The Daily Honky Tonk 171st Edition

The Daily Honky Tonk
171st Edition
Monday, December 22, 2008
1:00 AM

Today, it is officially cold in Illinois. Its the first time I’ve actually thought it overly bitter. At the same time, the cold has brought good things with it; the snow, friends, my parents anniversary, cuddling up with good books and movies, and ice sliding on the driveway with Caleb.
I started reading various authors commentaries on writing. The result would seem to be great feelings of inadequacy, and also the realization that there are thousands of people trying to do the same thing. Just like music. But I do not find it a good enough reason to quit writing. And, well, I’ve started again pondering plots for novels. One benefit of reading the commentaries was I discovered that my fatal mistake in trying to write a book has been that its never been thoroughly planned. Like music, I’ve always considered writing a discovery activity.. . When I write music, I tend to sit at a piano and play around, and rather than writing a song, I feel like I’m uncovering a buried treasure. When it rings true, when it, for a lack of better words “speaks to me”, then I keep it as part of the song. There is a song that I started to write in High School, and just a week or so ago, I discovered another part of it.. . .I part that I have been missing and trying to find. I could feel the lack for it.
As I write these things, I started to wander to whom these words will appeal, and also to whom will they cause to turn their heads. We all interpret the world a bit differently I suppose.
Today, I actually am pleased to announce that another writer has contributed to this DHT. A dear friend and mentor, Scott Wilson recently wrote a piece about his Thanksgiving trip. With his permission, I share this with view. I do enjoy his writing, particularly because of the funny twists he gives to his personal insights on life happenings.

A Texas Thanksgiving- by Scott Wilson
As many of you know, we spent Thanksgiving with Jon and Lisa in Texas. This was our first trip to the Lone Star State since leaving Austin in 2002 for the greener grass of Illinois. One of the nice things about living in Colorado is that we are within a day's drive of all of our family members (with the notable exception of a couple of wayward Michigander families). We made trips earlier this year to Utah and Idaho, and we spent Thanksgiving a few years ago in Kansas, so we decided to invite ourselves over to the home of our favorite Texan family for the week of Thanksgiving.

We arrived Saturday night after an admittedly long drive made slightly shorter by Diana obeying the "spirit" of the speed-limit laws. As you can imagine, for cousins that had not seen each other for nearly a year, it took our kids a while to warm up to the Schaack boys. This lasted for about 1.2 seconds, after which time our kids played together as if they had never been apart. We like the Schaack boys. Caleb has quite a commanding presence for a four-year-old. He will often talk to those around him, including adults, as though he is the one in charge. We decided that he will likely be the CEO of a major corporation someday (or some comparable position). And Jacob is just so darn cute. Our bedtime routine included my telling episodes of the classic tale of Sam and the Magic Blanket, and Caleb correcting me when I made slight continuity errors in the story.

Fortunately, Jon had the week off, so we played the whole week. Jon and Lisa took us on an extensive tour of all of the exciting tourist attractions of the Dallas area which included the following: the X in the road marking the spot where Kennedy was assassinated. After that, we spent much of the rest of our time visiting the playgrounds in the area. We went to a total of six playgrounds, and our kids could not get enough of them. This was partly because of the sunshiny 70s weather we enjoyed for most of the week.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Phillips, our good friends from Austin, just happen to be living in the Schaack's ward. Jared Jepson, my friend from high school, is also now living in the Dallas area, and we took advantage of that fact by talking on the phone with Jared several times, but never actually coordinating a time to meet. As you know, though, talking with someone on the phone when you're in the same metro area is much better than talking on the phone with them when you're a couple states apart. Besides, Jared and I are related, he being my sister's husband's sister's husband's brother, so I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to meet up with him in the future.

So we had a great time with the Schaacks. The best part of the entire trip, of course, was the $1.55-per-gallon gas. We just wanted to drive around in circles for a while to keep burning that cheap, cheap gas. To make up for the money we saved in gas, I decided to get a speeding ticket on the way home. This occurred near a small town in west Texas where the local government has apparently decided that the only way for them to balance their budget is to give huge fines to drivers passing by their small town who are going nine mph over the limit, smugly ignoring the well known rule that policemen are only supposed to give tickets to those going at least ten over (which is why my cruise control was set at nine over). Regardless, we were happy to make our substantial contribution towards the city park's new merry-go-round.

OK, the actual best part of the trip was the reaffirmation that we have a great family, and boy do we enjoy spending time with them. Lisa is amazing with her creative and artistic and homemaking skills. She makes Martha Stewart look like . . . like an engineer (for lack of a better comparison). And Jon kept us entertained with emergency-room stories (accompanied by vivid photographs) involving teeth (or a lack thereof) and blood and gore.

Being as it is the holiday season, my company recently gave us the cheerful news that approximately 16% of ULA employees will be laid off next year. I'm not worried, though. A company would never lay off an engineer whose football team is currently ranked #3 in the nation. If that's not job security, I don't know what is.

Speaking of college sports, I've mentioned in the past that one of the great benefits of having attended three universities is that at any one time, at least one of my teams will be doing well. I've recently realized that there is an even greater benefit. In almost any situation I can instantly make an enemy. You see, I've attended universities in the Mountain West, Big 12, and Big 10 conferences. It is quite frequent that people I meet have attended a school in one of those conferences, and it helps that at least two of my schools (BYU and Texas) regularly beat up on their conference foes. For instance, yesterday I attended a presentation by a company made up mostly of University of Wyoming graduates who were trying to sell our company some software. When I mentioned I was a BYU alumnus, the CEO of the company instantly started talking about how badly the Cougars beat the Cowboys this year, and said we might as well call the meeting off—that he couldn't sell his software to a Cougar. That's the kind of immediate animosity that I am capable of creating with almost anyone.

**Thanks Scott :)

Seeing the Value in Others
The following story is from a talk by Vaughn J. Featherstone “A Man After God’s Own Heart”. I found it on my mission and used It often for teaching purposes. I like it because it teaches many valuable principles. My favorite principles to discuss surrounding this story are the potential that we have as God’s children, seeing others as God’s children, drawing out the good in people, and the power of love inspired service. I think the story will speak well enough for itself.

Marian Wright Edelman told the story of Jean Thompson, who was a teacher:

On the first day of school, Jean Thompson told her students, "Boys and girls, I love you all the same." Teachers lie. Little Teddy Stollard was a boy Jean Thompson did not like. He slouched in his chair, didn't pay attention, his mouth hung open in a stupor, his eyes were always unfocused, his clothes were mussed, his hair unkempt, and he smelled. He was an unattractive boy and Jean Thompson didn't like him.

Teachers have records. And Jean Thompson had Teddy's. First grade: "Teddy's a good boy. He shows promise in his work and attitude. But he has a poor home situation." Second grade: "Teddy is a good boy. He does what he is told. But he is too serious. His mother is terminally ill." Third grade: "Teddy is falling behind in his work; he needs help. His mother died this year. His father shows no interest." Fourth grade: "Teddy is in deep waters; he is in need of psychiatric help. He is totally withdrawn."

Christmas came, and the boys and girls brought their presents and piled them on her desk. They were all in brightly colored paper except for Teddy's. His was wrapped in brown paper and held together with scotch tape. And on it, scribbled in crayon, were the words, "For Miss Thompson from Teddy." She tore open the brown paper and out fell a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume that was almost empty. When the other boys and girls began to giggle she had enough sense to put some of the perfume on her wrist, put on the bracelet, hold her wrist up to the children and say, "Doesn't it smell lovely? Isn't the bracelet pretty?" And taking their cue from the teacher, they all agreed.

At the end of the day, when all the children had left, Teddy lingered, came over to her desk and said, "Miss Thompson, all day long, you smelled just like my mother. And her bracelet, that's her bracelet, it looks real nice on you, too. I'm really glad you like my presents." And when he left, she got down on her knees and buried her head in her chair and she begged God to forgive her.

The next day when the children came, she was a different teacher. She was a teacher with a heart. And she cared for all the children, but especially those who needed help. Especially Teddy. She tutored him and put herself out for him.

By the end of the year, Teddy had caught up with a lot of the children and was even ahead of some. Several years later, Jean Thompson got this note:

Dear Miss Thompson:

I'm graduating and I'm second in my high school class. I wanted you to be the first to know. Love, Teddy.

Four years later she got another note:

Dear Miss Thompson:

I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I like it. Love, Teddy Stollard.

Four years later, there was another note:

Dear Miss Thompson:

As of today, I am Theodore J. Stollard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I'm going to be married in July. I want you to come and sit where my mother would have sat, because you're the only family I have. Dad died last year.

And she went and she sat where his mother should have sat because she deserved to be there.

[Deval L. Patrick, "Struggling for Civil Rights Now," Vital Speeches of the Day 61, no. 3 (November 15 1994):93­p;94]

I think that is the kind of thing we talk about when we talk about having a heart like unto God's own heart. Otherwise we'll live like the person in this little verse by Henry Drummond:

I lived for myself, I thought for myself,
For myself, and none beside--
Just as if Jesus had never lived,
As if He had never died.

[The Greatest Thing in the World (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, n.d.), p. 40]


It’s late because we just got home from picking up my Aunt Kristl (my dad’s sister). It’s good to have her with us. It was weird to see the airport again. And I’m going to see it again soon.

The Editor,
Mark

The Daily Honky Tonk 170th Edition

The Daily Honky Tonk
170th Edition
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
10:17 PM


This DHT has been sitting on my new MacBook Pro for two days waiting for me to get the address book updated to this computer. Yay! It’s finally done. Which makes me very happy. In the meantime, I’ve also finally gotten a cell phone. I found out that I am without planning scheduled to be in a class with one of my best friends and I’m getting excited to go to school after the holidays. Snow is covering everything and I love it. Maybe I’ll get into the habit of writing more often again. Especially now that things are more convieniently in one place.
Oh, I was trying to figure out how I was going to effectively budget my life without paying too much for a good computer program. I was doing my research and found out that Quicken has a free online service that you can directly attach to your account. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a beginning budgeting program. It has a nice little program that helps you see where you are spending your money and it also has a goals program that allows you to set your budget for items and can send you emails to warn you if your going to go over or are getting close. Just go to www.quicken.com and look for the Quicken Online :)

The ABC’s of My Life
Amy and Alyssa- I saw Alyssa after Thanksgiving and Amy comes home December 18th. It’s good to have my Champaign girls again.

Baptisms- Krysta Hanson and Britt Grove were just recently baptized in the Champaign singles ward. They are both awesome people. . .I’ve enjoyed getting to know them, as I have the rest of the Singles Ward. For purely social reasons, I could definitely stay in the Singles Ward here. Ha ha, but then, something I came to understand better about myself on my mission, is that I could be happy almost anywhere based purely on social things. . ..there are cool people everywhere.

Consuming- How I’ve begun to start to think of my new MacBook Pro and computers in general. In the movie Wall-E we see a place where in future society people live in chairs where they don’t see past the projected computer screen in front of their faces. They are fat, because they can do everything in their chair. They can talk, order things, travel, talk to people, whatever. An increasing amount of my interests and daily activities can be done on a computer. I can write, I can study online courses, go shopping, I can learn new guitar songs (from YouTube and tablature), I can communicate with others, I can do research, and now I don’t need to take a stereo and all my CDs to college to have my music. With so many productive things to do on a computer, and just as many distracting things that are fun like games, movies, and watching whole TV Episodes, I’ve started to feel like its consuming my life. It’s very efficient, and I don’t think I waste as much time as I used to. However, I do often feel like I’ve been in front of it for too long.

Dark Knight, The- The New Batman movie is rather intense. It’s rating includes a statement that it is rated PG-13 for “some menace” . I kind of laughed when I saw that. But I understood that it was referring to the Joker. The movie is very dark and the menace quite disturbing (to me at least). However, I thought it was a genius script. Interestingly, the person who said the most truly profound things were The Joker. The film made poignant remarks on motivations, on right and wrong and where the lines blend, on what is virtue, and on humanity in general. I love how The Joker can’t be bought, whose motivation is for the sake of doing things. If virtue is “doing good for only the sake of doing good”, we see the opposite in a man who doest bad for the very sake of enjoying the bad. The Joker also makes some great points about being in control and out of control. He uses peoples desires to control a situation to accomplish his tasks. When I speak of this movie, I will say that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the genious in it. . . .but the darkness of it kept me up watching something more pleasant to return to my insides to a “happy medium” (can someone remind me where that idea is from? “happy medium” I think its from Madeline L’engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” but I can’t remember.

Ears- I laughed the other day when my Mom told me that I’m definitely the child who has a telephone growing out of his ear. Something we’ve taken into consideration while looking for a cell phone.

Frumpy- Scotts Johns word for me. I’m so excited that he comes home and gets to be my room mate.

Gifts by Ursula K. LeGuin is a really good book that makes some interesting observations about gifts. What is a gift? Is it’s value dependent on the user? It’s a good book, with beautiful prose, and is a short read as well. I highly recommend it. Oh, I guess it would fall under the fiction/fantasy category.

Holiday with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn addressed one of my favorite expanded insights on the mission. Before I left on the mission, I thought a lot in black and white. I’m quite confident I still think in a lot of black and white. ..but its significantly less. The insight I finally understood was how in many situations there isn’t one right answer ..there are many. For some reason I used to think that as everyone neared perfection, truth would be the basis for there decision, and ultimately, that would mean they would all make the same decision. On my mission I finally came to understand that this is not a cookie cutter plan .. .we are not cookie dough all approaching the same shaped cookie. In our eternal identity there is personality and character and that will always be with us. It doesn’t detract from perfection .... .Joseph Smith taught that the Lord gives us revelation adapted to our circumstances. .. I assume circumstances includes our personalities and those of the people around us. So acting perfectly would not assume that there is one right answer for the situation. .because it changes according to the people. The truths like love, patience, virtue, etc., don’t change. . But revelation helps us to understand how to use those truths in our situation. In Holiday Cary Grant is going to marry, but eventually discovers that his spouse and he have different ideas about finances. At first he tries resolve it by deciding to follow the girl’s philosophy, but then he discovers he can’t really do it and she can’t change for him. In a former time, I would have seen the girl as wrong because my philosophy on life is closer to Cary Grant’s. At this point I recognize both as fine and appropriate for the individual and that the best answer for them was not getting married.

It’s a Wonderful Life- about a week ago we watched this movie as a family. I forgot how much I love this movie. The message is so positive. It just makes you want to get up and enjoy life and bless others lives.

Jimmy John’s- I had my first sandwich from there the other evening. “Subs so fast you’ll freak” means that you don’t sit around in Subway, in fact, I think they generally finished within 20-30 seconds of the order. I was impressed .. . .but as those who were there know, not “obsessed” :)

Kentucky still remains to be one of my favorite places. Nostalgic for sure.

Love is a decision set aside from attraction, enjoyment, and hormones. “Enchanted” makes some great observations on love.

Money- I’m about to go off and be a poor college student! I’m really excited! The other day I was talking to someone about dating (an activity which at this point I find myself a little terrified of) and the girl commented that she didn’t like going on dates unless she was interested. She felt it disingenuous to have someone spending there money on her. I wandered to myself how many girls use guys for there money. And I have to admit, my own philosophies I’m hoping will counter that. I’m don’t want to spend lots of money on dates. I’m not going to have a lot of money, I don’t plan on it, and I don’t want the girl to think otherwise. Financial security is important to me .. .having an excess of money is not. I truly believe that how much money you have is not about how much you earn, but how much you spend. I want to be a teacher, and I want to marry a girl who wants to stay home with the kids. Doing that on a teacher’s salary is going to require good financial skills and a great deal of sacrifice. But with it should come rewards of the simplicity of not having too much in the house and if financially stable then there shouldn’t be concerns for the money. Removing black and white thinking allowed me to see that for some families, and some girl’s personalities it can be very beneficial for them to work. Which allowed me to accept that I can enjoy my own philosophies and others can enjoy theirs.

Not too seriously will I take myself and life. A friend and family member, suggested that I beward of “analysis paralysis”. . .overthinking and freezing up on decisions. I thought it was brilliant :)

Orange Crush- I learned something cool when I was visiting my grandparents for Thanksgiving. Orange Crush used to have real bits of orange in it! Hence the name.

Picking college courses, picking where to live, picking what to do with my life, and in time picking who I will marry. There are a lot more decisions to be made in normal life.

Quests I’m currently on- I want to start a band at BYU. I am on a quest for a good story idea. And I’m on a quest to continue overcoming the irrational thought processes that occasionally plague my existence.

Risk Taking- So I’ve decided its a good idea to take more risks than I have in the past. Some of the more recent risks I’ve taken are riding a motorcycle, attempting to ride a horse after several failed attempts, and well, I was going to go see my first concert. . Then the concert was cancelled due to the singer getting sick . .. Oh well. Its been good for me to do things I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with. Even little things like watching some episodes of The Office. I was always so careful of every little decision. I don’t think I am as much anymore. The crazy papers helped me see that taking risks helps us to increase our discomfort tolerance and actually know our limitations(instead of assuming them), and it also is helpful to me ridding myself of perfectionism to be able to see things as a success if I tried it. I don’t have to like it or do it well, but I can try it and find out if I like it.

Spectacular Individuals- James Holman and Wilbur Wilberforce. I would like to recommend here a book and a movie. “A Sense of the World” by Jason Roberts is about a blind man named James Holman who traveled the world despite his inability to see. It is a biography and is very well written and very fascinating. “Amazing Grace” is a movie about Wilbur Wilberforce and his fight in Parliament to stop the British Slave Trade. An inspiring true story, that was very tastefully put onto the screen. I mention these two, and I have been thinking about great individuals in general as I have been studying American Heritage and learning about the founders of our nation. I love reading about great people. I admire both James and Wilbur for there fight against great odds, for their perseverance, diligence, and good will towards others. I think when I read about great individuals, it helps me to remember that doing great things is something obtainable. People who are considered great are in reality still just normal people. What separates them is not having any extra ability that allows them to do, but rather that they decide to do despite the odds. Both are truly inspiring tales, and the modern day storytellers of the book and the movie are great.

Three- the number of guys who unnecessarily felt “threatened” by my return from missionary life. Ha ha, that number could actually be four, but three are confirmed. By threat, I am referring to a threat to their relationships. The funny thing was I wasn’t and am not a threat at all. I can’t even really think of myself as a threat :).

University, Brigham Young- I’m getting excited to get out there and start school. I’m looking forward to throw myself into another world.

Virtue, virtue, virtue. . .I read about virtue in my American Heritage book. Virtue was considered by the Socrates, Aristotle, and other ancient thinkers. In the late 1700s through the 1800s virtue was a largely important topic. In “A Sense of the World” and “Amazing Grace” it was evident that virtue was a daily consideration for many of the players and a question often brought up. But now, I wonder what is to become of virtue. Virtue of character would play into so many things if it was more valued in our society. If virtue was considered important Marriage would still be a sacred institution respected before and after the fact. If virtue was still important, Illinois and North Dakota would not be uncovering political corruption. If virtue was still important, The Office would always be funny, entertaining, and CLEAN. If virtue was still important, one could leave the TV on and the only concern would be time spent, not content viewed. If virtue was still important, woman would be respected. If virtue was still important, large businesses would not suffer scandal. If virtue was still important, a man wouldn’t be trampled in a Black Friday’s sales rush. If virtue were still important, missionaries, teachers, Priests, and other various members of society wouldn’t have to tip toe around children and worry about lawsuits fired against them. If virtue were still important, our natural inclination would be to trust rather than to wonder what the “Catch” is.
I think virtue is very important. I don’t think our world is completely lacking of it either. People are still rescued, happy families continue to exist, and honest businessman, politicians, and regular everyday great people exist and consider the tenets of virtue important. But it does not play the same central role in society. A couple examples. .. In Much Ado About Nothing, when Hero is framed as to having lost her carnal virtue, her father in rage says he prefers her dead than alive with the scandal. Its so serious that they pretend she is dead. I’m pretty sure Clinton and Lewinsky did not go into hiding. The character of the individual was valued. Today, character, especially virtue, while valued, especially by employers, is not held to the same high regard in the societies eye. Obama and McCain were never found dueling as Hamilton and Burr despite vicious attacks on one another. (Granted this one may be a stretch. Burr, the winner of the duel ultimately was tried for murder, and although acquitted was unable to continue his political career. In our times, we would not take up an illegal action such as dueling just to defend our reputation.. . Unless your a gangbanger of course. Our virtue and character just doesn’t have that much importance anymore.

Wyatt gets mentioned for just being awesome. And because when I think lonely. . I know his definition of lonely is the closest to mine :)

X is a cross that goes through things to tell you no!

Yesh!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz’s are still something I avoid :)

The Editor,
MARK