W Hotel Christmas

Merry Christmas. Or San Dan Kauile as they say here. I worked at the W Hotel as a model the last two days. I was dressed in a "sexy" santa suit handing being groovy and congenial with all the ritzy guests on hand as I passed out presents and did prize drawing presentations. When I say sexy.. I just mean that I was in a santa suit that looks like something elvis would wear and it was purple because that's what W Hotel is all about. The hotel was founded by the guy who does fashion TV. I made 9000 HK on the Job, only worked a few hours each day, got to pose with a gorgeous girl from Taiwan all day, and I got to stay the night in the hotel with an AMAZING view of Hong Kong. So, even though I worked for Christmas, I'll be able to go on a nice trip with the money.

I have so many pieces of paper with notes on them that say "write in journal about such and such". So since I'm afraid of losing my journal here I'm doing everything digital and this private blog is my journal. I have found some from March and May and all year long. I am SOOO bad at keeping a record for myself. I'm so busy living life, I don't have time to write my memories down. So, now I'm going to do a digital note to write about the Hong Kong movie I did last night. Thursday Dec 18. And dinner at Tacos with Tingting.

A girl I work with kissed Cris Brown. And I shot a Korean movie on Wednesday night ( Dec 3). So tired.

Great movie. Great music.

This video is moving, makes you think all these great things about this man, it moves you with hope. "This is my America", spine tingling soundtrack music in the background..."The thing that inspires me the most about Obama... is he's not going to be the president of the most powerful lobbyists." What these people aren't singing about is today Obama announced his children will go to a private school, yet he opposes school choice vouchers-the position of the teachers' union who endorsed Obama. Today he was the president of the lobbyists, instead of the people who want to send their children to better schools. The tuition for each of the Obama children will be $18k-20k a year. Vouchers would allow those not as privileged to close the gap and take a step closer to the type of education the rich/Obamas are able to afford. It also creates motivation for ALL schools to compete and provide a better education and retain their students. So much for civil rights and empowering the poor with choice.

I wonder how the people singing in the video feel now. Probably smiling that they're in a video that 3 million people watched.

So Monday I got my Visa to India, then Wednesday the big terrorist attacks in Bombay took place. I hadn't planned on going there, but it's still pretty crazy to know that there are attacks every so often directed at foreigners, namely Americans in India. I'm still planning on going to New Delhi and Agra, but I might give it an extra week or two.

Lately I've seen quite an influx of old men with stunning girls on their arms. Man I can't wait to be 50! Oh yeah, and rich too. Today as I was passing the sports bar on TV I saw a show on MTV called "Cribs". I have seen it before, but it made me think this time how openly materialistic society has/is becoming. It's a show about the rich and famous showing off their houses and driveways full of cars as if to say "look what I have and you don't, but you should aspire to have". Sends a "fantastic" message! I also recently read a poll, I don't remember it off the top of my head to post it, but it asked teenagers what they thought was most important in life, and the #1 answer was to be rich. That was chosen over "love", "family", "friends" "career" etc. I also got online yesterday and listened to the top 10 songs on the billboards and the majority of them are about being rich and famous. So superficial.

Sunday Nov 9

I still feel like I got run over by a truck. Oh wait, I did. My back hurts nonstop and the doctor is sending me in for x-rays tomorrow. I got to pass the sacrament again today... like EVERY Sunday. I was so proud of my boys when they passed it all alone back in the day, yet now only one of them is ever there on any given Sunday. It's usually James. A guy who lives in Zhu Hai but who is American with a Chinese wife has been coming to our branch more often as he isn't traveling as much. He said he usually goes to HK. Anyway it's neat to see this middle aged guy speaking fluent Mandarin. His wife is beautiful and his mixed kids... well those boys are going to be HEART BREAKERS!!! M-from Slovakia came with Elya-from Indonesia today. Not exactly sure why. If it was to keep tabs on me, to see me, or just out of sheer curiosity. I'm just surprised though after the way she ripped on my beliefs and the way I let her have it for saying those things to me. In the end I ended up grabbing a Czech Book of Mormon from the library and giving it to her. We went over the first few pages as I read and translated just for fun. She seemed entertained by my "Czech". She was still difficult to talk to, so I'm not sure if I care to speak to her again, but maybe she'll learn to be straightforward. Maybe she'll like her new book.

I went on a "date" I guess you could say, with Tingting tonight. Her name still cracks me up. We went and watched a movie and then went to the Macau food festival. We didn't end up spending all our "festival play money cash" and so she suggested we go out again tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. She has the brightest personality of anyone I've met in Macau. I think she is just so fun to be around. She says the cutest things and her eyes light up over everything. She speaks 4 languages. She doesn't drink or smoke, doesn't go out and party. My sentences are really short. I grabbed a random pic from her facebook to post.


At the Macau festival they had a stage and what do ya know, the Brazilian girls I modeled with are dancing in huge Brazilian style dancing costumes. They looked really good! They waved from stage and Tingting and I went and got some delicious Shanghai style kebabs. It's so crazy how if I ever do an event, I end up also doing it with people I know, and if I ever go to any kind of event, at least one of my friends will be in it. One of the girls on stage (Suellen)even wanted to rent my extra room from me. Small funny world.

Nov 1

Funny how anytime I wear a suit, the first thing people say isn't.. you look so handsome, or nice suit or what's the occasion, business meeting? Church? Nope... they say... whoa, you look like James Bond! I guess that explains why even when I'm walking through back alleys at night in a suit, I don't get one bit harassed. You'd think I'd be the perfect target. Wealthy westerner on his way home from work going the bad way home. Nope, they just look at me and think... don't mess with him. Maybe not, but I hope my luck in that dept. doesn't run out anytime soon. I never carry any cash anyway.

Today is my Mom's birthday. She's 52! I don't think Patchi got my chocolates to her on time!

Funny T shirts and Names.

This part will be updated regularly.

Funny T-shirts.

I saw a t-shirt in a store that was for like a 3 year old girl and it said "If you think I'm yummy, You should see my Mom!" --- I was like... I really hope no one thinks you're "yummy" little girl! EWE!

-I am not a paperclip.
-There are many smile, there one I wish you have.
-


Peoples Names here:
-window
-car
-sun
-water
-fish
-wind
-moon
-star
-fresh

Chocolate Girls

The Patchi chocolate girls crack me up. Every time I go by the store they stick their tongues out at me, or make silly faces and I make them right back. Ha ha, so professional. I really like when they run up to me and give me handfuls of chocolate! Sometimes a little friendly flirtation goes a long way!

My thoughts on depression.

My thoughts on depression, or at least being down. I was in a sad mood yesterday. I walked by Haagen Dazs ... walked by it.. kept walking... and then thought to myself, I want something sweet right now, a little feel good... Don't do it! Don't do it! So I got some ice cream, and felt a little better. Then I started thinking about my abs, and I was bummed thinking how I may be adversely affecting my figure. Then I was down again. So I went to the store to buy some M&M's... it is a vicious cycle.

Mandarin as a second language

Today at work I had a group of Koreans who did not speak English. One of them spoke Mandarin and so I was able to speak to her and she communicated with the rest of the group what I was saying. I speak a lot of Mandarin everyday to so many Chinese people who sometimes have varying degrees of ability in English, and sometimes can't speak any English so my Mandarin is useful, but this was different. It clicked in my mind that I was participating in 2 people using Mandarin as a second language to communicate. It gave a whole new meaning to my experience here.

No More US Missionaries in Russia.

Russia finally changed its laws. American missionaries will no longer be serving in Russia. What an incredible development. I'm sure many people are freaked out by it, but it doesn't mean missionaries from the rest of the world won't be serving there. It may be in God's plan to help strengthen his church in Russia by relying more on the Russians who have been members for nearly 20 years and know the Gospel as well as any foreign missionary could. My jaw dropped when I read about it, but I feel comforted because I taught there, I converted many people and they are strong and have themselves converted others. I am confident that I and all the missionaries who served with me helped to build an unshakable foundation for the church there. I am actually excited for all those members to have this new challenge... if it even is one... opportunity rather and have peace in my heart that all is well there.

The Dancers.

I had a long talk with one of the dancers about an interesting topic. I don't really want most of it public but I don't want to forget it. Basically I was told that all the dancers want me and all I have to do is flirt with them and I could take anyone of them home with me and have my way. That I don't act sexy enough, I don't give off a sexual vibe and that I'm crazy for not having sex. I REALLY don't fit in here.

No need for Magic.

Yup, it's true. Rich men get the beautiful girls. That's basically all I see here. This tells me that beauty is most important to men, and money is most important to women. It is so widespread in everywhere that I've seen that I don't think it's shallow, I think it's just how it is. This also tells me I'm a long way from marriage. I don't care how much or little money I have, I don't want to be with someone who loves me for it. I have passed up so many opportunities to have a lot of material things and participate in immoral activities but instead I stand by and watch those around me do them. It makes me lonely. It's like I'm harnessing all my strength to be a good man with integrity and virtue in all things day in and day out and not really getting anything out of it accept the ability to say to myself "I'm a good man". It's becoming less and less fulfilling as I watch others getting ahead in life by means that I haven't let myself. The offers are there so why don't I take them? The answer is easy the first few hundred times. "Because it's wrong". But here I am 27.5 years old and no girlfriend because I'm not good enough for the Mormon girls whose families have always been members, and I'm to goody goody for the girls that want a man who will go out and have a drink and at least have sex considered for a few dates down the road. I feel like my magic has run out. My world used to be so magical. The hardest part is knowing that I know how to make it magical and serendipitous yet I don't because as much joy it brings me, each time so far a lot of pain has been waiting at the end.

Driving School Cars and Haircuts.

I love the driving school cars here. They HAVE to stop for you. They are everywhere and make it easy to cross the street.

I got my hair cute for the 3rd time since I've been here. I'm getting frustrated. Usually when you pay $15 bucks for a mens haircut in the states, you walk out feeling attractive. You go to get your haircut so you'll look better and enjoy your appearance more. I usually get my hair cut about 3 days before anything that's big to me, like a really anticipated date or something I just really want to look good to. Well, I dread every time my hair is so long I need to get it cut, because as bad as it looks... It is guaranteed to look worse after I get it cut. So for the 3rd time in China, after getting it cut, instead of walking out feeling like a million bucks, I walked out feeling like a piece of poo. And I wanted to look good for someone!!! DANG IT!!!! Several girls that are just my friends have even said, you don't look good with your hair like that. (It's currently the length of tennis ball fuzz!!). I told the guy exactly what to do, who was totally fluent in English let alone knew all the terminology of haircuts! Grrrrrr! When will I feel good after a cut again?!!!

A feeling I love.

I love those times when I've been walking and I'll look up, and in front of me is the girl.  The girl I have a mad crush on and my heart starts to beat out of my chest.  The girl I might not know at all, or maybe I know her well but have just recently fallen for.  My heart beats so hard because she might know.  Maybe she has sensed how I'm feeling before, maybe I made a little comment about who I'm crushing on to a friend who went and passed it on to her friends who maybe passed it on to her.  Maybe I spilled all the beans to someone who spilled all the beans straight to her.  Maybe she doesn't know anything at all, or me at all.  There have been a few girls and really only a handful of times when that unexpected pleasant surprise of her being so perfectly placed in my path gets my heart racing.  They are some of my favorite memories.

Riddles

If a train is going forward blowing smoke, which way is the smoke blowing? North, South, East Or west?

If you have one question to ask a man about the number he's thinking in his head, 1,2 or 3, and his answers can only be yes, no, or I don't know.... what is the question to ask to find out the number he's thinking?

20 sick sheep.

The boat crossing the river with chicken feed, a chicken and wolf.

How much dirt is in a 7x9x14 hole?

Place crashes on the border of canada, where do you bury the survivors.

Just being ridiculous

For about the last month I have been entertaining myself by saying "hello" to people in the Venetian mall by saying "Pizza" and waving hi. I die laughing every time they say PIZZA with a smile on their face and wave back.

أنا هنا لكي بالملل!! اريد ان اعود الى امريكا الآن!

Typhoon 8

I walked to the Venetian today to do some hat shopping. It was raining outside but I thought no big deal. Then as I was holding my umbrella horizontally to stop the rain I thought "this is pretty wild weather!" The rain was coming at me completely sideways and I was leaning my body weight against my umbrella, then wham! The rain and wind came at me from the exact opposite direction and turn the umbrella inside out and just about knocked me over. I was quite amused... and wet.

I get to the Venetian to find out almost all the stores are closed and many employees had been sent home because there is a level 8 Typhoon on the way. The bridges between Taipa and Macau are closed everything is getting locked down. I'm home now and waiting for the eye of the storm to get here. As far as I know, a Typhoon is a Hurricane that spins in the opposite direction :) Kinda like toilets in Australia.

My heart leaped

Ella no sonríe más a mí, ella camina lejos cuando me pongo a hablar con ella y ella todavía no puedo decir mi nombre derecho ... más por lo que no "aplastar" para mí. No tengo la menor idea de lo cambió por lo que estoy del mismo. Sin embargo hoy he visto caminar a su pueblo ropa regular a lo largo del canal y mi corazón leaped. Ella ni siquiera verme. Sé que nada va a pasar, ja, pero ha sido al menos 2 años desde que me sentí, y que sentía bien.

Il mio cuore è balzata dal mio petto.

Per praticare uno dei miei lingue Io vado a tradurre questo. Lei non mi ha sorriso in più, lei si allontana quando cominciamo a parlare con lei e lei ancora non è in grado di dire il mio nome giusto ... Non sono più "sbandata" per me. Non ho alcun indizio che cosa è cambiato in modo Sto su di esso. Ma oggi ho visto i suoi piedi e le persone normali vestiti lungo il canale e il mio cuore esultò. Lei non ha nemmeno vedermi. Non so nulla sta per accadere, ah, ma è stata almeno 2 anni da quando ho sentito che, e si sentiva bene.

Sikh Jewelry

I met a lady from India today who was wearing newlywed jewelry. It went half way up her arm and was gorgeous. She was "Sikh" religion and will wear that jewelry for an entire year. It looked awesome. I tried to google a picture of it but couldn't find any.

Today I met a family from the Philippines and they had a little 5 year old girl who was ADORABLE!!! She was so incredibly smart.

Hopper

I was walking to the Gym in Macau, and I felt something smack against my shoe. Then I saw something in the corner of my eye scurrying off. I had kicked a large frog as it was in mid air.
Crazy.

Proud

So I am the young men's leader/teacher/everything in Macau. I have to teach in a combination of English, Cantonese and Mandarin and even a bit of Portuguese because those are the languages spoken by the boys of this mixed branch. It has to be done or not every boy will get a complete comprehension of the lesson taught. I have helped to ordain several of the boys as 3 of them have turned 12 in the time that I've been here. It's great because today was the first time since I've been here I haven't passed the sacrament. It's sometimes strange to pass the sacrament as a 27 year old... EVERY week. The missionaries bless it every week with the exception of the occasional Peter (New convert from Vietnam) stepping in. The thing that was great about it is that we came up with a way to pass the sacrament to include them, and the 3 boys passed it all by themselves without any problem and with reverence. It was so cool to see these boys from different lands work together in their new calling to make a complete sacrament. Elder cap and I (the branch president) made eye contact and smiled when it was over because we were both so excited to have this new element in our branch.

我喜欢学和写普通话。

我今天刚开始学普通话。我也喜欢妇奴。

Many of the older men here have moles. From those moles spout hair that is sometimes 6 or so inches long. They shave the rest of their face, but they leave that part growing and growing. Some of the men don't even have moles, they just pick a spot on their face, around the area a dimple would be, and then start growing out the hair from there. From my westerner perspective.... it looks pretty hideous, but apparently it's a sign of prestige... or extreme self loathing. I'll have to study it more so as maybe to gain an appreciation for it. For now I prefer not to see it.

Indonesian super model shoot on Thursday Feb 27th.

Feb 28, Spiritual conversation with Autumn.

March 1st. First discussion with the Missionaries.



Things to write about when I get the chance.
My complete shock at people voting for McCain and Huckabee.

The breakfast ladies and how their faces just light up when I see them.
Being the outcast.
Riding the bus.
Missionary experience with Alexis.
The movie star who played the bad guy in Jerry McGuire.

The Kenyan and how his eyes lit up when I started speaking Arabic to him.

The country dance joint in Vegas.

Spelling of the word Love changes its meaning. "I luv you!"

One day I'm going to go to the gym with a huge jug of water, like the ones on top of a water cooler, with a handle on it. And I'm going to carry it around the gym everywhere I go. Yeah, then I'll be cool.

One Republic

So I went to a concert 2 days ago with an amazing girl. I decided to get a haircut... for some reason the last 2 haircuts I have got, and both were right before dates because I didn't like how it looked long... have made me look SOOO not good. I didn't even look at the haircut I got on Wednesday before the One Republic concert. When I got home, I was mortified. I looked at the pictures, my hair is junk, my skin is so white, and I look sickly! So basically I'm in pictures with this gorgeous girl, and I look about the worst I ever have. Oh and my lips were chapped too. Go figure. Why is it, that no matter how much I work out, I don't get more buff? I just weigh more and look skinnier. For the last 2 months I have weighed between 215 and 218. I look almost as skinny now as when I lost 12 pounds on my mission. Compare... Mission: 178 lbs. Now: 215 lbs. Maybe I have muscle dis morphia or something. And then at dinner, we were like, let's not talk about exes. ... So I ended up talking about my exes all night. It wasn't really my fault though because she knew people/ she dated 2 people that had caused me massive pain, and then I sit next to one of my exes' previous boyfriends and it just went off from there, and then I saw my last girlfriend sitting about 10 feet from me totally trying to hide. And I saw Mekenzy there, so I told Callie all these stories about all these crazy people that were bombarding me all at the same time in the same night. It was NUTS! I haven't even talked about my exes in at least a year. It's something I never do. Wow. So I wish I hadn't cut my hair, it looked much better Wednesday morning than Wednesday night, I wish I looked my weight so people wouldn't guess 30 lbs under almost always, and I wish not a single person I had ever dated would have come up. Bed time, I'll write about my best friend's wife tomorrow.

Il mio cuore fa male, e ci si sente bene.

Non so perché, ma il mio cuore fa male. Per la prima volta in più di un anno, il mio cuore fa male. Non voglio lasciare. Voglio soggiorno, di studiare, di godere di Utah. Non riesco a dormire. Ma devo fare qualcosa di duro. Devo dimenticare le ragazze, e ho bisogno di lavorare. Voglio trovare l'amore. Il mio cuore è finalmente guarita. Il mio cuore fa male adesso, perché non è amato e tanto tempo. Voglio amare di nuovo. Macao sarà una bella città. I incontrerà molte persone, portare tanti sorrisi, aiutare molte persone. Voglio insegnare il Vangelo. Voglio di battezzare le persone. Voglio preparare ad essere un grande marito.

Walmart strikes again.

Today I drove from Salt Lake to Boise. I went to Walmart to buy some snacks for the trip. I walked in, grabbed a gatorade, grabbed a thing of trail mix, some chewy chocolate chip cookies, and then decided I wanted some nuts. There was a lady pushing her cart through the isle as i was standing there holding my things deciding which nuts to get. I needed a free hand, so I set the gatorade on a shelf and reached for a can of nuts. As I was arranging my 3 items in my hands to make a free hand for my gatorade, the lady strolls on through, picks up the gatorade, puts it in her cart and goes on her merry way. I just turned to her, and watched her backside shuffle on down the isle with a smirk on my face. Nothing at Walmart surprises me anymore. I wasn't even shocked or bothered. That place just cracks me up.

昨晚我最了不起的時候，與一個女孩。我們出席一場音樂會，聽音樂，談一整夜，並進行了一次非常奇妙的夜晚。她很漂亮，有吸引力，聰明而雄心勃勃。她的名字是 Callie 。

Random Political Thoughs

Mitt Romney is a Christian. Stop arguing about that, the name of the church he belongs to is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”. The term Mormon is a bigoted term from the 1800’s and is like calling a Muslim a Koran or a Jew a Torah.

Why is Mitt Romney RIDICULOUSLY rich?... Because he is amazingly talented with business, the economy and running corporations.

Do we want a poor man who doesn’t really get how money works to run our country?!

Do we want a bigot in the office? Huckabigot? He has expressed so many bigoted views in his campaign, and when he is asked tough questions, he just comes up with some sly comedic answer. Is that what we want the rest of the world to look at us as? A country who elects a swindler?

Mitt Romney gave his speech on religion, and he showed that he will not judge anyone based on their religion, and he will not let religion affect his policies.

Don’t let the media skew Mitt’s current success. More people in the caucuses have voted for him than anyone else, and he is leading in the overall delegate count.

McCain is a baby. He has a temper. We cannot let that run our country.

Obama is full of pretty words like, vision and change.

Mitt is always the one getting ganged up on.

When Romney puts ads on television to show how he differs from other candidates, he is said to be airing attack ads. That’s because it’s the only defense the other candidates can come up with for being called out on their not so perfect records. I don’t want a baby in office who can’t come up with a good defense for his policies.

Fred Thompson is great, has great ideas, responds to questions in a very intelligent manner, but he’s LAZY!!!

Pet Peaves

When the super fat guy at the gym stands naked at the entrance of the locker room with the waist level hand drier pointed at his junk. (And he has his head tilted back and his arms folded behind his back) Ewe, I don't like that guy.

When people don’t let you in the merge lane on the freeway… and having my blinker on to get on the freeway, where else am I going to go?

Putting blinker on and there’s a car in the lane you’re moving to 5 car lengths back and they speed up not to let you in.