I'm Happy :)

It's raining heavily outside.
My father will not attend church tomorrow merely because he was asked to teach.
I'm very tired from 2:00 am on Thursday, 1:00 am on Friday.



But I'm still Happy :)



Thursday night, I stayed up all night to finish reading The Promise, the sequel to the novel, The Chosen, both written by Chaim Potok. Oh, wow, that was such a wonderful book! The multiple reviews given to it were spot on- A touching, heartfelt story, giving (I can only assume), an accurate feel into the life and times of a Jew. I came out of reading that book feeling not only smarter, but happier, and kinder too. All that I can do is persuade you to read it. Please read it. [Yes, I know I'm talking to no one sp, shush].

I did have to get past two finals on Friday, and when I didn't feel that I had done as well as I could have, and I told my mom, and she gave me a lecture and a warning of what could happen...well, that kind of stunk, but once I got past them, life was wonderful :) Just, simply, happy.

Pretty soon after school, my cousin had her wedding reception at an indoor pavilion, and we went to go congragulate her, and spend time with cousins...Me and Collin annihilated my dad and my bro, including Collin's controversial diving save (Mitchell just barely tapped the birdie over the badminton net, and Collin dived for it, threw his racket to make the extra distance: Not only did he actually connect with the birdie, but the birdie FLEW BACKWARDS, up, and over the net for our point - Naturally, the rest of the day, my dad was looking up the badminton rules book but :P)

I sort of left that early (though everyone else left soon afterwards) in order to go to Alena's Birthday Party. Although Alena had moved, and things were different, it was rather interesting - Things pretty much followed the exact schedule of all of Alena's parties - Come over, visit and chat, eat dinner and snack on food, chat and talk some more, play games like Ninja, Twister, Truth or Dare, watch a movie or some funny Youtube videos till everything winds down, and we leave...



Eventually ;)



But that's not to be said, there's nothing wrong with uniformity like that - If anything, it was one of the funnest (yes, funnest), parties I've been to of hers. I just, chose to really be a part of everything - For example, if someone was talking, I didn't JUST listen, but listened and commented on what they were saying, as well as added something of my own to say.

Alena, of course, was there, along with Marae, Angel, and Nick. Also, her family was around for most of it, her mom, dad, brother, sister, and older brother (might've been an uncle), and, for once, I got along fine with all of them, rather than just sterile conversation.



*sigh* I wasn't gonna do this because I was afraid of someone reading it, but...honestly, this is my blog. No one reads it anymore ;)

So, as everyone was leaving at about 12, I decided to stay behind and chat with Alena outside for a bit...which, believe-you-me, was strange both to me and Alena - In her own words, "Usually, you bolt right on out of here."

We chatted. We talked. We didn't walk cause she didn't have shoes on, and it was late, and didn't know her neighborhood very well.

We talked about a lot, about what we had done in the past, what we were doing now, what we wanted to do later. We got along pretty well, I thought...




Aaaaaaand..........just maybe a minute before Alena's five-minute warning was up, I brought up the fact that, well, first, that I should be heading out...and I said, "Ya know, there was a reason I had stayed after for so long...I had wanted to fulfill that Dare." (In a previous Dare, I had been dared to kiss Alena (Didn't specify where) and, naturally, we all just kind of ignored it, we always skipped those dares and went for the ones that we could do, like imitate Michael Jackson, and stuff like that).

Having been talking to me quite a bit that whole time about how she had not dated too many guys recently, but was not looking for a relationship either...She kinda freaked out :P

Jumping back and forth, nervously, I could only barely see her in the dim light, and I was just smiling, watching her fret...

She said I could kiss her on the cheek, and so I did, as we hugged goodbye.

As I left, I promised her that I would ask her out soon, and I intend to keep that promise.



:)



Although quite a bit of it has worn off by now, that smile maintained its strength throughout that night, and the next day (saturday, today).



I went over to Ryan's today to finish building the cardboard boat for Physics with Easton, Andrew, and Ryan, and that was tons of fun. We just cut up some cardboard, measured it, duct-taped the crap out of it, ate cookies, threw and broke frisbees, crashed into each other with cardboard boxes, had pizza, played brawl...It was another Nerd-Bash :)



And almost immediately afterward, I got home, and most of my dad's side of the family went to go see Kung Fu Panda 2.

Though few of my family members would agree with you, I whole-heartedly enjoyed the movie. It was traditional, with Chinease puppetshows illustrating the story between the scenes of the movie, the music included more strings, more chimes, more percussion, and less guitar, less drums, it was quite enjoyable. The movie was funny, it was sad, it was uplifting, it was tearjerking, it was hilarious, it was epic, it was peaceful, it was climatic...It was everything a good movie should be, and more. I really, really enjoyed it.

Though I can say less for my family, especially Jason (When we saw him at the theater, I could tell he was a little distraught, and during the movie he fell asleep, and immediately after, he caught a ride to the Symphony).

But when the movie was over, we gathered up the crews at Training Table, and had a rowdy good time, talking about everything we had been doing lately, especially with the controversial badminton game :) It was lot of fun, a lot of good food, and very, very fun company.



I'm a happy guy.
I don't have to be- I could choose to focus on the stress that summer will quite soon be bringing, or of the headaches and cramps I've been getting throughout the day, and how tired I had been the last few days but...
I'm choosing not to.




And I'm happy ;)

Debate over Nothing

I just want to write for a little while, is that okay?



It's strange, school is nearly over and suddenly everything that I had been basing my life on is just...evaporating. Not that it's a bad thing. Just that...I need to adapt or be left behind, playing video games all summer. Which is a bad thing.

After I did all of the easy copy and paste work from my blog to Microsoft OneNote, I was really reluctant to start my journals...They're just going to be a lot more work: They're fully handwritten, the pages don't stay open, and besides a basic outline, what I write in them is different from page to page...

I really need to get up on that, especially now that I'm actually thinking about it while I write. I know that I can and will do good and hard work if it's some sort of project. Sometimes, a videogame can be a project, which is the real reason I spend so much time playing them, not because I just wanna shoot stuff up.

When I have a project, I am not only focused on that project but excited about it too. I end up being to finish massive amounts of useful, helpful work by the time that I am through with it.

There is a drawback of course- If there are other things that I should be doing, it's rather, um, difficult, to be do them, or even be aware of them. Focus is good, but only if it does not blind you to everything else.

And of course, that's assuming that the project actually sticks: If it's not my project, or it's one that I'm simply not interesested enough in, I will work on it for a short before I become bored or distracted.

What's worse, an uninteresting project can lead to one of them worst time wasters of them all- Being Undecisive. I don't do nothing, but I don't really choose to do anything...I don't sleep, I don't get anything done, I'm jumping from one thing to the next without really accomplishing anything... I came up with a phrase, "It's better to do nothing, than to debate about doing something."

If you're doing Nothing, You can just relax. If you're doing nothing, you can think. If you're doing nothing, you're doing nothing, however, you're doing nothing.



Meh.



Aaand...the urge to write is gone. Just like that. Maybe I'm just debating about doing something right now. Maybe.





P.S. Yes, of course I'm cryptic, and general, and gave you no juicy tidbits to munch on with that post...What? Did you think I wanted to? Psh, no, you're crazy! If you want to know more about me, just read my other posts...or better yet, come ask me yourself ^^

Microsoft OneNote

So, in the "So little to do, so much time to do it..." Post, I made a reference to Microsoft OneNote ("OneNote's the bomb-diggity btw). I had only been experimenting with it at that point in time, but yesterday and today, I finally got around to putting it to some use.

I just copy&pasted my whole blog into a single notebook in OneNote. The Sections denote the month, The pages denote the post, and the subpages denote comments. The best part is that it really required very little modification on my part, it was already rather set up just for my purposes.

Just so you know though, I will not use OneNote as a replacement to my blog, or any of my journals and notebooks for that matter. No, rather OneNote (and this computer, through it), will be a sort of Home Base for all of my journals- A database of everything I've written, that is both easily accesible as well as easily searchable.

When I need to look for a certain date or experience, I can type in a date into the search engine, and every entry that included that date will pop up.

When I need to write a talk about a certain topic, I can assign tags to my notes, whether they concern Faith, Family, Law, etc. and I look up all tags in one place.



This will be fun and useful :)

WILLiam Harward

Alright. So.





Iiiiiiiiii think I have finally whittled away every last visitor to this blog.
A final motion would be to require an invitation to join the blog, but I'm not that kind of guy and this isn't that kind of blog.




All that I am hoping for with this blog is that one day (assuming there is no catastrophic failure of humanity at 2012 or some other date), myself or others could read this blog and be able to actually know what I felt. To actually know what went on in my world. Firm in the Faith is the story of William Harward, and his journey from England to Utah and Back across the United States... And that entire journey could only have been found by me because of one small journal that william wrote in, and only for the space of about three years, of which the entirty was on the road. And a good portion of the journal was simply poems and hymns.



I have surpassed that amount of writing with just a single one of my seminary journals (I'm on my third journal this year in seminary).



...I just hope that someone will have the time to read them :)















And I've never said this, but I would like my will to include some form of code or puzzle. See, it has to be the ultimate puzzle, the one that will unlock the key to everything I've written, everything I've hidden, all that I kept stored in my heart all of those years.

For the moment, I'm using the code, but, ultimately? My will is going to include my Unlucky Ninth ;)

Osama Bin Laden is Dead!

Yep ^^



So, here's what I know so far after Obama's presidential address at about 9:55 pm on Sunday Night, 5/1/11:



Osama Bin Laden is Dead.



Apparently, J-SOC (Joint Special Operations...Committee?) organized an assault on a mansion which intelligence had suggested that Osama had been hiding in with his family, in Islamabad, Pakistan. They rushed the home, and after a brief firefight, killed Osama, and recovered his body. The doctor on call confirmed the body, with blood and DNA tests.

*See President Obama's Speech*

That's about the first speech given by a president that I really listened to.
It's also the first major event that I knew exactly what I was doing when I heard the news [I had been watching House for a few hours, and came upstairs, sitting on the staircase, watching the computer/tv that everyone but my dad was watching {including the dogs}. The show Undercover Boss was interrupted with Breaking News from CBS, and the first thing that he said was Osama Bin Laden is Dead.]
Obama gave a speech which they very delicately crafted, due to the fact that not only American people but Pakistani, and Islamic people would hear as well.

He talked about the details of the assault, and had most of the who, what, where, when, and how's. He took time with Why, speaking about 9/11, and how Osama had declared war not only with America [at 9/11] but with Pakistan, and other countries too [later on}. He said, that Osama was a man who all people could be glad with the news of his death.




As I was listening to this speech, and to the unfolding events, I kept feeling a tight pinch in my stomach, of forgiving him for his wrongdoings.



And maybe I'll be lynched for feeling that...but, I can't feel good simply cheering out in the streets that he's dead.




No...I'm cheering because he is in a better place. Literally. Currently in Spiritual Prison, he will be tried for his sins. He will feel the agony of not only the souls that weep and gnash their teeth at him, but also the cheering of the bodies still alive down below. So he will have his punishment.



But Jesus will forgive him, if he will forgive himself.



I will forgive him, if he forgives himself.



Now, maybe I wouldn't be saying such things if someone close to me had been affected by him, had been hurt or killed in 9/11.
But...I would like to believe that I have that strength.



Strength, to be able to go against the world, in saying that I forgive him.



Courage, to Forgive.



D&C 64: 9-10

9: "Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin."
10: "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."



When I reach Heaven, I'm going to go speak with Osama, and Hitler, and Nixon.

And I will forgive them.







Because, if I can't forgive them, how can I become a God?

If I can't forgive them, how can I forgive my own family? and friends?











Aaaaaand, now it's time to sleep, for the AP Chemistry test.

Good Night, wish me luck.