snow is evil

Snow is evil. nough said. You wake up and there it is. That piece of...I can't say it here. Mrs. Cardona would be very angry at me. Yes it's beautiful for a bit. Then you realize it's absolute pain. Others don't realize it. If you have family in places where it doesn't snow much and they say something like "lucky you"you want to throw the phone at a wall and scream "NO DAMN IT, NOT LUCKY ME".

Snow is like this very nice person that you first meet. They greet you very warmly and are just so kind but they end up haunting you and becoming your worst nightmare. They limit your activities, you see your friends less, they whisper in your ear that you don't have school tomorrow and laugh at you as you wake up at 6 and realize it was all a lie. 

That's what snow is. 

If you hit a red light, you are not 100 percent sure whether your car will be able to go again. Your heart starts pumping, you start sweating, and then finally your car starts moving. Until the next red light or stop sign. Snow. Such a...I can't say. Mrs. Cardona would be disappointed in me. 

Oh and yes. There's the snow-school relationship. So pathetic. It snows all freaking day and decides to stop right as most people are going to sleep. There's a slight smile on their face because maybe...if it continues...there won't be school or work tomorrow. They don't know that as they are smiling, the snow is stopping. The next day you wake up and you want to cry. Thats it. Thats how the feelings are described. You want to cry. And then you go through hell trying to go somewhere that usually takes you five minutes. 

This is the pain and suffering caused by snow. Now yes it is beautiful and don't take this the wrong way, I'm very grateful for everything I have. But snow is just...I can't say.

Oh and it also kills people.

Success

Narration: When I was in tenth grade, I had a juggling record of almost 300. Juggling a soccer ball I mean. Every now and then I would go outside and juggle. Trying to get close to my record because getting close to it was a big deal for. Eventually I got to the point where I wanted to beat it instead of getting close to it. I went outside one day...tried a couple of times and failed, and then got over 500. Bam. Out of nowhere just got 500. That is called success.

Description: A warm feeling spread through him at a quick but controlled pace. He was unbeatable. He could do anything he wanted, be anything he wanted. With each stride his confidence grew. Everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong. Everything that had happened in the past didn't matter. Every failure, every frustration was gone as if they had never existed. His presence emitted confidence and certainty. He had won and created a path for himself with many more victories on the way.

Example: This final is gonna be hard. I'm going to have to study for it. With uncertainty I open my notes and start going over them. I open the textbook and start going over it. Hours go by and I don't stop. I know the test will be hard and so I know I have to keep on studying. I want to get an A. Nothing less. I answered the test questions with confidence. I knew the answers. Some were hard, but they only required more thinking then the others. I got an A. That's success. Working hard and achieving what you want.

Comparison/Contrast: Success and failure are absolute opposites. Like black and white. Success gives one confidence. It shows that the person's hard work has paid off. That they can do it and should continue doing it because they have succeeded once and can do it again It opens doors for them and they will do more things then they did before due to that confidence.. Failure on the other hand, has all the opposite aspects. It decreases confidence and creates doubt. The person unfortunate enough to fail will be afraid of failing again and so will not do many of the things they might've before. They will become limited.

Process Analysis: Success is something that ultimately depends on a person's characteristics. It requires patience and determination. If a person easily losses confidence, success will be a rare feat for them. Before success comes failure, and if you cannot take failure than you shouldn't aim for success. So the most important part of success is patience which kind of goes hand in hand with determination. If you are determined, you will be patient and will become successful.

Division of Analysis: Success never comes easily. You should be prepared to work hard and sweat. You should be ready to sacrifice your time and go through some suffering before you reach that stage of success. In order for that to happen, you must stay focused and keep at it. Letting your attention waver and procrastinating will not delay your success, it will prevent you from getting to it.

Classification: The word success is constantly associated with money, suits, and a luxurious lifestyle. People put success in the same category as becoming rich or famous. Though that is true, it is not all success is about. Little things are just as important as becoming rich or famous. Getting an A on a ninth grade math test or getting the most points in a game are all the things that lead to "bigger" success.

Cause and Effect: Success happens due to work. You cannot become successful without putting more time into it than your competitors. Unless you're Gandalf. He can do anything. Anyway, you need to work. You need to be proactive and stay on top of things. Staying up later than others, staying after to ask questions, going to that extra interview, etc. These are examples of the causes of success. They are what create success.

Definition: Success is the end of a journey. Well...either that or failure. Anyway, success is the end of a hard fought journey. It shouldn't be all you care about, there's more to life than just success, but success keeps one determined. It's a goal. Becoming successful is a goal and it's what keeps lots of things from going wrong and keeps things flowing.

Argumentative/Persuasive: Michael Jordan is a person who has been successful a few times here and there. He says "I have failed over and over again and over again in my life and thats is why I succeed". You may think "The hell are you saying bro", but it actually makes perfect sense. You cannot become successful without tasting defeat and you cannot become successful if you don't stop until you taste success. That was an awesome quote...that last sentence was all me. As I was saying, the key to success is to know failure and not stopping at it. Though very ironic, failure is what allows you to become successful.

Chinese Buffet

Before I moved to the United States, I lived in Belgium. Buffet's aren't really a big part of the culture over there. The restaurants were mostly very European. You order, wait a few million hours, then get your food that tastes like heaven. Worth the wait. I don't think I knew what a buffet was back then. Anyway. We moved to the US and there was this Chinese buffet very close to where we lived. So natuarlly, it was one of the first restuarants we decided to hit.

It was...I can't explain it. I walked and just stood next to an awesome statue of Bhudda and enjoyed the view. There was food just sitting there. All we had to do was grab a table, claim it as ours, and just eat. What the freeeeeeaaaaaakkk. So simple. So simply genius. All you can eat!! Just eat. I couldn't get the concept through my head. It was too amazing for me to grasp. I ate so much I died. Then I had so much desert I died. There was everything.

After that day, we went so much more. Even my very experienced parents were in love with it. I created a routine for myself, knowing exactly what I would get and what my second plate would consist of and what desert would be. There must have been some type of tactical thing to being able to get the most out of this buffet cause I would become full way too quickly.

Anyway, be grateful for buffets. I know I am. Whenever I read the word buffet anywhere, my heart rate speeds up and my memories take me back to that amazing experience at the Chinese buffet.

Sleep

I'm gonna blog about sleep. Sleeping...it's very hard to explain. But it's the closest we humans can get to heaven before we die. If you don't believe in heaven I'm sorry but I needed a comparison. So ya...its freaking amazing. Especially when you get up and you have a few minutes...OH GOSH. Or when you wake up at like 7 and it's a Saturday. You just turn over slowly and slide under the covers. Freaking amazing. Then you wake up at 8 and repeat. And just do it until however long you want.

I'm sitting on my bed at the moment, and it is very comfortable. I'm fantasizing about sleeping. I do a lot. Because sleeping is amazing. The only bad part is getting up for school. Gosh. That so BAAAAAAAAAAD. You get out and a wind of freezing air just destroys you. But you always say it was worth it. It was awesome. Everyone looks forward to sleeping. It's a gift given to mankind and we should be grateful for it.

Though I should use this gift more often, I still understand its beauty. You rest and you enjoy doing it. You get in and go "AAAAHHHH". Ya...good stuff.

Stop Water Pollution

Stop Water Pollution

Grandpa SWAG

My Grandfather, meaning my dad's dad, is freaking amazing. Obviously, he has most of the characteristics of the classic grandfather. He can be very grumpy, he is extremely wise, and he comments a lot and talks a quit a bit. But everybody wants to be around him. All of his kids, all of my cousins. Everybody.

Thats because he's an absolute boss. First of all, he has SWAG. Actually, it's more like class. Class is the better word. He's always fresh. Suits, cologne, cash money. He could be a real player. Second, he could write a book about his life and it would become a bestseller. His stories have the potential to make ME cry. How an uneducated boy with no high school degree and no father went on to make bank. Third, he gives awesome advice. Mostly that you have to work hard. Yeah yeah we've all heard it But he says it soooo much. "You need to be a hard worker and you need to learn". He constantly tells us that whatever you do, whether you're a doctor or a taxi driver, do it well.

He has a Godfatherish figure. Seriously. I remember how he would call up his kids (my dad, aunt, and uncles) to talk to them, and then how he would send them out to get us, the kids of the kids, to bring us into his room so he could motivate the s*** out of us and tell us how hard work is the key to success and how lucky we are and grateful we should be to have what we have and be surrounded by such great people.

Anyway, I wanna be like that in 60 years. An absolute boss with class, cash money, and so much wiseness that people would die if they had a fraction of it.

Freakin Turkey

Well...this Thanksgiving was ok. Not the best, but it wasn't bad. My family and I spent it with a family friend of ours in Kentucky. They have a boy that's also a senior in high school and a girl thats a year older than my brother. We hadn't seen them in four years so we were pretty excited. So as we came downstairs to eat the turkey and all the other yummy things, we were thinking much less about giving thanks and much more about quickly finishing and going back up to video games (but I do give thanks, I'm a good kid).

The observations I made were very simple. Everybody was happy. My parents were constantly laughing and the mood was freaking awesome. The greatest observation of all though, was the turkey. The freaking turkey. Such beautiful pieces of turkey. I put a bunch on my plate, it felt like slow motion. Unfortunately, it looked better than it tasted. It was dry. I don't do dry.
It was like this picture. How freaking dry does that look!!!??? Very dry.

Anyway, I'm a man so I ate it all and enjoyed it. The sweet potatoes were also very good. Thought I'd throw that out there.

So as I already mentioned, everybody was happy. But I didn't feel that Thanksgiving mood feeling thingy. You know what I mean. All of us ate really fast and just went upstairs to finish up our video game session just so we could start a new one. But I do think the parents felt it. They stayed down and talked as they ate. They laughed loudly and took their time...took too long actually, but still. They then just went into the living room, sat down, and chatted away. As I was gaming, I was really trying to get into the Thanksgiving mood. No joke. I was thinking about all the previous Thanksgivings and how great they were, but I kept getting sucked into the game so I just gave up.

I feel pretty guilty to be honest. The video game sessions also got kind of heated, some arguments here and there. Maybe one or two punches thrown. So instead of giving thanks...I verbally abused somebody and destroyed them in a game. The worst part of it was that I felt pretty good about it and am now just feeling horrible as I'm writing this blog. But at the end of the day, at like, 2 A.M. when I just got into bed...I'm pretty sure I said "Thank you God" or something of the sort.

I'm not on Facebook...

Bauerlein’s argument is pretty straightforward. We’re getting dumb. We waste too much time. We don’t know anything about the world we live in. That’s basically it. The same thing our parents tell some of us. I’ll probably do a Facebook break soon. What Bauerlein is specifically saying is that we do not care about knowing anything about the world we live in, we spend way too much time staring at screens than we do opening books, and the cause of this dumb generation is because of the way we were brought up.

Bauerlein is constantly arguing the fact that this new generation doesn’t want to know anything about the world. That they (we) are localized and want it to stay that way. One thing he says that I could only agree with is that “The insulated mindset of individuals who know precious little history and civics and never read a book or visit a museum is fast becoming a common, shame-free condition”(16). I couldn’t agree more with this. Not only is it shame-free, but it’s almost something we take pride in. I constantly hear people mockingly say “Gosh I haven’t like, read a book since sixth grade”, and right away people nod or laugh or get so excited they blurt out “OMG ME TOO”. 

This type of behavior may be the cause of our upbringing. Bauerlein states in chapter three, “While father fights the traffic, mother must prepare dinner, and so she sets their two-year-old on the living room carpet and starts a Sesame Street video that the child soaks up agreeably for 30 minutes” (75). This constant surrounding of technology is what has led to this dumb generation. We know what we want in terms of technology at a very young age. “Kids usually know exactly what they want and where they want to go, and they get there with a few mouse clicks or channel changes” (77). As I read that passage, I realized I was that kid. I would turn on the computer and put in a disc and start playing and “educational” game. Or I would come home from school and the TV would suck me in. Though this may not be true, what Bauerlein is saying makes sense and the facts he provides support his argument very strongly. We were born into technology and it is part of our culture.

            Though I may find myself agreeing and having an “OMG” moment at many of the things Bauerlein says, I disagree with some as well. When describing the relationship between this generation and the world he states, “It isn’t enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them” (13). Though it is very true that many of us are not interested in the world, it is not cut off from us. In fact, we have all the resources we need to educate ourselves about the world we live in and learn as much as we want. All we have to do is type a few words, click here and there, and boom…we got it. So I think Bauerlein got a little too excited there.

            He also argues something that had me thinking “WTF”. He states, “…Young Americans have more money to make use of it all. Not many 20-year-olds in 1965 had a credit cared, but according to Nellie Mae, by 2002 83 percent of college students carried at least one…” (31). Seriously Mark? Times change. This is the same in Europe and Asia. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I can judge. Kids have more money Economies have gotten much bigger world wide and the world has changed. Besides, I doubt if a 20 year old had money in 1965 he or she would go buy a book on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Though that does sound awesome. Rhetoric is freaking awesome.  Anyway, Mark needs to get it together. His logic was a bit flawed there.

            Overall, Bauerlein was quit effective. I found myself agreeing with many of things he stated and there’s no doubt that this new generation is less interested in reading books and our heart rate increases when we’re about to go on facebook. He provided statistics to back up his claims and he used personal examples such as the Jay Leno interview. His argument and the way he wrote the book makes me want to prove him wrong. Because I know he’s right. It makes me want to go read a book and not touch my phone or facebook while doing homework (I literally just received a text :D). 

Are children getting dumber?

They aren't all part of the "Dumbest Generation"...but they're still dumb. So this works.

Why the Pumpkin?

Why is the Pumpkin so popular during Halloween? Why is it the symbol for Halloween?

A few hundred years ago, the turnip was the symbol for Halloween. People used that for their decorations or any other thing associated wtih Halloween. During the Irish potato famine, a few thousand people migrated to America. Once they arrived, they found that pumpkins were more available than turnips. So instead of using turnips for Halloween they now started to use pumpkins.

Now pumpkins are the ultimate symbol for halloween, especially in America. People buy them or grow them themselves and carve faces into them or any other thing they find entertaining. Carving pumpkins (which is also a tradition brought to America by the Irish) is so popular that there are pumpkin carving kits. HAHA. Thats pretty cool.

Halloween

I never really liked halloween. I loved the candy. Obviously. But I never liked going door to door asking for it in the dark. I would much rather stay home and have my little brother do it. Then I can just take his candy.

Anyway, the most interesting aspect of halloween for me, is halloween in Mexico. That may seem strange but I can't get the fact that they have picnics on graves out of my mind. Over here it's just about candy. In Mexico it's much bigger, it's a national holiday. It is called the Day of the Dead. It is believed that on this day the ghosts of dead family members and loved ones come to visit. They celebrate relatives that have passed away and kids and candy are only a small part of it. Families go have picnics by the graves of their passed away relatives. They also clean their graves and decorate them with flowers and pine needles. It's a way of telling their dead relative that they have not been forgotten and are still loved.

The fact that Halloween is something much bigger than what it is here in America is something I find interesting. It's somewhat like Thanksgiving...except, no turkey. Graves and candy. Even so, there's still candy and it's a day of celebration!

Walking Dead

The second episode of the third season of Walking Dead came out today. It was freaking awesome. The group is taking refuge in an abandoned zombie infested jail (they had to get rid of numerous zombies) and they stumble across some of the old inmates.
The person that seems to be the leader of the inmates is an idiot, so things aren't looking so hot between Rick's (the main character) group and the inmates. They make a deal,  Rick's group takes half of the food that the inmates have and they help the inmates clear a wing of the jail.
After the inmates give half of their food to Rick and his group, they start clearing a wing of the jail. Since the inmates have been in the jail since the beginning of this "apocalypse", Rick and his friends have to teach them how to kill the zombies (aim at the head). They start killing zombies left and right but then the leader of the inmates swings a little to close to Rick's face. Then he throws a zombie at Rick and after they clear the wing he claims "S*** happens". So Rick looks at him and puts a blade in his head!
He then chases another one of the inmates into a group of zombies then closes the door behind the inmate who just gets destroyed by the zombies.He spares two of the inmates and gives them the wing then him and his group go back to his wing where Rick's family and some others are waiting for them.

Such a good episode.

Sinking

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkZ3f8DnKs

Though this clip is only a short 40 seconds, it will make you laugh for a lot longer. When there is a call of help saying "we are sinking", the german operator's response is, "what are you thinking about?"
Thats freaking hilarious!!! The way he hesitates and says it with a strong german accent makes it even better and the fact that it's his first day on the job makes the whole thing even more funny. The statement at the end stating "Improve your English" is something to wrap things up over people's laughter.

Blog 4

Observer

   This person that I noticed was quit. People around him were talking, laughing, joking around but he just sat there and took it all in. He didn't talk much and mostly just laughed with everyone else. He didn't care about bringing much attention to himself. I think this person would be calm in most situations, but maybe also witty. He seemed intellectual.

Fiesty

   This person was quick to respond to something that didn't please them. She was somewhat aggressive about it and wouldn't back down. I think this is the type of person who speaks up a lot. Someone who raises their hand in class constantly and isn't shy to speak their mind. I have no idea what she would eat for breakfast but she would probably get whatever it is she wants to eat.

Kind

   I really liked what I saw here. This person would laugh at other people's jokes and would pay good attention to anyone trying to talk to her. She seemed patient with people and not the type of person who would make any remarks or comments that would hurt anyone's feelings. 

Obnoxious

   I noticed that this person tried hard to draw attention to themselves. He was loud and moved around a lot and said things that were not totally necessary to be said. I think this is the type of person that could hurt someone's feelings without 

Blog #3

Apple pie is a big part of American culture. That can't be denied. People love it and nowadays they don't need special occasions to have some. Even so, many people believe that apple pie is American, that it is originally from America. I beg to differ, apple pie's origins go back to fourteenth century England. They would have meat pies that would later have fruit put into them instead for dessert. Apple pie became a favorite dessert during the time of Queen Elizabeth I and was brought across the Atlantic Ocean into the colonies.

Though this may be a very silly argument, it's something that matters to me. I have this weird thing where I think about the originality of popular foods and dishes. So this was a big deal.

The recording made sense and explained well the way we react because of mental pictures. I have experienced this myself while watching the news or reading a book. The mental pictures have made me shudder and be disgusted or vise versa, being excited and feeling happy. Imagery and mental pictures impact us more than we know and may even be the cause of some of the decisions we make!

Writing

I don't know of there really is a process to writing. From my own experience, thinking about a process simply complicates things. So I just write. I think about my topic and start writing. After I finish a paragraph I go back, move some words around, and some nice words and try to make the sentences nice and smooth. In my opinion, thinking about writing before you begin a piece only makes it harder. I find it much easier to clear your mind of everything except for your particular topic and start writing. You will see that things will start coming to you very quickly.
There are the obvious steps of having good paragraphs with good transitions that may need some thought, but personally, I don't think getting started on the paragraphs needs much though. You just write. Just start writing and everything will come to you. From there, once you have your material, you go back and clean things up, making beautiful sentences and paragraphs.