Family

My family is hilarious.  When we get together, all of us, comedy is sure to ensue.  We're always trying to sharpen our wits.  Our memories are sharp, and we always employ inside jokes from our pasts.  We do make fun of stupid things that other members of the family have done, but we all know that it's just in good fun.  This humor is one thing that we all have in common, and I am really glad that that's how it is. 

Another thing that we all have in common is our love of food.  We are true gourmets, all of us.  We like going out to eat and trying new things.  It wasn't always this way.  My brother and I were the pickiest eaters as children.  Lately, I have started being more and more open to new flavors and ingredients.  This has provided me with many new outlets with which to relate to my family.  I just love talking about foods and flavors.  If you think about it, food is something that all people have in common.  People, naturally, need to eat.  Therefore, practicing this discussion of food with my family provides me with more social skills down the road. 

My whole family, close and extended relatives, are very artistic.  Most of all, we are musical.  I have three cousins whose college majors deal with music.  I play saxophone, my mom is a band director, my brother plays trombone, my cousin is a prodigy of the flute, my other cousin is a successful percussion and music major at the Manhattan School of Music, my OTHER cousin will be attending Western Michigan University this fall and majoring in Music and Bass, and my OTHER cousin plays the oboe and was marching band drum major in high school.  My other relatives who do not play instruments have, what I judge to be, fantastic tastes in music and art.  Basically, we're just really artsy people, and I really like being a part of it.

Spring Break

My spring break was enjoyable.  Actually, thinking about it, I didn't really do that much.  What I did do, however, was either very fun or very productive.  At the very beginning of my break, I decided to get organized and make a homework schedule for the whole rest of my break.  I felt that this work would all have to get done by the end of break, so I could either do it all in one day at the end of break, or make it a whole lot easier on myself and split the work up to a tolerable amount per day.  Then, after my work was done each day, I could have some fun and relax.  This relaxation would involve video games or hanging out with friends.  Also during this time, my mom forced me to help her with some spring cleaning.  Also, I had to help her with packaging of jewelry for her polymer clay jewelry business.  Being incredibly awesome, my dear friend Hannah offered her assistance in these two tasks. This made both much much more tolerable.  We cleaned things that I never thought could be clean.  Our biggest project was scraping off my stove.  Ever since my family moved to the house that I live in currently, the stove has had this black layer of gunky stuff on it.  With some elbow grease and hours of scraping with the back ends of silverware, we cleared off this layer.  It was a long, grueling, and disgusting task, but we were determined to succeed.  After the job was finally done, we went to Coldstone Creamery and ate some absolutely fantastic ice cream.  Overall, it was a fun and productive day.  It was really surprising how fun it ended up being cleaning my house.

Near the end of break, my aunt from the Chicago area came to visit my mom and do jewelry for a couple days.  She brought with her some Italian beef from the amazing restaurant Portillo's.  I ate so much beef over the next couple days, yet I didn't ever grow tired of it.  Overall, it was a great visit with my aunt.  This whole break was different from any others that I have had in the past, but I loved it.  I would gladly do it all over again.        

Job Shadowing

Job Shadowing was a fantastic experience for me! I went to Allen Henderson & Associates Structural Engineering Firm downtown.  My Job Shadowing person was Mark Henderson.  As I arrived, he introduced himself as the husband of a teacher I had in elementary school, my Enrichment teacher.  The company was in an old house, and it was an interesting small business environment.  Previously, I had seen Engineering as only a big business venture, so this was a fresh new experience.  The company's workers, being part of a small business, had more experience in many aspects of Engineering.  The first thing that we did to start our day was surveying.  We surveyed the whole parking lot in front of the company.  The surveying that we did was a great experience.  Previously, I had been introduced to surveying.  However, the others that had previously attempted to explain this process didn't really explain what it was that they were trying to accomplish.  While shadowing, I learned of this purpose.  The surveying device we used was quite interesting.  One surveyor would hold a prism at a point of data to be recorded.  The other would use the surveying gun to locate and record the point.  Points were recorded on x, y, and z axes.  Matthias and I took turns shooting the gun and holding the prism for several hours, but the time passed by very quickly.  When we finished surveying, we took our data up to the office.  The original plan of the day included us entering this data into CAD; however, the time escaped us, and one of the office workers ended up completing this task for us while we were at lunch.

Before lunch, we went to a construction site.  The site was a future long term care medical facility which the firm that we were shadowing had helped design supports for.  We received a complete tour of all floors of the facility, and even went up onto the roof.  This tour was guided by the construction manager of the site.  This put into perspective just how much work goes into an engineering, architecture, and construction project.  The firm was only a small part of the project, intermingled with work of electrical and mechanical engineers.  On top of all of this work to make the building functional, architects worked to design aesthetically pleasing aspects of the building.  After all of this was designed, construction workers were employed to carry out the designs laid out for them.  This process, being quite extensive, was not perfected.  In fact, we fell witness to long-standing arguments between the construction workers and designers.  These arguments, we were told, had resulted from stubbornness of Engineers and Architects.  All argument could have been avoided if these designers could have just admitted their mistakes.  This was a truly eye-opening experience.

After this site visit, we went to lunch, where I ate WAY too much pizza.  However, Mark was impressed with my massive stomach capacity.  I felt quite accomplished...

Anyway, after lunch we went to another construction site, the bridge under construction on Washington Street (the one that they have been working on for over a year!).  Apparently, due to inconsistencies in the design and construction processes, this bridge collapsed early in construction, and the workers were forced to start over.  It was interesting to see this familiar bridge that I drive over quite often from the perspective of an Engineer.

Overall, the day was a fantastic experience, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it!         

Favorite Car

I am quite a big fan of my 1997 Honda Civic EX. It is the first car (not a truck or a van) that my family has had since the early-mid nineties. This car possesses such features as a sun/moon roof (opens both ways), cup holders, a non-stock radio, and many other very nice additions. We initially bought the car as a birthday present to me. Over the summer, my brother and I shared the vehicle quite well. We took roadtrips together, and switched off usage while we were at home. When the school year started, we were faced with the problem of who would keep the car. My brother, off to college, loved the car every bit as much as I did. Also, we can both agree on how much we HATE the other vehicle that we would get, a 1999 Dodge Dakota. This truck is an absolute piece of junk. It is a gas-guzzling, road-hogging, dinosaur of a truck. I honestly feel like I am going to die every time I get into the truck. Along with all of this horribleness, the car is known for not starting in very needed situations. One time the truck even died WHILE I WAS DRIVING IT. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

I digress... My brother took one for the team and drove the truck to school. I was left with my favorite car ever, and I was very happy about that. The months went by, and my brother was finally fed up with the truck. My parents decided that they were tired of driving an hour and a half at least once a week to pick up my brother after the truck died on him. I now have the truck, and I live in constant fear that it will die on me again. I count the days until my lovely car will be returned to me.

Oh, right. And my dream car is one of these http://www.teslamotors.com/design/exterior_colors.php

GoogleSites: Emily Dickinson Project

I think that the concept of this project is quite ingenious. Rather than just writing several essays analyzing Dickinson's work, we will become totally immersed in her life and works in creative venues. Probably the most creative part of the project for my group is the song that we will be writing for the "How did Dickinson's Life Effect her Writing Style" portion of the project. This song will be biographical of Dickinson's life and then tie the biographical info into how it affected her writing. For example, we may include information about the letters that Dickinson wrote to her friends. These letters were often written about death or other such subjects and her views on these subjects. This topic translated itself over into her poetry quite often. As you can tell, this information is quite boring stated as I just have. For this reason, writing a song about it will seem much more interesting and creative to whatever audience may be listening to it. I don't know about others, but if something interesting, such as random trivia, is set to music, I will remember it more. Also, I marvel at how awesome songwriters are. They get the point across all while fitting certain rhythms or rhyme patterns. Who knows, maybe someone will marvel at how AWESOME I am for once. HOORAY FOR CREATIVITY!

The project will also utilize technology as a means by which to get information across. My group, for instance is making analytical podcasts of Dickinson poems. We have to do ten analyses of Emily Dickinson poems, a task that would become tedious if just typed out. Through the use of technology we will effectively lighten our total workload AND make the analyses into a somewhat more accessible form for the visitors to our site.

So far, my group has been pretty awesome. We are all getting along quite well in splitting up the work. Plus, we are allowing ourselves to have fun with this project while still taking it seriously. I think that our end result will be quite awesome. Don't hold me to that, though.

Imagery of Nature

Set the scene: A forest. Green all around. Many shades. Morning light streaming longingly down through the canopy high above. The rays fall about all along the forest floor. Strewn all around the dewy ground are various species of leaves, logs, and creatures. Many, many creatures. Thousands or them. They crawl all over everything! Look closer! Do you see them?! No? They are everywhere! How can you not see them?! You must not be looking very closely, for I see them everywhere. Look at that little guy. The beetle, right there... On that log. He looks so lonesome. I wish he could have some little beetle friends. They could go beetle clubbing, they could start a little beetle-sized band. That would be great. HE LOOKS SO NICE, DOESN'T HE?! Why shouldn't he have friends? He just crawls around. He's nice to everyone. Did you see what he just did?! WOW! He just did a little beetle-sized flip. Does he have a home? I hope he has a home. A nice little beetle house. A nice little beetle family. A nice little beetle wife. That would be the best. Don't you think it would be? I do. Wow. He is so fascinating! I like him. A lot. What a curious little beetle!

HEY! Look! A stream! Right over there. I bet it has fishies in it. Don't you like fishies? Eating them, you say? Preposterous! How could you eat such a fine little guy. Look at him. Look at the muscles in his tail. What coordination he possesses. Look at how fast he swims along. I wonder if he plays and fishy sports: fish football... Do fish have feet... no... tailball? Maybe he's the star in the NTL. A regular Peyton Manning, this one. He should be in sports, if he isn't. He's quite the athlete, this guy. I hope he keeps up his swimming forever. Such a beauty.

Time to leave the woods, you say? Must we? I really don't want to. I want to live here. Can I live here, mommy? It's so beautiful. The little guys can be my friends. They'll take care of me. I'll brush my teeth every night and even go to bed early. How does that sound? Can I stay? Please? No. That makes me sad...

2010 Winter Olympics

I love the winter Olympics. Unlike the summer Olympics, these games involve many daring, dangerous, and death-defying events. This is highly exciting to watch. You are forced to the edge of your seat, cheering for your country, but most of all, cheering for the whole world. This year was the first year in which I could truly grasp, understand, and appreciate these games. I would have to say that the sport that I watched most was Curling. I know, this contradicts my love of the dangerous sports, but being a logical and intelligent person, I love games of strategy such as curling. The curling in these Olympics was very well televised, perfect for my first year of true understanding. The matches were ALWAYS on on either CNBC or MSNBC at my house. Women's, Men's, American, or not, I soaked up every bit of the sport that I could. The whole concept of the game, guarding, how the scoring works, the actual 'curling' of the stones, the whole concept of sweeping the ice, is all just so interesting to me.

I think of all of the curling that I watched, I had two favorite matches, the first of which being the men's final between Canada and Norway. For one, the Norwegians had probably the coolest pants ever known to mankind (http://estore.websitepros.com/1957025/-strse-1456/Dixie-dsh-A/Detail.bok). Beyond that, both teams produced spectacular shots all throughout the match. Even with both teams on the absolute tops of their games, Canada was just such a dominant force that Norway had no chance of winning. It is truly inspiring to see such dominance in sport.

My second favorite curling match was the first that I saw in all of the 2010 Olympics. This match was between the female teams from Canada and Denmark. For several years I have been somewhat intrigued by the Danish people as a whole. Thus, I was immediately glued to the television screen when I saw that this match was on. The Danish women pulled out some absolutely incredible shots, but once again, Canada was a dominant force in this game of finesse and strategy.

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass is a wonderful little poem written by the American poet Emily Dickinson. The poem conforms to her usual styles and distinctive nuances. One of these common themes, nature, is strewn throughout the poem. Dickinson's imagery applies itself quite well to nature in such lines as line number five, "The grass divides as with a comb..." and lines number nine and ten, "He likes a boggy acre,/ A floor too cool for corn." The first of these lines gives the reader a sense of truly being in nature as the "Narrow Fellow" slips beneath your feet, cutting itself through the grass as would a comb through one's hair. The latter allows the reader to envision his or herself in a boggy marsh. The "...floor too cool for corn...", as well, refers to a marsh. Being as corn is a fickle plant, it cannot be planted in a marsh. Thus, the "floor" is "too cool" for it.

Another common theme of Dickinson's works appears in this poem: Death. The narrow fellow (presumably a venomous snake) is characterized as killer. The last stanza of the poem sums up the fear brought about by the snake: "But never met this fellow,/ Attended or alone,/ Without a tighter breathing,/ And zero at the bone." To summarize this stanza, Dickinson is mainly trying to say, "None have met this snake without being scared." To be scared, some danger must be involved. Seeing as death is a common undertone of her works, it is a fair assumption that the creature is deadly.

Dickinson personifies the snake by, quite obviously and simply, calling him a "fellow". A fellow is defined as:

1. A man or boy: a fine old fellow; a nice little fellow.

2. Informal. beau; suitor: Mary had her fellow over to meet her folks.

3. Informal. person; one: They don't treat a fellow very well here

etc... The basic gist of the word is "person" which the creature clearly is not. This, therefore, is personification, a literary device often used by Emily Dickinson.

Preparing for the ACT

I feel that the preparation that I need for the ACT should come from what I learn in my classes. I mean, it is a standardized test. It tests what we SHOULD be learning in school. The only thing that I feel would be necessary to prepare for is the format of the test. This involves taking practice tests and other such actions so as not to be totally surprised going into the test. I feel that my teachers are doing a great job of showing me the format of the test. Mrs. Williams is probably the best at pounding into our heads the test's layout. We take practice tests almost every day of class, and over these practice tests I have become much faster and much more accurate in my mathematics. I usually get all of the questions right and with much time to spare. Before these practice tests I would have much trouble finishing in the time allotted. Now I am much more confident in my answers allowing me to go faster. Just the constant repetition and practice of these test taking skills has helped me to feel prepared for the Math portion of the test.

As for science, I have heard that the whole test is just reading graphs and charts and applying that information. Through my science courses in High School, I feel that I am an effective reader of such graphical analyses. I feel that I can do quite well when tested on these graphs. I have checked this off of my list of ACT preparations.

I am taking the English test for WYSE, and I feel that this is good preparation for the ACT. I have been doing quite well on them, too. I feel pretty confident in my multiple choice grammar test-taking abilities. I guess that I'll check this portion off of my list as well.

I think that I am a decent writer. However, my argumentative writing is not incredibly effective. I'm not really the most opinionated or argumentative person that you'll ever meet, so I find it hard to effectively argue my points. We have been writing ACT style essays in English class recently, and I think that I am getting better at it. I'm not really certain, though. This is probably the area that needs the most work, still.

Mythology as Applied to Our School

Aside from all of their polygamous relationships between the gods, the ancient Greeks had it all figured out. Their mythological characters outlined almost if not all of the personality types in all of humanity. Thus, it can be easily applied to any modern societal group. Our high school is no exception to this idea. The teachers, administrators, and staff of the school are representative of the gods of Greek mythology, whereas the students are the loyal (or often disloyal) subjects of these gods. Some of these subjects do garner a bit more power over the other mortals, but ultimately, the gods decide their fates. The mortals can gain the trust of the gods but only through hard work and dedication. These sacrifices must be made to earn the ever important trust of your superiors.

Mr. Ward, the head of the school, could be classified as a Zeus. Strong, powerful, and fate determining. If he doesn't like something that you do, there will be Hades to pay. Which brings me to Hades. Mr. Peterson, a disciplinary figure of the school, could possibly be seen as Hades. A lot of people view Hades as "evil" or "undesirable"; however, his punishment is necessary to keep order. If sent to Hades (AER) you will have your soul "rearranged".

Perhaps even some students could reach the level of a god or demigod. Office Helpers are the messengers of the school. In this sense they could be represented by the Messenger of the gods, Hermes.

Prometheus: The mortal who stole fire from the gods. For this he was punished. This could be compared to a student somehow stealing answers to a test. The wrath upon this student would be ruthless. Prometheus received the punishment for his actions of being tied to a rock while having his liver eaten out by an Eagle. His liver grew back every day upon which it was eaten out again. A comparable punishment in modern times would be some sort of school suspension and lots of yelling. The moral of the story is that knowledge cannot be stolen, it must be earned. In this way, the ancient Greek mythological stories show their timelessness of application.

Decisions

Decisions. We all make them, don't we? It is a completely necessary aspect of life. However, everyone has a different process by which they make their decisions. At one extreme, people check every aspect of something before they decide how they will react to that thing. On the other end of the spectrum, some individuals do things without thinking at all. I tend to have a middle-ground type of view on this subject. I do think about what I am doing when I decide something, but I also try to maintain some sense of spontaneity in my actions. Sometimes, I feel, it is necessary to go with your "gut feeling". Often times, I will think of an answer to something only to change my mind quickly and be wrong. I then find out that my first answer was actually correct. This scenario, to me, rationalizes a first-instinct based decision. However, this only works if a person has a good enough view of things for their first instinct to be correct. Sometimes people need help in their decisions because they have no clue what would be the best choice for their circumstances.

On the logical side of my decision-making, I view things the same way that one might view a multiple choice test. I set up several options for myself. One option, always, will be the one that is the most far away from what I will eventually decide to do. I employ this option to help keep my mind in check of what is right and wrong. A few options after this will still remain. I can use either a logical runthrough of all of the possible outcomes of each option, the advice of my friends, or a spontaneous method seeing as none of these choices will be the worst possible scenario (see above). When going through a runthrough, I have a semi-flash forward as often seen in literature. It is a truly weird experience. Sometimes I even just zone out completely while thinking of the consequences of my actions. I feel that my friends can give some very reasonable advice sometimes, and even if they don't, they give me ideas of exactly what NOT to do.

Multi-tasking

I'll just be frank about it: I am a BAD multi-tasker. I am easily distracted by small things when I am trying to accomplish anything. The smallest sounds distract me to great extremes. Needless to say, the fact that I can't listen and work at the same time does not bode well for my multi-tasking abilities. I am most distractable when I am attempting to read. My house is not incredibly acoustically sound, so sounds travel throughout the halls and walls. It doesn't help me to focus when my dad is talking in his abnormally loud voice and the sound is travelling through the walls. Naturally, if I hear the beginning of whatever he is talking about I will begin listening attentively and losing focus on whatever it is that I am trying to read. Sometimes, even, he tries to talk directly to me while I am attempting to read something, for leisure or as part of my schoolwork. He knows, I have told him, that I have trouble focusing while reading, yet he talks to me anyway. I even say, politely, "Dad, can you please stop talking? I'm trying to focus," but he just keeps talking. I feel bad just tuning him out completely and I end up trying to listen, adding another task to my mental repertoire. Eventually I can't stand it any longer, so I just leave the room. However, as mentioned, I can hear him through the walls. The funny thing is, even if he is talking to me, he will continue his lecture even after I leave the room.



I try to multitask in other ways other than listening, but I'm not very successful for obvious reasons. I guess my I have partial motor-multi-tasking in that I can do different things with each appendage all at the same time. I have excellent hand-eye coordination. A long childhood of video gaming made sure of that. I have applied my coordination to guitar playing, somewhat successfully, I feel. Sometimes I try to play guitar while watching TV or talking on the phone, but this isn't very successful. I still have trouble singing while playing guitar, but I have been working very diligently on improving this task. It is truly difficult to make my brain think of playing different pitches and rythms from what I am singing. It is a fun challenge, though, and I love doing it.

Valentine's Day

Love: The true mystery of humankind. It seems reasonable that we would have a day celebrating this intangible necessity. But how was this day first started? One would assume that whoever this "Valentine" guy was was in love with or loved by someone. How have such commonplace Valentine gifts as chocolate, flowers, and valentine-cards come into prominence? Let's find out!

The day's origins come from the late 5th century AD. Originally, the holiday was meant in celebration of several Christian martyrs, or those who stood up for their religious beliefs even when faced with opposition. It seems odd that the holiday, as we know it now, would be based on Christian martyrs. The original theme of the holiday was sacrifice, something which some might cite as a necessary part of love. Somehow, over the centuries, the day has been shaped into something completely different, something romantic.

The shift began with such authors as Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer wrote a poem in honor of the marriage of British monarchs. This poem included a line about the martyr Saint Valentine, and this was taken as a day for romance. Thus, February 14th became Valentine's day.

The holiday is now seen as one of the Hallmark Holidays. This is accurate seeing as most people buy cards for their significant others as a sign of their love. As far as my grasp of the holiday goes, I have pretty much only celebrated it in elementary school where I bought valentines for EVERYONE and tried not to play favorites. I had no childhood crushes, and I therefore did not single anyone out with special lovely cards or candies. I bring this up only because I saw the new movie Valentine's Day starring many Hollywood celebrities. In the movie a young boy has a crush on a girl and buys her an elaborate bouquet of roses. I don't know if my classmates ever experienced this, but I know I never did. I never even thought of anyone in that way. But I am a weirdo. I don't know.

Tasty Terrific Pasta

WOW! Just thinking about the best food that I have ever eaten my mouth is watering, my palms are sweating, and I am being driven insane. It was so incredibly delicious, and I got to eat it for several days straight. I'm going to have to go get it again as soon as possible...

But I digress. The BEST food that I have ever eaten is the baked Mac 'n' Cheese at the Manhattan Diner in New York City, New York on 77th and Broadway. It is SO GOOD, anyone who even gets within 10 feet of it will be an addict for life. It's wondrous aromas swarm the nostrils and entice all to order it. The dish is made with 5 gourmet cheeses with a fsixth baked cheese forming a crispy and delicious layer on the top. When I had this meal several years ago (My first time in New York City) I was interested in being a chef for my career. This dish furthered my interest in the career with its incredible, ridiculous, and amazing awesomeness.

And here is the story of how the dish hit my mouth. It was my first time in New York, I have said. We arrived by plane to a rainy, dreary city. After retrieving all of our luggage, we found a van cab to take the family to our hotel, On The Ave. New York, also on 77th and Broadway. We were all hungry, tired, and affected by the gloomy weather. Luckily, there was a quaint looking diner directly across the street from the hotel, the Manhattan Diner. We entered the diner, tongues hanging out of mouths, and saw an incredibly large amount of pies in refrigerators lining all of the windows. As we sat down, I smelled on of the most incredible smells of my life. I asked the waitress what it was, and she said that it was the 6 cheese gourmet baked Mac 'n' Cheese. I ordered that. I awaited as patiently as possible, mouth watering. When it arrived in its rather large large dish, the bubbling cheeses invited me to take my first bite. OH MY! AHHHHH. WOOWWWW! THIS IS INCREDIBLE! Needless to say, it was amazing. The gooiness of the concoction was seen just as I stuck my fork through the top layer. When I took the first bite, though, it was one of the richest yet most tasty things that anyone will ever eat.

The rest of the meal was a blur. I remember topping the meal off with my first real New York Cheesecake and tromping back up to the hotel room feeling quite a bit like a small herd of elephants. It was so worth it. Wow. And I ate it for several days to come, because it was so UNDENIABLY the best thing that I had ever eaten.

The Square Deific

Walt Whitman, in his poem "Chanting the Square Deific", writes of a four sided deity whose four sides are necessary to it's effectiveness as a god. It's first side is embodied by such figures as Kronos and Jehovah. This side is described as relentless and unforgiving. Kronos, the Titan of time in Greek mythology, embodies these qualities quite well. Time is unchanging and impossible to hold back, relentless, just as stated in the first facet of the square.

The second aspect of the square is a gentle, calm, and forgiving entity. This is compared to Christ, Hermes, and Hercules. It is worth noting that two of these deities could be considered demigods: half god, half mortal. Christ and Hercules, being such individuals, could possibly be applied empathies towards humans, thus creating their gentleness. Hermes, as well, could have these empathies applied to his persona, or, deisona. He, being messenger of the gods, would have to go back and forth between Mount Olympus and Earth, thus being exposed to mortals more often than other gods. His interaction with humans would result in a greater understanding of their problems. This side, some might say, is the only truly necessary side. Who would not want an understanding and forgiving god? However, Whitman realizes the necessity to have a balance of good and evil as displayed in his third side of the Square Deific.

This side is represented by Satan. The side may seem an unnecessary evil, but in his, "With sudra face..." line, Whitman states the commonality of the facet. Sudra, or Shudra in old Hindu, refers to the lower working class of Hinduism. This is the normal human in Hinduism embodied, through an adjective application of the word, as something evil. However, aren't we all workers? Thus, we all have some of this side in us and the balance is justified.

The fourth and final side is the Soul in all people and deities alike. It is what binds everything together. In the line, "Ethereal, pervading all (for without me what were all? what were God?)," Whitman shows the universiality of the soul. Through this, he also returns to his reoccurring subject of Self. Having a soul, or Self, is what binds us all together. This stanza also shows Whitman's value of Self, seeing as he cites this side as the most solid and important of all four.

Groundhog's Day

Groundhog's day hold, I guess you could say, a special place in my heart. First of all, it is the birthday of one of my closest friends. There's actually an interesting story involving his birthday in 2008. Another friend of mine, in an attempt to make my birthday-ed friend mad, decided to go vegetarian on Groundhog's day. This was purely meant to anger the friend, but it didn't even begin to achieve its goal. It's kind of funny actually. And he is still a vegetarian. Haha.

Also, this holiday is the inspiration for the movie "Groundhog's Day" with Bill Murray. I love that movie. It is so interesting and awesome. For those who don't know the concept of the movie, I will give a brief synopsis. Bill Murray, an inconsiderate jerk, is a news reporter sent to cover the story of the groundhog seeing his shadow. Stuck in the town due to a harsh blizzard, Murray's character wakes up the next morning to find that it is once again Groundhog's day. This cycle continues throughout the movie until he changes his ways and continues on to February 3rd. Throughout all of the repetitive days, Murray begins to not care about anything. He does such things as robbing a bank and driving his car off of a cliff, only to wake up the next morning back to another Groundhog's day. After what I would guess is at least a year of the same day, Murray realizes the errors of his ways. It really is an interesting concept. It makes you wonder, "What would I do if I could live the same day over and over?"

Regardless of the fact that I don't really believe in the whole "Six more weeks of winter" thing dealing with the groundhog's shadow, I still want to know if he saw it or not. I'll always look it up or at least ask someone else if he saw it or not. It's just a weird tradition-type thing.

Reaction to "Whitman's Language of the Self"

Mark Bauerlein, analyst of Walt Whitman's poetry in "Whitman's Language of the Self", seems to take Whitman's writings of Self as narcissistic and against an actual definition of Self. Though this narcissism is present in form, I feel that Whitman only seeks to better himself through his poetry. Rather than loving oneself regardless, Whitman finds what is good about himself and finds praise for those such things. This is nothing but human nature in a pure form. Whitman only differs from the norm in that he wrote about his good self-esteem in great detail through his poetry.

Bauerlein cites Whitman's definition of Self as not just a steady and rigid but a scatter-brained randomly plotted assessment of human nature. This, however, defines Self in itself. People cannot be defined for just a few traits! We are complex beings, ever-changing, ever-growing. Sure, we do have some distinguishable traits built into our souls, but we are generally very fickle creatures. Spontaneous. Random. And that is part of the appeal of being an individual. And that is why we strive to be freethinking individuals. To say, "To affirm one's presence as eternally everywhere is to disintegrate one's individuality and historicity, precisely what Whitman wanted to preserve," Bauerlein is completely misjudging Whitman's poetry. Whitman defines HIS Self the same way that EVERYONE defines their own Self.

"'These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me….'" In this quote, Whitman clarifies the universality of Self brought on by human nature. He does not mean that his thoughts and all others' thoughts are exactly the same, but through our nature, we define Self in the same way. "Self" is what we do. It is quite difficult to place exactly what this entails, but it is endowed to us as humans to understand just exactly what Self is. Through having this Selfdom, we are all the same. And in our commonality, we are all individuals.

Reporting on a War

In a war, as with anything else, it would be most effective to completely immerse yourself in the subject when attempting to report on the facts about it. This would involve reporters deployed onto the front lines of the battle, right up close and personal with the soldiers, the conflict, and, ultimately, their story. This type of immersive reporting would, I feel, get the best work out of writers and reporters. They wouldn't have to rely on what others had told them, but what their own eyes saw every day while in the field. This would result in more accurate information. However, biases would still exist even under these specific conditions. Perhaps a reporter would be against the war and could not find any good in your story. This reporter would tout the soldiers as monsters rather than as the heroes that others might see them as. This would be greatly contrasted by a pro-war reporter who would only report on the good things going on on the front lines and none of the bad.

Reporting on the soldiers would be much more than just a battle status report. The reporters would likely find a connection with the PEOPLE rather than just the SOLDIERS. These PEOPLE would have families, friends, and lives that they had to leave behind to protect their country. Also, losses dealt with on the front lines would be a tremendous toll on the soldiers. The brotherhood formed in the military is a very deep bond. This would be a great story for a reporter, and I feel that it would be a very moving event to report on.

A reporter on the front lines of a war would, no doubt, be in danger at all times. Being inexperienced in battle scenarios, they would have to rely on the protection of the soldiers that they were reporting on. The soldiers, however, may find the reporter as somewhat of a hindrance on their military operations.

Persuading Others

When attempting to persuade others of my opinions or for them to let me do what I want I usually use truth as a means by which to gain their trust. I feel that my opinions are normally based on facts, so this makes them easier to get across to other people. If I am trying to convince my parents to, say, let me stay out a half hour later, I usually just ask, they reply, and I go with what they say. They are usually quite agreeable, and some form of compromise can be easily worked out. Now that I actually think about it, I never really have a need to persuade them. I feel that they trust me, and they feel that if I want to do something it is something that will be beneficial for me the best sense possible. I, too, can agree with them. If they want my homework done before I go anywhere, I do it, and I don't question their authority on the subject. I know that they just want what is best for ME because they want to see me become a successful individual in all manners of life. They support my social ventures, but they balance this with my schoolwork.

However, if they need to, for some reason, punish me, they will not hesitate to take away these rights. I can attempt to argue the matter, but their minds will most likely be set on one way that things will be handled. If I do succeed in persuading them, I don't really think that much effort must be applied. If they decide to give me a pass to do what I want, they have already decided to do so, so I don't need to argue and bicker with them to convince them or sway their opinions. So in general, I don't really have strong opinions to have any real need to argue my positions. I feel, nonetheless, that if a situation arose in which I had to argue my position, my argument would be logical, reasonable, and persuasive.

My True Self

I'm not quite sure how to answer a question like, "Who are you, really?" This question seems to be one that attempts to limit a person to just a few characteristics. I, rather, like to let my actions speak for myself. I'm who you think I am, probably. But I'm also probably many different things from what you might see me as. For example, I give off a "quiet" vibe. People might describe me as quiet or shy just because I don't like to talk when it's not totally necessary. However, I feel that when I do have to say something I say it and stand by whatever it was that I said. I'm not really an opinionated person, so for me to feel strongly about something I need to have good reason to feel that way. I will, therefore, argue my point to no end.

For as many people as there are that think of me as quiet, there are also those who know me much better and whose opinions I would respect much more who would describe me as perhaps loud and/ or annoying. I do enjoy conversation if I really have something to talk about that I know a lot about. More often than not, my discussions involve music. I could talk about the music that I like for AGES. The extent of my musical appreciation includes so many varying genres, it's kind of ridiculous, really.

I feel that my values may define "me". I value intelligence, honesty, stability, talent, care, trust, and many other noble traits that people can have. This defines who I WANT to be, but not always who I actually AM. I guess that my social self looks for these traits in others, thus defining who I am in relationships with my peers. However, if these factors are not found in my peers, they can be redeemed if they are nice to me. Over all else, I value kindness. This is one of the biggest factors for me in choosing my friends. If the person is nice to me AND possesses my aforementioned traits, they are instantly put very high up on my scale of friends. I love people like that.

Nature's Will

I enjoy being in nature. I agree with such Romantics as Thoureau or Emerson in the belief that one must be in tune with nature and take a break from society at least every once in awhile. One such break from society that I took was during this summer. I went to Michigan with my brother, cousin, and aunt for my aunt's high school reunion. During the trip we stayed in a tent, something that I hadn't done since my childhood. The venue of the reunion was the Interlochen arts camp near Traverse City, Michigan. If you are not aware, this region is very lake-filled. With these lakes come the geographic feature of DUNES. My cousin, my brother, and I decided, for some odd reason, that we would go DUNE-HIKING.

We went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes on the beautiful and vastly large Lake Michigan. Native American legend has it that an enormous mother bear and her cubs went into the lake to escape a wildfire. The mother's two cubs began to lag behind and eventually drowned in the water, forming two dunes. The mother, already having reached the far shore, had fallen asleep. She was soon covered with sand forming the dunes, hence "Sleeping Bear". These dunes were a favorite destinations of our family back when we used to go to Interlochen almost every year. This story is one of the reasons that we decided to go back; we just wanted to relive some parts of our collective childhood.

After an incredibly long and winding drive following an inaccurate GPS we arrived at the dunes. We were running behind schedule at this point, and we had to be back to the camp by dinnertime. The following picture is what greeted us as we arrived.As you can imagine from seeing this picture, we did not think that the trek would be that strenuous or time consuming. Little did we know that there was another dune on top of the already substantial dune pictured above. We attempted to sprint up the first dune, but we were already tired about half way up under the scorching rays of the unforgiving sun. We were actually trying to reach the lake, swim for a bit, and return in about an hour. I swear, it seemed like we could hear the lake just over the next dune. We decided to rest for a bit and play some frisbee before we continued. Once we got to the top of the next hill, we saw a massive valley leading to another even larger dune. We just kept on going because we were feeling pretty scorched and we just wanted to swim in the cool lake from our childhoods. This process continued until we were absolutely sure that the lake was over the next mountain. We were, however, wrong still. We lost count of how many dunes we scaled, but our hour long hike quickly turned into a three hour odyssey. Once we reached the lake, however, it was all worth it. The water was crystal clear and sooooo incredibly refreshing. Once we got out, though, it started to sink in that we were going to have to hike ALL THE WAY BACK AGAIN. I'll admit, it did seem a little bit shorter on the way back, but that's just because we knew what to expect and we weren't hearing the sounds of the lake over every hill. This turned out to be a grueling yet incredibly enjoyable outing with two of my favorite people in the whole world. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Winter Break Escapades

Overall I had a relaxing and enjoyable winter break. After a tiring first semester, these two weeks off were well accepted by my mind and body. Yes, there were still rather stressful events during this break, but I don't really want to go into that. I'll just outline the good which there was very much of.

First off I spent a lot of time with my friend Hannah. We had movie nights, played some music for our band, and generally just had some fun. These such things went on throughout the break and helped me keep in touch with people other than just my family. However, I do like my family a lot, so I can't really say that I truly needed this link with my friends.

I did, indeed, spend a lot of time with my family. The break started out, in fact, with a Winter Cleaning Fest enacted by my mother. The rooms of both my brother and me were very messy and were in dire need of a cleanly scouring. My mom wanted to get an early jump on this event. We organized everything in both rooms and rearranged the furniture to make a more balanced feng shui. Although I didn't want to do it at the time, this cleaning has made it easier for me to function and I can get a better night of sleep in the newly organized environment.

Our next big family event was our annual Christmas Eve party at out house. This, too, required a lot of cleaning on the part of the entire family. I decided to just dig in and finish my duties as quickly as possible. It wouldn't help to complain at a time like this. Once the cleaning was done we began cooking for the night's meal. Later, my family from my father's side came over for the party. We did some talking while the meal finished cooking. When the meal was ready we all sat down and dove into the feast. All of the food was delicious, but I most enjoyed the Italian Beef sandwiches. They were so incredibly delicious that my mouth is watering just talking about them now. We then opened presents. Overall, this party went very well.

Immediately after the party, my mom and I went to church for the Christmas Eve service. This was a very joyful event filled with the singing of many familiar Christmas carols.

After the service we went back home and watched the classic movie White Christmas. I love this movie, but I was completely exhausted from the days events. I fell asleep very soon after the movie started.

The next morning was, of course, CHRISTMAS! It was a very good Christmas for me. Mostly, I received the gift of music. My iPod, one of my most prized possessions, was tragically broken about two months ago. For Christmas I received a new 32 GB iPod Touch. This was a very exciting gift for me seeing as my last iPod was only 8 GB and I had to constantly rearrange my music due to the limited space. I no longer have to worry about these space issues, which is a great relief. I also received a new case for my saxophone (which is incredibly nice and I am in love with) and a new saxophone mouthpiece. This is a metal mouthpiece and a very nice one at that. I have been wanting one for a very long time, and I am very happy to have finally received one. It's very different from any other mouthpiece I have ever played on, and I love it dearly.

The next few days were very LAZY. I began staying up later and sleeping until about noon unlike the beginning of break where I had trouble sleeping past 8. I enjoyed myself and played many video games. This was the first time in quite a while that I had done so. Also during these days I visited with some of my friends who graduated last year. It was good to see these people who are some of my favorite people ever.

On the 28th my family went to Chicago. My family lives up there, and we usually hold a New Year's Eve Party there. This year was no different. For the two full days before the party we lazed it up and played, of course, video games. Also, I was reunited with one of my favorite activities: Table Tennis. We also went bowling which was quite enjoyable. The party was as fun as usual. We played soooooo much Catch Phrase. Seriously, soooo much. I love it, though. I pretty much dominate because of my knowledge of random things in most areas. Also, I can read people well, so it makes it easier for me to guess what they're trying to describe. When the countdown came, we all counted down along with the television. At the stroke of midnight we all launched off confetti and some of us ran through the streets of the subdivision banging pots and pans. This, as well, is a family tradition.

Again, this break was very enjoyable aside from some stresses that I went through. It was nice to just relax and do whatever. I hope this brief taste of a break doesn't affect me in a negative way making me lazier than I normally am. I think having a quick break from all of my duties should do quite the opposite, but you never really know.