A Fond Farewell to Tetris Too?!

I listened to The Division Bell today for the first time. Wow, it was beautiful! I've actually already heard at least half of the songs on it, and really liked all of them. I didn't know they all came from this album, though. Now I have to buy it. I must.

And in deciding to play some Tetris today, which I haven't played much in the last couple of years, I can say that it doesn't take the edge off like it used to...so I'll have to turn to drugs. Just kidding. Although, I'm not sure what has taken the place of establishing order for my thoughts like the entrancing joy of arranging falling blocks. Hmm...that is a mystery. Maybe I deal with my problems in an emotionally mature manner now. It's kinda too bad, I miss that outlet. I'm not good at the game at all anymore, honestly. Weird.

Kicking off the Break

I think I'm still sick after taking two different kinds of antibiotics. Ugh...I think the infection has been lingering, at times in latency, for years now. It doesn't want to go away quietly. A pox on it! Anyway, I'm now officially on my spring break. Like usual, no big plans at all. I never have much money when it comes around. And so, I'm thinking to save up a little fund, just for next year's spring break (my last!...finally). I vow it will be a good one. For now, I'm just enjoying spending some time with the family. I want to perhaps do a bit of writing as well, which I never really get around to besides letters and school papers.

Honestly, I think that the major writer's block I have on some projects is due to the fact that I have recently become disenchanted with fiction. Oh, no, that's not entirely right. No, to say "disenchanted with fiction" is to say...something I would never hope to truly feel. I take it back. What I mean is that I am more inspired by nonfiction lately (last couple of years). I actually bought this book a couple summers ago from the USU bookstore on writing nonfiction. I haven't read it yet, actually. Half my bookshelf is unread. I like to buy books, hoping to get around to reading them. I hate renting them from the library, as I love to write comments in the margins...occasionally just a "haha" if I find something amusing. It's fun to write comments, and quotes, etc. Actually, my "nonfiction writing" is probably half quotations that come to my head as I think about ideas. I'd really like to shake that habit, I mean, shouldn't I be writing the quotable? But, maybe my writing will just be an enthusiastic account of my reading. Fine enough, as long as it makes me happy, and helps me down the line somehow...to remember.

My weekend was pretty fun, I guess. That date was a bit weird, but only because it was a group date...that didn't seem like a date, and then it did again. Somehow I didn't end up talking to the guy that asked me much at all, or riding in his car, and another guy ended up paying for three dinners. His, mine, and his "date's"...I suppose. Suffice to say that any group date of a somewhat confusing nature is not much of one, so I don't feel quite as bad. Er, yeah.

Speaking of group dates, I just went to the Red Carpet Date Night at the Capital building last night. Matt was going with a group from his ward that didn't have dates, and I came along too. I love that building! It is so beautiful. Especially when I saw it a couple months ago when it was snowing. Really, the only dances I have been to have been in gyms and the like. Not the best atmosphere. So, I loved going there.

The most hilarious part was when that horrible song Cotton-Eyed Joe started up and my brother and I happened to both take a very conspicuous if not wild dash away from our respective places on the dance floor only to meet at the stairwell that had yellow tape preventing our escape. Unfortunately, living in Utah, there is too much country played at some dances. But, if it pleases the crowd...whatever...make the morons happy. Haha, you know, I don't suspect that calling country-lovers morons will come off too offensive as none of my family members or good friends are into it at all. What an irrational love of bad music. I did dance to a country slow song, but, you can't refuse a guy based on the music. I have before, though. Tisk, tisk, I was a jerk. But the song was really bad! And he knew me, so he understood my repulsion to country.

I actually thought about a dance that my friend Patrick held a couple years back, and remember that it was incredibly fun because I got to submit my own music. It counts so much! Even more than marble pillars. But that's just my gripe because I don't listen to what most people do. Although, I do listen to popular music, only decades behind. I kinda wish I was into lesser known or underground artists (same thing?). Access to the unpopular is, of course, less accessible. I wish that Logan had a lot of local bands and shows. There is a Battle of the Bands in a few weeks though, which is free. I'll be there! And the winner plays at Eve 6. I might go to that too, especially if I like the band that wins the battle. Game on!

Intra-ward Dating

Wow, I found this cover pretty audacious and disturbing. I'm sure that it is supposed to be funny. It reminds me of the times when I heard people referring to the directory as the "menu," and getting a bit unnerved. It makes me really not want to date anyone in my current ward. I'm actually going on a date tomorrow night with this guy in my ward, and I honestly have no idea where he got my number (as the directory has apartment numbers and not cell phone numbers). However, he is the ward clerk, so maybe he looked at my membership record or something. Um...haha, isn't there a disclaimer that says: "For church use only" on those things? It's cool, only light-hearted paranoia here. He's a nice guy, it will be fun. Plus, he's the sort that genuinely likes getting to know people, so I won't feel guilty that I'm not interested in more than that. And I shouldn't ever be, because that is good enough.

In the only conversation I can remember having with him he totally dismissed one of my passions, and didn't realize it. He asked me what my major was, and I said it was Biology. He then responded that he didn't think that Biology was a science. What?! It's like those people that don't think Mormons are Christians. It was ridiculous! Ah well, as long as he doesn't say that again, I'm sure I'll enjoy the date.

Of course, on the last date I went on I ended up crying...so, I'm sure a lot of future dates will go better than that. Although, I do cry a lot lately. Almost every other movie I watch makes me start to cry. Even First Contact. You know, the part where Captain Piccard goes back to save Data when the borg have taken over the ship, and everyone is evacuating? Data isn't even human, but he values their friendship. It was cute. And I cried three times during Les Miserables yesterday, in the first half hour alone. And I've seen it many times, and rarely done that. Although, that is "good crying"...which is a different emotion entirely.

Ah, I need a vacation. Spring break, hurra!

Sticking it to the Man

I told my roommate that I decided to only eat meat once a week, just to see what her reaction would be. Haha, she acted like I was an extremist that wanted to 'save the cows'. Just to get this straight: I don't think it's wrong to kill animals so that we can eat them. That's a different position entirely. I do think it's wrong to force them to live a painful and pitiful life because we need to crowd and mistreat them in order to keep up with production to feed our excessively meaty diets. So, do I expect to make a difference? At least, that was my roommate's disdainful question. Not really. In a way, I'm just sticking it to the man.

And no, I won't be cringing at people eating meat, because I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I will, however, cringe at people who mock the suffering of animals for their own benefit. It's a little sad when anything, good or bad, desensitizes your feelings toward other living things. I almost believe that some people's attitude about this is more detrimental than any physical suffering. No, I definitely believe that.

A Fond Farewell to Bacon?

I guess I've ignored the novelty of my new blog already. Honestly, I'm more comfortable with the extreme of either fun/superficial musings or intense/private ponderances. My goal of the mixture is likely to be a failure. Ah, well.

Actually, I think it would be significant to mention that I've decided to make a lifestyle/diet change. Lately, I've been thinking about animal cruelty. I remember that last semester someone was passing out pamphlets about it on campus, and I actually read through it. The discussion was primarily on the treatment of animals in the food production industry (i.e. pigs and hens in over-crowded pens). Usually, I am not swayed by these sort of pamphlets, as often times the language is biased and accusatory, which negates the credibility of a message that is already smothered with all sorts of fallacies (e.g. appeal to emotion and the "straw man" principle).

However, this particular pamphlet was persuasive by appeal to emotion, yet remained respectable and objective. The best part was a reasonable and effective solution. Eat less meat. Ah, "less" they say. No, they don't want everyone to suddenly become vegetarians or vegans. That's pretty crazy. But if everyone seriously cut down, the industry wouldn't be forced to meet such high public demand, and thus it would be much easier for more humane animal treatment to be implemented.

I remember that I considered following that advice. Apparently, the pamphlet wasn't enough, though. So what has happened lately that makes me seriously want to become supportive of humane animal treatment? Nothing significant. I just like to read Brian May's blog, and he is a huge animal rights activist. His target is more an attack on the animal suffering that results from scientific experimentation, but he also mentioned the benefit of eating less meat in the effort to reduce it.

Now, if we honestly needed to eat meat everyday, and needed to experiment on animals because there was no other way, it would be another matter. But we don't! We like to eat meat often, and it is convenient to experiment on animals. In my opinion, conveniency is one of the most threatening snares in beneficial guise. That's what gets to me, that we sacrifice ethicality for convenience and profit. I like to remember a comment that the character Malcolm makes in Jurassic Park. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could; they didn't stop to think if they should." Honestly, the spotlight of that disgust just happened to land on this particular issue for me recently. Are there more important issues of social morality which I could recognize and advocate? Probably...and I'll be happy to hear about it, as long as there are no blatantly obvious fallacies involved.

So, I'm going to start eating less meat, and choosing eggs from cage-free chickens, etc. I'm sure there are a lot of products that I need to become more familiar with as well. I also want to keep up with current events surrounding animal experimentation, and support the alternative efforts in any way I can. We certainly have the way, and though the will may lag behind, it is gaining momentum. Here are a few of the links that I found in Brian's blog:

Environment News Service
eNews 2.0
Animal Tests

You know, I really need to subscribe to some sorta science magazine. What? Who still reads those, you ask? Haha...I like tangible things! And I don't have my own computer to browse articles at my convenience. Oh...am I a hypocrite now? Well, not as long as reading magazines is unethical. Oh...the trees that went into making all those issues! There's no escape!

I just noticed how incongruent my last post is with this one. Maybe if the fish were confined to tiny kiddie pools in warehouses and weren't so neurologically primitive I would spare mentioning the tolerability of gutting them. But maybe I am a hypocrite. C'est la vie.