Time

Time always seems to escape me, and I always seem to neglect my poor blog! I'm sorry for all of you who act just like I do and get online and check my friend's blogs weekly, for I have not updated in about 2 months. I'll do a quick recap.
I had a lot of schoolwork to do in December, and lots of extra curricular activities. I'm so tired of those! Anyway, Christmas rolled around. It was a particularly tough time because I was missing my elder sister dearly. It was our first winter apart and I could feel my spirits sink a little. I was able to take a well-earned break and play video games and intently read my scriptures daily. Then January came. I got my Eagle Scout Award on my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. I was able to have a six day break from school for being smart! I had better than an 88 and had less than three absences in a majority of my classes so I was able to skip final exams. I got my wisdom teeth taken out and discovered that I would make and AWFUL A.) gie and B.) steroid user. I was given 'roids and high amounts of opioids to ease the pain and lessen the swelling.
Now to my life right now. It involves lots of praying, studying, and waiting. I think that the Lord might want me to learn a lot of patience for future events in my life. I have to wait for everything in my life and it is sheer agony. I have to wait to hear back from BYU Provo, although I did get into my safety, BYU Idaho. I have to wait to go on a mission....biggest. drawback. EVER. I enjoy preaching the gospel and helping others, and myself, come closer to our Father in Heaven. I know that I can take this time and spend it learning my scriptures and more about myself to make me a better missionary, so I'm trying to make the most of it. If anyone really wants to improve their relationship with Christ or Heavenly Father, I suggest taking time to read chapters four and six in Preach My Gospel. They are about recognizing and understanding the Spirit, and developing Christ-like attributes. I can see my life blesses daily from the studying that I do in these sections. All of PMG is wonderful. I am just reading those chapters right now and can see the benefits of doing so...I'm sure the others will help me more in the future.
That's my life right now in a nutshell. Hope you enjoy the update. There will be more in the future (as I am trying to keep a better "record" of my life). -B

Ohio and Gettysburg

All last week I was pretty much stuck in a car. My family and I went to Ohio and Pennsylvania. We went to Gettysburg, PA to visit the historic battlegrounds and such, then we went to Columbus, OH to visit my extended family.
We arrived in Gettysburg around 7 o'clock on Monday evening. The whole town was pretty much closed, so we found a little hotel--a Holiday Inn--which was actually an old plantation-style home converted into a small hotel. We went to what we had assumed to be a quaint little down-home diner, but it turned out being a crappy town diner that wasn't as good as we thought it would be. We proceeded to walk around in the rain (I was coatless, wet, and starting to freeze) trying to see if there were any shops open. None were open at all, not even the fudge shop, which had a young woman in kneading fresh fudge just staring at us...sad. We went back to the "hotel" to enjoy hot showers and the floor (i.e. my bed). The next morning we went to the brand new "cyclorama" which is really just a giant museum with a huge mural in a rotunda that had sounds and everything! There were tons of cool artifacts and historical facts about the battles that took place in Gettysburg. It was a great museum and such a wonderfully awe-inspiring experience (despite all the fighting we children participated in).
Tuesday afternoon, after the museum, we drove straight on to Ohio. We arrived at my uncle's home at around 8 o'clock. We talked and goofed off for a while before my cousins had to go to bed (unfortunately they had school the next morning). So we went to bed too. The next morning we went into the city, Columbus, and we visited Ohio State University. We got into the football stadium and took some pictures quickly before getting discovered. Then we spent the rest of the day shopping and spending time at an arcade and laser tag game center (it was Mikaela's birthday and my uncle's birthday). The next day was Turkey Day!!! We ate such wonderful food (my mom and I wait for long periods of time to eat my aunt's delicious yam/sweet potato dish) and enjoyed sitting around just watching T.V. and playing games. There were lots of yummy pies and there was only one piece of cake left from the birthday celebration from the previous night...it was so amazing! The next day we went to Amish country to buy lots of cheeses, fudge, and breads. There was also a trip to a light show one night, but the exact day eludes me.
I absolutely loved the trip, even though I spent most of it fighting. :-( I ate so much food and loved hearing stories from my mom's and my uncle's childhood. It was my last trip for a Turkey Day celebration in Ohio...so I guess I tried to make the most out of it.

Quick

Here's a quick post.
I was doing my homework and of course that lead me to go to lds.org...Anyway, I was on looking at some scripture stuff and I was brought to the "newsroom" section. I was fiddling around there and found this. I think that this is wonderful especially with all of the awful things happening all over Cali. I especially find it wonderful that the Catholic Diocese and another Catholic priest spoke about how people need to not seek to create more by being violent, and how the Mormons are not standing all alone on this belief. It's a great reminder that we can stand in high places and still be supported for it.
Hopefully I'll post more soon, I'm getting really lazy about this whole blog thing.

Life, Love, Loss

It seems to me that every time I forget to update my blog it takes me weeks to update not only the posts, but the entire layout. I feel so far behind!
Here's a brief synopsis of how my life has been the past few weeks, and what I've been up to:
1. School-I always get inundated with my schoolwork so that by the end of the day I can be seen covered with papers half asleep in my room working on my essays and assorted homework assignments.
2.Activities-I am in so many clubs and participate in such a variety of activities that sometimes it's hard to keep track of what I'm supposed to do in a day. For example, on Mondays at 7:15 a.m. I have a Debate Club officers meeting in the Library of my school. Tuesdays I have mutual and I tend to get lots and lots of homework that I miraculously finish. Wednesdays I have Marching Band (a headache put to crappy show music). Thursdays I have Barbershop (a group of seven other boys and I get together and rehearse music a capella), then at night I have my Ballroom Dance class with some of my member friends. Fridays I generally have Marching Band commitments (football games). Saturdays I lounge around my house in sweats and sleep/read for a majority of the day. Sunday I get up watch a little bit of the news, take a shower, get dressed, go to church, bring the Sacrament to sick people, then have meetings and activities (SYC).
3.Life-Lately I've noticed how prevalent is. Just two weeks ago a dear friend's mother passed away, a friend of my just lost a greatly expected baby, and a wonderful man from my ward passed. A year ago another dear friend's daughter passed, and another really sick man in my ward passed away. I always new that was just around the corner, but because of all these experiences I've learned to live life the best I can, and live it to the fullest.
4.Spain-My school participates in a foreign exchange program every year, but this year it was different for me. I got so attached to all of the wonderful students that were here visiting from Valladolid, Spain. They thought that life out there was so perfect, so picture-esque, so High School Musical. It was so cute to see all of them so upset that they had to leave the "wonderful" high school with all the amazing things like lockers; they also didn't want to leave all the "huge" homes that they were staying in.
P.S. I've realized that I am so much like my mom that it's quite scary. We can sometimes finish each other's sentences, that is, if we havem't already said what they other was thinking/jsut about to say. It's kind of funny especially when my mom and I are talking to anyone else in our family (excluding Siovhan because she's like my mom too) and they fell as if they've missed something because mom and I just understand eachother. They generally do miss things too! ;-}

Eggs, Existentialism, and Egos...

It's been a while since I posted my last entry. I need to keep better track of my blog (and reading all my friend's blogs).

I really like fried eggs. Random, I know. Today is my dad's birthday, and my mama's good to him. She made him, my entire family (including a seminary student) breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, home fries (with onions, peppers, and tomatoes), and toast. I love all of them, but mostly eggs. I don't know what it is, but I truly LOVE eggs. They always make me happy and make me remember the olden days (in my family), when we used to have eggs almost every Saturday morning. Now I'm lucky if I eat eggs once a month. Sure, they work their way into recipes and such, but nothing is as good as a plain-ol' fried egg. Mmmmmmm.

In my AP Lit class we've been doing a unit on Existentialism. My mom's not happy, mainly because I have become slightly indifferent about certain things now, and I kinda just do what I want to do when I fell like it. My teacher laughed when I told him the subtle changes I've started to notice since beginning The Stranger. He wonders if it's possible to have an Existentialistic Mormon (Mormonism and Existentialism...hmmm). Anyway, the book I've been reading, The Stranger, is a great book. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to step out of their comfort zone and take on this challenging story. There are a few (mainly only three) parts I edited for myself, and if you want to read it I would ask you to ask me which parts you'll need to skip.

I'm not egotistical, but I do sometimes seem very narcissistic. I like how I look, generally, I like my cute dimple (yes singular, I only really have one), I like my eyes, I like my laugh, and I like to smile. I do not like my smile right now (due to the metal in the mouth), but I do enjoy making others happy by smiling. All this was brought on by my choir practice on Wednesday. The male voices (comprised of the Tenors, Basses, and Baritones) went to do a sectional under the direction of our student section leaders. There are two section leaders for the three groups, but miraculously one of them took charge, again, unfortunately. He made many errors throughout the entire rehearsal but there are four main things that infuriated me:
1.) He yelled at ME! Someone asked me a question, and I said THREE words. There was a room full of people and he singled me out.
2.) he mocked me for being in the wrong spot. I am currently trading between two parts in choir, I'm switching between 1st Tenor and Baritone. That is not easy in and of itself, not to mention that I also have to remember with which section I need to be during each piece. I forgot that I was supposed to trade sections, so he told me that I need to not be so forgetful and just move because I was making him mess up his notes.
3.) He took charge. There are two section leaders, and he should have shared the power.
4.) He was toying with the tempo. That's the conductor's business. Not to mention, he took it very slow the first ten times we sang through the piece, then he sped the tempo up too much. He was confusing everyone in the room.
If I weren't a Senior with eight years of choir experience under my large belt, I would love to just quit. But I only have months left, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

I had my Senior pictures taken yesterday. I absolutely LOVED Hilton Photography Studios. My sister had her pictures done there, so my mom and I decided to go there again. The photographers were great, and I loved the flexibility that they gave me with the styles, etc. I highly recommend, to anyone living in MA to consider letting Hilton photograph their children. It was a great studio. Maybe my experience would've been different if I didn't have a very attractive young woman taking my pictures. But, anyway, I loved the whole experience, and I'm sure I will share pictures (after I pick which ones I want) with y'all.

School, Science, Split...BOOM!

So my life is like a giant pot of pasta right now. Everything was starting to become great and rather comfortable in my life when everything was stirred and churned.
School has started. Fun, NOT! I enjoy all of my classes and most of them are very interesting. I'm currently taking AP Literature, AP Spanish Language, Band, Chorus, P.E., and Chemistry. AP Lit is great class for me because I am able to delve into books to a depth I was not able to do in any previous English class. AP Spanish is just fun, sometimes. We do a lot of skits, we read a lot of stories, and we get to learn Spanish in a fun environment. Band and Chorus are interesting (like always), and they allow me to learn and grow in many different ways. Update!!! I'm now 4th chair (out of 7) and that's great because last year I was 7th out of 8 (also I forgot to practice for my audition so I could have been 3rd if I'd only practiced). Now Chemistry. I am the only Senior in my chem class, mainly because my old guidance counselor told me to take whatever science I wanted to take my junior year, so I took Anatomy and Physiology instead of Chemistry. My class is awkward because my entire class is filled with weird kids and they NEVER TALK!!! If you really know me, you know that I utter silence (in public places). I like it when classes are engaging and fun, but this one is neither. I am generally the first one to give an answer, whether I'm right or wrong, and so my classmates not only think I'm weird, but most of them believe I am slightly stupid. My teacher understands that I'm actually (I'm not being proud...) one of the smartest kids in the class. I understand all of the material faster than almost all the other students, and I know a fare share about Chemicals and Elements (more than the rest of the class). I'm okay with everyone thinking me a fool, as long as the teacher knows who the real smart kids are...;-]
Now the most recent, and slightly more traumatic change in my life. So, my old Young Men's Presidency was released and a new one was called, it was great, but I'll miss my old leader. That wasn't the traumatic change; however, my ward being split into two units was. Last Sunday my ward, the Franklin Ward, was split into the "Franklin 1st Ward" and "Franklin 2nd Branch". All of my good friends from my quorum are not in the Ward with me, and most of my leaders and friends are no longer with me either. It's very upsetting being taken away from all those that I've lived, grown, and been accustomed to for the past 10 years. I know that this is what Heavenly Father and Christ want right now, but it is hard to just swallow it and move on.
Now I'm starting to settle in and become used to the sea of change that's around me. I only hope that things won't be too weird in church tomorrow.

Fiends and Friends

Sometimes friends are not friends. Sometimes friends are fiends and they do things that are absolutely malicious. I wonder how children raised by generally good people can be so rude and thoughtless towards others.

If everyone in the world actually listened to each other, without ignoring what they're really saying, what would the world be like?

I would like it if people didn't accept friends like they do car offers, OBO (or better offers). My parents have raised me to treat others with respect and be a man of my word, to follow through with commitments. I it when people break commitments and I also people who don't honor their word, people who aren't honest...people who don't have integrity. I like it when my friends are with me, but when they make plans with others after making plans with me, I generally just say it's OK. Not anymore! I will not let others walk all over me and take advantage of me. I have changed this summer, I'm trying to be more honest about how I feel and what I think.

A good thing did happen today. I fixed my schedule and got to see a lot of my friends at school. That made me happy. But then I got home and discovered that some of my church friends, who must inherently be stupid, treated my brother like a bad offer on a car. They found a better offer of entertainment, so they disregarded his offer. I just wanted to go over there and beat the snot out of them, or ask their parents why their children are so rude.

I wish that other teenage boys could just understand that despite their lack of emotions and feeling, others still have feelings. Some teenage boys, mainly the ones in my ward, are generally emotion retarded, literally. They are slow to understand emotions, and I don't think they
really care. Frankly their immaturity, idiocy, and unorganized natures make me want to vomit sometimes...

Siovhan tells me that someday I will be appreciated by people other than my family. I'm anxiously awaiting that day. She told me that at BYU, you can be yourself all the time and that people are OK with that. I having my "school Braden" and "church Braden". I want my church friends to accept the fact that I like to know things, I like to learn. I want my school friends to know that I love my religion with all my heart and soul, and that I cannot live without being, as they call me, "Mormon Braden". I just wish life wasn't so complicated and that things were easier for me sometimes. I know that I need to go through Hell to get to Heaven, and that hopefully I'll be blessed for all my many trials.
-B