17. Peaceful Protest

Peaceful protest. Is that an oxymoron? Peaceful....protest....? They sound like opposites to me. However, I strongly agree with the idea of protesting. When there is something that you do not agree with, stand up for it! Your point of view is just as important as the view of the person who created the issue you are protesting. Besides, when in modern times would a 'peaceful protest' work, huh? Where is saying please and thank you gonna get you? Not very far if you are protesting something big. There are many things I would just LOVE to protest against. One of them would be the amount of homework that juniors get. I know that certain classes are required and whatnot, but why can't some of the classes be spread out a little better between grades? I know that most of us juniors are bogged down every single night, and that is so not cool. A lot of the homework we get, is just busy work pretty much and it is quite a cause for protest! But really, is there such a thing as peaceful protest? I kind of doubt it...I mean, there may be certain instances where a protest is not dramatized, so therefore it may seem peaceful, but I am sure the for the person protesting whatever it may be, inside their head the protest is actually not peaceful at all. I know that is true for me whenever I am bugging my parents about something that they will not budge on. In these cases, protesting against something my parents are doing, or are not doing, etc, I may take a more peaceful approach to seem respectful in hopes they will agree with me, but in my head, I want to tell them everything I am thinking which would definitely not end up being peaceful. However, I have found that taking a peaceful approach to arguments with my parents usually results in a better outcome.

16. Self Reflection and Taking a Break from Society

I think that self reflection is a good idea. Personally I do not think I have ever done it, but I am not sure. I could have done it but not thought to myself, "Oh, I am self reflecting right now." I think that self reflection is like when you think about what you are doing as a person and what your priorities are. Self reflecting while you have a lot of stuff going on is probably not a good idea because you would be distracted and not be able to accurately reflect on yourself. If someone were to seriously want to self reflect, they should do like Thoreau wrote about and maybe take a day or so to do something relaxing and not have anything distracting to bother them while they think.
Taking a break from society could be important to some people, but not to me. One of Thoreau's quotes that I came across last night that I really like was something along the lines of 'I have never found a companion as compatible as solitude'. That is not a direct quote but it is pretty close. I think this could be true, because I am a believer in the fact that the only person you can really trust is yourself. But that is beside the point. This quote really relates to taking a break from society because it reinforces the fact that being alone is a good thing.
Taking a break from society for me would include no school, no homework, and no hanging out with my friends. Honestly that sounds pretty nice. The only thing that I might miss would be hanging out with my friends, but no homework or school sounds very nice. It is overwhelming most of the time with the countless hours I spend on it and the many hours of sleep I lose over it. I think that the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring breaks are all like miniature versions of a break

15. Reading for Fun

Reading can be fun, when it is for fun and there is not any connection between the book and a class or a project. I used to read all the time for fun, but this year has gotten way to hectic for me to have time to just relax and read a book. When I did read for fun though, I would read things like James Patterson, Clive Cussler, and other authors who wrote mysteries. James Patterson was definitely my favorite. He has so many great books and the thing about them that I love so much is that they are so good, that you can read them more than once without getting bored with it! Normally I like books that are realistic and not like science fiction, but Patterson has a series called Maximum Ride, and the books are about a family of mutated orphans who live together, and use their abilities such as wings and other more individual things to...protect the world, basically. I know it sounds lame, it sounds lame even to me as I typed it, but honestly, they are such good books. I would also recommend Sail by Patterson, it is also really good. Another favorite author of mine, but I have not read since probably freshman year is Dee Henderson. The cool thing about her books are that are personable and easy to relate to. Her Negotiator series is about the O'Malley family who live in Chicago. It is a seven book series and I loved every one of them a lot. Like I said before, I enjoy leisurely reading, but I have not been able to do so as much as I would like to so far this school year because of all the homework I have had. If I had the free time, I would probably spend it reading some good mystery books, unfortunately I do not. So for now, reading for fun will have to wait.

14. The Ideal U.S.

The ideal United States...well, here is a topic I could go on about for a while. Let's see, if you don't have blond hair and blue eyes or if you are Jewish, your outta here! No just kidding, I'm not Hitler. But if I could create a perfect United States according to my preference, it would be awesome. There would be a list of rules that everyone would abide to.

-Rule number one: Everyone must be awesome. No exceptions.

-Rule number two: Everyone must be vegetarians and kind to animals.

-Rule number three: Everyone must love awesome music and listen to it all the time.

-Rule number four: (which isnt really a rule, more of a suggestion) Everyone should be able to play some kind of musical instrument, prefferably guitar, acoustic or electric, doesn't matter. Also, people should be playing said instruments all the time.

-Rule number five: The government would consist of myself, Christopher Drew, Hayley Williams, Jeremy Davis, Taylor York, Josh and Zac Farro, Jason Mraz, Andrew de Torrez, and Jonny Craig. If you do not know who these people are, well then you are breaking rule number three.

-Rule number 6: May 21st of every year, every citizen is required to get me a birthday present.

-Rule number 7: No violence is allowed. What is the purpose? Violence just makes messes and does not fix anything, so keep it nice please. :)

-Rule number 8: The age limitation for piercings should be 15, not 18. Then whenever someone wanted to get, oh, I don't know, a lip ring for example, they would not be hindered by their parents saying no.

-Rule number 9: No Spanish allowed! Especially bogus tests that students are not prepared for ahead of time.

-Rule number 10: (final rule as of now) No school on Mondays. Ever. End of story.

So these 10 rules would be the rules for my individual ideal United States, and I can only wish that any of these would be passed, because they are perhaps a little bit bias in my favor. But the journal topic was the ideal U.S., and this is deffinately what mine would look like.

13. My Favorite... Band

My favorite band EVER in the world for all eternity is Paramore. Words cannot describe how much I love them! And they are not like all the other bands I like, that are good and I like them a lot, but would not say they are my favorite, Paramore is the real deal. They have been my favorite band for about three years now so it is not like a passing fad like some other people's favorite bands are. One day their favorite band is totally different from yesterday's favorite band. I own a good amount of Paramore merchandise actually: a huge poster, all three of their albums, a shirt from Hot Topic, and a shirt from one of their concerts I went to this summer. Paramore's first album was released in 2005, and was called All We Know. Since then, they have released two more c.d.'s. In 2007, they released an album called Riot!, and on September 29, 2009, they released Brand New Eyes. While I can easily say that Paramore is my favorite band, I could never ever declare one of their albums my favorite, or even one of their songs. This is probably because each and every song is sooooo amazing. Even their demo songs, which are not on a c.d., are great. The band members include singer Hayley Williams, guitarists Josh Farro and Taylor York (previously Jeremy Davis) and drummer Zac Farro. They are all so completely talented that when you put them all together what you get is utter perfection. I cannot remember ever loving a band so much as Paramore. All of their songs have awesome lyrics, no matter if they are a fast upbeat song, or a slower more emotional song. I really do not think my description of them gives them justice or anything close, so your best bet if you are reading this right now, whoever you are, open a new tab and go to YouTube and listen to them, you will NOT be dissapointed. Some of the songs of theirs that would best exemplify their sound are Pressure (from All We Know), Careful (from Brand New Eyes), and Miracle (from Riot).

12. The Declaration of ANIMAL Independence

I think that all animals should be free to wander around with out the threat of someone trying to kill and eat them. If you put yourself in their shoes (or hooves or paws), you would most likely rather not have that constant fear of suddenly being shot or having your head chopped off just to feed a human. I am a vegetarian obviously, I am not just saying this without the actions to back it up. For animal independence, ALL animals would be safe from unnatural death, not just the 'cute' ones people have as pets. Think about it. You would not eat a puppy or kitten would you? Of course not! So what makes a deer or cow or chicken any different?? Nothing. Just because they are not domesticated that does not mean that they are any different from household pets. It is almost hypocritical to eat the 'accepted' or 'normal' meats, and scorn those in Japan or China or wherever they eat dogs because all animals should be treated equally! I am not saying we as people should hold them to human standards, because they shouldn't be. But we should at least give them the respect they deserve as our living counterparts on earth. Also in this declaration, I would like to make the point that it is completely fine to not eat meat, in fact, it is healthier. Your body cleanses itself of toxins from the meats after a while of not eating them, which is such a good thing. Omitting meat can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and can be preventetive of heart disease. Plus, eating meat is allowing for animal mistreatment. Mass marketers and animal farms often subject their animals to horrible treatment which when done to a human being would be considered abuse and torture. These animals should not be treated in such ways, they have feelings, they have nerve endings. That is what this declaration is all about, treated animals with respect and letting them be free!

11. logic/reason vs. emotion

The whole saying, "listen to your heart" is dumb to me. I find that logic and reasoning is way more reliable for support than emotion. Your heart does not control all of your thoughts and ideas does it? No, your brain does. So why would someone 'listen' to a red organ that pumps blood instead of a huge system that controls your entire body and thoughts? Logic and reason can win a trial in court, while emotion cannot. Sure, you can be passionate about the case, but what good is that passion if you have no reasoning to back it up? When some people use emotion to solve a problem or make a decision, it is not really there heart, but more of a selfish decision. Anyone can say that their heart told them one way was better than another or that their heart guided them to do something, but if you think through a situation logically, you are more likely to make the better decision because of the pros and cons that would come out while you thought about it. For support purposes, logic and reason are going to be more believable than emotion. For example, you are trying to support your choice to get a lip ring. If someone were to take the 'emotion' route, they would say something like, "I REALLY want it, it looks so cool and I can tell it is the right thing for me to do!" Now who has parents that would fall for that? No one? At least close to no one. If you were to approach the topic more logically, you could say, "Mom, Dad, I have thought about it and weighed the situation and I think I could handle it. We could look up some information online and see the best way to go about it. I could pay for it and take care of it, and if we end up not liking it, well then we can just take it out and pretend like it never happened." If you were a parent, which route would you most likely appreciate better and listen to? The logic one right?

10. School Spirit

School spirit is a great thing to have. It gives you a sense of pride almost when you show school spirit. Even if you do not particularly like your school, most likely if you are with people from other schools bashing yours, you would not be able to help but stand up for your school. The school you attend is an indirect reflection of yourself, so if someone says something negative against your school, it is almost like them saying something negative about you personally. When it comes to Pleasant Plains High School, I would say that as a whole, we have a lot of school spirit. This has been proven this past week as all the classes got super competitive, and we have had such a large turnout of class participation every day, spirit day being the most participated in event. I would bet that more students and their families than not show up to the football game tonight, and most students will probably come to the homecoming dance. I am in student council, so that pretty much is a give-away that I posses at least some school spirit. Every representative in student council has school spirit, because if we didn't, then we would not spend our time attending meetings for the school, or decorating for the dances, or doing many of the other things we spend our time doing to better the school. At the football games is where the school spirit shows the most as a whole. More last year than this year, but it is still present. Last year we went all out, even at the away games. I remember taking the fan bus to a game against the Havana ducks, and we had a 'sea of red' and every time we got a touchdown, Devon Moore would throw up a hunting duck decoy and we would all pretend to shoot it. This year, along with homecoming week, I went to homecoming. I didn't really want to that much, but I did and showed school spirit I guess? Yep!