People In My Classes Who Bother Me

- The freshman who thinks that he's still in a high school class of 20 students and he can be “cute” and joke around with the professor in the middle of a lecture. You are not in high school anymore. You are not the center of the world anymore. You are in a university lecture hall with 200 other students. Stop trying to stand out and be friends with the teacher.

- The older lady who has gone back to college now that her kids are out of the house. I don't have a problem with these ladies in general... My own mother is one of them. I'm irritated by the ones that apparently think the class is just like having lunch with friends or Good News Minute in Relief Society. In one class recently we were talking about the slave trade in the early American colonies. Our token fortysomething raised her hand in the middle of lecture and said, “You know, I remember when 'Roots' came out and it was just such a realistic depiction of slavery. It was just so awful the things these people went through...” That was the comment. Sure, none of it was untrue. But it added literally nothing to the discussion. Nobody learned anything from what she said. She didn't ask a question. It was barely even relevant.
That same lady also commented during a lecture about the early native peoples of North America. When the Four Corners area was mentioned, she raised her hand and told us all how when her son was on a mission someone told him how someone they know heard that President Hinckley said once that he'll never visit the Four Corners because that's where the Gadianton Robbers lived. It was kind of hilarious because the professor even called it out, asking if she was sure it was for real or just Mission Gossip. She, of course, swore up and down that it was true.

- The guy who comes in 15 minutes late and sits in the center of the front row. Since the door is at the front of the room, he's facing the class as he walks in and always has this stupid grin on his face as he looks at us, as if he's joining his peeps in someone's basement to watch a movie or something. He raises his hand about 15 times a class and always has the stupidest questions or jokes that add nothing to the lecture. Nobody thinks he's funny, but he always feels the need to pipe up.

- The hefty gentleman with BO who always sat next to me for some reason- in both of the classes we happened to have together.

- The girl who was a Middle East studies major and always felt the need to say so. I had like three different classes with her, one of which was a course about Islam. From the way she talked, it sometimes seemed like she thought she was a better authority than the professor. I swear, half of her comments started with “Well, I'm a Middle East studies major, so...” or "I actually study Arabic, and actually..."

- The guy in my Art History class who thinks that every work of art is supposed to symbolize genitalia. He sounded like he was trying to sound really smart (“This work seems almost Freudian with the tower in the middle there...”), but everybody just thought he had a dirty mind, or maybe he thought that by finding wieners in art and mentioning Freud would impress the professor. It was kinda funny seeing the prof try to respectfully disagree.

- The young parent that brings their baby to class. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often and I'm quite sure most student-parents don't do this except in extreme circumstances where they don't have a choice. It's just that a university class is no place for a baby. I love babies, but not when I'm trying to pay attention in class and the kid is crying or goo-gooing. Paying attention is hard enough without that racket, and especially when all you want to do is hold the baby and pinch his chubby cheeks. Have some respect, you little punk.

A Profound Philosophical Post.

Since today is Star Wars Day, and I friggin love Star Wars, I suppose I should say a few words about it. I'm watching A New Hope right now, and I'm thinking of what made this whole thing so popular and successful. I think I've come up with a few ideas. And while there are plenty of things about Star Wars that contribute to its awesomeness, a few main ones have a greater effect than the others. And it was by neglecting these things that George Lucas managed to make the prequels suck.

My first instinct is to credit the concept. The mythology of the Star Wars universe is original and interesting. But there are plenty of sci-fi/fantasy stories that have interesting concepts, some skillfully executed, others not so much. The weapons, scenery, characters, and other stuff are cool, but that doesn't explain the popularity the first movie managed to start. Plenty of movies could have interesting stuff, but something made people drawn to this.

Star Wars is a story about spaceships and aliens. Adventures in Space! But it doesn't throw that in your face. You see all these other movies and TV shows that are all, “LOOK! It's SCIENCE FICTIOOOOON!” They are aware of their sci-fi identity, and they stick to it. But Star Wars doesn't treat itself like a sci-fi story. Rather, it uses other genres to tell a story about things that happen to take place in space.

Think about it. Star Wars has it all. Swordfighting. Magic. Pirates. Gangsters. Aerial dogfighting. Romance. Tribes of primitive jungle natives. Gunslingers. Spies. Knights. A prophet in the wilderness. Religion. A princess in jeopardy. An evil empire fighting a rebellion. Politics. You could tag dozens of different stories in each of these genres. But Star Wars manages to put them all in the same story, and yet you don't even notice them. Other attempts to mash up different genres can easily be obvious and poorly handled. Firefly is well done, but it's a clear mix of space and western genres. In Star Wars, you don't even notice.

Another part of the whole not being too sci-fi self-aware is that it doesn't make a big deal about the sci-fi-ness. In Star Trek, they tend to be all, “Look you guys, it's a Holo-Deck! Isn't this tricorder cool? I have a laser gun!” The other shows tend to show off how cool stuff is and use the futuristic setting as a blank check to solve problems and fill plot holes. In Star Wars, they bring you into a world that still has a lot of the same problems ours does, it just happens to have different technology and stuff.

Now, the problem is that George Lucas didn't seem to have a real awareness of the secret to his own success. The prequels suck. Not because the story was bad, but because Lucas put more of a priority on the things that made other stories mediocre. They're all about “Look at this cool thing! Now look at this cool thing! It's SCIENCE FICTIOOOOON!” It was like he wanted to sell toys more than tell an interesting story. They tried to add to the mix of genres, throwing in racing, gladiators, and ground battles, but it wasn't as seamless as before. The podracing wasn't really necessary... the plot could have moved a different, more interesting way. But more merchandise could be made with podracing.

The original movies were rugged and real-feeling. That made them relatable. It was easier to feel like a part of them. The prequels were crisp and shiny, making them fun to look at, but not really deep. It's kind of like the difference between the girl who bleaches her hair, gets a boob job and wears nothing but pink, thinking that's all it takes to get a guy and the girl who actually has personality, interests, and passions. Sure, the first one might be good-looking, but you pick the second one because there is more to what a person is looking for than looks. The prequels are good for mindless entertainment, but the original movies are the kind you take home to Mom.

#2

Jan. 7, 1992

Ther's A Kind of Shape
That isn't qiet A triangle.
it is called A Parimyd.
They Are 3 Triangles
Pute Together.
they are in egypt.
that is Wher Mummys come
From.


*bongo drum*

You are Welcome to Snap Enthusiastically.

Have you ever seen William Shatner reading quotes from Sarah Palin as poetry? It's hilarious. I'd post a link to a video, but my work computer has YouTube blocked. I'm not sure why...
Anyway, I recently acquired a large store of archaeological artifacts from my childhood. One such artifact is my school journal from first grade. This is some righteous stuff, man. I think it works great as some far out indie poetry. So here's the first of a series of entries comprising some wicked sick poems. I will do my best to preserve all of the spelling, capitalizations and punctuation. In this one, the last word is supposed to be underlined, but Blogger apparently doesn't believe in underlining things.

Jan. 30, 1992

Cars, Trucks, and Vans, Have
Lots of Parts to them.
there are Wheels, Windows,
Doors, Seats, A Stearing
Wheel, And electricity


*bongo drum*

The Effys!

So I've done 16 weeks of EFY as a counselor. Here's a list of some of the bests and worsts of those 16 weeks. I'll probably come up with some more eventually.

Keep in mind, dudes and dudettes: I'm not giving any awards for best company or hottest counselors or anything. That would do nothing but make people who didn't win feel bad. You won't be getting me to designate some favorite company or co-counselors, because they were all awesome. Really. I love all of my youth and co-counselors like my own family, and I don't regret knowing a single one of them.

THE EFY AWARDS

Best Variety Show- Ypsilanti '09/Mansfield '09

It's difficult to pick exactly which one of these shows was more epic. Ypsilanti had Napoleon Dynamite, a wicked violinist, and a sweet musical skit about missionaries. It also had a guy with a hole in his lung playing the piano. The hole wasn't part of the act. We found out about that later. But still. Hard. Core. Mansfield had whips, a song about toast, and a full on rock band. And not the video game kind. The real deal. I might have to give a slight edge to Mansfield since literally half of the show was my group. Of course, there have been a lot of pretty A+ shows, but these two stand high above them all.

Lamest Variety Show- Provo 2B '09
Seriously guys, this was probably the most unexpected letdown. There were what, 700 kids at that session? By way of statistical probability, it should have been a cooler show than any others I've been to. But for some reason, a large portion of the acts were really lame. I actually fell asleep for part of it. Not that all of it was bad, there were some really good parts, like the song from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and the Taylor Swift dance number. (Don't judge me. You would understand if you had been there.) But the bulk of the show was lame guitar songs. Picture an hour of amateurs playing Plain White T's. That's the Provo 2B Variety Show 2009.

Best Dining Hall- Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH
They had a guy who would make any sandwich you could come up with. You could have it toasted if you wanted, and there were tons of kinds of meat, cheese, bread, and fixins. Best pastrami I've ever had. They also had pizza at just about every meal, pasta, salad, and several entrees that changed every meal. To top it all off, the staff were the coolest ladies ever. They weren't just friendly- we joked around and had great conversations all the time. They were genuine. Legit, Holmes. I do mark the dining hall down for the napkin setup, though. Napkins were only found in these tall dispensers at the doorways to the dining area, so if you needed one while you were eating, you had to get up and walk across the room. There was, however, a little basket on every table with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and relish. Thank goodness for that. I can't count the number of times I've been eating, and then all of a sudden I was like, “MUSTARD! MUSTARD! SOMEONE HAND ME SOME MUSTARD, I NEED SOME RIGHT NOW!”

Lamest Dining Hall- Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
This probably comes due to the assembly line nature of Provo sessions. They have so many friggin youths at a time that lunches have to just be a sandwich, chips, and a bottle of water while you sit on the grass outside. I don't blame them for it, but it still sucks.

Best Dorms- Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ
Here you have a quaint little suite. Two bedrooms with a little living room in the middle. Nothing super fancy, but as far as dorms go, it was pretty nice. I didn't like the hallway setup, though. Each wing was one looooong hallway that turned a couple of times so the whole building looked kind of like a huge, angular 3. The only entrances were in the lobby in the middle and at the very end of each hall. Well, we were only allowed to use the lobby entrances. The ones on the end were STRICTLY in case of fire ONLY. Guess where my room was.

Worst Dorms- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
Cold, bare floors, shared bathrooms and metal doors. The doors wouldn't have been so bad, except that I could only get a wireless signal if my door was open. You couldn't get a signal in your room if the door was closed. In a dormitory.

Coolest Campus Staff- Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH
Again, this is because of the ladies in the dining hall. And the sandwich guy. The other staff we worked with were pretty cool too, including a student who was the only Mormon that went to that school, so she helped us all week.

Nicest Campus- Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
It's really no surprise that so many people like to vacation in Florida. This campus sits right on the coast at Tampa Bay, and it's full of the coolest trees and stuff. Even the storms were cool. As we had our games night on a soccer field next to the beach, this crazy intense storm worked its way across the bay towards us. It looked like something out of the apocalypse. I was expecting some giant spaceship to burst out of it. We could have died from all the lightning, but it was cool to look at.














I also saw this cool spider.

















Lamest Campus- Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA
Every desk in the lecture halls was covered in graffiti. So were the bathroom stalls. It was like a reform school for idiots. The buildings were unimpressive, and the dorm was at the bottom of this relentless hill, so we had to climb it several times a friggin day.

Coolest Non-Company Youth- Plymouth 02 '09
This might have something to do with the small size of the session. Since there were so few of us, it was easy to get to know a lot of other people. Really cool kids.

My Trip Home in Tweets (Or, What That Would Look Like If I Used Twitter)

Finally, I've made it to the airport. I can get going home and relax for a day or two before I have to go back to work.


Great, there's a huge line to check in. Oh well, there are worse tragedies in life.


What? Our flight is canceled? The freak am I supposed to do now? I assume they'll just put me on the next available route out


Look lady, it's a simple rule of etiquette. It's not even about etiquette, it's just common sense. First graders understand it. I was in line first, therefore I am ahead of you. It is meant to stay that way. So stop trying to inch your way in front of me and stand so that you're turned slightly away from me so you don't have to look me in the eye.


We just turned the corner into the narrower, roped off part of the line. I won.


What's that? The next available itinerary is tomorrow at 5pm? Oh, there's a few earlier? Yeah, let's try to do that. As much as I love your airport, I'd rather leave it sooner than later. Ok, 6:15am. Just great. I love sitting around longer than I need to. Oh, no, of course it's “Not Your Fault”, so don't bother putting me in a hotel for the night. I enjoy sporadic sleep on tile floors.


You say you can give me a discounted hotel room? For only $89? YOU'RE A SAINT, DELTA AIRLINES!!! ONLY $89!!! I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO EAT NOTHING BUT RICE AND WATER FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS!!!



Oh, you might be able to get a room at the Holiday Inn for me for $50? Yeah, that might be better... I still can't afford it, so I will see you in Hades.


Sweet! I can't check in until 4am! I love carrying all my stuff around the airport lobby!


I guess I could sleep on these couch-like things here. Except I wouldn't get much sleep because I'd be afraid of people stealing my bags. Maybe I should just get the hotel room. $50 isn't that much, I guess.


Yes, I was told earlier I could get a hotel room? Yes, $89 was what they told me, but they said they could get me one for $50? Oh, $65? Yeah, that's not exactly the same as $50. Fine, what's $15 more? I get a bed to sleep in.


Wow, the shuttle guy got here fast. That's handy.


Just checked in at the hotel. Yeah, the Delta people gave me a voucher, telling me it would be $65. I get there, and the girl at the front desk tells me it's $85. Um, no, they told me it was going to be $65. Oh, that's a mechanical problem discount, not a weather discount, which is the voucher they gave me. So they lied to my face as they handed me the voucher that made the price $85.


I don't care how great the deal still is. I still can't afford it. I would not be here in your hotel lobby if the price was going to be $85.


Whatever, I'll just pay it now and yell at the Delta people in the morning.


What's so friggin great about this room? I can get one just as nice for $50 just about anywhere. The regular price for this one is almost three times that.


At least I can do laundry. I hadn't gotten a chance before I left, and I was kinda laughing at the idea of security going through my bag with all those dirty clothes. But it's probably better this way.


Good thing there's a grocery store nearby. I got a rotisserie chicken for dinner.


This store has chocolate soda. The brand is Waist Watchers, and the flavor is Diet Chocolate Fudge. Do they really need to make something chocolate fudge flavored to make fat people buy it? It's soda, people.


I got a rewards card at the store so I could save $2.26. Totally worth it.


Oh good, I apparently forgot to actually push the Start button on the dryer. The “Machine Operating” light was on, so I assumed it was, you know, operating. So when I go back an hour and a half later, imagine my surprise when my clothes are still wet and my dollar is gone.


Why did I have them send the shuttle at 4:00? I don't need to be at the airport until like 5. I'll call them and have them change the time for my ride to come at 4:30. That way I get 3 hours of sleep instead of 2 ½!


I really don't get why I'm staying up so late. Sure, I had to do laundry, but I could have been in bed by 10. I'm kind of an idiot. Some of you people didn't help by chatting with me on facebook. You jerks. How dare you be my friends.


I have to brush my teeth in the bathtub because the sink is full of ice. It's keeping my yogurt chilled for breakfast.


Well, I'm on my way again. Hopefully the storm last night won't make them cancel my flight again.


Great, it's a huge line again. Why the heck is there a line like this at 5am?


Looks like I'll have to eat breakfast in line. Yogurt with “Just Bunches”. The people in line next to me might think I'm weird for eating this in line, but I don't care.


Ah, it's my turn. I have words for you, Miss Delta Girl Who Had Nothing to Do With Last Night's Shady Shenanigans.


I told her the situation, calmly, but with a tone of irritation. Do you ever hear someone say something really stupid, so you sort of repeat it back to them a little bit slower? “You'll give me free breakfast in the airport?” I said. After I said that, she also offered to waive my baggage check fee, which was $20. Yeah, that might be a bit better, since that's exactly the amount I was out because of you jerks. I accepted, and she was like, “Do we feel better now?” Yes, and I appreciate the condescending tone. Is that free, too?


I got my voucher for my “free breakfast.” $5. What the freak kind of breakfast costs $5? Especially at an airport? Friggin good thing they waived my baggage fee as well.


Awesome, another long line for security checks. Good thing I have a whole 30 minutes before my flight leaves. That gives me just enough time to rush over to my gate, which is so fun.


I know a million people have said it before, including me, but crocs are stupid. I have no respect for a man wearing crocs.


The freak?! I don't have a boarding pass? What the heck did that check-in lady give me?? Oh, she just checked my bag, gave me a baggage claim thing, $5 breakfast voucher, and handed me back my little itinerary card thingy. Goodie, I get to go back downstairs and check in again!


The line is even longer than before. I will miss my flight.


There's one of those self check in kiosks open for some reason. I'll use that. I didn't notice it since it's across the way, but the lady at the desk pointed it out to us. I think it's because she saw me waiting right there next to the line so I could go talk to her. She must have realized that she didn't give me a boarding pass and didn't want to deal with me again.


Um, here's the part where you print my boarding pass, kiosk. That's kind of why I came over here.


Ok, I guess I'll do the check in thing again. Finally.


I get to go through the whole line for security again! Hooray!


My iPod has been 5 weeks without a charger, and the little light is still green when I turn it on. Take that, al Qaeda.


I hope they don't have a problem with the “Just Bunches” in my backpack. There was still half a box left, and I didn't want to just throw it away. I don't see why they would have a problem, but this is airport security we're talking about here.


Do we have to take off our shoes entirely because of the Shoe Bomber? Did one guy get through with a little bomb in his shoe, now we all have to put our shoes through the X-ray?


It would kind of be awesome if some terrorist developed a weapon that was only detectable when the user did a sexy dance. Then we'd all be doing sexy dances at airport security. That would be awesome.


People are so stupid. People are so stupid. I hate people so much right now.


I got my “breakfast”. An orange juice and a water at Sbarro, which is the only place open right now. I don't really need them, but I want to make Delta pay the $5 anyway.


HOW THE FREAK DID I GET JOHN ARCHBOLD'S BOARDING PASS?? WHERE IS MY BOARDING PASS???


Ok, it's not this John Archbold's boarding pass, it's his receipt that looks like a boarding pass. And here is my pass. I still have no idea how I got it.


I'm listening to “My Humps” as I go down the breezeway to the plane. The Black Eyed Peas are kind of stupid.


Some family wasn't comfortable with the responsibilities associated with sitting in an exit row, so they switched with our row. LEG ROOM! There is a God!


One flight down, two to go. I was just in this airport... Five weeks ago...


Great Ledger's Ghost! Detroit's airport has all the gates in one straight line that's like ten miles long! It took me ten minutes to get from gate 20 to 30! I need to get to 70!


Ok, there's apparently a train upstairs, but how do I get to it?


Thanks heavens I got on the train. I would have missed my flight if I hadn't. Those Jetson's walkway thingies just aren't enough.


Sometimes I wish we lived in a world where you could yell out “CHANGE PLACES!” like the Mad Hatter and everyone would get up and frantically run around and sit in a different spot.


I'm really hungry, but I don't have time to stop anywhere. There's a Chili's Too over there. Why the “Too”? There's like a million Chili'ses out there. It's not like we need to be informed that you are also the same restaurant as that other one you went to that one time in Massachussetts. We know it's a nationwide chain.


One time, when I was little, Dad called it Chiji's, probably because the h and the l connect at the bottom, so the l kinda looks like it's supposed to be a j. I'm sure he meant it as a joke, but it threw me off for years.


Two down, one to go. I went to turn my phone back on when they said it was ok, and it was already on. Oops.


Just landed in Salt Lake. Waiting to get off the plane. That old guy standing in the aisle a way up looks like a younger guy in a disguise. Full head of white hair, baseball cap, glasses, and bushy white moustache. I call shenanigans.


Ok, why is there a Salt Lake City Airport network if it's “Local Only”? What is the point of that? How do they expect people to connect to the internet if there isn't an actual connection on their network? And if they don't have it there so people can connect to the internet, why does it exist?


The luggage from my flight is taking a long time to get up to the carousel... I've been sitting here for 45 minutes. Could it be that my trip is about to get EVEN BETTER?!


What do you know, Northwest is, for some reason, sending my bag to Dallas real quick before it gets back here in Salt Lake. They'll deliver it to me when it gets here. Good thing nothing urgently important is in there. Besides my Ghostbusters belt buckle, that is.

Have you ever wanted to punch somebody in the face because of the way they type?

***** completed the quiz "What Candy r u?" with the result Reese's!.

U r a Reese's! U tend 2 melt because of how much choclate u r, which is like if u c someone u really like, u melt 4 them. Ur peanut butter insides give u a soft side which means that u r super nice all the time!.