I've been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e. I'm a Mormon) for all my life, and if you didn't know that by now... well, where have you been?
Seriously, though, I love being a Mormon, and one of the aspects of the LDS faith is that we have these things called temples. Without going into too much detail for now, as I plan to do so next month, temples are a place we consider to be holy – we call each one "The House of the Lord." Every single one I've been to, every time I've been, I've found that I immediately feel peace. I feel calm. I feel at home.
Below are pictures (some of which I took myself, noted by a * if you're curious) of all of the temples I've visited. It's near impossible for me to choose a favorite one, because they're all simply beautiful and special to me in their own way.
Provo, Utah*
Mt. Timpanogos, Utah*
Seattle, Washington
São Paulo, Brazil
San Diego, California
Salt Lake City, Utah
St. Louis, Missouri
Oakland, California
Campinas, Brazil
Porto Alegre, Brazil*
Manti, Utah
Nauvoo, Illinois
This post will be edited in the future as I visit more temples – currently, there are 143 temples in use around the world, with 27 currently being built or previously announced.
I mentioned above that I'll go into detail next month about what temples are, because November (being the month of Thanksgiving) will be my "grateful posts" month. Every day I'm going to talk about something I'm grateful for, and temples are definitely on that list.
I've debated posting this one for a while, worrying how, like other posts in this series, it might get some mixed reactions. But reminding myself that this is my blog, my thoughts, my opinions on whatever topic – I shouldn't let other people's opinions stop me from expressing what's on my mind.
When I fall for someone, I tend to fall pretty hard. Just being honest. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think a big part of it might have to do with the idea of how much happier life would be with an eternal companion at my side. (Note that I'm saying happier. Not necessarily easier. But definitely happier.) So that idea of a happier life is implanted in my head and when I get the slightest inclination that there's a possibility with someone, part of me latches on. Despite that possibility just being a total figment of my imagination, and that particular someone is just showing their kindness/personality/whatever.
I guess part of what I'm saying is that I could very possibly misinterpret when a girl is flirting and when she isn't, and that's because there are times when my mind gets so fixated on that idea of happiness with an eternal companion, so it just accepts it all as "yes, she likes you and is interested in you." For clarification, here's some of what I normally interpret as flirting:
- unnecessary, but friendly physical contact
- spending time around you and making it obvious that they're there for you
- paying extra attention to you
- inviting you to do things with them, especially one-on-one
- initiating conversations frequently
- going out of their way to make you feel special/wanted/loved, either by word or gift
- remembering your special events/days
Those are the only ones that come to mind for now. Obviously those aren't all the ways to flirt (I'm fairly certain that women have their own languages that they use and communicate with, one of which is only through eye contact), and usually it's a combination of some or all of these that would really make it obvious that you're showing interest in someone. And it's not that I consider myself a master of the art, but I've definitely been attempting to "woo" various women that I've been interested in for some time… and, frankly, I have little to show for it.
A favorite movie of mine and among my friends, Hitch, explains something rather well. Particularly at the 1:45 mark. (Minor language warning a couple minutes after that.)
You can't just straight up tell someone that you like them. You can't. I don't know why you can't – I mean, honesty is supposed to be the best policy, right? – but any time I've tried doing so, it's blown up in my face. Here's how it usually goes, presented in GIF form:
Basically it starts like this...
...goes like this (with me as the guy holding the hoop)...
...and ends like this.
Just telling someone that you like them (from the Hitch clip above: "I like you." That's it!) doesn't seem to be a thing that happens at all anymore. If someone does do it, the action often comes across as brutish, unthoughtful, annoying, too forward, and/or tactless. Creativity is expected for almost everything – at least, that's the implication that's been built up in society. Seriously, I can already imagine how the situation would go: if I were to say to someone who I currently fancy that I like them, while one part of my mind wants it to play out beautifully, the "realist" side of my mind envisions it crashing and burning, with little chance of that girl talking to me ever again. Now, as to whether or not the "realist" side of me envisions that because it's actually right, or because that's what's been drilled into our heads over the last decade or so, I'm not sure what to believe. But the fact that it's hard to stay optimistic for something that, in theory, is so simple – that fact frustrates me to no end.
This was a sketch done by BYU's Divine Comedy a couple years ago, and while it's one of the ones that's received some of the biggest laughs I've ever seen it's almost painful as to how true it seems.
Most of it is Mallory trying to explain the signals girls give (and who knows if they're all accurate; again, I'm sure every girl has her own methods of communication), and towards the end she asks Adam for his explanation of men:
A: "So if I kiss you, I like you." M: "That's it?" A: "That's it. Men are simple: we like meat, kissing, and explosions."
Obviously men are a little more complicated than that, but it does narrow it down fairly well. And yes, I understand that men and women are different on many levels, and we're supposed to be different for many good reasons, but again the frustration comes in when we try to get up to their level and we're shot down for not doing things the "right way." Most of us have only ever known the one way, so give us some credit for trying things the way they appeal to you!
And if you're not interested, just be honest and upfront about it. Tell us, straight up, that you'd rather not pursue a relationship. You don't need to give a reason for it if you don't want to, because that's your personal reason. If you're worried about hurting or offending us, well... Yeah, it's probably gonna hurt, but it'll hurt a lot less than if things were to drag on for weeks or months without knowing how you actually feel about us. We can learn to bounce back and move on. For some it may take a while longer than others, but at the end of the day it's something we eventually just deal with.
New movies: hit up DI looking for possibilities to work on a new Halloween costume. Didn't find anything. Went to the movies section as a fallback. Was not disappointed.
Monster's Inc. [FINALLY another Disney movie for my collection, and a Pixar one to boot!]
Avatar [Special 3-disc edition, all discs still there and in good condition]
Muppet Treasure Island/The Great Muppet Caper [Blu-Ray and DVD combo pack, still in original packaging]
Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back [Also still in original packaging]
I'm not sure how to start this post off. This subject is a little touchier than most that I write about.
If you've been on the internet in the last twenty-four hours, there's a very high chance that you've heard about the passing of Robin Williams, an actor known to many around the world. While his death is certainly tragic, for sure, it's also been revealed that he most likely committed suicide, caused by asphyxiation. That seems to be the thing hitting hardest to most people. How could a man, whose most famous contributions to society were for comedy, be considering something so dark and poorly understood? How could a man whose job it was to make people smile be dealing with depression?
Click if you need it to be bigger to read the text.
There are tons of things that we don't fully understand yet as humans. And one of the biggest ones is probably why we ever get depressed. Some say it's brought on by chemical imbalances. Some say that it's due to negative past experiences. I've even heard – not as recently, but I've heard – that it's just the person's attitude and they need to just pick themselves up. Whatever the case may be, we need to reach out to those who are ever feeling depressed and do our absolute best to make sure they know that they are loved and appreciated, and that we want to help.
There is a right and a wrong way to deal with death, especially those brought about by suicide. This, obviously, is not the right way of doing so:
Seriously, what good is it going to do you to watch the home of a family who just lost someone they loved?!
There is another thing that's happened, though, that's actually discussed very well in this article by the Washington Post. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a.k.a. the people behind the Oscars, tweeted this out:
While the image is touching, it should not be interpreted as a way out of depression. NEVER should it be interpreted that way. And I'm sure the Academy didn't intend for it to come across that way; it seems to be more of a tribute than anything else. But please, please, please understand that suicide should never be seen as an escape from any problems that you deal with in this life. It shouldn't be considered an option, ever. And if you know of someone who is dealing with anything like this at all, reach out to them immediately. Let them know that there is help for them.
So how do we deal with those people who end up doing so anyway? Taking their own life, bringing us grief and pain because of their passing? What are we to expect is Mr. Williams' fate? Is he going to be cast down to hell for taking his own life away? Certainly we aren't meant to take life into our own hands; that's God's job, not ours.
If I have any non-Mormon friends who end up reading this blog post, I'm going to get a little religious here. Bear with me. We believe that we have apostles here on the earth who receive constant revelation from God and help us understand more about life and our purpose here on Earth. We have multiple websites to go to, where you can literally type in anything you want to know about, and there's a high chance that that topic has been discussed at some point. I did so on one of our main websites, lds.org, and typed in "suicide" just in the search bar at the top of the page. The first result gave me this:
Although it is wrong to take one's own life, a person who commits suicide may not be responsible for his or her acts. Only God can judge such a matter. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said:
“Obviously, we do not know the full circumstances surrounding every suicide. Only the Lord knows all the details, and he it is who will judge our actions here on earth.
”When he does judge us, I feel he will take all things into consideration: our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth“ (”Suicide: Some Things We Know, and Some We Do Not,“ Ensign, Oct. 1987, 8).
There's also a link to the talk that Elder Ballard is quoted from, as well as a number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and its website, a link to a video made by the Church, and a link to LDS Family Services, which helps with issues like this and many others on a daily basis.
Matt Walsh, who is an infamous blogger on the web, posted today about Robin Williams' suicide. The title of the post is "Robin Williams didn't die from a disease, he died from his choice." Matt has posted about numerous topics before, most of which are the highly controversial ones of the day, and this one is no less controversial. He does say that it's something he doesn't fully understand and has been trying to for all his life (not sure if this means that he's dealt with depression all of his life or that he's just been struggling to understand it all that time), but the point he ultimately makes is that suicide is a choice that we make for ourselves, and we need to not make that choice.
Well, duh. Obviously we shouldn't make that choice. But the way he argues, he makes it seem like it's always in our control, regardless of how we're feeling. I strongly, firmly disagree. This summer, while I was working as a counselor for EFY, I had a boy my first week who told us towards the end of the week that the year before he was hospitalized for attempted suicide. Knowing him up until that point (and keep in mind that we're around these youth pretty much every hour of the day, so we get to know them fairly well), you would not have suspected that at all. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would ever choose to take his own life. A few weeks ago I had another boy whose friend became so grief-stricken over the death of her friends in a plane crash that she took her own life two days later. I sincerely doubt that she planned to do that well in advance. Even before all of that, I had a good friend who was off his medication for depression, so he tried to use other medicines to compensate. He had nearly killed himself that night due to that other medication's effects, and I ended up taking him to the hospital when I found out so that he could get real help. The mind is a complex thing to deal with, and it may be decades or even centuries before we even come close to fully understanding how it works.
My belief is that, like it says above, only God can judge such a matter. Many people aren't in their right mind when dealing with depression and other mental afflictions. They just aren't. So a choice that they make really can't totally be pinned to their judgment. I believe that our Heavenly Father, who loves us more than we can ever fully comprehend, wouldn't automatically condemn someone who takes their own life when in a situation like that.
Again, the Church is fully conscious of the fact that depression is a real thing. This talk, given back in 1978, shows that even then it was a problem that needed to be handled delicately. And this one, given more recently by one of the apostles, reveals that even they have dealt and deal with it as well:
Full talk given here, with references at the bottom.
So in the event that a loved one of ours passes away, due to death by natural causes, an accident, a suicide, or whatever the situation may be, what should we do? Obviously there is a needed time to mourn about it, but my thoughts are to not completely focus on the loss. Rather, let's focus on what was left behind, and the good times we had. I'm reminded of when I lost a good friend of mine last year from a hiking accident; I wasn't able to attend his funeral in Colorado, but before that had taken place there was a remembrance service where people simply came and talked about the happy/funny memories they had of him. With someone as iconic as Robin Williams, while his personal life might not have been the image of perfection, can we do the same? Can we remember those good times, and the good things he left with us?
Being this the first day of the seventh month of the year two thousand and fourteen, and as such being a halfway point between the beginning and end of said year, I find it appropriate to give another update on my New Year's Resolutions. I'll just make this a quick post, as I'm just giving updates on them all. I'll say up front that EFY is helping out a ton with many of these.
1. Exercise a little every day, even if it means taking a walk for 30 minutes on a treadmill. I used a pedometer for the first few weeks I was doing EFY and found that I was averaging about 15,000 steps per day. 2,000 is about a mile, and I've heard that a good goal for someone trying to lose weight is to hit at least 10,000, so I feel like I'm doing fairly well with that.
2. Unless I'm specifically out with friends, stop eating so much late at night. Doing well so far! The only real exception to this is pizza night for EFY, but I'm taking care to not splurge... for the most part.
3. Read at least one new book a month. Ehhhhh... could be doing better. I still have the original books I checked out from the library back in January that I need to get through... That time between when EFY finishes and when school starts up is going to be super valuable.
4. Start up a media production of some kind. Working on it. My brother and I have created a company based mostly off of his DJ equipment/experience, but we have plans to expand to much more than just audio production.
5. Do my best to enter into a relationship that is leading towards marriage. Working on it. I'm meeting new people all the time, and while EFY is taking up a lot of time that I would use for social activities I'm definitely keeping my eyes open.
I mean, sometimes I feel like this is how I come off to girls when I'm trying to flirt:
And I'm really hoping that it's not actually that. But I'll save that topic for a future post.
6. Write at least one blog post per week. Working on this still. (Obviously.) Got some ideas of future posts already, so I'll do my best to make some time to get them written.
7. Watch the movies in my library that I haven't seen yet. Again, EFY is kinda in the way of free time, but since I've stopped buying movies for a while I'm slowly catching up.
8. Go to a convention of some sort. Going to be taken care of this week! I just mentioned in resolution #6 that I have plans for future blog posts, and one of them is going to be about FantasyCon, which will be this Thursday through Saturday. Kind of a funny story as to how I'm going, but I'll save that for the post itself.
9. Be more outgoing. EFY is helping in more ways than I can imagine. More so with this than my mission, I feel. I'm thrown every week into a situation where I need to get to know anywhere from 6 to 12 boys who are under my care for the week, then in addition to that I get to know just as many girls (or more, if we were to use last week as an example). I get to know multiple other counselors, and all of us have the responsibility to teach and guide these youth toward gaining a testimony of the Gospel. I don't know how I could do this without being outgoing.
Even if this is all I'm doing to be more outgoing, it's more than what I usually do, and I'm happy about that.
10. Be happy with myself. This is going along with the previous resolution, as well as #1. I can already tell I'm losing some weight, if only a little bit at a time, but I'm already feeling better health-wise. And the fact that I'm helping out dozens of others get closer to Christ... now THAT feeling has no comparison. This is seriously the closest I've felt to being a missionary, and it's similar in many ways. I think the only difference is that my "investigators" are already members of the Church, for the most part, and we're working to solidify the testimonies they already have.
So that's where I'm at so far with my resolutions. I've now got six months to go, and I feel pretty confident with how most of them are going to be able to finish them all by December 31.
So on Facebook, people are prone to post results from various tests and quizzes about a myriad of topics. "What Hogwarts house do you belong in?" "What is your spirit animal?" "Which character from Friends are you?" "How many children should you have?"
This video, I feel, accurately describes how many of us feel about such posts:
Glove and Boots has to be one of my favorite channels on YouTube, and many times they're spot on with their social commentary. (And pretty dang funny with their jokes and timing.) However, there's one point I'd like to make that they kinda touch on in the video, if indirectly: some of them are actually fun to take, if only for the personal amusement factor. They're a lot like those paper fortune tellers that you used to make as a kid.
Bigger, and definitely nicer, than many of the ones I ever made as a kid, but it gets the point across.
We all know they're not real. I know that, you know that, our parents know it… Probably the only people who don't know it are the 4- and 5-year-old kids seeing these fortune tellers (a.k.a. "cootie catchers") for their first time ever. In any case, it's still a fun thing to do every once in a while. So, as to not fill up my feed with even more of the quizzes that we really don't need to see (again, reference the video I put above) I'll just put results of any quizzes I take here. And I'll update it from time to time, if anyone is ever curious about what kind of breakfast cereal I am, or how long I'll live, or when I'll get married, or what superpower I should have. You know, the important things.
Also, I'll try to keep it to quizzes that actually make sense. In the video above, Fafa the Groundhog takes a quiz about what animal he should be, and none of the questions he's asked have anything to do with animals.
Which Pokémon Gym Leader Are You?
This was the first one I noticed, mostly for having a love of the Pokémon franchise. I got Misty, and here's the description:
You are fiercely competitive and energetic. You tend to tackle problems head-on and are always striving to be better. You may have romantic aspirations, but you would never let them get in the way of your training!
All righty then. I don't know if this quiz is limited to just the first generation of games, though… and if you have absolutely no idea what I meant with that last statement, then ask me later.
What Song Should You Actually Sing At Karaoke?
Hopefully this doesn't start a trend… the questions for this one didn't ask anything about what kind of music I like, or anything about music, really. One of my questions was literally "What is your spirit animal?" which I was kind of joking about before, and another one asked me to choose one out of nine movies. I picked Space Jam. My song result is Dolly Parton's "9 to 5."
It’s been a long day at work, but now you are on your own time. Celebrate the working man and woman and bring out that Tennessee Twang, because you’re about to sing “9 to 5.”
I kinda sorta hate country. And Dolly Parton in particular. So I sincerely doubt that this is right. Moving on.
Do You Win At Eating?
First of all, I don't even know if that's a grammatically correct question. I know that it's common in today's vernacular, but… "Do you win at eating?" I doubt I'd ever ask someone that in that way. Anyway, I checked off 8 out of 50 "accomplishments" for eating, and here's what it says:
You’re a champion eater! You’ve got mad eating skillz. And everyone is pretttttty impressed.
…*sigh*
First off, I'd just like to point out that the questions for this one are rather subjective. Example: one of the things to check off was "I have eaten an entire can of Pringles." I have, but not all at the same time – I seriously doubt I could ever do that. Over the course of a week, though, yeah. I have. Others were more specific, such as "I have eaten more than 3 bowls of cereal in one sitting." (Didn't check that one off, by the way.) I just assumed that all the the ambiguous questions meant in one sitting, so I left them blank if I hadn't done that.
Second, how does 8 out of 50 merit "mad eating skills"?! That's a ridiculously low score on ANYONE'S scale! Since this one is easier to see the answers for, since you just check off a certain amount, I found out that just 1 gives you "reasonable eater" and all 50 gives you "Ultimate Eating Champion." Just 6 already puts you at the level that I actually got.
Well done. This is more or less the best thing that has ever happened to you. You are going to get this result tattooed on your forearm, because it is that important.
I didn't think that I answered many of the questions that sarcastically… Although when it gave me six TV show characters to choose from, I went with Dr. House, who is probably one of the most sarcastic characters I can think of.
Which '90s Game Show Are You?
This one I enjoyed, mostly because of the nostalgia factor. My result was Nickelodeon Guts, which I really feel is a show that they could bring back and it would be a total hit. (That and Nick Arcade, but that one would take a little more work in finding appropriate games…)
You represent your city, your nation, yourself in the greatest individual competition known ever to kidkind. You know the Olympic Games would be greatly improved if they were more like this classic competition. Can you climb to the top of the Aggro Crag to claim a piece of it for your own?
Come to think of it, Nickelodeon had a few game shows back in the day that were all REALLY good. Legends of the Hidden Temple, the ones already mentioned, Double Dare (with the spinoffs of Family Double Dare and Double Dare 2000)… good times.
What Disney Movie Hero/Heroine Are You Actually?
Don't know if this one was as fair as some of the others. First question asked me to pick a color, second question asked me to choose a TV – none of which I've watched, and none of which were Disney channel shows. My result was Aladdin, which I'm actually pretty happy with, but again I don't think the question given were actually appropriate for this one.
“Riffraff, street rat. I don’t buy that.” You are the definition of a diamond in the rough. True royalty at heart! I feel sorry for the poor sap who underestimates you. Anyone who risks imprisonment for a small amount of food is a-OK in my book.
Also, one of the questions asked what my chosen method of transportation would be. Out of the choices given, I chose driving (against swimming, walking, swinging, flying, and majestic horseback riding). If that's not enough of a clue that sometimes these quizzes are just a bit far-fetched, then I don't know what is.
Which Soda Are You?
Again, great result this time around (Dr Pepper) but I have no idea why some of the questions for this were in there. "Pick a 90's trend" and "Pick a celeb" (with one of the options for that one being Santa) don't seem to correlate with sodas in my mind.
Actually, picking Santa might have given me Coke, come to think of it.
You’re an enigma, possessing of that ever-elusive “je ne sais quoi.” No one can quite figure you out, which either means someone thinks you’re weird, or you’re incredibly sexy. Either way, you’re fine with it all.
Great description for Dr Pepper. I feel like it's pretty accurate for both the drink and myself.
Which "The Princess Bride" Character Are You?
One of my favorite movies (I think for a lot of people in Mormon culture, it's one of their favorite movies) and they actually had all the questions relate to characters! I ended up getting the Grandfather, who admittedly is only part of the movie and not the book. But he does contribute a fair amount to the movie.
The most important thing to you is family. You’re caring and show your love through action. You adore stories and tell them to anyone who will listen. Even if it’s a kissing story.
You know, I feel like I actually relate a lot to young Fred Savage's character as well. When I was young, I used to absolutely hate watching any kissing scenes in movies. Even in cartoons! But now that I'm older and accept the fact that… yeah, kissing is actually a pretty normal thing, I can watch most kissing scenes just fine. (Except maybe for those couples who wait until the day of their wedding to kiss for the first time… that's jut weird. And I'm not gonna link to any of those, you can find them for yourself.)
Would You Pass Your Harry Potter Charms OWL?
I'm not gonna go ahead and call myself a "Potterhead," but I've read the books a few times each, seen all the movies, and felt pretty confident going into this. Ended up getting 9 out of 10 right, and according to the Hogwarts grading scale I get an O for "Outstanding."
Hermione, is that you? Congratulations! You’re definitely the brightest witch/wizard of your age!
The only one that I missed (because this one actually shows you what you got right and wrong) was "Rictusempra." I said that it would give the target a flesh wound, but I confused that with "Sectumsempra," which was introduced in the sixth book/movie. The actual effect strikes the foe with a feeling of incessant tickling. Besides that, though, I got them all right!
What Should Your Name Actually Be?
There wasn't an option to say if you were a guy or girl for this, and I'm not gonna try to go through this one again to get a guy's name for it. My result? "Kiki." The description?
Your name should have been Kiki.
Right, because that totally makes sense.
WHEN Will You Die?
Apparently I'm going to die on July 1, 2024. Exactly 10 years from now. You have 10 years left. Now is the time to plan out how to really enjoy the time you got! Travel around the world, explore new people, accomplish your dreams and most important of all - BE HAPPY. 10 years is plenty of time.
Umm... no it's not. It really isn't.
Which Transformers Character Are You?www.playbuzz.comFind out which Transformers character you're most like. Ironhide. A brief summary from the Wikipedia page I linked to just now (because the quiz gives no description) is that he's Optimus Prime's oldest friend and the weapons specialist of the team, having sustained many injuries during his time as a soldier. I could live with that.
Admittedly, I actually don't know all that much about each Transformer outside of the recent movies... I think I was just a couple years too late to really know/enjoy the show all that much.
How Would You Die In An Action Movie?
"You tragically die in your lover's arms." The picture associated with this result is from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, after Wolverine kills Jean amidst all the destruction she's causing. You're a lover (and maybe a fighter, too). Your caring nature and irresistible good looks caught the attention of one of the hottest characters in the movie, and their piercing eyes and rippling muscles will be the last thing you see before you go. Don't worry, your untimely death will be avenged by a combination of a sudden adrenaline rush and maybe a machine gun.
I feel like the description is geared more toward a woman... oh well. At least I'll be avenged.
Which Gaming Icon Are You?
I'm already calling BS on this one because the first question asked "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?" and did not list flying as one of the options. That is my go-to superpower, and I'm rather disappointed it wasn't there, especially because it asked any superpower.
It ended up giving me Sonic the Hedgehog. Impatient & Quick-Witted, you are Sega's iconic mascot - Sonic The Hedgehog! Sonic is the title character and protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, four animated shows, and an animated OVA. He is a 15-year-old blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who has the ability to run at supersonic speeds and the ability to curl into a ball, primarily to attack enemies.
While I'm a little worried as to how the Sonic franchise is going to be dealt with for the new series "Sonic Boom," there are a few games that I've played that I really did enjoy, so this result isn't too bad.
Which Norse God Are You?
This one is about Norse gods... and the third to last question asked me to choose a Greek deity. Then it asked me to choose my favorite of the X-Men Okay. Wise and Timeless, you are the Norse God Odin! Odin is the Allfather of the gods, and the ruler of Asgard. He is flanked by ravens, of which he uses to oversee his lands. His role, like that of many of the Norse gods, is complex. Odin is a principal member of the Æsir (the major group of the Norse pantheon) and is associated with war, battle, victory and death, but also wisdom, Shamanism, magic, poetry, prophecy, and the hunt. Odin has many sons, the most famous of whom is the thunder god Thor.
Odin's a pretty decent result, though, so I can live with that.
A couple weeks ago was one of the most tiring I've had in a long time. And I don't regret it for an instant.
Earlier this year, I had an interview for a job to be a counselor for this summer program put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Especially For Youth (heretofore referred to as EFY). It was something that I went to for multiple years as a participant and loved every time that I did. Now, having grown a bit in years, I have the opportunity to give the youth who attend the same experiences that I had. Seriously, I absolutely loved it, and from what I was able to see from even just following people around that week, I know that it's going to go incredibly well throughout the rest of the summer.
Here's a basic rundown of how each day goes every week:
MONDAY
- Kids check in around the middle of the day, coming from all over the place. Participants in Provo often come from out of state, just because here is where some of the biggest sessions happen. All participants receive a journal to take notes in throughout the week and a t-shirt specific to that year's theme. This year the theme is "Anxiously Engaged", taken from Doctrine & Covenants 58:27.
- Participants meet their counselors, boys with guy counselors and girls with girl counselors, and then they all come together in groups of 20-30 (trying to keep an even ratio of guys to girls) and form "companies." These companies are all assigned a scripture to focus on throughout the week and choose a name for themselves to be called by everyone else. As an example, the scripture that our company was assigned was Doctrine & Covenants 10:5, so we named ourselves the Conquerers.
- Everyone heads to a meeting with the Session Director, someone who is already married and has a fairly decent amount of wisdom to share with the youth. Some popular directors have been Brad Wilcox, John Bytheway, and others.
- The companies separate and have their own Family Home Evening, with a lesson and games.
TUESDAY
- All participants go to a devotional with the session director, then have a class about how to recognize the Holy Ghost in their lives. Then there's a chance for them to choose some classes to go to, often with some popular Mormon motivational speakers or professors.
- In the evening, everyone meets up and gets ready for a dance. Proper dance etiquette is taught to the guys and girls, so that all are able to have a fun, clean time. The dance goes for a couple hours and depending on where it is and what week of the summer it is, it could have as many as a thousand people there at once. (Sometimes, especially in Provo, there are multiple sessions happening, so for the sake of the dance they combine the sessions together at that time.)
Unfortunately, but understandably, they discourage breakdancing.
WEDNESDAY
- More classes than Tuesday, with some more options of teachers and topics.
- A panel discussion with some of the teachers and the session director is held. Early on in the week the youth have a chance to submit questions about the Gospel that they'd like answered, and while many of the questions are answered the biggest point they try to emphasize is how to find the answers to questions on their own.
- Companies meet up together again to create a company cheer and design a banner relating to the company name they came up with, all in preparation for Games Night.
- Games Night is an opportunity for all the companies in the session to have friendly competition with each other, playing large group games and showing off their cheer for the judges (the session director, his wife, and the head counselors).
- For sessions where the participants stay overnight, the opportunity comes up to have a Pizza Night, where all in the company contribute a bit to buy pizza for themselves and just socialize/bond some more.
THURSDAY Probably the most important day of the week.
- The young men and young women each have their own devotionals and group activities. I know for the young men, it's often related to how mission life is like. Many of the teachings that they've been learning throughout the week are reinforced at this time, helping the youth to understand that the Gospel is influential in every aspect of their lives.
- A game show is held to help break up the tone of the day, with all the participants of the session together. The one that we did this last week was in the style of Jeopardy!, with five categories and team members chosen from each side of the room (only two teams for simplicity's sake). Some of the categories are Church trivia questions, others are physical "feats" (one that I saw was to attach pedometer to one's head and get the number as high as possible within a minute), others are just completely random.
- A musical program, which youth are encouraged to participate in if they feel comfortable singing, is held later in the day to bring the Spirit back. The themes shared are related back to the theme of EFY for that year.
- A fireside is given by the session director, and then all the companies are taken to separate rooms so they can hold their own testimony meetings. It's quite common for everyone to get up and share their testimonies at this time, but no one is forced to, and if there is a break in people getting up then they just let the silence be an opportunity for the Spirit to sink in. This is one of the things I remember most about going to EFY every summer. It's hard to go to one of these testimony meetings and not feel the Spirit. There's also a section in every journal to write down your own testimony, should you choose.
FRIDAY
- Last full day for participants. There's a short devotional in the morning with the counselors to help the youth understand how to best benefit from the week – not just by remembering what they learned, but applying the teachings in their regular lives and sharing with their friends and family.
- An activity based on the LDS missionary manual Preach My Gospel is used to help participants become more familiar with its teachings. In particular, this year they're focusing on how the Book of Mormon helps to answer questions of the soul (about halfway down the page for this link).
- A variety show, which any participant can audition for, is held for about an hour and a half. And by variety show, it can really include anything; the one I got to watch this first week included a few singing acts, a duet on pianos, stand-up comedy, dancing, impressions and movie quotes, juggling… And that was just at one of the shows going on! At Provo there are often multiple sessions happening at once, so there was another variety show happening at the same time as the one I saw.
- A time is given to take pictures with your company and exchange contact information. It's much easier to do so now than when I was a participant; Facebook wasn't a thing, yet, but these days people can add each other and tag photos in seconds. Which is often quite helpful to maintain the friendships past the one week they all get to know each other.
- A final dance is held, followed by a slideshow of pictures taken throughout the whole session. Participants and counselors can contribute to this slideshow, though most of the pictures are taken by counselors whose job it is mostly to focus on that.
- A reminder of how to "take it home" is given with the company. Some companies have their own second testimony meeting, which is helpful if not everyone had the chance earlier that week to share.
SATURDAY
- Participants check out fairly early, which is why time is given on Friday for the contact exchange.
It's important to note that every day there are meals provided for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and times in the morning to have personal Gospel study, some free time every afternoon, and times every night to review things they learned or felt during the day. Lights out every night for participants is 10:30 PM, which is heavily emphasized so that they can actually sleep and enjoy the activities throughout the week. There are also "stay-at-home" sessions, where the participants come only during the day and go back home every night. Most everything still happens, but it's condensed a bit due to the lesser amount of time they have, and they're completely done by Friday night.
So are the things you learn at EFY really that important? All that life-changing?
My company, the last year that I went as a participant.
And these are the journals I had from each year that I was a participant, starting in 2004, and I don't plan on getting rid of them any time soon. So you tell me if they're all that important or life-changing.
Small update: this is the group of kids I have for my first week as an official counselor. I couldn't ask for a better start to this summer.
No specific topic to write about this week. I've kinda been doing the same thing for the last few weeks, just working at Subway most every day. I did get things going for EFY, at least on my end. I'm still not sure where I'll be each week, but I do know that I'll have at least six to nine weeks of work. At least one week will be in Provo, one close to Provo, one traveling, and one stay-at-home session. I'm hoping I'll know more in the coming weeks, since my training week is fast approaching at the end of May.
Yesterday I had a Lord of the Rings marathon as well with a good friend of mine. We started at about noon and got done a little before 10:00. And no, they weren't the extended editions. Those movies are long enough already! They're good, but I really don't know what else should have been put in there to make them any better. (Except maybe this.)
This look is kinda how I felt by the end of the third one. But it was totally worth it.
Speaking of movies, my second blog, Bargain Bin Reviews, should be up and running by the end of this week. The first post on it will just be an introductory post explaining what will be happening on it, and the week after that I'll actually be reviewing movies. For those who actually read this blog on a regular basis, I hope you'll also read this new one and share it with your friends! I'll still be posting on here regularly, but the Bargain Bins blog will definitely be a regular post every week. Unless I'm sick or otherwise occupied.
New DVDs: At Savers, where I also managed to find a working N64 and copy of Pokémon Stadium for pretty cheap, I found Doom, which I felt like I needed to get because it's 1) based on a video game and that usually results in some awfully (emphasis on awful) funny end products, and 2) a movie where it still lists Dwayne Johnson as "The Rock" in the credits. Can't really pass that up. Also, Community. I was a little skeptical about it when I first saw it, because it has pictures of actors from the TV show, and as far as I know there hasn't been a movie of it. However, the disc inside lists the first three episodes of it, so I can only assume that it was a promotional DVD distributed when the show was first coming out.
Deseret Industries, the other thrift shop around here, got me Hitch, Ghost Rider, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and The Benchwarmers.
Amazon, which I only really get stuff on every once in a while with tip money (Coinstar machines are great!): V for Vendetta, The Prestige, Mars Attacks!, ¡Three Amigos!, Pulp Fiction, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Tommy Boy.
Kind of an inside joke… This is a parody of the "Achievement unlocked" window that comes up in certain video games after you accomplish something noteworthy.
Now seems as good a time as ever, then, to get that new blog going.
