September 17, 2017

5 September 2017

After church, I published my journal entry before driving down to visit my parents for Labor Day. Trevor's Friends Ben and Mickey were at my parents' home. We played Machi Koro and Tokaido. My game play in Machi Koro was practically non-existent, but I won the Tokaido game. After the game, Trevor started playing Overwatch; then, I remembered that Austin, my half-brother-in-law, plays, so I invited them to add each other. The next day the family visited a family friend, who was our next door neighbor for my entire upbringing in Capitola. Her name is Bea Grossman. Her husband died about a year ago, and she wants to go to be with him in the spirit world. When we returned from Monterey, we had to prepare for a barbecue in like 20 minutes. Somehow it worked out. Laurie Quinn and Judy McNally came. Laurie Quinn is in the nursery with my mother. The conversation was good for dinner.

6 September 2017

Yesterday was a unique day at work. I did office work most of the day. I did this mainly because no crews worked Sunday or Monday. I need to do a deep study into what are in the crates at Oakland. I thought that my study was thorough, submitting data to our superintendent, but my project manager said that my assumptions are wrong.  We have a meeting with another subcontractor, and we are going to give a section of the building to them, which I am preparing for.
At home I started looking into Wi-Fi providers. We need this because Jessica is preparing to complete her degree online.

8 September 2017

I missed writing in my journal yesterday because Jessica wants me to go to sleep an hour later and wake up an hour later in order to help her drive to young womens', since she is a young womens' advisor. Wednesday was crazy because I had to meet everyone from the crews on a project that I was not working on. I got back to the office about noon, when I usually get back in a couple hours after seven in the morning. My office work has become beyond manageable, since my project manager has return from his two weeks at working at Oregon. Jessica proposed that I help her drive to the church, and she will help me in the mornings. The composition of the Mormon YSA Blog Spot Storify post and writing in my journal was impossible to do in the time of Thursday morning without the 4 am hour.
I want to bless peoples' lives, so I drive Jessica to church with the intent to sit in some meeting. Camilia Bradshaw's husband pulled me into the 11 year old cub scout session. He introduced me to the boys, asking me if I am an Eagle Scout. A boy asked me what my Eagle Scout Project was. My eagle scout project was replacing a dilapidated fence at my old high school. They are a rambunctious group of boys.
Yesterday I looked into Wi-Fi at our apartments' management office, and it seems that we can get it; although, I thought that we did not have cable outlets.

13 September 2017

I don't think that I can fit writing in my journal every day in the morning. I am only able to write now because Jessica is serving the youth of our stake in mutual. We got internet in time for Jessica to enroll in classes and start her classes. Trevor said that Xfinity has really bad customer service, but I have had good experiences with the customer support. Their sales department was brutal though.
The last day that I wrote in my journal was last Friday. Mornings are tight now. Work was normal. I wish that I could keep up each day, but Jessica and I made a deal that I would help her drive to the church, and she would help me in the mornings. Her help is procrastinated most days. Most days she stays awake all day, which helps her productivity.
In the evening of Friday, we went to Santa Cruz for the Greek Festival. We ate Greek food and listened to their music. I think that feta cheese is Greek. The texture of feta cheese was a theme of the food. We had a unique lasagna without meat. We stayed the night because I was planning to purchase a modem with Trevor at Best Buy.
That night my father committed to play Tokaido with us after he finished his business stuff. We did not start until 10 pm. Dad did have beginner's luck. I thought that he was going to win, but one thing that I explained to Jessica, Trevor, and dad is that the game reminds me of a long distance running race. One needs to take advantage of their individual attributes. Use strategy to get ahead. The game ended in my win, making me undefeated for four games straight.
In the morning, I got the bottom of the line modem at Best Buy. Xfinity wanted me to lease a device that fulfills the need of a modem and a router for ten dollars a month. That is a waste of money. My internet may be faster, if I got a better modem. We streamed one video, and the buffering did not allow high definition quality video. In the afternoon, I caught up for the weekend recording the progress of Columbia Stone's Crews. Coming home, I stopped at the Xfinity Store. I came prepared to get the thirty dollar service. I did not want to fall into their tricks to make me pay more money. Thirty dollars a month is still a lot.
When I got home, I connected the modem to the router, and so forth. Xfinity got the Wi-Fi working. They did not give me my username at the store and the guide said to download an app to figure out how to get started. The app was bogus. The process said to call costumer service because there was something off with the information. When I called costumer service, they politely figured out everything, getting my Wi-Fi started and figuring out my information in a reasonable amount of time.
Jessica and I had to get to church early in the morning because she had a meeting with the leaders of the Young Women. I was planning to join the choir, but it was cancelled. It is hard for me to get sleep at my parents' house, so I napped a little at church. At church the Elders' Quorum President asked me to teach priesthood next week. During Sunday school, I helped Jessica prepare for her first lesson for the Mia Maids. I forgot my laptop at my parents' house, so we went back the next day. At Capitola, Jessica and I went with my father to check out the Art and Wine Festival. The art looked the same as usual. Nothing was really impressive. Jessica and I left early from our visit with my parents because Jessica and I went to a Self-reliance conference in our stake.
The conference was very organized and formal. The program was designed by the church through the efforts of the perpetual education fund. This fund did not apply to me much until Sunday. I knew that it existed, but I did not understand its work. The program that I started participating it started 4 years ago in India. It is unique that the program was started abroad, recently coming to the United States.
The next day Jessica enrolled in classes; although, the wind caused the power to go out temporarily messing with our Wi-Fi. She said that my encouragement gave her the motivation to figure out her new grad plan to change her major. It was approved rather quickly, and she was able to start her online degree with BYU-Idaho.
On Tuesday, Apple had their big event officially announcing their new products, so I was not allowed to go to work on the campus. My project manager instead had invited me to help him with inventory at the warehouse. At lunch, he bought me a pizza, expanding my responsibility again. It is not overwhelming, but I have my work cut out for me. Working from home, I found it hard to work diligently on my responsibilities with the company especially, since I have not been getting enough sleep. Naps have been making my sleep light. 

Jessica and I also finally cleaned up our house to make it look decent on this day. A guy was coming to clean our chimney. We did not do much. All we did it move everything into our extra room, so we can grab things out of it. I hope that everything will have a place eventually.
In the evening of Tuesday Jessica and I went to the self-reliance class. It is exceptional. The facilitor and Rob were the only other people who attended the class. The initial meeting was very disappointing because my group is not committed to the class; although, two more people should be attending.
17 September 2017

Today is now Sunday. I wish that I could keep up with my journal. I am lost in writing time. My project manager needs data, but I was unable to get complete data to him in time for the session designated to prepare the schedule. I gave him semi complete data. On Friday I started, creating an inventory tracker. My project manager wants to know if we are missing an stone that will be installed in the buildings from our inventory by Tuesday. It is a little overwhelming.
On Saturday I cleaned all our dirty clothes. All of the clothes probably weighed over 60 pounds. I did six loads of laundry all at the same time; then, Jessica and I went to the Cheesecake Factory shortly after I finished to celebrate my parents' anniversary. I think that laundry would be a much greater hassle, but I found an unused laundry room.
We went shopping at our favorite Asian store before we went to the Cheesecake Factory. At the Asian store, I was confused because Jessica would shot down food possibilities. I think that it has to do with consuming animal products, but she did not say specifically. I don't care about the vegetarian culture. I think that eating chicken eggs are fine, but she somehow lumps it into dairy products. I don't believe in eating products produced from cows because we are not cows. The milk is not designed for man to consume, but most foods are eggs. Fruit and nuts are essentially eggs. This vegetarian philosophy espousal was new to me. I was confused. She doesn't want to cook with Fish or oyster sauce. She should have explained this principle before we went shopping. Jessica is very detailed oriented. I have not drank cows milk for a long time; then, she asked me about cheese and other dairy products. I agreed with her observations, but avoiding all animal products was new to me. Fish sauce is our family secret for my mother's incredible cooking. I cooked dinner today with soy sauce for the first time, and it felt odd. I didn't use soy sauce for a long time because it was like a condiment that Americans put on rice. It seems fine to cook with.
The Cheesecake Factory was an okay experience for me. I tried my first vegetarian burger. It was made with brown rice. It tasted like putting rice between bread. The patty fell apart easily too. When I decided what cheesecake that I wanted to eat for dessert, I was disappointed that it was a cake. I had it replaced with the classic fresh strawberry cheesecake. The cheesecake was disappointing too. It was ironic when I said to the family that it tasted like it was produced in a factory. The strawberries were not even close to fresh. I am a fruit monster, and strawberries are my favorite.
Since I am on the topic of food, I would like to write about the pizza that my project manager purchased me. I said that I liked exploring unique foods, thinking about going to a poke restaurant because I never heard of poke until I moved to Campbell. He didn't want to eat marinated raw fish, so we went to eat at The Curry Pizza House in Milpitas. I have a friend with the last name of Curry, so I didn't assume that it will mix curry in the pizza. The pizzas did have curry as part of the ingredients of the food. I thought that it had chicken on it at first, but it turned out to be tofu. The curry was mixed well with the cheese. I told my project manager that I enjoy writing. He asked if I would write about the experience.
I started recording all of our expenditures and income because the commitments of the self-reliance class. It is 12 weeks long, and I hope that I will developed great personal financial habits. The textbook recommends that I get a notebook, but I got an app, which fits well with the counsel of the program.
My Priesthood lesson went well. This is my second priesthood lesson that I formatted after D&C 88:122. I taught what virtue is. I was surprised to learn that the elders did not know the spiritual definition of virtue. It is one of the most deep subjects in my gospel understanding. It includes the word of wisdom, chastity, integrity, honesty, authenticity, and more. I wish that I had time to expound. 

Last night I was working on family history, and I realized that a friend, whose name is Kiki Nielson, which connected me with Jessica at P2B, has the same last name as my grandmother. We looked into it tonight, and we are not related. Kiki has a much greater depth of Nielson heritage than me. I only have three generations. I was able to connect with a Hicken at BYU Idaho, who is related to me. I wrote about this many years ago. The Nielson surname seems to be much more common than Hicken.

September 3, 2017

29 August 2017

The bicycle ride to work yesterday felt very good compared to my first experience. Work went smoothly. Only one crew worked on Sunday, so my daily report was easy. We have crews all over for me to monitor today. I had an extra hour at the end of my day, so I did some data entry. I rushed home because I needed to get a smog check. I barely made it to my appointment on time. The evening was distracted again from Family Home Evening. We made a "To Do List" for Jessica to be more productive today. It's not much of a FHE. I ran out of mobile Wi-Fi on my phone, so I can't publish Storify posts on the Mormon YSA Blog Spot.

I felt like I was doing a duathlon. After a long hard bicycle ride home, I carried the bicycle on my shoulder as fast as I can up the stairs to place it in my apartment; then, I immediately went to the car to go to my appointment. I was very sweaty in the car.

30 August 2017

I feel like today is the day when the writer feels like there is not much to write about. Yesterday was a normal day at work. A coworker named Jamie called me Alex the Reaper Hicken. My project manager finally called me. He gave me an assignment, which took me a couple hours. I am driving to Oakland today to check on our inventory. This means that I can't ride my bicycle to work today. I think that I met the general contractors' stone project engineer. She is going to meet me at Oakland.

Home life varies. I need get the car's registration renewed, and I asked Jessica to get the sticker for me. She looked into it all day, worrying about driving. She does not like driving, and she does not want to drive to the DMV.

31 August 2017

Today I am writing for two days because I wanted to figure out paying rent this morning. Yesterday Jessica and I both had adventures. I had to drive to Oakland, and Jessica went to the DMV to get a new sticker to prove that we renewed our car's registration.

1 September 2017

Time is hard to balance. I am finding a difficult time going into the details. I have things to write about, but home life is miserable. I don't know how to be honest. Jessica deals with about twenty demons daily, and I have to wrestle with them too sometimes. She has regressed to making herself to only making herself one meal a day rather than two, which she did last week.

My quest to Oakland was to discover our inventory. I simply just had to record the crate numbers. I recorded the miles in order to be refunded, and I was surprised when the trip was exactly one hundred miles.

Jessica's mission was to retrieve a registration sticker for the car from the DMV. She was very nervous because she does not have a California driver's license. She was successful in her mission. When I arrived home, I gave her the honor of putting the sticker on the car. She was proud of herself, and she even looked up the instructions on how to put the sticker properly on the car. We followed the directions, having to remove the previous stickers over the past several years, which was a pain.

During my quest in Oakland, I stepped on dog poop, yet I returned to the office with no mention of it. I even reached out to create a friendship with a guy named Derek, who sits right next to me. He works for an electrical contractor. I asked him if he lives in the same apartment complex as me because I thought that I saw him a few days ago. He told me about the area. It turned out that he was vegetarian, and we may go out for vegetarian food because he knows of a couple places. Derek said that he would hail me up later to hang out. It is nice that coworkers and associates are friendly in our jobsite trailer. Derek also said he has a coworker that lives in our apartment complex too.

Audriana, another project engineer at Columbia Stone, is a good friend too. She walked out with me to the jobsite, and it seemed like she wanted me to go with her because she wanted me to take pictures of her. She is proud of her work. She worked specifically on a wall, which will have an ATM machine in it, so she wanted me to take a picture of her with the wall.

Yesterday was an interesting day because I found out that the day crew has lunch at 10 am. When I saw everyone walking outside to eat, I followed them to hang out with them. I mainly got to know a man named Daniel. He is an Asian from Modesto, who likes to work out; although, he has achieved his goal a while ago. He lost 60 pounds with his new workout routine. A lot of my crew members gave me snacks to eat. I felt like I was at elementary school. This gave me leftovers for dinner especially as the general contractor catered some food, which I enjoyed.

I have been feeling better cycling to work. Yesterday I ran into some competition on the road. I was able to keep up with a guy until I had to turn onto another road. A second person came a long, and I was able to keep up with him; however, I couldn't keep up with him for more than a mile. My legs got fatigued. This morning there was a guy that passed the street of my residence on a bicycle, and I chased after him. I was catching up to him; although, he was about 50 meters ahead of me. I gave up chasing him, when I ran over a rock. There is a lot of debris on the expressways of the Silicon Valley.

2 September 2017

Today I went to work. Saturday for me is an oxymoron somewhat because it is the day that I have to do double the work for my responsibility; however, it is the day that I should not work. I wrote why I work on Saturday in the last entry. At this moment, I feel like my personality has been sucked out of me. I am making a point to write about it because I learned a few years ago that you can write feelings out of your soul. If you write out your feelings, you can take the feeling out of you and on the paper. This morning I fill our container of dish soap and water; furthermore as I made the stir fry for today, I chopped up garlic that we bought in our food processor. Since I did not have to be at work at seven, I was generous with my time at home, preparing those two things. Jessica did not appreciate the mess that I left because I realized that I would be very late if I cleaned up everything. There is a lot to do at home. At work, I made the report for Friday completing my second week report. I relaxed because it should have been my day off scheduling blog posts. I also made a Storify blog post this morning because I got mobile Wi-Fi hotspot data, since the beginning of the month started yesterday. After lunch, I kind of took a nap, and walked out to record what the crews did for today. It was more than a hundred degrees outside, and a cyclist rode by in the morning as I crossed the street, saying "Can you walk any slower?" I feel mentally exhausted, and I feel that I broke when I got home. After sending the second report of the day. A man came in asking who I was. I said that I was a project engineer for Columbia Stone. He turned out to be Doug, the company's quality assurance and control manager, who has been working night shift. He was a talker. Jessica was wondering when I was coming home, and he came right when I said I was about to leave. We probably spoke for about an hour. I did not get home until about 5:30.

I came home from work, and Jessica regressed again, not making herself any meals. I thought that we could go out to eat and have a very nutritious meal. I asked her a couple times. Why can't you take care of yourself? I think that I broke when I felt like my efforts are useless. I am trying to recover, and I am not good at acting. When I began writing this entry, I was asked by Jessica why I feel broken. I said that I sacrifice my life for you, and you throw it away. She said that she doesn't like my tone of voice. There is an odd theory that women love about having a good tone of voice that I am still figuring out. I go to sleep late trying to encourage her, waiting for her, and more. I asked what she thinks about my effort to help her, and she could not identify much. It turned out that we cannot go out to eat because we barely survived saving up money for rent in half a month. We are basically starting from scratch this week.

I started laundry, and my personality was drained. I laid on the ground; although, laundry was ready to take to the laundry room. Jessica was encouraging me to get up, but I was unmotivated. I finally got myself up, but I didn't want to walk around because I felt that I looked like my soul was sucked out of me, a doll that can walk. A guy came into the laundry room ready to put washed clothing in a dryer. Since he wanted to get to a dryer, I sat myself on a counter, laying one arm on a window sill and the other on a bag of dirty laundry. I sat as an emotionless doll. I didn't want the guy, doing laundry, see my-disturbed-self, so I went to walk and meditate. As I laid on grass, meditating; I realized a reason for my broken state was my efforts to help Jessica is futile. I walked back in order to know when she finished. I remembered that I can write this emotional state out of my soul from my previous writing experience, so I determined to do that.

3 September 2017

This morning I woke up, sleeping in until 6:30. I made a Storify blog post. Last night I felt a little better before dinner after writing most of last night's entry. I still have to write about my day at work. It was mostly normal. My crews think that I don't understand the trade of masonry. Jamie, the guy that said that I am a reaper, advised me to watch them for about thirty minutes to see how difficult the work is. Yesterday our foreman said that the day was very difficult. I asked if it was because of the heat, but he said that I would not understand. I felt disappointed in my relationship with him because he did not feel that I was sympathetic enough to even be worth an explanation.

When I spoke with Doug, my initial relationship with him in our conversation changed from a temporary intern to a promising new hire, for he is planning to have me sit in for him in the Quality Assurance and Control meeting. He has known many of the people in the company for decades; although, he is a new hire too of about a year. He spoke about the project, every person that he knows for decades, his experience, his role, the workplace, and more. I should thank him for his time, and say that I look forward to working with him closely. He seems to be a person that can help me develop my career well with Columbia Stone. He has been in the masonry industry for more than forty years.

I had to go to church between editing and publishing, and I am proud to say that Jessica drove me home from church. She doesn't like to drive, but she did it fine.

August 28, 2017

22 August 2017

Last week I wrote about Jessica very minimally, giving a greater depth into my life. I could write many pages about her. She has improved a little bit yesterday. She prepared herself two meals. 
Monday was a little slow at work. My plan for the day was to see the progress done on Sunday before 8 am. At that time I was going to have start my excel spread sheet for our productivity rates and called the project manager, since he will be gone for the next two weeks. The project manager did not answer my calls or call me back. The build plan sheets were getting messy, so I printed out clean copies of the plans to start fresh on them. After lunch I planned to finish recording our progress in another part of the building. I saw that another stone contractor was in there, so I had to ask Audriana what is going on with that. It turned out that we are not finishing that part of the project. The time before lunch was a time to think of how I will prepare my spreadsheet. I realized that I need to get into the specifics of the crews that we have out on the project. I was able to get the number of crews and match them with the stone that they placed by the end of the day. I still need to double check if my crew numbers are right for the weekend. When I arrived at home, I started preparing for family home evening. Jessica would shoot down my ideas, making the evening unproductive. I want to start practicing musical instruments on Mondays and during the week. There are many reasons that I want to practice music as a family, but a main reason is because singing as a family is awkward.

23 August 2017

Yesterday Jessica had her first normal day. She cook for herself and was productive.
The first thing that I did yesterday is work on the Mormon YSA Blog Spot. I wrote a summary of my day, cooked lunch, prepared myself breakfast, and read the scriptures before work. At work, I confirmed the work that the crews did the previous day. I figured that assigning productivity rates to crews without specifying things about it like clarifying who is in the crew and what stone that they placed is not useful; therefore, I did that. I got my first question as a project engineer from a crew member. Walking back to the trailer, I met the CEO of the company Michael Twiss. He asked how I am doing. I said that I am doing well, getting to know the crew members. I think that I am creating friendships with the crew members. I talk with one named Larry the most. I spoke to Joe, a member of a crew. I spoke to him to see, if the question for me was resolved. Our safety guy said that we were working in part of the building that I thought that we weren't, so I have to go record our progress in the section of the building again.

24 August 2017

This week has been busy at home, since we had company the past two evenings.
Tuesday night the Bishopric of the Campbell Ward met us, and last night we met the missionaries. Every day at work I learn so much. I went to the jobsite to check on our progress, and my associates like Dan, the Safety Manager, and Pete, the foreman, were in my path. They showed me somethings. Meeting with the crew for a few hours, I did not arrive back at the office until about 10 am. During lunch, I went on a walk and called Jessica. After lunch I went to record the progress of a section of a building, which was thought to be given to another contractor. I already recorded the progress, but I threw out my work. I learned that we are sharing the work with the other contractor. At home we hosted the missionaries. At first our meeting with them was a little awkward, but they loosened up. They are a funny companionship. I laughed a lot.
When I finished recording our progress in the section, I checked my phone, seeing that I got a message from BYU Idaho. This is the second of which, saying that I can register for classes. I called back to ask why they are telling me to enroll in classes. I have not received my diploma when I have heard other people have, so I wanted to follow up with that too. They said that I needed to complete a few random classes, including a math class. When I started at BYU Idaho, an approved grad plan was the official path to get a bachelor's degree. I have been at the school, seeing the transition between three university presidents, since I got my grad plan approved. I hope that there is an error with the administration transitions. They are claiming that they are not going to give me my diploma; unless, I finish those classes. I was not informed of these new classes that I have to take until yesterday. During my last semester, I spoke to the school about the process of my graduation application. They said that they were going to review it, and tell me if I did something wrong. I was not told of any additional requirements that I need to do in order to get my bachelor's degree. I feel like I am not what I am. I have told you about my issue that my name was not on the program at graduation day, but the day before my in-laws were able to retrieve a document for me saying that I was graduating. The school also put a hold on my account during the semester, so I can't enroll in classes because I was graduating. Now they are saying that I am scheduled to graduate in the Fall. My BYU Idaho graduation experience has not been good. I have worked my entire life of twenty-eight years to graduate with my bachelor's degree, and they pull a fast one, denying me the life's achievement. I have already moved on, and they want me to go back.

25 August 2017

Last night was the first night in about 10 days that I got to sleep on time. We were able to prepare the evening well because the counselors of the Campbell Ward relief society presidency visited us after dinner. Friday came quick. Yesterday I explored the building more. A coworker told me that a foreman had an office in the basement, so I looked for him. He was not there. When I was at Apollo Mechanical, a salaried worker would go to appointments during work. I had an appointment with the DMV that I went to in order to renew my registration. I started working with BYU Idaho about my graduation. I got an email saying that I need to fulfill one class for the construction management cluster. It turned out that the construction management cluster is only for non-major students. I am a construction management major student, so I believe that nothing should be holding me back from them, delivering my diploma.
Meeting with the relief society last night, I kept my comments to a minimum because the relief society is very sister oriented. Jessica should be their focus. We were more open with the bishopric.
When we were speaking with the bishopric, our conversation was funny at first because they were trying to relate to Jessica's upbringing in Oregon. The bishop said that he has a house in Oregon. One of the counselors said that he has a sister that lives near Beaverton. The second counselor was most humble, thinking that he would not be able to relate with Oregon, but he said that his brother is an in-law to the Bleaks. He is a good friend of Tiffany Bleak. We were able to relate most to this because we lived the first month of our marriage with Morgan and Jane Bleak. We were more open about our aspirations. Jessica said that we were thinking about fostering children. It turned out that the bishop has fostered as many as 6 children, being able to adopt one.
Work is going smoothly, and I got an email from my project manager, expanding my work. I expanded some of what I reported yesterday. Instead of just reporting stones set, I reported stones fabricated and pulled off the wall.

26 August 2017

Today is Saturday, but I will still go to work. I will not be staying at work for 8 hours. I am mainly going this morning because a crew does not have good memory, and I want them to tell me what they did yesterday. Many crews were moved around yesterday, so it was tricky. It was mostly a normal day, so I don't have much to say other than there was a barbecue. In the afternoon, I was planning to talk to the crew that doesn't have good memory to have them tell me what they did yesterday, but everyone left early. Jessica and I relaxed that evening.

I explained why I go to work on Saturday to Jessica yesterday. I record the progress and the productivity of Columbia Stone inc.'s Crews. They work seven days a week. If I work 5 days a week, I would be missing 2 days out of the week, and I don't want to make up numbers over the weekend or record inaccurate productivity.

I like my role at Columbia Stone because I talk to the crew members a lot. We had a barbecue for them yesterday to show appreciation of their hard work. I mingled with them, talking with the people that I know, which is about half. I really liked a potato salad that the Samoan Catering company served because it had imitation crab on it. People may wonder. Did Alex eat meat at the barbecue? I did. I don't cook meat for myself, but when there is an occasion, I eat meat to not impose myself on others. It is the same thing with dessert. I rarely eat dessert, but occasionally I don't want to impose myself and refuse people's charity.

28 August 2017

On Saturday I rode my bicycle to work. It felt like the gravity was different in California compared to Idaho. I finally watched "Cool Runnings." We visited my parents on Saturday because Trevor bought a new board game. My mother cooked us a great Thai dinner. On Sunday after church we went straight to visit Jessica's cousins. Daniel introduced us to Jessica's grand-aunt.

I have realized that it would take about the same time to ride my bicycle to work as driving. I felt very weak on the bike. When I started riding my bike home from work, I thought that it might be because the change it altitude. One of my tires was a little flat; the other not so much. On Sunday I theorized that there is more air resistance in California because we are close to sea level, when we met with a counsel in the bishopric.

My dad wanted to watch Cool Runnings and play the game with us, but he drove Victor, a Chinese foreign student, staying with our family, to a party during the movie. As we started to play the board game, he received the call to pick him up from the party. The board game is a Japan themed game, where you are a tourist, trying to get the most points. I won the new board game soundly. It seemed neck to neck most of the game until we realized that Jessica was counting her points wrong.

Since I served my mission in Jamaica, I have endured the shame of not watching Cool Runnings for seven years. I finally rid myself of it Saturday. It is definitely a classic movie. The word choices are questionable especially for a PG movie, but it was great.

I finally was able to meet Lindsay, Daniel's wife. When we arrived, Lauren took me on a tour of the house. She showed me all the rooms and her time capsule for school, which had her favorite things in it. She let me look at her beloved coin from Spain. She seems to embrace her Spanish heritage. Chloe was off doing her own things for a little bit. I noticed that all of the rooms seemed to be for girls, so I asked Lauren if she has any brothers; then, she introduced me to Sam. He was also off doing his own things. After the tour, I was able to talk to Chloe. I expressed sympathy to her, saying that it took me ten years to get a bachelor's degree as she is being held back in the fourth grade. She plays the Ukulele, and I was able to help her tune the strings. There was too much going on for her to play. At dinner Lauren wanted to sit next to me, but Chloe, sitting next to me, wouldn't let her. The dinner conversation was good. I don't recall it much. When we were driving over to visit Jessica’s grand aunt, I asked Olivia how her cross country experience is so far. She only has one week’s experience. She seemed to talk about the human interaction the most. She thought that it was too hard for the first day, almost giving up. I forgot the grand aunt's name just as she has forgotten mine. Her memory is bad. We spoke to her for a while. When we returned to the house, Sam asked us if we wanted to play games, but the funny thing is that he didn't play the games with us. We played Uno and Ticket to Ride. I did not win any of the games. There is a lot going on in the house. I don't think that I could write everything.

Priscilla Pringle's Predicament - Reader's Theater at Lethbridge Whoop-U...

This week was quite fun for me because I got to portray the main antagonist in a Reader's Theater called 'Priscilla Pringle's Predicament/All's Swell That Ends Swell' that Playgoers of Lethbridge put on at Lethbridge Whoop-Up Days 2017. The story was written by Ed Bayly, a truly wonderful individual. Doing the performances all week reminded me of how much I love participating in theater. Please enjoy this recording!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIh88Y5H3cI&t=1135s

A single mother/convert

Hello everyone ",my name is Viva.
Thank you to, all for the continued work, that is being done.

I would like to share, my story. A single mother and being converted into, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.

H'm? Where to begin...
Well, I was born, in the Island of Tonga Tapu. My father and mother came, to the United States back, in 1970-76. I have a total of 11,siblings.  Step brothers and sisters. I am the middle child out,of a group of 5,raised together. We moved to, Seattle, WA, with my two brothers at, the time. My other siblings, we're in Tonga, with their mothers.
I remember the hotel we stayed in, Seattle,It was a studio, no fridge, kitchen, just less then 800 square feet, of an area. It was small😌. But it was the beginning of, my parents trying to make a new life.( Where all the Saints will be gathered. The United States Of America. )
So, my parents got jobs, they worked day and night, to collect for a house, to buy. My mom worked two jobs, my dad worked at MC. Donald's, Landscape, construction.
My parents got into fights over, bills and stress. Then my mother left my father, because, he would beat her. My father ended up hitting my moms boyfriend and lead, to having my dad, imprisoned. Then again, my dad, did it again. So finally, the final judgment from, the court. My dad had, a choice, either he goes back, to Tonga for, years or his family?
My parents made the choice. The mother and children would go, to Tonga. My father stayed with my little brother, to work and support, the family by sending money,while we were in,Tonga.
This was a life in, Tonga. Here we go!
Once we

Round 2

Hello everyone. My name is VIva.Siale. I am a single mother,of 6 beautiful children .(I have met my future husband.First we have to get,to know one another before anything.) I am 41,years of age. Yes! I said 41". I am from Tonga Tapu Island,raised here in,Seattle,Washington. I have been a convert,since 2013,also baptized with,my 8,9,year old son and daughter at,the time.
I speak and write,in Tongan as,well. I am thankful for the Gospel,also for returning home,into The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.
My story of my life and being converted into,The church Of Jesus Christ Of latter Day Saints.
I was born March 21-1976,in the Island of Tonga Tapu.My father is William Siale,mother Kilisitina M tuifua. I was born,in the village called,Hihifo.I have a total of 11,step brothers and sisters. I come from a group,of 5 raised together. My other siblings lived with their mothers,in Tonga Tapu Island.My parents brought me and the group,of three of,us at the time,here to Seattle,in the year 1976,a few months after I was born.So it was me and my two,older brothers at the time. I can remember,we moved into this tiny studio apartment.(less the 800 square feet) My parents quickly began,new jobs. Shortly,we moved into a big apartment.(YAY!) We moved,in Seattle,right on Rainier. We went to school,made new friends,my parents always took us,to church.I was raised in,a Catholic family.
Shortly,i noticed that we were separated and,we had to go live with my uncle,to my auntie.I found out,that my parents were constantly fighting(Physical fights).I was sad,but happy,we were with family members.Then my little brother was born. I went to live with,my uncle first,with my two older brothers,then moved in,with my auntie and her two daughters.
I missed my parents but,it didn't really take an affect on me.
Soon my parents had to decide,for the family to go,to Tonga for a few years. My father was in jail and they gave,him a choice.Either he goes to,Tonga or,the wife and kids go. So my parents made the choice,of my dad staying here,in Seattle,Washington with,my little baby brother,who was one at the time.
So,off we go,to Tonga! My mom,me and my two older brothers.😲 So we get to,Tonga,i was about three years of age,or four? We lived at my grandmothers home.I don't remember any details,when I was 3-4,years of age. The house we lived on belonged to,my moms,mother. We had lots of grown fruits,vegetables,it was HOT! We had clean clothes lots of food,my mom is a wonderful cook and baker. So we were never starving and,she made sure,we were always clean and our,clothes and,the home as well. We had many dogs. I loved our pet dogs. But my favorite was Peanut. He made sure NO ONE stepped over the gate,and came into our yard,they would have to yell from the street,if they needed to come over.He would attack them,if they didn't. He was a golden red haired retriever.I miss him so..
We would visit my grand parents(My dads parents,in Hihifo) I loved going there because,they had a huge movie theatre and store. I enjoyed being around my cousins as,well.(I was always tall for my age,so I was teased by my cousins.They called me an old lady. Grrrr!😤I'll show you old lady! I fixed that teasing later,by beating my cousin up.)I was always fighting,with my cousins.So my grandfather,was the one who,would punish us. But,it didn't hurt me and,i didn't care.I am a child,who will fight you,if you do me wrong.Boy or girl.Big and small.I will fight you!
My mom told me,my dads parents didn't like me because,of my brown skin.(WHAT???) My people are stupid sometimes".I love my brown skin.
Anyways,i remember as,a child having dreams,of warning and not,understanding it,until 30,years later. Then other dreams,that I now remember having,as a child.(It's like that moment,when the light bulb turns on,in your head moment) My mom didn't allow us,to go spend the night at anyones home,because,she didn't trust anyone,unless,it was her sister and brother and my grand parents.
Oh",when we attended school,the teachers are allowed to beat the kids(😲🤨) My dad,didn't allow that. I remember my teacher had a boy slap me,during quiet time. Because,threw up in my mouth and was,trying to hold it in. She thought I was playing around. (I ended up swallowing my vomit)I went home and told my dad.He came to,the school the next day and straightened,that teacher. She became the nice witch after. I enjoyed school,we were bare feet and,so we ended up getting parasites.(OH.. NO!)We had shoes but most of the time,we didn't wear them,even in the mud. We got sick as well..
My friends were always trying to always get me,to fight.I told them,no way! I was scared of my mom.I didn't fight anyone. Bunch of evil monkeys! To be continued,friends..

August 20, 2017

August 15, 2017

I forgot my keys and a couple other things at my parents' house, so we went there for dinner on Sunday.  Sunday night was exciting because the Mormon YSA Blog Spot got its first blogger in about two years. I am calling her the first of the second generation of writers. Since I was asked to get to work at 11 for my first day, it was easy going in the morning. It was easy for me, but not for Jessica. I prepared the Mormon YSA Blog Spot. My first day of work was chill. I met a lot of people, and saw two of the buildings that we are building. I arrived late to work, and I was let go early because I did not have a parking permit. I bought some boots and some socks that should last me for a long time. When I got home, Jessica was not doing well. I usually don't write too much about Jessica because she should have her own journal. The evening was slow. We were unable to have family home evening. I volunteered to serve at the Lehi Park on Saturday, but Jessica doesn't want to go camping. Life is very disorganized and new. I am kind of hoping that writing will get my mind un-frazzle.

Dinner at my parents' house on Sunday was the usual grill cheese sandwiches, kimchi, and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate and Kimchi was unusual thought. Mom made a new batch of Napa cabbage kimchi, which is not often, and dad put habanero (I believe) in the hot chocolate to add some spice. My parents received their Chinese student, Victor, yesterday for another school year of high school. I think that this is his second year with my family. He was into basketball, but he thoughts of the NBA now are of sorrow because a guy unnecessarily broke another guy's leg.

The new blogger for the Mormon YSA Blog Spot is named Viva Siale. Jessica doesn't have much interest in the Mormon YSA Blog Spot, so telling people in person about Viva has not been receptive; however, I have built a community around the Mormon YSA Blog Spot. Other people see the excitement. Viva wants to share her testimony with the world. She is a Tongan single mother of six children.

One of my first experiences at the job site was almost getting kicked off again, but the Apple's security was flexible because I did not have a parking pass. I should get a guest pass today.

My first experience in the office is being introduced to the other project engineer. I am learning a lot, but it is not overwhelming. I take a lot of notes. The other project engineer seemed to have sat in the office all day. Her name is Audrianna. She has been with the company for about a year and a half, and she studied at San Jose State University. Jessica is kind of thinking that we may have to move after this project. We will see. Since she studied at San Jose State and I hear that we worked with other people for years in California, we will most likely stay for a while.

I could talk about some other people, but I did not do much with them. When I got home, I met two of my direct neighbors. My next door neighbor is named Tom, and our neighbor below us is named Annadean. They are both not married but living with significant others.

At our apartment, Jessica was unmotivated. She was so unmotivated that she did not prepare herself any food to eat for breakfast or lunch. The apartment did not look any different when I arrived as she had goals to put things away. I counseled with her, and she had some alarming negative thoughts. I have learned not to overreact or over-think them. It is her nature. It took a while to convince her to do something. I want her to get up and do things for herself, so she will feel better. Her lack of motivation and productivity is even more depressing for her. It took a while, but she made herself dinner.

I am planning to live the life of an old fogey, going to sleep at 8 pm and waking up at 4 am. I want to do stuff in the morning like write in my journal as I am now. I woke up today at 4:30, and I want to work out in the evening when I get home early. I can choose my own schedule at work.  7 am to 4 pm sounds good.

August 16, 2017

Yesterday at work, I was put straight to work after my project manager showed me the campus and the theater. I got pictures, but I can't post them. The first role that I was given is to track the progress of the work. I did not finish the work for the day. When I got home, Jessica was doing better, but she still did not make herself meals. Her motivation is off.

The project manager gave me the plans, telling me to mark what is done, since the last time he did it a few weeks ago. It is mostly finished. It is a little hard to wrap my brain around the plans, but I am getting it without much instruction. I worked on it for the rest of the day. Today I have orientation, so my project manager let me go early.

At home Jessica seemed better. She actually started putting the house together; however, she did not muster up the motivation to make herself meals again. I had to rag on her for three hours to teach her that if she does not get the motivation to make herself meals that she will land herself in the hospital. She cannot survive on one meal a day. This experience is not new. She did the same thing last winter semester.

When I did get her to make a meal for herself, the way that she was cooking would take her hours to complete the meal, so I took over. Sunday supposed to be a day of least labor. This is why my family makes grill cheese sandwiches, but Jessica has been using the least labor foods. We used them up yesterday. I hope that she gets over herself soon. I also hope that the reader does not overreact or act on this information. Don't say anything to her, me, or each other. We need to solve our own problems without external intervention. Life is not all hunky dory. I am just being real with you. Jessica needs to figure out her new life now.

I wrote a few paragraphs about the project that I am working on with Columbia Stone, but I had to delete them because I can't share any information about the buildings.

August 17, 2017

Jessica did better yesterday food wise. She made herself breakfast, but she didn't make lunch. Orientation was very relaxed and easy, but the wait for the drug test and documentation completion process took a few hours. When I arrived at the job site trailer, it was lunch time. After lunch, I tried to go up to the building and record the progress. The shop drawings were so confusing. I would be multiplying inefficiencies of reading it, trying to understand the plans for each floor; therefore, I decided to go back to the job-site trailer and make a map.

My project manager thought that a map was a good idea to have and share among the company, so I feel that I am contributing well to the company to eliminate inefficiencies. I completed marking up the map yesterday, and I will complete it today.

I cooked rice in the old moldy rice cooker, which I told you about in a previous entry. Although I cleaned it, it still smelt like mold. Jessica wanted to throw it away still. I still used it because out small rice cooker would not cook enough rice. I knew that it would be fine. The rice was fine, and Jessica actually like my stir fry.

I arrived late from work yesterday because I needed to work until 5 pm, since I worked 7 hours the previous day. Jessica wanted me to get a spider catcher, but Walmart refused to answer my phone calls. I was unable to find the spider catcher locally.

August 18, 2017

I am not going to report on Jessica today because she was about the same as yesterday. My new work routine is working out well, starting at 7 am and leaving at 4 pm. I finished my map to help me easily navigate the plans before lunch. After lunch my project manager wanted me to go pick up some grout; then, I updated our progress sheets. I arrived at the apartment about 4:20 pm. The evening was a little slow. We didn't do much. The Mormon YSA Blog Spot is finally going to brake the 1295 likes barrier on Facebook. The rate of likes and unlikes of the page is about the same, so the growth is slow.

I wake up three hours before work, and one hour needs to be dedicated to getting to work. Finding a parking spot takes longer than driving to work. I write in my journal, read scriptures, cook breakfast and lunch, do some dishes with spare time.

People say that it take a half hour to walk to the parking structure, but at the end of work yesterday I saw that I needed to get back to the job site trailer with ten minutes until the end of my day. I walked to the trailer, made some final markings on the building plans, and walked to the parking structure in less than thirty minutes.

I wonder if I am doing well at work. I think that I am because my ideas are good, and I exceed expectations of productivity. I did not drive well, when I went to retrieve the grout. Google Maps was confusing. It said to turn right, but I would turn early. My project manager seemed to have the expectation to get the grout or finish the progress sheet for yesterday, but I completed both. 

August 19, 2017

Yesterday I realized a depth of my role in Columbia Stone for this current project. I thought that I needed to leave an hour before to get to work at 7, but I got to work a half hour early. My project manager wants me to start tracking the progress of a new section of the project. It is a lot less confusing. On Friday evening Jessica was still stuck in the rut, but I spoke to her, resolving her bad attitude.

August 20, 2017

Saturday was very busy, and I was unable to complete my journal entry for Friday and Saturday, going into detail of the previous days. The day was busy because I had to drive to Lehi Park for a volunteer assignment by 8 am. After my volunteer assignment, I arrived home, and Jessica was not home for the first time. She was out doing laundry, which was refreshing. We did laundry. Later we went to eat ice cream and lunch to celebrate our monthly anniversary. After I went to work, tracking the progress that we made today. Jessica wanted to watch Spirit, the horse movie that I mentioned previously. The twentieth of August is a Sunday.

Today I published a Storify Post. I cooked myself French Toast. The Campbell Ward is nice. My aunt-in-law has a friend, who is in our ward, and the friend recognized Jessica after church. One guy said that he works near me, so we exchanged phone numbers that we might have lunch. One thing about communication is that if you procrastinate it, it will be forgotten most likely. I try not to procrastinate communication, but Jessica doesn't understand the importance. Sister Bradshaw, the family friend, wants us to visit them.

I now have to go into details of the past three days. Work was a little overwhelming. I started tracking two sections' progress, and the shop drawings for one section was confusing. I felt like I was losing my mind, double checking my mistakes.

I like my Columbia Stone because the company has good people at it, and I am trusted. My project manager is going to be gone for two weeks, and he trusts that I don't need anyone to tell me what to do. I can keep myself busy. I was given a role in the job to fulfill. I am surprised and grateful that I have been able to jump into the work so easily. If a general contractor hired me, I don't think that I would be able to be confident enough to work full-time without immediate supervision after one week of experience.

Jessica was out of it for the entire week, and I wanted to go celebrate that we finished the first week of our life in California. It took me a few hours to help her. I explained to her that I treat her as an equal. I thought of treating her like I have imagined that I would take care of a foster child. I would take the child on a walk, and have the individual explain to me their world; then, I would ask the child to tell me what the individual would like in life. Jessica has created a miserable world for herself this past week, and she finally realized her illogical behaviors. She was more productive yesterday, and she is fasting today for guidance on what she should do with her life.

We went out two days in a row Friday and Saturday. During a previous restaurant meal, Jessica got a dish way better than mine, but mine was way better than hers on Friday. We have decided to not cook ourselves meat; unless, the consumption of meat is our only option to survive. I believe that the word of wisdom states this lifestyle. This weekend Jessica and I started ordering vegetarian dishes for ourselves. Don't ask me about the different types of vegetarian lifestyles. I don't care. I won't convince anyone to not eat meat, and I won't cook you meat if you visit me because I don't cook meat. 

On Saturday I volunteered to serve at Lehi Park. When I arrive, after driving the craziest roads of my life, I realized that the location played a bigger part in my life than I previously recognized. I love that location because I have camped their multiple times. A pioneer trek, which I participated in, finished there. I enjoyed that I knew people when I was looking for guidance on where I should be. Jon Day hailed me as a good friend, saying that he lived in the Campbell ward for years, and I will be taking his spot in the ward. Other people that I am more familiar with gave me less time. I saw Murray Fontes and Phil Wentworth. I don't need to go into details, but I thought that it was interesting. It seemed that they were focused on their task of teaching children orienteering or pipe soldering that they did not embrace the people of the moment. I mean me.

My nature is soft spoken. I have counted four situations in Campbell, where people think that I said that my name is Alan. I have never noticed this my entire life. I joked with Jessica that I should have a name tag, saying that my name is "Alex not Alan."

I helped with two projects in my Lehi Park experience, which were related. On the drive up, I was confused because I saw that a project of the service opportunity was to relocate gravel that fell into a lake. A facility manager thinks that an ill-willed neighbor stole the water in Frog Lake. The first project that we did was fortify against the entry of the intruders. I felt like I was participating very minimally at first because I am scrawny, but I became a leader as things got rolling. The first thing that we did is pound some rods into the ground to block their entry. The rods were also placed to support the logs and wood placed before it. I participated very minimally until a man named Reed, who is a member of my ward, started to get things rolling. I started looking for wood to fortify our boundary. I figured that we needed to raise the standard of effort because a fence that is put together with little effort can be taken apart with little effort. The big guy who pounded the rods in, who is named Joe, pulled a bigger log from the woods. I saw an old log. It was big, and it did not weigh much because it has decayed. I thought that it was funny that the big guy said that he was intimidated by it, but I, the scrawny boy, was attempting to carry it to the boundary. I participated well because I raised the standard of fortification of the borders of Lehi Park.

The extraction of gravel from the lake coincidentally was made convenient because the ill-willed neighbors pumped the water out of the lake. The gravel was washed into the lake because the previous winter got a lot of rain. We had too many workers, and I was happy to say that I stepped back and made the extraction of the gravel run much more efficient. We had two wheel burrows initially, which were being located in awkward locations, where eight people would shovel the gravel into one of the two wheel burrows. There were too many workers and there were too much wasted effort. I led the operation to be leaner. I suggested more logical locations for the wheel burrows and two loading spots. We were able to load a wheel burrow before the second one was returned. I am grateful that I had been able to apply the skills of construction management yesterday. We finished an hour earlier than expected as we were planning to work from 8 - 12.

I went to work on Saturday to quickly record what our crews did because I need to create productivity rates of our crews. The rates are based on stones placed per day. It didn't take long. We did place some stone. I think that we had two crews working. One on the stairs, and the other was working on a vestibule. The vestibule crew placed 6 pieces and the stair crew placed two pieces. I don't think that two is bad because the real issue with the stairs is its complex angles. A crew member said that they would need two days to orientate themselves before permanently placing the stone of the stairs. Another set of stairs took two weeks to figure out.

Sister Bradshaw stopped us after church to introduce herself as Claribel's best friend. Claribel is Jessica's aunt. Somehow she recognized Jessica; although, she was two years old when Camille Bradshaw saw her last. We caught up, learning her relationship to the family. She invited us to meet her family. Claribel introduced Sister Bradshaw to the gospel, and Jessica's family played a large role in her conversion despite language and cultural barriers. I think that Camille said that she was Iranian.

This evening we went to visit my parents because they shopped for us. They have been so supportive. I revealed to them that I was worried that I was going to be unable to save up enough money in two weeks to pay rent, but I think that I will be able to.

One thing that was funny is that I stopped a member of the bishopric on Sunday, asking for a time to meet them personally. We made arrangements for them to come on Tuesday. After church Jessica said that the relief society presidency asked to visit us at our apartment, and Jessica said that Thursday would be good for them to visit. Last week we arranged for the missionaries to come for dinner on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we will have company. We made sure to grab foldable chairs at my parent’s house for them. I hope that we are jumping into our new ward well.

This past week I tried our old moldy rice cooker, giving it a second chance; however, we have decided that it should be thrown out because mold is growing back in the rice cooker much more quickly. I should go out and buy a new big rice cooker.