Life Lesson # 4,392,671

Ok. I'm in England right. And I'm helping my friend get ready for his wedding. Not doing much. I've had chips and gravy once, KFC twice, and McDonald's 3 times. These english people love american crap. Well last night my friend's finance and her best friend were deciding best how to get home. Well they each had a car and were deciding whether to take one or the other, or both. It was a big dilemma where if they took one then the other would have to get up early and come back into town with them. Course if they took 2 then both had to drive. It went on for 20 minutes. Twenty. After they left I said to my friend, "How long does it take to figure out how to get home!?" Now's where I begin to feel like a blackguard.

My friend explained that his fiance's best friend has MS. This means she doesn't have much strength and so she was worried about having to get up early if she didn't drive home. He went on to explain that she and her husband are also really poor. So she didn't want to have to spend extra money on gas to get home.

How senseless of me?How unkind?How ungenerous? How critical? How presumptuous? I am absolutely ashamed of myself. So often I am quick to judge. Quick to place blame. Quick to categorize. Quick to write off. I'm so quick to think that I understand the situation and that I am smarter than they because I've got it all figured out already. I need to step back and give the benefit of the doubt, seek to understand, and seek to be humble.

The Scientist

This is the song that converted me to Coldplay. I love this video. But you have to watch it all the way through for it to be good. So if you are bored and wish to spend 4:24 on some good music then click here. If you don't have the patience...wait for Idaho Part II.

Idaho Part I

So Idaho….Most of you know that there is not a lot of love in my heart for Idaho. It's just not a place I would choose to be. I often wonder why people voluntarily live there. So this last weekend I traveled there under somewhat unfavorable circumstances, but it turned out to be quite valuable. I really don’t feel like delving into the more grave matters so I’ll stick to a couple of lighter ones.

Before I drove the Esperanza:

I drove this:

A 1988 Ford F150, like this one but white and blue with no tailgate and not as shiny. It was a good truck. 170K miles and going strong. It was a standard transmission and had a stick shift that was about 2.5 feet long and had the bench seat so that you could have your girl ride center and put your arm around her. Amazing. The body was almost without blemish until I let my girlfriend borrow it to run errands :). It got about 10 miles to the gallon but was totally reliable.

When it came time to move out to Boston, I decided I needed to move on to a more fuel efficient and compact car. So I sold it to my old man as a favor for 500 bucks. I miss that truck.

This weekend we were doing a lot of home improvement and so we used the old Ford and I got to drive it. Oh, nostalgia. Malick and I drove it out to the old house I grew up in, to get some carpet one night. She still purrs. Once we got the truck loaded up with all the carpet we stopped for a moment to look at the stars. The old house is out in the boonies and the skies are so clear. The stars are brilliant out in Idaho where there are no people to detract from it with artificial lights. We just stood and stared into the night sky for 5 minutes and soaked it in. Maybe there are some things that I love about Idaho. I certainly love that old truck.

Boredom Ahead

Ok, I know that there are many of you out there (cough, a;llias;dJulieakdli, cough) that aren't too keen on blogs that have to do with my area's of interest such as my posts about art and dancing (ie. "I must point out that copying and pasting someone else's work is still not a sufficient blog. We want to hear from you.") Many of you prefer to be informed about me and my life and meanderings. You enjoy blogs like the last one I posted. Ones that seem personal. Well let me tell you, there is only boredom and frustration ahead for you people.

Yesterday I was so bored at work that somewhere in the depths of my mind, a memory surfaced. It was a memory from a year or 2 ago when I went to an exhibition at the MET. An artist/sculptor/architect named Santiago Calatrava. He makes beautiful works of art and sculpture and then sometimes uses them in his architecture. Here's an example. He enjoys studying the human body and how it is built. He looks at how the head or rib cage is suspended off the spine through the complex system of ligaments, tendons and muscles.





Some of these studies lead too sculptures. Some of the sculptures have inspired his architecture, like this apartment complex in Sweden.

Or this apartment complex being built next to the Brooklyn Bridge.


I wish that I was thoughtful enough and knowledgeable enough to be able to delve into the theory and history of architecture. But ultimately I’m a bit of an ignoramus and all I can tell you is what I enjoy. I wish that I could inspire you by expounding ideas about the value, methodology, and psychology of architecture and it’s connection to the human race. But at this point I can barely postulate what seems inspiring to me. Architecture interacts with me and I with it. Humanity has the desire and power to manipulate its surroundings. From the earliest stages, man has sought to build and create.

From Giza to the Freedom tower, what drives us? Is it worth paying a few extra million so that we aren't just building another concrete box. Or is it worth a few extra million to build a concrete box and call it "modern"? Do the man made portions of our environment matter to us? Do they affect us? Do we value functionality, beauty, or perhaps an ideal? What makes something beautiful? Would I be as likely to go to the ICA if it was still in it's original nasty firehouse? Would the Boston skyline be as beautiful with out the Zakim bridge? What if the bridges in Cambridge, over the Charles, looked like the ones over the canals in Idaho? Would I be as excited to stroll down Mem Drive on that sunny Sunday afternoon? What about the NYC skyline? Does the absence of the WTC towers change something? Why do people love the Brooklyn Bridge? Would they love it as much if it was built like the Tri-borough bridge? And what about Paris? What value does the Eiffel tower hold? It serves no functional purpose. It was not built for business or for housing or for any practical purpose. What about the Colosseum? What feelings were evoked in those who saw it for the first time, thousands of years ago? The Parthenon? Do the buildings really matter? Do the aesthetics? Do the locations? They do to me.

I know that I wish Government center weren't so damned ugly. I know that I love visiting the ICA and gazing out over Boston from a glass corridor. I know I love walking the river Charles on a Sunday afternoon and appreciate the bridges and buildings. I know that I get excited when I go to the Getty, Guggenheim, or the JFK, if for no other reason than I love the buildings. I know I love being inside the Frank Lloyd Wright room in the MET. I know that I love Tim's night pictures of the Zakim bridge. I know that in 2 weeks I'm going to be chilling with Big Ben and Westminster Cathedral and I'm stoked.

So what's it worth to us? Is it all worth millions? Is it worth paying 12 or more billion to make a freedom tower that is not only functional, but inspiring and beautiful. Are the arts worth patronizing and supporting? Do we really give enough attention and appreciation? Does society show that it values art in more than it's words?

Well here are a few that inspire me:

Pantheon - Rome

Falling Water - Frank Lloyd Wright

Entrance to the Louvre - I.M. Pei

Tenerife Opera House - Calatrava

Alamillo Bridge in Seville - Calatrava

Chicago Spire - Calatrava (should be finished by 2009, click to enlarge)

So maybe I wasn't very personal in this blog. But maybe, just maybe, you'll find that even though I'm not baring my soul, you are actually learning more about me. Lucky you. Read on reader.

NYC

I haven't been to NY since February and my nephew Lamine is getting big. So I headed down for Memorial Day. My family met me at the bus stop. Lamine came running up to me saying, "Uncle Seth (pronounced - sef). Uncle Seth." He is a such a great little kid. I love him. So here are some pictures. They date from the time he was a few months until today, when he is almost 2.

He took great pride in having peed on the bed and then pooed in the tub, all while Malick and I were trying to give him a bath. So we put him in the sink while we cleaned up.

Winter Gear.

New Year's Eve 2005.

Fishing in Idaho in May of 2006. (Me, Josh (older brother), Mom, Rozalyn (youngest sister), Malick (my brother-in-law)).

Lamine wants to help Josh with the fish.

I call this picture "Li'l Pimp."

Looking sharp!

This was in Central Park on Sunday. He loves water ('gee' in Malick's home language). It was a beautiful day. This is shortly after he threw up.

This is a guy we saw in Central Park. There was a big African Drumming crew behind him, complete with a token white guy trying to dance. Hilarious. I took this guy's picture for proof. Amazing isn't it?

So on Sunday night, we got home from Central Park about 7pm and had lunch. That's right, lunch. Malick is a real night owl. Then we chilled in the apartment and I played with Lamine till midnight. Malick and I decided to make a cheese cake around 1am. After that I fell asleep on the couch as Malick started cooking dinner. Then I woke up around 4am when dinner was ready and Malick and I ate some delicious lamb. Somewhere around 5am we decided to have desert. The cheese cake was bomb diggity.

So anyway, it was a great weekend and I love my nephew.

The End

Schleep

So why is it that I can NOT get up in the mornings. Doesn't much matter how much sleep I've had. I just can't get up. My condolences to my patient roommate Tim, who has to listen to me hitting snooze about 10 times on 2 alarms, each morning. But can you blame me? After all I have a super comfy King Bed and it loves me. Ok, a little Seth Sleep History.

Ages 0-7: Don't remember.

Ages 8-13: Parents made us go to bed at 8pm every night. 8! Waking up was tough, especially for family scripture study, but it wasn't too bad.

Ages 14-19: This is best described by an example. I'd come home late at night from some activity. I'd turn on the light to my bedroom, drop my book bag, and fall onto my bed face first. I was asleep before my body touched the bed. Seriously. I'd wake up at 7:10 the next morning in my shoes, Levis, and coat. I'd change into a new shirt, grab a piece of bread and then cut through several of my neighbors back yards to catch the bus because I'd already missed it at my stop.

Mission: Well it goes without saying that I had regular sleep. It's just lucky that companionship study was after an hour of personal study. I don't like to talk in the mornings.

College: I think I averaged 4-5 hours of sleep a night, for most of my college career. Except when it was finals, in which case I averaged 2. My last 3 weeks of college I slept about 8 hours a week and became a connoisseur of energy drinks.

Now that I'm a working Professional: I can't go to be before midnight. It is utterly impossible. I generally get 6-8 hours of sleep. Thanks or no-thanks to my flexible work schedule, I rarely get to work before 9:30am.

Side Notes:

1. I can sleep anytime and anywhere.

(That's me on the bottom row. I fell asleep in the gym while on tour at BYU-Hawaii. Everybody lined up for the picture and a good laugh.)

2. I am an incredibly heavy sleeper. I wake for no man. I once fell asleep at a 4th of July city fair in the middle of a crowd of people.

3. I don't like to talk when I wake up. I'm super cranky. Give me a good 1-2 hours to get going.

You light sleepers are blessed.

Guau!

Ok people. This will give you an insight into one of my loves and passions. There are few things to enjoy in life that can compare with amazing dancing. I tend to get cravings at times. Hankerings. I just feel famished for a spot of amazing dancing. So I'm glad to have discoved that I can get thousands of amazing dance videos on youTube. Resolution is low, and tapped is never as good as live, but this still rocks. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. If you ever come to a dance competition with me (planning to go to one in NYC over the summer) I'll get you hooked.

I've seen this couple a few times at competitions. They were 3rd or 4th in the world when this was recorded.