my beard: a chronicle

my beard


only a little while longer till it's gone.

BYU here I come.

haircut

So, as you may know, my hair has been growing unabated for these last few months. So has my beard. But, as it is almost time for college again (I fly back the 25th, woo woo!), it is also time for the hurrcut.

So, I will be posting pictures of the results. I think that I will have my hair be shorter than my beard, so that my beard looks even longer and more awesome than it does now, if that is, indeed, possible.

I'm really excited for college. I'll be sure to blog there, as I have here in Texas.

books

I've read a lot of books this summer

• Dante's Divine Comedy (about the 7th time through it all)
  
• The Master and Margarita
  
• A Man For All Seasons
  
• Survivor
  
• A Fighter's Heart
  
• The Dip
  
• The 4 Hour Work Week
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  
• The Sound and the Fury
  
• Catullus (a book of Greek Poetry)
  

I really do like reading. Knowledge is power, knowing is half the battle.

my beard

let me show you it. soon.



my beard.


it's going to be so cool. not like this cool, but I plan on being at least this cool.


you'll see.

i work out a lot

I work out almost every day, and generally that involves riding a stationary bike. I usually ride for about an hour, watching movies in two parts, or watching TV shows, and so forth. I go about 20-23 miles, depending on how high I set the resistance.

I like cycling. I really do. I don't have a bike of my own really, but it makes me comfortable feeling that if I get called to a bike mission I will be able to keep up. Or even a walking mission that I won't get tired as easily. Of course, the word of wisdom-keeping thing will help too.

The only problem I have cycling it that sometimes it hurts my knees, but I've mostly fixed that just on seating position. If you have the seat too low your knees to to high and it hurts. But I figured that out pretty quickly, and so I've corrected for it.

It's weird working out with a semi-beard. I like it though. I've got it for 36 more days. It will be sad when I shave it. I'll post pics soon.

My Life is Good

So, I've been chilling at home, not particularly happy that my dad has been working at Baker-Hughes, and thus I lose money not being able to work for him. Granted, he's making a lot more money, money which will pay for lots of stuff for me, presumably. This next week he's going out of town, again, I won't be working, and my mom will be at Girls' Camp so I won't even have a car.

This really doesn't matter to me as much as I'm making it seem, I just need to fill blog space really. Soon, I'm going to post pictures of my desk setup, of which I am very proud. Organization is one of my favorite things, even if I only do it sometimes to stave off sleep. Or to help me get to sleep. For me, organization and sleep go hand in hand, which if you look at how I don't make my bed ever, doesn't make a lot of sense. I figure, if I half-heartedly cover my bed with the big blanket (comforter?) and the pillows are on top of it, it's good. Occasionally (re: once every other month) I do make it semi- well. Or at least I did in college, but it was so much easier then- I could easily reach across the bed.

I hate shaving. It's such a dumb taboo that facial hair= denigration. I know, I know, Honor Code, Honor Code, and so long as it remains in there I'll remain clean-shaven. I refused to vote for the BYUSA president, however if one comes along promising to rock the boat and get rid of the facial hair clause, I'm voting for them. Also, I hate tipping. I know it's really nice and everything, but why? Why can't employers do something like... pay a living wage? Not make them rely on tips?

I hate social expectations, or what's the sociological term? Mores. I had to look that up via my Sociology Majoring sister. I learned that term a while ago in Mr. Rice's Sociology class, but I really don't know why. That describes a great deal of the extra-curricular classes in high school. Just another reason to get out a year early like I did.

I wrote something on why I don't vote (YET), and I think maybe I'll post it here sometime soon. Who knows? I have a lot of ideas for posts- Book Reviews, Original Writings, Re-posts from a long time ago, and my computer set-up pictures, of course. Maybe even a list of blogs I've been reading (obsessing over) this past little while. I'm not short of material, just time. And motivation. If you're reading this via facebook, go to my blog link and leave a comment, or leave a comment on my facebook, or something. I just like to know it's not just me reading this.

Obligatory Conference Post

So, I took tons of notes for General Conference. This was the first time I didn't sleep through an entire session- I felt really good about that. I went to SLC for the Saturday afternoon session. I was in the Conference Center, and unfortunately we had no idea that it would be broadcast from the Tabernacle. Don't get me wrong, I loved every moment of the session- remembering is good to do, especially of such an historical building. Unfortunately we had balcony seats and watched it all on one of three giant screens (or one of five or six really small ones, if you squinted), and overall had a terrible time parking. Seriously- it took us an hour to park, for very many reasons.

So, my highlights from each session:
Saturday Morning

Richard G. Scott
- Answers will come a piece at a time so that as we grow we're able to understand more. I really liked this- it made a lot of sense to me, because I'm always growing, and I know that I'm not able to get the whole answer each time I ask.
-If you're prepared, living righteously and living in trust, don't worry about not getting an answer- it means the Lord trusts the decision you will make. Again, something I enjoyed hearing- I often don't get an answer to my prayers, but I don't get a stupor of thought. I had always wondered exactly what it meant, at least for me and this is the big answer for me.

Jeffrey R. Holland
-I really enjoyed this talk and it spoke deeply to me. I enjoyed it because I'm very interested in the words we use, and he had a great quote from the Apocrypha, "The strike of the whip maketh marks in the flesh, but the stroke of the tongue breaketh bone." I've always been a little bit (a lot) critical of people, and I often don't think about what I say. Also, his advice to not whine was very appropriate for the afternoon session switcheroo.

Saturday Afternoon

-I didn't actually take notes. I wasn't very comfortable. But I'll re-read when the Ensig comes out. Lots of stuff about music and remembering though, as I recall.

Priesthood Session

I'll write on this later.

Sunday Morning

-Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I took sparse notes and napped several times during this. I'm sorry, but I did like Neil L. Andersen's "It's true, isn't it" talk, and Gordon B. Hinckley's sobering words.

Sunday Afternoon

Henry B. Eyring
- 'Someday' can be dangerous.
- Prove yourself to the Lord.
- Complacency is not good. Great story about the older GA who wanted to go with him on his trip.
- Your circumstances may not change, but the Lord can improve you in your circumstances.

Dieter F. Ucthdorf
- There is not a point of no return, though that is what Satan would have us believe.
- Wow, I have a lot more notes on his talk. But really that's all that I'm gonna share.




Overall, this was a great conference- the big 177. Six months ago, I was hmmm.. I don't remember. But that weekend I went and ate at a Greek fast food restauraunt with Emily. It was good stuff. Hope everyone else enjoyed their conference weekend. Off to bed!

Insomnia.

I didn't sleep sunday night. Here's an excerpt of what I wrote:

Insomnia has hit me like a ton of bricks and I hate this so much all I can do is look at myself and think that I'm going to give up on trying to sleep for a long time.
I'm sick. Sinuses are clogged up or something- I really don't know because I've never had sinus problems before. Could this be sinuses? Probably. I can't blow my nose or even sniff right.

So Sunday night was not fun. What was even less fun was Monday morning, where I apparently took a math test, of which I have no recollection. But, I got a perfect score, so that's pretty awesome. The rest of the day was a blur- I saw a friend from back home who was visiting but thought he was a hallucination. I found out later through another friend that he wasn't a hallucination, and I saw him again yesterday and apologized for whatever behavior I displayed.

I'm better now though, so cool.

A Poem I've Been reading several times a day

Bullfight critics ranked in rows
Crowd the enormous plaza full
But only one is there who knows
And he's the man that fights the bull

I will fight the bull.

Something is Changing

Okay, so... I'm unsure how to put this, but there have been some HUGE changes I've made in the past couple days- dealing with almost everything in my life. And they're definitely changes for the better. I've become more involved in things I care about, partially thanks to Lexi (who, by the way, is actually cooler in real life than she is online, as hard as that is to believe), and partially thanks to me being more aware of what I really care about. I'm afraid though, I've started routines, I've lost a bit of my spontaneity that i enjoy so much- I actually have a set time to wake up for every day. So long waking up early MWF and late TTH, hello regular sleep cycles... I'm excited, but at the same time, I don't want to lose what has become such a part of me.

I've come back to reading a lot. A lot more than a lot, really, and just anything I can. I've bee reading bits of the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenenants in Arabic, anything I can find in Arabic, and I'm reading Hugh Nibley's biography by his son, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Fight Club, and you get the idea, I'm readin a lot all the time. Right now, I've got Approaching Zion open and in between writing this, texting Iggy and reading that, I'm getting confused. But, I'm enjoying it because it doesn't feel like downtime. I like downtime when I plan it, when i'm craving it, but otherwise, I've got such a passion for doing things- anything- that downtime feels like waste. I'm scared that the downtime could be used to be making myself better and I want to be the absolute best.

I know why I've been changing too, it all boils down to one thing, maybe one person, that I can't describe adequately on this blog. I've changed from what I was a year ago, heck... I've been in this change since college started but it's really just come on strong this past week-ish.

Thanks for reading.


*Edit* This is my 50th post. Also, it's the longest, and best, blog I've kept. *Edit*

School and Stuff

Okay, school is getting to be relatively normal again after a slew of tests and papers. My sleeping habits are still a bit out of whack, but not terribly so. My Math Modelling class is getting weirder and weirder. We're trying to develop an algorithm, based on probability, for the show Deal or No Deal. I plan on basing my algorithm solely on the probability of Howie Mandel going on a murderous rampage. Scarily enough, the odds are one in five.

My Biology class is amazing. I love my teacher, he teaches so passionately and knows so much random information. We go out on these great tangents, and he's got so many good anecdotes and he has done so much great stuff, e.g. he helped write my ninth grade biology textbook. But what I love about his class is that it does so much more than just teach biology- I had to go back to the original works of Millikan and Rutherford. That stuff was difficult to understand but then I had to quote them appropriately in my paper.

My Book of Mormon class is crazy- my teacher is insanely intelligent, knows so much about languages and the Book of Mormon, and has truly taught me how to study the scriptures. There are little things that I'm figuring out and it's cool because when I read them and notice them on my own, it just adds so much for me to everything that I do. After all, the only reason I do it is because I believe the scriptures and I try and do all that believing the scriptures requires of me.

My Arabic class is really difficult. We speak no english, in 101. All the other 101 sections get grammar in english, but we have to get everything in Arabic. Admittedly, this is my hardest class, but it'salso my favorite class- it just seems so right to learn how to speak it. It's a beautiful language and, I'm learning more and more, a beautiful culture and religion. I've got my own copy of The Holy Qur'an with english translation and footnotes. Reading it sheds a lot of light on stuff I thought was weird but now I kinda get- not just about Islam, but about a lot of stuff. There are deep truths to be learned in many places, I have no doubt of this.

So that's my school update. I will soon (read:in a couple weeks) put up the entry about Classical Art and its Objectification of Women: How Hip-Hop doesn't really Objectify Women and Paula Zahn Needs to Stick to Reporting News and Not Making Issues About her Personal Tastes in Music.

I might need a catchier title.