post the sixty-ninth

I've been told that if you aren't going to get more than three hours of sleep in a night, you ought to just forego sleep altogether. I found myself in that position last night, and decided to just stay up until I had to be at church at 8:00. What they don't tell you, though, is that you need to find something to do for those three hours. One can only sit in front of a jigsaw puzzle for so long, especially in a sleep-deprived state. Somehow, I managed to entertain myself through the night, but I found another fatal flaw in the advice "they" had given me. Not sleeping at all during the night makes you immensely tired. It doesn't matter that you would perhaps be even more tired had you slept for a few hours - you're still dead to the world. I was falling asleep without even realizing it.

Friends, be kind to your bodies. If they're telling you that you ought to fall asleep, listen to them.

More to come in the days ahead. I've been busy enjoying my tiny vacation between winter and spring terms.

post the sixty-eighth

Today has been a pretty good day, which is surprising, considering how it started off. I had a final today for my American pop culture class, which had me worried more than any of my other finals (and that's saying something, considering how tough my Soviet Russia exam was). I studied for a fair part of Saturday and most of this morning for it. I memorized countless names for my identification section; I now totally know who people like Robert Warshow and Larry Bennett are. (They wrote about gangster movies and the domestication of rock and roll, respectively, in case you were wondering.) The only thing is that most of the test was on parts of the class that I didn't study much for. I relied a lot on my natural knowledge of pop culture to get me through it, although there was a bit of residual echoic memory that helped me out. I think I did fairly well on it. I certainly hope that I did well on it, because I got a D+ on the midterm, and I'll really need an A to balance that out to have any hope of doing well in the class. Here's hoping.

Anyhow, I was walking out of the exam when my friend and I ran into Petra. That made my day just that much better. I was already excited about doing well on my exam, and seeing her just made things even better. I spent some time with her, and then I came home to bond with my roommates over a couple of games of Perfect Dark. And now I'm going to watch 24 with Angry Block.

It's been a good day. I think I may even have a shot at getting a job for the summer. Life is really good. I like it when days turn out like this. Listening to Sufjan Stevens just makes things that much better. Feel free to email me if you're interested in hearing a bit of it - the song "The Dress Looks Nice On You" is absolutely beautiful.

post the sixty-seventh

I have done a good thing, friends. I was searching through Wikipedia while reviewing for my Soviet Russia final, and found an article that wasn't there that needed to be. Being the benevolent being that I am, I decided to create it.

I feel really good about myself right now. I'm so proud. You can read it (it's about the Shakhty trial) if you want, but I don't know if you'll find it quite as interesting as I did. Rest assured that I'm very pleased with myself right now.

post the sixty-sixth

Lent is over, dear readers. My blessed commas have been restored to me. I was really excited this morning, contemplating all of the ways that I could use commas today. The bummer is that not only am I not deriving much pleasure from my newfound comma usage, but I'm not even all that good at it anymore. I've forgotten how to write like I used to. I'm just so used to forming choppy and comma-free sentences. I can only hope that I'll be able to express myself normally after a few days of getting used to it again.

It's also Easter. It just doesn't seem to have the same meaning that it does to me at home, though. My dad absolutely loves Easter. It's by far his favorite holiday. We hear Easter music (which is beautiful stuff) for a while before and after the holiday proper. I was disappointed when we sang other songs in church today. I was really excited to sing Easter hymns. I know we would have at home, and music is one of the things that I strongly associate with Easter. Alas. I've been singing Easter songs to myself all day today to make up for it. I'll get my Easter one way or the other.

I don't know what connection commas and Easter have (other than my observation of Lent), but there you have it.

post the sixty-fifth

Apparently one of our devoted readers came to the 100 Hour Board booth today and dropped off a box of warm cookies. I only wish I'd been there - I left around then so I could study for a quiz in my Japanese class (which I didn't even do all that well on anyway). Alas.

Much love to our dear friend Heretical in Heritage. As for the rest of you - get crackin'. We need more readers as dedicated to the Board (read: willing to give us cookies) as Heretical is.

And now I'm going to go listen to the music that lanada gave me. I really like trading music. It's a good thing.

post the sixty-fourth

Are you a current BYU student? You really ought to come to the 100 Hour Board booth we're going to have running tomorrow (4/13). It'll be going from 10:00 until 2:00. I'll be there most of the day. Extra points if you can guess which one I am.

Not a current BYU student? I guess you'll just have to find something else to do from 10:00 to 2:00 tomorrow. I'm sure you'll manage.

The booth will be running on Friday during the same hours. I may or may not be present on Friday though. That doesn't mean you shouldn't come. Please come and learn more about the Board. Bring your friends.

post the sixty-third

Dear readers - it's time for a guilty confession. I hope you won't think too much less of me for this.

I was getting my hair cut today and heard a song I didn't particularly recognize come on the radio. It sounded vaguely familiar (as most pop songs do) so I started to tap my feet and hum along to it. I was even sort of enjoying it...until I found out who it was.

It turned out to be Maroon 5.

I'm so embarassed. I promise never to do that again.

post the sixty-second

I woke up this morning to find that high winds outside had caused the power in my apartment to go out. I was absolutely blown away (ha!) to learn just how much I depend on electricity to carry on my desired lifestyle. I quickly found that I wouldn't be able to use my computer (it has a battery life of approximately eighteen seconds). So much for playing on the Internet. Watching the Colbert Report would also be out of the question. Televisions don't operate well in the absence of electricity. Taking a shower proved to be more difficult than I'd thought. Getting hot water wasn't a problem - getting light in the shower was. I ended up just taking my shower with the door open and prayed that no one would walk in on me. (No one did.) I figured that there would be little else for me to do in my apartment in the morning and beat a hasty retreat up to campus where I could be productive.

Or at least so I told myself.

I've been sitting here in the library for the last hour and have accomplished next to nothing. I looked at some pictures of WWII advertising in a vain attempt to find some sort of pattern in the images of soldiers. I contend that the image of the American soldier during the war helped to create a national identity. We'll see if I turn out to be right. I've also read a slew of blogs and answered some questions on the 100 Hour Board. I just haven't really done much that's terribly worthwhile.

Think I'll go eat a sandwich somewhere and read about Nikita Khrushchev. I'm more excited about this book than you might think.