Comfort Food...

Food. Its a funny little word for a funny little thing that keeps us going. More than that, everyone seems positively infatuated with it (if you need proof consider the fact that obesity is now officially labeled an epidemic). I personally love food, and though it has its dark side (noticeably when consumed in great amounts) I could not in any way shape or form denounce that greatest of words used to describe edible items.
I don't know what item in the pantheon of foodliness has recently ascended to the position of "favored one" but I will tell you this (Disclaimer: vegans look away) I always love a good burger. preferably with cheese and other things piled high upon them. The 'fixins' if you will. And for those who've never taken the time to enjoy a good sandwich made with a hot ground beef patty, a slice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and(preferably cooked) onion; I have but one thing to say to you: Your life is a horrid, unimaginably hollow facsimile of what a proper life should be... (If you are a vegetarian and/or have some other limit on your red meat ingestion, I respect your opinion, and respectfully decline to agree with you)
That all said, many foods have comforted me over the years (most made by my mother) but one I could always run to was a creation always made of my own accord. A recipe near to my heart sentimentally, and physically (cholesterol clogging my arteries, but still...so...good...). I speak of chicken parmesan. Whenever I choose to exert the time and effort required to make this dish (which doesn't happen anywhere near enough) I nearly kill myself in a feat of debauched over-consumption that must surely put eating competition champions to shame. It's just that good. And if you don't agree with me, you are simply wrong. Not wrong in just your answer, but your entire being exudes an aura of wrongness; and the natural world rebels at your presence. That is how much I like my comfort food.

Litany of deep questions....

One huge paragraph filled with questions...prepare yourself...

Why did Hitler? Who is Spain? When is right? Who? What? Where? When? Why? How does the mind work? How many numbers are there? Why do people do what they do? Why are some people motivated? Why aren't others? What can go wrong in a life? Where is space coldest? Warmest? How large is it? What is it? Why? Why does nature work they way it does? How does nature work? What is the answer to life, the universe and everything? Why didn't I do the other entry before this? When am I going to do it? Did I forget about it? Who would I elect to office? How would I run an organization? A Government? Why do wars start? How is life formed? Why? Do ghosts exist? Demons? Is there extraterrestrial life? What would it be like? Why? Will I get into college? If I do, Can I afford it? What will I do there? What will I do after? Will I do well? Why do economies exist? Who decided how they should work? Why is money valuable? What inherent worth does it have? Why not trade? When did monarchy develop for the first time? Where? Why? Will people go see the play I am in? Will I remember my lines? Will the other actors remember theirs? Will it be a hit? How did language develop? How do these words form in my mind? Why? If it is utterly impossible to communicate with any kind of accuracy to the true emotion being communicated, why do people try? How did modesty form? Why are some people that eat more than me and exercise much less than me, skinnier than me? Why does the human form work the way it does? How is it formed? What is music? What makes it good, or bad? What constitutes art? Why do people have specific talents? What determines good or evil in a person? What are good and evil? When was religion born? Who writes all those religious texts? Is there a god? Gods? Why? How did he/she/they/it come into being? Did they create life? Did life just happen? Why does life exist? What is the meaning of life ? Why? Why do living things need food? What is food? Do plants and animals think? What do they think about? What do I think about when I am asleep? Why? Why do I need sleep? When is "sleepytime"? What time is it now? Why should I go buy a watch? How does the universe determine time/What time is it by non-human measure? Why do we measure time? Do time and space intertwine? Do they run parallel? Why? What is string theory? If atoms are made of subatomic particles, and those are made of quarks, what are quarks made of? Why? Why? Why is that? Why?Wh-....

A Wildly Late Post

The word wild has many connotations, several definitions, and even more personal interpretations. Its synonyms include raucous, chaotic, whimsical, and even irksome. But the mechanics of the word itself belie something deeper. ‘Wild’ itself is not particularly profound as a word. It is four letters long, three consonants, one vowel. It is the range of different meanings it can have that makes it intriguing, gives it depth, and makes it worth thinking about. Take a look at the following sentences:
“Don’t go near that son! It is a wild animal!”
“Dude, that was a wild party on Saturday!”
“A man could become lost, and lose himself, in that vast expanse we call the wild…”
From these examples we can infer that at different times wild can be used as a word denoting an atmosphere, can itself suggest a setting, and can be used to describe an animal we certainly wouldn’t want to be chummy with. To me though, considering the word wild in a classic sense, it takes on a meaning both in agreement with, and at odds with the dictionary. Though it has many definitions, wild is most often used as an adjective to describe something done in a manner that goes against the grain (No, that wasn’t a dictionary definition). That presents all of those wild animals and place with a problem. Quite simply, they don’t exist. Confused?
To go against the grain, or perform any other willful act separating oneself from society, you need to be capable of thinking freely, and more importantly you need a society where thinking freely and existing aren’t mutually exclusive. Unless animals and plants have been laboring in secret for the last thousand, thousand years to create complex societies that they could break away from, their society is nature. In nature anything that doesn’t follow nature’s rules…dies. So if animals and plants cannot be wild in that sense, what can? Well, we are in luck, for one species has created a complex society where being wild, and existing can coexist in only slight disharmony. And they are the wildest of all… (ok that is just a restatement of the glaringly obvious, but for dramatic effect it had to be done.)
I refer of course to the crab people buried deep under the earth’s crust, waiting to rise up and destroy me, but since I couldn’t find any living specimens of them to prove the reality of our never ending battle, I’ll just have to settle for humanity. Setting the quip aside to be returned to at a later date, Humanity is the only actual species on the planet that can be wild. And wild they are. Take any internalized concept/definition of what wild is, and you’ll find a prime suspect among humanity. Unless your concept of wild involves animals and trees…but I won’t begrudge you your fictionalized concepts.

Noticing Driver's Behavior

Having recently acquired my permit (yes, I ‘only’ have my permit) I may be judged premature in offering my two-fifths of a nickel’s market value, however I have noticed patterns in my own and others’ driving behaviors. Being a product of a schola aptly named ‘Defensive Driving school’ people may become peeved with my well intentioned, and frankly safer than their own, driving habits. I absolutely positively do NOT engage in any maneuvers I am uncomfortable with. Some may be annoyed with it, but as the great Thomas Nolan once said, “don’t ever hurry somewhere like I am now. Unsafely, we hurry to nowhere. And one day, like most good Americans, we’ll die hurrying to nowhere…”
Unfortunately, not all good Americans seem to realize the dangers of the stereotypes made of American driving (having only driven in America, I feel it prudent to discuss only American driving styles). Going too fast or too slow are the norms, in the lovely county of Ocean. “Speed limit? What the hell’s a spee…. Oh god! I have crashed into another car while wondering what those signs posted on the side of the road mean, and have promptly been made dead!” That may not have actually been a real quote, but there is not a doubt in my mind that similar scenes have played out here, far too often for my liking. Is it any wonder that Ocean County has the highest teen death rate due to car accidents every year in the entire freaking nation! (whoo! First place!)
This takes no mention of illegal intoxicants consumed by the people whom drive around me. Or the absolute incompetence to exercise control of self some people show. And the inability of some to grasp that a cell phone is not an MVC approved driving aid. Or any of a thousand other things I could generalize about. These people aren’t necessarily bad drivers, but they have bad habits that endanger their safety and my own. And if you haven’t picked up on it yet, That makes me severely unhappy…
And speaking of feelings, let’s discuss personality (no that wasn’t supposed to make sense). Peoples’ personalities are undoubtedly changed when they get behind the wheel of a car. Any ordinary civilian can get in the driver’s seat and change. It’s no hard feat to become a raging bumper-car pilot when you think that the four feet of car around you is keeping you safe (it isn’t). But that’s not the full extent of the problem. There is an inherent need to rush in our culture, at the most basic level of society, ingrained into our subconscious (which I alluded to previously) that well and truly puts everyone on the path to nowhere when they share the roads with the stupid…

About that hobby of mine...

I know I haven't posted anything about my most procrastinative of hobbies, warhammer, recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't made any progress in painting. Life, however, tends to force me to do other, less enjoyable things than paint little men or post pictures of them. Anywho I know that not many people will see these entries ( and even less will care), but I find them useful in keeping me painting at a steady rate, almost like a public vow... So in the far (or near) future be ready for more, because there is only war...

Changing the way things run

Need to get better at posting these blogs on time...

Changing the way things run

I don't know if the world will change much when I 'grow up', and as to what will scare me, I think that is the scariest prospect to face in and of itself *rant warning*. Some people worry about how our schools will fare in the future. Whether they will receive funding, how good they'll be, what kind of physical condition they will be in, and whether or not they will live up to America's 'exacting' standards. What they don't seem to be worrying about is the fact that these problems exist in the present... And they aren't changing. Heck, my school hasn't had a proposed budget passed in 9 years! And they've been hamstringing themselves in an effort to keep every single program and extracurricular activity running for those 9 years. They're only conceeding that some things have to be cut now... What kind of standards can a school like this live up to, ignored and with no prospect of aid? And we're one of the more fortunate districts...

Others worry about homlessness, poverty, violence, prisons, even public transportation! These are things which, to some extent, always have and always will exist. We can work to minimize (or maximize, in the last case) their pervasiveness within society, but will never eliminate them. At any rate, worrying about things without working to change them is a lesson in futility. That is where I fall on the spectrum between worry warts and uncaring n'er-do-wells. I cannot concern myself with worrying, because at this point I can't do much to change it. You may think its an excuse, but it's true. I am however, against my better nature, hopeful for the future, as the people in power ( several current prime ministers and presidents come to mind) may just finally be the people who deserve it... And whatever was done in the past, the future is finally looking good...

Relationship with the phone

My phone was once not a very big part of my life. I didn't have one for a very long time, and the first one I finally did have was simple, but useful. My current phone is an essential tool in my day to day survival, and this isn't even as much of an exaggeration as it used to be. My parents wouldn't dream of taking my phone from me (this may be because I'm not a reliant on it as my sisters are theirs...) and indeed, become angry when I don't have it with me. It's my only reliable way to contact my friends (I'm not much of a hometown boy), and it helps me with pretty much everything else I do (including remembering to do them).

However (despite my previous example of hyperbole) I would not actually die without it. I think that waiting as long as I did to get one (not until the summer before my sophomore year) has kept me from being a slave to the whims of that particular technology. That is to say, if I lost use of my phone, I wouldn't mind to the point of insanity. I'd still be rather unhappy with being unable to contact any of my friends, but I tend other to have ways of getting pertinent news and information from them (like talking)... So there you go. My two cents on my phone and our relationship.

Arguments vs. Discourse

It's beek almost exactly a week since my last update, and that makes this article almost exactly a week overdue. Without further ado...

Arguments vs. Discourse

The ancient Greeks used to stand in public areas in the middle of cities and argue about things all day—just for fun. Then they would shake hands and go home. Next day, same thing.

(Mannion, Arguments vs. Discourse)

People argue far too much for my liking, and I must admit that (being a member of the human race) I do this as well. Arguing doesn't mean that the people arguing dislike each other, simply that they disagree (though to hear my friends and I argue is an experience of singular interest in the lengths we go to prove our points, and before you ask, I lose...every time). I think people can disagree without being enemies. In fact, it could be said that the greatest of friends often disaree with each other on several points in life, and use these disagreements to learn more about it and each other.

That said people who argue often seem to get angry at each other after walking away from an argument. In some cases, they are actually angry. Perhaps because they dislike their co-arguee. Perhaps because they feel so strongly about a subject that admitting they are wrong would invalidate thier entire lives.(just a suggestion...) Anyway, in most cases, I'd like to think that people use arguments as an opportunity to learn more about the viewpoints of others, and the people they interact with.

Now I'm probably not the best person to talk about the technicalities of arguing, having been considered a pretentious know-it-all by almost everyone I've met at one point or another. (but at least I'll admit it...) But maybe there should be some rules about arguing, foremost among them being that some things just shouldn't be argued (the rules of Math for example). As well, those participating in the argument should remain civil. Other than that, not much can be done to regulate arguments. Fights, battles, and wars over differing veiwpoints will probably continue until the end of time, and there's not much we can do to stop close mindedness from resulting in these things. That's no reason to sweat the little stuff though...

In the far future...

My First post about my most time consuming of hobbies Warhammer 40,000.

It is a rather poor quality picture of the first constructed and painted piece in my new army the Daemonhunters (that's how they spell demon in England). It is a not entirely finished but satisfactory Grey Knight (more English spelling!)

I'll try and find a decent camera next time...

Friends in Number

Figured it was finally time to get started on those questions, so here goes.

Friends in number

The number of friends in my life isn't particularly important to me. This isn't to say my friends themselves are not, but that the number is just that. A number, that is. I've simply been lucky enough to make an inordinately large number of good friends, but if I had only two I'd be just as happy as I am today. That said, I believe that lesser friends, acquaintances one might say, are also important, though perhaps not for the same exact reasons. Despite this I cherish anyone who has decided to befriend me because I've never gone out of my own way to make any of the disproportionate number of friends I have.
As it is though the number of close friends I have is absolutely dwarfed by the number of my acquaintances, and while I like everyone, I don't think I'd be particularly affected if some of my acquaintances said, "I hate you now GTHO!" If any of my close friends said that I would laugh at them. However, if they really didn't like me anymore I'd probably be crushed. I think people as a whole become enamored with the idea of having lots of "friends", at the cost of forgetting the friends they may be very close to, and this leaves them less happy than those who focus on one or two friends.

On the topic of accumulation

Accumulating friends isn't difficult. Like I said before, I have lots of friends, some closer than others, but all friends. I didn't do anything other than meet (most) of these people. Someone with the confidence to just do what they do tends to be gravitated towards by people. Some people don't accumulate many friends, but this doesn't need to be attributed to a lack of simple confidence (perceived or otherwise). Maybe they just prefer to focus on a few friends to the exclusion of becoming horrendously popular. I would have chosen this approach, had people not had an odd propensity to like me...

I think this way about friends and friendship, surprisingly enough, because I know what it is like to be without. Hard as it is to believe, in my wee years of social interaction, the various quirks of personality that cause people to like me now weren't quite so appreciated then. That however is another tale...

First Things...

This is my first blog. Ever. Yay me. It happens to be an ongoing school assignment, however as school is but one facet of my life, I will be (hopefully) updating it frequently with materiel gathered from my life and experiences. To anyone unfamiliar with me that cares, this means that I am essentially using this as a personal log for my 'extracarricular' projects. Once again, for those who do not know me personally this means I will be making posts about my most prolific of hobbies, Warhammer. In addition to the school work... This will include painting, musings, and illustrations (if they happen to be any good). If you don't know what Warhammer is look it up. Thats it for now.