I'm ok!

Well, I went to the doctor again today. I got out of work for it too. :-) But for all of you out there who were concerned for me, I am fine. My bone isn't broken or fractured, just bruised. The doctor said that I don't need to wear a brace anymore unless I feel like it. My knee will be tender for the next few weeks, but I can handle that. It was odd using my knee again after not using it for a week. But after walking around on it all day, I think I'm used to it again. I kind of missed it. But there are no major problems! Thank heavens!

The Bonfire of DEATH!

Well, my 2nd cousin and best friend, Phillip is in town this week. Most of the time he's out in Georgia being a bum going to school or some other lame excuse like that. But he's back for the week! And just recently, another great friend of ours, Jessica, quit her job at Sam's Club. You add these two together and you get no just any bonfire, but a Ceremonial Burning of the Smock/Bonfire. Yes, all rather cool. Well, if that wasn't enough, we throw my cousin Josh and I into that mix and you go from a rather special bonfire to The Bonfire of DEATH DUN DUN DUN!!! Well, there is this old fence post about as tall as I am, or perhaps a little taller. So of course, people tell me that I should jump onto it from the trampoline. Thinking that that isn't the best of ideas (for this fence post doth wiggle), I decide I will just climb up it from the ground. So I am standing there for a few minutes and out of nowhere I see Josh running at me. Fearing for my life, I yell, "JACOB!!" (note: Jacob is Josh's little brother who is now on a mission) Well, he didn't know that the post had the wobbling tendency. He thought it would be a great to run and kick the post and have me jump off over top of him. At least, I assume that is what he was thinking. I did not hear the thoughts in his head, so I cannot tell you for sure. Because I didn't hear the thought in his head, I didn't jump. Instead, I fell. My feet, who were firmly planted on the one foot round post, moved with the post. My body, who preferred to stay right where it was at, did not move with the post. As I assume most of you know, when your feet move out from underneath you and your body does not move, you often fall. This is exactly what happened to me. My foot, apparently, really liked the top of that post, so it got caught on it and tried to hold me up there. Fortunately for me, the will of gravity was stronger than the will of my foot. All my foot succeeded in doing was flipping me upside down, acting as an axis for my body to turn on and knock my knee into the post. My foot came un-caught, and the ground proceeded to break my fall. I laid there for a few minutes before I wanted to move again. As I got up to go lay on the trampoline, my knee popped (this is a rather regular occurrence and thus did not bother me. Also, it was my other knee that did not hit the fence post). Everyone freaked out and I just laughed at them. From what I heard, it looked as if I did a rather un-graceful cartwheel off of the fence post and landed on my back/butt. I wish I could have seen it. I'm sure that I would have laughed at myself. Which, I have found, is the best thing you can do in situations where you make a fool of yourself. That and blogging about them. :)

A Change of Opinion

When the 2nd movie in the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, came out, I went to go see it with some friends. I thought it was an awesome movie! There were good fight scenes (without a ton of gore), a great plot, and characters that I already liked from the first movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, plus a few others that I came to like as well. I hadn't actually had the pleasure of reading the books at this time, so I decided that I need to read the actual books. As we all know, the books are always better than the movie. So after looking for The Chronicles of Narnia at family's house, the library, and on the internet, I found a place where I could get the whole seres for only $7, including shipping! It was going to get to me faster than waiting for it at the library, and I could keep it! What a deal! They came in the mail just over a week ago and I got started tearing the book apart as soon as I could. If I didn't have to work, I would have finished the whole seres 2 or 3 days ago. Well, last night, I finished Prince Caspian, and I must tell you, I have changed my mind about my opinion of the movie. It was a good movie, as far as movies go, but they took so many liberties with the movie that the director should be ashamed of himself! Why mess with a masterpiece!? They mixed things up, added a love story between two characters that 1. weren't even the same age and 2. didn't have more than a few pages of the story where they were actually even in the same room! They had characters do things which were very much out of their character, and omitted things characters should have done because of things they had previously learned, but did not do in the movie. And then they go and create this whole battle that couldn't possibly, and wouldn't possibly (had the opportunity arose) have happened!

Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoyed the move, and still like it as a movie. But if you ask me, it isn't telling the same story that the books tell. Now, if they had said that it was a movie roughly based off of the books, that would be just fine. Or if they said it was a story similar to the one in the book, I would have no qualms. I just don't think that the story was told very well. C.S. Lewis did well enough on his own, thank you very much.

West Coast Swing

My talk on Sunday went well. I talked about honoring the priesthood. It was nice to get it over though. I got The Chronicles of Narnia in the mail on Saturday, and have already finished reading the 2nd book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They are such great books! As always, the book is much better than the movie. FHE went pretty good, not as many people showed up as I would have liked to see there, and of those that did show up, there were still a lot who didn't participate. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, more people will come regularly and actually participate in the activities and lessons. Tuesday... Well Tuesday was a great day. After English class with the Sisters, Kami and I prepared for dance class. We got out the teaching DVD that she has and decided which steps we were going to teach. After a little while, we went out to her car to pick the music that we were going to use. She turned up the music in her car and we danced in the parking lot! It was so much fun! It's been almost 2 months since I have actually danced with someone else who dances a lot. It was a blast! I remember now why I love dancing so much. It's so great when you know what you are doing and can just have fun without having to worry so much just to remember how to do the steps that you have learned. And West Coast is such a fun dance too! It's very smooth and relaxed. It isn't the easiest dance to learn though. Of all the dances that I have learned, it was one of the hardest to just get the basic down. But once the basic actually clicks and you know what's going on, it gets much easier to do the other steps.

I must say though, it is one thing to learn a dance and learn it well. It is a whole other ball game to actually teach it to other people. I have to remind myself how hard it was for me to get it when I first learned it as well so I don't get frustrated when it doesn't go smoothly for others. The guys last night were actually doing really good though. There were a few of them who caught on really fast. It's quite impressive actually. I am so excited to keep dancing and teaching dance this summer. Now that I have this summer taken care of, I'll just have to figure something out while I'm in China so I don't forget it while I'm there.

English Class

The Sister Missionaries at the University Ward here in Springfield that I attend have an English class that they teach twice a week. There are only 3 students, but they are all 3 from China. So when the Sisters told me about it I decided that I really wanted to go. Well, I went today, and it was so much fun! Come to find out, two of them graduated from Nanjing University! That's where I'm going to be going this Fall for Study Abroad! Crazy small world, huh? We talked about American holidays, and spent most of the time talking about Christmas. As one of the Sisters was drawing a picture of the Nativity on the board, they asked me to explain a little bit about who Christ is in Chinese for the 3 students. It was so great! It was weired though, I haven't done that in nearly 2 years! Not really in English or Chinese, come to think about it. Even when I have helped the Missionaries since I've been home, every at least knows who Christ is. It was a really cool experience. The best part is that English class is every Tuesday and Thursday, and those are my days off of work! Hurray! I'm way excited about it, it's going to be tons of fun!

大家好

Well, I wanted to start a blog before I take off to China so I have a convenient way of keeping everyone up to date on what's happening and a place to post all the pictures that I'm inevitably going to take. :-) So I figured, if I plan on starting a blog, why not just start now? Not that there is really a ton going on right now, but I might as well get into the habit of posting on my blog regularly, right?

Well, on Sunday, I was called to be the Ward Activities Chairman. Basically what that entails is planning FHE every week and making sure it all goes ok. And luckily, absolutely NOTHING is planned for next Monday! Yeppie! And I need to find a few more people for the Activities Committee. OH, and I get to give a talk on church this Sunday. It's all good. My boss is out of town this week, so I'm working his schedule... 6:00-3:00 every day. Well, I do get Thursday off, but basically, I have a rather full week this week. But at least I'm not sitting at home doing nothing! Well, I need to get into town to cash my first pay check (I work at Murfin's Market, the local grocery store) before the bank closes. I hope you all enjoy the wonderful ramblings which I'm going to post on here. And please, PLEASE, leave your comments. That, in my opinion, is the best part about blogs. 改天在寫!