Today is my wife's birthday. Here are some things I'd like to tell you about her.
1. Stace-Ghost absolutely loves to dance. She dances all the time. She once told me that she had been unhappy for a little while (a few weeks) and she really thought that it was because she hadn't danced enough. When we DJed the dances when we were in the singles branch together, she always put a song in our playlist where she could go dance.
2. Sometimes she thinks that I don't see her when she's dancing, but I always do. There's nothing that makes me happier than watching her dance.
3. Stace-Ghost gets really grossed out by things that are close together. I know this sounds weird but bear with me. Fish eggs or the inside of a flower, where you can see a lot of things...well, close together gross her out. Its weird. But cute.
4. Though Stace-Ghost is 26 years old now, she is still afraid of bugs and the dark. If she sees a bug, she will walk all the way across the house to get me to come kill the bug for her. One time, she even text me and told me that I needed to come quickly to get a bug.
5. I call Stace-Ghost my "little ball of heat" because everytime I lie by her, she always heats me up and I have to roll away because I get too hot. The funny thing is that she is almost always cold.
6. Stace-Ghost is hands down, the funniest person I've ever met. She only gets funnier with the more time we spend with each other because she usually says the things that I'm thinking but in much funnier ways. The first time I met her, I thought the same thing. We were at a party and we were sitting on the back porch, making fun of all the other people that were at the party. We weren't alone, but she still made everyone laugh.
7. I love the way she says "coat" or "boat". She always pronounces the "t" really well. Whenever she says one of these words, I repeat it to her to 1) tease her and 2) remind her of how cute I think it is.
8. Before we were married, much to my parents dismay, I often fell asleep at her house, only to wake up at any hour of the day to rush home to bed. One time, I didn't wake up till 7 in the morning (and it was the summer so I didn't have school), and I rushed home and actually pulled in to the drive-way of our home as my Dad was pulling out to go to work. I always told my parents that I didn't mean to fall asleep at Stace-Ghost's house. This was only partially true. I never meant to fall asleep there, but sometimes I knew that I probably would, but I still didn't do anything about it. Stace-Ghost often told me I could go home earlier but I never wanted to. I loved being with her and never wanted to leave.
9. Stace-Ghost has an absolutely beautiful singing voice. She can even sing what my friends and I call her "opera voice" which is where she acts like she is singing opera, but it sounds really good! I know that it probably wouldn't pass if she was to actually sing opera, but for us she sounds so good. My friends and I used to play songs and have her sing to them in her opera voice. Most of the time we could barely get through them because we were laughing so hard at our opera renditions of popular songs. But even non-opera voice, she still has a beautiful voice. One of the highlights of her summers when she managed the swimming pool was to serenade the patrons. She would get on the intercom with her friends and sing songs, sometimes the Star-Spangled Banner to the patrons. She thought it was so funny. On the last solo album I did (I've done three), I wrote a duet for us. Her voice sounded so good and the song ended up being my favorite on the cd. But if I wasn't telling you this, you would never know because she doesn't like people knowing that she has a good voice.
10. She has blessed my life more than anyone else in my life save for my parents. She has changed me in a million ways all for the better. Recently, I was talking to my friend and he told me that he was jealous of me because he had seen how much Stace-Ghost had changed me and that he wanted that for himself. He was right. I love you, Stace-Ghost with all my heart. Not a day goes by that I don't wish that I was better for you in so many ways. Happy birthday.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Why I Hate The Book Of Revelation (Yeah, I Said It)
I have a confession to make. I hate the book of Revelation. My hatred for it has nothing to do with the fact that it is hard to understand.
I hate it because of what it does to us as a people. We read the various revelations with an extreme thirst. I think we as a people have always felt like something big is coming, something that will totally change everything, like another 9/11 event, and while I can't deny that it very well might happen, I hate that we all agree and are waiting for it to happen. This is why I hate the book of Revelation. It confirms to us that something IS going to happen, which makes us all greedily look for it to happen.
Ask yourself this, do you think you will be alive for the Second Coming? If you do, you're not alone. Almost everyone does. But you know who else thought they would be alive for the Second Coming? The pioneers. That was over 150 years ago. And while the point of this blog is not to make fun of the pioneers or to deny that the Second Coming will happen, it is to show us that we are all too greedy to look for doomsday.
I don't know why we all feel this way. Maybe we watch too many movies and we wish we were part of something, even if its bad, so we can say that we lived through it. But I think that if you start to believe something will happen, then it will. And while I am like you, and would like to see it happen as well, I'd rather see it all happen from heaven.
There is a lot of good left in this world. Its hard to see sometimes. Theres an old saying that "Babies are a message to the world that it should keep going." There's more babies now than there have ever been. We shouldn't be looking for the world to come to an end. We should hope for the future. We should hope for things to get better. I am often reminded of several times in the scriptures when the Lord withheld his hand from destroying his people because his faithful servants simply asked him to. Who knows? Maybe we can delay this coming destruction for thousands of years. Then again, maybe not. But it doesn't matter. The point is that we should keep hoping for the best and do everything in our power to keep the world moving on.
I hate it because of what it does to us as a people. We read the various revelations with an extreme thirst. I think we as a people have always felt like something big is coming, something that will totally change everything, like another 9/11 event, and while I can't deny that it very well might happen, I hate that we all agree and are waiting for it to happen. This is why I hate the book of Revelation. It confirms to us that something IS going to happen, which makes us all greedily look for it to happen.
Ask yourself this, do you think you will be alive for the Second Coming? If you do, you're not alone. Almost everyone does. But you know who else thought they would be alive for the Second Coming? The pioneers. That was over 150 years ago. And while the point of this blog is not to make fun of the pioneers or to deny that the Second Coming will happen, it is to show us that we are all too greedy to look for doomsday.
I don't know why we all feel this way. Maybe we watch too many movies and we wish we were part of something, even if its bad, so we can say that we lived through it. But I think that if you start to believe something will happen, then it will. And while I am like you, and would like to see it happen as well, I'd rather see it all happen from heaven.
There is a lot of good left in this world. Its hard to see sometimes. Theres an old saying that "Babies are a message to the world that it should keep going." There's more babies now than there have ever been. We shouldn't be looking for the world to come to an end. We should hope for the future. We should hope for things to get better. I am often reminded of several times in the scriptures when the Lord withheld his hand from destroying his people because his faithful servants simply asked him to. Who knows? Maybe we can delay this coming destruction for thousands of years. Then again, maybe not. But it doesn't matter. The point is that we should keep hoping for the best and do everything in our power to keep the world moving on.
Monday, November 3, 2008
The wait is over...
Here are the answers to the riddles...Inside Stories gets bonus points for getting 4 of the 6 right....
1. He was in a hot air balloon with three other people. They realized they were too heavy and were going to crash so they took off all their clothes to try to lose the weight. Even that wasn't enough, and they drew matches for who would jump out. He drew the shortened match and plummeted to his death. (I could see that Inside Stories was on the right track for this one even though she didn't have the answer).
2. He was an astronaut on a spacewalk when he realized that there was a tear in his suit.
3. He stabbed himself with an icicle.
4. When the man draws the paper, he declines to read the paper and instead has his captors read the paper that is still in the hat. The paper, obviously, says "Death" which makes them believe that he drew the paper that says, "Life".
5. A stick. (hehe)
6. Because seven ate (eight) nine.
Thanks to everyone for participating! Some of them are kinda silly but whatever can get you through the day helps.
1. He was in a hot air balloon with three other people. They realized they were too heavy and were going to crash so they took off all their clothes to try to lose the weight. Even that wasn't enough, and they drew matches for who would jump out. He drew the shortened match and plummeted to his death. (I could see that Inside Stories was on the right track for this one even though she didn't have the answer).
2. He was an astronaut on a spacewalk when he realized that there was a tear in his suit.
3. He stabbed himself with an icicle.
4. When the man draws the paper, he declines to read the paper and instead has his captors read the paper that is still in the hat. The paper, obviously, says "Death" which makes them believe that he drew the paper that says, "Life".
5. A stick. (hehe)
6. Because seven ate (eight) nine.
Thanks to everyone for participating! Some of them are kinda silly but whatever can get you through the day helps.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Morbid Death Riddles (For Fun!)
At my work, for entertainment, my co-workers have been giving each other riddles to figure out over the course of the day (or some days for the hard ones). I thought that I would share some with you and see if you can figure them out. In three days, I'll post the answers. The first four have to do with death, because they are more fun (its like we're detectives or something!). You have to figure out how they died (except the fourth one). The last three are more kiddish but still kinda fun. If you look hard enough, you can find the answers on the Internet but please don't spoil it for everyone else if you do decide to cheat. Good luck...
1. A man is lying dead in the desert with a match next to his hand. He is nude.
2. A man is working at his occupation when he realizes there is a tear in his shirt. 15 minutes later, he is dead.
3. A man is lying dead in a pool of blood and water. He has wounds but there is no weapon.
4. A man must draw a piece of paper out of a hat. There are two possibilites. One piece of paper says "Life" and one piece of paper says "Death". If he draws "Life", he will live. If he draws "Death", he will be shot. An enemy, seeing this opportunity, switches out the "Life" paper with a "Death" paper so that both papers say "Death". The man, though knowing this, cannot tell his captors that he knows that it is rigged. How does he survive?
5. What is brown and sticky?
6. Why is six afraid of seven?
Go ahead and post your answers if you know it!
1. A man is lying dead in the desert with a match next to his hand. He is nude.
2. A man is working at his occupation when he realizes there is a tear in his shirt. 15 minutes later, he is dead.
3. A man is lying dead in a pool of blood and water. He has wounds but there is no weapon.
4. A man must draw a piece of paper out of a hat. There are two possibilites. One piece of paper says "Life" and one piece of paper says "Death". If he draws "Life", he will live. If he draws "Death", he will be shot. An enemy, seeing this opportunity, switches out the "Life" paper with a "Death" paper so that both papers say "Death". The man, though knowing this, cannot tell his captors that he knows that it is rigged. How does he survive?
5. What is brown and sticky?
6. Why is six afraid of seven?
Go ahead and post your answers if you know it!
Monday, October 13, 2008
I Can't Get Lost Even When I Try
On Saturday night, my wife and I met up with two other couples and went to the maize maze. For those of you in Albuquerque, the maze is just past Montano Bridge. We brought three flashlights for the six of us and were prepared to tackle the maze and come out victorious. Before entering the maze, we passed a group of three people who told us, "You're going to get so lost." Off in the distance, we heard screams coming from the maze. This looked promising. I was in a walking mood and was perfectly fine with being lost for a good two or three hours. Also, it wasn't very cold outside and the moon was bright. We could have probably done the maze even without flash lights. We were ready.
There was two different paths you could take. One path was short (about a mile) and the other one was long (2.3 miles). We weren't scared so we decided to take the long one. However, there was a problem. The weather had been really nasty all day, windy and rainy, and we realized this as soon as we stepped inside the maze. The ground was extremely muddy because the corn stalks are so tall that it blocked the sunlight from getting in and drying up the moisture. This was something that none of us were prepared for and we almost immediately resigned ourselves to the fact that our shoes would be really muddy and we couldn't do anything about it.
After about five minutes of walking through the maze, we came to a sign that told us that we had reached the end of the maze. How was that possible? We had only come to about 2 different forks in the road. The sign also posed a question and based on the correct answer, it pointed us on the correct path that led us out of the maze or for the wrong path, it would lead us astray. The question was "Did You Have Fun?" and "Yes" pointed one way and "No" pointed the other. It should also be noted that the correct path was the way we had just come, which all of us decided was a bit strange. Since we had only been there about 5 minutes and having paid the high price of $8 a person for admission, we decided to try to get lost again. We took the wrong path and set out again. We joked that it would be funny if the correct answer to the question was "No" and were actually on the right path instead of the wrong one. A few times, we would see people hiding in the corn waiting to jump out and scare us but we always saw them and pointed our flashlights at them before they could do so.
After about another 5 minutes, we came to the same sign again. Since we had only been there about 10 minutes at this point, we again took the wrong path hoping to get lost again. It was around this time that we contemplated stealing some corn. We decided that it would be really gross to eat and really stupid to keep as a souvenir so none of us did. After about 10 minutes this time, we arrived at a path that led out of the maze. We were frustrated. No matter how many times we tried, we just couldn't get lost in the maze. We went back the way we came and tried for the fourth time to get lost.
After about another 10 minutes, we arrived on the same path that took us out of the maze. We finally decided to give up. We had been there for about 30 minutes and managed to defeat the maze 4 times. We had a map that was given to us at admission, but nobody looked at it except Adam who was determined to find out where we were all the time. I told him that a map was useless if you didn't know where you were. He said he did know where we were, even though he didn't.
I still don't know what happened. My opinion is that the workers of the maze told us to enter where the exit was since we came to that first sign and it pointed us back the way we came. We really never even put much thought into which path we should take. Most of the time, someone would just say, "I feel like going left" or "This way looks promising" or "We went right last time so lets go left now" as if that was a perfectly logical response in that situation. But, all in all, we still had fun and were glad we got to enjoy each others company. I still wish we had had a more frustrating (and therefore more memorable) adventure though. I find that the memories that are best in life are the ones that you laugh at because whatever situation you were in at the time was so horrible. Maybe next time I can have a more negative (so its more positive) experience.
There was two different paths you could take. One path was short (about a mile) and the other one was long (2.3 miles). We weren't scared so we decided to take the long one. However, there was a problem. The weather had been really nasty all day, windy and rainy, and we realized this as soon as we stepped inside the maze. The ground was extremely muddy because the corn stalks are so tall that it blocked the sunlight from getting in and drying up the moisture. This was something that none of us were prepared for and we almost immediately resigned ourselves to the fact that our shoes would be really muddy and we couldn't do anything about it.
After about five minutes of walking through the maze, we came to a sign that told us that we had reached the end of the maze. How was that possible? We had only come to about 2 different forks in the road. The sign also posed a question and based on the correct answer, it pointed us on the correct path that led us out of the maze or for the wrong path, it would lead us astray. The question was "Did You Have Fun?" and "Yes" pointed one way and "No" pointed the other. It should also be noted that the correct path was the way we had just come, which all of us decided was a bit strange. Since we had only been there about 5 minutes and having paid the high price of $8 a person for admission, we decided to try to get lost again. We took the wrong path and set out again. We joked that it would be funny if the correct answer to the question was "No" and were actually on the right path instead of the wrong one. A few times, we would see people hiding in the corn waiting to jump out and scare us but we always saw them and pointed our flashlights at them before they could do so.
After about another 5 minutes, we came to the same sign again. Since we had only been there about 10 minutes at this point, we again took the wrong path hoping to get lost again. It was around this time that we contemplated stealing some corn. We decided that it would be really gross to eat and really stupid to keep as a souvenir so none of us did. After about 10 minutes this time, we arrived at a path that led out of the maze. We were frustrated. No matter how many times we tried, we just couldn't get lost in the maze. We went back the way we came and tried for the fourth time to get lost.
After about another 10 minutes, we arrived on the same path that took us out of the maze. We finally decided to give up. We had been there for about 30 minutes and managed to defeat the maze 4 times. We had a map that was given to us at admission, but nobody looked at it except Adam who was determined to find out where we were all the time. I told him that a map was useless if you didn't know where you were. He said he did know where we were, even though he didn't.
I still don't know what happened. My opinion is that the workers of the maze told us to enter where the exit was since we came to that first sign and it pointed us back the way we came. We really never even put much thought into which path we should take. Most of the time, someone would just say, "I feel like going left" or "This way looks promising" or "We went right last time so lets go left now" as if that was a perfectly logical response in that situation. But, all in all, we still had fun and were glad we got to enjoy each others company. I still wish we had had a more frustrating (and therefore more memorable) adventure though. I find that the memories that are best in life are the ones that you laugh at because whatever situation you were in at the time was so horrible. Maybe next time I can have a more negative (so its more positive) experience.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A Question
I've been thinking about sharing some of the music I've done over the years with all of you. Does anyone know how I would do that? Could I even do that? I have it both on CD and in my Itunes (I think the format is MPEG or MP4 or something like that) and I know I could convert it to an MP3 if I needed to. If anyone knows how to do that, please let me know. Thanks.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
One Year And Counting...
Today is my wife and I's one year wedding anniversary. It really doesn't seem like a year. I've noticed ever since we got married that it seems like life has been moving in a damn hurry. It seems like everything is happening so quickly and is not moving as slowly as it used to. But enough of that. I want to share some memories I have from our relationship.
We were friends long before we started dating. We both had a mutual friend (Cory) and because of him, we met and often hungout together. We both agree that we don't really know how we first kissed. What happened was that we were supposed to hangout together with a few other friends and then, for one reason or another, they all bailed on us and her and I hungout alone together. I was attracted to her but (not that she was ugly) I was mostly attracted to her personality, her sense of humor and her optimism on life. We were hanging out and watching tv on the couch and talking until it got quiet. It was in that quiet moment, where it just felt right, that we first kissed. My wife still thinks it was one of our best kisses.
We started dating and it was not even one week into our relationship when she thought about breaking up with me. She went to Provo to visit our friend Shay at BYU, and it was while she was there that she told Shay that she was going to break up with me. It mostly had nothing to do with me, and more to do with things she was going through at the time. When she came back and hinted to me that she was thinking of calling it off, I convinced her that I could help her, that I would do what was needed to help her in any way that I could. She consented. I'm glad she did or else we probably wouldn't be together today.
About 3 months into our relationship, it was my Senior Prom. Stace-Ghost did not want to go and I didn't either so I decided we would spend a special night together. I had spent the past night staying up all night with my friends as we were basically camping out for Red Hot Chili Pepper tickets which would go on sale at 10 in the morning and so I had spent the entire night figuring out what I would do. I actually didn't have a clue till about 3 am. So after I got home from getting the tickets, I took a four-hour nap (since I hadn't got any sleep) and then woke up and made my preparations. I went and picked her up in my newly washed car, opened her car door and had the song set so that when she got in the car, her then favorite song (Shiver by Coldplay) would immediately begin playing. I took her to pick up the food, (I ordered Zio's) and went to my house to eat it. When we got home, much to Stace-Ghost's surprise, (and also much to mine) the table was very romantically set, with two candles, and a deep red tablecloth and nice silverware and dishes. I did not do this. To this day, I don't think Stace-Ghost knows that. What had happened, is I had told my mother that I wanted to set the table really nicely and I asked what ideas she had. She told me and then went about her business. I set the table as best as I could (which was not very good), and my lovely mother, came and re-set it, much much better than I had, while I was gone. I'm still very grateful that she did that for me that night. We ate our dinner, and then I tried my best to play guitar and sing her a few songs. After this, I told her I had an adventure planned for her. I drove her to the Wal-Green's and parked and told her that a few weeks before, I had driven to that Wal-Green's to get her medicine, and it was then that I knew that my feelings for her were as big as an Elephant. When I said the last word, I produced a CD for her that she wanted, which was "Elephant" by the White Stripes. We drove on and next I drove her to the movie theater and parked. I told her that a few weeks before we had seen a movie called "The Hours" and it was then that I knew I wanted to spend my hours with her. I then gave her a book she wanted, which that movie was based on, which was called "Mrs. Dalloway". Lastly, I drove her to the top of the mesa where we could see the entire city. It was then that I told her, for the first time, that I loved her. I told her I'd rather have her then the entire city in front of us. I knew what I was doing was really cheesy but my feelings were true and they needed to be said.
I don't think I've done anything THAT romantic since then, but I promise publicly to my wife that I will, and I'm glad that I have so much more time to do so. I'm glad I have the chance to spend my life with my best friend and my conscience, that we can grow old together and laugh everyday together. Here's to one year down and an eternity left to count.
We were friends long before we started dating. We both had a mutual friend (Cory) and because of him, we met and often hungout together. We both agree that we don't really know how we first kissed. What happened was that we were supposed to hangout together with a few other friends and then, for one reason or another, they all bailed on us and her and I hungout alone together. I was attracted to her but (not that she was ugly) I was mostly attracted to her personality, her sense of humor and her optimism on life. We were hanging out and watching tv on the couch and talking until it got quiet. It was in that quiet moment, where it just felt right, that we first kissed. My wife still thinks it was one of our best kisses.
We started dating and it was not even one week into our relationship when she thought about breaking up with me. She went to Provo to visit our friend Shay at BYU, and it was while she was there that she told Shay that she was going to break up with me. It mostly had nothing to do with me, and more to do with things she was going through at the time. When she came back and hinted to me that she was thinking of calling it off, I convinced her that I could help her, that I would do what was needed to help her in any way that I could. She consented. I'm glad she did or else we probably wouldn't be together today.
About 3 months into our relationship, it was my Senior Prom. Stace-Ghost did not want to go and I didn't either so I decided we would spend a special night together. I had spent the past night staying up all night with my friends as we were basically camping out for Red Hot Chili Pepper tickets which would go on sale at 10 in the morning and so I had spent the entire night figuring out what I would do. I actually didn't have a clue till about 3 am. So after I got home from getting the tickets, I took a four-hour nap (since I hadn't got any sleep) and then woke up and made my preparations. I went and picked her up in my newly washed car, opened her car door and had the song set so that when she got in the car, her then favorite song (Shiver by Coldplay) would immediately begin playing. I took her to pick up the food, (I ordered Zio's) and went to my house to eat it. When we got home, much to Stace-Ghost's surprise, (and also much to mine) the table was very romantically set, with two candles, and a deep red tablecloth and nice silverware and dishes. I did not do this. To this day, I don't think Stace-Ghost knows that. What had happened, is I had told my mother that I wanted to set the table really nicely and I asked what ideas she had. She told me and then went about her business. I set the table as best as I could (which was not very good), and my lovely mother, came and re-set it, much much better than I had, while I was gone. I'm still very grateful that she did that for me that night. We ate our dinner, and then I tried my best to play guitar and sing her a few songs. After this, I told her I had an adventure planned for her. I drove her to the Wal-Green's and parked and told her that a few weeks before, I had driven to that Wal-Green's to get her medicine, and it was then that I knew that my feelings for her were as big as an Elephant. When I said the last word, I produced a CD for her that she wanted, which was "Elephant" by the White Stripes. We drove on and next I drove her to the movie theater and parked. I told her that a few weeks before we had seen a movie called "The Hours" and it was then that I knew I wanted to spend my hours with her. I then gave her a book she wanted, which that movie was based on, which was called "Mrs. Dalloway". Lastly, I drove her to the top of the mesa where we could see the entire city. It was then that I told her, for the first time, that I loved her. I told her I'd rather have her then the entire city in front of us. I knew what I was doing was really cheesy but my feelings were true and they needed to be said.
I don't think I've done anything THAT romantic since then, but I promise publicly to my wife that I will, and I'm glad that I have so much more time to do so. I'm glad I have the chance to spend my life with my best friend and my conscience, that we can grow old together and laugh everyday together. Here's to one year down and an eternity left to count.
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