Christmas Break

This post talks about what I've done on my Christmas break. It's the product of boredom and is pretty scatterbrained. I know I've been really bad at updating the blog as of late, so we'll see if I can get things going better in 2012.

Because Salt Lake International Airport is between my parents' house and my apartment, this is how my vacation weekends can sometimes feel:

Thanks to Hyperbole and a Half for the image.

When I come home after for the holidays, my first thought is usually this:

And then I go to the home computer and find that the only web browser installed is Internet Explorer, and I think in my head "what year is it?"

The only computer game installed on the computer at home is Age of Mythology. Man, I forgot how much fun that game was. My favorite moment is when you finally crack your opponent's military and take down their settlement. The battle is over but you still have to destroy the town to win. You see about twenty little villagers pour out of the town center and start running for their lives in every direction. Perhaps they have some small hope that if they can escape; then maybe - just maybe - they might be able to start over. Build a refugee camp. Live a quiet life for a while. Then train their kids to be soldiers and avenge their fathers' deaths in a violent final battle that will take place ten minutes later.

But I am not going to allow that to happen.

At least, that's how I envision it in my mind. In reality, it's probably more like this:

People who've played an Age of Empires game before will understand.

While we're on the topic of video games, we went to my aunt's house for our extended family Christmas party. While there, my aunt broke out one of their Christmas presents, Dance Central 2, and challenged my little brother and me to a dance off.  Keep in mind that my aunt is relatively young and teaches dance.

We did a dance off to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. You can see the choreography below:



I pretty much rocked it (I'm pretty good at doing the Fierce Kitten), which was probably a little disturbing to the rest of the family. But hey, that's how I roll. My aunt best be bringin' her A-game the next time we meet.

Other than that, I've done pretty much nothing all Christmas break, and it was everything I could have hoped it to be.

EpicStudyTime

So this is how my finals week went, starting with the Saturday before finals:

I listened to the rest of the message, packed up my stuff, and left the building - feeling totally unprepared for the rest of the week.

The library was closed on Sunday, it being the Sabbath and all. But on Monday, the library started staying open until 2:00 AM. I knew that I would be spending quite a bit of time there on that day.

I got a lot done and was pleased with my efforts that night, but I still had four more tests to go, so I needed to study a lot more on Tuesday.

I wasn't as successful on Tuesday, and knew that I would have to be in the library late again on Wednesday.

At the end of this night, I had what has got to be one of the stupidest thoughts I've ever had, which I can only attribute to lack of sleep and a diet of Dr. Pepper and Gummi Bears:

"Hey, I've been in the library every night at closing time this week. Wouldn't it be cool to say I was here at closing every night of finals week? There's only one more night left."

Well, on Thursday, I still had only taken two of my five finals. I had several review sessions and group study periods scheduled, and some other errands that needed to run. By 9:00 PM, I had been on campus for ten hours and still had two more finals to go. 

I trudged up the steps to my usual spot on the fifth floor to start my final cramming session. My friend urged me to go home - I didn't look like I was up for another five-hour study session. I declined. I was one day away from meeting my goal of being in the library every day of finals week, and nothing - not friends, not girls, not offers of free tacos - were going to keep me from it. Gosh dangit.

Approximately four and a half hours later:

P.S. My final grades were A, A-minus, and three B-pluses - which is the Asian equivalent of a D, but still good enough for me to keep my GPA within scholarship range.

Safe Search?

So I was working on creating illustrations for the Primary Children's Keyboard Songbook a while ago (by the way, MormonMarket.com is having a wicked Christmas sale right now, so you should check it out!).

Anyway, I needed a reference for the front cover, so I decided to go to Google and do an image search of a young child participating in the activity I wanted to paint.

Have you ever said something really stupid or offensive without thinking about it, and then as soon as it comes out of your mouth you realize you've made a huge mistake?

Yeah, so this was kind of like that, only a little more colorful.




I learned that day that there are some things you can type into Google that will turn up interesting results no matter how strict the safe search setting on your computer are.

Dear Future Me

So, a little while ago, I was going through some of my old stuff when I came across something interesting: a letter addressed to myself. It said "Open in 2012."

I thought for a second, and then I remembered. Back about five years or so ago, my high school made me and a bunch of other kids write letters to ourselves. It was one of those experimental programs that made you set goals and had pillars of excellence or some other type of educational mumbo-jumbo that sounds good on paper.

I was impatient and decided to open the letter and read it right then:

Dear Future me,


I thought, "Wow, it's like I'm hearing a voice crying from the dust--a specter from the past speaking from beyond the grave!"

Well, I really don't want to write this. I think this class is pretty stupid. In order to fill out more time and make it look like I'm busy, let's talk about stuff that's just as meaningless as this class.

So last night I was watching Heroes. Do you remember that show? It was a pretty good episode. I like that TV series a lot right now.

"Oh yeah, I do remember that show. I used to love that show!"

"Too bad it only had one good season and then got canceled while I was on a mission."

For those that didn't know, I am a Mormon, so I did that whole two-year mission deal. I left college after freshmen year to go preach the gospel to people across the southern United States. Yes, it doesn't make any sense to do professionally.  I had to go through the process of putting a scholarship on hold, and play catch up on all the stuff I had forgotten during those two years. 

But if I could go back, would I change my decision? Not a chance.

In the end, I realized the financially responsible thing to do would be to go to a school that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I ended up never applying, even though the school sent me a couple of letters. I think my counselor was slightly disappointed.

Ouch.

Bake ALL the Pies!!

So, my family always makes great Thanksgiving dinners, but there is one thing that we do exceptionally well.

These pictures are from last Thanksgiving, but I think you get the picture.