My Last Words

It's hard to say what my last words would be. I'd like to say that there is something profound I would say, but I really can't think of anything. And I doubt my Alzheimer-ridden brain will recall anything deep either. I definitely hope that I die in a non-violent manner, and hopefully after a long, full life. Dying is not something I'm scared of. At most, I fear for those I'm close to having to deal with the absence and sadness, especially those without a knowledge of the plan of salvation. Death will be so great. I'll finally be out of this filthy, rotten world and a bit closer to God. I look forward to seeing all of my deceased friends and family (and my dog Sasha...she died laying on my shoes before Seminary one morning). And I hope that when I'm gone people will remember me as the person that I am, not just the logical one. But my personality, I like to think, is a lot more goofy and carefree than that. I don't know my exact words to those who will be near me when I'm on my deathbed. But my last publicly seen words will probably just be brief and to the point. In explanation, probably a Facebook status saying:

"Death? Still winning."

Week 14: Farewell

It's been a while... And now I'm leaving. Last words, huh? I guess I'll just start typing things and see what happens.

"You're scared because if you try and fail, there's only you to blame... Life is scary--Get used to it. There are no magical fixes; it's all up to you. So get up off your keyster, get out of here and start doing the work!... Nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy." ~Dr. Robert Kelso

"It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in this world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain, and I can feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid, little life." ~From American Beauty

"Love is not a victory march/It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah... It's not a cry that you hear at night/And it's not somebody who's seen the light/It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." ~From the song Hallelujah, performed by so many artists that I have no idea who did the original

"If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied/Illuminate the "no"s on their vacancy signs/If there's no one there beside you when your soul embarks/I'll follow you into the dark." ~From I Will Follow You Into The Dark, by Death Cab For Cutie

These are some amazing quotes, but there are so many more out there. More beautiful, more eloquent, more simple, more poignant. Hopefully one of these will strike your fancy and perhaps alter the course of your life. Here's one that did so for me:

"And all at once the crowd begins to sing/Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." ~All At Once, The Fray

And another, more recent, most applicable to all:

"Your future will be as bright as your faith." ~President Thomas S. Monson, qtd. by Elder Russell M. Nelson in last General Conference (April 2011)

Live your life according to what you know is right by the Spirit. The most important thing I have learned this year at BYU wasn't in the classroom, or even church. I learned to act. When you stumble upon some great truth, some great quote, or even a simple truth, live by it. That is the only way we will learn the mysteries of God and become celestial beings. Don't be passive and let life happen to you. Make your life happen. I promise all of you that if you do so, your life will go in the best direction possible. It may not be what you hope for now, but believe me, you will be so much happier than if all your dreams came true.

If there is one thing you learn, make it be to learn how to pray. It is my opinion that prayer is the most important and powerful tool given to mankind, and too often we take it for granted. Prayer is direct communication with God. Does that not strike you as astounding? Prayer allows us to have a conversation with our Heavenly Father! Sometimes I can't even believe that we are allowed such a great privilege, fallen as we are. "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the love that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me, He was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died... I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine... Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me. Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me." This applies to each and every one of you. Don't squander this impossibly great gift.

Strive to live your life in such a way that on that day when you meet the Savior face to face, he will beam and embrace you and call you "Friend." What greater compliment, in heaven or earth, could be given?

Week 14

I don't like thinking about my last words. As cool as it sounds sometimes it really is an awful thought to think about dying. I am one of those guys that would enjoy dying in his sleep. That way nobody sees you kick the bucket and it is not as sad for others to actually see someone die. By dying in my sleep, I will have no words to mutter as I pass into the after life. Sleeping is very peaceful to me, and so I believe that dying in my sleep would be a pretty relaxed way to go. This way I don't have to endure the pain and suffering of being awake and trying to decide on what the heck I am going to say as my last words. If you think about this, it is quite an ordeal. In about two minutes or less you have to come up with an inspirational speech to those that love and care for you. This idea frustrates me and I almost feel that I need to write a paper on it so I can have drafts to revise and edit, just so I can say the right thing. If I knew my time was up I guess I would write a letter to friends and family expressing my gratitude for them and all of the good times we had. Actually on second thought, I believe this to be too mushy and it would also take a lot of time and effort to compile a memoir of sorts. If I knew my time was up, the absolute last thing I would be doing is spending my time writing some dang letter. I would be out in the world living it up! I would be golfing, fishing, and enjoying others' company. Forget a letter with my last words, I will just make a nice little Facebook post that says something along the lines of, "Hey everybody it's been real. But it hasn't been that real. Smell ya later!" or something smirky like that. This seems like a more correct matter in which I would conduct myself while I'm getting ready to depart this worldly state in which we all currently reside.

My Last Words

I have never really thought about what my last words would be. But, this week I have taken some time to think about if I had a chance to give my last words in this life what they would be. Of course a lot of what I would say would be how grateful I am for so many people in my life and how much I love them. Another thing that I thought a lot about was my 6 nieces and nephews. All of my siblings are much older and I feel like I missed out a lot because of that. It ended up that I got nieces and nephews that seem like younger siblings at times. They are the ones that I would really like to write my last words to if I had to.

There are two things that I would want them to learn from my last words. The first thing is something that has really helped me through a lot in my life. It is a talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, " Come what may and love it." There has not been one day of my life that has been perfectly easy. But, no matter what happens sometimes you just have to think " come what may and love it" and make the best of the situation you are put in. The second thing that I would want to tell them is something that my stake president told me when I graduated high school. He said that, "the best advice is the advice you don't want to hear." I found that to be so true so many times in my life. What I want is not always what i need. And when I get advise that is hard to hear it's usually so hard to hear because deep down I know that that is what I need to hear and do.

Au revoir

In a way, this is a good-bye for a little while. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to serve for two years in France, but it is going to be a whole new experience. I have only thirteen days left in Provo, and I will spend most of it locked away in rooms preparing for or taking Finals. I always like to look back at the positives of experiences. Please forgive me, but I am going to take an opportunity to list some of my favorite experiences from my first year at BYU. The image that I will remember best is glancing at the snow covered mountains as the sun shines on campus. I will remember watching The Jimmer. I will always be happy that I went to the SDSU and Wyoming football games, even when nobody I knew was going. My memories of the Swimming Conference Championships, where I broke through and swam well for the first time in years at an end of season meet, are sweet indeed. I will remember the feelings I had when I walked out of the testing center to look at that stupid TV and got scores better than I expected to. I will look back with some pride on the fact that I finally started to come out of my shell towards the end of winter semester. I think that I will laugh when I go home and have church meetings in a place where I have not had classes, study groups, and meetings with professors. I think I will miss walking by buildings with names such as "Smith," "Benson," and "Kimball." I know that the sight of the Lord's Temple, available to me at almost any point in the day now, will carry a greater meaning for me when I don't see one for twenty-two months. I hope that I will be remembered for the good things that I did and accomplished, rather than my many failings or the times I came up short. I hope that I can continue to build on my efforts to be more grateful, as reflecting on the good things in life have made me a much happier person this year. Last of all, I hope to come back with a renewed sense of motivation to accomplish the goals that I have set for myself here at BYU.
"To the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, Adieu."

Week 14

My last words will most definitely be, “make sure to film this.” I don’t know how I’m going to go, but I can tell you that it will be in a blaze of glory, such glory that if it was to be filmed, people wouldn’t cry over my death but laugh about how ridiculous the path was I chose to kick the bucket. That way they could just show the footage at my funeral and people’s sides would be splitting from laughing so much. And they’d say, “that’s so Jacob, man I’ll miss that guy.” Or maybe, “That’s the most cottage cheese I’ve ever seen anybody eat in one sitting, maybe that’s why it ruptured his stomach leading to his utter demise.” The funeral will be brief and loaded with laughing people, just the way I want it. If I knew my time was up in life, I would of course do the usual: tell my family I love them, repent, you know the works. But then I would go to an expensive Chinese buffet and eat like there’s no tomorrow; because there is none. Kind of like the movie Groundhogs Day where he has no regard for what he eats anymore as he lodges an entire éclair down his gullet. I would probably view that world in a better light. The mountains would look more beautiful, the sun would feel warmer, and singing of children would seem less annoying. What I would leave as my legacy, and also what would be important for people to hear, would be to regret nothing! If you make a mistake, learn from it, sure, but yell, “I regret nothing” as you walk out the door. Regretting things leads to sadness and there is just not enough of our precious time on earth to be sitting around regretting things. Do the preparation beforehand so you don’t have to deal with regret; but if you don’t prepare, just face the music and regret nothing. If you ask a girl on a date and she turns out to be engaged, regret nothing! Laugh about it and move on.

Last Week- Last Words

When thinking of this topic it made me really sad. It is like talking to your parents about their will: straight up depressing. I don’t really like to think about dying but when I have to there are many things I would like to say as my last words. First off, I would hope that I have lived my life to its fullest, savoring every last memory and moment. LIfe is too short to take for granted. In the scheme of things, however, our life here on earth is nothing compared to an eternal prospective. It is like an inch on a a string that runs on for miles. My last advice to everyone here would be to not focus on the bad things in life but to cherish the good things. I often find myself thinking about all of my hardships and struggles that I forget to recognize the blessings in my life. I begin to let life slip out of my fingertips and become much more negative. We always need to be optimistic and never let our trials bring us down. Heavenly Father gives them to us to strengthen our testimonies and make us stronger as a person. If we are positive and focus on the blessings in our lives we will realize Heavenly Father’s and Jesus Christ’s hand in our lives. They are always here for us and we must be examples to the world with a bright hope and faith that everything will work out according to their plan for us. I guess what I am trying to say is life is what you make it :)

(Week 14) My Last Words

It may sound a little morbid, but I have thought a lot about what my last words would be if my time were up. Of course, over the years, what I’ve thought my last word would be has changed. When my time is up, whether that be in life, in a relationship, in a specific place, I want my last words to reflect what I’ve learned in my life and what I wish those whom I have encountered throughout my life to understand. When all is said and done, at this stage in my life pertaining to every aspect of it, my last words would be these: “fear is merely a state of mind; one that is conquered by the love and faith of good friends.” When I look back on these last 18 years of my life, I reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly. My ‘last words’ are an accumulation of it all. I’ve realized that the things which I didn’t do that I could have, the things which I did wrong that I should have admitted to, the things I wanted to do but didn’t make time for were the result of fear. In those instances, the times in which I was able to overcome that fear I attribute to the support and love of good friends. Fear is something that affects everyone, some more than others, but we often overlook our ability to diminish fear. We have a power over fear that often goes unrecognized because of how much power we allow fear to have over us. It took me all too long to grasp this concept but it has been something that has given me strength and allowed me to pursue many more things that I have not only wanted for myself but that have bettered my life. This is important for others to hear and implement into their lives because when we use the people around us to overcome the fear that hinders us, we are capable of so much more than we thought we were. Fear is merely a state of mind; one that is conquered by the love and faith of good friends.”

Week 13

When I read just to read I will practically read anything that sounds even remotely interesting. I am an avid reader and have been known to spend an entire day just reading a book. There are a lot of people who don't enjoy reading or are very specific in what they read. I am definitely not one of these people. Reading is one of my favorite past times, and it is so relaxing to me. It is a time when I can just forget about the world around me and an author's world. I enjoy being able to be creative about what I see given the author's description. That is one thing that I love about reading. Everybody can read the same text, but because everybody sees things differently, we all have different images in our minds. This allows for a freedom of imagination, and I believe it is very important for a person to experience. Reading for pleasure can easily take our minds off of the stresses of the world and allow our brains to take a break and stop thinking so hard. Everybody needs to be able to just have fun and enter into an adventure that is placed before them on a page of a book. When I write I often try to think of what I have read in the past that has kept my attention and try to add those elements into my writing. This is a little bit harder when writing academically, because the stories that I like to read are not very structured like academic writing is. I think that I enjoy writing creatively more that academically because I do love to read books so much. Reading books gives me ideas and really gets me motivated to write stories myself. When I am writing I often imagine what I would like to read about and incorporate that into my owns words. Reading for pleasure is something that I really enjoy and I do believe that it is important for people to do on a regular basis. It keeps our minds rested and open, and can also really help improve our writing.

Week 13

What do I read for pleasure? Well, to be honest I have not done a lot a pleasure reading lately. When people ask me why I don't like to read I say it's because I read so much when I was little that now burned out. When I was little I could sit in my room all day just reading. Even now I love to go home and read all the books that remind me of my childhood. My all time favorites were the Berenstain Bears! As I kid I think that reading books like these were very important. Reading books like the Berenstain Bears helped me learn how to read while I was having fun. I think that reading also helps kids to learn morals through the stories and situations in the stories.

In college writing is much more enjoyable than reading for me. Reading is always the same, boring, and without fail it puts me to sleep. I think that there is so much more that you can do make writing pleasurable than reading. Working on my research paper I learned a lot of ways to make writing more enjoyable. One thing that has helped me is to choose a topic that I am actually interested in, especially if it requires research. When I care about the topic research does not seem annoying, it is interesting when I find something new about my topic. Another thing that helped make the writing process better was thinking about the topic in a new way. I tried to think of ways to do research that were less traditional. Not only did this give me better and more interesting information but it was more enjoyable than normal research!

Week 13

People read all of the time. Everyday we read something we see whether it be at school, on our computers, or driving on the road. Reading is necessary for everyday life and without it mankind could not function or communicate. Communication is not only important for survival but it also is very important for an individuals success. I read not only because I have to for school and stuff, but because I find it rather enjoyable too. I don't find myself reading novels or anything like that because it is quite frankly hard to find the time to do so, but when I do have a little spare time I like to read articles on the Internet. It is so easy to pull up pages on topics that interest me through the World Wide Web. So much information is available to everyone who desires it. After a quick google search, you can have the info you want in milliseconds. I am truly thankful for this great invention. For pleasure reading, I find myself mostly on websites such as ESPN.com and SportsIllistrated.com. I am a huge sports fan and enjoy nothing more than a nice sports article on one of my favorite players, teams, or coaches. This is what interests me the most because of how in touch I like to stay with the sporting world. I like to know the latest info and being kept up to date so that I can talk on sports subjects with my friends. This way I can make knowledgeable comments and sound like I know what I'm talking about, even if I really don't know everything on the topic. Sports articles make this possible for me. I believe reading for pleasure is very important. It's one thing to read for your classes, but I believe that just as much learning is achieved by reading something that actually interests an individual. A lot more attention is achieved when people read something that is meaningful to them. It is a whole lot easier for me to recall an article about the BYU basketball team, rather than reading for a history quiz. The basketball article is just more intriguing for me than history reading. This is why I believe that reading for fun is important; it triggers more memory. I try to write on more pleasurable topics too. I feel that I am more involved in my writing when I write on something I enjoy.

Week Whatever - Reading for fun

I actually used to read a lot when I was younger. Tons. My mom would have to come in my room and tell me to stop reading because I stayed up so late doing it. Unfortunately, sometime around my junior year of high school, that wore off. Now, I barely ever read. But when I do get the time or make myself read, my favorite books to read are fantasy books. I always feel kinda dumb telling people, but hey at least my intelligence is high enough to have those books not include Twilight..... anyway. My favorite series of all time has to be the Wheel of Time series. It's a fantasy adventure series, very similar to the Lord of the Rings, but more in depth and frankly a lot more complicated (maybe why I stopped reading...). Almost every single one has been the #1 New York Times bestseller for at least a week, and it's definitely just. They are great. The most reading I do is probably either for school (boring) or on random websites. My most frequented website is called comicbookmovie.com , a news central for movies based on, you guessed it, comic books. I'm a comic nerd beneath the surface, to the point where yuppie Dark Knight and Heath-Joker obsessors bug me. It's very interesting, I like feeling one step ahead of the public in knowing about movies, like the next Batman movie, and Thor, and Captain America. I'm a movie buff, so it's a great site for me. I also like to read movie reviews and either be edified and enjoy them, or hate on them and get irritated (cough Ebert is off his rocker, seriously cough). Good stuff, but not particularly beneficial I guess. Maybe I should start reading more!

Week 13

What do I read for pleasure? Let me tell you. Nothing humors me more than reading the comments on sports websites concerning the recent outcomes of sports game, namely college sports. Whenever a team loses to BYU, or when a team loses a really close game due to a botched referee call or huge mistake by a player, the comments are incredible. For example, when Boise State lost to Utah State in football this year due to, not only one, but two field goals, I could’ve read the comments bashing the kicker Kyle Brotzman for hours. And I did. People can be so clever, and relentless, when they are filled with fury. Reading for pleasure is important because it reminds us that it isn’t just for busywork, as it is usually perceived as such in regards to school reading. Reading chemistry or geography books for class does not fall under the category of pleasurable reading for me, and if I never created time for recreational reading, I would look at the general idea of reading with utter disgust. Reading for pleasure is also a stress reliever. Being able to temporarily separate oneself with the hectic world we live in can really cultivate serenity and forces relaxation. Although, even this can cause problems: I’ve known a select few of my peers who rely too heavily on escaping reality through reading, and they eventually through their lives out of balance because all their time is spent reading. However generally, reading for yourself is healthy and can be truly enjoyable. When I think about how to make writing more enjoyable for me, I consider the papers I’ve had the most fun writing in my past. Whenever I am able to express my sense of humor and really try to instill my voice in the paper, that’s when I have the most fun. For example, I can’t really instill my sense of humor during a rhetorical analysis, however my senior year we wrote a descriptive paper on something we hate, and I loved it! I chose grits, and implanting my own voice and opinion made the paper actually fun to write.

Week 14: Harry Potter :)

What I read for pleasure is two words: Harry Potter. I love all of the books and have ready them two times and also love the movies. The happiness I receive from these novels is beyond great!

I didn’t start reading Harry Potter until the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published. I cheated and read that book first. It was the start of my new found obsession. I was addicted. All I would ever do was read them and watch the movies. Just about a month ago I found a smacking deal at Costco (the best place in the whole entire world); all six movies together were on sale for 35 dollars. SO CHEAP! It honestly made my day :).

Reading for pleasure is very important to me because it allows me to escape this world and enter into a new one where I can imagine the characters to be just how I want them to be. It lets me realize that reading is a great thing and not always so boring like a history textbook could be classified as. No offense to history but when one chapter takes me two hours to read it becomes very hard to keep my brain focused. However, when reading for pleasure there is no certain number of chapters I have to read or certain quiz I have to take; I am solely reading for pure enjoyment.

How this pertains to writing is looking at the clean sheet as something that you can make into your own masterpiece through the words that you write. Reading for pleasure allows my brain to relax and writing should also. It should allow us to relieve stress as we write whether what is on our mind, a research paper, or a letter. We are able to put our own words onto the page and truly make our paper ours.

Les Mis and Harry Potter

So the only thing that I have read “for pleasure” in the last twelve months is a condensed English version of the book Les Miserables, and technically I haven’t finished it yet. Over the summer I was pretty much booked out thanks to an onslaught of required readings my final semester of high school. Then came BYU, with fifty hours of homework a week, plus swimming, class, and if I found some time to eat or talk to people I jumped at the chance. I do think reading for pleasure is important. If you have the time, reading a book can let you escape into another world. I always enjoyed leaving my problems behind for half an hour to read about the problems that other people are having, even if the characters are fictional. I think that is why I enjoyed the Harry Potter series so much. When I picked up a Harry Potter book, I could just forget my problems for a couple of hours and think about what Harry should do. Because the plot was based in a fictional universe that I had never been to, I didn’t understand anything better than he did – until the later novels anyway – and therefore felt comfortable trying to analyze his problems and attempting to create potential solutions. I do not know if I have ever been able to change how pleasurable any one writing assignment is for me. I try to choose an interesting topic, but after that I do not think I can alter how much I will enjoy the assignment. If I get to give my own opinion on something that I am interested in and have significant, logical evidence to back my position, chances are that I will really enjoy writing my paper. If I am writing a paper that has a topic of no interest to me and drags on aimlessly forever, I will want to kill myself before I finish it (i.e. my Junior Research Paper on a book that I hated). Reading for pleasure is much different than writing for pleasure. I can pick up a good book anytime, if I think I have time to actually read it. On the other hand, I will probably never write a sentence if I don’t feel that it is absolutely necessary for one reason or another.

Week 13: Literacy

Literacy is the ability to read and write. I would expand this definition to: The ability to feed a growing curiosity, satisfying it all the while. For example, I imagine walking into a library. I walk towards the nonfiction section, divided into general broad categories. What do I want to learn? There are cookbooks, which inspire me to try cooking. There are those how-to books, for practical law stuff and financial stuff, the kind of stuff that you hear about but don't necessarily understand what it is when you're so young. There are foreign language books for French, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. There are even books commentating about current events in the US, like the war in Iraq. Upon looking at these various topic of information and more, my curiosity is ignited. It's like my curiosity is a pleasantly light stomach, ready with plenty of room to devour decadent desserts (as opposed to being so stuffed that you can't enjoy another bite). It's like, the more knowledge I "eat," the more satisfying feeling I get, just like eating 15 Reese's cups (no holding back). Getting mentally exhausted from happily reading late into the night is like being stuffed with all my favorite foods: pleasant and ready to drift off into blissful sleep.

As for the writing side of literacy, it's okay, I guess. It's the means of reading: something has to be written for it to be read. Writing is a great outlet when I write in my journal. It's fun to read back on, and a great way to get memories stored to be relived over again with each re-reading. I love reading some of the funny things that happen in life, and my comments. It is almost like enjoying a work of fiction or a bedtime story, but way more vivid, since I can remember actually being there and remember details of the 5 senses instead of just imagining. There are benefits to writing to persuade people; I'm probably biased towards reading just because writing to an audience with care takes some work.

Lastly, a strange mix of reading and writing I enjoy is reading about creative writing. Mostly, this is interesting because I like reading fiction that I enjoy, so it's fun to understand what makes fiction good for when I try to make up my own stories. It's like mythbusters in a way: learning the elements of fiction also applies to fiction on TV and in movies, so when I see really good movies, I can identify what specific plot device I enjoyed about them (although it's been a while and I can't think of specific stuff- I read about character development a bit). It's also nice to be able to understand why I don't enjoy a movie: I can say that it had a plot that relied on a coincidence (like a person dying in a car crash, being cliche) which doesn't make for that intriguing of a plot in some cases.

One of my favorite things to read about fiction is Mary Sues and Gary Stus. These are characters that seem to be "perfect" and it's pretty funny to read about them: Chances are, every writer has made a character like that before, so it's relatable. It's fun to wonder, is Harry Potter a Gary Stu? In some ways, yes. Mary Sues and Gary Stus aren't always a bad thing, but they are fun to poke fun at. :)

(Week 13) Literacy: (n.) The ability to....

Literacy is generally defined as the ability to read and write, but to me it is so much more than that. Yes, reading and writing is important but the two together hold no real importance in our lives without understand of what is being read or written. Comprehension has a great significance in the definition of literacy. We communicate with one another these days through reading and writing more than we ever have in the history of the world. Our understanding what is being conveyed to us or what we want to convey to other people makes all the difference. Words are an amazing tool that we have be blessed to have at our disposal. Each word has it owns place in literature and can redefine our perceptions of so many things.
Literacy is language and the use of language in reading and writing. To be literate in one country is not the same as being literate in another. I’m not talking about language barrier but rather the way in which words are used. For example, in our country, we use the phrase ‘I don’t care’ when asked about our opinion or our preferences on something. In Spanish, ‘I don’t care’ is ‘no me importa’ which literally translated means ‘its not important to me’. This phrase in Spanish is portrayed the same way ‘I don’t care’ is in the U.S. to say that phrase it its Spanish version comes off as being offensive to many. Our comprehension of our very own languages and their use in our lives is different among people and cultures. Literacy, with my added definition of its need for comprehension, is then different all around the world. It is truly amazing.
Literacy in my life has made a great impact on me. I love to read and I do it all the time, whenever I can. My love for books has lead me to learn and appreciate things so much more than I did before I began reading as much as I do now. Of course, a lot of that comes with age and personal experience, but I attribute a lot of my knowledge to what I have read; whether that be in a newspaper, magazine, book, journal etc. I am thankful for literacy because it is not only a way to communicate, gain understand, and even expand my imagination, but it is a way to preserve those things long term, something the world didn’t ever think would be possible thousands of years ago.

Week 12- Makeup Week- Favorite Foodski :)

What is there not to like about cookies when they are warm and just melt in your mouth? I am so thankful that the dutch accidentally made “koekje” or “little cakes”- what are now known as cookies. Cooks back in the day would use a small amount of cake batter to test their oven before baking a cake. The marvelous thing that happened to result from this practice was the single-serving size cookie. The Dutch popularized the cookie in the United States. Years later, in the 1930s, an innkeeper in Massachusetts with the name of Ruth Wakefield ran out of nuts while making cookies. Thank goodness for this tragedy because she decided to substitute chunks of a chocolate bar instead forming the Toll House Cookie; in other words the famous Chocolate Chip Cookie. The delicious, smooth chocolatey bite delights my taste buds. Just thinking about cookies makes my mouth drool!

However, the best cookies in the world are chocolate chip oatmeal cookies; a summary of my childhood. They are also known as the “DiGiovanni’s Tradition.” At least three times a month my family would gather in the kitchen and makes several batches of our favorite cookies. These chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made the bond between my family grow stronger. Now when I make a visit home to Texas during BYU breaks, the first words that come out of my siblings’ mouths are “Who wants to make the DiGi’s cookies?” Whoever said sweets cannot bring happiness was wrong. I sincerely smile every time I think back to those cookie making days in my California kitchen where flour was draped over the granite counter top. I love thinking of many memories of my childhood and how I have made it to where I am today. Honestly I can say that the legendary chocolate chip oatmeal cookies not only gave my taste buds a treat, but also filled my heart with the love I share for my family and the memorable times we spent together making them.

I honestly revised this paragraph before I even wrote it. By reading everybody else’s comments on how they changed their blog, I already had ideas in my head of the organization I wanted to follow. I had to change a few words here and there, but thanks to ya’ll I did not have to do a whole lot! Hopefully it was not too shabby of a blog!

Week 12: Locks of Love

What if there was a kid who had permanently lost their hair, so it could never grow back? They may have lost their hair due to a disease, such as cancer? They do have the option of getting a wig. But let's say that there was a young 10-year-old girl who played soccer. Would she really want to wear a wig, always worrying about it falling off? Perhaps every day at school, she worries about the wig falling off and humiliating her, or worse, what if other kids decide to play a prank and pull it off at recess? For these kids, there is a solution that will not compel them to avoid sports, and not cause them worry during school. The solution is a high-quality hair piece from the non-profit organization, Locks of Love.

The hair pieces that Locks of Love provides are made from a mold of the child's head, so the cap is a custom fit, vacuum-sealed. So, kids can play sports and run around at recess without worry. Even more, they can shower and swim with the hair piece still on. It is also removable by breaking the vacuum seal at the temples.

The recipient can choose what color and length of hair they want. Then, strands of donated hair is injected into the silicon base, which is a skin-tone color that the child can also choose. Where does this hair come from? One hair piece takes 6 to 10 donated ponytails, at least 10 inches long-- 10 inches would make a jaw-length hair-piece since 2 inches are used in the manufacturing process.

Why not use synthetic hair? Synthetic hair cannot be colored and it can't be flat-ironed or it will "diffuse" (ehow). Also, human hair can last up to one year with proper care, but synthetic lasts only three months. Human hair will fall flat when it gets wet, like normal hair, but synthetic will retain it's posture-- although this makes synthetic hair convenient to maintain, it would seem to be unnatural looking. Overall, human hair will grant these kids in need a chance to live a normal life just like you and me.

So, what can we do to help this non-profit organization? We can help by donating hair (non-bleached and non-colored, because the chemicals would react in the manufacturing process) : and you do not even have to donate lengthy pieces to help. I'll describe ways to help in terms of hair length.

One can help by donating 0 inches of hair by donating money to help pay for the custom hair pieces that would retail around $3,500 - $6,000 each: Locks of Love will give them for free, or a lower price depending on financial need.

One could donate less than 10 inches of hair in a clean, dry ponytail or braid. It won't be long enough for a custom hair piece, but can be sold to help pay for the costs.

One could donate 10 inches of hair, which would be enough to make a jaw-length hair piece.

One could donate 15 or more inches of hair, which will give recipients the option of choosing a longer-lenghted wig.

So, the next time you are getting a hair cut, why not consider forming a ponytail to cut off instead of letting it get thrown away? If it is under 10 inches, if it's long enough (I don't know the minimum for selling) it might be able to help the costs of Locks of Love hair pieces. It takes a little bit of time to send it in, and if everyone did it, the benefits can add up. Let's help these children live a great life full of everything life has to offer.

* For details about how to send donations/etc., visit the Locks of Love website.

Works Cited

http://www.locksoflove.org/

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5011197_hair-vs-human-hair-weave.html

(Week (12) Faith and Truth

My grandmother often sends my siblings and I articles she had been reading on LDS.org that cover a large range of religious topics. One of the many she sent us this week was called Faith and Truth. As I read through the article, a lot of things popped out at me. I thought for the free blog topic this week I would share with you guys some of the things I picked up on.
When I think of faith, I generally think of something that is more often hoped for than actually known to be true. For me personally, though I have faith in the truthfulness of the gospel, I never had ever directly seen the correlation between faith and truth by definition. In actuality, faith and truth are rooted in the same Hebrew translation. I should have understood this by means of having faith in Jesus Christ or God our father. Both are true, living beings in which we have faith of their existence and power.
Prior to reading this article, I hadn’t understood the parallel between the word truth and the name Jesus. Where I had once believed truth to come from that of Jesus, they are actually synonymous words- one in the same meaning. This is easily exemplified when Nephi writes, “I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus.” Jesus is not merely the origin of all truth but he IS truth. This truth is an accumulation of many aspects of his godliness: knowledge, love, grace etc. This idea is encompassed in the definition of truth found in D&C and the definition of Christ. In D&C it states, “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come” whereas Jesus is referred to he “which is, and which was, and which is to come.” The meaning of these two things sheds light what truth really is. When we have faith in Christ, we are brought directly to the truth. This whole concept is important to grasp because it is through truth that we are saved and capable of living with our father in heaven and our beloved brother again. Knowing the truth is to know god, through which we are set free.