2 Weeks

Yesterday was the 2-week-preversary of the MTC for me. "I'll be outta here in 14 days," I kept thinking to myself. Well, actually, I was thinking "fortnight", but I digress. There's so much I wanted to do, but I know I'll forget most of it, or else be too Spirit-minded to really enjoy a lot of it. I wanted to start a band, go longboarding, catch a concert, commit "Nothing Better" by the Postal Service to memory, and finish the world tour on Rock Band.

Some things I think may have been good for me are:
1. A real date (number 5, it would be, for those of you keeping track at home). I'm not into dating 'cause I'm scared; not entirely of being rejected, more of her accepting and then my having to actually go through with it. I'mso terrible when it comes to people.
2. Shaved more (current count is 7, I think), although I haven't had to, which rocks!
3. A kiss. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my VL status, I just wonder what all the hype is about.

As I look back on the month since I got my call, I notice I've become much more family-concious. I find that the more closely I follow the commandments of the Lord, the more aware I am of my siblings. I have been trying not to forget about my siblings. I try to spend time with each and all of them; I don't want to leave thinking what I did when Sean left, "I missed it."

Sibs and padres, I love you guys.

Things that are Green

Grass
Some molds
The ooze that turned four turtles into teenagers, mutants, and ninjas
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Pistachio pudding
Really old vanilla pudding
Maya's favorite color
Some mosses
My old favorite color
Trees
The A button on XBox controllers
My Command-Z shirt
Olivia's favorite color
The original Odwalla (arguably)
Avocados, on the inside
Watermelons, on the outside
Some grapes
Oscar the Grouch
The green monster of envy
Other green monsters (if you know what I mean)
Limes
One side of most of Mr. Rubik's famous cubes
The A button on Gamecube controllers
Josie*
My favorite socks
The color between yellow and blue on a color wheel
One of three colors of light
Me, in a couple months
Every missionary, at some point
Peas

*Feel better soon! That's a "norder".

Whom!

It's a bummer that when I learn a rule, I can't let it go.  One example is the usage of whom.  For a long time, I had no idea when I was s'posed to use it, and when who would be more appropriate. Then I learned about noun declension in German and Latin, and badabing!; since then I've corrected every who/whom mistake I have seen; sometimes in my head, sometimes out of it, always with a pang of embarrassment that I can't let go.

By the way, if you ever have a question as to which you should use, just ask yourself: "Is who/whom referring to the subject of the sentence?" If so, use who; otherwise, use whom.

I don't know where whom /hūm/ came from. I know that in German, the Dative form of wer (which means "who") is wem (which means "to whom"). Wikipedia will tell you more, I'm sure.

Today is Cool

Hey, guess what. Today is Monday 23!

What?, you don't get it.

Well, then, here's it —--—›


Also:

I've not done a Word of the Day for a lot of days. Enclosed, please find one.

The word today is revolution /rĕ,və·lū'shən/. It's three parts: re- + volu + -tion. re- = again (and has since Latin); volu <= volvere = latin for "to roll"; -tion = a suffix that makes a noun from a verb.

Interestingly, the verb with which revolution is related is revolve. This is interesting because of the U›V transformation. I think this probably is a result of certain things the Romans did. Many old Roman texts are written in ALL CAPS. ADDITIONALLY, THEY WOULDN'T ADDANYSPACESANDVERYLITTLEPUNCTUATION·IFTHEYGOTTOTHEENDOFTHELINETHEYDJUSTKEEPGOINGONTHENEXTONE. Look here. Anyway, here's the important bit: Because they wrote with a chisel or stylus (stylus is Latin for "A special-shaped stick used for writing"), the letters were often rather rectilinear. The Us, consequently, would all look like Vs.

Also, the Romans never really had J until late-later. Like, the first emperor probably wrote IULIUSCEASAR on his homework as a kid.

MAYBEITWASIVSTATYPOGRAPHICREVOLVTION.

Happy Birthday!!

There are a few special people whom I think deserve mention today:




It's Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin!

Both are 200 years old today!! (They were born 12 February 1809; They could have been, like, buds!, y'know?  But they had different jobs to do, I guess.)

To these two guys—and to anyone else out there who is celebrating her or his birth today—

Happy Birthday!!!

(Hmm, ... because we often use the suspension point (or elipsis, or "dot dot dot" or ...) as a pause in speech, I think we should show a pause for dramatic effect with !!!.)

(I guess we should have told you earlier !!! you're adopted.)

Reactions

Thoughts on my assignment, since opening my call:

Will I speak Chinese with a British accent?, or will I still sound decidedly American by the time I get home? And what about English?, y'know? Will I get to learn more German? Spanish? French?

Will Travis be able to teach me anything before I go?

Will my debit card work?

I'll be driving on the left side of the road, and the right side of the car. What if my left hand isn't up the the challenge? Like, shifting, and all. All it's ever had to do is power windows and power locks! I'm nervous for that. And for not auto-piloting to the right of the road.

Hey

I really like vinyl records.

Apparently, I'm not alone.  Who's with me?

A Post from Notebooke, my Notebook

Click to open a HUGE version (Achtung!: It could take some time to load.)

Observations : A List in No Particular Order

These are some things about myself that I've recently noticed and have found interesting.

• Of the 3 major crushes I've had since seventh grade, all 3 are vegetarians.
• I find it difficult to stay awake between 5 and 8 pm.  I find it difficult to stay asleep between 8 and 11 pm.
• I do not like to capitalize or full-stop the post- or ante-meridian abbreviations (in other words, I don't do PM or p.m., as is technically correct—rather, I prefer pm).
• Strict-ish-ly structured music with a clear bass (like Cake) is oddly lulling.  Bombastic classical is like ... well, like strong novocaine, I guess.  Especially between 5 and 8 pm.
• I tend to prefer numbered lists.  This one's not a great example.
• I'm a sucker for grammar/usage.  I will listen to any musician who uses "whom" properly.  Aimee Mann won me over with her proper use of "agendum".
• I like glasses.  I wish I had some.
• When I pick a new favorite word, I tend to use it far, far too frequently.  "Lame" is my new favorite word.
• I use the exclamation point to emphasize a clause or phrase, but not necessarily to end the sentence of which that clause or phrase is a part.  I don't mind writing something like, "Wow!, dude, are you serious!?".  On a related note, I almost always place the exclamation point before the question mark if both are necessary to communicate the thought.  This is because the shape of {!?} is better looking, I believe, than that of {?!}.
• Holiday Special!:  I like to do a casual week of Christmas, rather than one morning.  That way, the gift itself can be a surprise, but so can when you get it!

A Joke I Made to Myself

So, about a year ago, at BYU, the following poster on display somewhere in the Carl F. Eyring Science Center:

My immediate thought was, But not with zombies!

Take vs. Have

It's interesting, I think, that there are some things that we have by default, other things we have to take, and a few things can go either way.

For instance,

Patience is a good example of something we start out having.  It's like in video games, you have a life meter; as things happen that are irksome or frustrating, the patience level decreases, until you don't have any.

Naps, however, are things we must take in order to have them.  We start with no nap, then we take it and we have it after that.  Or had it, I guess.

The most intriguing part is what this shows about how we think about different things.  Those in the Have category are modified or altered passively.  By that I mean, we tend to outsource the responsibility of those things.  In the case of patience, we don't generally decide when something happens, "Oh, wow, that was rather frustrating; I think my patience just lost 10 points."  No, instead, we lose our patience.  In the Take category, on the other hand, we tend to assume that we aren't going to get it any other way.  If we don't take it, we'll never have it.  This is often true, although it is somewhat pessimistic.

This raises the question of time.  Where does it fit?  There is an unlimited supply, but we only have so much warehouse space (our warehouses being plans, goals, hopes, and dreams), so it's a finite quantity for each individual, y'know?  For most of us, I think it's generally a Have commodity.  I don't believe it should be, though, because what we do is our choice.  We need to take time to do things, because it will most likely not fall in our laps.

The word of the day today is intriguing /ĭn·trēg'·ĭŋ/.  I like it because it has three Is (responsibility does, too, and the echo of the B's vertical line in the L is pretty cool, but intriguing is both more useful and more fun).  It's intrigu- + -ing: intrigu- <= intricare = Latin for "to entangle" (also the root of intricate); -ing = the gerund indicator.

Wow, this post got a ton longer than I had expected it to be.

What? and Website.

What is up with "Santa"?  Since when has "St." been a first name?  I mean, it'd be like saying that my older brother's name is now Elder Rez!  We've gotta do something about this.  I say we call him The Santa from now on.

Also, Olivia has an assignment for school.  Well, actually, she has a few, but I digress.

She has one assignment that is very important—as far as this post is concerned—and you'll see why.  She is supposed to make a website and put it online.  She's made the site in her head, but because she has a ton else on her academic/professional plate, she hasn't had much time to actualize her vision.

And that's where I come in.  I absolutely love web coding.  I love that you can save a bunch of letters and numbers and symbols, open the file in a web browser, and see something TOTALLY DIFFERENT*! (and more meaningful, no less).  And the best part about this situation is that I don't even have to worry about designing the thing (something at which I've never really been all that great).  I love learning CSS and HTML;  It's fun.

Well, I gotta get back to work.

*Yes, the capital letters do indeed indicate that I am shouting.  That's how excited I am about it.

Vegetarianism?

I don't get it.

But that's beside the point.  I posted 'cause I want to know, If you are a vegetarian, what's your reason?

Also, the word today is vegetarian /vĕg·ĭ·tĕr'·ē·ən, vĕg·ĕ·, vĕg·ə·/. Easily enough, it's veget + -arian; veget <= vegetable, -arian = suffix meaning "believer or advocate of something". Interesting tid-bit: Although the word has been in use since the 1830's and probably earlier, the Vegetarian Society claims to have created the word (here) "from the latin 'vegetus' meaning 'lively' (which is how these early vegetarians claimed their diet made them feel) in 1847".

A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. And W. And R? And L!?

Isn't it weird that words like fire and tile are sometimes (by that, I mean "in some dialects") disyllabic? I mean, some people—myself included—pronounce words like those (see "List 1" below) with two syllables.  Let me show you what I mean.  

Many dictionaries show that word fire is pronounced /fīr'/, but that's not how I say it; I usually say /fä'·yǝr/.  I think most people I know say it like that (with 2 syllables, I mean), which leads me to my point and question:  Where is the second syllable?  I had answered, "Perhaps on the E?", but I'd rebutted with, "The E is silent, though."  At this point I didn't—and don't—know where to go.  Given that the F and the I are part of the first syllable (and given that I do not mispronounce words) we are left with two possible explanations:

   1 – The silent E is allowed to take a syllable, even though it's silent.

   2 – The R carries the syllable.

The implications of the latter option?  In the word fire, R is a vowel!  

This whole journey is moot, however, when considering the Rs and Ls of the words in List 2.

 List 1 – Words whose -ile or -ire I pronounce disyllabically.
   fire
   hire
   mile
   pile
   sire
   tile
   tire
   wire

 List 2 – Words whose -ile or -ire I pronounce monosyllabically.
   dire
   file
   gentile
   ire
   mire
   rile
   vile

P.S.  What do you think of the homophones Isle, Aisle, and I'll (all either /īl'/ or /ä'·yǝl/)?