Schools out. Time for some R and R and R.


School is over, and also the extent to which I've planned my immediate life has ended. As I look back at the things and the things I've written in the last year or so feel like they are left wanting. I used to be a pretty good writer, and I know this because my mom told me to so, however, I haven't been proud of much of anything I've written in past six months or so.

Since I was a small child I've had a constant struggle with reading, Not with the act of reading, but just sitting down with a good book. I know the benefits of reading are plenty, the least of which is hob nobbing with the book worms and talking about who your favorite author is. I've been thinking about starting some leasurely reading, and everyone I talk to, and several people I respect have giving reading as advice lately.

As a child I ran for fun, as a teenager I ran out of obligation, now I'm out of shape.

Among others things running around in my head is my physical health. This is the first time in my life when I have had no physical activity to keep up my metabolism, as a result my body has not learned to eat less yet, leading to me getting shapely in an undesirable way. I've tried to control my diet, however today I ate an entire Little Caesars pizza in one sitting.

I know you guys are waiting for a punch line, so without further adu my summer will be filled with the three R's Reading Writing and Running.

Reading: Since I'm not a reader this is the one I'm going to struggle the most with, anyone that knows of a good easy read let me know.

Writing: Well hopefully, between this blog and my Journal I can recapture the writing skills my mother was once proud of.

Running: I'm playing intramural soccer, I'm going to start going to play basketball every now and again. and hopefully doing much hiking this summer, in addition I may start throwing some weights around to help mitigate the fatness.

If anyone else wants in on the SummeRRR to RRRemembeRRR let me know and we can start a support group.

Music has a great affect on my life, It can move to me tears, can pump me up or make me nostalgic.

Today I realized context is an important factor in how I feel about particular songs. A few examples.

Example 1 When I'm walking to campus the song that gets me going is "Annie Waits" by Ben Folds, It's a perfect walking rhythm for me and it is the perfect length for a walk from Basecamp to JFSB, in addition more than any other song it make a perfect music video out of the people pass on the way to class. On the way back from class, when I'm sick of school, Beck's "E-Pro" is terrific, its a bit slower rhythm, for when I'm little tired, and it makes me feel like I'm a main character in a blockbuster heist movie.

Example 2 Classical Music, My dad recently exposed me to his vast collection of classical music and since I've been on kinda a kick. I've been listening to a lot of Bach, Mozart and recently my favorite song lately has been Die Moldau By Smetana its twelve minutes of building joy, it makes you feel like you're flying over some Eastern European dream scape. Classical music makes me noticeably happier every time I listen to it, and when I see people with forlorn faces I want them to hear the music I'm listening to and cheer up.

Example 3 On road trips I like to listen to Postal Service, something about Ben Gibbard, and well placed electronic beats, make the landscapes come alive on the long stretches of western highway, Also, recently I've made an effort to play "Over the Rainbow" Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole, when I'm leaving a particularly memorable occasion, to really burn those memories into my mind.

Example 4 Back to classical for a moment, Bach's "Jesu Joy Men's Desiring" is probably my favorite piece of music of all time, however, in the right context can sound more like nails on a chalkboard. The reason I know this is because the guy sitting behind me while I was studying stats today decided to do his own personal version by whistling. In this same thread, the song "Just What I Needed" by the cars was near and dear to my heart until the ad firm for Circuit City got their hands on it.

Like all my blogs this list is not exhaustive and always growing as I observe the world, I just thought I'd get that out there before I finish studying for finals.

Horrible thing that happened at VT, I don't know anyone who was killed but I'm sure my friends do, I hope things improve there quickly. Well, its been a while since I've really posted something because new blogger confused who I was and now I can no longer have my old name back. so without further Adu I've got two observations about BYU.

First, Me and My friend were talking and decided the Single population here at BYU is just a huge economic problem. There is definitely enough supply (most single students whether they like to admit it or not would be happy to settle down with the right person) and Demand is represented by those that are in search of a spouse. Now in a perfect free market system the market would naturally settle into equilibrium where supply meets demand, all those that are looking for a spouse would be able to find one...within reason. The resources (marriage canadates) would be allocated in the most efficient means possible. This would result in a lot more people getting married.

Since we have had this conversation I've had a hard time understanding why this doesn't happen, there are plenty of attractive, worthy girls and guys that would be willing to marry if the right person came along, but they don't. Why Don't they? I would guess a contributing factor would be parties like "rock the block," I like to dance, and a don't mind large crowds, I also appreciate people getting together for a cause, but at parties like that you can scarsely dance without being molested. Yet, the same people who say they are against being felt up flock to these dances, I don't understand it. If rock the block is the BYU has to offer on allocating single people, it's no wonder we have a problem.

Second, last year I realized that among guys there are different levels of Dress and, a that time I thought I was just 4 group but since I have created a 5th group which is inserted as group #3, and almost all the guys here at BYU fit into one of these groups.

Group 1
These are mostly the rich kids, essentially they always have the "newest fashions". These are the people that walk into buckle and buy whats on the manequein and whatever the cute sales associate says is hot.

Group 2
This is your basic t-shirt and jeans guys. They look respectable but they're not over the top. An Important distinction between these guys and the 1's and 4's is that they make their own fashion decisions and buy their own clothes. This group makes up the majority of BYU Students. The 2's will dress a little more up or down as the occasion permits, but for most ocassion t-shirts and jeans will do.

Group 3
This is filled with people who dress the part. Indie kids, Metro guys, Midevil Club kids, etc. these people spend A lot of time and effort on looking right for the personality that they aspire to have. the kings among this group it the one who are willing to sacrifice the most time and money for their constume.

Group 4
Threes wear a lot of plaid, button down, collar shirts. These guys don't buy their own clothes or make their own decisions, they have the most influential girl in there life makes that decision for them, this normally means that their mom buys their clothes for the beginning part of their life, soon to be replaced in the intermediate by a sister or a girlfriend, and finally there wives take on the that role. these are the guys who are of the mindset "If it fits me i don't care." and figure as ong as a girl picks it out it must look nice.

Group 5
The Five's are pure utility. when I first noticed them they have It was a pair of kahki shorts that were a touch too short, tube socks some new balanced that you would see your dad wearing and whatever poorly fitting shirt was is there clothes basket. these shirts seemed from a few different genres Star Wars, LotR or video games, family vacation spots, or free from something they attended like EFY, or the engineering major. Also, in this group is the guys who frequent the basketball shorts and sports high school sports shirts. Occasionally after marriage, a 5 can graduate into a 4 through the efforts of a kind hearted wife.

While these are pretty good categories I understand that there could be some overlap and/or exceptions to the rule. If you got to this far in this blog you should get a prize because this has been a long complicated post. leave a comment and I will se that you get your prize.

Nothing like a little spring rain storm to remind me of home.

how about this new template good stuff huh? I just got bored and thought this would be a great way to spice things up.

It's been a while so thought I'd go ahead and post again.

I have a guilty pleasure, I often play banner ad games on the internet, I like to play the games where President Bush knocks out Osama Bin Ladin, or you try and slap the mosquitoes or a sumo's belly, or more recently the race to trim the nose hair against what appears to be a mad scientist with hedge clippers. I don't think I will actually win a free I-Phone or MotoRazr, and I'm not interested in free ringtones, I just enjoy the thrill of the fight.

Well well, at this point I'm pretty sure no one's is reading this, but here goes anyway.

What's crackin'?

This is a phrase that has made it's way into my permanent vocabulary. The funny thing is, my use of this phrase started out as a joke with its origins in 11th grade P.E., when I heard Bobby Griffin, the most ghetto black man I've ever met, said to me and a friend, "whats crackalackin'", a phrase that has since become somewhat popular however, at the time was pretty unique. we all had a good laugh at this exotic question and between me and my friends it was a fun joke to ask each other whats crackalackin' as a greeting. So you might think this joke would stop after we all graduated, and well I'm sure for my friends it did; but me onthe other hand I just kept on saying it, and now people I'm sure that people think that say "whats crackilackin?"or in its shortened form "whats crackin'," because i think its cool. My point is I carry on jokes way too long until new people I meet think that's who I am, and in a small way it they must become a part of who I am.

In conjunction with this, and as I alluded to in my previous post, I have a fidgeting problem. This is another thing I worry about when I'm making a first impression. I am almost constantly either tapping my foot, or playing with whatever I have in my hands. I'm sure that appear to be a crack addict jonesing for a fix. I wish i could fix that about myself, it was a major distraction for people on my mission, and I'm sure most people who see me in my most fidgetous state think I'm actually crazy. If you see me on the street I assure you I'm not actually crazy, I just fidget like a 5 years who needs to pee.

Thank you for you time and consideration.

I thought I should reign things in before I give myself away as a raving lunatic. I started this blog as a fun outlet to let some of ,what I thought were, the more interesting things of my life out to the public. However, I've realized that I am actually a bitter old man stuck in an ADHD body. I will do my best to keeps things purely entertaining from here on out.

If you don't like B.Y.U. and its governing bodies go elsewhere, please.

That being said, I consider myself a republican, however, I will never be seen at a republican event at B.Y.U.. B.Y.U. Republicans often are the most condescending and ignorant people I've ever met. Often, I don't think people even believe what they say in defense of their own party.

And.....

I Remember when I found out that lazy was cool in second grade when I didn't turn in a Math homework, and felt oddly pleased. However, recently I've noticed that laziness no longer serves me any purpose and condoning it with my praise serves only to help re-enforce bad behavior in my friends and relatives as well as in me. I'm not saying that you have to be uptight all the time, I am a strong supporter of not worrying to much about things that have very little bearing on what you can accomplish in life like which school you go to, or what GPA you have. I'm just saying it would be nice if their could be an actual paradigm shift where industrious was rewarded with the badge of cool, like laziness is now.

Industry is the new cool.

General Conference and a Pet Peeve

Over the weekend I realized an almost paradoxical feeling I get during conference. Conference has the unique ability to make Saturday to feel more like Sunday and Sunday feel, less like the Sabbath. I found myself hesitant to buy something at the store after conference on Saturday, and I felt more like I came out of a devotional after Sunday conference and less like I was just in a formal Sunday meeting. anyways....

To my pet peeve. I recently caught myself apologizing for actions I was about to take, this is highly hypocritical for me. I have been very outspoken about this practice, and it has always struck me as odd that people apologize for something they're about to do. You often hear an apology for a joke they are about to tell, or before the expression of the way they feel about something, "I'm Sorry about watching this it's just so funny." I feel like an apology that precedes an action its empty at best. If you really really felt remorse for the thing you were about to do you wouldn't do it. And often following the preemptive apology, these people have the nerve to thank you for being so tolerant of their misdeeds in yet another attempt to buffer possible criticism.

In conclusion, I call for an end to empty preemptive, pre-action, apologies, used to save face, and absolve the actor of any blame.