How Dreadfully Risky

Are you ready for this? It's about to get deep.


Now, what did I risk with that opening? I risked you (the whole two or three people who read my blog) analyzing my post for deepness and then judging me based on said deepness. News flash: it might not be, and judging is bad. So there.

In all seriousness, I think the best risks to take are when they are about yourself. Especially when they deal with who you are. For example, on Thursday, I had an APUSH  presentation-y-thing in which I had to dress up like a certain historical figure. I wore a button up shirt, tie, vest, and nice pants. Oh, and a pocket watch. After my presentation, I very well could have changed into normal clothes. But I didn't. I felt awesome wearing it, so why would I change? I strutted down the hallways with my head held high and a smug grin on my face (okay, maybe not, but it creates a nice image, yes?). When I walked into my next class, my friend looked me up and down and said "You look like a guy."

I was very proud to wear that outfit, but there was a small part of me that was super nervous. What if people thought I was weird? What if they talked about me? But you know, I risked it because it's who I am. Yes, I do like wearing stuff like that. I shouldn't be afraid to hide it. So it is great to take risks when they deal with who you are.

In writing, I think it means showing your quirkiness. For example, I started this post in a pretty weird way. But that's just who I am. I do actually say stuff like that in regular conversations, it's not like I'm trying to be superficial. Also, risking in writing means sharing not only stories but also your feelings concerning those stories (or just your feelings in general). When you say "and then my brother ate my sandwich", it's kind of flat. But if you say "and then my brother ate my sandwich which made me so mad because I was starving not to mention the fact that it was for me and it was my favorite kind so I was really upset!" it adds something - it risks something (not including the risk that the people reading will get mad at your extreme use of run-on sentences).

So yeah, if you're just trying to show who you are, then those are the best kinds of risks. You can get real voice and heart into your writing (or just in general) when you do that. Don't be afraid to shine. As a favorite teacher always used to say "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy" (this teacher may or may not have had a magic school bus and a lizard and may have not actually been my teacher. Maybe)

There, was that deep enough for ya?

Argument using humor

The Two Ronnies

War of 1812

The Perils of Power Writing

So, yesterday we finished our second power writing session. I thought that I should share my thoughts.

First off, I don't actually mind the idea/practice of power writing. It will help us get ready for the AP test and it helps us notice things that should be revised (which is mostly due to the fact that Mrs. Cardona points it out). Additionally, the things we are told to write about are relevant to what we're talking about and interesting.

Why, then, did I title this The Perils of Power writing? Well, I'll tell you (duh)

So, it is a very well known fact that only three people can be in line at a time. Mrs. Cardona only told us this, like, fifty times. This, however, does not mean that you can lurk in the shadows just waiting to push other people in your mad dash for the line. It's kind of like this(click on it for a better view)

Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. But not by much. I hate it when people print something off and then walk over to the stapler and take for flipping ever to staple their essay and then  "Oh! There's an opening in the line? What a coincidence! Well, since I'm already here, I might as well just hop in line." Which ruins chances for others who have been waiting patiently in their seats. I also hate it when they start talking to people who are close to where the line is. Not only do they do it to just jump ahead of others, but they disturb the people who are trying to work. But the thing that is by far the worst is when they stand just to the side or around the corner. Just because there's a space between you and the next person doesn't mean that you aren't still standing in line. I mean, come on people! Do you really have to do that? Does one little stamp mean that much to you? (not that it isn't a very pretty stamp)

At one point yesterday (Friday), I noticed that one guy kept trying to get up to get in line. He was in the front row like me. However the lurkers - that's what I've decided to call them - kept pushing their way ahead of him. Eventually I told him, in a semi-joking manner, that I would sit in the middle of the aisle so that he could get up. He did manage to get in line after that without my help, but I think that I might have actually done it, because I was getting pretty mad at the lurkers.

So yeah. I like the power writing, but I don't like how selfish some of the people are. I don't think that we need to change power writing, but I think people need to be responsible and say to themselves "Yes, I have already gone up twice recently. I'll let someone else go right now."

An Epiphany of Geekyness

So, today I realized what a sad, pathetic little geek I am.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I think very highly of myself and I'm not trying to be depressing or anything. It's just, I finally came to terms with the fact that some of the things I do can only be described as "pathetically geeky". Here's what I mean.

In my bio, about me thingy on the side of the blog, I mentioned that I watch anime. Because it's hard to obtain anime in DVD form, there are a bunch of sites that let you watch it for free. This is a very good thing unless you are a procrastinator who doesn't have a lot of self-control (pshhhh that's totally NOT me! What are you talking about?). However, many of the players have a time limit for how long you can watch their player for free. After you reach that limit you have to wait a certain amount of time until you can again watch videos. Therein lies the problem I was facing tonight.

I was taking a break from homework, and watching some anime. Of course, after a while, I ended up hitting the time limit. As I tried to reload a video, a message popped up that I had to wait 26 minutes until I could watch my beloved episodes for free. Now, what was I supposed to do? Should I work ahead on homework? Should I go read a book (though that isn't that much better in terms of geekyness)? NO! I decided to mess around with my laptop until it would let me watch again. So I went on youtube and listened to a song that I am obsessed with and looked at some e-mails. And then I checked how much time I had left. 15 minutes to go. Shoot. I played with Google. And then I checked how much time I had left. 12 minutes to go. I sat there and stared blankly at my screen. 10 minutes to go. I read my friend's blog and commented on it. 5 minutes to go! What was I going to do for five minutes? Fine, I'd do some homework that's due in a couple of days. I got up and got my folder. Quick check: 2 minutes to go. Sigh. It was torture! But finally, It let me watch the video again.

And what is going on while I type this post? My episode is loading. Like I said: pathetic.

Popcorn and Selfishness

The other day, I was working at the movie theater the other day, behind the concessions counter. It was before we had opened, but there was a group that had come in for a special viewing. We were cleaning up and getting ready for opening when one woman walked up to us. She demanded that she speak to a manager as she plunked a large popcorn bag down on the counter. Hearing this, one of our managers, Fred, walked over and asked how he could help her. "Your popcorn tastes weird." she said "The butter doesn't taste like butter." Fred patiently explained to her that we cook our popcorn in coconut oil, and that that was what she tasted. I don't remember exactly how the conversation that followed went, but in the end, Fred told one of us to fill up her bag (because we give free refills for large popcorn bags). As the bag was being filled up the woman demanded "What are you doing?" confused, Fred told her that we were refilling her bag for her. "I don't want it to be refilled, she said "I want my money back."

It really made me realize that there really are people out there who are so selfish that they would demand that they get a refund after eating half a bag of popcorn that "tasted funny". And I find that sad. Why is it that as a society we have become so self-pleasing? And where will that lead us in the future?

In Which All the Answers are Revealed

Or at least some of them.

1. Narration: Today, I had a conversation with my friend about what music was “the best”. It started when a song came on over the radio. It was, in my opinion, a great song, which I pointed out. To which he (my friend) said that it was only “okay”. This was not okay with me. We quickly began talking about the different kinds of music, and what was considered “great”. In the end, he said “The music I listen to is the best”. But is it really? Why is his music the best? I think mine is.

2. Definition: When something is the best that usually means that it is better than everything else in that classification. The best football team is the one that wins the state championship. The best school is the one that scores the best on tests. But not all things can definitely be said to be the best. The best song is the one that every individual person likes the most. The best food is the one that is the most appealing. We can’t always say what the best is.

3. Example: Last year, the Wayzata football team won the state championships. Because of this, we were considered the best team in the state. The team got a trophy saying that they placed first. In essence it was a trophy that declared we were better that any other team in our class. It was a proven fact that we could beat the other teams. We were the strongest, the fastest, and the smartest. We were the best.

4. Compare/Contrast: Being champions in the state football tournament is the equivalent of being the best in the state. When a team beats all of the teams they are placed up against, they are considered the champions of the tournament. But it also means that they are better than all the other teams, that they are the best out of all of those teams. So, it a team is declared to be champions, they are declared to be the best. Therefore, being a champion means that one is the best.

5. Argument/Persuasion: Nothing is better than the music of the ‘60s and ‘80s. Popular music of today pales in comparison to popular ‘80s music. Current music gives us songs like Friday by Rebecca Black. A whole lot of it is auto-tuned crap with bad lyrics that encourage kids to do drugs and other stuff. Meanwhile, in the ‘60s, the Beatles were all the rage. They produced good, genuine music that actually told people good things. The ‘80s, too, was comprised of funky beats and catchy tunes. So radio stations should be paying old music, because it is the best.

6. Description: For me, the best dinner in the world is Shepherd’s Pie. A lot of people say English food, which Shepherd’s Pie is, is way too bland. But when that’s what you grow up with, you don’t notice the lack of seasoning. However, even if it doesn’t have a lot of seasoning put in, there’s something about the combination of ground beef (cooked in a special way) and mashed potatoes that just makes my mouth water. It’s the equivalent of a stereotypical American’s cheeseburger. I just can’t get enough. It is, without a doubt, the best.

Although in hind sight, some of these might be different than what I thought I was writing

What is "The Best"?

Here ya go. Good luck with guessing

1. Today, I had a conversation with my friend about what music was “the best”. It started when a song came on over the radio. It was, in my opinion, a great song, which I pointed out. To which he (my friend) said that it was only “okay”. This was not okay with me. We quickly began talking about the different kinds of music, and what was considered “great”. In the end, he said “The music I listen to is the best”. But is it really? Why is his music the best? I think mine is.


2. When something is the best that usually means that it is better than everything else in that classification. The best football team is the one that wins the state championship. The best school is the one that scores the best on tests. But not all things can definitely be said to be the best. The best song is the one that every individual person likes the most. The best food is the one that is the most appealing. We can’t always say what the best is.


3. Last year, the Wayzata football team won the state championships. Because of this, we were considered the best team in the state. The team got a trophy saying that they placed first. In essence it was a trophy that declared we were better that any other team in our class. It was a proven fact that we could beat the other teams. We were the strongest, the fastest, and the smartest. We were the best.


4. Being champions in the state football tournament is the equivalent of being the best in the state. When a team beats all of the teams they are placed up against, they are considered the champions of the tournament. But it also means that they are better than all the other teams, that they are the best out of all of those teams. So, it a team is declared to be champions, they are declared to be the best. Therefore, being a champion means that one is the best.


5. Nothing is better than the music of the ‘60s and ‘80s. Popular music of today pales in comparison to popular ‘80s music. Current music gives us songs like Friday by Rebecca Black. A whole lot of it is auto-tuned crap with bad lyrics that encourage kids to do drugs and other stuff. Meanwhile, in the ‘60s, the Beatles were all the rage. They produced good, genuine music that actually told people good things. The ‘80s, too, was comprised of funky beats and catchy tunes. So radio stations should be paying old music, because it is the best.


6. For me, the best dinner in the world is Shepherd’s Pie. A lot of people say English food, which Shepherd’s Pie is, is way too bland. But when that’s what you grow up with, you don’t notice the lack of seasoning. However, even if it doesn’t have a lot of seasoning put in, there’s something about the combination of ground beef (cooked in a special way) and mashed potatoes that just makes my mouth water. It’s the equivalent of a stereotypical American’s cheeseburger. I just can’t get enough. It is, without a doubt, the best.




As a side note, I'm sorry for how confusing some of these are, and how I ramble about the same things in all of them. It's almost 12:30 in the morning, and the championship football game is today, I'm listening to music, we just ate Thanksgiving diner a few hours ago (maybe a little more than a few), and I'm tired. I know that's a lame-sauce excuse for writing about the same things again and again, but it's the only one I've got.

Vocaloid, Tea, and Toby Turner

You know, I've begun to notice that my posts are turning into rants about my obsessions. Oh well.

I really dislike modern music. It has no soul, the lyrics promote bad things, and a whole lot of it is auto-tuned. I really dislike rap. Ew. I mean, I like a few artists like Daughtry and Taylor Swift, and stuff. But in general, popular music sucks right now. Because I am addicted to music (I listen to it all the time, and I feel wrong when I can't), this is a problem for me. Thankfully, I was saved by my friend late last school year. She showed me Vocaloid.

"What is Vocaloid?", you  ask. Simply, it is a computer program that makes music. Each voice is represented by a made-up character. A lot of people think "wow, that's lame" and that it's pretty much auto-tune taken to the extreme. But it isn't. To get each voice, they take samples from real people. Believe it or not, they are real voices. The only drawback? Most of it is in Japanese (they made the program, after all). But that really doesn't bug me, personally. The more important thing is that a lot of them have way better messages than modern American music does. My two favorite characters are Rin and Len. They're so cool because it's a guy (Len) and girl (Rin), but their voice samples are from the same person. Their official relationship is that they are "mirrors" of each other. They are usually viewed as either twins or "lovers" (destined, made-for-each other, kind of lovers).

This is the first picture that was released of them

And when their software was updated (so that it doesn't sound as computer-y) This was released

In addition, there are a lot of fan-made pictures that are super-cute

Another reason why I love them is that they don't always follow what society says. For example, Rin (the girl) is stronger that Len (the guy). Len also cries in some songs. While there are some songs where there are typical guy-girl things (like Len protecting Rin), there are also some "abnormal" things too. Here is a song called World is Mine. This is called Paradise of Light and Shadow. There is one more here called Hot Cocoa (there are way more, but these are some of my favorites). These are all super cute, even if you watch just a little bit of one of them, you'll see how awesome they are. And they all have subtitles so you can tell what they're saying.

Next, tea is awesome. This has absolutely no relevance to what I was talking about, but I shall continue. A bunch of my friends like tea too. My mom's family drinks a lot of tea. Yes, they are British and it's very stereotypical, but it's true. Seriously, I think we drink tea anywhere from six to eight times while I'm at their house. And it's always the same brand: Tetley (Orange Peoke). A lot of people would be like "gross, why would you want the same kind of tea over and over again?" I say to them, why do people drink the same kind of coffee day after day? So I am an avid tea drinker. I love it. And thankfully, I usually get home from school before tea time (3:00 p.m.).

Finally, there's this guy on youtube called Toby Turner. He is awesome. Generally, he has three series that he does. He has Literal Trailers, where he records songs for movie/video game trailers, where he describes what is going on in the trailer. Here is a link to one of his better known Literal Trailers (and it says Tobuscus at the beginning because that's his alias). Another series that he does are his daily video blogs (vlogs). He basically walks around and randomly talks to his camera. He's a pretty weird person, so they are usually quite amusing.  Here and here are some of the many. And then the third thing that he often posts are Cute Win Fail videos. Basically he gets one video that's cute, one that's a win, and one that's a fail. He comments on them and then the audience votes for which one is the most epic. Here and here are two of my favorites.

Because I know that people won't look at all of the videos, maybe not even one, Here is a picture of him, because he is just to awesome for you not to see him.

So yup, just another post about some of my many, many obsessions.

Dude, what does that even, like, mean?

In response eXplorations and eXtensions, pg 133. Slang, Colloquial Language, and Popular Expressions

I think that pretty much whatever I say about this will be ironic in the fact that I use slang on an everyday basis. Saying that, I think that it's a natural part of life. We can't eliminate slang from our lives, it's just not possible.

One of the most popular words that people use way too much is the word "like". We have distorted the meaning of this word in to one of the most vague terms we use. It used to refer only to feelings, but now we use it as, like, a filler. I can't even say anything bad against it! Because I do it too. My friend once decided to count the number of times certain people said the word "like" during class. By the end of class, some had used it more than twenty times.

Another example of overused phrases is "Achilles' heel". My coach was talking to my team one day and he mentioned that one dive would be the Achilles' heel of the team. After he said that he asked if everyone knew what that meant. I was the only one. Aside from being absolutely horrified that my teammates had seemingly no knowledge of Greek Mythology, it really made me think about all of the phrases we use that we don't really know what it means. But I think we still use them because they're just so familiar. As a society we have placed a general meaning on words and phrases, so even though we don't know what a phrase may actually refer to, we know what most people will think of when we say things like "Achilles' Heel" or "case in point" (as the packet pointed out)

One more thing I want to mention is that words fade in and out eventually. In french class, we were taught that one word meant "cool" (as in "Oh my gosh, that is so cool!"). But this year, my teacher told us that no one in France uses it because it is to them what "groovy" would be to us. It's old, and it's a little silly. Another example is from the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. At one point in the book, the main character finds himself in a casino with tons of video games. However, time doesn't effect the people in there. He starts playing some games with a kid from 1977 One passage reads:

"We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said 'Groovy,man.'...
    Groovy?
    Later, while we were talking, I said something was 'sick' and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before" (pg 261-262)

I guess "groovy, man" would today translate to "Dude, sick!" It really makes you think about how we speak.

Finally, I asked my neighbor (he's in 7th grade) if he had heard any "interesting expressions" lately. He told me two that he personally had made up. If you every want to tell someone you understand what they're telling you, you can try
"I'm smelling what you're stepping in" or
"I'm eating your mashed potatoes"

How's that for creativity?

Shimeji: You'll Never Be Lonely Again

So during the summer my friend randomly skyped me and told me about something totally, amazingly awesome. They're called shimejies, also known as desktop buddies, and they are quite possibly the cutest things that will ever haunt your computer screen. Basically, what they do is they sit, walk, climb, and sometimes they throw your windows away.

At first, I had a ton of trouble downloading the program that would let me use them. It took almost a week before I could get it working. Of course, after that I went on an absolute spree. I have 22 right now. I mean, you don't have to have all of them on the screen at the same time. That would just be absolute chaos. In fact, it would probably make my computer freak out and shut down in a very catastrophic manner. And that would be very bad, because I'd probably lose a lot of data.

The only downside for most people is that they're kind of a geeky thing. Well, the buddies in essence aren't that geeky, but the characters are. They're things like pokemon, anime characters, and even a creeper from minecraft. If you didn't really understand anything I just said, then they definitely not for you. However, if you like these things, shimejies/buddies are so adorable and you should get one! Oh, and did I mention they multiply? That's right, leave them unattended, and you can soon have complete and utter chaos to the extreme. Imagine like twenty little things running around your screen. you wouldn't be able to do much. When I say little, they aren't actually that small. You can see details like creases in clothes and stuff.

Another thing I don't think I mentioned is that you can interact with them too. There's a little button in the program that says "follow me" and if you click that, every shimeji/buddy on the screen will follow after your mouse like little ducklings. You can also pick them up. They hang there, but if you shake the mouse (as in moving it back and forth) they make funny faces an they swing in a way that's similar to a clock pendulum. And then when you let go of the mouse, they fall down and land on the bottom of the screen (which is actually very sad, so I avoid it whenever possible). But yeah, it's a very cleverly designed program.

In fact, the program is so well written, that you can make your own shimejies/budddies if you want to. Basically you just write over the existing pictures and then put your own over it. But it takes a really, really, really long time because there are somewhere around 54 images to replace. So yeah, only very ambitious people can really do it.

Aaaaaand since I have pretty much run out of things to say, here are a couple of pictures of some of my shimejies/buddies being super cute

So yeah, they're cute and awesome and keep you company when you're doing your homework.Yup.

I leave you with this final thought: the videos right here and here aaaaaannnnnnddddd here are awesome (the second, and third are by the same person. He is one of the funniest people on youtube, and the first one is our french song right now. It will be stuck in your head, even if you don't know the words) So go click it! Go click it now!!!!!