Shed Again

Oh laddy. It's been a while. I mean sure, I've posted. But I haven't gotten in here and just rambled for a while.

Do you want the ramble, or do you want the short?

I like the ramble, that's what I'm gonna do tonight. I hope it does somebody some good out there. If nothing else it still makes me feel really good. So here we go, Sunday, March 25. Ramble like a man named Rambo.

The past few months have been trial by fire for a lot of us. I guess life is like that the whole way through. You get stuff thrown at you, you adapt, you roll with it. In the end you're changed because of it.

Haha. What is this? It's finally time to ramble and I've got nothing to say? That's preposterous. I've always got something to say, right? Hmm, what if I don't?

Well, we're going to keep writing until I find something to write about. I do feel like writing, so that's what I'm going to do. Write write write write write.

I really love getting an education. I love learning as much as I can. That's why I chose the schedule that I chose. I understand that the last sentence wasn't grammatically correct, and I accept that.

But back to my point. I've said it before, but I'm staying it again. That's why I go to school. I go to learn.

And I don't want to point any fingers at anybody, but I don't understand why everybody is in such a hurry to get college credits. In theory, getting college credits should mean getting the best education that you can, but I don't think that always pans out in real life. One thing I never really get is when people say that AP is stupid because the whole course rides on one test.

That's not the case at all. You take the course to learn as much as you can. You take it because you want to grow and become better. The test at the end is just an added bonus. The two ought to be totally separate in my book.

I know that society tells you you've got to get ahead in college, you've got to do this and then do that. And that's great, getting ahead in college is wonderful. But where's the rush? Why are we all so worried about college? I want to go to college, I don't want to get out of there before I have to. I'm sure that'll change once I get towards the end, but for now it seems really short. I don't want to rush life.

It's just my two cents, I know. And I'll be the first to admit, I've made some educational choices for the wrong reasons. For a really long time I was aiming to be the valedictorian. I knew I had the capacity, so why not shoot for it? That's one of the reasons that I wanted to take a million AP classes next year, just so it'd bump my score up.

But then I thought about it, and it goes deeper than that. I don't think I'm going to be valedictorian anymore, there's a good chance I'll be beat out. I'm alright with that, because that's not my main goal here. My main goal is to learn as much as I can. I wish that I didn't have to graduate, because I'd be taking other classes if I had the choice. But alas, state legislature says I need one more PE credit and one government credit, so an AP class gets booted for athletics and government. Sure, I would have taken athletics anyways, but I probably could have squeezed AP psych in there somewhere.

Either way, my attitude with education isn't the same as everybody else's I guess. I think attitude really is the big thing though. I know. Everybody says that all the time, everybody talks about it. Parrish's class did the whole education reform project. I wasn't part of it at all, I didn't hear any of the presentations.

But I get the feeling that you'd cover more ground and get more done if you'd just motivate the kids. Don't talk about why they need an education to succeed and make money. Don't talk about why they need active kinesthetic learning to learn. Talk about how learning is going to make them better people. Heck, it's Utah. Tell all the Mormon kids how important an education is in the eternities.

It's not like we're playing for money here folks. That's not the big picture. It's not about college, it's not about graduation. It's about you.

Why do I keep talking about education? I guess it's because it's such a big part of my life. I'm not pointing any fingers or condemning anyone. I just really take this learning business serious, that's all.

Track season is in full swing. It's interesting this year. I'm..... not taking it as seriously as I could be. When I finally decided to run this year, I decided that I wasn't going to worry too much about competing. I'm running for myself. I do it because of the way it makes me feel. I do it because I know it's good for me, and I know that it's gonna make me a better person.

Once again. It's for me. Not for graduation. Not for a scholarship, because I know that that's not even a possibility. I'm not doing it because Coach made me, or because Jose tracked me down. I appreciate Jose helping me get back into it though.

Track is life.

Diabetes is life.

I'll show you how, check it out.

The whole concept behind the track workout is contrary to human nature. The idea that I'm going to stay after school for a little more than two hours and sweat and hurt and not breathe doesn't sound like fun. I walk out onto the track and warm up, then stretch. Coach tells us that we're going to run eight 200's today. So, we line up, and run the 200. We pant and wheeze and hurt and wish it'd be over, and then we run another seven of them.

At the end of the day my shins hurt. My legs hurt, I'm all wet. That much sweat is so uncomfortable. I know it's a genetic advantage, but some days it's a little much.

I get dressed, and go home. I'm tired and hungry and crash. I take a nap, and wake up and do homework.

So that's track. Why do it? Why run like that? Why dedicate that much time and energy into something like that?

It's because of the way it makes you feel. Deep down, at the end of the day, you know that what you've done is right. There is absolutely no doubt in your mind once you're walking off of that track. You know that you are making your life better. You know that this is a good thing you're doing. It doesn't matter what else is going on in your life. Track is good for you. It builds your body, it builds your heart and your mind. You're stronger on the outside and on the inside. You can make better choices, you can do hard things.

Track gives you more than it takes.

That's how life is. Every day you've got choices. Lots of them look like it's going to be a ton of work for nothing. It looks hard.

And it is hard, there's no question about it. AP classes are hard. Helping other people is hard. Getting a job is hard. Not being an idiot is hard.

But in the end, it gives you more than it takes. Your life is going to be better if you do hard things. Being a slacker your whole life isn't going to get you anywhere in track, and it's not going to get you anywhere in life either.

Track is life. It makes sense.

Now, as for diabetes, it's a similar situation.

When I eat, I have to take a shot. For every 15 grams of carbohydrates, I do one unit of insulin. It's a party.

But sometimes that party gets old. Not only do I have to factor in what I eat, I have to factor in the exercise I get. Those are the two big ones. Exercise acts like insulin, it lowers my blood glucose levels. So, instead of doing a normal sized shot and then working out, I do a smaller shot, then work out. That way I don't go low.

But either way, sometimes you get tired of worrying about it all. Sometimes you just want to eat a banana and not have to search for your insulin. Sometimes it's easier just to ignore it.

Now, at the time that you make the choice to ignore the shot it seems to you that this choice is going to bring you happiness. You're not working hard, and you're thinking that working hard is bad news.

And so you don't do the shot. Deep down you know that in 20 years you're gonna be really mad at yourself for this. You do it anyways, cause you're feeling like being lazy.

Now, you had the 20 years thing right. In 20 years, you are going to be mad at yourself. Your kidneys are going to be mad at you.

But that's not the only thing. The truth is, when you don't take care of your blood sugar, you feel crappy right then too. It's not just a future thing. You feel so much better when your blood sugar is where it's supposed to be as opposed to when it's high. When you're high you're irritable and your body doesn't perform the chemical processes that it needs to as well as it should.

You don't notice it as much once you're used to it. But after a few weeks of really taking good care of yourself, once you're high you can really feel it and it's trouble.

So, what's the point? Life is like that.

You see a choice in front of you, and you're looking at two parts of it. You're looking at the short term, and the long term. Sometimes it's really easy to say that in the long term this is going to be good for you. That's the same way with shots, you know it's good for you in the long term.

The short term is more confusing. You want to be lazy, and it looks like in the short term that's going to make you work, and you don't want to work.

But the fact is, working, and throwing the lazy out the window, is going to make you feel better in the short term as well. Just like doing the shot and taking care of your bloodsugar makes you feel good today AND 20 years from now, so too will doing whatever it is that you need to do. It's the same principle.

What am I getting at? I'm trying to say that our lives are governed by the same principles, no matter what it is we're looking at. Whether we look at track or personal health or work of education or relationships or life in general- we can make a few certain statements about them all.

First and foremost, we can be sure that working at something is always going to be better than not working at something. Our lives will always be better if we're working hard.

Inversely, laziness will always make our lives worse. Perhaps it won't have a detrimental effect in and of itself, but the fact that it prevented us from doing hard work, which in turn prevented us from making our lives better says that it's bad for us.

We can also say that doing what's good for us in the long run is generally good for us in the short term as well. We really don't even need to separate the two anymore. Short term blends into long term. It's all life.

I'm sure I've said it all before. I'm sure that I sound a little preachy. I don't really like people that sound preachy when they write.

And yet, it doesn't stop me. I'm writing this more for me anyways. This is really what I think, this is really what I believe.

Does it mean that I always live it? No, it just means that I ought to. It means that I wish I did live it. It means I'm going to try harder to live it.

Yeah, things get in the way. Some days we're so messed up that it's hard to even get the strength to work hard. Some days we just hate the world so we decide we're not going for it. Some days we say that we've been kicked around so much, been stepped on so many times that we're through trying to work with the system.

These things happen. But we're the only people that can change them. Bad things happen to good people. It is hard, but it happens so we can grow.

When people's lives are screwed up, it's not necessarily their fault. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. Regardless, the principles of life apply to them too.

If your life is screwed up, it's going to get a little better if you work hard.

Does that mean that your life isn't going to be screwed up anymore? No. It just means that it's going to be that much less screwed up.

If your life is good, does that mean that this doesn't apply to you? Does that mean that the only reason it's good is because you've worked hard? No. It just means that if you do what's right your life is going to be that much better.

Do I believe it? Absolutely. I know that my life is going to be better if I clean my room tomorrow. It's messy, and it needs to be clean. If I make my bed tomorrow, my life is going to be a little bit better. I don't really believe in the necessity of making one's bed, but I know that my Mom cares about it. And if she has told me to make my bed, and I make my bed, by golly my life is going to be a little bit better.

The dead horse is now a fine paste. I will now dip my paintbrush in that fine paste and continue to paint a picture with it.

Just kidding, it just seemed like the natural sequence of things, that's all.

So what does it all mean? Why do I write it all down? Is it going to impact my week?

I sure hope so.

Ninja Pajamas

It's pretty late, but I wanted to congratulate everybody on making it through third term. We're officially on the downhill slope now. Junior year is the hardest, and third term is the hardest. Nothing we see from here on out is going to be as intense as this term was. Hooblay.

I finally realized that I've got a pretty stacked schedule this year. I never even thought about it till recently, when there's been staggering amounts of homework every other night.

I'm happy about it though. I'm doing what I want to be doing.

Well, I'm not sleeping as much as I'd like to be. I'm gonna go do that. Hooblay!

Sunday Night Wikibomb

Happy Sunday everybody. I just went on an epic wikibomb. I didn't read the entirety of all the articles, but I skimmed most of them. I learned a lot tonight, even if it was just a tiny bit of background knowledge.

Paleo asked a question regarding Jenghis Khan, who was featured in my recent doodle post.

Q: "Genghis is sometimes known as Jenghis, so how can he be his son?"

A: MJ (our world history teacher) always called him Jenghis. We always call him Genghis. We thought this was comical, and decided to mock this new Jenghis character. We all knew that MJ meant Genghis. We were bored and wanted to have some fun, so Jenghis was born.

We have taken artistic license. Yes, we are making history up. It's inaccurate, but at least it helps us survive the day.

In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast.

Strontium

I'm in the process of pimping my blog. It's been a long time coming. It's not anything cool yet, but at least I've got the temporary banner up. I'll work on it some more in the future and make it all smooth like. In the meantime, enjoy the banner.

A few thoughts.

Marissa says that there's no school spirit at Taylorsville. I can argue that, but I don't want to. For the purposes of this thought, we're going to accept that statement as fact and proceed under the assumption that no, there is no school spirit at Taylorsville.

My brain looks at this and says, "Why not?"

It's a lack of communication. That's the only reason.

TVTV isn't reaching the masses. Nobody watches it. The Announcements might as well be given in Swahili, no one can hear them.

We have no idea what's going on. We don't know why the administration insists on doing things the way they do. We don't know we're supposed to go to the meeting in the career center. I have no idea, and that's the problem.

Would increasing the level of communication between the office and the students have a direct impact on school spirit? I sure think so. What's the easiest way to boost the level of information flowing from the top? Make kids watch TVTV. Enforce it.

It has been said that the Media's job is not to tell people what to think, but merely to tell them what to think about. If students have to watch TVTV, they are influenced to think about Taylorsville.

Honestly. I think that'd do it.

It's not like there's no reason to have school spirit. There are reasons out there. We're a good school. ---> I've always believed that truth is the ultimate defense.

When you want to sweep a girl off of her feet, what do you do? You tell her the truth. You tell her exactly who she is to you and how she makes you feel. You tell her all the things you think about when she walks by and all the things you always wish you'd said but never had.

If that fails to sweep her off her feet, then you didn't deserve to sweep her anyways.

But there is no room for anything less than absolute truth in these regions. Truth is all you need. Anything else is a mockery and plain stupid. It'd be like using a metal spoon when you could use a baseball bat.

The truth is all you need. TVTV gives the truth. We just have to watch it.

At this point it's impossible to watch it. Students are too loud. Even if I wanted to I couldn't. It would take teacher facilitation.

There'd have to be work on TVTV's side as well. They'd have to present a good clean show that wasn't overbearing. They'd have to present the truth. They'd have to be on top of stuff.

That's how you fix school spirit. You enforce TVTV. A simple measure. You do it, you'll see school spirit bounce by 50 percent.

Why? Because I think I'm always right, that's why.

~~~

Pontificate.

But I actually believe what I said up there. School spirit is just the scape goat though. It's really a much deeper concept here.

In fact, there are several concepts at play.

The biggest one is the classic flow of information concept. It goes like this:

The greater the flow of information, the better off the world is.

When people have information they are empowered to make better choices. When people make better choices their lives become better.

When information is restricted individuals lose their power.

Maybe that's why I love wikipedia.

And maybe that's why I don't think China will ever win.

Because China restricts information. And that's bad.

~~~~~~~~~

Why do I go to school?

I go to learn.

I've seen a lot of people this past month that are missing the point in school. Maybe they aren't missing the point. Maybe they're just missing my point.

They've got their agency, they get to choose what they do. But.... why enroll in precalc if you're not going to try to learn precalc?

If you're behind: ask questions.

You're not dead because you got behind. Just ask questions.

Ask for help. If you say "Thatcher, can you help me understand this?" By all means, I'll try to help you understand it. Brad asked the other day. So I'm gonna try to help him.

~~~

I'm pretty passionate about education. I believe it's the reason we're alive. I get in to it. I'm going for it. That's my number one priority right now. I'm going to school to learn. I understand that I need to graduate, I understand that running track is a good idea.

But my education comes first. If education means giving up track, then that's what I'll do.

Of course, education doesn't mean giving up track. It's a hypothetical situation.

But really now. Education. Get into it.

If you're burnt out and need a good discussion about it ---> come talk to me. I'm all about education.

~~~

Money. I need some of that.

Life is expensive. I always knew it, but I never really factored it into my life. This summer I'm going to get a job. That's high priority. I think that's higher priority than summer CC.

And summer CC is pretty high priority.

Why am I going to get a job? Because money now is going to help me make money later.

So what's the plan? I'm going to live frugal. I'm going to work like mad. I'm going to save like mad. I'm going to sit down and make a concrete plan in the near future. Right now it's all just an abstract, but I've got to get something figured out.

I talk about getting a job a lot. I don't get jobs a lot. Hmm.

~~~

I get the feeling that science knows a lot more about the way that mice work than about how humans work.

Every day you hear about new research about how chemical Y has this effect in lab mice, and that could mean that it might have this effect in people too.

But we're not sure about the people.

The mice we're positive of though. If anybody had a pet lab mouse with all sorts of cancers, oh man. We could save it.

~~~~

Have I had a post named strontium before? I think I have.

What is it about Strontium that makes it such an appealing title to me? Big S. Little r. Atomic number of 38.

~

Here I am. It's 12:14. What do I wish for, what do I hope for? Where do the comma splices end and the real genuine feelings begin? There is a person behind all the writing. Here I am. Actually thinking, actually feeling. This is me. I'm right here.

I've got this thing about respecting the past versions of me. I know that I feel the way I do right now for a reason. Certain parameters have been met that have placed me precisely where I am right now. This is me at 12:17.

And so here I am. Just here. Not there yet. Only here.

Who's here with me? Where am I going? Who will I be when I get there?

Historical Accuracy

Remember the Doodle Project I talked about forever-long ago? I love doodles, so tonight I finally set up my pseudo-studio and took pictures of all my good doodles for the past two years.

It was a shoddy process, one that could have been entirely avoided with a scanner. That's on my list of things to buy once I'm rich.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the doodles. Remember, click to enbiggen.

Medicine Man. Ink on lined paper. AP English, March 8, 2007












I drew this today. I really enjoyed sketching with a pen, it's something I've never really done before. I finally got perspective to work on this, sort of.


Jenghis Khan. Pencil on lined paper. Sophomore World History










This is Jenghis Khan. It's Genghis Khan's lesser-known step son. He probably likes boys. He's a fairy, but not the magical kind- the feminine kind. Inspired by the one and only MJ, and his constant artistic interpretation of the pronunciation of historical figures' names.


Holy Roman Nick: HRN. Pencil on lined paper. Sophomore World History










Who needs the Holy Roman Emperor when you've got Holy Roman Nick? It's not the best photograph, but the detail on this man is amazing. He's got laser beams for eyes, a giant sword, and Hanes of ownage. He stands at something like 296 feet tall. That makes Kyle look like Eric.


Fshaw! Pencil on lined paper. Sophomore World History









There's a really cool story behind this one. It's still one of my favorites. The expression on that face just kills me, and the fact that she's got scissor-fingers on that one hand is just too good. The handwriting is exactly representative too. All in all, pretty much the coolest thing to ever come off of one of my pencils.


Fan Man. Pen on lined paper. AP Junior English. March 8, 2007










Another one I drew today. I wanted to do something with more of a radial feel. I ended up with a guy leaning back, so I added the fan to give him a reason. The antlers are sort of cool. This is pretty unlike anything else I've ever done, and I like the originality.


Dictator. By Kyle. Pencil on lined paper. Sophomore World History.












What happens when you get a dyslexic dictator? Why, a potato with a bad mustache of course.


Fuzzy Ninja. By Nick. Pencil on lined paper. Junior Year Math.












Nick drew a ninja. The picture came out fuzzy, but it's pretty cool. He's totally holding ninja stars. I think it represents the movement for Women's Rights, what do you think?


Uncle Sam Ownage. Pencil on Lined. Sophomore World History.











Yeah, that's Uncle Sam with a flame thrower. You want a piece? Yeah, I didn't think so.


Warrior Ultimate. Pencil on lined paper + Photoshop. 1st quarter AP American History Junior.











Warrior Ultimate needs a good logo. This was the closest thing I could come up with. It evolved from at least a month of random doodles and brainstorming. I drew it on the back of a note Kyle sent me in Rockwell's, and I've been holding on to it since because it was so cool. By now it's all smeared and smudged, so I took the picture and then traced a bit in photoshop. I think I'm going to work on this a lot more in the near future.

~~~~~

And there you have it. I'll be doing a lot more doodles, and hopefully throwing them up here when I get the chance. I'm really excited to draw with a pen, that was really fun.

If you'd like your doodles to be featured (which I would really really love) throw them at me one day during school. It will be a party.

Happy Thursday everybody. Good luck with Friday.

Back Yard

These are all shots I took a few weeks ago in my back yard. This is the pine tree from below. Notice the pretty tree.









This really typifies my backyard. It's a tire with stuff that grew on it.










Part of my brother's old car that is now gone. That's all that remains of it. It just sits there, under the tree. Amidst all the life and growth, it just seems so right. That chunk of metal belongs there. It makes the scene.

Jello

I gave my sister a stapler submerged in Jello for her birthday.

I'm not gonna lie; it was pretty cool.

The Truth About Girls (By: My Brother)

The Truth about Girls

With caution and care,
to my love did I walk,
with style and grace,
these words did I talk.

I looked in your eyes,
to see if it's true,
to see if you love me,
the way, I love you.

A stunning reply,
came from her face,
but quickly it changed,
to shame and disgrace.

With a quick swing of her arm,
and flick of her wrist,
she knocked me a big one,
with her cold metal fist.

I had but one strike,
still two left to go,
I approached her again,
this time more slow.

I wanted a kiss,
if not just a hug,
instead she offered
another hard slug.

She grabbed my limp frame,
I liked it at first,
things rapidly changed,
and turned for the worst.

I tried hard to run,
and shouted for mom,
she finished me off,
with a big power-bomb.

This story I tell,
to inform each of you,
girls are robots,
it's really quite true.

It is clear they are programmed,
to tell all men "no".
They taunt us profusely,
then to the restroom they go.

But what can we do,
with these androids of death?
They have but on weakness,
their last dying breath!

Tell them they're nice,
and pretty and fun.
Butter them up,
and a victory you've won.

Just don't forget,
the words I have said.
If you fail to listen,
dang pal, you're dead!

-Nathan Thatcher (Legends XVII, Literary Magazine, 1999)

The fourth short post

I know. Lots of short posts. Sometimes even two in one night. Why don't I just edit the last one? Because I'm way too cool for that, that's why.

On the off chance that someone missed this, here's my article that ran in the February issue of the Warrior Ledger.

http://my.highschooljournalism.org/ut/saltlakecity/ths/article.cfm?eid=7741&aid=117230

I'm sorta proud of it. It's the first time I've really been published in a medium that large. It was a super cool feeling to have people all over the place commenting on what I had said. People were actually reading my stuff; thinking about my stuff. It was cool business.

Moral of the story: Wash your hands.

Click Survey

I tried explaining this click survey to a few people tonight. It sure didn't work, so I'm just going to post it.

http://blog.outer-court.com/click2/

It's really cool. You click on something, and it tells you where you clicked, and where everybody else clicked. The patterns are very interesting indeed.

I love seeing data graphically. There's something very eloquent about having enormous amounts of information being placed right in front of you for consumption in mere seconds. Patterns and trends are so readily apparent.

I love graphs. Not a day goes by that I don't think "Oh man, if I were to graph this, it'd totally follow this pattern...."

In fact, one of the cool posts I've been planning on for what feels like a half year is my Life Graphs post. It's basically where I sit down one day and figure out all the graphs that I can create out of my life. I'd have an energy graph, where I wake up at little energy, then gradually work my way up to a steady line during school, then totally die during the afternoon, and then shoot way way up at night time. See, I could have skipped that last run on sentence and just displayed all that information graphically. It would have made more sense and stuck with you.

Man. I love graphs.

But it doesn't just have to end with graphs. There are hundreds of ways to display information. That's something I really really enjoy- finding new ways to effectively transmit data. It's all about the communication. Nontraditional media is the coolest, and oftentimes the most efficient. Other times it's not.

The important thing is that it's really really really cool. I love business like that.

My tentative schedule for next year: (tell me what you think)

AP Calc
Ap Calc
Ap Psych
Adult Roles
AP English (or maybe humanities)
Journalism
Athletics/Government
Concert Choir/Seminary (If concert choir works out schedule wise, I'll be taking early morning)

In order to graduate with that schedule, I'll have to test out of Comp tech and take health online. Plus write a letter to my counselor telling them to change journalism to a CTE credit.

Indubitably.

Indubitably indeed.

An Announcement

Shabam.

TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) comes out on March 23. It's rare that I'll pay full price for a movie. I'm gonna pay full price for this movie.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/teenagemutantninjaturtles/trailer2/

Dang straight.

The music you've been waiting to hear

ATWC is back. With Techno.

Yeah, it's a little rough, but we're proud of it. We're pretty interested in pursuing something along these lines in the future, employing what we learned in making this one.

Honestly, we could make a really cool techno song. That's for another day. For now, enjoy the Handiwork of Me, Brad, Nick, and Jaron.

Hats off to February

Eat my shorts February. You're dead, and I'm not.

For the first night in what feels like forever I've got all my homework done. The last several weeks have seen me getting *almost* all my homework done. I've always been missing one subject. The actual subject varied, but it was always there.

There's nothing worse than going to school unprepared. You know that there's trouble coming. You're trying to find time to do it. You've either got to squeeze lunch or shaft an easier class.

Not today, oh no. I've got it all done. History, English, Chemistry. All y'alls are done.

I'm proud of myself, I'm not gonna lie. I had a good chance to call it quits, and I didnae. I kicked that homework's butt. I owned it. I made it mine. My name is all over it.

I have a huge post to write. I've had a huge post to write for a week now. I've never sat down to write it though. I'm going to write it tomorrow I hope.

I want to hang out with girls sometime this weekend. Last week failed at that task, it was sorta sad business.

We're having a hairy-leg appreciation day. Everyone's invited. Except for Eric.

Just kiddin'. Eric can come if he wants.

I'm a champion, I got my homework done. February tried to kill me.

I didn't try to kill February. But now it's gone, and I'm still here. Congratulations me.

Hooblay!

Question of the Week

Question:
"When am I ever going to use this?"
-My math class, in regards to trig identities

Answer:
I don't know, eternity's a long time. Maybe it'll come up.

Idea-A-Day Six ~ Luminous

Idea Count: 6/20

Title: Luminous Puffy Dress

Category: Fashion

Feasibility: 9/10

Likelihood: 8/10

~~~~~

What's this? You better believe it.

Prom dresses are interesting. Being a guy, I'll never have to wear one, yet I get to see them three times a year. They're outrageously expensive, and most of them are fairly immodest. I figure any prom dress that doesn't cover you right is just an expensive towel.

And really, towels aren't worth that much. You should probably play it safe and get the modest ones.

In any event, I was at a dance recently where all the girls were wearing prom dresses. Some were modest, some weren't. That's not really the point of the discussion, the point here is that I've got a pretty good idea.

See, girls go all out for these dresses. So, why not push the envelope?

I'm thinking of putting some sort of lights in the dress. In the bottom part, the poofy skirt-ish part. I have no idea what to call that part. But, can you see those big princess-esque dresses, the modest ones? With the big bottom parts. How cool would it be to have some sort of soft light emanating from within? You'd totally be glowing.

And since you're in a very low-light environment, it'd be an amazing effect. You'd look like some sort of angelic doober.

It'd definitely be a soft light, nothing huge. You'd have to have several lights, so as to avoid casting awkward leg-shadows. They'd have to be small, lightweight, and not generate a lot of heat. Battery powered, not prone to catching on fire. They'd have to cast light evenly everywhere.

But still, how cool would that be? At the dance I was at, I saw some girl standing on some stairs in a dress like that. There weren't lights in it, but she was leaning up against the wall right in front of a light, it was sorta buried in her big bottom part of her dress. It totally light the whole thing up, it was an awesome effect.

So hey, why not steal the idea and market it?

So that's my idea. Make prom dresses that glow just a little bit. You'd honestly be radiant. I'm not sure if I've done a good job putting the picture across, but in my mind it's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen. Just a comfortable warm glow. Hmmm. Perhaps I'll have to sponsor an experiment next homecoming. Hmmm indeed.

Yep.

Miracle Drug

I found a miracle drug. It's called Mr. Olsen.

So, I thought history was due Friday. I was so proud of myself for starting it yesterday. That was something like three days before I even had to.

But alas, it's due tomorrow. I've got it done. It took some time.

It looks like it's off to the glue factory for me.

-----)(:::::::::::::::::::>

That's a sword.

<(oo<)

That's Kirby pointing to the left.

(>oo)>

And that's Kirby pointing to the right.

Wanna see Kirby point both ways?

Too bad.

Interest

A few things have caught my interest in the past few days. They're interesting, if nothing else.

http://www.cangooglehearme.com/

Aaron Stanton decided that he had a brilliant idea that Google needed to hear. He didn't really know how to get in touch, so he decided to fly to California and camp out in Google's lobby until he got an appointment to pitch his idea. Great story, pretty inspirational. Makes me smile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotic_jockey

Camel Racing is huge in a few countries in the Middle East. It's sorta like the rich man's sport. To have a camel go fast, you need to have a small jockey. They used to use small children, 4 year old boys or so. Slave trade, abuse, etc. etc. got them in trouble with the Western world. Qatar found a solution: Hire some swiss guys to build us robotic jockeys. Seriously. Robots riding camels. How cool is that?

~

Those are the two stories I really liked yesterday. I'm sure there were others I forgot. In the meantime, a few pictures that sorta blew my mind.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA07997.jpg

That's a sunset. On Mars. Taken by one of the rovers right at the end of a Martian day. So cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sol582A_P2299_L456-A590R1_br.jpg

Another Rover picture. Take a look at that at full resolution. It'll take a day and a half to load, but it's amazing. I have a big crush on the mars rovers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Deep_Impact_HRI.jpeg

A picture from the Deep Impact mission NASA ran in 2005. The basic concept was that we'd shoot an 80 kg slug of copper at a comet, and we'd watch and see what'd happen. That's all fine and dandy, until we realize how ridiculously far away this comet is from us, how fast it's going, how fast the impactor is going. It's sort of like someone shooting a bullet in Oregon while we shoot a bullet from the top of the high school and have them collide. So cool.

I hope there's something primo coming in the future. Hmm. And now a few one liners.

"Steve was one of those guys that carried a notebook in his pocket just in case a girl told him she liked his shirt. Whenever that happened, he'd take it out, jot down her name and his current shirt, and put it back in his pocket. He spent a few minutes each Sunday organizing and planning his shirt distribution for the next week. He considered what classes he had with what girls on what day. He factored in the weather, the activities he'd be pursuing that day. He was prepared to maximize the exposure of his shirts to the ladies that loved them so.

This forethought brought about two great results. Steve learned to be organized, and girls liked the way he dressed. This put Steve in the perfect position to be the organizational head of Saving Boston. He was dashing and organized; what more could you want in a spokesman?"

Yep. These are just sorta there.

"If there was one characteristic that truly defined that brief and panicked interlude between the fall of the old world and the emergence of the associations, it was the speed in which bad guys constructed their lairs. It had only been two weeks; this place was huge.

Garbage can entered the hall. It was then he realized his mistake.

He should have stayed in bed this morning.

This was suicide. Ridiculous. Poorly thought out and a logistical nightmare from the beginning. It was sadly comical in the "let's irritate the panther and see what happens!" sort of way. Garbage Can let out a sigh. There were bad guys. Everywhere.

And here he was with explosive tic-tacs.

Great idea there Alpha, real great. No, honestly. The tic-tacs. Maybe I can offer the Brown Punisher a mint before he kills me. We'll take a little break while he freshens his breath. He'll pop it in... his brain will explode... great deal. only 94 bad guys left. No sweat.

See, there was a curious phenomenon at work here. It was called the Husenberger uncertainty principle. It stated that it would be impossible to determine just how many bad guys were waiting behind a certain door to kill you. In addition, it quanitified very certainly that they were going to kill you pretty quickly no matter how many tic tacs you offered them.

Garbage Can didn't know who this Husenberger fellow was. He didn't like him much.

Dr. Breakdance's thugs were closing in on him. He was toast. There were villains everywhere.

He had one shot. There was only one way out of this place. Breakdance Fight, now.

Garbage Can increased his stature. With as much macho as he could muster in the face of so many ugly bad guys, he called out defiantly, "Dr. Breakdance, your time has come. It's me and you, breakdance fight. If you win you can have the warehouse and we leave town tonight. If I win, you turn the bank back over. Take me on, boy. You got nothin'."

Now, asking Dr. Breakdance to have a breakdance fight with you is a lot like asking Bill Clinton to have a "Who looks more like Bill Clinton" contest. The smart money is always on Clinton for the win. No, really?"

To be continued on that one.

Yep. Happy Friday.

Valentine's Interview

Hey Everybody. I sat down with my good friend Nick to have a Valentine's day interview with him. We covered a wide range of topics, all related to the lady situation. Everywhere from the perfect date to religious aspects and Ultimate. It was quite enlightening for me, and I hope that you find it cool as well. Remember, I'm in the blue. Nick's in the red. Score it.

*Nick interviewed me too. That can be found on his blog. Check it out, it's gonna be fun.

Begin Transmission~~~~

Let's get down to business. Q: Nick, have you ever had a romantic relationship? Perhaps a romantic interlude? What's your history in that category like?

Honestly? Only failed crushes and crushed spirits. On a lighter note, now I like it that way. Of course, back then it was a different story.

You say you like it that way now? What changed between now and then?

My outlook. Right now, I realize that nobody needs a romantic relationship in high school, no matter how much they might want it. Seriously, people, it's called restraint. Exercise it.

So, relationships are a no go for you right now?

Yeah, pretty much. Of course, it's not only that I don't need the drama, it's that I couldn't pick up the ladies with a forklift.

I think that's an overstatement. I've seen those forklifts in action. I gotta tell you; the ladies can't resist a man driving a forklift. But really now, you can't be totally anti-relationship. Aren't there some nights when you really wish you had a significant other? What about those evenings?

Oh, believe me, I've wished for it many a night. Most nights, in fact. Those are the evenings when I'm pretty depressed. I usually feel better later, though, and rethink it again. I've "rediscovered" the reasons for not having a relationship many a time.

Alright, I hear you. So, let's take an adventure to one of those depressed nights, if we can. What are your specific reasons for wanting a "more than just friends" on those occasions?

Well... honestly, I think it'd just be fun. You'd have someone to spend time with, someone who really cared about you and was concerned about you, someone who'd listen to you, someone who'd pick you up when you were down, someone to be there for you. I don't know, I think that'd be a really nice feeling.

With a list like that, how could you not want a relationship? What are your reasons for saying "No dice" to the ladies for now, then?

The list of "no dice"s is nearly as long as the list of "yes dice"s. I'm not financially secure (ladies cost money), I may not think it, but I know I'm too emotionally immature to sustain a relationship, I don't want any of the high school drama, I don't want to be picked on by Kyle, I enjoy my high status in the "Clean Lips" club, and honestly, I just don't have the time. (Some of you out there will notice I omitted the obvious "facial features" reasoning).

Changing directions. Let's say, hypothetically, that you are going to fall madly in love with a girl tomorrow. Based on your current status, what would have to happen for that to actually happen? What would the girl have to say, do, wear, smell like? I know it's possible, show me how.

Okay, hmm. All the girls I know... well, they wouldn't have to change much. They're all really amazing, say really cool stuff that makes me laugh, dress really nice, and smell really nice. So, I don't think it's anything on their end that would have to change, unless it was some girl who approached me... then I might be a little more receptive. But as of now, I think my outlook on dating as a whole would have to change for me to "fall madly in love."

Is there anything a girl could do that make your outlook change in a day? I bet there is.

Well... making the first move. I mean, I know I'm supposed to be the guy, make the first move, but that would be very... convincing. Um. Well, it'd be the little things. How they looked at me, how they acted around me... if a few of those things changed, I don't know what I'd do with myself. Of course, you have to realize... I've thought about this. I really could be in love with pretty much any girl I know. I just choose not to see them that way.

Right on. What are your favorite about the ladies that really attract you? Jaron's been posting stuff on his blog in this neighborhood. What's important to you?

My "traits"? Well. That's not a huge list... it doesn't really take a lot to impress me. But I'll be as verbose as possible.

1. She must be intelligent. I don't know about everyone else, but this is a big priority for me. If I can't have an intelligent conversation with a girl, it's just no fun. Fortunately, I don't know any unintelligent girls.
2. She must be funny. If she can't laugh at me (often) and herself, what's the point?
3. She must like music. Especially classical... if a girl just doesn't understand classical music, then... my whole life is meaningless to her. And that's no way to have a relationship.
4. She should probably be modest. I mean, it's not as big a deal for me as it is for others, but... nobody wants to see that.
5. She must be attractive to me. Now, notice I said "to me." Regardless of anyone else's opinions of her physical features, she will be attractive to me if she's got an amazing personality to back it up.
   
6. She should have a relatively large vocabulary. Really, conversations are very important in a relationship.
7. She must be patient. I'm very... easily distracted. Which means I'm lazy and don't pay attention. So.
8. She should like sports, in particular Ultimate and hopefully racquetball, and be willing to play them with me.
9. Bonus points if she plays an instrument. But not too much, then it'd be uneven.

I think that's about it. I mean, there are lots more contributing factors, but those are the main ones.

Wow, sorta hard to break in there. I can think of a few girls that meet the criteria though, so it's not too unrealistic.

Well, it probably is a little unrealistic. I mean... I usually do kid myself about most things.

Me and you have had discussions about the religious issues surrounding this topic for you. What do you think about that these days?

Well, Eckankar really doesn't have any guidelines or anything regarding that that I know of. I mean, they emphasize good values, mostly in line with the LDS faith, and many others. All in all, you should marry who you love, dating isn't really discouraged before a certain age, but it's not encouraged. As far as I know, that's the official standpoint. My personal belief is that steady dating in high school is lame and generally not good. Serious relationships should be saved for later in life when both parties are more mature.

Sounds pretty good to me. Are there certain things that, when you see a girl with, totally takes her out of the running for your affection? Stuff like bad breath, that business?

Hm. Well... I'd say I'm a pretty easy-going guy. I mean, there's not much they can do that will make me not like them. I don't like girls who don't let me be a gentlemen. Some independence is okay, but I mean... I can't hold a door open for you? That's ridiculous. I don't like girls who cry at every little thing. I mean, they've got to cry sometime, otherwise I can't comfort them, but crying because you broke a nail or some other such lame excuse? Not cool. Fortunately again, nobody I know does that. Also, bad breath = bad. However, I still don't know anyone with that problem. Gosh, the girls I know are just really cool.

Yeah, the girls around here are tiggity-tight. What's your feelings on the Levi-Sydney situation? Any thoughts or comments?

Hm. Well, I mean... it may not be for me, but it's his life, she's cool, and... I wish them the best of luck in the future. Honestly, no hard feelings there. If he wants it, he should go for it.

Good outlook. What's your idea of a dream date? Let's get into specifics here.

You mean the girl or the activity?

Both. I guess focusing mainly on the activity, but bring in the girl too, that's a good idea.

Okay, well, I've been thinking about the perfect date. The perfect date for me would entail picking the girl (and maybe another couple) up, driving downtown, eating at a fairly fancy restaurant, but not really expensive, and then go to the symphony. Now, this really depends. I mean... it'd be really, really, really cool to take a girl to the symphony, or maybe an opera, one that is kinda sad. I don't know, I just thought that'd be a good date. Ladies, don't worry about me--I like going to ballets, dances, museums, you name it, I'm good. After the symphony, we'd go someplace for hot chocolate or some other beverage and talk for a while. Honestly, just talking to a girl is the best. The girl would have to like classical music, though... and talking to me. So. I don't know too many of those.

Sweet deal. So, on the topic of Ultimate. Is your dream girl on the field playing, or on the hill cheering for and supporting you?

Oh, no, she's playing. In fact, she's on the other team, and we're both going for each other. We've got a serious vendetta against each other. We really just want to swat that disc. However, we're both really impressed with each other's skills. I'm more impressed than she is, though.

I can take her.

It looks like we're almost out of time, so one last question.

What does the future hold for Nick? Are they any girls that your eyes are on right now? When do you think you'll be ready for a relationship? Won't you be my neighbor?

The future holds lots of fun stuff. It holds school, no fear of getting pulled over if I drive with other people in the car, new friends, stronger friendships, ultimate, racquetball, music, dancing, the stars, and most of all girls. Yes, I have my eyes on girls. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for a relationship, but I'll probably have to have one someday. And I have his autograph.

You have Mr. Roger's autograph? Wow. That's amazing. Happy Valentine's day buddy, thanks for coming to the show.

Thanks for having me, it was a blast.

February 12, 2007

Out

I sort of want to sketch something right now. I don't quite feel like paint sketching though, this is more of a paper feeling. I know that nothing would come out if I started. I'd being with a nice little curve. From there I'd get nothing. I've got nothing to sketch, and yet it feels like I've got a masterpiece waiting to get out of here.

It's interesting.

I'm going to bed at a decent hour tonight. That's a really good feeling. No complaints there. This week has been much less sleep than I usually get. We're working on it though. I'm gonna learn from it.

There's a lot of business going on right now. PLC, sweethearts, Sem vid, the athletic options, school, basketball, independent adventures- It's a lot of business.

I've got to prioritize them better.

Fact: My associates and I are capable of creating amazing things. The Sweethearts project, informally codenamed Project Formidable Aroma, has taken a lot of work. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk freely about it yet. There's going to be some really cool results for you all to see real soon. Nick will probably post a run down on his blog once it's all through.

Back to the point. It's been a lot of work. Me, Jaron, Brad, and Nick got together a couple days after school and worked for a really long time. Coming home those days was considerably different than coming home on any other day. On a normal day I'll come home and check the blogs, read the news, check extralife, popsci, gamespy, wikipedia, blogoscoped, then wander off.

On work days things were different. The four of us came over here and we sat down and started trucking. It was interesting, to see that after five hour of being on the computer I wasn't even connected to the internet. I hadn't even noticed. We were just booking it along, getting business done.

And so I started thinking. What could we accomplish if we really set out on it?

At this point, honestly, pretty much anything. I'm looking at our skill base, and things are wide open. We could use someone with mad web-design skills. Some programming skills would be favorable.

But really now. You put Me, Jaron, Nick, and Brad in a room together for a while and we could get you elected president if we really wanted to. We could operate a highly successful website that got a thousand hits a day. We could change the world.

Right now I'm not changing the world, at least not as much as I'd like to be. Changing the world is a great feeling. The wonderful part about changing the world is that no one ever specified how much of the world you needed to change.

I believe I have changed the world, at least for a little bit. I know my contribution to happiness and progression isn't too much, but I'm glad that there's at least a little bit. I figure that every person I help with Physics or Math means one more brownie point chalked up on the great whiteboard in the sky. I think that every time I write something that makes someone smile or laugh or think or realize or want to be better- that's a point too.

I want to change the world for the better. I wonder why. Is it an ego thing? Is it genuine altruism?

I love AP History. It is beautiful and applicable at so many levels. I find myself going back to it time and time again. Anyone in my English class knows it- I keep busting it out. I'm seriously digging AP History. Rockwell is a raging studmuffin.

Also in the English department: I really like argumentation. Debates, arguments, whatever you want to call them. I love to get into them. I wish we could spend more time on it. There's something great about being able to look at a topic from both sides and find the most effective counter to whatever April just said.

It goes back to Physics, this argumentation thing. In physics you've got a couple basic formulas that you use. The most prevalent is Newton's second law, F=MA. It's a party.

So we've got eight or so basic ideas and concepts to work with. These eight concepts can be switched around and substituted algebraically in order for us to solve anything that gets thrown at us. "What's that, you're spinning a 2 kg ball above your head on the end of a rope of rubber bands with a force constant of 1100 n/meter that's 1.5 meters long when it's totally unstretched at a rate of 22 revolutions per second? And you want me to find out the centripetal force after two revolutions? Should I find out when it's gonna break if the rubber bands have a breaking point of 500 newtons? Yeah, probably"

And we could do it.

Ok, so maybe not that problem specifically. I bet Landon could do it if we gave him enough time. In fact, I could probably get it with a lot of work. It'd get into calculus and be super trippy, but that's alright.

The point is, we'd have to use a bunch of little concepts and ideas to figure out the whole factor there. There's gonna be centripetal force, potential energy, kinetic energy, tension, all that business.

We take eight tools and apply them in various combinations to solve any problem that comes our way. It's our tool box. I love my tool box.

That's what argumentation is like. The source we're talking about gives us tools. In this case, tools are quotes. We've got external tools too- tools like history or scientific research. When all that's pulled in, we've got to take a look at it and say "Alright, how am I going to assemble these tools to fix the problem?"

I've got Karl Marx writing a book, the cold war with Reagan doing all sorts of fun stuff, and television ruining my life. Sam said that he grew up with TV, but Autumn said that her sister is Wack cause of TV. How am I going to put it together to fix the problem?

I love putting things together to fix problems. Maybe that's why I love Physics, Chemistry, and Math so much. Mmm mmm good.

I'm toying around with the idea of creating a private blog. One that nobody else could read. It'd be the same concept as typing stuff up and saving it on my hard drive, except this would be much more likely to last a year.

The only reason I'd consider doing this is because of the sensitive nature of some of the stuff I really need to explore in writing. I really want to talk about all sorts of business, but my better judgement tells me that that's just not a great idea. With now good writing is for my problem-solving processes though, it seems a shame to be unable to talk about the big issues here.

What if Levi stole my girlfriend and there were valuable lessons to be learned here? It'd be impossible for me to write about it. The girl would get her feelings hurt, Levi would get mad. I'd feel embarrassed about the situation. It's just not something that I could do. It'd hurt more than it'd help.

But what if there was a way to get the beneficial aspects of blogging about such an event and the feelings it creates without the pain? There are certainly enough benefits of writing to justify searching for a new possibility. By writing I can finally get feelings and ideas out all the way. It's hard for me to do stuff like this in person to most people. Some people are a little different, and I can bounce philosophy and ideas and metaphors off of them all day long. They are the small minority. I can dribble any cognitive function I want off of a blog.

Unfortunately though, some cognitive function is just too sensitive to blog about. Not that it's a big deal, because it's not.

But what if I want to write about track, but can't because my track team buddies would read it and call me out for being a pansy? What if I'm not satisfied with the way things are, but can't exactly come out and say it?

These are the problems that bring growth in people. I grow a lot when I sit down and think and write about what's going on. How am I supposed to write and think when doing so would obviously be a bad idea?

And so I'm thinking about it. It goes against my nature, that's for sure. I'm all about sharing, I hate hiding things. I rarely ever close the door to my room. It closes maybe twice a day, at tops. And even then, it's only closed for two minutes max. I honestly don't like closed doors at all. I don't like closing doors on what I have to say either.

The percentages change a lot, but the reasons for me sitting down and writing are about half for me, half for you.

Honestly, this might not do anyone any good. I'm still running at 50% efficiency though, and that's good enough for me.

But wouldn't I rather run at 100 than 50 percent? By keeping a secret blog I'm guaranteed a 50 percent success rate. Here I've got at least a shot at 100.

So it's sort of a catch 22 here. I can write everything here and censor, or I can write some business over there and gimp myself.

We'll see what happens. Chances are I'll start one pretty soon. What I'd like to do is have a time release deal. Where, in a year from now, I release posts. The concept would be that after a year anything that was too sensitive to write on a public forum such as this would have become not sensitive, and could be released for consumption. That way we both win. Just sorta slower than usual, that's all.

I think that's what I'll try. It sounds like a grand adventure.

Comings and goings of blogs are interesting. I wonder how many people are actually still writing a year after making their blog. I'm coming up on the two-year mark of near constant blogging. I'm happy about this. I've said it before, I love this blog.

But it's interesting to see who stays and who goes. Just interesting, that's all.

What are my plans for the future of this blog? A few things-

1. Keep posting. This is the most important thing. In reality, it's the only thing that matters here. I've just got to keep coming here and leaving a dump of words. It's good for me. Maybe it's good for you. I like to think it is. I want to be a posting machine. I set a goal at the beginning of last summer to post at least once a week. As far as I know I've been doing pretty good on it. I need to keep writing. This thing's gonna last forever.

2. Finally upgrade to beta. Everyone's upgraded now. I have failed to get with the times because of the pseudo-custom template I've got running for me right now. It doesn't exactly roll over without any trouble, so I'd have to do some work on it. I need to upgrade and get some cool stuff over on that side bar. I'd like to include a quote of the period-of-time, and a picture of the period-of-time. There's other stuff that would be cool too.

3. Keep this as my blog. I want to start another website one day. Something different, a little more professional. This will always stay though. This will be the place where things always come. Where the big rants, the little business. All that is here. It'll stay. I want to get something professional going on somewhere else too, but that comes later.

Projects. I'm getting those crazy irresistible project run-like-crazy-at-the-moon-because-no- matter- how-far-away-it-is-and-how-hopelessly-screwed-you-are-you-want-nothing-more-
than-to-run-like-crazy-at-the-moon feelings again. They haven't been this strong since the beginning of the school year. During that particular epoch of project run-at-the-moon's the world saw the creation of the Taylorsville Alliance and Taylorsville Ultimate. Both of those projects are currently dormant, but there's a good chance both of them will be making a come back in the near future. With this much motivation, how can we lose?

So that's really what I want right now. Some accomplishments. Sure I want to win at basketball. But that's not what I really wish I had going for me right now. I really wish I had some projects running around. Things I could start, things I could maintain.

Yep, I'm gonna work on that. The project this week was Formidable Aroma. I think next week is going to be something a little different. Something good though, that's for sure.

I love leadership. I love being part of a team and getting work done. I can't wait to have a job. I hope that whatever I end up doing in my life requires a daily meeting to look at what we've done and what we still need to do. I hope there's brainstorming, I hope there's that rush of chemicals and galvanized wind in your neurons when a new golden idea comes rushing through. I hope we get to make something awesome. I hope we get to change the world.