Recyclables

One thing that I try to do whenever I post something on here (which isn't very often apparently) is create a title that makes you want to read at least part of this to see what it's actually about. The title, to me at least, works because I'm going to talk about things that I encourage you to discuss with other people, or to, at the very least, post a response on the bottom of this thing. Most of this is pretty ridiculous stuff, but some I consider to be pretty good conversation. We'll start with the former.

I'll start this by saying I have no idea what sparked this thought. I've never thought about this beforehand and I doubt I'll think about this much after writing this, but I just have to bring it up. Alright, so hopefully you are all familiar with the cartoon "Duck Tales". If not, I'll just say that the main characters (basically) consist of "Uncle Scrooge", as well as Huey, Duey, and Luey, who are Scrooge's nephews. Now, I don't know if I missed this in one of the first episodes of this cartoon or not, but where exactly are the three kids' parents? I mean, they live with their uncle, so I assume that the parents aren't in the picture anymore, but did they die, or did they go on a very long vacation, or are they mounted on somebody's wall? Obviously, this is a very random thought, but I wonder why I never asked myself that question before. If anyone reading this knows the answer to this riddle, could you please let me know.

This next one is something I would consider to be better conversation. I am currently in the process of looking for and applying to a number of jobs. This would be what you would consider my first "REAL JOB", so I would say it's a pretty big deal. Now, I completely understand the reasoning behind "entry-level jobs" and "bottom-tier work" and things like that. Advancing in a company is something that has been around for ages, and I can respect that ... To a point. These days it seems like there is more emphasis preference on "outside hiring" than hiring within the structure of a company. Perhaps that is a misconception I have. Another thing though is if I have all of the skill that the other guy has and I am just as competent, why does him having a year of experience somewhere else (where they could run things very differently) give him an edge over me? I suppose if I were the guy with the experience then I would feel the opposite about all of that. I guess this is more of a comment on how it is hard these days to get your foot in the door unless you have contacts within the company. Hopefully I will be proved wrong in the next month or two and be hired to places I am applying for and would very much love to work. Don't worry, I will definitely keep you posted on that.

Alright, last thing. Take this for what you will. Honesty is a big thing for me. I know I am in the minority here, but I would much rather be told the truth about something, even if it supposedly will "hurt my feelings" or something. Some might call that being a glutton for punishment, but I think of it more as taking a large dose of constructive criticism. If you think about it, people who are honest with you, more often than not, want what is best for you. If they are going to tell you the truth about something, it is probably likely that this advice is in your best interest. Yes, it may bring a harsh truth or reality into clearer focus, but isn't that a good thing? I know a number of people that would disagree with me, but that doesn't really bother me too much. Let me give you a small example that came up today. For instance, if I bought something for someone and they didn't like it, I would prefer them to tell me that, as opposed to making me think they like it. One reason is because if they don't like it, I don't want to buy it for them again. Secondly, I think if a person can be that honest with me then they are comfortable enough with the type of person I am. Helps me figure out which people I get along with the best. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I really would like input about all of this. I'm a very curious person, so anytime I can get other people's insights into my own thoughts, it is very helpful. Hopefully I can try getting back in the habit of this whole blog thing so we can share more of these crazy ideas.

Grab Bag

Alright folks, it has been over a month since my last post, closer to two I think, so I think now is the best time to go ahead and continue on with this whole blog thing. Unfortunately there has not been much that I have wanted to write about lately, so I am just going to go with a number of random thoughts for now. I'll do my best to make my mind interesting and easy to read for all of you readers out there.

First thing that comes to my mind is that the Pittsburgh Penguins are the Stanley Cup Champions. This is actually something that I am very happy about. When I was a little kid I used to play hockey, as you would know if you read my last post. Our team name for two of the three years was the Penguins (the other year we were the Blackhawks). Since then I have been an avid follower. Unless you are one of those bandwagon groupies who chooses to fall in love with the Yankees, Lakers, or Red Wings when you're a kid, championships don't come too often for your team, so when they do, they are very sweet. Summing it up, Go Penguins!

I'm getting into golf. Somehow, I went from a guy who cannot hit the ball straight to save his life to a guy who can hit the ball straight but not too far. I, of course, blame this on the club. Anyway, I have been wanting to go golfing here for the last couple weeks, but for some reason the day finds it necessary to rain. Constantly. I'll even be fooled when I wake up in the morning and see some blue sky, but by the time I get out of the shower the clouds have rolled in and the rain has turned on. Now, if I were still living in Houston I would just chalk it up to living an hour away from the coast. Problem is, I live in a desert. Last summer it rained twice the whole summer. I think there have been two days this whole month that it hasn't rained. Summing it up, I want to golf.

Lastly, I am ready to get a job. Not one of those bottom rung jobs that anyone from the ages of 15-87 can have, but a real job. After asking around, I seem to be one of the only people that feel this way. Most of the people my age that I ask this to seem to want to stay in college forever. I get that it is a great time of life and everything, but don't you want to put to work all those things that you have studied for the last 16-20 years of your life? Granted, I probably won't be doing much long division or reading Hansel and Gretel, but school is so much of your life up until this point, I would think more people would be ready to be done with it. Maybe I'm just too anxious. Maybe I just am excited to work in the field that I'm going to be working. Summing it up, I want a job.

There you go folks. I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.

Hockey In Houston

Growing up in Houston, Texas was one of the greatest things that I have done. Of course, I didn't have much say in the matter, but I sure enjoyed it. One thing that I really loved was how much sports were emphasized, even from a really young age. I think that between the ages of five and twelve I tried out six or seven different sports. None of them, however, could hold a candle to hockey.

I know what most of you are thinking. Hockey? In Texas? Is there even any ice there? Well, no. There is not a great deal of ice in Houston. Luckily, street hockey is the answer to that problem.

When I was ten years old I started playing street hockey, the roller-blade variety. Yes, there was an option where I could wear tennis shoes and run around after the ball. In fact, the first time I signed up I opted for the tennis shoe league because I had never really been on roller-blades before. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it would turn out, there was a mix up when assigning me a team and I ended up on a roller hockey team instead. Result? One of the best mix ups to happen to me in those early years of life.

For the next three years I was a part of a roller hockey team that posted a record of 28-2. Those first two losses came in the first year I played. I had the same coach all three years, and the core group of players remained. I would have played longer if I could have, but the sport became pretty expensive.

There were at least three games that I can remember where I scored at least three goals, a hat trick. For some reason, I seemed to have a natural ability for this sport. Granted, this could very well be because I was playing hockey in Houston, a city (and state as it were) that had hockey as probably the eight or ninth most popular sport. I'll tell you what though, I loved every minute of it.

Moral of the story, be open minded to a number of different things. You never know when you will run across something different that you grow to love. I could have very easily ignored the chance to play hockey and gone for football, the crown sport of Texas, basketball, soccer, or any number of other sports. Luckily, I took a chance, at the age of ten nonetheless, and came out on top.

The Frozen Tundra

No, this post is not about Lambeau Field. I know that might be hard to believe, but it's true. I'm referring to Logan, Utah. Yes, that frozen desert of a wasteland that I've called home for the last two and a half years. Now this is by no means a shot to all those wonderful people who love Logan and have lived here for their entire lives. There are plenty of great things about this place. The snow, however, is not one of those great things.

I am from Houston, Texas. The most snow I've ever seen there was probably when i was seven years old. I remember I was at school and, out of nowhere, my teacher told us to grab our coats and follow her outside. Once we finally walked outside, we saw what amounted to snow flurries. Of course, us kids thought that it was a full on blizzard. We stayed outside for about thirty minutes, staring up into the sky and spinning around in circles. That is my idea of playing in the snow.

All of this was brought on by the eight or so inches of snow that has fallen here in the past day or two. The stark contrast between the two just blows my mind. Living here for almost three years still hasn't done much to acclimatize myself to all the snow that falls here throughout the year. All I know, is that if it is still snowing here come May 1 (like it did last year), I may just have to relocate to Jamaica or the deep jungles of Brazil. Only time will tell on this one.

Memories of Spring

When I was a kid, I loved going to the park. Usually it was to play football with the other kids from my school, but I was in love with jumping off swings and sliding down slides as well. Of course, that lumps me into a massive group with about ninety percent of other children. Let's be honest though, if that many kids like something, then it must be pretty awesome, right?

My favorite time to be outside was in the Spring. To me, that was the premier time to go to the park and swing or slide in the usually humid city of Houston, Texas. There was nothing quite like swinging so high that you would partially fly out of the swing on your way back down because of inertia and momentum and all that other scientific lingo. Talk about a rush! Amazingly, I think I could count on one hand the number of accidents that have befallen me as a result of being crazy on a swing.

Another thing that I really liked to do was make my way to the highest point on the playground and look down at everything. Back then, and even now, it was hard for me to understand the fear people had of heights. Of course, the fear of falling from heights is a much different matter. Anyway, I remember I would climb on to the top part of the slide and stand up and look out at everything that I could see. I would then proclaim myself the "King of the Playground". Sometimes I would substitute "king" with other dominant words such as "Ruler", "Czar", or "Ultra Dominator". All of them were great fits though, so it didn't particularly matter to me which ones my friends decided to use.

After a long afternoon of "ruling my domain" I would usually find a nice big tree somewhere and lay down underneath it. I would stare up into the branches usually looking for squirrels (which were more common than mosquitoes it seemed) and birds. This, of course, resulted in a great deal of bark falling into my eyes, which I'm still convinced has something to do with the sad state of my ability to see these days. More often than not I would fall asleep for twenty or thirty minutes and then wake up wondering why all of the blankets had been pulled off of me. It usually took me about a minute to remember where I was and what was going on.

Those were definitely the "care-free days" that most people long for. Not much to care about besides a page of math homework and wondering when the next time I'd get to play Mega Man was. To me though, Spring Time equaled Park Time. Nothing quite like it.

WotD #3 - Diminution

Ok, so it's been a long time since I've done this. Lately, I have had the awful feeling that I just have no desire to work anymore. Not as in my job but as in assignments for class. I distinctly remember having this feeling about 6 years ago when I was a senior in high school. Back then, I believe this was referred to as "Senioritis". That feeling went into recession a few years ago, but has come back with a force and is dominating my subconcious.

Oddly enough, the word of the day today is "Diminution". I thought this picture was perfect to describe my lack of desire to do those assignments. Just replace "Sales" with "Go-Get-Em" or something like that.

The duck could be my conscience yelling at me, shouting, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE ALMOST THERE! QUIT SLACKIN' OFF!!!" If the duck is my conscience, then I might be the mouse looking down into the hole thinking, "Wow, I didn't think it had dropped THAT far".

Let me level with you. I am still working and trying hard. It's just become increasingly difficult to care about it. Perhaps I suffer more from complacency than anything else. Doesn't everybody go through that stage though? Thankfully this is just showing its face, so if I can stave it off long enough then I just might be able to ride the holidays out until the summer break gets here.

Here's to hoping summer gets here before too long!

WotD #2 - Girandole

Alright, today's word of the day is "Girandole". Yup, the picture of one is right over there --->

I'm not going to lie. I don't know a single thing about these girandoles. This will probably be a very quick post with an explanation that is totally out there. But, I did say that I would try doing this every now and again, so here we go...

Right now I'm working at a high school as a peer mentor/teacher's aide. Basically I help students with anything they need help with and grade papers or other things like that. It's actually not that bad of a gig. Anyway, in one of the English classes that I work, the class is reading an abriged version of Great Expectations. We just read the part where Pip first heads over to Ms. Havisham's place.

So, Pip walks into the mansion on the heels of Estella, and he meets up with the disheveled Ms. Havisham. She's sitting in a chair dressed in a faded wedding dress and one white shoe. The room that is described seems equally faded and run-down, but is still adorned with expensive looking furniture and other such appliances. Granted, there was no electricity back then, but I can totally see this girandole sitting right in the middle of one of Ms. Havisham's tables.

I know this wasn't any amazing beacon of light and understanding by any means, but I think it will suffice those of you who have just become so rivited on my WotD posts. Let me know what you think.