The First 2007 Summer Post

Hi everybody, right now as I'm writing this I am in Utah, living with Ryan and Becca. I suppose that it will take a while for this post to get out, considering the amount of material I have to write. Anyway the first part consists of the Black Belt Ceremony.

The Ceremony itself was at 4:30, I had to show up 1 1/2 an hour early, and for good reason too. The rehearsal was, tedious, to say the least. The little kids were the ones who got most of the ritual stuff wrong. The rehearsal barely ended on time. An interesting thing to mention is that we did a portion of the actual ceremony without our belts on. It was a funny feeling, considering how it was the belt that held my uniform together, (the reason why is that the strings of my particular uniform had fallen off.) so I had to have a little clip attached to mine. The lights had been turned off, and the room was lighted by candles, giving it an "atmospheric" effect in Dad's terms. Using a Pro Fogger machine they created a fake fog, you know, the kind that you see in amusement parks for "special effects". It was pretty neat. The picture below resembles the machine they used.

Other interesting things to note was that there was a gift exchange. The student (that's me) would give his instructor a .999% pure silver dollar as a show of gratitude for being a black Belt. At first this was a problem for Dad and I and it was Mom's brilliant idea that we should go to Uncle Murray and Aunt Laurie for it. By Thursday we managed to get it, (To Uncle Murray and Aunt Laurie: Thanks a million, you really saved my hide!)

However, two weeks before the Ceremony Mrs. Yee had given me a paper in the which said that apart from the Silver Dollar the student was to give an explanation of his/her gratitude. To be honest I did not know what to say so I put it off until Dad started bugging me the day of the actual Ceremony. I ended up typing 5 lines of stuff, which I thought would be short, sweet, sincere, and to the point. However, I forgot to take the paper with me as Dad and I were driving to the studio. Now I was a bit concerned about what I was going to say, and I asked Heavenly Father for help. In the end I was grateful that I had forgotten it because everybody else was saying stuff about 2-3 lines long. My written out speech would've been looooooong in comparison to everybody else's (albeit it would have been 10 seconds,) speeches. About 90% of their explanations of gratitude were either metaphors for journeys to becoming black belts or "new beginnings". I just winged it, but I made sure what I said was sweet and sincere. There was also a drinking of tea. This was supposed to be, at least I think, some reference or drawback to the fact that any serious Korean ceremony had tea in it. Anyway we were supposed to drink the tea and I was scared that I might have to speak up and say that I don't drink tea. I was literally thinking "Ah crud, a missionary moment," and then Mrs. Yee said it was Japanese green tea and I remembered that Dad and Mom used to drink it and so I let out an inward sigh of relief. The green tea wasn't half bad, at least that's the impression I got from sipping it. I also got a rock from Mr. and Mrs. Yee which I guess they do for every new Black Belt, but they aren't ordinary rocks, they are special rocks with our names on them which remind them of us. Anyway after the Ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Yee took us Black Belts out to Sunny's Kitchen, where us Black Belts got free grub. Poor Dad got food poisoning and was feeling sick on Father's Day.

Moving on, this section of the post is devoted to a brief summary of Father's Day. I went to Grandma and Grandpa Boothe's house with poor Dad, who got food poisoning. Anyway I beat Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Debbie, and their friends Sandy and Vern (Feel free to correct me if I got the names wrong.) at Crazy Nines. Also while I was there I also came across a book that Grandma was reading, which was called "The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics"

This is what it looks like. Basically I started reading what was known as "Mere Christianity". Man, C.S. Lewis is brilliant! I loved every word I was reading! Anyway Dad has been pressuring me to use my Target gift cards, so now maybe I will use them, now that I now that there is something I want to buy.

And now part three of the post: My trip to Utah with Mom. We left at 4:15 a.m Monday morning. The trip basically took 11 hours, with few stops. Anyway we got to Ryan and Becca's place, which was basically a basement (hey, it was more spacious and better than it sounds). It was awesome seeing Ryan and Becca again. We also got to eat pizza from the place that Becca worked at.

I ate 5 slices for the record, not to mention I got to finish their Root Beer, which I was only so happy to do so. So on the first night we watched the edited version of Crash.

It was a bit dramatic for my taste. It had its funny moments here and there, but overall it was dramatic. The movie lacks a protagonist and antagonist, but it deals with the issues of racism, that everybody sort of contributes to it, that it isn't just "black and white" as Ryan put it, and I totally believe it. This led to our discussion of racism the following day.

Another movie I saw there was the Last Samurai. I like that movie a lot because it has great amounts of action and Japanese culture (especially Samurai culture) intrigues me. It is not the happiest movie ever but it's nonetheless a great movie.

Then we had to help Ryan and Becca pack. This has definitely has led me to believe that those Fransican monks were onto something when they talked about living without material possessions. I thought I was going to need an adjustment after that, luckily I didn't need one and the fact that I ate the majority of the two pizzas Becca bought us made all worth it in the end. We said our goodbyes and then Mom and I headed for the Hampton Inn at Thanksgiving Point for Lyle and Ciara's wedding. Despite the fact that we had to "hurry to wait" as Mom put it, it was still awesome to see the Schofield family. On the day of the wedding I can remember having to hurry up in terms of getting dressed, then after having to scramble to the Mount Timpanogos temple we, (those who couldn't go into the sealing room) went to Little Caesar's and got two pizzas. I basically ate almost both of them by myself, but I restrained myself, a bit.

It was chaos when those two came out, people were scrambling about trying to get pictures, and trying to get organized. This event has confirmed my belief that when I get married, the pictures will not be a huge part of the marriage, and I hope that I can cut the waiting time in half. Nevertheless it was still worth going to.

Shortly after the wedding, and after Mom and I got home it was already time for me to pack up for Scout Camp. I didn't leave with my ward on Sunday, because I felt that it wasn't proper Sabbath Day Observance. Brother Neville, one of my leaders and the one who suggested we leave on Sunday, had noted this and felt that I was a special kid.

The highlights of Scout Camp for me was when I did the Mile Swim. It has greatly increased my confidence for Swimming, and it's the boost I need in order to get back into Swimming. I also got the Pioneer Campers award, an award that you can only get from Camp Chawanakee, the Camp I went to. The way one receives this award is that they had to have Scout Spirit, and more importantly your Scoutmaster has to pick you. Anyway, those who got the award camped outside in their sleeping bags. I slept soundly that night. I got the Fingerprinting merit badge and the Environmental Science merit badge. In the way home we got food from In-n-Out Burger, on account of the fact that we got 112/100 points in our Campfire Inspection. You see, while up at camp, they had inspectors who inspected our campsites and gave us points off of a certain criteria that they gave us. Brother Neville said that if we got over 107 points (a record set by another troop within our stake) he'd take us all out to In-n-Out Burger.

Two weeks later I left for a Canoeing trip with others guys from my ward. My Scoutmaster and I were in a kiyak while "The General" (a nickname we'd given Brother Drescher who rowed in a raft with all of our gear) was in a raft, Brian Lewis (one of the guys on the trip) and his dad were in another kiyak, while Dean, Cody, and Joey (three older guys who also went on the trip) were in a three-man-raft. We rowed over many Class 2 rapids, which are basically harmless. At the end of the trip we went over a Class 3 rapid, which was pretty darn fun. We jumped on a rope swing, which was a heap of fun. We also played a lot of Scumbag, which was only fun for me on Wednesday, just because that was the only day I stayed as President. We ate a lot of beans, pork, stew, and sandwiches with only meat. After four days of that it is of little wonder why we went to an Indian grocery store and bought sandwiches, apple fritters, and chips. Eating that stuff felt like heaven in my stomach. On the trip home we ate at In-n-Out Burger, which definitely felt heaven in comparison to what we ate.

So, moving on, just this Tuesday my Scoutmaster called me "his motor". It gave me a sense of pride. Yesterday Mom and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I felt disappionted at the movie. Oh well, that's what I get when I have high expectations of a movie adapted from the book. It is my belief that someday, when I'm older, that I will go and make higher caliber Harry Potter movies, starting from the third movie on since I like the first two.

I've also seen The Illusionist. For those who have seen the Prestige, think of that, only set in Eastern Europe and minus the all-star cast and that's what this movie is. It's a must see for everybody who reads this post.

Well these are my Summer Adventures, I hope I can have more, and I am sorry that I haven't written this post sooner.

Love,

Grant.