I am Back!

All my adoring fans, I am answering your numerous pleas to post. . . or maybe the lack of your pleas shows that you just can't live without my posts. In that case, I may not have anymore fans. . . Well, in any case, I am back to post!

For all of you who think that I am about to do some posting about my Europe trip I am actually not going to do that right now. I have to wade myself through about 2,500 photos to find the ones that I most like. I think that I will then post according to each city that I stayed in:

• London, England
  
• Paris, France
  
• Rome, Italy
  
• Sorrento, Italy
  
• Florence, Italy
  
• Venice, Italy
  
• Interlaken, Switzerland
  
• Bern and Basel, Switzerland
  
• Shannon, Ireland
  
• Edinburgh, Scotland

But for this post, I wanted to provide access to some of the most amazing music ever created: TURBO FOLK! The music is from Serbia. Dan and I were talking about it and I just have to make sure that all my friends know the glory of such music. Listen for the crazy electrical instruments (I think they electrified the accordion in some of these).



This awesome video is from a performer named Stoja. The name of the song is Mesec Sija (The Moon Shines). Again, notice the awesome accordion.

My favorite song to display the awesomeness of this music is called Evropa by Stoja. Here is a URL if you are curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvPjBeRvST0

I will give you one more awesome display of the music. This is by a woman named Dara.



I hope you enjoyed the adventure to the land of Turbo Folk. The music is like their "Country Music" for Serbia. The first time I heard the music on my mission I thought, "this is going to be a long two years." I couldn't believe how popular it was in the pop culture. Anyways, this post is mainly for Dan.

Day of Faith at Harvard

I was very impressed by the responses by this woman, Rachel Esplin, who represented the LDS Church at a Harvard "Day of Faith" seminar. Her answers were clear, her faith was present, and she articulated her responses well.

Watching this just makes me want to get out of Utah a little more. The opportunity to represent our faith to others will be such a great experience.

The movie is probably about 20 minutes. So settle in for a little bit. Also, think of how you would answer some of those questions. It really gets you thinking about how others view our church.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Master McGee

It is finally official! At about 11 am on May 14th, 2009, I passed my thesis defense (with revisions of course). I am now done with school for a long while. You can all now call me Master McGee, I will even accept Master Magoo.

I thought that the thesis defense was going to be super hard, but I was pleasantly surprised. Reasons: I wrote my thesis really well so there were not that many questions, my professors really liked me, or they were really busy and didn't have a lot of time to ask questions. Even though they may have not peppered me with questions, they did provide some good input so I can go back and make my thesis that much more credible.

I cannot tell you how satisfying the feeling was when they told me that I had passed. I drank, ate, and dreamt my thesis for about the last two months. The picture below was me just goofing off and enjoying the moment:)

This semester was a lot of fun for me. My classes were really small. I had one class that there was only one other student and another with a total of three! We all got along well, so that was a lot of fun. One picture below is the three of us studying for our advanced traffic engineering class and the other is my last FINAL EVER! As I walked out, I wanted to get a picture of the other two still working hard:)
Another cool thing was that our entire apartment got to walk for graduation. (I am the only one that didn't officially graduate this April, because of my thesis).


So what am I up to now? Just finishing the small revisions on my thesis. A week from the defense I should be all done with school. I will then finish preparing for Europe and then just get ready to go to Exxon.

Here are a few more pictures from graduation:)

My Last Time Translating for General Conference

This last General Conference ended an era in my life. For the last 4 years or 8 General Conferences, I have been doing Serbian interpretation work for the LDS Church. The experiences doing that have forever changed my life and especially how I view General Conference.

The first thing you notice is the diversity of the people from all over the world coming together to share the gospel. We interpreted for nearly 90 languages for this Conference and many of the interpreters that come are from those areas of the world. You name it, I have probably met someone from there, or someone who speaks it.

When I talk of amazing people with amazing stories, this man next to me is one of those. Shinji is from Japan studying music at BYU. He has a talent that is amazing. Guaranteed you have all heard him play the organ at a fireside or devotional, you just didn't know it. His faith in Christ always amazes me and gives me something to strive for. He is always smiling and it is because of the Gospel. He told me about joining the church when he was 18 in Japan and then serving a mission. Again, I wonder at his faith. I get to roam the halls with him and several like him during the time of General Conference. So many friendly people from so many different places and walks of life. That is one thing that will forever change my life.

The actual interpretation for General Conference always seems like a miracle for me. We usually know who all the speakers will be (with exceptions of newly called apostles, etc.) and get their English and translated texts before the sessions. Sometimes this is two weeks before, other times it is like two hours before. You just always keep your fingers crossed and hope that you will have a chance to prepare for the interpretation. As for April Conference, it always comes right at the cusp of finals, and poses a time constraint, but the Lord blesses you and magnifies your abilities. When you step into the booth you have headphones with one earpiece that is the speaker in English and the other earpiece is your voice in Serbian. This sounds weird, but it helps so much in being able to translate. Anyways, you have a prepared text which you have read over and over out loud to be prepared, but you have to still listen to the person speaking, as he may speak extemporaneously, cut out pieces, or just stop because he is emotional. The next fun thing is talking with your hands. You know you all do it. So you can see me standing up in the recording booth and I keep that small TV in my view so I can do everything he is doing. If I hear him get quiet, I have to get quiet, if he is pumping his fists, I will pump my fists. It is as much voice acting as it is interpretation. I am trying to be transparent, so that people hardly remember that I am speaking (except I have a pretty distinctive voice).

With all of the difficulties and intricacies of translation, I have had amazing experiences. Needless to say, this is not the forum for me to share those. However, I will tell you that I have a strengthened testimony of the words of the prophets. I always marvel at the fact that the talks I always prepare for are the talks that I need to hear most. Luckily, I get to hear myself several times recite the talk in Serbian before it is ever given. I usually feel the Holy Ghost testify so strongly of these talks that I have taken to heart through my preparation.

I will miss the chances to be the voice of the prophet and apostles in Serbian. I loved those moments. The men that speak at General Conference are prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit testifies of that every time I am being their voice. I hope one day all will be able to listen to a prophet's voice.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

My thesis looks like it will finally be coming to a close! In a week from Tuesday I am looking forward to a meeting with UDOT where we will finalize the criteria that we have created to estimate the potential economic benefit of a roadway project. If and when that happens, then all I will need to do is finish my thesis. Not bad, right?

I figure that the main body of the thesis will not be more than about 100 pages, with maybe about 30 more pages for an appendix. The best part for the writing is that I have most of it already done and I just need to revise it or flesh it out. Oh man, the end is so close it is great. If all goes well, I will defend at the beginning of May. The thing that sucks, if I bleed over into May, I have to pay for 2 credit hours or I can't defend. Lame.

School feels like it has taken forever. Four straight years after my mission (and one before) and I will be graduating with a masters degree, so I guess I shouldn't really complain. A while ago, I was asked if I would do it all over again, if I would have rushed through school like I did. My answer? Maybe I would do it over. But mainly for other reasons than academics. I don't think that I enjoyed what college life had to offer, such as the classes and the social life. All this semester I have heard how great an opportunity it is to take classes outside my major and expand my horizons. But, all I have done are my major classes in order to graduate earlier than my peers. I feel like I may have shirked some responsibilities or lacked in my effort to make lasting friends during my college life. But I shouldn't look back from where I came, but forward, like Elder Holland said during a devotional this semester.

That being said, I think that except for maybe the social aspect of my college life, I would do it the same as I already have. Graduating when I did allowed me to get a non-traditional thesis for civil engineering, one that I have loved to research. I have been able to land a job that I have always wanted. One that allows me to see things get built and travel the world! I definitely like the Lord has pushed me in a specific direction this semester. Plus, I get to leave Utah. Not that I don't love Utah, mind you. But, I feel like there is something outside of happy valley that I can do, or accomplish.

A funny feeling that I have is that I find comfort in this tunnel of school. I am familiar with it. I have good and bad memories of it. I know what to expect in this tunnel. I have longed for so long to leave the tunnel, but now I think of how I will miss it. Soon, I will walk outside and who knows what is next? That is kind of scary. Once I leave the tunnel, I can't go back in. I know where I am going, but I do not know how it will be, but that excitement drives me on. Adventures lie beyond.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am Going to Europe!

It is official. I have purchased tickets to go bug Dan in Europe for about a month, starting on June 3 and going until July 3. I am pretty stoked.

The first ten days I will be with my roommate Steve, most likely seeing the UK and France. After that, Dan and I have talked about seeing places like Spain, Italy (of course Rome), and Prague in the Czech Republic.

As this would be the first time for me to be a tourist in Europe, and specifically be in western Europe, I wanted to ask you guys for ideas on places that you have heard of or visited that would be interesting? I am just trying to get a better handle on what I should go and see.

Another great thing is that this is forcing my thesis to move along. When I told my professor, he told me that we will have to get my thesis done before I go. Sweet! It only took about a thousand dollars to finally get an idea of when I will defend my thesis.

Our Most Valuable Commodity

*Warning: Musing*

Time is our most valuable commodity. We use it to trade for education, experience, or money. We purchase talents, habits, and hobbies with it. We can acquire heartache or eternal happiness with it. We subconsciously invest it in those things that we value the most.

Show me how a man spends it and I will show you what he considers most dear.

You cannot save it, only spend it. Sometimes we waste it. Some people have lost their ability to decide how they will spend it, as they are in jail or addicted to substances or images. Some others, completely of their free choice, choose to purchase nothing. Remember, you cannot not use it, for it is always spent. The choice is yours to see it well spent. While some redeem this commodity for love, others redeem it for hate. Some choose to buy unity, others discord.

Unlike our purchases with money, there are no exchanges once it is spent. Nothing we purchase with it has a return policy. We are responsible for all defective or damaged goods that we purchase with it. If you decide to invest in sin, it is yours, it may not be returned. However, the rights of its ownership may be transferred. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ may we rid ourselves of our damaged goods, and defective purchases. We agree to trade with Him in order to be rid of buyer's remorse. We trade Discord for Love, Impatience for Patience, Corruption for Purity. The contract states that we must take that for which we traded and use it, while we never purchase those damaged goods again. We cannot continue to invest in the same defective products. In fact, we cannot afford it if we wish to be masters of ourselves.

With a way to rectify any poor purchases through our Savior, it is up to us to make the most of our time. Just as we budget our money, why wouldn't we budget our time? This idea has been permeating my mind as I look to finish my thesis by April, plan a trip to Europe, and prepare to move to Texas. While at times I felt good just wasting my time doing nothing, loving the fact that I am not worrying about anything in the moment, I realized how it was so unproductive. Our time was meant to be spent, and spent well. I feel more accomplished as I progress in school, social situations, or skills. This does not mean that I am always doing something amazing. I love to read novels and escape the world, which is better than TV (which took up too much of my time last semester). But ridding myself of procrastination has become a goal of mine, one that I am still trying to overcome. As I learn to invest my time more wisely, I will have many more fond memories as a result of my spending.

If I can master my time, I will become master of myself.

Last of all, here is a thought frequently quoted by Pres. McKay, which describes how the smallest moments in life determine the final product of our destiny:
Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.