Caffeine...

I want to keep my head some Saturdays
Just to know that I can do it well
And lose what insane spastic crazy ways
I fight to keep monstrous boredom quell'd.
But Oh the wondrous feeling crazy jests-
So bored and non content though I may be.
Inspired, Frantic, Creation at its best,
Though medium of work n'er can I see.
Caffeine: if you must taunt me like you do
Provide a means that I may soon unleash
Such energetic fury you ensue
On something wondrous which no one can reach!
Though now a force that plagues with sleepless night,
Soon I shall harness your creative plight!



Just sort of came to me... Maybe I finally did harness caffeine's creative power! At any rate, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

A Wake-Up Call to Live by Stan

Stan's essay, A Wake-Up Call to Live expresses the advise to live in the now and enjoy it. Stan stays away from preaching by using real life examples almost exclusively. He starts out with explaining how life gains complexity as it goes on, until death is near; this causes a person to look at things more simply. Then he goes on to show his experiences as a hospice volunteer, and uses those experiences to display the simplicity of the patients' actions and attitudes, and the lessons he gained from the situations. Finally he qualifies his feelings of how simple things are when in the face of death when he reveals that he himself is fighting prostate cancer. He uses a reference to a quote of Buddha's to open and close the essay. The tone of the essay is a solemn advisory one. Stan uses situations that tug at the heart string to bring out his point. He believes that people should value the time they have now, and not linger in the past or put too much in the future.
http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=8005&topessays=3

?

Gun Control

I am a proud gun owner! I own a Ruger 10/22 and a Winchester M70. Both of these were gifts. I was proud to inherit the Winchester M70 from my uncle when I turned 16, and was given one of my father's Ruger 10/22s when I turned 13. I have a profound respect for my rifles, my father's rifles, my grandfather's rifles... In fact I have a profound respect for any firearm and their responsible owners. A firearm is much more than the killing device many nay-sayers make them out to be. A firearm is a work of precision engineering, a neatly crafted masterpiece of a talented and devoted artist, an effective tool for a wide range of uses, and a perfect channel for building focus, steadiness, and stark concentrated precision.

I find the movement to ban firearms baffling! I truly believe that many of the anti-gun activists have never had the pleasure of firing one. The reason I think this is because they make them out to be killing machines, built only for that purpose, nothing more. I can honestly say I have yet to kill anything with my M70. Less than 10% of the lead that has left the barrel of my 10/22 in my hands has been intended for a kill. I do hunt varmint, and I am looking forward to hunting an elk someday, but I use my rifles for far more recreational purposes. I agree that firearms are capable of killing, it was intended in their development, but some people need to open their eyes and see that there are new uses for firearms.

So what do I do with that other 90% of those shots out of my 10/22, and every shot fired from my M70? Well, this is exactly the type of shooting people need to try before they go ahead and condemn firearms so quickly. I really enjoy finding an area with no-one around for a safe distance, a good backdrop, and a flat line of fire. The last part can be adaptable. I generally scout the area first, to make sure there aren't trails or roads behind it, and to head rocks and hard surfaces to avoid ricochet. Then I place my targets, I like to challenge myself. I've shot at cans like any plinker, but the fun comes along when you pull out the little plastic army men, or tie a string tight to shoot in half. The more I have to try, the more fun it is. Then I load my clip or magazine (generally with the 10/22, 30-06 rounds are very expensive, so I prefer the .22's 5 cents a shot) and take my rifle out of its bag. Then I look down range, checking its clear, and insert my mag/clip and jack the bolt. I take a position, prone for focus, sitting for quick transition from target to target, and off hand (standing) for a real challenge. Once more, I check my line of fire, and put my cheek on the stock. I look hard, yet gently through the scope and breath slowly. In a fluid motion I click the safety off and touch the trigger. Holding the cross hairs tightly on the target, I slowly put pressure down on the trigger until its unbearable to keep it from pulling all the way. Suddenly the target reacts depending on what it is, and the shot rings out. In this moment I'm so focused it feels like the rifle is part of me. Its not always so serious though. Sometimes I load up 30 .22 rounds into a mag and see how quickly I can get them out while still staying on target.

The point here is that I'm exercising my focus and control, and having fun with it. Did I kill anything? Maybe that empty soda can resents my hobby, but no-one really got hurt did they. I find it disturbing that people can disrespect a firearm enough to shoot an Innocent person with it. It seems that these instances are what get anti-gun activist's panties in a bundle. They feel that no civilian should have a gun because some people abuse them. I, for one, would feel it a tyranny to have my rifles, my heirlooms, my gifts taken from me because someone else was irresponsible. If guns are so evil, why allow our police officers or service men and women to wield them. They wield them to protect, and any law abiding citizen should have this right. Guns weren't designed with mindless killing in mind, they were designed to protect the wielder and innocent people and friendly combatants around them. So why should I be deprived of my protection because someone misused a firearm?

Lets take a look at a country that has banned firearms. The UK prohibits the OWNERSHIP of any projectile device that delivers over a certain amount of joules of force. For a while, even their police didn't carry firearms, only a night stick. Many were very afraid that they would be killed on patrol. Why is this? No-one had a firearm, they were wearing bullet proof vests anyway.... They were afraid because criminals resorted to using knifes. A nightstick isn't very effective against a knife and a bullet proof vest doesn't stop a knife. This shows human nature. If someone intends to commit a crime, they will, whether or not they have a gun.

I agree that there is a problem with the abuse of firearms in this country, but the solution isn't all out banning. Instead, hunters safety courses should be required in education, this will alleviate gun accidents due to ignorance, and help people respect the power of firearms at an earlier age. Registering firearms also helps alleviate gun crime, and bring in those who commit them. People just need to remember that even if you take away all forms of weapon from a person, they are still capable of committing violent crime with motivation.

Alliteration

Angry apples ate appellation alpacas annexing aggressive avocado armament activists allegedly advocating amazing armadillo acrobatics after arranging archaic ancestral antiques. Nobody neglected negligent Nigerian nightingales nibbling narcissistic nannies near napping Neapolitan nematodes. Unfortunately uniform umbrellas undermined unaffiliated umpires, usurping understandings undercutting unfamiliarity under unemployed underwear.

Cache

If you think about it hard enough and from many angles, the current theory of morality is a fickle as a flickering candle flame.

Your thoughts that are truely geneous in nature are lost to memory's relentles hunger in seconds.

What it many mental disorders are mearly your internal flow of logic making its way around a dam that's blocking its way?

picture recreation

x

On the Red Rocks Campus in Lakewood,Colorado on Monday September 22, 2008

I've found myself sitting in an area where nature meets harmoniously with human development. The hum of a lawn mower resonates from a slight distance as leaves hastily scurry from concrete to grass and everywhere in between. I am surrounded by green, calmly and slightly changing elevation, and harboring brown outcasts who have seen higher places. White mushrooms peek into the sunlit areas of the green sea, as a cricket contently chirps in the dancing shadows cast by the ever relaxed trees. A gentle, warm wind caresses me, and then moves on to urge the tree's stubborn branches to greet all who care to look. A uniform line of a motley bunch of cars sits behind me, slightly hidden by the protective trees along that bank. The breeze presents me with the sweet, smooth smell of freshly cut grass it its busy tour of the grounds. The sun comes out of its hiding with the grey cloud to warm my shoulders to delightful comfort. The distant murmur of conversation blends with the wind's playful rustling of important papers. Focused students lean against the ever providing trees and read that passages they were suppose to read the night before, or study for the impending test. Still others walk in a relaxed tempo to where ever they might need or want to go. I recline against a rock and am drawn to a bright yellow fire hydrant. In this instant, I need not worry or fret about life's important obstacles. I have wasted to much time fretting.

Blegh- a rambling

Its all in the title, everything is just blegh right now, blegh blegh blegh! If I must, I will get into detail about the eminent blegh that surrounds me. I'm the object of a war, yes a war, I guess you could say I'm like a blood diamond. This war is strictly political, but the parties wont compromise, so guess who has to! If it's not one thing, it's the other isn't it. Its hard to get past that. I would be happiest at least 5 days walk from anyone right now, I need to reflect. Ah, responsibility, its all that ties anyone down, and it's so very important- the end of the world even. I guess you could say that all my rambling is just a blegh as well, but that's the title, so I'll let it be. Time is a very limited resource, and I feel like I'm wasting it on the morosely drab motions that everyone feels I should take. It's worth it they say, but I feel like I'm going nowhere fast. Here's to care free days, may you all find and enjoy them to the fullest! For now, the only carefree days I can foresee are the ones I force.

Tattoos and Piercings....

I've toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo for quite some time. The main reason I haven't gotten one is to me it has to be special. There has to be some meaning behind it, and it needs to be my design, which had a lot of work put into it. Tattoos are permanent, and I need to have something worth while that I can remember every time I look at my tattoo.

Symbolism is everything. A lot of thought has to go into my tattoo. I need to consider what other people will get from it. I want to use symbols that aren't necessarily well know, but still have universal meanings. I have to be happy with it before it goes on my body, because there is no going back, and its also quite expensive to get.

As for piercings, I never really liked the idea. If I were going to get anything pierced it would be my tongue because that can heal up quickly. I don't like the idea of infection, or having to take care of the piercing. I shudder at the thought of snagging it on something! I think tattoos are a more descriptive way of getting a point across, and piercings are decoration, like a Christmas tree! Piercings just aren't my style. I do really want a tattoo though!

Identity presentation

Well, I didn't get to present my identity collage on Wednesday. I was really exited because I was up all night the night before working on it. There are pictures of me doing my favorite things in the world, and other images to show things that I also enjoy. I also put a word describing what each activity embodies for me! There's not much else to say about it, except that I'm excited to present it tomorrow.

Something I put on the collage that I really enjoy doing is airsoft. Airsoft is a bit like paintball, except that it's heavily oriented toward military simulation. The guns are made to look exactly like the real ones. The magazines function the same way they do on the real gun (except they only hold airsoft bbs) so you can use real military gear to carry your ammunition. The ammunition in question is a 6mm plastic bb, which is non-lethal at the velocities airsoft guns shoot at. These bbs are most often white, but there are other colors used as well. Some people are stubbornly concern and against airsofting. In most cases, this is stubborn ignorance, because it is a safe way to get a good work out, sharpen leadership skills, improve reflexes, and meet new friends. Some people base disdain on incidents when kids shoot at pets or property, but these cases should be considered in a different category. The reason these incidents happen is evil corporations like walmart sell cheap excuses for airsoft guns that young boys without self control (or parental supervision, proper gun handling education, etc) can get their hands on. A real airsofter is more often than not educated in gun safety (and uses it), is responsible, and (you may wonder why you don't usually see these replicas) avoids brandishing their gun in public. The reason this is the case is because airsoft replicas that are worth playing with are usually around $300 dollars. Skirmishable stock guns start around $100 (very low end, hardly worth looking at) and go up to around $1200 (these are the type law enforcement and the military train with!). The fact that these are expensive is part of the reason airsofters are so responsible with them. They're not about to get their upgraded beauty worth $600 or more taken by the police as evidence just because some twit freaked out and called them because they thought they saw an assault rifle. Gun safety is well known around airsofters. There are huge communities on line, and organizations that host events, so even if you get someone who never even laid eyes on any type of projectile shooting device in their life, they will always be properly set in the right direction as far as gun safety goes. People are rarely hurt in airsoft either. Eye protection is required, and there has been few cases of eye injury in regulated skirmishes. The few cases were due to carelessness the individual who got hurt as well. Airsofters respect each other, and there are many universal safety engagement distances. The honor system is used for taking hits, and players don't tolerate cheating. If you cheat, you aren't invited back. There is a lot more to the sport, but I've been rambling long enough, at least to cover the basics. I love airsoft, and recommend trying it to anyone (especially girls, there should be more girls out there!).

Sure, girls are bombarded by the media, but what about boys?

After reading Susan Bordo's essay: The Empire of Images in our World of Bodies, I noticed that she was basing her thesis primaraly on women and girls. This got me thinking, is it the same thing for men and boys around the world? You can see certain aspects of media bombarding men and boys around the world with idealistic frames of how they should be as well, it's just on a lower scale, and you could also say we deal with it differently.

Even before our first school day, we are bombarded by the influence that media sets for us. Our favorite cartoons set stereotypes for us to meet: Bravery, lack of emotion, toughness, strength... the list goes on. You can see how much these influence young boys just by the way they play. I remember always being the Red Ranger from power rangers, and trying to fit that brave tough guy role. The bombardment doesn't stop in our early stages of life, however.

The first thing we are pushed to do in school is join cub scouts. This is an organization whose goal is litteraly to teach young boys how to be men. The image of what a man should be is so concrete that most schools harbor an organization that teaches this. It certainly is reenforced by the media as well. Pro athletes saturate many comercials. American football among men is taboo not to like. Its true, men have standards that they are held to, and much of it is instigated by the media.

McCain's Speech

I found McCain's speech a little dry in a chaotic atmosphere. He clearly used his experiences in Vietnam as a major component to show his cause for running for president. He firmly asserted that a proper presidential candidate, or even a respectable American should put his country first. He told his story to show how he himself made that revelation. He outlined his plans, which I found to only be somewhat different from Obama's, but different enough to argue against those. He seemed to have a bit of trouble controlling the crowd, which made his speech somewhat hard to follow. I did find him to be a good public speaker, however; he just wasn't the best.

His audience was somewhat reserved when you looked at them, but when it came to the dynamics of the speech, it seemed as though they interrupted McCain to much. I know that its inevitable for this type of thing to happen- it happened for Obama- but it was almost to the point where the crowd was too excited to let McCain get a word in. I was a little bored with it too toward the middle, but I can't really put my finger on the reason. I found his points to be fairly solid, and his story was gripping. I just couldn't really get into McCain's speech like I could with Obama's...

Obama's Speech

Senator Obama's Speech on Thursday was very effective and enticing. He outlined his purpose in a manner that drove the American individual to believe that his presidency was the one to vote for. He wasn't only reaching out to Democrats or middle class Americans, He was reaching out to all individuals with the idea that everyone should be responsible for the well being of both themselves and those around them. He stressed the importance of breaking our dependence on foreign oil, and finding alternate energy sources that impact our environment in a less harmful way. He also outlined the failure of the current republican administration, and used that to state that "eight years is enough" and that McCain was not the right man for the presidency due to his outdated and failure prone political policies and views.
The most effective part of Obama's speech, in my opinion, was when he stated that McCain was no less a patriot for being republican. He stated that we all care about this country whether we are Democrat, Republican, Independent, or any other persuasion. Despite the fact that we may disagree on how things should be run, we all want our country to prosper, and for future generations to have the same, or better opportunities we have now. We are all equal, and joined in this respect, and I full heartedly agree with this view.

What text is educational or not educational?!

There are many texts that would be considered either eduactional or non-educational. Many texts are educational in some way, and some are purely for entertainment purposes. If we really think about it, however, we can come to realize that even texts written for the soul purpose of entertainment can be used for educational purposes. According to that logic, every text is educational in one way or another.
Text is deeply rooted in educational purposes. Some texts are blatantly educational, throwing knowledge at you in a distinct, clear, and precise method in order to fill your mind with the text's intended subject matter. Other texts may seem less educational, but it is educating us in a more camouflaged fashion. Advertisements, for instance, seem to teach us nothing and can seem more white sound all around us that we chose to ignore. If we look at it more closely we find out that each advertisement is educating us on a product, convention, or idea that the makers want us to buy into or know about. Even texts written purely for entertainment can be used for educational purposes. Schools across the nation use classics like Huck Finn to teach students about aspects of writing and reading. A simple photograph can be used to educated the world on a situation, or in a photography class to show examples of concepts like contrast or focal point.
Clearly, all text can be used for educational purposes. Text is intentionally written for educational purposes. Even text that isn't intentionally written so can be used to educate someone. If we look deep enough, we can gain educational experience out of all text mediums.