My Spanish literature class is really funny. My teacher is a visiting professor from Buena Vista University in Iowa. All our stories that we have to read are about death or pain or suffering. Isn't that how all literature classes are? It's really very fun though. It combines my need to read good books with homework, I always feel energized after class.
My Spanish phonology class is interesting too. My professor is from England, and learned to speak Spanish in Spain. So when he speaks Spanish, he's hard to understand, and when he speaks English it's almost impossible to understand, mostly because it sounds like it should be a foreign language, but it's not Spanish. Last semester I took a linguistics class from the man who wrote this semester's textbook, so I feel like I've learned it all before. And it's my third class so far that has discussed phonetics and phonology. I feel like I have a very nice head start in the class.
Sociology is not quite what I expected it to be, but I still enjoy it a lot. Our first assignment for the class is to take a small survey and do some statistical analysis afterward. I've never seen most of what I'm supposed to do with the numbers I come up with. Math is the only foreign language that I am afraid to learn. I haven't taken a math class since my junior year of high school, and I never took any statistics. Don't tell anyone, but I'm almost excited to try some math. I got into the class thinking that we would talk about lots of sociological theory at first, but we're diving right into statistics. Oh well.
My religion classes really aren't quite as bad as I made them out to be in my last post. My teachers are both very energetic, and they know a lot about what they teach. I just wonder if the tests will be harder than final judgment. My guess based on past experience is that the tests will be more difficult than any previous religion test. I think that religion professors have contests to see who can fail more students per semester. That's what gets on my nerves mostly. I don't hate religion, and I don't resent having a religious education required at BYU. I just hate how hard the professors have to make it.
That's a rough synopsis of my semester so far. I apologize that I don't have the time to write every detail of just how cool my Spanish classes are. I really wish that everyone I know could experience them the same way I do, but it's just not possible. Maybe someday when everyone has experienced everything, we can discuss it, and it will only take a few words.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
New Semester
This semester I'm taking five classes: Doctrine and Covenants, Living Prophets, Spanish Phonetics and Phonology, Spanish Literature, and Sociology.
My plan is this: If I take two religion classes, one of them will be my least enjoyable class by default. It just has to be. Religion has always been the worst part of my BYU experience. And the other will be tolerable when I compare it with the first. And this way I might enjoy a religion class before I graduate. Good plan?
I think I've already decided which of my two religion classes will be Satan's tool in making me hate Mormonism. (Well, not really.) In my syllabus for Living Prophets, I have an average of 12 conference talks per day to read, in addition to one or two chapters from the text. Not cool. That will take me at least three hours to complete. It takes the general authorities two full sessions of conference to deliver the addresses I have to read. I also have to take notes in my Ensign, and I'm graded on how much I write in the margins. I actually have to turn in my Ensign at the end of the semester.
I have other classes. If I plan on graduating with a degree other than religious education, I will not be able to do all the reading for this class. It's unreasonable. I can't spend all my time reading talks and expect to have time to do my other homework. I know that religion is important, and that it should be a high priority in my life. But seriously, I'm trying to get an education, and BYU keeps getting in the way.
My plan is this: If I take two religion classes, one of them will be my least enjoyable class by default. It just has to be. Religion has always been the worst part of my BYU experience. And the other will be tolerable when I compare it with the first. And this way I might enjoy a religion class before I graduate. Good plan?
I think I've already decided which of my two religion classes will be Satan's tool in making me hate Mormonism. (Well, not really.) In my syllabus for Living Prophets, I have an average of 12 conference talks per day to read, in addition to one or two chapters from the text. Not cool. That will take me at least three hours to complete. It takes the general authorities two full sessions of conference to deliver the addresses I have to read. I also have to take notes in my Ensign, and I'm graded on how much I write in the margins. I actually have to turn in my Ensign at the end of the semester.
I have other classes. If I plan on graduating with a degree other than religious education, I will not be able to do all the reading for this class. It's unreasonable. I can't spend all my time reading talks and expect to have time to do my other homework. I know that religion is important, and that it should be a high priority in my life. But seriously, I'm trying to get an education, and BYU keeps getting in the way.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Bush Scandals You May Have Missed
To the extent that media attention is given to the sins of the Bush administration, it is to the more conspicuous that airtime and newspaper space tends to be devoted, unhappily to the exclusion of other stories of official malfeasance or nonfeasance.
Among the recent examples that deserve more attention than they have gotten:
* A Washington Post story about how Bush political appointees had ordered a Justice Department lawyer to weaken a case against the tobacco industry.
* A New York Times story about how IRS agents are pressed to close corporate tax cases prematurely, "allowing billions in tax dollars to go unpaid."
* An Associated Press article relating that FDA food inspections declined by 47 percent between 2003 and 2006.
* Another Post story about how the FDA is allowing antibiotics to be used in animals, a practice that can ultimately cause the development of human resistance to those drugs. This has already happened to a drug given to poultry that was effective against anthrax and serious forms of diarrhea, but to which humans have developed immunity by eating poultry products.
* A Times story about how the Bush administration has let an industry lobbyist "edit government climate reports to play up uncertainty about a human role in global warming, or play down evidence of such a role."
* Still another Times story describing how the IRS is "asking tax lawyers and accountants who create tax shelters and loopholes to take the lead in writing some of its new tax rules." The article quotes Paul Light, a professor of political science at NYU: "It's the fox designing the henhouse."
Charles Peters is the founding editor of the Washington Monthly and the president of Understanding Government, a nonprofit dedicated to better government through better reporting.
Source Citation: Peters, Charles. "Bush scandals you may have missed.(Tilting at windmills)(President George W. Bush)(Brief article)." Washington Monthly 39.5 (May 2007): 8(2). Academic OneFile. Thomson Gale. Brigham Young University - Utah. 8 Aug. 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
U.S.-Mexico Relations
Copyright Superintendent of Documents Sep 10, 2001
--I'm pretty sure that this is not the most promising moment in history. President Bush made these statements the week before September 11, 2001. Maybe we used to have good relations with Mexico, but in the last 8 years things have gotten out of hand. More people in America are more outspoken about their fears and prejudices against Latinos than they ever have been before. People are jumping on the criticism bandwagon and accusing immigrants of destroying our economy and driving down our wages. But Latinos are discriminated against more than anyone else in our society, including legal immigrants. America has always been a racist place, and now that we've finally gotten over most of our problems with black inequality, we have shifted our hate to Hispanics. Why? Because they are an easy target. Anti-immigrationists always say that immigrants need to learn English before they can be here. And meanwhile, they verbally assault Spanish speakers because they can't retaliate for themselves. And if any of them tries to speak up too loudly in protest of anti-immigration rhetoric, they will live in fear of deportation or even threats on their lives or property. And after all, they didn't earn any civil rights back in the 60's. So why not pick on them? It's easy, and more importantly, no American can defend Hispanic immigrants either without looking like some kind of anti-American, or a terrorist sympathizer who wants to open all the borders. So obviously, no politician who cares about his career is going to have any sympathy for Hispanics, because it just isn't the popular thing to do. If you want to win votes you promise people what they want to hear, even if the masses are wrong. That's why we keep hearing politicians from all parties echoing the hateful cries to abolish Spanish and to throw the children of illegal immigrants out of public schools. America is not hospitable to immigrants from anywhere unless they act like us and dress like us and talk like us. Americans are afraid of other cultures. We are a nation of tourists. We are interested in new people or traditions for about a week before we feel like our own customs are clearly superior, and then we feel threatened and return home. The Hispanics have had their week, and now American sentiment is turning hateful, and sometimes violent. It's wrong. Hispanics living in America need respect, regardless of legal immigration status. They earned human rights when they were born. We don't have to pay for their entire lives here, but too many Americans talk about using the army or other violent means to deport millions of immigrants once and for all. They might be joking, but if enough people talk about it, they might just convince themselves that it's the right thing to do. We don't have to talk about destroying people just to "preserve sovereignty." That seems to be a powerful phrase now in the movement against immigration. We "sacrifice sovereignty" every time someone new enters our country. It just isn't all true. We sent soldiers to the middle east under the pretext of giving people a better life. Conservatives still support that cause, and yet they are the loudest in the struggle to make their racist voices heard above the rest. Why can't we support that same cause within our own borders? Iraqis aren't American citizens either, but we are paying the ultimate price for their happiness aren't we? Why can't we support the same cause inside our borders? The problem is fear. Americans can't stand living with or near people that they can't understand. Americans are bad neighbors, that's all it is. Grow up, America.
September 6, 2001
The three-day State Visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox to the United States celebrates the special friendship and authentic partnership that has been achieved by new leadership in the United States and Mexico.
This first State Visit of the Bush Administration highlights the mutual trust and respect between our two Presidents and governments. It also testifies to the unequaled priority both Presidents attach to a practical and cooperative approach to the common opportunities and challenges we face as the well-being and prosperity of our peoples becomes increasingly intertwined in our shared North American community. This results-- oriented approach, and the commitment to shared responsibility and partnership undergirding it, are already generating unprecedented levels of cooperation throughout our rich and diverse relationship.
With trade and investment between the United States and Mexico at record levels, the Presidents took stock of the success of NAFTA in bringing economic growth and development, and with it higher wages, more jobs, and lower prices for our citizens. They stressed the need to abide by the provisions of our free trade agreement and agreed to the importance of vigorous measures to ensure that the full benefits of economic development and trade are extended to all regions of Mexico.
To serve urgent environmental priorities in the border area, the Presidents agreed that immediate measures were needed to strengthen the performance of the North American Development Bank (NADBank), and its sister Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), to identify and fund environmental infrastructure projects on the border. Presidents Bush and Fox agreed that a binational working group-- which will consult with national legislatures, border states, communities, and other stakeholders-will develop joint recommendations and report back to the Presidents by October 31, 2001.
The Presidents praised the success of efforts to heighten cooperation on legal issues as a major step toward enhancing the rule of law and protecting public safety. They highlighted growing cooperation against migrant smuggling and other organized trans-- border crime, including a new agreement signed September 5, 2001, on sharing forfeited assets seized as a result of joint investigations. They praised in particular the growing trust between our law enforcement agencies that is making it possible to broaden the scope of cooperation in this area. Presidents Bush and Fox also expressed their support for new and more effective national and multilateral measures to increase international cooperation against drug trafficking. Specifically, they expressed support for the Organization of American State's "Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism" as a promising example of such measures. In this regard, President Bush reiterated his Administration's commitment to work with the U.S. Congress, on a priority basis, to replace the annual counter-narcotics certification regime with new measures designed to enhance international cooperation in this area.
These and other areas of bilateral engagement were highlighted in an historic joint meeting of the U.S. and Mexican Cabinets on September 5. That session enabled the Cabinet-level chairpersons of our Binational Commission, streamlined and reinvigorated following the Presidents' meeting in Guanajuato, Mexico in February 2001, to report on the specific steps achieved since then to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Their reports testified to the breadth of our relationship and to the progress we are achieving in countless areas that directly benefit the quality of life of our people. Examples of other items covered in the reports include:
* measures to improve safety and protect lives along our shared border;
* means of facilitating better coordination on border issues;
* a new agreement on food safety;
* steps to enhance cooperation on renewable and more efficient energy resources and cross-border interconnections;
* a major new scholarship program ($50 million) focused primarily on economic development disciplines; and
* regional cooperation to strengthen democracy and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere.
President Bush and President Fox also had a frank discussion about water resources and the importance of living up to our mutual treaty obligations in this regard. They agreed that in the future this could be well served by greater cooperation aimed at more effective watershed management and improved infrastructure, including formation of a joint advisory council.
The Presidents reviewed the progress made by our joint working group on migration chaired by Secretaries Powell, Castaneda, and Creel and Attorney General Ashcroft and noted this represented the most fruitful and frank dialogue we have ever had on a subject so important to both nations. They praised implementation of the border safety initiative, and recognized that migration-related issues are deeply felt by our publics and vital to our prosperity, well-- being, and the kind of societies we want to build.
They renewed their commitment to forging new and realistic approaches to migration to ensure it is safe, orderly, legal and dignified, and agreed on the framework within which this ongoing effort is based. This includes: matching willing workers with willing employers; serving the social and economic needs of both countries; respecting the human dignity of all migrants, regardless of their status; recognizing the contribution migrants make to enriching both societies; shared responsibility for ensuring migration takes place through safe and legal channels. Both stressed their commitment to continue our discussions, instructing the high-level working group to reach mutually satisfactory results on border safety, a temporary worker program and the status of undocumented Mexicans in the United States. They requested that the working group provide them proposals with respect to these issues as soon as possible. The Presidents recognized that this is an extraordinarily challenging area of public policy, and that it is critical to address the issue in a timely manner and with appropriate thoroughness and depth.
To help address some of the root causes of migration, they agreed to form a public-- private alliance to spur private sector growth throughout Mexico. This "Partnership for Prosperity" initiative will harness the power of free markets to boost the social and economic well-being of citizens particularly in regions where economic growth has lagged and fueled migration. The development of this alliance will be spearheaded by senior-level coordinators on both sides, and will draw on the best expertise among Mexican and U.S. economists, business people and civil society to develop a concrete plan of action to be presented to the Presidents not later than March 1, 2002.
The Presidents expressed their strong support for the launch of a new round of trade negotiations in November at the WTO ministerial.
Both Presidents agreed that U.S.-Mexican relations have entered their most promising moment in history. Our governments are committed to seizing the opportunities before us in this new atmosphere of mutual trust. The depth, quality and candor of our dialogue is unprecedented. It reflects the democratic values we share and our commitment to move forward boldly as we deepen this authentic partnership of neighbors.
--I'm pretty sure that this is not the most promising moment in history. President Bush made these statements the week before September 11, 2001. Maybe we used to have good relations with Mexico, but in the last 8 years things have gotten out of hand. More people in America are more outspoken about their fears and prejudices against Latinos than they ever have been before. People are jumping on the criticism bandwagon and accusing immigrants of destroying our economy and driving down our wages. But Latinos are discriminated against more than anyone else in our society, including legal immigrants. America has always been a racist place, and now that we've finally gotten over most of our problems with black inequality, we have shifted our hate to Hispanics. Why? Because they are an easy target. Anti-immigrationists always say that immigrants need to learn English before they can be here. And meanwhile, they verbally assault Spanish speakers because they can't retaliate for themselves. And if any of them tries to speak up too loudly in protest of anti-immigration rhetoric, they will live in fear of deportation or even threats on their lives or property. And after all, they didn't earn any civil rights back in the 60's. So why not pick on them? It's easy, and more importantly, no American can defend Hispanic immigrants either without looking like some kind of anti-American, or a terrorist sympathizer who wants to open all the borders. So obviously, no politician who cares about his career is going to have any sympathy for Hispanics, because it just isn't the popular thing to do. If you want to win votes you promise people what they want to hear, even if the masses are wrong. That's why we keep hearing politicians from all parties echoing the hateful cries to abolish Spanish and to throw the children of illegal immigrants out of public schools. America is not hospitable to immigrants from anywhere unless they act like us and dress like us and talk like us. Americans are afraid of other cultures. We are a nation of tourists. We are interested in new people or traditions for about a week before we feel like our own customs are clearly superior, and then we feel threatened and return home. The Hispanics have had their week, and now American sentiment is turning hateful, and sometimes violent. It's wrong. Hispanics living in America need respect, regardless of legal immigration status. They earned human rights when they were born. We don't have to pay for their entire lives here, but too many Americans talk about using the army or other violent means to deport millions of immigrants once and for all. They might be joking, but if enough people talk about it, they might just convince themselves that it's the right thing to do. We don't have to talk about destroying people just to "preserve sovereignty." That seems to be a powerful phrase now in the movement against immigration. We "sacrifice sovereignty" every time someone new enters our country. It just isn't all true. We sent soldiers to the middle east under the pretext of giving people a better life. Conservatives still support that cause, and yet they are the loudest in the struggle to make their racist voices heard above the rest. Why can't we support that same cause within our own borders? Iraqis aren't American citizens either, but we are paying the ultimate price for their happiness aren't we? Why can't we support the same cause inside our borders? The problem is fear. Americans can't stand living with or near people that they can't understand. Americans are bad neighbors, that's all it is. Grow up, America.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Malaria
Now that I work in the periodicals department of the library, I get to see a lot of magazines and journals that I never would have gone looking for otherwise. I have certain assigned sections of the department that are mine to care for. I mostly just make sure the shelves look nice and a few other tasks. My assignment covers the Q section, which in the Library of Congress system is all the sciences. It's really interesting that I got the biology, biological chemistry, physiology and medicine section. I catch myself thinking about biology when I'm at work, and I also see titles that make me want to just stop what I'm doing to read them, but I can't. So right now, I've just finished work, and I'm still in the periodicals department. I started reading an article in National Geographic that talks about malaria and how deadly it is. I've been thinking a lot lately about international development, and it seems that malaria can really decimate a country's economy faster than just about anything. I also thought it was really interesting that in Zambia, out of every 1,000 children under age 5, there are 1,353 infections each year. That's terrible. Why does Africa always get hit the hardest? They have the highest infection rate with AIDS too, with 75% of sub-Saharan Africans infected. It's just not fair. AIDS always kills the weakest. Any physical illness can bring death, and with so many malaria infections, there is no way to avoid infection of one or the other. I wish there was no such thing as malaria.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
School´s out for the summer
Hey everyone,
I just thought that I would write again, since it´s been a few weeks and a lot of things have changed since then. In the last two weeks I decided not to go to Mexico, so I´ll just hold on to my research and my proposal and my presentation that I was going to use to try and get scholarship money. I might have to go some other time, and it was really fun to get ready for it. My field study group is kind of upset that I´m bailing out on them, but I´d just much rather get married. So I am. I proposed to Erin Mower last week, and we´ve been engaged ever since. So far so good. We´re planning on August 24th, in Idaho Falls.
I have one day of school left. I have finished all my projects. Some of them nearly killed me, but I´m done now and even though I still have two finals left, I am surprisingly not stressed as much as I thought I would be. One final is take-home, and it isn´t due until Thursday, and the other should be fairly easy. It will be a four-part final-- an essay, a group oral presentation, an individual oral report and a few other written things. I don´t have any idea what they´re going to ask me about, but it will be fine. It´s all stuff that I have internalized because I own my education. No jumping through hoops or memorizing useless facts for this class. It´s all incredibly useful and valuable information that I actually think about quite often outside of class. It´s still my favorite class ever at BYU.
I tried to apply for the Spanish major the other day, but they wouldn´t let me. Since I already declared the English Language major I had to talk to a so-called advisor. She didn´t listen to me at all. She made me explain why I wanted to do a double-major and I told her that I´ve been planning on it for a while. I just didn´t apply for the Spanish major at first because I want to do the Spanish Teaching major, but I haven´t done all the prerequisites to apply formally for the teaching major. But I talked to two professors who both agreed that it would be a good idea to get a teaching certificate for both Spanish and TESOL, and that getting another degree in English Language would make me a very good candidate for either grad school or a teaching position right after graduation. Think of it, I would be authorized to teach Spanish and ESL. So I thought it was a good idea. And I thought that I would easily get to add the other major, seeing as I will already 25 credits of Spanish by the end of the year. Hmm.... but I apparently have no idea what I want to do with my life, according to the lady I talked to. She told me to go and think about it and do some research and come back later. I don´t want to. I´d rather just have her add the major. I´ve been thinking about this for months, I´ve been researching for months. But she refused. I don´t like that. If she really doesn´t want me to have two majors, is it up to her to decide? What if I would rather cut out the ELang major and keep Spanish? I can´t because she won´t even add Spanish to my records. Bah, humbug! My English Language academic adviser actually told me that getting two degrees and a certification in TESOL was one of the best things I could do with my talents and my desire to teach. I hate working through other people to get what I want. I had to go talk to my Spanish academic advisor (who happens to be my favorite professor from last semester) and got his signature saying that I am a good applicant for the program. Shouldn´t that be enough? The purpose of getting his signature and talking to him about the major is to help me make sure that´s really what I want to do. I don´t understand why this lady in the humanities office has the right to veto my decision that was already approved by both professors.
Other than that, things are pretty swell. More next week, hopefully.
Brian
I just thought that I would write again, since it´s been a few weeks and a lot of things have changed since then. In the last two weeks I decided not to go to Mexico, so I´ll just hold on to my research and my proposal and my presentation that I was going to use to try and get scholarship money. I might have to go some other time, and it was really fun to get ready for it. My field study group is kind of upset that I´m bailing out on them, but I´d just much rather get married. So I am. I proposed to Erin Mower last week, and we´ve been engaged ever since. So far so good. We´re planning on August 24th, in Idaho Falls.
I have one day of school left. I have finished all my projects. Some of them nearly killed me, but I´m done now and even though I still have two finals left, I am surprisingly not stressed as much as I thought I would be. One final is take-home, and it isn´t due until Thursday, and the other should be fairly easy. It will be a four-part final-- an essay, a group oral presentation, an individual oral report and a few other written things. I don´t have any idea what they´re going to ask me about, but it will be fine. It´s all stuff that I have internalized because I own my education. No jumping through hoops or memorizing useless facts for this class. It´s all incredibly useful and valuable information that I actually think about quite often outside of class. It´s still my favorite class ever at BYU.
I tried to apply for the Spanish major the other day, but they wouldn´t let me. Since I already declared the English Language major I had to talk to a so-called advisor. She didn´t listen to me at all. She made me explain why I wanted to do a double-major and I told her that I´ve been planning on it for a while. I just didn´t apply for the Spanish major at first because I want to do the Spanish Teaching major, but I haven´t done all the prerequisites to apply formally for the teaching major. But I talked to two professors who both agreed that it would be a good idea to get a teaching certificate for both Spanish and TESOL, and that getting another degree in English Language would make me a very good candidate for either grad school or a teaching position right after graduation. Think of it, I would be authorized to teach Spanish and ESL. So I thought it was a good idea. And I thought that I would easily get to add the other major, seeing as I will already 25 credits of Spanish by the end of the year. Hmm.... but I apparently have no idea what I want to do with my life, according to the lady I talked to. She told me to go and think about it and do some research and come back later. I don´t want to. I´d rather just have her add the major. I´ve been thinking about this for months, I´ve been researching for months. But she refused. I don´t like that. If she really doesn´t want me to have two majors, is it up to her to decide? What if I would rather cut out the ELang major and keep Spanish? I can´t because she won´t even add Spanish to my records. Bah, humbug! My English Language academic adviser actually told me that getting two degrees and a certification in TESOL was one of the best things I could do with my talents and my desire to teach. I hate working through other people to get what I want. I had to go talk to my Spanish academic advisor (who happens to be my favorite professor from last semester) and got his signature saying that I am a good applicant for the program. Shouldn´t that be enough? The purpose of getting his signature and talking to him about the major is to help me make sure that´s really what I want to do. I don´t understand why this lady in the humanities office has the right to veto my decision that was already approved by both professors.
Other than that, things are pretty swell. More next week, hopefully.
Brian
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
May is already over?
Hey Everyone,
Sorry I fell through on my commitment to write every week. Again. I feel no shame though, because I have been legitimately busy. My field study prep course is really showing no mercy these days. It has me in a full Nelson, and I think parts of me are going numb. That's what I get for taking the hardest course of my life during spring term, when everything is due in a rapid succession that is twice as fast as the normal rapid succession during the full semesters. I have just finished writing the first draft of a 6 page paper that is part of my final research proposal that I will be submitting to various professors and possible grant donors. The final paper will be about 20 pages I think, including sections describing my proposed course of action, and a fat bibliography. It's already three pages long and I still have almost a month left before the term is over. I expect it to double in length at least once before it's due.
For Memorial Day, I celebrated by doing homework mostly, but I also watched a few movies, stayed out late a couple of nights, played some volleyball, accidentally slept through my grammar class on Friday to start my weekend early, and had a picnic on Saturday morning and Monday evening. This list is not chronological at all.
I quit my job this week. It was kind of sad because I liked it so much, and I liked the people I worked with. I have a funny story to tell about that. On Friday my bishop called me and asked me to speak in church. I told him that I was scheduled to work, and that I would try to get it off, but I couldn't promise him that I would be there. I ended up getting someone to cover my shift, and I made it to church. The topic that would have been assigned to me happened to be keeping the Sabbath day holy. I thought it was ironic. I got a new assignment for a different day now. And I won't ever have to worry about getting Sundays off anymore. I was getting frustrated that I was scheduled to work every single Sunday since I was hired. I got most of them off, but now I have every day off.
I'm really tired, and right now I'm stressed out of my mind. I'm going to go unwind a little because I can tell that any life and energy and creativity I may have had today is completely drained out of me. Have a great week.
Brian
Sorry I fell through on my commitment to write every week. Again. I feel no shame though, because I have been legitimately busy. My field study prep course is really showing no mercy these days. It has me in a full Nelson, and I think parts of me are going numb. That's what I get for taking the hardest course of my life during spring term, when everything is due in a rapid succession that is twice as fast as the normal rapid succession during the full semesters. I have just finished writing the first draft of a 6 page paper that is part of my final research proposal that I will be submitting to various professors and possible grant donors. The final paper will be about 20 pages I think, including sections describing my proposed course of action, and a fat bibliography. It's already three pages long and I still have almost a month left before the term is over. I expect it to double in length at least once before it's due.
For Memorial Day, I celebrated by doing homework mostly, but I also watched a few movies, stayed out late a couple of nights, played some volleyball, accidentally slept through my grammar class on Friday to start my weekend early, and had a picnic on Saturday morning and Monday evening. This list is not chronological at all.
I quit my job this week. It was kind of sad because I liked it so much, and I liked the people I worked with. I have a funny story to tell about that. On Friday my bishop called me and asked me to speak in church. I told him that I was scheduled to work, and that I would try to get it off, but I couldn't promise him that I would be there. I ended up getting someone to cover my shift, and I made it to church. The topic that would have been assigned to me happened to be keeping the Sabbath day holy. I thought it was ironic. I got a new assignment for a different day now. And I won't ever have to worry about getting Sundays off anymore. I was getting frustrated that I was scheduled to work every single Sunday since I was hired. I got most of them off, but now I have every day off.
I'm really tired, and right now I'm stressed out of my mind. I'm going to go unwind a little because I can tell that any life and energy and creativity I may have had today is completely drained out of me. Have a great week.
Brian
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Anything-but-weekly Update
Hey everyone!
I really have been quite bad at writing every week, just like I thought I might be. The good news is that I have lots of new news this way, and I don't have to struggle to think of things that might be of interest. The bad news is that I'm not sure when my last mass email was, so I don't know how far back to go. On the other hand, I've talked to most of you in the last two months, so I don't think I've left out the important bits in our conversations in person.
I suppose the biggest thing is that I'm still in school for the spring. I'm signed up for classes in the summer too, but I'm almost positive that I'll be dropping them to save money. I just got a job working at the Olive Garden as a busser, and had my first two days of training already. When I get my training done, I'll be able to earn some share of the tips. My trainer is Jose Luis from Ecuador, and I talked to him almost all in Spanish, because it's fun, and it's actually easier for me.
I also got the best single-semester GPA of my life last semester. I really stuck it to the man and just to spite my teachers I got Bs in biology and New Testament instead of Ds like they wanted to give me. I even got a B+ in religion, making it probably my best religion grade yet. I didn't quite get a 4.0 like I wanted before I started the semester, but this is the closest I've been since 4th grade. I got a 3.73 for the semester, which raised my cumulative GPA back above 3.0, which is good. It's nice to not be ashamed of my scholastic career anymore. And, just to make things even cooler, I'm officially a junior now, meaning that now I can finally find open spots in PE classes before everyone else does.
This spring I am only taking three classes: Beginning racquetball, English grammar, and a class whose name I never learned. It's IAS 360R, my prep course to help me think of and develop a research question, and become familiar with Mexico, particularly Irapuato, Guanajuato, where I will be living in the fall to gather data for my research. I will also get a chance to do lots of research here with an amazing library and other resources before I actually get to the field. It's a really interesting class, and we've learned a lot of basics about inter-cultural communication, and interviewing skills, et cetera. But it's also a very difficult class. The first day, we had 45 pages of reading and a paper due, the second day, it was only 29 pages and a paper. They promised me before I signed up for the class that it would be the hardest three-credit class I will ever take at BYU. So far, they have me convinced. It is my favorite class though. Grammar would be interesting if I didn't already know the difference between a verb and a noun. I'm sure it will get a little more complicated soon, but for now it seems like a waste of time to get up in the morning just for grammar. And racquetball is good too, but it's just racquetball. I don't feel like a better person after leaving class. I've learned a ton already in my field study course, just because I've put so much more time into it.
I'm going to South Jordan again tonight, making the third trip this week. I'm going up for my companion's (Michael Marks) wedding reception. This is the companion whose grandmother visit teaches my grandmother. With connections like that, how could we have gotten along less than well? He was one of my favorite companions, so I'm excited to see him.
That's about all I have time to write about in this semi-annual weekly newsletter. I predict a good summer for all, and I put money on it, so don't let me down. Just kidding, but seriously. HAGS! (that was for you, Julie and Scott)
Brian
I really have been quite bad at writing every week, just like I thought I might be. The good news is that I have lots of new news this way, and I don't have to struggle to think of things that might be of interest. The bad news is that I'm not sure when my last mass email was, so I don't know how far back to go. On the other hand, I've talked to most of you in the last two months, so I don't think I've left out the important bits in our conversations in person.
I suppose the biggest thing is that I'm still in school for the spring. I'm signed up for classes in the summer too, but I'm almost positive that I'll be dropping them to save money. I just got a job working at the Olive Garden as a busser, and had my first two days of training already. When I get my training done, I'll be able to earn some share of the tips. My trainer is Jose Luis from Ecuador, and I talked to him almost all in Spanish, because it's fun, and it's actually easier for me.
I also got the best single-semester GPA of my life last semester. I really stuck it to the man and just to spite my teachers I got Bs in biology and New Testament instead of Ds like they wanted to give me. I even got a B+ in religion, making it probably my best religion grade yet. I didn't quite get a 4.0 like I wanted before I started the semester, but this is the closest I've been since 4th grade. I got a 3.73 for the semester, which raised my cumulative GPA back above 3.0, which is good. It's nice to not be ashamed of my scholastic career anymore. And, just to make things even cooler, I'm officially a junior now, meaning that now I can finally find open spots in PE classes before everyone else does.
This spring I am only taking three classes: Beginning racquetball, English grammar, and a class whose name I never learned. It's IAS 360R, my prep course to help me think of and develop a research question, and become familiar with Mexico, particularly Irapuato, Guanajuato, where I will be living in the fall to gather data for my research. I will also get a chance to do lots of research here with an amazing library and other resources before I actually get to the field. It's a really interesting class, and we've learned a lot of basics about inter-cultural communication, and interviewing skills, et cetera. But it's also a very difficult class. The first day, we had 45 pages of reading and a paper due, the second day, it was only 29 pages and a paper. They promised me before I signed up for the class that it would be the hardest three-credit class I will ever take at BYU. So far, they have me convinced. It is my favorite class though. Grammar would be interesting if I didn't already know the difference between a verb and a noun. I'm sure it will get a little more complicated soon, but for now it seems like a waste of time to get up in the morning just for grammar. And racquetball is good too, but it's just racquetball. I don't feel like a better person after leaving class. I've learned a ton already in my field study course, just because I've put so much more time into it.
I'm going to South Jordan again tonight, making the third trip this week. I'm going up for my companion's (Michael Marks) wedding reception. This is the companion whose grandmother visit teaches my grandmother. With connections like that, how could we have gotten along less than well? He was one of my favorite companions, so I'm excited to see him.
That's about all I have time to write about in this semi-annual weekly newsletter. I predict a good summer for all, and I put money on it, so don't let me down. Just kidding, but seriously. HAGS! (that was for you, Julie and Scott)
Brian
Monday, March 26, 2007
Brian's still alive part II
Hey everyone!
Again, I had a great week. I don't think I've had a bad week since school started. I really enjoy being in Provo, and everything that goes along with it. The good news for this week is that I took my tests, did well in Spanish and not so well in biology. And I did in fact finish my paper for international relations, just in time for a lunch group before class. It was pretty fun. I like writing, but I do wish that I didn't have to cite three pages of sources in the actual text. It's such a pain. It was pretty intense trying to expand on a very simple proposal and make it into a paper long enough to qualify for credit, but I managed to say the same thing in more ways than I thought were possible. I even found quotes from other people that said basically the same thing I was arguing, so I was able to use up a good half page with each of those, and ended up with a 13 page paper, which definitely clears the 7 page minimum limit.
My stake roadshow turned out great. We practiced a little bit more on Saturday morning, then we practiced in the afternoon and had the performance in the evening. I felt like we performed with more energy than we had practiced with, and the microphones decided to work for us. We were all a little nervous that they wouldn't after not being able to hear a word we were singing during the dress rehearsal. We got lots of noise from the audience, and a complete absence of rotten fruit, so I guess we did all right. It was a lot of fun, all in all.
The trees all have flowers on them now, but it's a little cloudy. So it looks a lot more like spring, but it doesn't at the same time because it got cloudy today too. I heard that it's supposed to rain/snow(?) this week. I'm looking forward to a sunny weekend though, I'm supposed to go camping and I want to not wash down the mountain in the night.
It was also great to see so many of my family at grandma and grandpa's house in South Jordan. It was a blast, our family rocks. And for those of you not in my family, I encourage you to consider joining and pick up an application. The induction process does involve some fairly serious commitment, but you'll have a good time.
I worked in the dish room yesterday. I don't recommend it to anyone. I usually work on the grill, but it was closed yesterday and I had to be reassigned. I heard that being a "cook's help" is the easiest job, and least taxing, and that the dish room is by far the most miserable. I can't speak for the "cook's help" but I would be willing to put money on dishes as the worst job available anywhere on campus. I think working at the grill tonight is going to seem a lot nicer now after having gone through yesterday. Tonight's shift will be shorter too, only four hours instead of six. Four is nice, grill is nice, Monday is nice.
Again, I had a great week. I don't think I've had a bad week since school started. I really enjoy being in Provo, and everything that goes along with it. The good news for this week is that I took my tests, did well in Spanish and not so well in biology. And I did in fact finish my paper for international relations, just in time for a lunch group before class. It was pretty fun. I like writing, but I do wish that I didn't have to cite three pages of sources in the actual text. It's such a pain. It was pretty intense trying to expand on a very simple proposal and make it into a paper long enough to qualify for credit, but I managed to say the same thing in more ways than I thought were possible. I even found quotes from other people that said basically the same thing I was arguing, so I was able to use up a good half page with each of those, and ended up with a 13 page paper, which definitely clears the 7 page minimum limit.
My stake roadshow turned out great. We practiced a little bit more on Saturday morning, then we practiced in the afternoon and had the performance in the evening. I felt like we performed with more energy than we had practiced with, and the microphones decided to work for us. We were all a little nervous that they wouldn't after not being able to hear a word we were singing during the dress rehearsal. We got lots of noise from the audience, and a complete absence of rotten fruit, so I guess we did all right. It was a lot of fun, all in all.
The trees all have flowers on them now, but it's a little cloudy. So it looks a lot more like spring, but it doesn't at the same time because it got cloudy today too. I heard that it's supposed to rain/snow(?) this week. I'm looking forward to a sunny weekend though, I'm supposed to go camping and I want to not wash down the mountain in the night.
It was also great to see so many of my family at grandma and grandpa's house in South Jordan. It was a blast, our family rocks. And for those of you not in my family, I encourage you to consider joining and pick up an application. The induction process does involve some fairly serious commitment, but you'll have a good time.
I worked in the dish room yesterday. I don't recommend it to anyone. I usually work on the grill, but it was closed yesterday and I had to be reassigned. I heard that being a "cook's help" is the easiest job, and least taxing, and that the dish room is by far the most miserable. I can't speak for the "cook's help" but I would be willing to put money on dishes as the worst job available anywhere on campus. I think working at the grill tonight is going to seem a lot nicer now after having gone through yesterday. Tonight's shift will be shorter too, only four hours instead of six. Four is nice, grill is nice, Monday is nice.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Brian's still alive
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, It's been another week. I've done nothing but play in the last couple of days, and it's been a blast. Since Friday I have gone running, bowling, camping, and played racquetball once and ultimate Frisbee three times, and danced for two hours on Saturday. I also had a little root beer and ginger ale drinking party with some wardies out by the pool wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. I also saw three movies. What I didn't do is homework, and I feel totally fine with that.
I did make myself slightly injured in the end. By Saturday afternoon my right hip was hurting (possibly from sleeping on a rock the night before?) and whatever muscle is found in my right shin was aching pretty badly from all the running. And I woke up Sunday morning with a headache that even ibuprofen couldn't relieve, which still hasn't gone away, and might not until this Thursday. Why Thursday, you ask? Well, the truth is that I get out of class at 1:20 pm on Thursday, and don't have to go back until Monday morning at 9. And on top of that, I will have taken three tests and written one final draft of a 7 page paper, so I won't even have those classes hanging over my head like a guillotine like I do this week. The rope looks a little frayed at the moment.
I have to confess that I only got a 63% on my New Testament test this morning. I studied for it yesterday by reading in the Bible Dictionary, and I studied my notes and handouts from class this morning right before I went into the testing center. And guess what, it was really really ridiculously hard. I don't know how someone can even think of questions that hard. I studied everything I could think to study, and yet, there was more. I hate religion classes at BYU. This is my third one, and the third one I've been slaughtered by. I haven't missed class yet, you'd think I would have picked something up from lecture.
But my other tests are looking good. I got one back today from Hispanic Linguistics, and I got another 96%, which dropped my average in the class about a third of a percent. I have another Spanish test this week, which shouldn't be too bad, and a biology test which just might dig my grave and put me in it all at once. I tried studying a little bit this morning and I asked the girl next to me in lecture if DNA and chromosomes are the same thing. She laughed at me and offered me a quarter to ask it in front of the class. I take that as a no? I'm getting really close to understanding what a cell actually IS while the rest of the class is diagramming the Krebs Cycle and cellular respiration. I honestly wish I could drop the class and try again when I'm a senior in hopes that I will have picked up some brains on the way to graduation. Also, I petition that genetics should be changed to allelics, because I have a diagram in my book that labels the same yellow and green segments of the chromosome (apparently NOT also known as DNA) as both genes and alleles. I'm not sure why. I blame the artist's rendition of real life for all misunderstandings related to biology.
I guess my real point in these last two paragraphs is that Bio 100 and New Testament are neck and neck for the "Worst Course Offered at BYU EVER Award". Shannon and Andrew, I have the feeling that biology might actually move up on my list that I made last week, and take second-to-last. Does that make you feel any better.... ? :)
I watched Oliver Twist on Saturday night. It's a creepy movie to watch by yourself in the dark. It wasn't the nice musical that I remember as a child, but rather the version that emits evil with ever flicker of light through the film. Well, ok, it wasn't that bad, but it did make me pretty happy that I grew up in the days of child labor laws and adoption agencies. At least in the northern hemisphere. And I'm darn glad I live in the northern hemisphere.
I'm sort of in a weird mood today, it's been a long day, filled with pleasantness, some laughter in the morning, as well as bad news in the afternoon, generic brand mac & cheese (I don't recommend it), and lots of sun, that I really haven't seen much of. I don't really know how to describe today, other than just plain odd. But I hope that everyone who reads this is well and enjoying themselves immensely. Have a great week!
Well, It's been another week. I've done nothing but play in the last couple of days, and it's been a blast. Since Friday I have gone running, bowling, camping, and played racquetball once and ultimate Frisbee three times, and danced for two hours on Saturday. I also had a little root beer and ginger ale drinking party with some wardies out by the pool wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. I also saw three movies. What I didn't do is homework, and I feel totally fine with that.
I did make myself slightly injured in the end. By Saturday afternoon my right hip was hurting (possibly from sleeping on a rock the night before?) and whatever muscle is found in my right shin was aching pretty badly from all the running. And I woke up Sunday morning with a headache that even ibuprofen couldn't relieve, which still hasn't gone away, and might not until this Thursday. Why Thursday, you ask? Well, the truth is that I get out of class at 1:20 pm on Thursday, and don't have to go back until Monday morning at 9. And on top of that, I will have taken three tests and written one final draft of a 7 page paper, so I won't even have those classes hanging over my head like a guillotine like I do this week. The rope looks a little frayed at the moment.
I have to confess that I only got a 63% on my New Testament test this morning. I studied for it yesterday by reading in the Bible Dictionary, and I studied my notes and handouts from class this morning right before I went into the testing center. And guess what, it was really really ridiculously hard. I don't know how someone can even think of questions that hard. I studied everything I could think to study, and yet, there was more. I hate religion classes at BYU. This is my third one, and the third one I've been slaughtered by. I haven't missed class yet, you'd think I would have picked something up from lecture.
But my other tests are looking good. I got one back today from Hispanic Linguistics, and I got another 96%, which dropped my average in the class about a third of a percent. I have another Spanish test this week, which shouldn't be too bad, and a biology test which just might dig my grave and put me in it all at once. I tried studying a little bit this morning and I asked the girl next to me in lecture if DNA and chromosomes are the same thing. She laughed at me and offered me a quarter to ask it in front of the class. I take that as a no? I'm getting really close to understanding what a cell actually IS while the rest of the class is diagramming the Krebs Cycle and cellular respiration. I honestly wish I could drop the class and try again when I'm a senior in hopes that I will have picked up some brains on the way to graduation. Also, I petition that genetics should be changed to allelics, because I have a diagram in my book that labels the same yellow and green segments of the chromosome (apparently NOT also known as DNA) as both genes and alleles. I'm not sure why. I blame the artist's rendition of real life for all misunderstandings related to biology.
I guess my real point in these last two paragraphs is that Bio 100 and New Testament are neck and neck for the "Worst Course Offered at BYU EVER Award". Shannon and Andrew, I have the feeling that biology might actually move up on my list that I made last week, and take second-to-last. Does that make you feel any better.... ? :)
I watched Oliver Twist on Saturday night. It's a creepy movie to watch by yourself in the dark. It wasn't the nice musical that I remember as a child, but rather the version that emits evil with ever flicker of light through the film. Well, ok, it wasn't that bad, but it did make me pretty happy that I grew up in the days of child labor laws and adoption agencies. At least in the northern hemisphere. And I'm darn glad I live in the northern hemisphere.
I'm sort of in a weird mood today, it's been a long day, filled with pleasantness, some laughter in the morning, as well as bad news in the afternoon, generic brand mac & cheese (I don't recommend it), and lots of sun, that I really haven't seen much of. I don't really know how to describe today, other than just plain odd. But I hope that everyone who reads this is well and enjoying themselves immensely. Have a great week!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Brian's 1st email update!
Hola familia!
I've decided that an email is now long past due. I don't even know where to start, so I'll try to recap everything that has happened to me at BYU. I got here and started classes on January 8th, which seems like forever ago now. I'm taking Biology 100 in the same lab section that Andy is in, New Testament (The Gospels), Intro to International Relations, Spanish Grammar and Composition, and Hispanic Linguistics. I put those in order of preference, starting with the ones that I am least fond of. I'm in the BYU 138th ward, and I like my ward a lot.
When I first got here, it was extremely cold. I remember walking across campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it was the coldest air I had felt in several years. I got all the way to the opposite corner only to discover that the person I was looking for had that day off. So I walked all the way back. In total I was outside for over 40 minutes. I'm really glad it's spring now. It was warm enough this weekend to play frisbee and have a picnic outside without even having to wear a jacket. It was sunny and slightly breezy. It didn't last today, but we're making progress.
I decided to change my unofficial and undeclared major a few weeks ago. I have been telling people that I was majoring in Linguistics for about 4 years, which prompted lots of questions like, "so what does that even mean." Well, basically it's the scientific study of the structure and usage of language. It doesn't mean that I will be learning 7 languages, although that would be fun too. But now instead of questions about my major, I get a bunch of false assumptions about what I'm studying. I officially declared myself and English Language major. It's not what you think. I don't have to take a single class on poetry, writing, literature, or anything like that. The English Language degree isn't even in the English Department, it's actually part of the Linguistics Department. I will give you a rough breakdown of the classes I'll be taking.
1. Empirical Methods in English Linguistics (There's that word again! I'm not a traitor to myself!)
2. Modern American Usage
3. History of the English Language (I'm taking that this spring)
4. The Grammar of English (not like your high school grammar class, we're going to dig DEEP!)
5. English Semantics and Pragmatics
6. English Phonetics and Phonology (this is guaranteed to be one of my favorite classes, I love phonetics)
7. "The Senior Course" (I think this is the class they make us take to help us figure out what kind of career we want to pursue, but I'm not sure. I'd like a little more clarification myself.)
8. Sociolinguistics
9. My choice of Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Middle English (Chaucer's time period), or Early Middle English (think Shakespeare and Johnson)
10. Varieties in English (I finally get to let my Southern shine)
11. History of the Book
12. Psycholinguistics
Basically it's exactly the same as the Linguistics major, with one major difference. In the Linguistics program they require a foreign language that is not descended from Indo-European (this means German and Scandinavian languages, Romance languages like Spanish and Romanian, and Indian languages like Hindi don't count). In the English Language major, they have a foreign language requirement, but it allows me to count my 16 credits of Spanish to fill the requirement. So now I'm studying the exact same thing, but now people assume that I'm an English major and it's really hard to explain the difference between English and English Language because, let's face it, we all know that English IS a language, and if you study English, you're also studying the language, right? Well, it's a little tricky. I still haven't found the right way to phrase it so that people understand that I'm still a linguist. I'm a Linguistics major emphasizing in English. Which goes back to the whole "you don't have to speak a million languages to be a linguist. That would only make me a philologist or a polyglot" statement that I have to make sometimes, without using the words philologist or polyglot, of course, that would not make explaining any easier.
I'm also going to add Spanish (or possible Spanish Teaching) as a second major as soon as I do some more prerequisites for the program. And I'm going to get a minor in TESOL, or in English, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I figure with English Language and Spanish, I should be able to teach people either language, and that sounds like so much fun to me.
My social life is sometimes a little overactive. Since I started dating again, (I took a short break because I overloaded my system) I've been averaging I think about 4 dates a week. Sometimes I go on more, but rarely do I have less than 3 dates in a week. I went on two dates yesterday, which was fun, but exhausting, since I'm already getting sick. I think everyone is getting sick these days, it's another sign that it's almost spring.
I also got a job working in the Morris Center, the cafeteria by Deseret Towers. I'm not actually working in the cafeteria part of the building, I'm in the "Cougar Cove" which stays open later, and is home to the grill, the wok, the soft serve ice cream, and the Subway franchise. I mostly just do the grill, but I have to make a lot of shakes too, and we have to fry the chicken in the deep fryer before the wok worker can make sweet and sour chicken. So I stay busy, and I get a decent paycheck, and I only have to work 12 hours a week. I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8pm until closing, which can be anywhere from 11:15 (our current speed record) and 11:45. I usually walk to and from, but sometimes I drive on Fridays because the risk of not finding a parking space is usually not as bad on Friday nights when people are all out on dates, and I can find a good spot to park closer than two blocks away from my apartment.
Well, that's about all I have time to write right now. But I'm having a great time at BYU, watching the basketball teams whenever I get the chance. Go Cougars! I hope to remember to write another email before too long so I can fill in some of the finer details. Finer as in more excellent and more detailed. Have a great week!
I've decided that an email is now long past due. I don't even know where to start, so I'll try to recap everything that has happened to me at BYU. I got here and started classes on January 8th, which seems like forever ago now. I'm taking Biology 100 in the same lab section that Andy is in, New Testament (The Gospels), Intro to International Relations, Spanish Grammar and Composition, and Hispanic Linguistics. I put those in order of preference, starting with the ones that I am least fond of. I'm in the BYU 138th ward, and I like my ward a lot.
When I first got here, it was extremely cold. I remember walking across campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it was the coldest air I had felt in several years. I got all the way to the opposite corner only to discover that the person I was looking for had that day off. So I walked all the way back. In total I was outside for over 40 minutes. I'm really glad it's spring now. It was warm enough this weekend to play frisbee and have a picnic outside without even having to wear a jacket. It was sunny and slightly breezy. It didn't last today, but we're making progress.
I decided to change my unofficial and undeclared major a few weeks ago. I have been telling people that I was majoring in Linguistics for about 4 years, which prompted lots of questions like, "so what does that even mean." Well, basically it's the scientific study of the structure and usage of language. It doesn't mean that I will be learning 7 languages, although that would be fun too. But now instead of questions about my major, I get a bunch of false assumptions about what I'm studying. I officially declared myself and English Language major. It's not what you think. I don't have to take a single class on poetry, writing, literature, or anything like that. The English Language degree isn't even in the English Department, it's actually part of the Linguistics Department. I will give you a rough breakdown of the classes I'll be taking.
1. Empirical Methods in English Linguistics (There's that word again! I'm not a traitor to myself!)
2. Modern American Usage
3. History of the English Language (I'm taking that this spring)
4. The Grammar of English (not like your high school grammar class, we're going to dig DEEP!)
5. English Semantics and Pragmatics
6. English Phonetics and Phonology (this is guaranteed to be one of my favorite classes, I love phonetics)
7. "The Senior Course" (I think this is the class they make us take to help us figure out what kind of career we want to pursue, but I'm not sure. I'd like a little more clarification myself.)
8. Sociolinguistics
9. My choice of Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Middle English (Chaucer's time period), or Early Middle English (think Shakespeare and Johnson)
10. Varieties in English (I finally get to let my Southern shine)
11. History of the Book
12. Psycholinguistics
Basically it's exactly the same as the Linguistics major, with one major difference. In the Linguistics program they require a foreign language that is not descended from Indo-European (this means German and Scandinavian languages, Romance languages like Spanish and Romanian, and Indian languages like Hindi don't count). In the English Language major, they have a foreign language requirement, but it allows me to count my 16 credits of Spanish to fill the requirement. So now I'm studying the exact same thing, but now people assume that I'm an English major and it's really hard to explain the difference between English and English Language because, let's face it, we all know that English IS a language, and if you study English, you're also studying the language, right? Well, it's a little tricky. I still haven't found the right way to phrase it so that people understand that I'm still a linguist. I'm a Linguistics major emphasizing in English. Which goes back to the whole "you don't have to speak a million languages to be a linguist. That would only make me a philologist or a polyglot" statement that I have to make sometimes, without using the words philologist or polyglot, of course, that would not make explaining any easier.
I'm also going to add Spanish (or possible Spanish Teaching) as a second major as soon as I do some more prerequisites for the program. And I'm going to get a minor in TESOL, or in English, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I figure with English Language and Spanish, I should be able to teach people either language, and that sounds like so much fun to me.
My social life is sometimes a little overactive. Since I started dating again, (I took a short break because I overloaded my system) I've been averaging I think about 4 dates a week. Sometimes I go on more, but rarely do I have less than 3 dates in a week. I went on two dates yesterday, which was fun, but exhausting, since I'm already getting sick. I think everyone is getting sick these days, it's another sign that it's almost spring.
I also got a job working in the Morris Center, the cafeteria by Deseret Towers. I'm not actually working in the cafeteria part of the building, I'm in the "Cougar Cove" which stays open later, and is home to the grill, the wok, the soft serve ice cream, and the Subway franchise. I mostly just do the grill, but I have to make a lot of shakes too, and we have to fry the chicken in the deep fryer before the wok worker can make sweet and sour chicken. So I stay busy, and I get a decent paycheck, and I only have to work 12 hours a week. I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8pm until closing, which can be anywhere from 11:15 (our current speed record) and 11:45. I usually walk to and from, but sometimes I drive on Fridays because the risk of not finding a parking space is usually not as bad on Friday nights when people are all out on dates, and I can find a good spot to park closer than two blocks away from my apartment.
Well, that's about all I have time to write right now. But I'm having a great time at BYU, watching the basketball teams whenever I get the chance. Go Cougars! I hope to remember to write another email before too long so I can fill in some of the finer details. Finer as in more excellent and more detailed. Have a great week!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
"Rules Grammar Change"
Rules Grammar Change
This is an article I found through The Onion. I laughed long and loudly in the library. People turned to look.
This is an article I found through The Onion. I laughed long and loudly in the library. People turned to look.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
What is a monomer?
Life is good. I have basically one free evening each week, and I use it every week doing something. I'm not sure if it's always a good use of time, but I never waste it, because I always do something. I have four midterms this week, one that I'm taking in a few minutes, two tomorrow, and one either Friday or Monday. I forget which. I'm not too worried, it's just Spanish. I bought gas for the first time since leaving Boise last Thursday morning. Not bad, a tank that lasts over a month.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Watch "Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner" on Google Video
Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner
I thought this was pretty amusing, it's a comedian from Comedy Central making fun of President Bush to his face in public. On C-Span. Live. He's got some pretty good jokes thrown in there, but it is a little long. And some parts are funnier than others (i.e. the ending is not funny at all, he plays a video that he prepared, and it's definitely not the highlight of the show.)
24 min 10 sec - Apr 29, 2006
I thought this was pretty amusing, it's a comedian from Comedy Central making fun of President Bush to his face in public. On C-Span. Live. He's got some pretty good jokes thrown in there, but it is a little long. And some parts are funnier than others (i.e. the ending is not funny at all, he plays a video that he prepared, and it's definitely not the highlight of the show.)
Friday, February 16, 2007
Revived Part I
I wrote this morning, for the first time in English the whole semester. It felt very liberating. I haven't even written many notes on facebook, and I've abandoned my precious blog site completely too. You never know what you have until it's gone. And sometimes you never realize what you love until you find it again. That's kind of a motif in my life this week. I've rediscovered a few different kinds of old loves. The sun even came out this week, I liked that too. This morning I even walked on a section of sidewalk that I haven't seen since my freshman year. That was a little nostalgic for me, but it was very different this time. Last time I walked there, I was walking south, away from home, and at dusk. This morning I walked on it going south, towards home, around noon. And the first time I walked there, I had no idea where it led. This morning, I knew exactly where it was, naturally, since I'd been there before. One thing consistent in both occasions is that I was alone both times. It's wierd how many memories come flooding back though, even after so long. Some people say that smells take you back in time more than any other physical sense, but I don't remember how it smelled back then, probably like the rest of Provo. But I definitely went back in time a little bit today. In summary, that is one of the things that I have rediscovered. I didn't mean for that to get so long. This whole week has been a week of old memories though, it's not just the sidewalk thing. And I hope no one thinks I'm crazy for writing about a stinking sidwalk too, that's not the point.
Compilation
This is going to be a long post. Since I've been so negligent about keeping a blog, I'm going back through things that I've written in the past month or two, and posting it here.
From December 28, 2006:
College is pretty much the best thing ever. I love it. I miss it. I dream about it. I'm getting really pumped to go to the bookstore and fight through crowds and pay hundreds of dollars (ok, not that part) and buy some textbooks that will become my new best friends for the next four months. I will go to the library every day because I love it, and it's huge compared to any library in Idaho. I am excited to go see throngs of people all studying whatever it is that interests them. Where else besides a college campus can you find so many people with so many interests and so many interesting lives? Where else can you find the written word of more researchers and historians in one place? Where else can you go to feel completely surrounded by reason? Working at a warehouse for nine months didn't do it for me. North Carolina didn't do it for me. High school didn't even come close. Not every person at BYU is a mountain of talent, it's true, but they are all intelligent beings with hobbies and experiences and memories of the past. There's nothing like watching people and studying people. Humans are the dominant life form on earth and we are the most influential species on the planet. Why not study humans? Why not take the time to meet as many kinds of people as possible? Why not take the time to learn the memories of those who left us their books and journals? They left us their minds in a way that no other animal can do. We have a responsibility to read and study and learn and to use the combined knowledge of every member of the human race in our own world to better our circumstances. If we don't learn from other people, we waste our potential, and the human race as a whole starts to digress. We are a race of progress. Individual learning and study benefits the whole world, however slightly. Where besides college does this dream start to come true for someone with no experience in the world and no political or social influence? That's why I'm excited. I'm going back to BYU in a week to learn how to change myself and my future. I'm totally stoked, you have no idea.
From January 2, 2007:
Funny things happen to your body when you deprive it of sleep for four or five consecutive days and then try to celebrate New Year's Eve to its fullest. For the last few days I've been waking up frequently during the night, and waking up early and for the most part, I've been unable to get back to sleep. After last night's festivities I retired to bed around four in the morning. Got up, ate breakfast, went to Julie's, went back to bed. Got up, watched the Fiesta Bowl game, and now I'm supposed to go back to bed because it's midnight. How can I sleep for eight hours tonight when I just woke up six hours ago? I saw three hours of daylight today. I've been asleep all day long. I suppose I'll be tired as soon as I go up to bed, but I think I'll probably end up waking up at some unholy hour of the morning.
But I have enjoyed some great wonderful benefits of New Years Eve celebrations. My first breakfast of the new year was gingerbread doughnuts with lemon icing, BSU won the Fiesta Bowl, I won at a fierce match of Killer Bunnies, I had the best popcorn of my life last night, made by my cousin Kim(berly), and I had two root beer floats and a banana milkshake today. This new year has gone superbly so far.
BUT, this just in-- my sister just told me that she wants my help cleaning up spilled oil and rotten oranges that were left in a cooler for a week. So, I guess my lucky streak has just run out. Oh well, I'll have a good day tomorrow to make up for it. I start with a dentist appointment, and only fate will tell what I will do with my day. My sister is leaving with her family, I might play some racquetball, and really just try to focus on spending the maximum time possible with all the people who are leaving either tomorrow or early Wednesday. Then I leave on Thursday, so maybe I should pack up some things, or at least clean up my living quarters before I go.
I've said before how excited I am to leave for school, but now that it's so close, I'm not sure I'm quite ready for it. I have two library books that I didn't read. I only started one of them. I'm such a loser reader. This is why I don't join book clubs. I've thought about that before. I think it would be fun to read the same book as someone else to be able to talk about it, but I would have to read it too, that's the catch. So I'll have to return those, and try again when I get to BYU. I'm sure I can find them in the library there anyway. If I can find it in Boise, there's no way the HBLL doesn't have it.
In summary, funny things happen to a guy over holidays.
From January 16, 2007:
1. Food: Popcorn, milk, grapefruit juice, chocolate, ice cream, asparagus, pork.
2. Objects: Ear warmers, wood floors, Chinese health balls, pillows, dogs.
3. Ideas: Astronomy, capitalism, haiku and other creative prose, history.
4. Things to do: Hockey, read, racquetball, look at photography, wear hats.
5. Music: Latin jazz, classical organ, Bach, The Postal Service, The Notwist, Guster.
6. People: Voltaire, Herodotus, George Washington, John Locke, Shakespeare.
7. More food: Queso fresco, Inka Kola, ceviche, flautas, tostaguacs, pozole.
8. More objects: Frisbees, stairs, sleeping bags, the Sun, recliners, leather.
9. More food: Cheeseburgers with grilled onions, bacon, pickles, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, an extra patty, more cheese, and no sesame seeds.
10. Words: Fricative, hoyden, nefarious, fickle, thrive, etymology, asphyxia.
From December 28, 2006:
College is pretty much the best thing ever. I love it. I miss it. I dream about it. I'm getting really pumped to go to the bookstore and fight through crowds and pay hundreds of dollars (ok, not that part) and buy some textbooks that will become my new best friends for the next four months. I will go to the library every day because I love it, and it's huge compared to any library in Idaho. I am excited to go see throngs of people all studying whatever it is that interests them. Where else besides a college campus can you find so many people with so many interests and so many interesting lives? Where else can you find the written word of more researchers and historians in one place? Where else can you go to feel completely surrounded by reason? Working at a warehouse for nine months didn't do it for me. North Carolina didn't do it for me. High school didn't even come close. Not every person at BYU is a mountain of talent, it's true, but they are all intelligent beings with hobbies and experiences and memories of the past. There's nothing like watching people and studying people. Humans are the dominant life form on earth and we are the most influential species on the planet. Why not study humans? Why not take the time to meet as many kinds of people as possible? Why not take the time to learn the memories of those who left us their books and journals? They left us their minds in a way that no other animal can do. We have a responsibility to read and study and learn and to use the combined knowledge of every member of the human race in our own world to better our circumstances. If we don't learn from other people, we waste our potential, and the human race as a whole starts to digress. We are a race of progress. Individual learning and study benefits the whole world, however slightly. Where besides college does this dream start to come true for someone with no experience in the world and no political or social influence? That's why I'm excited. I'm going back to BYU in a week to learn how to change myself and my future. I'm totally stoked, you have no idea.
From January 2, 2007:
Funny things happen to your body when you deprive it of sleep for four or five consecutive days and then try to celebrate New Year's Eve to its fullest. For the last few days I've been waking up frequently during the night, and waking up early and for the most part, I've been unable to get back to sleep. After last night's festivities I retired to bed around four in the morning. Got up, ate breakfast, went to Julie's, went back to bed. Got up, watched the Fiesta Bowl game, and now I'm supposed to go back to bed because it's midnight. How can I sleep for eight hours tonight when I just woke up six hours ago? I saw three hours of daylight today. I've been asleep all day long. I suppose I'll be tired as soon as I go up to bed, but I think I'll probably end up waking up at some unholy hour of the morning.
But I have enjoyed some great wonderful benefits of New Years Eve celebrations. My first breakfast of the new year was gingerbread doughnuts with lemon icing, BSU won the Fiesta Bowl, I won at a fierce match of Killer Bunnies, I had the best popcorn of my life last night, made by my cousin Kim(berly), and I had two root beer floats and a banana milkshake today. This new year has gone superbly so far.
BUT, this just in-- my sister just told me that she wants my help cleaning up spilled oil and rotten oranges that were left in a cooler for a week. So, I guess my lucky streak has just run out. Oh well, I'll have a good day tomorrow to make up for it. I start with a dentist appointment, and only fate will tell what I will do with my day. My sister is leaving with her family, I might play some racquetball, and really just try to focus on spending the maximum time possible with all the people who are leaving either tomorrow or early Wednesday. Then I leave on Thursday, so maybe I should pack up some things, or at least clean up my living quarters before I go.
I've said before how excited I am to leave for school, but now that it's so close, I'm not sure I'm quite ready for it. I have two library books that I didn't read. I only started one of them. I'm such a loser reader. This is why I don't join book clubs. I've thought about that before. I think it would be fun to read the same book as someone else to be able to talk about it, but I would have to read it too, that's the catch. So I'll have to return those, and try again when I get to BYU. I'm sure I can find them in the library there anyway. If I can find it in Boise, there's no way the HBLL doesn't have it.
In summary, funny things happen to a guy over holidays.
From January 16, 2007:
1. Food: Popcorn, milk, grapefruit juice, chocolate, ice cream, asparagus, pork.
2. Objects: Ear warmers, wood floors, Chinese health balls, pillows, dogs.
3. Ideas: Astronomy, capitalism, haiku and other creative prose, history.
4. Things to do: Hockey, read, racquetball, look at photography, wear hats.
5. Music: Latin jazz, classical organ, Bach, The Postal Service, The Notwist, Guster.
6. People: Voltaire, Herodotus, George Washington, John Locke, Shakespeare.
7. More food: Queso fresco, Inka Kola, ceviche, flautas, tostaguacs, pozole.
8. More objects: Frisbees, stairs, sleeping bags, the Sun, recliners, leather.
9. More food: Cheeseburgers with grilled onions, bacon, pickles, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, an extra patty, more cheese, and no sesame seeds.
10. Words: Fricative, hoyden, nefarious, fickle, thrive, etymology, asphyxia.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
24 days later...
So, I'm really still alive, I promise. I just wanted to post something that's been going on lately. This all started in Boise since I got home from North Carolina, but it really grew to frightening proportions since I've been in Provo. Almost every night I dream about my teeth falling out. Almost without fail. Last night I dreamed that I was at some kind of party, and there were all sorts of people there that I vaguely recognized but couldn't recall where I knew them from. I don't know how it happened, but by the end of the dream I had lost my two front teeth (not just halves anymore either, this time they got cut off at the gumline) and I lost another half tooth and chipped one more. It's so weird. Why would I dream about this over and over again? My teeth have never really been a sensitive subject to me, I'm not consciously afraid of anything happening to them. My roommate says that dreaming about your teeth falling out or breaking usually has something to do with stress. It seems odd that the same thing keeps happening to me in my dreams, but in different ways every night. And it's seriously almost every single night, I would even say that every night when I actually remember my dreams, losing teeth is always involved somehow, and I keep losing more and more of them. It started with just one, last night the count reached four for the first time. Creepy? Yes, I think so.
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