Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Three years ago

Wow... I can't believe it's been almost three years. In October, right around General Conference, it will have been three years. Time really has flown, and so much has happened to me since that day.

Nearly three years ago, I bought this bottle of hair gel:

Now the goo's depleted. Goo. I guess most of it's... on my pillow... huh... that's a strange thought. Some made it down the shower drains of the 'Oood and my current bathroom. Campus has received a fair dusting, as have California, St. George and Arizona -- though in very small, very dry flecks. My usual strategy is to gloop my hair up, let it harden, then run my hands through my hair until it's soft.

The stuff runs at about $3 per bottle. As a diligent saver, I would have needed to put away 5 cents from each pay check to save up enough for the next bottle. That's neglecting earned interest and inflation. Supposing a 4% annual savings rate and 4% annual inflation, I would then need to retain 5 cents from each pay check. Still pretty cheap. I suppose I could devote one day in 15 scouring parking lots and sofas for a nickel. And if luck turned up a dime, I'd be set for an entire month.

On two unrelated notes:

I've been studying like mad for my EcEn 451 midterm, and as I've been studying, trying to learn (and succeeding in learning) various things for the class, once in a while, I've been struck by my overuse of commas, and I've also had feelings of, "Hey, you're learning something that you could actually use to find employment -- you're learning useful things." You might say that this contradicts the last sentence of my previous post... but the feeling is more of "this is useful, you're putting good things in your head." It's similar to learning some Spanish, then being able to speak to someone in Spanish -- you know? that satisfying feeling of accomplishment?

And:

We spoke today about Post Modernism in my English class. It was kind of eerie. Post Modernists (should that be capitalized? ... well post modernists wouldn't care) are relativists... and don't believe in convention or standards -- reality as we perceive it isn't real... it's just become real because of how we perceive. Anyway, it's all very circular and makes only half sense. Following it to its end seems to lead one to atheism... and don't-believe-or-stand-for-anythingism.

BUT, it was eerie because a lot of what I do follows post modernist thought -- the things I think are funny. I'm rambling... so, you know how your having a conversation amongst a group of people, and then you start conversing about yourselves conversing -- that's post modernism. People of earlier ages didn't ordinarily do that. Or when you make fun of singing in a song. Or when you mock dating conventions as you date. Or speaking conventions as you speak. Or blogging conventions as you blog!!.

Okay, enough of that.


That's a daffodil from two nights ago.

5 comments:

Lacking Productivity said...

It is funny that you would mention Post Modernism; in my comment on Dan's blog I wrote po-mo, and after I wrote it, I wondered if he knew what that meant. Knowing Dan, he probably does. If not, you have an explanation here. Convenient.

I love all things po-mo; I studied it A LOT in school, by choice mostly. I consider myself a very critical, yet campy po-mo, mostly because to be totally po-mo, you must be conscious of your po-mo-ness, which makes it more ironic, which makes even more circular and nutty and impossible.

Thanks for bringing it up actually. It sorta makes me happy just to know there is someone else out there thinking and writing about it.

Peace.

Meg said...

I love Post Modernism, because I think a lot of life IS really relative. Yes, there are eternal truths, but there are a lot of things that depend on situations too. We talked about it a lot in my Contemporary Lit class (with a lot of gospel slant to make it less eerie) and I really enjoy me some good post-modernism. It doesn't have to lead to atheism unless you blog about blogging too much. :)

Barbaloot said...

If I understood little to nothing that was written in this post---does that mean I have to go back to college?

Jenna Kae said...

um, i'm wondering how it is you know the exact date you bought that bottle of gel. was there something significant that you purchased along with it? i guess you really don't have to tell me, but i am curious. also, how did you get it to last so long? if only i could stretch my hair products out that much... life would be so nice. :)

Mandy and Brian said...

You and Dan should get together and combine your hair gel and marriage economics and teach a class...it could be called marrgelonomics....something about the rate at which you use your hair gel affecting your chances of getting married and how the price of your hair gel will ultimately determine what value you place on marriage and all your subsequent money matters. I think it would be really useful to all the fellas out there.....
P.S. I never got post modernism. I mean, what comes after post modernism? if post means after, and modern means recent or present, then wouldn't post modern mean the future? It is pretty rude not to leave room for other movements. I think I'm going to start one called post futurism. Yeah.....