Tuesdays with Muerte

Who is Tim Ballard? (O.U.R. History) Timothy Ballard spent over a decade working as a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security where he was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. He has worked every type of case imaginable in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings. Ballard specializes in undercover work, in the United States and in multiple foreign countries, to infiltrate child trafficking organizations. During one of his routine training visits to South America, he threw the training book out the window and actually helped them plan an op! But a problem arose. Their plan was dependent on U.S. support, and unfortunately they were outside U.S. jurisdiction. When the U.S. government was ultimately unable provide the resources ($80,000 and 10 operatives for 3 months) to rescue dozens of trafficked children in South America, Ballard decided to leave government

After 5 years long (and nerdy) years, I've decided to stop feeding my Cosplay board on Pinterest, which has more than 60,000 pins on it. Note: Unfortunately, if I unsubscribe from the board, it will disappear… The purposes of my cosplay collection were: To introduce visitors to a variety of new, fictional characters. To offer the cosplay community creative costume alternatives to traditional takes on characters. To share the joy of viewing well-done cosplay and photography by others. To provide a clean resource of tasteful cosplays, where you don't have to worry about sifting through dozens of source materials exclusively featuring scantily-clad ladies before getting to ones that you could actually wear to a party or convention. My personal purposes in creating it were to: Learn more about all the characters out there in the geek and nerd universes. Honor the creativity people put into recreating and personalizing their favorite characters. Curate a ref

I Was Not Living My Truth As a child, I was told that I was too serious; that I ought to smile more. "What for?!" I'd ponder. "Had someone said something funny? Am I about to have my photo taken?" Too often, our natural gifts and talents are tragically perceived as flaws. I sometimes worry, while walking down the street, that I might be perceived as unfriendly, unemotional, or austere. In my personal relationships, I am concerned that I might come off as too critical or too "honest." In large-group settings, I often feel pressured to socialize and connect because that's what I am supposed to do. I didn't know it until now, but these are all evidence that I had not been living my truth. In Carol Tuttle's  Dressing Your Truth ®  (DYT ℠ ) Energy Profiling™ system, every person has a “Type,” which is determined by the nature of energy expressed in one's physically features and movement. Tuttle argues that when people fail to e

Helping my Circle Leader patch up her radiator (May 23, 2017). What Circles Has Taught Me For most of my life, I've attempted self-improvement from the solitude and safety of my own mind and heart. Being vulnerable can feel scary, even dangerous. Generally, when I am presented with opportunities for growth, my instinctive approach is to pretend I'm stronger than I am or to "armor up" emotionally in anticipation of potential attacks. (I was afraid to truly open up to others for fear that they would confirm my worst fears about myself—that I'm not enough.) However, in helping local families realize their goals of escaping poverty, I also have learned to share my insecurities and receive the motivation and support I didn't know I needed. I've learned from participating in Circles it's that isolation is an unhealthy coping mechanism in the face of conflict, fear, hardship, and other growth opportunities. Instead, healthy growth naturally occurs in an

The Dream Last night, in my dreams, I was a young tennis pro at an exclusive country club.  The club was located in a majestic old-growth forest somewhere along a coast; it felt like a subtropical Redwood Forest, but in Italia. I won't try to chronicle the many events of my dream. Instead I'll just set the stage for the most incredible one. The entire dream took place the last two weeks of summer. Since tennis lessons had died down, I was fortunate enough to be able to work as an event photographer at a professional tennis tournament happening nearby. I was single and anxiously looking for fun opportunities to end the summer right. One afternoon at the tournament, I ran into a friend, Deborah Weiss, who was sitting down to lunch with girlfriend of hers. Thrilled to see a friendly face after months of social isolation, I asked if I could join them. After briefly reconnecting with Deb, I turned to her friend to introduce myself. "Hi. I'm Bryan. I'm a photogra

Law #4 of Power: Always Say Less Than Necessary.  "When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.”  ― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power When you know. Don't blink. Boxing referee Steve Willis really loves his job. Bros before credit card debt. BYU Cougars, December 2015 Meditative. Don't mess. What's your price? Concert dad. BYU PDA. YesYesYesYesYesNo. The only acting lesson I'll ever need. #hollaback Forever Alone. "Let me love you!" Kodoma from  Princess Mononoke IRL. Ineffectual security guard. #Irma When you like the smell of imported cigarettes. 

Recognizing the Holy Spirit's "voice" is paramount to the pursuit of truth. If one can identify God's method for confirming truth in one's own life, personal revelation through study and prayer becomes incredibly meaningful. According to the LDS  Bible Dictionary , "when a person speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost that same power carries a conviction of the truth unto the heart of the hearer ( 2 Ne. 33:1 )." But how can each of us recognize what that power feel like? One approach to get at the answer to this is by sharing three different people's attempts at describing what the Holy Ghost feels like for them: 1) Lucas G. Merrill — "Feels like anticipating a satisfying pee." In 2014, Lucas was one of my favorite Sunday school students; he was also the class clown. As an inquisitive 13-year-old with relatively-little experience in the gospel, Lucas often made irreverent remarks during class. However, beneath his impious facade, he po