Star Wars

When I purchased our midnight screening of Star Wars, I didn't realize it would cause such confusion. First of all, on the ticket confirmation it states May 18 12:01 showing. At first this didn't bother me, then I remembered that the movie is coming out on Thursday May 19, or so I thought, and 12:01 on May 18th was really the evening of Tuesday! I was very confused. At the same time, when I purchased them online, I just assumed it was for the digital theater since it was the only option. Then when I went on last night to look for tickets for my brother who is coming down to visit that week, I saw there were 4 options! How was I to know which screen I had, as there is only 1 screen with a digital projector.

To figure it out I called the theater and they were of little help. They said the ticket meant the "evening" of May 18, so that cleared that up, but to know which theater I had to actually pick up the tickets to see. So I drove to the theater and got my tickets. To my delight, our tickets are for the digital screen. To my brother's sorrow, the digital showing is sold out at midnight. However, he can still buy tickets to a midnight showing at the same theater, just not on a digital screen. (Jake Wall - call me for details). I am excited to see my brother and his girlfriend, since I won't be seeing them next week like originally anticipated. I think the code word we could use for the wedding debacle is: the "shoulda got married in December" incident. :-)

weddings, proms, and funerals

Ok, so I have lots of good reasons why I have not blogged. we have known 4 people that have died in the last 2 weeks, one cancelled wedding, and a prom that was probably bigger than a wedding. Yikes. Peggy Prettyman died last week. Curtis Larson's younger brother died in a car crash this week. Suzanne Hettinger's mom died yesterday. and the pope, don't forget about him. and one of dad's investigator's father had his funeral yesterday. I made cookies, lasagna, bread, sent tons of cards, shopped, prayed, and spent 4 hours working on girls camp today. Kathy is at the Yankees game with Mary Kate Moore tonight. Rite Aid lost our prom pics, and life just continues to throw stuff at us left and right. I am fine, smiling, and amazingly not stressed at all. I guess we learn how to handle and manage more and more. it is good practice for when we get to heaven and have to manage even more. :)

Weddings and no more weddings?

Last week we were able to go up to Snowflake to attend Tevia's cousin's wedding at the Snowflake Temple. I really like that temple. A lot of people complain that it is plain and boring, but I love it. The inside has some beautiful stained glass and a lot of Native American artwork and crafts. It gives a very different feel. I assisted Tevia with the photography after the sealing and then we headed to the reception in Lakeside.

The reception was at the church (same as our wedding), but this time it had the wonderful smell of lacquer! The floor had just been redone and it smelled terrible. Too bad. Tevia even felt sick from it and we had to leave early. It was good to see some people. That night Reyn, the groom, was sick all night - so they had a fun first night together!

Last night we went to the reception in Mesa. It was very nice. The weather was beautiful.

We're not sure about my brother's wedding, which was supposed to happen in two weeks. It has been postponed for the time being. I believe we are still going to go to St. Louis as we don't want to waste a three day vacation with a babysitter here in AZ. It should be fun. I feel for my brother, as this must be very crazy for him. I don't think I've ever known anybody to cancel their wedding just 2 weeks prior to the actual ceremony, so it is a little funny. I think my brother is handling it well (we'll see if he comments!), and I am proud of him. I give him all of my support. I just hope he forgives me for chuckling every time I think about it. It is pretty funny to me. Crazy things always happen to Jacob, so this falls in line with his life pattern. He's always been able to put a smile on my face. Hopefully he'll have a smile soon, too. Good luck!

I also purchased tickets to go see Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on opening night (midnight) at the theater here with the digital projector. I'm excited. Tevia should be coming, and my friend Kipp and his ex-wife will be coming too. It should be a lot of fun. Buying them online sure beats standing in line like in the old days.

Spanglish

I don't know what it is, but this year has been a good year for movies at the Wall home. I have really enjoyed some movies this year - like House of Flying Daggers, Shall We Dance, and now - Spanglish. I really wanted to see this film in the theater, but it seems we have less opportunity to do this since a night at the movies is a good $40 investment these days. So we rented it on DVD from Netflix this week. It stars Adam Sandler - note this is not a comedy, he plays a serious role, Paz Vega (was fantastic), and some great child actors. I was extremely touched by this film much in the same way as Shall We Dance. Once again it was because of the moral of the story. It is a moral film with a moral ending. It is so refreshing to see films like that. It was directed by James L. Brooks, a name you will recognize from Simpsons fame. He did a great job. I also liked the fact that they did not do subtitles for the Spanish, as it wasn't necessary (yes, I know I understand Spanish, but I still think most people would understand the themes). To clarify, the movie is in English, but there are many Spanish dialogues.

The other thing I really enjoyed was the theme that we want our children to be like us. I have thought of this often, but never realized to what extremes we may go to try and ensure this - and not necessarily for the bad. For example, in the film Paz's character does not want her daughter to go to the rich, private school because she doesn't want her daughter to be like them. I can totally relate to this and understand her motives and agree with her decision. Others can't relate to that and would see this is a crazy decision that is limiting the education of her daughter. In the end she wants her daughter to go through similar experiences as her so she can end up being like her. This is the same for me. I realize that many decisions I make are because I want my children to have a life similar to mine. My life has been great and I like my perception of life. I want my kids to experience similar experiences, which a life at an expensive private school will not provide. On a higher level, this makes me think about God, as he is our Father. He wants us to be like Him, too - and has set up a plan that will allow us to. So it would seem - and we certainly do not dismiss this notion - that He went through similar experiences.

On a different note, but related to deep concepts, I am reading (listening to) the Dark Matter series that Tevia recommended to me. I love this series. It is very deep and thought-provoking. It is a theme about God, creation, sin, and spirituality. Very well-written.

Taxes

I'm sorry my last entry might have had a slightly negavite tone, I didn't intend for it to sound that way. However, this will be negative. I just had to pay $2,500.00 in taxes!! I am SO pissed off! My employer has been blowing wind up my rear all year assuring me that my 1099 taxation would be minimal. However, between taxes, car(gas/repair) expenses, etc... I'm walking away making about $6/hr for my night job. That's all fine and good considering all I have to do is sit in my car and do nothing... BUT, I'm really not making $6/hr. My income is reported as me making some $24,000 last year wich prevents me from qualifying for grants for school. Now that I'm going to the U, that's $4,500/ semester. Since I'm getting no assistance on that because I make too much, that's at least $9,000/year right there that I'm eating, plus $2500 in taxes, plus an arm and a leg in gas/car expenses,(gas for my night driving expenses was about $1200 and thanks to all those extra miles there's $400 for tires, $300 for brakes, and another $400 just today for CV joints)... so instead of my night job bringing in $10,844 (like I had to report for income), I ended up with a net profit of $1,944, and that only if I don't take anymore classes this year for school!!!! It REALLY doesn't pay to work and go to school.... It almost doesn't pay to work at all in life... well if you're single and don't have a family to worry about. I might as well quit my jobs and live off government welfare!.. the only problem is, I've "made" too much this year already, and last year, and now I won't qualify for any assistacne for the next year and half!!!
There's less than a fine thread of sanity and logic that are keeping me from just up and leaving EVERYTHING and moving someplace south of the boarder where palm trees grow... because at this point, other than family, I don't have any reason to stay.

Wedding Fever

This past weekend we had people over as Tevia's cousin (Heidi Borrego) went through the temple to get her endowments. She is getting married this Friday in the Snowflake temple (we'll be attending) to her beau Ren - not Stimpy. Ren seems like a great guy. They seemed very in love, as they were oblivious to anything else that went on in our house besides themselves. It reminded me of my wedding, which happened nearly 9 years ago this month. What a wonderful day that was. I can not think of a better day in my life. It was a perfect day - as I was completely oblivious to anything except my beautiful friend and the covenants we were making with our God. You could call it the perfect hybrid of spirituality and physical joy. I do not think any other church can provide that mixture - which seems strange, yet fits so well into God's plan.

Our home teachers came over this week (Kip Sorenson and Paul Bennion). The lesson was on how our church does not worship/utilize the cross. Are we the only Christian church not to do so? I'm not sure about the Jehovah Witnesses (though one could argue if they are Christian - as many argue if Mormons are). I thought President Hinckley's comments that the symbol of our church should be the lives of its members. How true that rings, as any symbol would take away from Christ - and possibly lead to idol worship.

Well, that was a good tangent away from marriage. Saturday at the Mesa Temple the grounds were packed with people getting married. My brother is getting married in a few weeks. This is that time of year. I hope that all of these people understand the seriousness of this commitment, and are already working on their relationships. As Tevia and I approach our 9 year anniversary, it isn't hard to think of others who have already been divorced. One of our good friends has been divorced for 2 years now and it is difficult to see him go through the pain and muck of dealing with it. He wants to be involved in his children's lives, and so does all he can to be able to. But it is not easy. So many people give up so quickly, or don't really think about the consequences. In the end, the selfishness of one/two causes the pain of many. Certainly there are circumstances that merit a divorce, but I think these are rare. My biggest advice to people looking to get married soon? Love your spouse more than anything in the world. Treat them like a queen/king. Tevia is my queen - and she deserves all I can provide.

The heart of a child

Today was a day of celebration. Jarek had his latest cardiology appointment and his heart was found to not have changed since last time. This means good news to those of us in the heart defect world, and it means a good chance of at least another year without surgery. His Dr. set up an appointment a year from now. I insisted we celebrate, and Jarek chose Chuck E. Cheese's as the ideal place. We ordered pizza and wings (which weren't all that bad) and played games. It was a great day.

So as I endured a day at work with two hour conference calls and hundreds of emails, my mind was distracted from time to time with the thought of how little things like that mean. What matters is family, health, God. I am grateful to know what things bring happiness. This is not to say that if Jarek needed surgery I would not be happy. But I am grateful for this moment - and the thought that Jarek is doing well. Jarek woke me up last night letting me know that his shoulder hurt really bad. I was instantly awake! In the end it had fallen asleep as he was sleeping on it weird. So it was fine. But we want so much for our children to be happy. It is so easy to see how so many were swayed by Lucifer's plan! It seems so logical to have our children experience no pain - no misery - no suffering. It only seems fair. But God is so wise to let us experience these things. It is so true that having experienced sickness makes being healthy so wonderful. Having been ridiculed makes true friends even more special. I often fear that I have been blessed too much.

So today we celebrate another day with my son. Each one is truly a blessing from God. Would I see life like this had he been a perfectly born son with no issues or defects? I don't know - but I know that I can never imagine my life without having been through these years with him. I like Malik, too!

Saturday was the opening day of Star Wars toys released for Revenge of the Sith (careful how you type that!). I took the boyz in early on Saturday to buy some. We were surrounded by old collectors and many of the toys had already sold out! Jarek bought a General Grievous; Malik the Galactic Heroes with Grievous and Obi-Wan; and I bought the Clone Trooper rifle! We had fun.

Excuses, excuses and lies... What ever happened to the TRUTH???

So today I arrived at my apartment after spending the weekend in Centerville with my roommates to find yet another one of "those girls." You know the type... I started to date her last semester and things seemed to have been going well... however, she pulled the "I don't think we should date anymore because I'm going to go on a mission... I don't want to date or get involved with anyone." Well... that's all fine and good. I'll support anyone who wants to serve. HOWEVER, when that same little doe is later seen parading around with some buck attached to her hand, I can't help but think there is something grossly wrong with me. Here's what really adds lemon juice to my paper cut...
I have the nick name "Stewie." The reason for the name... I'm a pretty domestic guy. I cook. I clean. I'm a complete gentleman... heck, that's a triple threat. I open doors, give awesome foot rubs, and am always willing to lend a helping hand and give whatever I can to ANYONE who needs it. I date quite frequently, almost every night when possible, I'm out there, I'm making myself available, and from what I hear, I'm not a completely ugly dog. So what is wrong with me then?
Is every girl I want to take out, or date, really THAT unavailable??? I've heard just about every one... "I'm going on a mission" "I just want to be friends" "you're really nice I don't want to hurt you, so we shouldn't date" "it's not you it's me" (I invented the "it's not you it's me, if it's anyone it's me!!) "I need to focus on my grades" "I'm busy" "I want to look around still" and the list goes on and on....
I have to admit, I think it's fine when someone doesn't want to get married. I'm not necessarily looking for that at the immediate present anyway. And as for those that say they feel they need to figure things out for themselves still... that's great too.... HOWEVER, when these same girls are weeks, sometimes days, later seen quite serious with some other shmuck.... next thing you know, they're married.
I should be used to such things by now. And I know I don't really have a lot of reason to complain, after all, I am only 24 (25 next month) and I know in the real world (anywhere outside of Provo) that's REALLY young.... but still...
So am I way off base here?? Maybe I'm doing something fatally wrong in relationships...
I'm open to whatever you have to say... the truth will be better than the crap I've been fed for the past 24 years.