Today I got the Melchizedeck Priesthood

So this morning something happened that was a pretty big deal. I was given the Melchizedek Priesthood. This gives me the authority to perform certain ordinances. I have the authority to baptize people into our church. I can give blessings to individuals- the ordinance involves laying my hands on their head and communicating with God- asking him to bestow a particular blessing on the individual.

I'm really excited to have this power- but what is important to understand is that authority only comes through humility and submission to God. All of the power comes through Him and not through me. If anything, this authority gives me the responsibility to act as His servant and His tool. I hope I'm given the opportunity to weild it to help His children.

I want to speak about something that has been very important to me in the past few months. Its a very special belief in my religion, and that is the belief that it is possible for all of God's children to actually become like Him. Our doctrine is slightly vague on this concept but I interpret it as being my opportunity to act as our Father in Heaven does someday and weild the same power that he does.

To some of you that may sound quite outlandish- let me help you understand. One of the consistent traits of fathership throughout humanity is the father's hope for his child to succeed in life. If the father fills his role, it is usually the child's hope to someday become like his or her father. I like to think that our Father in Heaven greatly wants us to succeed and wants us to progress and match Him in power. This is doctrine that can be found in a teaching that we call the Oath and the Covenant- if we use our authority worthily and act as a servant of the Lord then we will have all the Father hath- this can be found in Doctrine and Covenants section 84 verses 33-44 if you want to read it for yourself.

The reason I bring this up is because receiving and living worthily to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood is one step in eventually becoming like my Father in Heaven. God uses the Melchizedek Priesthood to do all that He does. I can only hope to do His work with this new mandate.

Election Without Representation

A ridiculous system of presidential election has run rampant in our country nearly from the day of its inception. It thwarts the will of the majority in an election that is decided by electors and not the American people themselves. How can the United States of America claim to be an example of democracy to the international community if its most important election is lacking fundamental representation? It can’t. In our system of democracy, in terms of electing the highest office in the land, the majority should rule and every vote should be counted as equal. Our Electoral College system of election is outdated and does not serve our country’s needs for adequate representation and needs to be abolished. We need a bipartisan movement to put in place a direct election for president.
Our country’s Declaration of Independence claims very clearly that all men are created equal- yet when voting for president this is very far from the truth. Because of the Electoral College, votes in a small state like Wyoming count for much more than those in a populous state like California. In California, there are approximately 645,455 voters per electoral vote compared to only 166, 666 voters per electoral vote in Wyoming. Because our current system promises at least three electoral votes to all states, Wyoming, with a population of 500,000, is overrepresented in our electorate, with the larger states having less say on who is president of their country. In a direct election for the presidency, a vote in Sacramento would count exactly the same as a vote in Cheyenne.
The Electoral College distorts the campaigning of presidential-hopefuls. Because the majority of states in the USA consistently lean either Republican or Democrat election after election, presidential candidates focus solely on the swing states. Renowned New York Times reporter James Booker said on the matter, “We are hearing far more this year about the issue of storing hazardous waste at Yucca Mountain, an important one for Nevada's 2.2 million residents, than about securing ports against terrorism, a vital concern for 19.2 million New Yorkers.” Candidates focus all of their time, money, and promises on a select few states instead of addressing nationwide concerns. If a direct election were held, the entire electorate would be much more educated and exposed to each candidate and in turn each candidate would be much clearer on his or her policies and promises to the entire nation because the candidates would have to cater to the nation as a whole- not just to the small portion of citizens residing in the swing states. This is because they wouldn’t be pandering to just a handful of the small swings states to gain the “swing vote.”
Under the Electoral College it is possible for candidates to win the election without having the majority vote. A total of 18 elections have ended that way; this means that a total of 1/3 of all of our presidents have been elected with a minority of the vote in the USA (Dahl). How is this democracy? The whole point of a vote is that the public opinion and ideology will be implemented in government through a representative president. This was especially the case in the election of 2000. With such a slim margin of electoral votes between the two candidates, the election was decided by a court case! That is a true testament of how broken the Electoral College system is. When the minority of the population gets the choice in the matter it is not beneficial to the concept of democracy. In the recent 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 365 electoral votes while Republican John McCain gained only 173. The fact is, however, that Obama didn’t receive over two times the amount of votes from McCain. Obama received 53% of and McCain received 46% of votes from citizens (CNN). The Electoral College skews the results and does not directly reflect the public opinion.
The rules of the Electoral College are set-up to possibly cause a great deal of trouble. Firstly, the electors that are elected in the general election are not bound to the candidate they represent. They are expected to represent the vote of the people but they aren’t bound to by law. Any elector could possibly go against the will of people and cast their vote for whomever they want (Dahl). There should be no electors in the first place, they serve no purpose. Instead, all votes should just go directly to the candidate. Secondly, the electoral votes are set up so that it is possible to have a tie. In this case the vote goes to the Congress and each state gets one vote (Booker). This would widen the gap of public opinion even further: one vote for California which has 35.5 million residents and one vote for Wyoming with 500,000 residents. What a large gap of representation!
People will try to make the case that there are many advantages to the Electoral College. It is said that because of this system, not as much money needs to be spent. Because the candidates only have to focus on the swing states that they have to focus less on gaining money or if they decided to take public financing, the public is able to supply less money to candidates to run their campaigns because they have such a small area to focus on. Another case is that there is less chance for corruption- so much focus and attention is on a smaller area because of the way the system works that it would be harder of candidates to win by nefarious means.
While there is some merit to these advantages, the disadvantages greatly outweigh them. Candidates already use a great deal of their resources and time fundraising; they wouldn’t have much more time to spare to raise money if the election was direct. A direct election would also give voice to the minorities of each state and put out a proportional vote where every ballot was counted toward one candidate or the other instead of the majoritarian, winner-take-all formula.
We need to abolish the Electoral College as soon as possible and replace it with a direct election. We need the people to vote for president- instead of voting for unnecessary electors that just complicate the system. So many votes carry no value because of the winner-take-all scheme that excludes third party candidates. In some states votes count for much more than the votes in others- this is completely unfair in a supposed democratic system. It’s time that the people’s voices are heard and have the majority decide who is to fill the country’s highest office.

The Stuff

So Thanksgiving Week is over. It was fun. I still had to go to school on Monday and Tuesday but I had the opportunity to see my family afterwards- they drove down from Washington. That was lovely since I haven't seen them since late August. I especially enjoyed The Stuff- a delicious rasberry jello concoction that my Mom makes on all special occasions. It's achieved a pretty high status within my family and I'm proud to say that I gave it its name.

I've got 3 weeks left to achieve my weight loss goal. About mid-summer I realized that being 216 pounds and just barely 6'1" I was a tad overweight. So I lost around 20 pounds over the summer. I put my goal as somewhere between 180-185 pounds. Right now I'm at 190 (maybe a little lower) and I'm shooting for below 185 by December 20th. Its that last bit that is the most stubborn- at least thats what I've heard- so I"m willing to put in the time.

The 20th will close my weight loss phase and my bulking phase will begin. I've been looking up a lot on bodybuilders.com and I've been really interested in the training routines that body builders undergo. I'll let you know how that one goes.

3 weeks is also all I got left of my first semester at BYU. My plan is to end it with a bang, and just dominate my finals. You see, I let Senioritis get the best of my last year and I ended the year with less than a whimper- kind of embarrassing. I decided that really isn't me. It'll take some good education to eventually get that seat in the US Senate....

Goal Pre 12/20: 183 pounds
Goal post 12/20- Get ripped

Ray Keetch will be missed

So the other day my Dad gave me a call to tell me that my Great Grandpa had passed away. I knew that a few days earlier he had slipped into a coma.

I'm pretty sure that my Grandpa Keetch lived until he was 94 years old. He lived a full, happy life. Heraised a family, and in that family was my Grandma. I remember visiting my Great Grandparents house often when I was really little. I'd talk with Grandpa Keetch about fishing, about boats, and about all the crazy decorations he had adorned throughout his living room. I could tell that he had been all over the world and his memorabilia represented that.

My Dad introduced to me someone I'll always remember- Edgar. My grandparents had a little miniature Eskimo mask they had got from Alaska. My Dad said that his name was Edgar and for some reason that little mask really freaked me out. I'd always try and hide from it whenever we'd visit.

My Great Grandma Keetch passed away a little over a year ago. I think Grandpa really missed her and a big part of him left with her. I'm confident he is very happy right now, reunited with his wife once again.

I never knew my Great Grandparents all that well but I do know this- I loved them and I'm sure a lucky guy to have enough family that it made it all the way up to my great grandpa until now.

Dave won!

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a ray of hope.

I'm happy to announce that Dave Reichert won another election by the space of hairpin. He's a great congressman and I"m really happy to see him back in office. This guy voted against the bailout and is a true conservative. I think what is great is that when my parents went to DC to do a little lobbying for Prader Willi Syndrome awareness, Reichert stepped out of his office and listened to him for 20 minutes! According to my knowledge, people like Dave have pretty full schedules. He deserved the win and I'm happy for him and his campaign.

I lost big time

Well, another general election come and gone.

I excepted a long time ago that whoever won the presidency would be terrible. That's why I'm not so upset about that. Its pretty dang cool actually to be around for the election of the first African-American president. I'll be honest, I was almost brought to tears when I watched Obama's acceptance speech live.

I'm just way bummed about the WA state races. I put in quite a few hours making calls at the phonebank and doing other canvassing for Dino Rossi and it looks like he lost by more than 126 votes this time. Things are looking pretty tight for Dave Reichert as well.

Ugh, well what are ya gunna do?

I voted for Chuck Baldwin. The guy didn't even get 1% of the national vote. Great.

Looks like Prop 8 will pass in California. I have really really mixed feelings about that motion.

I just hope that the Dems don't get 60% of the Senate- then there will be a filibuster-proof liberal legislature. Don't get me wrong, I'd be just as worried if we had a Republican president with a 60% Republican majority in the Senate. You need to have a healthy debate on these issues.

It snowed today. I think thats a little early. I think we'll be seeing plenty of snow in the near future.

Anyways, all I can do now is sit here and listen to Pink Floyd and remember Alice on the Wall from the good 'ole summer days.

Teeth

So today is Katie McSweeny's birthday. Its crazy, I randomly remember that because I had a mega crush on her in 4th grade. I don't think we've even spoken for a good two years or so, its funny how you can remember something like that after so long. Probably because she was my first big-time crush ever and I really had it in for her. I don't think she felt the same way at the time though.... you shoulda seen me I was kind of a crazy kid. But at least I stayed true to myself.

This weekend was pretty much a mixed bag. Halloween on Friday, cool right? Yep, not for me. I got waaay sick. You see, for the past few months I've been getting a bizarre reaction with my teeth and my mouth gets to the point that it feels like its going to implode because of mounting pressure between my top row of teeth. I was dealing with that all day, which spurred a subsequent stomach and headache to go along with it. I still tried to make the best of things and later that night I dawned my Batman costume and went out with the festivities. It got so bad that night that I went over to my buddy Devyn and asked if he and Jeff would be comfortable giving me a blessing. It was a great experience for all three of us. They put on their sunday best and really showed respect to both my and the Lord by doing so. Jeff anointed and Devyn blessed. It was strange having a couple of my really good friends give me this blessing but it was also great. Not 10 minutes afterward I was already on my way to feeling better.

Saturday was a lazy day, I think I was still recovering. I had a great time that night, some May 1200 guys and I got some girls together and watched The Three Amigos over in the JKB and then hung out with some girls in our ward for the rest of the night, which included Ultimate Spoons and Yoasis. We have some great gals in our ward and its about time I started getting to know them.

Sunday was great as usual, even with it being fast Sunday. We had a great message from the Presiding Bishop and church was great as always. I always enjoy listening to Devyn's Sunday School and Dave's Elders Quorumn lessons.

Now I'm just sitting here, chewing on my apple and remembering some good times. I've been doing that a lot here in Provo. Now that I'm on to such a new chapter in my life, I can't help but reflect on what got me here. Experiences with my family and friends and how they've shaped me. I've also really enjoyed reading Alex Graves' blog over at http://journeyofalexgraves.blogspot.com. I don't think he knows it but I really look up to him. If anybody is going to be true to himself and his character, its gunna be Alex Graves. Great guy and I wish him the best in his upcoming travels.

Anyways, till next time folks.

Our Foreign Policy Calamity

Below is an article I wrote up for the BYU Political Review. You'll probably agree with me since I'm right.

Our Foreign Policy Calamity

It’s about time for our empirical, oppressive, interventionist foreign policy to come to an end. For the past sixty years, our government has been maintaining a foreign policy, that especially recently, has shaped a despicable perception of our country. The majority of the international community shares resentment toward our government’s neoconservative policies and our prideful actions in the international theatre. This is possibly one of the most important issues facing our nation today.
World War II was a war formally declared by the Congress and effectively didn’t last all that long. It didn’t last nearly as long as our involvement in Afghanistan or Iraq, and certainly not as long as the Vietnam War. It makes one wonder, why is that the case? I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve become bogged down in no-win wars because we’ve gone to war for all the wrong reasons. We haven’t declared war since WWII. Arguably, we haven’t won a war since then, yet a lot of killing has been going on and a whole lot of money has been spent. Now if we’re going to follow the rule of law, the Constitution states very clearly that the power to declare war lies specifically with the Congress, not on the whims of a president. The president has no authority to send our country to war on his word alone.
I couldn’t imagine a foreigner seeing our country as anything other than an empire with the way we approach the rest of the world and other countries’ internal politics. We have assumed a moral superiority over everyone else and we’ve had no problem imposing our will on weaker states. Our foreign policy is that of an empire mainly because we have over 700 military establishments in over 140 countries. Hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed everywhere in the world, from Japan to Germany. I ask why? Why do we needlessly prop up military bases and station troops all over the world if not to impose our will and influence in sovereign nations?
Not only is this morally despicable, this maintenance is also bankrupting our nation. In order to maintain such an empire, we end up spending up towards 1 TRILLION DOLLARS on overseas adventurism alone… annually! All of this money is being spent outside of the United States. Think about what we could do with that kind of money! We could have the entire national debt paid off within a decade. We could fix the social security system and actually have money in that fund for the next generation. We could fix our crumbling infrastructure instead of maintaining Iraq’s or Afghanistan’s. Or even better, let the taxpayers keep the money in the first place.
Not only are we going broke from our foreign policy, we are actually much less safe because of it. There is no doubt in my mind that the main reason we are threatened from outside terrorists is because of our foreign policy. It’s not because we’re free and prosperous. It’s not because we give women the right to vote, or because we have freedom of religion. A great deal of other nations are very similar to us in this respect and yet they don’t face an equal threat of terrorism. This concept is described by the CIA as blowback. Blowback is defined as being the unintended consequences of the US imposing its will and influence in other sovereign nations.
A couple examples of this concept include the formation of al Qaeda against the US. During the Cold War, believe it or not, the United States armed and trained Osama Bin Laden and his men to rebel against the forces of the Soviet Union in the Middle East. Then when we established bases along the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, this angered al Qaeda; we had established our forces on their Holy Land. This is al Qaeda’s main reasoning for its actions of terrorism against the US. Another consequence of our blowback is the increasing threat of Iran. In 1953 our CIA took appalling steps to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran and put the Shah Dictator into power. This eventually led to the fundamentalist revolution and caused a great deal of strife for the Iranians. When our country takes actions like that against foreigners they don’t just let it go. Heck, we even allied ourselves and propped up Saddam Hussein up until his actions didn’t quite serve the US interest- then he became enemy of state number one.
It’s time we adopted a foreign policy of non-intervention. It’s time we lived within our means and treated all other nation states as equals. It is unnecessary to maintain all of these troops and military establishments abroad; we would be better off if we brought our troops home. We would be better off if our main focus was our nation’s infrastructure and our national security instead of policing the world and nation building. It’s time that our actions abroad starting reflecting the interest of the American people and not a neoconservative agenda.

The Marriage of Figaro

The Classical era.

If you ask me it was the most important time for classical music, its very existence, and what it would mean for centuries to come.

The masters that surely shape the way we listen and analyze today dominated during this period of time. Not only did they write and notate fantastic pieces of art and expression, they revolutionized the very culture of the people. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven all left a very lasting impact on music. I'm a pretty big fan of all of them.

Too bad its killing me because I have a very lame test on all of them tomorrow.

I don't really have something on my mind that's just begging to be written down. This might be a brief post.

A couple hours ago I had a great conversation with some folks out in the lobby. I had met most of them on the spot but we got really in depth with a discussion about the US foreign policy. I think I got a lot of good points across. I'm telling you, I just keep getting caught in political discussions over in that lobby. Its just me I guess.

The Federal Reserve Disaster

The Federal Reserve Disaster
For the first 137 years of our country’s history, our government thrived on the principles of federalism. Up until the early 20th century, our monetary policy was shaped and enforced by the Congress. In 1913, Congress established the US Federal Reserve to give the economy a much more stable and secure structure. By putting the Federal Reserve in charge of US monetary policy, the United States severely compromised its own principle of federalism. The entire idea of federalism is that the government is representative of its citizens; however, the Federal Reserve is unaccountable to the people because its officials are not elected. While some may claim that the Fed’s unelected and independent status can somehow be a good thing, I argue that because of its lack of representation, the Federal Reserve should be abolished.
The Federal Reserve is an unelected body of government and is therefore in conflict with the practice of Federalism. Federalism by definition is a political philosophy that binds a group of people together with a representative government at its head. Our monetary policy should be run by representative leaders that were elected by the people. Monetary policy and the regulation of a nation’s currency is an important issue to a great many Americans and they don’t want to see it run by an organization that has no incentive to represent public opinion. For example, in March 2008, over a weekend of private negotiations, the Federal Reserve advanced 55 billion dollars of the taxpayer’s money to JPMorgan Chase so that it could buy out Bear Stearns at two dollars a share. The takeover was hostile because it wasn’t approved by the shareholders or the American people. A government entity should not have the power to spend so much of the taxpayer’s money and not be accountable to those same taxpayers.
The solution to this insufficient representation of government is to abolish the Federal Reserve and restore the power to the United States Congress. By doing so, the citizens of the United States will be directly represented in monetary policy. In Article I Section 9 of the Constitution it states: “The Congress shall have the power… to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” Even the framers of the Constitution understood this principle of federalism when they wrote the constitution. They understood that it was the elected representatives of the Congress that should shape and enforce monetary policy in the United States. It is time that our Congress reassumed its Constitutional duty.
Some may claim that we are represented adequately by the Federal Reserve. They will argue that because the President nominates the chairman and the Congress ratifies it, that the Federal Reserve represents the American people. Their point is that because the American people elect the president and congress, these branches of government will in turn appoint a chairman that also represents the American people. Another might also argue that because there is a degree of congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve, such as annual testimonies and audits by the Government Accountability Office, that the Congress is fulfilling its Constitutional duty of regulating monetary policy.
A nomination by the Executive Branch and ratification by Congress is not adequate representation of U.S. citizens. It states in Federalist no. 59 that: “appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority.” By the same fountain of authority, he means the votes of the citizens. Madison also stresses in Federalist no. 59 that “members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others.” It is dangerous to let a branch of government appoint the leaders of another branch- this erodes the separate interests of each branch of government. It is also known that 12 private banks comprise the Federal Reserve. Only a few of these banks have been identified and some are even foreign. Half of the stockholders of the Fed are also foreign. Because the Fed answers partly to foreigners, it does not always have the best interests of the USA at heart. The Fed is not fully accountable to the people if it is allowed to operate under this level of secrecy and in order for the Federal Reserve to be adequately representative it needs to be open about its structure.
Our republic relies drastically on the principal of federalism. We rely on a representative government to carry out the will of the people. Monetary policy is extremely important to the American people and the fact that a private institution with inadequate representation controls that policy in the US is absolutely unacceptable. Our monetary policy needs to be shaped by a body of government that is directly representative to the American people and is subject to the checks and balances that arise from the separation of powers- the Congress. Because the Federal Reserve isn’t subject to these standards it should be abolished.

The Retainer

So there are a lot of exams in store for me this week. I guess its midterm already. Don't worry though, I'll be able to handle it. I'm on top of it.

I finally decided to start wearing my retainer again, starting about a week ago. You see, its been a few months now that I've been feeling this terrible pressure between my teeth. I was hoping that getting my wisdom teeth out over the summer would take care of it, but I think I started feeling the dreaded pressure again last week. So I just threw my retainer back on and its barely been off since. I'm hoping if I keep it on for a few weeks and slowly move back to just nights then I'll get my teeth situation back where I want it. For the meantime though, my mouth has been a very uncomfortable place.

My best buds are visiting this weekend, I'm really excited. Jordan and Steph are a lot of fun to hang with. I have a feeling that this weekend is going to be a bundle of fun.

Tonight we're having family night. Wednesday because its visiting hours and I think we're planning to watch a movie in Steven and my room. That should be great, I think we've got ourselves a great FHE group. I think we have the best looking ladies in the entire ward, I'm not going to lie.

Steven just got himself a bike yesterday, thats pretty exciting. I'm hoping I'll be able to bum off him as much as possible. Boy, maybe I can convince my parents to give me $60 for a bike too. Maybe....

I've been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes lately. Its a classic and boy does it bring back the memories. I read quite a lot of it when I was tiny, although I'm sure most of it went right over my head.

Anyways, my astronomy study guide is calling out to me and I best be answering. Thanks for reading.

Sipo

So I always get the feeling I should write in my blog. But then I realize that there is so much that has happened since my last post, whats the point? I couldn't possibly cover it all. So I just put it off.

Now, a few months later I'm back. Maybe this'll stick, maybe it won't- we'll just have to see.

My life has been ideal for the past few weeks. I'm living in Provo, Utah at Brigham Young University. I'm up at May Hall in Helaman Halls and I'm rooming with my good buddy Steven. He's a swell chap might I say. I might also say that the college life is well suited for me. I do what I want and I eat what I want. The two most important things one can attain in life.

The past couple of days I've been overcome with a cleaning and organizing fit. What was a messy mishap of a dorm room has become a pristine sanctuary that I'm proud to linger in.

Tonight I don't feel like getting into anything deep. Despite my commonalities I don't feel like discussing our country's economic crisis, or my solution, or why Chuck Baldwin should be president. Those are topics for other nights.

Tonight I just want to talk about something that I realized today. For myself, its probably more important than all of that stuff above. I realized that I've once again distanced myself from God. I've yet again fallen into a personal apostasy and I've let pride rise above humility.

If I'm going to get through my freshman year with respectable grades and smart choices then I need to turn this situation around. I don't know how I let myself get this way- denying myself of Christ's love and the blessings of righteousness and humility. Without Christ I am nothing. Hands down absolutely nothing. In my fallen state I would be doomed to eternal hell. God the Father continues to bless me despite my prideful behavior. How can I find my way back?

Its never easy. Personal prayer. Scripture study. Pondering gospel principles. I realize that I need to shun the many distractions that pull my away from the spirit.

And I need a scale. Who knows how much weight I've gained in my first month at college.

Ryan's Opening/Closing Words

This week has been the best I can remember for a long time.

It actually blows my mind that its Friday night, didn't we just put in The Phantom Menace last night? Allthough the weeks gone by in a blur, I can't tell you how much fun I've had looking forward to hanging out with awesome people every single night and finally giving all the focus and energy that each film deserves in its entirety.

Today was one of those days that you got about 3 solid hours of sleep and its just amazing how tired you are- and you have work. Thats how it was for me but completely worth it. We saw The Dark Knight at midnight at Lincoln Square and I was not dissapointed at all. Myself, Stephanie, Steven, Jessica, Hailey, and Trevor made the trip to Bellevue and I think we all were absolutely enthralled with Heath Ledger's Joker performance.

The movie was so good in my humble opinion because it wasn't about Batman v. Joker like any traditional batman film would do. The film was an epic struggle for the soul of Gotham. Joker advocated chaos and anarchy- he wanted to see society succumb to terror and lose its morality while Batman set out to inspire hope and belief in justice among the people. I won't spoil any parts of the movie but all in all it was fantastic. I'll let you know if I like it better than Batman Begins after a see it in imax a week from tomorrow night.

Onto Star Wars Week.

Last night was Day 4 and tonight was Day 5. Both films were absolutely magnificient. They were presented in a fantastic 720p, 5.1 dolby digital presentation. It always a treat to make that jump from prequel trilogy to classic trilogy. We've continued to have great turnout and I love having the time to give each film the focus and attention it deserves. Very interesting conversation was sparked during the course of The Empire Strikes Back and that was only possible because we had an entire night devoted to it. I'm excited and really sad at the same time that tomorrow night will be our last day of Star Wars Week. I think Jordan put it pretty well when he asked me, "What are we supposed to do after Star Wars Week?" I agree with Jordan, the rest of this summer will be pretty dull in comparison to the week we've just been experiencing.

Its also been a treat, I might add, that I'm in demand for the opening and closing words for each film. Although I'm met with endless heckling from Paul Dow, its been a fun and interesting tradition throughout the week. I've put together some especially heart-warming words for tomorrow night's final closing.

I need to get my rest folks but I'll be sure to let you know how the final wrap up goes. In the meantime, check out my good buddy Ryan Graves' blog at http://ryan-motionpicturesoundtrack.blogspot.com/ for his perspective on our epic adventure this week.

Until Next Time....

Hunger, Fatigue. The Dark Knight. A New Hope.

sup sup.

So I decided that I wouldn't mind losing a little weight this summer (specially after I found out I'm around 25 pounds overweight, yikes!) so I signed up at weightwatchers.com for men. It really hasn't been so bad, its really just kept me conscious about my eating decisions. I even lost 3 pounds my first week! I guess I'm doing something right. Ryan's current weight: 212 pounds. Wow I'm hungry right now.

I don't know why Shoo Fly Farm has been zapping my energy so much. I honestly have no desire to hit the streets for door to door sales in the afternoons, I'm just feeling the fatigue. Things are going pretty well over there though. I feel closer to all of my co-workers more than I did last year. My boss Jill even offered me to have me mow the lawn of the camp each week, $60 a pop! Speaking of money, and my post yesterday, I realized today that I have nearly a $1000 more than I have always figured into the equation. Don't ask me how I fudged that figure up but I'll tell ya, its not so bad finding out you have more money than you thought. Especially when its a whole G.

Last night was Revenge of the Sith. Our Star Wars Week was absolutely fantastic as always, except this time the film was actually straight up quality. Revenge will always hold a special place in my heart for the breathtaking visuals, spot on lightsaber duels, the gripping score, and the mindblowing symbolism and relativism compared to the rest of the saga. Now I'm not going to sit here and defend Hayden or Natalie's performance but the movie is defenantly a solid.

Onto A New Hope. Thats tonight. Oh and did I mention in high definition?! Our good buddy Steven Shaw has graced us with his computer skills by downloading episodes 4,5, and 6 in high definition. This along with Ryan's killer audio system may very well be the best experience I've ever had concerning the Original Trilogy of the Star Wars Saga.

Now you didn't think the night (or should I say Knight?) couldn't get any better but the truly adventurous are planning to leave straight from a New Hope to see The Dark Knight at its midnight premiere at Lincoln Square Cinemas! I can't even tell you how excited I am to experience that. I consider Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins to be an absolute masterpiece.

More on The Dark Knight and Star Wars in 720p resolution tomorrow.

Until Next Time....

Day 2 and Beyond

First of all, I just wanted to say hey to my fanbase. Hey.

Last night was Day 2 and it was glorious. Curious how we've had a full house two nights in a row- for the two worst movies of the saga. I can't wait to see what the coming evenings bring.

Ryan's sound system is absolutely radical. I just can't get over the experience of hearing the starships zoom by my head, the blast of the seismic charges, or the melodic hums of the lightsabers. The picture has been great though highly disputed. Luckily Ryan just traded in his PS3 for a legit blu-ray and I just had a sneak preview. Tonight is Revenge of the Sith, which in the past I've claimed as my favorite. I still feel that way but The Empire Strikes Back will always hold a special place in my heart.

Lets talk about something other than the world of George Lucas. I neeed to make bank this summer. It is required of me to raise $4000 for my upcoming two semesters at the Y and then an additional $3000. My current savings balance: $3515.64. I've been holding two jobs for the summer- counselor at Shoofly Farm Day Camp from 9-3 and then door to door sales for Orkin Pest Control from 4-8. This is the summer of no fun for Ryan Johns.

Speaking of Shoofly Farm, I got to meet a special person today. The daughter of Bill Gates! Shes going to the camp. It was pretty sick. Anyways, I have more to talk about later but I'm just about to enjoy some La Mesa Taco and some Revenge of the Sith.

Until Next Time.

The adventure that is Star Wars

Well this is my first attempt at starting a legit blog. I'm actually pretty siked about it. Ive never been one to keep a journal more than a few months but I have a good feeling about this.

Some of you may know that I think Star Wars is kind of a big deal. This is something I feel like talking about.

Lets rewind about 3.5 years. The winter after the dawn of Revenge of the Sith. Myself, Steven Shaw, Cam Cardon, Casey Anderson, and Kevin Walton gathered together for the day of our lives. We settled ourselves into my entertainment room early on a Saturday morning.

The first Official Semi-Annual Star Wars Marathon.

It was grand. We had so many memorable experiences. For example, Camebridge actually throwing up from accidentally drinking a cup full of Steven's snot, or the many mannerisms of Yoda (I agwee). It was absolutely great.

It was soon the second semester of my sophomore year at Eastlake High School. I had just recently started sophomore PE in Kawaguichi's class when I met Ryan Graves in that same class. We were instant buds as soon as we found out that we shared the same love for the adventure that is Star Wars. It had been but six months and we banded together for the ultimate, second semi-annual Star Wars Marathon hosted at Cam Hodges house.

Needless to say, there was a third, a fourth, and at last a fifth semi-annual Star Wars marathon. We gained and lost many companions along the way. We had come a long way since that faithful Saturday morning of our sophomore year. The only problem we had was, by the fifth marathon we had become somewhat tired with the tradition. All of a sudden, a 16 hour marathon was not a walk in the park. We decided to disband the semi-annual marathons.

This is where Ryan Graves saved the day. Returning from Whitworth University, he had these words for me, "I have revolutionary ideas Ryan, revolutionary ideas..."

That he did and soon dawned the concept that is Star Wars Week. I have mentioned this, but we just completed the Day 2 of such week and I couldn't be happier. Not only have we had the opportunity to enjoy Ryan Graves' new $4500+ entertainment system but we've brought in an entirely new crowd to the Star Wars Universe; Paul Dow, Brittany Bolz, Adam Hernandez, and Marlina Smith to name a few.

Its been a very interesting experiment to experience just one film every night. I find myself enjoying the individual qualities of each film. I actually thoroughly enjoyed Attack of the Clones! If that isn't testament to something amazing, I don't know what is. Not only has each film been given a chance to be shown in its own light, the social aspect is astronomical. I love spending time with these people. It is almost going to make me miss the Sammamish Plateau when I finally peace out of here for good late this summer.

I promise my future postings won't be quite so long or quite so historically nerdy (actually can't promise that) but I'm pretty excited to get into the blogging scene.

Until next time....