Studying

Studying takes to long. They should invent something that allows things to be uploaded to the human brain in a similar way that software is uploaded to computers. That would be so amazing and wouldn't have to up to two in the morning tonight studying math. We as humans have been able to use lasers to correct vision but we can't invent a way to study. What is wrong with the world's priorities? Instead scientists are focused on perfecting the male enhancement drug and solving the problem of baldness. If you have not scene the movie Idiocracy, you should. One day something like that might actually happen and everyone on this Earth will revert back to cavemen in a sense.

Time of Swords and not Guns

I wish I had lived during the days of knights and crossbows and swords instead of today. Sure I love technology, but back then to win a battle was a true accomplishment based off of strength and wit. Today wars are fought using guns and machines. There is no challenge to this kind of warfare. A child can pull a trigger, but can a child fight with a sword or a dagger. Child soldiers in Africa are able to be soldiers because it is so incredibly easy to kill another individual in this day and age. Soldiers were glorified for their strength. Today as long as you can run a mile in a certain time length or do a certain number of push-ups you're in. Look at the Spartans. They were a true warrior race. They were a true test to strength and wit. The Olympics used to display this pride. But today the athletes in the Olympics are just athletes and nothing else. Everyone stood a chance to defend themselves back then, but today unless you pull the trigger first, you are going to lose the battle.

Actors

The actors of our generation are getting pretty old. Actors such as Jim Carry, Robin Williams, John Travolta, and Bruce Willis. There are so many more. These actors are the people I grew up watching and they will be extremely hard to replace. There can never be another Bruce Willis. I mean he's an amazing actor and it's incredible that he is still making action movies at his age. I just can't imagine there being another Die Hard without Bruce Willis. These things bother me. I have grown attached to these actors. They are the one's who entertained me first. I see why Grandpas and other old folks watch reruns of things like the Loan Ranger. It's because no one could ever be like that. Sure there will be the John Travolta of the next generation but it just won't be the same.

First Semester

First semester of college is almost over. It's been an interesting past couple of months. College is surprisingly easy. I met a lot of people. The Greek life around campus is pretty fun. There was always events going on. Did anyone else notice how it always seemed like they were cutting the grass at AUM? No matter what someone was doing landscaping at the school like everyday. I hated my math class. It was extremely easy. I mean boring easy. I think I left that class early nearly everyday and I still made A's on all of my tests. Psychology, I got to admit, I did not think I would actually like it. Surprisingly, it was pretty interesting. Learning how the mind works and what can go wrong is fascinating to me. Art appreciation was great too. I love art. My brother is an art major so I am always around it. The class was fairly easy for me too. I liked being able to learn about all the different major artworks that have been created over the past centuries.

Old Dogs

I recently saw Old Dogs with my girlfriend. It was a pretty good movie. Of course anything with Robin Williams or John Travolta in it is going to be amazing. However, when John Travolta did Wild Hogs, that was kind of sad. It was truly a low point in his career. Both of these actors have had outstanding careers. I remember watching Robin Williams when I was younger in Flubber for the first time and I thought it was hilarious. Robin Williams brings comedy to the table with him yet he can still do serious; this is what made him such a good pick for this role. Looking a John Travolta, he is also a great choice for this movie. He plays the sort of playboy that never grew up. Travolta has always played roles in which he is a playboy but this movies allows him to come to terms with the fact that he is getting old. The two made a good team. It was odd though. Travolta was actually the one providing the comic relief in this film. Robin Williams has always provided the comic relief in his films because well he's Robin Williams. He was a part of SNL. Of course he is suppose to be funny. The film is kind of a lash out a men saying they can't raise kids without a woman there to supervise them. I take offense to that. Men can raise kids just as good as women. Just because we aren't born with the natural instincts of a nurturing mother doesn't mean we can't still raise children. But in the end the guys figure it out and like all Disney movies there is a happily ever after ending.

Christmas Break

For Christmas Break I will be taking advantage of the increase in number of hours I can work. This means I will probably be working around seventy hours over the course of the break. This is good because I like money. For Christmas Eve I think I will probably be working too if the store is open. Thankfully we are closed for Christmas Day. On Christmas Day I will probably wake up around twelve, hopefully early because I get present that day. Maybe my brother will wake up before me for a change and he'll get me up and we can open present early this year. We use to have to wait for my Nana to get there until we could, but she moved up to Birmingham with my uncle. My mom will probably have the tv turned on WSFA when they do their whole playing of Christmas music. But I'm getting tired of listening to Christmas music already because they play it at the store I work at and its getting annoying. But after we open up our gifts, we will have lunch with my grandfather and eat turkey and ham and all that good stuff.

Side Effects

Whenever I watch tv, there's always some type of infomercial with some type of medication. This medication seems to be the solution to a huge problem that may be affecting your life. However, there is a twist. The medication causes sides effects worse than the medication is suppose to treat. Like the medication could prevent heartburn, and you say to yourself, "Okay I'm listening." Commercial finishes and you say, "Alright sounds good." Then it hits you.
In little fine print and a speedy announcer says this product may cause upset stomach, cotton mouth, itchy eyes, coughing, irritable bowel syndrome, and in severe cause stroke, heart attack, and possibly death. "Like wow I may die but at least I won't have heart burn when it happens. Oh boy!"

Transylmania

This was a sad attempt to combine all the horror film classics into one. The famous books and films of Dracula and Frankenstein are horribly represented in this movie. Don't misinterpret what I am saying however. The movie was somewhat funny. I did have a problem with the character who is suppose to represent Dracula. The lead vampire in this movie sucked. The lead vampire is suppose to represent like sexual desire. He is suppose to be smooth and a ladies' man. This vampire was more like a nerd. Moving on to the vampire's beauties (I guess that is what you call them or minions). They are suppose to represent sex and therefore they are suppose to be beyond beautiful. The women they choose for the minions were not attractive at all. The women were incredibly thin to the point where their rib bones were poking out more than their stomachs. They were also flat chested. They did not represent sexual desire at all. The Frankenstein aspect of the movie was a little better. Instead of creating a man, however, the perfect woman was created. Too bad once the Frankenwoman was created, she didn't look very beautiful. Maybe that is just my opinion but I wouldn't want to date her. Lastly, how does a head stay alive without a body? I know it's just a movie but that made me mad. Why wouldn't the bodiless head want to get her body back? Overall the movie had a lot of flaws in the plot.

The Swiss Army Knife

The Swiss Army Knife has been around for what seems like is forever. Fathers have passed the knife down to their sons and then them to their sons. The Swiss Army Knife is one thing left in this world that is still made to last and not made to work for a few years and then break so you'll buy another one. I, however, just lost all respect for the Swiss Army Knife. The Swiss Army Knife now comes complete with a USB flashdrive. Why would you ever need a flashdrive on a knife.

"Hey man do you have a flashdrive on you."
"Yeah let me just pull out my knife."
"Hold on there man, I know I borrow a lot of things from you, but I promise I'm gonna give it right back."
"No man it's on my knife."

What is the world coming to. I bet the knife isn't even made that good any more. Nothing is made as good as it use to be. Things from the eighties and nineties were made to last. These dina ays things are made out of plastic instead of metal because it's cheaper. It also does not last as long. Everything is also made in China instead of the United States which is not how it should be.

"The Price is Wrong Bob"

That is a quote from the famous movie Happy Gilmore. Adam Sandler playing Happy Gilmore says that to Bob Barker as he is "trying" to beat the crap out of Barker. Its a pretty funny scene because Happy ends up the one lying on the ground in the fetal position. I brought up that because of this: Drew Carry is not anywhere close to Bob Barker. I use to watch The Price is Right every day of each summer when it came on a ten o'clock. My brother and I would watch that show every morning. I loved that show because Bob Barker was the host and because I liked watching people make complete idiots out of themselves. But back when Bob Barker was the host people use to make shirts saying how much they loved him because he had been doing it for so long. People use to watch that show with their grandmothers. I doubt people do that for Drew Carry. I think the show should have been retired with Bob Barker. Don't get me wrong I still watch the show when I get a chance but it's just not the same. Nope I'm watching the show now and I do not see any I love Drew t-shirts on. And don't you just love when the person after someone bids like a dollar more than them? I do cause they act so happy about it but really they are thinking about how much they would like to kill them.

Ice On My Windshield

Alabama is too far south for the weather that we experience at night. It is not meant to get this cold in Montgomery. When I walk out to my car at midnight and it is cold enough that the water from dew has frozen to every part of my car I know that it is too cold in Alabama. The other night I walked outside to my car after I got off work and there was ice across my entire windshield. I didn't realize it when I had gotten in my car and I didn't want to get back out and try to wipe it off with something so I drove with the ice on it. And just for future reference a defroster doesn't do a thing when there is ice frozen on your windshield. I had to drive leaning over the steering wheel like an old grandma trying to peer out a tiny little spot where there was not any ice at all until I got down the road to the Chevron. Then I had to scrap off the ice using a squeegee. The ice was coming off in chunks. I was amazed and baffled because I didn't think that could happen in Alabama, but I suppose I was mistaken. Luckily I was able to get the ice off and be on my way again.

The Sea

Have you ever been surrounded by water on all sides of you? Have you ever looked out and saw nothing expect where the sky touches the water. Have you ever felt truly alone in the world like no body else was around? If you ever want to get the feeling of total solitude, rent a boat and sail out to the middle of the sea. You'll know when you've reached where I'm talking about because the land will disappear from your eyes. It's like no one else is anywhere near you. Like your the only one left in the world. It's actually a scary feeling. I didn't like it the first I ever went deep sea fishing. You get the feeling that you are lost in the world. I mean water takes up most of the space on the planet and to be caught in the middle of it would truly devastate someone. I can see why Tom Hanks went insane in Cast Away. I understand why he created Wilson. Human beings need to interact with one another. I just wish Tom Hanks had opened that last package in that movie. What if it had been like a new satellite phone with built in GPS? He would of been out of there in no time and Wilson would of been okay.

Let go my eggo

Eggo lovers in the south won't be able to enjoy the eggo to much longer. Do to a recent flood of the factory, which I believe is located in Atlanta, the plant has shut down production until March of 2010. I found this out by a customer who came into the grocery store i work at. That's kind of sad isn't it. I didn't find out before the customer, the customer found out before I did. I wonder what people are going to eat for breakfast now. I imagine that the eggo label is going to take a pretty big hit from being out of production for so long
The other things people are probably going to eat for breakfast:
1) Cereal
2) Pillsberry Toaster Struddles (this ought to be a good time of business for them)
3) Muffins
4) Grits
5) Pancakes (the old fashioned way or a different brand)
6) Eggs and bacon
7)McDonalds
8) Biscuits
9) Yogurt
10) A rise in Poptarts again
11) Cookies ( that's what I eat for breakfast sometimes)

A glass on the edge of the table

Oh my gah. Why do they have to set me so close. I can't see my life flashing before my eyes. That time I got held by Angelina Jolie. She has some nice lips. Or that time Jack Nicholson threatened to throw me at Adam Sandler. Those were the good ole days. Guess I won't have to worry about that anymore. Hey kid not so fast. You stop running. That kid is gonna get himself killed one of these days and he's probably gonna take me with him. I mean he has scared me permanently. He always burns things in me and he doesn't ever rinse me out. He's so cruel. Oh my gah it's a cat. Get out of here kitty. You get away from me. No don't you sniff me. Ah stop that. Stop it. Ahahaha I'm going to shatter all over the floor. I hope one of you cruel people step on a piece of me. Well this is it. Here I go. I knew it'd always end up like this. I just never imagine the grandma would do me in. Ahhhhhhh........ahhhhhh....ahh crash.

A thing that should not have been invented

The Snuggie ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The Snuggie should have never been invented. All the Snuggie is, is a glorified bath robe. The Snuggie makes people look as though they were in a cult. The Snuggie is not a fashion statement in the least bit. Instead of wasting money on an oversize bathrobe, I recommend just buying a throw blanket. No one will think twice about you wearing a throw blanket, but a Snuggie labels you as the person who stays up at night watching the infomercials ordering anything they see. Also the Snuggie does not even come in any good colors. If I'm not mistaking the Snuggie doesn't even come in hot pink which is the color most girls would want. In the end I think the Snuggie should have never been invented.

The Perfect World

The perfect world? How does one define the perfect world? What would the perfect world be like? Would it be boring?

The perfect world has always been thought of as a world that is pollution free. A world that is violence free. A world that is hunger free. A world without a class system. To be honest the perfect world could never exist. In order for our world to be free of pollution all technology would have to cease to exist. No more electricity has to be required in order for pollution to go away completely. I think that would make for a perfect world. If electricity was gone then people would have to rely on the old ways of doing things. Maybe people could go far enough back to have to grow and kill their own food. Next, if a world was violence free, there goes all competitive sports. The reason sports are so competitive is mostly because of revenge. If a football player gets hit by someone, it becomes his own personal grudge to seek revenge. It motivates players. If there is not any aggression in sports, then it is not entertaining. A world without hunger. Well that would be nice. If everyone had food, there would not be anything wrong with that. A world without a class system. A world without a class system is entirely implausible, but if it did happen it would be amazing.

People who put pets in clothes

When you think of clothes, what do you associate them with? Humans, am I right? Clothes are meant for humans. Lately, there has been a fad emerging of placing pets in clothes. However, they aren't just clothes, they're outfits. OUTFITS. Cats and dogs are being dressed up as the Village People. There are firefighter outfits, cheerleading outfits, and even outfits to support that favorite team. People, especially rich and famous women, carry their pets around as if they were humans. Dog and cat strollers and purses. Since when have animals become to lazy to walk. I can't stand seeing a cat or a dog in a sweater. It drives me crazy. Cats and dogs have natural clothes, it's their fur. They don't need any more fur. If someone tells you that they don't want their cat or dog to be cold, simply tell them that the animal has done alright for themselves for the past thousands of years so I think they will be alright. No wonder some animals are so mean and bark at everyone. They're forced to wear the same type of sweaters that kids fear their grandmas giving them. Bottom line is that animals have their own natural clothes and human do not. This is why humans wear clothes. Animals do not need them.

SEC CHAMPS

Roses are red,
The Tide is too.
Superman couldn't pull it off,
So we're no longer number two.
ROLL TIDE

My midlife crisis

I don't know about the rest of the male gender, but I am looking forward to my midlife crisis. Lets look at the midlife crisis situation. Individuals are realizing that they do not have much time left on Earth. In doing so they come to terms with their age. However they also realize that this doesn't mean they are dead yet and that they still have enough time to do things in life that had not taken the time to do. Men who go through their midlife crisis do things like go buy that fifty thousand dollar sports car that they didn't want to buy before because they had to worry about sending little Jimmy to college. Well little Jimmy is all grown up now and they can buy that sports car. And who cares about getting a ticket at this point in their life because they only have what about twenty or less more years to drive before they can't hardly see or grip the steering wheel. However at age forty and fifty, they still have the energy and the heart that allows them to get that new Mustang or Ferrari up to 120 on the interstate. Go for it.
Have you ever seen The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? Great movie. I would like to live out the last couple years of their lives. However, I would start at the age of forty-five, give or take a few years. I would go sky diving, rock climbing, fly a plane, kayak down some class ten, or how ever high it goes, rapids. I don't wanna get to Heaven and be asked if I ever got to do all the things I wanted and have to reply NO. That would just be horrible.

World's Strictest Parents

The World's Strictest Parents. Have any of ya'll ever seen this show. These parents aren't strict. The parents of the kids who go on the show are just idiots who don't know how to raise children. If you let your kids get away with everything then they aren't going to respect you. If you discipline your kids, it doesn't mean you don't love them. In fact it is the exact opposite. By disciplining your children, you are preparing them for there future. As a parent it is your job to ensure that they succeed in life and that they live their life to their fullest potential. If a parent didn't care, they wouldn't bother punishing a child and they would let them make their own path and walk down it. With that said, there are extremes and yes some of the parents on the show are a little bit strict but then again different people have different ways of doing things. But I think they should rename the show the way you should raise your kids if you don't do so already. But no one would watch that now would they. Kids should have chores and they should be punished when they don't do what they are suppose to. And if they don't do them, then punish them. In psychology, I learn about positive and negative reinforcement. I don't exactly remember which one is which but it basically says that in order for something to learn there must be good and bad consequences.

Street Art in Taipei

This is truly an amazing work of art. I am taken away by how realistic it looks. Its an artwork that was drawn on the sidewalk and it appears as though the ground has broken away and revealed this mysterious and wonderful land. There is a bottle of alcohol on the right side of the painting that appears to be a little out of place. But the way the bottle is depicted makes it seem as though the bottle is sticking out of the hole. This gives off the appearance that the bottle is larger than life. This leads me to believe that the artwork might of been done as some sort of advertisement. I love this image. It is like a portal into a parallel universe. Maybe that is the message the artist is trying to portray. Maybe the artist wants people to see that this particular brand of alcohol is out of this world.
The artist has taken advantage of several design principles. He has implemented diminishing size, which is when objects are scaled smaller the further away they get. He has also made things further away appear hazier and hazier the further the distant. The focal point of this artwork would have to be the bottle of alcohol because it is sticking out of the ground and even though it is not int the foreground of the painting, it is still the closest thing to the viewer. Other focal points would be the whirlpools. The artwork has to be asymmetrical because there is a larger than life bottle of brown alcohol on the right. This makes the right side of the painting much heavier.
Check it out here: http://www.european-street-painting.com/street%20art%20johnnie%20walker%20taipei.htm

Insane in the membrane

So we watched the movie on the criminally insane in psychology and I've got to say it was not what I expected. It was completely different then the things displayed in movies. You would expect to see everyone in straight-jackets or talking to themselves or something, but this was not the case. Most people appeared seemingly normal. They might talk a little funny and be socially awkward but for the most part, people were normal appearing. Mostly everyone shown on the documentary suffered from some type of schizophrenia. It was relatively creepy. So the people in the film basically lived in their own little community. They had like parties and gatherings and some of them even dated each other. I thought it was suppose to be punishment still. These individuals committed murder, arson, and robbery. However, according to the film up to eighty-eight percent of them will eventually be released. How is someone suppose to know whether or not they will commit the same crime again. When a sane person is released it's hard enough to determine if they will. How do you determine whether or not a criminally insane person will. However, I do think that those who are found criminally insane do deserve a second chance because they aren't not to blame for their actions.

Psych Tomorrow

We are suppose to view a film on the criminally insane tomorrow in psychology. I'm kind of excited. After watching the most recent Batman movies and seeing characters such as the Joker and Scarecrow it makes an individual wonder whether people like that actually do exist or if the characters are a little over the top. Obviously having no compassion towards another member of the human race is inhuman. Anyone who is able to do so in my opinion lacks certain mental capabilities. At what point does someone become insane? I hope to learn this tomorrow and elaborate on it later on.

Photography

At what point in a photographers life do they become professional? How does one gain the label of a professional photographer? Anyone can buy a camera and start taking pictures. Anyone can change the settings on the camera to change the effect. Anyone can zoom and crop a photo. But how do you know when you are looking at a professional photo. I recently witnessed photos taken by students in a college art appreciation class, not an art class but an appreciation course. Their pictures looked professional. Like something someone could purchase at Hobby Lobby or somewhere. Does that make them professional photographers? When the camera was first commercialized there was a movement in the art world whose name escapes me but it was basically a period in which professional photographers revolted to the idea of amateur photography. Artists work hard to capture something a certain way. And they take into account the principles of design and the elements of art. So does that mean once an amateur photographer starts to do this as well they become a professional. Or maybe the term professional actually has become to mean famous. An artist must be well known in order to become famous. I have seen artworks in which the artist has actually drawn the artwork in an elementary way. The it was drawn could be considered amateur yet they are still pros. Its an odd problem.

Seven worst things to say to someone who just got dumped

1) She's way out of your league anyway.
2) She's been seeing him longer than you actually.
3) At least he/she was good in bed, too bad she ain't feel the same way bout you
4) I checked he/she out and you're most certainly better looking.
5) At least you didn't turn 'um gay.
6) Too bad he/she was you're last hope.
7) You're getting pretty old, think you still got it in you?

Skeet Shooting

People always have said boys like to blow things up and it's true, we do. Whether it's with a shotgun or fireworks or just fire in general. Boys like things that are loud and destructive. Skeet shooting is a great, fun, and most importantly LEGAL way to destroy stuff. Skeet shooting is when you take clay disks and throw them into the air and then shoot them with a 20 or 12 gauge shotgun. I shot skeet for the first time yesterday and it was a blast, literally. I didn't get to do it for long because I had class but I still had fun. There is one major downside to shooting skeet for a long time, shotguns kick back. If you aren't use to shooting a shotgun, expect your shoulder to be hurting the next day. Its really not that bad, just annoying. But if you aren't that good of a shot, be sure to buy a lot more shells than you buy skeet. Like we had two hundred and seventy skeet and we thought we had enough shells but when you have three people in a line all shooting at the same time, sometimes even twice, it's possible to waste like six shots on one skeet. Wasting six shots on one skeet is unreal. We just kind of got off to a slow start. Whats funny is to do a rabbit roll which is when you roll a skeet across the ground then try to shoot it. It was funny when it would roll literally two feet in front of someone and they still missed.

The Way of the Past

I know everyone has heard of the ancient methods for treating the ill back in the day. Different cultures had different religious beliefs. It was these religious cultures that determined how they viewed disease. For the longest time it was believed by virtually all civilizations that disease was caused by the possession of evil spirits. Today we know that this is a completely ludicrous idea. However, our ancestors did not. Because people use to believe that disease was caused by evil spirits, naturally people wanted to remove them. Here's where the crudeness comes in. In order to release the evil spirits ancient civilizations and even our forefathers practiced blood letting, which is simply bleeding out the body. Another popular technique was drilling holes in the head. This technique was commonly used to treat headaches as well which seems somewhat retarded to me seeing how I'm sure there head hurt worse after having it drilled in. Other disorders such as psychological disorders were also first treated in fairly crude ways. In one instance lobotomies were performed to either remove or separate certain parts of the brain in an attempt to disrupt the flow of electricity in the brain and consequently preventing the problem from occurring. Another widely used method of treatment was electroshock therapy which is exactly what it sounds like. The motive behind it was similar to that of lobotomies. Thankfully, however, modern science has allowed for great advances and today drugs are most commonly used to treat disorders and diseases.

Eating Disorders

A while back in psychology, we studied eating disorders and watched a film on it. The film was about young individuals who suffered from anorexia. The individuals shown had lost so much weight that they had to be hospitalized and placed on feeding tubes in order for them to survive. One woman shown in the film is Jean Claude Pierre who had a daughter who suffered form anorexia. It was through her struggles with her daughter that Jean Claude learned the most effective way of fighting off the disorder. Instead of force feeding the person, which Jean Claude said was the worst possible thing, she recommends offering love and affection. The disease eats away at individuals brains in a sense. The patients hear voices telling them that they are not worthy to eat or to even live. Anorexia is considered to be an unconscious slow form of suicide. The conscious mind is not strong enough to commit suicide therefore the unconscious takes over. Jean Claude said that those who suffer from anorexia eat less and less until they slowly waste away and eventually disappear. By showing patients that they are worthy enough to eat through affection, it is possible to ease the mind of the burden. One common technique of helping individuals to eat involves having someone else feed the patients to rid the mind of the blame in a sense. Jean Claude Pierre has devoted her life to helping those who cannot help themselves. She opened a refugee called the Mansion and is on the verge of bankruptcy because of her caring nature.

Argument

Arguing can be good or bad depending on who you are arguing with. Say you're arguing with your girlfriend or boyfriend, this would be bad because they is a chance of a breakup if things escalate to much. Another situation it could be bad would be arguing with an authority figure such as a police officer. He has the power to arrest you, therefore making him made probably would not be a good idea. On the other had if someone was about to go to trial they might want to hire a good arguer. A lawyer basically has a degree in arguing. He gets paid to win arguments. Their arguments are a bit more intellectual than however than the whole he took my pencil, no i didn't kind of thing. I'm not sure what type of arguments to expect in 1020. Whether they are going to be arguments in which you have to defend all opinions and/or facts or if you pick a side, draw the line, and start bashing on all other opinions. Choosing one side is a little bit harder because that limits the number of sources that you may be able to find. Also your paper has the possibility to become a rant that just goes on and on without any real perspective. On the other hand is the whole presenting all sides of the argument and allowing the reader to choose which side they agree with.

Point of view of the last tree standing in the forest

Oh my lord! I'm next! They already got Johnny and they're coming for me next. Maybe if I try not to sway at all they won't notice me. Lah lah la lah, ah its not working they're still coming. Gah look at the size of that thing. It's huge. I can't possibly stand up to that. They're gonna plow right over me. Wait what's that for why are they cranking it up. Hey don't you come any closer! I know I'll drop something on him. HMMMM what do I got? Dang-it why'd I have to be a acorn tree? An acorn ain't gonna do anything. Why couldn't I have been a coconut tree? Now there's a big nut. I wish I could drop one of those on them right now. So let me see. Hey you! yeah you over there. I'm talking to the squirrel right there. Go bite that man. You got rabbees? Darn oh well you'll have to do.

Why am I Here

Why am I here? Why am I in this class? This class is pointless to me. I already know the stuff he is teaching. I learned all of this in the eleventh grade. Believe it or not that wasn't that long ago. I think I'm not going to go there today. I mean when you leave early everyday and still make mid to high nineties on all the test, I think it's okay to miss a few days every now and again. By the way I'm talking about math. More specifically Pre-Calculus. I hate that class with a passion. I think when I go I actually am loosing some of the knowledge I previously learned about Pre-Calculus. I like that knowledge. When I learned Pre-Cal the first time, I had a great teacher who taught me how to do everything the easy way and not have to go through all the boring tedious steps that take up too much paper and would kill hundreds of trees throughout your college career. The teacher who I have now teaches everything by the book. He goes through every single step and it bores me to death. I mean the class is already almost two hours long and it was suppose to be longer then that, which I do thank the teacher for that. But I get so bored sitting there day after day. I took all the way up to material covered in a Calculus II college course include integrals. But I'm loosing that knowledge as I sit in Pre-Cal day after day. I don't know why they even stuck me in that class. I scored a 25 on the math section of my ACT. But the only reason I didn't receive college credit for high school Calculus was because my teacher was not AP certified.

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving routine used to be rather well routine but after recent developments in my family, we are adapting to new family traditions. We would have usually had Thanksgiving at my Papa's house but unfortunately we can no longer do that. Therefore i imagine Thanksgiving will be at my house this year. The only people there will probably be my brother, my mother, and my Papa. But that's perfectly fine with me because that means more food for us. We used to have pork tenderloin that my Papa cooked on the grill, a Honey Baked Ham, turkey, green beans, some type of casserole of course, sweet potatoes, and then a countless number of different desserts. This year I am not exactly sure what to expect for lunch/dinner on the day but I do know that we will be eating that meal for the next week because of leftovers and because my ma probably won't cook for a whole week after that day. But I imagine we'll have either turkey or ham or maybe both. By the way I hope my friend Coop saves me some of his dad's deep fried turkey. That stuff is like crack on a plate. No really he makes the best turkey I've ever had. We'll probably end up watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade even though it is boring as hell. No really parade's are only fun when you are there and they are throwing stuff to you. Other than that what is the point of watching them. If I wanted to see Snoopy trying to take out some tall building I'd watch the cartoon. I'm sure there is an episode similar. And honestly I think that they use mostly the same floats every year. Really how long has Snoopy been in that parade.

Who would you save

Who or what would you save? I agree with some points that 2012 makes. There is only limited space and supplies on the ship and only a select number of people can go. In a similar way to Noah and his ark. Noah only took his family and not try to save the entire world. And the whole thing about spending a billion dollars to get on the ship and then the government trying to say that these people were specifically selected because of their gene pool. Why did people even have to spend money to get on the ship? The world is coming to an end!!! Money is no longer required. What would the money be based on? So the question remains who do you save: people, animals or art? Lets start with art. Art can be well documented and all the files can be saved on like a flashdrive no bigger than your thumb. So that throws two ton statues off the ship. Going on to animals. Only save the animals used for your food chain. Like we eat pig, cow, chicken, and fish. Save only those animals and what they eat. I mean do we really eat say a mongoose? That saves a ton of space. Finally people. I say you let natural selection decide or you actually go with the smartest and strongest gene pools to wipe out disease and abnormalities. This would be the correct way to go about things.

I use to think...

I use to think when i was little that my floor was actually water. You see we had blue carpet and in my imagination that meant it was water. So whenever i would lay down to go to sleep at night i never wanted to have my feet hanging off the bed. Allow my to elaborate on that because i know it sounds a little weird. I think when i was younger i watch a lot of pirate movies and that combined with watching goosebumps on TV, in my mind i believed if my feet hung off the bed that a pirate would sail up and cut them off and I of course did not want to lose my feet. I mean would you want a pirate to cut off your feet? I think it was a rational fear because in my existing schemata at the time blue represent water and my carpet was blue. Pirates were mean individuals who carried swords so they could cut stuff. That is how this fear manifested itself. Also when I was little my brother and I use to pretend that the carpet was like a shark infested ocean and if you walked on it you would get eaten. That's understandable right? We use to watch shark week every year so we liked sharks, but we also new they could kill us: fun times. So the idea of the game was that you could not touch the blue carpet. Therefore you had to jump from the couch to chair or on the pillows or the table. (Parents love this game) But I think if you did get in the water you had like the count of three or something like that. My brother and I invented a lot of different games and that was just one of them.

Reevaluation

Lets reevaluate the system of events leading up to the rabbit situation and determine how the problems that occurred could have been prevented. Let us start by stating it's simply just not a good idea to allow my brother to go hunting at five in the morning after working a twelve hour shift. I'd have to say that's a pretty good place to start. In a true redneck manner my brother and manager decided to climb in a truck and ride around the property with a shotgun loaded with bird shot hunting rabbits. Here's where the situation goes wrong: at the beginning. It is five in the morning and they are both extremely tired. They knew right then and there that they would not clean anything that early in the morning. Second mistake: throwing the rabbit in the beer cooler. The key word in this sentence is "cooler." A cooler is meant to cool and preserve already cooked food. A freezer or ice would have been the correct form of preservation needed for the situation. Not to mention, wild dead animals, or dead animals all together, should not be placed in the same container as drinks. The FDA would have a heart attack after witnessing a situation like this. The final mistake occurred when the rabbit was left in this cooler for eighteen hours allowing it to experience rigor mortis.

How to....

How to skin a rabbit.
No I'm not some sick individual who likes to hurt small animals. I learned this past weekend how to skin a rabbit because my brother and manager went hunting at like five in the morning one night after they got off work. However, instead of skinning it right then and there, they put it in a the beer cooler, not freezer, but cooler. This right here is not how to start off cleaning/skinning a rabbit, and I'll tell you why. So after the rabbit had sat in the "cooler" for almost eighteen hours, they decided they were going to let me skin it because nobody else wanted to. By the way, they had named the rabbit Bugs to add to the rather creepiness of the situation. So to start off, do not leave anything dead in a cooler for any long period of time. Allow me to provide some insight to why. Dead animals of all kinds develop rigor mortis. Rigor is when the animal or whatever stiffens up. I'm sure you have heard this term on like CSI or something, if not you should watch more TV. When rigor mortis occurs the meat is no longer any good. It will be hard and chewy rather than tender. Anyways to skin the rabbit: make an incision around the neck and simply pull the fur back in a similar fashion as a banana, make another incision around the stomach area and remove insides. That's pretty much it. Except when you leave a rabbit sitting out for eighteen hours and don't listen to someone who's trying to tell you the meat is bad, you simply throw the rabbit in the fire to prevent it from lying around uneaten to stink up the property.

Cause and Effect

The cause for me coming to AUM was mainly because i received a full scholarship. Also AUM is in my home town and it was convenient to come here. My brother is already at AUM, so if i need help with anything chances are that he already knows how to do it. And he helps me a pretty good bit. AUM is also right across the street from my old school, which no longer exists in that location, Taylor Road Academy. I already have a few friends that go to AUM so that made the decision easier. One of my friends lives down the street from the school, therefore i can simply go to his house in between classes. My job is also right down the road from AUM, Publix. So anytime I have to go to work after school its a quick little drive.
The effect of going to AUM is that i am able to major in what i want. They offer a pre-engineering program which allows me to get a degree in mathematics and then transfer to Auburn to get a degree in engineering. I also met a lot of new people at AUM including my girlfriend. My friend who lives down the street from the school introduced us. So that was a pretty good effect. Another effect would be I save a great deal of gas. If I had gone to say Troy or Montevallo and still tried to stay at home that would be multiple tanks of gas a week.

Chinese Food Smackdown

Hands down everyone knows that Eastdale mall is the best place to go when it comes to Chinese food. Any of the places in the mall: Malibu Grill, or the actual Chinese place. Its like the only type of restaurant in the mall and they all compete to give you free samples. The only other Chinese restaurant I eat at is China Wok over by the Publix at Taylor Junction. There food is okay but its not as great as the mall. However, they do have a whole lot more to choose from and their food is catered to each order. It doesn't sit in a buffet style serving area all day. Their fried rice doesn't taste very good to me, but that is only because of the onions in it. Luckily, there is an easy solution to this. I just get white rice. The best honey chicken you can get is at the mall, but if you want a lot of food, go to China Wok. Their General Tso's chicken is really good. Or there bourbon chicken is good as well. China Wok is also more accessible than the mall too. It is in the same parking lot as the Publix I work in so I can just walk over when I'm on break. The lady that works there is really nice as well. She doesn't try to shove free samples down your throat. However you could probably make a full meal out of all the free samples at the mall. So therefore if you are looking for taste and probably a chance to get sick, go to the mall. But for a friendly environment with decent food, go with China Wok

10 Years From Now

Well if the Mayans are right, like some people believe, I'll more than likely be dead and in Heaven, hopefully. However, in the case that they were wrong, which I believe they are, I'll be happily married with no kids yet and working as an architectural engineer renovating all the old buildings that Alabama and other states have to offer. Okay the reason I said no kids is because I want to enjoy my marriage for a while before I let kids take on the fun out of it. Don't get me wrong I want kids, I just don't want them to ruin my marriage by driving me and my wife insane in the middle of the night right away. I see myself living in a homely house, you know not too big but big enough to be impressive, that I designed, with my wife's input of course. I'd have to let her have some input, because I'm sure she would be looking over my shoulder the entire time nagging like most women do. Yes, that was a sexist generalization but oh well. My soccer coach once told me that all women are crazy and you just have to find the one with the level of crazy that you can withstand. I agree with this statement to some degree. I plan to own my own architectural firm or at be a partner with someone by the time I'm 28. The reason I say 28 is because I would like to retire by the time I am forty, so I can have the rest of my life to explore the world with my wife and do everything me and her want to do before one of us dies. I would also like to have designed and built a magnificent structure like the house known as Falling Water that was built on a waterfall. Not by a waterfall, but on a waterfall. I'd like to be known. Hopefully because I'm famous and not infamous. I would like to have a dog, because my dogs got taken away from me and I never had another one. I think he would be called Ace. I like the name Ace for a dog. Its kind of scary and intimidating but at the same time its nice.

Paranormal Activity

This was a pretty good movie. For a low budget film, like the original Saw, this movie did outstandingly well. Contrary to popular belief this film is not the actual documentary done by the couple the movie is based on. And based on is a very lose term. "Based on" could mean anything from they used one actual scene from the original documentary and the rest was improvised. However, the people who play the parts of Katie and Micah are actually named Katie and Micah and they are very much so alive today. If you are watching this movie thinking that it's the actually documentary then good luck sleeping that night. The movie is not really all that scary. It was just done where things pop out at you and is more freaky then actually scary. There were alternate endings made to this movie to keep it from becoming the type of situation where people just tell others what happens. I like it when people do this because it doesn't allow for other people to ruin the movie for me.

Halloween

Halloween is meant for everybody in my opinion. I don't think there should be a cut off age for trick or treating. Maybe if you're an adult and going trick or treating you could be given a beer out of a 24 pack or something. If Halloween was meant for just kids, then they wouldn't make adult costumes. But yeah it is true that only kids up to the age of like twelve should be allowed to go trick or treating. I remember when I was younger that if you were thirteen and still went trick or treating, you were a loser. You would be made fun of. But I honestly believe that Halloween was intended for older people. If you observe all the costumes today, you'll see that most of them are of killers made famous in horror films. Such murders would be Jason and Freddy. Little kids should not even be watching films like this. My girlfriend's dad allowed her to watch the original A Nightmare on Elm St. when she was just a young girl and now she is deathly scared of knives and Freddy Kruger. Its not that she doesn't know it's not real now, but that she was impressionable at that age and it has stuck with her. If you think about it kids play "Halloween" all the time. Kids imagine they're are someone else and role play everyday, therefore Halloween is just another day to them. Adults and teenagers on the other hand are not able to do this, but there are days when we wish we were someone else like an ax murderer so we could do away with our nagging boss. It's not that we are ax murderers, it's just an imagination thing and a way of dealing with stress. Therefore, Halloween was meant to be targeting adults and not kids in my opinion.

Influences

Growing up without a father, my greatest influences was my older brother. Whenever I have a problem, I go to my brother for advice. Even though he is only three years older than me, he still has gone through the stuff I would be going through now and then some. I'm able to talk to my brother about stuff I would never talk to my mom about. My mother would only look at it from a concerned parent's point of view and not remember how it is to be a kid. My brother, however, was still a kid and he could understand where I'm coming from. Also my brother has never really passed any kind of judgment on me about anything. Yeah my brother has done some things he ain't proud of, but oh well everyone has. My brother being so close to me in age allows me to learn from his mistakes and not repeat them. On the other hand, this is not such a good thing. Because my mom expects me to learn from my brother's mistakes, I usually get a worse punishment. I think this is unfair. That's the same thing as watching a movie on not smoking cigarettes because it's bad and then me getting a severe punishment for trying it after viewing the movie. My brother has influenced a lot of things in my life. For example, I would of never picked up a pencil and started drawing if it was not for my brother. Also, I would have never played sports and eventually won a state championship in soccer my senior year. My brother's work ethic has also been instilled in me. We are both two of the top workers at our job. Managers love us and I have my brother to thank for that.

Brave Moment

I don't really know of a brave moment that I have ever had, or at least I can't remember any of them. I know I rode the Graviton at the fair when I was like six but I would call that brave even though I have every second of that ride. The ride is designed to make you experience 3G forces as it spins you round and round in a circle. You become pressed against the wall and when you're six you can't exactly move. All I can remember is feeling extremely sick afterward and saying to myself I'm never doing that again. But I don't consider that bravery. A lot of things individuals do when they are kids are a result of being innocent and not understand the risk of situations. A little child might walk up to a snake and try to pet it, but that's not bravery. The child simply does not know what the snake is capable of doing. And if the snake where to bite the child, the child would never approach a snake again. This new found fear of snakes would have resulted from a fear of getting bit again. The child has now learned the consequences of messing with a snake.

My Car

My car is actually a truck. It is a 2001 Chevy Tahoe. Its color is called pewter but no one ever knows what that is so i just tell them its a mix between gold and silver. It has the Lt package, which is the most luxurious out of the packages other than the Z71 package. It is all leather and power everything. I love the fact that it has a sunroof because it's just one more window I can open up. Its not a 4x4 like I wanted but it is a 350 v8 so it still has a lot of power. I can either fit a lot of people in it or a lot of stuff, whichever I choose. After I got it it needed new tires so I put Toyo A/T tires on it and when the truck is actually clean and the tires are shined it looks really nice. I did however back into an old girlfriend's truck a while back so there is a little ding in the back bumper. But it was dark, there were no lights where we were at so she shouldn't have parked so close behind me. Not to mention the fact that she drives a tiny little s10 that I could hardly see out the back window. There are only two things that bother me about this truck. The first thing being that it's a pain to clean because it is so big and you have to climb all of the sides just to clean the top. The next thing being that the fuel sensor in the fuel pump is messed up so the fuel light comes on a lot. But I know how miles I can go on a tank of gas, so I go by that. I would have liked the truck to have been black but oh well. The color that it is is going to look good with black accents like the black brush guard I want to on it and probably so other things as well. I did buy the truck myself. I saved up money and sold my old truck, which I paid for as well. My old truck was a Ford Ranger so the Tahoe fairly different size wise. I love my truck. A buddy of mine once said "There are things of man you don't mess with. His hat, his truck, and his girl. In that order."

Questions about architecture

1) How much money do you make a year?
2)What is the best part apart your job?
3) Do you ever have to be on call for anything on your off days?
4) What is a typical work week for you: 5 days, 40 hours?
5) Is there any art involved in the field?
6) I don't enjoy writing. How much do you write in a day?
7) Is the writing mostly in the form of formal letters, or are there a lot of reports that have to be typed?
8)Where did you graduate from?
9) What was it about architecture attracted you to it?
10) Do architects do a lot of drawing?
11) What is the main type of math you use on a daily basis: geometry, calculus?
12) What are some of the more major jobs you have worked on?
13) Is the field constantly changing?
14) Does new technology come out each year to help you do your job?
15) If you could summarize your job into one word, what would it be?

Art Appreciation

In art appreciation right now, we are learning about the various media of design. Everything from drawing to sculpture. So far we've gone over printmaking and drawing. Drawing is one that pretty much everyone already knows. I know a lot of these different media anyway, because I took art in high school and we used a lot of these media. Some of the types of drawing we learned about were chalk, charcoal, and brush and ink. I already knew a good bit about chalk and charcoal drawings, however I did not know much about brush and ink. Brush and ink is a more eastern way drawing. Not to many western artist use it because it is so complex and it does not allow you to erase. Eastern artists on the other hand love this form of drawing. It's as easy for them as drawing with a pencil is for us. The reason for this being that brush and ink was how eastern cultures use to write everything.
Yesterday we learned about a new type of media called printmaking. I did not know much about this media because I had only ever done a woodcut print. It turned out that there are four other types of printmaking than this that I had never heard of. Woodcut or linocut are pretty simple, you cut out the pieces you don't want to show up in the artwork and leave the rest to transfer the ink. Once you get done carving, all you have to do is roll ink over the top and then press and pull a piece of paper on it. I did not know however that if you wanted different colors, you had to make a different matrix for each color. I also didn't know artist would cut an X through the matrix so no other prints could be made.

The Color of Hunger

All emotions have a color associated with them. Red is the color of passion and anger. If you are angry, people say that you are seeing red. I guess red became associated with anger because people's faces turn red when they are angry. Green is the color of envy or the color of sickness. Green is the color of money, so an association between money and wants go hand in hand. Same thing goes for sickness. Whenever you are sick you look a little green or pale, therefore the color green has been associated with sickness. Yellow is the color of cowards. I'm not sure how this association came about. You have the term "yellow belly", but I'm not sure of its origins. Blue is the color of sadness. Not sure how blue came to be associated with sadness either, but I do know that a lot of songs use blue to describe sadness. However, there is not a color for hunger. Some might not consider hunger an emotion, but I do. When you are hungry, it is pretty much all you can think about, right? Hunger is also something you feel, therefore it is a feeling. But what is the color for hunger? It can't be in the green family because green is sickness, and when you are sick, you do not want to eat. It could, however, be in the blue family. When people are depressed, they tend to eat a lot. This situation is where the phrase "eating your feelings" came about. Girls eat ice cream and comfort foods after a bad breakup, supposedly. Don't blame me for that stereotype, blame Hollywood. Therefore, I think the color of hunger should be like a purple or violet color. With purple or violet, you get the cool feeling of the blues, it is not completely blue.

Halloween

I have two most memorable experiences from Halloween: chasing kids with a chainsaw and making a kid cry, but not on purpose. Each year at my school, we would put on a haunted house for our Fall Festival. In my junior and senior year, my class put on the haunted house. Both years I got to chase kids around with a chainsaw. In my junior year, we did a Saw kind of theme, in which a friend of mine laid tied up to a table and I would hide behind a curtain. After the kids would enter the room, my friend, Ian, would start talking to the kids trying to make them leave. Then I would pop out with the chainsaw roaring and act like I was chopping Ian up. Ian was a pretty good actor. He made it seem pretty realistic. However, don't get the wrong idea. I didn't chase around kids with a dangerous chainsaw; the chain had been taken off. The next year we did the haunted house in the gym and were able to have a lot more space. Unfortunately, we didn't really have a theme that year. It was more of just popping out at kids and trying to make them cry, which was fun without a doubt.
My next memory comes from when I was little and still went Trick or Treating. I was about ten years old and I got a costume that had one of the bleeding masks on it. Well maybe the bleeding part wasn't such a good idea. I walked up to a door to get some candy and a small child saw me. He couldn't have been more than four years old. He started balling. I bent over, with the mask still on, to try and comfort him and to tell him it wasn't real, but maybe I should have taken the mask off. I finally took the mask off and showed him I was just like him. He stopped crying and ran along with his mom. I'm sure he was fine afterward. It's a little funny looking back at it now.

Point of view of a freshly scrubbed floor

I actually run a scrub machine at my job. Every night I close at a grocery store, I have to dust mop the entire store and run a scrub machine. What goes through my head as I'm doing it is "if stock crew messes this up in the morning, I'm going to be pissed." Allow me to explain something to you: a bagger at any store is at the bottom of the food chain. If anything goes wrong that a bagger could have possibly played a role in, the bagger is held responsible automatically. It doesn't matter if he/she did it or not. They are held accountable. For instance: say I was bagging a lady's groceries and her eggs get broken. It does not matter if the eggs were broken because the cashier slung them down the ramp, the bagger is automatically assumed to have broken them, because they are the last person to handle them. While I'm talking about my job, here is another thing that I find annoying: whenever I talk to a customer, do you know what the first thing out of their mouth is? Are you in school? "No mam, I plan on bagging groceries the rest of my life!" That is the most condescending remark I have ever heard. Just because I am bagging groceries at a grocery store does not mean I don't have ambitions. The next thing the customer does is even worse. They act astonished that I'm in school. "Oh really! That is so good. Keep up the good work!" I loathe it with a passion.
Anyways, one thing would go through the mind of a freshly scrubbed floor: please don't let anybody mess me up. The floor knows its going to get stepped on, but it does not want to have anything spilled on it. So the next time you are in a grocery store, please don't mess up my floor. Do it for the floor's sake.

Why a teacher would change careers

It takes a unique individual to become a teacher. A teacher must be strong willed, first of all. Teachers have to put up with so much stuff, not just from their boss, but from their students as well. Kids are the cruelest individuals on the planet Earth. Kids show no mercy. If you are fat, they're going to call you fat. If you look funny, you can count on them letting you know. Teachers have to put up with this on a daily basis. Yeah you could say that parents do the same thing all the time; however, say a teacher teaches 25 students a day for eight hours. That would equal out to 200 hours a day at eight hours per kid. Then when they leave work, chances are they have to go home to their own kids. All the spitballs, fart jokes, and rude comments are enough to make the average person quit. I know when I was in grade school, we were horrible to our teachers. We'd go to class with the fart machines you can buy at Spencer's and hide them somewhere in the classroom. The someone would have the remote and just keep pressing the button throughout the class period. We made numerous teachers cry and want to quit. As a matter of fact we made some teachers quit, honestly. I would not want to put up with a teenager like I was. Not only do they put up with a lot of crap, teachers don't make that much money. So they get tortured on a daily basis for horrible pay. Some people might consider that to be the definition of insanity.

Something to do when there is no power

Whenever a hurricane rolls through Alabama, the power at my house always goes out. During our last major hurricane, me and my brother went to the Dollar Tree and bought a bunch of puzzles. I use to love those puzzles when I was younger. And the fact that my brother actually let me do them with him helped as well. Me and my brother did not really hang out much at that time. However, we hang out a good bit now. We would sit in the living room on the floor, in front of the window so we could see what we were doing. I'm actually not that good at puzzles. As a matter of fact, I'm horrible at them. Everyone says you are suppose to start with the border and then work towards the middle, but that doesn't work for me. I just end up having to look at every single piece. I don't know how my brother does it; he's able to just look at two pieces and see that they are going to fit together. I, on the other hand, have to try each side of the puzzle piece and each possible combination before I can rule a fit out. I guess this is why puzzles are so good for me to do when the power is out; they take me a long time to do. However, when they are finished you feel an overwhelming feeling of self-accomplishment.

Meet Joe Blog

The article is basically about how blogs are becoming more powerful in America. Blogs are not censored by anyone except maybe the site you post on, but you are able to create a completely independent blog as well. Therefore censorship is not an issue. Blogs are capable of saying the things that news stations and newspaper are either afraid to say or are simply not interested in saying. The article gives one example of this involving a US Senator. The Senator made a relatively hateful remark at a party, and the news mainstream ignored it completely. Blogs took on the issue instead and eventually the topic did reach mainstream news about four days later. As a result the Senator was forced out of his chair. Blogs are able to keep on writing about something until someone pays attention, unlike news stations who have to move onto the next big story the next day. The article goes on to say that blogs are biased unlike other media streams who are neutral. Because of this bias, the blogs are a lot more fun to read. The blogs are opinions shared by its readers.
The article suggests that blogs could replace mainstream media all together eventually, because they have a growing number of readers. With numbers grow well beyond the 100,000 thousand mark, it is hard to imagine how this could not happen. However, there is a downside. With people constantly reading biased material that is not concerned with the other side of the argument, their views and opinions can never be changed.
The article ends with a suggestion that blogs could even help a candidate into the White House. You think it would be possible after nom de blog Atrios earned a total of $25,000 for Senator John Kerry's campaign.

Vacation

By far my most incredible vacation was to Destin, Florida. Me and a few of my friends stayed in the most luxurious condo i have ever seen. My friend's boss is a spinal surgeon and he owned a half million dollar condo on the beach in San Destin. He let me and my friends stay there for free. The only thing we had to pay for was food. I love San Destin. It is so clean and people are pretty nice there. On the way there, we passed over the longest bridge i have ever been on. It was the Midbay Bridge and it leads into San Destin. When we got to the condo, i spent almost all of my time standing on the balcony because we were on like the 15th floor and you could see virtually everything. The ocean looked magnificent from up there. It didn't look all nasty and dirty from up there like it does when you are standing on the beach. The sand was as white as can be also. It wasn't that disgusting brown color you get when you go to Gulf Shores. If i could retire somewhere it would be there. The people there are pretty cool as well, or at the tourists that come there are. My friends and I met four girls on the beach one night while we were just out walking around and they were pretty cool. They were as nice as they could have possibly been. If we had tried to talk to some random girls in Montgomery they probably would have freaked out. When that week in San Destin was over, I didn't want to leave. But oh well.

Please don't squeeze the.....

Please don't squeeze the ranch. When I was in the ninth grade, a rather funny situation occured involving a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. It was lunch time and my fellow classmates and myself were eating in Ms. D's room. First allow me to give you some background information on Ms. D. She is a rather clean individual who can't stand a mess. You could say she is OCD. She won't even leave her food uncovered when she walks across the room. Anyways, we were having pizza for lunch that day and some people like ranch on their pizza for some odd reason. I understand why people like ranch on their pizza. Ranch is not ketchup; it does not go with everything. Anyway, so we had a bottle of ranch in the classroom. We'll everyone was passing it around and putting a little on their pizza. Finally the bottle gets to Louis. Louis goes to shake the bottle up to get it to come out better and as he starts to squeeze and shake the bottle, ranch flies everywhere. All you see is a stream of dressing shot across the room. There was ranch on the wall, on the white board, on the desks, on the floor, and anywhere else you could think of. Oh by the way Ms. D was out of the classroom at this point. She walks back in to find ranch everywhere and she lost it. She went off on Louis. She shut the door and gave Louis "a very up close and personal" talking to. Lets just say he didn't leave a drop of ranch anywhere in the classroom. That is why is say pleas don't squeeze the ranch. And make sure the top in on something good before you go and shake it up. If not things will only end badly for you and those around you.

8 good reason to sleep in

1) You have swine flu. If you have swine flu u shouldn't go anywhere so might as well stay in bed. You shouldn't run the risk of infecting someone else. That's why swine flu is becoming a pandemic, because people aren't staying in bed.
2) Morning is the worst time to start the day. When people wake up they are cranky. They're cranky because they want to be back in bed asleep. We can kill two birds with one stone here. Go back to sleep then you won't be cranky and by the time you wake up everyone will have had their coffee and it'll be a beautiful day.
3) Breakfast foods aren't that good. If you ask someone what their favorite meal is, they aren't going to say breakfast. They are going to say lunch or dinner. If you think about it, breakfast for dinner even tastes better than breakfast for breakfast. Look at hotpockets. The ones for lunch are so much better than breakfast. Would you rather have a pizza one or a sausage and cheese?
4) When the sun first comes up it is in just the right position where your sun visor in your car can't block it. Wait a couple more hours for the sun to get directly above. It would cut down on accidents in the morning because people could see better.
5) Too many senior citizens are awake at this time. Senior citizens are grumpy individuals. They think cause they are old that they can get away with anything. If you'd wait til 12 to wake up, they'd be taking their naps.
6) Nothing good is on TV besides the news, and that comes on at noon too. When you wake up, you don't want the first thing you see to be a talk show: you want cartoons. When do cartoons come on? Later in the day, that's when.
7) Miss rush hour. No one likes being stuck in a.m. traffic. Sleep in an extra hour or two and you'll miss that traffic completely.
8) It is colder in the morning. It is always colder in the morning than the rest of the day. This could cause you to put on the wrong clothes and have you messed up for the rest of the day. It could be sixty in the morning and then go up to ninety by the end of the day.

Advice

A friend of mine named MK came over to my house one time along with some other people. She wanted to see all the artwork my brother and I had in our rooms so i took her back to show her. She loved our rooms. She said it was like a museum of art because my brother also had sculptures everywhere. But that's beside the point. She noticed a piece of paper hanging on my wall that was my to do list. She read it and wanted to add something. She wrote on it "Smile Joel". I said to her why do I need to smile; it's not that important. She added to it "it is important Joel" with one of those smilie faces that girls like to draw. She is the type of girl with a "bubbly attitude" if you know what I mean. She's the type of person that is always positive and can find the good in anything. There's nothing wrong with that. You should always think on the bright side. Don't be that pestamistic person who always sees the glass half empty instead of half full. I know that's a cheesy saying but there is some truth in it. If you go through life looking at everything as a bad thing then your life is going to suck, figuratively speaking of course. You have to have expectations in your life, so might as well make them positive ones. However, there is a down side to this. By always having positive expectations, you set yourself up to be disappointed in life. But that is just a part of life. Disappointment comes along with experiences. Smiling is in important I suppose. If you don't smile, you go through your life pissed off all the time. So I guess she's right. I still have that piece of paper on my wall, even though anytime a new girlfriend of mine sees it they ask who she is. But oh well. That piece of paper serves as a reminder. It is a reminder to live your life not just going through the motions, but having fun. I encourage people, better yet challenge people to find the good in all situations and go throughout life with a smile on your face because that is something no one can take away from you.

Is this art

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/upload/2007/06/art1.jpg

I want you to check out this link. This link is to an artwork. The artwork consists of three huge blank canvases. My question to you is Is this art?
They say art is in the beholder. Everyone has an opinion and they are welcome to it because this is America and we have freedom of speech.
You are able to use some terms from my art appreciation class on this piece. One such term would be balance. This artwork is completely balanced because there is nothing there.
I just can't imagine that this is art. However this do evoke a reaction in people, which is what most artist try to do. So maybe that is what the true definition of art is. Something that causes you to feel something. Doesn't matter what it is as long as you feel something.

Injury

It was my tenth grade year and I was playing varsity basketball at my school. I had been playing basketball since the seventh grade at Taylor Road Academy. Well that is except the year I had my knee surgery and that plays a roll in this story. In the eighth grade I had knee surgery on my right knee. Years of basketball and running hard had worn down the bone in my right knee to the point where a piece had broken off and was hanging on by a thread. When I went to the orthopedic surgeon, he told me I would need knee surgery and I would probably be on crutches for a couple of weeks. Well as my luck would have it, this did not happen. I was not on crutches for a couple of weeks or even a few weeks. I was on crutches, hopping around for three months. That's a long time to be on crutches. While on crutches I could not put any pressure on my right leg or else I'd run the chance of breaking that piece of bone off. So three months went by and I finally got to walk again. However, when I went to take that first step, it felt as though I had forgotten how to walk. I know that is hard to believe. How can someone forget how to walk? Well I had for the most part. I took that first step and almost fell over. It felt like someone had stabbed a thousand needles into my right foot.
My right leg had wasted away during that time and the doctor did not assign me to any physical therapy what so ever.
Finally I got most of the strength back in my right leg and played basketball the following year. The next year I went to play varsity and that is when the injury happened.
During practice we were running a scrimmage game. I was run not attention and ran right into a fellow teammate named Keldrick. Now Keldrick is a rather big man. He's about 5' 10" and 200 plus in weight. It was like hitting a brick wall and my knee buckled. I went straight to the ground in agony. My knee had popped out of place. Lying there on the floor, squirming in pain, I thought to myself well this ain't good. The coach walked over to me and examined my leg. He wasn't very helpful at this moment. His exact words were, "Ehh I can see it." I thought to myself thanks coach you're being real helpful right now.
I finally got up and limped my way over to the bleachers. A friend of mine's mom took me to get an x-ray of that knee and I was told I had torn all the ligaments on the left side of my knee that connected the kneecap to the rest of the leg. I thought oh great this is gonna be good.
So here we go again, another long period on crutches.

School Experience

I remember my brother and our friend Jared blowing up a VCR in the middle of the classroom. Okay so the story starts out with it being after school and we are all in after school care. I'm in like the third grade and my brother is in the sixth. My brother and I have always taken things apart just to see what they look like on the inside. I don't know what made us do it exactly but we were curious. One time we even dragged a pinball machine into a tree, then took it apart. And afterward we pushed it out of the tree. Good bang. But anyway, we were all sitting in the third grade classroom and my brother and Jared are taking apart this VCR. They took all the parts out and crushed some of them. But I guess they were still curious so they tried to reassemble the thing. Then they had another bright idea. The decided "Hey lets plug it back up and see what it looks like when it is working." Oh yeah let me tell you, that was the best idea ever. Well that is if you like fireworks, it really was a "bright" idea. Of course as you would suspect the VCR caught on fire and left burn marks on the floor. However I do not remember how they put it out. That part is a little fuzzy. I imagine they took it outside. But the funny thing is that our teacher was a college student and she had no idea what to do.

An Unforgetable Dream

Have you ever had a dream that occurs over and over again? Well I have. By far my most memorable dream is one that I have had about three times. This quite disturbing dream takes place in some car. I have no idea who's car it is because it is a car I have never seen before. But anyways, I'm sitting there in this old beat down car in the passenger seat. I can hear the radio playing some old country song, and I hate oldies when it comes to country music. So, the next thing I do is try to flip channels to find another station. As I'm sitting there fumbling through radio stations, I notice something beating on the car window. I look outside, but there's nothing there. I go back to fumbling through stations until I the noise again. Again I lean over to the window and look outside, and come to find nothing there. I turn my attention back to the radio. The noise occurs again and its getting loud. It is as if someone is beating on the side of the car. Finally, I see something moving across the ground. I try to open the car door to see what it is exactly but the door will not open. Then something starts climbing through the window, and I finally realize what I'm looking at; it is those troll dolls. You know the one's with the crazy outrageous hair that you use to play with when you where a kid. Hundreds of them start pouring through the window. They start attacking me. Pulling my hair and hitting. I guess they were out to get some natural hair of their own. I honestly do not know what it was they were trying to do. I start wrestling around with them, trying to get to the controls for the window. I can't seem to roll down the window. Then all of the sudden I awake and the dream is over. I promise this is a real dream. I couldn't make something like this up.

Could I quit my job today?

If I were to quit my job today, I would have a whole lot more time to do what I want to do. However, the downside to this would be that I would not have any money to do what I want to do. I like having money as well. Without money I'd be force to lay around the house all day doing nothing. Honestly, thats not the type of person I am. My mom tells me I have to be on the road twenty-four seven and its true. I have to go places. I can not stand being at the house bored. If I were to quit my job, I wouldn't have the money to drive anywhere because I would not be able to afford the gas. I hate asking my parents for money. That's another reason i could not quit my job, because I like having a sense of independence about myself. Whenever my mom offers me money now, I always try to turn it down. Unfortunately though, she always insist and I end up with the money anyway. But here are the top ten things I could not do if I quit my job:
1) Take my girl friend out
2) Go fishing (no money for supplies...bait)
3) Go to friend's houses (need money for gas)
4) Go kayaking
5) Buy new clothes (I can't where the ones I have forever)
6)Go to the Rave
7) Buy food when I'm hungry and not at home
8) Buy new Cd's
9) Buy or rent movies
10) Take on any new hobbies

The Need For Twitter????

The newest craze in technology is Twitter. What is Twitter?? I don't think people who use it even know what it is. I do know that famous people; a.k.a. actors, athletes, superstars, use it to "inform" their fans of what they are doing. But why do people even want to know when and actor or actress is sitting in their living room eating ice cream? I could understand if they were informing people about an upcoming appearance in public or about a concert that is coming up; but I do not see the need for anything else. Also myspace and facebook already have similar devices on their networking systems, so there is really no need for twitter. I have seen recently on TV where you can order a pizza or get a "tweet" from Domino's about deals. However, if you are already on the internet, it is much simpler to go to their website. I guess what I'm trying to get around to saying is that I do not understand why someone would feel the need to inform everyone and their brother of what they are doing at every minute of every day. I do not think I have ever sat down in front of the TV recently without viewing something that has to do with Twitter. I have even heard about Twitter on the radio. I hope someone could answer this for me.

I will never

1. Go to China
2. Ride in a car my friend Mike is Driving
3. Let my brother do what comes after the words "Hey watch this!"
4. Go noodling for catfish. (I like having two arms)\
5. Let my friends talk me in to getting caught in the current of the river...again.
6. Allow mike to drive my car.
7. Do crack.
8. Do meth.
9. Bungee jump.
10. Murder another human being.
11. Be drafted into a war. (I will go to Canada if I have to)
12. Join a nudest colony. (Usually filled with old people)
13. Be on TV other than the news.
14. Have eight kids like John and Kate. (That's just insane)
15. Eat something that might have been on Fear Factor.
16. Wrestle a crocodile. (Alligator maybe)
17. Swim with stingrays. (Just look at what happened to Steve Irwen)
18. Buy a rat for a pet.
19. Watch another reality show that comes on Vh1 about someone trying to find "love".
20. Live in Oklahoma.
21. Allow any of my girlfriends to go to Paris without me. (After seeing Taken)
22. Try to walk down the beach drunk in Destin again. (Last time I got chased by a cop)
23. Become an alcoholic.

Free Writing for Class

So I have this psychology paper I have to write so I think I'll use my blog to do some free writing to get some ideas to use in my paper. My topic is capital punishment and I already have my two side to the argument. Do onto others as they do onto you. An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth. Two wrongs don't make a right. There are two vastly different sides to the argument of whether capital punishment is ethical. Some believe that the prisoner is getting what he deserves for the wrong that he has done. On the other hand is well the prisoner obviously and his family, along with those who think rehabilitation works. Say a prisoner had killed or rapped someone. The family of the victim would be seeking justice to avenge their death. The family would be seeking closure and piece of mind knowing that the killer isn't out there to hurt again. Also, the family would be trapped in a type of terror and fear that something like this could occur in their family again. However what does putting the prisoner to death actually accomplish. If anything you would be putting the prisoner out of their misery. Why not allow the prisoner to rot in jail and have plenty of time to think about the people he's caused pain and the faces of his victims. Here's my problem: which argument is correct? Or are they both correct?

Describtion

It's as if the rooster has just crowed and I've beat the sun out that morning. Standing on that lake shore, it feels as if it were it was the first day of fall; however we're in the midst of August. I can smell what I want, just not necessarily in the manner in which that smell was generated. Drawing back that rod, I feel the like it's gonna be a good day. I let the line go with a hiss and admire as the personified rubber its the water. Then comes the most eventful part. As I reel in the line, slowly awaiting an unfortunate jaw to lock down, I catch myself daydreaming of the biggest monster in the lake. The line is getting shorter, and just as it's about to breach the surface, I see nothing. The disappointment is overwhelming yet I throw the line back and repeat the agonizing process just to be find disappointment time and time again. However, I know that one of those casts will yield something great, something spectacular; and when it does I'll be ready. I'll be ready for the fight. Better yet I'll be ready for the battle. Then the time comes, when those powerful jaws clamp down on the line. Standing on the shore, I feel the line tug and all I can think about is reel. This quiet endeavor has now become a grueling tug-a-war match between man and nature. Finally when the match is over and he's in your hand, you know you're gonna be eating good tonight.

What i would do different

If I was in charge of my high school there would be a whole lot of things done different. Well for starters the whole wouldn't have shut down. I think that's a good place to start seeing how my class was the last graduating class of Taylor Road Academy. I believe the main reason for my school shutting down was that there were simply too many kids on sport scholarships. I believe my last year of high school there had been a total of about a hundred and fifty or more sport scholarships granted to kids who weren't even that good a sports. Keep in mind that this is a severely high number since the high school only consisted of about three hundred or less students. So that would be the first thing I'd change. I wouldn't issue sport scholarships. To be honest the only thing those scholarships did was hurt the school because the only sport holding two state championships was the soccer team which consisted of kids who'd been going to Taylor Road half there lives. One such kid is myself. The next thing I would do would be to get rid of the uniforms. I understand that uniforms create a sense of order and are meant to keep kids from competing about who has better clothes; however, uniforms also kill a students individuality. If everyone is forced to look the same, kids are limited from ways to express themselves. Besides in a way it teaches kids that everyone is an equal in the world which is not even the case. So those are probably the two main things I would change about my school. I think by doing these two things it would still be standing today. No uniforms would increase the number of students wanting to attend and no sports scholarships would increase profit.

I Remember

I remember when I was a kid that my brother, my dad, and myself went to six flags. It was pretty fun. I didn't go on any other the outrageous rides well simply because I was like ten. I wasn't really into being flipped upside down on something called the ninja. By the way why is a ride with around eight flips in a row called the ninja? I haven't seen too many ninja movies but the ones I have aren't filled with flipping as far as I can remember. So that seems a little odd to me. But the thing that sticks out the most about my trip to six flags is that we all went to the Looney Tunes gift shop and my dad told us that we could pick out one thing each. We were thinking to ourselves, "Sweet!" So at this point in time my brother, who is three years older than me by the way, goes and finds the biggest stuffed animal he could find. The stuff animal was a giant Scooby Doo. By giant I mean larger that and actual dog would even be. This particular Scooby Doo was taller than he was at that time. However, not anymore since he grew to be six foot three inches but that's beside the point. So there he is sitting there, three years older than me, with this larger than life Scooby Doo. So I'm thinking to myself, "Alright I'm gonna get me a huge stuff animal too." However that was not the case at all. I ended up getting a little two foot taller Scooby Doo. My dad told me my brother's was just too expensive so I'd get me something better the next. I thought that was pretty unfair especially since i was the younger child. But oh well that Scooby Doo made a good door stop for about ten years and my brother ended up selling his in a yard sale.

I appriciate the story behind art

Going into art appreciation, I thought it was going to be a pretty boring class. However Professor Bice keeps the class entertaining. Each piece of art she shows us has some type of story behind its creation. Most of the time with really old art, there is some type of scandal to go along with it. One example would be the artwork of Michelangelo. Almost ever piece Michelangelo has ever worked on has a scandal behind it. When painting a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo refused to cover up the nudity in the artwork after the Pope requested. Instead the Pope hired another artist to come in and paint drapery over the nude characters. It wasn't until recently that work has been done to remove the drapery from the painting. I happen to love art myself. I enjoy drawing and painting and every other type of art. These stories intrigue me. I hope to be able to have a scandal behind a piece of my artwork one day. I'd have to say the closest thing to a scandal I've had is painting a mural in my high school gym late at night. Instead of painting the whole time however it was mostly me and my friends playing basketball during frequent breaks. But thats not really scandalous. Its more of being lazy. But that mural did mean alot to me since it was for my athletic director who had passed away.

Worst Movie I've Seen This Summer

"Inglorious Bastards" has got to be the worst movie I've seen this summer. In its previews, the producers have made this movie out to be more of a comedy than it really is. The openin scene of this movie is so long and drawn out that you begin to question whether or not you've wasted your money. Don't get me wrong, Brad Pitt brought a certain comedic relief to the movie. However, Brad Pitt alone can't provide enough comedy to cancell out the boredom you experience within the three hour long movie. Also get ready to feel like your back in Spanish or French class watching a movie because move than half of the movie is conveyed through subtitles. Unless you know how to speak German, French, and English, you'll spend the better half of the movie reading. On the other hand, the movie does focus on the little details. This is why its so long. So, if you're one of those people who enjoy watching the history channel, you might enjoy this movie. Unfortunately I'm not able to tell you if it has a good ending or not because honestly I didn't stick around for it. I would recommend waiting for this movie to come out on dvd before wasting 9.25.

Favorite Movie

My favorite movie would have to be A Knight's Tale starring Heith Ledger. The first time i saw this movie, I was with my brother. We about died from laughter. Afterward we had to go out and buy this movie and I swear we watched it at least three times that week. I'd have to give this movie two thumbs up. Not only is the movie hilarious but it also has a lot of action and there's even a romance in the movie for the women.
The movie is about a servant named William who grew up poor and worked for a knight. Fortunately for William, his master dies and he is presented with the opportunity to take his place in a tournament. From that day on, William is determined to change his stars and become a knight himself. After finally convincing his two wacky friends its a good idea, he trains to become a knight.
On their way to the first tournament, they come across a rather unfortunate individual who has a gambling problem and seems to have lost all his clothes. William takes him in and comes to find out that the poor fellow is a writer and can counterfeit royal papers, proving that William is indeed royalty. Together, William and his three stooges travel abroad attending various tournaments. It is at these tournaments that William meets his fair lady, Jasoline, or as he first calls her his "sexy fox". It is then that the story becomes a romantic comedy and a battle between two men to see who can win the girl.
William's contender for Jasoline's affection is another knight who dresses in all black. I believe the black represents some type of evil, and William is the white knight who is suppose to save the day and when the girl. William does indeed win the girl and defeats the black knight.
By far one of the best movies ever. And now that Heith Ledger has died I'm sure it'll become a classic.