I’M DONE. I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’mdone I’mdone I’mdone I’mdoneI’mdoneI’mdoneI’mdoneI’mdoneI’mdoneIamdoneIamdoneIamdone I AM DONE.

I’ve essentially graduated from college. All I have to do is wait for my diploma to arrive in January or February.

It took me about a year and a half to graduate because I had one class to do, an online/independent study art history class that I didn’t want to do and avoided for over a year. I haven’t been wanting to study ANYthing.

But I’ve finished it now, and I will have my BA in Visual Arts with a minor in Music from Brigham Young University, December 2006 graduation date.

DONE!

And my brother go married! The wedding was beautiful, the couple is lovely and adorable, and will do well. A weekend jaunt up to Utah is very tiring. I hate traveling for 2 days for only one day of actually being there.

And back to work the next day. 7/12’s! Ah!

My Grandpa J (my father’s father) passed away on Friday afternoon. It was rather sudden, but not unexpected because his health has been fading since my grandma died 3 years ago. My aunt called my dad to try to get to Utah quickly, and he got there Friday morning. All of Grandpa’s 8 children except for one aunt were there when he passed away at the hospital. That aunt got there a few hours later.

It’s sad to have lost all my grandpas. :( But he’s with Grandma now, and they had had very good lives, and had been married in the temple. All their children have been married in the temple too (Temple Marriage is very important to LDS people), so it’s really alright. I love you, Grandpa.

My family and I are headed to Utah for the funeral Thursday night and will be there till Sunday morning, but I’ll be in Ogden, and won’t have a chance to drive down to Provo to see any of you wonderful Provo friends, which is sad. :( I’ll be seeing lots of relatives, though. I have over 40 cousins on this side, you know. :) (I’ve about 30 cousins on my mom’s side too, wahhahhah.)

The funeral was very nice. :) With all the aunts, cousins, great-aunts, great-grandkids, and Grandma, it was a wonderful family reunion. And I got to spend 3 days in a Pismo Beach resort hotel, so I can’t complain, not at all. :]

Grandpa wasn’t LDS, but my grandma is, and he said she could do his funeral however she wanted, so it was a very LDS funeral. ^_^; My family sang the hymn “Oh My Father” at her request. (The J-Fam Tabernacle Choir, they’re calling us.) Grandpa was buried among the gorgeous rolling green hills and wine vineyards of California outside of San Luis Obispo. It looks like Scotland or New Zealand right there.

It was lovely. And now I’m trying to get caught up with all the computer stuff I’m behind in. Sorry, y’all! I’m slow!

Fun things I’ve done in the last 2 weeks:

I was asked by the 2nd Ward to teach some social dance to the youth on a Wednesday activity night. It went pretty well: I went over dance position, leading and following, turning the lady, and the basic steps of waltz, Night Club 2-step (because you can do it to so many slow pop songs) and a bit of cha cha tacked on at the end. It was a little hard to control the class, but fun, and if I got any of the young men to do more then just the “deacon shuffle” at the next Stake Youth Dance, then my job has been done.

If they wanted to learn anything more advanced I’d be in trouble, though. I have the hardest time remembering, doing, or teaching the guy’s part in couple dances. I get all turned around. ^_^;;;;

Junebug and I sang in Sacrament Meeting at the Single’s Ward on Sunday. My dad coincidently was also the High Councilman speaker. It is always a bit funny to me when stuff like that happens, because I always feel awkward when we have a “J-Fam Sunday” and it feels like we’ve taken over the meetings. ^_^;

We sang “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” which is a very LDS folk-hymn by WWPhelps. We did it a cappella, switching around the soprano/alto parts on verse 2, and on the last verse I sang a harmony above the melody, which was interesting. We sang well, and evidentially it sounded pretty good too. :) A few of the accomplished classical musicians in the ward complimented us, which always feels good, because they appreciate the technical aspects. ^^

I’ve also been reading novels and working a bit, which is good and happy.

Yesterday I went out and voted ‘yes’ on an amendment to the Texas state constitution that defines marriage in Texas as “the union of one man and one woman.”
Last night the amendment passed with a majority of 76 percent.

And I am very glad.

I understand that a large segment of my friends list strongly disagrees with me on this issue. But I ask that y’all not be offended, because my position on this is based almost completely on my religious views, and I can’t argue with anyone about it very effectively except in religious terms.

Because my opinion is based on my views of Truth and how the entire universe is set up. :)

You see, I believe in a God who framed the universe, and created us. I believe that He is our Father, that he loves us, and that his entire work and purpose is to help us become the greatest we can be, and for us to be happy. I believe he knows what we need to be happy, and that he is the one who set up the whole male/female thing; he said we were better off together than apart, and created marriage.

And I’m not even basing my views just on the Bible and ancient records. I believe in modern day prophets who receive revelation from God to guide us now. And he is still supporting marriage. (See The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Because we are eternal beings, and marriage can be and should be eternal too. It is what will make us and our children the happiest and strongest in this life and the next. :) And the more people who are in good marriages, the better and stronger society will be.

And I think this way because of my view of the universe.

So, yay Texas Marriage Amendment!

In my Single’s Ward I’ve been called as the Emergency Preparedness Committee Chairman. Which means I need to help develop an emergency plan for our ward, which is difficult because we are scattered over 2 stakes–over 1/2 of the Houston area–and we are all single and several of us live alone. (It also my dad’s job to develop one for our stake, you see how the Lord works sometimes…. :)

My biggest advice to them all is to have a group nearby to latch onto in case they have to evacuate, either their roommates, or the LDS family down the street, or whatnot. It is safest to evacuate in a group, where you can look out for each other, then to be by yourself with no one having any idea where you are. If the phone lines go down, your home teachers across town won’t be able to help you.

Also to have a 72-hour kit you can just grab, in case you’re stuck on a highway or rooftop for several days. And for those with houses, keep an ax in the attic in case that’s the only way to get on your roof during a flood.

Does anyone know the safest and legalest way to store gasoline in an apartment? Because having a few galleons set aside may mean you getting out, or you being stuck in the city when a #5 hurricane comes by.

Houston is way due in for a hurricane, we haven’t had one in about 10 years.

Katrina and New Orleans is a terrible tragedy, but it was always a possibility. Just as it is always a possibility that the next storm could take out a few pipes in the chemical plant next to my home and explode and poison my entire town. We should all be wise and prepare for the worst case scenarios and expected hazards of our own areas.

Today I experienced how to change a tire on our big van. I’d have never been able to figure it out on my own, seeing as the spare was UNDER the van. It was my fault, I accidentally swung too narrowly going into my subdivision and went over a jagged curb. How incredibley annoying.

Gratefully, I was able to pull into my driveway before the tire was completely gone, and my brother Tim was here to help me.

Tim came home last week from serving a two year mission for our church in the Netherlands and Belgium. :) It’s so great to have him home. He came back being able to speak Dutch, Spanish and a bit of a few other languages, like French. He was also marveling at just how much everything really is bigger in Texas, but that’s mostly because Europe is just so cramped.

He wanders around trying to plan his life and keep very busy. I tell him, “Relax! You can relax now!” But it isn’t in his nature to be relaxed. At least he is constructive with his energy. :)

I’ve been sitting on this one for a bit.

I like it. :) Markers, and fire, yay.

I’ve started going to my single’s ward activities finally. Go me.
Well, actually, it’s a fabulous girl in my town who is already going and is willing to drive me and invite me that’s getting me to go. Everything is in the middle of Houston and I hate hour long drives to everything, so I wasn’t motivating myself to go on my own.

Yesterday, my dad and I drove Enid to a week-long camp that’s past Waco. There and back=10 hours. bleghhghg.

Too much driving lately. Can’t wait for instant teleportation. I’m not holding my breath.