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.