23 Final Blog Post Reflection

23

7/19/13

Based on our instructions to not try and appease the teacher with our final post, I have to assume there is typically some negative reaction to this assignment.  I was actually very pleased with the blogging assignment.  When we first started this semester we were asked to write about how we perceived writing, ourselves as writers, and the role this class would have in our development as writers.  I wrote that I am somewhat familiar with the writing process, as I have a roommate who is an aspiring writer. I stated my hope was that the class would help me write more consistently.  Well, there isn't a much better assignment to accomplish that, than being asked to write at least three hundred words a day for three weeks.  I was not excited to do the writing each day.  Some days I struggled to get myself to sit down and complete the daily writing.  I sometimes would find myself watching the word counter at the bottom of the screen, just waiting to cross the required threshold.  Other days I absolutely enjoyed it.  I didn't use the blogging for any of the class assignments, instead I tried to just create a new entry each day.  Sometimes this was a simple free write, other times it was a story or memory from my past.  I also tried to share some things that I am very interested in, like comedians, video games, and music.  I enjoyed the comments that my peers and instructor left on my various posts.   I was able to complete the assignment in less than fifteen minutes each day, so I definitely learned that I am capable of generating a paragraph or two of text in not very much time.  I intend to keep the practice up, although I will probably change the blog itself as this one I intended to only use for school.  I feel like I try and be too formal in my writing, even if the topic isn't that serious.  I wrote one blog post about the warm weather and my dislike for it.  I would say this post is not one of the better ones that I wrote, but I enjoyed writing it because I felt very casual during the process.  I find myself trying to justify or rationalize what I am writing as I am writing it.  This cheats the writing process a bit, because I am not just letting things come out and instead am trying to be a step or two ahead of my own words.  I think part of this was because this blog was for school, so I was aware constantly of the audience and the impact of what I was writing could have on my academic success.  I hope to work on writing more informally when the blog is not being graded or observed by an instructor.  I don’t mean to imply that our teacher was strict on what we wrote, in fact there were almost no rules outside of it being accomplished daily and a minimum word requirement.  All in all I think the assignment was a terrific one that helped me incorporate writing into my day to day routine.  

22

22
7/18/13

I used to play a video game called Dark Age of Camelot.  It was, and I guess still is, an MMORPG.  This game came out in 2002, which is a bit before the MMO everybody is familiar with in World of Warcraft or WoW.  Dark Age of Camelot was significantly more hardcore than WoW.  What I mean by that is that the time investment required to achieve anything in the game was significantly larger than it would be in WoW.  This might sound shocking to somebody who has not played these type of games, but is familiar with the time sink that a game like WoW can bring.  WoW actually changed the entire genre, by moving away from incredibly long and often absurd paths to high level content, which is a huge part of WoW’s success.  Dark Age of Camelot was my first MMO experience.  I spent many nights with my roommates playing into the sunrise.  Dark Age of Camelot had three playable factions a player could choose to align with.  This led for much more dynamic competitive play (Player vs Player or PvP) because there was always a chance a third faction would show up to a conflict throwing a wrench in the works for the other two factions.  I spent a large amount of time playing Dark Age of Camelot, and I sometimes miss it.  I have tried to play a few times in recent years though, and it just doesn’t grab me the same way.  I still remember it fondly however.  I recently went to twitch.tv which allows players to stream their live game play and anybody can log in to observe.  I actually found a stream of some guys playing DAoC which was aweome to see.  It hasn’t really aged well over the years, but I thought it was awesome that such an old game was still fun for somebody.

21

21

7/17/13

Personal responsibility is a difficult topic.  On the one hand, a person should be accountable for their choices, but on the other hand, the human mind is so malleable that it could be very challenging for a person to overcome or change a behavior pattern.  My mom for example, does not like peas.  As a child she was forced to eat peas when they were served for dinner.  If she did not eat them, which she did not, she was forced to remain at the dinner table until she either finished her peas or it was bed time.  If she remained at the table without eating the peas until bed time, she could then go to bed and not eat the peas.  This has led to her as an adult having a huge aversion to peas.  She has even admitted that she probably would like peas that weren’t canned, as that’s what she was given as a kid, but that she is unwilling to try them because of her negative association with eating the peas.  I think her stance is very understandable, as the notion of eating peas is now tied to a negative memory.  Obviously whether or not she eats peas is of no consequence to anybody but herself.  My point with that example is that she was subjected as a kid to an unfair treatment which has shaped her mind to operate differently than most other people in regards to eating peas.  I don’t think she is to blame for not wanting to eat them decades later.  If, though, her peas perspective was instead a perspective on some socially unacceptable activity, she would have to be accountable for her actions.  I do believe in personal responsibility, and I do believe in accountability, but I think that a person’s motivations can be infinitely more complex than an observer might ever imagine, which can make determining personal responsibility very challenging.

20

20
7/16/13

I am done with the heat of summer.  I know I have already written one blog post about weather, but this isn’t about the variety of Springfield weather, or which seasons I like best.  The problem with my whining is that it’s not August yet.  The worst of the heat is still to come.  I don’t always go outside, but when I do, I like to not appear as if I have just jumped in a swimming pool from sweat.  I will also cry when winter comes, and it gets unbearably cold.  I probably would like California weather, but so does every other living person, therefore making California uninhabitable from due to overpopulation.  I have considered moving north to avoid the heat, but then the winter is immensely worse, so I don’t know that it’s a smart tradeoff.  Someday I would like to own two homes, and be a snowbird.  One to avoid heat and one to avoid cold would be the game plan.  I wonder how far north one has to go to avoid miserable summers?  Iowa still gets hot in the summer, but I don’t know about Minnesota or anything on the border of Canada.  I guess Canada is always an option too, or Alaska.  That all just seems very far removed.  Maybe mankind can develop weather controlling technology someday, and I can utilize that.  Come to me sweet, sweet autumn, and cool me with your breezes.  Autumn never lasts long enough though, it always has summer bleeding over into it, and winter trying to steal the show before autumn’s end is supposed to come.  That hasn’t actually been true the last couple of years, we have had incredibly mild winters, which has been pleasant.  I am looking for a mild summer now, one in which we don’t cross the eighty degree mark, and can blissfully enjoy the outdoors, without perspiration.

19

19
7/15/13

Both of my parents are from Iowa.  I still have two uncles that live in Iowa, one from each side of the family.  My mom’s brother that lives there owns a winery.  He grows grapes on his land and makes wine out of them.  Many people scoff at the idea of wine made in Iowa, but it was a dream of his.  My uncle worked at a factory job until he could retire, then spent all of his retirement on building his vineyard and all the wine manufacturing equipment.  He has been running it for several years now.  To try and promote his wine he shows new release movies via projector onto the side of a giant building he has on his land.  He serves food and of course wine along with the movie.  He also promotes at various vendor fairs and the local supermarkets.  I have had the wine several times, and while I am not a wine connoisseur, I think it’s pretty good stuff.  I am not a huge drinker, but I drink socially, and wine is one of my favorites.  It’s pretty impressive that my uncle was able to go for his dream of owning the vineyard, flying in the face of doubt and mockery.  He is an incredibly calm person also.  I remember when I was probably about eight years old, I was visiting him with my mom, and he was working on something around the house.  He asked me to toss him a hammer that was nearby, so I did.  Except that I tossed the hammer overhand instead of underhand, and hit him directly in the forehead.  He was not injured luckily, but I felt awful right away.  I wasn’t trying to hurt him or even be funny, I just “tossed” him the hammer.  Instead of being upset though, he just calmly told me to always throw it underhanded if somebody asked for a hammer tossing in the future.  

18

18
7/14/13

My mom’s mom was an immigrant from Denmark.  She came over to the US with her family when she was a little girl, sometime in the early 30’s.  She had a very hard childhood which she spoke of very rarely.  In her adult life she was very involved, becoming the leader of several social networking type groups, as well as being involved with the local schools.  She was an impressive seamstress, a terrific gardener, a great cook, and many other things.  When I was about 3 years old, she sewed completely from scratch a Big Bird doll that was about the same size as me.  I, unfortunately, decided to play ninja turtles with the doll, and proceeded to “play fight” with it all the time.  This ultimately led to the bird’s demise, as I eventually beat the stuffing out of it.  At the time I didn’t really understand how cool the doll was.  Looking back I wish I would have picked some other toy to abuse, because the Big Bird doll was actually really cool.  My mom’s dad was a marine in World War II, and became a carpenter after he left the service.  He spent the rest of his working life building houses for people.  He was also very into the stock market.  Every night he would watch the Nightly Business News which was (and probably still is) a program on PBS that covered the news relating to business from that day.  When my grandparents would come to visit he would want to know what time the show aired here so he wouldn’t miss it. Even though I was too young to know what any of it was about, I enjoyed sitting with him and watching the news.  We would also watch sports together, mainly football and basketball.  My grandparents are now deceased, but they are missed, and appreciated now more than when I was a kid.  

17

17
7/13/13

Springfield, MO has the most varied weather in the country of any city according to the city’s Wikipedia page which cites a 2007 Forbes article.  I have lived here in Springfield for my entire life and can certainly believe that statistic.  I am a fan of spring and fall, with no real preference of one over the other.  I don’t like the extreme temperatures that winter and summer bring.  In summer, the heat becomes unbearable, which I am told is compounded by the humidity levels.  I have never visited a place like Arizona, where I understand it is more comfortable, despite it being higher temperatures, due to the lack of humidity.  I don’t like extreme cold either, but more than the cold of winter, I don’t like ice.  I am fine with snow, actually I love watching it snow, and love things being covered in snow, as long as I don’t have to drive in it or anything.  Spring usually has thunderstorms, which are one of my favorite things.  It is so relaxing to me to hear the rain and thunder.   I love to watch the lightning as well.  Fall brings beautiful colors from the trees which never gets old.  There is a smell in the air during fall, which I can’t truly identify, other than to say it smells like fall.  The temperatures in spring and fall are much more favorable as well, not too hot and not too cold.  I guess living in the city with the most varied weather gives me a pretty good sampling of the different extremes.  I would like to travel and experience other climates as well.  The south has never really appealed to me though, as I understand it’s even more muggy, which is a big turnoff. I would like to experience the “dry heat” of a desert area though, so I can finally understand what people mean.

16

16

7/12/13

South Park is one of my favorite TV shows of all time.  For many people the show is offensive or just not amusing.  I find it absolutely hilarious.  The show can certainly be vulgar but it is unmatched in its ability to mock social topics.  The show is not afraid to go after any idea or group.  When the show first started out it was not really about social commentary, as much as it was just vulgar and crude.  As the show has grown though, it has used its offensiveness to really drive home points about society.  The writers of South Park actually do 12-14 episodes a year.  But they write each episode in a single week.  They start on a Thursday and that episode airs the following Wednesday.  This allows them to make shows about current events.  For example, in 2008 when Obama won the election, the following day the South Park episode that aired was all about the election and Obama’s victory.  It was a very funny episode that was made better by its ability to respond to an event that had occurred just one day prior.  One of the show’s cast members was Isaac Hayes.  He did the voice for the character chef, who served as the four main characters advisor when they needed help.  After a South Park was made that relentlessly mocked Scientology, Hayes decided that they had crossed the line, because he believes in Scientology.  This was ridiculous because South Park has made fun of all most all world religions at one point or another, so for Hayes to be offended only when it was his own religion seemed petty.  The show does still include some episodes that don’t really touch on any social issues and are just ridiculous and funny.  I highly recommend to anybody who hasn’t watched South Park in a long time to give it another shot.

15

15

7/11/13

I feel very uncomfortable around police officers.  I have never been arrested, haven’t been pulled over in many years (knock on wood), and haven’t really had a personal negative interaction with police throughout most of my life.  I think it’s their complete and total power or control in a given situation.  I feel like they have the ability in a given moment to do whatever they choose, and create whatever reality they want, with no way to stop them as a citizen.  The only way to rectify an unfair situation, is to take it on the chin and then go through some process to try and appeal or rectify whatever may have happened.  I do not believe that police are inherently bad people and I do think they have a very hard job.  I have known a few people personally who were formally police officers and I get along with them very well.  I am always respectful to a policeman when I encounter one.  I don’t have a problem with the people who do the job, as much as what the job allows people to do.  I felt the same way in grade school about teachers and the school staff.  They were allowed to be condescending and rude with no accountability.  I remember I once disagreed with a science teacher on a topic, and asked to talk about it after class so I wouldn’t disrupt the other students.  The teacher had her aide meet with me, and then met with my mother to inform her that I was not capable of grasping basic scientific concepts.  Luckily my mom didn’t believe their side of the story was the entire story.  It ended up working out, but it was very frustrating to know that somebody who is supposed to be a mentor, can abuse this and try and create something that wasn’t really there.   

14

14

7/10/13

I don’t know what to write about today.  I have tried thinking about places to write about for the assignment we got this week.  I haven’t been able to think of a place that has some profound meaning to me.  My mother’s mother was an immigrant from Denmark in the 1930s.  I could write about that place potentially.  I have never been there though, and don’t really have a strong connection to it other than my part of my family originates from there. I have not traveled that much in the US, I have only been as far north as Iowa, as far south and east as Tennessee, and as far west as Colorado.  I have never left the country, so I am definitely not that well traveled.  As far as local places, I have always lived in Springfield, and while it is meaningful to me, I don’t know if I am interested in writing a 4-5 page paper about Springfield.  I do have some family in some of the smaller surrounding towns, but I have even less interest in writing about those places.  I did really enjoy my trip to Colorado that I took.  I went to the Air Force Base on Pikes Peak.  I went with a teacher whose son was in the Air Force Academy.  I have never had any desire to be in the military, but it was still very interesting to see the Academy.  I had also never been to a mountain before, so going to the top of Pike’s Peak was really neat.  Once we got on top I remember looking down and seeing lightning strike below us, which was pretty mind blowing.  I would like to go back to Colorado some time; it seemed like a very beautiful and comfortable place to live.

13

7/9/13

13

I did not see Starwars when I was a kid.  As such I did not develop a love for it at an early age, and so I do not look at the series through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia.  I saw the movies in order, meaning I went and saw episodes one through three in the theater.  I then rented the original three (episodes 4, 5, and 6) and watched them in order.  I would submit that the series is not very good.  The primary problem I think it suffers from is a compelling villain.  Darth Vader in the original three movies was an imposing figure shrouded in secrecy.  He was intimidating, unpredictable, and seemed to be a terrifying persona.  If you (like me) are not familiar with this persona, however, from the original three and watch the movies the movies in the order I did, Darth Vader is not a tough-guy villain.  Instead, from episodes one, two, and three you see that he is just an angry kid.  He is angry about things that teenagers are angry about.  This then fuels him to be a complete jerk to everybody he comes into contact with.  This is not the mark of a respectable super villain, this is the mark of a schoolyard bully.  I personally don’t find the story of a punk bully to be all that interesting.  Every time I see Vader in the later episodes, I wonder if he is crying behind his mask.  My view on this is not  a popular one, but I stand my ground that people would agree with me if they weren’t living in nostalgia land, and could instead objectively review the movies.  I think George Lucas is a genius, for turning out the cash cow that he has, but I don’t think it’s actually good content. 

12

12
7/8/13

As early as I can remember I have had access to a video game console in my home.  Atari and Intellivision were my first game systems.  They were more for my Dad, as I was under 5 when we had those.  I remember when I was about 4 years old my Dad and I really wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System.  My Mom was not a fan of the idea, but she made a deal with us, if I stopped sucking my thumb and my Dad stopped smoking then we could get one.  We agreed to the deal and went out right away to purchase a new NES.  The deal didn’t last long though, I returned to sucking my thumb for the time, and my Dad remained a smoker for the rest of his life.  The first game I had was of course Super Mario Brothers.  I was in love.  The game was so much fun!  The controls were very responsive and I just loved controlling the little man on the screen.  As time went on I started renting video games.  Until I could read somewhat well, my Dad would have to look over a game to make sure there wasn’t too much reading required to play the game.  If there was a bunch of text, I would insist that my Dad come in the room and read it to me.  He would do this occasionally, but after his 20^th trip in as many minutes to read me the next screen, he would become annoyed and stop.  My Dad and I would continue to play video games together until he passed away.  We went up through all the generations, a Sega Genesis, a Super Nintendo, a Nintendo 64.  I loved playing games with my Dad.  He loved it too.  When I was a kid, he would send me to bed at 10 or 11pm.  If I could force myself to stay awake though, an hour or so later he would check on me, and if I was still awake he would let me get up and play games with him.  This led to me forming complex games in my mind to try and occupy myself, so I could be awake when he came to check on me.  

11

11
7/7/13

I have not explored “alternative medicine” very deeply.  Things such as acupuncture, reflexology, chiropractic treatments, etc. are what I mean by “alternative medicine”.  It is a subject that has always interested me, but I have been pretty fortunate in health, and haven’t had to seek something special out very much.  I once slipped a disk in my back, and went to a chiropractor who fixed me up in that same day.  Most of the skepticism that I hear regarding these alternative methods, is that they don’t actually fix anything.  This sentiment argues that these professionals aren’t going to help you long term, and that they will just make you dependent upon them forever.  This was not my experience with the chiropractor and it has not been my mom’s experience with acupuncture.  In both of our cases we needed only one or a few treatments to cure whatever ailment we had.  Beyond that though, is that in traditional medicine, I think the same argument can be made.  I don’t think anybody can say with a straight face that pharmaceutical companies would rather cure somebody than give them something that allows them to live with a condition, as long as they keep coming back for more.  I remember in the 90’s when there weren’t commercials for pharmaceuticals.  I am not a fan of the constant barrage of ads asking you to ask your physician about drug x.  While there are certainly examples of people becoming aware of a new drug directly from these ads, I still can’t help shake the feeling that the pharmaceutical companies are not really different than street drug dealers.  They don’t care as much about the outcome of their customer, they just want to limit any liability, and then sell as much as possible.  I wish healthcare was something that didn’t have to be a capitalist market, as its sad to see people’s lives compared to a company’s bottom line.

10

10

7/6/13

There is a 19 year old kid in Texas who has been in jail the last five months.  He is being held as a terrorist and has a bond of $500,000 currently.  He is in jail because he made an inappropriate comment.  Apparently he was on facebook arguing with a friend about a video game.  The friend said that he was crazy, and he replied with something along the lines of, “Oh I am crazy alright.  I am so crazy I am going to shoot up a school and bathe in their blood and eat one of their still beating hearts.  Lol.  JK”.  This comment is obviously very cruel and insensitive to the recent tragedies that have occurred in our country.  The comment was spotted by a woman who reported it to the authorities.  The authorities responded by arresting the kid, and then doing a complete investigation including searching his home.  I completely agree with this response.  There is no way to know if he is serious or not from reading the comment, and it makes absolute sense to investigate to ensure another shooting doesn’t take place.  This all happened in February 2013.  No evidence whatsoever was found indicating that this kid had the capacity or intent to engage in the activity he joked about.  Instead of just publically shaming him and using his case as an example to demonstrate law enforcement’s due diligence in response to potential threats the kid has now been in jail for 5 months.  It is now being reported that he is on suicide watch and is in solitary confinement, because he is being physically assaulted while in the jail.  He faces up to eight years in prison for his comment if convicted.  This kid did not commit a crime.  It is unjust that he remains in jail.  I have included a link to a petition, that can be signed for his freedom if you are so inclined.

http://www.change.org/petitions/release-my-son-justin-carter-in-jail-for-a-facebook-comment

9

9
7/5/13

There is a website I frequent which is gawker.com which is a somewhat tongue in cheek general news website.  They have many “sub-sites” such as Kotaku (videogames) and Deadspin (sports) along with several others.  There is a column featured weekly on Gawker called “Thatz Not Okay”.  It is written by a lady named Caity Weaver.  The format is very similar to a “Dear Abby” advice column.  “Thatz Not Okay” is the single funniest column I have ever read.  Caity Weaver is impressively funny.  Basically people send in questions, scenarios, or circumstances that they are undecided upon, and then ask Caity to weigh in on the subject.  The subjects featured in the column are a bit more edgy than what one might find in a traditional “Dear Abby” article.  Caity is masterful at conveying sarcasm through writing.  I actually find myself laughing out loud while reading the columns.  I can only think of a handful of times that I have audibly laughed while reading something that wasn’t a comic or a book written by a comedian.  Weaver also writes other articles for Gawker media and usually includes quite a bit of humor in those as well.  Gawker publishes countless stories that point out something ridiculous or absurd that is contained within the context of the story.  Caity Weaver is by far the funniest writer that they have.  Gawker has produced some other gems sans Weaver, but it’s rare.  I hope that Weaver is able to maintain a career in writing for many years to come.  I normally dislike other people’s drama, I hate reality TV, so reading an advice column is something that I would not typically do.  Weaver is always on point though, responding to the most ridiculous of scenarios with an uncommon amount of logic and sarcasm, two things which I love dearly.

8

8

7/4/13

When I was a few years out of high school, I purchased a motorcycle.  I had never really had a great interest in motorcycles prior to that point, but my two roommates at the time both went out and bought bikes.  I watched them enjoy the motorcycles for a few months, and then decided I needed to get one too.  I took some time to find one, I am somewhat tall, and so I didn’t want a bike that was too small.  I ended up getting a Suzuki Katana 750.  It was a sports bike or “crotch rocket”, solid black, used but only with a few thousand miles.  The very first night I had it I got into a minor wreck with it.  I didn’t really understand how to turn on the motorcycle, and from a dead stop a T intersection, I ended up driving into a ditch and dumping the bike.  This was a pretty scary moment, being that I had just purchased the bike.  I walked away without any injuries, and the bike was mostly fine.  A week or so after the accident, a friend’s dad took me to a parking lot and helped me learn the fundamentals of how to ride the bike.  I spent some time just riding in the neighborhood, and eventually ventured out onto the main roads.  I really enjoyed riding the bike.  It really does feel like you are riding a missile.  I rode the bike for a couple of years, anytime I could take the bike somewhere I did.  I had a couple of close calls, inches away from accidents that would have severely injured or killed me.  I decided that I wasn’t going to take risks on the bike anymore.  After a few more months, I stopped riding for the weather.  The next season, I decided to sell the bike, and did so promptly.  I will always fondly remember the time I had with the bike, but I don’t know if I would get one again or not.

7

7

7/3/13

Is willpower just a measurement of a person’s ability to be uncomfortable for as long as possible to accomplish a goal?  I used to think there was no such thing as willpower.  It could be argued that every action a person takes is based on desire.  Often times the idea of desire gets lumped with greed or some other negative consumption adjective.  Desire is not an inherently negative thing.  I think that if a person for example, donates to a charity, they do that out of desire.  While the donation is a selfless and generous act, it is not without reward to the party making the donation.  The reward may be internal, a good feeling about themselves for helping others.  So the notion that a person accomplishes something because they have a great amount of “willpower” is perhaps false.  Willpower, in that context, implies that a person is able to carry a great burden despite what should be an obvious desire to rid themself of the burden.  But if that person sees the “burden” as the price of whatever desire they are working toward, then they are still just simply acting on desire.  I have recently considered that, if a person has a goal they are working toward, and the “price” of that goal makes them uncomfortable, then the desire to be comfortable could outweigh the desire of the original goal, leading to the pursuit of said goal being forfeited.  That seems to make more sense as a definition of willpower.  So while the reason somebody willingly bears a burden is still desire, their ability to remain uncomfortable is measured as willpower.  I do think it is possible to change the way a person feels about a perceived burden, by changing the way they understand the burden.  Through perception a person can change what makes them uncomfortable, and therefore reduce the burden, and seemingly improve their willpower.

6

6
7/2/13

I find myself having a few different classes or categories of friends.  I have my inner circle, which consists of a few people, most of which I have known for a very long time.  I have one friend that I would put in that category whom I have only known for a few years.  I have to be confident that a new person will be accepted by the inner circle before I bring the new person in.  In my younger days I made the mistake of not properly vetting a few new friends, which just leads to awkward moments when they are injected into the circle.  My closest friends and I are not mean or cruel people, but we are all very blunt and honest with each other, and we all share at least mostly similar world views.  This can be a problem if a new person doesn't really fit in that well.  I then have a set of friends which I would consider just that, friends.  They are mostly also people who I have known for quite a while.  They are all accepted by the inner circle, but are not necessarily a part of it.  I see these people every few weeks, and enjoy their company quite a bit.  Typically they have commitments that prevent us from spending any more time together which is why they are not a part of the inner circle.  I then have acquaintances, which are people I have known and been friendly with, but that I do not strive to make any sort of effort to maintain a relationship.  A problem I sometimes encounter is that people who are acquaintances consider me to be more than that.  I love talking to people and joking around.  Throughout my work history I have been “work friends” with many people, in which we hang out and joke around at work quite a bit.  I just don’t have the time or desire to maintain dozens of friendships, and so ultimately I have to choose who I will put in the work to stay friends with.  I sometimes wonder if I moved to a different town and didn't have my longstanding social network, how it would all play out or if I would feel any differently.

5

5

7/1/13

I am not somebody who possesses a green thumb.  It’s just something that has never interested me.  For a majority of my life I did not have an appreciation for gardening.  My parents always had a garden when I was growing up, so I do have a love of home grown vegetables, but the actual process of planting and tending the garden never really interested me.  On Mother’s Day a few years ago my mom wanted to go to a local nursery and shop around for some new flowers.  My mom loves shopping.  She can walk into any store or market and spend hours just looking.  She may not even buy anything; she just likes looking at the available items.  I knew this would be the case as well at the nursery.  While I typically find the enormous amount of time she wants to spend at any given store insufferable, I decided that I would be a good son and accompany for however long she wanted at the nursery.  I chose to go and look at the huge variety of flowers that were present.  I was astounded by some of the flowers.  Colors and patterns that I had never seen before in nature were on display.  As I outlined earlier, I have not spent much time looking at various flowers, so it should have come as no surprise.  When we left the nursery that day, I found that I had a new admiration for flowers.  Unfortunately, the experience did not inspire me to start gardening, but it did give me a better appreciation for the act of gardening.  I also unintentionally came away with a better understanding of my mom’s shopping practice.  I did not buy any flowers that day, but I still enjoyed the experience of “shopping” for them.  Sometimes it really is best to stop and smell the roses.  

4

4

6/30/13

There is more than meets the eye with actor/comedian Dave Chappelle.  I have been a huge fan of Chappelle since I first saw his stand up in the late 90’s/early 00’s.  Chappelle’s standup routines are some of the funniest I have ever seen.  He not only has hilarious content throughout his set, but his general character and demeanor are equally funny.  He is also in several movies, starring in his very own “Half Baked”.  While this movie and many of his other feature film roles are amusing, they pale in comparison to his TV show “Chappelle’s Show”.  In the same vein as “Saturday Night Live” or “In Living Color”, Chappelle’s Show features skit comedy in ½ hour timeslot episodes.  During the Chappelle’s Show run, most of America was very familiar with the show.  His impersonations of Rick James and Prince became staples of pop culture.  Chappelle also very actively attacked and mocked racism through his show.  Instead of doing it in the traditional comedy format of “White people do X, Black people do Y”, Chappelle went for much more cutting and absurd takes on racism.  The first skit of Chappelle’s Show has Dave portraying a blind black man who was raised in the south by white supremacists always believing he was white himself.  In this skit Chappelle goes onto be a strong proponent of white supremacist ideals, despite being black (though unaware) himself.  This demonstrates the ridiculousness of racism and bigotry perhaps better than any other piece of comedy I have ever come across.  Dave Chappelle was later featured on an episode of a TV show called “Inside the Actor’s Studio”.  A much more serious Chappelle was on display for the audience that evening.  While he still joked throughout the program, Chappelle shared details of his upbringing and background.  He later talks about his feelings of the state of show business, talking about how little control an artist or performer can sometimes have over his or her own work.  I highly recommend to any and everybody to check out any and everything that Dave Chappelle is involved with.  He is not only hilarious, but also insightful and highly intelligent.

Credo

Credo

The primary tenant of my creed is perception dictates reality.  I believe the only true consistency in life is that change will always come.  Striving to remember the primary tenant helps me adapt and work through the ever-changing landscape of life.   It is nearly impossible to change things external to myself, especially other people.  Instead of working to convince others to change, I instead work to change how I understand a situation or circumstance.  Behavior is a direct result of perception; therefore instead of laboring to change my behavior, I work on shifting perception.  An easy example of how changing perception leads to adjusting behavior and reality is a hot stove.  The stove by itself is a metal box, with other smaller parts installed throughout it.  If I am aware of a stove being in my vicinity, I am unlikely to pay any special attention to it.  If, however, I am aware that the stove is hot, before anything else changes, my perception of the stove changes.  Instead of being an inanimate object, the stove is now a possible danger.  Now that my perception has shifted, my behavior also changes, and now I am careful around the stove.  I believe people are very powerful, capable beings, whose greatest source of power comes from the ability to shape reality just by altering their perception.  

3

3
6/29/13

Something I find interesting is the different opinions people have on the importance of lyrics in music.  I personally feel like lyrics are secondary in most cases.  To me music is about the sound of it all, the feelings invoked from hearing the different sounds together, not just what somebody is saying.  The only genre I listen to in which I can concede the importance of lyrics would be rap/hip-hop.   Rap/hip-hop music is arguably the most lyrically intensive genre.  Personally I don’t actually enjoy the lyrics of most rap, especially post 2001 rap music.  I do have some old school rap favorites like 2-Pac, but I find that my enjoyment of that music comes from the sound of an entire song, instead of the story or meaning that can be gleaned from the lyrics.  My favorite band of all time is a progressive rock band called Tool.  I listened to Tool for around two years without knowing a vast majority of the lyrics or even song titles.  What I found was that the vocals were used like another instrument, as opposed to always being the focus of a given track.  As such I was never interested in trying to know “what a song was about” from the lyrics, and instead was able to just enjoy feeling from the music.   I also greatly enjoy some sub-genres of electronic music.  In most of the electronic music I enjoy, the lyrics are very ambiguous.  It again creates a situation in which vocals are just part of the melody, and sometimes are absent entirely.  In the case of Tool, being a rock band, it is rare to find similar music in their genre that I enjoy.  On the contrary, electronic music is filled with countless examples of artists whose music doesn't place a heavy emphasis on lyrics, but still entertains the use of vocals as a complementary piece.

Know Your Audience Analysis

After completing the discussion board exercise from assignment 3.2, I certainly have a better grip on who my peers are for this class.  I would say more than anything, cliché sounding or not, that we have an incredibly diverse group.  We have people who are within a few years of their high school graduation, some who may have seen a reunion or two, and everything in between.  We have single people and people with families. 

Some of the questions posed were very good, such as, “What is your happiest place on Earth?” asked by Maggi Bowers.  I especially liked this question, because it offers a great deal of insight into what people value at this point in their lives.  As there aren’t any strings attached to this question, people seemed to be comfortable giving honest answers.  There was a large variety in answers, demonstrating how different we all are.  I would say that despite this group of people being unique in many ways, a common thread is that everybody is enthusiastic about learning and excelling in this class.  Nobody on the forum was sarcastic or condescending with any of the questions or answers.  Everybody was interested in sharing their experiences and connecting to some degree with their classmates. 

I know personally, my social circle largely consists of people similar to myself.  So normally, I can make a lot of assumptions about what somebody is familiar with during a conversation.  I found this “Know your Audience” exercise to be a strong reminder that my classmates have different interests and backgrounds than I do.  So while I intend on writing about things that are of personal interest to me, I need to make sure that I explain fully what I am talking about.  I also need to try to not get caught up in the minutiae of a topic, but instead look for ideas and themes that anybody can relate to, regardless of their interest in whatever subject I am writing about. 

In conclusion, I feel like our class is a great microcosm for the rest of life.  People will always be different, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t work together or learn together.

2

2

6/28/13

Today I will make my case for Kobe Bryant.  For those who do not follow sports, Kobe Bryant is a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers.  Both Kobe and his team are very polarizing in the sports world.  I am an atypical sports fan in that I do not have allegiance to any one team.  Instead I find players that I like and follow their careers, regardless of the team the play for.   So for the record, I am not a Laker fan, but a Kobe fan.  I do cheer for the Lakers, but only until the Black Mamba (a Kobe nickname) is no longer around.  I also cannot defend a young Kobe.  I did not become a Kobe fan until around 2008.  Young Kobe is very different than current/old Kobe.  It’s evident in his play on the court but also in his off the court demeanor, i.e. interviews.  Young Kobe on the court was accused of being selfish and unavailable to his team on a personal level.  Young Kobe off the court was always all smiles and giggles, always trying to look and be cool.  Around 2008, Kobe changed.  On the court he turned into a marvelous leader.  Off the court he was a statue.  No longer concerned with being popular, Kobe was solely focused on winning an NBA championship.  My favorite Kobe moment goes as follows:

The Lakers were perennially meeting the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs.  Phoenix had a player named Raja Bell who claimed in a press conference that Kobe Bryant was not a threat to him.  Bell claimed that Kobe would barely score with Bell guarding him, and basically dismissed one of the top three scorers of all time in Kobe Bryant out of hand.  In a follow-up press conference with the Lakers, Kobe was asked what he had to say about the comments Raja Bell had made.  Kobe’s response was, “Who?  Never heard of him.”   

This dismissal of Bell by Kobe sums up better than any other story what I refer to as “Kobe Status”.  I don’t think it’s arrogance, as much as supreme confidence.  Instead of going to the level of Bell and insulting his game, Kobe just dismissed Bell’s existence.  Instead of worrying about what some opponent has to say, Kobe just completely put it out of his mind.  Whenever I encounter a “hater”, I just try and break out the Kobe Status.

1

1

6/27/13

Today I am free writing about Chinese food.  I greatly enjoy Chinese food.  Really it doesn’t have to be Chinese either.  I enjoy Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and a variety of other Asian based cuisines.  While I am a Springfield, MO native and do enjoy cashew chicken, it is not all I like.  I love stir fry.  The variety of veggies is great.  It’s amazing how a different sauce can completely change a meal.  Using relatively the same ingredients except for the sauces, it’s possible to make wildly varied dishes.  Since I was able to drive myself places, I have always have a nearby Chinese joint that I hit up on the regular.  The restaurant has changed many times over the years, but I always have one.  I also cook Chinese for myself.  I can’t stand the smell of the kitchen after deep frying stuff, so I stick to stir fry on a wok.  Many times I have prepared enough for myself to eat leftovers for an entire week.  This is rare however, because my roommates will end up wanting some too.  I have considered opening a restaurant or something myself and calling it Walk’s Wok.  I think it would be a smashing success.   I have spent time as a line cook though, and I can’t say I am too thrilled about actually working in Walk’s Wok.  Maybe I can get my fancy slip (degree) and then earn enough to save away and someday open it up.  It seems like it would be rough in this town, there is a Chinese place on every corner it seems.   But I guess as a Springfield, MO Chinese connoisseur myself; I know there are good ones and bad ones.  I would insist upon Walk’s Wok being one of the good ones.   If anybody is keeping score, yes I did go back and correct some misspellings in this writing, so it’s not a completely real free write.  I did try and edit after though, to not break up the flow during the exercise.

This I Believe Pre-writing Freewrite

I believe basketball is my favorite sport.  I have felt this way for my entire life.  I played basketball from a very early age.  I guess I played baseball even earlier, but basketball was always my favorite.  Basketball is the ultimate team game.  Football, baseball, and soccer have more players on a team, but ultimately are not decided by the performance of a team like basketball.  I like the NBA more than any other form of basketball.  I love the fact that out of the whole world we get to watch the top 600. Basketball is also a game just about anybody has some ability to participate in.  Even if you can’t run or jump, you can throw the ball at the goal and play a game of horse or something.  As a young kid I thought I might be a basketball player when I grew up.  I was always the tallest kid in my class, so I thought I would be some huge guy like Shaq or something.  Instead of seven feet though, I only grew to 6’4”.  That might seem tall to some, but I spent my whole life playing like I would be a post player instead of spending time learning to be a guard.  In the NBA being 6’4” means you are one of the smaller players on the floor at any given time.  Granted there are examples of guys who are small playing big like Charles Barkley.  But those examples are few and far between and I was not destined to become one of them.  One of my favorite things to do when I played basketball competitively was to set screens.  If the opponent did not have warning of the screen, it could be very effective.  Since I liked setting screens so much, I have wondered if I should have tried football instead.  I played football for one season when I was very young, but I did not like getting hit in the knees, so I stopped after the first year.  I have not played basketball for a long time at this point.  I am not in shape enough to run up and down the court for any amount of time.  Perhaps someday I will return to that kind of shape.  As for now though, I can at least enjoy watching the NBA.  I don’t really watch college very often.  Its just not as high level as professional sports.  People talk about the college kids wanting it more or playing just to win instead of for money.  I disagree with the notion for the most part.  There are some bad teams in the NBA where this is true, but once you get to the post season, teams are playing to win.

 I am now done with the 10 minute exercise.  The total word count is 471.

This I Believe Pre-writing - List

I believe this exercise will probably get strange after a few minutes.

I believe freewriting is an interesting idea.

I believe basketball is my favorite sport.

I believe game 6 of the ’13 NBA finals Is one of the best in recent memory.

I believe Ray Allen is one of the purest shooters of all time.

I believe it’s hilarious that Ray Allen left Boston for Miami, and actually got his ring.

I believe university level education can be challenging.

I believe the online format of university classes works for me better than traditional seated environments.

I believe breakfast is a good thing.

I believe in laughing.

I believe in laughing as many times a day as possible.

I believe in being kind to others.

I believe in the general kindness of others.

I believe that I just drew a blank on the next thing to type.

I believe I am just typing to try and keep typing for the 10 minutes.

I believe something more interesting than this will come out soon enough.

I believe I like video games.

I believe my parents thought I would stop playing games at some point, I have never stopped.

I believe gaming can be a more engrossing experience than other forms of entertainment media.

I believe that gaming suffers from a lack of good stories.

I believe that gaming might suffer from a lack of good story telling.

I believe that its harder to tell a story in gaming than other mediums because the player has some choice in the order that things are experienced.

I believe I only have a couple more minutes left to keep typing.

I believe in planning.

I believe in rational thought.

I believe traffic in Springfield is terrible sometimes.

I believe I have never lived in a big city and that the driving there could be worse.

I believe the 10 minutes has concluded and I am done here.

2.4 Jung Typology Test

     After completing the Jung Typology Test I was promptly informed that I fall into the category of ESTJ.  Upon reading through the Jung Typology Indicators for ESTJ I would say I mostly concur with the results.  Ultimately the typology test and indicators report did not open my eyes to anything new, as much as reinforce understandings that I already had. 

     
     I certainly prefer planning and structure to spontaneity; however, unlike an ESTJ I do enjoy learning about theories.  I am very comfortable in group settings, and rather enjoy collaborating with others.  I also meet deadlines, but as the ESTJ report stated, it is important that I don’t rush things just to meet deadlines.  This is usually circumvented with planning which, as the report also stated, I am prone to do.

     
     As far as learning, I am definitely a person who likes to have information applied to something in order to understand it.  This shows up more in math or science than it does in English/writing classes.  I have actually had one situation in which the instructor refused to demonstrate the idea we were learning beyond what the text book included, which led to me dropping the class.  I also prefer clear expectations when it comes to work, whether that work is academic or professional.  I believe managing expectations is a large part of working with and for others. 

   
     The report was interesting on more levels than just writing and learning and I found most of the categories to be accurate.  I am not sure how knowing that I am an ESTJ according to this test will help or hurt me academically.  I feel that it has no direct impact, but that it still could be of some benefit.  I think the most interesting thing about the typology indicators is the amount of typology indicators there are.  This shows that there are many types of people, who will all have different ideas about how to accomplish a task or goal.  When working with others on group assignments, this report helps me to understand that not everybody is like me and that patience is important.  I will hope that my peers are able to be patient with me when I struggle, and that I can be as gracious in return.  I feel like this typology indicators report will be something I will return to from time to time, to see how I have changed or reinforced the different characteristics within myself.