1. I found the visual argument from Washington Univetsity most appealing. I thought the hand idea was super cool and also shows togetherness. This is important to me because instead of just showing the differences, they show people of all different identities working together to make a bigger picture, the tree. The visual argument I found least appealing would be the the one created by Megan Stampfli. I found this one least effective because the person that is depicted, while she appears to be a minority, there are no variations so the ad doesn't really so diversity at all.

2. The first cartoon shows a boy getting to go to college because he is boosted up and "tall enough to ride" because he is boosted up by his shoes that say racial and preferences. The second shows the supreme court judges are all wondering about promoting racial diversity and the one minority judge out of all of them is saying "the irony escapes me". The third image shows a little boy who had to deal with all these problems and them gets into college because of affirmative action and an old white lady is yelling that it is unfair. The fourth images shows a group of people who seems to have gotten into college for unfair reasons but the only one being blamed is the minority. The last image shows that in order to get into the college of o es choice you have to spend a lot of money. The image I find more convincing is the one showing all the different student who hot special treatment but the minority is blamed. I think that this shows that a lot of people blame minorities but they aren't the culprit. The least effective in my opinion is the cartoon of the judges. It's not that funny and you have to really study the image to get any sort of feeling from it.

For my visual ad I did a Toms shoes ad on their homepage of their website.

-Who created this visual text? Who distributed it?
-It was created and promoted by Toms on their website's homepage.

- what can you find out about these people and other work that they have done?
-the Toms brand shoe company promotes the fact that every time someone buys a pair of their shoes, they give away a pair to someone who does not have any, or cannot afford to buy shoes. on their website they have a section about their "Movement" and they also have a tab with links to various other sites run by the shoe company like blogs and social networking sites.

-what did the creator and the distributor intend its effects to be?
-they are promoting a new style of Tom that features glitter and sparkles. this is a new look for Toms and they are trying to promote a high sense of fashion than previously seen in Toms.

-how are the media used to communicate words and images?
- the words 'Stand Out' appear in the ad with the shoes in various colors. they used the words stand out because the shoes are sparkly and so they naturally draw your eye to them causing them to stand out.

-what overall impression does the visual create in you?
- the sense that if i wear these shoes then people will notice me.
-what is your eye drawn to first?
- my eye is drawn to the glitter on the shoes and how eye catching they are.

Even though the United States is one of the richest coutries, it has the largest number of over weight citizens.

1. More years of required physical education in public school systems
A. Increased awareness/education
B. More physical activity in school
2. Healthier food options in schools
A. Increase the availability of healthy food
B. Take pop machines out of schools
3. Public announcements and free siminars
A. Increased education of adults (gets passed on to children)
B. People will have a knowledgable resource to get info on nutrition and physical activity.

SOURCES
obesity.org
Obesityinamerica.org
Downtoearth.org

I think that the international space station was a really cool idea in the beginning. But also, I think that the idea is kind of dead in it's own shoes. It has lived out it's prime and needs to have modifications before we should even consider putting so much money into it. I do believe that space is our future but I also believe that at the moment, the international space station is dead in it's own tracks. We are still constantly pouring money and other resources into it's upkeep and and renovation. It is annoying that this has happened but for it current purposes I think that it is fairly useless. I think that we need to go further into space and once again push the boundaries. It was so exciting back in the day, or at least so I hear, and I remember how big of a deal it was to watch the launches when I was a kid on TV. We even got to miss class to crowd around the TV and watch in awe as the rocket lifted off with a ball of fire. I think that died when we decided that the moon was all we were aiming for. We need the drive back to explore the unexplored and get excited about maybe being the first people or nation to get there. But that's only a wish, and far off in the future. But until then, we need to stop pouring funds into useless missions that result in nothing new.

For my paper I decided to wrote about race. When looking for my sources I started with google scholar. A lot of the sources that I found were books and e-articles. One of the promising sources that I found talked about the origins of the Anglo-Saxon race. I believe that it is a very credible because the source is very relevant to my topic. I didn’t find the author of the article because was just an excerpt from a book. The author presents himself with good credentials and also he makes sure to not put his opinion into his writing in a way that it would alter the nature of the passage. In it he only presents the facts and almost no opinion. This is helpful for his claim to credibility because the people can not dispute fact. People can however dispute opinion because it is not set in stone and is instead an interpretation and practical use of the facts that were made available to you.

I have decided that I am going to write my paper on race. I think this is a pretty unoriginal topic but that is what I want to wrote about. I think that this is important and I also think that there are a lot of discrepancies. I have always found race characterization as one of my staple issues I have always had a problem with. I think that this is an issue that has been pondered and doesn't have a direct meaning. I think this is because there is no scientific backing for race and when under a microscope there is not different in the genes of people from different races. Yet we still believe race exists.

So since I have already taken your class, I have already written a paper with this prompt. The last time I wrote for this prompt I am pretty sure that I did my paper on Lord of the Rings versus World of Warcraft. Obviously, this was an awesome paper. I want something equally as awesome this time around. I am thinking about using the fact that the world is going to end in 2012 to my advantage. I am going to find some awesome articles or something of the sort that is telling me that the world is indeed going to end in 2012. This is going to be a great paper in my opinion. I dont really think that the world is going to end in 2012 but I love the fact that there are people that really do believe this. I fully believe in exploiting people inappropriately who believe bogus things. or at least things that i think are bogus. I am not sure of the specific nature of the media I am going to use as representatives of the idea of the world ending. Personally, I think it would be great if I could use a blog entry from someone who is saying how scared they are. Or, maybe I'll use some type of essay explaining exactly what is going to happen to the world. I want the tone of my paper to be shear terror. This may be wrong or whatever but I think this is a fantastic idea. And I guess thats all that matters.

Facebook

Im not really sure if there is even a significant amount of people in college and high school now a days who still don’t have a facebook. I think facebook is a little annoying but that is only because I now have something to do instead of my homework. It definitely makes things harder when you are trying to get your work done. I can spout out some shit that it helps keep people in touch and stuff but that is not the primary reason people use it in mu opinion. I think teenagers are so nosy and self-conscious that they need to support of their peers to feel good about themselves. What I mean is girls make sure to put their very best pictures up on facebook so other people can see how pretty they are and comment on it. People also use facebook to see what other people have been doing without them. I think that this is a big deal because everyone wants to be doing things that make them look cool. Frequently, you see pictures of alcohol, drugs, or scarcity of clothing. This is all because people want other people to notice them and give them approval. They think that if something is sort of taboo then it is cool and they will look cool doing it. I guess I am not different. I like facebook. I am 19. I really think that they go together like peanut butter and jelly.

BLOG!

So, for my first assignment I read my sister’s blog. I didn’t read it because it was interesting, I read it because I was assigned to read a blog and was too overwhelmed with all of the possibilities. So, I stuck to what I knew. After glancing back over the blog to identify (hopefully) some of the rhetorical devices that she uses when she puts up a new post. The problem is, I really don’t think that she is thinking that much about rhetoric when she is posting. I mean, maybe she is but I seriously doubt it. She uses some imagery, the one rhetorical device that you can find almost anywhere. This general lack of English savvy is because her “blog” is less of a blog and more of a facebook. She generally just posts a bunch of pictures of her kids and people comment on them. I suppose she try to write little blurbs about what one sees happening in the pictures, but, even there, the rhetoric is weak. She may throw in a climax to a story or maybe a hyperbole MAYBE personification or a simile every once in a while. But, basically as I said before I doubt she really plans out what she is going to say before hand and even when she is writing it doesn’t think, “WOW I really should use an alliteration right now!” I doubt very many people who are writing casually think about using those specific tools.

So I got my belly button repierced. I got it pierced on my senior trip to Spain and Morocco. I got stuck with the needle 3 times rather than the normal just two. This is not a good thing if you haven’t caught on yet. It kind of really hurt. And I was kind of a baby about it. But that’s okay. Because I still did it. And only complained a little. The guy who did it was really cool. He had both ears gauged but only one gauge in at the time. Anyways all my friends when and took pictures of my face while the needle was through my skin. Lets just say that it is not the most attractive pictures of me. Then we went and got Japanese from a place next door. The guy who was receiving my payment had just got it and it looked so good we just had to go! I got yummy noodles and kept looking at my new piercing. I am really glad that I got it done again. The only bad thing is that I cant stretch my back as much as I want to without pulling on the skin and making it hurt a lot. So I have kind of had some back cramps that I haven’t been able to take care of. I also got it pierced in a different place this time and it looks so much better. It is deeper in my skin this time around.

I have a friend named Megan. She is little. Not that little. Just fun size. She stays at my house a lot. Her boyfriends name is Edward. Yes, like the vampire from Twilight. I call him Ward. I just started to. It was nice. He pretended to be my older brother. But that didn’t work out. We don’t really look a like. At all. I like Mexican food. Like a lot a lot. But I like fake Mexican food. I like Chipotle and Moe’s Southwest Grill. I also have a friend named Kristen. Shes fat and cute. She likes bacon. Lots of bacon. We go to waffle house. And eat bacon. Actually she doesn’t eat it there because she doesn’t like it. I also think that I am hilarious. I guess that you can say this it is a flow or something but I don’t think that it is. I know I am hilarious . but don’t worry I always use my powers for good and not evil. I really want a quesadilla but I doubt that I will get one. I asked some people to get me one but I don’t think that they heard me. So that is really unfortunate. Because I am still hungry. Today is my least favorite of days. This is because I have a class at 5. And it stinks because I have lost all motivation by the time that class rolls around. Oh well today is the last day that I have that class.

I hate cool people. it is utterly annoying when people think that they are really cool and better than everyone else. I mean they are so up tight. They are too embarrassed to do anything in public for fear that people will think it is lame and not cool. I mean people need to not care what other people think. And I think that that confidence is what makes people attractive as a person. It makes you want to be around them. I am not saying everyone needs to be loud and obnoxious, just not concerned with what is cool or the norms. It is said that people act this way because they are self conscious. And this is obviously true. I mean if you aren’t comfortable with yourself you are going to look to others for that assurance. It makes you feel better. Right I am eating pasta. And it is pretty good. And it like to eat at school. I think its because I feel like I am getting food for free when in reality it is prepayed. I think that it is a great idea. It makes you want to buy lots more food. The only bad thing is now I am in the habit of eating at certain times of the day and I eat out of habit instead of hunger. But I guess this isn’t that bad of a thing because I need food to learn and to nourish my brain!

i hate facebook groups. I really don’t understand their purpose. I guess to show people what you like and what you don’t. maybe what you are interested in and it will help find you friends that are also interested in the same thing. I am not saying I am not in any facebook groups because I am, I just join ones that are funny and I laugh at. But honestly once I join them its not like I ever go to their page. I honestly don’t think that I could find their pages even after I have joined them. And why do they have walls? Is it so people can write things like “yeah!” and “I love this!”. I suppose so. But I mean don’t we already know that you like/agree with it if you joined the group in the first place. Anyways, girls are all trying to grow their hair out. And I think that since your hair grows on average only half an inch a month, by the time they grow it out it will be uncool to have long hair and they will have to cut it off. And I will laugh. Wow that sounded kind of mean. I don’t think I meant it to be. I just am just saying it I going to take a long time to grow those locks out. Plus long hair is hard to maintain. So that will probably cause a problem with a bunch of those girls.

I have so much to do. I feel like I always do. Right now, I need to go get ready for school. But, alas, I am still writing blogs. (notice the use of ‘alas’ and refer back to an older post) see I learn and adapt. Go me. So I am listening to the new Wiz Khalifa, Kush & Orange Juice. It is okay. I don’t know a lot of people like it. I am just kind of over listening to rappers rap about how they ravage girls in bed and how much money they have. Oh, and of course how much weed they smoke. They really aren’t that cool. I don’t know. They just use a lot of profane words and put a beat to it. I mean its not that I don’t like rap. Because obviously I do or else I wouldn’t be listening to it right now. I have no clean clothes. I just thought of that. Like really I do not know what I am going to do when I get out of the shower. It sucks. I never have clean clothes. I am so bad about doing laundry. I think it is my least favorite chore ever. So I rarely ever do it. And frankly that’s not a good idea. So I always have to find some clothes that are actually clean. I have to wear that stuff that no one ever wants to wear but they still own. So that’s uncool. I have realized that I pretty much say the same thing in all of my blogs.

I love country music. I seriously cannot get enough of it. I think it is definitely a genre of music that you either love or hate. I am obviously one of the people are that obsessed. I do not really like the God songs though. And I only like some of the really lovie dovie songs. That’s okay though. Because I love the pump up songs. And some of my favorites are all man hater songs. I think this must say something about me. A lot of the country stars, who are females, kind of all look alike though. I think that is pretty funny. Lets see, they are all blonde, bombshells of course. They are all friends I feel like. I may have totally just made that up but I like to think that they all go to each others houses and have dinner and stuff. Maybe not, I just feel like unlike the top 40 stuff the artists are actually friends and not always talking trash on another artist. I also kind of like that Disney little kid stuff. It is always so happy and carefree. As I get older, the more I appreciate and like little kid stuff. I think this is because as I get older I get more and more responsibility and stress and sometimes you just need some little kid freedom. All we all wanted when we were younger was to grow up. We were all so impatient. And now, we all want to go back.

So this isn’t the first time that I had to write and maintain a blog for a class. I had to do it in high school too. My teacher was Mr. Cooner. He was this dude that taught us computer stuff and played World of Warcraft. I wish I could remember the URL of my last blog but alas I cannot. I also want to start saying alas more. I think that is a really cool word. It is amazing how you concentration really goes down when you start to listen to music. I am playing music on YouTube at the moment and every once in a while I type a lyric instead of what I was trying to say. But I also realize that I don’t really have a point to what I am saying so it is easy to get off topic. So on my couch, its actually a futon, there is literally a like great schism in the stuffing where I normally sit. It is really unflattering and frankly it is really annoying because you always like fall into it. This futon isn’t very old either. I have no clue what I can do about it. I really don’t think that you can do much about it. And the way the futon is made you cant just flip it over and sit on the other side. And its not like the stuffing is pushed down, it is just kind of gone. Moral of the story, don’t keep sitting in the same spot for weeks.

So I think there is literally an app for everything these days. So I was calling the pharmacy at Wallgreens yesterday to get my script refilled. When you call you have to go through one of those voice automated telephone trees. Anyways as soon as you push the ‘1’ to be connected to the pharmacy you hear a bad recording of some lady’s voice saying, and I quote, “want to fill your prescription over your iPhone? There’s and app for that”. This past sentence was complete with a bad imitation of the popular TV commercials that Apple puts out for the iPhone apps. So I am typing all this on my MacBook Pro, and unlike the iPhones, my computer does not recognize that Apple brand name technologies. I think that is pretty funny. But then again I am using word on my computer. And that is a Microsoft company. I bet if this was made by Steve Jobs instead of Bill Gates then it would for sure have the Apple products listed as words in the internal dictionary. Anyways, I have a bug bite on my foot and I cant stop scratching it. It really sucks. A lot. Like why won’t it stop? This is so annoying. I think I am making it worse by scratching it. Because now it kind of burns and itches. And I am a strong believer that nothing on your body should burn and itch.

I have to write probably like a thousand more of these blogs. So anyways, I really want to watch the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I can’t for fear the air conditioning repairman that is here will judge me. I mean where he is working is right outside of the living room in the hallway. And I just feel like if I started watching a slutty, 16 year old girl kill badly FXed vamps he would evaluate, and probably not for the better. Most people would ask why I would possible care what he thought of me, but I honestly don’t know. So I have been on this Buffy kick lately. I think it is because I finished watching all of the Weeds series and then I needed another TV show. I picked Buffy because it isn’t too serious, when I come home from school I don’t want to be dealt all sorts of emotional dramas, I want bad acting and hot actors. But I think the main thing that drew me to the show was the fact that there are seven or eight seasons. I hate shows that you get really into and then there just aren’t anymore. So I took precautions to prevent that from happening. Some other TV shows that I want to watch is The Vampire Diaries. I know absolutely nothing about this show I just saw an ad for it and I like vampires and I like hot boys. This TV show has a little of both from my understanding.

Its 8:33 in the morning. I am up. So naturally this means that I am not a happy camper. Normally on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have to get up at 10. I got up today at 8. So not okay. So I am tired. And the air conditioning repairman is here. Obviously, this means that I my air conditioning is broken, which is also not okay. So I am sitting kind of close to where he is working. This is because I live in a apartment and I don’t really have anywhere else to sit. I mean I could go into my bedroom but if he needs to ask me something that would be weird if he like came in to get me. Especially because it is really messy, as always. But, the rest of my house is clean and tidy. I cleaned it yesterday with the help of some friends. Anyways, there are benefits to me getting up early, which I never ever do. And those are the fact that I can eat a good yummy breakfast and drink my coffee in peace at my house. I always bring a travel mug of coffee to school but I like sitting on my couch and drinking it out of my awesome red artistic mug. This also saves me money because I doubt I will be starving right after class like usual. I feel like an ad for getting up early. But really the advantages are nice but I think I would still rather be sleeping.

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For my ad I did a Victoria secret ad. In the ad it shows a picture of an almost completely naked woman wearing a matching lacey purple bra and panty set. This ad totally gives women the wrong idea of what is sexy. The ad also has some phrases written about how if you get this bra then you are going to be as sexy and the abnormally skinny model. This is why we have eating disorders in this country. And this is why little girls are literally dying to be thin. It gives women and girls a like false impressions of what it means to be sexy. It makes people think that to be pretty and thought to be attractive by men then you need to have completely fake flawless skin and toned abs and be 6 feet tall. It is so disgusting that this is what the media has forced into the minds of all the females. Like every other high school girl I would make sure that I didn’t eat too much and I was constantly looking in the mirror to see if my stomach was flat and if it wasn’t to my liking then I would no eat much for the next few days. The feeling of hunger was one that I loved. It meant that I had nothing in my stomach so my body would have to “use up the extra stored fat”. It wasn’t until I was underweight that I realized that this was a stupid way to live my life.

knowledge

knowledge is what makes us interested in everything. sure, we cant know everything. but that puts the excitement into life. we would be so bored and purposeless if we knew everything that there is to know. good points are brought up in the essay saying that we do not even encompass the capacity to know everything or understand it. our lives are just journeys that we take on your way to try to achieve Hindu moksha or Buddhist nirvana. that is why, in my opinion, we had religion created or developed in the first place. we wanted the answers to the questions that we so desperately think and worry about it only makes sense that we would create this alternate universe. but if these questions were to be answered then the purpose that we have given ourselves is null and void. all of life is just learning. and i think that is the main point of the essay. learning is what makes everything worthwhile. without that we would have nothing to do. we would all be in on the secrets so the anticipation of the game is over with. i had a teacher that told me one time that the anticipation is the best part of anything. that it is even better than the thing you are anticipating itself. i would have to agree with him. its the unknown thats exciting. the universe is so complex. we cant even understand a grain of salt. something that seems so simple is, in reality, something more than you could ever understand.

One thing that annoys me is when you are texting someone and having and good ol conversation and then they just stop talking. Like that. So warning no nothing. It is so aggravating. Also something that annoys me is when someone texts you and they ask a question that would elicit a big long reply and you call them and then they don’t answer. Like you are obviously with your phone I mean you just text me. Unless you text me then threw your phone into a large body of water I expect an answer to my rings. Its annoying. My biggest pet peeve though is when people try to set a table and set the silverware wrong. Like if the blade of the knife is point away from the plate instead of towards it, I have to fix it. Like come on people we all know how to set a table and if you are trying to do it right then do it right. It takes the same amount of time to place the knife the wrong was as it does to place it the correct way. Another pet peeve of mine is when people drag their feet while they are walking. Like on my goodness no one wants to listen to that! Pick up your feet. It takes almost the same effort and sounds a lot better. You also look kind of stupid when you drag your feet. It makes you slouch or hunch or something. Just not stand correctly.

I think I have no learning curve. It has to be just straight and flat. I am a facebook addict. Okay, I am not as bad as a lot of people and I am not even really an addict but I still go on it a lot. Most of the time I don’t even do anything, I just stare at the same damn page that I was staring at 5 seconds earlier. So where all this talk about a learning curve comes in is the fact that most of the time, I would say at least 75 percent, I get pissed off when I look at facebook. People just put stupid stuff on the website. I guess I bring it on myself because I could easily avoid not getting pissed off by just not looking at facebook then everything would just be peachy keen. But, alas, I cannot part with it. They must put nicotine in the system. I even do it unknowingly nowadays. My fingers automatically type ‘www.facebook.com’ when I get on to any interest access page. Frankly, it is quite annoying. But I don’t think that I cant stop cold turkey. I am way to nosey and curious about other people’s business that they so willingly put online for everyone to see. I love it when people fight on facebook. Its great. I get all the drama without actually having to be in it. It is like my own personal soap opera. I am not saying that the pros out weigh the cons, just that I am not going to stop anytime soon.

We really are obsessed with sex in this country. I have been watching Weeds lately. Hilarious by the way. And you can just tell from looking at the different covers of the DVD boxes from the different seasons that sex has much more emphasis put on it than it did in each previous season. I think that if we were more open about sex and nudity like other countries in the world we wouldn’t be as interested in it and it would not sell as well. I have been to other countries but I guess I haven’t seen that many foreign commercials or movies or tv shows. I do know that there has only been one on screen kiss in the Bollywood films. That has to count for something. Though I think that goes against what I said earlier. Anyways. Why are we so interested in sex so much? Maybe we are just like Freud said and we are all just natural born sex addicts. I am not sure he said it completely like that, but close enough. Oh! So this is cool. I learn in psychology on Friday that they have found significant evidence that homosexuality is linked to biology or nature rather than nurture. That was really cool to find out. I mean I have heard all the arguments and of course heard the ignorant people that try to change the way a homosexual person feels and calls it a sin or whatever and now I like that they are proved wrong. That they indeed cannot help it. Take that.

One of the things that I have noticed more now that I am in college is the fact that a lot of people are really religious. I am not sure if people just didn’t talk about it as much in my high school or what. Maybe it is a southern thing. Advocating it, not religion. I am not that dense. Anyways, since being down here I feel like a lot of people speak out more for their God. This isn’t a bad thing I guess. Just a different thing. I love religion. I think it is so interesting. To be truthful the thing that sparked my interest when I was younger was the Karl Marx quote, “religion is the opiate of the masses”. I think that is just perfect in describing what religion is to people. Whether their faith is accurate or not aside, they use the calming effects of religion to ease their pain I suppose. Death is scary but it is also inevitable. Actually, you will probably speed up your death if you worry about it all the time. They have totally linked stress and heart attacks. Maybe instead of religion we should just all use opiates. But that doesn’t seem like a very good idea. I don’t want the guy that is operating on me high as I kite. I guess that’s also where weird cults come from. They just want to feel a sense of purpose and belonging and future. Though, I don’t think that would sway me to drink cyanide punch.

Over the weekend I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It wasn’t the first time that I had seen it. One of my friends had never seen them before so we watched one a night. It was nice. I also have found out that I am in love with an elf, Legolas of course. Also as I have gotten older I have come to realize that there are a lot of scenes in that movie that defiantly give the wrong impression of the relationships between the Hobbits, especially Frodo and Sam. Anyways that was pretty cool. I live life on the wild side as one can see. One thing that surprises me every time that I watch that movie, especially Return of the King, is the fact that Frodo is a little bitch. Like it is just a ring! Like why does he get sick and stuff. I mean I know that it drives you mad, but REALLY??! Collapsing right before the entrance to the volcano thingy is pretty weak. He had like 100 yards left. Also he cant fight to save his ass. Literally. Sam fought off the big spider thingy. Frodo just stood there and got stung by it. One of the other hobbits killed the shadow demon king thing and what did Frodo do? He got stabbed in the shoulder by it. Always needing to be saved that Frodo. Moral of the story, if you want a bodyguard don’t chose and emotional half-ling.

words i over use

I have never sat down and thought about words that I over use. I am guessing that I use the same words over and over again. Most people do in my opinion. This is the reason that you can see a phrase written down and be able to identify the speaker. Probably like most teenagers, especially girls, I use the word like a lot. And probably um. I have noticed that as I have gotten older I have started to use more childish phrases or words and saying from older days. I think this is really cool. I obviously don’t have a good sense of what is cool or not. I have taken to saying ‘play’ instead of saying ‘hang out’. I think that it is cute. Its not that I try to use language that isn’t appropriate for my age group or my era I just think that everyone talks the same way and I was to be different. I guess it is just my conditioning that I want to be an individual. I try to not over use words. I just like to spice things up and use different wording.  One phrase or word that I use a lot, and that I am very upset that I do, is the word ‘gay’. I hate that people saying something is ‘gay’ if it is uncool. I cant act as if I don’t say it. I mean I was a middle schooler too once. But I think that is a word that is used in the wrong way a lot. 

My Life

This post is going to be about what is happening right now in real time! How exciting! It is like you are me at this exact moment! Well, I have to pee. I am listening to Phish’s album Junta on my MacBook Pro. I am sitting in the Fisher Student Union. The bagels smell yummy. I am about to go eat soon. There is a pregnant chick sitting next to me. On the other side of me is a dude listening to his iPod. Oh, two people just hugged. That’s nice. I have a stuffy nose. This is the worst part of my day thus far. I have blown my nose about a kajillion times and it always gets stuffy again in like 2 seconds. Plus, I have my nose pierced and this does nothing good for my stuffy nose. I keep sniffing. I know this is kind of gross but I can’t help it. Though, I bet the people next to me really wish I could help it. I am not a fan of skinny jeans on guys. Sure, some guys can pull it off. But more times than not they cant. I also don’t like it because it makes a lot of guys look skinnier than me. And that is totally uncool. I don’t want to look like I cant beat you up dude. I love Phish they make me very happy. They are upbeat and have some rad lyrics. I wish I could see them in concert.

Pet Peeves

So this post is going to be dedicated to things that annoy me. I get really irriated when I really really have to pee and the bathroom is so far away. When I am so thirty I am convinced that I am going to die of thirst and the only thing that is available to drink is pop. When people lie. I am super against this. I don’t lie and I don’t think that anyone else should. It is stupid and pointless. You should never be ashamed of what you do because you obviously thought it was a good idea when you did it. I am not saying that you shouldn’t make mistakes but you shouldn’t try to cover them up and make yourself seem like someone you are not by lying. One of my biggest pet peeves by far is when people try to set the silverware up correctly and they don’t do it right. Especially when they put the blade of the knife facing away from the plate instead of towards the plate. That just really irks me. Oh I also hate when my iPhone changes my words into some other stupid word. Like it always chooses words that no normal person would ever use. I also really do not like when girls wear leggings as pants. Like really people? Really? They are NOT pants. I do not know who told you they were cute as pants because they must have been on acid. It is not cute. At all.

Taoism

So I just had to take a test in my religion class about Taoism. It’s really interesting. Ever since I first learned about Taoism in high school my freshman year I have been interested in it. Well actually I used to hate it. It is not really a religion so much as a philosophy or a way of living your life and bettering yourself. One of the coolest, but also most frustrating, aspects of Taoism is the fact that you cannot define anything. Because if you define it you give it purpose and then limit the thing that you defined. Everything has endless possibilities. Who is just an average human to say what something, like a rock, is for or to do? Technically you aren’t supposed to name anything because even that limits it and gives it a specific purpose. It is a pretty chill way of living though. Of course it has it awesome saying that seems to too good to be true, or impractical to live by. But it also brings up a bunch of points that would honestly make life a lot chiller and more meaningful in my opinion if we lived by those sayings. Some points that Taoism brings up the fact that one should live for one not for others, to do what is right. And one of my personal favorites, not to make yourself look like a pompous ass by saying things over eloquently and things that you just don’t know what you are talking about.

The Patriot Act

After reading Paul Rosenzweig’s essay drafted in response to the criticisms of the Patriot Act I thought about my direct involvement with the act and how it affects me. I believe that it is hard to think of what one would give up for the security and promise of freedom when we forget how it felt to be powerless and threatened. The months after September 11, 2001 we all, as a nation, were willing to give up almost anything in order to ensure our safety. But, as the years go by, we forget what it was like to feel so helpless and we start to get uneasy about the freedoms that we have already granted the government. I think that I would be willing to give up almost any of my liberties in order to stay safe from a terrorist attack. I mean if I am dead then I guess it doesn’t matter if I gave them up of not. People are so fearful of our government. And it is not that I don’t think that a government can easily become corrupt but the fact that we vote these people into office and let them lead the country we need to give them our full support and all the tools that they need to keep our country and us safe. We cannot constantly be worrying that they are trying to screw us over it is just impractical. Though it may be hard sometimes we need to put our faith and respect into these people.