41. PPHS and Mythology

Let's see...well, I do not know anything about Greek mythology. Nothing at all. So I looked some stuff up for this blog, and it will be interesting to see how everything fits!
We have a Zeus here in Pleasant Plains, his name is Mr. Ward. Like Zeus has his brothers Poseidon and Hades, Mr. Ward works closely with Mr. Peterson. Zeus and Mr. Ward both are like in charge of all of the other gods. Hera is Zeus's wife and sister. (kind of weird if you ask me) She is the protector and helper of marriage. Marriage is an important decision, so Mrs. Brandon is sort of like Hera in that sense, since she helps all the students make important decisions such as what classes to take the following year. Ares is Zeus and Hera's son. They did not like Ares very much, for he was always getting in trouble and doing something wrong. Ares is like the population of students who are trouble makers and who are always in trouble and in the office. Athena represents another sect of the Plains students. Athena was Zeus's daughter, and his favorite child. She was extremely good and prosperous. She reminds me of the teachers' pets and those who are good at every single class, because they are the teachers' favorites because they do so well and maybe kiss up every now and then. Hermes was the messenger god and was extrememly fast. I think that the people at Pleasant Plains High School who best represent Hermes would be the assisstants in the office. They can call students down to the office without doing anything more than pressing a button and announcing it all over the school. They can get all of their information out to whoever it needs to go to as fast as possible. So those are not all of the Greek gods out there, but those are some who just really reminded me of some of the people here at the school.

40. Decision Making

So when I make decisions, I do not really have a set process in which I follow through each time. If it is a super important decision, I will take a longer amount of time to think about it than if it were a mediocre decision and not as important. Sometimes I do not necessarily make the best decision but the one that I like better. For example, I have been wanting to gauge my ears for a while. Not too big, but just a little. My mom however, would never allow me to do so. I had the first decision to make - listen to my mom, or go ahead and do it anyways. Well...I decided to do it anyways. So I went to Hot Topic and got the gauges I liked and took them home. Another decision to make- read up on the information about how to do it properly, or just do it myself without information. Again, I made what would be the worse of the two, and I decided to just try it before I read up on it. The sizes I got were 12's, which are a lot bigger than they look in your hands. I started to put them in and it hurt really bad. I figured this was normal, so I just kept going. When I got them both all the way in my ears were burning so bad so I had another decision - google it and see what was wrong, or just let them be and hope everything turned out alright. This time I made the better decision and looked it up. The website said that you shouldn't hardly feel any pain at all. That was the first hint that I did something wrong. Later on it said that if you haven't had your ears pierced for at least a year, then they wouldn't be ready to stretch. Well, I haven't had them pierced for a year, so I knew they weren't ready yet. So I tried to take out the gauges and my ears started bleeding, which was another thing the website said...if they bleed at all, they aren't ready. So my last decision - keep them in despite the issues, or take them out. Even though I really didn't want to, I had to take them out and I will have to wait a few more months.

39. Multi-tasking

I personally think that I can multitask very well. If I am ever doing anything, chances are that I am actually doing a few things in addition to the first thing. I do that all the time with homework, I will be listening to music, doing homework, usually helping my sister with her homework, and maybe helping cook dinner too. It is the same way at lunch at school, because more times than not I am eating, listening to music, doing some homework, and talking to my friends all at the same time. If you think about it, the concept of multitasking is kind of interesting. It is kind of cool to think that you can do several totally different things at the same time with ease. Well, I guess it is easier for some people than it is for others, but I guess that could depend on your attention span and capacity for doing more than one thing at a time. I know that while I can juggle a million things at a time fairly well, my sister is completely the opposite. She absolutely can not focus on more than one thing at a time, which is probably not a good thing for the most part. My dad is like me, he is extremely organized, therefore if he does need to do several things at a time, it is very easy for him to do them all. Multitasking is definitely a valuable thing in high school, because as students, we get so much thrown at us at a time that if we were not able to multitask at all or very well, there is a very small chance we could get everything done. It could also depend on your work load from school, because the students who do not have very hard classes would not get as much to do so they would probably not need the skill of multitasking quite as much as someone who has a lot of tough classes and a lot of homework.

38. The Origin of Valentines Day

So, the origin of Valentines day. I do not want to look up the real story behind it, so I will make one up.
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a 'cute' little couple whose names are Robby and Rita, wanted to celebrate their love. They thought long and hard about what they could do to make a public display of their affection for each other without, literally doing so. They came up with the idea to make a day about love. They would call it Valentines Day because they wanted to name their first child Valentino. They decided to make Valentines Day on February 14th, because that was the day of the anniversary of the day they met. So, February 14th finally came, and Robby and Rita celebrated Valentines Day. They tried to pass it along to other people in the town that was so far, far away, but people just kept getting annoyed at them..the majority of the people at least. Some of the other 'cute' couples in the town hopped on the bandwagon and thought it was a great idea. But, for the most part, people just thought it was annoying and resented the idea, whether or not they were in a relationship. So, the few couples who did like the idea of Valentines Day kept it going and passed it on to later generations, and it is still around today. What is also still around is the mixed opinions on the day. Some people like it and totally buy into it, while others (the smarter ones) realize it is a dumb holiday and a holiday that candy stores and flower stores live off of. I think that Valentines Day is a rediculous holiday. And I use the term 'holiday' lightly. If a couple wants to get each other gifts, flowers, or candy, or celebrate their feelings for one another, shouldn't they be able to do that on any day? Not just on a predetermined day? It just does not make sense to me.

37. My favorite meal

I do not think I really know what my favorite meal is. Ever since I was little I have been a very very very picky eater. For the longest time, all I would eat was macaroni. I still love macaroni but it probably is not my favorite meal. For the past several years I have been a vegetarian. I have never regretted this decision since. Since I do not eat meat, that very much limits my 'favorite meal'. I think if I had to pick a favorite meal, it would be something that I took from head west. If you have ever been there, they have this sandwich called a griller. It is basically a sandwich with a Morning Star patty on it. (Morning Star is a brand that makes a bunch of vegetarian/vegan friendly meat products and they are actually really good!) I have had a griller from Head West twice before, so now I just get the ingredients and make them at home myself. I start out with a morning star patty. I put it in the microwave for a minute and a half, and while it is cooking, I get out the rest of the ingredients. I get out bread, mustard, mayonnaise, Italian dressing, lettuce, and cheese. I usually like to take the patty out and microwave the cheese on the bread then put the patty on. On the other piece of bread, I put a mixture of the mustard, mayonnaise, and Italian dressing. Then I put a few pieces of lettuce and put the sandwich together. I will usually make some broccoli to eat with it. Broccoli is probably my all time favorite food besides cauliflower. Cauliflower is totally the winner, hands down. Any way you cook it, or raw, it is the best. But we usually have brocolli not cauliflower so that is what I make. And I love milk, it is the best beverage ever, so I have that to drink.

36. Preparing for the ACT/PSAE

There are probably many ways I could prepare to take the ACT and the PSAE. I have not had any experience taking the ACT, as I know many other Juniors have due to prior commitments on the testing days. Even though I have not taken the ACT before, I have taken the PSAT. I do not know exactly how similar the PSAT is to the ACT, but really, are not all standardized testing the same? In theory? Sure they have different questions and different subjects and different formats, but those tests are more about psyching out the test taker and seeing how they can work under that pressure. The tests actually, in my opinion, do not mean as much as the test makers hope or colleges assume. I am generally a fairly good test taker, because I do not let the pressure of the grade get to me or make me nervous. However, I know many people who unlike me, are horrible at taking tests. They freak out and can not remember anything, even if twenty minutes prior, they knew all of the information! Tests can be very very intimidating and can screw over people who would otherwise know all of the information. But, since I am not in charge and I do not get to make the rules, we all have to take those standardized tests. Which means, we should all prepare for the tests as well. I have heard of several different methods, but I think that I do better on tests if I do not cram the night before. If there are a few things I need to go over, then I will. But I do not like to review information over and over again if I already know I know it. So I just plan on taking the ACT prep classes provided at the school and I won't sweat over every little thing the night before, and hopefully I will do well!

35. Chanting the Square Deific

There is a part in particular in the poem Chanting the Square Deific that could most definately be taken as religious or a reference to Jesus. The part I am talking about is the very last stanza:



Santa Spirita, breather, life, Chanting the Square Deific
Beyond the light, lighter than light,
Beyond the flames of hell, joyous, leaping easily above hell,
Beyond Paradise, perfumed solely with mine own perfume,
Including all life on earth, touching, including God, including Saviour and Satan,
Ethereal, pervading all (for without me what were all? what were God?),
Essence of forms, life of the real identities, permanent, positive, (namely the unseen,)
Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man, I, the general soul,
Here the square finishing, the solid, I the most solid,
Breathe my breath also through these songs.


Going off of the idea that this could have a religious meaning, it seems fitting. Santa Spirita, breather, life, could all be used as describing words for Jesus. Santa is a name used for the happy fellow that everyone likes. Plus, the second part, Spirita, could refer to how Jesus is part of the diety, Father Son and the Holy Spirit. Then breather would fit too because if you so believe, God created life and is said to have 'breathed life into man', so that name also works. Then the final one is life, so again if you choose to believe so, Jesus is said to be the 'everlasting life' and all about how you can get to Heaven, or eternal life, through him. So I definately think that this stanza is describing Jesus, and that's just from the first line. After that, it talks about 'beyond the light, lighter than light.' In the Bible, Jesus is said to be 'the way the truth and the light', so this could be another reference to him.

34. Ground Hog's Day

I do not think I have a ground hog's day story, I have never really cared about what the groundhog "told us". I never have thought that the groundhog has super magical powers and that he could predict or even change the future of the weather for the following six weeks. So if the groundhog sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of winter? And if he does not see his shadow spring comes early? Well that does not really make sense...What if the sun is not out because for some reason the sky is really cloudy and therefore the groundhog will not see his shadow? That seems pretty far fetched in my opinion. But whatever, if people want to make it a huge deal and make it a holiday, then they can go for it. Obviously enough people care about it to have live news reports watch some guys wake up a ground hog and have him come out of his hole so he can tell us what the weather will be like for the next six weeks. Well, today was groundhog's day and I heard that the ground hog did see his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. The thing that gets me curious is how it had been cloudy aaaall morning, yet the people are saying he say his shadow. Well of course he saw his shadow if you have a bunch of cameras and lights around his hole to video tape it? He will definately see his shadow then, no matter what the other conditions are. If you can not tell already, I think Ground hog's day is a very dumb 'holiday', if you would choose to call it that. Oh, also, I have never seen the movie Groundhog's Day, but I have heard that it is really good so I would like to see it sometime. I remember by middle school english teacher bringing up the movie every time ground hog's day rolled around.