I don’t always drink Coke, but when I do, I prefer, Vanilla. Do you have to apply to become the most interesting person in the world? Well, if you do, I’m not interested. However, if the universe has different plans I intend to go with the flow. Be water my friends.
Let’s begin.
The Mystery of the Twelfth Can of Soup
A little while ago I went shopping. I purchased my groceries, and among them were twelve cans of Campbell’s soup. A few days went by and I looked in my cupboard for a specific flavor and I couldn’t find it. Must have not gotten that kind, I guess, I thought much chagrinned.
A few more days went by and I was tinkering with my cloud chamber in the basement (you know, as I do). And after placing Thanos from my Hero Scape Marvel miniature set inside the cloud chamber along with my lead 210 isotope so it looked like he was radiating, I had the thought that I wanted to place my GoPro inside the chamber to capture close up particle tracks. I ran upstairs to my desk where I had left it, and I realized that it wasn’t on my desk. After a moment more I realized that my Nikon was missing, as well. After a thorough search of my house, my car, and several calls later I came to the conclusion that someone must have taken my cameras. Sometime within all of that confusion, my new roommate, whom I’ll call Jesse, late on his rent, came in and handed me $400 cash right in front of my desk.
Not wanting to accuse my landlord and friend’s tenants wrongly of theft I played it cool, later the next day asking him cautiously if he'd noticed anything of his that was missing. We had a brief conversation, I told him the basics of what was going on, and afterwards I contacted the police. It was later that day that I remembered my missing can of soup. I counted the unopened cans in my cupboard, I counted the opened cans in the kitchen trash, and yes, I went full Walter White on the trash can outside. I looked through every bag of trash there was and I came up with only eleven cans of soup. I even found the receipt that showed I had purchased twelve cans of soup. Once I verified this, I was certain I knew who the culprit was. It must have been a previous tenant whom I’ll call James. James was evicted not too long ago for always paying rent late, and whom we knew snuck food from us all the time, most likely pawned our silverware, and drank our Cokes on the shelf which displayed our names on their labels only to refill them later so as to make it look like nothing had happened. James also claimed he had lost his key and never returned it. This would explain why there were no signs of forced entry. He would have just used the key that he never returned.
I told the police my suspicions and they began looking for James, but to no avail. Jesse, however, was beginning to act a little suspicious. He rightly borrowed my snowboard a few weeks earlier but had neglected to get it back to me on several occasions. I texted him. He said he’d have it back on Tuesday. Tuesday came and went, all the while I’m having a casual Facebook chat with James about life, probing his answers, even going so far as to throw out the most random question you could ask anyone, solely to see their response, “Do you like Campells Chunky Soup?” His response was pretty normal—confused. Becoming more convinced that it wasn’t James, I took the liberty to take out the trash Jesse had left in the middle of the hallway two weeks prior—and, you know, look through it. I found opened mail from a previous tenant who also happened to be a friend of mine. It was credit card information.
I contacted my friend and he verified that it wasn’t his trash that he’d left in the room before he moved out. And so, I took the liberty again to search Jesse’s room. Let me tell you something, right here an now. If you ever steal something, please just promise me that you don’t put that stolen item under your bed. It is literally the first place everyone looks. And that is where I looked, and low and behold, there was my Nikon in the back corner of his bed.
I confronted him about it. He denied it and played up a sob story, something about his life falling a part and whatnot. In the middle of my confrontation, I took a moment to console him, even though I was convinced that his entire story was a bald faced lie. I told him that if he got my board and my GoPro back to me within the week, and move out by the end of the month, I would tell the police it was all a misunderstanding, a decision I am somewhat regretting. But it is all over with now. I’ve got all of my stuff back. And the funny thing is, the only reason I searched his room is because I thought he was opening my friends’ mail. I talked with that friend again, and he retracted his previous statement. After looking at a picture of what I found in Jesse’s trash, he acknowledged that he actually did leave that trash in the garbage can in his room before he left. So Jesse wasn’t partaking in any fraud, that I know of. But it was fortunate for me that I thought he was, otherwise I never would have found my camera.
It is all over with, that is with the exception of the Twelfth Can. That remains a mystery to this day and I’m not sure I’ll ever know what happened to it.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
BAM! Not gonna beat around the bush, here. I met Neil deGrasse Tyson! Nuff said. How can you not go to “An Astrophysicist at the Movies”? Seriously, Doctor Tyson stood in front of an audience at Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City a couple weeks ago, joked around with us, told us incredible things, and shared with us his thoughts on movies and their portrayal of science one after the other! It was life changing.
So, let’s back up a little. For about a month I’d been seeing this thing on Facebook about Tyson going to Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City, and every time I saw it I had the thought, oh, that would be fun to go to. The day of the event came (February 15, 2017) and I saw the ad, and I had the thought, oh, that would be fun to go to…wait ,that’s today! I WILL go to it! And with three seats still available I ordered myself a ticket, immediately justified purchasing the upgraded VIP Meet and Greet after the show, and I went and saw Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about movies, take people’s questions, joke about Utah (seriously, he is hilarious!) shake his hand and be speechless (I think I uttered some incoherent soup of words as he reach out to shake my hand!) and get not one, but two pictures with him!
I love it, obviously, and I took a lot away from the experience even though I already new most of his jokes and anecdotes. But the one thing that I really am taking away from this experience is this odd phenomenon that I’m sure happens to most everyone, or at least a lot of people. From the photo it is apparent that I am taller than Mr. Tyson, however when I walked up to him, he looked larger than life in a very literal fashion. He look bigger than me in every way. I thought I had to look up to him. But upon inspecting the photo he is just an average person with an above average intelligence and passion for conveying it to people. I so wanted to ask him about the recent direct observation of exoplanets, but I didn’t have the guts to. I told him to not stop tweeting. I did because he had expressed concern about all the criticism he was receiving about his tweets, and the headlines he was getting because of them. One that he showed us read, “You've got the wrong sky! How James Cameron altered night sky in reworked Titanic 3D after TEN years of complaints from outspoken astronomer” and another “Neil deGrasse Tyson: Fixing Hollywood One Movie At a Time.” All I have to say is never stop, Mr. Tyson. Never stop.
Podcast
I am hard at work playing and designing games. The Game Mechanics is a lot of fun, listen to our last episode about Blueshift. We interview a game designer, Ben Stenquist who owns the company Nebulous Games, and is Kickstarting his second game Blueshift. I was particularly interested in the name as it is a reference to the Doppler Effect. Hear Ben’s genius response after I inquire into that aspect of his game. It is worth a listen! My game, Heroic, is coming along slowly, but progress is being made. With the Jesse, James fiasco, it’s been hard to do much of anything. Februarys has been filled to the brim with things, both good and bad. But I am grateful that life remains interesting.
Hopefully I'll have some screen shots of Heroic. Stay Tuned.
Skate
Skating truly is an art. There is so much that goes into filming a video part that not many people see or even consider. Take for instance, licensing music for it, training with your filmer, cleaning up the annoying pet peeves you see in your own skating, evading the authorities in the street, breaking in spots, maintaining your health both with diet and exercise, and with picking and choosing your battles with tricks carefully and intelligently going about it. You can’t just throw yourself at a spot with no regard to the outcome. The goal is to fill up about five minutes worth of time, and if you aren’t considering all of the hazards that go into every trick, you might just end up breaking the whole project with an early injury. I have barely begun practicing, not for my video part, but working with budding filmers. Here is a practice run I did with Tofer aka The Nude President with a steady-cam. This is our first attempt to film with a steady-cam. The results are promising, however, more practice is needed on both our parts. I am getting very excited to really start filming. My goal is to hit the streets hard sometime in March and to be done with the major tricks by the end of the year. Here’s hoping for an injury free part!
Heaven
I am begging your forgivingness. Heaven takes a significant emotional toll. And with Jesse James occurring, along with work and school, I have barely had time to write Chapter 5: Savior. It is started, however. I might have to delay it at least a couple weeks. Just know that it is going to happen and I’m not purposefully delaying posting. As I said, it requires more time than I was able to invest this month. I will keep you updated. My most sincere apologies.
Science
Elon Musk is putting two as of yet unnamed people in orbit around the moon in 2018 on one of his SpaceX rockets. What more could anyone care about at this time?? Oh, yes, my new YoutTube Channel Theory dedicated to exploring science and experimenting in safe and fun ways with all sorts of stuff. I have big plans for this channel. You have no idea. Enjoy an off the cuff conversation I have with Jacob Clement over my cloud-chamber.
Pop Culture
I do not condone the type of language that is synonymous with rap music, however, I condone— and absolutely love the wordplay, the meaning, the metaphor, the passion, the struggle, and pure emotion and creativity that culminates into what is good hip-hop. Hopsin is a YouTube rapper and I’ve been following him since his Nocturnal Rainbows single came out off his Raw album in 2010. It's from that song we get "I don't want to be lonely, and the moon is my only homie. If there's a higher power then show me, instead of nocturnal rainbows." I won’t provide any direct links to his music because it is, as is often times with rap, quite vulgar at times and controversial, however I will recommend the previously mentioned Nocturnal Rainbows (just youtube it), and Ill Mind of Hopsin 7.
Hop 7 shows Hopsin walking almost delirious through a desert before he breaks down into an existential crisis as he raps. He raps about his jaunt into Christianity and his endless wrestle with God and the Holy Ghost. Slamming his fists into the desert floor he curses the seeming inescapable contradictions presented to every living and curious creature who finds him/herself with the burden of a mind that won’t let them rest. The undeniable majesty of the universe up against the seemingly endless silence from the heavens clashes in the weary traveler's mind. Hop illustrates this, not merely in acting and rapping but it shines through from his real life struggles with the most profound question humans have been able to ask. It is a much welcome relief from the garbage that is most mainstream hiphop.
Hop has always rapped heavily about philosophical and religious questions, even in his earlier stuff shouting out God and praising his name and glory, and even though he’s backed off on the Christianity it is so apparent that he thinks about it a lot and is willing to change his mind and try to learn how to learn. He is intelligent, but filled with teeth grinding angst, an attribute that breathes much needed spirit into hiphop. He raps about it all. It shines through his persona. There is no doubt he has his vulgar, morbid and showy attitudes (only fitting for a rapper) but if you can stomach it you'll see the passion he exudes. That is why I’ve been drawn to his music. Also he toured Utah awhile ago and played skate with his fans everywhere he went. I didn’t get a chance to meet him then, but maybe one day I'll be able to hand him a Finding Faith in Christ card so he can have a totally new kind of existential crisis!
The Church is True.
Goodnight.