"Passing Afternoon"

I love this song. I hope you take the four minutes to listen to it. I always feel different listening to this song, depending on how life's treating me. Content, sad, contemplative, hopeful, grateful, regretful, it's amazing how a single song on a different day can do that to you, eh?

Summer 2010 has been great. A little uneventful, but we needed the uneventfulness. Spring Semester kicked Ellie's and I's butts, and it was almost hard to believe when we finished finals, "The gross injustice is over?!" For the next three days, we fit in every summer activity we could think of. That was about three weeks ago, since then it's been one blissfully-lazy day after another. Ellie and I got jobs working at "Journeys", the "Anti-Options". Word had gotten around that place that Ellie was looking for a new job so the supervisor let her know the rest of her shifts that week would be covered and that she didn't have a job anymore. He said, "it wasn't a fire". But Ellie said, and I have to agree, that it sure felt like one. Following a whole lotta job-searching and praying, Ellie landed a job at Journeys. And they loved her so much, they decided to hire on her dorky husband too! How nice!


I do need to mention one unique circumstance this summer has brought:



We took on a few roommates since the temperature rose here at the Burg.

This, is an earwig. And no, I didn't find the grossest picture I could find on the internet as a blatant exaggeration. This is what they really look like (in much smaller form). They started invading in the shower, then we started finding them in piles of clothes, then they made their way into our bed. One night, I woke up three times to the feeling of a creepy crawler wandering up my leg. The fourth time I woke up I was convinced my mind had consigned to a state of paranoia and I was hallucinating. They remind me of those horrible, horrible creatures Khan used to mind-control Chekhov in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan!
Ellie, despite her height and aggresive-competitive nature, shrieks like a four-year-old every time she sees them: "RANDY! There's one crawling up the bookcase! Oooohhh mmmmmm!" She then does that girly half-cry, the one that's not very convincing and is only one step above whining. I can't help but smile while I type this, she will be sooo angry I'm putting this up. I love her for it, though. Makes me feel all manly and tough. "Stand back, Ellie! While I contend with the enemy!"
One trip to wal-mart later we came home with a special spray and a passionate vengeance! We completely de-bugged our apartment, and when I say "we completely de-bugged our apartment" I mean we layed so much waste behind and under everything, that we physically could not breathe indoors for a half hour. We took a walk and celebrated our victory over our adversaries. In Genesis we read, "God gave man dominion over the creatures of the earth". I felt like giving Heavenly Father one big air-five!

Full House Music

It looks like May isn't a good month for blogging either, ha ha! But ya know what? I don't feel too bad. At least I don't feel as bad as this guy, who left his blog bare for about four months.

"I don't even know how to write a blog anymore. I used to do this because I needed to talk, and couldn't. Or I needed to create, and couldn't. It made me feel less alone than I do most times. Now it haunts me. Do I use this to open up? I'm carrying a lot of hurt right now. If I dump that all here, people will want to fix me. The broken boy. And frankly I can't stomach that. Do I use this to be funny? It feels strained, painful. It just isn't in me anymore. Do I share my daughter's growth, and revel for a moment in the one great thing I have done? I think right now I just enjoy her when she's here, and try very hard to stop thinking when she isn't. The thing is, I'm not the man I was, nor the man I want to be, and the man I am is not good enough. So why chronicle it all? So I give myself a week. If I'm not compelled to write in a week, the blog goes away. Thanks for reading, and don't worry about me too much. It's just words."

Geez louise! This guy needs some Full House music! Wait, you don't know what Full House music is? When I was young my family religiously watched Full House, and every episode there was this lesson to be learned and it was always delivered in a monologue accompanied by some really cheesy music. Observe:

(cue the music at 3:20)



(Gotta love Joey's epic high-ten FAIL at 1:43!!!)

When I read that guy's post I just feel like some cheesy touching music needs to accompany all that. The truth is, my life's going great. I'm married to a beautiful woman and studying music! What more could I ask for? If those two things are keeping me too busy to write in my blog then I consider myself one lucky man!

A New Semester

April has not been a big month for blogging.

Spring semester has started and, as hard to believe as it is, I'm actually busier than last semester!

MONDAY
9:00 - 10:00 Musicianship I
10:15 - 11:15 Music Technology
11:30 - 12:30 Education 200
12:45 - 1:45 Work campus job
2:00 - 3:00 University Band
3:30 - 4:30 Teach Piano Lesson
5:00 - 6:00 Work campus job
7:00 - 9:00 Required 2 hours of practicing

TUESDAY
9:00 - 10:00 Musicianship I
10:15 - 11:15 Choral/Vocal Methods
11:30 - 12:30 Work campus job
12:45 - 1:45 Book of Mormon
2:00 - 3:00 Devotional
3:15 - 5:00 Percussion Ensemble
5:00 - 6:00 Drumline
7:00 - 8:00 Work campus job
8:00 - 10:00 Required 2 hours of practicing

ETC.....

You get the idea. This may be a slight exaggeration, this schedule is built upon the assumption that I'll actually do the required two hours of practicing a day. (Turns out music practice is not an exact science.) Even taking that into account, that doesn't leave me a lot of time to spend with my wife or on homework.
My ED 200 class is already on my nerves. We talk a whole lot about nothing. Today we analyzed Bush's "No Child Left Behind" campaign and how it was an epic fail, then we analyzed Obama's plan to change education and how it's on it's way to an epic fail. My teacher, Sis. Anderson, assured us that it won't matter if we coach basketball after school or get into administration, we will never make a lot of money. Okay maybe we do talk about something, but nothing very uplifting. I faced the reality that I will never drive a BMW to work long ago, I don't need reminders.

On a happier note, we've gotten great numbers for the drumline! 5 basses, 4 snares, 3 tenors, 3 cymbals and 2 on the frontline. Bro. Taylor has given me the task of writing a marching show for "Spirit Week" in June. We'll play on the field with 3,000 student body in the stands, easily our largest audience all year. I need to have this written and printed by next Tuesday. No pressure, right?

Single Ladies

In college, there are boring mentor groups and there are... BORING... MENTOR GROUPS. Mine was the latter. There had to be a way to make this Music Theory class requirement more entertaining! One week our beloved mentor Christina, informed us we would be playing a game - figuring out the solfege to pop songs (the epitome of excitement, right?).

(For all non-Music-Majors, solfege is what you heard in the Sounds of Music, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, etc. and for kinetic purposes there are hand signs for each ones. You learn songs in solfege, do the hand signs, and it trains your ear to hear intervals and melody so you can write music easier.)

Much to pop music's discredit, we discovered how elementary the melody of most pop songs are. My personal choice was "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. I walked out of that mentor group with an idea. If I could convince Christina that making a music video to Beyonce's hit, and including solfege, would be to our benefit then we would solve the problem of our boring mentor group.

She bought it. Two hours of filming and six hours of editting later and:



The best part is it's been on youtube for only five days and has 156 views. I've heard of three teachers in the music building showing it in their classes!

The Concert

Last Tuesday we had our Rix Stix Concert. Rix Stix is the BYUI's percussion ensemble group, an entire night of rhythm without the inconvenience of horns or woodwinds! My night started at 3:15, that's when we started the tech rehearsal.



Along with a "dress rehearsal" where we went over our pieces to play, a "tech rehearsal" is necessary to coordinate the different setups for each piece. Unlike a regular band concert where all the students stay in the same place for an hour and a half, a percussion ensemble concert features songs requiring elaborate placement of different instruments. We were scheduled to have tech rehearsal for two hours then spend two hours going over music but such was not the case. Not a lot of time management was observed. Before we knew it we were an hour behind schedule and I was freaking out that my piece "Schruted" wouldn't be able to be ran through. We had a few extra practices the weekend before and it did not go well. Parts of the song that were fine were starting to get dirty and people were forgetting parts, a step backward rather than a step forward!



(This was the eventual setup for "Schruted", I loved it cause it put us right next to the audience!)

Completely disregarding our behindness, we ran through all the pieces and by the time we were done it was 7:15, with the concert starting at 7:30. Technically, we were supposed to be out of the hall at 7:00. I'm sure there were a couple people not happy... I know because I was one! We had been setting up and practicing for four straight hours, and now we were expected to pull off a great concert that would last another two! All of us were exhausted.

However, the concert was great! There were a few songs that I felt it was the best we ever ran them! It had it's quirks though. For example, a song where all of us are playing garbage cans and pails, during rehearsal I wore jeans and we had all sorts of choreography, including one point where my group put a pail between our legs while standing up, and playing it.
Well...... I don't know what my concert slacks are made of. But they're really, really slick. The pail kept slipping down and I had to keep picking it up! I was all smiles, and some of my friends said it just looked like part of the choreography! Ellie teased me about it, but I'm planning on telling my kids that yes, it was all part of the show!
"Schruted" went off without a hitch! The audience loved it and Ellie told me it was the most-applauded out of the entire concert! I feel really good about it, we had some people with very little drumline experience and they all went great. This was probably my first piece I've ever written that actually went on stage and was performed! There's a certain amount of pride you take in something like that, that's hard to describe. But it was a lot of fun. I will definitely be writing more in the future!

And here it is....

(please excuse the text inserts that's the work of my fellow tenor, Eric, who uploaded the video.)

birthday ideas

My birthday is coming up in a month and a half. And I just hate it when I have a friend who has a birthday coming up, and I have no idea what to get him! So here's some helpful ideas:

I am a HUGE House fan. And Greg House is always tossing this around in his office when he's deep in thought. I think that every aspiring Seminary/Band teacher should have one, don't you think?




I consider myself a man of simple tastes, because it takes a man of simple tastes to love an '03 Ford Focus hatchback (aka "the silver bullet") the way I do. And after working at a detailing/lube bay all of last summer, I love keeping my baby clean!



Probably no explanation necessary for this one. I own this first two, must have the third.



I don't need the album, I've had it and loved it for four months. But he made a dvd documentary following his tour, Ellie and I found it at wal-mart and I made some not-so-subtle hints.



Okay this one is a little on the pricey side (around 90$ on Ebay). I've been hooked on Calvin and his stuffed tiger since I was five!




What can I say? A boy needs his toys!!!!!

Brad's Theories

I like this guy.

the final frontier

Yesterday my darling wife tackled our taxes while I cleaned the entire apartment. I honestly didn't know if the day would end without my sweet wife throwing our laptop against the wall with all her strength. But it's done! And our apartment's never been cleaner!

Following the financial fiasco, we met up with Madison and Trent (two friends from percussion) and their dates at Jimmy John's for dinner. And we were all in Star Trek uniforms!

Let me explain. Trent is a huge trekkie, and practically a bonified tailor. All of us went to D.I. and bought long sleeved shirts of different colors, gave them to him, and he sewed on Enterprise crew logos on the front of each shirt. We wore them to Jimmy John's, took pictures, went back to our apartment and watched old orignial series episodes. This was probably more exposure to Star Trek in one night than I've had in the last four years. My dad raised me on it, so I know all the lingo and character names. We had such a fun time. Pictures will follow shortly!

Madison Seminary

My blog entries are starting to look like my Journal entries on my mission. Weeks apart, small novel. A lot happened this week.

I don't think I ever mentioned this, but I'm taking a Fundamentals of Teaching Seminary class. Yes, Seminary. That class you loved to skip or sleep through in high school. That wasn't the case for me, however. I had Bro. Toth as a teacher who greatly influenced my spirituality through high school, second only to my parents. Bro. Toth is sincere, funny and presents scriptures to youth in such a way that makes them think, "Ya' know there just might be something to this reading-scriptures-every-day thing." At least that's the effect he had on me.
Weeks ago, my Fundamentals of Teaching Seminary Teacher, Bro. Taylor, asked if anyone wanted some hands-on experience teaching at Madison High School Seminary, I was all over it. As soon as I got the scripture block (Alma 18-20) I prepared like I have never prepared before. I'm serious. I spent a bit of time on my mission farewell talk, on my homecoming talk, a talk I had to give last year on Easter about the Atonement, a Gospel Doctrine lesson on marriage where I focused on the relationship of Joseph and Emma. I've done a bit of preparing in my time. But not like this. You can ask my wife, I agonized over this lesson. I told my family about and got their prayers, Ellie and I fasted on a school day, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed.

And it... was... awesome.

I visited the class I was to teach a few times before the day I taught. I sat in the back and watched Bro. Walker, his teaching style, his rhythm. He's an amazing teacher, by the way. And this good man was willing to hand his class over to me for an entire day. And for fifty minutes (they were on assmebly schedule) I talked with his class, we read scriptures, we applied, we laughed, I played the guitar sang them this dumb song I wrote about Nephi to the tune of "Hey there Delilah", I talked about my mission, I bore my testimony. AND I HAD A BLAST!
After the closing prayer the bell rang, and after I shook everyone's hand on their way out the door, I sat down next to Bro. Taylor (who is also a "pre-service trainer" for CES) and we had a sweet conversation. He let me know I did a good job, and told me the only thing he was frustrated about was the fact that I'm not graduating for another three and a half years.

I haven't pled with the Lord in a while. Sure I've been asking Him things, and for things. But it's been a loooong time since I've pled. And the payoff was an experience that I will never forget... aaaaand if things go right it'll be an experience I'll have every day. I'm not getting my hopes up but... aww heck who am I kidding! My hopes are way up! I'm goin for it!

"Give Me One Reason"

Incredible.

The Weaver

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I can not choose the colors He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
forget that He seeth the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loam is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

~Al Bryant

Becoming

“Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what eis your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14

I had an epiphony today! A lot of it has to do with this scripture. The first time I had heard this verse was in the MTC, it was the last thing Bro. Jones read to us before we left for two years, two years where I learned my true potential and what life is really about living for! For everything I am today I can thank my parents and my mission, and everything I learned from them. Anyways, before I get even further off topic, I need to get this down, “God doesn't care so much about what you do, but what you become.”
Now, granted, this is not an original idea. Far from it. But you could say, that today I appreciate this principle more than I have in my entire life.

David Bednar said, “The Lord's teachings and teachers were given so that we may all attain 'the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ.' It is not even enough to be convinced of the gospel, we must act in such a way that we must be converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world that challenge us to know something, the Gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.”

Stephen Covey said, “Are you ever too busy driving to take time to get gas? Too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw? We don't need more time. We have all the time there is. No one has more of it than each of us have.What we need is to put priorities on our goals and activities and to manage ourselves accordingly, instead of allowing conditions to manage us. We always have time and take time for things which are really important to us.”

Confession: Sometimes at night, I'm too tired to read the Book of Mormon with my wife.

I can't say that I'm too busy to get enough sleep every night.
I can't say that I'm too busy during the day to be able to get to bed earlier.
That day, spending a half-hour on facebook or playing Halo or watching House was more important to me than reading the word of God with my eternal companion.

There's nothing harsh about the truth, and I've decided to be honest with myself. We are always taught to be honest with our fellow men, but I think all of us could be benefit with a little more honesty with ourselves! We stress because we don't manage our time properly, we get angry because we haven't managed the time to become a true Disciple of Christ and have the Spirit, we feel empty because we don't fit into our day, the things that make life rich! (“I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly”! John 10:10) God has given me spiritual gifts, He's given me talents, He's given me this life to become the best I can be. I squander too much of my precious time!
I think my epiphony came when I was driving home from my Percussion Master Class, and thinking about what I was going to do when I got home. And I couldn't decide whether to prepare for my Gospel Doctrine lesson or finish my tenor ensemble or memorizing scripture mastery. It hit me, these are things that I love to do, and these are the things that are going to help me become what God wants me to become! I'm going to work to fill my day with things that will better myself and not simply entertain!

Putting up

I'm sitting in a Music Explorations class on campus right now, not allowing one ounce of my brain to be caught up in what the teacher is saying. I'm just kind of "putting up" with this class. I'm sure every college student knows what I'm talking about. The other day I realized why I'm really going after Seminary. It's because when I do the homework, I have something more substantial in mind, more than just a grade.

If only all Gospel Doctrine teachers prepared their lessons with more than "just filling the hour" in mind.

Awkward

Sitting in the BYUI library, I've just overheard three conversations in the last ten minutes. These are the kinds of conversations that should not have been done in public. Why do people do that? I feel all sorts of awkward!





< ME

Spokane

Pack of Double-Stuff Oreos.
Honey Roasted Peanuts.
Beef Jerky.
Peanut M&M's.
Box of Cheez-its.
Jack Johnson En Concert.
One book on cd. (approx. 15 hours long)

This, is how Harwards travel. Ellie and I like to rationalize that calories don't count on road trips. This philosophy has been passed down from Harward to Harward for generations. For years, the most-often heard phrase muttered on family camping trips has been "Isn't it about time to eat something?"

Thank you Mr. President, for President's Day. We love you. Not so much for the fact that you look over the needs of our country, but for a day without school. Ellie and I, needing a desperate escape from approaching mid-terms, spent the three day weekend in Spokane with my family. And what an escape it was! If there's one thing I love about my family, it's the ability to have so much fun, without doing a whole lot of anything.


As an early birthday present, we decided to not tell my mom we were coming. It is so hard to sneak anything past this sharp woman! But conspiring with my dad and sister, we rolled into Spokane Friday around midnight, and snuck downstairs without waking her up. Saturday morning I called her from my cell phone and had a two minute conversation with her before walking upstairs and causing an uproar of screams, laughing and hugs!
Not wanting to spend a lot of money, we kept the day simple and spent it in downtown Spokane. It was blissfully warm, though it couldn't have been over sixty degrees. I am not a huge fan of the bitter Rexburg winters! We had a great time just walking around, Dad went nuts with the camera, like always. Thank goodness for him!



There was something on the edge of serene intoxication about sharing the day with Dad, Mom, Jared, Kimbo, Monty, Kate and Scott (my family) and my beautiful Ellie (my newer family). I imagine this feeling will feel even more eternal when Elle and I have a bun in the oven (far down the road). On my mission I learned for myself, time after time, experience after experience, that family and the Gospel are the only things that matter in life. Everything else vanishes away into perfect insignificance. Through the growing testimonies of the people I taught, I learned the true miracle of the Gospel. I'm just beginning to learn the true miracle of family, having just started my own.


I'm so lucky to happily married to a beautiful, strong woman! Every day I realize how happy she makes me! I think she had a good time. She's made the remark before, that all us Harwards have the same sense of humor, and this trip she commented that we're all starting to rub off on her! I remember my mom telling me how much she wanted Ellie in the family while we were dating. Mothers have an incredible sixth sense to pick out excellent wives for their sons!


My hope for the weekend trip was to just spend time with my family and have a good time, but something happened that I did not expect. Not only did I realize how much I love my family, but I realized how much I'm in love with Spokane. It's tall pines, it's rolling hills covered in trees, it's early Springs, it's old and new of Downtown, the reflection of the sky off the Spokane river, the pavillion and clocktower, the five lakes within a 30-minute drive. It happened to be an accident my family ended up there at all, but how grateful I am to know this place!


At one point, Ellie made the comment, "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if we ended up in Spokane." Those fifteen words made me happier than I may have led on. We're so far away from careers, we'll be in school for at least four years, children seem like a mist in the distance, who knows WHERE our jobs will take us. We both trust the Lord to put us where we can better fulfill His purposes, it's nice to know she's warming up to Spokane. I love you Ellie Mae!

Schruted

It's been a great week.

The Performance Groups I'm involved in on campus are as follows:
Symphony Band
Percussion Ensemble
Campus Drummline

This semester there were only six people up for the Drummline so we're forming a small marhing bass ensemble, or having a small drum circle for the concert in late March. However, yours truly, offered to write a 3-man marching tenor ensemble, and Bro. Taylor went for it! I'm really excited!

Whenever I get nostalgic about past marching years I always cue this up on Youtube:



I'll never forget when I got to see these guys live in Cheney! So, so good. Having missed my window to perform in a drum corp, I'm really looking forward to helping a local high school's drumline out! Maybe this fall, maybe Madison High School. Maybe.

My deciding to write something for the Percussion Ensemble Concert was seriously the high point of my week. Yesterday I spent (no joke) four staight hours getting acquainted with BYUI's marching tenors and writing a little. Why is writing something original so hard to do? It's gonna be amazing though, visually and musically. Actually, I feel more confident in the saying it will be visually amazing, musically.... we'll see. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of different rhythm styles, rudiments and dynamics, but I've never done anything like this before! Not a lot of water to draw out of the well, if you know what I mean. I need a catchy name for it, I may call it "Schruted". (Office reference)


My kid sister just put in her application to BYUI! I have no doubt she'll get in, she's such a bright girl. And she's going to LOVE it here, she better bring a stick to beat all the guys off with! I've been missing my family a lot lately, the last time I saw them was in November for the Open House we had in Spokane. It was a quick two days that didn't last.

Come to think if it, I don't have any pictures of them on here.



My dad. CTU as in "Counter Terrorist Unit" from 24.



My mom, apparently doing a rap for the youth of our ward. Honestly, what mom has the vision and courage to do this?



My big brother Jared, and his wife Kimbo. The game? Cheeto head.



My little sister, Kate. See what I mean about the boy-beating-stick?



Scotty. High on life.



Jared's little boy, my nephew, Monty. I call him the Count of Monty Cristo.



I am positive that everyone says this about their families, but I truly believe we share a bond uncommon to most. When we get together, we always have fun. I miss Sunday nights at home playing board games and holding Monty. I miss sitting out in the hot tub having conversations with my dad. I miss watching movies with Jare. I miss sitting together at church, trying to focus on the speaker and not fall victim to the dizzyingly-cute Montgomery. Without a doubt, my most cherished memories with my family are yearly summer trips to camp at Grand Coulee Dam. THAT is an entire blog's worth of memories. Another blog, another day. I would love, to settle down in Spokane and stay close to them, but with me going after Seminary and teaching music it's a gamble. Spokane is a great place to raise a family. The Church is strong there, the members are great, we experience all four seasons, there's two beautiful lakes within twenty minutes, plenty of places to camp, release-time seminary, a Temple right in the valley, and downtown Spokane is only a half hour away. If I do get into Seminary, the Church could send me to teach anywhere in the Western states. But if I go into Music, if I had my choice I'd finish my Master's at Eastern and teach in the Valley. "If wishes were fishes", right?

Annoying

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people who don't give musicians the credit they deserve. ESPECIALLY when it's coming from someone who is not a musician. Every Tuesday and Thursday, this is my schedule:

8:00 am - Wake up.
9:00 to 10:00 am - Musicianship class.
10:15 to 11:15 am - Music Explorations class.
11:30 to 1:45 pm - Symphony Band practice.
2:00 to 5:00 pm - Percussion ensemble practice.
5:00 to 6:00 pm - Campus Drumline practice.
6:00 to 7:00 pm - Social Dance class.

By the time I walk out of Social Dance, I've been on that freakin' campus for 10 1/2 hours. When do I eat? Well, between the time my Explorations class ends and Symphony Band begins, I'm hauling heavy percussion equipment from the percussion room to the rehearsal room. And then I'm taking down that equipment at 1:45 pm, but I also need to set up equipment for Percussion Ensemble practice in fifteen minutes. So guess what I do? Somewhere in the middle of Symphony Band practice, I excuse myself for a moment to go to the bathroom, I walk out into the hallway, pull a ham sandwich from behind my back and wolf it down in about 45 seconds!

Any Music Major can comprehend the mental and physical toll learning and rehearsing music is. Your brain is dissecting a piece of music's tones, rhythms, harmonies, tempo, phrasing, dynamics, and tambour. And somehow this data has to travel from your brain to your hands instantly. Music Majors can appreciate this, no else can. So the next time you want to criticize an exhausted musician for complaining, don't. You just don't get it.

Funeral Arrangements

Here's a random note I found on my facebook dated November 9th, 2007:

What started as a Health 101 assignment at Spokane Falls Community College, soon became a work of art.

LIVING WILL

My name is Randy Harward and this is a Living Will concerning affairs that should be dealt with in the case of my sudden and tragic death. I would like to make a specific gift of cash to my brother, Jared Harward of $500 to cover my funeral costs. If Jared is unavailable then I would have my youngest brother Scott Harward be in charge of the arrangements. All of the remainder of my estate will go to my children as the primary heirs either in equal shares or in trust. My primary executor of this will should be my brother Jared Harward, if he is not available then I would like my friend Brett Ehlert be in charge. If I should have any minor children at the time of my death, my wish is for them to be in custody of my sister Katelyn Harward. If Katelyn is not available then I would have my friend Brett Ehlert assume custody. Concerning the disposition of my remains, I would like to be buried in the wheat fields of northern Idaho. I have not made arrangements with any funeral home or cemetery. My wishes for my funeral are as follows: the event will begin by my brother Jared lighting fifty bottle rockets simultaneously in different directions. My mother/sister will then read a short eulogy concerning my contributions to society and my domination at Halo 2. A musical item will then be given by a Creedance Clearwater Revival Tribute band. I would prefer them to play “Run through the Jungle” but “Bad Moon Rising” will also suffice. At the concluding note of the song, I would like a fifty-gun salute followed by a six-plane fly-by courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. My coffin will then be elevated by a crane, set on fire, then dumped into a fourteen-foot hole. The fourteen feet are essential in case my corpse becomes a possessed zombie. The funeral will close by everyone taking turns shoveling rose petals into the hole, with a layer of fresh top-soil for the surface. The after-party will be held at Shari’s on Sullivan.

Go Down Moses

Uncontrollable laughter tears.

Plasma - the end of an era

OCTOBER 2008: Randy Harward finds an easy way to score cash. Donating, plasma.

Actually, donating is kind of generous term. You see, in order for it to be a donation you give of yourself freely, like donating blood, or donating your body to science after you die. With plasma, you go twice a week and you're fifty bucks richer.
It's hard to believe I actually did this for a year and a half. But I did. And with the idea that I actually did it twice a week religiously for that long, theoretically I made about $3600 off my bodily fluids.

Not a bad way to make half the value of my car.

But, you must understand this is not an enjoyable experience. After a primary mini-physical, you walk into the center, put your name on a roll, then sit about twenty minutes to a half-hour in a packed lobby. In Spokane, it was really bad because it was filled with homeless people and bums unwiling to get jobs. When your name is called you're led into a small room and are asked a lengthy list of pretty awkward questions: "Have you in the last six months, been incarcerated for more than 48 hours?" "Have you received a smallpox vaccine or been within a smallpox vaccine site of anyone else in the past three months?" After the interrogation, you walk into a large room, which is kept very cold (something about keeping the plasma at certain termperature), you sit down, are stuck with the biggest needle you've ever seen, and sit there for an hour to an hour and a half while blood is sucked out of you, rid of its plasma and then put back into you. The things about the blood returning process is after running through the machine and the seperation, it comes back in extremely cold, so you start to shiver if you don't have a heavy coat or blanket. (My friend Brett, after his first donation, walked out of the room shivering so bad he couldn't put the code into an ATM to get his cash!) Afterwards you walk up to a window, and they hand you 20$ cash (then 30 the second time in the week).

It's easy.

It's a quick way to earn some cash.

It's probably not the healthiest thing to do your system.
And I did for a year and a half.

As luck would have it, I go to donate (err... sell) my plasma this last week, and they tell me after a thorough test, that they've found too many antibodies in my plasma and it's now completely unusuable. And since Ellie and I live together, she would no longer be able to sell plasma either. Ever.
This came at a hard time for Elle and I. We'd been waiting for our financial aid to come through for about a month, and with our busy school schedule we haven't been putting in many hours at our jobs. With the end of the month would come a stack of bills that, realistically, we had no income to pay for. Selling plasma was bringing us $400 a month, enough to cover the rent of our apartment. How on earth were we going to make up for that in our hectic school schedule?
We came home, we got our knees, and said a prayer through tears. We'd felt like we had been doing everything the Lord asked of us, paying tithing, going to church, honoring our callings, working hard in school. Why was this happening now? When our financial situation was dire as it is? No answer came that night. We went to bed feeling lost and hopeless. Depressing thoughts like moving into Ellie's parents place crept into my mind, along with getting night jobs that would take away our time for homework and each other.

The very next day, Ellie opens her school email and finds a message from the Financial Aid Department. It finally came. We had heard horror stories of couples that had been late in getting their FAFSA in, and having to wait until the next semester to receive it. Had that been the case, we probably would have taken out a loan just to get by! God works in mysterious ways: He somehow got us to stop selling our bodily fluids for money, gave us a taste of what financial struggle is like, AND provided for our needs, ALL without affecting the agency of one single person on this earth. How does He do it?!

LESSONS LEARNED:

#1 God doesn't want you selling the plumbing in the temple you call a body. We worked so hard for them in the pre-existence! It's not worth it!

#2 Don't get into debt. Yeah we hear this one all the time. But any addiction is against the Word of Wisdom, to be high in debt is to be low in agency.

#3 Do what's right, God's got your back.