't been since November), but I can't afford it right now. Maybe I'll put that on my birthday list for this year--as many hour-long massages as people will give me.

I e-mailed my old AP Literature & Composition teacher from high school today. This one thing I learned in that class kept bugging me, because I'd forgotten part of it, but I'd still want to know the part I'd forgotten every once in a while, and whenever I tried to remember, I could only remember that one little bit. So, I decided to go to the source, and asked Mr. P. what the answer was.

He was pretty ecstatic in his reply, that I'd even remembered taking the class, much less anything I learned from it.

I did a little reading out on the deck this evening. I could only concentrate on the book long enough to get through the chapter of Goblet of Fire where Harry finally hears the clue from the egg, gets stuck in the trick stair, and lends the fake Moody the Marauder's Map. When I was about halfway through the chapter, my neighbors came out to have dinner on the back deck, and they were pretty loud, so I couldn't keep my mind on the book after that.

Now, I'm doing my laundry and trying to find something else to occupy my mind besides dubbing movies (minus commercials) from DVD to VHS and back. I don't think I'd be able to do all that running up and down the stairs from my room to the laundry today--I'm still sore from doing it last week!

Good Times

I went bowling on Thursday with a whole bunch of people. Kimba and Anna had invited me, Kayla and Cassie to go bowling with them at Terrace Lanes. The bowling alley has Dollar Days from Sunday through Thursday, 9:30pm-midnight ($1 for shoe rental, $1 per game/per person), so I figured heck, I wanna go bowling!

I took a whole bunch of pictures, but only ten of them turned out even remotely okay. The rest were either too blurry or too dark to make out.

There were so many people in our group, we took up four lanes. I was on a lane with Anna (for the first three games), Cassie, and this guy Eric who I remembered from high school. Kayla didn't actually bowl whole games, but took over for Eric on a few frames.

I don't know how the scores went on the other three lanes, but I managed to get a printout for the lane I was at. Anna made us all have names that were for our opposite gender. We played four games total, before midnight, and here are the scores:

Game One
George (Anna): 90
LeeAnne (Eric): 103
Phil (Me): 78
Nathan (Cassie): 66

Game Two
George: 79
LeeAnne: 84
Phil: 85
Nathan: 89

Game Three
George: 90 (for a grand total of 259 at our lane)
LeeAnne: 96
Phil: 63
Nathan: 83

(Right before the last frame of game three, I broke my right thumbnail down to the quick, but it was still hanging on at one side, so I tried bowling left-handed. My turn was up, so I didn't have time to pull the nail off the rest of the way until the beginning of the next game. So, for the last frame of game three, I had two gutter balls.)

Game Four
(Anna was playing on two lanes, so she took her name off of ours so we'd have time to finish the game before closing.)
LeeAnne: 140 (Grand Total: 423)
Phil: 90 (Grand Total: 316)
Nathan: 106 (Grand Total: 344)

From Cassie's turn in frame 2 of game 3 until Eric's turn on frame 4, we had a streak of strikes. Cassie got one, then Eric, then me, then Cassie again, then Eric again, but then I only got a spare (but the spare was all ten pins in the second round of the frame, so it would've been a spare if I hadn't have gotten a gutter ball first).

Over all, it was a fun time. I completely missed Smallville though--and forgot to set the DVD-R to record it for me.

Friday was boring. 'Nuff said.

Today, I got up at about 11 (I meant to get up by 10), took a shower, and then paid the bills. Once that was done, I headed out to the Red Cross office on Thomas Johnson Drive to make a donation.

It was like the 6th time I've ever donated, so I knew the drill. But this time, it just kept stopping. The nurse said that it probably clotted, because she kept moving the needle (which was slightly unpleasant, but nothing I couldn't handle with a bit of distraction--such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), and it wouldn't just GO. So I didn't get to give a full pint, but it was mostly there.

After the obligatory stay in the cantina, I headed over to Mom & Dad's to pick up Jason for the library. He was at his friend Stephanie's house down the road, so I got his library books and his wallet from his room and picked him up there.

He checked out a few more books, and we went back to Mom & Dad's for lunch. While I ate, I watched Smallville from Thursday on the TiVo. Gotta love those season passes!

Once the show was over, I left to run my errands: Costco for gas, JCPenney for a couple necessities, and Wal*Mart for a few groceries.

Then I came back here to put everything away, and copied my pictures from my digital camera so that I could share them here (since Heather requested that I take them).

Slow Burn

After years
seeking new sanctuary
from the frost,
in a familiar refuge unfurls
an ever-brightening flame.

Something I Forgot

There was something I forgot to mention after that one time I went to Institute a couple weeks ago. Sister C. handed out copies of an April 2004 conference talk by Elder Oaks called, "Preparation for the Second Coming." (See earlier entry about Institute for more information about the lesson and how it might/might not tie into this.) There are a few paragraphs I'd really like to quote, and would've quoted sooner, if the article hadn't been gathering dust on my printer the whole time:

Evil that used to be localized and covered like a boil is now legalized and paraded like a banner. The most fundamental roots and bulwarks of civilization are questioned or attacked. Nations disavow their religious heritage. Marriage and family responsibilities are discarded as impediments to personal indulgence. The movies and magazines and television that shape our attitudes hare filled with stories or images that portray the children of God as predatory beasts or, at best, as trivial creations pursuing little more than personal pleasure. And too many of us accept this as entertainment.

The men and women who made epic sacrifices to combat evil regimes in the past were shaped by values that are disappearing from our public teaching. The good, the true, and the beautiful are being replaced by the no-good, the "whatever," and the valueless fodder of personal whim. Not surprisingly, many of our youth and adults are caught up in pornography, pagan piercing of body parts, self-serving pleasure pursuits, dishonest behavior, revealing attire, foul language, and degrading sexual indulgence.

An increasing number of opinion leaders and followers deny the existence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and revere only the gods of secularism. Many in positions of power and influence deny the right and wrong defined by divine decree. Even among those who profess to believe in right and wrong, there are "them that call evil good, and good evil" (Isaiah 5:20; 2 Nephi 15:20). Many also deny individual responsibility and practice dependence on others, seeking, like the foolish virgins, to live on borrowed substance and borrowed light.

Yikes!

Oh, wow, it's been a while since I updated. I didn't mean to go so long without posting, but it kind of snuck up on me. The last few weeks have been kinda crazy.

I can't really remember much about it, other than that Ryan was here on leave, so we hung out.

I've gotten a couple more movies off the TV, including the first three Harry Potter movies. I just got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone this evening--though I accidentally had the DVD-Recorder on the wrong speed setting, so I had to use two disks. I'm going to copy it from the disks onto VHS, then re-copy it onto another DVD at the right speed.

I also have to copy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Day After Tomorrow to VHS, then re-copy them to DVD without the commercials. I just have to have a day when I feel like watching those three movies twice each--or when I have stuff that will keep my mind occupied while still allowing me to stop the recordings when the movies are done.

Tomorrow, I'm covering Jen R's Beehive class, so it'll be like a blast from the past.

What Be Your Nerd Type?

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Musician
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Social Nerd
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Whoops! It's been a few days.

Let's see . . . what's happened since I actually posted something that wasn't the FoLC map?

On Thursday, Smallville was a re-run, so I actually *gasp!* went to Institute. It was pretty fun. Sister C. was teaching though, so I didn't see Brother M, who taught Institute when I went before.

Something I need to remember:

I can never remember all of the apostles, so I decided to make a list and put it here so that I can look at it more often.

1. Boyd K. Packer
2. L. Tom Perry
3. Russel M. Nelson
4. Dalin H. Oaks
5. M. Russel Ballard
6. Joseph B. Wirthlin
7. Richard G. Scott
8. Robert D. Hales
9. Jeffrey R. Holland
10. Henry B. Eyring
11. Dieter F. Uchdorf (spelling?)
12. David A. Bednar

There. Maybe I'll remember them all now.

The lesson in Institute was about Paul, and the first group of letters that he wrote, which was to the Thessalonians. I've got a bunch of notes about the chapters 2, 4 and 5 of 1 Thessalonians, but I don't feel like typing them all out. It's pretty much a lot of encouragement and advice for missionaries and stuff.

I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets while I was at work on Friday. Since I was only a little more than half-way through when I left for work that morning, I hadn't brought another book with me, so I didn't get to read anymore after that.

After work, I called Comcast to figure out why our wireless network had disappeared from the list of available networks, but they didn't have anything to do with it. It was LinkSys. I called LinkSys, and the techie guy helped me to re-establish a network from our wireless router using Kayla's computer. I had to use her on-screen keyboard though, because the one on the desk was broken.

That evening, Anna and I went over to Jason O's house for movie night. Kayla and Cassie came too, but Patrick J. and Kendra (or is it Kendall?) didn't.

We watched a couple of movies while we played Twenty Questions the board game, and then played three different kinds of Scene It! -- Harry Potter, regular, and Disney. It was Me, Jason and Devon against Anna, Kayla and Cassie. Cassie was pretty much their "mascot," and Devon just sat there, so it was really just me and Jason against Anna and Kayla. Anna and Kayla won all three games. Anna won Twenty Questions.

When we first got to Jason O's house, I slipped down the stairs to get into the TV room, and my right foot ended up underneath me, bent with my toes pointing up toward the top of the stairs. It throbbed for a minute or two, then it felt better.

Yesterday when I went to check the mail, I was coming back upstairs after getting it, but then I realized I forgot something. So I started to go back down to the entry way, and must've missed the step, because I slipped off that step too. And my right foot ended up twisted on its side that time. It throbbed for a couple minutes and I limped for a little bit. Other than a twinge every now and then, it's feeling mostly better though. But two twistings in two days is kinda painful.

I went over to Mom & Dad's house yesterday to get Anna so she could help me with my grocery shopping, since Kimba was borrowing her Cabrio and the Fairlane wouldn't start. I got a keyboard from Dad's spares so that Kayla would have a working keyboard on her computer again. I left a note for her on Notepad too. Anna helped me get a lot of stuff while not paying too much--and thank goodness too--as it was, the bill was $111 and change!

Today was the 2nd day of General Conference. I didn't watch though--I was doing other stuff. I got up around 10:30, got something to eat and checked my online places for updates. Then around noon-ish, I went upstairs to start on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I got through Chapter Three before my eyes wouldn't stay open. I had a pretty long nap--about two hours' worth--and then decided to get some sort of snack. I had some toast and a couple sweet pickles, then got ready to go to Mom & Dad's for dinner.

When I got there, Dad asked me whether he should make meat balls or meatloaf. I said meatloaf. Then, Jason and I played Dragonriders (a computer game based on the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey) on his computer, which Dad finally got up and running correctly.

After a bit, Dad asked us to peel and cut potatoes for dinner, so we did that and got back to the game. Then we had dinner and played until 9pm, when it was time for Jason to go to bed. We got pretty far and got quite a few quests done before we had to stop. We've decided to play every week, and Jason said he'll either not play during the week, or create a new game for playing on his own so that he and I can play the game we started today together.

Next Saturday, I have to remember to go to the pool house between 10am and noon so that I can get my picture taken for a pool pass. Then early next month, the neighborhood is having a community yard sale, so I've been going through my catalogue at LibraryThing to see which books I could stand to get rid of. I've tagged them all "to sell," and there are 209 of them.

Sometime this week, I'm going to look at the physical books on that list (I printed it out) and decide which ones are in "read 'em and pitch 'em" condition, which ones are in fair condition, and which ones are in great condition. Then I'll price them $0.25, $0.75, and $1, respectively. If there are any hard-backed books on the list, they'll be $3 each.

After I've gone through the books, I have to go through my other stuff and see what I want to get rid of. There's probably a bunch of clothing that can go, and I have three towels I never use (I have two that are much fluffier, which I just switch when I do my laundry each week) . . . but I'll figure the rest out later.

FoLC Map!

A Great Weekend

Yesterday started out pretty slow, but it got better.

I woke up around 10:10, took a shower, then watched Avatar: The Last Airbender (2 episodes every Saturday morning on Nickelodeon from 11 am-12 noon!). About 10 minutes before the second episode was over, Jason (my brother) called to see if I would be willing to take him to the library. I said sure, I'd be there after the show was over.

We went to the library, and Jason couldn't find the book he was really looking for, but he checked out a different book instead. We tried to get him a new library card (he keeps losing his), but they require either a school ID or a report card to show that he is who he says he is. And Jason's also lost his school ID. He used my library card to check out the book.

After that, Jason and I went to McDonald's for lunch. He still had a gift card from Christmas, so he treated me to lunch yesterday, and considering he's not yet 12, that was pretty cool.

Jason finally got to see my new place yesterday. We ate our lunches here in the kitchen, then I gave him the full tour of the place. He thought it was pretty neat.

A little while later, Anna and I went over to Patrick J.'s house to meet everybody (Kayla, Jason O., Devon, Kendra, Patrick J., & Cassie) to go hang out. Cassie took a wrong turn when she was trying to get to Patrick's house, so we just met her and Kayla in the church parking lot.

We went to the good theater to see Wild Hogs. It was HILARIOUS.

After that, we decided to go to Jason's house, where he'd order pizza--Anna was hungry.

When we got there (Anna, Cassie, Kayla and I all got there before Jason and the others), Brother and Sister O. were watching Monster-in-Law with another lady, so we all decided to watch it with them. That was an awesome movie.

Then we all talked for a while while we decided what to watch next. Finally, we decided on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was actually the first one anyone suggested. It was okay--not good enough to be one of my favorites, but not bad either.

After League, we all decided to go home. There was a pretty thick fog, so Anna drove slowly until we got back to Liberty Rd. She finally dropped me off around 1 am-ish.

After that, I got ready for bed and went to sleep--I didn't even do any reading or turn the TV on sleep like I usually do. I was exhausted.

This morning, Sister G. called me at 7:45 (half an hour before I had to get up!!!) to ask me to let Jen C. know about something that she was doing this morning. I knocked on Jen's door, but it sounded like she was in the shower, so I slipped a note under her bedroom door and then went back to sleep until 8:15 when I had to get up and get ready for church.

My left knee had been bugging me off and on yesterday, so I put on my knee brace this morning too. It started to feel better somewhere between Relief Society and choir practice, but I'm not sure exactly where. Just a few minutes ago, I took the brace off because it was starting to chafe, but then I had to answer the door and go up and down the stairs to see if one of the Jens were here, 'cause that's who the person at the door was asking for.

Yes, I actually went to choir practice today. My allergies and throat were actually cooperating today, so I figured I'd better take the opportunity to do some singing. We practiced "All Glory, Laud and Honor" for the Easter sacrament meeting coming up, and then we started on another hymn--I can't remember the name of it, but it's fun because there are a lot of eighth note-double sixteenth note combinations, so it kind of sounds like mini trills.

Dad was at my ward this morning, and he asked after the third hour if I wanted a ride to his house, but I told him I was staying for choir and I had stuff to do at home (like get lunch) first. He added that if I drove myself, I wouldn't have to get someone there to drive me back home afterward, and I said that yeah, that's probably a good thing too. According to Dad (and he would know, since he's the main cook of the family) we're having lasagna. YUM!

Scriptures/quotes from this week:

3 Nephi - The Savior's visit to the Nephites
Moroni 10
1 Nephi 19:9

In Sunday School, we went over the last half of the Sermon on the Mount, and we found things in Matthew chapters 6 & 7 that true disciples should and shouldn't do.

The Relief Society lesson today was about Elder Bednar's talk from the October 2006 General Conference called "And Nothing Shall Offend Them." Here are some good paraphrases from the lesson:

To be offended is a choice we make. It is not something afflicted on us by others. We can't blame the other person just because we took offense to something they did or said.

Try not only to not be offended, but also try to be careful not to offend others.

If a snake bites you, you have two choices:

1. You can curse the snake, yell at it, abuse it, or any amount of other things done or said in anger at the snake's action.
2. You can go immediately to get help to get the poisonous venom out of you before it kills you.

So it is with being offended. You can choose either to be angry and take offense to something someone says or does to you, or you can take a moment to think on the situation and do your best to get the poisonous feeling of anger out of you as soon as possible.

One of the sisters said that she tries to see the other person the way the savior sees him or her. Often, the other person doesn't realize that what they've said could be taken as offensive, so looking at it from the other person's point of view may help to keep you from taking offense as well.

And now, for my favorite quote of the day:

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
~ Alma 5:26

Why I Like the Disney Channel

Up until a couple nights ago, I had only really recorded things (shows, movies, etc) from the Disney Channel on my new VCR/DVD-Recorder. But then I wanted to record The Mask of Zorro onto DVD, so that I'd have it. I only had The Legend of Zorro, since my parents were the ones with the first movie before I moved.

Mask was on ABC Family a couple nights ago, and I wanted to record it without the commercials, so I watched it while it was recording.

Oh my gosh, it took FOREVER!

See, on the Disney Channel, no matter what you're watching, there's never more than 3 or 4 commercial breaks. And for movies, the first commercial never comes before the first half-hour is up. But ABC Family, while it was showing The Mask of Zorro, had commercials every ten minutes! It made a 2 hour and 10 minute movie into THREE HOURS! That just made me all frustrated, because I couldn't even really go downstairs and do something else between commercial breaks--heck, I couldn't even read in my bedroom at that time, because a commercial break could come up while I was in the middle of a sentence!

GAH. That just made me appreciate the Disney Channel even more than I already do because of its good, clean, fun shows and movies.

Last night, Patrick J. came over to watch Smallville, and I forgot that I wanted to record A Cinderella Story (which was on ABC Family) while it was on, so I didn't get that movie.

I don't know whether to be bummed that I missed getting a copy of the movie for myself, or relieved that I won't have to worry about sitting through the commercials when I re-copy it later to VHS and then back to DVD without commercials, like I'm going to have to do with my recording of The Day After Tomorrow.

Before he left, Patrick and I got to talking about books and things, and he told me how he would try to read 7 or 8 books at a time (from the library) and then get all burned-out on reading. I told him how I tried that a couple Spring Breaks ago with the Dragonriders of Pern series and reading 8 books in 8 days. That experience pretty much ruined me for reading more than two books in a row. And I still can't read for hours on end like I used to be able to--I have to take a break from minutes to days in length between groups of 3 or 4 chapters before I pick a book up again.

Anyway, I told Patrick about the Song of Ice and Fire cycle by George R. R. Martin, and he thought it sounded cool, so I let him borrow my copy of A Game of Thrones. If he likes it, then I'll probably let him borrow the other books in the series as he gets to them. As soon as LibraryThing is back up and running, I'm going to make a note in the tags for GoT that Patrick is currently borrowing it.