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Advertising Has Little Effect on Me

I don't understand commercials. People spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on advertising, and for what? Do people really buy things just because they saw it advertised? Rarely do I ever see a commercial that makes me say "Hey, I want that!" In fact, let's do a test. I'm going to make note of the commercials I watch while I watch Psych on hulu.


Secret
I guess it's women's deodorant? I'm not a woman, and I don't buy deodorant.


DAWN
I really don't have a preference on soap, so I just buy whatever is the cheapest and has the least-annoying smell.


Anchorman 2 DVD
It's not a movie I'm interested in, and I don't watch rated R movies.


Hot Pockets Sandwich Showdown
While I won't complain about eating a Hot Pocket, it's not high on my list of foods to buy. More importantly, however, the convenience foods I buy at the market is whatever I feel like when I go there, not what's advertised.


Marriott
I've never gone travelling in such a way where I would choose the hotel to stay at, and even if I did, I would just find the cheapest.


KFC
I rarely go to KFC. Just not something I want to get a single meal from.
Actually, now when I think about it, it kind of sounds good. In this instance I can see how a commercial might attract people. However, I'm not going to rush right out and buy some, and by the time I actually go out to eat, which could be several days, I will no longer be thinking about KFC.


GEICO
I already have insurance, which happens to be GEICO. Also, when I chose insurance I looked at different insurers, and they did have a good deal.


Toyota Highlander
This commercial had the Muppets singing. I like the Muppets, so this was entertaining. However I already have a car, and thus no desire to buy one.


QuickenLoans
I don't like being in debt. Already got a car loan, school loan, and a mortgage. Not getting any more.


eSurance
Like I said, already got insurance.


Ford
Like I said, already got a car.


Copper Season Pass
I don't ski or anything like that.


So there you go, several current commercials that have little to no effect me. So if not me, then who? Who buys a certain car because of a commercial? Who stays at a Marriott because they saw it on TV?

Denver Food Adventure: Crave Real Burgers

Crave Real Burgers was recommended to me when I first moved to Denver, and tonight I finally went to it. The service was certainly a lot faster than the last place, even the time it took to make my order was faster. As I waited for my food, however, I realized that I left my wallet at home, in my other pants. Fortunately I had some cash in the car. Unfortunately that means I was driving without a license. Fortunately I've never been pulled over, but...you know what, let's get back to the food.

Have I mentioned I love barbecue?

I got the Krusty burger, which is a "peppercorn crusted, bbq sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese and onion strings" burger. When I ordered the burger, the waitress asked me if I wanted "pink or no pink inside the burger." People usually ask along the lines of "rare, medium, or well done," but whatever. I said "no pink inside" but there was still pink inside. Either they got the order wrong or they have a strange definition of pink. I ate it anyways, so if there's no more posts a year later, then I probably died of some horrible cow disease.

Anyways! The barbecue saw was great; nice and sweet. The peppercorn was nicely balanced, enough to make its presence known but not overpowering. Bacon was thick and crispy, and onion straws were great. The patty itself was interesting, as it was very loose; it easily broke apart as I tried eating it. Can't say this is good or bad, just different. The thing was rather messy to eat, and I ended up doing so with a knife and fork. I've never eaten a burger with a fork before.

The fries were nice and crispy, but nothing exceptional to mention, except they do have "loaded fries" which sound good.

The burger was the usual $10 restaurant price, but I'd say it was worth it for how good it was. There were lots of other burgers, but several of them are made with alcohol, so this seemed like the only choice for me.

Denver Food Adventure: Gunther Toody's

 I love clouds at sunset

A few weeks ago I went to Gunther Toody's, a 50's themed diner. Maybe it's because I was born in the 80's, but there's not much about the 50's or 60's that interests me.

Being the single guy that I am, I sat at the counter on the bar stool, which was not actually that comfy and rather loose. It took several minutes until I actually got a menu, and then probably something like 15 minutes until someone came by for me to order, another 10-15 minutes until I got my food, and another 10-15 minutes or so until someone would take my money. Perhaps in their defense they were quite busy by the time I left, but still, the service wasn't that great. I suspect I could have walked out of that diner without paying and no one would have noticed.

Who would've known that pineapple is really good in a burger?

That aside, I got the "Hang Ten" Burger (the Teriyaki burger) and fries, and at the first bite I was like "Oh wow, this is pretty good!" It also came with grilled onions on the side, and I love grilled onions. The fries were okay as well, but more importantly they actually offer seasoning salt! At last, someone who knows what belongs on fries!

The price to amount of food ratio was disappointing though. It wasn't that big of a burger but still cost about $10.

In the end, the burger was pretty good, but the price wasn't great, and more importantly the service was very disappointing.

My Life: Getting Our First Video Game System

I remember years ago seeing computer monitors in shops display games, or seeing arcade machines with games like Pac-Man. Naturally, I often asked my mom if we could get a video game, but the answer was usually no, since they were by no means cheap.

One day during the Christmas season, my Mom took me and my two brothers to Toys"R"Us. We were either not in school at that time or home schooled by then, and too young to be left home alone, so she had no option but to take us. As we went to the checkout where you pick up the more expensive stuff, I was ecstatic to see my mom pick up a Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Seeing our excitement, my Mom said, "No, it's not for you, it's for charity." Being a young, naive child, I believed her, and was crushed. Mom had bought something I really wanted, but it wasn't for us. As you might imagine, however, when Christmas came, we opened our gifts to find that the SNES was indeed our Christmas gift.

And loads of fun were had, forevermore.

My Life: The Curse of Death

I had originally planned on making this a video, in the style of Draw My Life, but I found that I really don't like listening to my own voice. So here's the script instead:

What I'm about to tell you is true. A true story from my own life. The story of how I had...

THE CURSE OF DEATH!

Several years ago when I had just graduated from Hell...I mean, High School, I began my first semester of Junior College. Granted, I had taken a few classes at said college during Hell - I mean High School - but this was the first time as an official College Freshman.

So, there I was, on the first day of class, my first day as a college student, listening to a professor teach a history class that was apparently so boring that I can't remember what the subject even was. Anyways, it was a summer class so the class was something like two hours long. The first half went fine, but during the second half, the Professor said “Eh, I feel tired, I'm going to sit down.” So he goes to sit down in his chair, and he misses, falling on to the floor. Now this is a classical example of physical comedy, so of course we all laughed. But...only for about half a second, as we soon realized he wasn't getting back up. Or moving.

A few people up front went to help him, and someone else ran outside to get the campus emergency staff. I just stood there at my seat. I told myself that there were plenty of people already there helping him, but, truthfully, I think was just a little too scared to help.

But, soon some emergency staff came to help him and told everyone to go on home. So I did. How's that for a first day of college? So naturally we all showed up the next day wondering how he was doing. A substitute teacher came to teach the class that day, along with some school staff to inform us that...he died on the way to the hospital.

When I got home after that class that day I told my mom about it, and she informed me that it's possible he actually died right there in class, but they told us otherwise to keep us from freaking out. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's definitely crazy to think about.

The late professor appeared in a local news article a few days later. It said he had high blood pressure. So he died in some way related to that. I don't remember exactly.

Now of course this story alone is crazy enough, but it doesn't stop there. You see, a few years later I transferred to a university. Moved into a nice dorm, with a bedroom window facing the road that had this weird crosswalk in the middle of the road where you had to grab an orange flag as you walked across so other drivers would see you.

Anyways, so there I was, my first day of class, my first day as a university student, and...well, no one died in the middle of class, so, that was good. At the end of the day, I went home, sat down in my bedroom, and began to work on my homework. As I did so, it sounded like someone outside slammed on the brakes, followed by a small bump. I went to the window, assuming that a car had merely made a fender bender with another car. As I looked outside, however, I was shocked to see a car, a bicycle, and a girl, laying in the road...not moving. There were some people who rushed over to help her, and once again, I didn't do anything because I figured there were already people helping and that I would just get in the way.

What makes this event even more sad is that this girl lived in the same ward as me. This is a girl that I could have potentially met and become friends with.

This, however, seemed all too strange, too much to be a coincidence. It was then I came to the realization that I...was cursed! Cursed that on the first day of classes at a new college someone spatially close to me...will die! This very curse would in fact be a factor in my decision in which graduate school to attend. I mean, come on, I don't want someone else to die. Sadly, my application for graduate school at the university I was already attending...was denied. And so I was forced to choose another school.

And so, once again, I attended my first day of classes at a new university on my first day as a grad student, and...no one died! The curse was broken!

In all seriousness, though, I don't believe I was actually cursed. And please forgive me if I in any way disrespected the tragic deaths of these two people. It's a very hard thing to see someone close to you die, but in case there are anyone out there grieving over such a loss, I just want you to know that death isn't the end. There is a life beyond what we can see here in mortality. As Job asked, "If a man die, shall he live again?"

Yes. Yes he shall.

Denver Food Adventure: Karl's Deli

Went to Karl's Deli (no web page to link to) and tried their pastrami sandwich. The pastrami was pretty good, the lettuce, onion, and tomato was fresh, and the sourdough bread was good. This sandwich, however, costs $9. And no, I didn't go for an expensive sandwich, as their cheapest was $8. Sorry Karl, it's a good sandwich, but it's not worth $9.

Games That Surprised Me In 2013

This isn't a list of games that came out in 2013, but games I played in 2013. Games in which I was surprised at just how good they were.

Intrusion 2

Fighting giant robotic snakes? Oh yeah!

Picked this up in a Humble Bundle. Hadn't heard of it before, and the video I saw for it didn't terribly impress me. But as I played it I started to have a lot of fun. But once I started sliding down a snowy mountain, sledding on a piece of wreckage from the mecha jet I just destroyed, all while trying to fight giant robotic snakes that are falling down from the sky, I knew this game was awesome! The game itself is much like Contra: pick up different weapons and ammo, and shoot enemies in any direction you can point your mouse in. There's also a few different things you can ride at times. The most fun though are the larger-than-life bosses. Their design, animations, and attack patterns are the sort of over-the-top fun I love.

Thomas Was Alone

Simple, yet beautiful

Another game I picked up from a Humble Bundle. You're a block in a blocky world, making your way to the other end of the level. This alone isn't that exciting, but what made this an amazing experience was the narrator. With his wonderful voice, the emotion he puts into his lines, and the script, these simple blocks become living characters that you gain an emotional connection to. I was greatly invested in the outcome of these characters, excited to hear each and every line the narrator delivered.
For a platformer with simple blocks, this game was surprisingly fantastic.

Legend of Grimrock

Protect me, gate I could squeeze through!

Do I even need to tell you that I got this from a Humble Bundle? Wait, I just did....
Most of the RPGs I play are JRPGs, where characters and stories are the driving factor to the game's progression. The only story in Legend of Grimrock is that you're some prisoners that were thrown into this dungeon. You make your own characters, which have no background story, no lines of dialogue, not even an explanation for what you did to get yourself thrown into Grimrock. So it's surprising to me that I still enjoy this game, finding myself coming up with imagined conversations between my four characters.
The battle mechanic is very interesting, as all four of your characters are in a square formation, and to fight you just have to click on their hands when near a monster.
There's also a lot of secret passages and hidden doors in this dungeon, so I end up looking closely at every...single...wall. And still it's loads of fun.

Dust: an Elysian Tail

Actually bought this one off Steam when it was cheap. Initially heard of it because the awesome Chris Niosi did the voice of a small character. The promotional video for it looked cool, so I gave it a try. One thing I was surprised at was that every line of dialogue is voiced, and voiced well. The story itself is actually kind of cliche, but the characters themselves are great. Fidget, as seen above, has a lot of lines that just makes me smile. And the artwork is simply beautiful! And the battle mechanics are loads of fun as well. Not a very long game, but a great one nonetheless.

Denver Food Adventure: My Favorite Muffin

I've been going to this place several times now, and I love it. It's like going to a doughnut store, but for muffins!

Taken by MattGoswick, or so says Google

There's a lot to choose from, but so far I've tried the apple pie, cranberry orange, cherry cheesecake, and peach muffins. The cherry cheesecake is my favorite muffin so far. It's pretty much a slice of cheesecake with cherry pie filling on top, in muffin form. Mmmmmm...I may or may not be drooling right now....

They also have some bagels, which can be made into breakfast sandwiches. They're pretty good as well, better than what I tried from Einstein Bagels (sorry Einstein Bagels, that's just not what an onion bagel, or a sausage patty, should taste like).

My Favorite Muffin will be getting my patronage for the foreseeable future.

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.

Dream Journal: 3/19 to 3/24

3/19/2013
There was a crazy old man who ordered spider bread. His butler then grabbed a giant wad of spider web, heat it up, and it turned into bread.

3/21/2013
I was a young boy traveling with his mother. I think we were Muslim in a third-world country. There was a muddy area we stopped to pray around a bunch of other people. My mom sat up earlier than I thought she should from praying, but she said "These aren't the men that hurt us." I was later at a hospital or something, my mom elsewhere. A card with an abstract painting of a mother was slid under the door, and I took off running fearing it was a bomb; it was. I assumed my mom was dead.
I came to an area that a bunch of people were abandoning. There was a woman wearing a mask around her mouth, like sick people do. She was leaving her apartment, so I stayed there and hid myself under a pile of laundry. Later a stray dog walked by, and said something to me. I got up, too weak to barely stand, and only telling the dog I need water. We went to the refrigerator, but then hid myself when I heard people arguing loudly outside the apartment door, the talking dog hiding with me.

3/23/2013
1. It was the characters from the show Chuck, and they found a serum version of the Intersect that was copied from someone. They asked if it was based off of Chuck, or Sarah, or Jasmine (Princess Jasmine?). The serum was labled "C."

2. An alien, who looked like an older, balding Asian dude, invaded Earth. He was doing bad things, but he politely asked me several questions about the church. I can't remember now what questions he asked me or what my answers were, but I think I gave really good answers.

3/24/2013
It was like I was at work, but not. The people weren't anyone I know and the office looked a bit different. There were also several large windows that allowed us to see outside more. I think we might have been even higher up than the 8th floor because we could see a lot of the area around us. It wasn't Denver, either, but some sort of coastal city.
A bunch of other people in the office then pointed outside towards the city: there was a massive, dark storm could coming; a cloud that extended from the sky to the ground.
Dreams like this make me wonder if dreams have meaning.

Awkward Programmer Talk

There are words that are used in the world of computer programming that, in a different context, have different meanings. As such, I've thought of how a programmer could have a discussion over the phone around strangers, like at a bus stop, and how that conversation would have the strangers thinking very different things. This would be best as a candid video, so if anyone wants to make it, feel free!

A man sits at a bus stop with three other people. His phone rings, and the strangers can only hear the man's side of the conversation.

"Hello."
"What do you mean the children are...misbehaving?"
"Have you tried issuing any commands?"
"Well if they're not listening then they must be orphans."
"Well just kill them, then."
"Yeah, we won't loose anything important. We can start over and see if the next set of children will listen."
"All right, see you soon honey. Bye."

Same scene, different conversation:

"Hello."
"Well it's okay if some of the slaves aren't working. I mean, that's the point of having a bunch of slaves."
"NONE of them are working? Is the master doing anything? They were working last night."
"You know what, I bet they were overloaded. Well, we're not at whip yet, so I'll try to take care of it when I get there."
"Oh wait, that's right! Our client is coming to see our work, and it won't look good if the slaves aren't working."
"Well just kill them then. Yeah, kill them all. The new batch of slaves should work for at least a few hours. That's plenty of time for the client to see things working."
"All right, I'll see you in a bit. Bye."


Explanations
Children: In data structures, a child is a node that is linked to the parent. There's also child processes and child threads.

Orphan: If the parent has lost its connection to a child, then the child is called an orphan and can't be reached by the program.

Kill: Kill, as in end or stop the execution of a program or process.

Master/Slave: A form of communication, where the master is a single process that communicates with several other processes, or slaves. This can be used as a form of redundancy, as several slaves can be working on the same thing, and if one slave crashes then the system can keep going because it still has the other slaves.

Whip: This is actually WIP, or Work In Process, but it's pronounced the same as whip. At work we use a kanban board that has WIP limits, or in other words, a limit on how many things we can work on at once.

Dream Journal: 3/5/2013 to 3/16/2013

3/5/2013
There was a yellow, blobby man-like thing walking in a multi-level parking lot, while a demon-like, ethereal entity followed him. The demon would appear and disappear, be static-y like a TV, and try to break itself from its dimension (Like the face that appears here and there in the last level of Psychonauts). It had the atmosphere of a horror film (For some reason Dead Space comes to mind, even though I've never played it), but again it wasn't scary. The man walked on, never realizing the demon was following him, trying to get him. The blobby man got to his car, then squuezed his hand to pop out a finger like you would with a balloon. He opened the car door and the dream ended.

3/6/2013
1. I was at a cabin at Bea lake. Not Bear, Bea; though we pronounced it Bear. Can't remember the rest. There was also the next dream, but I think this one transitioned into it somehow.

2. For some reason a bunch of chocolate companies were giving us their chocolate and money. There was an M&M's crunchy chocolate bar and a Dr. Pepper chocolate ice cream bar. We covered an electrical outlet with chocolate, which was in our warehouse that we used to store the chocolate. We hired a lawyer to help us start up a buisness, but he didn't like the idea of a bunch of companies giving us money. One of the guys (There were two other people with me; didn't know any of them) mentioned about already loosing two lawyers, and the other told him "Shh! Don't tell him that!". The lawyer asked where the money was and we said it's safe back at the warehouse.
We went to the warehouse, all the while I figured it was being stolen but I didn't care. We opened the door to the small box, and found it missing. A truck drove off and they chased after it. I went up the hill to the road and saw a car with a lady in it smiling. I stared at her and said out loud "Now why are you smiling?"

3/11/2013
I was back in my old home in Oxnard. So old in fact it was the version before we remodeled our home. I was in the family room in front of the house, and some people in a truck were driving by with squirt guns. I decided to join in on the fun and shouted at everyone in the room to get down when they drove by again. They threw a water balloon or something, but I was surprised to find out that it was so much water that a bunch of water splashed my back, even though I was inside the house.

3/12/2013
It was a video much like GameTrailers' PopFiction. Words in qoutes are what the narrator said. "Many people have been having dreams about a hidden Fox boss in Final Fantasy XII, so we're here to find out if it exists." The character Cloud is on some sort of world map. He then flew under something to enter a part of the map that wasn't supposed to be accessed. Cloud walks on a small island on the corner edge of the map (It's the edge because there's nothing but black beyond it) and then encounters the hidden boss, a crude, polygonal, brown fox. "Wow! It's exactly as people described! This is amazing!"
Something interesting is that apparently each monster Cloud fought were a representation of his fears, and this Fox monster was "Fear of Lust."

3/14/2013
1. I had a toy car that turned into a huge treehouse-and-stuff playset. I sat there wondreing how all that could have come out of that toy car.

2. Some people were selling antiques, and I noticed them selling a yellow jar, one that looked just like Grandpa's sugar jar. I think they were stealing stuff from people's homes and then selling them. Around this time though I got three miniature, antique pots from Quay and kept them in my pant pocket. Keeping them in there were getting them banged up though as I walked around, especially the one that was made of sandstone.

3. I woke up, and not wanting to forget the dream I just had, took out from my pant pocket a miniature  antique pot and set it on the couch to remind me. Except this too was a dream, and it didn't help.

3/16/2013
1. I was driving down a coastal highway. I then reached a town that, from the entrance, looked like dark storm clouds were completely covering the town, with only the entrance from the road that kinda looked liked the entrance to a cave. Once inside though I could see that it was actually a large canopy of a black cloth mesh. White Christmas lights hung from the canopy to provide light to the town.

2. I was walking in some sort of fantasy world. A grassy pathway with occasional stone-laid, circle-shaped town centers with a fountain in the middle. There were green mountains to the left and a misty, bottomless canyon to the right. Unfortunately I was a giant and the pathway was swarming with moving mushroomas, plants, and people. It was impossible for me to walk along without stepping on someone or something. Once I made it to the end of the pathway (Nothing but the bottomless pit was beyond it) there was some sort of teleportation gateway. Suddenly I was no longer walking in this world, but looking down at it through a tablet device.
For some reason a pirate was also looking at it with me. Some targets appeard on the screen, so both I and the pirate started tapping at the targets. The screen then went back the way I came from the path and we tapped at targets along the way. Occasionally treasure appeared and we grabbed them by tapping on it (It's a tablet, how else would you get it?). The pirate was very kind and considerate about letting me grab the treasure.


3. I was in a video game that had the graphics style of Minecraft, but was littered with things like Katamari. There were these flying things that chased me and I had to run away from them or they'd "get me." And I had to run as fast as I could because they were really fast.
I could interact with some of the people in the world. In one instance (I can't remember the other one) I gave a kid some watermelon. I think the kid said something to the effect of "Really? I can have watermelon? My dad says I can't have any." He eats the watermelon, but then falls down like he's sick, and a bunch of somethings swarmed on him.

Previous Dreams

I've occasionally posted dreams I had on Facebook, so I went through everything I posted on Facebook and added them to my dream journal.


5/14/2008
Dreamed that I was running away from a firey Onix.

5/9/2009
Dreamed that all the church buildings had an interconnected railway system.

11/16/2009
Ran for my life from Big Bird in the Spencer W. Kimball Tower.

1/6/2012
I think it was Transformers 4, where the government produced a gas that made everyone see the world as a better place than it actually was, and Bumblebee was defending the headquarters of the Spy Kids.

6/14/2012
My dad said "Come here. You should really read this book." He then hands me a book titled "Freefall." The cover had the grim reaper on it brandishing his sycth, and an unlocked shackle next to the name. It was about a man who became the grim reaper and fought evil.
Does it mean something? Or was it just because I see an image of Ghost Rider on my monitor at work?

9/28/2012
It was a Zelda-like game, and the main character went to a shop and looked at the items. The salesman then said "Giant Sausage in the Shape of a Man: That's a good item! Not only is it a giant sausage in the shape of a man, but it also has life-sustaining properties, and it transforms into a giant robot!" Next scene is a giant robot (Which, now that I think about it, looked much like Larry from Time Squad) moving on a stage much like Goemon Impact! But unlike Goemon Impact, it had rockets on its skates, and it moved down the stage really fast, plowing down anyone and anything that stood in its way. It moved so fast it then skated across the ocean. I think it may have started to fly, but the dream ended after that.
Giant Sausage in the Shape of a Man that transforms into a giant robot! I love my dreams!

9/29/2012
I was in my car, but for some reason my brother Tim was driving it. He switched the car's gear into H1 and the car started flying. Not Jet plane flying, more like slow hover car flying. We flew around a bit, but for some reason I went out of the car and fell sideways, as if gravity was parallel to the ground. Then I realized "Wait, this isn't how gravity works" and then I stood on the ground like normal.

1/11/2013
I had a dog, and I asked him to stand guard in front of the house in the snow to protect us from the wandering T-Rex. But then he couldn't get back in the house when it turned invisible.

2/1/2013
North Korea nuked the U.S. For some reason brentalfloss was driving me to work, and Denver was full of still images of mushroom clouds and fire.
Me: "Um...is the city supposed to be fire?"
brentalfloss: "Huh. Actually, you're right. It shouldn't be."
I then took refuge with some family. I think we then headed out somewhere but I don't remember the rest.
Interestingly, I wasn't scared or worried at all.