Easy To Forget

It amazes me how easy it is to forget principles that we spent years learning. A few weeks ago I went and checked out my blog that I never write on (haha) and I realized that there were Russian words all over the page. I freaked out a little bit because I forgot a lot of the Russian that I spent all last year trying to learn. As I stared at the words the Cyrillic alphabet came back to me and I was able to sound the letters out. However, I am afraid that I don't remember the majority of the Russian language that I used too. It doesn't take much to forget something we have taken time to learn.

As I thought about this it led me to think about my testimony of Jesus Christ. It seems that lately I have seen or heard of people who have lost their faith in the Gospel and their belief in the Savior. It worries me to hear about strong faithful people who suddenly turn away in disbelief. What causes such a turn around? Personally, I think it all goes back to my experience of learning Russian and then forgetting it. A testimony of Christ comes through learning about him and searching out his teachings, then seeking for a witness from the Holy Ghost. However, once we stop seeking knowledge and start ignoring what we learned, with time we will gradually forget what we once knew and the Gospel will become as unknown to us as words of forgotten Russian.

Good Stuff Wednesday

I turned off the music in my car and parked it on the side of the road by my house and enjoyed the powerful sound of the rain pounding on the tin roof.

I ate a cookie that my neighbor made and soaked it in a glass of milk. It was delicious.

I took a nap with a book in my hand.

I talked to an old friend.

I ate dinner with my parents and attempted to communicate.

I talked with my Mom.

I watched and excellent movie with my friends.

I made into bed.

Maybe try making your own good stuff list. It helps you feel warm and fuzzy all over :) If it doesn't, then do something about it.

Hair Strikes Back

Those who know me best, know about my very serious and sometimes overly dramatic hair fettish. It doesn't matter where I am, hair simply follows me around. Maybe that's largely due to the thick mop of hair that hangs from head. But even other hair seems to lurk towards me whether it's: in my dinner, stuck on my blanket, in a plie of snow that I happened to land on (another stroy for anther time) or it just somehow weasled its way into my mouth, hair is always there and it is always grossing me out to the max. It's like it is out to get me and me alone. So with that in mind it should seem as no surprise that my very own hair tried to attack me.
It all started about 8 years ago when my family and I moved to utah. My room is located down in the dungeons, but the perqs of dungeons almost solely lie with having your very own bathroom. I really liked this bathroom and that was largely due to the shower and the shower drain. Most shower drains don't have very big holes so after each shower there is this huge build up of hair over the shower drain that I would always have to pick out after each use. It absolutely drove me crazy! So when I saw the big wholes in this shower drain, I figured out a perfect system of getting the hair off my fingers and through the drain with the least amount of human contact possible. If any hair would get stuck on my fingers I would simple stick it to the wall, then point the shower head on that wall unitll all the hair moved down, down, and down into the drain and out of eyesight. I loved this system. It was clean and hair free. I loved this system for about 8 years......then the hair started to fight back. It wasn't unitl last christmas break when I was home for about 3 weeks that I realized my drain wasn't draining as well as it should be. With further examination, I noticed oxidized hair strands over parts of the drain wholes that had gotten stuck there from prior washinngs. I couldn't get it out so I chose to ignore it. That whole christmas break the water would drain less and less but I was in denial about it so I just pretended that everything was hunky dory. Well, each time I came home after that the problem would intensify. Then I moved back home for the summer and the water would hardly drain at all. It seemd as though 8 years of hairl buildup were coming back to haunt me. So, I being a very brave soul, chose to take matters and my yellow rubber gloves, into my own hands. I strategically popped open the drain with a phillips screwdriver, soaked the whole place with Chlorox Bleach, and formed a hair snagging device out of a metal hanger. Then I dove into one of my biggest nightmares: Slimy, black, oxidized, chunkified hair. I dug dip, dry heaved a few times and finally came out with a good chunk of the enemy that was probably the size of a softball, a very large softball. I wiped the sweat off my brow then turned on the water ready to see it rush down that drain like never before. However, to my dismay the water was draining even less this time around than before. I hadn't even come close to the hairy monster. I got on my hands and knees once more, tweaked my metal hair snagging device with a few twists here and there, and dug deep into the dark tunnels of that massive pipe. My first few dives into the dark abyss were failures. Finally, on my last attempt for the day, I felt my snagger catch onto to something and I knew I had scored big. I pulled and pulled on that metal hanger until I could feel the suction of that hairy monster being relased from its slimy pipe. Eventually I was able to grab the end of the hair with my my rubber gloves and I pulled on that suker like there was no tomorrow. I tugged fiercely until finally I got to the end of my hairy monster. I examined it in between my drive heaves (seriously, though I almost did throw up) and what once may have been Hair as Long and as beautiful as Repunsel's hair, was now the size of an over fed, black, tuberous, slug, with chunkies crawling over its epidermis. That hairy creature thing is the very definition of frightening and disgusting.
Thankfully, I am happy to say that just as most Heroes do, I am living happily everafter. However, I do lose some sleep at night knowing that I really didn't get rid of that hair at all, but just moved it to another habitat. I wonder what jumkyard its lurking around now.

Forgotten Gully

Yesterday after dinner, I decided to go for a walk through the Gully just by my neighborhood. I walked up Segolily Drive and through the neighborhood until i reached one of the paths into the gully. I turned off of the main sidewalk and walked down a miny alley made up of fences, and before I knew it I was away from the city. As I began to trail up the cedar mulch path I felt like I was walking in my own meadow in the Lake District. The mountains were green and majestic; I had forgotten how big they were. The tiny canyon in the gully had green spreading like wildfire up and down every hill and hidden nook. I had forgotten how green the world could be. As I climbed up one my last hills for the night, I walked down a little side trail off of the main path until I found a wooden fence. I climbed up the fence and sat on the top for awhile and just listened to the numerous birds all around me. I had forgotten how much I loved the sound of birds. After enjoying the peace and quiet I found hidden in the busy suburb, i treked back to the main path I was on and headed back home. As I looked down into the valley, the sun blared in my eyes begining its trek downward. I had forgotten how much I missed watching the sunset. Being surrounded by vast and open lush beauty, I almost felt like I was running through green meadows in Europe. Then I realized at that moment that even though I stil have mountains to climb and sites to see in foreign plcaes, I still have so much to discover in my own backyard. I had almost forgotten that.

The Benefits of Dumb Summer Jobs

When I catch myself begining to hate my job all I have to do is think of the benefits and then I'm okay for a few days. For example, when my manager hovers over my shoulder waiting for me to make any type of mistake I say to myself "Hey, I get paid for this!" and then whatever criticism I get blows right over me becuae I know that that just cost them 15 cents.
However, money is not always good enough to keep me happy, so on those rough days when not even money helps, I look at the other pro's of my job. For example, if it wasn't for "Sasquatch Shadows" (company name has been changed for protection) then I would never know that I hate retail, would never want to own my own business, and absolutely despise barberry bushes. I also would have never discovered that the best way to help an angry customer is to say "Im sorry I can't give you cash back, but I can give you a hug!" The power of a simple hug would have never been discovered if I never got the chance to embrace those angry consumers. Yes, these are the benefits. these are the nuggets of truth that cuase to me to sit for hours and wonder and say to myself "wow.................."