I took my brother to the MTC today and it was so much harder than I anticipated.  I love him so much and I will miss him so much.  I'm having a hard time expressing the things that I am thinking right now.

Wow, so I am definitely going to have to watch City of Angels soon.  My Uncle made a comment on the lyrics to "Iris" from the soundtrack that prompted me to do some more research into my favorite song.  I love the song, and now I understand even more why I like the song.  Here's a plot summary from IMDb: "Seth, an angel watching over Los Angeles, begins finding his job
difficult as he falls in love with Maggie, a beautiful heart surgeon.
She becomes interested in Seth, and soon his not-quite-mortal state
seems a barrier rather than a gift. A choice must be made between
celestial duty and earthly love."

I love movies and books with themes of forbidden love.  I grew up loving The Bishop's Wife, and this seems somewhat similar in concept.  At first glance, the thought that people in heaven can't have love is strange to Mormons who believe that marriage lasts beyond the grave and into the Eternal Celestial realm.  The concept of an angel being alone, however, fits in perfectly to the doctrine.  Those righteous who die without being married by the proper authority (ie. in the temple) are exalted in the Celestial Kingdom as angels who are alone and who have no spouse nor increase.  In other words, not all couples will be couples in Heaven, and marriage alone may not last forever.

In that sense the song and movie apply to LDS doctrine/thought in two ways.  One is that it portrays the pain of being alone.  Angelic joy can't conquer loneliness.  That sure encourages LDS kids to get married!  But the reality is that not all people can or will marry in the temple, or maybe not even at all.  That's the second application- Seth has to make a choice between eternal, single, angelic status and temporary, earthly love.  Is a love that ends with the grave worth the cost of Eternal Angelness?  That is a very relevant question to a lot of Latter-day Saints.

So there we go.  More thoughts to come after I watch the movie.

I just caught up on the Heroes episodes that I have missed.  They were awesome.  I think that my favorite episode so far this season is number 4.  I am in love with Claire.  She is has the power to regenerate herself, but has to keep it secret.  Then she meets West.  He can fly.  "Claire, these fears you have of someone finding out about you or feeling different forever.  I have them too.  You can share them with me, but I can't help you if you don't trust me."

I can't wait until the next episode!

So I feel like listening to my favorite song.  And why not share it with the blogging world?

Apparently I have inadvertently discovered a new form of energy.  It does not require food or sleep.  It enhances functionability in all areas where it actually counts.  It enhances performance.  It enhances mood.  It's wonderful.

In the past (oh gosh I need a calculator) 49.5 (73.5) hours I have slept 7 (14) hours.  And I have sprung out of bed on time all 2 (3) mornings.  I have was alert during my 8:00 accounting lecture.  I scored 8 out of 10 in accounting quizes.  I have completed sculpture projects and prepared for the start of a new block.  I have been alert and spiritual during church.  I can fly.  It's that kind of power. (that was an allusion to a statement I made in high school that none of you remember but that I remember).

Having said that, I am so glad tomorrow the block is over and my academic life can slow down ever so slightly until December.

I just wrote a protected post and decided that all of you public post people haven't read a post in quite some time and probably miss it.

This past weekend was intensely spiritual for me.  Saturday night a good friend made me and some other friends dinner and then we watched a bunch of movies and drank hot vanilla and it was awesome.  I didn't get home until 3 in the morning.  And once I got home, I was feeling too good to fall asleep, so I prayed.  It was a really powerful experience.  I had been seeking answers, and the answer came.  I let go of all my expectations and demands, and just let myself feel the way I wanted to feel.  And I carried the philosophy over to Church this morning.  I went and felt good.  I felt spiritual.  I felt uplifted.  I enjoyed Church more than I have enjoyed it in a very long time.

One of the things that I read today in Church that really touched me is in Moses chapter 6.  It really made the plan of salvation hit home.  Suddenly my priorities shifted and what was important fell into place.

And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying. . . teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, . . . by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth
death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood,
and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water,
and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine
Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified; Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable
things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which
quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which
knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.  And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.

And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear
record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are
spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are
on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are
under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me. And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.  And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever; And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.  Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen.

I have too many thoughts to possibly know even where to start.

President Eyring's talks both blew me away.  They were so powerful.  When the transcripts are available, I will put some quotes up here.  Elder Daniel K. Judd gave a talk in the Sunday afternoon session that resolved some of the biggest problems that I have been feeling at Church.  I hope that we will all apply what he taught us.

The weekend has been weird for me.  Some girls in the ward invited me to have waffles and watch the Saturday Morning session with them, and I did.  Then I came back home and ordered pizza with the apartment (by pizza I mean crap, but hey, I'm a college student).  Then we watched the afternoon session together.  For priesthood I went to the Marriot Center with Mark, his friend Josh, and one of my roommates, Brian.  Then Brian and Andrew (different Brian) picked me up and we went to an awesome party at one of their friend's houses.  We ended up crashing there (after more pizza) and waking up to waffles and the Sunday Morning session.  It was great fun.

Now I am watching the last session of conference and panicking at the realization that I have to do my homework.  I am having a hard time processing everything considering that in the same week the greatest thing that has ever happened to me happened to me, and the worst thing that has ever happened to people very close to me happened to people very close to me, and to me.  That was a very confusing and poorly written sentence.  Forgive me.

Today was a crazy day.  I went to bed at six this morning, and woke up at eleven.  Probably not healthy, but then . . . oh well.  After I woke up, I had lunch with Mark, and that was a lot of fun.  It was the first time I had seen him in more than two years.  So much had happened.

Tonight I had a mission reunion, which was a ton of fun.  It was weird to see all these old mission friends out of context.  It was awkward learning their first names.   It made me feel a little nostalgic.  I'm doing fine, by the way, in case any of you are informed and therefore worried.

I should be writing my poly sci paper, but I'm taking another one of those sanity breaks.  This time it is my favorite song that is providing the sentiments.  To redeem myself from my last post, I will say that I love BYU.  I really do.  This has been a great place for me to spend my last few weeks.  It has brought me more . . . *insert hard to describe emotion here* than I ever could have imagined.  I am certainly not alone here, a fact that has been confirmed over and over again during the last nine days or so.  I think I have accomplished normalcy, but not in the way I anticipated.

My reference to another blog elicited more reaction than I anticipated.  It's anonymousness will be maintained, but perhaps mentioning it served some good purpose.  I promise to pay more attention to this one.

I'm still stoked about General Conference.  I predict that Elder Ballard will join the First Presidency (Elder Oaks is my runner up), and C. Scott Grow is going to be the new apostle (Elder Kikuchi is my runner up).  I hope that didn't sound too flipant.  I'm starting to make some plans for conference weekend, and I'm just getting more and more stoked.  I just need to be edified so much, and Conference always edifies me.