31 March 2005

Muck-Ra, the Evil Twin

So if you havn't noticed by now, the person who gets the most "air-time" in my blog is my twin brother, Marshall. Sometimes I'm not too kind to him in my posts (prior comments about study habits/Blockbuster), but it's all in good fun. He just left my apartment after an evening spent "working on our paper." Yes, I fully admit that my prior doubts about his assistance have proven to be completely unfounded, if not unreasonable. Anyway, just to give y'all a little insight into our unique relationship, here's what we did tonight. Marsh ate Dan's spaghetti, mocked my pain (again, a topic for another post), drew a person showering on our whiteboard (from behind, all in 'good taste'), beat me at Smash Brothers, soaked all three of my roommates with a squirtgun (one of whom was sleeping), made wookie noises, and nearly broke my neck wrestling (literally). I, on the other hand, listened to my favorite AI songs, played Bart vs. the Space Mutants on our apartment's new prized possession (the classic Nintendo!!!!), attempted to throw a controller into the wall (I was stopped because the cord was too short), and laughed at Marshall's exploits. Oh yeah, we worked on our paper, too. (Please see previous post about the Andrews twins as BYU's worst students, athletes excluded.)

Love ya bro!!

30 March 2005

Back by Popular Demand

So I took a small hiatus from blogging because, well, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I've done nothing for the past few weeks except complain, about school, girls, life in general, pretty much anything and everything. I think my roommates, family, and perfect strangers are beginning to get a little annoyed with my constant diatribe, so I thought that I'd resort to a more silent soapbox (although you have to admit, hearing people vent is a lot more entertaining than hearing about days that are "just okay" or "fine"-- Give me a raving lunatic over a hyper-content bore anyday. Except if it's my sister-in-law at a restaurant.) So I'm back, and more neurotic than ever.
If you're like me (and I think it's fairly safe to say that you are), then every once in a while little nagging thoughts pop into your head. Not in a serial killer-esque, Shining sort of way; I said thoughts, not voices. That happened to me earlier this week, as I was putting off writing yet another essay, chock-full of the mind-numbing intellectual jargon (not an oxymoron) of academia. (In fact, that's what I should be doing now, but since it's for a religion class, instead of of M-NIJOA, it's crammed with P-DRBBOSR-- pseudo-doctrinal ramblings backed by obscure scriptural references. Actually it's supposed to be a group paper, with the group consisting of myself and the only other person I know who is a worse student than me, my brother. **This includes Bryant, who easily places third from bottom.** Note to self: Partnering with family for schoolwork is a bad idea.)
Anyway, back to my previous point. I was putting off writing my 30th paper that week when I suddenly realized that I was not getting anything out of my education. While I now realize that it's because I'm not putting anything into it, that thought did not occur to me at that time. Now, I am a fairly confident guy (except for a short period after being completely rejected by a girl-- a topic for some other post), and so I honestly think that I can succeed at whatever career that I'm ultimately going into- right now it's teaching high school... and marketing disposable BBQ's. I am just having a hard time making the connection between my current classes and my eventual career. I guess I just don't think that I'm any better prepared to teach now than I was at the beginning of this semester. I really just want to start teaching right now; it's just that this whole degree thing gets in the way. As if you need to know something about what you're supposed to be teaching.
This thought struck me pretty hard; hard enough to actually prompt me to look for options outside of going to school this summer. I started looking for service opportunities, particularly for volun-teering for some Microcredit nonprofit. In fact. I even visited the Peace Corps website, which was enough to shock back into reality. As my brother says, the Peace Corps is perhaps the only organization less effective than his current job at Blockbuster. Ouch. Anyway, I guess I'm getting over this little funk that I've been going through, but I am still struggling to see the relevance of school. Maybe just because I'm staring the aforementioned "group" essay in the face.
Sorry for the long-winded whining. Peace out, Napoleon.

P.S. Double Bubble gum tastes like Pepto-Bismol. Luckily, the taste onlt lasts for 0.3 seconds. Thanks Jason.