Thomas Jarvis on Clash of Clans and the Rise of Dunan

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans and the rise of Dunan

There have been few video games that my Dad has played with me over the years. When I was younger, I remember playing Crystal Castle (classic Atari game) and Galaga (classic joystick game) with him. When I was a bit older however I convinced my Dad to play Clash of Clans, a base building game that I was getting into at the time.

My dad started out like all players do. He picked a name (Dunan), passed the tutorial, and began to play with a very limited base, no troops, no experience, and no clan (which is what Clash of CLANS is all about).

I eventually convinced him to join a clan based in Montreal called MTLFusion that I had recently found. This began a journey for Dunan. One which would not only lead him to far surpassing the strength of my base but also lead him to becoming the leader of MTLFusion. How did he do it you might ask? Well, here are some of the qualities I learned from my Dad through playing Clash of Clans.

Consistency:

For me, playing Clash of Clans was the opposite of consistent. Some weeks I would play for hours, raiding villages, pillaging loot, and destroying other bases in clan wars. Other weeks I would barely play at all. I would sometimes give up the game for months at a time, then come back only to give it up again a couple months later.

I learned from my Dad that consistency is powerful. My dad would play very little, or so it seemed to me. For 30 minutes every day I would see him online raiding bases and organizing clan war attacks. This was very little to the hours I would play some nights, but slowly and surely the consistency of my Dad’s playstyle made his base grow and grow until suddenly it had surpassed mine.

Reliability:

Everyone knows group projects are the worst. Teammates forget deadlines, don’t answer calls, leave all the work to the very last minute, or sometimes don’t do any work at all. This is of course no different for teammates of an online clan.

Clan wars was one of my favourite parts of Clash of Clans. Each member of the clan had 2 attacks to destroy enemy bases and at the very end whichever clan had dealt the most damage would be deemed victorious.

These wars were often very close, requiring every attack from every clan member to squeeze out the victory. Many, many teammates would attack with the wrong troops, or with a poorly thought out strategy or even worse would forget to do their attacks entirely.

My dad never forgot his attacks. I knew in every clan war I could rely on him as a teammate to do his part.

Loyalty:

In the years that I played Clash of Clans I often thought about leaving MTLFusion. Frustration from clan members and hope of better teammates drove me to ask my dad often to find a better clan, one which had better teammates and better strategies.

However, I quickly learned my Dad was not one to abandon his clan. Instead he continued to improve his own quality of play and hoped that others would do the same. He is still in MTLFusion to this day.

Leadership:

When my dad was first made into a co-leader of the clan, I was in fact quite surprised! There were dozens of members in the clan and yet they had chosen my dad as the man. After some thought however I realized it was because he knew how to lead. He was selfless, donating troops to others constantly and helping others improve their gameplay. He was kind, never getting angry at others for bad or missed attacks. In short, he was an example to all the other members of the clan.

The qualities that my Dad demonstrated through playing Clash of Clans are apparent in the actions he takes outside of Clash of Clans as well. I see his consistency in reading the scriptures every morning, his reliability at his work and with his callings at church, his loyalty to his family, and his leadership as he is an example to me.

Thanks, Dad, for all the qualities you have taught me.

Your favourite son,

Thomas

Thomas Talks in the LaSalle Ward

the world above
and the world below

Thomas gave this talk at the ZoomChurch for the LaSalle Ward, Montreal today.  I told him I would put  his notes on the family blog, as well as any pics he had.

~ ~   ~

The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World

Proclamation of the Restoration that President Nelson read at the last General Conference (April) Basically, a summary of the Restoration. We all know the story of the Restoration

However, the Proclamation is short and it’s interesting to see what the apostles felt was most important to put into this Proclamation .

Today I’d like to bring your attention to 2 different parts of this Proclamation: the first paragraph, and the last two paragraphs These paragraphs aren’t actually about the Restoration itself, but the apostles chose to add these paragraphs nonetheless

First Paragraph; God loves us

.... barefoot Suinday experience
the toes can point the way ...

Jesus Christ is our Saviour

“We solemnly proclaim that God loves His children in every nation of the world. God the Father has given us the divine birth, the incomparable life, and the infinite atoning sacrifice of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. By the power of the Father, Jesus rose again and gained the victory over death. He is our Savior, our Exemplar, and our Redeemer.”

Very similar thing is mentioned as a recap of the BOM (Paragraph 5):

“the Book of Mormon testifies that all human beings are sons and daughters of a loving Father in Heaven, that He has a divine plan for our lives, and that His Son, Jesus Christ, speaks today as well as in days of old.”

Again, mentions the love that Heavenly Father has for us AND Jesus Christ
Although this proclamation is focused on the Restoration of the Gospel the apostles want us to remember these basic principles of the gospel:

The love Heavenly Father has for us
Jesus Christ is our saviour

Why did the apostles choose to put these two things?
Why didn’t they mention Repentance? Baptism? Prayer?

I believe it’s because at the very core of the Gospel, these two things answer the Why and the How.
I think the entire plan of salvation can be summed up by one thing:
God loves us.

The reason we are here is because God loves us
He wants us to learn and grow, make mistakes, be happy, and ultimately return to him.
When someone asks why are we here? What’s the point of this life? I think the best answer we can give is because God loves us.

The How can be answered through Jesus Christ
He is our Saviour.
It’s through him that we are able to return to Heavenly Father and gain eternal life

Last two Paragraphs:  Continuation of the Restoration through modern day revelation

“We gladly declare that the promised Restoration goes forward through continuing revelation. The earth will never again be the same, as God will “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
With reverence and gratitude, we as His Apostles invite all to know—as we do—that the heavens are open. We affirm that God is making known His will for His beloved sons and daughters.” Most of us think of the Restoration as Joseph Smith -> First Vision -> Restoration of the Priesthood -> Translation of the Book of Mormon, but when does the Story of the Restoration of the Gospel end? When Joseph Smith finished translating the BOM? When the first temple was built? When Joseph Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage Jail?

The story of the Restoration is continuing on today with modern revelation. The Gospel continues to be restored through the words of the prophet and apostles such as this very proclamation.

What a blessing it is that we have modern revelation!

... a photo allowing us to adapt and pull together
the two worlds we are living in ...

Just think of the situation we are in now with COVID-19
Modern revelation allowed the church to prepare for this situation

Just last year we received the important revelation to change how church services work on Sundays.

Instead of having 3 hours at church every week, one of those hours was shifted to the home.
Church meetings became home centered church supported.

Now with COVID-19, being stuck at home without being able to hold church services, we are already prepared to have a home centered church which we can do despite the pandemic.

Come Follow Me was created which allows families to organize lessons and hold discussion within the home.

Not only is modern revelation a continuation of the Restoration of the Gospel but it’s a vital part of the Church giving guidance and direction through tough times such as what we are all in right now.

I hope that all of you will read this proclamation and I know that...you will receive your own personal revelation

Thomas Jarvis

Electronic Visits

The reality:  snacks on the table, people have come with their notebooks,
handouts are everywhere, coloured pens are scattered all over the table,
snacks are at the far end, and grandmother has come in by Skype.
The only thing missing is a beverage of your choice.

LtoR: Catherine, Hebe, Hebe's America doll who is all dressed up
for Hanukah, Norman Kong, Eric, Rebecca Jarvis, Thomas

I can’t even remember what electronic platform I travelled on to go to Catherine’s home on Sunday, but I got there in time for their family meeting. 

I don’t know what to call things now.

There is home school, home entertainment, and home church.

I think what I attended was a combination of all three.

What was fun?

Well, Thomas has the start of a beautiful new beard. Just testing it out while he is spending his time at home.  I said it looks great.  He said thank you.

 Rebecca and I got to talk about a film she has seen during the school year. The one where in the 1950’s the government relocated Canadian Indigenous people to land that was unfamiliar to them, then drove away the caribou herds with the airplanes, and sadly this settlement fell into starvation. So good to connect, knowing we had both seen that film. I am sure Rebecca teaches it in her Film and the North. When I ask Rebecca Johnson if she has any idea of the title the other Rebecca and I were talking about, she answered with Nanook of the North?, Atanarjuat?, the Journals of Knud Rasmussen?, the Necessities of Life?, Kikkik?

I guessed all of the above.  All about starvation. I hadn't really thought about that before.

The film Rebecca Jarvis saw in class was none of these. She saw Into Unknown Parts (2015) (27 min) by Lisa Stevenson.

In January of 2019 I was in Montreal.  I spent a long time
at the dollar store picking out this scrapbook,
just the right size of scrapbook, finally deciding on a large art sketch book. 
I may have also written on pages early in the book, trying to figure out how
I could use the iades to help make family time together, fun. 
Really fun.  An exhilarating job!

I got introduced to Norman Kong who is Thomas’s university friend and staying with them during the pandemic.

Part of the exercise of our group was to write five ideas you might want to tell someone whom you love who follows you in life.

One of Norman’s list was “shoot the shot”.

 The same phrase appeared on Thomas’s list.

The 3 older folks needed to have that idea described to them.

I learned it is a basketball metaphor for when an opportunity comes, take it before it is lost.

I didn't tell anyone, but my dad gave that same advice to his sons in the form of "The gold ring only passes by you 2 or 3 times in life.  Be prepared to reach out and take it."

Catherine prepared the lesson, got the snacks, had her list of 5 things she would tell people, taught the lesson, restructured the lesson as she went along, to fit the needs of the vocal participants, sorted out who could have the honoured position of going last, (it seems that spot is highly prized), and sorted out misunderstandings Hebe had during the whole time. For example, Norman said you should follow your passion in life.  If you want to go camping you should go camping. Hebe said she didn’t want to go camping, so she couldn’t go along with Norman’s idea. Catherine sorted that out so Hebe didn't feel compelled to go camping.  That might have been a highlight for Hebe.  No camping.

Catherine believes everyone should have pencils and paper
in front of them -- either to assist in learning, or for
the participant to doodle or write on as they wish.
No strictures, no rules about the paper. 
It is yours.

Here everyone holds their paper up so I can see t
what they have been doing through my skype screen.

I feel that my list of 5 ideas has already been subsumed on my blog, for I am already on #57 of 80 Memories for 80 Years.

Still I wrote down 5 ideas.

We went around the circle, Norman first and Eric to his left, finishing.

 I happened to jot down Eric's ideas.

I just didn’t think to pick up my pencil until we got to the end of the circle. 

Everyone’s list was worth jotting down.  Catherine had suggest we just tell one idea from our list, but there was a resounding no -- we all wanted to read all five!

And Thomas also coloured his handout and made it look quite professional.  When he received the handout from her, Thomas checked to see if Catherine had done this herself or if she had run it off the internet.  She passed the test.  It was an original.

Here is Eric’s list:

1. Save time each day to examine the spiritual in your life
2. Be quick to apologize
3. Be slow to anger;
4. Pay attention to the ancient and modern prophets;
5. Build family relationships consistently (well, I only caught the general idea there).

I am going to take number 2 and 3 of Eric's list to heart.  I hope I can do as good a job as he does -- he might be a master on #3.

If any reader wants to add something, please use the comment box and you don't have to keep yourself to five ideas.

Remember Rebecca's tip for the comment box: "If you are a Mac user, SAFARI is the problem. It won't let you post comments. But if you try using Chrome or Explorer as the browser (maybe even Firefox), then it works. Wierd."

Tom's Work

Tom and me I the door of the store.

Tom works part-time in a men’s wear shop just off of the Peel Metro.
This is my second visit to Montreal when he has been working there and I did want to see it.

This is a better men’s wear store.

It is no surprise to see a suit for $10,000.00.

The store’s co-owner showed me the hand stitching on the lapels and on the shoulder seems of one of the suits.

As well he showed me how the lining for the sleeve had been hand stitched into the coat, as well as the coat’s label.

I felt the wool. It was the finest cashmere. 

None of this is lost on me. In high school I took Sewing 10, 20 and 30, though for the life of me, I can’t figure out why when there were music and art courses that I would have liked as well.

... a beautifully tailored coat and scarf ...
Scarf: $1190.00

And then as an adult I took all of the sewing courses at SAIT – how to sew men’s pants, men’s shirts, drapes – I took them all.

As well, one year at Relief Society they had 3 hour courses for many weeks and Dagmar Moller came and taught women how to make suits – how to hand pick the lining into the lapel and how to and sew a hidden zipper into a skirt. 

Dagmar was a Danish immigrant woman and she didn’t think she had the language to teach the class. I think someone helped her, but she didn’t need a posse.

It was the rest of us who were without skills, not she. Tom took me over the ties, to the socks that were neatly piled, colour coded and neatly folded. Eric says his favourite part of the shop is the shoes and with no wonder – the smell of that Italian leather. Tom and I talked for a while about his favourite shoe which had a soft, supple upper shoe with a classy sole.

... one of the better brands ...
... Tom commented that most people don't know
the names of the better brands of suits ...

I think he is right.

I climbed to the second floor and then up a black winding staircase, each stair fine iron steps of small squares of black that can be seen through.

Up, up, up to where the tailor was sitting by her machine.

We chatted for a while.

She learned how to sew when she was 14 in Italy and has sewn ever since – for Eatons as their dressmaker, running her own business, and now with this company for 20 years.

On running her own business she said, it is not fun to be doing alterations for people when you are also trying to serve your family dinner.

She had a tape measure hanging around her neck and was wearing a tailored suit to work in.

... swatches of suit fabric in a leather bound book ...

The employees all like Thomas and wanted to tell me what a good job I had done at raising him. 

I don’t know if Tom was laughing the loudest inside, or if I was. 

The ties were artfully hanging over dowling.  Not crowded all over each other as they are in other stores, but artfully blending with one another in a triangular formation.

The owner told me that they shop the world for these styles, so that their customers don't have to.

We talked a bit about the styles for the coming Spring and Summere.

I did look at the window display as I left. Tom said that he had laid the tile mosaic that was on the floor, small and grey white tiles with an intricate interwoven design in the middle. 

He has another career set out for him if he doesn’t want to sell men’s suits.

Arta

Tom's Volleyball Tournament

... giving the ball a bounce ...

I want to journal about Tom’s tournament.

 I think because of the happiness I feel when I am watching someone I love in a basketball or volleyball tournament.

I must bring with me all of the joys of the past and being their with my own children – learning the rules of the game, finding out the names of the players, sitting by their parents, shouting out ‘good play’ when a well-oiled team works together to gain a point or two, hearing one of the players call out ‘magnificent’, as I heard one yesterday.

 He was right. It was a great play.

the begnning of a running serve ...

I could hear the laughter in the other parents as their shoulders rocked with laughter, as did mine.

I met Bianca, Nadia and Catherine – the trio of other volleyball players who like to some and see Tom.

I talked about Tara Westover’s book, Educated, with one of the parents who had the book sitting on her lap.

 She travels a lot, she said, and she carries it with her to read.

 

Tom's resting stance

Still going at it since August she said and then showed me where she was in the book.

I told her that by the end of the book, having read it twice now, I was thinking about how difficult the relationships can be, between adults who have lived in the same house for many years, both parents and children.

I must have read the book when it first came out. I couldn’t remember doing that. I do remember listening to 4 different interviews with her.

When I picked up the book again, each page I thought, wow, did I hear this in the interview, since it seems familiar to me.

I was many pages in until I figured out, yes, I did read this.

But I didn’t mind a second read since she is clear about what she was thinking during her adolescence and young adult years.

A Metaphor
half the team looks east
the other half looks west

I hear many stories a second time. Anthony’s mother, Caroline, thought the book was about the difficulty for parents of letting their children have choices.

I find the last third of the book compelling and will probably read it again some night, when I am winding down and getting ready to sleep.

Well, watching tournaments, … a joy.

And being literate … another privilege.

Arta

Two Happy Spectators

LtoR: Jia's mom, Sheilagh
Thomas's grandmother, Arta

Jia's mother and I introduced ourselves today at the Volleyball tournament.

Jia is Thomas's friend who sometimes studies here, and less often eats here.

Sheilagh and I are no strangers to each other for last year, we shared a meal here at the Jarvis's home.

Now we reconnected at the volleyball game.

We were sitting in a dangerous place -- that is, at the back of the volleyball court where sometimes the ball is coming at a terrific speed.

Today we learned to duck, dodge and keep our eye on the ball.

Arta

Cousin Fun at LaRonde.

Riding the Goliath

Badminton

Catherine sent me pictures of Thomas playing badminton.

I learned to play badminton from my dad so it was quite a thrill to see Thomas has learned the game.

I think Eric is also a badminton player.

Either that or tennis.

One would think that all of these racquet sports would use the same technique, but that is not so.

In the case of badminton, there is nothing like seeing that cock float through the air.

... the beauty of catching the player in motion ...

Here is the trick to badminton.

You have to run the other guy all over the court while you conserve your energy by staying in one place.

I own my own badminton racquet.

I think part of the game is in the snap of the wrist.

Go, Thomas, go!

When I was in my teen's I was a champion in the Church Regional Badminton Tournament that was held in Lethbridge.

I have a picture published in the Calgary Herald to prove it.

Arta

Cna yuo raed tihs txet

Honourable Mention of Young Scientist

Cna yuo raed tihs txet

Thomas and a friend won honourable mention at the school science fair. A project involving timing people to read a text whose individual words had scrambled interior letter. Past studies show our brain compensates for the scrambled letters. They compared the speed at which people read out loud the scrambled and unscrambled text.

Fun.

Catherine Jarvis