Well hey again blog, I'm consistently writing on you which makes me happy. Should I be writing on you since I have 3 tests within the next 7 days and I've barely studied? No, Probably not. Should I be writing to relieve stress and maintain my sanity. Yes, I absolutely should.
So quick update on my English paper: After turning in the POS that was my paper, I promptly received it back the following class. During that class hour, my Professor got off on some random tangent about Caesar and the saying, "Veni, Vidi, Vici." Yeah, I have no clue how we go to this point in a class about nature, but who am I to care. Thinking to myself in my head, "This means, 'I came, I saw, I conquered,'" I sat quietly until, what would you know? The teacher tells us that if anyone can tell him what the translation was, he would give the a half letter grade bump on their paper. You probably can picture me raising my hand in the air so fast that is dislocated itself, trying to scrounge for some extra gradeage. Those are times when I have absolutely no dignity. Lucky for me though, the rest of the class had no idea what it was, so I won. So, at the end of class, our papers were handed back to us. How he did this so quickly this time, I do not know. It could only be because they were all so horribly bad. Upon getting my paper, I ignored all professor marks and went straight to the back page to see the letter grade. I think my jaw hit the floor. "A-" was printed neatly under all his criticisms. With that wonderful stroke of Latin verbage, I had received an A. A glorious glorious A. Just thought I'd let you know.
That was a rather long tangent, so I'll get to my main point.
A couple days ago, a friend and I were walking back from signing up for mentor training (something I'll touch on later). Upon crossing campus, we talked about the guy she had been on a couple dates with and within the next hour, she would be embarking upon another one. It sounded like a normal date, probably dinner and some random activity. Then she told me that he might want to go see a movie after. We can all see where this is going.
Movies are definitely an activity where a plethora of things can happen in the dark, especially that of hand-holding. It is the perfect environment where one would feel comfortable making the move of reaching out digits and ensnaring a dates hand. Most people who have gone to a movie as a couple would probably know this. Asking someone to go for a movie (on a date) is almost like asking, "Hey, any way you'd like to put both our arms on a really small surface, try and maintain comfort, and hold my sweaty palm for an hour and a half?" It is an activity where hand holding is implied. Like ice-skating, roller-skating, or barn dancing, somebody is probably going to try and grasp your hand (or swing you dosie-do, who knows).
We talked outside the library about hand-holding seems to be some sort of commitment, at least for some people. In my opinion, it doesn't mean that much. You can hold hands with lots of people: Your niece, your best friend as you skip down a street, a blind hobo; It doesn't mean that you have any romantic relationship with these people. My friends biggest worry was that the joining of hands would result in another step in the relationship. To her, she wanted the hand-holding to be spontaneous and fun, not something where you could expect it to happen, ie, a cheesy movie. I agree with her on that. Any guy who's plan is to hold your hand during a movie, should probably go to the movie alone.
But is holding a hand something as serious as it should be? I don't think so. I don't think my friend thinks so either, so hopefully no one is misunderstanding this. From personal experience, I've held hands on walks, movies, and other assorted activities. To me, it means little and sometimes can be very uncomfortable (sweaty palms and weird finger placement). I'm definitely not opposed though. Where it falls in terms of relationship levels, I have no idea. I know it's not up there with kissing in relationship terms, but kissing is a whole other story. I'm pretty sure I've even kissed people before I've held their hand and the world didn't implode.
To me, hand-holding is also definitely an appropriate use of PDA. Onlookers can easily see that those two are in a beautiful budding relationship, and can all sigh cute little, "Ahhhhhs," as they walk by. I approve it much more than tongues down throats, or hands down in no-man's land. Those just make me feel like I got an STD from being so close.
Point being, I guess we will have to wait and see. I'm glad that hand-holding exists because it really is a nice way to extend your feelings toward another in a subtle, physical way. Am I over-analyzing this? Or does hand-holding really mean something special? I know we've all been in the movie theater before with our hands in our armpits, avoiding another's hopeful advances as they nudge us. Sometimes, it's for the best, it can tell another we don't want something. Hopefully though, we will all hold hands one day around the world in the cute little circle race, gender, and equality, and I won't have to think to myself, "Gee, I hope this girl next to me doesn't like me, I don't really bat for her team."
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Ke$ha, Vegas, and English papers
Hey look! I'm writing when I actually should, when I have free time! After turning in a Bio quiz, editing a terrible (really, truly terrible) English paper, and guessing on Accounting (I got them all correct though), I found myself sitting in the library wondering what to do next. I've already done my workout today, I shouldn't eat quiet yet, and it's way too early to take a nap. Write!
Anywhosville, I found myself in Las Vegas the past weekend. Early in the summer, a friend of mine called me up and asked if I would like to go to the Ke$ha concert there. What kind of a silly question is that? Loud vulgar music, glitter, and bright lights? Of course I was going to this event. I promptly purchased tickets near to where my friends were and proceeded to wait until September 16th when I could depart. Finally, the day arrived, and we were on our way.
Friday:
We got to Vegas with around an hour and a half to get ready before the concert, so I donned a tight red tank top, skin tight jeans, and my black converse high tops. Also, my friend did some blue tiger stripes with gold glitter down the side of my left eye, it was a pretty cool getup, I must say. We found the concert hall with no difficulty in the Planet Hollywood casino and continued to enter the venue. Having not eaten since 2 or so (it now being 8), I quickly purchased a hamburger that was being sold near the doors. It was about the equivalent of an elementary school hot lunch hamburger, but it would suffice since my stomach was empty. Also not wanting to leave this place empty handed, I purchased a Ke$ha concert t-shirt for myself and an Animal one for my sister. Scarfing down the greasy morsel (this thing was tiny and was 5 bucks, rip-off), we entered the theater and headed down to our seats. Well, the ushers, or seat-police, were very strict about where people sat in this place and would only let you go to your designated section. Fortunately, they glanced at tickets and since I was in the general area of my friends, I just sat with them and hoped the seat I sat in wasn't occupied. No one every showed, so all's well.
Well, the concert started with some raunchy skinny rapper guy who's name I couldn't recall. He rapped about random things and I do remember one of these being about his dick being racist...yeah, classy stuff. Well, after he finished and the stage was set, LMFAO entered and it seemed that that's what most of the people here had come for. Their songs were fun, loud, and sexual. Mostly about drinking and running around your bikini. Can you tell that I'm getting a really cultural experience right now? At one point, they even had a bottle of petrone that they would just drink from. I'm not sure how they functioned, but I guess everyone has their secrets. Not much singing occurred either, mostly just loud yelling and booty shakin'.
After this debauchery, what I had initially come for began. Ke$ha in all her wonderful Sleazy glory. But seriously, she started out singing sleazy which was fun. One thing that surprised me though was that Ke$ha actually used real instruments. She played the drum, strummed a guitar, tapped on a keyboard, and beat a cow-bell. I'm pretty positive that she wasn't in a sober state though as she kept repeating words as she talked to the crowd (ex: I F*cking love you Vegas! at least 5 times and in the same tone of voice) and once during the show she did a cartwheel...then fell down. Her "singing" was actually better than I expected it to be since most of it is autotuned magic. Let me just say, her backup singers sure saved her. I'm sure though that what she's going for is the show effect, not her actual talent. It was fun, nonetheless and definitely a show that I enjoyed watching. Glitter cannons, confetti, drunk people, and strange dancing with dinosaurs while eating a human heart pretty much sums up the whole thing. Oh Ke$ha, you hot hot mess.
So after the concert was clubbing time! Unfortunately for us, one in our party was not of age so we decided to get Micky D's instead and go to bed.
Saturday:
Waking up, we all went swimming at the hotel pool where we met some interesting people. I don't know if it's something about vacationing in Vegas, but people just really want to tell you about their lives and/or vacations. I met a man from London, and a nice couple from Montreal. The couple was here to go rock climbing and the woman told us that there were no spas in the desert, so that's why they had stopped in Vegas. "Nozing feels beterr zan a nice massage and a hot showeh after climbing red roc." She said in her wonderful French accent. After our poolside relaxation time, we decided to hit up the strip for some shopping. Most of this time was spent in Caesar's palace at the very large H&M where I'm ashamed to say I spent more money that I should have. I was on vacation, come on, I had to get something. Well we spent a good deal of time looking in all the shops where we could never in our wildest dreams afford anything and eventually got dinner. We also stopped over at the Circus Circus casino and played some games and watched a contortionist and a quick change act. I still don't understand those for the life of me.
As the night came to a close, we sat wondering what to do. Fortunately for us, the club who usually only does 18+ on Fridays, was doing it on Saturday as well due to Pride being that weekend. Time to get my dance on! This time, we left our underage compatriot at the hotel and departed for Krave. Never having been to this club before, I could only imagine what they would have inside. Amazing lights, a great dj, beautiful people? Well, I got some of those right. It was crowded enough when we got there and the DJ was pretty fantastic, much better than SL clubs. Also, almost every Go-go was a beautiful specimen that one could even deem "lickable." The lights they had rigged to this place were also pretty fantastic creating the perfect dancing environment. The downside to all this though, was that the other dancers in the club, were, well...homely. There wasn't very much to pick from in terms of people in attractiveness. SL definitely has that on Vegas, pretty people. The night was fun, lots of dancing, drunk people spilling drinks on you, and foam coming from the ceiling every so often. At 2am, they even dropped $2500 from the ceiling inside balloons which resulted in mass chaos (and broken glasses on my friends behalf and no money for me). We left sometime after 2 since we were both tired and went to our McDonald's again to get a drink and a Big mac, since it was free with a large drink. Well, the girl wouldn't serve us since apparently she needed a manager since our coupon was in the form of a text message. Stopping at a gas station, we ended the night with sour gummy worms and water.
Sunday:
Drove home and did homework like there's no tomorrow.
Overall, a pretty fantastic weekend so I thought I'd sum it up here. I've never really spent much time in Vegas so this was definitely a good vacation experience so I'll know what to do next time.
Sidenote: I'm going to go print my English paper now and hopefully it doesn't burst into flames for it being so bad, or have a helicopter from the English police descend upon me and put me away for years. I can only see myself in a small jail cell holding onto the bars weeping and yelling, "I'm sorry! I promise that I'll never write terrible narratives on animals again!" On my tombstone, they can just write: Here lies Ryan, writer of terrible animal narratives. He died because everyone hated his paper and burned him at the stake.
Anywhosville, I found myself in Las Vegas the past weekend. Early in the summer, a friend of mine called me up and asked if I would like to go to the Ke$ha concert there. What kind of a silly question is that? Loud vulgar music, glitter, and bright lights? Of course I was going to this event. I promptly purchased tickets near to where my friends were and proceeded to wait until September 16th when I could depart. Finally, the day arrived, and we were on our way.
Friday:
We got to Vegas with around an hour and a half to get ready before the concert, so I donned a tight red tank top, skin tight jeans, and my black converse high tops. Also, my friend did some blue tiger stripes with gold glitter down the side of my left eye, it was a pretty cool getup, I must say. We found the concert hall with no difficulty in the Planet Hollywood casino and continued to enter the venue. Having not eaten since 2 or so (it now being 8), I quickly purchased a hamburger that was being sold near the doors. It was about the equivalent of an elementary school hot lunch hamburger, but it would suffice since my stomach was empty. Also not wanting to leave this place empty handed, I purchased a Ke$ha concert t-shirt for myself and an Animal one for my sister. Scarfing down the greasy morsel (this thing was tiny and was 5 bucks, rip-off), we entered the theater and headed down to our seats. Well, the ushers, or seat-police, were very strict about where people sat in this place and would only let you go to your designated section. Fortunately, they glanced at tickets and since I was in the general area of my friends, I just sat with them and hoped the seat I sat in wasn't occupied. No one every showed, so all's well.
Well, the concert started with some raunchy skinny rapper guy who's name I couldn't recall. He rapped about random things and I do remember one of these being about his dick being racist...yeah, classy stuff. Well, after he finished and the stage was set, LMFAO entered and it seemed that that's what most of the people here had come for. Their songs were fun, loud, and sexual. Mostly about drinking and running around your bikini. Can you tell that I'm getting a really cultural experience right now? At one point, they even had a bottle of petrone that they would just drink from. I'm not sure how they functioned, but I guess everyone has their secrets. Not much singing occurred either, mostly just loud yelling and booty shakin'.
After this debauchery, what I had initially come for began. Ke$ha in all her wonderful Sleazy glory. But seriously, she started out singing sleazy which was fun. One thing that surprised me though was that Ke$ha actually used real instruments. She played the drum, strummed a guitar, tapped on a keyboard, and beat a cow-bell. I'm pretty positive that she wasn't in a sober state though as she kept repeating words as she talked to the crowd (ex: I F*cking love you Vegas! at least 5 times and in the same tone of voice) and once during the show she did a cartwheel...then fell down. Her "singing" was actually better than I expected it to be since most of it is autotuned magic. Let me just say, her backup singers sure saved her. I'm sure though that what she's going for is the show effect, not her actual talent. It was fun, nonetheless and definitely a show that I enjoyed watching. Glitter cannons, confetti, drunk people, and strange dancing with dinosaurs while eating a human heart pretty much sums up the whole thing. Oh Ke$ha, you hot hot mess.
So after the concert was clubbing time! Unfortunately for us, one in our party was not of age so we decided to get Micky D's instead and go to bed.
Saturday:
Waking up, we all went swimming at the hotel pool where we met some interesting people. I don't know if it's something about vacationing in Vegas, but people just really want to tell you about their lives and/or vacations. I met a man from London, and a nice couple from Montreal. The couple was here to go rock climbing and the woman told us that there were no spas in the desert, so that's why they had stopped in Vegas. "Nozing feels beterr zan a nice massage and a hot showeh after climbing red roc." She said in her wonderful French accent. After our poolside relaxation time, we decided to hit up the strip for some shopping. Most of this time was spent in Caesar's palace at the very large H&M where I'm ashamed to say I spent more money that I should have. I was on vacation, come on, I had to get something. Well we spent a good deal of time looking in all the shops where we could never in our wildest dreams afford anything and eventually got dinner. We also stopped over at the Circus Circus casino and played some games and watched a contortionist and a quick change act. I still don't understand those for the life of me.
As the night came to a close, we sat wondering what to do. Fortunately for us, the club who usually only does 18+ on Fridays, was doing it on Saturday as well due to Pride being that weekend. Time to get my dance on! This time, we left our underage compatriot at the hotel and departed for Krave. Never having been to this club before, I could only imagine what they would have inside. Amazing lights, a great dj, beautiful people? Well, I got some of those right. It was crowded enough when we got there and the DJ was pretty fantastic, much better than SL clubs. Also, almost every Go-go was a beautiful specimen that one could even deem "lickable." The lights they had rigged to this place were also pretty fantastic creating the perfect dancing environment. The downside to all this though, was that the other dancers in the club, were, well...homely. There wasn't very much to pick from in terms of people in attractiveness. SL definitely has that on Vegas, pretty people. The night was fun, lots of dancing, drunk people spilling drinks on you, and foam coming from the ceiling every so often. At 2am, they even dropped $2500 from the ceiling inside balloons which resulted in mass chaos (and broken glasses on my friends behalf and no money for me). We left sometime after 2 since we were both tired and went to our McDonald's again to get a drink and a Big mac, since it was free with a large drink. Well, the girl wouldn't serve us since apparently she needed a manager since our coupon was in the form of a text message. Stopping at a gas station, we ended the night with sour gummy worms and water.
Sunday:
Drove home and did homework like there's no tomorrow.
Overall, a pretty fantastic weekend so I thought I'd sum it up here. I've never really spent much time in Vegas so this was definitely a good vacation experience so I'll know what to do next time.
Sidenote: I'm going to go print my English paper now and hopefully it doesn't burst into flames for it being so bad, or have a helicopter from the English police descend upon me and put me away for years. I can only see myself in a small jail cell holding onto the bars weeping and yelling, "I'm sorry! I promise that I'll never write terrible narratives on animals again!" On my tombstone, they can just write: Here lies Ryan, writer of terrible animal narratives. He died because everyone hated his paper and burned him at the stake.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Training Your Animals
I'm currently living with a small long-haired chihuahua that is basically a spawn of Satan. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs and other furry creatures, but this little rat has driven me to the edge of madness. So, of course, I'm going to compare training a dog to training your children (ie: college students), or, your "animals."
1. Don't bark at every single thing that walks by
Dogs are great for protection sometimes, but when they verbally assault every stranger that comes within view, it gets tiring telling them to shut their mouth. Same goes for college students. When I get into a library to study quietly, or a classroom where listening to the teacher is key to passing the class, I'd rather not have to differentiate how hydrogen bonds and what happened in the dramatic life of the Utah valley girl over the weekend.
*All in loud whispers, those kind*
"Oh my! Did she, like, totally do that? No way!"
"Totally, and then we all went and got frozen yogurt and talked about Twilight."
I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but I'm sure you get what I mean. I talk in class sometimes too, we all have, but when you're chatting about who "Lisa" made out with and then you ask stupid questions due to your non-functioning ear (and probably brain), you need to shut your face.
2. Teach your "dog" not to jump on/salivate on others
Dogs sitting in my lap don't bother me, especially when they're cuter than everything ever created. I don't even mind a dog licking me a little bit either, they love people. Although, something licking my feet grosses me out, so smaller dogs, I'm sorry, go away. Overall though, I'm sure there are those people out there who don't like being attacked by a strange dog, to some it might even make them cry. The same goes for people.
Let's start with couples. Like a dog, you don't really want to see anything cleaning itself. Especially people...cleaning each other...with their mouths. When PDA goes past the point of cute hand holding and hugging and goes to the next level of tongue slobbering and groping, people around you are starting to wish they had less vision in their eyes. Let your friends know that their exchanging of DNA sickens you. Bad dog! Leave that other dog alone!
Next, we have our overly touchy friends. Hugs are good. Handshakes are good. Really long handshakes and hugs from just a friend start getting awkward. What can make it more awkward? When that friend starts to rub your back and/or hand. Maybe I'm just the type of person that keeps things simple, but whenever I come away from these embraces, I always feel like I then need to be cleansed. Get me some holy water so I can say some hail Mary's! Bad Charlie (my imaginary dogs name), stop humping that man's leg!
3. Roll over Charlie
When you first get a dog, usually puppies, you have to train them to be a good, decent dog that can function well in society. If you let your dog run rampant, chase the mailman, harass the neighbors cat, and never come home when you call, it's likely they're not going to change without some kind of punishment/reinforcement. It probably won't even call you to let you know that he's going to come home late from that party. Oh, wait, dogs don't have thumbs and can't use telephones or speak English.
Moving on. Too often from being in college the short time I've been here I've seen so many children crash and burn. Without the good reinforcement/punishment, kids do whatever the hell they want and whenever they want. You'll end with the stays-up-late-doesn't-finish-homework-parties-too-much-says-rude-things-in-public-is-a-distraction-in-class kid. The type of kid who uses his laptop in class to watch YouTube videos and comment on Facebook status'. They've never been punished before, and coming to college, they probably don't think that they will now. Hopefully the real world mentality will set in eventually and they'll understand that and have sit outside since they peed on the rug. Hey, peeing on the rug is cool for some kids.
4. Good job for ripping up the couch!
Just an afterthought that relates closely to #3. Encouraging bad behavior in your dog is not ok. Praising the dog for barking incessantly and for leaving feces in places where feces should not be found (ie: the bathroom rug) doesn't help anyone. Your dog never really learns what is right and wrong and will continue to do stupid things.
Translating this to children. Rewarding your child for being "creative" when they ruin something with paint or just say that they're "speaking their mind" when they torment another child is just plain bad parenting. Mostly it's just the ignorant parents who think they're children are golden angel children that bother me. Let me tell you, they're only golden when you're looking.
If there's anything else that you can think of, feel free to let me know when training a dog. I'm a little dog hungry/dog annoyed at the moment which prompted me to write this. Hopefully I'll be a good parent one day and my dog won't come home late at night stinking of catnip.
1. Don't bark at every single thing that walks by
Dogs are great for protection sometimes, but when they verbally assault every stranger that comes within view, it gets tiring telling them to shut their mouth. Same goes for college students. When I get into a library to study quietly, or a classroom where listening to the teacher is key to passing the class, I'd rather not have to differentiate how hydrogen bonds and what happened in the dramatic life of the Utah valley girl over the weekend.
*All in loud whispers, those kind*
"Oh my! Did she, like, totally do that? No way!"
"Totally, and then we all went and got frozen yogurt and talked about Twilight."
I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but I'm sure you get what I mean. I talk in class sometimes too, we all have, but when you're chatting about who "Lisa" made out with and then you ask stupid questions due to your non-functioning ear (and probably brain), you need to shut your face.
2. Teach your "dog" not to jump on/salivate on others
Dogs sitting in my lap don't bother me, especially when they're cuter than everything ever created. I don't even mind a dog licking me a little bit either, they love people. Although, something licking my feet grosses me out, so smaller dogs, I'm sorry, go away. Overall though, I'm sure there are those people out there who don't like being attacked by a strange dog, to some it might even make them cry. The same goes for people.
Let's start with couples. Like a dog, you don't really want to see anything cleaning itself. Especially people...cleaning each other...with their mouths. When PDA goes past the point of cute hand holding and hugging and goes to the next level of tongue slobbering and groping, people around you are starting to wish they had less vision in their eyes. Let your friends know that their exchanging of DNA sickens you. Bad dog! Leave that other dog alone!
Next, we have our overly touchy friends. Hugs are good. Handshakes are good. Really long handshakes and hugs from just a friend start getting awkward. What can make it more awkward? When that friend starts to rub your back and/or hand. Maybe I'm just the type of person that keeps things simple, but whenever I come away from these embraces, I always feel like I then need to be cleansed. Get me some holy water so I can say some hail Mary's! Bad Charlie (my imaginary dogs name), stop humping that man's leg!
3. Roll over Charlie
When you first get a dog, usually puppies, you have to train them to be a good, decent dog that can function well in society. If you let your dog run rampant, chase the mailman, harass the neighbors cat, and never come home when you call, it's likely they're not going to change without some kind of punishment/reinforcement. It probably won't even call you to let you know that he's going to come home late from that party. Oh, wait, dogs don't have thumbs and can't use telephones or speak English.
Moving on. Too often from being in college the short time I've been here I've seen so many children crash and burn. Without the good reinforcement/punishment, kids do whatever the hell they want and whenever they want. You'll end with the stays-up-late-doesn't-finish-homework-parties-too-much-says-rude-things-in-public-is-a-distraction-in-class kid. The type of kid who uses his laptop in class to watch YouTube videos and comment on Facebook status'. They've never been punished before, and coming to college, they probably don't think that they will now. Hopefully the real world mentality will set in eventually and they'll understand that and have sit outside since they peed on the rug. Hey, peeing on the rug is cool for some kids.
4. Good job for ripping up the couch!
Just an afterthought that relates closely to #3. Encouraging bad behavior in your dog is not ok. Praising the dog for barking incessantly and for leaving feces in places where feces should not be found (ie: the bathroom rug) doesn't help anyone. Your dog never really learns what is right and wrong and will continue to do stupid things.
Translating this to children. Rewarding your child for being "creative" when they ruin something with paint or just say that they're "speaking their mind" when they torment another child is just plain bad parenting. Mostly it's just the ignorant parents who think they're children are golden angel children that bother me. Let me tell you, they're only golden when you're looking.
If there's anything else that you can think of, feel free to let me know when training a dog. I'm a little dog hungry/dog annoyed at the moment which prompted me to write this. Hopefully I'll be a good parent one day and my dog won't come home late at night stinking of catnip.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Distra--Squirrel!
I bet you can tell what I'm doing right now. Homework. The one thing that everyone knows will ultimately come about when you enroll in "higher" learning.
I bet you can tell that my homework is also going quite swimmingly due to the fact that I'm blogging. Newsflash: It's not. At this moment I can do anything but focus on my paper about Millcreek canyon so I thought that maybe writing some thoughts out might clear my brain and then I can finish the paper that is plaguing my existence at the moment.
To begin my writing process, I sat down on my bed with my laptop resting comfortably on my lap. "Here we go," I thought to myself, "you're actually going to finally start this paper and be done with the blasted thing. Hm, didn't my iPod need charging? I'm not using it, but best be prepared for when I am."
This then gave me the task of finding my cord, finding my iPod, plugging it in, and getting back to my comfortable writing position. This is what follows:
I bet you can tell that my homework is also going quite swimmingly due to the fact that I'm blogging. Newsflash: It's not. At this moment I can do anything but focus on my paper about Millcreek canyon so I thought that maybe writing some thoughts out might clear my brain and then I can finish the paper that is plaguing my existence at the moment.
To begin my writing process, I sat down on my bed with my laptop resting comfortably on my lap. "Here we go," I thought to myself, "you're actually going to finally start this paper and be done with the blasted thing. Hm, didn't my iPod need charging? I'm not using it, but best be prepared for when I am."
This then gave me the task of finding my cord, finding my iPod, plugging it in, and getting back to my comfortable writing position. This is what follows:
- I'm hungry, do we have spaghettios? No? Ramen then.
- What was that Kylie Minogue song that I heard a couple days ago? I better look it up before I forget and curse when I can't find it again
- Is it time for shower today? *smells self* Yes, yes it is.
- Who can I text to distract myself from my writing?
- I wonder how much money is in my bank account?
- I wonder what happened to my sweater I lost last week?
- My hair looks weird *5 min. doing hair*
- I bet if I smoked pot, this paper on nature would be a lot easier
- Too hot! *commences to take off clothes down to underwear* (sidenote, I danced around my kitchen to Kylie Minogue while making Ramen, in my underwear. Yay for empty houses...)
- Do I need to shave? No, you're not going in public today
- What's that weird bump on my arm? *commences to pick* (judge me, I'm a picker)
- Let's check to see how the teacher wants me to do this *pulls out notebook and all papers*
*ps: after each activity, try and regain comfy position*
So as you can tell now, I'm sitting in my bed, with my iPod plugged in, a bowl of empty Ramen next to me, my noteobok papers sprawled out, sweater unfound (damn you sweater), hair did, and I'm almost naked. I wrote about 4 sentences on my nature assignment and now I'm finishing this. Yay for me.
Brain, you are now required to go back to thinking logically. Love, Ryan. If you don't, we're all screwed.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Back in C City
I sure haven't written anything for awhile. I wish it's because I said I didn't have time. I wish it's because I said I could have been volunteering with small children. It's mostly just because I'm lazy and forget that I initially have this thing.
Point being, I'm back in Cedar City going back to another semester at the glorious institution that is SUU. Instead of studying for my Microeconomics class like I'm pretending to do in the library, I'm reading other blogs and frequenting favorite websites. I figured I might as well write something while I'm here.
Now you see, I grew to love Cedar City while living here last year. First semester: Wanted to die or move home. Second semester: Made friends and had decent teachers. I feel as though now I'll be able to tough it out this year since I know how to have fun now. But, as seeing there are some perks of living in Cedar (short commute, nice/clean weather, friendly people), there are definitely some downsides/things that irk me. Kind of also a list of "Only in Cedar City" things. Here you go:
1. Cowboy boots, cowboy hats, hunting caps, faded plaid shirts (or any t-shirt actually) tucked into overly tight jeans, and belt buckles.
Only in Cedar City will you find a group of 4 or more of these people in one place chatting it up. Now, I don't know these people and judge them on their character or personality, but growing up in the "big city" (as some here have told me), I'm a little harsher when it comes to fashion. Well, not even fashion, just dressing in general. This is definitely something you'll only find in Cedar or any equally small or smaller town. I personally can't do it.
2. Stupid freshman
Not all freshman are stupid. Really, any student could be stupid, it's just the stupid freshman that annoy me the most. Mostly kids who just don't get college in general. When talking to a frehsie in some of my mixed lower classman classes, I hear interesting things. Some of these also taken from conversations with friends who talked to little fresh children. "Oh, so what's your favorite book? Fablehaven?" (*inserts mental note to never again talk to*).
Example of kids who don't get things in general: Accounting-balding-returned missionary-always-on-facebook-and-sports-sites-and-only-wearing-sports-jerseys-during-class-kid. I don't shun the fact that laptops are useful devices, especially during a class where hand taking notes is hard. When you use your time, though, looking up BYU's last practice video, or commenting on something your friend wrote 2 seconds before (yes kid, I'm watching how many times you write shit), you're annoying as hell. Personally, I hope you fail the test kid.
3.Crazy Mormons
Living in Utah, it's impossible to avoid them. The big hair, the many MANY layers, the floor skirts, and the t-shirts under strapless dresses. Yes, you're being gay judged girls. Crazy Mormons and just Mormons in general are something I grew up with. Upon talking to friends that went out of state, they're constantly asked if they're Mormon solely based on the fact they're from Utah. Frustrating, I'm sure. There are those general Mormons who take things too far though.
*Sidenote: I promise I don't hate Mormons, they're fun. I can explain that more later, just clarifying here.*
The other day I was walking along campus heading to the library to get some studying in done at the end of the day. Upon nearing the library, two girls were walking in my direction and I could hear music playing loudly from her bag. Pretty normal, I thought. Kids play music, nothing new to me. Subconsciously of course, I listened to the words of the song as I passed by them. After processing for a split second, I realized what I had just heard. What I initially thought had just been some sort of rock song had indeed been the rocked out version of the LDS children's hymn, My Heavenly Father Loves Me. Sick. People who insist that MoTab or any other church music, is the only wholesome music out there make me sad. They're good for some things kiddos, but put some spice in your life.
(Story taken from my friend)
"It makes me feel uncomfortable to have any overnight guests in our apartment." My friend is an RA (resident assistant). She loves all her residents. She also doesn't mind people, who aren't her suitemates, sleeping in her apartment. I am not saying my friend is some kind of whore who likes different people over! Just fun innocent sleepovers. I for one love big sleepovers (pangea bed anyone?) and the late night conversations that ensue with tiredness and junk food. Girls who are scared of boys after midnight haven't met me yet. *nudge nudge, wink wink* (joke).
The Returned Missionary (freshly picked and still gung-ho from their plot of mission land):
I like people in general. I'm annoyed by people who are nice to me solely for the reason of trying to "save my soul." I mean, good on them for trying, but I already have a nice plot of land in hell with my cats and other assorted devilries (yes, I think I made that word up, but you know what I mean).
Being the slightly sadistic person that I am, I once pretended to not know what the Doctrine & Covenants was to a new friend I had made in my Business class. I had learned previously that he had only a few weeks before returned from India where he served a lengthy mission. Making conversation, I asked what books he had read recently other than the horrible textbook for the class that we were in. To my ears horror, he replied with,
"I don't really like to read anything. The only book I've ever read all the way is the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants."
What? How had this kid succeeded in life up to this point? This is about the time the devil in my head came and convinced me to lie.
"D&C?" I said to him with a quizzical look on my face.
"Yeah, D&C," he replied to me without hesitation as if my question was absurd, "right now I'm on the part where they prophecy about the destruction of the great evil cities of the world-" Wait for it "such as New York, Vegas, Paris. You know, those places."
By this point, I realized that this kid had obviously taken some words from the text and made his own interpretation that I deemed to be just a little insane. Not wanting to be "taught" anymore, I just nodded and said "OK" and turned to listen to our new lesson. I'm not saying I defend Vegas' sacredness, just that the book isn't specific. I've read the book too, and from what I remember, revelation was never that blatant.
I feel like I've rambled a lot, but that's ok because I'm mostly doing this for my own entertainment and also to take up time. Dang, looking back this is long. Ah well. I think the next thing I write will be about the things I love about my good ol' C City since this became really cynical by the end. At least now it looks like I've been doing my accounting homework for the past hour. Please just don't just me other kids in the library. (I have my pen out, notebook, and book out occasionally looking at my monitor as if I just discovered something new and I'm writing it down.) Actually, judge away, I'm probably having more fun than you.
Point being, I'm back in Cedar City going back to another semester at the glorious institution that is SUU. Instead of studying for my Microeconomics class like I'm pretending to do in the library, I'm reading other blogs and frequenting favorite websites. I figured I might as well write something while I'm here.
Now you see, I grew to love Cedar City while living here last year. First semester: Wanted to die or move home. Second semester: Made friends and had decent teachers. I feel as though now I'll be able to tough it out this year since I know how to have fun now. But, as seeing there are some perks of living in Cedar (short commute, nice/clean weather, friendly people), there are definitely some downsides/things that irk me. Kind of also a list of "Only in Cedar City" things. Here you go:
1. Cowboy boots, cowboy hats, hunting caps, faded plaid shirts (or any t-shirt actually) tucked into overly tight jeans, and belt buckles.
Only in Cedar City will you find a group of 4 or more of these people in one place chatting it up. Now, I don't know these people and judge them on their character or personality, but growing up in the "big city" (as some here have told me), I'm a little harsher when it comes to fashion. Well, not even fashion, just dressing in general. This is definitely something you'll only find in Cedar or any equally small or smaller town. I personally can't do it.
2. Stupid freshman
Not all freshman are stupid. Really, any student could be stupid, it's just the stupid freshman that annoy me the most. Mostly kids who just don't get college in general. When talking to a frehsie in some of my mixed lower classman classes, I hear interesting things. Some of these also taken from conversations with friends who talked to little fresh children. "Oh, so what's your favorite book? Fablehaven?" (*inserts mental note to never again talk to*).
Example of kids who don't get things in general: Accounting-balding-returned missionary-always-on-facebook-and-sports-sites-and-only-wearing-sports-jerseys-during-class-kid. I don't shun the fact that laptops are useful devices, especially during a class where hand taking notes is hard. When you use your time, though, looking up BYU's last practice video, or commenting on something your friend wrote 2 seconds before (yes kid, I'm watching how many times you write shit), you're annoying as hell. Personally, I hope you fail the test kid.
3.Crazy Mormons
Living in Utah, it's impossible to avoid them. The big hair, the many MANY layers, the floor skirts, and the t-shirts under strapless dresses. Yes, you're being gay judged girls. Crazy Mormons and just Mormons in general are something I grew up with. Upon talking to friends that went out of state, they're constantly asked if they're Mormon solely based on the fact they're from Utah. Frustrating, I'm sure. There are those general Mormons who take things too far though.
*Sidenote: I promise I don't hate Mormons, they're fun. I can explain that more later, just clarifying here.*
The other day I was walking along campus heading to the library to get some studying in done at the end of the day. Upon nearing the library, two girls were walking in my direction and I could hear music playing loudly from her bag. Pretty normal, I thought. Kids play music, nothing new to me. Subconsciously of course, I listened to the words of the song as I passed by them. After processing for a split second, I realized what I had just heard. What I initially thought had just been some sort of rock song had indeed been the rocked out version of the LDS children's hymn, My Heavenly Father Loves Me. Sick. People who insist that MoTab or any other church music, is the only wholesome music out there make me sad. They're good for some things kiddos, but put some spice in your life.
(Story taken from my friend)
"It makes me feel uncomfortable to have any overnight guests in our apartment." My friend is an RA (resident assistant). She loves all her residents. She also doesn't mind people, who aren't her suitemates, sleeping in her apartment. I am not saying my friend is some kind of whore who likes different people over! Just fun innocent sleepovers. I for one love big sleepovers (pangea bed anyone?) and the late night conversations that ensue with tiredness and junk food. Girls who are scared of boys after midnight haven't met me yet. *nudge nudge, wink wink* (joke).
The Returned Missionary (freshly picked and still gung-ho from their plot of mission land):
I like people in general. I'm annoyed by people who are nice to me solely for the reason of trying to "save my soul." I mean, good on them for trying, but I already have a nice plot of land in hell with my cats and other assorted devilries (yes, I think I made that word up, but you know what I mean).
Being the slightly sadistic person that I am, I once pretended to not know what the Doctrine & Covenants was to a new friend I had made in my Business class. I had learned previously that he had only a few weeks before returned from India where he served a lengthy mission. Making conversation, I asked what books he had read recently other than the horrible textbook for the class that we were in. To my ears horror, he replied with,
"I don't really like to read anything. The only book I've ever read all the way is the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants."
What? How had this kid succeeded in life up to this point? This is about the time the devil in my head came and convinced me to lie.
"D&C?" I said to him with a quizzical look on my face.
"Yeah, D&C," he replied to me without hesitation as if my question was absurd, "right now I'm on the part where they prophecy about the destruction of the great evil cities of the world-" Wait for it "such as New York, Vegas, Paris. You know, those places."
By this point, I realized that this kid had obviously taken some words from the text and made his own interpretation that I deemed to be just a little insane. Not wanting to be "taught" anymore, I just nodded and said "OK" and turned to listen to our new lesson. I'm not saying I defend Vegas' sacredness, just that the book isn't specific. I've read the book too, and from what I remember, revelation was never that blatant.
I feel like I've rambled a lot, but that's ok because I'm mostly doing this for my own entertainment and also to take up time. Dang, looking back this is long. Ah well. I think the next thing I write will be about the things I love about my good ol' C City since this became really cynical by the end. At least now it looks like I've been doing my accounting homework for the past hour. Please just don't just me other kids in the library. (I have my pen out, notebook, and book out occasionally looking at my monitor as if I just discovered something new and I'm writing it down.) Actually, judge away, I'm probably having more fun than you.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Rediscovery
Within the past month or so, I've been finding myself looking back on my life. Not a very serious soul searching journey, but mostly things that I enjoyed earlier on. I've come across music, games, activities, just silly little things that give me a strange enjoyment.
First, I'd have to say I've found some music recently that I hadn't listened to in a long time. Mainly it's the artist that is Feist. I'd say a good 3 years ago, I got the album The Reminder. Mostly because I had liked the song 1,2,3,4 that I'm sure mostly everyone has heard. If not I'll stick it in here since it's still a good song. Well, after buying the album, I probably listened to it a couple of times, downloaded it onto my computer, and eventually forgot about it all together. Now back to the present. My brother recently returned from his mission, and as such went through our computer to find all of his old music that he wanted to listen to. I was pretty surprised by how much old stuff was on the computer so it got me thinking about what I had missed out on. So, searching the old iTunes library, I found the wonderful album that I had forgot about and not fully appreciated at the time. Putting it on my iPod now, I listen to it multiple times a day and love it. Mostly because I love her voice, her beautiful pure voice singing out. It's the kind of album that just relaxes your body and soul and makes your day just a little bit brighter. In fact, I'm listening to it right now. I will definitely keep it around for a while now.
Now what could be better to start up again than something from my elementary school days (which my friends joke weren't that long ago) than one of my great childhood marvels. Pokemon. This will probably be a big geek out entry-nay, it is a geek out entry. When I was younger, so much younger than today, I played Pokemon probably a good 4 or 5 days a week. What made me more of a nerd is that I played the video game for Gameboy and also the trading cards. Yup, ultimate nerd right there. When I wasn't trading cards with kids at school, I was catching wild Pokemon and battling gym leaders. So, of course being bored when the summer began, I whipped my gameboy with my good old Pokemon. It wasn't too hard to get back into the flow of the game and become a Pokemon master. Then, about a week or so ago, my friend invited me to battle him with Pokemon cards. To my surprise, my friends had turned out to be just as nerdy as I am. Seeing the wonderful opportunity to geek out, I pulled out my old Pokemon cards (yes, still sitting in my closet with the nice cards in individual cases) and assembled a deck with which to do battle. I realize at this point I sound a super nerd. I'm also not sure if I can deny it either. Part of my strange obsession might be the accompanying nostalgia that comes along with finding my old cards. Part of it might also be that I simply just enjoy it. It's just that weird crazy part of me.
What would my life be without books? I assume that it would be very different, but one piece of literature, using literature lightly of course, would be Calvin and Hobbes. After going through my bookshelf one day, I pulled out one of my old Calvin and Hobbes comic books. If there is any kind of comic that can make me laugh, it's Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin's adult-like intelligence, cynicism, and wild imagination make every joke wonderful to read. Not to mention the wonderful renderings of each story. Every small thing beautifully drawn and colored. It's the type of comic that brings out the child in anyone and visit the imagination that slumbers inside of them.
Of course, now I have to look to the future. With my life being a whole lot of decisions lately, I should probably focus on what my decisions will be. Never hurts enjoy some parts of life though.
Monday, April 18, 2011
What's been accomplished this year...
With the semester finally winding down, I began to think about what I had accomplished in this school year. Had I learned a whole lot from the classes I've taken? To be honest, it makes me laugh a little at how little I feel I've learned. A few of my classes were useful, but a majority I already knew what was being presented or it was all so bland that I didn't take time to remember it. Overall though, I decided to make a list of the things I did learn over this past year about myself. Most are pretty silly and I thought I'd leave out school things (because despite what I said, I did learn quite a lot) because this is more fun.
What I've Learned/Learned About Myself During Fall 2010-Spring 2011 At Southern Utah University:
What I've Learned/Learned About Myself During Fall 2010-Spring 2011 At Southern Utah University:
- 1:25 is the perfect time for a Hot Pocket to be cooked
- It takes me exactly 3 minutes to get from my dorm to the Business building
- Dryer number 6 DOES NOT WORK (after $4.00 of trying)
- Winter starts in October and ends in April
- Cereal tastes even better after midnight
- Risk brings out the worst in everyone and trust no one
- Occasionally, papers may be written 30 min. before class starts (high marks still received)
- Mornings go much better when air drying
- 7 o'clock classes are the worst things to ever be thought of
- Time can be found in every day to go to the gym
- Time can be found in every day to take a nap
- I would rather miss a class than walk in late (unless it's necessary that I be there)
- I take off my clothes in my sleep when I'm too hot
- Korean food is delicious, but is so spicy it makes me cry
- The same goes for Thai food
- It's possible to wear shorts in the morning, a parka in the afternoon, then shorts again later
- Netflix and homework are sworn enemies
- Netflix and I are best friends
- Without music, I would go insane
- Pancakes at midnight are wonderful
- Hats can be worn to compensate for showering
- During finals, showers/shaving/eating properly/sleeping/getting dressed are all options
- Suspenders and sweater vests are beautiful things
- Going to Walmart is considered "going out"
- Telling myself that I'll read all the books I brought is a big fat lie
- I tell myself that eating before bed makes me have lucid dreams so I constantly do it
- Gaining a "Freshman 15" isn't always bad
- I save the most mundane things. Ex: Notes scrawled to myself, old papers, receipts, empty boxes
- There is usually never a time I'm not thinking about eating
- Swimming in an empty pool is an excellent way to clear my head
- Sweats and a T-shirt may be worn to any class if it's too hard to actually get dressed
This is all I have so far but I'm sure there are plenty more and maybe I'll write down a few more later. Mostly I did this to make myself laugh at how these past 9 months have been for me.
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