Bunk

The Picture of the Week




















Yeah, that's definitely my grandpa Thatcher. I never knew the man, he died before I was born. But that's him swabbing a deck, he was a navy guy from what I can gather. The important thing is, it's easy to see where I got my studly good looks from. Keep up the good work Grandpa.

The Quote of the Week
"History is more or less bunk"
-Henry Ford

So, it's 1:00 AM, and I'm just starting this. That's late, it's been a long day. I'm tired, so this post might end up a little different from others. I've got different glasses on. I try to avoid blogging when I'm wearing certain glasses, because nobody wants to read about how tired I am. However, I think it's important that I preserve my thoughts, even when they're not entirely happy-go-lucky. To get an accurate portrait of me, you've got to catch the ugly parts too.

So here I am, it's tired, and I'd love to be in bed. But I'm not going to be, because I want to write. I really enjoy writing. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something, and it helps get alot of thoughts out. I have no problem with having thoughts "in", I just like to get them posted up here so I can come back and remember stuff. I think that's what I value most in this blog though, the thinking. I really don't care how frisbee was. When I come back a month or two later to read something I wrote, I'm not concerned about hammer throws. I'm still intrigued by my analogies, and the stuff I've thought of. I like the theories, the wonderings and ponderings. So, you're gonna get some of that tonight. As well as some stories. yay.

Sometimes it's important to have some incorrect grammar every once in a while. It's unique, and it's generally on purpose. Language is a tricky thing, in that it's got rules and rules, but that it's very flexible at the same time. It is in the hands of the people. Language is a tool that has been created by the people for the people. Nobody ever sat down to determine how a language was gonna work. It just sorta happened.

So really now, who's to tell me that I'm wrong? Who's to tell me that I'm using a word wrong? I'm using it exactly the way that I want to, conveying the meaning that I think ought to be conveyed. I am giving others information, that's the whole point of this language business.

If we were to stumble upon a previously-unknown bunch of natives living in a jungle somewhere, we'd probably find that they had a pretty unique language. It'd have all sorts of fun little nuances and quirks. We wouldn't question them about whether it was proper or not. We wouldn't care that it was slang. It's how they talk, it's their language.

So why, when people stumble upon me and my great state of Utah, do they tell me that I talk funny? Why are they upset that I can't say 'both' without adding that awesome L sound? The truth is, it's my language, and you can't tell me that it's wrong. Because language is in the hands of the people, and I sure fit into that whole people category. If Mexican folk don't talk the same way that Spanish folk talk, nobody minds.

So really, language is in the hands of the people. It's always changing. Anyone that tries to tell me I talk wrong is just speaking a different version of English than I am.

That whole tirade was brought on by the fact that I had a sentence fragment in the 3rd paragraph or whatever. It wasn't planned, it just came out.

Frisbee tonight was bunk. We didn't have enough people at the start, but eventually they came. I didn't play well at all, made a ton of mistakes. We were missing alot of our high quality guys, so it made the game alot harder. It was dissappointing, but it'll be better in the future.

This week has been very mixed. Parts of it have been great, and parts of it haven't been. Cross country was not so great this week. I was a slacker, and that's not a good feeling at all. I didn't run tuesday or wednesday at all. Monday was a distance run that I took too easy. Today was swimming, and I worked hard at that. Today was really the only good practice I had this week. Cross country should have been good this week, but I didn't put the necessary work in, so it was sorta lame.

However, things are still good. I went to the doctor wednesday morning, and I've got all sorts of good news. First and foremost, I finally passed the 6 foot mark. Yay. I measured 72.25 inches tall. Score it. My A1C came back 6.6, my best since I was diagnosed really. Last time it was 8.4, so this was really a great improvement. The target is somewhere around 7, so 6.6 was mad pro. I was very happy with that. All this running has really been doing great things for my body.

My brother Andrew is now on a mission. He's in the MTC right now, learning Spanish and the whatnot. I'm really going to miss him, but it's going to be alright. I know he's doing the right thing, and that the world's gonna be a better place cause of it. So, I won't see him for 2 years. I inherited his video camera, that's pretty cool. I haven't used it much yet, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

Oh gag me, I'm tired.

It's a really nice feeling to come home and have something waiting for you. Something new and nice. It's sorta an empty feeling when you arrive and there's nothing at all. That's just a downer. What is it about stuff waiting for you? Maybe it just makes you feel important, makes you feel like the world missed you whilst you were gone.

Moral of the story is, it's nice to have stuff waiting for you.

So, what's the deal with the UBSCT? It exists to make sure that our students are above a certain level before they graduate. That's a great plan. That'd make it so the kids that don't have the skills to really succeed in life have to go back for another year of school to get them. In theory, it'd lead to a better society.

But really, you can graduate without passing it, you just have to take it 4 times. Or something like that, I'm not really sure of the specifics. But come now folks, if you're going to have a test that you have to pass in order to graduate, you might as well follow through with the threats. You're not going to make the world a better place by letting the kids without skills graduate because they never stopped trying. It's not a punishment, it's helping us.

So, what's the deal? Even if I fail the test 4 times, I'll graduate. Unprepared to work for Carl's Junior. What's the good?

A couple weeks ago, I came home from helping at a little kid track meet, and I was totally beat. I was tired, hungry, angry, and all sorts of other negative adjectives. I was just beat. So, I go and look in the mirror, and my hair looks great. It's all gelled and nice, it's like, whoosh. All smooth, makes me look sophisticated. And really, that was bad news. Because right then, my hair wasn't representing how I felt inside. It was totally off. My hair should have been done for, messed up and tired. But nah, it was solid and set and looking relatively nice.

That's odd. I fully expected it to mirror the way that I was feeling on the inside, but it didn't. That shocked me, my hair is supposed to follow me around and do what I do. Why is this relevant? I don't care, I'm not the one that has to read it.

I've got some more ideas and stuff. Stuff to talk about, stuff that I could talk about but don't have to. As for now, I'm off to bed. It's late. I don't have morning practice tomorrow, so I can sleep in. That's a great feeling there. I need more sleep. Drinking more water is a great idea. iI want to do some amazing stuff some day. I wanna be great.

Life is like everything else. You get out of it what you put in to it. Go big or go home.