Mo-hawks

Today's observation while walking around campus: The Mohawk.

Wikipedia says

The Mohawk or Mohican is a hairstyle. In the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaved leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the centre. Mohawks became common in punk subculture and Rivethead subculture in the early 1980s and were then adopted by various other groups, becoming more diverse in style. Today, Mohawks are still associated with the punk subculture, but have also become part of mainstream fashion.

The Mohawk hairstyle is named for, and often associated with, the people of the Mohawk nation, an indigenous people of North America who originally inhabited the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario.

In modern punk fashion, the Mohawk is often dyed brilliant colors and worn so that it points straight up, often to impressive height. The Mohawk is also a feature of goth fashion. The Mohawk is also known as the signature hairstyle of Mr. T, the actor who first became famous playing the boxer Clubber Lang in the movie Rocky III and later as Sgt. B.A. Baracus in the television series The A-Team.

I saw a few kids with mohawks today and I thought to myself: What do people who sport mohawks think when they're getting ready in the morning? Maybe I've just forgotten what it's like to have to do my hair in the morning, since i'm blessed to not have to do that anymore. But I saw a guy with a full on, stiff, spiky, mohawk and I imagined him doing his hair this morning and thinking to himself "dang my hair looks good." I laughed to myself. in my head.

That's all.

I always feel insecure when I blog without pictures. It's like i'm not cool. and stuff. Shirley just hates that I don't blog about all the cool things we do. Well, today is the first day of school, but I got out of class early and have nothing to do for an hour or so, so here it goes. I don't have many pictures, but at least I'm alive.

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The First Day Of School

I don't really remember being nervous for school to start last semester, or the semester before that, or really ever since I started college. But I was today. It was weird. I think it was because my schedule wasn't entirely set and I wasn't excited to be going back to school. Or something. I don't know.

But I got here and I've been smiling ever since. I forgot how funny school is; how weird people are, how young freshmen look, how weird people's conversations are, the wierd ways people do their hair, the weird ways people dress, etc... I just like being on campus and seeing people. It makes me smile/laugh.

When I was registering for classes, I was thinking that I was going to have three semesters left, and that I would graduate next fall, but earlier this week I realized that if I could get into an ACC444 class this semester (they were all full at the time) I could work it out so I graduate in the Spring of this year! I've been checking the ASU registration page, like, every ten minutes for the last week, and about a half hour ago, a section opened up. I'm gonna graduate next Spring! I'm pretty excited.

I think my wife is the opposite. She graduated 3 months ago. And was fine until today when I was getting my backpack together and getting ready for class. She's suffering from withdrawal from not having school, and she wants to go back. I wish I could trade her. I think I'd like to be done and just working not... But that's how it goes, eh?

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Sherwood

Sherwood is one of my favorite bands. I saw them last summer and they covered the song Holiday from The Get Up Kids, who are also one of my favorite bands. Since then I've been a pretty big fan. I even have 2 Sherwood shirts! You know someone must be a good fan if they have a band shirt (ok, maybe not, i'm just saying...)!

Shirley and I saw them early in July this year and it was great. It was the first concert I've been to in a while and I had a lot of fun. They played with Copeland, who was headlining that tour. Because of this, I think most of the folk there were Copeland fans, more inclined to enjoy the more mellow tunes produced by Copeland than the sweet fun music created by Sherwood. It seemed that when Sherwood played, most the people in the crowd just stood there. It made me sad. I enjoy concerts... though I imagine I likely won't go to many more. They're not quite as fun as they used to be, which it is part of maturing, which is really fine with me.

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More to come...

New Blog!

Not like i do a great job keeping this blog updated or anything, but i started a new blog anyways. One that i'm actually a lot more excited about (so maybe i will be better at updating it).

It's about hiking. So if you enjoy the hobby... feel free to hop on over to Mike's Hikes and check out what adventures we've been up to.

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Just as a side note about blogs... does anyone remember the days before Myspace and Facebook and Blogger? Does anyone remember LiveJournal? I think it was one of the first big blog websites that started getting people warmed up to the whole web log (blog) thing.

I was just thinking how my perspective has changed over the years. At first, when LJ came around i thought "What the heck? Why would i want to keep a public journal? A journal is for, like, my personal thoughts and ideas. I don't need to share that with people online!"

But then came Myspace, and then Facebook, and then Blogger (at least that's the order in which i subscribed to these great (ahem) social networking tools).

When blogger started getting big, i started thinking of it as less of an online journal, and more of just a method to tell your old friends what you've been up to in life. You know, the people you don't actually talk to anymore, but still feel like you know them so well because you read their blogs? I kinda thought blogs were just a way to keep up with friends, maybe even show off a little bit when something happens worth showing off.

But now i'm starting to see it as both of the above. The main purpose seems to be to write all about what i've been up to so i can have something to show old school mates, or extended family, but it definitely serves a dual purpose. I don't really keep a journal like i probably should, but when i look back in five years, I'll be able to look at my blog and remember some of the cool things I've done.

And so Blogger, I salute you. Here's to you helping me keep a journal by disguising it as a social networking tool.

Summer

It’s been a long time, and boy is there a lot to talk (type) about: How the semester ended up, Shirley’s graduation (obviously the semester ended good enough, cuz she graduated), Our California trip, our church calling, our wedding pictures, our job searchings, summer, the adventures of Mike and Shirley…

So let’s find a good place to start…

Since the semester is over, I’ll just leave it at that. Shirley passed, so she graduated. I did well enough. I have, like, a B- GPA. It should be higher, and I feel kinda lame, but I’ll work harder next semester.

Shirley’s graduation! We got to hear Obama speak. Most of the audience cheered for him like he was a rock star. It was weird. He is, however, and excellent speaker. And he gave a great speech.

We’ve been beginning our adventures… We plan to have a lot this summer. Some of our ideas/plans include a trip to the Kern River in California for rafting, a trip to Colorado (maybe) to visit Shirley’s brother, a few camping trips, some hiking around Arizona, Maybe another Cali trip, Fossil Springs, The Oracle Caves, etc… We love adventures. We’re gonna call this summer “The Adventures of Mike and Shirley!”

Immediately following Shirley’s graduation ceremonies, we got in the car and left for California in search of sunny skies and great fun with our friends Jack and Natalie. We spent all day Friday (in honor of my birthday and Shirley’s graduation) at Disneyland. I hadn’t been there in over 2 years, and Shirley hadn’t been in, like, 15 years. It was amazing. I love Disneyland – happiest place on earth!

Saturday was spent at the beach (didn't take any pictures, sorry). We got a firepit and got our coals going and made tin-foil dinners for lunch. That was awesome. We threw the Frisbee around, played in the water a bit, and then took naps. It was pretty overcast the whole time at the beach though. That was a bust. But still enjoyable.

We stopped in Blythe on the way home to get gas. Gas was so much more expensive on the North side of the freeway! What the heck! When we stopped at the McDonalds after getting gas (the cheaper gas), I walked across the street to take this sweet picture.That circled part is this: (32 cents cheaper gas!)That seems like a sufficient enough update for now…

Just on a side note, if you know of anyone hiring, I’m looking for work. I’ve been reduced to about 12 hours a week, and that’s not gonna cut it. Thanks!