The Orange Uprising

So i decided once again to attempt sending in a letter to the editor. i actually sent this one in this time though, so i'm hoping to see it in Friday's 'reader's forum'.

BYU once again, much like the United States a few months ago, finds itself amidst a heated election. Fortunately for me, as a concerned voter, BYU keeps the various parties divided into neat colors. As for myself, I am a loyal voter of the ‘orange’ party every year. Some might feel that I should be scolded for voting without really researching the various platforms, caring about what candidates the orange party has nominated, whether or not my party has drifted from the core values they’re supposed to represent or even the stances of the other parties (the green party likes “In N’ Out”! All right!). But I think I should receive no such censure. Really, voting for the orange party each time is nothing new. It’s just like any other election on a national or local level- just vote republican!

Now, just to clarify, i think i am more republican than anything else. But most of the republican thinking here kinda does seem to lean towards blind following. A good example would be when Bush put wire taps (which are illegal) to try to track terrorists. However, these wire taps could also be used on the average citizen. Not cool. The general consensus here though was something like 'hey, they should do it. after all, i have nothing to hide!'. or anything to lose? like freedoms? But hey, a republican president said it during a war time, it must be a good idea.

Also, it is especially important to just be concerned about a few issues. The republican party pays some lip service to anti-abortion, anti-gay agenda and other such things, but really don't do much about it. they at least aren't proactive in seeking those things, like the democratic party. all the same though, they were really drifting away from the ideals of fiscal conservatism (Bush was spending a lot) or decentralizing the government. it offended, so i went Libertarian party this last election in protest.

There's also a flip side on the democrats too. the zealous adoration of Barack Obama was just out of control. There was no debate allowed as to his supremacy and just how ideal of a candidate he was. and it was so cool to be pro-obama. it was funny to watch, were it not tragic. he was a better candidate than McCain though, i think.

oh, and i actually do kinda research the different BYU parties a bit before voting. i think it's fun.

Manstinct

Today i had to add more coolant to the '94 Buick that my parents gave me to drive around with up here. i also checked the oil. After having done it, i felt that i was brimming with masculinity. if a deer had run by at that very moment that i closed the hood, i probably would've been so high on testosterone that i would've killed it with a windshield wiper and cooked it right there on the engine... Seriously though, i know nothing about cars and it can be a smidge embarrassing. Like one time i was taking the ACT at another high school and my '87 Corolla (now referred to as 'bucket 1' by my family) was not starting up so i found this girl with jumper cables. she hooked them to her big, intimidating 4 wheel drive vehicle than handed them to me. i took them, held them in my hands like a sign that says "i'm not man enough to figure this out.", looked at my engine, her, than the engine again, than i just kinda held them out to her. I forget if she kinda laughed it off or pulled a dress out of her car for me to wear while she hooked up the cables, but she got it done. needless to say, i'm pretty excited i can fill my coolant, check my oil and various other things.

though i still don't know which one the red cable goes on. positive?

Shower epiphanies

I was standing in the shower this morning and realized, or at least came to the conclusion, that i need to improve my game if i'm going to get the grades i want this semester. I don't think it'll be too hard, i was doing it last semester when things really got going. just be in the library all day every day and i think i could get a lot more studying done on the weekends too. I also have to make th time i'm spending studying a lot more productive. So ya, that'll be fun. but if i get all A's and a B i'll get a 3.78 on the semester and like a 3.56 or something overall, which will put me in a good postition to get into the business school... i think business is a ridiculous word. what is that "i" doing there? i have to think busy-ness every time i write it or else i'll get it wrong.

Other big news, i went to jiffy lube and am pretty sure i fell in love. The girl that was helping me out just stole my heart, despite the fact that she was wearing a mechanic's uniform. She was chatting with me and smiling a lot, i was just so flabbergasted i couldn't put it together to get her number or something (also, that'd be kinda awkward "hey, we should hang out sometime." as the entire shop listens in...). So ya, basically i just missed my opportunity to meet my true love and will die an old lonely man. I hear peyton might need an oil change though.

One last thing, i think i'm pretty good at spanish and i get annoyed with people who don't speak it well after being on a mission (i have sympathy for newbies). So i'm pretty annoyed every time i walk into my spanish classes. also, the worst is when people think they're actually mexican, or whatever and talk with these outrageous fake accents so that they sound moronic. Than i actually look over to the person who's talking and its just some white kid, and it generally makes me just want to politely ask them to talk normally. Well, that was rant-ish.

A Clockwork Orange

I made it through the salvo of tests i had lined up. it was pretty intense. i did pretty well though. i got a 94, 88, 80 (econ. i'm pretty proud of that score, actually), 86, 100 (it was more of a quiz) and i dont know the grade on the spanish test i took today, but i was feeling i aced it pretty good.

I've always meant to kinda write down what i thought of a book after reading it... during winter break i read A Clockwork Orange. i thought it wasn't bad. maybe a bit rough, with the content it has and all, but that was just the nature of the book. anyways, its 21 chapters, but when the american editors saw it, they cut off the last chapter. reading it though, i really agree with the american editor. what happens in the 21st chapter is that the delinquent, after having beaten, robbed and raped, gone to prison and than returns to doing it, suddenly changes. the change though, is very contrived i think. in my opinion, it's an atheistic approach to morality, which is in reality something of an oxymoron, and it shows. without a strong reason to turn moral, it just doesn't make sense why he does it. it seems like he has almost grown bored of the evil life he had lived before and wants to try the next thing, even though the author sells it like it's the maturing and natural changing that a person can go through. if you leave that 20th chapter out though, the ending grabs you and it's haunting.

also, the book is interesting because the guy creates a whole lexicon of slang for it. like horrorshow for cool, devotchka for girl, and i don't remember the rest, but it makes the read interesting.

just as a side note, i think some of my favorite books have been the phantom tollbooth (first long book i read, i think. it was in 4th grade or something), 1984, cat's cradle, Brave new world, earth abides... there's a lot more that i enjoyed, i've read a lot, but that's what comes to mind. haha. i remember reading a john grisham novel and being soooo disappointed realizing that was all the more popular adult literature was. depressing.

proverbially kicked in the tenders...

so this week i had a test on wednesday, thursday and today (friday). i have a test tomorrow morning, monday and tuesday. it's as if im being proverbially kicked in the tenders 7 days in a row. i also get pretty tired during these midterm deals, even though i get more sleep than i usually do. i think i'm doing ok on the tests so far though. and i think i'll be able to pull out the rest of them too. just got to keep studying.

for a way different topic, i'm a pretty big fan of op-ed articles and letters to the editor, but i was reading through the campus political review and they had some responses in there. people go out of control. they say all sorts of super rude things about the person who had previously written the article, insulting their intelligence, their opinions or whatever. heaven forbid somebody should have a differing opinion. the ignorance!

oh, and a way lame article about the bathrooms in the wilk appeared in the paper in letters to the editor. i was pretty peeved i didn't send mine.

Heartless (cuss)

so, i think i'm kinda liking weirder music. i'be been downloading a couple songs of the 'heartless (cuss)' and other bands that kinda sound like it. it's pretty good stuff, but i think before my mission i definitely would've hurled instead of listening to it. it's slow, bluesy and... whiny? eh, not necessarily. but, just in general, i kinda have noticed i'm a little different post-mission. a lot of the movies that i really liked are just too much for me. i think i must just be getting to be old and offended by everything now.

speaking of offended though, i think i'm getting kinda tired of the culture around here that is pushing marriage so much. i'd like to just kinda be normal and date girls for fun or not even worry so much about that stuff but i feel like i need to get married and procreating pronto. it's pretty silly, because it kinda skews things. like, you meet someone and think, oh, shes cool. but she is not going to help me build zion, no sir, i need my 5'1", 70 pound blonde with hollister clothes. but ya, ill survive.

urinals, hand dryers and tp, oh my!

I was just sitting in the library and typed this out... it's not really that i care about having a nice bathroom, i mean, its nice. i think i get ripped off on a bus pass and it's pretty silly we have no parking around here.

I have recently been awed by the high tech wonders of the new men’s bathroom in the wilk. I can only imagine a UVU student visiting here weeping with joy as he discovers he no longer has to fatigue himself pulling out toilet paper from the dispenser, which now has a motion sensor to dispense it for you. How he will wish that HIS University had used that money they wasted subsidizing bus passes installing a high tech TP dispenser. I can also imagine another student, perhaps with adequate parking at his university, discovering, much to his chagrin, that he has been deprived a waterless urinal and motion activated soap dispenser. Perhaps though, all this is used to impress recruits. If only Manti Te’o had seen the state of the art hand dryer, he would’ve signed here.

i'm debating whether or not to send this into the paper. i mean, there's probably things i'm a bit more passionate about.