http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw

Thank you, Katelyn Brereton, for showing be this.

Just so ya Know

I have started a word-of-the-day blog in which I post another awesome word every day.

Click here to see it!

A Thought

Our life on earth is a piece of heaven that we have been given to test us to see what we will do with it. 

I colored it and made it fancy because that way more people realize that it's important.

How to write a philosophy paper when you have no idea what the text you are analyzing is supposed to be saying:

John Oldroyd

Professor Arts

History of Philosophy Honors

10 October 2012

Aristotle Paper

            Aristotle has a bogglingly ingenious cranium. The fact that he is able to define scientific thinking and reasoning instantly puts him high above many of today’s greatest minds. According to this brilliant constructor of thought in the second part of his first book of posterior analytics, scientific knowing requires that the basis on which demonstrated knowledge rests (id est the premises of aforementioned demonstrated knowing,) must be invariable truth and primary to the drawn conclusion, or closer to what men can observe and perceive in the physical world. Scientific knowing, then, cannot be demonstrated, because the only way for knowledge that can possibly be demonstrated to be accepted as absolute truth is to establish evidence for or otherwise authenticate that this demonstration proves congruent. Though the term did not surface until later on, Aristotle basically explains the principle of epistemology, or knowing that something is true on the most basic level. One of these “immediate basic truths” is then termed a thesis. A thesis, further, also makes up definition, which should not be confused with a hypothesis as it can be immediately and irrefutably proved. In short, coming to a conclusion requires prior demonstrations, as everything in the conclusion rests upon the assumption that we know to be true the supports of our argument. Indeed, any person, in order to be convinced of something, must know that the principal truths which are used in the conveying of a higher truth are true even more so than of the higher knowledge.

            In his second book, Aristotle elucidates that effective knowledge existing is dependent on a tetrad of questions and their responses. First of the questions is whether or not an object is connected to a specific attribute. For example, “Is courage a positive character trait?” The answer to this question instigates question number two, which is why is there a connection? The third question is whether or not a thing exists, which similarly to the connection between the two preceding questions, propagates the fourth and final question with its response. (The fourth question being what is the nature of that thing). These questions provide men with all of their knowledge; or more accurately, the answers to the questions do.

            The first and third questions enumerated are similar in that each asks whether or not a thing has a middle, and the second and fourth questions further clarify their antecedents by asking what the medium is. By virtue of this connection, we may immediately infer that asking one question of a pair is to ask them both, meaning even as we ask what the nature of a thing is, we ask why it is, and vice versa. The answers come equivalently, so to understand the essence is to know the reason.

            So, how does one discover the essence of a thing? We are further enlightened when Aristotle expounds that "Not all the definable is demonstratable nor all the demonstratable definable.” Definition is the essence of an object; to define something is to say “this is.” Demonstration, on the other hand, is dependent (as expressed earlier) on these basic truths.

            When men want to know why something is, they look to the end result. If we know that a man buys an apple to be healthy, we know, also, that he eats the apple to be healthy, as both, while not exactly the same steps, are comparable in design. In creating a statue, the metals, the sculptor, the art, and the appreciation of the art are causes of the end product. In summary, causes are many, and to know nature, it is obligatory to account for each.

            The aggregate of these conceptions is that physics must be to discover reasons for the nature of things inalterable. “Those things which cause movement by being themselves moved” are no longer inside the realm of physics, and must therefore be adapted into a different form of science. Science, then can be broken into a triad of fields of specific study: things that cannot move (such as mathematics,) things in motion but indestructible, and things in motion that can be destroyed. Physics can be attributed to something when it can alter motion but not be itself moved (such as gravity.) A force that one can say with certainty will result in a specific change, is then worthy of being classified as physics. 

Everything is Beautiful

Everything is beautiful if you care to look. The things that people have done are absolutely amazing, and this world that God has created is far more incredible than most realize. Why be sad when you live in such a fantastic place and time? Smile. Look outside; look how incredible everything is. Get ye into the mountains and look at the amazing autumn colors, and feel the cool breeze making that beautiful rustling sound among the trees. Look at your phone, your camera, your computer; how can they even exist? Do you know how it works? Do you know how complicated it is and how much time and effort has gone into that? Look at the magic around you, the magic that we have been allowed to use and create; fresh water from the sink, preserved food in the middle of summer due to a refrigerator, fruit that grows on trees, vegetables that spring up out of the ground. Look at the people. See them give when they have but little for themselves, see them do silly things just to get others to smile, see them love each other; what greater gift could there be? The love of Christ is most precious and desirable above all other fruit, and it's growing on a tree in front of us. Why be sad? 2 Nephi 9:52: "Let your hearts rejoice." It does not say "make your hearts rejoice" it says "let your hearts rejoice." You know deep down that there is so much happiness, so much goodness, so much joy and perfection around you, and you want to be happy, you're naturally inclined to be happy. Let yourself be happy. Why would you let something get in the way of that?
So much beauty in the gospel, in the world, in others, and in yourself. Let it shine through the clouds. You're all beautiful. I love you.

This is what happens when you have refrigerator magnets with big words on them:

Some Scholarly Observation Missive

                Hi Seth and Jordan. In my understanding you must be out hence. When you come to our society I have there a question to make the taut mind expatiate fully with thought. If we were curious, man would always find my ideas clever, so why do my valid opinions almost feel as obtuse ennui? Obscure factions use absconding vicissitude at me, which will only guile every solution about individual delight. That banal lair, too, is like arid miscreants that represent droll gall. Soon it could form a nefarious and cunning pedagogue for system usurping. His time is here in deft, verbose, and munificent platitude; rue him like mean pariah. Never rest but obdurate self, and the crass lapse can say no language. Know they trod above. See how Kafkaesque she has profligated, though her woman filled mellifluous zeal? Ameliorate amalgam eschewer after fecund boor elucidate tinges. By herculean admonition of book, sound, and word, are ye sanguine, obsequious, or torpidly wry? Alleviate then enervate through salient beauty as paragon expunge on pithy temerity! Roil vapid din! Festoon turgid acumen! Repose from a trenchant fusillade. 

Yes, this was entirely crafted from refrigerator magnets, and yes, it is mostly grammatically sound and in some way, shape or form makes sense. 

And This is Why I Read

If you have never read the book The Book Thief,

just do it. It's important.

I don't have the words that that book has to offer.

My Soul's Complaint

For those of you who read the title of this post and were expecting some beautifully crafted soliloquy that will  enlighten your mind and nourish your soul and stir up your emotions in such a way as you've never felt, well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you down. I just wanted to complain about having to prove that I'm not a robot every time I try to comment on somebody's blog, because for some reason it becomes increasingly difficult to read the distorted words so that I can enter them into the little box. Why in the world would somebody make a robot that comments on people's blogs anyway?! That's ridiculous! Plus I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not a robot. I mean, if I were a robot, wouldn't I be better at math or something?

Ich Sagte zu

Ich werde immer Schach spielen, 

Werde immer Musik lieben, 

Werde lächeln, laufen, lesen.

Ich verdienen eine Lobeshymnen!

Ich möchte Alles nachgeraten;

Sportlich, freundlich, hochbegabt, und

Talentiert, ursprünglich, brillieren, dichterisch!

Fur immer und ewig werde ich bleibe mich!

You don't have to know what it says, just listen to how beautiful it sounds! 

And if you do know what it says, well, I'm writing German poetry, I can brag a little. 

Two Does Do and a Doe Does Too.

Some things in life just don't make sense. Like the fact that probability doesn't work. You really realize that your own speculations can often be more accurate than mathematically calculated numbers when you flip enough pennies. Luck is better than math, and figuring things out for yourself is better than believing everything you're told. I still have no way to verify the existence of Australia, there are many more colors than you've seen, and gravity doesn't work how you think it does. But if you're content, just ignore this post.

People Sometimes Have the Same Thoughts

Sometimes something good comes from a catastrophe. 

If you need a friend, 

Don't look to a stranger.

You know in the end, 

I'll always be there.

And when you're in doubt,

And when you're in danger,

Take a look all around, 

And I will be there.

I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of the right words to say;

I know that they don't sound the way I planned them to be,

But if you wait around a while, I'll make you fall for me,

I promise you, I promise you I will.

When your day is through,

And so is your temper,

You know what to do, 

I'm gonna always be there.

Sometimes if I shout, 

It's not what's intended.

These words just come out,

With no gripe to bear. 

I'm sorry but I'm just thinking of the right words to say,

I know that they don't sound the way I planned them to be,

And if I have to walk the world to make you fall for me,

I promise you, I promise you I will. 

Heart beats fast

Colors and promises

How to be brave

How can I love

When I'm afraid to fall

But watching you stand alone

All of my doubt

Suddenly goes away

Somehow

I have died every day

Waiting for you

Darling don't be afraid

I have loved you 

For a thousand years

I'll love you for

A thousand more

All along I believed

I would find you

Time has brought

You heart to me

I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for

A thousand more.

And sometimes something wonderful comes from something wonderful

You, doin' that thing you do,

Breaking my heart into a million pieces

Like you always do.

And you, don't mean to be cruel,

You never even knew about the heartache

I've been going through.

Well I try and try to forget you, girl, 

But it's just so hard to do

Every time you do that thing you do. 

I know all the games you play,

And I'm gonna find a way to let you know

That you'll be mind someday.

'Cause we could be happy, can't you see?

If you'd only let me be the one to hold you

And keep you here with me

'Cause I try and try to forget you, girl,

But it's just so hard to do

Every time you do that thing you do

I don't ask a lot girl, 

But I know one thing's for sure.

It's the love I haven't got, girl,

And I just can't take it anymore

'Cause it hurts me so just to see you go

Around with someone new,

And if I know you you're doing that thing,

Every day just doing that thing,

I can't take you doing that thing you do. 

And sometimes your life has absolutely nothing to do with any of the songs stuck in your head. 

But sometimes it does. 

Swiss Army Folks

Wouldn't it be handy if every person were the same person? Except not really. I mean like how a swiss army knife works. You have all of the gadgets together, and they're all still completely individual and completely unique and themselves, but they're just all there when you need them. You never see the knife without the fish scaler and the can opener. What I really mean is that it's hard to get to know somebody because as you do the other people that you know start to drift away and forget you. You can't make progress and bond with every person at once, because everyone's just shooting off in billions of different directions and you just have to grab a few people and stick with them while everybody else shoots away.
I just want to meet everybody, and be friends with everybody. Well, I won't forget any of you, even if you shoot so far away that you end up on the other side of the universe. That's about all I can do.

Music Without Sound

Things like this. Standing on a cute little bridge in the sunlight, blowing dandelion seeds out over the river as you relax and enjoy the pure beauty that surrounds you. This to me is just as much music as music is. 

Other things, like a smile, a laugh, a dragonfly, a drop of sunlight, a bright night sky, a kind word or a butterfly, a Warbler's tune, a duckling's flight, a quail's waddle or flash of light, a scone, strawberries bathed in cream, a tiny flower, a quiet stream, hiking a hill, climbing a tree, all can make a symphony. 

Sometimes I wax poetic. But the point is, anything from a pun to a tadpole can be music if only you care enough to listen for it. It would be tragic to be so focused on other things that you miss the music that surrounds you. 

Where Did This Come From? I Don't Know, But It's Great.

Everything has something to do with everything else in one way or another. Take for example Tomatoes and Automobiles. At first, one may think, “there is no correlation whatsoever between the sandwich ingredient and the transportation device,” but upon further investigation, we discover that one could not exist without the other. How can this be, you ask? It’s very simple, really. You see, there has always been confusion as to whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. To get to the root of the issue, scientists needed a way to get to the tomato plantations from their labs, and also to orchards in California to compare their findings to standard fruits, hence the automobile was invented.

Now, the flip side to the story is just a slight bit more confusing. You think that tomatoes could exist without cars? Well, you’re rather incorrect, and I’m afraid that I am going to have to make you look foolish now. After cars had been invented for a while, people who were jealous because they couldn’t afford cars began to spread nasty rumors that cars are bad for the environment. These rumors eventually escalated to the point where many believe that cars are straight up evil, and have also spawned the dreaded disaster that is emissions testing. You see, before people were terrified of carbon dioxide, nobody really cared about the environment, but since cars came along people have tried to compensate for the destruction that cars do to the world by trying to be more aware of their environments, and as a result have taken to taking better care of plants, and even planting their own gardens, which naturally grow tomatoes. If automobiles had never come along, nobody would care about plants, nobody would plant tomatoes, no tomatoes would survive, and tomatoes would swiftly become extinct.

Maybe next time you’ll think twice before you squish a bug, because just possibly there is an extremely vital correlation between you and the tiny insect that you have no idea exists. If you squish that bug, it may lead to your life support vanishing entirely and the world collapsing around you. Remember, if you change anything, anything could change you. Status Quo is the way to go. 

It's never too late to be the way you wish you would have been.

And don't forget it. You can always become better, and smarter, and it is the mistakes in life that make us stronger, but only if we push through them, fix them, stop making those same mistakes, and move on. Life is like music, really. In just about every way. I'm feeling very metaphorical right now, and I'm convinced that were it not so late I could basically pull up a metaphor for literally anything right now.

The band banquet was wonderful. And all the tech went perfectly, for the first time ever. Mine and Kate's collaborative slideshow actually turned out to be pretty good. So did the book, but only like two people looked at that. Anyway, I feel like I did more for the banquet than I actually did, so I should probably go to bed. Just remember, the people who really did everything are named Maren Christensen. And also like Nick Walton and such. I love my fellow band council members. Best of luck to the new band council! It'll be fantastic, even without DF.

Phone Pictures

 Sometimes I walk up to the temple at night. It's always pretty fantastic. 

 You know it's spring when there's green grass poking through the snow. 

 Shoes! 

 Bald Soprano. What a beautiful, beautiful play. I still quote it constantly. 

 Same color!

 A Nutella Oreo. It actually tasted pretty terrible. I wouldn't recommend it. Ever. It was like chocolate paste on cardboard. 

 Fish sticks and custard, on the other hand, really tasted pretty good. 

 My lovely little yarn snowman named Andrew. Too bad Kat ruthlessly unraveled him while he was still young. 

 Ummm...

 Gee, I wonder who wrote what.... Not. 

 I felt honored that there was a statue of me.

 A dragon for Kristen. 

 Despite the blurryness, I still think this picture is cute. Mostly because Kat's in it.

 I think these are my favorite people ever. 

 :)

 Boss it. 

 They're in a fight. 

 Sometimes I beat Joseph at checkers. Like always. 

 Bald Soprano Shoes!

 Flowers. I like flowers. Flowers are manly. I bet you could shoot roses out of a bow and arrow. 

 I love it when it rains ice. 

 This is that one time that I beat Riley at Blokus. 

 Run. Run for your life. 

 At Jacob Jespersen's Farewell. There were so many people there! I wish I knew half that many people! Jacob is a good guy. We'll all miss him, but he'll be a top-notch missionary. 

 My greatest chalking endeavor. I think it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. 

 This is Rebecca. She gave me a private concert, because I could not attend her senior recital. How is she so perfect? The world may never know, but will always be happy because of her. 

 Yes, I made this for Riley's birthday. Brownie chess cake = awesome. 

 That was a good ballroom concert. I liked it. 

 Our shoes are on a date. 

So are we. 

 I found Pinocchio. 

 Once upon a time I started walking, and I just kept walking until I found a little trail, and off that trail I found a path, with lead to a smaller deer trail, which I followed until I found deer, and then I climbed some stuff, and then it was getting dark so I scrambled back down the mountain. It was a good day. 

 Bushes with flowers growing out of the top are cooler than a polar bear on a windy day. 

 It's hard to see it in the picture, but the chalk board has an arrow pointing to Ree, and a label that says "Ree Lu." It's cool. 

 Fancy Hair. 

 Joseph in the ceiling? 

 We're cute in our dance co shirts. 

 So what's new?

 I love this Maren!

 It's not that way it's over here! 

 Oh, small children. 

Yes, I got a picture with Rick Riordan. Yes, I am the only one who got a picture with Rick Riordan. Yes, sometimes it is beneficial to be on tech. 

If Ever There Was a Time for Tears

That was very likely the last time that I will ever perform on the Timpview Stage. I'm leaving. Graduating. Hundreds of my brothers and sisters will I never see again. This was so beautiful, too. Everything was so perfect, and so happy, and so sad. I am of course looking forward to meeting new people and everything, and I know that I really will see these people again someday, but it's very emotional for me nonetheless. I just wish I could do something more for each of these people. Something that they will never forget, and will change their beautiful unique lives for the better forever. I wish that I could really show everyone how much I love them, but no matter what I do is not enough.

I can't give them a real gift by just setting up lights for their shows. It's not even enough to pour my soul into the music we play, so that our musical gift is the best it can possibly be. But what can I do? I'm so very small. Just a tiny dot in a world that billions and billions of people have lived and will live on. Most of them I will never be able to see, or help, but I want to! What can I do? I want to know.

Sometimes I think that what I've done is special, or that I do a lot for other people, but I don't. I feel terrible when I look back at how many people I could've helped, but I was too caught up in my tiny little world of my own to notice. I was too selfish, or too "busy" to help one of my eternal siblings in a time of need. And here I am again, being "tired" when there's so much work to be done--that needs to be done and needs me to do it.

My thought train sort of ran away from me there. Basically, I will very much miss the Timpview Band when I have to leave, and all of the people in it. And all of the other people that I've ever met. I even miss the people who I haven't met yet and it's driving me insane! I know that there are so many people out there who I know and love, but I don't know how I'm going to find them!

I'm so very excited to serve a mission. I want to find my brothers and sisters, and make sure that we can get back to the celestial kingdom together. 

This is actually really deep

Rather a steak in a chalet than a gristle in a castle.

This is a line from the one act play, and at first I though that it was just more gibberish, but this line is really much more than that.

A chalet is a little cottage, by the way, for any of you who didn't already know that.

But think about it, it is far better to be a wonderful steak in a humble little chalet than a mere gristle in a majestic castle.


Right now I feel a bit like a gristle in a chalet. I think I should sleep now. 

A Simple Way to Remember

Many people these days seem to often mix up "its" possessive, with "it's" the contraction. To correct this problem, I've come up with a simple phrase to help people remember the right way of doing things:

“‘It is’ is ‘it’s’ or it’s ‘‘tis,’ not ‘its’; ‘its ‘it’s,’’ ‘tis ‘its,’ it's not ‘it’s.’”

Actually there really is a way to remember. "It's" is the contraction, where the apostrophe replaces the "i" in "is," whereas "its" is possessive. You wouldn't put an apostrophe in "his book," or "her book" (for hi's or he'r both look dumb,) so why would you put one in "its book?" 

I still like my sentence though. It's great.

Last Phone Pictures From My Old Phone

 Love These Three

 We set up chairs the fun way.

 Party after band concert!

 This is when we played upwards at Kat's house. 

 I'm fancy.

I love the Temple! Especially at night.