A Good Conversation

So there are actually a couple of girls that I'm interested in. They're cute and fun, and we haven't actually been on "dates," but we do hang out a bit. And I've come to realize there's a very important part to the relationship that I hadn't thought of before. And that's having a good conversation. Cause theres a big difference between just talking and having an actuall conversation. In a conversation theres a flow to it. It goes back and forth, and travels around without to much difficulty. Talking is just talking. You have a topic, say a little something about it and then it very quickly peeters out, and you have to start up with a new topic. Like the topic dies, and you're forced to plunge back in. A lot of the time it's questions with one word answers that give it away as just talk.

I've got to actually be able to converse with these females. I don't want/like to just talk. There needs to be an easy flow to it, that isn't forced, or it just aint worth it. I realized this as I was hanging out with these different girls, and with my friends. I was with this one girl that I thought I liked and I thought liked me (she would laugh at everything I said even if it was the most retarded thing imaginable), and I just had to force us to talk. It just didn't feel natural. Then I went and was hanging out with one of my good female friends, and the conversation just came so naturally. I could talk with her about anything for hours at a time it would seem. Maybe it's so easy becuase she is such a good friend, but it seemed to me like we have just always been able to talk like that.

I don't know, it just kinda shocked me that a "conversation" would be so important. And I'm not sure if I'm explaining it right, cause I know you have to be able to speak with someone, but it makes a huge difference when there's a natural flow and honesty to it. Or maybe I just really like my female friend.

It's Been Awhile

It's been a couple of months since my last blog.

I've gotten a second job working for seven peaks waterpark. I work in the front office. It ain't to bad, and it certainly helps that I work with like 10 girls and just one other guy. I've also moved out of the house in Highland. It was ending up being just way to long of a drive, and Don wanted to sell the place. So I'm back in Provo, living in the Westwood Apartments. They're nice, a little small, but clean, and my roommates are certainly interesting. My ward is pretty nice, I've already got a calling. I'm the family home evening group leader, so I'm trying to make it to fhe as much as possible.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was going to do my best about being friendly. Apparently I've been doing a really good job. Both the people at work and in my ward think I'm a really upbeat and friendly guy. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm running on very little sleep, that the sarcasm and bull headedness aren't showing through.

It should be a pretty interesting summer.

9/11 Conspiracies and Other Bull$#!+

9/11 was a horrible tragedy that befell our country. It was perpetrated by some very evil men. Namely Osama Bin Laden. He omitted to masterminding it. Yet there are still some people out there that believe there's some huge conspiracy, and that the real culprit is our own government. I just want to smack these people in the face.

There is no possible way for our government to pull this type of thing off and keep it such an utter secret. There would be just to many people involved. Eventually some big, rock solid proof would come out and it would be undone. And rock solid as in the guys who supposedly planted the bomb, or the top officials that gave the go ahead. These conspiracy nuts see these little inaccuracies in video footage and suddenly they think they have proof. Or you have people that hear rumors, and again suddenly it's fact in their eyes. Are people really that gullible that they will believe anything and everything that they hear?

So besides the fact that they wouldn't be able to keep it a secret, whats the motivation behind doing this? To invade Iraq and get the oil? Why then would they put the blame on a group (Al Qaueda) that has almost no ties with Iraq? And is in another country? If our government had all the resources, and gumption to pull something like this off and blame someone else, why then wouldn't they just point the finger at Saddam? It would have saved time, and there wouldn't have been another war going on while they fought in Iraq. On a side note, if our country was good enough to pull off 9/11 why then when they needed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq didn't they just put them there? If they're good enough for 9/11, you would think it would be a piece of cake to plant some nukes, or something.

These conspiracy nuts are just so full of hate and self loathing that they just want to tare down everything around them. They hate this great country so much that they will do and say anything to see it brought down. If you hate it that much get out. I won't apologise for what our country has to do to protect itself, and what it does to make sure that it's citizens have the best lives that they possibly can. But I know our great country wouldn't sink so low as to cause this horrible tragedy just to oust some dictator in another country and take the oil there. That's a load of bull, and you need to just shut your mouth.

Anyone That Thinks Gun Control Laws Will End Violent Crime Is An Idiot

Many people believe that if you strictly limit or ban guns, then the violent crime in America will stop. This is incredibly foolish because there is an inherent flaw in that thinking. And that is that those committing crimes have no qualms about breaking the law to get a gun. They're criminals, their very name implies that they don't have a problem breaking the law. So why then would they stop when they find out it's against the law to have a gun?

Aside from the fact that they're criminals and will break the law anyway. Violent crime will go on. People are violent. Plain and simple, they go out and hurt each other. If they have guns or not, they will hurt other people. Taking guns away will leave many people defenceless. Or would mean that other people won't be able to come to the rescue. Not to long ago there was a shooting at a mall up in Salt Lake. A man with a shotgun was going around and indiscriminately shooting people. A bystander who just so happened to have a gun decided he was going to do something about it. He pinned the man down until the police arrived. If guns had been banned then the bystander could have done nothing about the shooting, but watch it happen.

Now I will admit guns aren't for everyone. There are many people out there that just shouldn't be allowed to legally own a weapon. I'm talking about convicted felons, or the mentally unstable. I won't argue the fact that they shouldn't be allowed to have guns. But the hard working American, that just wants to protect their family? Yeah they have earned the right to carry a gun. They abide by the law, and when trouble rears its ugly head they should be able to do something about it.

Guns aren't the great evil that the liberal wing has led you to believe. Yes they can cause great harm, but so can a car. It all just depends on the person behind it that will dictate what it will do.

Vagabonds - A Leech on Society

There is no reason for a hardworking American to be without a job for so long that they have to start begging for handouts. There are tons of jobs out there, even if they are just fast food, a job is a job, and if you really have fallen on hard times then you have to take the job you can get. It pisses me off when I see the same bum, on the same street corner, with the sign saying, "fallen on hard times, please help." Get a friggin job. The eight hours a day you spend begging for money, could be spent finding a job, and then you wouldn't need the help.

The real reason these people aren't working (for the most part) is that they don't want to work. They would rather beg for a living, doing their own thing, and not have a 9 to 5 job. They cling to the belly of society and take all that they can from it. And the problem is that people allow them to. I've heard that some bums, can make quite a bit by begging. In some cases a ton more then if they had an actual job. I understand that there really are some people that need help, those with mental problems, or disabilities, or just for some reason are hard put to find a job. But do we really need to be spreading the idea that it's ok to be a bum, that we will spend our hard earned money, so you can sit on your but all day and do nothing? No. If you want to give money to the poor, then you should give the money to a shelter or give more money to the Church and let them dispense the money where its needed. Not the bum on the street that's just looking for a handout so he can go buy some more beer.

Another leech on society is welfare people. Talk about throwing your money to people that don't deserve it. I know there are some people that do need a little help from time to time. That's alright, I'm talking about the people who do everything they can to get on welfare and stay on welfare. Again it's a person that doesn't want to work and wants free money from the government. Why should my money go to these lazy bums? Welfare should either be like a loan, where you pay it back as soon as you get a job, or it should be changed from welfare to workfare. Those on welfare should have to do so many hours of either community service, or so many hours working for the state. I don't know why people get upset when you suggest this type of change either. You're already paying them, why shouldn't they be working for you?

I don't know it just pisses me off. Why does society allow these people to suck the life out of it. Eventually it needs to end, otherwise it's just a vicious circle, that will just keep repeating itself.

April Fools Day and My Mother

I think it would take a lot to be my mother, especially around April fools day. You see she has five boys, and they have a wide and deep sense of humor. For many years, we have taken it upon ourselves, to play practical jokes on our mother. In so much that she usually won't talk to us on or around April 1st.

Now these practical jokes range from all over the spectrum. Most of them however have to do with either getting married, or having another grandchild on the way. And every year we try to out do each other. One year those of us younger siblings, that weren't married yet sent fake engagement pictures, and she had to guess which one of us was getting married (nobody was). One of my favorites however, was by my oldest brother John. He planed and implemented a reverse April fools joke, meaning that he was pulling a prank on her, but it in fact was real. I won't go into to many of the details about it, but the gist of it was that he needed her to send a crib, showing that there was another grandchild on the way, but he let her know on April fools day. So she was happy, and then she was pissed when she realised what day it was. It wasn't until later that she found out that he was being for real.

I thought it was hilarious. So in the spirit of April fools day, I would just like my mother to think about all the things we have been talking about recently, and decide if I've been on the level of not. Happy April fools day mom!!!

The Best Relationships

As I look at the world around me, it seems that those people with the best relationships, were started in friendship.

Friendship as a base for a relationship brings with it an easy going nature, that doesn't always come when you've started a relationship based on attraction. The two individuals in the relationship are more able to be themselves, instead of trying to put on a mask of what they think the other wants. Wearing a mask almost always ends in failure because the mask will eventually have to come off. And the other person might not like what they see, which in turn causes more problems, because you've basically been lying to each other.

And it's not that relations starting out from attraction can move into friendship. It just seems to be a lot easier to be together, when you already are friends. There usually aren't as many barriers to take down, because you already know each other, and on some level like each other.

Having said that, and relating to my lack of a relationship, I think I'm gonna start trying to be friends with everyone. Now this will be kinda hard for me seeing as how I'm not the nicest or most open of person. And looking at my past history it seems that I have a very close knit set of friends, and it isn't always easy bringing new people in. But I think I can do it. And besides I've learned you can never have to many friends.

Where is 'art' going?

I enjoy art. I think it's a wonderful expression and representation of humanity. But then sometimes I think it goes just a little to far. Both in the realms of things that are just way to far out there, and things that just shouldn't have been done.

I was reading about some artists in the former Soviet Union, and how they were trying to express themselves. One such endeavor was a guy that buried himself under a mound of dung and had just a straw sticking out the top so that he could breath. What is that supposed to mean, or even prove? That's the kinda "art" that's just way to out there. How do you classify it as art? I just feel it's meaning less. It doesn't express anything, or show anything that a normal person would understand. I know it probably is a symbol for the oppression that artists at that time were going through, but that just doesn't really stick. How does it have a lasting effect? Like say for instance the Sistine Chapel. Now that is an amazing work of art that speaks to people. How does a man under a pile of poo, move anyone?

On the other side of things, where "art" shouldn't even have gone. I was reading the other day about how this spanish guy (Guillermo Habacuc Vargas) got this dog, chained it up, starved it to death, and called it art. Why? What is the point of that? It's cruel, and worthless. You say it's art because it goes against the norm, and because you are expressing the darker side of man. Art can show both the good and the bad, but you shouldn't have to create the darker side of "art" by causing more cruelty. I just don't see the point of it. There are far better ways to achieve your goal, and I think you did it because you have some morbid fascination with cruelty.

What will be next, stabbing a person, and calling it art? Burning down a house and calling it art? Just because you can doesn't always mean you should.

The World Will Come To An End...But Not Anytime Soon

I find it fascinating that the human condition has an underlying fear of being wiped out. Or not even being wiped out but being sent into another dark age. It's been portrayed in countless movies, and it seems like fairly recently the media has just had a band-wagon of dooms day type stuff. My three favorites and the ones that I see as fairly likely are: global warming, plague, and oil scarcity.

Global warming, where do I begin. I guess I would have to say that I don't really believe that it'll get so hot as to destroy all life. But I do believe that pollution among other things is having an adverse effect on our planets ecosystem. Climates are changing, it's getting hot, and it's getting hot all over. Polar icecaps are disappearing at an increased rate. Whole species and areas of wildlife are being destroyed. You can see it happening. Humanity is on a road that could leave the Earth barren and inhospitable for life. I don't think we are anywhere near that extreme, or even to a point that would cause irreparable damage.

The plague. It just sounds bad, and brings up images of death and destruction. Now there are two lines of thought that I put in with this. That eventually a super virus will be "bred" into existence, or a horrible bio weapon will be. Diseases are a living entity that adept just like everything else. But the theory now is that they will be pushed to a super variety with the help of humans. There are the anti-biotic strains that are now coming to light, or the government engineered killing machines. Both are out there. Do I think that they will kill everyone on Earth? Again that's a big fat no. The human immune system is a wonderful thing. It is vastly complex, and can adept almost as good or even better then diseases. So with like 6 billion people on the planet, there's bound to be more then a few that are immune.

Oil Scarcity just might be knocking at our door. Oil isn't a renewable resource and will eventually run out. And what are we doing but, using it up faster then ever before. Oil is at a record high $110 a barrel. Now either OPEC (curse them) is either trying to scam us, and take our money, or the oil is harder to get at. It leads to a whole list of problems. We could go to war and take the oil (wouldn't argue against that) or use every last drop and watch as civilization comes to a screeching halt. The only real solution is for someone to invent some new and cool energy source that we could use instead of oil.

Why be afraid of something you can't control anyway? It'll just get you upset.

Carpe Diem

Seize the day. I find myself in a bit of a quandary. I want to grab life by the horns, and to live everyday as if it were my last. Yet for some odd reason I'm increasingly falling into a straight boring habit and I'm more then ever concerned about the future. When did this all happen?

It seems like I do the same things day in and day out. Nothing is changing, nothing is exciting. Gone are the days, where on the spur of the moment I would be off having some crazy adventure. Gone are the days that I could drop everything and go party. Part of the that is my own fault. I've just gotten lazy, and put myself in a place where I would worry to much if I did. You might call that responsibility, but why do I need that? I don't have kids, I don't have a house payment. All I got to worry about is myself. And it's not only that I don't go do anything different, it's that everything I do is planned out, and if it's not planned I don't do it. It's like all of a sudden I've become a slave to scheduling. And I don't know how, or why it's gotten to that point.

I've also become obsessive about budgeting money. I have to know where every dollar is going, why it's going there, and what I can do to make sure less is being spent. Why is that? I really don't make all that much money, but I make enough to pay the bills, and have a little left over. What's the point of being so anal about it and being scarred about some future happening? Especially since I'm not making enough right now to be a huge factor in that future event.

I don't know. Maybe living on my own is making me see things in a different light. I know saving and budgeting is important and I accept that. I just want to break the habitual nature and get life to be one thrill after the next. But then doesn't everyone want that?

The Differences Between Men and Women

I'll just put a disclaimer at the beginning of this. Some of you may get offended by what I have to say. I won't apologise for it. Just understand that this is my opinion and I'm just telling you how I see the world. I also understand that there is an exception to every rule.

There are three main differences between men and women. First and largest difference is emotional stability. Second is their ability to resolve conflicts. And last of all is their basic way of thinking.

1. Emotional Stability covers a wide range of topics and in part has a baring on the other differences between the sexes. A mans emotional responses are easy to follow. He's happy. Something happens, he's sad. Something else happens, he gets angry. There are steps that he goes through, and it's pretty easy to know where he is, and where it might lead to. A man also likes order/stability. He usually won't jump into the middle of things without knowing what's going on, or what he risks by going in. A man will not ask another man what's wrong with his life and how can he help. A man is either told or he's not that's enough for the man. Women are vastly more complicated. I have a very hard time understanding women. And most of the time, I am completely lost. Because women thrive on drama. Their entire life revolves around drama. Whether it's freaking out about what to wear or getting involved in everyone else's problems. Not only that, but it's next to impossible to gauge a woman's mood. One minute they can be as happy as a clam, the very next second without any known difference they are ready to take somebodies head off. Not only is there no telling what caused the problem, they won't tell you what the problem is because for some apparent reason you should already know what the problem is.

2. Resolving Conflicts. Men seem to be a lot more straight forward then women. In friendships, intimate relationships, or in arguments. A man doesn't need to ask another man if they're friends. A man doesn't need to be consistently reminded that he's hansom, or told daily that she's happy being with him. Man is simplest when it comes to someone that they don't like. Everyone including the two in the fight know that they don't like each other. And if it comes to fists, they do the deed and then leave each other be. Women are a lot more round about when it comes to these types of things. Women seem to need to be constantly reminded about how much you like them, or how pretty they are, or how you are feeling. The real kicker is when they're in an argument with someone. Sometimes you can't even tell. They don't look mad or act mad. But eventually you say/do something, and they explode. It's usually something super insignificant, like putting your feet on the couch. And it's never about putting your feet up, it's about something that happened two weeks ago, that you should have known about and done something about, but you didn't even know. And they sure as hell won't tell you. My personal favorite (the ones I'm not involved in) is when girls are fighting other girls. They will be your best friend to your face, but will be planning all along to stab you in the back. Here's a true story. A girl I know (we'll call her Starla) was dumped by her boyfriend, for another girl (we'll call her Marla). Marla needed a job, and went to Starla's place of work to see about getting a job there. Starla knew that she had been dumped for Marla, and decided to help Marla get the job, and be all buddy-buddy with her. From the moment Marla got the job, Starla did everything in her power to make Marla's life a living hell, and to get her fired. Not to Marla's face mind you, but by talking to co-workers and bosses. Does that sound like something a man would do? I can't fathom the thought process you would need to go through to do that.

3. Basic ways of thinking. Like I said before, men are pretty straight forward. And that also translates to how they think. If I do this and this, then this will happen. A + B = C. Pretty simple, everyone can follow it, and it gets the job done. Women quite often jump out of left field. A + B = 11. Where the hell did that come from? Here's a situation out of the Utah dating arena. Man goes up to woman and asks her on a date. Man thinks, "you're cute." Woman thinks, "holy crap he wants to get married!" If I even began to try and comprehend that thought process, I would have a massive brain aneurysm and die. I just don't understand it. Things like this happen all the time. Something a man thinks is simple, or easily followed. A woman will blow it out of proportion, or bring something to the table that has very little or nothing to do with what the man thinks.

Men and women are vastly different. Sometimes I think all women are just plain crazy, but I suppose since men and women do compliment each other that's just how it's supposed to be. I just wish that I could understand sometimes.

Let's Be Honest

We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams

In my opinion honesty is one of the greatest qualities a person can have. It's oh so rare, and society seems to want to make you believe that it's not all that great. But society is wrong. Honesty is a wonderful thing. It frees you from worries. You don't have that guilt hanging over your head. For the most part you feel good when you tell the truth. (Sometimes the truth hurts, but it's better then the fake feeling a lie gives) Now I try to be honest. Sometimes I can be brutaly honest, which isn't always a great thing. I don't hide what I think, or what I do. And it makes life easier in a lot of ways. It puts everybody on the same page. They know where my head is at. Besides that, who cares what other people think about you? The only one that it matters with, is you.

I just don't understand. Why can't we be honest? Why is it so hard for some people to tell the truth? At my work 90% of the time all I hear are lies. Sometimes it's a lie about the smallest, most pointless thing ever, and yet it's still a lie. Why even bother? Now sometimes I understand a lie or a bending of the truth is necessary to spare someones feelings. But most of the time you can be honest and still spare their feelings.

Telling a lie can get you into a lot of trouble too. I'm not just talking about telling a lie to someone, but telling a lie to yourself. Some people act like something they're not, mostly to impress someone else. I think it's horrible. You should be able to act like yourself and not pretend to be something you're not. In relationships it causes major problems, because suddenly you're deep in a relationship (marriage) and you drop the mask of this person you aren't. Oh no, everything just seems to fall apart. All because you weren't being truthfull to who you are.

I say, just be honest. It makes things a whole lot easier. And we would in general be a whole lot happier with our lives.

I Weep For The Future

If a civilization were judged based on it's least adept citizens... the upcoming crop of adults would be a horrible failure.

These kids are dishonest, lazy, vicious, little cry babies that wouldn't survive life if they weren't actually being caried along by the generation that came before them.
- For some reason they refuse to tell the truth. It's ingrained in their heads that they shouldn't tell the truth. Even if they aren't going to get into trouble they still won't tell the truth.
- They don't even have a work ethic, let alone a poor one. You give them a task to do and they either wine and complain until you force them to do it, or they simply won't do it.
- They are mean. They take offense to everything and will do whatever they have to to make sure they get you back. Not only that they will ridicule a person they see as inferior to the point where that person wants to kill themselves.
- Talk about a bunch of babies. They make a fuss about everything. Whatever you tell them to do it's always to hard. If you try to reprimand them you're being unfair. Their life is just so hard. BOOHOO.
Give me a friggin break. They live in the greatest country in the world, and no matter how poor or hard their lives get, it's still ten times better then the rest of the world.

Now maybe my thoughts are a little squed do to the fact that I work in a home for delinquents, but the kids that I work with at my other job aren't all that great either. Yeah they don't have the same amount of clear problems the kids in the home do, but they still have them to at least some degree. It makes me want to scream sometimes. Like if you're going to get a job, you had better be prepared to work. Not sit on your but doing as little as possible, take a 15 minute break every hour, and expect your every wim to be catered to. That's not how life works. You need to grow up, take responsibility for yourselves, and learn how to benefit society and not be a hinderence.

So just grow up, or you'll find me there ready to smack some sense into you. And I sure as hell won't be gentle.

A Word On The Therory of Evolution

What a load of hogwash! I for one am not a descendant of a monkey. It's just plain foolishness. A couple of things in my mind just don't add up.

For starters, evolution says that animals change/adept based on their surroundings. Ok, how have humans changed? Scientests say humans have been on the earth between 200,000 and 400,000 years. So let's say in the last 100,000 years, how have humans as a whole changed? We havent. Dig up some old bones, put them together, and they are the same as bones from somebody who died yesterday. Humans haven't grown extra appendages, or organs, or anything like that. They are exactly the same. And if humans have been around for that long shouldn't there have been some kind of major change? You might try to argue that humans as a whole are taller. I don't know how you can measure every human or know how tall they all were 100,000 years ago. And besides there are still plenty of short people. You say humans are getting fatter. And maybe they are in some places, but that's a learned trait. They aren't being born fat. There just hasn't been a significant change, and according to evolution there should have been.

My second problem is the ability of animals to keep the environment in balance. They don't by themselves overbreed, or over graze, or over hunt. They keep the ecosystem in balance. All animals instinctively know how to do this. Why do humans have such a problem with this? Humans overbreed, over eat, and just in general will usually destroy and over use what ever is around them. If humans evolved like everything else, they would know their limits and stop. Their evolutionary traits would take over and bring them back to harmony with nature. They certainly don't do that. How could we have possibly evolved from monkeys then? They do it, why don't we? Because evolution is a load of crap.

Now I'm not exactly a stalwart defender of the literal translation of 7 days and have done with it, if you know what I mean. God is an all knowing being of truth. Real, pure science is truth. He did create us, and everything in our pure forms. And yes he might have done it over a long period of time, but in my mind it was more of a building process. You learn how to do one thing, then you go a little bit more complex, and then a little bit more and so on. Compare creating the earth and everything on it to building a nuclear powered submarine. You can't just dive right in. You use building blocks. Learn how to weld, how to create nuclear fission, hydralics, lighting, pluming, etc... You need to know how to create and use each individual thing to create the whole submarine. Now does that mean that the one screw was eventually turned into the sub, no. It just means it's a vital part of the whole. Now for humans and the earth, single celled organisms are the basis (the screw). You need to know how to make it, and use it before you can move to bigger things (humans). Yes it's a necessary part, but that doesn't mean that's where the whole came from.

Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. And maybe I couldn't quite express my point all that well, but it just seems to me that evolution doesn't add up.

Flirting With Crazy

I've decided I'm going to make a conscience effort to go out and socialize with people. Face to face and have an actual conversation with them. Now here's my reasoning behind that...

Just a few days ago it was pay day. I was torn between going and spending my money, or squirreling it away and saving it. I really didn't know what to do. I was getting frustrated, and angry. On the one side there's the idea that its my money and I've worked hard for it. Why shouldn't I be allowed to spend it? And on the other, I don't want to be working for the rest of my life, and I do need a little back up for emergencies. The arguement was getting pretty heated, and vocal. When all of a sudden I yelled, "It's my money, why shouldn't I spend it?"

That's when I took a step back and realised, I was arguing with myself, out loud. I had a bit of a laugh over it and thought wow, that's getting a little nuts. Not like call the men in white jackets nuts. More like the old man, in the winter coat, in the middle of summer, yelling at the sky. I do not want to become that man. And if I were just to let the course follow where it's going, I would bet money that's about where it would end up.

My solution is to talk with every person I meet. Doesn't have to be much, but just a greeting and some pleasantries. That's all, just to be vocal. And most important to have an actual person there, so I don't get used to talking to myself.

The Downfall of American Civilization

As I walk through life I see things that could spell the downfall of American Civilizaion if they aren't curtailed soon. The top three being; internet dating, drugs, and gay rights.

Internet dating is a travesty. It lessens inter personal skills, and gives a hollow meaningless impression of the real thing. Now I'm not against using the internet to find people of a like mindset. I'm against the idea of carrying an entire relation over the internet. People need to have physical contact with eachother, not only that they need verbal communication. Typing to one another doesn't get the whole idea out, or for that matter you can't truly know someone without meeting them face to face. I believe internet dating hurts our articulating ability, our ability to interact in a normal environment, and in the future could absorb our entire dating interests.

Do I really need to expound on drugs? Drugs are a scourge in America and we should treat it as such. It destroys people, familys, and communities. I work with kids who have almost completly ruined their lives because they were under the influence of drugs. Now that's not saying they're not responsible for their own actions, but once you are hooked, that's pretty much it, game over. It's next to immposible to kick the habbit by yourself. Some of these kids will never be able to kick the habbit. Some will die becuase of it. Some will spend the rest of their lives behind bars because of it. Some of these kids have done irreperable damage to their bodies and minds. These kids are a strain on society already, and they're just kids! Most will be a strain or hinderence for years to come.

Gay Rights just annoy me. Specificaly gays being allowed to marry and adopt kids. Problem number one, marriage is between a man and woman. End of story, it can't get much clearer then that. If you cross that line where does it end? Eventually someone will come along and want to push it even further. I don't need to expound on that but I'm sure you know where I'm going. Gay marriage destroys the moral fibre of family. A man and woman compliment each other in all things (remove the points that cause fights, divorce, and people that rushed into marriage out of the equation). That does include running a house, and raising childered. But it's also on an emotional and psycological level. Together they equal a whole piece. That's how it was ment. You can't dance right with two left feet. You need a left and a right to do it properly. And aside from that whole aspect becuase someone could argue it's all about personality (it's not by the way), if there were only gays in the world the human race would end in a single generation. Does that in itself not explain the unnaturalness of "gay?" That seems pretty self explanitory to me.

It seems to me the Human Race is the only one that is bent on destroying itself through its own actions. Actions that can be stopped if we just try to take adequate steps to solve it. But alas we don't or won't.

Steps to Resolving Conflicts with Teens

Occasionally you might find yourself in an argument with a teen or anyone for that matter. You might find that the argument is going nowhere fast and getting a little out of hand. I have just a few simple steps to resolve the situation.

Step #1: The individual is in your face and is looking like they might shed some physical violence your way. Send some their way, just so they know you mean business. Start with a wrist-lock to stop their momentum. Then move into an arm-lock to immobilize them.

Step #2: While you have them in an arm-lock, suggest they position themselves flat on the ground. If they refuse, shift your weight and throw them to the ground. When they hit the ground re-establish the arm-lock and pin their shoulder to the ground by moving their arm to a 90 degree angle to the floor and adding a slight downward pressure.

Step #3: Reiterate your argument and explain why they are wrong. You have all the time in the world cause they aren't going anywhere. Hold this position until the individual is calm, and someone else is there to help you.

Step #4: With this second person's help, and while keeping an arm-lock, lift the individual off the floor. Escort the individual to a secure place and release. Conflict Resolved.

So in case you haven't guessed it already, I got to restrain a kid at the group home. I wasn't having an argument with him, but he wasn't liking what some of his peers were saying/doing. He tried going after one of them, and that's when I stepped in. It was actually a lot of fun, and it did effectively end the argument they were having.

Loyalty

I think that one of the greatest and worst characteristic a person can have is loyalty. On the good end you stick it out no matter what. And on the bad end you're still sticking it out even if you should have jumped ship long ago.

I am extremely loyal, loyal to a fault. When someone gets into the 'Inner Circle,' they are in. I will stand by them and do anything for them. If they need help, I do everything in my power for them. Even if I haven't talked to this person in months or years, the minute they need me I'm there. I also stand up for them. If someone is bad mouthing, or even threatening physical violence against them, I'd be the first one to go to bat for them.

Now it is pretty hard to get into the 'Inner Circle,' but it's next to impossible to get out. I've found on a couple of occasions (almost entirely involving girls) that I should have jumped ship. It seems that there are some people that have made it to the 'Inner Circle' that just aren't good for me, and bring me down. But for some reason I have this adamant loyalty that won't let me, let them go. Most recently there's this girl that's on a self destructive path, and is trying to pull me down with her. I know I should just cut my losses, but I can't. No matter how hard I try, or how mean she gets, I can't stop trying to help her. It just tares me up when I do. Right now I'm trying the whole ignore thing, but that doesn't work cause it just makes me think even more of how can I help.

It's just part of my nature I guess. But man o' man it sure can get me into a lot of trouble.

The U.N. Can Go Suck An Egg

Have I mentioned lately how much I despise Hilary Clinton? As part of her Presidential Platform she wants to strengthen America's standing in the world. She wants to do this by: ending the Iraq war; increase support of the U.N. and have them take care of the worlds problems; and begin sending money to third world countries so that children there can go to school.

1. Just saying you will end the Iraq war doesn't mean it will happen. She has no idea how to do it. If she did she would have already proposed it. And frankly I don't want to see troops pulled out. For starters I don't want to see the flow of oil to stop. That might not be a politically correct thing to say, but damn it I sure don't want to be paying $7 a gallon. And secondly there hasn't been a major attack on American soil. Hmm maybe that's because all the terrorists are busy in Iraq, fighting trained soldiers instead of over here.

2. The U.N. would not exist without the U.S. period, end of story. Also why would I want everything in the hands of a bunch of people that don't have my best intentions at heart? What's good for the world isn't always what's good for America. We're the biggest and baddest country around why shouldn't we act like it?

3. We don't have enough money to support our own schools, why would we be sending money to other countries to help theirs. You say that everyone needs an education. Ok, but where does it end? Even if they do get some education, they will still be at the bottom of the economic ladder, and it will all be for naught. Then you'll have to spend more of our money for higher education, because they will still be a third world country. It's a never ending cycle, until eventually we are the ones lagging behind. Bah why not put the money into higher education at home, so that we can have some one that can make something that can really help the world out?

In short the U.N. is worthless, and so is Hillary.

Not Another Emo Teen

In some cultures they just off people that are so utterly useless to society. Having said that I put this forth... People who wallow in their own self made misery should not be allowed in public.

I really can't stand and usually have very little patience with people who lament over every little imaginary tragedy in their life. For the most part it's all in their head. They are to self absorbed in their imaginary problems that they can't see just how good life is. And this usually comes from people that have everything. I'm talking about the white/suburban/middle income/well educated/two parent household kind of person. They have everything, and yet they are still unhappy with their life. They are better of then 90% of the world and yet for some reason they feel the world is unfair, and that they've been mistreated. Get a friggin grip.

I understand that occasionally there are a few people that have an actual medical problem. Ok, but that really doesn't cover all the kids out there that dress up in all black, listening to music about how society has left them by the wayside. It just annoys me to no end. I know people like this, even dated a few (my mistake).

What in the hell is wrong with them? Get a grip on yourselves and move ahead in life. You don't have it that bad. You do have friends/family that care about you. And if everything is pushing in on you that bad, it's because you made it that way. So deal with it, and stop pushing your problems onto everyone/everything else!