Nevertheless, you should be careful how you assess the situation and should think twice before you act. Do not be afraid of your own shadow. Employ policies that are moderated by prudence and sympathy. Avoid excessive self-confidence, which leads to carelessness, and avoid excessive timidity, which will make you insupportable.
- Machiavelli, The Prince
Dang powerful :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Wait, why are there no trees outside?
So I came back from Christmas Break and one of the hugest trees outside had been cut down. Unfortunately, I loved that tree! Why do people have to cut down innocent trees. We should have carved the stump into a statue of Lincoln or Michael Jordan or something.
Okay, see the big tree behind the snowman? Alas, it is no more. They are ruining the aesthetic appeal of Heritage halls by destroying these wonderful specimens of nature.
Okay, see the big tree behind the snowman? Alas, it is no more. They are ruining the aesthetic appeal of Heritage halls by destroying these wonderful specimens of nature.
Actually, I think it fell over in the snowstorm, so they kind of had to get rid of it. Still!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I would like to have a pet cheetah.
Yes. You heard me correctly.
I have been enlightened as to what the feelings connected with having a pet cheetah would be like in a recent dream I had two nights ago. Laugh if you will, but this dream I had last night was so awesome, I can't even express it clearly. But I will try.
So my family likes to all amass on my parents bed, or at least we used to and still do whenever everyone is around. This could be on a Sunday night, after church, or when my Dad came home and we would just all be hanging out. Anyways, we are sitting on my parents bed and talking and my favorite cat ever Victory is with us and all of the sudden old, tired looking Cheetah (just like the lion named Jasmine in Secondhand Lions) comes running in and jumps and just perches on top of me. I greet him normally with, "Hey buddy!" scratching behind his ears and his fur was just majestic. Victory always meows for attention really loudly, high pitched, and obnoxiously, but in my dream this cheetah did the same thing except it was all low pitched and funny sounding! I thought it was hilarious. Anyhow, having this pet cheetah was so awesome! He was so big so you could pull him over you like a big blanket. And he was real!
I have experienced this from my youth too. You see, when I was little I had a huge stuffed animal Simba from the Lion King. My memory leads me to think that this Simba was as large as I was at that time, but looking back maybe it was much smaller, but I was just much smaller. Simba took naps with me, and I brought him everywhere. Eventually his plastic eye chipped and Simba had one good eye and some bad vision in his chipped eye. But I loved that Simba stuffed animal. Maybe this is where my love for cats stems from.
But a Cheetah in my eyes is like the king of the beasts. I have a fascination with speed. Whenever I think about driving back home on Old Evergreen Highway right by my house, right next to the train tracks, and then a train goes by I can envision a cheetah matching the speed of that train and my mind spins.
I really want a pet cheetah.
Dreams are really weird. The last week I have had dreams pop up so vividly it is crazy. Each one is weirder then the next. Even if it is me going to sleep for a hour (like I did when I got back from the temple this morning), I had a dream about Brenton and Jacob, my two roomates who were eating breakfast in the kitchen. I dreamed that I woke up and the kitchen was an absolute PIGSTY (which is weird because it has been spotless the last week and a half), and there were old couches with floral designs pulled into the kitchen. Jacob had set up the N64 on some pedestal and there was some random old guy sitting on one of the couches saying, "nice set up dude!" I was like...where did you get all these old floral couches? He said, "Dude they are all outside! You can just take them!" I was more upset because of all the dishes on the countertops and the hot chocolate stains and jelly stains on the countertop so I went and climbed back into bed in my dream. But then I looked at my clock in my dream and my alarm was turned off. I thought, that is fishy, so I checked when my alarm was set and it said 10:00. It turns out that Brenton tried pulling a prank on me (in my dream, not in real life!) and I punched him in the arm and then slapped him reallll hard in the face. Then he goes, whatever! and starts pulling his desk on top of his bed and putting fish tank plants all over our room for "decoration". I say, "why are you doing that to your desk" and Brenton says, "for a bunk bed!" Jacob yells from the kitchen and goes, "hey, we could use some plants in here, i'm gonna put the seaweed up on the walls." I just about had it and clambered into bed, and in my dream fell asleep. When I woke up for real, Brenton and Jacob had left, the kitchen was spotless, and our room was normal. I admit, I was happy.
I have been enlightened as to what the feelings connected with having a pet cheetah would be like in a recent dream I had two nights ago. Laugh if you will, but this dream I had last night was so awesome, I can't even express it clearly. But I will try.
So my family likes to all amass on my parents bed, or at least we used to and still do whenever everyone is around. This could be on a Sunday night, after church, or when my Dad came home and we would just all be hanging out. Anyways, we are sitting on my parents bed and talking and my favorite cat ever Victory is with us and all of the sudden old, tired looking Cheetah (just like the lion named Jasmine in Secondhand Lions) comes running in and jumps and just perches on top of me. I greet him normally with, "Hey buddy!" scratching behind his ears and his fur was just majestic. Victory always meows for attention really loudly, high pitched, and obnoxiously, but in my dream this cheetah did the same thing except it was all low pitched and funny sounding! I thought it was hilarious. Anyhow, having this pet cheetah was so awesome! He was so big so you could pull him over you like a big blanket. And he was real!
I have experienced this from my youth too. You see, when I was little I had a huge stuffed animal Simba from the Lion King. My memory leads me to think that this Simba was as large as I was at that time, but looking back maybe it was much smaller, but I was just much smaller. Simba took naps with me, and I brought him everywhere. Eventually his plastic eye chipped and Simba had one good eye and some bad vision in his chipped eye. But I loved that Simba stuffed animal. Maybe this is where my love for cats stems from.
But a Cheetah in my eyes is like the king of the beasts. I have a fascination with speed. Whenever I think about driving back home on Old Evergreen Highway right by my house, right next to the train tracks, and then a train goes by I can envision a cheetah matching the speed of that train and my mind spins.
I really want a pet cheetah.
Dreams are really weird. The last week I have had dreams pop up so vividly it is crazy. Each one is weirder then the next. Even if it is me going to sleep for a hour (like I did when I got back from the temple this morning), I had a dream about Brenton and Jacob, my two roomates who were eating breakfast in the kitchen. I dreamed that I woke up and the kitchen was an absolute PIGSTY (which is weird because it has been spotless the last week and a half), and there were old couches with floral designs pulled into the kitchen. Jacob had set up the N64 on some pedestal and there was some random old guy sitting on one of the couches saying, "nice set up dude!" I was like...where did you get all these old floral couches? He said, "Dude they are all outside! You can just take them!" I was more upset because of all the dishes on the countertops and the hot chocolate stains and jelly stains on the countertop so I went and climbed back into bed in my dream. But then I looked at my clock in my dream and my alarm was turned off. I thought, that is fishy, so I checked when my alarm was set and it said 10:00. It turns out that Brenton tried pulling a prank on me (in my dream, not in real life!) and I punched him in the arm and then slapped him reallll hard in the face. Then he goes, whatever! and starts pulling his desk on top of his bed and putting fish tank plants all over our room for "decoration". I say, "why are you doing that to your desk" and Brenton says, "for a bunk bed!" Jacob yells from the kitchen and goes, "hey, we could use some plants in here, i'm gonna put the seaweed up on the walls." I just about had it and clambered into bed, and in my dream fell asleep. When I woke up for real, Brenton and Jacob had left, the kitchen was spotless, and our room was normal. I admit, I was happy.
Ah! I think this is the type of life sized Simba stuffed animal I had! So many good memories.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Guess who?
Sitting at a BYU basketball game against Air Force, (which we won), and my buddy Robbie goes, "hey there is a general authority over the B on BYUBASKETBALL at half court!" I zoomed in with my camera and boom, there he was, Russell M. Nelson!
You never know who you are going to see on BYU campus! We had a CES fireside last night and D. Todd Christofferson was the main speaker! He gave a great fireside. I love going to BYU. We are edified spiritually by so many different important people. I am so happy I got in here.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Prince
For some reason I love reading Machiavelli's masterpiece, The Prince. He is ruthless, and yet so deceptively smart that everything he says makes sense. He uses the most perfect historical examples of people that have done things the right way and the wrong way.
"Let no one be surprised if, in speaking of entirely new principalities
as I shall do, I adduce the highest examples both of prince and of
state; because men, walking almost always in paths beaten by others,
and following by imitation their deeds, are yet unable to keep
entirely to the ways of others or attain to the power of those they
imitate. A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great
men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his
ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it. Let him
act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet
appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength
of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach
by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with
the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach."
"Let no one be surprised if, in speaking of entirely new principalities
as I shall do, I adduce the highest examples both of prince and of
state; because men, walking almost always in paths beaten by others,
and following by imitation their deeds, are yet unable to keep
entirely to the ways of others or attain to the power of those they
imitate. A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great
men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his
ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it. Let him
act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet
appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength
of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach
by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with
the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach."
This passage really made me think about goals I have set. I have seen my whole life, that in this world there are leaders and followers. Sometimes I wonder why I try and impress and befriend people that ultimately aren't going to help me be the best person I can be. Be a leader to those around you, and never stoop to a level or a point where you are uncomfortable with yourself. I feel sorry for those people who let others walk all over them. I love history. It is always right.
Yay! Darn.
Yay! School started again!
Darn....School started again....
Haha, a little irony there for ya.
Darn....School started again....
Haha, a little irony there for ya.
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