05-17-11 Year recap in sixty seconds

So, as seems so common now, I've let a little time go by in between posts. Shame that. But anyway, things are a little behind now, and I'm not really the most energetic about trying to get caught up. This morning though, I was trying to sort through some old emails, and I ran into some old blog posts. You know, the really old ones. The ranting and raving ones. I think I still have some of those. But anyway, after the fifth or six one, I figured it'd probably be a good idea to through in some half-decent posts to try and balance things out.

Before I get to that though, I just want to say: Yes, Mom, you were right. My brief time as SPL was a fairly stressful time for a young scout, a time which inspired a tirade of rants for which the only pride that can be derived is that there weren't many typos. That being said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I haven't gotten to the point in the old blog posts where things started turning around for me, but just in case I failed to mention it, (not unlikely) I figured now would be a good time to do so. (Or do it again if I already talked about it.)

Coming up with something to do each week for scouts was tough sometimes. I'd look for ideas online, look through requirements for practically anything that we could go over, and I let things get more stressful than they needed to be. Now, in hindsight, it probably would have been a good idea to have one of those meetings be a planning meeting, to go over activities for the next one or two months. And even more importantly, delegation. It's a scary word, but it's powerful.

There was one thing that somehow managed to get into my thick head though. Leadership isn't one-sided. In order to be a true leader, you have to be able to see a group of boys as individuals, and relate to them in such a way that you can know what they need from you. It seems like just when I was beginning to learn that, the ward switch happened and I got released. Even if nothing else was gained from that whole experience though, that one concept was worth all of the worry. Now, whether it was worth having to read through all the rants and complaints that you guys had to go through, that's another story, but in my selfish and self-centered way, I'm glad I got to experience it.

What's more, it didn't end there. In the new Perkins Ward, I would eventually become the President of the Teacher's Quorum. It was a much slower pace than before, but I still had things to learn. A lot of that I got to learn from Bro. Foell. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Seminary was where I finally learned to feel comfortable speaking in front of a group, but it was Bro. Foell who helped me feel comfortable speaking face to face. I learned a great deal about self confidence from him. I learned how to look people in the eye from him. But one thing I'll never forget was the way he taught me leadership doesn't end in the meetings. I'm not just responsible for who shows up. I can still remember going on a couple visits to a less active member after BYC, talking with their family and learning their interests. It's true that we weren't really able to get them to come very regularly, but once again in my selfish way, I got learn about reaching out. It doesn't have to be big. It just has to BE. So thanks, Brother Foell. It meant a lot to me. (Thanks to everyone else too, he was just someone I've been thinking about quite a bit over the past few weeks.)

Hmm... This post isn't exactly what I had in mind when I started. Should I follow through with it and work on a different one for the recap? Sure, why not.

I thought I had leadership all figured out. And in some ways, I did. I definitely figured out what I felt were the most important, but there was something missing. Application. Up to that point, the stuff I learned were pretty personal, more for myself than those I held responsibility for. But more recently, that started to change. It started mostly, or most dramatically, with my Eagle Project.

Just figuring out what I wanted to do was difficult, something that Bro. McCord really helped me with. I'd say he picked up right where Bro. Foell left off in my education on leadership. To be a leader, you have to have a plan, know the steps to take, and choose the best course in following those steps. I still remember talking with him about project ideas and having him give me some ideas of who to talk to, then challenging me to contact each of them and get back to him with what I found.

Up to that point, I had followed a few leads and contacted a few organizations, but nothing had really worked. Partly I was just looking in the wrong places. Bro. McCord recommended several organizations to contact, one of which was the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, and we all know (or soon will know) where that went. I also learned about delegation from Bro. McCord. Let's face it, you can't do everything yourself and you won't really be a good leader if you try. That's something I had trouble with. Trust issues... Not really, but I like control. Adding delegation throws in a variable into the equation, and I much rather deal with constants. Starting to go off topic.

Anyway, I won't go into a whole lot of detail of the project. Let's just say that a lot of it was calling people, leaving messages, working around paperwork, visiting different organizations, and completely revising my plans to work around a new complication. And that was before I had to organize the actual work for the project. Was it fun? At the time, I might have eaten you for the question. In hindsight, it was awesome. I especially liked working on the project itself. It was like the final exam of everything I had worked for. Sure it had a few rough points, but just seeing everything slowly come together was incredible. Yeah, that whole delegation thing can really come in handy. I still like to be on the receiving end, rather than have to worry if it'll get done or not, but I won't deny it has its uses.

To conclude this slightly more positive rant, may I just say that Scouting and the Young Men's program are inspired things. It's impossible to look back and say it didn't mean anything. Not if you were paying any amount of attention to what was happening. I just hope that when I'm older, I can be the kind of leaders that I had. Plus Mom! Don't forget Mom! She get's most of these sappy posts though, and even in this one she's implied. I mean, how is anyone to manage anything without an awesome mom?

But the real point is... That's scouting for you. And just in case you've seen some of my earlier posts, let this one set the record straight. Scouting is incredible. It may be tough on occasion, but it's incredible.

-Cue the credits-

08/30/10 Things change

On one point, however, you need not fear. The chances of me blogging again on a regular basis are slim and fleeting. So for the many among us who fear change, feel free to rest easy in the protected harbor of my own laziness.

Unfortunately, it would seem that we're a tad outnumbered at the moment, so give me a little while to address some of the changes that have been happening around here lately. Forgive me, I would prefer the silence just as much as you would, were it not for the small, reoccurring thought that so frequently enters my mind. Not everyone fears change– And they would be a little upset if I failed to even acknowledge some of the events of late.

To put it simply... I don't want to die. So here goes.

If you are even reading this, you are probably already familiar with this blog, and likely as not, you're a relative. That being said, you already know the rules. If you expect this to make any sense whatsoever, don't blame me if you find yourself dismally disappointed. It's your own fault for reading it.

Since I've let this go for so long, it is practically impossible for me to even consider fitting all that has happened into a single post. So... I won't. I might make more posts later, but to be fair to my fellow change-fearing readers, I commit to nothing. For now, though, I'll hit the big topic around here: Our kitchen no longer exists.

A little back story for this. Our house is not exactly what one would call well kept. It's been in desperate straits for decades, and it has only been in the recent years that it has made any progress at all. There are, however, still many things needing to be fixed. The terror of all terrors was, of course, the kitchen. Mom was often fond of saying that "If any man in a uniform ever saw our kitchen, it would be condemned." Not too far off the mark, really.

Well, some weeks back, a member of the Bishopric told her that the Bishop had offered to help fix it up. Needless to say, this took a little while to sink in, but when it did, the gratitude we all felt was incredible. It's not often you expect to be the recipient of service, especially of something this large. There are blessings to living in the Gospel that I don't think I fully understand. Seeing how willing people are to help really expresses to me how close a ward family can be. I mean, I've always enjoyed giving service, but being on the other end and seeing the selflessness of the people serving really helps me understand better what the love of Christ really is. In a way, I almost appreciate this new understanding as much or more than the service itself. Don't get me wrong, the idea of a kitchen without a floor that's falling apart is amazing, but that's only temporal. If I'm not stupid and forget, I can keep this new found feeling forever.

It's awesome, I'll just say that.

But this isn't really what people wanted to know. Or at least, not what the people swarming facebook wanted to know. So, here's the update.

Demo started Thursday. Bro. Brown, Bro. De la Cruz, and Bishop came over and with a little help from David and I, they pretty much ripped the kitchen to shreds– and it was AWESOME. The counters were gone, a section of the wall was removed, and the floor was pulled up down to the sub-floor. Along the way, we met a few surprises. Some good, some bad. The good news was that the floor itself was actually pretty good, minus the gaping hole in it. It's actually fairly sturdy. It was just the top part that was going bad. And even the hole would be fairly easy to fix. On the flip side, removing the section of the wall between the dining room and the kitchen would be a little harder than we thought. You see, it had wires in it, and the people who put them there didn't seem to know what they were doing. From what we can tell, they ripped out part of the wall, but didn't properly handle the wiring that was already in it, so that would mean a little extra work. But again, luckily the floor was good, meaning that we wouldn't need to do nearly as many repairs as we thought, so it kind of evens out. So anyway, that pretty much concludes that day. All that happened after that was clean up, although Bro. Altop did come by in the evening and replaced some of the plumbing to the sink. That was fun to see.

On Friday, most of the big repairs were made. The frame surrounding the hole was improved, making the wood that rested on top of it much less... interesting. In addition, the wires in the walls were moved around, and Bishop did an awesome job of figuring out how they all got connected and where they went. Plus, with the wall gone, some of the framing around the doorway changed, so they put in some new supports to make it less likely to collapse. Now granted, it probably wouldn't have collapsed the way it used to be, but this is much better. Also, since we were going ahead of schedule, Mom and Bro. De la Cruz were also able to go out and get the materials we would be needing to put together the kitchen.

On Saturday, we got to spend the day scrubbing and sanding cabinets, cleaning up debris, and doing a little cleaning on the ceiling and stove cover. It was nice to see the improvements, but it kind of took a little while. And needless to say, we were very happy to be finished for the day.

Today, the kitchen really started coming together. We put down Hardie Board (Or whatever you call it), finished up most of the electrical, and put in some of the dry wall. But the day isn't over yet, so I've got to go. I'll add some more updates and probably put up some pictures later. But for now, I'll leave you to wonder why you ever missed reading this in the first place.

See ya!

02-13-10 Branch by branch

So, it's a slow progress, but I'm working on getting the trees ready to fall, mainly by ridding them of their precious limbs. The one we took down today was a little tricky, since it was grown tangled into the branches of the baby tree, a tree we kind of wanted to keep alive... Anyway, Joe helped out with the guide ropes, and eventually we got the thing on the ground. Now mom wants it cut up. Might put that off a little... Anyway, things went well, and I learned again the values of the taut-line and bowline. Oddly enough, we rigged up a perfect pulley system by accident. Now I just have to remember how we did it so I can use it again.

I haven't posted in a while, but I don't think I can promise that that will change. I'll work on it, but it's not likely. Still, life is good, and I'll post again... sometime. See ya.

11/09.2/09 Photobucket. Bleh.

I dunno, photobucket hasn't been liking some pictures I've been trying to upload, and I noticed you can just upload to blogger, so I thought I'd check that out. I mean, I can't even remember the last time I posted pictures here. Seems kind of boring, you know?
Anyway, this is a sketch I drew... Thursday? I dunno. It's not the best, but lately I've been having trouble focusing right, so I'm more or less happy with it.

11/09/09 First Blooms

The first blooms are coming out of those... whatever they are in the garden! Ever since I went berserker mode on the front yard, I didn't expect anything to survive. Oddly enough, though, the bulbs that we planted a few years ago have been fairing even better than the weeds. And at first I didn't discriminate between friend or foe either. Tough little flowers. And I think there are more of them than we planted, which I suppose makes sense. Anyway, I saw this year's first bloom today. ^^As you can see, there are quite a few of the little guys...

So, I probably wouldn't ever describe myself as a green thumb, but I might pass off as a brown thumb (if such a thing existed). After all, have you ever met a boy who hasn't enjoyed playing with dirt every now and then?

11/02/09 Mission Prep.

Since I've long abandoned attempting to reconstruct all of my recent activities, partly due to the fact that mom's probably already done it, I think I'll spend more time focusing on things that have been of special interest to me. One of these at the moment is missionary preparation class. I decided to go to it partly because I thought it'd be cool, and partly because leaders thought it'd be a good idea– not that I don't too or anything. I just wasn't sure if I would be taking it right now. There is a bit of time before I'm old enough to serve a mission, but I guess there's no harm in getting a nice early start.

Speaking of the class itself, though, it wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it might have some practicing time, but mostly I expected to be taught /what/ we would be teaching investigators. But that's not really the point of mission prep. class. I mean, we should already know and have a testimony of that.

What we learn in mission prep. has more to do with /how/ to teach– and that's something I've really taken an interest in. There are a whole lot more effective ways of teaching than merely reading a lesson. The key is really in applying lessons to investigators. You do that by first learning about the person being taught. You get a feel for their life, ask questions, and listen to the spirit. It's only after that that you really know what will mean the most to them. We've learned how being excited ourselves helps them to feel that what we're saying has meaning, how to use companionship study to prepare to teach on a more personal level, how to make commitments with investigators and follow up to see how they've done, and how to recognize and resolve concerns they may have.

It's the kind of information you can really apply to life, even outside of missionary work. It's also allowed me to see some of my own faults. I am a talker. I don't really initiate conversations with others all that much, but when I speak, I use a lot of words to express my meaning. It always makes me feel like it flows easier that way, yet I learned in mission prep. that that isn't always the best way to teach someone. People can get lost in too many words. Often, it's the short, powerful statements that really drive home what we mean. Now, is this something I plan on doing on a daily basis? Probably not. I mean, it's not my nature, but until I can learn to cut my thoughts into these compact statements, I may have to try it once in a while. And it is a useful tool to have. It allows you to listen more. And if there's anything that makes someone skilled at small talk or anything related to it, it's being able to understand the person you're talking with– knowing what questions will provoke the biggest response. Not exactly my strong suit, but it's a work in progress. Currently, I'm limited to reading people. The problem with that, though, is that you can never truly be sure if what you think you're seeing is right.

All in all, I'd say that I'm extremely glad I decided to go. And while I'm still working on some things, I've really taken a lot out of it.



One thing that I've been noticing, though, is that my life has had a fairly simply pattern. When I was younger, I learned a lot about how to be taught well. I learned how to get the most out of lessons and how to look past the minor problems that come up. That doesn't really seem to common trait. Most people I've noticed are quick to get irritated with teachers, and aren't all that excited about what they're learning.

On the flip side of that, though, I'm only just now learning how to teach– how to get my point across more clearly. Before, I was terrible at talking to people, let alone teaching them. I remember being terrified to give talks in church, yet no matter how lame a teacher was, I always remembered getting /something/ out of the lesson, even if it meant studying on my own. I've been a little out of balance, now that I look back, but I oddly don't think I'd have it any other way. It's through listening and learning that I've learned about myself. I have a greater understanding of who I am, and that makes it much easier to express my thoughts.

Am I a contradiction? I don't speak much, but when I do, I almost speak too much, and I like listening rather than talking, yet I'm terrible at asking the right questions. I know why I want to be a psychologist, but could this just be another small reason that added to it? It's a skill that I've always thought about, and that I've truly wanted to possess. Maybe it's just another thing about psychology that I hope to learn.

-meaningful pause-

Hmm... it always amazes me how things progress. I began this post talking about missionary preparation class, and it becomes this rant about just how strange I've become compared to others I know. But really, is strange a bad thing? I dunno. I figure the more I think about that, the more I'll question my choice to pick a different path, not that it was really ever much of a choice. These things seem to just happen. I imagine all we can do is make the best of it.

10/20/09 Music!

I'm so happy. Yesterday, I finished rating all the songs in my iTunes library. The ones I listen to, at least. Yay! And I really like some of the widgets I've been using to help out with that. I've almost always used iTunes controller, but this display is very useful. Unlike some other displays, it actually shows what point of the song is playing. Nice for when you're doing something else and you want to know where one song ends and another begins. That way, you can accurately rate the song you're listening to, instead of mistaking it with another one that was just playing. -nods- But yeah, now I know which songs to skip.

Hmm... I haven't posted in a while. Suppose it'd be a good idea to review what has been going on... Not sure I will though. Instead, I think I'll talk about seminary. In general, seminary is awesome. Not much can take away from that. But the younger class is /hilarious/. We were combined today, since our teacher was sick, and I gotta say, their class is lively. You've got loads of people who like to talk, and one or two people who like to scold said talkers. But one of them is kind of funny. She's there, smiling, then all of a sudden she'll whip her head around, give a glare that could stop a mountain lion, occasionally say something like 'shut up', then turn back around and smile as if nothing happened. Scary? So yeah... we learned about Jacob and his credentials. You know, righteous, cares about the people, is called of God... All of that stuff that we can have too– and should have so we can better spread the Gospel.


It still cracks me up that people get cold so easily. It's got to be no lower than 50, and they're
acting like it's freezing... Understandable, I guess. Mom and I like cold weather. We're the odd ones. But really... I dunno.

Myst is crazy. Joe and I just finished the fourth one this Saturday, and it was insane. Sad ending. Very sad. Avoidable? Possibly, but we haven't figured it out yet. I mean... really. The only half decent character dies. Sure, it's noble, but the whole family is messed up. Meh... Maybe Yeesha will turn out okay. At least she probably won't be as stupid as Cathrine. I tell you, that lady doesn't think. And she writes dreadful ages. I mean, Serenia is basically a cult of druggies. Seriously, they use this 'incense' and stare at a mask with crazy eyes to travel to some freaky spirit world. Crazy people. Still, Serenia beats Spire. Anyone would go crazy if they were stuck there for twenty years. And the fact that it's got crazy explosives doesn't help.

Anyway, moving on. Life is good. Towels are good too...

So, I'm running out of topics that I want to talk about. I've got to figure out what I want to be for Halloween. I feel like I should do something with caution tape. I've still got a lot of it. I might try to be a mistborn next year, but it's a little work. The cape will be the hardest. I also have to find some vials and a bag of coins. Maybe Yen. I like the holes in them. This year, though, I might be lazy. I dunno, we'll see what happens.

I think I'm going to wrap this up. I've got plenty of things to do today. So yeah, Halloween... Never quite saw the point, but it should be fun. Anyway, see ya!