2023.04.16
The past few weeks have been uneventful. Jessica came to hang out with Trevor and I, and she met Trevor’s girlfriend. Jessica really likes her, but I will refer you to Trevor to catch up with him. I can’t assume any lasting relationships in dating. When they get married, I might write about her. We played Unstable Unicorn, which seemed to be like the Uno games that I play, taking forever.
The following day was Easter, and the leadership of the church decided to reverence Easter, having only one church meeting, as we celebrate Christmas. On that day, we went to a local Thai and Laotian language ward. Trevor joined us, and we were surprised that English the majority of the time. Only one person gave her speech completely in Thai.
2023.05.14
Another month has gone by. The only major thing happening is developing very slowly. I have fully realized that people renting their apartments don’t care about their tenants; at least ours doesn’t; furthermore, their business model is unsustainable for their clients. People are lucky if they get a raise each year to accommodate inflation, but rental companies don’t raise their rental rates based on inflation. They raise it based on the valuation increase of their property. I don’t want to be a nomad, moving whenever I am priced out of an apartment. It doesn’t make sense to move to another apartment complex because they will do the same thing; therefore, we are planning to buy a house. Fixed mortgage rates don’t increase. I believe that businesses should be keen on aiding their employees to buy a house to get out of the joke of renting apartments.
My life’s focus the past month or so is to prepare for the Odgen Half Marathon. A couple of my coworkers were inspired to do it, inviting others to join them. In my preparation, I have found that my body has gotten weak. I have been sitting at a desk, quantifying scopes for our estimator, for over two years at JWright Companies. My feet hurt when I attempted to run. I theorized a way to strengthen my feet without running, and it is by walking on the balls of my feet. I see people doing this naturally, and I expect that their feet are naturally stronger than those who do not. I have a week until the event, and my feet are sore from walking on the balls of my feet. I am resting them, hoping that I have strengthened them enough to the past two weeks. I worked out using the elliptical to limit the strain on my feet. My goal for the half marathon is to be strong enough to run it without feet pain, getting back into running shape, but my coworkers have higher expectations for me because I am an accomplished runner. I need to run it at least two hours. I hoped that my feet would not be sore by tomorrow, but it seems that I will need to continue to work out on the elliptical until they recover. I feel blessed because the temple presidency was inspired to do maintenance on the temple, closing the temple starting last Monday. I will not need to work late on Friday as an ordinance worker and be ill prepared to run the half marathon the next day. My coworker in the temple is actually running the event too.
I still play Yu-Gi-Oh. I finally thought of a way to raise the ceiling of my decks power, which I am testing in the Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel. The idea is to take advantage of the engine more because Dinomorphia Therizia sets a trap card from the deck each time that I summon her and Diplos mills a card, which can generate card advantage, which I can control, if I use their in archetype traps of Brute and Sonic. Rexterm limits monster effect activation, and Sonic and Reversion can limit spell and trap activation. The new trap of Intact is very needed. I have eight counter traps to negate monster effects to protect my fusion traps which can be bricks because Solemn Strike requires a minimum of 1500 LP, and Rebirth of Parshath requires that I have a counter trap in hand. Intact negates monster effects obviously, which I can search with Therizia. One thing that is nice about Dinomorphia is that it doesn’t depend of drawings or searching to add cards to their hand, which can make a deck fragile. My deck is fragile enough as it is. Intact finally came out in the TCG. I haven’t designed a deck implementing my new tactics. Trevor and I went to the preview event for Cyberstorm Access. I didn’t pull one in the five booster packs that I got, but Trevor got one; however, Trap Tracks and Time-Tearing Morganite may be good additions to my deck, since my latest deck list doesn’t use hand traps. Trevor sold one of the Time-Tearing Morganite cards for five dollars. I pulled one, and Trevor pulled a second one. The TCG format is different for Dinomorphia obviously compared to Master Duel. I keep playing Master Duel to keep up my skill of the game; although, Trevor doesn’t play Master Duel.
This weekend Trevor and I bought a box of the Yu-Gi-Oh 25th anniversary legendary collection, starting a series of box battles. Trevor has been working late, so we haven’t gone to locals in a while. I didn’t pull any well known old staples.
I have a family event to write about, but I want write about a boring thing that I finally figured out. An email address is foundational to people experience on the internet, and the email service that one uses may appear to not matter, but you are at the mercy of the service provider. You don’t own your email address. I have been seeking to own my email address ever since I purchased my Unstoppable Domain, and I finally found a reliable email service, which is called mail3. Unstoppable Domains are also means to access web3, and mail3.me appears to be the most reliable way to use email with blockchain owned domains on web3. I have been updating my email address wherever I can.
The family event is the wedding reception for Arrie and Seth Belnap. Arrie is Jessica’s cousin. On that day I went to an Anime Expo, which I seem to have forgotten to write about. Jessica was supposed to come to the expo, and hang out with Trevor, Stephania or Victoria, and her siblings; however, she required me to drive home from the event early to pick her up to drive down to the reception. Jessica procrastinated preparation, and we ate dinner, using our Applebee’s gift card that we won at the prom, during the reception expecting dancing and that it was going to last longer than an hour. We arrived about an hour late at the closing of the event. People at the event mentioned that it was cold, and they performed a Viking tradition instead of dancing, so we would have been cold and hungry if we didn’t eat out. Jessica was comforted because she wore a purple sweater, which matched a blanket given to Arrie. It was good to catch up with the Ledesma family. We met David, who is Jessica’s uncle, and his new wife. Jessica’s grandma came late too, arriving only a little before us.
The Anime expo was cool. I am not into modern anime or popular old anime. I mainly went to get Tara Sands’ autograph because she voiced Makoba in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. I had her sign my deck box. She said that she has never signed a deck box before. When I arrived, she spoke at a panel with another voice actor of Pokemon. They didn’t believe in the unconventional voice acting of the anime, thinking that the franchise would fail. My coworker came too. Isaac Gomez also went to Trevor’s birthday too. He seems to have more connections/ friends here, so I didn’t hang out with him too much. My CEO Jeff Wright was also there, and Isaac called me over to get a picture with him. Jeff was there for networking with the voice actors because a company of his runs FanX. I was about to identify with another Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiast at the Cyberstorm Access preview event because he got autographs of voice actors at nationals last year.
Another thing that we did last week is a game night, which was more like a game evening because we started playing about 6 PM. Trevor had me buy him the two games of Azul last week, so we played it. I won last time that we played it, but Jessica pulled ahead this time, winning by a long shot. The risk of getting negative points doesn’t appear to be important. The game is interesting because you basically playing three games at once. Azul is a tile game.
I got sick as I wrote last time, and I got a substitute by trading shifts. The week that I served my substitute’s shift; I also volunteered to serve as an usher at the traveling Tabernacle. I was puzzled to learn that the church was supporting the project, but it is actually a mission of the church. The traveling tabernacle informs people of the ancient Israel’s tabernacle from the perspective of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can now say that I served at the ancient as well as the modern house of the Lord. Our ward went last Monday to attend the tour. It was informative. The main thing that I learned is a story that I not emphasized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which by memory is the following:
The tribes of Israel were not hearkening to the word of God and jealous of the House of Aaron, desiring to serve as ordinance workers in the tabernacle, and the tribes were told to bring branches, and blossoms would grow on the branch of the tribes that will serve in the tabernacle. Blossoms only grew on the branch of Aaron, and that branch was kept in the Holy of Holies.
The ward gathered for refreshments of cookies and ice cream after. It was good to commune with the saints. We mainly spoke with a couple that Jessica and I minister to.
Another thing that I forgot to write about is that Jessica and I were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about the recent general conference. I said the following:
Good morning, brothers and sisters. I am grateful for this opportunity to talk to you today on the topic of the recent General Conference. I actually have had a topic in mind for a general conference speech if I had an opportunity to speak in one for a long time. It is inspired by Ezra Taft Benson’s well known talk “Beware of Pride”. I would like to bring awareness to the Natural Man. A few speeches in the previous general conference condemned contention in any form.
Since there are oppositions to all things, man was blessed with the Light of Christ, but man was also cursed with the Natural Man. King Benjamin taught that “the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” President Eyring said, concerning the Light of Christ, that “there is reason for optimism: it is that the Light of Christ is placed in every newborn child. With that universal gift comes a sense of what is right, a desire to love and be loved. There is an inborn sense of justice and truth in every child of God as he or she comes into mortality.” The natural man is also inborn into every child of God; furthermore, as each member of the Godhead and his legion of angels inspires man to do good; Satan and his legion inspires man to do evil.
In the beginning, Lucifer sought to take away agency of mankind with his opposing plan to Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation, and he still seeks to persuade man to not believe in their agency, for Ezra Taft Benson taught.
“Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne. 12:30.)” Satan leverages the Natural Man as a tool to reign over us.
The most poignant thing about the Nature Man is our desires, appetites, and passions become dangerous because the Natural Man inspires man to accomplish these desires with the least amount of effort possible. I will share a few examples to explain myself. It may be tempting to rule over our relations with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors with anger and fear. How much effort does it take to be angry? President Russell M. Nelson taught the following about anger:
“Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions. Regrettably, we sometimes see contentious behavior even within our own ranks. We hear of those who belittle their spouses and children, of those who use angry outbursts to control others, and of those who punish family members with the “silent treatment.” We hear of youth and children who bully and of employees who defame their colleagues.
My dear brothers and sisters, this should not be. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to be examples of how to interact with others—especially when we have differences of opinion. One of the easiest ways to identify a true follower of Jesus Christ is how compassionately that person treats other people.”
Sarcasm is another great example of the natural man. If someone needs to learn something, a sarcastic person would say the opposite thing to them. The first definition of sarcasm is “A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.” The word comes from the Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmós) which is taken from σαρκάζειν (sarkázein) meaning “to tear flesh, bite the lip in rage, sneer”. This does not sound wholesome. It sounds like this prophecy in Joseph Smith’s translation of Matthew 13 as follows:
“In that day, before the Son of man shall come, he shall send forth his angels and messengers of heaven. And they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them out among the wicked; and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Relationships require effort. M. Russell Ballard taught that “Nurturing these important relationships is a choice. A choice to be part of a family requires commitment, love, patience, communication, and forgiveness. There may be times when we disagree with another person, but we can do so without being disagreeable. In courtship and marriage, we don’t fall in love or fall out of love as though we are objects being moved on a chessboard. We choose to love and sustain one another. We do the same in other family relationships and with friends who are like family to us.”
This is also an example of Satan trying to persuade us to not believe in our agency, choice, or covenants. Marriage and sealing covenants in the temple are not spontaneous moments of emotion. The process of the marriage courtship, preparation, and decision may be easy to forget as it may be a time of our lives long since past, but we need to remember our choices and covenants. They are eternal covenants executed between Heavenly Father and his mortal children.
Before I move on to another insight, I would implore you to retain your agency, and yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit. When an individual gives into the Natural Man, they explore the depths of wickedness, where many evil spirits entice you down paths that are limited in their choices or options. It is tempting follow the Natural Man because the achievement of our vain desires require the less effort, but it is very destructive. Let us hold to our true and valiant desires of eternal life and remember our covenants.
I will close with another insight that I learned from Ezra Taft Benson’s talk. This also relates to falling out of love and divorce. Pride divides, and humility brings unity. I will repeat myself as the simple sentence may be easily forgotten or not heard. Pride divides, and humility brings unity. It is easy to sense division. The “silent treatment” as Russell M. Nelson mentioned is a form of division. Whenever I see division in my life and family, I know that Satan is attempting to destroy my family and life, and I need to take action before my life and family spin out of my control. Ullises Soares expounded on this principle, saying the following:
“As disciples of the Prince of Peace, we have been instructed to live with “hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” Our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, recently stated, “Contention violates everything the Savior stood for and taught.” Our prophet also implored that we do all we can to end personal conflicts that are currently raging in our hearts and in our lives.
Let us consider these principles in view of Christ’s pure love for us that we, as His followers, seek to have for one another. The scriptures define this kind of love as charity. When we think of charity, our minds usually turn to generous acts and donations to relieve the suffering of those who are experiencing physical, material, or emotional difficulties. Still, charity is not only related to something we donate to someone, but it’s an attribute of the Savior and can become part of our character. It is not surprising that the Lord instructed us to clothe ourselves “with the bond of charity, … which is the bond of perfectness and peace.” Without charity, we are nothing and we cannot inherit the place the Lord has prepared for us in the mansions of our Heavenly Father.”
I will close by testifying that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the priesthood authority has been conferred upon him by John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John. The power of God is truly manifest in priesthood ordinances and covenants. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
—————
The congregation received it greater than any of our other speeches. Many people came up afterwards expressing gratitude for our speeches.
2023.05.28
It has been a week since the Ogden Half Marathon, and Heavenly Father granted me according to my prayers. I said that feet pain may be unavoidable, but please bless me that my feet will not be injured. I worried about plantar fasciitis. On the Monday before the event, I did as I wrote two weeks ago, testing the strength of my feet as I hoped that my strength training paid off. My feet didn’t hurt, but they felt tired only after running three miles. I rested my feet for the entire week to ensure I felt well rested and my body is peak condition; however low that peak is in my physical fitness. On Monday, I counseled with my coworkers about preparation. The Vice President is actually an ultra marathon runner, and he recommended carb loading, starting the dinner two days and lunch one day before race. I told my coworkers that I intended to drink forty ounces of water before the race and carb load to be prepared. The carb load meal of choice was pizza because it has a lot of sodium to help me absorb and retain more water in my body. My coworker also recommended me to eat Honey Stinger Waffles, so I planned to eat them for breakfast. I followed my plan with exuberance.
Trevor was surprised that Jessica and I can both eat half of a sixteen inch pizza as we attempted to have a game night on Thursday night. I also ate a person nine inch pizza on Friday for lunch. I said that I would run the half marathon if I could carpool with my coworker. One offered a place to stay for the night before, but they both flaked on me or didn’t keep my agreement seriously. I asked another coworker for a ride, and he couldn’t take me either. I told my wife that I am not going to do another event like this again because it is too expensive. The race entry fee was about one hundred fifty dollars alone. Please I was compelled to get a hotel room because I needed to get my race bib the day before at an athletic expo, Jessica wanted to attend, and I didn’t think that I could prepare well physically and mentally before I race if I drove up the morning of. I also don’t want to figure out the maze to drive to the starting line with all the road closures the morning of the event.
Buses delivered athletes to the starting line beginning at four forty-five anti meridiem. I can’t sleep in the morning of events where I need to get up early. I woke up at three anti meridiem. I was able to find a hotel room the night before the event. My wife was surprised because I found a vegan restaurant very close to the finish line, and I walked from the restaurant looking for hotels. I purchased a bag of mini Honey Stinger Waffles because the bulk quantity was more affordable than buying the larger waffles. The calorie count was over seven hundred. Preparation appears to be very important to me in running events for a smooth race. I will probably write less about the race than I am about the preparation.
When I get up the morning of, I decided to drink water before I attempt to reduce my bowel load in the restroom. My water bottle was sixteen ounces, and my exuberance lead me to drink three bottles, totaling forty-eight ounces. At work when I drink forty ounces, I don’t feel too hydrated, so I embraced my exuberance. I didn’t want to run with my phone; plus, I retrieved a racing bib for my coworker. I didn’t want to leave for the starting line in the last minute as my coworker was expected to, so I planned to leave with the first wave of buses at four forty-five. I got dressed, wearing sweatpants and a cycling wind breaker because I knew that it was going to be cold in the morning and I knew that the weather would not be too hot. I rested and ate my Honey Stingers until I got Jessica to walk with me. I had Jessica give the race bib to my coworker, who was Isaac Gomez, who I probably mentioned previously and hung out with a number of times. The only object other than my clothes that I wore was my hotel key. I told Jessica to meet me at the finish line about nine anti meridiem. I gave my phones at the bus stop. Jessica and I left at four thirty to walk to the bus stop, and I drank another sixteen ounces of water, finishing my bag of Honey Stingers as we walked.
I was on the second bus to arrive at the starting area. As I sat on the bus, I felt that I needed to urinate. I peed about five times or more already at the hotel. It was good that I arrived with the first bus loads of people. I didn’t have to wait long in lines. It was getting a little ridiculous on the bus. When I arrived, I peed in a portable potty, and I walked straight into another one after. I don’t feel that I drank too much water; although, I urinated another five times at least at the starting area. I think that my carb loading and food that I ate prepared my body to retain hydration and nutrition despite the sixty four ounces of water that I drank before four forty-five anti meridiem. I walked around to keep warm at the starting area until the starting of the race. I saw all my coworkers, but I kept walking around making sure that I felt ready to race. I found the pace runner for the two hour finish, and I started with that group.
When the race started, I went out slow running with the pace group. I intended to run with them for about five miles at least, but I felt that the pace runner was running too slow, leaving them after two miles. I ran at about seventy percent effort. I was competing with myself as I later found out my coworkers of Ben Park and Telford Myers were also competing with myself. My competitive spirit had me run to each bend of the road. People may think that I am zigzagging, but I am actually reducing the distance of the course. If I ran on the outside or inside of the road the entire time, the distance that I ran would have been longer. I took it easy on the down hill. My average mile pace was eight thirty until my legs started feeling sore and fatigue about the ninth mile. I slowed down a lot. I didn’t attempt to take any water until about the eight mile, and I barely got a gulp of water from the cup. I did take gel from a military serviceman about mile five. When I slowed down, I thought that drinking Gatorade would help me, so I grabbed a few cups, but it didn’t help that much. There was a timer at the 11.9 mile mark, so the last mile felt extra long. It said one hour and forty-seven minutes, and I knew that I had a chance to break two hours. I didn’t have a kick. I didn’t walk the entire time except to drink Gatorade. I looked exhausted. My coworker said that I had a lean based on pictures. When I saw the finished line timer, I saw that I had about a minute approximately one hundred meters out for the finish. I speed up slightly to achieve my goal, and I crossed the finish line at 1:59.37 (one hour, fifty-nine minutes, and thirty-seven seconds).
I didn’t see him, but Ben Park came in after me about ten seconds, but his chip time was four seconds faster than mine. Jared Burton, our Vice President, was a “proud pop (or pup), seeing our results. Ben had to use the restroom a few times. Telford vomited about mile eleven after a failed attempt to eat a Guu, and Nathan got food poisoning of sorts. We all ran well. I think that my preparation allowed me to run without breaks, crossing the finish line first.
When I finished the race, I just went to restore my nutrition and electrolytes. I drank about four cups of Gatorade and ate probably three bananas & an orange. Jessica saw me snacking, and I caught up with her. She arrived in time to get a video of my finish as well as a picture. Jessica joined me in the festival, but I lost her. I walked around a little with the intention to wash my hands because a booth oddly had bread lathered with butter, which was not toasted, so it tasted off.
When Jessica and I found each other, I saw someone, pushing a child on a cart, wearing a shirt that said to vote for Chris Barragan for mayor of Ogden. I recognized the name, and I mustered what extra energy that I can to caught up to him. I never ran so much that I was extremely sore at the end of the event. Chris Barragan taught seminary when I attended high school in California. We exchanged numbers with the intention to catch up. His wife was with him, and Jessica was recognized too. The interaction was quick. I was too exhausted to be excited or naturally give him a hug. After showering in the hotel room and packing up, we went to Chris Barragan’s wife’s bakery, which is called Brookey Bakes. They were not available to meet or catch up, but we did eat their quiche.
My feet did not feel like they were injured which I was grateful for, yet they still hurt. My feet started to feel normal about last Friday about five days later. I walked around gingerly, struggling with soreness for a couple days, but all my coworkers recovered within a day or so because they stuck to a running program more than me. I needed to think out of the box for my preparation because my feet have gotten weak. I intend to continue running, but I don’t want to run another marathon; although, my ultra marathon Vice President challenged me to a race. A race is not worth paying five hundred dollars for.
In the evening of the marathon after a nap, Jessica and I went to Stake Conference. Stake conference as well as my scripture study and the Holy Ghost gave me the courage to stop playing Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel. My last day was not a good experience; maybe because I was not motivated to play. I lost a DLvl in the world championship finals qualifiers and a duelist rank. Jessica asked me about how to love someone, and I said that you spend time with them; embrace their goals, aspirations, and hobbies; as well as something like get to know them without judgment or expectations. Be interested in their life. Jessica has been suggesting that we go trail running until I find a beautiful scene to draw, which would be my dream profession. My goal is to practice digital art. I am attracted to digital painting. It appears to be an alternative path to digital art than the typical character drawing; although, I do like drawing people. My plan involves catching up on my blog, which seems random, but I also love writing. I have written a lot more than I have drawn in the past decade or more. I will post once a day until I am caught up because one post, covering more than one year, would be impossible process.