Just because my camera broke is no reason to stop posting. (By the way, my watch broke too... :(   )

Since I suck epicly at this, let's start at last Thursday.

Last Thursday was the BYU Language Fair. Every year, they do a fair where they have activities for foreign language students. I know they do Spanish, German, and French. The Spanish kids, being the coolest, get the Wilkeson center and the buildings around the courtyard. They had a bunch of different events we competed in, such as Show and Tell, Skits, Language Bowl, Humorous Stories, all in Spanish. My events were Poetry and Impromptu Conversation. For poetry I had to memorize this poem and recite it:

Lázaro, por Jose Asunción Silva

"¡Ven, Lázaro!" -gritóle
el Salvador, y del sepulcro negro
el cadáver alzóse entre el sudario,
ensayó caminar, a pasos trémulos,
olió, palpó, miró, sintió, dio un grito
y lloró de contento.


Cuatro lunas más tarde, entre las sombras
del crepúsculo oscuro, en el silencio
del lugar y la hora, entre las tumbas
de antiguo cementerio,
Lázaro estaba, sollozando a solas
y envidiando a los muertos.

It's a strange poem... Here's what it means with Jose's lining, which I don't like all too much, but oh well.

"Come, Lazarus!" cried out
the Savior! And from the black seplechre,
the corpse rose among the shroud.,
he tried to walk, trembling steps
he smelt, he felt, he saw, he felt, he gave a yell
and cried with joy!

Four moons later, among the shadows
of the dark twilight, in the silence
of the place and the time, among the tombs
of the ancient cemetary,
Lazarus was weeping alone,
and envying the dead.

Yep. I got an "Excellent". Upstairs was Españolandia. For those of you who are uninformed, that roughly translates to "Spanish Land". There were a bunch of booths where you got stamps. We've been preparing for a month so we would know what to say no matter what they asked us. It was really fun.

So our Language Bowl team, which consisted of Hannah, Lindsey, Riley, Isaac... and someone else... daggett... anyways, they got first place. WOO! Then at the very end of the fair they counted up all of the Superior ratings that each school got and gave out trophies. And guess what? WE GOT THE GRAND PRIZE! That's right, Midvale Middle School won the whole Language Fair. To sorta let you know how much that means, we had High Schools and Middle Schools from all over Utah, plus a few from Idaho, and one from Oregon. YAY FOR MIDVALE!

Finishing up my Qs, I was thinking about the poetic lyric thing I mentioned a while back. I thought I might do it again. This is one of my favorite songs- More, by Kenneth Cope. I basically took his words, and alligned them, adding punctuation, all to maximize the meaning of the words. Enjoy.

More Steady, More Sure.
More Trusted, More Pure.
Some say it doesn't matter.

More trained and more aware,
More aim to get me there.
I climb this far,
You raise the bar!
You want my heart.

More Fierce Desire
To Stand against the wind!
More Blazing Fire
When Dark is closing in!
A more love-inspired change within,
So there's more and more of me to give.

More words to learn and know,
More etched upon my soul.
Some say it doesn't matter.

More Trite,
More True.
Less me,
And much more You.
I stretch this Tall!
You sound the Call!
You want my All.

More Fierce Desire
To stand against the wind!
More Blazing Fire
When Dark is closing in!
A more love-inspired change within.
You keep
Reaching out, you're calling out to me!

For more strength in shoulders,
To Face the War with sin!
More wise and bolder,
To Save the Souls of men!
A more Faithful Soldier to the end!
You want more and more of me to give.

More and more of me to give.
More, More,
More and more of me to give!

More Love!
More Light!
More Purpose!
More Serve with all my Might!
I need more Hope!
More Faith!
More Patience,
Each day I Pray for More,
More and more of me to give!

More Fire!
More Zeal!
More Spirit,
To know what's real!
More courage!
More joy!
More!
More and more of me, to give!

More Grateful!
More True!
More Humble
To trust,
And do you call?
I hear!
I walk the path that's set in stone,
My heart is fixed on getting home!
And what on earth could ever matter more?

More and more of me, to give.
More.

Have you ever stopped to think, really think, about the words to these Christmas songs? Have you ever taken away the pretty music and just thought about the pure poetry of the lyrics? I've been doing it lately, and the words just keep hitting me, impacting me. Why is it that I find these poetic words more meaningful then others? I'm not quite sure. But here's a few Christmas songs to think about. Read the poems, and forget the music for a moment.

O Come, all ye faithful!
Joyful, and Triumphant!
O Come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him
Born the king of angels!
O come let us adore him,
Christ, the Lord!

God rest ye, Merry Gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day!
To save us all from Satan's Power
When we had gone astray
O, tidings of comfort and joy!

Christmas Bells!
Those Christmas Bells!
Ringing through the land!
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man!

What child is this
Who, laid to rest on Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
And shepherd watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ, the King!
Whom shepherds watch and angels sing:
Haste, Haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary!

Hark! how the bells, Sweet silver bells,
All seem to say, "Throw cares away!"
Christmas is here, Bringing good cheer
To young and old, Meek and the bold!
Oh how they pound, Raising the sound,
O'er hill and dale, Telling their tale!
Gaily they ring, While people sing
Songs of good cheer, "Christmas is here!"

Christmas time is something special
Something that just warms your soul.
Something that fills you with peace
And always surrounds you with joy.
Sounds of Christmas, oh how joyous
Hear them everywhere you go.
Silver bells, their pretty ringing
Christmas songs, their wondrous sounds.
Friends surround you, laughing, smiling
Rejoice in their beaming joy
The feeling you get when giving
Is the brightest in the soul.
May we feel the joy of Christmas
May we laugh and love more now
Sing the praises to the highest
Happy Birthday, to my Lord.


I felt like writing a Christmas poem. So I did, just now. There's my improv, how do you like it?

Anyways, I'm having a great Christmas week so far. Just wanted to share my joyous activities.

Monday, I went to West Jordan High School for their Choir Concert, which Kat is in. So are a few of my friends that I know from being friends with Kat- Emma, who I didn't actually get to see, and Sam, who I met at a region dance. She's a really good dancer. Anyways, the concert was beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful...

Ha ha. I wonder what she's going to think when she sees this... "Jarom's such a dork..."

Last night, I went to Hillcrest High for Aerin's Choir performance. It was absolutely beautiful. Aerin has the best singing voice of anyone I can think of. Dagget, I wish I had remembered to take my camera to that... then I would have pictures of Aerin and Steph, two of the best friends in the whole world! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!

Hello, all you non-existent readers. I'm waiting for the Gel for my Cell Model to harden a little so we can stick in the organelles, and working on a Croatia paper, and I thought I should do a post. Ug, I know way more about Croatia then I ever wanted to. But I was looking at the countries we have when it hit me... If I don't get on the Security Council representing Croatia, I'll have to do something similair to this again on whatever other country Stucki gives me. :P

So... yeah. I've been doing so much homework lately, and I've felt really stressed. The wierd thing is that randomly during the day or on certain days entirely I'll just have this wave of gloom. It's like this dark feeling in my heart that just makes me mellow, and I can't shake it because there's no sunlight. (I know that's a lame excuse... but the other day I had it, and then the clouds moved and the sun shone down, and it totally disapeared. It was awesome. I love the sun.)

You can see the results of these such days by looking at this poem I wrote during one of them: http://gamemasterjtpoems.blogspot.com/2009/12/gloom.html. I actually wrote one half while I was feeling down, and then the second half when I was feeling better.

Well, through this whole thing there have been a few really great friends that have helped me through. I was thinking about them, and most of them already have their own tributes, like Mandi, Kat, and Paige. But there is one that I haven't done.

Here's to Rachel! (Yes, another Rachel. I know 5 of them. ^_^ )

Thanks for being such a ball of sunshine when I can't see the sun. Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for giving me hugs when I really need them, and not even thinking twice about it. You may be trying to prove to me that you're really mean, but more often then not you're just too nice. ^_^ Thanks for everything!

Time for a big GRAND GRATEFULNESS!

I'm thankful for the gospel. I love the church. It brings so much happiness and understanding to my life. I love the feeling of the spirit. I love knowing that I am a child of God. I love knowing that he loves me. I love how everything just fits together.

I wrote a poem the other night. You could call it my standared, my title. It's posted on my poems blog. Some of you already heard it in Seminary class.

Love you all! I gotta go get ready for the dance tonight, now...

As you can see, my blog is now new and improved. Jeremiah thought that my old template was ugly. And I decided it needed to be changed anyways. So It is.

We'll see how this works. I'm in somewhat unfamiliar waters with this one, and it's all wierd. But I've worked the HTML a little to how I like it. Almost....

So for English class we have to find a picture and a song and write poems about them. I'm currently listening to some of Jeremiah's songs to write a poem about.

I am grateful for poetry, and for writing in general. I like writing, and people tell me I'm really good at it.

When I finish this, I might post it.

Daniel and Matt are having a Haiku war. I've decided I'm going to try. Here are a few of mine:

The stars are twinkling
like small diamonds in the sky,
Oh how they sparkle.

The frog leaps into
his watery home, and makes
a small, quiet splash.

The day's time is up,
the twilight's magic begins
preparing for night.

//This has nothing to do with the book Twilight. I've always thought that the twilight was a time of strong magic. Even before The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess came out. (Which gives me an Idea for a poll...)

Water suspended
in the air around us all
a frozen moment.

A single seedling,
a tiny plant, will soon be
a mighty Redwood.

The songbird's sweet song
drifts through the air, til it comes
to rest on our ears.

The grace of the birds,
their swoops and turns, can inspire
even all the best.

Check back. I may edit this post to add more.