Snow

So yesterday, we went out snowmobiling and it was awesome. We were gone for like 4 or 5 hours, and we just rode and stuff. It was an amazingly clear day, and I felt alright for it being like my 3rd ride ever. But on the way down, there was this dude that went over the side of the road into the forest because he was coming down the mountain too fast. He was barely hurt, with a sore arm/shoulder, and his sled was only slightly damaged. Altogether, it was pretty incredible, because he had shot off the edge and then fell like 30 feet, hitting a tree at the bottom. We stopped and helped him get up the embankment, and then we had like 8 guys pulling and pushing the sled back up to the road. Then his buddies towed his sled back to the parking lot and we went on our way. Then I got a synthesizer for my iPod. Day complete.

My Three-Fold Anecdotal Life

#1. The other day, I was playing Nathan Thomas' guitar in his room. He left to go downstairs, and I was just absently strumming some chords when suddenly I heard a snap. Instantly I knew what happened: I had broken one of the strings. However, that was the least of it. When I looked down to survey the damage I had inflicted, I moved my left hand to get it out of the way. When I moved my hand the string moved with it. At first, I thought that this was merely because the string was resting on my hand. However, I had to do a double take. When I looked closely, I realized that the end of the string was actually embedded in the top knuckle of the index finger on my left hand. This really surprised me, but nonetheless I decided to take action. I grasped the string with my right hand, and ever so gently pulled bit by bit, until a length of guitar string about 1/4" long came out of my hand. It didn't hurt much, but it was definitely a strange feeling. Then I bled a little and Nathan came back and I put the guitar away.

#2. On the night of Sunday, December 13, 2009, I got together a small group of my friends (including two of my sisters) and went to this graveyard to watch what was supposed to be the best Geminid meteor shower since 1996. The only problem was that the sky was extremely overcast, so we ended up just hanging out and eating nachos and drinking cream soda in a cemetery at midnight. However, as it turns out that is what this guy has always dreamed of doing, so I fulfilled his dream in my life. Yay me.

#3. So tonight, I had to go to Publix to pick up 6 packages of Mona's Original Granola for my dad, since we don't have it back in Canada. While I was checking out, the bag boy at the cash register took off a pin on his shirt, threw it to the ground, and told his supervisor that he "wasn't going to wear it anymore." She told him "you're going to pick that up and put it back on right now." He did go and pick it up, but defiantly left it on the counter beside him instead of repinning it to his apron. They didn't say anything else to each other while I was there, but it really just struck me as a very foreign and odd concept for a subordinate to defy their superior like that. Just a random occurrence of my day.

-Tydude

My Other Blog

Hey, if you like music, and you especially like finding out about obscure, new, or just incredibly groovy music, head on over to my other blog, The Next Elvis. When I find out about awesome new music (which happens fairly often), I post as much information as I can. It's a pretty fun time, and you should check it out!

The New Definition of Nations

I recently was thinking about how we define countries, and it occurred to me that, all too often, our North American methodology of understanding nations gets in the way of allowing those nations the opportunity to define themselves. Examples include defining a country by an export, landmark, or event. In order to resolve this to some small degree, I am hereby publishing a small, alternative directory to some unfairly chliched nations, along with a new reason for knowing them. Feel free to add more in the comments, though. Let's begin:

1. Greenland: World's highest internet penetration rate.

2. Niger: World's highest fertility rate.

3. Rwanda: World record for women representation in Parliament at 56.25 percent of contested Parliamentary seats being filled by women, a total of 44 seats.

4. Singapore: World's most innovative nation, according to business.rediff.com

5. Qatar: World's highest GDP at PPP per capita, based on the International Monetary Fund in 2008.

6. China: World's highest account balance, at $426.1 billion in 2008.

7. UK: Acclaimed world's highest television penetration rate.

8. Iceland: World's highest reported crime rate.

9. Canada: World's longest bridge over ice-covered saltwater (Confederation Bridge).

10. And finally, The United States of America: World's highest rate of obesity.

I hope that this short list will help you to re-define your existing views of the importance of the nations of the world, as well as to formulate your own opinions on other countries. Again, feel free to comment on additional ones I may have left out (there are only 195 countries, leaving 185 for you to highlight).

The Epic Voyage

So now I'm finally going to tell you about my amazing journey down to Southern. I drove all by myself for two and a half days with no food or music, just to see if I could. It was really fun and a great experience. I went through; British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Tennessee again. It was sweet, but I was really super glad to get to school finally. Here's a documentary I made of my trip:

Looking Back Over My Squandered Summer

In the past four months, I:
-Went to like three national parks.
-Took an entire week to drive back from school, instead of the typical three days.
-Ripped up sand dunes in an ATV.
-Failed to unpack from college.
-Went to what is probably the biggest woodworking/forestry show in the World.
-Watched as 30 grown men got hopelessly drunk.
-Went to Poland for lunch.
-Purchased a synthesizer.
-Took advanced kitchen design software training.
-Re-discovered/visited Apni Haweli, undoubtedly the best Indian restaurant this side of Asia.
-Deferred to Joe Clark on the train.
-Saw my awesome Pakistani sister twice.
-Finally received my synthesizer.
-Discovered how to NOT be an idiot when purchasing for a corporation.
-Fell in love with a lot of new music.
-Learned disturbing facts about people, facts I would have been better off not knowing.
-Took close-ups of the moon.
-Fell hopelessly behind on my reading through of the Bible in one year.
-Posted my best demo so far to my music site.
-Got up early to watch the Sun rise.
-Got a tiny new camera.
-Sat on a train for 2 days straight.
-Found out-but didn't really care-that Michael Jackson died.
-Realized my dog died.
-Learned how to REALLY drive a boat.
-Made friends.
-Watched a forest fire spring up within 5 kilometers of my house.
-Watched the aforementioned fire be put out by a water bomber that flew directly over my house.
-Resolved to be in about four bands.
-Became an officer of a university club.
-Pieced together a personal, cloud-driven online library of instantly-accessible PDFs.
-Learned how to somewhat play the guitar (more).
-Discovered that I'm still quite happy being single.
-Became a grammar Nazi.
-Caught my first fish, and then 3 more.
-Bought the biggest slurpee of my life.
-Went to the dentist 6 times.
-Missed many of my friends.
-Blogged seven times, including this post.
-Learned a crapload about everything.
-Loved life.

I always come to a full and complete stop.

I always come to a full and complete stop.
I keep my tray table up, and my seat back in the full upright position.
I don't speed.
I have never been in a fight.
I always wear a seatbelt.
I have never been arrested.
I shoplifted once, but on closer inspection, it turned out to be a freebie anyway.
I go to the eye doctor once a year.
I always drink plenty of water.
I have never punched someone in the face.
I get good grades.
I always look both ways before crossing the street.
And I love it.
And I hate it.