There's been a lot going on lately.
On Presidents' Day I got my root canal. It took about two hours. Everyone talks about root canals as if they're the worst thing ever. They are expensive, but they're really not that painful. My teeth were a little sore afterward, but it wore off quickly.
They do things to ease the process. They of course numb the area, and this dentist's office has TV screens up. I watched most of Hugo during the event. They offered me laughing gas. I thought I'd try it, but I could only handle a few minutes of it. I didn't like it at all, especially when I was trying to watch a movie!
They also did internal bleaching. So now my dead tooth is once again the same color as my living tooth. Hooray for modern dentistry! (I suppose it would have been fitting, since it was Presidents' Day, if I had been given teeth made from hippo ivory, just like Washington.)
I had two midterms this week, one for Historical Geology and one for Phonetics and Phonology. I got 86 on the geology test, which is better than the average, but is slightly less than the most common score. That's not as good as I like it. The phonetics test was surprisingly easy (since I feel that that's the class in which I understand the least), but I don't know what I got. I think it was the first time I've taken an exam on a Friday night. The testing center was busier than I expected.
Then yesterday, as a ward clerk, I had to update all of the callings in our ward in the system. That took five hours!
With all this stuff going on, I completely neglected to do a quiz about Mars! I don't know how I did that. That's just not something I do.
I'm glad it's almost March. I think this has been the first year in which I've really been excited for winter to end. But I still want to see it snow in nine out of twelve months. So it still needs to snow at least once in March, April, May, June or September, October, November, and December. In 2010 and 2011 it snowed in eight months, but in 2012 it only snowed seven. In all my life I've seen it snow once in June and twice in September, so nine months is a long shot, but I'm still hopeful.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
From one lame holiday to another
Well, another Valentine's Day has come and gone.
Valentine's Day wasn't too eventful. It was just another day, except that I saw a car with a Christmas tree strapped to the top. Certainly not what I was expecting on Valentine's Day. Then I went to Papa Murphy's to get a heart-shaped pizza; it was really busy there. I think the only reason I would ever go to Papa Murphy's is to get holiday pizzas. Then I finished a homework assignment about the moon, watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, and went running.
As far as running is concerned, it sure is nice that it's lemits time again. Lemits may be a weird time of year, but it has some of the best running weather. I went running twice this week, which is more than I went in the entire month of January!
But with everything going on, it's hard to find time for everything. It's midterm time, and I have a lot to do for my calling, and I'm getting my root canal tomorrow--why does everything have to happen at once? I hate that it all happened around Valentine's Day so that I couldn't properly enjoy the holiday (not that there's much to enjoy). The same thing happened at Halloween so that I couldn't properly enjoy that holiday. Halloween and Valentine's Day are practically the same holiday, except that Halloween is more fun.
But now it's getting close to St. Patrick's Day, which is the most pointless holiday that I celebrate. (Groundhog Day is more pointless, but I don't celebrate it.) The best thing about the St. Patrick's Day season is that I can eat green desserts and candies I wouldn't otherwise eat. Which is nice because I love mint things. It's also the only time of year I buy Lucky Charms. (I eat lots of sugary cereals, but I draw the line at marshmallows.)
You may have seen this video on Facebook. During Sunday School last week, we were talking about how Lamoni's father gave up his sins, and one girl commented and said we have a hard time giving up sins because they can be fun, and one of the instructors started singing, "These are a few of my favorite sins!" My roommate Bryton was sitting next to me and said, "Someone should make that into a song." So I did.
I actually am very self conscious about this video, and I don't really like watching it. I have a terrible voice, an ugly tie, and a droopy eye. But we (me and my roommate who recorded it) put it on our ward's Facebook page, where it has thirty-one likes. I've had a lot of people tell me how much they like it.
Oh. I wish I had been in Russia to see the meteor. A thousand people got hurt, but that's a small price to pay to see something so cool. Much better than getting hurt to get a good close-up view of ice.
Valentine's Day wasn't too eventful. It was just another day, except that I saw a car with a Christmas tree strapped to the top. Certainly not what I was expecting on Valentine's Day. Then I went to Papa Murphy's to get a heart-shaped pizza; it was really busy there. I think the only reason I would ever go to Papa Murphy's is to get holiday pizzas. Then I finished a homework assignment about the moon, watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, and went running.
As far as running is concerned, it sure is nice that it's lemits time again. Lemits may be a weird time of year, but it has some of the best running weather. I went running twice this week, which is more than I went in the entire month of January!
But with everything going on, it's hard to find time for everything. It's midterm time, and I have a lot to do for my calling, and I'm getting my root canal tomorrow--why does everything have to happen at once? I hate that it all happened around Valentine's Day so that I couldn't properly enjoy the holiday (not that there's much to enjoy). The same thing happened at Halloween so that I couldn't properly enjoy that holiday. Halloween and Valentine's Day are practically the same holiday, except that Halloween is more fun.
But now it's getting close to St. Patrick's Day, which is the most pointless holiday that I celebrate. (Groundhog Day is more pointless, but I don't celebrate it.) The best thing about the St. Patrick's Day season is that I can eat green desserts and candies I wouldn't otherwise eat. Which is nice because I love mint things. It's also the only time of year I buy Lucky Charms. (I eat lots of sugary cereals, but I draw the line at marshmallows.)
You may have seen this video on Facebook. During Sunday School last week, we were talking about how Lamoni's father gave up his sins, and one girl commented and said we have a hard time giving up sins because they can be fun, and one of the instructors started singing, "These are a few of my favorite sins!" My roommate Bryton was sitting next to me and said, "Someone should make that into a song." So I did.
I actually am very self conscious about this video, and I don't really like watching it. I have a terrible voice, an ugly tie, and a droopy eye. But we (me and my roommate who recorded it) put it on our ward's Facebook page, where it has thirty-one likes. I've had a lot of people tell me how much they like it.
Oh. I wish I had been in Russia to see the meteor. A thousand people got hurt, but that's a small price to pay to see something so cool. Much better than getting hurt to get a good close-up view of ice.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
My thoughts on gun control
Over the last few months, there has been intense debate about gun control. Normally my blog posts are quite frivolous, but once in a while I feel like saying something.
I always try to understand both sides of the issue, so here are my observations for why people take the side they do.
Those who are for gun control are usually liberals and democrats. They say that the average American doesn't need a gun, and that ready access to guns puts guns in the wrong hands. When the Bill of Rights was constructed, the social and martial climate of America was different and the Second Amendment was intended for that climate but not today's.
Those who are against gun control are usually conservatives and republicans. They say that we need to uphold the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. They say that murderers and criminals obviously don't care about laws about not killing people, so they certainly won't obey laws about not having guns. If guns were prohibited, only the bad guys would be the ones with guns, and the common people wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Guns don't kill people; people kill people.
I refuse to wear the glasses associated with a particular party, which means that my vision is not obscured by party biases or senseless allegiances. So I think I understand the arguments on both sides.
Those who know me know that I don't like bad guys. At all. When I hear about rapists, murderers, bank robbers, and drunk drivers, I start thinking things. Like how they should be dipped in boiling oil, or be thrown off a cliff, or have their fingernails ripped off, or be dragged down a gravel road, or be stretched out on a rack, or be beaten with a two-by-four with nails sticking out, or be run over by a semi. By all means, shoot them! (Although that might not be painful enough.)
Occasionally you hear stories in which people defend themselves from bad guys with their guns. Like the old man who started shooting at two young bank robbers, or the mom who shot and injured the home intruder, or the gas station clerk who scared off a knife-wielding robber by pointing his gun. To me, these people are heroes.
Unfortunately, I feel like these instances of people defending themselves with guns are rare, and most incidents you hear about have the bad guys having guns but not the good ones. The right to bear arms didn't help the victims in Aurora or Newtown.
Following the Connecticut tragedy, some people said that teachers should carry guns. Usually I like to be tactful, but I can't here. That's just stupid. Plain stupid. Would teachers having guns have minimized the Newtown incident? Perhaps, although that is still highly debatable. But I think teachers carrying guns would cause more problems than it would solve. What if some particularly unpleasant teacher was having a particularly unpleasant day at the same time the students are being particularly unpleasant, and the teacher pulls out their gun? Or, more seriously, what if some curious elementary-school kids or hormonal high-school teenagers manage to get a hold of the teacher's gun? Talk about a catastrophe!
Nevertheless, I understand where people are coming from on both sides of the gun issue, and I can't say which is right.
But what really irks me is all the opposition to Obama's gun plan. I think most people oppose it because it was Obama who proposed it. If they actually think it's a bad idea, they think so because Fox News and their ultraconservative Facebook friends have told them so.
According to the Washington Post, Obama's plan includes requiring background checks for gun purchases, banning the sale of assault weapons, promoting gun violence research, and encouraging mental health treatment. Why would you oppose that? It sounds pretty neutral to me.
The anti-gun-control people criticize the plan and go off on their arguments about the right to bear arms and the need for self defense. But I feel this is a straw man argument. Obama isn't saying you can't have guns. He's simply saying you shouldn't be able to access certain kinds and that you should have background checks.
The fact that they are proposing background checks indicates that you presently don't need a background check. This terrifies me! I don't feel safe knowing that the crazies can go out and buy a gun. Why would you oppose background checks? If you're an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, why should you object? I wouldn't mind having a background check because I know I have nothing to hide.
People say that bad guys will still get a hold on the illegal guns. I think this is true, and I think most people recognize that. However, if it is harder to get them, I think fewer criminals will have them. We will always have tragedies; that's part of life. But we can do our best to minimize them.
People bring up the old argument that guns don't kill people, people kill people. (To which I say, people use guns to kill people. Guns are more efficient weapons. The anti-gun-control folks attest to this by the very fact that they want guns and not knives.) Obama's plan accounts for this by promoting violence research and mental health treatment.
Now, I'm not an Obama supporter. I voted for neither him nor Romney, but I privately hoped Romney would win. Nevertheless, I respect Obama as the president, and I can see clearly enough to know that he's not the antichrist and that he has America's interests at heart.
Something has got to change; the present system isn't working. I think most people recognize this, but if you don't, you're cold and soulless. You should start negotiating with the real devil (i.e., not Obama) to get your soul back.
So why don't we just try Obama's plan? If it works, great! If it doesn't, then we will know it doesn't work and we will be able to try something else. Doing nothing is the truly diabolical approach.
Don't be so arrogant as to think that your idea is the only one that can possibly be right.
I always try to understand both sides of the issue, so here are my observations for why people take the side they do.
Those who are for gun control are usually liberals and democrats. They say that the average American doesn't need a gun, and that ready access to guns puts guns in the wrong hands. When the Bill of Rights was constructed, the social and martial climate of America was different and the Second Amendment was intended for that climate but not today's.
Those who are against gun control are usually conservatives and republicans. They say that we need to uphold the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. They say that murderers and criminals obviously don't care about laws about not killing people, so they certainly won't obey laws about not having guns. If guns were prohibited, only the bad guys would be the ones with guns, and the common people wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Guns don't kill people; people kill people.
I refuse to wear the glasses associated with a particular party, which means that my vision is not obscured by party biases or senseless allegiances. So I think I understand the arguments on both sides.
Those who know me know that I don't like bad guys. At all. When I hear about rapists, murderers, bank robbers, and drunk drivers, I start thinking things. Like how they should be dipped in boiling oil, or be thrown off a cliff, or have their fingernails ripped off, or be dragged down a gravel road, or be stretched out on a rack, or be beaten with a two-by-four with nails sticking out, or be run over by a semi. By all means, shoot them! (Although that might not be painful enough.)
Occasionally you hear stories in which people defend themselves from bad guys with their guns. Like the old man who started shooting at two young bank robbers, or the mom who shot and injured the home intruder, or the gas station clerk who scared off a knife-wielding robber by pointing his gun. To me, these people are heroes.
Unfortunately, I feel like these instances of people defending themselves with guns are rare, and most incidents you hear about have the bad guys having guns but not the good ones. The right to bear arms didn't help the victims in Aurora or Newtown.
Following the Connecticut tragedy, some people said that teachers should carry guns. Usually I like to be tactful, but I can't here. That's just stupid. Plain stupid. Would teachers having guns have minimized the Newtown incident? Perhaps, although that is still highly debatable. But I think teachers carrying guns would cause more problems than it would solve. What if some particularly unpleasant teacher was having a particularly unpleasant day at the same time the students are being particularly unpleasant, and the teacher pulls out their gun? Or, more seriously, what if some curious elementary-school kids or hormonal high-school teenagers manage to get a hold of the teacher's gun? Talk about a catastrophe!
Nevertheless, I understand where people are coming from on both sides of the gun issue, and I can't say which is right.
But what really irks me is all the opposition to Obama's gun plan. I think most people oppose it because it was Obama who proposed it. If they actually think it's a bad idea, they think so because Fox News and their ultraconservative Facebook friends have told them so.
According to the Washington Post, Obama's plan includes requiring background checks for gun purchases, banning the sale of assault weapons, promoting gun violence research, and encouraging mental health treatment. Why would you oppose that? It sounds pretty neutral to me.
The anti-gun-control people criticize the plan and go off on their arguments about the right to bear arms and the need for self defense. But I feel this is a straw man argument. Obama isn't saying you can't have guns. He's simply saying you shouldn't be able to access certain kinds and that you should have background checks.
The fact that they are proposing background checks indicates that you presently don't need a background check. This terrifies me! I don't feel safe knowing that the crazies can go out and buy a gun. Why would you oppose background checks? If you're an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, why should you object? I wouldn't mind having a background check because I know I have nothing to hide.
People say that bad guys will still get a hold on the illegal guns. I think this is true, and I think most people recognize that. However, if it is harder to get them, I think fewer criminals will have them. We will always have tragedies; that's part of life. But we can do our best to minimize them.
People bring up the old argument that guns don't kill people, people kill people. (To which I say, people use guns to kill people. Guns are more efficient weapons. The anti-gun-control folks attest to this by the very fact that they want guns and not knives.) Obama's plan accounts for this by promoting violence research and mental health treatment.
Now, I'm not an Obama supporter. I voted for neither him nor Romney, but I privately hoped Romney would win. Nevertheless, I respect Obama as the president, and I can see clearly enough to know that he's not the antichrist and that he has America's interests at heart.
Something has got to change; the present system isn't working. I think most people recognize this, but if you don't, you're cold and soulless. You should start negotiating with the real devil (i.e., not Obama) to get your soul back.
So why don't we just try Obama's plan? If it works, great! If it doesn't, then we will know it doesn't work and we will be able to try something else. Doing nothing is the truly diabolical approach.
Don't be so arrogant as to think that your idea is the only one that can possibly be right.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
R.I.P. January
Traditionally, August has been my least favorite month. But I'm trying to debate whether it should be January or August.
Last August was actually pretty fun. I had a short break from school and did all sorts of fun things.
But this January wasn't the greatest. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say it was miserable, but I've had better months.
First of all, in January all the holidays come to a crashing halt after New Year's. And you're just left with a cold, boring winter. The Valentine season starts in January, but Valentine's Day is a vastly inferior holiday. For me, it's just a day for heart-shaped candy. Boring (but tasty).
One of the reasons I don't like August is because I don't like heat. But the cold got a little annoying this year. It got to the point where 20 degrees seemed warm. Piles of snow got in the way and simply wouldn't melt. The Wasatch Front always gets the inversion, and this year was one of the worst, longest-lasting inversions I can remember. Between the air quality and the ice and snow, I only went running once in the entire month of January!
Then of course there was the freezing rain incident. In all my life, I can only remember one other time where we had freezing rain, back in the fall of 2004. As a result of my slip, I will need a root canal (according to the dentist, whom I saw on Thursday), all the teeth on the right side of my mouth (even the uninjured ones) are really sensitive to cold water and cold air, and I am now terrified of ice. Freezing rain is rare, but it came as a result of the cold ground that was cold for so long.
Now we are in February, which isn't that much better. We have a lot of silly holidays that are hardly holidays. Valentine's Day is the most popular one, but it really is just a candy day for people like me. We have Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, and while they were great presidents, I don't really care about their birthdays. And Presidents' Day is just a day off--why should we give the same honor to Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson as we do to Washington and Jefferson?
The weirdest February holiday--and perhaps the weirdest in the whole year--is Groundhog Day. Why on earth do we have a holiday based on a silly superstition all the way from Pennsylvania? Why do people celebrate Groundhog Day but not Leif Eriksson Day (October 9)? It's ridiculous!
And then in the end of February lemits starts. Lemits is a term I coined to refer to the really weird time of year that starts in February, climaxes in March, and tapers off in April. At lemits time, it's kind of like spring--it's a little warm, and it stays light a little later. But it's still wintry, because it's still kind of cold, and it still gets dark kind of early. I always feel weird during lemits. I don't know how to describe it besides weird. Lemits is often, but not always, depressing. I find myself more easily depressed during lemits. Things that are sad become sadder, and things that aren't sad become sad.
But I think I'm looking forward to lemits, compared to this past January.
Last August was actually pretty fun. I had a short break from school and did all sorts of fun things.
But this January wasn't the greatest. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say it was miserable, but I've had better months.
First of all, in January all the holidays come to a crashing halt after New Year's. And you're just left with a cold, boring winter. The Valentine season starts in January, but Valentine's Day is a vastly inferior holiday. For me, it's just a day for heart-shaped candy. Boring (but tasty).
One of the reasons I don't like August is because I don't like heat. But the cold got a little annoying this year. It got to the point where 20 degrees seemed warm. Piles of snow got in the way and simply wouldn't melt. The Wasatch Front always gets the inversion, and this year was one of the worst, longest-lasting inversions I can remember. Between the air quality and the ice and snow, I only went running once in the entire month of January!
Then of course there was the freezing rain incident. In all my life, I can only remember one other time where we had freezing rain, back in the fall of 2004. As a result of my slip, I will need a root canal (according to the dentist, whom I saw on Thursday), all the teeth on the right side of my mouth (even the uninjured ones) are really sensitive to cold water and cold air, and I am now terrified of ice. Freezing rain is rare, but it came as a result of the cold ground that was cold for so long.
Now we are in February, which isn't that much better. We have a lot of silly holidays that are hardly holidays. Valentine's Day is the most popular one, but it really is just a candy day for people like me. We have Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, and while they were great presidents, I don't really care about their birthdays. And Presidents' Day is just a day off--why should we give the same honor to Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson as we do to Washington and Jefferson?
The weirdest February holiday--and perhaps the weirdest in the whole year--is Groundhog Day. Why on earth do we have a holiday based on a silly superstition all the way from Pennsylvania? Why do people celebrate Groundhog Day but not Leif Eriksson Day (October 9)? It's ridiculous!
And then in the end of February lemits starts. Lemits is a term I coined to refer to the really weird time of year that starts in February, climaxes in March, and tapers off in April. At lemits time, it's kind of like spring--it's a little warm, and it stays light a little later. But it's still wintry, because it's still kind of cold, and it still gets dark kind of early. I always feel weird during lemits. I don't know how to describe it besides weird. Lemits is often, but not always, depressing. I find myself more easily depressed during lemits. Things that are sad become sadder, and things that aren't sad become sad.
But I think I'm looking forward to lemits, compared to this past January.
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