Sunday, July 16, 2006

July Post

Since this is my first post in July and it will most likely be my last post in July and I have a couple different topics to cover I thought I would call this my July post. And with this completely useless paragraph out of the way I'll continue with the interesting stuff.

A Surprise Visitor


A very strange thing happened today. I went to church (no... That's not the unusual part) and there was someone there who doesn't normally come to our branch. Can you guess what who it was? Of course it might help if you were familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka 'The Mormon Church').






Give Up?




Well it was the Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. This was a very surprising thing for me and I felt a little foolish for not knowing about it earlier till I found out that most everybody else didn't know about it until they arrived and only a few people had any advanced warning. I actually found out when a whole bunch of the young men from the other ward were milling about trying to get a glance inside the chapel. Some of you may be wondering what is the big deal, so to put it in perspective it would be akin to the Pope showing up or maybe the President of the USA sitting in and observing your town council.

On the surface it really was just another day at church but then again it wasn't. He didn't speak at all. He just sat at listened to the people who were already assigned to give talks and listen to the singing. I do have to say I don't think I've ever heard such enthusiastic singing though.

I know I couldn't help but think about it. I kept wondering why he was there and if he was going to speak. I've only seen him speak once before and that was before a huge audience in Portland, ME. Also I couldn't help but wonder if he was there because of me. I know that its somewhat vain and egotistical to think that, but I thought it just the same. Last week I was told that I was to be released as primary teacher because they've been getting rid of all male primary teachers and I couldn't help thinking that I might be the last, but no nothing special. I wasn't even released today despite being told that I would.

When I first got to church I noticed that to parking spaces had been blocked with cones and a car had parked in between them and I thought to myself, "How Rude." I thought that some person had just snuck inbetween the cones to get a better spot, but after I realized Gordon B. Hinckley was there I knew it was his car and I felt really foolish for thinking that. It really is better not to judge, especially when you don't have the full story. Anyway it was definitely a surprise.

More Movies


Other than spending most of my time working or in school I spend in front of the TV and most of the TV I watch isn't worth writing about. Or I'd rather not write about I figure I can write about some of the movies I have seen. After all for those you who know me and care, you can see these movies too and imagine you are spending time with me. I know its a shoddy substitute.

Yesterday I went and saw Disney's The Wild, which is in many respects a copycat of the movie Madagascar. This really isn't surprising since Disney has done this before, but whatever the case it was actually a fairly amusing movie, although it was short. Much like Madagascar it is about some city zoo animals who escape from the zoo to stop a friend from going to/getting taken to the 'wild.' There is some action in the city, they get a boat and cross the ocean, they muck around with the dangers of the untamed jungle and unlike Madagascar they return home. In a way I actually liked this better, the animations were a little more realistic although they still seemed more like stuffed animals than living ones. Some of the jokes actually made me laugh. Like Madagascar the whole ridiculousness of the notion was a too much to suspend disbelief. For instance how did they survive the ocean voyage without food. At least the lion cub, Mason, who was trapped in a crate and not found at all should have been to weak to move after probably a week of no food or water.

Moving on last week I saw Howl's Moving Castle by Director Hayao Miyazaki and based on Dianna Wynne Jones' book of the same name. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who enjoys movies that I like to see. In my opinion Dianna Wynne Jones is an excellent fantasy author and puts books like the Harry Potter series to shame. Her stories are clever and engaging and after seeing the movie I was aching to read more of her stories. I've read the first couple Harry Potter stories and while they are interesting they've never really made me want to read more. And while I saw the last movie to come out it never made me wish to read the book it was based on. To clarify Howl's Moving Castle is an awesome piece of work in its own right and doesn't need the book to fill in things. It just reminded me of how much I've enjoyed reading some of Dianna Wynne Jones work.

I've Also see Superman Returns, which I really don't have much to say about. It was pretty good but it didn't exactly enthrall me. Of course I've never been a huge Superman fan to begin with. The one thing that really confused me though was why did he crash into the ground in a meteor when he returned? Was it so his mother could find him again like some warped present? I don't know. The only other comment is they had way too much money to spend on the opening credits. Way too much.

One Red Paperclip


I just found this site the other day and I think it is really cool. The concept itself is really quite amusing and the fact that it was actually pulled off is really quite cool. Basically Kyle MacDonald took one red paperclip and through a succession of several trades has obtained a house. A real house and a pretty decent one too.

Now you might be thinking, well that's crazy, that isn't fair, I want to trade a house for a red paper clip. Well that's just ridiculous, you probably don't even have a red paperclip to trade. But that isn't the point at all, at least not for me.

The really important thing to take away from this is that anything is possible. Kyle put forth his plan and he followed through with it. He worked at it and eventually succeeded. That doesn't mean that if you want something you should do what he did, but that if you put yourself into it you can succeed. Just looking at some of his blogs he has inspired a couple spin-off ideas already. The person who got the fishpen (one of the trades) wants to send it around the world and use it as an encouragement to have people give to charities. It's started the KISS Snowglobe Army because Corbin Bernsen wants to be the greatest Snowglobe collector in the world.

It is just very inspiring. You can accomplish so much with so little if you are just willing to put the effort into it. I know I could do all sorts of awesome things if I ever actually cared to.

Wisdom Teeth


Well I went to the dentist a month or so ago to get my teeth checked and then I got some cavities filled and they convinced me that I should remove my wisdom teeth. So a couple weeks ago I had both of my wisdom teeth on my left side pulled.
Having them pulled was quite the unpleasant experience. Although I'm sure it was the right thing, after all my lower one was pretty much at a 45 degree angle pushing into the other teeth and the upper one just kept on coming down.

The upper one came out pretty quick and while unpleasant wasn't particularly annoying or frustrating. The lower one, the one at an angle, that was the tricky one. He had to cut off part of it, take two extra X-rays and spend was seemed like hours tugging and pulling on it. By the time it actually start to come out the anesthesia was wearing off so it was painful too. Not to painful or I would have had them stop but a nice unpleasant feeling in my jaw. I still have them both and I might take a picture and try and post them.

After it was over, they gave me instructions on what to do and a prescription for Tylenol-3 (which has codeine) which I never filled. So after the initial anesthesia I never took any pain killers. Hooray for me, although I never really felt the need to. It actually never hurt that much, except with I took to poking it. I didn't want to eat or talk at all for the first day and very little afterward for a while. The talking isn't too surprising I don't do too much of that anyway but I do like to eat.

The reason I didn't want to talk or speak was because while I was at the dentist I was warned that I wasn't careful the blood clots forming in the cavities might fall out and I'd get what is called dry socket which is supposed to be incredibly painful. Other than I was perfectly fine, so for the most part I was perfectly miserable. I watched the two sequels to Anne of Green Gables and read the Mutineer's Moon trilogy by David Weber and watched way too much tv in general cause I didn't feel like doing much else.

I'm doing much better now, I can eat pretty much anything without worrying and I can brush ok and I've started flossing again because I can open my mouth wide enough to do so. I feel much better about the thing in general but I still feel a bit betrayed.

I know it is silly but, I sort of went in with the idea that they'd just go in and yank them out quick. But no I had oral surgery. I even got to sutures. They sewed together the bottom gums because the space where the angled tooth was so big. Why would the difference between having oral surgery and having two teeth pulled by so different? That is a hard question to answer, but basically it comes done to the fact that I'm not to fond of doctors and I its hard to explain. I'm not really sure I can, of course part of it is the loss. I've lost a part of my body that I'll never have again and that is sad, even if it is better this way. Just like cutting off a frostbitten toe so you don't get gangrene and lose your entire leg. Not quite as dramatic but it is there anyawy.