A Discourse on Summer

If you could pick one song to sum up everything that is "summer," what would it be?  Can any one song, poem or picture really capture the running-through-the-sprinklers, driving-with-the-windows-down roller coaster that goes from May to August?

As it turns out, summer can be seen as a unique psychological phenomenon.  On the surface, it's one big long party where you can stay up as late as you want to without worrying about homework.  But may I venture an analysis of the deeper level of summer?

Yes?

All right, then.

Dream House

Every day on my way to work, I pass by a bunch of old buildings in downtown Ogden.  If you've ever been there, you know what it looks like--rundown old pawn shops, bars, taco stands, autobody places, etc. surrounding a more civilized area (a few blocks square) with a train station, a few nice restaurants, and lots of little stores with over-the-top window displays.  In this area of town, the buildings are taller (3 or 4 stories) with stores on the bottom and apartments on the top.  These are classic big city apartments, complete with rusty old fire escapes, roof access, narrow staircases leading down to the street, and numerous windows.

If you really knew me...

You may have seen these videos popping up all over Youtube for a while now.  I'm not really into video making--I feel much more comfortable with writing--but I wanted to try it anyway.

Kids today.

A random wrong number conversation that ensued yesterday afternoon.  I kept it up because she was so much fun to mess with.

Cookies

Last week my roommate and I were at the local library.  They always have tables full of used books on sale for a dollar or two each, and I always look through them.  Until that day I'd never been able to find anything interesting to buy, but this time was different.  I was almost done looking when I found a book by one of the best writers of all time:

Words=the best toys ever

A wonderful thing that happened last week: the Kolob Canyon Review vol. XX was made available to the general public.  I've read the entries so many times through the editing process that I thought I would be bored with the end result, but what happened was exactly the opposite--we had so many talented writers submit their work, and they just keep getting better and better the more I read them.  And now they're all bound up in a 170ish-page literary journal (ISBN and all!) for the world to see.  This book is so much cooler than a few pages stapled together, which is all I've been a part of in the past.

Finding Truth

An example one of my English professors used on this subject was 9/11.  The general consensus in the U.S. is that the terrorist attack was an evil act.  In that one extremist Islamic group, the attack was the will of God.  How can one decide which is right and which is wrong?

Religion and Good TV

Go here for a website that'll blow your mind!

Holy buckets, you guys, it's been three weeks!  I have an excuse for the first one (I was home for spring break and my family's computer doesn't like anything Google-related right now--sad, right?!) but I'm afraid all I have to say for myself for the next two weeks is that it's now April and my junior year of college is coming to a head RIGHT NOW.  Like, literally right this second.  As in I should probably be working on one of my many final papers instead of posting this.

Disneyland (?)

I got a little something in the mail last week.  It came in a big envelope that I opened up in my family room with a brother on one side, a sister on the other side, another brother and my mom and dad across from me, and another brother on speakerphone.

La Primavera

That's the Spanish word for spring.  It's beautiful, isn't it?

A fun fact about the War of the Worlds radio broadcast

Way back in the first semester of my freshman year of college, I took a Mass Communication class (and I loved it).  It was all about written language, radio, TV, movies, and advertisement.  In our radio segment, we got to listen to all kinds of good stuff.

Including the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

El Día de San Valentín

First of all, happy birthday to Rob Thomas, Freddie Highmore, Keeley Aldean (Jason Aldean's daughter) and ME!

Use of the word "townsfolk" and a demand for answers

Over Christmas break, my parents paid me handsomely to clean out our upstairs closet.  For those who have never been to our house, this closet is kind of our house's version of an older house's attic, stuffed with old bits of paraphernalia that haven't seen daylight for years.

Arbitrary Story Writing

I'm so hungry right now.  I was going to stay in the library until 5 to listen to Adam Young dj at turntable.fm, but he was playing screamo and it gave me a headache.  Plus, if I ever want to hear from him I can just read his blog.  So there.

Outside/Inside

On the outside, I am tall, smart, and shy.  Others notice I am a good listener and friend.

I can be seen taking pictures or writing.

I can be heard saying, “What!” or, “Freak!”

I have light brown hair and blue-brown eyes.

I spend a lot of time noticing things that others don’t seem to see.

You hopefully won’t ever see me angry.

Stream of Consciousness FTW

What I'm thinking about right now:

Fun Stuff Writers Get To Do

Eavesdropping.  People watching.  Endlessly recording words, phrases and images that jump out at us.  This was my homework for today.