My name is Dustin B. Wills. I use the screen name ‘Yuukanna’ because it is the Japanese word for ‘Valiant’ (which is the meaning of the name ‘Dustin’, and the meaning is important to me) and I have grown up with a father who is in love with Japan. I am married to a ‘space-efficient’ lightning storm of a woman named Megan, and I do my best to keep up with her. We live in Northern  California near our immediate families (El Dorado and Sacramento County are what we call home).

I started this blog during a period of unemployment. During the economic crash around the transition between Presidents Bush and Obama, I was “laid-off due to the economic crisis” effecting my employer. My new years resolution was to both find a job, blog daily and stay busy living making as much of it count as I can.

I was raised as the oldest of 5 children. I have 3 brothers (two are twins) and a sister. My parents were together until a little after I was out of the house and married at the age of 22. Childhood was chaotic. My family moved around California a few times and I have lived through being shot at in the city at as well as having encounters with mountain lions in the hills.

School was too easy for me, except for fourth grade; in which I was put into a sixth grade gifted class that did work up to tenth grade level. Unfortunately, after I moved again there was no gifted program in my new location, deepening my disinterest in school. By eighth grade, I quit participating in school and most of my teachers thought I was either an arrogant bastard or a child with serious emotional issues. I’m still not sure which it was. Eventually in high school I went on home school and received a diploma. Although I have my diplomas I have never been in a graduation.

I was raised Mormon. Nearly all of my family is Mormon. My parents met at BYU and my father came from a family of 10 children. I have over 50 cousins and I don’t know if I’ll ever finally decide to count the exact number. Although it’s a large family, I have never met a polygamist and I praise my grandmother for carrying 10 children.

You might call me a “Rogue Mormon” these days . Although I am technically still on the membership records as an Elder in the priesthood, I am inactive the religion. My wife is not Mormon and I like it that way. I rarely got along with Mormon girls well enough for any to be more than an acquaintance. I hope to never inflict emotional harm on any of my Mormon friends, but I may blog from time to time about the subject.

I know the Bible, Book of Mormon and other LDS books better than the majority of active Mormons do. Although I could feel the weight of the religious system on me, it took quite some time for me to “reboot” myself to find perspective. I have studied multiple religions now and understand well the books and doctrines of many systems. I subscribe to none. I am not an atheist but neither am I a theist. I call myself many things but my spirituality and belief system is my own. (See my blog about my religion)

The greatest impression on me spiritually was not a religion but the martial art that I studied as a child. I consider myself an Aikidoka (one who practices Aikido) even though my technique is rustier than Tin-man without an oilcan. The teachings have made a profound effect on my life.

I love to learn so much that I am well known for the library of information in my head. I have been called “useless information” as a nickname. I am generally quiet, unless you provoke the torrents of information to flood from my mouth or start talking about politics. I consider myself a patriot and revere the founding fathers.

I am a bit of a geek. I understand computer things and I get into gaming just enough to qualify for geekdom. Although I like RPGs and war games, I can’t stand to play MMORPGs for very long. I need a beginning, middle and end; MMOs don’t provide that. Despite knowing this about myself, I have continued to abstain from “World of Warcraft” in order to safeguard my marriage.

I have also played Live Action RPGs like Amtgard, but find the “Magic” system irritating. I’m nerdy enough to do battle with PVC pipe, but not nerdy enough to ‘pretend’ that there is a wall of fire that I cannot walk through.

I’ve wanted to try playing Dungeons and Dragons for quite some time now, but when I was a child my parents lectured me on how evil it was (supposedly based on some Mormon doctrine I have yet to find). But I do enjoy a good game of Magic: The Gathering, since a friend of mine introduced me to it long ago. I have now corrupted one of my brothers, my sister and her husband into enjoying the game as well.

My wife and I are often polar opposites, which actually works out great a lot of the time. It does present a problem with little things like deciding on a movie, but on the whole it’s like we complete each other.

We both share a desire to travel, and our best moments are generally on the road or doing something new. We also however share a desire to be good parents, and an uncertainty about when in our lives to do each.

My wife’s dream is do make a difference in the world, especially with children. My dream is to extract a story from my head into a published book.

You’ll learn more about the author by reading my posts as I take you along my journey reflecting on the past and creating the future.

I love epic stories, energetic music, and rainy days.

About This Blog

Welcome to “I’m Busy Living!”

Hello, my name is Dustin Wills. I reside near Sacramento, CA with my my wife Megan. We’ve been married since July of 2006.
This blog was started during a period in which I became unemployed at one of the worst point in history. I passed my time turning in job applications and resumes, then following up on them. I got to a point in which there was not much further I could do to make my time worthwhile, and decided to initiate myself into one of my greater passions: Writing.

I began by posting about something unique to my personal experience. In 2003 I underwent cardiothoracic surgery in order to repair a condition known as Pectus Excavatum. The experience was quite an ordeal and I believed that sharing it might be educational as well as supportive for others with the condition. After posting the story of my experience, I received a great deal of hits from all over the world. Others with the condition or similar experiences began to email me or contact me on social networking sites. I received thanks from some who thought they were alone with the condition, believing themselves to be ‘freaks’. I continue to receive about 90% of my straight to the posts about this topic.
I’ve considered redesigning this blog to be dedicated to the topic of Pectus Excavatum, but decided against do so as I would soon run out of content to post about. I intend however, to continue to find quality content on the subject as not to alienate my largest audience, and to (hopefully) help an even greater audience of those suffering with the condition.

While as of yet I have not received very much traffic on other topics, I will continue to post about whatever I fancy. I might note that I have a particular interest in: Cultural, Philosophical, Political and Religious Studies, Art, Literature, Traveling, Food, Games, and Technology.

For a more detailed list of topics of interest included in my posts, see the Categories & Topics page.

I am often called a man of useless knowledge, due to my love of learning (more of a compulsion really) and frequent readership of various RSS feeds and Digg.com articles. When it suits me, I might decide to link to or mirror the content that I find interesting. On one hand I feel like that would be blatant filler material, but on the other hand I realize that not everyone ‘has the time’ or desire to scour the internet for interesting content… maybe I can help point out the highlights. Not to mention, it will be a more favorable way for me to bookmark that I find.

I feel I must also introduce the origins of some of my viewpoints. Everyone has such different Religious and Political opinions and ideas that I am bound to offend someone (probably even those close to me). I am not at all politically or religiously intolerant, unless I see evidence of someone infringing on the natural rights of another, so please keep that in mind when considering a rebuke for statements that I make.
Religiously, I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (better known as Mormon). I am technically an Elder in the Church, despite the fact that they would consider me ‘inactive’ as I haven’t attended services since I was 19. I respect the church’s teachings, but scoff at Mormon culture, which I believe is beginning to define the church more than it’s doctrine. While I respect the church’s teachings, I cannot say that I have a testimony of all that they teach, despite my vast knowledge on the subject. I stepped away from the church in order to evaluate myself better. Within the church I took it for granted and absorbed it all in my mind. The trouble with my situation was that I was never able to take it to heart, as I had never reasoned it out for myself. I continue to approach the topic of faith within the guidelines of my god given reason. (For a great blog on Mormonism that aligns with much of my thinking, read Pure Mormonism by my friend Alan Rock Waterman (I may link to his quality articles from time to time).
I have a great respect for the character of Jesus Christ, and my personal religious doctrine revolves around his words: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” I believe that any religion that teaches this principal as the primary doctrine and the heart of their system is good. I disagree with anything that violates that principal.
Politically, I was raised in conservative/republican home. I began to study politics myself so that I could be an informed voter. When I started I didn’t know what it meant to be a Republican or a Democrat, I thought the green party revolved around crazy treehuggers, and everyone else must just be crazy since I’ve never even heard about them. I now understand just how crazy the entire party system is. I am not currently a member of any party, but I must admit that for a time while I was still learning I joined the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian parties at some point or other.
It wasn’t until I saw one politician speak during the 2008 presidential election that I began to understand my own political viewpoint. That politician was Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.
I am a libertarian by principal, but not by party. I believe that ideally, government should stay out of our daily lives as much as possible. I realize however, that we are so far from a libertarian style government today that most of what I adhere to seems impossible to most, and outright crazy to most others. I also realize that while the principals are sound, the practicality of utilizing these principals in our current form of government is limited. There is a place for people like me, and that place is seeing that the government doesn’t get even more out of control, and trying to keep it in check.

With that introduction and warning, I invite you to read!