Topic #12

For Christmas, I'm usually at my dads, so this year it was FRANTIC! My mom and I decided not to put up anything this year, until the day before Christmas. That day we did ALL of our shopping, came home, and then shopped some more! Yay! Then, we put up a tree and decorated the walls and such (we as in me :P).
So, I think that trees and lights and presents and such are what make things so holiday-ee! I like waking up in the morning and going into the room with the tree and looking at it and remembering past christmases with all of my family and about what presents I would hopefully be getting and such - and then digging into the stocking full of candy! num :). And the best part is when everyone opens there presents and you see that look of happiness on their face and you beam with pride knowing that you made them happy ^_^. So I adore christmas, and everything about it, including the decorations. Yay hope you all had a good one :D

Lights...? BAH!

Yes we put up lights and yes we get a tree which we also hide a pickle on and we all have to find it. so yes we celebrate Christmas to a certain extent and this year we even had those festive little crackers that have the paper crowns in them so yes i like Christmas. so we also wrap presents and give them to everyone. and we also do this neat little thing called white elephant and i think it is pretty fun , which consists of getting the crappiest present you can think of and wrapping it up and we go around opening them and when its your turn you Can steal any of them as long as its not dead. so those are my Christmas traditions and i enjoy them.

Christmas Traditions

I'd like to thank Mr. Humphrey for the best gift of all, a break in the topics allowing me to get caught up in a reasonable period of time. :)

In anycase my family has a lot of traditions in addition to the norm of wrapping presents and putting them under the tree (has anyone ever stopped and considered how absolutely ridiculous that is!? I mean the only thing more ridiculous than putting presents under a tree is putting presents under a FAKE tree!). My grandma started most of these traditions on her own, where she got the ideas from is beyond me.

Everything starts with Christmas Eve... in the MORNING. This is all because my dad's mom had already packed the traditions into Christmas and my dad couldn't be budged from the traditions he grew up with, so my Grandma being the kind woman she is encouraged my mom to start her own traditions. (At this rate my grandkids will have a month full of traditions, not just a couple days). So my mom, because she was accustomed to having cinnamon rolls Christmas morning wanted to maintain that tradition atleast in a sense, so we have them Christmas Eve morning, since as I said, my dad can't be convinced to alter his ways.

For dinner that night we have corn chowder. Who doesn't want a combination of canned cream corn, deviled ham and cream of celery soup? Yum! Actually, it does taste much better than it sounds, though this year for the second year in a row I haven't eaten it since I no longer eat meat. But that is to be served with cheese, salami and crackers. And who would we be to forget the veggie platter? (That's my domain).

Christmas morning starts at a pre set time, be there on time or meet the sharp glare of my brother and me. However the presents under the tree must not be touched, that's for later. We may only open our stockings. In them is always candy, cheetos and a sugary cerial. This year however I requested that there be no junk food (It's way too tempting and there's lots of it as is), so Santa being the humorous fellow that he is provided me with instead of candy an eggplant and raddishes. And instead of cheetos dried berries and mango, and in the place of a sugary cereal Special K.

Proceeding the opening of stockings breakfast is to be prepared and served. My grandma her entire childhood was forced to eat oatmeal every day for breakfast, INCLUDING Christmas, so she decided her children would never have to endure that. So she inovated the least nutritious meal one could think of. Our main course is SOS, and for those of you who don't know what that means, I will not explain the acronymn but will tell you what it is. SOS is a white sauce with sliced packaged ham added to it, served on toasted English muffins, that's some classy stuff. And while my mom has since opted for fresh fruit, the Frost family tradition would also be to have sherbot ice cream with frozen fruit and 7 UP as a side dish. There's a nutritious breakfast for all you health nuts!

After breakfast is entirely cleaned up and everyone is sitting around the tree, and yes, I mean EVERYONE, even that person who said you could start because they needed to run to the rest room, we begin opening presents. We start youngest and go to oldest, and not only do we open presents one at a time, but we take the time to enjoy looking at everyone else's presents. This has caused present opening to last until 3 PM on occations...

Sometime in the afternoon on Christmas, though we are rarely are consistant with time, we cook a turkey and prepare what most people would consider a classic Thanksgiving Dinner. And then the remainder of the day is spent relaxing and enjoying our new items. :)

The Choices the Choices

Oh the dilema Topic #11 has created. Shall I tell you about my persuasive essay topic? For I have no reason not to as my beliefs are firm. Or perhaps I should tear down every element of happiness until I can give an answer to a yes or no question that is far from simple. Or state testing... Oh how long I could rant in regard to that... Maybe I'll just answer all of the topics, make up for the tardiness of my response.

For my persuasive essay I chose to debate the very controversial topic of abortion, a topic which has squeezed it's way into current politics. I personally strongly stand in the support of pro-choice as I feel a woman deserves her right to choose, amongst other things.

Happiness... Such a broad, broad concept. Happiness could be looked upon in the immediate sense of contentment. Right at this very second, yes, sure I'm happy, it's Christmas, I'm surrounded by my family. This past week? Very happy indeed, I made one of the best friends I've had, plus I've gotten to exercise every day. Happy with my job? Indeed... though money has lost it's glory. But am I happy? I'd like to think that I am, I mean my life is going in the right direction, I always have a smile on my face, but does that really mean anything? Am I truly happy? Or have I been hurt too much to truly be happy? Does my past hurt and experiences taint my ability to be happy even if I have an optimistic outlook and have positive experiences in my future? Or does my concern for others not allow me to be truly happy? So here's my answer, in a sense, yes I am happy. I have friends I love and know I could trust with anything. But to be truly happy one must have a sense of ignorance and innocense. To a degree I believe I have both, but just enough a lack of both to prevent me from truly being happy. I worry too much about the struggles others face in places that aren't so pleasant. I worry for the victims of human trafficking, of genocide and other horrible occurances to truly be happy. I could never be happy knowing that such things are happening. So no, I'm not happy. But with my life sure, I'm happy, what isn't there to be happy about? But I'm part of a bigger picture, only one dot on a huge map, I have only a small amount of importance in the scheme of things.

Direction

So I like many have fallen behind on posting for the blog so I will now poke at Topic #10: Direction.

I feel like the world is heading in a downward spiral and fast. This might be because in all actuality, I am an extremist and I feel that an ideal world would be full of hunters and gatherers. So therefor everything about the world that we live in today seems wrong to me (And yes that includes the laptop which I am writing this on). I feel like by creating the complex world we now live in happiness is a harder and harder thing to grasp. Happiness has become attatched to material things, and not simply ones well being or health. Not only is it harder to make people actually happy, but simply contenting people is hard.

Automobiles created obesity, global warming, globalization and destruction of nature.

Computeres created laziness: "Just Google it..."

When you look at it that way, what is there good? Okay, so relations with Iraq and Iran about 6,000 miles away is plausible, look what good that did us...

And now you can have a protectron too!

http://www.amazing1.com/burning-lasers.htm

I'm going to try and create one of these and it's going to be awesome.
But I want to figure out a way to make the class IV laser ray mobile! And quite possibly and more of eventually put it in an automaton. Throw in a vocoder and system of artificial intelligence (ASMIO?), and maybe eventually I'll create a protectron. Because god damnit, those things are awesome.

Then I can sell it to the government and make millions. Hooray!

Movie Review

I have two things to say.

1. Cider is horrible after it's been warmed up twice

2. Hunchback of Notre Dame is a spectacular movie. Not the graphics, per say, though they aren't bad, but for a Disney movie based on a classic, classic, book, it follows the story line exactly. Let me rewind for a minute, and explain my reasoning. Having to iron a million shirts, I needed something to waste my time with. Youtube came up, and one thing led to another, and I was watching Hunchback of Notre Dame. Having read the book a few years earlier, I was ready to make fun of another try and fail at making a good book into a movie(Count of Monte Cristo, Harry Potter, etc.) but I was mildly surprised, to say the least, that they were that accurate in a Disney movie. Take away the musical numbers, and the jokes, and you have a worthwhile film, that should go down in filmography history. Putting the Frollo's weird thing with Esmeralda was a surprise, as was the in-depth mentions of God/religion, and the darkness of the movie. Surprisingly, I would not reccomend this movie to chidren, but would recommend it to anyone else on a rainy day, or during winter break, when you have nothing else to do.
Toodles!
~Tiff

Cristmas

I usually enjoy Christmas but it seems like as I get older it's getting more and more casual and every year i get a little bit less into the holiday spirit. Also I feel like as I get older I'm becoming more obligated to give other people presents. I do like Christmas though, I like getting together with family and everyone has fun opening gifts together. I love the feeling when everything has sort of calmed down and your sitting next to the warm fire and there's wrapping paper spread all over the ground and you just kinda feel good. One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is probably the eggnog, I like it.

Christmas Traditions.

Every year On a date between December 15th and Christmas, my family all goes together to get a tree. We decorate it as a family, and we have a special box or ornaments. They are all random things that mean something special to someone in my family. For example, there is a picture of me as a baby with chocolate all over my face that my family INSISTS we put at the front of the tree every year. Because its "adorable". So naturally every year everyone who ventures around the pictures laughs at me, but thats alright. Every other year we have christmas at my Grandmas. Other than that its held at my house or another aunts or uncles. All of my relatives get together to have dinner every christmas. I make it a point to watch Frosty the Snowman also, its my favorite Holiday movie! :) We also put all of our names (All meaning the cousins) into a hat a draw a name. That person is responsible for a christmas present for the person whos name they drew. This year I got my older brother, but I have no idea what to get him.

christmas

Christmas is just another holiday it seems, stores sell special items on special deals, a wide number of people celebrate it, and we get school off. but you know getting presents is nice and being with family, plus similar to thanksgiving we usually have a big meal. now what i don't understand is how the traditions all started like the tree, stockings and gifts I know they all have a story why but usually when i hear them they make no sense how they connect at all with traditions happening now. sorry for the speratic thoughts and also are we going to have blogs over the holidays?

Boredom

Have you ever wondered why things change and get harder as we grow up? When I look at little kids I think, innocence, they have nothing to worry about, and everything they do wrong they do not because they know its wrong its because they are curious. They then learn from that. Don't you remember when it didn't matter who you were or what you did, you would just walk up to another kid and start talking to them, and then you became friends just like that, it was that easy. As you grow up things become more complicated, simple feelings become more complexed and situations become more complicated. Why is that? I really want to know why is it that we start to break off into certain groups and then tease or make fun of the other groups that are not like ourselves, when just not that long ago, the groups all got along. My favorite quote is, "Kindergarten... where the definition of drama was someone stealing your crayons." When your little you only really fought if someone teased you or took something of yours, now people stab other people in the back, lie, can be two-faced, and cheat on their partner. I don't understand how you can go from such innocence and happiness and easy life to things so mean and screwed up and stressful. We lose so much of imagination as we get older, i love this line from the movie "Yes Man". The girl says, " The world is playground. You know that when you are a kind but somehow you forget as you grow up." I agree with that so much because I believe the sky is the limit, and i may seem like I plan out my life and what I want to do so far in advance, but I do it a lot because of my imagination and the fact that I believe if there is something out there that you want to do, then go out and do it.

Why Don't We Start Vacation With An Essay?

I just (at 7:15 on Saturday morning) finished my first book of the vacation.

Don't worry, I was already halfway through it yesterday morning; I've only read 92 pages so far this vacation. I'm sure Will Charbonneau and Josh Hooker are already over 500.

No, I actually wanted to talk about this book, rather than the number of pages I have looked at so far. It's titled The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, written by Phillip K. Howard and published in 1995. That's a bit scary, actually: because the problems he described when he wrote the book fifteen years ago are even worse now.

But you see, I have an opportunity, here. Because I'm a teacher, and I have an audience of people who are generally pretty bright and motivated and capable, and who therefore have the potential to make some kind of change, to begin some kind of movement. That would be you folks. So if you'll indulge me a little, I'd like to give you the gist of this book, and see if I can strike a chord with anyone, maybe start a few snowballs rolling downhill.

The premise of the book is that this country has, over the last fifty years or so, made a serious mistake in the way if handles the law and government regulations. We got the idea into our heads that the people in government who managed things, who inspected and regulated private industry, who doled out and supervised social services, were basically untrustworthy. They were incompetent, they were corrupt, they were biased in one way or another, and therefore, the decisions they made were unfair. So in the name of fairness, which is a perfectly honorable and valuable goal, we set about correcting the problem. The mistake we made was in how we tried to solve the problem, and it's a mistake we are still making today.

Now, the reasonable thing to do when you come across a corrupt government official would be to fire his cheatin' behind, and replace him with someone else. You can also go back and fix the problems he might have caused, by hiring a new contractor or by changing an unfair ruling, something like that -- though it's interesting to note that corruption doesn't always lead to a bad outcome, even if it might be an unfair one. For instance: let's suppose that, oh, say, Michael Kirby paid me off to get an A in the class. I happily take the bribe (please note that this is made-up stuff: I would never take a bribe, and Michael would never offer me anything more valuable than a CD of "Ice, Ice, Baby.") and give him the A, and Michael goes on to college and becomes a successful coach of the U.S. rugby team. Who exactly was hurt by this? Michael's A wouldn't affect anyone else's grade, and if he couldn't do the work on his own without the bribe, the A wouldn't do him much good, as at some future point, he would fail because of his own incompetence. Or he might become the 43rd President. Just kidding. Not really.

You could argue, I suppose, that everyone else's class rank would be skewed by one, and you would be right if you said this situation would be simply unfair to everyone who worked for his or her A, but: life is unfair. Grades are unfair. Students get sick, students get hurt, students get dragged along on extended family vacations that make them wish they were sick or hurt, and in all of those cases the students miss school and their grades might be lowered because of it, and it would be unfair. Take this little Winter Break reading challenge: any of my students with uncorrected vision problems, or dyslexia, will not be able to read as quickly as I, and so will not be able to earn the extra credit. That's not fair.

But that's the way it goes. At least, we used to think that way. And what we used to be able to do was: use our judgment, on a case-by-case basis, and try to adapt the circumstances to meet the needs of everyone. Let's say Cole drops a Mento in a two-liter of Diet Coke (Saw it on Mythbusters, of course) and the resultant foam jet sprays right in Will's eyes, blinding him for the rest of the vacation. I could, if I were trusted enough to make decisions, set up a special deal for Will, that would give him another two-week window to read as much as he could, and try to top my page total; I might have to give him three weeks, as he would be in school during that special time and would lose reading hours because of it. Seems reasonable, doesn't it? But it's against the rules, so according to our government, I can't do it.

The people of the United States decided that we didn't trust our government officials, our bureaucrats and regulators, to make decisions. We didn't think they could use common sense. So what we did was: we tried to write laws that were specific enough to handle every possible outcome, so that everything was planned out in advance and there was no room for anyone to mess with the system by making exceptions; no room for corrupt officials to take bribes, or prejudiced officials to discriminate.

Take the federal drug laws, for instance. We didn't like that one judge could give one drug smuggler six months and a fine, and another judge could give another smuggler twenty-five years in maximum security for the same crime. That seems unfair, and maybe the judges were corrupt or prejudiced. (Any reason why we couldn't find out if the judge were corrupt and fire him if he were? And overturn the decision? Anyway . . .) So our legislature created a grid that determines absolute sentencing for all federal drug offenses. You take the quantity of the drug in the person's possession, determined by weight, and cross-reference that with things like prior offenses, if the defendant had a gun or used it during the crime, that sort of stuff, and you get a definite sentence. Perfect, we thought: no way for a judge to screw it up, no way for anybody to get an unfair decision. Everyone gets exactly the same treatment, and no human error is involved.

Except it doesn't work that way. The point of this book I read is this: nobody can possibly predict all future scenarios well enough to know the right decisions to make in all cases. Nobody can deduce all possible factors in any given situation. And when you try to set everything down in advance, with iron-clad rules, when you take common sense and human judgment out of the mix, you get an unlimited number of unfair results and potential windows for corruption -- exactly the things we were trying to avoid by creating the strict laws in the first place.

For example: LSD is a liquid, which is infused into a solid medium -- usually small pieces of paper, or sugar cubes -- and then sold that way. The same quantity of the actual drug, carried by two dealers, can result in completely different prison sentences, if one dealer sold LSD in paper, and another sold LSD in sugar cubes. Because sugar cubes weigh more than paper.

And what is America's answer to problems like this? Do we allow a judge to use reason to make exceptions to the rules? Of course not: we can't trust a judge to know the right thing to do. He might be corrupt or prejudiced! We create another rule to fix the hole in the first (I'm making this part up, by the way, but the sentencing grid and the sugar cube/paper example is reality): we require law enforcement to extract the LSD from whatever medium it was in so that we can weigh the drug by itself, and we sentence people that way. Except the process for extracting it is expensive, and destroys some of the drug, so the sentences are still not fair -- and police officers start letting LSD pushers go, since they know the conviction won't be strict enough and will require too much expense for the department. Or dealers start mixing LSD with something else, call it WTF, that is destroyed in the extraction process but gives the same drug high to users as pure LSD. And maybe WTF is a thousand times more harmful than simple LSD, causing people's eyeballs to melt. So we find out about WTF and mandate a new process to extract the WTF from LSD, and harsher sentences for people who deal WTF, and we produce new "Faces Of WTF" videos and show them to kids around the nation. But now the police can't afford to convict all of the dealers of WTF and LSD because of the cost of the extraction process, and some LSD dealers appeal their convictions based on the new laws that put harsher penalties on WTF, arguing that their simple LSD wasn't nearly as harmful, and now we have to pay for the court battles for all of them, as well, and soon our jails are full of WTF dealers -- while people on the streets are now using crack.

You see? This stuff goes on and on and on, with no possible end in sight. We keep thinking, if we can just make the law specific enough, and plan carefully enough, we can handle every possibility, and things will work like a well-oiled machine, without any human error or corruption. And every time we add more rules, we make the situation worse.

There's a lot more, and if you folks are interested, I'll get into it. But this is the point I wanted to make to you: you do not fix problems by setting down strict, unbendable rules, and you do not fix the problems in rules by adding more rules -- that's the definition of insanity, trying to do the same thing (add more specific rules) and hoping for a different result. We need to stop doing this, as a country. We need to stop thinking that a longer law is a better law. What's the current health bill up to? 2000 pages? Compare that to the Bill of Rights, which is the best and most important set of government rules we have. What is it, one page? Two? Think of the First Amendment, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." That one sentence, 45 words, defines and protects no less than four of our most important rights. And the Founding Fathers thought that might have been too specific, since the listing of individual rights that are protected from government abuse implies that there are other rights that the government can take away.

The First Amendment works because it simply describes a goal, and allows specific people to figure out how to reach the goal. The First Amendment relies on common sense. This is how democracy is supposed to work, and it is the reason for much of American success and prosperity: trial and error, and human judgment figuring out the error and creating a solution -- which we then try again, and again.

This is what we need to get back to. We are drowning in rules and regulations and red tape, and somehow, we are just not learning from our mistakes any more -- hmm, maybe because we have built a society founded on the idea that individual human judgment is untrustworthy? Look at the recession, which was started by people using poor judgment, or no judgment, but who were all entirely within the law. People found a way to exploit the law for their own benefit, and they did it -- and because they were within the law, they will not be punished. And if our government fixes the holes in the law that allowed people to abuse our economy so badly, all that will happen is the next generation will find new ways to screw everything up all over again.

What we need to do is stop relying on rules. We need to start forcing our government to rely on people's judgment. Look, corruption and prejudice are very bad things, but they are also pretty easy to remedy, so long as you can point out the corruption and remove the person responsible. But you can't fire a rule, and adding rules don't make the first rule better. We've got to start taking rules away, and asking people to make decisions again; then we hold the people responsible for the decisions they make.

That's what I want you all to start doing. Start taking away rules.  Start thinking of your lives, our country, the world as a place that might be better off with fewer rules, and see if there are ways -- small ways -- that you can eliminate a few.  Now, that doesn't mean anarchy, that everyone can do whatever they want; there should still be some regulation and control over people's behavior -- but it should be handled by people working together toward a goal, not by rules that set down exactly what should be done. You all know the problems with rules like that, because you deal with them all the time: these are the reason you have to take state tests, and pass them regardless of any unusual circumstances (Test anxiety? Problems using computer? Sick for a month during Sophomore Year?), in order to get a diploma. They are the reason you have to study mindless things, things you don't want to study and teachers don't want to teach -- because the rules say we have to. Like lockdown drill procedures, or grammar.

These specific, common-sense-free rules are the zero-tolerance policies the school has, that suspend one student for five days for carrying marijuana on campus, and suspend another student for five days for carrying Advil. I saw one of you pushing pills during the assembly -- you know who you are! -- and according to the rules, I should report that person, who would receive a suspension. But the pills were Advil, or something similar (Tylenol, aspirin, whatever), being handed to a friend, and I used my judgment, based on my knowledge of the student involved, and broke the rule by letting the person go. I think I did the right thing, and I am willing to take responsibility for my decision if I should turn out to be wrong -- maybe those were Oxy-Contin, or something, and I just didn't see the money change hands. I doubt it, but maybe. Now which do you think led to the better outcome, and protected the ideals of the school? The rule, or my judgment?

So there you go, and I'm sorry this was so long; I really need to work on my editing. Actually, now that I think about it, I suffer from the same mistaken idea: I think the more specific examples I give, and the more detailed my explanations are, the clearer my message is. Huh. Now I feel stupid. I should make a rule for myself.

No, wait. I'll just remember, and I ask you to do the same: common sense, not rules. I'll make the best decisions I can, and try to fix the ones I get wrong. I will rely on my mind to do my thinking for me, not the book of rules.

How does that sound?

Christmas - Will C.

Well, we have many christmas traditions. We buy a tree, and decorate it with strings of little lights. Just wait, it gets weirder. Then, to celebrate the birth of Christ, we buy presents (as The Lord would want) and wrap them up and put them under the tree. Then, the day before Christmas, jolly old Saint Nick comes down our chimney to distrubute presents and coal. The logical course of action to celebrate Jesus's birth, of course. We also get our dog presents. He doesn't fully appreciate them, though.

"People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but it's the way you live your life that matters. And the people you know."

-Cassandra Clare, City of Glass

Very eloquently put.

Early Christmas Present?

I thought I'd post this because it's the only educational song we've ever made. Here, happy festivus. The whole album will be available probably AFTER winter break because I'm a lazy asshole and patrick hasn't come over since last time.




Stai n Skool 2 b Kool n 2 lrn hw 2 spll.mp3

I read the news today, oh boy

Sexting is a top issue among teens now. Not drugs, not violence, but digital lovin'.

It's my favorite Holiday!

Well first things first we head up to Ida's wreath shop and buy our garlands and wreaths for Christmas, then we come home and get out all the Christmas stuff (we have 22 boxes.....I know cuse I counted them) and we proceed to decorate. We got a fake tree last year (my Mom loves it, I think it's a piece of plastic that doesn't smell good) after we put up the tree I help my mom put out the decorations and set things up to look pretty, and then we decorate the tree. After all that is done I go upstairs and set up my mini tree that I have in my room and decorate that. When all is said and done we put away all the boxes (only 1/4 of which we actually use) and sit on our couch and hang out. On Christmas morning I get up around 7 am (I'm still a kid at heart) and proceed to eat hot Cinnamon rolls that my mom makes every year.....yum!, and we sit and unwrap our stockings. After that we take turns opening gifts my mom saves all the bows, and my dad smiles at the funny things we give him for Christmas. I always watch the snowman movie and hang out. Yep that's my Christmas I like it allot. Kelsey Oliver you took my idea darn it!!!

IM ABOUT TO OFF MYSELF

DAMNIT I CAN'T FIND PULP FICTION!!!

THAT Holiday

I'm not going to lie, I'm not a huge fan of Christmas. It's gotten way to commercial, and that seriously annoys me.
Some of our family traditions are, getting a tree and decorating it the weekend after my birthday. We all get ornaments from the year before and out those on the tree. Usually the night before Christmas we open one present from our siblings, and sometimes we open pajamas, which we then wear that night. Then we act out the nativity story wearing clothes that my dad got while he was in Jerusalem. We usually sleep in till about 6, then wake up our parents and wait at the top of the stairs while my parents "check to see if Santa really came" and then they let us down. Last year, my parents asked if I wanted to help put the presents out. Then, we divide the presents up and then open them up one by one, while eating one of those huge cans of the 4 different kinds of popcorn in them. After that, we eat pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and then usually papa murphy's pizza later. We're not allowed to seriously play with our presents until we shower and get dressed. Usually the day after we go to my grandparents house the day after, and open our presents from them. Overall, we have a very boring Christmas.

Cole #!2

Christmas is the best. Not only is it a reason to give people presents, but ven more importantly, recieve them! It's a time when boys all over the world can't wait to open up their new videogames. A time when girls can't wait to... IDK, girls, what do you look forward to getting for Christmas? Anyways, as far as traditions go, Our family alwasy gets a tree and hangs los adornos on it. (Sorry if you don't know spanish (*cough*, Olivia). We get wrapping paper and wrap up presents and place them about the tree. We all get up and have pancakes or french toast together and then we all sit in the living room and open our presents together. But also, on Christmas Eve, we go and have a reunion Christmas with all of our relatives, where everybody gets one present. Also, every year, my grandmother (God bless her heart) gets me and my brothers Advent Calenders (they are the sh... shtuff!), and so everyday leading up to Christmas we get a tasty little chocolate. :P Nom nom.

Topic 11: Happieness

Am i happy? Why, sure I'm happy. Somewhat. I have my basic needs, good social, mental, and physical health and a good home life. Why not CLAIM to be happy. It's pretty much the same as asking if you're OK and saying yes, sure, or yeah. That is a terrible lie!
The reason I'm not happy right now is because my grandma is dying. She's in a terrible state and the doctors say she's not going to live long enough to have Christmas. That's ten more days.

Christmas!

So technically Christmas started out as a pagan holiday which Christians became jealous of and called their own. So maybe not jealous but it sounded better. I think holidays should be left as they were originally not, for example, X- Mas because people don't want to offend anyone by mentioning Christ. I guess my whole train of thought boils down to my question of "Is there really a god" but i don't want to discuss that today.
I think Christmas is overrated and in today's society it should be about giving, being with family and close friends, and being happy, not about getting and who can get the biggest present. I have a friend who calls me every Christmas and asks what I got and how much money it was worth and i HATE it. That is not what Christmas is about! I don't particularly care that your family can afford a huge Christmas and mine doesn't even want one. We give gifts and celebrate Christmas but not for anything like people seem to think it should be.

tis the season!

oh how i love christmas! and yes my family has lots of traditions. usually every year me and my mom go out looking for a special ornament that represents the year that we got it, i also have to be the one to put the ornaments on the tree after my mom puts lights on it! i also get something for my family members and wrap it my self (im not very good at wrapping haha!) then put it under the tree. and then theres all those christmas movies that we have to see every year. an i mean HAVE TO SEE THEM! this list includes "A Christmas Story" "Elf" and "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". but alot of these traditions are going to be broken this year because my grandparents are taking their family to disneyland for christmas. WOOHOO IM ON THAT LIST!!! so that means no presents for me except the stockings ofcourse.

Christmas

So pretty much I dont like Christmas that much. I like it because I get to see a few people I like (people = family) but I hate it because it usually ends up with us going to my grandmas house who always throws huge damn parties and me having to dance with all my drunk relatives. Nevermind I don't hate that its actually hilarious.

Happy Holidays

Ah the holidays, for me that means good memories and bad memories. I will start with some good, go in chronological order here. Ever since I was really little, our tradition was that we would go to my grandma on my dad's side for dinner on Christmas Eve and open presents from my cousins, and one present from my grandma and grandpa. Then on Christmas morning, me and my brother would wake up really early cause we could barely sleep, then we would go downstairs and the unopened presents were from "Santa" and then we would open our stockings, waiting for my parents to come downstairs, and after they did we would all open our presents. After that my mom or dad would make breakfast. after a couple of hours of playing with new toys and getting all prettied up, we would go to my grandma on my mom's side for Christmas dinner, after being there for a couple hours we would then go to my other grandma's for snacks and opening the rest of our presents. This was pretty much our tradition until 5 years ago when things started to slid downhill, and I lost a little bit of Christmas spirit. Five years ago my mom died 6 days before Christmas, I remember my last present from her, I remember opening it in her hospice room, it was a Nike shirt. Then the next year my dad, my brother, and I went to Seaside for a couple days over the weekend to get away for the weekend of the date she died, then on the way home we stopped at his girlfriends house in longview and opened presents. The year after that my grandma went into the hospital a couple days before Christmas to have spleen surgery because she was having pain, that year my dad's girlfriend spent the night Christmas eve and then on Christmas we went to the hospital, and then had dinner at my house, and I remember hitting my new volleyball up the stairway and almost knocking the clock off the wall. Are traditions now are, Christmas eve at my grandma's house, then my dad's girlfriend comes over in the morning since she lives down the street, and then we have dinner at her house. Some other traditions are I always putt up all the decorations where my mom put them cause she loved Christmas so much, and then I decorate the tree except for two ornaments, they say Christmas 1987 and I leave those for my dad to hang up because it was the year of his and my mom's first Christmas after they got married.

Solstice

Because I don't celebrate Christmas. My little brother does, but that's because it means he gets more presents, and I don't like taking more than I want from my parents.

Solstice, to me, is a pretty relaxed time, because we usually have some people over, although this year we're trying at a party (feel free to come!). We just sit around, talk, eat, share a few small gifts or something, and get our givin's from Solstice Joe the next day! And I personally, enjoy it much more than christmas with the relatives because when I go to see them, they're all about all the gifts! Everyone's gotta have one! Then a big dinner! And it's not even celebrating anything, it's just a big panic to buy something spectacular for someone else, for what?! It makes no sense, I have yet to see a family that actually celebrates anything on christmas, they just flip shit about presents.

What we do, is say a few passages and such for the coming of season, but as we would any other coming of season, and give presents to award ourselves for making it this far. And I think that seems somewhat acceptable, and they're almost never big presents, just little charms or something. And I find myself frustrated with why Christmas is considered such a huge deal, when there's not much actual meaning outside of spending money for a good percentage of America these days. That's people for you, I guess.

Happiness

Im way behind so yeah. Anyways I'm not all that happy but saying that makes me think that im some spoiled little kid and that pisses me off. Im pretty much just sick and tired of everything thats been going on since I was like 9 and it just kinda fucked me up and turned everything amazingly shitty for me. But what I show people is happiness, I think. At least I try to show people a happy image. I try to look happy especially to my parents because they think I'm some tweaked out crack adict. Yeah.

Topic #12: Days of Christmas

Hah!  Worked out perfectly, didn't it?  Yep, had it planned that way the whoooole time.

For our twelfth blog, we will be discussing Christmas.

Oh crud -- can I talk about Christmas on a school assignment?

Well, never mind.  Religious or not, Christmas is an ancient tradition, and the holiday season in general, between Thanksgiving and New Year's, is the epitome of tradition: this is a time when people try to hold fast to their roots, when they think of childhood and family and revisiting the past.  It's almost unavoidable; even if you have no particular traditions, our society's focus is so intent on tradition at this time of year that we still speak of the lack of traditions as a tradition -- we say it's our family tradition to eat Chinese food and go see a movie, or even "We don't do anything to celebrate -- it's tradition."

Now I've said "tradition" too many times.  It's starting to look weird.  Hang on: thesaurus gives me custom, usage, convention, habit.  Excellent.

When I was young, my family had many traditions: we went caroling every year with our church, even after my brother and I stopped attending church services regularly.  We had several meaningful ornaments for the tree: one each for my brother and I that represented our birth years, on which my father had scratched our names and the date of our first Christmas (I still have mine); several of the ornaments we had made in elementary school, which I believe my mother still has; and a group of hand-blown glass ornaments my parents bought in Italy, featuring the ultimate prize: The Martian.  He was a weird little ornament, shining silver with black tips on his limbs, which included both a tail and a trunk, though he stood upright and had massive eyes that dominated his face.  My brother and I took turns putting the Martian on the tree, and it was a pretty big deal whose year it was.  Until he hit adolescence, and everything became lame.  Then it was always my year.

Christmas morning started with breakfast, usually around 9:00.  My parents would mark out une present each for my brother and I to unwrap early, so we'd be occupied and let them sleep in -- they regretted the year they gave me a drum set.  After breakfast we'd empty our stockings, which always had toothbrushes, nuts, chocolate, and a huge orange in the toe, along with small gifts.  Then we'd hit the tree: we shared presents out one at a time, in order of age (alternating as well, from oldest first, to youngest first) while my father wrote down what everyone got on a graph-paper chart he'd make.  As the youngest, I always had the most presents, which was quite the point of pride for me, because it meant I won Christmas.  After presents we'd scatter -- my mom usually worked Christmas Eve night, so she went to bed, while my dad called family to wish them Merry Christmas, and my brother and I played/read/watched TV.  Then we'd have big Christmas dinner that night, though there wasn't any definite food; it could be anything my mom felt like making, from roast beef to lasagna to stir fry.

And that was my Christmas.  My wife and I now have some traditions of our own; we follow the same present pattern, except we unwrap presents the second we are both awake, because she's impatient; every year we buy a new Christmas Bear (or moose, or penguin) and put it around the tree with all of the ones from past years.  We're getting quite a pile, now.  The dog gets his own presents, which my wife wraps, and every year we try to get him to unwrap them, but he never does.  He's too well-behaved to rip paper, which he knows he's not supposed to do.  Then, somewhere between Christmas Day and New Year's (Last year we did a 10-hour marathon on New Year's Eve), we watch all of the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD.


So that's your topic: what are your traditions for the holiday season?  Do you put up lights?  Trim a tree?  Give presents?  Wrap them?  Sing songs?  Watch movies?  Forget the holidays and hide in your room?  Tell us.

This will, by the way, be the last blog topic until after Winter Break, though I encourage all of you to check in and post how your vacation is going, and comment on other people's posts.  I'll see you all in about six hours, but I'll say it now anyway: have a happy holiday season, and a wonderful New Year.

Ten and Eleven

10

I don't find this topic to be exciting and honestly don't care. I don't have any passion to help our country weather it be in a good direction or bad. I know this isn't what you want to hear but honestly my opinion would be the first thing that pops up when I type in "is America going into a good direction?" on google.

11

I don't know my topic yet and probably won't until 2 minutes before I get to class. So I guess it's on to the alternatives that Mr. Humphrey has given us. 

Am I happy? Sure. I would say I'm happy with the way my life is. I don't know what more I could ask for except that my life continues in the same path it's going. I would be really happy if it would just snow already..  Geez

a few posts

Food topic 9


My favorite's by far is shell fish i have grown up around it and i absoulutly love it but some of my least favorites are chinese my favorite meal is breakfast


direction 10

i do think we are going in the right direction but i think its in are culture to want quick fixes that dont always make things better we need to make decisions but think what could happen in the future because of it

Happy


am i happy. I think it depends right at this time i am there is no reason why wouldnt be i think i am generaly a pretty happy person. I think im happy because if there isnt a reason to be unhappy then why act like you arent

QPC7SBV 11 VBS7CPQ

I cannot stand state testing because i cannot take them seriously no matter how hard i try so then all i ever get is passing not exceeding and the worst of the worst is when you pass but miss the exceeding is just ONE POINT AWAY!!!! so that is why i hate them it would not be such a Strong hatred if we did not have to take them until we exceeded but our school "needs the money" so i am very much so against taking them.

Am I Happy?

Well right now i would say i'm content with what is going on. Nothing really fantastic is going on just a dailly routine, but christmas and my birthday are coming up so i am excited for that although those things will only last so long like someone else said on their blog happiness usually only lasts so long before something goes bad or it just wears off and i'm just stagnant again.

Topic #7-11

#7 Luck

I believe in luck, I think that some people have more luck than others and that some people just have really bad luck. I'm not too much of a superstitious person but I do kinda believe in ghosts. I think what i most believe in is the idea of what goes around comes around.

#8 Health Care

I don't know all that much about health care but all i hear about it is bad things so i don't have a very good impression about it. It kinda just sounds like a really big scam that everyones needs. You need it because if you do get injured or something it's going to cost you a lot of money without it, but if you do have health insurance and you never get hurt or really have a chance of getting hurt then it's just a lot of money that's going down the drain.

#9 Thanksgiving

I like thanksgiving because for me it kinda sets the mood for the Christmas season. It's great for me because my family always goes somewhere else for thanksgiving so we don't really have to do any work. I don't think I would like it so much if we were the ones who had to do all the cooking and cleaning up afterwards.

#10 Direction

I don't think that we are going in a very good direction right now as it is. I think that it is possible for us to turn ourselves around and maybe make things better but right now we are way overpopulating the planet and using up all the our resources. I don't think there is enough room on the planet for all the people we already have and the number is still growing. I'm really curious to see what is going to happen in 2012 i'm not sure whether to expect anything or not but it's one of those things that kind of sits in the back of my mind.

#11 Argument Topic

I think i'm going to to mine on gay marriage. In my opinion I believe that gay people should be allowed to marry. I don't really see why it's illegal. The only thing I can see is that it might be disturbing to other people. I think that If two gay people love each other they should be able to do whatever they want, I don't really see why that should bother any one else. And I really hope this doesn't make me sound gay.....

Topic Due Date Change

Following a student blogger's eminently logical suggestion, we will be changing the due dates of these blogs to midnight on Sunday, rather than Saturday.  The new topic will be posted Monday morning.

Enjoy your Sunday.  Remember you can always post any other statement you'd like to make, any time you feel like it.  Purple monkey dishwasher says so.

topic 9

i like food.
my favorite would be ice-cream!
also i really like to make the food, but never try it.
i only like food i know what it tastes like.

Happy is just so gosh darn hard to be!

Sometimes I'm happy but sometimes I just feel like everything is going wrong, or I feel sad when my parents are fighting, but I guess that's normal. I feel bad cuse when I look back on my child hood nothing automatically comes to mind saying "Hey I'm a good memorie!! Remember me!!!" nope nothing. And lately I've been feeling crappy cuse this girl I used to be on a team with won't stop being rude to me. Sometimes I feel like just slapping her across her face and saying leave me the F#%@ alone!!! But I don't want to get in trouble for doing something stupid, but man it would feel good. I want to point out to any adults who may be reading this that when teenagers say they feel crappy we aren't just being a moody teenagers, we really do mean it and it doesn't help when adults make fun of us for being overly sensitive or dramatic. I almost feel like that's part of the reason why we have so many emotional issues cuse sometimes parents don't listen or take us seriously.........and in extreme cases sometimes teenagers kill themselves cuse they can't handle the amout of sadness, so the least some of us can do is listen, accept, and be supportive of that person so they don't feel alone.
But darn it sometimes it's so hard to be happy when it's easier to be sad. I try and look on the bright side but sometimes the dark is so big it swallows all the light and I'm stuck in the dark for who knows how long untill someone or something pulls me out and slaps me across the face a couple times to get my attention. Anywho I feel a little better after writing this so yeah peace out! Don't do drugs!! stay in school!! and all that jazz tastic crap!

Yup. I'm happy. I have a great family with steady joibs, I'm talented, and generally content with life. I never get sad about much, and if so, never for very long. Pretty much the most negative feeling that I get is boredom. Anyway, my contrversial topic is capital puinishment. My claim is that we should get rid of it. We spend about $2 million a case, twice as much as life in prison. Furthermore, there is no evidence that it helps to decrease crime rates. In fact, sometimes the opposite! A bullet costs $2, so why does it cost $2 million to kill someone legally?

Are you Happy?

This is a very interesting question to ask. I think it goes back to the "I'm fine" Or "I just don't want to talk about it." When are we ever truely happy? When are we ever truely sad? Happiness and Saddness come from almost anything. Small things such as getting a good or bad test score. Or large things like winning on a Game Show or A family member dying. But being happy most of the time is temporary. You could be having a perfectly lovely day and then find out your grandma is in the hopital. Happiness has a way of changing rapidly into saddess, therefore, how genuinly happy can someone be at any given point of time? It could be true happiness, true joy, but how long can it last. How long can you actually stay happy without something going dreadfully wrong. I suppose this is the way of life though, always changing.

Happiness.

I feel that i am very happy. Everyone has their times where they feel like they have hit rock bottom, but overall thats not me. I live my life to the fullest everyday. I see the positive side of things before i see the negitive, and tend to love people for who they are. I think happiness is something you can only measure for yourself. Happy doesnt mean that your always smiling and laughing, but that your satisfied with things in your life. I think happiness is somewhat like contentment. I love the feeling in my stomach that happiness gives me. It makes me feel unstoppable, and that i can achieve absolutley anything. It makes me want to spread my joy onto other people, and be a positive influence in other peoples lives. I dont really have things that prevent me for being happy (my parents still pay for everything, lol) so my answer to this question would be yes, i am happy.

Cole's ELEVENTH TOPIC!!!!!

Am I happy? Heck yeah I'm happy! I've got no reason to be down, and I rarely ever do (unless I get in trouble... *cough*). I mean, It's not like I only experience happiness, I feel other emotions, but I just don't hang on to the bad ones that long. Like, a day, mostly (maximum). Unless someone keeps reminding me about something that makes me mad the next day. But yes, I am (generally) happy.

As for controversialnesstificationism (or however it's spelled), what about the video games one we talked about in class? I mean, there are definitely goods and bads (and the occasional uglies) about videogames, but what we need to figure out before 10:39 tonight, is if there are more goods than bads. Because at 10:39, if we don't know, SOMETHING will happen. Although, as a gamer, I'd say the goods are better than the bads. I mean heck, you can stay entertained for hours with videogames. My mom is always telling me to find other things to do, so I build model cars and juggle, but what SHE do when she was a kid, bang her head against the wall while watching paint dry? I'd do that. They should make a videogame about that. Or hitting things with sticks. Like hoops and stuff.

I like Crab and seafood I have never had a good food story because I tend to while eating anyway avoid any eye contact or social behavior. To eat and talk is disgusting and therefore being the person that I am take it to the next level and try not to aknowledge any others while im munching on stuff. I also have to agree with Mr. H on some note I don't like a big family thanksgiving because I don't like eating with other people see Above but im outvoted in my family so big familys is what im stuck with.

Topic 10

Not really no I think OUr country has hads our Up Moments like when we hit a golden age and our Down moments like when we were in the great depression. I think the economy is going to continue to decline getting worse and worse with each new economy fall until it just plumits to the point were it can't be saved by funding a huge waste of money on a bailout or some other tax money handout.

Topic 11

Not in the since that i'm happy all the time in fact I'm more along the lines of content in no way am I happy all the time but I am happy some of the time so I'm not sure which I should put down I not always happy or always so so when you balance them all out with all the events weighing in I'm content simply and plainly content.

what?

wait a second... do i have to reply to the happiness thing? well better safe than sorry... nah im not that happy to tell the truth. alot of things have happened in my life that resulted in me cutting off all my hair and being emo for a little while before being snapped back into reality. though i think things are getting a little better im still not very happy with the life i have right now. i feel like im going to be trapped here in st. helens forever and that sometimes puts me in a really bad mood, or when i go over to my dads house every other weekend and have lots of fun just to be dragged back here for school and all of the zits that go with it!

State Testing

So now once again its the time for...

STATE TESTING!!!!! -shriek-

I, just like any other high school kid, hate state testing! I don't like going to the computer room and answering questions for hours on end, plus I just hate tests in general. I have been doing state testing for I don't know how many years and have come to the point where I don't know why we do it. It seems like people could get the same answers from grades, other tests, or portfolios and then not everything would be based off one standardized test. Plus I think that we could be spending more time learning new subjects.

Keeping Sane in an Insane World

Am I happy? I can't really answer that question right now in my life. What makes a person happy? A person can choose to be happy, I imagine, and they probably are perfectly content at that point. A person can be brainwashed into being happy, but that's not me at all. At times, I really wish that I didn't have to feel anything. I think that at one point we all do. But I guess that I can say that I'm happy. I know who I am, I know why I'm here, and I know where I'm going, which is alot more than some other people know. Knowing everything that I do, having people who genuinely love me and care for me(or they're really good at acting) sort of makes a person just happy to be them.
On a totally different note, what does anyone know about euthanasia? I took Mr. Humphrey's advice, and I picked something that I didn't fell too strongly about, and I'm sorry, but that makes it alot harder to write about. I think what I've found that's helped me the most is just google searching it, and then seeing all the hits that come up, and reading through the articles. My paragraph won't be the best piece of writing that I've done, but it's decent. Anyone have any input on it?

Hunting: Humane vs. inhumane

Okay so one of the topics I love to argue about is hunting. I have grown up in a family that has been hunting for many generations. So I believe that hunting is humane, and is not as bad as what they do to animals that are bred to make meat out of. I say this because one, let's use deer for my animal example, a fawn isn't born knowing they are going to die, they also are not bred to be killed, they are bred to keep the population going and because it is nature. Also, you are not aloud to shoot a deer if they still have spots, so they at least are certain age so you aren't killing a baby. When hunting the animal that is being hunted has a chance of surviving cause anything can happen, the hunter could miss, or they might be lucky and not even cross a hunter. A deer gets to frolick and run around and have a life before, it is killed if it is even killed, they aren't born in a pen, raised in a pen and killed in a pen. I belive that hunting is humane and not as harmful to the animal as animals that are raised to become meat.

Direction

I think that as a country we have been heading down a rocky path because of the recession. We have had job loss, an inrease in poverty, more political tension. I do feel hope for the future that we will pull out of the recession, I really hope that its before I am out on my own. So in a way I both look forward to and fear the future.

Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination

I absolutely love the quote I used for my title, because I don't think it's completely true, but I think it is somewhat true. What I agree with is that sometimes the things you do to feel happy, you look around and say, "Am I totally insane?" and when you are being completely sane you ask yourself, "Am I happy?" The question, Are you happy? Thats a hard one honestly, because i could say yes I'm happy because of this or that, but what goes a long with that is I'm angry about this or that, or sad about this or that. I think that I would be more likely to use the terms I am content with life right now, instead of "happy". Because even though nothing is going wrong, there are still certain things that bother me, and that can easily make me have a bad day. But having a bad doesnt mean I'm not happy in general, so like I said before I am content with life.

For people in general I think you can't be truely happy unless you have experienced true sadness, because it's one of those things that you can't understand one with out experiencing the other.

I think I'm dumb, maybe just unhappy.

Alright, so like, I was totally looking at Mr. Humphrey's thing and I was totally confused!
So I'll do everything I THINK it told me to do, you can just root out the stuff that doesn't belong.

Starting off with the happiness thing, I'm really not a positive, happy person. I may or may not appear happy, either way, I'm definitely not happy with life, as stupid and hypocritical as that is. I mean, I like the idea of "make due with what you got" but I'd like more sometimes. I'm not sure what to do with anything ever, and that's what makes me negative and unhappy, I can never figure things out! I just lack mental capacity to logically create. Well, I guess I'm ok at things that make sense but not usually, if you ever browse through my many attempted VIDEO GAME CREATIONS none of them would logically make it to the market. I mean, who's going to buy "Hitler and His Band of Merry Robots Vs. American Bill", that just sounds terrible! But when I work on it, it SEEMS like it's a good idea. Then I look back on it and die a little on the inside over how retarded the plan was.


Now, for the other half of this flipping crazy entry, a topic to argue? That's what I got out of that.
This is what I'd like to argue: Is your television putting you down? Because it certainly looks like it's trying to. Whenever I see my peers on here talking about what's wrong with america they talk about what they see in the news, at least most of the time, and, it seems the news is focusing on just all the bad voodoo that's going around, yeah? Why? Why focus all that power on all the wrong that's going on, I mean, it seems like a lot of our country watches the television, and I think a good percentage watches the news. And if all that's on the news is A BUNCH OF COPS GOT SHOT AND BILLY RAPED SALLY THEN SOME GUY CRASHED A PARTY IN THE WHITE HOUSE I can only assume that's all people are seeing in our country, not looking at all the marvelous things we have around us. Guess what happened today? A child was born. Infact, a bunch of kids were born. I bet you a house was built, someone got married and an old man died a peaceful death. But you're not going to see that on the news! Because that's not interesting to our current society, or so we're told. At least, that's what I've been hearing. But I talk to people around me, and I think they'd be a lot happier if they didn't have to hear about sadness and grim futures every day. I, infact, THINK that if we had less 2012 scares and global warming hoedowns we as a nation might have less to worry about. But hey, I just wrote a crapload, probably messed up here and there and refuse to reread this because I'm lazy. So this post might not make any sense to you.

Summary: I'm not happy with my mind, and our media needs to be happier. Look on the bright side, Mr. Newsman.

Is mario really the "best" video game ever?

i have been on alot of top 100 videogame sites and most all of them say that the mario franchise is number one! but why cant some other game be number one? (like final fantasy *cough cough*) so this is my topic 11. and i am against it!! i have played alot of way better games than mario! mario is actually kinda boring in my opinion and i suck at it. some pluses for it though is that for its time, it was actually the most involved game compaired to the others. and it also carved a path for future video games to come. but, it has also taken a turn for the worse. for example; they keep cranking those games out atleast 4 or 5 times a year! and they are just the same game re-released and there is nothing new about them! better graphics sure but i think mario is just run by scammers now and thats a hit against them. and also what are the chances of some fat italian plumber risking his life and finally getting to the princess and dating her?! anyway i think that is some solid evidence that the people who made that game in the first place was a little bit on crack but just a little bit. (trying not to be offencive and failing) i have nothing against mario, its a decent game and all, but there is probably some evedence out there to prove that it is not the number one game of all time...

topic #11

Am I happy? I don't know.... Sometimes I believe I'm truely happy, and others I believe nothing in the world could make me happy. How can someone be truely happy? Is it fame, money, love? I've heard stories including some and discluding others, so what is it? Is there a secret? I'm on pills, but even they don't make me happy sometimes. I think in time I'll be happy, but for now, I'm just neutral - good and bad days always.

our direction.

First of all, were still at war. thats not good.
There is a lot of poverty and illnesses.
My mom said that we are running out of jail space, and dont have the
money to build new jails.
Terroism has also gone up within a couple years.
Another negative is global warming.
i dont really know any positive things right now.

topic #10

Our world sucks. I'm sorry, but really, it sucks. We all fight and don't share. We're gonna run out of resources soon. Everyone hates eachother or takes advantage/uses others. Makes me depressed. Everyday, I go online or turn on the Television and something horrible is on it. I wish we could all realize that this isn't what we're supposed to do. I think the world is going to end by us before anything else. At least spare the animals!

Foooood topic #9

Ok, like any other person, I LOVE sweet and salty and crunchy things!! mmmmm!!! PEANUT BUTTER!! even by itself it's AMAZING. I know I'm weird. But I like normal things like pizza, salad, tacos, etc! Things I don't like, however, are experimental things D= like, for example, mustard on pizza. To me, that sounds utterly horrific. Or fried icecream? I mean, what is that?? Isn't that like an oxymoron, or one of those words? Anyway, weird. Food is weird, but amazing.

topic #8

I think we should really be concerned about health care. So many people don't have jobs or have been laid off. People are even afraid to go to the hospital if they're injured or sick because of costs!! I know a few people who've been really sick but would rather wait it out until it got really bad because they didn't want to have to pay so much for something that "might" not be serious. I don't think we need to have worries about this! it's ridiculous!

topic #7

I don't believe in luck... I think it's something we made up to explain why bad things or good things happen to us more then once at a time. I mean what, are we born with this gene in us that makes us automatically have bad or good luck? No, I don't think so... That would suck. To be born proned to have bad luck all your life and hate people with good luck. I do believe someone can be "lucky", just not have good luck or bad luck.

Topic #6

Honestly.... I fear scary movies!! I love them to death and I love being scared!!! As for whether or not I believe werewolves and stuff once existed... I don't, but I believe that there was something out there to make people believe they did... like vampire bats O_O

Topic #11: Topics

Wow, I'm late on the posting this week -- I actually slept in, for once. I never do that. I think I have something of a cold, though.


At any rate: I was most tempted to ask the same question of you all that Clarisse asked of Montag: are you happy? It seems to me an extremely important question to have the correct answer to, and the fact that Montag does not know his answer right away is indicative of his situation and personality; as he struggles with it, he begins to have an epiphany. I like that. On the other hand, I know from past blogs and discussions that many of you have already explored the thought for yourselves, and thus any insights have already been -- er -- inseen, which would make this topic dry and dull for you.

But wait! We have uncountable topics to discuss! Well, not really uncountable -- there are probably right around 36 topics. But that's a lot, and this is a good opportunity.

You are all thinking about possible controversial issues to use for your persuasive essay (Don't forget about the homework! Due tomorrow! Tell your friends!), which we will be writing this week and next. Perhaps the hardest part of writing persuasively is coming up with your arguments; so many of our opinions are simply that -- opinions, based on how we feel, rather than on sound reasons. So many of the opinionated people in the media function on that level, as well, which leaves us with a good sense of how we feel, but not much of why.

So I'd like to take the chance to debate it, just a little. Your assignment for this week is to post at least one controversial issue you are thinking of writing your essay about, and state your claim. I am hoping that your classmates will be able to respond with reasons and support for or against your claim, so we can all help each other brainstorm good arguments for the essays. And maybe have a little fun arguing. If you do not want to share your persuasive topic with the class, that's fine (though it makes this week's blog a little more pointless for you), simply choose some other controversial issue and make a claim. Then try to help your classmates out. If any of you are particularly knowledgeable about a topic, please be sure to share what you know, especially if you can point someone to a resource, a website or article or information source that would give good information on the topic.
Once again: post a controversial issue and a claim, either your essay topic or something different, and then try to respond to other people's posts and claims. DON'T be insulting.

EDIT TO ADD:

Right, so it seems there may be some reluctance to post argument topics; I suppose some of you don't want to get your opinions shot full of holes.  Understandable, but come on: that's how you learn to support your opinion and win arguments!  Sigh.  Well, let's have some alternatives for those who don't want to post arguments.

Alternative #1:  As some people already have, answer Clarisse's question.  Are you happy?

Alternative #2:  We are doing state testing this week.  Go ahead and air out your opinion of that.

To Fear or Not to Fear

Again.. Sorry!

My fears are as follows: Spiders, drowning, not being able to experience all of the experiences I want to experience in life before I die, never being in love, parents being disappointed in me, Revelations (I don't believe that will happen but just reading it makes my skin crawl :/ ) and not getting into college.

I love Halloween and I DON'T believe that it's a Hallmark holiday. It's based off of the Day of the Dead in Mexico and I love dressing up. It's very fun. and exhilerating. Yeaahhhh Woo!   :)

-Cassie Edwards

Old Superstitions Die Hard?

Again, sorry about the lateness!

I don't believe in superstitions all that much. When I knock salt over, I throw it over my shoulder and sometimes I catch myself knocking on wood when I say something I don't want to happen. Luck I believe to an extent.. I believe more in fate and whatever happens was meant to happen. Luck is just a detail to that idea. But whenever I break a mirror, have a black cat cross my path, walk underneath a ladder, or open an umbrella inside.. I always catch a hint of worry in my mind. But then I blow it off and forget about it.
:)

-Cassie Edwards

Food!?

I am dearly sorry for the lateness. I haven't been on the computer that much.

I LOVE FOOD. It's amazing. Except brussel sprouts. Ick :/ I am actually eating a cookie right now. It's a white chocolate chip macadamian nut. Yum, my favorite kind of cookie. I think it's from Costco. My favorite food store. Food makes the world go roung. I just wish you couldn't get fat from it. :(

-Cassie Edwards

America - From and Optimists point of View

   Ummmm wellll... Just to take a spin on things, I am an optimist and I'd rather see things good, not bad. So here it goes.
    I love that we can speak freely our minds and what not. I couldn't imagine a place where you could get shot just for saying something you weren't supposed to say. Most people have an abundance of food, and America isn't in poverty. We have clean water (for the most part), electricity, hygiene, and shelter. ( I know some people don't, but the majority of us do) and so on and so forth. We have problems, yes. But nothing is perfect.

I'm tired of this topic, so I'm stopping. Capiche'?

-Cassie Edwards

Damn your eyes

I think this blog should be a lot more colorful. The blackness of it makes me want to rip my eyeballs out with spoons. Like, I like hopping on here and reading what people have to say. But this is seriously too dark looking! Aaaaaaaa

Take a Left Turn There

I think that our country is taking a step or more like a jog in the wrong direction. about two thirds of our country (the ones that come up with the stupid ideas and the third that just follows whatever they say) just goes with what they think sounds like it will be a quick fix or tries to do too much. then there is the third that is smart and thinks about the long term affects and want to turn right not left with the other group.

so in my opinion i think we should not be picking fights so that we can be "The Most POWERFUL" country and just try to do whats best for our people and think about what our actions will do in the future.

OH! 4 at one time!

Superstition and luck: Actually this is something i think about quite frequently, and still i have no answer. My brain is thinking in cause and effect. if an apple is dropped, it will hit the ground. when the apple is dropped you can predict the future by using past experiences, and there for the apple hits the ground. but i also think of the luck side, the what if's. what if a bird swoops down and picks up the apple, luck. I know bad example but i hope you see my point. So after much thinking i still cant really determine if there really is luck or just a set of events leading to a logical conclusion.

Heath care: Well unlike luck this is something i hardly ever think about, or even know whats going on. The words do have meaning to me but all i get when i think about it is a big issue that i really don't know anything about. I know obama is doing something about it or with it, but other than that im pretty nieve. so nieve in fact that i cant even spell that word right.

Food: Probably my favorite topic so far. I really like food, ask anyone who sat at my table in seventh grade about last years corn dog, and they'll tell you that ill eat about anything. I don't really like to gorge myself on food, or just eat a lot, but for some reason i just in joy eating.

Society: I would like to think that were heading in a good direction, but im not sure if we are. As humanity i think we are making great improvements to poverty and the basics for survival for all people. But we are also creating a nightmare for our climate. im not sure the earth can sustain all the people on the planet. On a country level, the big thing seems to be the economy. I personally think that we are making huge gains there. if i understand correctly, then the highest the dow jones industrial got was just about 14000 points, then it crashed all the way down to 6000 something. Now its at 10471.58 that means were over halfway to a complete recovery. I know its a lot more complicated than those three numbers but it seems to me that as long as we stay on this somewhat steady path then America should be ok.

Directions...To The Future.

First of all, I think global warming is increasing at an alarming rate. Second, The landfills are increasing in size and numbers, and have no signs of slowing down. Also, the people of this earth are destroying the natural habitat for all of the animals. The ratio of trees being cut down verses trees being re-planted is also horrifying. So, basically, people as a whole are not taking good care of the planet. There are some things that could be changed, however. For example, if more people were educated about how to take care of their little portion of the globe, it would start to build up in a positive way. Everyone likes to think of the future as a bright place full of wonder and flying cars. This may be the case, according to scientists, because of the rate of growing technology.

what is a PloNKer?

Ok patrick you want to know what a plonker is? well i really dont know but i do have my own definition of it but first lets hear about the history of the word PloNKer (yeah thats actually how you spell it i think)

Ok so one day i was playing dead space and it was freaking me out because i didn't know what to do so i went on youtube to look for a walkthrough and i came across this one video called "paul's gaming dead space part 1" this video didn't actually have the word plonker in it but this paul guy (who i might add is a fat british guy thats kinda funny) had many many walkthroughs of video games and one of them was a game he made himself. it was really random and there was this one level called PloNKer land or something. they where these weird tweeky people that kept freaking out and you had to catch them but they were very bad at hiding so it was really easy. and after a while i knoticed that he used the word plonker alot in his other videos and i really took to the word. so based on the context that it was used in, i came up with a definition for this word.

PloNKer: the act of being stupid, naive, ditzy, irritating, annoying, forgetful, or being a complete tool

Thanksgiving :)

Well, my Thanksgiving wasnt anything special this year. All that happened was my Grandparents came over for dinner, because all the rest of my family is in California, and my parents didn't want to go. So, I spend all of Weds. and Thurs. cooking with my Mom. I did have alot of fun though, because my family is busy most of the time, and so it was a nice way to get us all together. :)

Make a hole, with a gun, perpendicular.

Alright so I thought I'd say something about those craaaaaaaaaaazy agree/disagree questions.

First off, on the censorship thing, like, I think I'm pretty much OKAY with censorship on curse words and such. Because all in all, if you need to hear someone drop an F bomb to enjoy your music, you're probably looking for something that isn't on el radio. I mean, a majority of the things I listen to have someone saying something naughty and hateful but I listen to it in my own time, I'm not broadcasting it to the world. If you're going to be throwing things around in the media, at least refrain from doing something that'd offend your audience, if not for their unexpected listening of your rants, at least to appeal to a larger crowd. I dunno, but I do know that complaining about something being censored because they're saying things that a fair majority of our fine and wonderful country might be offended to, as opposed to settling on a medium that both the rebellious, SAY IT ALLs, and the "keep it away from my children!"s is a bit silly.

And that's all I have to say on that

I was looking at the sheet though and I saw another one that was pretty interesting to me, about how if everyone should follow the law, even if they're bad laws.

I think if there's a law in place, it's probably there for a reason. I mean, we don't murder eachother because that'd cause people to be sad, and it's morally incorrect to pull the plug on another's life when they didn't ask you to. For me it is, at least. I'm not sure about the rest of you. But if there's a law like,

don't play your music above the volume of ten! Anyone resisting this law will face 90 years in prison!

Then by all means, get the hell out of wherever you are at the time, go to another country. And if this is being applied in every darn tootin' child bootin' country, then stand up. Let them know you want your music louder. But seriously, I think people should follow the big things you know, no theft, quit shanking uncle larry, ect. but the little things shouldn't be an issue as long as it's not effecting anyone else.

I'm done now

P.S.

Someone should find the hypocracy in this post.

society gone wrong?

i think our society, technologically, has vastly improved! just take the time to think about what you had just 10 years ago. no dvd, no digital camera, no flat screen tv, no wii or xbox 360 or playstation 3... no playstation 2 for that matter. that was only 10 years ago! i remember when spyro was top of the line graphics! (what was i thinking?)

but as for politically or our whole as a society, we are still stuck on the same level. we might have gone up a level or two but every level gets harder than the last and we are runing out of levels to conquer! im just saying!

so i really dont have an answer for this one. its kind of a yes/no question anyway and i dont want to go either way.

Direction

Well I see it as each area is different. Technologically I say we are going good getting better healthcare(that no one can afford) better entertainment and just random things that make life easier, but I do see us getting too lazy because of it. Politically I'd say we started off with a good idea but now we are at a point where nothing can get done because everything has to be exact please everyone and just the terminology they use is so confusing that no one understands it so we don't even know what politicians are talking about (ballot # 324 do we not as a not country not want to not kill babies in a government based fashion "uh.... yes", later on the news, now 98% of Americans chose that we should kill babies what's wrong with you people). Now socially I think we are doing the worst we have teenagers who only care about looking cool marriages that don't last and severe bullying scornement to those who are not cool or social.

Directions? Do I need Map?

The second I read this post i was so ready to type about it. I think we are, and have been headed in the wrong directions for along time. I was definitely born in the wrong era, because I don't agree with a lot of things that are going on. For one I hate technology so much, unless it is useful, like medical advances or something that is helpful to people. What I don't believe in is creating new video game systems, and all the different games to them when people could be using that time and money to be finding a cure for deadly diseases. I think that technology is ruining kids and their future, because instead of being outside running around we are sitting around playing games and watching tv. I think that ruins social skills, and imagination, people might not think imagination is a huge deal but I do, because I probably have the imagination of a five year old, where the sky is the limit and you can do what ever you want. I think that kids don't just get to be kids anymore, that we are having to grow up and be exposed to things younger and younger as the years go on. I also believe that stuff like teen pregnancy gets glorified to much and so people think it isn't that big of a deal to have a baby or if they don't want to get pregnant they can walk down the street and get the pill at a public health center, and if they want to they can just go get an abortion.
I think we have enough problems in our own country that we don't need to be fighting other countries to save oil. I use this phrase about the united states, we are the janitor's to wars that will only benefit us. I say if you're going to help, help everyone or stay out of it. So we are wasting money on guns and war fair, and that leaves people out of work, people struggling to get by. And we pay people in countries to do all of our work is also pointless, because that's how we are in the problem we are in now. As you can tell I don't have much positive to say about our country and that is because I think that our government makes stupid decisions, it's ran by rich millionaires, who don't what it is like to have to work and wake not knowing if your going to have a job the next day. they think they know what is best for the people, and they are just doing what they can so they don't have to pay taxes on stuff and lose their summer homes.
We have schools that are overfilled and crappy, and they have to cut classes and do everything to save money when these people making the decisions for us own super nice cars, and multiple houses.
To me when you look at it all it doesn't make sense, everything we do doesn't make sense, if the government would just take a moment to listen to people and actually have an open ear, mind, and an actual heart when they listen, maybe we would actually do something that will fix things.

Thanksgiving

I know its late but oh well. This year my thanksgiving wasn't what it normally was, this year we went to my aunt's house which we never do. I love thanksgiving because I like food, but it wasn't my favorite this year. In the past my mom always loved making all the food for two days then having everyone over at my house, that was probably the best and we did the same thing every year.
Then after she passed away we started doing thanksgiving at my grandma's house which was great too, i would stay the night at her house and help her make everything. But once my other aunt and uncle got there big new house they started doing there own thing and invited my grandma so we couldn't do it at her house. After this my dad's girlfriend did thanksgiving at her house after she finally moved into st. helens, and that was okay too, but not as good as before. So I guess each year my thanksgivings have gotten less exciting. I also think that is because I love to cook and I like to help with the dinner, so when I don't get to its kind of pointless for me.
And another thing is I love traditions, i don't know why but for some reason I love them i always get told, "Change is okay, we don't have to do the same thing every year." But the traditions were fun and there was always something to look forward too. Being the kid you never get asked what you want to do, you get told what you are going to do, so I wish the traditions would go back, but i guess i can just wait until I am doing my owe traditions.

Directions.

As far as I can tell, technologically we're heading in the right direction. We're creating safer cars (Acura now a full lineup of 5 star Crash and Saftey rated cars. (I wasn't paid to say that)). But to me, it seems as though are youth are slowly deteriorating, and being more concerned with being cool, than whats going to come ahead of them in life. So I think that our ideas and technology are good to go, but the youth needs to step up their act, other wise we're gonna be stuckwith a heck of a lot of gas pumpers and burger flippers, but no nanophysicists, or engineers.

Problems.

Well to start off I went to katu.com (local news channel) and looked at the headlines. Here they are:

1. "Presidential party crashers called to go before congress."
2. "Man with colorful past shot in local trailer park."
3. "Police: Man kills girlfriend at Hillsboro hair salon."
4. "'Horror scence' as 4 Lakewood police officers shot, killed"
5. "Second body in two days found in Portland waters."
6. "Ore. woman, shot from back seat, still struggling."

I think problems are just getting worse. Everytime I turn on the news it's shootings, going green, and political crap that I have no understanding of.

Just yesterday I turned on the news and heard about a shooting right off the bat. This is obviously number four on the list, the one that starts with "horror scence." Three officers were having coffee and some guy comes in and shoots them. Wow. Is that what the world is coming to?
Police- the regulation and control of a community, esp. for the maintenance of public order, safety, health, morals, ect.
Is that something people seriously have hatred for? Killing the police officers having coffee and harming no one, ha, that's nice. Looks like I won't be hitting up coffee shops anytime soon.

This whole going green thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Look. You've made the cars, and eco-friendly water bottles; hell, you've even came up with eco-friendly houses so quit pushing it! I do the best I can, and so do many people. Recylcle, Reduce, Reuse. I know, I know.

Like I said I have no understanding of the political crap so I'm just going to skip over this one.

One other problem I can think of that isn't discussed everyday, is the growing population. We have so many people and limited resources. If the population continues to rise at this rate, our resources will begin to deplete! We don't want that. China already has their one child rule, (thank God!) so maybe Americans should begin to be aware of that to. Now I'm not saying we should have some kind of law saying we can only have so many children, but please, don't have ten children!

Problems... Will C.

Well, I think the greatest problems in the world today are probably global warming, the population, and our economy. All of which could be solved by nuking China. (just sayin'). I mean the average chinese person puts out 1/5 of the carbon of a US-ian. Which is all changing as they start improving their country and lifestyle. So, in a couple of years they are gonna be putting out like 3 times as much gas and garbage and evilness as we are! Agghhh! And The other problem with them is outsourcing and globalization. We're sending all our money to China for plastic garbage that we throw away the day afterward. Darn Commies are takin' all our jobs! And they breed like rabbits! Well, not anymore, I guess. Two kids or you get forcefully aborted! Still, they are many times more populous than us, and in a smaller area. (Easier to nuke!). And you know what they say, "waste not want not". You know, we've got a lot of nukes wastin' away in concrete boxes. Maybe we should make use of them! On China! (just sayin')

It's a cold world

I don't think that the world really gets better or worse, but it does change over time and changes can be looked at either for the better or the worse. So it kinda depends on how a person looks at it.

With that in mind I would say that the World is kind of going down that slippery slope. When people say that it's a cold cold world out there they weren't kidding. In some ways more than others the world seems to be becoming a more dark and sinister place. For example my mom when she was a young woman could, in fact, walk out her front door and walk down the street at night without having to worry about being kidnapped, raped, robbed, asked if she wanted to buy drugs, and or getting blown away by the local gang lord. I wasn't able to do this, I grew up for a little while, when I was younger in NE Portland were half the time our front yard was a prime spot for police officers to cuff a perp., so we moved out here where I guess it's a tad safer.................................. I was just told a couple minutes ago that my Mom's hairdresser's daughter was shot and killed at a great clips by her son of a bitch ex-boyfriend................he tried to kill himself as well, but now he is the hospital with severe brain damage............I hope he survives so that way he can rot in jail and live with the guilt of it for the rest of his pathetic meaningless life. This is how the world is now a days..........it makes me feel scared. Another thing that scares me is, When did humans start caring more about money than other humans lives? Or I really want to know what gives someone the right to kill another human being? That's not our job. Why do some people out there think "Hey if I'm gonna kill myself then I'm going to take out this person as well." That's a load of crap!!!

Although this all is true there is some good coming out of moving into the future, and that is the medical field has grown in leaps and bounds. So this would be one of the better things that have been happening, but sometimes it's really hard to look at the positive things in life when so many bad things are happening all around us. All we can do is try and find the things in life that make us happy and focus on them.

I don't even know if any of this makes sense lol.

Me, Myself, and I

A rant? A teacher has asked us for a rant? Ask, and it shall be given!
This is most definetly a subject that I feel strongly about. Or, at least, I can babble forever about. Hrm. Are we, as a society, going downhill? Well, I think you need to have an end place to sort of "fall". Could it be bad that we, as America, have influence everywhere? No, I think not. I think what's bad is that we have that influence, and that we are spreading corruption to those places. Could it be that we know what is good and bad? No, I don't think that's the worst of it. We know that drugs will kill us, and yet we still smoke, and get high, and do all the crap. I think that the worst that America can get is when we have spread corruption, and we do know what's right and wrong, and yet we decieve ourselves into thinking that we're ok, or we're helping people. We are losing our morals, because we try to please everyone. We try to hide our problems behind a facade that we are ok. I think that, as a society, we, individually have adopted that attitude. Can you justify a stupid choice? We can't even get out of debt! I was reading a newspaper heading today, and, if I remember correctly It said "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" When we can own up to our own mistakes, then we will be getting better.
So, to make a long story short, yeah, I think that American is going downhill. I think that's the only way that we can justify our actions so far.

Thanksgiving and The End of Society, a double feature!

One of these days that's going to be a movie and I'll be sued for copyright issues or some ridiculous pizazz like that.


Alright, thanksgiving pretty much blows. Too much food. I'm not a heavy eater like, at all, I give away 50% of the food I buy usually. And when the whole celebration is flippin' tastical eating I feel like a jackass because I'll have a super small plate of food and everyone will have these mountains of food, so I feel like I'm not doing my part in finishing the meal off. I dunno. Dumb holiday. Probably why we didn't celebrate it this year!

And about where our country/society/planet is going: I hope it doesn't go south within the next fourty or so years, but I wouldn't mind anytime after that. As long as global warming and the economy don't kick my life in the pants, I don't see any reason to worry. I don't want to live anywhere past sixty, so I don't have to see the grandchildren that my generation and myself may or may not have ruined the lives of. And from the looks of it, things will be fine, as they always have been. Someone's in a war, somebody's been robbed, those guys are standing up for their beliefs, ect.

To me, it seems society just goes in a giant loop of freaking out about one thing and improving another. And as long as it keeps doing that, we should be fine. But that's just my opinion, I'm usually pretty uninformed and ignorant of my surroundings.