Things Fall Apart

Time passes in the worst way down here. Day's trod on with no real distinction, but already it's been 4 weeks since i said goodbye to everything i had found over the past year. I am such a bum.

I wrote in my real journal last night (always a good decision) and realized i haven't really accomplished anything while here. I mean i've gotten some interviews that have moved me forward on the path to exciting adventures in mission life, i've become immune to hepatitis (originally i was going to try to do that through sheer force of will, but it turned out the vaccines are cheap), and today i discovered that i can make uncrustables. Is it sad that the highlight of my day is making little pb&j crepes? perhaps. For a second there i was worried my spacebar had stopped working. That would have been disastrous.

Lets see, i may have given up reading The End of Nature. It's a sad book about how climate change has fundamentally altered nature, not just the climate, but the innate independence and immutability of earth's environment has been lost. Probably the scariest part is it's nearly 30 years old and the climate change discussion hasn't really changed: the majority of scientists are calling for change while the majority of status quo is hoping some deus ex machina will come alone to make in a non-issue. Maybe it will, with any (i.e. absurd amounts of) luck the next president will be able to fundamentally alter the nature of American politics, since anything short of that isn't going to change much.

I started to read this book that my mom said was really good. The book itself said that it could change my life by discovering my true attributes. I just couldn't take it seriously though. It started by comparing humans to flowers and how we need to bloom and transcend our trepidatious ways and discover blissful...so that's about that point i stopped reading. Any book that could change my life would read better than a self help book for little girls. And, as a rule, i try to avoid Oprah's book club.

So with one book depressing and one extremely dull, i've opted for reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again. While it does, admittedly, leave you with a certain emptiness, it is a happy emptiness, akin to video games, or general anesthesia. I figure between intensive temple and mission preperations, i'll be able to find enough meaning in my life even without motivational oprah books.

My Jackson trip has been pushed back and shortened due to the dual requirements of a Stake President interview next thursday and family coming a week after that. It'll be cool to have family around, even if 14 people, two of whom are still card carrying babies, will make this house feel a bit Oliver Twist. I don't even know where we're all going to sit, but i'm sure we'll manage.

That's about the extent of what's going on down here. Yesterday we saw the new indiana jones. My main complaint is an overabundance of silliness. Swinging through trees with monkeys is ok if you're Tarzan, but not if you're Shia Labeouf. CGI is spectacular and all, but it really takes away from that grittiness that the old indiana jones movies had. One shock is how spry Harrison Ford still is. Apparently he worked out 3 hours a day and did a lot of his own stunts. That is one hardcore old man. Other than the over all silliness, the plot was weak, and a lot of things weren't explained properly. A good movie, but not a great one. Lucas should be limited to no more than three movies of the same title. Or maybe he just shouldn't be allowed to make movies after the 1980's. Either way, there's a threshold he's crossed into the place where great movies lose their magic.

Digital TV is good stuff, the picture is as promised, and our current technical difficulties stem from an antenna that long ago became trash. The bigger issue is the total lack of good tv on network. I never realized what i was missing, but USA, BBC America, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, and others are all pretty good stuff. and, lest we forget, FX has the movies. All in all, it's difficult to enjoy idleness (idle-atry). Naps remain highly enjoyable however.

Today i played ball in the house. I'm a rebel.