Nightmares

Nightmares, we all have them occasionally, they usually scare us no matter what, mine don't, I think my nightmares are becoming my reality. I always have this same nightmare, here it goes.

In my dream, I'm this lost puppy, who is found by some random, yet pretty, girl, she's this girl who I've never seen before, I didn't know this girl, she wasn't part of my life in anyway, most likely a projection of my imagination. She takes me to her home, giving me the same gestures any girl would to a small puppy "oh, you’re so cute, who's a good puppy?" So things seem great, being a puppy that's getting pampered by a hot girl, right? Wrong, in the evening she was getting ready for some party, after she got ready she told me "you know, it would be great to show you off to all my friends tonight". So then she put me in a cage, and took the cage (with me in it of course) and then we walked to the party which was a block away from her house, she just walked into the house, going into the living room and said "hey everyone, look what I found this afternoon". She then placed the caged puppy me in the middle of the living room floor, and guess what? Everyone I knew, every person from my school, my closest friends, acquaintances, people I see at school but don't talk or hang out with, friends of friends, all circling around me, hysterically laughing, pointing fingers at me. Then all of the sudden, I transform from a caged puppy to my normal human self, wearing ripped clothes, chained to a wooden board, and everyone started throwing tomatoes at me, but not just tomatoes, they started throwing cups filled with beer at me, the DJ thought it would be funny to throw his equipment at me, one girl had the drunk guts to even throw a whole bottle of Vodka at me. It then came to the point where I was drenched in my own blood and everyone's alcohol, and then that girl who found me as a lost puppy then had a lighter in her hand, turned it on, threw it to the ground, and set the whole house on fire, with everyone I knew running out of the party. I was too numb and weak to even feel the pain of being burned or to escape, I was just hanging there, chained to a wooden board, letting myself corrode until I was mere ash. 

I've had three other renditions of this dream:


1. The burning of me happened on the dance floor of a school dance, it was Halloween, everyone one was dressed in weird costumes which I failed to even remember, while I was burning, they were all singing this drunken lullaby and circling around my burning corpse with cheer. 

2. I was at an X-mas party, everyone laughed while I was a lost puppy, then transformed into the tortured man, whoopdy-dee, you get the point. Anyway, this time I was chained to a X-mas tree, most of me was attached to the tree by having pine needles stabbed to my back, while I was burning, people gather and sang "O Christmas Tree", then ten minutes later they were all singing and dancing to "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" and "Sleigh Ride", a girl I knew asked the pretty dream girl "wait, why are we doing this?" the pretty girl then says "meh, I'm out of fun ideas, were out of eggnog and I'm too drunk to care". Guess I was too numb to care about my insides being burnt. 

3. Where at a garden party, before prom, I'm at the bathroom fixing my hair, putting more cologne on, only to be kidnapped by these masked guys in white tuxedo's who take me to the dream girl. I say "what the fuck is going on?" she says "oh, you'll find out", she then sedates me. I wake up, only to be drenched in champagne, for some reason everyone is raising their glasses, then throws their drinks at me, dream girl gets a lighter, and the rest is self-explanatory.

Don't you understand? I've been corrupted by the things around me, the real horrors of high-school; they have now haunted my presence wherever I go. And no, to clarify things, I'm not being bullied, everyone has respect for me in my school, I like and respect all my peers, which is weird because a lot of those people I remember, they participated in the act of throwing objects at me in my dreams. Whenever I have this re-occurring nightmare, I wake up wanting to break a mirror/window, smearing the blood from my cuts onto my face, I want to pull my teeth out or gouge my eyes out (to remain blind from all of this) whenever I wake up from this nightmare, or when thinking about all of this during any other time of the day. Usually I don't have the tendency to cry when I have this nightmare, and the impulse to destroy and induce pain to myself only lasts for about 5 minutes, then everything is back to normal. It’s so weird, the effect that nightmares have on people, the fact that my nightmares are merely based on my surroundings, and then my dark conscience gives those surroundings, what I see, what I know, and turns them into the reality I never want to live. But then you think, from what you have seen in your nightmares, when it’s close to your life, you then ask yourself "Am I really this?" I started asking myself "Am I a target for punishment and torture?" "Am I a lost, confused, caged puppy?" I wish I knew the answer, I really do. I guess I can call myself a blood-thirsty animal, and if the demons disguised as people I know try to cage me or laugh at me during a party, I'll jump and have the angry impulse to tear someone’s head off, that's what they get for testing me. 

So I guess it’s now a matter of wondering, why do I feel this way when I shouldn't? I shouldn't because I have a pretty normal life, I'm comfortable with myself, I respect others, people respect me, I have my own life goals and I do my own thing, I try not to conform to things that I'm uncomfortable with, people respect me for that (well, at least most people, some people still question my life choices, interests and values, that's fine, all the better to share).

I guess now it’s a matter of time for me to look into this; the mystery behind my somewhat fucked-up dream. I will use my newly developed skill of controlling my dreams (lucid dreaming) to find what needs to be fixed in my dream-verse to prevent these future nightmares.       

Looking Back/Epic Hot Dogs/Future

Well, it’s another week of summer past, only two weeks left until school starts. I always enjoy school, this year will be interesting and worthwhile because this will be my final year of high school. I'm still wondering about the mysteries that wait for me this year. Having to be my final year of high school, I'm starting to look back at my past 3 years of high school, thinking to myself, saying "did I enjoy and live through school to the best extent?” I then said to myself, "ya, I did, could have done more but what I've done so far since the end of gr.11, was decent enough". I did what I could to be involved, and I’ll continue to do so, I've been to some of the school dances, school plays, parent teachers nights, sometimes I would even go with my parents for report card interviews with the teachers. Whenever I would stay home on those nights, I would worry if parents would bring pizza for my good work, or poison if I fucked up, or poisonous pizza if i'm doing "okay", shit it’s like that Simpsons episode all over again :P. No, even if I failed or did okay, my parents would never bring home poison, they're amazing parents, most of the time I think of them as my two best friends, I tell them a lot about my day, what I like and what’s going on with my friends and school. Going back to which school events I have attended, sadly I've only been to one Coffee House, but my friend Alex and I are thinking of starting a duo, I think it would be cool if it were a rap/hip-hop duo or even a full band, me on vocals and my limited piano skills (better practice), Alex on the guitar, and finding a bassist and a drummer. Although, sometimes I tend to feel depressed when I see happy people, I don't know why, I just do, is it because I have failed to accomplished what they have accomplished? Do they have something I don't have? The answer is still a mystery to me. I sort of feel that way during every X-mas assembly at school; The only parts that I enjoy are the parts that are put on by the teachers (i.e. they have a band and play kick-ass covers to other songs, funny skits, funny dances, etc), and the Friday Show special put on by Cougar Vision (news show at my school). The way I see it, I was talking to my counsellor about it after the holidays, it seems that the reason why the stuff at the Christmas assembly that actually relates to Christmas depresses me is that we hype and commercialize the hell out of one day, that's meant to be mostly about togetherness. That really in the end it becomes a huge let down, your expectations are not met after all the hype. Which is why I tend to feel that promoting Christmas in a X-mas assembly is depressing, watching school singing groups singing jolly X-mas songs or even students dancing to jolly X-mas songs, with their happy, blushing faces, depressing as the time my fish died when I was 9. Well, obviously they have to include Christmas in a X-mas holiday, what can I do? Nothing, just spend my holidays drowning myself in bottles of Coke, watching classic X-mas specials, sleeping and being with friends and family. I just wish people didn't a big fucking deal about Christmas, but in the end I can't destroy anything, others may want to disagree with me and enjoy their holidays. And besides, at least the assembly's have decent X-mas jokes, like the one with Santa Claus and Tiger Woods, and how at least Santa ends with 3 ho's, lol. Who knows, maybe I’ll invent my own holiday, a holiday of relaxation, doing all the holiday things that I enjoy as mentioned before, and possibly sleep my may throughout the entire holiday. 



Moving on.....

My friend Alex and I were thinking of creating our own YouTube channel, similar to EpicMealTime, only instead, we'll specialize in a food that we both value... hot dogs. It may not seem like it, but you can be very creative with hot dogs, we were thinking that like every week, we would post a video of us making all types of hot dogs. To start off, we were thinking of following some of these recipes from this awesome website (http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/07/international_hot_dogs). We also had an idea for a hot-dog to make around the time of Valentine’s Day, The Sexdog; a hot dog with honey, ginger and whipped-cream.... were using cool-whip, don't worry. Hopefully alongside with the band project, Alex and I can get this project running, for this project we need more of our friends, lots of money and a shit load of various ingredients, including lots of hot-dog wieners and buns, and also...girls, lots and lots of girls. If EpicMealTime can find hot girls on the street that are willing to gorge themselves in bacon wrapped food, then I’m sure it will be easy to find girls we know that are willing to eat lots of hot dogs.




Some ideas on what hot dogs we were thinking of making, for each episode we would make at least 20-30 of each hot dog we make.



And finally....


I know for the past little while since I created this blog, I have said that I'm going to post a new piece every Monday. So far, blogging had been good for me, it allows me to vent out my interests, both current and new, also some thoughts that I have on certain things, definitely not super personal stuff but some inner thoughts, only to allow myself to express myself to the people I know, and to a broader audience around the world, luckily people can easily find blogs by clicking the "next blog" button on the top right corner. I like how in blogging, it’s this whole community of people from all over the world, all walks of life expressing themselves in various ways, Blogger has done a good job of connecting all those people together and to share each other stories, life-experiences or whatever seems to be on someone’s mind, expressing it in text or through visuals. All legit reasons for why I’m continuing with blogging, even during the school year, but there will be changes. Because I will be busy with school (homework, Ultimate Frisbee, after school activities, etc), I may not be able to stick to a new blog post every Monday. Instead I will make a new blog-post, one for each week and post at anytime during the week, whether I post it during the day when I’m at school, or like late at night during the weekend. Either way, just thought I would let you know if you keep up with this blog and follow or read it on a daily/frequent basis. With the stories and events that I will experience this year at school and in my life, more interesting tales from yours truly will come. The future of my blog is known my friend, and it is bright. 

Remembrance Day... Lest We Forget

Remembrance Day is one of the most important days in Canada. To me, and to other Canadians abroad, Remembrance Day is a day of honour, honouring those who go out on the front lines, and risk their lives to protect the people. I'm grateful for everything that Canadian soldiers have done to protect the people, fighting in previous wars, and dealing with current global issues. I love Canada, Canada is an amazing county that I'm proud to live in, and it’s a country that has been good to me and my family. While we busy ourselves with school and work and remain protected in this amazing country, Remembrance Day reminds us that while we have all this time in the world, the least we can do is take a small amount of time from our busy lives and remember, remember those who gave their lives to help protect this country, and remember those who still live today, that have done the same. Canada would not be the pristine picture we see today as a free and sovereign nation if we did not have our troops there to defend and risk their lives to help maintain the beauty of this nation. I along with other Canadians thank them for their courage.

While I continue to acknowledge the many Canadians that have sacrificed so much, both in history and now, I still continue to advocate for peace. Don't get me wrong, as mentioned before, I'm very grateful for what our troops have done. These previous wars in history, although interesting to read and learn about, made me realize that war is no longer the answer, and that things can be solved through peaceful, non-violent means (note: the only violence I’m okay with is media violence, basically violence that you see in TV shows, movies, comics and video games, also the violence that you read in books and the violence that you hear in music, because we all know that at least 90% of the violence you see in those forms of media are fake, and that parents should take the responsible initiative for when it comes to their children seeing, reading and hearing violence in the media). That's why I wear and believe in the White Poppy for Peace. It follows the same meanings that the Red Poppy follows, but in addition to that, the White Poppy also symbolizes that while were still thankful, we should learn now that were at an age where people of various backgrounds, including nations, are getting along without settling scores with war, violence and bloodshed. If we can do that as normal, regular people such as ourselves, then maybe we can influence that idea to stop current world conflicts, by using peace. What I love about Canada is that it’s a very multicultural country, and with that we are able to tolerate our differences and easily settle scores in very reasonable ways. I admire that the Canadian Military is doing so by building strong and friendly relations with the regular town folk of Afghanistan, and the Afghan military as well. I also admire the projects that the military has worked on, such as building schools and other important facilities to help give the happy town folk a better life, which is basically a regular life that we in North America are used to, but tend to take for granted (I learned not to take things for granted, for that, I'm grateful for many things). I admire the peacekeeping missions we conduct, a perfect way to build strong relations with other countries and the rulers of those countries. I know Canada has a good reputation for having good, stable relationships with many other countries. So to conclude this entry, I will say this: 


I thank those who are dead, and those who are alive that managed to keep Canada safe and stable to this day. While I remain grateful, let’s not make war the first answer (or not an answer at all, only should it be used if all else fails). Instead continue to keep peace, fight for peace, help those countries in need by doing many things that will give the people of those countries a better life, and continue to build strong, sturdy relationships with the many countries that exist among us. Talking, settling negotiations in a peaceful manner is a good approach. Peace is the best answer, war is not. 

Lest we forget... 

WOAH! Hometown Madness!

Crazy stuff happening at the Gloucester Centre, in Ottawa, the rest will be explained in this article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/reported+dead+shooting+Gloucester+Centre/5612229/story.html

Continuing With The Horn Of Africa

People are wondering why The Horn Of Africa (a region in East Africa that consists of countries such as Eritrea and Somalia) is in a dreadful state. In order to be fully aware of this situation, we have to look at the factors as "symptoms". which can be split into three separate causes that contain many sub-symptoms. The three main branches of cause include:

1. Natural Causes: Lack of rainfall, extreme weather, destructive flooding, earthquakes, climate change, fire, and other natural causes.

2. Man-Made Causes: war, bad governance, lack of facilities, corruption, lack of support from other countries, bad gov't planning, hindrances facing int'l charitable organizations (e.g. Red Cross), political differences resulting in victimization of certain groups opposed to the gov't, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, neglect, poverty, ethnic, religious and cultural differences. An important man-made symptom would be using hunger as a weapon of war.

3. (one cause to consider) Historic Causes: European colonization of these countries. Three countries that were colonially dominant in Africa: Britain, France and Italy. Kenya was under British rule, Ethiopia was largely independent, except for short Italian occupation under Mussolini. Nevertheless, conditions outside of cities were dismal. All three countries (Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia) were drawn by colonial powers hastily, thoughtlessly and without regard to the existence of the tribes and their cultures. It was done to serve only the interests of the colonial powers, not the interests of the people.

As you can see, these symptoms are not recent factors that instantly caused the famine. Rather, it goes back a long-time, what was that time is now history to us. Of these three main symptoms and each of their many sub-symptoms, one important symptom, which is the main cause that started this chaos, is drought. Drought being the lack of water in a certain area, killing agriculture in that area, agriculture being the important factor involved in growing food. You can't grow food or even live without water. Because of the drought in The Horn of Africa, 16 million Africans are being naturally and forcefully steered towards the path of death.

After looking at these "symptoms" which are the causes of this crisis. We also have to look at the consequences of this famine, a "diagnosis" do be exact. Identifying the nature of all this, the consequences of this famine define what the famine is doing, and continues to do to The Horn of Africa. Here are several consequences, that way, it will be easier to see what all the consequences are:

1. Death on a vast scale due to starvation.

2. Spread of disease because of insanitary conditions.

3. Increase in poverty levels.

4. Worsening of refugees across borders.

5. Mass movement of people to cities and increase in pressure on existing facilities.

6. Corruption.

7. Worsening of social and cultural lives of people.

8. Worsening of the civil war as Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Use of hunger as a weapon of war.

9. Lack of storage facilities and rotting of donated food and medicine before distribution to the needy.

10. Hindrances in the way of humanitarian and charitable organizations. E.g.: Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, UN agencies, and similar international organizations. There have been actual reports of people who work for support groups that were abducted and murdered by the Al-Shabaab (more on that at the end).

11. Inflation placing food beyond the reach of people. Local peasants are evicted from their own land. Compensation paid is very little and the peasants becomes a part of the unemployment statistics. In Somalia, there has been no functioning central gov't since 1991. Somalia is fractured along clan and religious lines. Some parts like Somaliland are run by local administration of sorts but the majority of them are caught up in battles between warring clans and militia groups such as Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab wants to rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state under Sharia Law.

12. Many donor organizations are unable to operate or interact with each other. Because of war, the break down of state structure and lack of even basic facilities.

13. Decimation of wild-game.

14. There is no incentive for local farmers to grow food because the gov't allows cheaper food to come from other countries.

15. Desertification is an increasing problem for The Horn of Africa and threatens grazing land and water supplies. Arid lands mean that people don't receive rain, have no trees, no grazing land and don't have water. What you get is famine. Many conflicts develop between nomads and pastoralist's over grazing land and water.

16. Huge swatches of land are sold or leased to foreign interests that use it to grow food for their own countries. Both Kenya and Ethiopia have sold or leased agricultural land to agricultural based businesses.

We now know the "symptoms", which are the signs that tell that this famine is real. We now know the "diagnosis", which are the consequences that are caused by the "symptoms" of this famine. It is now time to take a look at an educated solution, a "prescription" that can be used to cure East Africa from its famine based misery. We can't look at this issue as one huge thing that has a "one answer to solve all" solution, because there many branches, each branch is a consequence, all these consequences become the famine when added together. Some solutions to help include:

Rather than sending food to the gov't and wonder if the gov't will actually do their part to give food to the people (fear of corruption and lack of governance), we should deliver the food straight to the people in East Africa. If they are starving at a fast rate and are dying quickly, then rather than wiring it through to the gov't and letting them distribute it across the country, let us send people down there to distribute equal portions to the people in the different countries of that region. Then again, there could be the risk of Al-Shabaab taking the food away and ambushing groups that distribute the food (abduction and murder, rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state, rejecting help from the west). So its possible that the attempt would be hit or miss. Another idea, in order to get rid of corruption once and for all is a major change in gov't. A gov't that has no tolerance for corruption or terrorism, a gov't encourages human rights for the people of East Africa, continuing to stick to the cultural values of the people in that area of Africa. We still have to remember that Africa is a very multi-cultural continent, and that having people from the west come and build a gov't that doesn't represent anything that the African people stand for could be dangerous. Is it possible that these very actions are the reason that the people of Africa seem to harshly question the actions of westerners? But I digress, the final option, one that although sounds crazy, but makes sense, it could work and it seems logical, I would choose this option out of the three. To educate the people of The Horn of Africa, teaching them that they could make a difference, the most reasonable values, ideals and concepts that make a structured gov't. We and possibly the help of other powers, could convince the current gov't's to resign, just for the record; we are not trying to act as a huge western power thats trying to violently take over that area. We are trying to make a new alternative towards the structure of African gov't. We can teach the people how to make a difference, possibly a revolution, much like some European countries did years and years ago. By educating, Africans can restart their way of living in a confident manner. This new gov't can stay devoted towards the original beliefs and cultures of the people there, making this new system compatible and easy to understand and conform to since this structure is designed to make things better and have a gov't that works and is liked by the people. Doing so will then lead to fixing all the other problems that rest in The Horn. Let me remind you that this issue is not in anyway new, recent weather and gov't is not the only thing that is making the famine worse, it's a long line of corruption, terrorism, all the major and minor "symptoms" and "diagnosis" that has been present for decades. If we can prevent those things from happening now, the future of The Horn of Africa will look bright.      

The good news is that we don't have to wait until we are older in order to help out in anyway, we can help now. There are many ways that you can help by supporting the cause to end the East African famine. One of the most useful ways to do so is to donate food, money, etc. to any support group near you, whether they are big or small. Some support groups in North America actually have small bases in various spots in East Africa so they can actually be there to monitor and see what needs to be done so this crisis can be averted.


http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/support_groups/interstitial-cystitis-support-groups.htm#ixzz1Xx9JKL2O


The URL above is a reference site that gathers support groups together, groups that raise awareness and funds to support world issues. Because the famine in East Africa is a recent issue that is still continuing, what better way to raise awareness of the issue by promoting support groups that want to help, help with ending this crisis, issue, madness, whatever word you preferably use to describe whats going on in The Horn of Africa.


Also, if you are looking for online news articles that are related to this issue, or if you would like to stay up to date with recent news that has an effect on whats going on in The Horn of Africa, my suggestion would be to look at the non-biased, highly informed international news site; Al-Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/. If you type in keywords such as "famine" or "Horn of Africa" or even "East Africa", you'll be surprised when you see the many results; such as stories and updates, both old and new that lead to the crisis, including some intense stories about support groups workers that were abducted by Al-Shabaab (as mentioned before).

My interview with Sir Ken Robinson

Last Monday, I had the honor of interviewing education expert, Sir Ken Robinson. You may have known him through his amazing TED Talk, where he asked "Do schools kill creativity?" Last Monday, he came to Ottawa and gave a lecture on "Why finding your passion changes everything". Before his lecture, I had the pleasure of interviewing him, I couldn't have done it without the help of my fellow Radio Club comrades (thank you Najeeba and Mr. M). Before you listen to my interview I just want you to know, like with all interviewers, I get pretty nervous, I have every right to. Sadly, with my nervous curse, I have the tendency to stutter, which creates a few small instances where I mix words up. Also, more and more I realize that my voice sounds horrible when recorded, my voice may not sound that attractive at all, especially to you ladies, I understand if you feel that way, I still enjoy my single lifestyle :P. Other than that, enjoy the interview: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=babf58be1a&view=audio&msgs=132de4768102b0ad&attid=0.1&zw

More Egyptian Chaos

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/2011109155853144870.html I found this very interesting. I won't go too in to the story, i'll let the good people of Al Jazeera take care of that with the link that leads you to this article.

The Horn Of Africa

As most of you know, there's a massive drought in East Africa, and for those who don't know, well that's why I made this fucking blog, to inform you and enlighten your little minds. Ya, so, yesterday, I read and interesting article online, by BBC UK, reading about how the drought in East Africa is making a big effect on the Turkana region, here's the article in case your interested http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14458109. I believe that all this is not being settled or concluded because of the government, they are not doing their job, they are not holding their responsibility, and are not handling the situation well. In the article, they interview John Githongo, a well known anti-corruption activist. Saying in detail all the terrible things that are happening in Turkana, he explained the situation well by saying the following, "Drought is an act of God. Famine is an act of man. What we are going through - it's an act of men.” Now I'm asking you, fellow readers, what do you think about this issue? How do you feel about? And whats your view on this issue?

New Idea

I realized, maybe I should have seen this before...

Before the school year started, I realized that managing three blogs (This one and my journalism blog, and politics blog) would be somewhat difficult and unnecessary. So effective imedia..... actually rather than giving myself impossible deadlines, I'll re-post everything from my other blogs whenever I get around to it, hopefully by the end of the week or even the weekend. If I'm not busy, all the posts from S.O.R. and Politics with RED AC!D will be re-posted on this blog. Because this is my main blog, and this blog focuses on a variety of topics, I will continue to use this blog and blog about my favored topics, and branch out on topics that relate to journalism and Canadian/World politics. These are the two classes in school that require you to input your opinions on these topics through a blog.

Suicide By Star

Take 4.5 minutes of your valuable time and listen to these guys. I started listening to this band a week ago, they have a very epic sound, which is good for bands that are strictly instrumental. I love all forms of instrumental music, its a good break from hearing someone sing and focusing more on the music/instrument aspect of songs, I especially enjoy that aspect while listening to post-rock. So enough of me talking, I'll "STFU!" and let you listen. Just click the link below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZltd_nz2ag

Return/So Random

Hey, I know its been a while since my last post on this blog but i'll try my best to pay equal attention to it while i'm slaving away with homework.



Over the summer, when I was bored, I was watching TV with my younger brother, we were flipping channels until we stumbled upon this show called So Random, which happens to be a continuation of that show Demi Lovato use to be in, about the behind the curtains life about teen stars in a skecth comedy? Well, apperantly she left the show, my guess is divided into 3 possible options: 1. she still has that drug problem and is fucked in the head right now, 2. she's trying to end her drug problem and is now in rehab, or 3. She is pursuing her singing career, like what most actors/actresses are doing right now. Suprsingly, this show So Random is suprisingly funny, to me, its like SNL for kids... minus the vulgarity, oh the hilarious vulgarity. I think the origional actors from Sonny With a Chance are better off without Demi Lovato and are as funny when they focus on the actual conept of a sketch comedy. When I saw Sonny With a Chance, it sort of reminded of 30 Rock, the way I see it, it seems that the corperations are trying to cater to the younger crowd by making "kid friendly" versions of shows that older people (such as myself, and possibly other people my age, or younger) usually watch, like SNL or 30 Rock. So far, from what I have seen, So Random is a pretty decent show. Some skits from that show that I especially enjoy are: The Wheel of Fortune one, where its Taylor Swift vs. Willow Smith vs. some crazy guy that looks like he overdosed on heroin. I also like the skit, The Three Princesess of New Jersey, preferably the skit where the three princesses are doing a rendition of Cinderella. In this rendition, the two older sisters, who are still bitches, make Cinderella (the third princess) clean and cook, while they go tanning (and right away, you can see that the two evil sisters look like Snooki and J-Wow from Jersey Shore). And Cinderella is angry cause somebody stole her fancy Bon-Jovi cake (possibly a stab at Cake Boss?). All in all, the references and humor in that show are so far, surprisingly humoring me, and I beleive that the show will get better and better as time progresses.


The crazy guy on heroin that I told you about.

Looks Like This Is The End... Or Is It?

Well, its Monday... Labor Day, one more day until the first day of school, which has its ups and downs. Good for me since its the start of a brand new school year, being my last before I go into university, Bad for me since the summer went by so fast, although it didn't seem like it then, when I look back now, I realized that I did have a fun and productive summer, even though I couldn't find a summer job in the end, hopefully i'll get a job during the school year, if not, there's always next summer. As I wait for the new school year to start I wonder, what this year will have in store for me, hopefully all of my teachers this year will be good, I hope I get a good learning experience out of my classes (which usually happens, so i'm not worried about that). I will try to make a new post every week, no specific day or time as I mentioned a few posts ago, but I can't promise one post every week now because of the high amounts of homework, but I will do my best to try. 


I have to say, even though I don't you all, I like to thank those that I know and readers/followers around the world for reading and following my blog, I appreciate your time and commitment that you put towards following and reading my summer blogs that I posted every Monday. At first, I was skeptical towards whether I should have created this blog or not, I'm glad I did, after releasing my first post, I enjoyed blogging, making myself hooked on to it, continuing to update it over the summer, making it one of the things to keep me occupied for that amount of free time. The reason why I started this blog was because a friend of mine has one, he said it was a good way to get yourself out there, its like having an online journal that's public, and that the whole world can read on the internet. 


I'm thinking of expanding and upgrading my blog to newer heights, starting off with maybe some new apps, preferably a Last.Fm one that can display the tracks that i'm listening to and once a song is fully scrobbled, it will automatically update itself, showing all the tracks that i'm listening to through a mini-scrobbling app. I know Last.Fm created a gadget for that for another blogging engine, i'll see if they made a version of it for Blogger. Also I was thinking of creating either podcast's or vlogs; if I made podcast's, i'll just talk about my day and whats been going on with my life, whats been going on around me, events... basically it will be like my blog, only rather than reading posts, you'll just hear my voice, talking about the same things that I usually write about, basically following the simple concept of podcasting. Or, i'll try vlogging, but if I do, I will split between just filming myself, talking about the same things that I usually write about for this blog, and pursuing my EpicHotDogTime video project with my friend Alex. It would be like podcasting only you'll be able to see my face, and i'd get more viewers and followers since I would post the vlogs on Youtube. 




So ya, that's all I have to really say, other than that, i'm looking forward to going back to school, hoping it will be a successful year.      

The works of solo-artists

Well, only one more week of summer left, but all i'm really doing this week is getting ready for school, I think it's gonna be an awesome year, being the final year and all.

Over the past week, while listening to various bands/artists recommended to me by friends and Last.Fm, some of the music I checked out happened to be music created by solo artists who were once in other bands, or in a band/project created by a member of a former band. Does it seem like a coincidence that a good chunk of the solo artists out there were former lead singers of other bands? I realized this after stumbling upon the works of Jim Morrison of the Doors, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Hot Boys, the rap group that Lil' Wayne was in before he did is own thing and my new favorite, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. Maybe the reason why they enjoy solo-work is because they have more musical freedom, so to speak. Maybe they want to create a new image, name and face for themselves. The best example of this type of reasoning is Patrick Stump and Fall Out Boy. I like Fall Out Boy, they are a really talented band, but like a lot of popular bands, after a while, all the fame gets surprisingly overwhelming, I can imagine how they would feel. In an interview with Billboard Magazine, 60 minutes before his performance at this years Lollapalooza, Fall Out Boy front-man and guitarist Patrick Stump had some rather interesting things to say about Fall Out Boy, about how Fall Out Boy was very fraternal, actually he said that in another video but you get my point. He also said that he and the other guys of Fall Out Boy are still cool, no matter what, they still keep in touch and see each other, if you would like to know more about what Patrick thinks, here's the link to his interview with Billboard magazine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGna8NkriBU. At the time, when I heard about FOB's indefinite hiatus, that was the first time I heard and learnt about a indefinite hiatus. To me, that's just saying that their decompressing, taking a break from all the fame, they will reunite eventually, but they just don't know when, thus meaning indefinite hiatus, they became so popular, that expectations became overwhelming. From the way things are, the return of FOB will take a while, since the members are pursuing their own projects. Its neat how it works, how they made it in the underground/indie scene at first, then gaining mainstream success slowly, and eventually having a boy-band like following, i'm sure they don't aim so much for that type of attention, I don't think any band or artist would, their basically regular people with regular lives and that deep down, their good people, and that when they go solo, they seem cooler to people, making people ask themselves "isn't that the guy from that other band?", apparently its pretty hard for people to recognize Patrick Stump since he has lost so much weight and is now very skinny. For example; like if I had lunch with I don't know, Justin Timberlake, I would know about his life and how cool he is, and the fact that he's not just some pretty boy who use to be a former member of a boy-band and is now a solo-artist, also acting and appearing in Lonely Island videos. That could be, and I say "could", be the way the guys from FOB feel, and i'm sure that's what they would say if I would ever have like a sandwich at Subway with them, only in dreams sadly. Right now, the four guys are doing well on their own with their own projects, all of which sound good to me. I'm liking the sound of The Black Cards, which is a new band created by FOB bassist Pete Wentz, its basically experimental pop with a reggae twist, which actually sounds pretty interesting to me after listening to a few songs. And I know the other two guys, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley are in a heavy-metal supergroup called The Damned Things, which consists of two guys from Anthrax  and two other guys from Every Time I Die. Who knows what will be of FOB, will they get back together soon? OR, Continue with their own works for the next little while? If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to comment and express your views on this topic.

Adventure in NYC

Blogging to you from my hotel room in Newark, NJ. But next to Newark is the legendary New York City. I had fun, spending the whole day at the city, sadly I left my camera at the hotel by accident (dumb me) but I will take pictures tomorrow. Today my family and I took the subway from Harrison, NJ to Ground Zero in New York, what was once The World Trade Centre but is now being rebuilt.


Ground Zero



We then walked to the Rockefeller Centre, such a beautiful building with many stores including the advantage of going inside the NBC headquarters. My family and I managed to get a tour of that area, including the nice view from the observation deck, Top Of The Rock, sadly because I was at the top and because it was raining hard, I wasn't able to get a nice view of the entire city. Since our view was obscured by fog and rain, but going to the actual building was amazing enough, and I bought an awesome Dr. Spaceman t-shirt from the amazing NBC gift-shop.


Rockefeller Plaza


Top Of The Rock, if only the weather was nice today.


The design of my shirt, it was either this or The Lonely Island shirt, the Dick in the Box shirt, but that was only available in smaller and larger sizes, I think I made the right call.

From there, we were finding a place to eat, we went to the first place we saw, which was TGI Friday's, their Jack Daniels chicken wraps are tasty, so are their smoothies.


Jack Daniels is what makes this wrap epic hater!

After eating at TGI Friday's, we walked to Grand Central Station, its so weird to see that building in real life, after seeing it in TV shows and movie's, and the ceiling on that building is well decorated, with the drawings of constellations and the use of lights to make realistic stars on the ceiling.


Grand Central Station

From there, we walked to the UN Headquarters, which is currently under construction, well only one of the buildings so the area is kind of a rubbled mess. It wasn't I expected since the building was closed, half the building was torn apart and all the flags were taken off the flagpoles. But it was still neat to go there since my grandpa use to work there, seeing the headquarters of an important international organization was worth all the while.


UN Headquarters

From there, we took a cab to Time Square, again its so weird to see the area up close after seeing it all the time in movie's and TV, it was neat to see all the giant LCD screen billboards, giant theatres, giant mall's, and giant versions of regular chain stores (i.e. The Disney Store, Toys "R" Us, American Eagle, etc).


Time Square, I went during the day but day or night, its still amazing to look at, that and there were mostly night pictures when I searched Time Square on google images.

From there, we went back to the Plaza and had tea at this nice tea shop that was amongst the huge food court. From there, we took the subway back to Newark. After being in Newark for a couple of days, I noticed that its a really depressing and sketchy city, well the area I'm in that is. The area of Newark, where my hotel is, reminds me of a Martin Scorsese film that takes place in the 50's, but I don't want to complain, just observing. I like how the city is culturally diverse, its not just mostly Italian, its also Irish, Spanish, Brazilian and Portuguese. Hopefully, there will be more to see in the city of Newark.


Another busy day in Newark.


On a side note: after being on four different metro stations; Montreal, London, Boston and New York, which you can see in this image. I have realized that the subway is the most efficient source of public transportation, which beats chasing a cab or taking a bus any day.

Captain America Review

This movie came out a few weeks ago and all the big newspapers, snooty and judgemental critics, blogs, forums and websites have pounced on it already (in terms of reviews.....obviously, duh) and I know it is a little bit late for me to write and post this now. Of course, every critic needs some time to think about what to type and after seeing the movie twice, I started to carefully analyze it. This review will tell you why Captain America: The First Avenger is a good movie and to me, the best of the summer. This review will point out some of the reasons and examples that show why this movie is amazing, points that most critics usually don’t touch on. Reasons will include: effective comedic elements, the depth of the characters even though the main focus is on Captain America and how the movie is a good set-up for the upcoming Avengers film.

Spoiler Alert: This review does discuss about certain parts of the movie’s plot, if you want to read this but have not seen the movie, go to your local movie theatre or watch it online, however you watch movies. Or if you’re one of those people that like to read reviews before seeing the movie, regardless of spoilers, go right ahead. Anyway, in the end it’s your choice, no matter what you do in this kind of situation. 

Although the movie was action-packed and had a very serious tone, it also contained some comedic elements that many may enjoy. Many will find that Captain America’s speedy metabolism created a laugh because while he explained it, he also explained why he cannot get drunk when he is trying to. Another humorous scene was when after Dr. Erskine told Steve about Johann Schmidt/Red Skull and raised a glass “for the little guys”. When Steve was about to drink, Dr. Erskine said “what I’m I doing? No fluids before the experiment”, and Steve said “Okay, we’ll drink after” and Dr. Erskine said “why after? I’ll drink now”. Many will find that exchange of sentences between the two very comical. Another humorous scene was when Steve and the other recruits were training; the drill sergeant showed them a flagpole and said that whoever gets the flag down first gets to ride back to the base with Agent Carter. So the recruits desperately tried to get the flag by climbing the flagpole. After they had all failed, Steve found the easy (and possibly obvious) solution, by taking the screws off the flagpole, making it fall and then getting the flag, earning his ride back to the base with Agent Carter. These are some examples of humour that were displayed throughout the movie. 

Dr. Erskine (left) and Steve Rogers (right) sharing a drink, well... almost. What you see on the top is what Chris Evans (Captain America) looks like before they used CGI to make him short and skinny (as seen below). The use of computer graphics and technology used in the making of this film is impressive, I could go on and on, but that’s another story.

The characters in the movie had a lot of depth which is good for a film like Captain America because that way the movie portrays itself as a movie with good morals and moral complexities that people can relate to. Steve Rogers/Captain America was a very complex character with various troubles that occurred both before and after he turned into Captain America (i.e. girl problems, etc). Before Steve became Captain America, he was already courageous and brave. A good example of this expressed attitude was when Colonel Phillips threw a “dummy” grenade at the training recruits, all the men were hiding behind walls and vehicles, while Steve jumped towards the grenade and was covering it with his body, willing to sacrifice himself to save the people. Another good example of Captain America expressing his complexity was through the fact that he wanted to do more for his country and actually fight in the war, rather than being just a boytoy (propaganda figure) for the US Military. Examples of other characters showing depth included the fact that Agent Carter looked past Steve’s looks when he turned into CA and admired him as a person, not a pretty boy with abs of steel. These examples show why Captain America was not just an action hero, but a hero with depth, alongside with the other characters in the movie, who shared the same level of depth as Captain America did.

Captain America showing his courage and bravery by sacrificing himself to save NYC, a perfect example of well displayed courage.

The movie does an awesome job setting up and preparing cinephiles and comic book lovers for the upcoming Avengers movie, coming out on May 4^th, 2012. The way they made Captain America the final “key” to the Avengers was smart because he was the first avenger who had much knowledge about The Avengers opponent, Hydra. If The Avengers was formed without CA then they would not know what they are fighting for or what their fighting against.  He woke up after being “asleep” for at least 70 years. The ending of the movie (including the post-credit scene) will certainly keep fans on their feet for next year; the wait was over since SHIELD has found Captain America, the final member, who will now fight alongside The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye, and will be guided by the leading Agent Nick Fury of SHIELD. These are some of the main reasons on why Captain America (as a film) has done a good job by setting things up for the upcoming Avengers film.  

The final “key” has been found, it will now be used to unlock the box containing a group of awesome superheroes. 

Now that’s what I call a fully assembled team, like The Expendables, only more epic.

There are many important elements that make this a good movie, such as: comedic elements, depth of characters and how the movie paves the way for the upcoming Avengers film. Most critics will look at other elements and judge the movie in a different way. The elements that I chose to consider are as important, looking deeper into the film.    

 

Don’t waste your excitement my friends, the celebration will come soon, real soon. 

Favorite Concept Albums

As you may know, stories play a vital role in our world, our lives; we grew up listening to fairy tales that our parents read to us before going to bed. I love a good story, to me, its an escape from the harsh aspects of reality. What i'm about to show you, is a list containing all (well, a good chunk) of my favorite concept albums, and concept album series. If you read this, come of you may debate whether some of these albums or series of albums are actually concept albums, but I think some of these are concept albums, that contain songs that hold a similar theme or idea. Please feel free to comment or criticize, it will be the only way i'll learn more than I need to for this collection of albums.

1. Jay-Z - American Gangster
 
The albums theme, story, concept happens to be based on the film of the same name (American Gangster). Coincidentally the release date of both the album and movie were in the same month and year, only the movie came out 4 days before the album came out.  Each song in the album having a small mini-story, also rapping/singing about how complex we as humans are, some songs touching on Jay-Z's past, living in the projects of Brooklyn. It was interesting to learn that President Obama is a fan of this album. Definitely a work of art to me, one of Jay-Z's best albums.

2. Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns 

Linkin Park was one of the few alternative groups that grew up with while starting to develop an interest for the genre when I was 10. I like how they developed their sound over the years, adding an experimental twist to the album. Their songs now have more intense lyrics, all relating to the concept of nuclear warfare, how humans fear it, also possibly fearing the role of technology, its revolution in the world, taking over the original concept of the human idea. This album possibly shows how we cannot see the future and the possible defaults that are soon to come as the world moves forward.

3. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

When I first heard about this band, I actually thought, judging by their name, that they were some epic-prog-rock band. Thanks to this band, I was curious to read the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name, and I did, and now its my favorite Shakespearean tragedy of all time. I enjoy learning about the Civil War, and in all honesty, this album is a good studying aid (I live in Canada, so I didn't learn about the Civil War, since it was America's problem). The album shows a good depiction of what life was like during the Civil War, the regular lives of folks working, doing their part in the war, what normal life was like then. I liked how the album was named after the USS Monitor, and how the album closed with the song "The Battle of Hampton Roads" which was the battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. A good blend of concept and history.

4. Thrice - The Alchemy Index (Vols 1-4)

By far, one of my favorite series of concept albums, studying the mythology and folklore behind the four main elements that build up our world, always interests me. I would like to think they used the Medicine Wheel (part of Aboriginal spirituality) as a huge reference towards this series of albums and what they stand for. Learning about the Medicine Wheel in my religions class (if you care to enlighten yourself, or learn about the medicine wheel, read this http://www.dancingtoeaglespiritsociety.org/Images/medw5.gif), each mini-album has  a unique sound relating to the selected element, the feelings, emotions, atmosphere, what role the element plays in nature and the world around us, the good it does, the bad it does, man's use for it, etc. Each mini-album has a sound that tries to connect with the element. Fire, you get Thrice's original post-hardcore sound. Water, you get a mix of electronica and soft alternative rock, reminiscent of Radiohead's Kid-A (as stated before by Allmusic magazine, and I agree). Air, take water, make it less electronic and more ambient, you get the sound of air. Earth, take Dustin Kensrue's (Thrice front-man) solo works and make them more dirty and gritty, which is what earth is meant to be and look like, for those who aren't fond of Dustin's solo work, its basically Acoustic Folk Rock. Earth sounds like that, only with a twist of dark themes and blues music.

5. The Deer Hunter - The Color Spectrum 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed their original story (Acts 1-3) singing in detail about The Deer Hunter and his quest to learn more about his family. But the concept of singing about the colors of the rainbow is a complex thing to write and sing about, not many artists and bands have tried but The Deer Hunter tried and succeeded.

6. Pink Floyd - The Wall
 
A classic among classics. One man, feeling isolated from the world because of so many judgmental people, being separated from society by a wall.

7. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

A rather dull story told by thematic and powerful songs.

8. My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys 

A perfect example of fighting for what you believe in, also the world that the band paints in their songs and videos interests me.

9. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Massive contradictions: messages of peace and love, and the rock star cliches of sex and drugs.


10. Coheed and Cambria - The Armory Wars Saga
 
All their albums that lead up to the comics are amazing. They always go into detail, I always enjoy their sound, and how each album is mildly different from each other (in terms of sound). 


Finally, saving the best for last. 11. Tyler, The Creator.


i. Bastard 


At first I was skeptical of whether or not this is an actual concept album, so asked if his albums were concept albums on Yahoo Answers. I received mixed answers, some saying it wasn't, some saying yes. In the end I used my own judgement and thought "yeah, they actually are concept albums". In most of his interviews, Tyler states that he likes to go into detail, and that every song is like a movie that way. Of course each album is like a story leading up to what Tyler is up to, in Bastard he meets Dr. TC (presumably the schools psychologist) and during their "first session" Tyler talks about a wide range of various topics, such as why he hates his dad. Also, what we tend to hear when listening to this album, we tend to hear a lot of Tyler's dark thoughts. 



ii. Goblin 

Otherwise known as "the second session", for further details on the themes of this album, a friend of mine will cover that http://itsoddhowpeopleshake.blogspot.com/2011/05/tyler-creator-goblin-review.html. The ending of this album is so fucked up, I now wonder what the third album will sound like, not just that, but also what themes Tyler will attack and what the state of Tyler will be, will he be the same? Or will he suddenly change due to the ending?

Why Russell Crowe plays a vital role in education

I also enjoy looking back at those days of school, thinking about those great moments I had, a good chunk of it being fun, hanging with friends, learning all the amazing things that I like to learn, I don't know about you guys, but I like school for many reasons (which includes friends and learning). During my Media Studies class, we were studying a unit on film studies (around the time after the holidays). At the beginning of the unit, we were talking about the western film; its sub-genres and how it’s an old film genre that has lead a legacy in terms of how films today are filmed and formatted. After two straight classes of note taking, we watched 3:10 To Yuma (the remake, in case you were wondering, great film btw). After learning that Russell Crowe was in it, I then asked myself "wait a second, wasn't that the dude from those two other movies that I saw previously in school?" Of course having to not pay attention cause I would either be hanging with my group of friends in that class (we were, including one other guy, like the only guys in our class) with that having to hear my friends talk to the girls at the front, or the girls talking to us (oh high school :P) (I don't usually say much, I would just draw or just be quite) or, try my best to concentrate on the movie (luckily I watched it again at home after). But after learning that Russell Crowe was in that movie made me remember the last two times I’ve seen a movie with him in it, both those times being at school. First time being when we watched Cinderella Man in history class in gr.10 (after a unit, we would watch a movie that's based on that unit) after learning about post-WWI history (the 20's, The Great Depression, etc.) we watched Cinderella Man, since it depicted a lot of what we learned about when learning about The Great Depression. Second time being after our health unit about alcohol and drugs, we watched American Gangster (also starring Crowe) while watching the movie we discussed about the illegal trafficking and smuggling of drugs. Which is weird cause we didn't even talk about that earlier on during that unit, I recommended to my gym teacher that we should have watched The Basketball Diaries instead, but he said no because of its intense and somewhat disturbing plot, which is weird because American Gangster is 18A and has a lot of violence and gore while The Basketball Diaries  is 14A and has a lot of not only "drug addicted related problems" but also things that we as teenagers can relate to (then again, the thought of Leo DiCaprio's character doing crazy fucked-up things for drugs (you'd know what I mean if you have seen the movie) makes me cringe). Also, a friend of mine from another school happened to watch Gladiator in his Ancient Civilizations class while learning about the Roman Empire. Another friend of mine, from another school, her class watched A Beautiful Mind in her Sociology class while learning about the basic psychology, mental health and behaviours of human beings. This explains why Russell Crowe is probably a tool of education to most teachers, a quick answer to edutainment, or could this all be a coincidence?

The thing we all want, is it destroying me?

Okay, so I know it’s been a while since my previous blog post, I have been busy with family and volunteer work, and for that I haven't been updating my blog for the past while or so. During that time, I had some time to think about what I wanted to write about for this post. During the past week, I spent a lot of quality time with my cousins (thus being busy with family), one day, I showed my cousin my yearbook, and he then asked me while looking at it, asking if I had a girlfriend. I answered honestly, saying "no". He then laughed jokingly saying that I should have a girlfriend. Even though he was joking (and with that, I found his reaction towards me telling him I’m single to be hilarious). Even though I took it as a joke, that night, I couldn't stop thinking about what he said, it made me ask myself "SHIT!, why don't I have a fucking girlfriend?". Then, I asked myself "Why it is that society makes it so important to have a partner?" and "Why do they portray relationships as a thing that keeps you vital?" I got tired of asking myself questions after and then started to look back on all my previous attempts of trying to find that special someone, I tried 3 times, and failed all 3 times. After the third time, I was depressed for a little bit and then learned that it’s okay to not have a girlfriend. From then on, I became a proud single person. Although I’m happy with my new lifestyle, I still tend to envy those who are shackled to each other. I tend to feel sad, sad by the fact that I have no one to talk too, share food with, cuddle with, etc. This is probably why I don't care about happy endings in movies, plays. And even some romance films (basically I hate all romantic comedy's, except for The Notebook, which actually had a decent story, but I bet many of you can relate). So, the real situation here is the fact that, I love being single, it’s a lifestyle that suits me, if that's so, then why do I have the certain urge to like a certain girl once in a while? Why can’t I forget about it and move on? Why are these feelings mildly interfering with my life when it’s at peace, and importantly, when I’m at peace? So my answer to the question: Is the thing that we all want, is it destroying me? Yes.

What are we really? (first blog)

Well, for the past few weeks or so (since I created my blog), I have been suffering from writer's block, that and I was busy with end of the year assignments and exams (by the 3rd week I knew what I was going to write for this first blog post, but I didn't have the time due to the high amount of exam preparation and studying), now I’m busy with studying for my end of the year exams. Now, because I have the time to write this, I will start this blog off with a poem that I wrote. Well, the only reason why I wrote this poem was because it was for an assignment (are class did a unit on poetry so we had to create slam-poems as our end of the unit assignments). I didn't think that much about what I was writing, but then I started to pay attention to what I wrote, what seemed like a simple task had a lot of hidden complexity behind it, a type of complexity that I learned about and paved attention to after my presentation. Okay, now I have been typing away for a while here, so now here's my poem.


Title: Those Damn Expectations Always Clouding My Dreams 

You hope, and you dream. But you never believe

that something's gonna happen for you.

Not like it does in the movies.

And when it actually does, you want it to feel different,

more visceral, more real.

I was waiting for it to hit me, but it just wouldn't happen.

Even though it didn’t hit me

That doesn’t mean it won’t hit you

You just have to keep believing

That someday maybe not to day maybe not tomorrow

Or maybe not in a year

But someday it will hit you

And you’ll feel extraordinary

You’ll feel as if you were just shun on by a thousand suns

You’ll feel as if no one can hurt you

For that one day you will be yourself

And not something someone else wants you to be

You’ll be yourself so enjoy it as it lasts

Cause at any point, at any time

But, like most of the time, you won’t be yourself anymore you

Will be that person someone else wants you to be

Thank you

I thought a lot about expectations and why they seem to be a big deal in our world after presenting my poem to the class.