I don't subscribe to a particular political ideology, because doing so--whether intentional or not--tends to make people lose their ability to think. Here are my opinions on various topics. However, I make no claims to be well informed. I am also refraining from explaining my positions in depth, because to do so would require more time than I have. Here goes.
Republican vs. Democrat. These distinctions seem to do our country more harm than good.
Gay marriage. I don't have a problem with gay marriage. I do have a problem with private businesses and organizations being forced and bullied into catering to it against their wishes.
Abortion. Abortion can be important for situations of health, rape, or incest. Abortions for other reasons are morally irresponsible, selfish, and barbaric. As to whether they should be illegal, I don't know.
Obamacare. Obamacare is a good idea in theory, but in practice it has some major problems.
Legalization of marijuana. We already have enough inebriated people. We don't need any more. (Also, it seems that it's democrats who want to legalize marijuana, but democrats who want to eradicate cigarettes. What's up with that?)
Lowering the legal alcohol limit. Anything that prevents drunk driving is a good thing.
The war on drugs. Drugs ruin homes, both literally and figuratively. I think that the vast majority of crimes are caused by or related to drugs. Why wouldn't you want to attack one of the roots of the problem?
Capital punishment. The world would be better off without the murderers.
Global warming. It exists. We need to do something about it. (And even if it doesn't, it wouldn't hurt to change our practices anyway.)
Environmental stewardship. We humans have a bigger impact on the physical world than you might expect. We need to be responsible.
Gun control. The fact that the NRA thinks we shouldn't change anything makes me think that the "N" actually stands for "Nefarious."
Raising minimum wage. Again, this is a good idea in theory, but I worry about undesired adverse effects.
Economy; immigration. These are subjects I don't know enough about to form an opinion.
I kind of got distracted and forgot what else I was going to say. But I think this is a pretty good survey.
See also:
Why I hate politics
Global Warming
My thoughts on gun control
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Italian scorpions doing finances in the dark refrigerator
Italian
This week at work I had to check sources for an article, which is pretty typical. But these sources were all in Italian. It was interesting working in Italian. I've never learned it, but since I took four years of high school Spanish and advanced college French, I understand the gist of Italian and was able to navigate around the websites. (Chrome's translate feature was helpful too.) It actually taught me a little about French. For example, where we would write USA, Italian only capitalizes the first letter, Usa. And then I learned that French is the same way (Nasa vs. NASA). Also, it helped me understand languages better. For example, I never understood the relationship between Spanish dîa and French jour. But in Italian it's giorno or giorni (I don't understand Italian inflections), and I can see how both the Spanish and the French are related.Scorpions
One of my classes this semester requires watching long, boring videos of conferences about books and publishing. These might be interesting (just might) in person, but watching them on YouTube or C-Span is awful. I would fall asleep. So instead of falling asleep, I turn the videos on in the background, and I look at pictures of ugly animals. I find it fascinating to look at pictures of creepy animals--spider faces are some of my favorites. After looking at those pictures one night, I had a dream that a bunch of bugs had come home with my family after a vacation. There was a three-inch ant-like bug in my bedroom, and I watched a scorpion or two crawl into my closet. I wondered if looking at all those pictures would give me nightmares, but I wouldn't really consider it a nightmare. Also in that dream we were discussing a terrible person, and I said that we should put handcuffs on him, then put a chain on the handcuffs, then attach the chain to a train, then have the train take off.Doing finances
Today I had a financial audit. I didn't worry much about it, because I thought I knew what was going on after the last one in the summer. But I should have been more careful, because there was a lot of missing stuff. Oh well. We also had to distribute people's 2013 official tax statements. That was a hassle. I was at church for about ten hours today. But tithing settlement stuff is all over, and since it is unlikely I'll be in my ward next year, I'm done with them forever. Until my next ward calls me as a clerk.In the dark
I came home Thursday afternoon and discovered that our power was out. At first I was a little excited, because it's been a long time since I've had a good power outage. But I started wondering why it was out. I remembered that when I was walking home, some J-Dawgs employees were out throwing a football, and I didn't see their OPEN sign on, so I wondered if maybe our couple of blocks were out. But then it got dark, and ours was the only dark apartment. Apparently what had happened was that we just got new management, and the new management was supposed to email my roommate Jordan with how to take care of the utilities, but they never sent the email, so our power got cut off. It was too late at night to get it fixed. So we went a night without power. I did my scorpion-looking in the apartment where I lived in 2011 (my roommate from that apartment, who is now my home teacher, invited me to work in there). When I was in my apartment, I got around with a very bright flashlight that doubles as a lantern, which I bought for Geology 210. It made enormous shadows.
Refrigerator
Our fridge has been smelling pretty bad, so after our power came back on on Friday, I cleaned out our fridge, something I hadn't done since November. (I can't remember whether it was November 8 or 15.) I like all my roommates, but this is the messiest group I've ever had (and I told them that). I'm not sure what liquid was in the bottom of the fridge, but my best guess is that it used to be milk.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Blatant snobbery
I am a conceited person.
I'm taking this class about publishing, and we just have different guest lectures. This week our guest was Brandon Mull, who wrote Fablehaven and other books. I think they invite people who aren't in the class to attend some lectures, and this week I found myself surrounded by a lot of nerds.
Now, this class is a little nerdy in itself. A bunch of the people in the class want to be editors, like me, but a lot of them want to be writers. Writing in itself is noble enough, but writing novels is nerdy, especially writing fantasy novels. And I feel that people who aspire to be writers live in this Candy Land where the only thing they have to worry about is Lord Licorice.
But this week's visitors were especially nerdy. There was one guy who was wearing a 1940s-style hat with pins/buttons on it, and these weird glove things that looked like Scandinavian Christmas socks. I thought, "Maybe he's not a nerd, but just an innovative hipster." But then I looked at his shoes. Nope, definitely a nerd. He had a friend sitting by him who looked normal, but he had an obnoxious nerd laugh that gave him away.
See, I try to pretend I'm not a nerd, but I really am one. But I'm not sure why, because most nerdy things don't interest me:
Fantasy: I read Harry Potter like everyone else, but I'm not going to pick up a book that has a dragon on the cover. In fact, I rarely read (except for what I'm editing), and when I do, it's usually classics.
Video games: I'll pick up a Super Nintendo controller once in a while, but I'm not a gamer at all. Things like World of Warcraft just don't sound enjoyable to me. (I once had a roommate who hated everyone and loved to play WoW in place of interacting with real people. I pretend I hate everyone, but I really don't.)
Science fiction: I have never seen Dr. Who, and for all intents and purposes, I've never seen Star Wars or Star Trek. I watched a few movies as a kid and have seen a few scenes here and there, but not enough to remember anything.
Computers: I know how to use one, but I don't know how they work or how to fix them.
Chess: Despite an inexplicable fascination with the game as a kid, I don't like chess, and I have probably only won one or two games in my entire life.
Dinosaurs: Well, actually, dinosaurs are pretty cool.
I guess I'm mostly just a word nerd. (I'm a poet, and I wasn't even aware of it!)
My brother and my cousin Peter have said I look like a hipster because of my glasses and my pants. That is definitely not the case. But I do like my indie folk.
First up is Mideau. I went to their CD release back in September, and I love their album. This week they released a free EP in anticipation of a wide release of their album. Three of the songs I already had, but they had a cool remix of "Hejduk" (although I like the original better). They are really good, and I think that a lot of people have the potential to like them; they don't really fit into just one genre. You should go get their free EP. It's great.
On Friday night I went to see Cherie Call and Peter Breinholt. I went with my equine friend Carissa. It was my seventh time seeing Cherie Call live, and she sang a bunch of her standbys like "One Good Woman" and "Already a Butterfly," but she also sang "Lasagna," which I've never heard her sing live. She sang two songs from her upcoming album Homeless Songs, to be released in March. I'm really excited, because she hasn't released a new album since 2009. I love her style so much. She has a completely one-of-a-kind voice, and her story-telling lyrics are clever and poignant.
Peter Breinholt was next up. He has good music, but I'm not a big fan of his voice. However, I liked him a lot more live than I like his recordings. Maybe I'm just more tolerant of live voices. It was overall a really fun concert.
I think that banjos can fix all of life's problems. If we sent a banjo to North Korea, they would say sorry and start playing nice.
I'm taking this class about publishing, and we just have different guest lectures. This week our guest was Brandon Mull, who wrote Fablehaven and other books. I think they invite people who aren't in the class to attend some lectures, and this week I found myself surrounded by a lot of nerds.
Now, this class is a little nerdy in itself. A bunch of the people in the class want to be editors, like me, but a lot of them want to be writers. Writing in itself is noble enough, but writing novels is nerdy, especially writing fantasy novels. And I feel that people who aspire to be writers live in this Candy Land where the only thing they have to worry about is Lord Licorice.
But this week's visitors were especially nerdy. There was one guy who was wearing a 1940s-style hat with pins/buttons on it, and these weird glove things that looked like Scandinavian Christmas socks. I thought, "Maybe he's not a nerd, but just an innovative hipster." But then I looked at his shoes. Nope, definitely a nerd. He had a friend sitting by him who looked normal, but he had an obnoxious nerd laugh that gave him away.
See, I try to pretend I'm not a nerd, but I really am one. But I'm not sure why, because most nerdy things don't interest me:
Fantasy: I read Harry Potter like everyone else, but I'm not going to pick up a book that has a dragon on the cover. In fact, I rarely read (except for what I'm editing), and when I do, it's usually classics.
Video games: I'll pick up a Super Nintendo controller once in a while, but I'm not a gamer at all. Things like World of Warcraft just don't sound enjoyable to me. (I once had a roommate who hated everyone and loved to play WoW in place of interacting with real people. I pretend I hate everyone, but I really don't.)
Science fiction: I have never seen Dr. Who, and for all intents and purposes, I've never seen Star Wars or Star Trek. I watched a few movies as a kid and have seen a few scenes here and there, but not enough to remember anything.
Computers: I know how to use one, but I don't know how they work or how to fix them.
Chess: Despite an inexplicable fascination with the game as a kid, I don't like chess, and I have probably only won one or two games in my entire life.
Dinosaurs: Well, actually, dinosaurs are pretty cool.
I guess I'm mostly just a word nerd. (I'm a poet, and I wasn't even aware of it!)
My brother and my cousin Peter have said I look like a hipster because of my glasses and my pants. That is definitely not the case. But I do like my indie folk.
First up is Mideau. I went to their CD release back in September, and I love their album. This week they released a free EP in anticipation of a wide release of their album. Three of the songs I already had, but they had a cool remix of "Hejduk" (although I like the original better). They are really good, and I think that a lot of people have the potential to like them; they don't really fit into just one genre. You should go get their free EP. It's great.
On Friday night I went to see Cherie Call and Peter Breinholt. I went with my equine friend Carissa. It was my seventh time seeing Cherie Call live, and she sang a bunch of her standbys like "One Good Woman" and "Already a Butterfly," but she also sang "Lasagna," which I've never heard her sing live. She sang two songs from her upcoming album Homeless Songs, to be released in March. I'm really excited, because she hasn't released a new album since 2009. I love her style so much. She has a completely one-of-a-kind voice, and her story-telling lyrics are clever and poignant.
Peter Breinholt was next up. He has good music, but I'm not a big fan of his voice. However, I liked him a lot more live than I like his recordings. Maybe I'm just more tolerant of live voices. It was overall a really fun concert.
I think that banjos can fix all of life's problems. If we sent a banjo to North Korea, they would say sorry and start playing nice.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
The end begins.
The first week of my last semester is over.
All my life, I have gotten very depressed when an end approaches. I was depressed thinking about the end of elementary, junior high, and high schools, and especially about the end of my mission.
But I don't really get depressed thinking about the end of college. I don't know if that's because I've been burned out from homework, or if it's because I don't know what I'm doing after I graduate, so it doesn't seem real if there's nothing after it. Regardless, I don't feel depressed. Mildly sad, maybe, but not depressed. Which is a good thing, especially with lemits occurring this semester.
This semester looks like it will be my easiest yet.
I'm doing six credits of internship, which means I'm getting credit for working. It will be good for me to work more hours to replenish my bank account. I'm working 19 hours a week, because I don't trust myself not to go over 20, the max a student can work per week during a semester.
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have beginning weight training. I hate lifting weights, which is precisely why I'm taking the class. It's the third activity class I've had, and I'm not entirely looking forward to it, but I know it's good for me. It'll help me in my efforts to get rid of the Christmas candy that has decided to stick to my waist.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have French 322, advanced French part 2. I took French 321 during summer 2012, so it's been a while. However, they have changed 321 and 322 since I took 321. It used to be that 321 was grammar and 322 was writing. But now they've spread it across both, which means I get some grammar and less writing. Which is fine by me, because I prefer the grammar. (In fact, I probably wouldn't have taken 322 if it were just writing.) My roommate Jordan is also in my class, so I have a built-in study pal. We vowed to speak French in the apartment, although we've only done that once so far. I had to meet with my professor so she could get to know us. She asked me what I plan to do with French. I said, "Rien." (That means "nothing.") I'm taking French because I like it and because it's my last chance to formally study a foreign language. It's more useful than Old English, anyway.
We have a lab on Fridays, which makes me a little sad because I thought I wouldn't have any Friday classes. But it's still practically not having classes on Friday.
On Friday night, BYU was showing a French film, Les Intouchables, for which I could get class credit. It was edited, so I went. But even though they said it was edited for BYU audiences, I still found it inappropriate. Sure, they deleted all the uses of #$%!, but they kept the dozens of uses of @&*^. And there were still lots of dirty jokes. I realize that my standards are not those of most people, but I found the "edited" movie excessively profane for a BYU activity. One of the primary reasons I watch cheesy, poor-quality shows (60s sitcoms, low-budget kid movies) is because they are clean, which this movie is not. I realize I'm probably sounding like a self-righteous Peter Priesthood. I'm not trying to. I was just surprised at the content I was seeing at a BYU event. (Jurassic Park, which I watched in my Dinosaurs! class, didn't fit my standards either, but I didn't find it too shocking for BYU.)
On Wednesday nights, I have a class about the publishing industry. I sacrificed Old English 2 for this class in the hopes that it will help me get a job. I think it will be a very boring class; it's a 2.5-hour lecture from a guest speakers. But it's only once a week, and we don't have to turn anything in. Also, we should have some interesting guests; this week will be Brandon Mull (not that I've ever read him). At the end of the semester we will have to say whether we did the assignments, which consist of watching videos and looking at websites. Some of the videos we had to watch were hour-long forums and conferences about publishing. Yes, they're as exciting as they sound. There was no way I was going to be able to stand watching those, so I just had them play in the background while I looked at pictures of snowflakes and crazy animals. (Glow-in-the-dark cockroaches?) I admit that I didn't pay the closest attention doing so, but I wouldn't have paid better attention if I had really watched the videos, because I would have been sleeping.
I have a geology seminar, but we haven't had it yet.
I'm also going to work for a student journal. On Thursday I went to a journal fair to find one. Last semester in my corpus linguistics class, I introduced myself with the interesting fact that I only eat seasonal desserts and candies. This trait fascinated the class, so they kept asking me about it, even to the point that it would eat into my presentation time. Therefore, I created a page on my class website to answer questions about it, but people would still ask me about it before class. At one of the tables at the journal fair on Thursday, there were two girls. One of them had been in that class. Before I left, she offered me some of the Christmas and Valentine candy they had on the table, but then she realized that maybe I couldn't have it. Then the other girl said, "Are you the guy who..." She had heard about me. She thought the other girl had told her about me. But then she asked if I had a website, but the first girl didn't know about that, so then I found out that the second girl had actually heard about me from another girl from that class, a girl who seemed more fascinated by my habits than anyone else was. I explained that it was too late for Christmas candy but too early for Valentine candy, but they told me I could take some Valentine candy to eat later. So I did, and I can eat it starting Wednesday. I found the whole transaction amusing--a girl I never met had heard about me because of my strange habit! I also found it amusing because I have this perception that people don't think or talk about me when I'm not around.
With it being an easy semester, I'm going to spend time preparing for and applying to jobs. Yesterday I printed a book to put in my portfolio. I also have the feeling that I'm going to use my time frivolously; I may get reacquainted with my friend Mr. Hulu. (Mr. Hulu doesn't say #$%! or @&*^ around me.) Hopefully I'll be able to go running to supplement my lifting. (I tried twice this week, but both times I failed--once due to cold lungs and once due to a full stomach.)
I have no idea where I will be four months from now. Weird.
All my life, I have gotten very depressed when an end approaches. I was depressed thinking about the end of elementary, junior high, and high schools, and especially about the end of my mission.
But I don't really get depressed thinking about the end of college. I don't know if that's because I've been burned out from homework, or if it's because I don't know what I'm doing after I graduate, so it doesn't seem real if there's nothing after it. Regardless, I don't feel depressed. Mildly sad, maybe, but not depressed. Which is a good thing, especially with lemits occurring this semester.
This semester looks like it will be my easiest yet.
I'm doing six credits of internship, which means I'm getting credit for working. It will be good for me to work more hours to replenish my bank account. I'm working 19 hours a week, because I don't trust myself not to go over 20, the max a student can work per week during a semester.
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have beginning weight training. I hate lifting weights, which is precisely why I'm taking the class. It's the third activity class I've had, and I'm not entirely looking forward to it, but I know it's good for me. It'll help me in my efforts to get rid of the Christmas candy that has decided to stick to my waist.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have French 322, advanced French part 2. I took French 321 during summer 2012, so it's been a while. However, they have changed 321 and 322 since I took 321. It used to be that 321 was grammar and 322 was writing. But now they've spread it across both, which means I get some grammar and less writing. Which is fine by me, because I prefer the grammar. (In fact, I probably wouldn't have taken 322 if it were just writing.) My roommate Jordan is also in my class, so I have a built-in study pal. We vowed to speak French in the apartment, although we've only done that once so far. I had to meet with my professor so she could get to know us. She asked me what I plan to do with French. I said, "Rien." (That means "nothing.") I'm taking French because I like it and because it's my last chance to formally study a foreign language. It's more useful than Old English, anyway.
We have a lab on Fridays, which makes me a little sad because I thought I wouldn't have any Friday classes. But it's still practically not having classes on Friday.
On Friday night, BYU was showing a French film, Les Intouchables, for which I could get class credit. It was edited, so I went. But even though they said it was edited for BYU audiences, I still found it inappropriate. Sure, they deleted all the uses of #$%!, but they kept the dozens of uses of @&*^. And there were still lots of dirty jokes. I realize that my standards are not those of most people, but I found the "edited" movie excessively profane for a BYU activity. One of the primary reasons I watch cheesy, poor-quality shows (60s sitcoms, low-budget kid movies) is because they are clean, which this movie is not. I realize I'm probably sounding like a self-righteous Peter Priesthood. I'm not trying to. I was just surprised at the content I was seeing at a BYU event. (Jurassic Park, which I watched in my Dinosaurs! class, didn't fit my standards either, but I didn't find it too shocking for BYU.)
On Wednesday nights, I have a class about the publishing industry. I sacrificed Old English 2 for this class in the hopes that it will help me get a job. I think it will be a very boring class; it's a 2.5-hour lecture from a guest speakers. But it's only once a week, and we don't have to turn anything in. Also, we should have some interesting guests; this week will be Brandon Mull (not that I've ever read him). At the end of the semester we will have to say whether we did the assignments, which consist of watching videos and looking at websites. Some of the videos we had to watch were hour-long forums and conferences about publishing. Yes, they're as exciting as they sound. There was no way I was going to be able to stand watching those, so I just had them play in the background while I looked at pictures of snowflakes and crazy animals. (Glow-in-the-dark cockroaches?) I admit that I didn't pay the closest attention doing so, but I wouldn't have paid better attention if I had really watched the videos, because I would have been sleeping.
I have a geology seminar, but we haven't had it yet.
I'm also going to work for a student journal. On Thursday I went to a journal fair to find one. Last semester in my corpus linguistics class, I introduced myself with the interesting fact that I only eat seasonal desserts and candies. This trait fascinated the class, so they kept asking me about it, even to the point that it would eat into my presentation time. Therefore, I created a page on my class website to answer questions about it, but people would still ask me about it before class. At one of the tables at the journal fair on Thursday, there were two girls. One of them had been in that class. Before I left, she offered me some of the Christmas and Valentine candy they had on the table, but then she realized that maybe I couldn't have it. Then the other girl said, "Are you the guy who..." She had heard about me. She thought the other girl had told her about me. But then she asked if I had a website, but the first girl didn't know about that, so then I found out that the second girl had actually heard about me from another girl from that class, a girl who seemed more fascinated by my habits than anyone else was. I explained that it was too late for Christmas candy but too early for Valentine candy, but they told me I could take some Valentine candy to eat later. So I did, and I can eat it starting Wednesday. I found the whole transaction amusing--a girl I never met had heard about me because of my strange habit! I also found it amusing because I have this perception that people don't think or talk about me when I'm not around.
With it being an easy semester, I'm going to spend time preparing for and applying to jobs. Yesterday I printed a book to put in my portfolio. I also have the feeling that I'm going to use my time frivolously; I may get reacquainted with my friend Mr. Hulu. (Mr. Hulu doesn't say #$%! or @&*^ around me.) Hopefully I'll be able to go running to supplement my lifting. (I tried twice this week, but both times I failed--once due to cold lungs and once due to a full stomach.)
I have no idea where I will be four months from now. Weird.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
California Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day
This week my parents and I got back from California. We had gone there to visit my nephews: Preston, the inquisitive nine-year-old; Franklin, the generous almost-six-year-old; and Nathaniel, the adorable almost-four-year-old. Sadly, this was the best picture I got with all three of them.
We flew into the Oakland airport on Christmas and then went to my brother's apartment. We hadn't seen their new place; they moved out of their old one after some diabolical fiend who doesn't deserve to exist robbed them. I prefer to spend Christmas (and other holidays) at home, but at least I got to see my nephews.
Preston still likes to ask lots of questions. For the past four years, he has been known to ask a lot of questions.
Franklin's speech has improved. In the past, he had a strange habit of turning consonant clusters involving an r, w, or l into f. Thus, he said "play" as "fay" and "try" as "fy." Since starting school, his speech has improved; now he says "pway" and "twy."
Nathaniel was formerly known as Baby, but once this time around we called him that, and he said he wasn't a baby. When I asked if I could call him Baby, he said no; he says he has two names (Nathaniel and Qi-en). He still answers to Baby, though. Nathaniel is just such a cumbersome name; the Chinese Qi-en (chee-UN) is shorter, but I don't speak Chinese.
His speech hasn't improved much, if at all. He says more things, but his pronunciation hasn't changed. He is very hard to understand. His stop consonants seem to be interchangeable, and they are almost all voiced. For example, he says "toy" as "goy." Most of his fricatives and affricates (like "s" and "sh") seem to be either pronounced as "h" or "w." I can't decide whether his pronunciation helps make him so utterly cute, or if he would be even cuter if he could speak well.
However, he is really funny and has imaginary homes and families. There are some things he has sixteen ("hixteeng") of, and there are some things he has "hix nineteen" of. He has sixteen buses and sixteen houses. Each house has other family members and a swimming pool, although only one has another uncle. When we were buying Christmas presents for the boys, we told them that they could pool their money for a Wii U, and Nathaniel said they have one at his new house. When I was asking him what I could call him besides Nathaniel and Qi-en, I was silly and asked him if I could call him Bird, and he informed me that he has a white bird at his new house.
While we were there, we went to San Francisco's Exploratorium, which would have been funner if there weren't as many people there. Then we played at a park there in the city.
Our last full day there was on Monday, and I took the boys to a little playground at their complex. We heard a custodian freaking out, because he had found this little fella in the trash can:
The rat was trying to jump out. The boys wanted to see it, so I held them up, but I was a little worried about it jumping out while I was holding them. Eventually some people put a branch in the garbage for the rat to climb out. It did and ran into the bushes. It was kind of funny, because the first custodian was scared of it, so he called his friend custodian, who made fun of him for being scared. We made a quick stop back at the apartment, and when we went back to the playground, Nathaniel brought his little bike. He left it on the playground while he went playing, and then we noticed a woman pushing a little girl on it. Of course, Qi-en didn't like that, so I took him and I went up and said, "Can he ride on it?" She got off, but then Preston told me that he could tell the woman was mad because she was talking angrily with a friend (they weren't speaking English). It was weird enough to ride someone else's bike, but to be mad when you get kicked off--that's excessively odd. Maybe it was a cultural thing. And maybe she thought it wasn't ours either, since I didn't explicitly say so. But the woman did seem like she knew the girl had to get off when she saw us trailing them, before I had even said anything.
On New Year's Eve we flew home. That night my mom and I went to see Cherie Call on Temple Square. I think it was the sixth time I've seen her live, and I was very pleased she sang "Starting Again, Again," which is unquestionably the best New Year song I own. Then we went to my sister's house.
On New Year's Day, we had our traditional family dinner. Then the day ended.
And depressing January is upon us.
I've decided that January is officially my least favorite month. Once New Year's Day is over, there are no real holidays. While I hold Martin Luther King Jr. in high esteem, his holiday isn't much more than a day off. We don't have a "fun" holiday until Valentine's Day, and that's not even very fun. You need to lose all the weight you gained over Christmas, but it's hard to go running, because if the air is clean, there's lots of snow and ice, but if there's not much snow and ice, the air is dirty. I hope we don't have any freezing rain this month.
Tomorrow I start my fifth and last winter semester. Today at church, lots of people were introducing themselves and saying that they had just gotten off their mission. I was in that same boat four years ago. Weird! When I introduced myself, I said, "I've been home from my mission for five weeks, plus four years."
I'm hoping that this semester will be more laid back, but that's what I said about last semester, so we'll see. I got to see my grades for last semester. I got A's in my senior course, internship credit, Old English, and technical communication; an A- in groundwater; a P (pass) in swimming, and a B+ in field studies. I was expecting a B+ in field studies, so that doesn't disappoint me. The groundwater grade makes me both happy and a little disappointed. On one hand, I was expecting a B of some kind, so the A- was a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, the A- was a miracle, and if I was going to get a miracle, I would want it to be an A! These grades lowered my cumulative GPA. Oh well. I'm almost done anyway.
We flew into the Oakland airport on Christmas and then went to my brother's apartment. We hadn't seen their new place; they moved out of their old one after some diabolical fiend who doesn't deserve to exist robbed them. I prefer to spend Christmas (and other holidays) at home, but at least I got to see my nephews.
Preston still likes to ask lots of questions. For the past four years, he has been known to ask a lot of questions.
Franklin's speech has improved. In the past, he had a strange habit of turning consonant clusters involving an r, w, or l into f. Thus, he said "play" as "fay" and "try" as "fy." Since starting school, his speech has improved; now he says "pway" and "twy."
Nathaniel was formerly known as Baby, but once this time around we called him that, and he said he wasn't a baby. When I asked if I could call him Baby, he said no; he says he has two names (Nathaniel and Qi-en). He still answers to Baby, though. Nathaniel is just such a cumbersome name; the Chinese Qi-en (chee-UN) is shorter, but I don't speak Chinese.
His speech hasn't improved much, if at all. He says more things, but his pronunciation hasn't changed. He is very hard to understand. His stop consonants seem to be interchangeable, and they are almost all voiced. For example, he says "toy" as "goy." Most of his fricatives and affricates (like "s" and "sh") seem to be either pronounced as "h" or "w." I can't decide whether his pronunciation helps make him so utterly cute, or if he would be even cuter if he could speak well.
However, he is really funny and has imaginary homes and families. There are some things he has sixteen ("hixteeng") of, and there are some things he has "hix nineteen" of. He has sixteen buses and sixteen houses. Each house has other family members and a swimming pool, although only one has another uncle. When we were buying Christmas presents for the boys, we told them that they could pool their money for a Wii U, and Nathaniel said they have one at his new house. When I was asking him what I could call him besides Nathaniel and Qi-en, I was silly and asked him if I could call him Bird, and he informed me that he has a white bird at his new house.
While we were there, we went to San Francisco's Exploratorium, which would have been funner if there weren't as many people there. Then we played at a park there in the city.
Our last full day there was on Monday, and I took the boys to a little playground at their complex. We heard a custodian freaking out, because he had found this little fella in the trash can:
On New Year's Eve we flew home. That night my mom and I went to see Cherie Call on Temple Square. I think it was the sixth time I've seen her live, and I was very pleased she sang "Starting Again, Again," which is unquestionably the best New Year song I own. Then we went to my sister's house.
On New Year's Day, we had our traditional family dinner. Then the day ended.
And depressing January is upon us.
I've decided that January is officially my least favorite month. Once New Year's Day is over, there are no real holidays. While I hold Martin Luther King Jr. in high esteem, his holiday isn't much more than a day off. We don't have a "fun" holiday until Valentine's Day, and that's not even very fun. You need to lose all the weight you gained over Christmas, but it's hard to go running, because if the air is clean, there's lots of snow and ice, but if there's not much snow and ice, the air is dirty. I hope we don't have any freezing rain this month.
Tomorrow I start my fifth and last winter semester. Today at church, lots of people were introducing themselves and saying that they had just gotten off their mission. I was in that same boat four years ago. Weird! When I introduced myself, I said, "I've been home from my mission for five weeks, plus four years."
I'm hoping that this semester will be more laid back, but that's what I said about last semester, so we'll see. I got to see my grades for last semester. I got A's in my senior course, internship credit, Old English, and technical communication; an A- in groundwater; a P (pass) in swimming, and a B+ in field studies. I was expecting a B+ in field studies, so that doesn't disappoint me. The groundwater grade makes me both happy and a little disappointed. On one hand, I was expecting a B of some kind, so the A- was a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, the A- was a miracle, and if I was going to get a miracle, I would want it to be an A! These grades lowered my cumulative GPA. Oh well. I'm almost done anyway.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
2013
Well, it's the last Sunday of 2013, so it's time to recall what has happened over the past year.
January. I returned to Provo for winter semester classes. I took historical geology, geology of planets, Old Testament, phonetics and phonology, and Early Modern English. It was really cold for a really long time, and the air was nasty. On January 24, we had freezing rain, and I unwisely decided to go brave it. I meant to go to my phonetics and phonology class, but I ended up at the dentist instead, since I slipped on the ice and landed on my teeth. One tooth was killed as it was pushed back and severed a nerve, and others were chipped. There were lots of videos of the ice, and I actually know the guy who made this one:
February. A Gospel Doctrine lesson inspired to make a silly song, which my roommate recorded. The video shows my lovely droopy eye and my gaudy Valentine tie.
On Presidents' Day, I got a root canal for my dead tooth.
March. Some friends threw a "morning mourning bash" for my tooth before I went and "helped" my cousin Jesse move into his new house. On the day before St. Patrick's Day, I went on a field trip to Spanish Fork Canyon in which we saw many things, including reptile clawmark fossils.
On St. Patrick's Day, everyone was impressed with my green outfit. On the day before Easter, I went to a funeral of an old family friend.
April. I went to a mission reunion in Draper on conference weekend. My church calling was upgraded from assistant membership clerk to THE ward clerk, which meant that from then on I've had to attend bishopric meetings and ward council. My roommates Scott and Cameron moved out, and the semester ended. There was a tarantula who owned more stuff than anyone I have ever known.
My final for my Early Modern English class consisted of writing a hymn based on scriptures, and I was pleased with mine. During my short break, I went with my parents to see a Mummies of the World exhibit. When I returned to Provo, I met my new roommate Jordan. I had my first day of spring classes, but my only class that day was the editing capstone class.
May. I had my second day of spring classes, and I finally had my structure of English class--a class in which I learned all about ambiguity, so I'm now very good at seeing ambiguity. I went to the first Rooftop Concert Series of the summer, although I don't remember much about the performers. I think I went swinging at Kiwanis Park a couple of times. Jan Terri released a new video.
June. I finished up all the work for my spring classes, and then summer term started. But I didn't take summer classes; I just increased my work hours and had a nice, relaxing summer. A few times I went and pulled up evil goathead plants, a tradition I plan to maintain. At the end of the month, I drove with my parents to California. We went to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, where we met up with my brother and his wife and my three nephews, Preston, Franklin, and Nathaniel.
On the last day of the month (my mom's birthday), we drove to their house in the Bay Area.
July. I got sick at Six Flags, which made the Fourth of July not very good. I was amused by the goodie bags my nephews got on that holiday.
On July 6, we drove all my nephews home to Utah. I went back to Provo, but I visited on weekends. Eventually it was time to take them back to California, so we drove to California again and went to Disneyland. Then we had to drive back to Utah, nephewless. The air conditioning in my apartment went out for two weeks, and my roommate Bryton moved to Mexico to work at their MTC.
August. I went to another Rooftop Concert--all by myself--but I liked Mindy Gledhill and really liked Mideau. My roommate Chad moved in, but he tends to have different hours than I do, so I don't see him much. I went with ward members up Provo Canyon to go see a meteor shower. It was cloudy at first, but eventually we saw some good ones. Then my summer ended two weeks early so I could go on geology 210. The first week we went to Little Cottonwood Canyon and made a geologic map of the area--Tintic Quartzite, Mineral Fork Tillite, Maxfield Limestone, Ophir Shale, and Alta stock were all terms we became familiar with. Then we had an unseasonably cool Monday before I headed out for the second week of 210. On that one we went to southern Utah, going to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef.
Our ward boundaries were rearranged.
September. I shaved my beard from 210 on Labor Day. My roommate Scott moved in (not the same one who had moved out) that week. I started fall classes, taking groundwater, swimming for non-swimmers, the senior course for my major (the section being about corpus linguistics), Old English, technical writing, and internship credit. We had a crazy rainstorm that flooded Provo.
I went to another Rooftop Concert by myself, but the following weekend I went to Mideau's album release--an album that is probably my favorite music purchase from 2013. I got ready for Halloween, and then the last weekend of the month I went on a cold field trip for groundwater. We went to Great Basin National Park, and it wasn't terribly interesting, although Lehman Cave was fun. The day after we got back, I turned 25.
October. On conference weekend, I went to the final Rooftop Concert, even though it wasn't on a rooftop because of the cold. It was the Lower Lights, and I always love them. I was with Kristen and Carissa, two horses. My roommate Scott got to learn all of my eccentric viewing habits, as I watched my cheesy Halloween shows. I carved a Jack jack-o-lantern, and on Halloween I went to a tri-stake Halloween party and got my face painted.
In this picture, he is trying to push the log over.
January. I returned to Provo for winter semester classes. I took historical geology, geology of planets, Old Testament, phonetics and phonology, and Early Modern English. It was really cold for a really long time, and the air was nasty. On January 24, we had freezing rain, and I unwisely decided to go brave it. I meant to go to my phonetics and phonology class, but I ended up at the dentist instead, since I slipped on the ice and landed on my teeth. One tooth was killed as it was pushed back and severed a nerve, and others were chipped. There were lots of videos of the ice, and I actually know the guy who made this one:
February. A Gospel Doctrine lesson inspired to make a silly song, which my roommate recorded. The video shows my lovely droopy eye and my gaudy Valentine tie.
On Presidents' Day, I got a root canal for my dead tooth.
March. Some friends threw a "morning mourning bash" for my tooth before I went and "helped" my cousin Jesse move into his new house. On the day before St. Patrick's Day, I went on a field trip to Spanish Fork Canyon in which we saw many things, including reptile clawmark fossils.
April. I went to a mission reunion in Draper on conference weekend. My church calling was upgraded from assistant membership clerk to THE ward clerk, which meant that from then on I've had to attend bishopric meetings and ward council. My roommates Scott and Cameron moved out, and the semester ended. There was a tarantula who owned more stuff than anyone I have ever known.
May. I had my second day of spring classes, and I finally had my structure of English class--a class in which I learned all about ambiguity, so I'm now very good at seeing ambiguity. I went to the first Rooftop Concert Series of the summer, although I don't remember much about the performers. I think I went swinging at Kiwanis Park a couple of times. Jan Terri released a new video.
June. I finished up all the work for my spring classes, and then summer term started. But I didn't take summer classes; I just increased my work hours and had a nice, relaxing summer. A few times I went and pulled up evil goathead plants, a tradition I plan to maintain. At the end of the month, I drove with my parents to California. We went to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, where we met up with my brother and his wife and my three nephews, Preston, Franklin, and Nathaniel.
July. I got sick at Six Flags, which made the Fourth of July not very good. I was amused by the goodie bags my nephews got on that holiday.
August. I went to another Rooftop Concert--all by myself--but I liked Mindy Gledhill and really liked Mideau. My roommate Chad moved in, but he tends to have different hours than I do, so I don't see him much. I went with ward members up Provo Canyon to go see a meteor shower. It was cloudy at first, but eventually we saw some good ones. Then my summer ended two weeks early so I could go on geology 210. The first week we went to Little Cottonwood Canyon and made a geologic map of the area--Tintic Quartzite, Mineral Fork Tillite, Maxfield Limestone, Ophir Shale, and Alta stock were all terms we became familiar with. Then we had an unseasonably cool Monday before I headed out for the second week of 210. On that one we went to southern Utah, going to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef.
September. I shaved my beard from 210 on Labor Day. My roommate Scott moved in (not the same one who had moved out) that week. I started fall classes, taking groundwater, swimming for non-swimmers, the senior course for my major (the section being about corpus linguistics), Old English, technical writing, and internship credit. We had a crazy rainstorm that flooded Provo.
I went to another Rooftop Concert by myself, but the following weekend I went to Mideau's album release--an album that is probably my favorite music purchase from 2013. I got ready for Halloween, and then the last weekend of the month I went on a cold field trip for groundwater. We went to Great Basin National Park, and it wasn't terribly interesting, although Lehman Cave was fun. The day after we got back, I turned 25.
October. On conference weekend, I went to the final Rooftop Concert, even though it wasn't on a rooftop because of the cold. It was the Lower Lights, and I always love them. I was with Kristen and Carissa, two horses. My roommate Scott got to learn all of my eccentric viewing habits, as I watched my cheesy Halloween shows. I carved a Jack jack-o-lantern, and on Halloween I went to a tri-stake Halloween party and got my face painted.
November. I got lots of clearance candy corn for Thanksgiving, and I had to share with my roommates. I lost a flash drive, but luckily I found it again. I went home for Thanksgiving, which was at our house, and I saw wild turkeys when I went running in Bountiful. There were only two movies I saw all year, and I saw both of them in November--Free Birds and Frozen. Frozen was really good; Free Birds was perfectly mediocre, but a mediocre Thanksgiving movie is better than an ordinary mediocre movie.
December. My roommate Scott loves Christmas, so I went caroling one Sunday with him and made wassail for his Christmas party. I finished up winter semester classes, doing a very nasty lab writeup for groundwater. Then I went to my cousin's wedding reception in Fillmore, and then on Christmas day I flew with my parents to California to see my nephews again. Nathaniel has been telling us about his sixteen (or "hixteeng") new houses, each with a swimming pool.
In this picture, he is trying to push the log over.
In 2014, I am going to graduate. Hopefully that also means I'll get a real job, or I'll be in trouble. I have no idea what the year is going to be like. That's kind of a scary thought.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Groundwater is six feet under
On Friday night I had the glorious experience of coming home and seeing my phone's weather app change to North Salt Lake and seeing presents under the tree and stockings on the fireplace. There's really no place like home for the holidays.
Of course, it wasn't all peaches and cream (or, to make it seasonal, gingerbread and eggnog) to make it to that point. It was, after all, finals week. For Old English, I had to translate eighty lines of poetry. It was fairly easy.
But groundwater was just annoying. I had to write a big nasty lab report. They are no fun to write or do. With my other geology classes, I can learn about concepts and explain them to you, as evidenced by various blog posts. That's not the case with groundwater. It was all equations and math. We learned all these equations, but I don't know what the equations mean. I have a basic understanding of groundwater, but not as much as I had hoped. I was talking with one of my classmates about that, and he said it's sad that that's how I'm ending geology. I'm taking geology seminar next semester, but that doesn't really count as a full geology class.
I finished my report Thursday afternoon, and I was all done with all my classes! That's a great feeling. Then that night I went to the last of the tithing settlement appointments. (But come January, I'm going to have to deal with more tithing stuff. Ugh.)
The Salt Lake area got more freezing rain this week. That's the second time in 2013 with freezing rain, and yet in my whole life there's only one other time I've seen such weather. (And people say climate change doesn't exist?) Fortunately we didn't get any in Provo--I say "fortunately" because I am deathly afraid of ice. I don't believe that God spared Provo just because of me, but I'm glad that's the way it happened.
I would have gone home Thursday night, but the snow and ice made me stay in Provo an extra night. The next day was my cousin Amory's wedding. My parents swung by to take me to Fillmore, where the reception was. On the way I tried to play my Christmas playlist from Google Play on my phone, but it didn't always work. It's weird to me that Amory got married, because I remember when she was a baby, and here she is married and I'm not. I'm ancient!
Small towns fascinate me. They always have the best Christmas displays (I learned that on my mission). We stopped into the town grocery store to get a card, and the girl at the checkout asked who was getting married, and when we told her who, she said, "Oh yeah, the reception's tonight." That wouldn't happen in the city!
On our way back, my mom got a phone call but couldn't answer because of the signal. She sent a text that said something to the effect of "I'll call you back because we went to a wedding in Fillmore and the reception is terrible." Even non-linguistic people can appreciate the ambiguity there, but my linguistic mind finds that particularly enjoyable and hilarious.
Then I spent Sunday going to church in my home ward, getting out cinnamon and cloves to make wassail and gingerbread, and listening to Christmas albums by the Tabernacle Choir and the Lower Lights. It makes me feel so jolly.
I still have to finish my Christmas shopping.
And I wish my thirty readers a very merry, holly jolly, happy snappy Christmas!
Of course, it wasn't all peaches and cream (or, to make it seasonal, gingerbread and eggnog) to make it to that point. It was, after all, finals week. For Old English, I had to translate eighty lines of poetry. It was fairly easy.
But groundwater was just annoying. I had to write a big nasty lab report. They are no fun to write or do. With my other geology classes, I can learn about concepts and explain them to you, as evidenced by various blog posts. That's not the case with groundwater. It was all equations and math. We learned all these equations, but I don't know what the equations mean. I have a basic understanding of groundwater, but not as much as I had hoped. I was talking with one of my classmates about that, and he said it's sad that that's how I'm ending geology. I'm taking geology seminar next semester, but that doesn't really count as a full geology class.
I finished my report Thursday afternoon, and I was all done with all my classes! That's a great feeling. Then that night I went to the last of the tithing settlement appointments. (But come January, I'm going to have to deal with more tithing stuff. Ugh.)
The Salt Lake area got more freezing rain this week. That's the second time in 2013 with freezing rain, and yet in my whole life there's only one other time I've seen such weather. (And people say climate change doesn't exist?) Fortunately we didn't get any in Provo--I say "fortunately" because I am deathly afraid of ice. I don't believe that God spared Provo just because of me, but I'm glad that's the way it happened.
I would have gone home Thursday night, but the snow and ice made me stay in Provo an extra night. The next day was my cousin Amory's wedding. My parents swung by to take me to Fillmore, where the reception was. On the way I tried to play my Christmas playlist from Google Play on my phone, but it didn't always work. It's weird to me that Amory got married, because I remember when she was a baby, and here she is married and I'm not. I'm ancient!
Small towns fascinate me. They always have the best Christmas displays (I learned that on my mission). We stopped into the town grocery store to get a card, and the girl at the checkout asked who was getting married, and when we told her who, she said, "Oh yeah, the reception's tonight." That wouldn't happen in the city!
On our way back, my mom got a phone call but couldn't answer because of the signal. She sent a text that said something to the effect of "I'll call you back because we went to a wedding in Fillmore and the reception is terrible." Even non-linguistic people can appreciate the ambiguity there, but my linguistic mind finds that particularly enjoyable and hilarious.
Then I spent Sunday going to church in my home ward, getting out cinnamon and cloves to make wassail and gingerbread, and listening to Christmas albums by the Tabernacle Choir and the Lower Lights. It makes me feel so jolly.
I still have to finish my Christmas shopping.
And I wish my thirty readers a very merry, holly jolly, happy snappy Christmas!
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