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Sunday, 08 November 2009
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Midnight 55
A powerful roar quakes the surrounding earth. The beast has been awakened from his slumber and feels his master's discontent. He master is always like this when he rides at night. Never happy, always thinking. Slowly they move out of his place of rest and onto the desolate road. There is no one to meet them there other than silence. The roads are small and winding. The beast can do nothing more than saunter through, purring all the way. Soon the small roads turn into a wide path. Interstate 55. In a flash, the beast dashes. A roar fills the air. It was his master's will to do this, not his. His speed increases at an incredible rate. 40. 50. 55. 60. Silence has been left behind. Wind fills their ears. Another roar fills the air. His master has kicked him into a higher gear. 65. 80. 90 miles per hour. His master's eyes are determined. He is determined to get to his goal. 10 more and they're there. Another gear change, but this time it doesn't work. The beast's pace begins to slow. His master realizes this and eases the pressure. The elusive 100 has escaped again. The beast slows to a comfortable speed of 60 mph as his master downshifts. For the next hour they cruise to the next town and back home.
There is no true reason to reach 100. In fact, his master knows that it may never happen. But this is how his master is. In truth, he is not after 100. He is only running away hoping to reach 100. He runs from his excess worries and problems; he runs until only the core is left. That is when he tells the beast the slow down. They cruise to the end of I-55 and then back home. Both of them clear their minds by the end of the trip. Both ever so content.
Friday, 25 September 2009
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Traveler's Frustration
People are always talking about traveling when you're young. Traveling helps a person expand their mind and introduces them to different people and cultures. It's usually happens when someone studies abroad or takes a personal trip (i.e. backpacking through Europe). My question is how do you afford it? Coming from a low income family, it's hard to see how people can afford to pay for these extravagant trips to foreign countries on their own. Is it even possible to pay for it on your own? Unless they've been working and saving for the trip since the beginning of high school, if not earlier, I don't see how it can be done out of the student's pocket alone. How much has to come from parent contribution?
I can see how studying abroad is a solution to the above problem. Travel and living expenses are significantly cheaper through an institution, especially with the help of financial aid. However, I would like to know how much one usually spends on extraneous travel and other expenses? Also, how much of the host country can one really experience and explore when held under the time limitations and restrictions of school and study?
I would really like to go and explore the world before the end of my college career, but it doesn't seem financially feasible at the moment. My parents don't have much money, nor do I have much saved up. To be honest, I ideally want to backpack through part of Europe. I want to see different countries and experience life as a vagabond for a short time. I just don't know how I'd be able to pay for the experience.
Does anyone have suggestions on how one can travel on an extremely low budget? Has anyone done it? If so, I'd like to hear your story.
Monday, 31 August 2009
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Hindsight is 20/20
- I'm forever blowing bubbles,
- Pretty bubbles in the air.
- They fly so high,
- Nearly reach the sky,
- Then like my dreams,
- They fade and die.*
I know I can't give up though. I'm going to find a job. I'm going to finish school. I'm not going to fall for my own weakness again. This always happens. Every I regret a decision it comes and affects my whole attitude. I need to kick everything into high gear. I need to stop letting my emotions get the best of me. I need a job.
*Taken from the song "I'm forever blowing bubbles"
Saturday, 25 July 2009
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Maybe Dat's Your Pwoblem Too
I remember reading from someone's xanga (I believe it was yours Sean) that there is a funny little poem about Spiderman with a lisp. I found it a while ago and really enjoyed the piece. The title is "Maybe Dat's Your Pwoblem Too" by James W. Hall. Up until now, I just took the poem at face value, a funny piece involving Spiderman. I decided to revisit it today and realized that it has a much deeper meaning that I missed all together due to laughter.
The last stanza of the poem talked about "buining" a suit. This is the exerpt:
I tink I twy sometin diffunt. I tink I twy
sometin excitin like wacing cawrs. Sometin to make
my heart beat at a difwent wate.
But den you just can't quit being sometin like
SPIDERMAN.
You SPIDERMAN for life. Fowever. I can't even
buin my suit. It won't buin. It's fwame wesistent.
So maybe dat's youwr pwoblem too, who knows.
Maybe dat's da whole pwoblem wif evwytin.
Nobody can buin der suits, dey all fwame wesistent.
Who knows?
For some reason, those lines hit a nerve. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was something significant. I wanted to look up more pieces by Mr. Hall and was fruitless. However, I ran into a blog post by him doing a quickie analysis of this very poem.There was one part of the analysis that dealt with the stanza mentioned above. This is the paragraph:
Of course "buining" one's suit is the punchline of the poem. It's a hard thing to do--recreate yourself, reinvent yourself. Become someone different, someone new. Throw away one identity (and mask) and put on another. We all struggle with that in some way or another. We want to change, to grow, to abandon one set of personality features for better ones. That's why people go to school, to church, to the shrink, and it's one of the reasons why we write. To reinvent ourselves.
To reinvent myself. I've been trying so hard to do that these last two years. I think that's my motivation to go to California. I want to have a clean slate and actually try to be someone different. I can't do that in Chicago because I know too many people and I'd just feel awkward. It's too weird approaching people I've met and have been mildly close with and try to get close again. Too many preconceived notions of who I am and what I'm capable of. In a way, I feel like I'm trapped in a mold and I can't break it. I need out.
Monday, 18 May 2009
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Memories
Another year of school has passed with another years worth of memories made. Things I will take away from this year:
- Anime study breaks
One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and Zombie Loan are some of the animes I watched with Ken this year. They were integrated very well into our study system. We did a few problems from our respective homework and then watched an episode if we had them. It wasn't the most productive activity since each episode was roughly tenty-five minutes and it took 10 minutes to do our problems, but it was worth it.
- Study music
Another thing I did with Ken. While studying we would play music. After each song we would switch off and let the other person play a song. I think this is when I started to really listen to Panic! at the Disco. I think I've learned to finally study when there's music playing. I'm gonna miss this next year.
- The lack luster meteor shower.
We didn't see a single meteor, but it was a good time. We ended up cloud watching for a while before leaving for the dorms. Nathan was wearing his PJs in 40 degree weather. It was a very good night even without the meteors.
- Par-tay?
I was right. Parties are fun when you go with the right people.
- Cooking
Having a rice cooker, a microwave, and a water boiler in the dorms is all you need to make a good meal. I learned that almost anything can be made in the microwave. The food is healthier than dining hall food because we didn't put any oil in our food. Those were some of the best meals I had at school.
solidsnake8462
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- Member Since: 1/15/2003
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