Let me check my planner...

I've decided that I actually like being busy. I didn't believe I did for a very long time. Most of my memories from about age six to age 16 involve me wanting to do one thing, and my Mom telling me that instead I had to mow the lawn, do my violin/piano practicing, mow Brother Betts' lawn, make my bed, sweep the basement stairs, dust the family room, etc.

Now it wasn't that I was assigned lawn mowing and chores, because in retrospect none of the jobs I was given were all that egregious (except the annual "clean the basement" assignments). But they were always presented like it was a sentence. I imagine a judge sitting in his black robes saying something like, "Devon, we all got off to a late start today and there is a lot of work to do. I'm sentencing you to pick up the apricots and have your bed made before I'll feed you lunch. Then you can mow the lawn this afternoon. May God have mercy on your soul," followed by the banging gavel.

So naturally I remember thinking anything that made me busy was to be dreaded and avoided at all costs. Oh how glorious were the weeks when I went to scout camp and I got a free pass from my violin practicing.

As time has gone by, there are more and more things that fill up my schedule, to the point where there isn't much unscheduled time anymore. But, what I've found is that more things are things that I have put there myself. Working out time, refereeing, newspaper assignments, scripture reading, etc. They're all my own devices. And, on rare days where I actually have some down time, I feel bad for being so unproductive.

I suppose life will always schedule a lot of things for us that we wouldn't necessarily choose if we were just given a clean 24-hour slate every day. But, my attitude is much different now than it was back in the days when I loathed the sentence to trim and haul off branches from the pyracantha bush.

It took a while, but in my early adult years I have finally discovered that work isn't necessarily a sentence. And, being busy is usually a lot better than the alternative.

No. No plans. And it's definitely the other person's fault.

Living in Utah, Annette and I have reached that stage where everyone starts asking. Some people approach the subject with more tact than others, but it generally follows the same pattern.

Instigator: "Are you two engaged yet?"
Devon: "No" (or some form thereof).

*brief pause*

Instigator: "Do you think you will be soon?"
Devon: "No plans" (or some form thereof).

*longer, more awkward pause*

Instigator: "Oh. Well, that's OK" (or some other stupid form thereof).
Devon: "Yep."

Now, frankly, I don't mind this exchange. Usually the other person just ends up feeling a little stupid and quickly runs out of things to say. And they're typically deterred from broaching the subject again.

I prefer it this way. I don't see any need to discuss in detail the progress or direction of our relationship. If and when there is an engagement, it will be announced on our terms. Annette, however, pointed out a result of such limited, conversation-stifling communication.

The longer the dating relationship continues with no definitive end in sight, the more people are going to start talking amongst themselves about why Devon and Annette aren't engaged yet, and who is holding the process up.

My instinct is that people will decide it's the other person's fault. In other words, the one they're not directly connected to. A friend or acquaintance of Annette is probably more likely to think Devon has some commitment issues and is stringing her along. An acquaintance of mine is more likely to conclude that Devon has some legitimate reason for not being engaged yet, and it must be something to do with her.

Either way is just fine with me. I think for now I'll just leave it up to everyone else to speculate. It's much more fun.

Graduation Day(s)

Well, the big day(s) has finally come and gone. I add the '(s),' of course, because they always make university graduation a multi-day affair with the general commencement AND the convocation.

I think I liked commencement a little better, although it did require standing out in the 90-degree heat while we were lining up for the procession. The whole marching in thing is a bit long, but kind of fun, and the KBYU-TV cameras lend it a sense of importance. Elder Scott spoke and gave a good address and an enjoyable time was had by all. Mom, Dad and Annette all came, and Thor was there representing Sarah and Jared's family. The rest of you will have to live with the shame of not sending an emissary (although come to think of it the only graduation I made it to was Sarah's).

I wasn't too excited about having to get up early for convocation this morning, but it wasn't so bad. This time we just had to line up in the cool, air-conditioned confines of the HFAC basement. The De Jong Concert Hall was pretty full.

Being summer and not being a particularly large college, the name reading didn't take too long. The other presentations and speeches were good and appropriately brief. There wasn't even much weirdness from the theatre arts and music majors. There were no post-convocation refreshments, however. I see it as an ironic reflection on the lack of financial resources most degrees in the college of fine arts and communications offer.

I was a bit taken aback by the behavior of one particular former professor. I had a single class from the guy more than a year ago and had a brief but unpleasant run-in late in the year (involving him losing his temper and storming out of the classroom).

Anyway, I've since seen him on campus several times and always smiled and said hello, with varying responses. When the faculty lined up to congratulate us as we left, I got to him and he immediately looked away and ignored me. Later, I left the building and was walking alone to my car when he hurriedly brushed passed without bothering to acknowledge my existence. I hear he didn't get his tenure. Maybe student evaluations had something to do with it...

Alas those days are now over. I still have to tie up a couple of loose ends with internship paperwork, but that's that. I will next darken the doors of a classroom when I go to business school in the next two years or so. But my undergraduate days are done, and not a moment too soon. I do turn 26 next month, after all.

The picture was taken outside the Marriot Center yesterday.

Cloaking Device Activated

I walked out the family room door and across the street to my car to go to work this morning. I stopped cold in my tracks when I saw a big chunk of my car body laying on the ground and a gaping hole in the front driver's side.

Yes, sometime between 1:30 and 10:30 this morning, I was the victim of a hit-and-run. Besides being PO'd at whoever left a big, obvious crunch in my car and drove off, I'm also wondering if my Saturn came equipped with some kind of Klingon technology.

On Pioneer Day I was pulling out of the parking lot at work and an out-of-state driver in a rental car back up a good 10 feet right into the opposite side of my car. I'm still trying to figure out how he didn't see me. Now that both sides have their own battle scars, I'm thinking I might unknowingly have a cloaking device installed in my little Saturn.

I'll need to have that checked out when I take it into the shop. That device sure could have come in handy when I got pulled over for speeding in Saratoga Springs the other night. The cop pulled me over for going between 55-60 in a 45 zone (after midnight). He only gave me a warning, though. I think he felt sort of stupid because he'd followed right behind me for maybe five minutes, and by the time he finally flipped his lights on and stopped me, I was about 20 feet away from a 55 MPH sign.

I also picked up a rock chip on the freeway on Saturday, but I'm not complaining about that too much since that won't require a $500 deductible.

This is the damage done to my car on Pioneer Day.

The Last Hurdle

As if four-and-a-half years of classwork and tuition, it would seem that there is one last great hurdle that must be overcome in order to graduate college - that is the bureaucracy of BYU department procedures.

I have enjoyed my time at BYU and value the education and degree I am about to receive, but it is difficult to imagine a more convoluted, watered down process filled with signature lines and office phone numbers of countless employees (many of whom seem to collect substantial salaries while serving a single mundane purpose, deriving a sense of usefulness by making an otherwise simple task immeasurably more complex and time-consuming).

But alas, I am now down to a few simple steps that must be taken before I "walk" next Friday. I have to get a cap and gown, I have to turn in some assignments to the bureaucrats at the communications internship office, and I must show up at the proceedings.

Assuming the transition to full-time work here at Access TS goes alright, I'm then a full-fledged college graduate. Time to go buy the Princeton Review book and get started on my GMAT studies...