Between the towns of Lisbon and Mount Vernon, there is a bike path on the shoulder of the road connecting the two towns. Finding that route most convenient, I've biked down this path several times in the last few days when I had things to attend to in Mount Vernon. But you see, there is a nice large pear tree hanging over the head of anyone who might pass by. And as one would expect, a few pears have fallen onto the path. One pear in particular sits right side up in the middle of the path, daring any passerby to eat just a bite.
Now I'll admit, you probably have no idea why I'm referring to this as a "dilemma". After all, who considers eating a pear off of the ground, especially when there are plenty of other ones right above it still on the tree? (We won't get into the ethical ramifications of stealing pairs off of trees) But sadly, I have no concept of "germs". So this wayward pear looked, quite frankly, quite tasty. Remember that ever time I come across this pear I've usually been biking for awhile, so if not tired I'm at least a little hungry. What better way to satisfy this most basic of human needs than by eating a conveniently placed pear?
After I pass the pear, I notice another one just a few feet past it, with a chunk missing (probably from animals) and inside it was all rotten. Do I gamble on the hope that the other pear is perfectly fine to eat, or do I take heedence from the rotten pear, and just leave it alone. To tell you the truth, I would like nothing more than to take just a small bite of that pear. Just a tiny one. If underneath the skin it was perfectly fine, I would continue to eat the entire pear, for surely no one else would want it. And if it was indeed rotten, I would spit out what I had eaten, and throw the pear away.
Yet each and every time I ride my bike past this pear, and I don't even look back. Now the not looking back part might be for safety reasons (Safety? What?), but the pear stays in my mind. It takes hold of it, in fact. My mind urges my body to turn around my bike and try the pear. After all, the worst thing that could happen is it that I have a bad taste in my mouth for a moment or two. I know that I would quickly forget the possibly awful taste, and I know that surely allowing my curiosity to be sated would be worth it. Or would it? Or is that the point of the Dilemma of the Pear? To see if I can allow myself to act on my curiosity?
Well, this is kind of random. But you know what? That's okay. AND IT COUNTS ABBY. Oh wait, what? We aren't in the competition anymore and I don't have to be worried about the size or quality of my posts? Cool.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Highschool Yearbooks And Me
I was in the eye doctors office recently, and I saw that as reading material in the waiting area there were several Mount Vernon High School yearbooks. I had read some of them before, because my sister, who graduated form Mount Vernon, had of course received several. But this time the experience was slightly different. It was a portal to a different time. People I know that are know about to graduate from college, I now see them when they were the same age of me. It's weird. Yet I know that I will never have the same experience, because I won't have a highschool yearbook. Instead, I will be forced to make my memories be the substitute for a hardcover book filled with pictures. Or is it the other way around? Are those books actually a substitute for memories, in case they are forgotten?
But then this got me thinking about highschool. I am, as you surely know, a junior. In two years I will be in college. By all accounts I should have this "teenage" thing down. And yet, I'm so unteenager like. Now I am not so proud that I don't recognize that this is actually quite common. There are thousands upon thousands of teenagers that are very similar to me. But what about the teenagers kept inside the pages of these yearbooks? How do I compare to them?
One of the sections which highlights several "trendy" things, such as shoes and scarves, said "Trendiness is something of a priotey in today's world, especially in highschool.". If you know me at all, I am not at all trendy. I cannot tell you a single instance where I cared how I looked or smelled. Now this MIGHT be a reason that most people can only bare to socially interact with me over the internet, but I can't say for certain. I don't know, I see "trendy" things as kind of a waste of time. Style? I have none. This is partly because I'm a guy, but also partially because of my personalty.
And then there is the subject of money. Another section said "It's as though ever high school student has the same problem no matter who they are. They just don't have enough money to do the things that should be done in highschool". The section goes on to show pictures of students with 500 dollar guitars and 100 dollar shoes. I found this particularly humorous because in the same trip that we went to the eye doctor, we also went to the bank, And that morning I had decided to deposit 200 dollars in my college fund not because I was some super saver, but because the money was just lying around my room. My dresser, my desk, on top of some books, just lying around. Money from my birthday, various allowances from previous months, and dog sitting money. I could have used it on stuff if I wanted, but I could not think of anything that I especially wanted at the moment. Or anything I needed, anyway. Now this is not because I'm some self disciplined person (very far from that, actually) but because I'm so unteeneager like. As I thought about it, even though the section presented quite a few things that teens spend their money on, I had personally never spent money on any of the things. Not school lunches, pop, gas, make up (I hope not, anyway), cell phones athletic equipment, I just didn't use any of that stuff (except school lunches, but because they are usually leftovers I don't have to pay for them. And I guess I would have to pay for gas once I can drive). Now it is true that the reason for this is that I don't do a lot of *normal* teenager activities. Instead I stay home on the computer. It might be looked down upon by others, but it's cheap.
There was yet another section about things that a teen could not live without. I am pleased to say that I proved this incorrect, for I am still breathing. One line that particularly caught my section went like this "Not many students would be able to live without cell phones". In previous posts I've already vented about why I don't like cell phones, but as I kept on reading through quotes from students I became more and more depressed. Almost every quote about what a student needed to survive included cell phones. Really? Are they THAT important to you? Of course, if you asked me the same question regarding the internet, I would most likely do something incredibly violent. Good stuff.
And then there's prom. Now if you know me at all, you probably know that I refuse to abandon the thinking that girls have cooties. Yeah, typical homeschooler. Sorry about that. But because of that thinking, unless my values radically change in the two years I have left in highschool, I will never go to a prom, homecoming, or any other sort of "dance" thing. Not that I couldn't if I wanted to. The Marion Homeschool has several alternatives, and if I wished I could go to a school one if I went with someone I know who goes there. Now I'm not going to go into my anti-romance speech, but proms kind of seem childish to me. Eh. Besides, I hear that the only reason that most teenagers go anyway is for post prom. But still, I cannot stand the thought of dancing with a (gasp!) girl. I much prefer my broom. Some might think that I am joking, but anyone in the play knows otherwise. Seriously, it seems torturous,
So I've pretty accurately described why and how I am different from the average public schooled teenager. Now what is the point of all of this? Well, I'm beginning to wonder if there is one. This is kind of self centered, yes, I know. And I realize that very few people are the stereotypical teenager presented in those yearbooks. Also, many homeschoolers which are the people I hang out with the most, usually aren't stereotypical either. But, I wonder what sort of memories my highschool experiences will hold? Now that I have thoroughly presented how I am so radically different from the teenagers in those yearbooks, how can I know what the yearbook which will be my memories will be like? Life is weird. Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but as a side note I had to mention this. In some of the yearbooks whoever did the image editing did not know how to get rid of the background correctly for individual photos of people. 'Nuff said.
But then this got me thinking about highschool. I am, as you surely know, a junior. In two years I will be in college. By all accounts I should have this "teenage" thing down. And yet, I'm so unteenager like. Now I am not so proud that I don't recognize that this is actually quite common. There are thousands upon thousands of teenagers that are very similar to me. But what about the teenagers kept inside the pages of these yearbooks? How do I compare to them?
One of the sections which highlights several "trendy" things, such as shoes and scarves, said "Trendiness is something of a priotey in today's world, especially in highschool.". If you know me at all, I am not at all trendy. I cannot tell you a single instance where I cared how I looked or smelled. Now this MIGHT be a reason that most people can only bare to socially interact with me over the internet, but I can't say for certain. I don't know, I see "trendy" things as kind of a waste of time. Style? I have none. This is partly because I'm a guy, but also partially because of my personalty.
And then there is the subject of money. Another section said "It's as though ever high school student has the same problem no matter who they are. They just don't have enough money to do the things that should be done in highschool". The section goes on to show pictures of students with 500 dollar guitars and 100 dollar shoes. I found this particularly humorous because in the same trip that we went to the eye doctor, we also went to the bank, And that morning I had decided to deposit 200 dollars in my college fund not because I was some super saver, but because the money was just lying around my room. My dresser, my desk, on top of some books, just lying around. Money from my birthday, various allowances from previous months, and dog sitting money. I could have used it on stuff if I wanted, but I could not think of anything that I especially wanted at the moment. Or anything I needed, anyway. Now this is not because I'm some self disciplined person (very far from that, actually) but because I'm so unteeneager like. As I thought about it, even though the section presented quite a few things that teens spend their money on, I had personally never spent money on any of the things. Not school lunches, pop, gas, make up (I hope not, anyway), cell phones athletic equipment, I just didn't use any of that stuff (except school lunches, but because they are usually leftovers I don't have to pay for them. And I guess I would have to pay for gas once I can drive). Now it is true that the reason for this is that I don't do a lot of *normal* teenager activities. Instead I stay home on the computer. It might be looked down upon by others, but it's cheap.
There was yet another section about things that a teen could not live without. I am pleased to say that I proved this incorrect, for I am still breathing. One line that particularly caught my section went like this "Not many students would be able to live without cell phones". In previous posts I've already vented about why I don't like cell phones, but as I kept on reading through quotes from students I became more and more depressed. Almost every quote about what a student needed to survive included cell phones. Really? Are they THAT important to you? Of course, if you asked me the same question regarding the internet, I would most likely do something incredibly violent. Good stuff.
And then there's prom. Now if you know me at all, you probably know that I refuse to abandon the thinking that girls have cooties. Yeah, typical homeschooler. Sorry about that. But because of that thinking, unless my values radically change in the two years I have left in highschool, I will never go to a prom, homecoming, or any other sort of "dance" thing. Not that I couldn't if I wanted to. The Marion Homeschool has several alternatives, and if I wished I could go to a school one if I went with someone I know who goes there. Now I'm not going to go into my anti-romance speech, but proms kind of seem childish to me. Eh. Besides, I hear that the only reason that most teenagers go anyway is for post prom. But still, I cannot stand the thought of dancing with a (gasp!) girl. I much prefer my broom. Some might think that I am joking, but anyone in the play knows otherwise. Seriously, it seems torturous,
So I've pretty accurately described why and how I am different from the average public schooled teenager. Now what is the point of all of this? Well, I'm beginning to wonder if there is one. This is kind of self centered, yes, I know. And I realize that very few people are the stereotypical teenager presented in those yearbooks. Also, many homeschoolers which are the people I hang out with the most, usually aren't stereotypical either. But, I wonder what sort of memories my highschool experiences will hold? Now that I have thoroughly presented how I am so radically different from the teenagers in those yearbooks, how can I know what the yearbook which will be my memories will be like? Life is weird. Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but as a side note I had to mention this. In some of the yearbooks whoever did the image editing did not know how to get rid of the background correctly for individual photos of people. 'Nuff said.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Principle of the Path
Recently I borrowed Principle of the Path, a book by Andy Stanley, from Abby. You might recall that she once blogged about this book, available here. When I first had a chance to look at the book, and read a few things from the jacket, I must admit that I was a bit hesitant. Although I already returned the book, and thus I am not able to directly quote it, the book was saying things along the lines that reading the book was a sure-fire way to help my children become obedient and for my marriage to be better. Oh. Okay. Despite it's claims to the other, it was looking like it would be a self help book. Despite this, I dug in anyway.
The Principle of the Path is defined as "Direction - not intention - determines your destination". What this means is that no matter how much you intend for your life to end up one way, say to live the American dream, if you don't make good decisions your intentions will do nothing for you. Now this might seem as common sense, and in fact Andy wondered if it was so obvious that there was no need for him to write about it. But the thing about common sense is that it actually isn't that common.
And it is this concept that Andy explores throughout the book. The thought that we are all on a path, a path that has a destination. But these paths, though they are numerous, have been trodden on by many others before us. And no matter how different these people are, they all reach the same destination. The point of the book is that we need to learn from others who have already traveled down their path. Andy refers to this as the "road maps" of others. Those who are wiser than us and have more experience. Now this, yet again, seems to be common sense. After all, who doesn't attempt to learn from others? Well, we do. Or, as Andy pointed out, we do the same thing as Rehoboam, who disregarded the wise advice of his royal advisers and instead followed the advice of young men who were no farther on the path than he. Now, this is a point that I slightly dispute. I believe that there is much we can learn from our peers. But still, it is the nature of teenagers to think such. After all, I think pretty much everyone can attest to the foolish arrogance that we are prone to posses.
So was I eternally changed as a result of this book? Not especially. Would I recommend this book? Of course. We all need to learn how to be intentional in what we do. To recognize that we are on a path, whether we like it or not. And that path has a definitive destination, whether we like it or not. Just because I want to be a hermit doesn't mean I automatically become one. I need to take the necessary steps, such as shun society and find a nice cave somewhere. Preferably with cake.
The Principle of the Path is defined as "Direction - not intention - determines your destination". What this means is that no matter how much you intend for your life to end up one way, say to live the American dream, if you don't make good decisions your intentions will do nothing for you. Now this might seem as common sense, and in fact Andy wondered if it was so obvious that there was no need for him to write about it. But the thing about common sense is that it actually isn't that common.
And it is this concept that Andy explores throughout the book. The thought that we are all on a path, a path that has a destination. But these paths, though they are numerous, have been trodden on by many others before us. And no matter how different these people are, they all reach the same destination. The point of the book is that we need to learn from others who have already traveled down their path. Andy refers to this as the "road maps" of others. Those who are wiser than us and have more experience. Now this, yet again, seems to be common sense. After all, who doesn't attempt to learn from others? Well, we do. Or, as Andy pointed out, we do the same thing as Rehoboam, who disregarded the wise advice of his royal advisers and instead followed the advice of young men who were no farther on the path than he. Now, this is a point that I slightly dispute. I believe that there is much we can learn from our peers. But still, it is the nature of teenagers to think such. After all, I think pretty much everyone can attest to the foolish arrogance that we are prone to posses.
So was I eternally changed as a result of this book? Not especially. Would I recommend this book? Of course. We all need to learn how to be intentional in what we do. To recognize that we are on a path, whether we like it or not. And that path has a definitive destination, whether we like it or not. Just because I want to be a hermit doesn't mean I automatically become one. I need to take the necessary steps, such as shun society and find a nice cave somewhere. Preferably with cake.
| I did promise cake, didn't I? |
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Competition Is Over
On April 19th, a blogging competition began between myself and Abby. There were a few rules and guidelines, such as that every day a post must be made, if you knew ahead of time that you could not be on the computer you could do posts ahead of time to make up, and the post actually had be about something, not "I BLOGGED HA!!!!". It has been almost four months since then, over ONE HUNDRED DAYS, and we have kept up more or less diligently. I must admit, there were three days where I did not blog, but the competition went on anyway. Sadly, my opponent has now thrown in the towel. It's all over. I am not forced to write a post every single day anymore. Kind of feels nice.
Now most likely this won't be the end for forever. Once we have a few months to recharge, It is very likely that we will resume a new competition. I probably will post every now and then between then, but not nearly as frequently. I think I'll enjoy my vacation as I do best, by goofing off :)
It was great everyone, see you later!
Now most likely this won't be the end for forever. Once we have a few months to recharge, It is very likely that we will resume a new competition. I probably will post every now and then between then, but not nearly as frequently. I think I'll enjoy my vacation as I do best, by goofing off :)
It was great everyone, see you later!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Writing Trash
I'm writing my story, and I've come to a point where I don't know what to do. So I need to write SOMETHING, quickly. I'm tempted to just wrote absolute trash with an extremely low amount of work put into it. Meaningless stuff, just to put the word count up. Filler where filler has never gone before. This competition is about quantity above quality, right? But for some reason, I can't forsake what I have done so far. Already the quality isn't very good, just doing so much of it every single day. But I know that other people will be reading this story, and even though I will preface it a thousand times that this is an experiment and the writing won't be very good, I can't just become a machine. My writing isn't very good to begin with, I can't make it worse. So will I be doomed to make every section reasonable to read? I guess. I would hate to waste time if it really was just misspelled word after misspelled word, run on sentences, and prolific use of commas (oh wait, I do that anyway).
I ran into the same problem with blogging. Some of my posts aren't very good, that is obvious. But I've tried to keep a standard, always have so much amount of content and make it worth reading. Remember back in June when I was writing seven posts on the weekends EVERY weekend? Well on the very last weekends that I had to do that, I only wrote five posts, thus I got behind in the competition two more posts. I only had a few minutes, and I could think of literally NOTHING to write about. So I conceded those two posts. Sure, I could have written short little things about junk, but I didn't. I don't want to waste the time of those reading my blog.
I ran into the same problem with blogging. Some of my posts aren't very good, that is obvious. But I've tried to keep a standard, always have so much amount of content and make it worth reading. Remember back in June when I was writing seven posts on the weekends EVERY weekend? Well on the very last weekends that I had to do that, I only wrote five posts, thus I got behind in the competition two more posts. I only had a few minutes, and I could think of literally NOTHING to write about. So I conceded those two posts. Sure, I could have written short little things about junk, but I didn't. I don't want to waste the time of those reading my blog.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Chain Mail
It all began with chain mail as in actual mail; letters. But in todays culture that is uncommon, it is all over the internet. Like those annoying messages that some people (you know who I am talking about) always decide to forward to everyone they even remotely know. Although amusing (and often more so when you think how actual people actually fall for this stuff) chain emails are usually a waste of time. I hate to tell you this, but I kind of am aware that even if I don't forward this mail I'm not going to die a gruesome death like all of those examples you presented. And in any case, if it does happen it will all be for science, so I can be rest assured that my death would not be in vain.
But much more common is facebook chain messages. They feature some sort of message that assures you that only a small percentage of people will stand up for what they believe and re-post this message so that more and more people are infinitely annoyed. Although some present good points, I usually avoid them mostly because of the principle of it. But there is one that I saw recently that was rather depressing
By itself there is nothing depressing about it, just your run-of-the-mill chain status. I expected for there to be tons of people commenting "i love u (insert name here)" (notice how I have resigned myself to the belief that the rest of the youth population on this planet do not know how to spell?). But there was not a single like. Not a single one. I think I should probably do it now, if no one else will. But really, that's just sad.
And then there are some chain statuses that parody chain statuses. And usually, these are really, really funny. One I recently re-posted was
Now that is the exact opposite of all the other chain statuses. Really, I can't help but laugh at this one.
But chain messages on facebook are not limited to statuses. One slightly more productive method is chain notes. You answer several questions about yourself and tag a few friends. A nice side effect of this is that people get to know you better. I of course have the belief that it would be best if they, oh, I don't know, got to know you in real life. But still, I don't especially find these annoying. It is a good way for me to practice my skills as a stalker. But really, these aren't that bad. Because of the way society is set up, we can learn more about a person by simply reading a quiz than having actual conversation. Still, I have never made a not, though I was close a few times. I guess it is the whole "principle of the thing". And also the fact that many quizzes focus on love lives, and I don't care about that sort of thing. Except my companion cube.
But much more common is facebook chain messages. They feature some sort of message that assures you that only a small percentage of people will stand up for what they believe and re-post this message so that more and more people are infinitely annoyed. Although some present good points, I usually avoid them mostly because of the principle of it. But there is one that I saw recently that was rather depressing
We all have at least 100 friends on Facebook, but when it comes to needing a friend how many will actually be there? I can guarantee not even 15 friends will like this status. Like this status if you will be there for me. Set this as your status to see which friends will be there for you
By itself there is nothing depressing about it, just your run-of-the-mill chain status. I expected for there to be tons of people commenting "i love u (insert name here)" (notice how I have resigned myself to the belief that the rest of the youth population on this planet do not know how to spell?). But there was not a single like. Not a single one. I think I should probably do it now, if no one else will. But really, that's just sad.
And then there are some chain statuses that parody chain statuses. And usually, these are really, really funny. One I recently re-posted was
PLEASE post this as your status if you know someone who has been eaten by Penguins. Penguins are nearly unstoppable and, when hungry, also breathe fire. 71% of people won't copy this into their status because they have already been eaten by Penguins. Another 28% won't because they are hiding in their showers with fire extinguishers awaiting the coming Penguinapocalypse. The remaining 1% are awesome and will re-post.
Now that is the exact opposite of all the other chain statuses. Really, I can't help but laugh at this one.
But chain messages on facebook are not limited to statuses. One slightly more productive method is chain notes. You answer several questions about yourself and tag a few friends. A nice side effect of this is that people get to know you better. I of course have the belief that it would be best if they, oh, I don't know, got to know you in real life. But still, I don't especially find these annoying. It is a good way for me to practice my skills as a stalker. But really, these aren't that bad. Because of the way society is set up, we can learn more about a person by simply reading a quiz than having actual conversation. Still, I have never made a not, though I was close a few times. I guess it is the whole "principle of the thing". And also the fact that many quizzes focus on love lives, and I don't care about that sort of thing. Except my companion cube.
Monday, August 8, 2011
All The Time In The World
Remember the Humble Indie Bundle I talked about awhile back? Well I have actually refrained from buying it yet. And they've been adding even MORE indie games to it. So not counting the ones I already have, I would be getting seven new games. It ends tomorrow, so I should probably get on that. Why haven't I bought yet? I didn't want it to suck my time. As I'm sure you know, I've been on the computer an outrageous amount of time the last few weeks of this summer. I seriously haven't exercised or taken care of my personal hygiene for quite some time. Video editing, watching tutorials for video editing, watching amateur films to get a feel for video editing, 3d animation, surfing the internet, blogging, watching anime, the list goes on. But the most important thing I should be doing is writing for Camp NaNoWriMo. And of course, I am way behind schedule. So what would happen if I throw seven new games into that mix? I can tell you, the result most likely won't be pretty. But with all this free time I have it should be easy for me to allot a few hours for writing and then just goof off for the rest of the day. I guess because it is so early in the competition I have yet to feel the full terror of a deadline approaching.
I really need to gain more time management skills. One would think that it would merely be exercising discipline. But lo and behold, the minutes whiz by before I can even see them. You know the phrase "time flies when you are having fun"? My entire day is filled with constant "fun" entertainment, so it goes by really quickly.
The good news? The video editing is going swimmingly. Explosions of an epic magnitude, dust clouds, bullet holes, they are all there. But although I'm having fun with it, I know that I need to replace some of that with writing. Maybe I will force myself to do minimal special effects tomorrow? What a dreadful though....
I really need to gain more time management skills. One would think that it would merely be exercising discipline. But lo and behold, the minutes whiz by before I can even see them. You know the phrase "time flies when you are having fun"? My entire day is filled with constant "fun" entertainment, so it goes by really quickly.
The good news? The video editing is going swimmingly. Explosions of an epic magnitude, dust clouds, bullet holes, they are all there. But although I'm having fun with it, I know that I need to replace some of that with writing. Maybe I will force myself to do minimal special effects tomorrow? What a dreadful though....
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