Jaterrieck

Writing is one of the ways that we communicate things we truly mean in a way that will truly last. That's not to say all writing fulfills this function; only good writing. A few months ago I was looking at my mom's old iMac. I saw some old documents of papers I'd written.

Of a truth, I've never been a great writer, and the papers I found reminded me that my humble progress in writing skill came from even humbler beginnings. I've always had romantic visions that someday I could make great works of poetry and prose that stir the mind and soul to thought and laughter and communicate great truths in novel ways. The papers I found do none of those things.


One of the papers in particular, however, caught my attention because it reveals so much about my high school self.

1) At the time I was obsessed with nerd culture, and not least among my interests was Warhammer 40,000. This paper describes a game I played with my older brother Matt.

2) People often told me to stop using such "big words", and to be honest I rarely knew which of the words I was using were the "big" ones. They were all just words. After reading this paper I think I now can imagine how terms like perpetual onslaught, barricades and  solidified, when used in casual conversation, may raise some eyebrows. Still, I maintain that those words aren't that out of the ordinary.

3) I never gave my documents logical names. I don't know why I chose the name "Jaterrieck" or what it was supposed to mean, but that's what my document was called. On a side note, I never gave any of my emails logical subject lines. It's a habit I keep to this day.

I think it's a fun read. Matt, you especially should behold its splendor.

Click here to read this most excellent narrative.

ps-I didn't make the image. I stole it. Thief.
pps-The link wasn't working but it should now

The hard choices of my youth

When I was a lad, my return home from school at the end of the day had as its highlight the weekday afternoon cartoons that I could find on network TV. Upon my arrival I would instantly plop myself in front of the tube, taking off my shoes and socks (which tended to collect in the living room) so that our dog Cinnamon could lick my feet. Over the next hour and a half I would soak up the rays and eat various snacks (my favorite: raisins).

Every day this left me with a hard choice: which channel to watch? This was not an easy decision for a kid growing up in the time where every cartoon was a golden flower of originality and humor that only came but once a day, never to return again.

On the one hand, I had Disney Afternoon. Gummi Bears came on at 3:00, and as I usually got home at about 3:20, I seldom watched that one.

The next cartoon was Duck Tales, which I relished, and would hardly have missed if not for the fact that it faced deadly temporal competition with such a worthy foe.

You see, during that same crucial hour, when all the school kids were glued to the tube to have their heads filled with advertisements of My Buddy, Big Big Loader and all manner of tooth-rotting breakfast desserts they passed off for cereal (you see what an effect it had in that I still remember them), CBS placed the mighty Tiny Toons.

If that weren't bad enough, the next spot on the Disney Afternoon was Rescue Rangers, which surely would have been the unchallenged favorite of my afternoon had it not been for what CBS had to offer.

During that same crucial half hour, CBS broadcast arguably the greatest kids cartoon of all time. Choosing between Rescue Rangers and Animaniacs was surely too much for so frail a mind, young as mine was, to deal with. Its a miracle I survived childhood.

It may be that my young will was too much taxed by that effort of choice because by the next hour, even though the competition was not so fierce, I often didn't have the desire to continue watching TV, and actually went outside sometimes. On the days I decided to keep going, the last one on the agenda was Tale Spin.

All this is to say nothing of the same grief that came up before school and, even worse, on Saturday mornings. All I can say is that it's a good thing I didn't grow up with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Disney. I'm certain that if I had, the only way I would have known the sky was blue would be to simply trust that the people who made it that color in the shows I was watching knew what they were doing.

Happy birth day to me!

This is The Far Side comic published on the day I was born.

It makes me happy on so many levels.

The Far Side is one of the greatest comics of all time. I'm actually happy the Gary Larson stopped making the comic when he did, when he was at the top of his game and we were all clamoring for more, instead of milking it for all it was worth, leaving us wishing he'd stopped before the cartoons got stale. Like Garfield. I think the last time I laughed at Garfield was 1995.

What Does a Mormon Believe?

Good faith sincerely practiced is one of the best things in life. At least in mine, and hopefully in yours too. Spiritual health is an integral part of the person as a whole, and all other aspects of health seem to suffer when it is neglected.

On an only-slightly-related note, I'm one of the authors of the blog What Do Mormons Believe? I, for one, am open about what I believe, and at times all too vocal.