Random Things about me

Well, two of my daughters have thrown down the gauntlet of posting random things, so I feel compelled to respond. I was hoping Jan would write something, but she said after reading Emily's and Melissa's postings, all of her random traits had already been covered. I don't know if I can come up with 7 things, but I will do my level best.

1. I love really bad music. I don't know why, but it probably stems from my parents exposing me to Spike Jones when I was a little boy. I love the best music, too, but I do get a kick out of well-executed, awful music. My friend Bruce Johnson and I had a thing going for a couple of years, trying to find the world's worst music, but after sending tapes of Whitey Carson, Florence Foster Jenkins, Mrs. Miller and Jonathan and Darlene Edwards to him, he declared me the winner! What an honor!

2. I enjoy being laughed at, but only if I am encouraging the laughter. I thought for years that I could make it as a stand-up comic, but I know now that I wouldn't really have made a good comic. Still, I know a LOT of jokes, and enjoy telling them - even when people pretend they don't want to hear another one.

3. I love books, and I have too many books. I used to dream of having a room in my house that would be my library. A room with all four walls covered in books, with a single, comfy high wing-back chair in the middle of the room. So I began early on to purchase books for my library. Unfortunately, I never got my library - just a house full of boxes full of books. I was often encouraged to give them away, but I couldn't part with them, because I thought of them as friends. But now I am beginning to realize that I need to share my friends, so I am donating books to the local library. I know that they will just turn around and sell them, but that doesn't matter to me anymore. I have to get rid of some books.

4. I am the only living Adolf Hitler impersonator that I know of. I have been told that I look a lot like Hitler (and Elvis! - talk about random!)

5. A doctor told his patient, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is - they're naming a disease after you!" Similarly, I have a disease named after me - my family calls it "Kent Brooksby Disease." The symptom is an inability to fall asleep, no matter how tired you are. I get one or two of these nights almost every week.

Well, that is the end of my random list - and it isn't the least bit funny!! Proof again that I would not have made it as a comic. I would love some feedback from my kids on random traits of mine. I am afraid that I sound really DULL!!! (Voice in the back of my head: "Of course you are dull. You are an accountant. What do you expect?")

General Conference April 2008

I can't remember a General Conference when I felt uplifted any more than the most recent one. I had been hoping and praying that Pres. Monson would give a talk that would really confirm for me the divinity of his calling. Nothing against Pres. Monson, really, but I have heard his stories so many times I just wanted something different. I didn't hear it Saturday night at Priesthood session, but Sunday morning and afternoon the Spirit bore witness to me during his talks that he is truly a prophet of God.

I have felt for year that there is a qualitative difference between a Seventy talk and an Apostle talk, and a qualitative difference between an Apostle talk and a First Presidency talk. All the talks this conference were excellent, but the talks by those Apostles who spoke on doctrines (Oaks, Holland, Ballard, Bednar, Packer, etc) were exceptional. And then there were the talks by the First Presidency! I have always enjoyed Pres. Uchtdorf's talks, but this time he really bowled me over. I would defy anyone to listen to his Sunday morning talk and not be moved. I plan to download the Apostle and Presidency talks in video format to a CD soon and pass them out to nonmember friends (as well as keeping one for myself).

What a glorious time we live in, when we can sit in the comfort of our living rooms and participate in a meeting 600 miles away because some light beams are bounced off a satellite thousands of miles above us in geosynchronous orbit. When we can log on to the Internet a couple of days later and watch each talk online, and download the text of the talk to read or download it to our MP3 player. Think of the advantages of being able to lift our spirits every day as we go through the trials of life! I never cease to be amazed. We are really blessed.

Good News

I didn't tell anyone in the family except my Dad and Mom, but two weeks ago I had a prostate biopsy. Last time we were in Mesa, I had my Dad give me a blessing, prior to the biopsy. My PSA levels were high enough that Dr. Copeland thought there was a 50-50 chance that I had prostate cancer. So I went in for the biopsy. I won't tell you what that entails, but I will say that it isn't the slightest bit pleasant. He took a LOT of samples.

Anyway, today I got my results. No cancer. Just "chronic and acute inflammation." That means I have to take "a boat-load of antibiotics and Motrin" (Dr. Copeland's words - at least I think he said boat-load) for the next month, then get another PSA test. The previous doctor just accepted the fact that "high PSA levels is where you live," and let it go at that. This doctor wants to get rid of the inflammation.

I will admit to being more than a little relieved when I left the doctor's office this afternoon. A little good news goes a long way, and I may even sleep better tonight. I wasn't quite ready for what prostate cancer involves.

Out of the Best Books

A few nights ago, at Brint and Brea's reception, I ran into a dear friend of Craig's who said to me, "You haven't written anything for awhile in your blog." She was the first one to say anything to me about it, but I realize now it has been nearly a month. So for better or worse, here are some of my thoughts.

Some years ago, I attended a conference of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists in Salt Lake City. Our guest speaker was Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Seventy. He made the remark that the first 100 pages of "les Miserables" had had as profound an impact on his life as anything he had ever read. Shortly thereafter, I began writing a list in the back of my journals of the books I had read while writing in that journal. Next to the title and author, I write a very brief book report of 10 or fewer words. Today, I want to summarize those lists into a "best of the best" list. I read a lot, and I feel like Daniel Webster who said, "I can no more remember the books I have read than the meals I have eaten, but they have made me what I am." Marion G. Romney said, "The older I get, the less time I want to spend reading anything I do not want to remember." I must say that my taste in books has changed over the years, and many of the books I marked as "best" in my first journal wouldn't make the cut today. So with that preface, here is a list of the Best Books I Have Read (Besides the Scriptures) Since 1978 (in order of reading, not in order of importance):

1. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
2. Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless - essays of Hugh Nibley
3. The Road Less Traveled - Scott Peck
4. Walden's Pond - Henry David Thoreau
5. Infinite Atonement - Tad Callister
6. The Peacegiver - James Ferrell
7. Bonds That Make Us Free - Terry Warner
8. Leadership & Self Deception (and) The Anatomy of Peace - the Arbinger Institute
9. les Miserables - Victor Hugo
10. The Holy Secret - James Ferrell

That is my Top Ten (OK, it's really 11) out of the total list of 133 books that I remembered to write down in my journal. There are many other that were worthwhile, but these 10 I find myself drawing on repeatedly. There are many books in my list, mostly fiction, that I cannot even recall reading today. Several of them were followed in the listing by the words "absolutely my LAST novel." Not that all novels are a waste of time - "les Miserables" comes to mind as my favorite - but I think most are. Other "book reports" in my journal say "a great cure for insomnia" or "how Western civilization will fall to Islam," but several of the above say, "This Book changed my life!" or "Every missionary should read this book ASAP."

I am so glad that some of my love of reading seems to have seeped in my genetic code in varying degrees to my children. As Mark Twain said, "The man who doesn't read is no better off than the man who can't read."

Just this last week, Jan and I read "The Holy Secret" by the author of "The Peacegiver," James Ferrell. The purpose of the book was to help us learn to really love the scriptures, to love the Sabbath, and to love the Temple. If we don't love what is holy in this life, then we will not like holiness in the next. Our attitudes toward what is holy now tells us which direction we are heading. What is dull to us today will be dull to us tomorrow. If our souls don't yearn to understand the Lord's words here and now, will will not suddenly begin to yearn for them then. It was one of those books that really makes you reach deep inside for an understanding of the principles he is teaching in his familiar, conversational style. This is another book we will be returning to again and again.