: P

I hate english.

Sing along! in mandarin!

this is a pretty sweet chinese song that my cousin showed me. soooo... watch it. and learn it by heart, because if I ever manage to get the mp3 for it then it will be playing in my car at least.... 48% of the time.

Schooly Things

Well, I don't know if anybody actually looks at this blog anymore, because I usually don't, but here's my schedule for anybody who might happen to look and care. tell me if you have any of the same classes.

1st semester
A1+B1- College Writing (dist. learning) (semester)
A2 - Multimedia (semester)
A3 - Lifetime Sports (semester)
A4 - AP psychology (year)

B0 - Health Science (dist. learning) (semester)
B2 - Seminary
B3 - AP Art (year)
B4 - AP English (year, but I might drop it)

2nd semester

A1 - Seminary
A2 - Right now it says I have multimedia, but I'm supposed to transfer out halfway through the year and sign up for some distance learning class that I forgot what it is.
A3 - Absolutely nothing, but the counselors seem to think I have to TA or somethings. we'll see if I can keep it blank.
A4 - AP Psychology still

B1 - Released
B2 - Humanities (Dist. learning) (semester)
B3 - AP Art Still
B4 - AP English still, but I still might transfer out
A5+B5- Philosophy 2050 (dist. learning) (semester)

radio.blog troubles...

did I already talk about this? eh, it don't matter.

Anyway, for a while now I've been trying to figure out how to embed music in my blog with a program called radio.blog, so that A: I can share my superior music preference with all you people who still seem to think that classic rock is cool and B: to create that awkwardness when you get into a web page not knowing that your speakers are on and suddenly (good) music comes blasting from your computer and everybody looks at you all funny... you know.... please tell me that hasn't only happened to me.... *shifty eyes* Well, anyway, my point is that I haven't been able to do this yet, because the people who write these things can't seem to speak english. Well, they do speak english, but it's like, english with a bunch of Jargon mixed in with it. stuff like "...embed the RBS into index.php and be sure to do this with an FTP, or else it won't work right, and also make sure you understand XML format and your webpage supports RBS, XML, and SWF... and if you don't get any of that then you're a stupid n00b."

So why on earth do they subject me to this kind of treatment? do they want people to go insane just trying to get music on their blog? The only reason I can see is job security. If they start using real words, normal people might actually understand the inner working of the internet, and these jerks will become cheap, often unemployed, blue collar labor. They're still jerks.

by a-the-by: this would explain the weird little box underneath my user profile that says "the page does not exist" or whatever it says now.

"I wanna girl with a short skirt and a looooong jacket"

Well, since I just added a keane music video in a very prominent place on my blog, I thought it would be appropriate to analyze this cake song.

What is it that makes this song so catchy? It's got hardly any melody, and it doesn't really have much of a point either, except to say what kind of girl this guy wants. The main thing that makes this song so good though is the descriptions it uses. Instead of using vague descriptions about the ocean and the sky and all that, which most people can't relate to at all, it uses much more modern similes, like "a voice that is dark like tinted glass" and "eyes that burn like cigarettes", which almost everybody can relate to. That's probably the only reason that I really like it, but if you haven't heard it yet, it's highly recommended.

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what's best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes

I want a girl with the right allocations
Who's fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She's playing with her jewelry
She's putting up her hair
She's touring the facility
And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket......

I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who used a machette to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass

She is fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She's touring the facility
And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnnng.... lonnng jacket

I want a girl with a smooth liquidation
I want a girl with good dividends
And at the city bank we will meet accidentally
We'll start to talk when she borrows my pen

She wants a car with a cupholder arm rest
She wants a car that will get her there
She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen
She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler La Baron

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnnggggggggg jacket

wii!!!!!!

Just a while ago, nintendo announced the official name for their new game consel- the nintendo wii. This is not the first of the next generation gaming systems to be announced, but it's definitely the coolest.

The most obvious reason for this is the new controller design- innovatively motion sensitive to make people get a little more exercise while playing nintendo. This new controller can be aimed at the screen like a gun for shooting games, swung like a sword, bat, or golf club, or tilted to turn in racing games, like many of us do anyway, except now it will actually do something.

Another reason that the wii is so cool is that, like the xbox or playstation, it has online playing capabilities, but unlike the xbox or playstation, online play is completely free. no further explanation necessary.

These aren't the only cool things about the new nintendo. It also has an online archive of NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 games to be downloaded to it, and has the capability to play gamecube games, a feature which costs about 200 dollars extra on the xbox 360. One more great thing about the wii is it's design. It's obviously taken it's cues from apple, going with a very simple, white, aesthetically pleasing design. Smart move.

Overall, While the wii does have a strange name, it's definitely got a step up on the competition. yup. nintendo's still got it.

AP tests

Well I finally finished my 6 ap tests on wednesday, and since I know somebody will ask, here's the list again: AP Calculus, AP US History, AP Art, AP Unites States Government and Politics, AP Comparative Government and Politics, and AP Environmental Science. So after taking all those tests, a couple of my grades have dropped below C- level, and I've missed all of my A day classes for about two weeks. and some B day classes. Why do I put myself through this? maybe it's because of the college credit, maybe it's the joy of being the only one to run out of AP labels, or maybe it's just bragging rights (erm... no) but whatever it is, I'm tired of thinking, so in conclusion, it's a bad idea to take more than like... 3... tests. I guess...

I could have put a stupid pun here, but I decided not to.

So a while back I was eating a taco salad, and put iceberg lettuce on it, you know, from the "salad mix" bag, but for some reason, some jerk decided to put not only lettuce in the bag but also little bits of purple cabbage and, get this, carrots! Now I don't know about the rest of you, but who wants carrots in their taco salad? I mean, I guess I can see some reason for having those things in a salad: they add color, nutritional value, you know, those types of things, but lets be honest, who actually uses those bags of lettuce for plain old salad? I've used them for sandwiches, tacos and taco salads, but I've just about never used it for salad. Those little bits of carrots can be really annoying on other things, especially sandwiches. I always try to avoid the little bits while the other people waiting for the bag get increasingly angry, but no matter how hard you try, they always manage to sneak along with the lettuce somehow. Even if you do carefully inspect every piece of lettuce to make sure there's no carrots on it, the taste of it still sticks to your lettuce, making it taste all gross. Eventually somebody's gotta think "Hey, I've got a great idea, you know these annoying little bits of carrot and cabbage in this lettuce we sell? What if we just left them out! plain lettuce! in a bag!" the guy would probably be a billionaire before dessert, but do they do that? nope. my analysis: people who sell lettuce are jerks.

A very legitimate fear

There has been a serious overlooking in United States safety regulations, which has begun to concern me of late, especially with allergy season firing up. While it's true that there have probably been very few cases of anybody getting whiplash from sneezing (fig. A.), What if, while covering one's mouth with duct tape, flexi straws stuffed up one's nose, and being in very close proximity with and facing a wall, Somebody happens to sneeze? (fig. B.)

---Fig. A ----------Fig. B---

It has been reported that sneezes come out of the body at approximately 150 km/hour, which is more than fast enough, if focused right, to cause whiplash. This is dangerous because there are a myriad of conditions under which an individual could be placed in jeopardy by this whiplash causing sneeze situation.

As we all know, duct tape is often used as a means of keeping somebody quiet. This can be accomplished simply by placing a strip of duct tape over the noisy subject's mouth. Often, small children or infants can be annoyingly and frequently loud, so logically, many parents find the solution of slapping a friendly piece of duct tape over the child's mouth a perfect solution. Of course, this loudness often coincides with bad behaviour, for which a traditional punishment is to be made to sit in a corner. Children are also known to be very impulsive, and, as I'm sure we've all realized, one of the first things that comes to mind when presented with flexi-straws is to shove them up your nose. If, while quieted and placed in a corner, the child happens to find a package of flexi-straws laying about, they will inevitably find their way into the child's nostrils. Under these conditions, what happens when the child sneezes? The inevitable result, I'm afraid, is whiplash, and at this young age, it could be damaging for life.

In this nuclear age of history, there are many mutations which may occur among humans. In accordance with this misfortune, 24% of eastereckajavekians are, sadly, born with no mouth. This mutation greatly increases the chance of this mishap only for their race, and as eastereckajavekians are very attractive, this genetic trait could very quickly be spread around the globe, nearly triple the chances of such a sad calamity occuring by only 2020.

These are only a few of the many many ways that sneezing could cause whiplash to any unsuspecting victim, and I ask you, Are we going to put up with this risk in this free country? no! It is imperative that the U.S. Government place a warning label on all drinking straws, to prevent this imminent risk! If you have read this, please write to your congressman requesting that measures be taken to stop the tragedies occuring because of this neglect. thank you for your time.

hey wait a minute, You guys are Zombies!!! AAAAAH!!!

Well, there's a couple of different things I could write about that I did this weekend, but you all get to hear about another cartoon instead. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is about two kids who win the eternal friendship of the grim reaper by beating him in a game of limbo. (judging by the picture, I bet you can't guess why) This show might sound like a goth show, but it's actually really really funny.

This show is funny for a few reasons. First, it's really really stupid, which always makes a show funnier. It also parodies many other shows, movies, books, etc. and the characters are hilarious.

Parodies in billy and mandy run from harry potter (nigel planter) to the power puff girls, but it doesn't only rely on parodies for it's content. It's also got all kinds of great content of it's own in every episode.

The Characters in this show are great. Mandy is evil and never smiles, Grim, for all his association of death, really seems to just be a nice guy, and billy's happily oblivious to pretty much everything.

Overall, this show is just really funny. go watch it right now.

keane

As the title of my blog suggests, I really like keane. why is this? not only because they rock. well, yes it is, but, since I feel this strange obligation to describe it in more detail, here we go:

First off, Keane is a British band, and, as I'm sure we all know, any band from the UK is bound to be good. As an example, we'll just look at a few UK bands. The Beatles, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, that one guy who sings that one song that's on the top of those one charts, I think his name's James Blunt. And of course, Keane. While this last one is obviously the best, the other ones on that list are all good too.

Second, keane is a unique type of band, as in "no-guitar", instead they have a keyboard, drums, and vocals. They're also very talented, obviously having the ability and drive to write incredible lyrics, and that guy can sing. Don't believe me? Go listen to it yourself right here. I think a couple of those don't work though. Well, I think that pretty much sums it up with the example there. Keane rocks.

what's 2+7?

Well, this weekend I've had to write a ten page paper about my personal family history as it relates to the history of the United States. Until this experience, I was under the impression that writing ten pages about one topic was incredibly difficult. It's a good feeling to prove yourself right every once in a while.

There's several reasons why this was a hard assignment. First and foremost, it was ten pages, which, in case anybody has any false impressions about the length of ten pages, is not short. Second, it required research into family history, U.S. history, AND writing skills. and third, I am wiped out. Ten pages is a long way. Thank you for your time.

Chicks dig giant robots.

Megas XLR. Best. Show. Ever. Well, I should explain a little bit about this show. It's about this guy named Coop who somehow manages to buy a robot from the future from a junkyard for 2 bucks. After doing some touchups, like replacing the missing head with a 1972 Plymouth Barracuda and... well... touching it up all around, he goes around with his loser friend jamie, and kiva, who's from the future, in his giant robot and beats up a bunch of bad guys. mostly some aliens bent on taking over the earth, called the glorft.


So why is this show so cool? It's hilarious, it's full of cultural references, parodies, subtle humor, and satire.

It's Hilarious. Plain and simple. I mean, just look at the theme song!

Living here in Jersey

Fighting villains from afar

You gotta find first gear

In your giant robot car

You dig giant robots

I dig giant robots

We dig giant robots

Chicks dig giant robots

Nice!

No explanation needed.
Also, In every episode they blow up the entirety of jersey city, and yet, come next episode, it's always back again.

It's chock full of cultural references. In every episode they blow up some sort of POPTV (spoof of MTV) billboard, sign, building, blimp, pretty much anything. After a little background research, I found out that this is because MTV cancelled the first show that these same people made. This is their way of venting their anger. nice. They also make fun of everything from the DMV to Slurpees to fake cheese nachos.

It has lots of parodies too. The very concept of the show is a huge parody of giant robot cartoons, and they steal lots of the exact moves from gundam and the such. They even Parody Strong Bad in one episode, using the signature "Double Deuce". One of the best examples of parodies in this cartoon is the episode "ultra chicks" where the whole thing is one big jab at sailor moon. I can tell that and I've never even watched sailor moon! There's also a couple of episodes making fun of power rangers, which I can relate to. hehe, first grade, power rangers, good times.

The show is also just full of subtle humour. There's always little signs in the background which say funny little things, and whenever you see coop reaching down to press one of the seemingly limitless buttons on the control panel, there's a new convenient label on some button or meter that quickly flashes past. some of these are as follows:

Missles

More Missles

'ALL the Missles!

The button you should have pushed five minutes ago.

Five minutes till the end of the show.

Big Red Button of Irony

The Same Button He Just Barely Pressed

Bet You Can't Guess What This Button Does

Hurt the Good Guys- I mean, Don't Hurt the Good Guys

Heater:

Warm - Hot - DANG!

In conclusion. Megas is the best show ever created, and you should go watch it, and write hundreds of angry letters to cartoon network telling them to put it back on the air. right now.

<- And that's coop.

opinionable.

So what is it that causes some of us to have really strong opinions about some things, and others to not care at all? Or to care very strongly about certain things and not give a second thought to other things? I bring this up not out of desperation for something to write about for once, but because I seem to be that last type. I find that sometimes I'll care deeply about something completely stupid and irrelevant, like, say, the color of an ipod, and I couldn't care less whether or not there was a giant earthquake about to- in the words of billy- "destroy us all!"

For example, I care deeply about whether or not somebody likes Megas XLR (chicks dig giant robots!), devotedly about the type of computer they prefer, and may just kill them depending on their views on Intelligent Design. At the same time though, I find myself not noticing things like global warming, yawning when people talk about gas prices, and retreating into my own little world as soon as someone mentions Lost.

So why is this? It's mostly driven by straight pure wonderful selfishness. Megas XLR is the greatest show in the world. I like it, so should all of you! Macs are the best computers ever, and windows is only still around because the general populous follow the crowd like sheep.
And if I ever hear anyone I know say that Intelligent design should be taught in schools, I really might just kill you. Personally, I believe in almost all of evolution, maybe not exactly how it's taught, but most of the basics you just can't argue with. The people who seem to be so intent on pushing this "intelligent design" issue so far are morons who still live with their moms and need to get a life. or two.

Those last three issues though? They don't apply to me, so I couldn't care less! global warming sure isn't affecting me, leave it alone! I don't pay for my own gas, so why should I care? and lost? well, does it matter?

Basically I guess everybody has strong views about some things that I don't care about, and may not care whether or not they took my favorite show off of cartoon network.

Another one of my strong views is that everybody should have the same opinions as me.

Haiku

well, I was going to write a haiku, but it just didn't work out that way. I mean, I'm all set to write a japanese poem, but then I think, "wait, I don't know HOW to write a haiku!" and of course I'm too lazy to open a new internet window and find out. I find that happens a lot, I get myself already to do something, and get all excited about it- only to find that I'm actually much too lazy to do it. why does this happen?

And while I'm answering this question, why do I always have to ask why in these blogs? it can only be found that my english teacher requires that we cannot make a simple statement, but have to analyse the statement- cut it into little pieces until the once beautiful, innocent thought, flying free in the wind, is cut into much smaller pieces and lays in helpless tatters on the ground, fluttering around blown by every gust that slashes across its remains.

A thought free, aloft
Shattered on the ground hopes- lost
thinks of wasted thought

Seems I lost my train of thought on that one, but- I'm too lazy to find it again.

BYUMUN and power beans

well, yesterday I went to BYUMUN (that's BYU MUN, for those of you who don't speak stupid acronym) and did nothing all day but laugh. yeah, it rocked.

so I guess you might wonder about my sanity. ha, as though you didn't already. but it was very interesting how this all worked out. during our lunch break, me doug and zac got a whole pizza each, hehe, and after eating them, we went to the byu bookstore to buy candy. While buying the bulk skittles and mike & ike combination, we noticed little bags of something called sport beans, (which we somehow ended up calling power beans, I don't know why), and they were only 79 cents so me and doug each bought a pack. After that we went and bought powerade and, now being 15 minutes late for committee, "hurried" back. well, it all went either up or downhill from there, depending on your perspective, if you were me doug or zac, it was about the funniest thing that ever happened, but if you were, say, katrina stoddard, you might have more of a "You didn't get more power beans did you?" or "NO more beans for you!" kind of attitude. hahaha. well, needless to say, we laughed for an hour and a half straight, about pretty much anything that happened.

So why did these little jelly beans make us so hyper? well, the jelly belly company might make up something about containing special elecrolytes and such, but the ingredients went something along the lines of "contains: sugar, and less than 2% of the following..." hahaha. So mostly I think it was more the fact that we wanted to be hyper. Our committee was boring like all get out, and it was the only way out! so, walking out of byumun, I'm sure everybody else in the room was ready to slap some straight jackets on us and lock us in a padded room. but we had fun.

mutual hate

After reading the title, probably everybody I know thinks this blog just might be about themselves. well get over yourselves, cause it's not. So what is it about? well, see if you can figure it out.

A few days ago I was driving to a certain friend's house, who for some reason lives ridiculously far away. While I didn't get lost this time, I did get stuck at every single light on state street on the way there. This wouldn't seem that odd until you take into account that I know perfectly well how often the lights on statestreet turn red from when you try to cross it on another street: precisely never. So what would cause the planets to align in such a way that I would get stuck at every one of the five lights I went through, all in a row, on a street that the lights are green for ten minutes straight, and only stay red for approx. five seconds? who knows?

well, I have my theories: traffic hates me, other cars hate me, some guy who switches the lights sees my car coming and it looks the same as his mother-in-law's, I send off a negative karma to lights that makes them hate me. The list goes on and on.
All I can say is that I increasingly have this feeling that someone or something is out to get me.

hm, well now I really don't know what the title of this blog meant, so if anybody can tell, I'd be happy for the help.

they said it couldn't be done.

well, my ipod nano now officially plays more little arcade games, doom 1, and videos. and maybe gameboy games too, I'm not so sure about that one. well, you might wonder how I got my ipod to do all this great stuff, unless of course I already told you, but we'll ignore that for now. By installing a hack/alternate operating system called ipod linux, you can put all these cool things and more on your ipod, pretty much turning it into a little computer. so why would you want to do this?

one reason is that it makes my ipod a lot more fun, if I feel like it, I can play doom on my ipod, or watch little movies (which are actually really good quality for such a tiny screen), or I can always switch back to the regular old ipod interface, which, being made by mac, is pretty much perfect, and listen to music.

A really good reason not to install this operating system though, is that it's really hard to install, It took me about two hours and a lot of hesitance to do it. So if you're lazy, or don't understand computers very much, you might end up breaking your ipod. which probably isn't the best thing to do to it in most cases.

Overall though, I think this is an improvement, because, as I'm sure some old greek philosopher might have said if he had thought of it or known what it meant, "two operating systems are better than one!"

alien hominid

well, I think I'll just join the club here with doug and eric and write a blog about alien hominid. hehehe.

well, alien hominid is this game, see, well, probably not, I've hardly even played the real game, because we went and played a minigame that was kind of an extra (for about four hours straight...) The minigame is four player, and it's kind of a cross between N and loderunner, and if you don't know what either of those are, go tell someone who cares. well, this game was fun for a lot of reasons, it was a fun idea, you can work together or kill each other (hehe), and it's darn addicting.

The basic idea of this game is that you have to jump on all the bad guys, and then make your way to the exit without dying. This concept is simple, but the levels can get pretty complicated with things like breaking blocks, traps, boats and boulders you can move around. Add to this the strange and impulsive drive to spontaneously betray your teammates (ask danny and doug about a certain level with boats and boulders on top of breaking blocks, hehehe), and one heck of a catchy background song, and you've got yourself a pretty fun game.

well basically, I think I'm just a sucker for stick-figure games and a catchy theme song, but this minigame is really fun, and if the minigame is this fun, maybe we should go and try playing the actual game sometime!

overcomplicated!

WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

-Walt Whitman

I really like this poem, or prose, whatever you call it, because it really makes a statement of how we always make everything too specific or complicated. It seems like we always have to ask questions (or, in the case of students, answer them) and come up with long complicated explanations of everything. can we not just accept things how they are? I would go into further detail about this and really analyze it, but that seems to defeat my purpose.

why yes, this IS a larger font than the one below.

well, once again, I sit here trying to think of something good to write about. hm. I think I'll write about... um... the... uh... relevance of... midieval- er- testing... techniq- nevermind, I'll analyze Dance Dance Revolution.

so, there's this game, it's called dance dance revolution, or ddr, as us nerdy types like to call it. the basic concept of this game is pretty simple, but not simple enough to explain in this blog, so we'll just say you play with your feet on a dance pad instead of on a controller with your fingers. if you can't figure it out past that, then you'll just have to deal with it, or ask somebody who's more prone to explaining this type of thing.

Well, DDR is a good game for a lot of reasons. It's really fun, it's got catchy music, and you get exercise from playing it. It's fun because, well, who knows why, but it just is. It seems like a kind of dumb idea, you just press the arrows with you're feet as they come up on the screen, but for some reason it's insanely entertaining, or maybe addicting is a better word, but either way, I like it. It has really catchy music, and a lot of different varieties of it too, so if you feel like dancing to nintendo music then you can do that, or if you want to listen to Japanese pop music then it's got lots of that too. Another thing you get out of playing this game is the exercise. You can only play this game for about ten minutes before you have to sit down and stare at the ceiling in a coma for a while. Well, maybe you could see this as a bad thing, why let your legs get all the exercise and end up with weak fingers? well, if you seem to have that idea stuck in your head for some unfathomable reason, get over it.

well, it was worth a shot.

hm, well, I don't know why I wrote that title, because I can't think of anything that's happened recently to go with it, or anything else connected with it. so if you're trying to figure out why my blog has nothing to do with the title, (or why it does, I don't know yet) then please stop, I don't appreciate you poking into the outer reaches of my brain that I don't understand, I mean, it would hardly be fair if you understood why I wrote that and I didn't, now would it? hm, and now I don't understand that whole paragraph, sooooo.... starting over.

anyway, this is pretty much late because I was in mexico without internet access when it was due, so I'll pretend that I'm writing it from there, and I'll analyze why mexico is a better place to spend christmas break than here, in utah.

well, here I am, in mexico. kinda. well, like I said in paragraph 2... you know, pretending.... just pay attention will you? so, in mexico. me. here. So why is mexico better than the U.S. for christmas? well, there's probably like a billion reasons I could list, but I'll just select a few key ones.

First and best, the climate. mazatlan mexico, located approx. 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the tropic of cancer, is about 76 to 80 degrees fahrenheit during the winter, which, believe me, is awfully nice. You don't have to wear a coat, jacket, or even a long sleeve shirt, (heck, you don't have to wear ANY shirt if you're a redneck) and you'll still be plenty warm. also, it almost never rains, and there's very little wind, making for perfect beach weather, which brings me to my second point, the beach.

While you guys are up in utah scraping the frost off your windshields, It's pretty likely that I'm down here on the beach, which is a lot nicer than those junky crowded california ones, or boogie boarding in the ocean, which is a lot warmer than those junky crowded california ones, and a WHOLE lot warmer than snow. This is nice, mostly, because it's really fun, but also because I'm NOT in utah scraping the frost off my windshield.

Another good thing about mexico is the food, they have really good tacos, churros, and fresh fruit juices, that are all dirt cheap. oh, and no health standards to get in the way of the goodness thereof. ironically, the only place anybody has ever gotten sick from eating there was the mcdonalds.

well, that pretty much sums up the big reasons why christmas break in mexico is better than in utah, so... begone! or, however I get rid of you guys.