GUISE, I JUST FOUND CAFFEINE ON BYU CAMPUS

Seriously, you can buy it in the Museum of Art gift shop. Ta-da.

Sorry it's been a month since I updated. I'll have more time to do this after graduation.

Halloween Wrap Up and Other BIts

So it's election day and I've got some stuff from Halloween that I haven't posted yet.

First off, the Halloween Half Marathon:

I trained for it ever since the school year started. I got pretty fast at the end. I was able to run 8 miles in an hour and was feeling pretty good about how well I'd do. The biggest worry I had was what costume I'd wear while running the marathon.

But about 4 miles in, my knee gave out and I had to stop running. I ended up limping the remaining 9 miles of the race. So I ended up finishing an hour later than my goal, and my knee is still angry at me for even pushing that hard. It's pretty disappointing.

Oh well. At least I know that for the next race, I only have to run for five miles and I'll end up beating my time.

Actual Halloween:

This was my last Halloween at Brigham Young University, which is super sad. My school never disappoints me with it's creativity and its willingness to break social norms for the LOLs. In the past, we've had Pacman being chased by four ghosts through the Cougareat, multiple Sexy Sax Men serenading the business students in the Tanner building, and guy in a kilt straight up playing the bagpipes.

This year, I'm giving the costume of the year award to Bob Ross:

He wins for a couple of reasons:

• The dedication: the easel, the paints, the palate - the dude spared no expense.
• He's a really crappy painter, which makes this way funnier.
• He was narrating the whole time - just like the real Bob Ross. "Okay, now lets return to the flowerbed we started here. I'm going to add some Titanium White to these flowers...There we go.....happy little flowers...."

Also, it was an original costume. I think a lot of guys got lazy and went as Waldo this year.

That awkward moment when someone shows up with the same costume as you.

My Costumes:

For this Halloween, I had a couple of different costumes. I went as an emo-punk rocker for our ward Halloween party at Classic Skating.

On the far left.

It was good times. The best part about my costume was the awesome tattoo sleeve I gave myself using sharpies. You can see that below.

I also used sharpie to paint my nails black (washed most of it off in the above pic, but the residue stayed on for days), and got a friend to do some eyeliner for me.

I left the sleeve on for a few days after the party, because the looks I got from my fellow students (especially girls) was just too good. I believe that girls like the reformed bad boy image.

On actual Halloween, I went as Mr. Rogers. It was a pretty easy costume. I wore a cardigan and dyed my hair. Sorta (we used an entire can of the hairspray dye, and were only able to get it go salt and pepper greyish). Unfortunately, I don't have as good a picture for this one. But you can see me doing the Dougie below.

This party was only a couple of days after the half-marathon, and my knee was still giving me grief. I really shouldn't have danced as hard as I did. But when you're an Asian who can actually dance, and Gangnam Style starts playing, you have a moral obligation to do the dance.

Final Note:

Food storage - it's not just for gun-toting super crazies anymore. With Hurricane Sandy, we can see the benefits of keeping enough extra food to feed your family for at least a week. But even if you're not worried about a natural disaster, it would still be a good idea store extra food in case you face some unpredictable circumstances like unemployment or even just moving to a different state. The New York Times did this great op-ed on the benefits of food storage. I'd strongly recommend checking it out. It mentions some local companies, Mormons, and my boss Brandon Brooks of Packsize and  FoodStorageReviewer.com. 

Art Wurk

Hey, it's time to update the blog again with some of my newest artworks. [Because I do like to remind people that I can do things outside of MS Paint sometimes]

Because I had so much fun repainting the Caravaggio, I decided to try to create another old-school style portrait. Here it is:

I'm trying to get away from simply copying famous artists' works and create original content from now on. This portrait is a composite of a profile portrait done by Botticelli, as well as a few other stock photos I found on the interwebs:

So my second work is from my computer graphic design class. The assignment was to make a concert poster for a band. I chose to create a poster for The Format. Because, let's be honest, we'd all like to see them go on a reunion tour. 

Even though it's a computer graphic design class, I'm allowed to use any medium I choose. Since I don't have Photoshop, or even know how to use it that well, I decided to just paint the whole poster the old fashioned way. I scanned it in at school and then did some quick touch-ups on the computer.

Sorry for the crappy image! I'll replace it when I get a better one.

I wanted this poster to have a childlike nostalgia quality to it. I noticed that all of The Format's music videos tend to involve something kind of playful (a school play, performing hands, moving paper cutouts), so I thought that maybe a puppet show would be a good subject for a poster. It was suggested that the poster told the abstract story of what happens in a typical song by The Format, so that's what's going on there.

The poster is currently on display in the Harris Fine Arts Center on BYU's campus (fourth floor). You should go check it out if you have the chance.

As you can see, the rest of the class used their awesome Adobe software skills.

It's a pretty cool exhibit, if I do say so myself.

Finally, I wanted to show off a piece I did recently as a commission for a friend. She really likes princesses, so she asked me to paint Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I was a little sketchy of doing the project at first, since Disney princesses aren't really my repertoire. But, the project turned out to be a lot funner than I thought it would, and I'm very pleased with the results:

On that note, I'd like to put in a plug for myself: I am always looking for extra money and I would love to paint something for YOU, as long as you're willing to pay me for it. I charge a relatively good rate and am willing to negotiate. Just let me know either through Facebook, Twitter, or the comments here on Shared Musings.

An Act of Kindness on Valentine's Day

If you're a BYU student, you're probably familiar with the note shown below:

You might be familiar with this note even if you don't go to BYU. This story was picked up by every local station in Utah and even by The Daily Mail in the U.K..

But in case you're not, here's the really brief rundown: Brittany Molina, a 21-year-old accounting major, was studying in the library on Valentine's Day. For any girl, that would already be a drag. While she was studying, an anonymous male student passed her the above note and vanished. At first, she thought it was a Valentine, but obviously, it wasn't.This is what she was wearing at the time, by the way:

This is not outside the normal dress at BYU. In fact, here is the exact wording used in BYU's official Honor Code statement: 

"A clean and well-cared-for appearance should be maintained. Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, strapless, backless, or revealing; has slits above the knee; or is form fitting. Dresses, skirts, and shorts must be knee-length or longer. Hairstyles should be clean and neat, avoiding extremes in styles or colors. Excessive ear piercing (more than one per ear) and all other body piercing are not acceptable. Shoes should be worn in all public campus areas."

So here's my quick opinion about the guy that wrote that note:

1. You need to re-read the dress code statement.
2. If you feel the need to so brutally judge someone's spirituality based on the way they dress, at least pick someone that actually might need it.
3. Even if you do find someone who is breaking the dress and grooming standards, passing an anonymous note like that on Valentine's Day is tacky.
4. If you feel that what Brittany Molina was wearing makes you feel less "safe," you probably have a *cough* pornography *cough* problem. 

Anyway, I bring all that up because I wanted to share a story I heard in church today about another anonymous guy.

So this girl was sharing her testimony today in church and she talked about how she was also in the library on Valentine's Day, and there was guy wandering around with a large bouquet of flowers. He was walking up to all the girls who were studying alone and giving them a flower, wishing them a happy V-Day. And this girl actually teared up when she saw this guy going around, because of how kind he was being and how much she knew it must have meant to those girls (she was studying with another guy, so she didn't receive a flower herself).

Because of the media's taste for sensationalism, stories like this will almost never be reported, and this kid won't get the same media attention that Douchey McJudgemental will. Which is a darn shame, because I would much rather have my school be known as one that gives girls flowers rather than one that chastises them for wearing leggings.  Because of that, I wanted to share this short story with you, so that you can know that there are great guys out there who are willing to go out of their way to help a stranger.

TL;DR: Build people up by giving them flowers, rather than tear them down by calling them sinners.

Fun Pictures of Stuff

My life has been crazy busy as of late. I picked up a second job and my marketing group got a bit behind in a couple of our projects, but I think I'm finally catching up. I just wanted to quickly share some fun pictures of various things I've found or come across lately.

The first picture comes from an article written by the Student Review, the independent newspaper here in Provo that deals with hard-hitting topics that BYU's Daily Universe would never touch, like Jon McNaughton, or the how the BYU campus is ranked hottest in the nation. It's really about as rebellious as the guys who wear colored shirts to Sacrament meeting.

But before we get to that, I have to tell a story: one of my friends is in possession of a megaphone. Don't ask me why, just go with it.  Anyway, I was hanging out with this friend and several others at an Alpine Village apartment when someone thought it would be fun to shout things at people in the parking lot outside using the megaphone.

Someone heard us and submitted this fine quote to "Overheard at BYU," which ended up in the Student Review.

By the way, the guy did not get out of his car to walk the girl to the door. In response to this, my friend said "Girl, you totally need to dump him!" It was loud enough for the entire complex to hear.

Second, I had a photo that is neither fun nor interesting. I submitted a letter the the official campus paper, The Daily Universe, to tell the editor that I did not agree with their recent article on pawn shops and stolen property and so on. . . I'll probably tell that story some other time.

I just wanted to post this on here to show one of my biggest pet peeves:

How on earth did they misspell "Low" when I signed my own letter "-Jacob Low; Farmington, UT." It's really not that hard to spell. 

Next up is a Valentine my little brother, Clint, made. He is 10 years old.

"you keep me together"

"That was corny!"

 This picture has been on the BYU mainpage for a while. Is it bad that every time I see this picture. . .

. . . I immediately think of this one:

Image from Buzzfeed

I am a member of BYU's Marketing Association. They recently had a photo contest. The challenge was to wear your BYUMA somewhere cool and creative over the Christmas break and take a photo of it. Whoever got the most likes on Facebook won. I didn't go anywhere cool or creative over the break, so I created this image:

Look at the detailing on that hoodie! Look at it!

I thought the location was pretty cool and creative, but I lost to a guy who put his hoodie on his baby boy and got about 400 Facebook likes. That adorable little jerk.

Finally, I wanted to put a plug in for the newest exhibit at BYU's Museum Of Art, Beauty and Belief. It contains the largest traveling collection of Islamic art ever assembled in the U.S.. The exhibit is absolutely breathtaking, and I'd encourage you to go see it. Below is one of the pieces at the exhibit, from two different angles:

The Best of BYU Memes (so far)

The BYU Memes was created only about a week ago, and it's already has reached 3,700 likes on Facebook. I love memes and I love BYU, so this is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen online since all the Jimmer jokes last year. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

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.