High School

High school is really good for some people, and for others it isn’t. I myself have had it both ways, for the most part it’s been good, but I’ve gone through plenty of rough spots during these four years. I was at a really small school most of my high school years, so I didn’t ever have to try to “fit in”. But last year I went to a bigger school where I would have to have made an effort to fit in, so I really didn’t. I could have talked like most of the other people, cursed, partied, and treated kids differently because they weren’t like me, but I didn’t, so I didn’t “fit in”. That being said, don’t worry about what everyone else thinks of you. As long as what you are doing is pleasing to God, who cares if no one else agrees with you. Their opinion doesn’t matter, God’s does. I spent way too much time worrying about what people thought about me instead of finding out what they thought about me for myself. Take it from me, worrying gets you nowhere, and I have lost great opportunities because I was too scared to try. I should have been relying on God instead, and trusting in his will. And one more thing, keep up your grades. Some of you might have heard that colleges only look at your senior year’s grades, but that’s not true. Most colleges look at your grades from 9^th to 12^th grade. So study and try hard the whole time, and don’t slack off at the end, because it’s really easy to do. Especially the last couple of years.  

Santa Claus Better Leave Town

A little boy hears a sound downstairs,

He creeps below towards the source of the noise,

For what he finds he was not prepared,

A man bearing gifts, presents, and toys.

This was an intruder, one who destroys.

This old, plump man whom they call the Sandy Claws,

In his large red suit, he looks like a giant lobster,

Sneaking into houses by night, abiding by no laws

He’s probably severed the limbs of many a mobster.

But still, he is considered an annual holiday star.

He has a scraggly beard which looks like dirty silk,

And pointy eared slaves, each like a garden gnome,

He comes by night, stealing children’s cookies and milk,

He could eat someone out of house and home.

Some even say that from his lips seep rabies foam.

This elderly, obese creep who does not have a soul,

Claims to give what sets hearts afire, 

Instead he delivers lumps of black, cold coal.

He promises what children dream of, aspire towards, and desire,

Dream of a Ferrari and you’ll find that he’s a liar.

The boy gets closer to the malicious man,

And learns his true identity,

As it turns out he has no evil plan,

Because what the boy came to see

Was that the lobster man was his daddy. 

 

 

It's the End of the World As We Know It

I recently did a project on the vast, various December 21, 2012 Doomsday scenarios (of which for the record I don't believe in). I was curious as to what exactly the whole deal is, as well as whether or not people REALLY believe in all that crap. As it turns out people really do, but the claims of asteroids, tsunamis, and the like destroying the earth cannot be scientifically backed up, making them next to impossible (especially on December 21st of this year). The reason December 21, 2012 is the popular "Doomsday" date is because an ancient Mayan  calendar ended on this day. I won't go into detail, because I have actually done some in-depth study on this topic, but essentially all their calendar was was an extremely drawn out "cycle". We function on a 365 day calendar, one in which December 31 is always the last day of the year. Just because the year ends, that doesn't mean that the world is coming to an end. We just "start over" the next year/day on January 1st, year after year...after year. This is the exact same thing that the Mayans were doing. They did not function on 365 day cycles, instead their calendars were comprised of "Baktuns" which are periods of many many years. So after the 13th Baktun, which ends on December 21, 2012, their calendar starts over again, there "January 1" if you will. That doesn't mean that they believed that the world was going to end, they didn't count it as a curse on mankind, in fact in was actually seen as a blessing to them, the beginning of a new age.

Finals Week

As this week comes to an end, I am beginning to prepare myself for next week (which I dread so much), finals week. Thankfully I only have finals in 3 out of my 5 classes, plus a paper and a presentation in my other  2 classes. I honestly don't know how I'll do on my finals, but I don't see myself doing too well. This is mostly due to my laziness and lack of motivation that I've suffered from this semester. I guess I started school this year thinking that because I graduated last year that I was officially done with school. I knew this wasn't really the case, because naturally I have 4 more years of school, but I just wanted to chill and relax for the most part...and it has come back to bite me. I don't know what I was thinking, I'm not one of those kids who can absorb all they hear like a sponge and I knew/know that. I'm still hoping that I can get through all of my classes with a passing grade because believe me I won't make the same mistakes next semester, I can't afford to. Even now I'm finishing these blog posts at the last possible minute, making myself suffer tomorrow because I'll be half asleep in class. I can't blame anyone but myself. I would love to blame it all on work, but that would be inexcusable because I this whole semester I usually haven't been working more than once a week, much of the time I don't even work whole weeks. Procrastination. My lifelong mortal enemy. I have always struggled with procrastinating and focusing on the important task(s) at hand.

Friends Tick Me Off Sometimes (Continued)

I told him pretty much everything, I don't know why because he was always secretive with me and I knew it, but you'd think he wouldn't like to you after all that time. This probably all sounds pretty gay, but I just really don't like being lied to (no matter who it is). His mom always thought (and still thinks) that he was the "perfect" child, I think this was mostly because he was her one, and only, child. I on the other hand was always the one who was obsessed with girls in her mind. In reality this wasn't the case, I talk big, and yes I do like women as much as an 18 year old generally does, but she basically thought that her son didn't like women at all. I was even beginning to think this. He never even seemed to be interested in chicks, I mean like seriously. When I'd see an extremely attractive girl and point her out, he'd act like he felt no remote attraction towards her. He always gave off this high and mighty, I'm saving my first kiss for marriage vibe, and I respect that I really do, that's admirable and him and me are pretty much (or so I thought) on the same page when it comes to this. As it turned out him and the girl that told me about all of this were sneaking off after church for about a month and making out upstairs. It's not like I wanted details on this or anything, the very thought of them two together makes me gag, I just wanted him to be honest with me when I asked him about it over and over and over again.

Friends Tick Me Off Sometimes

A couple of months ago one of my really good friends really ticked me off, and though it was only for a very short time, he lost some of my trust. It all started when I went to the fair with one of my other friends this past October, I would have asked the friend that this is all about to go, but he's off at college several hours away. During our several hours together that day, we had plenty of time to talk about a lot of things, and as it turned out some personal things. Somewhere along the line, she mentioned that her and my friend had "dated". I use "dated" loosely because I don't want to make him out to be a dirtbag (it wasn't anything bad, you'll see as I continue talking). I always knew something was going on between them, everyone did, you'd have to be a complete idiot to not see that there was some tension in between them. The two of them together isn't what bothered me, I wasn't attracted to her, and as far as I was concerned as long as they kept it to themselves then it really wasn't any of my business. What upset me (and still upsets me) is that when I asked him (many many times I might add) if there was something between them he would always give me the same old answer, "We're just friends". After a while I just stopped asking him because I thought I could trust him, we've been good friends for the past 9 years or so after all, but as it turned out I couldn't trust him.

Youtube

I think I'm one of many who can say that I could spend hours on Youtube if I had the chance to, and believe me I have many times. I don't know what it is about watching useless crap on the internet that can be so entertaining, but anyone who has ever been on Youtube (even if it's only been once) knows what I'm talking about. I think the thing about Youtube is that there's something for everyone on Youtube. No matter what you're into, whether it be music, movies, comedy, or viral videos in general, you'll be able to find it on Youtube, and what's so great is that it's free!! Of course there are ads in its place because they have to make money somehow. Besides this Youtube is great. In the past, when I've been having a bad day, and I've just wanted to get away from the world, Youtube has allowed me to do this. I know this sounds lame, and that's because it is lame, extremely lame, but that doesn't change the fact that it's incredibly entertaining. However, as we all know there is a "catch" to every good thing, and Youtube's catch is "buffering". Any past Youtube visitor knows what I'm talking about. This is when your laptop is either too old, or your internet connection is too slow, which causes the video to constantly stop throughout your time watching it. The only good thing about buffering is the "centipede" game that you can play while it's loading (shows you how bored I get).

My Kids

I definitely want kids one day (not anytime soon of course) and I know how they'd better act. First off, they'd better not be like their old man. It's not that I'm a "bad guy" or anything, I've just looked at things I've done in the past and mistakes I've made, and I don't want them acting like I did. Second, there's no way that I'm not spanking my kids. To many people this might sound sick, demented, and abusive, but that's just because of the new, "weak" age we're entering into. My parents gave me whoopings (spankings) and I can tell you first hand that I dreaded those more than anything (unless it came down to losing video game or T.V.  time, then I'd prefer a whooping instead). I've seen kids who are not disciplined by their parents, and they're generally what you might call "brats". I'm not saying that you need to beat your kids in order to keep them in shape, I'm just saying that my experience has been that kids who get away with more are generally the ones who grow up to be your criminals and all around "douche bags" (pardon my french). I will make sure that my kids know not to talk back to me or they will quickly regret it because they won't ever see the light of day again.

George A. Romero

While I'm on the topic of directors that inspire me, I might as well mention George Romero, "The Godfather of Zombies". George Romero shouldn't have to have an introduction (at least I hope not). As most people already know, his earliest (and most popular) film was the 1968 "Night of the Living Dead". This movie put zombies on the map, and was the basis for what makes a zombie a zombie as we know them today. George Romero made several more zombie movies and he has been the inspiration for many directors making zombie and zombie type movies today, as well as a great inspiration in modern day horror. "Night of the Living Dead" was "ground-breaking" movie for its time. This movie was very gory for that time (very well made too on such a low budget I might add) when movies were relatively clean. George Romero set the stage for horror as it would unfold in the next several decades, and continues to unfold. I would like to create movies like Romero has made. Although he has used CGI in his films, he focuses more on prosthetics and "monster makeup" and I really respect this and would like to take this same approach in my future films (assuming that I hopefully make some one day.

Quentin Tarantino

Last night I was goofing around on my laptop when I should have been studying, and I looked up something that I had heard recently and that really interested/motivated me. Apparently, Quentin Tarantino dropped out of high school his sophomore year to begin pursuing his film career. For those of you who don't know who this genius is, you might recognize his directorial work in hits such as "Pulp Fiction", "Kill Bill" (parts 1 and 2), and the upcoming "Django Unchained". After dropping out of high school, Tarantino went to film school for a very short time, from which he also "dropped out" of. He began working at a movie store where he and the other employees would discuss movies in general and other movie elements. Tarantino later stated that he thought his time working at the movie shop was the biggest and best training that he had for later becoming a director. From my understanding, around this time he began filming, with no professional "talent" or training. He had been quoted to have said this, "If you want to make a movie, make it. Don't wait for a grant, don't wait for the perfect circumstances, just make it." Quentin Tarantino might seem like a "sick and twisted" inspiration (because of how violent, gory, and sometimes vulgar his movies are), but he had inspired me to be a director even more. I know nothing about making movies, but Tarantino's background inspires me even more than I already was. Although I plan on trekking through my next four years of college, Tarantino was successful without having any formal general education, as well as no "proper" film training. This is why I can see myself being a director, because if Quentin Tarantino could do it, then why can't I?

Wop Rock

For years I've loved old 50's rock and doo wop. This music was the birth of rock and roll, and it has evolved into what we have today. I also love modern day rock in all of its forms and genres. I can listen to both 50's "rock" and modern day rock all day every day and not get tired of it. This is why I thought about inventing a whole new genre of music called "Wop Rock" (or "Doo Rock", I haven't decided on the name yet). This genre was going to be composed of the doo wop singing elements and harmonic 50's sounds mixed with modern day heavy guitar riffs and "nu-metal" even. As it turns out, I was listening to Spotify last night and there's a band that already does music like this. They don't sound exactly like what I had in mind but they're very very close. I now know that this type of music is possible and I definitely plan on "experimenting" in this genre and seeing what I can come up with. This music would be "The Beach Boys" meet "Korn" (not as extreme as Korn, but with Korn-like elements). I don't know if my music would be that popular, but I know that I'd like it, so there has to be someone else who would enjoy listening to it as well.  

The Letdown

Before I start sharing my innermost feelings I want to clarify that I'm not some doom and gloom, emotional type because I know I have talked about my romantic life (more like romantic failings) quite often, I just have to come up with some more blog posts and this is the first topic that came to mind. There's this girl that I met this past April at my Senior year prom who I had a short "fling" with. I really didn't even plan on going to prom because I hadn't asked anybody and I had already been the year before, and I thought if you've been there once then there's no point in doing the same thing again. Of course, I decided to go at the last possible minute and ended up having a blast like I always do at those type things, dancing the night away (badly I might add). When dancing with one of my friends and her other friends I met this girl Alex. I thought she was so much like me because she started "dance battling" me. I would do a dance move, and she would repeat it or make it better. This went on all night and I really liked this girl (as lame as all of that sounds). She was pretty, she had a sense of humor (which is a very important character trait to me). So naturally her and me started seeing each  other, and I found out we were both very similar yet very different from each other. We got in so many arguments, not necessarily out of anger, but just disagreement on every single thing. We were off and on for several months and recently I just ended it for good. She probably didn't believe this, but I told her that it wasn't that I didn't want a relationship with her, it was just that I couldn't necessarily see one working out in the long term. I meant every word of it.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

What can I say, I've always loved Christmas. All kids love Christmas and all the flashiness that goes with it, but not everyone continues to love it this much even when they're older. I could listen to Christmas music all year long, over and over again, and I'd never get tired of it. When it comes to Christmas music, I always say, "the older the better". Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, all of those Christmas songs from the 50's are the best in my opinion. Oh yea and "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was get under the Christmas tree and look up inside it, where you could see all of the bright lights and the patterns of the green branches (in our case it has always been plastic branches or whatever they make fake Christmas trees out of). I can still remember my grandfather and me going downstairs almost every Christmas morning before everyone else got up, and we'd take a peek at my presents. Sometimes this was impossible because my parents tended to put wrapping paper over the openings to our den. This was always fun, because it made the tension and excitement of seeing our presents build even more that it already had. My sister and I would then run through the paper, our faces lighting up on the other side.

Calloused

Just the other day (I don't remember how or why it came up) I was thinking about how evil our world can be sometimes. This "evil" is not always in the Hitler-like, murderous sense of the word, in fact more often than not it is a lot more subtle than this, because that's how Satan gets us. Now most people probably wouldn't agree with me, saying that I'm just being a religious fanatic, but I'm not trying to come off that way. When I say this is how "Satan gets us", I'm referring to myself more than anyone else because I've noticed it in my own life. When I was a kid, my parents made what was right and what was wrong very evident to me. They weren't extremely strict, but I knew what was "good" and what was "bad". My dad would used to make me cover my ears in movies when there was cursing, or cover my eyes when something remotely sexual came on the screen. This was so ingrained in me, that he really didn't even have to tell me to do so, if I saw something "bad" on the screen I would guard my eyes and ears myself without being told. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that I have become more calloused to these things. I don't cover my ears anymore, and I don't always turn away from sinful things in the way that I should, the way that I used to. I'm not saying that I need to go back to the innocent, childlike state that I used to be in (when I was a kid), but sin is sin and it sells. Big time. No matter what age I am or how "mature" I am I should always turn away from these evil things, and that's something that I fail at miserably on a normal basis.

Movies That Don't Get Old

There are 3 movies that I love so much that they never get old, I could watch them over and over again. These are "The Dark Knight", "Shaun of the Dead", and "The Punisher". There are many other movies that I could watch over and over, but these are the ones that I HAVE watched over and over. Why I love "The Dark Knight" goes without saying because everyone has seen this movie. Sure Christian Bale is great in it, but I don't like it because of Christian Bell. It is obviously because of Heath Ledger's (may he R.I.P.) unforgettable portrayal of "The Joker". His character is pretty much my favorite character ever, I know everyone says that but I really mean it. Tom Hardy did a phenomenal job as Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises", but "The Joker" is still my favorite character out of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, also making "The Dark Knight" my favorite movie out of the trilogy. Second is "Shaun of the Dead". When it comes to horror comedies and zombie movies, "Shaun of the Dead" is king. If you haven't seen this movie you really should. Besides the fact that it's gut-bustingly (no pun intended) hilarious, it's also actually very well made, special effects wise (visually), and it even has a couple of good scares. Last, but certainly not least, is "The Punisher". This is probably one of my dad and mine's favorite movie. Essentially, the protagonist's family is massacred and him being a soldier (what type I can't remember) he exacts his vengeance on everyone remotely involved with his family's death. This guy is such a "bad at sign double dollar sign" (if you know what I mean), brutally killing all the bad guys.

Newton's Words of Wisdom

Women are like candy in a candy store. You see all these different kinds of candy, different colors, shapes and sizes, and you want all of them, because they all look great in their own unique way. You like these different kinds of candies for different reasons. Some are bitter a lot of the time, but right after this they are sweet, it happens so fast that you don't really understand what just happened. Some are sweet all of the time, these types are generally the ones that I personally like, what you see is what you get, I respect that. Other "candy" will be appealing at first, but as time goes by you understand that it's not really your "type". However when you try to move on and forget about the taste (not trying to be perverted, I'm just sticking with the candy analogy), it sticks with you and becomes bland and revolting, and no matter how hard you try you can't get rid of it. Some candy might look good, but in the long run you know you'll regret choosing it and you'd just be better off without it. At the end of the day your mom makes you pick just one candy, and you pick the one that's best for you. This is the candy that you'll stick with for the rest of your life, and it will always be your favorite.

So Screwed

Yes, I am indeed "so screwed". You could say that I'm just whining and complaining and not looking at the positive aspects of it all, and you'd be right. Nonetheless, it has come to the end of the semester, and I predict that I'm only going to pass 3 of my 5 classes. I kind of "breezed by" this semester, just feeling lazy and unmotivated most of the time. As a result, I have not done well on a lot of my tests, and will probably have to retake a couple of my classes. I know it isn't the end of the world, but it feels like it. It's funny because in my last blog post I just finished talking about how pessimistic I am most of the time, and here I am complaining about the very things that I said I always complain about (I just confused myself on that last part). My point in all of this is that I have to start getting more serious about my future. I think everyone (especially me) wishes that "life was just fun and games", but sadly as we all know, this isn't the case. I have a lot to do tonight. I have a paper that I have to turn it tonight, and I'm no where near getting it done. Professors always seem to shove all the important things towards the last couple of weeks of the semester making my stress level way above normal (though my stress level is usually very high because I am an "on edge" kind of person).

What I'm Thankful For

I really take my life for granted. I am such a pessimist, living by the adage, "Life sucks, then you die". However, I know that this isn't really the case, because God's blessed me with so much in my life. Thanksgiving is an annual reminder of all of this. I live in a country where I have freedom of religion, and though I don't know how much longer this will last, I am free to worship God, and am not persecuted for my religious beliefs. I am constantly complaining about my grades and my workload, when this is all my fault, me just being lazy and lacking motivation. I have been given a family that, even though we fuss and fight some of the time, loves me and cares about me. These things that seem so menial and "normal" I constantly take for granted, when I should be thanking God for them each and every day. I might think and say sometimes that life is hard, and that I struggle so much, but this isn't the case, not at all. I have it so stinking easy, and each and every day I am constantly reminded of how easy I really have it.

Everything and Nothing

Everything I'm faced with, everyone I live with, every time I do anything, most of the time it seems like nothing. "Nothing" to me is really everything to Him. I'm always complaining about the "nothing" that I'm doing, but it's just because I take everything for granted.

Life's Too Short

The other day, a family in my church suffered a terrible loss in their family. I am not really close to the family myself, but my sister is best friends with one of their daughters. The girl's father passed away on Saturday due to a freak four-wheeler accident that happened that morning. What was so horrible (I can't imagine how it was for them) was that he was perfectly healthy up to that morning, but in the blink of an eye he was in the hospital, and several hours later (that very day) he passed. This made me think about how short life is and how we are never promised a "full life". It's hard to say that "it's all in God hands", (even though I know it is) and I know it'd be especially hard if I was in their situation. Even in this hard time, my sister's friend (the daughter of the man who passed) was telling the rest of her family that "it is in God's hands". I really respected her in saying this, this girl is several years younger than me and she was wiser than most grown men and women in that type situation. Needless to say, it makes you grateful for what you have every day. We constantly overlook (and take for granted) what we have been blessed with, so we need to live each day as if it was our last.

Music These Days...

Like anybody else, I love music, but the new music these days just sucks. Now, this is a sweeping generalization because not ALL new music sucks, but for the most part it does. I'm tired of all this new indie crap that comes on the "rock" stations these days. I'm a fan of actual "rock", with shredding guitars and dudes who actually sounded like dudes and not like pre-pubescent girls. However, when it comes to music of the past couple of years, there is one uprising genre that I do like. Dubstep. Dubstep is awesome, especially the dubstep with heavy "drops". I never liked "techno", and some people would say that "techno" is the same as dubstep, but if they actually listened to both of them seperately they would see that they're really different. The only thing that I have against music like dubstep is that I'm afraid that my kids will never know what musical instruments are because they're replacing instruments with computer generated sounds. Guitars, drums, and all other instruments are going to be completely obsolete because everyone is going to make music on their computers.

Turkey Day Food

I love Thanksgiving and all the food that I get to eat on that day, and of course I love Turkey too, but Turkey isn't my favorite food. The best possible combination of food on any day of the year is a combination that I usually only eat on Thanksgiving, that would be ham and sweet potato casserole. For those of you who don't know what sweet potato casserole is, it's basically candy. This casserole is made out of sweet potatoes (duh), with brown sugar on it, and melted marshmallows. This casserole is so sweet that it might as well be a dessert, it's awesome. Warm ham with this makes it even better. Ever since I was a little kid I loved ham. I could eat that stuff all day (and on Thanksgiving I make sure that I do just that). For a week after Thanksgiving, there is usually a lot of food left over, so I end up eating ham and sweet potato casserole like twice a day. I don't mind at all, it's as if it is Thanksgiving every day for that next week.

Left Turns

Everyone has heard the quote, "Where would you end up if you kept making left turns?" This is referring to driving, and ever since I started driving the desire to do this has been in the back of my mind. Now obviously, if you keep making left turns you're probably eventually going to end up where you started, but the concept is still intriguing. I definitely want to do a lot of travelling when I'm older, whether it's taking a trip comprised of nothing but left turns, or seeing the seven wonders of the world. I want to do it all. I don't know how I'm going to do this, or even if I'll be able to pay for all of the fuel that my gas guzzling F-150 devours, but somehow, some way I'm going to do it. I definitely don't want to go at it alone though. I'm either going to have to become best friends with someone who likes to travel, or marry a girl who wants to travel the world like I do, most likely (and preferably) the latter.

Why I Love Thursdays

My Thursdays are usually always good, but this Thursday (today) is going to be especially great. My agenda for today is to leave AUM at 2, thankfully I don't have work today so I have the rest of the day off. Then I have to go to the CVS by my house because I'm out of Dr. Peppers and my mini-fridge is calling out their name. Then I'm going to go home and watch some T.V. T.V. on Thursdays is great because 2 of my favorite shows come on on Thursday night, "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Office", I flippin' love both of these shows. On top of this, I got Halo 4 on Tuesday, so I'll be playing that crap into the wee morning hours. I can do this because I don't have work tomorrow either (actually now that I think about it I might have work after all, I'll have to double check), so I'll just sleep until noon because I'll be so tired from staying up and playing Halo. I don't have class on Fridays (obviously) which adds to the wonders of Thursday night. I know to most people this seems like a lame, sad, and boring way to spend a Thursday afternoon, but in the words of the great Woody Harrelson, in the oscar worthy "Zombieland", "You gotta enjoy the little things."

Crimson Sunrise

The movie "Red Dawn" is coming out in theaters in a couple of weeks, and I began to see how realistic that type of situation is and what a fitting time it is for it to come out. Our new President was elected this past Tuesday and needless to day he wasn't the one I voted for. I'm not going hate on President Obama, I think he's very intelligent in many ways, but I really do not want to see a repeat of the past four years, and I have no idea why anyone else would want to see it repeated (but obviously there are many who do). Of course, I don't put all of the blame of our nation's current struggles/problems on our President, we are obviously on an Economic decline, much of which could not have been fixed in four years' time. I know it would be hard to lead this country in such a time as this. Never the less, I don't see any of this ending well. I jokingly said on facebook that I was beginning to believe all of the fanatics who said that the world was coming to an end at the end of this 2012 year. A "Red Dawn" scenario seems frighteningly possible now considering how hated we are by many other countries, and how financially in debt we are to other countries. I am no skeptic or fanatic of sorts, and I am definitely not saying that I see this happening, but I'm not sure that my children will grow up in the same America that I was blessed to grow up in.

My Best (Then Worst) Holiday Memory

I say this was my best and worst holiday memory because at the time it seemed great, but later on the memory was best left forgotten. It was Christmas of either 2001 or 2002 and we had all just finished opening up our gifts...or so I thought. The details are a little fuzzy, but I think my parents told me and my sister to pick up all the wrapping paper and throw it in this big cardboard box. So I was obedient and did as they said, however I didn't look in the box before I started filling it with crumpled, torn wrapping paper. My parents started laughing and told us to look in the box. I looked at the box and was surprised to see that all the wrapping paper was moving, so I dug through it all and found a black puppy at the bottom. Both my sister and I were so happy. I honestly don't remember what breed it was (at the time I didn't really care about what type of dog it was), the fact that it was a dog was good enough. We named her "Lucky", the most ironic name that she could have been given. We soon learned that we weren't so "lucky" because that dog was the spawn of Satan. She wasn't really mean to me, but she bit my dad three or four times and she bit several other men as well. So needless to say we got rid of her several months after that Christmas, making this a bittersweet memory.

My Most Diffficult Decision (continued)

Over the years she became old and brittle and she began to get arthritis in her legs (mostly due to the white trash next door who hit her with his car when she was 2 or 3), so her dying was inevitable. But Lassie hung in there for nine years, and this past summer her leg got run over. When we took her to the vet they put a cast on her leg and said that she probably wouldn't ever heal. If she had been younger she would have healed in no time, but since she was so old and arthritic, she couldn't get up and walk around on the leg. My parents said that we needed to put her out of her misery, and I argued with them vehemently because I didn't want to lose her, even though I knew it would probably be better for her if we got her put down. After about 2 days of struggling with the idea, we took her to the vet to put her down. If anyone (humans and animals alike) deserved to keep living it was Lassie, and I will never forget her.

My Most Difficult Decision

If I had to choose, I think my most difficult decision in my entire life would be putting down my last dog "Lassie" which happened this past summer. We had Lassie since she was a couple of months old, she was already a fairly big dog, but definitely still a puppy. At first, we were going to get Lassie for my grandparents, but the dog that we had at the time was a hound from hell, so we said we would keep Lassie if we ended up giving the evil one away. Of course, we ended up putting the other dog in the pound, so Lassie came home with us. I am so glad that she came home with us that day because she was the best dog that I have had and probably will ever have. We had Lassie for about 9 years, and during those 9 years she was the sweetest, smartest, most loving dog that has ever existed on the face of this earth. My dad would say that if God's creations (in this case he was referring to humans and animals alike) went to heaven based on their sin nature alone, then Lassie would be in heaven because she never did anything wrong. She would have given her life if it meant saving the life of anyone in my family. She was a great guard dog.

Politickin

Last week I registered to vote, so today I plan on going down to the YMCA by my house and casting my ballot. This election, the first time I'll ever vote for president, I am not completely satisfied with our candidates. I even thought about voting for Morgan Freeman because of, "the grandpa-like vibe that he gives off and let's face it, he could talk anyone into doing anything with his calm, wise voice." However, Mr. Freeman is not a very realistic choice as our nation's upcoming leader. Nonetheless, I believe this election comes down to picking "the lesser of two evils". Now don't get me wrong, I think neither Obama nor Romney are "evil", I just want the least amount of damage done to our country as humanly possible. This is one of the many reasons that I'm voting for Mitt Romney. My decision, when broken down, comes down to the personal beliefs and convictions of the individual candidates. For instance, I'm not saying Obama is a "baby killer", but I vehemently oppose Abortion, so that would be one reason that I wouldn't vote for Obama.

Trick Nor Treat: The Final Chapter

Now in retrospect I probably should have screamed or something before the garage door closed, almost guaranteeing that he would have jumped out of his shoes from fright. However, I was so into the dark-foreboding, Michael Myers-esque character that I just watched him close the door without making a single sound. Next, we tried scaring Tanner (the brother who originally was supposed to scare me) and I was certain this attempt would prove much more successful. First, I hid down stairs in the dark, but Tanner was taking a shower that was longer than most peoples' showers in a whole week. So then we decided that I would hide in his room behind the door, waiting for him to come in. I told them to turn off the lights but they didn't, saying that it would look more suspicious, however now I was very exposed, the bedroom door being my only hiding place. Tanner walked in, and I creeped behind him, waiting for him to turn around. He turned around and his only reply was "Oh hey". It was an utter failure to say the least.

Trick Nor Treat: Part 2

When I get there Hunter tells me to come inside and scare them, which of course is harder because all their lights are on and there wasn't many places that I could hide. After planning for like 20 minutes outside like a couple of idiots, Hunter tells me to come hide in front of his garage to scare one of his brothers. He gets Taylor (one of the brothers) to come outside and get something from the garage. Now I was going with the Michael Myers approach, which basically is hide in the shadows and don't make a sound, instead let them turn around and see you. The problem with this was that there garage is on a timer, so the light wouldn't turn off long enough for me to find a good place to hide. So instead I stood outside the front of the garage in the shadows, thinking that he would surely see me standing there, holding the axe that Hunter game me (strictly for dramatic effect of course). To my disappointment, Taylor walks out in the garage and the first thing that he does is close the garage door.

Trick Nor Treat

Last night, Halloween, I attempted to scare some of my friends. The guys that I was trying to scare are all brothers, and one of the brothers, Hunter, and I had been hatching a plan for a couple of weeks. He overheard one of his brothers saying that they he was going to sneak into my house and scare me when I least expected it. Supposedly he had told my sister about his plan, so that she could let him in the house if need be. So our plan (the brother that was on my side and me) was for me to come over and sneak in their house while he was trying to come over to my house, so when he got there I would be gone. So after all of this planning, I put a costume together. I got a burlap sack and cut eye holes in it. I got a tan raincoat and covered it in fake blood. I even got an old chainsaw that doesn't work any more and put some fake blood on that too. I looked legit, if I might say so myself. So the time comes, and I'm ready to go, but Hunter calls me and says that he doesn't think that his brother is going to come to my house after all. We decide to do it anyways though. My plan was just to drive to their house, parking several houses away so that they couldn't see my truck, and stand out in their front yard for a couple of minutes all creepy-like.

Motivation

Ever since I graduated from High School, I have been in "summer mode". I guess somehow I think that I'm done with "school" because I just graduated, when in reality I have another 4 years (at least). I have found it very hard to focus and be motivated, partly due to the fact that I really have no idea what I want to do with my life. As of right now I am planning on majoring in Business Management, but as the semester has flown by, I'm starting to rethink my future career. Throughout my life I've gone from doctor to basketball player to shoe salesman to actor to rockstar to movie director (most of these were spur of the moment decisions when I was a kid, so I have no desire to carry out those dreams now). My biggest issue right now, whatever I end up doing with my life, is just being motivated enough to study and take the initiative to pay attention in my classes so that I can hopefully past them and learn something while I'm at it. This is my primary goal right now, before I focus on the more important, life-altering decisions.

Library Research

I think that I slightly misunderstood the purpose of this project and what we were supposed to research in the library, but when I heard that we could write on our discourse community (at least I thought this was an option) the first thing that naturally came to mind was directing horror movies. Going on this basis, I found two or three books in the library that might help me with this project. The first book that I looked at was "The Historical Dictionary of Horror Cinema" by Peter Hutchings. This book was published by The Scarecrow Press, Inc. in 2008. From what I saw, this "dictionary" went from A to Z on every possible aspect of horror movies (directors, movies, characters, and so on). Next I found "The A-Z of Horror Films" by Howard Maxford. This book was published in 1997 by the Indiana University Press in Bloomington and Indianapolis. This book was basically the same as the last one, giving an in depth coverage of horror's history. The last one I found actually turned out to be absolutely no help at all. I cannot remember the name of it, but it essentially was a book full of old scary poems throughout history. As cool as this book was, it provided no support for me and my future career endeavors.

The Walking Dead

Every Sunday at 8:00 I sit down and watch my favorite show on TV, "The Walking Dead". Ever since Episode 1 of Season 1 I have been a die-hard, dedicated follower of this show. To those who have never seen the show, it is a pointlessly violent, gory, zombie-slaying massacre, however the show is about so much more than that. "The Walking Dead" is a gripping drama that will draw you in week by week and leave you wanting more ever time. Sure the show is gory, probably the goriest show on television, but behind all the blood and guts relationships are formed. Individuals who would generally never get along are forced to work together when faced with a herd of walking, ravenous corpses. No matter what the tragedy, fictional and non-fictional alike, human interaction doesn't change. Sometimes, when faced with difficult situations a person will become someone completely different from who they were previously. Difficult times change people and they way that they see the world, the way that they see others, and the way that they communicate with others. "The Walking Dead" uses zombies to touch on the center of a human being at their most troubling and vulnerable times.

"Religion" As Opposed to "Christianity"

When most people hear the word "Christian", they categorize Christians in with all other religious sects that "believe in God". To these people, all Christians (as well as all other "religious people") are the same, fire and brimstone, judgmental religious fanatics who damn those who don't share their same beliefs. Some religious sects might look at the world this way, but "Christians" as I know them are not like this. I am a Christian and I wouldn't dare "damn" others because I think that I'm perfect in any sense of the word. On the contrary, I sin horribly every single day, over and over again. There are many powerful people who call themselves "Christians" who I don't agree with at all. Though it isn't my right to say whether or not they are true believers, I highly doubt that they truly are. There are those fire and brimstone fanatics and they give the rest of us a bad name, so when people look at Christians they assume that they are all like the extreme, judgmental "whatever-they-ares" (I call them this because I'm not really sure what they believe).

The Cause for Torture

In Michael Levin's essay, "The Case for Torture", he argues that although torture might not seem morally acceptable, it is indeed necessary at times. In the movie "Wanted", there is a similar idea shared by an elite league of assassins, which is, "Kill one, save a thousand". This might seem like a harsh idea, but this is essentially what Levin is saying in his essay. He isn't saying that we should just kill/torture whenever we see fit, but when there is no other option and time is of the essence and the lives of innocents are at stake, then drastic measure have to be taken. I agree with Levin, particularly because of the analogy that he gives with the mothers and their newborn babies. Personally, I know if anyone kidnapped or hurt my family, there wouldn't be many things that I wouldn't be willing to do in order to ensure their safety. I don't believe that I am the ultimate judge, and I don't think that Levin believes this either (I believe that God is our judge and ultimately He will make the decisions), but the "torture" that he is referring to isn't on the grounds of vengeance or "justice", instead it is for the safety of others, done in particular when the tortured party's crime is going to harm many innocent victims.

Work Ethic

What Ehrenreich was trying to say in her essay is that "yuppies" (the "over-achievers" of the mid to late eighties) had a place in the work force, but their own self-absorbtion and pride became their downfall. Yuppies strived to work more than the average person was expected to work, and they actually seemed to enjoy working (I have no idea how they could possibly enjoy it), and they preferred working to the everyday luxuries in life. Yuppies worked so much so that they could have the best of the best in life, and anyone who didn't have "the best" wasn't worth their time. Yuppies looked down on these "normal" people as if they were the unwashed masses, it was a kill or be killed world to the Yuppies and they had to be on top. I agree with Ehrenreich 100%, as important as a good work ethic is, all other jobs are just as important in some other way, shape, or form. We still have "Yuppies" today in a way. There will always be those of us who have a strong drive when it comes to work, and greedy over-achievers are the ones who usually have this strong drive (basically the same thing as a Yuppie). However, we need McDonald's workers, trashmen, plumbers, and so on. Without these "lesser jobs" as Yuppies would probably have put it, we wouldn't be able to function day to day because someone HAS to get it done. Plus, even trashmen and plumbers can have strong work ethics, and just because they might not make as much money that doesn't mean that they're "lesser" than the working class.

Give Me That Old Time Feminism

I am not sure what Ehrenreich was exactly trying to get at in this article, but I believe she was hinting to the fact that Feminism is blown completely out of proportions at times. As she said, in many other cultures/countries around the world, women get absolutely 0.00% rights, period. However, a lot of the rights that some women are arguing for in our country are minimal and not at all important in the greater scheme of things. I don't want to sound like a chauvinistic, sexist jerk by saying this, but I agree with Ehrenreich for the most part. I agree that women should be grateful for what we (they) have in the USA, especially when compared to the way that many women have to live in many other countries around the world (Islam women for instance). I don't believe that anyone should be treated like a slave or a disposable object, but at the same time I don't believe that we are free to do anything that we feel like doing (males and females), even in a "free" country such as our own. Now granted I am a male, so feministic arguments don't really pertain to me, but these arguments come down to the moral beliefs of the individual and not going against the moral standards that they have established for themselves (and morally I know where I stand, which goes against premarital/free sex regarding men or women period).                                                                    

You're Not Not Entitled to Your Own Opinion (New)

I both agree and disagree with Stokes' statement of "we aren't entitled to our own opinions". I really think it depends on what you're talking about. If one says that every one of us is entitled to all of his/her own opinions, then we must respect each others' opinions and treat everyone's opinions as equally right and valid. Granted, most people use this as an excuse to justify their incorrect or off the wall beliefs/personal convictions, so if one is going to stand by the belief that "we're entitled to our opinions", then he should have valid evidence to back up his claims (whatever they may be). Obviously, even if everyone is entitled to their opinions, someone has to be wrong (most of the time). I can believe that dogs can talk, but just because this is my opinion, obviously dogs cannot talk (stupid example I know but I'm just trying to prove a point). If we are going to stand by the belief that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, we must completely set aside all prejudice against others' beliefs and treat them as equally acceptable opinions as our own.


Patrick Stokes, Lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University, in his essay "No, You're Not Entitled to Your Opinion", claims that no one is entitled to their own opinion, they're only entitled to statements that they can back up with fact. He says that often people use this excuse to defend their ignorant claims/beliefs, so that they don't have to base their opinions off of fact. There is a great distinction between "opinion" and the "cold, hard truth", someone's opinion will not change the irreversible truth. I agree with Stokes for the most part, I have certain personal beliefs/convictions that I see as pure fact, however others might not agree with my "opinion". For the most part (99.9 percent of the time) I agree that opinions should be backed up with fact, but sometimes opinions cannot always be backed up with physical facts, instead personal experiences can sometimes influence our beliefs/opinions. This is very hard to explain but I have my "opinions" because of cold, hard truth that I've observed throughout life.

If I Inherited a Fortune...

I have been very blessed in life, I've never gone without anything that I've needed (I have so many things that I absolutely don't need). I've never truly known what it means to be hungry or to suffer financially. However I'm going to have to work for things in life, because I definitely won't be inheriting a fortune from any of my relatives. I used to be the guy who wanted the white picket fence, 401 K, a trophy wife, and 2.5 kids (I still don't understand how that's possible). As I've gotten older I still want all that, but I've found that I don't want to settle down and have kids just yet. One day, I don't know how long from now, I want to do a lot of travelling (across the US and other countries) with my soulmate (who knows I might not ever find her). Whatever happens with my life, I just know that I won't have to have a lot of money to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I want to have money (I'm not greedy but I have to eat), but I just don't see myself making a fortune. I'll just see how life turns out, only God and time (but mostly God) will tell.

Fear As a Relative Term (Part 2)

We started calling out the man's name, but there was no answer. So we all ran back inside where there was light, and presumably we would all be safe there, but on the way back to our rooms (thinking that maybe the missing man had returned during our abscence) we saw the dark figure running down the giant flight of stairs next to us. This all happened so fast that, even in the light, we couldn't tell who (or what) ran down the stairs. We ran back to our rooms where we finally thought we were safe. After an hour or so of sitting in the light, too afraid to turn them off or go to sleep, fearing that we may be murdered in our vulnerable state. We finally settled down to sleep and we turned off all the lights, still afraid and slightly on edge. This is when we started hearing noises in the darkness, and one boy claimed that it was coming from under his bed. When he flashed his flashlight under the bed, the missing man jumped out and scared the living daylights out of every kid in the room. 

Fear As a Relative Term

"Fear" really is a relative term because what scares me might not scare other people. What I am afraid of has drastically changed over the years, but when I think about "fear", one particular instance in my life comes to mind. When I was like 8 or 9, my uncle and aunt invited me to go to a kids' camp retreat with their church. My uncle was the pastor of this church, so he knew everyone going and he was somewhat in charge of the whole thing. On the first night there, my uncle and the other adult men told all the guys about a killer who died at the camp years ago. Of course they tried to creep us out by saying that if you stayed up at night you could see him walking around the camp. As creepy as all of this was, none of us really thought anything of it until people started disappearing. I believe it was one of the adults who disappeared first, and so naturally my uncle said the we should go looking for him. We went outside, when it was completely dark, and started looking for him. This was so long ago so I'm really fuzzy on the details, but I think this was when we saw a dark figure running past us. Naturally we all screamed like little girls, and this is when we began to doubt our sanity. Was it the man we were looking for, or was it the man who died so many years ago?

Bad Guy or Good Guy

My experience with (many) women has been that they say they want a "good guy", but they go for the "bad guys". I don't want to group all of them into one category, because I've met many girls who really do want a good guy, but sometimes you can't really tell what kind of girl they are until you've spent time around them for a while. I have a 14 year old sister who looks like she's 16 or 17, so recently she's had many "suitors", many whom she's been interested in. Now from what I've perceived, she doesn't like the guys that I would consider the "good guys". She would argue with this, saying that so and so is a nice person, but she sees him from a female's perspective, and not from a male's perspective (my perspective in this case), so she does not see him the same way that I might. Maybe I think so differently because I don't consider myself a "bad guy". I'm not bragging when I say this because (believe me) I am far from perfect, but I've always tried to be myself instead of trying to be someone different for a girl I'm attracted to, and in many cases this results in me not ending up with her.  

You Are Not Not Entitled To Your Own Opinion

I both agree and disagree with Stokes' statement of "we aren't entitled to our own opinions". I really think it depends on what you're talking about. If one says that every one of us is entitled to all of his/her own opinions, then we must respect each others' opinions and treat everyone's opinions as equally right and valid. Granted, most people use this as an excuse to justify their incorrect or off the wall beliefs/personal convictions, so if one is going to stand by the belief that "we're entitled to our opinions", then he should have valid evidence to back up his claims (whatever they may be). Obviously, even if everyone is entitled to their opinions, someone has to be wrong (most of the time). I can believe that dogs can talk, but just because this is my opinion, obviously dogs cannot talk (stupid example I know but I'm just trying to prove a point). If we are going to stand by the belief that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, we must completely set aside all prejudice against others' beliefs and treat them as equally acceptable opinions as our own.

Social Menial

I can't really compare Facebook with Twitter or anything else because I don't have a twitter, and I can't compare smart phones because I don't have one (I have an old crappy phone). At one time in my life I would have cared about all of this. When I first got a Facebook several years ago I would check it several times a day and always update my status. Ever since they changed Facebook and made it more complicated, (in my opinion) I don't care about it as much and I rarely update my status. I don't have a Twitter because I can't get past the fact that people "follow me", that just sounds creepy to me. Another  reason that Facebook isn't that big to me anymore is that I can't check it whenever I want to. I don't have a smart phone and the phone that I do have doesn't have internet on it. I'm not complaining because I know that this isn't something that I HAVE to have, but if I did have a smart phone I would probably check my Facebook more often so that I could read all the useless crap that people put on there.

Scooping Duty

I lifeguard at the Bell Road YMCA and every day that I work there something weird seems to happen in some way or another. Kids throw up in the pool all the time, and it seems like every time that they do I am the one who has to clean it up. One time this little kid puked in the pool and of course I was the one who had to scoop the chunks out of the water. The little boy's father was extremely apologetic and I told him it was alright and that that just happens sometimes, he couldn't have prevented it. However I didn't really feel like I said about the situation. I was ticked. His vomit had spread all over the kiddie pool and every time I would scoop some out and dump it, I would come back to find more bits to fish out. If I had been assigned with this cleaning task 6/7 years ago I would have been very hesitant. When I was younger, for some reason I was deathly afraid of puke. I can still remember coming home from school one day in the 4th grade, and my sister was sick. When she puked I ran all the way to the other end of the house and locked myself in the back room until I was sure that she wasn't going to do it anymore.

My Mancave

"Mancave" is just a fancy term for a man's room. Sometimes this room can be his bedroom, and sometimes it might be his den, but a mancave is a man's sanctuary, his "fortress of solitude". In my case my mancave is my bedroom. My room is pretty much the whole upstairs of our house, and I've been up there for a little over a year now. We talked about moving me upstairs for years, but my parents finally moved me upstairs two summers ago when I was in Ecuador. My room was really "complete" until this past Christmas.
I have pretty much everything I could possibly need in my room, I have a mini fridge which I got for Christmas, a leather recliner that I got for my birthday, and a big screen T.V. which I actually got from some one's trash down the street. We were driving down our street one day and saw the T.V. in some one's trash. We asked the guy if we could have it and he told  us we could but that it wasn't working. My dad got a guy who he worked with to look at it and he said we needed a $15 part to fix it. We bought that part and voila it now works, and now I'm playing Xbox on a 50" T.V. screen. What else do you need?   

Director's Seat

I know nothing about making movies, but nonetheless I want to be a director. When I was like 12 I wanted to be an actor, but that was pretty short lived. In the past couple of years I switched to director because I like to write and I think I have a lot of good ideas that would look good on the big screen. Now I think I actually do know a lot about movies, but all this knowledge comes from me being lazy and watching a lot of movies. This past summer alone I probably went to the theater once or twice every week. I don't know why but I love movies. I will pretty much watch any genre of movies and most likely there's something that I enjoy out of each one of them. One of the great things about movie genres is that you can combine any two (or maybe more) genres and make a movie out of them. Comedy in particular can be combined with anything. I would like to make horedys (comedy horror) and action comedies, or just horror, action, and comedy. So many movie ideas come to mind when I think about making movies. I've thought about maybe being a screenwriter instead, but whatever I did I would want to have a part in the story of the film. I don't know how realistic me being a director is, but I honestly just can't see myself doing anything else with my life.      

Broseph Revisited

When I talk about my "Broseph" (which I never really call him at all), I'm most likely referring to one of my best friends, Dalton Titus. I've known Dalton for a little over  9 years now and ever since I've met him we've been good friends. Sadly a couple of weeks ago Dalton went off to school in Mississippi while I stayed home and went to AUM. Now don't get me wrong, I have other friends, I'm not trying to sound like a pathetic "one man wolf pack" who has only one compadre. Dalton, however, was one of the few people that really got me and most of the time we knew what each other was thinking. When I would make a pun or sarcastic remark, most of the time no one one get it, but Dalton always understood my twisted humor. You can't replace friends like that, and that's why we'll continue to be friends for life. Speaking of Dalton, he's coming back to Montgomery in about a week. I didn't get to go to the beach this past summer, so Dalton called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to go with him and his family to the Gulf on the weekend of October 5th. Of course without hesitating I told him that I definitely wanted to go and that they could just leave me down there once we got there because that's my "true home". We plan on doing some skimboarding, I don't know about him but I plan on doing some babe watching (one of my favorite past times), and we are definitely seeing Taken 2 when we get down there (long live Liam Neeson). We are complete opposites in many ways, but we are so much alike in other ways. Dalton was always the "smart one". Everyone knew that he studied really hard and he always made good grades. I would also study hard (well most of the time) and most of the time I would make great grades. I definitely had to study hard because I couldn't absorb knowledge like a sponge like some people (cough Dalton cough).

Smoked Chicken

I have many favorite foods, really all food that I eat is my favorite because I love food. If I had to choose though, it would probably be my mom's smoked chicken. What makes this smoked chicken so special (beside the fact that it's delicious) is that she only makes it every once in a while. She will usually smoke chicken only when some one's coming to visit, or if it's one of our birthdays or a holiday. Generally she boils some corn (which is another one of my favorite foods) with the chicken which only makes the chicken better. She also makes this white sauce for the chicken, I think it contains vinegar, maybe mayonnaise, and some other ingredients that I can't remember. The chicken already tastes great without the white sauce, but it tastes even better with it. Everything on the chicken tastes good, the skin, the meat, but I draw the line at the bones. 

Newton's Cradle

Recently, I have decided that I want to open a surf shop at the beach. The biggest hindrance that I'm facing with this business venture is that I know absolutely nothing about surfing or running a surf shop. I actually haven't ever surfed, but I've always wanted to try it and I know that I'd enjoy it. I love the beach and I always get a sick Indian tan in the summer, so I think I'd fit in perfectly. I want to do this because I can't see myself sitting in a cubicle for a living for the next 40 years of my life. I want to enjoy what I do for a living, and I think opening a surf shop would be something that I would enjoy. I don't know what would set me apart from all the other surf shops, but I have some ideas for what would make "Newton's Cradle" (the name of the shop) special.

Ticking Me Off

There are countless things in the world that annoy me, so many that it would take me hours to list even half of them. To name a few:
1: people who put the toilet paper on upside down, I can't stand that.
2: Kids at the pool who screw around with the pool stuff when you've already told them not to mess with it. 3: Chicks who like to play mind games with your head (I've had several experiences with this one).
4: People who get a crappy taurus and put rims on it and give it a new paint job, and think it looks cool.
5: One of my biggest ones, people telling me food doesn't have milk in it when it really does.

I have a serious milk allergy, so I have to watch what I eat. I don't care if you tell me that what you've cooked doesn't have milk in it, because I can tell if it does or not. Now in others' defense, my allergy is so sensitive that a spatula that previously touched cheese can "contaminate" food that has really been made without milk. I have basically sworn against ever going to Starbucks again because of an issue similar to this. I ordered a soy milk frappuchino but apparently they made it in a blender that was previously used for a regular frappuchino, so after drinking it my throat felt like it was on fire.

Spiderman: Part 2

I think what made dressing up like Spiderman so fun for me was the fact that underneath his costume he was just your normal everyday guy. He didn't ask for his powers, he didn't really "earn" his powers, his powers were thrown upon him and as we know, "with great power comes great responsibility". I think this is why kids love Spiderman so much, because they feel that they can relate to him. Spiderman wasn't required or obligated to fight the "bad guys", he did it because he was a good person who had a gift, and he decided to use that gift for good when he could have just as easily used it for evil. Every kid dreams about having awesome superpowers and using them to fight crime, and Spiderman is such an "average Joe" superhero that it makes being a superhero seem almost possible to young, adventurous boys.

Country Gentleman

For years I've said that "Country Gentleman"  by Family Force 5 is my life's theme song. This song isn't necessarily my "favorite" song but it is definitely one of my favorites and it's the one that I feel I can most closely relate to. The band members of the band that plays this song are all from Georgia so they have a pretty good idea about what it means to be a "Southern Gentleman" (the same thing as "Country Gentleman"). This song covers many aspects of the south. The song talks about the "Pig Wig" (which is the "Piggly Wiggly" for those who have seen this rare, south-centric grocery store). The song also mentions mullets, tank tops, ball caps, and collard greens. When I think of a Country Gentleman I think of what my Dad taught me to do when I was in Kindergarten. As far back as I can remember he told me to always hold open the doors for women (whether you liked them or not), to always say "please and thank you" and "yes ma'am and no ma'am". Although my standards for being a Country Gentleman are different that Family Force 5's standards, the phrase still is a constant reminder of my childhood and how I was raised to be.

Spiderman

When I was a kid I dressed up as Spiderman for one Halloween. What made my costume so cool was the fact that my mom made most of it (if my memory doesn't deceive me). Of course I had the Spiderman web sprayer (silly string attached to my arm) which completed my persona. When a kid wears a costume, their imagination goes wild and they start to believe that they really are the character that they are portraying. I felt invincible. I could climb walls, lift up cars, and swing through the sky (in theory). Now this Spiderman had three mortal enemies who he went to church with and he never got along with them. I still remember seeing one of these "three stooges" at my church fall festival, and as far as I was concerned he had no idea who I was because I was wearing a mask. So when he came up to me I bombarded him with silly string, acting like it was broken and that I couldn't stop spraying it. Justice was served.  

Mrs. Gonet

Dear Mrs. Gonet, it's Taylor Newton. I know you remember me so I'm not going to take the time to introduce myself. I've known you since the 7th grade. Those 4 years that I spent at Cornerstone with you were probably some of the best years of school for me, but at the same time they were some of the worst. I met some of the best kids there who are now some of my best, closest friends. However you and me...we had our ups and downs. I think the problem was that, for one thing, I had you for like 4 out of the 7 hours of my school day. You and me have a lot in common, mainly our ADD and our strong wills, and this meant that our personalities (and we ourselves) always clashed. I sometimes felt that you weren't always being fair with me when it came to grades, homework, and the way you treated us. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you challenged me so much over those four years, if you hadn't then I'd probably be a lot dumber than I am today. I just hated when other people  got grace with late homework, papers, and the like and I wasn't usually offered the same grace. That's ok though, you will still always be one of my favorite teachers who I shared so many hilarious memories with.

Rejected (Part 2)

I looked across at Dalton (thinking that none of the girls could hear or see what I was telling him) and "casually" put my arm across the bar behind Seth (implying that he should do this to the girl next to him). Adding insult to injury, I mouthed something (except I actually loudly whispered it) along the lines of "go for it man, this is your chance". To my great surprise, the girl next to Dalton turned around and looked at me and exclaimed at the top of her lungs "Why don't you say that at home where nobody can hear you?" Then one of her friends looked at me and inbetween laughs asked "Are you going to take that?" I was so devistated that my only reply was "yep". I was relieved when we finally got on the ride so that I could avoid further embarrassment. I watched Dalton get on the ride and right before he sat down his face turned white. He turned around to Seth and me and said "She spanked my butt". "What", I said. "Right before I got on the ride I felt a pinch and a slap on my butt", Dalton replied. "I did too", Seth exclaimed. So of course that day I left Six Flags humiliated and rejected, while Seth and Dalton both got "love taps".

Rejected (Part 1)

I learned that I'm very loud the hard way. My youth always went to Six Flags once a year at the beginning of the summer. My two friends, Dalton and Seth, and I were die hard rollercoster fans. So on this particular trip years ago Dalton, Seth, and me were waiting in line for the Riddler. Three girls walked up and that's where the humiliation began. The dilemma was that there were three of us and three of them, and each cart only held two people. So one of the girls said that she would ride with Dalton, and her friends were going to take the next ride. Of course me being the idiotic, wannabe casanova that I thought I was, decided to give Dalton some "advice". It turned out to be the worse advice possible.

The Health Confusion

Why is it that when something's good for you it always hurts in some way or the other. For instance, food doesn't "hurt", but most of the "good foods" taste disgusting, while most of the food that's bad for you is extremely tasty and sometimes very filling. The same's for exercise. No one every got a six pack by sitting on the couch eating cheetos and watching reality tv. That would be too easy. If you want to look like Rocky Balboa then you have to work hard like Rocky Balboa. This concept is the same for most good things in life. Those who we consider "successful" didn't get to where they are by taking the easy, "fun" route. No they put their blood, sweat, and tears into what they were trying to accomplish and thereby earned their success.

Untitled

I really don't know what to talk about right now. Usually when I start talking about "nothing", I end up sounding like a downer and sound like I'm depressed all the time. I'm just being a realist. The "good things in life" come easy to some, while others have to work for it. I believe that I'm somewhere in the middle of these two ways of life. I haven't ever really "suffered" in life. My family fits somewhere into the middle class and that's always where we've been.  My dad lost his job 5 or so years ago and has been bouncing from job to job ever since then. During this time my family has hit some rough spots, but it's never really been that bad. I have never gone hungry, I have always had a warm home to go to, I have a great family, an awesome mancave (my bedroom), and many other luxuries that I often take for granted. The bottom line is that I'm very blessed and although I might have to work hard to give my future family the same security that my family has had, it'll all be worth it.

The 80's

What negative thing could I say about the 80's? The answer is nothing. I was born in 1994, so I didn't get to experience any part of the 1980's, but as I've gotten older, I wish that I could somehow go back to that time. The 80's seemed like a more carefree, laidback time. I know this wasn't necessarily the case, but most things we see from that time say otherwise. Everything was different back then, the styles, the music (for which the most part was way better), even the general mindset and way of living. Mullets were still in, and dudes could dress like women and it wasn't seen as strange or different (although I think this part of the decade was very strange and definitely different). Leather jackets were still very popular, and for the record leather never died, only those who liked leather.

Boss for Life

If I was the boss of where I currently work there would be so much that I would change. I lifeguard at the Bell Road YMCA and it is so run down that it's not even funny. Half of the stuff at the pool is broken, the other half is breaking. I would definitely repair and refurbish most of the equipment there, as well as fire all the lifeguards who don't ever do their job (although from time to time I fit in that category). Overall it's a great job and a great place to work, I really can't complain, but we have giant rusty fans that have been broken for almost a decade and no one has put in the time or effort to fix them. I'm sure repairing some of this equipment would be very costly, but no one has even bothered to contact someone who could repair them. I don't know if I would have what it takes to be in a managerial/directorial position, but I definitely know what I'd change and where I would start changing it.

Weather From a Lifeguard's Perspective

I love the South and I love Alabama, I really do. However I hate the humid, hot weather that we get 9 out of 12 months here in Montgomery. I lifeguard at the YMCA so I know firsthand how unbearable the weather can be sometimes. When I'm working a 7 hour shift on a hot day with absolutely no breeze at all it becomes a little obnoxious. I don't mind heat at all, but when it feels like there's no oxygen in the air I personally think that's inhumane. On top of this I always get badly sunburnt during the first couple of weeks of the summer because I'm in the sun for hours on end almost every day of the week. Now I can't really complain because I do end up with a sick Indian tan by the next couple of weeks, but it doesn't come without a price. It's a hassle to look like Hasselhoff.

Broseph

When I talk about my "Broseph" (which I never really call him at all), I'm most likely referring to one of my best friends, Dalton Titus. I've known Dalton for a little over  9 years now and ever since I've met him we've been good friends. Sadly a couple of weeks ago Dalton went off to school in Mississippi while I stayed home and went to AUM. Now don't get me wrong, I have other friends, I'm not trying to sound like a pathetic "one man wolf pack" who has only one compadre. Dalton, however, was one of the few people that really got me and most of the time we knew what each other was thinking. When I would make a pun or sarcastic remark, most of the time no one one get it, but Dalton always understood my twisted humor. You can't replace friends like that, and that's why we'll continue to be friends for life. 

Busy Class Schedule

My other AUM classes range from fairly easy to taking a physical toll on my body and mind. My first class of the week is "Cornerstone of Business". When I started this class, we were thrown right into a group project without learning any basics first. Obviously this really stressed me out, and only two weeks in I can tell that I'm not going to enjoy this class. After "Cornerstone of Business" I have "Human Communication". This class at the moment is relatively laid back and not too stressful. We have a lot of open discussion in this class, the worst part is the kid who feels like he has to fill every silent moment with chatter. Then on Tuesday and Thursday I have Finite at 9:25 sharp. I enjoy this math class because I have a great, enthusiastic teacher who seems to want us to generally learn the information. Lastly, I have Macroeconomics which is going pretty slow at this point, however I have a feeling that it is going to quickly pick up and get increasingly difficult. The biggest hardship that I've faced in this class is my professor. He is very intelligent but speaks broken English, therefore it is often very hard to understand a word he's saying, but I like him as a teacher and enjoy his class.

What Defines Me

    Many things define us in life, for me these things are horror movies, videogames, and most importantly Christianity. Horror movies and videogames are more of a hobby, whereas my Christian walk is what I feel truly defines me. These aspects of my life were not engrained in me or pushed upon me, I developed an admiration for all of them on my own accord. Horror movies, videogames and Christianity aren't the only things that describe me, but they are the traits that I most closely associate myself with.

           My whole life I have been a faithful fan of horror movies.When I was a kid, every week or so my dad would take my sister and me to the local Movie Gallery. When we were there I would always beg my dad to let me rent a scary movie. I was an eight year old wanting to watch movies like "Hellraiser" and "Child's Play" (Chucky movies). Of course looking back I'm glad my parents were protective of me in this regard, because there's no telling what negative influence those movies would have had on me at such a young age. Now that I'm older I have freedom in what I watch, so I have gone back and watched all these horror classics that I so desperately longed for when I was a child. Horror fans like myself enjoy these movies because of the adrenaline rush that it gives us and the tension that leads up to the climax of the frightening moment that usually catches us by surprise. Like a drug addiction or any other addictive habits, one becomes caloused to typical fear after watching so much horror, which makes us long for it even more. Scary movies as a discourse community can range from very mild to very extreme circumstances. At the mild level, which is where I'd say I fit in, horror fans are expected to know all about the "classics" and the popular references that come from them ("Friday the 13th" movies, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movies, and the "Paranormal Activity" movies, for instance). If someone asked me who was the killer in "Halloween" and I didn't answer back with "Michael Myers", then that person would probably not consider me a true horror fan. Even if a horror buff hasn't seen a certain movie, he still might be expected to know its background, plot, and if it's really scary or not. As strange as it sounds, horror isn't a hobby, it's a way of life.

       Another hobby that I speak the language of is videogames. Ever since I was a kid I loved playing videgames. Over the years my interests have changed, all the way from "Mario Kart" to "Grand Theft Auto". But from childhood to the present I have never played for competition, just for fun. Now I personally don't believe that I'm addicted to videogames, I just find them entertaining and, sometimes, relaxing, Now if you ask my mom or dad, they will probably say that I play way too many videogames and that those games are "rotting my brain" (4 hours of gaming really isn't that long if you ask me). There are many different types of "Gamers" who play for many different reasons. Personally I play for the stories, some play for competition, and others play because they have no life (therefore in their mind they have nothing better to do). Many people play because they can go to another world and live a life that they otherwise couldn't live. Some people find videogames a way to get away from their current hardships, so they take their anger and stress out on their friends in the virtual world where no real harm is done. No matter why one plays videogames, we all come together as "Gamers".

         The most important aspect of my life that I define myself by is my Christian walk. Sadly this is the discourse community that I probably am the least knowledgable in, therefore I don't always make it a priority when it should always be the first thing on my mind and in my heart. I grew up in church and have always been surrounded by fellow believers and strong Christian family members. Two out of my three uncles are pastors, so most of my family professes to be Christians (most of them Southern Baptists). One becomes a Christian when they recognize their sin, confess it to God, and completely turn away from this sin and humbly ask for the Lord's forgiveness of past sins and the many sins that they will commit in the future. We as Christians believe that God lives in our heart, and therefore we try our hardest to not sin, and because we are imperfect human beings we always fall short of these aspirations. Only by God's infinite grace can we do any "good" in this world because we know nothing of true perfection and being sinless (only the Lord is sinless). Christianity is something that I will always be interested in and I will always try to hold it as the first, most important thing in my life.

          My three discourse communities are not something that I feel obligated to take part in. I don't watch horror movies because my friends do, it's just something that I've always enjoyed since I was young. I don't play videogames because someone tells me to play them, they just relax me and take my mind of the stresses of everyday life. I certainly am not a Christian because of "peer pressure". I grew up in church and in a Christian family, but these things are not what make me a Christian. No, I was called on and drawn to God by his will, not by my own. Discourse Communities are not something that we are required to take part in, we take part in them because they define us as individuals.

How I Read Like A Writer

The author (his name escapes me) of the article was trying to explain how one can read a passage and completely understand its meaning, and also dissect the passage and understand the author's meanings and intentions (whether subtle or obvious). For instance when reading an allegory such as "Pilgrim's Progress" or "Gulliver's Travels", one must look at the stories as word pictures and not necessarily take them word for word. Allegories are written with (sometimes) subtle undertones that the reader must delve deeper into to understand the true, hidden meaning/ideas that the author is trying to touch on. When we are writing, we can use some of these techniques that we have seen other writers use in our own writing. This isn't plagiarism because we aren't copying words from another writer, we are merely using the literary techniques that they use to add to our writing's physical, as well as literal, attractiveness.      

Big Red Lobster Man

When I was a little kid I always said that I wanted to either be Santa Claus or a pediatrician (at the time I called it a "kid doctor"). Santa Claus lived the high life, he made toys all day every day and once a year he got to fly around in a huge sleigh pulled by reindeer. Sadly this business endeavor came to an abrupt end when my parents told me that Claus didn't exist. Of course they made matters worse by telling me that the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy didn't exist as well, which completely crushed my entire childhood. On one hand I couldn't live in the north pole and hang out with elves, but on the other hand I would be Santa one day like my father before me.   

My English Class AKA: "Prison"

Most of my highschool years were spent at a small church school that I used to go to. They challenged me and pushed me really hard, particularly my English teacher. I remember writing a paper every week of the school year, or at least it seemed like we wrote one every week. I remember staying up all night writing papers. Many of these papers were research papers and my teacher graded very harshly and thoroughly, making sure that I dotted all my i's and crossed all my t's. As hard as that English class was, I'm very thankful that I took it because I believe that it prepared me for my future, and hopefully helped me become a good writer.