Denver Food Adventure: Jump Start Burrito

I love breakfast burritos. So I was looking forward to trying out Jump Start Burrito, but was sadly disappointed. It had the things I like: eggs, potatoes, cheese, and sausage. It also had some green chiles. They offered some sort of sauce to be added, but my logic is that if something doesn't taste good as-is, then it won't taste good by spending money on extras.

So what was bad about it? Unfortunately I don't have the skills to properly say why. The taste was just not that interesting. I would describe it as a "meh." One obvious thing though was that the tortilla was dry, with a part of it crunchy even. Tortillas shouldn't be dried out.

So far my favorite breakfast burritos are the ones from Sonic.

Denver Food Adventure: Juicy Burgers and Dogs

New city, new adventures in food. Here we go...

Promo picture. In other words, what the food vaguely looks like.

Juicy Burgers and Dogs: A burger joint that only has one location, the ideal place for me to check out. When I first went there I just got the Chicago Dog, which happens to also be their cheapest thing (if you exclude drinks and sides). It was good. It tasted just as I expected a Chicago dog to taste like. My only beef with this was...its lack of beef. It was probably the skinniest hot dog I've ever seen.

The second time I went there I got the "Cheddar Char Burger" and onion rings. I think it was good, but I can't quite remember. Why can't I remember? Because what I do remember was HOLY COW THIS THING IS LITERALLY DRIPPING WITH FAT!!!

Photo from Yelp by someone called Lori P.

It was likely the fattiest burger I've ever eaten. If I ever get a clogged artery I'll probably blame it on that one burger. Plus I forgot to ask them to cook it "well done", so some of the meat was pink and I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to get some sort of deadly disease while eating it. Then again I'm still perfectly alive. To their credit, though, it was indeed a juicy burger. Oh, and the onion rings were fine.

That Dream Came True....

Wow. I was thinking about how crazy this year has been, and I remembered about that dream I had where a dark storm was coming. I looked at the date, and the date was before all the crazy stuff started this year.

Before that awful trip to Utah.
Before I watched my Grandfather die.
Before things got really bad with my family.

There was a dark storm coming, and it has been hard. Trials and hardships come now and again, but it seems like so much has happened in just a few months. And that third item is still an issue, and will most likely continue to be for some time.

At least it hasn't all been bad. I was called to be the Ward Executive Secretary, and for the first time I'm in a calling where I feel like I'm actually helping people, where I'm actually doing something.
I'm in the process of buying a home.
I have actually initiated some conversations with people. Well, this one is a far cry from where I want to be, but, it's a step, right?

Colorado Vs. the Rain

Colorado lost.

We've had unusually-high rainfall these past few days, causing lots of water to be where you don't want it (including my basement), forcing people from their homes, destroying places like Jamestown and Lyons, and even killing a few people. It's crazy.

Yesterday I went with some other people from my ward to help people out. We helped move some stuff out of a family's crawl space-type basement that had flooded. There were also a lot of people helping out on one street where a ton of mud had piled up, They were shoveling the mud and removing things from people's homes.

Though maybe a bit selfish, I went to the Denver Gem and Mineral Show after that to look at some cool rocks, and buy a few for my collection (the really cheap stuff, not the awesome ones that were priced at several thousand dollars). The rain started to come down really hard there, making some really big puddles in the road. I was worried about my car getting stuck, but I got home safely.

So about my basement flooding: the day started off hopeful, planning on going out to eat with other people from my Singles Ward before going to the temple, in hopes to socialize. Of course I ended up just sitting there not actually talking to anyone. Everyone then left for the temple, leaving me behind as I scarfed down my food that had finally been served. Once I got to the temple, they told me the 8:15 session, which was the Singles session with chapel meeting, was full, which ended my chance of socializing that day. I came away from the endowment session feeling well though. When I got home, I noticed that there was an awful, damp, mildew-y smell. I looked in the basement and found the rugs and boxes wet. There was no standing water, and it was less than an inch high judging by the damage, but still, it was a pain. And the house still smells, although I don't seem to notice it right now with the scented candles burning.

But of course I had to make the day even harder. As I went to throw some empty cardboard boxes that were wet into the garage, the door closed behind me, and locked myself outside. Eventually I decided the only way in was through a window, so I tore apart a screen (couldn't pop it off) only to find that window locked. I popped off a screen on another window, but that was locked too. After tearing the screen on a third window I finally managed to climb inside.

Mind Vomit: Dating

It's about 10:40 at night right now, there are things I still need to do but I can't help but think about dating and such. If this post sounds like pointless ramblings it's probably because it is. I'm trying an experiment here: See if I can better understand my thoughts and feelings by putting them into words. This post will probably be more personal than others, but who cares? Hardly anyone reads this blog.

Today in Church (A singles ward) the high school graduates were invited to come as they were now of age to be in the ward. In sacrament meeting I realized that these graduating high school girls are ten years younger than me. I can't picture myself going on a date with someone that much younger. In addition to this, it seems like half the women in the ward are going on missions. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to see so many women serve missions, it's just that all of this...makes me feel that I have fewer chances of finding a future wife. An hour ago I found and read a bit on a blog about an anxious white virgin, which has not helped me find answers but more frustration of my situation.

But what does it matter, anyways? It's not like I go on dates. In my entire life I have gone on a total of two dates: The first because my brother twisted my arm, and the second because it was a ward activity where the who and where was all planned out.

For the past week or so, though, I've had the desire to go on a date (This itself is rare). Like, just going out with someone and grabbing ice cream or going somewhere fun. But that leads me to my next question, the one I have not been able to answer for the past 6 years: How does a loner get a date?

I thought it was kinda cool when I discovered a while back that there's a Wikipedia article that describes me very well. I am very much a loner. I rarely ever hang out with people. While I may have several "Facebook friends," none of them are people I would just call up and talk to, minus family. I have no problem spending my weekends alone. In fact there are times I just want to say "[Inappropriate word here] you, world! I don't need you!" I don't do well in groups of people (Which, unfortunately, are what all ward activities are); I usually end up wandering around  like a lost child.

This does not, however, mean that I'm not lonely. When I went to Arizona I got my own apartment, because I thought I would love being alone in my own place. Turned out I was wrong. My Mom and siblings helped me move in, and as soon as they left, I found myself in horrible, painful loneliness. Thankfully I have since left that dark time and now live with my Grandpa and Aunt. I rarely actually talk to them, but the fact that there are people in the house I can go to if needed is comforting.

While I am unable to socialize in a large group, I am however capable of having a pleasant conversation with someone one-on-one, in the rare occasions that they occur. I do enjoy them, but I have difficulty making them happen. And while I am by no means a social butterfly (Like my brother Jared, who I admit I'm jealous of), I love to talk to family, and I think I would love to have my own.

So I come back to my previous question: How does a loner get a date? Before my mission I spent my time avoiding social interactions at all cost. Now I have to, through  my own volition, start conversations with people. And somehow I have to ask a person on a date. But how? So far the only advice I've been given is "Just keep practicing." I'VE BEEN "PRACTICING" FOR SIX YEARS AND I AM NO CLOSER THAN WHEN I STARTED!!! HOW MUCH "PRACTICE" DO I NEED?!?!

Sorry about that, I'm just...frustrated. Maybe these social skills come naturally for some people. So natural, in fact, that they are unable to describe how they do it. I mean, ask someone on a date? Who? When? How? I don't know if I look socially awkward, but I definitely feel like I am! There was one time I actually had a golden opportunity to ask someone on a date, and I ended up spending something like half an hour freaking out over it before I actually made the call (She said no, by the way).

I feel like David and my Goliath is dating. I've been given a sling and a stone (The means to date), but I have no idea how to use it, and fear I'll just end up hitting myself with it if I tried.

I want to go on dates, I want to have a wife, I just...don't know what to do about it. It's been six years since I've started trying to obtain these lofty goals, and I'm no closer to obtaining them than when I started. The only thing I've got is to keep hoping in my Heavenly Father.




Experiment result: This has helped clear my mind a bit, but it has not helped my feelings of frustration.

Dream Journal: 3/27 - 4/6/2013

3/27/2013
1. There was a new Starfox game for the SNES. I sat down and played it at some sort of doctor's waiting room full of toys. The level that I can remember was that we were trying to get to a planet, but the enemy had surrounded it with those moving blocks in space.

Except some of these blocks were yellow wireframes piloted by Geno, the guy from Super Mario RPG. At first the blocks moved into shapes that said stuff like "Keep Out," "Warning," and "Turn Back." Once you ignored them and continued towards the planet, then a bunch of them got in your way to destroy your ship. There was one part where a tunnel of them closed in on you, and several times I couldn't get out fast enough before they crushed me.
When I came back to play the game again, someone else was playing with the SNES but not with the new Starfox. I was sad.

2. I was at some sort of ward dance, but since I didn't want to dance I went into the dark, empty cultural hall to do stuff on my laptop. Except I wasn't alone, there were several others there with laptops.

3/28/2013
1. I was in some woman's kitchen (Maybe she was a space pirate and I was in a spaceship. Not sure) having dinner, but kitchen was ridiculously small. It was as big as a small, unfolding card table, and all four sides of the kitchen were counters (I have no idea how we even got in there as there were no doors). I bit into the dinner, which turned out to be a whole raw chicken. I offered to cook it for her, but first I had to clear the massive pile of dirty dishes off of the counter, including the pan that had a partially eaten whole chicken in it, with only the outside cooked.

2. I was playing video games with someone. I don't think I ever looked at her. It was a dot on the screen, and you had to move it around to collect 100 other dots (Or were they Sonic rings?) on the screen within one minute. The interesting thing was that it was controlled by an SNES controller, but used as a motion controller. She handed me the controller to try a level. I did all right but I didn't get all of them. After that level ended it became Kirby Super Star and I handed the controller back to her.
My sister Rachel then came to me and asked if she could put her wet bathing suit on the chair. I told her no and to put it in the washing machine. As the female was playing the Kirby game, the music that was playing was "Bound for the Promised Land," and I mentioned how it was in the top five of my most listened songs.
It seems that if my mind is going to use something for a dream, it often uses my oldest memory of it.

3/30/2013
It was a long dream, but the farthest back I can remember was that I was with a bunch of guys, all probably in their twenties, playing football. Actually I don't think we were actually playing football, but standing around. I think there were two groups, I was with a small one, and we were with a larger group. One of the guys from my group was wearing a shirt that said Brigham Young University, but when he noticed that, he took his shirt off, flipped it inside out, and put it back back on. "Whew! Don't want them to know I'm from BYU!" I think we were there in secret, and we would be in big trouble if we were discovered.
Later the football was then stolen by someone who drove away, and everyone got on their bicycles to chase after him. The car was going slow enough, or the cyclists were going fast enough, to go at the same speed. They chased him all day, even though they had been awake for a while. The night came and they still chased him. It became so dark that the cyclists or driver couldn't see each other, but somehow they followed him. They decided to keep quiet at night, and thus they did the whole night. When morning came they still chased him, and now they were going through a really rich neighborhood.

They zoomed down the streets and through alleys, but one of them, a black guy, suddenly stopped at a gutter drain, the kind with the large hole in the side of the curb. He reached his hand in there trying to grab something, then pulled out a cat. He thought he was helping the cat, even though cat fought back. I think he was going to take the cat to a nearby house, thinking they would be the owners, but I'm not sure as he was soon gone.
I was now alone in this neighborhood, so I slowly rode my bike out of it. I went past several huge swimming pools, fountains, palm trees, and homes. When I got out I tried asking random people I came across if they saw a large group of bicyclists come by moving pretty fast, but no one saw them. I biked up a hill on a sidewalk, with the road to my right and a chain-link fence to my left blocking off an empty, grassy field. It was a steep hill, so I was breathing heavily and grunting as I biked past people walking by. I must have doubled back somewhere because I think I went up this hill twice.
I was later at a college campus I think, and I looked at my pedometer to say I've traveled only three miles. I was angry to think that was it since I had been biking since yesterday.
At some point my front wheel and handlebars were stolen. There was a girl who had some extra bike parts attached to her bike, so I chased how down. I felt bad though that I had to confront her because she was my friend. Because she was my friend she stopped to show that the parts weren't mine. She and her family then biked on. I went to a bike rack with a bunch of bikes locked up there to see if my parts were there. The girl I stopped earlier, and her brother, came to help. I asked them to check all the bicycles to see if my parts were locked up with any of them. I climbed and walked on top of the bicycles and the red, brick walls that the bikes were locked up against. Somehow this then transitioned into us looking in my bedroom, which was more like a loft in a barn. We didn't find it.
I was then at Channel Islands Beach, trying to figure out how I'm going to get home with a useless bike. I thought about calling my dad to give me a ride home.

3/31/2013
1. I'm having trouble remembering this dream, which is why this explanation will seem like it jumps around a lot and lacking detail.
I was once again serving a mission in Kansas. My mission companion was trying to decide whether to go home or commit suicide. We lived with a few other missionaries, one of them being a very tall black man. A man knocked on our door and asked for his son, to which the tall missionary placed the man's son on my back; apparently they were baby-sitting him. I asked the missionaries when p-day was because they changed it before I left, and they said we can take p-day whenever we want, within reason.

2. I was walking in a cave with someone and walked by someone laying down. I gave him a paper and asked if he could read it, to which he said, "Sure, I'd love to read this, but if you haven't noticed I'M BEING CRUSHED BY A BOULDER HERE!" The man was pinned between the cave floor and a rock the same size as him. I then activated the Intersect and grabbed some brown, gold, and red-colored rocks and started throwing them at the man I was walking with, who then grabbed them and threw them into a pile that was down a slope beyond the man under the boulder. There was now another man who I also threw rocks to. Occasionally when I tried throwing a rock at the man I was with, my hand suddenly moved on its own to throw it to the other man. Occasionally the other man would throw a rock at the boulder that was pinning the man, to which I then came to him and said "No, that's not going to help him."
There were then a whole bunch of people and we were all grabbing rocks and throwing them into the pile, which has become quite large. When I decided to stop, everyone decided to have one more go and we took a bunch of the rocks from the pile and carried them back up the slope, putting them into some sort of machine that then ground the rocks into different resources. When we decided to stop, everyone was happy and said that it was fun.
I don't know what happened to the man trapped under the boulder.

4/1/2013
1. I was in my car, but the car was being driven by my former mission companion Elder Steele. We were driving up steep hills in the mountains and he was driving kind of fast so I told him to slow down. We ended up in some small town and Steele got out or something because I was left to myself. I then had to find a way out even though I had no idea where I was.

2. I was alone on a small asteroid floating through space. There was a nearby asteroid so I threw a fake person at it, but the fake person's body violently decompressed in space, then went through the other asteroid as if it were just a hologram. Suddenly there's another person there with me and we go to the side of the asteroid to show me a giant book that I never realized was there. The book mentioned an entrance into the ship, so we went to the bottom of the asteroid to find a door into the spaceship that was lodged in the asteroid. We got in, and then suddenly a bunch of people got in as well. Some electricity sparked and the other man said "Don't you think there's too many people in here?" Some got out, and then we launched the ship out of the asteroid.
We came to Earth, but now the space ship was a glider and with me were Gollum, the Avatar Ang and his friends. The Earth is an apocalyptic wasteland, covered in snow and ice; Giant sheets of ice and frozen tidal waves.
Then I'm a fairy or something holding on to a car with a stick while someone tries to drive the car in all the ice. The Earth is a wasteland but there's still plenty of people living on it. Once the car spun on the ice and I tried to stop the car before it crashed into another one. I pulled the car back, but then the other car went nuts and tried crashing into everything.
We made it to a town that one person lived in. Ang mentioned he wanted to go find his home and his pet Momo. Some of the town's people thought bending was a myth, but one of Ang's friends said something to the effect of "With Ang's help my gang doubled in size. When some crazy monk comes and does stuff, you believe him." One of the guys gave me a key to their home for me to stay at as well as a phone. I moved in and sat in the dark, lonely home watching TV. I kept checking the phone hoping that someone was going to call me. Once some raiding gang came by from behind the house, destroying things with their cars and taking stuff. One person said, "Hey, there's someone in that house. Let's teach her a lesson!" I prayed they wouldn't come in, and they never did. There was then a knock on the door: He wanted in even though I locked the door. He then said "This is crazy, I'm calling Mike." and started calling someone. I let him in and the man said "This is my home, get out." "But...I've got nowhere to go." "Oh, boo hoo! Everyone has it rough, now get it out!"

4/4/2013
1. I was in some sort of competition with two other boys, where we had to build something big that had something to do with space. We met in a huge, expensive, beautiful mansion full of different gardens. Everyone came dressed up, but I didn't know we had to so I came in my pajamas. There were lots of people there, and some people stood up to sit on the stands, including my father who was something like royalty. I could have come up, but my father was too ashamed of me to invite me up.
I was trying to help out one of the boys I was competing against by helping him set down a big heavy object, but all of the little kids around ended up sabotaging him by bending the equipment and painting on a bunch of stuff.

2. I was a computer programmer who came to help out with something. There was a large room with a bunch of robots on the ceiling working with the several control panels. The owner got a new robot that could control everything so they didn't need so many robots. They brought in the new robot, and all the other robots dropped to the ground like they were in pain, but then calmly stood up. All of the robots had one of their eyes turned red, showing that they were being controlled by the new robot. Once they left, the robot tried taking over my mind because I had cybernetic parts in my brain. I shouted at the robot to get out of my head. For some reason at this time a bunch of crystals were coming out of my body, like I was turning into a giant crystal.

4/6/2013
1. I was meeting my friend in a large empty parking lot, but his family got their first. He parents were whipping and beating him but for some reason leaving me alone. I figured it would be best if I left and called the cops, but his parents instead called the cops on me. I drove my car to keep them from escaping, but they got away and the police came after me.

2. Shawn and Gus went to take part in a dog fighting competition. Gus came and joined a team, but Shawn was late and denied access. Now being Shawn, I disguised myself as a frog and went to the manager to to get into the competition. The manager was some sort of short, frog-like creature, and he wasn't buying my disguise. He then decided to go with it and show me how to walk like a frog: Full of pomp and smug. He then went into his office and came out with a leash, which was some sort of purple, misty glob but was solid when pulled on. He then walked towards a big, mean looking dog, and then picked up the little puppy behind it. The frog man got the best of me.

The Peace of the Temple

For those of you who do not know what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's temples are, I first direct you to here. Good? Okay, let's move on.

The Denver temple (Pictured above) is a little over an hour's drive from where I live, but from work it's only about ten minutes. Because of this I try to attend the temple, at the very least, once a month, if not more.
I go because the temple is a place where I can perform saving ordinances in proxy for those who have passed on, and it's a place where I can feel great peace.

I'm far from perfect at this, though. In fact, I'm ashamed to say that many times I've been in an endowment session where I wish it would hurry up and end so I can go home (While most ordinances can be completed in a minute, the endowment takes something like an hour). Granted, since coming straight from work I'm tired and hungry by this point, but that's not an excuse.
However, without fail, every time I enter the Celestial room, all those cares are gone. I feel complete peace and calmness. Not the cry-at-the-podium-during-testimony-meeting kind of feeling, but a simple, complete peace. A peace that I can't find anywhere else. While I may have wanted to go home and rest just a few minutes ago, in the Celestial room I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave behind that peace and go back to the world.

Like the name implies, the Celestial room is a representation of the Celestial Kingdom, the place wherein Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ resides. In other words: Heaven. Except it's more than just a representation. The Temples are built and dedicated as Houses of the Lord, and thus it is the closest you can get to Heaven on this Earth.

If you're a member I invite you to go. If you're not a member I invite you to become one, and enjoy the peace the Temple can offer.