Courage

Courage

            What is the real meaning of courage? To me, courage can be defined as “being the only one who knows your scared”. I believe that that is a quote from a military person but instead of “courage” it was “bravery” I believe at least. Well, anyway, I really feel that the quote still works. I guess could say that I have a heroic hobby, firefighting.  But yet I do not consider myself courageous.  But the way I see it, everyone is scared at one time or another and if you are able to do the task at hand, while being scared and you are the only one to know, then you have courage. Then to take it a step further, if you are scared, no one knows, and they feed off of your courage, then you are a very special person.

 If I was to say that one type of person is courageous, I would say that fire department officers are that special kind of person. But I guess I am a little bias on that but yet again it is one topic I know I can truthfully talk about through personal experience.  I can say from personal experience, I fire is a scary place that takes a certain kind of person to go in to. Knowing full well that the floor may collapse at any moment or the fire could be lying in wait for you behind that next door, is definitely nerve racking. Clearing knowing that the only think that is allowing you to breathe as you inch your way down a pitch black, zero visibility hall way is strapped to your back which could become entangled and trap you around the next turn only makes matters worse. Yet still a fire company line officer has to have all that on their mind and still be able to make spit second, life saving calls and being that rock of strength for every person on their team, being the person they put their trust and safety into. That right there is a person who has more courage than I do not know what.

            The only person who I could see being more courageous would be a member of a fire fighter rescue team, or a F.A.S.T Team. These guys are the saving angels of the fire service.  Knowing all of the before mentioned things, these teams go in after a trained fire fighter has gotten into a situation where they became unable to get out do to a collapse or something else very bad. A person on one of these teams knows that the structure is now completely compromised and is most likely going to fail, yet they still go in. yet knowing all of this, you now have to still find the person and effect a rescue that will most defiantly not be easy. And they still go in. My hat goes off to each and every one of these brave folks. To me, they are the absolute most courageous.

But that’s just me

Advice

 Advice  

            What kind of advice would I give to a younger self? That is an interesting question. First of all, I guess I would tell myself to really really watch yourself on the table saw. Like when you are making the table for your sister, just watch where your right hand is. That would be the first thing I would tell myself.

            Second: I would tell myself to cal back that plumber a whole lot quicker than you did. It doesn’t matter what you think now, but waiting sure did not turn out in your favor.

            Third: I would tell Amber how you really feel about her. Do not think that it would be forward or anything like that, just go and do it the first chance you get. Trust me; it would be more than worth it.

            Forth: I would tell myself to not be an ass to Mr.  Mannion. He really is a good guy who is just doing his job the best way he can and you are not the one to tell him how to do it.

            After that, I guess I would just kind of walk away and tell myself to have fun with it. I would say to just relax and live a little bit. If you do not, you kind of do end up wishing you did. But all in all, even if you do not, you will still end up fine. You really will not have that many regrets.

But that’s just me

P.S. Mr. Mannion, I know that this blog is only half the length it has to be. My reason is because I am just about falling asleep right now. But most of all, my finger is killing me right now. I do not want to see like I am complaining, but it really hurts. It is somewhere between stinging and sore. All in all, it is just terrible. Sorry about this.

Sincerely,

John

Worry

Worry

            Do I worry? That is a good question.  For the most part, I really do not. I could be considered cautious more than a worry wart. Yet even this weekend I have shaken a lot of that cautiousness that I once had.

            This weekend, I went camping. I went with Chris Garrett, Dan Hartig and a few others. Now camping is one of my favorite so that is not where I lost my cautiousness. I guess one part that I was kind of worried about was the drive. Kind of was because I was one of the drivers going up to Stokes State Forest. It was about a 2 and ½ hour drive and I was driving my mom’s explore, but I drove any ways. But it was during the fishing trip where I stepped way out of my personally worry boundaries. First of all I hate snakes, I makes sense, wait one. We were fishing and we saw a water snake just swimming along. Normally I would have run far away from it but instead Chris, his brother Ben and I chased it. We chased it for the better part of the day. This, for me at least, was very out of character, but I did enjoy myself.

            But there was one time where I was honest to god worried. Oddly enough, I was not when my thumb met my table saw. Heck, during this entire thing, I have been oddly calm, but oh well, anyway. The first time I was truly worried, was when I was going to the New Jersey State Police Trooper Youth Week. I will never forget it. I turned to a co-worker and said to I am nervous.  I have no clue why I was. But on a whole, I find it odd how I am really not worried.

            I think about life a lot. And when I look ahead, I have no worries. That is I have one. My main worry is that I will go through college and not have a job. I guess that is the main reasons why I want to l join the Marine Corps Reserves. Now, I do not would to join the Marines just to have a job. I honestly want to join and serve my country to my fullest. The way I look at it, I am a perfectly able young person. Who am I not to do all I can to help to further my country, the country that I love. But the way I look at and from what I hear, the truck battalion out of Red Bank is a great place to be, and I would have a guaranteed pay check and work for 4 to 6 years. So that is the truck I am really thinking about going, but I do not really know, I guess only time will tell and who knows what the future will bring. So is life.

But that’s just me

Dreams

            Dreams

Dreams, dreams, dreams. What are they? Do they have a meaning, or are they just an over active brain?  To be honest I really do not have dreams. I guess I really do not get all that much of a good night’s sleep for the most part. From what I heard, right or wrong, you mainly dream when you are in a certain stage of sleep. I guess that do to my lack of sleeping habits sometimes, which would cause me to not have dreams, all that often at least. But all in all, I have no clue. To be honest, I am very tired right now and I just want this whole blog thing to go away. It is not that I dislike writing them, because I actually do like writing them since they are different but tonight I am just not feeling it. But the heck with that, let’s just get the show on the road.

            It seems that most of the time I dream, it is about what is really on my mind that night. Lately I have been dreaming a lot about fire fighting and girls. The fire fighting I guess I can see since I am so close to graduating fire school. This as I am sure you know by now is a life time goal. I have always wanted to be a fire fighter. I cannot really tell you why, but I guess since my dad is one, it seems I was just born with it. It is just that it come so naturally to me. I would assume that the years I have spent hanging around the fire house has only grew that “inner fire” I guess you could say to be in the community service field.

            But then we have girls. I guess this is an expected topic to dream about. Here I am a single teenager. I am “unforgettable” as one girl has put it and “one of the best friends I have ever had” in the words of another. Why am I single, I have my own reasons in my mind, but on a whole, I do not really care. Would I like a girlfriend, sure but I am kin of happy as is. And you can only imagine what dreams involving girls lead to……….

But dreams I really do not have, instead I have almost mini dreams, call it de ja vue. I have that real bad at times. Would that be dreaming? Or I also have it happen to me where I will be just about to text a certain person, and she (yes she and it mainly seems to happen with a her) texts me. Or the best is when one night I jokingly said something to the dog and the very next day on your class she asked me a very specific question pertaining to what I said to my dog.  I guess that is the way I dream; I guess I am just physic, heck or maybe just nuts, who knows.

But that’s just me

Forgiveness

Forgiveness

            What is forgiveness? Simply out, it is the act of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake. Or in other words, letting go of your hurt feelings or emotions. But knowing what it is seems to be the simple part. To me, it looks almost a clean cut down the middle on if people can forgive or not. For me, I can find it very easy to forgive others.  Why, well to be perfectly honest, it would have to do with my religious views. Now, I am not a holy roller or anything like that and to be perfectly honest with you, I just about hate going to church. By the way, I am sure that was just about the last thing that you expected me to say, I know. But any way, due to my personal beliefs, I am able to turn the other check very easily. I am a big fan of the whole forgive and forget theory. As a matter of fact, I will forgive long before I forget. That is what I seem to always do. If someone really bothers me, I will just move along but I will never forget the occurrence. For whatever reason, that is just the way I am. The best way I have come to deal with the pain I guess is to find out why. Why did that person do something or say something that needs an act of forgiveness. After that is established, I find, it makes it a whole bunch easier, because now not only do you know why that person was mean but it could have been something you said or did in the first place. With that, I can forgive anyone, anyone except one person.

            But the person I guess really is not a person. It would be an action or an act. The act I would be talking about would be directly slandering my fire company. Now, I get extremely offended whenever someone takes a shot at any fire department, but you do not mess with my house. I guess I feel this way because of the fact that my whole life has been spent to protect it and support it. I guess next to breathing, the fire house, as I call it, is my first priority. Now I am not saying this because it is like a phase I am going through, but now I am able to see myself being able to finally start having an impact and finally be able to be involved on a serious level to help support and further the fire company. To be honest, I want to be a line officer, like a lieutenant, captain, assistant chief or chief. Now I do not want to be in one of these positions because I want to be popular, but instead I want to be able to put the fire company back on the track that it once was and try to re-sight some of the things we have lost sight on. But when it comes to slandering the department, I consider not taking care of the truck also, but that’s a blog in itself.

But that’s just me

Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business?

               Do I have any unfinished business? I guess I could say I do. One could call my wood shop project (projects, but that is for another time) unfinished. But I think what you are getting at is more on a personal topic over physical. Now, for me, my main project is personal. I put my heart and soul into most every project I do, so for me, my project is personal. But one could say that I do also have unfinished personal business in high school. I guess I have three things I want to complete for me on personal level.

               The first of which is getting an “A” in per-calc. Now for some as smart as me, or at least I have been told I am, should not be hard. But as you have heard, this class is quiet challenging. The heck with that, it is fricken hard. The class is mainly about a type of math that there is a great chance I may never, ever use. Yet right now, with the subject matter that we are covering currently, I feel that I can muster an “A” out this marking period. Will I, only time will tell.

               The second would be to get an “A” in physics. This class has one of the greatest teachers in central, I think at least. Now I do not say this because Mrs. Monari lets Chris and I sleep in class, but because I strongly feel that she is a good, quality, fun teacher. Some if the greatest times in her class have to be when she knows that we are never going to get something, and she does not like it enough to teach it. Now, I do not think that she is a lazy teacher, but on the other hand, she is the type of teacher who knows what works and not to mess with it do to the fact that it will only create a head ache for her. I want to get an “A” in her class mainly because it is easy and I know I can do it.

               The third is a true personal goal. Last night, after work, I was doing some thinking. I thought, what kind of person am I to be a jack ass to people. Now I know that being an ass to others comes naturally and does not bother them at all. Me on the other hand, It bothers the heck out of me for a while. There are a few teachers I want to apologize to. You, Mr. Mannion are one of them. I want to say I am sorry for freshman year. Looking back on that year, and your class, I have now realized that I said something to you that I now take back. That was in the last journal writing when I, in very sloppy hand writing said that you would make a terrible teacher. I now regret that statement. Right now, I feel that you are the best teacher I have ever had. I feel that you have not only taught me the material that you had to teach, but I have learned a lot about myself being in your class. So I am very sorry for being a complete jerk to you and I say thank you for being who you are. Please except my deepest apology, thanks.

But that’s just me

Wild Card

Wild Card

            What to write about. To many, this may seem like an easy topic. To me, this is like trying to write an occasional paper. You have the freedom to write about anything you want, but you want to seem cool and interesting. So that leads to the question, what the heck do you write about. Well, how about my weekend.

            This weekend started like most any other, well kind of. On Friday after school, Dan and I went up to the fire house to measure to see if a certain truck will fit in our back garage since if the stars align right, we will end up with it. The truck in question is the 2- ½ ton military brush truck that grew in fame and glory from my last occasional paper. As we arrived, we saw a guy from the HazMat team washing their newest truck, in the rain. After seeing this and mocking him for a little bit, we went in to the fire house. As we were walking in, two other members were strolling out. We exchanged greetings and moved on. As we walked through the building, we heard a noise coming from the back room. It was the asst. chief and this guy we call squirrelly. His real last name id curly, but squirrely is funnier. Again we exchanged greetings but afterwards we learned that there was left over food from a drill that was held last night and Dan and I were told to eat and drink all that we wanted. So, we heated up chicken marsal, stuffed shells, and ribs. Along with this, we had left over rolls and soda. Needless to say, we ate well. After that, we measured the truck, it should fit, and I dropped him off home. Later that might, like every other Friday night, I went to work. Work was plain and boring like any other rainy Friday night.

            Saturday was interesting. Not having fire academy, I want to work and was there a abut 9:30. We had some plumbing work to do. To make a long story short, with work that is, I clocked in at 9:30 am and clocked out at 11:09 pm. I went home and changed, but yeah, it was a long day. But that was not the interesting part. There is this girl that I think is the greatest in the world and to be honest I love her. A few blogs were kind of about her. But anyway, we are best friends and she has, very soon to be had, crappy boyfriend. He has never really acted like a boyfriend should and yesterday was the crowning jewel. All day, she waited for him to come to his apartment in Seaside, but he never showed. She was waiting from him so she could get her pain medications. All day she waited for him and he finally got there this morning. But all yesterday, I was texting her back and forth and just being there for her like a good friend should be. Most people would have just ignored her after a while but since I said I love her, and I really do, I stayed there. Saturday.

            Then today I went to a train show, got some train stuff and went to work, heck what else would I do on a weekend. And now I just wrote you a blog on my day. Sorry for sounding annoying, but heck…………….

That’s just me

My Blog

My Blog
First things first. I have two topics, and since I can not pick which one I want to submit, I will do both. But, just so it does not look and or seem look I am just trying to take up space, I will count each one separately, so here we go.

Pets.

What are pets? Is a pet just a simple little furry thing, or is it something more? Do you have a pet? Is there a pet that you always wanted? What was your first pet’s, if you had a first, name. some people are fish people, some are lizard folks. Which are you? Do you prefer a dog or a cat? Or maybe would a rat fit your style.
Maybe, you don’t like pets and think that animals should stay out in the wild and not in your house.
Lastly, do you feel that you ever connected with a pet? Is your pet your best friend? Do you think that a pet, such as a dog, can read a person’s mind and understand emotions? Can you tell what your pet is thinking?

Think about it……………..

Or

Dinner

What is dinner? Some people see it as just a thing that you have at the end of the day. Some people eat dinner “on the road “ more than at home. Is dinner just a meal? Or is dinner something special. Many families see dinner time being an important end to the day. Some families use dinner as a time to unwind and see how everyone’s day went. Parents asked how your day at school was and they tell funny stories about what happened at work.
What is dinner time like for your family? Is it a special time of the day, or just another meal that you grab and go?

Write about it

But as always…………………….

that’s just me

Death

Death
What the heck is death. Some people simply seeing it as dying, and that is it. Others see it as an opening to another world, a new life, an after life if you will. But all in all, it seems that there is only about two ways of looking at it, either once you die, that is it, or that once you die, it opens up another life for you.
The first way, death equals dead and that is that, is a rather simple idea. A lot of folks seem to think this way. This way o think is by far the easiest way of going bout it as well. I think that he people who think this way think this way for two reasons. The first being that it is fairly cut and dry. Yes, cut and dry. If you think about it, you won’t (oooh look, a contraction) have to think that long on it simple because there is not other way to put it. Since this topic is very difficult to understand, having a simple way of thinking is by far the best way. Yet, the other reason on why I feel that people feel this way about death is due to the fact of religion, or lack there of. Then with this way of thinking, there would be two reasons. One, they were never raised with religion. This would be, more than likely, the more common reason why. It seems that more and ore kids theses days are being raised in the absence of religion, but that is a different topic in all entirely. The other reason, by logic of John, would be because of the fact that said person would be an atheist. Now I ma no exact expert on this type of religious view, but if I had to say, they would most likely not believe in much of an after life due to the fact that they do not believe in a “God” type figure. This would be the main reason on why I would see them as not being all that keen on the would heaven theory, and more of once you r dead, well that’s just the end of the road partner. But heck , I could be wrong.
The other way, the opposite, would be the idea of the fact of an after life. Yet here there are so many variations, I do not think that even I could begin to list them all. Bu the way that I see it would be in another two groups. The first of which would the whole heaven idea. Here, you have, to my understanding, once you die, you go up to heaven and all is good. You no longer have any wants and needs, for they are answered and you become all knowing. Then you have the whole thing where some folks believe that when you die, you become reincarnated. Here, you have a strong belief than after you die, all depending on how you lived your life, you come back as an animal, and how you lived your life depends on what kind of animal you come back as. But as you well know………..
that’s just me

My Room

My Room.
Normally, when most people see me, I have a very neat, clean shaven appearance. If you where to look at my shop, when I do not have a project going, it is normally very tidy and organized. When you look at my computer, all of my files are neatly stored in sub folders and the same with my wood working plans. In my life, everything has its own place seems to be what I live by. Then comes my room.
The best way to describe it was one person said when she first saw it, “Wow, not what I expected”. my room seems to be the anomaly in my life. Yes, it is a disaster area. But the way I look at it, it makes sense.
All of the before mentioned places and things are all nouns that I spend most of time in or around. My personal appearance is very important to me and I feel that it is a self refection in itself. My shop is where I spend most of my time when I am at home mainly I guess because of the fact that it si not only my major hobby, but just about is my second job. I also am a very firm believer that a clean shop is a safe shop, needless to say it is neat. My computer, why do you think I am so good at dice wars. And my wood working plans, I guess that goes right in hand with my shop. Then comes my room.
The way I use my room is simple, I sleep there. I occasionally read there, and pet the dog, but on a whole, it main use is for sleeping. I really do not spend a whole lot of time there, that is why I think that it is not a good self reflection piece. Yet on the other hand, I really want to clean it, I really do. I just can not seem to find the time to do it. On yet another hand, I do see myself in my room, or I do see it as being a piece of self reflection. How, well by the stuff in it. If you where ever to look in my room, you would be amazed to say the least. In my room, one could find most anything. With out looking to hard you could see a stack of unorganized, yet, wood working plans, my computer, my guns, yes I do have guns in y room, an American flag, and a decent library. Now with all of that said, I think my room reflects me, yet how. Well, it contains most everything that is important to me. That is why I think that a room is self reflective. You can normally tell what the person is in to just by looking at what they have around them. And every night, I go to sleep with everything important to me around me. That my friend is self refection.

But that’s just me

My Curriculum

My Curriculum
If I was to design a curriculum, what would it be? What would it be like. Well, to be perfectly honest, I can not say that I would change it up all that much. Yes, contrary to the ever seemingly popular belief that our glorious school has a screwed up curriculum, I see it mostly fit for me in preparing me for the future. Now like I said, I find it mostly fitting, but of course, I have my own little soap box that I would like to stand on. I guess the easiest way to do this would be to go down the list of subjects, one by one.
Lets start with math. This is one of the most hated of all the subjects, by far. I am not saying that I hate it, my sister a math teacher may (would) kill me if I did say so, but lets be honest, some of the stuff you learn, calculus for example, most if not everyone in that type of class will never ever ever use it. That would be one thing that would be eliminated. Put in place would be an alternative. Those types of classes would still be offered but one could also take a geometry 2 class. Either that, or there would be a senior math class which would teach you real life problem solving, real measurement knowledge and other skills that you need to learn in life that require math, such as how to balance a check book.
Science. The only major thing I would change about science would be to have teachers who can very well speak the language that they are teaching in. I do not mean to sound racist, but there is a certain chemistry teacher that is truly hard to understand simply because she can not really speak the language very well. I know that’s not really a curriculum thing, but I had to say something about science and that is my only complaint.
History. I would alter it so that we learn more about world cultures instead of the history itself. Now I love history. But how can you get a real grip on the history of a place if you do not understand its cultures since that is what makes the land’s history. You somewhat do learn about the culture, but if I was in charge, I would have a specific class on culture.
Foreign Language. I like the concept but I think it would be cool if there was a 4 year program where you started with Latin and every year you learn a new language that stems from Latin.
Lunch. During lunch I think that you should be able to leave since that would teach responsibly since you would have to get back to school by a certain time.
Electives. I think that there should be more manual trades. I think that this should be because the more people we have with knowledge of manual trades would create a more completive job market and create more jobs.
Gym. I think that gym should be harder than it is. Plain and simple.
English. Even on a high school level I think that we should still have lessons on grammar and spelling since that is very important to society. That is how we communicate, and since high school is supposed to gat us ready for the real world, why not have us learn real world things and not how to read a 300 page 80 year old book.
But that’s just me

Wisdom

Wisdom
What is wisdom. Is it being wise? Is it being smart? For the most part, having wisdom basically means that you are smart. In the words of Wikipedia, wisdom is defined as a deep understanding and realizing of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy. Now, this could mean a few things. Mostly it means when you walk into a room, you know what the heck is going on and you can make an accurate judgment call with in a matter of seconds. But, I think that the key word here is judgment.
Judgment. What is. How do you get this. Judgment, to me, is having the ability to make the right decision on a topic matter that you know, and topics that you do not know all that well.
But anyway, I honestly have no idea where I am gong with this right now, so I am just going to try to wing this since I can not really seem to be able to wrap my head around this right now. Maybe it is the fact that is quarter to eleven at night and this is due at the end of that hour.
But being smart is only half of being wise. Most older people are accredited as being wise. Why? Last time I checked, not every old person had a PH.D is some field. But on the other hand, you have the other side of being wise. For the record, I can not spell the word being for the life of me tonight. Thank God for spell check. To me, the other side of being wise having knowledge. Older folks, generally have large amounts of knowledge. Yet, they do not have these vast pools of cross word puzzle facts by studying at the best institutes. Instead, they have learned from life. Life. To me life is what gives you wisdom. Granted, going to school and what no is part of life, so yes, you do become wise from school. But on the flip side, there is a whole lot you do not learn in school. And it is what you learn, through experience, trail and error, that you gain wisdom. That is another thing. One can not be taught wisdom, it is something that you gain, or acquire. Yes, acquire. That is a good word to put it, perhaps the best form my point of view. As I have said, there is more to wisdom then just going to school. You have to be in circumstances that allow you to acquire wisdom.
Now, I am sorry about this blog. Currently I can not type to save my life and I have had an interesting an long weekend. Now I know that being busy is no excuse for doing a poor job on my homework, but it is the only reason I have. But heck…………..

That’s just me, yeah

Jobs; the importance of.

Jobs; the importance of.
What kind of jobs are important. To answer this question, one must first decide what is more important, your personal life or society. There is a distinct difference between these two fields of employment, one of private or one of the public sector.
Jobs of the private sector are important. Private sector employment means that you are employed by a privately owned company. An example of a private sector job would be one offered by UPS. Here you are employed by a company, not owned by the government, or yet or that matter. Yet this is a very important part to your personal life. Just think, on average how many packages a month do you receive from UPS or a similar company such as FEDEX. It is the job of these companies to transport goods to and from locations in a timely matter. Another private sector job would be say working for the HESS Corporation. Think of how many gallons of fuel you yourself go through a year. And it would be impossible for you to operate you car, or anyone to move, including UPS, without this or similar companies. So yes, private sector jobs are very important to yours and mine personal life.
On the other hand, you find the jobs of the public sector. These are the jobs that the are paid of and ran by the government, and mostly not to enrich the people in charge. Jobs of this nature are mainly jobs such as police, fire, and, yes even, garbage men. These are mainly the jobs taken for granted, and the hardest. They are mainly taken for granted mainly because it is hard, of not impossible, to think of life without such men and women patrolling our streets, saving us from peril, or removing our unwanted waste. These men and women are hands down some of the hardest working folks around. Now I am not saying that people in the private sector are not hard workers, but one would be rather hard pressed to find someone who works harder than a police officer, or a firefighter. And also, these jobs mainly help in keeping society in order.
Now, which do I find more important. I personally think that a job that directly helps a person is the most important, and most of these jobs would be found listed under public sector. Why do I think that a policeman, fireman, or even a garbage man is more important than say a banker, well think how safe you would feel knowing that there was no one out there to help you in a time of need. Knowing that if your personal well being was threaten by either a person or an act of nature, you were on your own. How would you feel. Or, say you were not a teacher. Would you feel comfortable teaching your children everything they would need to know in the world. Now, I am not saying that parents do not teach their offspring anything, but you have to admit, you learn far more from teachers than you will ever learn from your parents. And would you really want to take care of your own garbage anyway?
But that’s just me

Personal Risks

Personal Risks
When I first read this topic, Risks taken, the first thing I thought of was a legal risk. The one I am talking about was when Dan Hartig and I took his pick up for that interesting run over the summer that we nearly lost our licenses on, but you have already heard about that. The second time that crossed my mind was my Trooper Youth Week Adventure. But yet again, I have told that to you already. But there is one part that I always leave out of that story. That is how I felt. I find it funny. I was already the week before. I was gong there for a week then to Colorado for another week. I was set not to mention biting at the bit to get going. But I will never for get what I said to my then ex-girl friend, long story with that, the night before I left for Sea Grit. I was at work, I turned to her and I said “ you know, I can honestly say that I am nervous about tomorrow. I have never ever been nervous about anything else before, but right now I am really friggen nervous.” And yes, I was very nervous and I had never been nervous before. But I thought I would share a dream more of a risk.
As I am sure you already know, I love working with wood. My dream is to open up a wood working shop. This summer I am really considering staring living my dream. I am looking into getting my own website, and advertising. But I am seriously thinking about it. That I, I feel, is a huge risk. I guess it would be a personal and finical risk. Now I plan on getting a job if my risk doesn’t plan out, but I really want to do this. I have just about all of the tools, tips, and the skill, so I think, to do this and after all, this is what I want to do with my life. I find it kind if funny in my career chioce. Whne people ask me what I want to be. I always say I want to be a New Jersey State Trooper. Now that is true, kind of. What I then say sometimes is that I have to be a Trooper. By this I mean that I want to work in wood for a good part of my life, but I know that there is not much money in it, so to be able to support a family and make some money, the State Police is were I will turn. Now I am not to sure if you would consider this a risk, but I do. The way I look at it, at the age of 18, I am seriously looking into starting a business in a dying art in a poor economy. I may make it, but I know that the cards are many times stacked against me.
But that’s just me

Love

Love.
What is love. Is love some mysterious thing that is like a cloud that just kind of floats over everyone, just waiting for it to fall on them, so they can be in love. Actually, I like that definition. Everyone has love, it just takes something to make it rain. It is almost like, for me at least, you can’t find or make love, figuratively, but it is more of that you seem to find love or it finds you.
Love is a tricky and strange thing. It “loves” to play tricks on you. It has a terrible tendency to hid then come out in some of the most inoperable times. Yet when it does show, it seems to have a raging furry that no one can stop, even after you tell the person how you feel. To put it short, love sucks. I mean love is great, when it is working for you, but when it is not, it is the worst feeling you could ever have, lets face it.
But love is not tangible, you can not see love, figuratively, you can not heard love, figuratively, but it is more of a feeling. A true love is indescribable. When you can honestly say to someone, “ I love you”, they say why and you the only thing that you can honestly say is “because I can feel it”, that to me is true love. That is when you love the person on a whole. When you love the way they talk or their personality, then you are only in love with that one thing, not the person on a whole, which by my definition, is not real love.
Now, I know that this whole thing made little to no sense what so ever. I guess that I can not really say what love is. I can say that I am in love, but that is a whole other long story that I, no offence, want to get into with you. But what I can say is that love I is a feeling, you can not touch it, say it, or hear it, only truly feel it. And nor in your hands either. It is a feeling that you feel inside of you that you can never describe.
But love is just strange. I know I have said this before, but that is the only way I can describe it. I am by far no expert on the matter, nor an I an expert on relationships, I seem to attract the weird ones. Further more, it can hide in other people as well. Also, it can make people scared. Take for example this one girl. She has said to me that I am the person that she has always wanted to have a relationship with and be with. But we never have. I have asked her this and all that she says is that she doesn’t want to lose me as a since I have always have been there for her. She says that I am a great guy and all, but yet it seems like she may love me, but yet again, I don’t know.
But that’s just me

My State of the Union Address

My State of the Union Address
Once a year, the president of our great country gives his State of the Union Address. In this he, not she yet, gives his “opinion” on what is going on his great country. I say his “opinion” because it is not what he really thinks, it is all what the people want him to say, its all just a ploy to get the people to think that he really knows what is going on in his country.
But anyway, my version. Now, I do not know if you watched this year’s address, but I watched a little bit and I will kind of use it as an example of what I you do, or not do.
First of all, I would not open it with a quote from another speech. Now, I do not know how much you know of history, but Mr. Obama (funny story time. Just when I typed Obama Microsoft Word, wanted to change but saying that I spelt it wrong, like I thought it would, but that is not what makes this story funny. What makes it funny, is that the fact that they wanted to change Obama (and still do) to Osama. Now, I know that this is not all that funny, but I found it quite amusing. But that’s just me). Any way, moving along. Mr. Obama, within only a few lines of his speech used a line from another speech, which is okay. But what got me mad was that after he finished that sentence, the very next was opened but another quote from a speech. The reason why this ruffed my feathers is because other people should be quoting the president’s State of the Union Address, he should not be quoting other speeches. Of course, I can not remember what speech (es) quoted, but I know he did.
But as for me, I would start with an out look of the year past. I would include everything that was truly news worthy. I would almost do a Jib Jab version of the year past. But I would not harp on the past events. Instead I would talk about how I will plan to change the three biggest happening that happened last year. Three things I would focus on would be the treat of terror at home, immigration, and the job market, or lack therefore of.
On the topic of terror at home, I would talk about implementing more strict law enforcement practices and more and better training of police officers on counter terrorism actions. As for immigration, I would maybe try to help Mexico. I would help them economically so that maybe that country would have more going it for it so that the folks that illegally cross the boarder have one less reason. Lastly the job market. Here I would suggest using tactics such as FDR used during the Great Depression. Some ideas I would talk about would be doing public work project and other government funded thing mainly aimed at boosting our country’s failing infrastructure.
But that’s just me

My Earliest Memory

My Earliest Memory
My earliest memory is honestly kind of weird, heck it really is down right strange I will admit. Well, the topic of my earliest memory has two parts one could say. I have two memories that I think are my earliest, but one is only a fragment and the other is complete, and full memory, down to what I had for lunch that day, yeah, it that good. Well, as they would say in Monty Python‘s Flying Circus And The Holy Grail, “On With It”. Anyway, the earliest thing I can remember is getting my first piece of construction equipment. It is an Enterprise track loader. I do not remember when I got it, but all I remember is being over a friend of my dad’s house playing with it. Now, I know that this sounds strange, so, let me give you some background on one of my hobbies. Out of all of my hobbies, my obsession, yes obsession, with model trains takes up most of my time and money, particularly the construction aspect of it. Now, to go along with the whole model train hobby, there are manufactures who make a plethora of cars and trucks to go along with the hobby. They also make many of differing types of construction equipment. Now along with the model train theme, I am an avid construction guru, one could say. I love construction from carpentry to machine operation, I love it all and I guess I always have. So naturally, when I found out that they made models so I could make basically my own construction company, you can only guess how far into it I am, well you can’t. It’s one of those things you have to see to believe. But anyway, this track loader basically started it all. And oddly enough, the track loader, basically a front end loader with tracks, is my favorite piece of equipment. Now I honestly do not know of this is to blame, but one day I will own my own track loader. Oh, and I have operated one before, my god father owns one. Yet, probably the most interesting part of my obsession with this machine is that around here, it is useless. This type of machine is in no way suited of this kind of terrain. I find this ironic since I am a pretty practical person, yet I want an impractical machine. Oh, scratch the thought that model trains is my biggest money and time pit, wood working out beats it many times over, trains are a very close second though.

But as I said, I had another, more complete one. This would be putting up my swing set. This one, I am not too sure on how old I was, but I remember it very well. It was a warm spring day and my one uncle, me and my dad assembled in the back yard. I van remember being so happy and being able to help them when in all reality, I was probably more of a pain than anything. Yet, over the course of the whole day, the thing that I remember the best is the weirdest part. I was lunch. I remember eating a cheese sandwich on a blue plate, on the hood of the tractor, feeling all big and bad. I was cool.
Well, those would be my personal earliest memories, but as always,
That’s just me

What time period would I like to visit?

What time period would I like to visit?
If I could visit any time period, what would it be? Well, I think, after much deliberation, I would enjoy to visit the 1800’s. What part of the 1800’s though, I have no idea. I think that 19-centry on a whole would be the time period I would love to visit.
Why would I want to visit this time period? I want to go back to this time since I love me my history, particularly, I love American history. For it was during this time that America grew. By this I mean that during the 19-centry America grew out and grew up.
When I say that we grew out, I am talking about the growth that America had to the West and South. To the South, we grew into the states such as Texas and nearly into Mexico. To the West, we grew into the land between here to California. But it is not only the idea and geographic moving I would have enjoyed to witness, but it was the literal expansion I would have love to have seen. I have been to such states such as Colorado and Alaska and I have seen the work done by men with little more than shovels and pix axes. If you have ever seen some of the work that men did with their bare hands, you would be amazed. I could try to describe to you the scenery, but I think that would be nearly impossible. I can tell you that they cut through solid rock with shear drops on either side, but to see it is a completely different thing. To see it in a book or on TV is still not good enough. To be able to see it in person and touch it give you the real feel of it. To stand next a tunnel that men carved out by hand, out of a mountain, knowing that any day could be there last, leaves an impact. And it is that ever lasting impact that I would have loved to have seen.
On the other side, when I talk about the “growing up” of America, I am talking about the ideological and governmental growth of our fair land. I would love to have been there when key watched the stars and stripes wave valiantly in the mist of that great cannonade. I also would have love to have been in the room when they pasted the famous Kansas-Nebraska Act, or the Missouri Compromise. To have been there when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, to have seen Pickets Charge, to have witnesses Lee’s Surrender would be my greatest thrill.
I know it mat seem weird, but that is the time period that I would have loved to have seen. But you also asked what I would do. Well, I would have refused to have stood by as I saw men swinging that pick axe into the rock, I would have picked up a shovel and proudly joined him. I would have been more than glad to scout out a river crossing for a wagon train heading to Oregon. The feel of the boom of that famous cannonade would have been a feeling I would never forget or to have been able to answer that shot with one of mine would have brought indescribable joy to me. To have been able to see the still wet ink of the Missouri Compromise would be ever lasting in my mind. So, yes, I would have gladly have played a part in my history, America’s history.
By the way, I know that this will have been posted late, about an hour and a half, I know. The reason is because I really had to think which one was really my favorite, and the fact that “The Unit” was on did not help at all. Sorry.
But that’s Just me

The Balance of Nature

The Balance of Nature
What is the balance of nature. To me, the balance of nature is nature working in harmony. Now this may just sound like I am just repeating what the topic is, but to me, nature in harmony means everything working together. And by working together I mean, to put it simply, things eating things to limit and control the growth and or spread of other things.
Just today, I heard of a great example of this. And no I did not watch the Loin King, but he did seem to manage to incorporate the famed movie in to his little speech. Today, my godfather and his father came over to visit for the holidays, like they always do. He was going to come early, but due to weather, he did not. But anyways, some how we got to talking about the wild. I think that it was the fact that a few of the resident turkeys were on our neighbor’s roof, behind us. From there we went on to talk about animals. And yes we really do have turkeys in my neighborhood. After a few seconds of discussing animals, Walter, my god father, brought up Yellow Stone. And in this he said that they had to replenish the coyote population out there due to the fact that they let, and drove, them away. They had to help them out because the elk population had exploded since they had no one in large numbers to eat them, such as the coyote. This is exactly what I am talking about.
But the balance of nature dose not necessarily have to do with things eating things. I can thing of another example. This one is a little closer to home. In Bayville, near the rec. building on rout 9, there is a small stream with a bridge over it. Now, a few years ago, the county put a new bridge up. But they had a problem. Due to the balance of nature and everything helping everything out, the small stream had in fact provided shelter, a home for a family of beavers. Now up until now, everything is going good until the construction crew noticed a bit of a flooding problem. The culprit was the beavers. I do not know what they did to them or how they worked around them, but the new bridge is up and going. This is a two part explanation. This not only shows that living and not living things need each other, but also shows what we as people tend to do to mother nature.
The way I see it, we humans seem to only mess up mother nature. Whether it is getting rid of a population of animal, or disturbing a functioning part of nature by “process”. Now I am not saying that all human-nature interaction is bad, I am huge fisherman, and I try to do as little damage to the local fish population as possible. I am even know to throw a huge fish back, just because.
Well, that’s my take on nature.