It seems like it could have been several holidays this week!
I was really excited to see it snow for the first time this season! That made it kind of like Christmas. It also seemed like Christmas because there were already Christmas lights on some of the trees on campus (I certainly hope they light them no earlier than November 23), and coming home from church I saw some people across the street putting lights up. (Come on...even if you don't turn them on, don't you think it's a little early?) But there wasn't a lot of snow, and it didn't last too long. Some of the chilly weather with the half-naked trees and leaves around made it seem like November. But honestly, our monthly designations are quite arbitrary and it is almost November.
It kind of seemed like St. Patrick's Day because I had to write a report on Irish English. That's how I spent my "free" time on Monday and Tuesday, writing about how they speak in Ireland. One feature I found particularly interesting is that the Irish use ye as a second person plural pronoun. I used to use that because I knew it was used in Early Modern English, but I didn't think any present-day speakers used it. Well, in Ireland they do! I think I want to start using ye more often.
But of course it seemed much like it's supposed to, with all the Halloween things that went on this week. I started wearing my Halloween clothes. And I've been watching my Halloween shows. I have five Halloween episodes of Bewitched, and I actually got all of my roommates to watch Bewitched, although not all at the same time. It's a rare thing to get three college-age guys sitting together watching Bewitched. (I actually remember an episode of The Simpsons in which Bart saw the future, where he was grown up and loved watching Bewitched.) One of my roommates works at the MTC (well, two do but the other one is irrelevant to this story) and he said that he talked about Bewitched with a missionary. He said something like, "You can't just disappear, like on Bewitched," and the missionary said, "I don't know what Bewitched is." Of all the silly 60s shows I watch, I think Bewitched is the most sophisticated and, despite all its primitive special effects, the most timeless. How else could you explain that all four of us wanted to watch it? (The roommate who mentioned it to a missionary actually asked me when I was going to be watching it.)
This week I registered for classes. It's possible it could change, but probably not. I'm taking Phonetics and Phonology, Early Modern English, Historical Geology, Geology of Planets, and Old Testament. This will actually finish up my geology minor, although I might want to take some more geology classes later. I will have three professors I've previously had: Cynthia Hallen taught my History of the English Language class and I will have her for EME, Brooks Britt taught my Dinosaurs! class (which is what made me decide to do the geology minor) and I will have the historical class from him, and Jani Radebaugh is my current Geomorphology professor and I will have her for the planets class. (I know she really loves other planets, especially Titan, Saturn's moon.)
Speaking of Geomorphology, I have a field trip for that class this weekend. And I have two tests this week. And it's Halloween. I actually went ahead and planned the next few days to make sure I'll be able to get everything done. Halloween's supposed to be a time just to have fun--why does everything have to happen at the same time?
Yesterday my ward's Relief Society had a brunch thing, and they asked us elders to be servers. So I helped out with that. And then I ran for an hour. Other runners often baffle me. It was in the upper 50s, so it was good running weather. If anything, it was too warm. But I saw some runners in hoodies or long sleeves or pants. I was sweating in my shorts and (jack-o-lantern) t-shirt! I wouldn't need to wear those warm clothes even if I were just walking! But if people like getting hot and sweating, whatever.
This week I got my copy of Mapping Mormonism. It's a book that is for sale at Deseret Book and I think even Costco. And my name is in it! Yes siree, there is a PDF of the front matter that proves it. So my name is available for sale at Costco. I think it was my favorite thing I've worked on for BYU Studies. But when I look at the pages, they are so familiar to me that I can't help thinking, "Did we change all the hyphens to en dashes? Did we catch all the typos?"
Happy Halloween!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Why I hate politics
I watched part of the debate on Tuesday.
I'm an undecided voter, and the debate certainly didn't help me decide who to vote for. In fact, I kind of don't want to vote for either of them. The candidates just talked over one another and spoke in partial truths and vague accusations. Romney kept saying, "When the president took office, he promised such and such and he hasn't kept those promises." Come on Mitt, really? I wonder how many presidents actually keep all their promises. A lot can happen in four years. If Mitt's elected, I doubt he'll live up to all of his promises. The last question of the debate asked about misconceptions of the candidates. Both candidates used the time to bash on their opponent.
This is exactly why I hate politics. You have these two political parties, and once someone claims their allegiance to one, they turn into mindless robots who support every measure their party supports. What's worse, they will attack any measure the opposite party supports, even if they otherwise might agree with it. People may have particular reasons for adhering to a party. Some may stick to a party because it is a family tradition. Others might stick to a party precisely because it is not a family tradition. The problem is not with the parties themselves; the problem lies with sacrificing your reasoning to other people and having them tell you what you should believe and do.
If I were to generalize the Republican Party, it would be that they are ignorant. If they hear facts that disagree with their party, they put their fingers in their ears and deny the facts. I think the quintessential example of this is global warming. They can't bear to think that we have a problem, so they pretend it doesn't exist. (I wrote a blog post back in April that goes into more detail about my views on the matter.)
If I were to generalize the Democratic Party, it would be that they like to characterize others as being bigoted and hateful, but in so doing they themselves are even more so. A recent example of this is the Chic-Fil-A incident. The owner of a restaurant chain expresses his opinion about gay marriage. Suddenly the country is in an uproar, and everyone is accusing him of being hateful because of his opinion. I do think that there are a lot of opponents of gay marriage who are bigoted and homophobic. But I think there are a lot of opponents of it who have other reasons for opposing it, none of which are homophobic. Automatically saying he is hateful because of his view seems just as hateful to me. It's as if you're saying, "You can believe whatever you want, as long as it agrees with me." Some people even went as far as to say that his restaurants were unwelcome in their cities. What do chicken sandwiches have to do with marriage? Following the incident, a lot of people ate at his restaurant in support of him. And once again, Democrats were labeling these patrons as hateful. But in this case I don't think the reason people supported him was because of the marriage issue. They supported him because America should be a place where we can express our opinions. So automatically accusing everyone of being intolerant seems very intolerant to me. Remember when gay marriage advocates graffitied Mormon temples after Proposition 8? How is that tolerant? (By the way, I'm not trying to say whether gay marriage is right or wrong. I'm simply saying that it is irrational to assume someone is hateful because they happen to disagree with you.)
Now, I realize that in making these generalizations, I'm being just as bad as the behaviors I'm condemning. And I recognize some might say I'm intolerant for saying that Democrats are intolerant for saying that Republicans are intolerant. I do realize that these perceptions are shaped by a very vocal minority. But because these minorities are so vocal, they have the potential to drag more people into their robotic organizations.
These irrational ties to party lines lead people to deplorable and childish behavior. People begin making unfounded accusations. Remember how Romney doesn't pay his taxes and how Obama is a Muslim born outside of the U.S.?
Other times people will take something and blow it out of proportion. Take the "you didn't build that" thing. The Republicans blew that out of proportion. If Romney had said it, they wouldn't have reacted. And take Romney's remarks about women on Tuesday night. I watched that, and I didn't find it misogynic. Maybe I didn't catch it because I'm not a woman, but I feel like the Democrats jumped on it because it was Romney who said and not Obama. And if Obama had said it, then the Republicans would be all over him.
Sometimes people will take something that is neither good nor bad but they will turn it into something bad. Mitt Romney is rich. So what? Well, he doesn't understand middle classes. That just sounds like an excuse for turning richness into a bad thing. Some people have been very adamant about how Mitt Romney said students should borrow money from their parents, therefore he doesn't understand the middle class. Um, I'm a middle class student, and I get help from my parents. I realize that not everyone has that opportunity, but I don't think Romney was insinuating that that's an option for everyone. It's just one possible suggestion out of many.
Good grief, if I were running for president, I'd have all sorts of ridiculous things said to oppose me:
"Governor Melville believes we should dip criminals in boiling oil."
"Governor Melville is a Mormon. Isn't that reason enough not to vote for him?"
"Mr. Melville is a descendant of Puritanical Pilgrims and Mormon pioneers. How can he understand a minority?"
"In high school, Melville claimed he was a werewolf. Do you want a deranged individual running our country?"
"How can someone who doesn't watch popular TV shows know what's going on in the world?"
"Mr. Melville has Snoopy on his pajamas!"
Then there's the effects party lines have had on the candidates themselves. Mitt Romney has changed his mind (or at least appears to) many times in order to align himself with the Republican Party, instead of sticking with what he really believes to be right. I can only hope that if he gets elected, he will switch back to what he knows to be right, not what the party tells him to--if he can switch once, surely he can switch again. I also think Obama has done similar things. Our corrupt party system has led candidates to believe that catering to their voters is more important than sticking up for what is right.
I would also like to point out some additional unfounded attacks this season, ones that are directed against Obama. One of these relates to gas prices. The highest I can ever remember gas prices was the summer of 2008, when gas was nearly $5 a gallon in East Wenatchee, WA. That was before Obama even got elected.
The other is kind of related, and that is that the economy hasn't gotten better. I could understand if you said that Obama perhaps didn't do enough for the economy, or else he went about it the wrong way. I don't know if these would be accurate statements, but I could understand how you might make them. But I do know that the economy has gotten better. How do I know this? Simple observation.
During my first year at BYU, I was searching for jobs. I applied to jobs all over the place. The BYU job listings page was only two or three pages long, even during spring. It was four pages on a good day. Once I saw a job listing on the board in the Wilk, so I immediately went to the library to submit an electronic application. While I was in the process of filling out the application, the position was filled, even though it was only posted that morning. I got so desperate that I even applied at the MTC. But I couldn't find a Provo job, so I took fall semester off in order to live at home and find a job. For two months I applied to jobs right and left. I applied to every job I felt qualified for, and even some I knew I wasn't qualified for. I applied to stores, restaurants, warehouses, and other businesses. Out of all the dozens of applications I submitted, I only got a few interviews, and I didn't get those jobs. It took me two months before I finally got a job. (In hindsight, I'm grateful the job market was the way it was, because I got a really good job that I wouldn't have even thought of if I hadn't been desperate. It was so good that I went back there last year, and sometimes I miss it even now. But just because it worked out for me doesn't mean the job market was good.)
Two years later, I know the job market is better. BYU's job listings currently take up five pages and it's the middle of the semester, and five pages is actually pretty low compared to what it usually is. But five pages is still better than it was over two years ago. I also keep getting emails from Sears (apparently one of the stores I applied to) about my application from two years ago! Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, I have a better job now. So I know the economy has gotten better.
But I still don't know who I'm going to vote for. My consolation, however, is that with the way the electoral college works, it doesn't matter who I vote for anyway.
I'm an undecided voter, and the debate certainly didn't help me decide who to vote for. In fact, I kind of don't want to vote for either of them. The candidates just talked over one another and spoke in partial truths and vague accusations. Romney kept saying, "When the president took office, he promised such and such and he hasn't kept those promises." Come on Mitt, really? I wonder how many presidents actually keep all their promises. A lot can happen in four years. If Mitt's elected, I doubt he'll live up to all of his promises. The last question of the debate asked about misconceptions of the candidates. Both candidates used the time to bash on their opponent.
This is exactly why I hate politics. You have these two political parties, and once someone claims their allegiance to one, they turn into mindless robots who support every measure their party supports. What's worse, they will attack any measure the opposite party supports, even if they otherwise might agree with it. People may have particular reasons for adhering to a party. Some may stick to a party because it is a family tradition. Others might stick to a party precisely because it is not a family tradition. The problem is not with the parties themselves; the problem lies with sacrificing your reasoning to other people and having them tell you what you should believe and do.
If I were to generalize the Republican Party, it would be that they are ignorant. If they hear facts that disagree with their party, they put their fingers in their ears and deny the facts. I think the quintessential example of this is global warming. They can't bear to think that we have a problem, so they pretend it doesn't exist. (I wrote a blog post back in April that goes into more detail about my views on the matter.)
If I were to generalize the Democratic Party, it would be that they like to characterize others as being bigoted and hateful, but in so doing they themselves are even more so. A recent example of this is the Chic-Fil-A incident. The owner of a restaurant chain expresses his opinion about gay marriage. Suddenly the country is in an uproar, and everyone is accusing him of being hateful because of his opinion. I do think that there are a lot of opponents of gay marriage who are bigoted and homophobic. But I think there are a lot of opponents of it who have other reasons for opposing it, none of which are homophobic. Automatically saying he is hateful because of his view seems just as hateful to me. It's as if you're saying, "You can believe whatever you want, as long as it agrees with me." Some people even went as far as to say that his restaurants were unwelcome in their cities. What do chicken sandwiches have to do with marriage? Following the incident, a lot of people ate at his restaurant in support of him. And once again, Democrats were labeling these patrons as hateful. But in this case I don't think the reason people supported him was because of the marriage issue. They supported him because America should be a place where we can express our opinions. So automatically accusing everyone of being intolerant seems very intolerant to me. Remember when gay marriage advocates graffitied Mormon temples after Proposition 8? How is that tolerant? (By the way, I'm not trying to say whether gay marriage is right or wrong. I'm simply saying that it is irrational to assume someone is hateful because they happen to disagree with you.)
Now, I realize that in making these generalizations, I'm being just as bad as the behaviors I'm condemning. And I recognize some might say I'm intolerant for saying that Democrats are intolerant for saying that Republicans are intolerant. I do realize that these perceptions are shaped by a very vocal minority. But because these minorities are so vocal, they have the potential to drag more people into their robotic organizations.
These irrational ties to party lines lead people to deplorable and childish behavior. People begin making unfounded accusations. Remember how Romney doesn't pay his taxes and how Obama is a Muslim born outside of the U.S.?
Other times people will take something and blow it out of proportion. Take the "you didn't build that" thing. The Republicans blew that out of proportion. If Romney had said it, they wouldn't have reacted. And take Romney's remarks about women on Tuesday night. I watched that, and I didn't find it misogynic. Maybe I didn't catch it because I'm not a woman, but I feel like the Democrats jumped on it because it was Romney who said and not Obama. And if Obama had said it, then the Republicans would be all over him.
Sometimes people will take something that is neither good nor bad but they will turn it into something bad. Mitt Romney is rich. So what? Well, he doesn't understand middle classes. That just sounds like an excuse for turning richness into a bad thing. Some people have been very adamant about how Mitt Romney said students should borrow money from their parents, therefore he doesn't understand the middle class. Um, I'm a middle class student, and I get help from my parents. I realize that not everyone has that opportunity, but I don't think Romney was insinuating that that's an option for everyone. It's just one possible suggestion out of many.
Good grief, if I were running for president, I'd have all sorts of ridiculous things said to oppose me:
"Governor Melville believes we should dip criminals in boiling oil."
"Governor Melville is a Mormon. Isn't that reason enough not to vote for him?"
"Mr. Melville is a descendant of Puritanical Pilgrims and Mormon pioneers. How can he understand a minority?"
"In high school, Melville claimed he was a werewolf. Do you want a deranged individual running our country?"
"How can someone who doesn't watch popular TV shows know what's going on in the world?"
"Mr. Melville has Snoopy on his pajamas!"
Then there's the effects party lines have had on the candidates themselves. Mitt Romney has changed his mind (or at least appears to) many times in order to align himself with the Republican Party, instead of sticking with what he really believes to be right. I can only hope that if he gets elected, he will switch back to what he knows to be right, not what the party tells him to--if he can switch once, surely he can switch again. I also think Obama has done similar things. Our corrupt party system has led candidates to believe that catering to their voters is more important than sticking up for what is right.
I would also like to point out some additional unfounded attacks this season, ones that are directed against Obama. One of these relates to gas prices. The highest I can ever remember gas prices was the summer of 2008, when gas was nearly $5 a gallon in East Wenatchee, WA. That was before Obama even got elected.
The other is kind of related, and that is that the economy hasn't gotten better. I could understand if you said that Obama perhaps didn't do enough for the economy, or else he went about it the wrong way. I don't know if these would be accurate statements, but I could understand how you might make them. But I do know that the economy has gotten better. How do I know this? Simple observation.
During my first year at BYU, I was searching for jobs. I applied to jobs all over the place. The BYU job listings page was only two or three pages long, even during spring. It was four pages on a good day. Once I saw a job listing on the board in the Wilk, so I immediately went to the library to submit an electronic application. While I was in the process of filling out the application, the position was filled, even though it was only posted that morning. I got so desperate that I even applied at the MTC. But I couldn't find a Provo job, so I took fall semester off in order to live at home and find a job. For two months I applied to jobs right and left. I applied to every job I felt qualified for, and even some I knew I wasn't qualified for. I applied to stores, restaurants, warehouses, and other businesses. Out of all the dozens of applications I submitted, I only got a few interviews, and I didn't get those jobs. It took me two months before I finally got a job. (In hindsight, I'm grateful the job market was the way it was, because I got a really good job that I wouldn't have even thought of if I hadn't been desperate. It was so good that I went back there last year, and sometimes I miss it even now. But just because it worked out for me doesn't mean the job market was good.)
Two years later, I know the job market is better. BYU's job listings currently take up five pages and it's the middle of the semester, and five pages is actually pretty low compared to what it usually is. But five pages is still better than it was over two years ago. I also keep getting emails from Sears (apparently one of the stores I applied to) about my application from two years ago! Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, I have a better job now. So I know the economy has gotten better.
But I still don't know who I'm going to vote for. My consolation, however, is that with the way the electoral college works, it doesn't matter who I vote for anyway.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
How can you not like fall?
This week was pretty enjoyable.
I felt like it was the first time we really had chilly weather. It was in the low 30s on Monday morning, and then it was rainy and a little chilly Friday and Saturday. It has me so excited! Friday was a wonderful day. I was in awe as I walked home and looked at the mountain. It has entirely changed colors!
I had several classes cancelled this week. On Monday, I showed up to my second class, varieties of English, and there was a sign at the door saying class was cancelled. Then I showed up to my third class, substantive editing, and we were all sitting there, waiting for the teacher, and then after a few minutes the TA got up and said that she had forgotten that the professor wasn't going to be there and that she had forgotten to look over the lesson for the day, so class was cancelled. Then varieties of English was cancelled again on Wednesday. My empirical methods in English linguistics class, my first class, was cancelled Friday morning so we could work on the midterm (I just slept in). I was preparing to go to my second class (varieties of English) when I checked my email and learned that the professor was still sick. Five classes cancelled in a week? I'll take it!
It was homecoming this week, which didn't really affect me. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't care more about football. But then I see people whose lives are so consumed by football, and I don't feel guilty. I saw someone post on Facebook something like, "I had a great birthday, except for a stupid call." I see that white-suspendered U fan who accosted BYU's coach. I see riots in other countries over soccer. And I think, Society needs people like me. Just as a well-rooted plant prevents a riverbank from eroding, people like me will keep society from crumbling. I have no ill feelings to people who like football. I just have zero interest in it, and I think such an attitude is helpful for the community at large.
I only got a side effect from homecoming that affected me. My grandparents were in Provo for BYU's homecoming spectacular, so they invited me to dinner. Then we went to the MOA (museum of art). After seeing them, I went home and worked on my research paper for my environmental biology class. I'm writing a paper about the effect of tourism on Antarctic penguins. I worked for several hours on my penguin paper--it was good to be productive.
Before I woke up on Saturday, I was having a really weird dream. Since I had gone on a date, my mom bought me a wedding dress. I think it was for my prospective wife, but I ended up going to church in it. Understandably, I was quite uncomfortable wearing a wedding dress at church, especially when I had to bless or pass the sacrament in it. But later in the dream I discovered that the dress was more like a cape, and I was also wearing a wedding tux, so it was convenient to simply take off the cape/dress and walk around in the tux. When I woke up, I was thinking about marriage. I am a hateful person, so I think I'm incapable of falling in love, which makes it hard to get married. I think I'd have more chances for marriage in a society with arranged marriages.
Usher woke me up on Saturday before 8:00, and I couldn't get back to sleep. Apparently there was a pancake breakfast at the gas station across the street for homecoming, and they thought pop music went with pancakes. Then there was a 5k going on outside my apartment. And then the homecoming parade went past my apartment. I could have watched it, but I have better things to do on a Saturday than watch people walking and cars driving, so I cleaned and occasionally peeked out the window.
I wasn't going to let the fall beauty go to waste, so I put on my shortest shorts and decided to go running. It was cool enough that I was able to go running during the day, the first time I did so since April. I ran up 900 East past the MTC, the first time I did so since April. I ran for an hour, the first time I did so since April. But my old route would take me past the stadium, and I didn't think that would be wise, since there was the football game. So I proceeded to University Ave. and went up the Provo River Parkway a little bit. I was amazed at all the traffic, pedestrian and automobile, there for the game. I had to wait a long time at stoplights because of the traffic, and I had to run on grass to get around the BYU fans of all ages and sizes. I was amazed at how far away people had to park to get to the game. People are willing to walk that far and go through so much hectic traffic just to watch blue- (or black-) clad people chase an oblong object up and down a field? To each their own.
Last night I was able to work on my midterm for my empirical methods in English linguistics class. I analyzed the speech of Obama and Romney from the presidential debate. I don't care about politics, so I figured it was a good opportunity to get exposed to the candidates and their issues. I had an idea of who I was going to vote for, but now that I read some of the debate (I didn't need to read all of it to conduct my tests) I might be leaning the other way. But after four and a half hours at the computer, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch TV for homework. I watched The Beverly Hillbillies for its dialectal stigmas.
You know what are really weird? Tarantulas.
I felt like it was the first time we really had chilly weather. It was in the low 30s on Monday morning, and then it was rainy and a little chilly Friday and Saturday. It has me so excited! Friday was a wonderful day. I was in awe as I walked home and looked at the mountain. It has entirely changed colors!
I had several classes cancelled this week. On Monday, I showed up to my second class, varieties of English, and there was a sign at the door saying class was cancelled. Then I showed up to my third class, substantive editing, and we were all sitting there, waiting for the teacher, and then after a few minutes the TA got up and said that she had forgotten that the professor wasn't going to be there and that she had forgotten to look over the lesson for the day, so class was cancelled. Then varieties of English was cancelled again on Wednesday. My empirical methods in English linguistics class, my first class, was cancelled Friday morning so we could work on the midterm (I just slept in). I was preparing to go to my second class (varieties of English) when I checked my email and learned that the professor was still sick. Five classes cancelled in a week? I'll take it!
It was homecoming this week, which didn't really affect me. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't care more about football. But then I see people whose lives are so consumed by football, and I don't feel guilty. I saw someone post on Facebook something like, "I had a great birthday, except for a stupid call." I see that white-suspendered U fan who accosted BYU's coach. I see riots in other countries over soccer. And I think, Society needs people like me. Just as a well-rooted plant prevents a riverbank from eroding, people like me will keep society from crumbling. I have no ill feelings to people who like football. I just have zero interest in it, and I think such an attitude is helpful for the community at large.
I only got a side effect from homecoming that affected me. My grandparents were in Provo for BYU's homecoming spectacular, so they invited me to dinner. Then we went to the MOA (museum of art). After seeing them, I went home and worked on my research paper for my environmental biology class. I'm writing a paper about the effect of tourism on Antarctic penguins. I worked for several hours on my penguin paper--it was good to be productive.
Before I woke up on Saturday, I was having a really weird dream. Since I had gone on a date, my mom bought me a wedding dress. I think it was for my prospective wife, but I ended up going to church in it. Understandably, I was quite uncomfortable wearing a wedding dress at church, especially when I had to bless or pass the sacrament in it. But later in the dream I discovered that the dress was more like a cape, and I was also wearing a wedding tux, so it was convenient to simply take off the cape/dress and walk around in the tux. When I woke up, I was thinking about marriage. I am a hateful person, so I think I'm incapable of falling in love, which makes it hard to get married. I think I'd have more chances for marriage in a society with arranged marriages.
Usher woke me up on Saturday before 8:00, and I couldn't get back to sleep. Apparently there was a pancake breakfast at the gas station across the street for homecoming, and they thought pop music went with pancakes. Then there was a 5k going on outside my apartment. And then the homecoming parade went past my apartment. I could have watched it, but I have better things to do on a Saturday than watch people walking and cars driving, so I cleaned and occasionally peeked out the window.
I wasn't going to let the fall beauty go to waste, so I put on my shortest shorts and decided to go running. It was cool enough that I was able to go running during the day, the first time I did so since April. I ran up 900 East past the MTC, the first time I did so since April. I ran for an hour, the first time I did so since April. But my old route would take me past the stadium, and I didn't think that would be wise, since there was the football game. So I proceeded to University Ave. and went up the Provo River Parkway a little bit. I was amazed at all the traffic, pedestrian and automobile, there for the game. I had to wait a long time at stoplights because of the traffic, and I had to run on grass to get around the BYU fans of all ages and sizes. I was amazed at how far away people had to park to get to the game. People are willing to walk that far and go through so much hectic traffic just to watch blue- (or black-) clad people chase an oblong object up and down a field? To each their own.
Last night I was able to work on my midterm for my empirical methods in English linguistics class. I analyzed the speech of Obama and Romney from the presidential debate. I don't care about politics, so I figured it was a good opportunity to get exposed to the candidates and their issues. I had an idea of who I was going to vote for, but now that I read some of the debate (I didn't need to read all of it to conduct my tests) I might be leaning the other way. But after four and a half hours at the computer, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch TV for homework. I watched The Beverly Hillbillies for its dialectal stigmas.
You know what are really weird? Tarantulas.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Let the Lower Lights be awesome
I think October is my third-favorite month, sandwiched between my second favorite and my favorite.
I had a few tender mercies this week. I had a midterm in my environmental bio class on Monday and a take-home midterm for my varieties of English class that was due Tuesday. I was also supposed to have a paper due on Friday, and with the tests, I hadn't even started it. But then our varieties of English professor said she felt bad having the paper due the same week as the midterm, so I get more time! I still haven't started the paper itself, but I've done a little more research for it.
The other mercy was that with my studying for the bio test, I forgot that we had a bio quiz that was due before class on Wednesday. But Wednesday happened to be the day that BYU Learning Suite was being especially unfriendly (it kept saying "Fatal error ldfoi hdiu hiuerhgwiufgiuwgehfwgrandomthingsthatdontmeananythingdifh iueht9o8yt98y"), so the professor and the TAs made it due Thursday, which meant I was able to finish it before it was due!
On Thursday, one of my favorite singers, Cherie Call, was singing at an event in the library. It was a photo exhibit by some guy who took pictures of mothers and daughters over the course of thirty days. So he had this little program with four mother writers. I had to sit through four essays (they were good essays, but still) to hear Cherie Call sing one song, "Walk You through the Night." After the program, I mustered up my courage and went and talked to Cherie. I told her that she was the reason I was there that night, and I asked her if she was recording an album anytime soon (it has been three years since she released her last album, Grace). Her answer saddened me. She said that she doesn't have a contract with a record company and she doesn't have a lot of money, so she has to get what proceeds she can from a few singles she records once in a while. In my mind, this is unacceptable! I think she is one of the best--if not the best--singers in the LDS community, yet she is a bit more obscure than, say, Mindy Gledhill or Hilary Weeks. She writes her own songs, which are all creative and tell stories. Her voice is completely unique. Some people might not like it, but I love it. I admit I haven't bought her more recent singles, but I suppose I should. I have, however, bought all seven of her albums. All but the first one are fantastic. (And for those of you who don't like religious music, her first two albums are not religious, and her album Grace has a lot of songs about family life, not necessarily religion.)
But I did get to hear more of her the next night. I had a mission reunion, but after the reunion I went with my childhood friend Hillary Ulmer (who went to the same mission, but at a different time) to see the Lower Lights, of which Cherie Call is a part. I got a Lower Lights CD for my birthday, and I was excited to see that they had a free concert in Provo. It was fun to see them live. At the show I bought their Christmas album and got an added bonus. One thing that made me sad about getting the CD for my birthday was that I saw that if you bought it online, you got free extra songs, so getting the CD for my birthday meant I didn't get the extra songs. But because I bought a different CD at the show, they gave me a code to get the extra eight songs! I like to collect hymns, especially ones that aren't by the MoTab, and now the Lower Lights have greatly contributed to my collection. Getting all that new music this week made me realize the space on my computer is getting low, so I spent some time putting my holiday music on a flash drive so that it will only take space on my computer when I use it. It was a bit of a headache, but now that it's done it will free up space.
The mission reunion was a little weird. It was the first reunion I've had with my second mission president, who got home in July. I only had him for five months, and it was three years ago. I don't think President and Sister Palmer remembered me very well. I didn't know the vast majority of people there. Strangely, one of the people I knew there did not have a connection to my mission. She was in my ward this summer--she works for catering or something (the reunion was in the Wilk, which is a ten minute walk from my apartment if I walk slow. Best location ever.). I only had two companions there, three if you count my MTC companion. But I only talked to one, Elder Betenson. My MTC companion came late and I didn't feel a great need to talk to him, and the other companion was the evil Elder LaPratt who I wish would disappear. I remember one night during my first semester at BYU in which someone was telling me 21 was a hard age because you still miss your mission. I was skeptical that I would ever stop missing it. But I have reached that point. I mean, I still miss it a little bit (especially at this time of year, since it was four years ago this week that I transferred to my favorite area), but I've moved on with life.
Conference was good. My concern with the new mission ages has to do with our Mormon culture. It seems like we try to get people out on their missions as close to nineteen as possible. I felt like there was something wrong because I didn't leave for two months after I turned nineteen. I hope that people will realize that just because they can leave at 18 doesn't necessarily mean they must or even should. I think I benefited from my six months after high school, and more would have helped as well. I'm not saying we should try to avoid going as soon as possible, but I think we need to diminish the idea of you must go now.
I had a few tender mercies this week. I had a midterm in my environmental bio class on Monday and a take-home midterm for my varieties of English class that was due Tuesday. I was also supposed to have a paper due on Friday, and with the tests, I hadn't even started it. But then our varieties of English professor said she felt bad having the paper due the same week as the midterm, so I get more time! I still haven't started the paper itself, but I've done a little more research for it.
The other mercy was that with my studying for the bio test, I forgot that we had a bio quiz that was due before class on Wednesday. But Wednesday happened to be the day that BYU Learning Suite was being especially unfriendly (it kept saying "Fatal error ldfoi hdiu hiuerhgwiufgiuwgehfwgrandomthingsthatdontmeananythingdifh iueht9o8yt98y"), so the professor and the TAs made it due Thursday, which meant I was able to finish it before it was due!
On Thursday, one of my favorite singers, Cherie Call, was singing at an event in the library. It was a photo exhibit by some guy who took pictures of mothers and daughters over the course of thirty days. So he had this little program with four mother writers. I had to sit through four essays (they were good essays, but still) to hear Cherie Call sing one song, "Walk You through the Night." After the program, I mustered up my courage and went and talked to Cherie. I told her that she was the reason I was there that night, and I asked her if she was recording an album anytime soon (it has been three years since she released her last album, Grace). Her answer saddened me. She said that she doesn't have a contract with a record company and she doesn't have a lot of money, so she has to get what proceeds she can from a few singles she records once in a while. In my mind, this is unacceptable! I think she is one of the best--if not the best--singers in the LDS community, yet she is a bit more obscure than, say, Mindy Gledhill or Hilary Weeks. She writes her own songs, which are all creative and tell stories. Her voice is completely unique. Some people might not like it, but I love it. I admit I haven't bought her more recent singles, but I suppose I should. I have, however, bought all seven of her albums. All but the first one are fantastic. (And for those of you who don't like religious music, her first two albums are not religious, and her album Grace has a lot of songs about family life, not necessarily religion.)
But I did get to hear more of her the next night. I had a mission reunion, but after the reunion I went with my childhood friend Hillary Ulmer (who went to the same mission, but at a different time) to see the Lower Lights, of which Cherie Call is a part. I got a Lower Lights CD for my birthday, and I was excited to see that they had a free concert in Provo. It was fun to see them live. At the show I bought their Christmas album and got an added bonus. One thing that made me sad about getting the CD for my birthday was that I saw that if you bought it online, you got free extra songs, so getting the CD for my birthday meant I didn't get the extra songs. But because I bought a different CD at the show, they gave me a code to get the extra eight songs! I like to collect hymns, especially ones that aren't by the MoTab, and now the Lower Lights have greatly contributed to my collection. Getting all that new music this week made me realize the space on my computer is getting low, so I spent some time putting my holiday music on a flash drive so that it will only take space on my computer when I use it. It was a bit of a headache, but now that it's done it will free up space.
The mission reunion was a little weird. It was the first reunion I've had with my second mission president, who got home in July. I only had him for five months, and it was three years ago. I don't think President and Sister Palmer remembered me very well. I didn't know the vast majority of people there. Strangely, one of the people I knew there did not have a connection to my mission. She was in my ward this summer--she works for catering or something (the reunion was in the Wilk, which is a ten minute walk from my apartment if I walk slow. Best location ever.). I only had two companions there, three if you count my MTC companion. But I only talked to one, Elder Betenson. My MTC companion came late and I didn't feel a great need to talk to him, and the other companion was the evil Elder LaPratt who I wish would disappear. I remember one night during my first semester at BYU in which someone was telling me 21 was a hard age because you still miss your mission. I was skeptical that I would ever stop missing it. But I have reached that point. I mean, I still miss it a little bit (especially at this time of year, since it was four years ago this week that I transferred to my favorite area), but I've moved on with life.
Conference was good. My concern with the new mission ages has to do with our Mormon culture. It seems like we try to get people out on their missions as close to nineteen as possible. I felt like there was something wrong because I didn't leave for two months after I turned nineteen. I hope that people will realize that just because they can leave at 18 doesn't necessarily mean they must or even should. I think I benefited from my six months after high school, and more would have helped as well. I'm not saying we should try to avoid going as soon as possible, but I think we need to diminish the idea of you must go now.
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