Randomness combined

One of the perks of being a member of ALA (American Libraries Association) is receiving the American Libraries Direct email newsletter. At first I thought it was gonna be filled with boring library stuff, but oh well--my job is paying for my subscription, so what do I care? I almost didn't even read them when they started coming, but I'm glad I did! There are always so many interesting articles in there. Here are my top four for this week (in no particular order):

A Study on Facebook
A New Library in Jerusalem
The Wii--Not Just for Kids Anymore
The Golden Compass--A Good Christian Review?

Now the question is... should I read The Golden Compass, or rather, the His Dark Materials series? Typically, if someone tells me not to read a book or watch a movie because it's morally bad, I listen and just don't read/watch it. But this one has gripped more of my attention. Probably due to the controversy. After reading this article, I'm am even more intrigued to read this and make my own decision. I mean, if I listened to the critics, I wouldn't have read Harry Potter, either. So, do I go with my typical safeguard and just stay out of the controversy? Or do I read them and come to my own conclusion?

If I don't read them, I refuse to condemn or praise them. How many times have I gotten upset at people who condemn Harry Potter, or even the Book of Mormon, even though they have never read it. Rather, they base their arguments on what other people have told them. I think that's ridiculous. Have your own opinion or don't fight the battle. So which should I do? Get my own opinion? Or sit out of the battle?

A regret...

I consider myself to be a fairly good writer. (Hush, Desdemona.) I could fill books with all the papers I've written over the last 7 years. It is not difficult for me to get an A on a paper. I love writing and I think I'm fairly decent at it.

My first year at BYU I took a class that required, if I remember correctly, 40 pages worth of papers. Most were short papers (4 pages per week) with one or two big papers. I remember turning in a big paper, feeling pretty confident about it. I also remember the heart-dropping feeling of seeing the C on the top when I got it back. I took it home, fixed everything that he said was wrong and turned it back in for the final grade. I hadn't agreed with everything he suggested, but I needed the grade. I got the paper back with a B- and a list of things that I had done wrong... things I had already fixed. I stayed after class to talk to him about it and embarrassed myself by having to hold back tears at one point. We argued it a bit, he held strong with his grade but finally said, "If this grade keeps you from a scholarship or something, come back and we'll talk."

Two years later I got denied a scholarship. Other stupid complicating factors aside, it boiled down to me being .01 points from a half-tuition scholarship. I needed one grade to change a half-step. That was it. I looked through my classes to see if there was any hope to go back and raise any of those grades. I saw that class; I remembered the conversation; I realized that that stupid paper had kept me from a scholarship. I seriously considered going to talk to him about it, but it had been so long ago and I didn't even know where the paper was to even show it to him again. So I didn't. Expensive pride, I know.

Today as I was walking across campus, I saw this professor. It was the first time I've seen him since I had that class. I glared at him as he walked past. I'm sure he had no idea. I can be just so aggressive some times.... [rolls eyes]

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Or how about a 500 GB hard drive for $79.99? Personally, I would be willing to stand in line for 2.5 hours at CompUSA, getting some good quality bonding time in with Brother. The people standing behind me for the first 15 minutes apparently decided that the wait was not worth it for seven 1 GB jump drives (or, in her words, "seven Gigabits"). This decision was probably wise. 10 minutes later, the guy in front of us decided that saving $8 on canned air wasn't worth the wait in line and he also gave up and left.

We made it through the TV section. We were tortured with a cartoon of instruments playing themselves while rolling over wooden planks. I saw part of Spiderman 3, which made little sense to me as there was no volume and I've never seen the movie. There was also bits of Transformers, but it was further away. And by the time we got to that set of TVs, the movie was over and we were instead favored with the DVD menu.

For a large portion of the later end of the line there were laptops lined along the wall. Several games of solitaire, some other game I had never played before, and checking my email later, we hit the gaming section. I helped someone try to figure out Guitar Hero, only to find out that the game itself wasn't working and she didn't actually need my help. Then I had an intelligent conversation about Guitar Hero for the Wii... which led to a conversation about the Wii. Apparently Brother has never played the Wii. This should be changed. Anyone got Golf on a Wii that we could play on?

And then, we finally made it out. So what did I do? I came home, plugged in the hard drive and have been sitting here for an hour simply so that I can see Time Machine start backing up my files. Which reminds me, that should be going now...

Wow... that's really quiet and in the background. I didn't even notice it starting. Even knowing it's going doesn't help. I would have had no idea. Go Mac...and LaCie. But alas, there are 710,524 items that it is backing up. Which totals 67.87 GB. I can't just sit here and wait for it to backup everything... cross your fingers for me!

To bed Miss Amy!

Scarier than dreams.

I took a wonderful after Thanksgiving dinner nap today... miraculous due to the 8 kids under 10 that were running wildly around me.

Do you dream that you've woke up and can't move? It's really, really scary. Today I did something similar. I dreamed that I woke up and couldn't talk. I was trying to tell my sister that Spanish Fork and Pleasant Grove were not the same place... in fact, they're on opposite sides of Provo. This was very important. They were going to go to the wrong place. I was mouthing all the words, but no sound was coming out.

Anyone who knows me knows that this is just as scary, if not more so, than waking up and not being able to move. Don't worry, though, I just spoke to my daddy. It was just a dream. :D

Christmas wish list

I saw this today and decided this is what I want for Christmas. Perhaps if all of you chipped in together....

Wistful...

Last weekend I went to a Board party. (Which was amazing, btw. I love Board parties.) At one point during a conversation about different cliques, someone mused, "That's the beauty of college. There are so many people, you're certain to find your perfect clique." Everyone laughed because of the truth of the statement. I chuckled at the humor of it all, but it made me ponder... I don't have my perfect clique here. Ever since my freshman year of college, I have been without my clique. Oh sure, I fit in very well with many different cliques, I get along with many different personalities. I love my friends, and I love where I am in life. It's one thing that I really enjoy about myself—my ability to befriend most genres of personalities.

Sometimes, however, I sit in a large group and feel alone. I look around and feel like I'm looking through a glass pane. Sometimes I wish I had my own little clique that I could feel completely comfortable with all the time...that truly understand who I am and why I do the things I do.

Tonight I went to Yellow's apartment for some of bismark's curry. After I got there, I realized it was not only a curry party, but also a karaoke party. American Idol on Playstation. I enjoyed watching for awhile, then at one point leaned over to Yellow and mused, "Y'know, this is something that I wouldn't do." Upon seeing the look on his face, I continued, "Well, I would, given the right group of people. This just isn't that group." For the record, Yellow and bismark were the only people I even knew there. I had no desire to get up and make a fool of myself in front of a group of strangers. The very next song, bismark decided I was singing. I adamantly declined... over and over and over again. Finally, someone else sang.

I watched the next several songs, not having nearly as much fun. First, I felt silly for being so adamantly against it. Suddenly, I was the unsocial person. It made me remember when I first moved into this house when I determined I was going to be social. I consciously went out of my comfort zone to do things I normally wouldn't do with people I don't know, just to make a valid effort to make friends and be social. It was hard, but fun at the same time. Tonight, I realized that I had lost that desire... I don't do that anymore. I want to just be comfortable; I don't try to make things comfortable. Second, I kind of wanted to do it. I wanted to get up and sing. I wanted to be social. But I had already made my decision, and I knew I'd just feel stupid. Which was very stupid of me.

And on top of it all, I miss my high school friends... the friends that I felt utterly and completely myself with. The clique that defined me once upon a time. Oh clique... where hast thou gone?

Children say the most amazing things.

A friend of mine was just over here telling me a story about teaching 7 year olds:

Child 1: "Teacher, do worms make out?"
Teacher: "Uhhhh... I don't know."
Child 2: "No, they can't! They don't have faces."

So, just in case you've ever wondered if worms make out, now you know.

What's weighing on your shoulder?

I was on the elevator in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building the other day with a guy that was carrying a CPU on his shoulder.

DL: "That's quite a weight on your shoulder."
Man: "Yeah... I keep thinking I should get a laptop, but I just can't let this one go."
DL: "Well, you should probably get a monitor for that... balance out your weight."
Man: "Hmmm... that's a good idea. I'll consider that."

Then the elevator doors opened and we left. I was amused all day.

Cold and death

A dear friend of mine, England, came over today to show off his new car—a convertible. As we were ooh-ing and ahhh-ing over it, we slowly started to be cool and get inside of it. (We being The Heartless Siren, Chillylint, and myself.) This led to England deciding to take us for a spin. Top down, we took off. chillylint and I were in the backseat... and freezing. Did you know that in the back seat of a convertible, your hair doesn't blow back, as one would expect, but rather forward and in your face? I was reminiscent of cousin Itt, I'm sure. You know your hair is bad when you step out of a car and Laser Jock comments on the disheveledness of it.

Halfway through the trip, Chillylint started requesting hills. England found one. We peaked the top and started downhill. This was among the scariest moments of my life. It started quite exciting, but the closer we got to the bottom, with the speed we were gaining, the more frightening it became. Especially with Chillylint's fingers digging into my leg. There were screams, then "We're gonna die; we're gonna die; we're gonna die." Somehow, we made it to the bottom in all one piece.

I decided today that I love the thrill of amusement park rides. I just don't like the nausea that accompanies them. Props to the inventor of Dramamine.

Hallowmas

Brother decided that All Saints Day is a highly under-celebrated holiday. Everyone celebrates All Hallows Eve (Halloween) ... but why celebrate the evil day and not the saintly one? Thus the idea for a party was born.

Earlier this week:
Brother: "What kind of food should we have at our party?"
DL: "Swiss cheese--because it's holey."
Brother: [laughs] "Good idea!"

We then proceeded to list off all the food we could think of that was holey. Donuts, cheerios, fruit loops, bagels, etc.

Brother: "I kind of want something more substantial. I wonder if there is a patron saint of cooking."

Google search later...
DL: "Ok, we've got San Lorenzo. Patron of boiled foods. So... pasta, candy, etc."
Brother: "Pasta! Let's do it!"
DL: "Can we still have swiss cheese? Just for good measure?"
Brother: "Of course."

Later that night:
DL: Tells roommates and friends about the party.
The Cold One: "I want to see this web page."
DL: Shows her the web page.
The Cold One: "Groooossss!"
DL: "What?"
The Cold One: "He's the patron saint of boiled foods because of how he died?!"

Huh. Must have glossed over that. So I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here's the best part of the article:

It is said that Lawrence was burned or "grilled" to death. Legend says that he was so strong-willed that instead of giving in to the Romans and releasing information about the Church, at the point of death he exclaimed "I am done on this side! Turn me over and eat."

I emailed the page to Brother and suggested grilled chicken.

Later this week:
I had emailed Brother about something completely different. He replied and added, "I'll call you tomorrow about our barbecue. I'm thinking shish kabobs." I wrote him back simply, "You're sick."

We ate shish kabobs. They were actually quite tasty... if you didn't really think about it.