My Heart Will Go On

*UPDATE - I meant to post a different clip. This one is the updated one that has an additional scene after the first one in the hospital.*

I love Elliot. I think the actress who plays her, Sarah Chalke, is just hilarious and plays the crazy side up so well. This post doesn't really have anything to do with the clip. I just happened to be watching the episode last night and I thought both of those parts were really funny, and I love that someone combined the two.

No, what this post about is resiliency. Sometimes it surprises me. A friend of mine was asking around the other day about whether anyone would be willing to throw his/her kid off of a cliff for a million dollars, and you could absolutely guarantee the safety of the child. I said absolutely, and actually everyone she asked said the same thing, and her husband and I had the same response - kids are remarkably resilient, much more than we ever give them credit for, and if you know that the kid is going to be safe, then you may as well just take the money. They'll get over the betrayed trust part later, especially when that kid is enjoying the million dollars too.

In fact, there have been a number of studies that suggest that kids are resilient even in the face of pretty serious abuse, but the findings fly in the face of what you'd normally expect, and what happens is that journals won't publish the work because it's too controversial. People thought that if they published those findings, that some might use that as an excuse to worry less about child abuse, which is valid. True story. Anyway, kids, and people in general, are very resilient.

I was thinking about this the other day as I was searching through some of my old emails for what, I can't event remember now, but I came across one of my old emails to a girl that I had several years invested in. (This is a sidenote, but do you want to know who the best pen pal in the world is? It's me. If I feel like you're at all interested in me or what I have to say, I am uh-may-zing when it comes to correspondence.) But I was just reading the email and it was, as you can certainly imagine, so long-winded and incredibly detailed. I forgot until I was reading that email that I would spend at least two or more hours every Tuesday night writing her while she was serving her mission, and I did that for the duration of her mission. Never missed a week.

Reading that email got me thinking about all of the history that I had with that girl, about the fact that I thought my life began and ended with her. If things weren't going to work out with her, I just saw no other way of going on with life. Not that I was suicidal ever, but it was like outside of her, the only thing I could see was blank space, if that makes any sense.

About a week before she left on her mission, we were just sitting around at my house listening to music, and we were for the most part feeling a lot of happy feelings that night. Then Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes came on and I started singing it to her, and when I got to the part where he says, "and this emptiness fills my heart," I just burst into tears. Everything that I had been trying to push to the side came to the surface and spilled out of my eyes, and then she pulled me over, sat me on her lap, rubbed my back, and started crying with me.

We have easily hundreds, and maybe thousands, of just the sweetest memories together. While we were together, she was my best friend. She didn't know me better than Dave, but I certainly gave myself over to her more than anyone else in my life. And when things ended with her, each time it happened, I just felt the worst kind of pain, and it was so prolonged too. I thought it would never end.

I don't know. I guess it was just weird last week, reading that email, thinking about the memories I had with her, how hard it was to get over her, and think that it almost feels like I'm looking at another person's life when I think about that time. I just feel so removed from all of that now, to where there is no sense of loss when it comes to her, or that I somehow missed the only chance I would have at happiness. It was weird to think that there was this person and this relationship that I had so much invested in, and now I can look back on it and not feel a thing, at least none of what made it so difficult. Reading that email may as well have been like reading about events in some history book.

And that's what amazed me about how resilient we can be. People can, and must, learn to deal with grief and loss all the time. Sometimes it comes in more tragic and devastating ways than others, but in the same way that time can feel so brutally slow when you're in the middle of everything and just want to leave the pain of the present all behind, it is also miraculous in how it allows us to heal and soften the memories of difficulty to where it goes from feeling acute, to opaque, to simply an event from the past that served to shape the present. Time, coupled with the Atonement, provides everything that's necessary to heal. It's amazing to think about how that actually works. It's real.

And I'm really glad that's the case.

A Nice Little Weekend

I didn't realize until too late, but the top 5 finishers for each division for the Earn Your Turkey run on Thanksgiving day get either a turkey, pie, or ribbon. I finished 6th in my division. Dang. I was less than a minute behind the 5th place guy too, but the problem I've been having this last month is my lateral meniscus, diagnosed by Dave, so I have been running a lot less. Still though, I wish I would have known that I could have won a turkey, and I might have been feeling a little more competitive and run a little harder.

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day, though. We got up in the morning to go bunny hunting. We had several twelve-gauge shotguns, a twenty-gauge, a .357, and an assault rifle to boot. Unfortunately, we went to an area that seemed to have a little too much human foot traffic so we didn't see many bunnies, probably about 4-5 between the 5 of us in about 3 hours of walking around. Sadly, for one bunny, we did catch sight of him and blew him to pieces. I thought I would feel a little bad when we finally killed one because I'm also the guy who actually feels bad when he unwittingly steps on snails, but I forgot that I'm also the same kid who used to go out hunting birds with his bb gun as a kid. The formula we had yesterday was pretty wonderful - guy time with my friends who I think are hilarious and guns. What's not to like, right? My favorite line of the day came when Dave was driving his dad's S-class Mercedes on the dirt road and he says, "my worst fear is driving over some rock and blowing out a tire...scratch that, my worst fear is this car fills up with bees and you're trying to kill them using a chainsaw." I thought that was the funniest thing in the world.

I also went to my first ever Holy War game yesterday at home against the U. I'm surprised how easy it was to come by tickets. After we got ours, I knew at least four other people who were giving theirs up. It must have been the fact that it was Thanksgiving weekend that made it so easy. In any case, the game was pretty interesting. I forget until I watch sports with other people, but I have a very low tolerance for stupid comments about the game and this happens with an incredible frequency at BYU games. I couldn't believe the tension that could be felt from the other fans when BYU found themselves down by six points in the first quarter. And then everyone is ready to turn on their team at the drop of a hat. It's kind of unreal. I hate hate hate comments about refs stealing a game, or that the other team is paying them off, or whatever other inane comments people come up with. And then there are the people who think that every rushing play should be for a first down, every passing play should be for a touchdown, or that every defensive play should turn into a turnover or a tackle for a loss. Seriously? It's not the end of the world if we have to punt, and if we're only down by six points, it's still only a one possession game.

In any case, the game was fun. It ended up being closer than it probably needed to be, but they won in exciting fashion. I almost preferred them to win in overtime because it would have felt a little hollow if they won because Utah missed a field goal or something like that. As soon as both those Utah guys missed the tackle, everyone in the stadium realized the game was over and the place just blew up. It was pretty great. People started rushing the field, and wondering if I'd ever have another chance to do it myself, I decided to go down also. It was kind of funny, though, because once you got there then it was like, well now what? So I went to the middle of the field, slapped some of the football players on the back, was in the crowd that was floating Andrew George, the guy who caught the game winning touchdown, then I wandered off. I thought maybe I should look around for other people I know because I knew there were about a dozen or so other friends of mine at the game, but eventually I just took off.

There's been a lot of Mason time, lots of eating out, and lots of Rock Band. And I got Beatles Rock Band just for this weekend. Who knew that so many of those songs would be in my range? My favorite to sing is the Sgt. Pepper's/With A Little Help from my friends medley.

That was pretty much my weekend. I love these people. Truly, I'm so blessed.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

I just thought I'd post this Thanksgiving Proclamation given by Abraham Lincoln. Did you know that it wasn't declared a national holiday until his tenure as President? Well, that's the truth. I'm not going to cut and paste the whole thing even though it's pretty short, but here is a nice excerpt from it:

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION, OCTOBER 3, 1863.

Nevermind, that is the whole thing. You know what I love most about it? How abundantly he references God throughout it. Can an American President get away with that today? Probably not, and that's so sad to me.

Happy Thanksgivings!

Thanksgiving day run - check. It was pretty cold, but it really wasn't that bad. I hurt something in my knee a few weeks ago so I've been, for the most part, staying away from running so I couldn't get too competitive this morning, but I still finished the four miles in under 30 minutes. It was nice to have Dave and Mike come out and run, and I kind of love the t-shirt, which I'll be sporting all day.

So what's left for the day? Overindulgence, mainly. A nap. Mason time. Maybe go watch The Blind Side tonight. I've got a full plate, so to speak.

And what am I grateful for...the people in my life. That's always at the top of my list. For a loving Father in Heaven. For a healthy physical body that allows me to do most anything I want. For music. For the opportunities I have. For this website that we all spent about several hours on last night taking quizzes together. And for this one that has helped me to enhance my glide, which I've been getting pretty decent with.

Happy Thanksgiving, dearhearts! Enjoy!

He's Just Not That Into You

Guys and girls of a certain age know how to show interest. They just do. I don't really know what girls do. Sometimes I feel like I get a pretty good read on girls, but then something goes awry and I'm at a total loss. However, I am a guy and I sure as hell know what guys do - we ask out girls on dates.

I'm pretty sure that it's impossible for a guy to be a member of the church of the Mormons, over the age of 25, actively participating, and not know that when he's interested in a girl, he has to ask her out on dates. Seriously. As often as they mention home teaching in Elders Quorum, the leadership in the church advocates that we go out on dates. In my ward we currently have a dating and relationships class as one of the options in Sunday school. For our ward conference, the priesthood meeting was dominated by discussion about loneliness and how it's the number one concern of our stake presidency, and how guys just simply aren't asking girls out enough on dates. The girls I know in the relief society presidency in my ward have told me that the biggest complaint they encounter is how the sisters don't go out on enough dates. Every one here knows that when you are interested in someone, you go out on dates. Dating dating dating! That's what much of the focus is on for the young single adults in these parts.

Then I guess the question is what constitutes a date. Elder Oaks mentioned the three P's criteria - planned, paid for, and paired off. I think I would have to also add that it be on one of the money nights - Friday or Saturday. No, lunch dates don't count. Guys would go out on a lunch date with that sister from their mission that they secretly thought was hot, but were terrified of spending too much time with for fear that they would get along too well with said sister (did I have one? You better believe it. Oh, Hermana Church! We had such chemistry on the mission when nothing could ever happen, but lunch at Rosa's when we were both home was SO incredibly awkward! I learned my lesson. Don't go out with sister missionaries from your own mission, but we'll always have Quilicura!).

This is what a lunch date is to a guy - a low commitment atmosphere that only requires about an hour, little thought (where's a good place to eat? Del Taco? done!), and is typically just an opportunity to put feelers out there. It's kind of like how in research they do exploratory studies to determine if there is something really worth investigating, only with a lunch date a guy knows he wants at least an hour with the girl, but he is not quite sure if he wants to devote an entire evening to her that requires both more time and more money. Voila! The perfect solution! A lunch date.

No, my friends, it's all about an actual date that is on one of the money nights, Friday or Saturday, because those are the nights with the real payoff. A week night counts if it's something truly awesome, or schedules are such that all attempts have been made for a Friday or Saturday night, but it just won't work, then you settle for a week night. But everyone in the whole world knows that all the events that you are really looking forward to come on the weekend. It's like that for everyone. No exceptions.

If a guy is interested, busy doesn't count as an excuse. Even if a guy is working two jobs and going to school full time and he's putting in 12-14 hour days, if he's interested in someone, he will set aside a Friday night (and work on Saturday if he has to, and maybe even Sunday) and go out with the girl who has piqued (or is it peek? or peak?...Karen ;) his interest. The shyest guys without any dating experience even do this.

If a guy is interested, even distance doesn't count as an excuse. Provided you are reciprocating, he will shower you with attention even when he's out with other people and never hesitate to respond to your prodding. Texting is an amazing (and annoying) invention that allows for this display of affection.

When a guy is interested, there is always time and there are always resources. Always always always. Even the President of the United States can find time to go to a party or a banquet. You're telling me that just because finals are in two weeks and he's feeling really stressed that he can't find a few hours on a Friday night to spend some time wooing you? I'm sorry. Is he the leader of the free world? Is there a war on terrorism with multiple fronts that he's managing while trying to push through major health care reform? If the President can party, a guy who's interested can party.

EVERYONE saves Friday or Saturday to do something fun. EVERYONE. If he's not spending it with you, I can assure you he's not at the library studying. I worked library security at the HBLL as an undergrad, and I did some of those weekend night shifts. The only people there until close on weekend nights are employees. That's it.

What time does everyone value the most? Okay, don't give me that cliche answer. Outside of church, what time? Weekend night time. If he, or she, is not spending the time that is most valuable to them with you, then they're spending it with someone else. And it's not something else.

This is way too long, but you can take all that to the bank.

I wanted something more relevant from this movie, but I love this clip mostly because the guys are using each other as stand-ins for girls so here it is. If you have any questions, read the book and then call me in the morning.

Bit O' Everything

I had kind of a great weekend. Friday night I went to Velour, a local little live music venue where they were having a Cowboys and Indie music festival over the weekend. Imagine Dragons was the headliner on Friday, and I caught those guys before seeing Kelly Clarkson back in June. They actually won the Utah's Got Talent competition. They're an indie band from Las Vegas, did the Provo scene, and are now trying to strike it big. They're a pop-rock type band. The lead singer is very entertaining, and their music is really fun to dance to. Here's a taste:



Then Saturday morning my roommate took another friend and myself out flying. We were in a little 4-passenger plane, and flew over whatever these mountains here are called, over Hobble Creek, near Mount Timponogas, and just around the general vicinity. My roommate hardly ever mentions it to anybody, but I think it's the coolest thing to be able to do. He has a pilot's license and has access to a plane. Isn't that awesome? He let me take the controls for a bit. It was a ton of fun.

I've said this before, but don't you love those people in your life that you think, "wow, I would have just died tonight if so and so weren't around." I feel so lucky to think that I have so many of those kinds of people to count on.

This might come as a huge surprise, but I really place high value on time to think and reflect, but especially so when I'm engaged in some sort of physical task. I love running and not listening to music for that reason - just the me time and time to think. But in addition to that, I think there is something highly therapeutic about just getting on your knees and cleaning. Speaking of missionaries knocking on doors, President Faust used to say, "I know it's not the most effective method for finding people, but knocking on doors is good for the soul." I think getting grimy and dirty is good for the soul in a similar sense.

It's funny to me how representative people can be of their own gender. I was cleaning the kitchen (I guess I've been doing a lot of that lately) the other night, and my roommate suggested soaking the metal gratings from our stove top because they were dirty. I asked him if we had any all-purpose cleaner left, and he had no idea that sort of thing existed. Then I was making brownies, and another roommate saw me using shortening and flour to grease the pan and he had no clue what I was doing. Then I borrowed a vacuum from some girls down the street, and the one girl commented on how it doesn't really suck up very much, but that we could use it anyway. I turn it on this morning, and not only is the vacuum screaming loud, but the bag is beyond full. I don't feel like I'm particularly enlightened, but these incidents the last few days have kind of made me feel that way.

Earn Your Turkey!

Anybody else interested in a Thanksgiving day run? There is the Earn Your Turkey Thanksgiving Day run in Orem. 4 miles, starts at 8am, registration is $27 and can be found by clicking here.

You want to do it. Trust me. It makes justifying overindulging yourself so much easier.

Yes, I'm registered. And you get a long-sleeve shirt. Woo!

Dave S. Preston, Esquire!

Not only has this guy graduated from law school, but he passed the bar too! It's a Thanksgiving miracle! You have no idea how much he stressed over the bar results that were released yesterday, but no need now. It's a official. He's a suitor!

Bro, good job, bro! Next week will be the most fun-filled Thanksgiving ever.

Odds And Ends

So I guess this video below served as some of the inspiration behind the concept of the show Glee.



I'm no Gleek yet, but I've seen a couple of shows and it's actually pretty funny. There are a few things that bother me about it, but they're the subtle kinds of statements that the show makes that I am inclined to read into.

My roommate got Wii Fit, and so far I broke all of his records on there except for the ski jump. He's kind of a goofy guy because he loves talking trash even if he's not always in a position to do so, and I don't think I normally would get competitive about this sort of thing, but his need to tough talk fuels my competitive fire. So I broke his record earlier this week, and then he took it back the next day. I was going to let it go until last night when he made a point of telling me that he put some distance between the top score and my own. So how did I react? I waited until he went to bed, then I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. last night not only breaking his record, but then scoring so high and often that his name doesn't even appear on the top 10 list anymore. How's that for idiocy? And I did that in spite of still having to prep for today's stats lab that I had to teach that started at 8:30 a.m. That's the kind of person that writes this blog.

Amazingly enough, I have no plans in the near future to go see New Moon. I only saw Twilight a few months ago, and I have to say that seeing Bella on screen reminded me how much I dislike her character. Why would dreamy Edward ever want such a desperate high school girl? I don't care if her scent drives him crazy. You know what drives me crazy? Stupid girl that is overly dramatic that has no confidence in the love that the people around her have for her. At least this film looks like they spent a few more dollars on the budget, so it shouldn't be as bad as the first one. Hopefully.

In SYTYCD news, I have really been anti-Ashleigh and Legacy for most of this season, but they've actually been pretty impressive the last couple weeks. The hip hop number that started the show was really, really good. I really liked Travis' contemporary routine, and it was danced pretty well, but you know what bothered me about it? Ryan's body is just TOO big. It looks awkward because it's just way too bulky. He is nimble for such a big guy, but his is not a dancer's physique. He should be a bouncer or something. Like I said before, I haven't really cared much for his wife, Ashleigh, but she's been really good the last couple of weeks and I love her arms. I thought she looked really good, and really, her arms are pretty perfect, and she danced it really well. Jakob is super gay, so I don't relate with him all that much, but that guy can dance. He's been outstanding in everything so far. He's the best, in my opinion. I was hoping for more out of the Nathan and Mollee piece. They heaped praise on them, but I didn't think they were that great, and I'm a big Nathan fan. Anyway...



That's about all I gots for now. Have a great weekend, dear ones!

Awesome Commercial Actor

This is a commercial that's currently running:


You might remember him from this commercial from a couple years ago:


I kind of love the guy, that's all.

Nothing (Police) Beats This Column

Nov 11: A custodian reported an unidentified male depositing possibly hazardous material in a drain. Samples of the material were taken and the material was determined to be safe.

Nov 13: At 5:30 p.m. a woman was walking up Maeser Hill to the testing center when a Latino male walked up behind her, asked her the time, then grabbed her buttocks. The suspect then ran westbound on the path and the female began chasing him. The suspect then stopped., turned around, and yelled obscenities at the victim. The female reported the incident to the police two and a half hours later, after she took the test.

Please, Provo citizens, get in before dark and make sure to lock your doors behind you because you never know what could happen.

Oh Yeah!

Dear Me,

Something about the time between Sunday and Monday left you feeling overwhelmed. Maybe it was tithing settlement and the Bishop's well-intended, but sometimes too direct approach with talking about dating and marriage. I know that you've been out on a few dates recently, and his pep-talk ended up making you feel like you need to decide now if you want to marry one of these girls or not, but that's not the case. You can get to know someone without having to decide within a few conversations whether you'll spend the rest of eternity with that person or not. There's nothing wrong with that. Or maybe it was the combination of conversations yesterday with another student in your cohort and then your committee chair that made you feel daunted by the task of your thesis. Or maybe it's just that you're feeling like you're in a spiritual lull lately and wondering why it feels like your reception for hearing the spirit is a little fuzzy. It's probably a mixture of all of those things.

Here's the thing you need to remember: you know how to get things done and you've done some really great things. Remember how you wanted to start regularly flossing and to stop biting your fingernails? Once you decided you wanted to do those things, then BOOM! Now your teeth are extra clean and your nails are trimmed and not scratchy. Remember how you wanted to start keeping detailed notes on all of your expenses and attempt to live within a prescribed budget? Well, okay, so you're not all the way there yet, but you're figuring that one out too. Those may seem like small things, but you've done bigger things too.

Remember when you joined the church and you were so worried about enduring to the end? I don't think you ever openly admitted that to anyone ever in your life, but that actually was the biggest concern that you had when you were baptized almost 12 years ago. It's kind of weird that as a 17 year old high school senior, that that was actually something that kept you up at night, but soon you figured out that you just had to take things one day at a time and not let the rest of your life overwhelm you before it had even happened.

Remember how worried you were about serving a mission and being able to stay focused and work hard for the entire two years and not just waste your time, or the Lord's time, for that matter? The length of time and amount of work didn't really hit you until you actually got into the country, but remember how daunting it seemed? Then you read that scripture in 3 Ne 13:34 - Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof - and that last phrase changed everything for you. You thought about it all morning while out proselyting, came back from lunch, went straight to your room and knelt down in prayer and just committed to just worry about today and let the Lord take care of the rest of your mission, and that's exactly what happened.

Remember how you came back home from your first year at BYU, and you had decided that you would go into psychology, so you talked to that professor at UCI about what it would take to get into the field, and instead of encouraging you, he actually tried to talk you out of pursuing graduate work? You thought, "to hell with that guy!" and then took everything everyone told you about what it would take to get into grad school to heart, laid out a careful plan for EVERYTHING grad school related, and then you got into 8 of the 9 schools you applied to, when statistics actually show that most people only get 1 or 2 offers out of 10.

Remember that Sunday when you decided that you were going to run a marathon? It was at a regional conference for church, and the thought had been floating around your mind for some time, but then some talk about Sabbath day observance mentioned the word marathon and you couldn't think about anything else after that. Then while still in the conference you texted three people who you thought might commit to running it with you, and they were all lukewarm, but you decided to commit anyway. You started reading about it, you bought your entry 7 months in advance, and even had a plan in place well ahead of the 18 week training program that you had outlined leading up to the day of the marathon. Then you had that first "long" run on the first Saturday of Week 1, and you realized that you had never run more than 6 miles at a time in your entire life, and then you couldn't get yourself out the door and moving for two whole hours because you felt so overwhelmed with getting to the point of being able to run a marathon. But then you just got out and moving and less than an hour later you were done. And 18 weeks later you finished the whole damn thing.

So listen...it's okay sometimes to feel a little overwhelmed by life. Everyone has their moments, and you know that you've had yours. The bad part isn't having those feelings of anxiety in the first place, it's letting them prevent you from accomplishing what great things you know you can do and that you know you're supposed to do. Remember, this is when you love Nephi's faith the most - his brothers were complaining and probably just really worried about where their journeys were taking them and leaving their whole lives behind, and Nephi chastises them saying:

Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record? Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him. And if it so be that we are faithful to him, we shall obtain the land of promise...

You have a couple of promised lands that you're looking for, so just do what you know you need to do - come up with a meticulous plan for accomplishing your goals like you always do and then just get to work. You know how to get things done, so stop stewing and get started. And don't forget this gem from Nephi when his brothers were mocking him for trying to build a ship when he had never even lived near the shore before:

And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?

The things that you want to do are righteous endeavors. You know that God is on your side, rooting for you every step of the way, and with him, nothing is impossible - not even a thesis, or dating and marriage, or regaining spiritual receptivity, or anything else you can come up with.

And remember Paul's counsel to the Romans:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose...What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

So get to work. You know what you need to do and what it takes. Go. Make it so that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

Mason Jennings - In The Venue

It was my privilege on Saturday to go see Mason Jennings perform at In The Venue. With my recent concert experiences I've been thinking a lot lately about how music is really meant to be heard live, in person. Obviously you can still really enjoy listening to recordings, but the experience of hearing music being played live is just different, much more tangible.

I went and saw him last year soon after he released his album, In The Ever, and so based on my two experiences with him, it seems to be customary for him to draw heavily from his most recent album in his performances. I guess this is his first tour even bringing an electric guitar. Last year he played about half of his set on just his acoustic guitar, without the rest of his band even on stage, so it was fun to see him rock out a little more this year. He alternated between electric and acoustic songs, and threw in a good mix of some of his other popular songs including Be Here Now, Crown, Jackson Square, Ballad For My One True Love, New Man, Bullet, and Butterfly.

The whole set lasted for about 90 minutes, and he came out for two encores. One of my favorite parts of the show was when he came out for his first encore and covered The Band's song The Weight, and having all four band members sing a verse from the song. That seemed to be a crowd-pleaser as everyone in the audience cheered heartily each time a different band member sang, seemingly surprised every time - or maybe that was just me. I loved it though.

The feel for this kind of concert is very different from what I'm used to with my usual punk show selection. With those ones the music is loud and fast, and it's easy to get swept up with the whole crowd. This one is a lot more relaxing, a good concert for a date.

This is Mason performing Jackson Square:

BYU Berlin Lecture - Dr. Lynn Hansen

On my post from Monday about the 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall celebrations, an anonymous commenter asked that I post whatever notes I could, so this is my best attempt at complying with that request. I didn't actually take notes, so this is to the best of my recollection.

Dr. Hansen's remarks centered largely around allowing the Lord to take you wherever it is that he wants you to go. That seems to be a theme that I've been hearing lately, as I was able to attend a different faculty forum later in the week where the professor's message was very similar.

He started out in the Air Force, and I can only assume that he served his mission for the church in Germany, because he had so much familiarity with the language and the culture. He recounted stories about his run-ins with the Soviets who occupied East Germany, and one encounter that he had while trying to help an East German citizen smuggle her brother across the border, only to see him taken away by Soviet law enforcement.

The main thrust of his remarks had to do with the familiarity he developed with the Russian armament system while serving the armed forces over in Germany. He applied for a few jobs with government agencies before eventually being picked up by one that dealt directly with the Russians, which eventually led to the negotiations that he took part in that helped to broker a reduction in arms between the former USSR and the USA.

Because of some promptings that he had about pursuing certain programs that had been largely set aside, and his extensive experience through the years in coming to understand how the Soviets functioned militarily, he was able to negotiate a hard-line stance with the Russians that forced them to negotiate down to the parameters that the US had set. What was even more impressive was that for the deals to go through that he helped to broker, it required also the approval of other allies, including Spain and Italy, which would have proved daunting for anyone else, but because of the familiarity that those representatives had with Dr. Hansen, and their understanding of his stalwart character, they signed off on the deals that he had negotiated.

When I write about that now, it seems as if he spoke in very self-aggrandizing tones, but this was not the feeling that came across as he lectured. What he communicated about himself and his role in everything that happened was that he was simply an agent in the Lord's hands, that God was able to work through in order to help bring about his ends.

Another thing that I appreciated about this lecture is how much of it seems to be in conjunction with President Reagan's stance with the Soviets: while so many people in the state department and in his cabinet thought it was absurd for Reagan to believe that he could defeat communism, they thought a policy of containment was the only realistic possibility. Reagan always believed that our country was in the right, and that through his foreign policy, he could make the Soviets kowtow to the American agenda. Dr. Hansen acted in perfect concert with Reagan's own personal policies on the matter, and was probably one of many pieces that helped bring about the fall of communism, which included the collapse of the Berlin wall.

After his time in public service, Dr. Hansen was called to church service as mission president over in Germany, and just last June finished up another mission following his time as mission president wherein he collected oral histories from German saints. Of all the time and accomplishments that he was able to achieve, he was most proud of what he was able to help bring about in the service of the Lord.

I'm definitely short-changing you on the details and the feeling that Dr. Hansen communicated, but hopefully that gives you a sense of the charmed experience that he had in Germany.

Welcoming Veteran Fathers Home

I wish I would have found these yesterday, but I think they're too cute not to post. This one is a video of veteran fathers surprising their kids at school:



And this one is of...dogs welcoming their owners home.



Go here if you want more dog videos.

Happy Veteran's Day

Ready to cry?



If you're interested, the following are a couple of organizations that are involved in giving aid to our soldiers currently serving our country:

• Soldier's Angels - they have a number of different projects that you can help with including letter writing, putting together packages, and a number of other things.
• Kick for Nick - I highlighted this one on Memorial Day. Nick was a soldier killed in Iraq, and this organization is his family's effort to donate soccer balls for the kids in Iraq in his memory.

Thanks, vets.

Ft. Hood Massacre

Jay Nordlinger quipped in his column the other day:

The general media reaction to the Ft. Hood massacre reminded me of an old joke. It’s about modern American liberals. One reason I feel secure in telling it is that I learned it from a liberal — from the commentator Mark Shields, who told it on television many years ago. Two liberals are walking down the road and they come to a person in the ditch. He has been beaten, and lies moaning, broken, bleeding. One liberal says to the other, “Quick, we have to find the people who did this: They need help.”

I wonder what all of your takes are on what happened last week. I don't watch any normal news so I don't get much on the normal mainstream media front, but I read tons of political commentary so I have my ideas formed already.

The joke is especially relevant to this incident because of the treatment that Hassan is getting from the MSM, largely that everyone is willing to give this guy a free pass before admitting that this had anything to do with Islamic extremism. And what's the problem with that? The problem is that there had been numerous red-flags about this guy in the months leading up to what occurred last week, but in the interest of political correctness and the backbreaking ends people will go to preach tolerance all those red flags were ignored.

One writer that I especially admire, Jonah Goldberg, has taken up this cause of calling black black, and extremism extremism. From his article Connecting the Dots, Jonah writes:

“As a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic of his choosing as a culminating exercise of the residency program,” reports the Washington Post.

Hasan went a different way. He opted to give a bizarre PowerPoint presentation in which he defended suicide bombing, explaining that non-believers should be beheaded, be burned alive, and have boiling oil poured down their throats (presumably not in that order). He argued that all Muslims should be discharged from the military.

One slide concluded: “We love death more then [sic] you love life!”

According to the Post, the medical staff in attendance was deeply disturbed by the incident. But there’s apparently no record of anyone’s reporting it to authorities. That would be insensitive and discriminatory.

Today, in his column Sometimes, an Extremist Really is an Extremist, Goldberg writes:

President Obama was right when he said, in the early hours after the shooting, that people shouldn't "jump to conclusions" (a lesson he might have learned when he jumped to the wrong conclusion about a white cop who arrested Henry Louis Gates, a black Harvard professor). But just as we should not jump to conclusions, we shouldn't jump away from them.

Despite reports that Hasan had shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire, MSNBC's Chris Matthews insisted that "we may never know if religion was a factor at Ft. Hood." Thursday night, NBC and CBS refrained from even reporting the man's name. Meanwhile, ABC's Martha Raddatz's reporting on the subject reflected a yearning for denial: "As for the suspect, Nadal Hasan, as one officer's wife told me, 'I wish his name was Smith.' "

We have a real problem when much of the political and journalistic establishment is eager to jump to the conclusion that peaceful political opponents are in league with violent extremists, but is terrified to consider the possibility that violent extremists really are violent extremists if doing so means calling attention to the fact that they are Muslims.

I am more sympathetic toward this reluctance to state the truth of the matter than some of my colleagues on the right. There is a powerful case to be made that Islamic extremism is not some fringe phenomena but part of the mainstream of Islamic life around the world. And yet, to work from that assumption might make the assumption all the more self-fulfilling. If we act as if "Islam is the problem," as some say, we will guarantee that Islam will become the problem. But outright denial, like we are seeing today, is surely not the beginning of wisdom either.

I have no remedy for the challenge we face. But I do take some solace in George Orwell's observation that "to see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."

Please be aware that this is becoming something that is occurring with some regularity, about 3-4 times a year within the borders of the United States, but because of the trepidation that Americans have about appearing intolerant, it's going under-reported. Some of those incidents that occur are plots that have been foiled, but include things like last week's massacre, or simply some crazed extremist running his car through a crowd of civilians. This is actually happening. And it's maddening to think that the President has failed to say anything more about the incident than to simply state that we must not jump to conclusions and worry more about protecting against anti-Islamic backlash.

What about protecting the American people first who actually like this country?

SYTYCD Tour

This event in itself was pretty amazing. The show was more entertaining as a whole than I would have otherwise anticipated, and it was nice to see all of the favorites from the summer being performed live again. Every major dance piece that I wanted to see was done that night.

The best solos came from the two dancers not in the top 10, Phillip and Caitlyn. I think Brandon, Ade and Jeanette were the best performers by far. Every movement by Brandon and Ade had so much pop and so much extension. Even though they had already been to so many other cities, everything they did looked like it was for the first time on stage. Randi, of course, got a huge ovation from the crowd being that she's from Orem. Phillip had the loudest applause of the night after his solo, which also was probably a full minute longer than all of the other dancers. Below is a somewhat decent video from the same night:


The most entertaining part of the evening was supplied by the two teenage girls sitting to my left during the show. Not only did they scream so loudly and constantly that their voices were hoarse before the intermission, but they knew most of the dances being performed and did their own renditions of them from their seats. Their favorite, by far, was Jason. I swear, if there were some way to tap into hyper-teenage-girl-energy, we would have an endless supply of renewable energy that could provide for the needs of our country. I just loved how rigid with excitement they became at just about everything that happened that night. That alone made up for the price of admission.

Now onto my favorites...I had kind of forgotten about this number by Ade and Janette:


I've posted these last two before, but they're both my favorites so you get another taste:




Some other favorites included the addiction dance with Kapono and Kayla, disco with Brandon and Janette, and the contemporary number with Jason and Jeanine where they make-out at the end. It was a lot of fun, and I have no problem admitting that I loved every minute of it.

No, Thanks. I'm Straight...I Think

Some of you might recall that I had written this post, about how a black man from Sierra Leone wanted a piece of me, a little over a year ago.

This story starts several months back when I went to a Kelly Clarkson concert in Orem. There was one guy there who was way more into the show than anybody else. He danced with reckless abandon for the duration of the show and was screaming every word to every song. I know, you might be thinking I'm really just describing myself, but this guy was more into Kelly than anyone ever could have been. Now skip ahead a couple of months to the beginning of this semester...

I'm a TA for a stats class and, lo and behold, this same kid from the Kelly show walks right up to the front to take a seat in the first row of the computer lab that I teach on Fridays for the class. I immediately recognized him, but decided to wait a little while before bringing up Kelly, which ended up being about a month ago.

I thought maybe he would be a little bit embarrassed to admit he was there like I had felt, but he was completely unapologetic about it. A reserved enthusiasm boiled over his countenance as he began to reminisce about how amazing Kelly is live, and how he also got to see her play in New York at Central Park during the Today Show. The conversation was brief, and then I was on my way.

This past Friday, I was finishing up the lab when I had to switch pens because the ink was running out of the first one. I end the class with the new bright blue pen, and wish the students well on their upcoming test. Kelly fan says to me, "I really like that color, it's a good color." Thinking he was referring to the pen, I respond with some dumb joke about the pen, when he corrects me saying, "No, no. I like that lilac color on you, it's a good color for you."

Yes, I was wearing a shirt that can be described as a lilac, but he had caught me off guard. I said thanks, and then moved over to the teacher's podium to check my email on the computer before I left the room. All of the students except for Kelly fan and one other student had left by this time, when he decides to approach me and prop himself up on the table just a foot or so away from me to ask if I had been to any other cool concerts like Kelly.

Noting his close physical proximity, the very recent compliment he had given me, his body language, as well as remembering that he is a theater student who speaks in highly feminine tones, I began to get uncomfortable. I wanted to be nice, but not inviting; short, but not rude. I told him that Kelly was actually the first pop concert that I had been to, but that I enjoy just about anything live, and that I had even gone to a punk show last weekend. He told me about some band that he was going to see, and the conversation kind of drifted off from there, but before departing he looked over both shoulders as if to see if anyone else was in the class. When he saw the other student, he just got up and let me alone.

When I write about it now, I almost feel like I'm just reading too much into it, but I know at the time I was definitely feeling the vibe from him. And I was thinking that if I had done any combination of those things to a girl, I would be indicating my own dating interest.

What I should have told him (that would have erased any doubts about my heterosexuality) was that the very next night I would be going to see the top 10 dancers perform on tour for So You Think You Can Dance, which post will come shortly...

I Love The People In My Life

...is a thought that I often have, and one that I've especially been feeling lately.

I have roommates that under other circumstances, I probably wouldn't have chosen for myself, but it turns out that they're really great guys. One of them I can talk sports with endlessly, and the other is just the nicest guy. He makes food, albeit it's not always that great, but he always means well. And he always is trying to facilitate my dating life for me.

I've been a little under the weather the last few days, and I won't usually ask for anything from people, but that's not to say that I don't love people wanting to take care of me. One friend of mine made me dinner the other night, then sent me home with a goodie bag of leftovers, and all the ingredients of the drug cocktail that she uses when she gets sick.

I have a second family at home and here in Utah that I don't hesitate at all to spend the holidays with. I have an army of people that I can talk to about everything that is going on in my life. I have a best friend, and I'm pretty sure we're about as close as any two best friends can be. I have people with whom I can play soccer, go running, work-out, do yoga, go dancing, go to lunch, or just talk. My ward is great. The other students in my cohort are awesome, and the professors I work with are all wonderful.

And I even love the people that participate regularly in my blog that I've never even met.
I'm just really lucky. Thanks, everyone.

20th Anniversary - Fall of the Berlin Wall

This semester I've been trying to maximize a bit more on my educational opportunities at BYU. I go to more lectures, and I'm wanting/trying to get more involved in some of the extracurricular activities here at the Y.

Today a former ambassador, Dr. Lynn Hansen, was invited to come and speak with respect to the fall of the Berlin wall. Actually, his lecture turned into a lot of old Cold War stories, which were still awesome, but had little to do with today's celebration.

20 years ago this day East Germany opened up the gates through the Berlin wall that allowed citizens of that country to freely move from one country to the other for the first time in about 20 years, give or take a few.

Peter Robinson, the speechwriter who crafted Reagan's Tear Down This Wall speech, gives some insight into the construction of that speech:

In April 1987, when I was assigned to write the Brandenburg Gate address, I spent a day in Berlin with the White House advance team, the logistical experts, Secret Service agents, and press officials who went to the site of every presidential visit to make arrangements. In the evening, I broke away from the advance team to join a dozen Berliners for dinner. Our hosts were Dieter and Ingeborg Elz, who, after Dieter completed his career at the World Bank in Washington, had retired to Berlin. Although we had never met, we had friends in common, and the Elzes had offered to put on this dinner party to give me a feel for their city. They had invited Berliners of different walks of life and political outlooks--businessmen, academics, students, homemakers.

We chatted for awhile. Then I explained that, earlier in the day, the ranking American diplomat in West Berlin had told me that over the years Berliners had made a kind of accommodation with the wall. "Is it true?" I asked. "Have you gotten used to it?"

The Elzes and their guests glanced at each other uneasily. Then one man raised an arm and pointed. "My sister lives twenty miles in that direction," he said. "I haven't seen her in more than two decades. Do you think I can get used to that?" Another man spoke. As he walked to work each morning, he explained, a soldier in a guard tower peered down at him through binoculars. "That soldier and I speak the same language. We share the same history. But one of us is a zookeeper and the other is an animal, and I am never certain which is which."

Our hostess broke in. A gracious woman, Ingeborg Elz had suddenly grown angry. Her face was red. She made a fist with one hand and pounded it into the palm of the other. "If this man Gorbachev is serious with his talk of glasnost and perestroika," she said, "he can prove it. He can get rid of this wall."

* * * * *

Back at the White House I adapted her comment, making "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" the central line in my draft. On Friday, May 15, the speeches for the President's trip--he would be traveling to Rome and Venice before reaching Berlin--were forwarded to the President, and on Monday, May 18, the speechwriters joined him in the Oval Office. My speech was the last we discussed. "Mr. President," I said, "I learned on the advance trip that this speech will be heard not only in West Berlin but throughout East Germany. Is there anything you'd like to say to people on the other side of the Berlin Wall?"

The President cocked his head and thought. "Well," he replied, "there's that passage about tearing down the wall. That wall has to come down. That's what I'd like to say to them."

* * * * *

With three weeks to go before it was delivered, the speech was circulated to the State Department and the National Security Council. Both attempted to suppress it. The draft was naive. It would raise false hopes. It was clumsy. It was needlessly provocative. State and the NSC submitted their own alternate drafts--my journal records that there were no fewer than seven. In each, the call to tear down the wall was missing.

When in early June the President and his party reached Italy (I remained in Washington), Ken Duberstein, the deputy chief of staff, sat the President down in the garden of the palazzo in which he was staying, then briefed him on the objections to my draft. Reagan asked Duberstein's advice. Duberstein replied that he thought the line about tearing down the wall sounded good. "But I told him, 'You're President, so you get to decide.'" And then, Duberstein recalls, "he got that wonderful, knowing smile on his face, and he said, 'Let's leave it in.'"

The day the President arrived in Berlin, State and NSC submitted yet another alternate draft. Yet in the limousine on the way to the Berlin Wall, the President told Duberstein he was determined to deliver the controversial line. Reagan smiled. "The boys at State are going to kill me," he said, "but it's the right thing to do."

What's great about that excerpt above is how personal those accounts are, and how meaningful it must have been for the people of East and West Germany to hear the preeminent world leader speaking in there behalf, saying the words that they could not utter themselves. Whenever I watch that clip of Reagan saying those words, it sends chills through my bones.

Over in Germany they had a celebration to commemorate this day and guess who was conspicuously absent from the festivities? None other than our very own President Obama. The guy has no problem giving a campaign speech from the Brandenburg Gates, where both Kennedy and Reagan gave immortal speeches, but somehow he doesn't find it necessary to celebrate one of the most significant events in the last 50 years.

Make no mistake, Communism is an evil institution. This is a day worth celebrating, indeed.

Lots Of Things

More on most of these later...

• When I first heard about the Ft. Hood massacre, and saw the guy's name, I couldn't believe that the story didn't at least consider the possibility that this guy was an Islamic extremist, or at least profoundly anti-American. Now I've been reading that he may have been shouting "Allahu Akbar" as he was gunning people down. In case you don't know, that is the refrain that terrorists shout when they are performing their killings. It means "God is great". Obama's weak response this morning is equally annoying.
• This morning, I'm pretty sure that a student was flirting with me. The student is a guy.
• Obama is not going to Berlin to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.
  
• Sometimes I just don't get people. And sometimes I don't get me either. Anyone and everyone can be very confusing.
  
• I think I want to write for the BYU Political Review. The title of my first article that I'll be submitting will be E Pluribus Unum.
  
• I haven't been that into SYTYCD this season, but last night two routines really stood out to me - the fear dance and the Bollywood number. The thing is, they both have dancers that really annoy me. I think Legacy is terrible outside of his b-boying, and Mollee's personality bugs me, but they were both really good this week. I think I liked the Bollywood piece more than the fear one, but I think that's because I'm rooting for Nathan.
  

Moving Along

This song is one of my favorites to sing to on Singstar.

The All-American Rejects - Move Along - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

This is turning into kind of a strange week. I've been busy, but not a lot with actual things that I'm supposed to be doing. I got comfortable after I realized last week that I'm doing really well in my classes, so this week I've been a little slow to keep up with business as usual. But between today and tomorrow, all my classes have been canceled, so I have a bunch of extra time available that I'm not sure how to spend. No, of course not homework. I'm an achiever, not an overachiever.

There are certain aspects of dating that I just loathe - feeling obligated to go to social functions because you need to meet people, always feeling like you're being measured, all that stuff. But there are other aspects that are really fun - getting phone numbers, connecting with new people, that sorta thing.

Looking back on my dating history, I have always seemed to be attracted to pretty smart girls, albeit with an exception here and there, and not to say the exceptions were at all dumb. And for the record, any of those girls who may be reading this are among the smart ones. Not just saying that. It is, in fact, true. More importantly, although none of the girls I've ever been interested have been goodie-goodies at all, they've all been very solid in their testimonies of the church.

I guess what's funny to me is thinking about different moments where I've been especially attracted to certain girls, and they're not typical things like how hot she looks in a certain outfit or whatever (not that I still don't appreciate those things), but things like hearing a girl talk about the role of journalism in modern society, or another discussing marketing strategies for a friend's new restaurant, or another weighing the cost-benefit possibilities of a small business, or another about fashion design and the artistry involved, or another discussing the application of 4th amendment rights. I laugh thinking that I want to sidle up closest when I hear a person in her element, strutting her stuff. Although it's not to say that I'm an expert at all in any of these different things that I mentioned, but I think it's to my benefit that I find a variety of things interesting enough that I am able to be at least a little informed on a number of different areas and, thus, appreciate the different strengths that these girls have to offer. I dunno. Just thinking aloud, I guess.

What's kinda funny to me also is my train of thought when I'm with someone that I want to make a good impression on: be funny/witty, but not so much so that it looks like you're trying too hard; be smart/insightful enough that you come off as having something valuable to offer, but not so much so that you come off as being smug; be nice and kind enough that you show people that you know how to treat people right, but not so much so that it seems like you are willing to be someone's doormat. Then, with all of these preconditions in mind, I'm trying to nail down that impression in about five minutes or less. It can be exhausting at times.

One other thing on attraction - I was watching a tennis tournament over the summer and they showed Andy Roddick's wife in the stands who, of course, is gorgeous. When I saw her I could recognize her obvious outward beauty, but having no knowledge of who she is as a person I didn't feel like she was at all very attractive to me. It struck me as odd that I couldn't just be the male ape and issue my mating cry just because she exhibits the physical traits that I'd like my offspring to have. I guess I need more now.

On the other hand, I've dated and known other girls who I know are pretty and some really good-looking, but I can openly recognize that not everyone would find them as attractive as I do. With some of these girls, I can honestly admit that at the height of my affection for them, I genuinely thought that the girl was the most beautiful person that had ever set two feet on the ground. I've definitely had my moments when I have been reduced to a jaw-dropping, gawking, stuttering, blithering mass of goo that has melted at the sight of my loved one, although I may not always be so obvious about it. You know, the kind of moment when it's slightly overcast, light moisture falls, and her saunter to me is choreographed to Etta James' At Last playing in the background as she approaches in a slow motion stroll, the wind teasing at both her hair and my heart as I my knees buckle at the sight of her. My very own Helen of Troy, all because of the fact that my intimate knowledge of her person and character has provided her access to steal my affections.

With my extra time this week I guess I've just been a little more reflective on my dating experiences. I'm just sayin'.

Strung Out In Layton

I caught Strung Out up in Layton on Friday and they were awesome. What's cool about coming out of their shows is always hearing these types of comments - are they not the best band you've ever seen live? Jason Cruz is a god, etc. Their fans just love them. They have a new album, and admittedly, I didn't think it was their best effort at first, but it's such a different thing hearing songs played live. Certain songs were just never meant to be played only on a CD, they just have to be heard in person with the bass thumping and smoke in the air, and people moving to the music. They have been doing more harmonies lately and they actually sound really good doing it live as well, which is kind of cool. Jason's voice is strained in that video, but it's still pretty decent. I've never seen him play the guitar before. They also played that one at the show, and of course, it was awesome.

I ended up going by myself, which for a lot of people is crazy, but I was thinking about it earlier in the week when I was deciding if I would actually go or not. There are certain things that I won't be able to do forever, and there are certain things that I would drop anything for just to experience for myself. I would always try to make it to any major life events for any of my friends or family if I can help it. I would never turn down an opportunity to see an Angels playoff game. And I would always take any and every opportunity to hear and see Strung Out play Matchbook at the end of a show.

The bulk of their songs came off the Twisted By Design album, with several songs off the newest one, and select songs from all of the other ones.

If I were to ever get a tatoo, it would be the astrolux symbol that is their insignia. I know it's juvenile, but I just love them.