I'm Ready For Vacation

I should be studying, taking a quiz and/or doing my reading for religion. That would be possible, if I wasn't Mike. I would be a horrible marathon runner, in terms of my academia I come out of the gates on fire and then meander my way across the finish line. With that personal confession out of the way you can understand that I am ready for a break now that we have one last full week of class before finals. My cynicism has increased dramatically.

The glamour of being in a four year school has vanished, I am now beginning to notice a bit more the annoying idiosyncrasies that exist among people -- I'm not all high and mighty, I know the fact that I mention it makes me guilty as well -- and it's really making me scoff on a regular basis. Let me explain.

In high school, there was approximately 10-15 people I didn't like out of a school of 400. I believe on all levels of education there is a consistent number of annoying people. If I then take the 1:40 ratio and apply it to 11,000 at BYU-Idaho for summer semester that means there are approximately 275 people on campus that possess annoying traits in my cynical eyes.

Did I mention I'm ready for a vacation?

Bright side, things aren't bad in any sense. I am enjoying my time here at the university and am meeting some awesome friends. That shouldn't be too suprising considering I find 10,725 people to be pleasant.

BYU Idaho's Version of Rebellion

Student dissent has been a long standing tradition in the US as well as the world over. In America it's become somewhat of a sociological paradox. Why would a privileged group of young adults, keep in mind less than half of Idaho High School graduates attend College, choose to fight the system that'll give them success later in life?

Student activism has had many hardcore groups that did less than intelligent things, some bordered terrorism (Google Weather Underground), and protested everything beneath the sun (Google 1968). BYU-I now has it's own group of rebels who, taking the cue from their predecessors, have begun their dissent... in a neat little newspaper.

These privileged mormon kids aren't worried about insignificant crap like the environment, civil rights or any of that boring stuff you see on CNN, they have bigger fish to fry. Take for instance the on going battle over the honor code. Who cares about our energy crisis when you can't wear flip-flop sandals to class. I agree with them, however, having to shave before class is a pain but is it worth printing a newspaper about? I think we're pretty lucky if our biggest concern is having to wear pants during the summer.

My Audition for BYU-I's Guitars Unplugged

So apparently, there's this huge show that takes place on campus once a semester that is strictly acoustic guitar performances; of course, being the seasoned performer that I am I decided that I should audition. The problem that I'm facing however, is what one song should I play. That's why I'm asking for your help, all of you who have watched me perform my set list over the last 4-5 years.

As you've noticed I've added a poll to the right hand side of the screen, what I'd like you to do is choose the one you enjoyed me singing the most as well as which one you, the audience member, enjoyed singing with me. I know I've played way over 4 songs in that time span so feel free to add one that you liked which isn't in the poll by commenting to the entry.

If you're a student at BYU-I that's interested in performing at this event click here for the audition information.