Saturday, December 18, 2010

Boy: Legacy

Too much of a good thing is better than none.

But it still isn't as awesome as you'd thought.

Who thought that so much good, and uncertainty, could be so stressful.

~Boy

Monday, December 13, 2010

Why Do We Fall, Bruce?

Watching movies about super heroes always makes me feel like such a weakling.  Or 300.  While Spartans aren't super heroes, they sure have the power to belittle someone.
During Institute last week we had a discussion about how we should do our homework on the Sabbath.  Many in class are going to school, and so this would have an effect on them.  I am not in school currently, so I can't give up homework.  I decided to give up the thing that wastes most of my time, video games.  Not entirely, mind you.  Just on the Sabbath.  I've only done it for today, and it has been a bit of a challenge, but I think I will be able to do it as long as I stick my mind to it.  Could mean just a lot more time watching football on Sundays.  I also practiced my guitar for a while earlier.
Oh, so the point of the quote title and first sentences?  I am watching Batman Beyond and Dark Knight right now back-to-back.
***
This weekend in Minnesota we got over a foot of snow!!  Talk about crazy snow.  Tons of it.  Somewhere between 17" to 2 feet!!  There is a 6 foot pile in front of our house along the walkway.  I want to swan dive into it quite desperately.
It started on Friday night/Saturday morning.
I was up in Harris with my friend/crush Megan, having a good time and chatting it up late into the night, when it started snowing.  For a while I thought I could leave and make it home before it got too bad.  I was wrong.  Before I knew it, minutes turned to hours and it was 4AM.  The snow had piled up quite high and I had a meeting to be at (either in person or via telephone) at 10AM.  We decided that it would be better if I stayed.  Luckily Megan has an apartment/studio/thing/area above her garage and I got to stay there until the morning.
The alarm went off to early.  It was right on time, but FAR too early for my liking.
My phone was almost dead and it was time for my conference call.  I threw on my coat and trudged through the already quite impressive amount of snow to my car.  Of course I forgot my wall charger.
I sat in my car for the next hour and 20 minutes on this call.  The heat was on, so my car got quite toasty, and slowly more covered in snow.
After that I went back inside and to make a long story not quite as long, within a couple minutes Megan returned up to the apartment and used her influence to get me to come down for breakfast/lunch.  We only had a couple hours of sleep, and since I was thoroughly snowed-in at her house, we decided to take a nap later.  All-in-all it was a good day, but by nightfall the snow had stopped and I wanted to be home in my own bed for the evening. It took me a little over an hour and a half to get home, when normally it would take about an hour.  So, the roads weren't as bad as I had thought they would be, but they were still pretty bad.  I saw a total of 6 cars/trucks/SUVs in the ditch and one semi.
It was nice to be home.
***
The Ward Christmas Party tonight was really good.  Lots of friends.  Lots of food.  Tons of laughs.  My perfect equation for a pretty darn good evening.

~Boy

Friday, December 10, 2010

#4

Boy, I am terrible at updating this regularly.
It's strange to me, and also testifies of the truthfulness of the Gospel that as soon as you try to do something good, or make a resolve to follow a certain commandment, satan* attacks you in that very way in which you will have the most trouble keeping that resolve.
For instance:  I made a decision this week that I would pay more** fast offerings each month.  What happens?  It turns out the speeding ticket that I got about a month ago will be do in a couple days and it is worth 262$$  Now, this is a test, and one at which I am determined to succeed.
*I learned from Sister Oaks(the wife of Elder Oaks, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) that she likes to not capitalize satan because she feels like she is dissing him each time she does so and it helps her feel better.  I like that idea.
**See any.
***
So, what's new.
Tonight at karaoke, which is part of my weekly routine, I just really wasn't feeling like being there.  I didn't really feel like going there in the first place and never have I hit so many red lights on the way there.  BUT, I owed Fiege money because he covered me the week before.  I went, sang a song, sat and watched football, talked to Amber, wasn't really having a good time and decided to leave.  I didn't say anything to anyone, I just grabbed my coat and left.  About 40 minutes later I got a text from Brian asking me where I was.
Sometimes I just don't feel like doing anything.  Time when I need to be low-key, potentially no-key, and have some time to myself.  My mom would say that's due to my green energy, and how yellow(social) energy isn't natural, so to do it for long periods of time wears me out and I need to just revert back into that state in which I am most comfortable, which is green(unsocial).  I don't think I can really disagree with her.  Sometimes I do things just because others want me to do things, and when I do that, I get tired of it and would rather quit.  I guess tonight was one of those nights.  ALSO another guy got up and took my song.  What a dunce.
***
Fable 3 came in the mail yesterday, from when I ordered it on Black Friday.  It it how I spent my evening.  It makes me happy.
"Video games are most exciting when life is not..."
***
I can touch my toes while standing.
Finally.
This has been a goal of mine for quite some time.
I'm glad to say I have finally accomplished something I put my mind(and body) to.

~Boy

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Memory - All Alone In The Moonlight

It's been on my mind lately the potential of the human.
Obviously, from a spiritual standpoint the potential is IMMENSE!  Eternal and glorified, even.
But just from a physical standpoint.  Purely mortal.
I was driving the other day with my friend Ivan, and my iPod was playing on shuffle and All Star by Smashmouth just happened to come.  Now, I haven't heard this song in over 4 years and yet I CAN REMEMBER EVERY WORD.  How did it get so ingrained in my memory?
Now think about that power.  The power of recollection.  Not only simply remembering things, but the ability to recall an item/idea and time, emotion, persons, memories that go along with said item/idea.  That is crazy.
Now, on the flip side of this argument, I can't even remember to say my prayers every night.  How is it that something so powerful as the human mind can give meaning to something so trivial as a popular song from years gone by and give absolutely no credence to an eternal principle such as prayer?!
Along those same lines I ask you to examine my legs.  Right now they are crossed.
Now they are not.
My same friend Ivan has been studying a lot about etiquette and manners.  It is inappropriate of a man to cross his legs.  I did not know that until he told me so probably a month or two ago.  But now every time I catch myself crossing my legs, whether while I am reclined back with my legs in front of me or sitting erect with my feet tucked beneath a chair I can hear Ivan saying that that action is inappropriate.  Will this action to keep my legs separate ever become a habit?  Will I ever reach the point of just doing instead of having to hear that warning voice?  I don't know.  Either way, this is also, in the grand scheme of things, rather trivial.  Who really cares nowadays if I cross my legs?  No one that matters.
So again, I ask, why can't we remember the most important things in life, the most basic, idealistic principles but we can remember that we learned three days ago on TV that a reindeer and a caribou are the same thing?
***
I believe we should bring back the phrase "not".  It is super cool.  Not.
See what I did there?
But seriously.  It should make a comeback tour.

~Boy

Friday, December 3, 2010

Taco Seasoning

It would seem that certain Cubs Foods employees have a personality.  At 2 AM.  And an AMAZING sense of humor.
I hope you're getting the sarcasm.
Since today is Thursday, that means it was karaoke night at Buffalo Wild Wings in Northtown.  I had forgotten my wallets all day today, and it turned out that while I was home for a couple minutes before karaoke I ALSO forgot to grab them.  I drove up to BWWs.  Ate.  Sang.  Was merry.  Went to pay, and I had no money in my wallet, because I had no wallet.  Luckily my friend Fiege was willing to help me out and I promised to pay for him next week.
Unfortunately, I had also promised my mom I would pick up taco seasoning on the way home.  How can I do that with no money?  I can't.  So I headed straight home afterwards, grabbed my wallet, headed to Cub, which is my 24-hour saving angel store.  I found the taco seasoning fairly easily and proceeded to pay.  That is when I met this wonderful employee with a sense of humor.  No need to go into why exactly he thought he was so funny, just suffice it to say that he was/is weird.
***
Also on the way home from karaoke I felt I should take a certain way home, although I had decided yesterday evening I didn't want to take that way home anymore when coming from the northern metro.  So I went that way, and I passed a car on the side of the road with it's hazards on.  As I and another car got closer there appeared two people by the car, jumping up and down, trying to wave down helpful traffic passersby.  My conscience got the best of me, but not until it was too late and I was a ways down the road from them.  I immediately made a U-turn at the next light, drove back along the highway, took an off-ramp with another immediate U-turn, and then I was headed in the right direction to go help these stranded people.  As I got closer I noticed that another car had, in the time it took me to turn around, stopped to help them and they were using this individual's cell phone for some purpose.  And so I drove on and continued to home to get my money for taco seasoning.
***
Babies kinda rub off on you.  At first I'm a little scared of them because they are so fragile and precious and gross.  As they get a little older and I spend more time around them, however, I tend to like them a little.  I make mention specifically of my nephew Caelum.  He's just too darn cute.
My friend Megan said something to me that I already knew but had never had stated in this exact way so that it registered.  I have always been confused/disgusted by children because of the many things they do and for the most part disliked them due to hygiene.  Well, I had forgotten that children aren't just children.  There is an adult inside that little body that just doesn't know how to function yet.  It's not the fault of the child that it is out of place.  It is just LITERALLY out of place in it's own body and is trying to get used to things.  Makes me think...
***
Work has been really slow lately.  REALLY slow.  Terribly slow...
***
Now time for another Mormon Message and off to bed with me!

~Boy

Thursday, December 2, 2010

All I've got tonight is that I am REALLY, REALLY rusty at volleyball.
and it's only been two weeks.

~Boy

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lt. Colonel

I probably spend too much of my life playing video games.
***
Today was a fairly average day.  It started off like any other day: waking up at noon, preparing for work, reading in the Book of Mormon with breakfast, and leaving for work.
Work was normal and boring.  Except for one customer who spent over 825 bucks!  It's the biggest purchase I've ever seen and I'm guessing that the store has seen at least in a while.  The district manager even called to congratulate me.  All I did was stand there, scan in items, and tell her to have a good day!  She picked out all the clothes herself, didn't need help and wasn't fussy about anything.  It was my ideal customer.  And then she got me praises from my peers with little to no effort on my own part.  Who could ask for anything more?
After work was institute where we studied Doctrine and Covenants 59-64.  We began speaking about missionary work but by the end of the lesson we had moved to the topic of forgiveness.  I have always thought that I was a relatively good forgiver.  I don't hold many grudges.  I have an easy time laughing things off.  People like me.
***
Lately I've been watching Mormon Message videos off of YouTube before going to bed as a way to invite the Spirit more readily into my life and to keep myself away from other temptations.  It works fantastically!  And the people's stories in the videos are just amazing!!  I can't imagine going through some of the things they go through, and on top of that I can't imagine going through those experiences and then turning around and smiling.  This makes me think that maybe I'm not as good at forgiving as I would think, but than again, I haven't had them, so who knows...
If I ever do have them, I hope that I CAN keep a positive attitude and remember the Savior in all my trials.  He has promised us succor if we will but seek for it.
I love the Gospel.  Talking about it, no matter the circumstance, has a tendency to brighten my day and to bring peace to my soul.
***
Those little asterisks mean that I have leaped onto a different train of thought.
***
So, for the title of today's post I return to the beginning comments about video games.  Every night before bed I play Rock Band for a while to improve my rhythm and drumming, then I will play some Halo:Reach (which I just reached the rank of Lt. Colonel in), and end the evening with guitar practice and a Mormon Message video.
Tonight will be no different, minus the guitar practice;  I have to get up early to help put Christmas bulbs on the pine trees in back.

~Boy

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Everclear

No.  Not the alcohol.  The band from the 90's.  One of their songs plays on our CD at work, Santa Monica, and I love it every time I hear it, and reminds me of a simpler time when I was younger and had even less responsibility than I do now...
***
We could live beside the ocean,
Leave the fire behind,
Swim out past the breakers
And watch the world die.
***
I don't know why exactly it is, but I am constantly surprised by the Lord.  You'd think that I would come to know that He can, and will, do anything to help me, but for some reason with my limited mortal understanding and faith, it always comes as some huge surprise when He backs me up on something.
Today I prayed for missionary experiences.  It has been a while since I did so, and we are regularly reminded to in church.  I didn't know why, but I really felt like I needed to have one and pray for it when I woke up this morning.  Not even 3 hours later I was at work talking to one of my co-workers about the Gospel.
The conversation began and ended as most brief missionary experiences do, the enquirer not knowing much and learning something they didn't know before.  Apparently missionaries had been in a neighborhood and knocked on one of my coworkers doors, he felt impressed to share this fact with other coworkers, and one felt the need to talk to me about it.  What were they doing?  Did I do that?  What do I believe?  Is it[Mormonism] Christian?
I explained, briefly, my beliefs, including knowledge of the Godhead as well as modern-day revelation.  I had to ring up a customer and so the conversation stopped abruptly.
Or so I thought.
After I was done ringing she proceeded to ask more questions about Mormons.  Was there anything else she wouldn't know about us?  Did we have additional stories or scriptural tales of sorts that she wasn't familiar with? Did we even believe in the Bible?  I laughed to myself and thought how perfect it was that these were the questions she was asking, but of course, that's how the Spirit does things: perfectly.
The conversation ended after a couple minutes of me explaining more about The Book of Mormon and my belief in solidified, unified, perfect doctrine.  She went home after that, and I don't know if it made a difference to her day at all to know those things.  It sure made a difference in mine.  I'm grateful for answered prayers.

~Boy

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

It's Just A Game...

So, besides me beating Final Fantasy XIII (FINALLY) nothing really important or fun happened today.  I ended up driving up to The Mermaid for 21+ Free Bowling, but we only played one game and our balls kept getting stuck.
I must have hurt myself while swimming or ultimate frisbeeing, because my shoulder kills today, and I can't even take a full breath.
My sunburn is healing nicely!
OH!  And my sister, and her family, are moving back to Wisconsin!!  Cool stuff.


~Boy

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Pictureless

I wish I could put a picture of hot sunburned I am right now.

Alas, I cannot.  I have tried from many angles, but it just doesn't look as bad as it really is on camera.  Trust me.
It's bad.

~Boy

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Title: Frustration

This picture is the fruits of over 2 hours of work:
For the aforementioned amount of time, I have been playing FFXIII, knowing that I was very close to the end, and could probably finish it.
Alas, I have been thwarted.
I have done everything else, EXCEPT defeat the final boss.  I have been battling, dying, and retrying for over the last hour, and I have finally had to give up due to sleep, church, important life things, etc.
Today has just not been my day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be great and Monday is guaranteed to be amazing.
*****
This is what I do with my days away... :\

~Boy

Saturday, May 29, 2010

It's Tool Time!

Tonight, we went and saw Prince of Persia, and as everyone was breaking up to go home, I told them to come back for a picture:
A couple of them saw the picture afterwards, and said that we should retake it, because it could be better.  I think this picture is a pretty accurate description of my friends...
We aren't perfect.
Won't be for a LOOOOOONG time.
Friends(From left to right):
(Back Row)Duncan Schultz, Jessica Shasky, Lucas Lehman, Amber Cox, Kyle Leichtle
(Front Row)Amber Haidenthaller, Brian Bourgerie, Courtney Stepaniak, Jeremy Perdue


~Boy

Friday, May 28, 2010

2 4 1

I wasn't able to make it to a computer last night, so I will post the pictures in order from two days ago and yesterday:
This is the amazing bed I get to sleep on whenever I spend the night at Brian's house.  It is almost as nice as my own bed, and certainly more comfortable than the couch.  Seriously, so freakin' comfortable!!

Pepsi 12 packs were on sale for 1.98$ a pack at Cub.  So we got a little carried away and got 8 of 'em.
(From right to left): Mt. Dew Typhoon, Mt. Dew Distortion, Mt. Dew, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi Vanilla Cherry, Mug.
(Not picture): Dr. Pepper






~Boy

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Sometimes 1 Just Isn't Enough

I couldn't decide which one I liked more, so here:

The first photo is of my friend Brian playing pool.  We decided to go to The Mermaid for free bowling(every Tuesday and Wednesday night) and while we waited for a lane to open up, we shot some pool.  Brian ended up winning.  This is him IN MID ACTION!!!!
The second is of my friend Jeremy.  He is from California.  Also a cool kid.
Long story short, I almost ended up losing my camera there.
I am very lucky.
~Boy

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Start

I have been meaning to start a photo blog for a while.  Just somewhere I can make a photo journal of my life, I suppose.
This has become that place.


*****


As I was driving home from Brian's house tonight, I saw the moon shining off one of the inlets of the Mississippi River, and it looked really cool.  Unfortunately, I was on a highway, so I couldn't really stop and take a picture.  I held my phone out of my sun roof and tried to snag a picture.  This didn't work well so I just decided to take a photo when I got home.


*****


This is taken from my driveway, using the Night Landscape setting.


*****


This reminds me of the lyrics from the Linkin Park song A Place For My Head where Mike raps about how the "Sun doesn't give it's light to the Moon assuming the Moon's going to owe Him one."
This is one of the struggles of my life right now, being, how much do you give of yourself without receiving the equal in return?
In my Interpersonal Communications class that I took three semesters ago, we talked about balanced relationships.  About how we strive to have relationships in which there is equal give and take.
I am having a hard time finding someone(s) who is(are) willing to give as much as I am.  This makes life hard.


*****


Shoot, this was supposed to just be a picture.  Not a rant.


~Boy

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Prince Of Persia

im making this post from my phone!!! cool huh?