I Like to Move It

Council Bluffs is talking with Carrie and Alan is talking to Kerri. It turns out that our big plan may involve Carrie, Kerri, Chelsea, Chelsie, Alan, and Alan. That would be neat. Good night.

Squatting Midgets? Perhaps. You? Never

My cell biology exam didn't go to well. The questions are always so open ended that I have no idea what to write so I just ramble on and on about nonsense. My laboratory exam went well though. I kept my cool and was able to complete everything on the exam. Last time I was so rushed that I missed simple things just because of time constraints. The semester is winding down so I need to buckle down and get ready for finals. If I do not, yea, the entire semester shall be in vain.

Mr. Kinase Expert

I did some pretty good studying today. I have two major tests tomorrow that could make or break me. I mean, I have two ominous tests tomorrow that WILL break me. Only having science classes and only studying science has been playing with my brain and invading my dreams. I dreamt that I was at some convention and there was a man sitting behind a table with a sign that said KINASE EXPERT or something to that effect. In the dream it was perfect because I just happened to have a question about Kinases. So I walked up and said, "Hey, I'm studying the pathway of the Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone and I'm having trouble figuring out the order of phosphorylation. I know that MapK is first because when I inhibit it nothing else gets phosphorylated, but I can't inhibit any of the other Kinases. What other method could I use?" He just looked at me and didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if he didn't know the answer or if my question was so simple that it was wasting his precious time. I woke up a little uneasy. I just went jogging with Gavin and Alan. It killed me. I'm so out of shape that if I were supposed to be a square right now, I would actually be a 150 pound tub of Jello. It was fun though.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Church was church and work was work. I spoke to the folks. I can't remember anything else very eventful. Tonight Gavin had a great idea that we are formulating into an awesome plan, but unfortunately, I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

I spent all day at work. I got home in time to hang out a bit and then to go see the Chronicles of Narnia with the ward. I approve of the movie. I did not feel like my time was wasted.

Friday, March 17, 2006

I was going to try out my grappling hook tonight, but instead Megan and her friend Katy picked me up and we went to Chili's and ate with all of their friends. I got the boneless buffalo chicken salad. I decided on a salad because yesterday Kevin got a salad at Carl's Jr. and it looked really good.

Grappling Hooks and Friends

I got to hang out with Kendall and Nels and Ben and Kevin today. I skipped my chemistry class so I could go to Salt Lake with them. We saw the new Joseph Smith movie at temple square and checked out the almost completely abandoned malls. Nels wanted to go to a Ninja store to get some sandals so we went in search of it, but my car over heated and smoke started coming out of the hood. After going a few places and asking a few people for directions we finally found a Jiffy Lube. The guy there started working on the Intrepid immediately and offered us some hot chocolate while we waited. When he finished he told me that the radiator was bone dry, so he put in two bottles of antifreeze and a quart of oil and some power steering fluid. Then he tossed me my keys and said it was ready to go. I asked what I owed and he said, "nothing." I couldn't believe it. We thanked him and drove off. The car didn't over heat the rest of the trip. We found the ninja store and I bought a grappling hook that I will surely put to good use, and some chopsticks. The picture is of Braxton, Taylor, Me, Nels, and Kendall leaning against my other car before I left for Oregon.

Snake Water

You know in the pac man game when between levels a ghost chases pac man off the screen and then a giant pac man comes back and chases the ghost off the screen? That is the relationship I have with chemistry. It was chasing me, but now the tables have turned and I'm the one doing the chasing. I am going to kick chemistry's butt.
Saturday we woke up early to film our music video. We only got three takes before I had to go and get ready for work so we didn't achieve perfection before showing it at the ward film festival. Everyone did a really good job with their videos. I am genuinly impressed with all the talents of the people in the ward. Great senses of humor, great editing ablility, great showmanship. We are all greaful for and indebted to Councilina Bluffs for putting our performance on a DVD and getting it ready for Saturday night.

The DVD

Yesterday was another great day. The highlight was the arrival of the Hudsucker Proxy. About five years ago I decided that when people asked me what my favorite movie was I would say, "The Hudsucker Proxy." It didn't take me long to realize that very few people have seen this masterpiece of cinema. Now that I own it, I can share the experience of the Hud with all of my friends and loved ones. I listened to more Franz Ferdinand and danced a little bit more. I also practiced for our recording of "A Million Ways to be Cruel" by oK Go. Today wasn't as wonderful as the past two days were. I was more reflective than manic. I was digging around in my suitcases trying to find something and I came across my journal. The last entry I made was my first day in Oregon. It was kind of sad to read what I was thinking the days between my return home from my mission and that fateful day that I took the bus to Oregon. A lot has changed since then.

Joy

I went to my three hour molecular biology lab and finished in an hour and fifteen minutes. That gave me an hour and forty-five minutes of free time. I took that hour and forty-five minutes of free time and converted it to pure, unadulterated joy. After having such a concentrated jolt of joy I felt so great that I blasted some Franz Ferdinand and danced while cleaning the house. My once dirty laundry is now warm and inviting. My once smelly room is now tidy and fragrant. My once sour demeanor is now lively and cheerful.

The 80's and Me

The 80's loves me and I love her back. A lot of people dog on my good friend the 80's. They say that they don't like her movies, or her music, or her fashion, or her politics. They have the right to their own opinion, but it doesn't change the way things are. She is the best thing that could have happened to this country. I know that she is the best thing that has happened to me. Last night I went over to Megan's house and watched a good ol' fashioned movie starring John Cusack. It was more a chick flick than anything, but I still liked it. There were some great lines in it like, "You invade my soul."

Today I went to church and saw the new bishop. We were all disappointed because he doesn't look like anyone famous (our previous bishops include Gordon B Hinckley and William Shatner), but I'm sure he'll be a fine bishop anyway. I'm not going to be rushing to finish any homework now or tomorrow morning because I actually did it all on Friday. It feels great. I hope I can continue to have this same kind of discipline.

Rita gal moped, "End Gonging!"

I actually did some homework today. I think the board I made is really going to help me stay on track for at least 100 hours. Yesterday I ordered the Hudsucker Proxy DVD. I'm struggling to think of anything worth mentioning. Hmmm.... maybe I'll do something now and then write about it before I go to bed. Okay I'm back. I decided to burn something so I printed out the word DISRESPECT and set it on fire. I tried just using the stove, but it didn't give me the flames I wanted so I got out the lighter and was finally satisfied.

Ketchup

It's time to play catch up, so I'll start with today and work backwards. I went to a special suit meeting in Salt Lake instead of going to class. I am proud to be the youngest suit salesman in the area. Everyone there was at least twice as old as me. Most could be my parents and some could be my grandparents. I enjoyed it though because I got free breakfast. Then I bombed a chemistry test and resolved to do better. I made a poster to track my progress so I can be more accountable for my study habits. Then I went to work and came home and now I'm typing this. Now I'll write about previous days as if it still were those days.

February 28, 2006

Today I rushed to finish Megan's skirt. I finished the hem right before I had to rush off to my molecular bio lab. I got a major headache while there and ended up leaving early because I just couldn't concentrate. Once I left the lab I started to feel better. Maybe some of the E coli we were working with crawled up my nose and into my brain so that it could use me as some kind of transport. When I stepped outside it had reached its objective so the colony of bacteria crawled out and jumped into the grass. Then I delivered Megan's skirt after I got home from work. She wasn't there so I just left it with her roommate.

February 27, 2006

I turned 22 years old today. Bummer. I liked being 21. 21 is a good age. 22 is a bad age. I must be a bad person now. Oh well, being bad is just fine with me. In fact, I like being 22 now. Yeah! I'm 22!!!!! The day was pretty uneventful, just how I like it. Some people knew it was my birthday somehow. Tara and Leslie brought over cookies while I was at work. After work I went to wal-mart. I bought myself pickles and flowers. Alan and councilina got me Butterfingers and Chelsea got me otter pops and pringles with a napkin Birthday Card. My mom and dad got me an awesome digital camera so now I can post more pictures. I love it when they spoil me.

February 26, 2006

Church was good. We were late and sat in the stairway during sacrament meeting. I had my ecclesiastical endorsement interview thingy. I passed. Go me! The rest of the day was spent working on Megan's skirt. It's going to be tough to finish before she gets back from Mexico, but I'll try. So far girls have actually said that the skirt is cute. If I actually knew anything about sewing it could have actually turned out to be a pretty descent article of clothing.

February 25, 2006

Almost the entire day was spent sewing. I really enjoy it. I'm happiest when I'm working on a project that really doesn't benefit me in any way. There's just so much less stress when I'm not expected to do anything. I didn't have to find Chazlyn. That's why looking for her felt so great. If it had been a homework assignment, I wouldn't have done it. While I was sewing, Councilina, Pottawattamie, and Chelsea called to invite us to play Ultimate Frisbee. We admitted to being losers and declined even after they tried to tempt us by saying they would where spandex. I know they were just joking, but it made me think. Are there girls out there that think guys just sit around waiting for opportunities to see girls in tight clothing? Are there girls that see us as being so shallow? That reminds me of an embarrassing moment. In high school art class I was just staring off into space. You know, I just dazed off and was thinking about something random and unimportant. Suddenly I snapped out of it when the girl next to me nudged me and said, "What are you staring at?" It then occurred to me that there was a girl leaning over a desk in front of me with her butt in the air. I immediately turned red and tried to explain myself, but I bet to this day she thinks of me as some pig who does nothing but lust after young girls.

February 24, 2006

I had the day off today, so after class I called Megan to see if she wanted to do anything. When I called she told me that she was on a cruise headed to Mexico with her family. I was amazed. She deserves so many cool points for that. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to top it, so I grabbed my briefcase with my passport and started driving towards Salt Lake. On the way I felt a little uneasy so I turned around and went to wal mart instead. While there I talked to Braxton and tried to think of what I could do to top a spontaneous cruise to Mexico. I decided that there was no way and decided to make her a skirt instead. I bought the fabric and called her roommate Ashly to find out what size to make it. She hasn't called me back yet, so I'll probably start on it tomorrow and try to finish before she returns.

Preposterous

I have a lot of respect and even admiration for the guest blogger of a few days ago, but I just can't let this slide. Monkeys do not peel bananas from the bottom. This photograph proves that a monkey would prefer smoking a banana like a pipe or using it as a spit-wad shooter over peeling it from the bottom. I will admit that maybe at one time monkeys peeled bananas from the bottom, but thanks to evolution and natural selection all of those monkeys either died young or just never had the chance to reproduce. Once monkeys began to peel from the top all the beautiful girl monkeys just couldn't resist them. Then all the bottom-peelers were left without anyone to take to the jungle parties. It got to the point where male bottom-peelers were so undesirable that even female bottom-peelers wouldn't have anything to do with them. The new and improved race of top peelers spread over the earth quicker than you can say Chiquita. If a monkey were to peel a banana from the bottom today, it would be equivalent to me walking around campus with a powdered wig. The only members of the powdered wig race are isolated in British parliament where they will soon die off. If I began to where a powdered wig I would either be trampled upon until I was dead, live a long lonely life and die single, or be exiled to Great Britain with all the other Powdered-wig-people.

Thanks to the curve, my 36 aint so bad

I got back the results from my cell biology test. I made a 36, but the good thing is that a 36 turns out to be a C thanks to the curve. I also got back my Chemistry test. I made a 67, but luckily the class average was a 63 so once again my grade probably turns out to be a C. On my genetics test I made an 84 which was also the class average. So it looks like I am just an average Joe this semester. No major success and no major failure.

A Googol Ways to be Cruel

This isn't Kyle. But I'll tell you what he did today. The only real thing of importance was the preparation and rehearsal of A Million Ways to be Cruel, which is a song and dance number by Ok Go, one which should be viewed by all. Once it's ready, it should be a smash. He went to DI to appropriately update his wardrobe, then went to Dillard's to pick up his cream-colored suit coat. Rehearsal went well.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die

If I could say one thing to everyone in the world, it would be:

Monkeys peel bananas from the bottom!!!!!!!!

Thank you for reading. Kyle will be back to post as normal soon.

Three Day Weekend

Thanks to the fact that we decided to have presidents instead of kings or prime ministers, I don't have to go to school in the morning. Yipidee doo da!!! The weekend has been fun so far. Friday night I got home and no one was here so I built a fort in the living room. It was an okay fort, but I built better ones back when I was in my prime. Saturday I worked most of the day and then after work I talked to Jessica. That was interesting. I hadn't spoken with her since New Years. I did my best to pretend that we never dated and never broke up and I never felt anything for her. I think I did a pretty good job. I was even ready to ask her how Ben was doing, but she had to go before I could bring it up. I think it would be good to keep in touch and talk to her once a month or so, but I couldn't take any more communication than that right now. Hopefully we'll be able to have a normal run of the mill friendship someday. Until then, semi-awkward phone conversations will have to do. Later that night I went over to Megan's house for a dance party. It was the coolest party I have ever been to. We actually danced! Music was played and people danced! They had chips and dip and mints and orange pineapple cookies! It was even fun to mingle and meet all the people that came. Today I just went to church and work and sat around the apartment. Tomorrow, I have no idea.

Cupid's Poor Aim.

Valentine's Day was pretty neat. I was going to just stay home and study all night, but on Sunday Jeremy from work convinced me/committed me to ask someone out. So, that night I asked Chelsea after we played some games at Route 22. I told her to dress formal for the date just because I think it's fun to dress up, but I didn't have anything planned. It was going to be tough because I worked Tuesday and couldn't start the date until Ten. Monday I racked my brain for ideas, Would any restaurants be open? Are there any dances that late? What are we going to do? I didn't want to spend too much money and I can tell that she's the kind of girl that doesn't like guys to spend a lot of money on her. Monday night I went with Gavin to Wal-mart and it inspired me just like it always does. What do people in the movies always do for Valentine's Day? A Candle-lit Dinner! So I bought a red table cloth and candlesticks and a few other items. Tuesday was hectic. I had to take my three hour Cell Biology Test in the morning and then I had a three hour Molecular Biology Lab. I got home and only had thirty minutes to clean the house and finish getting everything ready before I had to go to work. Okay enough of preparations....On to the Date.

I picked her up at Ten and everything seemed to be going pretty good. She looked great in her dress which she partially made(I think that's awesome). We walked into the door and she saw the table set with the candles lit and she was probably surprised(hopefully not freaked out). Dinner was good and then we went to the park to swing, which was a lot of fun, and then we came back to my place for dessert. Chelsea is pretty, really cool, easy to talk to, and fun to hang out with. I must say that I took a shine to her, but unfortunately Cupid's arrow didn't so much as nick her. So, there isn't any point in me pursuing anything more than a friendship at this time. If she doesn't like me, she doesn't like me. I'm just not the kind of guy that will go to any extreme to win a girl's heart. Maybe that's my problem. It's a fact that girls like attention from guys they like, but when guys they don't like give them attention it only causes them stress. In a perfect world if a girl decided she didn't like a certain Gentleman Caller she would simply kick him in the face until he was unconscious. Sure, my nose would be broken 3/4 of the year, but at least there wouldn't be any mixed signals.

Tests

I'm about to go take my chemistry test and my genetics test. Genetics will be open book and open note, but it's timed and the problems are always pretty tough to decipher,but once you figure out what they're asking it's not too tough. Chemistry is going to eat my whole head again. I've studied the concepts, but we've been warned that the problems aren't going to be like anything we have gone over in class. I guess the days of being tested over what you have been taught are a thing of the past. In highschool you're taught how to build a ship in a bottle with only string and small pieces of wood, and then you're tested on whether or not you can tie your shoelaces. In college, they teach you how to balance a chemical equation and then test you over the most efficient way to use cold fusion. I really do enjoy the challenges that college is giving me, but when I don't succeed I can become pretty discouraged.

I have a lot to do in the next couple of days. Sure, I'm dreading my tests, but there are other things that I am really looking forward to.

A one followed by a googol zeroes

Death

A maintenance without interruption of the condition, course, or action or the continuance in the same state without fundamental or marked change of a temporary or final ceasing of all concerned with or necessary to the maintenance of a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings and the action for which the person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which the thing has real being whether being of a physical or worldly nature or of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person.

Chelsea took me to see the cadaver in the anatomy lab this afternoon. It was creepy and the image has been permanently burned into my mind. When I walked into the room I just looked at the floor until Chelsea gave me some gloves and it was time to turn around and tell that cadaver who was boss. It really did look like roast beef. She wasn't kidding. I don't know if Chelsea could tell, but I was starting to feel sick because of the smell of formaldehyde, or whatever preservative they use, and the dead cut open body lying before me. Maybe she COULD tell because we didn't stay long and she seemed surprised when I still wanted to go get roast beef sandwiches at Arby's. I'm glad she suggested it. I love Arby's.

I won't bother mentioning any other parts of the day. They just seem so insignificant when compared to seeing "roast beef" man and eating roast beef.

stuff

Not much to report. I got up and went to class. Everything was normal. I didn't work tonight so I went to FHE. It was fun. We played a form of dodge ball. Then when we got home, we realized that we missed the first 30 minutes of 24. Although I am addicted to the show, I'm not so addicted that I remember to set the VCR before going somewhere. Later on Councilina came over and I teased her and Alan a little bit more. I should get a life. Jack Baur does more in one hour than I have done in the past 21 and 11/12 years.

Another Week Bites the Dust

I made it through another week of school. I did better on my chemistry quiz but I have a long way to go if I hope to win an A. I hate classes that grade on the true curve. It makes the class nothing but competition with everyone else. A common conversation is:
"So, how did you do on the test?"
"It was really hard, but I pulled off an A"
"Crap! I hate you! Get out of my face you grade hog!"
Work also went okay. I did have a few problems with some very picky people though. I think that from now on I'll just refuse to sell suits to them. One guy came up and asked if he could try on a packaged dress shirt. I told them that I could measure him and tell him what size he needed(you see it's a pain to take all those pins and cardboard and plastic things out of a shirt and then try to put them all in again so we usually don't let people try them on.) Well after I gave him that option he said in a rude and short tempered way. "Are you gunna let me try it on or not." Maybe a few years ago I would have said, "Ok sir, I'll let you try it on." buy not now. Now I never let rude people have their way. I will not be bullied into giving anyone special treatment just because they're jerks. My response to this man was, "No." He threw the shirt on the counter and left. It felt great.
In other news, somehow I managed to get another Saturday off from work. I didn't have any plans, other than a review session on campus, so I called up Chelsea and we went to eat some icecream with chopsticks. Then we were going to go swing in the rain and wind, but alas, I locked my keys in the car, so we ended up watching a movie and swapping stories and thoughts. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed Chelsea's company. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.