Update...

My first mind movie!

2008-10-22T07:16:00.001-04:00

Hey all! I finally (at like 2am this morning) finished my first mind movie and Upped it to Youtube for the world to see! I feel amazing and can't wait to further the things that I have been feeling while watching it. I am so excited and thrilled in anticipation of the results! Love you all!

Here's my supposed Celebrity look-alikes...

2008-05-12T09:51:00.002-04:00

Pretty interesting, lol. Who knew I looked like Serena Williams and Kirstie Allie? Random, I know, hehe. Click it for a focused larger view. Hope everyone's well and that Janette and Mom had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. Love you all!

The coolest video...

2008-05-10T10:58:00.001-04:00

May 10, 2008
10:55AM

Hey everyone! I haven't written anything in a while and I just saw this video on Facebook this morning. It caught my eye initially cuz the guy had DJ turntables and gear, so I was curious what he was going to do with them (he set them up on the side of a city street) and so I kept watching. I was really surprised and enjoyed the outcome and the twist it takes. It's pretty fun. I'm currently working on a post at the moment of my recording session from last Saturday at school. I also took the camera to class yesterday and got some great pictures of the SSL 4000 E/G Console we mix/record on in Studio B. It's pretty awesome so keep an eye out for that when I post it. (hopefully in the next day or so) Love you all! Enjoy the video...

Spring is on its way! (so is my birthday!)

2008-04-02T21:49:00.001-04:00

Wednesday April 2, 2008
7:30pm

Wow! Spring is here! I went outside at around 5:15 for about twenty five minutes to take Lucy out. But, I also brought my camera because I knew that I wanted to get pictures of the beautiful blossoms we've got in the circle! It's so gorgeous! (I do have to say that I managed to get some pretty awesome pictures if I do say so myself. I hope you like them!)

I can't believe I turn 21 tomorrow! It's so crazy!!!! AAAghhh!!!!

I love the close-ups that I can get.

Such awesome detail...

Love my photographer's eye...

I like this one, it's like before and after side by side in one picture.

This one's really crisp and clear...I like it.

Car Accident February 12, 2008

2008-02-14T01:04:00.000-05:00

Wednesday February 13, 2008
6:10pm

So, I went up to Helen's house last night to go to institute with her. We have had ice storms since about 4 o'clock yesterday and the weather finally started warming up and has thawed all the cars and such since about noon or so today. So the temperature is finally warming up.

I went up to Helen's house to go to institute. I left Fairfax at 5:30. Traffic was horrible. I pulled into Helen's house at 8:30. We missed all of institute so I watched American Idol with her and her Mom.

After it was over (about 11) I left for home. Traffic, again was a bit slow cuz of the weather conditions. (flow of traffic was moving about 45-50 or so) It took me a while, but I eventually came around to the 495/270 split. I stayed to the left to continue through on the 495. I came up onto the bridge going about 40, and I started spinning, lost control and slammed into the cement barrier on the right side of the road. My rear tire came up onto the wall and it bent the rear right tire inward on the bottom at about a 45-degree angle (really bad, see picture number 6) and then I came down off the wall and spun, sliding back into traffic.

No oncoming cars hit me, thank heaven. I tried backing up to get further out of the lanes of traffic, but that didn't' work because of the rear wheel. I had no idea of the condition of the car and was still totally shocked and flipping out. After cars passed and it was clear, I put the car into gear and inched my way across the ramp to the other side out of the lanes of traffic. (the left side of the bridge) and then I stopped and saw that a man was coming over to talk to me. He had seen my initial slide and swerved to keep himself out of my way and pulled off to the left side to make sure I was okay. He had seen the whole thing and explained it to me as we were talking. He came over to talk to me and I could barely get the drivers side door open far enough to talk to him.

He told me that he had called Fire and Rescue and they were on their way and that he would stay with me until they got here to make sure everything was okay. It took them about 35 minutes to finally get there. The accident actually happened at about 11:43 or so, and they finally showed up about ten or fifteen after midnight. In the meantime, while we were waiting for the cops. I was standing near my car, and I heard a loud crashing sound behind me, and turned around to find a car that had lost control, had then been hit by a diesel and the diesel was fishtailing toward my car. I immediately after turning, dove (almost literally) over the cement barrier on that side, to get out of the way. I thought that the diesel's trailer was going to fishtail and slam and completely take out my car. Thankfully, he regained control and stopped, finally pulling off about 500 yards down the road on the right side. The person he hit had been spun around and was now facing the little oncoming traffic that was filtering through the debris strewn road. One person, within 5 minutes later, lost control and slammed into his car. So there was 3 accidents within about an hours time. I was just blown away at how dangerous and treacherous the roads were, and they were only getting worse.

Long story short, I called Dane Larsen who's been staying with us while Mom and Dad are gone with Mariah to the Caribbean on the Book of Mormon lands cruise. He brought his wife, and they made their way over to pick me up. We had to wait for the tow truck to load up my car. Mine was the first to get in an accident, and the last to get towed, but that is because they had to get the other 2 cars out of lanes of traffic. So, we finally got the tow truck and I climbed into the truck to guide him home incase we got separated from Dane and Sarah who were ahead of us. We got home, and had him put it down in the circle of Sideburn Ct. (as you can see from the pictures) We paid him, he left, and we went inside and then I eventually got to sleep. This was now 3:15 A.M. I finally got myself to sleep about 3:30. I wanted pain killers to dull my pain, but was in too much pain to go get them. So I went to sleep.

I woke up about 9am and got up and did Dad's DVD orders export, finishing it by about 9:02 or so. I hadn't set any alarms or anything and figured I needed to let myself wake up when I woke up. I'm surprised my body didn't want more sleep. I took a two hour nap from 7-9pm tonight though and that really helped my pain to go down.

Well, long story short, the Honda is more than likely totaled. I'm in slight pain, but doing okay, and I am still trying to get a hold of Mom and Dad to let them know I'm okay. Say a prayer for my pain, and I will update as things come along with the car search and such. (or whatever it is that we end up deciding to do) I am going to go to bed now, I'm exhausted...

Gordon B. Hinckley - 15th President of the Church passes away...

2008-01-28T02:31:00.000-05:00

President Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints passes away at 97 years old in Salt Lake City, Utah.

KSL in Salt Lake City has a story at

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=2560294

I heard the news about 2 hours after it happened. Dad was talking to Andy and told me from the top of the stairs, and I came to the base of the stairs just shocked at the news.

President Hinckley has been the most amazing wonderful prophet in this dispensation. I know that I personally have had revelations as a result of counsel he has given that has changed my life. I will truly never forget the impact that this man has had on my life. He was truly God's mouthpiece and an honest, humble, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be sure to pray for the family of the Prophet in this time of hardship. Love you all.

Orientation day last week on Saturday...and first day on Monday this week.

2008-01-24T00:48:00.000-05:00

Wednesday January 23, 2008
8:45pm

I had orientation last week on Saturday and it went great!

I did a tour of each studio with a group of 4 other guys. First we went into Studio C which has an API 24-track console. Danny is playing around with a track that a student band had recorded some time before that. So we listened to him solo certain portions of the song (strings, acoustic guitar, vocals, etc.) and EQ it.

I then moved on to Studio A which has a NEVE VR-60 Console with Flying Faders and Total Recall

Here's a picture of Shannon doing his thing with a track he had pulled and had been working with from tape that morning.

We then went into Studio D which is the mastering, or ProTools studio. That's where all the mastering is and some MIDI- Audio production is done.

One nifty thing about the console inside studio D is that it, similar to studio A's NEVE console, has fader automation (or flying faders)

This is a little video of what the engineers like to call "Vegas mode". It is mainly for testing lights to make sure there aren't any lights out, and they really don't know of any other purpose for that button, than a really showy display of lights and fader movement. Here's the video...

We continued our tour on to Studio B which has an SSL 4048E/G Console with Total Recall. This studio is also similar to Studio A in that they both have Total Recall. Total Recall is a nifty little feature where you can set all the settings exactly as you want, and then save that to a disk, and take it to another studio that has a board with total recall, and it will set their board exactly as you had it on the board at the originating studio. It's really cool!

After studio B we went on to the MIDI-Lab where Larry works. He'll be teaching me the Audio Production Techniques class (APT) where I will learn how to sequence and construct my own music with a synthesizer and a number of different external sound engines. It's way cool. I'm really excited for that class. Anyway here's another couple pictures of the orientation day. (these are the last couple pictures I took during the orientation day- they're in the MIDI lab)

Anyway, I've got a lot of reading to do before my first class of the Career Development Program tomorrow. So I'll update again as soon as I can! I hope this gives you all a little taste of the environment I'll be in for the next 10 months! I love you all!

Completely out of nowhere!

2008-01-17T18:42:00.000-05:00

Thursday January 17, 2007
2:45pm

I took Mom and Dad to Reagan International Airport this morning at 5:45. We got there at like 6:15. I dropped them off and then headed for home. I got home by about 6:35 and went back to sleep.

2 and a half hours later . . .

I woke up, got up, showered, and then was in the office checking my email. Around 10 or 10:15, I was walking from the office to the kitchen for something. I glanced out the dining room window at the cars in the drive way...and ::gasp:: guess what I saw...

This reminds me of Narnia with the lamp post... hehe.

Soooo ya, we have like 3 inches of snow on the ground, and its stopped for the moment. I took some fun close-up pictures too! (you know me, I enjoy playing with my macro setting on my camera)

Anyway, I just thought I'd take a minute to show those fun pictures of the snow. I hope everyone's having a wonderful week! I'll update again with the first day of school as it comes around.

Update for the new year!

2008-01-07T00:56:00.000-05:00

Saturday January 5, 2008

What a fabulous year it has been, this past 2007. I have many fond memories, but also many that I am happy to leave behind.

As some of you know I spent most of the holidays down in Williamsburg, VA with family. My parents own a timeshare down there, so we went down there on the 30th, and stayed through Wednesday the 2nd.

On our first day down there (Monday the 31) we went in to Williamsburg, running through the visitor's center to catch a bus so we could get there in time to hear George Washington give an address.

We wouldn't want to keep the president waiting now, would we?

After hearing him give his speech, we made our way around to the left of the stage where he was speaking, to a hedge maze where we quickly found ourselves lost in the greenery. It was a lot of fun running around and trying to find our way to the center. I took a little video and a couple pictures along the way...

Watch the entire video, the ending frame is the best part...lol.

I had fun taking pictures while we were wandering around the maze area after we found our way to the center. I have found that I enjoy taking close-up pictures of plant life, and such. I like the detail that can be captured with the macro setting on my camera...in pictures such as this:

or this..

Moss growing on the wall that lines the perimeter of the Governor's Gardens.

I took this cute picture of Michaela looking through some of the shrubbery...

The last picture I took that day before we got on the bus is I think my favorite picture that I took the entire time down there. I'll show you the one that I tried getting the first time, and then the one I finally got which turned out perfect!

This is the first one I tried taking earlier in the day...

(Notice how the focus is backwards, everything in the

back is in focus, and the seed itself is out of focus.)

But this, ooh yes, this is the one that turned out
just beautiful! I am very proud of it. *big smile*

I couldn't help but take this next picture.

I felt joy as I hit the shutter, knowing that I had just happened to be looking at that part of the Governor's Green at that moment. I captured the innocence in that little girl; so happy and blissful twirling in her colonial dress. It brought a smile to my face as I saw the moment unfold before me...

Soooo, there is more to the stay that we had (this is just day 1) but, I am going to post this for now, and then head to bed soon. I'll update the rest of the story soon!! Keep an eye out and an ear to the ground! Love you all!

Progress with progression towards school...

2007-12-22T02:41:00.000-05:00

December 21, 2007
11:11pm

Wow, today was interesting... I got up this morning to Dad telling me that the COX Cable guy was here and wouldn't be here long so he wanted me to get dressed real quick so I could come upstairs to watch and learn from him... (Dad was telling me this thru the bathroom door while I was finishing getting ready) So, I threw some clothes on and ran upstairs to watch his diagnosis of the TV cable we've been having.

We ended up drilling a hole thru the wall out to the outside of the house to run a line directly from outside straight into the receiver so there was no signal loss (which was our problem before) So our signal is great and we've got a great picture now, it's nice.

I went up to Omega today to take my entrance exam. It was just a comprehension test to assess my reading and comprehension skills. 50 questions, (it was a breeze! I finished it in half an hour) and not too much to my surprise, I aced it with a perfect score! *big smile*

So that was fun. I am now officially enrolled as a student of

THE OMEGA STUDIOS' SCHOOL

OF APPLIED RECORDING ARTS

AND SCIENCES

Yay me! I'm so excited! I totally got chills and shivers when I was upstairs talking to Bill Terry (Director of Admissions) about the information he needed from me for enrollment. It was pretty fun. Anyway, well it's late now and there's so much more I want to blog about! BUT, alas, I must get to sleep and wake in the morning to do chores... (blehhh) cuz we have lots of wonderful family coming in tomorrow night (all of whom I'm soooo excited to see! Travel safe everyone!)

I shall see you tomorrow night! Loves!

New TV, speakers and an education for me!

2007-12-18T03:37:00.000-05:00

So, we have a bran new 50" HDTV above our fireplace now, and man is it cool!

These are the speakers that we got to go along with it for now at least...they sound great!

And as for the education portion... *big hugely massive smile*

I'M GOING TO A RECORDING SCHOOL IN JANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click here

for the School/Studio's website.

One of the fun things I'll get to do while there at school is...one of the board's I'll be using to do mixing/recording and such, is the original board used to do the 20th anniversary re-mastering mix of the

trilogy! It was also used to record the score and sound effects (score, I'm positive, sound FX, I'm not so sure actually) for the John Williams Film

too! It's so awesome! So I'll be able to work on that same sound board during the duration of the course. I'm so excited! I can't even tell you! Wow, I can't wait to get up there and just get going! It's such an exciting feeling that is inside me now. I can't begin to describe it, so it must be good! Anyway, I hate to cut this sort of short, but I wanted to get it posted so all of you could see!

Love you all forever! I can't wait to see Lucas, Janette, Joshua, and Andy this weekend! Sooooo wonderfully exciting! *smiles!*

Gordon B. Hinckley DVD and Washington D.C. Temple Lighting Ceremony!

2007-12-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!
Wow, it has been an incredible past week since I updated for August Rush (which by the way is the most amazing movie I have ever seen!)

The DVD is done! Dad sent a master copy off to South Carolina Thursday night at 8:07pm from Reston, VA. It is the DVD that will be replicated into the first 10,000 copies! The DVD was announced as the cover story on meridian yesterday morning and the sales have been coming in! They are selling really well!

Here's a picture of the cover of the DVD.

I was at the Visitor's Center performing with the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. for the lighting ceremony for the Washington D.C. Temple Festival of Lights Thursday night. Wow, was it an incredible experience. Elder Packer and Elder Oaks were both there (Elder Packer was the speaker of the Christmas message) It was quite an inspiring evening. The lights! Wow, what a beautiful display of "awe-inspiring technicolor" as Ann Santini puts it. (She's the director of International Affairs for the church, and as always, the 'narrator' for the proceedings during the lighting ceremonies.) It was a wonderful experience to be able to be a part of that again! I loved every minute of it, and it was fun being a part of a new choir this year too. Yay for wonderful music!

Here are a few pictures I took of the lights while walking around the grounds with Helen afterwards.

The temple!

Lights reflecting on the water. So cool!

This picture of the temple is a lot better. I was more steady and centered and it's in a lot better focus too. Postcard worthy in my opinion!

Here's a video Helen and I took while walking around the grounds. (I mostly wanna see what it's like to put a video into a blog post. =o)

Here's a fairly recent picture of me with Lucy outside with our gorgeous fall leaf colors! It's been such a beautiful Fall season! Wowie wow! The leaves have mostly been raked in the front and so now don't look as beautiful, but...this picture certainly captures the color of the season.

So I'm so very excited to have Lucas, Janette, Joshua and Andy out here for Christmas! It will be a fun season for sure! I wish Mom were coming too! I talked to Andrew Flint earlier (guy who recorded sound for GBH film) and he said yea just give me a couple weeks notice and we can do some awesome stuff for your brothers if you want to record some stuff. Let me know a couple songs in advance that he'd like to record and we'll put something together for him. So that's exciting! It should be a fun experience goofing around with Andrew in his home studio. I miss you guys all so much! I hope everything is going wonderfully! I'm gonna go check out how dinner is coming along because we're eating soon. (The family is going off to sing at Wolf Trapp tonight for a sing a long.) I've been invited over to dinner at the Salt's so I wont be joining them unfortunately! I hope all is well with you all! I love you guys so much! I can't wait to see you here in a few short weeks! Blessings to all of you for this upcoming week. We'll talk again soon! Love you!

August Rush in Theaters today!

2007-11-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

August rush comes out today! Yay!

http://movies.aol.com//movie/august-rush/29690/video/exclusive-trailer-no-1/1926108

This movie is amazing and I can't wait to go see it!

Journal week - day 3

2007-11-07T02:54:00.000-05:00

Tuesday November 6, 2007
10:48pm

Wow, today was an interesting day. I'd really like to write about how today was sort of frustrating, but it is now 11:53 and I've been letting myself get distracted with other things now for over an hour, and Mom and I are starting work on the DVD early tomorrow so I'm going to get to sleep and update this later. See ya!

Journal week - day 2

2007-11-06T03:04:00.000-05:00

Monday November 5, 2007
10:10pm

Today was a pretty fun day. I dunno, we didn't really get a whole lot of editing done for thd day. Mom and I had thrown 3 minutes worth of pictures raw down onto the timeline yesterday at the end of the day and did no editing of any kind, just stock photos down on the timeline. So, Mom and I worked and got all the pictures from there to the end all polished with moves, and screen safe, and added the gaussian blur where needed. We finished that section with the moves that we felt were right, and then we ended up having to leave to go to Andrew's house (Bro. Flint) for the re-recording session for the revised script portions. The script was great except for the portions that needed to be changed after advisory from the church about the material that we could and couldn't use. We ended up revising the script by paraphrasing certain paragraphs, adding new ones and taking out other old ones. So the revisions and all the recording/editing and even a few minutes to hear a fun song that Andrew is working on right now called "Dear John" was 4 hours at his house. We left our house around 5 to 4 or so. and got to his about 4:05-4:10 or so. We got set up, he started the project and got everything set, and begun the recording. It was a fun session tonight. It didn't take as long just because it was only the revised portions of the script rather than the entire thing. All the recording time collectively I think was about twenty five to thirty minutes or so. So it wasn't that bad. We had a couple takes, naturally, that we had to do re-takes a few times but nothing overly repetetive...except the last paragraph of the entire script. They had to re-do it about 10 times, because the way that Dad said one sentence in the script was just so funny, and it was really hard if not impossible not to laugh when you thought about it. It was quite entertaining. Mom and Andrew and Dad and I were all bursting out laughing, till Mom ended up leaving the room so that we could finish the take and get it done! It was quite the paragraph take, but alas, enjoyable to witness.

Aaaaanyway, Andrew finished the recording after we finally go enough sense to calm down and not think about Dad and the way that he said that line so many times over and over. We worked through it and Andrew finished the recording and began the editing process. It was enjoyable for us to both be there when he was doing the editing. I liked being able to hang out with him while he worked his magic with all his toys. It's pretty awesome! I had a lot of fun. We cleaned up the audio with him and got all the pops, and mouth noises, and clicks and ticks and everything. (there were a few that were annoying and were mixed right in with the rest of a word and we ended up having to just turn them down or remove them by adjusting the gain, rather than selecting and removing them) We finished that and then ran the EQ'ing that we needed to in order to get it to match the mixing, the effects, and the levels and such that he had done on the re-mastered version of the initial script recording that he gave us a new copy of. (The first one that we recorded the first time, was really heavy on the low end, so he remixed it and gave a new version to us)

So ya, we finished that and did all the other fun things we needed to do to it before exporting and saving it, and then we exported, saved and burned it to take home. He then showed us Dear John. This is a song he's been working on with his wife. It's really good! It's got a great like techno'y feel behind it, and it's mormon standards too! I'm gonna help him make a music video for it and we're going to see if we can find a way to market it on Meridian somehow maybe, I dunno. Just some fun thoughts he's/we've been tossing around.

Sooooo...ya, then I actually got a text from Carly while I was there reminding me about FHE and kindly asking me where I was. It read: 'where are you? slacker' lol. I was like oooooohhh!! So Mom and Dad and I left, and got me over to FHE where they dropped me off and I got a ride home from Colin afterwards. I got over to Carly's house and they were playing mafia. There was Carly, Colin, Niel, Leslie, Rebecca, Anne, and Nate. (Nate I didn't know and Rebecca I didn't recognize either. I just met Leslie on Sunday and we were just officially introduced tonight, while at FHE)

Sooo, we played a round of mafia then watched the Annandale Stake YSA Video that was made by the YSA's to enter in the YSA Stake Film Festival (which has it's Emmy Awards night on Saturday for a party and dance at a Marriot Hotel in D.C.) It should be a fun evening! They're having red carpets, and prized and food and a dance afterward for everyone to mix and mingle at, it should be quite fun! I'm excited!

Well, I am tired and getting a bit of a headache from laying in bed at this angle, and I'm beginning to have trouble breathing, which again is normal, at this angle whenever I'm laying down. So, I'm going to bed! I've completed my entry for the day and I'm going to sleep now. Night!

Journal week - day 1

2007-11-05T02:17:00.000-05:00

Sunday November 4, 2007
10:50pm

Hey all,
So I had an assignment this week to improve on my journal entry frequency, so this is day one of that hopefully productive assignment.

I had a good day today. Meetings were great, as usual. Sacrament (fast and testimony meeting) was great. I felt the spirit a number of times. There was one sister who got up who just happened to be visiting from Oregon. She had gone through a chemotherapy treatment previously to treat bone cancer, and was sympathizing with a sister in our ward (Seeley) who is going through chemo treatments (she's down to one every 3 weeks according to her husband, so that's good) She's doing well, but is having a hard time. I've been praying for her on a regular basis for a while now and am hoping that the prayers and faith of all those, myself included, are is being recognized and responded to with blessings upon the head of dear sister Seeley. She is like a second (or third or fourth) mother to me. I have adored her since the day we met here in the Fairfax ward so many years ago. (like 6 or so now) She's an adorable woman and I love her dearly for the friend she is to me and to so many others. I pray that everything will work out with her treatment. Anyway, so this visiting sister bore her testimony and told her story with her treatments that she had gone through to treat her bone cancer. She talked about how she was waiting for it to get difficult, and was thinking 'this isn't so bad, I wonder when it will get hard to bear.' She would see so many people coming in to give her love and prayers and express their gratitude to her for being a part of their lives. They expressed their love for her and their faith in her that she would pull through. She thought about it after a while, all the while waiting for the treatments to get hard to endure. When she thought about it, however, she realized why it hadn't gotten hard to bear-- She came to the realization that the reason that her treatments were all going to smoothly and relatively painlessly, was because of the power of all those prayers that were being answered. They were being answered in her behalf, and the difficulty of her treatments was lessened by a great deal. She recognized this to be a significant blessing to her from the Lord. It was a very sweet testimony.

At the conclusion of our ward block, at the request of the bishop, we ended our meetings fifteen minutes early so that we would have time to gather in the chapel as a ward family and have a kneeling ward prayer in behalf of Sister Seeley. It was one of the sweetest prayers I've heard. Bishop Johnson was the voice and it was a truly heartfelt prayer drawn out to sister Seeley petitioning the Lord for his grace and love to be bestowed upon her and her family and that she would pull through and have a speedy recovery. It was truly an incredible thing to be a part of. I felt honored to be able to be a part of something so selfless as that. It was wonderful.

We had a good fireside tonight as well with Elder Oaks (YSA CES broadcast) that I went to the Centreville Stake Center to watch. It was quite the amusing address. Helen and I talked about it afterwards (comparing notes over the phone) and were laughing together as we reviewed each others remembered moments. It was fun. I'll give more details about it later, but now I must get to sleep. I've got another huge week ahead of me of editing like mad so that we can get this DVD on President Hinckley out on the market for sale for Christmas delivery. We're praying for everything to come together, and so far a number of those prayers have been answered in our favor. I see the Lord's hand in my life and know that he knows who I am. I love him and strive daily to become closer to him. I love you all! More info later!

My continuing situation...

2007-10-22T00:03:00.000-04:00

Sunday October 28, 2007
8:25pm

Wow, this past week has been crazy! It's gone by really fast. Now it's been 12 days since I posted last so this should be hopefully an extensive update on life for me at the current moment....

The movie is coming along, we now have done a total of about 10-11 minutes of completed movie (8 and a half or so starting from the beginning, and then one other section starting about 3/4 of the way through the script. It's coming along slowly but surely. It's going to pick up the pace quite a bit this week starting tomorrow morning. We're going to be putting in 10-11 hour days now beginning this week to be able to get this done as quickly as we can. It's going to be quite the experience for me. It has been so far, and it will continue to be, I'm sure. It has been amazing to see all these pictures that I have seen while doing this editing with Mom and Dad. It's an amazing thing that they have been able to do these past years, following the prophet all over the globe to temple dedications, and re-dedications and celebratory events nation and worldwide. They have seen events from Moscow, to Ghana, to Sacramento, to Texas to Finland to Freiburg, to the Netherlands, to Paris, and a number of other places in the states. It is slowly shaping itself into what will prove to be a wonderful and uplifting production. We've had a number of blessings come about as we have been coming upon obstacles, and I am sure that this is just the tip of the iceburg in the way of blessings that we will see come about as a result of the faithfulness we're putting forth in this project. It's quite an amazing feat we're shooting to accomplish, and I look forward to pouring my heart into it.

Soooo....what else... I got to go up and take Helen to her first day of work on Friday night as the DJ assistant. The gig was a halloween party at an elementary school in Laurel. It took me 3 hours from my driveway in Fairfax, to her driveway in Elkridge (normally calculated to be about an hours worth of driving with good traffic) So, add a little rain and a lot of cars, and rush hour traffic, and you've got an ordeal that will last you thru into the next century. I know now (even more than before) to watch myself when it comes to trying to beat traffic on a rainy day on a friday. Point being, either don't try, or be an overachiever and leave like 6 hours early. I got to her house (left fairfax at 4:27pm) at about 7:27pm (almost exactly 3 hours from door to door. It was quite an insane drive...stop and go/dead stop parking lot traffic most of the way...mostly on the 495. Once I got to the 95 it wasn't as bad. There was still traffic mind you, but I was able to go a constant about 30mph or so rather than just coasting in gear down the road at like 3mph. I got to the place where she was working, found her and when her shift was over we headed back to her house so she could change. She got all dressed up in her halloween outfit (she's going to be a vampire bride) and then we headed out the door to our one hour drive to a local institute sponsored barndance in the middle of nowhere in Dickerson. (It was literally in the middle of nowhere, like we got there at about 11:30, and that was after having finally found people who had just left from it) So we found our way there, parked, went inside and after a few minutes we found some friends we knew from our ward/institute. So we hung out with them and danced the night away for about an hour or so, it was quite invigorating, especially considering the numbers of people that were there in the barn with us! It was quite stuffy, and hot and pretty gross, to tell you the truth- but who cares! It was fun!
We left the dance around 12:30 or so to head home. We headed out and got some food on the way home at Dunkin' Donuts (only place open in Helen's area after 1:30am) and then headed back to her house. We talked for a bit and then she went inside to sleep. I stayed in my car because I was soooo tired that I didn't want to start driving at that point, being as exhausted as I was, and get in a wreck of any kind on the slick rainy roads. and then I ended up (after figuring that the rain wasn't going to be letting up any time soon) sleeping in my car for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half tops... I called Dad around 5:20am cuz I knew he'd be waking up around then. He asked where I was and I told him where I was, that I was safe, it was raining and then asked him what he recommended I do. He said that he thought I should just get a quick bite to eat so I've got some more energy and I'm more awake, and then head out to head home as quickly as I could. It would be better for me to get home so I could sleep and then get up to get on with the day, rather than being up there any longer, and then hitting traffic again on the way home and having it take forever. Sooo, I left around 5:45am and got home and climbed in bed around 7:05am. I slept till 11:45 and then got up to shower and work... I worked about 7 and a half or so hours and then went to sleep... Aaaannnd, now here I am at today!

I had good meetings today. We had the ward primary program here in the Fairfax ward this morning, it was truly a sweet presentation. The feeling of the entire program changed just moments from the beginning, when one of the leaders got up and said, this isn't anything we have planned. We asked the children their thoughts about different questions and subjects, and so evertything is coming straight from them to you (something to that effect, it wasn't her exact words) So that changed the feeling of the entire program immediately. It was quite a sweet program, and I really enjoyed it. Helen's ward had their program this morning too and she told me after church that she was thinking about what our kids will be like when they're in their programs in sacrament. I thought about my future kids as well and it brought me near to tears to think about those few little spirits that are up there in heaven as we speak, watching over me, and waiting for the all clear from the Savior to come down to Earth and be a darling child of mine. I love the reassurance that the gospel brings of the spirit world, both pre and post mortal. It is quite an amazing time we live in, and an incredible gift that we belong to the church that we do. I don't know what I would do without it. I would definitely not be the person that I am today, if it weren't for the church and the people in the church that have influenced me in the ways that they have. I am deeply indebted to them, and to my Savior, whom I love with all my heart. The gospel is true! The Savior loves me and He loves you! Life is amazing, and I look forward to seeing what the coming months will bring to me... I'll update again soon! See ya!

Taxes!!

2007-10-16T15:44:00.000-04:00

October 16, 2007
12:05AM

Wohoo!

I had a good day today...fairly productive- on one front anyway. I got up this morning a little earlier and moved my car so that Flora could go to work. (everyone is always gone in the morning so there's nobody to move my car if it needs moving, so I've been woken up a couple times this past week before 8am to have my car moved) Anyway, the other day (yesterday?) I anticipated it and just got up around 7:30 and moved it before I was awakened to do so, so that was better for everyone. Today, I was awakened however, soooo...ya. Anyway, I got up this morning and had some breakfast after I took Lucy out. I moved my car this morning for Flora and came back inside to hear Lucy crying upstairs. So I went upstairs and took her out of her crate to take her outside for a walk. We walked down to the park at the end of the culdesac (grassy area at the entrance of sideburn ct) When we got back to the house we went inside and played around together for a few minutes, and she was getting kinda crazy so I took her out again for a bit) Mom and Dad got home at this point and so we played for a few minutes and then went inside.

I came inside after taking Lucy out again and had some breakfast (I don't think my stomach likes life cereal, cuz every time I've eaten it in the past like month, I've felt queasy after- up at Helen's and down here) I'm not sure why, so I had a bowl of life cereal (not after knowing it made my tummy gross) and then went downstairs to check email for a bit before I called Helen to wake her up. We haven't talked hardly at all today, it's wierd... It felt really awkward to me, to have not called her as often as I normally do.. I'm just used to it now...so it was slightly off.

I showered and got ready for the day and then went upstairs to talk to Dad about the plans for this week with the progression for the movie project. Tomorrow night we're going to a friend's house in the ward (Alex something) to record all the audio tracks. (He has his own recording studio inside his home, which is way awesome.) So, that should hopefull prove to be educational for me. I'm excited to be able to actually see the equipment in action. I mean, I've used my own array of equipment before on a smaller scale to do my own recordings of students at SVU for their music scholarship auditions, and the choir concerts and such, but it's always been kind of a crude setup. It's worked quite nicely, but it's only bc we don't have anything better to work with. So it should hopefully be quite educational for me tomorrow night to see the real stuff in action. I'll get to play around with the levels and stuff Dad says, so that should be fun.

I got my tax returns done for Bajio, Officemax and PCC today! Wohoo! PCC I ended up not having to file anything cuz there wasn't any state tax withheld, so there's nothing to get refunded from it. I did however get $90 withheld from Officemax and Bajio, and $201 from Federal. So I'll get a return check of $291.00 total. That's gonna be nice. I'm glad I finally got it done with Dad's help. Yay me! (yay us, I guess cuz Dad spent all day today getting his done to...)

Sooo, I'm gonna plan for tomororw, and then head to sleep. I'm tired and I've got a bunch to do tomorrow. See ya!

2007-10-13T02:35:00.000-04:00

Friday October 12, 2007
10:40pm

Not a whole lot went on today. I woke up this morning and had some breakfast with Mom and Dad. I got up around 7:30 or so cuz I knew I had to move my car because of the timing of when I got home from choir last night. I was the last car in, and the spot open was the one behind Flora. So I got up at 7:30 and moved my car over and went back inside. Mom said hey can you move your car so you're not behind Flora and I said: 'I just did.' So anyway, I moved my car, and then went back downstairs and slept for about another hour or so. I got up at about 9 and had some breakfast with Mom and Dad after they had gotten home from their workout. (well, Dad I guess cuz mom was home when I got up to move the car) So we had breakfast and I went downstairs to take a quick shower and get ready for the day. I got upstairs and after Dad had showered I talked to him about getting a few more folders of pictures onto the big mac for me to work on for the day so that we could move forward with the movie project. So I got 3 more folders from him and told him that it would probably be a good idea for him to just come downstairs and quickly select and open the pictures he preferred and I would just prepare those ones. It's easier for me cuz there's no decision making involved, only editing. It's also easier for him in the long run cuz he doesn't have to go thru and decide what he does and doesn't want. Anyway, I got 3 more folders from him and worked and finished 2 of the three till about 5pm. He and Mom left around noon to go take Eliot out for lunch for his birthday today. So Dad never got a chance to pick the pictures he preferred so I was back in my old self just picking pictures I thought were good, and it still ended up being a fairly productive day. Anyway, so I finished those photos in the 2 folders of the 3 that I got, and then they got home.

So, we were planning on leaving around 6:30 or so to head out to pick up Lucy from Dulles. So Michaela and I were going to go to the store and pick up a bell that we're planning on using to train her to notify us of when she needs to go potty. I was talking to Michaela and asked her what we needed and she said it was only the bell so I told her I could take her. So, I went upstairs to ask if she was ready and she was talking on the phone, so I used the restroom in the meantime. Before I was finished I heard her closing her conversation with the person on the phone, heard her hang up and then I heard her yell down the hall: "Oh my gosh! Mom Dad guess what!?!" (Dad said later that Mom jumped up in a panic thinking that something was wrong, quickly to have Dad calm her and tell her, 'see it's an excited yell, not a scared one.') Anyway, Michaela had been on the phone with Sandy (Lucy's owner) and Sandy had just gotten home and had told Michaela that Lucy had gotten an earlier flight and was already landed in Dulles and that we needed to go pick her up right now! So we did! Boy is she adorable!!

Here's sweet little Lucy!

Michaela holding her on the car ride home...

We brought her home and played with her a lot when we got home. She's gone potty and she really likes to give kisses. She's really so sweet and just about the cutest little thing you'll ever lay eyes on. Michaela is a very happy girl and we're all falling in love with Lucy. She's growing on all of us and we're adjusting together, to this new member of the family. It should prove to be a fun adjustment for all of us.

Well, I'm going to Maryland in the morning for Helen's sister Marita's wedding reception all day tomorrow. I'm leaving here around 10 to get there at the church around 11-11:15 and help with the last minute setups before they take pictures at noon. I'm looking forward to the day tomorrow; I'm going to enjoy seeing Helen again, as always. It will be fun to spend the evening with her. We get to dance together tomorrow night! Her sister's reception has a DJ and is going to have a dance, and she's got lots of food and it should be just an all around really fun evening. So I'm excited... Well, I'm off to bed! Night!

New stuff!

2007-10-12T02:55:00.000-04:00

Thursday October 11, 2007
10:45pm

Wow, I did a bunch of stuff today and I'm sore as a result. I think I figured out where the pain in my legs is coming from...my guess is its from sitting in front of the computer all day while I'm editing photos for the DVD. That's the only conclusion I've drawn, other than that, I have no idea. I'm sittin here at home now. I had choir practice tonight for the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. It went well and we sang nicely.

I did a lot of stuff today. I got up this morning and worked for a couple hours and took a break for a minute while Mom and Dad got home and had breakfast. I worked another couple hours and then remembered that I needed to ask Dad about a suit for Saturday for Helen's sister's wedding reception. (Marita got married today in the D.C. Temple!) She's on her honeymoon for the...night...literally in Ocean City with her husband. They've got their reception Saturday night, and I get to go! It's gonna be great fun! There's a dance, and a DJ and little party favor games on the tables. I bought a suit today that I'll wear at the reception too! It's nice!

That's the jacket and here's the pants...

It was a great price too! I got it at Wally world (Wal-Mart) and it only cost me $84.40 for everything! It's awesome! Alright, well there's more that went on today, but I've gotta get to sleep so I can get up and do work tomorrow for Dad.. Night!

Life is good....

2007-10-11T03:08:00.000-04:00

October 10, 2007
10:45pm

So, today was a pretty good day. I did a bunch more photos today. (I knocked out 195 for the day) My overall total so far is 745 I think. So I've got the majority (more than half at least) ready to choose from. So that was nice to make progress there.
I woke up and showered this morning at around 7:45. I got upstairs and had some breakfast around 8ish... Mom and Dad were off exercising. So I went upstairs and had some breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the sink dishes, and then went back downstairs for a bit. I was studying in Putting on the Armor of God, and trying to move forward in the book which is good- something I haven't done in a long time. It felt good to be reading from its pages again. I felt, in a way, like I was back in Arizona. I don't know how to explain it further, I just felt like it, so that was nice as well.

Mom and Dad got home and I ended up being sent off to get a haircut, which I've needed for about 3 months anyway, so it was nice.

Here's a before picture....

And here's after it's cut. It's very nice!

Then I went to Wally world (Wal-Mart over in the shopping area by the Vietnamese Barber here in Fairfax) and got more hair-gel. I kinda ran out yesterday so I showered this morning and then when I did my hair, I only did it with water so when it dried it was kinda...wonky. (hehe...Helen's word) Sooo, Mom told me I should get it cut. Anyway, so I got more hairgel (it's mousse actually, it should be interesting.) and beef jerky (teriyaki, mmmmmm) and some orange flavored listerine pocket mist (for Marita's wedding reception Saturday night). and toothpaste. (I really liked the toothpaste I got when I was in Maryland when I went shopping with Helen. I got the kind that had the breath strips in it, like micro listering breath strips, and it worked well and I liked the flavor, so I got one similar to it with the breath strips.) I used some earlier and it's slightly different, but still works well.

So I finished shopping and left and got home around like 11:30. Then I worked with Dad back and forth for about a half hour or so getting more pictures from his computer downstairs to the Big Mac using his 2 Gig Jumpfrog, as he calls it. Then I went to work with the pictures and finished 179 of them today. (I was thinking I had done 195 today but I checked my hours document and saw that I had done 195 yesterday, not today.) Then I worked from 12:45 to 1:25 or so, then went up and had lunch with mom and dad. Then went back downstairs around like 2:15 and worked till about 3:45. I was really tired and sort of falling asleep at the computer so I went and took about a 40 minute nap and that helped. I resumed work at 4:30 and worked till about 6:45 or so and then went upstairs for dinner. We had dinner and then I did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and watched an episode of Monk with Mom and Dad. Mariah and Michaela came home from mutual while we were watching so they joined us for the last about 5 minutes or something. It ended, we had family scripture time, and family prayer and took about fifteen minutes or so and talked about everything that is going to happen on Friday when we go to the airport to pick up Lucy!

She's so adorable! It will be fun to have a new member of the family around the house to play with and get to know. So anyway, we talked about all the things to do with Lucy and then we went our separate ways for the evening.

I'm going to finish this up so I can get to bed soon. I'm tired and have to get up early to call Helen. She's doing Marita's hair in the morning and has to get up at 5 to do it starting at 5:15 so....ya that will be a fun morning. We have choir tomorrow too! Yay! Okay...I'm off to bed. Go go go! Adios!

Choir, work and a wonderful conference weekend!

2007-10-08T23:32:00.000-04:00

Wow! A lot has happened in the past 5 days since I updated last.... Well, where do I start..?

My audition for the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. went well. I left the house here at 6pm (my audition was scheduled for 6:45) and I got there and found Brother Hardin at 6:56 (traffic was so horrible!) Soooo ya, Jane (my GPS) said it would be 25 minutes, and it ended up being just under an hour....(crazy!) Anyway, so I got there and found Brother Gary Clawson teaching his class so I asked him where Bro. Hardin was and he said he was on the other side in the relief society room. So, I went and searched him out and asked about when I was doing my audition and apologized for being late due to traffic. He asked if I had talked to Sis. Childs yet and I told him no, and that I hadn't seen her yet. I told him I'd go back over and watch for her, and then Bro. Clawson's class let out and I realized, as she was walking out, that she was in the class with Bro. Clawson the whole time, lol. Soooo, I talked to her and told her that I had my audition that night and was wondering when we were going to do it for me. (She didn't remember and so she got the necessary forms and such ready for me and for Bro. Hardin to evaluate me) Then... the dreaded walk... lol. I walked with them over to the Relief Society room where I was taken in and asked what hymn I was going to sing, so I thumbed through the hymn book (I hadn't had one quite decided yet...I know I know, bad form...bad idea... :( ) I ended up asking what Bro. Hardin would suggest that I sing. So he asked me to sing: "Redeemer of Israel." It was interesting. I like the song and know it well so that helped a lot. I was still way super nervous though at first. I sang through it with still surprisingly more confidence that I was expecting myself to put forth. (so that made me feel a little better) So, I sang through it and finished. Bro. Hardin then came over to me and asked me to sing it again with him with more gusto and louder.... (nothing I haven't heard before...almost every choir instructor I've had has told me to sing with more volume, unfortunately) Anyway, so I did the audition and was told to sit by Greg (good resonant bass) so I could listen to how he sang. I walked out to sit down and was waiting on Greg to show up so I'd know who to sit with and Sis. Childs approached me and said: 'oh, you're in...just so you know.' I was like: 'oh, okay that's great!' So ya, that was great, she got back to me within like 5 minutes. :-D Anyway, so we went on with the rehearsal and sang throughout the evening (great music!) and then I hung out with Helen waiting for her mom to finish what she was doing before they left for home. She pulled me aside for a couple minutes before we drove off and we talked about some stuff and then drove off to head in our opposite directions for home. It will be wonderful to be able to see Helen on a weekly basis! I only wish it were possible to see her more often, but once a week is better than nothing. So ya! I auditioned for the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. last Thursday night and I am now a member! Woot woot! Yay me!

Conference was amazing! I can't begin to tell what it has done to me. I spoke about it briefly tonight at FHE here in Fairfax with the family. Dad gave a short lesson where we all went by President (former Elder) Eyring's talk on how we recognize experiences or moments where we felt the hand of the Lord manifest in our life. (He said in the past 3 days, but Pres. Eyring's talk I think was in our lifetime-- anyway..) I took a lot of good notes and feel really good with my comittments to myself, to the Lord, and to Helen. I've never felt so strong and resolved as I do now about doing what's right, and meeting and surpassing my goals. I look forward to the 'successes' of my goals everyday, and use those successes in my mind to help motivate me onward and upward.

I feel so much hope for great things! I feel joy and happiness like never before in a long time, and I only see it increasing in my near future and on thru life. I'm feeling little by little, the intimate love of the Lord for me personally, and his personal concern for me and my circumstances. He loves me and I'm coming to realize that more and more and it is wonderful! I am not meaning to stay up late, but I had to get this posted and up somewhere so other people could read it! (I wanted to give Helen something to read too... :0) I love you Helen. ) Life is good!! Enjoy it!

First day of work...

2007-10-04T02:00:00.000-04:00

So, as you know I'm living in Virginia now. I had my first day of work today for Dad. Technically I guess tomorrow will be my first official (start at 8:30am or so day) work day. I didn't start till about 11:30 this morning. I still got a good 5 hours in throughout the day though. I prepared a good 72 pictures. I had all of the pictures from the Moscow photo essay selected (I'm using the file browser inside photoshop to speed up file-location/opening process, so that's nice) and I had all 20 some odd photos selected, but I hadn't actually opened any of them yet. (I had just been adding them one by one to the selection as I found them by using the ctrl+click technique. THEN, all of a sudden, my pinky slips and right clicks the right mouse button. I was like aaaagghhhh.....nooo....! So ya, that was kind of frustrating. Not a huge deal, it just adds another about 20 minutes or so to my work day in the morning.

I've got my audition for the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. tomorrow night before rehearsal. That should prove to be interesting... I'm sort of nervous- I guess I shouldn't be. I dunno, I can't help it.

Anyway, I took Dad to the airport earlier and dropped him off to fly to Utah for a couple days for Shanda's wedding. I found out before he left that he was stopping in on Lauren Swallow's wedding reception as well! So that's fun. I'm really happy for her. It's been a while since we've talked, and now here she is getting married. Time does fly... Okay, I'm going to go brush my teeth, and then head to bed. Early start tomorrow! Wish me luck with my audition! See ya!

Life in Virginia...

2007-10-03T00:16:00.000-04:00

Tuesday October 2, 2007
8:42pm

So, I got myself all moved today. I'm sitting in the kitchen at the table typing this update for you. I got up about 8 this morning, showered, and packed the rest of my stuff. (Actually I packed last night before going to bed so it would make things easier this morning) Anyway, I showered, and got everything out to the car, and headed on over to Helen's house. She wasn't feelin too good and wanted to resolve her dream, so I told her I'd call her at ten and we'd have some breakfast. So, I called her and she said she was really tired and asked if it would be okay if she just came upstairs to give me a hug and say goodbye and then head back down to sleep for a little bit. I said yea that's fine if you want to do that. So she came upstairs and I put my arms around her and gave her a good hug. I'm going to miss being so close to her. We've been like ten minutes max from each other for the past 3 months. It's been so wonderful to be able to be there for her when she needed me... I know that we both have enjoyed it.

Helen and I had a good talk last night. I didn't want to just go home and go to bed and have that be the end of it for us for now- I wanted to go out and do something, but I couldn't decide what. So, we ended up driving around for a while and then I took a left at the CVS light and just kept driving...(it was a dead-end) so I just pulled into a spot and Helen and I talked for a couple hours. We went from reminiscing old memories with SVU like when Helen and I were sitting on the couch in the yellow room and she started quickly looking around and then hopped up from the couch and said: 'I'll be right back.' She then headed off to find Tara to talk to her about the feeling she had had just then of wanting to kiss me, and was wondering if that was natural. ^-^ It was cute. Of course, I was confused as to why she just randomly felt the need to disappear out of sight with no explanation...that was an interesting moment for me, lol. Anyway, we went on with our memory lane trip, thinking about all the things we have done together, and been through together. We've been there for each other to help one another through a number of tough times. I've been really grateful for her a lot of times when I've had a difficulty with something, and I've always had someone there close to me to talk to. She's been a gift to me in a lot of ways and I can't wait until I can marry this girl in the temple. I look forward to that day all the days of my life, and even more so now that we're growing closer together and becoming better people individually. We have both grown so much in the past....even...like 2 months really. It has really been quite the ride, but completely worth it. She's worth it to me, and I'm doing what it takes to be able to marry her. She's my best friend, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I will. I'm waiting on Helen's call (she's at institute at the moment, and should be calling me back shortly as it is nearly, if not already over.) Anyway, I'm going to marry Helen Frances Zundel, and there is not a thing in the world that can deter me from my goal, and nobody can change the way I feel about her. She is my counterpart, and I feel that we are perfect for one another. We complete each other, and complement one another seamlessly. It's a beautiful thing, our relationship, however normal it may seem to other people. We have something special that nobody in the world can take from us. She's wonderful and I love her forever! I'll write more later, I'm gonna go run and do some stuff for a bit, but I'll write again soon! I'm in love! yay!

Endure thru the tough times...

2007-09-27T02:35:00.000-04:00

September 29, 2007
11:25pm

Wow....It's been an amazing, crazy, wonderful, heart-wrenching, perfectly tough couple weeks. (Cause I know that completely made sense to you...) I, as you know, am moving down to Fairfax Virginia next week to live with Mom and Dad. Dad has hired me on to be the editor of a new DVD he's making about President Hinckley. I am anticipating that it will prove to be an uplifting enlightening experience working with the materials that I'll be utilizing for the DVD's construction. I look forward to the editing process and time I'll get to spend with the family, it should be enjoyable.

I had my last day of work today with Wal-Mart (hence, the picture) It was a good day. Kinda stressful just cuz it was busy and it was crazy with all the managers being all over the place and never in the place where you need them when you need them. It was hard, but I got through another day, and now I don't have to worry about it anymore! I talked to Heather on my last 15 and waited for her to be available (she was running a register in Electronics) so that I could fill out the last minute paperwork that I needed to before I left permanently. She said that she would most likely be terminating me tomorrow sometime. I asked her about the checks for the next couple weeks and she told me that someone (a friend of hers) had direct deposit set up on his account, and his last check (final check) was mailed to the store for pickup rather than being direct-deposited. So, I'm not sure if that's the case for me, or will be the case for me rather. I'll have to investigate and find out later. I'll write more later when I know more. (I'm getting quite TTTTtttiiiiiiIIIiiiirrrRRRrreedddddDDD....) so I think I should go to bed soon. i'll have some time later to fill in the rest of the blanks for the days work today. I'll see ya later!

what a day....very ... boring..

2007-09-20T02:49:00.000-04:00

September 19, 2007
11:39pm

Journal,
Today was very uneventful. I didn't get up till about 1:30 or so...I was thinking of going in to work today to put in a couple extra hours to make some extra money, but never did. I had class tonight. I looked over the material previous to class, (we didn't have any homework from the previous class session, and didn't get any from tonight, so I have NO homework over the weekend. woot!) I'm going to try to keep this fairly short cuz I need to get to sleep as I have work tomorrow and... yea, need sleep. Ummm.......-shrug- nothing really out of the ordinary. I have my savings account up and running online now with Bank of America. The 'keep the change' is going and working well, it's a program where every purchase that I make with my checking card, the change up to the next dollar ($.22 on a $5.78 purchase, $.35 on a $54.65 purchase, etc.) is then transferred over to my savings account. So, technically, for every purchase that I make with my check card, there are two transactions taken from my checking account, one of which (the change up to the next dollar) is transferred to my savings account for my keeping... :-D It's nice! I also am going to have a $25 transfer scheduled every month from checking to savings (similar to Wells Fargo setup I guess) I'm not sure on the fees for the savings account with B of A, if any. Soooo, ya, I can start saving some money to put aside for Helen's ring... :0) She and I went to the mall last week on her birthday when she wanted to get a manicure. We stopped at this one jeweler called: "Whitehall jewelers". They had a sale going on for September birthstone (Helen's birth month) sapphires. There are some beautiful settings for rings, earrings, bracelet's, and pendants there. It's great, (no no...amazing) pricing too! There's a heart shaped sapphire set in a ring, for $99. She said the more she looked at it (the brochure) the more she liked the heart shaped ring, over the first ring she pointed out to me. I felt the same way after looking at the ring for some time... So yea, I like sapphires...they're pretty. ;0)

Well, it's late and I should get to bed. I'll write again later this week. See ya!

Life... (why can I never think of a better title...?)

2007-09-18T02:30:00.000-04:00

Wow...

So... it's been an interesting couple days. I had a good sabbath day yesterday. My meetings went well, and then there was a concert that night for the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. It was a "Why I believe" fireside down at the Centerville church building down in Virginia. So, I didn't know where it was when we left, and then I found out that it was in Virginia, and then put it into Jane when I got to the church and found that we were only like 15 minutes from Mom and Dad's house. So, I called them while I was in the car before we went inside and asked them if they wanted to come to the concert, and they reminded me that they had Flora's 87th birthday party that they were hosting for her. So, they couldn't come to the concert. They might have been able to come to the rehearsal that happened beforehand, but I didn't ask them if they would be able to do that. So anyway, the evening was wonderful! Brother Hardin directs the choir along with Gary Clawson. They're two wonderful men that have done wonderful things for the choir, and have done a wonderful job training them, as the concert was fantastic. They sang a total of 7 numbers. (3 prelude, and 4 throughout the course of the fireside) Prelude music was - Who at my door is standing (absolutely gorgeous!), master the tempest is raging, and More holiness give me. Then they sang How Great Thou Art, Praise to the Lord the Almighty, Amazing grace, and ended the night with an amazing (Mack Wilberg arrangement) of the Spirit of God. It was absolutely stunning! I called Andy at one point, but he didn't pick up and the song ended just as it transferred me to his answering machine, soooo....I hung up. I did call Lucas though, and he got to hear The Spirit of God, which he thought was pretty intense...and I am inclined to agree with that statement. So yea, it was a beautiful concert/fireside. The keynote speaker was Judge Thomas Griffiths of the DC precinct of the U.S. Supreme Court. He's a member of the church and is a wonderful, awesome guy. I'm really impressed with him. It's cool!

I am going to be moving the week of the first of October (like the first or the second or something) down to Fairfax to live with Mom and Dad (I gave my 2 weeks notice with Wal-Mart on Saturday last week) and Dad's hiring me on as the editor for a new movie project they're doing! I'm gonna be paid a lot more than Wal-Mart could ever pay me, I'll have free rent, food and all that, and I'll get to work with Final Cut Pro on a daily basis, which will be fun to get back into again. Dad said he's going to teach me how to digitize photos with his photo-scanner. (way cool toy!) and I'll be working exclusively on the Big Mac! It was fun working with the editing lab computers down at SVU, but this is a serious machine, it's intense and I look forward to using its extensive capabilities, it should be quite an adventure... :-D Anyway, well I'm going to look over what I will need to read in the morning for class for tomorrow night and then I'm headed to bed! Helen is still up working on her art project that's due tomorrow (she has projects almost every class period, it's pretty crazy...) Anyway, so ya! I'll write again tomorrow or soon....See ya!

-siiiigh- situation change...

2007-09-16T00:44:00.000-04:00

September 15, 2007
9:30pm

Journal,
So, I decided on my way up here this morning while I was driving home to drop off my overnight stuff and then head to work....after much deliberation, thought and prayer (while driving) that I am going to quit Wal-Mart (I gave my 2-weeks notice today) and move home to live with Mom and Dad in Fairfax. Dad said he's got a new project in mind and he wants me to be a key part of it and is willing to pay me more than I could be making with Wal-Mart right now. Soooo, I thought about it and prayed hard about it and I felt good about it. I really was torn between my choices, because I have loved (really loved) being so close to Helen for so long. It's been nice to be able to see her every day. I really wish that it could stay the same...I really do. I was really sad when I told her...we both shed some tears over the phone together. I really wanted there to be a better way to talk to her, but we're both busy for the weekend and our schedules don't really permit us any time to "talk" until like Monday...and I didn't want to have to wait that long. I couldn't do that...to myself or to her.

I really wish that I could make things different for me... I wish I could make things better, in all areas. I wish there were a way to have me be really close to Helen and in a place that I wouldn't have to worry about being kicked out. (and I am sure some of you are thinking...well isn't that exactly what you're doing?) by really close I mean, like minutes...not 40 or an hour... She and I both have really enjoyed being so close together, and having the opportunity to see each other on a daily basis. I enjoy every second of being able to wait on Helen when she's not feeling too well, and surprise her at a moment's notice with a gift for no reason at all; take her on dates and outings just the two of us to watch the sunset at a park; lay on the sidewalk together and look at the stars while we talk about life. We have made amazing memories these past two and a half months since I moved down here from Connecticut. I don't know, I guess part of me feels like in a way, because of the decision I made to leave Maryland and move home to live with Mom and Dad, that I am leaving all those memories behind... I know I'm not, but just... a part of me feels that way. -sigh- emotions are a frustrating thing...it's not just girls that are hormonal and emotional apparently. (I'm not saying that I'm hormonal...lol) I just mean, I'm a lot more sensitive than a lot of other guys that I know. (almost all, aside from like Andy and Lucas.) I don't want to feel like I'm abandoning Helen and leaving her behind, but at the same time there is a part of me that feels like that is what I am doing... grrrr!!! I don't like conflicting emotional feelings like this.. It wouldn't be the first time I've had them either. They make me angry and make me feel things I don't like to feel. I wish there were a way to do this differently! If I want things to work for me, and be able to progress to a point where I would be able to afford a ring, complete my sound engineering school goal wherever it ends up being, and be able to provide a decent enough living for Helen and I when the time comes...this is where I need to be for the present time. I'm curious to see how things turn out... and as is the case with things like this... only time can tell... -sigh-

Current life thoughts...

2007-09-14T22:32:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

I'm up in Fairfax for the night. I came up here for a quickie to come see Mom, Dad and the fam-damly for a bit and to just catch up on life. I haven't seen anyone since the 18th of June when Dad and I went out and bought my car. (they left the next day for England for the summer) Anyway, so they took me and Michaela out to dinner at ... a mexican restaurant somewhere closeby. I don't remember the name right off. It was yummy! Helen's she's over at Rachel's house tonight sleeping over to avoid having to carpool to the church for the YSA service project they have tomorrow morning. Anyway, so that should be fun for her. I wish I could go to it with her but I've got work tomorrow from 12-9. Grrrr... There's a lot of things I can't do anymore because of work. I can't do institute, or FHE anymore cuz of class, and I can't do anything after classes cuz it's late, and I can't do anything on days I don't have class, cuz I have work. So....its all just a big cycle of gerrr pretty much. Sooo, I'm pretty tired. (not really, but I should probably sleep) So, I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll write again tomorrow at some point... See ya!

first day of work....

2007-08-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

Journal,

It was my first day of work at Wal-Mart today. I'm a cashier and it's busy crazy work! I'm really achy all over and Helen's not here to help me feel better cuz she's not feeling well herself so she's downstairs asleep in her bed. I worked from 10-7 today and I work from 10-5 tomorrow. There's a dance in the inner harbor at the National Aquarium in Baltimore tomorrow night! I'm excited, it should be really fun, and I know it will be a nice, much needed break. Ugggghh, I'm sore all over from standing at the register...it takes a lot out of you. You wouldn't think so, but it does. I can't really even hold up my shoulders...it's not so fun. Anyway, I'll write again soon. I need to find a place to live soon, like really soon. The Mumford's kick me out on Saturday (well they get home Saturday night and I'll probably be able to stay the night, but most likely they'll want me out by Sunday night.) I need a place to live! I might have to stay a night or two in my car, I dunno. I hope not... =( I'm sorta worried about finding a place...I haven't had any luck really. My original plan of a place to live (Diamonds) ended up not having a vacancy till the 1st of September. I obviously need a place sooner than that. Soooo, ya. I hope something will work out... I know it will, it's just hard not knowing exactly when it will.. That's one of my worst things with me, is that I have trouble trusting, and believing that something will work out when I'm crunched for time in any situation. Be it a place to live, a job, money needed for certain expenses, etc. I wish it wasn't so hard for me to trust...and believe that things will work out, to a point where I don't procrastinate my productivity with trying to find a solution myself. I'm working on it... -sigh- life is very crazy, and I'm growing up really fast. I've got a lot of responsibility to take on me, a bunch of things to figure out, and not a whole lot of time to do it in. Life is hard! I'm trusting more and more though, so I guess it's a good thing. Anyway, I'll write again soon. Pray for me...See ya!

Updates on "Invasion"

2007-08-14T13:47:00.001-04:00

OOOOOH! So, I had the biggest episode-connecting breakthrough today while I watched my episode this morning, it was pretty intense. Remember back when Dave found the skeleton in the water and put it into the trunk of his car? He then showed it to Russell, and they both went out later that night onto the everglades to look for the lights in the water? Then Dave gets pulled in by one of the 'lights' that they see in the water, Russell rescues him, he has a leg injury and it's covered up by the media as being a 'gator-attack'. But no, ooooh no this is no gator. This is a completely different animal all together, not even an animal. Dave calls them E.B.E.'s Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. (A term he coined himself, naturally....:-T ) So....so .... so...They find this skeleton and are looking at it to find it really freaky looking. It's a human skeleton but there's these spines coming off of it, and holes into the skull. It's pretty creepy! So, at the end of that episode as Dave goes to look in the trunk of his car again at the E.B.E. It's gone!

This huge connection that I had this morning as I was watching had to do with finding out where the skeleton had gone and why, who took it, etc. Soooo, you know the whole thing with Sheriff Underlay's story (his two stories) one being that he died in the plane crash and was never recovered, the other being that hours after the plane crash the paramedics recovered him and he was completely uninjured. Soooo, the water where the hurricane hit, changes people...it's not the water though, its things living inside the water...these...lights. During the hurricane Rose (Russell's daughter) went out to look for her cat Carlita who, not to her knowledge, was in Russell's Everglades Park truck the whole time. So, she's out looking for her cat (she's really a brave little girl) and she looks out over this nearby body of water. She's looking at the sky above the water, only to see hundreds of these lights coming down and hitting the water...but not extinguishing as they hit.. Lightning crashes and thunder booms, startling her into slipping on the slick terrain down a slight hill into a big puddle near a tree, only to be immediately scooped up into her father's arms, who turns her around and takes her home. She finds Carlita, all is well and good and happy for everyone, and life goes on. Sooo, I almost really don't want to write this so as not to spoil it for those who haven't seen the series yet (but who will, on assignment from me, go get it from the library and watch it to find out for themselves!) You know what, you're going to hate me for not telling you the rest, but I'm going to be evil and not tell you! So, you'll have to go get the DVD's yourself and watch them to find out the truth! (Believe me, it's not what you think...it completely caught me off guard.) I'll write again after this next thrilling episode of “Invasion” and after another day of life! I'm off, good day to you!

Journal August 13, 2007

2007-08-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

August 13, 2007
11:48pm

Dear Journal,

Today was somewhat productive. I called Sister Diamond this morning finally! But, to my dismay I found out that she doesn't have any available rooms anymore for the time being. I didn't jump on it fast enough! It bugs me because I've been meaning to call her and ask about it, and I've told her daughter at institute and everything that I'd call her and all this and that, and I never did until this morning (and still I was nervous...for some stupid reason I can't identify, it was really weird.) I did laundry today! I came home tonight to find that the dryer was still wet from the cycle apparently...so I put the whites into the wash, cleaned the dryer lint screen and started both for another cycle. I am now downstairs sitting on my bed typing this update for you! Yes, you the reader... this was meant for yooooou...lol. No, I'm kidding, I'm not like those weird whacked out people who tape record their blog updates and transcribe them later to post them at an internet cafe for their all adoring avid reader fans. (Juuuust like Dave from the series called: “Invasion” It's really awesome! Look into it, I recommend it, it's a thrilling ride, I really enjoy it.) I admit ::raises hand:: I'm hooked on it. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a craving particularly, but, I do really enjoy watching it. ::smiles proudly::

End time: 12:20am

August 12, 2007 thoughts...

2007-08-14T13:45:00.002-04:00

August 12, 2007
10:00pm
Dear Journal,

I had some fairly interesting thoughts this morning during church, mostly Sacrament and Sunday school. Brother Wessel and Michael Ray Blasko both spoke on the hymn “High on a Mountain Top”. They both gave great talks with equally powerful content. Brother Wessell went into detail asking us what banners we do we think of when we sing the words to: “high on a mountain top”. It made me think about what banners I fly on a daily basis, a question that he also asked the congregation. My thoughts, my attitude, even the way I drive. “Though it may not be seen by millions of people, the banner you carry is seen by Him whose banner it is.” We need to know what banner we're unfurling when we reach the mountain top. What banners do I fly when I'm courteous? Am I acting as a banner of the Lord or of the world? I really feel I need to be a better example to myself and to others. I was thinking during Sunday school this morning while Max was teaching, that I need to do what it says in one of the verses we read from during class: 'Mosiah 18:8-10 Stand as a witness of God at all times, and in all things and in all places that ye may be in even until death'. I need to do this so that I can sieze the opportunity that has been placed before me that is contained in my patriarchal blessing, of being able to be a part of the morning of the first resurrection. That's a pretty amazing promise, and I am going to strive to be a part of it. I'm doing well, I'm going to continue to do well this week, and I look forward to it. I'm going to give Travis a quick call and then I'm heading to bed. Night!

End time: 10:33pm

August 11, 2007

2007-08-14T13:45:00.001-04:00

Saturday August 11, 2007
11:35pm

Today was a fun day. I went over to Helen's house about 11ish after showering and getting ready for the day. We hung out at her house until Phillip finished his chores and then we headed to the Howard County Fair around 2:15 or so. We got there and used Phillip's cash to enter the fair....sorry that was really weird...2 of the house smoke alarms just went off almost simultaneously... it sorta freaked me out. I think it might have just been like a monthly test or something. I don't know for sure thought, and that part...is what freaks me out a little. Anyway, I went around the house and there's nothing burning, so I checked everywhere upstairs and on the top floor and nothing seems to be out of order, so I turned off all the lights, locked all the doors and came down to go to bed. Anyway, I'm pretty tired and I'm going to go to bed. Mr. Snuggles seems pretty tired too... He's a Dutch bunny Helen bought from the fair today, we had fun taking him around with us to different stores and having people admire his complete cuteness. I'd attach a picture but my phone is being dumb and wont let me take any right now and I don't know why. Anyway, I'll write more about it and him, later. Gotta get to sleep! Night!

End time: 11:56pm

Beautiful Day

2007-08-14T13:42:00.000-04:00

Song for the day: “U2 – Beautiful Day”
9:35am
August 10, 2007

Today I am hoping will be fairly productive. I plan to call Brandon and find out when the bill from Firstline is going to come. It should have come by now! As far as I understand I have till the end of the summer to pay it off, at which point it starts accruing interest on the balance and I don't want that to happen. I want to get it paid off as soon as I can. But, I have no idea what the balance is, and Brandon never called me back when I called him July 31 at 11:45am. I left him a message asking when he thought that the bill would be coming. I knew that Doug had mentioned that I had till the end of the summer to pay it off, and that it would start accruing interest on the 1st of September or something like that. But, if they don't just send the bill to you right off, when you leave...how do you know what the balance is, and how can you pay it off??? I have no idea. It's really frustrating. I know Brandon is busy, but he should at least take a few minutes to call me back and tell me he's busy but he'll call me back at a later time or something to that effect. It's only polite...

Anyway, so I plan on getting to the bottom of that point today and nailing down a concrete date of arrival (ballpark of a few days anyway) for the Firstline bill, so I can calculate that into the financial repayment plan I have set up to pay back the debts that I have with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Firstline, and such. I'm gonna call Sister Diamond at some point today too to figure out the details of when I'm going to move in there, and figure out rent amounts and due dates and such (I'll calculate that into my expense sheet I made for myself too.) I just had some breakfast and I'm gonna go take a shower and get ready for the day. I've gotta locate the work history information for PCC (call center in Arizona) I talked to Nina (the personnel manager for Wal-Mart) and she said: 'so do you have work history between July 2006 and May 2007?' I told her that I had a job in Arizona but I just didn't have the information. I had worked there for like a month but just didn't have the address/name/phone number on hand to add to the work history when I applied. She told me that if I could locate the information and get it to her when I have my orientation next week, that it will boost my pay! I'm going to be started out at $7.40 an hour right now. I'm not sure what the work history info from PCC will add to it. I'm guessing at least $7.50/hr, maybe even $8.00. I hope so! Anyway, well I'm gonna go take a shower and get ready for the day and then I'll go upstairs and watch TV for a bit. (maybe pop in a couple episodes of Invasion and a level or two of Bond. See ya!

End time: 10:42am

11:19pm
Dear Journal,

I am feeling really interesting at the moment. Helen's falling asleep with me on the phone, after just having determined that she doesn't have bad dreams if I'm sleeping on the phone with her, so tonight, as she says, will be the judge. Anyway, Donita and Norman went to the temple today after dinner. We ate early and I didn't eat till I went to pick up Helen from work. We got home just as her parents were leaving for the temple. We had food, and then watched TV for the evening. Anyway, her parents got home about 10ish. Donita said: 'did you hear the news?' we said: 'what news about what?' At this point, Donita told us that President James E. Faust of the First Presidency of the church passed away this morning at a little past midnight Utah time. I was shocked to say the least when I heard the news. It was really kind of hard to react cuz we were all sitting there watching TV like we had been for the past 2 and a half hours or so. Anyway, it was quite the shock to hear. I was very surprised and I immediately sent out love and prayers to the Faust family and friends. It makes me all the more grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that we have of the resurrection, and life after death. Anyway, I'll write more about this tomorrow. Helen and I are going to go to the Howard County Fair tomorrow! I'm excited, it should be really fun. See ya!

End time: 11:26pm

Life in Maryland...

2007-08-03T00:18:00.000-04:00

So! Lots has happened... I am currently typing this post with a combo of my right hand and the pinky and thumb of my left hand. It's quite a task, and gets frustrating at times. I applied for a job at Boston Market the other day here in Columbia, and he told me to come back. So I came back and gave him the info he needed, filled out the application and paperwork, etc. Anyway, long story short, I started training this morning as a "backup" as Bayo ('bayou' the manager) called it. I began with a woman who spoke about as much english as I do spanish...so...that was fun, and it really moved forward my training in an expedited, quick manner...or no...wait, anything but. Anyway, so I was watching what she was doing and I figured it out and so I tried it for myself. I finished cutting enough greens of lettuce for the salad bowls, and so I had begun cleaning the contraption used to cut the lettuce. Bayo didn't know where the real brush was (a wire brush) that they normally use to clean it with...so I was given a plastic butter-knife. I cleaned the lettuce from the grooves of the top part of the device, making some of it, most naturally, fall down onto the blades. I brushed the excess leaves from the top lid piece, and STUPIDLY moved my hand down and "brushed off the blades" (stupid, stupid idea...) They quickly and cleanly cut my fingers open as you can see in the picture of their bandaged glory above...

So, ya that was a fun day...he ended up sending me home early. I've been changed to a dedicated delivery driver only...not a regular employee (Bayo said he wanted to get me away from things that could cut me...which I, at the moment, appreciated.) Anyway, as a driver, they will call me when they have a delivery to tell me when to come in. I come in and they give me the address and name and help me set up the delivery order so I don't leave with too much or too little of anything...then I leave at the appropriate time to make the delivery. I would unfortunately, only be paid on a per-delivery basis, as far as I know...maybe not! Idk...we'll see how it works. I'm going to call back Wal-Mart tomorrow to see what they're offering...and see what's going on there and then I'll go from there... SO YEA....Anyway, I'm tired, it's late and I want sleep.... goodnight! I'll write again soon with more updates... I forgot how cool blogspot is! See ya!