Friday, November 28, 2008

Frivolous I Know

I grabbed this list from another blogging friend. It's pretty easy — just copy the list and embolden the items that you've done in your life…
  1. Started your own blog
  2. Slept under the stars
  3. Played in a band
  4. Visited Hawaii
  5. Watched a meteor shower
  6. Given more than you can afford to charity
  7. Been to Disneyland
  8. Climbed a mountain
  9. Held a praying mantis
  10. Sang a solo
  11. Bungee jumped
  12. Visited Paris
  13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
  14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
  15. Adopted a child
  16. Had food poisoning
  17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
  18. Grown your own vegetables
  19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
  20. Slept on an overnight train
  21. Had a pillow fight
  22. Hitch hiked
  23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
  24. Built a snow fort
  25. Held a lamb
  26. Gone skinny dipping
  27. Run a Marathon
  28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
  29. Seen a total solar eclipse
  30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
  31. Hit a home run
  32. Been on a cruise
  33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
  34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
  35. Seen an Amish community
  36. Taught yourself a new language
  37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
  38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
  39. Gone rock climbing
  40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
  41. Sung karaoke
  42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
  43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
  44. Visited Africa
  45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
  46. Been transported in an ambulance
  47. Had your portrait painted
  48. Gone deep sea fishing
  49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
  50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
  51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
  52. Kissed in the rain
  53. Played in the mud
  54. Gone to a drive-in theater
  55. Been in a movie
  56. Visited the Great Wall of China
  57. Started a business
  58. Taken a martial arts class
  59. Visited Russia
  60. Served at a soup kitchen
  61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
  62. Gone whale watching
  63. Got flowers for no reason
  64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
  65. Gone sky diving
  66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
  67. Bounced a check (oops!)
  68. Flown in a helicopter
  69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
  70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
  71. Eaten Caviar
  72. Pieced a quilt
  73. Stood in Times Square
  74. Toured the Everglades
  75. Been fired from a job
  76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
  77. Broken a bone
  78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
  79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
  80. Published a book
  81. Visited the Vatican
  82. Bought a brand new car
  83. Walked in Jerusalem
  84. Had your picture in the newspaper
  85. Read the entire Bible
  86. Visited the White House
  87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
  88. Had chickenpox
  89. Saved someone’s life
  90. Sat on a jury
  91. Met someone famous
  92. Joined a book club
  93. Lost a loved one
  94. Had a baby
  95. Seen the Alamo in person
  96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
  97. Been involved in a law suit
  98. Owned a cell phone
  99. Been stung by a bee

PS - If something is frivolous, does it mean it is full of frivol?

Black (as night) Friday

My day began at 3 AM today. I had to be to work at 4 AM. I have to say that I am not very tired. I went to be at 10 last night so I got five hours of sleep. Oh and I took a Tylenol PM to help me get to sleep right away.

So right now I'm on my first break. It has been busy today, but nothing compared to last year or so I'm told. Last year the line was six deep and wrapped half-way around the store. This morning there were around 50 people waiting. I've been stationed at the registers in cameras and imaging. I'd thought I would be crowded and pressed by people and ringing them up frantically. I haven't been crowded at all, just pleasantly busy.

All of this is probably bad overall for the store. I'm hoping that we are selling good gross margin on products. But I wonder if it's this way just for our store or for other Circuit Cities or even the same in other chains too. I guess we'll know in a few days.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

Sunday I went with my parents up to Logan to go to my nephew's Eagle Court of Honor. I didn't really want to go. I imagined it would be long and drawn out and well, boring. I'm happy to say that I was wrong. It was actually inspiring. My 14 year old nephew and my 10 year old nephew both were impressed. Especially Zach, his eyes were all wide after watching the video about the eagle. It's good to see him take interest in something like that.

So afterwards, we were headed home after I dropped off my nephews. My parents wanted to just drive me straight to SLC but I asked to stop by their place. Then my dad was going wait in the car till I grabbed whatever it was I needed. I asked them both to come in because I needed to talk to them about something.

I sat them down and I came out to them. I won't go into great detail as it is personal. But they had suspected for two years. After finding out that I had a boyfriend, they were surprised. It seems my whole family suspected that I was gay, but none of them suspected that I did anything about it. So no one but me cried. My parents do worry for my eternal well-being. The gay doesn't bother them, just eternity. Which is... refreshing. We discussed several aspects of me being gay. I think we were mostly on the same page.

My parents are basically the last people I care about that I needed to tell. But this isn't the end, it's really the beginning. I'm sure after they have gotten over the shock of it, they will have many questions, and we may probably disagree on a lot of things. But we will learn from each other and come to an understanding.

I think the most important part of this is that I am tearing down the buffer zone that I needed to keep between my loved ones and myself. I was tired of lying but not ready to come out to them yet. I look forward to regaining what I lost.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Oh the weather

So this is what I was going to post yesterday, but didn't have the time:

Can I say how much I love our weather lately? We've been in the 50-60° range. The mean temperature for Utah in November is usually is 42°. And I just looked it up, our record high for November was 75° in 1999. Wow. We would normally have perma-snow on the ground by now. Thank you global warming! As I have said before, I think Utah is going through arizonification (the process of becoming like Arizona).

So of course today, it's just the opposite: cold and windy. Well, you can never expect Utah weather to be predictable in the fall or spring.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Can I say how much I love our weather lately? We've been in the 50-60° range. The mean temperature for Utah in November is usually is 42°. And I just looked it up, our record high for November was 75° in 1999. Wow. We would normally have perma-snow on the ground by now. Thank you global warming! As I have said before, I think Utah is going through arizonification (the process of becoming like Arizona).


Friday, November 14, 2008

Creativity

I am feeling particularly creative right now. I just finished making a How to Host a Murder Mystery into the form I needed it. Yes, yes, it took me over a year to actually finish it. But it's done! Regular murder mysteries are four men and four women. I needed one to be eight men. So I had to change all the female names to male names, and make all their attributes male too. This would have been very easy but for one thing: One of the females was pregnant. That fact is very important for the story as it determines heirship. It took me *forever* to determine how to fix that. But I did it!

I still have the bug though. I want to keep working on one. I have one that I started maybe six years ago and it's well on its way. I was looking over it today and it's very creative, if I do say so myself. So I can either finish that one, or begin another. This old one is nice because it's for five men and five women, so more people can participate. It's also completely from scratch.

If I do start another murder mystery, I have two ideas in mind. I could either do a Clue based mystery, or I thought of a campaign party murder mystery. The first option is classic and a lot of fun. I *love* Clue! The second is pretty good idea too. Aaron made a good suggestion too. I don't have to make an all male murder mystery this time. Now that I'm out to all my friends I can have men and women. And that does make it a lot easier!

On another creative note, I am also very good at modifying existing games and improving them. For my birthday Aaron got me a Planet Earth trivia game. It was a lot of fun to play. It's a DVD game, so you get to see lots of beautiful scenery from our amazing planet. But... it wasn't competitive enough! So my wheels are turning on how to improve it. It'll be good.

And lastly, a short list of games I've improved or created:

Murder Mysteries
Tibbets
Jungle Tag
Super Monopoly
Clue Live
Murder in the Dark
...and there are others.

Milton Bradley should hire me!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

A New Chapter for America and Me

Today I turn 30 years old. I think for most that would be a sobering thought. Most people do not look forward to that birthday. I feel differently. My 20s were an incredible decade. It started with serving in Romania and helping others come to Christ. That experience will always be with me. I went to college and expanded my horizons and created many, many good friends. I've also come to understand myself better and point myself in the right direction. I've found the love of my life and we are building a positive and loving relationship together.

So now I begin my 30s with great plans for the future. There are several things that have been chains around my feet that I am going to remove. I have made goals to become a better person. I already started them. I am excited to be 30! Besides, 30-somethings are hot! lol

On another note, I am excited for our country. I voted for McCain, but fully expected Obama to win. I feel hope for the future of America. I don't think that one term from either candidate will end our problems, but I know that the hope of change will spur many Americans to make positive changes to their homes, businesses, and surroundings. I'm very proud that I was able to vote.

Whether you voted for McCain, Obama, or some other, now is the time to rally around our new President and support him. Part of the fall of the Nephite nation came when they sought to subvert and manipulate the will of their leaders. But we're Americans, all together, all of us. One president alone cannot fix our problems, but all together we can.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Election Ramblings

I don't think I mentioned, but on Halloween I was happy to vote early. I work on election day, so Aaron and I went and voted. It felt really good. I'd love to wear that "I voted." sticker every day until election day. But I won't.

It doesn't matter who I voted for. (Though I voted for both Dems and Reps.) I've been a registered Republican my whole voting career. I still would be, only when I registered here in Salt Lake City, I must have missed that box or something. So as of right now I'm an independent voter.

I'm looking forward to election day. I've always had so much fun watching as the voting stats roll in. Gayle and Aaron C. will remember election day so long ago when we made fun of the reporters. Yes Gayle you thought that woman was ugly, you can admit it.

If I may make a prediction, whichever candidate wins... he won't be able to fix our problems. However, he may lengthen or shorten the troubles we are going through. And whoever is elected, he and his party will be blamed for not getting us out the hole we're in.

I'll end this rambling post with a challenge: Vote.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

New Music Video



So I thought this video was beautiful when I saw it. Something struck me as interesting, but I didn't know what. Then it struck me, the singer, Brandy, is an angel. She's reaching down to comfort the people. I really love the song.