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My blog has moved. Go to my new blog if you want.

Addresses

Here are my addresses.

MTC:

Elder Calvin Moisés Juárez
England London South Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

London:

Elder Calvin Moisés Juárez
England London South Mission
The London Temple
West Park Road
Newchapel, Surrey
England RH7 6NB

I'll also keep them in the sidebar over there   »›»›»›»

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.

New Management

As of right now, Both Olivia and Josie have been invited to this blog. Hopefully, one of them will have time to type in my letters home when I write.

Also, I'll post my MTC address sometime soon.

Best. Robot. Ever.

I want one of these:

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".

Halloween

You (dear reader) should be this for Halloween:

Threadless Possibility

If you are a Threadless user, help me out. Go here! Thanks!

Update:  Thanks.  I'll do more in a couple years maybe.  Also, the links are broken.

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.

Pronunciation Guide

I recently realized that I have been throwing characters like ä, ū, and ə at you without ever explaining what I mean by them. So that's what this is.

Character	Examples
ă	apple
ā	ate
ä	all*
ĕ	egg
ē	even
ə	about, taken, pencil, eloquent, supply, sibyl
ĭ	igloo
ī	item
ō	omen
ŏ	on*
ö	foot
ŭ	undo
ū	zoom, dune
ch	chore
dh	there
kh	Juárez, lechaim†
ŋ	hung
sh	shirt
th	thin

*/ä/ sounds almost the same as /ŏ/, but I'm going to keep them both.
†I'm considering representing the /kh/ sound as /x/ instead. Which is less confusing?

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.)

Mostly for Olivia : My Haircut

When I got my haircut, I took some before-and-after-ish pictures, which you (Olivia) mentioned that you wanted to see.  Here are the good matches:

The Fourth

I'm supposed to post "the fourth photo of my fourth album". I'm not sure exactly what that means, so I'll just pick some.

This is the fourth photo from my phone.  It's from somewhere in the Wilk up at BYU, I think.

This is the fourth picture on my iPod.  I believe my dad took this with his phone.  I'm thinking that it was perhaps at a cub scout olympics, or something like that, although I'm not quite certain.

This one probably qualifies best. This is technically the fifth photo from the fourth folder of pictures from my digital camera, but, because it is almost identical to the fourth, and since the fourth was not a very good picture, I chose to post this one instead.

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.

I am Assigned to Labor in …

the England London South Mission.

I will prepare to preach the gospel in the Mandarin language.

By the way, I report to the MTC on April the 15.

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.)

On Sean's Letter of December the Twenty-fifth

Sean wrote me a letter right after he and we (his immediate family here at home) hung up from* the Christmas call.  It's a short letter, but it's my favorite he's sent home.  He's changed a ton since he left; Even just since last Christmas.

It's a particularly good letter, I believe, specifically because of the decidedly greater interest he seems to have in how and what I'm doing than he previously had.

I think, perhaps, it's time I wrote him a similarly interested note.  By the power vested in my by ... the fact that I'm me, my two thousands plus nine New Year resolution is hereby the following:  "Write letters (comme epistle, not glyph)".

*What preposition do I use!?

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!