Happy Halloween!

An update: my phone has gone into a coma. Living for two days without being able to communicate via speech to any of my family or friends away from Tallahassee has been surprisingly difficult. I mean, I know that we used to live like that until the last few decades - but I never did! So any kind of loneliness I might have felt beforehand is now exponentially stronger. It's just a little tough. :-(

But never fear! The Sprint people (as though they are a separate race of humans...) told me that I will be getting a new phone on Monday after 2pm. Why such a different answer than a few weeks ago when I complained of screen issues? Apparently they have a different opinion on phones with condensation under the screen. Hooray!

And it's Halloween!! Woohoo! I've learned to become a bit wary about 'parties' around these parts, what with underage drinking and skankiness always making a showing. So my big celebration ended up happening last night instead of this evening, when the FLYSAGA (FLorida Young Single Adults GeorgiA) group threw a Halloween dance at the Institute building in Gainesville, FL. The "Zombie Prom" as it was affectionately named was awesome, with dancing and food and fake blood and dead faces galore! But I must admit...I was a bit of a bum and didn't go in a costume (I've had a hard week, okay!). Thankfully, a friend of mine named Claire viciously applied eye shadow to my entire face - along with a few artful dabs of pomegranate Burt's Beeswax lip balm - and made me a zombie-fied college student! Hooray again!

I'll try to get some pictures from...um, well, I guess from anybody that was there, and then put them on here. It was a ton of fun! Even the 2 1/2 hour drive was a lot of fun (especially leaving Gainesville after 1am - and getting back into my own bed at 5am).

So here is my tribute to the Halloween spirit. After all, we must remember the reason for the season.


("Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?" from The Onion)

I overslept! September's LONG over!

A lot has happened here in sleepy Tallahassee over the last month. Let me explain. No, there is too much - let me sum up. (Yes, that is a quote from The Princess Bride for those of you that caught it.)

I auditioned for the opera Serse (Xerxes in English), and have been cast as Arsamene. Woohoo! There goes my Christmas break, learning a role! ;-)

I have taught voice lessons now for a couple of months. Who knew that I would take to private teaching?

My truck has now been replaced with a green Honda Civic. Crazy! But SO MUCH BETTER in gas mileage. You have no idea.

Also, I have decided to plan my descent into the 9th Level of Hell by signing up to do National Novel Writing Month next month. There are a few people in my ward that are going to do it, and they explained the whole thing to me. The basics: I'm going to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. As in 30 days. That equals out to about 1,667 words a day!


When they (my "friends"...) first told me about this, I thought they were simply crazy and/or masochistic. A whole novel in 30 days? What are they thinking?! I mean, I considered doing it at the time...but along the lines of crazily considering what it must be like to get struck by lightning (sizzle/KABOOM!), get in a fight with a shark (poke it in the eye!!), or leap off the Empire State Building (it would be pretty windy). Those aren't exactly serious considerations here.

But then I thought, "Ben, you used to write all the time when you were younger! Why not search for that creative side of you again?" And I have to admit...I had a pretty creative and active imagination. Even now my id likes to play around with me, giving me intense dreams with Blu-ray detail and elegant plotlines. But to actually dredge that part of my brain out of the muck of mediocrity? It'd be difficult to do.

So I decided to do it on a whim. That's how these crazy decisions work, isn't it?

Wake me up when September ends

Alrighty, it's been a little bit since my last post, and a lot has happened since then. For example, I'm in Tallahassee right now! Crazy! It's SO humid here, and combined with the heat...well, it's pretty much death. It's been raining almost every day here too. Yeah. There have been a lot of good things that have been happening (especially in school), but there have been a lot of crappy things happening as well. Like my backpack breaking last week. And not having a bed until (hallelujah!) two nights ago. Or not having any income from my assistantship until two weeks from now. And realizing the voice faculty want me to take 15 extra credit hours of language that I will have to pay for! And not having my financial aid money until I can deposit my check (which hasn't arrived yet) into a bank that doesn't exist yet in Tallahassee!!

*cough cough*
Sorry.

But anyway, I wanted to write today (especially today) because of a wee little occurence last night. It seems that my closet decided to herald in the new month by...imploding!! Yes, ladies and gentleman, my closet did pretty much the exact opposite of exploding by dropping it's largest closet rod/shelf on to the floor. At approximately 1 AM. As the story goes (...and I know, because I was there), I woke up early this morning with a loud and resounding CRASH that left me staring stupidly around my dark room. Without a lamp to see what had happened, I just assumed that one of the many boxes still stacked up in the middle of my room had fallen over or collapsed. I woke up this morning and saw...nothing out of the ordinary - as though my boxes had intelligently righted themselves (cue music from "The Twilight Zone"). I then assumed that the sound I'd heard the night before had to have come from the apartment upstairs. So I took a shower and got ready for the day.

I opened up my closet to pick out my clothes and found...



I stared at it for about a minute or two. Just stared. Marveling at the unexpected but inherent beauty in the angle at which all the clothes were laying, the perfect dichotomoy of order and chaos that were literally existing right next to each other, as well as the unbelievable-ness of what had occured. How?? Why?!?

On closer inspection I discovered that the screws and nails that held the shelf "securely" to the wall had been pulled out, ripping through the drywall and causing the loud CRASH at 1 in the morning. All of this from a bunch of shirts, some slacks, a canvas shoe holder, and some practically empty luggage on top of the shelf. For what I'm paying to live here, you would think that the closets would be adequately constructed! And I'd better not hear the management tell me that I shouldn't have things on top of the shelf. Otherwise, what is the POINT of a shelf?!

I pondered all of these things as I stared.

When I was done, instead of curling up on the floor and sobbing for Mommy, I decided instead to laugh and take a picture. After all, how often do we have the chance of having our closets implode?

Senioritis & Saigon Café

I've always been a "good" student. You know the kind, the ones that work hard on their papers and projects so that they are the best they possibly can be. I wasn't a total recluse, though; I've had my late papers and stuff like that. But overall, I've been a very conscientious student.

That student died a few weeks ago.

Now I find myself sitting here, with two papers and an exam looming over my head, writing a blog post. Me!! Of all people!! I hardly ever blog!! But Senioritis has now stepped into my life with a horrible vengeance. And as such, this seemed to be a perfectly good time to write some stuff down about what I've been doing.

Today I went to Saigon Café with Anthony, Angie, and my friend Kristin. I have to tell you - it's certainly not the best Chinese food you'll ever find, nor is it the most charming of locations and decor. But for the price...it's the best value around. Looking at different reviews from the Google search page, Saigon Café actually has gotten about an average of 4 out of 5 stars! Pretty impressive, eh?

As you probably saw on my previous post (#38), we go there often. It's just such a nice place to get cheap food that's not bad at all. In fact, combos are only $4.95 for the Chinese-style chips and dip, soup, entree with fried rice, and an eggroll. It's difficult to argue with that. BUT, every day they have one of their combos for only $3.95. So take a dollar off, and then it's almost impossible to say no! It has been a much cherished lunch locale for many years now.

Anyway, that's my little spiel about Saigon Café. For those of you still in Provo, please go enjoy it while you can. For those of you that have left - hold on to the memories!

A post for BYU-bound students

My little sister is about to come out here and start her college career at BYU! How exciting! There's a big part of me that's wishing I would be here for just one more year to enjoy it with her. Alas, that is not to be. So, instead, I've thought of something that should help out.

Here is a list of 50* things that I thought my little sister should do. Some of these simply can't be done in her freshman year (like #32), but many of them can. And, by the way, I've done each one of these things listed. There's a heck of a lot more that I could put on here, but I either couldn't think of them or I forgot. Hahaa...they're both kind of the same reason.

Anyway, let me know what you think of these! And see if they bring back any good memories. Or bad ones. ;-)

Things you need to do at BYU:
1. Hike the Y.
2. Stay up all night just talking to somebody (preferably of the opposite sex).
3. ALWAYS stop the car on 8th North for the ducks.
4. Play Frisbee at night with a light-up Frisbee.
5. Remember to sell back your books.
6. Read your textbooks.
7. Read something other than your textbooks.
8. Do not do homework on Sundays. Ever. Don’t even worry about it. Trust me.
9. Let your room become a pigsty at least once.
10. Now clean your room.
11. Participate in at least one performing group, officially BYU or not.
12. Participate in at least one athletic team, officially BYU or not.
13. Take an exercise class just for fun (Trevor’s hint: try Flexibility).
14. Speak to each of your professors at least once throughout the semester.
15. Get a job on campus.
16. Stay in the library until it closes at midnight – and enjoy the music.
17. Go night-skiing at Brighton.
18. Drop everything to go help a friend.
19. Play night games.
20. ALWAYS respect curfew. You signed your name and agreed to it.
21. Randomly burst out in song in the middle of Brigham’s Square.
22. Go camping.
23. Longboard down Provo Canyon (you’ll need 2 cars – try Nun’s Park).
24. Drop a bucket of bouncy balls down the SWKT stairwell. OR…
25. Drop/roll a bucket of bouncy balls down the spiral staircase in the JFSB. They’re both fun.
26. Laugh with a group of people until you all nearly pass out.
27. Go to the BYU Christmas Concert. Every year if you can.
28. Strike up a conversation with a completely random stranger.
29. Get lost in the basement of the HFAC.
30. Try out all the hands-on stuff in the ESC.
31. Go to J Dawgs.
32. Be a part of a dinner group.
33. Explore Salt Lake City Cemetery in the dark. Find Pres. Hinckley’s tombstone.
34. Start calling the Mormon Tabernacle Choir the “MoTab.”
35. Attend the MoTab Christmas Concert at least once.
36. Keep a picture of your family in your room.
37. Buy fudge from the BYU Bookstore.
38. Go to the Saigon Cafe for lunch. Often.
39. Keep a plant.
40. Attend a session of General Conference at the Conference Center.
41. Magnify your church calling.
42. Go to a midnight movie. Or a lot of them.
43. Go to the Holi Festival of Colors.
44. Don’t trust everything in Mormon Doctrine, no matter what other students may tell you.
45. Go and develop your own opinion of Sub Zero Ice Cream.
46. Stay at BYU for Spring/Summer Terms.
47. Drive through the Alpine Loop.
48. Get your car booted only once.
49. Take your friends and occasional date to lunch/dinner with your meal plan.
50. Go to the Bean Life Science Museum.
51. Go to the Skyroom with your friends at least once a semester.
52. Go to the Cracker Barrel every semester during reading days. Pajamas are necessary.
53. Take advantage of two-for-one massages at the school of massage therapy! Get a masseuse preferably of your own sex.
54. Break down BAWLING in front of someone at least once (preferably not in your family).
55. Have a picnic in the mountains.
56. Get ice cream at the BYU creamery. At least monthly.
57. After a huge snowstorm, observe the naked Indian.
58. Scream yourself hoarse rooting for BYU at the BYU-Utah game.
59. Go sledding at Rock Canyon.
60. Start cleaning for cleaning checks EARLY (and don't ask your mom or aunt for help).
61. You MUST go to a cornmaze during Halloween. At least once, preferably multiple times.
62. Take complete advantage of the BYU Lost & Found sale. Just get there a couple hours early and wait in line.
63. Have several DTRs. OR...
64. Have as many DTRs as would result in maximized utility, as circumstances may require.
65. Buy clothing from the BYU Bookstore (Becca's hint: shoes).
66. Volunteer at the TRC.
67. Attend the temple regularly. You will literally NEVER live that close to a temple again.
68. Live in the FLSR.
69. Stay up all night to write a paper.
70. Stay up all night studying with a friend of the opposite sex. At Denny’s.

*This is the updated post, including the additional items from comments. Feel free to keep adding! :-D