This article I read tonight really makes me worried for the future of Christian worship in the United States. From fox news website.

Found out Little miss C has been a little sketchy with her online business. Grrr. That's disappointing.

Obama and Doritos

I grew up in 7 states as a child. I've lived in several more since then. I've lived in 3 foreign countries all very different from each other. Russia, Egypt and China. I have known so many people, so many kinds of people, of innumerable persuasions. I consider my upbringing politically neutral. I went to a conservative college with liberal professors. But as I grow older, I can currently classify myself as a conservative American Republican. As with the new Miss USA/gay marriage scandal, I have felt countless times while talking to people who are obviously liberal, that my opinion doesn't count, that I am wrong, and that I am obviously an ignorant inbred hick white racist. As if somehow had I been born 1/4 each of Chinese, Hispanic, Black and East Indian my words would be credible. Why is it that white republicans are stereotyped as narcissistic racists? Even when my arguments as to why my political persuasion is what it is, are superior to those of my liberal colleagues.. I am given the brush off as wrong, and attacked for my beliefs. I join the conservative cause for many reasons, but the one strengthening me in my beliefs is the way the two sides treat each other. For the most part, the conservatives use fair, empathetic logic and arguments, while the liberals attack, name call, and use sarcasm to back themselves up. America was so focused on insuring our next president would be black, that they didn't put as much importance to his logic and arguments and plans as they should have. At a time when the economy is bleak, and numerous disastrously difficult obstacles are presented to us simultaneously I cannot say that we picked the right man for the job.
A liberal's typical reaction to this statement is "That's so ignorant and racist of you to say that a black man can't handle this job." That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying Obama was not the best choice Americans had placed in front of them. If Obama was white, would he have been elected? I honestly believe he wouldn't have been. People would have listened more to he arguments and logic, than to his face, his color and his repetitive "Hope and Change".
Obama used lobbyists to get himself to where he is. He made people believe that he would be their president. I don't think he is. He said what he needed to say to enough people to get elected. But even if he IS the president of the majority, speaking up for them, having their best intentions at heart... whose right is it to say that each and every one of the other candidates didn't. It's the liberals' right, because to them a white person obviously wouldn't have the people's agenda at heart. It's like this. There's a starving family, and they've been eating rice cakes for years. Someone comes along with a shopping basket full of food and tells them they can pick a food item from the cart. There are a whole bunch of food items, each one different. Some packages are bright and fancy and have attractive logos and slogans on them, but inside it's just some Doritos. Other packages less fancy, but the nutritional contents are amazing. The family has been wanting change, something different for so long, that the bright bag of Doritos catches their eye and they are ready to have their taste buds revived. They take no, or little time to glance at the nutritional value of the bag. In the process they skip over some amazing other food items because they have some similar coloring to the bags of rice cakes they've eaten for so long. There are several food items in the cart which taste great, are much more healthy and will sustain the family longer and happier than the bag of Doritos they chose. But alas, they chose the bag of Doritos, had a taste bug high, and then crashed as they were not filled sufficiently, were left hungry, and with arteries clogging and skin stretching. Then, when they feel maybe they didn't make the right choice, they justify it by saying the change was needed, we needed that refresher, a new nice taste in our mouths as short as it was. Things will work out in the end.

And now I'll be accosted for comparing Obama to a bag of flashy Doritos. Obama has said so many things, promised so many things, and then done another. Look at his so called non-existant lobbyist groups and interests groups. He's now doing their agenda. "Our president." Yeah right.

I came back from running all three dogs today, and one of them was sniffing my shoe for a long time. Made me wonder if she could see all the things I've seen, the places I've been. Thought it could make a pretty cool commercial.

The Grocery Store.

Why do I always find myself walking into a grocery store with the intent of just buying one or two or three things and leaving with a bunch? It wouldn't be so bad if I would get a basket as I'm walking into the store. Next thing I know I'm carrying milk by my pinky, juice and eggs under one arm, boxes of this and that under the other arm and until I actually look quite ridiculous. Today I did this, and I ended up being the second person in line. Yay, It's going to be quick! Not! The shortest line, and the guy was really a slow individual. At least 5 people went through each and every other line while I waited there with my milk dangling from my pinky. Grrr.

I'm just curious. What is the percentage of people who attempt or commit suicide who are considered obese.?

And what is the estimated number of killers at large in the US.

Back in America

I landed in USA last night after 1 and 1/2 years away. I did some pretty funny stuff to surprise people.

Alysheba

On Saturday May 2, 1987, I was a 6 1/2 year old boy living in Louisville Kentucky. Every year on the first Saturday of May the Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown series of 3 horse races that span May and June. The 2nd race is the Preakness run in Baltimore, MD and the Belmont Stakes run in Elmont, NY. I was playing with my black Labrador "Bridie" when my mom asked me who I wanted to bet on to with the Kentucky derby. I think I was a bit confused and wasn't quite sure how it worked. She told me to pick a horse to win. So I said, I don't know any of the horses. She said, ok, pick a number and I'll tell you their names. I know I said 7 first, and my mom looked at the paper and said ok.. that is "Candi's Gold". I didn't like that, I think we went through 2 more horses and then I said "ok, how about #4?" She said "ok that's...Alysheba". I liked that name, so I Alysheba it is. My best friend at the time was Jobi. He was in first grade with me at the Bee Elementary school and lived kiddie corner from me. It was Saturday so of course we were going to play together. I hoped over 2 fences, first from my back yard into my neighbor's back yard, and then into Jobi's back yard. I remember Jobi's dad calling us in to gather around the TV to watch the derby. It was Louisville. The derby is in their blood, and ain't no son of his gonna miss it. I said, "I want Alysheba to win." Jobi's dad kinda chuckled and said that's an 8-1 horse son. Jobi's dad wanted the horse named "Bet Twice". Jobi just wanted the same horse his dad had money on. The race started and his dad was out of his chair screaming at the top of his lungs.. Bet Twice go go go! And I was rooting for Alysheba. "Bet Twice!" "Alysheba!" "go Bet Twice go!" It turned into Jobi and his Dad chanting "Bet Twice, Bet Twice" and me chanting "Alysheba, Alysheba." I was looking for the number 4 on the side of the horse since it was really hard to see and every time I saw it, it was almost at the back, but Bet Twice was almost at the front. The race is 2 minutes long, so after the first minute I thought, oh well, I like you anyway Alysheba. The announcer kept saying "here comes Bet Twice" and I was happy for Jobi that his horse might win. Then the announcer said" here comes Alysheba!" "Down the stretch it's Bet Twice and Alysheba!" There they were, our 2 horses neck and neck. Finally the finish and Alysheba won. I was elated, and Jobi's dad was furious. As a 6 year old I felt pretty cool that day. I think Jobi's dad thought I jinxed him. I picked the winning horse. The thing that spawned that memory is I just found out Alysheba died today at age 25.

I had to do a little research to make sure the dates were right, but I noticed that Gary Stevens, the famous jockey from Caldwell Idaho also ran in that race.

Korean Actress Suicide.

In January I was in the filming of a now insanely popular Korean Drama called "Boys over Flowers"which is being aired throughout all of Asia. People recognize me sometimes in different places I go. I became friends with the girls of the drama because they could get by in English. The guys couldn't speak any. The guys are actually the biggest stars in Korea. But today I found out that one of the girls in the show commited suicide last week. It's so crazy! She was this huge rising star and she just snuffed herself out. I was with her talking to her helping her to play her role, and now she's just history. Her name is Jung Ja Yeon. Here is an article I found of her and what happened.
Korean Actress

And here.

Korean Singer

Today I met Korean Singer Kim Hyun Jung. She's cute, nice and I looked her up on Youtube. She's not bad!

"Abodijinals"

I think it's so funny to ask people from Australia about their "abodijinals".. he he. It gets quite the response. Especially when they correct me and say.. "you mean aboriginals..." I say "yeah, like I said.. abodijinals..". "no no... it's aboriginals!" "Ok ok right. So tell me something about the abodijinals..." And they crack up. They probably think I'm deaf and or an idiot... but we know the joke's on them ;) I met some indian people the other day. I asked where they're from thinking they would say India, or a city in India. But no. They said, "we're from Australia", in that thick Twinky Mart Indian accent no less. "Oooooh... you're from Australia huh?... You must be abodijinals then!" They didn't think it was funny. In fact, they didn't even know what I was talking about. Oh well.

Bangkok #2&3

Way too much to write about. I'll start with topics to get back to.

The last 2 weeks I spent in Bangkok, and Dubai.

I was in Taiwan Sunday Jan 11, to Tuesday Jan 13.
In Singapore Friday Jan 16, to Monday Jan 19.

Battling Deaf Mutes.

Because of the whole storage fiasco, I lost my mission journal and feel I should write memories down as they come back to me. Today I was telling stories from my mission and I remembered the time walking home at dusk in Podolsk, these two men being held back from each other by their friends. They were trying to fight but couldn't reach each other. I noticed they weren't saying anything, no one was saying anything, but they were all just making hand gestures at each other with angry drunken faces. They were all either deaf or dumb. I stopped in my tracks and said "You gotta be kidding me" as I tried to force back a smart aleck 20 year old's grin and lift my gaping chin up from the shock. My companion and I watched what was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Two men facing each other about 10 feet apart trying their hardest to free their hands enough to make out the sign words that would bring the most disgust to the other. When one would get through an entire gesture, the other's face would explode with furry and he would try to respond with sign words of his own. The point at which I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore was when I watched the worst insult of all as one of the men actually dared to turn his back on his colleage. The other man was insanely furious that his sign language insults were completely futile. After a few moments the man turned around again and there was a quick exchange of more sign language then the other guy turned his back causing the same anger to appear on the other's face. This exchange went on in a drunken deaf mute stupor for a good 10 minutes before we had our fill and walked away. I love that we stumbled upon that and watched. I think I was eating Shwarma at the time. Mmmmm.

Talks about lady boys. So many from Thailand and the Philippines. Manette came over on Thursday night.

I went to HK today to get pages put in my passport. As luck would have it I was slowed down in every way possible and was only 10 minutes away from not being able to get the pages. That would have been the pits. Then I spent nearly 4 hours in the book store looking at mostly atlases and trying to map out where I'm going to go. I met up with Victoria London for a late night bite to eat in Lan Kwai Fong and basically chit chatted. She seemed a bit over compensating in her conversation style, it was very directed inward, but she had a lot of interesting things to say so it was entertaining to be with her. I think she's someone worth knowing. I had to take Turbo Jet home and actually pay for my ticket. Grrrr. However, it's been awhile since I rode Turbo Jet and it definitely is quite a bit nicer than the Cotai Jet.

Yesterday I went to Zhuhai, China for the first time. I was with Priscila and we had some interesting conversations. I bought tons of movies, bartered for a watch. I was reminded of eating Raw Shrimp with her at the fisherman's wharf, which in turn reminded me of eating live octopy... which she had. She ate Durian icecream which I thought was vanilla so I tasted it, and it was nasty and I could taste it the rest of the night. The bathrooms were crazy gross even in the little cafe we ate at.

I have a new slogan for Asia: Asia...where you just never know.
Or... Asia...girlfriend or daughter?

At the border to Zhuhai, they have a video of Jackie Chan being a customs officer trying to stop illegal things from happening at the border. Basically it's a warning not to buy pirated and fake merchandise or bad things will happen to you.

I watched Good Luck chuck with Priscila... it's pretty much a porno. I'm amazed Jessica Alba was even in it.

-NuSkin ideas - Success stories of going against conventional wisdom.
-LeBron James jumped over college and now is making huge money.

Have you ever driven a car with the wheel on the right side?
Driven a boat?, Wakeboarded? Jet skied?

-I still haven't gone a Sunday in Macau without a cell phone ringing during Sacrament. About 10 went off today.
-For the first time during fast and testimony meeting, a girl pulled out her phone to read a text to the congregation from the pulpit.

*** On New Years I was with Tingting and went to the MGM. I saw Rachel there, performing. I ran into Doctor Dalila. I was pulled onto the dance floor several times to dance in front of everyone, and Tingting got picks of it. I was turned off by Tingting self interest. However I spent New Years day with her and it was a good day. We went to Coloane and sat at the beach as we ate crazy BBQ stuff and she showed me how to eat sunflower seeds the Chinese way. We talked about Kenton and his "date house and car".

-In Church today a Philippino I've never seen before got up and during his testimony he started singing some Philippino gospel song. All the other Philippinos in the room joined in and it seemed like a baptist choir/congregation spontaneous celebration. It was odd to say the least, and of course while it happened I just chuckled to myself, smiled and thought.... I've seen way too many things in my short life, this is hilarious.

-On the way to church I walked past the foreign employment office. There were about 30 Philippino women all scrunched in on seats waiting to find jobs as house cleaners and nannies. I feel so bad for them... and it's better for them here than at home in the Philippines.

I need to come up with a name for my international movie business. -world movie store.com?

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.