Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Something to Remember

If you have a dermatology appointment, it is probably not a good idea to get sunburned the day before.

Monday, July 21, 2008

It is the summer of my smile

The past week or two has involved a rather enjoyable trip back to the place I grew up. I think growing up here kind of made me take for granted how cool of a place this really is, and being on vacation here gives a new appreciation for it all. Plus when you are on vacation you don't have to worry about any of the work and high costs of living here. Plus you have a mom that is perfectly happy in spoiling you with anything and make any meal for you whenever you like. Plus you have friends that are all rather eager to see you and excited for you to be around. But then again, you have to answer the dang question of, "how's Idaho?" 50 bazillion times to people who don't really care but feel they have to ask (not that I wouldn't do the same thing). The trip has been full of good times. Had breakfast at my brother's house 2nd day here, a birthday party for Elliott Saturday, and lunch at Aunt Mary and Uncle Lori's house where we ate, drank, and beed merry (I know beed isn't a word, but I like it). All the places were full of great food. My brother makes some mighty good tender ribs. It's all going by so fast.

Now for some lists.

Things that have changed in the last year around here since I left:

1. Both my sister and her husband have new jobs.
2. My brother and his family live in a new house and has a new car.
3. My old bedroom has been completely remodeled and is quite nice now and is without that weird smell (which had nothing to do with me). Dad's office is all new too.
4. My dog Sadie looked near death last time I was here, but now seems quite lively once again. Though she is still growing new little tumors.
5. My 4 best guy and girl friends are now dating each other, weird.
6. My sister in law is pregnant.
7. It is now illegal to talk on the phone while driving here.
8. Our trash company now makes us recycle instead of doing it all themselves like before.
9. All my friends seem to now have full time careers.
10. Kids are bigger and Elliott can have full conversations now.
11. I think that's all.

Things which are the same:

1. People
2. TK Burger is still awesome.
3. In-n-Out is still awesome.
4. Beach is still there.
5. Niece and Nephew still remember me, but were just a little shy at first.

Things accomplished thus far:

1. Beach day, which included the most fun wiffle ball games ever, and I won, yippee.
2. Skunked Dad in cribbage
3. Took old dog Sadie to the Beach for a swim.
4. Saw Dark Knight at midnight: awesome, even with the holes in the story.
5. Went to dentist and everything is all good. (2 years ago I went, and the lady said, "and don't wait another 2 years to come back." I showed her.)
6. May have found a place to live when I get back to Idaho which was very needed, and with good people. Thank the good Lord, always providing things like that.
7. Got haircut.
8. Enjoyed it all
9. Almost forgot, but I got my dog Jack a girlfriend. She'll be ready to make babies with him come September so that his name will live on, and he won't die a virgin. Hopefully she'll like him though. The bitch apparently hasn't liked any guys in the past (I'm not cussing that's what their called). But Jack is quite a Stud so I think she won't pass him up. I mean who could turn down this face?














10. And another thing I forgot, 2 bike rides. One enjoyable one through a dark probably not that safe park to the Orange Circle (old fashion little downtown where they often film movies set in the 50's such as That Thing You Do), and then to Rite-Aid for some ice cream. On the way back through the park we came across a couple abandoned giant ice blocks. So we pushed them up the hill and rode them down a few times. The other bike ride however was on the most uncomfortable mountain bike ever and was literally uphill both ways. At least there was a nice jacuzzi as our destination.

Things hoped to accomplish still:

1. Build my own cribbage board.
2. See remaining people I hoped to see while here.
3. Spend more time with friends.
4. Play Basketball
5. Enjoy it all

That's all I have to say for now I believe.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Real dialog from the counter of flying m

teenage girl asks, "Is the hot chocolate good iced?"
joe: umm, you mean chocolate milk? (or something close to that effect).

Monday, July 7, 2008

Magic Bus

I ride the bus to school, and on this bus I can sometimes come into contact with the strangest of people. Most of the riders are students, like me, taking advantage of the free bus system for BSU students, but then there is also the middle age people just trying to save on gas money as they go to their daily jobs, the occasional old lady, and every now and then a traveling hobo or two. I usually like to keep to myself in these public places, and just listen to music and stare out the window as I sit in my nice cozy spacious seat. I’ll occasionally say hello to the regular people I see every day, but that’s about it.

The thing that bugs me the most about these daily commutes is when the bus is almost full, there are more people coming on, and some people don’t make the seat next to them available for the new passengers. They just know that someone else will do it, and they will be left to their nice cozy row to themselves. This complete disregard of other people in these situations really angers me. I think part of this is just my jealousy of these people because I too want the seat next to me to be open for comfort reasons. However, I am always the one to kindly allow for it to be open so that the new passengers get all the available seats to choose from, while the other jerks are sure to guarantee themselves the nice spacious arm and leg room. I sometimes wonder how nice life might be if you just didn’t give a darn for other people in situations like these, and only looked after what you wanted for yourself. I bet I could find myself in many more fortuitous situations if I were to take such a stance, but I like to think Karma keeps up with people. It seems in these situations though the new passenger almost always chooses the seat next to me. I guess I should like that people see me as a friendly enough face to sit next to, but sometimes I just really wish they'd choose someone else to sit next to.

A few years back I once rode the greyhound bus from Las Vegas to Flagstaff and had to be one of the people to choose my seating companion for the next 5 hours or so. I didn't really like too many of my options, but eventually had to pick someone and so I chose a middle aged lady who looked a little hippyish. We talked for a little bit, and she informed me that World War III was coming and I was gonna be drafted pretty soon. Well, it sure has been a pleasure talking to you I thought.

Anyways, on one of my more recent bus experiences, as usual the new passenger chose the seat next to me. It was the second time this same guy has sat next to me, and he is about as odd as they come. First off, he has a beard down to his belly button, zz top style, then he is balding, and then he has the hairiest arms and legs possible. On this day, he was wearing a long sleeved collared shirt with a tie, rather short shorts, then black socks with brown dress shoes. He sits next to me and immediately spreads his legs out nice and wide-like clearly encroaching into my territory of the seating arrangement. The first time he sat next to me, he said nothing, but frequently made hand motions as if talking to someone, or giving a speech and pointing his finger to really drive his point in to the listeners. On both occasions, the man took place in his favorite activity of twirling his mustache, just about every 30 seconds or so. He has a pattern with this which is this: finger comb his few hairs back, twirl mustache for about 20 seconds, and then either finger comb again or put his hand down, then wait about 15 seconds, and repeat. Sometimes he will start the move of his hand upward to start the activity, but change his mind mid-move, put his hand back down, wait 5 seconds, and then go ahead and go for it. He seems to prefer the right side of his mustache for his twirling, but will occasionally go for the left sided twirl. Then as the bus goes on and the passengers slowly slim down and multiple rows of seating open up, you would think he might move to a new row so that he could have all the leg spreading room he could want, and have it all to himself. But no, he stays right there, spread eagle, boxing me in and making me crouch my body and legs up against myself to make room for my backpack and all.

Such are the experiences of public transportation. I should probably be a little more befriending.

Homework Break

I am taking a break from writing for school to write for pleasure. I have to write a long paper relating C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia to Plato's Republic. It has been annoying thus far. It seems every time I think I've got something to really start going with to try to prove, I will keep reading trying to find more material to help prove my point, but instead I just read something that completely contradicts what I had hoped they were gonna say, and I then have to completely rethink everything. It is getting annoying.

Nevertheless, I really like this Plato guy. C.S. Lewis was clearly strongly inspired by him, and I have always been a huge fan of Mr. Lewis. What amazes me most about Plato is his theology. His thoughts and ideas about who God is and what He must be like are quite similar to standard Christian theology. The amazing thing about him though, is that he didn't have a book to read that is supposed to tell you all about who God is. He just figured it all out logically concluding that God must be all these things and this way for Him to be God at all, and He could be nothing else. I also heard that Paul the apostle was a bit of a Plato enthusiast. I should probably give some credit to Socrates too since you never really know which one of them really came up with all of this, but it was Plato who wrote it down, but he wrote it down through the dialog of Socrates, so it all gets quite confusing.

Being raised so heavily in the Bible, I never really thought that ancient people outside of the Jews or other Biblical characters ever thought about God similar to the way I do now, or even worshiped Him, but some did. It seems rather obvious now, but I never really thought about it.
Alright, thats about it.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

First Encounters of the Good Kind

I seem to remember first meetings with people quite well. Almost every friend I have I can remember my first meeting with and how it happened and what was said, and what I thought. So I kind of want to know if other people remember their first meeting of me, what was said, what happened, and what their overall impression was. I think it would be fun to know, even if it wasn't good. I'd assume it all turned out good in the end if you are reading this now. And if you are willing to do this, I will gladly return the favor and tell my first memories of you. Though I am now realizing the problem of you going first, which could remind me of something I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. But if you are still game, maybe we could work out a simultaneous switch of stories. I am now thinking that likely no one will take the effort to do that. Oh well, just tell me, or tell me you want to hear my first story of you, and I'll go first. Hopefully I can live up to my claim.