Invictus and a great way to donate to Haiti...

Tonight I went and saw Invictus.  (I decided to avoid homework a little longer... maybe this was a good idea, but probably not.)  I thought it was pretty good.  I liked the idea of the movie, but the execution wasn't great to me.  The crowd scenes were repeated and were pretty fake looking a lot of the time.  The acting was all very, very good I thought.  Morgan Freeman is great, and Matt Damon did very well also.  It wasn't so cheesy as inspirational sports movies often are, but maybe that's part of the hard-to-describe reason I didn't LOVE this movie.  It just didn't really build excitement very well.  I felt like it was more just a straight-forward chronicle of what happened than it was an inspirational movie.  I mean, yeah it's a great story about an underdog team that won it all, but it really didn't capture the triumph of the change that nation was experiencing.  I think I expect too much.  It was entertaining enough, and I'm always a fan of the underdog, but I just felt like they didn't capitalize on all the elements of the story that really could have made this a GREAT film.  One last note: I was weirded out by how much focus there was on his security team.  I know they exemplified much of what he tried to accomplish in combining the races, but it threw me off a bit.

Anyway, Nelson Mandela was awesome and I really liked the story of Invictus, but didn't love everything about the film.  It was definitely good enough for a watch though!


I decided to donate to Haiti through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints's Humanitarian Services.  It's always a great option because I know that 100% of the funds go to those who need it.

Democratic Republic of Congo, George Mason, Haiti...

UNHCR News Story: New UNHCR video report on DRC
Originally uploaded by UNHCR

This morning I went to my geography class on Violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. We had a great lecture on the DRC (Dem. Rep. of Congo). My teacher spent time there recently and really wanted to communicate to us the magnitude of the situation the people face there. That country is in a REALLY bad way. The factions that are all fighting and years of international intrusion have left a nation that could be incredibly wealthy due to its resources in a dire state. It's quite tragic. After all the discussion about DRC and its issues, my desire to go to Africa is even stronger. I just REALLY want to go there and make a difference. In fact, after I got home from class I sent in an application to win a trip to Africa with a NY Times journalist. The lecture today just put me in one of those mindsets where I suddenly am very aware of the incredible span of difference between the life I lead and the lives of many of Africa's poorest folks. As I got a drink from a drinking fountain right after class I realized that I should even be joyful that I have clean and fresh water that I can trust so readily available. I lead a life full of luxuries that many Africans can't even imagine, and they lead lives devoid of things I can't even imagine. It's quite sad, but makes me want to make a difference. Of course I most want to contribute to human rights, but any difference I could make at all would be great.

After my class I came home and applied to win that trip, and then after a while I headed back up to campus. On the way there I looked at my phone and realized that I'd missed a call. It was from an area code I didn't recognize, so I thought it might be a law school. They left me a message and sure enough, I got accepted to George Mason! Woot! It's definitely one of my top 3 choices. I was thinking it was one place that I was feeling fairly borderline about my admission chances.

So I was feeling pretty great about that and went and bought some food in the student center. I sat down with my food and saw that they had CNN playing on the TV there. Of course they were covering the earthquake in Haiti. It's an incredible thing when nature can shut down the center of a nation badly enough that people can't even get into the country. Watching the coverage brought my mood back down, but also reminded me of how much I want to make a difference in the world. Hopefully the more I say things like this the more I'll be driven to actually do something about these feelings.

Anyway, that was the roller coaster of feelings that I felt this morning. I can't wait to figure out what comes next. K, see ya later.

Hot-Boiled Drat...

I heard that phrase said on an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show the other day, and I thought it was pretty darn hilarious. 

Random:  If anyone that goes to USU really needs a job, even one with very few hours, please let me know.  There are a few openings at my work that will be available to interview for on Friday.  (Two days from now!)  Anyway, let me know.  You need to be pretty computer savvy, and friendly-ish.  That's about it.

Anyway, all I want right now is to sleep.  However, I'm at work.  This isn't a great place to sleep.  A great place to sleep, though, can be found in the institute building.  It's quite peaceful there, and there are a myriad of couch/chair options.  I had myself a nice 5-10 minute power-nap this morning.  I'm a fan of power-naps.  I always over sleep and ruin the "power" part of them, but when I can get in just a brief 15 minute nap or so, I feel great!  Napping for an hour or more always makes me super groggy.

School is going fairly well thus far.  No major complaints. 

Spencer and I played racquetball yesterday, and my K-nees are K-illing me!  That's all about that.

Hmm... the only other important update that I feel I need to add to this entry is that today I'll be mailing off the very last of my law school application paper-work.  So I'll be officially done applying for law school after I get one envelope off in the mail to BYU.  SWEETNESS~~!!!

Hmm... since I've still got about 2 hours of work left, I think I shall compose a list of a sort that I haven't done in quite a long while.  A RANDOM THOUGHTS LIST!!!

• I hate making résumés.  Really not a great activity.
• I ate a really good cherry cheese danish this morning.  Mmm...
• I just randomly got the song with the phone number "867-5309" stuck in my head.  Or, I guess I should say, I got the chorus for said song stuck in my head.
• I feel for the people in Haiti.  I wish I could actually go there and do something to help out.  I think it's great to donate money and all, but really I wish I could actually physically help, ya know?
• I really want to go to Africa.  If I can't get a decent internship this summer, or don't land any other great job, I really want to volunteer for an international aid group or something for the summer.  That would be a dream come true.
• My friend said a word the other day to describe gross stuff (like skuzz, or goobers, or whatever) that I think is DISGUSTING sounding, but perfect for said definition.  The word?  Bonch.
• 867-5-30 NIIYINE...
• I hate when my leg starts bouncing involuntarily and I can't control it.  I'm sure other people around me hate it, too.
• I just had a craving for a sausage egg Mcmuffin!  Gross...
• Some people look cool.
• BONCH!
• There's some dude that keeps wandering around by the front door of the lab... what a weirdo.
• I don't think I should be allowed to call other people weird.  Besides, he just left.

K, see ya.