Power of Perspective

Once upon a time, there was a little boy with copper hair, just newly becoming a boy scout and he HATED it. Absolutely, totally and completely despised and loathed scouting. Why? To be honest, I don't remember why I hated scouts so much at the young age of twelve, but I hated it. From the very first day. I still have a picture, I wish I scanned it in so I could show you--its hilarious. It was a picture they took of my first day and it is by far the most miserable expression ever! It is like hatred and angst are leaking out of it. So maybe it's a good thing I'm not posting it.

Today, I was called in to be a second substitute leader for the boy scouts. Luckily in the last 9 years I have grown a little bit and I happily accepted the call, although I wasn't sure what to think I was determined to make this hour at least amusing to me. When I got there, I found we were working with knots and my heart sunk. If there was something I was AWFUL at as a young boy, it was knots. I dreaded those more than anything else in scouts. (Except maybe week long camp outs.) But I of course, didn't want to show that to these two young boys, so I confessed I had forgotten how to tie the square knot and that I was willing to learn.

It was so simple!

I am still amazed. I don't think its really a brain thing. Back then it was like torture to do knots and now, in less than three seconds I had done it on my first try. I found it so incredible and as I sat in the car on my way home, it taught me a lesson I have learned many times. Perspective is everything. Going into something if you decide to hate it, trust me, you will hate it.

I hated camping as a scout. Later, when I was almost 17, they had a trek and on instinct, I decided to be excited. And so I loved trek, which is significantly more grueling and hard than a week long. Another example of that. I know that it's the same with trials in life. With faith. With everything.

A helpful hint on learning how to do it well, is learning how to trust God. When you trust God, you can look at everything with an optimistic attitude. Even difficult trials and temptations. They work for your good. I know it's true. Keep your smile on, and keep your covenants and Gods commandments.

Fulfilling the Prophecy

So, there was this long prophecy, millions of years ago that Ethan would actually go back to his old blog and fix it up so it wasn't a piece of garbage anymore. Today, that is fulfilled! I am back to my blogging ways likely because I have been doing nothing every single day for the past four weeks! :D Yay!

Anyway, back to the blogging! If you have visited this page frequently, which I am sure you haven't, you will notice that I deleted a lot of my old posts that were generally terrible to read and bothersome for me to look at anymore! Haha! I assure you, this blog will do good for at least a week! I will do my best! Lots has happened, but we won't recap on that right now, we can do that later when the conversations come up!

Here's your interesting though for the day:
Are you a dog person, or are you a cat person, or....are you a chupacabra person? Hmm..?

Excitement for You-Know-What!

Haven't updated in FOREVER. So here I go!

This week almost killed me. I had a few major projects to prepare for and I work every day from Tuesday to Saturday. I'm happy for it to, though. Lot's of cash that i need. Well, the holiday is in the air and I have never been so excited! I get to go home to my parents in beautiful Nauvoo for Christmas. Also, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows only a week away, how could I not be exstatic? PLUS if you thought it doesn't get better, it does, I found a song that actually everyone already knows, but I still love it to death. It's "Just the Way You Are" and it is such a beautiful song!

As for school, Psychology runs its regular course, as does Freshman experience. For British Literature we read a very disgusting but interesting short called "A Modest Proposal" in which the narrator suggests that the way we deal with overpopulation is by eating babies that are exactly one year old. Evil right? Yes, I find it nasty too. He was trying to be humourous so I guess some of it worked. It was the original dead baby joke.

Tai Chi is going lovely!  It honestly looks a ton like waterbending in Avatar: the Last Airbender. Which is exactly what it should look like because Waterbending was based off the stuff. Very relaxing too, and in my last class the teacher told us a way to hold our keys. I think his exact words on the matter of self defense were: "If it's between you and this attacker, you KILL that sucker." and he explained how we would effectivly ram our keys into his neck. Yum.

So remember children, if you're attacked, jam keys into their throat or their chest cavity and then call the police and try to explain that he started it.

(Btw, I found this picture rather hilarious and thought i would share it.) :)

The Black Cult of Teachers

So, I was walking down the school hallway late after one of my classes when I heard hushed tones behind a half opened door. The room looked like it was lit by candles and as I peared in, I realized that it was. A strange draft came from that room and inside was a circle of teachers. They wore black robes that hung off of them like some sort of dead thing. In front of them was a text book, written in unholy languages.

"How much homework shall we give the fool this week?" one hissed their voice coated over in pleasure as they flipped the fragile and old pages.

"I say three essays or so. It will be difficult for him to study his other classes material if we give him more essays to write. After all, it takes him several drafts to get it right. He will never find time. Then we will win his soul." another simpered.

One looked up, "And with his hometeaching and desire to go to the temple as well as attend some of the places he needs to gain points, it will be impossible to finish the essays. Not to mention his church calling and part time job."

"By the time we are finished with him," the one holding the book laughed, "He will have straight F's and no time for church and will be fired from his job, unable to pay rent and on the streets!"

Together they shouted: "DOWN WITH ETHAN, ALL HAIL EDUCATION!"

I think I'm in trouble.

The Phrase That Kills Puppies

So, just the other day I got a haircut. Half of it was for work and I still am stuck between "does my hair look better longer or shorter" but either way, I had to have it cut because it was starting to take full on bottles of shampoo to clean. Which in college you can't even afford q-tips.

My job requires me to try and get people applied for a card. Strike that. A credit card. In short my managers are saying "Get at least two cards today...or else." and then when I walk up to someone and this is what it sounds like:

Ethan: Hey, would you like to sign up for a card today?

Customer: Um...well...

Ethan: It will give you ten percent off every time you shop!

Customer: Really! Awesome!

Ethan: I know!

Customer: Wait...is this a credit card?

Ethan:.........................................................................yes.

Customer: HAH! Screw that!

See! The phrase credit card is like you just said, "Hey there! would you like to sign up for me to stab your child?" honestly at the sound of that phrase people run for cover with their food storage! And then I don't get a card and my managers press on me moooore. I'm tempted to start threatening people to sign up for the card. Haha.

On top of it all, my haircut was cut short and when that happens to my hair, I get a big rooster tail that poofs up in the back of my head that makes me look really stupid. (Although in High School I was told by many that it was cute.) I feel really stupid with a little POOF coming out of my head. Besides that the anime convention was lots of fun! That's a blog for another time though!

Sanity, Music, Luck, and Distance: My Painting

Alright, so are you curious about what's going on in my life? ARE YOU? Well, I'll just tell you some of the recent things that have happened that either I found funny or note worthy. So, as usual my day began with waking up, showering and going to Psychology.

Psychology is weird. He far too easily sways to the conversations of the students whoa sk completely irrelavent questions that usually I don't want to know the answer to. Example: "Hey teacher, can you explain in detail how exactly I would test if men or women get a sex drive faster?" After a long winded conversation of exactly the things they do, which are nasty and deal with nasty things, he informs that they actually get a sex drive at the same pace. GREAT! I hope that changed the life of students everywhere, because that answer will change the very fabric of humanity.

Today, it was about dreams when the lesson was about Arousal (how awake you are). If you've ever even talked to your friends about dreams, you'll know that the conversation will go on forever. The end answer is: You simply can't judge anything about dreams. What they do, what they mean, how they work, YOU CANNOT ANSWER IT. And frankly, who cares? Dreams do what they do and whether it effects you or not, you will have dreams, so yay!

After that, it was time for my story about luck. And what is my lucky moment? I didn't do any of my reading for a quiz today in British Literature, which I was rather panicked about. But guess what? We did an open book quiz because she had to leave early. Victory. Victory for me! I'll try to not procrostinate my next assignment. Maybe.

Last, I spent the rest of my victorious day writing and finishing a six page short story I'm entering for a scholarship about the Cthulu Mythos and a man who falls asleep to a horrifying city. I might post it after it's been corrected a ton. I also bought the song: "Love the Way You Lie" (clean version of course) and thought in a very paranoid way about the distance between me and another and what could happen when I'm not there to be with them when they need me, want me, ect. and how I can't be there when I need them and want them. Yeah, i'm deep! Well, that's all for now! Jaa Matta.

Dream Analysis

Have you ever had a really realistic and completely terrifying dream? I don't get em often, but if I was gonna say which dreams I remember most, it's one were my brother becomes possessed by fungus, and two in which black people with guns find some sort of entertainment and in chasing me and attempting to splatter my brains across a wall. It's always an apocalypse looking moment too and I'm always very terrified. However, in the first dream, two people I know got shot down, and in this more recent one, nobody got shot, yet I was more terrified.

Maybe that's because I was alone...does that mean I'm a selfish jerk? Perhaps. So how should I think about this? My dreams are telling me that I'm selfish, that my friends and parents don't exist, and I'm racist, thinking that all black people want to kill me. Hahahaha!

As the dream was more fresh this moring, in the shower, I half conciously thought about not going to Tai Chi, or getting my hair cut because both of those locations were in my dream. I almost got the crap shot out of me at the Hair Cut place and TAi Chi is where it began...I think. So, I very much considered not going like it was some sort of revelation. I'm paranoid. But I'll be going, so if I end up getting shot, all I got to say is: I totally called that. :D

Btw, I'm not racist. If you're black, I still love you, even if my dreams tell me to run away! <3

Hey! Check out my other blog for a full summary of this dream and other more serious things! http://zaridia.tumblr.com/