Gag Grove Good Group Gift Gilligan Google Gargle Glint Glide Gloat Gleam Grid Go Guy Glisten Girl Got Gasp Goulashes Gain Gal Greek Greed Get Gee Giraffe Geek Guacamole Gray Guess Gem Geese Grit Giggle Guile Gape Grimace Grip Gel Guild Guzzle Gas Gut Green Glee God Gay Grapple Gleam Grail Glee Give Gun Grease Grow Grew Gnat Gracious Gill Gob Gym Gone Granted Gushy Gnome Graft Grin Great Globe Gripe Glove Grim Geezer Gall Game Gate Gauge Gaze Gauze Guillotine Grisham Gear Grain Graze Grade Gross Grieve Glint
That looks like a lot less than how many it seems like I came up with. Just so you know.
P.S. No word on my story yet. I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Update on my life, because it's my blog :D
Well, most of you have probably already heard (from my mom) but I got my results from the ACT test. My comprehensive was a 30, which pretty much shocked me. I'm not going to lie, however, it was MUCH easier than I had expected. But still, a 30? Without any preparation? I'm as shocked if not more shocked than everyone else. You'll probably remember from my post about taking the test that I was much more confident about the English portion than all the other portions. When it came back, however, English was not my highest section, Reading was. This surprised me, but there was only a 2 point difference between my highest section (reading) and my lowest (science-reasoning). So yeah, I figure that I'll study my rear-end off next year and end up getting a 28 or something. Who knows, maybe the fact that I didn't feel any pressure was the reason why I did so well.
I'm still waiting to see my results from the BYU young writers competition. Kate told me that last year her letter came at the end of April, so any day now I should know how I did.
About a week ago my dad challenged me to get my 14 day blood sugar average from about 200 down to 150. When I have told all my friends about this they have been very confused, so just to clear up any confusion:
My blood-glucose-monitor (the thing that I call my "tester") adds up every blood-glucose-reading that I've had over the last 14 days, divides it by the number of readings (you know, like finding the average of a set of information, it's not all that complex). As of last week this average was about 200. My target range is 80-150. Now some of you are probably saying "Oh, so he's not over by that much" while some of you are saying "Oh my gosh! Is he gonna die? 200? That's really, really, really, really, bad! Isn't it?"
Well the truth is that I HAD the first attitude. I am seeing now that, while I'm not going to die from a 14-day average of 200, I feel so much better when it is lower. Oh, and the reason why I'm suddenly motivated to bring my average down is that my dad is going to pay be 100 buckeroos to do it! Yippee! And he hinted that once I get it down to 150, there might be another hundred waiting for me if I bring my average down to 100!
Right now my average is about 175, but you have to keep in mind that I've only been at this for a week, which means that one of the weeks that my 14 day average is coming from was previous to the challenge. Right now I haven't had a test over 200 since Thursday. In case that doesn't seem monumental to you, IT IS! I doubt that I've gone for 3 days without being over 200 for over a year.
So, there's my life. The AP test is in 12 days, including today, not including the day of the test. That's keeping me pretty busy, so we'll see what happens.
I'm still waiting to see my results from the BYU young writers competition. Kate told me that last year her letter came at the end of April, so any day now I should know how I did.
About a week ago my dad challenged me to get my 14 day blood sugar average from about 200 down to 150. When I have told all my friends about this they have been very confused, so just to clear up any confusion:
My blood-glucose-monitor (the thing that I call my "tester") adds up every blood-glucose-reading that I've had over the last 14 days, divides it by the number of readings (you know, like finding the average of a set of information, it's not all that complex). As of last week this average was about 200. My target range is 80-150. Now some of you are probably saying "Oh, so he's not over by that much" while some of you are saying "Oh my gosh! Is he gonna die? 200? That's really, really, really, really, bad! Isn't it?"
Well the truth is that I HAD the first attitude. I am seeing now that, while I'm not going to die from a 14-day average of 200, I feel so much better when it is lower. Oh, and the reason why I'm suddenly motivated to bring my average down is that my dad is going to pay be 100 buckeroos to do it! Yippee! And he hinted that once I get it down to 150, there might be another hundred waiting for me if I bring my average down to 100!
Right now my average is about 175, but you have to keep in mind that I've only been at this for a week, which means that one of the weeks that my 14 day average is coming from was previous to the challenge. Right now I haven't had a test over 200 since Thursday. In case that doesn't seem monumental to you, IT IS! I doubt that I've gone for 3 days without being over 200 for over a year.
So, there's my life. The AP test is in 12 days, including today, not including the day of the test. That's keeping me pretty busy, so we'll see what happens.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Oh, the joys of seminary
Well, most of you have heard this story by now, but because it is such a good story, I have to tell it anyway.
Seminary started off normal on this particular day. We started with a hymn, then a prayer, a scripture, and then...the quote (Dun Dun Dun). The quote is usually just a glue-in that someone has in their scriptures or the like. On this particular day however (dun dun dun) Wyatt got up and began reading the quote. Many of you have probably already heard it, it's the one that says that when we get up to heaven people will ask us who the prophet of our time was and we'll say "President Hinckley" and "a hush will go over the crowd" and "people will bow in our presence" yada yada yada, completely not in line with doctrine. It's attributed to Boyd K. Packer at the moment, but as I understand it, it was previously attributed to other general authorities.
So after Wyatt shared that enlightening piece of false-doctrine with us he then proceeded to talk about how even thought we aren't fighting real wars today (umm, does the word Iraq come to anyone's mind?) we are fighting a spiritual war today (against the media, all that jazz). Although that statement wasn't completely true either, he did kinda bring it around in the end.
After Wyatt sat down, my seminary teacher, Bro. Schro. (Schroader) got up and explained how we don't really believe that people will bow to us, the only people that we will worship will be Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The discussion got going about that quote and a couple people raised their hands to share experiences that they have had with that quote. One girl even wanted us to read it over again because she hadn't heard it (we didn't of course). Another kid, Kaz (I don't know if that's really his name, but that's what he goes by), talked about how his testimony had basically formed from that quote and how crushed he was when he found out that we didn't believe it to be true. Then he told us how he didn't come to seminary for a few weeks after he found out that it wasn't in line with doctrine (brilliant, right after Wyatt had shared it with us).
Then Bro Schro stated that he was glad that Wyatt had said what he did after he read the quote (about spiritual wars).
"I mean, did anyone NOT feel the spirit when Wyatt was up here?" Brother Schroader RHETORICALLY asked.
As if straight out of a stupid movie, Kaz raised his hand.
Seriously.
Kaz later went on to explain that after his experience with the quote (already mentioned), he was "prevented" from feeling the spirit as soon as Wyatt started reading it.
Umm...ok.
Eventually we got talking about the spiritual war that Wyatt had been talking about and the discussion finally moved past the "false quote." Then Nessa (the girl who had insisted on us reading the quote again [sorry but she is an airhead]) raised her hand and started talking about how wars are worse today than they were in revolutionary times because of new technology. Yeah, she started talking about physical wars...again. Brother Schroader kindly acknowledged the comment and then moved back to what we had been talking about before. After a few minutes, Kaz gave Brother Schroader a funny look.
"Is there something you want to say Kaz?" he asked
"No...I'm just trying to bite my tongue."
As soon as he said that, we knew that he was going to say whatever he was "biting his tongue" about.
"Well if there's something you want to say, go ahead, as long as it's appropriate.
"I'm just really bugged about what Nessa said about how wars are worse now because I think that having a 10 pound lead ball go through your chest and dying slowly and painfully is much worse than dying in an instant from a nuclear bomb."
Seriously.
Somehow Brother Schroader got us off the subject (again) and moved on. But little did we know, it would soon be his turn to say something stupid...
Brief interjection for backround info:
At Viewmont High the majority of the seminary teachers are fairly new to Viewmont, but one has been there for a while, Brother McConkie (yes, related to the apostle). He is notorious (contrary to the stereotype that may come with the name McConkie) for rarely teaching lessons and simply telling his MANY stories during class (everyone loves him, I guess "notorious" was the wrong word). Often "McConkie Stories" come up during lessons. Brother Schroader was going to tell us this story which I'm guessing fit in with his lesson: One night when Brother McConkie was a young boy he was laying on the family trampoline thinking about the universe. He was quickly overcome by the overwhelming vastness and incomprehensibility of it all. Eventually he decided that once you go far enough, you must just hit cement. This was enough to calm his mind for one night, however the next night he thought, "How thick is the cement?" On this particular day in seminary, Brother Schroader began,
"One night when Brother McConkie was young he was laying on his tramp...trampoline that is-
Seriously, he clarified between "tramp" and "trampoline." If you don't understand the homonym that Brother Schroader was clarifying, bless you. After a couple seconds however, me and my seminary class president (of all people) caught on. We busted up laughing and eventually Logan (our class president) excused himself for a few minutes because he felt the was being a distraction.
Within about ten minutes of this fun experience the bell rang.
And that is the story of my most enlightening seminary period to date.
Seminary started off normal on this particular day. We started with a hymn, then a prayer, a scripture, and then...the quote (Dun Dun Dun). The quote is usually just a glue-in that someone has in their scriptures or the like. On this particular day however (dun dun dun) Wyatt got up and began reading the quote. Many of you have probably already heard it, it's the one that says that when we get up to heaven people will ask us who the prophet of our time was and we'll say "President Hinckley" and "a hush will go over the crowd" and "people will bow in our presence" yada yada yada, completely not in line with doctrine. It's attributed to Boyd K. Packer at the moment, but as I understand it, it was previously attributed to other general authorities.
So after Wyatt shared that enlightening piece of false-doctrine with us he then proceeded to talk about how even thought we aren't fighting real wars today (umm, does the word Iraq come to anyone's mind?) we are fighting a spiritual war today (against the media, all that jazz). Although that statement wasn't completely true either, he did kinda bring it around in the end.
After Wyatt sat down, my seminary teacher, Bro. Schro. (Schroader) got up and explained how we don't really believe that people will bow to us, the only people that we will worship will be Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The discussion got going about that quote and a couple people raised their hands to share experiences that they have had with that quote. One girl even wanted us to read it over again because she hadn't heard it (we didn't of course). Another kid, Kaz (I don't know if that's really his name, but that's what he goes by), talked about how his testimony had basically formed from that quote and how crushed he was when he found out that we didn't believe it to be true. Then he told us how he didn't come to seminary for a few weeks after he found out that it wasn't in line with doctrine (brilliant, right after Wyatt had shared it with us).
Then Bro Schro stated that he was glad that Wyatt had said what he did after he read the quote (about spiritual wars).
"I mean, did anyone NOT feel the spirit when Wyatt was up here?" Brother Schroader RHETORICALLY asked.
As if straight out of a stupid movie, Kaz raised his hand.
Seriously.
Kaz later went on to explain that after his experience with the quote (already mentioned), he was "prevented" from feeling the spirit as soon as Wyatt started reading it.
Umm...ok.
Eventually we got talking about the spiritual war that Wyatt had been talking about and the discussion finally moved past the "false quote." Then Nessa (the girl who had insisted on us reading the quote again [sorry but she is an airhead]) raised her hand and started talking about how wars are worse today than they were in revolutionary times because of new technology. Yeah, she started talking about physical wars...again. Brother Schroader kindly acknowledged the comment and then moved back to what we had been talking about before. After a few minutes, Kaz gave Brother Schroader a funny look.
"Is there something you want to say Kaz?" he asked
"No...I'm just trying to bite my tongue."
As soon as he said that, we knew that he was going to say whatever he was "biting his tongue" about.
"Well if there's something you want to say, go ahead, as long as it's appropriate.
"I'm just really bugged about what Nessa said about how wars are worse now because I think that having a 10 pound lead ball go through your chest and dying slowly and painfully is much worse than dying in an instant from a nuclear bomb."
Seriously.
Somehow Brother Schroader got us off the subject (again) and moved on. But little did we know, it would soon be his turn to say something stupid...
Brief interjection for backround info:
At Viewmont High the majority of the seminary teachers are fairly new to Viewmont, but one has been there for a while, Brother McConkie (yes, related to the apostle). He is notorious (contrary to the stereotype that may come with the name McConkie) for rarely teaching lessons and simply telling his MANY stories during class (everyone loves him, I guess "notorious" was the wrong word). Often "McConkie Stories" come up during lessons. Brother Schroader was going to tell us this story which I'm guessing fit in with his lesson: One night when Brother McConkie was a young boy he was laying on the family trampoline thinking about the universe. He was quickly overcome by the overwhelming vastness and incomprehensibility of it all. Eventually he decided that once you go far enough, you must just hit cement. This was enough to calm his mind for one night, however the next night he thought, "How thick is the cement?" On this particular day in seminary, Brother Schroader began,
"One night when Brother McConkie was young he was laying on his tramp...trampoline that is-
Seriously, he clarified between "tramp" and "trampoline." If you don't understand the homonym that Brother Schroader was clarifying, bless you. After a couple seconds however, me and my seminary class president (of all people) caught on. We busted up laughing and eventually Logan (our class president) excused himself for a few minutes because he felt the was being a distraction.
Within about ten minutes of this fun experience the bell rang.
And that is the story of my most enlightening seminary period to date.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ACT and other random stuff
Well this morning I took the ACT-just for practice-and it went well. Me and my friend Matt were pretty much the only sophomores there, but it's not like that really matters much. I'll break it down for you section-by-section.
Well, it started out a little intense in the English section, and there was even one point t hat the clock had me by 3 and a half seconds...just kidding. I did well on the English, it was extremely easy. I was pretty sure on all of them, and I finished with plenty of time left.
Then we took the math portion, which was pretty easy as well. The highest level of math that it covers is trig, which I've been out of for a year, and most were even earlier math than that. My biggest problem was remembering how to do problems that I haven't done FOREVER. When they gave the "5 minute warning" I still had a few to do that took me a while, but in the end I think I only guessed on 1 or 2.
Then we took the reading portion, which everyone says is the hardest because of the short amount of time that you have to read the passages and answer the questions. Once again, I had 4 or 5 to do when they told us we only had 5 minutes, but again, I only guessed on 1 or 2.
Last we took the science/reasoning section, which I kinda think is dumb, because it shouldn't be called the "science/reasoning" section it should be the "can you read big words and understand graphs" section. Again, the only issue I had was having to guess on the last couple questions because I was running out of time.
In the end, I'm being realistc and confident. I did nothing to prepare other than reading online a little bit the night before. It wasn't a very hard test though, so I figure if I score around the 20-25 range, that's a good place to be for my first time. If I score higher than 25 I'll be thrilled. Realistically, it can only go up (unless I suddenly get stupider I suppose), so no matter what I get, I'll look at it optimistically.
On a completely seperate note...I scored in my game on Wednesday! It was a pretty sweet goal, and I was very close to having an even sweeter goal in the second half (the keeper got a hand to it and it slowly rolled towards the goal AND......oh! it hit the post). It was against a team filled with players who I used to play with who I now hate (soccer-wise at least). Soccer drama, you've gotta love it.
Back to the original subject: What have been some of your ACT experiences?
Well, it started out a little intense in the English section, and there was even one point t hat the clock had me by 3 and a half seconds...just kidding. I did well on the English, it was extremely easy. I was pretty sure on all of them, and I finished with plenty of time left.
Then we took the math portion, which was pretty easy as well. The highest level of math that it covers is trig, which I've been out of for a year, and most were even earlier math than that. My biggest problem was remembering how to do problems that I haven't done FOREVER. When they gave the "5 minute warning" I still had a few to do that took me a while, but in the end I think I only guessed on 1 or 2.
Then we took the reading portion, which everyone says is the hardest because of the short amount of time that you have to read the passages and answer the questions. Once again, I had 4 or 5 to do when they told us we only had 5 minutes, but again, I only guessed on 1 or 2.
Last we took the science/reasoning section, which I kinda think is dumb, because it shouldn't be called the "science/reasoning" section it should be the "can you read big words and understand graphs" section. Again, the only issue I had was having to guess on the last couple questions because I was running out of time.
In the end, I'm being realistc and confident. I did nothing to prepare other than reading online a little bit the night before. It wasn't a very hard test though, so I figure if I score around the 20-25 range, that's a good place to be for my first time. If I score higher than 25 I'll be thrilled. Realistically, it can only go up (unless I suddenly get stupider I suppose), so no matter what I get, I'll look at it optimistically.
On a completely seperate note...I scored in my game on Wednesday! It was a pretty sweet goal, and I was very close to having an even sweeter goal in the second half (the keeper got a hand to it and it slowly rolled towards the goal AND......oh! it hit the post). It was against a team filled with players who I used to play with who I now hate (soccer-wise at least). Soccer drama, you've gotta love it.
Back to the original subject: What have been some of your ACT experiences?
Friday, April 4, 2008
Answers
what's your dream vacation?
I don't know. Now that I've learned a lot about Europe, it would be cool to visit. I would also love to go to Rio de Janeiro (sp?) and see the gigantic soccer stadium. I can't imagine a lot of things better than a houseboat on lake powell though:).
what is your 16th bday party going to be like?
I don't know, I haven't really thought about it yet. I'll probably just be celebrating to be done with the ap test by that point.
who's your hero in life?
A few of my cousins, a few of my uncles, my dad, my mom, and my grandparents for sure. (By "a few" of uncles and cousins, I don't mean that I don't look up to ALL of my uncles and cousins (and aunts etc.) for something, I have just picked a few that I really admire.
if you could talk to anyone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
man, that's a toughy, I would love to talk to my grandma nilsen. Ya, that's probably the biggest one.
Who is your favorite cousin that hasn't been born yet and that's in Natalie's belly?
Is there more than one?!
What is your quest?
To seek the holy grail (actually, it's probably just to reach my full potential)
What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
African or European?
If you had to choose between having rodent fur on your arms or having a laugh that sounded like a seal, which would you choose?
Definitely the seal laugh, people would probably think it was wierd at first and then think that it was funny, much better than rodent fur.
When you are a parent, what things would you like to do the way your parents do?
Well, as much as my teenage-self hates to admit it, I will probably be similar to my parents in "strictness." Other than that, I haven't really given it much thought.
If you had to choose a favorite Aunt who lives in Cincinnati, who would it be?
I repeat: There's more than one?!
If you didn't have to take math classes, would you choose to?
Ya, probably, not trig, but I would definitely take geometry, it makes sense and truly demonstrates logic thinking.
If you were a Star Wars character, who would be?
I don't know, I'm not a big star wars guy, but probably obi-wan, because he's smart, wise, plus he can kick most people's butt!
where do you want to live when you get old (like me and dad)?
Farmington Utah, or Oakley Idaho
If you could be with Grandpa Nilsen and Grandma Betty for one hour what would you choose to do?
Sheesh, I haven't given this one much thought either. idk, I'd probably just ask them what they wanted to do. Probably just talk now that I think about it.
What would you want to talk about?
their life, my mom and uncles growing up.
If you could go anywhere in the world--where would you go?
Well, I already pretty much answered this, but just to mix things up, I'll say Saudi Arabia :)
1. Am I invited to the birthday bash?
I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do yet, so i don't really know...
2. What do you really have against country music?
twangy, mushy, always about close to the same thing, annoying beyond belief, should I stop now?
3. Who is the most eligible BYU football player bachelor for me to find and date?
I'll name a few, but keep in mind that i haven't done any research as to who is married: Jan Jorgensen, Mckay Jacobsen (that is, when he gets off his mission), Joe Semanoff, HARVEY UNGA!
4. Do you ever wear the color red? (I guess of the U is 'pink' this question would have to be eliminated)
No, not really, I own a red tie, but I only wear that during the summer (football and basketball are out-of-season)
5. What is your favorite moment from 'The Office'?
Either Dwight's Speech or Prison Mike, oh man, I'm laughing just thinking about them.
Thanks to everyone who asked (for those of you who didn't, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits).
Sorry about the punctuation, capitalization and proper spelling (or the lack thereof).
I don't know. Now that I've learned a lot about Europe, it would be cool to visit. I would also love to go to Rio de Janeiro (sp?) and see the gigantic soccer stadium. I can't imagine a lot of things better than a houseboat on lake powell though:).
what is your 16th bday party going to be like?
I don't know, I haven't really thought about it yet. I'll probably just be celebrating to be done with the ap test by that point.
who's your hero in life?
A few of my cousins, a few of my uncles, my dad, my mom, and my grandparents for sure. (By "a few" of uncles and cousins, I don't mean that I don't look up to ALL of my uncles and cousins (and aunts etc.) for something, I have just picked a few that I really admire.
if you could talk to anyone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
man, that's a toughy, I would love to talk to my grandma nilsen. Ya, that's probably the biggest one.
Who is your favorite cousin that hasn't been born yet and that's in Natalie's belly?
Is there more than one?!
What is your quest?
To seek the holy grail (actually, it's probably just to reach my full potential)
What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
African or European?
If you had to choose between having rodent fur on your arms or having a laugh that sounded like a seal, which would you choose?
Definitely the seal laugh, people would probably think it was wierd at first and then think that it was funny, much better than rodent fur.
When you are a parent, what things would you like to do the way your parents do?
Well, as much as my teenage-self hates to admit it, I will probably be similar to my parents in "strictness." Other than that, I haven't really given it much thought.
If you had to choose a favorite Aunt who lives in Cincinnati, who would it be?
I repeat: There's more than one?!
If you didn't have to take math classes, would you choose to?
Ya, probably, not trig, but I would definitely take geometry, it makes sense and truly demonstrates logic thinking.
If you were a Star Wars character, who would be?
I don't know, I'm not a big star wars guy, but probably obi-wan, because he's smart, wise, plus he can kick most people's butt!
where do you want to live when you get old (like me and dad)?
Farmington Utah, or Oakley Idaho
If you could be with Grandpa Nilsen and Grandma Betty for one hour what would you choose to do?
Sheesh, I haven't given this one much thought either. idk, I'd probably just ask them what they wanted to do. Probably just talk now that I think about it.
What would you want to talk about?
their life, my mom and uncles growing up.
If you could go anywhere in the world--where would you go?
Well, I already pretty much answered this, but just to mix things up, I'll say Saudi Arabia :)
1. Am I invited to the birthday bash?
I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do yet, so i don't really know...
2. What do you really have against country music?
twangy, mushy, always about close to the same thing, annoying beyond belief, should I stop now?
3. Who is the most eligible BYU football player bachelor for me to find and date?
I'll name a few, but keep in mind that i haven't done any research as to who is married: Jan Jorgensen, Mckay Jacobsen (that is, when he gets off his mission), Joe Semanoff, HARVEY UNGA!
4. Do you ever wear the color red? (I guess of the U is 'pink' this question would have to be eliminated)
No, not really, I own a red tie, but I only wear that during the summer (football and basketball are out-of-season)
5. What is your favorite moment from 'The Office'?
Either Dwight's Speech or Prison Mike, oh man, I'm laughing just thinking about them.
Thanks to everyone who asked (for those of you who didn't, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits).
Sorry about the punctuation, capitalization and proper spelling (or the lack thereof).
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