'so in the world of today: 9 Jan 2014' by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
France introduced new regulations to keep its youth from running off to join ISIS.
In France there were two hostage situations related to the cartoonist shooters.
Obama announced an upcoming executive order to have the government help pay for home purchases.
Obama said he wanted to pay for community college for everyone using federal money.
Unemployment is down to 5.6
The government announced that the affordable care act would significantly complicate tax forms.
Russia is Banning cross-dressers from driving.
Maithripala Sirisena was elected Sri Lankan president.
Mexican drug cartel members have begun eating human hearts.
A man was arrested in NYC for trying to kill an officer.

'so in the world of today: 8 Jan 2015' by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
Political Cartoonists around the world are rallying behind their slain colleagues.
A blogger in Saudi Arabia was publicly flogged.
Someone bombed a NAACP building in Colorado springs.
A store in Ohio is closing because of its ties to an Ebola survivor.

"What did I do wrong?" by Isidro Zapata

Why when we love
Someone & then it
Falls apart why is our
First reaction is
What did I do wrong?
We blame ourself before
We come to understand we fell in love with a Myth & the
Self destruction goes on
In our own head
Why is that our First Reaction?
Is it because we became
Drunk in Love & fail to
See the other Persons faults
Before it was to late
That the other person
Was just a Myth in our own mind
And the Real Person
That we fell in love with
Was never who they pertend
To be
And we were unable to
Uncover the Myth & see the Real Person
As time moves on & learn
From our mistakes do
We become less open to others
Because we let a Myth
Kill what God gave us
The Perfect gift
To be able to Love
Do we become cold
& to guarded to show
Others God's Perfect Gift
He gave to all of us
Their are Millions of Myths
Out in the world
&
A few truths
But just because we are
Fooled by a Myth maybe
More then once
Should we allow a Myth
To ruin what is
True & A Perfect Gift
God Gave Us
The Gift to
Love another
This coming holiday
Show others
Family, Freinds & who ever else
That you still have
The Perfect Gift to
Love

December 20, 2014

     These past two weeks have been so intense that I did not start writing this journal entry until a couple days ago. My fifth semester at BYUI has ended, and I am grateful that God blessed me that I passed three of my four classes. During the week before finals, the two classes that I had with Brother Harker, which were mechanical systems and electrical systems, pulled out a bunch of unforeseen assignments, and I had to give up on my accounting class, realizing that I could not pass it, since I failed the second to last exam. I was so busy that I had to pull my second all nighter of my Brigham Young University - Idaho career. My grades may have been higher if I neglected social activities, but I give a priority to family and friends especially Jessica. We gave each other as much time to each other as reasonably possible. We saw the Hobbit movie; and a neighborhood's Christmas lights, which were synchronized with songs that they set up as a radio station. We also attended a Christmas party that our friends put together. Mom invited me to attend my home ward, and I continued my friendship with a man named Russell. I told Jessica that when I was befriending him that people around me would try to bail me out of the situations where we would be talking because he has mental conditions that makes him think differently than most people. I am currently on a bus to work with him from his invitation. At the Ocean YSA Branch later that Sunday, I was invited to teach Sunday school, since Trevor is the Sunday School President. It was nice to teach again; although, my preparation was distracted, since people from the ward wanted to catch up with me. I also organized the track and field association's presidency. They are solid. I am unsure  what they were able to accomplish so far, but I was not able to accomplish my agenda before the semester ended, since I hoped to get the shirts of both of the teams approved and printing for people before they left for the winter, but the school did not approve the designs. I can't think of much more that happened; other than, I toured both the electrical and mechanical systems of the iCenter of the BYUI. Today is now the 29th of December, and I now have to add my Christmas break to the list of things to write about. I finally got around to contacting my internship administrators to see when they would like me to come up on Saturday night. That day was a little slow, but I was able to accomplish the critical things that I planned to do like enroll in my class for the winter and pay my bills. I was unable to get around to prepare for Christmas until the day before because at church on my first day back in Santa Cruz, California in a while, catching up with people, an old friend named Russell. I don't know how to pronounce his last name. It is like Detrick or something like that. He is working for a sister that home taught my family, and I worked with him on Monday and Tuesday. When I finally got around to deciding my gifts for my family and Jessica's family, thinking of gifts for my family was easy, and I used more creativity for the Christmas gifts for the Ledesma family. On Christmas Eve, we went caroling to the usual friends, but we visited that sister that home taught us, which we have not before, and she got emotional. Trevor is really into Yugioh, and I played with him and his friends. I decided that I don't like to play Yugioh because the community spends so much money on the cards.

     During the semester, I was worrying that I might fail out of school because I asked a friend if my classes this semester is a fluke how hard it is. He said that it will remain as hard that it is now. It will probably get harder. I told Jesse Kaupert that my mother failed out of nursing school twice. I can easily just not have the ability to make it through school, but I just worked as hard and smart as I can. I trusted that God will provide the way for me to pass my classes because he inspired me to be an architect.

     I was hoping to pass all of my classes. My methods and materials class of construction management was so easy. It felt like all the work for the entire semester was put into the take-home final. I got a couple Bs on my accounting tests, and it was bring up my grade to a state that I could possibly pass the class, but I failed the second to last test. I saw that it was possible to get a C in the class with my grades in my accounting class, if I did the extra credit for the class and got a 100% on the final; however, I saw that Brother Harker, who taught two of my classes, was pulling a bunch of assignments out of nowhere. For example, he was sitting on an assignment because most people failed it, and he let everyone do it over. He did the same thing with a heating and cooling demand assignment. My construction classes had so many expectations that I could not give any time to try to catch up with my accounting class. I had to stay up all night to complete the take-home final for my Methods and Materials class on the Sunday before finals week. I didn't have any time for accounting; insomuch that, I quit attending the class. On the Friday before finals week and crunch time, I quit attending accounting class to complete a wiring assignment to show Brother Harker that I can wire all the circuits that he showed the class.

     In previous semesters there were a special schedule made to make all the finals fit because the finals were oftentimes longer than the usual length of the class. There was no final schedule given to me this past semester, so I was a little confused. It was a surprise that we met at the usual times, and we had our finals. I was told what the finals were and what to review, and I did prepare, but I was amiss of the time and days of my finals. After a week of assignments popping out at me, I had to deal with finals popping out at uncertain dates, and I did fine on them. On my electrical systems final, I was required to wire several circuits from new angles. I am grateful for Chris Welton for being my tutor because he taught me the theory so well that I got 100% on all my wiring tests including the final. There were three parts to all three of my construction management classes' finals. There were a crazy long take-home final part for both of my electrical and mechanical systems classes. That took me many hours to complete. I basically worked on my mechanical systems take-home final for two whole days straight for Thursday and Friday, and I was supposed to make sure that my apartment was clean for white glove check on Friday. Trevor Sweat, the same friend that drove me up to Rexburg from Heber City, drove me to Provo, Utah because I wanted to leave my luggage in Heber City, since my winter internship is going to be there. Trevor Sweat was uncertain if he wanted to go home on Friday or Saturday, but I was flexible. As I was working on my take-home on Friday, I realized that my time to prepare and do my necessary things to leave came. I asked my apartment managers how the storage system works, and when I returned to my apartment, I received a message from Trevor that he was planning to leave in about thirty minutes. I had not done any packing or anything. It is good that I am a very simple person. I basically packed all my stuff in my luggage and my storage spot in about 80 minutes; plus, Jesse had me store his property too. Trevor came late, and I finished just in time. I still needed to complete my take-home final while we were on the road to Provo. Early in the semester, I put my computer on a high contrast mode, which made it easier on the eyes to see at night, and it was good that I did that on the trip to Provo, since it was dark. I did complete the final, and we had to stop at a Burger King to fill out the multiple choice test with its WiFi. I am grateful to have gotten an 80% on that effort.

     The Hobbit movie was not directed the same way as the previous J. R. R. Tolkien book films. I do not like it. 80 percent of it was violence and destruction. I would give it a 5 out of 10 probably less. It is so bad that I don't want to give too much thought to the score that I would give the movie. I did not like how they were saying that this insane Orc army was coming, but the dwarfs were mowing them down like they were not even an army; plus, basic physics does not apply to Legolas. It was ignored like it was a low budget film. I could tell other people's low opinions of it, but I don't think that it is worth it.

     Over the past few weeks or so, we were planning to go to Pizza Pie Café. Paige can eat a lot of pizza. She ate like 26 slices, and she is planning to set the record with thirty the next time that she goes. She had a roommate join us, and I don’t know how she never hung out with us until basically the very last day of school. As we stood in line for the pizza for the first time, I suggested to Rachel that we go see the neighborhood that synchronizes with a radio station. Rachel was excited about it because she claimed to be one of the most enthusiastic of Santa's elves. My friend told me the location of it through Facebook.

     This friend made me sandwiches at the Crossroads for BYU-Idaho for at least a year. Her name is Cadison Shurtliff. She decided to quit a couple weeks before the semester. She has basically made me the same sandwich every day for maybe 3 semesters. I don't know how long, but she got emotional, saying good bye and making my sandwich for the last time.

     Paige is a master driver, and she found the neighborhood with the light show easily. We did not have room for me to sit with everyone, and Jessica joined me in the back of Paige’s station wagon. When we arrive, we were checking all the radio stations to see which one matched. One of the houses did not match the actual show, and we were confused at first. It was not just one house that had a light show synced with the radio station. I recall that it was three of them. When we approached these three houses, they had a sign that told us what radio station to listen to. Everyone was excited, when we found the actual station that it was synced to. There were about four songs that the radio station played over and over, so it must have been a private radio system. Jesse thought that it would be so cool if one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s songs were part of the program, and we got so excited that one was. The show was more amazing than we thought that it would be. It was good that the producers of the show had the radio sequence only have for four songs to keep the audience captivated for only about fifteen minutes.

     My flight was the next day on Saturday. We stayed the night at a family friend's house of Jesse. It was chill to actually wake up to no assignments to complete. It was interesting to sit in on the conversation of Jesse and her family friend's mother, catching up because I knew everyone that they were talking about. When we arrived at the airport, it was a little slow, and we arrived a little early. Jesse and I bought tickets at different times, and we were unable to buy tickets next to each other, but I sat next to him anyways.

     When I sat next to him, he warned me of the duty that I just sat in. It is the emergency exit operator. We joked that we should add this to our resume. We made sure that we were trained, and they trained us on our duties in like 10 seconds twice. We saw the guy putting our luggage on the conveyor belt up to the plane. Since we had been trained and had the duty of emergency operator, we felt that we had an in to get the job of putting the luggage on the line. We wanted the job to get ripped. Jesse joked that it would be extra effective because the weights vary. We joked that we should invent machines that would change the weight each time that you lift it. Since the weight of an object can change just by putting them further apart, we joked that it would be funny to hang out with a friend at the gym; then, when the machine would expand, it would push the guy leaning against the machine across the room. We just had a super long series of silly jokes like that.

     The next day after arriving home was Sunday. Mom wanted Trevor and I to attend their sacrament meeting because there was going to be a bell choir. I don't know how, but we arrive late, missing the bell choir. We left with plenty of time. After Sacrament I sat and spoke to Russel to catch up with him, and I was surprised that he sounded more sane than before. He said the his doctors have figured out his medicine needs. He said that he has been working for Filis Forsyth, and he needed help to take the concrete that he taken from the floor of the bathroom to the dump. I took the opportunity to work, and this decision did not give me much time to prepare for Christmas. I wrote a letter to Jessica's family explaining why I was late in sending my gift package to them. I will copy and paste now a quotation of the letter because I wrote of my experience as a Christmas message. Jessica's father didn't know what to make of the letter, and I agree. It was an awkward two days.

"Dear Ledesma Family,

Hi. I am Alex Hicken, and I am grateful that Jessica and I have been led to date steadily. For this reason, I am writing you this holiday season. As you may tell by the personal letters for each of you, I love writing. I write letters for Jessica each week even when we live only a couple blocks away. I am sorry that my gifts for you will be late. They are coming in the mail late because I believe in the counsel of Christ in 3 Nephi 12:41 "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." I say this because I was given an opportunity to work with a man Monday and Tuesday, who fights for his sanity with prescription medicine, for he turns into a very weird person without them. He gave me two days of work and great experience; although, the work that I was paid for was only a small part of the first day. I believe that the second day was him, seeking a closer friendship with me, since I am one of a few friendly people to him. When I was working with him, I had a revelation as he was teaching me skills of self-reliance.

     It felt very fatherly to serve each other. He was teaching me skills, and we were fixing his car together. My family has a cartoon of how Christ was born and raised. I think of a scene of Joseph teaching Jesus carpentry. Since I thought that the man was treating me as his relationship with his father, I asked him whether he worked with his father like this. He said no. He is so used to repairing everything on his own that working together was natural. Although his father's relationship was not like that for him, it felt fatherly to me to teach someone of less experience how to work, sharing your wisdom with them. I love learning the nature of how parents can be, and the special relationships that they have to their children, looking forward to applying this to my life. This is my Christmas story for you learning from Joseph, raising the Christ child.

     I don't expect that you will read the letters to each individual directly after this first one. I don't want to dominate your Christmas. You can read each personal letter privately at a later time. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Alexander Hicken"

     I arrived late to the first day of work because my parents misspoke telling me that I had a dentist appointment. Russell got easily frustrated especially on the first day. He just jumped into doing the work, which was to replace his bumper. For some reason, he felt that using power tools were more effective than manual man strength tools. We had to take apart some bolts to put in some spacers, so it can fit better on the car. In his frustration, working without much thought, he broke two or three wrenches with the strength of the power tools. We figured out how to get the bolts of the bumper only after breaking a bunch of tools. I never imagined this experience in my entire life. We could not fit the spacers after all because his destructive work ethic stripped the final bolt. Rus claimed that he had a very high IQ, and I believed it because he figured out how to get the new bumper on.

     His high IQ was evident in his self-reliant personality. He figures out everything without education or instruction. He was unable to graduate with a degree. I was surprised that I could relate to him well. One lame thing which indicated that I could not relate to his high IQ is when he was driving me home. I was just reminding him of the exit which was most convenient to get to my house. I did not expect him to remember where I lived because he only been to my house like once a couple years ago, and I did not give him my address again. He accused me of backseat driving and hassled me about that. Going down 41st Avenue, I asked him if he was going to move over a couple lanes, so he could turn without mistake. He again hassled me, and he was surprised that I did not remind him where to take the last turn to get to my road.

     Russell asked if I would like to help him work on his truck on Tuesday, and I consented. He said that it would let it be more convenient for me to receive my payment. The second day moved quickly, for we were planning to fix the bumper and put some lights under the tailgate. When we got the tailgate off the truck, after fixing the handle, Rus thought that it would be fun to repaint the tailgate, so it can match the car better and look nice. We did this, and it took a long time sanding it. I wanted to leave early in the afternoon, but this new project forced me to stay until after 5 PM, since it takes a while for the paint to dry. I wanted to leave after lunch, and he provided me lunch; however, he turned on a film that should have been the conclusion of a show that he has been watching, which he invited me to join him. I felt manipulated. Even after we finish getting his car put back together, he wanted me to help him take off a flat tire from his trailer. I was not as anxiously engaged to help because how I felt, and he pointed out that I was not as helpful as before. A family standard of mine is to be home by 6, and I knew that if I continued to work with him; I would not get home on time. He wanted me to help him put his tools a way after. I decided at 5:30 that I was going to run home, so I left. I got home a little before 6, and Rus left a message on my phone saying that he finished putting away his tools about 6, assuming that I had not made it home yet. I obviously did not need his generous ride home, which he offered. He, defying my trust, made me think of his ability to do unspeakable things.

     The hardest person to shop for was Jessica's sister, Jasmine, because I had no clue of her interests. I know that she likes to play on the computer a lot and she likes a pop artist, but I forgot his name. That is basically all that I know about her; other than, education is very hard for her. It took me about 2 hours to decide on a gift for her. Gifts for everyone else was simple after a little thought and exercise of creativity. I purchased a new plant for Jessica to take care of and her favorite snack that I shared together the first time that we worked out together, which was dried sea weed. Trevor is really into Yugioh, so I got a gift certificate for him to the place that he hangs out a lot at.

 An interesting thing is that he spend all of the money on that account on me to build a deck. I will now explain my opinion of Yugioh.

     Yugioh is a game that demands a lot of knowledge and money. The culture of communities from what I saw are very generous and friendly, but the generosity takes the spending of hundreds of dollars. I would expect that one needs to reciprocate the generosity to be taken into the fellowship well. Trevor bought me cards to make a good deck, and it was good enough that I can beat him practically every time. He said that he would have to buy more cards to make a better deck. It is not fun to beat Trevor over and over. Do you see the perpetual spending of money? It's a very expensive hobby. I don't want to waste my time and brain on a game.

     My friendship with Jessica is going well. We keep current with each other like we did before by having meals together, but we talk over the phone or Skype with each other every day. We share pictures of each other's lifes with each other to learn more about our home lifes.

My middle school is named after this beach. It is called New Brighton. 

This beach is famous for a boat that is made out of concrete. 

     I really like the situation that was proposed by Brother Stutz. He explained a vision of purchasing the T-shirts. It is by personal order at the T-shirt press at the BYUI bookstore. I really like this because it is not the conventional way that business is organized. Usually many shirts are ordered and manufactured on expected or guesstimated count. This vision of selling shirts does not even require the funds of my sport of Track and Field. The logos of the shirts have not been solidified. I am still waiting for that; then, I will inform everyone interested in the shirts that they are available to be printed.

     The last thing that I have for you is a video that I made from a fun PowerPoint that I made explaining the heating and cooling process of the university and the iCenter.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as enjoyed the variety of humour and fun that I put into the presentation.

     I have been basically working on writing this journal entry this whole week. The time has slowed down a lot this week. Staying up late makes me wake up late and nap in the day. I want to get into a routine of going to sleep early tonight. I wanted to make sure that I caught up on my journal before I move on to other things. I am waiting for my internship administrators to tell me, when I should come up. They told me that they would tell me Monday, but it is Friday today. Trevor and I bought my parents Settlers of Catan for Christmas, and it took us a while to get to play a game. We have played two nights in a row, and I have won both times. The way was basically the same both times, but Jesse Kaupert are coming tomorrow to play a game with his brother and Naomi hopefully. I expect that they will dominate.

"so in the world of today: 2 Jan 2015" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-North and South Korea say they are considering talks.
-To get more Middle Eastern buyers, Harper Collins created a series of maps that exclude Israel entirely.
-20 states will raise the minimum wage
-The CDC is declaring a flu epidemic.
-A sex offender in Idaho was released years after conviction, because his prosecutor quoted ‘Dixie’ in closing arguments (the man is Black).

"so in the world of today: Dec 30, 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
China may’ve blocked gmail.
Over 50% more cops were shot in 2014 than in 2013.
A man tried to kill an officer in North Carolina
An officer shot an armed black fella. The department wont reveal the officer’s name.
House minority Whip Scalise spoke at a gathering of the KKK in 2002.
Representative Grimm is resigning after pleading guilty to tax fraud.
The three architects responsible for common core have come forward with fears about the program.
Putin’s main political rival was convicted of fraud. This lead to a protest.

"so in the world of today: 23 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
A federal court struck down NC’s abortion ultrasound law.
Obama is being sued over his immigration order.
The Pope criticized the Vatican.
Sony will be showing ‘the interview’ at select theaters.
A spokesperson for the US state department refused to deny shutting down the North Korean’s internet.
Anti-police protesters crashed a funeral for a slain officer.
The economy has grown at its fastest rate in 11 years.
Fema overpaid flooding victims and now it’s asking people to send the money back.

"So in the world of today: 20 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

So in the world of today:
Russia spent more than usual in military spending.
North Korea is emphasizing cyber warfare.
Egypt detained nearly 10,000 militants, rioters and protesters this year
Lots of people in NY are upset about an officer getting away with murder.
Two officers in NY were killed by one of the Anti-Cop activists.
Lots of Spaniards protested the new anti-protest laws.

"so in the world of today, 19 Dec 2014" by Sam Orr

so in the world of today:
-The NYC mayor met with protest leaders
-Congress spent 120 million on tanks that the military says it does not need.
-The Hamas are shelling Israel, and Israel is retaliating again.
-A study found that the Secret service needs money and a new director from outside.
-6 tons of radioactive water was accidentally released in Fukushima.
-The US killed 3 important Isis members.
-The Franciscan order is out of money.
-A greenpeace activist vandalized the ancient Nazca lines.

November 26, 2014

     Thanksgiving break has been great so far. Paige showed me her skills of driving in ice and snow. I am still scared of driving in Utah's winter. The unity of Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I hanging out for this break has been good so far. We cooked and we have not done any other adventures outside yet. Driving in the Ice was stressful enough for Paige, and we had homework to do too.

     Since I am from California, I have no idea what knowledge and skills that Paige employed to get us to arrive safely at the cabin in Bear Lake. The roads were fine until we started driving up into the hills of Bear Lake. It was full of slick ice. Paige's efforts, driving on the ice, is so stressful that she consumes ibuprofen to relax. We had to drive the car today, the 27th of November, because we did not make it to the top. When we stopped, it was funny because we drifted off to the side. It seemed fine because we needed to park anyways. When we hit the side, the most funny part was that we spun 180 degrees perfectly because how slick the road was, and we let the car be parked there.

     Since today is Thursday, the 27th of November, I get to write about our glorious Thanksgiving that we had. We still follow the honor code of BYU Idaho. Last night we went to the other cabin to sleep, and the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. In the morning we waited to go back to hang out with Paige and Rachel at 10 AM, which is the earliest that you can visit a girl in their apartment. When we arrived, Rachel was already up cooking, and we cooked all day until Thanksgiving.

     Last night was rough sleep wise because as I said the cabin was barely insulated and it was not heated. I had an odd thick comforter that would only provide insulation, touching me, if I moved it. I told Jesse that it felt like it was floating above me. It was so cold that my bed was only warm on the mattress underneath me, and moving around required re-positioning my rigid comforter. It was a rough night.

     In the morning, I woke up about eight, and the wait to come to the warmth of the other house was slow. I didn't have my scriptures, but they did have some good books. I tried reading Speaker of the Dead again, but I realized that the logic behind studying other intelligent aliens in person is very destructive, which turned me off from the continuing reading the Ender's series. Communing in that cabin was hard because you feel that the floor, outside, the wind, everything is sucking heat out of you. Jesse was reading the Fantastic Mr. Fox book, and I stood listening to him reading it. As I stood, I had to stand in one place to keep my feet comfortable because the floor would suck the heat out of my feet if I moved around.

     One adventure that we went on before we went to visit Paige and Rachel is that we explored a trail that we saw going down into the valley. As we walked it was interesting because we saw animal tracks. It was mainly moose, but there was one random big print. We suspected that it was a wolf, which was a little scary, but we did not really need to worry about it because it was looked like it was on the surface of about four inches of snow frozen; plus, there was only one. It was a little funny because Jesse led the way. Since he had nice boots, I would step in this footsteps in order to not get my shoes wet. When we were walking back, I tried to step in his footstep again, and I stepped on the wolf track.

      When we arrived at the house, Rachel had already baked the rolls. I helped bake a cream of tartar berry pie. We worked well together, seeking a happy peaceful Thanksgiving together. The girls were stressing out, and we had to move the car again as I said before, having the feast soon after.

     Seeing my Turkey when I returned was a little sad because I could not see any meat on him. As we moved him around, he almost ripped in half. I thought that he was pitiful. Everyone else was proud of him though. We also went all out on setting up the table. We were all pleased at how everything was prepared. When we sat down, we felt relief and excited. The spirit of the occasion was interesting. That feeling of relief and excitement sustained itself, and we were all speechless. It felt reverent and sacred.

     Today is now Friday, the 28th. Last night was glorious kind of. I built a fire in the furnace, and it lasted most of the night. I decided to start organizing Track and Field for the Spring of 2015 because guess what! I was chosen to be the Track and Field Coordinator. I spoke with Jessica today, and Paige, Rachel, Jesse, and I went on a hike. Now it's Sunday! We did not do much yesterday. I did engage in communication to cultivate better relations with my older brother. We have only spoken to him a handful of times over the past 4 years or so. This is one of the things that Jessica and I decided to do together because we both have older siblings that are married, which we don't communicate much with. It has been a week since Jessica and I have been dating steadily, and I wrote her a Words of Affirmation letter. I should do that each week. We played games and almost made an igloo.

     The glorious thing about Thursday night was that it was warm, but the thing that made it kind of glorious is that I was sleeping in the highest bed of the cabin. It got really warm; insomuch that, I was uncomfortable, and the thing that made me more uncomfortable was how dark that it was. I thought that the furnace was leaking smoke in the house. I even yelled out my concern in the middle of the night before I realized that the pitch darkness was not smoke. It was a good thing that Jesse didn't wake up, and I slept on the main level for the rest of the vacation. I am surprised of my fear that I discovered. I don't usually claim that I have fears.

     My Track and Field Coordination is off to a good start. People are very supportive. I met Amie Whipple at cross country and the P2B conference. She said that one of her life goals is to be a track coach, so I approached her first about being a coach. She is dating the cross country coach that dominated, and she said that they would like to be a team coaching the middle and long distance events of one team. I chose to create an event with Facebook inviting most everyone that I know at BYUI to the founding meeting of the Cross Country and Track and Field Association  mainly so I can have a good list of all the possible people interested for myself to contact. Alex Galbraith contacted me about being the Track and Field Association President. It seems that he has a lot of ideas. I asked a few people about being leaders in the association, but they did not seem to have as many ideas. We will see when I interview them. I asked Vanessa Vankatwyk for help finding coaches for the throwing events. Although Vanessa is small, she is surprisingly very passionate about throwing. When I was taking BIM in the Spring, I saw in a presentation of the first BIM class' work a throwing facility. I was hoping who would be so passionate about the sport to model such a big facility, and I did not expect to meet the creator. Vanessa was that person. She said that she would coach, but she is graduating before the spring semester. She recommended that I ask you a guy named Jorge Olveiras, but he may be too busy to coach. He is super friendly, but he is already involved with a chess club and Jujitsu. I hope that I am creating a healthy competition in my efforts.

     Oh yeah. I was told that I got the position to be the Track and Field Coordinator in Wednesday on our way up to Bear Lake. The first thing that I did is develop a vision for the season. I did not bother think of a developed vision for the association because I am not running it. The event for founding the association is going to be on Wednesday, and I am going to present my vision to those who come. It is interestingly intertwined with the Track and Field sport. I am having the position of the President of the Association separate from my coordinator position, but we will work together with Brother Stutz to establish coaching standards for the season. I need two team leaders, and the association needs two vice presidents; therefore, the position will be the same. I need the two team leaders to develop team unity for their individual teams, since we are going to have two teams. I am going to have all three members of the presidency play important roles in suggesting coaches, which I choose. Vanessa asked what type of individuals that I am looking for to coach, and this is what my response was. "I want an individual that would try to recruit as many people as possible to be a thrower, having great enthusiasm and passion, a contagious coach." My focus is a combination of developing unity and competition to retain my athletes. I don't expect expertise. I will develop standards for them with the legendary Brother Stutz.

     I like my conversations with Jessica because they are so realistic. There is a special unity that we have. This partially comes because how similar we are to each other. The conversations come naturally, but we are comfortable with silence. She was unable to play with her cousins that much, running around because her knee pains. Guess what! Devin's knees are feeling better! I am excited to start working with him again.

     I am not going to share what I wrote to Jessica because it is for her.

     Last night we wanted to do something because we have been sitting around all day, writing or doing other homework. We decided to make a snow man; however, our decision morphed into making an igloo. We got baking bread pans, and we started making brick walls. I don't have snow boots, so my Converses got soaked and cold after a while. I didn't endure to the end, but a wall fell apart soon after I left. I didn't miss much.

Today is now the 7th of December. This week has been glorious just as every other week. I organized the Track and Field association, and Jessica organized my birthday. It was the most glorious birthday. Usually I have to think of my own birthday party because I don't believe that anyone would put together an actual party for me. These two things sum up my week. Nothing much really happened. Jessica has recovered from her knee pain, and we ran yesterday! We also attended the BYUI Christmas Concert and the Yule Ball.

     I had about 10 people committed to attend the founding meeting of the Track and Field Association. Jessica, Rhett Mullins, Amie Whipple, and Kaleb Martin were the only people who attended. Rhett's commitment made him a trusted candidate to be the president of the association.  Alex Galbraith said about an hour before the meeting that he would be too busy to be the president of the association. Jessica felt awkward at the meeting because she had nothing to contribute. Amie and Kaleb are going to be the long and middle distance coaches for the 6 PM team. Their attendance was great, for they had many great ideas and opinions. I could not find any white board pens around, so I had to purchase some quickly. I wrote up my vision on the white board, so people can follow along easily. My presentation and the audience's participation was great. I don't believe that I missed anything. Tyre Russell was a candidate that I hoped would be a Team Leader, and I am grateful for her willingness and enthusiasm. I interviewed Rhett and Tyre and gave them the position the next day. I was hoping that Cory Hafen would be the second team leader, but he is too slow to coordinate consultation. Jeffrey Wood is an enthusiast of Track and Field. I gave Cory the rest of that day to reply to my request of meeting with him about being a team leader. Since he didn't, I had to network, and see who I can get as a team leader. It was a Friday, and I wanted to get the Team Leaders chosen because I want to print their team shirts by next weekend. Jeff invited his friends to like the Facebook Page, and Valerie Nielson did. I know her from Track and Cross Country. I asked three people to meet with me that day, and I was surprised that all three was willing to meet with me. I met with Amanda Reaser, Irvin Silva, and Valerie Nielson. It was not that hard to choose the second Team Leader because Valerie Nielson caught the vision of the Track and Field Program, coming up with many ideas.

     My birthday was that evening, and Jessica asked me to come to her apartment at 6 PM. I felt so happy for her effort to organize it. It was a great environment. Jessica says that she is not creative, but her birthday party plans were the most original that I have ever seen. She had various friends including herself prepare a part of a four course meal. Jessica prepared a most tasty Tomato Soup. Vanessa Vankatwyk, who is coincidentally Jessica's Sunday School teaching companion and the same person who is really into throwing mentioned above, made us a salad. At that course of the meal, I asked Jessica if she would like to begin a tradition of having one meal a day with each other. It is important in familial relationships to keep current with each other to maintain trust, understanding, relevance, and more. We figured that a family only has about 1000 meals together, when raising a child, if they commit to having it once a week. If we have meals with each other each day, it is multiplied by 7. 7000 meals with a family is not that much. This brings into perspective the precious time that we have to give each other in mortality. We need to give each other our best. Eating breakfast and dinner together would double the amount of meals in a family. 14000 meals is more comforting. Jessica and I often have two meals a day with each other. After salad at Vanessa's apartment, we went to my apartment, where Jesse prepared us the main course. Jesse cooked us grill cheese sandwiches, a family tradition; then, we went to Paige Dexter and Naomi House's apartment for dinner. They tried to make it a surprise, but it was not too surprising. I surprised them more when I popped a balloon on the cake's candles. The occasion's materiality was manifest in the typical confetti, streamers, balloons, blow tools, and another party toy. These things have never been in a birthday party  of mine, so that made is even more special with the coordination of everything. The love of Jessica and my friends that helped prepare everything was felt greatly, and we enjoyed ourselves for desert together. Jeanette was bummed that we forgot to throw the confetti at the surprise, so she decided to throw it at Jessica and I. I got it all in my hair and jacket, tracking it even into the temple yesterday. After enjoying the cake, we decided to play Apples to Apples, having the most joyous time. Jessica and I's unity is special. We matched clothing without even trying these past few days, and the funny thing was that when I judged during the game. A high majority of the time like 8 out of 10 times I chose her card. She seems to have my humor, and Jessica chose my card like half of the time too. It was all coincidental.

      Over the next couple days we enjoyed the Yule Ball and BYU Idaho Christmas Concert. The Yule Ball had an interesting feeling that it was like a country dance. We hung out with a good group of friends, getting plenty of pictures. Some people fell in the dances including Rachel Dunlap. We ate at the Hickory before the ball, and Naomi, Rachel, and Jessica was preparing and getting dressed at Paige's apartment. Jessica looked gorgeous. She told me to come to the apartment at 6:30, so I reserved a table at 6:40, but they were not ready. We didn't get there until 7. We only practiced the dances the Wednesday previous, so we were a little confused. It's all fun though. The BYU Idaho Concert was amazing and very creative. Jessica and I have a good tradition of holding hands whenever appropriate. Jesse had a date, and Rachel came alone. We all sat in different location because we did not coordinate sitting together.

'One Penny' by Isidro Zapata

One Penny
I caught You
I know Right?
Just crazy
You were Strong
Standing Tall
But before the
End Of the Day You would fall
& I Would
Now Stand Tall
When I did
not let you spend
NOT ONE DOLLAR NOT EVEN
one penny
That Day
I Was Showing Both
of U
I was strong
Doing good without
Any Of It From
Either Of You
WHAT I FOUND
OUT ON THAT DAY
that when I thought I
was weak &
going to fall
I had BEEN
The One THAT
had always stood tall
and most of
all strong enough
to love you
& forgive U