The Spirit of Elijah

Last Saturday, whilst going to and fro on campus, and from walking up and down in it, I found inspiration in the form of a quote by N. Eldon Tanner. I didn't have any paper on me, so I wrote it on my arm. The quote was this: "Service is the rent we pay for living in this world of ours." I thought about this quite a bit, because since I've been at college, I haven't been that into service. Sure, I sit at my computer to index for family history every once in a while, but besides that, everything is about me. I need to do my homework, I need to feed myself, etc. This has been a huge change since my last year in high school. I had 2 callings in church, and I volunteered in different organizations. But it just doesn't seem like I have time anymore to take care of anyone else's needs along with my own. Well, last night was FHE. I wasn't going to go, because of all the homework I had (still have . . . ), but we were doing a ward FHE, where we all came together to do indexing together. And there was free pizza. That might've influenced my decision a little, considering I hadn't eaten anything that day except for a bowl of cereal at 8:00 that morning. When I went, I saw that they had a paper up of the top indexers in our ward, and I was sixth place. Which surprised me, considering I didn't think I had actually done that much of it. But apparently, everyone else had done less. It felt kinda good to be doing service though. I was glad I went. I ate an entire pizza while I was there, which was nice too. I think next semester, I'm going to do more service. I can definitely apply myself to do more in that category, especially toward the beginning of the semester, I think. And honestly, I think indexing is a really cool thing. I definitely feel the spirit of Elijah when I'm going through name, groaning at how young the girls got married, trying to figure out what occupation they had, and trying to make out the old fashioned hand writing. As hard as it is, I really feel connected with my ancestors when I do it. And I recommend it to everyone else.

A Sunday School Misadventure

Today in Sunday school, someone that I didn't really know sat next to me. This made me kinda grumpy. I don't like having to deal with people that I don't really know. I really knew I was in trouble when she addressed me by name. This put me in an awkward situation, because I didn't know hers. As long as I responded casually, and pseudo-enthusiastically though, there was no need to know it. Initiate small talk.

Unfortunately, priesthood lets out 10 minutes before Sunday school starts. It takes me 15 steps to get to my seat in priesthood to my seat in sunday school, and the only excuse for me to delay getting there is a trip to the drinking fountain, which is nullified on fast Sunday. I usually sit next to my roommates to avoid awkward contact like this. And by "awkward contact," I mean sitting next to people who smile too much. Because that just isn't natural.

First item of conversation: ward choir. She was the pianist for ward choir, and I was one of about 4 boys who regularly attends ward choir. Which is the only reason we even recognize each other. Quite honestly, I didn't expect her to talk to me at all, because she seemed so quiet in choir. Probably because she is always taking orders, and is never singing. We make short work of the common ground between us. Once we talk about the piece we're working on right now, and the Christmas program next week, we've about covered the entire spectrum of possible conversation related to choir. I strategically end the topic in a way that puts her in a position to either end the conversation, or come up with a new topic. Unfortunately, she chose the latter.

That day in choir had not been the best. It had started snowing in the middle of practice. Everyone else was happy, because it complimented the Christmas songs we were singing so well. But not me. The snow is cold, and dangerous. Almost like Ke$ha. Luckily, I got to leave choir early on account of an appointment with the bishop. As fun as it is to sing, ward choir isn't quite a party. So I made my escape.

"So, have you done anything special, or fun, or exciting, or anything like that recently?" What? What kind of question is that? Are you going to the same school as me? Because I've been working for every waking hour for the last couple of weeks. "Haha, no, not really. I've just been preparing for finals. How about you?" I put on an amiable façade. No point in burning bridges. But wasn't it time to begin class yet? The clock started making a weird cracking noise, giving me an excuse to look at it. I knew by now that that was a fairly normal sound from the clock, but I turned my head anyway. Three more minutes. Three long minutes. And then I was saved by the person on the other side of my assaulter. She asked her a question, and I was free to return to my introversive tendencies.

Okay, for the record, I'm really counting on the person about whom this is never finding this, because she really was conversational, and nice. I was just in a grumpy mood today.

10 Things I Hate About Blogging

1. Coming up with topics: I'm pretty sure I have a hundred things I want to talk about when I'm in the shower/late for class/watching a concert, but when I sit down at my computer to blog, I can't come up with anything worth writing about.

2. Reading other people's blogs: Usually, this is because I have a lot of fun reading other blogs, and seeing what insight people have on certain topics. Blogs are a harder target than Facebook to blame a lack of work on, especially since I need to do some stuff on it for actual homework.

3. Reading other people's blogs: Okay, let's face it. We don't all have perfect grammar. Which is something I'm pretty OCD about. People don't draft blogs and go through several times checking to make sure that things make sense. So it bugs me when I read a post that has terrible grammar, logic, etc. Not that I'm perfect myself, but I obviously expect everyone else to be ;)

4. Formatting: What is wrong with a solid white background, with solid black text? And while we're at it, can we make it Courier, and 10 point font? In my opinion, that is how most of the best information on the web comes. But instead, blogs need to be "cute."

5. The fact that I haven't been doing it: I need to have 20 blog posts in by Tuesday. For my English class. Which means I will be writing a lot this weekend. And I am really beginning to wish that I had been doing it earlier in the semester. But that's okay. I like blogging. So this is good.

6. It isn't hand written: I really like writing things by hand. They just seem way more personal that way. And I feel more accomplished when I see something that I brought about with my own hands. Okay, so I type with my hands too, but it isn't quite the same. When I have something physical to show for my time, I think I put myself into the project more.

7. The name: Blog? Where did that word even come from? It is so cacophonous. Just say it out loud a couple of times. Slower. What kind of name is that?

8. The fact that I have to do one: I'm pretty sure I would enjoy doing this about 10 times as much if I did not have to do this for an assignment. At the same time, I doubt I would even be doing a blog without the assignment. Anyway, I'm planning on maintaining it after the class is over, so we'll have to see how that works out for me.

9. Writing creatively: I consider technical writing more of a personal forte than creative writing. Putting voice in writing just bugs me. There's a way to do it, but I'm pretty sure that it should be reserved for professionals. Just because anyone can write for the world to see, doesn't mean that just anyone should.

10. Time: Blogs are a time commitment, and it's hard to say just how long of a commitment it's going to be. Math is pretty objective. You can sit down, figure out what you're supposed to be doing, and get up in an hour or two and be done. On a blog, you just sit down, and write until you feel good about what you've done. Which is usually never for me. Hence my low number of blog posts.

And that's about it, really. Not that I even particularly care about any of these, but it was a good topic for me. I got to figure out for myself just why this assignment annoyed me so much. Hopefully it inspires someone.

Easy as 3.141592. . .

This is the final (and mostly true) draft of my personal narrative.

There were more pocket protectors in the room than you could count on the fingers of one hand, and there wasn't a single person in the room who couldn't give you the first 20 digits of pi. With a state championship on the line, every nerd had their pride to defend.

The Scholastic Team at my school was a gathering place for the intellectually elite. Less prestigious than debate, Scholastic Team was the invisible escape for those who wanted to share the speed with which they could return random trivia. However, the Scholastic Team would be invisible no more.

“We made it to the Finals!” exclaimed Mr. Call, the coach for Scholastic Team. He was wearing bulky glasses and a Star Wars tie, and had the largest bug collection I had ever seen. He was, in every way, the epitome of the stereotypical nerd. “We will be on Idaho Public Television for our match tomorrow morning!” True, that wasn't a very large audience, but a public appearance of any kind made us almost a sport. “Just remember that whether we win or lose this match tomorrow, our sportsmanship will be the most important thing.”

It was true. Our school, Madison, had just won a state championship in basketball, and while we didn't have a single “star” on our team that year that was particularly impressive, the coach of every team that our school had played had noted that we were their favorite team to play, because our basketball team had such great sportsmanship. It was our turn to defend this legacy.

Our opponents for the championship the following morning would be Hillcrest. They were the reason we hadn't made it to the championship last year. But this year was different. We had defeated them at the qualification tournament a few weeks ago, just to make it to where we were. We rested easily on this knowledge that night.

“Which author, in the play Our Town, defined. . .”

“Thorton Wilder.”

“Whose assassination in 1968. . .”

“Robert Kennedy.”

The bus ride to the Television studio was filled with the sound of random trivia. In ideal situations, we would be able to answer the question before it was done being asked, so the other team would have less of a chance of being able to answer the question. Haylee, our captain, was issuing commands and strategies. We reviewed hand signals, levels of aggressiveness while playing, and specialties of the front row players.

When we got there, the buzzers were lined up, and Hillcrest was waiting. The reader for the match walked in with a big cheesy grin. He was wearing a suit above the waist, but jeans below, because the camera was designed to catch him at an angle so no one else would see what pants he was wearing.

“That is so tacky,” we all whispered in turn. We took our seats and prepared for the match to start.

“Today, we will have the Idaho State INL High School Scholastic Team State Championship!” The reader had a charismatic “TV” voice. “On the left, we have Madison High School from Rexburg, and on the right, we have Hillcrest High School from Idaho Falls!” He continued to explain the rules of the event. The rolling cameras made us all nervous. We were all anxious to get started. Finally, it was time to begin: “On with the first question. Your category is 'Eye Examination.' What instrument. . .”

Buzz! Hillcrest knew the answer after 4 words. “Ophthalmoscope.”

“Correct. I'm glad you said that, so I didn't have to!”

Ophthalmoscope? I didn't even know that was a word before this point in time. That was only the first question though. We could come back. But Hillcrest got the next question. And the following one. And the one after that. It wasn't until the forth question that we got a chance to answer. And the answer was incorrect, resulting in a subtraction of 5 points.

It was hard to remain composed. Why did we miss that one? We knew what the answer was. We just didn't pronounce “Oedipus” right. And for that matter, neither did the judge. But we all thought about the many talks about sportsmanship that we had had in school, in practice, and at the end of the last round. No one likes a bad sport. Pronouncing the answer is part of the game. We all stayed competitive, and respectful.

“We are now halfway through the first half of the round, and the score is 55 to 5, Hillcrest!” announced the reader. Mr. Call in the back of the room was giving us exaggerated gestures from where he couldn't be seen by the camera. He was desperate for us to get Hillcrest off of its streak. And at that point, something with our team clicked. An obscure Russian history question was asked, and quickly answered by the history buff on our team. After that, our team was ready. We started answering every question. By the end of the first half, we tied up the score, 80 to 80.

“It is now time for the lightning round! The score is exactly tied, so we will need to toss a coin to determine who will go first!” The tension in the room was almost tangible. Madison lost the call, meaning we would compete first. Mr. Call was the most nervous of all of us. He looked like he has started to hyperventilate during the last question that tied the score. Both teams answered the lightning round questions, which brought the score to 115 to 135, in favor of Madison.

From that point forward, Madison remained ahead. We switched our game tactics from “catch-up” to “stay ahead.” Mr. Call was almost in tears as our team became 30, 40, 50, 60 points ahead. The final score was 225 to 165.

“And that's it! We have a Class A state champion! Congratulations, Madison!” As soon as the camera was off, we broke into excited cheers, and gave high fives all around. Mr. Call, looking somewhat frazzled, ran up to hug us all.

“I knew you guys would win the whole time.”

“Wait, guys,” came Haylee's voice, “Can we get 3 cheers for Hillcrest for being such great opponents?” Most of us had forgotten about Hillcrest already. We all cheered and applauded them. After all, they had just given us the best match we had had all season. It was clear that they were disappointed about the loss, but they smiled in acceptance of our appreciation of their performance. We then shook their hands individually, and, instead of congratulating, thanked each other.

Our team left the studio as State Champions. We were all content during the bus ride home in knowing that we were the biggest nerds in high school in the entire state of Idaho, but that wasn't the most rewarding part. We had defended our school's honor, and our principal, who had been secretly watching from the other room, came out and congratulated us. He told us how impressed he was of our performance, as well as our sportsmanship afterward.

The bus ride back to Rexburg would be about 6 hours long, but none of us cared. For many of us, this would be the highlight of the entire year. But instead of sitting by ourselves in the back of the bus, like we had on the way up, we sat intermingled with the Hillcrest team. Instead of awkward silence in the bus, we shared stories and smiles throughout the return trip.

Personal Narrative Draft

There were more pocket protectors in the room than you could could on the fingers of one hand, and there wasn't a single person in the room who couldn't give you the first 20 digits of pi. With a state championship on the line, every nerd had their pride to defend.

The Scholastic Team at my school was a gathering place for the intellectually elite. Less prestigious than debate, Scholastic Team was the invisible escape for those who wanted to share the speed with which they could return trivia. However, the Scholastic Team would be invisible no more.

“We made it to the Finals!” exclaimed Mr. Call, the coach for Scholastic Team. He was wearing bulky glasses, and a Star Wars tie. “We will be on Idaho Public Television for our match tomorrow morning!” True, that wasn't a very large audience, but a public appearance of any kind made us almost a sport.

Our opponents for the championship the following morning would be Hillcrest. They were the reason we hadn't made it to the championship last year. But this year was different. We had defeated them at the qualification tournament a few weeks ago, just to make it to where we were. We rested easily on this knowledge that night.

“Which author, in the play Our Town, defined. . .”

“Thorton Wilder.”

“Whose assassination in 1968. . .”

“Robert Kennedy.”

The bus ride to the Television studio was filled with the sound of random trivia. In ideal situations, we would be able to answer the question before it was done being asked, so the other team would have less of a chance of being able to answer the question.

When we got there, the buzzers were lined up, and Hillcrest was waiting. The reader for the match walked in with a big cheesy grin. He was wearing a suit above the waist, but jeans below, because the camera was designed to catch him at an angle so no one else would see what pants he was wearing.

“That is so tacky,” we all whispered in turn. We took our seats and prepared for the match to start.

“Today, we will have the Idaho State INL High School Scholastic Team State Championship!” The reader had a charismatic “TV” voice. “On the left, we have Madison High School from Rexburg, and on the right, we have Hillcrest High School from Idaho Falls!” He continued to explain the rules of the event. The rolling cameras made us all nervous. We were all anxious to get started. Finally, it was time to begin: “On with the first question. Your category is 'Eye Examination.' What instrument. . .”

Buzz! Hillcrest knew the answer after 4 words. “Ophthalmoscope.”

“Correct. I'm glad you said that, so I didn't have to!”

Ophthalmoscope? I didn't even know that was a word before this point in time. That was only the first question though. We could come back. But Hillcrest got the next question. And the following one. And the one after that. It wasn't until the forth question that we got a chance to answer. And the answer was incorrect, resulting in a subtraction of 5 points.

“We are now halfway through the first half of the round, and the score is 55 to 5, Hillcrest!” announced the reader. Mr. Call in the back of the room was giving us exaggerated gestures from where he couldn't be seen by the camera. He was desperate for us to get Hillcrest off of its streak. And at that point, something with our team clicked. An obscure Russian history question was asked, and quickly answered by the history buff on our team. After that, our team was ready. We started answering every question. By the end of the first half, we tied up the score, 80 to 80.

“It is now time for the lightning round! The score is exactly tied, so we will need to toss a coin to determine who will go first!” Madison lost the call, meaning we would compete first. Mr. Call was the most nervous of all of us. He looked like he has started to hyperventilate during the last question that tied the score. After both teams answered the lightning round questions, the score was 115 to 135, in favor of Madison.

From that point forward, Madison remained ahead. Our team left the studio as State Champions. We were all content in knowing that we were the biggest nerds in high school in the entire state of Idaho.

Eating like a Hobbit

Okay, I could've sworn I wrote this blog entry last night, but it didn't show up on my blog. So I'm going to rewrite it. Which is a good thing, because it was terrible last night. Anyway, yesterday (Actually, a while ago now. I found this post half finished), on a whim, I decided to eat like a hobbit for a day. In retrospect, not one of my better ideas. I feel really sick right now, and I don't know if it was from that, or not. Either way, I still have not eaten since supper last night, and I hope to never eat again... The following will be a documentation of my day as a hobbit

I woke up at 6:30. This was very convenient, because, in accordance with missionary week, all residents of Herritage Halls were encouraged to keep mission hours that day. So I got up, got a large bowl of cereal, checked Facebook, got in the shower, etc. Completely normal day. The bowl of cereal filled me up in its own artificial way, but I didn't have a whole lot of time that morning, so it fulfilled its purpose.

After class, I returned home, hungry again. So I warmed myself up some lasagna. I had 2 pieces. And after that, there were only 2 pieces left, which was hardly worth putting the pan back in the refrigerator for. It wasn't worth the space. And it definitely wasn't worth making more dirty dishes by putting it on something smaller. So I ate the other 2 pieces. Satisfied, I updated my status to talk about my second breakfast. It was then that I spawned my idea. After a little research, I found out that hobbits had 7 meals (not including snacks) every day. At that point, it was 10:00, meaning I only had 1 hour before it was time for elevenses. That was right during devotional, so I cooked myself up a couple of quesadillas for the trip over there, and a bag of cereal to eat during the talk. A most hearty meal.

Luncheon was right before my 1:30 class. I didn't have much time, so I got a granola bar and a bag of goldfish out of the vending machine, and ate them during class. I wasn't even that hungry yet. But I ate them anyway. I was ready for a nap during class, because I was comfortably full. I daresay I might've dozed off a little that day, because the auditorium was strangely warm and comfortable. My next class was English at 3:00, which left me with just enough time to get Afternoon tea on my way to class. I went back to the vending machine and got grapefruit juice and a danish. I figured that was about as close to an afternoon tea meal as I could get here at BYU. As Elder Holland said, "You shouldn't be serving tea anyway."

At this point, I was stuffed, and still had 2 meals to go. I decided to have breakfast for dinner, and I made myself 4 large scrambled eggs, and 3 medium potatoes worth of hash browns. That was a lot of food. I went to ward choir that night, very uncomfortably full, and planning one more meal. I decided to make some fried rice to top it off. I probably ate 3-4 cups of (cooked) rice with chicken and eggs and veggies. I invited my friend over to my apartment, and we both shared this meal together.

And thus ended my day as a hobbit. I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon, but it was a fun experience. And if there is a next time, maybe I'll work on snacking more.

Research Is Like Dating

Or so they say. They being the unmarried librarians at the Harold B. Lee Library. Something about looking around for desirable characteristics before deciding on a topic that you want to be with. And if research is like dating, then the paper is like a bad girlfriend that you just can't shake. If you're lucky, you will find a topic that you really like that you will dedicate your life to, and be with for time and all eternity.

In my opinion, research is like homework. And the paper is like an assignment that you can't skip, or else you'll fail the class. But that's just me. For my English class, we are required to write an 8-10 page research paper on a new media topic, which is, all at once, too broad, and too narrow. After much contemplation, I thought I had found a good topic. It was about the transformation of the English language through social media. The original motivation for the topic was a comment on a Facebook wall post between myself and a couple of people whom I consider to be intellectuals. One of the contributor's little sisters then posted the following comment: "You guys talk wayyyy to formally. This is Facebook, not a spelling test! Say... Yo ya I would love ta!" Needless to say, this left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I left a very sarcastic reply (One that was not perceived as such...). However, as I began to research, I began to realize that I had little scope for what I was actually looking for, and no idea of how to narrow it. So I reluctantly left the topic. I definitely had a crush on it, but we just didn't understand each other. There was never a real relationship.

It then occurred to me to research a topic about video games. Truth be told, this topic occurred to me much before this moment in time, but I was now behind, because of the failure of my first topic. I really didn't want to do video games though. It was (is) so cliché... and I didn't really like either side of any video game argument in existence. So I set it aside, judging it to be a thing of naught. I moved on to education. How does new media effect our education? Well, that one might've worked out, except it was hard. And I don't have time or willpower to do hard things. So I dropped that idea. The day of a deadline came, and I needed a topic to work on my annotated bibliography with. With about an hour to work on it, I chose to do a video game topic. It took me about 15 minutes to find 8 working sources, and another 5 minutes to put them into a works cited page. Another half hour to scan and annotate my references, and then I printed it. So my research topic is about violent video games as a cause of aggression in teenagers/children. And that's about it. Once again, the easy course of action overcomes the best one.