Christmas Past

Another Christmas has come and gone.  During the Christmas season, I came across a couple of quotes that I found to be interesting and applicable.  Both are from one Thomas S. Monson:

"As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always."

“It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much; he who gives time gives more; but he who gives of himself gives all."

My favorite thing about Christmas and the time directly preceding is the spirit that is felt throughout.  The passing of Christmas does not compel the passing of this spirit.  If it passes, it is more likely a reflection of our actions or attitudes. As we continue to do what brings that spirit in the first place, we are able to retain its warming presence for as long as we’d like.  What it is that brings that spirit is giving.  As we give of ourselves, we are able to avoid Christmas past and live in a constant state of Christmas present.  Perpetual Christmas: who wouldn’t?

You're Going to Die

So it was recently brought to my attention that we're all going to die.  

The world is ending in about 1 day.  Forgot about that one.  Not much time left.  Several months ago when this was brought to my attention, I made a list of some things I wanted to accomplish before the end.  My hopes, dreams, and druthers:

• Join a Yacht club
• Start an Emu farm
• Wrestle a large dangerous animal (emu?)
• Invent something [preferably useful] that gets famous
• Have a reason to be interviewed
• Wear a speedo in public
• Get a real-life massage in a real-life massage place
• Drive one of those golf carts around campus
• See the aurora borealis
• Go to space
• Be in a volcano
• Grow a beard
• Evolve something cool
• Beat up a bad guy
• Travel cool places
• Lay siege to something
• Something love related, I'm sure

The only one on the list that I've fully accomplished is the one that most people would be least proud to admit. Think about it.

If anyone wants to join me on any of these in the remaining < 24 hours, let me know. Soon. But if not, I'll understand. You're going to die. Enjoy the little time you have left however you best see fit.

An Unexpected Journey

So... The Hobbit.  What more needs to be said?  Nothing.































Just kidding.  I’ll say a little bit more.  But not about The Hobbit.  Enough has been said.  I’ll talk about somethings else:  the subtitle to The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey, and its release date.  Both of these carry a roundaboutely connected significance to me.  December 12-14th are the official release dates for The Hobbit in the majority of the world.  If we find the mean of these release dates, that is December 13th (see my math?).  So.  On average, on December 13th, Señor Bilbo Baggins will embark on An Unexpected Journey.  One that will change him and his perspective forever.  One that will take him to strange lands where he will encounter dangerous creatures and magical magic.  My connection to this was An Unexpected Journey I also embarked on on the same date a few years back.  I also went to strange lands where I encountered dangerous creatures and magical magic.  And empanadas.  And arroz con habichuelas.  And cheap sastres.  


That’s right.  X years ago, I embarked on a mission to the Dominican Republic.  In more ways than one, it truly was a journey that led me to an unexpected place.  Its effects were far reaching and its worth immeasurable.  Suffice it to say that I love the time I spent there and it taught me so much.    Pero na’.  E’ pa’lante que vamo’.  

Halloween Garbage

Halloween is a time when things that are normally socially unacceptable suddenly become okay—encouraged even.  Things like begging on people’s doorsteps, leaving rotting fruit all over your property, and cross-dressing.  That being the case, I try and take advantage of it as much as possible.  This Halloween was no different.

And cue segue into another segment of Arts & Crafts!

Halloween is kind of a big deal for me.  But like to the point where I generally have my costume envisioned by July.  I don’t plan for my future more than a few days in advance, but a one-night-only Halloween garb must be designed in excruciating detail months beforehand.  Logic aside, it makes for good times.  Sometimes.  Either way, I take much pride in my costume design.  And also puns.  This year’s costume:  a sand witch.  Join me as I explain how to make the most delicious sand witch you’ve ever seen/possibly tasted (though I don’t recall having any taste-testers as a reference from witch to draw).

Step 1.  Which witch
The first part of the costume design was to distinguish which witch.  Regular witches generally dress in black garb and are loomed upon by Nicolas Cage.  I wanted a sand witch, so I sought sand garb and no Nicolas Cage.  I found it in a used, lovely, creamy beach-mumu of sorts at my local thrift store.  Thrift indeed.  It was short for breathability and beach lazing and was also sand-colored.  As a witch, a witch hat was also needed.  This was also supplied by the thrift store.  It was like a normal witch hat.  For now. Lastly I got some             beach-colored casual beach shoes.  For the illusion of beach.

Step 1a.  Beachin’

To complete the distinguishment, I used spray adhesive to cover both my new new mumu and the normal witch hat in a layer of sand.  There was sand everywhere.  Just like deserts.  Or beaches.  Or one's body after engaging in a desert or beach. I even bought little seashells to add to the beachin’ illusion.

Step 2.  Accoutrements

Now that I think about it, there was no real second step.  That was pretty much it.  I got a broom and a tan to accentuate the sand-like freckles all over my body and I was ready to go.  Sand witch.

Overall, it was an enjoyable costume.  It was pretty easy to make and wasn’t realistic enough to get me into trouble.  The only issue was that I made a fine mess everywhere I went, as it turns out sand doesn’t adhere super well to fabric.  At least not the way I did it.  But luckily I was packing a broom and could clean up my own fine mess right away.  Or if I was too embarrassed—as witches are wont to be—I could fly away into the night, cackling, or sobbing.  Witches.  So prepared.  

App-o-lanterns

As many of you know, I love Halloween.  

As all of you now know, I love Halloween.  I look forward to it every year.  In the sense of linear time, the looking forward is a necessity.  In a dispositional sense, it’s anticipatory.  This anticipation is for all activities associated with Halloween:  The candy eating.  The dressing up, down, and every which way.  Call me crazy, but I even find it enjoyable to scoop the goop out of gourds and chop their chunks.  Who wouldn’t?  The designs that result from this chunk-chopping can be entertaining, to say the least.  The only downside is that the messiness that results can be less than entertaining.  ...most of the time.  If only someone were smart enough to come up with a solution...

Enter smartphone.  So smart.  And I’ve got one.  And a pair of clean hands.  You know why?  Pumpkin carving app.  

Rather than scoop the gloop, I just smudged my finger all over my phone’s face and voila!:  I got some      sweet n clean pumpkins with cool graphics.  These are all of the pumpkins I 'carved' this year. A looksee:  Have one.

 Scraggle face pumpkin

Sappy happy bribe pumpkin

Pikachu pumpkin

Sad clown pumpkin

Robot pumpkin

A wombat, of sorts

A poodle

Holiday well-wisher pumpkin

And my blog

And I did it all from the comfort of various chairs and classrooms without the use of extracorporal tools.  And my hands are free of gloop.  ...Well.  Pumpkin gloop.  Also:  no fire hazard from lighting the candles nor risk of legal repercussions after you seek vengeance against pumpkin smashers.  Nary a fear of contracting a rare disease when disposing of your rotting pumpkin carcass when Halloween has up n left. With these pumpkins, you are your own master.  Rather than take the time every night to go out and light/unlight your pumpkin, you can light up peoples’ phones with holiday cheer and their faces with smiles of delight as you text them the cutest pumpkins imaginable.  And if you mess up, there’s this awesome invention called the ‘undo’ button.  Doesn’t work in real life, but in my handheld virtual world, it is king.  Now all I need is a virtual costume designer app and an app that somehow gets me real candy while I lay all over everything I can find and I’m set for the rest of Halloween ever.  Make it so, science.

Politickles

So as I’m sure you’re aware, there’s this electoral thing going down here in the Amurrca.  As I’ve grown in age, stature, and age, I’ve tried to be a little bit more informed about what is occurring nationally.  As a random citizen, I feel it is my duty to contribute by making informed decisions about who and what to vote for, when and why.  And how.  To be able to do so, research was required.  Some of the things I found were game changers—they changed the game.  As this election looks to be a fairly close one, I thought it might be beneficial to share with everyone (and especially any last-minute fence sitters) the things that have influenced me the most profoundly.  Dig in, America:

Propaganda #1

Propaganda #2

Propaganda #3

Propaganda #4

Propaganda #5

Propaganda #6

And my personal favorite:

Propaganda #7

And now that you've been informed, go vote.

Y25

Yes it has finally arrived.  Quarter centuries are so passé.

For those of you who haven’t gotten the memo yet, I’m old.  But I choose not to worry because in my lengthy time upon this lovely earth, I have found lots of other lovely things that are old:

• Rock formations
• Cheese
• History
• Dinosaurs

Pretty soon, I hope to be worthy of induction to that list.  

I decided long ago to make it a custom on this here blog, so long as it shall stand, to make a birthday post every year in which I recap the major lessons that I have learned since my previous birthday.  I’m always amazed at how much can happen in a year.  They always seem to be jam-packed with experiences and things to churn with my brain.  Last year was mind-blowing.  My mind spent months reforming just to be blown again this year.  And I expect it’ll just be more intense going forward.  It’s almost time for me to start being an adult.  But we’ll get there when (read "if") we get there.  Either way, for now, here are my musings as a man-child from Y25: 
 
The Power of Love
Aside from being probably the best Celine Dion song of all time, it is also a poignant concept.  

Powerful is the experience of learning to love people for who they are rather than—and sometimes in spite of—what they are.  Of the utmost value is the capacity to do so; of the utmost worth is the discovery of what to do to broaden that capacity.  Love includes putting the best interest of others (or those of a group, of which you yourself may be a part) above our own.  This means that love is sacrifice.  Love is a choice—one that too often we choose not to make.  Love is action.  Love is unconditional.  Love is hard sometimes.  Love is worth it (I promise I didn't plagiarize that, SugrCookie).

Heavily involved in the process of love and its manifestation in any given relationship is the making of oneself vulnerable.  This can be manifest in many times, in many ways, and at many different levels.  The ability to allow oneself to be (or be made to feel) vulnerable (when and how appropriate) leads to strength—strength of relationships, strength of character, strength of self.  That being said, this particular aspect of any relationship presents a high level of difficulty:  it takes a lot to allow oneself to be vulnerable.  But I suppose something as valuable as love should take a lot.  Why should love be a cheap experience?  


And as is always important in any discussion of relationships, we musn’t forget the relationship with self.  It may sound a little odd at first to claim that it’s important to be able to be vulnerable with oneself, but it really is.  Important, not odd.  Included in this is the ability to recognize and live with one’s flaws and weaknesses—to accept yourself for who you are in the time it takes to become what you wish to become.  And even when you get there.  So do what you must to get all cute with yourself.  Take yourself on a date.  It may be awkward to ask yourself and to find a time that works for both of you.  The conversation may be a little forced at first.  But after a while, you’ll discover a lot about yourself, your convictions and aspirations.  You might end up liking yourself quite a bit once you     get some      one-on-one time.  Half-on-half time?  I don’t know.  I’ve never been good at math.

All of this is something that I’m horrifyingly bad at.  But I just admitted it on the internet and solicited that you all read about it.  Is there anything more vulnerable than that?  Baby steps, baby.


Community  /  > or =
I’m seemingly becoming very forgetful in my old age, because I constantly need reminders to be humble.  Humility is a principle of empowerment.  The act of focusing less on ourselves awakens within us attributes that otherwise would require years of unbroken focus and determination to develop, could they be developed at all.  I believe that the feelings and desires that accompany those of humility give us a peek into our true nature and capabilities.  

Tucked neatly under the umbrella of humility is a belief in or relationship with something greater than ourselves.  Such a belief allows for growth into something greater than what we are.  If there is nothing greater than us, what else can we aspire to?  From what can we draw strength?  To what can we look for for resolve and purpose?  Linked to this idea are things like hope and faith, which transform and refine.  And again, in a circular relationship, tied to this idea is that of humility, which ironically paves the path to grandeur.  

I personally believe that that something is God.  It is from the relationship that I have formed with Him through careful thought and effort that I draw strength and hope.  

Also tied to the concept of humility is that of interdependence.  I’m a firm advocate of positive relationships, as I’ve stated often on this blog.  I fear that many adopt the mindset that in order to be as strong as one can possibly be, they must cling to their independence and strive to do things alone.  There is strength in numbers.  Developing friendships and relationships builds us up in so many more ways.  Maybe if we were all perfect, independence would be fine.  But we’re not.  And I would be willing to wager that any semblance of perfection is impossible without interdependence.  Other people excel in the things that we’re missing, and coming together and combining our excellences creates a more perfect community.  It’s okay to lean on that and to allow someone else to share their strengths with you.  Aside from filling in your gaps, it creates a bond that wasn’t previously there.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.


Willpower / Power of Self
From my belief in a greater power comes a belief that I have power to become greater.  I believe that we all can learn and achieve things that we never have before.  I’ve had several experiences with this within the past year.  I have come to recognize more than ever the ability we have to effect positive change and forward progress.  Successes and accomplishments are available to everyone, they just take a concentrated effort to discover and achieve. Sometimes great opportunities come knocking at our door. Overwhelmingly more often, we're the ones that must go a-knocking in order to find them. It seems to me that we don't always need to go far to find these great opportunities. We just need to go.


Time for Time
In many cases, time is one of our greatest advocates and allies.  The healing of wounds, progression, growth...  So often we want things instantly, but that’s never (time reference) how it works.  Some things take time; most things are worth the time they take. Perhaps instead, when we want something worthwhile (time reference), what we should really want is more time to earn it/prepare for it/let it unfold.  Sometimes (time reference), we just need to let time run its course.  Eventually, we’ll be able to look back and be surprised at how far we’ve come or how much we have accomplished.  But in order to do so, we have to be active travelers with time as it marches on.  With the passing of time can come distance:  distance from old selves, old habits, old situations...  This distance can be physical, emotional, mental, or other.  With that distance we press ever closer to the new—new selves, new habits, new situations.  Time passes regardless.  We should take advantage.

Also included under this heading according to my organizational skills (and oh—I’m the one dictating this) is the notion that things work out.  They really do.  In and because of some situations, that fact can end up being the furthest thing from our thoughts, often when we need it most.  But with honesty, faith, and a little bit of effort, timid as it may be, it always comes back to that.  And I’ve come to notice that they often do more than just turn out.  They turn in—into something much better than we originally hoped or planned for.


Conclusion
Life is good. Don't live it otherwise. Here's to Y26. Hope to see you there. If my vision holds up.