My Adventures of the Week

Hmm…what happened this past week? After the excitement of the last two weeks (my cousin’s wedding and Kevin’s birthday) this week was fairly laid back and normal, which I was actually grateful for. Last Monday, I was in charge of Family Home Evening (my FHE “wife” was too busy with school to be there) and I think it went well. My roommate, David, really came through with the lesson—he truly did a great job. After that, I didn’t have an activity planned, so I just left it open for us all to discuss what we would like to do. We decided to play four square, which actually ended up being a lot of fun! I don’t think I’ve played four square since elementary school! The only sad part about the whole experience was that I had to leave early to meet with my partner to prepare a presentation we would be giving the next day.

The presentation was on Purdah and it was for my Psychology of Gender class. It ended up being a really interesting topic to study, and perhaps a little too broad because we had trouble compacting all the material we learned into a 15 minute presentation. I think we even went over a little during our presentation, giving the following group less time for their presentation. I am naturally shy, so it is not easy for me to stand in front of the class and give a presentation, but I think it went rather well. I was able to articulate everything that I had prepared and the teacher even commented afterwards that it was a good presentation. She also said, “I don’t mean to embarrass you, Nathan, but it’s nice to finally hear you talk!” I wasn’t sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult…

On Thursday in the same class we had a party of sorts where various class members brought treats for the class to share. I discovered something I really like—blueberry bagels! Somebody brought a huge box of bagels and they were fantastic, along with blueberry flavored cream cheese. We also discussed what we enjoyed most about the class and the teacher pointed me out again by saying “You always have such good ideas in your papers I wish you would speak up more in class.” Once again, I wasn’t sure how to take that comment, I guess I should just be glad that she thinks I have good ideas. I finally spoke up by mentioning what I learned from the class. I said that I learned that it is ok for people to not completely conform to the gender roles that are present in society. I have some qualities that could be considered feminine (shyness, sensitive, not a big sports fan), and there is nothing wrong with that as long as I’m comfortable with who I am.

The only other notable thing that comes to mind about this past week is that I went and saw the new Pixar movie, Up, twice—once with Kevin, and then again with both Kevin and Erin. It is one of my new favorite movies, and is now definitely my favorite Pixar movie. It has a perfect blend between comedy and emotion. It is a movie that makes you laugh out loud at one moment and then cry the next. I love a movie (or a show) that can bring such emotions out of me.

SPOILER ALERT!—I’m going to discuss important plot points for the movie, if you haven’t seen it, I advise you to skip to the next paragraph.
I was so touched by the message in “Up”, I feel this entry would be incomplete without at least a paragraph explaining why it touched me. So, please stop reading this paragraph if you haven’t seen “Up”! The main character of the movie is Carl Fredrickson, and his life from a small boy to an old man is shown in the first 15 minutes or so of the movie. He meets a girl, they get married, and they have a shared goal of someday traveling to a place called Paradise Falls in South America. She has an adventure book that shows pictures of this exotic location and a section that is left open for pictures and notes of the adventures they will have. Well, life gets in the way and they end up not being able to go on this trip to South America as planned, and she ends up dying. So, Carl decides to go on the trip anyways in her honor. He attaches thousands of balloons to his house and flies there in an attempt to try to place his house right on the top of Paradise Falls as is shown in the Adventure Book. Well, Carl ends up just short of this location and feels a failure, and ends up looking at the Adventure Book, feeling sad about not fulfilling his promise to his wife about going to Paradise Falls. Well, as he is looking through the book he discovers there are already pictures in the section that was for the adventures they would have. These pictures are of him and his wife and all the things they did in their time together. At the end is a note that says, “Thanks for the adventure, now go have one of your own.” This part touches me because it shows that it is not important what the adventure is, but who you have it with. It is the personal relationships that we form that really matter in life, not going to some exotic location. Life is already an adventure, and what truly matters it who you share it with, not what you do. This was a profound lesson to me and taught me that I can have an exciting and fulfilling life here and now without travelling to exotic locations.

On Saturday night I attended the final activity for my ward, which was food from a place called Costa Vida (I think) and a talent show. The talent show was great and it made me realize that I’ll miss this ward even though I’ve only been in it for about 2 months. The highlights to me were a guy singing a Russian folk song and a great piano piece—Reverie by Debussy. It was a fun night, but I wasn’t able to stay too long because I had to meet up with Kevin and Erin to go see Up. The next day on Sunday, I really enjoyed church and was happy to be able to get all my home teaching done after church. I ended up giving the lesson at these home teaching appointments at the last minute, and I think it went well. I taught about prayer and related a story from my mission that really was a testimony builder of prayer for me. At night we had our final ward prayer, which was a little sad, and then I went to bed.

And that is pretty much it for the week! This week is going to be a little tough because I have to complete my finals and get moved out of my apartment and moved into a new apartment. I’m going to be homeless for a night because I have to move out of one apartment Friday at 10AM and can’t move into the new one until Saturday at 10AM. Luckily I have a great friend, Kevin, who is willing to let me stay over at his house that night so I should be fine. All in all it was a great week, and I look forward to the next one!

P.S. I forgot to mention the incredible performance show on Wednesday night of So You Think You Can Dance! I usually am not a huge dance fan, but I was blown away with many of the dances that night. I’m excited for the season! I also wanted to mention that I’m addicted to a new CD—It is called Frequency by IQ and I highly recommend it! Expect to see it reviewed soon in my other blog, “The Leviathan”. Ok, that is all. Have fun!

Kevin's Birthday!

What a great week it has been! It started on sort of a low note, though. Last Monday I had just gotten back from Arizona from the trip for my cousin’s wedding, and I had a big test to study for and take. After getting home from work at 12, I spent about 4 and a half hours studying Psychology of gender. Then, I went to go take the test at the testing center. This test involves writing 5 essays, and I only had 2 hours before the testing center closed at 7, so it was a stressful time getting it all done. I managed to finish all my essays, but I didn’t feel so confident about what I had written—I still have yet to see what I got on the test. When I got back home, I walked in on the middle of FHE and joined my FHE group for a game of Jenga. It was pretty impressive how high we were able to stack the blocks. We played a different version where each row has 5 blocks instead of 3 blocks, and I think it made it more fun. After FHE I just relaxed, satisfied that I had been able to get my test done in time.

After that, the week was pretty easy. I was pretty much just preparing for my trip with Kevin to Disneyland—making sure that all my homework was finished. The trip to Disneyland for Kevin’s birthday was great! It was an awesome opportunity to hang out with my best friend at his favorite place on earth and to be able to see my family. On Friday night we got to my house without any complications on the drive, and had my favorite meal and watched So You Think You Can Dance. I love these moments with my family where we just sit down and watch a show and interact and visit while the show is playing. After that, we went to bed so that we would be well rested for Disneyland the next day.

On Friday, Kevin’s birthday, we went to Disneyland in the morning and we were worried about the weather and that it might rain while we were at Disneyland. It even sprinkled a bit as we drove there. I was also a little worried about running into traffic and getting to Disneyland late. Luckily there wasn’t really any traffic and the weather cleared up and it ended up being a really nice day! The only thing was that the usual parking lot was full, so we were redirected to a different parking lot, which made me worried that it would be extremely crowded at Disneyland. This wasn’t true either, as all the lines we were in were really short. So, all in all, the conditions were perfect for a great Disneyland trip!

One of the funniest parts about the whole experience to me is that Kevin got in free for his birthday so he got a button that said his name and that it was his birthday. Because he had this button on, people constantly said “Happy Birthday, Kevin!” throughout the whole day. And, what was funny to me was that it wasn’t only people working at Disneyland, it was also normal customers saying it to him as well. It made me feel a little less special the whole day, but I’m glad for Kevin that he was able to get all the attention on his birthday. Another funny example of this is when we ate lunch at the Blue Bayou, our waiter would always refer to Kevin by his name and would just call me “you”. I enjoyed it all, I don’t like being the center of attention anyways.

One of the greatest surprises for Kevin was that the ride “Peter Pan’s Flight” was open, even though it was supposed to be closed. I joked around while we were in line that I was responsible for getting the ride open as a special gift for his birthday. I was really happy for him that he got to go on one of his favorite rides. We went on all the rides that we usually go on and they were all a lot of fun as they usually are. We had a really funny tour guide on the Jungle Cruise which made that ride memorable. That ride depends on how funny the tour guide is, so we got lucky on that one. Our lunch at the Blue Bayou was fantastic, I had one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. For dessert, they unfortunately didn’t have the pirate ship birthday cake that Kevin kept talking about, but they did have a cookie shaped like a pirate ship with ice cream—it was super good!

Kevin went on Splash Mountain four times while I waited outside since I’m not a fan of large dips on rides. I was glad that he was able to go on his new favorite ride and that I didn’t hold him back—especially on his birthday. I was a little sad that some of his favorite experiences from the trip were the few times I wasn’t there with him, but I really am glad he had such a great time and honestly I probably needed the rest since I am not as physically fit as Kevin. Even though the park didn’t seem so crowded due to shorter lines, the shops as we were leaving were incredibly crowded! I don’t handle big crowds very well, so I had to wait outside for part of the time while Kevin was in there shopping for souvenirs. I was a little sore walking out of Disneyland, but I really enjoyed the experience and more than anything I’m glad that Kevin was able to have fun on his birthday—that was my main goal going in, so, mission accomplished!

The next day I slept in (probably a little too much) and spent the day mostly with my family, since Kevin left to go see his family. I had a nice long talk with my mom (about my flaws and what I need to do to improve my life) and then I watched Bolt with my mom and sister. I picked up Kevin at the Troncales and we picked up Golden Spoon and had a nice little final talk with my mom that seemed to end up with us talking about the frustration of our former roommate. The next day, we had a nice drive back home, and were even able to stop at In-N-Out in St. George on the way back (man, I need to not talk about food so much!).

So, I think I’ll stop there for now. It was a fun trip and I’m glad that Kevin had a great time! I really enjoyed the trip, and even though it is difficult getting back into work and school, the trip was definitely worth it! We also have another trip planned at the end of July/beginning of August to see Rewiring Genesis and Spock’s Beard for my birthday, so that should be a lot of fun! I am happy and there are many things to look forward to. :D

My Cousin's Wedding

This has actually been a pretty interesting week for a change! Mainly it involved attending my cousin’s wedding in Flagstaff, Arizona. But, more on that in a bit. First I want to talk about the days leading up to the wedding. The days before I left for the wedding were tough because I was trying hard to get everything done for school. The most difficult day was the day before I left—Thursday. I am to blame for this, though, because I should have done more work in the earlier days of the week so that it all didn’t fall on Thursday. Part of the reason was that I let my roommate borrow the fourth season of Lost since he wasn’t sure if he has seen all the episodes, and I find myself unable to resist watching Lost when it is on in the apartment. This has caused me to get to bed a lot later than I should and made the week more difficult than it should have been. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) my roommate has finished the fourth season, so it won’t be a temptation anymore.

Thursday, I had my class in the morning, and then work in the early afternoon. After work I went straight to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change so that my engine wouldn't burn up as I drove to Arizona. Then, I went home to study for a test I had to take that night. It was a very intense study session, involving doing nothing but focusing my attention on studying for about 4 hours straight (while doing my laundry at the same time). After studying, I went to go take the test on campus, and didn’t do as well as I was hoping. I think I was just tired and my head was swimming with all the knowledge I tried to cram that it was all jumbled up in my head. I learned from this that cramming for a test is never a good idea. After taking the test, I decided to take it easy for the rest of the night and had dinner at Sonic and hung out with Kevin for a while.

The next day (Friday) I began my journey to Arizona. I printed off the directions from MapQuest and they looked pretty long and complicated, which worried me. What I did to help keep me on track with the directions was to keep track of how many miles I had gone since the last change in direction, and I knew the next change would occur when I was approaching the amount of miles mapquest says that step would take. Well, I was approaching a turn, but I was still several miles off from where I should be when I approached this turn according to mapquest, so I kept going straight, passing the turn. When I went several miles over where I should be, I determined that I missed the turn and went back to where I should turn, and continued on my way. The drive from that point on was pretty tough. It was a one lane highway, so it was frustrating when I would end up behind a slow moving vehicle. The only way to pass is to go into the lane going the opposite way (which is scary) or to wait for a passing lane to appear (which sometimes doesn’t come for a while). So, it made for a pretty crazy drive, the cool part though was that I got to see a lot of beautiful scenery, including driving over a huge canyon that looked beautiful.

My second mistake occurred when I was in Flagstaff. I got really confused by the directions, which said to turn left onto I-40 Blvd. I never found that street, and I just kept going straight as highway 89 turned into Route 66. I was getting desperate when I noticed that the street I was on was Milton. I recognized that name from the directions, and was able to find my way to the hotel by skipping over the directions (about 5-6 steps) until it said to go onto Milton St. I was amazed that I ended up in the right place, even though I completely didn’t follow at least 5 steps on the direction sheet. I guess I’m just lucky! After the whole crazy drive, I met up with my family at a restaurant called Bunhuggers and we had a late lunch (I had an awesome patty melt and we all shared fries, onion rings, and fried zucchini). We then went to Target to pick up a few things, and went to the hotel to chill a little and then get ready for the rehearsal dinner for the wedding.

The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun! There were tons of people there. I’m not a huge fan of being in the middle of huge crowds, but it was great to see a lot of family members that I don’t get to see too often. The food was really good, and I had some good moments talking with each of my family members (except perhaps my mom since she was so busy getting things set up). After the dinner, we basically went back to the hotel room and went to bed so that my mom, dad, and Alex could get up early to help set up the wedding reception.

In the morning, only Lauren and I stayed behind in the hotel room while the rest of the family left to set up the reception. After getting ready, Lauren and I left to go get a late breakfast, but all the restaurants seemed super crowded, so I just drove through McDonalds to get us lunch, since that is my sister’s favorite fast food place. On the way back to the hotel room, a huge storm started up and it even started hailing! My sister and I ran from the car into the hotel while being pelted by rather large hail. As we ate lunch in the hotel room, the rain and hail seemed to get more and more intense and there soon was also lightning and thunder! It was pretty intense, and we just sat in the room and watched a few episodes of Spongebob waiting for the rest of the family to come back.

Well, the rest of the family came back and they were stressed out (particularly my mom) because the reception was supposed to be outside in the backyard of this huge mansion, but due to the weather, they were going to have to move it inside the church where the ceremony was taking place. So, the work they did basically was all for nothing, and now there was going to be a mad dash to get everything set up in between the ceremony and the reception. So, we got ready, went to the ceremony, and it was great! One of the highlights for me was a slideshow put together by my uncle about Trevor and Jenelle, from childhood to current. It was really touching, and then the ceremony started and the pastor said some great things about the importance of marriage and what each partner needs to do to make a marriage work. It was great to see how in love my cousin and her husband are and to see their commitment to each other.

After the ceremony, we all pitched in to set up the reception. It was a lot of craziness, and I found it best to stay out of the way unless I was needed to grab something from the kitchen or help someone lift something. But, the set-up ended up being really nice with some great snacks set up including fruit, pasta salad, shrimp, and cheese and crackers. It was a small room to fit so many people, so there wasn’t really anywhere to sit inside, which made it a little uncomfortable, but it was great to be amongst family and to see everybody so happy for the joyous occasion. Instead of the traditional wedding cake, there were cupcakes, and they were really good! It was a really great reception. After helping to clean up when it was over, my family went to the hotel room to rest from the busy day. My dad got KFC and we ate while watching episodes of The Office. It was a great time as we all enjoyed each other’s company. I love being with my family!

The next morning, we all went to Coco’s for one last meal together and it was really great. I had an omelette that was really good, and we all had fun talking to each other. It was sad to say goodbye as we drove off in separate directions, but I will see them again this weekend, so it isn’t a very long goodbye. The drive home ended up being really easy, and I pretty much just went straight to bed when I got home so that I would be well rested for the day of studying that was to await me the next day. But, I’ll get to that next week…

So, all in all, it was a great weekend and an awesome opportunity to be able to see my family. I am really proud of my cousin and know that she has made the right choice in getting married. Trevor is a really great guy and him and Jenelle make an excellent couple. I know they will have a long bright future together.

Optimistic Outlook

This has been a fairly uneventful week, unfortunately. I continued in my same routine of school, work, and home life—not that there is anything wrong with that, it just doesn’t leave much to say in this blog. Everything is still going really well and I am still really happy. I have really bonded with all of my roommates and I actually look forward to when they come home at night (unlike a certain roommate from last semester). It is fun joking around about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and sometimes these topics spark real deep conversation about religion or politics. It always makes things interesting and I’m very grateful for these moments as they always brighten my day.

I had a moment of negativity on Sunday, but I am proud of myself for fighting it off and being more optimistic. I discovered that I have a tendency to be pessimistic, and I need to learn to change that. I sometimes get this attitude that, “why should I have to do more on Sunday than go to church, isn’t that enough?” But, then I drag myself to a fireside, ward prayer, or break the fast and am really enlightened or have a great experience and realize that it isn’t a matter of “what is enough” but “how much can be gained.” Why would I want to limit the amount of good experiences I can have on Sunday? Church and other related meetings should not be viewed as a chore that needs to be completed, but as a blessing that could really help me grow and become a better person, and isn’t that the goal in life? That was the lesson I learned on Sunday, and it has really changed my outlook on things.

A lot of my negativity yesterday dealt with my calling and feeling inferior in it. I was the family home evening group leader both fall and winter semesters, and I have the opportunity to fill that same calling during Spring. It doesn’t seem like a particularly challenging calling, but I often struggle with it because I’m not good at thinking of fun activities (because a lot of the “typical” FHE activities honestly don’t sound fun to me) and I’m not good at being a leader and getting everything organized. I feel bad for the other FHE group leader who has to deal with all my shortcomings and make up for them, causing their calling to be more difficult than it should be. But, I know I must be in this calling for a reason, and that I need to learn to love FHE more and learn to be a better leader, so I am going to embrace it and simply do my best for the few weeks left in the semester. Last night I felt that FHE went really well—we had a lot of fun watching Kung Fu Panda, and I think it really did allow us to bond as a group. So, I am beginning to feel more optimistic about this calling.

As for other things of interest this week, Kris Allen is the winner of American Idol Season 8! I was genuinely happy with the result even though I was rooting for Adam. It is always nice to see the underdog come from behind to shock everybody with his honest talent. He truly grew the most throughout the competition and I’m sure he will have a great career (as well as Adam). Also, I’m excited because I found out which bands are playing at Calprog (a progressive rock concert in Southern California) this year and they happen to be all bands I love! My mission now is to get Kevin interested in the bands that will be playing so that he can come with me to the concert in October. It seems to be working so far, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.

This weekend is my cousin’s wedding which is in Arizona and I’m really excited for it. I love being able to see my family! I’m sure I’ll have many interesting things to say about the trip in my blog next week. I still feel bad about not being able to make it to my grandparent’s 50th anniversary in Las Vegas earlier this year, so this is my way to make it up to the family, so I’m going to make the most of it! Besides that, I don’t think there is really anything else interesting to discuss. Classes are going good. Work is good. Life is fun!

Things To Look Forward To

What an interesting week it has been! This semester is proving to be a really great one- I enjoy both my classes and I really am getting along with my roommates. It is so refreshing to not dread coming home every day in fear of a certain roommate being there (and, no, I’m not talking about Kevin). My schedule is the perfect balance between classes, work, and home life. I am really genuinely happy right now and it feels good.

This past week, the first part of the week was difficult and tiring, but the second part was a lot of fun! What made the first part of the week difficult is that I had my first two big tests of the semester and spent all my time on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday studying for them and taking them. On Tuesday, I took my developmental psychology test, and felt pretty good about it. I ended up getting a pretty solid B on the test, which I am happy with. Now that I know what his tests are like, I think I’ll do a lot better on the ones coming up since I know how to study for them now.

The second test, which I took on Wednesday, was a lot more difficult. It was an essay test—I had to write 5 two page essays all in one sitting. My hand started really hurting after about the third essay, but I pushed through to get them all done and finished in about two hours. I don’t know yet how I did on it. I feel pretty confident about it though, I was able to answer each essay question thoroughly.

Wednesday night, after that difficult test, I decide to relax a bit. First, I watched the American Idol results and was ecstatic that Danny got voted off and that it is Adam and Kris in the finals. I have never really understood Danny’s appeal, but Adam and Kris have been my favorites this whole competition, so I’m looking forward to them facing off this week. I’ll admit it, I’m a huge Adam fan and I think he is the best singer to ever come on American Idol (which is hard for me to say because I loved David Cook last year). So, I can’t wait to see what Adam does and to see if he takes the American Idol crown. As an added bonus I won’t be too upset if he loses because I really like Kris as well and would be happy with him winning.

After that, Kevin picked me up and we went to Erin’s house to watch the Lost season finale. We had Papa John’s pizza and chocolate chip cookies. The finale was amazing! Maybe my favorite Lost episode ever! I can’t stop thinking about it, and I will probably be thinking about it for the next 8 months as I wait for the next season to start. Kevin and I talk about it on a daily basis, coming up with new theories and discussing certain aspects of what happened. Lost is the best show ever made. Period.

On Thursday, I had more fun with Kevin and Erin—we went to Boondocks to play miniature golf and some arcade games. The miniature golf was a lot of fun because we didn’t keep score and decided just to have fun and not worry about competition. We joked around a lot (and again talked more about Lost). We played Deal or No Deal, which was funny because out of the four times we played, three times we got the 1 ticket case. I also played some guitar hero against Erin and lost miserably. Oh well, I can’t be the best all the time! (Although I did beat Kevin at Air Hockey 7-1). After all the fun, we dropped off Erin, grabbed some dinner at Bajio, and watched Survivor which was a lot of fun. It was just a great, fun day!
Besides that I’ve just been having a great time hanging out with my roommates. One of my roommates, David, gave a talk and a priesthood lesson at church on Sunday and he did an amazing job on both. I am really impressed with his spirituality—he is quickly becoming a great example to me. We talked about our missions last night and it really made me realize all over again what a great experience it was for me despite the negative things that happened to me. I believe that it is really important that I learn this lesson that my mission was a great experience because I had the same revelation last semester and it is being re-taught to me this semester.

I’ll also add that it was great talking to my mom on Mother’s day. I have the greatest mom in the world and I really appreciate all she has done for me in my life. Without her, I would be nothing—I honestly can’t imagine my life without her influence and love. I also got somewhat of a surprise call from my sister Lauren after she watched the Lost finale and it made me really happy to talk to her. I really love my sisters—they are so great and I’m so proud of all they are doing. It is really great to have such a special bond with my family, it just makes me sad that I can’t spend more time with them this summer. The good news is that they are coming to Utah in July for the American Idol concert, so I’ll get to visit with them for a few days in July. I am really looking forward to that! I also get to see them in a couple of weeks for my cousin’s wedding and then again for Kevin’s birthday. So, there are many things to look forward to. Man, it is just so nice to be content and satisfied with life, I hope I continue to feel this way.

I'm Still Alive

This has been a crazy, busy week, so I'm going to wait until next week to give you my normal weekly post. Below is a video of one of the best Idol performances ever that happened this past Tuesday night. It is Heartless by Kris Allen. Hopefully you can enjoy this as you wait a few more days for my regular post.

A Fresh Start

I have had an interesting week! Mainly it involved getting settled with my new spring semester schedule at BYU. This involves quite a few things, namely figuring out my new classes, arranging a new work schedule at Independent Study and getting to know my roommates and ward. I am overall pleased with how the settling process worked out.

First of all, my roommates are great—the best set of roommates I’ve ever had at BYU. I have three roommates, but one of them is gone a lot, so I haven’t gotten to know him too well. But, the times I have talked to him, he has been really cool. There is also Ogden, who is a recently returned missionary who went to Russia for his mission. He is from Las Vegas and this is his first semester at BYU. He is a really nice guy and I have enjoyed getting to know him. He is extremely spiritual and gave a fantastic Sunday school lesson at church yesterday.

Then there is David, who is actually the R.A. for our building. Finding out that one of my roommates was an R.A. concerned me a little, but he has ended up being really awesome. He is engaged to be married soon and is a psychology major like me, although he is trying to decide if he wants to follow that by going to either Law school or Medical school. He has a great sense of humor and constantly is making me laugh. He is also extremely spiritual and has organized a room devotional each night where us roommates get together and say a prayer and have a spiritual thought before going to bed to end the night on a good note. It has been really cool so far, and I have already felt extremely enlightened by it. I gave the devotional once and it was very last minute, but I feel I was inspired as I talked about the struggle I had as a missionary and how the only way I could get through it was with the Lord’s help. After the devotional, David told me that it was exactly what he needed to hear.

A quick funny story that illustrates our funny relationship as roommates happened one night this past week. We were all in the living room talking, and David was talking about building meeting on Sunday. He said, “There is an announcement on the door”, and he opened the door to show us the flyer he had made and a girl was standing there in front of our door about to knock! She was surprised that we answered before she even knocked and we just stared at each other for a while and she said, “Is Nathan here?” and I said, “I’m Nathan.” And she just shook her head and said that I was not the Nathan she was looking for. There apparently is another Nathan across the hall from us. So we just closed the door and all busted up laughing, it was great!

There isn’t much to say about my classes or work this week really. My classes are going to be a bit of a challenge since it is a semester’s worth of work to be done in about half the time. But, as long as I can keep up in the reading, I don’t think it will be that bad. They are interesting classes, although a little controversial. One is about the Psychology of Gender and the other is Developmental Psychology: Childhood which the teacher said would be taught from an evolution background, so that should be interesting.

Friday was an interesting day for me, after work that day, since I don’t have class on Fridays, I decided it would be a good idea to go to the movies. I went and saw Wolverine and had a great time. I don’t think it is one of the best movies ever made, but it was very entertaining and kept my interest the whole time. There were also a lot of great special effects. I really enjoyed the experience. I think I’m going to make a tradition of going to the movies after work on Fridays if there is something worth seeing. I already purchased my tickets to see Star Trek in the IMAX Theater after work this Friday, and I’m really looking forward to that. The creator of Lost and the actor that plays Sylar—how can that be bad?

Also, on Friday night I went to a really fun activity with my ward. It was really the first chance I had to meet my ward and I was really happy. There are a lot of great people in the ward and even some familiar faces from wards past. We had a great steak and potatoes dinner and then played a game called “Do You Love Your Neighbor?” where everybody is in a circle and one person is in the middle and goes up to somebody and asks if they love their neighbor. If they say “yes” the neighbors have to switch and the person asking the question tries to take one of the neighbor’s seats. If they say “no”, they have to say something like, “but I love everybody wearing red” and then everybody wearing red would have to find a new seat and the one who doesn’t is the person asking the question. I usually don’t like games like this because they make me uncomfortable, but I actually had a lot of fun playing this! The funny thing was that people kept saying “but I love everybody wearing green” and I happened to be wearing a green shirt, so I had to move around a lot.

Sunday was a great and eventful day for me. I was pleased to discover that my ward meets at noon, which gives me plenty of time to sleep in. But, once church started, I was busy consistently the whole day. Church was awesome, with a great testimony meeting, which I feel was a great way to get to know many members of the ward. Both of my roommates bore their testimonies. I also got the opportunity to pass the sacrament, which was great since I haven’t done that in a long time. Then, Ogden gave his great Sunday School lesson on keeping the Sabbath day holy. We had a combined Priesthood/Relief Society where the bishop spoke. He said that he was required to talk about two things, and he wrote a dollar sign and the word “sex” on the board. It was a very interesting lesson, one that I hear at least once a semester while at BYU.

After church, I volunteered to collect fast offerings and was partnered up with a member of the ward whose name is Bear. He was really cool and it was nice to make a friend in the ward so quickly besides my roommates. He hasn’t served a mission yet, so he was asking me a lot of questions about what being a missionary is like. After that, David and I cooked chili for the upcoming “Break the Fast” for the ward. Then, we went to our ward prayer which was at 4:30, and then had our Break the Fast dinner immediately after. It was a baked potato bar and everybody brought different desserts. It was really good and the chocolate chip cookies my apartment brought were eaten up fast, they were gone before I even had the chance to grab one!

After that, we had to hurry up and go to the fireside with Elder Bednar. I got a ride from David, and we went to the Marriot Center. It was a great talk about the importance of our bodies and how we should avoid excessive on-line gaming and social networking. It really taught me a lot about how much more important it is to live in the real world than the virtual world that so many young people are getting caught up in. It reminded me of a movie I watched recently called Caprica that takes place in the future where kids have created a virtual world to escape in that lets them do all kinds of bad things, which eventually leads to the downfall of their society.
When I got back we had a building meeting led by our R.A. and only five people showed up, three of us from our apartment. We played “I Never” and had a competition for the best story of the week. I won with the awkward story that I talked about earlier in this blog of David opening the door to show us a flyer and there was a girl standing there about to knock. My prize was Starburst, and I was very happy.

That is pretty much a summary of my past week. I am very excited for this short semester and think that it is going to be a great one. I just need to make sure that I keep a good balance between things so that I don’t get behind in any one particular aspect. I love the start of each semester because it is a chance to re-dedicate myself and to set new goals. I am in that process of setting goals now that I am comfortable with my schedule. I love getting a fresh start.