Song of the Moment

- absent for the moment -

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Poor Thing in the Bathroom

*As a heads-up, this post is not intended to mock or make fun of. Simply to inform of an event that I found slightly amusing and saddening.

So, today I was in the library on campus and I had to go to the bathroom. So I did. While relieving myself at the urinal, I had a bit of a surprise. First, the urinal that was flushed two down from mine overflowed. Needless to say, I was a little antsy, because I was pretty much anchored to the spot--you fellas know what I mean.

Then there was a second surprise. Someone came out of the stall behind me, and went to go wash their hands. And I honestly couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl. Very ambiguous, very Pat. They (notice the gender-neutral pronoun) walked over to the sink to wash their hands, and were looking around uncomfortably. Manner of dress and hair were mostly girl-ish, but they were in the mens room. If it was a girl, I feel really bad for her. She may have come in without looking closely at the sign. Maybe there was no one else in there when she came in. And when she came out, all of a sudden--there were boys. Wow. Awkward.

But then again, maybe it was just a guy with long-ish hair who would look uncomfortable and out of place no matter where he was.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Two months and a pregnancy later...

I'm sorry to have let down my faithful army of blog readers. All three of you must have been somewhat saddened by the lack of updates for a couple of months. Sorry. So here's an update on some stuff.

Married life: awesome. It's been fun to learn more about Jess, and life is good. It's fun to eat together, to talk to each other, and to just have someone there to be with. Interesting, though, how life doesn't really slow down at all. It just seems to have gotten busier...

Flight of the Conchords: hilarious new show. It's a fictional show about a real band from New Zealand in New York. It's witty, and the show is basically just a vehicle for setting up their songs. Which are hilarious. "Am I freaking you out, Bret? Is this a freaky dream?" --Jermaine Bowie

The Office: yeah, I've been a little disappointed by the recent episodes (though I haven't seen the 4th one this season, so I'm really only commenting on the first three). It seems like they have great material for a slam-bang half-hour episode, but things get drawn out ridiculously, and I find myself questioning, "Just how stupid can Michael really be? Is Dwight really going along with that?" Sigh... here's hoping that we find redemption soon.

Heroes: ...fine, I got hooked by first season. Yes, I'm curious to see how this X-men ripoff turns out. *Sigh*, now it's out. But really I'm only interested in what happens to the amnesious Peter Petrelli, the stuck-in-the-past-stuck-on-the-lady Hiro, crazy old Sylar, and Claire's hot new boy toy (thanks, Jess!). Will Peter turn evil? What kind of internal turmoil will he undergo? Our goody-two-shoes hero may have to find himself again. Hiro is trying to turn Mr. Sark into a hero, but is falling for the lady that Sark's supposed to end up with. So sad. Sylar--is he redeeming himself? Or will he turn out just as psychotic and evil as before? And Tom Welling, er, "West," ... my theory is that he's the guy who pushed Hiro's dad off the roof. I'll betcha he's working for Parkman's dad. He's evil. Poor Molly.

Guatemala research project: I interviewed on Friday for a position in a research lab. I'll find out on Tuesday if I'm in, but it sounds pretty sweet. We'll be going to Guatemala to bring back plants that the indigenous folks use for medicinal purposes. Then we'll test them to see what is effective against what. Then we'll figure out the 30-40 best plants, make a booklet, and distribute it back amongst the indigenous folks so that they can take care of themselves better. Another potential benefit will be that 5-6 of them could be cultivated by the people as a cash crop, then sold to herbal companies. Pretty sweet. It's a paid lab, I'd have the chance to publish and present, and get to help people. And go to Guatemala. Could it get any better? My wife can even come!! Sweet!!! We'll see how it goes.

General Conference: awesome. Absolutely amazing. Maybe I'll post more about it as I review the talks from it.

Car: frustrating. The stupid check engine light hates me. I've now replaced the catalytic converter, the rear O2 sensor, and cleaned the air filter. Still giving me an error, and it upsets me. We also have to get the clutch replaced. Good thing people gave us money when we got married... :) But I still love the car.

His Dark Materials: an interesting book series by Philip Pullman. A little strange, but a good read, and very engaging. It ate up a lot of my time. And Jess's.

Divine Comedy: really funny last night, but I miss a lot of the old cast members. Some of the new folks I find grating. Not cheese, nerves. But it was still funny. Except for one of the last jokes. It was in relation to the Quill and the Sword, a medieval club on campus. The folks in the group are already somewhat ostracized, and then they were made fun of in a way that was not uplifting, but just sad. Several of us were offended by the joke.

Caleb and Sarah: awesome. They need to get married. Soon. 'Nuff said.

Sucking hot chocolate through grasshopper cookies: Choco-bliss. Wow. Wow, wow. Mmmm.

TMNT: we just watched this last weekend, and we both had a good time. I liked it, and it reminded me of the good old days. Except that I didn't like Splinter's voice. April's a ninja? Right... and thanks for teaching good morals by having Casey Jones and April living in the same apartment. Unmarried. That's what I want to teach my kids. *Thumbs down raspberry*

And Jess is an amazing cook. Scha-weet!

And God has been kind recently with my test and homework situation. He's really blessed me A LOT. And I'm very appreciative.