Creation

I'm stopping right in the middle of studying a mountain-sized pile of information for a whopping 4 cumulative finals next week to write this. So do me a favor and ENJOY IT. If you don't, then go away. Take your snarky comments to one of Justin Bieber's music videos.

I went on a run. It was a nice run. Some people don't get running. They say it's painful, and makes you sweat to a rather nasty degree, and leaves you with more sore muscles than you thought you had on your lower body. But I went anyway. Because for some reason I can think so much more clearly when I run than when I don't.

I was feeling a wee bit spontaneous and bold (week before finals does that to you) so I thought a six or seven mile run would be a good thing to shoot for, despite my not-quite-in-shape self. By mile two I was wondering what on earth gave me that impression as my legs cried out for mercy and my lungs repeatedly stabbed me in the chest to remind me that I needed more air.

But then I somehow achieved the fabled "runner's high" and all of a sudden I felt like I could punch a bear.

So I ran. And I ran and ran. Unfortunately I didn't come across any bears, but I ran. And I ran to the shoreline trail rimming Cache Valley. Then I sat on a rock. A rather nice rock, as it gave me a perfect perch for gazing out over the valley.

I was planning on taking just a short two minute break to check out the view, but it turned into a ten minute break.



I don't know why it's so easy for us to forget how beautiful the world we live in is. I don't know how those images fade so quickly from our minds when we return to the giant rat race. I don't know how it happens, even though cute little Logan nestled in the mountains took my breath away yet again.

I saw sprawling fields where farmers made their livelihood encasing the city of Logan. I saw a forest of shaded, verdant trees planted in Logan, so as to make much of the city invisible. Occasionally a building would sprout up from the trees, or the forest would part to show a few of the houses covering the valley floor like ants on a patch of concrete.

The sky was blue, invaded by a few gray clouds. But blue is too rough a word though to describe that sky. A deep, electric, vibrating blue that seemed to have energy of its own. It was the kind of blue that you almost seem to float into if you stare at it long enough.

I saw the mountains, their legs blanketed by green carpet. I saw their dull gray stony heads poking out from their lush kilts. They seemed immovable guardians of the valley, encasing it with their colossal arms. They seemed impenetrable, unbreakable, ever watchful over their charges.

Then my thoughts swung to God. The Bible tells us that He formed the mountains. That they tremble in His presence. If this is true, then I hold God in less reverence and awe than I ought to on a regular basis.

Try to picture one of those behemoths actually trembling in God's presence. That's a side of God we don't think about too often, is it?



I concluded my run with my head up and my eyes drinking in as much as I could get them to. I don't know how people get so attached to their precious hamster wheels, but it happens to me all the time. So do yourself a favor. Go on a walk, if running isn't your thing. Push everything else out of your brain, and just try to appreciate the area you live in. Because there are incredible things all around us that we skim over without a second thought every day.




I never did find a bear.

Orange Zombies

This post comes to you at 10:30 MST, right in the middle of studying for a chemistry test. I am tired, brain-dead, and I feel the need to vent.

I have an app on my macbook that I downloaded for free from the app store. The sole purpose of this app is simply to waste time. There's no other possible use for it.

You run around on a two dimensional surface devoid of any decoration as a man in a gray t-shirt and jeans, carrying a shotgun and wearing earmuffs. The wonderful thing about this shotgun is that you can fire as many times as you wish. The creator of this game must have received his inspiration from every movie ever made involving guns.

Anywho, with only these aspects, the game would be incredibly boring as there would be nothing to shoot. The catch: orangish-pink humanoid zombie demon figures spawn endlessly into this map. Your goal: survive as long as possible while blowing the snot out of every one of these things you can find. Bloody? Of course. Cheesy? Naturally. Boring? Only if you've been doing something other than study chemistry for hours on end.

After massacring dozens of these growling, unintelligent creatures, something occurred to me.

Do I want to spend the rest of my life shooting orange zombies?

Do I want to pour my life into something that is fun at first, but becomes incredibly dull as time goes on?

Or....do I want to shoot PINK zombies? Yellow zombies? Chartreuse zombies? Puce zombies? Bright blue zombies? Zombies that vary? Zombies that require something different than a shotgun to defeat, like  a rocket launcher or a machine gun or a didgeridoo?

Do I want to shoot these zombies alongside other people who are good at shooting other types of zombies? Who, maybe, do it in a different way than I do?

I hope the metaphor was obvious enough for you to catch it. If you didn't get it, it's because you can't identify with demon zombies and you need to become more tolerant.

Sleeping on Campus

My career options as a professional napper widened tremendously when I began to attend Utah State University. The school had wisely placed couches, lovesacs, and benches all across campus. These provisions of heavenly cushiness make it incredibly easy to catch up on some sleep on the go, as well as make your favorite study area cozy. Here are a few I have encountered in my travels, and how one can best utilize them.

Highest user rated nap spot:

Building: TSC 3rd floor, diversity center.

Object of repose: SENA

-This Specially Engineered Napping Apparatus (SENA), erroneously known as the "lovesac", is the top in campus napping. It is strategically placed in a room with large, south facing windows, bathing the napper in sunlight to maximize comfort. The SENA itself is enormous, approximately 6 feet in diameter, and downy enough to make Chuck Norris drool like a dog salivating over a piece of juicy, succulent bacon. The effect is that the user is engulfed by a full-body swath of feathery cloud. The only negative aspect of SENA is that it is virtually impossible to study in it and expect to remain cognizant. One might make a comparison to scrubbing oneself with a ribeye steak and running through the lion cage at the zoo, all the while expecting to make it alive to the other side. Overall productivity decreased by an average of 96% while using SENA. If your intended use for it is something other than taking a glorious nap, you may want to invest time in another locale.

UPDATE:
They removed the lovesac! You have no idea how distraught I am about this. I suppose you can use the couches they still have in there, but it's just not the same...


Pleasant weather snoozing spot:

Building: N/A
Object of repose: Bench

-While it isn't the most comfortable place one might catch those elusive Zs, it is definitely one of the most pleasant when the temperature reaches that heavenly level of ambience. Only recommended if exhaustion is moderate or above. The most common strategy used is placing the backpack behind the head as one would a pillow, and staring up into the sky until sleep ensnares you. If you are planning on taking an extended siesta, you may wish to ensure that you will be constantly kept in sunlight for the duration of your nap.


Notable snoring center:

Building: Library
Object of repose: Study Cubicle

-This, unlike the SENA, is designed to maximize productivity. However, at any given point in time on a university campus, there will always be mentally and physically fatigued students that simply don't have the time to turn aside to the nearest couch and conk out. Therefore, the study cubicle can be used as a last resort if the student simply must have a short respite from the day. Nappers are urged to put some kind of large book on the flat surface in front of them and place their face on top of it. This usually requires a large amount of exhaustion, and should only be used as a last resort.


So, if you find yourself on USU campus, and are in need of a nap, just plunk yourself down on a couch and doze for a spell. Desperate measures can be taken if you are a self-righteous, haughty, swollen-brained napper who thinks they cannot turn aside from their structured path, but you should never be without a place to crash on campus.

Onomatopoeia

So. Somehow I've managed to coerce you into reading this thing. I figure I'm pretty good at expressing my views on paper, but not so good at the words-coming-out-of-my-mouth thing. So I'll stick one of these up for your enjoyment every once in a while.
I never quite saw myself as the bloggin' type, but after reading Owl City's blog and that of my good friend Maeve I figured I'd give it a go.

(Go give 'em a read. They're both pretty stinking awesome)
Maeve: http://musicrantsrandomness.blogspot.com/
Owl City (Adam Young): http://owlcityblog.com/

Just for kicks and giggles, here's a list I spewed out the other day. Entitled: Things I Love. Yes, it totally sounds like something a first grader would write, but I wrote it anyway. (Heck, if you're going to read this you may as well know some of the stuff that makes me happy)

The sound fingers make when they slide across guitar strings

Nutella

Jesus

Spending time with God on a chilly morning

Running in the rain

Skiing

Playing Soccer

The smell/feel of freshly washed sheets

The feeling you get after a long run

Feeling God’s love when I need comfort the most

Fast Breaks

Kids

Things that explode

Playing strange video games with my family

My Family

My Mama

My Da

My little brother who’s not actually little

My little sister and brother who are both actually little

My dogs
The smell of my grandparents' house
The fort in their backyard
My grandpa's pachinko machine
My grandparents

Dogs in general

Coffee on a snowy Saturday

COFFEE

The snow

Back scratches

When someone plays with my hair

A good sneeze

Crying my face off when I need to get it out

Doing well on a test

Breezes

Dodgeball

The smell outside after a rain

Playing in the snow

Sweating while working hard on something

Painting walls. The mess, the smell, the social time, all of it.

Doing things with friends who are as weird as you are.

Running down hallways

Climbing things

Red rock country in Southern Utah

New socks

The part of the haircut when they use the buzzer on the back of my neck

Gettin' all twitterpated
Confiding in my dog

Mountain lakes

The kind of green you can only find if you go to a pine forest

Campfire smell

Finding God when I least expect it

The sky

Huge, angry thunderheads

Sunsets

Sunrises

The way a new book smells

Soft towels

Exploring mountainous areas

Aloe on sunburned skin

Hugs. Real ones, not awkward/wimpy ones.

Making people laugh

Laughing at other people’s jokes

Laughing

Yelling my head off at a sporting event

Playing baseball

Mountain Biking

Skiing with people you love to be around

Spring skiing

Skiing in a blizzard

Sleeping after a hard day of skiing

SLEEP

Mud

Fireworks

Swing dancing

KAZOOS

Having something to smile about

The psalms

The bright pink in a sunset

The vast, electric blue in a deep lake, the kind that you can stare at for a long time and not get bored

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream

Thought-provoking song lyrics

12 string guitars

Putting balloons under car tires to make the driver think something in the car broke

The word 'Onomatopoeia'

Onoooomatopoeia. Savor that puppy. That was kind of lengthy-ish and I'm sure you didn't read the whole thing (given the cheesy title) but there you have it. This whole blog thang is still really odd. I can literally talk about whatever I want to and no one can tell me otherwise!

So. There's me. In a large-ish nutshell. Maybe it's a genetically enhanced walnut shell or something...