IMD1

A Bit More Patience

2010-07-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

My how the time has flown by! I guess I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted anything. My apologies everyone. Unfortunately, I have yet to brainstorm another decent post up... I have yet to... yeah.

I guess I have been having a bit of the lazies when it comes to writing lately. No fears though, I will eventually get another burst of inspiration and the awesomeness will continue. In all honesty I have just been so preoccupied with personal issues over the last two months that blogging hasn't really been that high on my list of priorities. As I said, I hope to continue the inspiring writings ASAP. Thank you all for your enduring patience.

Coming Soon! (I hope)

2010-06-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

So I am hoping that sometime in the near future I will be posting again. I was considering doing a bit on the advertising business and how I think it affects the way people think. I just have to compile my thoughts before I begin writing too much. For now I'm just updating all the people who have the misfortune of stumbling upon my blog. I will be back soon, so... hold your breath.

Hiatus

2010-04-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted on here in almost a month, and for that I must apologize (to all my zillions of fans, right?). Hopefully, the posting of awesomeness will be back soon. Right now I am tired and can't think straight though, so some other time.

Sociology Essay 2 (almost)

2010-03-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourself, this next post is a doozy! This essay originally was 8 pages long. I managed to somehow shorten it to 7 pages before I turned it in. Actually, I believe I turned in both copies.

My score was not satisfactory in my opinion. I can't remember what I got, but is was somewhere around an 80%. Evidently, 8 pages wasn't enough information, cause my professor said I left out some important elements. I think the "important elements" weren't even in the textbooks, because I pretty much summed up the entire chapter.

Anywho, prepare yourself for some rather unexciting, informational reading...

...actually, after reading the essay through before posting, I am less certain that I should post it. Not that it's controversial, or offensive, but it is really boring.

I feel like I should make this blog informative, but not bland. One reason I hated reading my textbooks in school is because the information was incomprehensibly boring.

If anyone objects to my exclusion of the last essay in the College Essay series, post a comment. Otherwise, I will begin posting original material.

Sociology Essay 1

2010-03-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

This essay did not receive an A. I got an 80 on it, but I forgot to add two concluding sections onto it. So I suppose 80% is pretty good considering. I have also decided to add my own commentary to this one. anything in parentheses (like this) is an added commentary. Actually, I may have added commentary in a select few spots to previous posts, but I am now making it official.

Politics and Sociology

An Essay By Josiah Teal

All information gained through Brym and Lie’s textbook, Sociology; Your Compass for a New World.

Power and Authority

When one is to discuss the aspects of politics one must first address the issues of power and authority. A loose definition of power is when an individual or group of individuals are able to control other individuals, even against their will. It is my opinion that power needs to be controlled when it is used to govern a people; too much power often results in an oppressed population. Authority is defined as legitimate power. Power becomes legitimate when the governed people perceive it as legitimate (or so they say).

Types of Authority

The German sociologist Max Weber separated authority into three categories, the first of which is traditional authority. An example of traditional authority can be found in the English monarchy. The Queen is an example of this kind of authority. The second type of authority is called legal-rational authority and this is found when an individual achieves an authoritative position by following the rules. Although some people would tend to disagree (vote counts and such), George W. Bush is an example of legal- rational authority because he followed the rules to attain the office of the President of the United States. The final example of authority is called charismatic authority. When one is able to lead by rallying a people to a cause he/she is an example of charismatic authority. Martin Luther King Jr. is a perfect example of this type of leadership.

Types of Political System

Like the types of authority, types of political systems are also largely in three categories autocracy, authoritarian, and democracy. In an autocracy, total power is in the hands of a single person or party. In an authoritarian state, the average citizen has limited say in the government and the power is more widespread. In a democracy, the power resides with the people, who have the ability to elect leaders from among themselves (in a roundabout way).

Theories of Democracy

Pluralist Theory

According to Brym and Lie’s textbook on sociology, pluralist theory “holds that power is widely dispersed. As a result, no group enjoys disproportionate influence, and decisions are usually reached through negotiations and compromise.” This theory has drawn some harsh criticism and most sociologists tend to disagree with it, saying that in America, wealthy corporations can often influence politics and legislation.

Elite Theory

Elite theory is the idea that smaller, influential institutions have more say over politics than most of us would be comfortable with. These groups may also ignore public opinion in order to get what they want.

Power Resource Theory

Power resource theory holds that variations in the “distribution of power between major classes partly accounts for the successes and failures of different political parties” according to Brym and Lie. Differences in the views favored by each party account for the differences between the classes who favor them (wait for it...).

State-Centered Theory

This theory states that the state can to some extent control it’s own affairs independent of the way power is distributed among particular classes at any given time.

The Future of Democracy

In 1989, the country of Russia made a dramatic switch from communism to a democracy. This event had much of the western world applauding the change and hoping for a bright future for Russia. Unfortunately, the people of Russia were not accustomed to a democratic lifestyle and the bright future slowly began to fade. The economy soon collapsed and hopes for a new Russia soon fell through. The failure of Russian democracy causes one to wonder, “what social conditions must there be in order for a government to become completely democratic and for democracy to take firm root?”

The Three Waves of Democracy

In the year 1828, half the white men in the United States became eligible to vote, by the year 1926, 33 counties in the world were at least partially democratic. This was the first wave of democracy. After WWII, the second wave of democracy began to take place. The reason was largely on behalf on liberated nations, and even some new nations that were born after fascist and socialist leaders were overthrown. In 1974, the overthrow of dictatorships in Portugal and Greece initiated the third and biggest wave of democracy. Although the third wave of democracy is officially the biggest, the actual impact is rather small in comparison. The reason being is that many of these democracies are what we call formal democracies, meaning that even though citizens may be able to participate in national elections, doing so has little or no effect. They also lack constitutional protections (or the illusion thereof), like those provided in the United States, which is a liberal democracy.

Social Preconditions of Democracy (in a nutshell)

In the words of Brym and Lie, “Liberal democracies emerge and endure when counties enjoy considerable economic growth, industrialization, urbanization, the spread of literacy, and a gradual decrease in economic inequality.” This is a big influence in the spawning and flourishing of the middle and working class. In many cases there was a middle class but limited political freedom, this class of citizens would likely attempt to overthrow the restrictive government and possibly replace it with a democratic one (unless they were too scared). In a nation where the working class is too weak, democracies will be much less likely to emerge.

Electronic Democracy

In 1935, the results of the first nationwide poll was featured in a full page story in the Washington post. George Gallup, the man responsible for the poll, said this, “After one hundred and fifty years we return to the town meeting. This time the whole nation is within the doors.” George Gallup’s idea was that the government now knew what the nation as a whole wanted (I have yet to participate in a poll like this). Although the idea that the government would be forced to do whatever the populace wanted was a bit naive, the Gallup poll did let the people be heard in a way that was never before possible. Some of the naivety expressed at the birth of the Gallup Poll was also expressed at the inception of new wonders such as the internet as people began to assume that voting on certain issues could now be done electronically; however, the possibilities of this are rather slim under current conditions. How could one regulate something such as internet voting? How would voting electronically over the internet be secure? What about people with no internet connection or computer? The questions go on.

Postmaterialism

Postmaterialism is defined as the shift from class based to value based politics resulting from growing equality and prosperity in industrialized countries. Postmaterialists claim that even so recently as fifty years ago, most citizens were more concerned with their next paycheck and making a living. Today, many people are more concerned with traditional values and morality (interesting...).

Politics by Other Means

War

Instead of peacefully participating in social movements, many countries turn to war as a means to get what they want. All too common, wars have ravaged the planet for nearly all of recorded history, resulting in many billions of dead through the ages (gross oversimplification).

Terrorism

Terrorists have found a way to get governments to notice them and that is through terrorism. Terrorism is politically motivated violence against non-combatant targets. The official explanation for why a people resort to terrorism is because they have no other way of getting the attention or putting pressure on a particular government or group. I say it’s because they are too cowardly to declare war and rather enjoy making innocent people suffer. Terrorism is low. That’s all I have to say about it.

Conclusion

The political realm of the world can often be a confusing and tumultuous topic. Looking at it now it seems to be becoming clearer than ever as I begin to understand causes and effects of social forces (according to contemporary explanations). Although it doesn’t seem that there is any perfect political system (benevolent dictatorship), I believe that one must always strive to influence the world around them for the better (just how to go about it is a bit harder to figure out).

Psychology Essay 2

2010-03-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

The final essay I wrote for my psychology class is below. This is dry reading, as it is mostly just raw info. Also, a lot of this is goofy to me, because scientists like to label and categorize every little thing. It seems to me that they do this to get their name in the textbooks. But perhaps they do it to simplify the way we learn.

Once again, this garnered an A.

The Nature of Memory

Human memory often seems to be one of the strangest things one can think about. What is it exactly that causes us to remember things? Why do we remember some things that happened an entire lifetime ago, but often forget things that happened mere seconds ago? Why do we even need to remember certain things? Where are our memories stored and how? Are there ways to enhance memory? Is there such a thing as repressed memories? I often wonder for myself why I can remember the cheat codes to a video game I have not played in 10 years, but forget what my boss told me to do 30 seconds ago.

Basic Memory Processes

According to the textbook “Essentials of Psychology” by Douglass A. Bernstein and Peggy W. Nash, memory runs off of three basic processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval (209).They explain, “First, information must be put into memory, a step that requires encoding.” Encoding allows our brains to process the information we receive and then put it to use. There are three basic codes that our minds use: acoustic codes, or sounds; visual codes, or pictures and sights; and semantic codes, or things we have learned, such as how to interpret the meaning of words and symbols.

The second step in memory is storage. Storage is when we hold our memories when they are not being used. They might be in our heads, but when we are not using them, they are in storage. We can retrieve them at a later time, which brings us to the final process.

Retrieval is when we locate and use the memories stored in our brain. Retrieval is usually a simple process, such as when I remember my birthday or my favorite kind of ice cream. Retrieval can become more difficult however, when attempting to remember the name of an historical figure on a history test, or when trying to think of your Aunt’s phone number.

Types of Memory

Although nobody knows for sure how many there actually are, memory is usually classified in three different categories. These categories include episodic, semantic, and procedural.

Episodic memory occurs when you remember a specific event in your life; a story that happened, like the time you drove into the fence and put a hole in the radiator of your car.

Semantic memory is knowledge of the world. Simple facts such as 2 + 2 = 4, or knowing that planes fly and boats float on water is semantic memory.

The third category, procedural, is knowledge of how to do things, like tying a shoe or playing chess. This type of memory is also used for writing an essay, or at least knowing how to.

While we are on a roll with the threes, let’s also take a look at sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory. Sensory memory takes place when we see things. We remember them just long enough to recognize what they are, such as looking at a can of Pepsi and recognizing it as a can of Pepsi.

The next stage of memory is called short term memory. We may read a book and take a quiz at the end of it, but many of the things we remember right after we read it will not stick with us for a long time. For this reason, we call this memory short term memory. I might meet a stunningly beautiful girl tomorrow and remember her name for a week, but if the impression she leaves on me is not long lasting, her name becomes lost to me; short term memory.

Say I meet a stunningly beautiful, smart, sweet, and nice girl and we talk and have fun for a few months. If she makes a lasting impression on me I will remember her name for a long time. This is long term memory. Another example of long term memory is of me learning how to ride a bike and crashing into the garage door. I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast on that morning, because it didn’t matter too much to me. But for reasons unknown I remember crashing into that garage door.

The human mind is a complicated thing, and the full aspect of memory may never be completely understood. (Copout)

Here is the beginning of the essay I was going to write. I never finished it because there was not enough information on the subject.

A large part of many interesting stories and movies in today’s society deal with what is referred to as repressed memories. These are memories that are so traumatic that we push them to the back of our minds in an effort to forget them. Many people claim to be able to retrieve these memories after long periods of time, often with drastic consequences. People claim to remember murders, accidents, and many other traumatic ordeals. However, many psychologists are now beginning to question the validity of some of these claims. Are repressed memories a reality, or a fabrication?

I have no idea why that copied in a different font... size (?).

Psychology Essay 1

2010-03-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

What follows (below) is an essay I wrote for my psychology class. This also garnered an A. The writing style is less than stellar, and in some places seems quite abrupt. Remember that the point of this essay was not to showcase my astounding literary abilities, but to provide information.

Interesting Facts on Sleep

by Josiah Teal

While reading through the article titled, “Sleep: Strange Bedfellows” I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the many little known facts on sleep. Sleep has always been a fascination of mine, as I have noticed in myself an ability to recall information hidden deep in my memory banks while sleeping, having been unable to do so while awake. The topics in the article range from the health of your teeth, to insomnia.

According to the article, sleep is an important part of forming long term memories. The brain will often replay the day’s events during sleep, enhancing our reception of them for future reference. I find this rather interesting, because as I stated before, I will sometimes have trouble remembering something while awake. I have found that if I think about the problem intensely right before I go to sleep, I will be able to recover it in my sleep. Not only that, but the information I retrieved in my sleep will still be there when I wake up and I will most likely never forget it again. Sleep is also essential in preparing for a college exam, as it has been discovered that students who sleep less tend to do worse than students who get plenty of sleep.

Also, sleep is good for your heart. Speaking from personal experience here, I can say that when you go for long periods of time without sleep, as I did when I had to plow driveways during one winter, you start to feel aches and pains in your body. I also noticed that my heart was beating different than normal, pounding rather than beating. A lack of sleep puts you at a risk for hypertension, according to researchers at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Strangely enough, sleep may also be good for tooth health. According to the article, researchers studied 219 Japanese factory workers for four years. Those who got 7-8 hours of sleep a night reportedly had less trouble with periodontal diseases than those who slept less. This may have something to do with the body’s immune system being more active with more sleep.

Here’s a new concept; more sleep may help keep kids from becoming obese. Although there is no definitive proof of the link between sleep and obesity, some researchers have suggested that the cause may be how active children feel. A child with little sleep may not feel like playing kickball at school during recess while a kid with sufficient sleep will feel like running around and having fun. Also, kids with less sleep may have a disrupted metabolism.

And now for the inevitable insomniac piece (Fragment, consider revising). Some people, like me, have a very hard time sleeping at night and instead of being sleepy, are nearly wide awake. These people, it turns out, may have a genetic mutation that is the culprit for their irritating plague of insomnia. The gene affects what is called the circadian cycle. The circadian cycle is the “clock that keeps our metabolism, digestion, and sleep patterns in sync.” People who stay in bed longer in the morning (lazy people as some would call them) are almost always compensating for their large amounts of insomnia. Some of these “night owls” also reported feeling less in control of their sleep (like me), which may be a cause of insomnia.

Finally, there are a few people who can get by with very small amounts of sleep. Studies found that those who sleep in what is called slow-wave sleep, the deepest form of sleep, have a harder time getting along while sleep deprived, while other people seem to do just fine.

So far we have learned that sleep enhances memory, improves heart health, may strengthen teeth, and may help keep kids from becoming overweight. There are many mysteries surrounding the phenomenon of sleep. Perhaps some still to be discovered. I will watch with interest as further discoveries are made.

US History Essay 2

2010-03-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is my final essay (and test) for US History. This article is somewhat one-sided, so keep that in mind when you read through it. I slanted it in a way that I thought my teacher would appreciate. Nowadays, I would have written it differently, but here it is anyway.

Indian Relocation

By Josiah Teal

In the early years of the 19^th century, several defining factors played key roles in the making of the American nation as it is today; not the least of which was the treatment of the American Indians. This issue is still discussed among our European neighbors across the Atlantic, as well as by many Americans. Often while discussing current American politics and policies, I have bumped into people, most of whom come from Europe, who insist on using these events as a reason why America is not to be admired. It is because of this that I have chosen to write about the Indian Relocation Act and the events by which it was surrounded.

In the mind of many American settlers in the opening of the 19^th century was the idea that the “problem” of the American Indians would soon disappear into thin air and the land that was left behind would be theirs for the taking. When the Indian tribes in the southern portions of the United States instead formed their own system of government that strongly mirrored that of the U.S., many farmers and homesteaders realized that the Indian land they desired would not be opening up for prime real estate, as they had previously thought. It wasn’t long before the settlers and even the state of Georgia became involved in the attempt to remove the Indians from their land.

During the 1820’s, attempts were made by the federal government to convince the tribes in the east to move further west, an offer which many Indians took up. Many others on the other hand, chose to stay and resisted the attempts by whites to get them to move westward. When Indians failed to do as they were expected, Caucasian politicians and businessmen sought to swindle them out of their territories and even began to enact legislature that favored the European motives and cheated Natives. One such case, the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs, was so unbelievably ridiculous that President Adams felt the need to step in and overturn and ratify the treaty, calling for a new one.

If the Indian tribes in the area of the southeast had any support at all from the federal government, it wasn’t nearly enough. The Prairie du Chien treaties were meant to gradually remove northwestern tribes to the west side of the Mississippi; however, settlers lured by rumors of gold began to pour into these lands prematurely, causing Indians to resist the “invasion” with force. In 1827, the Winnebagos, under the direction of Red Bird, raided mining outposts and causing a stir in what was still legally their own territory. Settlers however, were less certain that the territory still belonged to the Indians and urged the government to assist by sending troops to quell the Indian “rebellion,” a request to which President Adams complied, despite the fact that it was still illegal to do so. Red Bird and his people were driven out of their own land.

When Andrew Jackson was elected as the 6^th president of the United States in 1828, the native populations were in for some rough roads. In 1817, Jackson had told President Monroe, “I have long viewed treaties with the Indians an absurdity not to be reconciled to the principles of our government.” Jackson’s view of the Indians was clearly not a stellar one, and his future actions would further demonstrate that fact. In 1830, Jackson prompted Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act, a harsh decision that would cost up to 4,000 Native American lives. Indians living in the southeast now had to pack up and move west of the Mississippi, where land had been purchased for the purpose of their resettlement.

At one point, white land grabbers began to infringe upon Indian territory in Missouri and, instead of ruling that the whites were not to do so, Jackson had federal troops forcibly remove the Indians from their land. One Indian was chief known as Black Hawk, led a band of warriors on a crusade back to their “home.” Black Hawk and his warriors clung to their claim until federal troops killed more than three hundred Indians and captured Black Hawk.

At the same time, whites living in the south were beginning to harass the Cherokee tribes. By that time, the Cherokee had drafted their own written constitution, established their own newspapers, and created their own steady economy. All out of selfishness, the white men began to demand the land upon which the Indians were living. Georgia legislature sided with the white men, of course, and the Cherokee constitution was soon annulled by the state. Indians rights began to steadily diminish and despite an attempt to appeal the treatment in higher courts. Despite the efforts of various white men (including Congressman Davy Crockett) to help the cause, the Cherokees lost their appeal and were forced to move.

It was then that the infamous “Trail of Tears,” or more directly “The Trail Where They Cried,” took place. In an article titled “Forced Removal,” authors Christine Graf and Andrew Matthews write, “In May 1838, army troops began rounding up the Cherokees, removing them from their homes and imprisoning them in stockaded forts. In the fall, the Indians began a forced walk of almost 1,200 miles from Georgia to Oklahoma. The sick, the young, and the elderly rode in wagons, while the others trudged on foot through difficult weather. At night, exhausted, they slept on the frozen ground, covered only by thin blankets.” Almost one fourth of the Cherokee that set out from Georgia died along the trail to Oklahoma.

The Trail of Tears is a stain upon the American flag, one that unfortunately we will never be able to cleanse. It is a stain rivaled by only the treatment of African-Americans throughout the 18^th,19^th, and early 20^th century, and the Japanese-American internment of 1942. The decision to remove the Indians from large sections of the Eastern U.S. had drastic implications for America. No longer would there be a nearly separate nation of Cherokee in the southeast, and forever would we be plagued by the tragedy of the Trail of Tears. Those fateful years would do their job at alienating the Indians from us for years to come.

Berkin, Carol; Miller, Christopher L.; Cherny, Robert W.; and James L. Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States. 5^th ed. Boston Ma: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998

Graf, Christine, and Andrew Matthews. "Forced removal.(removal of Cherokee Indians from their lands)." Cobblestone 29.1 (Jan 2008): 12(2). General OneFile. Gale. Finger Lakes Com College Library - SUNY. 7 Dec. 2008 .

US History Essay 1.5

2010-02-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the 2nd essay I wrote for my US History class. This essay was actually the second part of the first exam, (the first part being the preceding post) and although it could have been better, I wrote it in a couple hours and only reviewed it once before turning it in.

If any of you United Kingdomites read this, let me know what your opinion of this debacle is.

Parliament vs. Colonials

A complete essay by Josiah Teal

The Colonists and the English Parliament had some very harsh conflicts leading up to the Revolutionary War. Disagreement on such issues as taxation and tributary fines had slowly been creating a rift between the mother country and her colonies in the North American continent.

After the 7 years war (French and Indian War), Parliament decided it was fair to compensate for the expenses of the war by putting a small tax on colonial goods, everything from court documents to playing cards. Why not let the colonists shoulder some of the burden? In the mind of the Parliament, this was a perfectly reasonable thing to do, for the colonists had been protected by England and had not financed the war themselves. The colonists however, had a very different opinion of this tax and were very irritated by the idea that England could impose such a tax on them without first confronting them about it and letting them decide for themselves; the colonists felt like they were being treated like children by Parliament.

Being treated like a second class citizen by your country merely because you do not live on the mainland must have been an extremely irritating notion. By England’s reasoning, the colonists should have been more than willing to shoulder some of the weight of the war, considering it was their farms and villages that had been protected. This was less than true; however, Parliament and George Grenville in particular told the colonists that this was why England had fought for them. In truth, it had more to do with settling a score with the French than anything else.

Following the Stamp Act, Parliament issued another tax on the colonists by way of tea. Tea was a very important commodity in colonial life and everybody who was anybody sipped tea nearly every afternoon, so this tax was an insult to nearly every colonist. Traditionally, colonists had been getting their tea through smugglers who were importing the tea illegally from other countries, making it rather expensive for colonists to purchase. The tea from the East India Trading Company that England was taxing was rather cheap in comparison, even with the tax. Colonists however, were not pleased with this additional taxation and promptly donned Iroquois outfits, went aboard the tea laden ships, and tossed it all into Boston harbor.

The Boston Tea Party outraged Parliament. These colonials were taking things too far. In their mind, the colonists were becoming like ungrateful children who needed to be punished for their insolence. England began to send British Redcoats to the colonies to help quell the uprising that was beginning to take place.

At this point, I believe that armed conflict was inevitable. A number of colonists had set their mind against England and its tyrannical hold on the affairs of the colonies. England wanted the colonies to respect her authority. The colonists wanted England to respect their ability to take care of themselves. Neither was likely to happen now that England was set on crushing the small rebellion and the colonists were set on governing their own affairs without the assistance of Parliament.

My way of think is that both sides acted in ways they should not have; however, if the colonists didn’t act the way they did, I might live in an English colony today… I don’t want to live in an English colony. Parliament should have respected the colonists and trusted their ability to take care of themselves like grown men do. I know I do not like it when people always assume I can’t take care of myself and keep interfering with my life and, although I wouldn’t declare war on them, I do understand the frustration to some degree.

The colonists should probably have… actually; I think they probably did what they could. Maybe those men shouldn’t have burned the Gaspee, maybe that crowd shouldn’t have thrown rocky snowballs at the lobsterbacks, but if they didn’t, how would life be for me today? To say the least, if the colonials and Parliament had not acted the way they did I think we would be living in a very different world right now (not that we would know the difference).

Understanding why is very important; we broke the bond of English colonial status for those of governing ourselves. Why did we do this? For the largest part, I believe that this was our destiny if you believe such things, but also, this was the result of the oppression of one group of people by another group of people thousands of miles away (I also find it interesting that England did not realize that she was oppressing the colonials, but rather thought that she was enforcing English law).

US History Essay 1

2010-02-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

My professor never officially graded this when it was turned in, but at the end of the year he said I deserved an A for my writing during his class.

The Colonization of North America

A complete essay by Josiah Teal

The colonization of America began with the coming of three different nations to its unfamiliar shores, the Spanish, the French, and the English. What prompted these men, both entrepreneurs and traders, both warriors and religious purists, to leave their familiar countries and the people they knew for the untamed wilderness of the Americas?

In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors began pouring into Central America by the boatload. Prompted by the promise of wealth and the fables of golden cities and wells that endowed youth upon whomever drank from their waters, Spanish soldiers and leaders were arriving on the unfamiliar shores in vast numbers. Many were also drawn by religious convictions to “persuade” the native inhabitants to convert to Christianity.

I have never before considered how the average Spanish soldier would have thought of his adventure. I imagine myself being both excited and scared about what I would encounter on my escapade to the strange new land. Struggling with my own civility after witnessing my own “civilized” leaders exact near extermination on the tribes they deemed “barbaric.” Would I be proud or embarrassed in the end, to have been part of the “taming” of Central America?

The French traders found North America to be tremendously profitable for their fur trading endeavors. The “brown gold” (not molasses) was valued very highly back in Europe and French coureurs de bois or “runners of the woods” worked very diligently to keep up with high demands. The high value in the furs flowing from North American lands prompted many French citizens to pack up and move to America, hoping to cash in on the fur trade profits.

To join a French trader might have been a very appealing undertaking for a young man like myself. As a very avid woodsman, I would probably jump at an opportunity to explore the wooded realms of the north all while making a hefty profit, although profit wasn’t always a guarantee. I imagine cold winters, wet springs, and humid summers. Befriending Indian maidens J and living in the untamed wilderness might have been too much of a temptation to refuse.

The English didn’t begin colonization of the new world as soon as the Spanish or the French, but the reasons that they came would make them more of a permanent resident than both the Spaniards and the Frenchmen. Most of the English came to America for religious reasons; they were experiencing a wave of harsh persecution and ridicule in their native land and for many, a journey to a new land was the only means of escape. For others, a new land presented a chance to make a profit as the French had done with the fur trade. Companies would send a group of settlers to the New World with the task of establishing a reliable source of income for themselves. The settlers would harvest crops and trap and trade with the natives, sending back portions of their loot to the company financing the settlement.

I imagine this to be the least enticing adventure of the three discussed, although it may have had its benefits. Colonial life would have been a challenge and I imagine one would need to work from dawn till dusk to make life tolerable for the first few months. It would have been cold at times, very uncomfortable, sickness would likely fall upon many, and the food wouldn’t be anything to be proud of either. I may not have fared too well in this case; my comfortable and relatively easy 21^st century life may have made me too unlikely to work 12-14 grueling hours a day 6 days a week. I suppose if my life depended on it, I could find the spirit to do what needed to be done.

Whether desperately trying to make a name for themselves, just doing business, or escaping persecution, the first colonists of North America must have had terrific courage to step out into an unknown world and start anew. Without knowing what lie ahead as we now do, these brave men and women dared to risk all for what they wanted or believed. That inspires me.

Public Speaking Essay 3

2010-01-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is the third and final paper that I turned in to my professor of communication, Lou Bruno at Finger Lakes Community College in Newark NY. I believe he was once again very pleased at my awesomeness. Read on, and enjoy it immensely!

Lou Bruno

Public Speaking

Progress Report

by Josiah Teal

When in the course of personal events it became necessary to take a public speaking class, my first thoughts were that of a nervous excitement. I had never really spoken in front of many people before and that fact made me rather nervous. On the other hand, I thought that the opportunity to have all attention on me while I rhapsodize about this and that, all the while impressing my own opinions and getting my point heard would be quite an opportunity.

My first speech was to be an introduction of myself. Rather than taking the traditional route of revealing my hometown, favorite color, favorite food, etc., I chose rather, to explain my personality using an interesting story from my past. Whatever excitement I may have felt prior to getting up in front of the class disappeared as soon as I realized that I now had to remember everything I was going to talk about and get it all out in the right order and in a manner that people would understand all while being critiqued by not only my professor, but by the entire class. I shook with nervous fear. I had to set my paper with the notes down on the desk in front of me because I was shaking too much. I stumbled over words and probably looked really goofy. I became more relaxed as my story progressed. I finished and made my way back to my seat.

The second speech was informative in nature and for it I chose the topic of amateur filmmaking. Having done extensive research on this topic I thought it would turn out pretty well. My experience in this area is largely limited to getting phone calls from friends who wanted to shoot a movie and then, upon arriving at the location of the shoot, realizing that they had done no planning. Nothing would ever get done that way. While delivering the speech I focused on being more relaxed in front of the audience and, while there still was a slight nervous fear remaining, I didn’t let it overpower me. I kept to my topic, all the while trying to limit my urges to expound unnecessarily. I decided to spice the speech up with some lame humor (the kind I’m best at) just to keep everyone interested. My efforts seemed to pay off quite nicely.

For my third speech, the persuasive speech, I chose the topic of gun control. Having recently had a letter published in the newspaper and knowing the argument pretty well, I decided this topic would suit me best. I felt the need to use some visual aids for this presentation but, as you could probably guess, visual aids for a speech on the harmful effects of gun control would be… tricky. I decided that it was time to learn how to use Microsoft Power Point. I put together a simple presentation that I assumed would be easy for the audience to follow. I sat at the computer during the presentation and shouted across the room to the class about this and that. My confidence in the subject decreased as I knew that there was some controversy surrounding what I was saying. I should have stayed my ground seeing as I has the statistics right in front of me and knew the subject well. I used words like “evidently” and “apparently” when I should have used words like “proved” and “without a doubt.” I paused to gather my thoughts at times. Overall however, I think it came out decently. I had expected to do much better but in the end I believe it was acceptable.

In the future I expect to be doing much better. As my confidence increases and as I get to know the members of the audience better my speaking skills should improve. I expect to let the words flow off my tongue like… butter off a hot pancake… or something like that. I am actually looking forward to my final speech the most, as I get to tell everybody how I’m going to become famous and sign autographs for everyone.

Public speaking Essay 2

2010-01-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

Again, no official score for this... paper... but my professor was pleased. He circled the last paragraph and wrote "Very good point."

Lou Bruno

Public Speaking

Comparing Speeches:

MLK and Barack Obama

by Josiah Teal

When analyzing the Inaugural (State of the Nation?) Address given by President Barack Obama to Congress, one notices the sense of hope for the future that is brought out in his speech. This is not the first time a speech was given proclaiming hope for America during hard times. Almost a half a century ago, another man gave a passionate speech of hope and optimism for future generations. In his epically famous speech to a cheering crowd in the city of Washington D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the end of oppression for the black community in America.

The similarities the two speeches share are definitely apparent. Both speakers are hopeful that the future of this country will begin to brighten once again, and both speakers are trying to take this country out of hard times. In much the same way the black community looked to King to lead them out of the dark and trying times, many people now are eagerly looking to Obama to single-handedly slay the evil dragon of depression that looms ominously in the shadows and soon thereafter, rain down daisies and butterfly’s all across the land. Everyone will hold hands and sing about cheerfulness all day long and never again will we have to worry about hard times, because there is no need to fear, The Great Obama is here!

While the similarities between the two speeches are evident, there are also many differences. King’s speech still holds the power to move me and I’m a white guy! Obama’s address, while hopeful and optimistic, lacks the level of inspiration the King speech was graced with. Obama’s speech came across more as an instruction manual and progress report than as an inspirational speech. While Obama can speak well and fluently in front of his audience, he failed to affix my attention in the same manner as MLK had done.

An explanation for these differences might come in the form of setting. King was speaking in front of a very large immediate audience out in the open air. While properly equipped with microphones and speakers for projecting his message, the setting was fit for speaking loudly and yelling at key points in the message. While King could feel completely comfortable yelling out “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we’re free at last!” an outburst like this would have been entirely misplaced during an address to Congress.

When comparing two speeches, one must remember to not only take note of the differences, but also understand the reasons behind these differences. MLK delivered quite a powerful message to his audience that day. It was a message that still inspires to this day. But when comparing it to an congressional address, I don’t think it entirely fair. The Address delivered by President Obama was not meant to be inspirational, and Obama hadn’t planned on college students analyzing his speech based on the work of Martin Luther King Jr.

Public Speaking Essay 1

2010-01-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have decided that this blog needs some therapy. So, as an experiment, I will begin to slap some of my college projects and essays up here. Hopefully they are satisfactory.

The following is an essay...ish thing... that I wrote for my public speaking class. I never got an official "score" for this, but my professor was pleased with my writing.

Lou Bruno

Public Speaking

Suspected US Missile Strike Sparks Controversy

by Josiah Teal

Last Saturday, a suspected Taliban stronghold in Pakistan was leveled to the ground, killing 27 and sparking an outcry throughout the Islamic world. The US are believed to be responsible for the attack, which came mere days after 8 Taliban rebels from inside Pakistan stormed an official building in Kabul Afghanistan killing 20 people.

Although Pakistan is claiming to be fighting a war against these extremists inside its borders, warnings are being given to the US to stay out of Pakistan’s business. They also claim that the suspected militants killed in Saturdays attack were mostly civilians. I am of the opinion that many times militants will dress like civilians so that when they are killed, people will say that the US is killing innocent people, causing a further rally for support in the fight against the West. In the war that Israel fought with the Hamas, militants used human shield tactics as well as hiding AK-47’s beneath their clothing to appear as civilians.

I am not claiming that this is the case with the Pakistani missile strike, but I will not rule out the possibility. Islamic guerrilla warfare has been known to involve clever deception to achieve goals.

Despite the claim that many victims of Saturdays attacks were civilians, some officials also believe that many were also militants. These officials however, were not speaking with permission from the Pakistani government.

The missile strikes are supposed to fuel extremism throughout the Muslim and Middle Eastern world. The US however, brushes off this claim without much thought. In my opinion, many of these militants will use any excuse they can in becoming more violent towards the US and the western world.

I am also of the opinion that the US is sloppy with attacks such as this; when Israel carries out these types of attacks throughout the world, they are so utterly embarrassing for the other party that they will not even make the news. Israel once took out an Iranian Uranium enrichment facility inside Syria guarded by the newest Russian-made missile defense network with such precision that it shocked everyone involved. The event was swept under the rug because it was too embarrassing for Iran, and too scary for Russia. Israel carries out attacks like this with regularity, yet they never make the headlines. Maybe we should take notes?

To sum it up, US attacks spark controversy. Anytime America defends herself it will spark controversy. Terrorists use anything they can to gain support. This includes surrounding their facilities with civilians. America should learn how to perform controversial militaristic actions from Israel, because they never get caught.

My Grandpa

2009-10-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

So as many people are aware, my grandfather (who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the end of August) passed away on September 28t. I never got on here and talked about it because I didn't know exactly what to say about the whole thing. I'm usually pretty open about how I feel, and the fact that I couldn't bring myself to talk about it was kind of confusing for me. I know I loved him, but for some reason it wasn't something that I wanted to talk about all the time, or even at all.

But finally, one day after his memorial service, I have decided to write about the things I will really miss about him.

His unique sense of humor. "you might as well just finish your dinner, it's just gonna go in the garbage anyway." And "I beat her (grandma) up every morning." Oh, and then, "The other day I was walking down the road and a saw a monkey turning into a people!"

His stories, ranging to his mischievous childhood and teenaged years to his exploits at American Linen, where he worked as a delivery man.

Just talking. I could often go to Grandpa and tell him stories of my own and we would just talk about stuff for as long as it took.

His music was wonderful. Playing the banjo while also playing the harmonica and singing. He even had a belt buckle with a banjo on it.

His example was one of a kind. He was the least hypocritical person I ever knew.

Josh is getting into all sorts of mischief now so I have to cut it short :(

URGENT WARNING: Internet Purge Immenent!

2009-09-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

So just as I was signing into blogger I realized that I really didn't have anything that I wanted to say. Now I feel like just signing out and saying "forget it, I'm too empty-headed and frustrated to post anything today." And if that wasn't enough, there is also the fact that nobody will read this anyway! Why bother writing things that nobody will read? Maybe writing is just therapy for me, maybe it's a way to organize my thoughts. I really don't know for sure, but for some reason I just keep on typing nonsense into cyberspace, overcrowding the internet with a lot of useless junk.

That brings me to something worth speculating about. So what if ten years from now, it is almost impossible to find what you are looking for on the internet due to overcrowding information? Say you look up "Toyota Corolla" and instead of finding a nice review written by a professional, you find a whole lot of nonsense written by little kids about Toyota Corolla's crashing next door, or stupid stuff like that. This is a very real threat ladies and gentlemen, someday the internet might need to be wiped clean of all nonsensical and non-nonsensical information for the good of mankind. All blogs and YouTube videos that are not immediately beneficial for humankind will be purged from cyberspace... I wonder if that is even possible. Too bad Nobody will read this, so my warning will go unnoticed.

Blog Food

2009-08-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

The reason I don't post too much anymore is because for some reason I make a bigger deal out of signing in to blogger than I should. For some reason I think it will be a pain and take forever when in reality I know it won't. My mind is weird! Hopefully nobody has completely deserted my blog in search of greener pastures.

Today on my way home from work I stopped for a red light and the guy following me at a safe distance thought I should have gone through. He promptly whipped around me to zoom through the red light after I had come to a complete stop. The guy who stopped next to me at the light (2 lane road) looked over and made a face as if to say "yeah that guy was a moron". we both agreed with each other using nonverbal gestures and then continued driving. Don't know why I felt the need to share that... but there it is.

Our Video!

2009-06-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Just a fun time.

Early Morning Adventure

2009-06-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to pause the wasp video!

As some of you may know, my sleeping habits have been known to be a little irregular at times. I am an insomniac, and this can be very frustrating to live with, but I learn to cope somewhat.
Anyway, last night while lying in my bed awake at almost 3 am, I was thinking I was soon going to fall into a deep sleep. My eyes were tired, I was comfortable under a thin layer of blankets, and my thoughts were just beginning to wander off into the realm of the unknown and mysterious unconscious realm... yeah, that about sums it up. All was quiet, the room was dark but for a few lights from the computer indicating that it was on. Suddenly, out of the still quiet nighttime air, my ears detected the distinct sound of crunching metal, followed by the even more distinct sound of squealing tires. My calm night had just been shattered. "That sounded pretty close," I thought to myself as I got out of bed. I briefly debated whether or not to go out into the blackness of 3 AMishness and try to find the source of the disturbance.
If this had happened during the daytime hours, I would have decided to stay home and mind my own business, but since the thought of somebody crashing along a dark lonely road in the middle of the night was not the most reassuring, I donned some clothes and headed out to investigate. Some would call this "rubbernecking" but, as I explained in my Josiah style, I was not sure anybody else had heard anything, seeing as most of the civilized population was soundly snoozing.
I jumped in my car and headed down the road south, toward where I thought the noise had come from. After a while I turned around, figuring that perhaps the noise came from the more well traveled and sometimes dangerous route 104. I circled back to 104 where I drove the stretch nearest to my house. I began to think that perhaps I had just imagined the whole thing, after all, I had been nearly asleep; maybe it was part of my pre-sleep thought cycle thing. I rolled my window down and listened carefully. Sure enough, I heard the fire whistle. Good to know I wasn't crazy, but still a little scary that somebody had been in an accident.
I decided to go into the town of Sodus. Perhaps the noise had come from farther away than I previously thought. I cruised down the lonely roads of the sleeping village. Then I saw an ambulance driving toward me from the other direction. Then it made a turn onto Maple st. in the village. I was relieved that crews were on scene, but at this point my curiousity had been aroused too much to ignore. Perhaps against my better judgment, I followed the ambulance down Maple. There I saw a police officer leading a handcuffed kid toward the newly arrived rig. "Well that's odd," I thought to myself.
In the distance there were what looked to be dozens and dozens of emergency vehicles. As I drew closer I realized that they were all gathered in the Sodus school parking lot. You can probably piece it together yourself from there. I turned and left the scene. I guess I'll have to read the Wayne County Times to get the rest of the details, wether they are embellished or not.

My theory right now, is that some kid (drunk or not) was joyriding at unreasonable speeds in the school parking lot where he crashed with some amount of force. He then bailed and ran up Maple st, hoping to elude responsibility. But who knows.

What I find fascinating is that I was able to hear the crash from that far away! Maybe the wind was blowing just right....

(untitled)

2009-05-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

Amazing Skyline!

2009-04-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

I think I have discovered the most amazing skyline ever! Does anybody know what city this is?

How inspiring! It looks so futuristic too! Any guesses?

A Selection of Police Videos w/ British Host

2009-04-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

This one is for Brian Milliman:

Original Ideas

2009-03-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know whether to love it or hate it. I can come up with the most original story ideas and I love that, but I hate the fact that they are so original I feel like if I tell anybody they will recognize the originality and steal my story! Last night I came up with an astoundingly 0riginal st0ry idea. I want to tell everybody but then they will steal my idea and become famous!I guess I will just begin writing then... sigh.

Unprofessional Review of Slumdog Millionaire

2009-03-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Please Scroll Down and Stop the Wasp Video if You do Not Wish to Have it Play!

Today I would like to take a moment to rhapsodize on the astounding qualities of the film "Slumdog Millionaire." Although this film received an R rating, it appears as though the Director, Danny Boyle, was almost attempting to achieve a PG13 rating. I believe it is rated R solely because there are references to the child prostitution businesses that exist in India and such places. There is also some subtitled language and a heavily accented "f-bomb" that a lot of people evidently didn't catch.

OK yes, after reading that section it does seem as if this movie is the most terrible movie ever; however, I thoroughly enjoyed it and think that it was well deserving of the 8 Oscars it achieved. If you are thinking of seeing it, go soon because it will soon be out of most theaters. Just keep in mind: Rated R for some language (PG13 kind), Violence (PG13 kind), Child Slavery, and brief sexuality (Brief as in passing by a brothel on the way to rescue a girl from it... PG13 kind).

It has a happy ending, so don't worry.

Massacre!

2009-03-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is truly a scary video. Watch and tremble with fear as your worst nightmares are realized before your very eyes.

Watch more MySpace videos on AOL Video

I hope this works.

Another Pointless Post

2009-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

I am bored. I am at school. I will fill out applications online. I will try to get a job. I am a loser. The End.

As an aside, I have been writing more stories in my "spare" time. I try to get my ideas refined, I work on a screenplay, I collaborate online with Facebook friends, and I throw around ideas with Joe Slocum. We came up with some pretty cool characters for a story last night. The Anti-hero who calls himself "The Scientist" and the US Marshall that is hot on his trail. And the psychotic assassin who is trailing them both. Oh we have good details about the lives of these characters too, but nothing that I will divulge over the internet. Suffice (it) to say that it is cool... unpolished, but it's that way on purpose. It has a gritty feel rather than a smooth flowing style, and I like that about it because it makes it feel more real to me. But maybe I'm just a weirdo.

My Day So Far

2009-02-19T12:07:00.000-08:00

I woke up, took a shower, ate cereal, jumped on Facebook for a few minutes, then went out to get wood for the fireplace, and that is where my first story starts.

Molly was at the door begging to go outside with me while I got wood for the woodstove. Just look at those puppy eyes, how could I refuse? I slid the door open and walked outside after her, carrying the old recyclable bin in one hand. Molly frolicked over to the little swingset and danced around for a minute while I began to load up the bin with irregular sized chunks of wood because all the normal ones have been burned up already.

I glanced up at Molly who had now begun to wander off toward the pine trees in the neighbors yard. "Molly!" I warned sternly, "Don't you run off now, I have to leave in not too long." She perked her ears and pretended to listen. I stared her down until I thought she got the point, then I continued to load up the wood. When the bin was full I picked it up and started toward the back door to the house. "Molly," I called, "come on, time to go in." I scanned the yard but she was nowhere to be seen. How long had I been out there, 3-5 minutes? I hollered a few more times before turning back to the house. I went inside and down to the basement where I unloaded the wood. I went back upstairs and opened the back door where I called out "MOLLY!" for 10 minutes straight. After that failed, I went outside and walked around calling out her name. But I had to go to school. I got my books, went out the front door, and started my car. I circled around the block once, but no Molly was to be seen.

As of this minute, Bethany has notified me that Adam has found the sinister pooch. She was enjoying a nice walk in the orchard all by herself.

Upon arriving at school, I went into the student lounge and glanced over somebody's shoulder while they read the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. I skimmed through the editorial section when lo and behold, I saw my own name! A little over a week ago, I read an editorial about how stricter gun control laws could bring salvation to a city plagued by gun violence. I stole the article from Orbakers restaurant (with permission) and typed up a response when I got home. My preference was to have the letter be about 250 words long, but 175 words is the limit. Narrowing my topic wasn't easy, as there was so much I wanted to say, but I did it nonetheless and e-mailed it to the newspaper.

I thought they were suppose to call and notify me if they wanted to use my letter, but when they didn't I thought that they ignored me. But there it was this morning, right there in the DnC! My grandma and grandpa knew before I did, and I never even told anyone I sent anything in.

Coincidentally, it appears on the same day as a front page article about a murderer who got a pistol permit... I think they did that on purpose.

An Exciting True Story

2009-02-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

As you all may have already known, I have been becoming increasingly discontented with my job as a pizza delivery guy. It is the same every day; wash dishes, get my shirt dirty, slice meat and veggies, deliver pizzas to the same five places that ordered (Mott's shipping, Mott's security, Route 88 barn, Pitts Ford, Middle or Elementary schools), and sometimes get a grouchy costumer. My boss, Chris, would yell at me for various petty things. I would often overhear different employees say my name while talking amongst themselves. They never let me know what they were talking about though... but I heard my name, so logically I could draw conclusions.

A couple of weeks ago, my boss got into trouble with his boss. We all knew who told the franchise owner about our supposed "less-than-par standards" because he came in all the time. He was a snoop, and he seemed to thrive on making stores other than the one he owned look bad... probably in an effort to climb the corporate ladder, if there is such a thing in this business. But my boss took it very seriously and began making a billion different revisions about the shop, including uniforms and recipes and such.

Previously at Cams, a delivery driver had to wear a white button up shirt with a bow tie. This summer when I went back to work there after a 1 1/2 year absence, the rules had become slightly more relaxed. The white shirt policy was still in effect, but the bow tie was no longer a requirement.

After the run-in with his boss, Chris reinstated the bow tie rule, which was tolerable I suppose. Unfortunately he soon demanded that I buy myself a new shirt and started getting extra grouchy about it. If I didn't buy a new shirt by a certain time, I would be fired. At this point I had already been feeling some pressure to quit, but not having any other job to go to, I had to give in and buy a brand new white shirt for myself, knowing full well that it would be completely wrecked within 2 weeks. The shirt I bought was nice, and it cost me $25.00. I didn't have enough time to look for anything cheaper, Wal-Mart doesn't believe in white button-up shirts. Further confounding the matter was the fact that only the delivery guys had to buy their own uniforms, other uniforms were standard issue.

I had this new white shirt for about a week when I went into work on Wednesday. Upon my arrival, my boss said to me, "Hey, where are your khaki pants? Didn't I tell you to wear khaki pants?"

"No Chris, you didn't tell me."

"Well, you gotta get some khaki pants before too long."

So I worked throughout Wednesday and on Thursday I went to school and forgot about khaki pants. In reality I didn't think it was a big deal, plus I had already spent $25.00 on a new shirt, so why would I want to spend more on pants for a minimum wage job that I didn't even like? I had also noticed something rather suspicious on the schedule the day before; Chris had a new guy scheduled to work some of my normal hours. What could this mean? I let that stew around in my brain for all of 5 seconds.

Friday rolled around and while on my way to work I realized that I had no khaki pants. "Oh well, not a big deal" I mused to myself. I pulled into my usual parking spot at work and grabbed my shirt and hat before getting out of my car and going in the front door to work. I entered like I normally did, greeting my boss with a smile. He was working at the bench making pizzas alongside the scumbag who had ratted on him. Chris looked up from his pizza making and said hello, then I watched his expression change. He looked at me with a rather stern face and said, "Hey Josiah, where are your khaki pants? Didn't I ask you to get some khaki pants? Remember that conversation we had?"

I looked at him with a strait face and said, "Oh yeah, I remember."

He continued, "So... what's the problem here?"

I stumbled over my thoughts for a second and mumbled something that wasn't even important enough for me to remember what it was. Chris pressed me for a strait answer. I looked at my feet for a minute before remembering my interpersonal communications class the night before. We had briefly discussed how well we conveyed our thoughts and ideas to others, even when it might be hard. I struggled with this for a second, the cannons raged in my head as the battle was fought. "Should I tell him what I am thinking... or should I just try and skirt the issue as I had been doing for the past 2 weeks?" I finally decided to just lay it out there plain as day and risk my job... it wasn't like it would be a huge loss to me anyway.

I looked him strait in the eye and explained, "Well, here's what I think: This is a minimum wage job, and I already spent $25 on a shirt, and quite frankly, I really don't feel like spending any more money on a minimum wage job that I don't even like anyway."

Without a single moments hesitation me gave me the news that I knew was coming anyway; "Well then, you're done." he stated rather matter-of-factly. I smiled and said "OK" and walked casually out of the shop. I got into my car and laughed. Then I realized that I probably had a paycheck inside on the counter. I waltzed back into the shop and kindly asked for my paycheck. Upon receiving my check, I turned around and walked back out the door.

So now I am jobless. I am currently waiting for news on any internships or jobs that FLCC might be able to offer me. If nothing turns up there, I may be able to score a job with a temp agency. If nothing else works out, I could always go back to Orbakers... but I hope it doesn't come to that.

I'm Too Smart for My Own Good

2009-02-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

Today while thinking of various nervous systems that are supposedly inside the human body (Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Autonomic Nervous System, Sympathetic Nervous System, and Parasympathetic Nervous System), I thought of a funny scenario in which a mechanic instructed some pupils that there were different types of gasoline used in cars at various times, Acceleration Gasoline, Deceleration Gasoline, and Cruising Gasoline. He explains:

"Acceleration Gasoline is what the vehicle will use when we apply extra pressure to the gas pedal. When we ease off the gas and drive at a consistent speed, the engine switches to Cruising Gasoline. And finally, when the driver downshifts, or apply the brake, the engine will switch yet again, this time to use Deceleration Gasoline. Not any of these types of gasoline can be used during a time when another is in use."

I thought it was interesting and entertained that concept throughout my psychology class this morning. What if all these nervous systems, or at least one or two, were really the same thing? It is true, you can't use gas with which you are decelerating for accelerating again, right? But in reality, all the gas is exactly the same, it's just being used differently.

Another thought I had was about my Interpersonal Communications textbook. Do we really need a 400 page textbook to tell us how to talk to each other? I can understand that some people lack communications skills, but taking 400 pages to teach us how to talk??

I think I should consolidate it into a 30 page booklet that would be much easier to read, access, and carry around. People could just whip it out at the first sing of a communications error. I will call it "The Handbook for Life's Misunderstandings" and it would be a bestseller until people realized that it was plagiarized.

Nobody Will Read This

2009-02-02T15:45:00.001-08:00

Hi all of you who never read my blog anyway! How are you?

On Tuesday or Thursday... I think it was Thursday, I ate some peanut butter nutty buddy snacks from the vending machine at school. Over the weekend I have felt very weird and sick, almost like the flu but a little bit different. I looked up the symptoms of salmonella and I guess it isn't always severe enough to be lethal, and the symptoms I have match rather well. I was unable to find the exact snack on the FDA website, but I don't know how you are supposed to find anything on there. I also tried looking them up on google, but all I got were Betty Crocker recipes.

Anyway, on another note, I hate my job. I like writing, and I got some good comments on my story blog. I have been writing a never-ending story with some dudes on facebook as well and it is going pretty good so far. I'm genuinely interested in this story now.

UGH!

2009-01-28T10:34:00.000-08:00

I feel like I need to puke somewhere.

Anyway, I may lose my job very soon. I got sent home today because my shirt is not shiny and new. I need to buy a brand new shirt for my job or I will get fired. I don't even like my job, so why would I want to buy a brand new shirt? The shirt will just get dirty in a week anyway, plus the job is minimum wage and there is gas expenses, tire wear, oil changes, etc. Ugh, why bother eh? I put in applications before I went into work today anyway.

My public speaking class was last night and we had a substitute teacher already. When he read my name off the list, he said "That's a very nice name, the name of a poet." Something I had been thinking anyway. I always knew my name was nice... OK, so there was a short period that I wished to change it, but I was young and naive then.

I tried to put my CD player into my car by myself yesterday because I was tired of being musicless in my car. I hooked everything up the way that made sense to me, but nothing worked. This is getting very frustrating! Music is therapeutic to me. I REALLY need to ease my stress and get my mind off of... things. I try to sing to myself with no music, but the music is what controls my voice and keeps it from going places it shouldn't go. Plus something about certain types of music make me sing in ways that I otherwise can't figure out how to. I mostly need the music for stress though... I miss Five Iron Frenzy.

College is going to be tough for a while, and not because of the work involved. I have no first semester friends in any of my classes, and not only that, but they aren't even at school when I am! Some would rather have it that way I guess, but it's still tough for me. The smell of the college is killer.

I really need to go on that cross-country trip this summer... I really need it. YES I DO!

Ramble ramble ramble....

Cross Country Adventure!

2009-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the amazing idea to take a cross-country trip this summer. I will get a friend who also likes the prospect of adventure and we would take a video camera along as we drove from NY to California! Along the way we would have to stop and visit friends and relatives of course. In order to make the most out of the trip we would probably go out to Cali taking a northern route and return via a southern route, or vice verse. The idea excites me even now. Haha, it would be so much fun and would add to my memories for when I am old and dying. I really have to do something like this while I still can ya know.

So, I have to be sure not to get scared and decide not to go because that would be dumb and right now I really want to do it. It will be good for me! ithink

Update

2009-01-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I have to start preparing for school. Classes begin the week of the 26'th but my first class of the semester is on the 27'th. Books are available beginning today, so I have to make some time to get down there and get them... yay. I'm taking Psychology, Public Speaking, and Interpersonal Communications.

My car is also being fixed in Canandaigua so when it is ready I will go down to pick it up and then go get books if I have time. I am kind of disappointed at how winter break went, I had hoped to do more and have a fun time. But whatever, there's always summer, eh?

Sorry, my thoughts have been rather scattered lately so this isn't the most well thought out post.

Oh, I have a rental car for now while my car is being fixed, but unfortunately, the rental place (Enterprise) failed to check the tires before renting me the car. My Rio has never been stuck in the snow, but this Optima got stuck right away. It has near bald summertime slicks on it >:( Now why would they do that to me?

Things to do in My Lifetime

2009-01-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

I think I have been developing a more evident sense of adventure lately, but I don't know how to have fun. I need ideas for doing fun and maybe slightly mischievous stuff as long as it isn't illegal... not too illegal anyway, ha ha. Even if it's just driving around with a couple friends all night long being totally innocent. Now that I am 21 I can legally purchase alcohol, but I honestly can't seem to find the fun in getting smashed drunk. I have yet to purchase any alcohol despite the encouragement of a couple friends to do so.

Anyway, I have been thinking of things that I need to do in my lifetime and compiling a list. Here are a few of my aspirations.

Ride the L-train in Chicago.

Ride the subway in New York City.

Drive all night long and in the early morning stop at a small cafe where I don't know anyone and order breakfast (why does that sound enticing? I don't even know, but it does).

Visit London and walk the streets late at night.

Sing in a rock band, preferably one that actually rocks.

Drive a ricer (fast and the furious car) on a highway in Los Angeles.

Have a Guinness in a small Irish town (I know, I'm evil).

Meet at least one famous person.

Learn martial arts... if I can. :/

Fire a fully automatic weapon.

I would like to have a good girlfriend at least once in my life.

I've always wanted to go to Australia... but I don't know what I want to do there.

Roadtrip with friends across the country... maybe to LA where we will drive ricers down the highways.

Thwart a robbery. >:D

Make at least one movie, even if it stinks at least I tried, eh?

There will probably be more to come, but that's all I can think of for now.

Public Information

2009-01-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

There has been a whole lot of stuff on my mind lately... but because of the sheer volume of how much there is it would make it very difficult to describe.

For one, I have finally identified the root cause of my pessimism. I used to think of it as a curse of sorts but I have realized now that I use it as a defense mechanism. By not allowing my hopes and expectations to get too high, I keep myself from falling too far and getting hurt too much. I also use pessimism as a means to get attention. I never before thought of myself as one who craves the spotlight... and I really don't think the spotlight is what I want. Instead, I just want to be noticed and appreciated. Someone else can take the spotlight, just so long as I don't get shoved to some dark corner in the process. Is that a bad thing??

I guess people use many different methods of calling attention to themselves, I just happen to use self degradation. I want people to tell me that I am appreciated... without telling them to tell me.

But somehow I still manage to make myself feel blah even after being told that I am appreciated. Then what am I looking for? I think I am looking for a deeper sense of appreciation than what I get. I'm starting to feel lost... I don't want anyone to think I'm turning "emo" or anything... I think I'm just saying out loud (or on paper) what everyone else feels but feels like they can't say for fear of being labeled "emo."

I think that's enough for now.

Congratulations are in Order

2008-12-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

So on Thursday morning (12-18) at about quarter after 4 in the morning our family welcomed a new face into our lives. Lucas Adriel (sp?) Teal was about 6 lbs 15 oz (?) and about 20 inches long when he arrived. He is the first son of my older brother Dave (to those of you who don't know me) and his wife Leta.

I am only now posting about it because I am lazy and I fugured, "Why bother, the only people who read my blog know already anyway." But then I though that it might be nice to tell about it just in case anybody new stumbles upon my blog (sorry bout that), I'd want them to know too, right?

So congratulations to Dave and Leta for their new baby boy! I still haven't seen him, but hopefully I will be able to make a trip to see him real soon.

Schools End

2008-12-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight, and as a matter of fact, right at this moment, I am at school and awaiting the commencement of my last class of the semester. Am I glad it's soon to be over? I think so, I need a break from it all. In another month maybe I'll be ready to go back. Until then, I plan on... working... writing stuff... watching movies that I have not had time to watch... cleaning my room... and so on. I hope I did good on everything!

My US History teacher also gave me a B+ (he said I could have had an A, but I knew I didn't quite deserve one... so did he) and he also gave me a 20 year old video camera. The kind where you put an entire VHS tape inside it and stuff. For that I am grateful... even though it's not top notch, it will do for now.

That's about all for now.

An Attempt to Keep the Story Alive

2008-12-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

I laid my head back down on the hospital be I was in and tried to concentrate. "What was it? What just happened to me?"

It was a scary thing not being able to remember something you had just experienced. It was kind of like being blind. Then I caught a glimpse of it. Was that really it? Was... no, that couldn't be. That's too weird, nobody would believe that... I wasn't even sure if I believed it. "Let's see," I thought to myself, "I was at the base... I was eating dinner with my comrades... No! I don't believe it!"

I groaned loudly, partly out of frustration and partly out of fear. The man from before, who I had assumed was a doctor of some sort, came rushing back into the room. He stood by my right arm and bent over and asked, "Are you remembering anything?"

I looked up at him and asked, "Where is everyone else?"

The man's answer put me back into a shock: "They're... they're all gone. Your the only one left alive, that's why we need to know what happened."

My head began reeling from the answer he gave me. "They... you... you wo-" I couldn't finish cause I couldn't get my thoughts organized. Finally I managed to get a sentence out, "I don't believe it!" I told him.

"What don't you believe? That your the only one alive? Or is there something else you don't believe?"

I Shut my eyes hard and braced myself, "Both." I responded, "I don't believe both... either." I corrected myself. "I-I-I need to..."

"I understand." said the doctor.

BLAH BLAH BLAH! That's all it is!

Another Beginning Never to be Finished

2008-12-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

My head was spinning. I could no longer tell what was happening around me. The chaos was just too much for my mind to take in. Everything went dark.

I woke up in a white room, surrounded by men in coats rushing to and fro above me. I was laying on my back on a white mattress with an IV in my arm. "What happened?" I wondered to myself. The time was unknown to me and I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. One of the men noticed I was awake and rushed to my side.

"Sir," he began, "can you tell me what happened?"

I looked up at him slowly, my eyes blinded by the lights above me. I said nothing, I just stared. I still was trying to make sense of it all. I didn't even know where I was, how was I to know what happened?

"Sir, can you hear me?" the man continued. "If you can hear me, blink your eyes."

I tried to understand what he was talking about, but it was hard. I finally managed to blink my eyes twice. The man repeated his first question, "Sir, can you tell me what happened?"

Another man came to his side and looked intently at my face. He must have seen the confusion in my eyes because he told the first man to let me rest and ask me again later to see if I was more aware of what was happening. Both men left and I was left to wonder what they were talking about. "Why couldn't I remember anything? Why were they so interested anyway? Where was I?" My thought echoed deep within me, and I hoped, or did I fear that I should remember them soon.

jhdf

2008-12-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

Next week I will be done with school for the semester... yay?

Probably No Good

2008-12-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

This is probably a bunch of nonsense... but I wrote it in 10 minutes last night.

My mind is bleeding from the overwhelming senses / how can it be I am left so defenseless?/ These thoughts that invade me with all the wrong timing / this pain that pervades and infects and is binding / slowly begin to succumb to the feeling / of being so lonely at times so revealing / Numbed to the insults and lies that surround me / my every effort to love it is drowning.

Climbing up mountains but falling back down / all of the while never leaving the ground / Reaching up high / but being pulled lower / my fate it does seem is to be ever poorer /
My eyesight gone bad with my mind in a blur / Why can’t I seem to get out of this slur / of rejection and feeling that there’s nothing left / but to just sit and wonder if worse will come next.

I try to continue I’m met with defeat / why must this life be so filled with my grief /
Cornered at last and with nowhere to turn / I gaze heavenward and my heart starts to yearn / Why for so long did I not even see / what I was looking for was right in front of me / At last hope was grasped and life was renewed / and my soul was no longer twisted or skewed.

It still needs a few revisions....

Love and Marriage

2008-12-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

It seems to be that my Sociology class on Monday nights is never lacking in lively discussions. Last night, the discussion revolved mostly around the topic of the family. Issues ranged from Polygamy to "hitting" children. The discussion I found the most... interesting was on love and marriage. The claim was that in societies where love is the main reason behind marriages, the divorce rate is higher. In societies with arranged marriages, the divorce rate is considerably lower.

I will now take a minute to say that this post may be a little edgy... meaning for more mature... how do I say this? Not for little people! There we go.

While my professor did acknowledge the fact that in most societies with arranged marriages, divorce is illegal, he still seemed to press the idea that maybe marriage because of love was the big issue behind the higher divorce rates. Also presented was the idea that marriage for love was a relatively new concept (I disagree, but I didn't say why).

But could there be another reason the divorce rate is so high that is going unnoticed?

Here is my take on the situation; what are we falling in love with as a society? I once heard a lively discussion on a local radio station about how stupid it was to wait until after marriage to... yeah, that. The DJ's likened it to buying a car before taking it for a test drive. I was completely dumbfounded! So this is what the popular ideas of the day are??

OK, so on the more obvious side, people are not cars, I want to stress this point. This analogy - which is evidently more widespread than I imagined - is completely bogus. You get to know a car by taking it for a test drive. You get to know people by spending time with them.

My thoughts were much more organized last night. :/

So, what are we falling in love with in this society, the "test drive"? I think so. That is why the divorce rate is so high; people fall in love with the "test drive" and they don't know who they are marrying. After marriage, the high wears off and then the realization sets in: "Oh boy, I married a jerk!"
"Well if you had waited, and instead taken the time to get to know the person, maybe you would have known that before you got married, eh?"

Wow, so when the Bible instructs us to wait until after marriage to have sex, it's not just being old fashioned, it's being logical! Now there's a new concept! (sarcasm)
Actually, the reasons for this instruction are many, and all of them are logical.

Now is this the sole reason for divorces? No, of course not. But if people would just realize the benefits of waiting, it is my firm belief that the divorce rate (no matter which one you look at) will plummet. Or maybe I'm just being old fashioned and legalistic.

I had some other points to make, but I have to leave now.

Quote of the Day

2008-11-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

"I am a pessimist. When I realize this, I briefly become an optimist. Then I realize that I am wrong."
-Me

Ouch!

2008-11-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Today, and for some of yesterday as well, I have had a problem with my right upper wisdom tooth. It seems it is growing in sideways and is beginning to penetrate my cheek. This is painful. Do I have any dental coverage?

nothing good

2008-11-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, for some reason I cannot think of anything that I want to post on the internet for all to see right now (except for this) but I just wanted to say that I cannot do that little 6th picture of the 6th folder thing when I don't even have any pictures... I'm sorry Aunt Priscilla. :(

Fan Appreciation Day

2008-11-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Dear fans,
I write to you today to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering devotion to my ramblings. I wanted to take this moment to say thank you, thank you for your support and all the kind words you have expressed to me over the course of the last two and 2/3 years I have been blogging. Times have been tough in the past, but you had faith in me, and for that I thank you, you have been an unending inspiration to me and the source of many revelations.

Insincerely - Josiah Teal

That is a joke, just in case you were wondering. I wanted to see if I could write a convincing letter of appreciation... did it work?

Actually, I wrote that because I was in the mood for writing but didn't know what to write about. Oh! How about this:

Recently, I began work on a cheesy tale of goofiness for fun and stuff. It is the story of The Christmas Ogre and it will awe, inspire, amuse, and bring comfort to all who are unfortunate enough to read its dreadful pages. About... 2-3-4 years ago, me and my younger brother Ben began writing one but it has since been lost to the fog of time. So I began writing a new one. I hope it is good... I hope this post is not completely pointless and boring :(

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Seeing as it is now the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, I would like to take a minute to honor all of the American veterans who have put their lives at risk to keep us safe. I also think of those who did not serve in active combat but rather spent their time fixing broken plane and tanks and such, and those who fixed the broken soldiers. I am a big fan of our military and I believe that our soldiers should be respected.

Anywho, again, thank you all you veterans and those currently serving, whether you saw action or not, your work is appreciated by me. Now let me see if I can find a nice picture to swipe.

I think that is a good one.

No Title

2008-11-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

New post on my story blog, I hope you will take a few minutes and take a peek :)

Is America the Villain?

2008-10-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

One thing that has been on my mind lately: Is America the villain?

When we watch movies and TV we often come across a story in which the big governing body is being a menace to other nations, like The Alliance in Serenity/Firefly, the Empire in Star Wars, and even in real history, Germany in WWII, and Britain during our fight for independence between the years 1776 and 1783.
Do other nations envision our soldiers as Storm Troopers?

Reasons for Past Conflicts

All one really needs to do in this case is look at what we have fought for in the past; WWII, to stop the spread of evil in Europe and (while also protecting our own interests) liberate nations conquered by the Nazi War Machine; Vietnam, to quell the spread of communism; Gulf War, to protect a small country while also protecting our oil interests; the War in Iraq, to liberate an oppressed people and to fight terror.

Occupations

One must remember also that occupations are often present after a war. This is to ensure that utter chaos does not ensue as a result of an overthrown government and the establishment of a replacement government. If, when Germany was defeated in WWII, we left them to fend for themselves, we would have done little to prevent the wrong person from coming to power in a time of chaos... this gets complicated.

Unfortunately, occupations can also yield some of the worst sides of people. Murder and vandalism often result after the conquering soldiers become more relaxed and less disciplined. They will drive tanks over cars and do other unspeakable things. One must remember that these are the actions of individuals who make bad choices, not the government itself.

The Good Side of America

Despite our more selfish (so to speak) reasons for becoming involved in some past wars, I find it hard to imagine the U.S. as a villain. We have liberated people and countries, we have helped to spread democracy and overthrow murderous dictatorships, and shielded other nations from falling into the hands of people such as Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein (let's be clear that these were bad people, killing innocent people for ethnic cleansing or for sport is bad. No matter where you are from, this is wrong). We are the most generous nation on the planet. We give more to foreign aid and relief efforts abroad than any other nation and that is a fact.

The Other Side of America

So why do some countries label us as the villain? Some things that come to mind are Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we dropped the atomic bomb on both of these cities in August, 1945. These were cities populated with non-combatants. In the mind of most of the world this was terrorism. Although this was not one of the proudest points in American history, many point to the idea that WWII would have lasted much longer and claimed many more lives if it did not happen. Slavery in America is another issue, although the nation was at one time completely divided over it, some nations still scoff at America for having practiced it. Is there slavery in America now? We have sad points in our history yes, but so do all nations.

My Conclusion

After contemplating various issues on the subject, I have decided that our Marines are not the equivalent of Nazis or Storm Troopers, and our leadership is not (not yet) the same as Hitler or Darth Vader. I think an unbiased look at the facts of history and where America currently stands will show, America is not the villain.

I think that pretty much covers it.

Two Different Posts in One!

2008-10-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

So as I logged in to my blog this morning I noticed something unusual at the top of the page. My adsense was no longer present. Confused, I quickly checked my E-mail to find that google had disabled my account. The reason was unspecified, but I think it was because it was doing rather well this month, bringing in about $25-$30. I had feared that this may happen; I had read the testaments of several people who were very upset at the fact that their accounts had been dissabled right before their first check would be sent to them. I guess that's is what happens though.... Maybe it was because I mentioned my ads in the last post... I didn't think that was illegal, in fact, it isn't.

Anyway, what I was going to blog about was, of course, political. It is that time.

I think at the top of my list of reasons not to vote for Barrack Obama would be because of what we like to call National Security, as demonstrated in the following video clip.

That's about all I can say there... but wait, theres more.

1. Obama is sympethetic with our enemies.
2. Our enemies like Obama and want him to win the election.
3. Obama want's to disarm America and Americans.
4. Obama is not a fan of America.

Why would we let him become president??
CHANGE! Yay, let's change!

Please define this change Mr. Obama.

Sociological Thoughts

2008-10-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah so, I don't really know how I got body armor ads up there, but I think it's cool anyway.

Anyway, I wanted to take the time in this post to address things that were in my head from last night sociology class. For the most part, I think sociology is common sense, for example, things like, "We change our behavior based on other peoples reactions to it." If I were to pass gas loudly in public, people would make faces or get mad at me and that would indicate to me that passing gas loudly in public is not the best thing to do. I therefore refrain from doing so again... common sense stuff right?

The things that don't seem to make as much sense are these; "there are no absolutes", "right and wrong are relative to the culture that defines them", "Even murder, child rape and stealing have their respectful place in certain societies."
Is this true?? Of course I know it is false, but I would like to get more involved in it than just saying "that's wrong."
Let's address murder, shall we? Killing is not necessarily murder although murder is killing. If I were to kill in self defense, the law would be on my side (for now). When I brought this up, my professors first response was to brig up the disarming tactics used in martial arts such as Judo. (for the story of judo) He claimed that in the country where judo originated, killing in self defense was considered murder and the citizens used Judo to disarm and subdue an attacker. He therefore conceded that maybe all killing was really murder. I quickly brought up the fact that most westerners do not know Judo and therefore often have no other reliable means of self defense other than using deadly weapons.

If I were to kill out of jealousy or hate, that would be murder. Killing enemy combatants in wartime is not murder, killing civilians is. "So what about armed civilians?" my teacher is a tricky guy. My question is, do the civilians become combatants when they are armed? Is it therefore justified when they are killed? This is tricky business.

It seemed as if the issue was being slightly skirted. "Is killing out of jealousy or hate or whatever universally murder?" This question was largely unanswered. For myself, I cannot think of an exception to this rule.

As for child rape, the practice of arranged marriages was the reason child rape is not universally wrong. Arranged marriages are the cultural norm for some cultures and therefore, child rape must be accepted as well. This is the reasoning of my sociology professor. Respectfully, I must disagree. I feel I need not explain the reasons for this.

Stealing... is stealing wrong when one steals to survive? Or to feed a hungry child? Even the Bible makes an exception for this rule. In the book of Proverbs it states that we are not to punish the man who steals to feed himself or (I would assume) somebody else; however, they are expected to repay whatever was stolen when they are able to do so.
The Bible is not relevant to (according to my professor) 2/3 of the worlds population so what it has to say is not sociologically relevant... I would disagree with that. Here is why... briefly.
The Bible has a lot to say about good and bad, right and wrong, truth and lies, and much more. Would one be so bold as to say that any one of those things the Bible describes as right or wrong is... well, wrong? What makes them so sure? Are you right in saying there is no right or wrong... or are you wrong?

This has turned into more of a rant than I meant for it to be... but I hope you get what I'm trying to get at.

At the epitome of sociology there seems to be a theory that everything is relative... nothing is absolute. Can you think of one thing that is a universal truth for all societies? it is hard when one is to rule out things such as murder, rape, stealing, and even terrorism. According to sociologists, terrorism is an accepted way of doing things in certain places and it is therefore right to those who accept is (no way).

I might continue this later... then again, I might not.

Hopes and Aspirations

2008-10-23T11:35:00.001-07:00

After learning that my good friend Josiah Slocum has some writing talent of his own, we have decided to write a series of short books/stories for all to enjoy and for us to enjoy writing. I am hoping that this doesn't turn into anther one of our many failed endeavors (such as making short movies... we still don't have a camera for that), and I also hope that we can both find some spare time to come up with fantastic ideas and good characters.

Some of Joe's writing here:

"as the sun grew hotter and the flowers scent filled the air i look towards the sky and..."

"with a look of mischief between 2 friends and the imminant departing that soon would follow."

"as winter approaches one must reflect on a summer of fun and new memories as well as the possibility of the sunburn that i prolly had gotten.lol."

So that's just a sample of the writing style of Slocum, it's a little different than mine, but that's what makes it so that the combination of our writing techniques will be the awesomest thing ever!

_________________________________________________________________

So I re-started writing a screenplay for a story that's been floating around in my head for the last few months and I'm hoping that it turns out super spectacular... oh it will, it will. Anyway, I found out that one of the hardest parts is writing the personalities of my characters out on paper... well, virtual paper. In my head, I know what all of their various personalities are like, but trying to write them out is a challenge as I have to describe things that they do ei: hobbies, quirks, favorite foods, as well as ages, names (wich is hard for a sci-fi/fantasy story), hair color, and clothing preferances.
All the little details in between major plot points is also a tricky thing. I had always thought of only the big picture of the story and not as much about the fillers, but the pace needs to slow down sometime, otherwise the audience will get overwhelmed.

Anyway, that's all for now, I'll catch up on other blogingtons now, so peace out everyone!

P.S. Happy birthday to Bethany!

moved

2008-10-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

Post post post, that's all I'm good for.

Anyway, I have moved (mostly) from Dave and Leta's abode to Beth and Adams. It's closer to school and stuff so that will be good. My cat and louis will have to learn to get along... surprisingly it's my cat who is the meany-head.

Refined Narrative, YAY!

2008-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my refined story of bees and stuff for all to enjoy! :)

Recklessness; it’s what makes young boys tick. For me being reckless was a part of everyday life, whether it was jumping off of a garage roof onto a trampoline (not agood idea), or stopping the inner tube in the middle of a water slide so that the person behind me could catch up. The thrill of being reckless was often too much to resist and I would often suffer the consequences, and they would almost always hurt.

When I was 12, my friend Kadan and I decided it would be a good idea to try and take out some wasp nests by throwing chunks of dirt at them. Were there better ways to get rid of wasp nests? Yes, there were, but this was definitely one of the more adventurous ways to do it. I don’t think we started out that morning saying to each other, “Hey man, lets throw chunks of dirt at wasp nests and get a huge adrenaline rush!” But as the day wore on and we got more and more bored, things just fell in place.

Kadan lived on a sort of miniature farm with goats and chickens and such, and was surrounded by corn fields. There were several barns scattered randomly across his property and each one of them had about a dozen wasp nests attached to it. As we were moseying along outside wondering what we could possibly do to pass the time, we spotted some of these wasp nests on a couple metal storage units for his family’s tractors. “Hey,” I said excitedly, “can we get your BB guns and shoot those down?” Kadan wasn’t too enthused about the whole idea, probably because we really weren’t supposed to shoot at the buildings. He promptly shot my idea of a good time into a billion pieces with a harsh, “NO!” I felt like a whipped puppy. But I wasn’t going to let
his dreary attitude dampen my spirits for long. I meandered over to the corn fields and sat
down. Kadan soon followed and sat down next to me. I think we were both pondering the
prospect of a lackluster afternoon and how neither of us wanted to live through one of those.

I reached into the cornfield next to us and pulled out a hard chunk of dirt. I fiddled with it for a little while, breaking pieces off and crumbling them between my fingers. I threw a piece off into the grass where it exploded with a small puff. “Hey,” I thought to myself, “that’s kind of groovy.” I picked up another piece and gave it a toss with the same results. Kadan picked up on what I was doing and joined in the fun. Soon we were seeing who could throw farther while sitting down. I would like to say I could, but in reality I think it was a tie. I started to cheat. I stood up and let a few fly. Kadan did the same and soon we were going crazy, letting chunks of dirt fly in all directions. It wasn’t long before one of them hit a barn quite close to one of it’s many decorative wasp nests. The wasps responded by buzzing passionately around their abode trying to discover what had disrupted their calm lives. I looked at Kadan and we both smiled sadistically as we rushed to get more ammunition from the corn fields. We scooped up as many chunks as we could and rushed back to the barn where we lobbed a continuous stream of dirt at the humble wasps who began to get very irate at our meanness, although they couldn’t figure out it was us. We tried several different tactics to get the best shot at the nests; direct hits, shrapnel, they were all fun and exciting and very spectacular. We eventually knocked the nest down. We didn’t hesitate however, to locate another nest and begin to assail it with the same barrage of weaponry and tactics we had so skillfully employed on our last endeavor. These wasps responded with the same frustration as the last ones, and understandably so. We laughed devilishly as each missile exploded and the fury of the wasps raged on.

Knocking down nest after nest never seemed to get old until we decided to end our mission by taking out the biggest nest of all. We thought it similar to fighting the end boss in a video game. The nest was located inside an overhang right above a tractor tire. At first we employed the sniper method; standing far away as we sent our projectiles sailing through the air toward our target. We did have good aim but our weapons were not causing any damage. “That armor’s too strong for blasters!” I said in my excitement. Unfortunately, my little joke went unnoticed by Kadan, who had never seen Star Wars.

Soon we realized that we had to rethink our strategy for this particular “enemy installation.” Kadan decided to implement a sneak attack approach: we would sneak inside the building and climb on top of the tractor’s right tire. Standing up slowly, our plan was to launch a huge chunk of dirt at the nest by hurling it straight up. The get away was the fun part: after our massive bomb had exploded, we would jump down and crouch in the corner of the building, hoping that our enemies wouldn’t detect us, and then when the timing was right we would rush outside to safety. We had to take turns for this tactic, as it was too dangerous to go in full force. I was a wimp I guess, because I volunteered to go first. I sneaked inside the building and slowly scaled the massive tire. Ammo in hand, I cautiously stood up and prepared to fire. Mustering up all the foolishness I had in me, I let my ordnance fly. It exploded directly next to the wasps base and sprayed it with dusty shrapnel. Kadan howled with laughter as I quickly jumped off the tire and crouched in the dark corner. The wasps were buzzing viciously around the nest trying to uncover the source of the disturbance. I stayed crouched in the corner and waited for my adrenaline to tell me when to make a mad dash out of there. I ran. I didn’t get ambushed on the way out either.

Ahh, safe again, but now it was Kadan’s turn. He went about his duty in much the same way as I had, slowly scaling the tire, only his mission was a lot more hazardous than mine was: the wasps were already buzzing with ferocity! I watched from what I thought was a safe distance as Kadan released his bomb into the nest. It was a direct hit and no sooner had his dirt chunk exploded than I finally felt the wrath of an angry wasp. It dove at me right from the nest, swooping down like a dive bomber at an air show. The nerve of that bug! He didn’t even bother to land on me, he just swooped down with his rear end pointed right at me and stung me, stung me right above my left eye. I hollered and ran off through a trail that lead down the corn fields. I wasn’t wearing any shoes and some of the plants were hard and stabbed my feet but I didn’t care, all I knew was that I got stung by one wasp and for all I knew the whole nest was after me. I’m sure I broke a sprinting record of some kind that day, I don’t think I’ve ever run faster. Once I thought I was far enough away I stopped running and sat down, rubbing my eye which both itched and stung terribly at the same time.

Soon Kadan came trotting up the trail to where I was sitting. He was laughing, laughing! How could he be laughing? Didn’t he know that I got stung? Didn’t he know that getting stung hurt? The more I thought about it, the more I realized why he was laughing. We had been
bombarding wasp nests for an hour and a half straight, aggravating so many bugs and I
got stung; I got stung and I couldn’t take it. I felt like such a pansy. I stood up and laughed with him. “I guess that wasn’t really a safe thing to do” I muttered.

Kadan just smiled and said, "Do you want to go play with rusty bear traps and find some evil snakes."

I stopped rubbing my eye and grinned, "That sounds like fun." I replied, and off we went down a dark wooded path.

For Sale

2008-10-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

For sale: Broken computer peices, $100.00.

Playstation 2 without controller, $300.00.

Wonderful coin collection, $10,000.00!

Yeah, I only wish I could get that much for useless things. Any takers? :D jk

My Narrative for English Class :)

2008-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is a rough draft of a narrative that I had to do for my english class in college. I liked it so much I decided to share it with yall. I don't have a title for it yet though... any ideas?

There are some things that young boys do that adults just don’t understand. I think
boys do things that are reckless because the danger makes it all the more fun. I think it’s
similar to the phenomenon of how much more funny it is to misbehave when you know
you’re not supposed to.
When I was 12, my friend Kadan and I decided it would be a
good idea to try and take out some wasp nests by throwing chunks of dirt at them. Were
there better ways to get rid of wasp nests? Yes, there were, but this was definitely one of
the more adventurous ways to do it. I don’t think we started out that morning saying to
each other, “Hey man, lets throw chunks of dirt at wasp nests and get a huge adrenaline
rush!” But as the day wore on and we got more and more bored, things kind of just fell in
place.
Kadan lived on a sort of miniature farm with goats and chickens and such, and
was surrounded by corn fields on two sides. There were several barns scattered randomly
across his property and each one of them had about a dozen wasp nests attached to it. As
we were moseying along outside wondering what we could possibly so to pass the time,
we spotted some of these wasp nests on a couple metal storage units for his family’s
tractors. “Hey,” I said excitedly, “can we get your BB guns and shoot those down?”
Kadan wasn’t too enthused about the whole idea, I think because we really weren’t
supposed to shoot at the buildings and he promptly shot my idea of a good time into a
billion pieces with a harsh, “NO!” I felt like a whipped puppy. But I wasn’t going to let
his dreary attitude dampen my spirits for long. I meandered over to the corn fields and sat
down. Kadan soon followed and sat down next to me. I think we were both pondering the
prospect of a lackluster afternoon and how neither of us wanted to live through one of
those. I reached into the dirt in the cornfield next to us and pulled out a hard chunk of
dirt. I fiddled with it for a little while, breaking pieces off and crumbling them between
my fingers. I threw a piece off into the grass where it exploded with a small puff. “Hey,”
I thought to myself, “that’s kind of groovy.” I picked up another piece and gave it a toss
with the same results. Kadan picked up on what I was doing and joined in the fun. Soon
we were seeing who could throw farther while sitting down. I would like to say I could,
but in reality I think it was a tie. I started to cheat. I stood up and let a few fly. Kadan did
the same and soon we were going crazy, letting chunks of dirt fly in all directions. It
wasn’t long before one of them hit a barn quite close to one of it’s many what seemed to
be decorative wasp nests. The wasps responded by buzzing passionately around their
abode trying to discover what had disrupted their calm lives. I looked at Kadan and we
both smiled sadistically as we rushed to get more ammunition from the corn fields. We
scooped up as many chunks as we could and rushed back to the barn where we lobbed a
continuous stream of dirt at the humble wasps who began to get very irate at our
meanness, although they couldn’t figure out it was us. We tried several different tactics to
get the best shot at the nests; direct hits, shrapnel, they were all fun and exciting and very
spectacular. We eventually knocked the nest down. We didn’t hesitate however, to locate
another nest and begin to assail it with the same barrage of weaponry and tactics we had
so skillfully employed on our last endeavor. These wasps responded with the same
frustration as the last ones, and understandably so. We laughed devilishly as each missile
exploded and the fury of the wasp’s raged on. Knocking down nest after nest never
seemed to get old until we decided to end our mission by taking out the biggest nest of
all. We thought it similar to fighting the end boss in a video game. The nest was located
inside an overhang right above a tractor tire. At first we employed the sniper method;
standing far away as we sent our projectiles sailing through the air toward our target. We
did have good aim but our weapons were not causing any damage. “That armor’s too
strong for blasters!” I said in my excitement. Unfortunately, my little joke went unnoticed
by Kadan, who had never seen Star Wars.
Soon we realized that we had to rethink our strategy for this particular “enemy
installation.” Kadan decided to implement a sneak attack approach: we would sneak
inside the building and climb on top of the tractors right tire. Standing up slowly, our plan
was to launch a huge chunk of dirt at the nest by hurling it straight up. The
get away was the fun part: after our massive bomb had exploded, we would jump down
and crouch in the corner of the building, hoping that our enemies wouldn’t detect us, and
then when the timing was right we would rush outside to safety. We had to take turns for
this tactic though… it was too dangerous to go in full force. I was a wimp I guess,
because I volunteered to go first. I sneaked inside the building and slowly scaled the
massive tire. Ammo in hand, I cautiously stood up and prepared to fire. Mustering up all
the foolishness I had in me, I let my ordnance fly. It exploded directly next to the wasps
base and sprayed it with dusty shrapnel. Kadan howled with laughter as I quickly jumped
off the tire and crouched in the dark corner. The wasps were buzzing viciously around the
nest trying to uncover the source of the disturbance. I stayed crouched in the corner and
waited for my adrenaline to tell me when to make a mad dash out of there. I ran. I didn’t
get ambushed on the way out either. Ahh, safe again, but now it was Kadan’s turn. He
went about his duty in much the same way as I had, slowly scaling the tire, only his
mission was a lot more hazardous that mine was: the wasps were already buzzing with
ferocity! I watched from what I though was a safe distance as Kadan released his bomb
into the nest. It was a direct hit and no sooner had his dirt chunk exploded than I finally
felt the wrath of an angry wasp. It dove out at me right from the nest, swooping down like
a dive bomber at an air show. The nerve of that bug! He didn’t even bother land on me,
he just swooped down with his rear end pointed right at me and stung me, stung me right
above my left eye. I hollered and ran off through a trail that lead down the corn fields. I
wasn’t wearing any shoes and some of the plants were hard and stabbed my feet but I
didn’t care, all I knew was that I got stung by one wasp and for all I knew the whole nest
was after me. I’m sure I broke a sprinting record of some kind that day, I don’t think
I’ve ever run faster. Once I thought I was far enough away I stopped running and sat
down, rubbing my eye which both itched and stung terribly at the same time. Soon
Kadan came trotting up the trail to where I was sitting. He was laughing, laughing! How
could he be laughing? Didn’t he know that I got stung? Didn’t he know that getting stung
hurt? The more I thought about it, the more I realized why he was laughing. We had been
bombarding wasp nests for an hour and a half straight, aggravating so many bugs and I
got stung; I got stung and I couldn’t take it. I felt like such a pansy. I stood up and
laughed with him. “Well I guess that’s what I get” I said.

6 Random Things About Me!

2008-09-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

I suppose I have been shanghaied by Mom into writing six random thoughts about myself.

I don't think I'll follow the rules cause I am evil.

1, I often make random noises for no apparent reason just to amuse myself.

2, I have never had a girlfriend because girls think I am too weird too soon.

3, I hold two, or sometimes even three way conversations with myself on a daily basis.

4, I really don't care what's popular with people my age, I don't really want to concern myself with fitting in with everyone else. It's much more interesting to an individual rather than become just another part of some dumb trend.

5, I have the most genius revelations when I mow the lawn or use the weed-wacker. That's when I come up with the best lines and the best story ideas and it's also where I get my logic from. Unfortunately I usually forget exactly how I had imagined these things when I tell them to people and I end up butchering them.

6, I like words with double o's; poop, doom, spooky, and groovy are just a few, you doofas!

I tag... everyone has been tagged already. :(

The Continuing Adventure of Douglas R Houghton

2008-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

For The Intro, Please Scroll Down 2 or 3 Posts

Douglas was born a very inquisitive child and he was constantly going exploring behind his family's home in the woods of woody areas. He was always interested in mysteries of all kinds from the Bermuda Triangle to the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.

When he grew up, Douglas got into science and held an extreme interest in the field of paranormal research, which ultimately lead to the adventure you will soon be told.

So, as you have already been told, Douglas was on a research vessel in the Indian Ocean when seemingly out of nowhere, a huge storm erupted and sent the craft rocking back and forth rather violently. Douglas was out on the deck at the time and was knocked unconscious by a stray oar from one of the life boats (I think life boats are still in use).
Coming to but still in a daze, Douglas looked about himself to get his bearings. The first thing he noticed was that it was not storming anymore and the sun was shining brightly on his pale skin. He was laying down in the midst of his fellow scientists who were hard at work rowing a small lifeboat through the calm water.
Doug began to struggle a bit to get up and put his hand to his head. He felt a large damp cloth on his head. He didn't know whether the cloth was moist with blood or just seawater, but it startled him nonetheless. His heart began to race and he started squirming around on the bottom of the boat. His friend Jamie put his hand on Doug's shoulder and tried to calm him down; "Doug," began Jamie, "it's OK, you just hit your head really hard, you might have brain damage but don't worry, we're not dead yet. The freaky storm is over but the research boat sank to the depths of the ocean and we can't get into contact with our fellow science team on the other boat that was supposed to be assisting us. We lost all of our equipment cause it was on the boat and we only have enough drinkable water for one day. Nobody has any clue where in this ocean we are because the sextant was lost and the GPS wasn't water proof."
Doug promptly lost consciousness once more.

postponed

2008-08-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like writing about Douglas's adventure quite yet... I already wrote more of it down on my laptop and I don't want to rewrite it at the moment. Maybe soon the adventure will continue.

PROGRAM!

2008-08-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Google,

More computer programming is what we need, programming programming programming!
We need more programmers out there to program things, thingsa always need more programming. My robot needs programming every day. I think everyone should learn how to program. Get the hint?

From your non-programmer friend, Joe.

Happy programming everyone!

Second Post of the Day! Scooter Tricks, by Ben

2008-08-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day! Scroll down to read the other one! (it's random)

Random Writing... (again)

2008-08-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

There was a day when all seemed hopeless, but that day has finally gone away.
There was a day when all seemed lost, but now it has been found again.
I used to wallow in self pity, now I have been brought to life.
When darkness used to overtake me and I couldn't see the light.

Never again will I wander alone through the dark corridors of my deepest fears.
I now have been given a second chance and that was the answer to prayerful years.

Yeah, I just randomly wrote that in like, 1 minute... with no previous thought.

So I don't exactly know what all that means but maybe it's significant somehow... or maybe it's just a bunch of nonsensical gibberish. That's what can happen when I let my mind wander I guess.

How about a random story now? Might as well, I'm on a random roll.

The escapades of Douglas R. Houghton are as follows,
Douglas was an important member of one of the states leading science teams when it all began....

There he was out on a research vessel in the middle of the Indian ocean when suddenly, the fiercest storm erupted out of thin air and sent the craft to pitching and rolling like mad. The radio operator was desperately trying to call for help from the other research vessels in the area but he was not managing to get through to any of them. Doug was out on the deck when all of this was taking place and was occupied with trying to keep his footing when he was knocked unconscious by a stray oar from one of the lifeboats. This of course left him in quite a predicament because he could no longer concentrate on trying to keep his footing and was left to rolling along the deck at the mercy of the violent tempest.

What happened next was truly extraordinary but unfortunately I can't think of what it is at the moment and am forced (by my own will) to wait and conclude/continue the adventure on my next post. I hope I can manage to keep myself interested long enough to finish a story this time, but we will see.

Lesson #2

2008-08-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today is cloudy... the sun is not shining... wait... yes it is. The sun is shining above the clouds.

I now have several writing projects going at once. The other day, I began to write down a very quick draft for a fantasy tale that I have been dwelling on for a year now. My problem before was that I was thinking too hard about the little piddly details that didn't matter so much and then I would lose my inspiration for the rest of the day. I learned to fill in those details with simple things that I can just go back to and work out when I am done with a quick draft. That way I won't lose inspiration for the rest of the story because the rest of the story will already be written down, HOORAY!

So, instead of spending endless hour sitting there trying to think of the most groovy name possible for your character, just call him Bob and move on. When you can't think of a good reason for your character to be out of his house, just say that he was buying some butter for the cookies he was making for his nieces birthday party and move on to more important things, like what happened to him next. After you are done writing your first draft you can come back and adjust the details as necessary.

Hooray, Another Dumb Video

2008-08-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry Mom, I'm posting another video for you to not watch. :(

Unofficial Music Vids

2008-07-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Unofficial music videos for some song that reminded me of good stuff. I couldn't find the one I was really lokking for, but I hope you will enjoy these. :)

Hopeful Beginnings

2008-07-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have finally begun a screenplay for a story I have been writing for several months now. It only took me 1 1/2 hours to name it. It shall be called... boy don't you wish you could know that! I'm not ever telling, never never never!

But I will say that it is very groovical, with mystery, action, and more mystery and action. It is a sci-fi/fantasy epic of epic proportions, it will awe and amaze even the most hardened critic. It will inspire millions of people worldwide....

OK, on a more serious note, I have only just begun work on a screenplay and the story itself isn't yet set in stone. Screenplays usually take a couple months to finish and when they are finished you usually have to go back and rewrite them half a dozen times before you get the perfect final draft.... It takes about a year and that's when you work steadily at it.

I also have several other stories that will consume my time so this probably won't be done till I'm an old man.

I need to learn to organize my thought more in future posts, I hope this post isn't confusing :/

No, I Do Hate Money!

2008-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Me and My friend Joe Slocum continue our attempt to save enough pennies to purchase our first camera wich will allow us to begin production on several projects already in out heads. About two months ago, I had enough money to purchase my half of the camera but Slocum was struggling with his funds and didn't think it was wise for him to spend money on anything too expensive. Now the roles have been reversed, Slocum has plenty of funds for his half and I seem to not even have enough to pay for anything at all, much less a beautiful camera. Is this what life is all about? Struggling through each day wondering whether or not you will be able to afford the next months rent? Sometimes I wish a winning lottery ticket would get dropped at my feet but I don't think I should rely on anything like that happening in the future... I guess I'll just keep plodding along. :)

Tough Business

2008-07-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Story writing is a tough business.

Lately I have been trying to get to work on a story about... well, I can't divulge that kind of information at this time, but it is (I think) a unique idea dealing with the exploration of deep space sometime in the future. Oh the possibilities of deep space exploration are endless. The things that you can do are never ending! I will only say that I think I will call it "the Observatory."

With this particular story, I am planning to sell it to whoever or however you do that stuff. Maybe I'll get a little recognition for my concepts... maybe I am being delusional, I don't know. Maybe I need to make some friends in the entertainment business. Anybody know anyone who knows someone?

My many other concepts I would like to work really hard on and maybe take them places... maybe. I get so excited about some of them but I think I have to be careful because I am finding out that some ideas are good enough to be used in huge budget Hollywood productions, namely the climax of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, although I think my way was gonna be better (of course).

I hope that is easy to read and understand, sometimes I feel as if I'm just ranting.

Hollywood prediction

2008-07-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of months ago the thought went through my head "When are they going to remake the movie 'the Day the Earth Stood Still'?" The other day I learned that many of my movie predictions are coming true. Sure enough, a new one is due out later this year. Now I just have to wait and see when the movie "When Worlds Collide" will be out.

Oh, I just checked, When worlds collide, 2010. I am a genius.

more funniness.

2008-06-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite youtubers make funny movies.

What is the World Coming to?

2008-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

South Africa reclassifies chinese as black!

Weirdness

explanation

2008-06-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Below is a video of a goat licking an electric fence. I laughed pretty furiously when I first watched it on youtube and I decided to share it with all of my fans. :/

HAHA! FUNNY!

2008-06-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Lesson 1

2008-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

So yeah, story writing actually takes a lot more than just writing a random story down. Sometimes that will work just fine (like this), but more often than not we need to plan out the story. This takes a lot of patience and often involves writing down all the questions and ideas that will come to your head - like this: What is Chesters occupation? Does he do private investigative work full time or just on the side? What is his relationship with Marie?

This part can often be frustrating and confusing and I have actually given up on several good story ideas as a result of getting too perplexed by these questions. I guess a trick to getting past this stage when you get frustrated is to let it alone for a few days and then come back with fresh ideas. This has proven to be a helpful technique even if it does seem like I am neglecting my work.

As for Chester and Marie, the reason that I haven't really worked on it much is probably because I figure that the story has little potential and therefore I don't really feel like I should waste my time on it. But that is stupid because I knew that when I started writing it and it's on the internet anyways so what's the problem?

futility

2008-06-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Chester's mind raced furiously as he strode swiftly down the empty streets in search of something that might give him a hint at Marie's whereabouts.

djtcbn

2008-06-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

I will attempt to follow up my story intro with something worthy sometime in the future... please remain calm and orderly while I attempt to dig up some original ideas, thank you for your patience.

2008-05-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Stories are very fun to write. Here goes...

Intoduction

The phone rang... the phone rang again... the phone rang a third time. Chester moaned loudly when he rolled over to pick it up. He turned the light that was on his nightstand to low as he picked up the reciever.
"Hello?" he said tentatively, looking at the clock... "3:20 am" he thought to himself.
there was only silence coming from the other end. "Hello?" chester said again.
"Chester??" came a panicked voice from the other end.
"Yes? Who is this?"
" It's Marie, I'm in trouble I need your help now!"
"What's going on?" asked Chester becoming more alarmed.
There was no answer, only the sound of footprints being made rapidly. "MARIE!" he screamed loudly. Hanging up the phone and throwing on some clothes chester prepared to go out into the lonely night to search for his troubled friend. He grabbed his coat out of the closet and checked his snub nosed revolver before rushing down the flight of stairs to the front door and dissapearing into the black of night.

2008-04-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so that didn't work like it was supposed to.

Name infringement.

2008-04-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am not a "tipsy, knavish old villian" !

How dare they... HOW DARE THEY!!

Writing

2008-03-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

I want to post something new and exciting but i cant.

Oh! Lately I am attempting to go to work writing some sci-fi/fantasy-ish stories that will utterly astound and amaze even the most hardened critic. I have finished the outline for one story and have begun working on several others. It takes a lot of work really, but with a good bit of patience and a clear head (and those things can be hard to come by these days) I should be able to make some pretty interesting and unusaul stories of such uniqueness that publishing companies will be begging me to give them the honor of publishing my work. Of course I will demand a large payment up front as well as massive royalties from my works and I will be rich and powerful and I will but off the world.

Why do I always get sidetacted? This post started out serious but got goofy. Why do I allow that to happen?

Ok, so not only do I have to think of unique concepts for my stories, I also have to finish an amazing outline and then I have to fill in the blanks with dialogue and descriptions of things. It is not easy, but it may end up being fun and well worth it.

But when all is said and done, what good does it do?

Nothing interesting.

2008-03-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today is a cloudy day. The clouds are in the sky and it is very cloudy because of that fact. The clouds are clouding up the cloudiness....

Yeah so anywho, Today I have nothing to do but sit at the library and write some blogginess. But I really can't figure out what to discuss today, so before I ruin my stellar reputation of being cool, I will end this pointless post.

Or I could rite a shourt storie.

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, there lived a little dwarf who dreamed of becoming a brave warrior. But then he lost his family inheritance in a very bad bet agaist some very bad people and was forced to live out the rest of his days in slave labor to pay off his debts and his dream never came true.

THE END

Interview with the Empire

2008-03-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today I have a job interview at a gas station convenient store in Sodus. I think Joe Slocum may end up working there too and if we are working the same shift on the same day's that will be fun. Then we can talk and joke and make pointless conversation about nothing and when the bad guys come in to steal the money we can laugh in their faces and tackle them to the ground. I think we should enact fake robbery attempts just so that we can get it on the video surveillance cameras. After that, we can put a TV on the front counter with a sign that says "Thinking of robbing the store? Press play!" and then they will press play and it will show them all the footage of us tackling bad guys.

Yeah, that will be fun.

Hidie ho everybody!

2008-03-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hidie ho everybody!

I think my life is a lesson to all of you who want to do great thing in life. Learn from me for I should know. My great prosperity does not come from family fortune, or wealthy friends, but from my own sheer will. all you need to do to achieve great renown is just act like me and the wealth you have always dreamed of having will come flowing in upon you like water out of the shower head. All you need to do is give me all of your money! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Woopie!

2008-02-29T14:36:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! How is your exsistance coming along? Mine is too boring for you to even begin to comprehend. All I do all day is lie in bed and wonder how I can make some money. Lately I have been thinking about swindling old ladies out of their meager pay. Isn't that evil? I doubt anybody will ever read this post because I have been away from cyberville for so long that I believe everybody who, in the past were my devoted fans have now gone off to seek their fortunes elswhere. Ramble ramble ramble! I am dying of fruityness! Somebody come and rescue of - I mean me. AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I love you Stephanie!

Woah! Sorry, I got caught up in the moment... how embarassing! (blush, blush, blush)

bluh

2007-12-11T15:03:00.001-08:00

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7552180?MSNHPHCP>1=10734

Haha funny, yes? no? maybe? call me back!

2007-11-02T20:15:00.001-07:00

Mean old lady!

How Not to Elude Police

2007-10-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Suv's don't work to well for getaways.

So True!

2007-07-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Which 24 Character Are You?
	You are Jack Bauer. You are an aggressive and heroic figure. You think rules are only for kids, and try to break them at least once everyday (or hour). You like to get help from others especially your best friends. To complete a task, you are willing to do whatever it takes - be it the right way or the wrong one. Also, you could totally kick Chuck Norris' rump.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

I always knew it

2007-07-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Which Action Hero Are You?
	You are MacGyver. Ingenuity is your game. Don't leave home without your sundry office supplies: rubber bands, paper clips, and the like. Life and death situations are your forte, but you may be getting too old for it. In today's eyes you're an old legend, but your first season mullet will always be remembered.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

goody goody

2007-07-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

JOE IS ALIIIIIVE!!! My blog is dying though. Here is something good though

this is good

hello

2007-05-04T14:12:00.000-07:00

I win! I got my GED!

Now what do I do?

Rude Dude.

2007-04-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or do all the rude drivers come out this time of year? I go around a truck parked on the side of the road and somebody coming the other direction beeps at me. I didn't even touch the center line. People don't move over to let you into traffic, they are always giving you dirty looks for no apparent reason, and even people walking on the side of the road are telling us to slow down when we're going 20 mph. Come on now, the road isn't meant for people to walk on anyway, it's meant for cars to drive on, so don't say "slow down" when you're the one walking in the road when you aren't supposed to.

All done, I feel better now.

GED (I hope)

2007-04-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today I finished taking the GED test. I think I will fail. I probably got a total score of 29. Now I will have to take it all over again in like, three months. It should take from 3 to 6 weeks to get my results back.

Cheat

2007-04-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm the Cheat. Probably because I always cheat at everything I do.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! HELP MEEEEEE!!!

Yeah, it had a link to the site but it's not posting properly.

Which Homestar Runner character are you?

this quiz was made by jurjyfrort

NEW POST HOORAY!!

2007-03-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am all alive and am actually able to articulate. Nothing blogworthy has happened to me recently so don't be angry with me for failing to post in over a month. kdgdbliuyfdasulifdkbcdvbalgl. That is an alein language I just learned. I bet you don't know what it says.

CELEBRATE!

2007-02-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

My bloggie is now 50 posts old!!! I think I deserve some kind of medal for that. Or at least a promotion to... Semi-Cool Blogger status. My mom is a General in the blogger army. She's got like, 50,000,000,000 posts.

Yeah, so... now we need to throw a party and break open the keg (only kidding, I've never even seen a real keg) and General Mom can promote me in a very ceremonious ceremony. YAY!

bowSnoarding

2007-01-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

On saturday I went snowboarding at Bristol Mountain. it was fun. Brian went too. We went on the hill and I fell down a lot. I went snowboarding only once before.

Josiah Teal -5 1/2 yrs.

Yeah. That sounds pretty good. So I'm really not very good at snowboarding yet and I did fall a lot. I have lots of aches and pains right now that keep reminding me of that. I need to go again so I can get more skilled but it isn't the cheapest hobby in the world, unfortunately.

Yeah so... that's another post.

P.S. I knocked a little kid down.

Urgent Mission pt.1

2007-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah so... this is a new post.

Recently, my friend from the CIA called and told me that he worked for the CIA and that he needed me to go to Clifford Ave. in Rochester because he had reason to believe that there was some kind of sinister plot unfolding that could put the whole world in danger. Unfortunately for him somebody overheard him tell me that he worked for the CIA and he was promptly taken to a maximum security prison in the Mojave desert. Now evidently, my friend somehow knew that I did recon and sting operations for the Delta Force when I was just a lad, and that was semi-creepy. Anywho, I went to the location he had disclosed to me (why he chose Clifford Ave. I'll never know) and located a fellow who was waiting for me. He showed me to a secret lair, underground where I was absolutely astonished to find my brother Jim typing on a computer. Now, as it turns out, my brother was evidently part of a secret organization known as the BPF or the Bad People Finders, and they had a job for me.

YAHOO!

Poaching Redifined

2006-12-31T14:06:00.000-08:00

On thursday, Dec. 28, Jim showed me a short movie clip from Nat. Geographic about poachers and poacher patrol and found out some startling information about the Poacher Patrol.

The clip shows the group of poacher patrollers (goodguys, right?) in South America, as they look for signs of poachers that cut down the trees. The Patrol does not want the trees to be cut down because the rain will begin to wash away the soil in the places where the trees have been taken. Eventually they hear the sound of a distant chainsaw and begin to creep up on the wicked people who cut down poor defenseless trees. Moving when the chainsaw is running (or so they think) in order to cover the sound of thier approach, the patrol finally falls upon a group of local farmers and promptly slaps hand cuffs on every one of them. One officer then hands one of them a GPS Navigator and explains to him that it is a lie detector (a lie, ironically). The farming tree poacher then has to answer the officers questions regarding the location of his rebel lumber yard and such. The heroic poacher patrollers also find out that the farmers are using the wood to build some much needed..., I think it had something to do with the storage of crops or something that the farmers really needed.
Once at the secret lumber yard, wich is filled with beautiful South American lumber, the heroic patrollers proceed to torch every square inch of lumber that they can find in the name of preserving the environment.

Does this make any sense at all?? That leaves another spot of barren land to get washed away by the rain, it also makes it so that the farmers (not poachers, that's just dumb) have to cut down more trees somewhere else and, these biologists (that's what some of these patrollers were) aren't doing much to curb "global warming" now, are they? I think they were just being jerks.

It makes me think differently about poachers. Poor, helpless poachers.

High Speed Chase on 104

2006-12-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

On Friday Dec. 15, 2006, at approximately 4:15 pm. I was at work cooking haddock when a NYS Police Trooper pulled in the parking lot. Of course this wasn't very unusual by itself, however, Mr Trooper stepped out of his patrol car and began talking with a man in a white sedan, which was slightly more unusaul. Soon I was distracted from being distracted by the police officer, and began to focus on cooking food (a good thing I suppose). About 1 minute later Brianna came rushing in from the dining room screaming something about a car hitting a tree. I looked up and saw that the white sedan and the police car wre gone and in place of them were tire tracks leading from the parking lot and into the lawn and over a small tree. The tracks continued over the lawn and then disappeared onto 104. I knew then that there was a high speed chase underway that would most likely end in an accident. About every three minutes a police vehicle would go flying by the restaurant eastward after the vehicle. I later learned that the chase had ended about 2-3 miles from orbakers right near Reed Eye Center in sodus. From what I could gather the white car had sideswiped a couple other vehicles before flying over the edge of the road and over some nasty bumps. Joel informed me today that he learned from the Wayne County Times that the car had been stolen in webster. I still haven't been able to find any articles about it on the internet site.

THE END

ranting

2006-12-05T16:57:00.000-08:00

I think it's kind of embarrassing knowing that all my stupid ranting is on the internet.

Okay, I really don't have anything to say. I am only doing this so that my blog won't die. Please don't die blog, don't die on me, I love you! Stay with me blog come on, stay awake. No, don't go to sleep, that could be bad. You might never wake up.

This is what I mean by ranting.

Well, it looks as if the librarians are turning all the computers off. Time to go.