Thursday, September 30, 2010

Journal #11

Well, I suppose it is good to have a set of ethics and values to keep your life regulated. I am not entirely sure if I have one of these sets, and if I do, I sure hope someone tells me about it before it bites me in the butt. Some people have very strict values, like the people from the Puritan and Pilgrim time period. They were told to live in cooperation with each other and practice a certain religion. Nowadays, however, America does not have a standard set of ethics that everyone lives by. Instead, each family is allowed to make their own standards for each member to live by. That is the purpose of the family living together. The parents are around the children enough to raise them correctly according to the morals they have grown up with and cultivated themselves. Some of these morals include being polite to peers and elders, keeping hands to yourself, not backtalking, and respecting another person's personal space and boundaries. But, as I mentioned, each parent or set of parents is allowed to create their own laws for the children to grow up and abide by. Some parents are very strict to following these rules, but some parents are also too distracted to care about enforcing their own rules. When they are out in public, the parents seem totally uncaring about how stupic their kids are acting. That is the one that I really hate. I know my parents would have at least taken me back out to the car. But these parents just let their kids do whatever they want, and it really reflects on the parents. It is as if they have no control over their kids, which is not true, but they also do not care that they have no control over their kids. It is pretty annoying when a little kid is running around in front of you in line at Taco Bell and jumping on the counter when the dad is yelling her name but not acting on it whatsoever. If you want to even instill a set of rules, please, do some work to enforce them. You really look like a fool.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Journal #10

Science and religion has been a heated argument topic for a very long time, now. Personally, I stand on the side with science because I like to have things back up a statement. You cannot tell me that something is real and after I ask how you know it, say "because" or "it just is." That does not help me determine if it is really true or just something stupid you made up (or someone else made up). I think there needs to be proof of a "god" before I can even give a fair, opinionated response. I do not like, as I said in the last blog, I think, that parents are giving this information about God to their chilldren and telling them it is factual and true. They were raised to believer that, and that is why they say that. They have no reason to say it, other than because of the ways they were taught back in the days when religion was okay in public schools. Nowadays, teachers are not allowed to say anything about God in class. So, not being told anything differently about the matter, the students continue to follow their parents' model by becoming Christian, usually, from birth and baptised before they are old enough to make any kinds of decisions. That is why I do not like religion - no one really knows any better. That is true, of course, unless you have parents who are not heavily Christian, like mine. That does not mean that I do not gelieve in God because my mother does not. No, in fact, that just says that it is fine not to believe in God, if I do so choose. But, still, if you are able to show me sufficient evidence of an "Almighty power" and of Heaven or Hell, I would gladly consider converting. But, since all of those things are just imaginative, I have to assume they are not real. As far as I know, once I die, my body is going to sit in the ground and decompose to be part of the soil. That can be proven. Have you ever tried to find a body of a thousand-year-old man who was given a normal burial. I will give you a hint. Do not try it. It will be impossible to find because he is no longer a body. He has decomposed into nothing.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Puritan/Pilgrim Literary Period Analysis (Presentation)



Almost all of the Puritan/Pilgrim period writing was very boring, and I did not find myself being intrigued by anything, really. That is, until I read The Crucible. That was really good. It was a pretty easy book to read, and it gave a lot of information about the witch trials. It was very clear that Arthur Miller did quite enough research to even begin writing his play. Most of the short stories were very dull, like Mary Rowlandson's memoir. I did not find myself wanting to know anything about what she did when she was spending some time with the Indians. Frankly, I do not care about her. It is still an important period in American history, and I understand that, but I wish it did not have to be such a boring period of our history.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Journal #9

I do not like organized religion. I think the whole thing is just silly. There is so much pressure on Americans to have some sort of religion because other kids are raised in Christian families whose parents were heavily Christian before them. The children now just think everyone has to be Christian because they do not know any better. Also, how many sects of Christianity are there? Like seventy or eighty? Yeah, that is what I thought. What are the differences among any of them? Does anyone really know? Is the basis not that God is good? See, I do not think like that. I think that, since I grew up in a "less religion-based" home, I should be free to make my own decisions. And I decided not to have a real religion. Everyone has been fed crap from their parents mouths about sinning and how you are going to go to Hell if you screw up just one thing. I do not like that. If God is so gracious, why would he damn someone to eternal suffering? Also, you know, who is to say Jesus was real? Can someone post a comment with a link to real, scientific evidence of an actual "Jesus Christ" from that exact time period roughly two thousand years ago? I think not, good sir. And, some religions are just silly. There are so many different gods and idols. Buddhism has Buddha; Islam has Muhammad; Judaism believes Jesus was a person but had no Godly possessions. If there wants to be any kinds of organized religion, there needs to be one religion for everyone or no religion for anyone. So, basically, that is why I really do not like religion, but I am tolerant of everyone's religions. And, I also kind of (like) arguing with other people about religion. It is sort of a guilty pleasure.. But it should really be fine because not many people care about my view on religion anyway...

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Journal #8

The video, "The The Impotence of Proofreading," was very funny. The guy did a very good job just staying on it and running through it. Sadly, however, he was making fun of something that happens to many people, I am sure. He is right that spell check catches most mistakes, but it does certainly make larger, much stupider, mistakes. Also, it does not run through each sentence to see if it even makes slight amounts of sense. All of spell check's job is to find errors in spelling. I could still have a sentence like, "Tacos is good on the nights Friday," and spell check would not catch any of it, despite it sounding like a retarded three-year-old monkey's writing. So, now it is late at night, and I still do not want to do any more homework, but I suppose I probably should. But, I just watched that clip for the second time, and it is just as funny as the first time. The guy did a wonderful job of presenting his material. It kept my attention the entire time, which actually surprised me because it was more than thirty seconds long. He did not stutter, which made it sound more realistic or, at least, plausible. There is not much more to say about the video, honestly. I guess I could just ramble on about the same things I already said, but that would not be too much fun. It was simply hilarious, even including the possibly innappropriate moments. I am glad Mr. Langley included this topic as one we could write about because I was not liking the other ones. I wish we could just make up a story about the topic he gives us, sort of along the lines of the one about the animal characters teaching some sort of life lesson. I do not really remember what my story was about, but I do remember enjoying riting it. I am done.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Journal #7

I do not follow any superstitions, and I really do not know anything about many superstitions. All I do know is that walking under a ladder is considered bad luck and so is a black cat walking in front of your path. Then, there is the saying, "if you step on a crack, you will break your mother's back." I do not like superstitions, either, because a lot of them are based on me hurting myself, and they do not make sense to me, being someone who takes things and makes sense out of them. I think the superstitions were just made up by accident and coincidence when someone happened to be walking under a ladder, for example, when it fell, and the ladder crushed them to death (possibly). But something like the black cat crossing you path is probably something about the plain creepiness of little black animals. But, what can a cat really do to harm me when it is just walking in front of me. Then, there is also the superstition about breaking a mirror and getting seven years of bad luck. I think this was probably started by someone breaking a mirror and cutting themselves on it. It was, most likely, just unfortunate circumstances that led to many of the creations of these superstitions. But, again, how would I know how any of these, or pretty much anyting, came about. I mean, if I do not know the backgrounds of these superstitions, how can I know who does and who can be a trustworthy source of information about them. Obviously, I cannot. So, it could be possible that these "superstitions" were just sayings that sounded funny of different or rhymed that caught on and stuck in the language of today, which, by the way, has been changed so many times, I do not think anyone really knows what anything means anymore. Since people can make new theories in science, maybe people can also change the meanings of words in English.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Journal #6

Well, false accusations, sworn under law of the court, is a felony, punishable by, I believe, time in prison and probably a fine. Also, most of the times these cases come up, it started as a small argument and escalated to an all out screaming match. Since the people are just yelling, there is not really any time for friendship between them. That is another very likely outcome - losing their friendship. And, if you do not lose their friendship, you will still feel remorse for your actions later on down the road. There is no telling what might happen to your once called friend. He/she could end up paying for your decision, even if he/she did not do anything wrong. That can weigh down the heart of both parties. It really makes you think about what you could be doing to that person's life. But, also, there are tons of things that could happen. For instance, maybe the world is actually nonsense where it really does rain cats and dogs and pigs can fly. Maybe some sort of weird tangent will form from me deciding to blame some innocent soul. There is absolutely no telling what kind of anything could happen after accusing someone else for something I know I did. Or, as another possibility, meybe it could end up being a good thing for both of us. Maybe, somehow, prison is a good thing for him, and I am the one who gets a reward for turning in the criminal, even though it is not the right criminal because I know I am the correct criminal. Maybe something crazy could happen to us both, and we both end up dying. Anything possibly imaginable could potentially result from anything anyone does. So, honestly, I do not really like this topic. I would appreciate story-creating topics like the one that tought a moral by using animals as characters. But, as it is now, I have not really enjoyed these topics you have given us.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Journal #5

First of all, I have never been seriously grounded or in much trouble (because I am a good boy) and therefore do not know much about these kinds of punishments. However, I also think that most of these punishments are extremely fair as a modern twenty-first century punishment. These seem fine with me because if someone is so stupid to have their parents think about these kinds of punishments, then they deserve the punishments to be rained down upon them. I do not think the kids should be able to complain about it because it was, after all, their own fault their parents are giving them these punishments. I also think the parents should not get carried away with these punishments (like washing out the child's mouth with soap), like one of my friend's mother did to him when he was younger. I am sure this was not very pleasant for him, but I think his mother really liked it. In fact, she did it to him so many times, he once got sick from eating too much of the soap. Then, he threw up in the living room on the carpet, and his mother had to clean it up (talk about irony). But, today, it really seems as if kids and teenagers, mostly, rely on cell phones to live. It looks like it takes the place of eating in their daily routine because it is so important, like eating because it gives energy. But with their cell phones, some students at our school bring them to class and are even bold enough to try to use them during class. Is it really necessary, people? Do you need to update your Facebook status this second? So, also to help with school work, I think it could be very suitable to take away a child's cell phone because they seem to be a nieussance, and, honestly, it bothers me just as much as the teachers, and yes, we all know the teachers can tell when someone has out their cell phone. It is really not that hard.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Journal #4

So, there have been a couple major trips I or my family have taken. Basically, there is really just one that stick out the most. The summer after seventh grade, I was readying myself for a great year at the top of the school, and what is a better way of preparing than taking a nice, long vacation to Hawaii? We left home somewhere at around seven in the morning to drive to the Lambert - St. Louis International Airport. The flight was scheduled to leave at 10:40, but due to many stupid (and probably lazy) people, there was an hour delay, so we ended up leaving at 11:45. The plane ride was long and unforgiving, especially sitting in the tiny coach seats. Well, at least they served lunch, which, by the way, was seven dollars for a ham and cheese sandwich. We next landed in Los Angeles and boarded the new plane to fly out to the islands. The layover in Los Angeles was so long; it must have been at least an hour and a half. The flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu was non-stop (obviously) and was a solid nine hours. That was the biggest killer because this one was even longer and more unforgiving, still sitting in the tiny coach seats. It was possibly the most boring trip on an airplane I have ever been through. Basically, all I did was watch a movie, eat dinner, and sit in my seat, desperately attempting to drift off into sleep, unsuccessfully. But, however, it was so worth it. Hawaii has the nicest climate, such beautiful beaches, and some of the best snorkeling in the world, which he happily participated in. I am not really sure what else I want to say, other than the amazing-ness of Hawaii. I think I might enjoy living there if the tourists stayed away. When I can, I am totally going to take the journey out there again because it was so awesome.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Journal #3

Being a hostage could be one of two things. It would either be really awesome because I would be getting so much attention, or it would be really scary, and I would probably cry a lot and beg for the people to release me. Most likely, the second option would show itself more prevalent. I think I would scream for a while, and after realizing these attempts are futile, I would start an attempt at negotiating with the people. Although, I suppose I do not have too many things they could want or need in return for my freedom. I do not have too much money, and I do not have very many nice thing like watches and other fancies. Then, after seeing my release nowhere in the near future, I think I would kind of get used to the fact of the matter and go along with a new sort of normal routine. Also, you know, I could be the hastage taker. That would be really difficult, but I think I might be able to pull it off. Or, even better yet, I could be the guy who comes in with his super awesome speaking abilities and saves the hostage with his magic skills of negotiation. Or, still another option, I could be the person who goes into the situation and has to pull out the hostage, like a guy on a SWAT team. That would be pretty awesome, but I also think I would die pretty quickly in that job. Knowing me, my gun would misfire, causing my team member to get shot in the back and die, leaving the blame on me for mishandling the weapon, so I would probably end up in jail, instead of putting other people in it. See, there are many different sides to the hostage situation, and honestly, I guess I would go down without a fight in pretty much every one of them. Oh, also, you should not nominate me for this job because of the same reasons.