Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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I have been experiencing a moderate to severe case of "blog block." I haven't written a post in a long time and my fans are clamoring for new material (if only Bryce...if only). This blog won't be my best ever, but probably one of my favorites. Anyone that reads anything that I write knows that I use a lot of ...s in my writing. I found out not long ago from my friend and English extraordinaire Rachel Clark that these little nuggets of perfectness are called ellipses. My other good friend Wikipedia tells me "An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence..." I mostly use them to indicate a pause in my speech or a trailing off into silence. No joke, 99.99% of all my texts contain an ellipse and about 90% of all my text messages end in a ... . For example: "Just sitting around...doing nothing..." or "That sounds like fun...lets do it..." or my favorite "Oh...". They are my calling card, my M.O., my way. I'm sure I overuse them, but they are perfect for how my mind thinks. I'll continue to use them because I like them...and it annoys some people...which makes me like them more...
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Monday, March 9, 2009

The Amazing Human Body

A few months ago I went with my friends to see the Body Worlds Exhibit in downtown Salt Lake City. I like to think that if I was more dedicated that I would've become a doctor. Some of my favorite shows on the Discovery Channel involve cutting bodies open and other gorey stuff. It was awesome to see real human bodies preserved for my viewing pleasure. After actually seeing a smoke and cancer filled lung, I wonder how anyone could smoke cigarettes-its disgusting.
The human body is amazing, luckily I have one of my own. My body and I are very close, we've been really good friends since birth. I never leave home without him, and he follows me around everywhere I go. We sleep in the same bed and shower together.
We're bfffe. (best friends for freaking ever...thank you Rachel)
The human body can do amazing things. For example:
  • Everyday, humans lose and replace 200 billion red blood cells. Our bodies manufacture 2 million replacement cells in a split second. Since you began reading this blog, your body has manufactured about 30,000,000 blood cells. A single red blood cell will travel over 100 miles through a network of over 60,000 miles of capillaries and arteries.
  • Every minutes 30,000-40,000 dead skin cells fall off your body.
  • Your heart beats 6,000 times an hour, 144,000 times a days, and 30,000,000 times a year.
  • There are over 10,000 taste buds all over your tongue, except in the center. Babies have taste buds all over the inside of their mouths, not just on their tongues. On a somewhat related note, have you ever tasted baby formula?...not recommended...unless its part of an extreme dieting technique...
  • Humans literally see the world in a new way every morning. The first time we open our eyes, the top layer of our vision sense receptions is simply scorched away.
  • Human bone is as strong as granite in supporting weight. A block of bone the size of a matchbox can support nine tons--four times as much as concrete.
  • A man's testicles manufacture 10 million new sperm cells each day-enough that he could repopulate the entire planet in only 6 months! Although, just because you can, doesn't mean you have to...
  • The focusing muscles of the eyes move around 100,000 times a day. To give your leg muscles the same workout you would need to walk 50 miles every day. As Dwight Schrute says, "The eyes are the groin of the head." I believe it.
When I was in high school, I discovered a powerful tool. Life, as it usually is, was stressful. On this particular day I was in 3rd year Honors French, or should I say, J'étais dans les troisième Honneurs d'année Français. I didn't really enjoy the class or the teacher, and it was hard. On one particular stressful day, my left eyelid began to twitch. At first I pushed it aside and didn't think anything of it. Over the course of a few days, I realized eye twitch=stress. I was looking for a solid reason to drop the class and this little eye twitch was my gift wrapped package of excuses. I dropped it like it was hot. (way too corny Bryce, show some class...) The eye twitch subsided and the universe was restored.
I've noticed that my eye twitch will return, usually before a big test, or when I'm playing my bro on the Xbox. My body is telling me something isn't right, my environment needs adjustment. My eye hasn't twitched in quite some time, most likely due to the fact that I've graduated from school and that I don't have a job, or any other real responsibilities. Unless beating Assassins Creed on the PS3 or shooting the moon in Hearts can be considering responsibilities. I think they are...
Honestly, I miss the eye twitch. The eye twitch keeps me on my feet. It keeps me moving forward, progressing of sorts. Stress isn't always a bad thing, there is such a thing as good stress; more commonly known as Eustress. Eustress helps us to meet life's challenges, to take that step into the unknown, to fall (and stay) in love. I could use some eustress in my life...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Field: 2,3,4,9,10,11,12

When I was 18 I got a great opportunity. I went on a cruise with my two best friends, Bo and Blake, and their dad, Mark. As you can imagine, we hit the "cruise scene" fairly hard. We'd usually stay out until 3 or 4 in the morning, before retiring to our pitch black stateroom. Seriously, this room was a dream: best sleep I've ever got. Our 'party-hardy' ways soon caught up to us when we slept through the port of Nassau, Bahamas. I hear its great, but I really wouldn't know.
Those of you that know me know that I'm not into the 'party scene', I'd never be mistaken for the 'life of the party.' So what kept us out until the wee hours of the night? It was a combination of 1/4 part looking for Blake and whoever he was currently 'dating', and 3/4 part gambling. See, on a cruise ship, you only have to be 18 to gamble...international waters or something like that. This was my first real experience in gambling. What was my first game of choice? My ugly friend Blackjack, aka 21. Like any 'sinner', I started out dipping my toe in the water and testing it out. Dropping a few bills here and there, winning some and losing some. Before we knew it, we were dropping down Jacksons like they were Washingtons. Before I knew it I was down some serious coin. Meanwhile, Bo was doing considerable better. I decided to hedge my bets and turn it over to Bo. I 'invested' in Bo's game and gave him a mission to win back my losses. Thankfully, over the next few days, Bo won my money back. I ended the trip up about $20. The moral of this little story? Don't gamble? Hardly... The moral of the story is: don't play Blackjack, play craps.Craps is a dice game, played over a large, expansive table with many players. There are literally hundres of different bets on a craps table: one can bet the pass line, the come out line, hard eights, or the field, etc.
Around this same time, Mark brought my attention to a strategy of playing craps that maximizes wins and minimizes losses. I won't get into the nitty gritty details of it, but it has its advantages. Granted, it doesn't guarantee success; but anything rarely does. (Except those late night exercise infomercials... Of course I want abs like that! Who doesn't? Only 3 easy payments of $29.99? BUT WAIT! If I order now I can get it for only 2 easy payments of $29.99?! BUT WAIT!! If I order now you'll also double my order?!?!)I digress... Over the years, I've experimented with this strategy, throwing random dice around and keeping score in my head. A few months ago, I took it up a notch. I created an Excel program that randomly 'rolls' dice and records their results and figures this into 'the strategy' and gives me some outcomes. After thousands and thousands of rolls, 'the strategy' holds true. I'm taking the next step. I'm withdrawing $1024 and booking a flight to Vegas. I'm gonna go toss some spotted cubes and see how they land. Will I go to hell for it? I've been told so...but that's between me and someone else...