WSU Tenor Line

I went to Sam's Club for the first time in well over 10 years yesterday. I didn't give them any personal information. When I came to work today there was a Sam's Club ad and membership application on my desk.

The rest of this post is boring.

It's funny how often it happens that something will show up multiple times in life in quick succession after not being there for the longest time. This happens all the time for me. I can't think of other examples right now, but I remember having noticed coincidences in the past and thought of how sometimes they stand out like that to me.

Toldja.

It leaves life hollow and lived in name only. It is subtle and creeps in through the door of tendency, even after being repeatedly and unceremoniously given the boot.

In other news, I've decided I dislike the keyboard layout of the later McBooks.

Song "of" the day: Calling All Angels by Jane Siberry.

My new co-worker has a very dry sense of humor and deadpan delivery. Naturally, we get along.

I should've bought a kitchen timer along with the electric hand mixer when I was at BB&B. My ratio of good cookies to burnt cookies would've been more favorable.

The Utah Symphony playing Beethoven's 9th tonight was outstanding. I be Keith Lockheart could totally beat DDR on expert. He's got all the moves.

Today I used a skill I learned in college. That skill is skimming the assigned reading for just enough info to make an intelligent response. I can see both sides of the issue on whether that's acceptable or not.

On another note, I really wish I could tell the difference between the times when girls are being friendly and when they are expressing interest. I hate feeling like I'm being insensitive and don't much care for making a fool of myself either.

Ok, time for sleep. I will meet you all back here in exactly one post. Ready - break.

I think we're supposed to learn to act both ways: many things at once and one thing many times. Put another way is multitasking and consistency.

I noticed that after a whole summer where I visited the gym maybe four times that the first week of the semester (seeming like a good time to recommit) when I decided to run, I could only do so for about 5 minutes, and that at a pretty slow pace. Not completely unexpected, and not a problem since I wasn't expecting miracles. But then yesterday when I went again I went for over 10 minutes, and with the treadmill set at a faster pace. Maybe the first workout made the second one easier, but there was another difference. The first one was sans tunes, the second, with. I could focus on the music rather than the not-so-fun part of a run that happens before the endorphins kick in.

Then again, today I was doing housework and noticed that even though it was tedious and tiring (and I was starving) I hardly noticed time passing. I just sang along (only because my roommate wasn't there). I knew what I was doing wasn't as fun as relaxing on the couch with a Wii controller in my hand, but I was oblivious to it.

I find this happens a lot - doing two things at once (especially when one of them is fun or relaxing) makes it a lot easier to focus. Sometimes I can't for the life of me focus my thoughts just sitting still, but if I go for a walk my thoughts also gain direction and momentum. It's the same in relationships: you have to think about both the other person and yourself. Life in general is a multiplicity of demands and activities. Often having many things to do makes it more, rather than less, difficult. But where there's challenge there's growth potential.

The reciprocal - doing one thing many times, or consistently over time - is also important, and maybe more difficult. It's simple to get excited about something for a minute or a day. To acquire the mindset of commitment to a process or ongoing responsibility for the long term, and to let that drive continual action and course correction is a worthwhile if demanding venture.

On an unrelated note, I'm reminded of one of the few things of value I feel I gained from my college English courses: we write to think.

On another unrelated note, we transferred all of the to-date footage for the closing chapter of the Jinglesthula saga to Jarrett's macbook for editing. We still have some to shoot, but it's nearing the halfway milestone (which, in terms of our style of film making, equals nearly ready to call complete).

I have to admit I'm partial to Jamba Juice. The one in South Ogden was disenfranchised and now goes by the name Shaka Juice. Same animal, different name.

I stopped by there to grab a smoothie on my way to FHE. We would be hiking Adams Canyon near Layton. First time for me. The first stretch comprises a set of steep switchbacks. The soil here is very sandy, making the climb a bit more difficult. Add to this the lack of shade on this section of the trail and the evening sun baking us from the side. By the time the trail leveled out and entered the canyon I was already drenched.

I've hiked several canyons between Pleasant View and Provo (Taylor, Waterfall, Garner, Cold Water, Ogden, Strongs, American Fork) and each one is different. The rock and water features in Adams are worth seeing. The destination waterfall is much smaller than that in Waterfall Canyon, but still impressive, and similar to Waterfall there is a cool breeze continually flowing from the falls area, which is a nice finish to an arduous climb.

When I visited Saint-Chapelle in Paris I had an interesting experience. The entrance to the building is on the ground floor. You climb a short flight of stairs to get to the second floor, which is a single spacious room that is several stories high. The walls consist of stone pillars joined by floor-to-ceiling stained-glass murals. When I was walking up the stairs I had my head down, focused on my camera that I was intently adjusting some setting on. After reaching the second floor and entering the room I paused and finished with the camera. Then I looked up, not ready for or expecting the visual impact of the sight. There were several spots on the hike of Adams that evoked that experience.

As I walked up the trail my arms were brushed occasionally by various plants' leaves. The edges weren't especially sharp - maybe just enough so to cause superficial scratches. The contact caused a very slight histamine reaction that was a welcome indicator that I had actually left the man-made world that insulates much of my existence and entered the real Earth. Having an experience that is a bit raw and wild now and again can be cathartic and a welcome interruption to uninteresting, sanitized order.

The hike required enough that by the time the sun set, prompting us to run rather than walk down the trail, I began to descend into fatigue and somnolence. Which can be entertaining. Like when we came out of the canyon and a view opened up of the crescent moon over the city lights I smiled as my tired condition suggested that all the stars were on the ground, leaving the moon alone in the sky. Or when we rushed down the switchbacks at the end the image came to mind of building small castles from the sand collecting in my shoes as I ran.

Back at the car we broke out the watermelon and deliciously unhealthy cookies. Parked next to us was a mountain man (complete with long hair). We passed him and his kids towards the end of the hike, and they arrived as we started consuming our sugary snacks. He was a talker, and told us quite a few stories about the canyon and the cabin he was building halfway up it, about the third waterfall that the trail no longer runs by and how to get to it next time we did the hike, and about his career as a worker for the telephone company.

When I got home I took a shower that was just barely warm enough to not be too uncomfortable. I sat there, too tired to think in more than fragments: exhausted, sore, wish I had taken my camera with, going to be sore tomorrow, too fun, relaxing, I should probably go to sleep now, looking forward to the next hike...

I pay for the lack of snack.

I've noticed that when I purchase a large bag of peanut m&ms (for economy and because I love them so) I tend to not pay attention, as I work, to how many m&ms I eat. Also, usually when the munchies strike me it is not with enough force to cause me to get up from my desk and wander to the vending machines downstairs, and I simply continue working. When I have the large bag sitting in my desk drawer, it magically seems to wander out next to my computer and suck my hand right in. Therefore, if I simply buy a small bag from the vending machine when I am so possessed I will be healthier and richer than if I keep a large bag within reach. It may cost more per m, but it is the better way.

Which brings me back to where I started: the thought that some peanut m&ms would be nice right about now...

No, not sql. That's different, although there was some of that going on at work today as well, at least indirectly.

Late 20's, single, LDS, living in Utah. There's some pressure to get married. So I date. Without going into my entire dating life, I'll say that I had an interesting revelation just now. I was sitting on my couch thinking about my lunch date today and realized that one of the best things in dating is when I can see that I've made someone's day. Thinking back about when I asked the girl out yesterday for today's lunch I remember her smiling. After I left, she may have been gushing excitement (if she was interested in me), or she may simply have appreciated that someone asked her out (I've been given to understand that girls appreciate that). Wherever she fell on the continuum, she did smile. My point (lest the reader mistakenly think that this is simply hopeful romantic rambling) is not whether or how much she may or may not be interested in me. It is that I realized sitting on my couch this evening that there is something about making someone happy (whether a little or a lot, so long as it is real) that is very rewarding. For example:

She was working into the evening. A corner of the offices she worked in was hugged by an L-shaped hallway. The longer hall where the service windows were was wide enough for a walkway on either side of a freestanding stair in the middle going up to the second floor. Under the stair were some bench seats facing the windows. Earlier, on a whim, I decided I should get her a flower. My style has long been a single red rose with no green florists' tissue or greenery. Just a rose.

I held the flower below the counter, out of site as I approached her. She smiled and we greeted each other. She would close the window and come out on the short side of the hall, around the corner. After she left, I sat on the bench seats. Presently, I heard the door close and I arose and walked towards the corner. I held the rose mid-stem, flower up and behind my forearm, out of sight. She came around the corner and I turned the stem in my fingers, the flower curving back, down, around, and up towards her. "This is for you."

The next few seconds were one of the highlights of our relationship, at least for me. She was clearly elated. It wasn't the thanks or even the secondary benefit of a stronger relationship that such a romantic gesture can help cultivate. It was seeing someone happy and knowing that I had caused it. I felt I had achieved something fundamentally meaningful.

On the evening President Hinckley passed away I was in a fireside meeting listening to a speaker talk about an empty cup he had brought with him as a visual aide. He talked about how we all have a metaphoric cup. Sometimes we are needy and go around hoping others will fill it. Occasionally someone graciously does fill our cup. But the best way (and in the end the only real way) to have our cups filled is by filling others'. It seems almost backwards, but as we give to give, and not to receive, we do receive, and much more and much more meaningfully than if we were focused on our own needs. I gave her the flower not so I could feel good, but simply to please her. Making her happy made me happy, but only because I was focused on her, not me.

Maybe this seems a bit nebulous and philosophical. But the results of how well people grasp the abstract ideals and concepts of living are evident in the more concrete details of day-to-day life that we are much more familiar with. Our problems aren't "just so" - unattached to causes tied to basic standard ideas. If things go well, they do so because you make the decisions that lead to things going well. Very simple, but easy to forget, and easier said than done.

The usual ordeal of nervousness, mustering courage, stepping out of my comfort zone, and being willing to plan and pay for a date was a small price and well worth it to put a smile on the girls face yesterday. The date itself went well. I'll probably ask her out again at some point. But whether it leads to something serious and wonderful, or if it was just a nice one-time lunch date, it was a success in my book if only for the smile.

If you need an adrenaline rush, try something that puts you far out of your comfort zone where the worst that could possibly happen is that you might succeed. (And I mean that patently tongue-in-cheek.)