Bizarre Bradyisms

A Good Cry

I was taught by a former roommate of mine that every now and then everybody needs a good cry. I can’t say that I am the type of person that does so very often.  In fact, I think it has been over a year for me since my last cry.  Although you usually are feeling really horrible before, when you are done, you feel tons better.  I don’t think I’ll ever really understand that, but that is how it works. 

As I have stated before, I am not a normal type of guy and that doesn’t bother me anymore, so don’t judge. It was ward conference today at church and that meant that the stake presidency was there to speak and to participate in the priesthood lesson as well.  I think it was only me that was frustrated by what was said because everyone else I spoke to afterward just loved it.  I think I was somehow feeling a little overwhelmed with everything I was trying to accomplish, plan for, and deal with and this was just the feather that broke the camel’s back. 

So what was said you might ask?  Let me give you a couple hints.  Number one: it was a singles ward.  Number two: stake leadership.  What else would you want to talk about besides being single. Seriously though, why do people think that single individuals somehow don’t realize that they are single.  Do they really think we are not trying, at least in some measure, to do something about it?  I understand the need to emphasize the importance of being married every now and then, but I honestly believe it is a little too overdone.  The last thing a guy or girl wants to hear about on a monthly basis is how, in the eternal perspective of things, you cannot achieve your full potential unless you are married.  I know already!  Rub it in why don’t you.   Then, on top all of that, the leadership then said we are supposed to have these certain meetings, and plan for other meetings, and hold leadership counsels and have home-teaching interviews, and PPIs and fulfill all of your callings.  Sometimes it just gets to be too much.  It is not the first time I have been a little stressed about the subject and I’ve actually gotten pretty good at saying, “No” to certain requests when I am already doing the best I can, however, It bothers me nonetheless.

I know I am being a bit emotional just now and taking things to an extreme, so in my defence, let me say that I know they are only trying to help in the only way they know possible.  I think someone might want to remind them what it is like to be single.

Eighties Prom

There was a multi-stake Young Singles Adult activity up in Evergreen this weekend for everyone to go ice skating there.  At first I didn’t want to go because I think it must have been close to 10 or 11 years since I have gone skating (be it ice skating, roller skating, etc) at all.  Somehow I convinced myself to go alone and brave the humiliation that was bound to occur.  Upon arriving at the event, I stood outside the cabin looking at the rink for over 30 minutes trying to decide if I was really going to make it out onto the lake.  One way or another, I did get out there and although the first few laps were slow and probably funny to watch, I still did it.  Here’s the cool part, I didn’t fall at all the whole time.  That’s right.  Not once.  I did have to use two sets of skates, but still, I was pretty proud.   In all actuality, I probably only made it about 10 laps around.  It was an accomplishment I will mostly likely never mention again.

I also went to an eighties prom / birthday party for someone in my ward as well that same night.  One of the requirements in order to be admitted to said event was you had to come dressed in “eighties clothes.”  I always tell people that I am an old man who goes to bed early and then wakes up early, so most people somehow peg me as three to fours years older than I really am.  Being that as it is, I really didn’t grow up in the eighties (at least, not the part of my life that I can remember), so I didn’t know what eighties clothes were.  Early in the week, I visited several thrift stores in my attempt to educate myself and hopefully have something to show for it.  Unfortunately, I left every store empty handed. 

So, its the day of the party, and I have nothing.  I was going to try and run to one last thrift store when my mother mentions she has an old suit that my younger brother Colin used while in high school for his jazz band concerts.  It was a bit small for me, but using that and armed with a small closet of no-so-normal colored dress shirts, I was able to put something together.  Folding the collar down outside of the suit and folding up the cuffs allowed me to add one last bit of awkwardness to the whole ensemble.  Honestly, I think I did pretty good for an amateur.

The party was held in the basement of some guys in the ward.  It was all decked out with ribbons, stars, a disco ball and eighties music.  Now, dancing is not my thing, so I mostly stayed off to the side and watched as the others did their thing.  All I can say about that is, wow.  Some people really know the eighties music and even the dances that go with it.  I have to admit a  couple individuals did a pretty good rendition of “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.  Yeah, that was sweet.

This next part will probably only make sense to myself and a few other select people if they ever get around to reading it.  Have you ever gone to a birthday party and been the only one who brought a gift?  Yeah, that was me this time.  Makes you feel kind of weird, but, at least I was able to anonymize one of the two gifts I brought.  What were they?  A gift card to Barnes and Noble and a box of frozen pretzels.  Like I said, it only makes sense to myself and maybe one or two other people, although I doubt they will ever read this.

Yee Haw!

Every year around this time, Denver hosts the National Western Stock Show for an entire week that draws in people from all over the state and even surrounding states.  It really is kind of exciting.  I think I remember going there on a school field to trip when I was in 7th grade or so and thought it was fun to see something so different that what I was used to.  Anyways, at kind of the last minute, I was invited by a group of people from my new ward to go see a rodeo this past Friday night.  We all got together beforehand so we didn’t have to pay the exorbitant parking fees that exist for such events and drove up together.  I even wore my cowboy style shirt that entire day (including at work too) to get into the mood.  It was snowing that night, so of course it took us close to an hour to get there and into the rodeo.

I know nothing about how rodeos are judged or scored, so both I and the person I was sitting with attempted to give our own scores based on arbitrary information before that actual score to see how close we could get.  Honestly, we came in pretty close a couple of times, but then again, a couple of times we were way off.  Anyways, it was fun.

 Even though the rodeo got done at sometime after 10:00 that night, it was decided to go out to dinner together (there were around 12 people or so).  We ended up at this placed called “The Denver Dinner” and I became aware it is kind of a common occurrence to eat here late at night for this group of people.  I suppose the reason might have to do with the fact that it is open 24 / 7.  I am not really a late night type of guy, so, it eventually became difficult for me to actually make sense of the conversations that were going on around me.  Overall a good evening.  Plus, I got to call it an actual  ’date.’ Although I wasn’t responsible for putting it all together, it was “planned for, paired off (I kind of forced this part a little), and paid for (unbeknownst to her until afterwards).” 

“I Can See Clearly Now…”

In case you hadn’t heard or were otherwise wondering, I am not blind.  My Lasik surgery went well and I have completely recovered without a single hint of any side effects.  I had my appointment at around 9:15 in the morning and the first thing I did as I got there was to take note of how many other people were there to have their eyes done as well.  There must have been a good 20 to 30 people there sitting in the waiting area.  Now granted, I don’t think everyone was there for themselves because you can’t drive yourself home afterwards, but still that was a lot people.  Additionally, the clinic was moving through each person every 20 minutes and as those people left, other came to fill their spot.  I guess my point is that as much as they were charging for each surgery and as quickly they were getting individuals in and out, they were making a good chunk of change.

Anyways, after I filled out all of my paperwork and paid for the surgery, I was able to watch on a monitor in the operating room of someone else’s procedure being performed.  You could see them tape down their eye lids and cut open a flap on the top of the eye and use what looked like a squeegee tool to wipe excess liquid off.  It was really neat to see.  It came my turn and I spent about 10 minutes in the office being told about exactly what to expect, how to take care of my eyes for the next couple of weeks. 

After putting on foot booties and a hair cap, I walked into the operating room, I had some crazy numbing drops placed into my eyes, and then laid down on the chair.  I won’t go through and talk about each individual step, but after they place this suction cup around your eyes to suck out all of the air and the doctor talks you through each step as it is happening saying things such as, “Its going to get blurry now” and “everything will now go dark.”  All in all, it was about 10 minutes per eye and after both were done, I could sit up and I was able to clearly see better than before.  Everything was very cloudy as was expected, but much more defined.  I then went and sat in a dark room for 20 minutes with my eyes closed after which they checked everything out and let me go home to sleep it off.

 During the next week or so, I am supposed to place two sets of drops in my eyes four times a day along with some preservative free lubricating drops.  That should be pretty easy to do, but something crazy I want to mention is the fact that the drops I was required to purchase which are no larger than two quarters cost me $75.  Actually, the minimal insurance I have dropped that to $55, but still.  Can you say price gouging?

Too Long

I was recently reminded by some friends and family that I have not written or added to my blog in two months.  Well, in short, it has been a busy two months.  The predicament that I now have is I don’t know where to start explaining that goings on in my life.  I guess I will just start with everything I can remember and add other details later as they come to my attention.  As for the picture on the left, there had been some obnoxiously large play sunglasses laying around the house for a couple days and because I am always in the search of a humorous moment, I decided to hike my jeans up high like a nerd and sport the glasses for a minute or two.  Much to my surprise I was quickly caught on camera by my little sister Tess’ cell phone.

One event I want to make mention of is the brother-sister date I was able to take Tess on towards the beginning of December.  At the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, they had had this exhibit about the Titanic there for close to six months already and it was almost closed for good.  So we went and toured the place where they had actual items that had been recovered from the sea floor there in museum.  Of course we couldn’t touch them, but they had some replicas that we were allowed to handle.  It was really cool to see; there was even a real iceberg they had there in the exhibit open for us to feel how cold it was.  I still didn’t figure out how they kept it from melting, but still, really neat.  At the beginning of the exhibit, each person was given a ticket with somebody’s name and information who actually was aboard the ship and at the end, you were able to look and see if your person made it alive, or perished in the sea.  I was given the name of the only black man on the Titanic who was actually fairly well off and what could be said an upper class man.  However, as you can imagine, “I” did not make it across the ocean.  After that, we saw an IMAX film that had been created to accompany the exhibit.  .
I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the quality of the film, but I guess to can’t expect everything to be superb.  To end the night, we drove through some pretty crazy snow and then had dinner at Macaroni Grill.  All in all a fun evening.  Plus, since she, Tess, has now graduated high school early and left home to go live in Salt Lake for a couple of months so she can experience the world, it was most likely the last time in a while I’d be able to spend some quality time with her.  Good luck with everything Tess.

Anyways, probably the most significant thing that occurred during the past two months was that after having gone on a number of dates with Keri, whom I mentioned previously, we started spending a lot of time together and then dating exclusively.  It was great to get to know her really well and find out more about myself that I hadn’t realized.  Also, it is much more fun to know that every weekend I was going to have something exciting going on.  For example, on various occasions we cooked dinner at her apartment for her and her roommates, we played a lot of board games, went to movies, wedding receptions, also out to see the holiday lights.  I imagine that being married is something similar to that: no expectations, no silly boy/girl “games” to deal with, just someone to enjoy being around.  However, as time went on and I had decisions I had to make, we unfortunately had to break up and call it quits.  It was only my second real relationship that I have ever had and although I was more experienced than before, it definitely was not easy to end it.  But as the movie Hitch says, “You can change, you can adapt, you can move on.”

As far as work goes, I have kept fairly busy, although the end of the year is never really busy for consultants because the majority of all companies tend to stop spending money in preparation to close their books.  Also, one of the employees at my company who covered the helpdesk (call center) in the early mornings decided to quit and move out of state.  My boss tried to find someone to replace him, but two weeks came and passed without anyone new.  As a consequence, myself and two other employees have been covering his 6am to 4pm shifts since then.  Not exactly my choice of schedules, but, at least its not 4am to 4pm like one of my previous jobs.   I am starting to get assigned as primary engineer for some of these companies which is good because many of them are in dire need of some system and network stability overhauls.  The only problem is, because my time is billed out at such a high rate, they never to seem to want too much done at once.   Oh well.

So Christmas was fun.  All the family was together on Christmas Eve at my parents house for most of the afternoon and into the early evening.  My brother Nelson and his wife Leah were there with their kids Hayden, Chloe, and Ella.  My sister Eliza was of course there with her husband Bryan and their little girl Kambria.  Tess and I were also present, the only one lacking was Colin who is still down in Argentina on a mission.  The siblings exchanged their gifts between each other and the young children got to open some of their gifts as well.  Then on Christmas Day we finished the rest of the gifts somewhere around 8:30 in the morning and I don’t I even got dressed the rest of the day.  It was just just pleasant.  Nothing like being home for the holidays.

Moving on, as the New Year’s Eve came and went, nothing really exciting happened for me.  Being the introvert that I am, dances and big parties with a lot of people that I don’t know just doesn’t appeal to me.  Plus the weather was really bad that night.  In short, I think I was in bed when I heard people yell, “Happy New Year!”  However, since the New Year, I’ve been taking care of some things I’ve been holding back on for who knows why.  Call them resolutions, call them changes, call them whatever you want.  First, I’ve started taking piano lessons from by brother-in-law Bryan who is living here with us and is just an amazing musician.  It’s only been two lessons so far, but I’m really enjoying his insight and advice in helping me progress.  Second, I’ve started taking independent study classes from BYU for this semester.  I’ll be taking economics, technical writing, statistics, and some other class I haven’t registered for yet.  The great thing about it though is I have one calendar year to finish all of the assignments.  No deadlines, no tests to study into the wee hours of the morning for.  My plan is to try and have them all done by the end of April, but if I need to go later I can.  (Something funny about this is that someone I know works at the BYU bookstore and was the one who pulled my books to get them prepared and later shipped to me.  She then emailed me to tell me about the odd coincidence and I thought it was kind of neat.  Third, I’ve started studying for my next Cisco certification tests.  My current certification expires in a year from now so I need to get the next level passed off or I lose my current standing.  The best part about it all though is that either through Craigslist or Ebay, I’ve purchased quite a bit of networking gear.  For me it is really exciting and every now and then I spend hours and eventually fall asleep at night reading the official study guides for Cisco.  Yeah, it is kind of weird.  Fourth, now this may sound lame, but for me it’s been difficult.  For years now, I’ve had the habit of having to fall asleep either watching a movie or a TV show that I’ve recorded (usually an episode of the cartoon Futurama, I know all the episodes by heart).  If I didn’t, it could be hours before I finally be able to rest.  However, I have since been able to kill that habit.  Instead, I’ve been reading books to try and replace the TV when I go to bed.  Either it is Cisco book, or a novel, or a business book, but lately it has been some Calvin and Hobbes Treasury books.  At first I think it was around 2 hours before I lost consciousness, but now, maybe 15-20 minutes.  Its been a welcome change and I’m going on three weeks now.  Good for me.  Fifth, although I haven’t yet done it yet, but I definitely have it in the works.  I’m going to purchase a multi-year membership to a fitness club.  Since I’ve been home and due to the holiday and the winter season, I’ve probably gained 5-10 pounds.  I want to get rid of that and become more fit.  I had done it a little bit before with my own weights and other gear, but not to the extent I know I can get if I financially and mentally commit to something more.  It’ll probably be towards the beginning of February before that happens, but like I said before, I’m kind of on a roll. 

This is not really a resolution, but it is a change that I feel like bringing up.  Since I’ve been home here in Colorado, I had not ever transferred my church records to a ward here for a number of reasons.  However, finally I got settled down and began attending the ward I corresponded to.  Not more than two weeks went buy that were not holidays before I received not one, not two, but three callings in the ward.  I’m now the co-chair for the ward FHE that occurs each week as well as an Elder’s Quorum instructor, as well as a home teacher with specific instructions to pickup and take home a girl from meetings each week who is a little mentally challenged.  My theory about all of this is that since I have not been able to have a calling for around 6 months now, God has been keeping track and saving up and now my time is due and He’s gotta catch up somehow.  Now, I of couse say all of this is good humour and am pleased to be involved with everything.  It will be time consuming of course, but I really think I’m ready for it and could actually benefit from it all.

Now, one may have been able to figure this out already based on what I have said previously, but if not, I guess now is as best of a time as any to make it known to all.  After a lot of soul-searching and trying to do what I “felt” to be right, I’ve decided to go back to BYU in Provo come September.  I looked at transferring to various schools here in Colorado, but if I did so, I would almost have to start college all over again.  Not being to excited about that prospect, Provo it was.  I’ve got mixed feelings about it really.   I know I have to finish my degree and I really do want to, but Provo is just so awkward for me and I don’t exactly fit the persona of what most other people there are like.  On the other hand, it’ll be good to see some of my friends again and be around others my age.  However, I fear having to go back to Provo being single and having to deal with the whole dating scene again.  One battle at a time I guess, but like my mother has said recently, “You never know what 7 months can bring.”  Maybe I won’t be single after all.  I know I’m going to do everything within my power to see if that is a possibility.  Okay, next topic. 

Here’s something random: there is this website called Shirt.Woot! that sells T-Shirts designed by random individuals that are voted upon by users and the top three in each content actually get printed.  Only 1250 of each design are ever created and when they are sold out that is the end of it.  I’ve never been one who like to buy clothes that have a trendy logo on it like Nike or Gap or something on it.  So, when I do find designs that I like, I buy them.  Another perk is the likelihood I will ever meet someone else who has the same shirt is so close to zero that I could kind of call myself unique.  Plus, they are only like $10 shipped, so not really expensive at all and no stores to deal with.  Yeah, it really is that cool.  These are some of the most recent designs I have bought.

So, I am going to do something really crazy this weekend that 6 months ago I never would have imagined doing.  If you know me well, you probably know that I wear contacts and and wear them for what can be called an “extensive time period.”  In fact until just recently, I had not taken them out of my eyes for around 7 months (July to January).  My family had always warned me that I was going to permanently ruin my eyes, but I was never concerned because I could still see just fine, my eyes were never irritated, and I could never feel them.  Finally, after some light persuasion, I went to the eye doctor and got tested to see if I could quality for LASIK eye surgery.  Although they stuck me behind so many different machines and took me through numerous exam rooms to check me all out, it was determined that I was in fact a good candidate for the procedure.  The doctor showed me my options and my costs and I must say I was a little taken back by how expensive it was going to be.  Everything was explained and various offers were extended to me there in the office, but I just wasn’t sure.  So I left and decided to give myself a couple of days to figure things out.  I researched the cost at other practices, talked it over with my parents (who had some experience in the area because my younger brother Colin had it done just over a year ago), and finally decided to go ahead with it.  I now have an appointment tomorrow to go under the “knife” (or laser I guess) to permanently get my eyes fixed.  Let’s just hope the next entry I post on here I am not explaining how horrible it went and that I’m now forever blind.