defining sight

I went through a break-up recently. Because BYU-Idaho is the cornucopia of dating, people are trying to get me back on my feet and "back in the game." Though their attempts are commendable, they are not quite working. Here's why:

"Out of sight, out of mind."

It's true. When we no longer see someone they will sooner or later escape your memories.

But define "sight."

What happens if you see her in a beautiful painting? Or in a melodic song? Or in the bottom of a dish of her favorite food? Or in another woman's face?

There is no such thing as "out of sight." You may want to block that person out of your life, but it is impossible.

"Dude, plenty of fish in the sea! Just get out there and date!"

When you are in the megapolis of dating and never seem to be with someone it starts to mess with your head, especially when your ex-other-half has moved on.

Many people go on the rebound when they go through a break-up.

The dictionary dashboard widget on my highly pretentious Macbook Pro defines...

re•bound:

Phrase- still affected by the emotional distress caused by the ending of a romantic relationship.

Some attempt a relationship during this grace period of pain. This only serves as an anesthetic.

To me it's seemingly fruitless. Until I'm ready, other women just seem ugly, boring, stupid or simply not her.

I say no.

Not fair to anyone. I'd rather endure the pain.

"Obviously it wasn't meant to be."

Thanks for that.

Translation for the dumped: "Obviously the past two years of your life were spent with someone you may never see again."

Thanks for pointing out the obvious.

You know a break-up is especially bad when you can't think of anything to write in your blog...because you can't think of anything else.

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Fire alarms force students out of buildings

Students were forced to evacuate several buildings on campus when fire alarms sounded on Wednesday.

Some of the buildings that were evacuated included the Hyrum Manwaring Center, David O. McKay Library, George S. Romney, Jacob Spori and John W. Hart buildings.

The alarm was caused by a frozen fire hydrant that thawed in the warmer temperature, causing the water pressure to shift which set off the water flow alarm, said Corey Child, fire chief of the Rexburg Fire Department.

Numerous students stood outside of the buildings waiting for the alarms to be reset. Some students were carrying on their group work from the class they were forced out of. Others used the time to socialize. Many students were hypothesizing with one another on why the alarms went off in so many buildings.

Emeka Nwabunwanne, a senior studying construction management who works in the McKay Library, began ushering students outside when the alarms sounded. He found it ironic that fire alarms went off in multiple buildings. He speculated that it was an electrical issue.

"Still, we can't let people in until we know for sure," said Nwabunwanne as he stood guard at the library's doors.

This fire alarm is one of many that the campus has seen this semester. Many students have had to evacuate various buildings on several occasions.

Aaron Sessions, a sophomore studying communications, was being tutored in the library for his Mandarin Chinese class when the alarm went off in the library.

"I didn't think it sounded like a fire alarm, so I was confused," said Sessions. "I have been in four fire alarms this semester. None of them seemed like they were [legitimate]. I can't tell if there is just a glitch in [the school's] system or not."

Eventually, all alarms were reset and students were permitted to enter the buildings again.

"Kudos to the students for evacuating the buildings so well," said fire chief Child.

Why we work.

This is an editorial I wrote for the Scroll newspaper. It is written in a slightly different style than what is typical for this blog. Enjoy.

Remember when you learned how to tie your shoes? It was something that everyone had to endure, especially when we got new Power Ranger tennis. An adult would show us how to do it and we would follow their example.

What if your parents never let you do it on your own? Would we have ever learned? Not allowing us to do it ourselves cripples us. We need to do things for ourselves in order to learn.

Sacrificing work ethic and your self-reliance is to surrender your independence.

When Adam left the Garden of Eden, he was told he would have to work by the sweat of his brow to earn his food. He would no longer be provided for. Leaving your home can be compared to leaving your own "Garden of Eden," so to speak. We are under the care of a parent or guardian who meets our needs of shelter, food and clothing. Eventually, we have to leave and start to earn our own. Otherwise, if we a reliant upon a benefactor, then we will never be able to act for ourselves.

It is tempting to try and hang on to past conveniences. However, this will prove to be crippling. Kind of like never tying your own shoes.

"We should strive to become self-reliant and not depend on others for our existence. Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant," said Marion G. Romney, former first counselor of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day. "Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth. Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well. If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act."

The student who relies solely upon financial assistance from parents rather than finding employment will soon find that bills pile up when no parents are around to take care of them. The church member who relies upon a parent's testimony will find himself or herself easily shaken by spiritual trials when there are no testimonial coattails to hang on to.

Most students incur debt while in school rather than obtaining employment to pay for their tuition themselves.

In 2008, 65.6 percent of students graduating with Bacherlor's degrees graduated with some debt, and the average student loan debt was $23,186 according to finaid.org.

Along with debt, our generation is developing a mentality of entitlement.

According to an article written in TIME MAGAZINE entitled "Education: Student Apathy," Ellen Glanz, a high school teacher at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in suburban Boston, began going to classes to see why students were so apathetic towards teachers and their schoolwork

Glanz said that the students saw college as "an archaic prerequisite for gainful employment" and what matters is "contacts and good luck." Is this "something for nothing" generation what we have to look forward to? Have we fallen into that same pattern of thinking, imagining that we are entitled to our ideal occupation solely based on whom we know?

Though having a good network is important, this does not excuse us from hard work. Relying solely upon your address book may lead you to a job for which you may be under qualified.

Try finding ways of doing things on your own. Do more than the minimum for your assignments in class. Find employment. Pay tuition yourself rather than relying upon student loans. Doing this will help you avoid being shackled by dependency.

True happiness and success is not handed to you in life. You have to work for it.

high-budget fear

I watched a scary movie with some friends tonight.

The movie was awful.

While I was watching it, I had a hard time paying attention to the "Low-Budget" fear on the small glowing screen. Instead, I was distracted by what I am truly afraid of.

I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of spiders.

I'm afraid of what you can't put in a horror movie.

Rejection.

Failure.

Anger.

Sadness.

They haunt me much more than ghost and ghouls and with a much more powerful force.

I couldn't quit thinking about it.

Why? Because they hurt.

That's "High-Budget" fear.

That's what I'm afraid of.

A cat behind a fence.

I met a cat today. He was in the construction yard. A fence separated us.

Enough about cats.

The other day I was walking with a friend. We had a nice view of a sunset:

friend: "Man, don't you wish you had your camera?"
me: "No."
friend: "What? Why?"
me: "Because some things are just meant to be looked at."

Photographers can sometimes get caught up in just taking pictures and creating images all the time.

They never take time to cherish.

If my only goal is to capture beauty rather than admire it, then I will become an emotionless machine whose only goal is visual kleptomania.

A sunset. A beautiful woman's face. A cat behind a fence.
See for yourself.

Ritualistic Gathering

There are some shows that people will flock to. Some shows will bring people together in groups or even have entire parties dedicated to them.

The most common example of this is the famous "office parties." Making a show a cult classic helps to build the infamy of a show.

"The Office" has become more than a television show, but a social event. This is an incredible advantage for television companies.

The Video Game Awards

I am sitting here watching the Video Game Awards on Spike TV. It is amazing how spectacular this event is.

I wonder if the creators of pong ever imagined how huge the video game industry has become.

It is clear from this event that video games have progressed beyond a handful of nerds. Lots of companies and big name stars have discovered that there is a lot of money to be made in this market. The video game industry is becoming a very influential market all on it's own.

With big names like Jack Black, Jake Gyllenhaal, Snoop Dogg and more it's hard to ignore a powerhouse industry like this one.