Collecting

     When I think of people collecting items, I have never thought about the idea that these people do this because they hate the idea of everything being as chaotic as it is. I have always felt that collecting is nothing more then a hobby for people. Reading the little blurb about Jose Saramago on the moodle page was pretty eye opening to me. What distinguishes whether a collector hates chaos or if he is just amused with a collection. Because I feel like if someone hated the idea of chaos that they would have multiple collections going on because they want to bring order to as much as they can while they can. However, many people are just big collectors with just one item so I would not say that these are people who cannot stand the idea of being a part of a chaotic world. But wait, maybe that is the distinguishing feature between the two.
     Perhaps the true motive behind collecting relates directly back to the collector himself/herself. The personality of the person may have a direct correlation to what purpose the collector has towards their collection. I feel like if we talk about the idea of collections having to do so strongly with a hatred of chaos that we would have to place this topic directly under order. So what inspirers these collectors to have such a desire to collect what they collect? Is it a love for the item or just a way of keeping themselves sane? It seems like some people would come to consider the fact that if they really want to fix chaos that they would think about chaos being harder to avoid then they think. Because a collection may be an organized order of something but there is still the chaos of colors and shapes and sizes, so what makes the collection any better of a means of avoiding chaos? I feel like chaos is what makes our world what it is and that it is here to stay no matter how much thought or processing is put into it as a whole.

Taxonomies

This was an interesting conversation in class on Wednesday to me because I have never understood what a taxonomy is. After the class I am not going to say that I am a pro on the topic now because honestly I still feel slightly confused towards the issue. What I did get out of the class though is that we have categorized this world we live in to such a specific thing that it is incredible to me. If you took the time to think about how broad everything used to be, then you may feel the way that I do. It used to be people, animals, plants, land, etc. Nowadays, we have all of those categories broken down into more and more different things. People you have white, black, mexican, native american, etc. Animals, we have mammals, reptiles, insects, etc. Plants, trees, bushes, grass, etc. And so on and so on. The thing that shocks me is thinking that I just broke down each of those basic things into the most basic subcategory when in all actuality it goes so far beyond that. That just is a small example of how much we have broken down every aspect of the life that we live. Everything is so specific before you can make it as broad as it used to be. It was fun to see how everyone classifies things differently. We are all such different people with different backgrounds that we could all categorize things into such different categories then the person next to us. Everyone has their own preferences and peculiarities that they look to fulfill in their own lives. Some of us aim to be basic in the way we do things, while others prefer to look at things in a deeper perspective. The perplexity of the human mind based on how we were raised is truly intriguing. After this class I realized that we all have such differences that make us unique, we all have amazing characteristics and yet, we all have so much in common. Life is an amazing treasure that is so fun to figure out!!

Forgiving

     After having a long and thought out rant about a best friend and what makes that person so special, I wanted to do a follow up blog that ties into my previous blog. Like I stated, I have had my share of what I thought was  "best friend" and I have had times where we just fall off whether it be different schools or anything as well as times where I have had a knife driven into my spine. After considering all of those times, it has made me think. What does it take to forgive someone? I can definitely say that I am also guilty of driving a knife into a friends back and I have honestly had my share of regrets towards the issues. I still stand with the same question, what helps in the process of forgiveness? I have always wondered how some people can be so patient and accepting toward something that I feel like would drive me off the edge. Some people question the friend, some question themselves, their parents, and some people even question God. But when is it okay to forgive someone? Should we immediately forgive them? Or should we take time and look within ourselves to determine when you have truly forgiven someone. I feel like we have to be angry, I feel like you can never forgive someone until you have experienced the emotions of anger or sadness towards an individual for what they have done. In those emotions, I feel like you can never forgive that person. For myself personally,  I can forgive, but I just feel like I can't forget at least not for a while. Being on the receiving end of a punch from a loved one sucks and I feel like I will never be able to trust that person again. However, I guess in the end timing is everything and we have to wait it out and pray and hope for the best to happen in our lives. The rate at which we forgive depends solely on us as human beings and the maturity we have or lack. Everyone deserves a second chance I feel like, however, I feel like a second chance must truly be earned in order for someone to prove that they are a loyal friend.

What makes a best friend?

     A best friend is a very important friendship to people. It is usually the one person that you can count on through thick and thin for the most part. Losing this friendship is like losing part of yourself. But I've been left to wonder on different occasions, what really makes a best friend? Is there ever a time where your best friend should disagree with you? Or does a best friend truly have your back through everything....if you decide to do something that may not be the best decision. Should your best friend support you through it or should they slowly fade away? I feel like I have had multiple best friends in my life....some that I have counted on more then others. But then it seems that every time things are too good, they go away. So what do you look for to make a best friend? Is it that important to have a best friend? Or should we just accept the friends that we have in our lifetime as true treasures and not be picky enough to look at them in a sense that they are lesser. I have a good friend who questions all the time, why can't he find a best friend? He claims that he has so many good friends, but he just wants that one best friend that he can turn to with everything, that he talks to consistently, and just feels that this person is someone he wants in his life forever? Is he asking for too much? Or is he asking just enough? I feel like this is the type of question that people can pick apart for days and I really have found myself doing it multiple times because of the friendships that I have lost and the backs that have been turned whenever I thought I could trust a person with my life.
     In my 20 years of life, I know that I have alot to learn, and I hope that my journey in life is far from over. But I would like to believe that I know what a best friend is. A best friend to me is someone who is always there for you. Someone that you can talk to about everything, pluses, faults, and anything and everything. A best friend will never judge you, they will always look to comfort you. A true best friend will never leave you because they know that deep down they can't be without you. A best friend is love, a true love. The closest thing to finding your husband or wife. I just can't help but wonder what makes this love so true for some people and what distinguishes a true best friend from the rest?

Psychology

After reading the article for the psychology topic, I am not going to lie. I was pretty confused about the article but I also got some pretty good life lessons out of it I felt like. For example, I like how the author made it a point to state that we should not look at people any differently based off of an assumption whether they have a mental illness or not. For myself personally, I was shocked when the author stated how offensive the word senile is. I felt pretty bad at this point because honestly I joke with my mother and call her senile all the time and it was a change on my perspective that it comes off as offensive to people. I was interested also to hear that schizophrenia was the beginning of the ideas of mental illness. I'm trying to major in psychology which is why I wanted to be part of that topic for the class blog but I still was shocked to hear that fact. It was interesting to me. It is always crazy to think of how far we have come in the medical field of all things because nowadays it seems as though we have the technology to just about everything. Out of the article, I learned not to use offensive words too freely or at least to think about the words that you are saying. As well as some of the importance in the history of psychology. We live in a beautiful country with endless possibilities for what we have to come!!

Cursing

     This was a pretty funny conversation in class I personally felt like because cursing is so common in the American language that it was interesting to hear everyone's different input on the subject. We discussed whether or not some words should be considered offensive or not as well as the degree that words are taken too. I personally feel like language can only be determined whether it is offensive or not based on how we interpret it as a individual people. Myself personally, I can't stand people saying GD and this is just because I have been raised in a Christian home throughout my life and GD has always been frowned upon.
     I will be the first person to say a cuss word honestly but you will never hear me say GD in seriousness or a joke. I will use just about any other word but that one just severely pisses me off even if its in my presence. This may be considered unjust and honestly, that's probably true but I can't help the way I was raised. I have my own personal opinions just like everyone else.
     Another series of words I hate is anything that has to do with throwing up, I hate the word vomit, puke, etc. Not sure why, I have just always been against those words because the action is sickening to me and I just cannot stand when people use those series of words in front of me, its appalling to me. I guess everything just depends on the person because that is just what I think about the situation. Some words are vulgar and some words are fine, but this always changes depending on the person that is being discussed or the person that is involved in the conversation. Language varies in so many different ways but it will continue to be an intriguing conversation to see where our language continues to progress or in some ways, downgrade. Ultimately my thoughts about cussing are fuck it, use the words you want to use because ultimately not a damn person can tell you that what your saying is wrong because in the end its up to you!

Language

     It is quite crazy to think about how much language has changed in our new generation for the youth of our nation. So many people converting to the slang of technology or to the lower intellect of our society. We used to live in a society where we were expected to be proper and pure in our language. Now we accept our society and youth with the way that they speak.
     Its always interesting to think about how much we have changed as a nation and how language has changed for us as individuals. We live in the time where texting is probably the most common form of communication and to think of how we communicate with one another is quite crazy. To understand the acronyms for example that have been created. I would say that a good percent of people know exactly what your saying if you say lol, rotfl, smh, or hmu mean.
     The fact that people do understand what we are saying in these situations just shows that society has completely accepted the change and downgrade in language that we have gone through. I really do not have a personal preference on how we talk to one another through language. I just find it interesting that our common language has shifted in such a dramatic way.

Lyrics or Music

Joanne asked us the other day in class if we were people who looked more at the lyrics of songs or listen to the music of songs. I definitely feel that this can fluctuate depending on the mood, artist, and definitely the song. However, after considering this question for a while, I would have to say that I feel that music is more important then lyrics.

I am aware that alot of people would argue my point and I respect that. I just feel that for myself personally, the music that goes along with the song plays a bigger part for me then the lyrics do in most cases. I am particularly fond of the guitar and you cannot truly appreciate an instrument unless you pick that instrument apart from the rest of the song. 

Victor Hugo stated "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" and I love this quote particularly because it says that music can express what cannot be said and I strongly agree with that. Music plays on emotion and with music, the perfect mood can be determined for us based on what kind of individual we are. The video I am attaching is a good example of the peace that can be given to a listener just with the sound of a guitar. I love this song and there are no lyrics in it and it really touches my mood and affects how I feel for the rest of the day and I just wanted to share it.

Music

I particularly enjoyed this conversation in class above the others that we have had up to this point. Music to me is a topic that can be talked about to no end and the fact that we got to dive into it was a good experience for me to listen to. However, our topic was based around whether we feel genre is a good or a bad thing. For me in particular, I do not like the way that genre categorizes music. I am not saying that in that statement I am insinuating that I am against genre, I am merely saying that I have my complaints about it.

I feel that for one thing, we have too many genres. When we saw the diagram on the board of 30 different genres, it gave me a headache. I feel that if we use genre as a key element then we should stick to the basic elements for which most genres are categorized. I think that too many people however, do let genre affect their overall interpretation of the music itself which I feel is a problem.

I feel like the main purpose of music is to derive emotion from an individual, we saw in class that we all choose music based on the mood that were in. That alone should stand as a good example that music is meant to integrate with our minds in order to portray an emotion. I am one of those people who would choose music over television just because I feel so strongly that music is what speaks to us and allows us to step out of our comfort zones in order feel something that we may not be used to feeling.

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.-Plato

The Power of Fear

     As I sit here trying to think about what I can blog about, I find myself beginning to panic because I know I haven't treated this class the way that I should. I look at the topics such as psychology and try to think, what the hell do I talk about? I sit here and I begin to show my fear, fear for this blog, fear for this class, fear for my GPA. I worry that it is to late and that I can do nothing other then accept defeat. It's amazing how strong of an emotion fear is, it can completely break you down. It can rip away your confidence and leave you questioning yourself to the extreme. That is until you look within yourself, look within yourself and find a moment of clarity. In this moment you realize that you are in control and that fear is only in your head. You realize that life is what you make it and that you control the outcome no matter how far along you may be. I realize that I've been letting my fear of harsh judgement get in my way of accomplishing what I need to accomplish. I realize that I was caught inside of my own ill mind and that only I can release myself and that only I can accept the challenge that has been placed by Joanne to think at an intellectual level of understanding and to go outside of my comfort zone to try and grow as an individual. It is up to me to create my own moment of clarity. George Washington Carver once said that "Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom" and only I can choose to let my education be fulfilled within my own mind. Psychology is the science of the mind and the processes within. After I evaluated this blog and what I was going to talk about, after I accepted that I control where I go from here, after I found my moment of clarity. I realized that I just talked about the psychology within my own mind.

Hopsin - ILL MIND OF HOPSIN 5

This song is in all honesty 5 minutes of the straight truth. This song perfectly portrays society in the ways in which most people live today and I think its a pretty big wake up call.

The first person Hopsin goes off on is a guy who just follows along with the trend and does whatever he thinks is viewed as cool. I think that everyone experiences difficulty with that issue of peer pressure and wanting something more occasionally. Well, it means more to be a leader then a follower, even if your leading a smaller army.

The next thing he does is go off on 2 girls for always complaining about not finding a guy which describes so many girls nowadays. So many teenage girls talk about how they can't find a guy and they're tired of searching and shit whenever they make it difficult for themselves because they have no standards and let any guy gets what he wants. Have some self respect and say no because more guys will respect you for that then if your putting out for everyone.

The last guy Hopsin talks to is a black guy and his verse there goes back to when we talked about racism  for me because when Hopsin says, "Now, why do black people gotta be the only ones who can't evolve, cause your in the streets acting like a neanderthal." It makes me think of how people prove stereotypes right because of the way they act in public. Everyone has the power to portray themselves in any way that they want to, so I say portray yourself the way you would envision yourself on a pedestal and even if you aren't at that point in life, you will be respected.

Bucky Covington - A Different World

My dad has always liked to refer to this song when we talk about how much the world has changed since he was a kid to the point where we are now, and he's damn right. A lot sure has changed....

Internet Relationships

In our most recent class we had an interesting conversation about facebook and the different ways you can present your relationship status and we even referred back to the time of myspace and how the top friends issues went down. This was honestly a comical discussion in my opinion because of the ignorance we pointed out in our group of people. Whenever I read a post on facebook or I see posts on twitter I sometimes wonder why the hell do these sites even exist whenever for some people they just take control of their lives. Its a shame but its the truth.

Lets look back to myspace and this is funny to me because I can just vividly remember how these processes used to work in my head. But so on, it was always funny whenever you or your friend got a boyfriend or a girlfriend and how quickly people would put it into their "about me" about how they have the best bf or the best gf in the world, just to break up in a week. However, in that week alot of shit went down because of the top friends myspace had to offer. Whenever, you got a bf or a gf they automatically had to be placed at least 1st or 2nd on your group of friends because if they weren't, then you just started a fight. Then it ends up that you started a fight either way because you just put a girl in front of your friend you've been tight with for 5 years. Then when you and that girl break up, off the top friends list she goes and then its back to normal until your friend starts talking to the same girl, then all of a sudden your friend is a traitor so he's dropped 7 spaces and then SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

Once Facebook came along I felt like it was more mature then myspace because there were actually adults on facebook and for a while thats how it was until everyone gets one and all of a sudden, its overrun with immaturity just like myspace. It gets to a point where people post things just to get a reaction. Look at the different statuses you can put for your relationship, in an open relationship? What the hell does that even mean for a 14 year old?

The fact of the matter is that the only reason people post such obnoxious and ignorant posts is just so they can get a reaction out of people. Everyone is an attention whore nowadays who wants nothing more then to get a reaction out of someone or just to be noticed. Its sad but thats the honest truth out of all of it. If you really were going to commit suicide, would you post, "I cant take this life anymore?" NO you would just jump off of a bridge which you were clearly never going to do because you would have just told the whole internet world about it. People need to get their acts together and grow up because this world does not revolve around them and the sooner they figure that out, the better.

You Determine Your Race

I know that I am late in this blog already, but I've kept this topic in mind ever since we talked about it in class a couple of weeks ago. I didn't say anything in class even though I came close and as time goes on, hopefully I'll get to the point of being able to freely speak like some of the others in the class.

However, I get severely pissed off when people think that races should be the reason for a certain clique of someone. I have never been one who appreciates the segregation that we see in society each and everyday. I think it is beyond stupid that some people look down on others just because of the race that they are. I live in a little country town not to far from Greensboro, but its crazy to me that there are still people who are racist towards blacks, mexicans, Pakistanis, or any other. This is the 21st century and I just feel like we should be beyond stupid shit like that at this point in time.

I think the reason I am so hostile toward this is because my "clique" consists of not one in the same. My  dorm room is referred to as the "melting pot" because of the diversity that we have. My roommate is a vietnamese guy named Brian, and my other suite mates are a black guy named Andre and a mixed guy named Cameron. Then you have me, the white guy. The thing that I love is that we are all thick as thieves so the fact that there aren't other groups of friends like ours bothers me. I don't think that we should expect anything of a person no matter what they look like on the outside and I think that's an issue covered in grade school.

I also think that most people accept society the way it is. They also seem to do things to enforce it which pretty much is where stereotyping causes a problem. I feel like most of the black guys especially in Charlotte do a poor job of portraying themselves as "hood" which is ultimately their own fault, but hell, if you walk around with pants around your ankles, a basketball in your hand, and a white tanktop on, you should proved a stereotype correct. Then with Asians, if they are always together talking about anime or always in the library studying, then that stereotype is proved to be correct. It's stupid that this is what society has come to is being to strong and standard in stereotyping people. But is it our fault in the end for being part of those people? Race doesn't have to present anyone in any sort of way. You present yourself in anyway that you want, and then you can indirectly determine the way that your race is viewed by society.

Gaining Interest in Order

     My purpose for this blog post is mainly to talk about how I'm finally starting to realize what this class really means by "ordering" because in the beginning I did not understand what we were really aiming to do. I just felt like this was like any other lecture course where we listen and take tests and quizzes so the fact that we just have group conversations everyday is still really interesting to me.
     However, I titled this blog "Gaining Interest in Order" and the reason I did this is because I took something out of my life and thought about the order of it and how important it truly makes the story. The thing I am talking about is the television series "How I Met Your Mother". I love this show and I'm in the process of catching up with everything that is happening in it. It is a great show with a great story line and I just love how everything relates to something else in the show. Although it may sound like I am rambling right now, I ask that you continue reading because I have a purpose to this post, sorry.
     My purpose is to explain the significance that order plays in everything in our lives. The way that order is kept in my show is incredible to me because the writers do so well with keeping the viewers on their feet about what happens next. They do such simple things but then they lead into something that makes the show as great as it is. I don't want to reveal to much information because some of you may watch this show soon which you should. But the order that the episodes keep and the events that take place are placed so perfectly into the story of how Ted met his children's mother that it has made me think of this class more.
     It has made me think of how everything that we do relates to order because if we didn't go through our daily tasks in the order that we do, then what exactly would happen in our lives for that day and beyond that point. Everything that we do and everything that happens leads to something bigger and better in our destination of a happy future and that is something I am beginning to think more about thanks to this class. The way that everything relies on a particular order is the same way that the world relies on a particular order. So every little person, every little thing, every little event all lead into a greater beyond that makes the world that we are a part of and that is so interesting to me that I just felt the need to share it with everyone!!

Chaos

     I find it interesting to think that the world could have possibly been ordered by God as it is depicted in the readings from "Primal Myths". I have heard my own stories and my own versions of the creation story and I have even compared the two different readings from Genesis in a previous class as the reading also does. However, I find it crazy to think of all of the different stories of creation and that only one can be the true story of why we are here and better yet, how.

     I never really pictured that the element of chaos could play such a role in life until entering this course and the more that I read about it, the more and more I am becoming slightly astounded by it. My idea of chaos is nothing more then a crazy situation with a great deal of confusion or an outbreak in public of some sort. However, after the reading on pages 169-171, I am beginning to realize that chaos is so much more then that. Chaos in a sense played a large role in the initial creation of the world but yet to me, chaos is what will tear the world apart....

     I think that the Mayans knew what they were talking about when they said that the world is coming to an end. This is not because we are dead and gone, but because I look at the way the world lives now and the way we view right and wrong and the consistent tragedies that sweep over our nation and I realize that the world is slowly collapsing on itself and sadly all there is to do is watch. Chaos is what brought this world together and I think chaos is going to be what takes us out.

Its interesting to think about the control that society puts over the youth of our nation. To think that we can be so easily influenced over the smallest bit of peer pressure. To think of the urge we have to do something just because our society forces it into our mind as cool. It's just shocking to me at this point in my life as I continue to grow in my own maturity level.

Our society relies so much off of smartphones and computers and higher technology that we lose our roots and sight of what really matters in life. Its not even the fact that we forget all about our education or paying attention in class. Its that people put their smart phones and their social life ahead of them. An english class can be learning about a new topic in class but yet only a small portion of the class will keep their head into the lesson while others are playing "Words with Friends" on their smart phones. In a way this is funny because we are avoiding knowledge and using knowledge in the mean time. It just goes to show that society has a different ranking system and a completely different set of preferences. It shows that we have the talent and the drive to gain and to even use knowledge that we obtain but for some reason, we choose to focus on what our age group sets as a high standard. Which in our case is high technology.

Albert Einstein always feared the day that technology would take over our society and the important aspects of being social would be gone. It would kill him to see the way we live nowadays. You cannot be anywhere in public and not look around without seeing a smartphone, a macbook, or anything of that sort in use. Goes to show that we live in a world where common conversation is a thing of the past and that the best way to communicate is to talk over text or on twitter. Will things ever begin to look up for our society?