Another Ten Thoughts

21. There's a lot of focus on health foods these days, with food companies putting labels that say "no trans-fat", "whole-grain", or "anti-oxidants". What do all these mean? I can't just go eat a bunch of Lays potato chips and be healthy because it says "no trans fat". What about anti-oxidants? They are present in fruit, but are they in juice or dried fruit? I need a good place to read about this stuff.

22. Right now I'm reading Down Under by Bill Bryson. It is the English version of the book In A Sunburned Country that was released in America. Same book, just a different title. The book chronicles his journies through Australia, mostly highlighted the east coast, where I won't be travelling to, but the book is still a great read. Bryson writes with a style that is thoughtful and educated with being elitist, historical and educational without being boring, humorous without a need to have humor drive the book along. He makes great observations about people and delivers his stories in a way that makes you smile and feel as if you were there with Bryson. Also try A Walk in the Woods, about his hike on the Appalachian Trail.

23. I want seedings and pools to come out for worlds. I'm eager to know who we will play. Maybe I can learn to count stalls in the languages of the teams we'll be playing.

24. Now that I've been wearing my Adidas Copas so often, I've nearly forgotten that I once had a pair of cleats that I thought I couldn't play without. I can't decide if I should get new ones or not. The new cleats don't dig into the ground as hard as the old ones, I felt like I could change directions very fast. Now I seem to slip more, or have to turn slower so the cleats don't give out.

25. I can't remember if I've already told the national parks that I've been to, but here they are: Saguaro National Park, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Arches, Crater Lake, Redwood, Olympic, Yellowstone, Wind Cave, Badlands, Smoky Mountains. Eleven in all. Nine of those were part of the same trip, though. All of them are worth visiting except Badlands, there wasn't much to see there.

26. When I was a junior and senior in high school, I wanted to become a filmaker. I even looked at schools that had specialized filmaking departments and even visited the school at Northwestern. In high school, I tried to undertake making a sequel to a movie some friends had made. It was going to be called Kung Fu Coup Two: First Coup, Part Two. Budgeting problems, talent strikes, and the inability to find a good key grip lead to the project going belly-up. I think John Woo may have recently picked up the script, though.

27. Speaking of college, I made a lot of school visits and the two schools I wanted to attend were Carleton and Notre Dame. It's funny that I almost went to Carleton because it is a big ultimate frisbee school, but I had never played it before going to college. My parents wanted me to go to Notre Dame, why I don't know because neither parents were alums, nobody in my family ever went to Notre Dame or talked about Notre Dame, and my family was not catholic. Explain that one to me.

28. I need to go to the casino and play some poker, I have this problem where I have too much money right now.

29. I don't have my own computer, or at least one that works, so I've had to use Dave Karsten's and Lana Meyer's computers to write this noise. Thank you, without you none of this is possible.

30. I thought it would be a great idea to buy a big box of pop-ice at Wal-Mart one night. Now a month has gone by and I've already eaten all the good flavors. All that remains are the orange, lemon-lime, and assorted tropical flavors. I should throw them away, unless there are any takers. Takers?