Tuesdays with Muerte

My Story 20+ years of formal schooling is a lot by any standard.  Ever wonder what it feels like to burn out as a grad student?   Here's a Quora thread where people responded to that questions .  Last winter, I, myself, had a rough time during finals .  My brain, and body, and spirit all went to pot after two weeks of high stress and precious, little sleep. Things weren't too different this time around... Here are my top five indicators of stress, inspired by my deepest, most-deranged regrets during finals week this year: 1. Growing a "sensible" mustache. I basically didn't look in a mirror for an entire week, so when I did actually leave the house (for Church) I reasoned that keeping the (BYU-approved) pedo-stache would lend me strength to finish strong, like the Nazarites of Biblical times.  Nope.  Just made me look like a creep. #CallmeSampson 2. Talking to my professors in second person (then switching tenses mid-conversation)....

This wasn't an exact meme re-enactment, but my intentions were true.  I attempted to mimic the little boy featured in the YouTube video below.  (Parental warning: A British woman says the "H" word.)  While this episode was very impromptu, and would have been better had it actually been my sister's birthday instead of my brother-in-law's.  It has initiated a very fun tradition that I'd like to continue to carry out for the foreseeable future—re-enacting memes that is, not jacking other people's birthday wishes; that's only funny once. "You never know when, or where, he's going to strike!" "Gotcha!"

I ran-skipped home, clutching a grass-stained, ten-dollar bill in my hand. I had never felt so rich in my entire (pre-teen) life! My burgeoning lawn-care business was only a week old and I was already seeing incredible returns. $10 whole dollars!  (Note: Ten dollars was the equivalent of one thousand Tootsie Rolls purchased at the local baseball park.) Just the thought of all those Tootsie Rolls filled my mouth with Saliva as I ran, which made it harder to breathe, but I didn't mind spit or drool as my clothes were covered in filth anyway.  Soon, I'd ask my dad to break the bill so I could finally discover if it would be possible to fill my first-baseman’s glove with tubular, chocolate goodness. Like most Saturday mornings, I found my dad in his study working on our family’s finances.  Feeling on equal terms—now that I was bringing money into the household—I proudly barged into his office revealing my prize. After doling out the anticipated praise, Dad asked ...

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"Being rich is not about how much you have, but about how much you can give." Why This Video Rubbed My Friend the Wrong Way Many of you already know this thought-provoking short film as "the video that makes you cry." I showed it to one of my friends and when it ended, I asked him for his thoughts.  With a surprisingly conflicted expression, he explained that, while he valued the core message, he didn't appreciate the fact that the father placed a higher value on  others,  above his  own son . He quoted President McKay, "No success can compensate for failure in the home." He recounted the oft-referenced moral dilemma of the father who worked the switch at a train junction and was forced to chose between saving his son's life and the lives of the many passengers on the train.  The father's perceived character flaw prevented my friend from focusing on the primary message. My Rebuttal I love complex, flawed, authentic characters...

What I think I look like... What I actually look like. Lol! That's all I really wanted to share.  I just got a kick out of these two GIFs.  But since I feel compelled to write something of substance, here's a tangentially-related thought about primping. Preparing to Become a Worth Husband and Father Isn't it interesting how much time we spend putting ourselves together, dressing up, and preparing ourselves mentally before leave home for the day?  What does that say about our priorities?  If my home and family  are my priorities, wouldn't it make more sense to spend at least a little energy gearing up for my return home after a long work day? When I have a family, I'm sure I will be tired after a long day of work.  But my plan is to offer the following curb-side prayer before entering the house: "Heavenly Father, please help me accept whatever shape my house and family are in when I go inside.  And bless me with the energy to dive i...

What Do These 4 People Have In Common? That's right! We're all  INTJs! What a fun week! Dr. Davies, my Assessments professor, wanted to better  manipulate  (JK) understand his students by inviting us  to take the  Hartman color code personality test  and the Myers-Briggs type indicator .  My results: I'm a Dominant  Blue , Recessive  White,  INTJ .  I've taken both tests multiple times over the past 20 years and have consistently arrived at the same outcome (a  reliable result ).  I'll leave it up to you--family and friends--to confirm the validity of my scores. Analysis of Results I'll just share a few personal examples of my  BLUE-ness : Blues are motivated by Altruism —I let other people catch up and sometimes win during competitive games, if I sense winning to be important to them. This happens a lot on the tennis court. Blues seek intimacy — Years ago, I posted to this blog 3x/day i...