Shyness

Out of my family, I get the wrap as being the shy one. I generally just don't start conversations. I'm a quiet person. I will, however, always talk back if someone talks to me. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not terrified of people. My younger sibling on the other hand is terrified of people.

My younger sister never gets the wrap as being the shy one, when in reality, she is far shyer than I ever was. She doesn't have an issue saying every thought that pops into her head when she's around people she knows, but put her in a room full of people she doesn't know and she won't even be able to ask for the  bathroom.

We went out to dinner with my family at the same restaurant we always eat at. Since we go there all the time, everyone there knows us and she had no issue going to ask the staff for napkins when I spilled my tea. An hour later, we had to stop at the police station for my dad to file a police report (don't even ask).

While we were waiting in the car, my younger sister informed us that she had to pee. Being in a small, spread out town we had to walk all the way across it to get to the grocery store. The grocery store was closed, so she couldn't use it's bathroom. Luckily for us, there's a restaurant right next door that has a restroom. Unluckily for us, my sister couldn't just go inside and ask if she could use the bathroom. She wanted me to do it for her. I refused. She's the one that had to pee. Seriously, it is a few simple words, "Excuse me may I use your restroom?" Most places and people really don't care, plus the people in there are always super nice. She wouldn't listen to me, so we walked back across town to the gas station.

She got to pee and she didn't even have to talk to someone. (We did get glared at by the guy working in the station, but that's unimportant.) We then had to walk back to the light so that she we could get back across the highway to the police station. It somehow didn't seem like a smart idea to jaywalk right in front of the police station. Seriously, who knew peeing could be so complicated.

While I don't start up conversations with people, I can at least ask for extra dipping sauce or the toilet without my big sister there to do so for me.

A Small Side Conversation On Peeing: 

While walking to the gas station, my sister informed that peeing was a useless function. I informed her it was necessary for expelling toxins from our body. She informed me it would be easier if people just vomited instead of peeing. I informed her it's far more difficult to hold back vomit and would be far more inconvenient (but since she has an amazing ability to only vomit at inconvenient times, it wouldn't make to much of a difference). 

Sleeping Arrangements

Something as simple as who sleeps where doesn't seem all that complicated, until my family tries to do it. In my house there is my parents' room, my grandma's room, MAC's room (MAC is my dad's oldest sibling), and MAM's room (MAM is my dad's other older sister).

When I was super little (in a crib little), me and my siblings used to sleep in the hallroom (exactly what it sounds like). It wasn't until I got a little older, that MAC decided that we could use her room as a bedroom. (How nice of her.) It has hideous pink wallpaper which we aren't allowed to change and when we first started using it, it had a yarn rug hanging on the wall as well as a creepy painting of a doll that my grandma did. For years, we weren't allowed to move any of these decorations. (It's amazing how used to a creepy doll painting, that freaks out everyone, a person can get.) About the time my older sister started middle school, we started covering the walls with posters and pictures. It helped a lot. A person can only take so much pink. Eventually, we did manage to convince my family to let us take down the doll painting and the rug fell down. We left it.

Now, on to MAM's room. For the longest time, MAM's room was set up as my grandma's sewing room. It worked well like that until me and my younger sister started to hit middle school. We seriously, could no longer manage to share a bed. It was becoming physically impossible. Not because the bed was small, but because my sister's a bed hog. It was then that we had the brilliant idea, that the room that remained unoccupied for three quarters of the year could be used as a bedroom for one of us. As siblings so often do we fought over it. My mom set up a schedule so that I'd have it for three months, then my sister would have it for three months. We loved the idea of having our own room. Eventually we got lazy with the trading, so I ended up with the room.

MAM being the crazy person she is, tried to put a lock on the door, so no one could use her room for the nine months when she wasn't actually at our house. She didn't even do a good job of it. She used the same lock as the rest of the house. Somehow, she didn't seem to think that people who live in the house would have a house key. We even moved my grandma's sewing stuff to the hallroom (probably the most logical place for it, but leave it to us to take over ten years to figure this out.).

Now I refer to MAM's room as my room, but it isn't really. It's more or less a hotel room (without the option of a cleaning service). I get to use it for the months when MAM (or others) aren't visiting. While I love having a room that I can use for myself it proves to be a pain in the ass at times.

1) The blue wall paper
     a) When I was little and had a nightmare about a monster, the monster would always be blue. I always associated monsters with MAM for various reasons. I also always associated blue with MAM because of her wallpaper.
     b) Blue is a color that makes a person want to be productive. In a room lined with blue wallpaper you feel antsy. I always feel like I should be doing something when I'm in there. While it's useful for doing homework, it's maddening when you're trying to relax.

2) MAM's crap
     a) The closet in my room is filled with MAM's crap.
     b) Since the closet is full, there is a huge pile of boxes in the corner next to the closet.
     c) There are to many pieces of furniture in a room that is not big enough to hold them. 5 tables, 3 chairs, 1 bookcase (filled with religious books), 1 bed, and 1 doll cabinet.
     d) The doll cabinet is right next to my bed and is packed full of dolls who stare directly at my bed. (Try waking up from a nightmare and seeing that.)

3) Summer
     a) Every summer, when MAM and whoever else comes out to visit, I have to move everything of mine out of my room. If I leave a single object of mine, it leads to an insane argument. (No joke we've had an argument over a shoe that got shoved under the bed.)
     b) If my relatives come to visit before I'm done with school. I still have to give up my room and end up sleeping on the couch. This wouldn't be an issue if they actually vacated the living room at a reasonable time, were quiet in the mornings, and didn't decide to come in time for finals.

4) Decorating
     a) I am not allowed to decorate the walls of my bedroom in the slightest. I can put up a calender on the back of the door and that's it. If I put anything else up in the room it takes all of a day (max) for my grandma to notice and get upset about it.
     b) I don't get to bring furniture of my own into this room (not that there's anywhere to put it). That means that if I want a book, clothing or anything else I have to go into my sisters room to get it. I end up doing this often times after my sister goes to bed, leaving me to find what I need in the dark (or accidentally wake up my sister).

5) Space
    a) Since there is to much junk in the room, there is nowhere for me to do anything.
    b) Only one of the three chairs is actually useful and that's because I use it for my computer. 

Other Things You should Know:
1) Neither MAC or MAM actually lived in this house. They just inherit it when my grandma passes away.
2) MAM will likely try to bring out more crap of hers, which she will, without a doubt, use to take up even more space in her room.
3) My dad also has crap in my sister's room. Half the closet is filled with civil war uniforms.
4) If we had a garage sale with all the crap that my aunts have left here, we wouldn't actually make much. There's nothing useful in their junk and no one wants to drive out to the middle of nowhere to look through this useless junk.

Graduation

My high school graduation was this past Friday. Like so many things involving my family, it was incredibly complicated. It starts two weeks before when seniors are trying to get final projects and other things done (see Procrastination if you want to read about that). During this time their parents are also trying to figure out who's coming to visit for graduation. It doesn't seem like it's be that complicated, but in my family everything is complicated.

It started with my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Younger Sister, Grandpa, Aunt, Other Aunt, and Uncle coming. Doesn't seem that complicated. Now let's get into the details. My Other Aunt and Uncle don't get along in the slightest with my Grandpa and Aunt. As well as that, my Dad and Grandpa (despite having the same personality and interests) can't stand each other. It all worked out though because my other aunt and uncle couldn't come. That cut out at least one argument. It also worked out because my Aunt is apparently wanted in the state of Colorado (honestly, the story's not as bad ass as you'd think), so she and my Grandpa didn't come. No complaints from me. It makes things a lot simpler when my family doesn't come.

My older sister couldn't come because her boyfriend had to work and she'd have to rent a car if she wanted to be out here for graduation. It evens out though because I missed her's due to a vomit inducing migraine. She just came out here later and is hanging around for a few days.

Throughout the entire time we trying to figure out which of the crazies (what I commonly call my family) were coming, there was a feeling of impending doom as another one of my aunts (commonly referred to as MAM) was plotting to come out here. Her plan was to bring out a car load of her crap, leave it here, and bring my grandma back to the house of yet another on of my aunt's. (Note: The bringing out of crap and leaving it at our house is a common practice among my family, known to happen almost every summer. I believe on one occasion someone actually brought out a toilet.) This posed more problems than the fact that we don't have a place to put this crap (mostly because the house is already filled with their crap).

1) It would mean that I would have to clean up my room and move everything out of it and into my sisters room. (I'll explain this another time.)
2) I would have to sleep on the couch throughout all finals.
3) My family doesn't understand the concept of going to bed, so that someone sleeping on the couch can actually go to bed themselves.
4) My family doesn't understand the concept of being quiet so the person sleeping on the couch can actually sleep.
5) My aunt would either stay long enough to attend my graduation or would take my grandma before my graduation.

Luckily none of the above happened. (Note: An aunt coming out just in time for finals did happen to me last summer.)

Now, what is complete, without a family argument on the way. While we were trying to get out the door so we could actually go to my graduation there was pointless arguing. Lot's of "We need to go!", "We'll be late!", and of course, "Get in the car!" None of these things are actually helpful when trying to get out the door. They usually just lead to someone yelling back, taking even more time.We did manage to make it to graduation alive, sort of on time, and sort of in a good mood.

The Fantasia Hippos

If you've see Fantasia, you know of the scene with the dancing hippos and alligators. I distinctly remember them being a purple color. A lot of other people do to. Even the costumes that people wear in Disney's own park are purple (actually more pink). I am here to tell you that the the Fantasia Hippos are not actually purple. I know your mind is blown and at this moment you are googling images to check my accuracy.

The reason so many of us remember them being purple is because we grew up watching it on faded VHS's. On these faded tapes the hippos actually are purple. See look:

But, in the original film the hippos weren't actually this color. They were a brown color. See:

It's amazing what an entire generation that grew up watching faded video tapes can do to an idea. Some faded color, and tons of people remember the color brown as purple. Even Disney itself is marketing the hippos as purple or pink.  

Seriously, how many of you people remembered the hippos being purple? I did, but I never once remembered then being as pink as the above picture.

Anime and Manga

I am a huge fan of anime. It's fun (even if incredibly strange at times). If it has a good story I will watch/slash read it. If the story is interesting enough, I can ignore the horrid portrayal of women.

While I love anime I have a serious issue with the excessive use of panty shots. Seriously, every time someone sneezes, we don't need to show some chick's underwear. (Yes, Negima I'm calling you out.) I wouldn't say that we should reverse this and do this to guys. Seriously, no one wants to see have a million pairs of whitey-tighties in one thirty minute episode. I personally don't want to see a whole lot of cute panties either.

I can only think of a hand full of animes/mangas that have strong female characters that aren't overly sexualized. Let's see how many I can list. Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, anything by Studio Ghibli (Miyazaki's a feminist), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,  Ranma 1/2 (many would argue against this, but I'll explain my reasoning in a moment.) Honestly that is all the ones I can think of.

Ranma 1/2 is included in the above statement for a few reasons. (Note: I've only read the comics so don't know about the anime.) 1) The only chick you see naked is Ranma and that's because he doesn't quite get the whole feminine modest thing. It helps with character development. 2) Even though there's the creepy old guy, Happosai, he is usually foiled in his plans. 3) All the male characters are pummeled profusely when they are caught doing anything that could be taken as pervy, as well as when they are actually trying to be. 

While most animes have a strong female character, she is often seen wearing skimpy clothing, loosing her clothing if she's not wearing skimpy clothes, with boobs bigger than Dolly Parton's, or various combinations of these three. It completely defeats the purpose of having a bad ass warrior chick if her main purpose for existing is to give nerdy guys something to fantasize about.

I wonder how much shorter an episode of anime would be if you cut out all the boob shots, panty shots, etc. (Heck, I wonder how many animes would still have a plot.)You could probably cut an episode in half. Especially if your watching something like Negima. (That's right Negima I called you out again.)

Procrastination

I am a procrastinator. I have procrastinated my way through middle school and now high school, but it never really made that much of an impact on me. I have always been able to ass around until the last minute and get what I needed to done with a minimal amount of stress. That is until I encountered the American Government final project of one Mr. Pappadakis.

It is over fifteen of the amendments. It doesn't seem to be all that daunting when at the beginning of the semester you receive the project. then you sit down to do it. Even if you start early it is mental torture. It's not even that difficult to do. It's just so mindlessly boring it drains your energy and within moments your brain starts finding excuses to procrastinate.

One night after finishing half a page your brain will decide that that's enough so you go to bed. Another night you'll decide that you just can't focus on something that tedious, so you play Final Fantasy. Another day you'll start off again then come up with a brilliant idea for a blog, so you'll do that. This goes on and on. You don't even realize how torturous the project is until the night before it's due when you only have four pages done. (It takes about thirty pages to do this assignment.)

The day before it's due. You wake up early and plan to dedicate all day on this. Only you don't think that it will actually take you all day. Maybe five hours tops. That is so not the case. The morning morning before it was due, I woke up turned on my computer so that it could warm up. I went downstairs and got some breakfast, came back upstairs and got to work. I was dedicated. About three hours in I was hungry. Went down stairs. Two hours after that I was hungry again and went downstairs to get food. An hour after that I was hungry again and you guessed it, I went downstairs and got food. My body was even trying to get me to procrastinate.

I got up at 9:30am and started working at 10:00am. I was working on my project from 10:00am to 9:30pm. that is eleven and a half hours. (A little less if you cut out the bathroom breaks, food breaks, and beverage breaks.) I then had to get a ride to my younger sisters boyfriend's house (he's also my guy friend), where we printed out these projects.

To anyone who ever happens to take Mr. Pappadakis's government class start on the final they day he starts going over the amendments. If you don't you will come increasingly close to having your head explode.

Graduation Party

In less than a week, I am graduating from high school. That alone is an incredibly strange feeling. Today, I had a graduation party. A few of my friends came over, hung out, goofed around, and as usual I was injured. But I'll start with some of the simple absurdities.

While walking past the horse pen me and a friend stopped to pet the horse. We were petting him and Rocky, being the giant paint in the ass he is, started to nibble on my friends shirt. He then grabbed one of the buttons and ripped it off her shirt. There was a moment or two when we thought the horse actually ate the button. Then we saw it on the ground. For the next five minutes while we walked up to my house, we were laughing until we couldn't breathe and our abs were in knots.

Now to the tale of my nasal injury. Actually we'll wait a moment longer and I'll tell you about my almost injury.

I being the dorky, nerdy person I am, own a pair of practice katanas. (Note: I don't actually do kendo or fencing or anything with them.) I brought these out and me and my friends took turns pretending to kill each other. I was fighting with one of my guy friends (in fact the one my sister is dating), and he brought down the sword. It lightly smacked into my face right below my eye. It stung for a small moment, then I was fine. My glasses took the force of that blow. The nose pad on the left side was flat against the lens. It is a good thing I still have half of a two year warranty on them.

Now (and this time I'm not lying) to the tale of my injury.

Me being the genius that I am, was launching one of these practice swords straight into the air with my foot then catching it in my hand. I did this several times without issue. My friend then asked how I was doing it. After showing her, I did it one more time and accidentally launched it at my face. It flew up and slammed into my right nostril, leaving me with the feeling of a stubbed toe, but in your face. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I stubbed my nose. My nose bled very little. My nostril however swelled shut and any blood that did decide to ooze went through my nasal cavity and either out my left nostril or down the back of my throat.

It's official I can't have a party without some form of injury. Despite my stubbed nose, I had a blast. I am super excited to graduate (as well as terrified, melancholy, pessimistic, optimistic, etc.).

Homelessness

In English, we read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. This sparked a conversation about homelessness and possible solutions. I was amazed that the entirely of my English class (excluding me and two of my friends) thought that homeless people are there because they want to be. I'm not saying that there aren't people that take advantage of people, but not even close to the majority are there because they want to be.

The majority of homeless people are youth. Of the homeless youth out there 40% of them are LGBT (as of 2011). Their parents kicked them out. Just because our dinky ass crap community doesn't have any homeless people doesn't mean that when you see one somewhere else they're just a con artist. I'd love to see these kids in my class figure out what to do if their parents kicked them out and they had nowhere to go.

My class was talking about how the pictures my teacher showed us didn't actually look like legit homeless people. "That guy's jacket looks too new." "That girl's shirt is too white." I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware that four pictures on an overhead represented the entire population of homeless people. I also wasn't aware that you had to have been homeless for a certain amount of time in order to be considered homeless.

It's not as easy to get out of a bad situation as people think. Living at home you can go online to get information on whatever you want or need. When you're living on the street you don't have that access. Finding the information that could help you is far from easy.

I'm not saying that you have to give them money or anything. Just treat them like an actual person. I don't care if they're a scam artist or not they still deserve some respect. Hell, it doesn't hurt anyone if you give them an apple or something. Seriously, if you were in that situation you'd be grateful for anything someone was willing to give you. 

Advertising Campaign

Magazine advertisements are super interesting. In fact most people, when they pick up a magazine, look through the ads and pictures before they read the articles. I especially love the fact that most of the ads are next to impossible to tell what they are for without further research.

The above advertisements are ones that I made for my graphic design class. They're for a fictitious music studio. The only requirement I had was that the advertisement had to be reminiscent of the 1960's. I think I achieved my goal. I especially love the one with the staircase. I think it legitimately looks like it's an ad from the 1960's.

My Computer

I have a fantastic computer. Well at least I think so. No one else agrees. My sophomore year, my guy friend built me a computer. When I first got it, it ran perfectly. Faster than most other computers. Now, after having it for a couple of years it is no longer as awesome as it was at first. However now it has decided to do random things.

1. It's possessed by the careers of 80's pop stars. It will at random intervals start playing 80's music from no discernible source. The only way I can make it stop, is if I turn off my speakers. While I like 80's music as much as the next person, by the time you've heard Take Me On play repetitively for twenty minutes you want to shoot your ears off.
There is one exception to the theory that it's possessed by the careers of 80's pop stars. It once decide to play the sound of a 1960's documentary called The Homosexuals.

2. It despises my family. Anytime that my younger sister touches or even enters the room where my computer is, it freezes. It also freezes whenever anyone else touches it. This would be why everyone hates my computer. It works perfectly fine for me though.

3. The screen randomly changes color. Every once in awhile, my computer will decide that normal colors should not be used and will change to a blue or green tint for about a week. This is maddening if you are attempting to do anything where you need to actually see colors i.e. looking at a map.

4. The browser I have open will randomly disappear. It will just blink out of sight in the middle of something, then in about twenty minutes, it will reappear.

5. When I turn it on, I have to wait about ten minutes for it to warm up. That is if I want to actually get something done. Once it's warmed up, it runs at a normal speed, but up 'till then it will take forever to do anything.

6. While listening to music, if the song changes at the same time I click on something, it will freeze for about a minute. Timing is key if I want to get something done and enjoy my fantastic music collection of over 3000 songs.

While my computer has many issues, it usually works fine. It just decides at random times to do random things. I can usually avoid freezes, but the other issues seem completely random to me. I have yet to figure out their system. I wouldn't even put it past my friend to have programmed these things in (especially the 80's music). It is very much something he would do. While he won't admit it, I quite convinced that at least part of it was intentional.

Prom

Prom, supposedly the greatest night of high school. I have to admit that it was in fact a lot of fun. Not necessarily the best night of high school, but definitely a lot of fun. Figuring out a plan for prom is actually one of the craziest most complicated things I've ever done.

Figuring out a plan is one incredibly complicated pain in the ass, so like anything that is complicated (or really just anything) it had to be done in a crazy round about way.

Step 1: Who You're Going With
I asked my guy friend if he wanted to go as friends. He had already asked another friend of ours and was going with her. No big deal. I then found out that one of my chick friends hadn't convinced her boyfriend to go with her, so we were going to go together. My chick friend then managed to convince her boyfriend to go, so once again I had to figure out a plan. Still wasn't really worried about it.

The previously mentioned guy friend's date canceled on him. he told me that she had canceled on him because she wanted to ask out another chick. The first time something like this happens to your guy friend it's hilarious. The second time it's still pretty funny. By the time you've reached the third chick, it's really sad and you feel bad for the guy. He then asked me if maybe we could go together if this other chick he had asked didn't give him a yes. Next thing I know, he is going with one of my best friends (and no this was not the chick he was waiting on an answer from). I no longer felt so bad that his original date ditched him.I don't really care, but I wasn't going to feel sorry for the guy anymore.

After the whole complicated thing with my guy friend, I thought maybe I might just tag along with my sister and her boyfriend (one of my guy friends) and a couple of friends of mine who were also dating each other. (This was meant as a last resort if I couldn't figure anything else out.) The afternoon of prom, I called up one of my best friends and asked if I could tag along with her group. I got a yes.
  
A Side Note: My Ditched Friend
I do not by any means approve of how my friend handled things. Before I say anything else, I love the kid and he's an awesome friend. I'm not entirely sure of how things happened between him and his original date. She in fact came to prom by herself. As far as I see it, there are four possibilities as to what happened. 1) She ditched my friend for a girl, asked the girl and got a no. 2) She ditched my friends for a girl, but never actually got the guts up to ask her. 3) She used it as an excuse to get out of the previously planned date. 4) She ditched my friend and my friend told everyone it was for a chick.

I'm not trying to insinuate anything on anyone's part. While I love my guy friend, he has a habit of stretching the truth. He has lied many times. Either way, I still don't like the way he handled things. He told everyone what happened. No discretion whatsoever. I know he was pissed off (and had a right to be), but the whole world didn't need to hear about how his former date is bisexual. I'm not saying that you shouldn't tell people if they ask, but you don't have to tell everyone that you see.

I don't really approve of how either of them acted. I will give the chick kudos at least for keeping it her business. I can see both sides of the story. While it's crap to ditch your date, it's also crap to drag everyone you know into the situation.

Step 2: The Clothes
You can't go to prom in jeans and you can't go naked, so the perfect outfit is a necessity. I decided months ago that I was going to wear a tux to prom. I told this to my family and it was met by much resistance. In fact it was the subject of our Thanksgiving dinner conversation. After six months of debate, I convinced my mom to let me do so. I looked darn spiffy, if I do say so myself.

I also wore heels. To anyone who knows me this is quite a feet. In fact, I was the most skilled in heels out of all the chicks I went with. I have discovered that I quite like heels. They really don't complicate my life more than anything else I do.

Step 3: Dinner
It was quite amazing that the one place where my group of eleven people decided to eat dinner was the one insanely busy restaurant in town. It wasn't even because it's where all the prom goers went. It was because a ridiculous amount of people just decided to eat there that day.

Step 4: Photos
The most important part! Any caring parent will tell their kids that if they don't get photos there will be hell to pay. My group went the park and set the camera on a timer. We took a fair amount of photos, many of which are us moving while the camera unexpectedly kept taking pictures.

Step 5: Actual Prom
The highlight of the evening. It is unlike any other school dance a person will go to. It is amazing that at the  people at the dance keep the drama to themselves. Everyone is nice whether they mean it or not. It's absolutely insane. There is something about this dance that makes it so everyone feels the need to keep it nice. No one tries to ruin anyone else's night for fear of ruining their own.

I enjoyed myself. I danced with friends for awhile. I got a drink and sat and talked with friends. Then danced some more. Then commandeered my previously mentioned guy friends date. We went for a walk and sat in the dirt for a bit talking. We then went back and danced some more. They actually started playing some okay music. (It's hard to find good music at any dance sanctioned by our school.) We then ate from the chocolate fountain for a little bit. Then we danced till prom ended.


Step 6: After Prom
The school did have an after prom scheduled, but it was so far out in the middle of nowhere not a lot of people went. Me (now with a different group of friends than those I came with) rode in the limo they had rented. We went back to my friends house. Chatted for awhile, ate food, tried watching Pushing Daisies and crashed.

As with everything, someone has to complain about all the things that weren't fun. (My younger sister ) Even though they were thoroughly enjoying themselves at the dance, they have to sit there and discuss all the ways that it could be made better. Of course you could make it better, but who cares? It was fun enough as is. "They played bad music." Just ignore it and have fun anyways. "The music didn't match the theme." Just ignore it and have fun anyways. "It was too expensive." Then why the hell'd you go anyways? "It just wasn't worth the money." It might have been if you didn't spend the whole time finding things you didn't like about it.


My thought on prom is that it was awesome. I'm super glad I went. I'm not sure I'd want to go again.(Maybe as an excuse to wear my tux again.) I had fun and despite all the crazy that comes with anything I do, it was definitely worth the time and effort.

The Book of Mormon

I have recently received a copy of the Book of Mormon from some missionaries that I met at my friends house. I decided that I'm going to read the entirety of it. I can't say whether something is good or bad unless I give it a chance first. Don't knock it 'til you try it. (This applies to everyone!)

I have so far read the First Book of Nephi and I have to say, there are other phrases in that you can start a paragraph with other that, "It came to pass." Seriously the most commonly used phrase in the entire thing is "It came to pass." For God's sake, Nephi (or Joseph Smith depending on your beliefs), get some vocabulary! I tallied all the times that this phrase was used in this particular book. 182 times in 22 chapters. That is 8.27 times per chapter! Each chapter is only two to three pages long! Seriously, I don't care who wrote it, There has got to be more phrases you could use (or better yet just leave it out entirely).

Other than the excessive use of the phrase, "It came to pass." (Crap, now I've got myself doing it!) I thought it was interesting that the character (he's a literary character whether he existed or not), Nephi who narrates this book kept informing the reader that he only put in what he deemed to be holy. That was his reason for not including on the begetting. While I am thankful to the author for not including the begetting (seriously, watching dust collect is more interesting than those chapters of Genesis), I think it was incredibly unnecessary for him to explain why every four chapters. I would think that if he was truly a prophet of god then he wouldn't have to explain himself. Then again, if I was one (likely I never will be), then I'd be a little bit terrified that people would ridicule my work. Seriously, can you imagine having to write down the word of god, then have some old guy sit there and yell at you because it wasn't done traditionally with pages upon pages of begetting?

At the beginning of the book, Nephi actually says that he wrote these on gold plates that he made. If that's the case I can understand not wanting to carve all the begetting. It does, however, seem like a waste of time to write down what you're writing on when whoever reads it can probably see. I guess maybe if you're expecting things it to be translated... It still seems like a waste of time. It even says in Joseph Smith's testimony at the beginning, what the book was originally written upon. (God could just tell Joseph Smith what who made the plates.)

As for other aspects of the book, Joseph Smith's testimony at the beginning seemed a little bit convenient. He says that god told him not to show the plates of Nephi (which had the book of Mormon written on it) to anyone else, but later is informed that he can show them to eight select family members and friends, but then again "Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing." (I think that's from The Polar Express.)

One more thing I find amusing and by no means is exclusive to The Book of Mormon, is that the pictures of Jesus are of a blonde haired blue eyed guy. Jesus was born in the middle east. I highly doubt that he was Aryan.