No title...not today...

Have you ever wanted to put a title onto your entry and all that comes to your mind is complete randomness? I know crazy isn't it? Anyways...

I totally dig My Chemical Romance. My Bro Dave gave me a mixed CD with "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Helena" on it. I now can't stop listening to The Black Parade album. It rocks that hard.

A quick update in the world of Joe's Circadia. It's better, but I greatly look forward to the day when I work normal hours and I don't worry about school. It may be just a distant dream, but a good one.

My bro is now, officially, a RM. I'm happy for him and it's great listening to his mission stories and think about how different we had it. He cried when the toilet flushed. Crazyness. We watched Everything is Illuminated which I highly recomend. In the beginning, everyone (meaning my sister and mom) were wondering if he should be watching it, being all pure and all, but by the end they realized how great a movie it is.

And last of all I just read Ender's Game again for the first time since before my mission. Fantastic book. Hopefully, the movie isn't too far away.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, with crazy sleep, crazy school, crazy work, crazy everything. I'm happy I have a wife who grounds my sanity.

Circadian

I lost my circadian rythmn. I lost it about a year ago. I work nights and go to school during the day and sleep when I can. My body hates me and it has recently rebelled. I'm not exactly sure what is was exactly, but it hasn't been pretty. I've missed school and work.

I don't feel like me.

I'd say that all I want to do is sleep, but I'm afraid if I do, I won't be able to sleep when I really want to. So today is going to be a rough one. I'm going to keep my eyes open for the rest of the day and then crash only when I get home from work tomorrow. I'm going to die, but I'll be fine in the end. I need to return to normal.

Wish me luck!

The Former Elder Southerland

For those who might wander onto this page, I suppose most of you know that I'm a Mormon. No, not Amish, Jehovah's Witness, Polygamist, or Scientologist, but a good ol' born in Utah Mormon. Furthermore, a thing about growing up mormon, and being a guy, most of us go on missions. No, not the secret kind where we uncover WMD's in Azerbijan, but the kind where we try and tell people about growing up in Utah...I mean what it is to be a mormon. Hopefully, some people listen and join up. (No, I didn't grow up in Utah... I grew up in it's evil neighbor, Nevada home of legalized gambling, prostitution, and all-you-can-eat buffets.)

Well, my brother, Pete, is coming home from his mission in the Dominican Republic this month (it is February, isn't it?), and it's got me thinking about mine.

I got to go back to the old mission area with Em over the summer. It was like going at see an old friend after you thought they might have forgotten you, only to find out they've been missing you too. It was wonderful. I wasn't the greatest missionary. I had a hard time getting like the French, and I wish I would've tried hard to love them like a missionary should. I met some amazing people while I was there, and going back helped me remember that there were many more amazing people than I let myself believe.

So, despite it's faults, France is a wonderful place, even if Parisian ruin it a bit. So, if you go skip the big city and go straight to the South, specifically the Basque country (Bayonne, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz) and get to see how wonderful and freindly the French can really be.

(The pics are my bro, Pete, somewhere in the Dominican Republic and the Gare Bordeaux/St. Jean where my first adventures in France started.)

Once Again It's 3 in the Morning

A relatively easy night at work. So, I'd thought I'd throw down a posting.

My favorite soccer player of all time is Dennis Bergkamp. His goal in the final minutes against Argentina in the 98 World Cup, addicted me to soccer. I remember watching the match early on a Saturday, and being caught up in World Cup-ness. There were yellow cards, and a general bad feeling on the field as both teams became a bit frustrated with being tied, and not wanting to goal into overtime (Holland, Bergkamp's national team, is notoriously cursed in penalty kicks).

But then it happened.

A long ball from one of the DeBoer brothers found Bergkamp in the corner of the penalty box and expertly finished off Argentina. I was hooked.

Since then, I've come to obssess a little about soccer, and especially over Arsenal (Bergkamp's club). One day I will see a game live. Oh yes, I will see a game live.

I have no idea what made me want to rant about my favorite soccer player (he retired last season), but I really don't have to give a reason do I? After all, this is my blog.

(BTW, Holland lost to Brazil in the semi-finals of the '98 World Cup, and Brazil lost to France in the final at Stade de France in Paris.)

Here's a tribute to him

Appalachian Spring and Sunday Mornings

Working nights is starting to wear on me, especially on Sunday mornings. I wish I didn't sleep through church, but my body fights with my will during sacrament meeting. There's usually a point where my mind gives in and then a second later we're singing the closing hymn. Also, there's the dreaded temptation to take an hour nap when I get home from work.

That is a mistake.

I love sleep, and if there's something worse than not being able to sleep, it's being forced to wake up after only an hour of rest. Going this route usually makes me much more groggy for church.

At the moment, I'm using Kix cereal and Copland's Appalachian Spring to aid me in staying awake. Kix reminds me of growing up. It's been a very long time since I've eaten it.

As for Appalachian Spring, I fills me with happiness. Along with Rodeo, which is also on this CD, it gets me in the right mindset for church, adding in a bit of an energy only good music can give. I love Copland's american sound, and despite the vast commercialization of his music (probably because it touches that part in us that is very proudly American), his music still inspires and lifts our spirits to a slightly higher plane.

3 in the Morning

Well, I said I'd do a lot of post from early in the morning, but this is the first since I did my first entry. We finally have gotten a bit of real snow here in the city. Not ice, but beautiful powdery snow. And it should be cold enough for us to keep a hold of it for a couple of days.

Despite my dislike of weathermen, I love unpredictable, crazy weather. Las Vegas wasn't much of a puzzle. Hot in the summer, cold and windy in the winter, not too bad in spring or fall. It rains in July. See, I'm a weatherman too. But I don't stand in front of nothing and point at it.

I just finished Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and it was beautiful. He writes with a beautiful sadness, and you can't help but think of or society and where we're headed. I hope he was an optimist, but his writting suggests otherwise.

Next is the second to last book of Asmiov's Foundation, and I'm quite excited. I'm finally drawn to his characters, and I'm ready to really lose myself in the book.

School has started again. I like the people I go to school with, and I feel good about balancing work and school. I'm hoping I can do weel this semester, not just get by, but really learn and get a good grade.

I need to motivate myself. That's my resolution for the year, self-motivation. Answer the nagging angels in me and get up and do it. In church we'll be learning the teaching of Spencer Kimball, and on his desk was a plaque that said "Do It." I'm hoping to channel that fire into myself and do what I know what needs to be done: at home, school and work.

The Weather Man Conspiracy

So, this weekend we were supposed to have another huge ice storm. We had one at the beginning of December, and it was awesome. Having grown up in the desert, any type of weather beyond windy is rather new to me, so I was rather excited for this new wave of icy cold mayhem.

But not the weather man.

Maybe he's become jaded with all the years of standing in front of a screen with nothing on it. It's possible for anyone to become tired with their job. He may even be concerned about the power outages that were bound to happen because the power company here isn't exactly run by rocket surgeons. But he seemed genuinely happy that it was going to be above 32 degrees at certain points, and that got me thinking.

Weather men must be hoping for global warming.

It would shake up the mundaneness of their jobs. All of the sudden they'd have new stuff to report, things that they could really point to as to why they're wrong all the time.

Sure, I could just be paranoid and a little bitter because we really didn't get any real ice storm. But I just know that somewhere, weather men are leaving their cars running at night and not recycling.

Someone call Al Gore, I've solved the problem.