So here's the happs:
Squeezed 4 finals into two days, hung out with parents and a few siblings who came to drop my brother Steffen off at the MTC, found out my grandmother, Rita Beecroft, died (only a few days after her father-in-law Carl Beecroft Sr., my great-grandfather, passed away at the age of 96) of cirrhosis of the liver. Due to threatening weather, I left with my parents Wednesday afternoon for Mesa to attend both funerals. Emily was on her way back from Philadelphia where she helped her brother get moved and settled, and would meet me in Camarillo on Sunday. The funerals were very nice. We will miss them, but they must be happy to be with their families that have already passed on before them. Both died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones. Their lives were exemplary and full of righteous living. I enjoyed learning more about both of them.
After the funeral on Saturday, we drove home and I enjoyed a couple Christmas programs at church on Sunday and reuniting with Emily and Grace at her aunt Heidi's home to enjoy Emily's family.
Christmas eve and Christmas were nice and we had a great time visiting with family and loved ones. We went to Leo Carillo State Beach in the afternoon and had fun rock hopping, beachcombing, spelunking, and rock climbing.
Now we are just taking it easy recuperating, relaxing, cleaning, and a bit of working for my dad at his store.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Head On
Just a couple of things I've been thinking about on and off for a while.
As a missionary I attended 4 funerals in my first area, and 2 more in my second. I was beginning to feel like the angel of death. In speaking with many others willing to hear about the gospel, some of them were interested in the afterlife because of their children who had died one way or another. One man was devastated by the loss of a son who died while racing his motorcycle while drunk. At the son's funeral, friends of the family tried to make the best of the situation by saying he lived life to the fullest, referring to the son's extensive partying habits and wasting much of his time in destructive pursuits.
What is a full life? Does someone really love life and love living if they participate in self-destruction or harmful pastimes, or even in ending their life prematurely? I don't think that can honestly be said. This is a bitter pill for those of us behind on earth to swallow when we see it happen to loved ones.
I had many of these thoughts after one funeral. I remember it particularly because it was a young adult who passed away. She was a wonderful girl and she is missed by her family. The man conducting the funeral service was an older gentleman who had seen much in his life. I wondered if the same things said at her funeral would be said at his someday. Did he love life and live it to the fullest? Was he not a quitter either? I guess that his life has had it's tremendous ups and downs, and perhaps he may have been a little envious of the rest from cares and sorrows she is receiving.
I wrote down many thoughts that night. I saw the paper the other day and read over it again. Not long before that, I'd been watching one of our favorite TV shows (I don't watch much TV but am arrogant enough to think that what I do watch is really high quality) about a hospital staff. A patient had been misdiagnosed with cancer and was told he was going to die. When the mistake was found, he sued the hospital for ruining his life (he'd sold all his things and was planning to live it up the last few months of his life). As two doctors loudly discussed how finding out you'll live is a bad thing, the one sensible doctor spit it out simply, "Dying is easy, living is hard!" I'm not saying dying is always a pleasant thing, but living an extra couple of decades vs. dying over the course of a few months, is not comparable. Even still, it's the being alive and fighting the illness that is the most difficult. Living is hard. It was meant to be. Those who have easy lives are just running away from the fights and trainings that would make them more godlike. Becoming god-like is difficult and costly in terms of effort.
Missions are like mini lifetimes. You start out young and stupid, become experienced, train a greenie or two, go through a mid-mission crisis, and eventually prepare yourself to come home. How you live your life/mission reflects how you go home. Not that those who are ready to go home won't miss their time on earth, but for the righteous and decent, the afterlife will be sweet and pleasant. Just have courage during the transitional phase and take it head on. Be happy for those who are ahead of us and think about how they're getting on. And miss them wonderfully.
This may seem disjointed and all over the place. Forgive me, it's late and if I wanted to put down everything in a way I would be satisfied with, I'd have written a small volume. This entry is long enough already. Maybe someday I'll write books, on death, and everyone will think I'm morbid.
Many wonderful people, who accomplished amazing amounts in short times, die young. Their stories get told across countries. This is good. But I will welcome the day when we celebrate all those who lived long, active, quiet lives, without so much recognition to keep themselves going and doing the good they did. I believe that such a day will come, because God is no respecter of persons. Hopefully many, if not all of my family and friends and loved ones will be a part of and the subjects of such a celebration.
As a missionary I attended 4 funerals in my first area, and 2 more in my second. I was beginning to feel like the angel of death. In speaking with many others willing to hear about the gospel, some of them were interested in the afterlife because of their children who had died one way or another. One man was devastated by the loss of a son who died while racing his motorcycle while drunk. At the son's funeral, friends of the family tried to make the best of the situation by saying he lived life to the fullest, referring to the son's extensive partying habits and wasting much of his time in destructive pursuits.
What is a full life? Does someone really love life and love living if they participate in self-destruction or harmful pastimes, or even in ending their life prematurely? I don't think that can honestly be said. This is a bitter pill for those of us behind on earth to swallow when we see it happen to loved ones.
I had many of these thoughts after one funeral. I remember it particularly because it was a young adult who passed away. She was a wonderful girl and she is missed by her family. The man conducting the funeral service was an older gentleman who had seen much in his life. I wondered if the same things said at her funeral would be said at his someday. Did he love life and live it to the fullest? Was he not a quitter either? I guess that his life has had it's tremendous ups and downs, and perhaps he may have been a little envious of the rest from cares and sorrows she is receiving.
I wrote down many thoughts that night. I saw the paper the other day and read over it again. Not long before that, I'd been watching one of our favorite TV shows (I don't watch much TV but am arrogant enough to think that what I do watch is really high quality) about a hospital staff. A patient had been misdiagnosed with cancer and was told he was going to die. When the mistake was found, he sued the hospital for ruining his life (he'd sold all his things and was planning to live it up the last few months of his life). As two doctors loudly discussed how finding out you'll live is a bad thing, the one sensible doctor spit it out simply, "Dying is easy, living is hard!" I'm not saying dying is always a pleasant thing, but living an extra couple of decades vs. dying over the course of a few months, is not comparable. Even still, it's the being alive and fighting the illness that is the most difficult. Living is hard. It was meant to be. Those who have easy lives are just running away from the fights and trainings that would make them more godlike. Becoming god-like is difficult and costly in terms of effort.
Missions are like mini lifetimes. You start out young and stupid, become experienced, train a greenie or two, go through a mid-mission crisis, and eventually prepare yourself to come home. How you live your life/mission reflects how you go home. Not that those who are ready to go home won't miss their time on earth, but for the righteous and decent, the afterlife will be sweet and pleasant. Just have courage during the transitional phase and take it head on. Be happy for those who are ahead of us and think about how they're getting on. And miss them wonderfully.
This may seem disjointed and all over the place. Forgive me, it's late and if I wanted to put down everything in a way I would be satisfied with, I'd have written a small volume. This entry is long enough already. Maybe someday I'll write books, on death, and everyone will think I'm morbid.
Many wonderful people, who accomplished amazing amounts in short times, die young. Their stories get told across countries. This is good. But I will welcome the day when we celebrate all those who lived long, active, quiet lives, without so much recognition to keep themselves going and doing the good they did. I believe that such a day will come, because God is no respecter of persons. Hopefully many, if not all of my family and friends and loved ones will be a part of and the subjects of such a celebration.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Broken Face
I am an example of the meathead stereotype. Intermediate Weight Training kicked my butt, but I have a hard time not staring at myself in the mirror now. I wish I could keep it up. My class was twice a week from 11-12:00 in the morning. Then I had an hour break and class afterwards during which I usually went to the physics TA Lab and worked on homework. If I didn't bring my lunch with me or had a particularly hard workout, it was the hardest thing to not attack the nerds sitting across from me when they couldn't help me with the homework. "What do you mean you just did it and don't know how????!!!! Tell me the answer, GEEK!" A little nerve wracking holding back the reins so tightly. If I ate, never had trouble, and as the semester went on I didn't feel it so much, either. But near the beginning, things were pretty touchy for that hour or two till I got back to work and ate my lunch.
Also, I noticed I got really stupid during those times. I'd be staring at something and not have a clue how to solve the problem, TA comes along, points it out, and whoa, DUH! Yeah that was simple. I'm a retard. Good times.
I'll miss the class. It was so easy to get stronger having the equipment, set aside time, and a grade pushing you into it. Next semester while I'm watching Grace, I'll try to keep up with situps and pushups and things, but without the external motivation, it's harder. We'll just have to get a big mirror for our living room so I can stare at myself and how good I look. "Hey handsome."
My goal is to get really good at handstand pushups. I can do about 7 while leaning against the wall just barely. If I could get 50 of those, that'd be cool. There's also these home door gyms that'd be nice to have. Could even do these hanging situps and be all tough and strong. Grrrrrrr.
Funny: last night I did about 70 situps while wearing my jeans. That was a mistake, now I've got a rug burn scab right where the rear belt loop was.
Also, I noticed I got really stupid during those times. I'd be staring at something and not have a clue how to solve the problem, TA comes along, points it out, and whoa, DUH! Yeah that was simple. I'm a retard. Good times.
I'll miss the class. It was so easy to get stronger having the equipment, set aside time, and a grade pushing you into it. Next semester while I'm watching Grace, I'll try to keep up with situps and pushups and things, but without the external motivation, it's harder. We'll just have to get a big mirror for our living room so I can stare at myself and how good I look. "Hey handsome."
My goal is to get really good at handstand pushups. I can do about 7 while leaning against the wall just barely. If I could get 50 of those, that'd be cool. There's also these home door gyms that'd be nice to have. Could even do these hanging situps and be all tough and strong. Grrrrrrr.
Funny: last night I did about 70 situps while wearing my jeans. That was a mistake, now I've got a rug burn scab right where the rear belt loop was.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monkey Gone to Heaven
For those who haven't heard (I did call immediate family), I got into University of the Pacific!!!
Here goes a list of Pros and Cons that I can think of on the spot:
Pros:
-Nice part of San Francisco - Pacific Heights
-Family Housing is in The Presidio (military base-turned Federal National Park) just 3-4 mi from campus near Baker Beach
-Curriculum aimed at preparing for excellent practices, not JUST excellent dentists
-Curriculum aimed at making excellent dentists
-Facilities are very nice, modern, up to date
-"Humanistic" approach towards faculty and students
-3 Year program (this is a big pro)
-Higher percentage of acceptances for specialties (oral surgery perhaps??)
-Lots of windows around the building (hooray for natural light)
-Few specialist residents, means dental students handle the complicated cases rather than passing them off to residents (part of why their acceptance is higher into specialty programs)
-They claimed to recieve the highest endowment for any dental school in the US last year (means that alumni are doing well, but I can't back this statistic up for dental schools specifically)
-location
Cons:
-Cost --this is a decent con. It will be at least 50-70K more to attend UoP than it would be for us to attend Temple
-Having to get business appropriate clothes to wear everyday, no scrubs (not a big deal)
-No immediate family in the proximity
That first con is a biggie, but we would be done a year early, offsetting that amount by a decent chunk. Also, the quality of the education/cirriculum would seem to offset the rest anyways. The last one is also a biggie. Camarillo is 6 hours by car away, Emily's parents are 12 hours away. Kitye (emily's mom) says they'll pay the difference if we opt for a 3 bedroom apartment so they can live with us :-)
So, we're pretty set on UoP, but still checking everything else, just to make sure. Any ideas? I'll appreciate feedback.
If we live in the family housing, I'll just ride my bike to school. Most other dental students live across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin city where they have a low-income housing lottery that lots of students live in. The only way to justify that, though, is to get a carpool together and ride in and out with other students to split the transportation costs (toll fees, parking$$$$, gas)
We're excited!
Here goes a list of Pros and Cons that I can think of on the spot:
Pros:
-Nice part of San Francisco - Pacific Heights
-Family Housing is in The Presidio (military base-turned Federal National Park) just 3-4 mi from campus near Baker Beach
-Curriculum aimed at preparing for excellent practices, not JUST excellent dentists
-Curriculum aimed at making excellent dentists
-Facilities are very nice, modern, up to date
-"Humanistic" approach towards faculty and students
-3 Year program (this is a big pro)
-Higher percentage of acceptances for specialties (oral surgery perhaps??)
-Lots of windows around the building (hooray for natural light)
-Few specialist residents, means dental students handle the complicated cases rather than passing them off to residents (part of why their acceptance is higher into specialty programs)
-They claimed to recieve the highest endowment for any dental school in the US last year (means that alumni are doing well, but I can't back this statistic up for dental schools specifically)
-location
Cons:
-Cost --this is a decent con. It will be at least 50-70K more to attend UoP than it would be for us to attend Temple
-Having to get business appropriate clothes to wear everyday, no scrubs (not a big deal)
-No immediate family in the proximity
That first con is a biggie, but we would be done a year early, offsetting that amount by a decent chunk. Also, the quality of the education/cirriculum would seem to offset the rest anyways. The last one is also a biggie. Camarillo is 6 hours by car away, Emily's parents are 12 hours away. Kitye (emily's mom) says they'll pay the difference if we opt for a 3 bedroom apartment so they can live with us :-)
So, we're pretty set on UoP, but still checking everything else, just to make sure. Any ideas? I'll appreciate feedback.
If we live in the family housing, I'll just ride my bike to school. Most other dental students live across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin city where they have a low-income housing lottery that lots of students live in. The only way to justify that, though, is to get a carpool together and ride in and out with other students to split the transportation costs (toll fees, parking$$$$, gas)
We're excited!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Hey
Oh yeah, as a side note......I got an acceptance to Temple Dental School. (map)
Isn't that AWESOME!!!!! THAT MEANS I'M GOING TO DENTAL SCHOOL!!!!!!
I got put on USC's waiting list. I'm still waiting to hear back from UNLV, Loma Linda. UoP will call on Friday to let me know if I've been accepted.
I wasn't that excited when I found out, maybe because I got a little overly confident in myself, or I was feeling sick, or that I was still so excited about seeing UoP. BUT I'm GOING TO DENTAL SCHOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't that AWESOME!!!!! THAT MEANS I'M GOING TO DENTAL SCHOOL!!!!!!
I got put on USC's waiting list. I'm still waiting to hear back from UNLV, Loma Linda. UoP will call on Friday to let me know if I've been accepted.
I wasn't that excited when I found out, maybe because I got a little overly confident in myself, or I was feeling sick, or that I was still so excited about seeing UoP. BUT I'm GOING TO DENTAL SCHOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rock Music
So, I made it through the rough times. All the interviews are over for now. I might get some more invitations next semester through the spring, but we'll see.
University of the Pacific was awesome. Nice campus with lots of windows, located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Their married-with-kids student housing is located in the Presidio and run off of a lottery, but the couple I stayed with there, didn't know anyone who wanted to get in and didn't. The rest of the student housing is just a few blocks from campus, but no kids are allowed.
The Presidio is an old military base located at the very north end of the peninsula right up against the Golden Gate bridge. In the 80's the military left it and turned it over to the Federal Government who still manages and runs the place like some sort of rural community/national park, in it's own world a few miles from downtown San Francisco. It was nice. Rent is Crazy! For the student housing, it is $2000/mo (utilities included) which is CHEAP for San Francisco!!!!! Most 2 bedroom apartments near the school are $2400-2900/mo. Yizikes.
I loved the way UoP treated their students. One of the previous deans of the school developed the "Humanistic" approach and they run their school according to his philosophies. I found it very curious that the principles of the humanistic approach are very close to the principles of love, and charity.
The school is up to date with modern technologies and equipment. The school, although not heavy into research, developed Invisalign. They are very into keeping up to date (One class is Dentistry and Technology) and teaching their students how to be good dentists AND run successful practices (a couple practice management courses taught by the PRIDE dental practice consulting firm during the 3rd year). The students get to start using dental handpieces the 1st day (on plastic teeth, but hey, the hand skills get started).
Out of the 59 students who applied for specialty programs last year, 54 got into the program of their choice (Oral Surgery for me???). In looking for a place to stay while there, I got a short list of names of students from our prehealth office of UoP students willing to house interviewees (they call it the "Mormon Mafia" list). One of them had just graduated and was living across the bay doing an oral surgery residency through UoP. He also is Marwood Stout's nephew.
It's been extremely amazing seeing and receiving the kindness from students at the dental schools I've visited, from giving me rides, to letting me spend the night, to feeding me breakfasts or dinners and staying up late giving advice and tidbits about their schools and programs. Awesome.
Plus, San Francisco is just a cool cool place. Or, the area around the dental school is cool.
Now, I just have to get through the next two weeks of last assignments, quizzes, and finals. I've noticed that I'm no longer grinding and clenching my teeth like I was last month.
University of the Pacific was awesome. Nice campus with lots of windows, located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Their married-with-kids student housing is located in the Presidio and run off of a lottery, but the couple I stayed with there, didn't know anyone who wanted to get in and didn't. The rest of the student housing is just a few blocks from campus, but no kids are allowed.
The Presidio is an old military base located at the very north end of the peninsula right up against the Golden Gate bridge. In the 80's the military left it and turned it over to the Federal Government who still manages and runs the place like some sort of rural community/national park, in it's own world a few miles from downtown San Francisco. It was nice. Rent is Crazy! For the student housing, it is $2000/mo (utilities included) which is CHEAP for San Francisco!!!!! Most 2 bedroom apartments near the school are $2400-2900/mo. Yizikes.
I loved the way UoP treated their students. One of the previous deans of the school developed the "Humanistic" approach and they run their school according to his philosophies. I found it very curious that the principles of the humanistic approach are very close to the principles of love, and charity.
The school is up to date with modern technologies and equipment. The school, although not heavy into research, developed Invisalign. They are very into keeping up to date (One class is Dentistry and Technology) and teaching their students how to be good dentists AND run successful practices (a couple practice management courses taught by the PRIDE dental practice consulting firm during the 3rd year). The students get to start using dental handpieces the 1st day (on plastic teeth, but hey, the hand skills get started).
Out of the 59 students who applied for specialty programs last year, 54 got into the program of their choice (Oral Surgery for me???). In looking for a place to stay while there, I got a short list of names of students from our prehealth office of UoP students willing to house interviewees (they call it the "Mormon Mafia" list). One of them had just graduated and was living across the bay doing an oral surgery residency through UoP. He also is Marwood Stout's nephew.
It's been extremely amazing seeing and receiving the kindness from students at the dental schools I've visited, from giving me rides, to letting me spend the night, to feeding me breakfasts or dinners and staying up late giving advice and tidbits about their schools and programs. Awesome.
Plus, San Francisco is just a cool cool place. Or, the area around the dental school is cool.
Now, I just have to get through the next two weeks of last assignments, quizzes, and finals. I've noticed that I'm no longer grinding and clenching my teeth like I was last month.
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