"Hi"
"Do I know you?"
"No, that's why I came over here, to introduce myself"
"Well congratulations, you've achieved so much"
"That's one way to put. My name is Jonas."
"That's an odd name."
"That's what I told my parents - they wouldn't change it"
"They sound like great parents"
"They aren't"
"I was being sarcastic"
"I know"
"Than why'd you say "they aren't" as if you were telling me something I didn't know?"
"Well, my parents could've been good parents, just a little... out there"
"Oh. Well, I see you're fairly good at carrying an unwanted conversation, but I'm sorry to say that it will never amount to anything. No matter what."
"What if this conversation led to me taking you out to dinner sometime?"
"That would also amount to nothing, no matter what, because even if you took me out to dinner and I enjoyed it, and we went out another, and another, and another time, and so on until we got married, it would still amount to nothing."
"How would that amount to nothing? we would have enjoyed spending time together, and going places, and spending our lives together. How's that nothing?"
"No, you don't understand. Even if we did all those things, one day we'd both die, no ifs ands or buts. Then our accomplishments, actions and ourselves will slowly fade from the memories of those who knew us, until they either forget or die. Eventually we would be completely forgotten, and it would be as if we had never existed at all."
"Yeah... but we would have existed whether the people who come after us know it or not."
"So?"
"So, we could do great things, fun things, enjoyable things. We could watch sunsets, go to amusement parks, see movies, have dinners at nice restaurants; we could make the most of our lives, we could make something wonderful of our finite existence. And so what if all we leave behind is a couple of descendants and bones in the ground. We'll have had a good time doing it, and besides, it's not like we're the only ones who are going to die. Every single person who has and who will ever live has to deal with this, whether they know it or not, And well, frankly, one day humanity as a whole will suffer the same fate, and all it's accomplishments and doings will slowly erode, or collapse, until nothing is left and it it will be as if humanity never even existed at all... um... are you crying?"
"Sorry... I just never- never thought about life that way... That whole speech, it was- was-"
"Beautiful? inspiring? amazing? enlightening? truthful?"
"All of those, now sorry, my mascara's running, I've got to go get cleaned up."
"Oh, no worries. by the way, I never got your name."
"It's Amy"
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Christmas time
"Lets put these ones at the bottom of the tree, because they won't break if they get knocked off by the dog."
"You're right, but those aren't the plastic bulbs."
"Yeah they are."
"No they aren't. These aren't the plastic bulbs. I'd drop this one to prove my point, but I won't, because I know It'll break."
"OK, than I'll drop it, and prove mine."
So I hand the bulb to my little sister, and she dangles it over the floor. Before dropping it, she lowers the bulb to about knee level. You'd think that it wouldn't break even if it was glass, but on a tile floor...
That familiar high pitched shattering sound accompanies the view of bulb pieces flying across the floor. I laugh, even though it's not all that hilarious now that I think about it.
"I told ya"
I tell her to get the broom and dust pan, because I'm not cleaning it up, and besides, there are a bunch of little glass shards all around my feet. She's wearing slippers, I'm in socks.
It's kind of weird, how we're still decorating a christmas tree when the youngest member of the family is fifteen and the rest are technically adults... You'd think we would have grown out of it, and instead of participating in christmas festivities we would just buy each other presents... especially since we're all at the age where we enjoy getting clothes for christmas.
"You're right, but those aren't the plastic bulbs."
"Yeah they are."
"No they aren't. These aren't the plastic bulbs. I'd drop this one to prove my point, but I won't, because I know It'll break."
"OK, than I'll drop it, and prove mine."
So I hand the bulb to my little sister, and she dangles it over the floor. Before dropping it, she lowers the bulb to about knee level. You'd think that it wouldn't break even if it was glass, but on a tile floor...
That familiar high pitched shattering sound accompanies the view of bulb pieces flying across the floor. I laugh, even though it's not all that hilarious now that I think about it.
"I told ya"
I tell her to get the broom and dust pan, because I'm not cleaning it up, and besides, there are a bunch of little glass shards all around my feet. She's wearing slippers, I'm in socks.
It's kind of weird, how we're still decorating a christmas tree when the youngest member of the family is fifteen and the rest are technically adults... You'd think we would have grown out of it, and instead of participating in christmas festivities we would just buy each other presents... especially since we're all at the age where we enjoy getting clothes for christmas.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thoughts on Identity pt. 2
How well do we really know ourselves? Now, of course we know our minds like no one else does, but does that really matter? Is what we have inside worth anything if we never let anybody in? We could be the nicest, most thoughtful, considerate and caring person in the world, but does it matter if nobody else knows? What's your best feature if you keep it unknown to others, as if it's some dark secret?
But how well do we really know ourselves? If you played someone a recording of their voice, they'd have no clue who it is. This is because of the resonance of the sound waves in the sinuses, but isn't it interesting? Just think of all the people who lived their entire lives without knowing what they really sound like. And imagine all the people who lived without knowing what they really look like. What would live have been like before mirrors? When the only glimpse you got of yourself was the occasional distorted reflection in a stream. Would people back then have worried about what they looked like? would they have worried about their hair? their clothes? If they were pretty enough? I think that things would have been a lot simpler.
But how well do we really know ourselves? If you played someone a recording of their voice, they'd have no clue who it is. This is because of the resonance of the sound waves in the sinuses, but isn't it interesting? Just think of all the people who lived their entire lives without knowing what they really sound like. And imagine all the people who lived without knowing what they really look like. What would live have been like before mirrors? When the only glimpse you got of yourself was the occasional distorted reflection in a stream. Would people back then have worried about what they looked like? would they have worried about their hair? their clothes? If they were pretty enough? I think that things would have been a lot simpler.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thoughts on Identity
They see me running by, and I can't help but wonder what they're thinking. Am I a student who has just experienced a traumatizing event? and now I couldn't want to be any farther away from this hellhole we call East York? or am I just a health conscious teen who wants to get some cardio in after a day in the weight room?
Now that I give it some thought, I wonder what everybody thinks about me. I know that they all see me differently, but how different are their opinions? Am I relatively the same person or am I day to one person and night to another? It's an interesting thought, but for some reason I feel like Ruiz hit the nail on the head, in the book The Fifth Agreement. What people think of you doesn't matter, because it's only what they think. It's their image of you, not you. All you can really do is be true to yourself, don't say anything that could come back to bite you, and hope that you make a good impression where you want to.
Also, you should realize that everyone lives in own little world, where they are the main character of their story. I know it's irrelevant, and I'm unable to tie it in anywhere else, but maybe it might help you make some sense of things.
Now that I give it some thought, I wonder what everybody thinks about me. I know that they all see me differently, but how different are their opinions? Am I relatively the same person or am I day to one person and night to another? It's an interesting thought, but for some reason I feel like Ruiz hit the nail on the head, in the book The Fifth Agreement. What people think of you doesn't matter, because it's only what they think. It's their image of you, not you. All you can really do is be true to yourself, don't say anything that could come back to bite you, and hope that you make a good impression where you want to.
Also, you should realize that everyone lives in own little world, where they are the main character of their story. I know it's irrelevant, and I'm unable to tie it in anywhere else, but maybe it might help you make some sense of things.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Extra curricular activities
Up until this year I was never involved in any extracurricular activities. I always was too unmotivated to commit to anything, or I was just plain uninterested. This year however, I've joined robotics and fitness club; And they're great. We've only had one fitness club day, and My pecs and shoulders are still killing me; which means that it was quite a success.
So far robotics has been a lot of fun, we haven't done a lot in the meetings but today we did a demonstration at the science centre. As a part of the 'robots rule' weekend, us and the prestigious team 1114 put on a series of demonstrations. For those of you who don't know, our robots pick up large inflatable shapes and hang them on a rack. From opening to about four, we showcased our robots to parents with small children and a variety of media personnel. You might have seen an interview with ShawnZ on CHCH, although I doubt it. Also at the demonstration were a couple reps from MDA, the company that built Canadarm, and a lego league elementary school whose teacher forced them to put on a ridiculous presentation which stated that eating food that isn't organic will give you cancer.
My job in robotics isn't what you think it is. I'm 1st lieutenant on the spirit team (of which my little sister is the captain) and the mascot. The mascot is a spartan/gladiator with a blue crest on the helmet and a blue cape. It's awesome. The only thing it's missing is a sword, or more appropriately, a giant ratchet and clank style wrench. And a name. On top of that, Ben and Jiro say they want to forge a metal chest plate to replace the leather, but I don't know if that'll happen. BTW, Ms. Cat, can the robotics mascot get up double as uniform?
So... for this week's post we were supposed to write something about our favourite movie and include a link to a clip from it. Well... I really don't know what to say about a A Scanner Darkly, other than watch it. A clip really can't show you what the movie's about. I assume that it would just terribly mislead you. So if you are interested, google it. You can easily find it online. For a clip... I think I'll find something from I ♥ Huckabee's. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen, and it and A Scanner Darkly are in very, very close competition for my top movie. So close, that it depends on what mood I'm in, what time of day it is, and in fact, the title goes back and forth multiple times each day. Well, here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JD--IFO2no
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PhDGze8YmE&feature=related
So far robotics has been a lot of fun, we haven't done a lot in the meetings but today we did a demonstration at the science centre. As a part of the 'robots rule' weekend, us and the prestigious team 1114 put on a series of demonstrations. For those of you who don't know, our robots pick up large inflatable shapes and hang them on a rack. From opening to about four, we showcased our robots to parents with small children and a variety of media personnel. You might have seen an interview with ShawnZ on CHCH, although I doubt it. Also at the demonstration were a couple reps from MDA, the company that built Canadarm, and a lego league elementary school whose teacher forced them to put on a ridiculous presentation which stated that eating food that isn't organic will give you cancer.
My job in robotics isn't what you think it is. I'm 1st lieutenant on the spirit team (of which my little sister is the captain) and the mascot. The mascot is a spartan/gladiator with a blue crest on the helmet and a blue cape. It's awesome. The only thing it's missing is a sword, or more appropriately, a giant ratchet and clank style wrench. And a name. On top of that, Ben and Jiro say they want to forge a metal chest plate to replace the leather, but I don't know if that'll happen. BTW, Ms. Cat, can the robotics mascot get up double as uniform?
So... for this week's post we were supposed to write something about our favourite movie and include a link to a clip from it. Well... I really don't know what to say about a A Scanner Darkly, other than watch it. A clip really can't show you what the movie's about. I assume that it would just terribly mislead you. So if you are interested, google it. You can easily find it online. For a clip... I think I'll find something from I ♥ Huckabee's. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen, and it and A Scanner Darkly are in very, very close competition for my top movie. So close, that it depends on what mood I'm in, what time of day it is, and in fact, the title goes back and forth multiple times each day. Well, here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JD--IFO2no
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PhDGze8YmE&feature=related
Friday, November 4, 2011
The Job of a Human
The job of a human is be alive,
to be happy, to be sad, to be breathing,
expirience, and exist.
The job of a human is to be swell,
to make each other feel
amazing, and terrible.
The job of a human is to commit crimes,
solve them, arrest each other,
resist each other, and fight.
The job of a human is to look pretty,
look ugly, look alright,
look young, and look old.
The job of a human is to be wanted,
To be everything and nothing.
The job of a human is to be black,
white, and everything in between.
The job of a human is to be persecuted,
allowed, and smuggled,
hated and loved.
The job of a human is to
stand. Tall. Strong.
To never give up when down.
To kill each other.
To be killed. To be sold. To be bought.
To work, to work, to work.
The job of a human is to treat
every day as if it could be the last.
The job of a human is to live, then die.
to be happy, to be sad, to be breathing,
expirience, and exist.
The job of a human is to be swell,
to make each other feel
amazing, and terrible.
The job of a human is to commit crimes,
solve them, arrest each other,
resist each other, and fight.
The job of a human is to look pretty,
look ugly, look alright,
look young, and look old.
The job of a human is to be wanted,
To be everything and nothing.
The job of a human is to be black,
white, and everything in between.
The job of a human is to be persecuted,
allowed, and smuggled,
hated and loved.
The job of a human is to
stand. Tall. Strong.
To never give up when down.
To kill each other.
To be killed. To be sold. To be bought.
To work, to work, to work.
The job of a human is to treat
every day as if it could be the last.
The job of a human is to live, then die.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Left and Right
On the left side, a gray overcast blankets the sky. A strong chilly wind blows over the high grass, giving it the appearance of waves. Blood red flowers, yellow flowers nearly mustard coloured, and white flowers so dark they are almost gray are scattered throughout the field. There are also drab purple flowers, but they aren't typical daisy type flowers like the others. They are in the shape of small snapdragons. A boulder is half buried nearby. Not too far away, two large pine trees and an old barn obstruct the horizon.
The right side is completely different. The sun is shining brightly, and there's hardly a cloud in the sky. A light breeze washes over the field. Every little plant and blade are dancing at their own pace, in random directions and at random frequencies. There is a complete absence of temperature here, if you can image a sensation of being neither hot nor cold. These red flowers are a lively scarlet, these yellow flowers are the colour of bananas, or candy, and these white flowers couldn't be any brighter. There are no purple flowers in this field. There are no boulders. In the distance all there is is an old wooden fence with a few small deciduous trees spaced moderately far apart. After that the field continues.
The flowers are so remarkably different. It's almost hard to picture them in a bouquet together. I wonder if they are the same flowers, and that it's just the lighting that makes them so startlingly different.
Ms. Cat said that we should be in the middle of our two hemispheres. The line goes straight, as I now can see. It shouldn't be so hard to follow, although if this the difference between the two sides, well, I know I've been vacillating; Bouncing back and forth between the two sides. Who would've thought walking a straight line could be so hard?
The right side is completely different. The sun is shining brightly, and there's hardly a cloud in the sky. A light breeze washes over the field. Every little plant and blade are dancing at their own pace, in random directions and at random frequencies. There is a complete absence of temperature here, if you can image a sensation of being neither hot nor cold. These red flowers are a lively scarlet, these yellow flowers are the colour of bananas, or candy, and these white flowers couldn't be any brighter. There are no purple flowers in this field. There are no boulders. In the distance all there is is an old wooden fence with a few small deciduous trees spaced moderately far apart. After that the field continues.
The flowers are so remarkably different. It's almost hard to picture them in a bouquet together. I wonder if they are the same flowers, and that it's just the lighting that makes them so startlingly different.
Ms. Cat said that we should be in the middle of our two hemispheres. The line goes straight, as I now can see. It shouldn't be so hard to follow, although if this the difference between the two sides, well, I know I've been vacillating; Bouncing back and forth between the two sides. Who would've thought walking a straight line could be so hard?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
This is what life has boiled down to. I can't just be who I am, what I am. I need degrees, an education, a respectable job. How many years of my life will be spent toiling through society's trials just because people think that nothing could come out of an 'uneducated' underachieving teenager. They can go fuck themselves. If I'm nothing to them than their society, their ways of life, and their lives are nothing to me. I don't need to go to university just because there's some overwhelming all-consuming social stigma which states that one is less than the elite few just because they don't have three letters behind their name.
We need to conform, we need to do what's expected of us, or else we're NOTHING. And how's nothing supposed to change the world? How's nothing supposed to make it a better place? How is NOTHING ever going to amount to ANYTHING if those who consider themselves SOMETHING aren't willing to listen to the words of someone who's Nothing?
I don't need to do what they want me to. I don't need to do what I'm supposed to do; what they expect a worthy person, anyone who's to be anything to do. I don't need to make myself into something I'm not, just so that they'd give my writing a second glace; Just to give my ideals a second chance. This isn't what life is supposed to be: Submit to conformity, live in obscurity, or kill yourself.
I think I'll give humanity what I have to offer, hope that they listen to, or at least hear the message I am trying to get across; and then I'll kill myself. Fuck this shit, this isn't what life is supposed to be. I don't know what they're all thinking, but this is definitely not it. I have no desire to live a cookie cutter life, inside their perimeters, according to their ways; the way everyone else seems to have no problems with doing. Fuck this shit: The shit we have to do just to be something in this convoluted, fucked up society.
I think I'd be much happier living out in the woods somewhere far away from all of this pretentious bullshit.
We need to conform, we need to do what's expected of us, or else we're NOTHING. And how's nothing supposed to change the world? How's nothing supposed to make it a better place? How is NOTHING ever going to amount to ANYTHING if those who consider themselves SOMETHING aren't willing to listen to the words of someone who's Nothing?
I don't need to do what they want me to. I don't need to do what I'm supposed to do; what they expect a worthy person, anyone who's to be anything to do. I don't need to make myself into something I'm not, just so that they'd give my writing a second glace; Just to give my ideals a second chance. This isn't what life is supposed to be: Submit to conformity, live in obscurity, or kill yourself.
I think I'll give humanity what I have to offer, hope that they listen to, or at least hear the message I am trying to get across; and then I'll kill myself. Fuck this shit, this isn't what life is supposed to be. I don't know what they're all thinking, but this is definitely not it. I have no desire to live a cookie cutter life, inside their perimeters, according to their ways; the way everyone else seems to have no problems with doing. Fuck this shit: The shit we have to do just to be something in this convoluted, fucked up society.
I think I'd be much happier living out in the woods somewhere far away from all of this pretentious bullshit.
Friday, October 21, 2011
John's the head of a company who deals death,
his buyers puff away, then struggle for breath.
What he's really doing to people is killing,
blind to it John sits in his office chilling.
He never sees the faces of those who've died,
He only sees the profits, from those who've buyed.
On tv, john watches a starving child who'll soon die
he readjusts his fat ass and thinks: "better him than I"
his buyers puff away, then struggle for breath.
What he's really doing to people is killing,
blind to it John sits in his office chilling.
He never sees the faces of those who've died,
He only sees the profits, from those who've buyed.
On tv, john watches a starving child who'll soon die
he readjusts his fat ass and thinks: "better him than I"
Friday, October 14, 2011
Author's Note
I hope that there will never be a day where our grandkids can't go outside and play, for the air is too polluted for them to breathe. Now, when I say our, I don't mean mine and whoever's. I mean our generation's, everyone's grandkids; And not just them, even their grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and so on until the sun engulfs the earth (which is projected to happen about 200 000 years from now if you were wondering).
Already, I see gray upon the the horizon on a clear day. A cloud of pollution hangs over our city, but we don't even have it half as bad as some places, say LA, or certain parts of China. I'd be more specific but I'm not too sure about my Chinese geography, Either way you get my point. The problem is REAL.
I don't want humanity to succumb to the results of it's own pollution. Even if we don't get off earth before some other unstoppable force destroys it, at least we will have had a good run. We will have enjoyed our beautiful planet to the fullest potential, and not just us, every human to live after us. This place is far too important for us to ruin it, and I sincerely hope that we can clean up our act.
Already, I see gray upon the the horizon on a clear day. A cloud of pollution hangs over our city, but we don't even have it half as bad as some places, say LA, or certain parts of China. I'd be more specific but I'm not too sure about my Chinese geography, Either way you get my point. The problem is REAL.
I don't want humanity to succumb to the results of it's own pollution. Even if we don't get off earth before some other unstoppable force destroys it, at least we will have had a good run. We will have enjoyed our beautiful planet to the fullest potential, and not just us, every human to live after us. This place is far too important for us to ruin it, and I sincerely hope that we can clean up our act.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
I almost wasn't going to post anything today. Honestly, I'm not in the mood. I feel like crap. But i realized that these blogs are basically Ms. Cat throwing marks at us. I'm pretty sure she's marking for completion, rather than content, which is good. I could write whatever the hell I want and it wouldn't matter. I don't even know why I bothered putting effort into those other posts.
Today, I could have wrote a heartfelt, caring post about how we shouldn't destroy our environment, about how cigarettes and drugs are terrible for people, about poetry, about how loathsome my mom is, I could even write about turkey day, or how holidays and funerals function as family reunions, but I'm not going to.
If you want to check out my favourite book (A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick) here's a link:
http://arthursbookshelf.com/sci-fi/dick/philip%20k.%20dick%20-%20a%20scanner%20darkly.pdf
It's about drugs, but not how great they are or how fucked they, It's how they are; and they just happen to be Fucked.
Here's a quote from the Author's Note. It's about those who've done drugs.
"They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed--run over, maimed, destroyed--but they continued to play anyhow. We really all were very happy for a while, sitting around not toiling but just bullshitting and playing, but it was for such a terrible brief time, and then the punishment was beyond belief"
Today, I could have wrote a heartfelt, caring post about how we shouldn't destroy our environment, about how cigarettes and drugs are terrible for people, about poetry, about how loathsome my mom is, I could even write about turkey day, or how holidays and funerals function as family reunions, but I'm not going to.
If you want to check out my favourite book (A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick) here's a link:
http://arthursbookshelf.com/sci-fi/dick/philip%20k.%20dick%20-%20a%20scanner%20darkly.pdf
It's about drugs, but not how great they are or how fucked they, It's how they are; and they just happen to be Fucked.
Here's a quote from the Author's Note. It's about those who've done drugs.
"They wanted to have a good time, but they were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed--run over, maimed, destroyed--but they continued to play anyhow. We really all were very happy for a while, sitting around not toiling but just bullshitting and playing, but it was for such a terrible brief time, and then the punishment was beyond belief"
Friday, September 30, 2011
Cigarettes, alcohol and pop are just a few things in our society which are terrible for the people who live in it. Allow me to explain.
Pop is sold just about everywhere. It's a large part of America's growing obesity problem, and it is a widespread cause of diabetes. Actually, in many third world countries a bottle of pop is cheaper than clean water. And what exactly is it anyways? It's concentrated sugar water with flavours and colours added in. Why not just drink water? It's calorie free, caffeine free, and it DOESN'T KILL YOU! In fact, it does quite the opposite.
Alcohol. Why does our government market a central nervous system depressant to it's citizens? They're basically our nation's biggest drug dealer. They supply alcoholics with their liquor like a crack dealer supplies his crackheads with crack. And think about all the people who get alcohol poisoning, who die in car crashes and all those who are currently addicted to it. This is a drug epidemic which our government is the cause of. If you disagree with me, open your eyes, this is a real issue: I don't care if you like getting drunk. And don't think I have an anti-drinking stance because I don't drink. I've been there, and done that nearly every weekend for three years of my life.
Cigarettes are highly addictive, very deadly, and worse yet, they even affect people who don't smoke them through second hand smoke and the damage that they do to the environment. People who are addicted spend ridiculous amounts of money (which they will only make so much of in a lifetime) on supporting their habit. They're literally paying for a slow death at the hands of something that removes one's ability to relax and be comfortable, without having to dose themselves with a drug. Why are most other highly addictive and deadly substances illegal, while cigarettes are available for sale to the general public? This is another case of our government being the nation's biggest drug dealer.
Here's some facts to back up my argument:
Cigarettes are very lethal, half of all smokers are killed by their habit.
Every 6.5 seconds smoking kills someone.
In China alone, 1.2 MILLION people die annually from smoking. That's 2000 a day!
18% of all deaths in America are caused by smoking, more that the next top 5 causes combined.
They are all overpriced, and people spend their hard earned money, which they will only ever have so much of, on these things which cause a slow death. Should it really be the person's choice? Shouldn't the government step in and do something about it? Maybe they're a little to concerned with the money they're making off of being our nation's biggest drug dealer. What do you think?
Pop is sold just about everywhere. It's a large part of America's growing obesity problem, and it is a widespread cause of diabetes. Actually, in many third world countries a bottle of pop is cheaper than clean water. And what exactly is it anyways? It's concentrated sugar water with flavours and colours added in. Why not just drink water? It's calorie free, caffeine free, and it DOESN'T KILL YOU! In fact, it does quite the opposite.
Alcohol. Why does our government market a central nervous system depressant to it's citizens? They're basically our nation's biggest drug dealer. They supply alcoholics with their liquor like a crack dealer supplies his crackheads with crack. And think about all the people who get alcohol poisoning, who die in car crashes and all those who are currently addicted to it. This is a drug epidemic which our government is the cause of. If you disagree with me, open your eyes, this is a real issue: I don't care if you like getting drunk. And don't think I have an anti-drinking stance because I don't drink. I've been there, and done that nearly every weekend for three years of my life.
Cigarettes are highly addictive, very deadly, and worse yet, they even affect people who don't smoke them through second hand smoke and the damage that they do to the environment. People who are addicted spend ridiculous amounts of money (which they will only make so much of in a lifetime) on supporting their habit. They're literally paying for a slow death at the hands of something that removes one's ability to relax and be comfortable, without having to dose themselves with a drug. Why are most other highly addictive and deadly substances illegal, while cigarettes are available for sale to the general public? This is another case of our government being the nation's biggest drug dealer.
Here's some facts to back up my argument:
Cigarettes are very lethal, half of all smokers are killed by their habit.
Every 6.5 seconds smoking kills someone.
In China alone, 1.2 MILLION people die annually from smoking. That's 2000 a day!
18% of all deaths in America are caused by smoking, more that the next top 5 causes combined.
They are all overpriced, and people spend their hard earned money, which they will only ever have so much of, on these things which cause a slow death. Should it really be the person's choice? Shouldn't the government step in and do something about it? Maybe they're a little to concerned with the money they're making off of being our nation's biggest drug dealer. What do you think?
Friday, September 23, 2011
Yesterday, i figured something out which I thought was very important. It sort of came to me after I realized, that I really hadn't enjoyed myself for a long, long time. I actually thought something was wrong with me. I guess I was so concerned with, and caught up in life; that I never stopped to smell the roses. I was doing things, which I normally would have enjoyed, but I felt empty, all the time. Whether I was waking up, going to sleep, eating breakfast, taking my dog for a walk, reading a book, or even watching tv, it all just felt empty. Then I realized, how am i supposed to experience a feeling of happiness if i'm not trying to be happy, and actively pursuing it? If i'm not wanting and trying to be happy, whether i'm consciously aware of it or not, I wont be happy. Simple as that. Tomorrow i'm going to take my dog for a walk, and i'm going to enjoy it. Why? what will make this time different from yesterday or the day before? The fact that I know that I want to. I'm not just going to run her around the block like a dog walking drone. I'm going to sit with her in the field until she wants to go home, and until then, I'm going to enjoy the clouds, the sky, the trees, the breeze, and the company of my dog, who likes to spend long periods of time sitting in the field beside my house doing nothing. Maybe she was trying to tell me something? "Richard, stop it. Take a break. You don't need to be doing something every second of every day. Stop, sit down and take in the wonderful things which you can experience while you are still alive." Maybe i'm just telling myself that, but what's it matter if i believe it. I suppose i'd rather be working towards my happiness than stressing over completing my homework, or making sure I've done a proper workout. I've strayed from my point a little so I'll just wrap things up. If you want to be happy, take a step back, realize what makes you happy, and then do it. Don't go through life on autopilot, and always have a damn good reason for why you are doing whatever you are doing.
And remember guys, life's too important to be wasted. It's the only one you get, and it's all that you get. Don't take it for granted.
And remember guys, life's too important to be wasted. It's the only one you get, and it's all that you get. Don't take it for granted.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Who am I? Why am I here?
Well, quite simply, i'm here because i want to be. I'm kinda into literature, as some of you remember from that bingo-style game we played; and i hope this course will allow me to create my own stories, and not just empty, happy, lucky-go bullcrap. Good stories, with a message. See, writing for the sake of writing is great and all - some of the best stuff I've ever read has had nothing to say: no message to get across, but i think a good story has to have a message; and not a pointless, cynical message like in The Nose. I'm talking about a real message, something that's insightful, useful, and worthwhile. Something that gets you thinking, and something that can improve your life. In my opinion, if a story has nothing to say, it's just a story.
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