Ripley's Believe It Or Not

On Saturday, Leah took me out on a date. She's great at finding deals and got a great discount on a pair of tickets to the Baltimore Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum.

Back when Leah and I first started dating, we went to Atlantic City. While we were walking around the boardwalk, I saw a Ripley's museum there and mentioned how much I loved reading the newspaper features as a kid and that I had a couple of books that collected many of said features. She listened and when she came across a sale on tickets, she asked if I wanted to go. It was sweet of her to remember something so trivial, so of course I said "yes."

The museum was filled with artifacts and reproductions of amazing things. Some were based on people, like the tallest man in recorded history, while others were works of art using unusual media, like giant portraits of Bill and Hillary Clinton made out of hamburger grease. One thing I liked was how there were several displays that focused on Baltimore, like Chessie, Charm City's version of Nessie.

Me standing next to a life-sized animatronic of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man the world has ever known

A(n admittedly creepy) mannequin or Robert Ripley

Ants painted like basketball players (for some reason)

There were also interactive exhibits, like funhouse mirrors, a mirror maze, what was called a "kaleidoscope room," and other attractions, some of which that didn't involve mirrors.

Inside the mirror maze -- finding our way out was much harder than I expected

The kaleidoscope room was pretty disorienting and I didn't stay in it long

We also got to see a "4-D" movie, which was a couple of short cartoons -- one staring the Angry Birds, the other staring the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote (we enjoyed the second one more, probably because we were familiar with the characters) -- that were in 3-D and required glasses and had chairs that shook. It was... okay, but I'm glad that we got to try it out.

We didn't take any pictures of the movie, so here's one of us having fun in the gift shop

After the fun of the museum, we went to a Japanese restaurant that was right on the Chesapeake Bay. Once again, Leah had a coupon. To save on parking, we walked from Ripley's to the restaurant, which was about a mile and a half away. In the rain. We both had umbrellas, so the walk just meant that we were really hungry when we sat down. Luckily, the food was pretty good.

This was Leah's first time trying unagi (eel)

Overall, it was a really fun day and further solidified the fact that Leah's a keeper.

Aphasia Strikes Again

On Monday, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, with about ninety minutes left in the work day, I had an aphasic episode. I've had episodes like this plenty of times before, but this time I was medicated and I wasn't in the middle of transitioning to a new medication.

When it hit me, I was listening to a podcast and immediately lost the ability to understand anything that was said (I recognized all the words as English, but I had no idea what any of it meant). I also felt exhausted and struggled to stay awake -- not that it mattered since I wasn't able to read or write while I was in the throws of the episode. After about twenty minutes, I was able understand what I was listening to, but I was still exhausted and couldn't concentrate. After about five minutes of futilely trying to be productive, I stood up and walked over to the desk of my boss, Magda.

She was talking with one of my coworkers, Chelsea, so I waited for a break in the conversation before speaking up. Before I had the chance to interject, Magda looked up and asked what was wrong (apparently, the feeling of extreme exhaustion was all over my face). I explained what happened, describing aphasia as a kind of micro-seizure, and said I needed to go home. She was completely understanding and Chelsea offered to drive me, which I declined -- I've had aphasic episodes while driving before and never blacked out, so I figured I was fine.

As I drove home, I talked to Leah on the phone. She also expressed concern about me driving while in my fatigued state, but I assured her I was fine. Almost on cue, I felt another aphasic episode begin before evaporating (I can feel them just before they hit, though sometimes they pass). She told me I was lucky and that I should have accepted Chelsea's offer for a ride.

The next morning, I woke up and felt sick. It felt like I had the flu and I was physically weak. I worked from home, though I was not terribly productive. Thankfully, I felt better this morning and was able to put in a full day at the office.

After talking about what happened with my neurologist, she recommended increasing my medication dosage. We increased the dosage for a few weeks last year when I first transitioned onto oxcarbazepine and it made me really drowsy. My neurologist thinks that this time I'll handle it better since my body has acclimated to the medication, but if I feel overwhelmingly tired like I did before, she has a supplemental medication in mind that we can try. For now, we're going to wait and see if simply increasing the dosage will be sufficient.

Perhaps I was foolish to think that my epilepsy problem was solved since it was under control. Maybe my life will be segmented by periods of being in control, punctuated by times when I have to look for new solutions. While I'd rather not have to worry about my epilepsy, it's under control for now and we have a possible remedy lined up if I start to show symptoms again, so things are still pretty good.

Self-induced Sleepiness

As mentioned before, I have to take allergy medication everyday in order to function at my peak. My medication of choice, Flonase, contains low levels of steroids. I had a mild case of bronchitis a few weeks ago and was given a steroid pack to take, which meant I needed to stop using the Flonase for a while and switch to something different. The different medication worked great, so when I had finished the pack, I decided to try using both. However, this made me feel sleepy, so sleepy that I had trouble staying awake at work. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was the double dose of allergy medication that was causing my drowsiness (despite this exact thing happening before). Not until I had finished off the replacement medication, anyhow.

I have a lousy memory, but this blog helps me recall the past, but only if I review it.

Donut Holes

What happens when you're bored and you have deep fryer in your kitchen?

You make donut holes (which you then take to your fiancee while she's at work).

Easter 2017

Easter was busy for Leah and me. We had decided to host Easter dinner and had invited her family and mine, though not everyone was available. In the end, we had Ian, Sherlin, Leah's dad Ulf, and her younger sisters, Megan and Allison, over. (From now on, when I mention Allison, assume I'm referring to Leah's youngest sister.)

I was a bit ambitious with the meal that I planned, though thankfully it all worked out. We made a spinach salad with strawberries, feta cheese, and sliced almonds; a spiral-cut, honey-glazed ham; sauteed green beans with garlic and cranberries; deep fried sweet potato french fries; and a trifle with blueberries, strawberries, and pound cake for dessert. Leah was a champ on the deep fryer and did a lot of prep work by slicing all of the strawberries and about half of the sweet potatoes. The trifle gave me problems as I didn't have enough pound cake and had to quickly bake another, though I probably ran out because Leah and I kept munching on it before I assembled the cake.

Dinner was great, if a bit crowded in my tiny apartment. I don't usually get to entertain in my home (and this was certainly the biggest group that I've fed here), so it was nice to be able to plan out the meal and execute it -- having Leah as my assistant made it even nicer. After most of the guests left (Megan hung out for a while afterwards), I collapsed on the couch, exhausted but happy.

The Proposal

Yesterday, on Christmas, I asked for Leah's eternal hand in marriage. She said "Yes!"

The story of our proposal begins last Thursday.  I had recently prayed if Leah was the woman I was supposed to marry, but the answer I received was "Go to the temple and ask there."  So, on Thursday night I went to the Washington, DC Temple and participated in an endowment session.  Once in the Celestial Room, I prayed again, this time receiving a resounding "Yes."  I knew that I wanted to propose, but I didn't know how or when.

Leah works part-time at Victoria's Secret and I visited her on Christmas Eve so we could hang out during her break.  She took the opportunity to show me off to her coworkers, one of whom even said "He's cute" while I was standing right there.  We enjoy the thirty minutes we had together before she had to return to work.

With Leah safely inside the boutique de brasserie, I walked down to one of the jewelry stores in the mall.  Soon after meeting me, Leah had picked out a few engagement rings and put them in the store's "Wish Book."  When we started talking about the possibility of marriage while we were dating, she told me about the store and told me to choose one of the options there—in order to ensure that she liked the ring I picked out.  With this in mind, I went to the jewelry store to see what the options were, intending to not buy anything that day.  When I saw what the options were—and heard that the entire store's inventory was half off until Christmas—I picked the one I liked and bought it on the spot.  I planned to wait until the holidays were over, in order to really surprise Leah.

With the ring hidden on my person, I went to Leah's parents' home to bake cookies.  Leah's mom, Debbie, is very warm and invited me to come and bake cookies with her some time before Christmas and Christmas Eve just happened to be the best time for me to visit.  Also there were Leah's younger brother, Ryan, and his wife Dana, her younger sisters, Megan and Allison, and Leah's niece, Rebecca, the daughter of Leah's older brother, Rob, who's currently stationed in the Philippines.  At one point, everyone went outside to fire model rockets (a Grabowski Christmas tradition), so I went in to talk to Leah's father, Ulf.  I told him that I loved his daughter and intended to ask her to marry me, though not until the holidays were over.  He told me that he was a good judge of character and that he liked me and would be happy to give me his blessing on the proposal.  Having gained his permission (and his promise to keep our conversation a secret), I went back outside to join with the rocket launches before my absence was noticed.  After a few hours, Leah joined us and I continued to bake cookies (only four kinds surprisingly, but we did have rockets to launch).  Before it got too late, I excused myself for the night, with the promise to return on Christmas day.

On Christmas morning, I went to church at the YSA ward, though only Sacrament meeting was held (which I think was the standard throughout the Church).  After church, Leah met me at my apartment where we opened our gifts.  I got her some leggings (which required me to join a Facebook group in order to buy them), a charm for her charm bracelet, and a pair of crocheted slipper socks.  She got a nice pea coat, a deep fryer (which she admitted was partially for her so I can deep fry her food more easily), a ceramic coated skillet, a spoon rest for the stove, a butter dish (which I've mentioned that I needed), and a Superman-themed apron.  (I also got a set of silicon baking mats from my parents—have you noticed a theme?)  Having exchanging gifts (and hugs and kisses), we prepared to leave for her parents' for an early dinner.

Even though I planned to wait until after the holidays were over, I was too excited to wait any longer: I had decided the night before to propose on Christmas Day.  I said I needed go to the bedroom to grab my wallet and keys, so Leah went with me to help me along.  I made a comment about how there were other things I needed and she gave me a weird look and went back to the living room.  I put the ring box in my back pocket and joined Leah.  I grabbed her in a hug and said (not verbatim), "Leah, I love you.  I'm so happy that I met you.  My life has gotten so much better since I met you."  I got down on one knee.  "You've made me a better man and I know that as long as you're a part of my life, my life will only get better."  I pulled the box out of my pocket and opened it.  "Leah, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, now and for all eternity?"  She enthusiastically said, "Yes!"  I slipped the ring on her finger (and had a mini freakout when I thought it didn't fit, though it was the perfect size) and we embraced and kissed.

On our way to Leah's parents', we called and told a few members of my family (not everyone was available, what with the time differences).  Once at the Grabowski's, Leah didn't say anything, she just took off her jacket and gave her mom a hug.  During their hug, Debbie felt the ring, pulled Leah's hand into view, and screamed with joy.  With the cat out of the bag, she showed off the ring to her family and we both got hugs from everyone present.

I am so happy to be getting married to Leah.  She's such a kind, caring person who works to make others feel better about themselves.  We've only been together for four months, but we make a great team: I love her, she loves me, and we build each other up.  I can't wait to be sealed to her for time and all eternity.

Tuesdays with Media: First Date

I just wrote a new story.  You should read it.

Results

So, Donald Trump is the new president.  You may recall that I predicted that this very thing would never happen.  I’m mature enough to admit that I was wrong, though that’s not the purpose of this post.  Instead, I’d like to offer my thoughts about the recent election, including the results.

First, as I already mentioned, I didn’t support either candidate.  I felt that both Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton were bad choices, so I voted for someone who I believed would do the best job, despite knowing that he had no real chance of succeeding.  I feel good about my decision and I’m glad that I voted the way that I did.

Second, I was surprised that Trump won.  Polls showed Clinton as the leader, though by a narrow margin.  In addition to the polls, most media outlets mocked the Trump campaign and his supporters, leading many people—including me—to believe that while the election would be close, Clinton would be the victor.  When Trump won, I think we were all caught off guard. However, that’s actually a bit inspiring.  My boss, Magda, is originally from Poland and spent several years in Mexico.  She’s seen her share of rigged elections and she thought that Trump’s success proved that the American election process was honest.  As she put it, “It shows that the system works.”  Despite my lack of support for the president-elect, I must admit that her words do give me hope.

Third, I think I understand where Trump supporters are coming from.  When I served my mission in northern Ohio, I spent the majority of my time in more rural areas.  I remember one town in particular that had once been a manufacturing hub with four different plants.  By the time I visited, three of the plants had shut down and the third had slowed production.  The town was dying and the residents didn’t know how to cope.  I also remember meeting farmers who were using old, outdated equipment because, despite receiving government subsidies, they couldn’t afford to replace anything.  Most (if not all) of Obama’s policies benefited the working poor and middle class in cities, not the country.  After eight years of a president who they felt was ignoring them, the people who didn’t live in a major city wanted someone very different.  While Trump certainly had supporters in urban communities, the majority of his success was with people out in the country.

Fourth, protests are happening in cities across the US because of Trump’s surprise victory.  But what’s the end goal of those involved?  This isn’t like other recent protests such as those condemning police brutality—in those cases, the protestors wanted to be treated better by police, something that should happen anyway. With the case of the new president-elect, the protestors are complaining about not getting their way.  Besides that, Trump isn’t even president yet.  He’s been elected, but he won’t be sworn in until early next year.  Even if we don’t trust Trump, can’t we at least give our fellow Americans the benefit of the doubt for choosing him?  And even if we can’t there’s nothing that can be done at this point.  If he’s a bad president, he can be impeached, but there is no constitutional way to prevent him from taking office come January.

Finally, I was disappointed by how little respect Trump supporters got from the media.  Not the man himself—Trump makes himself an easy target for ridicule—but the citizens who attended his rallies and put his signs in their front yards.  They were depicted as dumb hicks and religious zealots who were too stupid to be reasoned with.  The fact that they were mocked so much may have had a hand in the election’s outcome.  While I haven’t heard of anyone saying that they voted for Trump as a way of protesting this mockery, I’m sure that at the very least it kept them from considering Clinton.  I imagine one of these people watching Saturday Night Live, Last Week Tonight, or even The Tonight Show and hearing something to the equivalent of “Are you thinking about voting for Trump?  Here’s a list of ways that you’re stupid.”  That kind of rhetoric isn’t going to convince anyone that isn’t already on your side.

I do like some of the things I’ve seen (mostly on Facebook) where people are sharing the sentiment that we need to unite as a citizenry and respect each other and the way we voted.  I didn’t vote for Trump and I don’t care for the man or his politics, but I believe in this country.  America is not a bunch of rules and documents; it’s people who believe in each other and those who have gone before us.  I believe in America and I hope that the rest of my brothers and sister in this, the greatest nation in the world, can share that faith with me.

Poll Dancer

Today, I exercised my civic responsibility and voted.  It was not only my first time voting in Maryland, it was my first time voting outside of California.

The polling place I was assigned to was a local Shriner's temple.  After a bit of confusion on which room I was assigned (I was in the clubhouse, not the dining hall), I had my ballot.  In addition to voting for Evan McMullin as a write-in presidential candidate, I voted on local matters, nearly all of which entailed Baltimore County borrowing money for civic works projects.

As I was leaving, I saw a mother with her daughter outside selling Girl Scout cookies.  I was impressed with the cleverness of their location choice ("Feeling awful about the election?  Drown your sorrows in sugar!"), so I bought a couple of boxes to share with the office.

To my surprise, I was feeling anxious as I drove to the polling place.  I didn't know why I was feeling that way, but as I drove away feeling relieved, it was clear what the cause was.  This election cycle has been terrible in so many ways and I'm just glad it's over.

Hopefully our country is strong enough to withstand whichever deplorable person makes it to the White House.  Fingers crossed!

#IanandSherlin2016

This past weekend, my brother Ian married his fiancé Sherlin.  Not everything was perfect, but it all came together when it mattered.

Leah met me at my apartment on Friday morning (both of us took the day off) and we took my car to Ian’s place.  We weren’t there long before we caravanned to Ian’s ward building to prepare for the reception.  After setting up the tables and about a dozen chairs, I noticed that the floor of the cultural hall was in need of vacuuming, so I volunteered myself for the task.  While I vacuumed, Ian, Sherlin, Isaac, Falisha, and Leah worked on more intricate preparations like setting up the microphone and putting tablecloths on the tables.  A lot of the decorations were customized by Sherlin and her friends, like the table banner with handwritten letters or the custom, machine-cut candle holders, making everything feel all the more unique.

Preparations

In the evening, when we were supposed to be practicing at the chapel at Fort Meade, we stood around in the brisk air just outside.  Due to a lack of communication and a severe case of absent-mindedness, the caretaker of the chapel key had failed to unlock the building for us.  There was a lot of discussion over how long we should wait, but eventually it was decided that we would practice in the hall of the nearby commissary.  We got plenty of odd looks as we lined up and practiced our entrances, but it helped us work out a few kinks, so I think it was worth it.  After a few times through, we were done.  Ian invited us back to his place for pizza, which I took him up on.

Since tradition dictates that the groom should not see his bride before she walks down the aisle, Ian stayed at my apartment, along with Isaac and Henry.  I was very tired after all of the setting up we did, so I asked Ian to drive for me.  Isaac rode shotgun, which put Leah and me in the backseat.  It was a bit strange sitting in the back of my car for the first time, but it was nice to relax.

The following morning, after all of the Larsen men were dressed in our wedding finery, we drove back down to Ian’s ward building for a final bit of preparation.  After the fiasco of not being able to get into the chapel on base, Ian planned ahead and got permission from his bishop to have the wedding ceremony there, just in case.  He made sure that very few people even knew about the backup plan, but those who did were sworn to secrecy—he didn’t want to stress out Sherlin who had plenty of things on her plate already.  Thankfully, the building was unlocked and we were able to proceed as planned.

Time to start!

The ceremony itself was lovely.  While the words of the chaplain were nice, I really liked the individual vows that Ian and Sherlin wrote: they both included each other’s kids in their vows, promising their love to them as well.  I looked over at the bridesmaids from my spot at the front of the line of groomsmen a few times and saw that all of them were tearing up.  Needless to say, it was beautiful to see these two people dedicate themselves to each other.

Since I was in the bridal party, I don't have any pictures of the actual ceremony,

so here's one of the chaplain signing the marriage certificate.

After the wedding, the reception began.  Most of the food had been prepared by Sherlin and it was delicious, as always.  The cake was great too, despite the center tier (which I made) not being as structurally sound as hoped—still, it held up long enough to be cut, which is what really matters.

So much good food!

Iris gave her maid of honor speech, which was beautifully prepared.  Then the groomsmen got up to deliver ours.  Ian had decided that he wanted to have us play an improv game for our speech and had given us our instructions a few weeks prior: we would all stand in a line and say a single word each in succession, until we had each said six words (for a total of thirty-six words).  When he gave us our assignment (via email), I immediately responded that he was being ridiculous.  I had decided that I would just be as silly as possible and say “dinosaur” or “laser” at some point, but one of the more practical groomsmen just wrote a speech for us to use.  Even though it defied Ian’s instructions to be spontaneous with our speech, I was happy to have something prepared.  Another groomsman suggested that we just write our words on our hands and blatantly read them when we delivered the speech, which we did.  Even so, we had to practice it a few times before the reception started, but it all worked out and I think that Ian appreciated the effort we made, even if didn’t follow all of his instructions.

A lovely speech by a lovely lady.

Margot and Bryan sang a song that Sherlin had specifically chosen for the day.  They did a wonderful job and sang the song beautifully.  Then Sherlin and Ian shared their first dance.

After I posted this picture to Facebook, Ian adopted it as his new profile picture. I guess that means he liked it!

Leah got involved, too.  On the way to the ward building, she picked up washable markers to write on  the windows of Ian's truck.  She got Iris, Falisha, Margot, and Jen (Sherlin’s best friend) to help her with the decorating and I think it was a nice bonding experience for them all.  I then worked to keep Ian away from his truck until they left for the evening.  I’m sure Ian thought I was being very nice running out to his truck for things a few times, but I was mostly just keeping him inside.  As for how the surprise went over, I can’t say.  When it was time for the big reveal, I was busy wrangling my several nieces and nephews.  Still, I suspect that they enjoyed it.

Sometimes wrangling kids is adorable.

One important activity that happens at every wedding is the bouquet toss.  Sherlin was very inclusive and invited all the women in the room to participate, regardless of marital status.  Even with the big crowd, Leah caught the bouquet.  Does that mean anything?  We’ll have to wait and see.

She shoots!

And it's good!

I’m so happy for my brother and new sister-in-law.  Marriage is tough and with them each coming from a failed one, it would be easy to swear off marriage entirely.  But they knew what they wanted in a spouse and found it in each other.  I wish them the best and look forward to many happy times with them and their children.

Congratulations, Ian and Sherlin!