It's Go time!

I had been saving up and a few weeks ago I was able to get a Go set. It arrived on Feb 24th. I had a cheap one already, but the board and its stones were about half the size of standard set. Now, I have a full sized goban (Go board) and stones. I got it online from Yellow Mountain Imports. They also sell Chess, Shogi, and Mahjong sets along with other games.

When picking out a Go set, Angeles wanted me to get a nice goban while I was more focused on getting nice stones. The goban we picked is a 2" thick bamboo board with 13x13 on one side and 19x19 on the other. I really like the look of the bamboo, which the bowls are also made of. There were reviews on the website saying that the board was sturdy and so I knew that it'd be heavy, but I didn't expect it to be almost 15lbs! The bowls with the stones in them are 3.5lbs each. I have read that some people like heavy boards because if the table gets bumped, the board is less likely to slide around and ruin your game. One thing Angeles and I would like now is a basically a really small short coffee table so we could use this table goban as a floor goban, but I'm also very happy with what I have.

The stones are double convex yunzi stones. Yunzi is a manufatured material that looks like what I would imagine a mixture of stone and glass would be. I love the way they look; it's hard to take a bad picture of them. A lot of people oil their yunzi stones to give them a bit more luster. They are beautiful. Yunzi is used in official Go tournaments in China, or so I've heard.

Before Oiled

Oiled with a food grade mineral oil

Our first game on our new Go set!

Angeles played black with a 4 stone handicap and I was white.

I'm thankful for how much Angeles puts up with my desire to play go. She's so sweet and I know it's not her favorite game. She really likes more relaxed games that don't involve so much critical thinking and she also finds it discouraging to play me because I always win. Nevertheless, she also thinks this is a beautiful game and she's taken time to play with me and has let me teach her a little bit about the game.

I want to write more in this post, but I felt like there's a lot that I want to write about. I love Go, the things I learn from it, and the challenge it brings. I will write another post, hopefully soon.

I got this photo from a post on Pintrest

Rock Climbing at The Rock Gym

Angeles and I are trying to do a better job at taking care of our health. Angeles, in general, does a much better job at this than I. So she was the one to look into gyms and found Teton Cross Fit Gym/The Rock Gym. They have cross fit, rock climbing and yoga/hot yoga. Angeles got a membership there for the Cross Fit and Yoga sections.

I wasn't too enthusiastic about those two, but I have done a little bit of rock climbing in the past at scout camp and I wanted to try that out. They also have an area for bouldering that I haven't tried out yet. Bouldering is basically rock climbing a short enough wall that you don't need a harness for it. The routes on them tend to be harder too.

I started my membership on June 29th and have gone every day (except for on the Sabbath) since then. I've been having a blast.

I got myself a pair of rock climbing shoes and my own harness, so I won't need to rent them every time. Angeles and I went to Al's Sporting Goods in Idaho Falls to get them. Rock climbing shoes need to be pretty small for your foot in order to work well on small foot holds. When we were there, there was a couple who climb and they were able to help me choose my harness and shoes. They were super helpful. They waited around until I picked the right size. Angeles pointed out later that there were four people just watching me put on shoes: the husband and wife, Angeles, and the store employee who kept getting me shoes from the back to try on.

Angeles has work but tries to go most days for yoga or cross fit. She did cross fit the other day and was pretty sore the next day (July 7th). So she chose to come and belay me. She's so sweet. When I go I typically can only use the routes that have self-belay machines because I come by myself. They are the areas marked by yellow triangles at the bottom. So I was able to try out a few new routes including ones that were able to push me a little bit. Two of the three routes that I'm able to do on the self-belay machines are marked "Kid's Route", but I still enjoy them.

A few routes are changed each week so that every month and a half it's an entirely new wall! Each route is marked at the bottom with the name of the employee that made it, the name they gave it, when it was made, and its difficulty rating.

The US uses the Yosemite Decimal System for rating its rock climbing routes. It goes from 1-6, but most of it is irrelevant for rock climbing. For example, a rating of 1 would be a basic hike. What is relevant to me is 5.6 to 5.12+ because that is what we have at the gym. The 5.12+ that I saw looks ridiculously hard. I imagine 5.0 might be like climbing a ladder.

Angeles decided that we should take a few videos of me while climbing. The shots aren't great, but she was belaying me so the phone had to stay propped up on the ground.

This yellow route is called Sunnyside Up. It's rated 5.7, which I guess is a little past beginner and is one of the easiest routes at the gym. It was made by Amber (I don't know who that is, but I feel I should give credit). This was my second time climbing this route and I found it quite a bit easier than the first time. I really like this route. The overhang is my favorite part.

This purple route (sorry you can't really see the colors) is called Alligators are Cool. It's rated 5.8 and is also made by Amber. This is my first time climbing it. When I was half way up I wasn't sure if I could finish it, but right when I thought that Angeles called up saying that I could do it. :) When I finally reached the top my fingers were numb and shaking. It was really hard for me. There's no audio in this video because the Gym plays music and YouTube recognized the song, even though I can't hear it because the audio was terrible.

Our friend, Kat, had never tried rock climbing and really wanted to. Because it was her first time at the gym, I was able to bring her in for a free trial, which is something I can do only once a month. She had a blast. She was able to belay me too, so I was able to try Sunnyside Up again. I found out after the fact Angeles took some pictures of us climbing. I've been going mostly in the mornings, during member only hours, and there is usually only one maybe two other people there rock climbing. When Kat I went, we had the rock walls all to ourselves. Angeles was just across the room at her cross fit class and we were able to wave at her :)

I've been starting to get calluses on my hands from all my climbing, but I'm still enjoying it all the same.

Cosmere Keyboard

As some of you may know, I'm a fan of Brandon Sanderson's books, particularly his books in the cosmere universe. In the Stormlight archive, I recently finished The Way of Kings, which is the first book in that series. I've also read all of the Mistborn series to date, currently six books. I want to read the other books in the this universe that Brandon Sanderson has created.

In both the Mistborn series and the Stormlight archive, there are symbols. In Mistborn, we have their alphabet and in the Stormlight archive we have their glyphs used to represent their ten orders. Well, I have a 3D printer and I downloaded a blank keycap file from thingiverse.com. I changed it a bit and printed these...

Most of the allomantic symbols from Mistborn were already associated with letters of the alphabet, except one. They also didn't have a symbol for 'Q', so I used that symbol for it.

I've also been learning the Colemak keyboard layout, so I arranged them accordingly and got this keyboard! I indented all of the symbols except the ones for 'T' and 'N', which is where 'F' and 'J' normally are. I embossed those two instead. I'm a big fan of how it turned out. The Knights Radiant Glyphs nor the Cosmere symbol used for the escape key turned out perfectly due to the resolution required. I did use a smaller nozzle than normal to achieve what I did.

I would like to potentially add aons from Elantris, but the lines used in those would be too thin and the symbols too big too work.

I just thought I would share because it combined a few things I like, mostly 3D printing and the Cosmere. I've also spent a good amount of time recently looking at mechanical keyboards, which are pretty nice as well.

Furniture from Goodwill

Angeles and I moved a couple weeks ago to Rexburg! 😄 We haven't really told many people that we're here yet.

We spent the first few days buying furniture, like a bed and a couch. We both wanted desks and chairs for those desks, so we could have an office. We've been keeping an eye open on Facebook Marketplace, but we were never fast enough to get the things we wanted. Angeles got a hired for a stay-at-home job two days ago and so we decide to work a little harder to find a desk for her. Our budget was $100.

So we went down to Idaho Falls and began going to thrift stores to find one. The first place we went to didn't have a desk that would work. The second place we looked up turned out to not even be a thrift store. It was just someone's house. We don't know how that happened. The next two places were closed 😞. Then we tried Goodwill and we found a desk! Not just one desk, but two and two chairs to go with it! and a small bookshelf :) All for $53! Now, that's a tender mercy :) They aren't in the best condition, but it's was an awesome bargain despite that they are a little beat up. Thankfully, they also all fit in the van, so we didn't need to make a second trip to IF.

As you can see, the desks fit pretty perfectly wall to wall in our office. 😄 Angeles and I were saying how next time we need some furniture Goodwill will be a good place to check :) Just one huge tender mercy. We are so blessed.

Shiny Rayquaza

I had a tender mercy a couple months ago and Angeles told me to write it down so I don't forget it, so I've been meaning to write this for a little bit.

In the world of Pokemon, Rayquaza is a really powerful legendary dragon. He looks cool, is strong, and is just awesome. In Pokemon Go, Rayquaza is the best dragon-type attacker (although is does also depend on whom he's fighting, but I do tend to care a lot more about offense than defense in this game).

One the left is a normal Rayquaza and on the right is a "shiny" Rayquaza. When talking about pokemon, "shiny" really just means a different color. And this shiny is so cool! And basically Shinies are rare. During raids in Pokemon Go the chances are increased a great deal to 5% (or so I've heard).

So one day playing Pokemon Go I saw that someone got a 100% IV weather boosted Rayquaza from a raid. I mentioned to Angeles that that was really awesome, but I would still feel kind of bummed that it wasn't shiny. I also felt like that'd be too much to ask for. Then I was invited to do a Rayquaza raid and I joined. From it I caught a 100% weather boosted shiny Rayquaza with the best move-set to top it off! I could've changed the move-set if I needed to, but it seemed like the cherry on top to show that God was the one who blessed me with it :) After doing a little research, I found that the chances of this happening was 1/25920 or 0.0039%. That's crazy! And I think a big part of how I know it was a tender mercy from God was because not two hours before I was talking about how I wanted one and how unlikely it was to happen! It's a testament to me of how God is always aware and listening to us. He loves us. And I know Pokemon Go is just a game, but it's a game I enjoy and that's what matters I think. If I enjoy it, if it matters to me, then it matters to a God who loves me.

There have been other times when I feel like I've been blessed in the game, but this was just outstanding! I have a 100% IV Lucario too, which is super awesome! :)

(I feel like I need to say that I don't own the pictures of Rayquaza... just to be on the safe side... but I'd be surprised if it was a problem...)

FDREL 404 - Writings of Isaiah assignment

Part of my assignment mentioned that I could make this on a blog, so here I am! This is meant to be about a topic that I learned about in Writings of Isaiah this semester. I hope you like it!

Isaiah was a prophet. He wrote using a lot of symbols, which can inspire or be confusing.

Photo taken from my mom's blog

Isaiah taught the people about Christ. Christ was the best teacher of all. This is my father (on the left). He is a teacher. We should try to live our lives after the pattern Christ set for us. "The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values" - William S Burroughs. My dad taught me well.

Isaiah saw Christ's day. He knew Christ's characters and of His kindness and mercy.

From Dreamstime.com

Isaiah warned people to keep the commandments or be destroyed. His warnings are called "burdens" and there are a lot of them especially in the beginnings of Isaiah.

From Dreamstime.com

In Isaiah chapters 17 & 18, Isaiah talks about a bad harvest and then a good harvest. If we are wicked, our "harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." (Isaiah 17:11). If we are righteous, we shall be protected "like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." (Isaiah 18:4)

Let Us Beat Swords Into Plowshares statue at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City; sculpture by Evgeniy Vuchetich, 1959; picture from www.plough.com

A very famous scripture from Isaiah is Isaiah 2:4, where Isaiah speaks of the peace that will be on the earth. This will happen only as we teach to love one another. We will have no more need for weapons of war and shall "beat [our] swords into plowshares."

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis

A few days ago, in the mail I received Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. It's Harry Potter in Latin. In my Latin 102 class, we'll start reading it at the end of the semester. I'm really excited for it. It shouldn't be too hard as long as I know the vocabulary. The grammar will definitely be easier than poetry, which can be all over the place; placing words in seemingly random places in each sentence.

In Latin we're currently doing a little bit of poetry mixed in with our normal readings. Listening to Latin poetry is quite soothing due to its rhythm.

I took Latin last semester too. I had been studying Latin for the past couple years on my own. I didn't get too much of an in depth study, but it helped a lot. I was also off track, so I had time to study, but I loved that class and I'm loving my class now. I love Latin; it's a strong and powerful language. I feel that anyone that takes Latin knows that it's not useless. It's awesome!

Anyway, I don't know what to say besides that I'm really looking forward to reading Harrius Potter. I've been looking through it and reading what little I can. I'm really excited. I love the idea of modern books being translated into Latin. I'm not much into reading, but I feel like this would be something I would like to read.