The Longer Ones

Friday, April 21, 2017

Hey! Some Birds!

I had a day off today.

Just sitting around looking at the mountains and I noticed some birds. There were two of them. I'm pretty sure one of them was a House Finch and the other was a Dark-eyed Junco.

I know a surprisingly large amount of bird information.

I'm just distracting myself from finals... Okay yup that's it. I'm gonna walk out of the lawbrary and do this.

Accounting. You're gonna suck it.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

This One Sexy Plan

It all came together so well.

When it arrived I had Hannah, ready on standby.

We taped the stamp so I wouldn't know if it's domestic or foreign ($2 stamp=foreign, $1 stamp=domestic). And Hannah immediately took the package so I can't feel thickness or weight (foreign=10 pages thicker for visa and passport info, domestic=light and it doesn't hurt when you slap me with it). I only allowed myself to look at that package and nothing else for 3 more days until Sunday. The only clear thing I saw was those words... "Elder Asian Narwhal."

Now why Sunday? is Sunday just inherently more special than Friday? Why did I choose Sunday?

Simple. Visiting hours. I wanted Shekinah and my closest friends to be there with me when I open my call without my family noticing. You see whenever I call my parents, it's almost always on my regular chair in my dorm and that's about it. I FaceTime them. But since I do it in my room, women are only allowed in here at certain times (7pm-9pm on Wednesdays and Sundays). Therefore I waited till Sunday to open my call.

When the time came on Sunday night, everything was in place. In the room there only 5 people, we all had to be here on time, and each of us had a role. Hannah held onto my call and locked it in her room until the time came. Grayson opened my call and arranged it so that I may read it without knowing where I'm going for complete anonymity. Vanessa was there to calm me down to make sure I can talk to my parents normally. Shekinah was there to call my other sister Jannica so she can witness me opening my call. And lastly there's me, praying, oh so praying that it all works out.

I called my parents and told them the news. I told them that I was opening my Cambridge acceptance letter.

Patience and Long Suffering part 4. FRICKIN 4.

I waited for so long!!!

4 and a half weeks....

It was painstakingly hard.

When people say it's difficult to wait for your call, I can testify from first hand experience that it SUCKED.

Days were long, times were hard, and the whole time I knew I couldn't date and that I had to be alone and study scriptures.

I felt like a monk but worse... the temptation was right there. THINK OF THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY COSTS!!!

It was so long I decided to title this time as "patience and long suffering," with a new part for each week.

You know they even lost my call in the mail... from SLC... I could've driven and picked it up but nooooooo.

During this time I went through phases, joy & gladness>impatience>cynicism>repentance, then it starts over.

HAHAHA I remember there was even a time when I sent a letter to church headquarters saying something that resembles, "have you heard of FedEx? there's this thing called 2 day shipping and I really think my tithing money should go to that." I got very impatient at times....

But that was okay! When my call finally arrived on April 7th at 8:05am MTD I had a plan and it was all coming together.

All Good Things.

Hey there,

It's been a while since I posted. The reason why I didn't post is because I was waiting for a specific package.

3 months ago I prayed and received an answer (well 2 answers) to my prayers. First I prayed for whether or not I should serve a mission and I also prayed about my future career path. In one night I got the answer to both. I have decided to pursue accounting and I also decided to serve on a mission. This was back in January, around the same time as my Mom's birthday. At this time, I had a decision... should I tell the world? or keep it to myself till my call? I chose the latter. You guys know me! Of course I would always take the opportunity to mess with my parents. But before I talk about that process, let's talk about accounting.

Guys accounting is such a sexy topic. (Yes I do mean that). Accounting is the manifestation of OCD in a subject with the complete understanding of how a business work. It's probably why you might've heard the cliché, "accounting is the language of business" and it's true! By understanding accounting, you can understand how every other business process work (at least on paper). Plus it's very stable... which is a rare commodity in my life.

Now back on topic. I decided to lie to my parents for 3 months. Don't worry though it's just a small lie. So I decided to drop hints or blatantly tell my parents that I'm not serving a mission and that it's dumb. All the while church leaders texted me or called me whether or not I would serve a mission. I told them I am but to keep it a secret from my parents. My young men's president knew, my sisters knew, my bishop knew, my stake president knew, the only one who didn't are my parents and my little brother. All good things. So I decided to let my parents stay in that stressful time, sorry I meant *testimony building time* and let them marinate in wholesome stress while they believe that their son is going through some iniquitous times and losing faith. All good things.

I kept this up. I even faked some toothache and a Cambridge program to get my dental/immunization records and passport information. OKAY THOSE AREN'T TECHNICALLY LIES. I would like to go to Cambridge and I did apply for Cambridge. I simply revoked my application because I'm planning to go there 3 years from now rather than this year. Therefore, when I told my parents I'm going to Cambridge, THAT IS TRUE... but 3 years from now rather than this summer. I did have to pay for my own medical and dental without insurance though (it was okay) and it wasn't too bad. Provo had a lot of resources and businesses that lets you lie to your parents for mission papers.

Soon I finished all of the paperwork and submitted them in late march. I had my last interview with my stake president and bishop on March 5th, and on that day my papers were finalized and sent to church headquarters. At this point I decided to wait and not post anything on this blog till my call arrived. Little did I know, it would take 4 and a half weeks for my call to arrive from SLC to Provo...