cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts
"Well, here I am, a week behind on Thoughtlets again. Maybe I could put it down to jet lag and the time change tied to coming back from Beijing. That's why Matt is still staying up late and sleeping in until noon. I was looking over my notes, and one of the things I forgot to mention about going to church in Beijing was the suststaining of new callings (0224.html). There were three new callings sustained, and when they read the names Higbee, Leavitt, and Bradshaw I couldn't help but laugh, and thought I was in transported to Cedar City. It was kind of a surreal experience, and it helped me realize the impact of the pioneers in towns like Cedar City, and how their descendents are now repeating the process in places like Beijing.
Also, the Sunday after we got back from China, June 30th, Gary and Roetta Jones' son Steven spoke at sacrament meeting. He is going to be leaving the Air Force Acadamy and will be going to the Bankok, Thailand Mission. Lora Lynn played the harp, and I couldn't help but think of Des Indes Restaurant in The Haag, The Netherlands, and being completely fascinated with the South American harp player being played in the lobby. I remember coming home all excited about it, and how it wasn't too long after that that we got Sara her first harp. My how time flys, and we never know were the seeds of our thoughts and actions will lead. It is always nice when they are as nice as the music Lora Lynn played and that Donnette and Mandi sang. And yes, they probably would have found the harp completely independent of my expierence at Des Indes.
Another thing to catch up on is our Week of movies. Maybe they are an escape from the financial concerns these days, or maybe we just like movies. Matt went to see `Mr. Deeds' while we went to see `Minority Report,' and he thought it was great. Anyway, on Monday, July 1st, we went to see `Men in Black 2.' Pretty much a repeat of the original. I enjoyed it. Thursday was July 4th, and I found myself watching John Wayne in `The Sands of Iwo Jima' on TV. Very interesting movie. They made it in 1949, the year I was born, and it is full of original footage from the original attack on the island. I found myself reliving the words I read in `Flags of Our Fathers' (0206.html). Later in the afternoon Andrea and I went to `Minority Report' while Matt went to see Mr. Deeds. `Minority Report' is an intersting movie. I recommend it, just because it is good to keep in mind the power of the civil liberties we enjoy. Then again, I almost feel like they overplayed the civil liberties to scare people about the folks who are being detained in the aftermath of September 11th (../0138.html). It is not a great movie. The vision of supermagnet driven cars flying vertically on 100 story buildings was fun. The bloody eyeballs reminded me too much of the meat packing plant. I wouldn't mind buying one of the new Lexus' cars they were showing, and I read in the paper there are several of them available for sale. I would be interested in comments from you kids, when you see this movie (whether in the theater or on TV in a few years).
Saturday afternoon we went down to River Oaks Theater to see `The Importance of Being Ernest.' It was sold out. For the first time I remember, I spent a couple of hours window shopping. I got bored pretty fast. Andrea seemed to enjoy it, and so it was OK. I spent a lot of time in one store playing with a snake varaiation of the rubic cube. We went to the 5:30 show, and it was great. `The Importance of Being Ernest' is based in 1910 England, and is a first class presentation of subtle British humor. I highly recommend this movie. For our date on this last Friday night we used my emergency $20 and went to see `The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.' As Andrea quoted James Garner as saying `there was a lot of estrogen on the set,' it is definitely a girl's movie. There was a lot of emotional stuff, and some of it was quite uncomfortable for me. I left the theater thinking it would be a good movie for my Mom and sister to see together, only to have Andrea say, `Maybe Heather will forgive me someday.' So maybe Heather and Andrea should go to it together. Then she mentioned her Aunt Nadine and a similarity with one of the scenes in the movie, and I wondered if Nadine should go with Heather and Andrea. Then I got thinking and wondered if Marti and Rick shouldn't go to the movie with all 12 of the rest of us. Funny how the mind works. Movies can be a useful way to understand emotions and all of the `stuff' that happens in our lives. They can also be manipulative tools to forward somone's political or social agenda. It is important to remember they are just movies, and no matter how much effort is put into them, they are only presenting the director's version of events. This is one of the reasons we need to be careful about history. Historians rewrite history to promote their agenda.
The next thing to catch up on is my end of the month swallows
report. 
To the right and farther down in this paragraph are links two images. The first is what has become
a standard report for the last several months. I find it very
interesting that weight was falling right along with the goal
until I started to exercise. Then it flattened out. My
exercises are much more intense than they were when I started
out, and so I know they are doing some good physically. It is
interesting the impact exercise seems to have had on loosing
weight. I found it interesting, that even though we ate almost
a third more in China than in here, I didn't gain any weight on
the trip. More vegetables, more small dishes, less meat. It
is certainly something to think about. ../gifs/020707_China_Swallows.gif
is a reasonable approximation of what I ate in China, a brief
tutorial in case any of you end up going over with me in the
future, and yet it is not all that accurate because it is harder
to correlate chopsticks and swallows than forks or spoons and
swallows. I have spent some time meditating on all of this,
and came up with some suprising insights. Maybe the insights
came as a result of the `Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Club.'
Anyway, I don't feel like opening this can of worms right now,
so if you are interested, remind me when we are together and
looking for something to talk about, and maybe I'll remember.
As far as how the week went, I already reported about staying up all Sunday night working on the Shell Best Practice. As I left to deliver it on Monday morning, Andrea said, `Goodbye iron man.' It felt good to have a sincere unexpected compliment. One of the reason's I love Andrea is because she is very good at making me feel worthwhile and like what I am doing is important. When I got back Monday afternoon, I went to sleep. Tuesday I was still tired, and I spent more time than I intended writing the thoughtlet about the Nauvoo Temple Dedication (0226.html). Matt's scout camp got flooded out of El Rancho Cima. They were on Iron Wheel Mesa and were not in danger. However, the River Camp was flooded out, and an SUV was washed down the river and wrapped around a tree. They would have been locked in camp surrounded by flood water if they hadn't come home. Matt brought some itching powder home with him and got it all over Andrea one evening. She was not at all a happy camper. Wednesday included phone calls and follow-up e-mails to China, Australia, and even to some of you. Philip Nelson had been staying with us a week and a half by this time, and his wife had just returned to Provo. We had some conversations, and not as many as I would have liked to. He worked late, worked on the 4th, and when he was here I was sitting in front of the computer working on one thing or another. I did take a break Thursday afternoon and evening to watch the movies referenced above. Friday I spent with a Stanford Ph.D. who has quit his job at Western Geophysical and is a couple of years into starting a new company in China to create a Virtual Reality and geophysical business. His name is Quincy Chen, and he is a very nice guy. He offered me the opportunity to take over his business, and then asked me to be his partner. I turned him down, evern though there is a good upside, because he has no cash, and cash is what we need as a family. Oh well!
And so finally I get around to what I selected as a theme for this week: Ira Jacob LeRoy's Bar Mitzvah. Andrea and I saw David and Karen Kessler when we went for a run on the Saturday morning after we got back from China, the 30th of May. They told us the best gift to give is money, and to give it in multiples of 18, since this is a lucky number. Karen said, `Roice, you know this!' I didn't. Anyway, Friday night was the first of two services we went to. It started at 7:00 at Temple Sinai, which is about midway between I-10 and Memorial and midway between Dairy Ashford and Kirkwood. It is a small building. There are two large rooms (probably hold a maximum of 100 folks each). The center of each room is a skylight. Both services started in the room where the Ark and the Torah are kept, and then after the service, we went to the other room for wine (or grape juice) and bread and then refreshments. I was surprised at how similar this part of the service is to our partaking of the sacrament. The agenda for Friday was:
On the other side of the program was the following:
We learned later that they refer to their rabbi
as a `singing rabbi.' He is about 40 years old,
with a diamond stud ear ring. He plays the
guitar and sings all of the prayers. The meeting
is a lot like a Catholic Mass. All of the prayers
are written out in the prayer book. The songs
were written out in English alphabet representations
of Hebrew words. Some of the songs were written out in
Hebrew characters, English alphabet Hebrew, and as
a translation into English. For instance:
The songs were kind of like the stuff I write, and
so it was pretty easy to sing along with the
congregation. Ira seemed as little and as insecure
as a brand new Deacon passing the sacrament for the
first time. It was interesting. There certainly
was not the same spiritual feelings of peace and love
which I find in one of our sacrament meetings. There
was a lot of standing up, sitting down, repeating
rote passages, and following along with the singing
rabbi. I wish you all could have been with us, just
to have the experience of having been there.
The candy in the social hall was really different. There were these chalk like candies that sucked any fluid in your head right out and left your mouth feeling like you hadn't had anything to drink for a week. Rose was very nervous. She wanted everything to be perfect for Ira. Sam wanted Ira to speak up more. I could see me expecting you kids to do more than you want to, or maybe feel like you can do. And also I could see how sometimes you may not having any reason in your mind for wanting to do what I want you to do. And yet the power of this simple tradition of Bar Mitzvah has assisted in creating the best minds of modern time: Albert Einstein and Sigmond Freud, Sam LeRoy and Bob Ehrlich, just to select four of the many. Several of Sam's geotechnical friends were in attendance, and it was fun to talk to them and to catch up with what they have been doing.
Saturday morning I got up and went for a little longer run / walk than usual. Before I knew it, it was time to go back to Temle Sinai. Saturday morning's service was more formal. The agenda reads:
It is hard to find words to write about a completely
different way of worship. As Ira carried the Torah
around the congregation, members would kiss their
prayer book and touch it to the Torah. it was obvious
in his eyes Sam was appreciative as I followed suite.
Andrea followed the Hebrew singing better than I did.
She was the one that pointed out the missing spirit,
which we call the spirit of Christ, in the meetings.
The Saturday meeting was longer. They brought the
scroll out of the Ark. Ira read from it. Each member
of his family had a part for him to read. He read from
Numbers. Rose, his Mom, gave a talk, and referred to
the freedoms accorded by the United States, and how
important the 4th of July is to their family. Sam
pointed out they took the national anthem of Israel
out of the program, because his ancestors have fought
in every war the United States has been in since the
Revolutionary War and his family is American, not
Israeli. It turns out Karen Kessler was one of Ira's
Hebrew teachers. Ira forgot his glasses and had to
get right down next to the scroll to read. He read
louder. All in all Ira Jacob LeRoy's Bar Mitzvah was
a very enlightening experience.
When we got home it wasn't too long before we left to go to the River Oak's Theater, only to find out that the 3:30 showing of `The Importance of Being Ernest' was sold out. When we left the 5:30 showing it was 7:00. We got to the church just in time for the closing portion of Jack Glass' baptism. Elder Kasten and Elder Snow, the two Elders who had taught Norbert Schmidt, had called and asked me to attend. I had a good conversation with Brother Barr, who had provided a home for Jack to be taught in. He really suprised me by telling me how much my testimony, which I had shared for Rachel on her last Sunday because it is easier for me to do this in a group than one on one, had meant to him. I was glad we made it back to the church in time for the the last part of the baptism.
Sunday was my second lesson substituting for Marion Pickerd in Gospel Doctrine. The lesson was on David and Bathsheba. I didn't even react when class members compared David's looking twice from the roof to those who missuse the Internet. There were several nice comments about my teaching. Andrea is in Primary, and she had me repeat the lesson and the comments to her on the way home, at least as well as I could remember. It was nice, and there was a good spirit. In some ways, I felt like a young boy must have felt at Ira Jacob LeRoy's Bar Mitzvah."
