I believe that pets should have people names.

My roommates and I talked pet names last night while I cut Monique's hair. I believe that pets should have people names. That's my stance on the matter. It's degrading to name your animal Spooky or Oreo or Rufus or whatever. I told my roommates that my sister has a fish named Igor Stravinsky. That's when the crickets went off.

Trevor and I have a dream of owning a cat and naming it General Sterling Snedigar Price. In the films True Grit and Rooster Cogburn, John Wayne's character has a cat named General Sterling Price. I've been meaning to research if that was a real person or not, and did it today. Sterling Price was a Civil War general who retreated to Mexico rather than surrender to the Union at the end of the war and was leader of a Confederate exile colony there. And the Snedigar part is just plain necessary, as anyone who knows our dear friend Sterling Snedigar could attest to.

This report will challenge everything you ever thought...oh, wait

Every once in a while a study is released that makes me go "duh". Here's a prime example: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/04/dating.mating.ap/index.html

I miss Finola, Isaac, Kimora, Jay, Niecy...

Something is wrong with the cable in my new apartment. We get SEVEN channels dedicated to sports (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNCL, Verus, The Mtn, Fox Sports), but no Style Network. A much graver offense: we get TWO channels dedicated to country music (Great American Country and Country Music TV), but no Style Network. Also, no Black Entertainment Television. I think I should call somebody a racist and tell them that two country music channels must be balanced out with BET. (Not that I ever watch BET, but it's one of those channels that it's fun to flip to for twenty seconds to enjoy another culture...similar to my love of watching bits of soap operas in Spanish from time to time.)

Part II

Most of you know that my boyfriend (hereafter referred to as "Trevor") is in a band (hereafter referred to as "Part II"). Their first show is this Saturday (Sept 8th) at 8 (pm) at Bruce's house (1715 N 500 E), and they should be playing in a battle of the bands thing next week Friday (Sept 14th) in the Ream's parking lot (I have no idea what time, but you'll be notified). So those of you in the Provo area, go see them. It'll be a grand ol' time.

For some time now, it has been on my to-do list to figure out how to insert music onto my blog. I've wanted to on other occasions, but I had to do it for this post, as I've had many friends ask what sort of music Trevor's band plays or how good they are or whatever. So using my limited knowledge of html and the numerous forums, etc., set up to help kids who don't know anything about the internet put things on their myspace pages, I now present to you Part II (feat. Trevor doing vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Tylor on lead guitar and Bruce on drums):

Larry Craig

How many sex scandals can we have on Capitol Hill in one year (Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig)? Also, even though he's obviously not a senator, can I throw Ted Haggard into this conversation just to make my argument stronger that there are a ton of sex scandals lately involving powerful people that promote family values? Do things like this always happen and it's just the media decided that this year would be the year of the Congress sex scandal (like that one year when they extensively covered every single kidnapping or that one year they covered every single shark attack and everyone thought these things were more prevalent when in reality it was just the fact that the media made them so) or is this some sort of new thing and an indication of the disintegration of morals in America or something like that? Was that last sentence far too long to be understood or does the fact that a good chunk of it was a parenthetical statement make it okay? Does it mean something that the scandals are all with right-wing-ers? Is that the media's fault? Is a Democrat who engages with a prostitute or comes out as gay or whatever not going to get the coverage that a Republican does? Is that wrong?

I like John Edwards

I always have. He seems honest. Yes, he's rich and white, but that doesn't mean he isn't sincere. Two articles from Time (one's a little long, but both are worth reading, in my opinion):

John Edwards Bets the Farm
No Baloney Candidate

Yes, he's not the most knowledgeable when it comes to foreign policy, but at least he admits it and disagrees with presidential micromanaging. Yes, his plans aren't perfect, but nobody's are. At least he has plans (I like Obama, but his rhetoric to actual plans ratio is a little high). But I love how ambitious he is for the country and not for himself. It's refreshing in a presidential candidate. He's been painted often as a hypocrite and, yes, he looks a little like a Ken doll, but I, at least, feel he's a sincere man. I think I've said this before on this blog, but I'm telling the tale again: When John Edwards first entered the national stage around 2003, it was during the years of my life when I only got my news from the radio. I liked the way he spoke and felt he was a very sincere man. It wasn't until later, when I saw him speaking on a TV, that I figured out where people get the idea that he's not very genuine. He looks political. Ah, well.

In other news, Rachael's blog recently had a link to a post I wrote last spring and it spawned in me a long perusal of my old posts, which I found very enjoyable. Perhaps I'm just self-centered. Is it weird that I really like reading my own blog?

What's new

New apartment, new roommates...

My dresser is big enough to hold about two pair of pants. I'm already getting creative with clothes storage and I desperately need to do laundry at which point I'll have far more clothes and...it's going to be very tricky. If only we were allowed to hammer up some shelves or something. The storage situation is atrocious.

I've already created a sensation with the roommates. As soon as I moved in I made it clear that they are to be my minions and directed them to how the furniture in the living room is to be arranged while I am living there. Or, in other words, my TV was too big for the entertainment center so I came up with a plan that everyone agreed to so that we could still have a TV in the room and our living room is totally different/better, but it's not a big deal. But I have left my mark within the first day, which was exciting.

Why, cats paint?

For my birthday last year, my dear roommate Clara got me the best calendar ever. It is based on this book:


As a huge cat lover and a medium-sized art lover, I've found it very enjoyable. It's full of pictures of cats painting and fabulous commentary that illustrates the pretentiousness of modern art criticism better than anything I've ever seen. It's adorable/hilarious. An excerpt:

On mornings when the sun shines obliquely through the aquarium, Purrtle will sometimes spend several hours exciting the Red-Cap Orandas by flicking his fluffy white tail at them. The more frustrated he becomes the more he flicks, and the more the fish dart about until simultaneous bursts of high feline and piscine tail energy are engendered. It is these sessions that are the inevitable precursors to Purrtle's painting. The resulting works are full of frenzy and turbulent passion yet laden with implication, every aspect of them exhibiting the undiluted essence of feline frustration. Using bold downward strokes, Purrtle perfectly captures the essence of piscine form. We immediately see the red head of the fish and its white tail flashing behind as it dives down from right to left and there can be no doubt that this is a fulminating moment of pure escape from the watchful eyes (top right). But despite its evident pictorialism, the feline self, depicted by its own white tail is cleverly dispersed throughout the work. As critic Kevin Casey notes, "...Purrtle's solipsism poignantly reflects the feline self encouraging itself through the juxtaposition of waving appendages--each coexisting as reluctant coordinates in glassed-off virtual reality."

It's brilliant, yes?

My thoughts on that one variety of modern art that people look at and say, "my cat could've painted that": It doesn't take a ton of talent to create. I know that. But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to appreciate. People who believe that just because something is easy to do it can't be admired are missing out on many beautiful things in life. There's actually real life aesthetic value to some of the cat paintings in the calendar. I don't believe Purrtle was thinking solipsistic thoughts whilst dipping his paws in paint and stroking them on a card on the wall, but I would hang up that picture he is painting in my house because it is pleasing to look at to me. And I can even be and have been emotionally moved by these sorts of paintings. Not because I think they say a lot about philosophies or any of that ridiculousness, but all still have an emotion attached to them. You can look at any set of random brush strokes or shapes and see "balance" or "chaos" or "agitation" or "peace" or "movement" or "progress" or "fury" if you just look to appreciate instead of to criticize. I actually really like this sort of art, judge me if you will.

Happy birthday to me...

Yes, it's my blog's birthday. Last August 26th I published my first post on what has become a very necessary part of my life. I've enjoyed writing here and plan to continue for some time. I hope you've all enjoyed reading. One-hundred-seventy-nine posts strong, baby! And congratulations/thanks to those few who started out reading this and still do and have read every single post over this year.

I definitely thought about writing another post quickly this morning before posting this so that I could say "One-hundred-eighty posts strong, baby!", but I need to get ready for church (my first day with the 8:30 am schedule, ugh) and it would be something completely useless. I just like even numbers so much more than odd plus multiples of ten always put you into the next bracket of having a lot of something...if that makes sense.

You know you've spent a lot of time with Trevor when...

You take a walk with your mother and little brother through the desert and spend your time thinking to yourself, "Day 16: we left the village over a fortnight ago and there's still not a tree in sight to give us shade and temporary respite from the heat. Ammunition and morale low." etc.