Projectile

Tonight may or may not be a harbinger of things to come. Tonight is an event unto itself. Without reservation I declare that I am posting tonight. I make no promises as to posts coming in the future or posts that belong to the past and yet are absent. This is a post. It stands alone.

So what's the news? Where have I been? What am I going? Where am I now? Why am I writing in this tone and style? The voice that accompanies my writing within my head is switching between Ratatouille's Ego and some rather dignified American fellow with a British style. Hmm. I guess I'll have to put up with it.

Tonight I kind of just want to run with it. I don't necessarily have a theme for the post or a certain idea that I want to drive at. I want to hit a lot of different things. This is more of a free write than anything else. I'm going to go where it takes me.

So, let's go.

Do you remember all those times that we wanted to do amazing things with the Alliance? Such a cool concept was the Alliance. I really do like the template that it has. We pulled some cool stuff off for a little bit. The question in my mind is why we kept attempting the alliance? That's not a question of desperation or implication of anything, I just wonder what human characteristic made us want to do it so bad. I think we all really had a desire to do something epic, and I think that we wanted to do something we were good at (blogging) and collaborate with others who we knew were good at it.

It always made me excited, because the Alliance was a project, and I love projects. Not only was it a project, but it was a project that spawned other projects.

Why do I love projects? If you ask Adult Roles, it's because I'm a dude and it's the role that society has given me. All laughs aside, I think it's because a project is a challenge. It's an opportunity to show the world what I'm capable of. To do something that no one else has done before, to do something differently.

It's all a matter of the ceiling, I believe. In my life the ceiling represents the limit of achievement. One cannot go past the ceiling. I believe that most school work has a very definite ceiling. A worksheet that is fill in the blank leaves no room for excellence. The ceiling is placed at the floor. An English essay, inversely, contains a very high ceiling, assuming that the assignment is not extremely limited.

High ceilings can be problematic, that's most of the fun of the high ceiling. Writing an open essay is difficult, but it is also rewarding. As a general rule, the more difficult a task is, the more rewarding it is as well. Generally speaking, I see the two as directly related.

Yet one more example. My name is currently on the ceiling of the choir room. That is only cool because the ceiling is so ridiculously high. If the ceiling were usual height, it would be no problem to jump and place my name up, or jump and take my name down. It's only an accomplishment because it's hard to do.

Same situation, a few days ago Sylvia wanted me to get a helium balloon down from the cafeteria ceiling. Had it had a string on it it'd have been no big deal. Had it been a low ceiling it'd have been no big deal. But here it was, a helium balloon, on a fairly high ceiling.

And I got it down with a roll of masking tape. Not at all in the fashion that I had intended to, but I quickly saw a new way to do it after my first attempt and ran with it. The balloon was captured from the ceiling and brought down with no harm to the balloon and minimal harm to the bystanders. Once again, it's only cool because it wasn't easy.

Those two examples both included a real ceiling. Ceilings generally aren't real though. But whether or not they are actual drop-tile or not, it's our job to rise to the day. The higher the metaphorical ceiling, the greater the rewards.

College is fast approaching, and I am fairly excited for it. I'm looking at two schools right now, but leaning kinda heavy towards one of them. Acceptance and scholarship really aren't issues, so right now it's just a matter of decided what to do with my life.

For a long time I've said that I wanted to go into engineering. I have a great love for math and science, and I hear that that's where math and science come together to make the world a better place.

But all the sudden I'm starting to think that I love different things more than I love math and science. It's been a while since this happened, but I'm starting to think that business is more of what I've been building myself to go in to.

I love making things better, and I think that business might be the place for me to do that. Entrepreneurial adventures and all that. And I know that that's a little bit "childish" of me, it's kinda like saying I want to grow up to be an inventor.

But what if the kid that wants to grow up to be an inventor really does have good ideas? What if he's not just wishing, but that he really feels like that's what he could be good at and that's where he could make a difference? Sure, we might laugh at him and think, "He hasn't really looked at this seriously, he just thinks the surface might be cool," but honestly, what if he has?

I really think that no matter what I do, interdisciplinary action will be the key. Maybe that's why I think that business would be better for me. If I do go into business, say, with my own little company, what will we be doing? Definitely not business, that's for sure. We'll be doing engineering or chemistry or e-commerce or social interaction.

Or even if I don't go into business, even if it's science, how many chemistry guys and girls are there out there? There are thousands of those men and women who know their chemistry crazy well. So how am I to make a difference? Yeah, I could make a difference by knowing my chemistry, but am I going to make a breakthrough? Maybe.

But I've got a better shot at breakthroughs if I can bring other stuff in. All my life, success has always come when I've tied my knowledge together. Success in English comes because I paid attention in US history and can make the right argument using the right backup. Success in Jello making comes because I know my physics AND my chemistry and can apply them both simultaneously. Success out on the Ultimate field and the basketball court comes when I remember human psychology and rotational inertia and cross country and sugarhouse pickup.

To me, success has always been about using everything I know on the problem.

And, I figure, knowing more will make me better able to solve problems, right?

So what does that mean for me? Does that mean I'll be forced to dual major? Does that mean that I'll go to college till I'm 45, just hoping that I'll get enough cross knowledge to do something useful? I hope not. I don't know what it means.

But I think it means that I'm going to be doing things a little differently. I'm going to be pursuing things that I might not normally pursue. Maybe it's time for me to take an art class or two. Maybe it's time for me to take ceramics and see what that's all about.

Because I think that the world has been doing well for the past hundred years with single-button individuals. This is the next stage, and business and success is starting to require the next generation of problem solvers. I don't think single-button is gonna work for me. It's time to toss my one button out the window and trade it in for a keyboard of mad skills. I'll be rocking harder than the 80's.

I think I know why I love graphs so much. Adult roles says it's because I'm a guy and I'm hardwired for it. Yeah, whatever. I think it's because graph's show what's important.

Mr. Rockwell always taught us that the AP test would ask us about trends and patterns. He made it very clear that anything they asked about would have happened in the course of American history multiple times under different names. He guaranteed that if there was an anomaly, or something that wasn't what usually happened, it wouldn't be on the test.

I think that that was the most clearly and aptly any teacher has put the quest for education for me. Rockwell taught us that the general motion is important, not the specific case. It was about what was happening over time, not what was happening on June 11th.

Ever since that class, I've been a little hesitant to embrace anything that deals with exacts instead of trends. I believe that trends are more important than exacts when it comes to understanding.

And that's why I'm in love with graphs. Because graphs show what's important very concisely. It's incredibly easy to find out exactly when things started to change. It's easy to see what one thing was happening more often than another thing. We can see mins and maxes with alarming speed. Graphs are mountains of information available to us at a glance.

Because after all, it's not important what y is equal to when x is 14. We really don't care about 14. We care about when things start changing from going up to going down.

Graphs are beautiful. I've had a desire for a while to graph my life and make it a blog post. No specifics of course, but general motion. Stuff like wakefulness throughout the day, motivation, ups and downs, etc.

It's just really pretty cool.

I follow the search engine industry fairly closely. Not analyst closely, but closely enough to know what's going on. I think that that's a large reason that I am the way I am the way I am when it comes to business. Google is an extremely interesting organization, from a business stand point. I come from a very pro-google household, so I have a tendency to believe that they can do no wrong. I know that this leads to sometimes inaccurate observations, but I still like to see how that industry is doing.

The point is that I wonder if there's a better way to search. When it comes to the internet, maybe not. Obviously refinements are in order, as always.

But, as an individual, for maximum efficiency. Let's say that I'm preparing a speech and that I want to include an excellent quote. I can go online and search for an excellent quote. I will find many excellent quotes. But whether or not I find one that exactly fits what I need and want to say is an entirely different matter.

For a quote in a speech to be effective, we generally need to know what exact quote we're looking for long before we start preparing the speech. We need to know that it exists and then work it in. It's hard to find a noble quote that fits what we want to say without knowing the noble quote in the first place.

So that's why I begin to think that as humans, there's a better way to search, at least for certain things. If an individual went through his or her life constantly collecting good quotes and cataloging them, they would be prepared to whip something amazing out when it was applicable. They'd know that there is an excellent quote for this speech, and they'd know where to find it.

The concept is that they'd collect as they go, preparing for a time when they might need that quote. They'd know that it exists.

That's human problem solving. It's all about collecting that bag of tricks. The internet, search engines and all that, can simply brute-force a problem to death. Brute force is simply trying every possible answer until you run into the right one.

But as humans we don't need to do that. We've got a bag of tricks, and we can use it when we need it.

That's why it's important to get a big bag of tricks.

There is more to say. Industry and web 2.0; councils and their effect on my chemistry class. The hour draws late, and it's time for me to prepare for bed.

I hope to be back, but I make no promises. I desire to return, so I believe that I will. There is more to say, and I hope to be able to say it one day. Rhyming aside, it's time for me to depart. I hope that things are well for you all. Keep up the good work, let's take this thing to the moon.

Hmmmm

I wonder how many posts I have whose titles are some derivative of "hmm". I hope I haven't used one with four m's before.

Why is it that I'm so proud of myself when I finish my homework this late at night? There's just something about it I think. It's a victory to me. Belated, sure, but a victory nonetheless.

So, my character essay is completed, and I think it's decent. Not as good as my last essay, but it's a decent essay nonetheless. I finished, and I'm ready for English tomorrow. Bring it on Genghis Khan.

Sesame

Today's homework is brought to you by the letters "A", "D", and "D" again.

310

1:33 AM, close enough :D

I'm not 100 percent for the evening. I'm choosing to table my calculus assignment. There's one thing I wanted to do with back to the future that I'm just not going to get done.

Will tomorrow be successful? Yeah, I think it will be. I've taken the steps necessary today to ensure that I've got at least a fighting chance. It's by no means a guarantee, but we're close.

I learned a lot of good stuff tonight. I've taken to writing the things that I learn down instead of typing them up here. I pondered about that change a bit tonight. There's a lot of cool stuff to that I think.

Normally I'd tell you about that. But if I did that, I'd sorta ruin it, wouldn't I?

So here's the situation. Tonight's not the night to write it. Tonight has served its purpose. There will be a time for all that.

For now, have yourselves a great wednesday night and even better Thursday. I think we could all use a good Thursday. It looks like it's gonna be one. Let's keep up the good work. We've all got to face tomorrow, let's make it happen.

Project 37

It will take work, but I will make it happen.

This is entirely within my grasp. I can do this.

37, here I come!

Some good thinking

Hey everybody, happy Saturday.

Tonight isn't going to be a full fledged post. I think it's just going to be a list of sorts. There's some fear in my mind that this list will be taken the wrong way. I don't intend for that to happen, but there is a risk. Please be nice.

The thing that makes the difference between a good day and an extraordinary day for me is the amount of time I have to myself before bed. That time is, well, sacred to me. I've got a routine that builds up beautifully to bed. These past few weeks I've been doing better at it than usual, and it's been pretty enlightening.

See, my computer is in the basement. That means that I leave it earlier than usual and am more awake for bed time stuff. It also means I have a free desk in my room. There is nothing in the world that inspires wisdom and growth like a free desk.

I write in my journal and then read the scriptures. Before, during, or after that, I sit and think and write. My journal writing is very different from my other writing. Right now I'm writing most knowledge onto little half-sheets or so of legal paper. You might have seen me whip one out of my back pocket to check my to-do list.

But it's this extra writing that I'm loving more than anything. If a thought strikes me, I write it down and file it in a special pile. I've been working hard at making to-do lists and following through and checking them off through the day. I've been tracking my bloodsugar on paper and investigating trends. The difference has been spectacular.

There's a quote flying around that says the unexamined life isn't worth living. I disagree with the ultimateness of the sentence, but the idea is strong. How do we fix a problem? You sit down and think about it, make a plan, then go fix it. Time before bed gives me time to clear my mind and think about what I'm doing with my life.

That's the biggest difference between good and amazing days. I've even had terrible days turned around by my pre-bedtime peace.

That's been the key for me these past few weeks. It's hard to walk away from the entire world and delve into a strictly personal experience. It is good to note, however, that I spend a lot of time thinking about my friends during these times. I'd go so far as to say I spend more time thinking about my friends per minute during that time than during any other time.

It's been doing good things for me. It's an entirely unique time. Nothing like it really occurs spontaneously through the day. It's hard to have a time for inspiration to strike. An open desk and an alert mind with blank paper leads to it. I've been loving the pre-bed think.

So that's one of the big lessons for me these past few weeks. What makes my life better? Setting aside time to be awake and to study important things and learn. Turn the computer off thirty minutes earlier and say goodbye. It's a sacrifice, but it's been making the difference.

So here I am. It's 1:42, but I'm still awake. I feel like I've got another good thirty minutes in me. Here I go, I'm excited :D

P.S. the snow is sticking.

************ this is the last post, originally titled, "basement". I'm moving it for reasons of my own. No one will probably know about this but me. Ha! *******************************

I brought the computer down here to play Counter-strike with Nathan and Michael a few days ago. Haven't taken it back upstairs yet. Having it down here leads to some interesting mechanics.

The main mechanic is that I spend a lot less time on the computer. It's just less comfortable, there's less room down here and I'm constantly sitting on an angle.

It also means my room looks a lot cleaner.

I'm not sure which is better yet, but there is something beautiful about a clean desk with nothing on it. It just seems to scream out, "Use me!". It's epic.

I still don't know how to properly use quotation marks.

So, I've got some good ideas of stuff that I want to write. A few posts that are kicking around in my noggin. I do hope to put them down soon. I don't feel like tonight is the night to do it though. I think that my time will be better spent tonight doing actual work on the other side of the post.

See, because posts really have two sides. There's the side that you all see, that's really the middle side. It's what I write down, all those ideas and stuff just placed out there. It's the words. Sometimes they're pretty.

The other side is really the two outside sides. Before a post is written it's sorta birthed out in my mind. Something makes me think about something, and then I've got to figure out what my stand on that is. Then I'll wonder why that's my stand and try to figure things out. Then I'll come write, after the pondering, that's the middle side.

But then there's the back side, that gets neglected sometimes. Other times it's not-neglected to the max.

But the back side is the implementation. Back in the glory days, when I'd write a novel about Ultimate and how I was going to tweak my game next friday, I'd follow up and implement what I talked about. The back side is probably the best part of it all.

So I think that I'm going to work on this one concurrently. Something made me think of something, and then I thought about it. I've already nailed part one.

I'm going to work on the back part before I work on the writing though. I'll sort of do them at the same time I guess.

Now don't get too excited about all this, it's nothing big. Although I do love big things. It's just something that I want to do, or a way that I want to be. So, I'm gonna write about it.

But I'm not gonna write about it tonight, I'm just gonna work on it, and we'll talk about it some other time. I am pretty excited about it though.

In the meantime, I hope that you're all doing well. This week looks like it's gonna be awesome. I've 11:05, and I took a nap. That means I've got at least another hour of good productivity in front of me tonight. I've got a test that I want to study for and a little work out. Probably some planning too.

I do wonder how much of me really does belong on the blog. It's a question that I run into every once in a while. Still something I'm trying to balance I suppose.

The moral of my story? I guess the moral is thus: it was beautiful weather today. School was good, and the BO concert was very impressive. I even got a nice surprise today. It's been a good day.

And, as such, I feel an obligation of sorts to make sure that this good day does something good for the future. Today is a great opportunity to lay something up in store. So that's the plan. Let's do something good, we've got an excellent opportunity.

John Denver is Ownage

Yeah, I'm a big big fan of John Denver tonight. Thumbs up for America's favorite folk singer.

This week has been both really up and really down. Today was an excellent day though; that's good news.

I've got some stuff to write about. It's currently outlined on some real paper upstairs. I'm really excited about that. Even if I never do end up writing it, just knowing that it's up there makes me pretty happy.

Term is almost over, that's so cool. It was really stressful this week, but I think that things are going to be ok.

So, the news:

This week has been rough for me, but it's also been good for me. It feels like I've made a lot of progress these past two or three weeks. I'm so happy about All State. I ought to write about that. I pursued a little project regarding my health, and it went really really well. Maybe I'll write about that too.

A lot of good things have been happening. This term is on the downhill slope. A few more tests left, but that's really it. We can do this.

And after that, it's only three more terms left in high school.

ACT is in what, a week? Yep, I'm gonna start studying.

Concert on Monday. Gonna be ferocious. I've got some studying to do, but I'm going to do it. I hope that things work out. I'm really excited for stout hearted men. And the suits. Wow, the suits are smooth.

Yep, still loving John Denver.

There really has been a lot of good stuff going on. There's been trouble, sure, but more good than bad I think. It's a new setting and I feel like I still need to adapt. I'm rolling with it though, and things are going to be good. There's a chance that we'll have classic frisbee friday next week, the night before the ACT for good measure. Maybe we'll do it Thursday because we don't have school friday or something. Do we have school friday? I don't even know.

Things are working out.

So, I've got this theory about life. It grew from a question that I had and that I investigated. It makes sense to me. I want to do it justice though, so I think it'll come tomorrow night.

Tonight is a good night, but I'm not sure that it's the night to write all of that good business. I think tonight is just the night to remind everybody that we're doing alright. We're gonna get through all of this. We are getting through all this. We're gonna be so unstoppable.

John Denver? Yeah, wow, good stuff.

Three songs to cheer you up:

On the wings of a dream - John Denver
I want to life - John Denver
You fill up my senses - John Denver

They make a man feel good. I say go for it. What's the worst thing that could happen?

We're gonna get through this. At least we'll be safe from bears.

Smought

Todays post is brought to you by the letter "I am having trouble starting my veteran essay."

And I still don't know the rules about those quotation marks and the period. I'm gonna have to learn that before the ACT...

So, I just spent an hour and a half playing Oregon Trail. There was some emulator online. Yeah, I made it to Oregon. The first time that's ever happened. I'm a champion.

Now I have to write that essay. Hmm...

The good news is that I'm up to 40 words. 260 left.

86 words! Ah snap!

149! That's half way!

204. 30 dollars here I don't come.

I erased some, then did more. 260.

317! and not done yet! Oh snap.

380, easy easy.

404, finished.

12 months later

Before Bed

10:23, got to be a record.

So, yeah. I'm going to bed early. But before I do I've got a thought.

This is one of those cool thoughts that I've said before. It deserves a better telling than the one that I'm going to give it tonight. I shall be brief.

I'm pretty sure that not everybody sucks.

It's odd to see how bad society thinks it is. I can't help but believe that if people in general started to believe that people in general were good, people in general would start being better.

If you thought everybody else was going to go vote, wouldn't you hit the polls too?

I know there are good people out there. Everybody doesn't suck. Why do we fool ourselves into thinking so?

Strong Back

I'm compelled to remember the quote, "Don't ask for a lighter pack; Ask for a strong back."

I always approach the end of the day wishing I had more time to do the things I'd like to do or the things I need to do. I want very badly to point the finger at homework. I want to feel victimized.

But let's face it, I'm just not doing my work as early as I ought to be. I'm not working as efficiently either.

Now I'm not saying this to complain or compel anyone to make me cookies. I wouldn't say no to cookies, but I just want to start working harder.

So I suppose that's what I'm going to start doing.

There's a time to be excellent and a time to survive.

Ok, I lied. It's always time to be excellent. All this survival stuff is indeed good, not at all over-rated. But if I'm going to go halfway, why not go one hundred percent anyways?

For perhaps the second time in my life, I'm concerned about upcoming tests. I feel betrayed. That's like wondering if my own brother is going to poison me in the middle of the night. We've been getting along great for 17 years, and now you've got to spring adult roles and All State on me.

That's it. I've just got to kick their butts. That's the only answer. That's the only thing that's going to bring me satisfaction. Gender roles? Marriage, family, and work? I don't care if what the book says is a load of tosh. Inversely, I don't care if what they say is entirely accurate...

Moral of the story? I'm coming for you, Eighth edition of Marriage and Family experience by Stron, Devault, Sayad, and Cohen. Your reign of terror is no more. I'll admit, I think I'm a lot smarter than you. Maybe not even a lot smart, maybe just a lot more enlightened. No matter. I'll play your game you rouge. And you know what? I'm going to play it for me. Not for you, and not even just to spite you. The day will be mine. Not yours. Mine.

And you know what else? I'm going to ready for All State. I'm going to confident and strong. I love to sing. Why should I let something like All State try to distract me from that? Why am I letting that get complicated?

I'm going to be ready for this. I'm going to walk in there Saturday proud and tall. I'm boldly going where I've never ever been before. I'm walking in there strong to represent me and Taylorsville and T and Kyle and Levi. I'm going to love Saturday morning, no battle.

I will be strong. It is nothing but go time.

I think, just maybe, there'll be fruit in my cereal tomorrow. And maybe I'll wake up early and ride the bike. Maybe I'll get lucky and run. Or maybe I'll get hit by a bus and make more wheelchair jokes than ever before.

But no matter what happens, I'm going to be ready for Saturday morning. The time to act has come, and act I shall.

Calc 103

So, derivatives make sense when you do the first assignment before you try to do the second one. I am now caught back up. Hooblay!

Closer

Today I moved .5 credits closer to graduating. I was short a PE credit, but because I had run cross country two years I was able to get that to count. Score it.

I also called the people I needed to call in order to get me set to test out of computer tech. That is going to be much easier than I expected it to be.

So, checklist:
*Test out of computer tech
*Don't fail any classes

Suddenly this isn't looking so hard. I'm going to graduate. Shabam!

I also have my eagle board of review this Tuesday. I get to get and have a little meeting with the local leaders so they can make sure I really did all the things I said I did. That's the very last thing I have to do before I'm an official eagle scout.

It's surprising how that actually feels. My whole life I've been told I'd one day be an eagle. It was expected. Dad wasn't going to let me drive until I got it. That fell through once I had early morning practice during the summer, but still, it was a fine idea.

I got a little tired of scouts halfway through my career with them. It didn't seem to have any value to me. I wasn't learning much.

I think I was so tired and stagnant because I was isolated. A few years ago the demographics changed such that we had an influx of 12 year old scouts flood into the program.

All the sudden I wasn't lonely, I was big. These little 12 year olds had never seen anything like me. I was tall and had an attention span. I was new.

And so I sorta became a pseudo leader to them. I later became an actual leader to them. Junior Assistant scout master, oh snap.

That year or so was the important year of scouting for me. It's where I really learned and grew like crazy. I learned other times too, but this was leaps and bounds.

And why? Because I was doing two things at once. It's very difficult to ever only do one good thing. I've got a pretty firm belief that in order to do one good thing we've got to do two.

I was helping the new guys. They learned from me. By doing that I was learning a ton myself, becoming a better person and leader. I couldn't have done one without the other.

That's what I've been thinking about lately. How we're all so very connected. How we can't help ourselves without helping each other. We're so connected that the best way for us to lift ourselves is to lift someone else and wait for the cycle to reach back to us. It's a good system.

Most good things do more than one thing. Most good things do three or four. It's hard not to feel good about a system like that.

300

And a happy 300th post to The Other Dentist. Wahoo!

You know, I've had a good day today. A lot of great things have been happening this evening. Mutual was spectacular. One of our leaders got his old mission president to come and have a discussion with us, it was just way too cool. Just a lot of great stuff that we talked about.

Levi and James came over tonight and we got to talk for a really long time. It was so nice to just sit back and talk with them. They came over to borrow some discs, but ended up staying for two and a half hours or so. We really just talked about everything, it felt great. I love being with good people. I love being able to just talk, not about anything really in particular. It was the total opposite of stress. We were just there, talking about real things, being genuine. Genuine - that's one of the best feelings in the world.

One of the things that we talked about were journals. Levi asked if I kept a journal, and so I busted out all the stuff I've got down on paper. Six notebooks plus a little journal book thing. The first journal starts Dec. 28, 2007. That's seventh grade! I have a continuous line of journal between that day and now. There are scattered days missing here and there, sure, but it's pretty epic.

Dec. 28, 2007. That's before I was diagnosed as diabetic! That's before I could grow facial hair. It's brilliant, just looking back and reading that stuff. I haven't looked at that first journal for years. I was a wee lad. It's funny to look and see the glimpses of me. It's just, wow, so cool! In seventh grade I wrote more about the nerd team than anything else. I talked about practice and whether or not I had studied, how our games went. Nothing major, each night's worth of writing was really only a paragraph for a long time, but it was cool. It's funny to look back and see how I got along with people I absolutely love now. Apparently the whole month of January I was mad at Jason. He was my classic opponent with nerds, and we did a fair amount of head-butting. It's just funny to see the seventh grade edition of me mad at somebody.

There are a lot of cool things that I remember from it though. Insights and whatnot. I wrote on the 24th of January (03) about a hymn I listened to that day and a certain line I loved. I sang that hymn a week or so ago and saw that line and remembered it, remembered why I loved it. I had forgotten it was in the journal, but just ran into it. Score it.

Seventh grade had some good times. Such innocent times. Me, Kyle, and James, squaring off for the ladies. So funny.

You know, I'm happy to have the journals. I don't look back and read them as often as I should, but it's a great feeling to know that they're there. I know that they're not the most secure form ever, notebooks don't hold up well in floods and fires, but what can you do? Maybe one day I'll start digitizing them all.

The point is, by taking a few minutes every day, I feel stronger. I've learned a lot from the journal experience. I've figured a lot of stuff out. I think it helped out on AP tests. Journaling is one of the better choices I've made.

I mean c'mon, a journal since I was 12?! Do you know how much I've changed since I was 12?! When I was 12 I wanted to be a programmer when I grew up! I learned VB and always aspired to learn Java and C++ but never did. So cool! I was the super nerd. Seventh grade was before I ever ran anything! That was before the first cross country!

It's cool to be able to look back and see me. It's so cool to know that it's me. I've been thinking this week a lot about the things that I've done that have brought me to the place that I'm at now. Working on the homecoming committee meant that I had to help out with the pageant. I got put back stage making things happen. Do you remember, that's what I did my whole ninth grade year? Engineering that year made me grow a lot, it gave me skills.

There have been a lot of great things all building up to make me who I am. I'm a cumulative effort here. It's so cool to see all the different things come together to influence the way I make choices.

I thought of an interesting question a few weeks ago. I wrote it down on a sticky-note because it made me feel good to think about it. I hadn't planned on it tonight, but I'm going to talk about it.

"When did I start being me?"

There are a lot of answers to that question for me. I know that I'm an eternal being, that I've been around a lot longer than this earth and that I'll be around forever. My soul has been me forever. I've seen a lot more days than I can remember.

The answers to that question depends on how you define me. If we define me as an eternal intelligence, then I've been here forever. If we define me as the guy with the body, I've been me for 17 years. If we define me as the person with the gifts and talents that I've been given, I've been me for about the same, roughly 17.

But what do we define me as? I've been me forever, but me is also changing every day. That's something that I love. When I think about me, I think about the person I am right now. I think about my attitudes and my beliefs, and I think about how I want to treat other people.

I feel very strongly that the me right now isn't that same me that was me during junior high. There are a lot of throwbacks, that's for sure, but I have grown. Physically I'm a stronger person. The height of my physical strength was junior cross country season, right after the summer. That was brilliant. I'm not that strong right now, but I know who I am. I think that I'm mentally stronger now than ever before, perhaps with the exception of right before junior year AP tests. Those were brilliant times.

I think that the biggest change in me has been one in beliefs and attitudes. Through the things that life has thrown at me I've had to make decisions about who I want to be and how I want to see other people.

If I were to define me, that's how I'd like to do it. Outside of the eternal identity, I'd like the next closest definition of me to be how I see the world and the great people in it. If there's one area of growth that I feel really happy about, it's that one.

It's odd to talk about "me" so much. It feels a little egotistical. But I don't intend it to be, I'm just exploring thoughts.

Life has thrown a lot of good passes to me. I've had a lot of great opportunities. It's amazing to look back on life and see all those great opportunities. It's been a long time since I've thought about them all. Junior high was a great time for me. I learned so much about everything. Nerd team was beautiful. I credit about half of the success I've seen in high school academics to the nerd team. Engineering was a very stressful job. It irritated me more than anything else in Junior High. And yet, it taught me amazing things. I learned to value stone cold dependability very highly. I learned a lot about hard work. I think more than anything I learned a lot about working with and managing a team. In junior high I learned to love running. I got a small taste of how it feels to win a race. I got a small idea of how beautiful running really is. It didn't come into fullness until high school. There's just a huge difference between running neighborhoods in junior high and running the park way in high school. But I learned to love running, and I made it a good habit. I learned to love people in junior high. I didn't understand a lot of them, and I had pretty confused ideas about people in general. But I learned how to love a few of them, and got a little bit better at showing that love. I believe that that was the beginning of who I am today. Without those important people teaching me the things that they taught, I don't think I would be the person I am today. I had to explore real questions and find real answers with those people. All the sudden everything that I'd always been told meant something. All the sudden I had to find out for myself. How can I help this person if I don't know it?

I can trace one of the best story-arcs of my life back to one decision. I have a lot of people to thank for that one decision. I wouldn't have ever known before that it would be so important. I had no idea, really. I thank my mom for instilling in me the value of doing things I said I'd do, even if I didn't really want to do it. I thank Courtney for being a great friend and having a party.

It's funny how that all works out. How the simple decisions that we make every day can take us places. It's a certainty that the choices we make affect the people we become. I don't feel like it's even an exclusively long-term thing. From the moment we being to make choices we begin to shape the people that we are. Since day one I've been changing. When I make good choices I change for the better.

I think there was a poster right outside the auditorium at Eisenhower that said something to the effect of, "I am the grand total of all my choices". I really like that. I believe it.

So what's the point of all this? Maybe it's just a good opportunity to look back at the way that life has been. More than that I think it's a chance to look back and appreciate the paths that brought me where I am today. There are a lot of good people that have helped me be who I am. There are so many friendly faces along the way. There is much love for my past.

I am so glad that I am where I am today. I really feel like I can't take responsibility for all the opportunities I've been given. I know that that's entirely against everything I've been preaching this whole post, but I feel like a very lucky man. Things have had a tendency to work out for me. Why did Andrew join the nerd team, and thereby inspire me to do it? Why did Sharpe ask me to be an engineer? Why'd Kyle and Tanya get me to run Cross Country? Why did my family instill the values that they instilled? How did I get so lucky, to meet the right people at the right times in my life?

I look back and see Junior High as the great forming grounds of my life. I have a lot of love for Eisenhower, the home that gave me the opportunities to grow. I have a lot of love for the people that helped me along the way. In whatever capacity, the great people who influenced my life. I feel so lucky.

I can't chalk all of it up to coincidence and good luck. If my life has a plan, I know there's someone up there who's very excited about all of this. There's a reason for the paths that I've taken. It has been my choice from day one, and the things that I've learned since day one are suddenly useful. There's a reason for the way we are. There's a reason for life.

I can't look at junior high and not see that. I just can't do it.

When did I start being me? I think I've been me since day one. Me has changed a lot. The me that I am today has got a lot to thank the me I was yesterday for.

We're building forever on tomorrows. Tomorrow's edition of me will have a lot to blame today's edition of me for. How his health is, how tired he is, the responsibilities he has. To a large extent the developed talents and knowledge as well.

Tomorrow I'm going to take everything I've learned from life and apply it to be the best person I can be.

The day after that, I'm gonna take everything plus tomorrow and see what I can make of myself.

And so we go on, forever and ever, upwards and upwards. It's been an amazing journey thus far. I am me for a reason.

Rash

*yesterday's essay. Not my favorite essay ever, but one of my favorite ideas for an essay ever. You don't have to read this if you don't want to. *

Essay #1: The Defense of Poetry

Truth

It has been stated that truth is the absolute defense. I am an individual assigned to defend the value of poetry, and I have an opportunity in the introduction of this essay to choose one of two paths. I can follow the path of the fool and regurgitate the words I assume the audience wants to hear, or I can stand up for truth and that which I really believe. I choose truth. I am taking a risk of entirely missing the mark on this assignment and being misunderstood by others. I feel an obligation to pursue that which I believe, and therefore I launch into this essay, doing my best to explain that which dwells in my heart.

A very wise friend of mine once made a statement that I entirely disagree with. He wrote, “Without poetry, life would be meaningless.” As a sensible and reasonable individual, I can not accept that statement as truth. I know too much of life, too much of metabolic processes and love between two individuals to believe that poetry is the true decider of a life's worth. Because I know that that statement is false, I am forced to reject it. I have no room for falsehoods in my life.

Our society is inundated by those who regurgitate and echo the refrain that my friend so nobly chorused. Why does society accept that statement and repeat it like some pledge of allegiance? I believe that the statement has become a cliché, uttered so often that the truth of it isn't questioned, it's just uttered again and again. Nearly every artist and high school student has been forced to listen to the statement in one form or another. “Art is a Rose in full bloom / Life without art is Death after Doom.” Does Darlene Lewis really believe what she wrote in her poem “Life without ART”? I don't know who Darlene Lewis is, but her statement resembles my friend's very closely. No matter the reason that particular poem was written, or why any number of similar poems and essays and songs were penned, the idea that without art life is meaningless has been absorbed into our social consciousness. Billy Collins, in “Introduction to Poetry” says that “all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it.” Are we perhaps trying to make poetry fit the description we have placed on it? Do we as robots force poetry to be the measure of the meaning of life? Collins reminds us that we have a tendency to make poetry be things that it is not. I believe that this is happening now. Poetry, which is not the meaning of life, is being taught in public schools and popular culture to be the meaning of life.

It is the mark of a wise man to question a cliché. It is the mark of a brave man to stand up for what he believes in. It takes an individual with courage and wisdom to admit that one does not see poetry the way the rest of his or her peers do. I give honor to those brave men and women who disrupt an English class in defense of truth. They have stood and continue to stand against the falsehood that is the cultured robot's anthem. How could life be meaningless without art or poetry? Life is too brilliant for that! They know that life without poetry isn't meaningless, and it is for that reason that they must and do reject poetry. It is not a hatred or ignorance of the art form, but rather a rejection of the philosophy that poetry is everything. It's not about the poetry, it's about how the poetry is packaged and sold to them. How can one accept poetry when it's definition according to society is unacceptable to that individual?

I understand and sympathize with these persons. Their plight is not unknown to me. I am an ex-poetry detractor. I see the value of poetry, and preach that value to all who read this essay. There are parties in the world who wish for me to say that I have seen the error of my ways and have since changed. This is not true. Rather, I have seen the truth of my ways and have been strengthened by those truths. I am not the one who is confused about poetry. I am a poetic rebel. I see the beauty and value of art, and yet I have a firm belief that without art and poetry our lives would still be full and meaningful. The difference between myself and the cyborgs is that we disagree on the true importance of poetry. The poetic zealots say that we're doomed to be clones without it, that poetry is everything to everyone. I believe that poetry is an optional endeavor, that it has much to offer, but that it is not a compulsory thing. One can be a true man with a meaningful life without loving poetry.

My rebel theory says that a poem is like a shovel. Archibald MacLeish, who is clearly not a rebel, says in “Ars Poetica” that “A poem should be wordless / As the flight of birds.” and “A poem should be equal to: / Not true.” I think that Archibald has been deceived by the robot's anthem. He is looking for and supporting something that is not necessarily there for all people. For the rebel writing this paper, a poem is not like a flight a birds, a poem is like a shovel. A shovel is only useful if a man is around to use it. Otherwise it sits and digs no holes- it doesn't fulfill the measure of its creation. Poetry is likewise dependent on humanity to fulfill its worth. Poems exist to enlighten men, but how can poems enlighten men if there are no men to be enlightened? Without an individual to use the tool, either the shovel or the poem, the tool's existence is irrelevant.

To appreciate and use poetry we need to understand poetry, and to understand poetry we must know what it is not. We can not be confused about its identity. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in his poem “Constantly Risking Absurdity” explores the absolute necessity for poets to find the true identity of whatever they are poem-ing about. “...and all without mistaking / any thing / for what it may not be / for he's the super realist”. If it is important for a poet to not mistake one thing for another, it is doubly important for us to not mistake poetry for that which it is not. Poetry, no matter how much we may want to believe otherwise or how many posters in English classrooms say so, is not the silver bullet. It is not the end all. It is not the only means to accomplish something. A. E. Housman in “Terence, this is stupid stuff” uses a character to remind us that “malt does more than Milton can / To justify God's ways to man.” Poetry isn't your only option, and it will not make your hair grow back and your ex-girlfriend love you again. Poetry is not the true measure of life. Life can have meaning without it. Poetry has no cosmic heartbeat. We cannot afford, as a society interested in truth, to confuse these issues.

After that diatribe is would be easy to assume I have rescinded back into my old ways, that I am not converted to the philosophy of poetry. I spent the last paragraph lambasting the poor thing. I went so far as to accuse it of being of this world and mundane. Be not confused, I have a deep love for poetry. I believe I have a deeper and purer love for poetry than most, In fact. For I see poetry as its true self. I am not in love with a romantic facade, I am in love with poetry for what it is.

Poems, just like shovels, are tools. They can aid mankind on its quest. The value of poetry is that one man can share his experience or thought with another man through a permanent medium. He can express that idea to another man, and that other man has an opportunity to gain something from it himself. It allows mankind to share the collective wisdom that has been accrued since the beginning. Shovels allow mankind to dig better holes. They are tools.

Poems are beautiful and worthwhile because of that value, that sharing that man uses it for. The beauty is in the solid good that it does a man. That's the value of it, nothing abstract, just the good it does as a tool. I defend poetry because it helps individual humans understand themselves and their world. I defend poetry because it has practical value and insight to offer those who seek it. I defend poetry for what it is; my defense is pure.

Love the Time Stamp

I'm always in the best of moods when I finish English essays late at night.

I think I'll post it tomorrow, I think it turned out alright.

Moral of the story? I finished it, I'm a champion.

Journal of a long time

I think that as humans we have a fear of things getting stuck. As long as we can see things changing we feel comfortable and happy. Once we start to feel that life is going to be the same for a long time, we freak out.

I think that might be why I'm afraid of all this homework. It's not really that it's so bad, it's just that it leaves me with no options. The homework is here to stay, at least for now. There is no short-term respite from its onslaught. On a day I don't have "pressing homework" I need to do my background homework, that is, all state and C+P.

It's the long time commitment that's frightening. I don't want to be stuck in this tunnel without options forever. I don't want to have to read C+P the rest of my life. I wouldn't mind practicing all state if I ever got around to it. I really enjoy doing it when I do it. It's just a chore because I don't do it. It's a time commitment. One that I've been having trouble making.

These choices will come back to me. It's justice. When I work hard and do good things, good things come back to me. When I do not work hard and do not do good things, good things do not necessarily come back to me.

And so I'm writing here tonight. Not because I really have time, but because I think it's important to poke a hole out of the tunnel. It may just be I'm stuck in this tunnel for a very long time. It might be a while until I learn to breathe underneath the smothering tunnel-fluids. And so I'm poking a hole.

Yep, I'm still here. I might be stuck in a tunnel, but at least I'm here. The Ninja Turtles have been in tunnels before. They got oozed. Maybe I'll get oozed.

Probably not physically, but perhaps metaphorically. It's a tunnel, and tunnels always mean learning.

It's not really that bad of a tunnel. We don't fear tunnels. We just fear long tunnels. I don't mind writing an essay tomorrow. I mind writing an essay tomorrow and then reading and making a brochure on wednesday. Thursday means practice and reading and Friday means similar things. I've got commitments to Ultimate and other such business.

I like a good tunnel adventure. It is when the tunnel adventure becomes the only option that I get a little stir-crazy. I think we're naturally a little flighty. We like things to change. I like the weather to change. I like my clothes to change. I like breakfast, on occasion, to change. The same thing every day doesn't quite suit me. I don't like not being able to choose when I'm gonna do.

Now, by no means am I so restricted as I imply here. It's just a homework-induced blog post.

I will not let my life slip away from me. I will leave my mark and be something greater. I always, always feel good when I post. I think there are lots of reasons for that, but I think one of them is that I'm leaving parts of myself. I will not vanish. I'm like a bank. There's a paper trail that leads right to me, right now. Hey, I'm here. I've existed in writing for a very long time. I've got journals that go back a few years, I've got posts that go back two or so. Ha, I didn't just show up. I'm really here. I'm still here.

What does the future hold for me? Am I really capable of finding the balance? I feel like the classic argument about government. Where do we draw the line between freedom and security? Where do we need to stop letting the people choose their own destinies because they're all growing up to be mailmen? Where do we enforce structure and where do we let them run wild?

During the summer I feel there isn't enough structure for me to excel at anything. I am a lump. During the school year I feel smothered by structure, all I want to do is get free and follow my dreams. Once I'm free I don't have dreams any more.

It's the same deal with running. Cross Country was not an optional thing, it was just what I did. I ran, and I didn't really have a choice about whether or not I'd run. I just ran. It wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to follow my own running dreams. I wanted to run where and how and when I wanted to. And now here I am, without the obligation. My dreams are going unfulfilled, it's been weeks since I've been running.

So where can I draw the line? I think that's still a part of me that requires a lot of growth. I need to find balance. Balance between doing what must be done and what I would like to do. Balance between progress in one area and progress in another. Balance between myself and others. Balance between carbohydrates and insulin. Balance between the van and the bike, the ultimate and the anything else. Balance between freedom to sleep in and the power to wake up.

It's balance that I'm searching for. I'm going to work on that.

I hope that this post comes off the right way. It's not a sad post by any means. It's just an exploratory post. I'm writing the things that I'm thinking as I'm writing. I think that's another reason I feel so good about posting. I get to think. I'm sort of tricked into thinking about things and exploring their meanings. I get to know me a little bit better. I think that that's the goal behind every school assignment, isn't it? To get us to think. Not every school assignment, some are just designed to improve fine motor skills. But talking high school, I think everything is ultimate an effort to make me sit down and think. I think that it's by thinking that we solve problems. Thinking is how we make progress. We need to sit and evaluate and get to know things better and then we are empowered to make better choices.

I think that making better choices is the whole point. That's what we're shooting for, right?

Then isn't it natural that we ought to pursue a path that empowers us to make better choices? That's why we go to school and why we blog and why we dance and run and fret and do the things that we do. Because ultimately we're trying to be able to make better choices. We want to be empowered to make the best choices that we can. We're working on that.

One must ponder what is really important. There comes a time when I have got to ask myself if Ultimate is important at all. It has its charms, sure, but why? Why do we put forth the effort that we do? Is it truly worth it?

I do love Ultimate, but wasn't frisbee friday enough? What have we done to the pure tradition? If nothing else can survive, why couldn't frisbee friday survive? Where are my lights?

At this point we have to make decisions. We can't have it all. We must choose between two things. It's a compromise. Most of that compromise for me deals with time management right now. Am I going to take a nap or do my homework? One or the other has to give.

And I think that's how I'm seeing Ultimate right now. Why have I signed myself up to devote so much time to it? Yes, it's something that I love. But I also have a responsibility to do my homework and all sorts of other stuff. When it comes time to choose between the two, which one is really more effective for me to keep in my life?

Just some stuff to think about, that's all. Don't assume I'm abandoning Ultimate. I just wonder if we really need anything aside from Frisbee Friday. After all, I do really love frisbee friday.

I am not a shovel, but I am glad that I have come here tonight.

There is a certain allure to contradictions in literature. There's little better to describe a man than to declare him a contradiction. We love a contradiction. And why is it so? I believe it's because a contradiction proves that we are right. We don't believe this facade of a world that we've set up. We don't believe in the social class and the implied rules of men. We live by it, by all this fabric we've set up. But we don't believe it, and we're searching for the rips and the holes in the seams. We know it's not real, and we love proof of it.

That's why we love a contradiction. Because our ideas that we've collectively formulated about the way that society and people ought to be don't sit well with us. A contradiction shows us that we were wrong, and we love to be wrong when it comes to people. "He was a man." We love a man that can show us that what we know isn't true isn't true. We love a contradiction, it reminds us that there's something behind this game that we're playing together.

12:57 AM

Happy Sunday everybody, I hope you're doing well.

I just finished my English essay. I love first drafts.

It's not that good, but it's finished. It's not what one would expect. It doesn't have the required poetry cited in it. It's barely over two pages long.

Really, it's not a good "essay"

But the ideas in there are beautiful. The idea, the core, it's solid. I could stand up in front of the class and give a five minute diatribe on why I am right.

I think I tried to do that with the essay. I used my flow of speech style of writing. The one with the random comma's. I think it's a combination of the great speakers I've heard in my life. Scriptures, SNL celebrity jeopardy, Stephen Colbert. Throw them all together and you get a whack essay that is better heard than read.

It will undergo a radical revision come Tuesday. Until then I'll take my credit with a smile.

Yeah, it's 1 AM. It's looking too late to write an epic post. It's looking too late to read C+P or practice all state. But that's ok, because I'm alive, and as far as I know I'm still moving.

Perhaps there will come a day in the near future (we're talking days here) that I will have to make sacrifices to make things work. Right now I'm sacrificing All State and C+P to finish my homework. I do need to stop that.

Tomorrow I'm going to work hard. I'm going to work hard to ride my bike to school. I'm going to work hard in school. I'm going to work hard after school. I'm going to watch Heroes. And then I'm going to work hard and then go to bed.

It's not that I don't have enough time. I just haven't risen to the challenge quite yet.

My entire essay was really about that challenge, that quest. The main jist is that I'm a man on a quest, and poetry is just poetry. I have eternal worth and value, my potential is limitless. I'm running through everything here trying to be better. Poetry is just poetry.

And therefore poetry should not be idol-worshipped for what it is not. Poetry is a tool that man uses. It is a very good tool. It can help men on their quest. That is where its value comes in.

Not in it's being. Not in it's world. It's value is in the fact that it can help people. Poetry is beautiful because of it. I have love for poetry because of it. I do love poetry.

But then again, I love shovels. And you don't hear me raving about shovels, do you?

But I could rave about shovels. Maybe, to be fair, I will one day.

I don't hate poetry by any means. I love poetry. I just don't believe that poetry is the most important thing. You and I, we're the important things. Poetry can help us. We can't help poetry. Poetry can't be helped at all. It's just there, inanimate. But you and I are living and moving beings, we're on a quest and we need all the help we can get.

It's a deep breath, but I'm loving it. It's fresh, and fresh is what I'm after.

The weather is changing. I love when the weather changes. I think it goes back to human nature. We're all about changing. We have a very hard time noticing the way things are. We're built to notice when things change. When we talk about physics and kinematics we find out that the earth is hurtling along at millions of miles a second in its orbit around the sun. You'd think we'd feel that kind of motion.

But we don't, yet we can feel the slightest acceleration one way or the other. We are all about acceleration. As far as we know, if we aren't changing, we simply are not.

That's how I am about the weather. I like the rain because it's a departure from the normal. It's a new opportunity to see and explore the world, because all the sudden it's an entirely different world out there. A world with rain is nothing like a world without rain. I love the change.

Stalwart. I think stalwart is a good word. Something I'd like to be. I wouldn't mind having that on a headstone, would you?

There are certain words like that. Words that you would always feel honored to be called. I get the feeling that everybody except the very confused still love and respect those words. I think everybody still knows, deep down, that old school virtue will win us all. There's nothing cooler than old school virtue. "That guy was so loyal, that guy was so steady. That guy was stalwart, that guy had courage. That guy was nice to everybody he met."

When I'm looking for adjectives to be, I think I've found the list that I want to pursue. What's cooler than old school virtue?

The Write

I feel very good inside. I will do my best to write something good for us all tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope that you're doing well. If you're not doing well, maybe you and I should have a talk, so email me.

September 21, 2007

I begin to think that one of the vital differences between good days and bad days is that I'm prepared for good days and unprepared for bad days.

Hmmm.

The Day

Today is the day.

I woke up early. I shaved, I put my contacts in. I put fruit in my cereal.

And why? Because today is one of those days. One of those fine, great smelling, one hundred percent kind of days.

Taste

So, I've got this theory. All ninth grade girls smell the same. Or, maybe it's not so much a smell as it is some hidden unconscious similarity that comes out at region dances.

It's not a bad thing, just a very surprising thing. They say that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. I heard it in a commercial once.

What does it all mean? It means that I've been to lots of region dances in my day. Has it really only been three and a half years worth? Have I really been there for all of that?

Every dance is unique. The situation I bring to the table is different every single time. The first dance ever, a wee lad. That first time I ever asked a girl to dance more than once. That one time, that other time, all those times.

The region dance has carried me a long way. It's seen me grow up. It's been a part of my maturing process. That different people I've been throughout the history of the region dance, it's enlightening. Has it really only been three and a half years? From the dance with the side-hair, from all those times we almost knew who Austin was, but didn't really? Wow. Three and a half years? It feels like my whole life, my whole history can be explained in terms of region dances. If the Native Americans used pictures inside their dwellings to tell histories, I'm going to use region dances. Three and a half years?

Maybe there's more to that old saying than I thought...

You know, if there's one way to look at the person I've been, I'm glad that it can be the region dance. I've done a little bit of growing up, a little bit of changing.

The warm gym will always hold a special place in my heart. If all else fails, I know my past is preserved in the memories of the sweaty dress-shirt.

Here's to you, girls of my life. You've come and gone and stayed and come again and are maybe still out there. But if there's one thing for certain, it's that the region dance, that's where I'll always remember.

End the Madness

Adult roles reading assignments are poorly organized. That poor organization ruins the assignment. Its efficiency and effectiveness is cut by at least 60 percent. Because the questions are in the wrong order, I'm not learning as well.

Therefore, I'm taking this into my own hands to organize them correctly. I'm also taking it into my own hands to share that organization with anybody willing. I'm posting it up here. Tell your friends, it might save some time.

Chapter 4 - Gender Roles

Page #: Question(s):
108 ---- 14
109 ---- 7, 13
110 ---- 22, 26, 15
111 ---- 39
112 ---- 16, 38
113 ---- 8, 10
114 ---- 32, 34
115 ---- 1, 30, 40, 44
116 ---- 3, 5
117 ---- 9, 17
118 ---- 4, 29, 31
119 ---- 31, 37
120 ---- 2
121 ---- 16
122 ----
123 ---- 23, 41
124 ---- 11, 43, 45
125 ---- 45
126 ---- 20, 33
127 ---- 20, 28, 35
128 ----
129 ---- 12
130 ---- 19, 21, 24
131 ---- 6, 21, 27
132 ---- 25
133 ---- 42
134 ---- 42
135 ----
136 ---- 36
137 ----
138 ----
139 ----

*notes: this is accurate as far as the assignment is accurate (as far as I know). If a question appears twice, it's cause it says 126-127, so I put it on both. Any problems/comments, leave me a comment. Also, there is no particular order once you're on that page. You're on your own once you get to the right page.

Tuesday at Midnight

What ever happened to midnight? Back in the day it used to carry such weight.

"And then, as the clock struck midnight, the mysterious cow jumped over the even more mysterious fence! Oh, just wait, it gets even better..."

Yeah, it's midnight. I'm wide awake. My dad is downstairs watching C-span. I really wouldn't be too surprised by somebody knocking on the door or calling the cell.

I think the industrial revolution cost Midnight his job of being the middle of the night. My middle of the night is three to four. If something mysterious is gonna happen, it's gonna happen then. Five o'clock is just really early and anywhere from midnight to two is latter evening.

If I was going to jump over a mysterious fence, I'd do it at three thirty.

*Wishlist*
-A lower range for my voice (I can almost, almost hit an F...)
-A bigger lung capacity (I can almost, almost last three measures....)
-Hot-Glue resistant fingers

When I Grow Up

When I grow up, I want to be one of those guys that puts fruit in his cereal.

In my brain it symbolizes the apex of all self-reliance and opulence. If you've got time and fruit to devote to your cold cereal, you are a lucky man indeed.

And, well, I want to be a lucky man when I grow up.

Called it

Aha! Wikipedia's front page is reporting 2 million English articles today. Here's to 2 million more!

Good More News

Just passing through, but two good pieces of news:

Wikipedia is about to hit the 2 million english article mark. They always show the count on the front page when you go to search. It's currently at 1,985,000 articles. Here's to you, Wikipedia.

Second piece of good news, our two lovely Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, seemed to have weathered out the dust storms during Mars' dusty season and are getting closer to being ready to adventure again. During the several months of dust storms they don't get nearly enough solar energy to run at full capacity, so they've been hibernating. The storms are dying down, so it's just about time to power up again. For a mission that's lasted way more than twice as long as it was planned, those are some pretty pimp rovers.

Two pieces of good news. Thought y'all might like it.

Planner Mishaps

From the 2007-2008 Warrior Wire:

Health Tip: Pizza may have all five food groups, but it is not a balanced meal!

I disagree. I challenge the authors of that health tip to find a better, more nutritious, single piece of food than pizza.

Why does pizza get such a bad rep? A professional dietician I conversed with once told me how awesome pizza was. It's got grains, vegetables, dairy, and meat. You know how good that is? It's a ticking time bomb of energy. It's awesome in that that carbs you eat don't end up in your bloodstream for a while. They get released gradually, a few hours later (I know these things). That's pretty awesome. I don't feel like we've got "too much food." I think we've got too much food that isn't worth anything nutritionally. Pizza is definitely worth something nutritionally. It's got calories and carbs and all those other great things you need to live.

Long live papa murphey's. Delicious AND wholesome? Sign me up.

Day Two

It's 11 pm, and I want to hit bed before 12. That means I've got to hurry.

But since I want to post more this year, I need to start making an effort. Shabam!

What is there to say, on this second day of school? It feels like it's been weeks and weeks. I've been awake longer than all summer. I've worked and learned stuff. I've heard more disclosures than I ever wanted to.

It doesn't feel weird and new. It feels exactly like it ought to. I've been through this scene 11 times before now.

Things have changed a little bit this year though. It's been two days, but it's been great to see and feel them. Here are a few that I hope stay the same:

Riding my bike to school

It's been amazing. The last two days I've left my house a lot earlier than usual and pedaled to school. The weather in the mornings right now is absolutely amazing. The temperature is mild, a welcome welcome change from the summer. I've been leaving earlier enough that there are virtually no cars on the roads. It's just me out there, it's great. I know that I'm getting good exercise, and I know that's great for my body and mind. I show up to school knowing that I've just saved a little bit of money, preserved just a little bit of the environment, and accomplished something. I'm happier and infinitely more punctual. Riding my bike costs me absolutely nothing. It's a healthy choice for me and everybody else involved. I get a great parking spot, and I even let some other guy have the spot my van would have taken.

I don't know why it's taken me this long to do it. I could have been doing this for years. I'm glad that I found it, cause it's making me super happy. I want to keep it up, I might even brave the snow. I love the pedals.

Happy Tuesday

For several reasons, I've been very happy and more outgoing than usual these past few days. I've been saying hi and wishing them a happy tuesday. I've sat by people I didn't know too well. It's been a grand adventure, one that makes me really happy.

It makes me happy because I meet new people and get to smile at them. Smiling makes one happy. Not only does it make me cheerful, it might make them cheerful. Yeah, I get a few weird looks, but the smiles back are wonderful. I'm talking to people that I've always thought "Yeah, I want to talk to them" but never did.

I love it. I want to keep it up. Push I shall.

Tomorrow: College thinking.

Day One

Status: Survived.

Day two:

Status: To be announced.

Nerd

backtoschool.ready == true

Things that make me Happy

Time does seem to get away from me. It's something like 2:14 AM. I am happy to post right now.

I got a good email from a buddy today. He just graduated last year, and since I am treading a similar path to the one he trod last year, he gave me six great points of advice.

Thing One that I love: Good Advice

There's something excellent about advice. Well, about proper advice I guess. Some advice, like the kind you get from not-wise people isn't as good. There's a great catch though. I figure that everybody is wise in something. Rarely will you find a man that is wise in everything, but no matter what they've got something on you. I think it's reasonable to wager that everybody has some good advice they could give you. It's hard for me a lot of times to accept advice from certain people. It's nothing more than a pride factor.

But good advice, well, that's good. It makes me happy.

Thing Two that I love: Lists

I don't use lists as often as I'd like when I write. Lists have a beautiful knack for organizing and emphasizing what's important. Lists add a logical flow to everything around them. You have a bold heading. That heading is immediately important, there's no question about it. And then you have a paragraph underneath it; a rousing support for the bold-portant heading. Lists are good.

End of the list

I'm done with the list. Those are two things I love. Maybe I'll make another post in the future that details more things that I love. We'll just have to see.

I am, more than ever before, excited for school to start. There are few people that I know that have not said these same words several times. Therefore, I shall refrain from elaborating on them-

Ok, just kidding. I can't help but elaborate on them.

It's an opportunity. An opportunity to go big. Every single day there's going to be something that I can push the limits on. If there's one thing that just makes my heart sing, it's pushing the limits on a task.

"I need you to catch me a snail."

"Aha! I captured four GIANT snails, AND an Australian ground sloth. Na na na na!"

There's nothing quite like showing up with something that's been sufficiently pushed.

And that's what I want my senior year to be. I want it to be so pushed that by the time it's over, people will be wondering why nobody pushed like that before. I want to push so hard that people everywhere are gonna be like "Man, that guy pushed hard."

Yeah. There's gonna be pushing.

Over the years I've adopted various words as my theme for brief epochs of my life. Halfway through junior year it was flow. Flow has significant meaning in a lot of sports and adventures, especially Parkour, the french-born flying-around-jumping-off-park-benches-adventure-sport. While I've never participated in such a fun adventure as parkour or free running, I really like the way they've defined flow.

Flow is the flawless transition from one obstacle to the next, to the point where there might as well not be any obstacles at all.

Something about "flawless transition" is pretty smooth. I started thinking about it when I couldn't get my biscuits down in Ultimate. I had been able to do them before, but once the group of us had refined the throw and given it rules, I couldn't ever complete it. I tried and tried, and couldn't make it happen.

The breakthrough came one day. I was rushing the arm motion and botching the release. I was too focused. Once i relaxed and let my body move naturally and slowly, the way that it wanted to, I could throw tons better.

I had been trying to throw an abrupt biscuit. Flow is the opposite of abrupt. Instead of breaking a mechanical biscuit, I could now "flow" a beautiful biscuit right out the window where I wanted it.

That wasn't all that flow did though. As soon as it was thrown, flow wanted to run to where I need to be to get the next pass. Flow was never ceasing. It was never abrupt, but always moving to where it needed to be next. Flawless transition.

And so gradually flow spread from Ultimate to normal life. Instead of breaking chemistry, pausing, and then breaking history, I could flow through chemistry the way it ought to be flown through, and then without stopping flow through history. I strove for a flawless transition between obstacles. Don't stop running.

And so flow was the word of the day for many days.

One day flow stopped being the word of the day. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. I still have a great love for flow, but it, quite simply, is not the word of the day.

I believe that I've found a new word of the day.

Push.

Push: -verb. The act of exerting effort in the hopes of exceeding expectations, esp. by use of boundless courage, creativity, determination, mad skillz, or the like. To boldly be, think, do, and produce something new and better than ever before.

Yeah, I think it's a pretty good word of the day. I remember doing it a few times last year, that pushing business. I plan on doing it again. Senior Year offers me a great opportunity to push.

It's old and trite, but I learned it from a good man. "Go big or go home."

That's what it all comes down to. Maybe the most important thing that PLC ever taught me. If we're going to do something, we might as well do it better than it's ever been done before. Otherwise we're just wasting time.

Thing Three that I love: The chance to Push.

Sandwich Shop

Today I want to talk about a sandwich shop. I can't decide if this topic is a departure from the norm, or if it's a glorious return to the good old days. Either way, I'm talking about sandwiches. Take it or leave it.

I've long dreamed of having a sandwich shop. I don't think that it's been one of those conscious dreams, but rather one that I think about every time I make a sandwich. The dream has never been one of "Yeah, I want to do that", but rather one that feels like destiny. It's not something I'm following, it's something that I feel like I'll run into no matter what I do.

Sandwich shop, you are my density.

I believe that a business stands to make a lot of money if their services will make the world a better place. Sure, there's plenty of money to be made by ruining the planet and the people thereon, but I really think that you can make more money by doing good things.

Fast food offers a good service. You can go in there, and get food, nourishment, fast.

But I want to take that a step further. What if I could offer quality nourishment blazing fast for cheap?

My ideal sandwich shop is thus: It's a cart, manned by one or two people. There are only three or four sandwiches on the menu. No customization. You can't not have the mustard. The mustard is here to stay.

But this limited selection means a few good things. One, the sandwich shop doesn't have to stock a bunch of stuff. It's four sandwiches. No exotic breads, no exotic anything. Training employees is super super easy. We don't have to wait for customers to decide anything. We don't have to ask them questions about anything. I want sandwich A, give it to me.

The Sandwich cart aims to be extremely cheap. That means that we need to have very few expenses on our hands. There's a reason that it's a cart and not a restaurant.

What niche does the sandwich cart hope to fill? We hope to fill the utility foods niche. I understand that that's not a popular niche right now. I think though, that it will become more and more popular as time goes on. Imagine this: You're sitting there, working in your office tower, and your lunch break comes along. You've got an hour to go pursue comestibles. Most people want to go get delicious tasting food that will fill them up, and they want to use that whole hour.

Yeah, I understand that. But what about super nerdy people? What about people who are trying to squeeze every single penny out of that budget?

That's where we come in. We offer healthy food. Not pseudo-healthy food like all that stupid health food on the market. We're not scrimping on the calories. Oh no, we've got a manly 800 or 900 calorie meal for you. If you want, we've got a 400 one or so. We offer hearty, manly food. Because no matter what anybody tells you, calories aren't bad. You need those to live. This isn't about not eating anything, or about not eating anything without any nutritional value just because it's only got 18 calories.

There are working men out there. Men laying carpet. And men laying carpet need a manly sandwich. They need loads of meat on giant slabs of whole wheat with tomatoes and all sorts of dietary fat spreads. Because they're not worried about the 2,000 calorie suggestion. That's for people who aren't laying carpet. These men (and women) need that many calories. We offer it fast and cheap. You walk up, say you want the manly sandwich, and it's there super super fast.

What about people in the office, who are sedentary all day? We've got a sandwich for them. Fill you up, super cheap, and you get it in half a second. Imagine the possibilities, if you could run and get a sandwich, and then get back on the clock. Instead of taking an hour lunchbreak, you can take a 15 minute lunchbreak, and go home 45 minutes early. Snap!

Let's be honest here. I don't see any utility food shops around here. Everything is overpriced and slow compared to this. Yes, it is more delicious. The sandwich shop cannot compete with the deliciousness factor. While we plan to offer good, high quality food, we do not aim to be the best tasting sandwich ever. We plan to win over costumers with our speed and price and value.

Yeah, I know, it's a little crazy. But I think the sandwich shop would make the world a better place. It'd let people get back to work if they wanted to. It'd let people go sit in the park for their lunch break instead of at wendy's. It'd offer people real nutritional food. Yeah, it's got lots of calories, probably lots of carbs too. But they're not empty carbs or calories. They're chock full of value and crap you need. It's a hearty sandwich, the good old kind. None of this new "low carb" bread crap. This is whole wheat heavier than a brick bread, you want a piece?

It makes the world a better place. It's not the best money-making scheme in the world. Would it appeal to everybody? Not even close. People right now are driven by taste. Not aiming for that in a food business seems a little insane. But it's what I want to do.

Will I ever do it? Maybe. Like I said, it feels unavoidable. Maybe one day when I've got money, I'll try it out. The best part is, it's super cheap. So even if I crash and burn, I won't be out a lot of money.

Long live the sandwich shop.

August 16

Drum drum. Happy Thursday and all that.

Kinda a tired and drained night tonight. Not a bad night really, just a tired one.

There's a lot of business.

Ultimate will be making a real showing this year at Taylorsville. Arrangements have been made with some good people, we'll actually have things happening. More info coming on that soon. We don't have too much time to dawdle on that front.

I will graduate high school, provided nothing goes horribly wrong this next year. It doesn't look like I'll graduate quite the way I wanted to, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

I also just finished my Eagle stuff up. I need two signatures apparently, I guess I'll get those in the near future. After that it's just the board of review. All the paperwork (minus those two signatures) is done. Kinda a good feeling. Look at me go, being all accomplished and all that.

I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter lately. Just finished book five. I decided to do a fresh run through before seven. One more book to go before I get there. It's been fun. Time consuming, but fun.

I had a cat once...

Super Unleaded

Today, August 11th, marks an important day for me.

I put one gallon of super unleaded in the minivan.

Not regular unleaded.

Oh no.

This was super unleaded.

Yeah. I'm a big man.

Perseid

New title. I always worry that I'm reusing ones that I've used before. I'm confident I've never used this one before.

And suddenly a fear creeps in. A fear that I have in fact used this one before. I know it sounds ridiculous, but what if I have? I've got what, 250 other posts to compete with, plus a scattered 50 or so more.

Hmm. That's not the point though. No, not the point at all.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is going on right now. As I drove tonight I thought that I had seen more shooting stars this past week than I have pretty much any other time.

Ends up I'm not crazy. It's a meteor shower, and it peaks Sunday night, all night long.

So I'm gonna be somewhere, watching. Not sure where yet, but it won't be the city. If I'm alone, great. If I'm not alone, even better.

But still, c'mon. I've missed it 16 years in a row. I didn't even really know that it was going on. To be honest, it will be here next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Chances are it'll be here every year in august for the next really really really long time.

But something amazing's gonna be going on in the sky Sunday night, and I'm not going to miss it.

Just thought I'd let you all know. Hmm.

Shot

Tuesday night, time for me to give it a shot. Things used to be a little different around here, what with the constant posts and whatnot. The frequency has changed, and like it or not, it feels like the content of the posts just isn't of the same variety as it used to be. Maybe it's a good thing and maybe it's not, but here I go.

I think I'm going to work out a little bit before I start writing. Put on the endorphin glasses.

I really like words that start with stro-. I don't know what it is about it. Strontium, Stromboli. I think those are the two main ones. Just something about them, who knows.

What's the news? The news is that I'm so excited for school to start. The fact is, I think my life runs a lot better when I'm in school. It's a lot more of a structured environment. There are people there, and I love that. I thrive on the atmosphere. Loads of people around, loads of work to do. There's always a sense of competition, if not with Jason than with the course work itself. There's always an opportunity to excel and do something amazing. Do awesome on that assignment, take it to a limit that nobody's taken it to before. Make that joke, make her smile. School is opportunity.

And I guess Summer is opportunity too, but not in the same fashion. School is the "Here's what you've got to work with, make it amazing" kind of opportunity. There's a set of rules, and you're allowed to flourish and do what you can in them. Summer takes those rules away. Summer simply says "Go for it" with no instruction at all.

At this stage of my life, I think I do a little better in School's structure than I do in Summer's anarchy.

School has got three square meals a day, no matter what. I always eat breakfast, and I always get a great lunch packed by Mom. I come home, and no matter what, we'll have dinner sometime.

During the summer that's not the case. I might just sleep till one, and that means I missed breakfast by a long shot. If I do eat lunch, it's usually around two. Dinner is a relaxed affair around here during the summer, and if I've got something going on in the evening it's usually rushed or delayed or missed to a degree.

School has food in predictable places, and I love that. My life is better when I eat my three square meals. I perform better on everything.

That's not the only situation where school allows something like that. It happens all the time. That's just the easiest example. Right now I feel like my life is spec'd for school. Being in the summer is like being a fish out of water. Sure, I can do alright, I'm a pretty decent land-fish, but to really see me fly, well, that takes a school year.

So what does this next year really have in store for me? What do I expect out of it? To be honest, there's a lot that I just don't know. There are several awesome directions that my life is going to be moving in, all seemingly different.

First off is madrigals, because it's the best publicized. I'm surprised that I'm there, still. I am, without a doubt, the 26th madrigal. I am the worst one. There's no question about that. Nobody will deny it, and by all means nobody should try to deny it. I am fully aware that I am the worst madrigal.

Personally, I kinda like the title...

Because really, if you're going to be anything, you might as well have a decent title to go with it, right?

That puts me in an interesting position. It means that what I do has a direct effect on the rest of the group. The old adage "the chain is only as strong as its weakest link" can really apply here. If that really is the case, that means that when I get better, the whole group gets better too!

That's cool and all, and I am going to do my best. That's really what I'm excited about. I'm going to get so much better, it's gonna be insane. When I walk out of there I'm going to be confident in my singing ability. How cool will that be? I'll be like, bam, church choir here I come.

And really, I couldn't ask for better guys to be singing with. The other Bass two's, Kyle and Levi, c'mon! That's unstoppable right there! The only thing one could even think to ask for to make it better would be James. It's just not the same without him. It would have been a long shot, and he didn't really wanna do it. He'll be missed, but the show must go on. I'm really glad that it's Levi and Kyle though. Being the 26th madrigal, I'm going to be needing a lot of help. I'm glad that it can be from those guys. I'm way comfortable with them, we've been through a lot together. When I say "Hey, I need help" it's gonna be coming from some of the best friends around. National Nerd champs say what?

Then we've got classes, oh how I'm excited for classes. I gotta say, I wish things could be a little different, but I'll take what I'm handed. AP English is going to be pretty cool I'm thinking. I'll be in there with a lot of excellent people, and I really hope that I get the chance to shine. English classes are always like that. They're sort of what you make of them. I definitely found that in my Junior English class. No matter what Parrish throws at us, I'm going to take it and make it amazing. Why? Cause that's how I roll.

"You can't roll, you're a square!"

I'm excited for Calculus. It'll be challenging, but I'm excited to learn new stuff. Just like everything else that's awesome, I've got good people backing me up in there. I've got buddies in Calc, and having buddies is just the coolest. We're all pretty comfortable with Kaelin, so I expect good things to happen.

Adult roles, it's just something that I've got to swallow. I've heard it's a good class. Either way, it gives me an opportunity to be with a group of kids that I'm probably not usually with. As stated above, I'm going to make it excellent, no matter what happens. If I'm gonna have to take it, I'm gonna take it hard.

I've got an open PE class. I might take social dance, I might try to waive it and get into something else. I was going to take Athletics, but my life is moving in a different direction now, and I'm down with that.

I hope that my classes really teach me something this year. I know that Junior year, man, I learned so much. It was amazing. I honestly felt enriched. I felt like everything that I'd learned and grown to be through my classes made me a better person. From an economic standpoint, I felt that my personal worth in dollars went through the roof because of Junior year. I'm trained to do things I wasn't trained to do before, I've got a wicked sick bunch of background knowledge that wasn't there prior to the AP ownage. I hope that I can get that same effect from Senior year. My schedule isn't nearly as rigorous as Junior's was, and I'm a little disappointed about that. It's the choice that I've made though, and I'm alright with it. I'm going to press on with it and make the very best of it, no matter what happens.

In short, I'm excited about classes because they're an opportunity to excel. That's what I love to do. Even if I don't really do it, I love to try. I love to take the challenge and push it. Not always in the direction of "Oh, my paper is so much better than yours". I mean, that's nice if I can and all, but I really love to push it in the other direction. In the "Nobody has ever tried something that bold before" direction. Even if it fails, that's one thing that I really want to do my senior year. More than anything else Senior year, I want to be bold.

"Just Bold me..."

"I just wanted to be Beld."

Haha, get it? Instead of hold me, bold me. Ha!

The third direction that my life will be pulled in might just be the most important. Seminary council is amazing. It's not something that I run around talking about too much, just by the nature of it all, but I love it. It's unlike anything I've really done before, it's amazing. For the first time in a really long time I don't feel like I'm up to the job, and yet I know that I am. It's a challenge, but more than that it's just plain out growth. The only real words for it is that it's amazing. I'm so excited about it all. It's going to be excellent.

So what's the news? The truth is that things have got you up, and things have got you down. There's a past, present, and future all smacking together right now. That was happening yesterday, and it's going to be happening tomorrow too. Maybe the past is great, maybe the future has an elephant in it. All that is insanely important.

But at the same time, it's not the most important thing. What is the most important thing? I think there's a good chance it's what you do. The choices that you make. The choices that you made in the past have got you where you are now. Whether you like that or not, it is your responsibility to make choices today that will help you get where you want to go. If you are unhappy with where you are today, make a choice and begin to change where you are. I really believe that the true measure isn't really where you are, but where you're headed. If you're on the top of the world headed down, well, you might need to start making different choices. If you're in the lowest gutter, but you're making choices to fix the problem, you're doing your job, you're winning today.

Will you be winning tomorrow, or winning in a week? That's up to you tomorrow and in a week.

Schools coming, and I'm going to hit it running. This is my last shot at high school. This is my last dance with the environment I'm spec'd for. I'm going to make it a good one. Bold, out of the box.

What does that mean for you? It depends on who you are and how you want to take it. I want to make people smile and help them out. I really want to do a little tutoring next year. I'm free after school, maybe it'll actually happen. I'd love that, I really would. Get me a little classroom, maybe Farr would let me use hers, or maybe I could stage it from any other place, but just plain out tutoring. Don't get physics? Bam, maybe I can help.

I'm going to try to make people smile. I really feel like that's important. You can help people, but at the end of the day people are responsible for their own choices. Like we talked about, that's what's important. What I do to help might not last forever.

But I get the feeling that if I can make people smile, those people are gonna be a little more inclined to make good choices for themselves. Nobody wants to dig themselves out of a hole if they're sad all the time. Maybe if we all help each other smile, we can all move a little closer to being the people that we want to be.

There's ups and downs. Am I gonna get a job during the school year? What's going to happen to the blog and to the alliance? What form will Ultimate take?

I don't know yet. No matter what happens, I want things to be good. Summer is wrapping up. Three weeks remaining, three weeks. I've got a few things I need to pull off before school starts. Life is on the up and up. There's a good breeze blowing us towards the future. Are we gonna take it?

You better believe I am. Come a long for the ride, at least we'll be safe from bears.

Not that far

I've been here before. I do want to post, sort of. I could say a lot of stuff. But it's kind of late, and I think it'd be a better idea for me to just go to bed. Or maybe not, I'm not quite sure.

But hey, things are gonna be alright. I really like the weather in the evenings. It's just so conducive to talking to somebody. I sorta feel like I missed something tonight. I've felt like that before. Hmm

Here's to you, mystery blank. Things are going to be alright, I'm here. I'll get my umbrella...