Hey everybody!
Wow it has almost been a week since I last posted...I am a failure.
I tried 100 days straight, but life has since gotten in the way. I will let you guys know however that it was not for good reason that I haven't been posting... I have been invited to go to Brazil in August (or maybe July) to work with my friends Mark and Ali Kaiser(http://markandali.blogspot.com/) in Itu, Sao Paulo, interning with a church but focusing on economic development. I have been getting really excited about the things that could end up happening. They are in town, along with my friends Pedro, and Gabriel and we have been working out details of what can happen. Systems could be changing and my life is going to be very different if it all works out. If I do go, I am planning on staying in Brazil and going to grad school there. So while there are still a lot of obstacles, but it's looking more and more like it will happen.
So thats why I haven't been blogging
Ya!
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
IR (that means to go in Spanish hmm) International Relations
Buenas everybody!!!
Hey so today I had to turn in a paper for international political economy. Tomorrow I have my last final in American Political thought, and then I'm out of here. I'm headed to Dallas tomorrow going to go see my friend Ro, and my friends Mark and Ali.
I'm supposed to graduate from ACU with a degree in Political Science focusing on International Relations and I don't like politics. Honestly, I don't enjoy politics, I'm going to get a degree in something that I don't enjoy. That kind of stinks. Don't get me wrong, I think its very interesting however if I was doing what I really enjoy I would be getting a degree in International Studies. The difference between the two is that International Studies is more focused on history, culture, and language while International Relations focuses on the Politics between countries. "Science is my passion, but politics is my duty" Thomas Jefferson I think this is a really interesting quotation because I feel the same way. I think that the only way that I can really help people is by working to change policy. I am a very passionate person, and what I am passionate about is trying to improve peoples lives. I feel like with my gifts and talents I have to work in the government. So right now I'm moving towards this type of career...I don't know if that is where I'm going to end up, but I know that I want to be helping people.
just some thoughts
good night everybody
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Hey so today I had to turn in a paper for international political economy. Tomorrow I have my last final in American Political thought, and then I'm out of here. I'm headed to Dallas tomorrow going to go see my friend Ro, and my friends Mark and Ali.
I'm supposed to graduate from ACU with a degree in Political Science focusing on International Relations and I don't like politics. Honestly, I don't enjoy politics, I'm going to get a degree in something that I don't enjoy. That kind of stinks. Don't get me wrong, I think its very interesting however if I was doing what I really enjoy I would be getting a degree in International Studies. The difference between the two is that International Studies is more focused on history, culture, and language while International Relations focuses on the Politics between countries. "Science is my passion, but politics is my duty" Thomas Jefferson I think this is a really interesting quotation because I feel the same way. I think that the only way that I can really help people is by working to change policy. I am a very passionate person, and what I am passionate about is trying to improve peoples lives. I feel like with my gifts and talents I have to work in the government. So right now I'm moving towards this type of career...I don't know if that is where I'm going to end up, but I know that I want to be helping people.
just some thoughts
good night everybody
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Like Ants
Que pasa ustedes?
I hope everyone is doing well tonight! I almost though with finals only two more to go!!! I had two finals today, they were pretty rough...not that they were that hard its just that one was at 8 am... which isn't to bad usually, but it is horrible for a final. Hopefully it will end up good though. Today I got to have lunch with my good friend Ryan, then I went to church, and tonight I had dinner with a group of amazing girls.
This week has been such a grind, and it keeps on going. Its funny in times that are difficult like this the things that people can accomplish...finals week really can't compare to the people who move boulders and lift cars when their loved ones are in danger. It just amazes me what it is that people can really accomplish when they have no reservations.
Hey ive got to study.
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
I hope everyone is doing well tonight! I almost though with finals only two more to go!!! I had two finals today, they were pretty rough...not that they were that hard its just that one was at 8 am... which isn't to bad usually, but it is horrible for a final. Hopefully it will end up good though. Today I got to have lunch with my good friend Ryan, then I went to church, and tonight I had dinner with a group of amazing girls.
This week has been such a grind, and it keeps on going. Its funny in times that are difficult like this the things that people can accomplish...finals week really can't compare to the people who move boulders and lift cars when their loved ones are in danger. It just amazes me what it is that people can really accomplish when they have no reservations.
Hey ive got to study.
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Clouds
Hey everybody!!! Buenas!!!
So today I had two finals one for public administration and the other in Latin-American cinema. Tomorrow I have one in microeconomics and I have to present a final project in social research.
Tonight I worked with Tony and Coleen on getting our project done...one of my main responsibilities was going at getting about thirty surveys filled out for our project. So I walked around the library, called in a few favors, and passed them out to a cloud of freshmen girls. At first they seemed a bit hesitant, but then I told them that the survey is about marriage. They jumped on that thing faster than a bunch of thirteen year old boys on peperoni pizzas after a swimming party. I'm kind of wierded out by our freshman class this year, we already have 3 freshman girls who are engaged to guys who they met this semester here at ACU. I don't know if what they are feeling is love, but I know that when I was a freshman I was not ready for any kind of relationship of that level. I don't want to say that it can't work, because my parents were really young when they were wed... but I wish that they would wait until they got through with a few years of college... or even dating a few more months.
well I dont have that much to say
but
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
So today I had two finals one for public administration and the other in Latin-American cinema. Tomorrow I have one in microeconomics and I have to present a final project in social research.
Tonight I worked with Tony and Coleen on getting our project done...one of my main responsibilities was going at getting about thirty surveys filled out for our project. So I walked around the library, called in a few favors, and passed them out to a cloud of freshmen girls. At first they seemed a bit hesitant, but then I told them that the survey is about marriage. They jumped on that thing faster than a bunch of thirteen year old boys on peperoni pizzas after a swimming party. I'm kind of wierded out by our freshman class this year, we already have 3 freshman girls who are engaged to guys who they met this semester here at ACU. I don't know if what they are feeling is love, but I know that when I was a freshman I was not ready for any kind of relationship of that level. I don't want to say that it can't work, because my parents were really young when they were wed... but I wish that they would wait until they got through with a few years of college... or even dating a few more months.
well I dont have that much to say
but
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hello everybody!
Buenas!!! I hope everything is good for everyone.
Finals are here. I am sitting here watching a movie in spanish to get ready for my latin american cinema test tomorrow and reading for public administration... its going to be a crazy week.
When I was a kid my grandparents used to have a dog. His name was Cisco, he and I were pups together. When I was about 3 I had a candy in my mouth, however it fell out and Cisco jumped on it so fast...but i jumped on him. I grabbed him and put him in a headlock an pried that piece of candy out of his jaws and popped it back into my mouth. Once when we were playing in the backyard and I was losing tug-o-war, my small hands just could not hold on to the rope in comparison to his jaws. So I did the logical thing at the time and put the rope in my mouth and tried to win like this. Needless to say I still lost...but what was funny is I would lose and pout, but Cisco would come and put the rope on my lap and the competitive nature just drove me crazy and I had to keep trying.
You know its funny to me things like this...because sometimes our natures and our wants seem to get in the way of what may be the best thing. However, the only way to learn is to make mistakes.
I don't know
just some ideas
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Buenas!!! I hope everything is good for everyone.
Finals are here. I am sitting here watching a movie in spanish to get ready for my latin american cinema test tomorrow and reading for public administration... its going to be a crazy week.
When I was a kid my grandparents used to have a dog. His name was Cisco, he and I were pups together. When I was about 3 I had a candy in my mouth, however it fell out and Cisco jumped on it so fast...but i jumped on him. I grabbed him and put him in a headlock an pried that piece of candy out of his jaws and popped it back into my mouth. Once when we were playing in the backyard and I was losing tug-o-war, my small hands just could not hold on to the rope in comparison to his jaws. So I did the logical thing at the time and put the rope in my mouth and tried to win like this. Needless to say I still lost...but what was funny is I would lose and pout, but Cisco would come and put the rope on my lap and the competitive nature just drove me crazy and I had to keep trying.
You know its funny to me things like this...because sometimes our natures and our wants seem to get in the way of what may be the best thing. However, the only way to learn is to make mistakes.
I don't know
just some ideas
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Pizza
Buenas everybody!!
Ah so blogging is getting harder everyday, but I will keep trying to be faithful.
Today I watched some football, studied for tests this week, went to church, and went to a Christmas party. I also discovered the bane of my existence lately...stumble upon.com...look it up.
I think about how people can change. I know that today I am a very different person compared to a few years ago. I am still me, but while remaining who I am I have grown. When I was a kid I used to hate having vegetables on my pizza I thought that it just completely ruined the whole meaning of what it meant to be eating pizza. I thought my parents were disgusting for eating it. Today, I will eat just about anything on pizza. I like a little supreme, love jalapenos, I even enjoy a pineapple pizza every now and again. (actually if you want a really good pizza try sweet corn and pineapple on a brick oven style crust) Now I have been told that as we get older some of our taste buds die and we go looking for stronger flavors to replace our whats left of our mortuary of a mouth and keep the enjoyment of eating food. But what I'm getting at with this alliteration is that sometimes when your younger you just aren't ready for somethings and it takes growth before you are. Now this isn't a new idea, but I'm learning about it more and more in my livin and lovin...
Keep me and all the other college students in your prayers because finals are here and there is a lot of stress in the air.
but
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Ah so blogging is getting harder everyday, but I will keep trying to be faithful.
Today I watched some football, studied for tests this week, went to church, and went to a Christmas party. I also discovered the bane of my existence lately...stumble upon.com...look it up.
I think about how people can change. I know that today I am a very different person compared to a few years ago. I am still me, but while remaining who I am I have grown. When I was a kid I used to hate having vegetables on my pizza I thought that it just completely ruined the whole meaning of what it meant to be eating pizza. I thought my parents were disgusting for eating it. Today, I will eat just about anything on pizza. I like a little supreme, love jalapenos, I even enjoy a pineapple pizza every now and again. (actually if you want a really good pizza try sweet corn and pineapple on a brick oven style crust) Now I have been told that as we get older some of our taste buds die and we go looking for stronger flavors to replace our whats left of our mortuary of a mouth and keep the enjoyment of eating food. But what I'm getting at with this alliteration is that sometimes when your younger you just aren't ready for somethings and it takes growth before you are. Now this isn't a new idea, but I'm learning about it more and more in my livin and lovin...
Keep me and all the other college students in your prayers because finals are here and there is a lot of stress in the air.
but
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Names
AHGG!
I'm late again! NOOO! I almost forgot to do it tonight completely. Finals and friends have been getting in the way lately, so I'm officially going to suspend my 12 o'clock deadline until finals are over.
So tonight I got to go see my friend Aryanne who studied abroad with me in Uruguay, she just had a birthday so it was great to get to see her. Then I got to talk with my good friend Alisha which was really good.
One thing we talked about was people. I have two roommates who work as waiters at Chili's, and I have gotten to know the restaurant business through their eyes some. So now I usually tip fairly well at restaurants. I think that you can tell a lot about someones character by the way they treat people who are serving them, people like waiters, janitors, cafeteria workers, handymen. For one, if you believe its a good idea to treat the person that is handling your food poorly then you probably should get it though your head that they handle your food...like you will probably eat what they bring to you eventually. More importantly I think that if someone can treat another human poorly, because of the job that they hold, it shows that they hold themselves to be very highly situated in the world, among other things. They are people too. Do you know the names of the janitor at the place that you work, the name of the waiter or waitress that you usually have at your favorite restaurant, or the handyman who helps fix things around your apartment complex/work/neighborhood? I just have one challenge for everyone. Learn their names
well those are the thoughts for today
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
I'm late again! NOOO! I almost forgot to do it tonight completely. Finals and friends have been getting in the way lately, so I'm officially going to suspend my 12 o'clock deadline until finals are over.
So tonight I got to go see my friend Aryanne who studied abroad with me in Uruguay, she just had a birthday so it was great to get to see her. Then I got to talk with my good friend Alisha which was really good.
One thing we talked about was people. I have two roommates who work as waiters at Chili's, and I have gotten to know the restaurant business through their eyes some. So now I usually tip fairly well at restaurants. I think that you can tell a lot about someones character by the way they treat people who are serving them, people like waiters, janitors, cafeteria workers, handymen. For one, if you believe its a good idea to treat the person that is handling your food poorly then you probably should get it though your head that they handle your food...like you will probably eat what they bring to you eventually. More importantly I think that if someone can treat another human poorly, because of the job that they hold, it shows that they hold themselves to be very highly situated in the world, among other things. They are people too. Do you know the names of the janitor at the place that you work, the name of the waiter or waitress that you usually have at your favorite restaurant, or the handyman who helps fix things around your apartment complex/work/neighborhood? I just have one challenge for everyone. Learn their names
well those are the thoughts for today
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Colors
Hey everybody!
Buenas noches!!! I hope life is grand with everybody. Today, I went to class and a few other things. I went to a few different places.
I was looking today at the colors on the stoplights, and I started wondering about how people who are color blind can make it through the drivers ed test...then I remembered my friend who's Dad was color blind, and I asked him about it when we were kids. He told me that he had to memorize the order that the lights came in...I was thinking about how with all these new lights in the big city would it be harder to remember which lights are which... but then that is just for me because I'm used to depending on color. It's incredible some of the most basic things that we have we dont even realize how lucky we are to have them until they are gone... Things like health, limbs, sight, electricity, running water. Things like that. If you look at the elderly people in the world, who are a growing percentage of our population, you see that all of them were once the same as I am now. Its hard to imagine myself one day in a nursing home, and it is one of my biggest fears, but statistically speaking... that is probably going to be what will happen to me one day. I honestly don't think I'll make it to a retirement home, I'll probably get shot, or die of a heart attack, or my parachute won't open... I'm just not that lucky...but I'm not afraid of dying...I am more afraid of loosing independence.
Well thats some thoughts for today
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Buenas noches!!! I hope life is grand with everybody. Today, I went to class and a few other things. I went to a few different places.
I was looking today at the colors on the stoplights, and I started wondering about how people who are color blind can make it through the drivers ed test...then I remembered my friend who's Dad was color blind, and I asked him about it when we were kids. He told me that he had to memorize the order that the lights came in...I was thinking about how with all these new lights in the big city would it be harder to remember which lights are which... but then that is just for me because I'm used to depending on color. It's incredible some of the most basic things that we have we dont even realize how lucky we are to have them until they are gone... Things like health, limbs, sight, electricity, running water. Things like that. If you look at the elderly people in the world, who are a growing percentage of our population, you see that all of them were once the same as I am now. Its hard to imagine myself one day in a nursing home, and it is one of my biggest fears, but statistically speaking... that is probably going to be what will happen to me one day. I honestly don't think I'll make it to a retirement home, I'll probably get shot, or die of a heart attack, or my parachute won't open... I'm just not that lucky...but I'm not afraid of dying...I am more afraid of loosing independence.
Well thats some thoughts for today
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Vitamin C
Hey everybody!!!
Espero que you guys are doing good!!!
Today, was a good day I got to talk with a lot of different people about trying to solve all my problems with classes next semester, about life, and about my future, and I feel good about today. I just got through working on a group extra credit project for International Political Economy. This project was we basically had to make up a CIA world factbook page for a made up country... our professor chose for our class to use the North Pole as our country. It was pretty interesting trying to apply IPE theories like international property rights, mercantilism, and dependency to the North pole and Santa Clause. It got pretty ridiculous, with our group having Santa enslaving the elves and undercutting the world market with his low prices...
I don't know...group projects...
I think I may be getting a cold. Hopefully, I will be able to fight it down with Vitamin C and multivitamins.
So sorry I can't think of a lot to write about today.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Espero que you guys are doing good!!!
Today, was a good day I got to talk with a lot of different people about trying to solve all my problems with classes next semester, about life, and about my future, and I feel good about today. I just got through working on a group extra credit project for International Political Economy. This project was we basically had to make up a CIA world factbook page for a made up country... our professor chose for our class to use the North Pole as our country. It was pretty interesting trying to apply IPE theories like international property rights, mercantilism, and dependency to the North pole and Santa Clause. It got pretty ridiculous, with our group having Santa enslaving the elves and undercutting the world market with his low prices...
I don't know...group projects...
I think I may be getting a cold. Hopefully, I will be able to fight it down with Vitamin C and multivitamins.
So sorry I can't think of a lot to write about today.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
101
Hey everybody!!!
Buenas!!!
I hope your having a good day, and a fantastic night.
We just played another waterball game... we won ya!!! Championship on Thursday at 10!!! Today I had my Spanish night class and I worked.
Tomorrow is my brothers birthday, and my parents got him a mandolin. My brother is a fantastic musician, and I'm excited to hear him play. People say that music is an international language. I disagree. I took an introduction to international music class and I got to hear music from all around the world. If you listen to some of the music of Bali, Asia, or other places there is some of it that can be pretty tough for my western ears to describe as music. My teacher showed our class a video about Mongolian throat singing (youtube it! its actually really cool) and told our class if anyone could learn how do it by Friday they would get a hundred and one on the test that week. So me being me I went home and started working on how to do it. Mongolian throat singing is a way of singing where you separate your nasal cavity from your throat, and make sounds in two different tones. Its supposed to represent the sounds of nature. So of course I ended up learning how to do it and I did get the 101!!! I love international music, and if you guys have some time you should look up talba and sitar from India, and mbube from Africa... those are my favorites.
Well that's what was on the brain today!
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Buenas!!!
I hope your having a good day, and a fantastic night.
We just played another waterball game... we won ya!!! Championship on Thursday at 10!!! Today I had my Spanish night class and I worked.
Tomorrow is my brothers birthday, and my parents got him a mandolin. My brother is a fantastic musician, and I'm excited to hear him play. People say that music is an international language. I disagree. I took an introduction to international music class and I got to hear music from all around the world. If you listen to some of the music of Bali, Asia, or other places there is some of it that can be pretty tough for my western ears to describe as music. My teacher showed our class a video about Mongolian throat singing (youtube it! its actually really cool) and told our class if anyone could learn how do it by Friday they would get a hundred and one on the test that week. So me being me I went home and started working on how to do it. Mongolian throat singing is a way of singing where you separate your nasal cavity from your throat, and make sounds in two different tones. Its supposed to represent the sounds of nature. So of course I ended up learning how to do it and I did get the 101!!! I love international music, and if you guys have some time you should look up talba and sitar from India, and mbube from Africa... those are my favorites.
Well that's what was on the brain today!
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Monday, November 30, 2009
Clothes
Hey everybody!!! Que tal?
I hope this finds you well!!! Today I went to class, paid my bills, and went to work... I'm about to go play waterball, and I have to take a break from writing this and go do that. We won. It was a fun game.
Ok I'm almost out of time to write this, but I'm going to try to get in in before twelve.
I was thinking today about the judgment that people place on clothes. One time I was traveling and I decided to where a suit on the airplane. I got the best service from stewardess' that I have ever had(side note U.S. stewardess' are the worst in the world.) We look at peoples clothes and we believe that is ok to judge them by what they are wearing. Like if you see someone wearing any type of clothes like cowboy, baggy, athletic, uniforms, dressy, many times people will stereotype their intelligence,their work ethic, and their background. We believe it is ok because we decide that the clothes they wear are a choice that they make for themselves.
Just one quick thought, I had to beat the deadline,
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
I hope this finds you well!!! Today I went to class, paid my bills, and went to work... I'm about to go play waterball, and I have to take a break from writing this and go do that. We won. It was a fun game.
Ok I'm almost out of time to write this, but I'm going to try to get in in before twelve.
I was thinking today about the judgment that people place on clothes. One time I was traveling and I decided to where a suit on the airplane. I got the best service from stewardess' that I have ever had(side note U.S. stewardess' are the worst in the world.) We look at peoples clothes and we believe that is ok to judge them by what they are wearing. Like if you see someone wearing any type of clothes like cowboy, baggy, athletic, uniforms, dressy, many times people will stereotype their intelligence,their work ethic, and their background. We believe it is ok because we decide that the clothes they wear are a choice that they make for themselves.
Just one quick thought, I had to beat the deadline,
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sulfur
Buenas!!! I hope this finds everyone well. Well guys I am officially at post #21...thats three weeks of posting something...to be honest I thought that this might last three days before I ran out of stuff to talk about...but here we are. Thanks everyone who reads this, whether you found by accident, by word of mouth, or by just stalking me... I appreciate it and I will keep writing if yall will keep reading.
A few years back there was a commercial for some cologne, body spray, or some other scented product that proclaimed that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. A few days ago I was talking to my friend Lauren about smells that reminded us of different things and places... and I have to say that I think the commercial was right. I remember in a movie from my childhood (I think it was the original parent trap...don't judge me) that one of the characters said that she knew her grandfather by his scent of pipe tobacco and peppermints. I don't smoke, but ever since then have wanted to smell like peppermints. When I smell Tide I think of my Mom and when I smell the tinny smell of blood I think of my Grandpa, he's an avid hunter and member of the NRA. Jasmine and car emissions remind me of Montevideo, and other smells remind me of other people and places. I think that it has to do with perception too, because there are many times when there can be a bad smell that I know is a bad smell, but I like it because I associate it with something good. Sulfur smells horrible when you get it on you, and its really hard to get rid of, but I don't mind it as much. When I was a kid my Dad was working shift work in the oil field, and I didn't get to see him as much as I wanted to, but when he came home he smelled like sulfur. So for me when I smell sulfur I still think of Dad coming home, and sulfur is a good smell for me.
Bueno thats about all I got for today,
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
A few years back there was a commercial for some cologne, body spray, or some other scented product that proclaimed that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. A few days ago I was talking to my friend Lauren about smells that reminded us of different things and places... and I have to say that I think the commercial was right. I remember in a movie from my childhood (I think it was the original parent trap...don't judge me) that one of the characters said that she knew her grandfather by his scent of pipe tobacco and peppermints. I don't smoke, but ever since then have wanted to smell like peppermints. When I smell Tide I think of my Mom and when I smell the tinny smell of blood I think of my Grandpa, he's an avid hunter and member of the NRA. Jasmine and car emissions remind me of Montevideo, and other smells remind me of other people and places. I think that it has to do with perception too, because there are many times when there can be a bad smell that I know is a bad smell, but I like it because I associate it with something good. Sulfur smells horrible when you get it on you, and its really hard to get rid of, but I don't mind it as much. When I was a kid my Dad was working shift work in the oil field, and I didn't get to see him as much as I wanted to, but when he came home he smelled like sulfur. So for me when I smell sulfur I still think of Dad coming home, and sulfur is a good smell for me.
Bueno thats about all I got for today,
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Ox-Cart Drivers
Hello Hello Hello!
Buen dia to everyone out there tonight! I hope everything is going well for you all!
Today I went with my family to Lubbock we watched "The Blind Side" which is an entertaining movie. Then we went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, and I ran into a friend of mine, Landon who I haven't seen in like two years, and I got to eat a New York Strip steak...which I think is ironic to have at Texas Roadhouse. So that was really cool. We then went on a bit of a shopping experience, I got to look at new thermos in Academy and I was viciously disappointed in Hastings' selection of anything in Portuguese... all they had was one pocket sized phrasebook.
So I was in the car today on my way back to DC with my family and I started thinking about the word legend. I think the word legend is used too much. We see it in movies, like "The Legend of Bagger Vance", or "I am Legend". People use it in their daily speech "Dude, that piece of cheese was legendary!" or "man that load of laundry was of legendary proportions." Now what really makes something legendary? Does it have to be a myth based in truth, or a complete work of fiction? When does a person move from being a hero or villain, to being a legend? A few people out there, whom we know were real people, have moved into the legend status people like William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Ivan the Terrible, and Genghis Khan. Then we have our stories that are legendary like Robin Hood, King Arther, and the Iliad... these are stories that may have some element of truth in them, but no one is positive about what is true, there are only speculations. Will the heroes of today be transformed into legends one day? Will there be tales told of how the great Bill Gates changed the world with his magic windows? Or how Lebron James, earned his name the Akron Hammer by crushing the souls of the defeated?
Everyone in the world is trying to find out why it is they were put on this earth, and many people will say that their goal is to not be forgotten, others will tell you it is to live a good life. Behind every one of the legends that I talked about earlier there were countless people who were heroic behind them and helped them to be remembered as we do today. Now what elevated the legends beyond that of heroic status to legendary? Was it that they were glory hounds, or was it because they were something more? Then there are thousands of people in the world who live their lives daily and who are incredible people, but who will not be remembered 57 years from now. Does that make their lives any less valuable? Everyone effects everyone else though, how much effect do these unremembered people have on the people who we remember as legends and heroes? The great-grandparents, friends, the guy who didn't run over Napoleon with his ox-cart. Each one has effected history, and through history our lives. So take care my friends because we could be the ox-cart driver.
Ok well just a few ideas
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, I really appreciate all your comments, no matter how you make them.
but
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Buen dia to everyone out there tonight! I hope everything is going well for you all!
Today I went with my family to Lubbock we watched "The Blind Side" which is an entertaining movie. Then we went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, and I ran into a friend of mine, Landon who I haven't seen in like two years, and I got to eat a New York Strip steak...which I think is ironic to have at Texas Roadhouse. So that was really cool. We then went on a bit of a shopping experience, I got to look at new thermos in Academy and I was viciously disappointed in Hastings' selection of anything in Portuguese... all they had was one pocket sized phrasebook.
So I was in the car today on my way back to DC with my family and I started thinking about the word legend. I think the word legend is used too much. We see it in movies, like "The Legend of Bagger Vance", or "I am Legend". People use it in their daily speech "Dude, that piece of cheese was legendary!" or "man that load of laundry was of legendary proportions." Now what really makes something legendary? Does it have to be a myth based in truth, or a complete work of fiction? When does a person move from being a hero or villain, to being a legend? A few people out there, whom we know were real people, have moved into the legend status people like William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Ivan the Terrible, and Genghis Khan. Then we have our stories that are legendary like Robin Hood, King Arther, and the Iliad... these are stories that may have some element of truth in them, but no one is positive about what is true, there are only speculations. Will the heroes of today be transformed into legends one day? Will there be tales told of how the great Bill Gates changed the world with his magic windows? Or how Lebron James, earned his name the Akron Hammer by crushing the souls of the defeated?
Everyone in the world is trying to find out why it is they were put on this earth, and many people will say that their goal is to not be forgotten, others will tell you it is to live a good life. Behind every one of the legends that I talked about earlier there were countless people who were heroic behind them and helped them to be remembered as we do today. Now what elevated the legends beyond that of heroic status to legendary? Was it that they were glory hounds, or was it because they were something more? Then there are thousands of people in the world who live their lives daily and who are incredible people, but who will not be remembered 57 years from now. Does that make their lives any less valuable? Everyone effects everyone else though, how much effect do these unremembered people have on the people who we remember as legends and heroes? The great-grandparents, friends, the guy who didn't run over Napoleon with his ox-cart. Each one has effected history, and through history our lives. So take care my friends because we could be the ox-cart driver.
Ok well just a few ideas
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, I really appreciate all your comments, no matter how you make them.
but
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Cut Grass
Hey everyone!!! Boa noite!!!
No que voce esta pensando agora?
So today was a really restful day I didn't do very much. I woke up this morning, hung out with the family, which included a Guitar Hero tourney a game at which I am pathetic. I messed up my pinky back in my football playing days so when I try to hit the last two buttons it doesn't work very well because my pinky want to hit almost the same place as my ring finger every time. Tonight I'm going to watch my brother play some live music, he is an incredible musician who writes his own songs. I'm looking forward to seeing him jam.
Don't you think that its interesting on how peoples perceptions change over time? When I was a kid I remember watching my Dad mow the grass at our house on D street. I was always the little kid that you all remember that you were "Can I help? Do you need a hand? What can I do?" and my Dad would never let me help him out. I remeber smelling the freshly cut grass, and thinking to myself that I would love mowing the lawn just because of that smell. Later in life when mowing the lawn became my labor for the household I found myself realizing that not only did I not enjoy mowing the lawn, I hated it. Now understand that where I'm from, the desert, your not always mowing green grass. So I would get sand in my nose, my teeth, all over, just to get the few blades of green sticking up withing the yellow. We also had one really green patch which when mowed it still produced that freshly cut grass smell that I loved as a kid. Sometimes I would see my younger brother watching me cutting it, and every once in a while he would ask me if I needed any help. I would always say no, but it made me remember when I was a kid and how I thought back then.
Winston Churchhill said "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." I don't know if he's right or not, but I do believe that there are things that you see as a child that change and develop as an adult, and change even more once you have kids. I still don't know what kind of person I will be twenty years from now, but I hope that I don't change so much that the person I am today wouldn't be able to get along with future me.
Well those are the thoughts of the day
Everybody be safe traveling back from the holidays, and I'm looking forward to seeing all you ACU peeps.
Yall be careful an ojala que estas con una sonrisa
No que voce esta pensando agora?
So today was a really restful day I didn't do very much. I woke up this morning, hung out with the family, which included a Guitar Hero tourney a game at which I am pathetic. I messed up my pinky back in my football playing days so when I try to hit the last two buttons it doesn't work very well because my pinky want to hit almost the same place as my ring finger every time. Tonight I'm going to watch my brother play some live music, he is an incredible musician who writes his own songs. I'm looking forward to seeing him jam.
Don't you think that its interesting on how peoples perceptions change over time? When I was a kid I remember watching my Dad mow the grass at our house on D street. I was always the little kid that you all remember that you were "Can I help? Do you need a hand? What can I do?" and my Dad would never let me help him out. I remeber smelling the freshly cut grass, and thinking to myself that I would love mowing the lawn just because of that smell. Later in life when mowing the lawn became my labor for the household I found myself realizing that not only did I not enjoy mowing the lawn, I hated it. Now understand that where I'm from, the desert, your not always mowing green grass. So I would get sand in my nose, my teeth, all over, just to get the few blades of green sticking up withing the yellow. We also had one really green patch which when mowed it still produced that freshly cut grass smell that I loved as a kid. Sometimes I would see my younger brother watching me cutting it, and every once in a while he would ask me if I needed any help. I would always say no, but it made me remember when I was a kid and how I thought back then.
Winston Churchhill said "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." I don't know if he's right or not, but I do believe that there are things that you see as a child that change and develop as an adult, and change even more once you have kids. I still don't know what kind of person I will be twenty years from now, but I hope that I don't change so much that the person I am today wouldn't be able to get along with future me.
Well those are the thoughts of the day
Everybody be safe traveling back from the holidays, and I'm looking forward to seeing all you ACU peeps.
Yall be careful an ojala que estas con una sonrisa
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Writing like bronze
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Felizidades!!!
I hope all of yalls Thanksgivings have been incredible!
Mine was really good, I ate a huge meal with my family, watched the Cowboys with my Dad and read The Alchemist.
The Alchemist is an incredible book by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian, who wrote it in 1988 the year I was born. It was given to me by my good friend Jade, for my birthday, but this was the first time I have had time to read it. She gave it to me because she said that the protagonist Santiago(which by the way in Spanish means James, my middle name...weird) reminded her of me. I loved the book, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a holiday read.
Jade is one of the most brilliant people I know on this earth! She studied abroad with me in Uruguay and I think we will be friends to the grave. She is from Korea, and once in a literature class in Montevideo our Profesora told us that "she had three students who write like gold, and Brandon you write like bronze" and this was in English. Jade's a bio-chemistry major... English isn't even what shes talented at and she's still better than me. She is an incredible woman and I am blessed to have her as a friend.
Well my thoughts are all filled up with the book right now and so I just want to give yall a few main points, but I wont give away the story. Follow your passion because if you don't you will always wonder what if. Don't get sidelined because of love, if its really love then it will be there when you have gone through your journey, and that the people that really love you want to see you happy. Don't let the fear of change keep you from doing what you want.
Well I'm not going to write to much more, because its a holiday and I kind of have a headache, but quickly I just want encourage everyone to call the people that you care about or go see them.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Felizidades!!!
I hope all of yalls Thanksgivings have been incredible!
Mine was really good, I ate a huge meal with my family, watched the Cowboys with my Dad and read The Alchemist.
The Alchemist is an incredible book by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian, who wrote it in 1988 the year I was born. It was given to me by my good friend Jade, for my birthday, but this was the first time I have had time to read it. She gave it to me because she said that the protagonist Santiago(which by the way in Spanish means James, my middle name...weird) reminded her of me. I loved the book, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a holiday read.
Jade is one of the most brilliant people I know on this earth! She studied abroad with me in Uruguay and I think we will be friends to the grave. She is from Korea, and once in a literature class in Montevideo our Profesora told us that "she had three students who write like gold, and Brandon you write like bronze" and this was in English. Jade's a bio-chemistry major... English isn't even what shes talented at and she's still better than me. She is an incredible woman and I am blessed to have her as a friend.
Well my thoughts are all filled up with the book right now and so I just want to give yall a few main points, but I wont give away the story. Follow your passion because if you don't you will always wonder what if. Don't get sidelined because of love, if its really love then it will be there when you have gone through your journey, and that the people that really love you want to see you happy. Don't let the fear of change keep you from doing what you want.
Well I'm not going to write to much more, because its a holiday and I kind of have a headache, but quickly I just want encourage everyone to call the people that you care about or go see them.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Here be monsters
Hello!!! Hola!!! Bom dia!!! Swadekrap! Salam alek! Gutennacht! Anyon! or whatever language you speak or wish you spoke I just wanted to great you! Ya!
Thank you for reading what I have to say I hope that I've kept things light hearted enough. Real quick I just wanted to apologize for my grammar and punctuation, I'm writing this really freely, I don't reread it before I post, and I usually only go back and change things unless someone tells me it completely changes the meaning of what I was trying to say(real quick thanks shout out to brooksdirk for that one)and I'm sorry if it makes it hard to read sometimes, but I feel like its a bit rawer and I like it that way. Its more like the live version. Lots of small mistakes.
So I spent most of the day driving here to my hometown of Denver City, which has to be one of the most desolate drives known to man. There are parts of the drive that the land is so flat that you can see the curvature of the earth. yeah. I know a lady who was on the same route that I took that hit a puma (yes really a puma) in her car... her husband asked her why she didn't put in the back of the SUV. She was afraid of what would happen if it wasn't all the way dead though and just knocked out. I've been seeing a lot of commercials with maps of 3G availiablity lately, but not only are parts of my drive home without 3G coverage for my Razor there are parts that don't have call services; digital nigh analog. My good friend Jordan, who one time last semester went home with me, being the modern gentleman that he is went to pull out his handy dandy ithing saying "Brandon where are we?" thinking he would look on his phone and it would have all the answers. His phone dispayed a message that said "No service" Jordan looked at me with terror glistening in his eyes and said "We be off the map, here there be monsters"
I have been learning to enjoy this trip though, its one of the few times in my life that I am truly alone. I am very extroverted, but even the most extroverted needs to come down and figure stuff out. I grew up with the deserted terrain that I drove across today, but it wasn't until I left Denver City for college did i realize just how beautiful it really is. The sky stretches for hours and the plains are in places completly untouched by humans. At night in the right place you can see three different small towns each about fifteen miles away from the spot your at right then. My favorite part about my hometown is the stars. Imagine with me a place almost completly flat out in the country, even away from town and look up and see Orio but not just the big stars like you usually see in a city, but all the tiniest glimmers surrounding him and courting the great hunter of the sky. Each with their own small glow; their light millions of years old reaching you at that very moment that you look up and feel just how small you are. Its breathtaking.
Well those are some thoughts for today
Happy Thanksgiving, tell the people you care about how you feel.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Thank you for reading what I have to say I hope that I've kept things light hearted enough. Real quick I just wanted to apologize for my grammar and punctuation, I'm writing this really freely, I don't reread it before I post, and I usually only go back and change things unless someone tells me it completely changes the meaning of what I was trying to say(real quick thanks shout out to brooksdirk for that one)and I'm sorry if it makes it hard to read sometimes, but I feel like its a bit rawer and I like it that way. Its more like the live version. Lots of small mistakes.
So I spent most of the day driving here to my hometown of Denver City, which has to be one of the most desolate drives known to man. There are parts of the drive that the land is so flat that you can see the curvature of the earth. yeah. I know a lady who was on the same route that I took that hit a puma (yes really a puma) in her car... her husband asked her why she didn't put in the back of the SUV. She was afraid of what would happen if it wasn't all the way dead though and just knocked out. I've been seeing a lot of commercials with maps of 3G availiablity lately, but not only are parts of my drive home without 3G coverage for my Razor there are parts that don't have call services; digital nigh analog. My good friend Jordan, who one time last semester went home with me, being the modern gentleman that he is went to pull out his handy dandy ithing saying "Brandon where are we?" thinking he would look on his phone and it would have all the answers. His phone dispayed a message that said "No service" Jordan looked at me with terror glistening in his eyes and said "We be off the map, here there be monsters"
I have been learning to enjoy this trip though, its one of the few times in my life that I am truly alone. I am very extroverted, but even the most extroverted needs to come down and figure stuff out. I grew up with the deserted terrain that I drove across today, but it wasn't until I left Denver City for college did i realize just how beautiful it really is. The sky stretches for hours and the plains are in places completly untouched by humans. At night in the right place you can see three different small towns each about fifteen miles away from the spot your at right then. My favorite part about my hometown is the stars. Imagine with me a place almost completly flat out in the country, even away from town and look up and see Orio but not just the big stars like you usually see in a city, but all the tiniest glimmers surrounding him and courting the great hunter of the sky. Each with their own small glow; their light millions of years old reaching you at that very moment that you look up and feel just how small you are. Its breathtaking.
Well those are some thoughts for today
Happy Thanksgiving, tell the people you care about how you feel.
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ave Maria!
Como andan yall!!!
Im going to head out Denver City for Thanksgiving in the morning. If your on the road, stop reading this and watch the road, but if you are wherever you are for this week then read away and I hope you enjoy it. Today I had a few classes and a lot of stuff to do with the insurance stuff pero todo esta tranquilo.
So I was was talking today with Cindy and Jade, and we were talking about the power of words. Its incredible if you look at people like Thomas Jefferson, William Waldo Emerson, or Henry David Thoreau and their impact on how the world works today. Its incredible that these people who are kicking it with the worms right now still effect the way you and I think. Ave Maria, its just astounding. Thomas Jefferson said, "The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead" but the structures that he and his compatriots set up are governing us to this day. This is only possible by the written word and ability to store ideas on paper and pass them on for the future. "All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Lately, I have been feeling the need to create. I don't know what, and its probably a side-effect of writing this blog, I have been feeling like I need to make something... now I don't know what it is but something. Es lo que siento yo. It could be some kind of written thing, maybe painting, maybe a table, maybe a birdhouse I don't know, but something. I think that there is something very telling about human nature in this. We search to build, create and make things in nuestras own ways. It makes us who we are; and just as none of us are the same the things that we create are never the same either. There is so much beauty in the differences and originality that we we all have.
Well those are some thoughts for the day. I hope everyone is having a great break so far from school, and I hope that everyone is safe and careful. Felizidades.
yall be careful and Ojala que estes con una sonrisa.
Im going to head out Denver City for Thanksgiving in the morning. If your on the road, stop reading this and watch the road, but if you are wherever you are for this week then read away and I hope you enjoy it. Today I had a few classes and a lot of stuff to do with the insurance stuff pero todo esta tranquilo.
So I was was talking today with Cindy and Jade, and we were talking about the power of words. Its incredible if you look at people like Thomas Jefferson, William Waldo Emerson, or Henry David Thoreau and their impact on how the world works today. Its incredible that these people who are kicking it with the worms right now still effect the way you and I think. Ave Maria, its just astounding. Thomas Jefferson said, "The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead" but the structures that he and his compatriots set up are governing us to this day. This is only possible by the written word and ability to store ideas on paper and pass them on for the future. "All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Lately, I have been feeling the need to create. I don't know what, and its probably a side-effect of writing this blog, I have been feeling like I need to make something... now I don't know what it is but something. Es lo que siento yo. It could be some kind of written thing, maybe painting, maybe a table, maybe a birdhouse I don't know, but something. I think that there is something very telling about human nature in this. We search to build, create and make things in nuestras own ways. It makes us who we are; and just as none of us are the same the things that we create are never the same either. There is so much beauty in the differences and originality that we we all have.
Well those are some thoughts for the day. I hope everyone is having a great break so far from school, and I hope that everyone is safe and careful. Felizidades.
yall be careful and Ojala que estes con una sonrisa.
Monday, November 23, 2009
3 rules!
Boa tarde! Tudo bem com voce?
I hope every thing is going fantastic for everybody! Today I had to sort out all the insurance stuff from the wreck this weekend. So I had to talk with insurance people from both companies and meet with an adjuster, and tomorrow I'm going to go meet with a judge to try to get stuff sorted out.
So Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I'm headed home to DC(that's Denver City for all you non Denver Citians) I'm going to spend time with my parents and my brothers, usually we spend more time with our extended family during this time, but my Dad is on call so we are going to do it big at our house. I'm probably going to help out with cooking some so that should be a lot of fun.
I really like cooking, and my dream retirement job is owning a Texas style steak house in Rio de Janiero. I figure we have Brazilian style steak houses in Texas why not do it the other way. I think it may work too, because right now in Brazil its really difficult to get steaks cut the way we like them here in the U.S. like T-bone, and ribeye because they are all used for the churriscuras. So I think it could be a whole lot of fun being from Texas to set that up some day. I think It would have to be really themed though, like I would have to wear boots and a cowboy hat. I don't know though, and yall don't steal my ideas...
So like I said Thanksgivings is coming up and to be honest my favorite holiday is Christmas. My Mom loves Christmas, like a lot. I'm talking like in my whole life I have only been given three rules from my Mom concerning dating. 1.She has to help me get to heaven. 2. She has to make me happy 3. She has to come home for Christmas.
Like every year. Thats a lot of pressure... I mean I feel like my Mom wants me to go searching for nice Jewish girls or orphans, but its ok. I love my Mom and I will do what I can for her on the three rules.
Well guys I'm going to cheese it out of here.
I know a lot of people are going to be traveling tomorrow, so drive safe because you don't want to get in a wreck, its a hassle...and more importantly I don't want to visit anyone in the hospital so
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
I hope every thing is going fantastic for everybody! Today I had to sort out all the insurance stuff from the wreck this weekend. So I had to talk with insurance people from both companies and meet with an adjuster, and tomorrow I'm going to go meet with a judge to try to get stuff sorted out.
So Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I'm headed home to DC(that's Denver City for all you non Denver Citians) I'm going to spend time with my parents and my brothers, usually we spend more time with our extended family during this time, but my Dad is on call so we are going to do it big at our house. I'm probably going to help out with cooking some so that should be a lot of fun.
I really like cooking, and my dream retirement job is owning a Texas style steak house in Rio de Janiero. I figure we have Brazilian style steak houses in Texas why not do it the other way. I think it may work too, because right now in Brazil its really difficult to get steaks cut the way we like them here in the U.S. like T-bone, and ribeye because they are all used for the churriscuras. So I think it could be a whole lot of fun being from Texas to set that up some day. I think It would have to be really themed though, like I would have to wear boots and a cowboy hat. I don't know though, and yall don't steal my ideas...
So like I said Thanksgivings is coming up and to be honest my favorite holiday is Christmas. My Mom loves Christmas, like a lot. I'm talking like in my whole life I have only been given three rules from my Mom concerning dating. 1.She has to help me get to heaven. 2. She has to make me happy 3. She has to come home for Christmas.
Like every year. Thats a lot of pressure... I mean I feel like my Mom wants me to go searching for nice Jewish girls or orphans, but its ok. I love my Mom and I will do what I can for her on the three rules.
Well guys I'm going to cheese it out of here.
I know a lot of people are going to be traveling tomorrow, so drive safe because you don't want to get in a wreck, its a hassle...and more importantly I don't want to visit anyone in the hospital so
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Good evening my friends. I hope that your day and weekend has been refreshing and carefree. Ya tenemos fourteen days of blogs. You know its been an interesting process for me so far and I encourage everyone to try it some time in their life.
I had a good day today and my good friend Jade cooked Korean food so I had a fantastic dinner with incredible people.
Sometimes I wonder what it means to be a man. Now I played football for ACU for one year and I don't remember any of the plays, but what I do remember is a speech on manhood by one of the coaches. A lot of that speech is going to show up in this blog, with my own special flair. I think that this world is lacking in true manhood, we live in world that tells us that tells us that what makes us a man. It changes as we get older, but we always have something that tells us what it is to be men. When we are kids on the playground what all the people want to be is the most athletic kid. We all wanted to be the first one picked for dodgeball and this is what we glorify as a society. If you look at our professional athletes and the salaries that they pull its obvious. When we get a little older we glorify the guys who can get all the girls. The guys with the sexual prowess and ability to sleep with as many girls as possible are the guys who you see movies about and what you see in every beer and alcohol commercial. That's where I'm right now in college. When you get a bit older, get a job, and start making money what society tells you the real man is a guy who can make the most money and buy the big house, the boat, and the Corvette(or Lamborghini or you fill the blank on the car).
What I think makes a man is the relationships that he builds.
Bueno I'm almost out of time but I may come back and right some more about this another day.
Well thanks everyone for reading and
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
I had a good day today and my good friend Jade cooked Korean food so I had a fantastic dinner with incredible people.
Sometimes I wonder what it means to be a man. Now I played football for ACU for one year and I don't remember any of the plays, but what I do remember is a speech on manhood by one of the coaches. A lot of that speech is going to show up in this blog, with my own special flair. I think that this world is lacking in true manhood, we live in world that tells us that tells us that what makes us a man. It changes as we get older, but we always have something that tells us what it is to be men. When we are kids on the playground what all the people want to be is the most athletic kid. We all wanted to be the first one picked for dodgeball and this is what we glorify as a society. If you look at our professional athletes and the salaries that they pull its obvious. When we get a little older we glorify the guys who can get all the girls. The guys with the sexual prowess and ability to sleep with as many girls as possible are the guys who you see movies about and what you see in every beer and alcohol commercial. That's where I'm right now in college. When you get a bit older, get a job, and start making money what society tells you the real man is a guy who can make the most money and buy the big house, the boat, and the Corvette(or Lamborghini or you fill the blank on the car).
What I think makes a man is the relationships that he builds.
Bueno I'm almost out of time but I may come back and right some more about this another day.
Well thanks everyone for reading and
yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Of couse the day of my 13th blog
Hello muchachos! I hope everything is tranquil for you guys today! This morning I woke up and to help teach los cubanos how to drive some more... but in all of the bitterest irony, later on I ended up getting in an accident. There were no injuries, and both cars were able to drive away afterward, but still not the best day.
I'm pretty frustrated, but what can you do?
Ah so now that I'm on the topic of frustration I might as well talk about a few of my current ones. I'm graduating in August from ACU and its hard to know what the future is going to have for me. Lately some things have been moving in a good direction, but I'm still not sure about it. So if I start blogging about the future, involving basically all my dreams coming true then you will now that my frustrations will be over. But until you start reading stuff about rainbows, coconuts, and waterfalls I'll probably still be a bit frustrated with my future. Bueno tambien I am frustrated with classes, I'm taking a lot of hours and now matter how much I feel like I'm learning my grades are never as high as I would like them to be... but then I would like them to be 100's.
Girls... I think that's pretty self explanatory...and most of us have the same frustrations with the sex(as in gender) that we are chasing.
Work, like I have said before I work for ACU recruiting students, and while the job is uber-tedious and a bit soul crushing I can't afford to not work it... its such a dull job its become one of ACU's best paying student positions because they are tired of training new employees, and one of my good friends Colleen(here is your shout out) who I have been working with since this summer is getting a different job. So I will no longer be the person she sees the most everyday.
One of my roommates is about to be moving out in a few months to move to St. Louis and join the real world. He is one of my best friends, and I will miss him immensely. So on top of having a good friend moving several hours away my other roommates and I are about to have to go on the roommate hunt once again. Which can be some risky business.
So on top of all that I have a movie late at Blockbuster. Aghagghh, whew that felt good. Maybe I won't get ulsters.
So there was once a time when I was called into the vice-principals office for doing something like instead of singing in choir sitting down in the back and doing the algebra homework I had forgotten about. My principal asked me why did that, and I responded with something like "I think that you can do anything that you want to as long as when your finished you are willing to face the consequences and pay for what you did." The whole cost benefit comparison type thing. Which I still agree with to a point, but, when you see big corporations who are not following environmental regulations because they figure out that it would actually be cheaper to pay the fine and keep doing what they are doing, its hard to be so sure. Is this a budget issue or an ethical issue, because the environmental harm could hurt people that the executives will never meet. However I can't ignore the whole cost benefit model, but maybe we should look less at measuring all value with dollars, euros, pesos o cualquier kind of money and use a different model.
Don't get me wrong I think money is necessary, I just think there are some other important issues too (don't want anyone going all McCarthy on me)
So I feel better, I think this whole blog thing is good, yall should try it some time.
thanks everyone who is reading, commenting and everything!!!
yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa
I'm pretty frustrated, but what can you do?
Ah so now that I'm on the topic of frustration I might as well talk about a few of my current ones. I'm graduating in August from ACU and its hard to know what the future is going to have for me. Lately some things have been moving in a good direction, but I'm still not sure about it. So if I start blogging about the future, involving basically all my dreams coming true then you will now that my frustrations will be over. But until you start reading stuff about rainbows, coconuts, and waterfalls I'll probably still be a bit frustrated with my future. Bueno tambien I am frustrated with classes, I'm taking a lot of hours and now matter how much I feel like I'm learning my grades are never as high as I would like them to be... but then I would like them to be 100's.
Girls... I think that's pretty self explanatory...and most of us have the same frustrations with the sex(as in gender) that we are chasing.
Work, like I have said before I work for ACU recruiting students, and while the job is uber-tedious and a bit soul crushing I can't afford to not work it... its such a dull job its become one of ACU's best paying student positions because they are tired of training new employees, and one of my good friends Colleen(here is your shout out) who I have been working with since this summer is getting a different job. So I will no longer be the person she sees the most everyday.
One of my roommates is about to be moving out in a few months to move to St. Louis and join the real world. He is one of my best friends, and I will miss him immensely. So on top of having a good friend moving several hours away my other roommates and I are about to have to go on the roommate hunt once again. Which can be some risky business.
So on top of all that I have a movie late at Blockbuster. Aghagghh, whew that felt good. Maybe I won't get ulsters.
So there was once a time when I was called into the vice-principals office for doing something like instead of singing in choir sitting down in the back and doing the algebra homework I had forgotten about. My principal asked me why did that, and I responded with something like "I think that you can do anything that you want to as long as when your finished you are willing to face the consequences and pay for what you did." The whole cost benefit comparison type thing. Which I still agree with to a point, but, when you see big corporations who are not following environmental regulations because they figure out that it would actually be cheaper to pay the fine and keep doing what they are doing, its hard to be so sure. Is this a budget issue or an ethical issue, because the environmental harm could hurt people that the executives will never meet. However I can't ignore the whole cost benefit model, but maybe we should look less at measuring all value with dollars, euros, pesos o cualquier kind of money and use a different model.
Don't get me wrong I think money is necessary, I just think there are some other important issues too (don't want anyone going all McCarthy on me)
So I feel better, I think this whole blog thing is good, yall should try it some time.
thanks everyone who is reading, commenting and everything!!!
yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Friday, November 20, 2009
Hey everybody! Que pasa?!! Today was a really good day!!! I have some things going in a good direction for me! Hopefully soon I'll be able to write about them on here.
So two different people asked me today where I was from and about who I am so I told them...with a little extra: I'm from the thriving metropolis of Denver City, Texas. Nestled between Lubbock and Odessa this bustling town of 4,000 folks was incredibly influential on my life and for 15 years it was my home. Denver City is a hard place to explain for anyone that has never been there. Growing up, I had to cross not only state lines but time zones to get to the nearest movie theater. When I arrived in Abilene it was not just Imagine, if you can, a town built on the oilfield supplemented by agriculture. It's an incredible place, its really different compared to most other places though. If you have ever seen the movie Friday Night Lights, it is comparable to my hometown. You have people that are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I love the home that I have there and the people that I know there. I think that this town is a huge part of who I am. I am a very outgoing person, and I think that part of that has to do with coming from a town where I know everyone. It makes me want to turn the world into a place where I know someone everywhere. People ask me what I did in High school, and I get to say I got to play football, basketball, baseball, one act, UIL, and some other things... but then I have to say I graduated in a class of 86 so everyone did everything. I know people who were born, raised, and died in Denver City. I can't imagine it, but it happens. I love that place and I will always have a home there, but I can't see myself moving back. I do love going home though and I'm looking forward for Thanksgiving next week.
So not anything really life changing tonight, but its a little background
I really appreciate everyone who has been reading this though and I hope that your still enjoying it...at least a little.
But yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
So two different people asked me today where I was from and about who I am so I told them...with a little extra: I'm from the thriving metropolis of Denver City, Texas. Nestled between Lubbock and Odessa this bustling town of 4,000 folks was incredibly influential on my life and for 15 years it was my home. Denver City is a hard place to explain for anyone that has never been there. Growing up, I had to cross not only state lines but time zones to get to the nearest movie theater. When I arrived in Abilene it was not just Imagine, if you can, a town built on the oilfield supplemented by agriculture. It's an incredible place, its really different compared to most other places though. If you have ever seen the movie Friday Night Lights, it is comparable to my hometown. You have people that are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I love the home that I have there and the people that I know there. I think that this town is a huge part of who I am. I am a very outgoing person, and I think that part of that has to do with coming from a town where I know everyone. It makes me want to turn the world into a place where I know someone everywhere. People ask me what I did in High school, and I get to say I got to play football, basketball, baseball, one act, UIL, and some other things... but then I have to say I graduated in a class of 86 so everyone did everything. I know people who were born, raised, and died in Denver City. I can't imagine it, but it happens. I love that place and I will always have a home there, but I can't see myself moving back. I do love going home though and I'm looking forward for Thanksgiving next week.
So not anything really life changing tonight, but its a little background
I really appreciate everyone who has been reading this though and I hope that your still enjoying it...at least a little.
But yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Do you have hunger?
Heya everybody!!! Que onda? Which, by the way, I have always have thought was a really weird phrase in Spanish. It means literally "what wave" but its used as a greeting, similar to the way "whats up" is used in English. However, it will confuse you to no ends if you learn it as being like "how are you" first then go to the beach and try to learn what the word for wave is; especially if your just starting to learn Spanish. I've made so many mistakes working at Spanish, but one of the worst has to be confusing hombre(man) with hambre(hunger)... in spanish to say your hungry you say "tengo hambre"(I have hunger) so its really easy to say "tengo hombre" (I have man). Usually the answer that you get to that is "O do you? Wow can I meet him? Jaja well the thing is there are things like that in English too. Have any of yall thought about the phrase "Keep your eyes peeled"? As my good friend Jade pointed out for me one time in reality that phrase is terrifying. Hit the sack? how is that go to bed? I know that there is a story behind it but imagine someone who is learning English how strange that would sound.
So I didn't mean to write about that today, but I've got to get going. So thanks again to everyone who is reading, writing comments, talking to me about this blog, if you have talked to me recently and similar topics come up in the blog thanks for the inspiration! Bueno quisiera escribir mas pero ya tengo irme!!!
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
So I didn't mean to write about that today, but I've got to get going. So thanks again to everyone who is reading, writing comments, talking to me about this blog, if you have talked to me recently and similar topics come up in the blog thanks for the inspiration! Bueno quisiera escribir mas pero ya tengo irme!!!
Yall be careful and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Decisiones
Buen Dia! Buenas Tardes! Buenas Noches! Whatever time you read this I hope its tanto bien!!! Once again I want to thank everyone for their encouragement whether its virtually, physically, metaphysically...whatever I'll take encouragement anywhere I can get it. So today I got to eat lunch with Cindy and got dinner with Jared, two people who I admire greatly for very different reasons.
So I know a lot of yall have probably seen the movie The Butterfly Effect that came out a few years ago with Ashton Kutcher, but if you haven't one of the basic ideas is that if you change something in the world, even something as small as killing a butterfly, it can have a ripple effect that could change major things in the world. I started thinking again today about a few small changes in events that have brought me to where I am today. You know if you go back a few years for me to when I was a Senior in High School I was trying to go to College to play football. So I was sending out film going to camps and going through the whole recruiting process and eventually it started looking like I was going to go to the University of North Texas, however the entire coaching staff got fired, so I ended up going to watch an ACU football game and coming to ACU to play football here. I then ended up changing my major from Biology to International Relations, then I went to Costa Rica, then I quit football and signed up to go to Uruguay. In Uruguay I met some of the most incredible people ever, I then had the opportunity to go to Brazil, there I met some more of the people who have been affecting and continue to change my life. Sometimes when I think about what could have happened if one of North Texas' players would have went off and they would have won a few more games... or millions of other tiny things I would be living in Denton and probably still planning on being an optometrist... Now I love the life that I'm living and I cannot imagine living any life different from the one that I'm living now. Pues, I think that its phenomenal to look back on your life and see what it is that has brought you to where you are today... and to keep in mind that even the small decisions that you make can change who you are.
Well those are my thoughts for the day.
Yall be carefull and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
So I know a lot of yall have probably seen the movie The Butterfly Effect that came out a few years ago with Ashton Kutcher, but if you haven't one of the basic ideas is that if you change something in the world, even something as small as killing a butterfly, it can have a ripple effect that could change major things in the world. I started thinking again today about a few small changes in events that have brought me to where I am today. You know if you go back a few years for me to when I was a Senior in High School I was trying to go to College to play football. So I was sending out film going to camps and going through the whole recruiting process and eventually it started looking like I was going to go to the University of North Texas, however the entire coaching staff got fired, so I ended up going to watch an ACU football game and coming to ACU to play football here. I then ended up changing my major from Biology to International Relations, then I went to Costa Rica, then I quit football and signed up to go to Uruguay. In Uruguay I met some of the most incredible people ever, I then had the opportunity to go to Brazil, there I met some more of the people who have been affecting and continue to change my life. Sometimes when I think about what could have happened if one of North Texas' players would have went off and they would have won a few more games... or millions of other tiny things I would be living in Denton and probably still planning on being an optometrist... Now I love the life that I'm living and I cannot imagine living any life different from the one that I'm living now. Pues, I think that its phenomenal to look back on your life and see what it is that has brought you to where you are today... and to keep in mind that even the small decisions that you make can change who you are.
Well those are my thoughts for the day.
Yall be carefull and ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
1000 Years
Buenas muchachos!!!
Hey guys its day 9!!! We just had a waterball game we won yaya!!! So much stuff is moving and shaking for me so lets hope it all works out. Well thanks again to everyone who is reading the blog and thanks for the comments here, on facebook, and real life. I'm afraid that I may be having people blocking me on facebook for all the times I'm publishing links to these blogs. So I hope that you don't!!!
My mother is a reading teacher, and I have been reading for as long as I can remember. My Mom used to take me into her lap and read me stories. Stories of Knights in shining armor, of pirates, of brave men and valiant women. I remember my first attempt at writing "The Monster that Ate Chicago" it was about a monster that ate Chicago. I wrote, illustrated, published and distributed this masterpiece. The illustrations were mainly squiggles and had to dictate the words to my mom. However, write it I did. It was fantastic. Really though I can't remember not loving stories, I think its incredible to hear peoples tales of their life. It blows my mind to think that everyone has a story, a reason why they are where they are in there life right at this moment. The time that this comes in my mind the most is on the highway. You know your on route somewhere and you pass someone, and in that moment you are one of the most important people in their life, but you probably won't ever see each other again. There is a whole back story that brought them into your live but you probably won't ever know it. So when I'm in my car driving by myself I like to make up stories for the people who are passing me on the highway. (does that make me creepy?) For example, I'll think to myself this big trucker next to me obviously had to come from France and he only came to the U.S. to follow his struggling blues career. Other people that I think about are people 1000 years in the future you know what I mean? Think about the people 1000 years ago and then look around the room your in. Most of the stuff in your room right now would be magic to people 1000 years ago. So when I think about how things are going to be in the future I think about stuff like Harry Potter and just assume that people will be able to do all that stuff...but with science. But Harry Potter brings me back to literature what got me started on this is I saw the last thirty minutes of Finding Neverland and the story of Peter Pan was always a favorite of mine as a child. (Probably another Freudian moment eh?)
However, I'm almost out of time so ya me voy!!!
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Hey guys its day 9!!! We just had a waterball game we won yaya!!! So much stuff is moving and shaking for me so lets hope it all works out. Well thanks again to everyone who is reading the blog and thanks for the comments here, on facebook, and real life. I'm afraid that I may be having people blocking me on facebook for all the times I'm publishing links to these blogs. So I hope that you don't!!!
My mother is a reading teacher, and I have been reading for as long as I can remember. My Mom used to take me into her lap and read me stories. Stories of Knights in shining armor, of pirates, of brave men and valiant women. I remember my first attempt at writing "The Monster that Ate Chicago" it was about a monster that ate Chicago. I wrote, illustrated, published and distributed this masterpiece. The illustrations were mainly squiggles and had to dictate the words to my mom. However, write it I did. It was fantastic. Really though I can't remember not loving stories, I think its incredible to hear peoples tales of their life. It blows my mind to think that everyone has a story, a reason why they are where they are in there life right at this moment. The time that this comes in my mind the most is on the highway. You know your on route somewhere and you pass someone, and in that moment you are one of the most important people in their life, but you probably won't ever see each other again. There is a whole back story that brought them into your live but you probably won't ever know it. So when I'm in my car driving by myself I like to make up stories for the people who are passing me on the highway. (does that make me creepy?) For example, I'll think to myself this big trucker next to me obviously had to come from France and he only came to the U.S. to follow his struggling blues career. Other people that I think about are people 1000 years in the future you know what I mean? Think about the people 1000 years ago and then look around the room your in. Most of the stuff in your room right now would be magic to people 1000 years ago. So when I think about how things are going to be in the future I think about stuff like Harry Potter and just assume that people will be able to do all that stuff...but with science. But Harry Potter brings me back to literature what got me started on this is I saw the last thirty minutes of Finding Neverland and the story of Peter Pan was always a favorite of mine as a child. (Probably another Freudian moment eh?)
However, I'm almost out of time so ya me voy!!!
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Fear
Buenas everybody!!! So here is day 8.
Tonight we were going to play waterball... but the team we were going to play forfeited, supposedly on account of fear. Which actually isn't surprising considering I'm over two hundred pounds and I'm one of the smallest people on my team. I wish we would have been able to play but what can you do?
So on that note I want to talk about fear. Growing up my biggest fear in the entire world was heights. I hated being up high so much! Now some people say they were afraid of heights, but I'm telling you this was on another level. Escalators were terrifying and elevators with an open window were the bane of my existence. When I was around four I was going up an escalator with my Grandma and I ended up clambering up her side like she was a tower of security, wrapping my legs and arm around her and losing the memory of how to let go. Another time my parents thought that it would be a good idea to take me up to one of those observatory towers you see in touristy places. I was doing good as long as I was indoors so we decided it would be a good idea to make our way to the observation deck. As soon as I hit the metal grating with shoes my hands then face followed. I crawled my way down the stairs and barely regained my composure once I got down on the ground.
In high school I finally got a bit of control over my fear when I was in One-Act play. I was working at my high schools auditorium trying to set up for our show and to get to the top where all the curtains and lights were there is a series of three incredibly scary ladders. The first is sturdy and isn't too bad because its still not too high. The second, however is one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. It literally is an old, rickety, wooden ladder that is attached by a shoe string. It terrified me. With a racing heart and adrenaline racing all the way through my capillaries, I made it up to the third ladder. Ok while this may sound like the premise of a cheesy video game its all true I made it up to the third level and accomplished the goal. There wasn't a princess though.
So now I am a lot more confident with heights...they still make me nervous... but I can handle them if I have to. Now I'm thinking about skydiving to try and get rid of the last of my fear. It could be fun, maybe.
Well it makes me wonder thought why are we afraid of the things that we are? Is there something inherent about me by the fact that I am afraid of heights? I'm sure Freud could have a field day with me. The thing is though falling doesn't kill you... itsjust the sudden stop at the end that you have to watch out for (sorry. cheesetastic I know)
well those are the thoughts for the day
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!!!
Tonight we were going to play waterball... but the team we were going to play forfeited, supposedly on account of fear. Which actually isn't surprising considering I'm over two hundred pounds and I'm one of the smallest people on my team. I wish we would have been able to play but what can you do?
So on that note I want to talk about fear. Growing up my biggest fear in the entire world was heights. I hated being up high so much! Now some people say they were afraid of heights, but I'm telling you this was on another level. Escalators were terrifying and elevators with an open window were the bane of my existence. When I was around four I was going up an escalator with my Grandma and I ended up clambering up her side like she was a tower of security, wrapping my legs and arm around her and losing the memory of how to let go. Another time my parents thought that it would be a good idea to take me up to one of those observatory towers you see in touristy places. I was doing good as long as I was indoors so we decided it would be a good idea to make our way to the observation deck. As soon as I hit the metal grating with shoes my hands then face followed. I crawled my way down the stairs and barely regained my composure once I got down on the ground.
In high school I finally got a bit of control over my fear when I was in One-Act play. I was working at my high schools auditorium trying to set up for our show and to get to the top where all the curtains and lights were there is a series of three incredibly scary ladders. The first is sturdy and isn't too bad because its still not too high. The second, however is one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. It literally is an old, rickety, wooden ladder that is attached by a shoe string. It terrified me. With a racing heart and adrenaline racing all the way through my capillaries, I made it up to the third ladder. Ok while this may sound like the premise of a cheesy video game its all true I made it up to the third level and accomplished the goal. There wasn't a princess though.
So now I am a lot more confident with heights...they still make me nervous... but I can handle them if I have to. Now I'm thinking about skydiving to try and get rid of the last of my fear. It could be fun, maybe.
Well it makes me wonder thought why are we afraid of the things that we are? Is there something inherent about me by the fact that I am afraid of heights? I'm sure Freud could have a field day with me. The thing is though falling doesn't kill you... itsjust the sudden stop at the end that you have to watch out for (sorry. cheesetastic I know)
well those are the thoughts for the day
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Rationality
Buenas!!! Hey everyone so today is day 7 of 100!!! One week!!! ya!
Thanks everyone who is following and reading this blog. I hope yall keep reading it and liking it.
So I just want to apologize for all my grammatical errors. I'll try to improve on all that.
Ok so this morning I got up again and went to go driving with los cubanos. It was a lot of fun and they are getting better every time we go. Two of my roommates left town this weekend so it was a bit quiet this weekend.
I started thinking again today about something that I struggle with a lot. Like a lot of my posts so far have said I am very interested in other cultures and travel. I have been incredibly lucky to be able to do some of the things that I have so far in my life, and I have been enchanted with change. Now the other thing that really gets my soul a-movin is justice. I get very passionate when I see civil liberties cast down and people being treated like they are no longer people.
Emotion rises up in my gut and fills up my my body and even creeps into my mind. Its so hard for me to reconcile these two passions at times. Its really difficult for me to travel to places and make friends with people who will never get the opportunity to travel outside of their own country. Is that just? What gives me the right to leave a place of comfort and go to places where people are striving for comfort? I incessantly struggle with this. My rationality is that do be able to help people I need to have the experience and the language ability that only by living outside of the U.S. I will be able to achieve. I don't know if this is right, but I can't ignore either passion and this is the only way I've found that I can mix the two.
So hopefully everything will be good.
So yall be carefull y ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Thanks everyone who is following and reading this blog. I hope yall keep reading it and liking it.
So I just want to apologize for all my grammatical errors. I'll try to improve on all that.
Ok so this morning I got up again and went to go driving with los cubanos. It was a lot of fun and they are getting better every time we go. Two of my roommates left town this weekend so it was a bit quiet this weekend.
I started thinking again today about something that I struggle with a lot. Like a lot of my posts so far have said I am very interested in other cultures and travel. I have been incredibly lucky to be able to do some of the things that I have so far in my life, and I have been enchanted with change. Now the other thing that really gets my soul a-movin is justice. I get very passionate when I see civil liberties cast down and people being treated like they are no longer people.
Emotion rises up in my gut and fills up my my body and even creeps into my mind. Its so hard for me to reconcile these two passions at times. Its really difficult for me to travel to places and make friends with people who will never get the opportunity to travel outside of their own country. Is that just? What gives me the right to leave a place of comfort and go to places where people are striving for comfort? I incessantly struggle with this. My rationality is that do be able to help people I need to have the experience and the language ability that only by living outside of the U.S. I will be able to achieve. I don't know if this is right, but I can't ignore either passion and this is the only way I've found that I can mix the two.
So hopefully everything will be good.
So yall be carefull y ojala que estes con una sonrisa
Saturday, November 14, 2009
New respect
Hey everyone this is day 6 of 100. Sorry if I'm bugging you guys but I hope yall are enjoying reading some of my quirkiness. So thanks to everyone who comments, follows and reads this madness of mine.
So last night I got a call from Mark and Ali Kaiser who are missionaries in Brazil. They are on sabbatical in the U.S. and they came in last night to see the Culture Show at ACU. We ended up going to Wild Wings and hanging out afterwards at a friends house. They are some of my favorite people in the world, I haven't seen them in over a year and I was uber pumped to see them last night. We ended up staying up really late which, as is well known, is not a good idea when you have to wake up early the next morning but everyone still seems to do it anyway.
Bueno the reason I had to wake up so early this morning is because I am working with a family of Cuban political refugees helping them learn English and how to survive in the U.S. They are incredible people and I love working with them, its the highlight of my week most of the time. Lately we have been working on learning to drive because while they have only been here for about 5 months they are working two jobs each and have already bought a car. They have never driven anything in their lives though so this can be a stressful situation at times. Now I want you guys to imagine with me for a second.
Picture a very paternal Cuban man sitting in the drivers seat of a small SUV with a white guy in the passenger seat making frantic hand motions and moving his mouth so fast that you need a hummingbird camera to see it. If you see this site on the road the best advice I have for you is to remain calm, and slowly turn in a different direction and watch from a distance with cell phone in hand in case of the necessity of an ambulance ... at least for a few more weeks.
I now have a new found respect for my Father, all parents, and anyone who has ever taught a drivers ed. class. Now when I was a kid learning how to drive I never could understand why my Dad always seemed so tense when I was driving. I thought if he would just relax then everything would go a whole lot smoother. It all makes so much more sense now that I'm whizzing inches from mailboxes, stopping in the middle of street, and making left turns from the right lane. My fathers predicament of a few years back seems o so familiar now. However with me I have the addition of trying to get this all done in espanol. Now don't get me wrong. I think Spanish is a beautiful language and I have spent the last two years trying to get to a point where I can communicate and I feel that for only being two years old I do ok. But in the heat of the moment when bad things seem to be closing in my language seems to slip from coherent sentences to fast overly repeated limited syllable words. Like "mira! mira! mira!" and sometimes devolving even further to guttural sounds like "ugg a a urr" with a grimace and a clenched jaw. However, we are moving forward and soon mi familia cubana will be able to get around Abilene independently.
So as I am having to teach I am finding a new respect for teachers, but more for the students that I'm teaching.
Just some thoughts for the day.
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa.
So last night I got a call from Mark and Ali Kaiser who are missionaries in Brazil. They are on sabbatical in the U.S. and they came in last night to see the Culture Show at ACU. We ended up going to Wild Wings and hanging out afterwards at a friends house. They are some of my favorite people in the world, I haven't seen them in over a year and I was uber pumped to see them last night. We ended up staying up really late which, as is well known, is not a good idea when you have to wake up early the next morning but everyone still seems to do it anyway.
Bueno the reason I had to wake up so early this morning is because I am working with a family of Cuban political refugees helping them learn English and how to survive in the U.S. They are incredible people and I love working with them, its the highlight of my week most of the time. Lately we have been working on learning to drive because while they have only been here for about 5 months they are working two jobs each and have already bought a car. They have never driven anything in their lives though so this can be a stressful situation at times. Now I want you guys to imagine with me for a second.
Picture a very paternal Cuban man sitting in the drivers seat of a small SUV with a white guy in the passenger seat making frantic hand motions and moving his mouth so fast that you need a hummingbird camera to see it. If you see this site on the road the best advice I have for you is to remain calm, and slowly turn in a different direction and watch from a distance with cell phone in hand in case of the necessity of an ambulance ... at least for a few more weeks.
I now have a new found respect for my Father, all parents, and anyone who has ever taught a drivers ed. class. Now when I was a kid learning how to drive I never could understand why my Dad always seemed so tense when I was driving. I thought if he would just relax then everything would go a whole lot smoother. It all makes so much more sense now that I'm whizzing inches from mailboxes, stopping in the middle of street, and making left turns from the right lane. My fathers predicament of a few years back seems o so familiar now. However with me I have the addition of trying to get this all done in espanol. Now don't get me wrong. I think Spanish is a beautiful language and I have spent the last two years trying to get to a point where I can communicate and I feel that for only being two years old I do ok. But in the heat of the moment when bad things seem to be closing in my language seems to slip from coherent sentences to fast overly repeated limited syllable words. Like "mira! mira! mira!" and sometimes devolving even further to guttural sounds like "ugg a a urr" with a grimace and a clenched jaw. However, we are moving forward and soon mi familia cubana will be able to get around Abilene independently.
So as I am having to teach I am finding a new respect for teachers, but more for the students that I'm teaching.
Just some thoughts for the day.
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa.
Friday, November 13, 2009
My love-hate relationship
So this is Day 5 of this Journey thanks everyone for the encouraging comments. Last night we played waterball. Looking forward to the weekend, but I still have to do a lot of work. But it will be good. I'm looking forward to it.
Traveling changes your perspectives and the way you think about the way things are. I have been deeply affected by what I've seen and where I've been. In all the years of study and reading that I have done nothing has opened my eyes quite the way traveling has. When I was 18 years old I had rarely left Texas and had never left the country. My vision of the world was pretty narrow and I spent most of my time thinking about sports and school. Then during the summer of 2007 I took a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico and I haven't been the same since. Now don't get me wrong I love Texas. I have my roots here and I was raised to have what many would call "repugnant" Texas pride. The thing is, I love Texas like I love my Mom, and I love traveling like I would a women. The love I have for Texas is like the coals of a fire. They are incredibly hot but its a gentle warmth that is constant. The way feel about traveling is more like a roaring bonfire with gasoline being poured on it. I ache to be changing and moving. I can't wait to see my next destination.
Now to tell you about my love-hate relationship...its with the Travel Channel. I watch it tons, I watch so many of their shows its a bit of a habit. However, I get really frustrated with it, I'll be watching Anthony Bourdain go spearfishing in French Polynesia and I get jealous and perturbed and I change the channel. Then I start yearning to see all the cool stuff that they are doing so I turn it back. I am ridiculous, I know.
But yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Traveling changes your perspectives and the way you think about the way things are. I have been deeply affected by what I've seen and where I've been. In all the years of study and reading that I have done nothing has opened my eyes quite the way traveling has. When I was 18 years old I had rarely left Texas and had never left the country. My vision of the world was pretty narrow and I spent most of my time thinking about sports and school. Then during the summer of 2007 I took a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico and I haven't been the same since. Now don't get me wrong I love Texas. I have my roots here and I was raised to have what many would call "repugnant" Texas pride. The thing is, I love Texas like I love my Mom, and I love traveling like I would a women. The love I have for Texas is like the coals of a fire. They are incredibly hot but its a gentle warmth that is constant. The way feel about traveling is more like a roaring bonfire with gasoline being poured on it. I ache to be changing and moving. I can't wait to see my next destination.
Now to tell you about my love-hate relationship...its with the Travel Channel. I watch it tons, I watch so many of their shows its a bit of a habit. However, I get really frustrated with it, I'll be watching Anthony Bourdain go spearfishing in French Polynesia and I get jealous and perturbed and I change the channel. Then I start yearning to see all the cool stuff that they are doing so I turn it back. I am ridiculous, I know.
But yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Fishing
Well guys so its day four now of this journey. Today I play waterball at 10 and last night I lifted a little (very little) but hopefully it will keep going. Thanks everyone who is reading Yaya and check out my roomie Brooks at http://valhallaatyoulater.blogspot.com/ he is the one who got me started on the madness.
One time, back when I was around 5 or 6 I went out fishing with my Pawpaw (aka my Paternal Grandfather) we went out on a boat and were catching catfish. This was an incredible experience for me...It was the Trifecta...I was on a boat for the first time in my life, I was hanging with my Dad and Pawpaw a real guys day out grr, and we where actually catching fish. I'm talking like huge fish too, now my perception may be a bit skewed because of my tiny size but I swear those fish were almost as long as I was tall. Now even in a five year old body I knew they were huge. Now I being my five year old self proclaimed myself the official namer of the fish, the largest of which I christened Lips, because he had the biggest lips that I had ever seen. Now my Bammaw (paternal grandma) was an outstanding cook and I remember eating very well that night on Lips.
I am an International Relations major at Abilene Christian, so a lot of what I think about daily is in the realm of Political Science. So lots of times I get to hear about foreign aid, development in countries with stable institutions, the World Bank and the IMF. Also since I'm a Christian school I hear a lot about missionary work and people going out and doing medical work with different people all around the world. Now I believe that many of these attempts at trying to help less developed countries are incredible things, however I think that a lot of it comes down to the old saying.
You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. My argument, however is that if the law says "no fishing" then he will still go hungry no matter how good of a fisherman he is. We put restrictions on people making it almost impossible to succeed or we open them directly up to a market that they are not ready to compete in, or they are working under a government of corruption. So the challenge is trying to make a place where people can "fish"
I dunno
just some thoughts
let me know whatcha think
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
One time, back when I was around 5 or 6 I went out fishing with my Pawpaw (aka my Paternal Grandfather) we went out on a boat and were catching catfish. This was an incredible experience for me...It was the Trifecta...I was on a boat for the first time in my life, I was hanging with my Dad and Pawpaw a real guys day out grr, and we where actually catching fish. I'm talking like huge fish too, now my perception may be a bit skewed because of my tiny size but I swear those fish were almost as long as I was tall. Now even in a five year old body I knew they were huge. Now I being my five year old self proclaimed myself the official namer of the fish, the largest of which I christened Lips, because he had the biggest lips that I had ever seen. Now my Bammaw (paternal grandma) was an outstanding cook and I remember eating very well that night on Lips.
I am an International Relations major at Abilene Christian, so a lot of what I think about daily is in the realm of Political Science. So lots of times I get to hear about foreign aid, development in countries with stable institutions, the World Bank and the IMF. Also since I'm a Christian school I hear a lot about missionary work and people going out and doing medical work with different people all around the world. Now I believe that many of these attempts at trying to help less developed countries are incredible things, however I think that a lot of it comes down to the old saying.
You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. My argument, however is that if the law says "no fishing" then he will still go hungry no matter how good of a fisherman he is. We put restrictions on people making it almost impossible to succeed or we open them directly up to a market that they are not ready to compete in, or they are working under a government of corruption. So the challenge is trying to make a place where people can "fish"
I dunno
just some thoughts
let me know whatcha think
Yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Apples and Vegetables
Ok day three still making it happen
Its going to keep going so if you read it follow me ya!
Ok so there was once a time when I was eating dinner with my good friends Jordan and Joanna and we ended up getting in a conversation about the differences between men and women. At the time we were all living together with 13 other women and three other guys in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was one of the greatest experiences that I have but it was also the closest that I will probably ever come to living in the Real World.
Many of the normal things got said, but I felt in one of my rare insightful moments came when I made the analogy that Guys are like Apples and Women are like vegetables. Now hear me out it may sound a bit mad but give it a shot.
Guys to be honest are pretty generic, don't get me wrong we are different, but we are different like the differences between apples. I mean we have Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious but we are all still apples... You get a bunch of guys together and give them either a sports game to watch, their preferred video game, or a simple game like washers to play and they can be entertained for hours. Now none of those things may be their favorite thing to do, but most of the time guys will be ok with any of these. Now there are always a few pineapples but they are apples too.
Now this is the consensus that Joanna and I were able to come up with about women. No women is the same and every one has differences in their personality. They are all still women but there are so many varieties like vegitables. You have carrots, broccoli, sweet peas. They are all still vegitables but they are all so different.
Well just some things to think about
Let me know what you think
yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Its going to keep going so if you read it follow me ya!
Ok so there was once a time when I was eating dinner with my good friends Jordan and Joanna and we ended up getting in a conversation about the differences between men and women. At the time we were all living together with 13 other women and three other guys in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was one of the greatest experiences that I have but it was also the closest that I will probably ever come to living in the Real World.
Many of the normal things got said, but I felt in one of my rare insightful moments came when I made the analogy that Guys are like Apples and Women are like vegetables. Now hear me out it may sound a bit mad but give it a shot.
Guys to be honest are pretty generic, don't get me wrong we are different, but we are different like the differences between apples. I mean we have Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious but we are all still apples... You get a bunch of guys together and give them either a sports game to watch, their preferred video game, or a simple game like washers to play and they can be entertained for hours. Now none of those things may be their favorite thing to do, but most of the time guys will be ok with any of these. Now there are always a few pineapples but they are apples too.
Now this is the consensus that Joanna and I were able to come up with about women. No women is the same and every one has differences in their personality. They are all still women but there are so many varieties like vegitables. You have carrots, broccoli, sweet peas. They are all still vegitables but they are all so different.
Well just some things to think about
Let me know what you think
yall be careful y ojala que estes con una sonrisa!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Every journey starts with one step....but why is the second one tougher?
So this magical journey is on its second day.
Brooks and I are still going strong. We played waterball last night and did yoga after in order to make this experience more than just a writing venture.
As I said last time I go to Abilene Christian University. Its a small school and the culture here lends itself to finding the "one". Many of my friends are married or are getting married soon. Some of whom I'm sure will be good for each other, but others... It's hard for me to say. Even for the people who are not planning on getting married there seems to be a pressure to be in a relationship, especially for guys who are trying to get into jobs in Ministry. There are people who get latched on to each other and seem to just get married because that is what your supposed to do next. Its like its just another brick in their what they want there life to be.
We are taught by U.S. culture that love is supposed to be the strongest bond there is, that "love conquers all" but in reality there are many people who feel that love isn't the end all be all of life. If you think about people who we find incredible stirring figures in history, everyone from Saladin, King Richard the Lionhearted, or our founding fathers economics, self interest and passion are what drive people to do what they do. Now you may ask me "but isn't passion the same thing as love?" and I would have to say that love is different, but it can be something that makes you passionate. Because what your passionate about does not have to be something you love; it can be something that you just cannot stand any longer. For example, when I see people living in squalor living not from paycheck to paycheck but in complete insecurity of what they will have that night what I feel is passion. Now nothing like this is certain nor steady so while I classify this as passion others may believe it is love.
My question is
How many people out there are "in love" and how many are content to live the life that has been predestined for them by being born where they are born?
Brooks and I are still going strong. We played waterball last night and did yoga after in order to make this experience more than just a writing venture.
As I said last time I go to Abilene Christian University. Its a small school and the culture here lends itself to finding the "one". Many of my friends are married or are getting married soon. Some of whom I'm sure will be good for each other, but others... It's hard for me to say. Even for the people who are not planning on getting married there seems to be a pressure to be in a relationship, especially for guys who are trying to get into jobs in Ministry. There are people who get latched on to each other and seem to just get married because that is what your supposed to do next. Its like its just another brick in their what they want there life to be.
We are taught by U.S. culture that love is supposed to be the strongest bond there is, that "love conquers all" but in reality there are many people who feel that love isn't the end all be all of life. If you think about people who we find incredible stirring figures in history, everyone from Saladin, King Richard the Lionhearted, or our founding fathers economics, self interest and passion are what drive people to do what they do. Now you may ask me "but isn't passion the same thing as love?" and I would have to say that love is different, but it can be something that makes you passionate. Because what your passionate about does not have to be something you love; it can be something that you just cannot stand any longer. For example, when I see people living in squalor living not from paycheck to paycheck but in complete insecurity of what they will have that night what I feel is passion. Now nothing like this is certain nor steady so while I classify this as passion others may believe it is love.
My question is
How many people out there are "in love" and how many are content to live the life that has been predestined for them by being born where they are born?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Starting the Journey!!
Ok so my roomie big brooksdirk has started a journey to write everyday for one hundred days... so I have decided to try join him on his epic adventure.
So a bit about me
I'm a guy who is just trying to live the dream here in Abilene. I grew up in a the tiny town of Denver City TX, and I had never left the country and I had barely left the state until I was 18 and went to Mexico.
So now I'm an International Relations major travel is my passion and I cant wait to go somewhere new, I've been all over Latin America and some of those experiences will indubitably end up on here. I am a passionate guy and some of my strong beliefs will seep into this blog but I'll try to keep it lighthearted.
To start this blog I just wanted to tell you guys a story about working recruiting students to go to Abilene Christian University... in other words my job.
So I have been working this job for about six months or so and its not so hard I don't really have to do much... but lets be honest here all I do is call high school kids all day. So now I am very experienced at talking to high school students and just random people about ACU. But in all my thousands of calls one thing that I have discovered is how mind boggling wrong numbers are to people. I call my assigned phone number and in the most professional kind voice that I can muster I say "Hello may I speak with Hope please?" The response I usually I get is "O I'm sorry she isn't in right now" or something along those lines. However, when I have a number that is wrong on my list and I call people like to respond in the most startled offended voice "WHAAAT? WHO IS THAT?!?!?!?" and I say "Hope? Hope Davis" and then can feel their ostracized tones drip through the receiver as they say "What?!! there is no Hope here?!!" (true story) or something of a similar genre. My question is why do people get so offended that I took up two minutes or less of their time?
Since starting this job I so much nicer to people over the phone... you now its not their fault if your TV isn't working or whatever and you know they are people too.
so while
Maybe not the best blog ever but it was my first time
have patience and maybe ill get decent at this stuff
Yall be careful; Live and Love y espero que estes con una sonrisa!
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