Psychology + Philosophy, or is that VS?

I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and walked away with 4 years + worth of learning for a lifetime (of knowledge and learning-skills). One conclusion I had walked away with from the BYU campus with was this: Psychology is an anti-philosophy.

I almost cringed when I heard people trying to expllain to other people about who I was, "Oh yeah, he's studying psychology at school!" My Grandma was the most famous for saying that.

It doesn't bother me so much any more, simply because it opens the door to let me correct a common misconception... They are not the same thing! Almost just as famous of a misconception is that philosophy is evil.

Ironically that idea comes from the truest of all things: the gospel of Jesus Christ and even from the temple ("... philosophies of men, mingled ..."). Nothing could be further from the truth! As an ex-philosophy student you might find yourself thinking that I have just been completely "won-over" or "duped" or that I am so far into the forrest that I can't see the trees. Stop though... No, that's right, just STOP!!! Now realize that all philosophy is a way to find THE TRUTH and isn't a corrupted gospel.

Philosophy is not an anti-truth or teachings from the anti-Christ or Satan. I think, in fact, like I've said already, that there is only one perfect philosophy: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My point (yes, I do have a point and am not intending to ramble...) is that Psychology is, in fact, an anti-philosophy or an anti-truth. And what do we learn from the Lord himself? In Doctrine and Covenants section 93, verse 24 and 25, we read that:

24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;
25 And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.

When you are teaching young impressionable minds, please only teach the truth and the means for discovering the truth for yourself...

JPS

Presents and Gifts...

Today all but (1) book and (1) gift-card arrived at my door (and were promptly whisked down to my room and plopped on my bed, courteous Brenda Joy Stott [a.k.a. MOM]) in plenty of time to hand out for Christmas (no, I didn't forget that I could have written Xmas and it would have carried the same weight...).

You really don't have any reason to be excited for this seemingly large accomplishment, because almost all of my Christmas shopping, so far, has been done online and most of my presents are the same thing...

I've got a whopper of a good present though for my best friend. He could know what it is already, I mean... I wouldn't be surprised if he did know what it is. Both that I got Teresa a Xmas present (that is one of those many-of-the-same-gifts-presents, but it just so happens to be something that I've planned on getting for her since about April of this year).

I guess I'm not so much proud of myself for having my shopping done (and it's not even December yet...) as I am feeling the weight lifted from my neck/head for accomplishing my first Christmas present giving, by myself, since I've been home from my mission (every Xmas shopping I've done since I've been home from my mission was with Stephanie and she did most of the purchasing/buying and we just "both" gave them away...).

So then... What is my point? Well, if you'll read back a few posts you'll be at my post on "giving-instead-of-getting" and you'll see why I'm so happy to be all ready to give away those special gifts that I've hand-selected for each person on my nice list ***that reminds me that I need to watch ELF soon!!!***.

JPS

Credit Cards and Slavery...

I suppose that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I'm sure that this would include all of those of you are reading "Josh's random entries"...) have already heard talks and talks and testimonies of the Evils of Debt and of using a credit card...

I would just like to add my personal testimony of the evilness of credit cards. Not just that debt on a credit card can be dangerous, though, I am testifying of the inherit immorality of the companies that own, run, and offer credit cards.

They not only don't care about you and would just as soon sell your bones once you've died (and thus have NO compassion), but they also are crooked in their dealings and out-right lie about what they are doing to you!!!

Just follow the Brethren and don't fall into the snake-pit called credit card debt...

JPS

Xmas or Christmas?

I used to kind of get offended when someone wrote the word "XMAS" on their Christmas decorations (and I suppose I could still talk about it enough that I get myself are-angrified...), but ever since I took a year-and-a-half of Ancient Greek, I've understood where that practice began.

You see, I used to say, "People [you!] are just blatantly taking Christ OUT of Christmas." The only decent and Christian part about the holiday, I would have argued, has just been "X"-ed out. I understood the "X" in Xmas to be a "wild card" letter or a question mark or a common and everyday variable (much like in math. Where x = 5 in x + 20 = 25).

After I gained a little more knowledge and incite about language, I learned that the "X" was an early christian symbol for Christ. In fact, both the fish (like all of the "Jesus Fish" stickers and symbols on cars) as well as the letter "X" (in Ancient Greek, a word meaning "messiah", which is what Jesus Christ is was written: Χριστός...).

So, in essence, Xmas means, literally: Christ Mas or the celebration of Christ or now that we've englishicized it: Christmas.

I suppose you could still get offended at it because we no longer speak greek or are familiar with the everyday language that Christ spoke (Greek... That is Ancient Greek...) and so be offended because we are not taking the symbol in the context in which it originated (or maybe because the people now using Xmas don't really understand what they're saying, but then again, if we want to push things that far, I'm going to come to your house and be offended at your lifestyle and the way that you are being irreverant and neigh unto blasphemous!).

Just give the X in Xmas a break, or better yet, read a little and find out that it actually is simply a shorthand way of writing Christ-mas. It's up to you...

JPS

Music in my brain...

Why is it that it seems like my best thinking is done when accompanied by music? Whenever I sit down to write a letter I have music playing in the background. Why is that?

When I was in the hospital doing in-patient therapy after my car accident, my vocational-therapist, Mark, had me take an IQ-ish test twice: once with no distraction and once while I had another job to work on. The end result was that he was testing whether I would achieve the same results, worse results, or better results if I was "slightly distracted" by another task.

His conclusion at the end of the therapy was that I perform better when I have something like music (not anything that would consume my mind or emotions...) going in the background, though I'm quite sure that this was always the case. As much as

I'm not sure if the same thing would have been said before the accident, but it's defiantly true since the brain damage... Since the accident, also, I've become painfully aware of the dangers of constantly filling your head with music (like those that never don't have an earpiece in their ear listening to their iPod...) and thus, make themselves essentially "deaf" to the whisperings of the Spirit and the yells and warnings from their loved ones.

Though, it's true that "listening-to-music" can be abused, it just makes sense to me that everybody would perform better with some music playing in the background. Maybe it's an idea created from watching movies, but every scene in life should have it's own background music! Music, it is well known and proven, increases your capacity to memorize and thus increases your capacity to remember what you learn. Some time later I'll have to write about memory, but it music definitely adds to one's memory or capacity to memorize.

Of course you have to remember the singing of praises to your God or the hymns that we sing in church or the carols that we sing during the holidays. My friend, Matt, says that he would like a radio station that just plays Christmas music year-round. I told him that we have invented something for just such an idea: CD players that will always play your own favorite CD of Christmas music...

Music will brighten the gloomiest day and will infuse your soul with the joy of the moment!!!

JPS

What's in a name?

I mean, wouldn't a rose by any other name be as sweet? But then again... Would it? I mean, would giving somebody a dozen [something that you detest and possibly causes you to vomit] wouldn't be the same. Not by a long shot!

I'm not saying that calling a rose by any other name wouldn't forever brand that something with the idea of beauty, but in just the same way, calling a rose by the name that you now have-embedded-in-your-head-as-something-awful would forever stain the idea of a "rose."

I'm sure that most names you could get used to switching the word in language and call it something else, because you would eventually come to know that as the item itself. It all goes back to the Philosophy of Language (one of my favorite classes at BYU...) and the saying vs. the said.

For example, I used to call Stephanie "Sweet" as a nickname, and that worked well and didn't have any linguistic or metaphoric conflicts. I was simply calling her by a name that embodied how I felt about her. However, I doubt that calling her a name that you might hear in an elementary or Jr. High school would have meant the same thing (and would have been entirely insulting to hear...).

When you call your wife by some other name, is it her name or what-you-mean-when-you-say-that-name that has the meaning? Again, we're back to the saying vs the said (I learned the fantastic pneumonic device of hyphenating-words-like-I-do in that philosophy class as well. A terribly all-around great class!!!). Like I was just saying, if it is a "new" name (or a nick-name...) then you simply attach or associate that word to the person. However, if it's a name or a word that you have already attached some unpleasant meaning to it, then, by association you have just called that person an unpleasant thing. So, in essence Juliet was wrong because a rose by some names simply wouldn't smell as sweet.

JPS

Fix you...

I'm listening to "Fix You" by Coldplay, on their X&Y album, and I saw a dumb sitcom on TV today about this brother who ended up in a string of bad relationships because he always was sympathetic to the girl's plight and jumped in to "rescue" the girl. This move always ended up in tragedy, with his heart being broken while in the midst of trying to solve the girl's problems. I feel for this poor guy and can feel myself in his place a lot of the time.

What is it about some guys (or maybe even most guys if not ALL guys) that makes them think that if there is a problem with the girl that they are interested in or seeing/spending time with, they think that they can and need to solve the problems of that girl?

I think that part of the reason is that it all comes back down to the "trying to get the girl syndrome" or they feel like if the take the burdens of the girl on their own back, then the girl will be interested in them--if for no other reason than they are currently carrying that burden. I am often in the same situation: Recently I tried to take on the financial burden of a girl that I was dating before she left on her mission. She kindly declined my help...

Can you see, I was and am trying to get into the fix-you relationships!

The thing is... I figure that getting into a relationship is kind of "signing-up" for a hard life and, therefore, necessarily is volunteering to fix one another. I just can't wait to be in a relationship where we are both trying to fix ourselves and simultaneously do-our-part-to-make-the-other's-life better...

JPS

It's no fun when you're sick (and you're not going to be able to help anyone else!)

So then, for about a full week I haven't been feeling that great. I guess that it started effecting my daily routine that first week and hasn't really been much better ever since that first day.

I guess it's good though to remind me how much we all are (and I am too!) dependant on the Lord and his blessings.

My mom has a similar strain of virus to whatever it is that I have and today I walked into the kitchen and said something to at the family room. A female voice answered me and I thought that it was my sister. When I finally went back to the family room, I saw, though, that it was my mother who had answered me. From what she had said and from the little conversation that we had, I immediately went in and asked my dad to come and give her a blessing (because she was not functioning like she should be.

He came in and blessed her and then blessed me, and I asked out loud, "Why is it, do you think, that we as a family and as a people generally not look to the Priesthood to help resolve these problems?" Ok, maybe I didn't use such elegant language (not that I write too terribly well or speak so masterfully...). I just remember reading about Joseph Smith almost condemning the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for "relying on the arm of flesh" instead of humbling themselves and allowing the priesthood that surrounds them (and us, I might add...) to bless them.

Think of how many lives of other people we are failing to bless because we are not well or we are failing to get healed any quicker that the Dramamine or penicillin to take effect and kill our parasites. Too many hours are wasted!!!

I know that I am the probably the first to try and plow though a sickness and rely on my prayers and faith to help me through it. BUT, why don't I let someone else use their faith (and I can continue to use my own...) and allow them to utilize and exercise their God-given-Priesthood-Power. If you think about it in this way... You are selfishly denying someone that opportunity!

My son, Addison, just bore his testimony last Sunday about how he knows that the Priesthood blessings given to he and I, after our accident helped us to heal and possibly saved our lives! I love the faith that was planted into his heart just from saying those words...

I pray that we will all be able to help those around us to the best of our abilities because we are humble enough to ask for a Priesthood Blessing when we should be healed from a malady or sickness (don't think you're "saving your faith for something bigger" because, you're NOT! You're just NOT exercising your faith, at all!!!).

JPS

Thanksgiving is here, Thanksgiving is here!!!

[turning down my McCartney music so that I can concentrate on something other than his music and what I'm usually thinking of when his music is on...]

So, we have a big fat turkey and maybe some ham, but most importantly of all... We can eat a lot and even many pies! What is this all for?

I don't really want a nice historical recounting of the pilgrims and their first harsh and almost last winter and then being rescued by the Indians who shared their bountious meals with them. What do I want to know then?

What are you thankful for? For this year? For your whole life?

I think that, and even for me, the third Thursday in November has become something other than a "day of thanksgiving" but has turned into a little "pre-christmas-warmup". Thanksgiving should be a day when we really count all of the good gifts and blessings that God has given us; both infinite and eternal--we need to think of the mountains of blessings that God has given us as well as the blessings that he has given us to enjoy forever.

He has given us 1) our bodies, our minds, and our spirits (then dare to contemplate your family and families that you belong to and each of the spirits that you are brother or sisters with...). He has given us our 2) earth to live on (then think outwardly to all the countless planets and stars in just our universe alone and then venture on beyond that [ok, don't be careful to not hurt yourself thinking of this stuff...]. He has given us 3) our Gospel, our church, and the Priesthood (if you dare, think of all the things this blessing has jurisdiction over and all of the blessings that you are permitted to participate in...).

He has also given us the eternities and everything that's included in that concept: the eternal blesings the each of the infinite blessings we've remembered will enjoy for, how long? Eternity.

Just think of it this way: You think that just infinite is an impossible concept to understand, but then just remember that all of those infinite points stretch forever and are eternal! Every one of those points that line up on an X axis go forever and then remember that we can stretch the points on the Y axis forever too. Then imagine, if you will, that we add a 4th axis on our 3-dimentional model, becuase we've now entered the point where we add time to this model...

Ok, now come on back. Don't worry about a 4th point at all or time and let your brain start to relax as it simply is Thankful (possibly because you can just deal with thinking of things as you have seen them act in the world?!?).

All right... Now that we've started you thinking of how much you should be thnkful for, just remember that you should turn off that bowl-game/football playoff/violent legal-gladiator-game and discuss what this holiday really means. Then, of course, eat more pie. Remember that you should always come back to that part of the night: pie-eating!

JPS

Prepare, don't make flight...

Several times in the scriptures it talks about leaving in flight or going by haste (D&C 133:15-But verily, thus saith the Lord, let not your flight be in haste, but let all things be prepared before you; and he that goeth, let him not look back lest sudden destruction shall come upon him.), but let all things be prepared in the Spirit.

In another verse, the scripture speaks of the "gathering in" of the saints: D&C 58:56-And let the work of the gathering be not in haste, nor by flight; but let it be done as it shall be counseled by the elders of the church at the conferences, according to the knowledge which they receive from time to time.

I have found though, the voice of authority on "moving too quickly" when Joseph Smith Jr. wrote in 1832: "I do not care how fast you run on the path of virtue... There is no danger in going too fast in that path" (spoken to a newly formed Relief Society in the upper room of his "red-brick-store").

What am I so defensive about? Am I fighting a war in which there is no opposing side? Do I seem like I'm going over the edge a little bit? I don't know... I hope that I haven't left the circle-of-saneness and ventured beyond those walls!

I'm not so much "justifying" myself or my actions as I am laying a framework where anyone who enters in can feel safe and protected from the comments coming from outside (even if the comments are only in my head...) Ok, it's me!!! How can I not feel self-conscious about aggressively chasing after a girl when I'm 31 (32 next month... :( and the girl that I'm actively pursuing (even though she is currently half-a-world-away) is only 23.

The thing is... I'm not in a panic-mode or acting like a crazy obsessive man (I don't think...). Things are just going to play out as the should and nobody is going to get the feathers ruffled as they witness the events play-out.

JPS

Paul McCartney revisited...

I seems that I have chosen, for various reasons, to associate my feelings for Teresa with Paul McCarney's music. From the fact that my best friend is Matt (The MDG [themdg.org]) LOVES his music and listens to him as often as he does, McCartney's music is already familiar to me.

I gave already singled-out a few of his songs as being my favorite songs (when it comes to "being in love" with a person [and not necessarily the songs that you would have most likely chosen: "Silly Love Songs", etc.]), but now it seems weird to have a singer/songwriter that I've always-been-familiar-with remind me so quickly and thoroughly about a girl that I have only just met less than one year ago...

The songs now both remind me of her when I hear them, but as I'm reminded of her from something else (like maybe a memory or I hear her name or I hear of a movie that she loves...), the thought of her is accompanied by Mr. Paul McCartney in my mind.

Funny... Funny how the same thing took lace with John Lennon and Stephanie back in High School. Now, I am not condemning anyone but Stephanie to the-pit-of-despair-called-DIVORCE but simply pointing out this fact that the same phenomenon happened with her... It's even funnier that my best friend's practically got McCartney in his basement because he loves him so much and is undoubtedly HIS BIGGEST FAN EVER!!!

I don't know...

I don't want to read things into my-so-called-love-life based on the Beatles and its break-off artists... While I'm not reading things into that relationship though, let me remind you that 1- John Lennon is dead (as well as my relationship with Stephanie: dead) and 2-McCartney is still alive and well and still making terrific music as we speak (just have Matt go in his basement and see when Paul's next album will be released... OK, only kidding about that whole basement thing... I think!).

Also, Matt is now my best friend (still) and has been the only person outside of my immediate family who has "stuck-with-me-through-it-all".

Maybe Paul McCartney just makes me think of "loyalty" -- He stayed with Linda til her untimely death. Am I simply attracted to that feeling of LOYALTY or does McCartney really NOT play a major role in all of this?

JPS

High School feelings again?

What I mean by the title is this: Shouldn't I be old enough and have gained enough life experience that I shouldn't be feeling the same thing (or similar things...) as the days when I was in High School?

To answer my own question: I guess not. I can still have feelings of anxiety, just like the anxiety that I felt when I was in High School, only now, I have "more mature anxiety and anxieties".

I guess that I have called them "High School anxieties or high school feelings" because I honestly haven't felt anxious like that since High School.

What sort of anxieties am I talking about, you ask?

Well, first, I'm trying to get the girl's attention. This should be easier than it used to be, right? Well, yes and no... You see, I now have 10+ years of serious relationship experience, including an entire marriage that I can look back on and learn from. The thing is... Being in love again makes me feel like a little grade-school boy, and honestly, my marriage had some bright moments, but I look at it now as a "what-not-to-do-ever-again" exercise.

Now, though, my anxieties aren't coming from the same things that they used to come from... (I used to be nervous about the new things I was about to encounter/engage in and the new feelings that I was feeling for the first time) Now, though, the anxieties are coming from an "over-kill" of desired experiences and emotions. Since I am not frightened of "entering into this stage of the relationship", I don't stop to think that the person that I'm trying to enter that "stage" with probably hasn't ever been there before, and she is more like the new-beginner-who-is-frightened-to-tread-that-water. I guess I could just put it more plainly: I want things to move too fast!!!

I fear that I'm only going to be able to chalk this up to one-more-experience-I'll-be-able-to-look-back-on-and-learn-from and hope that I don't have to set it next to the pile of lessons that I've already learned from "failed relationships"!

JPS

Gift or fruitless temptation?

Today I was messing around with my phone and called the girl that I am interested in, who happens to be on a mission right now (and NO, she isn't returning the letters that I am writing to her... But, I don't mind that really... at all...) and her sister answered the phone.

I completely didn't think someone would answer the phone, yet there was this girls voice on the other end. Initially I thought, "Teresa Lynne?" (and I had a sudden shudder of fear and disappointment and excitement to talk to her again) but she,the sister that I was talking to, gave me some great information about the Geneva Switzerland Mission (French Speaking) and about her sister's mission.

The reason that I named this post "gift or fruitless temptation" is because (1) it was really great to talk to a person that had 1st-hand knowledge of how things were going and (2) it was fun to hear someone on the other end of that number again but (3) it DID get me all excited over something that may end up amounting up to pain and suffering as I've "stirred the pot" (I'm not sure if that's a real idiaomatic phrase, but shouldn't it be one?) and potentially hurt something that was going fine (though also traveling BLIND).

What I mean by that is: Even though I wasn't receiving any feedback at all from my french-speaking-missionary-friend, NOW that I've altered that pathway, I'm not as sure that things will go ahead as would if I kept my simple straightforward plan (of writing to her for her whole mission and letting things play-out as they would...).

Then again, I think that this post is more of a fruitless temptation to doubt myself to oblivion than the possibility of this event having any lasting negative consequences.

I just had a vision of Harold Crick (from "Stranger than Fiction") telling Professor Jules Hilbert (played by Dustin Hoffman) that he had Ana Pascal's (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) love confirmed to him the night before by "the voice".

I simply can't doubt my choices for love.

JPS

Dating! hmm?

Well, it has been a whole year since my divorce... Still, I have little to no desire to start dating again. That is, except for dating someone that I have already fallen in love with.

I wonder if I'm experiencing a phenomenon (phenomenonemonemon, right Matt?) that other or maybe all people who have been divorced experience. That is, I would like to date only the person that I already have developed some feeling of LOVE for...

I just completely do not want to "start over" loving someone else. Sure, you could say (and maybe you already are saying...) that getting to know someone is half the fun or that it wouldn't be worth getting married without the whole process of getting to know the person.

If you're saying that... I guess you're absolutely right. In the moments after the divorce though, you would rather just jump right into another relationship that picks up right where the other relationship went sour. Alas though... You can't jump into any relationship and have it meet the standards that you expected and were divorced over in the first marriage. Does that make sense?

Let me just say that the only way that you are going to arrive at a marriage that you were looking for (or at least this is the way that I think of this...) is to start at the very beginning and thus be able to get to know each other and understand each other, and your new experiences and talk to each other and ask questions and become each other's best friend.

Or, at least, I suspect that you'd have to start out that way and make every decision with a solid and pure and fun and as-close-to-perfect-marriage as you can think of having. So... That's all I'm asking for... Is that too much to ask?

If that is too much to ask, I can introduce you to my ex-wife, because she wasn't interested in that either and you'll probably hit it off!

JPS

Christmas Presents...

I just love giving Christmas presents. Even more than getting presents, I love giving the presents. You may say, "No, receiving a good present is WAY more exciting than giving a present to someone..."

However, just think about that dichotomy for a second. What I mean by that is this: giving or getting presents, both involve presents, but having a present and giving it way or opening up a present and then owning it... Here's the part where I've asked you to think about it. No, not by just using the word "dichotomy" in the sentence... You're not done thinking.

You all know the simplistic statement, "It is better to give than to receive..." Have you ever thought of it from the point of view of the giver though and admitted that when you get a present and open it, the excitement is pretty much over (that is, unless you fall asleep with the present and are woken only to relive the excitement of it again. But, that hasn't really happened since I was 5 or so...).

When you are giving a present though, you have all the excitement of thinking of the gift (and depending on how far in advance you've thought of this present, this could last for months even...), and then you make or buy the gift and keep it in your "secret hiding place". Now you've got the time from when you get the gift or make it until the day that you give the gift.

Now we come to the day of the actual giving the gift... Just stop again and think of how much you've already enjoyed the whole gift-giving-scenario. Comparatively speaking, you've already far out-enjoyed the "gift getting" probability.

We've now come to grand finale of it all though... The opening of the gift(s). Even if you've never thought of this before, you actually are just as anxious when you're watching someone open YOUR present as you are when opening your own...

So, now we can clearly see that GIVING is better than GETTING... No question really (and I didn't even bring up the whole Christian arguments)

JPS

Insrance and insurability...

I've had some stuggles enrolling for insurance over the past few years. Two years ago, I had a little "misshap" with my insurance where my wife, my son, and I weren't enrolled at all in any insurance plan (EXPENSIVE medications that year! Let me tell you...), and luckily I had already filled up my "get-into-a-serious-accident-card" and we were blessed to not have any serious damage. Oh wait, that's right... Addison, my little boy, had to have his tonsils and his adoids removed that year.

From then on I've double and sometimes triple (or even quintiple) checked to make sure that both I and my son were insured.

This year I'm raising or increasing my Life Insurance to 5 times my salary instead of just 3 times. Not that I plan on losing my life anytime in the not-to-distant-future, but "better safe than sorry...". And I'm not worried about what happens to me when I die, but just want to ensure that Addison is well taken care of.

As Stephanie-my-ex-wife would feel forced to say, "Knock-on-wood!" for having even written this post... Oh well, "it's good to face your fears..."

JPS

Karate et al.

Back when my son, Addison (no, my name is NOT Adam, which is what his name means, literally. That is, unless you want to consider that 1- I am a man born here on the earth, 2- I often speak with God [hey... prayers count!], 3- every man is like Adam, as he is the offspring of God the Father and is in his express image [no, he is NOT the same as "the only begotten"] physically, and 4- we are asked to think of ourselves as Adam and Eve respectively when we go to the temple and make covenants)...

So, Addison, then... (Who brought me off point then?) is now living in California with his mom. About 3 years ago I was driving down the street and had seen a bunch of Karate "Dojos" pop up, as they constantly tend to wax and wain in popularity, and I promised myself that my son WOULD be able to take Karate if he wanted to (as I know that I did growing up...).

My point then: he is enrolled in Karate class. Kajukempo to be precise. He'll be attending Kajukempo class in California and will be going to Karate class with his dear old dad, Adam... Er, wait, I mean Josh, when he's with me here in Utah.

I love that he loves going to karate and hope that nothing ever gets in his way of taking classes and therefore, in his enjoyment of Karate.

JPS

What to do... What to say...

I've noticed that the only thing that I can count on getting me all fired up and "ready to go" is the Gospel; talking about the Gospel, discussing different parts of the Gospel, and answering different people's (even MY own...) questions about Truth.

Even when it comes right down to it... I enjoy and love talking to people (hey... that's what I've chosen to do for a job right now and plan on getting an advanced degree so that I can, yes you guessed it, TALK to kids/students about life and school). However, my desire to talk to people for an extended amount of time depends on how much we can talk about the Truth's of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When I say, "Truth", I am not limiting that to just church-talk. Truth can be found all over the place and depending on how you are talking about whatever, it could be talking about the Truths of Jesus Christ. You see... Everything testifies of Christ and almost anything can be talking about a Truth.

Some things, though, are automatically going to be talking about Truth; like talking to my son, Addison, or talking/writing to Teresa Lynne Monroe, simply because when I'm talking/writing to them or thinking about them, I necessarily MUST admit and even declare the Truths of the Gospel. "Families are Forever" or "I do not care how fast you run in the path of virtue" -Joseph Smith Jr. (in that order, respectively!).

Am I ashamed? NO!!! Should I be? NO!!! Should you be for asking? That's up to you to determine...

JPS

Disneyland...!?!

Great place!

I've been there a total of two times (2x). The first time I went I was 5 with my Grandma and Grandpa (er, maybe 6...) and my cousins who lived in Salt Lake. The funny thing is that the thing I remember the most from that trip is falling on top of my sleeping Grandpa from the a little cabinet that was "inside" of the "living room" of the camper (or, as my Grandma calls it, "Our 5th wheel..."). The funny thing was that he didn't even wake up. In fact, never missed a beat with his very-loud-snoring from having a 50+ lb.-dead-weight fall on top of him while he was in deep sleep...

And then, in 2003 when I finally went there again, I had the best time, simply because I went there with my little 5 year old boy. That time he found every single character and had them autograph his little celebrity autograph-book that we bought for him there. I had so much fun just enjoying seeing him have the most fun that I've ever seen him have...

That AND I got to ride on "Star Tours". That was the all-time-best ride that I can even imagine ever riding! ! ! The ride is crazy-fun mostly because you don't actually move anywhere. You just are sitting in the same fixed seat that you sat down in when you walked into the room and have a whole ride in your head. HOW fun can a ride be? Answer: Star Tours.

I don't think that I'll ever go to the park again UNLESS I'm with someone who is either 1) a child who had never been there before or 2) wants to go as a family vacation...

JPS

Which Holiday Facts Are Informative, Which Are Completely Untrue? Maybe Only I Will Ever Really Know

Christmas

Christmas was once a moveable feast celebrated during many different times throughout the year. The decision to celebrate Christmas only once a year, on 25 December, was made by Pope Julius I in the fourth century A.D ., because this coincided with his annual Winter Solstice, or Return of the Sun, beer bust and orgy. The Pope's intent was to replace the pagan celebration of beer drinking with the Christian one: drinking even larger quantities of wine and rum-laden eggnog until passing out.

Many of the traditions associated with Christmas (giving gifts, singing carols, decorating a pine-needle wreath, setting it on fire, and throwing it into your least favorite neighbor's thatched roof) hark back to religions predating Christ.

Winter Solstice

During the first millennium in what today is known as Scotland, or the Land of Men who wear Skirts, Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year) was celebrated by the Druids — fat, old ladies, wearing twenty-year-old Japanese kimonos — in honor of their Sun God, Fabio, and rejoicing in the longer days, signaling the coming of Spring.

Winter Solstice is also often called Yule. A huge log — the Yule Log — is brought into an outdoor clearing and becomes part of a great bonfire. Everyone sings and dances around the fire (with the leftover wine and rum from Christmas). All of the noise and great excitement is said to awaken the Sun from its long winter sleep — every time it had come up during the Winter it had merely been sleepwalking, or as the scientists called it, sleeporbiting — hurrying Spring on its way.

Dosmoche — Tibetan Celebration of the Dying Year

For five days, dancers dress up in hideous masks to frighten away the evil spirits of the coming year. Feasting and prayers fill the days, and the finale comes when the magical pole (covered with stars, crosses, and pentagrams made of string, upon which this festival is centered), is torn down by the townsfolk and used to beat the old Druids from Scotland.

Feast of the Ass — Middle Ages Christian Festival

At one time this was a solemn celebration reenacting the flight of the holy family into Egypt and ending with Mass in the church. The festival became very popular as it transformed into a humorous parody in which the ass was led into the church and treated as an honored guest while the priest and the congregation all brayed like asses. The Church suppressed it in the fifteenth century, although it remained popular and did not die out until years later — though it's still an underground favorite in the parishes and convents. If you plan on approaching your local priest about this year's reenacting, the code word is blasphemy.

La Befana — Italy's Santa Claus

La Befana, the kindly witch, rides a broomstick down the chimney to put toys into the stockings of Italian children. As the legend goes, Befana was "sweeping her steps" (code for "paying off the Mafia") when the three Wise Men stopped and asked her to come to see the Baby Jesus. "No," she said, "I am too busy." She later changed her mind, but it was too late. So, to this day, she goes out on Christmas Eve searching for the Holy Child, leaving gifts for Him in each household. Why it is that she is a witch should be obvious to those of you familiar with Christmas and brooms.

Butter Sculpture Festival — Buddhist New Year

To celebrate the New Year in Tibet, Buddhist monks create elaborate yak-butter sculptures depicting a different story or fable. The sculptures reach thirty feet in the air and are lit with special butter lamps. Awards are given for the best butter sculptures, and free hot bread and a small, blunt knife are given to all who attend.

Night of the Radishes

Each year since the mid-nineteenth century in Oaxaca, Mexico, on 23 December, the introduction of the radish by the Spanish colonists is commemorated. Radishes in this region grow to the size of yams and are twisted and distorted (morally) from growing in the rocky soil. These unusual shapes are exploited, as local artisans carve them into elaborate depictions of Biblical scenes, Aztec legends, and episodes of I Love Lucy (and often, We Love Lucy). Cash prizes are awarded and the evening culminates with a spectacular fireworks display and a slice of radish pie. Yum.

Hari-Kuyo — Japanese Festival of the Broken Needles

This Buddhist celebration, held every 8 December since 400 A.D., was once only observed by tailors and dressmakers, but today anyone who will admit to knowing how to sew can participate. A special shrine is made for the needles, which contains offerings of food, scissors, a lock of hair from a Scottish Druid, and thimbles. A pan of tofu (soybean curd) at the center of the shrine has all of the broken and bent needles saved throughout the year inserted into it. As the needles go into the tofu, the sewer recites a special prayer in thanks for its fine service over the year. Finally, devotees and participators wrap their tofu in paper and launch them out to sea, and the needles find their final resting place at sea. The ACLU is investigating this practice and its potential harmful effects on the environment, as many fish have been washed ashore with serious cases of tetanus or lockjaw. The needles are held suspect.

At no time should a person observing Hari-Kuyo stick themselves with a needle — this special practice is reserved for the next day when the Japanese festival Hari-Kari is celebrated.

Agency and power...

I am reading a book right now called "Understanding the Power God gives Us: What Agency really Means" by Joseph Fielding Smith...

Something just came up, while bidding on an Ebay item that I was not only discouraged from making, but my dad even said, "You better hope that you lose!" I bid 50.03 on a Paul McCartney rareish CD called "B Sides Himself-A rare compilation of B-Sides and remixes" and won it for $43.55.

Now, to the point of this post: Do we often get ANYTHING in this life without taking a little chance? Oh sure, I suppose that I should tell you that the reason that I am buying it is for a girl. Not just any other girl that I may buy something for though, but a girl that is currently in Switzerland on an LDS mission.

Am I crazy?

To add more fuel to this slowly rising fire, she asked me not to even ask her out--before she left on her mission. However, she also told me that I could write to her (though she told me she probably wouldn't ever write back...). Faithfully I send her out a nice letter once a week and never do expect to receive anything in return.

The thing is, I don't think that when it comes to people of the opposite-sex that you really, necessarily are going to be able to accomplish what you want to do without taking some risks and having a little faith. I suppose that I have the option of going 2 different ways with this entry: faith and/or risks.

What I'm trying to say is that faith necessarily includes and involves some risk.

When Abraham was on Mount Moriah with Isaac he was definitely exercising faith when he raised his hand with a knife in it; ready to take his only son's life away. He didn't know the outcome of that event and had no way of knowing tat God would stop him before he brought-down the knife and sacrificed his son. He couldn't have known that God was going to stop him. If he had known that, then Abraham wouldn't have been the great example of faith that he is.

There was nothing but the certainty that he was going to kill his son. That is what makes his act so great and so faithful. Abraham was the epidomy of being faithful, and being faithful, one must be exercising his or her agency. That is what agency means: choosing eternal life over the sin that one is presented with. To exercise faith means to necessarily be risking.

Why I am going on about this is: Nothing comes to you without exercising faith. Not even little things, because everything requires that little risk.

Sure, I want my little French-speaking missionary to be pleased with my purchase, but I'm taking the risk that she won't or that she doesn't want anything from me or even that she is insulted at the very idea of me going out on a limb and buying her an expensive present--with no guarantee attached.

On the other hand... How could I NOT?

This means enough to me to offer at least a bit of faith...

JPS

The Stigma of Mental Health...

This is a small excerpt from my class PSY 3400 class at UVSC (the stigma web page):

MY STORY

On the 8th of April, 2001, I was getting ready for the long-ish drive up to Bountiful, Utah to see my cousins' family being seeled to their newest adopted girl, Taylor. In order to travel up to the temple with my little boy, Addison, sleeping the whole-way or most-of-the-way, I was planning to drive him around in the car.

I had pulled out onto 1600 N. in Orem (that going west will lead to the freeway) to travel back East to State Street, but as I pulled into the intersection of the cross-streets of 1600 N. and 800 W. (with a convenience store on the corner--at least in 2001-2007 that is still the case), a speeding car ran the red light that I was stopped at and smashed into my driver's side of the car.

No, Addison was fine and is a happy all-but not injured boy (except for a small scar on his left leg)! Should I call him with you standing here, just so you can hear him talk to you? ... For some reason that nobody can explain, although he left my house in a front-facing-car-seat, but the ambulence drivers and police say that they found him in a rear-facing car seat (same seat, just turned backwards). Because he was in a rear-facing-position, his life was saved or at least kept him from very serious injuries...

I was in a coma for almost 4 months and was kept at the hospital for an additional eight months, but then was able to come home to my wife and my barely-one-year-old son. Well, it's been several years since then, and I am more than proud to tell of the tale. Sure, it's left me a little "banged-up" and I can't straighten my fight arm completely and I never had to wear glasses before the accident (unless I would wear "fake" glass-lense-glasses).

Oh, yes... I guess you can consider me retarded. But you can only because of the fact that I AM slowed down. However, instant-message me (Windows Messenger: joshua_stott@hotmail.com) and you will find that I am definately NOT a mentally retarded man...

So, maybe you could re-evaluate your initial impression of me and what sort of problems you would like to label me with. After you're done re-elvaluating your thoughts, please, read through the rest of this site and see what other kinds of things there are to know about the STIGMA of MENTAL HEALTH...

Star Wars!!!

Come on, every guy must, that is NEEDS to, admit that STAR WARS is something that if you were to take it away--that is take away every memory, every watching, every time you were playing "Lightsabers" outside with your best friend--and your friend yells, "Duck!" as he spins around with his Lightsaber aimed about nose level (to chop off the heads of the masses of stormtroopers swarming around you...) in one fluid sweep to chop off all the heads of said 'troopers, and clocks you in the nose (as you didn't hear him say "DUCK!") which will bleed profusely for the next few minutes--your world would be a little LESS. I mean, it's not hard... So, you might as well just admit it.

You would miss all of those opening-day viewings of the movies. Sure... It won't be mentioned in your obituary that you saw all of the second trilogy movies on the opening day (well... I guess that depends on WHO WRITES YOUR OBITUARY doesn't it?).

You would miss all of the countless hours of playtime by yourself or with a friend having mock-space-wars (sometimes every day or nightly), trying to save the little people of the earth from having to live under the evil clutches of Darth Vader or the insidious Emperor Palpatine.

Last of all, you definately miss the presige you had and felt when your relatives would set-you-up in front of the whole family just to "quiz" you about the Star Wars Universe and felt sure that they were going to "stump" the little 5-year-old-know-it-all-who-thinks-just-because-he-knows-as-much-about-a-fictional-movie-as-you-think-that-you-probably-know-about-your-own-life only to laugh and cry as he answers each and every one of the questions that you thought there was no way that he would answer.

In conclusion, your world WOULD BE LESS!!! Ok, maybe that's just MY world would be less...

JPS