Sunday, February 20, 2011

The titleless post

Welcome back to another week in the life of Ben.
Monday, as some of you might know, was valentines day. First though I had to go to work and class. Then that night Liz and I went out to dinner at Costa Vida and then we went ice skating, after a short incident with a set of spike strips.
Tuesday was anther super busy day with all my classes. We've moved on in film now to production design which is really interesting, although Liz might not appreciate my commentary during movies these days. In Comms we had interesting presentations and a discussion on whether or not print media is doomed. Tuesday night we went to Liz's families house for her little brother Matthew's birthday.
Wednesday night there was a showing of the Princess Bride in the varsity theater so we went to that and had a good time.
Thursday was pretty uneventful. Just school stuff.
Friday I had work, it was quite slow. I forgot to mention that we've been wearing honor week t-shirts at work all week for honor week, but because I work I missed all the honor week events so I didn't get any other free t-shirts. Friday night we went to the film for my class which was a danish film called Babbettes feast, it was a strange film that is probably going to be difficult to write on.
Saturday we had practice for the spring sing. I had to play Scar again as well as Timone because our new Scar didn't show up, but a lot of people were gone for the Holiday.
Anyway, it was a good week, this next week should be pretty short with the holiday, in fact I will only go to four classes, so that will be nice.
anyway have a nice week all of you.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

in which I discover why you get arts credit for watching movies

Sorry this is a week late, this covers Feb 6-13.
This week began on Friday and presently became Monday until I had a vision of Wednesday in which there was a flashback to Tuesday, which hadn't happened yet. If you are not yet confused then non-linear/non-traditional film may be the thing for you. Thats what we were studying this week in film class, hence I discovered why BYU will give you arts credit for taking TMA 102. We saw some very abstract stuff, for your benefit however I will put my new hifalutin artsy insights aside and give you the week in a linear manner.
Monday was normal, work and class, then FHE. I gave the spiritual thought and we played the Great Dalmuti.
Tuesday was normal and busy like always. This is when we began our discussions of non-linear film and we watched so really strange stuff in class, including a film that was just scratches on film set to music.
Wednesday I took the test for doctrine and covenants, so far that is the only test I've had all year.
Thursday we went looking for housing. We went with Robbie to see his grandparents basement where he and Josh and I might live. Then we went and looked at park plaza where we had a less than satisfactory reception by a student manager there. Thursday night Liz and I watched Kung Fu Panda because she had never seen it before.
Friday I went to work and in the evening we went to see a film for my class called the
Spanish Prisoner. It was quite the piece of work, you never knew what was going on or what in the world was happening. Anyway it was crazy.
Saturday I had to go to worldwide leadership training in the morning, and then we had spring sing practice, at which we were suppose to be learning the dance for the finale. It turns out I'm not very good at dancing, so since we had too many dancers to begin with Liz and I eventually changed to being shakers (meaning we will have like marraca's or something and shake them). That night we went to a birthday party for Liz's roommate Abby.
Sunday was church and in the evening we went along with Gordy and Brooke to Erin and Sam's for dinner and games, that was a lot of fun. While we were playing cards their downstairs neighbor came up and told us we were making there light shake and he didn't know what we were doing up there, so be careful the next time you are sitting around a table playing cards that you don't make anybody's light shake.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Papers and Personal Plans

This week flew by so fast its hard to remember what happened. The whole week was part of the wards Personal Plan Palooza which I was on the committee for. It involves focusing on one of the eight areas of Christ center living that the Stake President has asked us to do, everyday from last Sunday to this. Also my first major paper of the semester was due this week in my international relation theory class, it was a pretty obscurely written assignment so it took a lot time to figure it out and get it written, and we shall see how it ends up.
Monday I had work and political theory, we have been talking about Hobbes and Prof. Gilchrest instructed us in the finer points of the crab apple wars they had a children to illustrate the points of equality and the Leviathan. For FHE we went on a food drive as part of the personal plan's care for the poor and needy day. That was fun, I haven't gone up and knocked on random people's doors for a while. Spent a good portion of monday working on my paper.
Tuesday was busy as always. Still trying to work on the paper when I got a chance to breath.
Wednesday I mostly just worked on finishing the big paper.
Thursday was a busy day, Hilary and I proof read each others papers in the morning before class and then we had to run and catch the bus so we could get to campus and print them off, unfortunately this was during the time that BYU's network was not recognize anti-virus software from microsoft security essentials so I couldn't log into the network and e-mail my paper to myself to print off so I had to put it on a flash drive and get it off that way. We did make it to class on time and get them turned in. Thursday night Liz and I went to them temple and did baptisms and confirmations, they were short endowed brethren so I performed quite a few confirmations and then when we were still two rows back from doing baptisms they asked me to come and baptize, so I baptized everyone until Liz came through, somewhere around thirty people.
Friday I went to work, some people came in like an hour before I left and they just sat there and they were still there when I left and Jenn texted me like an hour later and said they had finally left, just FYI but if you are going to have yourselves a little reunion, there a probably better places to do it than Jamba Juice. Friday night I went to watch "Went the Day Well?" for my film class, its a british film about world war II made during world war II. anyway we are sitting there and nothing is happening and finally ten minutes after it is suppose to start one of the TA's finally comes in and is like, I don't have the dvd, so you are either going to have to wait 45 minutes for us to get it or come to the showing tomorrow." well that was no good because the next day I had practice for the Spring Sing, thank goodness someone there said that the whole thing was up on you tube and he pulled it up on the podium computer and we were able to watch it that way. Friday night Liz and I went shopping.
Saturday morning was Spring Sing practice, we are doing a BYU lion king version, I am playing Timone and Casey is being Pumba. During practice I also had to be Scar because the person playing him didn't show up. We did home work most of Saturday afternoon and then watched Hercules, which we got from the BYU library, so far we haven't been having the best luck with Library dvd's as they seem to have trouble skipping.
Well there you have it folks, another week in the life of Ben.
|\/|

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Keeping Careful track

Well Another week has come and gone, crazy to think.
Monday, I went to work, I went to school. We finished the section on Machiavelli in Political theory, so now I know how to be a very amoral self serving prince. Monday night we went to the RB and played Wallyball for FHE. That was fun.
Tuesday I went to school, devotional, school, school, school. This week is international film for film class, we watched part of a movie about lepers in Iran, pretty crazy. Afterward Robbie, Josh and I had lunch (if you can call it lunch at 3 o'clock). Tuesday I also began my Media Consumption Diary for my communications class. I have to keep track off all the Mass media I consume for five days. In my expectations I put that I never watch t.v., but what should happen but the night I start is the state of the union and I watched it on t.v.
Wednesday was work and school. Wednesday is my early day for work. After work Liz and I studied and then I went to Political theory to start the section on Hobbes. That night we went and saw BYU's production of Peter Pan. It was really good. I still was keeping track of everything I saw or heard in the mass media.
Thursday during my afternoon break Josh, Liz and I went and looked at a couple apartment complexes trying to figure out housing for next fall.
Friday I just went to work then did homework. Friday night Liz was gone, I went to the film for class, which was a chinese film called To Live, it was good, different though, and some very sad parts. I also had to put that in my media diary. Then I caught up with Jenn, Melissa and Casey at the end of the v-ball game. BYU won, but of course no surprise there. We hung out the rest of the night, the adventure of the night was putting Casey's bike in Melissa's trunk and trying to tie it shut with Jenn's string. Casey eventually got it and we made it back to Wyview w/out losing the bike. While driving the Radio was on, so that had to go into the mass media diary as well.
Saturday, lots of home work was attempted. In the evening Liz and I went to the Library to get a movie and finally settled on Meet the Robinsons which we were informed was on a 4 hr check out, so we had to run back and watch it and then run back to the library to return it, and it had to be recorded in the media diary.
Well that's it for the week folks, have a good one.
|\/|

Sunday, January 23, 2011

3 days of School

Well, here's another week in the life of Ben. Nothing to crazy to report except that I only went to school 3 days this week, so that was nice.
Monday was off from school(hence the three days of school) most of the day was spent doing homework and stuff. In the evening Liz and I went to a presentation for Martin Luther King Jr. day up on campus.
Tuesday was another crazy busy day. Elder Kikuchi(that is spelled wrong just so you know) came and gave a devotional. That night I finally saw all of UP.
Wednesday was uneventful, I now work earlier on Wednesdays though.
Thursday I had classes and then in the evening went to the Stake Leadership training.
Friday I went to work. That night Liz and I went miniature golfing at Trafalga, which was quite and experience. Since it was friday it was pretty full so we decided it would be a good idea to do the outside course since there was hardly anybody out there(hmm... I wonder why) and it wasn't that cold. Well that was well and good until about the third whole which involved a school house, Liz was a better shot than me and hit it through the school house(what you are suppose to do to get a hole in one) there was only one problem, the pipes led to an ice covered putting green, and apparently the schoolhouse pipe had ice in it because Liz's ball was nowhere to be found. We went back and got another ball and counted that as a hole in one. Similar adventures ensued as we traversed the course. Some greens were completely impassable and we had to make those holes up on the other outdoor course to even our scores. Anyway it was a blast, albeit a somewhat chilly one. Liz ended up winning by about four strokes(although her ethics are somewhat questionable). After that we attended our wards Book of Mormon Readathon for a while (they were reading from 7 oclock pm to 7 oclock am).
Saturday we went to see the documentary Promises for my film class. It was pretty good.
Well, I'd better get this post up since it is very late. hope y'all have a good rest of the week.
|\/|

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Rice and Dinner

Welcome back to another week in the life of Ben. This was the first full week of School. It was pretty chill on the homework front so that was nice.
Monday I went to work in the morning, things seem to have picked up a little bit down there this week, we were running a welcome back week promotion where people could get an oatmeal for a dollar if they bought a drink. We have one regular customer who comes everyday who we call carrot juice man, because he always orders a 30 oz. drink of pure carrot juice(that's one of those huge cups). On Monday he also got a wheatgrass shot, sometimes I just don't know how people can survive being that healthy. Monday evening I went to Political theory, and that night to Liz's FHE since mine wasn't happening.
Tuesday was super busy, as usual, except there was no devotional so I actually got to eat lunch. Upon arriving home Tuesday night I had a presidency meeting and after that a committee meeting for a special activity the ward is doing.
Wednesday was fairly uneventful. Work, studying and class. I ran into my old companion Kevin Reese for the first time, so that was fun. That night Liz and I did D&C homework.
Thursday was the big day of the week, Condoleezza Rice (Yes, that would be the former secretary of state) came to give a forum address at BYU, I happen to have international relations class right before that time, which was interesting because Prof. Stiles happens to be on the opposite end of the political spectrum and he was none too keen on letting us out early so we could get to devotional, fortunately Liz didn't have class and she went early to the Marriott to get seats. It was an excellent address. Later Josh and I had our intro to film lab, and Robbie was able to switch to our section so that was good. That night we went to Liz's house(like her home home, in Lindon) for dinner, which was very nice.
Friday I only had work of course, and homework. That night for film class we went to see City Lights which is an old silent film by Charlie Chaplin which we have to write on this week, it was quite funny and enjoyable. Then we went and got dinner at Panda Express after finding that Angels of Philly was closed.
Saturday not to much happened. I did home work in the morning. We went shopping in the afternoon.
Well folks, that's it from the life of Ben this week. Have a good one
|\/|

Monday, January 10, 2011

Here we are again

So last Saturday I returned from home with Amy and Mike and their boys. I had a wonderful time back in Colorado but it was good to be back in Provo again. Upon returning home Saturday night I met my new roommate, Warren Chatwin, from Oklahoma. He's a pretty cool guy who just got back from his mission to California. Sunday was a busy day for me as I was the only member of either elders quorum presidency at church so I had a lot to do.
Monday Liz and I hung out most of the day, I made waffles for breakfast and then we went to campus and figured out where our classes were and tried to make it into the bookstore but decided it wasn't worth the fight against the crowds. That night we went to the Ward Home Evening activity where we participated in minute to win it challenges. Gordy and Brooke got back in town that night and brought me my suit case and my beautiful blender. So we made a smoothie later. Casey finally got back from Washington just before midnight.
Tuesday was the first day of class, and what a day it was. Tuesday's are definitely the busiest days of the week for me and so starting out on one was a little on the exhausting side. I arrived on campus shortly before 9:30 when my first class started, Hilary and I have Pl Sc 370, theories of international relations, with Professor Stiles. That ran until 10:45 at which juncture I ran to the Library and quickly deposited all my books in my locker before running to the Marriot Center where I met up with Liz and Selina to hear pres. Samuelson's opening address. Then Liz and I were off to D&C with Bro. Perkins at 12:00. From there I ran to Intro to Film with Professor Duncan, which I have with Josh and Rob by random chance. That ran from 1-3 and we watched and interesting film called the Man Who Planted Trees. If you have been following closely you will find that it is now 3 o'clock and I have yet to mention eating anything, when arranging my schedule I neglected to pay attention to the fact that there was no break for lunch in all this, so at this point I am famished. So I quickly eat something and attempt to find out what's wrong with my laptop because it has been dying all day after being unplugged for less than five minutes. I accomplished the first goal, but not the second, before running off to the JKB for Communication 101 w/ Professor Swenson which was suppose to rung from 4-6:30, fortunately she let us out early. Upon arriving back home I made some more food and then it was off for Presidency meeting. Whew, its a little crazy, but fortunately its the only day like this.
Wednesday I had my first day back at work, Jenn and I have been moved to the smaller store in the Student Athletic Building on the south side of campus. Its pretty slow down there so were they only have two people at a time working it. From there I got some food and then met up with Liz for some D&C studying until class at 4:00, which is Political Theory with Professor Gilchrest, I have this class with Hilary and Cody and several other members of our old Pl Sc 200 entourage. Gilchrest is the nicest college professor I have ever encountered.
Thursday is my second busiest day but not nearly as bad as Tuesday. Basically just school and stuff on Thursday.
Friday was work in the morning, but there are no classes on Friday, so that was nice, I used some time to work on my school calenders to make sure I don't forget about anything. Friday night Liz and I went to Amazing Grace for my film class, it was pretty good.
Saturday Liz and I went to the temple. It was very full in the baptistry and the needed a lot of help so I actually performed a lot more ordinances than just Liz's, it was a really nice time. After that we worked on some homework. Then in the evening we went with Amy, Mike, the boys, Gordy and Brooke, to Los Hermonos in Provo for dinner to celebrate Amy's 26th Birthday.
Sunday I went to Presidency meeting and then church. In the evening Liz and I went to the Marriot Center to hear Elder Christopherson's fireside, which was really good.
Well that looks like it's it for the week folks, hope you all have a good one.