Speaking of Jerks

 I am so tired of Brian David Mitchell. 

You would think when a story had so many hot, salacious twists and turns that a person like me would never get tired of it, but I have.  Put a fork in me, I’m done.  

He’s a sick, perverse child abuser who has ruined more than a few lives, but he’s back on television again with his crazy hair, crooning the hymns again.  I want to snatch that face bald he makes me so mad.  Today they broke into TV to let us know that a judge thinks he can’t, maybe, get a fair trial in Utah.  Ya think?  We are so sick of that crazy monkey, any one of us would take a stick to him if given half a chance just to get him out of our faces.

Elizabeth Smart seems to have emerged from her ordeal eight years ago pretty well and  has gone on with her life except she has to come home from her LDS mission to testify.   Yiiiiikes.  

I can’t imagine any state would let him loose regardless of where they try him so let’s just get the whole thing over and done with so we don’t have to see his ugly face or run the risk of anyone having to hear him sing again.  Who cares where.  Where is Joran Van der Sloot?  We don’t hear about him anymore.  Maybe that’s a good spot for Mitchell.

Church - What It's Good For

What’s church for?  Worship you say?  Hahahaha I laugh.  That too, of course, but who is kidding who?

God knows it’s for a lot of things. He’s been watching us, you know.   

A new item is texting. An old one is good old chatting. Showing off new duds is fun. Daydreaming, arguing, wishing, hoping, planning, scheming. Writing new blogs happens.  I asked the bishop on Sunday to excommunicate Joyce Cusick because she said I looked like a pumpkin, but I was really kinda kidding.  Really.  

Folding the program is always a good activity except for airplanes which is always forbidden in our home after one of our sons threw one during Sacrament Meeting years ago. I still fold flea catchers for old times sake.  

Then there are color books and crayons, of course, but graduation to the big-time -- drawing!  That’s when you get good.  All you need is a notebook and a pencil and within a few minutes you have a startling likeness of Uncle Ben as you see above done by Ali Aukschun!  

Church grows great citizens, varied worshippers, wonderful friends, artists, authors, speakers, musicians, cooks, campers, thinkers and granddaughters.  

i think we are who we are because of church.  Maybe some of it was not as focused as it could have been, but probably won’t improve much in the future.  But we’ll still keep showing up since we likely are better because of it anyway, and it’s not so bad anyway, is it?

Carl's Good!

And here’s to the best news I’ve posted in a long, long time.  Carl’s cancer, it would appear, is gone.

They did the PSA blood test on Monday, and reported today the results was -.004 -- virtually undetectable.  It would appear that even good old water itself doesn’t get a perfect .000000 on the PSA test for prostate cancer.  

I hate to think what would have happened had Carl not had his kidney stone and met up with the good Dr. Dan Hibbert, the sneaky urologist who chances a check on the adjacent prostate while calming a raging kidney stone.  Fortunately an additional plus for Dr. Hibbert is he is unique in the area in his ability to perform the prostatectomy via robotics enabling Carl to recover considerably faster than he otherwise would have.  Further, the precision is much better than a manual surgery so damage is less likely.

Carl has always cursed his kidney stones and his propensity to create them and yet it turns out that they were blessings in disguise.  Isn’t that the way of things?  

How often we complain of the very things that ultimately we find make us strong and even save our lives.  

I thank God for this.  I am a firm believer than we will realize that there has not been a wasted moment, experience, pain, loss, or ache that has not “come together for our good.”  I believe in that kind of great economy of our God.  For example, I would have never believed that I could have loved Carl more.  But here I am, loving him more than I could have ever imagined before. 

Snappy Facts for Wednesday

There are some things you need to know.

1.  I've been out of town for two weeks and have been not busy so I've not been doing much and my arm hurts so I've not had much to write about.

2.  Carl's been down and out.

3.  It's late.

4.  I think only Annie and Lindsey are following me anyway now so I'm disencouraged anyway.  Even Carl accused me of not writing regularly though I only missed Friday and Monday.

5.  I've got a list of snappy facts you need to know anyway so click on the following:


http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5hmMuB/mysnapplerealfacts.blogspot.com/

Hereafter - Clint Eastwood At His Best

I think Clint Eastwood is a genius as a director. I loved Hereafter but it’s not at all what you think it’s going to be.  Nothing heavy-handed from this guy.  

Eastwood doesn’t underestimate his viewer.  This movie is not difficult, but it’s deep and rich both visually and auditorily.  You see incredible beauty.  You see despair.  You see things vaguely, yet clearly.  You hear Dickens, then you see why he matters.  You see incredible, people, some fascinating, not especially beautiful, but fascinating, and acting incredibly.  You hear such understatement.  French is spoken at length by beautiful, accomplished people, English by a beautiful, poor, broken little family in terrible distress, all to be tied in a strange and seamless way.  Only a couple of times I thought things could have been done less awkwardly, but I didn’t know how.  

Eastwood makes his many statements throughout maybe only once and expects you to remember them and build on them.  If you don’t, no problem, but if you do, great beauty comes of it.  

He gives abundant visual clues and cues that you can learn from and build on, some from beyond, some binding humans through the beyond some indicating caring from beyond and some indicating vestiges from beyond that linger from the past.  It’s wild.  

The woman takes the hand of a child, a father grieves from beyond, a twin brother instructs his brother acting both humanly, childishly and also angelically, a doctor/scientist informs with just a line in a hospital making a huge difference, a vision appears and reappears, the kiss from the future, and phony clairvoyants are outed.  You almost feel you are watching your own thoughts happen.    

The sheer beauty of the movie is enough to draw you along though the movie is very slow in its progression.  Though little is known about much, much is indicated to drive thought about everyone and everything.  Just like life and the hereafter.  It’s beautiful.  I’m going to see it again.  It’s that much.  

I Laughed, I Cried, I Spilled My Drink . . .

I didn’t even know such a movie was out yet we went to see Red yesterday afternoon in a movie theater that was empty save for us.  I thought I’d laugh myself silly.  It was wonderful.  I could laugh as loud as I wanted without Carl telling me to shut up.  I needed those magic shields up, too, because it was just that funny.  

Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and of course John Malkovich were crazy old former agents of varying types, with Malkovich having lots of paranoia thrown in, who shoot things up, chase around the country in cars, blow people up, and are absolutely hilarious.  Julia, my beautiful daughter-in-law will be thrilled to note that a Russian is a hero in this one.  

The story line is interesting and pretty surprising, too, keeping you guessing as to how this is going to work out, too, without somebody you like doing pretty hard time at some point.  

The timing is perfect as they zip from place to place and the the pace is perfect.  We’re never bored so be sure to buy a medium drink and go to the bathroom before you go in.  I wouldn't know where to recommend a bathroom break.

Mary Louise Parker is the love interest but you’ve got to see her to care, and you will.

Please  see it.  Just trust me on this one.  

Makes Alot of Sense

The Parable of Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson

about a battle that goes on inside all people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two

wolves that dwell inside each and everyone of us.

“One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,

arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,

lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is Good.

It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,

kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,

truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for

a minute, and then asked his grandfather:

“Which wolf will win ?”

The old Cherokee simply replied:

“The one you feed.”