#37 Watch 7 of the following films (2/7): Wall-E

Of my list, this is the only one that's not a "classic," but it was still one I wanted to set a goal to watch.  You see, I had the opportunity to watch Wall-E once, but thought it was stupid and refused to watch more than 5 minutes.  Later I heard that it was a social commentary, thought that was intriguing, and wanted to give it another try.

Watching it when I actually wanted to was a much better experience!  And learning a bit about film helped too.  I learned that it's called a "montage" when they cut out the conversation and replace it with music.  It can express more emotion.  So I paid attention to the music in Wall-E, since there's hardly any talking, and that added a layer of meaning.

I also watched it from a dystopian view, in light of all the books that have come out recently...Hunger Games, Matched, The Unwanteds, Ender's Game, etc.  I remember the first dystopian book I read was The Giver in 7th grade...didn't get it at all.  Now I have some background, and I appreciate it a lot more!  We seem to have an obsession with what our world/government will be like after "the end of the world."

Theatrical Trailer

Viewpoints in this movie:

• Our society is too focused on consumerism and doesn't take care of our Earth
• Screens make you blind to what's around you
• We are getting too sedentary, lazy, and no longer take personal responsibility
• We don't eat real food
• Fashion is fickle
• I could go on...if you watch the clip below, you'll note at least a dozen

but in the end...

• The miracle of life, as contained in a plant, is amazing
• Humans are essentially good, and when possessing the right facts, will make the right choices
• We can change the future

Dystopian Future

Have you seen Wall-E?  What did you think of it?

#38 See 5 documentaries (2/5): Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity

So, sometimes I get really idealistic.  One of the ideals I don't live up to is being up to date with current events.  One ideal that I'm starting to live up to is being aware of other religions.  My latest trip to the library showed that...I came back with Religions of the World: Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity and Religions of the World: Buddhism.  They're due in two days, so we'll see if I get through the Buddhism one, but I finished the first!

I feel like I learned this...ages ago...as a sophomore in AP European history...but it's all a blur.  Things I learned/re-learned:

• The Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church were once the same
• Orthodox means "same" and Catholic means "universal"--both claiming to be the real church of Christ
• Constantine becoming Christian and moving the capital from Rome to Constantinople was one of the things that lead to the split of the churches
• The Orthodox Church has its capital in Constantinople/Istanbul
• The Roman Catholic Church has its capital in, well, Rome!
• They differed over the Nicean creed: the Orthodox church kept the wording the same, that the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from the Father; the Catholics changed it be be "Father and the Son."  This made Christ seem to be equal to the Father, which the Orthodox didn't like, considering Christ to be a "creature" of the Father.
• Most significantly, they differed on the nature of Christ, whether he was mostly God or mostly human
• After this, the bishop of Rome said that he could trace his apostolic lineage back to Peter and Paul, giving him more precedence.  This lead to the bishop of Rome being called the "Pope."  Gradually the Pope was considered to be the ultimate authority.  An edict was announced that when the Pope is speaking on religious or moral issues, he is infallible.  Of course, the Orthodox Church could not accept this. 
• I somehow thought that the Pope had existed since the beginning of the Catholic church, so it was interesting to me that they arose from the bishops, and that they weren't always considered the highest authority.
• After the spread of the Islamic empire, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church asked the Roman Catholic Church to come help them--thus the Crusades began as an effort to save them!  ...but it ended a few centuries later with the Roman Catholic crusaders pillaging Constantinople...
• After nearly a thousand years of each church "excommunicating" the other, they reversed that decision in the 1900s. (1946?)
• There is an effort to join both churches again (I had no idea), and that may begin with doing the Eucharist the same way.  However, some think that the churches differ so much that that is no longer possible.  But there's an ideal of having one unified church.

This is what I remember from the documentary.  Now, I could have remembered some things wrong, or the DVD could have been wrong in the first place.  If you know more about this, please set the story straight! :)

#87 Be an "extra" on a film set--reprise!

The online episode I was in was finally published!  Check out my film debut here:

It was a long, hot afternoon of dancing for a few short shots...but SO fun!  And the women on the show are great.  I loved hanging out with them while we were waiting for the cameras to get set up. See my original post about being an extra.  :)

#95 Take DeVore kids out on dates: Dancer

On Friday I had the privilege of taking my 7 year old niece out on a date.  She's quite the dancer!  She was telling me on our drive how she's danced from 5-7 hours in a day before (I believe 3 is typical for her), and if she made it to the next level, she'd be traveling to other states to compete!

We went to Seven Peaks water park, which was a blast.  We did some slides, the lazy river, and the wave pool a few times each.  At the end she got a giant pixie stick that you fill yourself with this sour powder.  Not too enticing to me, however!

We forgot to take a picture at the actual water park, so we settled for one in her backyard when we returned home.  Three down, one to go!  :)

#77 Meditate at the Huntsville Trappist monastery

I recently got back from a two-night, three-day stay at a monastery!  Yep, that's right: a monastery.  With real monks and everything.  And it was awesome!

Sign at the entrance: Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity

I found out about this place when I was 20 and did an internet search on churches in the area.  The fact that the monastery offered retreats was intriguing (what?  I could be a retreatant?  Cool!).  I loved the idea of getting a cultural experience from the inside, and really getting to know what it was like there.  On their site, it says that: "Retreats generally are private, allowing the individual retreatant to arrange his own time for reading, exercising, resting, walking, or simply letting the Lord Jesus speak to his heart."

So I e-mailed the "guestmaster" who was a really nice monk named Father Charles, and he set me up with a time to come.  Generally they have male retreatants, who stay in the monastery and eat with the monks.  However, female retreatants are allowed to come and stay at the family guest house (when there aren't any family members visiting the monks) and bring their own food.  My little house was .6 miles down the road from the monastery.

Isn't it adorable?!  Apparently it was built in the 1930's.  To me it became a holy place.

 And I fell in LOVE with my little house!  I had the whole downstairs to myself, which included four bedrooms, each with a queen and a twin size bed.  I also had a complete kitchen and living room/dining room.  There was a hammock outside on the lawn, a picnic table, and it overlooked beautiful fields.

Yes, I read books on that hammock and ate dinner at that picnic table!

The view from my front door!

I came right at the end of harvest, so all of the hay was baled into cylindrical shapes, and all of the alfalfa was in rectangular prisms.  I love that view.  So peaceful.  Makes me want to live out in the country.

alfalfa

hay

Several times a day I would make the walk down to the monastery.

This was built as a "temporary" monastery in 1947

The monks keep a very strict schedule:
3:15 rise
3:30 Vigils (Night Prayer)--this is the only one I didn't attend...you're not allowed to.
6:00 Lauds (Morning Prayer)
6:25 Mass
7:45 Terce (Midmorning Prayer)
8:00 Work
12:15 Sext (Midday Prayer)
12:30 Dinner
2:15 None (Midafternoon Prayer)
2:30 Work
4:30 end of work
5:30 Vespers (evening Prayer)
6:00 Supper
7:30 Compline (Night Prayer)
8:00 Retire

Monks:
There are only 13 monks at this monastery, and their average age is 83.  So they are in the process of shutting down.  When they can no longer take care of the monastery, the remaining monks will be sent to the 10 or 11 other Trappist monasteries in the United States (I had no idea it was so few!  I think it's just this "order" though...I'm sure there are more Benedictan and Franciscan monasteries).

It takes 6 years for a novice/vocation (new monk wannabe) to take his final vows.  He has to make sure he likes this lifestyle and wants to make a lifelong commitment.  During final vows, they commit to chastity, stability (not leaving the lifestyle), and...a few other things.  There are 5 vows.

These monks devote their life first to prayer.  In Father Patrick's words, "that's why we're here!"  Their second priority is to work.  They do manual labor (as much as 83 year olds can).

If the monk is also a priest, he can hear confessions and bless communion.

Chants:
All of the prayers in the schedule above are called "chants," which to me sound like singing.  Some chants are 10-15 minutes long, and some are 25-30 minutes long.  The schedule is generally like this: chants, reading from the Bible, chants, reading from the Bible, chants, silence for prayer.  People are invited to follow the monks' posture, but not to sing with them.  So I stand when they stand, sit when they sit, and bow forward when they do (at the end of every Psalm when they say "Praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, both now and forever).  My favorite chant is Compline (at night before they go to bed), because at the end of it, the head priest sprinkles holy water on everyone.  All the monks and any in the audience that want to join (I was told I could participate in this ahead of time, so I did!) come in two lines, bow in front of the priest, and are sprinkled.  To me it felt like love.

I wanted to embed a video here of the chanting, but it's not working.  Please follow this link if you want to check it out.  The volume on it is horrible, but it's the only video taken in this particular monastery, which is super cool!

Mass:
I was lucky enough to attend mass on both mornings and they were two different types of mass. (p.s. I went to mass in Orem a few years ago, and thought I'd done the Catholic thing, and didn't put it on my list of churches to visit...this was a VERY different experience from that mass)

On Wednesday I went to a typical weekday mass.  It was at 6:25am and lasted 35 minutes.  There were...about 6 people in attendance.  I saw the only kid that I ever saw at the monastery during that mass: a thirteen year old boy with his dad.  The beginning was very much like the chants--chanting, reading from the Bible, repeat.  Then they had a short sermon on serving God by serving each other.  A good half of the service was dedicated to the Eucharist.  The main priest holds up the wafers and the chalice of wine separately and prays over them.  The monks chant.  Some more speaking, praying, chanting over the Eucharist happens.  Then the main priest (there's a specific name for him) partakes of the Eucharist himself, serves all the other monks, and then comes with an assistant up to the front.  The audience comes up to partake, and the priest says, "The body of Christ" and puts the wafer in the person's mouth.  Then they go to the assistant who says, "The blood of Christ," and hands them the chalice of wine (then wipes it off for the next person).  After the Eucharist, there is time for silent prayers, then the priest announces that mass is now over.

On Thursday I went to a feast day mass for the Assumption of Mary into heaven.  This mass started at 8am, last a full hour, and had probably 12 people in attendance.  It had all of the same elements of the normal mass (the sermon this time was about the physical body...quite interesting), plus a few extra things.  We were invited to show each other the "token of peace," which was raising a hand or giving a short wave to each other.  The sermon was longer.  I forget what else was different.  Another thing I noticed is that Catholics know how to respond.  Whenever they read a passage from the Bible, the monk will end by saying "the word of the Lord."  Then the audience might repeat back "Blessed be the name of the Lord," or "Blessed be the Lord God," or some other such thing.  But they always knew exactly which phrase to repeat (and I had no idea, nor could distinguish a pattern).  So I think it would be helpful to grow up Catholic so you know what to do.  I enjoy that other churches are more participatory during the meetings.

My Experience
When I scheduled this visit a month and a half ago, I was mainly doing it for a cultural experience.  It was new, rare, and sounded fun (each one of which would be reason enough for me to do something).  However, in the past few weeks I had gone through a rough time.  So what started out as a cultural experience actually became more like a pilgrimage for me.  I wanted to reconnect with God and with my own self.  I wanted to feel whole again.  I wanted to feel peace again.

You see, I'm a pretty active person.  I'm very good at packing things into my day, multi-tasking, goal-setting, and accomplishing.  All good things...but none of which is conducive to feeling peace.  God speaks to us in silence, I learned (I believe from a book on Mother Theresa).  In fact, I'd been told a month and a half ago that God wanted me to be more silent (priesthood blessing).  But I didn't really know what that meant or how to do it.  I believe I've learned!  Or at least am starting to.  It was definitely good for me.

In addition to being proactive, I'm also an extrovert.  That doesn't like to be alone.  So the idea of spending 48 hours essentially by myself was intimidating.  So I planned out what I was going to do.  I was going to catch up on my journal writing, read the five different books I brought with, and learn how to meditate.  And go for walks and do yoga.

This picture is right side up on the file...don't know why it's vertical here!  But this is my coffee table full of books.

Here are the books I brought, along with some Catholic ones I found there!  I read a bit in three of my books (Feeling Good, The Magician's Nephew, and Run Less, Run Faster), and I read the two booklets on Mother Theresa.  Pretty decent, I'd say!

I also practiced a few forms of meditation (another thing I'd never tried).  Some of the videos I watched were cheesy and totally turned me off to meditation, but I'd heard enough about it to want to give it a try.  I tried mantra meditation, walking meditation, and lovingkindness meditation.  Ironically, most of my meditation came from Buddhist sources.  I like this website the best.  They have a few free downloads, if you feel inclined to try!  The lovingkindness ones were my favorite.

And I did catch up on my journal, and I walked several miles a day.  I tried my yoga DVD...the one I had tried once and put away...yeah, I got 20 minutes into it and decided it wasn't for me.  I don't think yoga in general isn't for me, but this particular DVD just turns me off to it.  I'll try again in the future, but in a class setting.

I also spent a LOT of time talking with people.  My two favorite people were Father Patrick, and the groundskeeper Kevin.

Father Patrick and I in the church.  The stained glass behind us is beautiful, and the choir chairs are where the monks chant.

Kevin, one of the nicest guys ever

Typical Phrases of Father Patrick

"You're sacred to me, do you know that?"

"Do I give the impression that I enjoy your company?"

"You're really loveable."

"You won't have to come back, because I won't let you go!"
"I love you."

What I Learned From Them

• All Trappist monasteries are dedicated to Mary
• Trappist comes from the location of the first monastery of this order: La Trappe, France.  But the real name of this order is the "Cistercian" order, and it's teachings are based off of Saint Benedict.
• Monks sin at times, and when they do, they go straight to confession!
• In this particular order, the monks are vegetarian (except for they have fish on special occasions)
• I also learned many of their stories...
• The guy who wanted to get married after graduating college, so he went to college and went dancing every week, looking for Miss Right, didn't find her, and decided to be a monk
• The guy who had a revelation at age 11 when his 6th grade teacher asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.  He knew right then and there that he wanted to be a priest!
• The guy who lived on the wild side until having a spiritual awakening
• And soooo much more!

Acting Like a Catholic
I felt conflicted a few times while I was there about acting like a Catholic when I'm not.  Like:

• Bowing toward the stained glass of Mary and baby Jesus when I enter and exit the monastery
• Repeating Hail Mary with Father Patrick

Bowing felt like showing respect both to Jesus and to the worshipers there.  It didn't feel like I was worshiping the glass or an idol.  But I still felt a bit conflicted.  Repeating Hail Mary felt like showing respect to Father Patrick, although I felt very insincere saying it, as I personally do not believe in asking anyone to make intercession with God for me.  I also felt sensitive to the possibility that I was giving the wrong impression (I am seeking truth within my own faith and seeking simply to understand other religions--not questioning my faith and looking elsewhere).

Sometimes acting like a Catholic felt fine, though, such as:

• Repeating The Lord's Prayer
• Kneeling in prayer on the "kneelers"

Twice Father Patrick was kneeling and asked me to join him in prayer.  We said the Lord's Prayer together (which felt like reciting scripture to me, rather than praying, since we take it as an "example" rather than a set prayer), and then he immediately lead me in Hail Mary.  I would pray silently on the kneelers several times a day by myself, usually before a chant.  I LOVED it!  So comfortable.  It's a great praying posture.  I liked the focus of praying toward the front of the church and the stained glass.

Take Aways

There are several things I took away from the monastery--things the Lord taught me through his Holy Spirit.

• Pray out loud, as much as possible
• Make time for stillness
• God talks in silence
• Have my eye single to the glory of God
• When I am devoting my time to spiritual matters, be ALL there--no distractions, no cell phone, etc.
• When I am doing other activities, I can still pray and consecrate them to the Lord and let Him know that He is still my focus
• Pray for discernment that I might be receptive to promptings of the Holy Ghost in order to be Christ's hands on the Earth
• I learned that I can be still and quiet, and that I have more peace when I am.  Although I am tempted by the monk lifestyle, God wants me to be out in the world.  This means that although I'll be in a place where my attention is often split many ways, there is a way to have inner peace.  And God wants me to be with people.
• Writing in my journal is important, therapeutic, and should be done every day.
• and many more! 

My Dollar

And, of course, my dollar for completing this goal went to the monastery.  I gave my "voluntary offering" (they don't charge for the retreat, but they kindly ask for a voluntary offering of your own free will and ability), and I also added a dollar.  And I feel dang good about where that dollar went.  :)

#38 See 5 documentaries (1/5): Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

I watched my first documentary last week!  Well, not my first ever.  But it's not my usual fare, and I admire what documentaries do, so I decided to set a goal to watch more.  In reality, 5 is probably low.  (all of my numbers are pretty arbitrary) But I hope that it will become a habit, and I will watch many more than 5 over the next 2.5 years.

My good friend Kristy has been super into health lately, and has watched several documentaries and read several books on the topic.  I'm also interested in health, so I decided to watch a health documentary with her for my first one.

Here's the trailer:

It was interesting!  And appalling (at least the attitudes of the Americans he interviewed were).  And made me want to juice.

#72 Try 100 new recipes, documenting each with photos and rating them: Pizookies

This was my first try with pizookies, and they came out great!  Dave wanted to do "OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP!" so we found a 4.5 star recipe on allrecipes.com, and it turned out great (link)!  We baked them in my jumbo Texas muffin pan, took them out when they were 3/4 baked (half-baked just didn't look too good), stuck a scoop of french vanilla ice cream on top and voila!  Deliciousness!  We also experimented with putting ice cream on top of raw dough...that was also delicious.  :) I agree with the original rating: 4.5 stars.  It was pretty dang good!

Don't know why this came out vertical...it's horizontal in my folder

So excited!

Look how cute and little they are!

I wish I could give you a bite so that you knew how delicious they were.  Think hot, slightly gooey oatmeal chocolate chip goodness combined with frozen, smooth vanilla ice cream.  mmm

#95 Take DeVore kids out on dates: Sport

Sport has been on a traveling baseball team for the past two years, so when his mom (my sister) suggested that he would like going to an Owlz game (another benefit of the PoaP), I knew that was the way to go.

Turns out, he'd never been before, and he was ecstatic.  He combed his hair, brought his favorite hoodie, and had his mit sitting out on the porch, just waiting for me to arrive.  He chatted with whole drive to and from the game (25 mins/way), and most of the game, too!

My family is not super into sports.  Not even a little bit.  So I knew just the very basics of the game.  But lucky for me, I was sitting with a baseball expert!  He told me all about the nitty gritty rules (what is considered a "ball," when you get 4 balls you can walk to first, but you can't steal 2nd) and how to read the score board.  He told me what RBI was, and I explained to him how averages worked.  It was great.  AND the Owlz won by 8 points!

I love that he's not too old to hug me.  ;)

#95 Take DeVore kids out on dates: Bella

This goal was originally to take my sister's oldest son on a "meaningful outing."  He's 9, and it's high time I go on a date with him.  Then I realized, it was high time I took each of them out on dates (and I can do it pretty inexpensively using the Pass of all Passes!).  So I started with the 5 year old.  I've given the kids pseudonyms to protect their identities (I'm currently rethinking how I use names on this blog...).  This girl shall be named Bella.  :)

Bella loves rock climbing.  So naturally I took her to Trafalga, where they have a huge rock climbing wall!

Isn't she adorable?! I love how the straps are hanging down past her feet!

 She wasn't heavy enough for the rope mechanism to let her down when she wanted to get down, so I helped her. ;)

We then had a blast riding bumper cars, free falling a bit from this tower ride, and riding airplanes.  Unfortunately the said that "parents can't ride."  I stopped myself from saying that I was the aunt, and took the role of the doting parent, cheering and taking pictures from the side.

When we came inside and got food, we noticed this funny french fry that had a little one attached to it.  Bella smiled at said it was like "me and Aunt Sabrina!"  I'm the big one, and she's the little one, of course.

The best part of the whole thing was her reaction.  "This is the best day ever!"  "This is SO fun!"  "Can we do this every year?"  One date a year?  Yeah, I can definitely do that.  In fact, I can probably do more than that.  So fun to spend it with you, kid!

#72 Try 100 new recipes, documenting each with photos and rating them: Yummy Yams

I stole this recipe from a friend, but he said I could publish it to the world... :)  These are the yummiest savory yams you've ever tasted (or not tasted, rather).  Previous to this I'd only had yams that were doused in brown sugar and mini marshmallows.  Delicious, but not something I want to eat on a normal day.  These yams are savory.

First step is to stab it "all over" with a fork

Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  At 45 mins, pull it out, cut it open, and butter that sucker up--inside and out!  This will cause the butter to "carmelize" (his words) on the skin instead of the skin turning dry and hard.  You also sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder (or in my case, sea salt and garlic pepper) on the inside.  Then close that bad boy up and put it back in the oven for another 10 ish minutes.

And voila! You have a delicious yam side dish!  Note: I did have to add more salt and garlic pepper to it.  I think my friend's turned out better than mine, but watevs.  His was a 5/5 rating.  Mine is a 4/5 rating.  Either way, it is definitely worth experimenting with!  Yay for Yams!

#37 Watch 7 of the following films: Rocky

I had never seen Rocky, but I sure liked the music!  So, in preparation for my goal of working out on a train track "like Rocky," I decided to watch it.

My reactions:
Ew, blood.
I don't want to ever be a boxer!  Look at his face!
Aw that's cute--he likes the shy girl!
Look at that awesome 70s clothing!  And hair!

If you haven't seen it, watch this trailer to figure out if you want to.  Otherwise, just stick to the music. ;)

#16 Go to 5 festivals: Lindon Days Lawn Mower Races!

Yesterday I was getting my oil changed in Lindon when I noticed an interesting magazine on the waiting room table: a schedule of Lindon Days.  "Lindon Days?" I ask myself.  I have no idea what that is.  So I open it and turn to the schedule for the day.  That night is lawn mower racing!  Immediately I made a connection to the chick flic "The Prince and Me," which is the only place I'd ever seen lawn mower racing...

So, naturally, I decide to go and check it out.  My faithful friend Catie comes along.  We aren't able to go for the beginning, but we should be there for the last 45 minutes, which surely will be enough to get our fill of lawn mower racing.  Wrong!  We get there as they're handing out awards.  We've missed the whole thing!  Dang it.

But, we did get to check out the lawn mowers, and we did get to talk to the racers.  Apparently this is a thing.  I thought it was just your everyday dads with their lawn mowers, coming out to support the local festival.  Nope.  These people travel to go to lawn mower races.  They have their own track in Spanish Fork where they practice once a month.  They have an association (with their own t-shirts!) and different divisions.  I don't know whether to be impressed (and want to race a little myself!) or run and hide.

I still want to see a lawn mower race.  But this was a fun experience all the same.  I am counting it as a half a festival.  3.5/5!

My dollar today (yeah, I haven't completed the 5 festivals, but this called out to me) goes to the family of a little boy named Owen who has cancer.  He's 7.  As mentioned earlier, I had a sister pass away of cancer (at the age of 8), so I feel extra compassion for this situation.  As Catie and I were leaving the lawn mower race, we saw a concession tent bearing the banner "We Love Owen!" and we went to check it out.  Poor kid.  The chemo seems to be decreasing the cancer so far, so we wish him the best.

#13 Experience 10 new things in Provo: Go to a Pawn Shop

For some reason, I've always thought it'd be cool to go to a pawn shop.  And I never had.  Until today.  I guess I was a little bit scared or turned off by how they're portrayed in the media.  That, and I read a book (a kids book that I read with my 5th graders) in which the boy gets totally ripped off when he sells a Babe Ruth baseball card to a pawn shop.  So I guess I artificially had created a negative experience.  But I still wanted to go!

Today that happened. I had the awesome experience of going to TWO pawn shops!  P&S Pawn and EZ Pawn.

I was in search of a mountain bike.  You see, I had a mountain bike once (that I used mainly for street riding), but it was stolen.  Now I have a flat-handled road bike.  And it's great for street riding!  I love my bike.  But I experienced mountain biking for the first time and would love to go again.  Alas, I am a poor grad student and have little money for a bike.  My budget was $20-$50.

Although both places had several bikes, they were not what I was looking for.  Either really nice and expensive, or the wrong style of bike.

I learned, however, that if I ever need the following items, I could go to a pawn shop:
guns
leather jackets
silverware
used DVDs
watches

Honestly, I don't understand the stigma about pawn shops anymore.  They're just like going to any thrift shop to buy something.

And if that makes you play the song "Thrift Shop" in your mind, never fear!  That was playing in my head, too.  Here's the edited song for your listening enjoyment:

#14 Eat out at 10 new places: Spicy Thai

I love Thai food.  I think it's delicious.  So imagine how excited I was when we pulled up to this place for my roommate's going away dinner:

I ordered the yellow pumpkin curry, which was amazing.  And affordable.

I forgot to bring my camera, so this was the closest thing on the web...

The meal was made a bliss complete by sharing a mango sticky rice amongst the 6 of us.  I have had mango sticky rice before, and enjoyed it, but none compare to the amazingness of this one!  And it was on sale.  Normally $4.99, we got it for $3.99.  Success!

If you've never tried Mango sticky rice, go do it.  Like right now.

#40 Read 10 of the following books:The Cleansing of America and Go Forward with Faith

I realized that I should write up something about these books as I read them, rather than all at the end.  So it has been a few months since I listened to these books (hooray for audio books!), but I will tell you what I've retained.  I've read four other books besides these during the summer, but don't count them--those were the type of books I want to read anyway...this goal is supposed to stretch me to be more true to my ideals.  The books I chose to put on my list are generally religious, classic, or pop culture.  I hope to be more well-rounded and intelligent by reading such books.  The books I read anyway deal with health (I read In Defense of Food this summer, and it was amazing!), relationships, parenting (not normally, but for one of my other goals, I am), and young adult books (for my 5th graders).  The first two books I read are religious, so read on at your own risk. ;)

The Cleansing of America is by Cleon Skousen, who some take with a grain of salt.  He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a prolific author both of religious and political material.  I had read an article written by him (which I immensely enjoyed but also took with a grain of salt), but this was my first entire book.  I should have liked to have read it in book format, however, because I would have liked to have seen the footnotes.  None of his references were stated in the audio book.

From what I can recall, the basic premise of the book is as follows:
As America (which includes both North and South America) becomes increasingly wicked, they will ripen for destruction.  A desolating scourge will cover the land.  It will be highly contagious, and affect something like 1/3 of the population.  People's tongues will swell up and be dry in their mouths, and their eyes will fall from their sockets (this reminded me of a scripture I've read in Doctrine and Covenants 29:18-20).  The purging will begin within the members of the LDS Church, and then spread through all people.  Although some righteous people will surely be lost, mostly the wicked will be afflicted.  After this "cleansing," America will be ready to receive God's law and be a Zion people.  There will be a variety of churches in the land, but all will recognize Christ as their Savior.  He will also be their law-giver, and a headquarters will be established in Independence, Missouri.  Before America is sealed off to become Zion, all will be invited to come, as long as they are willing to abide by God's laws.  At this time, a military dictator named Gog will be conquering Europe and Asia.  The only way to escape him will be to come to Zion/America.  At this time all of the missionaries of the LDS Church will come home.  After a period of time, that opportunity will close, and there will be some change in the ocean's currents and wind currents that prevent any travel to or from America, essentially sealing it off.  During this time of isolation, America will develop into a Zion society, and Gog will go about conquering the world.  At a certain point, Gog will come to Israel.  He will have no problem conquering cities...until he gets to Jerusalem, which he will siege.  Then the prophecy in Revelation 11 will come true, about 2 prophets preaching in Jerusalem for 3.5 years (the length of the Savior's ministry!).  Then Gog will break through and kill the 2 prophets and declare a holiday, partying in the streets for 3 days until they are resurrected (in which case they freak out).  That much I remember.  Then at some point the lost 10 tribes come back and help in the fighting, the Savior steps on the mount of Olives which cleaves in two and saves the Jews, and the rest of the events of the Second Coming occur.  It gets a bit fuzzy at that point in my memory.

That was all objective.  Personally, I can recognize several scriptures and prophecies that I am familiar with (I enjoy studying this subject), but I've never strung together the order as he did, and he has interpreted certain things (e.g. he thinks the 10 tribes might be on another planet) differently than I do.  I think it is possible that it will happen that way, or similarly, but I don't know.  It makes me want to do more study.  As with many subjects that some refer to as "deep doctrine" (basically anything we don't know much about and thus many theories exist...none of which subjects are essential to my faith in Christ), I find that this book has enlarged my mind to more possibilities, but I have not made a final decision on it.  It could be; it could not be.  And I don't feel any pressure to find out yet.  I like to write my opinions in pencil and mull them over in my head for a minute or a year or two.  I would only recommend this book if my description of it has interested you.

The second book I read was "Go Forward with Faith," the biography of Gordon B Hinckley (that link goes to one of my favorite talks of his), who was the president and prophet of my church when I was a youth.  Perhaps fortunately for you, since that last one was kind of dense and heavy, I don't remember very much.  I remember thinking in certain instances that he was like me!  We're both organized, write, and like to improve things.  For example, he saw that missionaries needed materials for their teaching, so he wrote them.  He was pro-active.  I like to think that I would do similarly.  I also remember thinking that I could not be married to him.  Lest that sound like I'm finding fault, let me just say that I know which personalities compliment mine and which do not.  For me, he would be too intense.  For example, he took his family on vacation to California.  His children had never seen the beach.  They went and looked at the beach for 5 minutes, and then he said they had to keep going.  I admire that he worked so hard, but I...I like swimming.  And peaceful, lazy days.  I feel the same way about Benjamin Franklin, whose autobiography I'm currently in the middle of.  I admire his diligence and hard work, but dang...it makes me tired just listening to it!  But I did enjoy learning of his (Hinckley's) work in Asia.  It made me excited to learn that he was over Asia when the Church was young there, and then came back and dedicated temples there years later.

I love President Gordon B. Hinckley.  I feel a special affection for him.  I have a testimony of his calling as a prophet.  It enjoyed listening to his biography and learning more about his life.  I would recommend it to anyone.

#79 Attend the services of the following churches: the Khadeeja Islamic Center

Can I start off by saying that I love Muslims?  I really do.  Even though they would seem more different from me (different language, different races, and different religion) than the people at the Rock, I felt more at home and less "other" there.

I had been wanting to come to a Friday prayer service (the closest thing they have to a church service, as I would define, since the Imam speaks at this prayer service) for several years.  But I've always been in school, either as a student or a teacher.  This summer I am free, so I decided I was going, whether I got anyone to come with me or not.  Turns out that my best friend Kristy wanted to come, and also loved it.  We drove up to Salt Lake and saw this building:

I saw the architecture and knew I was in the right spot!

The Imam gave his sermon (don't know if that's the proper word) in both Arabic and English.  Some people in attendance only spoke Arabic, and others only spoke English, so it made sense.  During the English portion of it, I noticed one main point emphasized: surrendering to God.  They mentioned it several times.  They also spoke of the connection between someone who is prostrating himself (as they do in their prayers) and Allah.  I thought it was poignant, and thought about that concept from my own beliefs.  I, too, believe in giving myself to God.  After all, my will is the only thing that is genuinely mine to give him.  I love the symbolism of altars.  I often think of putting my own will on the altar.

This is on the bottom floor.  If I'd looked down from the top, I'm sure I would've seen something like this.  That apse, by the way, points toward Mecca.

During the Arabic portions of the sermon, which seemed somehow more plentiful (or maybe I was just distractable), I turned my attention to people watching.  Here are some observations:

Race: I loved the different races of people I saw.  From what I could tell, it was about half Arab and half African.  If you know me, you know that I think other races are beautiful.  I couldn't help but watch these African girls with cherubic faces, wearing the head scarf, much like this one:

Beautiful

Clothing: I loved the clothing they wore.  Many of the women wore these linen dresses that went down past their knees, but had open slits up both sides (allowing movement), with cloth pants or leggings underneath.  They often have the hijabs (head scarves) matching the outfit they're wearing, and I LOVE it!  I think if I personally were wearing their outfits in my normal day-to-day, I'd feel out of place, but them wearing it is absolutely beautiful.

Community: We take off our shoes before we touch the carpet inside the mosque, which I love.  It reminds me of Moses, when the Lord told him to take off his sandals because where he stood was holy ground.  It seems respectful to take off our shoes.  It also makes me feel like I've taken off a layer of formality, and now I can relate more to these people.  The other thing that creates community is the fact that we're all sitting on the same carpet, not separated by chairs or benches.  I love it.

Even though it's not how I took it, both of these things are very practical, as was later explained to me by a young woman named Anom.  She said that we take off our shoes to keep the carpets clean (their heads touch the carpet in their prayers), and the carpet is like a bunch of individual prayer rugs.  The pentagon shape is not symbolic, but traditional for prayer rugs.  Like this:

At the end of the service, everyone stood and moved to the front of room (women are separate from the men, in an area at the top that I will explain later).  Since the last thing was said in Arabic, Kristy and I had no idea what was going on, but thought it'd be best to follow suit.  Immediately some girls asked us if we needed some head scarves (I thought it was odd that we weren't asked to do this earlier, as all of the practicing mosques that I've been to in the Middle East required them to enter), which we gladly accepted.  We then stood in line with everyone else, and another woman, Anom, came to ask if we were participating in the prayer.  We said we weren't--we were just visiting; and she took us to the back of the room where we sat and she answered all our questions.  Meanwhile, a man "sang" (they don't call it singing, but I think it sounds like the coolest singing I've ever heard) the call to prayer, and then everyone silently made salaat (the prayer they say 5 times a day).

This is the call to prayer.  This is at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, where I went a year ago.  Doesn't it sound like singing?  But with your throat more open?  I love this sound.  The video is super long, but just listening to the first few seconds will give you an idea.

This is how to do the prayer.  I like it because it explains what to do and provides an English translation.  From what I've experienced, however, people do this silently.

Kristy and I both love talking to people, so I'm sure we were both hoping for an experience like what we got.  I've taken a class on Islam, but I learned some new things from Anom!  Here's a sampling of what we learned:

5 pillars of Islam: These are saying the creed (There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet), praying 5 times a day, fasting during the month of Ramadan, alms to the poor (they give 2.5% of their income), and pilgrimage to Mecca.  This I already knew.  However, I didn't know when it was expected.  Anom explained that it is expected that a person will be obedient to these things starting at puberty, so it's "different for every person."  She said that it was great that some kids were participating in the prayer, but the kids who weren't participating were totally fine.

Sin: This was the first time I've heard of the concept of sin in Islam.  She said that when you willfully disobey any of the 5, you are sinning.  I asked her if you needed to go to the Imam to resolve this or if you could do it on your own, and she said that you do it on your own through prayer.  She said that you don't need an intermediary.  She also informed me that there are other prayers besides the salaat prayer that you can say, and you can also do free-form, using your own words for prayer.

Women: The boy that took us from the men's section to the women's section (yeah, we accidentally came through the wrong door) explained to us that in Islam women are "higher" than men (that's the first time I'd heard that).  That is why they are on top, on the second floor, above the men.  He said that, "we view every woman as our mother, and give her that respect."  Anom reiterated his point, saying that men respect women a lot in Islam.  She also explained that separated helps the men to not be distracted in their thoughts, since the movements of the prayer can be distracting (her words!).  I thought that was cool.  You always hear that women are oppressed in Islamic countries.  It's nice to hear that when Islam is practiced correctly, women are respected.

Since this post is already long, I think I'll end here.  But if you have any questions or thoughts on Islam, please post them as a comment.  I personally love these people and feel badly that they are not always the best understood by our society.

Even though I've only visited two of the churches I listed, I felt the desire to give my dollar for this goal in advance.  I donated to the mosque as they were sending around a collection container.  I feel pretty good about it.  :)

#88 Use my budget for three consecutive months, tracking all purchases: 2nd month!

I  LOVE MY BUDGET!!!  I seriously love using a budget.  It's freeing.  I love knowing where I've spent my money and how much more I have left.  It's freeing.  And this way works for me.  Maybe if I had a smart phone I'd find an app and do it on that, but I don't.  So the 3x5 card method works great for me!  I previously made a budget on a googledoc.  Now I just hold myself to it and track my purchases on the 3x5 card.  Last month I went over, so this month I gave myself a little more.  I gave myself $450, and only spend $407!  Of course, being out of town for half the month helped...  I went home to CA, where I didn't have to pay for food or gas (except for my portion of the gas to get down there).  I'm excited to see how the new numbers work out this month (August), as I will be here the whole month.  I plan on doing this even past my 3 month goal...I like it.  I want this to be a lifestyle.

Here's the evidence of my past month: