This week we rehearsed our lesson for sharing time on temple marriage. It was a little confusing yesterday because a member of the Primary presidency said that the senior primary will go to Autumn Hills.
22 July 2018, Sunday
It turned out that we taught the blessings of temple marriage to the senior primary, and they did their service at Autumn Hills within one hour.
We fulfilled our plan well.
Yesterday Jasmine and Lucas join Jessica and I for an adventure to Kiss Kiss Salon via the Trimet system. I don't like driving and parking in Portland. I suggested having a day in Portland with the Trimet System, so we could travel around without worry of where to drive and park for a simple price of five dollars a person.
On our first bus trip, I practiced my initial attempt, drawing a man, in my new art hobby. It doesn't look great, but I was able to construct his body. I mainly focused on drawing his face with his glasses.
When we were on the yellow line, it stopped randomly.
10 August 2018
Last week I finally figured out how to disable Google's bloatware. YouTube was a big distraction previously. The list that I have created has forty nine items to cover. I should continue writing about Jessica and I's adventure with Jasmine and Lucas in Portland, Oregon.
When the street car randomly stopped, people started getting uncomfortable because the operator did not inform us of what is going on. One man asked Jessica and I if we knew what was going on. We didn't know; therefore, someone called for help. We heard that we would not continue for a couple hours. Everyone got off, and the operator said that the bridge is letting boats through.
When we got off, trying to figure out where to go, a lady asked if she could have a phone call. Lucas offered his phone probably to protect Jessica & Jasmine. The lady said that Lucas can put the phone on speaker phone. Lucas recognized the manner of speech. She was saying that she was caught by the police selling drugs. The police gave her the option to give them all drugs that she had collected. Police seems to know that it is hard for people to collect drugs to sell. She was telling the man that she did have money that she owed him, coordinating where to meet him. The man answered in sympathy mourning that she had lost all the drugs that she collected. I think that the woman should have the choice to start her life over without drugs. It is possible that Lucas misinterpreted the conversation, but she said that he grew up with neighbors that would speak like this; not straight forward, and kind of cryptic. Lucas wanted to get out of that area as quick as possible. It was weird because we just walked a block away, and the environment was not as sketchy.
Google Maps said that we had an hour still to walk to our destination. The destination was Kiss Kiss Salon. We purchased day bus tickets, so we did have options. The walk with the direction of Google maps did not work well because we were walking under a bridge, which we could not just turn right on to. We had to navigate around to the pedestrian access to the bridge. We decided to reload Google maps, when we crossed the bridge, and it told us that a bus stop was near. Walking to the bus stop, we saw a very long line of people dressed very professionally. I think that it was a business convention, but we also guessed that it was a wedding, graduation, or reception. The line was probably a half mile long.
Google had us take a couple buses that seemed to coordinate perfectly. A bus driver asked where we were doing as he seemed to have dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, but we trusted Google. The second bus arrived seconds after the first one left.
We arrived in time for lunch. Some food trucks were across the street from Kiss Kiss Salon. Lucas wanted to find better options, but he gave Jessica and Jasmine money for food as we left in search for better food, since they had to eat in a rush. Walking a block away, I saw a sign saying fish and chips restaurant. Lucas was excited to check that out especially as we approached because it claimed to be British style. It seemed to be closed, so we went next door to ask when it opened. The next door store was unique. It looked like a Mexican Ice Cream cart, but an entire store. A man in Cupertino would sell Mexican Ice Cream to the crews at the Apple Campus 2 site. Talking to the people at the store was awkward, we were asked. "Why do you want to go there?" That sounded shady. We wanted to eat fish and chips. Are they not a restaurant? We walked back to catch up with Jasmine and Jessica while we waited for the British fish and chips restaurant. They were about to receive their food when we arrived. They had to rush eating, but they finished in time before the appointment. We walked them to their appointment; then, we went to the restaurant.
The restaurant open late. It seemed that it was going to open at noon, but it was a little slow to open. The door was open to us to a drowsy glam, Goth, punk Asian girl. Letting us in, she said that it would be a half an hour until the food was ready. The theme of the restaurant was odd. It kind of matched what we were hoping for based off signage on the exterior. There was a lot of Doctor Who memorabilia and other science fiction stuff. Lucas felt a weird vibe, and he could not have it any more, when he saw on the menu a warning that they are not liable, if they serve us raw food that would get us sick. We left without saying anything as the girl was in the back. The menu toted the self-given title of Sci-Fi Café.
We continued our search for good food, walking a couple blocks. We found a Mediterranean food restaurant that had a much better experience. They even had booths for a culturally rich family to eat on the floor with a rug and pillows. The guy, running the place, was really cool, a man, living the American dream from Morocco. We purchased some lamb gyros. Lucas actually purchased the food. He was generous on purchasing food; although, I was paying for the haircuts. We loved the food. We did not explore much after finding the restaurant.
We went back to catch up with our wives. Jessica was finished when we arrived, and Jasmine barely started her haircut. We chilled with them a little, walking around to a park with an odd playground, until we decided to play pool, since the food cart place across the street had free pool there.
We played two games, and I played very well in our first game, hitting several balls in pockets in a row. Lucas made me out to be a professional compared to him. We played a second round after a sound defeat. I did not play as well the second round, but I won again. My claim to beginner's luck was a fib.
We finished just as Jasmine and Jessica came from their haircuts. We decided to head back to Downtown Portland and explore. Looking for something to do, we asked a movie theater security guy, and he recommended a local miniature golf place. We decided to follow what we believe were his directions without following Google's direction. We ended up walking through PSU. When we got tired of no luck, we had Google maps pulled up. We still diddle dallied for a while until we got even more tired of walking around, and we took their Google direction serious. We came across a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Lucas admired it. Following the map was confusing. The miniature golf place was actually less than a block away East from the movie theater; although, we went south, walking a couple miles. It cost too much money to play, so we explored a little more.
Lucas liked food and ice cream, and we found a food court, which led to the Pioneer Place. Lucas did not know the place well, so we looked around until dinner and ice cream time. We decided to eat Chinese food. I think that it is good because a lot of Chinese people were eating there. After dinner, we visited an ice cream stand, and I discovered Spumoni. I knew that I wanted to get it because Pistachio was a flavor in it. Pistachio became my favorite ice cream flavor, when I saw that it was a common flavor in Jamaica. (I served my two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Jamaica.) Cherry, Pistachio, and chocolate were the three flavors of Spumoni. We went outside to sit on a bench, and a guy, passing by, spontaneously went to get ice cream with his partner, when we saw us enjoying ice cream. I did not thoroughly enjoy Spumoni, but it was good.
On the bus ride home, the glass building reflections made knowing what side that the sun was of the bus confusing. We sat in the disabled citizens section of the bus, and a man with Down syndrome thought our interaction was charming. Lucas asked him about the CD that he was listening to, and he was listening to old school rap. I summarized saying that the bus will be going up and down hills; thus, we are passing through Hillsdale. The disabled man enjoyed that summary.
There is a really good game and comic store in Hillsdale, which is better than Thinker Toys in Multnomah Village. We looked through it, when Jessica and I went on our last date. It is called "Other World's Games & Comics." It was closed before we could enjoy any of the games that they had available in the store to borrow. Their selection of games to borrow is better than Thinker Toys; plus, they have tables that you can use to play in the store. This was the first part of Jasmine and Jessica's birthday.
The event that we planned to attend for their birthday is the Party in the Park in Beaverton. Our stake was invited to serve at this event; however, it was the same weekend as Jessica and Jasmine's birthday, so we went as participants rather than volunteers. The event exceeded my expectations. Many recreational activities were provided free of cost for the community. I thought that the city only allowed the facilities to be free, and we had to bring our recreational equipment.
Mercedes Ledesma gave Jessica and Jasmine a miniature tent, a blanket, and two lawn chairs. When we arrived, we planned to set up camp. Jasmine & Lucas set up their miniature tent with the blanket. After we set up, we decided that we were going to take everything down after lunch. Jessica and I purchased hot dogs and fries. Jasmine and Lucas ate lunch in their miniature tent. We actually got a picture of them in it, and the picture is Lucas' Facebook profile photo. We figured that setting up a tent and lawn chair was like setting up camp at a theme park, so we took everything apart, putting it back in the car.
Mercedes Ledesma was asking Lucas for directions via phone. Lucas and I played basketball as Jasmine and Jessica found Mercedes, carrying all her stuff. We also went to an iHeart radio booth. I won a Trailblazer's Poster, and Lucas won a bottle of Cream Soda. After playing basketball, we found Jessica & Mercedes, trying to throw a large ring shape over water bottles with Mercedes. Mercedes brought her own camp for us to watch. Jessica stayed behind as we went to experience the climbing wall station.
When we ran to the station, Lucas and I ended up racing. If I were comparing the race to a drag race, I would say that he had an empty gas tank. He was only able to keep up for a short while. Although I dominated him in the foot race he dominated the climbing walls.
There were three. I only climbed one slowly. After climbing the first wall in less than ten seconds, Lucas proclaimed "Because I am Batman!" Lucas climbed the second one twice because there were two difficulties. After climbing the hard face of the tower, the line gently let him down as he pretended to shoot spider webs like Spiderman. The third tower was a cinch too. Jasmine tried three times. She was successful the first attempt. Fear got to her the second time, and she overcame her fear the third attempt.
We refreshed ourselves with lemonade afterwards; at least, I did. I had Jessica time when I was ready, playing jumbo connect five. We had to fix it first, learning its quirks. Other kids wanted to play, and I didn't want the game to last forever by playing too defensive, so I let Jessica win. My list of events says that we played Badminton before playing connect 5.
Jessica & I enjoyed playing badminton. We actually played a little ping pong before, but we got over it quickly. I enjoyed badminton a lot. I don't know how much running around Jessica did, but I got into it. I liked that I could hit the birdie as hard as I can, and it would not fly out of bounds. I also liked that the birdie was easy to jump smash. Although I love tennis, I was never about to get into it as much as badminton at this event. I say that I almost quit track for tennis my senior year of high school. I was actually able to play the net.
After Jessica & I time, we had Jasmine, Lucas, Jessica, & I time. After playing connect 5, we found Jasmine & Lucas, playing badminton. I was already warmed up; maybe too warmed up. I think that I was so tired that I staggered, hitting my knee on the floor hard. I got up to walk/run it off. I was fine, but the bruise came a couple days later.
Jessica & I played corn hole for the last few minutes before the event closed. We threw the corn bags about twenty feet into the hole. I made two in & Jessica made one in.
We bought an ice cream cake, but we didn't want to watch it for hours, so we sacrificed it. We ate it, but Lucas had to buy a new one, since it melted in the car. I joked that Jessica and I will start a cake delivery company. I am known within my family for having carrying our wedding cake all over the country, since we moved so much. Our experience has not been fruitful. We eventually forgot our wedding cake at an apartment as we rushed off to move to Hillsboro for my internship. I will remind you of the reason why one may carry their wedding cake all over the place. It is because there is a tradition to save part of the cake to eat at your first year anniversary. We have actually been able to deliver a couple cakes, since our failure of our wedding cake and Jessica's birthday. We bought the cake for John's birthday. That delivery was successful. The Taylor family of our ward had potluck/concert, hosting the ward's musicians. We brought a cake because we arrived late, but no one ate it.
It was a horrible five dollar cake from Safeway anyways. I don't blame them. There were strawberries on the top, which were covered with a red goo. The red goo tasted like medicine. After I tasted it for the first time, I cut off all the wipe cream and washed off the red goo off the strawberries.
John Ledesma wanted to go see the new Mission Impossible film for his birthday. The title is Fall Out. We watched it on Friday evening. Jessica and I watched the previous movie in the series on Monday. It is called Rogue Nation. I liked that movie a lot more than Fall out because it developed a lot of characters well, and the story was good; however, a lot of these characters were short lived in Fall Out, proving their development useless. The movie definitely felt like it was pushing the limits of impossible. After the movie, we had cake and enjoyed each other's company.
I have a bike story. It comes from Terwilliger as usual. I had a case of egocentrism, thinking that the world revolved around me for a couple weeks or so. There was a girl that I would see most every day, running, or so it seemed. She accidently showed me her stomach once, and I didn't see her for a while. I thought that she was embarrassed, and she chose another course to run to avoid me; however, I did see her running again. This is only temporary because the bridge that I usually use to go down to Portland was closed for construction. This is not my eccentric story, but it is part. I started riding my bicycle through Portland, when the bridge closed, having to go through Terwilliger Blvd. It was insightful to see that the perspective cycling on both sides of the street can be so different because I usually ride my bike home of that boulevard. An older guy cycled behind me and with me a couple days in a row. My egocentrism said that Trimet told the police to watch me because a bus driver honked at me. The guy followed me for the third day, and he stopped at the intersection signaling that there was a cross walk, yelling at me that I was going to get ran over by a bus. When I looked back, I saw a bus, but I knew that I was not going to be hit because it was in a different lane. When I let the buses pass, I turned right over the bus lane and the street car lane as the old guy was yelling "That's illegal, cyclist. That's illegal!" I felt bad, realizing that he is telling me to cross the road at the crosswalk for my safety. On the fourth day, I crossed at the crosswalk, and the old guy passed the intersection, waving to me cordially; then, I realized that there was a police car, sitting right next to me at the intersection. I thought that the police was waiting to pounce on me for doing an illegal maneuver, since I was warned by the guy. I didn't see the old guy for some time after this experience. My story is to warn you to be aware of egocentrism. The world does not revolve around you. The old guy might actually work for the police because I saw an old guy, who looked similar to him, cycling last week. I think if the police does have undercover cops to warn cyclists of their unsafe and illegal actions. I would rather have them not be undercover. It would raise my relationship with police. Police are scary, and if they told me that Trimet was scared for my safety. I would appreciate them more. The bridge is open again, so I don't see that running girl, since I returned to biking over the bridge; however, I have seen that old guy, going down my cycling path to Portland.
On the weekend after John Ledesma's birthday, I taught four primary lessons in one. My teaching companion thought that I was crazy. We got behind because we skipped a few weeks, but Brother Kuhn just kept teaching the next lesson rather than catching up. That lesson was actually very successful. I actually finished covering all four lessons ten minutes early.
My bill for GoDaddy was coming up for the third time, and I did not want to pay their unnecessary service charges. They love to charge you for every service that they can imagine, and their user interface or how their website builder is designed is not intuitive. I thought that I found a webpage on Godaddy that said that they would transfer their domains to other hosts for free, but I felt like I was an Apple user, when I tried to transfer my domain. I found a video that showed me how to transfer my domain name to blogger. I use it for all my other blogs, so I might as well use it for alexycles.com. The video had very few views, but I did not care, if I messed up my website. It was not making money. It was not worth the expense. The video was simple. I may have to review the video to explain, since it has been so long; however, I simply changed the IP address of the website to Google's IP address. Their IP address is given at blogger and on their services. The video was good and straight forward, and I was successful. None of my articles transferred though. I still need to do that somehow. I believe that the internet has a time machine that I can go back in time before I transferred the domain, and retrieve the posts.
YouTube has been very distracting, and I even disabled it for about a month; however, I would still check out the website on my web browser. I figured that disabling it did not do much to help me.
During that month, I practiced learning Thai with an app called Ling. I really like it. It made me feel that I can read and speak the language. I was not just learning the alphabet. It does only give the user a few lesson before asking for a hefty subscription price. The app works great.
During the week that I disabled YouTube from my phone. Jessica and I were asked, if I wanted to be Waldo. We were asked to wonder around the Washington Square Mall for an hour as youth looked for us. Jessica and I had fun looking around. A store, featuring start up products, was interesting. We went to a hair products store to look for curly hair gel, but she could not find what she was looking for. A few teams of youth found us.
I am a resource of knowledge and labor at the Multnomah County Central Courthouse especially as the project managers at Columbia Stone and Natural Stone Design quit. We have had two interns all summer, and they have not been a resource of the project or me until the last few weeks of their internship. I worked a lot with Scott Clements. He was fun because he was very smart and hardworking, having ties with Asian countries, knowing Korean. I believe that he said that his grandfather was a missionary in China. We got along well. He was very helpful for working on the assembly tickets. I am the manager somewhat of the warehouse fabrication tickets. Our new project engineer Susan has taken a lot of the work off my shoulders, continuing Scott Clements work, but I should be a check on her work. He understood the building quickly. He is a thorough and diligent worker.
In the past few weeks, I have developed the habit in the morning after I make my breakfast to wash all the dishes. I do most of the cleaning. Catching up on dishes and laundry has been my new habits. I also do a load of laundry to keep up with that. Do a little by little consistently, and one will most likely catch up. Dishes and laundry seemed impossible to manage.
I have written in my list to write about feeding the missionaries. We have feed the missionaries twice. I really need to catch up in my journal. I believe on this occasion I had the inspiration to invite Jessica to go out with the missionaries as much as possible, but she hasn't. She could work with them full time, and she could double the full time missionary work force, if she found another sister in the ward to join them. We have actually been forbidden in our ward to feed the missionaries recently; unless, we are hosting friends with the missionaries as a week ago or so. Jessica loves how big and affordable that the pizzas are at Costco, so we bought one. It fed the four of us easily. I recall saying that missionary work is interesting. I expressed that I did not think that my effort lacked synergy with my companions. In one area, I was my most fruitful, and it was because I really loved the people. The second key was following the spirit. I was lining up baptisms every week; then, I was emergency transferred, and I was trying to force things to happen. That area was my last area, and on my plane flight home I continued to make the most of my calling and authority; however, I felt my potential was limited because I was immature. I think that meditation would be important to practice as a missionary to get beyond the present, and think about what really needs to happen.
On the next day, I taught about Samuel. I went to LDS.org to look at my lesson plan to recall the experience, but my lesson plan is not available because I accidentally deleted it somehow during the lesson. I finished the lesson fine though. I taught the children about how to have a relationship with the Holy Ghost. Although Samuel was raised by a temple worker that was not faithful, he was led by the Spirit. I taught that when I grew up I rarely felt the spirit, and I still rarely feel that spirit. I related that I prayed for hours to have the spirit's guidance more direct on my mission, but it did not come until my mission president asked my companion to give me a blessing. I don't think that I feel the spirit that much. MyKelle explained it perfectly. I don't know how to explain it scripturally based. I just try to do what I think is best and good. When I do this, I think that I follow the spirit.
I attended a Temple Worker Fireside with Jessica and John Ledesma, since they are ordinance worker. The most profound thing that I was inspired to do is make more time to temple service, but I have still failed to do this. A speaker said that, when he was a mission president, he spoke in an interview with a general authority, seeking answers for how to be fruitful, as he consecrates all his might, mine, and strength to work. The general authority said that within the short years that he has of his life. People will realize that there is only one place to find hope in the world, and that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will start "flocking" to the chapels.
One week I got a flat tire, obtaining an answer to the question of the validity of the Bicycle Store salesman's words. Is a cheap Chinese manufactured tire with a tube full of puncture repairing goo as long lasting as a tire with metal shielding sewn into the tire? The answer is that the goo makes tires more reliable than protecting the tube. I got this flat tire a long time ago. I had to ask Jessica to buy me a new tube and arrive by the time that I finish work in order to repair my bike directly after work. The tire was too small for the tube and wheel, and I had to wrestle it to fix the tire.
During this week, our façade system was tested for waterproofing on the Multnomah County Central Courthouse. It was fun to see everyone watch the tests. The performance of our system felt like it was competing against the window installers. The interest of the general contractor, architect, engineers, and so forth was like they were watching the Olympics. At the end of the tests, we were congratulated by the architect for passing, when the window installers failed.
Jasmine and Lucas has been visiting us most every weekend. During August, they joined us for our monthly date, celebrating the 19th, since Jessica and I were married on that date. We went to eat at a gyro place. The food was not good enough to go there a second time. Surprisingly enough; a Thai restaurant was good enough on the 19th of September that we went to it again with Jasmine and Lucas last week. The Lad na noodles tastes just like my mom's, and their Pad se ew was good too. Jessica got Pad Thai both times, and I did not enjoy it as much as my mother's. Restaurants tend to make Pad Thai too greasy.
I started to practice art for a couple weeks on my tablet, and looking at YouTube videos of Art consumed my practice. I disabled YouTube from my phone and tablet; then, I practiced learning Thai for a couple weeks, but I was tempted to watch YouTube on my browser because I gave it to YouTube, thinking that, if I am going to watch YouTube, I might as well install the app again. Cub Scouts started again last week, and I hated that I watched YouTube the whole time, so I disabled YouTube and my web browser. Trevor still sends me YouTube videos, so I still have access to YouTube on my phone, since Facebook Messenger has its own browser. I can't get away from it. At least I am writing in my journal instead of watching YouTube the entire time of Cub Scouts today. I did watch a few videos to catch up of the tech stuff.
I have been saying. 'I don't know why I keep up with tech because I only buy new phones, when my phone breaks.' Phones are not even that innovative. At least they are innovating. There was a long period of time, when phones did not innovate.
I have a joke/story that I have told successfully a couple times. Since Jessica and I live in a studio apartment, I like to cover the light from the clocks of the microwave and stove. It may seem odd, but I don't check the clock most of the time in the morning. I usually complete my routine as quick as possible, and go to work. One morning Jessica got up to join me for a family scripture, and she uncovered the time on the microwave clock, and it said "End." Ideas came to my head, thinking that it is funny. I thought that Jessica may think that her day ended or that the End of time as arrived. Hopefully you have laughed before I had to explain. It said "End" because it finished cooking my Oatmeal.
About a month ago, Diego, a mason coworker, asked me whether I would teach him how to read prints. He and, his brother-in-law, Fernando would come to my apartment. I taught him how to navigate drawings on the first session, and we continued that; furthermore, I taught them how to convert decimals into various sizes of measurements like eighth and sixteenth of inches because the surveyor would put down the heights of each floor by feet in decimal. Maybe I will make some visual images to explain the issue because people are afraid of decimals and fractions.
Jessica registered the car in Oregon, and we got a cyclist "Share the road." license plate. She did a great job, not having issues at the DMV.
There were fires in the desert megatropolis of California. Since I was tired of breathing the smoky air all the way up in Oregon, I purchased a respirator, an air filter mask. I have seen a few innovative respirators that don't look creepy or odd. I wanted a respirator that would not be good for only a few days. The product that I found is manufactured by a company called Respro. It is interesting that Respro, and Flare are both companies from the UK.
Flare makes the titanium earplugs that I used for about eight years. I quit using them because they have compacted ear wax into my ear channel, and I don't know how long that it will take to come out naturally. Jessica found a recipe for a natural ear wax remedy the ratio is 1:1 vinegar and alcohol. It worked really well on the first time. The ear wax was really bothering me. I purchased a twenty-eight decibel ear muffs, so the ear plug would quit shoving wax down my ear. I have a little troubling hearing out of my left ear sometimes when I smile or laugh, when my jaw puts pressure on my ear drum.
About a week ago, I was riding my bike to work, and I faintly smelt smoke on my bike ride to Portland. Since I could not spit, I took it off to spit, and the smoke boldly entered my lungs. I was astonished as I rushed to cover my face with my Respro Cinqro Air Filter Face Mask Respirator.
Jessica and I have started to hang out with Jasmine and Lucas most weekends. On Labor Day, we drove over, and we help them move into their new house/room. It was nice to chill out and serve them. We went out to eat Mexican food at Ixtapa Mexican Restaurant Scappoose OR. Treating myself to a seafood burrito, I was disappointed that the sea food was not fresh.
One Friday, I felt spontaneous, thinking about going to the movie theaters, and I also wanted to watch Crazy Rich Asians. Jessica was leery of the movie, but I insisted as the Winnie the Pooh movie was an hour later. I don't even think that I ever watched Winnie the Pooh in my entire life anyways. The movie was very vain, worldly, and perverted. I used better words when I described the movie to Lucas. I wanted to see the culture of the extremely wealthy, and that was interesting. Jessica could not get over the negative themes.
Jasmine and Lucas came over the next day, and I bought, the card game, Munchkin. I recall that it is really fun from when I lived at Heber City during the time that I worked at Delta Stone Products. It turns out that the themes are partially vain, worldly, and perverted too. We really enjoyed the first time that we played; although, we struggled with the rules. We brought the game over to the Ledesma's home, and John looked through the cards unenthusiastically. I believe that that messed with my second experience, playing the game.
On the previous day before playing Munchkin the second time, John and Mercedes Ledesma came over to wash Mercedes temple clothes in our washing machine. John was just hanging out, so I asked, if he would like to play Magic with me. The "Other Worlds Games" Store, where I purchased Munchkin, gave Jasmine, Lucas, Jessica, and I each a free deck of Magic cards. Jessica is a little into it after playing a few games. John was not even interested in it; although, I explained the rules pretty well. He summoned spells without even reading them, when it turned out to be a very close game, and I was about to win. Jessica chirped up, telling him to play a spell that would kill the one creature that I would allow me to win. I should have won.
Jessica wanted to use her Google Play Reward money to watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. That movie was very intense from the very beginning. The movie felt like it was very short; maybe because it was fast paced. It rolled into plots easily. It was a good time, exploring useless themes.
Jessica and I started watching two cartoon shows on Netflix on the same night. Their titles are the Dragon Prince and Voltron. We started watching Dragon Prince with Jasmine and Lucas, and Lucas mustered the strength to not watch additional episodes only by the encouragement of Jasmine. Jessica put a dampener on the excitement and the time together because she watched the rest of the season privately. Dragon Prince was produced by the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so I was excited. The story is interesting. The characters are developed deeply.
Voltron has a similar feel to Dragon Prince and Avatar: The Last Airbender, but It is not the same to my observation. The characters are not developed as well. Many of the characters are developed shallowly. One phrase that I hate to hear in cinematics is "We don't have a choice." Voltron likes to use this phrase. One things that is similar with Dragon Prince and Voltron is that the screenwriters love puns. Voltron is much funnier than Dragon Prince. Voltron is pretty amazing because they design many alien races just for one episode to not bring them back. Two main characters should have girlfriends already, but the paladins are too good. They are left on their planet to abandon or show creativity in their character design. Avatar: The Last Airbander and Dragon Prince has a clear adventure; however, Voltron is freeing the entire universe practically from a tyrannical empire. The path is not clear at all. Voltron already has seven seasons, which is fun. Dragon Prince has one. When we binged on Dragon Prince, I was disappointed, but Jessica already watched the entire season. Dragging it out would be even more disappointing. Dragon Prince ended well for their first season, but Voltron did not. The team is usually very conservative, but they acted usually risky just because the season was ending.
We started using our personal plastic light weight containers to reduce waste by buying raw ingredients from bulk sections of grocery stores. This is a rare feature of stores. We like WinCo. They did have baking yeast at one time in their bulk section, but I bought nutritional yeast as a substitute. I tried nutritional yeast in my bread machine, and the Nutritional yeast did not raise the bread; however, the loaf that came from the machine was useable. Jessica looked into the product, finding that the yeast is deactivated or dead, saying that Vegans use it as cheese. It tastes similar to cheese; however, when I eat it alone, I tasted that it goes through several flavors, and the first is similar to cheese. Later she revealed that it is nutritionally fortified rather than the yeast is nutritional by nature, containing vitamin B12 and all of the essential proteins. One thing that my father taught me about fortified products and nutritional supplements is a realization. He realized that the raw nutrition put in these foods may not actually be digestible. An evidence of this is that he see an abnormal coloration in his urine despite hydration. When I began to eat nutritional yeast, I noticed that my urine was unusually yellow; although, I drink a good amount of water. My father quit consuming vitamins a long time ago, and I did not continue purchasing nutritional yeast after consuming what I bought originally.
I did my first ministering appointment six months after President Nelson revealed the change; however, I feel that I did more in one ministering appointment than my entire work as a home teacher. My ministering brother is Alex. He moved in a few weeks after I did, and he claimed to love board games. I work in primary, so I am separated from the Priesthood brethren. My ministering assignment was accessible only on my wife's account too, which delayed it for a month or so.
Jasmine and Lucas have been visiting Jessica and I on the weekends for more than a month, hanging out. We play games occasionally. Since Alex loves games, we invited him to join us. I only have one game, so we did not have many options. When Alex came, I invited him to bring some of his favorite games. He brought a few, and we played a couple. They were very fun. We played a king of the hill type game, which is called King of Tokyo. We also played a Zombie game, and I played a key role to winning, which was fun. The team feeling is uplifting.
You may not believe it, but it is December tenth today. This post on my blog will probably cover half a year. I think that I have developed a balance with YouTube; kind of. I actually began to write in my journal again after watching a few videos, when Jessica was serving in the cub scouts. A lot has happen, but life has been simple.
One thing that was a pain is, since I wore my flare ear plugs too much, ear wax was compacted in my ear. It took me way too long to go to urgent care to get it pumped out. I don't think that I should go into describing the experience. I had to buy gigantic over the ear muffs. One person said that I look like a helicopter pilot.
A while ago Jessica and I went to a fireside dedicated to ordinance workers. One of the speakers recommended us to read the scriptures daily as a couple. I usually read the scriptures during breakfast, developing that habit when I attended seminary. Jessica and I have been reading the New Testament, and we are going to have to restart that study with the new 'Come, Follow me' curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We finally finished Matthew about a week ago. Jessica would mow through the New Testament really quickly, but we would not understand it and not be able to talk. We typically read one paragraph or subject a day, which is usually a few verses. Mark is more understandable because it is written for the Gentiles. I actually have served for my fourth week as an ordinance worker in the Portland Temple last weekend. I work the morning shift.
John Ledesma asked me one week. "What would you think about serving with me in the temple, and we will go out to eat afterward? Lucas was going to serve with us too." The following week I got an email, inviting me for an interview with the temple presidency to serve in the temple. I actually did not hear anything able John as I have spoken with people that serve in the temple. The temple president alluded to what I said to my bishop, being busy. I have served in the temple as an ordinance worker before, and I did not want my father-in-law to define my experience of my service. I decided to not serve on his shift. I decided to work the morning shift, so I can get an early start to the day, and I can still have a lot of time to the afternoon to do things.
I have wanted close friends, and we have become good friends with Alex Meldrum and Ari, his wife. We also have a neighbor that has opened up to us. Her name is Margaret. She came to the ward's Halloween and Christmas party. We shop together, and we have invited her to see us perform in our ward choir. We are performing a couple songs this Sunday, and we are grocery shopping tomorrow, hoping that she will join us for both activities.
We have had one game night with Alex at my apartment, and we had a movie night to meet Ari, and we had a game night this weekend, meeting a couple of friends from his university. We played Betrayal. My overall feeling is that it is a great game, but I think that the horror theme is undesirable.
We watched the Three Musketeers with Ari & Alex. The movie is surprisingly PG. Movie ratings can't be trusted. The film was very sexually suggestive.
Jessica seems to always love to plan the special event, deciding our Halloween costume was a topic of discussion for a long time. I have only had good experiences with my costumes, since I have celebrated Halloween with Jessica. I have not chosen good Halloween costumes for most of my life. My rule is that if people cannot recognize my costume without me explaining it. It is not good. No one recognized my costumes until Jessica coordinated our costumes. We thought about being robbers, but I thought that the costumes might traumatize children. We went to Goodwill like last year, finding a rainbow poncho. Jessica found unicorn attire, and we decided combine the clothes. Jessica was a unicorn, and I was her rainbow. We did not have time to paint my face for the party, but Jessica painted my face as a rainbow for the Ledesma Halloween tradition of eating Chipotle. She actually used a crayon type medium.I drove all my in-laws to Lucas' baptism. Lucas is Jessica's youngest cousin. Visiting their family, I feel like I was a little offish, and I think that my behavior made me developed a closer relationship to a more offish cousin. Her name is Abby. She thought that my laugh was odd. When we drove away as we depart on Sunday, she stood alone, waving us good bye. On Saturday we went to a park, and we played ultimate Frisbee. In Lucas' baptism documentation, I wrote that he has a special opportunity as the youngest child to serve the family until he is last to move out. This gives him a special relationship opportunity with his mother. This was on the first weekend of November.
Jessica & I flew to California for Thanksgiving. I basically did not prepare any food. We arrived the morning of after pulling an all-nighter because I could not sleep at the airport, and Jessica wanted to arrive before midnight rather than at couple hours before the 6 AM flight. Maritza prepared the turkey Ecuadorian style, marinating it for a whole week. It was good to catch up with everyone.
I never felt hungry in California because Jessica and I had a very early breakfast; then, we ate second breakfast. I believe that we ate thanksgiving appetizers too. I prefer to feel Iike eating. The following day we had late meals, yet we sat at a table of our favorite buffet for the celebration of my birthday. Thomas and Maritza joined us.
When I mentioned that I want to celebrate my birthday the day after Thanksgiving to my parents, they reminisced about Uncle Doug Nielson, inviting them to visit for Thanksgiving, when my birth was planned within the week. Uncle Doug convinced them not to worry because he was a doctor, so they drove down to San Diego. My birthday was very special this year, a most memorable one; although, the other events are not particularly unique. We went to the Cheesecake factory. It felt dark, crowded, loud, and distracted; furthermore, we asked for an appetizer, which arrived after our main dishes. They also forgot to give us free bread, which I had to ask for. I felt very hungry. All of the food came at once. The experience was not satisfactory. Their service did not feel human. It felt like a factory. After we went to Jessica's parent's place for dessert. John got me the same cake that we purchased from Safeway for a ward activity, which no one ate, tasting like old strawberries covered with medicine. These are the not unique experiences of my birthday.
The unique experience was a Facebook birthday fundraiser for Operation Underground Railroad. I did not expect anyone to contribute, but friends and family contributed 150 dollars. I first heard of the charity a few years ago on the Mormon Channel Talk Radio, supporting it by watching one of their films in a theater in Rexburg. I purchase a shirt, and ran an awareness 5K for the charity. This may have contributed to the success as my support has been public. The charity breaks children out of sex slavery.
My birthday celebration ended on last Friday, the 14th of December, since Columbia Stone likes to celebrate all of the month's birthdays all at once. We celebrated in Tualatin. My special gift arrived at the end of the day, when a mullion fell from the 9th floor of the building. I am grateful that I was not on the jobsite for all the drama.
The 14th of December is Mercedes Ledesma's birthday. We provided a home cooked meal for her; preparing garlic bread, pasta, and salad. The meal was more enjoyable than my factory dinner. We even danced kind of. Only Mercedes was on her feet. The rest of us sat at the table. John played a couple fun songs on his phone, playing Space Jam and Charo.
I have a story from serving at the temple yesterday. I confused my schedule twice, but I accidentally left serving at the recommend desk early. When I came back a lady thought that I was security, for they were called to help her find her lost ring. I told her a story about my wife. She lost her ring in the house about a month ago, finding it last Thursday on the ground after she had pulled the laundry basket out of the closet. I believe that God planned that I be there to comfort her.
One app that the Android Play Store introduced to me as an audience choice app of the year is Drops. It is a language learning program. It is the program that makes it great. It is not a dictionary, which is not fun. The app actually has Thai! It is subscription based, but it gives a minimum of 5 minutes of practice a day. It could actually be twice a day, since one may practice once every ten hours, if you are not a paid subscriber. I don't see a limit to the extent of material that the app has unlike Ling that I used before. Ling requires subscription to access to all their content.
Church yesterday was unique. After choir rehearsal, we sat in our bench before sacrament, and Jessica said that the Brinton family gave us a Christmas card; then, a couple seconds later a primary student of mine gave me a plate full of homemade goodies. Ten seconds another family gave us a gift. The bombardment of receiving gifts was surprising. I never received gifts at church before like this.
I am going to tell you how I balanced my YouTube addiction. I chose to disable all browsers, and the Google app. I reinstalled a browser, but I am still separated from the Google ecosystem. I typically only watch YouTube when I prepare dinner or at home. Google likes to attract people to the internet, but I have recently separated myself from Google’s personalized content by installing Duck Duck Go. It is a simple browser, but the company is a search engine.
