Signs of the Times, Issue No. 108 - 06/15/10

I'm back and I still don't understand everyone's fascination with the word "epic."

Greetings to one and all. Yes, it's true. I'm still alive. For the record, I feel horrible for missing the last two Tuesdays, but believe me, in my evening prayers, I asked that all of you would Feel Good About Yourselves. So... hopefully it worked. Topics to be discussed today: The People's Champion, the plan that keeps on coming together, A-Town vs. the Killer Bee, where I've been, what I'm doing, and the dumbest movie poster of all time. On we go!

I know this is old news at this point, but my boy Evan Lysacek didn't win "Dancing with the Stars." I know, I know. It happened like three weeks ago, but it still upsets me. Conspiracy, I say. Conspiracy! It was reminiscent of the good old days when Paula Abdul would tell the viewers that she wanted a certain singer in the "American Idol" finals after like the third week. The DWTS judges knew who they wanted to win and essentially crowned Nicole Scherzinger the winner before Evan had even danced in the finale. Sickening, really. They were consistently tougher on Evan than on the other dancers, which I still don't understand, even after rewatching his footwork on several of his dances. So here's the deal - Though my streak of picking the winner of DWTS three consecutive seasons in a row is technically over, I did, however manage to accurately pick both of the finalists before the season started, so I refuse to give up the Genius Crown until further notice. It was a moral victory for me this time. Here's to Evan Lysacek, the People's Champion.

Hail to the Prediction King!

Here is your Week in Review. As I was incapable of finding a date for Saturday night, I took my little brother Cody to see "The A-Team" movie with me on that afternoon instead. I had been pretty pumped about this movie ever since I saw the theatrical trailer a month or two ago. As you all know, I even went so far as to watch the complete first season of the '80s TV show so I would understand what "The A-Team" was all about. Aside from the really annoying guy that sat right behind us and the cutesy little lady to my left who kept clapping throughout the whole show (YAY! They're beating the bad guys!), we really enjoyed it. There were a few small things that bothered me, as a self-proclaimed fan of the original series. There was a lot more profanity than I was expecting. Some of these swear words might not have existed back in the '80s, for all I know. Also, there were multiple deaths in the movie. It's not like it was graphic or bloody or anything, but nobody ever died on the TV show. In fact, many times after a car wreck, the bad guys would be shown climbing out of their car and asking each other if they were ok. On a more positive note, probably only like 10 people died in the whole movie, which is pretty toned-down, compared to most other action movies. I wasn't sure if I'd like the cast, other than Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith and Rampage Jackson as B.A., but I thought they all did a good job. Murdock stole the show on several occasions. The plot was great, explaining several things that I had wondered about from the original show - for example, why B.A. is afraid to fly, among other things. The classic A-Team humor further distinguished this movie from the more serious Bond/Bourne-type action films. Overall, Cody and I really enjoyed the movie and I (almost surprisingly) wasn't disappointed. The "A-Team" remake gets 8 out of 10 from me.

I love it when a plan comes together.

A-Town vs. the killer bee... I'm not home a whole lot anymore. But when I am, I get swarmed by bumblebees. These aren't the vicious, stingy bees. These are the freakin' huge, loud ones. Twice in the last two weeks have I entered the Bachelor Cave to find an enormous bee flying around my room. The first time was a Saturday or two ago when I found one in the bathroom. I quickly disposed of it by drowning it in the sink. Last night, there was another - and it was out for revenge. I was just simply sitting on the couch... watching some "Chuck"... when all of the sudden, Beezilla arose from under my suitcase or something. Scared the heck out of me. I quickly looked around for something to swat it with. I couldn't find anything, other than scriptures, EFY stuff, and other things I didn't want to get bee guts on, so I grabbed the closest, most easily-disposable thing - a feather duster. After several errant swings, I sent the little cootie hurtling into a wall. He was knocked down momentarily, but then came back for more. The proverbial feathers were flying for a few more swings and then I nailed it again, sending it back into the corner behind the couch. I moved the couch out and grabbed some toilet paper to dispose of it with, but I couldn't find it. I tentatively moved the couch back, but the horrible thought that the bee would resurrect and land on my head was almost too much to handle. Eventually, I gathered my emotions and resigned myself to sleep.

Run! Run for your lives!

So there I was this morning... watching more "Chuck"... and the bee flies up from underneath the couch! Scared the heck out of me! I grabbed my trusty feather duster and took a couple whacks. I hit it over toward the window and it wisely scrambled underneath the track, where I couldn't get to it. It lived to fight another day. An hour or two later, there I was... watching "Chuck"... and I heard the bee try to escape the window. I ran upstairs and found the nearest newspaper, rolled it up, and headed back down to battle. After two hits, it plummeted to my bed. I quickly picked it up and ended its miserable existence. The end.

**QUESTION TIME!!**

Q. "Dear Aaron,

Where the heck have you been? And why are you watching so much TV lately?"

Just Curious,

- The Junior Mounties

A. Where have I been? (SALUTE!) I've been in Provo, of course, working for Especially for Youth (EFY), a summer camp for Mormon kids. I've worked two weeks - thus, my reason for missing the last two weeks of blogging. I have the week off this week, so I'm just sitting around at home right now until I have to go back on Sunday night. I'll work seven weeks in a row and then I'm done. There you have it. That's the simple answer.

Courage to Stand Strong

Q. "How is EFY going? Having fun?"

- Kristin Manning

A. I knew somebody would ask. EFY has been great so far. This year, I'm a Building Counselor, which is a little different than a regular counselor, which I was last year. The counselors work almost exclusively with the kids and the Building Counselors work almost exclusively with the counselors, so it's a different experience for me this year than I had last year. I only get to know maybe four or five kids really well each week, but I have had a lot of time to work one-on-one with the counselors, which has been a lot of fun. Things have gone pretty smoothly, disregarding a couple crazy days of scheduling, seven half-naked boys, and a couple kids punching each other in the face. Those are the good times, though. I get to ride in a sweet minivan pretty much every day. I DJed a dance last Tuesday and didn't play a single song by Miley Cyrus. (That's quite the accomplishment, considering that the next dance played 5 Miley songs, including one of them twice.) I have 34 new Facebook friends and a couple new phone numbers. Obviously the dating life hasn't seen much prosperity yet, but I've got the rest of the summer to work on it. So yes, things are going quite well. Now if I could only find a way to get people to stop making fun of my face...

You, too, can submit your very own Question to us at "Signs of the Times" via email, Facebook, text message, or by commenting on the blog site at www.SignsOfTheTimesNewsletter.blogspot.com

I know many of you would like to see more Signs of the Times in "Signs of the Times," so here's one my family and I noticed last night at the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. Why, why, why??? do they always have people sitting out there with animals that are up for adoption? Like I'd ever go to a baseball game with $100 in cash with the intent of buying a pet while I was there! Cotton candy, maybe. A souvenir, sure. But who ever goes home from a game with a miniature bat, a foul ball, and a puppy? That's just weird to me. Oh - not to mention that the A.D.D. wacko in front of us let his infant baby play with his cell phone during the 9th inning...  It's a sick world we're living in.

And finally, today's installment of The Boo Box. While Cody and I were at the theater, we saw a poster for some movie called "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." I had never heard of this show. I just watched the trailer for it on YouTube. Looks pretty horrendous. But if that's not bad enough, at the bottom of the poster, it says "An epic of epic epicness." Are you kidding me?? BOOOOOO!! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.

I believe you'd call this an "epic fail."

That's all for this week. I'm not sure when I'll have time to write another Newsletter. I have pretty limited internet access when I'm down in Provo, so if I put any out in the next couple weeks, it will probably be on a Saturday or Sunday. Hope you're all doing well. Check out the blog site.

Until next Time,

Move It! Sell It! And Leave the Door Open!

Aaron