Thursday, December 4, 2008
Scremo = "Wrist Cutters" = Death Metal
Media attention is a great way to create stereotypes. If all you see about a place or people is the negative side that the media thrives on; you will, maybe without knowing, create a related mental stereotype. This is easy to see when you look at the Arabic nation. Whenever an extremist blows himself up or a gun fight breaks out across many countries, the worlds view of the Arabic nation suffers. To make a statement like “all Arabic people are evil and destructive and only seek to kill Americans” is very closed minded and uneducated. This being said, I would like to divert your attention to a less serious but still culturally important stereotype. “Rock and roll” music.
Rock and roll was said to be created by none other than the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. The common Rock and roll band image was mostly created by the Beatles. If these bands were débuting today , neither Elvis Presley nor The Beatles would be considered Rock and roll. Elvis would be considered some sort of country music and The Beatles would be considered soft rock or alternative rock. Most people have no real problems with either bands music.
Over the years many types of rock and roll have been created, and with them, stereotypes have followed. Now let me set some things straight. All Screamo is not evil music. Allow me to elaborate. Screamo is a newer kind of music; the word Screamo derives from two words Scream and Emotional. To explain what Screamo is I suggest you select ”In Regards to myself” by underoath. the lyrics are posted below. Like much heavy music, it takes a experienced fan to understand the actual words of the singer.
Wake up! Wake up! My God!
This is not a test!
And it's not too late to come clean
Get it off your chest
So steady your hand before your face and concentrate
There's got to be some stable ground
Left to walk on
So tear another page from the book
Are you asleep or just alone?
Clear this room from your lungs
Pull yourself together
Pull yourself together, man
Pull yourself together
Pull yourself together
On your back,
You're sleeping in a bed of shame
Let the light breath some new life into this room
It's what keeps you coming back
Made up of insatiable taste
Bury your head in your hands
And sing into yourself
Oh!
Just what are you so afraid of?
What are you so afraid of?
You're staring truth in the face
So come on down
What are you so afraid of?
You're busy living now, aren't you?
You're busy making vows
You're coming unglued
Time is shorter than you know
I know the light is blinding to the naked eye
So why don't you take steps away from being alone?
I swear, it's not too late for you
It's all worth reaching for
It's all worth reaching for
It's all worth reaching for
The hand to pull you out
It's all worth reaching for
The hand to pull you out
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
And step outside your box
Wake up!
As you will hear the music is “busy” it is a very complex style of music. If you the reader, have some music background you may notice how the music has many layers and the count is not traditional nor is the layout between chorus and verses. When i hear this style of music I do not hear hate, I hear PASSION. I believe people get these two things confused when listening to the music. If you think that scremo is music for kids to slit their wrists to, YOU ARE WRONG. The media and public focus on bands that preach evil and self-destruction, these bands do this to get attention, and they get it.
Death Metal is not always about death. The term Math Metal is often used in place of death metal. Why you may ask? Choose the song “Black seeds” by Living Sacrifice. If you listen you will find great complexity in the music. Here are the lyrics, it takes an experienced fan of this style of music to understand what is being said.
Beauty Blessed, All Confess, Undenied
Except Inside, Black Seeds Of Jealousy
Forced Inside, Forced Inside
At Such A Tender Age
Irreparable Psychosis Set In Motion
Joy Of Life And Love
Sucked Out By The Words Of The World
Colliding Your Worlds, Colliding The Blackness Inside
Manifest itself, Hate And Pride
Dispelled By God’s Love Overtime
Forgiveness, The Mirror Lies
Conditioning Seeds Of Jealousy
Dispelled By God’s Love
Peace Becomes Real To Me
This Blackness Inside
Manifest Itself In Hate And Pride
Dispelled By God’s Love Overtime
Forgiveness Landslide
As you can see, the music is not evil. It actually proves a positive message, in a very poetic fashion, presented with passion.
These are just a few cases were music is misunderstood. It happens in all forms of music and in all forms of life. Just make sure that you do your research before making claims like “Arabs are suicide bombers” or “ screamo is for kids who kill themselves”.
Rock and roll was said to be created by none other than the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. The common Rock and roll band image was mostly created by the Beatles. If these bands were débuting today , neither Elvis Presley nor The Beatles would be considered Rock and roll. Elvis would be considered some sort of country music and The Beatles would be considered soft rock or alternative rock. Most people have no real problems with either bands music.
Over the years many types of rock and roll have been created, and with them, stereotypes have followed. Now let me set some things straight. All Screamo is not evil music. Allow me to elaborate. Screamo is a newer kind of music; the word Screamo derives from two words Scream and Emotional. To explain what Screamo is I suggest you select ”In Regards to myself” by underoath. the lyrics are posted below. Like much heavy music, it takes a experienced fan to understand the actual words of the singer.
Wake up! Wake up! My God!
This is not a test!
And it's not too late to come clean
Get it off your chest
So steady your hand before your face and concentrate
There's got to be some stable ground
Left to walk on
So tear another page from the book
Are you asleep or just alone?
Clear this room from your lungs
Pull yourself together
Pull yourself together, man
Pull yourself together
Pull yourself together
On your back,
You're sleeping in a bed of shame
Let the light breath some new life into this room
It's what keeps you coming back
Made up of insatiable taste
Bury your head in your hands
And sing into yourself
Oh!
Just what are you so afraid of?
What are you so afraid of?
You're staring truth in the face
So come on down
What are you so afraid of?
You're busy living now, aren't you?
You're busy making vows
You're coming unglued
Time is shorter than you know
I know the light is blinding to the naked eye
So why don't you take steps away from being alone?
I swear, it's not too late for you
It's all worth reaching for
It's all worth reaching for
It's all worth reaching for
The hand to pull you out
It's all worth reaching for
The hand to pull you out
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
And step outside your box
Wake up!
As you will hear the music is “busy” it is a very complex style of music. If you the reader, have some music background you may notice how the music has many layers and the count is not traditional nor is the layout between chorus and verses. When i hear this style of music I do not hear hate, I hear PASSION. I believe people get these two things confused when listening to the music. If you think that scremo is music for kids to slit their wrists to, YOU ARE WRONG. The media and public focus on bands that preach evil and self-destruction, these bands do this to get attention, and they get it.
Death Metal is not always about death. The term Math Metal is often used in place of death metal. Why you may ask? Choose the song “Black seeds” by Living Sacrifice. If you listen you will find great complexity in the music. Here are the lyrics, it takes an experienced fan of this style of music to understand what is being said.
Beauty Blessed, All Confess, Undenied
Except Inside, Black Seeds Of Jealousy
Forced Inside, Forced Inside
At Such A Tender Age
Irreparable Psychosis Set In Motion
Joy Of Life And Love
Sucked Out By The Words Of The World
Colliding Your Worlds, Colliding The Blackness Inside
Manifest itself, Hate And Pride
Dispelled By God’s Love Overtime
Forgiveness, The Mirror Lies
Conditioning Seeds Of Jealousy
Dispelled By God’s Love
Peace Becomes Real To Me
This Blackness Inside
Manifest Itself In Hate And Pride
Dispelled By God’s Love Overtime
Forgiveness Landslide
As you can see, the music is not evil. It actually proves a positive message, in a very poetic fashion, presented with passion.
These are just a few cases were music is misunderstood. It happens in all forms of music and in all forms of life. Just make sure that you do your research before making claims like “Arabs are suicide bombers” or “ screamo is for kids who kill themselves”.
Monday, November 10, 2008
I loves me some receptions
Plan on getting married during your life time? you can learn something form this post.
Shortly after turning sixteen I picked up a second job at Cranberry Country Lodge (CCL) in Tomah Wi. Brenda, my sister, had linned me up for the job while she was working there. My job title was “Porter”. My duties included trash detail, stocking storage rooms, getting customers pillows and things they request for their rooms; but most importantly to setup and tear down for conventions. CCL has one large room that can be divided into three segments, these rooms can be used for parties, meetings and many other things. My job was to arrange the tables and chairs to the customers liking. Nearly every weekend there was a wedding reception or two, I would set it up, work during it, and tear it down when it ended. I did this for two years, and I got very good at it.
After moving to La Crosse for school I picked up a job at the Radisson hotel. I worked there as convention setup and server. There is a major difference between conventions at CCL and conventions at the Radisson, the Radisson's catering service is matched by no one. At the Radisson hotel on some weekends there would be up to eight wedding receptions to work. I worked for Radisson for two and a half years, and I was very good at it.
Between going to the occasional wedding reception and working them at my job, I have probably attended three hundred to four hundred wedding receptions. Now that you know my credentials, I would like to state something, and you can quote this, I loves me some receptions.
There is something very special about a wedding reception, there is a basic order to it. Although every reception is different in some way, they all follow a basic format:
Family members and Old people show up early, the family members ( usually the mother of the bride ) shows up to make sure that the hall is setup precisely as needed and to complain about pointless details. I do not know why the old people show up so early, they must not have anything better to do.
After a certain time has been reached, the doors to the hall open. People then start to mosey on into the hall. This process can take a while, depending if there are houre de vours, an open bar, music...
After people have seated themselves, they wait for the wedding party to show up. The wedding party is almost always late.
When the wedding party shows up, people go nuts, throwing rice, confetti, and other crap into the air and if you have done that, I would like you to know that stuff lands on the ground, which I have to vacuum up at like one in the morning.... you know who you are.
Once the wedding party has been sat at the head table (and the Bestman is pulled away from the bar) the priest, pastor, whatever, explains to everyone how they will get food, then prayer, then the head table is served. (or goes through the buffet if they are cheap “just kidding”)
while everyone is eating, their attention is called to the front so the Maid of Honor can attempt to give a speech while crying. After that, the Bestman gives a speech, this often mentions how long he has known the groom, a crazy story with the groom and him and ends with how happy the groom is with the bride. (Even though he is probably mad that she never lets them just hang out anymore.) The father of the bride will give a speech about how he was unsure about the groom but now loves him.
After the food is gone and the speeches are done, the bride and groom smear cake all over each other, thinking its original. if you want to be original DO NOT smear the cake, everyone smears the cake, without fail.
After that nonsense, a video that someone made with a couple songs and a bunch of pictures is played. Everyone loves it, even me....
The next and !!!!!MOST IMPORTANT!!!! thing is the dance, if you do not have a dance at your wedding, no one will remember it, it is VERY important. That is where all the memories come from. You wanna see your grandpa do something crazy? Have an open bar and a good DJ. Why do you think all those people come to a reception? To drink and dance! Trust me.
Every wedding has key things that happen durring the dance, including, bride and grooms first dance, father of the bride dance, dollar dance, throwing of the bouquet, tossing of the guarder (which can be a horrible battle) they also play key songs
-chicken dance
-Mackarienna
-Girls wanna have fun
-save a horse ride a cowboy
-greased lightning
-big buts, just to name a few.
After all is said and done, and the last drunken groomsman takes the last drunken bride's maid off of the floor, the clean up begins. The whole thing is magical and enjoyable, and predictable and it NEVER gets old. One thing that you can count on is this, something you were not expecting to happen, will happen.
I cannot wait to host my own reception, whenever that will be, I am sure it will be as predictable as the last, but hey...
"that's the right way about it".
-Richard Gums
P.S. You should see the bill sometime, open bar and prime rib for five hundred people WOW!
Shortly after turning sixteen I picked up a second job at Cranberry Country Lodge (CCL) in Tomah Wi. Brenda, my sister, had linned me up for the job while she was working there. My job title was “Porter”. My duties included trash detail, stocking storage rooms, getting customers pillows and things they request for their rooms; but most importantly to setup and tear down for conventions. CCL has one large room that can be divided into three segments, these rooms can be used for parties, meetings and many other things. My job was to arrange the tables and chairs to the customers liking. Nearly every weekend there was a wedding reception or two, I would set it up, work during it, and tear it down when it ended. I did this for two years, and I got very good at it.
After moving to La Crosse for school I picked up a job at the Radisson hotel. I worked there as convention setup and server. There is a major difference between conventions at CCL and conventions at the Radisson, the Radisson's catering service is matched by no one. At the Radisson hotel on some weekends there would be up to eight wedding receptions to work. I worked for Radisson for two and a half years, and I was very good at it.
Between going to the occasional wedding reception and working them at my job, I have probably attended three hundred to four hundred wedding receptions. Now that you know my credentials, I would like to state something, and you can quote this, I loves me some receptions.
There is something very special about a wedding reception, there is a basic order to it. Although every reception is different in some way, they all follow a basic format:
Family members and Old people show up early, the family members ( usually the mother of the bride ) shows up to make sure that the hall is setup precisely as needed and to complain about pointless details. I do not know why the old people show up so early, they must not have anything better to do.
After a certain time has been reached, the doors to the hall open. People then start to mosey on into the hall. This process can take a while, depending if there are houre de vours, an open bar, music...
After people have seated themselves, they wait for the wedding party to show up. The wedding party is almost always late.
When the wedding party shows up, people go nuts, throwing rice, confetti, and other crap into the air and if you have done that, I would like you to know that stuff lands on the ground, which I have to vacuum up at like one in the morning.... you know who you are.
Once the wedding party has been sat at the head table (and the Bestman is pulled away from the bar) the priest, pastor, whatever, explains to everyone how they will get food, then prayer, then the head table is served. (or goes through the buffet if they are cheap “just kidding”)
while everyone is eating, their attention is called to the front so the Maid of Honor can attempt to give a speech while crying. After that, the Bestman gives a speech, this often mentions how long he has known the groom, a crazy story with the groom and him and ends with how happy the groom is with the bride. (Even though he is probably mad that she never lets them just hang out anymore.) The father of the bride will give a speech about how he was unsure about the groom but now loves him.
After the food is gone and the speeches are done, the bride and groom smear cake all over each other, thinking its original. if you want to be original DO NOT smear the cake, everyone smears the cake, without fail.
After that nonsense, a video that someone made with a couple songs and a bunch of pictures is played. Everyone loves it, even me....
The next and !!!!!MOST IMPORTANT!!!! thing is the dance, if you do not have a dance at your wedding, no one will remember it, it is VERY important. That is where all the memories come from. You wanna see your grandpa do something crazy? Have an open bar and a good DJ. Why do you think all those people come to a reception? To drink and dance! Trust me.
Every wedding has key things that happen durring the dance, including, bride and grooms first dance, father of the bride dance, dollar dance, throwing of the bouquet, tossing of the guarder (which can be a horrible battle) they also play key songs
-chicken dance
-Mackarienna
-Girls wanna have fun
-save a horse ride a cowboy
-greased lightning
-big buts, just to name a few.
After all is said and done, and the last drunken groomsman takes the last drunken bride's maid off of the floor, the clean up begins. The whole thing is magical and enjoyable, and predictable and it NEVER gets old. One thing that you can count on is this, something you were not expecting to happen, will happen.
I cannot wait to host my own reception, whenever that will be, I am sure it will be as predictable as the last, but hey...
"that's the right way about it".
-Richard Gums
P.S. You should see the bill sometime, open bar and prime rib for five hundred people WOW!
Monday, October 20, 2008
The art of people painting
In this post I will give you step by step instructions on how to paint a person, so let’s get started. The first thing you will need to paint a person is well, a person. Because getting painted in not a desirable thing, the more people you gather together the more likely you are to have an opportunity to paint one of them. That being said, go and get all the people together that you can manage. Ok, next step. You are going to need a place to paint at, this is not always easy, painting can be messy and finding an area to paint in can be difficult. “What kind of place should you look for?” Good question. I prefer a wooded area, but abandoned buildings and fields will also work well.
People painting can be very fun, but there is always a catch, the other people are going to attempt to paint you too. There are many tactics that can be used to avoid getting painted by another person, one is hiding. Smaller people can have a great advantage while avoiding getting painted because they are able to hide behind smaller objects. Another way to hide is by making it more difficult to differentiate between you and your surroundings, I’m talking about camouflage. Another way to avoid getting painted is running, a good athlete is often able to dodge and escape getting painted. On the contrary the human eye is attracted to movement; standing very still can also be a good tactic.
Now it is time to discuss your tools, and I’m talking about your paint, and the method of delivery. I prefer to use a Tippmann A-5 R/T as my tool for delivery, and I use the cheapest paint available. If you have not noticed by now, I have been talking about the sport known as paintball. Now lets dissect the paintball marker I choose to use so that you can get a better idea of the tools. Tippmann is a brand name, a highly reliable, producer of mid performance paintball markers (marker is used in place of gun, because there are many legal complications that come with the title “gun”). I chose the A-5 model from Tippmann because of its speed, reliability and paintball loading system. Most paintball markers have a single ball drop loading system like this one shown.
The Tippmann A-5 works in a completely different fashion, it uses a five ball drop system that forces the paintball into the marker, and this is known as a cyclone feed. In the picture below you can see the Tippmann paintball marker and a close-up of the cyclone feed.
The R/T edition of the Tippmann A-5 is what gives the marker its speed. The way the R/T (response trigger) system works is very clever, the pressurized air that is used to fire the paintball is routed to a small piston behind the trigger of the marker, the pneumatic piston then pushes the trigger back out. Now if you can imagine, putting a constant pressure on the trigger, you finger pulls the trigger back firing the marker, your finger is then pushed back out by the piston but because you are keeping a constant pressure on the trigger you immediately pull it back again. This creates a constant firing without having to pull the trigger each time, or as some would see it, a “full auto” setup. You can see an image of the response trigger in the picture below.
The paintball marker setup I have is able to shoot up to sixteen paintballs per second. That may seem very fast, but I consider it a mid grade marker because the top markers are able to fire up to thirty balls per second. To own a top grade marker with all the necessary accessories you will need to spend nearly two thousand dollars, or more. To own a setup comparable to the one I have been describing, you will need to spend between two hundred and six hundred dollars. With paintballs costing between $25 and $100 per case (2000 paintballs) depending on grade, you will spend a lot of money playing paintball. Paintball is like an addiction; after you play once or twice you are more than willing to drop a couple hundred on the game. Some people are content, able to buy a low grade fifty dollar marker and be completely satisfied. Not me, I feel like I need to continue to improve my setup and my skills.
The Sport of paintball is very unique, paintball is one of the only sports were your tools can be better than the competitors. You won’t see a football team with a better throwing football than their rivals. Don’t get me wrong though, paintball is more about how and when you use your paintball marker than anything. A good athlete with a crappy marker will usually outperform your average Joe with a nicer setup. Well I have really gone nuts on this post. If anyone is looking for a group to play with I would be happy to have you join mine and then I can paint you.
People painting can be very fun, but there is always a catch, the other people are going to attempt to paint you too. There are many tactics that can be used to avoid getting painted by another person, one is hiding. Smaller people can have a great advantage while avoiding getting painted because they are able to hide behind smaller objects. Another way to hide is by making it more difficult to differentiate between you and your surroundings, I’m talking about camouflage. Another way to avoid getting painted is running, a good athlete is often able to dodge and escape getting painted. On the contrary the human eye is attracted to movement; standing very still can also be a good tactic.
Now it is time to discuss your tools, and I’m talking about your paint, and the method of delivery. I prefer to use a Tippmann A-5 R/T as my tool for delivery, and I use the cheapest paint available. If you have not noticed by now, I have been talking about the sport known as paintball. Now lets dissect the paintball marker I choose to use so that you can get a better idea of the tools. Tippmann is a brand name, a highly reliable, producer of mid performance paintball markers (marker is used in place of gun, because there are many legal complications that come with the title “gun”). I chose the A-5 model from Tippmann because of its speed, reliability and paintball loading system. Most paintball markers have a single ball drop loading system like this one shown.
The Tippmann A-5 works in a completely different fashion, it uses a five ball drop system that forces the paintball into the marker, and this is known as a cyclone feed. In the picture below you can see the Tippmann paintball marker and a close-up of the cyclone feed.
The R/T edition of the Tippmann A-5 is what gives the marker its speed. The way the R/T (response trigger) system works is very clever, the pressurized air that is used to fire the paintball is routed to a small piston behind the trigger of the marker, the pneumatic piston then pushes the trigger back out. Now if you can imagine, putting a constant pressure on the trigger, you finger pulls the trigger back firing the marker, your finger is then pushed back out by the piston but because you are keeping a constant pressure on the trigger you immediately pull it back again. This creates a constant firing without having to pull the trigger each time, or as some would see it, a “full auto” setup. You can see an image of the response trigger in the picture below.
The paintball marker setup I have is able to shoot up to sixteen paintballs per second. That may seem very fast, but I consider it a mid grade marker because the top markers are able to fire up to thirty balls per second. To own a top grade marker with all the necessary accessories you will need to spend nearly two thousand dollars, or more. To own a setup comparable to the one I have been describing, you will need to spend between two hundred and six hundred dollars. With paintballs costing between $25 and $100 per case (2000 paintballs) depending on grade, you will spend a lot of money playing paintball. Paintball is like an addiction; after you play once or twice you are more than willing to drop a couple hundred on the game. Some people are content, able to buy a low grade fifty dollar marker and be completely satisfied. Not me, I feel like I need to continue to improve my setup and my skills.
The Sport of paintball is very unique, paintball is one of the only sports were your tools can be better than the competitors. You won’t see a football team with a better throwing football than their rivals. Don’t get me wrong though, paintball is more about how and when you use your paintball marker than anything. A good athlete with a crappy marker will usually outperform your average Joe with a nicer setup. Well I have really gone nuts on this post. If anyone is looking for a group to play with I would be happy to have you join mine and then I can paint you.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Who decides this crap?
As some of you may know, I used to drive a red Dodge Ram 1500 sport with a 5.9 V8 Magnum. I used to love the winter time when I had that truck or Roy as I called him. Roy and I played in the snow like a ten year old would with his best buddies. Sometimes we got into a sticky situation, but nothing a couple shovels and sandbags couldn’t handle. I used to laugh at all the people stuck at home when we would get a little over a foot of snow. I had Goodyear Silent Armor, seven ply, class E, Kevlar lined, mega snow tires on my truck. They were about one hundred and eighty dollars each, but they looked good and they could track through anything and as you may know, truck tires have much greater tread life than a car tire would have. I painfully sold Roy this last march, in hopes to ease up on fuel costs and the repairs were getting expensive.
I had purchased a silver 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Winter is coming up faster than we would like, so I decided it was time to start looking for some snow tires for my new car. I stood at the counter of a Goodyear dealer in Onalaska as the salesman looked up my tires; I actually choked on the Mountain Dew I was drinking when he told me the tires were going to be one hundred and eighty five dollars each. I cannot believe it, one hundred and eighty five dollars for a car tire, that is more than I paid for the tires I put on my truck, and that was a lot of tire. So that brings up the question, who decides this crap? Why would one measly car tire run five dollars more than the rugged, Kevlar lined, load barring, seven ply, long life, large truck tires I had? I am sure this is not an uncommon problem for people, when reason does not seem to matter in pricing and you get jacked. If anyone has an idea why this kind of stuff happens other than the obvious corporate greed I would like to know.
I had purchased a silver 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Winter is coming up faster than we would like, so I decided it was time to start looking for some snow tires for my new car. I stood at the counter of a Goodyear dealer in Onalaska as the salesman looked up my tires; I actually choked on the Mountain Dew I was drinking when he told me the tires were going to be one hundred and eighty five dollars each. I cannot believe it, one hundred and eighty five dollars for a car tire, that is more than I paid for the tires I put on my truck, and that was a lot of tire. So that brings up the question, who decides this crap? Why would one measly car tire run five dollars more than the rugged, Kevlar lined, load barring, seven ply, long life, large truck tires I had? I am sure this is not an uncommon problem for people, when reason does not seem to matter in pricing and you get jacked. If anyone has an idea why this kind of stuff happens other than the obvious corporate greed I would like to know.
Monday, September 29, 2008
To Host a Party
This blog post is going to give you an insight on my party, and with it you will see the ups and downs of hosting a party.
This weekend was the start of Oktoberfest. As many of you know Oktoberfest is a huge deal for La Crosse. This being the first Oktoberfest where I am old enough to enjoy all of its festivities; I decided to host a party. I ordered two kegs of beer, Miller Light and Miller Genuine Draft. In case you don’t know how much beer is in two kegs, let me give you an insight, one barrel is 1984 fluid oz. which makes for nearly 4000 fluid oz. (330 cans) of beer. We started the party early; the kegs were tapped at 5:55pm.
Many old friends and family members had shown up by nine o-clock which was great fun. I enjoy playing beer pong, normally I do very well at it but for some reason I did not win any games at the party. I lost ten games! I enjoy hosting a party because when I see people having a good time and I am the one who brought them together and created the enjoyable environment, it makes me feel great. This is the up side of a party, hanging with friends and family and enjoying the company. The down side is here; when you have so many people together someone is bound to start some trouble. This sort of trouble was a basic social “no-no” which caused one of my friends to get hurt badly. In retaliation I kicked these “troublemakers” out of my apartment. The term “kicked” can be used in many different ways, it can be simply telling the troublemakers to leave, or for example, it can be someone physically throwing the troublemakers out. This time the term kicked entails the host throwing the troublemakers out, chasing them down the street, biffing the concrete and then chasing the car like a dog with rabies. If you have ever found yourself in that situation, they you are probably as stupid as I am. For some reason after that incident people cleared out quite a bit. Because most people had cleared out of the party I decided to go downtown with my Brother in-law Jason. Shortly after getting downtown I received a call from my girlfriend asking to come back, so I did. When I got back to my apartment I saw that four to five people that I did not know had shown up. After a confrontation I kicked them out, this time in the manner of simply telling them to leave.
The morning after is a time of clean-up and recovery. But something did not seem right, I was missing some stuff. I had been robbed. During the hour I was gone the four people that showed up had taken nearly twelve hundred dollars worth of my things. This was a new feeling for me; I now understand how someone could commit a horrible “passion” crime. Maybe that sort of anger is a “guy thing” maybe not but either way, I think that was the last party I will ever host.
This weekend was the start of Oktoberfest. As many of you know Oktoberfest is a huge deal for La Crosse. This being the first Oktoberfest where I am old enough to enjoy all of its festivities; I decided to host a party. I ordered two kegs of beer, Miller Light and Miller Genuine Draft. In case you don’t know how much beer is in two kegs, let me give you an insight, one barrel is 1984 fluid oz. which makes for nearly 4000 fluid oz. (330 cans) of beer. We started the party early; the kegs were tapped at 5:55pm.
Many old friends and family members had shown up by nine o-clock which was great fun. I enjoy playing beer pong, normally I do very well at it but for some reason I did not win any games at the party. I lost ten games! I enjoy hosting a party because when I see people having a good time and I am the one who brought them together and created the enjoyable environment, it makes me feel great. This is the up side of a party, hanging with friends and family and enjoying the company. The down side is here; when you have so many people together someone is bound to start some trouble. This sort of trouble was a basic social “no-no” which caused one of my friends to get hurt badly. In retaliation I kicked these “troublemakers” out of my apartment. The term “kicked” can be used in many different ways, it can be simply telling the troublemakers to leave, or for example, it can be someone physically throwing the troublemakers out. This time the term kicked entails the host throwing the troublemakers out, chasing them down the street, biffing the concrete and then chasing the car like a dog with rabies. If you have ever found yourself in that situation, they you are probably as stupid as I am. For some reason after that incident people cleared out quite a bit. Because most people had cleared out of the party I decided to go downtown with my Brother in-law Jason. Shortly after getting downtown I received a call from my girlfriend asking to come back, so I did. When I got back to my apartment I saw that four to five people that I did not know had shown up. After a confrontation I kicked them out, this time in the manner of simply telling them to leave.
The morning after is a time of clean-up and recovery. But something did not seem right, I was missing some stuff. I had been robbed. During the hour I was gone the four people that showed up had taken nearly twelve hundred dollars worth of my things. This was a new feeling for me; I now understand how someone could commit a horrible “passion” crime. Maybe that sort of anger is a “guy thing” maybe not but either way, I think that was the last party I will ever host.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Life Changing Decisions
Every day we make decisions that could potentially change our lives; many people know this phenomenon as the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect can be explained as the idea that a small change (the flap of a butterfly’s wing) can potentially cause a large outcome (a tsunami in Japan). In the same way, small decisions we make in life could change the outcome, for better or for worse. Decisions like that are made so often that we cannot control them and the outcome is unpredictable. But that is not the type of decision I am going to be talking about in this post. The type I am talking about is the kinds of decision were you know it will change your life.
In the movie “The Matrix” released in 1999, Morpheus gives the main character Neo two pills, a red one and a blue one, one could change his life forever and the other will keep him in his current familiar setting. This is a classic example of decisions we face throughout our lives. It would seem as if we had two paths, one could change us forever or put us way out of our comfort zone, and the other to “keep on keeping on”, to not change and stay with what feels safe. I feel like I am coming up on one of those decisions in my life. After I have completed my college education in May I have many options, one of them is quite intriguing. KBR services had contacted me a while ago asking me if I was interested in doing contracted electromechanical work for them. The pay was unheard of, extremely high and tax free, but there is always a catch. KBR offered me a one year contract to work as an Electromechanical Technician in the war zone known as Iraq. Many thoughts are going through my head about this;
Financially-
I will never have the chance to make this lump sum of money every again and it would give me a great advantage in life. While I am there I will have zero expenses and will be earning nearly six times the income and it is all tax free.
Socially-
My current social life would come to a screeching halt. Not seeing friends and family for one year would probably be more difficult than I can imagine. Currently I am involved in a serious relationship that I do not think would disappear, but it would be damaged.
Physically-
I would be working twelve hour days for three weeks strait. I am sure the harsh environment and long hours will take its toll on my body. If the money I make is put to use properly it could save me a lot of work when I am older and my body is more fragile. Being in a war zone has its own health issues, for example, you could get blown up (not recommended by most doctors).
For the fourth week i am not working i can travle for free, go to places somewhat nearby like Germany, Italy, Greece and Egypt. There are many other things to take into account but those are the key ones. I have time to think about it but not much. I will keep everyone updated on my blog. It would be nice to see what others thought about the idea and if they had any interesting questions or comments.
In the movie “The Matrix” released in 1999, Morpheus gives the main character Neo two pills, a red one and a blue one, one could change his life forever and the other will keep him in his current familiar setting. This is a classic example of decisions we face throughout our lives. It would seem as if we had two paths, one could change us forever or put us way out of our comfort zone, and the other to “keep on keeping on”, to not change and stay with what feels safe. I feel like I am coming up on one of those decisions in my life. After I have completed my college education in May I have many options, one of them is quite intriguing. KBR services had contacted me a while ago asking me if I was interested in doing contracted electromechanical work for them. The pay was unheard of, extremely high and tax free, but there is always a catch. KBR offered me a one year contract to work as an Electromechanical Technician in the war zone known as Iraq. Many thoughts are going through my head about this;
Financially-
I will never have the chance to make this lump sum of money every again and it would give me a great advantage in life. While I am there I will have zero expenses and will be earning nearly six times the income and it is all tax free.
Socially-
My current social life would come to a screeching halt. Not seeing friends and family for one year would probably be more difficult than I can imagine. Currently I am involved in a serious relationship that I do not think would disappear, but it would be damaged.
Physically-
I would be working twelve hour days for three weeks strait. I am sure the harsh environment and long hours will take its toll on my body. If the money I make is put to use properly it could save me a lot of work when I am older and my body is more fragile. Being in a war zone has its own health issues, for example, you could get blown up (not recommended by most doctors).
For the fourth week i am not working i can travle for free, go to places somewhat nearby like Germany, Italy, Greece and Egypt. There are many other things to take into account but those are the key ones. I have time to think about it but not much. I will keep everyone updated on my blog. It would be nice to see what others thought about the idea and if they had any interesting questions or comments.
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